Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

I did not have telepathic declassification on my 2022 bingo card.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

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

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

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

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Americans barely caring about Afghanistan is so last month.

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

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Eh, that’s media spin. biden’s health is fine and he’s doing a good job.

“But what about the lurkers?”

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

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Saturday Morning Open Thread: Welcome to America!

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Welcome to America!

by | 169 Comments

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Political, in the best and truest sense…

(For once it’s worth reading the replies — including one from our new fellow citizen.)

***********
Who’s got plans for the weekend, apart from trying to stay out of the rain?

Reader Interactions

169Comments

  1. 1.

    Mary G

    I saw that the other day, but had not read the replies. Thanks for turning me on to them. So heartwarming to see so many welcoming Americans who appreciate the gifts immigrants bring us.

  4. 4.

    NotMax

    For those whose Firefox went kablooey,

    An expired certificate on the Mozilla Add-ons infrastructure is disabling Firefox add-ons for millions of users, and is also preventing users from re-activating or (re-)installing extensions.

    The issue doesn’t impact all Firefox users, but it impacted enough to trigger a massive surge of complaints on Twitter, Reddit, and other social media sites.
    [snip]
    “We’re sorry that there is currently an issue where existing and new add-ons are failing to run or be installed on Firefox,” a Mozilla spokesperson said. “We know what the issue is and are working hard to restore add-on functionality to Firefox as soon as possible.” Source

    Patience. This too shall pass.

  5. 5.

    JWR

    @NotMax:

    For those whose Firefox went kablooey,

    Mine certainly did. I found pretty much what you did and decided to wait it out.

    Congrats to our new citizen!, but I must warn everyone… if you’ve never heard Robert Mueller speak, (I have, briefly), be prepared. It’s probably not what you’d expect.

    [Wow. Haven’t commented in a while. Feels kinda weird.]

  6. 6.

    satby

    Happy Saturday everyone! Nice story to wake up to.
    As always, my weekend plans are to work at the farmer’s market which should be fun because it’s predicted to be the first sunny day we’ve had in a week. And tomorrow I have to mow my very lush and high grass and get all the plants I started planted. Monday will be my day of rest.

  7. 7.

    NotMax

    @satby

    Rains predicted to roll in later today. At the moment humid as all get out. Say hi to Chasten.

  8. 8.

    Peale

    Off to Delhi, where it will be 107+ all week. Hopefully I’ll come back 40 pounds lighter

  16. 16.

    Kathleen

    Good Morning everyone! I’m up LATE (6:45 am is LATE for me) but I’m enjoying spending time with my daughter from Tampa who is visiting me this weekend so schedule is a bit wac.

    A co worker from Haiti was sworn in as a citizen last week. The group I work in is pretty “red” and Republican but nonetheless they extended a warm congratulations and welcome to him (including cake). That and AL’s story give me hope.

    It’s drizzly and cool in the ‘Natti this morning. Other than meeting my brother at Frisch’s later today Daughter and I have no plans. Whenever she and/or SIL or grandkids visit we have a Cincy food pilgrimage ritual (Skyline/Gold Star, Frisch’s, UDF, LaRosa’s, White Castle, (which they don’t have in Tampa).

  18. 18.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: I’m wondering exactly what she feeds them. Not like she knows to go out and find them acorns and pine nuts. Of course, I am presuming they don’t mean “nursing”, because if they did, wouldn’t they have said that?

  20. 20.

    Steeplejack

    Thanks for that anecdote. I really needed it today.

    Warning: rant ahead!

    I had a tumultuous dinner at Sighthound Hall last night in honor of entourage member S.’s birthday (51). In attendance: Bro’ Man and his Brazilian husband, S. and his partner, K. (also early 50s), and another couple, Joe (about 60) and his husband, M. (another Brazilian immigrant, younger than Joe by some not unseemly amount). We touched on Trump and politics several times, then really got into it at the dinner table after we’d eaten and the kids had gone to bed. Lots of wine flowing.

