Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

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

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

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

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

When they say they are pro-life, they do not mean yours.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Radicalized white males who support Trump are pitching a tent in the abyss.

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

Republicans in disarray!

They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

Rupert, come get your orange boy, you petrified old dinosaur turd.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Monday Open Thread: General Mood

Reader Interactions

82Comments

  2. 2.

    jeffreyw

    Let me be the first to apologize, TaMara, if I have ever offended you. Totally my fault and I am so sorry for that thing I did!

  4. 4.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    That’s actually one of the more gentle versions of Judith I’ve seen. The paintings tend to be a little gory.

  10. 10.

    TaMara (HFG)

    In case you are wondering about the sculpture:

    This vision of a re-imagined Medusa myth is a sculpture by Luciano Garbati, a 45-year-old Argentine-Italian artist based in Buenos Aires who has watched in amazement lately as a piece of art he made in 2008 has gone viral across social media, as the perfect avatar for a moment of female rage.

  13. 13.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @zhena gogolia: Hmm you’re right. But did Medusa behead people with swords?

    Also it looks like the poor unfortunate fellow also has snakes for hair. I was wondering more why he looks like Paul Newman.

    I’m not going to claim to be knowledgeable about any aspect of this entire discussion so I should probably just shut up now.

  14. 14.

    Miss Bianca

    Looks like Medusa to me. With a shout-out to images of Judith. Love it, love the sentiment. Optimism about the course my personal life is taking is coupled with a permanent, simmering rage about the state of our country in general, women’s rights in particular. It’s like being a human version of those mine fires that burn underground forever. Everything capped and sealed off, contained so far as the public is concerned, but still raging.

  18. 18.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @hueyplong: I had kind of the same reaction. TMI?

    Saw a cartoon somewhere recently with a headless male praying mantis in bed with a satisfied looking female. And he’s thinking, “SO worth it…”

  21. 21.

    Humdog

    TaMara, I know you are on the lookout for good news. Has anyone covered the story of the billionaire Morehouse College commencement speaker who pledged to pay off the entire graduating class’ student loan debt? What an uplifting story! Robert F. Smith!!

  22. 22.

    germy

    I posted this downstairs:

    My name is Ruth Miller. In childhood, I developed a love of making art and doing needlework. Later, I combined the two and began to create embroidered art as an alternative to painting. Gradually, I leaned toward making portraits of actual individuals. This site exhibits the type of work I currently do and explains how and why I do it. I hope you enjoy it.

    http://www.ruthmillerembroidery.com/

  25. 25.

    germy

    I still can’t believe this man is president.

    Looks like Bernie Sanders is history. Sleepy Joe Biden is pulling ahead and think about it, I’m only here because of Sleepy Joe and the man who took him off the 1% trash heap, President O! China wants Sleepy Joe BADLY!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 20, 2019

    It’s like if people tuned their radios in the 1930s to hear FDR’s fireside chats, and bubba the love sponge or howard stern came on.

  27. 27.

    Immanentize

    @germy: Isn’t she the hook rug artist around here? The amazing Christopher Robin piece? Or am I mixing her up with someone else?

  31. 31.

    donnah

    Hey, everyone! I’m donnah, the rughooker. I’m just back from a workshop in Canada. I have seen Ruth Miller’s work on line and it’s fabulous, but I’ve never met her.

    I do make hooked wool art rugs and I create a lot of portraits. Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin’s rug was recently accepted as a donation to our main public library, and after being exhibited in a show in August, that rug will hang in the children’s section of the library. Very excited about that!

    It’s always encouraging to me to see fiber artists recognized for their work. In a world dominated by technology, it’s heartening to see art created by hands.

    My current piece is a tribute to soldiers and their bomb-seeking dogs. My busy teaching schedule has me on the road with less time to work on my hooked rugs, but I’m trying!

    I have seen

  34. 34.

    Barbara

    Carrying forward the Italian sculptural tradition with the myths that Bernini didn’t have time for. Apollo and Daphne

    He also sculpted Poseidon and Persephone. Obviously, female empowerment was not part of his fantasy life.

  35. 35.

    Brachiator

    @Miss Bianca:

    @Immanentize: Nah, Jan Sanders van Hemessen got to Hot Judith a couple hundred years before Klimt did.

