Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

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

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

It’s the corruption, stupid.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Not all heroes wear capes.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Excellent Links / Thursday Morning Open Thread: A Little Reward for the Faithful

Thursday Morning Open Thread: A Little Reward for the Faithful

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Shorter, in case you don’t have time to listen right now:

Politicians, and others in positions of power, should stop corroding civil discourse and seek to unify society, the former US president Barack Obama said in a rare interview conducted by Prince Harry for BBC Radio 4’s Today programme…

Obama reflected on the day he relinquished power to Trump and said: “Overall there was serenity there, more than I would have expected,” but his sense of achievement was laced with a sense of “all the work that was left undone”. He said he viewed each presidency as part of a relay race, but felt he had passed the baton on successfully. “We had run a good race,” he said.

Since leaving office, he said, life appeared to move in slow motion, but he insisted this slower pace could be liberating if it meant he “could spend an extra 45 minutes talking to Michelle or having a long breakfast”…

Prince Harry and Obama spent part of an often personal interview – the first since he left office – discussing their shared “obsession” in empowering a new generation of young civic leaders worldwide, an issue that lies at the heart of the Obama Foundation, the central vehicle for Obama’s post-presidential public work.

He said: “This generation is the most sophisticated, the most tolerant in many ways, the most embracing of diversity, the most tech-savvy, the most entrepreneurial, but they do not have much faith in existing institutions.” …

Asked about anything that he had missed since leaving office, he said he missed the camaderie of his team, adding: “I used to cause traffic, I now experience traffic.”…

Reader Interactions

100Comments

  3. 3.

    CarolDuhart2

    That’s my Obama. Uplifting and trying to get us to do better, like a President should do. The low road can be left to professional cellar-dwellers.

  4. 4.

    NotMax

    Morning head/desk.

    Israel’s transportation minister is pushing ahead with a plan to extend Jerusalem’s soon-to-open high speed rail line to the Western Wall, where he wants to name a future station after U.S. President Donald Trump Source

  6. 6.

    Betty Cracker

    My kiddo, a sixth-generation native Floridian, is driving to Wisconsin with another girl. They will pick up a roommate from Wisconsin who spent the holidays there with family, and then drive back to Tampa. My daughter does not own a proper coat, but she is under the impression that if she wears a sufficient number of tee shirts and hoodies, that will suffice. I tried to disabuse her of that notion. I encouraged her to come by and borrow my winter coat from my Boston years. I told her it weighs 30 pounds and kept me warm when I watched the Berlin Wall fall, but she left without it.

  10. 10.

    rikyrah

    @Betty Cracker:
    She is going to freeze.
    I haven’t been wearing my Eskimo coat. It is too heavy.
    So, I am wearing my winter coat with long johns, two scarves a hat, two pairs of gloves and my insulated boots.

  11. 11.

    Anne Laurie

    @Betty Cracker:

    My daughter does not own a proper coat, but she is under the impression that if she wears a sufficient number of tee shirts and hoodies, that will suffice.

    Someday, this will end up as one of those hilarious “Grammy tells the kiddos about that time Mommy didn’t listen” tales which are always so delightful to the intermediate generation…

  13. 13.

    Peale

    @Betty Cracker: I don’t like wearing my winter coat when i am driving. A few christmases ago I made it half way through Pennsylvania before I realized that I had forgotten to put my winter coat in my back seat. Since I couldn’t turn around at that point, I ended up buying a denim jacket at a Loves travel stop. That was insufficient but all the stores were closed. The next day, I bought a Carhart on sale for about $60 at a tractor supply store. That’s my go to super cold weather coat now.

    Anyway, when she discovers her error and needs to buy one, let the princess know that thrifty shoppers hit up Farm and Fleet or TSC.

  15. 15.

    NotMax

    @Betty Cracker

    That’s at least 1200 miles, each way. Do hope they’re not going to attempt it non-stop.

    FedEx a down vest to the Wisconsin address as a belated Xmas gift surprise for your daughter?

  16. 16.

    raven

    A law prof friend of mine flew up to Wisconsin last week and her coat went to Lauderdale in her luggage!

