Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

SCOTUS: It’s not “bribery” unless it comes from the Bribery region of France. Otherwise, it’s merely “sparkling malfeasance”.

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

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

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

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

This really is a full service blog.

Rupert, come get your orange boy, you petrified old dinosaur turd.

They are not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

There are times when telling just part of the truth is effectively a lie.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

People are weird.

You cannot shame the shameless.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

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

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

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Open Thread

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How did I miss this on Inauguration Day?

Maybe we can stock up on some happy before we are immersed in Jan 6 and Impeachment proceedings, starting tomorrow.

Oh, and here’s a pic sent in by The Pale Scott.  Someone likes this cold frigid weather about as much as I do, which is to say not at all.

Reader Interactions

57Comments

  1. 1.

    WaterGirl

    In case anyone missed the note on Friday:

    Hey everybody.  I want to let you know that this will be our last On the Road After Dark for awhile. After months of more submissions than I could have imagined, there are no more After Dark submissions in the queue.

    I know a lot of you look forward to seeing these in the evening, and we have had some truly lovely posts since we started the After Dark series in July.  So we will be taking a break from OTR After dark until we start the Springtime in Paris series.  (In the spring.)

    You can start sending those in any time.

  5. 5.

    CaseyL

    Scotties do “dour” oh so well.​
     

    ETA: I’ve loved the On the Road series, and hope to enjoy more vicarious journeys soon!

  12. 12.

    mali muso

    I loved that video on the day. Thanks for reminding me how great it was!
    Not much going on here. Kiddo and hubby both asleep and I’m knocking back a G&T and halfway watching a Netflix documentary about Frank Sinatra.

  13. 13.

    df

    That wee doggo’s entire expression pretty much sums up my feelings about the cold too! Bah humbug. Is it spring yet?

  14. 14.

    Scout211

    Fun video! So many talented dancers. So many happy faces. Thanks!

    We both got vaccination #1 today. Moderna. And appointments for #2.

    We have happy faces tonight, too! :)

    Open Thread: 5

    Open Thread:

  19. 19.

    df

    @WaterGirl: We have some single-digit lows coming up. Fortunately, I don’t have to go anywhere (yet, that I know of). I mean, I was going to be home anyway, but now I can pretend it’s intentional! February is usually the month where I start willing the days to melt away into March and April. It’s my “alright, I’ve had enough of winter now” point.

    That being said, I have friends in California slash I’ve visited in the winter, and I do rather like having separate seasons. It gives some tempo to the year.

  24. 24.

    The Pale Scot

    Chuckle, my sister’s compliant was that she refused to come back inside. Note the long leash

    Meggie “Get the fuk out here and lets go for a walk” it’s not even 20F you wimp

    There’s Scottie way of looking at you like they think your daft

    That’s the look

  25. 25.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @NotMax: that looks like a helluva movie

    My favorite Sinatra story, which I tried to google and can’t find was the time he was stinking drunk in a hotel bar (I wanna say the Negresco) and he told his crew to go tell that asshole to quit flashing his headlights through the window, and they were too afraid of him to tell him it was actually lightning.

    Second favorite is Don Rickles’ joke: Frank Sinatra saved my life once, he said, “Okay, boys, that’s enough”

  28. 28.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    I hadn’t seen that dance video.

    “Dancing in the Street” is on my happy-time playlist, it’s one of my all-time favorite happy songs.

  33. 33.

    jl

    ” Someone likes this cold frigid weather about as much as I do, which is to say not at all.”

    You sure? For a Scottie, that dog looks positively ecstatic.

  36. 36.

    mali muso

    @NotMax: LOL. Yeah, something like that. Just covering his experience with being rejected by the draft board and being accused of being a lefty for supporting FDR.  Still looks like a strong wind could blow him over.

  38. 38.

    HumboldtBlue

    Holy shit! Ben Shapiro wrote a book!

    Just finished Ben Shapiro’s novel and feel like I’ve taken a deep dive inside Ben’s mind. The main hero in the story is a military badass who was unathletic and unpopular in school but then he hit a growth spurt later in life and became tall and strong.

  39. 39.