    Yes, but Artemisia Gentileschi gives us a determined Judith getting shit done, a task the men were afraid to do.

    And, most importantly, whereas Caravaggio (above, left) pairs his delicate Judith with a haggard attendant who merely looks on, her eyes wide with disbelief, Artemisia depicts two strong, young women working in unison, their sleeves rolled up, their gazes focused, their grips firm. Caravaggio’s Judith gracefully recoils from her gruesome task; Artemisia’s Judith does not flinch. Instead, she braces herself on the bed, as she presses Holofernes’s head down with one hand and pulls a large sword through his neck with the other. The creases at her wrists clearly show the physical strength required. Holofernes struggles in vain, the thrust of his arms countered by the more forceful movement of Abra, Judith’s accomplice in this grisly act.

  42. 42.

    Betty Cracker

    @Humdog: Kudos to the generous Mr. Smith, but for me, these “feel good” stories just underscore how fucked up the entire framework in which they play out is. Those students shouldn’t have to rely on crumbs from a billionaire’s table to pay for their education. I’m happy for those particular students, and again, kudos to Mr. Smith. But the situation in which that story unfolds is outrageous on every level.

  43. 43.

    germy

    @Betty Cracker:

    ever more Americans must rely upon strokes of good luck to aid them in their lives. fairy tale benefactors, pardons, exemptions, happening to have medical insurance, living in a "blue" state–much of our lives are becoming contingent upon sheer luck. https://t.co/LGbCIAxQHR— Joyce Carol Oates (@JoyceCarolOates) May 20, 2019

    Leslie Smyth
    ‏

    @lamsmykenya
    5h5 hours ago
    More
    Replying to @JoyceCarolOates @MollyJongFast
    Imagine being in last year’s class or next year’s. I don’t understand the celebration of super wealthy “heros” saving a lucky few. American society has failed as a group to fund education, healthcare, etc. A few generous souls won’t fix that.

  46. 46.

    Nelle

    @Betty Cracker: I share the kudos for Mr. Smith but it is random. Are you in the class of 2018 or 2020? Sorry about that. I guess I’ve been irritated at the beneficent celebrity (including Oprah) who like to give (very publicly) of their largess. I do think that they are doing more but this playing the Great Giver? It makes me very uneasy. It is still a display of the power of their wealth.

    More and more, I want systemic overhauls that I will not see in my lifetime. I’m grateful to have grown up as a daughter of someone whose family lost everything they worked for in a revolution. I never thought I was guaranteed an upward journey in life. Nor did I think I would get it if I worked for it. Something can come along from far outside my life that can sweep everything away. I don’t want it but I I’ve always had a sense that “it has happened to others; it can happen to me.”

    Now, though, I look at climate and then look at my granddaughters and think, oh, you will have to deal with things I cannot even imagine.

  48. 48.

    SFAW

    @Immanentize:

    Cutting off a head is hard work.

    Ummm … remind me not to mess with you.

    Which part of MA do I need to stay away from? Asking for a friend.

  49. 49.

    Emma

    @TaMara (HFG): the answer to your question about the first road is the same as the reason why so many small non-tourist seaside towns in Maine look like ‘Salem’s Lot. They really have an air of something wrong about them.

  50. 50.

    Barbara

    @germy: Yep. If you are touched by the magic fairy godmother of the modern world you are golden and if you are not, oh well. It’s the first thing I thought of when I read about this. Yes, it’s generous and wonderful but at the same time it is poisonous and baleful.

  51. 51.

    germy

    think about it, I’m only here because of Sleepy Joe and the man who took him off the 1% trash heap, President O! China wants Sleepy Joe BADLY!

    Okay, I think I can translate:

    He’s only president because of the backlash against Obama (O China because Obama sold us out to China) and Biden. If Obama hadn’t had the audacity to win his elections, then president Trump would not have been such a necessary corrective.

    It’s like when they retconned the Joker and the Batman, so that they were responsible for each other’s existence.

  53. 53.

    Martin

    Shit.

    SB 50, authored by state Sen. Scott Wiener, was the only legislation that aggressively tackled zoning restrictions to force local governments to authorize taller buildings and other multi-family housing near “transit-” and “jobs-rich” areas.

