Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans in disarray!

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

We still have time to mess this up!

Accountability, motherfuckers.

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

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

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

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

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

White supremacy is terrorism.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

This fight is for everything.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

You are here: Home / Past Elections / 2020 Elections / Biden-Harris 2020 / Thursday Morning Open Thread: What A Difference A Day Makes

Thursday Morning Open Thread: What A Difference A Day Makes

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  2. 2.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    Goya spokesperson Ivanka crying as Dump fled the capitol (photo)

     

    Of course she’s only crying because she will never be invited to another Met Gala

  3. 3.

    OzarkHillbilly

    The Bidens share a moment right before they entered the White House

    Joe just can’t help himself, has to run over to a few folks and give them special attention. Social distancing? Good luck Jill.

    (mind you, highly unlikely he put himself in any danger during those brief encounters)

  4. 4.

    OzarkHillbilly

    It’s an honor to be your Vice President.

    Oh and fuck that duplicitous SOB Roy Blunt who is standing behind Kamala as she gets sworn in.

  5. 5.

    Mary G

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:  The Ivanka “didn’t look in the mirror to make sure I brushed the back of my hair, because nothing matters” pictures gave me so much pleasure.
    You know she knows it’s over when she’s too cheap to pay a professional. Suffer more, please.

  8. 8.

    Raven

    My dear friend and her Australian wife had to move back to Sydney even though they were legally married in NYC. She wrote a wonderful note on Facebook this morning and she noted that she mentored at Write Girl in LA and that Amanda Gorman was part of that program (after my friend taught there)

     

    https://www.writegirl.org/

  9. 9.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    ELLA Emhoff stole the style show at Joe Biden’s inauguration with an outfit straight off the catwalks of Paris and Milan.
    And fashion insiders say she is poised to become a national style icon over the next four years

    Ella Emhoff did with one coat what Ivanka couldn’t get done in four years. Instant style icon.
    — Tom and Lorenzo (@tomandlorenzo) January 20, 2021

    Another reason why Ivanka is crying: with simplicity and authenticity, Ella (photo) stole everyone’s heart, while the plastic Ivanka was instantly revealed to be crook and a fraud.

  10. 10.

    Baud

    I actually had a morbid thought this morning that I’m glad Jimmy Carter lasted long enough to have a decent president speak at his funeral.  Just one of the many ways the country is in a better place today.

  11. 11.

    Cermet

    First, thrilled the orange stain is gone; extremely happy that not just the White House is under Dem control, but the Senate as well, now. That is beyond amazing (thank you so much Stacy Abrams for helping to save “Democracy” … at least for now.)

    In that later regards, having a consititution based upon and heavily written for Slavery and with almost half the electorate being so racist that even that stain upon our national fabric was worth voting for, I seriously doubt our “democracy” really did prevail. Rather, it staggered onward with its racist and hateful parts fully functioning and dooming our republic unless and until racical chages are made – i.e. we actually make our country a democracy where coprporations aren’t given control of our government and voting becomes not just a right but a required civic duty for all on proper national holidays (both to allow people offf from work to vote and celibrate a true democrarcy.)

  13. 13.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

     

     

    Biden returns honor and decency to the Oval Office:

     

    …portrait of Andrew Jackson – the censured and fellow populist 19th-century president – was replaced with Benjamin Franklin, meant to signal Biden’s interest in science, according to the Washington Post. Other intentional changes include a portrait of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and paired paintings of Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton – representing two people with vastly differing ideologies who worked together.

    Placed on the mantle and other shelving are of Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks, and Robert Kennedy. Also notable are a bust of César Chávez, the American labor leader and Latin American activist, and a sculpture of the Chiricahua Apache Tribe, which belonged to late senator Daniel K Inouye, the first Japanese American elected to both houses of Congress.

    Photo #1

    Photo #2

    Photo #3

  14. 14.

