Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

All your base are belong to Tunch.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

“But what about the lurkers?”

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

John Fetterman: Too Manly for Pennsylvania.  Paid for by the Oz for Senator campaign.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Eh, that’s media spin. biden’s health is fine and he’s doing a good job.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

This really is a full service blog.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

You are here: Home / Music / Thursday Morning Open Thread: Winter Solstice

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Winter Solstice

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After tonight, there’s more light reaching us — however imperceptibly — every day. I don’t think there are many who will regret putting this past year behind us, and walking towards the light…

What’s on the agenda, as we wrap up the calendar and plan to start over?

***********

And, finally…


Raise your hand if, like me, you bought at least one copy when it was published… but still haven’t been able to face reading it yet. I look forward to starting it once Mueller hands down the final indictments!
.

Reader Interactions

160Comments

  1. 1.

    Mustang Bobby

    It’s the last day at work for me until January 8; the school district goes on break on Friday, but I have a comp day from Hurricane Irma that I need to use up. I plan to do a lot of writing, reading, bingeing on TiVo and Netflix, and enjoying the creeping increase of daylight coming back to the subtropics.

    ETA: I’ll also be working with the cast and director of my play “All Together Now” that opens in March in Boca Raton. Rehearsals start January 2.

  2. 2.

    Pete Downunder

    Summer solstice here in the land down under. 7 pm and still 85f. Cooking dinner for 11 folks – vichyssoise, grilled lamb, ratatouille and a cake.

  3. 3.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    Regarding the day length, the day doesn’t necessarily get longer the day after winter solstice. It all depends on your location! For example, here in Brookings, Oregon we will have three shortest days before we gain a minute the evening of the 23rd. Morning will keep coming later in the AM until Jan. 3 (7:46AM), where it will pause for three days before reversing direction. Our earliest evenings here were Dec. 7th-11th at 4:45PM.

    Link to the sun/moon calendar for our area.

  4. 4.

    Kathleen

    I’m flying to Tampa tomorrow to spend Christmas with my daughter, SIL, grandsons and granddog.

    I read What Happened in September and I highly recommend it. Hillary’s courage and optimism are contagious. She also does an excellent job of laying out the timeline of Russian/Rethuglican treachery. I read the book on a flight from Minneapolis. After we landed, a young woman across the aisle asked, “How is it”? Her expression and tone were sorrowful. I assured her it was very inspirational.

  5. 5.

    fuckwit

    I’ve read interviews and speeches by her recently that for some reason never made it into wide circulation, and she clearly has understood since the early 1990s how fucked up our media is. She was way ahead of her time on that, in fact.

    Heard an interview from her early days as First Lady and her comments there wouldhave fit right in here in the BJ comments section in the last few years. Well, she would have needed to have added some profanity for it to have truly fit in, of course.

  7. 7.

    JGabriel

    Anne :Laurie @ Top:

    What Happened by @HillaryClinton was named a best book of the year by:
    ✔️ The New York Times

    The New York Time naming Clinton’s What Happened a book of the year is like a real estate developer knocking down a forest to build suburban homes, then giving the streets names like Poplar Ave, Elm St. and Oak Rd.

    I mean, seriously, the Times helped knock off Clinton’s chance to be President (also America’s chance to avoid the Destined For Indictments Shit Show Presidency) with their endless over-hyped false equivalency articles on Clinton’s emails and Benghazi and Uranium, and now they want to give the book she wrote documenting it a book of the year award?

    They should fuck themselves sideways with a rusty pitchfork, the fucking hypocrites.

    —–

    Edited to Add: To be clear, I’m not criticizing Clinton’s book, which I’m sure is an excellent read – I’m just pointing out that the Times must have brass balls to name it a book of the year after the shit and calumnies they published about her in the run-up to the election.

  8. 8.

    Viva BrisVegas

    After tonight, there’s more light reaching us — however imperceptibly — every day.

    Meanwhile in the other half of the world ….

  10. 10.

    Elizabelle

    @JGabriel: Agreed.

    I have been hate-reading the FTF NYTimes for some time now, although they have some marvelous articles by non-staff (contributors) and non-political staff. Their leadership and political desk is whack. When I saw Pinch’s son will soon become publisher, I wondered if that was usual doings or Pinch stepping back cuz shit gonna fly later this year. I think he and Exec Editor Dean Baquet are either dumbasses or complicit on way too much coverage.

  13. 13.

    NotMax

    Now you know.

    Are Santa’s Reindeer Males?

    Impossible, scientists say. Source

    Also, what ought to be the entree choices on the Republican holiday buffet table? #1 – #2 (Site which displays those and others swears they’re unretouched photos from various eateries across Asia.)

  14. 14.

    Elizabelle

    Now: for aforesaid really good content from the FTF NY Times: Airline pilot Mark Vanhoenacker on the solstice, which arrives 11:28 am Eastern time today. At the Solstice, in Praise of Darkness

    and fabulous writer/essayist Anne Patchett: My Year of No Shopping

    [Patchett’s friend] Elissa told me the story: After traveling for much of the previous year, she had decided she had enough stuff, or too much stuff. She made a pledge that for 12 months she wouldn’t buy shoes, clothes, purses or jewelry.

