Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

The arc of the moral universe does not bend itself. it is up to us to bend it.

Mediocre white men think RFK Jr’s pathetic midlife crisis is inspirational. The bar is set so low for them, it’s subterranean.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

People are complicated. Love is not.

Hey hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today?

The words do not have to be perfect.

Cancel the cowardly Times and Post and set up an equivalent monthly donation to ProPublica.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Optimism opens the door to great things.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

It is not hopeless, and we are not helpless.

The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.

Everybody saw this coming.

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

If you can’t control your emotions, someone else will.

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

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Reader Interactions

132Comments

  1. 1.

    mad citizen

    Good one! Our court reporters at work have a sign that says “I’m silently correcting your grammar as you talk”

  2. 2.

    Adam L Silverman

    Programming note: By popular demand, we will have a Black Panther open thread with secret spoiler discussion at some point tomorrow, so stay tuned for that, film fanatics.

    You’ll need this:

  12. 12.

    Jeffro

    @Amir Khalid: Very cool! I’m listening to The Boss right now, as a matter of fact. Just had “Seaside Bar Song” on and now it’s “Out In The Street”. Will finish up the night with “Born To Run”, though!

  15. 15.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @mad citizen:

    Our court reporters at work have a sign that says “I’m silently correcting your grammar as you talk”

    I own, and enjoy wearing, a t-shirt with that slogan. I wear it occasionally when I work at the local public library. The librarians adore it!

  18. 18.

    Corner Stone

    Looks like Ms. Wolkoff is going to, ahem, “walk off” with her $26M payment for the inauguration. Lord only knows where that laundered money has gone. Hope she got her cut.

  19. 19.

    Mnemosyne

    @Kayla Rudbek:

    What I will say spoiler-free is that it’s much more of a spy/action movie than a “superhero” movie, so I think people who haven’t been interested in other Marvel movies will like it.

    For one thing, it’s not an origin story like, say, the Spider-Man or Batman movies. It covers the origin stuff in a five-minute prologue and then moves on to the meat of the story.

  21. 21.

    Miss Bianca

    @Mnemosyne: Ooh, I am just *fuming* with impatience. When the hell is my local movie theater going to get it?? Right now we’re in the midst of a two-week run of Jumanji! Get outta here!

  22. 22.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Betty C, you have a great kid! (But you knew that.)

    Happy belated! May your blue pencil remain always sharpened.

  23. 23.

    NotMax

    Present to myself arrived today.

    Have long coveted one of those KitchenAid stand mixers but it’s way too big for my needs and also way too big for anyplace in my kitchen or cabinets. Came across a well-rated, powerful motor unit that is essentially what the the KitchenAid would be after being put through a clothes dryer cycle.

  31. 31.

    dmsilev

    @NotMax: I’ve had one of the real KitchenAids for maybe ten or fifteen years now. Takes up a lot of cabinet space as you say, but it’s worth it. They’re pricey, but last really well; my mom has one that she’s been using for north of forty years.

  32. 32.

    frosty

    @Amir Khalid: Born to Run? Congrats, you’re progressing fast.

    ETA: Technically, it’s an Esquire not a Tele, but since it looks like it’s been modified for a second pickup, it’s going to functionally be a Tele.

  34. 34.

    danielx

    @Bill E Pilgrim:

    Putting Hannity and Edward R. Morrow in the same sentence is nausea inducing, let alone favorably comparing Hannity to Murrow. Perhaps Hannity is the Josef Goebbels of the Trump/Russia story?

  36. 36.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Betty Cracker:

    I police grammar only when paid to do so. No pro bono pedantry from me!

    No worries—there are dozens of us here to help

    @JPL:

    She did good! just sayin

    Ahem—she did WELL

    You’re welcome.

  37. 37.

    dmsilev

    @Amir Khalid: This one didn’t. Which was a bold choice for introducing a character whose origins are less well-known than Batman or Spiderman, but it worked really well.

  41. 41.

    Corner Stone

    “Miss Hicks. Thank you for appearing. Is it true that Trump told you that you were the best piece of ass Lewandowski will ever have? Take your time.”

  44. 44.

    opiejeanne

    @Mnemosyne: The Jumanji reboot is pretty good, funnier than I expected. We saw it on Christmas day. Sort of a strange tradition my older daughter started when we moved up here and thank goodness it wasn’t the usual sexually violent and or gory fare she usually chooses because her dad nearly had a melt-down watching The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (he hadn’t read the book) or the following year Django Unchained, which was a bit more bloody than I expected, even considering Tarantino. Thoroughly enjoyed both but I think not really appropriate on Christmas day. She picked out Boogie Nights for her 13 yo sister to watch. Ahem. She apologized when that one moment happened and everyone gasped.

    Which reminds me, we’re going to Disneyworld for two days next week with that same adult child.

