Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.

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

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

Hot air and ill-informed banter

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

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

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

“woke” is the new caravan.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

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

Not all heroes wear capes.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

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

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

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

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

American History and Black History Cannot Be Separated

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

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Reader Interactions

48Comments

  3. 3.

    Nicole

    I love that photo so much.

    In return, I offer up this tweet, with a 46 second video embedded.  I was skeptical that, according to the poster, it would be the best thing I would see all day, but I think in fact, it may be.

  4. 4.

    laura

    The hope and the fear in Irie’s eyes just tickles me every time. Dogs – how do we even deserve them

    Time to shuffle out to the kitchen to make a key lime pie. Happy Easter to all who celebrate it.

  7. 7.

    mrmoshpotato

    @laura:

    The hope and the fear in Irie’s eyes just tickles me every time. 

    You see hope in that terrified pupper’s eyes? ?

    Happy Easter (or Sunday) to all!

  9. 9.

    Walker

    I am hate-playing Outriders. The gameplay is fun but the story is god awful.  You cannot have total war scenario with hundreds dying per day in a population of 70k.

  11. 11.

    J R in WV

    Happy Spring Fertility Festival to all the Jackals~!!~

    Tadpoles, flowers, trees just barely beginning to leaf out a little bit.

    Spring is Sprung! May take a walk in a bit…

    Going to be 70ish out, and sunny. What a pretty day! Could be snowing!!!

  12. 12.

    CaseyL

    The BJ Calendar for 2022 needs to have photos of Betty’s butter lamb and the immortal Irie on the April page.

    OT: Has anyone here bought one of those smaller, less expensive portable power station/charger things? Specifically, one that can jump start your car, has USB slots to charge phones/computer, AND has an air compressor? I want one, but every gadget reviewer site seems to have their own Best Ofs, and even their Best Ofs have Amazon comments like “won’t charge,” “air hose fell off,” “piece of crap, don’t buy.”

    I’m currently leaning toward the Diehard 71688 Peak 1150A.

    Any information would be much appreciated!

  15. 15.

    J R in WV

    @CaseyL:

    I’m currently leaning toward the Diehard 71688 Peak 1150A.

    My ass has been saved several times with a big old DeWalt unit, bright yellow, will start a car, pump up a flat, etc.
    Sorry, don’t recall the part number, wasn’t a hundred dollars, holds a charge for quite a while. Bought it at Lowe’s or perhaps Home Depot back before I canceled them.​

    ETA: Looking on Amazon, I don’t see the replacement for the unit I bought back when. Bigger more expensive unit is there now, figures. The added air pump seemed really good at the time.

  17. 17.

    Leto

    playing warcrack, LIKE GOD INTENDED

    I see we still worship at the same altar; Lok’tar ogar!

  19. 19.

    WhatsMyNym

    @CaseyL:   You might want to compare it to the Schumacher SJ1330 1000 Peak Amp which is much cheaper and lighter, but does have 1000 peak amps. Both are made by Schumacher.

  20. 20.

    satby

    @J R in WV:  My kid gave me one of those about 10 years ago when I moved to the sticks, and it was a great thing to have when the car wouldn’t start or I had a low tire.

  21. 21.

    satby

    Happy Easter John! And WaterGirl and everyone!

    I just came in for a break from my gardening. Two tomatoes planted and mini-greenhouses arranged, so we’ll see how well they do going out six weeks before the last frost date here. Plus the 3 astilbes I ordered turned out to be six, so I heeled them into a container until I figure out where I want them. Six is too many for the place I had intended, but maybe they’d do ok on the north side of the house. Quandary!

  22. 22.

    CaseyL

    @satby: That’s a great quandry to have.  What color are they?

    Thanks, JR and WhatsMyNym!  I’ll take another look at the Schumacher and DeWalt. I think both had less-than-positive reviews.  And Amazon, apparently, will not accept returns of these things.  So, it’s either another vendor or another brand with more reliability.

    @WaterGirl:  I never had, either, until last year when someone I work with came out to jump start my car with one.  I was enchanted.  She used one of the sleek little Halos, which unfortunately don’t have an air compressor but are otherwise quite darling.

  23. 23.

    Almost Retired

    Happy Easter, jackals. How well I remember the annual Easter Egg hunts.  Because our kids are almost eight years apart, we hid candy and cash in twos with strict instructions to the elder child to only take one so that the little guy had a fighting chance against his much bigger brother.  Naturally, the bigger brother simply took both candies when no one was looking, and ate them both before the final reckoning (we checked for equality at hunt’s end).  Needles to say, the older son went on to law school.

  24. 24.

    JMG

    Didn’t play an indoor game today, went out and played the local nine-hole golf course. It’s very hilly, so it’s a good walk. Did a little better than I expected for the first round of the year. Later today it’ll be lamb chops, new potatoes and asparagus. Kind of an old fogey day you might say.

  28. 28.

    StringOnAStick

    We were so glad to just have a rechargeable phone charger last week when a wind storm was raging and we lost power for 9 hours. It gets your attention when some idiot was burning stumps in the local rural area and the 65 mph winds kicked it into a blaze that caused immediate mandatory evacuations downwind. It wasn’t headed our way but seriously, the high winds had been predicted for days and just because you live in a rural area doesn’t mean you have a god given right to set the area on fire in the name of spring burning and gubmint can’t tell me what to do. Fortunately no homes were lost. I do hope an expensive ticket was issued though.

