Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

White supremacy is terrorism.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Trump’s cabinet: like a magic 8 ball that only gives wrong answers.

Oppose, oppose, oppose. do not congratulate. this is not business as usual.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

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

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

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

We’re watching the self-immolation of the leading world power on a level unprecedented in human history.

If America since Jan 2025 hasn’t broken your heart, you haven’t loved her enough.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

The lights are all blinking red.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

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

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Washington Post Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Because of wow. / Thursday Morning Open Thread: Whatever Gives You Joy

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Whatever Gives You Joy

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You should definitely watch Ms. Ohashi’s performance with the sound on.

However, concerning The Hu… YMMV. (John Wayne would absolutely have been a fan, though!):

If you’re in the mood for nostalgia, click on Sanchez’s tweet for more obsolete childhood memories…

Reader Interactions

244Comments

  3. 3.

    JGabriel

    Mongolian band The Hu plays heavy metal with traditional instruments and throat singing …

    Oddly enough, I always thought Tuvan throat-singing would go well with heavy-metal. I suppose Mongolian throat-singing is similar?

    OTOH, I also think bagpipes and punk go well together, so …

  13. 13.

    OzarkHillbilly

    “HP police came n (MY BACKYARD)demanding proof of ownership and this is how they reacted,” he wrote. “(Went 2 jail again)charged me 4 Breaking and entering on my own property even though I had keys.what u can’t c is 9 other officers pointing there AR15 directly at my head …next time just pull the MF trigger let’s get this shit over with (I’m tired) I’m so tired.”

  15. 15.

    Immanentize

    @rikyrah:
    To add, like Kay points out, 80% of what the prosecutors ask you about when you flip — they already know! They are just looking for corroboration for that which they already have testimony or paper on. So when you fudge on the vast majority of what they ask, they have your precious little — uh, future — in their hands and they squeeze.

    But Manafort made the classic mistake of thinking get was smarter than the FBI. He was already convicted — he is not smarter.

  17. 17.

    Betty Cracker

    Still catching up on the news from last night, and OMFG, that Giuliani-Cuomo interview! So basically we’ve reached the end of the strategy that began with “Russians? What Russians?” Giuliani is foreshadowing the final defense, which is “There’s no proof Trump personally directed the hacking.” That can only mean there is definitely proof that Trump personally directed the hacking — I seem to recall him doing so on camera when he said, “Russia, if you’re listening…” Jesus, what a fucking nightmare.

    Lately, I’ve been choosing to unplug from the national nightmare when the workday is done and focus on things that don’t make me want to go on a rampage. I got a telescope for Christmas, and it’s sort of complicated, so I’m still learning to use it. The moon is easy to find and focus on, obviously, so last night we were on the deck checking out the moon and trying to figure out how to find and focus on planets. (If anyone knows of a good app for this purpose, I welcome suggestions!)

    While we were fiddling with the telescope, two owls flew by at eye-level, one in the lead with the other following closely behind, hooting. It was so cool! I’m pretty sure they were barred owls from the calls, and they were large enough to make me glad Badger was right next to me. I’m not sure if they were hunting as a pair or if they were rivals, but I suspect the former because the hooting didn’t sound aggressive.

  21. 21.

    bystander

    For those who wonder what Nooners looks like when she rolls out of bed in the morning, she’s on Moanin’ Joe this morning. Looks like hair and makeup people focused on prying the chardonnay bottle out of her hands and will try to comb her out during a commercial.

  24. 24.

    satby

    Hola from Mexico City! Long day, emotional reunion with older exchange son, and now I’m having some catch up time before the day starts for the family.
    As per usual, my new pet sitter was “trying to trim a mat” from my oldest sick cat and ended up needing to take him to the ER vet for staples over a wound. I expressly told her not to worry about him and the mats, he had 1/2 a kitty shave when the vet techs stopped because of the fragility of his skin. He has a tumor and though not uncomfortable now it’s only a matter of weeks before I have to make the decision. But no, she felt the need to go ahead and “help”. The cat’s fine, but I’m pissed.
    Then to send her the money for that I told her give me her Zelle contact, I send $300, and the message I get back is she’s not registered. So no idea if she gave me the right info or if I can claw back the money.
    I should never leave my house. But I’m going to just have a good day and not think about my own home.

  25. 25.

    CliosFanboy

    to continue the KIA Niro thread from yesterday: I just had my 10,000 maintenance (supposed to be at 7,500, oops) . My average MPG has dropped from 45-50 to 35-40. (it’s at 38.8 now) The maintenance people said lower mileage is normal in cold weather, and it would go back up in spring. That’s still much better than the 25-28 I got with my old Saturn Vue hybrid.

  27. 27.

    Cermet

    Good morning fellow jackals. Great band The Hu. First heard Mongolian throat singing thirty years ago – very interesting sound when combined with both western and traditional (Mongolian) instruments.

    No surprise the orange fart cloud’s current defense is to throw everyone that aided him under the bus. Yet the lying pile of shit still is 100% supported by his racist followers in the thug party and his gullible voters.

  30. 30.

    satby

    The thing from my childhood someone younger wouldn’t understand?

    FUCKING LISTENING WHEN SOMEONE GIVES INSTRUCTIONS.
    Evidently a skill lost in the mists of time.

  33. 33.

    Thoughtful David

    @Betty Cracker:
    Hooting means they were not hunting. Owls are stealth hunters, the best.
    Not to worry about Badger. I’m guessing he probably already weighs >10 lbs. Although the owls look big, they weigh maybe 1.5 lbs. They’re not going to risk attacking a toothy animal that much bigger than they are.

