Do you feel like Festivus is getting a bit too commercialized?
— Slava Malamud (@SlavaMalamud) December 21, 2020
Because 2020, one of my crowns popped off last night, so either I’ll be spending some squeezed-in time at the dentist today, or I’ll spend the long weekend trying not to chew on the side with the exposed metal bits sticking up (which would be easier if it wasn’t a first molar).
Elsewhere, in the GOP version of a Festivus miracle, the Squatter-in-Chief has found another way to throw sand in the financial gears:
Republicans repeatedly refused to say what amount the President wanted for direct checks. At last, the President has agreed to $2,000 — Democrats are ready to bring this to the Floor this week by unanimous consent. Let’s do it! https://t.co/Th4sztrpLV
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) December 23, 2020
(Pertinent part of Trump’s lying ramble starts about the 3:30 mark)
House Democrats will offer their legislation to hike the direct payment checks to $2,000 — seizing on Trump comments — on pro forma Thursday; expect a singe-page bill striking all references to $600 and replacing it with $2000.
— Billy House (@HouseInSession) December 23, 2020
Latest update from the Washington Post here.
I love that people are surprised by Pelosi doing smart legislative politics by rolling schmucks who didn’t do the homework. That’s literally her signature move.
— Seth Masket (@smotus) December 23, 2020
We spent months trying to secure $2000 checks but Republicans blocked it
Trump needs to sign the bill to help people and keep the government open and we're glad to pass more aid Americans need
Maybe Trump can finally make himself useful and get Republicans not to block it again
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) December 23, 2020
Trump doesn't give a shit about giving people $2,000, or any detail of the bill. He cares about going on teevee to say he'd give you $2,000 if it were up to him, and would like you to remember that in 2024.
— Alex Yablon (@AlexYablon) December 23, 2020
But the median outcome is Mitch lolling and Trump backing down & signing the Senate-dictated compromise because he’s a beta ass dude at heart
— The Mall Krampus (@cakotz) December 23, 2020
So it really sucks when people who should know better try to ensure that Dems look outmaneuvered when some asshole shows up with vaporware after the fact instead of noting that he could have done this literally any time when it mattered and made Mnuchin stand tall on it
— The Mall Krampus (@cakotz) December 23, 2020
Trump is now trying to bribe his way into overthrowing the election. I’m not sure you can demand quid pro quo terms from a hundred million people though.
— Schooley (@Rschooley) December 23, 2020
zhena gogolia
As posted below, because 2020 we’re going to have a storm with 60-mile wind gusts overnight Christmas Eve into Christmas morning.
raven
Damn, I dreamed I had tooth fall out!
Baud
I look forward to seeing how Brave Sir Rand reacts.
Baud
@zhena gogolia: Stay safe.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone???
tokyokie
Because of procrastination in filing our tax return, we only got our letter from Fat Bastard regarding our stimulus checks yesterday. I imagine once a stimulus bill is finally passed and signed by the moron-in-chief, the checks and the letters to taxpayers will be received weeks after Biden is sworn in as president.
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
rikyrah
@zhena gogolia:
?????
zhena gogolia
God, that Tlaib tweet is depressing. Even more depressing are the replies cheering her on.
zhena gogolia
@rikyrah:
Thank you.
WereBear
We’re tucked in for the Festivus/Christmas Eve/Christmas Day with groceries and cat supplies for three days of festivity.
Provided our recovering cat doesn’t have another 180 in her food choices… unexpected weather… invasion of giant ants, of course. Because nothing is going to surprise me in 2020.
A Festivus Miracle to all!
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
What Tlaib tweet?
NotMax
Sufferin’ Sousa, that’s a lot of brass.
debbie
@zhena gogolia:
We’re getting that today, and it’s a lead in to up to 4 inches of snow tomorrow. Sigh.
Baud
Mary G
Chuck learns to troll; I love it!
raven
”
WASHINGTON — Tucked away in the 5,593-page spending bill that Congress rushed through on Monday night is a provision that some tax experts call a $200 billion giveaway to the rich.
It involves the tens of thousands of businesses that received loans from the federal government this spring with the promise that the loans would be forgiven, tax free, if they agreed to keep employees on the payroll through the coronavirus pandemic.
