Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

T R E 4 5 O N

Republicans do not pay their debts.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

We are aware of all internet traditions.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

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

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

People are complicated. Love is not.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Shrove Tuesday

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Shrove Tuesday

by | 220 Comments

This post is in: ,

Seems like this year has been more like a long absolution than a brief festival of carnality:

The word shrove is a form of the English word shrive, which means to obtain absolution for one’s sins by way of Confession and doing penance…

Thoughts & prayers to everyone trapped by side-effects of the current polar vortex, which is all I can really offer at this time. It’s currently raining here north of Boston, because *nothing* is normal any more, so I can’t even trade proper complaints.


Some happier notes:

Not exactly happy, but… Oh, look, the 2024 marathon’s already beginning!

Reader Interactions

220Comments

  2. 2.

    Baud

    Mitch Mcconnell right now kind of reminds me of Tulsi Gabbard voting present in the first impeachment.  Flailing.

  7. 7.

    debbie

    @Baud:

    I saw something on FB about how he’s backing a bill that would forbid the governor from appointing a Dem if he leaves office early. Yea to leaving early, boo to yet another un-Constitutional maneuver.

  9. 9.

    Betty Cracker

    From the first tweet in the OP:

    [R]elatively affluent people still deal with the precariousness and capricious disempowerment associated with poverty, whether it’s fighting with health insurance, lacking employment protections, inadequate leave, childcare provision, etc.

    Great point.

  11. 11.

    debbie

    @Baud:

    I can’t get past the local paper’s paywall, but there’s something about a new GOP proposal that makes me think that’s not the current rule.

  12. 12.

    Betty Cracker

    @Baud: “Cancel culture” is the New Coke of Republican scaremongering. They had such a well-established brand in “PC.”

  13. 13.

    Amir Khalid

    I don’t see why any of the 50 states should have the right to insist that it be the first in the US to hold a presidential primary. What if two states try to claim “Frist!1!” bragging rights? Maybe the Federal government should set the primary calendar in, say, the September before the election year, with the order of state primaries decided by random selection.

  15. 15.

    snoey

    @debbie: Ballotopedia says that Kentucky is straight governor’s appointment good until the next general election.  Other states do have same party rules.​

  16. 16.

    rikyrah

     

     

    I hadn’t looked outside since the storm began. Just checked the local weather blog. Snowfall near me so far: a foot, and the storm doesn’t stop until noon today??

  19. 19.

    satby

    @rikyrah:  Yep, it’s high out there. Over my almost knee high snow boots, and drifts make spots much higher*. I just waded across the street to feed my outdoor, maybe feral, cat at the abandoned house. Haven’t seen him in two days even though the food I leave gets eaten. But today I was a bit late and he was sitting where he knew I could see him waiting. Missed stairs going down because I already thought I was ground level but stayed upright. Waiting for plows now, but decided against going anywhere today anyway.

    * that’s in areas that were already shoveled, so not on top of old snow.

  20. 20.

    satby

    @Baud: It’s basically snowed every single day for two weeks here in the lake belt. We got 9 inches last night, and there was still 6-8 on the ground from before. Closer to the lake, like Chicago, got it worse.

  23. 23.

    OzarkHillbilly

    It’s hard to tell how much snow we got yesterday, light and fluffy with a lot of wind made for considerable drifting. If I had to guess I would say 8″ or so. -4 right now gonna make it all the way up to 16, a regular heat wave.

  27. 27.

    Chyron HR

    The Nevada Democratic Party endorses legislation to ditch caucuses and become a primary state

    But how are progressives supposed to win if they can’t threaten the other caucus-goers with physical violence?

  28. 28.

    satby

    @rikyrah: Yeah, but big snows happen in Chicago fairly regularly. So things will get handled in time. If I want to get through the alley from my driveway to my unplowed street, I have to dig out two paths for the wheels of my vehicle myself. And I drive a 4wd SUV.

  29. 29.

    Betty Cracker

    Speaking of “cancel culture,” Sen. Burr (R-NC) on getting censured by the NC GOP:

    “It is truly a sad day for North Carolina Republicans,” Burr said in a statement. “My party’s leadership has chosen loyalty to one man over the core principles of the Republican Party and the founders of our great nation.”