  20. 20.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: Wow. I just looked at the bottom of my computer screen and they’re right! I hope they enjoy it, might be the only time they are today.

  23. 23.

    debbie

    @rikyrah:

    Oh, I am wearing mine. My coat’s okay to –40 degrees. The weight adds to the warmth. What I can’t do is bring myself to use the hood. I hate hats.

  25. 25.

    dmsilev

    @Betty Cracker: Well, life lessons will be learned.

    When I was living in Chicago, we used to have to talk to incoming grad students (particularly foreign students from tropical climes) around October or so and tell them that yes, winter is coming, this is not a joke, and here’s a shopping list.

  27. 27.

    debbie

    @Betty Cracker:

    Freshman year in college, a friend and I decided to hitch from Boston to Ithaca NY to see friends. It was 50 degrees and sunny when we left. I wasn’t wearing socks and I just had a lightweight army jacket a family friend had given me. Along the way, the temperature dropped below freezing and it started snowing. We were stuck in Cortland NY at 3 am with zero traffic. Believe me, I learned.

  28. 28.

    germy

    Vanity Fair told Hillary Clinton, a

    Professor
    Lawyer
    Business Executive
    Advocate
    First Lady of Arkansas
    First Lady of USA
    Bestseller Author
    Senator Secretary of State
    Presidential Nominee
    $3B raised
    2nd Most Votes in History
    Beat Trump by 3M
    Beat Bernie by 4M

    to go knit..?— Mr. Weeks (@MrDane1982) December 28, 2017

  30. 30.

    Dave

    @debbie: My friend has been visiting us in Syracuse. He’s not from that farther south Philly but I warned him several times that a cold front was coming. He never checked the weather and shows up with a hoodie and some sort of felt shoes or whatnot that I wouldn’t wear in the fall let alone the winter. This was apparently planning for the cold snap. He’s also appalled and didn’t know that salting roads stops working below a certain tempature.

  31. 31.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Dave:

    He’s also appalled and didn’t know that salting roads stops working below a certain tempature.

    Around here, we mix the salt with cinders.

  32. 32.

    debbie

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    They’re big on brining here, which generally works well. Near my neighborhood prior to the first snowfall, the driver drove like a drunken zamboni driver. Instead of evenly spaced straight lines, he laid it down like bric a brac. No way were there that many parked cars or other obstructions. My brother figured it must have been a cost-saving measure: one pass instead of two up and down the street. He later told me the street was basically a sheet of ice after the storm. I’ll have to check later to see what pattern they use this time around.

  33. 33.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Around here, we mix the salt with cinders.

    Two hours north of you, the mixture seems oddly salt-free. I take that back, it depends. MoDOT probably uses a similar “cocktail” state-wide. That being said, they use far less salt than most other state DOT’s I regularly see and deal with.

    Now, if you get local, ie., county, then it’s MORE CINDERS THAN ARE IN HELL!!!!!!!! I swear we’re gonna get black lung disease from the crapton of cinders the county spreads on roads its responsible for.

  34. 34.

    Mustang Bobby

    Some “America First” group is running “Thank you, President Trump” ads on MSNBC during Morning Jolt. I can’t decide if it’s pathetic, pitiful, or desperate. Oh hell, it’s all three.

    Today is a good day for a drive to the Keys.

  35. 35.

    SFAW

    @germy:
    Yeah, that’s great and all that, but all those fake “accomplishments” are counterbalanced by the fact that she was the worst candidate since Louis Abolafia, plus her e-mails, plus Benghaziiii!!!!!!!!

    And those “accomplishments” pale in comparison to the stunning business record of the current occupant of the Oval Office — a “man” who single-handedly brought about the Industrial Revolution, created high tech, and has NEVER been worng.

    Etc., etc.

  38. 38.

    MomSense

    When the winter ocean is steaming, it’s frickin cold!

    It’s only -5 here but the wind blowing off the water is bone chilling cold. I’m moving to Glendale.

  39. 39.

    tobie

    Listening to Obama and his efforts to pull us up and pull us together reminds me that maybe the worst thing Trump has done is to deliberately tear us apart. What President does this? It’s as if he wants a civil war.

