Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Bark louder, little dog.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

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

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President.

I was promised a recession.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

No one could have predicted…

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

Let there be snark.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Hot air and ill-informed banter

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Friday Evening Open Thread: Finito

Friday Evening Open Thread: Finito

by | 170 Comments

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Et tu, KellyAnne?


Gonna have to update the whiteboard!

Reader Interactions

170Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    In the past 13 days he has had a net loss of Twitter followers every day…a decline of 177,333 followers so far.

    I hope the bots find a good home.

  2. 2.

    jeffreyw

    I’m all caught up with Questionable Content, starting to binge on Stand Still Stay Silent.  Any other web comics you can recommend?

  3. 3.

    Hildebrand

    Sorry, Conway gets no medals for saying ‘it looks like’ Biden ‘will’ win.  That’s still a lawn and garden store’s worth of hedging.

  4. 4.

    Ken

    Et tu… It occurs to me that one reason Trump would hesitate before signing a blanket pardon for anyone, and particularly family members, is that he’d worry they’d kill him and use the pardon to go free.

  8. 8.

    CaseyL

    @Ken:  I’m not sure how many financial debts survive after the person incurring them dies and have to be paid off by the estate.  Tempting thought, if I were one of his heirs.

  10. 10.

    philadelphialawyer

    Trump loses in Nevada trial court:

     

    https://www.democracydocket.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/45/2020/11/20-OC-00163-Order-Granting-Motion-to-Dismiss-Statement-of-Contest.pdf

     

    And in Michigan appellate court:

     

    https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/7334633/12-4-20-Trump-v-SOS-MI-COA-Order.pdf

     

    And in Minnesota Supreme Court:

     

    https://www.democracydocket.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/45/2020/11/Order-Dismiss-Not-Stipulated-Entire-Case.pdf

     

    Arizona State Leg will not be getting involved:

     

    https://twitter.com/AZHouseGOP/status/1334983417562243074

     

    All via Rick Hasen’s most excellent Election Law Blog:

     

    https://electionlawblog.org/

  11. 11.

    HumboldtBlue

    This upcoming Netflix series looks very, very promising.

    Carey Mulligan, Ralph Fiennes, and Lily James star in THE DIG, coming to Netflix globally on January 29.

  13. 13.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Baud:

    I hope the bots find a good home.

    One of my lockdown resolutions is to make an effort to keep up with the stuff I subscribe to. So I’m reading the latest Sci. Am.

    There’s an article from a group that studies (through simulation) the spread of misinformation through social networks, and the effect of bots on that spread.

    It’s kind of depressing. Puts hard quantifiable numbers on the old observation that “A lie travels halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes.”

    Which quote I always thought was from Mark Twain. Apparently that’s misinformation.

  14. 14.

    Aleta

    45 court losses for #45.  Another chance for him to say “Unprecedented in world history.”

    +  tonight’s denied appeal

  16. 16.

    Pete Downunder

    From Vanity Fair – sorry can’t figure out link on my phone:

    “Report: Jared Kushner’s Lawyer Was Recruited to Help With a Suspected Bribe-for-Pardon Scheme”

    Colour me not suprised.

  17. 17.

    Hungry Joe

    Interesting transition note: Since 1908, a departing President has handed the keys to the White House to a member of his own party only three times: Roosevelt to Taft (1909), Coolidge to Hoover (1929), and Reagan to Bush I (1989). It might go back further, but in the 30 years before T.R. the Presidents are kind of indistinct, fuzzy, forgettable.

    Harding, FDR, and Kennedy died in office, of course. Which doesn’t count.

  18. 18.

    philadelphialawyer

    @debbie: Not sure? Maybe Minn was included, but not Nevada and Michigan? Losses piling up so fast it’s hard to keep track!

  20. 20.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    We get COVID updates every Friday for the over-55 condo bldg I live in and the memory care/assisted living/skilled nursing unit across the street. We’ve done pretty well but today things went to hell in the other building. They have 7 residents with COVID, 2 of them in the hospital. Some of the staff is sick too. I guess we couldn’t hold out forever.

    No one in my bldg has it at the moment anyway.

  21. 21.

    debbie

    Another farewell parting gift for you, Sir:

    A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to fully restore an Obama-era initiative that protects undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children from deportation, requiring officials to open the program to new applicants for the first time since 2017.