But for some businesses and their high-paid accountants, that was not enough. They went to Congress with another request: Not only should the forgiven loans not to be taxed as income, but the expenditures used with those loans should be tax deductible.”
waspuppet
We’re at the “Here I bought you flowers take me back” stage of the domestic violence cycle.
Geminid
This last minute $2000 check gambit by trump seems like pointless grandstanding. But at least one credible political commenter says no, trump really is planning a coup next month and this is a crude bribe to get people behind it. I myself think that trump is desperate and would overturn the election if he thought he could. While I am still skeptical that he’ll make a serious try, trump is desperate and unpredictable.
raven
@Geminid: What was your first clue?
debbie
@Baud:
Trying to get a sense of what’s going on by reading inferior sources, the SBC is trying to have it both ways: condemning racism while saying it doesn’t pervade our society. Am I close?
Baud
@debbie:
Only Jesus knows.
debbie
@raven:
So greedy. I might understand if if were limited to genuinely small businesses, but we know it won’t be.
debbie
@Baud:
Let the smiting begin!
KSinMA
@NotMax: wow, this is great!
Baud
Baud
Mayor Pete on MJ. He’s good, as usual.
Matt McIrvin
@Geminid: Trump is always trying a coup. He attempted to put the pieces in place long before the election, arguably from the moment he took office. The question is just how many people play along. Obviously Democrats aren’t going to, and now he’s pissing off Republicans.
zhena gogolia
@debbie:
Oh, where are you? We’re getting rain, not snow, and 60-degree temps on Xmas, which is also weird.
Mary G
@Baud: Voting machine companies aren’t fucking around. Good. I’ve been waiting years for somebody to bring the hammer down, beside Seth Rich’s parents.
Mustang Bobby
I love it that Pelosi and Schumer are calling Trump’s bluff, knowing that some wild-eyed GOPer will object to the unanimous consent attempt in Congress — if it gets that far — and leave him with the turd in his punchbowl.
I’d love to play poker with Trump. He’s got more tells than Marcel Marceau.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
Neoliberals.
zhena gogolia
@Baud:
Sorry, I saw it by clicking on one of the tweets above and then forgot where I saw it. If you click inside this one on her tweet, you’ll see the replies:
zhena gogolia
@Baud:
Better yet, here:
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
Ok, thanks.
Spanky
@Baud: Dismissed! Because if the *President does it, it’s not illegal.
//, with maybe another coupla // thrown in.
SFAW
I realize my Inside Baseball-fu ain’t what it use to be, but that last tweet from Mall Krampus took a couple of readings. JHC, can’t people write semi-clearly any more?
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
I can live with it. That’s between her and her district. Leadership often releases votes when they have he votes they need.
Spanky
@SFAW: Must be the way those darn kids talk these days.
Baud
@SFAW:
Be grateful it’s not written solely in emoji.
Gin & Tonic
@zhena gogolia: A couple of years ago I remember doing cooking and prep on Dec 24 in shorts and sandals.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Has Opiejeanne been around? Her greenhouse burned down last night. She has video of it on FB.
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
She was in the covid thread.
Chyron HR
@raven:
Fuck businesses and (checks manifesto) MATH, right? They’ll be the first ones up against the wall when the Bernievolution comes.
SFAW
@Spanky:
Nice burn, I guess. Oh, wait, shouldn’t that be “sick burn”?
Or maybe the tweeter just thought he/she was being wicked smaht by using all sorts of shorthand/ambiguous references to whatever background he/she is trying to rail against. But, yeah, it’s because I’m an old, that must be it.
satby
@Dorothy A. Winsor: ruemara’s thread before the daily covid one
Baud
@satby:
I misremembered the thread. Thanks.
SFAW
@Baud:
Thanks for bringing me back to earth/reality.
Baud
@SFAW:
?
satby
@SFAW: ok, now I’m worried about myself because I understood it all.
SFAW
@Baud:
JHC, now I gotta get trifocals to see the detail on that emoji.
zhena gogolia
@Gin & Tonic:
Great, the propane company won’t come to fill up our generator. They wouldn’t come last summer because our gas wasn’t low enough, and then we forgot about it. Now it’s low but they’re too busy. They’ll come “next week.” That does us a lot of good.