    I was impressed by her discipline, but she shrugged it off. “It wasn’t hard.”

    I did some small-scale experiments of my own, giving up shopping for Lent for a few years. I was always surprised by how much better it made me feel. But it wasn’t until last New Year’s Day that I decided to follow my friend’s example.

    At the end of 2016, our country had swung in the direction of gold leaf, an ecstatic celebration of unfeeling billionaire-dom that kept me up at night. I couldn’t settle down to read or write, and in my anxiety I found myself mindlessly scrolling through two particular shopping websites, numbing my fears with pictures of shoes, clothes, purses and jewelry. I was trying to distract myself, but the distraction left me feeling worse, the way a late night in a bar smoking Winstons and drinking gin leaves you feeling worse. The unspoken question of shopping is “What do I need?” What I needed was less.

    …. I came up with my own arbitrary set of rules for the year. I wanted a plan that was serious but not so draconian that I would bail out in February, so while I couldn’t buy clothing or speakers, I could buy anything in the grocery store, including flowers. I could buy shampoo and printer cartridges and batteries but only after I’d run out of what I had. I could buy plane tickets and eat out in restaurants. I could buy books because I write books and I co-own a bookstore and books are my business. Could I have made it a full year without buying books? Absolutely. I could have used the library or read the books that were already in my house, but I didn’t; I bought books.

    …. My first few months of no shopping were full of gleeful discoveries. I ran out of lip balm early on and before making a decision about whether lip balm constituted a need, I looked in my desk drawers and coat pockets. I found five lip balms. Once I started digging around under the bathroom sink I realized I could probably run this experiment for three more years before using up all the lotion, soap and dental floss. It turns out I hadn’t thrown away the hair products and face creams I’d bought over the years and didn’t like; I’d just tossed them all under the sink.

    I’m using them now, and they’re fine.

    The trick of no shopping isn’t just that you don’t buy things. You don’t shop. That means no trawling the sale section of the J. Crew website in idle moments. It means the catalogs go into the recycle bin unopened ….

    Not shopping saves an astonishing amount of time.

    I am so doing this in 2018. “Things are in the saddle and ride man.”

  16. 16.

    Jeffro

    I bought “What Happened “ as soon as it was published and tore through it as soon as it arrived . It’s as good as they say it is – The humor, the analysis, and boy does she understand what happen with Russia . I have been passing it around to friends and family ever since .

  18. 18.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Elizabelle:

    It turns out I hadn’t thrown away the hair products and face creams I’d bought over the years and didn’t like; I’d just tossed them all under the sink.

    Must be my wife’s twin.

    @Swannie: This might be the year we just spin on into the sun.

  20. 20.

    satby

    @rikyrah: Good morning ?!

    @Elizabelle: I’ve been trying to cut back on shopping too, because I have enough “stuff”. I told my kids I didn’t want anything for Christmas because I want to start getting rid of the stuff I do have.

  21. 21.

    satby

    Once winter starts, I look forward to the winter solstice every year. Just knowing the dark days will be getting minutely longer until spring cheers me up. The really bad weather is usually through January and February, and it helps that by February you have a little extra daylight to cope with winter snowstorms.

  23. 23.

    raven

    Oddly, Southwest put up some fare sales and I was able to change my outbound to delay a day (I really didn’t want to drive back from Virginia and only have one day) and get a non-stop instead of a 2 leg flight and save money! Car rentals are really pricey in LA right now so that helped.

  24. 24.

    HeleninEire

    That’s me. The book has been on my Kindle since it was released. I just can’t bring myself to start it. One of my Irish girlfriends is reading it now and she loves it!

  25. 25.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    Michael Linden‏ @MichaelSLinden

    Every single Democrat in both the House and the Senate voted against the GOP tax monstrosity. Every single one.

    108 replies 2,455 retweets 7,318 likes

    Which proves they’re neoliberal sellouts!

  26. 26.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    Paul Ryan Slits Auto Mechanic’s Throat To Kick Off GOP Purge Of Working Class

    Yesterday 2:12pm SEE MORE: paul ryan

    WASHINGTON—Grinning proudly as blood gushed from his victim’s windpipe, House Speaker Paul Ryan reportedly slit an auto mechanic’s throat Wednesday to kick off the GOP purge of the working class. “With our tax reform bill giving us the mandate we have long desired, there’s nothing stopping us now—commence the bloodletting!” said Ryan, holding up the lifeless body of the local blue-collar worker as blood from his severed arteries sprayed reporters gathered at the press conference. “Now we can finally experience the sweet release of all our pent-up hatred of the parasitic working class without fear of punishment or retribution. The blood of the filthy proletariat will flow in the streets, and the families of truck drivers, nurses, and retail employees all over the nation will know our wrath. No one making under $50,000 a year is safe. Today, the American economy will be put back on the right track, and the liquidation begins!” At press time, blood-drenched Republican senators Bob Corker and Lisa Murkowski were seen sprinting into a Baltimore Walmart wielding machetes.

  28. 28.

    Montanareddog

    Good morning to all on this winter solstice, which is also our wedding anniversary. Not much celebration planned as it is an extended-family Christmas at our place this year and the 1st batch of relatives arrive this evening.

  29. 29.

