Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about it’s history.”

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

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

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.

“woke” is the new caravan.

Come on, man.

Days Since JD Vance Insulted Women Across America: Zero

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Bark louder, little dog.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself. We’re allowed to grow past that.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

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

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Military / Monday Morning Open Thread: Memorial Day

Monday Morning Open Thread: Memorial Day

by | 100 Comments

This post is in: , ,


He’s good with loss. He’s had to be:

President Joe Biden marked his first Memorial Day weekend as commander in chief by honoring the nation’s sacrifices in a deeply personal manner as he paid tribute Sunday to those lost while remembering his late son Beau, a veteran who died six years ago to the day…

The death of his son from brain cancer at age 46 is ever-present for the elder Biden, with the loss defining so much of his worldview, dotting his speeches and stirring his empathy for others in pain.

The Memorial Day weekend, long an important moment for Biden, took on added poignancy this year as the president spoke frequently and emotionally of his own loss while expressing the gratitude of a nation for the sacrifices of others.

“I can’t thank you enough for the continued service for the country,” said Biden, addressing a crowd of Gold Star military families and other veterans in a ceremony at War Memorial Plaza in the shadow of the Delaware Memorial Bridge. “I know how much the loss hurts.”

“They’re the guardians of us and we’re the guardians of their legacy,” Biden said of those who served in the armed forces. “Despite all the pain, I know the pride you feel in the loved one you have lost.” …

Biden also underscored his recent decision to pull troops out of Afghanistan later this year, expressing gratitude to service members who took multiple tours of duty in America’s longest war.

He largely avoided the particulars of international affairs on Sunday, though he pledged to press Russia’s Vladimir Putin on human rights during their summit in Geneva next month and said that the moment was right to show the world, and namely China, that the United States was ready to lead again after four years of a largely inward-looking foreign policy under President Donald Trump.

“It’s time to remind everybody who we are,” he said.

Reader Interactions

100Comments

  2. 2.

    SiubhanDuinne

    As a cold rain fell

    Wait, POTUS went out in that? He wasn’t afraid the rain would mess up his hair? What kind of leadership do we have these days?

  4. 4.

    Amir Khalid

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Reading your comment, I found myself wondering if TFG sleeps in a hairnet — you know, like George Clooney’s character does in Oh Brother, Where Art Thou.

  7. 7.

    Baud

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    What kind of leadership do we have these days?

    I bet Biden even respects soldiers who have been captured.

    ETA: I am happy that all the non-GOP voting families who have lost people to war have a dignified commander in chief this year.

  8. 8.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Supreme court justice Stephen Breyer: Democrats must ‘get Republicans talking’

    The supreme court justice Stephen Breyer has told young Americans Democrats facing Republican intransigence, obstruction and outright attacks on democracy should “get ‘em talking”, in search of compromise and progress.

    Breyer was speaking to middle- and high-school students on Friday, in an event organised by the National Constitution Center.

    The same day, Republicans in the Senate deployed the filibuster, by which the minority can thwart the will of the majority, to block the establishment of a 9/11-style commission to investigate the attack on the US Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump on 6 January.

    Thomas Kean, who led the 9/11 panel, told the Guardian the Republican move was “democracy’s loss”.

    From the White House, Joe Biden faces Republican reluctance to engage on his plans for investment in infrastructure and the pandemic-battered economy. Amid concerted attacks on voting rights in Republican states, federal bills to protect such rights seem unlikely to pass the Senate.

    “You need that Republican’s support?” Breyer told the listening students. “Talk to them … You say, ‘What do you think? My friend, what do you think?’ Get ’em talking. Once they start talking eventually they’ll say something you agree with.”

    Who knew things could look so rosy inside Breyer’s ass.

  10. 10.

    OzarkHillbilly

    An everyday story of US healthcare – or how a visit to the ER can cost you $10,000

    The punchline:

    It wasn’t a blood clot. It wasn’t a broken bone, either. No one that night could figure out what it was, except maybe a rip in the tendon, although they were very thorough and drew blood to rule out the possibility of low platelets. I don’t know what lesson to extract from all this, either, other than something reassuring about consistency of character.

    Mainly, I’m aware, with weary resignation, that although the swelling has gone down and the foot is definitely on the mend, in other ways this is just the beginning. After an ultrasound, X-ray, blood test and patient transport all over New York’s premier hospital, I’m waiting for the inevitable $10,000 bill and the hours I will spend on the phone to contest it. It’s the story of American healthcare; the real pain starts now.

  17. 17.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    I’m shocked they managed to pull Breyer away from his “Matlock” reruns at the senior center.