    So far, NC (Burr), LA (Cassidy), AZ (Ducey, Cindy McCain, Flake) and WY (Liz Cheney) have censured prominent Republicans for apostacy, and I may be missing some. Pathetic.

  32. 32.

    Soprano2

    @OzarkHillbilly: They said we got around 3.5″, but I think it was more at my house. Holy fuck, the NOAA weather site says it’s -14 degrees here right now!!!!!  That’s the temperature, not the wind chill.  Evidently, there is no wind chill because there’s no wind. The last time it got that cold here was before Christmas in 1989. I remember it vividly, because at  my job I had to drive a Suburban with no heat across town to get fixed on the day it didn’t get above zero!! Oh, and we’re getting 3-4 more inches of snow tonight and tomorrow. At least I won’t have to listen to any griping next summer about how it didn’t get cold enough for long enough to kill off the bugs!

  36. 36.

    Jerzy Russian

    @Baud:   On the one hand, she was in the room at the time, was she not?  That constitutes being “present”, I would think.  On the other hand, fuck her.

    My deep philosophical thought for today.

  38. 38.

    Argiope

    NE Ohio looks like a snow globe except snow globes don’t generally feature covered-up cars.   Getting caffeinated before heading out to shovel so I can go out to pick up curbside groceries. My timing on the order could probably have been better, but I have a sense of adventure that will last about 1/4 of the way through the shoveling.  Here’s to hubris.

    ETA I can’t say enough good things about adult-sized snow pants

  42. 42.

    Betty Cracker

    @zhena gogolia: I read it, and it’s as nutty as you’d imagine. At one point the cousin said, “you’ve lost the respect of LOU DOBBS!!!” Made me snort aloud. My guess is Kinzinger is relieved to be shut of those deranged relatives.

  43. 43.

    NotMax

    @Amir Khalid

    Outside the date of national election day for federal offices (for normal end of term elections, not interim/special elections) , the federal government does not have a horse in this race.

    Primaries (or caucuses, or any other variation which might crop up) are creatures of the states and of the parties. They are an extra-constitutional exercise (U.S., not state, constitution). Mandating or limiting by way of federalization when (and whether) such take place shifts power from local authority, yanking the process a further step removed from the voters.

    Holding a primary in September of the year prior would further extend the already bloated campaign season (candidates would begin running a year or more before that earlier date).

  46. 46.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Baud: I like the mental image that seeing the words “McConnell” and “flailing” in the same post give me. Images of deep ocean waters and maybe a shark or two.

    But is he? What’s going on with Turtle?

  49. 49.

    satby

    @Betty Cracker: He’s a fundy conservative who’s very concerned that the evangelicals’ hypocritical support of T**** is damaging the appeal of religion to the young. So though he did the right thing re: impeachment, he’s by no means an ally to the Constitution outside of getting rid of T****.

  51. 51.

    Jerzy Russian

    @Baud:

    Apparently, half of Americans have more important things to worry about.

    Either that, or the ones who heard about cancel culture previously are one ones getting canceled,   The canceled ones naturally do not respond to opinion polls, leading to a lower and lower percentage over time.

  55. 55.

    PJ

    @Amir Khalid:  The asshole states (IA, NH, NV) love love love the media attention they get for months every four years. But as we saw in 2020, and in previous elections, these states do not reflect the black electorate at all, which is the base of the party.
    Starting in Jan or Feb of each election year, five or six states per month should have their primaries, with the order of states rotating every four years (so if a state was in the first group in year 1, it would be in the last group in year 5). If that’s not workable, every four years the DNC should select a mix of states which reflect the diversity of the electorate to go first.

  56. 56.

    Immanentize

    @Chief Oshkosh: These cancelled Republicans are more likely to try a takeover of the Democratic party.  That’s what old Texas Dixiecrats did to the Republican party in the 80s/90s.

    Big tent gonna get a whole lot bigger.

  57. 57.

    Soprano2

    @raven: Probably, but you hear it like clockwork every summer when we have a relatively mild winter. They can’t blame that this year, for sure!