    Judge Nicholas Garaufis of the U.S. District Court in Brooklyn instructed the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to post a public notice by Monday that states the department will accept and adjudicate Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) petitions from immigrants who qualify for the program but are not currently enrolled in it.

    Garaufis also instructed officials to grant approved applicants work permits that last for two years, instead of the one-year period proposed by the Trump administration over the summer.

  25. 25.

    bbleh

    At this point, I HOPE Trump sticks around, like something the GOP can’t scrape off its shoe.

    He’s toxic to the brand AND to the wannabes who have their eyes on ‘24.

  26. 26.

    CaseyL

    @Jeffro: We’re unlikely to find out until the gangsters leave, which I doubt will be one moment sooner than they absolutely must.

  29. 29.

    Ken

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: I was thinking of a pardon covering through January 20, 2021, but given out in early January, creating a window of opportunity.  But it would be typically Trump if he were to try to issue pardons good through 2050.

  31. 31.

    Bruuuuce

    @jeffreyw: Zen Pencils, xkcd (of course), Something Positive, Girls With Slingshots, lunarbaboon, General Protection Fault. I also read comics online that are more mainstream, including 9 Chickweed Lane and Pearls Before Swine.

  32. 32.

    Scout211

    @Pete Downunder:

    https://www.salon.com/2020/12/03/alleged-pay-for-pardon-scheme-involved-jared-kushners-lawyer–and-a-california-billionaire-report_partner/

    It was definitely not someone who was part of the a Trump crime family. A psychologist from Berkeley by way of Elliott Broidy.

    The Justice Department investigated as recently as this past summer the roles of a top fund-raiser for President Trump and a lawyer for his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, in a suspected scheme to offer a bribe in exchange for clemency for a tax crimes convict, according to two people familiar with the inquiry. A federal judge in Washington unsealed heavily redacted court documents on Tuesday that disclosed the existence of the investigation into possible unregistered lobbying and bribery. The people said it concerned efforts by the lawyer for Mr. Kushner, Abbe Lowell, and the fund-raiser, Elliott Broidy, who pleaded guilty in October to a charge related to a different scheme to lobby the Trump administration,” The New York Times reported Thursday.
    “A billionaire San Francisco real estate developer, Sanford Diller, enlisted their help in securing clemency for a Berkeley psychologist, Hugh L. Baras, who had received a 30-month prison sentence on a conviction of tax evasion and improperly claiming Social Security benefits, according to the filing and the people familiar with the case. Under the suspected scheme, Mr. Diller would make ‘a substantial political contribution’ to an unspecified recipient in exchange for the pardon

  34. 34.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Ken: I don’t think you can pardon something that has not happened yet.   We aren’t in the world of Minority Report.

  35. 35.

    Ken

    Hmm.  Due to not washing my hands between cutting up food for dinner and putting on my mask for my evening walk, I seem to have created the bacon-scented covid mask.

    Patent Pending.

  37. 37.

    Mo Salad

    @jeffreyw: This is the first time I’ve seen QC mentioned here. Been reading it for years. I don’t follow any other serialized webcomics, just stand alone comics, like xkcd, Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal and Perry Bible Fellowship. There was a semi-autobiographical one called “Wasted Talent”, done by a young female engineer in Vancouver. She retired due to her real life getting busy. It’s worth a visit.

  40. 40.

    sdhays

    Isn’t that 1 “win” an asterisk which got overruled on appeal? So, at best, merely a temporary win which is now a loss?

  43. 43.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @debbie: So today I learned that DeJoy is part of the Deep State (man, the conspiracy has tentacles everywhere!) and that people write who they’re voting for on the outside envelope of the mail-in ballot.

    Seems like that would defeat all the secret-ballot precautions, but who am I to judge?

  45. 45.

    philadelphialawyer

    @sdhays: I thought the “win” was Justice Alito merely reiterating that the late arriving ballots in PA must be kept separate, which they already were, and which are few, and not nearly enough to matter. Or, maybe the “win” was something about the distance the Repub ballot watchers had to stand from the table being reduced. Something not important, in any event.

  49. 49.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @debbie: The antics will continue whether or not you lose patience with them.  He is losing relevance and the ability to do harm.

  50. 50.

    philadelphialawyer

    @bbleh: Sure. Still, love to see each and every one of them go down in flames. And the courts sticking it to Trump and his lawyers. And their incompetence and complete lack of proof being shown to everyone but the rubes.

