Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

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

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

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

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

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

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

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

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

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Come on, man.

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

After roe, women are no longer free.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

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

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

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Swamp Things (Open Thread)

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So, here’s the ambient noise at the swamp compound this evening:

What the fuck even is that? Frogs mostly, I’m guessing.

Such a long day! We had a nonstop stream of relatives stopping by to see the new place, so we were occupied with that from 11 AM to 9 PM. We have a driveway gate, so at every arrival and departure, we had to coordinate corralling and releasing the dogs. Not to mention providing assurances via text or phone that, yes, keep going through the scary swamp and past the dead end signs…

During the hullabaloo, the mister and I reaffirmed our bond of silence. One thing that attracted us to each other is our mutual comfort with silence — the absence of a need to fill any lull in conversation with small talk. After everyone finally left, we sat in companionable quiet to watch the World Series, until the mister and the dogs nodded off. Now it’s just the frogs and me, and I’m letting them do the talking.

Regarding the Series: I’m rooting for the Sox since I used to live in Boston, and I adore David Price. But I’m almost hoping the Dodgers pull out a win so we can have a competitive series. If my team ain’t in it, I generally want to see seven games so I feel like I’ve gotten my money’s worth. Oh well. Doesn’t look likely.

What are you up to?

Reader Interactions

84Comments

  2. 2.

    jl

    That is the sound of the wild creatures spreading the word that Lady Cracker has arrived. Soon they will emerge from your new swamp paradise bearing tribute, Just like at the old place.

    So, what’s up with the series. I been out and about, doing stuff.

    P.S. Actually sounds pretty quiet I expected more racket. I’ll remind the Cracker household to post the swamp sounds periodically. Should be a loud chorus of bug noises in the summertime.

  6. 6.

    Cacti

    @jl:

    Dodgers need to get lively quick.

    Their chance to get back in the series was killed and buried last night by Dave Roberts in the 7th inning. :-(

  7. 7.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @jl: All I got was a coyote welcoming me back to the Boy Scout trail this evening(I cheated and took the bus up to the Observatory). The marine layer was coming in early this evening so the view towards downtown sucked but it made for a nice sunset.

  9. 9.

    Steeplejack

    I’m fine with the Red Sox closing it out tonight. I’ve watched all the games, and my main feeling is fatigue. Maybe it’s overflow from politics, but I’m not having my usual feeling of “more good baseball, please.” And a potential Game 7 would be right in the middle of Halloween. That seems weird.

  10. 10.

    Steeplejack

    I’m not getting these Corolla hatchback ads. Is “wilding youths” a big enough demographic? Or am I, as usual, just not getting it because I’m old? (He said, asking other clueless old people.)

  13. 13.

    SiubhanDuinne

    I adore the sound of tree frogs. Those after-dark-Southern-noises are soothing to the mind and the soul.

  14. 14.

    frosty

    I was a Dodgers fan when I lived in California and my dad was a Dodgers fan when he lived in Queens (Ebbets Field!!). And the only thing worse than a Yankees fan at Camden Yards is a Red So fan

    Go Dodgers!!

  17. 17.

    dmsilev

    My next door neighbor (in a condo building, so shared internal wall) is a big Dodgers fan and had some pals over yesterday to watch the game. Even though I didn’t care enough to bother watching myself, I could still more or less follow the flow based on the cheers and expletives coming through the wall…

    Today is quiet; I think maybe yesterday broke his spirit.

  21. 21.

    Ken

    @lgerard: Although in Frogs they got noisier when they attacked, or directed other animals to attack. It’s never exactly clear how they do that, though toxic waste and mutations are mentioned.

  22. 22.

    Steeplejack

    @NotMax:

    Ah, Adrienne Barbeau. Unfortunately, my mental age-progression software has her now—at what, 70 or 75?—looking like Judge Judy’s older sister. Do not want to confirm on the Google.

    ETA: And Swamp Thing merits a Blu-Ray?! Next I’ll find out that C.H.U.D. is getting the Criterion Collection treatment.

  24. 24.

    J R in WV

    On the Big Island someone somehow introduced a little frog common in Puerto Rico, which to me makes a wonderful little chirup sound all night. So around Kona, where my cousin lives, there are dozens of lawn services that offer to exterminate frogs around your house.

    What da fuq gives with that? So strange to me. But they want the silence of night around their mega mansion houses…

    Some of the Cracker sounds seem to me to be night birds in the distance. But I haven’t been in that part of the country in about 45 years now…

  26. 26.

    Viva BrisVegas

    Betty, if all your wildlife leaves in disgust and you are left with just an annoying whine piercing the night, then you know you have been invaded by the maralago bloated bullshitter toad.