    Turned out that Joe, while agreeing that Trump is bad and needs to be gotten out of office, was wrong about virtually everything else. Almost straight Fox News talking points, although no references to Fox and toned down to sound more reasonable. Don’t like Trump? Just vote him out in two years. What could go wrong? Steele dossier (funded by the Democrats!) fake. Mueller report found no collusion and completely exonerated Trump. William Barr has had an impeccable record his whole career. Trump has never done anything against the gays. People in the Midwest are doing great and will vote their pocketbooks for Trump. Joe knows this because he is from Nebraska (where I believe “is from” means “got his gay ass out of there as soon as he turned 18”). And the farmers, particularly the soybean farmers, are doing great. The Chinese are buying more American soybeans than ever! Xi agreed to this as part of the effort to resolve the “tariff issue.” Oh, and as the frosting on the cake, Joe doesn’t have a problem with laws limiting abortion because of all the third-trimester abortions he thinks are happening.

    On the plus side: Buttigieg! To be fair, all these middle-aged gay white guys are pretty enthused about Buttigieg. Hoocoodanode! Joe also thinks Klobuchar could be good because she combines effectiveness with Minnesota nice. She’s “not as left-wing as a lot of the Democrats” (paraphrasing only slightly).

    Joe, as I said, is about 60. He works in some branch of the federal bureaucracy, military adjacent, and I think he was in the military for some period of time. He seems like a nice guy (I’ve met him on a few other occasions), but, Jesus, he is a fount of clueless misinformation. I didn’t think about it last night, but he probably voted for Trump, on the “shake things up” principle.

    I don’t know how we get through to such people. I can’t picture him voting for a woman (he’s probably in the “I don’t have a problem voting for a woman, just not that woman” camp) or even Joe Biden (too old and from the “Democrats are just as bad as the Republicans” days).

    I, of course, rolled up my sleeves and went into “smiting with facts” mode, which he dismissed as false or parried with “I’d need to seem some documentation on that.” I was helped by Bro’ Man, who is up on the issues, reads Balloon Juice sometimes and probably comes across as “reasonable Wall Street Journal reader” (not quite an oxymoron), whereas I’m sure I was pigeonholed as “typical radical lib/​Dem.” S. weighed in occasionally—on the right side but kind of vague and unhelpful on details.

    Oh, yeah, Joe thinks the Electoral College is fine and it’s good that all those empty states have two senators each so they don’t get trampled by the outsized influence of states where people actually live (my paraphrasing). And: “They’re never going to overturn Roe v. Wade.” And “If they come after gay rights there will be hell to pay.”

    I could go on and on. As I write this I keep thinking of other lunkheaded things he said or believes. But enough is enough.

    I guess my point is that it was (for me) a rare sighting up close and personal of someone who is probably a closet Republican, maybe a never-Trumper, who believes a shitload of stuff that is not only wrong but dangerously wrong. And who is completely dismissive of anything outside his bubble. But who, as a gay person with an immigrant spouse, you’d think would be more aware of his own vulnerability. But I guess “middle-aged white man” trumps all that.

    ETA: Joe appears to be intelligent and, aside from politics, is an amiable conversationalist, which somehow makes the crazy parts seem even crazier.

  21. 21.

    zhena gogolia

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    There’s a famous work by Pushkin, “The Fountain of Bakhchisaray.” He seems to have missed the kitty and squirrels.

  22. 22.

    Baud

    @Steeplejack:

    And “If they come after gay rights there will be hell to pay.”

    Hahahaha.

    ETA: People who free ride on our work are worse than conservatives.

  25. 25.

    Immanentize

    Good morning all!

    @JWR: hi JWR (waives). What, does Bobby three sticks have a sqeaky little mouse voice?

  26. 26.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Steeplejack: A little bit of honey to balance out the sour. I built a handicap ramp on a rental property for some friends this week. There is an older couple living there that I had met a couple years ago when some windows needed fixing. He’s a Vietnam Vet, living in the same hotbed of redneck small thinking sundowner town he grew up in. A nice enough guy, but in the interests of peace I tend to avoid the subject of politics with such for obvious reasons.

    So my first day there, he’s sitting on his porch smoking a cigarette and engaging in small talk and he says, “Something something your bumper sticker.”
    I think, “Oh boy, here we go.” and respond, “I’m sorry?” with my hand at my ear.
    He repeats, “I really like your sticker.”
    I have 3, ‘Matthew 6, 5-6’, ‘Got Vaseline?’, and ‘Impeach trump’. I’m thinking he’s a God botherer who is fond of the book of Matthew. “Which one?” I asked.
    “Impeach trump,” he replied, “Soon as I saw that sticker I said, ‘Now here’s a nice guy.”

    After which we had a 15 minute beat down of trump and his GOP cronies.