  52. 52.

    Frank Wilhoit

    @jeffreyw: Jeph Jacques also did a full-length graphic novel called “Alice Grove” — alternate-near-future scifi, very well done. I don’t have the link right to hand here but you can probably find it easily.

  53. 53.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @SFBayAreaGal: I hadn’t but I just went back and read that. Huh.

    Oh well, I think it was Abraham Lincoln who said that 85% of the quotes you read on the internet are misattributed. Also that 94.5% of statistics are made up on the spot.

  54. 54.

    Bill Arnold

    @Connor:

    But THIS one is accurate, apparently: “How easy it is to make people believe a lie, and how hard it is to undo that work.”

    That’s a more interesting thought, anyway.

  55. 55.

    Robert Sneddon

    @jeffreyw: 

    Freefall — it’s a really SFnal world and as scientifically accurate as XKCD. The main character is Florence, an Uplifted humanoid wolf who’s a spaceship’s engineer. Her creator is Doctor Bowman, a genius chimp with anger management issues, her ship’s captain Sam Starfall is a thieving alien sqid and the robots are all getting religion. Right now Florence is meeting her fiance’s parents for the first time.

    Out-of-Placers — an odd mix of SF and fantasy set on a world where humans aren’t the top-of-the-tree in the sentient hierarchy. Rather crapsack, very intriguing biological imperatives as the various species interact. There may be magic too. Very funny, very sharp in places too.

  56. 56.

    HumboldtBlue

    @debbie:

    This is a serious problem, Georgia’s largest county can’t prepare for the runoff because the elections office is under a temporary restraining order due to a bullshit Trump case and can’t do its job until it’s lifted.

  57. 57.

    geg6

    I’m obsessed with food tonight.  We’re getting Chinese takeout tonight. For the rest of the weekend, I went out and got everything to make a nice ramen with both chicken and pork broth, spinach, roasted carrots, scallions, crispy onions and sliced chicken breast.  Jumbo lump crab is on sale, so I’m going to pick up some and make a crab mac and cheese using Brie and gruyere with bacon, asparagus and baby peas.  All comfort food, fancied up a bit.  I have never made ramen before, so I’m psyched to see how it comes out.

  64. 64.

    Geoduck

    @Frank Wilhoit: Alice Grove was great until the author got bored with it and decided to wrap it up by strapping the plot to a rocket sled and hitting the afterburners. Better than just abandoning it, of course.

    @NotMax: Mr. Foglio’s current big (and very long-time) project is Girl Genius, which is definitely worth a read.

  65. 65.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Jeffro: 

    Trump and his grifter family will need to be frisked before hopping on Marine One for the last time in January

  66. 66.

    lamh36

    Evening BJ.

    I’ve been home for about an hour now after spending 13 hours first in the ER and then admitted to the cardiology observation ward.

    After chest tightening/palpitations for the past week, I decided I coudn’t wait until I found a PCP (I found someone in my network that I might like, but appt isn’t until Jan) and needed to go to an ER just to get some test run and hopefully some answers. Left work early round 1:30am to go to the ER.

    Well after spening 10 of 13 hrs on the cardiology ward, I have no REAL answers, except that the test rsults did not show evidence of an ACUTE heart attack, but given the name of a cardiologist to consult with for continued outpatient testing to see if they can find the root cause of my chest tightening and shortness of breath (beyond allergies)

    So while I’m glad I went, I still feel a bit worried beause no clear reason was given for my symptoms. I’m attempting to schedule an appointment with the Cardiologist hopefully this month or before I go to my PCP, but not sure if that will happen.

    I’m just going to continue to pray on it and moniter all I can until I can get to the appointments I have for early next month.

    Right now, I’m gonna relax and spend the weekend chilling and quiet

  67. 67.

    Martin

    Question for the collective: We’re debating xmas lights. Normally I’m the big proponent of them, but the rest of my family are the proponents of tradition – so they’re leaning toward putting them up because we always put them up, and I’m leaning toward ‘for the love of god people, stay home, there’s nothing to see here’.

  70. 70.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @lamh36:

    That’s scary. You were smart to check it out when you did. I hope it turns out to be a nothing, and that you’ll be feeling like your normal chipper self again very soon.

  71. 71.

