Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

It is not hopeless, and we are not helpless.

One way or another, he’s a liar.

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

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

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

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

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

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

No one could have predicted…

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

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

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

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No-Politics Open Thread

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Here are Ric and Zooey being sweet to each other. This morning they started playing in my closet for no particular reason – they had had their time outside – which wasn’t so sweet in my view.

I haven’t been posting much because I am so bummed out. Maybe I will write about that later, but now I am headed out to a Democratic Party meeting.

 

Reader Interactions

63Comments

  3. 3.

    TenguPhule

    Apparently poutine tacos were invented in 2015.

    I only learned this because of politics. Somehow.

  4. 4.

    Roger Moore

    Like Major**4, I’m avoiding a bit of work at the moment. I’ve had a hell of a time for the past couple of months. My group is short staffed when our whole group of 4 people are here, but for the past 2+ months one coworker has been on an extended family care leave to take care of her mother. For about 3 weeks of the time, my boss was also away on a long-planned vacation. We can deal with this a little bit by telling people we’re short staffed and postponing some work, but there’s a minimum that can’t be postponed, and doing all that has pushed us to the limit.

  10. 10.

    Jeffro

    Since this is no politics let’s talk about music and food…

    I am about a week into an all-old-Aerosmith binge and LOVING it. Let’s face it, if the first Aerosmith album you grew up hearing was “permanent vacation”, you might not be inclined to go back and listen to the older stuff. But it’s been awesome!

    Food: I made spicy coconut corn soup courtesy of the times, and Jimmy’s chopped salad courtesy of the post tonight. Yum!

    That’s all I’ve got! ?

  11. 11.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Reposted from Betty’s afternoon thread. Note update at the bottom.

    Good news, Jackals! I talked with efgoldman for 15-20 minutes this afternoon.

    He is, as you would guess, an intensely private person, but he has authorised me to share the following:

    He has been in hospital for a couple of weeks now, having had major surgery on both feet. He was lucky enough to find a vascular surgeon who specialises in saving limbs rather than removing them — so while he’s looking at months of healing and rehab, he still has his feet and all his toes, I gather.

    He’s not sure just when he’ll be walking again; expects to be in hospital probably at least until Thanksgiving, but may be home for Christmas. He did say all his vital signs are surprisingly good; I told him he’s probably the only one of us whose blood pressure is normal and who’s sleeping well these days!

    Unfortunately, he will not be on line for the duration, but is more than grateful that so many Balloon Juicers miss him, love him, and have been asking about him. I hope in the next day or two I can share his IRL name (it is not efg!) as well as hospital address, room number, direct phone, etc. (Thought I had the latter from the incoming call data, but it turns out to be a dummy number, so I’ll have to track him down through patient info.)

    At any rate, he said he would love to hear from and even see Juicers, so as soon as I — or, more likely, a front-pager — posts the relevant information, do think about sending him a card, giving him a call, or paying him a visit if you’re in the Boston area.

    I plan to talk with him once a week or so and will share news and jokes and curmudgeonliness.

    Will refresh this post with name/addy/room/phone as soon as I can — later today if possible.

    #fuckem

    So it is true that efg would enjoy cards, calls, visits, but does NOT want personal identifiers posted on line. Two suggestions (not mutually exclusive):

    (1) Email me at SiubhanDuinne (at) gmail (dot) com, identify yourself if you think I may not know you, and I’ll pass along efg’s contact information.

    (2) I love the idea of putting up a dedicated EFGoldman thread — no O/Ts, no complaints about lack of edit function, no Trump or Kavanaugh — just loving or snarky or cheeky or curmudgeonly messages to him. After a specified time (48 hours?) I will print out the thread and mail the whole bundle to our Fuckem Friend. (When I had my quadruple bypass in 2001, friends on a Dorothy L. Sayers listserve group did this for me, and I am touched and grateful to this day.)

  14. 14.

