Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Their freedom requires your slavery.

The willow is too close to the house.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

Bark louder, little dog.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

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

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

“Squeaker” McCarthy

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

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

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

It’s the corruption, stupid.

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

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

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Saturday Morning Open Thread: SOME WEEK

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  2. 2.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Everything is fine. The nomination process is fine.

    Everything is not fine, but I fail to see how the nomination process is to blame for those 4 not making it. So either educate me on it’s shortcomings and what “improvements” you would institute or stop engaging in vacuous innuendo.

  3. 3.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    So they’re expecting 292K votes this Tuesday.

    In 2016 there were 247K votes cast

    In 2008 there were 287K votes cast

    292K would be a big jump from 2016 and exceed the historic turnout of 2008.

  4. 4.

    JPL

    Last night in my dream, Kamala told me she was going to reenter the race. As we know dreams are just dreams.

  5. 5.

    Mr. Mack

    Morning, early birds. I’ve given up the blech. I just can’t get it right. Maybe I’ll just go with Liberty Biberty?

    Does Friday seem like an odd night to have such an important debate?

  11. 11.

    Kay

    Walker Bragman
    @WalkerBragman
    During the Q&A, Bloomberg was asked about the inequality crisis around the world: how it’s fueling the far right and what business leaders’ responsibility is.
    Bloomberg’s answer? It’s not a crisis because the poor have cars, cell phones, and “72-inch TV screens.”

    He has been saying this stuff for years. Decades. And he said it everywhere. Forums, op eds, every gathering of rich or influential people, over and over, for two decades. The idea that he had some sudden conversion and turned into a Democrat is absolute nonsense. He would have had to turn into a completely different person, like, last year sometime.
    The reward for Republicans electing Donald Trump will be Democrats electing a moderate Republican.
    We’ll have the far Right Trump cult and then a moderate Republican Party, one that now includes Democrats.
    And we’re not only not going to object to him buying the Democratic Party, we’re going to thank him for it. I just can’t. It’s a bridge too far.

  13. 13.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    On Warren, do keep in mind the money people who own the media hate her because she is serious about Wallstreet reform, not because of her plumbing.  Likely they would prefer Sanders to Warren because Sanders Manichean socialist world view because of his socialism would make him incapable of seeing the details like Warren does. Sanders would simply try to shut down Wall Street and even a Democratic Congress wouldn’t go for that, rather than some reform program.

  14. 14.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Betty Cracker: Sure, and I hate the idea that political office holders *have to sell access* to survive, but how do we change that dynamic, especially in an age where money is speech?

    ** obvious hyperbole but let’s not deny the fact that big donors expect and do in fact receive preferential treatment

    I need to point out tho that that requirement was not unique to the 4 he highlights (and if one reads the followups he adds Beto to the mix). Like it or not. money raised is indicative of enthusiasm for the candidate.

  15. 15.

    Bobby Thomson

    @OzarkHillbilly: The small donation requirements put in by Wilmer’s were designed to and did give him a huge advantage.  It is a sad fact that candidates of color have to rely on large donations to be competitive.

  17. 17.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Bobby Thomson: Lots of people give for lots of different reasons, I give and I expect nothing more than fighting the good fight in return, and a hoped for win here and there. But this is America. Money talks and shit walks.

  19. 19.

    Kay

    @JPL:

    Bloomberg is on record passionately arguing that Social Security and Medicare have to be cut. 2012. Donald Trump could conceivably attack our nominee on the programs Democrats invented. From the Left.

    His magic conversion to “economic progressive” is bullshit. He invented it. It contradicts everything he has said his entire political life.

  21. 21.

    Chris Johnson

    @Betty Cracker: Bloomberg people double down on it. The idea being that, rather than it being a problem, the point is to align yourself behind an even bigger millionaire (sorry, I mean billionaire: I guess we’re not to trillionaire yet, but 2020 is young) so that the littler billionaire loses.

    Because I guess the idea is, rather than have that dreaded competent Republican populist who becomes a dictator and ends America for good, you want to put in a dictator with the competence to consolidate the gains in Presidential power made by Trump and even more resources for entirely taking over the country, but he needs to be wearing a Dem jersey?

