Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

The willow is too close to the house.

The choice is between normal and crazy.

An unpunished coup is a training exercise.

“That’s what the insurrection act is for!”

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

Washington Post’s Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

The Supreme Court is corrupt. Democrats must win in November and force court reform.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

Ron DeSantis, the grand wizard, oops, governor of FL.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

It’s not hopeless, and we’re not helpless.

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

If you’re looking for someone who’s young and athletic, go watch a fucking movie.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

I was confident that someone would point it out and thought why not me.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / I Love Spring

Reader Interactions

214Comments

  5. 5.

    efgoldman

    I love this time of year… enjoyed the cool breeze and warm sun.

    Who the fuck are you, and how did you steal Cole’s passwords?

  6. 6.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    I just asked on Facebook, “What is so rare as a day in April?” Best time of the year. I haven’t even used up one day of summer yet. Not one. Summer is nothing but sheer potential right now. As each summer day ticks by, the days already gone become only the regretted remnants of 1000 shattered dreams. Now, they’re all ahead of us, full of wonder. It should be April all year, so summer would always be only a few weeks away…

  10. 10.

    Omnes Omnibus

    I am more of an autumn person. Start of the school year. Crisp, cool mornings. Turning leaves. To each his/her own.

  13. 13.

    Gvg

    It’s almost summer in Florida but 2 months ago we had spring and it was pollen. Only a month of yellow cars and buildings this year. It’s been so dry we have burn bans and the pollen only lasted one month. Last 2 years it was longer and sinus agony. I like the cool and flowers but getting more and more allergic each year hurts.
    Gainesville has decades of strict tree conservation rules which make this shadier city much more pleasant in summer than Orlando was growing up and about 10 degrees cooler on average but it’s amazing how much pollen oaks and pines think they need to produce.
    Just being a bit contrarian.

  15. 15.

    Lyrebird

    @Omnes Omnibus: Love both! As in “I..” not as in “you should.” I do think that sweet smell that comes from the ground itself in the spring is one of my all-time favorite things.

    And YAY for a good day John Cole!

  16. 16.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.):

    It should be April all year, so summer would always be only a few weeks away…

    How lovely.

    Spring and Atlanta were made for each other. Every time I get thoroughly pissed off at the American South, I remember how much I love this season. Sometimes it starts in January. The flowering trees and shrubberies are extraordinary — forsythia, dogwood, redbud, rhododendron, azalea, Bradford pear, hydrangea, magnolia, and I’m sure many others that I’m forgetting. Just magnificent.

  17. 17.

    MomSense

    It was freezing cold and rainy here. I wore my winter coat, hat, and mittens to take the dog for a walk after work.

  19. 19.

    rikyrah

    uh huh

    Victoria Brownworth‏ @VABVOX

    The #resistance is 86% female.
    Sanders wants to re-district it the way #GOP has re-districted states so women cede hard-won #reprorights.

    Victoria Brownworth‏ @VABVOX

    #Prochoice Ossoff is running against a virulently #antichoice candidate in #GA06. Sanders told the media @ossoff isn’t progressive.

    Victoria Brownworth‏ @VABVOX

    The next day Sanders campaigned for #HeathMello–who is anti-choice, calling him a progressive.This is bait-and-switch on women’s rights.
    3/

    Victoria Brownworth‏ @VABVOX

    There are fundamental progressive tenets.
    Women’s #reprorights are paramount among those.
    Women have fought for generations for this.
    4/

    Victoria Brownworth‏ @VABVOX

    Sanders may be pro-choice, but he has never fought for #reprorights & 3x in three weeks has asserted progressives needn’t be pro-choice.
    5/

    Victoria Brownworth‏ @VABVOX

    America was built on #misogyny & #racism through the unpaid labor of women & black people. Forced pregnancy & rape were part of that.

    Victoria Brownworth‏ @VABVOX

    Sanders is trying to shift the goalposts on the backs of women.
    That might benefit men, but it will hurt women irreparably.
    It must stop.

  20. 20.

    Kelly

    70 here in the Cascade foothills. First time this year my feet got too warm in rubber boots whilst poking around on the river bank. Rain forecast for the next week or so. I’m ready for it. Mowed all the yards. Had a lovely XC ski yesterday on the best snow pack in several years.

  23. 23.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @SiubhanDuinne: I spent one spring in Georgia. When I was in OCS. I really didn’t notice any beauty. I am sure it was there; I just didn’t see it. Except for one day when I sat on a hillside watching bald eagles floating around at my level. A few hours later, I was wading through a swamp. The eagles were magnificent though.

  25. 25.