    Roger Moore

    @WaterGirl:

    Is there some reason why temporary help isn’t an option?

    Two reasons:

    1) This is a research lab, so it’s not like we can just call up the temp agency and find somebody with the necessary set of skills. It might well take more time to train somebody to do everything we want done than the time they’d be here as a temp.

    2) Our management has been very reluctant to staff us adequately, which is why we’re short staffed even when everyone is here. I don’t think we could convince them to let us hire a temp, even if we could fine one who would work in our lab.

  15. 15.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Forgot to mention: someone (Elizabelle?) suggested sending him reading material and asked what he enjoys. Mrs. efg told me he likes action and detective stories. Those genres would seem to encompass a wide variety, so scour your shelves!

  16. 16.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    no complaints about lack of edit function

    You know there’s still no edit function*.

    *Actually most complaints about there being no edit function occur after you’ve written a comment and noticed the fuckup just after you hit the ‘post comment’ button.

  17. 17.

    MagdaInBlack

    @Jeffro:
    “Sweet Emotion” ….4 giant speakers. I was 17 and might have been a wee bit high.

    Toys Im The Attic ?

  19. 19.

    chris

    @chris: Oops, forgot the snark tag.

    Glad to hear the news of EFG and that he’s with us in spirit. Get well soon, lad!

  21. 21.

    A Ghost To Most

    Your cats are sweet to each other? In our house, it’s all ambushes and spit takes. Outside, no issues.

  22. 22.

    Jeffro

    @MagdaInBlack: Toys In The Attic and Get Your Wings, too!

    It is a little funny, missing out on something this well-known for several decades but oh well. Right music, right time!

  25. 25.

    Jeffro

    @NotMax: I am not clicking but I am 110% certain that is the peas-in -the-guacamole recipe

    And you are right, except for all of the other great recipes of theirs I have made

  26. 26.

    TenguPhule

    @NotMax:

    after this.

    That is a crime against humanity. I don’t think there’s a hazard level high enough for that combination.

  27. 27.

    Elizabelle

    @SiubhanDuinne: I’m so glad you’ve done this! Will email you tonight.

    Have wanted to get back into the habit of writing little letters and cards. And glad to hear he likes detective (mystery?) and action novels.

    RE postcards: here’s some incredible news: hearing through FB friends that it’s becoming hard to find postcard stamps in the post offices, because so many people (all right — so many women!) are writing political postcards. That’s wonderful to hear.

    Also, the Chesterfield County registrar says they’re seeing presidential level absentee ballot voting, and has put out the word for more pollworkers on Election Day.

    Realize that’s kind of political, but no names AND it is encouraging news. We all need some happiness and encouragement.

  30. 30.

    Elizabelle

    @NotMax: I know. The Grey Lady is monetizing everything. First crosswords, and now they have come for our recipes. Foo on them.

  34. 34.

    different-church-lady

    @TenguPhule: Tonight I realized I had to quit going to my favorite cafe because they now have their Pandora permanently locked on the All-AutoTune station.

    And it’s raining. So fuck the very cosmos itself.

  35. 35.

    CaseyL

    I wish my two kitties would cuddle each other. They’re a mother and son, and the mom has never liked having her kid living here. I don’t know if it’s simply jealousy/insecurity, or if she thinks she’s a failure as a mother because he never moved out of the house. (I tell her she’s not; she was an amazing mom to her kittens.)

    I sometimes think about getting a third cat – esp. now that I volunteer at PAWS and every weekend see adorable cats who need forever homes – but I’ve had threebies before, and it’s amazing how two can gang up on the newcomer and make their life hell.

    So then I think about getting a bonded pair, so each will have a backup. And then I realize that would be four cats in my little townhouse, at which point I go lie down until the urge passes.

  39. 39.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Elizabelle:

    it’s becoming hard to find postcard stamps in the post offices, because so many people (all right — so many women!) are writing political postcards. That’s wonderful to hear.