  27. 27.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: Yeah, natural behavior for her would be to bring one back to the den for the kittens first lesson in hunting.

  28. 28.

    Immanentize

    This morning I have to pick up the Immp’s first suit! It’s for his formal tonight — which is on a Harbour Cruise in Boston. I figure that really is a nice way for the school to control the crowd (and isolate them).

    We had to go to a specialty clothes shop for the Immp. Anyone here a 38 Xtall who has some spare ties or jackets on eBay right now? At least at 6’6″ he still fits through most doors….

  29. 29.

    gene108

    @Baud:

    People who free ride on our work are worse than conservatives

    Isn’t usually non-straight, non-Protestant, non-white male conservatives, who are the free riders?

    I really can’t think of any group that derides liberals more, but has benefited from liberal advancements the most.

    It’s not just voting rights for women, or the 1965 immigration law that allowed Nikki Haley’s or Dinesh D’Souza’s folks to immigrate here, or the judicial activist judges, who legislate from the bench, who voted to overturn miscegenation laws, in Loving v. Virginia that allows Clarence Thomas to be legally married to a white woman, but pretty much any conservative, who has a 40 hour work week, overtime pay, gets at least a minimum wage, had unemployment insurance, can’t be denied coverage due to pre-existing conditions, etc. that are free riders on liberalism.

  31. 31.

    MagdaInBlack

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    Isn’t it refreshing to find a kindred spirit in the wasteland of ignorance.
    I’m surrounded by folks such as Steeplejack described.

  32. 32.

    Immanentize

    @OzarkHillbilly: My cat would be happy to hunt them. But squirrels are still out of his catch abilities. Rabbits — now that’s the ticket! He has bagged three (that I know about) this Spring already.

  34. 34.

    Kathleen

    @Immanentize: Congratulations to you and “Little Immp”? Chuckling because my 20 year old grandson is well over 6 feet tall as well.

  35. 35.

    gene108

    @Immanentize:

    Yikes! Didn’t realize the Immp is such a big boy.

    Didn’t know Boston clam chowder could get a boy to grow like that!!!

    Hope he has fun at the formal.

    Is renting a tux an option? They could take care of the fitting for a tie.

  37. 37.

    MomSense

    @Steeplejack:

    Been there. It’s a strange experience. One time I had the oh shit this guy is a fascist who would gladly turn me in if it ever came to that. WTF happened to him after we left college? I hope you never have that particular experience.

    It’s supposed to warm up to 60 and not rain! I’ll probably take the pup for a muddy walk in the woods and then try and get some work done in the garden. Tonight I may make a second attempt at shopping. I rarely go shopping but I ventured out the other day. Fifteen minutes in and the power went out. We all had to leave the store. When I got out, I discovered the entire area was without power. It took a long time to turn left out of the parking lot without working traffic lights. Hopefully this trip will be uneventful.

  39. 39.

    Immanentize

    @gene108: It’s not a tux formal, although some kids will do that. We originally went to Men’s Warehouse and the guy there sent us to the store that sells to the Celtics. I wanted to get him a nice white dinner jacket — he would probably wear that with black jeans. That would come in handy for life (or until he puts on weight). But I can’t find a natural fiber one in his size. Le sigh.

  41. 41.

    MomSense

    @Immanentize:

    Damn, I’ve got a 6’5” kid but he took all his ties with him. He’s a tough fit because he’s all arms and legs.

  43. 43.

    Immanentize

    @MomSense: I like to say that the Immp is so thin, he has to run around in the shower to get wet.

    My ties will work — I’m 6-3 (but maybe 6-2 because shrinking). My wife was 5-11 and a half ( as a kid I think she was traumatized by the thought of being a 6′ girl). So no surprise on the Immp. But he mocks me all the time — looks at my head and tells me I’m getting thin up there, etc.

  44. 44.

    Steeplejack

    @Steeplejack:

    My brother and I have discussed several times whether we are in an equivalent left-wing bubble. I keep telling him no, because we make the effort to do some fact-checking. (I was going to say that we make the effort to stay informed, but I’m sure Fox viewers think they are “staying informed.”)

