Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

In short, I come down firmly on all sides of the issue.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

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

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

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

After roe, women are no longer free.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

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

A consequence of cucumbers

Republicans can’t even be trusted with their own money.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Second rate reporter says what?

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

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

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

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

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

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

You are here: Home / Past Elections / 2020 Elections / Biden-Harris 2020 / Saturday Morning Open Thread: The Transition Continues

Saturday Morning Open Thread: The Transition Continues

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Warning: Designated ankle-biter-of-Democrats Linskey is a little too enthusiastic about the difficulties the incoming Biden team will be facing, so trust her information but not necessarily her predictions:

President-elect Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, plan to begin their course of coronavirus vaccinations Monday, after the recent infection of two people in his orbit, including a senior adviser, brought the pandemic closer than before to the former vice president and senior members of his team.

The Biden team also is rethinking how to organize the president-elect’s West Wing staff, which will take office amid what is expected to be a bleak and dangerous winter because of the pandemic. The new administration does not plan to have its full staff work out of the typically cramped White House offices immediately after taking office Jan. 20 because of medical concerns, officials said Friday…

In deciding when to receive the two-shot regimen required for the coronavirus vaccine, Biden has had to weigh his own health risks against the politically tricky image of skipping ahead of some health-care workers to receive an inoculation.

Biden, who at 78 will be the oldest president ever inaugurated, is in a high-risk category because of his age. His incoming medical adviser, Anthony S. Fauci, had recommended that he and Vice President-elect Kamala D. Harris receive vaccinations, along with President Trump and Vice President Pence. Pence and his wife, Karen, received their shots Friday in a televised event…

Biden’s vaccination will be done in public in Delaware, but his aides declined to provide details about exactly when or where the shots would be given. Biden and his wife will receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, Psaki said.

Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, will start their course of vaccinations after Christmas, Psaki said. Biden and Harris have separate medical teams and Psaki said the quartet was spacing out the inoculations based on advice from their doctors…

Biden plans to announce his selection for additional administration posts next week, but Psaki declined to say whether all of the Cabinet slots will be announced by Christmas, which the Biden team had hoped to do.

“It’s all based on when decision-making is made and we want to give him the time and space to do that,” Psaki said. She said that Biden’s team does expect to name the first 100 appointments by the new year…

I owe somebody a hat tip for this one:

Reader Interactions

202Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    Psaki said the quartet was spacing out the inoculations based on advice from their doctors…

    I assume that’s because some people have had allergic reactions to the vaccine.

  2. 2.

    Baud

    Today in things I didn’t know were things.

    India has a new Miss Transqueen — and she’s headed for the world stage, determined to speak out for the country’s marginalized transgender community.

    Fashion designer Shaine Soni was crowned Miss Transqueen India, the country’s beauty pageant for transgender women, on Saturday. She will represent India at next year’s Miss International Queen, the world’s biggest pageant for transgender women.

  4. 4.

    Frankensteinbeck

    That is a dime’s worth of information in a heap of bullshit assumptions.  Balancing political considerations of the vaccination?  Seriously?  Biden is getting vaccinated because it is medically idiotic not to.  Period.

  6. 6.

    Anne Laurie

    @Baud: I assume that’s because some people have had allergic reactions to the vaccine.

    I assume it’s ‘designated survivor’ protocol, like the President & the Vice President not travelling on the same plane — better to put up with a relatively minor inconvenience than to risk even a vanishingly unlikely dual tragedy.  And for Harris / Biden, better to be seen observing all the forms than to give the ankle-biters another niblet to gnaw.

  8. 8.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Baud:

    Damn, good transition.  Most of my friends are trans and I’ve seen how good being beautiful can be for a trans woman’s recovery from the Hell of dysphoria.  Good for her.

    Good for her on the advocacy as well, and good for Rai.  Being trans in India, yikes.  I hope Shaine helps validate the transgender Indians who follow, because they also desperately need role models.

    EDIT – My biggest disappointment on trans issues is still England.  What the Hell, England.  The twisted obsession with portraying trans rights as opposed to women’s rights is especially prevalent and wretched.

  9. 9.

    WereBear

    We just endured four frickin’ years of surface instead of substance, and many of us did not survive. Most of the rest of us are trying to survive.

    The sooner this disgusting blend of Survivor and The Great Race reality show ends, the sooner the nation gets its life back. Exile all the political reporters who don’t really report on anything to the celebrity beat, where their heart is, and maybe the nation will make it.

  11. 11.

    Mousebumples

    I had wondered if they were waiting to name an AG until we know Georgia runoff results (historically, Senators get more benefit of the doubt from the other party – eg a reason to pick Doug Jones). But knowing his choice sooner is good too!

  13. 13.

    OzarkHillbilly

    737 MAX: Boeing ‘inappropriately coached’ test pilots, say senators

    Boeing officials “inappropriately coached” test pilots during recertification efforts after two fatal 737 MAX crashes killed 346 people, a US congressional report has concluded. The report by the Senate commerce committee raised questions about testing in 2020 of a key safety system known as MCAS tied to both fatal crashes. The committee concluded Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Boeing officials “had established a pre-determined outcome to reaffirm a long-held human factor assumption related to pilot reaction time”.