Geminid
@Matt McIrvin: I’m not saying it would work. I don’t believe it would work. I’m just saying that it’s possible trump might try. The guy’s a mess.
satby
@Baud: she was in the covid one too.
@rikyrah: hey girl!
rikyrah
@zhena gogolia: ???
rikyrah
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Oh no??
satby
going to be 51° today, then a high of 21° tomorrow and through Christmas. Glad I’m staying in except for all my jobs.
WereBear
@Baud: Considering the denomination formed to support Confederate slavery… I think, not.
SFAW
@satby:
I eventually figured it out, I think. But the use of a lot of indefinite or ambiguous pronouns (so to speak) did not contribute to the casual reader getting the point quickly.
It’s not like reading James Joyce, where there was some underlying intelligence to the denseness of the prose, and a fair amount of education was needed in capturing the nuance. It’s just a fucking tweet, and the author should have spent a little more time being less kewl.
satby
@WereBear: Their racism is destroying their church now… good.
Mary G
If you want to know more about Alex Padilla, he’s already running for a full Senate term, and this is a good video about his life. Plus the Zoom conversation with Newsom is a little touching.
SFAW
@Gin & Tonic:
Didn’t Gina Raimondo outlaw that practice?
satby
@SFAW: I think the assumption (wrongly) assumes us uncool olds don’t read tweets because most of us aren’t on Twitter. But this old does. Though a lot of Twitter is garbage, there’s gold occasionally.
Spanky
@satby: Well, I’m an older Old than you, and assumed the general gist of the tweet. But then it occurred to me that this wasn’t someone whose opinion I really gave a shit about.
SFAW
@satby:
I agree. I just get a little tired of tweeters using a designed-to-be-quick-takes-on-something thinking that it means they can be sloppy or unclear as a way to show how smart they are. I ain’t asking for the EB White Edition in every tweet, just a little less needing to figure out WTF the writer is referring to
Danielx
This last thirty days…it’s like the last four years of wondering “what’s that crazy bastard going to do next”, compressed into a month. This is not doing my own temperament any good at all, and here I was so relieved after the election. It was entirely predictable, but I keep worrying because there is no telling what he will do or try to do. If he decides to start a war there is no one to say no.
There will be no peace of mind until his fat ass is out of the White House.
Geminid
@satby: My part of Virginia has a projected high of 62° tomorrow, and a flood watch, 1 1/2″-2 1/2″ of rain predicted. Then a high of 34° Friday.
SFAW
@Spanky:
Good point. I probably should have come to that same conclusion a lot sooner.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@satby: To me, twitter is like a big party where you hardly know anybody. You can drift from conversation to conversation until you find one that catches your interest.
LurkerNoLonger
In an otherwise informative article in TWJ this quote made me furious:
I wish I could reach through my phone and strangle this fucking idiot.
SFAW
@Danielx:
You’re pretty optimistic. I think he’ll do his damnedest to hamstring Biden’s Presidency as much as possible. Yeah, he’ll no longer have the official means to do it, but with 70+ million morons having voted for him, plus the Rethugs in Congress still being afraid of those morons …
Spanky
@zhena gogolia: I’m getting ads for one of our local propane/oil companies now. Total coincidence, I’m sure.
Anyway, could you call a different company and see if they’ll do a one-off? Likewise, contact the mgmt in your regular supplier and let them know you are NOT happy. No company should get away with telling their customer “sucks to be you.”
Eunicecycle
@SFAW: When I first read it I was sure there were words missing or something. I finally got it but yeah, it was tough the first time. I usually have pretty good reading comprehension.
Danielx
@SFAW:
Granted. But he will no longer have the ability to nuke Teheran, for example, by picking up the phone. There’s a reason he’s been installing his minions at DOD.
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Party? Or orgy?
Baud
@LurkerNoLonger:
You’ve given me an idea for a new app.
JMG
Boston Globe has a service article on its front page that’s “How to cook Christmas dinner if/when the power goes out at your house due to the storm.” Delightful. I bought a strip steak roast I can cut into individual steaks and cook on the stove. Or if I’m just too lazy, we got a ham as a present and we can have cold ham.