  18. 18.

    sab

    @OzarkHillbilly: I think the air is too thin at the elevated intellectual heights he occupies.

    I saw an interview of Breyer where he was asked what book did he think was most important for understanding America ( very rough paraphrase of question on my part.) His answer : ” The Education of Henry Adams.”

  19. 19.

    Nicole

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    “You need that Republican’s support?” Breyer told the listening students. “Talk to them …  Once they start talking eventually they’ll say something you agree with.”

    If by “eventually” he means “on the Fourth of Never,” then sure.  Christ on a cracker, I’m so tired of being told it’s my responsibility to open up dialogue with white supremacists.

  20. 20.

    PST

    I never hear the expression “second childhood” these days, although it was common when I was young to describe a stage in the life of the old. Although I assume it was used for senile dementia, now that I’m retired, I find myself thinking of my current life as kind of a second childhood. I expect to spend much of today like yesterday and the day before knocking around the neighborhood on my bicycle. I’m not “working out” because I’m not trying to go fast or get fit. I have more errands to run on the bike than I did as a kid, like grocery shopping, but at least I don’t have to deliver any newspapers. Retirement doesn’t erase all the responsibilities of adult life, but I definitely feel childlike joy more often than I used to. I didn’t quite feel get it until the pandemic receded.

  21. 21.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Texas Democrats’ late-night walkout scuppers Republican efforts to restrict voting rights

    Texas Republican have failed in their efforts to push through one of the most restrictive voting measures in the US after Democrats walked out of the House at the last minute, leaving the bill languishing ahead of a midnight deadline.

    The exodus came at the instruction of Chris Turner, the House Democratic chairman, who told colleagues at 10.35pm to “take your key and leave the chamber discreetly”, referring to the key that locks the voting mechanism on their desks, the Washington Post reported.

    but of course,

    Governor Greg Abbott said the failure of the legislation was “deeply disappointing and concerning” but vowed to bring it back at a special session at an unspecified date.

  22. 22.

    Immanentize

    @raven: I love that clip. I just came by to see if you were here and to tell you I am thinking about your friend, Andy.

  31. 31.

    Immanentize

    @Baud: nothing like the passive voice to makes one feel welcome!

    I’ve got a ton of bad juju going on right now. FiL just died Saturday night, Mom’s losing her short term memory. Work burdens. You know, Mistakes were made.

    No doubt I will drop back in to chat in some while.

  34. 34.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Former health department employee, Rebekah Jones, granted official whistleblower status

    Rebekah Jones is officially a whistleblower under Florida law, the Office of the Inspector General told her attorneys Friday.

    Jones, who was responsible for building the COVID-19 data dashboard for the Florida Department of Health, was fired last year after raising concerns about “misleading data” being presented to the public, according to the complaint, which was reviewed by the Miami Herald.
    ………………………………….
    A letter from Inspector General Michael J. Bennett said Jones’ complaint demonstrates “reasonable cause to suspect that an employee or agent of an agency or independent contractor has violated any federal, state or local law, rule or regulation.”

    But but but,

    Weesam Khoury, communications director for the Department of Health, said the finding does “not indicate wrongdoing or that an agency has engaged in the alleged acts.”

    Added Taryn Fenske, the DeSantis administration’s communications director: “Whistleblower status doesn’t substantiate any claims. It simply provides confidentiality, and means someone made a complaint.”

  36. 36.

    Geminid

     

     

    @debbie: When he made his response to the pandemic, trump thought he could run a bluff on the American people. But he actually was running a bluff on the virus, and the virus held the high cards.

  38. 38.

    Immanentize

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Whistleblower status doesn’t substantiate any claims. It simply provides confidentiality, and means someone made a complaint.

    Arrest by the police does not substantiate any charges. It simply provides temporary government housing, and means maybe someone complained about something.

  39. 39.

    sanjeevs

    West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice is personally on the hook for nearly $700 million in loans his coal companies took out from now-defunct Greensill Capital, according to people familiar with the loans and documents described to The Wall Street Journal.

    Mr. Justice’s personal guarantee of the loans, which hasn’t been reported, puts financial pressure on the popular Republican governor. He is also dealing with unrelated lawsuits alleging parts of his sprawling network of coal companies breached payment contracts or failed to deliver coal.

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/west-virginia-gov-jim-justice-is-personally-liable-for-700-million-in-greensill-loans-11622462401?mod=hp_lead_pos2

    Everyone associated with Greensill seems to be a crook of some kind.

  40. 40.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Catholics, including members of the congregation at Westminster Cathedral, have questioned why the prime minister was able to be married in a Catholic church following his two previous divorces.