    Kay

    I love spring too. The young un’s are here playing their guitars. They’re getting better! They’re still really bad but they are definitely getting better. They let them play for the middle school lunch shift the other day at school. God, I was never that confident to ask adults. I wouldn’t have even dare asked, if I could play anything, which I can’t :)

  27. 27.

    geg6

    Personally, I’m in a terrible mood. Found out late this afternoon that I have to go into Pittsburgh early Monday to start a two week stint of serving on federal jury duty. Hopefully, they’ll not make me stick it out for the whole two weeks and god forbid I get picked for a jury. The parking and traffic situations will be bad enough but the lousy forty bucks a day won’t begin to cover the cost of parking, let alone lunch in the city every day. Just pissed as hell over it.

  29. 29.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @amk: Yes, anything good that happens in Cole’s life is due to outside influence. Maybe he just had a good day.

  30. 30.

    neldob

    The cold winter seems to be over and huge flocks of flowers are everywhere, the songbirds are back. “And the little lame balloon man whistles far and wee” (thanks ee cummings)

  31. 31.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    I love spring too. The young un’s are here playing their guitars. They’re getting better! They’re still really bad but they are definitely getting better.

    You are such a good egg, Kay.

    A really good egg.

  32. 32.

    laura

    @khead:
    Oh that song! And when Joshua Redman’s saxophone spirals out into a contemplative space and reels it back in, just guts me everytime.
    Mr. Cole seems to have a case of Spring Fever. Fortunately, it has no cure.

  37. 37.

    jharp

    I went mushroom hunting yesterday and it was quite beautiful. And got skunked again.

    For whatever reason I’m like the worlds worst mushroom hunter even I’m a pretty good woodsman.

    And I did manage to get a deer tick. Embedded. In my neck.

    Not too fond of the deer tick.

  39. 39.

    Corner Stone

    I’ve been delighted to have a nice hummingbird flying around my back patio the last couple weeks. Just for a few minutes a day and have not seen a mate anywhere but it’s a first for the last few years.

  40. 40.

    Mnemosyne

    Sitting in my favorite Chinese restaurant drinking iced tea and waiting for the check. G comes home from Chicago tomorrow, so I got Chinese tonight since he’s not a fan.

    (He doesn’t hate it, just … not a fan.)

  42. 42.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Gvg: Collier County is on fire. And apparently its gotten so bad that the fire is creating its own weather patterns.

  43. 43.

    Miss Bianca

    @seaninCLT: OK, I LOL’d. (L’dOL?)

    Somehow, I’m hearing that tag line in Adam Baldwin’s best Jayne voice.

    ETA: Make that his best Agent Casey voice. *he’d* be the one who was disappointed he didn’t get to shoot something.

  44. 44.

    efgoldman

    @jharp:

    I went mushroom hunting yesterday and it was quite beautiful. And got skunked again.

    Better than going skunk hunting and being mushroomed.

  45. 45.

    Mnemosyne

    Some, er, interesting signs are going to be a part of the LA March for Science tomorrow. I should have known that the Scientologists would jump on the bandwagon. Their religion is scientifically proven, yo!

  47. 47.

    geg6

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Then they should pay more than forty bucks a day and provide shuttle service. There is not a single route into Pittsburgh from where I live that isn’t under construction and down to one lane or just the HOV lanes. I’m going to have to leave at 6am to get into the city and find parking to be there by 8am. That’s for a 35 mile trip. And, unless I eat exclusively at Mickey D’s, lunch will run at least twenty bucks a day. Now, I can certainly afford it, especially since I’ll get that forty bucks every day but it pisses me off and I am also wondering how people of lesser means manage this. Especially if they live farther away and may have to get a hotel room to manage the whole thing. It’s a terrible system.

  52. 52.

    Ella in New Mexico

    @rikyrah: I just need to say two things:

    First of all, I’ve been pissed as hell about Bernie Sander’s inference that we need to ignore some guy’s sponsorship of legislation to mandate forced ultrasounds before a woman can exert her constitutional right to decide her own healthcare choices. Everybody that matters has gotten the message of NO. THIS IS ONE OF SEVERAL “THIRD RAILS IN THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY. TELL BERNIE HE NEEDS TO BECOME ONE OF US OR GO START HIS OWN PARTY.

    Second of all, stop saying “uh huh”. It’s fucking annoying.

  53. 53.

    Davebo

    Hit 92 here today. Spring is gone, summer is here.

    But I did get on the water for a bit so it wasn’t a total bummer.

  54. 54.

    Lizzy L

    It was gorgeous in the SF Bay Area today. High 70s — it may have been as warm as 80 in my neighborhood. Flowers everywhere. I put on my Army cammies, (found at Goodwill, best work pants ever) broke out the weedwacker, and murdered weeds for a while. I also drove a friend to her radiation treatment — fuck cancer. My old dog and I took a couple of lazy walks. Good day. I’m making dinner — japchae. Carrots, spinach, shitake mushrooms, sweet potato noodles; 15 minutes and it’s done. Have a great evening, all.

  56. 56.