Mary G
?
SFAW
@Danielx:
Yeah, I know.
I’m so old that I can remember when the worry was what other countries’ militaries could/might do to us
ETA: Referring to the whole “martial law” thing, not re; nuking Tehran. Although that’s also a worry.
Spanky
@Baud: Ymmv, but for me an online orgy would leave something to be desired.
Eta, then again, Twitter does leave something to be desired …
Betty Cracker
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Great description of the Twitter experience! I like how infinitely customizable it is. I do worry about people who use it as a primary news source because you can’t help but create a bubble. But as long as you’re aware of its limitations, it can be fun and informative.
Betty Cracker
@Mary G: Poor Mr. Dale. I think he’s earned a Medal of Freedom from the Biden admin.
Eunicecycle
@Mary G: Even Daniel Dale is throwing in the towel.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
The endless flood of tweets leaves me discombobulated. I like having BJ peeps screen tweets for me. Y’all do good work.
SFAW
@Spanky:
On the other hand, I’ve seen too many threads that were either circle jerks, or clusterfucks, or some amalgam thereof. So they may be popular.
Steeplejack (phone)
@LurkerNoLonger:
What is TWJ?
Dorothy A. Winsor
We’re going to drop presents at our son’s house and pick up our gifts from them this morning. It’ll be a quick exchange outside and in masks. I’m looking forward even to this quick glimpse of them.
Omnes Omnibus
@SFAW: Our military won’t mount a coup, so there is no need to worry about it doing so.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Baud: I don’t have much experience of orgies but I expect a virtual one is less fun. :-)
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
So you have some.
NotMax
@Spanky
Just be sure beforehand to have your safe
wordemoji already set up in a macro.:)
Betty Cracker
@Baud: Thank you! Here’s one that’s worth sharing:
I’m tempted to conclude octopi are Republicans, but on the other hand, I often have the urge to punch random people out of spite, so who can say?
zhena gogolia
@Spanky:
I can’t get through to management.
I called another company but they’re all too busy.
Baud
@NotMax:
I’m in trouble. Android only has ?
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
Maybe there are more Nazi fish than we realized.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: It is possible that she is the real life model for SP&T. It is also possible that she is not.
Omnes Omnibus
@Betty Cracker: There is the mention of extraordinary intelligence that rather rules out Republicanism, don’t you think?
Amir Khalid
@Betty Cracker:
Ahem. It’s octopodes.
LurkerNoLonger
@Steeplejack (phone): The Wall Street Journal. Maybe I should have shortened it to TWSJ.
NotMax
@Baud
Perhaps ?or maybe ? or ?or even ??
:)
Geminid
@Betty Cracker: I’ve heard octopus are good eating. For one thing, everybody gets a leg.
Betty Cracker
@Amir Khalid: There are three acceptable plural forms of octopus, one of which is octopi. I am aware of the logic behind octopodes, but I prefer octopi for sentimental reasons that have nothing to do with Latin.
@Omnes Omnibus: Good point.
SFAW
@Baud:
Bless you for that one. I needed a good laugh.
Baud
@NotMax:
Those seem more like unsafe emojis.
SFAW
@Omnes Omnibus:
It wouldn’t be a coup, unless it’s to support Biden the Usurper — whose “election” was a Total Fraud — against President-for-Life Trump. Otherwise, it’s merely Maintaining Order.
Spanky
@Baud: Ninety nine of ’em?
NotMax
@SFAW
Queeg heil!
//
SFAW
@Betty Cracker:
Yes, but those persons undoubtedly deserve it, which is what differentiates you from Rethugs and octopiodeseses.
Omnes Omnibus
@SFAW: The fish knows what it did.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@SFAW:
Sorry, SFAW, I agree with OO. I just don’t see the armed forces doing Trump’s bidding to overthrow the election results. The top brass don’t particularly like him. If the election results are anything to go by, the rank and file don’t either. Unless you wrote this from Trump’s POV?
Luciamia
@zhena gogolia: And here we’re supposed to get torrential rain and flooding…
Amir Khalid
@Betty Cracker:
I go with octopodes because all the cool pedants prefer it.