    Your only option then will be to drain the swamp.

  27. 27.

    different-church-lady

    As I said in the last thread, one of the very few joys of 2013 was sharing the last Red Sox series with you knuckleheads. So here I am again..

  28. 28.

    jl

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: ” marine layer ”

    For those in other parts of the country, that is how Southern Californians lie about the local shit mist, fog, crummy wet cold junk, whatever you want to call it, overwhelming everything at a certain time of day, every day, for weeks on end.

    I used to live down there. I used to say it too. In my native country, Northern California, we are more honest, and just call it fog.

    But, glad the coyotes are still speaking terms with BillinGlendale. Thanks in advance for pretty sunsetpic.

  29. 29.

    NotMax

    @J R in WV

    Coqui frogs. Non-native species. Noisy and loud as hell* in numbers, also take over habitat from native species. And they smell bad to boot.

    *As in no chance of sleeping noisiness.

  31. 31.

    cope

    Forcing myself to stay awake as one of my fantasy teams is locked in a back and forth tussle. 4 minutes to go for both of us and I am favored by about 2 points which can disappear as quick as a hiccup.

    Helped the mrs. make chicken pot pies today, one for a buddy recently released from physical rehab and one for us. The broth I poached the chicken thighs in was so good I froze it up for future use. Specifically, I want to learn how to make pho.

    She also made a tasty pumpkin cake using her pumpkin cake pan (two hemisphere, glued together with Nutella). Delicious but I was forced to walk it over to the neighbors and had to settle from crumbs. Cleaned off the back porch today and will be planting some hummingbird and butterfly friendly plants and a tree tomorrow.

    OK, so I stalled long enough, the close game ended in my favor by 2 points and in my other league, I am going to win hugely. Off to hit the hay.

  32. 32.

    Steeplejack

    Dodger fans, take heart. At least you won’t have to listen to Joe Buck anymore for a while.

    I’m thinking it ends tonight, because I just heard the quintessential Boston song in the background: the Standells, “Dirty Water.”

  36. 36.

    CaseyL

    I think it’s hilarious that everyone wanted to come out and see your new digs right away! Is it because you moved to even more of a wilderness area than you were already living in? Or they’re curious/concerned that you’re surrounded by Florida Swamp Rednecks?

    How much of a trek is it to get to your place? Did you tell folks to pack food? Is anyone staying over?

  37. 37.

    frosty

    @jl:

    For those in other parts of the country, that is how Southern Californians lie about the local shit mist, fog, crummy wet cold junk, whatever you want to call it

    That’s why I left Huntington Beach for Upland. Well, that and the dogshit everywhere.

  38. 38.

    hilts

    Congrats to the Boston Red Sox for winning the World Series!

    and fuck those goddamn, motherfucking NY Yankees and that goddamn motherfucking scumbag Donald Trump

  41. 41.

    Mary G

    Well, disappointed, but the best team definitely won, and I was a big fan of Alex Cora when he played in LA, so I’m not unhappy. And Joe Buck goes away. I lived at Adams and Hoover in LA in 1958 when the Dodgers arrived a mile or two away, so I experienced the glory years of Koufax and Drysdale. Nothing will top that.

  45. 45.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @jl: Being that it’s low clouds that come from the ocean, marine layer is an accurate description. You should pay attention to OTR this week, you’ll be mentioned.

    ETA: After that, I’ve got some pics from New Zealand that I’ve been asked to share. Milky Way shots included for no additional charge!

  46. 46.

    Mnemosyne

    @Steeplejack:

    You’re not getting that the ads are aimed at the parents of those “wilding youths” who had hatchback Toyota Celicas in their own wilding youth and Toyota is hoping that they will be nostalgic enough to buy a hatchback Corolla. I know that I had a slight twinge when the magic words “Toyota” and “hatchback” were paired up once again.

  52. 52.

    Steeplejack

    @Mnemosyne:

    So this is going to be like the Honda Element, which Honda hoped young hipsters would buy and which Honda eventually killed because aging hippies were buying it and cannibalizing sales of more expensive models.

  54. 54.

    jl

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Everyone can see how quickly and how vicious the Southern California marketing propaganda gets.
    I remember seeing photos of the Los Angeles Basin a hundred years ago, looking from what is now Westwood down to the ocean. Used to be a gorgeous place. Like San Francisco, they should have made it a national park. The Los Angeles basin was too beautiful and pleasant to fill up with suburbs, SF too inhospitable and miserable for human habitation.

    I’ll check back and am still willing to say something nice about a pretty sunset pic.

  60. 60.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @jl: Westwood to the ocean isn’t all that far, maybe 5 miles. Now the view from Echo Mountain or Mt. Lowe(headed there tomorrow morning) back in the late 1800’s was amazing balls.

