America United: An Inauguration Welcome Event Celebrating America’s Changemakers
Tune in for a welcome event to celebrate America, reflect and honor our history, and highlight the incredible diversity of the nation.
First song was beautiful!
There is now a section in the sidebar for the inauguration and Inauguration activities.
All the official events can be viewed from the website, which is the first link under the new section.
Let me know if there’s anything that should be added.
OPEN THREAD.
Sister Golden Bear
First. And awesome to see a non-binary speaker.
Baud
Focus on women, especially women of color. I thought there’d be more music.
WaterGirl
Deb Haaland intro just a minute ago.
WaterGirl
@Baud: Did you see the first song?
Baud
@WaterGirl:
Tuned in a few minutes late. Just missed the opening number.
Punchy
@Baud: Focus REALLY hard on Stacey Abrams, for otherwise we’d be forever living in Mitch’s world. That hep cat and her crew are the true stars of the Dems right now.
Baud
@Punchy:
I think everyone knows about SA now.
WaterGirl
@Baud: You can slide the bar back to the beginning.
Lacuna Synechdoche
Current NYT Front Page Headline:
Unlike any since the last Republican President left office.
Baud
Now they’re on to union testimonials.
No music interludes. It’s nice to see real people, but not entertaining.
WaterGirl
@Baud: I agree that music in between speakers would be more fun and interesting
edit: Plus, this isn’t a school night.
HumboldtBlue
@Lacuna Synechdoche:
Yup
Baud
@WaterGirl:
I don’t think they were expecting a big audience. It’s just a nice gesture to give some of their supporters a chance to be part of the event.
Baud
Whoopi!
WaterGirl
@Baud: I had to fast forward thru the union stuff.
Now I’m up to Whoopi!
Just Some Fuckhead
Also, Ravens @ Bills.
HRA
@Just Some Fuckhead: Go Bills!
Baud
@Just Some Fuckhead:
Playing for the right to lose to Green Bay.
WaterGirl
Okay, I am officially declaring this welcome vent BORING. Sorry, Joe!
OPEN THREAD.
japa21
@Baud: Only if they make it to the Super Bowl. What the Pack did to the number one defense in the league was ridiculous. And it could have, and should have, been even worse.
NotMax
@WaterGirl
Woo hoo! To-ga! To-ga! To-ga!
:)
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: Did she sing?
WaterGirl
I do like Darren Criss.
Steve in the ATL
@Baud: hell yeah—I’m wearing a pair of a Stacy Adams shoes right now!
j/k of course—I don’t wear shoes that are sold at JC Penney’s!
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: I am okay with that.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: Nope.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steve in the ATL: Morris Day wore them back in the day. Then again, they weren’t sold at Penney’s back then.
ETA: Tom Waits refers to them too.
Steve in the ATL
@WaterGirl:
I know, right? Management or GTFO!
Baud
@Steve in the ATL:
No CEOs yet. So biased.
Steve in the ATL
@Omnes Omnibus: I knew you would come through with that, which is how I heard of them in the first place. Why didn’t he wear John Lobb Paris like the rest of us?
Steve in the ATL
@Baud: ugh. I miss the trump administration already!
Omnes Omnibus
Me too.
Baud
@Steve in the ATL:
Too soon, man.
NotMax
@Baud
When does Marianne Williamson show up to juggle crystals?
//
Sister Golden Bear
Getting to the music now.
Steve in the ATL
@Baud: on a related note, I noticed today that my neighbor has taken down his trump 2024 flag. Perhaps treason is a bridge too far for at least one investment banker.
I will update when he flies his Baud 2024 flag!
Baud
@Sister Golden Bear:
Just one song. Looks like it’s almost over. It was a nice song though.
Baud
@Steve in the ATL:
I hope to be a candidate who can unite Americans and anti-Americans.
Just Some Fuckhead
Mrs. Fuckhead would leave me in a minute for Gus Edwards.