    OzarkHillbilly

    The Texas boys were beaten, abused, raped. Now all they want is an apology

    The men the Guardian spoke to say they have carried the scars of this experience for decades, as well as a sense that their lives have been misshapen by their time there. Many talked about extensive substance abuse, suicide attempts, and incarceration among alumni.

    Bill Varnado wants to be very clear that they’re “not looking for any monetary deal out of this. What we would like is an apology from those people for treating us the way they treated us.”

    Martin asks: “What did Boys Ranch take from me? I don’t know. My sense of security, my sense of self, my sense of being comfortable in my own skin.”

    Arnold Wells says he’s still not sure he’s an “adapted person” in adulthood. “It got ingrained into me for a period of five years that violence fixes everything,” he says.

    Ed Cargill says: “I want somebody to grow a pair of balls, stand up and say, ‘Hey, I’m frickin’ sorry’.”

    For all the abuse Rick Smith endured, he is more concerned to talk about his brother, and the years it took him to live down what happened to him, and to get past his drinking and anger. “Let me tell you, he’s just so proud he didn’t let it get him down. Because it was for a while, and he overcame a lot. He was headed for the wrong, wrong place.”

    He’s skeptical that they will ever receive an apology. “It’s not gonna happen. Because they are committed to the hundreds of millions of dollars in the bank. They’re committed to that.”

    And because of this lack of closure, he also doubts he and his brother will ever get over it. “Steve and I will die. We’ll go to our grave and I’ll guarantee you it’ll be one of the things we think about when we take that last breath: how they got away with it.”

  30. 30.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    @raven: No, except in one area.

    the deductibility of property taxes will be limited to $10,000 next year. If your taxes are higher than 10K, you can prepay the amount above 10K now and deduct it on your 2017 returns. This way you can maximize your deductions for 2017 and 2018.

  31. 31.

    satby

    @Elizabelle: so do I. My sisters for years after I started making my own stuff gave me (very nice) lotions, soaps, and skin care products, apparently interpreting my making them as a sad little cost savings measure. Any gifts of my own products to them were met with the reaction a tolerant parent might have for a popsicle trivet made at day camp. So I’m slowly working my way through the stuff they gave me that I couldn’t immediately regift.

  36. 36.

    Immanentize

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: @raven:
    That $10,000 limit applies to property taxes PLUS State and Local taxes doesn’t it? I thought hat was how the final came out? I just called my town to see if I could prepay 2018 property taxes. They haven’t called back yet.

    But this year, regardless Raven, everyone is going to be crazy confused. It will be a tax season catastrophe.

  39. 39.

    BC in Illinois

    @Kathleen:

    On What Happened

    Hillary’s courage and optimism are contagious.. . . very inspirational.

    That was how it came across to me as well. Her chapter on the Trump, the Russians, and the Russian-Affiliated Republican Party is a great summary of what happened, as it happened in real time — but told from the perspective of “this is why it matters.”

    And as for “inspirational,” reading the early and the final chapters is like listening to a friend talk with you, over a glass of wine, about how she got through what has to be the monumental disappointments of a lifetime . . . and how she keeps going. Books to read, poetry, action etc.

    And it ends with eyes looking ahead. There is still much to be done. Even more to be done. Well worth reading, And there are parts I have gone back and read again. (Matt Lauer [!], the Russians, the beginning and the end.)

    If you haven’t finished your Christmas shopping . . .

    **the Russian-Affiliated Republican Party is from “Zinsky” in the previous thread.

  42. 42.

    d58826

    Somewhat OT but if someone pitched a shirt designer like Wayne Koch but not named Wayne Koch as a businessman no one would believe it. Central casting could not come up with some one more absurd. And the D’s should make him the ‘willy horton’ of the GOP

  45. 45.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @JPL: One doesn’t, not really. What I went thru pales in comparison to what these men endured, but the anger, the violence, they never go away.

  50. 50.

    Immanentize

    @JPL: It’s up to the locality. Some don’t want up front cash because of how their budgets work (or don’t work)

  52. 52.

    Immanentize

    @JPL: I also agree that there is a real potential for constitutional problems in getting rid of the state tax exemption. I anticipate some litigation…

  55. 55.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Holly Humfeld tried to help get him into a shelter, but it didn’t work. “It was horrifying to me,” she said. “I couldn’t imagine somebody being reduced to living in a port-a-potty. What horrifies me even worse is that it’s downtown, in a metropolis. I don’t understand how this can be.”

    On Wednesday, somebody noticed that the door to the gray and teal port-a-potty was cracked open. Police arrived on the scene around lunchtime and found the man dead, while at least one group of employees in a nearby office building celebrated the holidays with a feast of roast beef and turkey. Their attention was drawn to the window, where they watched officials work the scene below.

    “We found out the homeless man that lives in the port-a-potty across the street from our building had died,” a woman wrote on Facebook. “The police just took him out of the potty to transport him. We had seen him there before . . . We don’t know him or his name, but we are all pretty sad — this man has family somewhere that have no idea.”

    Donna Larry, a clerical supervisor, was an onlooker. “Every morning he had some liquor and his beer,” she said. “He would drink and holler and holler and holler. He’d just be screaming like he was tormented or something. I guess in the soul.”

