Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

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

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Found liable for massive fraud, is required to post a massive bond, gets a break, then files a *fraudulent* bond!

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

If you’re looking for someone who’s young and athletic, go watch a fucking movie.

Nikki Haley, who can’t acknowledge ‘slavery’, is a pathetic shill.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

Democrats are back in array!

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Republicans don’t trust women.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

Marge, god is saying you’re stupid.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

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

Elections aren’t won by handwringing, cowering, and/or bashing your own candidates.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

This blog will pay for itself.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Jill Biden, First Lady

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Jill Biden, First Lady

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Isn’t it nice to have normal back on the schedule? Per the Washington Post:

… Biden came to Richmond to visit Massey Cancer Center at Virginia Commonwealth University downtown. There, on a panel discussion, she acknowledged that communities of color have been “carrying a heavier share” of the country’s more than 500,000 deaths to covid-19, and she spoke with doctors about ways to get more minorities into clinical trials and cancer research. “It’s time to address the health disparities in this country,” she said.

But just as resonant as her public remarks was her detour to Brewer’s Cafe, a Black-owned, family-run establishment located on a side street in Richmond’s Southside, a gentrifying, majority-Black neighborhood that Brewer likens to “Southeast D.C. 20 years ago.”

It was her third “casual” pit stop as first lady. The others included a trip to pick up Valentine’s Day treats at the Sweet Lobby, a popular D.C. bakery that is owned by Winnette McIntosh Ambrose, who originally hails from Trinidad; and a visit to the Newsroom, a D.C. bodega and newsstand run by a Stephen and Ana Maria Bota, a husband and wife from Kenya and Guatemala, respectively…

Unscheduled stops like the one in Richmond are selected a couple of hours or maybe a day before she goes there, said a person familiar with the first lady’s routine who is not authorized to speak publicly about it. And they happen because she has expressed wanting to buy a certain thing on her way to get somewhere else, such as Camp David or back to her plane. Unlike announced visits that more sharply delineate a first lady’s agenda — supporting education, cancer research and military families — no press pool is present for the semi-stealth visits. The only photos usually come from shocked customers, owners and employees (who immediately make up for the lack of press by posting them on social media), or from the first lady’s photographer, who is almost always with her.

First ladies aren’t always explicit about their agendas and values, but just as Michelle Obama knew the impact she would have by wearing independent American designers such as Rachel Comey and Prabal Gurung, Jill Biden seems to know the message she can send just by where she goes to satisfy her caffeine craving…

Still a teacher at heart…

Reader Interactions

58Comments

  3. 3.

    Immanentize

    @Baud: It was Biden’s sly move regarding unions = Loomis in love.  It’s everything he ever wanted in a man.

  5. 5.

    Immanentize

    the wind is just crazy here!  Last night it was blowing so hard for so long that one of my interior bedroom doors started freaking, then shut — bump bump.  Shining!

    Yes my old house is a little drafty….

    ETA. Wind chill currently at minus 10.  Brrrr.

  6. 6.

    Another Scott

    Good for the FLOTUS. As with “representation matters”, walking the walk matters.

    In other news… RSF files criminal complaint against Saudi crown prince in Germany
    https://p.dw.com/p/3q5nK

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  8. 8.

    germy

    I keep seeing these animations around the web.  A new AI program called “DeepNostalgia” where old photo portraits, paintings, even sculptures are animated and “brought to life”

    Modern technology – breathing life into historical figures is somewhat unsettling while also incredibly fascinating. I wish I could hear his Thunderous voice! Frederick Douglass brought to life via #DeepNostalgia pic.twitter.com/CFORUVMK6B

    — GenTutor (@gen_tutor) February 28, 2021

  9. 9.

    germy

    Abe Lincoln:

    Abraham Lincoln brought to life by #DeepNostalgia pic.twitter.com/YXABWUsw98

    — Brandon Jacobs ? (@brandorak) February 28, 2021

    I got caught up in the twitter hashtage “deepnostalgia” seeing all the animations.

    People uploaded old photos of their great grandparents, Watching their ancestors come to life. And of course people are experimenting with Rembrandt self portraits, ancient Roman busts, reconstructed bog people, neanderthals… it’s fascinating and creepy.

  13. 13.

    mrmoshpotato

    @germy:

    People uploaded old photos of their great grandparents, Watching their ancestors come to life. And of course people are experimenting with Rembrandt self portraits, ancient Roman busts, reconstructed bog people, neanderthals… it’s fascinating and creepy. 

    I hope everyone is nailing the triple backflip landing.

  14. 14.