  36. 36.

    satby

    @Baud: Gracias. That was the guy who I took to the vet with Rosue. Rosie got a new lease on life, but Wookie has a pretty poor prognosis, even if I sink potentially thousands into treatment. So he wasn’t uncomfortable when I left, and the vet and I were going to do wait until my poor buddy was starting to get uncomfortable and then let him go gently. It’ll be fine. The poor boy just didn’t need that.

  37. 37.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @satby:

    FUCKING LISTENING WHEN SOMEONE GIVES INSTRUCTIONS.

    Hmmmm… You and I are contemporaries and I don’t remember that.

  38. 38.

    Jerry

    @BruceFromOhio:

    Wow. Just wow. The grin on Ms. Ohashi’s face tells me she is having fun writing that new chapter on defying physics.

    And *every day* is leg day for her.

  39. 39.

    Betty Cracker

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: It’s a Celestron PowerSeeker 127 EQ, non-motorized. (Gift from kid.) People on YouTube have posted videos of Saturn with its rings, etc., using that same telescope, so I’m hoping to find Jupiter, Saturn, etc., in addition to close-ups of the moon and general star-gazing. I’ll check out that app — thank you!

    @debbie: I will check it out. Thank you!

  40. 40.

    Kay

    Tim O’Brien
    ‏
    Verified account

    @TimOBrien
    23m23 minutes ago
    More
    Michael Cohen collected $50,000 from Trump’s company to pay for “tech services” — including trying to rig online polls in Trump’s favor during the 2016 campaign. The contractor says he got less than he was owed and Cohen paid him in cash (stuffed in a bag)

    The cash in a bag part. There’s always cash in a bag- you have to put it in something- but that detail is always in the law enforcement affidavit :)

    Cash in a box. Cash in a jeweled evening clutch. With these people it was probably a bag marked with “$ $ $”, like in a cartoon.

  41. 41.

    James E Powell

    Heading out for the fourth day of the Los Angeles teachers’ strike. Marching around in the rain, waving at cars, hoping that the honking means they support us.

  42. 42.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Betty Cracker: That’s the penultimate defense. The final defense is “Colluding with Russia is AWESOME! People who don’t do it are the real traitors! All hail Leader Vladimir”.

  43. 43.

    debbie

    That gymnast up top is something else. Apparently she had a lousy coach and was ready to quit. She found a better coach and now is burning up the mats! That last splits, though…Ouch.

  44. 44.

    Betty Cracker

    @Thoughtful David: That makes sense. I don’t really worry about Badger being carried off by a bird much; he’s coming up on 20 lbs., and he generally sticks with us and/or Daisy, who weighs about 60 lbs. No bird in its right mind would mess with that pair, I’m thinking.

  45. 45.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    The cash in a bag part.

    No, I think it’s more about paying less than promised. That is what Trump is known for. I don’t think there’s a better way to insure people will screw you right back sometime in the future.

  46. 46.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: My hope is the whole house of cards collapses because Trump and his minions are cheap, awful people who cheat one another and needlessly make enemies who are eager for revenge. And also too stupid to cover their tracks, like when Manafort erased evidence on his hard drive without realizing the same stuff was stored in the cloud. Morons!

  47. 47.

    Kay

    @James E Powell:

    Good for you. I want the TSA agents and air traffic controllers to go out. They’d really only have to be out 4 hours.

    We found out what happens when you do a “wildcat” strike and you;re essential with the West Virginia teachers- here’s what happens- nothing. That was an idle threat all along. They can’t find enough teachers to currently staff West Virginia schools, they could hardly find a whole new batch.

  48. 48.

    Baud

    @Matt McIrvin:

    The final defense is “Colluding with Russia is AWESOME!  “I’d rather be RUSSIAN than DEMOCRAT!

    They’ve already printed the t-shirts.

  54. 54.

    HeleninEire

    Just signed the lease for my new place in Queens. Start to finish the process took less than 3 days. I have the best broker and the best lawyer in all of NY.

    Feeling weepy about leaving but am very excited to get back.

    See you all in 10 days.

  55. 55.

    Baud

    @Ken:

    “If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times, stop evolving! Do you want us to go extinct?”

  56. 56.

    plato

    In a small, central Beijing courtyard, family and friends are gathering to pay tribute to Zhao Ziyang – the most powerful man in China to oppose the decision to send tanks into Tiananmen Square nearly 30 years ago.

    He was subsequently erased from Chinese history for what party officials deemed his “serious mistakes” that day.

    To reach his traditional courtyard home, mourners and journalists alike must run a gauntlet through a twisted alleyway, with groups of police and plain-clothed guards on every corner, waiting to interrogate and prevent would-be visitors.

    Today, on a cold, January day, on the anniversary of Zhao’s death from a stroke in 2005, numerous police vehicles flank every entrance. Parked outside the gate is an unmarked security car; the occupants monitoring arrivals and muttering into radios.

    “What a miracle you all showed up here,” Zhao’s daughter, Wang Yannan, tells the small group of us who made it inside the courtyard.

    China’s Communist Party has spent nearly 30 years trying to erase the events of 4 June 1989 from history and young people here have little knowledge or understanding of what happened that day. The story of Zhao Ziyang is proof those efforts still continue: the man who was the highest ranking Party official in the country at the time of those momentous events is now expunged from the record and, even in death, still regarded as a threat.

  57. 57.

    JMG

    @Kay: Not to mention it’s tough to recruit for a job which is currently offering no pay nor benefits. Not too attractive even to scabs.

  62. 62.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    There really is an “honor among thieves” problem with criminals though. The guy who contracts to rig the online polls is a sleaze, but so is the person who takes the contract. I would bet 50 dollars Trump pays people half of what they’re owed because Trump is dishonest, so he assumes the fee was inflated 50%. It’s how dumb people negotiate – he’s too lazy to find out what it should cost or get multiple bids so they “go with their gut”. You see it with the wall. Their proposals have nothing to do with reality. The proposal is supposed to be grounded in something! What do the materials cost, what’s the labor, how much “wall” are we talking about. They want (variously) 5 or 8 or 25 billion dollars for…something that costs…whatever.