    Boris Johnson married Carrie Symonds at the cathedral in a ceremony with 30 friends and family on Saturday, planned in strict secrecy and reportedly carried out by Father Daniel Humphreys, who baptised their son Wilfred last year.

    Symonds, who will be taking Johnson’s name, has spoken publicly of her Catholic faith, while Johnson was baptised into Catholicism but renounced it for Anglicanism during his Eton schooldays, according to biographers.

    Catholic law, which does not recognise divorce, usually does not permit the remarriage of those whose former spouse, or spouses, are still alive. Johnson was divorced from his first wife, Allegra Mostyn-Owen, in 1993, and finalised his divorce from his second wife, Marina Wheeler, in November last year.

    Funny that as one who left the church at the age of 14, I know the answer:

    According to the papal biographer Austen Ivereigh, ………………… wrote on Twitter:

    “Boris’s two previous marriages (probably) lacked canonical form, that is, are not recognised in Catholic law. So he (probably) didn’t need an annulment. When the canonical form of marriage has not been observed and the marriage was not later validated in the Church, a simple administrative process is used to declare such marriages invalid in church.”

  41. 41.

    debbie

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I just saw a picture of BoJo with his bride. He was in profile (looking to his right). Surprisingly, he had combed his hair, but it’s clear he is developing a TFG combover.

  42. 42.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Breyer: “My friend, what do you think?”

    Republican: “I’m so glad you asked. The world is ruled by a pedophilic cabal of 7-dimensional beings, but the secret god emperor president is planning a storm that will spill their blood.”

    Breyer:

    Breyer: “Okay. What else do you think?”
    https://t.co/ho5kvfzdI9

    — southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) May 28, 2021

  46. 46.

    Immanentize

    Ok. Gotta get back at it.

    On this Memorial Day think about the young boys we tossed into the winds of war and remember the Union crushed the Rebs.

     

    Peace

    BY RUPERT BROOKE

    Now, God be thanked who has matched us with his hour,
          And caught our youth, and wakened us from sleeping!
    With hand made sure, clear eye, and sharpened power,
          To turn, as swimmers into cleanness leaping,
    Glad from a world grown old and cold and weary;
          Leave the sick hearts that honor could not move,
    And half-men, and their dirty songs and dreary,
          And all the little emptiness of love!
    Oh! we, who have known shame, we have found release there,
          Where there’s no ill, no grief, but sleep has mending,
                Naught broken save this body, lost but breath;
    Nothing to shake the laughing heart’s long peace there,
          But only agony, and that has ending;
                And the worst friend and enemy is but Death.

  48. 48.

    Geminid

    @OzarkHillbilly: This reminds me of how trump created the conditions for his failure, both in the pandemic and in general. Lazy narcissist that he was, trump made a staff that catered to his lazyness, and that told him what he wanted to hear. A James Baker or a John Sununu might have made trump deal, but trump could not tolerate a chief of staff who was not a lackey. trump repelled competence, and was instead a trash magnet.

  49. 49.

    sab

    @OzarkHillbilly: Well that’s a relief. I had been wondering how to annul my first marriage that the Catholic Church didn’t even recognize as valid.

    They did annul my husband’s previous marriage despite the existence of three teenage children. The children were not amused.

    ETA Actually they were amused. They haven’t been back in church since for anything except weddings and funerals.

  53. 53.

    trnc

    @OzarkHillbilly: My question for Breyer would be the same as I would ask diner obsessed media figures – after a long and well documented history of democrats compromising with republicans, at what point should liberals expect republicans to start asking us what we think?

  54. 54.

    Mike in NC

    No place to eat breakfast here in Fort Myers Beach, so I strolled about half a mile to the nearest 7-11. First I threw on a ‘US Navy’ t-shirt and bet my wife $50 that I will get zero expressions of “Thank you for your service” as we wind our long way back home tonight. Possibly the easiest bet I ever made?

  56. 56.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @OzarkHillbilly: Breyer has not lived in the real world for a long, long time. I’ve seen him speak at various conferences over the years. Nice enough guy. Comes across as smart, and he may well be. Lots of wordy pablum, though. He never actually says anything useful. One talk I attended was during the time that McTurtle was blocking the Garland nomination. This was several months in and it was clear to everyone who took an interest that this was tantamount to a coup. Similar to the dreck quoted here, Breyer bromides did not go down well with the well-informed audience.

  58. 58.

    trnc

    @OzarkHillbilly: Added Taryn Fenske, the DeSantis administration’s communications director: “Whistleblower status doesn’t substantiate any claims. It simply provides confidentiality, and means someone made a complaint.”