    Gosh, how lucky we are that Bloomberg stopped being a Republican after endorsing Dubya. We really dodged a bullet there! ;P

  22. 22.

    Llelldorin

    Does Bloomberg have any actual voter support? I know he’s spending a fortune on ads, but is it actually buying him anything?

  24. 24.

    Jeffro

    That Barker tweet has my wheels spinning…did having too many choices, for too long, make it nearly impossible for anyone but those with the big bucks and name recognition to hang in there?

    sigh

    On the bright side, I guess it is good that we have a wealth of great candidates (plus all the outstanding other leaders we have, like the House managers).  But it would have been nice to see the party turning over the keys to this newer generation…

  26. 26.

    Chris Johnson

    @Llelldorin: We don’t know yet, and he is also capable of buying poll-skewers and media outlets and there is no reason to think he is honest: no billionaire is.

    We don’t know whether he, like Putin, buys voting machine doctorers and methods of replacing democratic processes with his desired outcome.

    We’ll find out when we get actual votes in. As far as I’m concerned, if he starts totally wiping the floor with everybody and all the (compromised) media and punditry treat it as normal and good, the fix is in and he is cheating the process as badly as Trump ever did. I don’t think that will happen. I think he’s going to go ‘splat’ with actual voters, for the very obvious reason that we already have a Donald Trump and we already have a government captured by oligarchs. If it’s that people want, they already have Trump, who is more obvious about it and more brazen.

  27. 27.

    Betty Cracker

    @Llelldorin: A 2/3 Harvard-Harris poll has Bloomberg at 13% nationally. A Morning Consult poll on the same day has him at 14%. A 2/5 Economist-YouGov poll has him at 9% nationally. (link)

    In normal times, I’d assume someone who bypassed the early state primaries wouldn’t have a shot. But since these aren’t normal times and we’ve never seen anyone dump hundreds of millions on TV ad buys like Bloomberg is doing, who knows?

  31. 31.

    Jeffro

    Here’s hoping that Steyer and Yang ‘see the light’ soon, and drop out.

    Here’s hoping that Bloomberg doesn’t gain any traction, drops out, but stays committed to spending 100s of millions to defeat trumpov.

    Here’s hoping that Buttigieg goes nowhere on Super Tuesday, and packs it in.

  34. 34.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud:

    Bloomberg is offering $150 a pop to Instagram influencers willing to shill for his campaign, according to the Daily Beast.

    If that’s the going rate for a soul, the market must be flooded.

  35. 35.

    Betty Cracker

    I hate to say it, but Bloomberg’s strategy kind of reminds me of Rick Scott’s purchase of the Florida governorship in 2010. Scott poured around $72M into his own campaign, which was enough to buy the state Republican Party and then the job. And that’s sofa cushion change to Bloomberg.

  39. 39.

    Shalimar

    @Kay:  Walker Bragman is pretty much the definition of rat-fucker, but I accept your confirmation that what he’s saying is true.

  40. 40.

    Chyron HR

    @Chris Johnson:

    We don’t know whether he, like Putin, buys voting machine doctorers and methods of replacing democratic processes with his desired outcome.

    Yes and also what about his SPEECH TRANSCRIPTS?!

  41. 41.

    Baud

    @Betty Cracker:

    He wouldn’t be getting the time of day if Dems were satisfied with their slate.

    Maybe someone should have a heart to heart with Michelle Obama about her duty to country.

  42. 42.