    Nicole

    Aw, I love that article!  Good for her.  I laughed at, “The only photos usually come from shocked customers, owners and employees (who immediately make up for the lack of press by posting them on social media),”

    She a smart politician’s spouse, that Dr. Biden.

    Quote from yesterday- our ten-year-old, expressing why he doesn’t like watching John Oliver as much with us anymore: “Things are better now so the news is getting boring.”  I was relieved, actually.  Yes, for a ten-year-old, the news should be boring.  I remember, at a little less than his age, the only part of Walter Cronkite’s broadcasts I had any interest in was when they’d broadcast photos from Voyager 1.

  16. 16.

    Soprano2

    @OzarkHillbilly: After those two weeks in February we deserve some good weather!

    I like that our First Lady is leading by example, rather than just talking. Actions speak louder than words, right?

  20. 20.

    dmsilev

    @Nicole: Hell, the news should be boring for adults as well. Useful, but boring. The past few years have been an object lesson in why “may you live in interesting times” is a (apocryphal) curse.

  21. 21.

    germy

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Folks have animated their own photos.  Oliver Willis animated a baby photo of himself.

    One woman uploaded a photo of her son, a young boy who’d died sometime in the 1990s.

    It’s disturbing and strange.  The photo animations are sometimes sad and sometimes funny.

    Obviously we also ran our Darwin statue through #DeepNostalgia and had immediate regrets pic.twitter.com/0h6R3fSERN— Natural History Museum (@NHM_London) March 2, 202

     

    George Washington from a wrinkly bill in my pocket looks pretty good. #DeepNostalgia pic.twitter.com/telektN3OT— Adam T Perzynski (@ATPerzynski) February 28, 2021

  23. 23.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Soprano2: It was fairly brutal. I spent more time than I would have liked in my shop those 2 weeks and after 2 or 3 hours on the cold concrete floor my feet would start cramping up and would not stop.

  24. 24.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Immanentize: Lost power for 2 1/2 hours overnight due to that wind. It woke me several times.

    Tree guys were here yesterday, turning the lawn into mud. Now it’s all frozen solid, and they haven’t come back, probably due to the wind – I wouldn’t want to be 50 feet up in a cherry-picker bucket with a chainsaw today, either. But it sure would have been nice if they’d scheduled the start for tomorrow instead of yesterday.

  30. 30.

    Hoodie

    @Baud: Yeah, but he doesn’t appear to have given up on the “Biden is just responding to pressure from the left” stuff.   I love how some college professor thinks he knows more about politics than a guy who has been doing it for 50 years.

  31. 31.

    lowtechcyclist

    @dmsilev:

    Hell, the news should be boring for adults as well. Useful, but boring. The past few years have been an object lesson in why “may you live in interesting times” is a (apocryphal) curse.

    We’re still deep in interesting times, but at least with a sane President and Dems in control of Congress, there isn’t a metric ton of crazy in the news every day.  And that’s an indescribable relief.

  32. 32.

    Eolirin

    @Betty Cracker: That kind of tech is going to greatly simplify workflows for visual effects artists and game developers. The creepy animated photo stuff is going to be mostly forgotten. It’s a novelty and not an end point.

    We’re going to have to deal with nearly impossible to detect fakes though. That’s going to suck.

  33. 33.

    germy

    @Eolirin:

    James O’Keefe and Jacob Wohl will immediately find ways to weaponize it against liberal candidates and incumbents.

  34. 34.

    OzarkHillbilly

    via Jen over at OTB,

    Jake Sherman@JakeSherman
    NEW in @punchbowlnews AM: @Bethvanduyne has had a massive turnover in staff less than 60 days into her tenure in Congress

    COS, LD fired. Comms dir quit last wk

    A few wks ago a former aide died by suicide outside her home. Van Duyne was home at the time http://Punchbowl.news

    I googled Van Duyne and all I can find is some not too enlightening stories about the suicide. I can’t help but wonder wtf is going on in her very toxic office.

  35. 35.

    Eolirin

    @germy: I’m less worried about that, because I think they have so little credibility that no one will take them seriously enough, and people will be able to bring receipts proving them forgeries, but the end result of all of that will be that no one can trust any image or video and the next Trump will be able to claim fake news on media clips, or even full interviews that happened to go poorly in a way that will be much more plausible to most of the audience.

  37. 37.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Eolirin: I’ve mentioned before, I have on my bookshelf a tome sub-titled Visual Truth in the Post-Photographic Era. Here’s a piece from the blurb

    Enhanced? Or faked? Today the very idea of photographic veracity is being radically challenged by the emerging technology of digital image manipulation and synthesis: photographs can now be altered at will in ways that are virtually undetectable, and photorealistic synthesized images are becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish from actual photographs.

