Archives for February 2021

On The Road – way2blue – Graniti, Sicily

by WaterGirl| February 4, 20215:00 am| 8 Comments

This post is in: On The Road, Photo Blogging

way2blue

While visiting friends in the summer of 2016, they mentioned that they’d recently bought land in Sicily and would be harvesting olives in October. What? Harvesting olives in October! We flew to Catania to meet up with them in the village of Graniti. Night time when we picked up our rental car. No GPS with the car or on our not-smart phones. Plus roundabouts typically had a dozen signs pointing every which way, making for a few circuits around them to find the one we needed. We slowly thrashed our way toward Graniti, and were finally flagged down by our friend mercifully standing in the middle of village road waving her arms.

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GRANITI, SICILY

The village of Graniti, Province of Messina, is nestled in a valley north of Catania.

Late Night Open Thread: SPACE. FARCE — Again

by Anne Laurie| February 4, 20211:16 am| 48 Comments

This post is in: Military, Open Threads, Republican Stupidity, Our Failed Media Experiment

I asked @PressSec if President Biden planned to keep the Space Force, or its scope, and she declined to say.

(She poked fun at the question about an entire branch of the military as the "plane of today," referring to when she'd been asked about the Air Force One paint job.)

— Josh Wingrove (@josh_wingrove) February 2, 2021

You can lead a media whore to context, but you can’t make them think.

Like kids in the toy aisle pursuing blind bags, much of the WH press corps became addicted to the Trump administration’s high-octane press briefings. Sometimes there was a Chucky doll, sometimes a box of live scorpions, frequently the gaudy packaging contained nothing at all — but it was always something different, therefore EXCITING! (And it didn’t require thought, much less research, to write up afterwards.)

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Late Night Open Thread: SPACE. FARCE — AgainPost + Comments (48)

On The Road – randy khan – Venice and Environs, Part 8

by WaterGirl| February 3, 202110:00 pm| 15 Comments

This post is in: On The Road, Photo Blogging

randy khan

Boats and where to put them and some miscellany.

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On The Road - randy khan - Venice and Environs, Part 8 7

Venice, ItalyMay 26, 2015

I’ve mentioned the water taxis, and this is one of them. They all look pretty much like this. They’re pretty zippy, and they have cabins in back that hold maybe 8 or 9 people if you’re good friends. The best way to ride in one is to stand up in the sunroof and get the breeze in your face.

I’m Beginning to Think This McCarthy Guy Isn’t Too Smart

by $8 blue check mistermix| February 3, 20219:04 pm| 133 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

The House Republican Caucus just voted to keep Liz Cheney as their chair, after a good number of them gave Marjorie Tayler Greene a standing O. This happened after Kevin McCarthy said bad things about Greene but isn’t going to do a fucking thing. This will force a vote in the House to determine if they’ll strip her of her committee assignments.

I get that there’s probably nothing that matters to your average Trumpy Republican voter except owning the libs. But even if you keep most of them in the dark and covered in shit by watching Fox News, it’s gonna be a real interesting question when local media asks their Member of Congress why having someone who denied that Sandy Hook (and I believe, Parkland) happened should be on the Education Committee. Sandy Hook troofing isn’t a “space lasers” or “pedophiles at a pizza shop” goofy conspiracy theory. It’s extremely hurtful to parents of real, dead children, and I think it’s pretty toxic when people who don’t follow politics and don’t worship Trump hear about it.

I guess the theory of the case is these MoCs will just live in a bubble forever and never have to answer for any vote, which is fine if you’re in a R+14 district like McCarthy (or a R+27 district like Greene). But if you’re in a tough district, you’re either gonna have to answer for your vote against Greene to your MAGAt primary challenger, or you’re going answer for the vote for Greene to any journalist or civic organization to the left of the Proud Boys.

McCarthy should have just taken the hit and removed her from committees, just like they did to Steve King. But he’s apparently too stupid and/or gutless to do that.

I’m Beginning to Think This McCarthy Guy Isn’t Too SmartPost + Comments (133)

Bad Craziness Open Thread: Trump’s Second Impeachment ‘Defense’

by Anne Laurie| February 3, 20216:23 pm| 136 Comments

This post is in: GOP Death Cult, Impeachment, Trumpery

~~OAFS~~ OATHS OF FEALTY!!!

BREAK: @MattGaetz tells #WarRoomPandemic he would be willing to resign his Congressional seat in order to defend President Donald Trump in the upcoming impeachment trial. https://t.co/bCRtEnmC0P

— Raheem Kassam (@RaheemKassam) February 3, 2021

This is pure performance art, of course, but it’s a bold opening bid in the GOP Death Cult’s Who Can Be Most Loyal to Our Dear Leader and His Beloved Mob? competition…

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No Apology Required (Open Thread)

by Betty Cracker| February 3, 20215:25 pm| 167 Comments

This post is in: Domestic Politics, Open Threads, Politics, Republican Stupidity

Someone in the morning thread mentioned a column in The Post by Gary Abernathy, and because I’m addicted to rage like a common Trumper, I went over and read it. I wish I hadn’t, but now that I’ve suffered, I’m asking you to suffer with me by hearing my thoughts on it.*

First, some context. Remember when The Times channeled its self-doubt, repressed guilt, etc., about not foreseeing the outcome of the 2016 election into a series of idiotic Midwestern diner interviews, which were ostensibly about trying to understand Trump voters? They weren’t the only outlet that did that, and they and fellow media anthropologists have been rightly ridiculed for that pointless exercise. But there are worse things. Things like Abernathy.

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No Apology Required (Open Thread)Post + Comments (167)