Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Putin dreamed of ending NATO, and now it’s Finnish-ed.

I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself.

We still have time to mess this up!

A consequence of cucumbers

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

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

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

“woke” is the new caravan.

People are complicated. Love is not.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

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

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Bad news for Ron DeSantis is great news for America.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

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

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread

Open Thread

by | 129 Comments

This post is in: 

I need an antidote to what feels like all the negative and infuriating political news I have seen over the past week.

This first picture makes me feel better; every day I am grateful for these two senators, and not just because they got us the majority.


It’s clear that Jon Ossoff did more in one week than any Republican senator has done in one year.

Take 2 minutes and 48 seconds to watch the video.

Totally open thread.

Reader Interactions

129Comments

  2. 2.

    frosty

    @raven: Lucky you. I’ve got one good one, so I’ll be happy with that. We’ll see what happens in 2022.

    2nd. Yo.

  4. 4.

    Another Scott

    That’s a great little video.  I hope other senators and representatives are doing similar things – it’s important that people see what they’re doing and how it matters.

    Thanks.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  5. 5.

    WaterGirl

    PSA #1:

    In case anyone missed it, the Zoom with FOUR DIRECTIONS has been set for tomorrow (Wednesday) at 7:30 blog time.  Send me an email to RSVP and get the link.

  7. 7.

    WaterGirl

    PSA #2:

    Zergnet ads were turned back on yesterday.  On Wednesday the zergnet ads will be turned off, and we will be turning on a different kind of ad as part of the test.  Please take note of how the site behaves with which ads, and let us know.

  10. 10.

    laura

    Spouse and I are celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary today and we’re at a triple A game having a beer and dollar hot dog. The Sacramento River Cats are getting a beatdown from the Reno Aces, but we are happy to be outside on a lovely day together – and a bunch of friends showed up too.

    I still love DS – That’s my story, I’m sticking to it.

  12. 12.

    raven

    @Another Scott: Well, the battery plant is not without it’s problems

     

    A FOX 5 I-Team investigation has raised questions over who’s currently benefiting from a $2.6 billion factory under construction in Jackson County.

    Korean-owned SK Innovation chose Georgia after receiving one of the biggest tax relief packages our state has ever awarded: around $300 million in tax abatements and grants.

    SK Battery America is building what will eventually be a $2.6 billion factory that will employ 2600 workers.

    Sign up for FOX 5 email alerts

    Jackson County donated the land for the plant. SK Battery America is a subsidiary of SKI.

    When it’s finished in 2022, SK Battery America promised 2,600 people will eventually be hired to build batteries for electric cars.

    But that’s when it’s finished.

    “Georgians have gotten the shaft over the SKI battery plant,” complained David Cagle with the Georgia Local Union 72 of plumbers, pipefitters, and HVACR technicians.

    Cagle said when his people tried applying for the construction jobs to build the plant itself, they were told nothing was available.

    “We’ve got about 500 people out of work right now who could come up here and be on this job and making a living,” he said. “Instead, the Koreans are making a living.”

  17. 17.

    danielx

    Had to do an alcohol-related intervention with one of my oldest friends yesterday, which was about as unpleasant and probably futile as you can guess.

  18. 18.

    dmsilev

    Prosecutor in Trump criminal probe convenes grand jury to hear evidence, weigh potential charges

    Manhattan’s district attorney has convened the grand jury that is expected to decide whether to indict former president Donald Trump, other executives at his company or the business itself should prosecutors present the panel with criminal charges, according to two people familiar with the development.
    The panel was convened recently and will sit three days a week for six months. It is likely to hear several matters — not just the Trump case ­— during the duration of its term, which is longer than a traditional New York state grand-jury assignment, these people said. Like others, they spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. Generally, special grand juries such as this one are convened to participate in long-term matters rather than to hear evidence of crimes charged routinely.
    The move indicates that District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr.’s investigation of the former president and his business has reached an advanced stage after more than two years. It suggests, too, that Vance believes he has found evidence of a crime — if not by Trump then by someone potentially close to him or by his company

    Edit: I think we’re a bad influence on the Washington Post commentariat. Current most-liked comment:

    Cat Lady 2020
    Tick tock motherf*cker.

  19. 19.

    raven

    @Ken: The had to close the KIA plant in West Point for a couple of days because of a lack of chips.

  20. 20.

    Elizabelle

    @WaterGirl:   I will send you an email!  Might even put on makeup.  Nah.

    Thank you for the positive open thread.  We need one, every single day.  Some of us don’t want masters’ degrees in what a-holes the Republicans be.  Keep our spirits up, and keep us informed.

