I hope you all are well, I am having a traditional Easter dinner of spicy shrimp with noodles, and playing warcrack, LIKE GOD INTENDED.
Here is your annual picture of the always lovely Irie:
I miss him.
by John Cole| 48 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads
I hope you all are well, I am having a traditional Easter dinner of spicy shrimp with noodles, and playing warcrack, LIKE GOD INTENDED.
Here is your annual picture of the always lovely Irie:
I miss him.
by $8 blue check mistermix| 119 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads
Ron Desantis banning vaccine passports because it was an idea from a Democrat is getting some attention (I wrote about his previous dumb statements, before the ban, here). The more I think about it, and the more I look at research that shows that the mRNA vaccines are probably 100% effective at preventing death and hospitalization, maybe even from variants, the less I think passport opposition matters.
In addition to the high probability that corporations will bow to public pressure and use some kind of passport at mass events and for travel, by late Summer everyone who wants to be vaccinated will be. Then, as long as variants don’t cause problems, the only people engaging in risky public behavior will be the unvaccinated. At that point, who cares? These dead-enders can fuck around and find out if being a dead-ender will ultimately leave them dead.
I had to run to the store this morning to get a couple of items and saw an unusual sight for these parts: someone shopping without a mask. It was remarkable because it was extremely rare. This person looked distinctly uncomfortable as they strolled around in their camo coveralls, because everyone else at the store was shooting them dirty looks. The treatment this person was receiving will be what dead-enders can expect in their interactions with the healthcare system, at a concert or at an airport. Nobody will give a a mouse fart worth of attention to their precious freedoms. The only sympathy offered will be in Q enclaves or on Fox. The rest of us will simply accept (at best) their self-imposed isolation or (at worst) their illness and death, as the price they pay for not getting a goddam shot. And isn’t it about time that the people who don’t want to pay taxes, who want to walk around without a mask and infect us, and who want to suck up valuable hospital resources for avoidable illness, pay some price for their behavior?
Edited to add: Sorry, wrote the post and got called away before I noticed that Betty had posted something below. Also, two things in response to comments: 1) I am taking an optimistic view that these new vaccines are remarkably effective even against variants (“effective” = no hospitalization or deaths), so dead-enders circulating variants isn’t a big concern to the vaccinated (and, yes, I get it that there might be some super-variant created, but that’s gonna happen with or without dead-enders because huge swaths of the rest of the world aren’t getting vaccinated anytime soon). 2) By “everyone” getting vaccinated, I mean everyone, kids included. To date, the only contra-indication to the vaccine is previous allergic reaction to COVID vaccine and they’re already starting trials for 12 year-olds, and I’m assuming they’ll do it for younger kids soon.
This post is in: Butter Lamb, Open Threads
This year’s edition:
I dropped it off yesterday for my mother-in-law, who is now fully vaccinated but still being careful about gatherings because she’s a kind person who is not an idiot. She’s having Easter dinner with other fully vaccinated friends in her quarantine pod.
When I stopped by, we talked about how this is our second pandemic Easter. Last year, I wore gloves to pick up the sanitized cooler that contained her butter lamb, and I left it and a Cloroxed package of paper towels at the end of her driveway. We waved and shouted “love you!” from a distance before I drove away.
Yesterday, we had an outdoor conversation, and MIL expressed hope that next Easter, we can have the family all together again. I hope so too. But I think my husband will be nostalgic for pandemic-related restrictions on socializing and get-togethers for the rest of his life. He dreads big holidays.
Happy Easter to all who celebrate it!
PS: If you’re wondering what a butter lamb is, there’s an explanation (and tutorial) here.
This post is in: Garden Chats
Monkeys and meerkats at London Zoo enjoy the annual Easter egg hunt pic.twitter.com/XqjgnnD4bd
— Reuters (@Reuters) April 2, 2021
Eggs, I was told, are connected to Easter because in northern temperate climes, it’s a cause for spring jubilation when lengthening days (and emerging greenery / insects) mean the hens start laying again.