SiubhanDuinne
I didn’t mind the Union speakers. Most of them spoke for about a minute each, and I don’t mind being reminded of what we all owe to union lobbying and pressure. When I was working, and an undeserving beneficiary of their activism, I know I didn’t sufficiently appreciate them. Glad to make that right.
Loved the Native American chant early in the program. And I liked the stuttering comedian. One of my brothers suffered from severe stuttering for years. I’m glad to see it come out of the disability closet at last.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: I see your chances as better with matter and anti-matter.
Baud
Kamala!
Baud
@SiubhanDuinne:
Everyone was swell. It just wasn’t an entertainment event.
mali muso
Inauguration related question…are there plans for another BJ zoom event in conjunction with the end of our long national nightmare?
WaterGirl
@Steve in the ATL:
You are bad.
Also, so happy to have you back.
karensky
Thanks, Balloon Juice, I am ready to kick more butt!
NotMax
@SiubhanDuinne
Gotta link it, if just for innocent grinnage.
WaterGirl
@mali muso: Yes!
Though I use the word “plans” loosely because we haven’t talked about specific times.
Hoping that Imm and i can work out details tomorrow.
Any particular thoughts on timing?
zhena gogolia
@Baud:
Well, it probably beats “50 Years of Masterpiece,” which we just tried to watch. A Downton Abbey informercial. I thought they’d show some extended scenes from early classic programs. Nope.
WaterGirl
@Baud: We got 3 songs. The first one that started the show, Darren Criss, and the band that did Colors at the end.
Uncle Cosmo
@HRA: Go Ravens!
WaterGirl
@SiubhanDuinne: Yeah, I didn’t mean to pick on the union speakers. That just happened to be the point where I realized this wasn’t going to be as fun as I hoped, so I fast forwarded to get caught up.
SiubhanDuinne
@Baud:
I didn’t come to be entertained.
mali muso
@WaterGirl: Well, I haven’t seen an official schedule for the day yet so i dunno what people will be up for. Sometime in the middle of the day?
Baud
@SiubhanDuinne:
Nominated for the rotating tag.
SiubhanDuinne
@NotMax:
Used to sing that in all innocence when I was a kid.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
I was hoping they’d have a salute to Snowden and Assange.
Big let down.
rikyrah
@Punchy:
the moment she declares for Governor, she will get a monthly donation from me.
Steve in the ATL
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: POTD
WaterGirl
@mali muso: The schedule is up in the sidebar, at the top
edit: I just checked, and there are 5 parts to the celebration. All marked TBD, so that’s no help!
Except I am guessing that we would want the zoom in between online celebrations, rather than during?
Immanentize
@Steve in the ATL: You are such a prole. Fluvogs!
WaterGirl
@Immanentize: I sent you email asking for a zoom planning conversation. Not sure how often you check email on the weekend, so just telling you, not nagging. :-)
WaterGirl
@Steve in the ATL: @Immanentize:
Could you guys speak english? :-)
What’s a POTD? What is Fluvogs?
debbie
@NotMax:
That Boebert chick has a bit of that Marianne Williamson look to her eyes.
Omnes Omnibus
@Immanentize: ::shutters::
Immanentize
@WaterGirl: Fluvogs?
Shoes. Glorious shoes!
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: Post of the Day. And a brand of hideous, tacky shoes.
Immanentize
@WaterGirl: I’m not sure if I can. But I’ll know tomorrow evening. I might go to VT for a week.
debbie
@zhena gogolia:
Are you watching All Creatures Great and Small?
Immanentize
@debbie:
BOEBERT
debbie
@Immanentize:
Sue me.
WaterGirl
@Immanentize: Wow. I had no idea.
persistentillusion
@WaterGirl: Nah, the union support will be important. Get it out of the way, congratulate those allies and go on to entice people who are less committed.
ETA, I’m originally from the Midwest, union buy-in is super important. The members will walk, they’ll canvas (whatever that looks like now) and they will work their networks. Unions, good.
