Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

You are either for trump or for democracy. Pick one.

Let there be snark.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

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

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

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

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

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

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

“That’s what the insurrection act is for!”

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

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

“woke” is the new caravan.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Can we lighten up on the doomsday scenarios?

You cannot love your country only when you win.

You are here: Home / Nature & Respite / Something Good Open Thread / Respite Open Thread: Dolly Parton, Bodhisattva

Respite Open Thread: Dolly Parton, Bodhisattva

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… “I couldn’t accept it because my husband was ill and then they asked me again about it and I wouldn’t travel because of the COVID,” she said. Parton also explained that she had since heard from President Joe Biden about potentially receiving the award, but fears it would be misconstrued as a political statement if she were to accept now after previously declining.

“Now I feel like if I take it, I’ll be doing politics, so I’m not sure,” she said. “But I don’t work for those awards. It’d be nice but I’m not sure that I even deserve it. But it’s a nice compliment for people to think that I might deserve it.”

Last fall, former President Barack Obama took some good-natured heat from comedian Stephen Colbert about not giving Parton the award, which he admitted was a mistake, confessing he assumed she already had received one. Obama then quipped he’d reach out to his former vice president, Joe Biden, about rectifying the error…

Back in the olden days, Miss Manners had a column explaining the correct way to turn down an invitation to a state dinner from a different dishonest GOP president, along the lines of: We regret that we will be unable to attend, because Tuesday is when our bowling league meets.

Reader Interactions

93Comments

  2. 2.

    craigie

    One for writing “Jolene” and “I Will Always Love You” on the same day

    It seems unfair that someone would be able to do that.

  3. 3.

    Brachiator

    Dolly Parton turned down an offer to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom twice during the Donald Trump administration.

    Might as well throw in a Nobel Peace Prize. Dolly is an international treasure.

  6. 6.

    Omnes Omnibus

    There was an old army insult thrown at someone who inordinately proud of some little thing:  Do you want a medal or a chest to put it on?   It came to mind for some reason.

  7. 7.

    LongHairedWeirdo

    You know what sucks? Trump did make the medal of freedom political by giving it to gasbags. However much you think Rush Limbaugh has helped this country by sowing hatred and fear of liberal strawmen, he deserves it no more than Alex Jones. He never let truth get in the way of a good “lets you and him fight”.

  8. 8.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    God, she is a national treasure!

    I’ve seen a couple of the books she had distributed and they are well chosen (of course).

  13. 13.

    Starboard Tack

    They should send her a box of Breeze with the medal inside.

    I got the second Pfizer today at University of Colorado Hospital. Half an hour in and out, including 15 minutes wait after. They didn’t have lollipops but I stopped for Pad Thai Woon Sen on the way home. Also made a big pot of chicken noodle sooooop and a pan of choco chip brownies so I have comfort food if the second dose kicks my ass.

  16. 16.

    JoyceH

    Off topic, but I’d been wondering how they could have Officer Sicknick lie in state almost a month after he died; surely he ought to be buried by now. They just showed the honor guard carry in a small box, and then it made sense.

  17. 17.

    Rina99

    @JoyceH: Instead of covering Officer Sicknick, Fox is currently on the “Jen Psaki is a BITCH!” beat, based on the 10 seconds i saw.

  18. 18.

    BruceFromOhio

    “She would later ask her father, who was illiterate, to help her launch her Imagination Library, which now gives books to children … He loved her work on helping kids read more than her country-star status, she says.”

    Imagine if we found ways to leave everything better than we found it.

  20. 20.

    Mike in NC

    Trump debased everything he touched, especially the Medal of Freedom, which should never have gone to fascist filth like Rush Limbaugh.

  22. 22.

    sab

    Ralph Perk, mayor of Clevelamd when the river burned, did turn down an imvitation to the White House because it was his wife’s bowling night.

  24. 24.

    Alison Rose

    @craigie: AND for the same someone to be able to sing the hell out of both of them. You know that joke about stupid people being at the back of the line when God was handing out brains? I feel like Dolly was at the front when he was handing out skillz and everyone was so enamored of her they just said, “No no, you go again!”

  31. 31.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Starboard Tack: OT: This morning I saw the question you asked of me after I’d racked out for the night. I’ll have a post to answer it for you later in the week.

  36. 36.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Ken: With respect, I recently rewatched _Spotlight_, and combined with his work at WaPo, it seems like Marty Baron might be in the running.

     

    ETA: For the Peace Prize, I mean.  He broke open a worldwide scandal, saved who-knows-how-many children from a harrowing fate.

    ETA2: Certainly a shoo-in for whatever replaces the National Medal of Freedom.

  37. 37.

    cain

    @Brachiator:

    In any case, the damn medal is sullied with everyone who has received it during the Trump years. She would be sharing it with at least one mass murderer.