  61. 61.

    Steeplejack

    @NotMax:

    I know. I almost bought one myself in 2011, but it was too expensive. Got a better deal on the doughty Kia, which has been a great sled.

  64. 64.

    jl

    I read it someplace, but now I can’t find it. Anyway, I read a history of San Francisco, and it said the population dropped by a third during the first year of the Gold Rush. People left for the gold fields, or moved to Benicia and Martinez where the ships were going to offload to riverboats, since they were much better places for ports. San Francisco was a mess of cliffs or endless mudflats.

    So rich real estate people in SF dumped a shitload of rubble and build huge wharves to get back the shipping. And when CA became a state, started bribing the state government for favorable treatment.

    In a just and rational world, Benicia and Martinez would be the metropolis today. Nice climate, beautiful views over the Carquinez Strait. It would be the Golden Horn and Bosporus, combined, of the West! San Francisco should have been made a national park, Teddy Roosevelt would have gotten around to it. The Great Pacific Cliffs, Sand Dunes and Mudflats National Park. With fog viewing stands. The fog is very beautiful coming in during the afternoon, but then you realize it comes in really fast and will on you soon.

    It might have been possible to keep San Francisco under control until the Comstock Lode, which is what really made ‘The City’ big fat and rich.

    A museum had an electronic exhibit of reconstructions of San Francisco scenery before people wrecked it up. Like the Los Angeles Basin, it would have been better stayed that way.

    I may have typed a similar comment years ago. But wanted to show that we in NorCal are not afraid of the truth!

  71. 71.

    Mnemosyne

    @Steeplejack:

    Nah, that already happened with the Scion line. Middle-aged people are already the core market for the Corolla, so this is Toyota trying to please them by doing a callback to their youth.

    If anything, they’re trying to lure people upwards from the Yaris.

  72. 72.

    lahke

    Got caught up on the Good Place, so now I have to view it one show at a time. How very traditional. To fill the gap, my bud introduced me to Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and we watched the first 5 episodes–really liked it. Inventive and funny, love the musical numbers

  73. 73.

    Ruckus

    @Steeplejack:
    You’re welcome.
    It actually was about the best vehicle I ever owned.
    Weird in some ways, extremely practical in others. Gas mileage wasn’t the greatest but not bad in it’s day.

  75. 75.

    Mary G

    Not sure people realize how broad the House playing field is.In our final forecast in 2014, the Deluxe version of our House model would have considered 44 seats to be competitive.In 2016, it would have had 39 competitive seats.This year, it shows *99* competitive races.— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) October 29, 2018

    I choose to be optimistic today and want to flip more than the 63 seats the Republicans did in 2010.

  77. 77.

    M. Bouffant

    @jl: Couple serious ‘quakes north & south & a Puerto Rico-style reconstruction program & we can have your Nat’l. Parks. ‘Til Trump sells them to Putin cheap (& gives Alaska back as a bonus).

  78. 78.

    opiejeanne

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: I took a photo from Highway 18 (Rim of the World Highway) near Lake Arrowhead on a day in 2008 that was so clear you could see the cranes and the tankers in Long Beach in the photo. There’s snow on the ground. This isn’t the best shot of it, but it’s the one I could find quickly.

    Long Beach from Highway 18

  79. 79.

    piratedan

    @Mary G: for me, the one mitigating factor for what I believe is an actual seismic shift in the electorate is the amount of shenanigans the Russian hackers and GOP sec of state officials will be engaged in. From everything I’ve read and seen out and about in the streets, on social media and the genuine anger I’ve seen expressed among people who were rarely publicly political means that if we do NOT see that sentiment expressed in votes that are actually tabulated (i.e. Texas, North Dakota, Georgia, North Carolina) means that our Democracy is not only in danger but has been superseded by people who not only don’t respect the rule of law but who don’t see us as people.

  80. 80.

    opiejeanne

    @jl: Oh please, with the NorCal pride.

    In SoCal we do know the difference between fog and the marine layer. The marine layer never interferes with visibility on the ground, but it does keep baseballs from flying out of Angels stadium.

    The fog rolling into SF is really impressive. Have you ever seen the fog roll in when you’re heading south on 680 about around Dublin about 5 miles before the 580 interchange? It’s an amazing sight too. I spent 9 years in Castro Valley and sometimes we’d be coming home from something and see that fog billowing toward the freeway and swallowing up all the houses and trees and the last of the light for the day. Awe-inspiring if a bit creepy.

  81. 81.

    opiejeanne

    @lahke: We watched a few and found ourselves yelling at the tv about the location names. It’s like they never bothered to look at a map.

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