    Mary G

    No later than Monday, the federal govt must post on all of its websites that it is accepting first-time DACA initial applications, renewal requests, and advance parole on the terms as they existed before September 5, 2017–when the Trump administration first tried to end DACA /2— Karen Tumlin (@KarenTumlin) December 4, 2020

    This same notice must make clear that all 65,800 1-year DACA grants and work authorizations issued after the unlawful Wolf memo will be extended to 2-years. /3— Karen Tumlin (@KarenTumlin) December 4, 2020

  72. 72.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @philadelphialawyer:

    It was the distance poll watchers had to be from elections workers counting the ballots, from 10 ft to 6 ft. Like whoopdedoo, you’re 4 ft closer. I doubt it made any difference. Just like all of these lawsuits over a few hundred ballots in different battleground states

  74. 74.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Martin: I think it’s important to wring what joy you can from all this.

     

    People aren’t going to be coming out and spreading corona to look at your lights. But they might pass by and smile. We take our kids out, driving around town to see the various displays and they love it.

  75. 75.

    Martin

    @lamh36: So sorry to hear you’re concerned about heart health. Relaxing sounds like a good plan.

    I think uncertain diagnoses aren’t uncommon with heart stuff. My stepfather had bypass surgery a number of weeks back, and he’s dealing with alternating high and low blood pressure. What’s causing it? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯: Take these pills and see if that helps.

    I consulted with some of our local experts and they said, yeah, that happens a lot. There are a range of issues that are very well understood and range of issues that they really don’t understand well.

    Lot of self-care seems to be the best advice.

  78. 78.

    JanieM

    @lamh36: Good luck, that’s scary. I had chest pain for a couple of days some years ago and kept thinking it was allergies, then got scared and consulted my sister, who’s a nurse. In the end I went into the ER and they gave me an EKG and I can’t remember what all else, and finally they said I had pleurisy. It went away after a few more days and I never knew what caused it.  I’m glad you got yourself checked out and I hope it turns out to be nothing serious. But then, 13 hours in the ER is enough to wear anyone out, so chill and enjoy the weekend!

  79. 79.

    Mary G

    @lamh36: Yikes! I hope it turns out to be nothing or just stress from moving and a new job that a nice lazy weekend will help with. Glad you didn’t wait to check, though. I hate when they can’t tell you something definite, too.

  81. 81.

    philadelphialawyer

    @Martin: If we are talking about one of those elaborate “Christmas House,” setups, the  kind people come from miles around to look at, then I would say skip it. If we are talking about just a few lights that might cheer up your family and neighbors, then I would say go for it.

  83. 83.

    sdhays

    @Martin: Is the concern that your Christmas lights are so spectacular that you’re worried it’s going to bring crowds?

    Where I’m from, people view Christmas lights from their cars, partially because things aren’t that walkable and mostly because it’s damn cold.

  87. 87.

    JanieM

    @Martin: Lots of people still have to be out and about for essential jobs, for groceries, for whatever. I think Christmas lights are wonderful free entertainment, and very cheering, and boy do we all need cheering up these days. I put some lights in my windows just yesterday. I vote put ’em up. No one is going to stay home because you don’t put up your lights. ;-)

    (Disclaimer: of course, I don’t know where you live. I live on a pretty busy rural road. If you live in a cul de sac where no one will see them unless they go out of their way, maybe that’s a different calculation. ??)

  89. 89.

    NotMax

    @Geoduck

    So old can recall when it first began in paper comic book form.

    It has continued to have an avid following. The steampunk milieu, in any medium, has never lit my burner though.

  90. 90.

    Spanky

    @lamh36: Chilling is ordered!

    Did they find cardiac enzymes in a blood test? My only experience with chest pain were actually separated cartilage, so I didn’t get beyond the ER. OTOH, looking for enzymes was the second thing they did after the EKG.

  97. 97.

    Martin

    @JanieM: We live on a cul-de-sac, inside a neighborhood with one point of egress (set up like a small gated neighborhood but with no gates). If you aren’t looking for my house or one of my 4 neighbors, you will never know we’re here.

    That’s sort of the norm where I live. Many neighborhoods have a lot of walking access, but because of where ours is positioned we don’t have much of that either. The whole city is designed to keep cars away from homes but instead be more walkable than drivable.

  98. 98.

    Anotherlurker

    @lamh36: I hope all this was a false alarm and you are healthy.   You have been under stress with your moving and your new job.  Add to this COVID and trump,… well…

    Please stay safe.