    Quinerly

    Good morning from City Different! Two great days driving around like I have enjoyed in the past (still odd with no doggy head in rear view mirror, but I forced myself to do it). Prowled around Abiquiu, NM and its nearby Santa Rosa de Lima ruins, Bode’s General Store, Dar al Islam Mosque, Georgia O’Keefe’s famed “White Place”…. Plaza Blanca, Abiquiu Lake… And kept a polite distance from the Pentinente morada up the hill from GOK’s old home in Abiquiu. Done all this before in past trips, but still enjoy it. Yesterday was a bit of a different story. Drove up to Los Alamos. Only been there once and this time took a lot of side roads exploring before actual making the trek up there with the intentions of having lunch some place. Traffic absolutely insane, so I fled. Had checked with the highway dept to make sure highway 4 leaving Los Alamos the other direction through Valles Caldera was open. Was told it was. So game on… Drive through the preserve at 10,000 ft and check out the views on an uncharted portion of Highway 4 and land down the mountains in Jemez Springs at a cool biker bar that I have been too many times for a late lunch and a beer. Really stupid move on my part listening to the highway department and I consider the Ford Escape and me to be very lucky. 12 ft snow drifts, buried and incapacitated snow plows, 25 degrees, and little old me in my little 4 wheel drive Escape… The only one on the road for miles….and miles. The wind felt like it was going to flip the car…. Very long story short, made it to a 60 degree Jemez Springs and a friendly Los Ojos, shaking like a leaf.. same bartender from 2 years ago and we remembered each other! She pampered me with a wonderful hoppy IPA brewed out of Corrales…and the best meatloaf I have ever had (had some corn in it) smothered in white gravy and green chiles, with homemade mashed potatoes also smothered. Took the interstate back to Santa Fe and crawled into bed. I rarely watch local news. Apparently, what the highway department says is “open” doesn’t mean “passable.” Several stuck cars the day prior, immediately covered and buried in snow drifts. And, of course, no cell signal up there. That’s enough excitement for a couple days. Going to spend the day window shopping and at the Flea market. Have a great day, Juicers!

  43. 43.

    Shalimar

    @OzarkHillbilly: If you’re an instagram influencer, you’re living off of that income.  If they’re willing to shill for anyone for $150, they must have dozens of sponsors.  Seems like it would dilute the brand too much, but I am not familiar with the culture of people who give a damn about instagram influencers.

  45. 45.

    Elizabelle

    @Quinerly:  What a day!  You are an explorer.

    LOL re the actual question to ask the Highway Department:  “passable and safe” vs. “open.”

  46. 46.

    Betty Cracker

    @Baud: I think it’s mostly fear-driven discontent, with a dollop of “Obama spoiled us.” I get all of that, but I am flummoxed by BLOOMBERG of all people being the beneficiary of it.

  48. 48.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Shalimar: Well, I am completely ignorant of that brave new world and as such have doubts about it’s ability to reach into the real world. Of course, these days I find myself to be somewhat ignorant of the real world too.

  49. 49.

    PsiFighter37

    I will be curious to see if Mayor Pete gets any further bounce if he manages to beat out Wilmer in NH. I am also curious if Biden has any prayer of pulling off an upset, a la Clinton 2008 (although she was polling more closely).

  52. 52.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Quinerly: My wife and I have an ongoing argument about what constitutes a “very passable road”. I say that if you don’t roll your truck it is passable. She insists that fearing for her life is beyond the pale.

  54. 54.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    Not a Mike fan, but damn, his ads are sharp. Whoever is creating them for him has got to be snagged by the eventual candidate.

  55. 55.

    randy khan

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    If that’s the going rate for a soul, the market must be flooded.

    $150 is probably three times the going rate for the souls of most Instagram influencers.

  57. 57.

    randy khan

    Okay, I love that poll.

    And a funny little detail:  Moderates are more in favor of the meteor strike than liberals.

  58. 58.

    Jinchi

    @Baud: He wouldn’t be getting the time of day if Dems were satisfied with their slate.

    Bloomberg is getting the time of day because he’s buying it.

    The candidate has spent $217 million so far on television and digital advertising. … The total is roughly three-quarters of the amount spent by all other campaigns

    And he’s only been in the race a month. The reaction here in the BJ comment section to his high-profile Super Bowl spot proves that advertising, at least, stokes curiosity, even in a politically minded audience.

    Democrats have been very happy with their field for months. The media over-reaction to the having to wait a day to get the count in Iowa has some people spooked, but it only looks like they’re dissatisfied because we’re at the height of the primary season.

  60. 60.