    Miss Bianca

    @Corner Stone: HUMMIES!! I just saw my first one a couple days ago – April 19th, which was about two weeks later than last year. First feeder is out!

  58. 58.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @geg6: Gee, no one who is involved in the justice system ever noticed any of that. I am sure that the GOP Congress will jump right on it. Also, financial hardship is a reason to be excused form jury duty.

  59. 59.

    Gvg

    @Miss Bianca: the radio this morning said a nearby county had a burn ban because although people were being careful not to accidentally set fires, there had been an increase in arson. So authorities were publicizing the burn ban and saying see something, report it. No permits for burns so any fires are illegal etc. sad. I had not thought of that. Hope the rains start soon.

  60. 60.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Eagles are incredible. Ben Franklin’s turkey notwithstanding, I identify my patriotism with the eagle more than with any other American icon. Magnificent creatures.

  61. 61.

    Corner Stone

    @geg6:

    And, unless I eat exclusively at Mickey D’s, lunch will run at least twenty bucks a day.

    Good Christ. In Pittsburgh?

  68. 68.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @geg6:

    Found out late this afternoon that I have to go into Pittsburgh early Monday to start a two week stint of serving on federal jury duty.

    Wow, that’s all the notice they give you? Not even one working day to make arrangements with your employer? I believe in jury duty and serving when one possibly can, but that’s ridiculous.

  73. 73.

    geg6

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    They did not make it clear that financial hardship would be sufficient grounds to be excused in the literature I received. And If I didn’t get that, I’m pretty sure that people who aren’t as versed in reading the fine print as I am will get it.

    I really, really don’t want to do this. I understand that it’s my duty, but two fucking weeks is a fuckng lot to ask of anyone. Our county only requires three days if you aren’t chosen to serve on a jury. I’d be fine with a week. Two weeks is out of bounds.

  75. 75.

    Adam L Silverman

    @efgoldman: You’ve got overtime. Could be over in 30 seconds. Could take several hours. That Sharks/Oilers overtime last night was a bit much for the late game.

  77. 77.

    geg6

    @Corner Stone:

    You obviously don’t know much about Pittsburgh. Yes, there aren’t a lot of low cost options other than Mickey D’s or the microwave options at 7/11.

  82. 82.

    Corner Stone

    @geg6: Never had the pleasure. But have had lunch in NYC, DC, CHI, MIA, SFO and a few other places across these United States. Never spent $20 on it unless I wanted to.

  83. 83.

    geg6

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    You get a letter a few weeks ahead of time telling you to call in the Friday before your two weeks start to find out if you have to go in. You have to do that every day for two weeks. Today was my Friday before my service started. I called just after 4 as instructed. And then sat in my office cussing at my phone.

  86. 86.

    geg6

    @Corner Stone:

    If I could go to other parts of town, I could find plenty of places that cost less. Within walking distance of the federal courthouse, not so much. We only get 45 minutes for lunch. I can’t get to Oakland or the Southside or the North Side and back in that amount of time. Public transportation outside center city is basically non-existent here.

  89. 89.

    efgoldman

    @Adam L Silverman:

    That Sharks/Oilers overtime last night was a bit much for the late game.

    Watching those teams, especially Edmonton, was a completely different game. Ottawa just make it ugly, uglier, ugliest. Slow, boring, awful. Like Ohio State in Woody Hayes’ days.
    Or like North Carolina hoop before they instituted the shot clock. Four corners. Aargh.

  90. 90.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @geg6: Like I said, no one who is involved in the justice system has any clue about this. And, if we did know which we don’t because we are stupid and have no idea of the people who end up on juries, we would have no power over it.

  99. 99.

    geg6

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    You know, I wasn’t criticizing you personally here. Not sure why you feel the need to be such a patronizing asshole about my rant. I’m fucking doing my duty and I don’t feel happy about it. I think I’m allowed my feelings on the matter absent asshole lawyers talking down to me. Jesus, are you ever not a complete and utter dick?

  100. 100.

    Mnemosyne

    @Gvg:

    This year, California got historic levels of rain, but climate change is fake because Al Gore is fat.

    ETA: The two nieces I took to Disneyworld live in Collier County — Naples.

  101. 101.

    efgoldman

    @OldDave:

    Watch the Bruins/Sens game go to 3OT.

    I’m old enough to remember a finals game in the 80s. Bruins vs the great Oilers at the old (no a/c) Boston Garden; FIRST they had a power outtage delay for a half hour or so, THEN they went to FOUR OTs. Ended something around 230 am – and Edmonton won.

  102. 102.

    Ella in New Mexico

    @Omnes Omnibus: First: time, saliency and current events have a way of changing a person’s position.

    Second, it’s still fucking annoying and tired, old, overused and she needs a new schtick.

    As do several BJ regulars….

  103. 103.

    Davebo

    @efgoldman: I was in Edmonton a year ago and was amazed at how much they loved their Oilers.