//
NotMax
@Omnes Omnibus
Damn fish, always willing and eager to work for scale.
NotMax
@Amir Khalid
Aren’t the octopodes a string of eight atolls in the South Pacific?
:)
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
Just came here to say that.
zhena gogolia
@Luciamia:
We’re getting that too.
SFAW
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
I think Omnes served in the Army (artillery, maybe?), but I forget in which branch you served.
Be that as it may: Milley would obviously refuse any orders of that nature, as would, I expect, a number of brass. But I’d bet a beer that there are enough people like Flynn still serving (and of high-enough level) that some level of “mischief” could be caused. In the end, I agree with Omnes, but I’m less sanguine that we’d get there easily. [“Less sanguine” meaning that I’m guessing there’s a non-zero probability of some amount of additional turmoil fomented by Trump.]
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Isn’t Trump off to Mar-a-largo-el-cursi today? I suspect all of this veto threats, pardons and coup rumors is merely to distract his Base while Trump bails on the presidency.
SFAW
@NotMax:
“I think he was a Pisces, working for scale”
– Nick Danger, Third Eye
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@SFAW: If Trump couldn’t get the military to go against BLM were there was an argument of civil unrest then it an’t happening now.
SFAW
@Amir Khalid:
Fixed
SFAW
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
Not exactly disagreeing, but that was Esper, and he’s been replaced by a lickspittle. [I still see Gen. Milley being the “adult in the room” that Mattis was supposed to be, however.]
M31
@SFAW: the real pedants know that it’s ‘pedantim’
Gin & Tonic
@Omnes Omnibus: Hold on. Are you implying that SP&T was a fictional character?
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@SFAW:
This was unnecessary.
I guess we’ll just have to wait and see
NotMax
@SFAW
At the time it was very new, a group of us transcribed the entirety of Nick Danger, Third Eye as a script and performed it onstage in public school, from behind a closed curtain. Helped that the auditorium had a theater quality organ installed which we inveigled the vice principal into playing.
Betty Cracker
The high temperature forecast for Christmas Day here is 51 degrees. That’s pretty damn cold for Florida. Last year, it was around 80 (IIRC), and I considered shutting the windows and putting the A/C on because I had a house full of people and was cooking a giant prime rib for hours. This year, I’m cooking a much smaller prime rib and will be glad for the extra heat!
joel hanes
Because 2020, the massive 4-way bronze union on the wellhead in my Mom’s basement developed a leak, and we’ve had to call the water well plumbers this morning first thing.
Merry Christmas, jackals
And may 2021 be a better year for all of us, every one.
artem1s
@Baud:
yet they had no problem with the SBC not allowing women or LGBT to be ordained or hold office in their ‘church’. As long as they are discriminating against the right ‘sinners’ everything is fine.
Anomalous Cowherd
Anne –
You have my sympathy. I broke a tooth back in March and had to wait until October for it to be extracted because of the COVID pandemic, the dereliction of duty by the Trump administration and the complete and utter fecklessness of the Republican Party.
It will be another three months before I can get an eye exam. And then there’s the other not-really-serious-but-require-medical-attention conditions which will continue to be postponed until we have established some sort of new normal.
It really sucks being old in a failed nation with empty grocery shelves, an inadequate healthcare system, and batshit-crazy banana republicans choking off any attempts at a reality-based response.
JPL
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: President-elect Biden was on all major networks earlier, and trump felt slighted. It was temper tantrum number 949 if anyone is counting.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
We just put the Festivus wreath in the window last weekend.
I know most people stick to the traditional Festivus pole, but we like to do it up. After all, it’s the most wonderful day of the year.
I see Bernie is going to be the grand marshal of Macy’s Airing of Grievances parade.
NotMax
@David Merry Christmas Koch
Instead of red and green, is it black and blue?
:)
different-church-lady
Screw the 2k, I’m holding out for a pardon.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Betty Cracker:
Love prime rib, but picked up a brisket for a nice price and will be smoking it starting tomorrow afternoon…
different-church-lady
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: A Festivus wreath is a 2″ metal washer, yes?