    Quinerly

    @OzarkHillbilly: kidding aside… Only experience I have had in almost 43 years of driving that I was fearful. This includes 1000s of miles of dirt and gravel roads,  no guard rails at 10,000 ft, one way muddy dirt road up the side of a mountain to visit beer brewing Trappist Monks, weird dead end situations with no room to turn around and cattle approaching, Utah highway 12, and Utah’s Moki Dugway (check YouTube for videos people have posted on the latter). Poco would not have approved of yesterday’s highway 4 adventure. ??

  62. 62.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @MagdaInBlack: I had a 2WD Chevy S10 that my wife named “The Goat”. She tried to video a hill climb I did but all you could see was shit flying all over the cab. That was the thing about 2WD, once you got going you dare not stop or even slow down.

    I have 4WD these days. Much easier on my nerves as well as the rest of my body.

    ETA: A little fear is always good, it keeps one sharp.

  63. 63.

    Baud

    @Jinchi:

    He’s paying to market himself but polling shows that a numbet of  people are interested in what he is selling.  That wouldn’t happen if the traditional field covered the waterfront of voters’ interests.

  64. 64.

    germy

    Panel on MSNBC defending billionaires, saying Bernie is “alienating” them, they made “our lives better”, it’s being “against aspiration” & have to be careful about “creating unnecessary class war.” pic.twitter.com/3TKXgzywA4— Ibrahim (@ibrahimpols) February 7, 2020

    Chuck Todd and his panel understand what their bosses expect them to say.

  65. 65.

    rp

    IMO, the current choices aside from Warren and Klobuchar really suck. Klobuchar has almost no chance, and warren makes me nervous because I don’t think her politic instincts are great.

    so, yeah, I’m Bloomberg-curious.

  66. 66.

    Quinerly

    @Elizabelle: a guy at the bar at Los Ojos was laughing at me. He said because of Los Alamos and THE LAB, the Feds “make” the state say Highway 4 is always open. I’m waiting for our own Cheryl Rofer to confirm…..I find it hard to believe that that many people live in Jemez Springs/ Albuquerque and Bernalillo and actually work at Los Alamos. Plenty of people in Santa Fe do, but that road that way is a whole ‘nother story. 

  67. 67.

    M31

    I’m complete against unnecessary class war too, it’s the necessary one that we should concentrate on, you know, the one we’re in right now

  69. 69.

    Joey Maloney

    @JPL: Last night in my dream Bill Barr was transformed into a small dog and tried to escape justice, but me and two friends chased him down and chained him to the leg of a table. Then we had a long debate about which newspaper’s office we should take him to. I can relate that even in my dreams the NYT is shite.

  70. 70.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Jinchi: My wife and you are in agreement, ;-) but I’m not sure how much of an improvement that is. She sometimes confuses 100′ deep hollers with parking lots and has used trees for parking brakes. ;-)

    Actually, despite that one incident (and it was so traumatic she had a black out, so we don’t know what happened to cause it) she is an excellent driver and prefers driving to not. I don’t care and would just as soon hang my head out the window, so she does most of our driving. Until we are in my truck, she hates driving it.

  71. 71.

    MagdaInBlack

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    It was our great pleasure to go out “drift-jumping” in our old Ford F350 4wd ( which we used for plowing) …on days/night sensible people stay home, just because……fun ! ☺

  75. 75.

    germy

    On February 7, 2020, while walking near Venice Boulevard and Shell Avenue, in Venice, California, Bean was struck by two cars, with the second striking him fatally. “The car coming westbound did not see him and clipped him and he went down,” said Los Angeles Police Department Captain Brian Wendling. “A second vehicle was coming up, was distracted by people trying to slow him down and then looked up and then a second traffic collision occurred and that one was fatal.”

  76. 76.

    A Ghost To Most

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I say that if you don’t roll your truck it is passable. She insists that fearing for her life is beyond the pale.

    My wife draws the line at high altitude snow. I listen, after getting stuck in snow on the 4th of July.

  77. 77.

    Jeffro

    @germy: it’s amazing to me that the new standard of normal really-rich is ‘billiionaire’.

    All you millionaires and tens-of-millions-aires and hundreds-of-millions-aires, you’re just barely getting by, aren’t y’all?