    It appeared that the “FAA and Boeing were attempting to cover up important information that may have contributed to the 737 MAX tragedies”.
    ………………………………..
    Friday’s report cited a whistleblower who alleged Boeing officials encouraged test pilots to use a particular control during an exercise, resulting in a pilot response time of around four seconds. Another pilot in a separate test reacted in approximately 16 seconds.

    The account was corroborated during an FAA staff interview, the committee added.

    I’m a little confused, I understand these were test pilots, so the protocols are different, but this just sounds like the pilots received training.

    The Senate commerce committee chairman, Roger Wicker, said the report included “significant examples of lapses in aviation safety oversight and failed leadership in the FAA”. The committee also said “multiple independent whistleblowers contacted the committee to allege FAA senior management was complicit in determining the 737 MAX training certification level prior to any evaluation”.

    And who exactly expected something else from a trump FAA?

  14. 14.

    rikyrah

    NOBODY should be working in the White House until it has been scrubbed and fumigated within an inch of its life.

     

    All staff need to be tested before any 46 folk start working there

    All religions under the Democratic Party tent need to do their own version of a blessing before 46 and MVP  start working there.

    And before 46 and Dr. Jill start living there.

    Not kidding.

  15. 15.

    NotMax

    Gonna repeat this from late night thread because it’s so enjoyable.

    An oldie in computer years terms but still a hoot. How about dinner … and a show?

  16. 16.

    evodevo

    @Baud:  It’s probably also because a lot of people have normal immune system reactions that result in fever and malaise for 24-48 hours, which would render you somewhat compromised if you are the head of state…or the presumptive one, so you wouldn’t want your second in command feeling ill at the same time you were…

  17. 17.

    Amir Khalid

    @Baud:

    I am ambivalent about this. It’s great that transgendered women are achieving breakthroughs in visibility and acceptance, especially in a conservative society like India’s, and I wish to see these breakthroughs happen in Malaysia too. But I have a problem with beauty pageants. Beauty pageants for cisgendered women already strike me as a dated and sexist concept, and the judging is so capricious and unfathomable that I don’t even understand how they are a meaningful contest at all. Transgendered women deserve a better vehicle for change.

  18. 18.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Closure of iconic Cliff House ends a remarkable era of San Francisco’s history

    At the place where San Francisco drops into the ocean, a door is shutting on a vibrant chapter of the city’s history.

    The longtime proprietors of the Cliff House, a 157-year-old iconic San Francisco restaurant with breathtaking ocean views once enjoyed by Mark Twain, announced this week that they would be forced to close by the end of the year. They cited both coronavirus restrictions and their landlord, the federal government, stalling on a long-term lease, as factors in their decision.

    The Cliff House was not the first of the city’s beloved restaurants to close. In fact, it follows their neighbor, Louis’ Restaurant, the only other independent restaurant remaining on that oceanfront stretch of road, in shuttering for good during the pandemic. But the loss of the Cliff House marks the end of an era for a place that has transformed over more than a century: from an elite resort for the wealthy, to a bustling destination for the everyman, to a semi-deserted yet magical reminder of civilization’s fleeting nature.

    “When Louis’ closed, I just read story after story, memory after memory, of people who came to our restaurant and loved our restaurant and loved the area,” said Tom Hontalas, the owner of Louis’, which opened by his grandparents in 1937. “And now the Cliff House, it’s even more magnified because they were a much bigger operation. For a lot of people, especially San Franciscans, it’s going to be different.”
    ………………………………….
    And at the end of most visits to the ruins or to the Lands End trail was a stop at the Cliff House, to warm wind-chapped cheeks over a hot toddy and chowder, or to Louis’, to refresh with a burger and a shake. When the National Park Service talked about closing Louis’ in 1992, Hontalas launched a postcard campaign and discovered that two-thirds of their clientele were local. “When you think of a national park, you think of Yosemite, you think of somewhere you drive to,” he said. “But this is in a city. That makes it really special. People actually live here and visit it every single day, just like we did when we went to work.”

    As with every restaurant closure, there’s sadness and there’s anger.

    But Hontalas says he can walk away now knowing that for three generations of his family’s history, he was part of what made this small corner of San Francisco special. “From the early 1900s, those Greek immigrants – that is something that will never be there again,” Hontalas said. “And I got to be there for most of my life. That was nice. I got to hear a lot of nice things about the job that we did. And that makes me feel good. The rest is just going to be a memory.”

  19. 19.

    Amir Khalid

    Takumi Minamino has scored his debut Premier League goal for Liverpool against hosts Crystal Palace. Liverpool lead by that goal.

  20. 20.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @NotMax: If I’d been sitting at that table, the video would’ve been only 17 seconds long. I’d of smashed that little fucker flat the second his head appeared. It’s the cockroach reflex.

  21. 21.

    Baud

    Politico

    Pompeo defended President Donald Trump for not publicly calling out Russia for the attack.