    Kept wondering why are Canadians so hyped about a now defunct NFL franchise?

  104. 104.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @geg6 I am pissy about your rant because it is typical of the people who should be on juries and bitch their way out of it. As for the rest, I have always found you to be an abrasive asshole. I just thought we were on the same side, so I didn’t make it a point of contention.

  105. 105.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @Corner Stone:

    One factor about jury duty is that you can’t just go anywhere in the city for lunch. You’re limited to places close to the courthouse. And in a lot of big cities those choices are either really low-end stuff (e.g., food carts) or expensive restaurants. The rent’s too damn high!

  108. 108.

    Mnemosyne

    @geg6:

    Note to self: don’t get called for jury duty in Pennsylvania. In CA we only get paid $15 a day, but at least we get 90 minutes for lunch and a “one and done” call, even for federal trials. Plus my employer pays for 20 days and they try to match people to jury pools for trials of that length or shorter.

    My boss got picked for a grand jury one time, but even that wasn’t so bad: every other Monday for something like 6 months. That was reasonably easy for everyone to plan around.

  112. 112.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Mnemosyne:

    ETA: The two nieces I took to Disneyworld live in Collier County — Naples.

    I hope they’re okay. Last I saw the brush fire out their was not making things easy on the firefighters.

  113. 113.

    Mnemosyne

    @Steeplejack (phone):

    I actually didn’t mind getting called to jury duty in downtown LA — I was able to take the self-guided tour of Walt Disney Concert Hall on my lunch break. I did have to make myself an undesirable juror for that one, though, because I was working as a temp and $15 a day was not going to pay the rent that month.

  115. 115.

    Adam L Silverman

    @efgoldman: I remember watching that. They had to occasionally stop the game and skate around with sheets to try to capture the fog that was hanging around over the ice.

  116. 116.

    geg6

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Oh whatever. You are typical of every supercilious lawyer joke so I guess we’re even. Sure isn’t making me more enthusiastic to spend two weeks with people just like you. Maybe that’s why people feel the way they do about serving on juries.

  120. 120.

    NotMax

    ‘Tis spring, ’tis spring
    The bird is on the wing.
    But that’s absurd
    The wing is on the bird.

  121. 121.

    efgoldman

    @khead:

    As soon as I saw “in the 80’s”, my first thought was “No AC”.

    My high school band director in the 60s also directed the Northeastern U band. He’d hook a few of us every year into playing graduation at the old Garden – an all day sucker. One of those really hot June days, the last show of the circus had been the night before, and we were sitting right by the big doors where they’d staged the elephants. Oy, the stink!

  122. 122.

    delk

    My husband got served last week for jury duty. We kind of laughed about it because they are sending him way out to the suburbs. Not so funny the next day when I received my summons at the same suburban location one day after my husband is supposed to go. At least he drives, I don’t.

  124. 124.

    geg6

    @Mnemosyne:

    County jury duty only pays $9 a day. But there are lots of places to eat, 90 minutes for lunch and a beautiful park surrounding the county courthouse. In the city, it’s a whole other thing. Parking alone will be about thirty or forty dollars a day, presuming I can find a place to park. Which is not guaranteed.

    And may have to park at one of the stadium parking lots, which will mean a 20 minute walk to the federal courthouse.

  127. 127.

    Adam L Silverman

    @FlyingToaster: I don’t know.

    Here is the twitter feed for FL’s Ag Commissioner:

  129. 129.

    efgoldman

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Good goalkeeping at both ends though.

    Could be worse. They waved off the interference penalty.
    It was a bullshit call, though. If there’s no penalty, no reason for a whistle and the goal has to count.

  130. 130.

    Mnemosyne

    @satby:

    I’m actually not feeling too bad after stuffing myself with sweet and sour chicken. Plus G is coming home tomorrow after a week away, and I’ve missed him. ?

  131. 131.

    Arm The Homeless

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Naples has been on fire for two months now. The Goopers in Tallahassee are running out of taxes to cut, and the people are demanding that the Everglades not be on fire and their beaches not covered in poisonous slime.

    What a bind some of these nitwits find themselves in.

  133. 133.

    (((CassandraLeo)))

    @Arm The Homeless: Not to mention that Miami is experiencing worse flooding basically every year and these fuckers still won’t acknowledge climate change exists, or even allow state government departments to do so.

    I’m about halfway between Naples and Tampa, so the fires are more than a bit worrying.

  136. 136.

    J R in WV

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I spent one spring at Great Lakes NS in northern Illinois. I was unable to relish the beauty of spring for being in boot camp, except for one brief shining moment, when Canadian Geese soared over the grinder in formation, free as the literal birds they were, in stunning contrast to my captivity.

    So I can relate to the Eagle sighting you had in OCS in Georgia back in the day.