  58. 58.

    Ken

    @NotMax: I think he meant that the order of the states would be announced in September of the year before, not that the primaries would start then. That would be horrible.

    I know some people would like the US to have a short election season like many other countries, but I just don’t see it happening. Even if the election officially began in September, would-be candidates would start campaigning two years before the election as they do now.

  60. 60.

    PST

    @satby:

    Closer to the lake, like Chicago, got it worse.

    Yea. I just took the dog out. Good thing she’s a big dog. There is a foot of new powder on the sidewalk, by my estimate (using the yikes! it’s over my boots method).

  64. 64.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Delk: I remember it being pretty good from a few years ago.  Bunch of us were out for a late night bike ride in the fall I think.  There really isn’t a bad hour for a burrito.

  65. 65.

    Barry

    SE Michigan (Ann Arbor):

     

    4″ with some drifting.  60 miles NE, it was more (this corner of MI has substantial variance).  Pretty much a normal Jan-mid March morning.

  66. 66.

    Jeffro

    @Betty Cracker:So far, NC (Burr), LA (Cassidy), AZ (Ducey, Cindy McCain, Flake) and WY (Liz Cheney) have censured prominent Republicans for apostacy, and I may be missing some. Pathetic.

    could it be…”Trumpublicans in Disarray!” time?  What say you, national snooze media?

  68. 68.

    Jerzy Russian

    @Delk:

     

    Had to cancel a 9:20 doctor appointment.
    Sure is pretty looking outside, but not for driving.

    Cancel culture strikes again!

  70. 70.

    Immanentize

    Report from the Immp:

    Good thing classes were canceled, the vaccine has me feeling terrible and my left arm is useless. Even if they don’t cancel class when it’s time for second doses, I doubt it’ll make a difference to class attendance

    Already setting up a personal day off….

  72. 72.

    mrmoshpotato

    @NotMax:

    Holding a primary in September of the year prior would further extend the already bloated campaign season (candidates would begin running a year or more before that earlier date). 

    I think Amir just meant the order of primaries being set then.  Extending the general election campaigns by 5+ months… Ugh.

  73. 73.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Soprano2:At least I won’t have to listen to any griping next summer about how it didn’t get cold enough for long enough to kill off the bugs!

    Wanna bet?

  79. 79.

    evodevo

    @debbie: Just the usual dirty tricks played routinely by KY Republicans…and that’s been the norm since Bevin left under a cloud…

  80. 80.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Argiope: Since I stopped working and no longer have to spend the day in sub freezing temps, I don’t wear my bibbies very often. Last winter not at all. The past week? Every time I venture out.

  82. 82.

    NotMax

    @PJ

    Starting in Jan or Feb of each election year, five or six states per month

    All but shuts out candidates who may have appeal but not a massive war chest. One or two states (and not the bigger ones) more realistic. Candidates need to have time to spend in the earliest states to seek and build support on the ground, not flit from one to another to another as having so many crammed into such a short period would necessitate.

  85. 85.

    Jerzy Russian

    54 and hazy in San Diego at the moment.  Overnight lows will be around 45 the next few days.  I think I hear rain, but I am not motivated enough to get out of bed to check.

    There is a high wind warning for the mountains east of us.   I don’t know if they got snow recently, but several inches are possible for winter storms.  If you want an exciting drive, head up San Diego County Highway 1 as all of the yahoos who have never seen snow before are driving down.  Many of them have the beds of the huge trucks filled with snow.  I have even seen snowmen on the hoods of cars as they are driving.

  86. 86.

    Immanentize

    Report from in-laws west of Houston, power out for 28 hours, temp. In the 20s:

    I’m currently sitting in my truck charging phones and batteries and warming my arse up! Dad is next…
    Just about done with this shit. We are the shithole country/state!

    This is gonna end ugly in Texas.

  88. 88.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    @Amir Khalid: yes! I hate that two states insist it’s their “right” and Iowa’s is a stupid caucus which is in my opinion inherently undemocratic.