    Princess

    Did anyone else have a terrible time sleeping last night? I was okay but I think my husband didn’t sleep a wink. I think it was the unpeeling for four years of quiet anxiety and terror that could finally be released all at once.

  16. 16.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Glad to see you, OH. Hope things went well.

    Thought of you yesterday and hoped you were able to take in at least some of the pleasure of the day.

  19. 19.

    Betty Cracker

    Did anyone watch Jen Psaki’s press briefing? No servile and desperate brown-nosing to impress “an audience of one.” No belligerent insistence that up is down and black is white. The press sec displayed a command of policy and the ability to discuss it coherently. It was remarkable in its ordinariness, like watching a human being wash a sink full of dishes after watching screeching monkeys fling plates for four years straight. 

  21. 21.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    ‘A Total Failure’: The Proud Boys Now Mock Trump

    Members of the far-right group, who were among Donald Trump’s staunchest fans, are calling him “weak” as more of them were charged for storming the U.S. Capitol.

    Even the deplorables can’t stand his loser stink

  22. 22.

    MJS

    Effective today, I am going to do my best to not let Republicans run my life. I’ve spent the last 4 years obsessing and despairing over the latest shit Trump pulled, or how Republicans enabled that shit. No more. I’m going try to pay no attention to the antics of Cruz, Hawley, McConnell, et al. I will pay attention to investigations of Republican assistance to the insurrectionists and, of course Trump’s Senate trial, but other than that, Republicans are losers, and they deserve all the attention a last place team gets during the playoffs – zero.

  23. 23.

    Phylllis

    @NotMax: Must see (along with The BIg Chill) for scenes of a seedier, less gentrified i.e. cooler Beaufort SC, if nothing else.

  25. 25.

    MJS

    @Betty Cracker: I saw it, and she was great, even taking, and destroying, a Fox News talking point (poorly) disguised as a question about the “divisiveness” of an impeachment trial.

  26. 26.

    Baud

    I hope today is the start of greater productivity for me.  I have a lot of things to catch up on.

  29. 29.

    Baud

    Pete Buttigieg will testify before a Senate panel on Thursday considering his nomination for transportation secretary, putting the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor on the path to becoming the first Senate-confirmed LGBTQ Cabinet secretary.

  33. 33.

    debbie

    Nothing beats that entrance by Barak and Michelle yesterday. Hand in hand, confidently striding in unison down the hall together through to the stairway. They are The Power Couple!

  35. 35.

    TS (the original)

    Actually had a laugh from Mica this morning.  Reading from the released daily Presidential schedule

    The President and the vice president receive the President’s Daily Briefing

    (interjection – and they will read it)

  40. 40.

    Betsy

    I’m very happy about everything

    but I’m having a really hard time with feelings of anger rage and bitterness.  It seems like I’m so used to feeling this way that I’ve lost or forgotten how to feel something else.

    I’m still afraid and hard inside

    I feel like something has changed inside me over the last so many years.

  41. 41.

    Raven

    @NotMax: I’ve posted here that I once wrote Conroy and he wrote me back! I attended an online presentation about him conducted by the director of the Conroy Center in Beaufort, SC. That got me even more interested and I came across this book. I’m not shocked but it’s a bit of a bummer.

    In The Lost Prince Michael Mewshaw sets down one of the most gripping stories of friendship I’ve ever read.” –Daniel Menaker, author of My Mistake: A Memoir Pat Conroy was America’s poet laureate of family dysfunction. A larger-than-life character and the author of such classics as The Prince of Tides and The Great Santini , Conroy was remembered by everybody for his energy, his exuberance, and his self-lacerating humor. Michael Mewshaw’s The Lost Prince is an intimate memoir of his friendship with Pat Conroy, one that involves their families and those days in Rome when they were both young–when Conroy went from being a popular regional writer to an international bestseller. Family snapshots beautifully illustrate that time. Shortly before his forty-ninth birthday, Conroy telephoned Mewshaw to ask a terrible favor. With great reluctance, Mewshaw did as he was asked–and never saw Pat Conroy again. Although they never managed to reconcile their differences completely, Conroy later urged Mewshaw to write about “me and you and what happened . . . i know it would cause much pain to both of us. but here is what that story has that none of your others have.” The Lost Prince is Mewshaw’s fulfillment of a promise

  43. 43.

    debbie

    I took down my FB profile pic of a weeping Statue of Liberty yesterday. Unsure whether Republicans will grow the fuck up and work together for the country, I replaced it with a photo of my RBG dissent pin. Just in case they act up.

