Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

This really is a full service blog.

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

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

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

Everybody saw this coming.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

The words do not have to be perfect.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Take your GOP plan out of the witness protection program.

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

Consistently wrong since 2002

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

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

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

I really should read my own blog.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

“woke” is the new caravan.

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

“Squeaker” McCarthy

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

You are here: Home / Wednesday Gratitude Post: One Good Thing

Wednesday Gratitude Post: One Good Thing

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Leaving politics aside (mostly), this week I’m grateful to be living in the Peoples’ Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

I was born in Manhattan, grew up in the Bronx. My parents took us on a week-long visit to the self-styled Hub of the Universe when I was six — we walked (at least part of) the Freedom Trail, went to the MFA and Sturbridge Village, sparked my life-long appreciation for Abigail Adams. Loved it so much that I decided that, once I grew up, I’d come back to Boston. It took me almost 30 years (including a 15-year stint in Michigan) to pull it off. Moved here at the end of 1988, dragging my not-yet-quite-Spousal Unit, and much as we both love the Big Mitten, we’ve never regretted our relocation.

Yes, the winters are long and cold, the summers are brutally humid, spring is an all-too-brief interlude, and fall attracts too godsdamned many leaf-peepers (tourists). We Massholes are too often parochial, faddish, randomly vicious, self-involved know-it-alls… but I’m pretty comfortable with that particular stew of prejudices. And sometimes — as with legalizing same-sex marriage, or supporting our trans families and friends — we *do* make good choices!

(Now, if only we can selfishly avoid nominating the first female U.S. president allowed to take her rightful seat… )

Reader Interactions

60Comments

  1. 1.

    Sister Golden Bear

    I’m grateful people chose to be Massholes not assholes by a 2:1 margin when it came to supporting trans rights. But it’s still dispiriting to see my rights put up for a vote at all.

    However, generally I’m feeling OK about last night — some heartbreaking losses for sure, generally within the range of what was expected — and feeling safer about remaining in the country, although the Trump administration can still significantly hurt trans and LGB people through administrative actions.

    But couldn’t resist sharing a further play on William Carlos Willam poem:

    Sorry
    I have taken
    The Xanax
    That were in
    The medicine cabinet

    And which
    You were probaby
    saving
    For an emergency

    Forgive me
    We elected
    Nazis and dead guys
    And supressed so many votes

    ETA: Wow, first to a new thread! Given my usual unerring talent for posting to dying threads, I should buy lottery tickets today.

  3. 3.

    JPL

    Water Girl has been nice enough to post information on Leto. I copied her comment as a reminder.

    Just putting in one more plug for folks to do what they can to help Leto and Avalune. I know I had to wait until I got paid on the first, and way too many of us have overextended on political donations.

    But how many of us could go 4 months without a paycheck, and one month without both paychecks in a 2-paycheck household? Factor in the need to hire an attorney and (in my opinion) you need a lot more money than the original 5.000 that was posted as the goal for the GoFundMe.

    https://www.gofundme.com/support-michael-barnwell

    There have been 45 contributions totaling ~ 2,500 since Cole first posted the link to the GoFundMe that Leto’s work put together. Many are from folks on Balloon Juice, but there’s no way to know exactly how many.

    They are close to 7,500 now on the GoFundMe, and I would feel a whole lot better if we could get them to the 10k mark.

  4. 4.

    germy

    The most important thing about last night is that we awoke facing two years of building on gains rather than two years fighting desperately to merely stave off losses.

    The ACA, social security, immigration law, on and on.

    Nothing moves backwards now.

    — The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) November 7, 2018

  5. 5.

    mad citizen

    I’m thankful to be here today on my birthday . For some reason I’ve thought for many years it was on JFK’S 1960 election day, but the internet tells me that is tomorrow, Nov. 8. We lived in Indiana but closest hospital was Ohio so I’m a born Buckeye despite never having lived there.

    I’m also grateful for the dog and cat videos I get to watch here.

  8. 8.

    patroclus

    Here in Illinois, we woke up to a brand new day, with the Governor, the House and the Senate all in Dem hands! And Kwame Raoul won the AG race! And we flipped 2 U.S. House seats, contributing to the blue wave nation-wide! We’ll control redistricting, cannabis legalization is on the way, our bond rating will go up and Rauner is gone, so schools and pensions will be funded! Things really couldn’t have gone much better! Nation-wide, well, y’all could have done better, that’s for sure. But flipping the House is very significant and will mean no major Trump-supported legislation and subpoena power.

  9. 9.

    germy

    Just hit me that the House Science Committee will, for the first time in nearly a decade, be led by someone who accepts mainstream climate science
    — Maddie Stone (@themadstone) November 7, 2018

  10. 10.

    Platonailedit

    Statement from President Obama: "Our work goes on. The change we need won't come from one election alone – but it is a start. Last night, voters across the country started it. And I'm hopeful that going forward, we'll begin a return to the values we expect in our public life." pic.twitter.com/dG91J720Qu— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) November 7, 2018

  11. 11.