    5 billion dollars is a little more than 2X what they asked for wall funding in their proposed budget- the budget congress didn’t adopt but they never adopt the Presidents budget. But why did it double?

  64. 64.

    MomSense

    How many more times will we as a country do this Fucking ridiculous switcheroo and go from horrible Republican President who fucks up the economy, our relationships with our allies, and foreign policy to only electing democrats after the republicans so royally screw up the media can’t even cover for them. Then the democrats spend most of their term(s) just unfucking the Republican damage and only get to make modest actual progress – at which point the immature left plus the media and republicans all criticize the democrats for not being bold, being establishment, too corporate, or some other assinine hot take.

    Meanwhile we are stuck as a country on wages, education, environment, reproductive rights, healthcare, and every other issue because we just cannot get a long enough run in power to govern the way a modern civilization should.

  66. 66.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Matt McIrvin: You are my hero for preserving the real meaning of “penultimate”.

    What would kids not understand? I dunno. Collect calls? What happened pre-cell phone when you’re late for a rendezvous or separated in a crowd? Daniel Boone raccoon hats like the kid in “Christmas Story”?

  67. 67.

    MomSense

    @JMG:

    Sounds like a slightly shittier gig economy job. All the jobs where I live are low pay and no benefits.

  68. 68.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: Pelosi has been taking a facts-based approach to this wall nonsense, and I am there for it. Like you said, the proposals have to have a connection with reality. Where’s the map of where this wall is supposed to go? What’s it based on? How were the decisions about materials, contractors, etc., made? The Trump people floated $25B less than a year ago, then accepted a fraction of that, then arbitrarily doubled the amount. Based on what? It’s absurd.

    Also, I read that the contractor whom Trump stiffed on the poll-rigging project was the chief information officer at Jerry Falwell Jr.’s Liberty University. LMAO!

  69. 69.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @MomSense:

    Meanwhile we are stuck as a country on wages, education, environment, reproductive rights, healthcare,

    I have to disagree. We are not stuck on any of those issues. We are regressing on all of them.

    ETA rephrasing.

  71. 71.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    Trump wants you to fund a wall where he doesn’t know how long it is, he doesn’t know what it will cost, and he doesn’t own the property he wants to put it on. He wants an unlimited slush fund for “general building: TBD” – it’s insane.

  79. 79.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Kay:

    I want the TSA agents and air traffic controllers to go out.

    Hey now—are you trying to ruin my life?!

    Didn’t one of the previous republican shutdowns end when congressmen had to wait in long airport security lines with the proles? If I have to take one for the team, I will!

    Meanwhile, my daughter is winging her way to Vancouver. Wondering if she will be able to get back into the US at the end of her trip.

  80. 80.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    @MomSense: Again! hahahahahhahahaha

    Wilmer is literally the only person never to vote for russian sanctions.

    He voted against the Magnitsky Act. He voted against sanctions for election interference. And now he skipped a vote on Oleg Deripaska.

  82. 82.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    For a long time in Ohio, before my time as a lawyer, when there was a property dispute over value the two sides would get appraisals of value and then the judge would pick one or pick some other number- some number between the two, but it could theoretically be any number. Someone finally took it up to the court of appeals – “wait a minute- this is wrong- the value has to be based on something- split the difference is just a made-up number”. This approach Trump is taking is out of his dumb, fake business advice books. It’s not how it works. You have to justify your proposal with facts. She can’t even negotiate- they haven’t given her anything and they’re asking. It’s their job to give her those. She doesn’t want the wall- they do.

    They want the money for the wall and they are just now putting forth their argument for why there should BE a wall. They are no where near the point where they get the money!

  83. 83.

    MomSense

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:

    I know but there is zero possible excuse anymore for even the most dense deniers.

    And I love how Rmoney showed his true patriotism in that vote. We should follow him wherever he goes and play an updated version of Obama’s 2012 America ad.

  84. 84.

    Steve in the ATL

    @MomSense: this is perfect. Should be published in every newspaper in the country, after cleaning up the language of course so as not to offend the delicate sensibilities of the real Americans in flyover country.

  88. 88.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Kay: They don’t even know what Wall will be made of; originally it was concrete, but you can’t see though that, now it’s steel bars that can be sawed through, but Trump is blaming that design on Obama.

  89. 89.

    MomSense

    @Steve in the ATL:

    I had to stop using a swear jar because I can’t afford it anymore. My iPhone automatically capitalizes the word Fucking now- it’s that important in my usage.

  91. 91.

    Another Scott

    @Steve in the ATL: Our local NPR station is running daily ads for “TSA PreCheck”. I guess they paid for them before the Trump Shut Down, but still it seems weird at the present time.

    I occasionally think back to the start of Atlas Shrugged – everything’s slowly going to hell, the trains aren’t running, there’s a weird malaise because everything’s falling apart and nobody knows why or what to do about it, “Who is John Galt?”, the whole nine yards.

    Donnie and the Teabaggers/Libertarians who love it apparently think that they’re the heroes rather than the villains of the piece. Since they don’t know or understand anything, it’s not surprising. :-/

    Good luck with your travels. I hope Mrs SitATL is doing well.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  96. 96.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    originally it was concrete, but you can’t see though that, now it’s steel bars that can be sawed through,

    What, they think one can’t saw thru concrete?

  98. 98.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    @satby: Hola, mi amiga. That’s some vaca chingada taking care of your critters. I am so sorry. I’d be pissed beyond belief; in fact I’m pissed now. Follow the instructions should not be that difficult.