WaterGirl
@Immanentize: Rut roh!
Let me know as soon as you know?
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: Steve in the WTF with his John Lobb recommendation was on firmer ground.
Immanentize
@persistentillusion: We got Mahhty Meehan to work on that.
WaterGirl
@persistentillusion: Fair enough.
Immanentize
@debbie: I intend to release all the Krakens. But in my case, they are young and prepared Rhode Island style: breaded with peppers.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: I’m afraid to google John Lobb lest I get on all sorts of men’s shoes lists. I will take your word for it. :-)
WaterGirl
@persistentillusion:
It also needs to go both ways. We need to help the unions gain some of the ground they lost.
Immanentize
@Omnes Omnibus: Ha! Vastly overpriced boredom inspiring vanity Jared Kushner shoes. Management lawyer wannabe footware.
Pa.the.tic
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: Here you go.
Omnes Omnibus
@Immanentize: Coming from someone who recommends clown shoes….
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: Whew. Those are much better. Are these what the stylish attorneys wear?
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: You just said “clowns”. What have you done with Omnes?
Jeffro
@Lacuna Synechdoche: Good! All following the Indivisible playbook…”GO FAST!”
No one’s going to repeat the mistakes of 2009-2010 and try to negotiate with the fascists this time.
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: Imm is recommending clown shoes.
Raven
Tramp Otis Redding and Carla Thomas
You know what, Otis?
What?
You’re country.
That’s all right.
You straight from the Georgia woods.
That’s good.
You know what? You wear overalls, and big old brogan shoes, and you need a haircut, Tramp.
Steve in the ATL
@Immanentize: omfg. Is that guy for real?
Gin & Tonic
The really nice thing about working from home is no need for shoes. And when I need to don some, for going outside, my Birkenstock Bostons are the only thing I need.
FlyingToaster
@zhena gogolia: Jeebus.
I, Claudius was my original tipple on Masterpiece Theatre, turned my dorm-mates onto it when it was re-broadcast in 1980.
Original Upstairs Downstairs, Jewel in the Crown (where I first saw Charles Dance, yum), House of Cards, Traffik, Jeeves & Wooster.
Plus Masterpiece Mystery! and Jeremy Brett’s Sherlock Holmes, Cadfael, Inspector Dalgliesh, Campion, Reilly Ace of Spies, Prime Suspect, and naturally, Morse.
Limiting themselves to Regency, Victorian, and Edwardian costume dramas seems utterly pointless.
Gin & Tonic
@Immanentize: Those are called “vinegar peppers,” good sir!
Raven
I said you must be jokin son
where did you get those shoes. . . Oh yea
https://youtu.be/oXY_DNVFWVY
Baud
@Gin & Tonic:
That’s all I wear too.
WaterGirl
@Baud:
There is more than one way to read that.
Raven
@WaterGirl: ask em if they wear chucks?
Immanentize
@Steve in the ATL: Actually, not. But my wife had a pair that were really awesome. She also had a pair of pinkish miu mius that looked like some organic being. Shoes, as Shakespeare said, make the man. Or something. I’m actually a pretty classic short boot or cap toe myself when standing up at the podium.
Immanentize
@Gin & Tonic: love them. Want some soon!
Sister Golden Bear
Er mah gerd! Shoes! Let’s get some shoes!
@Immanentize: These shoes rule
@Omnes Omnibus: These shoes suck.
These shoes cost $300. LET’S GET ‘EM!
Omnes Omnibus
@Gin & Tonic: @Baud: I can’t even….
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@FlyingToaster: ? how could you leave out Rumpole ?
Omnes Omnibus
@Sister Golden Bear: I had forgotten that existed.
Quinerly
@Raven: ?
RIP Mr. Becker.
Steve in the ATL
@Immanentize: cap toe is the way to go. If it’s a case I don’t care about, I might go casual with a wingtip. I may try some fluvogs next time I’m bargaining with a trades union. Can’t wait to get beaten with axe handles and pipe wrenches in the parking lot afterward!