    I can’t tell you how happy that makes me, for so many reasons and on so many levels!

  42. 42.

    Mnemosyne

    @CaseyL:

    If you do get a third one, make sure it’s a (neutered) boy. Female cats tend to be territorial even when spayed, but male cats can live in beautiful harmony once they’re neutered. Look at WereBear’s little tribe — 3 boy cats and 1 pampered girl.

  44. 44.

    WaterGirl

    @SiubhanDuinne: Both are great ideas. Did you see the suggestion of a P.O. box where people could send cards or books or whatever? I could cover the cost of a PO box for a couple of months if you would be willing to check the box and mail it.

    Or I could get a box at the UPS store that’s 2 blocks away, and I could do the collecting and periodic mailing. What do you think?

  45. 45.

    WaterGirl

    @Jeffro: I have actually made dark chocolate sauerkraut cake – people used to beg me to make it. The cake was so moist and you squeezed all the sour out of the sauerkraut before adding it.

  46. 46.

    Mnemosyne

    I stayed home sick today because I have an annoying cold or virus and basically didn’t sleep at all last night. It seems related to the one my niece gave me last year because it also has a weird reverse runny nose effect where I have post-nasal drip that trickles down and makes me cough unless I lay down and position myself on my side just right … which then irritates my surgically healing knee. Argh.

    Sitting up actually makes it worse, which is bizarre, but I’m kind of glad I had this last year and know how to suppress the cough. Still, annoying. Tortellini soup for dinner, which is my favorite cure-all.

  48. 48.

    MahdaInBlack

    @WaterGirl:
    I don’t doubt you but I’m curious what purpose the sauerkraut serves?
    One wonders who first said “Hmm….sauerkraut…chocolate….yes!”

  51. 51.

    mad citizen

    Four cats is a lot of work but a lot of reward. We had four for many years, but have a small yard and of course the adventurous ones go beyond the yard sometimes. Sadly we’ve lost three in the last 18 months, so everyone cherish those felines! It will be a month on the 5th since our 19 year 2 months Lulu had to leave us and I still expect to see her sitting at her place…

    My partner on a technical team left in 2013 and they never replaced her, so I’ve been pretty much like an R Crumb character with stress waves around me since then. It’s actually easier not having to run things by someone else, but also harder because no one to bounce things off and compare notes, and divide and conquer coverage.

  53. 53.

    MagdaInBlack

    @WaterGirl:
    I don’t doubt you but I’m curious what purpose the sauerkraut serves?
    One wonders who first said “Hmm….sauerkraut…chocolate….yes!”

  59. 59.

    WaterGirl

    @HinTN: Not sure where the “salted” comes in. I didn’t look at the recipe that was linked to — maybe that was salty?

    Mock if you will, but this was just really good, really moist, dark chocolate cake.

  60. 60.

    NotMax

    @WaterGirl

    “As God is my witness, I thought it was shredded coconut.”

    :)

    Go ahead and take a look at the recipe. There’s another ingredient unmentioned thus far.

  61. 61.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @MahdaInBlack:

    It’s not just sauerkraut and chocolate. It’s… It’s… (I’m not sure I can do this. DEEP BREATHS.) It’s

    Cherry Cola-Chocolate-Mayonnaise-Sauerkraut Cake

    Also known as “What Fresh Hell Is This?” Cake.

  62. 62.

    Hob

    We just got two 5-month-old sister cats, a year after our previous cats passed away. They’re sweet and hilarious. One is a big fluffball with a huge tail, the other is a 3-legged amputee with no tail who nevertheless runs and jumps all over the place. One thing we were a little worried about at first was that, after being raised together, they had been separated for a few weeks and (as cats sometimes do) became very suspicious of each other after they were reunited. But after a few days they made up, and they’re constantly playing or just hanging out near each other. We’re still waiting for them to actually snuggle though.

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