    Bro’ Man and another doctor walk for exercise on their lunch break every day. Two guys around 60, longtime work friends, affluent white guys. The other guy—let’s call him L.—maybe voted for Obama (I think, but I’m pretty shaky on that) but has gradually morphed into a Trump apologist. Basically went from distaste to “Yes, but he’s good for the economy!” (I don’t know whether he voted for Trump. I suspect that he did, but Bro’ Man, perhaps to maintain the friendship, seems to think that he abstained, given the equally terrible choices of Trump and Hillary.) And along the way L. has absorbed a lot of right-wing misinformation.

    This week’s item was that L. told Bro’ Man that Hillary won only 47 of 4,000 counties in the 2016 election. His point (relayed to me via text conversation) was that “only a very concentrated group of similar-thinking people were electing the prez.” To which Bro’ Man replied, “Yes, it’s called majority rule.” Well played.

    Later Bro’ Man did the fact-checking and found that L. was off by a factor of 10. And he found on the Google that the trope that Clinton won only 47 to 60 counties is common on right-wing sites. (The number varies.) Relevant Snopes article here.

    The point is that Bro’ Man was willing to entertain the proposition and then check it out. L. is gradually drifting deeper into the Trump zone—probably to salve his conscience and confirm his biases—and is coming up with increasingly nonsensical “news” items. So far no mention of QAnon, so there’s that, at least.

  46. 46.

    MagdaInBlack

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    Until recently I had a coworker who resided in the land of prideful ignorance, however, she’s been transferred. (Ty jesus) and my new estimator, her first day, mentioned she’d gone to the Womens March, her first march, and how fantastic it was. We’re getting along just fine ☺️
    ETA: She’s 27, she likes Kamala ✨

  47. 47.

    Immanentize

    @Steeplejack:

    So far no mention of QAnon, so there’s that, at least.

    I thought the first rule of Q-Anon was you didn’t speak of Q-Anon?

  50. 50.

    debbie

    @Steeplejack:

    and probably comes across as “reasonable Wall Street Journal reader”

    Yeah, I thought I had a brother like that too, until he told me (the morning after Election Day) that he really thought Trump would bring everyone together, and he would be magnanimous and pardon Hillary.

    Color me skeptical.

  51. 51.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Steeplejack:

    The point is that Bro’ Man was willing to entertain the proposition and then check it out.

    Either that or he’s just like me and wonders what the source of this particular fabrication is. Living in MAGA land I sometimes feel the urge to debunk the stupidity tho lately I am mostly just too tired of it all to bother.

    @MagdaInBlack: You’d be surprised how many staunch union carpenters, electricians, plumbers, iron workers etc etc are hardcore Republicans. Willing to lay down their lives for their union rights and then come election time will vote to put the guns right back in the hands of the same guys trying to destroy their unions.

    It did get tiresome arguing with them.

  54. 54.

    debbie

    @Immanentize:

    I did hear about it, but couldn’t visualize what it must look like.

    Who will go down in the annals of history as the worse: Autocorrect or Clippy?

  55. 55.

    Immanentize

    @debbie:. That may in part be because rikyrah calls him “little Imma?” If we had a stasis chamber to put him in when we needed a break, he still would be an itty bitty kid…. But he is pretty fine as a big tall one.

  59. 59.

    Immanentize

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    Ozark, wait until next year to make that suggestion and make a bundle selling them!
    Both fine additions if one gets peckish…

  61. 61.

    Steeplejack

    @debbie:

    No, my brother is a solid Democrat. Voted for Hillary and freely admits (sometimes to the point of receiving “Shut up, we get it already!” reactions) that without Obama he would not be legally married to his Brazilian husband (now a U.S. citizen) or have his two legally adopted kids. He has a framed letter from Obama (autosigned form letter, no doubt, but still) that he received after he wrote Obama to thank him for his efforts on marriage equality.

    I have no doubt that in an uncomfortably close parallel universe my brother could have been a solid Republican. He is an affluent white doctor, after all—the demographic the party is designed for. But being gay gave him at least a little insight into what it means to be the “other.” He knows who is on his side and who is not.

  65. 65.

    Ladyraxterinok

    In 92, when my SIL from China was sworn in as an American citizen, my brother was teaching 3rd grade. School gave permission for school trip for all 3rd graders to attend ceremony.

  66. 66.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    I have returned from my excursion into the desert…driving past Mojave and Reefer City to the Red Cliffs of Red Rock. The goal was star trails and time lapse, I’m processing the time lapse now. I arrived home to find dog barf on the rug by the door(didn’t step in that) AND dog poop in the kitchen which I did manage to step in and track into the bathroom. I locked the doggie door(I don’t like them going out when I’m not here due to the coyote/cat incident an the yard) so all is forgiven.