Immanentize
@Raven: I can’t even think of a steely dan lyric or riff without being instantly transported back to college. I believe 71.4% of all dorm rooms had an Aja poster. Or, as mine did, a Marley pic.
Baud
This was mentioned earlier, but I didn’t see the details.
Mike in NC
Wife was looking for a picture frame and dragged me to the new Hobby Lobby near us. Saw some oddball characters, but there was a display of books by — and about — the “Duck Dynasty” nutjobs. Do they still have a TV show? I thought their 15 minutes of fame was a decade ago.
Steve in the ATL
@Baud: WTF is this? B-J is a fashion blog. Take your politics back to Kos.
FlyingToaster
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: A) Forgot. B) HerrDoctor was the one who quoted from Rumpole. I quoted from House of Cards.
C) The programs carried by the various incarnations of Masterpiece, including Poirot, often moved on to other venues (A&E, originally, then BBC America, now various streaming services like BritBox and Acorn).
Immanentize
@Sister Golden Bear: my god! That was the greatest! I just sent it to three friends.
These shoes suck….
Thank you!
Gin & Tonic
@Baud: Sure would be nice if he’d light a fire under the visa processing folks too. Might be nice if my daughter in law could enter the country.
debbie
@Baud:
Hope this means the children are all findable.
Omnes Omnibus
New shoes.
Raven
Diddley, Say Man
https://youtu.be/oDXWNZk5nro
Look-a here!
What’s that?
Where are you from?
South America,
What’s that?
South America,
You don’t look like no South American to me,
I’m still from South America,
What part?
South Texas!
Where are your workin’ boots at?
I’ve got ’em on,
Those aren’t no boots you got on; those broguettes!
Immanentize
@Steve in the ATL: You would be so SAFE in Fluevogs! Those trades guys would be afraid of you rubbing off on them.
Raven
@Steve in the ATL: And I’m postin all this great music with shoe references!
aliasofwestgate
@Gin & Tonic: I think it’s a mix of having to rebuild immigration and secretary of state. I wanna apply for a new passport at some point this year. But i won’t do it until i know SoS is functioning at least decently compared to the last 4 years of shit. The appointees and the civil servants have a ton of work to do, and it sucks.
Baud
@aliasofwestgate:
I renewed my passport earlier this year, and it went smoothly and quickly.
ETA: By mail.
Steve in the ATL
@Omnes Omnibus: or this
Baud
@debbie:
Hope so. Too soon to tell.
Steve in the ATL
@Raven: word up, as people of your generation say!
How about Guy Clark’s Baton Rouge?
aliasofwestgate
@Baud: i let mine expire about 2 years ago, when things were personally going to hell. So i still have to apply for a new one. Not really a big bother since i know what to do. This final year i was not risking it on the fact that the Trump admin fucks everything else up. Even something so simple.
Raven
@Steve in the ATL: How a bout “I’m pretty in Buffalo.”
https://youtu.be/PPdZoT8zLcs
Immanentize
Ian Drury
Raven
@Steve in the ATL: My Generation said “I hope I die before I get old”!
Steve in the ATL
@Steve in the ATL: ETA
Immanentize
Carl Perkins has pointed toed shoes I’ve heard
Gin & Tonic
@Baud: Maybe next year you’ll be able to use it.
Omnes Omnibus
As long as we are on the topic of fashion.
Immanentize
And Carl’s girlfriend wore pink peddle pushers.
Mary G
Amateurs. Here are some shoes.
prostratedragon
From 1927, Alberta Hunter and Thomas “Fats” Waller (pipe organ), “Sugar”
WaterGirl
Okay, that’s it!
Omnes, Imm, Baud, Steve in WTF, Raven, everybody:
Send me a picture of your shoes and we’ll have a post where I list 10 nyms and show 10 pairs of shoes, and people can guess which shoes go with which nym.
Winner wins… something.