     

    “I saw this in my time running the world’s premier espionage service at the CIA. There are many things that you’d very much love to say, “Boy, I’m going to call that out,” but a wiser course of action to protect the American people is to calmly go about your business and defend freedom.”

  24. 24.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Joe Biden’s first run for President of the United States was 32 years ago.

    Joe Biden will be inaugurated as President of the United States 32 days from now.

    Coincidence?

  25. 25.

    NotMax

    @Baud

    From summer of 2019, about Pompeo:

    Even more bluntly, a former American ambassador told me, “He’s like a heat-seeking missile for Trump’s ass.” Source

  32. 32.

    Amir Khalid

    Sadio Mané scores. Liverpool lead Palace 0-2.

    ETA: Bobby Firmino scores on the stroke of halftime. Liverpool now lead 0-3.

  37. 37.

    John S.

    @OzarkHillbilly: You’re not missing anything. The fucking Guardian… I love their news, but anything that smacks of opinion or commentary is just as batshit crazy as Fox News — just from the other side of the spectrum.

  39. 39.

    Anne Laurie

    @Amir Khalid: I mostly agree with you about beauty pageants… except that, especially for marginalized groups, there’s a lot of participants who want to show themselves off, to feel beautiful & celebrated, however temporarily.  While I hope I’ll always decry specific incidents of abuse / injustice (kiddy contests, IMO, are child abuse), the older I get, the more I’m willing to let grown-ups do what makes them happy, as long as they’re not harming others by their behavior.

    (Side bar:  Many many years ago, for a freshman college class, I had to memorize the rules for daily-cow beauty contests.  At the time, contestants were awarded up to 100 points… including 25 for the size & shapeliness of their mammary glands — reasonably enough — and 10 for poise.   And I have to admit:  Some dairy cows really do have more ‘poise’ than others!)

  40. 40.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @John S.: Yeah, it depends on the author and the topic before I read an editorials. Some of them I enjoy but they all seem to have subjects that send them a little over the top.

  41. 41.

    Amir Khalid

    Liverpool captain Jordan “Hendo” Henderson scores from long range. Crystal Palace 0-4 Liverpool.

  42. 42.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Anne Laurie:(Side bar: Many many years ago, for a freshman college class, I had to memorize the rules for daily-cow beauty contests. At the time, contestants were awarded up to 100 points… including 25 for the size & shapeliness of their mammary glands — reasonably enough — and 10 for poise. And I have to admit: Some dairy cows really do have more ‘poise’ than others!)

    I probably shouldn’t admit this, but until your last sentence I wasn’t sure you weren’t being sarcastic.

  43. 43.

    John S.

    @OzarkHillbilly: That’s a fair point. There are some pretty good ones, but others… man, I just roll my eyes and scroll. There’s one in particular (whose name escapes me). She’s some sort of anti-feminist feminist contrarian blogger who spawned out of an incubator at the Rand Corporation or something. Blecch.

  48. 48.

    Geminid

    trump still threatens to veto the National Defense Authorization  Act. His ostensible reasons are language restricting his ability to withdraw troops from Germany and other countries, renaming military bases, and the omission of changes to regulation of social media. But a more significant sticking point may be the addition earlier this month of the Corporate Transparency Act. Sponsored by Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), this law would crack down on the use of shell companies to hide corporate identity for money-laundering and other purposes. This would hit trump where it hurts.              Congressional leaders seem determined to override a veto.

  49. 49.

    OzarkHillbilly

    One from the File of Unintended Consequences: Lorry drivers heading to EU face ham sandwich ban

    Lorry drivers will be banned from taking a ham and cheese sandwich or other meat and dairy products from the UK into the EU from 1 January, even if it is just to eat while driving, UK government officials have said. Personal imports of certain products of animal origin will be prohibited from 11pm on 31 December, a ban which will also apply to tourists travelling to the EU. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs advised transport representatives of the ban this week and gave the specific example in its updated guidance of an ordinary sandwich.

    The official guidance states: “Drivers travelling to the EU should be aware of additional restrictions to personal imports taking effect from 1 January 2021. If you are carrying prohibited items in your luggage, vehicle or person you will need to use, consume, or dispose of them at or before the border.

    “From 1 January 2021 you will not be able to bring POAO (products of an animal origin) such as those containing meat or dairy (eg a ham and cheese sandwich) into the EU.”

    One operator whose fleet of trucks collects vegetables from Belgium said he had not been aware of the new rules and that it could cause friction at the border.

    “God help the poor customs bloke who is going to turf out the driver’s packing up box [food box]. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are fisticuffs if they try,” Simon Wilkinson said. “The thing is, when drivers are going to Europe they pack up their box for days and weeks. The tractor [the cab of the trailer] is basically their home from home. You have microwaves, the works, in your tractor so that if you do get stuck, or if you are away for a week if you are going somewhere like Spain, you are self-sufficient.”

  50. 50.

    Cheryl Rofer

    Coming to this late, but something that jackals might appreciate.

  51. 51.