  137. 137.

    geg6

    @Davebo:

    The irony is that I went to college with every intention of going to law school. Then I took a bunch of undergrad prelaw classes and realized that lawyers were not my people. I stuck with my poli sci and history classes after that.

  138. 138.

    Adam L Silverman

    @efgoldman: No, they waved off the goal and confirmed it was goaltender interference. The problem is there is no consistency between referees on what is and is not goalie interference. This is now the third different call on one of these between Chicago, Columbus, and now Ottawa in five days.

  139. 139.

    WaterGirl

    @geg6: When I was on jury duty for the federal court, they took us all to lunch at a little diner nearby so we didn’t have to pay for it ourselves. Maybe you will get lucky.

  140. 140.

    Sab

    @Omnes Omnibus: When was the last time you had to give up two weeks pay to sit on a jury. Of course not, you are exempted because you know all the judges, and you make your living at it.

  141. 141.

    efgoldman

    @(((CassandraLeo))):

    Not to mention that Miami is experiencing worse flooding basically every year and these fuckers still won’t acknowledge climate change exists

    Have you noticed that Mal-a-Loco is right at sea level?
    I guess when it floods, and insurance won’t pay, that will be a hoax, too.

  143. 143.

    (((CassandraLeo)))

    @efgoldman: My only regret about this part is that the rest of us will be taken with it when it sinks. If we could just flood the crappy parts of Florida while leaving the good parts, that would be ideal. Unfortunately it’s likely just to leave the panhandle.

  144. 144.

    FlyingToaster

    @Adam L Silverman: I just pulled up the Wundermap and clicked on “active fires”. Jeebus. It’s all up north around 75, in the various conservation lands which have dried out. There are homes adjacent (and possibly on fire) to the western fire.

  146. 146.

    Adam L Silverman

    @amk: I didn’t provide the thread because I like him. He first got elected to the state legislature when he was about 20 or so. Hasn’t ever had a job outside of Florida government since and he’s around 40 or so now. But as the AG Commissioner he’s likely to have updates, so…

  148. 148.

    Corner Stone

    “I’m the baddest man alive!”
    *Pulls up to pick up pre-teen girls from a pool*
    .
    .
    Hmmmmm….

  149. 149.

    efgoldman

    @Adam L Silverman:

    No, they waved off the goal and confirmed it was goaltender interference.

    The CBC/USA feed is blacked out here in favor of the local cable network so I can’t hear the national commentators, but I assume they’re all taking the same video.
    If there’s interference, that’s a penalty.
    If not, it’s a goal.
    Half assing it is make it up as they go along because they don’t have the first fucking idea what to call.
    And a few minutes later, one of the Ottawa D covered the puck in the crease. That’s a penalty or a penalty shot.

  151. 151.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Sab: I have have done other things as a citizen. If I get called as a juror, I will be there. Geg6 is so opinionated about so many things that she could have been off jury duty by being honest about her opinions.

  153. 153.

    MomSense

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Two summers ago I was sitting in the little park where I take my lunch break and I saw a pair of eagles teach their juvenile to fly. It was so cool. There was lots of squawking and at one point one of the adults was positioned just under the juvenile and sort of lifting it with her wings. It was a short flight and then right back to the nest.

  154. 154.

    laura

    @khead: That’s the ticket! Maybe Geg6 and Omnes could consider giving that song a listen and chillax, it’s Friday folks.
    Save that workday world harshness for Monday.

  156. 156.

    J R in WV

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Some 4 or 5 years ago we were driving with friend on US 50 west from Canyon City CO, alongside the Arkansas River, and Mrs J saw an eagle swoop into the river for a big trout. Amazing trip.

    We now have eagles nesting in WV all over, as fish have begun to recover from mining damage to streams. They are beautiful birds, except to the trout. And the bass. Here we have Kingfishers, and hawks and owls, but no or very few eagles.

    Occasional Great Blue Herons working the little creeks hard, and they are amazing birds! And big woodpeckers, Piliated Woodpeckers, the last really big woodpecker left after the Ivory Billed were done in by habitat destruction. They’re obviously dinosaurs, just listen to them!

    And we do have lots of Ruby-throated hummers, the only eastern species. Lots of canopy birds, and in some places pasture and field birds around the edges of the woods.

  157. 157.

    Arm The Homeless

    @(((CassandraLeo))): I work in Marco Island, so I’m driving into it every day.

    Bloomberg had a decent story onon the potential for a death-spiral in housing prirces due to Climate Change and sea-level rise. So it’s been heartening to see LA Dem Governor making the case for mitigation dollars.

    They will eventually care

    It might be the only way

    @Baud: Loki might send a hurricane to snuff out the fires. I’m stocked up on popcorn.

  158. 158.

    Ruckus

    @rikyrah:

    That might benefit men,

    It really, really doesn’t. Equality benefits everyone. Except assholes. OK it benefits them as well, they just don’t know it and can’t appreciate it.
    Because assholes.