  69. 69.

    gene108

    @Immanentize:

    That is adorable. I wonder, what the etiquette is on eating the croissant?

    Wait till prom starts? Wait till after prom? Wait till after the prom photo? Take a nibble on the way there?

  71. 71.

    Sab

    @gene108: My spouse used to eat his prom date’s corsage. He always got them carnations because they tasted better. He said he usually ate it right after dinner.

  73. 73.

    gene108

    @debbie:

    Clippy!

    Autocorrect helps more times than it hurts.

    Clippy just sucked and served no useful purpose

  74. 74.

    MomSense

    @Sab:

    I’m just glad they’ve finally abandoned the pinned corsage. Thin fabric over breasts and pins was not a good combination.

  77. 77.

    Procopius

    Thanks for this story. I’m so depressed by the incompetence in Venezuela I needed something to restore my faith. I’m so glad that guy was able to become a citizen. When I was in Vietnam service in the Army was a way to fast track naturalization, even for draftees (yes, immigrant aliens were subject to the draft).

  79. 79.

    Immanentize

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: It is (or ought to be) a very conservative profession. Anything built on precedent is bound to be. Not that anyone would know it by today’s crop of Trumpian idgits.

  81. 81.

    frosty

    @Burnspbesq: @Immanentize: I agree, although I’ve come to an accommodation with Word once I learned how to show the tabs and carraige returns. You DO know how ti do Reveal Codes in Word, right?

  83. 83.

    Immanentize

    @Procopius:

    the incompetence in Venezuela

    Not sure which version of incompetence you refer to. But I predicted to my class a month ago that once the Russians arrived, we would lose whatever we were trying to do there. And so it is. That’s what I think Trump and Putin were discussing. Our surrender terms.

  84. 84.

    Baud

    @Steeplejack:

    My brother and I have discussed several times whether we are in an equivalent left-wing bubble. I keep telling him no, because we make the effort to do some fact-checking. 

    I think we’re more in a bubble when it comes to politics than I used to believe. Much less so when it comes to basic facts.

  89. 89.

    Immanentize

    @frosty: I do. And frankly, it’s easier to solve problems in Word now a days than it used to be. And, hate to admit it, but Word’s Track Changes is really useful in collaborative brief writing.

    And, of course, all my students use word because our University gives them 360 for free….

  90. 90.

    Sab

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: I hate Word. I work seasonally, so I often come back to a new computer on my desk, or a different office with a different computer. And then the first time I type a letter or memo referring to an Internal Revenue Code section I have to spend fifteen minutes trying to find where they hid the default codes in the latest iteration of Word that I am using.

    In forty years of office work I have never once needed to use the c in circle copyright symbol. On the other hand I use (c) all the time. It’s maddening to uncorrect the miscorrection only to have it miscorrect back to their default until I wade into the system to find how to fix it.

    I work billable hours. That search time isn’t free. Either I eat it, my firm eats, or the client pays.

  93. 93.

    Steeplejack

    @Baud:

    Okay, I agree with that. We are susceptible to getting caught up in “consensus wisdom” (as defined by us) on certain issues. But it’s usually still tethered to some basis in fact.

  96. 96.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Procopius: T’s noble generals who ran Defense and DHS shut down the USCIS offices on bases. And they are making it difficult for that cohort to immigrate as well. Its not just “illegals” or those who break the laws. That is just the cover story.

  99. 99.

    tobie

    @Peale: Good luck withstanding the heat. The only fringe benefit of being in India at the hottest time of the year is that it’s also mango season. Indulge, indulge, indulge.

  100. 100.

    Bill Arnold

    @NotMax:

    Patience. This too shall pass

    I’m less forgiving. A certificate expiration should not disable plugins, period. Some are are used for security, so they this appallingly poor design decision weakened security for millions. This even happened to the Tor Browser, which among other things means that a large bunch of people were made more vulnerable (not sure yet how much) last night to de-anonymization with potential bad consequences to them from their local malevolent authorities. That, they can’t recover from; the tracking information is no longer under end user control. It also means that people were suddenly more exposed than they expected to hackers with malicious intent.
    Anyway, from that zdnet article:

    For Firefox users that are currently impacted by this bug, an easy workaround would be to visit the about:config section and set xpinstall.signatures.required to false. This disables the extension signing mechanism in Firefox, the system through which the browser verifies that the local extension is one that’s been installed from the central Mozilla Add-ons repository –and for which the signing certificate had expired.