  89. 89.

    prostratedragon

    And just like that, the sun is out and the sky is saying, “What clouds?” Wasn’t sure how much snow my neighborhood got because of all the blowing and drifting (it can vary widely through Chicago), but just now watched a micro riding blower struggle down a sidewalk that had been plowed yesterday evening. Looks like at least 9 or 10 new inches.

  92. 92.

    Jerzy Russian

    @OzarkHillbilly:   The number of skeeters probably also depends on the availability of puddles from snow melt.

    The worst place I have ever been for skeeters was Crater Lake in Oregon over July 4th weekend circa 10 years ago.  It was warm but there still was snow in places.  Those little fuckers were numerous and aggressive.

  93. 93.

    LurkerNoLonger

    Gallup: The first measure of job approval for Joe Biden comes in at 57-37, a jump of 48(!) net points from Donald Trump’s final job approval (34-62).

    It’s too bad Turnip isn’t on Twitter anymore because it would be fun to taunt him with those numbers. On second thought, it’s better he’s not on Twitter.

  97. 97.

    Betty Cracker

    @EmbraceYourInnerCrone: Saw an interview with Tom Perez in the NYT the other day. Looks like he’s contemplating a run for MD governor. The interviewer asked about reconfiguring the early primary states, and Perez noted he’s no longer DNC chair but said he thinks it absolutely has to change and seemed to believe it would change.

    Caucuses suck and are a deal-breaker, IMO. Also, the current earliest states don’t represent the electorate’s demographics, at least for Democrats. I hope someone thinks of a way to retain the good thing about starting in Iowa, i.e., the retail politicking that can give a relatively unknown pol like 2007 Obama or 1975 Carter a shot, while addressing the diversity issue.

    Is there a small, diverse state that would be a good candidate as first in the nation for primaries? Delaware or Rhode Island maybe? (I have no clue what their demographics are — just spit-balling.) Media market has to be taken into account too, I suppose.

  98. 98.

    satby

    @prostratedragon:  Sun out here too. Cheerful, and it may melt a bit even in the frigid temps, but clear skies after dark mean even colder temps as the solar gain just radiates back out into the stratosphere, or wherever it goes.

  101. 101.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Jerzy Russian: Well, not in the summer. :-)  Skeeters don’t bother me much, they much prefer my wife. I have to say they are far far worse in STL than they are here, no doubt due to the plethora of old discarded tires, gutters that never quite drain, forgotten tupperware in the back yard, tossed tin cans, etc etc for water to sit stagnant in.

  102. 102.

    Matt McIrvin

    @satby: After the last foot+ snowfall here a couple of weeks ago, I posted a picture on Facebook and my mother commented “I can tell this is the northeast because your street is already plowed.”

    Strangely, as someone commented further up, right now it’s above freezing here and we’re just getting rain.

  105. 105.

    Roger Moore

    @Betty Cracker:

    So far, NC (Burr), LA (Cassidy), AZ (Ducey, Cindy McCain, Flake) and WY (Liz Cheney) have censured prominent Republicans for apostacy, and I may be missing some. Pathetic.

    Yes, it’s pathetic. Censure is weak sauce; those people should be expelled from the Republican Party.  They should expel Mitch McConnell, too, for refusing to whip the impeachment vote. In fact, they should expel anyone unwilling to take an oath of loyalty to Donald Trump.

  107. 107.

    Ken

    @LurkerNoLonger: It’s too bad Turnip isn’t on Twitter anymore because it would be fun to taunt him with those numbers.

    He knows. He just can’t vent except with those stupid memo-things.

  108. 108.

    evodevo

    @satby: ​
      Yup…weak sun here in KY (hoping it melts the ice off the trees, at least), but it’s only 19, and when it’s clear after dark, we expect 5 or less for tonite…cloud cover means insulation…clear means temps drop via radiation

  112. 112.

    LurkerNoLonger

    @Ken: It really makes me happy that he’s gone from the most talked about person in the world, with millions of Twitter followers to some memo no one reads or cares about.

  113. 113.

    Ken

    @mrmoshpotato: The choice of signs for current flow and electron charge is one of the greatest errors in the history of technology.  I hope that the Baud!20XX campaign pledges to fix this.

  114. 114.