    Charles Molden, 65, said he’d visited with the man several times in recent weeks while he waited to pick up his wife from work. “Every time I see him I give him a few bucks,” Molden said. “He was a nice guy. He really was. He just fell on hard times.” Molden said he’d ask the man why he didn’t stay in a shelter but he didn’t answer. “Something has got to be done,” Molden said. “People living on the street and people just die and they don’t even clean it up.”

    By Wednesday evening, as workers went home for the night, they walked past the port-a-potty where the man had lived. Belongings were still there: shoes, umbrella, bottle of orange juice, empty beer can, jacket, $25 Panera gift card, plastic spoon, a debit card with the name Grover Perry on it.

  56. 56.

    Kay

    “On the orders of AG Jeff Sessions, Justice Department prosecutors have begun asking FBI agents to explain the evidence they found in a now dormant criminal investigation into a uranium deal that critics have linked to Bill & Hillary Clinton.”

    They’re amazing. It never, ever stops. They have been investigating Hillary Clinton for 25 years. She is the single-most investigated individual in this country. Perhaps in the history of this country. One could compare Hillary Clinton to John Kerry – senator, presidential candidate, sec of state. They didn’t investigate him for 25 years! His wife probably has a foundation!

    WTF. There needs to be some kind of reckoning or discussion on the insane hatred of this woman because it is crazy. Crazy like this can’t be ignored. We need some kind of national panel discussion on “what the hell is WITH the Hillary Clinton obsession?”

  58. 58.

    debbie

    In anticipation of a Tweet proclaiming that “Art of the Deal” was an even yuuuger success, I Googled and found that Politifact had already done the work for me!

    It spent 51 weeks on the New York Times’ bestseller list and, according to some reports, sold 1 million copies. Neither the Trump campaign nor the book’s publisher got back to us, so we were unable to verify this figure.

    Instead, we looked at data from Nielsen Bookscan. The data isn’t perfect. For one, it counts sales only since 2001. And for another, it only tallies the number of print copies sold by major booksellers (about 85 percent of the market). According to Nielsen data, The Art of the Deal has sold about 177,000 copies in all its editions:

    Published
    Binding type
    Publisher
    Sales since 2001
    Nov. 1, 1987
    Hardcover
    Random House
    17,000
    Jan. 1, 1989
    Mass market paperback
    Random House
    90,000
    Dec. 1, 2004
    Mass market paperback
    Hachette Book Group
    70,000

    I can’t get tables to format correctly here, but only 17,000 hardcovers were sold, along with two mass paperback editions of 160,000. Back when I was in publishing, we’d have called a frontlist title like this a “failure” and an “instant remainder”!

  71. 71.

    Another Scott

    @OzarkHillbilly: Plus, she’s the highest-profile, most persistent advocate for women in American politics (and has been for decades). She stands in the way of the GOP’s policies of continued subjugation of women, and as a result, stands in the way of their hold on power.

    She’s also a talisman to their supporters and the press, one that distracts them from what’s really happening. For them, she’s the original clickbait listicle.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  75. 75.

    mike in dc

    @Kay: This is more about job protection for Sessions. Trump is unhappy he hadn’t done this yet. He’s throwing it out there to appease him, presumably so he can continue putting the dark folks down a few months longer.

  77. 77.

    debbie

    @raven:

    Right. Time to plan. Keep in mind that they’re getting rid of personal exemptions. So, for instance, my standard deduction plus personal exemption for 2017 will be $10,400; while in 2018, my total deduction will be $12,000. Not quite the boggling increase Paul Ryan has insisted it will be.

  78. 78.

    WereBear

    @Elizabelle: It’s true, people who look on shopping as amusement annoy me. Especially on behalf of people who must live that way all the time.

    This year I bought “shoes, clothes, purses or jewelry” because I had put it off for years, mostly because available funds were being diverted to other things.

  79. 79.

    Skepticat

    Each morning, I go to greatergood.com and click through each of the pages, pressing especially firmly at the Animal Rescue Site. This is the morning’s project on Greater Good:
    Help Protect Critical Land for National Parks in Chile
    49,000 DAILY CLICKS FUND THIS PROJECT
    I clicked but bitterly wondered why we can’t protect the national parks—or anything else—in the States.

  81. 81.

    raven

    @debbie: Given our reverse mortgage we went with the standard last year and contributed the max to 403b’s and lowered our income. I guess we have to meet with Mr Genius again to see what’s next.

  85. 85.

    Droppy

    @Tinare: I highly recommend getting the audio version of “What Happened” – Ms. Clinton reads it herself, and it is bracing to hear her calmly and graciously recount all the crap that got dumped on her. It will definitely make you feel worse about what happened (although at this point, can any of us actually feel worse?) but it will give you some hope. There are sane, competent, honest people out there, and we just have to work harder to get them into office.

  86. 86.

    debbie

    @raven:

    Mr Genius

    LOL, I kind of feel sorry for them, having to figure it all out so quickly. Since it’s all so new, you might want to get second opinions.

    If you’re still working, it’s said paychecks will increase in February due to lower tax withholding. I can’t wait for those pennies to trickle in! //

  89. 89.

    danielx

    Grrrr….daughter unit refused to get up for a diagnostic procedure this morning. What do you do when they’re too big to be dragged?