  50. 50.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: Very soothing, like quietly petting the Woofmeister’s head in my lap while reading or watching a movie.

  53. 53.

    JWR

    (I think) I’m all caught up on recent threads, but has anyone mentioned this, from the last day of T***p’s DOJ?

    DOJ Drops Insider Trading Investigation Into Sen. Richard Burr
    January 19, 2021 9:12 PM ET

    Anyone know if there’s any way for the new DOJ to review this?

  54. 54.

    MazeDancer

    It’s true, you do not have flawless, gorgeous TV production by accident.

    Hire the best, pay them what the’re worth, let them do their job.

    Expecting the best and supporting it bodes well for the future.

    Also, decency matters. It doesn’t go away.

  55. 55.

    Baud

    Senate Democrats are signaling they will reject an effort by Mitch McConnell to protect the legislative filibuster as part of a deal to run a 50-50 Senate, saying they have little interest in bowing to his demands just hours into their new Senate majority.

  56. 56.

    RedDirtGirl

    I cannot imagine having to sleep in the same bed that Trump sullied. They must replace the mattress, right?

  60. 60.

    Phylllis

    @JWR: Dunno about that, but our investment guy told us that Perdue & Loeffler’s trades really weren’t eyebrow-raising, but that Burr’s actions were blatant insider trading.

  65. 65.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Lapassionara: How many times did he tell trump to STFU? Did he ever just slap the piss out of our junior senator? He’s not quite as useless as tits on a boar, but that ain’t saying much.

  66. 66.

    Betsy

    @Princess: yes, but in my case it’s that I don’t know how to feel relief any more

    What’s passing for genuine happiness and hope is like this smiling anger and relish for everyone in the Trump administration to be horribly punished

  71. 71.

    different-church-lady

    Today is going to be a great day, because I’ve realized that for the first time in four years I can look at the news to find out what the president did to try to fix things instead of what he did to try to break everything.

  75. 75.

    Geminid

    @JWR: The new DOJ may also decide Burr’s actions were legal, no matter how unethical. Burr intends to retire after 2022, so North Carolina voters will not weigh in.                                              Georgia voters had their say, though, regarding Loeffler’s and Perdue’s insider trading. Hard to say if that made a difference, but it was a close election and the Democrats pounded the issue hard.                               Elizabeth Warren has bill that would prohibit lawmakers from playing the market. Legislators should vote for this, if only to save them from themselves.

  77. 77.

    kirbster

    I believe Americans’ collective blood pressure and anxiety levels have dropped considerably since early yesterday afternoon. The man who was the very embodiment of Christianity’s Seven Deadly Sins is no longer POTUS. Not that I plan to forgive, forget, or trust anyone who put him in power ever again…

  81. 81.

    Ben Cisco

    Holy shit you guys. This National Review (yeah, I know) op-ed – I’ve never smoked and even I’m looking for a heater right now:

     

    Well, that sucked.

    Memo to MAGA and all its myriad fellow-travelers: Maybe Death of a Salesman as presented by Leni Riefenstahl just wasn’t the show Americans were dying to tune into this season.

    And, while we’re at it, maybe turning your party over to Generalissimo Walter Mitty, his hideous scheming spawn, and the studio audience from Hee-Haw was not just absolutely aces as a political strategy.

    Think on it, Cletus. I know this whole thing still sounds like your idea of a good time — how’s that working out for you?

    I beg you, please go see this. You’re welcome.

  91. 91.

