Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The revolution will be supervised.

When we show up, we win.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

Anne Laurie is a fucking hero in so many ways. ~ Betty Cracker

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

Celebrate the fucking wins.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you do not.

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. ~Thomas Jefferson

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

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

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

Dear elected officials: Trump is temporary, dishonor is forever.

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

The real work of an opposition party is to hold the people in power accountable.

If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

One way or another, he’s a liar.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

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Reader Interactions

83Comments

  4. 4.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I was just reminding myself to take my psyllium pills tonight….

    my brother and I were just talking the other day about how we have to think about major purchases now in terms of impending senior citizen hood (him more than me)

  5. 5.

    karen marie

    John Cole needs to come to my house with a towel to wipe up the juice that’s all over my monitor as a result of my reading about his tragedy.

  6. 6.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    My condolences Cole ?

    I actually had a good experience with Amazon a few weeks ago. I decided to order a dash cam, an adjustable suction cup mount, and a micro SD card after becoming addicted to dash cam videos on YouTube lol. Finally got it set up today and it works fantastic. Automatically starts recording when I start the engine and stops when I shut it off, as it’s powered through the cigarette lighter/charger port. It’s a capacitor as opposed to having rechargeable batteries, so it will last longe

    I figure it’s good to have for insurance purposes. I’ve seen countess dash cam videos of cars brake checking cammers, likely for insurance fraud

  9. 9.

    trollhattan

    Fiber and gum–a match made in heavenmarketing: they go together like poetry and a bench vise.

  10. 10.

    NotMax

    Paging through candies on Amazon is a rabbit hole of galactic proportion. As well as a circuitous trip down Dopamine Lane.

  18. 18.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    anybody recommend a good liniment?

    Remember Geritol? When my parents’ generation had 40/50th birthdays, the big joke was to give somebody a big bottle of Geritol.

  19. 19.

    Sure Lurkalot

    Oh yeah? I just got an email that a package picked up 2 weeks ago addressed to California had arrived at the distribution center…in my city, Denver. Oh the joy. Please, can we not fix this assault on this service?

  20. 20.

    brendancalling

    That sucks.
    I haven’t seen my kid in more than a year because of Covid. We all have our struggles. Courage!

  23. 23.

    NotMax

    The bad — self-control fail after stumbling across an assortment which triggered particularly fond memories from days gone by.

    “Heh, they still make those? Nope, not gonna order.”

    The next day: “Nope, not gonna order.”

    The next week: “Nope, not gonna order.”

    (time passes and am putting together a small order of this ‘n’ that) Drawn to look again: “Nope, not gonna order.” (press Add To Cart)

    The good — they taste EXACTLY as yummylicious now as then.

    :)

  24. 24.

    Amir Khalid

    My headphones, the ones I use with my laptop, just developed an intermittent buzz on the right. They will need replacing. Sigh.

  25. 25.

    James E Powell

    @trollhattan:

    That’s a great story. I jumped on the Howard Dean bus fairly early so I had a number of opportunities to just sit around and talk with Trippi at those smaller, house fundraisers and campaign activities that characterize the early parts of campaigns. I always liked him even if I didn’t always agree with him.

    I saw it on twitter, but your link to Digby reminded me that I’ve been meaning to ask those assembled here a tech question.

    I recently purchased a spiffy new macbook air with the new M1 chip. I downloaded & use chrome for mac. Every website I’m used to visiting works fine except for Digby’s Hullabaloo. The part of the page on the left shows up fine but the part with posts flashes, then disappears.

    Any ideas?

  31. 31.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Amir Khalid: 

    That sucks. My favorite pair of headphones recently snapped in half. It was the hinge for the left side I think. The speakers swing inward for easier storage.
    Usually, something goes wrong with the jack connection in my experience and the one or both speakers go in and out based on the jack gets turned

  32. 32.

    coin operated

    We joined House Moderna this evening with jab #1.  Clark County (Las Vegas) really has their shit together.  In and out in 30 minutes at the LV Convention Center.

  33. 33.

    NotMax

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Geritol was marketed as a treatment for “iron-poor blood.” Ads for that and for Sanka were mainstays of Lawrence Welk’s program.

    anybody recommend a good liniment?

    Dunno if the recipe has been altered, however Absorbine Jr. still being sold, AFAIK.

    (Absorbine Sr. is (was?) an actual horse liniment, although marketed without the generational appellation.)