    Enjoy your trip and seeing the youth.

    Happy Thursday, Jackals. And Happy T-3 Days Billin.

  99. 99.

    opiejeanne

    @OzarkHillbilly: Beautiful steel filled with concrete was the last design mentioned by the Occupant, if you can call that a design. I’m not sure what steel filled with concrete looks like.

  101. 101.

    satby

    @Steve in the ATL: I also wonder if I’ll be able to get back in 9 days. I think the TSA should do a wild cat strike too. Starting ASAP, because it won’t take long after that that the shutdown ends.

  103. 103.

    germy

    The FBI’s New York branch was reportedly very pro-Trump in 2016. And now…

    The @NewYorkFBI has started a food bank. “As you all know, the public does not realize the impact that a shutdown has on the FBI or on our families.”
    —@adamgoldmanNYT

  104. 104.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @opiejeanne: Have you ever seen the 4′ tall, 6″ diameter poles filled with concrete blocking roads, access points of parking lots and abandoned buildings. They are common in this neck of the woods. It doesn’t matter what they put up. Nothing a little det cord can’t cut thru.

  105. 105.

    bystander

    @MomSense:

    And I love how Rmoney showed his true patriotism in that vote.

    You said it. Guess the whole “Mittens is here to save us!” we were treated to a week ago was just more baloney. I’m so surprised.

    PS Forget jailing Mafia members, Michael Milken and 9/11. If Rudi can disable Chris Cuomo by giving him whiplash with his responses, he could become a default hero.

  106. 106.

    Zinsky

    We can only hope that Mueller’s final conclusions about the Trump crime family are so egregious and hit so deeply that Senate Republicans will have to vote to convict Trump at an impeachment trial!

  108. 108.

    OzarkHillbilly

    if you’re hungry for something different then why not try a Ménage à Trois – a plant-based patty loaded with vegan bacon and shrimp, topped with lettuce tomato, and special sauce? Or perhaps you’re more interested in a One Night Stand, which is a plant-based patty, vegan bacon, vegan cheese, grilled onions, lettuce, tomato, and special sauce on a Hawaiian bun? Or maybe a Fussy Hussy, which consists of a plant-based patty with vegan cheese, shredded lettuce, onion, pickle, and vegan mayo on a Hawaiian bun.

    You can get them all at the Slutty Vegan in Atlanta.

    Cole has also successfully deployed a powerful tactic that has worked to launch other popular brands: influencer marketing, particularly endorsements from a few well-known people. Black Enterprise reports that celebrities like Tyler Perry, Will Packer, Tiffany Haddish, Iyanla Vanzant, Keisha Lance-Bottoms, Porsha Williams, and Jermaine Dupri have stopped by for food and even Snoop Dogg got slutty a while back.

    Finally, the young entrepreneur has combined her business with her passion. “Never in my 31 years of life would I have imagined that so many people would come and support something that started in a two-bedroom apartment,” Cole told a local television station. “For years, Veganism hasn’t been something that’s welcomed in our community because we probably didn’t have the resources or information, so to see so many people come together in the name of food is such a beautiful feeling.”

    Here’s Pinky’s Instagram page.

  110. 110.

    Betty Cracker

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: You’re right — saw a video clip where Trump was asked about the easily sawed bars, and he said that design was commissioned during the Obama admin. Of course, that was a big fat lie — the bars in question were designed by someone Trump chose. Reporters really need a new approach even when asking Trump to comment on the fly. Maybe they should borrow a page from lawyers’ cross-examination strategy and only ask questions they know the answer to so they can be ready to call him on his lies on the spot. He lies all the time, so it’s safe assumption he’ll lie in response to any question, no matter how trivial.

  111. 111.

    Ladyraxterinok

    @rikyrah: Wow! A lot of replies sure show hate for women and diversity. ‘They all want Sharia law and/or socialism’!

  113. 113.

    Cermet

    @Betty Cracker: Jupiter is easy right now; look at the early morning sky and it is the second brightest ‘star’ just a fist width or so below the brightest ‘star’, Venus. Can’t miss those two bright ‘stars’ in the morning sky.

  119. 119.

    Just One More Canuck

    @satby: Mexico City is a fascinating place. I was on a big consulting project there in the late 90’s, and had enough time off to see some sights and make some side trips, including the pyramids and a trip to Taxco (and the tequila was awesome)

  127. 127.

    Leto

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: Reebok and Nike air inflate shoes, mountain bikes that didn’t have shocks/suspensions, recording songs off the radio with cassette tapes, using a balun to switch from 300 ohms to 75 ohms so you could play Atari or Nintendo on your TV

  128. 128.

    satby

    @Just One More Canuck: yeah, we’re going to do some sightseeing today and tomorrow. Plus lots of family time with the 18 month old exchange grandson, who is of course adorable.
    And since a view from Mexico might be nice to have I’m going to try to get my exchange sons to read here and potentially join us jackals. They’re both very politically engaged and would be able to share a different perspective. Though of course they hate Trump. They’re good kids ?

  129. 129.

    Emma

    @opiejeanne: As the daughter of someone who worked in major industrial construction projects in a decade, I can tell you it’s the other way around. Concrete forms are filled with steel rebars to make them both strong and flexible. Steel on the outside pretty much does squat.

  134. 134.

    p.a.

    Haven’t read the whole thread, so may be duplications. Typewriters, white-out, carbon paper, mimeograph machines, wood pencils & crank pencil sharpeners, all landline phones especially pulse phones.

  137. 137.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Wapiti: I suspect since timothy mcveigh and OKC they have pretty tight controls over that stuff. I know that after OKC some of my friends started hording it because who knew if they would ever be able to acquire some more.

    Mexico is a different story. Anything can be had down there, you just have to pay off the right people

  138. 138.