  29. 29.

    trollhattan

    Kiddo gave up her seat home from LAX on an overbooked flight, and is currently hanging out with her team at the SWA terminal, dreaming of Hawaii.

  30. 30.

    Phylllis

    Happy Easter all! Turkey breast on the grill along with salad and corn on the cob later. It’s warmed up right nicely here in central S.C. Hoping the ‘Easter snap’ is the last of the really cold weather. I have a pedicure scheduled for Tuesday & I’m ready to break out the sandals & linen capris.

  31. 31.

    CaseyL

    Erm,  car folk? I has a confused.

    The Schumacher FRO1337 says it works with “V8 4-cylinder engines.”  I have a Scion xB, a 4-cylinder, but I don’t know if that’s a V8 with 4 cylinders – I thought a V8 had 8 cylinders, V6 has 6, and I guess that means a 4-cylinder would be a V4.

    Can some kind car person explain what they mean by a “V8 4-cylinder”?  I wonder if some of the negative reviews are because the Schumacher doesn’t work on 4-cylinder engines!

  33. 33.

    CaseyL

    @CaseyL: Never mind, everyone:  The Scion has an I4 engine, not a V8.  Looks like I’ll have to find a charger that works on in-line cylinders : (

  34. 34.

    trollhattan

    @CaseyL:

    Sorry, the Schumacher what?

    ETA if you need to charge a car battery, they are all 12v DC and any charger should work on any car/truck/thing. Just attach the leads correctly–common ground for black and positive terminal for red. Connect red first, remove black first when finished.

  35. 35.

    Gravenstone

    @CaseyL: A charger only needs enough juice to turn over the starter. The number and configuration of the cylinders should have little to no bearing on it. Whoever wrote that synopsis is a moron.

  36. 36.

    CaseyL

    @trollhattan:   @Gravenstone:

    Whoever wrote that synopsis is a moron.

    I thought/hoped so – it sure sent me down a rabbit hole I wasn’t expecting.  I wondered if it made a difference in how the power goes through the engine, or something.​

  37. 37.

    WhatsMyNym

    @CaseyL:   They are just trying to give you general estimates based on the type of engine.  You can can just check the specs on your current battery.  You should invest in a new battery first if your current one is more than 5 years old.

    The Diehard is made by Schumacher, which is why it looks similar.

  38. 38.

    NotMax

    @CaseyL

    FWIW, fast perusal of several credible tech sites gave positive overviews of these three:

    Audew

    TopVision

    Weego

    First two purported to perform as expected even on dead, as opposed to drained, batteries. Didn’t see corresponding data on the third as to that one way or another during a quick site whiparound. I have no experience with such products so this all stems from third party info, however will add that on first blush my impression was these all seem to be designed for gas or diesel engines, not for hybrids or electric vehicles.

  39. 39.

    J R in WV

    @CaseyL:

    I don’t know if someone already pitched in, but I-4 is a smaller engine than a V-8, and so less energy required to turn it to start.

    The mechanics of engine configuration don’t matter so much about spinning with the starter motor.

    Look at the amperage provided by your current battery, either on the battery itself or (perhaps) in the owner’s manual. That’s what your charger device needs to be able to supply. The larger your engine, the more energy required to spin it… so a V-8 takes a bigger battery / charger device to start than any 4 cylinder.

    Big construction equipment usually has 24 volt or 48 volt systems, compared to your 12 volts system, and way bigger battery sets as well.  Even small diesel motors take more energy to spin than regular gas engines because they have a higher compression ratio.

    Looks like 600 amps will start a Scion. But more won’t hurt and will help.

  40. 40.

    CaseyL

    @NotMax: Thanks for the additional brands – but I think I want a charger that also has a compressor to inflate tires.  (If I’m gonna Be Prepared, I want to be really prepared.)

  42. 42.

    trollhattan

    @CaseyL:
    Do you want a 120V plug in battery charger* or a portable jump-start battery? They’re different things.
    *Some plug-in chargers can also jumpstart cars.
    ETA Because my current car has “run flat” tires and no spare, I tote a portable pump in the trunk that plugs into the car. I suppose those can be combined with a portable battery.​

  43. 43.

    CaseyL

    @trollhattan: There are actually a few models of power station that combine car charging and air compressor.  Those are the ones I’ve been looking at.  I think I’ll get the Schumacher.

    I appreciate everyone weighing in on this!

  44. 44.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    We are going North Italian this Easter — Pork with herbs and garlic braised in milk (the milk caramelizing to make a stunning gravy), mashed potatoes with mascarpone and sage, peas, Asiago cheese bread, Sangiovese Rosé wine, Strawberry layer cake with fresh strawberries on the side.  Best wishes to all Jackals who celebrate Easter, and best wishes to everyone for Spring and multiple vaccinations.

  45. 45.

    Geminid

    That’s a really nice picture of Irie and the Easter Bunny. Thank you.

    And happy Easter!

  46. 46.

    opiejeanne

    Late to the party, as usual, but Happy Easter!

    I’m roasting a chicken this evening, mashed potatoes, broccoli, and a salad. It’s 51 outside which would be okay if there was any sun and no wind, but it’s gloomy and dark and threatening rain for later.

  48. 48.

    Origuy

    @CaseyL: Has anyone here bought one of those smaller, less expensive portable power station/charger things?

    I have the DBPower DJ550. I really like it. I’ve used it a few times, since I have a second car that rarely gets driven and has had the battery go dead. It’s easy to use and comes with almost every size charger plug imaginable.

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