    I had a HS classmate try to tell me last week that he was against all tax increases (ie, repealing even part of the W and trumpov tax cuts for high earners, and restoring some progressivity into the tax code) until he had a satisfactory amount of ‘FU money’ socked away.  When I pressed him on what that ‘FU’ amount was, he wouldn’t say…but I strongly suspect it is in the 8-9 zeros range.

    Oh and no increases on people much richer than him until he got to that imaginary ‘FU’ level, either.

    Us GenXer Reagan Babies who grew up hearing ‘government is the problem’ and ‘taxation is theft’…ugh…

  78. 78.

    Betty Cracker

    @Baud: Maybe it’s because for Democrats in 2020, the waterfront covers everything from the center right to the far left since the Republican Party is now the Trump cult. That would explain why Bloomberg resonates: he gives voice to the 10% or so of Democrats who describe themselves as “conservative” or “very conservative,” and he comforts those who believe it takes a plutocrat to beat a plutocrat.

  80. 80.

    Quinerly

    @MagdaInBlack: I’m actually “a known tightwad”….hence risking my life off-season New Mexico. I have been extremely fortunate to retire in my 50’s. I truly think having never been married and never having children make so many things financially possible. Life is trade offs, as we know. (my mother spent almost my entire life telling me to be independent, don’t get entangled in marriages, divorces, children. Then spent her last three years worrying that I would die alone since I’m an only child born of two only children who never divorced. . Go figure……, but, I digress…..)

  82. 82.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Quinerly: I’ve put my vehicles thru a lot of shit over the years (my oldest told me recently that one thing I taught him when he was growing up is that no matter how dire a situation might appear, it’s not the end of the world) but none of it compares to driving in Mexico. That takes one to a whole ‘nother level of audacity.

  84. 84.

    Shalimar

    @Baud: I think the field mostly covers voters’ interests.  Most everyone has a favorite.  But most everyone also has a candidate they’re sure will lose the general or govern terribly even if they win.  The race is uncomfortably up for grabs and Bloomberg is drawing interest from people who are scared the person they think can’t win against Trump is going to get the nomination.

  85. 85.

    germy

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Traffic can be scary for a pedestrian. Robert Benchley was terrified to cross Sunset Boulevard. He was known to call taxis to take him around the block just to arrive on the other side of the street.

    A year after Benchley’s death (liver disease), his friend Charles Butterworth was killed in a car accident on Sunset Boulevard

     [Butterworth] died in a car crash on Sunset Boulevard; he’d skidded off the road and smashed into a lamp post. Some have speculated that it was a suicide, either because of his faltering career, or because he was blue over the death of his close friend Robert Benchley.

  87. 87.

    Immanentize

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Or wandering down…

     

    ETA I loved Orson Bean when I was a kid.  But why do people turn so sour when they get old?  He ended writing for Breitbart.  His daughter was married to Breitbart.  Then he died and Bannon is the history.  What an odd world is in those three sentences.

  88. 88.

    RepubAnon

    @OzarkHillbilly: “And if 50 people a day walk in, sing a bar of Alice’s Restaurant and walk out, they may think it’s a movement.”

    • a Boomer movement, but still a movement.
  91. 91.

    germy

    @Quinerly:

    @zhena gogolia:

    I used to see Orson Bean on TV all the time in the ’60s and ’70s.

    Decades later, I saw him in that Spike Jonez movie and didn’t even recognize him; he’d grown so old.   What a terrible way to die.

    Side Trivia:  He was the father-in-law of Andrew Breitbart.

  95. 95.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @MagdaInBlack: One time while camping deep in the boonie woods, a group of us decided to go to this cave none of us had been to We asked the one guy who had, the best way to go, He told us but ended with, “You’ll have to walk the last mile or 2 cause you can’t get there from here.”

    When we got to the turn off from the gravel road I said something along the lines of “H says you can’t get there from here. I’ve got $10 that says he’s right.”

    10 hours, 2 cases of beer and $5K worth of damage later we finally made it back to camp. We never did make it to the cave, but I gave him the $10 anyway. I figured he’d earned it.

