Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

There’s always a light at the end of the frog.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

How can republicans represent us when they don’t trust women?

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

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

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

When they say they’re pro-life, they don’t mean yours.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Nice Sign Open Thread

Reader Interactions

65Comments

  3. 3.

    ThresherK

    The pedant in me wants to see the entire sign to be sure he used your / you’re properly.

    The top part of his sign is correct.

  4. 4.

    ThresherK

    @ThresherK: Okay, looking at the blown-up image, it says …your racism…, so not only does he have smart and pithy politics, his sign is technically correct, the best kind of correct.

  6. 6.

    Redshift

    Speaking of signs, last week I was behind a car that had a Ron Paul bumper sticker and a Tulsi 2020 bumper sticker. A fairly unsurprising combination, but if the Paulites go for Gabbard instead of Bernie this time around, that’s a good thing.

  7. 7.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    Hey M^4!

    Didn’t know if you were still looking for something new to watch, but I’d highly recommend Nathan Fillion’s new show The Rookie. It’s a police procedural with an ensemble cast. It mostly deals with three rookie cops fresh from the academy and their training officers. It’s pretty funny and I think it deals fairly well with various police issues

  10. 10.

    lahke

    @Major Major Major Major: Admittedly one should not argue taste, but perhaps you could explain the appeal?
    Just waddled back from birthday dinner in Boston’s North End, which means Italian for those of you from elsewhere. Ossobuco, lobster turnovers, suckling pig with roasted apples, panna cotta, and flourless chocolate cake dusted with cinnamon–no food for me tomorrow, I’d say.

  14. 14.

    sharl

    In case anyone in this joint is interested…

    Not being a person of faith myself, I’m rarely up to speed on what’s going on in most faith-based communities. But some of the people I follow on twitter are believers, and today word came down that they lost someone held in very high esteem among progressive/liberal faith communities (primarily Christian/Evangelical, though not exclusively so).

    Rachel Held Evans was only 37 when she died, leaving behind a husband and two very young children. She had a severe allergic reaction to an antibiotic she was given for the flu, which ultimately proved fatal. There’s a nice write-up on her over at Slate: Rachel Held Evans, the Hugely Popular Christian Writer Who Challenged the Evangelical Establishment, Is Dead at 37

    Evans was a forceful and winsome public voice for progressive evangelicalism, first as a blogger and later as an author and sought-after speaker. She started her eponymous site more than a decade ago, and in her years of writing she confronted every controversial issue in American evangelical culture. She wrote about biblical literalism, racism, abortion, evolution, theology, marriage, patriarchy, women in leadership, and evangelical support for Donald Trump. She advocated for the full inclusion of LGBTQ people in the church and analyzed her own complicity in racial bias after the police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. The Washington Post once called her “the most polarizing woman in evangelicalism.”

    Evans’ political and cultural polemics attracted the most attention. But she also wrote passionately about her own evolving faith, her prayer life, her wrestling with doubt, and her love for the church. “Anyone who has loved the Bible as much as I have, and who has lost it and found it again, knows how a relationship with the Bible can be as real and as complicated as a relationship with a family member or close friend,” she wrote in her most recent book, Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again.

    Evans announced in 2014 that she was leaving evangelicalism, exhausted by “wearing out my voice in calling for an end to evangelicalism’s culture wars.” She began attending an Episcopal church. But she remained widely read within evangelical circles and among Christians and others who had left evangelicalism but still felt connected to it in some way. Evans was famous enough among Christians that many referred to her online simply as “RHE.” When her friends and colleagues, the writers Sarah Bessey and Jeff Chu, announced an online prayer vigil for her on April 19, the hashtag #PrayforRHE became a trending topic on Twitter.

    The tributes pouring forth on twitter are amazing, both in their numbers and heartfelt grief, and include a lot of LGBTQ folks who feel they were rescued (for lack of a better succinct word) by Evans’ writings and outreach. Ditto for people-of-color; these tweets made an impression on me:

    Im human and im mad like one. Heaven don't comfort me right now. I want @rachelheldevans to be here. With her husband and her kids. Watching that Game of Thrones episode she missed. She should still be here. #RIPRHE— Optimus Fine (@sunnydaejones) May 4, 2019

    And ima say it. Im mad. The Christians who think God gives them divine authority to be mean, racist, homophobic, and greedy get to live to ripe old age. While we keep saying goodbye to the ones who actually love us and wanna see us free. Its not fair.