    Jerzy Russian

    @mrmoshpotato:   I think you are both correct.  In certain semiconductors, you can model the current flow with electron “holes”.    It has been 30 years since graduate solid state physics, but that is my recollection.

  115. 115.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

     

    @Betty Cracker: I would like to see my state, Connecticut go first just to see what would happen. We are smaller geographically than Iowa but a bit bigger population wise ours is 3.5 million Iowa about 3.1 million. Iowa is 90% white 3% Black while Connecticut is about 75%white and 10% Black. Connecticut has major problems with income inequality and inequality of educational opportunities which I would like to see politicians and political writers actually address on a national stage.

  117. 117.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Ken: Thank Benjamin Franklin. Though I suppose a nuclear physicist would prefer the existing convention, with positively charged protons. In particle physics we would have been fine either way.

  123. 123.

    germy

    A friend who works at the hospital said she stopped asking who's president as part of her questions to assess orientation. Patients still want to debate.

    — kate shellnutt (@kateshellnutt) February 16, 2021

  125. 125.

    Ken

    @germy: That still gives valuable information about their mental state.  But I guess this is one of those “man woman person camera TV” tests, not a general psych evaluation.

  126. 126.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Jerzy Russian: Dirac’s model 1.0 of electrons was that positrons (anti-electrons) were “holes” in the vacuum, as it consisted of turtles filled electron states all the way down. Those states had negative mass, so the absence of one would have positive mass and manifest as an antimatter particle.

    That’s not the way particle physicists think about it any more, but the math is the same.

  129. 129.

    Rileys Enabler

    @Immanentize: It was 10 when I woke in my powerless house this am. It’s warmed up to a balmy 19 now though. No power for 30 hours, no water for 12. And no comment from the Powers that be as to when we might expect any. Blessed be my French press and a gas stove. This sucks. Glad Immp is warm if a bit tender.

  133. 133.

    raven

    The Great Lou Rawls

     

     

    I was born in a city the called the ‘Windy City’
    And they call it the ‘Windy City’ because of the ‘Hawk’. All mighty Hawk
    Talking about Mr. Wind kind of mean around winter time
    I happen to live on a street that was a dead-end street
    There was nothing to block or buffer the wind, the elements
    Keep them from knocking my pad down, Jim I mean really socking it to me
    And the boiler would bust and the heat was gone
    I would have to get fully dressed before I could go the bed

  135. 135.

    Woodrow/asim

    @Betty Cracker: Is there a small, diverse state that would be a good candidate as first in the nation for primaries?

    Maryland isn’t exactly small, but is otherwise perfect for the kind of work you’re talking about. Close enough to DC to make it easy for Congresspeople to start a run, and near to media mass markets w/o being too beholden to them. It’s also well-known for both crushing poverty, thanks to THE WIRE, and also has Prince Georges County as a long-standing bastion of Black wealth.

    It also, of course, has a significant rural community that’s oft-ignored in a lot of these kinds of discussions, with Virginia and the rest of the South so nearby.

    On top of all that, it’s Southerly enough that retailing in the late Fall/early Winter is  manageable without snowshoes, most days :)

    So yes, a lot of diverse (in many ways) groups to work with, for a Presidential candidate looking to make their mark.

  136. 136.

    Betty Cracker

    @Winston: I remember it because it snowed in Tampa, and that was the first time I ever saw snow. It snowed enough to cover the ground, and it stuck for a few hours. All the kids went wild! My sister and I took leftover Christmas boxes to the golf course down the street and went sledding off the tee boxes and greens. 

  137. 137.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Baud: Wait, it wasn’t before?
    No, the previous Parlor administers were unmasked as Leftward Conservative Devators for claiming that killing cops is bad. with the obvious lie that Conservatives were castigating Antfa for their clashes with the police all last summer and were purged. Or am I mistaking the Right with the Soviet Union in the ’30s again?

  142. 142.

    L85NJGT

    It’s always a failure chain.

    The Texas natural gas grid buckled first – due to demand from residential customers, and freezing on the well and pipeline systems. NG plants can’t get fuel, while coal and nuclear power plants shutdown due to frozen cooling intake pipes. Power imports are limited because the Texas grid isn’t well connected to the national system (regulatory freedumz!), and the overall demand surge in the central US and northern Mexico. The power spot market was at $9000 a megawatt hour, which is something like a 10000% price increase.