(Also, I see FYWPis back to it’s old “you will fill in your nim EVERY time” act…)
NotMax
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Will be leg o’ lamb here, along with latkes which never did get around to making earlier in the month. Maybe asparagus with mock hollandaise as well if gumption permits.
Brachiator
@Geminid:
Trump is warring with himself. He hates to be known as a loser. That is, he loses all the time, but lies and denies. But he can’t lie about it this time. He is a big fat public loser. Been slapped down by the American people. He did crazy stuff with the post office before the election and even planted early lies about voting fraud. So he is angry and desperate.
But almost more than anything, Trump is a coward. He depends on being able to sucker people into doing his dirty work. But he hates being obviously and directly responsible for anything. He wants praise for everything and blame for nothing.
A coup would be a big deal, especially if it failed. Trump has only lunatics and incompetents backing him.
Desperate Trump v Coward Trump. A hell of a battle.
Damn. You’re right. He is unpredictable. The coward in Trump will win, but he still might cause damage as he goes down.
Because he also doesn’t care.
Just One More Canuck
@Betty Cracker: Google ‘animals being dicks’. There’s tons of video (youtube, facebook, reddit) that are just hilarious. My personal favourite is a kangaroo kicking a guy into a pond
Betty Cracker
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: A well-smoked brisket is a slice of heaven!
mad citizen
@Mary G: Thanks for posting, the 2 minute zoom call is indeed tear-inducing. The first three twitter responses are terrible–people bitching about the choice. I hope he is a great Senator and wins re-election because of it.
Ruckus
Had a crown fall out and had to have it replaced. This month. I’ve moved since the original and so had to find a new dentist. My boss recommended his and wow was I impressed. Very professional office, and staff. I’ve had major dental work done since I was a kid and much of it was just butchery. Small piece of advice. Never go to a masochistic dentist. Unless you are a masochist yourself. Then please do.
NotMax
@Betty Cracker
Instant Pot fork tender brisket to die for.
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax: Tubamabob?
Mike in NC
I’m getting a dental implant in a couple of weeks and the Rolex I bought in Spain in 1984 has stopped working. Maybe Fat Bastard will cut me a check for $10K if I promise to change my vote.
mrmoshpotato
@Mike in NC:
A little Christmas time travel? ?
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax: Waiting 2.5 hours would be the better choice.
Chris T.
@NotMax: I have never seen (or heard) so many euphoniums (euphonia?) in one place before.
Fair Economist
Well, I – probably – have COVID. Sunday night my husband started having flu symptoms, and yesterday I started. I ran a fever of 103, which is now down to 100-101 with aspirin and ibuprofen. OC CA is so overwhelmed that the first test available for my husband, a middle-aged man with flu symptoms and asthma-caused lung damage, on Sunday was this Wednesday. I’ll only have to wait 2 days instead of 3 for some reason.
He’s feeling much better now and thinks it wasn’t/isn’t COVID. It’s true that we didn’t have the signature symptoms of loss of smell or hypoxia (I ran out to get a pulse oximeter as soon as he had symptoms; the third store I went to had one high-priced model left.) I still think it is because there’s very little flu around and I don’t run 103 for a cold.
He wears a mask at work but he’s a middle manager and deals with a lot of people, plus he loves to go out to pastry shops, hardware stores, etc. We could also have gotten it from my son who refuses to wear a mask when he’s out getting stoned with his friends because “they’re not sick”.
Chris T.
Is it because you like 3.14159265…?
Geminid
@Brachiator: It’s not like I think trump will try a military coup, because he can’t. And for all his long meetings with Sidney Powell, and Matt Gaetz and his Goon Squad, there really isn’t a another viable path to overturn the election. But trump will push on the door, just to see if it opens. Ultimately it probably will just be an exercise in self-justification, furthering a fantasy that he won. And exacting loyalty from republican members of Congress. But I do worry about trump ordering a strike on the Iranian nuclear facilities. He’s shown an aversion to military conflict so far, but that could be just a belief that war could hurt him politically, as it did the younger Bush. Now his power is slipping away, and about the only way he can exercise it is a major military operation.