  90. 90.

    d58826

    @Kay: And if I remember the details correctly, the investigation happened several years before the Uranium One decision and the individual involved no longer had any ownership stake in the company. But Hillary did return a library book two weeks late when she was nine and used the Clinton Foundation to pay the 30 cent fine. So there is that.

  94. 94.

    Quinerly

    @Droppy: Thanks for posting this. I haven’t bought it yet and had asked awhile back if she does the audio version. Don’t think it was out yet, didn’t find an answer back then, and then fell off my radar. Never done books on tape before. Leaving for a 6 week trip in about a month. I’ll get the audio version for the drive to Carlsbad, NM. Thanks.

  96. 96.

    Immanentize

    @danielx: drug them first? This makes me so unhappy. My neighbor just found out she has stage four breast cancer — it has already metastasized to her lymph nodes and liver. Because she refused to get any mamogram ever. Ugh. It makes me do sadangry.

  98. 98.

    Elizabelle

    @Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): Books always. Got to keep those authors in business, and reward the good ones.

    ETA: There are copies of Jane Mayer’s Dark Money in the bookstore of railway station. Very limited supply of English language, but that was there. Gratified to see it. It explains a LOT.

    @MomSense: Have not seen the documentary. Do you know if it’s available online?

  99. 99.

    artem1s

    @Kay:

    WTF. There needs to be some kind of reckoning or discussion on the insane hatred of this woman because it is crazy. Crazy like this can’t be ignored. We need some kind of national panel discussion on “what the hell is WITH the Hillary Clinton obsession?”

    It’s actually pretty easy. It’s the insane hatred of ALL women that the media and men in power have distilled and heaped upon one woman. She is a stand in for all of the women who were smarter and more accomplished than our male peers in school and the work place. For the female characters on TV and in movies who were the ball an chain around their men’s ankles. For the female characters in were assaulted or raped or murdered or abused in the opening scene as a plot device so the male protagonist could come in a be a hero. Only Hillary was her own hero; she didn’t need her man; her man needed her. For the women who talked too much, talked too loud, felt too much, weren’t pretty or slim or young or sexy enough. WHO DIDN’T SMILE. She is the missing, dead mother in every Disney movie. She is Eve, the downfall of man.

  100. 100.

    laura

    @Kay: “what the hell is WITH the Hillary Clinton obsession?”

    Just my opinion, but Hillary holds the mirror up and they just can’t even deal with the reflection of their mediocrity. Instead of self improvement and aspirating to do and be better, burn the witch.

  101. 101.

    Kathleen

    @Quinerly: Saturn is ready to enter Capricorn. I watch an astrologer on You Tube who said this happens about every 30 years and cycle lasts 3 years. He then pointed out that every cycle from early 30’s occurred same time Dems shortly before or shortly after Dems were elected.

  102. 102.

    A Ghost to Most

    @raven:
    August 3rd here, if I make it that long. Rump’s election solidified my plans. I can’t work with those people any more.

  103. 103.

    Phylllis

    @debbie: It was an instant remainder as I recall from my old B. Dalton Bookseller days. And even those hardly sold. I recall stripping just about every mass market copy we received as well.

  104. 104.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Immanentize: My one and only neighbor (he and his wife) is dying of lung cancer. When some months ago they first told me he was suffering shortness of breath my first thought was “Heart-lung”. Two months later after some pretty wacky diagnostic tests (amongst which they scoped his esophagus… because… reasons) I asked what his EKG had shown. He said they hadn’t done one. I asked about chest x-rays. They hadn’t done those either. I told him that at his next appointment he needed to demand these most basic tests. He did and they finally did them.

    Stage 4 lung cancer, already metastasized into the bones of his back.

    They started chemo but after a little more than a month he stopped it. It was just too much. Now he is just waiting for the end which seeing as he is now below 100 pounds I expect will come any day now.

    I found out yesterday that my cancer surviving little sis has another brain tumor. She’d been having an increase in petite mal seizures. Couldn’t get into to her neurologist so went to see a friend who’s a nurse practitioner. The friend orders an MRI. There it is. Also looks at MJ’s medical history. Turns out the tumor showed up on her last MRI 3 years ago, but the neurologist never said anything.

    My opinion of those at the height of the medical field has never been all that high but it is now reaching trumpian levels.

  106. 106.

    Jeffro

    @Elizabelle: They shouldn’t even be calling it an ‘overhaul’…it didn’t ‘overhaul’ anything. It actually creates vastly more carve-outs than it takes away.

    I’ll settle for just ‘tax bill’ but it really should be ‘heist’ or ‘bust-out’ (per Josh at TPM)

  107. 107.

    rikyrah

    Prince Harry and Meghan Markle release official engagement photos
    by ALASTAIR JAMIESON

    LONDON — Official portraits showing an informal and affectionate Prince Harry with his fiance Meghan Markle were released Thursday to mark the couple’s engagement ahead of their wedding next year.

    The pictures were taken by New York-based celebrity photographer Alexi Lubomirski at Frogmore House, part of the royal estate at Windsor, near London.

    https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/prince-harry-meghan-markle-release-official-engagement-photos-n831776

  108. 108.

    chopper

    @Kay:

    “what the hell is WITH the Hillary Clinton obsession?”

    every group of fascist assholes needs ’em an emmanuel goldstein.