  160. 160.

    amk

    A member of Russian Parliament is outraged after his son was handed down a sentence of 27 years in prison for computer hacking crimes in the US.

    Roman Valeryevich Seleznev, 32, was convicted in August for stealing credit card data from US restaurants, causing nearly $170m (£132m) in damages.

    Russian MP Valery Seleznev said the sentence was “passed by man-eaters” and that his son was “abducted”.

    Seleznev made millions by selling the data on the dark web, US officials say.

    “It’s a sentence passed by man-eaters…My son was abducted,” Mr Seleznevtold RIA Novosti news agency.

    Mr Seleznev, a member of the lower house of the Russian legislature known as the Duma, is an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the New York Times reports.

  164. 164.

    Arm The Homeless

    @Adam L Silverman: Yeah, silver linings I guess. But the local premption bill, and their fucking with Florida Forever funds, remininds me they’re sociopaths, genuflecting to White Free-Market Jeebus.

  165. 165.

    Davebo

    @geg6: Nothing wrong with lawyers. We all have crap weeks but for most of us they don’t end in someone going to prison for 20 years or losing their retirement nest egg.

    Judges however has no such excuse!

    It’s an old joke. What’s the difference between God and a Judge?

    God doesn’t think she’s a Judge.

  166. 166.

    efgoldman

    @amk:

    “It’s a sentence passed by man-eaters…My son was abducted,” Mr Seleznevtold RIA Novosti news agency.

    One, lonely tear just ran down my cheek.
    Or maybe it’s this onion I’m slicing.

    How do you say “Fuckem” in Russian?

  167. 167.

    FlyingToaster

    @Omnes Omnibus: Yeah, they won’t seat her on a jury, but in the meantime she’s “on call” and will likely to have to go in for the majority of the next two weeks. And pay for parking, and either bag a lunch that won’t spoil or pay for an expensive lunch. Even in the early 90s, all the old downtown Pittsburgh dives were going the way of the dodo.

    It could be worse; Federal Grand Jury duty in Boston. I know one programmer who was called, and it was basically a year of fucked-up Wednesdays for him (and his company).

  168. 168.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Arm The Homeless: They are a wholly owned subsidiary of Associated Industries of Florida and the Florida NRA. Both groups have the same lobbyist – Marion Hammer, the Gun Granny. And she controls them with an iron fist. If we had a decent governor it wouldn’t be an issue. Instead we’ve got Governor Batboy.

  169. 169.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @MomSense:

    That is so cool. Watching adult animals teach their babies how to be whatever they are meant to be is one of life’s great joys. Years ago I watched a mother squirrel patiently show her kits how to climb a tree in a spiral pattern — not just straight up the way the babies wanted to do, but round and round to confuse whatever creature might be chasing them. It was fascinating.

  170. 170.

    geg6

    @FlyingToaster:

    Yes, I have to go in every day whether they choose me or not. It sucks, especially since I am the only financial aid officer at my campus. I can’t take a two week vacation but I’m stuck with this. None of the literature they sent said I was required to be happy about this. Guess they forgot that part.

  172. 172.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @J R in WV:

    Love all those species, although I don’t think I’ve ever seen a kingfisher in real life. And it’s been some years since I’ve seen a pileated woodpecker, though we do have them around here.

  174. 174.

    J R in WV

    @Davebo:

    No, it didn’t. I arrived March 2 or 3, at 2 or 3 am, sleeting rain. They had us learn to stand in formation, in the dark and sleet, at attention.

    Sweet, learn how it’s gonna be right off the bat, and expect it to go down hill after that!! ‘Cause it sure did! In mid April I got pneumonia after spending all night shoveling snow off the grinder, and made to stay in my rack on antibiotics, which endeared me to the other recruits who were standing duty and marching around the base!

    Oh, well, I survived the whole experience.

  176. 176.

    jl

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I don’t understand why anyone cares about this stuff.
    I earnestly hope the Democrats can move beyond running either HRC or Sanders, or having either of them ‘run’ the party in future years.
    How many ordinary voters that the Dems are trying to turn out on their side give a rat’s ass whether Sanders is a Democrat or pay attention to what relatively minor details he and Perez are disagreeing on? For example, on health care, Trump and the GOP are fine to let the ‘lesser people’ die if they get sick or hurt, Perez and Sanders are against that. Sounds like a political win to me, at least for now.

    Sanders is apparently the most popular politician around right now. If the Dems and Sanders are running around trying to use and subvert each other, who care? People will come to watch, and that is what is called ‘outreach’ right?

    Also: Glad Cole had a good day.

  177. 177.

    Ruckus

    @satby:

    Everyone else is pretty fucking pissy.