    SiubhanDuinne

    I’m not sure why delivery took so long, but my BJ Pet Calendars finally arrived yesterday — and they are really beautiful!

  52. 52.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @raven: I am always saddened a little bit by the passing of these cultural landmarks, even if I never had and was unlikely ever to visit them.

  54. 54.

    NotMax

    @SiubhanDuinne

    Impatiently tapping feet waiting for already late delivery of cigar reorder here and also for a gift ordered to be sent to Mom’s place for her housekeeper. Both via USPS (neither from Amazon).

  56. 56.

    germy

    Has Adam Silverman discussed this?

    Biden transition officials said there was no “mutually-agreed upon holiday pause" to transition meetings, pushing back on acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller’s explanation of a Pentagon-wide halt to cooperation. https://t.co/nYxTlrbjAj— The New York Times (@nytimes) December 18, 2020

    It’s apparently not a “norm” and I wonder what’s up. And from what I’ve read, it may fuck up vaccine delivery.

  57. 57.

    Suzanne

    I think more that a few of us were waiting for the other shoe to drop w/r/t pardons yesterday. Any thought they’ll come today, or do they not do that on weekends?

  58. 58.

    germy

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    Eric Trump, you pallid clammy suppurating nocturnal semi-human grub, your absence of charisma is your only notable trait and the act of flushing you from memory will so be smooth and painless that in a month people will find it hard to picture your moon face

    I still say Gary Busey is the father.

  59. 59.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    Jared Kushner you vacuous dainty preening overpromoted nub of mediocrity, squeezed like an entitled smear of toothpaste into a silk suit bought with tear-stained dollars wrung out of the suffering tenants of your slum apartments

    Perfection.

  61. 61.

    Amir Khalid

    After coming off the bench to provide the assist for Firmino’s second goal, Mo Salah scores one himself. Crystal Palace 0-6 Liverpool. We can be confident now that Palace will not come back from behind to draw with Liverpool like they did two seasons ago.

    While I was typing, Mo Salah scored again. Crystal Palace 0-7 Liverpool. This match is developing not necessarily to the home team’s advantage.

  63. 63.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    So a Cracker Barrel can move in there as part of the glorious efficiencies wrought through unbridled free enterprise. Can’t imagine your problem with this.

  65. 65.

    Baud

    @germy:

    If there is a deal, there’s going to be massive propaganda campaign from the usual suspects to blame Democrats for the bill’s shortcomings.

  67. 67.

    arrieve

    @OzarkHillbilly:  This news made me really sad. I grew up in San Francisco and when I was a kid going to the Cliff House was the treat for special occasions, like breakfast after my first communion. I suspect that it will reopen under new management at some point in the future, when we’re able to go out in public again, but it will be turned into a glitzed up exorbitantly expensive restaurant where ordinary people never dream of going.

    At least the sunsets from Ocean Beach are still free.

  69. 69.

    Anne Laurie

    @OzarkHillbilly: No, seriously — I hadn’t appreciated the concept either, as a city girl, but some cows loved standing in the center ring, showing off for the audience.  And some did not.

    If you’ve ever watched a dog show, it’s not so different.  Cat shows, on the other hand… the ones I’ve seen (it’s been years), even the winningest champion cats seemed to barely put up with being groped by strangers in front of the cameras.  But cows, like dogs and humans, are very social animals; showing off for an audience comes natural to us!

  70. 70.

    Suzanne

    @OzarkHillbilly: That doesn’t quite enough of Jared’s cheap and sleazy pretense. And the utter weakness of a dude who grew up with everything, bought and paid for by his criminal family.

    I hate Jared so hard.I hope everyone who has a degree from Harvard considers it smeared and diminished by the fact that Jared has one, too.

  71. 71.

    Amir Khalid

    @germy:

    Pence said “trust me, I know how humans behave”

    Sad by a man who can’t quite manage a convincing imitation of a human.

  72. 72.

    Mike E

    @rikyrah: I know it won’t happen but they should raze the WH to the ground… because the Orange Stank won’t ever come out of it, never mind the Russian spy tech that surely would take at least a year to eradicate

  73. 73.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: We have a local joint called the Du Kum Inn that I have been eating breakfast at for almost 40 years. New ownership acquired it a couple years ago. We continued to patronize it for a year and a half or so even as the changes mounted. Eventually it got to the point where none of the things that brought us in to eat there remained. The fact that Cracker Barrel is the now preferred choice is a sign of how bad things got. (a truckstop Denny’s is the only other option)

  74. 74.

    germy

    @Amir Khalid:

    Close enough for a Republican

     

    I mean, Trump is a poor simulation of humanity….. and look at all the votes he got.  Crowds cheer him, and he’s like a computer glitch.

  76. 76.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Anne Laurie: I like the animal competitions at county fairs. I watch them mostly for the pride these kids take in their accomplishments, but you’re right, some animals really do like being the center of attention.

  77. 77.

    germy

    @Suzanne:  I hate Jared so hard.I hope everyone who has a degree from Harvard considers it smeared and diminished by the fact that Jared has one, too.