  39. 39.

    NotMax

    @Amir Khalid

    Recently sprang >for these off-brand ones for Zooming and suchlike.

    1) Very inexpensive.
    2) Very pleased with the performance. Full, rich sound; comfy fit.

    Included are more features than I’ll ever have a use for; YMMV. And none of the pulsating LED hoo-ha so prevalent nowadays.

  42. 42.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @coin operated:

    I got the Viofo A119 V3 dash cam

    It was the one users at r/Dashcam recommended most it seemed. Plus $99 dollars seemed pretty reasonable. It has loop recording, Parking Mode, etc. Though be forewarned with parking mode accessory wires would have to be “hotwired” into the car for it to work

  43. 43.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Steeplejack (phone):

    Very accurate. I love how covered practically everything I’ve ever heard a customer say. I especially liked the “I worked here and it wasn’t like this” one. “Well it is now, sorry you didn’t get the memo. Things change.” LOL!

  45. 45.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Doug R:

    There was a version of the dash cam I bought that I think comes with GPS, but with a smartphone I figured I don’t need it. Plus a lot more expensive.

    Dash cams, AFAIK, used to be largely associated with Russia since it seemed motorists over there used them a lot for insurance reasons. Hence all of the Youtube videos. Recently, however, it appears dash cams have become a lot more popular elsewhere, including here in the US

  49. 49.

    Amir Khalid

    @NotMax:

    What I like are budget studio monitor headphones, which give a clear uncoloured sound for not-crazy money. I need the semi-closed/open back kind. Closed-back headphones also sound great; but if you’re chewing food while listening, they make your chewing noises drown out what you’re listening to, which is a problem the other kind doesn’t have.

    I think I’ll just get another pair if the same model.

  50. 50.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @coin operated:

    Yeah! I remember the one where a bunch of cows came tumbling out of a trailer and got up as if nothing happened lol

    @Steeplejack (phone):

    “You just lost a customer.”

    “You think I own this business? You think I own IKEA? I’m a part-time employee halfway through a two-week notice. I don’t give a fu…”

  51. 51.

    Ohio Mom

    Goku:
    Lately, Ohio Dad has been watching YouTubes from Freeway Jim a fair amount on his phone — which is dash cam footage from highways all across the country, accompanied by music. I guess it is a form of meditation for him.

    About Geritol:
    I think the main attraction there was not the liqified vitamins and iron, it was the alcohol everything was suspended in, just like an old timey patent medicine.

  52. 52.

    Doc Sardonic

     

    Good ole Geritol. Didn’t quite have the je ne sais quoi of Vitameatavegamin, but you could get a good buzz and 100% of daily vitamins and minerals and fix up that iron poor blood. Not so sure about the vitamins, minerals and such, but the alcohol was there.

  53. 53.

    Dopey-o

    @James E Powell:I recently purchased a spiffy new macbook air with the new M1 chip. I downloaded & use chrome for mac. Every website I’m used to visiting works fine except for Digby’s Hullabaloo. The part of the page on the left shows up fine but the part with posts flashes, then disappears.

    Don’t bother with Chrome on your Mac. Aside from siphoning off all your info, Chrome isn’t really doing your browsing.

    Apple doesn’t share their APIs for browsing. Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Dolphin, etc are just wrappers for Safari. Safari drove me crazy without a Forward button when my thumb accidentally hit Back.

    But all the websites that borked in Safari did the same in Chrome and Firefox. Here is a too-in-depth explanation for the bored geeks among us:

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/quit-chrome-safari-and-edge-are-just-better-browsers-for-you-and-your-computer-11594558801

  54. 54.

    hitchhiker

    Iron poor blood!

    I remember that. I remember feeling very sorry for those droopy-looking old people with their sick blood.

    Ha ha, hang on while I haul by old ass off this couch. It’s gonna take me a minute.

    On another subject, my twitter feed has for some reason been loaded with praise for this new biography of Philip Roth. The only thing I know about Philip Roth is that he wrote a book where the teenaged main character is always masturbating in his mom’s bathroom. (Portnoy’s Complaint, is that right?) I vaguely think of Roth as a creeper in the vein of JD Salinger and Woody Allen.

    Anyway, tonight I saw that the author of this “highly regarded” new biography is someone named Bailey who used to teach 12 and 13 yr olds English at a fancy school in New Orleans. And while he was teaching them he was making friends with them in ways that are … disturbing. But not illegal. He would remain friends through high school, and then when they turned 18, shazaam. He would make his move. All legal.