  46. 46.

    Amir Khalid

    @frosty:
    I’ve heard Bruce’s guitar described as a Frankenfender because he’s had it modded beyond recognition since he bought it as a teenager.

  47. 47.

    Adam L Silverman

    @NotMax: You know they make a smaller sized Kitchen-Aide?

    Though what you got looks good to. Let me see if I can find the video of that for you.

  49. 49.

    Gelfling 545

    @NotMax: I have a small kitchen but a slice of precious counter space goes to the Kitchen Aid. I’d save it if the house were on fire.

  50. 50.

    tobie

    @Corner Stone: Does anyone know if Hope Hicks will be testifying in an open hearing or behind closed doors tomorrow? What does the woman sound like? Does she think? Judging from what’s said about her in Michael Wolf’s book, she sound like little more than a gal Friday.

  54. 54.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @tobie:

    Judging from what’s said about her in Michael Wolf’s book, she sound like little more than a gal Friday.

    Who probably saw and heard a lot.

  55. 55.

    Adam L Silverman

    More good news out of the Federal courts today, in addition to the Supremes saying they won’t allow the administration to leap frog their DACA appeal.

    This was an en banc decision.

  56. 56.

    frosty

    @Amir Khalid: Sounds about right. And an Esquire would be what a teenager could afford, not the higher-end Tele.

    It’s funny that the collectors and amateurs want everything original while the pros hack the hell out of their axes.

  59. 59.

    efgoldman

    @dmsilev:

    I’ve had one of the real KitchenAids for maybe ten or fifteen years now. Takes up a lot of cabinet space as you say, but it’s worth it. They’re pricey, but last really well

    I bought one for mrs efg some xmases ago, for WAY less than you can get one now.
    Mrs efg’s late sister had one; it is our daughter’s. She will get it when they move and have a real kitchen (not the tiny galley kitchen that have now.)

  61. 61.

    No Drought No More

    Ivanka’s* well practiced and taken offense about being asked questions about daddykins sexual assaults is on par with Liz Cheney’s faux outrage that her gay daughter was referred to as being her gay daughter by John Edwards during his debate with her husband in 2004 a.k.a. “the year of the swift boat smear’.

    *(Mark my words: before this tragic-comedy concludes, she’ll go full blown Greta Garbo on us all.. “Ivanka to be alone”.

  64. 64.

    Mnemosyne

    @opiejeanne:

    There’s a film critic named Tasha Robinson who used to write for the now-defunct review website The Dissolve, and was also part of their podcast. She said on the podcast one time that she was banned from choosing her family’s Christmas Day movie after she picked Grave of the Fireflies. I can’t really blame her family, either.

    Have fun at WDW! I’m assuming she knows way more insider tips than I do. I was a little shell-shocked at how gigantic it is when we went last year. I’m so used to our (relatively) petite and walkable Disneyland and Disney California Adventure.

  66. 66.

    Corner Stone

    @tobie: I personally think she’s been feeding Mueller info all this time. Even though she seems to get upset quite easily I think that’s just an act. She comes across to me like a brute.

  67. 67.

    efgoldman

    @tobie:

    Does anyone know if Hope Hicks will be testifying in an open hearing or behind closed doors tomorrow?

    Doesn’t matter. Nothing that any of the house committees does matters until one or both houses change majorities.But then, they all better duck and run.

  68. 68.

    Olivia

    @NotMax: I have wanted one for a long time also and finally splurged. I wasn’t sure I would use it enough to make it worthwhile. I make different kinds of dumplings for soups and other dishes. My hands are a bit arthritic and it was getting difficult to knead them properly. That lovely mixer makes better dumplings than I ever did by hand. If I never use it for anything else it is worth every penny I paid for it.

  72. 72.

    Lyrebird

    @NotMax: Hmm, looks pretty cool!

    And maybe some of the volunteer copy editors could help out the manufacturer, since they’ve got at least two typos in their Amazon ad.

    My favorite kinds are the ones you find from incomplete translations, like our hair styling trimmer that promises no cratches or pinches!

  73. 73.

    Jeffro

    @Adam L Silverman: If there’s one thing that the conservative majority on SCOTUS is consistent about, it’s about advancing the interests of big business and/or the very wealthy at the expense of workers, full stop. I mean, the rest is just window dressing.

  74. 74.

    J R in WV

    @AliceBlue:

    We inherited a Sunbeam mixer from my MIL, it worked great for quite a while, but then one Xmas season wife was working on some fruit and nut bar batter when a puff of smoke came out of the cooling vents on the back.

    I borrowed a KitchenAid from the neighbors to grind the bulk of a deer into burger in bags to freeze, and worried I might burn it up, so now I have a 750 watt model using it’s share of counter space.

  77. 77.