    Including me! Got a call that one of my Monday VA appointments was canceled but I could go to the hospital (across town, and I live in the LA area) and do a walk in. So 3 train rides and a bus later I find out that there is no walk in clinic for this specialty, which I sort of expected but…. So I wait over 2 hrs, last patient, the clinic I’m in is locked with just me and the doc inside when done. I miss the bus back to the train, text message says 30 min till next bus so I start walking the 2 miles. That’s 25 min. About 15 min in the bus drives by. So a trip I never should have had to make took 7 hrs. Good news – I’ll live.

  178. 178.

    efgoldman

    Lettem take THAT goddamned goal away.

    I didn’t and don’t expect the Broons to win the series.
    Their goalie can be great (he was tonite) but he can also be awful
    Their best D was a freshman college player in March
    A third of their active roster is really AHL players – including the kid that scored the first and last goals tonite.
    And Ottawa is an AWFUL team to play against. They basically turn the ice to slush by their style.

    So good on them. Next game Sunday in Boston.

  179. 179.

    Arm The Homeless

    @Adam L Silverman: Yeah, Batboy was my boss 6 months ago. My hope is that the Dems have someone in the pipeline when Nelson retires.

    Who even speaks for FL Dems these days? It probably shouldn’t be Alcee, despite my agreement with him on the utility of Sanders.

  180. 180.

    Adam L Silverman

    @jl: I have no idea. Everyone here seems worked up about it, so when I saw the tweet I figured I’d post it.

  182. 182.

    Ruckus

    @J R in WV:
    Spent 3 months in GL at tech school. In winter. Did get to see the movie Mash at the base theater because the base commander didn’t give a damn that it made fun of the army. The lifers at the showing didn’t seem to be amused, especially at the ending, but then we didn’t give a damn about them.

  183. 183.

    efgoldman

    @jl:

    If the Dems and Sanders are running around trying to use and subvert each other, who care? People will come to watch, and that is what is called ‘outreach’ right?

    I’ve been a democrat for as long as I’ve been voting. I care.
    Either he re-registers as a Democrat or he should just shut his old, white, cranky yap.
    I think it was a major mistake for Perez to bring him along.

  184. 184.

    amk

    Cassini is about to use a slingshot around Saturn’s moon Titan to put it on a path towards destruction.

    Saturday’s flyby will sweep the probe into an orbit that takes it in between the planet’s rings and its atmosphere.

    This gap-run gives the satellite the chance finally to work out the length of a day on Saturn and also to figure out the age of its stunning rings.

    But the manoeuvre means also that it cannot escape a fiery plunge into Saturn’s clouds in September.

    The US space agency (Nasa) is calling an end to 12 years of exploration and discovery at Saturn because the probe’s propellant tanks are all but empty.

  185. 185.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @jl: Sanders is apparently the most popular politician around right now. If the Dems and Sanders are running around trying to use and subvert each other, who care? People will come to watch, and that is what is called ‘outreach’ right?

    So…. you think if Sanders uses a platform Dems give him to tell people that the Dems are corrupted by Wall St and don’t care about working people, if he “subverts” the Democrats, that’s… a good thing? that’s ‘outreach’?

  186. 186.

    Steve in the ATL

    @geg6: that sucks, but thank the deity of your choice that it’s not a grand jury. Those can go for months.

  187. 187.

    efgoldman

    @Arm The Homeless:

    My hope is that the Dems have someone in the pipeline when Nelson retires.
    Who even speaks for FL Dems these days?

    Is there anything that passes for a viable state Democratic party in Florida these days?

  189. 189.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Arm The Homeless: Sorry to read that.

    If they’re smart they need to start really focusing on Jacksonville’s mayor. The law firm guy, while I’m sure he means well, isn’t going to cut it.

  191. 191.

    MomSense

    @satby:

    I was going to say we are experiencing a reverse Cole. We should probably all refrain from home improvement chores or driving past fields until this passes. Also everyone set a reminder to put on your pants tomorrow before leaving the house.

  192. 192.

    Ruckus

    @J R in WV:
    Boot camp in San Diego in late winter/early spring. Passed out in morning chow line, carried to sick call, taken to hospital with a fever of 105, in the back of a pickup truck after dark. Corpsman attempting to take my blood had never stuck a patient before only oranges. After several attempts told him that one more time and he’d have to pick me off the floor. He got help. Ended up a week in hospital and had to go to a new company. Lost that week. They took me in the back of the same pickup to the barracks that housed the guys with “issues.” Walked in to find guys cleaning the grout in the tile floor with toothbrushes. Clerk laughed at me, said you don’t have to do that. Fun times.

  194. 194.

    Yarrow

    @geg6: Is there any way you could drive to an outlying parking lot and Uber in? Or take some form of transportation like rail or bus from an outlying area? Might take a bit longer but would save you a lot of money and hassle worrying about parking every day.