  143. 143.

    Immanentize

    @japa21: Actually, a very friendly conversation which ended with a spirited exchange about what the world would be like now if there had never been….

    Ask NotMax.

  145. 145.

    JAFD

    @Betty Cracker: Most of the Democrats of Delaware are in New Castle County – ‘north of the Canal’.  Proportionally more GOPers are in ‘Lower Slower Delaware’

    New Castle Cty is within the Philadelphia TV stations broadcast area – one of top 10 markets, not cheap, and most of viewers are in Pa or NJ (Indeed, though channel 12 WHYY is officially licensed to Wilmington, its transmitter tower is within the Philly city limits)

  146. 146.

    Jeffro

    @Betty Cracker: Is there a small, diverse state that would be a good candidate as first in the nation for primaries? Delaware or Rhode Island maybe? (I have no clue what their demographics are — just spit-balling.) Media market has to be taken into account too, I suppose.

    Make the First State (DE) the First Primary State!  =)

    Delaware’s a good microcosm of the U.S. in many ways and I think that most of its demographics line up with the U.S. as a whole.  Also, let’s see how presidential candidates handle Punkin’ Chunkin’ and the Scrapple Festival!

    (on a more serious note, the whole country would do well to figure out how to replicate Return Day, where the winning and losing political candidates parade together and literally bury a hatchet)

  148. 148.

    PJ

    @Betty Cracker: DE is 20% black (and has a rising Hispanic population).  I actually think this was one of the elements in Biden’s ultimate success, as, from the time of his first Senate race, he had to appeal to black voters to get the Democratic nomination and win the general.  The state is mostly served by the Philly media market but the lower part of the state also gets some Baltimore media.

    I think it would obviously be the appropriate choice for a “first state” primary, but I would also like to see a state with a large Hispanic population (NM?) have their primary in the first month as well.

  149. 149.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: But is he? What’s going on with Turtle?

    I think Turtle thought he was being clever by dumping stopping Trump on the Democrats while playing obstructionist and is now realizing thanks to Turtle blocking the conviction, Trump is still as powerful as ever in the GOP to rage wreck 2022 and 2024 while at the time,  Turtle pissed off everyone else.

  150. 150.

    raven

    The Delawarean
    Years after his father died, Marley moved to Delaware with his mother, Cedella Malcolm Marley Booker, from Kingston, Jamaica, when she remarried.
    Outside Jamaica, Wilmington was the first place Bob Marley called home.
    His mother owned her house on Tatnall Street and ran the “Roots” Jamaican music shop on Market Street. For a time, Marley and his wife lived nearby.
    Accounts vary of when the family came to Delaware and just how long Bob Marley lived here full-time – from a few months to many years. By some reports, Cedella moved here in 1962, after her son had begun recording as a teen with The Wailers, but he moved back in the mid-1960s to resume his music.

  153. 153.

    NotMax

    @Winston

    ’77 was no picnic either.

    It was so cold that Miami, Florida, and the city of Freeport in the Bahamas (places where people go to get away from winter) got snow! No snow had ever been reported in either place before, nor has it since. Source

    More history trivia (same link).
    The cold snap of 1899 is still considered to be the “mother” of all cold snaps. No other cold weather episode yielded lower temperatures (as low as -61 degrees F) over a larger area (the entire nation) for as long (two weeks)!

  156. 156.

    cain

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    They could have done anonymous voting and then they could have voted to convict. But nope.. Now you’ve given oxygen to a smouldering coals and it is heading back to being a fire.

    He’s going to end up on Parler, start a media company and really take charge of his cult. Since the GOP is a helpless, cowardly bunch of assholes – they will capitulate. Too sad for the GOP hopefuls looking to run for President.

  161. 161.

    Betty Cracker

    @cain: That might happen, but I think there’s a chance Turnip’s influence fades away or at least is winnowed down to a small rump of kooks. I was sort of dreading the end of the impeachment trial because I wondered if Turnip was keeping his big mouth shut on the advice of counsel and would flood the zone again as soon as the danger was over. Hasn’t happened yet.