    Gin & Tonic

    Saw this on the Twitter; sorry if it’s been discussed here. Some of you may recall an MSNBC talking head by the name of Dylan Ratigan. So he’s announced his candidacy for the D nomination for Congress in NY-21 (far upstate.) In the process he mentions that he has never voted. Never, as in, apparently, never. What the fuck? “Vote for me, I don’t give enough of a shit about the political system to ever engage in it myself, but I’m sure I’ll be good at it, because I’m a middle-aged white dude.”

    Go away, dude. Seriously.

  79. 79.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Gin & Tonic: If he’s the guy I’m thinking of, he tended to be very shouty and had insights like, “This country has serious problems, and we’ve got to start getting serious about finding solutions!”

  82. 82.

    Corner Stone

    @Gin & Tonic: I thought he had gone away years ago after some kind of RV Across America Bullshit Tour.
    He sounds like a real fucking pain in the ass and a major candidate for Bernie Bro Hall of Fame.

  88. 88.

    J R in WV

    I was excited to see the news about the Black Panther film thread coming up tomorrow. We just got back from town, first we bought some new luggage for our upcoming trip, then the movie, then dinner and margaritas at one of the OK Mexican places.

    Late on a Monday, the dinner choices are limited in a small town.

    By the way, I had heard somewhere, probably here, that there are two clips of film embedded in the credits, which were pretty interesting on their own. When people started packing up to leave, I said, loudly, there’s more movie during the credits, two pieces. Some left anyway. Others stayed for the first clip. No one stayed for the final clip, which was a little opaque to me, but I’m not a comics guy. Saw Stan Lee’s name go by on the credits, did NOT see him in the scene where he was credited, but I don’t really know him to see him.

    I have to go to town again tomorrow, but will hope to get into the Panther thread when it happens. Great movie, good bad guys, great heroes. We enjoyed it a lot.

  90. 90.

    Waratah

    @NotMax: I had the same problem with the big KitchenAid mixers so I bought the new mini one. Takes up a whole lot less space, as far as my limited knowledge on mechanical part it is the same strength. I think you can add all the attachments the big one uses. The bowelnsize is smaller but it holds the batter for my cookie and cakes I make.

  91. 91.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    Having seen Black Panther last week, we just went out to see the new Aardman film, Early Man. It was cute enough, but I’m not sure they’ll ever reach the heights of Chicken Run again.

    The big surprise was the audience, which was non-existent except for us. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced that before. OK, I know that it was competing at the same multiplex with Panther and Jumanji and Yet-Another-Shades-Of-Gray-Movie, but still… I didn’t think I was the only Wallace & Gromit fan in town.

    @Mnemosyne: I was really surprised at how good Johnson was in Moana, which we recently rented so we could catch up a little with the films the granddaughter is fanatical about. Still don’t have too much interest in seeing any of his films though. Except maybe a Mummy movie. Those look like the kind of crap that’s fun to watch solo when my wife is asleep.

  92. 92.

    Amir Khalid

    @frosty:
    I know, right? For instance, I don’t understand why players would prefer the vintage three-saddle bridge on a Tele. All it does is make it impossible to intonate the guitar properly.

  93. 93.

    Another Scott

    Reuters: BREAKING NEWS:Joseph Yun, chief U.S. negotiator with North Korea, announces retirement , cites personal reasons: U.S. State Department

    Interesting timing… :-/

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  95. 95.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Mnemosyne: Yep, I was really proud of myself for actually spotting Stan myself without having to read spoilers on the internet to find out.

  96. 96.

    Brachiator

    @Kayla Rudbek:

    Still need to get to Black Panther, so here’s a commentary on Shuri as a scientist from Scientific American.

    Shuri is the fictional version of the women in “Hidden Figures.”

  98. 98.

    Kayla Rudbek

    @Mnemosyne: then I think that Mr. Rudbek will enjoy it (he’s been watching The Americans show about the Soviet deep-cover spies in 1980s America)

  99. 99.

    Mnemosyne

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    He’s apparently very nice and professional to work with, too. I was talking to someone who worked with him on Moana that had nothing but praise for him.

    It helped that he really loved being asked to make a movie about Oceania since everyone forgets he’s half-Samoan (his mother was Samoan and his father was Black Canadian).

  102. 102.

    tobie

    @Another Scott: Timing is interesting but also frightening. I imagine Yun is about as experienced a hand as we have with North Korean negotiations. Who in the clown car in the White House or at State can replace him? Everyday the ship of state looks more like a ship lost at sea.

  103. 103.

    smintheus

    I for one wish that Trump had been on hand in Florida. I can only imagine how well it would have turned out.

  104. 104.

    efgoldman

    @Adam L Silverman:

    There is no way Cernovich is the new Murrow.

    Nobody is the new Murrow. Cronkite was a suitable successor, and Peter Jennings was close – also died from smoking.