  21. 21.

    SiubhanDuinne

    So proud to have Ossoff and Warnock representing Georgia in the Senate, and women like McBath, Bourdeaux, and Williams in the House (others, too). They’re not all like Jody Hice and MTG and that dude who said 1/6 was nothing more sinister than tourists visiting the Capitol.

  22. 22.

    Old School

    I spotted two alligators in the video.  But maybe it was the same one twice.

  32. 32.

    pajaro

    Yeah, yay on both of them. They ran a fantastic campaign, and at important points, they each had each other’s backs.

  34. 34.

    cope

    Finally got together with two of the guys I taught with today, one of whom is retired, the other has a long fifteen years to go. We made these plans last week for yesterday but I had (temporarily) forgotten yesterday was our wedding anniversary so we amended our plans to today.

    A scenic place in a marina on the St. John’s River. Fish were jumping’, turtles were turtling but saw no gators. Almost everything we wanted was out…”a freezer broke down…truck couldn’t fit into loading bay…thing, thing, thing…”.  And guess what? We didn’t care.  It had been over fifteen months since our last live meeting and it was bliss.

    I brought home a sandwich and onion rings for mrs. cope and chicken nuggets for the pup. For the time being, all is well in copeland.

  35. 35.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    Shorter WaPo: Vance to make Dump walk the plank

  36. 36.

    raven

    Rand got a message

    In an outlandish turn of events, Paul linked Marx’s dismissive social media barb to the potentially dangerous package, which according to Fox News contained an image of the senator in a neck brace, wearing a cast, using a crutch and with a gun to his head.

    At the bottom of the picture was the caption: “I’ll finish what your neighbor started, you motherfucker.”

  38. 38.

    hitchhiker

    As some of you might remember, mr hitchhiker and I became grandparents on the day of the Capitol Riot. (Our younger daughter delivered brother/sister twins that morning.) They’ll be five months old soon, and are in the phase of life that involves discovering how to connect intent (sucking my fingers feels good and I want to do it) with execution (this movement brings my hand to my mouth, every time!) They’ve learned to laugh. Their crying now comes with actual tears. They go down for naps wide awake without complaint. I love them.

    They’re a ferry ride away. We go to spend the day with them once a week, bringing various food and whatnot. I like to make giant batches of cookies. Mr h is into elaborate breakfast wraps meant to give the young parents grab-and-go breakfast for days when they’re too addled to cook.

    So far, thanks to WA state’s family leave policy, one of them is able to stay home with the babies on every weekday. He works 3 days, she works 2, and that will last for almost the first full year if they want it to. Childcare for infant twins is not cheap, and since neither of them are in high-salary jobs, this really, really matters.

    Our daughter apparently possesses superhuman powers, because she’s successfully nursing them both and plans to keep that up at least another month, and maybe right through their first year. It was rough going for awhile, but now they’re all on cruise with it.

    I think that without these small humans to keep me in a more-or-less continuous state of wonder and gratitude, the time since the riot would have felt almost intolerable … I do keep up with news, but it’s rare that it overwhelms me the way it was especially in the first trump years.

    Another time I’ll tell you the saga of our older daughter’s attempt to become a mom. It’s astonishing to us all, but she is now expecting a son in December … which is to say I get to keep living this dream for some time to come.

    That’s my antidote!

  39. 39.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    Reuters: U.S. SENATE VOTES 51-48 TO CONFIRM KRISTEN CLARKE TO LEAD THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT'S CIVIL RIGHTS DIVISION— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) May 25, 2021

    First Black woman to lead DOJ’s Civil Rights division. As Uncle Joe would say, “this is a big fucking deal”

  40. 40.

    artem1s

    The DNC should air these in surrounding states like for instance, SC.  What has Lindsey been doing for his constituents for the last few months? What has he been doing for the last 5 years besides sticking his nose up TFG’s butt?

  44. 44.

    Baud

    @raven:

    Wherever you go
    Whatever you do
    I will be right here waiting for you
    Whatever it takes
    Or how my heart breaks
    I will be right here waiting for you

  47. 47.

    sdhays

    @Ken: I don’t know anything about this project, but I’d easily bet they’ll get closer to 2600 jobs than Scott Walker’s Foxconn boondoggle will ever get to their promised targets. I don’t even remember what those targets were, just that the state was paying over $100k per very, very dubious job.

    Batteries are a growth business and a South Korean manufacturer having factories in the US at least sounds plausible, considering a possible desire to sell to US automobile manufacturers. The Foxconn deal never sounded anything more than a scam to me.

  54. 54.