  43. 43.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Our county roads, too, are overwhelmingly gravel but the county is responsible for certain municipalities that have paved streets and a couple of roads. Here in Bonnots is one such spot. You could fire up a coal plant for a week based on the amount of cinders they dump onto those spots after any accumulation over 1″.

  44. 44.

    debbie

    @tobie:

    What President does this? It’s as if he wants a civil war.

    This is what Trump’s done his entire adult life. Now, it’s the country. Before, it was real estate development, etc.

  48. 48.

    oclday

    Trump the boar and his wife the nude model only serve to make the Obamas more elegant than they already were.

  53. 53.

    Shalimar

    @NotMax: So the plan is to build a high-speed rail terminal in one of the most archaeologically-sensitive areas in the world. That seems appropriate to name after Trump: Something doomed to fail.

  54. 54.

    Immanentize

    I’m in Richmond Texas — a balmy 40°. Back home, 4°. So I guess I’m ten times happier?

    @Betty Cracker: my son in Boston pretty much has exactly the same attitude about clothes: t-shirts, jeans, athletic socks and sneakers. Plus a hoodie. Unless it is the coldest day. My solution was a Costco fleece hoodie. He loves it and I feel like I did my part. The biggest problem is that light wardrobe keeps you inside on those beautiful cold days when everything crunches under your booted feet.

  55. 55.

    tobie

    @debbie: Yup, I think he’s going from being a real estate fiasco to a tin can despot. It’s only despots who deliberately divide their nation to assume absolute power. I’m supposed to go out for drinks with my neighbors on Dec 30. All are die-hard Republicans, Fox News viewers. Politics will come up, and I’d like to find compelling way to explain to them why Trump has been so destructive. The long view is important.

  56. 56.

    Shalimar

    @LurkerNoLonger: Moore will have to show some evidence for a court to issue an injunction. The Secretary of State’s office already said they didn’t find any evidence of fraud. Absent some evidence that all these Mississippi voters existed, this is still a grifting effort by Moore. He will be raising money for years to challenge this horrible injustice.

  57. 57.

    sherparick1

    @Betty Cracker: She is in for a shock when she steps out of the car. I am from Chicago and remember well these polar outbreaks, with that NW wind dropping the wind chill to -20F. I expect your daughter thinks a breezy 70 F day is cold. Well life is nothing without experiences.

  60. 60.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @tobie: That’s pretty much how Conservatives roll, create endless us verses them. That’s why the GOP can’t do shit with complete control of the goverment because they got to hate on someone, even if it’s in their own party.

  63. 63.

    Betty Cracker

    @sherparick1: Yeah, that’s the thing: She has NO IDEA what that level of cold feels like. Oh well. She’ll gain an appreciation for Florida’s weather. I had to leave temporarily to get that perspective too.

  64. 64.

    hedgehog mobile

    @Mustang Bobby: Was watching Mythbusters on Sci last night and they ran an ad for Trumpy Bear. A stuffed bear with a long red tie and the combover hair. And you can pull sn American flag blanket out of its back and cuddle with it. Apparently not a joke. Blergh.

  65. 65.

    debbie

    @tobie:

    Long view? Point them to his book (which was a failure sales-wise) where he extolls lying and cheating to win a “deal” and then ask them how that matches up with America’s glorious past. Point them to his hiring of working-class people to build his casino, only to stiff them on their wages, and that ask them how that helps to Make America Great Again.

    That ought to get the ball rolling for you.

  67. 67.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    Young people do that here too, but it’s really freezing. They all gave up and put a coat on. I have a big plastic tub with 25 years of accumulated kids hats and gloves and mittens and my son and his friends dragged that out last night.

  68. 68.

    debbie

    @tobie:

    Let me try again:

    Long view? Point them to his book (which was a failure sales-wise) where he extolls lying and cheating to win a “deal” and then ask them how that matches up with America’s glorious past. Point them to his hiring of working-class people to build his c*sino, only to stiff them on their wages, and that ask them how that helps to Make America Great Again.

    That ought to get the ball rolling for you.