  106. 106.

    sanjeevs

    WASHINGTON — The first lady, Melania Trump, has parted ways with an adviser after news about the adviser’s firm reaping $26 million in payments to help plan President Trump’s inauguration.
    Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, who has been friends with Mrs. Trump for years, had been working on a contract basis as an unpaid senior adviser to the office of the first lady.

    Also says:
    1. Tom Barrack was in charge of the inaugural committee (Barrack is rumoured to have brought Manafort into the campaign
    2. Mark Burnett was paid by the committee, for work done on the inauguration at the request of Donald Trump

    Back since Truman one company has organized the inauguration. It was changed to WIS Media owned by one of Melania’s friends which was set up in late 2016.

  108. 108.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Mnemosyne: She looks good. Some people age better than others. I also wish her well; she shouldn’t still be being fucked with for something that happened 20 years ago.

  112. 112.

    satby

    @NotMax: congratulations on your new mixer, have fun with it. A classic Kitchen Aid was my 50th birthday present to myself. I love it though I seldom have much reason to use it much just cooking for myself.

  113. 113.

    Amir Khalid

    @efgoldman:
    Intonating a guitar is not the same as tuning it, although the process does involve tuning. It’s guitarist-speak for making fine adjustments to the vibrating length of the strings so that the guitar is in tune all along the neck from nut to highest fret. This is done by adjusting the position of the saddle. On an electric, the saddle is usually in six metal parts so that you can adjust the length of each individual string. Teles with an echt vintage bridge have a three-part saddle, so intonating them requires a compromise between the two strings that share a saddle, with the result that neither string is intonated quite right.

  114. 114.

    efgoldman

    @Amir Khalid:

    Intonating a guitar is not the same as tuning it

    Mrs efg plays guitar, teaches guitar, performs rudimentary service and repairs, and her friends play in bluegrass bands. I’ve honestly never heard that word, ever

  115. 115.

    dww44

    @efgoldman: Since so many seem to have Kitchen Aid mixer stories, I too bought one about 12 or 15 years ago for much less than retail price today. Bought a refurbished one off the company’s own website for those appliances. Not just mixers, but coffeemakers, hand mixers, etc.

    What I most remember from my growing up years was that most folks in our area had the Sunbeam stand mixer which went the way of all good things when a company gets taken over by a greedy Wall Street guy who proceeds to strip the company of all its good products and good workers. Can’t remember the guy’s name but he truly ruined a great company.

  122. 122.

    frosty

    @Amir Khalid: Some acoustic guitars have a compensated (?) saddle with different points for each string to cross. Many have an angled saddle so the treble strings are shorter than the bass ones. I don’t think any are adjustable like an electric.

    ETA: So basically the intonation is set when it’s built and you need a luthier to unglue, move, and reset the saddle and bridge if it’s off.

  125. 125.

    Another Scott

    @dww44: My great aunt had a Sunbeam stand mixer that served her well for decades. I’m not sure what happened to it.

    But, yeah, “Chainsaw Al” Dunlap destroyed the company.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  127. 127.

    Tehanu

    @danielx:

    Perhaps Hannity is the Josef Goebbels of the Trump/Russia story?
    That’s Stephen Miller.

    Correct. Hannity is the Lord Haw-Haw of the Trump/Russia story.

    Oh, and happy belated birthday, Betty! BTW, Hubby Dearest adores your nym.

  130. 130.

    opiejeanne

    @Mnemosyne: She’s never been but she’s researching and has decided that we will do all four parks in two days. Ok. We had one day in Orlando and we did The Magic Kingdom and Epcot. Her little sister gave us passes but she hasn’t been to Orlando since 2005-ish.

  131. 131.

    Matt McIrvin

    @opiejeanne: In 2013 we tried doing three WDW parks in three days (Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom, Epcot) and we were pretty knocked out by the end. But in two days you could probably have a great time hitting some highlights of all four parks–just husband your FastPasses carefully, and don’t expect to see or do more than a fraction of everything.

    Right now, Hollywood Studios doesn’t have a lot going on because so much of it is shut down for construction, so if you wanted to skip a park entirely that would be the one. People used to say Animal Kingdom was the “half-day park” but it’s really beefed up.

    On our most recent visit, we took 5 1/2 days, spent our third day just recuperating at the hotel pool and the Disney Springs shopping area, and that seemed to go a lot better. I think if we were planning it now we’d build in a break in the middle of every day too, maybe have lunch be the big sit-down meal, and go back in the evening for the nighttime shows and/or hitting rides at lower-demand times.

  132. 132.

    Steeplejack

    @NotMax:

    That is interesting! Bookmarked. I’ve been looking for a food processor in a similar way. Don’t have space for a big one, but I don’t know how small I can go and still have it be worthwhile.

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