JAFD
In other news, some lists of ‘Notable Books of 2020’ included a volume titled You Never Forget Your First
It’s a biography of George Washington
Planning to go to the ‘Portugese supermarket’ today, maybe pick up a Bolo Rei. The Portugese do fruitcake right. But woke up this morn with gout attack, left foot, waiting for pills to work.
Ordinarily I would not wish gout on anyone. But with this prolonged temper tantrum Our President and his henchpeople has been putting the nation thru…
My sympathies for everyone’s losses and my hopes for a better 2021. Meself, have appointment with my doctors at University Hospital, mid-January, hope that by then they’ll either be able to give me a ‘jab’ or let me know when to come back for one. Plan to do much hibernating until then.
And remember what The Coach said, when they demonstrated The Robot Quarterback for him…
“This, too, shall pass.”
So, Happy Christmas, one and all !
J R in WV
@Baud:
It looks pretty simple to me. Racism is a major sin involving hate and violence, and the SBC is chock full of obvious racism.
Maybe they should seek forgiveness, repentance, and love one another? Too hard?
Fair Economist
@J R in WV:
For white Southern Baptists? Yes, yes it is too hard.
evodevo
@debbie: Yes…yes you are…they’ve been playing this fraudulent double-set-of-books racist/not-racist game for 20 years now, and it’s getting down to the finish, but they JUST CAN’T BRING THEMSELVES TO REBUKE RACISM for real, because so many of their flock are foaming at the mouth racists who would leave in even greater numbers if they did….they’ve lost A LOT of membership to independent megachurches, and they’re trying desperately to halt the hemorrhage without, you know, really changing anything, wink, wink, nod, nod…
Brachiator
@Geminid:
I think that Trump would stage a coup if he could. But he is not cunning enough to try. He brags about his generals, but knows that the military will not back him. He probably has fantasies that local police forces and Second Amendment goons would rise up if he asked, but this is not sufficient.
Trump is finding that there is no loyalty to him. Soon, the GOP leadership will deny that they ever knew him. They know that they have to conduct business with the real president, not with Mr Delusional.
Not going to happen. I almost have to give Trump credit here. He has an aversion to using the military for big things. He thinks that soldiers who die or get captured are chumps. He likes to brag about being powerful, but does not want to be held responsible for large numbers of casualties.
He is not a dove because of ideology, but because he has a fear of blood and death. This led Trump to push off nutjobs like Bolton, who wrongly assumed that the Orange Beast got off on blood and guts.
different-church-lady
@Brachiator: There was never any loyalty to Trump himself, there was only loyalty to his power. Trump is not the only one for whom everthing is transactional.
J R in WV
@NotMax:
Why mock hollandaise? Easier to make?
Oh, I see. Way easy to make, although real hollandaise isn’t that hard.
When we had yard birds, and the wonderful eggs yard birbs provide, as well as fresh vegs from the garden, I made hollandaise like once a week all summer. Whisk, mixer, blender, all the ways were not too hard. But for the “raw” egg in it, which was never a big deal to us on the farm…
Zelma
@JAFD:
I read “You Never Forget Your First” and it’s darn good. It’s relatively short but it is an interesting take on George. I recommend it!
Geminid
@Brachiator: I’ve made similar observation about the loyalty of republican leaders to trump. My joke is that when asked in a couple years a out trump they’ll say,well, I did not really know the guy. But trump wants to be a force in republican party. He has a hold on republican voters and will try to exact loyalty from officeholders based on that power.
As for the assertion that there is no way trump will attack Iran, I hope you are right, but I see the same things you do and do not think your certainty is justified.
Dopey-o
What Tlaib tweet? Could you pull-eaze take about 3 seconds out of your busy day and provide some context? Why would anyone bother to post such thin soup?
As it is, i now know less than i did before i read your ‘comment’.
chopper
@Dopey-o:
you sound upset.
Yutsano
@NotMax: Heh. There’s a tradition of Tuba Christmas. A bunch of us big brass folks gather to do things pretty much just like this. Obviously not happening this year! Good on Mr. Sutherland for making this happen! Extra kudos for crediting his wife at the end. :)
Misterpuff
@NotMax: Scab fish, bottom feeders!