  109. 109.

    rikyrah

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I still remember the day, 10 years ago, when my mother was diagnosed with lung cancer. I had been helping her with diabetes and its related problems for about a decade. My mother had stopped smoking 25 years prior. I can still remember not believing it. Lung cancer is a muthaphucka, the rapidness of it.

    Cancer, in general, is just rotten and evil.

  110. 110.

    Jeffro

    Just a note (before I go back to pretending to work): while it’s dispiriting that this abomination of a tax bill went through, here’s what’s keeping me smiling (well, that and the Bowie mix I have going in the office this morning):
    – these clowns were so fixated on servicing their Galtian overlords, they forgot to come up with a plan to keep the government from shutting down
    – (also, they haven’t voted to re-authorize CHIP, which helps clarify their priorities to the American public)
    – (also, they haven’t voted on the Dreamers, priorities, etc)
    – and info about all these special carve-outs and tax breaks for the wealthy will continue to dribble out all winter and spring
    – Mueller and Schneiderman are still out there, circling, moving in…
    – The ‘generic ballot’ could not possibly be looking worse for the GOP at this point
    and perhaps most importantly
    – Our side is FIRED. UP. You might even say they’re READY TO GO. ;)

    Be happy warriors, peeps!

  111. 111.

    Immanentize

    @OzarkHillbilly: Geez. I know we are all just waiting for our cells to mutate; but can’t the doctors even pretend to know what they are doing? I will say, in my wife’s case, the Doctors did everything really well (with only a minor excursion into looking for an ulcer). She just didn’t have any symptoms nor did her tumor present in any way that would have been noticed in a regular physical. I feel much better about this all than I would, say, if I were you and your sister. My mother had/has a non-malignant brain tumor. She also had petit mal seizures which was my father’s clue-by-four. This was in the early 60’s when I was just an ankle biter. She has had two surgeries since then. They couldn’t remove it all because of where it is, and she is blind in one eye, but the phenobarb keeps the seizures at bay and she is 87 and active and living quite a nice life, thank you very much! I hope the same for your sister.

  112. 112.

    MomSense

    @Elizabelle:

    I watched it on Netflix. I think they have some books and a website. All I know is that my teenager thoroughly cleaned and organized his room, gave a ton of clothes and other items to friends and goodwill, and then made me get rid of things as well. We did compromise on boxing up some items I’m not ready to part with yet.

  114. 114.

    O. Felix Culpa

    Good morning, all. Just wanted to say how much I appreciate you. You are candles in the darkness, whether you like it or not.

  115. 115.

    Ruckus

    @rikyrah:

    Cancer, in general, is just rotten and evil.

    That it most assuredly it is. Given my proclivity to swear, my version would have had a few more words in it. Some cancers are far more rotten and evil than others. There isn’t one that’s a nothing burger. But some are like an entire carton of after dinner mints.
    I came here to say that I ordered Hillary’s book when I first heard about it. It’s sitting on the top of a bookshelf in my room, I see it when I wake up and when I go to sleep. I can’t bring myself to read it. I want to, I know I should, but the entirety of the political mess I see us in just………. I can’t describe it.

  116. 116.

    nycmt

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: Unless you are a tax planner preparer professional under contract please don’t give tax advice to people. In fact this is incorrect a provision in the last bill that past limits deductibility to tax year 2017 only so there is no prepayment advantage.

  117. 117.

    rikyrah

    @Ruckus:

    I can’t bring myself to read it. I want to, I know I should, but the entirety of the political mess I see us in just………. I can’t describe it.

    I completely understand. Like I said above, I’m too bitter to read it. I’m still in the rage stage, and everytime we see something rotten, stupid, crooked, or idiotic from this crew, my mind goes back to this simple fact:

    It didn’t have to be this way. There was a FAR SUPERIOR CANDIDATE.

    And, it’s the main reason why I have no interest in understanding or forgiving those that voted for him, or were purity ponies. They should NEVER be able to live down the revealing of THEIR lack of character, that resulted in Dolt45.

    NEVER.

  118. 118.

    bemused

    @Kay:

    Aside from the extreme sexism and misogyny directed toward her, I think she has always been and still is greatly feared by the right. She’s too dangerous to them.

  119. 119.

    schrodingers_cat

    @rikyrah: I am at the same stage you are. I argued myself hoarse trying to convince my never HRC ex-friend. She was immune to facts. I could not forgive her for making excuses for Rs after she defended the Muslim ban. I don’t care how many sun salutations she does or how much turmeric she eats that doesn’t give her a pass.

  120. 120.

    Ruckus

    @rikyrah:
    @schrodingers_cat:
    NEVER.
    I agree. This isn’t like forgetting to pay the car registration, or not buying milk, which is what you went to the store to get, this is a fuck up of massive proportions, one that, yes can be fixed eventually, but not if you can’t see because YOUR FUCKING HEAD IS UP YOUR ASS.
    You have to like your HS class president, that’s fine, but you don’t have to like your president, but liking the complete fucking asshole instead of the binary choice of competent or complete fucking asswipe and you chose asswipe? You couldn’t have driven your car off a cliff and spared us the disaster?