  99. 99.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Martin:

    The next few months are going to be a nightmare. Both of my R state reps co-sponsored legislation to strip the governor of his powers to issue statewide health orders and reserve that power to the legislature. He vetoed it, but the fact that they even tried during a pandemic. Not to mention some members introducing articles of impeachment. This is insanity

  100. 100.

    WaterGirl

    @lamh36: That sounds like no fun at all.  Probably a dumb question, but could it be related to stress?  Covid, moving, new job, new apartment, new responsibilities?

    That’s like 4 of the top stressors in life.  Unless you got married, too?  That would make it 5.

  102. 102.

    Frankensteinbeck

    Wingnuts are celebrating that one of Trump’s cases was ‘docketed’ with the Supreme Court – that is, the paperwork was received.  Alito, the friendliest judge they’re likely to get, gave Pennsylvania 6 days to respond.  This is unusually long for a supposedly emergency request, and in fact would let Pennsylvania respond after the ‘safe haven’ day when electors are considered constitutionally locked in and unchangeable.  SCOTUS really does not want anything to do with overturning this election and the wailing and gnashing of teeth when Trump’s base is finally hit with that will be epic.

  103. 103.

    West of the Rockies

    Trump: “Kellyanne worked here for a very short time.  I really didn’t know her.  She’s a very unhappy person, I guess, that’s  what people tell me.  She’s a loser bigly.  We’re looking very strongly into investigating her for leaking false information.”

  106. 106.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    I can’t wait to read about how Kavanaugh, Gorsuch, Alito, Thomas, and Barrett are all apart of the Deep State

    I’m sure SCOTUS has to realize that PA would likely ignore any “ruling” that gave Trump the win anyway

  109. 109.

    mrmoshpotato

    I was about to post the video of Kellyanne Conjob sounding reasonable and engaged with reality.

    We remember the last 4 years.

    FUCK! HER!

  110. 110.

    lamh36

    @Spanky: all cardiac enzymes and blood test indicators were negative or withing normal ranges. EKG and chest x-rays all showed nothing.

    Who knows it could be a major bad case of acid reflux/gas…but it’s just aggravating not knowing anything more

  114. 114.

    lamh36

    @WaterGirl: could def be all those things.  Add to that some issues with two of my 5 sisters and mental breaks for them that directly affected my mom and stuff and yeah…stress could def be it.

    For right now, it’s an aspirin a day until I can get to the PCP or Cardiologist, whomever comes first

  119. 119.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    You’re very quick to call for putative Supreme Court rulings to be ignored.  Are you sure that is a road down which you want to travel?

    Ordinarily, no. But when it comes to possibly overturning the results of a democratic election on spurious, partisan grounds, I’d say those SCOTUS rulings should absolutely be ignored.

    I don’t think there’s enough ballots in PA to make a difference either way. I guess when I said that I was thinking that SCOTUS would try to overturn the entire election for some reason

  125. 125.

    prostratedragon

    @debbie:  I’m afraid it’ll take more than that for Ol’ Skillethead, so we’ll probably have to gird ourselves for the duration. As others have said, at least he is a lamer duck than one might have thought possible.

  128. 128.

    geg6

    @Mary G:

    Thank you!  I have to say, John is often skeptical of my culinary ventures.  He’s a good cook, but sticks to what he knows.  I’m very adventurous and not afraid to tackle things I’ve never tried, like tomorrow’s ramen.  I’ve made the mac and cheese before, so I know he likes it.  Pretty sure he’ll like the ramen, too.  He loves Chinese and Asian cuisines.

  129. 129.

    debbie

    @Martin:

    Put them up! They’ll cheer you up. More homes around here have lights than in previous years and I can’t wait to see them!

  130. 130.

    Mary G

    ? ?

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California certifies Joe Biden's victory, giving the Democrat more than the 270 electors needed to win the White House.— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) December 5, 2020

  135. 135.

    zhena gogolia

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Do I remember correctly that you hate A Suitable Boy? TV Guide had a rave review of a new miniseries of it on Acorn, and I don’t have that (yes, I do subscribe to TV Guide), but I considered buying the book. But in the back of my mind I think you said something negative about it. I liked his Golden Gate, which is written in Onegin stanzas.

  137. 137.