    Quinerly

    @Baud: guess you heard the entire interview. Williamson (Nat Review op ed author) is no real friend where Biden is concerned. Called him “fundamentally dishonest.”

  92. 92.

    JWR

    @Phylllis:

    …Burr’s actions were blatant insider trading.

    Sure looked that way to me. Either they really did, or didn’t find anything wrong, and were holding the investigation over his head in the event he spoke out about all that “Stop The Steal” BS.

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Yes there is.

    Excellent. Thank you!

  94. 94.

    Raven

    @OzarkHillbilly: I took the old guy out this pre-dawn morning. I got to shootin the shit with a neighbor and Bohdi started to pull so I let him go. He can barely walk so I don’t worry about him running off very far. I thought he was on the porch but he wasn’t.  I didn’t really panic because I knew he couldn’t have gotten far and if I stayed inn the street he wouldn’t get run down. After searching for about 10 minutes another neighbor came buy and started to help. Quickly he said “I can hear him rustling down in the bushes. Whew, I guess I need to start wearing my hearing aids again.

  96. 96.

    Betty Cracker

    @Baud: A hard right conservative who once recommended execution for women who seek abortions. But yeah, glad he’s trying to pry NR readers off the MAGA train. Good luck with that.

  97. 97.

    Amir Khalid

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Here’s what scares me, though. After eight years of Obama, a sizeable enough number of American voters figured they’d had enough normality and competence for the time being, and put in the Oval Office a fellow Deplorable unfit for the job in every conceivable way. I have a lingering fear that they might do the same in four or eight years, no matter how well Biden and Harris perform.

  98. 98.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Princess: I had the opposite reaction–I had been on edge, not sleeping well and not able to concentrate on anything since January 6, but I slept like a log last night.

    But now I’m thinking about all the work I have to do and sometimes scary personal stuff coming up that I was not spending mental energy on while totalitarians and seditionists were in control of the country, and, wow, it’s a lot. It will have to get proper attention.

  99. 99.

    RedDirtGirl

    @Ben Cisco: That was lovely. As were the RWNJ snowflake tears in the comments. Thanks Ben.

    ETA: Re: the next comment. Good to know that Betty C. Great column, but fuck that asshat, all the same.

  101. 101.

    Immanentize

    @Ben Cisco: Kevin Williamson has strong Jackal Foo.  The uses many Betty Cracker phrases as well (e.g. Third Lady), which although are not unique — still….

  102. 102.

    JML

    @Baud: yes indeed. as much as williamson has contempt for Trump and those who supported him…he’s still a right-wing loon who will lie about democrats at the drop of a hat.

    the enemy of my enemy is not really my friend.

  108. 108.

    Quinerly

    @Immanentize: you nailed it. He didn’t call Joe a pedophile, though. So there’s that.

    JoJo and I are off on a short day trip. Gotta talk to a man about a Burro. ?

  109. 109.

    Immanentize

    @Baud: I’m wondering if they have calculated the only way to get on TV and “own the libs — live on Not Fox!” is to first trash Trump?  It’s not a bad strategy.  Give the people want they want.  Then what they don’t.

  110. 110.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Raven: I go thru the same thing with Woof every morning. I let him out and close the door. I know he won’t go up to the highway and he won’t go very far in any direction and he certainly isn’t going to accompany Percy on his early AM rambles. But if when I come back 5 mins later he isn’t at the door waiting to be let back in, I step out on the porch and start looking for him. If I don’t see him, I start to feel a little bit of panic because…

    “What if he went/ fell down into one of the hollers following a scent?”

    There are only a few spots where his arthritic hips and knees could manage the scramble back up and I doubt my back could handle carrying him back up. So I start calling him and invariably he comes out from behind the garden shed or a vehicle or the garage or…

    And gives me a look of, “What?”

  112. 112.

    satby

    @Baud: Makes me think he’s more upset hat Trump is a loser rather than that Trump is immoral and anti-democratic.