    I need white folks to continue @rachelheldevans work in uplifting Black and Brown faith leaders. In addition to grief, this is so devastating for us because we know the slim chance of another white Christian with a large platform publicly going to bat for us like she did. #RIPRHE

    I regret not knowing about this person before her death, but she’s left a lot of writing behind (links are in that Slate piece). Making such a huge positive impact in such a short life is impressive.

    RIP to a good one, whose quality of character clearly blazed warmly and brightly.

  17. 17.

    Sab

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: @Major Major Major Major: My spouse and I love “The Rookie.”

    My husband is a leftie but he went to an inner city Catholic parochial school and a lot of his classmates are cops. He thinks most of them are racist assholes, but there are others that he thinks are doing a good job in a very difficult job.

    It just shows a lot of the complications of city policework. Boring, tough, thankless, sometimes dangerous and always morally and legally fraught, team solidarity until it isn’t. And how hard it is to serve and respond to the community you work in what with all the legal, political, institutional constraints.

    Very interesting. And excellent acting.

  18. 18.

    ThresherK

    @Major Major Major Major: As someone who reads Uni-Watch every day, remembers the New York City Hawks, and still calls the MLS team the MetroStars, I would guess that is just an NY hat with no particular team’s logo.

    PS I can requisition a Futurama groove with the best of them.

  19. 19.

    TOP123

    @Major Major Major Major:Reminds me of how my partner and I took photos in pretty much the same spot right after the election flipping the bird at Trump Tower, and how many supportive laughs and comments we got while doing so.

  23. 23.

    Gin & Tonic

    @sharl: I know this is way beside the point of your post, but why on earth would anyone be prescribed antibiotics for the flu? Influenza is a virus, against which antibiotics are ineffective.

  27. 27.

    sharl

    @Gin & Tonic: Hmm, good catch, I missed that. The Slate piece only said flu, but it linked to her mid-April tweet where she first brought up her health problems. I’m assuming the antibiotics were for the urinary tract infection.

    If you’re the praying type – I’m in the hospital with a flu + UTI combo and a severe allergic reaction to the antibiotics they gave me. (I’m totally going to miss GOT! ?)— Rachel Held Evans (@rachelheldevans) April 14, 2019

  29. 29.

    Luciamia

    Kinda glad SNL gave us a break from politics in the cold open. Instead it was a Family Feud between Game of Thrones and Avengers.

  32. 32.

    Nicole

    So I ended up missing the most exciting part of the Kentucky Derby today- I decided to leave the 2 favorites off my wagers (Maximum Security and Improbable), and was so irate with myself when Maximum Security crossed the finish line first that I turned the tv off and went to dinner. As a result, I was thoroughly confused by the “That was bullshit!” text messages I received from friends during dinner.

    (FWIW, I see why the DQ. Good piece on it:
    https://www.drf.com/news/watchmaker-legitimate-foul-demanded-kentucky-derby-dq )

  33. 33.

    Ladyraxterinok

    OT, sad news. Some here may be familiar with the writings of the progressive Christian writer Rachel Held Evans. She left the Evangelical tribe in which she was raised and blogged extensively about its failings. She wrote a book about her experiences growing up in the town of the Scopes trial. Also one in which she exposed the insanity of the Religious Right’s rules for the ‘biblical’ role for women by describing 12 months of trying to follow the rules.

    She died today at the age of 37, after a 3 week battle against the reaction to an antibiotic treatment.

    Google has links to discussions of her life and work at CNN and NYT.

    Her husband’s posts about her worsening condition and his report of her death are at her blog rachelheldevans.com/blog/health-updates

  34. 34.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Ladyraxterinok: A great loss. Sane Christians who actually follow the teachings of Jesus, as opposed to the fundigelicals who worship Mammon, are in short supply in the online world. And in the eyes of the MSM as well, as they’re allies in the Mammon worship department.

  37. 37.

    Ohio Mom

    I gotta go off to dreamland but just wanted to add, that guy in the photo looks like he’s having the time of his life. I suspect his days are full of passerbys affirming him and his message. And the occasional Trumpie — he’s enjoying blowing them off. At least that is what I like to imagine.

  38. 38.

    Ladyraxterinok

    @sharl: Thank you for this post and extesive link excerpt. I posted my comment about her death before I read the comments here.

    I learned of her death while reading a post at the blog internetmonk.

    I discovered her some years ago when she was politey but devastatingly dissecting the misogyny of Mark Driscoll, the eventually fired pastor of the Mars Hill church in Seattle. He appealed to hip young males by teaching female subordination AND that the Bible advocated oral and anal sex in the book the Song of Solomon. He also preached a notorious sermon series that Esther was a prostitute groomed to seduce the king.