    It’d be great if they were so ashamed they mumbled something about going to a state college.  And then when pressed, blurting “Well, Massachusetts is a state!”

  78. 78.

    Mike E

    @OzarkHillbilly: Guardian articles pop up in my Google feed and I regret clicking on them pretty much every time. Yesterday, I just had to read what the comments said about their “Many are embarrassed from Louis Armstrong’s selling out Jazz and being an Uncle Tom” clickbait and the 400 readers did not disappoint in their evisceration of it.

  81. 81.

    rikyrah

    By the time he leaves office – between official fundraising and his secret shell companies – Donald Trump will have raised somewhere in the neighborhood of $1 billion.For himself.— Don Winslow (@donwinslow) December 18, 2020

  82. 82.

    mrmoshpotato

    They should drop the New Year ball at noon on January 20th.

    Yes! Countdown for the world starts at 11:59:51AM EST January 20, 2021.

    Then, (sorry Aud Lang Syn) we all sing Bye Bye Donny as one – one humanity.

  89. 89.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Mike E: I didn’t bother reading that article, I’ve been reading there long enough to be able to tell when to skip one just by the headline. And I never read the comments.

  91. 91.

    germy

    Deconstructing a NYTimes headline:

    “Lawmakers clash”? C‘mon.

    No – at the last minute, as a deal was coming together, Senate Republicans suddenly demanded to strip Biden’s Federal Reserve of an important tool to restart the economy. A tool they didn’t care about until Biden won. https://t.co/b0yJq0wCdc

    — Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) December 18, 2020

  92. 92.

    mrmoshpotato

    @rikyrah:

    NOBODY should be working in the White House until it has been scrubbed and fumigated within an inch of its life. 

    And quadruple sweep every millimeter of that place for Russkie bugs!

  95. 95.

    sab

    @mad citizen: Don’t ES&S machines have paper ballots now? But Republican Sec of State won’t want a recount and will certify as okay when it is not.

    As I remember, similar mess in Cleveland OH in 2004 resulted in a couple of innocent election workers going to prison for election tampering when they couldn’t get the numbers to work. Same company’s machines.

  97. 97.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @raven: Whenever I go to a new to me place I love to just wander around and see what’s there, even if I am there for a specific reason. It’s how I found Astral Glass in New Haven.

  99. 99.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    You may want to mute this account for a while because I feel I may have to individually insult every member of the outgoing administration in crude and personal ways

    Excuse me while I bookmark this Twitter account!

  101. 101.

    MagdaInBlack

    @OzarkHillbilly: That’s what I was thinking of. I loved those. My father-in-law was an ag teacher,  4-H and FFA advisor and judged all the local fairs for 30 years. I loved the fair circuit, it became like family =-)

    Eta: Lotta summer romances came out of those fairs

  102. 102.

    raven

    So I spent a boatload of cash on a lazyboy recliner and it’s no better than the old beat up chair we had. I’m beginning to think nothing is going to help, my butt is destined to hurt when I sit!

  103. 103.

    The Moar You Know

    Closure of iconic Cliff House ends a remarkable era of San Francisco’s history

    Ahhh, damn.  This breaks my heart.  I lived in SF for 7 years; my girlfriend at the time was a native.  We went to Louis’ frequently.  They had a sweetheart of a waitress there who, at the time, was in her nineties.

    I’ve been to the Cliff House even more.  It’s an incredible old-school SF building.  And they had the food to back it up.

    Between this and my best friend from college dying this October – he also lived on the Great Highway, same road as both Louis’ (technically on Geary, I think, but right at the top of the Great Highway) and the Cliff House, I don’t think I’m going to be able to return to SF ever again.  It’s a city that for me is now just inhabited by ghosts of a far better time.

  104. 104.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @mad citizen:

    Sorry to say it, but McConnell won Kentucky for real (and I say this having once called him a “Howdy Doody looking mitherfucker to his face when he was a local official here in Louisville). The spreadnecks out there in this benighted hellhole may hate him and think he’s a crook, but he’s THEIR crook, and he holds up things or stomps on programs benefitting, you know, THEM and those pointy headed city elites, then that’s OK.

    Those voters don’t want a better deal or better life – they’re just fine living the way that mama n’em always lived.  Meemaw and Peepaw were just fine with a straight line to the ditch, why should anything be different?

    Also, party registration numbers are useless in this instance.

    KY rural voters adore their cruelty.

  112. 112.

    Gvg

    @raven: my skinny father says he researched it and the best solution is from long haul truckers. A kind of airbag cushion that you adjust to be right for you, and it looks like it’s mostly deflated until you sit on it. I think he got it off amazon, but not sure. Definitely a trucker item though.

    dads bottom bones were rubbing him raw, he tried all kinds of cushions. He is too skinny. I am not, but now that I’m older, I need to try his cushion.

  115. 115.

    frosty

    @debbie: @Amir Khalid: Unfortunately the 737 is all that Southwest flies and they’re my airline of choice. Easiest to cancel and use the price of your ticket later, even for another destination.

    I’m not sure what I’m going to do if I ever get a chance to fly again.