    This worked for me in a few different firefoxes on different operating systems (debian/Linux, windows.)

  104. 104.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    I just saw Trump in some you tube advert, holy f- he looked like a corpse after the undertakers was done – just really pale under his spray on tan and it was like they had him propped up in some frame because he couldn’t stand. I’ve never seen a human with that kind of body language.

  105. 105.

    feebog

    Los Angeles City Neighborhood Council Region 2 elections today. I’m up for re-election, as well as a dozen others in a slate of candidates. As President of my council for the last 3 years I’m looking for gender balance and significant minority diversity. Plus, diversity of experience; we have lawyers, realtors, teachers, an engineer, a student, social workers, a CPA, business owners and other professional people on our ticket. Also, there is a local shredding event sponsored by a local bank today, so I’m taking a ton of paper I would otherwise have to shred myself over there. Heading out to Kauai Wednesday, can’t wait.

  108. 108.

    debbie

    After all that tough talk, President Marshmallow strikes again!

    The Trump administration on Friday renewed five of seven sanctions waivers that allow Russia and European nations to conduct civilian nuclear cooperation with Iran but revoked the other two as it steps up pressure on Tehran, the State Department said.

    Secretary of State Mike Pompeo extended the waivers, which were due to expire Saturday, for 90 days, shorter than the 180 days that had been granted in the past. The waivers permit work at several Iranian nuclear sites to continue without U.S. penalties. Under the terms of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, Russia and several European nations help maintain the facilities and are engaged in converting equipment there for exclusively civilian use.

    That’s some swagger, Mr. SOS, you fat fuck!

  109. 109.

    TomatoQueen

    @catclub: Suddenly everything in Fireyfox is Firey again. First time in a while, in my experience, that the Fireyfolk were caught leaning.

  110. 110.

    Sab

    @debbie: Yeah. You don’t need to have basic typing functions screwed up so that lazy people can do weird stuff with no effort.

  111. 111.

    mrmoshpotato

    @JWR: Huh?

    SPOILER ALERT! There are full speeches of Mueller’s on YouTube. Go give a listen.

  112. 112.

    Suzanne

    @Steeplejack:

    But who, as a gay person with an immigrant spouse, you’d think would be more aware of his own vulnerability. But I guess “middle-aged white man” trumps all that.

    Oh, yes. White patriarchy is one hell of a drug.
    I have not found gay white dudes to be as liberal (as a group) as I originally expected. I have also found many of them to be fairly conservative or libertarian, only to find that they are not out of the closet in all arenas of their lives—and that is often a strategic decision to protect career advancement or social advancement opportunities.

  115. 115.

    germy

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I’m watching Kamala Harris on Maddow and I started thinking how insulting it is that she had to deliver an impressive performance during the Barr hearing to get the media coverage other candidates generated by simply standing on tables or by saying that they, too, are religious.— José (@josecanyousee) May 4, 2019

  116. 116.

    Kay

    @schrodingers_cat:

    That’s true, and hysterical, and probably one of his hiring standards- they can’t be thinner than he is.

    Look for the most petty, vain, shallow and self-serving motive and you understand Trump. Go LOWER than you ordinarily would. It’s down there somewhere.

  125. 125.

    Bill Arnold

    Suddenly everything in Fireyfox is Firey again.

    Not for me. I turned on another windows computer (30 minutes ago) to see how firefox was on it and all plugins were suddenly disabled after a minute. (The firefoxes on Ubuntu can disable that feature at least and reenable plugins.)

  126. 126.

    James E Powell

    @Steeplejack:

    I don’t know how we get through to such people.

    The lesson from 2016 – and indeed every election in my lifetime – is that we don’t get through to them and we should not waste a minute or a dollar trying. Even on the extremely rare occasions that such people will vote D, it will be because of some random thing that had nothing to do with the D candidate or campaign messages.

  127. 127.

    Fleeting Expletive

    I’ve been thinking a lot about my favorite Congressperson ever, Barbara Jordan of Houston, and Nixon’s impeachment. Her stentorian voice telling us, on television, “My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is entire, it is total.” It shook me then and has been my faith ever since. I haven’t heard her mentioned yet in the current emergency, but I wish someone would remember her words and her presence that elevated the whole sorry spectacle from burlesque to something seriously worthy.
    The “cable cowboys”,, John Heilleman’s term, didn’t pay attention then or now.