    Barbara

    @CliosFanboy:

    The maintenance people said lower mileage is normal in cold weather

    Cold is the enemy of most electric vehicles because the battery has to be warm and it takes more energy to keep it warm when it’s cold out. In the case of a hybrid, that probably means fewer actual miles driven solely on the electric cycle, and more energy spent to keep it charged. I was told by a Tesla technician that they have been refining technology to make this less of an issue. One thing we have figured out to do is to make sure that when you start the car on a cold morning it is actively charging, which means that the battery will be warmed by the charging, which of course still uses energy but doesn’t deplete the range, which is especially important for an all electric vehicle.

  142. 142.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @satby: Have a wonderful time! I wish I still lived (sorta) in your ‘hood so I could help out with pet duty.

  148. 148.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @schrodingers_cat: Well, we actually have family values. I’m not sure what kind of “family value” allows for the expulsion of a son or daughter for being who and what God made them.

    ETA or one could say we actually value families, Evangelicals not so much

  149. 149.

    OzarkHillbilly

    And speaking of “family values”: Karen Pence: VP’s wife to teach at school that bans LGBT students

    The school makes parents sign an agreement, available online, which states that the school reserves the right to refuse admission to, or remove from the school, any pupil who participates in, supports or condones “sexual immorality, homosexual activity or bi-sexual activity”.

    A separate employment application makes any potential applicants promise not to engage in “premarital sex, cohabitation, extramarital sex, homosexual or lesbian sexual activity, polygamy, transgender identity, any other violation of the unique roles of male and female”.

    In Virginia there is minimal statewide protection for LGBT people. It is legal for private employers to discriminate on the basis of sexual and gender identity.

    The document signed by parents also asks that they do not “propagate doctrines” that are not in agreement with the belief that “God created the heavens and earth and all life by direct act, and not by undirected evolutionary process”. The job application asks potential teachers to agree that “a wife is commanded to submit to her husband”.

  150. 150.

    Bess

    @Leto: Flexible sheets of plastic that you stuck on your TV screen so you could finish the drawings that illustrated the story.

  151. 151.

    Leto

    @OzarkHillbilly: Well it was that or trying to mount, and more importantly stabilize, a record player in the car. Magnetic storage won out. It was portable, more durable, sound quality was slightly worse but most people don’t notice/care. 8 track was just the next evolution in data storage. Hopefully it doesn’t bother you that the FAA/military basically still use 8-track for voice recording, which is fairly important/mandatory. (It works really well)

  152. 152.

    White & Gold Purgatorian

    @Kay: Regarding Cohen and the cash in a bag, apparently it was in a Walmart bag. Not even the class of a brown paper bag for these clowns. And of course, Cohen never coughed up the rest of the promised amount. So Trumpian.

  153. 153.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Leto: I remember cassette tapes coming out at the same time. Maybe they lagged a bit. But the fact is if one could conceive of 8 track tapes, it doesn’t take a whole lot of imagination to come up with a better tape playing arrangement.

  154. 154.

    Yarrow

    @satby: Have a wonderful trip. It sounds really great. Mexico is such an interesting country to visit.

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:

    Wilmer is literally the only person never to vote for russian sanctions.

    Yep. Total mystery why that would be. Hmmm…..Where are his tax returns again?

  155. 155.

    Bess

    @Leto: One of my uncles had a DeSota with a 45 rpm record player built into the dash. It held a stack of about 10 records and would drop down a new one when the one played was finished. I’m pretty sure it came that way from the factory.

    I’m sure it was only useful when the car was parked. But that would have made some smooth parking….

  156. 156.

    Leto

    @satby: Haha, I know I’m not that old, I’m just part of the generation that sits in the middle of pre/post internet/communications revolution.

    Here’s another one: using the card catalogue.

  158. 158.

    Yarrow

    @–bd:

    The Great Depression https://t.co/25eBrzn9hq— John Dingell (@JohnDingell) January 16, 2019

    Dayummmm. In case anyone missed it, that’s John Dingell’s response to the question in the tweet about what one thing from your childhood someone younger wouldn’t understand. The idiots in charge want to send us into a Great Depression II. This time the sequel will suck even more than the original.

  162. 162.

    Patricia Kayden

    @germy: I almost feel like laughing. Trump and his conservative sycophants have demonized the FBI so I wonder how those pro-Trump FBI agents feel now. They’re partly to blame for him being President.

  163. 163.

    germy

    @Patricia Kayden: I’ve always wondered about that. They hated Hillary, they were all in for Trump… and now this. Not only Trump, but his supporters are calling the FBI a bunch of crooks. I wonder what they tell each other.

  164. 164.

    germy

    I remember being about 7 or 8 years old and being taken to the doctor for a checkup and there were ashtrays in the waiting room.

    And I remember a few years earlier, that doctor actually making a housecall when I was sick. He had his little leather bag full of potions and he gave me a shot of something.

    Nowadays it’d be “off to the Urgent Care Center!”

  167. 167.

    Yarrow

    It’s traitors all the way down.

    Ex-Republican Sen. David Vitter is lobbying on behalf of companies linked to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, aligning himself with Trump admin efforts to ease sanctions on his clients, according to documents filed with DOJ. https://t.co/1I7Jv0lL3k— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 17, 2019

  168. 168.

    Leto

    @Bess: I remember those flexible sheets! Of course we also had those in school. Teachers used the “overhead projector”, wrote everything on those clear Mylar sheets, students took notes… that supplanted the chalk board, and was eventually supplanted by the SmartBoard.

    That DeSota sounds wild! Smooth parking indeed!

    @OzarkHillbilly: doing a brief wiki history search, you’re right that they came out at the same time. Just looks like cassette took off quicker due to better marketing and use ability. Either way, I’m glad we have CD’s and digital formats. :)

  170. 170.