    Oh, absolutely, that’s why they’ll all decide they really hated him (Trump) all along. Hence my snake comment. But I will savor the right wing internal bloodletting.

    edited for clarity.

  113. 113.

    Spanky

    @Immanentize: A month? Gaslighting is a habit that will be hard to break. Starting yesterday, a question about anyone named Trump will be met with a “who?”.

  115. 115.

    Quinerly

    @Baud: I was toasting my bagel at that time. Missed that part. Got back to it at the end. Joe and Mika gave him a lot of air time. Hmmmm….

  116. 116.

    Anya

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: Talk about ugly crying. Of course she’s crying for herself and not the kids her dad put in cages, and the parents they stole from or that thousands and thousands of Americans who died of COVID because of her administration’s negligence and her dad’s awfulness. Fuck her and her incompetent husband.

  117. 117.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Amir Khalid: Guaranteed. If 400,000 dead Americans couldn’t dissuade them from voting for 4 more years of the same, there is little Biden and Harris can do to persuade them, especially when FOX and OAN and Alex Jones etc are telling them what a socialist hell hole America is becoming.

    Other than GOTV, I have no answers and there is no guarantee that will be enough.

  118. 118.

    Soprano2

    @Betty Cracker: Did anyone watch Jen Psaki’s press briefing? No servile and desperate brown-nosing to impress “an audience of one.” No belligerent insistence that up is down and black is white. The press sec displayed a command of policy and the ability to discuss it coherently. It was remarkable in its ordinariness, like watching a human being wash a sink full of dishes after watching screeching monkeys fling plates for four years straight.

    I watched part of it, and was amazed at the night and day difference. I’d forgotten what a normal press conference looks like. I did find myself wishing that she would say something like “We don’t negotiate bills with Congress through the press” when she got questions about the size of Biden’s COVID relief package, and what they were willing to give up. She handled those questions better than I would have, that’s how you tell she’s the professional and I’m not.

  119. 119.

    Quinerly

    @Immanentize: vintage fiberglass mold 13ft camper. Needs a lot of work. I need a project. If I go for it, I’ll want to ask Jackals if anyone has any experience with them. A MN Co “Cloud  made them too. Kinda like a “Scamp. ” JoJo very excited to sniff it. It’s been in a field 20 years.

  121. 121.

    germy

    Drain the swamp.

    NEW: A source familiar with events tells @CBSNews that recently appointed NSA General Counsel Michael Ellis was placed on administrative leave today because his appointment is now the subject of a DoD IG investigation + there is a separate, newly leveled allegation that

    — Catherine Herridge (@CBS_Herridge) January 21, 2021

    Ellis mishandled classified information. NSA spokesperson, “It’s not our policy not to comment on personnel issues” + Ellis declined to comment.

    This comes days after House Speaker Pelosi’s letter denouncing Ellis + his appointment. Those close to Ellis say he is career

    — Catherine Herridge (@CBS_Herridge) January 21, 2021

  123. 123.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @RedDirtGirl:

    Well, the Trumps plural didn’t sully anything. According to an article I read yesterday (would link if I remembered where), Melania took the suite that’s normally used by First Couples, and Donald had a converted study as his bedroom.

    But yes, to your immediate concern, the article said the mattresses were always changed out during a Presidential switch. So no worries about POTUS Joe or FLOTUS Dr. Jill picking up any icky Trump cooties.

  124. 124.

    Immanentize

    We really need a simple word for “completely upsetting and shocking but not surprising.”

    A source told CNN on Thursday morning that the new administration will “have to build everything from scratch” thanks to former President Donald Trump’s reported lack of strategy with the vaccine rollout. “There is nothing for us to rework,” they said.

    Maybe just “fuck!”

  125. 125.

    Soprano2

    @Betsy: I feel like something has changed inside me over the last so many years.

    Right there with you, I had no idea I could hate so much. I thought I hated Trump as much as was possible, then 1/6/21 happened, and I hated him even more! It’s going to take some time to quit being affected by that, and we still have impeachment, so we still have to think about him for awhile.