  96. 96.

    Jager

    To escape the bullshit, Anze the Dog and I hiked up Mt Conejo yesterday, we took a side trail that starts at the end of our street. Took us forever, 5 hours, we’re both old fellas. This morning we’re both stiff, but refreshed.

  97. 97.

    Kristine

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    Sanders would simply try to shut down Wall Street and even a Democratic Congress wouldn’t go for that, rather than some reform program.

    Would he do that given that he’s a millionaire and likely has investments that would be rendered worthless? He’s part of the system, as much as he denies it, and I don’t see him sacrificing his own net worth.

  98. 98.

    MagdaInBlack

    @Quinerly:

    There are not many of us out here, its true. ?

    I know some interesting Northern Illinois backroads, and a few good burger bars ?

  100. 100.

    debbie

    @germy:

    I don’t know what the speed limits are out there, but here, the main problem is that cars (their drivers, actually) resent having to share the roads with anyone. I walk along the edge of the road against traffic, but have to keep a steely eye on every car/truck coming at me. One SUV came too close a couple of years ago and I ended up with a broken wrist.

  101. 101.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @A Ghost To Most: Some friends of mine did a high altitude winter trip in Utah. Got stuck when he lost the road and went off the edge of it. Couldn’t get back up on it, no trees to winch from, ets etc. I forget how many miles he had to hike thru the unbroken snow ahead of them because it was FAR closer to a major road before he found help in the form of a couple guys out on ATVs. He said they were able to yank him back up onto the road in nothing flat.

    They told him he was damn lucky to find them as if they hadn’t been out and about he’d have been hiking for days before he found help.

  102. 102.

    Van Buren

    @Quinerly: I did the Dugway in a rental about 30 years ago. Scared the crap out of then fiancee. She made me stay on paved roads the rest of the trip.

  106. 106.

    Quinerly

    @OzarkHillbilly: never driven in Mexico Although, I know a couple who I have known since I was 17 from my parent’s beach place in NC. We are aligned in this fight against the Board of the HOA down there and thus have reconnected and have become friends again. They have gotten a little protective of me since my mom’s death. He’s self made, in his 70’s, voted for Trump (but seems to have some creeping doubts)… I can’t make him understand that New Mexico is a state, without totally embarrassing him on FB. He is amazed at all the snow pics I have posted, plus some other comments truly show his ignorance. I imagine he has geographically lumped where I actually am in with Arizona his entire life. Very successful, but not curious about any areas of the country but the South. Went to Europe on a tour several years ago but really can’t recount what they did and saw. Was a little freaked out when I was explaining my train trip from Las Vegas, New Mexico to Winslow and back. Tried to explain it was Amtrak. Just wouldn’t “click” with him. I think he thought I was taking a train into Mexico. I really don’t know. Kept saying that “that Las Vegas” should capitalize on its name and get gambling. I gave up trying to explain that “that Las Vegas” is the original Vegas and is steeped in its own history…. See Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders.

    So, after this rambling post, I can say that I probably know one person who believes I am driving around in Mexico. In the snow. And Global Warming is certainly a hoax. ?

  109. 109.

    MomSense

    I’m voting for the person who promises to bury all electrical lines and build a modern electrical grid.

    Fuck fucking ice storms.

  115. 115.

    Immanentize

     

    @Quinerly: Surprise punch line!
    Thank you for your travel stories. They are comforting. I am looking forward to hearing about the roving gangs of retired nuclear physicists who prod you with Geiger counters on your way to Ojo Caliente. Seriously, continue the regaling and stay safe.

    See y’all in a day or two, I am taking G&T’s advice and going down to Mystic CT to see the collection of Turners from the Tate. I’ll say “Hey” to Taylor Swift if I see her in Westerly, RI.

  118. 118.

    Princess

    @Betty Cracker: It’s how Pritzker bought the Illinois governorship too. He’s been a great governor and we probably woudn’t have Casten or Underwood in the House if he hadn’t. But.

    Pritzker ran on a left agenda. Bloomberg has been adamant about cutting Soc Security and Medicare. They are two very different people. But the strategy is the same.