    Yarrow

    His testimony is going to be interesting.

    As for the @WSJ article on poll rigging, what I did was at the direction of and for the sole benefit of @realDonaldTrump @POTUS. I truly regret my blind loyalty to a man who doesn’t deserve it.— Michael Cohen (@MichaelCohen212) January 17, 2019

    @germy: Ignore it as just who he is. Means nothing.

  172. 172.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Leto: CDs have better sound but on our roads out here they leave something to be desired on the playablility front (gravel roads are impossible and some of our paved roads are not much better).

  173. 173.

    Bess

    One more and I’m off to bed. It’s that time on this side of the planet.

    Using single trees and double trees to hook horses up to various farm equipment. Throwing hay onto the hay wagon with pitchforks and then into the hay loft.

    Taking sacks of corn to the overshot mill to have it ground into cornmeal and giving the miller 10% of the meal as his fee.

  174. 174.

    Steeplejack

    @germy:

    Interesting to look at that tweet. The New York FBI agents are getting dragged in the comments for their rabid support of Trump, leaking to Giuliani, undercutting Comey, etc., in 2016. Big majority of the comments.

    Sometimes I wonder if we sometimes hyper ourselves into a Balloon Juice bubble, and it’s nice to see that, no, it’s not just us. Other people are seeing the same things.

  175. 175.

    Ohio Mom

    @James E Powell: I’d honk but I’m in Ohio. Good luck, you teachers are doing god’s work there on that picket line.

    We had two long teachers’ strikes when I was growing up in NYC. At the time, I was mostly happy about the days off but looking back, they were formative experiences. What a great example to set for kids, effective peaceful protest. It’s worth several social studies/history units.

  176. 176.

    chris

    @germy: Yup. I have the large black glass ashtray that my grandfather, a doctor, kept and used on his desk. The desk was in his office which was also his examining room.

  177. 177.

    Leto

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: When I taught, I loved my SmartBoard. Ability to use multiple colors to show electronic signal paths, drag schematics around with ease, write tons of information on the board while still showing the schematic/image I was referencing… best thing since sliced bread.

  178. 178.

    Elizabelle

    @germy: A food bank for the New York FBI field office?

    I hope they have to eat crow. And then the bad ones get forcibly retired or sent to very undesireable locations and duties.

  179. 179.

    bemused

    @Betty Cracker:

    Not in the “whatever gives you joy” category but my husband couldn’t stop laughing at Chris Cuomo’s facial expressions reaction to Rudy’s crackpot lying and Rudy bulged out eyes/ranting. Surreal. Who is deteriorating into full blown insanity faster, Rudy or Donnie?

  180. 180.

    RAVEN

    @chris: In “The High and Mighty” not only do they smoke on the plane but a jilted lover pulls out a .38, fires a round as the passenger wrestle it away from him. “We’ll give it back after we land”!

  181. 181.

    Yarrow

    @Steeplejack: You are far more trusting than I am. Active Measures are used on all sides of issues to sway opinion and increase division. Unless I know Twitter commenters or they are verified, I remain skeptical. Just because the bulk of Twitter commenters agree with my view still doesn’t mean it’s a widely held view.

    What could be the reasons Russia or another enemy state would want to increase anger at the FBI? Who would that benefit?

  182. 182.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    @?BillinGlendaleCA @Steve in the ATL: Really? Planet puns? You hate me. Please do not mess with my beloved Pluto, whose demotion I still refuse to recognize.

    I am, however, pleased to announce that I now have a local cocktail named for me: Francesca’s Alibi, which is a variation on the Last Word, with Laphroaig subbed for the gin. Which probably means I spend far too much time drinking in that establishment, but when I did that in my wayward youth, nobody created a drink for me and then named it for me; I just got very heavy pours and short tabs.

  184. 184.

    Yarrow

    @germy: In old buildings you can still occasionally see ashtrays built into walls by elevators or they’re in restroom stalls if the restroom hasn’t been renovated in a long time.

  185. 185.

    chris

    @RAVEN: Don’t remember that one, I’ll have to look it up.

    Don’t know if you did but I smoked on planes, trains and buses. And in the grocery store. No guns tho.

  187. 187.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    @OzarkHillbilly: Since then there are folks who keep a very close eye on large orders of lye as well. A friend of mine who makes and sells soap got an unfriendly visit from some men who wanted to know exactly why she was buying lye in 25 lb bags. She had business records to document her purchases and uses, so she had no issues, but they were not terribly polite about it.

  191. 191.

    germy

    Rudy Giuliani to @ChrisCuomo: “I never said there was no collusion between the campaign or between people in the campaign. I have not. I said the president of the United States,” adding that Trump “didn’t commit a crime.”— Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 17, 2019

    People are acting as if this is some big gotcha but really Ive been saying the same thing for a while. Sure, some low-level campaign staffers (Chief of Staff, National Security Adviser, Son) may have '"colluded" but theres 0 proof that Donald Trump personally ordered the hacking. https://t.co/ZMwYfeTyFT— Glem (@GlemGreenwald) January 17, 2019

  194. 194.

    opiejeanne

    @Emma: I know about reinforced concrete. I’m married to a Civil Engineer. We watched a retaining wall being built in our neighborhood that had no rebar in it, and it was about 5 feet tall. It failed within a couple of months.

  196. 196.

    Miss Bianca

    @schrodingers_cat: telephone line that had more than one “party” on it. You might be the “one ring” household, tje “two-ring” household, etc. My cousin’s summer house in Maine was on a party linr, but it was old-fashioned even by 1970’s standards.

  197. 197.

    Yarrow

    @schrodingers_cat: From wikipedia:

    A party line (multiparty line, shared service line, party wire) is a local loop telephone circuit that is shared by multiple telephone service subscribers.