  126. 126.

    Betty Cracker

    @Immanentize: From The Times, April 2018:

    The Atlantic magazine on Thursday terminated its relationship with Kevin D. Williamson, the conservative writer whose hiring last month angered liberals and sparked an online debate about what views are considered acceptable in mainstream publications.
    It was Mr. Williamson’s hard-line stance on abortion — namely, that it should be treated as premeditated homicide and punished accordingly, perhaps by hanging — that generated the initial controversy over his hiring.

    I’m not sure if we’re headed for collective amnesia regarding Trump, and I don’t know if that really matters. A frighteningly large number of our fellow citizens believe the attempted coup at the Capitol was justified because the election was illegitimate. That’s a problem whether Trump remains an idolized figure or not.

  127. 127.

    raven

    @OzarkHillbilly: My nerve conduction test showed both Meralgia Paresthetica and l-4-5 radiculopathy and the doc said “how do you feel about surgery? I said “not as long as Bohdi is alive, I have to be able to carry him.

  129. 129.

    Anya

    @Betty Cracker: All this and more. I watched all of it. Unfortunately, I was disappointed by the press. The questions were just meh. WTF cares about Trump’s note. How many questions were about Trump, and nothing about COVID. Not a single question. Jen Psaki is awesome but our press will continue to be terrible, chasing after trivial things…

  132. 132.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Quinerly: It’s been in a field 20 years.

    Ooooo, You mean it’s been the happy hunting grounds of weasel’s and snakes in search of nesting mice and rats for 20 years. Be very careful, things generally don’t fare well being neglected for that long.

  133. 133.

    Immanentize

    @Betty Cracker: keeping an eye out for the return of such folks — we need those generational priests and priestesses that SF tells us guard nuclear waste dumps for millenia.

  134. 134.

    Soprano2

    @Anya: They asked about the new color scheme for Air Force 1! I hope Joe nixes it, but there are so many more important things they could ask about.

  138. 138.

    Cameron

    Somebody down this way chose a different method of celebrating the inauguration – a bomb threat was called in to the Capitol in Tallahassee last night.  Saw a little while ago that FBI is investigating.

  139. 139.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Baud:

    Yeah. Biden’s an ordinary lying politician. Maybe you can trust him for a short time, but sooner or later he’ll deceive you.

    I was about to get interested in reading his book and some of his columns, but after that? Hard nope.

  143. 143.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @raven: My nerve conduction test showed both Meralgia Paresthetica and l-4-5 radiculopathy

    That ain’t no good. I’ve been dealing with a similar issue in my forearms for about 15 years because of bone spurs on my cervical vertebrate, but it is nowhere near bad enough to make me consider surgery on my neck.

  144. 144.

    Anya

    @Ben Cisco:

    Good article full of truth bombs. Is our wingnut learning?

    Of course they have to scaremonger with the black lady running the senate nonsense:

    The Senate is run, as a practical matter, by Kamala Harris.

  145. 145.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @germy: Damn you! You know posting that means we’ll get ads for it now.

    In other random news, we get our cable from a building wide source. That is, we don’t have an individual choice. The building is switching from Dish to Comcast. Our unit’s installation is today. Shall I be happy or sad?

  146. 146.

    Quinerly

    @raven: Google a YouTube on a makeover on a Burro. The “Wonky Donkey” one is really good. There’s also a cute one with a guy named “Chief One Lung” who was traveling all over with his. Living in it. These little fiberglass mold campers have an interesting history. Lightweight. 800-1200 lbs depending on the year. Originally made in Iowa. Made in 2 pieces. Seam down the middle. OK, we are off! Thanks for your interest.

  148. 148.

    OzarkHillbilly

    The US Senate has approved Joe Biden’s nomination of Avril Haines, making her the first woman to be director of national intelligence, and the first of the president’s picks to be approved.