    There was a Presidents’ Day rally outside Disgraceland in Palm Beach yesterday, and Turnip rode around in an SUV waving at the assembled cultists, but it got minimal press coverage because it was pathetic, and he seems like a much diminished figure already. That’s a good thing.

  162. 162.

    Winston

    @NotMax: Yes. I remember 1977 as well. My daughter was 1 year old and it got to down around 20 below and my NG fired boiler went out. We had hot water heat radiators. I called a dad who was helping me on my son’s soccer team and he came over in the middle of the night and fixed it. We were so grateful. He wouldn’t accept payment. Great community in those days.

  163. 163.

    different-church-lady

    @Betty Cracker: A research psychologist friend once told me, “Loss of status hurts the psyche more than never having status.”

    I hope that man* hurts like hell for the rest of his life.

    *(ETA: the former president, not the friend, natch.)

  164. 164.

    moonbat

    The first state to go should be Illinois. It is in the middle of “flyover” country so no one can claim the coastal elites are hogging all the attention. It has big urban areas AND podunk farming areas. It is a microcosm of the nation. Candidates would have to address ALL the issues facing the nation. We do it in honor of Abraham Lincoln. It should be Illinois.​​
     

    ETA And no, I am not from Illinois.

  166. 166.

    SFBayAreaGal

    @NotMax: I was in Fairbanks, January 1977. Up there for “Jack Frost” training. It was colder in Florida than it was in Fairbanks.

  167. 167.

    citizen dave

    @L85NJGT: Nerd (job) knowledge.  The $9000 Texas power real-time price is an administratively-set price ceiling.  In other words this has been set beforehand by ERCOT, approved by the state regulators, etc.  As you say–no stinkin’ Feds!

     

    This event is multi-faceted, as you point out.  No single point of failure but many things–a chain of events.

  169. 169.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @zeecube: ​

    Happy Mardi Gras, all/ (Felt good to sleep in late on a Tuesday.}

    Same to you! Re the title of this post, the only time I’ve ever seen the words “Shrove Tuesday” is on church signs or bulletin boards, and tends to go with them also announcing a pancake supper. Apparently “shrove” has something to do with pancakes in the Bible.

    So in honor of the holiday, it’s pancakes for supper tonight!

    Speaking of partying, my wife just showed me a CNN opinion piece from a doctor / sociologist at Yale who projects that around 2024 we’re going to have a mood like the Roaring Twenties vis a vis the 1918 pandemic, with partying, drinking, massive gatherings and “sexual licentiousness”. I told her I’m ready to do my part.

  170. 170.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Betty Cracker: I saw a report that the NAACP along with a Dem Rep from Mississippi filed suit against T**** and Rudy for the Jan 6 insurrection, using a Reconstruction-era anti-KKK law. Should be interesting.

  171. 171.

    Hoppie

    I flew back from living in Italy the day before the nor’easter blizzard of 1978.  I was staying with friends who raised borzois in East Providence (RI).  Starting Monday afternoon, the snow began.  Three days and over 50 inches later it slacked off.

    After digging access paths, we ran the dogs on the adjacent golf course.  They were in heaven!  And I understood why borzois have such very thin, tall, deep chested bodies.  Ah, winter memories!

  176. 176.

    RaflW

    I have good friends in Austin, TX, and my brother lives in Houston. Seeing the electric grid mayhem brings me no pleasure.

    But, watching Abbot, Cornyn, Cruz etc desperately trying to spin this as some sort of Biden problem is hilariously stupid. Every Texan knows that they are in a giant GOP experiment in deregulated ‘market capitalism’ in which the game is all about margins, and nothing about reliability, backups, or contingencies.

    It’s a huge market failure and a clear signal that CATO-ing your utilities is a mistake. But they’ll spin like mad!!

  178. 178.

    Ken

    @RaflW: Decades ago Kenneth Arrow showed there is not a “market” as such for healthcare for many reasons, one being that when you’re having a heart attack you do not comparision-shop to find the best bargain on bypasses.