    Basically multiple homes used the same line. They were useful in more rural or remote places where it was more difficult to get telephone service. Yes, you could listen to every conversation happening so lots of gossip got passed around that way.

  199. 199.

    Ohio Mom

    I have a vague memory from my preschool days of my mother being frustrated when she could not get through to someone who used a party line, the other parties were hogging the line.

    I got the impression, though I did not have these words back then, that she thought her friend should ‘get with the program’ already and quit the part line. I didn’t quite understand what a party line was but knew it was (again, did not have these words back then) embarrassingly déclassé.

  202. 202.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    IT was a plot device on TV shows, and probably movies, in the ’50s, somebody listening in on the party line and having either comic or tragic results. I have a vague recollection of an episode from the Alfred Hitchcock show along those lines

  204. 204.

    Yarrow

    @rikyrah: So glad to see the Democrats holding firm. Trump’s approval numbers keep dropping. It’s got to be making him crazy because those numbers matter to him.

    Trump approval: 39%, down 7 points from December
    Trump disapproval: 53%, up 4

    Support among Republicans: 83%, down 7
    White evangelicals: 66%, down 7
    Men in small cities / suburbs: 42%, down 9

    45% strongly disapprove of Trump's job, 24% strongly approve
    https://t.co/XcZdRVI47q— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 17, 2019

  205. 205.

    opiejeanne

    @schrodingers_cat: Telephone companies didn’t have enough… lines? So several houses would share the same phone line, all with different numbers but you had to wait for the line to be free to use it. When you wanted to call someone you were supposed to listen to see if there was a dial tone or people talking before you dialed. Being dialed over got you yelled at.

    I’m trying to remember how we called a neighbor on our party line. I think I dialed the number and then hung up, and the phone would ring in both their house and mine. I’m not sure that’s right.
    We didn’t have a phone until I was five but my grandparents lived next door and we used theirs up until I started school. Grandma had the phone with the separate earpiece so if you wanted to be very rude you could hold it up to the mouthpiece and produce “pig squeal” for the person on the other end of a call.

  206. 206.

    opiejeanne

    @Miss Bianca: Our party line phone just rang, I think, but that was long before the 70s. I don’t remember having to count the rings but I was still a little kid when we finally got a private line.

  208. 208.

    catclub

    @Kay:

    Michael Cohen collected $50,000 from Trump’s company to pay for “tech services”

    but only paid the ‘contractor’ $13k or so, plus a boxing glove (famous?). Always be grifting.

  209. 209.

    Kelly

    @Bess: We had a party line back in the 1960’s. Then everyone else changed to private lines leaving us as the only household on the party. My folks got a chuckle out of our “private” line for a party line price.

  210. 210.

    chris

    Two things I remember.

    The NBC peacock on a black and white TV. “What’s that, Dad?”

    I wrote letters to people 100 miles away and mailed them. Got answers too. Long distance phone calls were expensive and reserved for special occasions and emergencies.

  211. 211.

    Gravenstone

    Took a dive through the Sanchez tweet. There’s some interesting people chiming in. Damn near choked when I realized Michelle Malkin actually engaged without any obvious vitriol.

  212. 212.

    bemused

    @opiejeanne:

    OMG, I’m old enough to remember party lines which were still in existence in our rural area in the early 70’s. Never did find out who on our party line butted in on a phone call with a friend. Yes, the biggest snoops would listen in but usually it was someone on your party that just really needed to make a call. Needless to say, with party lines you tried not to say anything you didn’t want others to hear.

  213. 213.

    Shana

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: See also: Pillow Talk with Doris Day and Rock Hudson, they’re both on a party line.

    Let me also say that I love that the gymnast isn’t scrawny and anorexic-looking. That woman has muscles!

  214. 214.

    Gravenstone

    @satby:

    Zelle contact

    I believe Zelle with auto-refund any unclaimed funds after 7-10 days. If you can wait that long. My nephew did that to me when it turned out his bank wouldn’t process the Zelle network.

  218. 218.

    tobie

    @germy:Is this quote from Glenn Greenwald for real?

    Sure, some low-level campaign staffers (Chief of Staff, National Security Adviser, Son) may have ‘”colluded”

    Is he being ironic or is his head so far up his backside he doesn’t catch the absurdity of calling future Chief of Staff and future Nat Sec Adv low-level campaign staffers?

  220. 220.

    lurker dean

    @satby: enjoy your trip! sorry to hear about another pet sitter gone rogue, if only they would follow your instructions!

    oh yeah, watch the altitude, it’ll take it out of you before you even realize…

  221. 221.

    Gravenstone

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    “semi-automatic assault rifles, three explosive devices with remote detonators and an anti-tank rocket”

    Dude, if you’re going for the big bangs, why not hold out for full auto capable assault rifles as well? //

  226. 226.

    rikyrah

    Trying to shift shutdown blame, White House slams Dems’ Puerto Rico trip
    01/17/19 10:18 AM
    By Steve Benen

    The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday on the divisions among White House staffers on the best strategy for the ongoing government shutdown, and it included an odd quote from one of Donald Trump’s aides.

    “Everyone wants to know what the president is doing,” an unnamed senior White House official said. “Let me tell you what he’s not doing. He’s not going to Puerto Rico.”

    If it seems like we’ve heard this talking point a lot this week, it’s not your imagination. On Tuesday, a reporter asked the president about the status of negotiations with congressional Democrats. “I’ve been here all weekend,” Trump replied. “A lot of the Democrats were in Puerto Rico, celebrating something. I don’t know, maybe they’re celebrating the shutdown.”

    As Vox noted, “Press secretary Sarah Sanders, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, and White House spokesperson Hogan Gidley all also attacked Democrats for making the trip.”