    The vote was 84-10, with all the “no” votes coming from Republicans.

    Both Democrats and leading Republicans issued statements praising the nominee. Among Republicans voting against Haines were senators reputed to have party leadership ambitions; Ted Cruz of Texas and Josh Hawley of Missouri.

    More and more, when it comes to these 2, I can either lie or STFU.

  149. 149.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    If Biden was serious about unity he wouldn’t have embarrassed Trump right out of the gate with such an ostentatious display of competence.

    — Radley Balko (@radleybalko) January 21, 2021

  150. 150.

    raven

    @OzarkHillbilly: My old man had that cervical laminectomy and it did help. The go in through the from now instead of the back like they did when I had the spinal fusion in 74. Much less intrusive I guess.

  151. 151.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Betty Cracker: Yes I watched the whole thing and teared up as I saw a truthful, competent, warm spokesperson do her job without malice or drama. This is normal. I won’t be watching her again unless something exciting happens because under President Biden I expect us to get back to normal, boring politics.

  152. 152.

    Geminid

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Those advertising algorithms lead to some strange results on this forum. I checked out a post a few weeks ago, and the header ad showed a large metal livestock building, with a headshot of a happy looking hog.              The post was about outreach to white working class voters, titled, “Teaching Pigs to Sing.”

  154. 154.

    raven

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Yea, I’ve gotten to where I can walk just over a mile and then the foot gives out. I got the first covid vaccine 10 days ago so I’m going to start back swimming today. I’ve also been looking at this deep water running with a belt and that sounds promising since the Y has a diving well without a board!

  155. 155.

    Punchy

    I no longer have to awake each morning wondering if/when our Admin has started a war with another country, or if he’s successfully traded my state for Greenland or Hudson Bay.  That lowers the stress a bit.

  161. 161.

    Ken

    @TS (the original): Reading from the released daily Presidential schedule: The President and the vice president receive the President’s Daily Briefing

    But will they attend many meetings and make many phone calls?

  165. 165.

    Chief Oshkosh

    Statement from every elected Democrat:

    “Elected Republicans completely failed to manage the pandemic, resulting in the deaths of over 400,000 Americans; elected Republicans idly watched the economy crater and unemployment skyrocket; elected Republicans utterly botched trade relations with China and most of the rest of the world; elected Republicans trebled the national debt; elected Republicans incited and encouraged a violent, deadly insurrection against the American government.

    After all of this, I call on each and every elected Republican to provide a detailed plan for how he or she will unite with the President and elected Democrats to clean up the mess that elected Republicans created, and for some, profited from. Be specific in your responses, most of which should start with the phrase: ‘Joseph Biden and Kamala Harris won their elections fair and square.’ ”

    This should be repeated by Democrats on every talk show, at the beginning of every interview, and at the start of all official statements for at least the first 100 days of the new presidency.

    After the first 100 days, and assuming not a single Republican understands what “unite” means when you’re on the losing side, Democrats on every talk show and at the beginning of every interview should start their talking points with “as we know, elected Republicans, other than getting in the way, are irrelevant at this point.”

  168. 168.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Baud: Here’s an opinion piece on President Carter that gives a solid background and perspective, IMO. I enjoy reading every once and while.

  171. 171.

    raven

    @Steeplejack (phone): “Their friendship lasted from 1981 to 1994, when Conroy asked Mewshaw to inform his second wife Lenore that he wanted a divorce. Mewshaw complied, but afterward, the two never saw each other again because Conroy accused Mewshaw of siding with Lenore. “

  172. 172.

    raven

    @Steeplejack (phone): More

     

    Lenore and the rest of the family lived in San Francisco, and in late October 1994, she planned to fly east to celebrate his 49th birthday. Strung out, teetering on the brink of a breakdown, Pat begged me to warn Lenore not to come. The marriage was over, he said. He just didn’t have the strength to deal with it now. His youngest brother had committed suicide that summer, and Pat threatened that if I, his best friend, didn’t help him, he would kill himself.