    AliceBlue

    @Steve in the ATL: Since you’re here, I have some questions about the “audit” of the Fulton County mail-in ballots.  Shouldn’t that case have been filed in Fulton County?  What authority does a Henry County judge have over Fulton County election officials?  Why does this group have any standing to sue?

  57. 57.

    Ruckus

    @hitchhiker:

    One thing I’ve missed a bit is having no kids/grandkids. Just didn’t work out for me and it took becoming a geezer for me to really realize what was missing. Oh well it’s water under that bridge.

    Enjoy them, they grow fast.

  60. 60.

    Steve in the ATL

    @AliceBlue: I wish I could answer that question. No idea how a Henry county court has venue, unless there is some election law I know nothing about.

    Also makes me mad to hear that asshole Raffensperger disparage Fulton county. He’s a long time resident of it and he knows damn well that it’s the premier county in Georgia and has more integrity, and more visibility, than any other in this state.

  61. 61.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Baud: disappointing and surprising, since Angles, Saxons, and the royal family are all German!

  63. 63.

    Mary G

    Watch until the end to see why these dogs are the #BeastOfTheDay. https://t.co/h2YrArn1X9— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) May 15, 2021

    Also, sorry for the politics, but this seems like a good development:

    Rare Manchin/Sinema joint statement: "We implore our Senate Republican colleagues to work with us to find a path forward on a commission to examine the events of January 6th.”— Burgess Everett (@burgessev) May 25, 2021

  65. 65.

    Kayla Rudbek

    And I’m other good news, as I was going through all the mail and bills from my health insurance company, I found out that I am authorized for proton treatment after all. This will reduce the risk to my heart and lungs, potentially decrease the side effects of radiation (I think that I would get a lower dose overall if I recall correctly) and also may reduce my treatment time.

    And the plastic surgeon said today at my appointment that I was healing well. He estimated about another two weeks before I can start jogging and bicycling again. I may start with the tandem bike first.

  69. 69.

    jl

    ”  Jon Ossoff did more in one week than any Republican senator has done in one year. ”

    Quite offensive the the reputation of the Greatest Deliberative Body in The World (TM).

    They might ask him to apologize or risk an ethics investigation or censure.

  70. 70.

    bemused senior

    @hitchhiker: my twin grandchildren are five and a half now. They live with me and have made the pandemic and my ongoing cancer treatment bearable. Boy and girl also. I remember the non-stop nursing phase!

  72. 72.

    raven

    So people got all pissy when I posted an article about my friends because Nancy got shorted. Here’s a better article about two swell people.

     

    While only native to Athens since 2006, Nancy and Charlie have each fully embraced what it means to be a local Athenian. They make their home on Pulaski Street, and you’ve likely heard wonderful melodies drifting down through Pulaskiville, as they call it, from their front porch sessions. Nancy and Charlie are a uniquely wonderful pair who came to Athens to visit first as a new couple in hopes of gaining a few weeks of creative solitude, only to return 6 months later, married, with a house on Pulaski waiting for them. Charlie, a native Georgian, returned to his Southern roots, and this time brought along with him his Pacific Northwestern wife – Nancy. Together, they spend their days writing, singing, and playing music – knee-to-knee – for the neighborhood to hear. This is their story.

  74. 74.

    burnspbesq

    There are a number of states that come close, but nobody has worse Senators than us: Cornyn and Cruz.

  75. 75.

    Gin & Tonic

    Two good senators up here in RI too.

    It’s been dry, dry, dry this spring, but the blue skies have been real nice with the new convertible.

  79. 79.

    Mike in NC

    Tonight on Frontline, PBS will look at what police reforms have been implemented in the year since George Floyd was murdered.

  80. 80.

    laura

    @WaterGirl: spouse’s initials.

     

    @raven: yes, hes joining us when we are having the fancy celebration luncheon together tomorrow because they were closed today – hence the ballgame. I’ll send you a photo!

  82. 82.

    zhena gogolia

    @Jeffro:

    Ugh, yeah, Kentucky.

    So happy to have Murphy and Blumenthal. We suffered with f-ing Lieberman for years.

  83. 83.

    hitchhiker

    @bemused senior:

    Five and a half! How marvelous for you that they’re close enough to be part of everything.

    I have a brother who is 9 years younger than me, and he married a woman about 15 years younger than himself. They have four kids, widely spaced out.

    Our mom spent the last 10 years or so of her very long life in his house, happily surrounded by growing grandchildren to the end. She told me once that if the noise and chaos got annoying, she’d just remove her hearing aids and read for a while.