You can either send photos of just the shoes, or shoes on feet with the bottom of the pants showing
edit: We can also do a separate one with women’s shoes
edit: We could even have an attorneys work shoes only version. We easily have enough attorneys here for that.
Raven
“He never misses”!
Doink, twice!
WaterGirl
@Mary G: My feet hurt just looking at those shoes.
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: Which shoes? I have quite a few pairs. I could make it fairly easy or damned near impossible to guess.
Ken
@WaterGirl: Great, BJ is joining the already-overpopulated ranks of foot fetish websites. All part of being a full-service blog, I guess — but no crush videos, please.
FlyingToaster
@Mary G: Uhhhhhh……
?Why‽
That site has a whole “yea or nay” series of postings on shoes.
I bow to your professional expertise.??♀️
Omnes Omnibus
@Mary G: We were doing men’s shoes.
WaterGirl
@Baud: Wow, I hadn’t seen the details, either. That’s wonderful.
Mary G
@WaterGirl: I love TLo’s commenters, known as Bitter Kittens, almost as much as I love the jackals here, this is a good one about the shoes:
mrmoshpotato
@WaterGirl: You. have. all. gone. crazy. :)
raven
@WaterGirl: Doctors and Lawyers?
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: I think we’d have to have a separate one for work shoes and another one for hanging out shoes.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@aliasofwestgate: We renewed in 2020. (End of story: this part of the State Dept actually seems to be working.) Submitted in February.
My wife got hers ridiculously quickly, like 2-3 weeks, well ahead of the delay we were told to expect.
Mine got caught in the lockdown, as there for awhile was nobody to process it. There was an online tracking system and for awhile I could see it just sitting there, with no promised processing date.
Then it disappeared. “No record of this application.”
I started inquiring. Made a phone call, talked to a human being, was assured I was in the system but for (reason I forget) the system wasn’t updating the status.
And then all of a sudden over the next few days: the record popped up, I started getting emails about progress being made, and then the passport arrived in the mail.
Bottom line, once people in the passport office were back at work, they were working well. Things went smoothly. The only glitch was while they were shut down early in 2020.
Another Scott
@Omnes Omnibus: Nu Shooz
Cheers,
Scott.
WaterGirl
@Mary G:
TLo’s commenters ???
schrodingers_cat
@Mary G: They are ugly and uncomfortable.
WaterGirl
@Mary G: Love that! In a perfect world, we wouldn’t have to wear shoes.
SFBayAreaGal
@Gin & Tonic: I have a pair of Birkenstocks designed by Jerry Garcia.
WaterGirl
@mrmoshpotato: I never claimed that every idea I have is a good one! But I thought that would be fun/funny.
WaterGirl
@raven: wouldn’t the doctor’s shoes all be covered with booties? :-)
Yutsano
Jeebus. I leave you kids alone for like a couple of hours and this blog goes to poop.
WaterGirl
@Yutsano: He started it!
Also, it’s an Open Thread. It goes where it goes.
edit: See, now you’ve done it. Everyone is afraid to comment now. :-)
Dad came home, yelled about the party, and everyone scattered.
mrmoshpotato
@WaterGirl:
Then I don’t feel bad posting this bit of news:
Also, haha!
Yutsano
@WaterGirl: Well I’m finishing it!
I used to hate when my parents told us that. We were definitely not “done”. Especially my older brother and I. But we were oil and water from jump.
Haroldo
And what do the angels want to wear?
WaterGirl
@mrmoshpotato: That’s great news!
He was basically covered head to toe, so I bet he thought they could never find him. Too bad, so sad.
Ken
Because our legs would end in little wheels.
Which jogs a memory of a fantasy story; “The Wheels of God”, perhaps? Everyone wakes up one morning to find their feet replaced with wheels.
mrmoshpotato
@WaterGirl: Well, they’d already arrested him I believe, and now they nabbed his mom.
Good on ya, ma! Accompanying you kid to overthrow the US government!