    Newsom said he was “disappointed” with the decision by the Senate Appropriations Committee to set aside the measure for the year.

    “California must address the housing supply shortage head on,” he said, “and we need to be able to use every tool in the toolkit to address this systemic crisis.”

    The new governor prioritized housing and homelessness solutions in a $1.75 billion budget proposal earlier this month, calling California’s slow construction “deplorable.” He set a target during his campaign last year for the state to build 3.5 million new residences by 2025.

    His alternative is to repeal Prop 13, and skyrocket the property taxes of the people that are camping on high value real estate.

  55. 55.

    The Moar You Know

    His alternative is to repeal Prop 13, and skyrocket the property taxes of the people that are camping on high value real estate.

    @Martin: Ending his political career and the hold Dems have on CA…for decades. He won’t do it. Newsom is not that brave.

    It could be done (and I think should be done) for commercial property. But they can’t touch residential – that really is a “third rail” in CA politics.

  56. 56.

    jc

    It didn’t have to reach this point (Roe on the chopping block) for my male self to have this attitude. I couldn’t convince my ex that the ‘R’s were coming for Roe. IMO, too many women aren’t politically engaged – e.g., they could have stopped Trump – hopefully now they’re catching on.

  57. 57.

    joel hanes

    @Martin:

    Repealing Prop 13 would really help the state’s finances; we might could go back to nominal tuition at state universities, and buy pencils and paper for our K-12 students without bake sales (the larger but less-known effect of Prop 13 was to drastically reduce the property taxes paid by most businesses)

  58. 58.

    H.E.Wolf

    Here’s the link to an article about the sculpture (2008) and the sculptor: “As an artist, he became fascinated with one question: ‘What would it look like, her victory, not his? How should that sculpture look?'”
    https://finance.yahoo.com/news/story-behind-medusa-statue-become-163024080.html

    @zhena gogolia:
    I agree. It’s a contemporary (late 20th/early 21st century) version of female beauty, which is different from classical or Renaissance versions.

    @hueyplong:
    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    Advice columnist Captain Awkward has described comments like these as “Notes From A Boner”.
    https://captainawkward.com/2014/06/06/notes-from-a-boner/

  59. 59.

    Ruckus

    @Betty Cracker:
    This. What about last years class and next years class? What about all the other schools?
    It’s great this man is doing this for this one class. But it does nothing for the costs in the first place nor for the what millions of others who go to college because a good job is almost impossible to find any longer without a degree, even if the job doesn’t actually require one. It’s as much a right of passage as a need. Sure it’s a good idea to get a good education, but the cost/benefit ratio seems to be massively out of wack. To everyone involved, which is all of us.

  60. 60.

    artem1s

    @TaMara (HFG):

    a piece of art he made in 2008 has gone viral across social media, as the perfect avatar for a moment of female rage.

    srsly?????
    grrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! seethes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU DO NOT EXIST OUTSIDE THE MALE GAZE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  62. 62.

    Another Scott

    @Betty Cracker: I read somewhere yesterday that Smith is one of those special MotU that thinks he deserves the Carried Interest tax loophole.

    Yeah, good for the students, but the rest of us are paying for his generosity because he’s not paying a reasonable tax rate.

    Stuff like this should not be charity.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  63. 63.

    Mandalay

    @schrodingers_cat (HectoringBully):

    Recent Garbage Times op-ed making rounds on Indian Twitter Modi is India’s Bernie Sanders. No, I didn’t click the link to read it.

    The article may or may not be garbage, but the authors of articles generally don’t get to write their own headlines.

    It’s not that rare to read about authors being livid about a headline that was used to summarize what they wrote.

  64. 64.

    Kay

    @germy:

    Did wingnuts hate Biden as much as they hated Obama though? Biden was spared the vitriol and insanity Obama got.

    It seems like Trump knows this- that he’ll have to work harder to gin up rage against Biden. It’s convenient, right, because we now get an actual test case to compare responses. Whatever else Biden is, he’s a white man. We’ll be able to see how much race and gender are a factor in level of Right wing base rage.

    I used to use Gore as my comparison, but this is better :)

  66. 66.

    Kay

    @germy:

    I see Trump is going with the “high energy” bullshit again too. Except even his supporters wish he would STFU and sit down for one second of one day, so it may be less effective. He’s “high energy” all right. Like a fucking tornado, leaving disaster in his wake.