  49. 49.

    artem1s

    @sab:

    Ralph Perk, mayor of Clevelamd when the river burned, did turn down an imvitation to the White House because it was his wife’s bowling night

    Ralph also famously caught his hair on fire during a ribbon cutting ceremony.  It was some sort of industrial plant and someone thought it would be a good idea to have him ‘cut’ the metal ribbon with a torch. Cleveland: famous for weird things catching on fire.

  54. 54.

    Dan B

    @artem1s: Could have been one of the seven times the Cuyahoga caught fire.  ?  Only burned down a bridge once.*

     

    *don’t quote me on this, of course.

  58. 58.

    Amir Khalid

    I just opened a jar of Planters Dry Roasted Peanuts, and to my horror discovered the peanuts had not been seasoned. At all. I am deeply, deeply disappoint.​

  63. 63.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Amir Khalid: Cool,figured I had to ask, since, well, you know, for many people, they don’t notice the anosmia.  Glad to hear it’s a defective can of peanuts!

  66. 66.

    Jean

    I just read this excerpt by Hunter at DKos:

    On Monday, newly installed Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made the executive decision that he was not going to waste the time or capital required to extract those and others of Trump’s numerous last-minute burrowers from their new positions of would-be power. Instead, reports The Wall Street Journal, he swiftly announced the dismissal of all members of multiple Pentagon advisory boards, removing hundreds of members in a clean sweep. Austin simultaneously ordered a review of dozens of boards in coming months to determine which “provides appropriate value,” suggesting that some boards may not be coming back.

  70. 70.

    Benw

    @Amir Khalid: ugh. That’s the peanut snack food equivalent of being a serial sexual assaulter and offering the Medal fo Freedom to a gorgeous, talented woman so you can leer all over her, and then she doesn’t show up, twice! Just so disappointing and unfair

  72. 72.

    mrmoshpotato

    @John Revolta: Screenshot in the tweet!  WTF?  I need to read that story!​
    ETA – did a search. The story is from April 2019. Oh hotweathertakes…​
     

    ETA 2 – “According to the affidavit, he confirmed they were drinking and playing with a bullet-resistant vest. After asking Hicks to shoot him, he was hit in the chest with a .22 caliber semi-automatic rifle, leaving the mark.”

  73. 73.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @phdesmond: ​
      Do you people not read? Dear god, you could accidentally buy a bag of unsalted dicks. Then where would you be if Ted Cruz stopped by?

  75. 75.

    Brachiator

    @Amir Khalid:

    I just opened a jar of Planters Dry Roasted Peanuts, and to my horror discovered the peanuts had not been seasoned. At all. I am deeply, deeply disappoint.

    Sometimes I enjoy unsalted peanuts. But I recently bought 6 jars of lightly salted Peanuts from Amazon. Delicious.

    But I totally understand how it is when you anticipating eating a certain food and are disappointed.

  76. 76.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Omnes Omnibus: Do you people not read? Dear god, you could accidentally buy a bag of unsalted dicks. Then where would you be if Ted Cruz stopped by?

    Some of us believe we live in a civilized-enough world where all dicks and nuts are properly salted*.

    ETA – *if labeled as salted.

  78. 78.

    mrmoshpotato

    @NotMax: Strangely, the dry roasted dicks never did catch on.

    One hundred cans were made as a joke, and Ted Cruz bought them all.

  80. 80.

    Kayla Rudbek

    And FY WordPress just ate my comment.
    So I will try again.

    Unexpected flavors: I have a go-to polenta cake recipe that uses orange zest and vanilla and almond extracts.  I am considering trying to switch out the orange zest for lime zest and the almond extract for rum extract. Sort of like the recipe below.
    https://cakeboule.wordpress.com/2012/05/22/mojito-inspired-polenta-cake-gluten-and-dairy-free/

    I note that there seems to be only one recipe like this out there (as opposed to other lime polenta cake recipes).  Good idea, bad idea, thoughts, suggestions, comments?

  82. 82.

    Kayla Rudbek

    @mrmoshpotato:  I think that it should work fine with real rum (the Penzey’s orange extract is 61% alcohol, and it’s too late at night for me to work out the percentage to proof conversion. Somebody else will come by and make the conversion for us.)

    ETA: And I just couldn’t let that conversion go.  So the US standard is really easy, proof = 2x the alcohol content.  61% alcohol would be 122 proof. So actually the extract could be higher proof than rum at 80 proof…although the real rum would have more flavor compounds in it most likely.

  85. 85.

    frosty

    I have been laughing out loud for real from all the comments about salted um, snacks. Thanks for the larf, hitting the sack now.

  86. 86.

    Kayla Rudbek

    @frosty: yep, you’re correct. So there’s 122 proof bourbon out there that we could substitute for the almond or orange extract.  It might be a waste of bourbon to put it into a cake.  Or possibly not a waste depending on how much the bourbon costs and how good it is…hmm, maybe whiskey would work as well…

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