    It was published 30 years ago.

  41. 41.

    Geminid

    @germy: They will weaponize these techniques against all Democratic candidates, not just liberals. Moderate Democrats in swing districts will be hit the hardest.

  42. 42.

    germy

    @Geminid:

    You’re right.  Not all Democratic candidates are liberals

    The moderates in swing states are considered the most dangerous to them.

  43. 43.

    Nicole

    @zhena gogolia: The piece where they did reenactments of Supreme Court arguments using dogs was one of my favorite things ever, and I agree with you, I also really liked him on The Daily Show.  So much so I was sorry when Jon Stewart returned.

  45. 45.

    Soprano2

    I’m listening to Maddow’s program from last night, and she said some Democrats are trying to fuck with the eligibility for the $1,400 checks again, making it less generous. These people are politically so stupid – “Trump gave me a check, but the Democrats thought I didn’t deserve one” is just an amazingly, astoundingly, mind-bogglingly stupid message to send. Someone needs to put it to them that bluntly – “Your voters will know that Trump sent them money, but Biden didn’t”.

  46. 46.

    Geminid

    @OzarkHillbilly: Last year Beth van Duyne ran to succeed Republican Kenny Marchant in the suburban 24th District, located between Dallas and Ft. Worth. She beat Democratic candidate Candace Valenzela 48.8% to 47.3%, only a 1.5 point margin.

    The 24th district illustrates a dilemna Texas Republicans will face when they redistrict this year. Reapportionment is expected to add two seats to the Texas Congressional delegation. Naturally, Texas Republicans will want to draw two new Republican districts.  Incumbent Representatives like van Duyne and others will want protection, though. Illinois Democrats will face a similar problem when they redistrict. Illinois will lose a seat. But Democrats will have to temper their desire to squeeze out a Republican with the need to protect purple seat Democrats like Cherie Bustos and Lauren Underwood. Underwood won reelection by just a few thousand votes.

    With the current House so closely divided, this year’s redistricting game will be played with high stakes on the table.

  47. 47.

    Geminid

    @germy: Within the new Congress’ Democratic Caucus, the more moderate New Democratic Coalition numbers 93 members, and the more liberal Progressive Caucus is right behind at 92. The moderate Blue Dog kennel is emptier this year, down to 18 from the last year’s 25. The NDC’s chair is DelBene (WA). Vice Chairs include Bera (CA), Davids (KS), Peters (CA), and Kuster (NH). The Progressive Caucus chair is Jayapaul (WA). Vice chair is Porter (CA), and the Whip is Omar (MN).

    Former Blue Dog Chairman Stephanie Miller may run for Marco Rubio’s Senate seat next year. Miller is an immigrant, whose family fled Vietnam on a boat when she was one year old.

  48. 48.

    James E Powell

    @Hoodie:

    I love how some college professor thinks he knows more about politics than a guy who has been doing it for 50 years.

    Well, for starters, he’s a college professor.

  50. 50.

    WaterGirl

    @BruceFromOhio: Addressed by whom?

    I imagine that Joe Biden occasionally addresses her directly as First Lady Dr. Biden as a term of endearment or to mock the stupid person who wrote the “Dr.” column.

  51. 51.

    J R in WV

    @Betty Cracker: ​

     

    That “animation” work is way on the wrong side of the uncanny valley, esp the one of the marble bust of J Caesar. F Douglass was pretty good, tho, compared to Caesar.

  52. 52.

    opiejeanne

    @J R in WV: I didn’t much care for the one of Washington, except that he smirks near the end. That made me laugh, and reminded me that GW was sometimes very funny. He bragged at a dinner party about the quality of his wife’s hams.

  54. 54.

    J R in WV

    @opiejeanne:

    OMG, that does have the potential for humor — his wife’s hams!!

    But the one of Caesar was extremely creepy, still a marble bust, but mobile.

  56. 56.

    opiejeanne

    @J R in WV: I just did my sweet grandmother and I can’t decide if the effect is sweet or creepy. The eyes don’t track exactly right at time.

    She’s smirking in the original photo, wearing a borrowed and hastily hemmed wedding dress. She was 17 and had gone into town and married my grandpa, and there was a huge row when she got back. Her parents first tried to force her to divorce him. The lawyer asked her if she wanted a divorce and she answered, “No!” so he told them he couldn’t force her to get a divorce. They did make her get married again, just to make sure everything was done properly, and she smirking because she won. They were married for 53 years.

    I would share a link if I could figure out how.

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