  128. 128.

    frosty

    @Scuffletuffle: Somewhere on the menu bar there’s a paragraph mark. Click on it to see tabs, spaces, and carriage returns. I’m not sure what else it shows; those were the three I needed.

  129. 129.

    frosty

    Plus, I mentioned carriage returns to one of the kids at work and got a blank stare.

  132. 132.

    prostratedragon

    @NotMax: This happened to me last night, all in the middle of things. Tried “upgrading” from 65 to 66 (linux), to no improvement. Found this article from today’s front page at ghacks with some fixes that worked for various people, may try them. Meanwhile, I’m using Chrome (grr) which does at least allow noscript and adblocker.

  134. 134.

    Skepticat

    @Fleeting Expletive:

    I’ve been thinking a lot about my favorite Congressperson ever, Barbara Jordan of Houston, and Nixon’s impeachment. Her stentorian voice telling us, on television, “My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is entire, it is total.” It shook me then and has been my faith ever since.

    I remember her well–and with painful nostalgia. If only yours were the faith of people who actually can do something about it.

    And on a totally unrelated topic, check out packaging made from mushrooms. https://ecovativedesign.com/
    I’m pleased that Maine just banned single-use polystyrene foam containers, and I’ll be trying to support companies that use this packaging.

  138. 138.

    Fleeting Expletive

    @Skepticat: Lovely! I saw a grand new material explored on an obscure news program, I think it was Vietnam, or Thialand, using waste silkworm cocoons compressed mightily into a virtually weightless and incredibly strong material. Like you could make bicycles or bulletproof vests out of it. The material is waste because the worms often eat through the side of the cocoon, poking a hole that makes it unusable for fabric.
    The world is full of solutions we have ignored.

  141. 141.

    mrmoshpotato

    @James E Powell:

    The lesson from 2016 – and indeed every election in my lifetime – is that we don’t get through to them and we should not waste a minute or a dollar trying. Even on the extremely rare occasions that such people will vote D, it will be because of some random thing that had nothing to do with the D candidate or campaign messages.

    These are my feelings too. The 2016 election was the most starkly opposite election I’d ever seen. One side had policy plans and ideas for lifting up many marginalized groups. The other side’s front-runner called other candidates childish names and spouted xenophobia and detail-less, impossible sound bites like bringing back coal. And then we crossed the Rubicon when dick size was bragged about during a supposed political debate, and it was met with cheers Instead shouts from the audience of “What the fuck is wrong with you?!”

    I don’t know what can be said to someone who saw all that and still thought “I want that guy in a position of power.”

  143. 143.

    trollhattan

    I’ll bet you can guess who this is just based on the straw-mountain constricted by the very first sentence.

    If you’ve been reading the liberal media and Left Twitter the past couple of months, you’d be certain of one thing: Joe Biden is hopelessly out of touch — too old, too white, too male, too handsy, too racist, too misogynist, too unwoke, and far too compromised by his past positions to be the Democratic nominee in 2020. Josh Marshall, while liking Biden, regarded him as “unsuited to the moment in almost every way imaginable.”

  144. 144.

    frosty

    @Baud: @Scuffletuffle: Next helpful hint: the format of the paragraph is embedded in the paragraph mark. Copy it and replace to format lines or paragraphs similarly. I mostly do this around bulleted lists.

    And I can’t work without “Styles”.

  148. 148.

    CatFacts

    Looks like Firefox is putting out a temporary fix for the “all extensions go kablooie” problem. I just saw it on Woody Leonhard’s tech blog. Go into “preferences,” “privacy”, and check the box marked “Allow Firefox to run studies” and your addons should come back on within minutes. I assume once they’ve dealt with this mess for real, we can turn off the studies. And let’s hope they fix the (lack of) process that got them into this mess!

  150. 150.

    Skepticat

    @Fleeting Expletive:

    The world is full of solutions we have ignored.

    I do wish that were true only for things such as packaging. I’ll definitely look into the silkworm cocoon idea–genius; thanks for the information.

  155. 155.

    Baud

    Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke came to the defense of fellow 2020 rival Pete Buttigieg after anti-gay protesters heckled Buttigieg at an event in Texas on Friday.