    Evap

    My youngest came back east last night for a quick trip for a friends wedding. Meanwhile, good friends lost their daughter to a long illness recently. I am grateful that my daughter is happy and healthy, not to mention smart, kind, and beautiful.

  12. 12.

    germy

    Rep. Elijah Cummings: "I want to probe senior Administration officials across the government who have abused their positions of power … as well as President Trump’s decisions to act in his own financial self-interest rather than the best interests of the American people."
    — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) November 7, 2018

  13. 13.

    Platonailedit

    McConnell and Trump are charging out of the gates to lie and frame last night’s election results falsely.

    They will smear the incoming Democratic majority and @NancyPelosi.

    How will you handle this, journalists?

    If you simply repeat their words, you are spreading propaganda.

    — Leah McElrath (@leahmcelrath) November 7, 2018

  15. 15.

    Emma

    I am grateful for all the teachers that shoved American History and Politics into my head more or less forcefully at the University of Illinois in Chicago, and who were not constrained by being scared of pissing off conservative billionaire donors. It makes all the madness less scary when viewed through a long lens.

  16. 16.

    rikyrah

    @germy:

    The most important thing about last night is that we awoke facing two years of building on gains rather than two years fighting desperately to merely stave off losses.

    The ACA, social security, immigration law, on and on.

    Nothing moves backwards now.

    — The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) November 7, 2018

    PREACH IT. TELL IT.

  17. 17.

    Nelle

    I am grateful that my scarlet maple right by the back windows has been putting on a show for nearly a week, each day getting more and more intense in color. A bit bittersweet, as we have to move to another state next year, but what a glory it is.

    I am grateful that I’m doing as well as I am, two months past hip replacement.

    And I am grateful to find that we have a Democratic woman for our next governor and not the odious Kobach. I guess he wasn’t quite as shameless as Brian Kemp in his suppression activities (both were in charge of their own gubernatorial elections), though it isn’t saying much. We had an independent who wouldn’t get out of the race and were concerned he would hand it to Kobach. But, we missed the return of Brownbackistan.

  21. 21.

    Platonailedit

    M*GA Twitter is losing its collective shit over Maxine Waters chairing the Financial Services Committee.

    lol

    — Imani Gandy’d Yams ?? (@AngryBlackLady) November 7, 2018

    Karma B.

  23. 23.

    Betty Cracker

    I lived in Massachusetts for a few years a very long time ago, and I found it as hospitable in some ways as you do, Anne Laurie, but the cold and missing my family drove me back to the swampland. No regrets; I wouldn’t have found my wonderful husband or had my beautiful daughter if I hadn’t come back home, and the birding alone almost makes up for the cretinous human population of Florida. Almost.

    But, just as some people acquire a lifelong rooting interest in a baseball team after just a few years in a city and continue to support that team long after they’ve left it, I hereby declare myself an Honorary Masshole. Therefore, Senators Warren and Markey are my true representatives in the US Senate rather than shitheads Rubio and Scott. Go team!

  25. 25.

    BC in Illinois

    To cheer myself up, I went upstairs to pull a book off the shelf:

    Nancy Pelosi, Know Your Power: A Message to America’s Daughters

    As campaign autobiographies* and political message books go, this is one of them, but it is aimed at young women, so it has a particular resonance.

    *I have a lot of campaign autobiographies on the shelves, going back to Jimmy Carter’s Why Not The Best, which even he noted was not the best book ever written. I no longer have Nixon’s Six Crises, but I do have campaign books from Obama, Gore, both Clintons, two from Elizabeth Warren, Claire McCaskill, John McCain (various), Bernie Sanders’s The Speech, and JFK’s Profiles in Courage (though not the copy that I had back in high school).

    Unlike Trump’s literary endeavors, I am fairly confident that for most of these books, the author has at least read the books themselves.

  26. 26.

    TaMara (HFG)

    This is how every news outlet should frame it:

  27. 27.

    beef

    Said this below in a dead thread, and wanted to repost : I’m looking at the election results and I’m bloody thrilled. Would have been nice to see Beto win, but …

    From where I sit, it looks like Trump’s path to victory in 2020 has closed. His victory in 2016 was a delicate thing. Take away Russian interference or voter suppression, put a sock in Bernie, trade Hillary for someone less known — change almost any one thing, and his electoral college majority falls apart.

    Well, Trump lost voter suppression in WI and MI last night That’s done. And, he’s no longer welcome in PA, judging by the change in voter sentiment there. Oh, and there’s going to be hundreds of thousands of new voters in FL, most of whom probably resent our country’s habit of imprisoning black men.

    So the Republicans get to choose between civil war in their party and following Trump off a cliff. Should be fun to watch.

  30. 30.

    geg6

    @Platonailedit:

    Well, I was trying to think of something I’m grateful for that I haven’t commented on in other threads. Looks like you found it. That. I’m grateful for that.

  32. 32.

    JeanneT

    Grateful to my local House candidate Cathy Albro who ran against Justin Amash. She ran an energetic race in a district stacked for a Republican seat. I hope, after she’s had a chance to recover, she’ll look for ways to stay in politics!

  34. 34.

    Gin & Tonic

    My grandchildren are coming to visit for the next few days. That’s plenty of reason to be grateful right there.