  116. 116.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    @Anne Laurie: In before times we would go to the county fair (yes,  there are farms in  Montgomery County, MD) for the horse and mule events,  the Llama obstacle course (one obstacle was tourists”), and the dairy cow judging, where we were always pro-Jersey.  The commentary on the udders and teats was hilarious).

  118. 118.

    dww44

    @mad citizen: At least that’s what the Dominion system in Georgia does:  an initial machine count that can be backed up by actual paper ballots.  And they did back up the machine count.

  120. 120.

    Deep Southerner

    @raven: Give the chair time, I’m sure once you settle in you’ll like it. Came here to ask what you thought about Bert being named HBC of your Illini.

  121. 121.

    frosty

    @John S.: @Amir Khalid:  Hadley Freeman is the only one I read regularly, but then, she’s usually not writing anything political. Her last interview with Michael J. Fox was funny because she couldn’t stop being a total fangrrl while trying to be a journalist.

    But some of the others, sheesh.

  122. 122.

    Ken

    @Anne Laurie: A couple of years ago, I talked with a guy who does small-animal judging for fairs.  He’s got about a dozen books to memorize: chickens, ducks, rabbits, guinea pigs….  He said that a few don’t matter, since no one ever shows up with a mink – or if they do, it’ll be the only one so wins by default.

  123. 123.

    There go two miscreants

    @rikyrah: That was even funnier than the cat-fight during the Zoom call posted recently! My grandkids have a dog that behaves similarly (altho not as funny as that one) toward one of his chew toys — it’s his nemesis!

  127. 127.

    Ken

    @NotMax: Gonna repeat this from late night thread because it’s so enjoyable.

    I was expecting the “Trump, McConnell, Barr” joke.

    (For those who don’t want to dig through the thread, “On your way to dinner you pass a lake where Trump, McConnell, and Barr are drowning. What wine do you order with your meal?”)

  133. 133.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Anne Laurie: THIS. Equality is about having marginalized groups represented in everything, including stuff that may be problematic (most stuff is). If it makes them happy and affirmed, then that’s a good thing, regardless of whether pageants are outdated/exploitative. We could say the same about the modeling industry, but I’m always happy to see the numerous groundbreaking Transgender models who are getting major magazine covers, ad campaigns and walking the biggest runways etc. THEY love it. They tell us so. And they tell us why it is important to them. We should applaud and support them. It’s perfectly fine to save our criticisms of the system/industry for another conversation so as not to rain on their well-deserved parade.

  135. 135.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @danielx:

    Also too, yesterday was Keith Richard’s 77th birthday. He will outlive us all.

    will his vaccination be a public event? maybe get him and Mick together?

    Reminds me I own a copy of his memoirs that I’ve never read. It’s said to be one of the best of its genre

  137. 137.

    geg6

    I just finished up the Wind of Change podcast.  Gotta say, I found it highly entertaining.  The interview with Klaus Meine in the last episode, especially, was great fun.  I think I’d like him IRL, even though I’ve never been much of a fan.

  138. 138.

    debbie

    @phdesmond:

    I ordered a couple of things from Bed, Bath, and Beyond on 12/6. It didn’t leave the warehouse until 12/10. Since then, it’s traveled to three different spots in Texas (Midland, Irving, and Haslet). I’m afraid to look at a map because I’m betting I could walk faster than this fucking package seems to be moving.

  139. 139.

    natem

    Lefty Bro Twitter is mad that Barack Obama, who is famously still in charge of everything, isn’t using his super powers to make Congress come together on passing Mitch McConnell and Ron Johnson pass the COVID relief bill.

  143. 143.

    debbie

    @rikyrah:

    Joe will need to speak about this once he’s in office, sparing no details about the sabotage committed by the most unAmerican American president.

  147. 147.

    germy

    @natem:

    A candy-colored clown they call the sandman
    Tiptoes to my room every night
    Just to sprinkle stardust and to whisper
    Go to sleep, everything is alright

    I close my eyes then I drift away
    Into the magic night, I softly say
    A silent prayer like dreamers do . . .

  148. 148.

    mrmoshpotato

    OT – just checked Paul Rudnick’s Twitter account and fucking hell does Jared’s disgusting pasty assface have some creepy ass uncanny valley shit going on!

  149. 149.

    danielx

    @debbie:

    I feel your pain. Two packages with Christmas cookies sent out from post office on December 7th via two day priority mail, cost $21.10 per package. As of this morning they are still showing as “in transit”. Going way out on a limb, I’d say they are lost in transit.

  150. 150.

    robmassing

    the politically tricky image of skipping ahead of some health-care workers to receive an inoculation.

    Yeah, protecting the life of the f-ing PRESIDENT is reaaaaaal tricky, you moron. You know what else health care workers don’t have? A round-the-clock secret service detail, transportation in fortified armored limousines, command of the most powerful military in the history of the planet, …..

  152. 152.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @mad citizen:

    Louisville is placidly blue, but there’s a lot of rural resentment that people here don’t enjoy singing “Rock of Ages” while fucking over significant pluralities of people who don’t look, think or talk like rural Kentuckians.