    Pete Downunder

    @lamh36: I had an airline captain client once who lost his medical certificate because ER folks thought he had a heart attack. But the evidence- enzymes etc – weren’t there and we were able to show it was actually indigestion caused by a combination of rum cake and Dr Pepper. A self inflicted injury in my view.

  139. 139.

    zhena gogolia

    @MisterForkbeard:

    Our nextdoor neighbors went hogwild (they even put lights on their toolshed). It does make me smile when I see it (no lights over here, we’re too exhausted by Zoom teaching, not that we ever do it).

  146. 146.

    Barbara

    @lamh36: Not sure about the shortness of breath but I have experienced spasms in the intercostal muscles between the ribs that felt like sharp tightening in the chest. I had ekgs to rule out heart involvement. You were smart to get it checked out. I hope it turns out not to be serious.

  147. 147.

    prostratedragon

    @lamh36:  Echoing the best wishes and suggestions for relaxation of others. I know it’s frustrating not to get answers, but heart situations can be hard to resolve. I went through a couple of years of monitoring and diagnostics, and the specific cause of my occasional chest pains was not really found, but the total heart failure/atrial fibrillation treatment package has helped a lot.

    One thing I found was that monitoring my pulse with my own oximeter helped. No one could catch my atrial fibrillation in an EKG for several years of repeated attempts, various doctors being convince I must have it. One cardioverts spontaneously out of an episode, and the little devil ran and hid when it knew I had a cardiologist appointment, apparently. But I finally caught it at home with my pulseox, and went directly to get an EKG that showed it. Note: a-fib might make one feel very jittery, to the point that doing other things become difficult, and so one’s feeling of stress increases, etc.

  148. 148.

    HumboldtBlue

    @debbie:

    Same here.

    I was living in San Diego one Xmas and was dating a woman who shared a house with a male roommate. She invited me over for a Xmas party and when I arrived the roommate was on a ladder in front of the house doing his best to hang Xmas lights.

    We got to talking and at one point he said he was really digging hanging the lights because he had never done it before because he’s Jewish. When I said something like “I figured you were” he looked at me askance and pointed to his nose as if that was an indication of his Jewishness and I was a bigoted goy.

    I smiled and pointed at the shirt he was wearing which had the fading design of a menorah and Hebrew lettering.

    And then we laughed and laughed and laughed.

  152. 152.

    Goku (Amerikan Baka)

    @debbie:

    Yeah… though I was happy Jennifer Brunner was elected to the state Supreme Court at least. Too bad about O’Donnell

  161. 161.

    Gvg

    @lamh36: oh dear. I can’t remember if you have family nearby, but do you have someone to check on you frequently and nag you nicely? We want you to be well.

  164. 164.

    Chacal Charles Calthrop

    @Martin: Put ’em up.  Christmas lights fleetingly seen from the street is going to be all the Christmas cheer anyone gets, this Covid season, apart from some presents

  165. 165.

    J R in WV

    @lamh36:

    Relaxing and chillin’ sounds like the plan. Don’t go overboard on the holidays, just take the time off to not do much at all. Rest up all you can.

    When wife was hospitalized with septic shock, one of her many sets of blood work while in the ICU showed chemical signs of some kind of cardiac issue. But nothing after that indicated any issues, just the one set of results.

    When they were getting ready to discharge her, she had cardiac cath work which showed minimal 5% narrowing of one minor blood vessel. Later on her follow-up with the cardiac practice was with a PA who told her she had nothing to worry about.

    Since you were having pain, something was obviously going on. Also since they couldn’t find anything, it probably isn’t a major threat.

    Take it easy, chill, keep in touch. Best wishes!

  167. 167.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    @Martin: I have always viewed Christmas lights from my car (driving around neighborhoods).  If that is the case in your area, I think it is safe.

  168. 168.

    columbusqueen

    @debbie: No, O’Donnell was the judge who acquitted a Cleveland cop in a bench trial after said cop helped shoot up a vehicle involved in a major chase, which killed the black couple in the car. It’s why O’Donnell lost & Pepper resigned. The state party has a very bad habit of running candidates, particularly from Cleveland, who haven’t been throughly vetted.

  169. 169.

    BC in Illinois

    @rikyrah:

    They’re great.

    I want to hear Ray Charles, all of January 2021.

    This song, as we say good-bye to the loser, and his *America The Beautiful* for all of us.

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