    I think we’re supposed to believe that Democrats blew off negotiations to have fun in the sun in January. In reality, there were no negotiations to blow off and the trip had a substantive purpose. As the Washington Post reported, the trip, months in the making, was designed to offer a congressional delegation the latest information on Hurricane Maria recovery efforts.

    According to members who participated, the three-day event featured informational sessions on the damage from the 2017 hurricane, meetings with Gov. Ricardo Rosselló, presentations on the controversial oversight board created to meet the island’s bond obligations, and information on how residents of territories can’t access many of the government services available to residents of the 50 states.

  229. 229.

    Gravenstone

    @tobie: Look closer, that’s the “Glem” Greenwald parody account. Although whoever the owner is seems to have ol’ GG down pretty solid.

  230. 230.

    Fair Economist

    That Mongolian band is the sh**s, but that translation is sh**. I don’t speak a word of Mongolian but that was obviously way better in the original language. There were a lot of phrases that look like stock poetic phrases translated literally into English and clunkily at that.

    Amazingly good and natural mixing of musical styles. You’d think heavy metal came from Central Asia.

  231. 231.

    tobie

    @germy: Slaps hand on head. I should have noticed that “nn” became “m”. Thanks for clarifying.

    Thank you, too, Gravestone, for pointing this out. One can never read carefully enough!

  232. 232.

    Gravenstone

    @rikyrah: The White House probably shouldn’t be saying shit about Puerto Rico just now. What, with the recent revelation that Trump argued against any relief monies for PR. Wanting instead to prioritize TX and FL. Not that this should surprise anyone who was paying attention.

  236. 236.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    @Steve in the ATL: Clearly it’s turned into exactly that. It’s a > 10 minute drive and the first time we sat in a bar booth I found out Joe could make a Last Word and he’s in fact a very creative cocktail guy. The food, as you know, is also pretty good. Last night (the swordfish was calling!) he said “I’ve got the lime juice squeezed for your first drink” when I sat down. He surprised me with the creation “if you don’t want another drink, or you don’t like it – I’ll drink it, I swear; it’s that good.” His grin when I told it it was great and asked him if the sub was Laphroaig made my week. I told him to name it and put it on the craft menu, and jokingly told him to name it for me.

  237. 237.

    Bess

    @opiejeanne:

    With our crank phone system each party/house had a ring code. I think ours was two short rings, my grandparents on the same line used a long ring followed by a short ring. Sort of a Morse code thing. One long ring summoned the operator.

    Our operator was named Beulah and she lived in an apartment over the general store. The switchboard was in her living room. People generally did not make calls before 8 AM or after 6 PM so Beulah could have some time for herself. Sometimes when we’d call someone Beulah wouldn’t make the connection but tell us that the party we were seeking was off running errands and would be back at a certain time. It was a full service service. Preceded the “I’m away from the desk at the moment”.

    If we wanted to call Grandmother we just gave the crank a long and a short. She would pick up and you expected some other people would as well. There was no assumption of privacy.

    If our phone or my grandparent’s phone code rang both households would pick up because it was almost certainly another relative and there would be a “conference call.”

    If you really needed to make a call and found the phone busy you would hang up, pick up the receiver and hang it up again. That told people using the line that you had an important call to make and they would free up the line.

    People in the city and closer to the city had rotary dial phones and had had them for some time but further out in the rural area where I grew up we didn’t get phones until 1950/51. A local guy bought a used system from somewhere in the Midwest that had gone rotary and we used it for a few years before we were upgraded. I recall our ring system being sold to somewhere in South America, I think Brazil.

  238. 238.

    mr gravity

    Thread is winding down and someone may have mentioned it but I wish I still had my original skateboard circa mid-sixties. The wheels were metal. Metal Wheels?!!

    There was no protective gear of any kind. Every Saturday for six months somebody went to the ER. Good times.

  239. 239.

    Origuy

    We had a party line until around 1964 when our house in the sticks burned down. We moved to the suburbs and got a regular line. My grandmother worked the switchboard at Indiana University. People would call a central number and she would put a plug in a hole for the person they wanted to talk to. I don’t remember when they got rid of that, but it was in the mid 60s. They converted that space to the computer center, It was in the basement of the HPER (Health, Physical Education, and Recreation) building. They ran the water from the swimming pool through the big mainframe computers to cool them and heat the water for the pool.

  240. 240.

    Original Lee

    Pelosi can’t have a plane for her next foreign junket, sez the Prez*. Just exactly like him.

  242. 242.

    J R in WV

    @Zinsky:

    We can only hope that Mueller’s final conclusions about the Trump crime family are so egregious and hit so deeply that Senate Republicans will have to vote to convict Trump at an impeachment trial!

    We can only hope that enough Republican Senators are indicted for really serious, obvious, guilty-guilty-guilty criminal election fraud cases that the Republican Party no longer has a majority in the Senate.

    Fixed that for ya !!!

  243. 243.

    J R in WV

    @Ohio Mom:

    When we moved into our current neighborhood, in the late 1970s, and we asked for a private line telephone, they were astonished, because no one had a private line at the time, and they were unsure whether they could do such a thing.

    Since wife was a news reporter, and expected phone calls 24/7/365, to leave home instantly to cover major industrial accidents, strikes, floods, prison riots, etc, did not want to have to explain those 2 am phone calls to the farmer neighbors. As in why they were being awakened at 2 or 3 am for her work!

    She kept a bug-out bag in the car for many years… just for those emergency call outs.

  244. 244.

    J R in WV

    @tobie:

    Is this quote from Glenn Greenwald for real?

    Nope, if you look carefully that’s a twit from Glem Greenwald, not Glenn Grennwald. I thought it was pretty funny!

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