    They’re perfectly happy to take our money, though.

    The Mayberry Machiavellis seem to have a redistricting plan afoot so that instead of a 5/6 GOP congressional delegation, it will be 6/6, now that the resentment junkies have veto-proof majorities in the General Assembly (they also want to decimate home rule, since the LGBT protections, Green initiatives and immigration supports here spring from those powers and are thus offensive to mama n’em back in the holler 150 miles away). As I understand, this would require some major line changes and would result in lines running from downtown to either the Tennessee, Virginia or West Virginia border. I think it a bit of a long shot because some existing congressmen would get districted out, but I’ve learned to never underestimate the pig ignorant destructive stupidity of Kentucky wingnuts.

  154. 154.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Ken:

    Distraction?

    No, it’s not top-down.  The Tories don’t have to use it as a wedge issue.  It’s a whole cultural stain.  Rowling’s bigotry is mainstream fare in England.  Take all the American anti-trans hate tropes and throw in some ahistorical bizarrities like claiming that trans women are stealing and destroying the safe spaces like women’s restrooms that the women’s rights movement fought so long and hard(?!) for.

    @natem:

    pass the COVID relief bill.

    But not THIS relief bill.  Rose twitter is adamant that this relief bill is a useless sell-out and must be voted down.  They’re demanding Democrats pass a much better relief bill, and loudly declaring that negotiation is bad and unnecessary.  It’s pure underpants gnomes logic, a step 1 not only without a step 2, but denying the need for a step 2.

  155. 155.

    West of the Rockies

    I’m sure you’ve all seen the Guardians Space Force unveiling, which tips off Star Fleet and the USMC semper fi motto.

    One assumes they have their own theme song like the other branches do.  I am fairly sure it will sound a lot like the stirring and haunting Imperial Storm Troopers march.

  160. 160.

    Mo Salad

    @M31: He showed the knife to the manager in a “Do I have to do this myself?” moment. It was the 40 roadies with tire irons and hockey sticks that eventually fended Donald off. Which is also awesome.

  162. 162.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @natem: something seems to be churning in that corner of the universe. Guess who!

    It goes beyond Trump. I mean, we have got to ask ourselves why 70, whatever the number, 73 million I think, voted for him, and we’ve got to reach out to those people.

    I think that there is, and I think that to some degree, Dean, I’m sure a lot of my Democratic colleagues do not agree with me, but this is a reflection of the Democratic Party because I think if you talk to many of those people, working class people who voted for Trump, they’ll say ‘Look, of course we know he’s a liar, we know he’s full of shit, but at least he does this, he does that,’ something the Democrats don’t do.

    Biden, of course, won the working class, if you define “working class” by income.

  164. 164.

    Matt McIrvin

    @natem: The awfulness of Obama is a central article of faith of Lefty Bro Twitter at this point; everything has to come back to it at some point.

  167. 167.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @danielx: In the end, the only survivors standing in the ruins of civilization will be Keith Richards, Willie Nelson and Betty White.

  168. 168.

    danielx

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    …they’ll say ‘Look, of course we know he’s a liar, we know he’s full of shit, but at least he does this, he does that,’ something the Democrats don’t do.

    Yeah. He pwns the libs and that’s what they care about.

    Fuck those guys, and Bernie too, and the horse he rode in on.

  176. 176.

    Kathleen

    @danielx: I was at the post office yesterday to priority mail some Christmas cards to Tampa (I’m in Cincinnati why did I wait so long) and I was told while the system said they’d be delivered on 12-21 the desk clerks said between CoVid and heavy volumes (and I’m sure DeJoy’s rodent procreating measures haven’t helped but the didn’t say that) they’d be delivered God knows when (my paraphrasing)

  180. 180.

    Ruckus

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    BREXIT – BRITAIN.

    Do those two words together say enough? They are shooting themselves in the crotch, just for the enjoyment? Who can tell what the hell kind of logic, or should it be anti logic some people use as a standard of thought and reflection?

  181. 181.

    mad citizen

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: It’s a good read.  Saw this article on Keith’s ghostwriter the other day: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/nov/28/james-fox-keith-richards-has-a-fantastic-memory

    Have heard Keith/Stones doing Run Run Rudolph twice today already on the XM radio

    Yes Fishers represent.  Went over to the library and there is a COVID testing site across the street.  Unlike last time I noticed it, today there were 8-10 cars spilling out into the road waiting to turn into the testing lanes.

  182. 182.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @MattF: “Under plenty of perjury” – Yet another object lesson in the unwitting mayhem (and revelation) that can pounce when the morbidly obtuse and linguistically inept leave the proofreading to their SpielCzech and OttoKorrekt software…

  185. 185.

    mad citizen

    @danielx: I was lucky with USPS this week, I guess, after seeing a news story on packages stuck in our local airport facility.  Mailed 3 boxes of cookies from central Indiana, and I think one or two got delivered late Friday (perhaps one in Denver area), and my Cali-bound package is reported in Sacramento USPS today.

  186. 186.