From our own ever-reliable, omni-gifted Ozark Hillbilly:
A few pics, nothing poetical, not always pretty, but hopeful.
***********
Looking forward to more photos, as y’all get outside and get inspired!
What’s going on in your garden(s), this week?
Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Happy EasterPost + Comments (87)
This post is in: COVID-19 Coronavirus, Foreign Affairs
Dolly gets a (second) dose of her own medicine.
Thank you Dr. Naji Abumrad, Andrea Calhoun and Heather O'Dell of @VUMChealth ?? pic.twitter.com/IDez2DnkzX
— Dolly Parton (@DollyParton) April 2, 2021
COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Saturday / Sunday, April 3-4Post + Comments (40)
This post is in: Open Threads, Republican Venality, Show Us on the Doll Where the Invisible Hand Touched You, Trump Crime Cartel, Media Mudlarks
buy the ticket, ride the ride https://t.co/pIsLnsNnGc
— kilgore trout, a student of martial arts (@KT_So_It_Goes) April 4, 2021
A reassuring indicator that The Former Guy is truly Former — The NYTimes is now willing to tell us that he (and his party) would happily steal the pennies off a corpse’s eyes:
… Facing a cash crunch and getting badly outspent by the Democrats, the campaign had begun last September to set up recurring donations by default for online donors, for every week until the election.
Contributors had to wade through a fine-print disclaimer and manually uncheck a box to opt out.
As the election neared, the Trump team made that disclaimer increasingly opaque, an investigation by The New York Times showed. It introduced a second prechecked box, known internally as a “money bomb,” that doubled a person’s contribution. Eventually its solicitations featured lines of text in bold and capital letters that overwhelmed the opt-out language.
The tactic ensnared scores of unsuspecting Trump loyalists — retirees, military veterans, nurses and even experienced political operatives. Soon, banks and credit card companies were inundated with fraud complaints from the president’s own supporters about donations they had not intended to make, sometimes for thousands of dollars…
The sheer magnitude of the money involved is staggering for politics. In the final two and a half months of 2020, the Trump campaign, the Republican National Committee and their shared accounts issued more than 530,000 refunds worth $64.3 million to online donors. All campaigns make refunds for various reasons, including to people who give more than the legal limit. But the sum the Trump operation refunded dwarfed that of Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s campaign and his equivalent Democratic committees, which made 37,000 online refunds totaling $5.6 million in that time.
The recurring donations swelled Mr. Trump’s treasury in September and October, just as his finances were deteriorating. He was then able to use tens of millions of dollars he raised after the election, under the guise of fighting his unfounded fraud claims, to help cover the refunds he owed…
Late Night GOP Venality Open Thread: Grifters Gonna GriftPost + Comments (36)
This post is in: Gun nuts, gun safety
This came across my twitter feed this morning:
extremely psycho shit thanks pic.twitter.com/E6Lfbe9lE6
— LB™️ “???? ?????” ? (@LydiaBurrell) April 3, 2021
WTF IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE?
I do not understand it. I do not understand the need to have a gun everywhere you go, I do not understand how they look at them as both toys and the underpinning of their masculinity and a part of who they are, none of it.
Maybe it is because I was in the Army and they were just tools and most of the time nuisances. Since I got out of the army, in the twenty years since, I have been around guns twice. Once I went to a range with a buddy who was big into guns, and was bored out of my mind. The second time I was at a house party and the host pulled out a gun to show me when he was liquored at like 1 am and I freaked the fuck out on him “Put that fucking thing away you fucking asshole, left the party, and never had anything to do with him again.
That’s it. So when I see all these sad clowns with their guns protection or to “fight the gubmint,” it just makes me laugh/cry. Anyone who thinks their fucking ar-15 or collection of pistols is gonna protect them from the government has never seen a fucking tank or infantry squad operate.