    I am still (hopefully) a decade or two away from being unable to live on my own, but I find myself thinking of her and being glad it worked out that way. There’s nothing quite like watching babies turn into children.

  85. 85.

    NotMax

    FYI. Gonna be a while yet; getting the ball rolling a positive development.

    Offshore wind is headed west. The Biden administration announced today that it will open up parts of the Pacific coast to commercial-scale offshore renewable energy development for the first time. The geography of the West Coast poses huge technical challenges for wind energy. But rising to meet those challenges is a big opportunity for both President Joe Biden and California Governor Gavin Newsom to meet their clean energy goals.
    [snip]
    The Department of Energy says that it has funneled more than $100 million into moving floating offshore wind technology forward. There are only a handful of floating turbines in operation today, and no commercial-scale wind farms yet anywhere in the world.

    The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management still needs to officially designate the areas off the California coast as Wind Energy Areas for development and complete an environmental analysis. The plan is to auction off leases for the area to developers in mid-2022. It’s also working with the Department of Defense to make sure the projects don’t interfere with its ongoing “testing, training, and operations” off California’s coast. Source

  88. 88.

    J R in WV

    @WaterGirl: ​
     

    Lots of anniversaries going on…

    We went out for dinner for the first time since fall of 2019 last week… it was our 50th wedding anniversary. Then last Saturday we went next door to eat dinner and drink a whole lot with neighbors. Wonderful, Hugs, home made pizza and champagne.

    Since we only had to drive down their driveway to our driveway, then up our driveway, we felt like we could drink ALL the wine.

    Whooot.

    And now a grand jury is hearing evidence in re The Trump Org… Whoooot!

  93. 93.

    NotBob

    Apropos of nothing, getting my 1st Astra-Zeneca (sp?) Covid jab today – (60 y/o with liver cancer living in Sydney)

    Hope the blood clots don’t bite !

  94. 94.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    The place we took the girls for grooming(Pooch Pawlor) just sent me a text that I have an appointment on Friday, I know I look a bit shaggy and all…

    Sent a text to Madame about it, she has an appointment for Mabel.

  95. 95.

    Jeffro

    @PaulWartenberg: yes, great news, isn’t it?  ABOUT TIME

    Decades of well-documented multigenerational tax fraud and <crickets>

    Two dozen sexual assault charges <crickets>

    etc etc etc

    But great news!

  97. 97.

    cckids

    @raven: I love their approach to music – they wanted to learn, so just picked up instruments and by god learned it; trial and error was fine, just enjoying the process and earning mastery along the way. It’s a sad truth of too many of our lives that, if we aren’t prodigies right away, we quit/aren’t encouraged to continue. Good on them!

  107. 107.

    Ken

    @raven: Gulf Oil Platform

    You sure about that?  The story says it’s an abandoned well 18 miles south of Patterson, and although admittedly the coastline of southern Louisiana is vague and getting more so, that would put it inland.

  114. 114.

    Anoniminous

    @artem1s:

    Just another part of South Carolina’s ever-continuing 161 year quest to prove the state isn’t too large for an insane asylum.

  120. 120.

    narya

    My parents will celebrate their 65th anniversary tomorrow. My mom was proposing leftovers (from several meals) for dinner–I’m pushing back. At least I’ll use up the lemons I brought to make a lemon pound cake recipe my mom wants to try.

  124. 124.

    NotMax

    Well, that’s passing odd. Printed on a product’s shipping carton received today, along with the usual company name and the model and item description, is the following:

    “The contents are subject to change without prior notice.”

    Maybe if I wait for a time before opening it will change into something even better.

    ;)

  125. 125.

    WaterGirl

    @debbie: If those were BJ bees, some days we would work together to get the top off, some days we would sting one another until we all dropped, and some days we would start to open the top and get distracted.

  126. 126.

    cckids

    @MisterForkbeard:

    Kentucky has McConnell and Paul.

    They’re equally awful but in the different ways.

    Kentucky “wins” because of the greater overall harm caused by McConnell. Rand Paul = Cruz for overall scumbagginess and punchability.

  127. 127.

    J R in WV

    @zhena gogolia: ​
     
    Thanks.

    They were both newspaper people, swell in so many ways.

    After they retired and the family newspaper business was sold they spent a lot of time together on the Q E II so they could dance together to a good jazz band every evening while cruising around the world…

    Dad had a closet full of tux jackets while mom had silk gowns. Not my thing, but they loved it.

  128. 128.

    MontyTheClipArtMongoose

    lucky this isn’t 538. house style requires the sr senator from georgia to be identified as terrible candidate jon ossoff.

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