West of the Rockies
@Steve in the ATL:
I wouldn’t gripe if it was witchy women in Louboutins…
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Ken
@WaterGirl: He’s being charged with conspiracy, too. They’ll probably be leaning on him to reveal his co-conspirators – that is, other than his mom.
Omnes Omnibus
@West of the Rockies: Your posting fingers broken?
WaterGirl
@mrmoshpotato: Who knew it was “take your mom to the violent insurrection” day?
Or maybe it was “take your son to the violent insurrection” day?
Or a new twist on the “daddy-daughter dance”? Mama-son insurrection dance.
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
@mrmoshpotato: yeah she’s a nurse. I think. she’s probably going to fired if she hasn’t been already.
mrmoshpotato
@WaterGirl: I feel bad that I laughed at that!
WaterGirl
@EmbraceYourInnerCrone: I want to see these people get everything they deserve.
WaterGirl
@mrmoshpotato: I think my comment has just been insulted, but I’m not totally sure.
In any case, buoyed by the happy news that these two have some serious charges leveled against them, I am going to close the computer, listen to a podcast or two, and go to sleep.
mrmoshpotato
@WaterGirl: Enjoy some Professional Left.
Time for some Italian beef.
TomatoQueen
*hides bunny slippers
WaterGirl
@mrmoshpotato: If you can find me some good Chicago Italian beef, I would love to have some.
Punchy
@Baud: I think you’re wrong. Political junkies…yeah. Average D voter? Nopes. They just assume GA Senate races went the way of the general. SA had an enormous effect on both, and a special mention of this is necessary, IMO.
WaterGirl
@TomatoQueen: There’s nothing wrong with bunny slippers! Much better than some of the stuff that’s been linked to tonight.
Omnes Omnibus
@TomatoQueen: Bunny slippers are cool. It is known.
MagdaInBlack
@Haroldo: ” My red shoes” =-)
Eta: i try to stay amused.
mrmoshpotato
@WaterGirl: I like Papa Charlie’s. 24 oz frozen for 6.49.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@WaterGirl:
Unpossible, they’re lawyers.
MisterForkbeard
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I have a friend who’s raising money for coffee and energy drink deliveries to the Guard in the Capitol. Her brother is deployed out there, and he says they’re being taken care of but that’s the thing most troops want right now.
They want help staying awake. :)
WaterGirl
@mrmoshpotato: Never heard of them!
WaterGirl
@?BillinGlendaleCA: You make an excellent point.
WaterGirl
@mrmoshpotato: Carm’s was the best.
mrmoshpotato
@WaterGirl: 24oz of frozen beef and gravy
something fabulous
@Immanentize: I LOVE Fluvogs! I have a pair of the low lace up boots from one million years ago that still are in great shape. I don’t see them exactly on the site now; gotta admit mine are a more restrained black-with-beige color way, but are awesome! Thanks for the link; hadn’t thought to buy any in years, since mine were in person in NYC at the time– online! One day, when am working again! More Fluvogs!!!
mrmoshpotato
@WaterGirl: I’m talking frozen. And Little Italy would be a bit of a hike.
Patricia Kayden
?BillinGlendaleCA
@WaterGirl:
It’s Baud, so no there really isn’t.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Immanentize: Interesting trivia, the Aja album cover was designed by Phil Hartman*.
*He did graphic design before his comedy career.
Haroldo
@MagdaInBlack: Usually better than disgusted.
NotMax
2½ hours of mowing done. Exhausted.
Mail has been super weird. Not a thing in the mailbox all this week. Then today about a half dozen pieces of mail all at once, including a letter sent first class from NY, postmarked January 5. Apparently carried by Tortoise Express.
@FlyingToaster
Also too, Brideshead Revisited.
O. Felix Culpa
Thanks, all, for the entertainment and the fun songs. My 8-years-old LLBean Wicked Good Slippers and I are heading off to bed now. Be good. Or be wicked. Up to you.
WaterGirl
@mrmoshpotato: thanks. Not sold in Champaign. :-(