    So I called Lenore and never laid eyes on Pat Conroy again. For six years he ghosted me, refusing to reply to phone calls, letters or messages from mutual friends. Gutted, confused, I suffered Kübler-Ross’s stages of grief — denial, anger, bargaining, depression and finally, acceptance. Oh, yes, and one other emotion, humiliation. I learned that I hadn’t been Pat’s first choice. He had importuned a doctor in Atlanta to play messenger boy for him. But the fellow refused because he knew something Pat had hidden from me. He was having an affair and didn’t want Lenore to come to Fripp Island and find out.

  176. 176.

    catatonia

    https://twitter.com/i/status/1351955494978646018

    I will never get sick of that clip. She just seemed so genuinely happy and proud. It’s something you watch when you’re depressed, and then you feel a bit better afterwards, for a lot of reasons.

    And to realize that wonderful, kind, and, yeah, attractive woman is the same steely-eyed person who took apart Kavanaugh. We’re lucky to have her.

    Edited to say we deserve to have her, after the past four years.

  177. 177.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Steeplejack (phone): The answer to that question is in the book:

    Conroy later urged Mewshaw to write about “me and you and what happened . . . i know it would cause much pain to both of us. but here is what that story has that none of your others have.”

    ETA: and in Raven’s replies. ;-)

  178. 178.

    brantl

    @Ben Cisco:  The funny thing is that they still think that there are a set of “brilliant Republicans” who are going to turn this all around, instead of what there is, a bunch of knee-jerkers that aren’t researching whether any of their policies ever work (they don’t) and whether they even are remotely capable of solving any problems (once again, they DON’T), and don’t propose any reasonable solutions to ANY problems.  These guys have elevated cheap and stupid and greedy to an art form.

  180. 180.

    Miss Bianca

    @OzarkHillbilly: Oh, yeah! Some news organ finally uses the word “normality” instead of that verbal abortion “normalcy”! Figures it would be a British paper, not an American one.

    Being a jackal means *I* get to be a pedant *too*!//

  181. 181.

    J R in WV

    @Quinerly:

    vintage fiberglass mold 13ft camper. Needs a lot of work. I need a project. If I go for it, I’ll want to ask Jackals if anyone has any experience with them. A MN Co “Cloud made them too. Kinda like a “Scamp. ” JoJo very excited to sniff it. It’s been in a field 20 years.

    We had a newer 27′ trailer as a bunkhouse while building our little ranch in Cochise county AZ. As a do it myself person, with a crew of other similar semi-pros, we found RV builders frequently used a wide variety of non-standard sized fittings for every sort of plumbing, water supply, power circuits, black water/gray water, door knobs, window cranks, everything odd sizes…

    So we had trouble keeping things repaired. Oh, also, the non-standard stuff was such to save weight, so more fragile than regular household material, and very prone to breaking off in your hand when tightening, opening or closing a valve, etc.

    I was so glad to have gotten it into good shape and sold after the third winter of construction, after which I could live up in the mountains instead of driving from cousin’s place in the valley every day.

  182. 182.

    J R in WV

    @raven:

    My old man had that cervical laminectomy and it did help.

    Good friend had that some time back at Duke U Hospital. Said when the documents you sign have total quadriplegia as a potential side effect it really focuses your attention. Was a total success, though. Much improved.

    I have numbness/pain in my hands and arms off and on, with PT exercises that so far help a lot. At my age, not sure I’m up for adventuresome surgery past std joint replacements…

  183. 183.

    raven

    @J R in WV: Yea, I had a thoracic spinal fusion in 74 so I’m familiar with being an eyelash away from being a quad.On the other hand I’m not ready to give up on fitness and I may have to resort to surgery after I exhaust every other course. I just came from my first deep water running with an aqua belt and I liked it. I have the same weakness in my foot/ankle when I stopped but I was able to get the heart up way further than walking. The other bonus is that the diving well is not used much and I won’t have to wait for a lane!

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