  70. 70.

    pluky

    @debbie: Ah Ithaca! Lovely in Summer, brutal in Winter. The son of a friend was accepted to my Alma Mater. She (the friend) and I were discussing the “send the kid off” shopping list when she mentioned he didn’t want/like any of the coats she suggested. My response was don’t push it. Just make sure he had enough slack on his debit card to buy one when he needed to (when, not if). Oh, and a REALLY GOOD pair of boots. Lake effect snow is a Finger Lakes thing too.

  72. 72.

    tobie

    @debbie: I hear you. You don’t need to convince me. I need to figure out what might convince my neighbors. Thanks for the tips.

  74. 74.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    I did the same thing. I don’t know why they do it. It’s some idea they have that they’re invincible. Now that I’m an old lady they have to remind me to take my hat off when I get to work- it’s so much a part of my head I forget to take it off :)

    I have an amazing variety of children’s winter wear. Remember those baby mittens with no thumbs and the string that connects them? THAT didn’t scream “choking hazard” – they’re a tragedy waiting to happen.

  75. 75.

    Sab

    @Betty Cracker: I went to elementary school in Ormond Beach, just north of Daytona. We had actual frosts occasionally. I remember them as very cold.

    Now in northern Ohio. I tried to scrape the snow off the car the other morning without wearing gloves, at 5 degrees. Had to go back inside to thaw my hands out before I was half finished with the car.

  77. 77.

    Amir Khalid

    No one has reported any problems caused by snow or unexpectedly low temperatures in Malaysia. I know you will all be pleased to hear that.

    I saw Star Wars: The Last Jedi today, I noticed that “Episode VIII” is not in the title. Hmm. The movie itself was not at all what I expected, and that’s good; the last thing the franchise needs is to devolve into making its own fanfic. I particularly liked how that goth teen in The Force Awakens who prays to Grandpa’s busted-up helmet has now become a complex and not entirely predictable character His resemblance to a young Severus Snape now seems entirely apt.
    I liked that all the characters from back in the day have developed in unexpected but still very plausible ways. I liked that the cast in this trilogy are no longer mostly white males, and that the women and people of colour are not mere bit players.

    Two memorable quotes:
    “We are who they rise above. That is the burden of every master.”

    “That’s how we win: not by destroying what we hate, but by saving what we love.”

  78. 78.

    Tony P.

    For most people, Barack Obama was historic for being America’s first black president.
    For me, Obama was historic for being the first president I voted for who was younger than me.

    It seems likely that I will be voting for young whippersnappers from now on. (Those that survive the cold, anyhow.) The thought doesn’t bother me: I have always said that questions like the “solvency” of Social Security 75 years from now should be decided by people who stand a chance to be around that long.

    –TP

  79. 79.

    rikyrah

    @tobie:

    Politics will come up, and I’d like to find compelling way to explain to them why Trump has been so destructive. The long view is important.

    1. Why should Dolt45 and family be PROFITING from the Presidency?
    2. WHY were official government agencies putting up Dolt45 properties on their websites?
    3. WHY was his son-in-law caught trafficking in Visas for folks from China?
    4. What kind of justification do they have for separating Parents and Children at Immigration sites?

    I wish I had the linkup to an article about a woman, who was a NURSE in the Oakland area. She was deported, along with her husband. They left 3 daughters in Oakland, 1 is DACA protected, the other 2 American Citizens. They had a follow up article about her that I saw on Facebook last week. She had taken her son to Mexico, because he was young (11 or 12). She ultimately decided that Mexico wasn’t his home. That he should go back to California and live with his sisters. I’d like to have someone explain to me how a NURSE, and HOME OWNER, and a TAX PAYER, is a dreg on American Society, and how this policy is JUST.
    That THIS is what makes America great?

    5. Then there’s the whole thing of this muthaphucka being to goddamned lazy to do his phucking job, and spending TO DATE- 1/3 of his PRESIDENCY AT SOME SORT OF RESORT THAT HE OWNS.
    6. How about the fact that those who prepare the deepest Presidential Intelligence Briefings for him, DON’T PUT ANY OF THE RUSSIAN STUFF IN THE VERBAL BRIEFING, BUT PUT IT IN THE WRITTEN ONE- BECAUSE THEY DON’T THINK THAT THIS MUTHAPHUCKA READS

  80. 80.

    rikyrah

    @Sab:

    Now in northern Ohio. I tried to scrape the snow off the car the other morning without wearing gloves, at 5 degrees. Had to go back inside to thaw my hands out before I was half finished with the car

    Home made spray for the windshield – 2/3 alcohol, 1/3 water.
    Try it.