    “Texans don’t stand for this kind of homophobia and hatred. Mayor Pete, we are grateful you came to Texas and hope to see you and Chasten back again soon,” O’Rourke, a former Texas congressman, wrote on Twitter.

    https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/04/politics/beto-orourke-pete-buttigieg-defense/index.html

  156. 156.

    gene108

    @Baud:

    We need to propose a resettlement offer for 300k to 500k California Democrats to move to Wyoming.

    That could easily flip that state.

  157. 157.

    frosty

    @Baud: i think you have to be a lower class person to type lower case letters. Sorry Baud, you’re out of luck!

  159. 159.

    Origuy

    @frosty: Another way to do that is with the “Format Painter”. Click in the text that you want to copy the format of, then click the paintbrush on the toolbar. Then select the text you want to change. There’s a way to do this multiple times, but I forget.
    I hate that Microsoft no longer provides help files with the applications. I don’t want to load a web page, or worse a video, every time I need to look up a function.

  160. 160.

    James E Powell

    @Baud:

    Trump supporters think the Obama presidency was the aberration.

    Based on the ones I’ve heard, read, and happen to be related to, the RWers believe Obama’s presidency was the result of the Republican establishment failing to stand up for men, Christianity, and the white race. The precise order differs, but the top three are always the same. When those people say “America” those three things are what they mean. And of course they don’t mean Christianity in the “Blessed are the poor . . . ” sense, but in the anti-LGBTQ, anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim, anti-women’s sexual freedom, anti-anything else that makes them uncomfortable sense.

    The RWers believed that they lost to Obama because their own leaders were weak. I submit as support the most undiscussed story from 2016: the way Trump mowed down his Republican opponents almost effortlessly. The well-known and Beltway favored candidates lost because their own people hated them.

    And the reason their support of Trump is absolute and unchangeable is because his election and the way he has behaved in office are every day vindications of their belief about the Republican establishment, That is why every elected Republican obeys and praises Trump. They are reflecting what their voters are telling them.

  161. 161.

    mrmoshpotato

    @James E Powell: I’d also argue that Dump is his voters. The “He says what I’m thinking.” crowd exists because he’s a racist, Fox-News-watching, rage grandpa like a lot of the people who voted for him.

    Both are afraid of inexorable change (ie. more diversity, etc), and both have Fox taking a shit in their skulls. (h/t @Mr_Electrico)

  162. 162.

    tybee

    firefox is finally foxing again.

    that was damn near as bad as microsoft’s “updates”.

  163. 163.

    Felanius Kootea

    @Baud: I love the fact that two of them won the pageant while wearing their hair in its naturally curly state – not chemically or heat straightened! Plus the fact that Miss USA is a whip-smart lawyer from North Carolina who knew that Nevada is the first state to have
    a majority female legislature and worked that into her winning commentary about inclusivity and progress.

  164. 164.

    satby

    @OzarkHillbilly: @OzarkHillbilly: back late from the market, but the mother cat was nursing the baby squirrels. Mother cats adopt all sorts of species, but I read about this bunch on the site of the rescue hosting them
    Edit, one of those replies meant to include Baud.

  166. 166.

    Brachiator

    @NotMax:

    Very late and lazy start to Saturday after a long and grueling Friday. Appreciate this nice citizenship story and the Firefox tip!

  167. 167.

    Dan B

    @Steeplejack: Unbelievable, or completely believable. Fox has an enviable and horrible capacity to brainwash. Joe seems unaware that HHS sincere conscience exceptions are going into effect in 59 days. His partner could be refused entry to visit in hospital. They could legally denied accomodations. And the list goes on. I wonder if he admires Bolsonaro for cleaning up the “filth” in Brasil? And stating that people should not come to Brasil for man on man sex, only for man on woman sex.

    Our version of Zircon and Burlap. But they’re in it for the money.

  168. 168.

    Dan B

    @gene108: In the early 70’s well off white gay men were angry with radical gay libbers. They would rather live their closeted invisible lives than give hope to rural or minority gays. The system wrung all the vision and compassion out of them. AIDS, as horrible as it was, forced a change. Suddenly the cis, good looking, well off, guys were visible. Apparently Joe learned nothing.

  169. 169.

    Citizen Alan

    @Steeplejack:

    I’ve been saying for decades that if gay rights were ever normalized, upper middle class white gays would become a reliable GOP constituency the second other republicans stopped calling them abominations to their faces.

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