    StringOnAStick

    I plan on sending out a “Merry Holidays ooh yeah we moved” cards but at the rate in getting things done it will be way after the new year.  Given the issues with mail, that’s probably ok.

    We hadn’t planned to move to a new state until next spring but a few things lined up to make us look for a house sooner and when we found one, it closed in two weeks so our last two weeks in CO were a packing frenzy inside an epidemic.   Plenty of casual acquaintances no idea we left.

  187. 187.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Anne Laurie: I’m ambivalent about trans beauty contests for similar reasons also somewhat different reasons. They’re both a dated sexist concept and a way to for trans women to feel beautiful and celebrated — and FWIW, I have friends who competed in pageants, and one reason I’m a  burlesque performer is I know how affirming it can be to have an audience cheering for you.

    But the bigger problem that is it’s part of how the trans women celebrated by wider society are invariably the ones who fit heterosexual cisgender ideals of beauty. E.g. Laverne Cox (who I adore) may be much taller and broader than the typical cis woman, but she otherwise fits conventional beauty norms.

    However, many of us, especially late-life transitioners, who don’t “pass” — a term I hate, I prefer “blend” — and life is definitely much harder if your “visibly trans.” Witness the “man in a dress” attacks on Pennsylvania’s health director. I myself am borderline, and usually get treated as a woman, but I still all-too-often get referred to as “sir” — sometimes malicious, sometimes unconsciously.

  189. 189.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    It’s a whole cultural stain.  Rowling’s bigotry is mainstream fare in England.  Take all the American anti-trans hate tropes and throw in some ahistorical bizarrities like claiming that trans women are stealing and destroying the safe spaces like women’s restrooms that the women’s rights movement fought so long and hard(?!) for.

    Sadly, you’re correct. There’s definitely a broad streak of Feminism-Appropriating Reactionary Transphobes. Even in “liberal” news sources like the Guardian. And a few years ago, anti-trans protesters hijacked one of the major Pride parade. Plus regular news stories about vicious harassment of trans people by the regular public.

  191. 191.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @Ken:

    Lindsey Graham, Mitch McConnell and Ted Cruz walk into a bar. The bartender says, "I've got a free drink for the biggest asshole who's ever lived." The three men turn and call out, "Rand?"
    #RandPaul

    — Paul Rudnick (@PaulRudnickNY) December 16, 2020

  194. 194.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    @Cheryl from Maryland: I love Jersey cows!  They look like delicate deer, not huge bovine animals.  Those eyes! And they give less milk, but it is much higher in butterfat. Altogether, the creme de la creme of dairy cows.

  195. 195.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    @debbie: I ordered some stuff from a company in late November and they shipped it out the next day via USPS.  In the tracking, it moved until 11/24, then nothing … apparently lost in a mail warehouse somewhere. I called the company a week later and they sent out a rush, priority replacement that did arrive in a few days.  I hope 46 makes it a priority (along with everything else) to unfuck the mail system.

  196. 196.

    Lyrebird

    @rikyrah:

    NOBODY should be working in the White House until it has been scrubbed and fumigated within an inch of its life.

     

    All staff need to be tested before any 46 folk start working there

    All religions under the Democratic Party tent need to do their own version of a blessing before 46 and MVP  start working there.

    And before 46 and Dr. Jill start living there.

    Not kidding.

    co-signed.  underlined.  highlighted.  QFT.

  200. 200.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Miss Bianca:

    Maybe because sex/gender essentialism seems so last-century to me by now.

    Agreed.

    You can’t say trans women aren’t women without defining womanhood in terms of bodies.

    You can’t define womanhood in terms of bodies without policing women’s bodies.

    You can’t police women’s bodies without being misogynistic.

    You can’t say trans women aren’t women without being misogynistic.

    Not to mention, if you’re aligning yourself with the far-right bible thumpers, that’s not exactly feminist.

    Sadly this isn’t the first time. Last time around they teamed up with Jesse Helms in the ’80s to make sure trans women couldn’t get necessary medical care covered by insurance — an exclusion that largely exists to this day.

  201. 201.

    J R in WV

    @A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan):

    I love Jersey cows! They look like delicate deer, not huge bovine animals. Those eyes! And they give less milk, but it is much higher in butterfat. Altogether, the creme de la creme of dairy cows.

    All you say is true. But our Holstein milk cow was a dear. Way lots of milk, huge amount of cream floating on top. We fed everyone on the farm whole milk, made butter, etc, etc. Ice Cream!! She was a really sweet person. I sill miss her. Molly, by name.

    Would go for a Jersey if we did a second milk cow… But won’t be doing that, need to stay retired farmer, construction guy, etc. Retired!! Do you hear me?!!!

  202. 202.

    Ruckus

    @danielx:

    My BJ calendars arrived 10 days after being sent, at 8 days they still showed “label created, not yet arrived at PO.” On day 9 it showed that they would arrive 3 days after they actually did. Only on day 10 did it show they were out for delivery.

    DeJoy has really fucked up the USPS. I wonder what else did they destroy other than sorting machines?

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