    Hearing that spot prices have pegged at $9000 makes me wonder if the same applies to utilities, at least in some edge cases.  “I can either pay that rate, or freeze to death. Decisions, decisions….”

  180. 180.

    RaflW

    @Betty Cracker: “Cancel culture” is the New Coke of Republican scaremongering.

    It’s also what Republicans have done to, say, Liz Cheney or Sen Burr. Repeatedly. Of course.

  182. 182.

    Ken

    @mrmoshpotato: So I become a hermit from when until February?

    The 2024 campaign has already begun. Baud has thrown hit hat in the ring.  Actually he didn’t take it out of the ring after the 2020 election.

  183. 183.

    Jeffro

    @cain: He’s going to end up on Parler, start a media company and really take charge of his cult. Since the GOP is a helpless, cowardly bunch of assholes – they will capitulate. Too sad for the GOP hopefuls looking to run for President.

    I know his cult will lap up anything and everything he tells them…but I do wonder how he’s going to explain his situation post March 4th or whatever the latest ‘Q’-related date for the ‘storm’ or whatever is?

  185. 185.

    RaflW

    @Ken: Yeah, if I pay 1 or 2 cents more per kW than my Texan brother, but our power works throughout -17 and +101, ice storms and near-derechos, I’m clear that I prefer the regulated market. Value for money!

  187. 187.

    Ken

    @Jeffro: The date will be rescheduled as often as necessary. It’s worked for several apocalyptic Christian sects for decades or centuries.  In this case, we might even be able to find the planned dates by checking prices at the Trump hotel in Washington.

  188. 188.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Jeffro:

    but I do wonder how he’s going to explain his situation post March 4th or whatever the latest ‘Q’-related date for the ‘storm’ or whatever is? 

    He finally admits that the past 5 years were all a grift and calls his trash supporters every word for “dumbass racist white trash morons” in the book and bellows “Thanks for the millions, SUCKERS!” and fucks off?

  193. 193.

    Benw

    It’s funny how new habits accrete. I just went out to move my truck over in my driveway for some deliveries, and when I got my keys I grabbed my wallet (old habit) and my mask (new habit) without even thinking about either!

  196. 196.

    Winston

    Isn’t it ironic that the self described energy capital of the USA, has no energy? And Rafael Cruz, the anti socialist is begging for socialist help? Don’t it always seem to  go, you don’t know what you got till it’s  gone?

  197. 197.

    Anonymous At Work

    Little known fact:

    Shrove also translates as “Fully-loaded tater tots of [Cardiac] Death” locally.  Can’t repent until you sin.

  200. 200.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Baud: I got a voice mail about that the other day.  I also get auto insurance junk mail.  Amusing for someone who’s never had a car title.

  204. 204.

    Ken

    @different-church-lady: Hey, when is this year’s Rapture?

    You’ll want to subscribe to my newsletter, “What Christians Must Know for Salvation”.  Be sure to get the platinum subscription; it’s a little more, but I’ve got a private jet to pay off tells you the full Gospel truth.

  205. 205.

    James E Powell

    What do you suppose the NYT, WaPo, and cable shows would be doing if several state Democratic parties were censuring & rebuking their Democratic senators?

  216. 216.

    Geminid

    @Betty Cracker: This “Cancel Culture” crap is reminiscent of the “Participation Trophies are Turning Us into a Nation of Wimps” bullshit of the last decade. For a while, talk show hosts would attribute the genesis of any and all liberal ideas, especially among the young, to the participation trophies given in youth sports. That trope has faded. Too many people, including youth sports parents, knew it was a stupid idea.

  218. 218.

    Kathleen

    @James E Powell:  Saame thing they do now. Gin up phony Dem “scandals” and flail them merciessly. Bonus points for signal boosting Bannon/Breitbart unvetted “scoops” (“Clinton Cash y’all”). H/T Axis Maggie.

  219. 219.

    Chris T.

    @Amir Khalid: What if two states try to claim “Frist!1!” bragging rights?

    Many are (at various times) trying just that.

    None of them get the trick right, which is to declare that “our state’s primary shall be on the Tuesday the week before the earliest other primary”.  Of course, as soon as two states pull this trick, the country implodes. ?

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