  41. 41.

    sharl

    @Ladyraxterinok: As my twitter TL overflowed with expressions of grief and tributes to her, it quickly became obvious that she was a remarkable and wonderful person. I was tempted to embed even more tweets about her, but (as usual) my comment had already become plenty long.

    And that Driscoll guy…YIKES! I come across these stories occasionally, but it seems each new one still has the capacity to surprise me. There are more like that guy out there, and I’m sure others in the faith community will try to continue RHE’s work as best as they can.

  42. 42.

    James E Powell

    @sharl:

    in her years of writing she confronted every controversial issue in American evangelical culture. She wrote about biblical literalism, racism, abortion, evolution, theology, marriage, patriarchy, women in leadership, and evangelical support for Donald Trump.

    Why aren’t there a couple hundred more like her? Surely there must be Christians who are not bigots & grifters.

  43. 43.

    James E Powell

    @Major Major Major Major:

    The ruling class will always supply narratives that support the notion that if a person is unemployed, it is that person’s fault, something they failed to do or won’t do. And people who still have their jobs are ready – sometimes eager – to embrace and repeat these narratives.

  44. 44.

    NotMax

    Tough to get a picture of but was gratified last year to watch people making rude gestures at or altering their path to give a wide berth to the couple of Dolt 45 impersonators in Times Square.

    Was disappointed to find out the semi-famous Naked Cowboy there is a RWNJ in real life.

  45. 45.

    H.E.Wolf

    The Seattle meetup was a pleasure, as always. There was good company, good food, and lively conversation.

    It was great to see familiar folks, and wonderful to meet others for the first time – including 2 longtime lurkers and a soon-to-be reader of the blog.

    Many thanks to piratedan for suggesting we meet, and to Dan B for handling the logistics. And kudos to the person(s) who chose the appetizer platters for everyone to share. Awe.Some. :)

  46. 46.

    sharl

    @James E Powell: It’s something I only kinda-sorta understand in a superficially intellectual way, but breaking away from a faith community can be a gut-wrenching and disorienting thing, even estranging you from family and longtime friends.

    The path RHE willingly took from her conservative evangelical youth shows her remarkable strength of character. Just from the brief descriptions I’ve seen of her writing, she has talked about the pain of her journey, and the doubts that tugged at her faith (until her death, actually). Her personal accounts no doubt served as inspiration for others who felt they had to break away from their congregations, and maybe evangelical Christianity entirely.

    My undergraduate research advisor was a Catholic monk once, then decided to leave his Order to get married. He told me how hard that was for him, and of tension with his parents when he informed them. I can’t relate, but I’ve read of enough accounts of these kind of departures to know what a huge and life-altering decision it is for those who decide to break away.

  48. 48.

    eemom

    @lahke:

    Boston’s North End, which means Italian for those of you from elsewhere

    I am from elsewhere, but I knew that because of this.

    /database of useless shit

  49. 49.

    Amir Khalid

    @ruemara: I had to click on the link to find out which they were: hunters of lesbian vampires, lesbian vampires who went hunting, or (as I learned) lesbians who hunted vampires.

  50. 50.

    CaseyL

    @H.E.Wolf: Beautiful Plumage, Pirate Dan and I ordered the appetizers :) I have sent AL my debrief with photos, and Beautiful Plumage will do likewise.

    On Twitter, people are likening the Kentucky Derby fiasco to the Oscar fiasco last year. Lots of laughs. I’m surprised as I had no idea Derby horses had to “stay in their lanes” – I thought getting in front of and cutting off other horses was a longtime basic racing tactic. Maybe it’s a new safety thing, as most injuries are the results of horses colliding.

  51. 51.

    Mnemosyne

    @Ladyraxterinok:

    Holy shit. I’m an agnostic and I know who Rachel Held Evans was. Think Fred Clark at Slacktivist, but a woman with a much larger following.

    She was someone who made a genuine effort to live up to the Christian ideals that conservatives make a mockery of. She will be very much missed on the liberal and feminist side of Christianity.

  52. 52.

    (((CassandraLeo)))

    @sharl: @Ladyraxterinok: @Mnemosyne: Yep, I was super-bummed when I heard about this on Saturday. 37 is no age at all, and she has two young surviving children. Just awful. Fred Clark is one of her few surviving peers, and he was the first person I thought of by way of comparison, but you’re right that she had a much larger following. Rob Bell seems like he might also be in the same camp, though I don’t know as much about him as I do about the other two. Still, there are far too few of them, and now there’s one fewer.