    I sympathize with the paucity of places to eat. Last jury situation I was in was for local police, not county or federal. We had 45 minutes for lunch and two choices within walking distance–the police cafeteria, which was on site, or an old diner up the road that was pricey for what you got. You couldn’t get your car to go somewhere else because we had to park in a specific spot with one allowed entrance and exit per day. The people in charge of the jury group told us what the two choices were and said it wasn’t feasible to go anywhere else and be back on time and they were right. So I get where you’re coming from with the frustrating lunch situation.

  195. 195.

    Mnemosyne

    @jl:

    It came out today that one of Sanders’ “progressive” endorsements co-sponsored a bill in his state legislature to force women to get a vaginal ultrasound probe before they would be allowed to get an abortion. And, yes, the guy is nominally a Democrat.

    Sanders is not a popular fellow here today, especially among the women.

  198. 198.

    seaboogie

    NorCal is in uproarious joy and profusion of all things green after years of drought, and the abundance of soft green leaves rich with chlorophyll is a heady thing indeed, right now.

  199. 199.

    David Anderson

    @Corner Stone: @geg6: You’re doing lunch wrong in the city —
    Siam on 1st Ave 50 feet east of Smithfield is very respectable Thai for ~10
    Palymra on Smithfield and 1st Ave is ~$9 Lebanese
    Storms in the basement of 4th and Cherry is decent Italian at $12 or so
    Ephesus Pizza on 3rd and Market is very good creative pizza for $8
    Bills Bar and Burger in the Convention Center Westin is very good burgers and bar food at ~$12/person

    and then there are a bunch of chains that should cost you $7 to $12

  200. 200.

    David Anderson

    @geg6: The courthouse is on the end of Grant Street near the busway/Amtrak station, right?

    Bea’s Tacqueria on Smithfield is 2 blocks away and very tasty. Corner of Liberty and Penn has a brand new Mexican place that is good… Both are within a 5 minute walk of the courthouse. Bills Bar and Burger is 3 minutes away across the street.

  201. 201.

    David Anderson

    @geg6: Park on the Northside near the Stadiums (ideally in the Carnegie Science Center lot near Heinz Field, that should be ~$9 for the day) Free light rail ride from Allegheny Station to Wood Street, 3 blocks walk east to the courthouse

  202. 202.

    FlyingToaster

    For all the people not getting the anger at Sanders:

    He’s a One-Note Johnny. Everything is economics, and you’re stupid if you think otherwise.

    I have THAT argument with HerrDoktor every once in a while, too. He forgets that he’s married to someone whose put up with an inordinate amount of shit professionally because she has a va-ja-jay and will NEVER be an employee again.

    For Bernie, and worse for the BernieBros, it’s all about them. White-collar white guys whose expectations are not getting met. And who therefore don’t give a fuck about blue-collar anything (despite Bernie’s lip service), let alone institutionalized racism and misogyny, which Bernie can’t admit exacerbates the economic issues.

    Honest to FSM, I hope a motherfucker has the nerve to say this shit to my face. He’ll find his ass somewhere in the Harbor come next Tuesday.

  203. 203.

    J R in WV

    @Steve in the ATL:

    My grand jury experience was all in one day – we probably heard 20 cases, most were either simple drugs cases or sexual abuse. The sheer volume was stressful, worse than the petit jury murder trialso.

    The worst cases were both sexual abuse of children or retarded girls in small town rural communities. Terrible, both of them. `Nuff said, too much really.

  206. 206.

    Mnemosyne

    @seaboogie:

    SoCal is pretty damn impressive right now, too. Poppies everywhere you look, volunteer wildflowers sprouting up everywhere.

    There are a couple of plants are work that are creeping towards our front door on their sides. I keep asking for reassurance that they didn’t plant some triffids just because they’re drought-friendly.

  207. 207.

    efgoldman

    @FlyingToaster:

    For Bernie, and worse for the BernieBros, it’s all about them. White-collar white guys whose expectations are not getting met.

    And they don’t vote (or worse, vote third party) and they don’t work for candidates or parties. They just whine and complain, mostly on line, and disrupt the people who ARE doing the work, cf the convention.

    They’re just like their hero. They wanna’ bitch and moan and have things THEIR WAY (and they have no goddamned idea what that is, politically) then stamp their wittwe feetsies when they don’t get it.

    Fuckem

  209. 209.

    Adam L Silverman

    @SWMBO: That’s him. Given it’s Florida, he’s got work to do. Especially as I think it is in the bylaws of the Florida Democratic Party that they have to pick a middle aged white person with the personality of wallpaper paste as the nominee for governor. But he’s young. He’s smart. He’s got charisma. From what I’ve seen he seems to have a plan.

  210. 210.

    efgoldman

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Especially as I think it is in the bylaws of the Florida Democratic Party that they have to pick a middle aged white person with the personality of wallpaper paste as the nominee for governor.

    The rule is for any nominee above dog catcher or sewer commissioner, innit?

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