    Another Scott

    ObOpenThread – DeLong’s most recent collection of things from here and there:

    […]

    Twitter has become a dumpster fire of contentiousness, performativity, negativity, stupidity, and misinformation, and one solution is to go back to blogging. Blogs give readers time to digest and think about ideas, without being interrupted by random shouters with little context and lots of agenda. And they allow writers to insert nuance and elaboration… LINK

    Balloon-Juice: Always Ahead of the Crowd.

    ;-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  41. 41.

    citizen dave

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I like one a friend told me: (Both of these I’m sure I told better and more fully elsewhere/youtube): Frank was talking to a guy and asked if he drank.  Guy says No.  Frank says “So you’re telling me that when you wake up in the morning that’s the best you’re going to feel all day?”

    My favorite (who knows if it actually happened?) is Rickles begging Frank to come over and say hi at his table because he was trying to impress a girl.  Frank comes over and Rickles starts berating Frank for interrupting, etc.  (This one for sure is on YouTube, Rickles telling it on Carson)

    I started watching that netflix doc one night–need to finish it, it’s very good.

  43. 43.

    Arclite

    I hope the stimulus cash isn’t cut off at $75K. I make more than that, but also live in an expensive market. We already live in a small apartment and have cut expenses since my wife lost her job due to COVID19. With kids in school,  we could use the money. Already behind on the rent.

  44. 44.

    tom

    A couple of summers ago, I saw Martha Reeves performing at a street fair in Ann Arbor. Her voice was but a shadow of what it used to be, but she came out and gave it her all. She can still sell a song. And it was wonderful to see her.

  45. 45.

    Ohio Mom

    Arclite @43:

    Ouch! You are in a tough spot.

    Everytime I hear the latest proposed version of a cutback to the $1400, I growl. Partly because it will hurt people like you and partly because it is a bad PR move that will come back to bite Democrats in the ass.

    Even people who don’t need tne money will remember it as a bait-and-switch swindle. Not a way to build brand loyalty.

  46. 46.

    Shana

    @HumboldtBlue:  OK, I’m only about 6 minutes in to the 40 minute review of Ben’s book and it sounds absolutely as horrible as we’d all imagine, and also hysterical, as a review. Going to bed now but may actually finish listening to it tomorrow.

  47. 47.

    Brachiator

    My goodness, that video was great. Wonderful dancing and the editing choices were very creative.

  48. 48.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Arclite: if you’re filing jointly, wouldn’t that bump you up to $100/150K limit, depending on what Manchin lets us do?

    even the 75/150 limit seems pretty low to me, if I were King of the Senate, I’d either bump it up to $200K, or just send everybody a check and make it taxable above a certain level

  51. 51.

    stinger

    I’ve watched the dance video 4 times now. Every performer is my favorite, and I feel cheated that I can’t watch each one dance the entire song. Thanks for posting it, WaterGirl!

  55. 55.

    Ruckus

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    The median income in WV for 2019 is $25,320.

    CA’s median income in 2019 was $31,960.

    Joe Manchin makes $174,000. As does Shelley Capito. And every other fucking senator and representative makes at least this. And they are arguing over a one time $2000 or $1400 check? I’ve lost almost twice that over the last 12 months and I didn’t stop working. And I make less than the federal limit for the lower cost senior housing that I live in. Every damn person debating how much to give people make 5.6 times the US median income level of $31,133.

    Here is a story about how much senators are worth

    These are the people debating if you should get $2000 or $1400 or less

    And meanwhile the guy that fucked up the response for the issue that caused us to not make even what we were hired to earn or lost a job, is worth supposedly 2.5 billion. I don’t believe that but I do know that the minimum wage for senator/representative is that $174,000/year.

    Do I sound pissed? Good.

  56. 56.

    Ruckus

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    It’s probably cheaper in the long run to do what you suggest in the end, send everyone a check/deposit and tax single filers over  $150,000 gross as income. Even if it affects the deficit it helps those that need it and really doesn’t hurt those living within their means at any level. But it makes too much sense, and a lot of the senators/representatives do seem to be rather short on actual sense. Political bullshit, most of them seem to be over loaded with that.

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