  39. 39.

    A Ghost To Most

    One good thing? Three actually.

    Subpoena power, Nazis!

    Democrats control Colorado.

    Nice fresh Trainwreck, and Sessions heading to the door

  40. 40.

    stinger

    Grateful that my state is sending, for the first time, not just one but TWO women to the US House. Grateful that my state’s delegation is flipping from 1 Dem/3 Repubs to 3 Dems/1 Repub. Of course, that Repub is possibly the most out and proud racist in Congress, but this is a happy thread….

  41. 41.

    scav

    Glad to see — of course hungry for more — greater participation not only in voting (70% of registered in my county!), but also the campaigning and organizing. Alas, the voting is the comparatively easy part, the heavy work slogs on eternally. Waves or ripples help (and can make great surfing) but a sea-change needs more than a one-shot pulse.

    Mmm, above is sort of a mixed blessing to some, although it is the one foremost in my mind. Uncomplicated one? Tom Lehre still makes me laugh.

    I’ll look for you when the war is over! an hour and a half from no-ow.

  42. 42.

    hitchhiker

    Yesterday we bought a bit of land on beautiful Whidbey Island in the old hippie community of Langley. I can’t move to Canada, but this is the next best thing, to be settled happily just a ferry ride away from our astonishing daughters.

  43. 43.

    Middlelee

    I’m grateful for the impressive number of votes the two women won in California congressional districts 01 and 04. They lost to the two GOP scumbags they were working to unseat but both went into their races saying that if they lost they would run again in two years. I am pretty sure they can win in 2020. We have momentum here. AND, in my Nevada County Shannon Moon won the race for sheriff. She worked hard and deserved to win over her male opponent.

  45. 45.

    bookdragon

    Grateful PA rejected Trump-humping gov and senate candidates. And went from zero women to 4 women in our congressional delegation.

  46. 46.

    Ohio Mom

    Today I feel grateful that I know who I am and that I am able to live my value system. I feel grounded.

    And I am grateful to all who helped me reach this juncture.

    (This is in reaction to some recent conversations with a few of my fellow autism moms who do not get that their politics are not furthering the best future for any of our children. I’ll keep trying to move them along though).

  47. 47.

    Mnemosyne

    I’m grateful that we can start putting the brakes on the madness of the Trump administration. Also that my husband is nearly done with his MLIS degree and will be able to officially launch into his new career in January.

  48. 48.

    Brachiator

    @beef:

    From where I sit, it looks like Trump’s path to victory in 2020 has closed. His victory in 2016 was a delicate thing. Take away Russian interference or voter suppression, put a sock in Bernie, trade Hillary for someone less known — change almost any one thing, and his electoral college majority falls apart.

    It’s too early to say anything definitive about 2020, but I don’t see that the midterms have affected Trump’s re-election hopes.

  50. 50.

    Ladyraxterinok

    @hitchhiker: Have you read Betty MacDonald’s book Onions in the Stew about her family’s life on Vashoon (sp?) Island and the commute to Seattle? She wrote The Egg and I earlier. IIRC the Onions book is online at gutenberg.org

  51. 51.

    Mandarama

    I’m grateful that my boys are growing up to be wonderful people. Even though they’re teens, I love being with them. And I’m grateful for our new rescue dog Tully, who I’m slowly learning to know and appreciate.

    Tennessee is full of idjits, and I hate that we’re exporting one to the rest of y’all, but blue Nashville abides.

  55. 55.

    randy khan

    Well, of course I’m grateful for a Democratic House, but specifically grateful for the results in NJ-02 and Dave Bratt’s (now former) district in Virginia.

  56. 56.

    MoxieM

    @hitchhiker: Look out for my old friend Lynn who runs the Parks site on Ebey Island. She is amazing & fantastic. I get regular images from her, and it’s just stunning. She just got the Haller House in Coupeville saved… she’s a powerhouse.

    Hey! I am grateful for her work, and work of all preservationists and park rangers and people in that arena.

  57. 57.

    Mnemosyne

    @gene108:

    Yay! Glad to see that your recovery is moving along. I hope it continues to do so and your new kidney will play nice with the rest of your organs.

  58. 58.

    Mnemosyne

    I just got some family good news — the labs came back after my mother-in-law’s cancer surgery and it’s all good. They were able to remove all of the cancerous tissue and she won’t need radiation or chemo. Phew!

  59. 59.

    J R in WV

    After due consideration, and in spite of WV’s total failure to resist Trump’s mendacious propaganda, I’m grateful for yesterday’s election results. One small state sliding into Republican Brownbackism is small beans compared to the Democratic wins late last night.

  60. 60.

    Michael Cain

    Generally good news all across the West. Flipped the NM and NV governors and Colorado’s state senate, producing three trifectas. Rosen’s Senate win in Nevada. Tester held on in Montana (and if he’d lost, the Senate in 2020 would be that much more difficult). Sinema might still pull it out in AZ — down 16,000, about 600,000 ballots to count, mostly from the more populated counties where she has fared better. Several US House seats. Heck, medical marijuana and Medicaid expansion are leading in Utah.

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