  67. 67.

    jonas

    @Betty Cracker: I agree — I wonder if a better use of Smith’s money in this case (and not saying that wasn’t an amazing gift to the graduates) would have been to give enough to Morehouse’s endowment to allow them to make all their financial aid packages loan-free going forward. A small number of super well-endowed Ivies and SLACS now do this.

  68. 68.

    jonas

    @germy: “Sleepy” Joe Biden? How does that even make any sense? When has Biden — as opposed to, say, Ben Carson — ever been lampooned as always looking drowsy or something? Trump can’t even mock straight anymore.

  69. 69.

    zhena gogolia

    I saw a video of a Trumpanzee trying to disrupt a Harris rally by screaming “Trump’s your daddy!” over and over again. WTF does that mean?

  70. 70.

    laura

    @Martin: Martin, weve been long overdue for a prop 13 revision. Phil Ting’s split-roll would reevaluate commercial property every five years. That would be a huge boost for the states taxes. There’s not one single reason Disneyland should be paying less than a nickel a square foot for its property tax. None. It’s been the worst form of public welfare in this state. I went to public school in the poor neighborhood I grew up in. We had a nurse, a library, counsellors, lunch ladies, bus service, a symphony a gifted student program, lots of help for students who were immigrants from Viet Nam, Eritrea and Mexico, and teachers who walked to work in our neighborhood. Prop 13 just began the stripping away everything but the 3 r’s.
    It can be done, it should be done, and it shouldn’t come at a cost to the supermajority. Pay up Google, Faceberg, etc.,

  73. 73.

    rikyrah

    @Immanentize:

    For me, at least, this qualifies as good news — and qualifies as absolutely on- point for TaMara’s post:
    The Swedes are again revving up sexual assault proceedings against Assange.

    I think it’s WONDERFUL news

  74. 74.

    rikyrah

    @Betty Cracker:

    @Humdog: Kudos to the generous Mr. Smith, but for me, these “feel good” stories just underscore how fucked up the entire framework in which they play out is. Those students shouldn’t have to rely on crumbs from a billionaire’s table to pay for their education. I’m happy for those particular students, and again, kudos to Mr. Smith. But the situation in which that story unfolds is outrageous on every level.

    Which is why Warren’s student loan forgiveness plan is needed.

    I am with Kay – no need to re-invent the wheel: just allow student loan debt to be discharged during bankruptcy, like it used to be.
    And call in DeVos’ azz about why the public service loan program had an approval rate of 1% last year.

    YES, PHUCKING ONE PERCENT

  76. 76.

    polyorchnid octopunch

    @Martin:

    His alternative is to repeal Prop 13, and skyrocket the property taxes of the people that are camping on high value real estate.

    Way past time to do that.

  79. 79.

    AM in NC

    @Betty Cracker: I made that exact comment to a co-worker today. I mean, it’s a nice gesture on his part, and he is apparently a philanthropic guy, but why are we allowing a system in which one man can amass such riches in the first place? Especially since generations of people are racking up huge debt at the start of their adult lives because we won’t sufficiently fund public education at any level. We have to start turning the boat in a better direction.

  80. 80.

    Ohio Mom

    @Nelle: The medieval Jewish philosopher Maimonides created an eight-step hierarchy of giving (at least I remember it being eight steps).

    The lowest levels are giving reluctantly and giving less than you could, all the way to the highest level, which includes giving anonymously, so that neither the giver or recipient knows who each other is.

    In other words, don’t make it a publicity stunt. Show-off charity is an age-old problem apparently.

  82. 82.

    Mary Ellen Sandahl

    @Barbara: I think this reverse take on the Perseus vs Medusa myth is – not inspired exactly, but visually a reply to – the Cellini sculpture, which was a century or so earlier than Bernini. I think it’s pretty effective.

    As for standards of physical beauty, I don’t think there’s a huge gap between the modern sculptor and Cellini. If you go to the Wikimedia gallery of pics of the Cellini and look at the details of Medusa’s face or her body, crumpled as it is beneath Perseus’ winged sandals, you’ll see what I mean. One strain of the ancient Greek tradition about the story says that Medusa was beautiful.

Comments are closed.