    Except one of them has accused him of rape. So now I guess he’s going to be on the same list as Roth, Salinger, and Allen.

  58. 58.

    L85NJGT

    The gummy multi-vitamins are much preferable to the traditional horse pills.

    I believe Garmin is still big in aeronautics, but is there some utility in a car unit that isn’t provided by a phone? Similarly, why do car manufacturers still put nav systems on the stereo unit?

  60. 60.

    JaySinWA

    @L85NJGT: Similarly, why do car manufacturers still put nav systems on the stereo unit?

    Because the markups are enormous?

    Lately I am seeing support for google drive links to factory stereo units. I bought a year or two too early. Mount my cellphone in a cd player mount.

  61. 61.

    NotMax

    @Amir Khalid

    they make your chewing noises drown out what you’re listening to

    Not something have ever encountered, including when occasionally munching pretzels during the weekly Zoom RPG session (its scheduling pushes my usual dinner prep time back by several hours).

    ;)

  64. 64.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @L85NJGT:

    I have a Garmin DriveSmart 65 that I like for its 7″ screen and the fact that my 2009 car does not have a dashboard display. I use Google Maps on my phone a lot in the car, but the Garmin is good for the gnarly high-speed interchanges around D.C. Also good for storing places of interest (e.g., restaurants to try) and favorite routes. Both have their advantages.

  65. 65.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @JaySinWA:

    Thanks, I was wondering. When I am traveling and have a rental car I use Google Maps and Android Auto from my cell phone to the car’s dashboard display. Works pretty well.

  66. 66.

    NotMax

    @NotMax

    Which could be taken to mean (a) my headbones don’t conduct sound well, (b) I’m a fathead or (c) both.

    Gum silent, gum deep.

    :)

  67. 67.

    L85NJGT

    I was looking at the 1984 house results, and wow, that map is gone. Democrats lost 16 seats including the Texas panhandle and SW Iowa. Trump carried those regions by 70-80%.

  71. 71.

    NotMax

    @L85NJGT

    Roadmap folding: a lost art.

    ;)

    Who knew?

    AAA still offers TripTiks, not only as a paper map through mail order and branch offices but online and on the mobile app. The app highlights AAA-diamond rated hotels and restaurants, directions, attractions and more, with information from AAA travel editors. It even lists current gas prices! Source

    More:

    Like many drivers, I’d come to rely on the Web, particularly Google, for maps and directions. I tried free sites such as MapQuest but never found them to be as reliable or offer in-depth information like AAA. Routes often turned out to be circuitous, and roads did not always connect where directions on those other sites said.

    I’ve found the opposite to be true with the AAA TripTik. And now so can you, without paying the membership fee, which is still affordable.…
    [snip]
    Note: AAA’s paper maps, tour books, customized paper TripTiks, hotel discounts and roadside assistance are still members-only benefits. The organization believes that as more and more Web users come to appreciate the value and reliability of the free AAA TripTik travel planner, they’ll decide to join the not-for-profit corporation, which will enable it to provide even deeper discounts and benefits to members. Source

  74. 74.

    burnspbesq

    Test-driving a VW id4 (electric compact SUV) later today. Not my first choice, but you can buy two of them, with enough left over to remodel a kitchen, for the price of my first choice.

  78. 78.

    Another Scott

    @burnspbesq: I saw one on the road for the first time yesterday (in Old Town Alexandria).  White with black trim.  Looked pretty handsome.  I’ve had my eye on the ID3, but not seriously yet…

    Good luck!

    Cheers,

    Scott.

  79. 79.

    Just One More Canuck

    I sometimes read John’s posts as a letter from a Jane Austen character

    “I must go, uncertain of my fate”

  82. 82.

    J R in WV

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: 

    anybody recommend a good liniment?

    Our Family Doc tells everyone to use Vick’s Vaporub, which has the ingredients the more expensive rubs list, for way less per dose.

    Also works for a cold if you rub it on your chest. Also on your feet at bedtime, and then put on heavy white cotton socks. Really! Works~!!~

  83. 83.

    karen marie

    @James E Powell: I have always had problems with Hullabaloo loading, on both my laptop and my tablet. I’ve inquired numerous times on twitter and never gotten a response.

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