  121. 121.

    StringOnAStick

    I had a patient yesterday who is a CPA/tax specialist; she was resigned to having a horrible year of endless work with no time off and lots of overtime because no one really knows that is in this horrible bill and because they have already said they need to pass another one to fix the mistakes in the just passed one. I’m sure they’ll get around to that in a timely fashion, right? This is going to cause a lot of chaos in a lot of businesses and of course for a lot of people, and the pros can’t even tell you what the chaos will be because the R’s aren’t done creating it yet.

  122. 122.

    Yarrow

    @Jeffro:

    Mueller and Schneiderman are still out there, circling, moving in…

    Pretty sure today’s the day Trump’s lawyers meet with Mueller. And then there’s this:

    Foreign Policy reported that the Special Counsel has obtained “records” that reveal McGahn in late January researched the consequences of lying to the FBI and of violating the Logan Act, a centuries-old federal prohibition on private citizens negotiating with hostile foreign governments. The research, conducted with the help of two aides, prompted McGahn to conclude that Flynn had likely committed a crime by discussing sanctions with a top Russian official during the transition, two current administration officials told Foreign Policy.

    Most significantly, the records now in the possession of Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicate McGahn “warned Trump about Flynn’s possible violations” for holding those discussions and lying about them to the FBI, according to Foreign Policy.

    Why is this only coming out now? Could it be because McGahn is meeting with Mueller and he wants to make sure he’s not the one charged with obstruction of justice? “I swear I told the president about Flynn!” Tick tock, motherfuckers.

  123. 123.

    Spanky

    Speaking of cycles …

    WASHINGTON, Dec 21 (Reuters) – The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits increased more than expected last week, but the underlying trend remained consistent with a tightening labor market.

    Initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose 20,000 to a seasonally adjusted 245,000 for the week ended Dec. 16, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Data for the prior week was unrevised. Since mid-October, claims have been confined to a range of 223,000 to 252,000.

    Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims rising to 231,000 in the latest week. Last week marked the 146th straight week that claims remained below the 300,000 threshold, which is associated with a strong labor market. That is the longest such stretch since 1970, when the labor market was smaller.

  125. 125.

    Yarrow

    @OzarkHillbilly: I’m so sorry. That is so difficult. I learned quite a few years ago now that we have to be our own medical advocates. Ask all the questions. Get copies of your bloodwork. Follow up. Most people don’t know that and trust the doctors.

    I generally think doctors are trying to do the right thing but they are busy and miss things. Office staff messes up too–a patient was supposed to get that phone call but the staff didn’t call. Doctors are also often in silos and don’t look at the larger picture–the neurologist doesn’t always talk to the endocrinologist, etc. And heaven forbid if you’re the “interesting patient.” It sucks and you become your own doctor because pretty much no one can help you.

    I hope your neighbor is comfortable and wishing all the best for your sister for the road ahead.

  128. 128.

    Ohio Mom

    @danielx: If they are disabled, you go to probate court and get medical guardianship.

    Other than that, I don’t know. Bribes? An intervention with everyone who cares for her present?

    @Immanentize: If it makes you feel more forgiving to your neighbor, mammograms don’t always find what they are looking for; some breast cancers are so virulant that they metastasize before they are found. By the time a tumor is big enough to be visible on a mammogram, it’s likely to be eight to ten years old.

    Also, some people with Stage IV BC manage to live for a decade or more. It depends a lot on the cancer’s characteristics because there are many subtypes of BC. It also depends on the expertise of one’s doctors. It is worth traveling to a nationally recognized treatment center.

  131. 131.

    Yarrow

    In case anyone’s interested, that VA district that the Dem won by one point went back to a tie yesterday due to a ballot challenge. Now they have to draw the name of the winner of of a hat or box or bowl. Yes, really. It’ll be next Wednesday.

    @vaELECT will meet next Wed, Dec 27 to draw names for #HD94— James Alcorn (@jamesalcorn) December 21, 2017

  132. 132.

    Yarrow

    @Yarrow:
    Also, if you click through you can see the actual bowl they’re using, along with the film canisters. The names will be put in canisters and the canisters into the bowl. It’s nuts.

    WE HAVE A PHOTO Behold, the bowl (which was given to the man in the photo – a different one will be used) and the film canisters.

    More on this photo and the wackadoodle process here: https://t.co/vC1m8lmmUP

    (Thanks to @jamesalcorn for pointing it out where to find the photo). pic.twitter.com/4au5KA9NFx
    — Jordan Pascale (@JWPascale) December 21, 2017

  134. 134.

    Doug R

    Raise your hand if, like me, you bought at least one copy when it was published… but still haven’t been able to face reading it yet. I look forward to starting it once Mueller hands down the final indictments!
    .

    Yup. It’s been on my kindle since the week it came out.

  135. 135.

    HeleninEire

    @rikyrah: So funny. She told me last week that she had started it and loved it. I saw her last night and she said the policy chapters were putting her to sleep and I said “OMG, my Masters degree is in government policy. I’m gonna LOVE those chapters!” We had a good laugh. But I’m still not ready.

  136. 136.