  81. 81.

    laura

    @raven: Jeebus Raven! You’ve got to wear your loudest ‘Bama shirt evah!11! over some underlayers with a windbreaker.

    Everyone is on pins and needles about your trip and hope for really good reportage during and after. Please fulfill our wishes by having your wishes fulfilled.

    Take your time going, but hurry back.

  82. 82.

    rikyrah

    @MomSense:

    It’s only -5 here but the wind blowing off the water is bone chilling cold. I’m moving to Glendale.

    It’s 5 Here. But, the wind is calm, so that’s a blessing.

    It’s going to make it all the way up to 19 tomorrow – heat wave.
    (only those who don’t live in this kind of weather think that I’m kidding. The difference between 5 and 19 is night and day on the cold scale)

  83. 83.

    d58826

    My B-I-L has spent the past 30 _+ years hating on everything democratic and or liberal., Obama most of all. I’ve had to listen silently to his harangues in order to keep peace in the family. When I mentioned Trump while visiting for XMAS I was promptly told that we don’t discuss Trump in his house. Funny how that works.

  85. 85.

    tobie

    @rikyrah:

    I’d like to have someone explain to me how a NURSE, and HOME OWNER, and a TAX PAYER, is a dreg on American Society, and how this policy is JUST.

    They know my family has immigration issues, and they like us and know we work and pay our taxes, so maybe this will give them pause. Will report back. Hang in there during this cold snap.

  86. 86.

    Vhh

    @Betty Cracker: Kinda like when our son went on a canoe trip in MIlinnesota in September (“still warm, I wont need heavy clothes”) and we got a panicky call and had to express ship a proper sleeping bag and clothes to him. You might starting loading up the Amazon cart now……

  87. 87.

    d58826

    @Vhh: any one familiar with Minnesota knows they have two seasons – winter and 4th of July.

    For those who have seen the Movie Grumpy Old men – that is Minnesota in the winter

    My wife of 40 years grew up in Minneapolis. She told me that the only reason she married me was to move to a warmer climate – not that Philly weather is all the great in January.

  89. 89.

    Ramalama

    @Betty Cracker: just came back from visiting sibs in Madison, WI. The wind chill cut through me like I was buttah. My pad in quebecistan is actually much better in winter because … mountain altitude. Or something.

  92. 92.

    Another Scott

    @sherparick1: It’s more complicated than the temperature and wind.

    When I was in college in Chicago, I remember walking across the Midway when it was -20F. It was neat – the hairs in my nose freezing, etc. Yeah, it was cold, and yeah I had an Eddie Bauer down parka. But the coldest I ever felt was waiting for a school bus as a kid in Georgia when it was about 34F and very humid. Brrr!!!

    Humidity affects how cold we feel because of the way it interacts with our clothing and skin.

    As long as Ms. Cracker, Jr. keeps moving, she’ll probably be relatively fine. :-) She’ll probably have interesting stories, also too.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  94. 94.

    d58826

    @Another Scott: Same here. I’ve been colder in Philly at 24 above with the humidity than -24 in Minneapolis and the low humidity. It’s like the dry heat in Phoenix. I can remember almost electrocuting the dog with a spark of static electricity due to the low humidity.

  97. 97.

    SgrAstar

    @debbie: I hate the hoods too! They fill up with snow, total pita. Don’t you guys use down coats? Here in the Rockies it can get pretty cold, and down coats are ubiquitous. Not heavy, not restrictive, and super cozy.

  99. 99.

    Jay Noble

    This Fall, I bought myself a government-spec extreme cold snorkel-hood parka – just like the JCPenney one I had back in the 70’s except the lining isn’t orange. :-) That one I had been out in -40° weather with no problems.

    It’s lightweight but extremely wam with just a light shirt. Covers my butt and has generous pockets.

    Best of all – only $81 including shipping compared $200-$300 and more for anything comparable.

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