  119. 119.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @WereBear: When we moved out here, we had to get one. Relying on ambulances to get to the hospital in case of an emergency is death. As has already been proven once when the weather was good.

  121. 121.

    MomSense

    @debbie:

    I think I’m in the only neighborhood that didn’t, but there are a lot of people in crisis and we can’t get to them.  Trees down, roads impassable.

    Climate change means more ice storms and we are definitely not prepared.

  123. 123.

    Quinerly

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: thanks. As I’m eating the best left over meatloaf of my life… I’m thinking if I had gone my regular route to Los Ojos in Jemez Springs, I probably would have had my usual green chile cheeseburger. Instead, I was pale as a ghost. . Wobbly when I walked in. Started recounting my story to Lisa, the barmaid from 2 years ago, when a biker screamed, “get this woman Olga’s meatloaf and a beer.” Looking back, it was all worth it. ?

  126. 126.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Quinerly:I can say that I probably know one person who believes I am driving around in Mexico.

    You are, it just happens to the new one. ;-)

  127. 127.

    PST

    @germy:

    What a terrible way to die.

    Yes, but … When I read that Bean had died I checked Wikipedia and saw that he was just a few days older than my late father. I wouldn’t want to go like that, but there is something to be said for being an active pedestrian at 91 even with that risk of a fatal accident compared to dying after an extended, bedridden half existence. One odd bit I picked up from the bio was that Bean was born while Calvin Coolidge was president. It never once occurred to me that my father was a Coolidge baby. I associated him and his generation so strongly with FDR, the only president they grew up knowing, that it is hard to think of him as part of that ancient, faded era.

  129. 129.

    debbie

    @MomSense:

    Yeah, between states like yours and California with their fires started by electrical wires, they really need to come up with a plan to bury wires and better protect people.

    Stay warm!

  131. 131.

    Elizabelle

    @germy:   That is so sad about Orson Bean.  I liked him from the 1960s; can’t recall what game show he was on.

    NY Post:

    Veteran actor Orson Bean died Friday night after he was reportedly struck by multiple vehicles in Los Angeles. He was 91.

    The “Being John Malkovich” actor was crossing Venice Boulevard around 7:35 p.m. when he was hit by “multiple vehicles,” KNBC-TV in Los Angeles reported. Distraught witnesses were seen consoling each other, while one of the drivers believed to have hit Bean tried to help him.

    “The car coming westbound did not see him and clipped him and he went down,” Los Angeles Police Department Captain Brian Wendling told ABC7. “A second vehicle was coming up, was distracted by people trying to slow him down and then looked up and then a second traffic collision occurred and that one was fatal.”

    ….

    Bean reached the height of his acting career in the 60s and 70s and often appeared on televised game shows. His TV roles included “The Twilight Zone,” “Modern Family,” “Desperate Housewives, “Hot in Cleveland” and “Grace & Frankie.”

    His more than 100 acting credits. One of his final film roles was portraying a Holocaust survivor in “The Equalizer 2” in 2018.

    Bean is survived by his third wife — actress Alley Mills, 68, who played Kevin’s mom Norma on “The Wonder Years.” The two had performed in a play titled “Bad Habits” in Santa Monica, which had ended its run last week.

    That second car needed to stop.  Or slow down drastically.  How tragic.  And it was after dark.

    However, being 91 and having an acting gig the week before?  Amazing.

  132. 132.

    Elizabelle

    @Quinerly:   What was the restaurant?  Maybe we can google to see if anyone’s ever come up with that recipe.

    The meatloaf sounds divine.  Good for anything that ails one.

  133. 133.

    Quinerly

    @OzarkHillbilly: ?

    (that blue heart is for how blue the sky is today!) off to meet a gal pal who vends vintage silver jewelry at the flea market… She’s 80, from Mississippi originally…No Magnolia Blossom, though..  road those ponies in Iceland for 10 years straight in her 60’s and 70’s. Can’t wait to explain HER to those beach friends. “Small minds blown.”

  134. 134.

    Quinerly

    @Elizabelle: Los Ojos.