    Kathleen

    @rikyrah: rikyrah I think you would find this book comforting. I know I did but I can’t explain why nor did I expect to have that reaction. It’s like taking a difficult painful journey with a good friend.

  138. 138.

    Jeffro

    @Yarrow: Hey at least this way (instead of doing a coin flip) they don’t have to argue over who calls it, whether to catch it in mid-air, whether or not to flip it before showing it, etc. It’s a tie, they have to break it somehow.

    (come onnnnnnnnn Dems!)

  139. 139.

    debbie

    @Yarrow:

    Bummer, I was hoping they’d use the metal canisters instead of the plastic ones. They were much, much better at containing stuff!

  140. 140.

    Barbara

    @danielx: Depends on how old they are and why they won’t get up. If she is scared, you do one thing, if it is part of a pattern of recalcitrant behavior that takes the immature view that a diagnostic test for her is actually something that is being done for your benefit — you find some way to make clear it isn’t. Parents sometimes have a way of making everything that pertains to their children about themselves. My husband does this and IMHO it is a huge mistake. It’s her life.

  141. 141.

    toujoursdan

    @Kay: Hillary Clinton is Emmanuel Goldstein from “1984”: the object of the Two Minutes Hate; behind every nefarious conspiracy ever hatched (at least when George Soros is taking a nap) and every bad thing that happens; the source of any apparent mistake the Party makes and the root of all that is wrong with everything, everywhere. I suspect that Hillary Clinton will remain the GOP’s Emmanuel Goldstein until 45 leaves office. She serves as a useful object to channel frustration and grievance toward and is useful as a deflection tool when people start to question or to criticize the Party and/or Big Brotherm or try to hold either accountable.

  143. 143.

    trollhattan

    Have not opened my copy either. Will probably do so after finishing “Nixonland,” which I’m reading for the context on why she lost/had it snatched away.

  146. 146.

    J R in WV

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Sorry to hear that, fellow hillbilly. Being a doctor is like being a mechanic or a carpenter, there are some really good ones, lots of OK ones, and some that shouldn’t be doing it at all, ever. Hope she does well.

    All you jackals, thanks for the loud support all year around, you all really help me cope at 3 am when I wake up and can’t get back to sleep for a while. Light a candle against the darkness, indeed!!

  149. 149.

    Schlemazel

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    crap, that is a lot of bad news. Hopefully your sister will battle this to a win.

    I have had a lot of contact with the medical profession and it is true there are a number of them that should be out in the horse barn.

  152. 152.

    Schlemazel

    @Miss Bianca:
    A hørse once bit my sister… No realli! She was Karving her initials on the hørse with the sharpened end of an interspace tøøthbrush given her by Svenge – her brother-in-law – an Oslo dentist and star of many Norwegian møvies: “The Høt Hands of an Oslo Dentist”, “Fillings of Passion”, “The Huge Mølars of Horst Nordfink”. Mynd you, hørse bites Kan be pretti nasti

  153. 153.

    Tazj

    @OzarkHillbilly: So sorry for all the bad news. Hoping for the best outcome and healing for your sister. You and your sister have every right to be angry, it’s awful that it was missed for so long.

  154. 154.

    Miss Bianca

    @Schlemazel: Haven’t you received your notice that you’re about to be sacked? Or do I have to sack the people who were supposed to be sacking you?

  155. 155.

    debbie

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    After rampaging through errands, I’m just seeing this now. I am so sorry for both your sister and your neighbor. Mis- and non-diagnoses are the worst. For all their shiny, bright baubles, the medical system remains deficient in so many ways.

  156. 156.

    Beezus

    Yes! That is me… got it the DAY it was released… but cannot, emotionally, take it on. I even covered it up as seeing her face makes me hurt. I even have this embedded in my email as my ‘signature’ line:
    Hillary had almost 2.9 million more votes…legitimate winner.  

  157. 157.

    The Very Reverend Crimson Fire of Compassion

    @danielx: get her good psychiatric care. Now. The process takes a long time (assembling resources, finding the right therapist, the right approach). My niece had BORS—brachio-oto-renal syndrome. Her significant emotional issues impacted her self-care repeatedly, and she never got the psychiatric and emotional attention she consistently needed. We buried her a year ago this month. I have no idea what your daughter’s issues may be,and every family’s situation is unique. I certainly don’t mean to alarm you unnecessarily, or imply that the two cases are the same. But if she’s not a minor, and not cooperating in her own care—get help now. You and yours are in my prayers.

  159. 159.

    SWMBO

    @danielx: Marbles in the refrigerator? They don’t get the sheets wet and the cold little bastards keep rolling under them until they get up.

  160. 160.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    @Immanentize: yes it does. which means you could also prepay state taxes

    Based on all this, if you expect to itemize deductions in 2017 but not 2018, and are not subject to the alternative minimum tax — often called AMT — it makes sense to prepay your property taxes and 2017 state income taxes. (link)

    If your budget allows, it wouldn’t hurt to prepay some of your estimated 2018 state taxes now. You would simply make a large estimated tax payment now – enough to cover 2018’s taxes. when you file your 2017 state tax return you’ll be entitled to a refund, but instead of taking it, roll it forward to cover 2018’s return.

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