    (Also agnostic BTW, but definitely always respected her for precisely the reason Mnemosyne mentions.)

  53. 53.

    Suzanne

    I enjoy the genre of photography of people standing outside Trump properties giving the one-finger salute. I have contributed. I would love for someone to make a collage of them.

  56. 56.

    Anotherlurker

    @Redshift: I think the logo on the hat refers to the NY Titans, formally of some foot sports ball team, of the NFL.

  57. 57.

    J R in WV

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Influenza is a virus, against which antibiotics are ineffective.

    But you’re wrong. There are now (and have been for at least a decade) anti-viral drugs, Tamiflu, for one, and those drugs they use in HIV patients, and for Hep-C patients. So it sounds like she got one of the flu-specific antiviral drugs, aka antibiotics for viral infections. And it killed her.

  58. 58.

    Barbara

    @J R in WV: No. Apparently she had a UTI at the same time as the flu. Would guess she had allergic reaction to sulfa antibiotics.

  59. 59.

    JR

    @J R in WV: Antibiotics specifically refers to antibacterial drugs, though.

    Technically, the term actually refers to antibacterial drugs derived from natural sources (e.g. penicillin, streptomycin, chloramphenicol) to distinguish these from synthetic antibacterial agents derived from aniline dyes in 19th-early 20th century (e.g. sulfa).

  61. 61.

    germy

    I would bet money that conservative evangelists are telling each other right now that Evans was punished by god for her criticism of them.

    It’s how they roll.

  62. 62.

    Planetjanet

    Never buy on impulse at the electronics store. I bought a nice router, but I think I need an adapter instead. I am embarrassed to return to the store. Just had 1 Gbps FIOS installed but my desktops Wi-Fi is too slow to take advantage if it. Pout.

  63. 63.

    StringOnAStick

    Think of an allergic reaction as the body’s immune system going into hyperdrive, and the cure for that is temporary suppression of the immune system (drugs like prednisone have a suppressive effect). Sometimes the hyperactive immune system gets stuck in an over reaction feedback loop even with suppression drugs, and that’s probably what happened unfortunately.

    The Spanish flu of 1917-18 killed most of the people in their early twenties in this manner, the young and very healthy were at greatest risk. Your immune system is strongest at that age, so the extreme reactions worked together with that extremely virulent flu mutation to kill millions, mostly in that age group. Younger kids mostly survived it because their immune systems aren’t at full capacity yet, and people older than 45 had been exposed to a much less virulent version as kids so they had some immune capacity to it. What helped spread this Spanish flu around the world in such a devastating fashion was the movement of troops for WWI even as public health doctors in the US were begging for that to stop. Modern research suggests that where it mutated into the super killer form was Fort Riley, KS and spread from there via the soldiers being shipped to all points beyond.

    What struck me when reading about the Spanish flu epidemic was how rarely it ha been talked about once it was over and all the dead buried, like it was such a social trauma that there’s a collective amnesia in the period afterwards. Maybe that helped create the “devil may care” Roaring twenties after such a dark time. The book I read about it describes a near breakdown in social order; women being conscripted off the streets by the authorities and forced to be nurses for the sick, people abandoning loved ones out of terror, homes with no one left alive other than very small children. Influenza can be mild to society dissolving.

  64. 64.

    Quiltingfool

    @StringOnAStick: When I taught 8th grade science, disease and their causes (virus, bacteria, etc) was in the curriculum. PBS had an excellent show about the Spanish Influenza which I showed to my students. As a follow up, I provided some first person accounts relating experiences with this pandemic; this was a horrific disease. And you are correct – once the last wave of death was over, people wanted to forget and move on. Another great show by PBS was about the polio epidemic; antivaxxers should watch it – parents were adamant about getting their children vaccinated, there was such fear about polio. Some of the first testing of the vaccine wouldn’t fly today, though. They did initial testing on children in orphanages and in homes for mentally and physically disabled children – no consent. I am old enough that I got the Sabin vaccine (on a sugar cube, which I greatly enjoyed as a very young child!) and related that to my students. They weren’t very surprised, they knew I was older than dirt!

  65. 65.

    Barbara

    @debbie: See above. She disclosed that she had a UTI, which is common enough. I assume the antibiotics were to treat that infection. Possibly the allergic reaction was worse because of the flu, and most probably she experienced the cascading effect of doctors trying to combat one problem and causing another. Really heartbreaking. Her kids were 1 and 3.

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