    Interesting background… I met the owner in 2012. He trained Olympic athletes in high altitudes in another life. If I am recalling correctly, his wife was a runner, from Mexico, either tried out for Olympics and made it or didn’t. Let’s check the website for info. I could be wrong about some of this. I take a lot of notes on these trips but not digging out my trip diary from 2012 right now. Best meatloaf ever… And I consider myself a connoisseur.

  135. 135.

    WaterGirl

    @Quinerly: So the green chiles weren’t inside the meatloaf?

    Now that the most important thing is out of the way :-) so glad you made it through safely. And you have a great story to tell.  Bonus!

  139. 139.

    Elizabelle

    @WaterGirl:   I googled, and “feetloaf” was at the top of the page.

    Trust me, you do not want to look.  The WaPost had it up as a photo for way too long at Halloween.

  143. 143.

    Quinerly

    @WaterGirl: may have been a few inside. Now if you truly want them inside with pinon, check out the high-end Bull Ring in Santa Fe on Meatloaf Tuesday …White table cloths. Ask for Harry, tell him “St. Louie Woman” sent you. ?

  146. 146.

    MomSense

    @Quinerly: 
    I’m going to experiment with that style of meatloaf. I make one for my kids with Cajun spices and finely diced red bell pepper, but corn and green chilis sounds awesome.
    I made pulled chicken, rajas, pinto beans and guacamole for dinner last night. We made burritos.

  147. 147.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @germy: I remember him fondly. Was very surprised a few years ago to learn that he was Breitbart’s father in law.

    Being hit by two cars is a messy way to go. I hope he died instantly and didn’t suffer. R. I. P.

  148. 148.

    mesmer a la carte

    Oddly enough, I live just a few blocks south of where Orson Bean was hit.  There were news copters hovering all nite making for a very strange evening.  The intersection is heavily traveled but is just beyond a traffic light so it’s hard to gain much speed.  I encourage checking his obituaries – a life very well lived.  And re the debates, I felt that all did well and many important issues were raised.  Plus the energy level was by several magnitudes better than any previous debate.

  149. 149.

    TomatoQueen

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: We’re seeing that one here in bluest of blue northern Virginia too, and I’m wondering which yo-yo where thinks it’s okay or better to allow Bloomberg to allege a strong direct link to Obama, as if Bloomberg had been, say, VP at the time. In spite of the khakis and rolled-up Brooks’ Bros. sleeves, it is nonsense and it made me feel dirty. Do not want.

  151. 151.

    Kay

    Anyone can be as “Bloomberg curious” as they want but pretending that Bloomberg is some kind of “progressive” on economic issues is nonsense.

    You’re getting Mitt Romney without the gun nuts and the fundamentalist religious. If that’s what you want, fine, but let’s not pretend.

    He’s told us over and over and over who he is. Unless he had some miraculous conversion in the last 12 months he’ll give us Romney’s economic agenda.

  152. 152.

    Kay

    And, not that it matters in our current political climate, but Bloomberg pretending he’s a progressive economically is not that different from Trump pretending he’s a economic populist. Both sales pitches are dishonest. Maybe Bloomberg isn’t an insane pathological liar like the current president, but he’s a phony on this, and that gives me pause since his entire campaign so far consists of running ads calling Trump a liar.

  157. 157.

    Ruckus

    @Kay:

    Bloom is tied on my list for next to last place. My list doesn’t have everyone running on it. He’s minimally qualified in that he can be responsible for a rather large government entity and it will probably be standing when he’s gone. That’s not a high bar.

  158. 158.

    J R in WV

    @Ruckus:

    Just curious, who’s below Bloomberg in last place on your list?

    I’m [Harris, suspended], Warren, Klobuchar, Biden, after that I dunno.

  160. 160.

    Martin

    @OzarkHillbilly: This is the further tyranny of the boomers. Not that it’s necessarily deliberate by boomers, but there’s so fucking many boomers that all stochastic systems revert to the boomer.

    It’s a mathematical fact that if you put 5 apples and 5 lemons in a box and randomly pull one out, you have a 50% chance of drawing a boomer.

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