    That’s a non-sequitur, right? Isn’t the point of granting official whistleblower status to demonstrate that she should not have been fired or had legal action taken against her? Doesn’t it also technically mean some legal problems for DeSantis for the administration’s persecution of her?

  61. 61.

    germy

    What Can We Expect From the Pentagon’s UFO Report?

    One of the many curiosities packed into the $2.3 billion omnibus spending and coronavirus-relief package passed by Congress in December was a stipulation requiring the Department of Defense and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to deliver an unclassified report on unidentified flying objects to Congress within six months, compiling what the government knows about about UFOs rocketing around over American airspace.

    The report — which comes after a slow, four-year drip of reporting and government admissions on UFO sightings — could be delivered to Congress as early as June 1. Regardless of what’s in it, the release will be the most direct and substantive U.S. government account of what officials call unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) ever made public. Below is a guide for those who want to believe — or at least understand what to expect from the Pentagon’s unprecedented act of transparency.

    https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/pentagon-ufo-report-what-we-know.html

  65. 65.

    Ken

    I find today’s Google Doodle for Memorial Day strangely affecting.  I am curious to see if it changes over the course of the day.

  66. 66.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Immanentize:

    Glad to see you back amongst the jackals!

    ETA: And a few comments later, I saw the sad news about your father-in-law and your mom. I’m so sorry.

  68. 68.

    Ken

    @germy: $2.3 billion omnibus spending and coronavirus-relief package passed by Congress in December

    I had the impression that the December COVID relief package was more than $7.00 per US citizen. Was it really that bad

    As for the UFO report, I predict that it will be dismissed as another coverup.  Well, unless it starts with “Yes, your crazy uncle has been right all along, the US government has been in contact with aliens for over fifty years and Men In Black was practically a documentary.”

  72. 72.

    Barbara

    @Immanentize: So sorry about your FIL and your mom as well. It’s very hard to know what to wish for when it comes to aging but I hope you can find some peace and comfort soon.

  74. 74.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Prehistoric carvings of red deer found in Scottish neolithic tomb

    The deer were found by Hamish Fenton, an amateur archaeologist from Oxfordshire who was visiting the area, and who was exploring Dunchraigaig cairn, a bronze age burial mound, one evening.

    After deciding to explore a burial cist on the side of the cairn, he slid inside with a torch. An archaeology graduate from Bournemouth university, Fenton spotted the delicate and unusual markings on the capstone, or cover, of the chamber.

    “As I shone the torch around, I noticed a pattern on the underside of the roof slab which didn’t appear to be natural markings in the rock. I could see that I was looking at a deer stag upside down, and as I continued looking around, more animals appeared on the rock,” he said.

    “This was a completely amazing and unexpected find and, to me, discoveries like this are the real treasure of archaeology, helping to reshape our understanding of the past.”

  80. 80.

    MisterForkbeard

    Since it’s an OT: One of my people that works for me forgot the time difference and woke me up at 3am to tell me about an employee giving her 4 weeks notice. I haven’t been able to get back to sleep, and I wasn’t able to fall asleep until 1am or so anyway.

    Gonna be a long, crabby memorial day.

  82. 82.

    debbie

    @germy:

    Ha! I still remember the first time I saw Steve Martin. It was on the Mike Douglas show. All he had was the arrow through the head and balloon toys. Mike Douglas’s face was fighting with his brain which was shrieking WTF?

  83. 83.

    sdhays

    @OzarkHillbilly: When I lived in Hong Kong over ten years ago, there were ongoing, daily protests in key tourist areas, similar to what you might see on any given day in front of the White House, protesting the atrocities committed by the CCP against practitioners of Falun Gong.

    Hong Kong used to be the only place in China where you could actually speak of June 4 or anything bad about the CCP*, but of course now that’s over and Hong Kong is just another Chinese city.

    * Excepting Taiwan, which, whatever being a part of “One China” may mean, is not and never has been a part of the People’s Republic of China.

  86. 86.

    Tenar Arha

    @germy:

    @debbie:

    Wow, that is kinda amazing, & means my earliest  understanding of sketch comedy, before I could even stay up late enough for SNL, was partly built by Steve Martin. Bc I remember the Smothers Brothers probably from their 1975 show. And those bits with the arrow & King Tut were everywhere when I was a kid, probably mostly via teens acting them out to their younger siblings & cousins.

  89. 89.

    Villago Delenda Est

    I would bet the farm that OHJB did not fidget like a bored three-year old while paying respects at Arlington.

  91. 91.

    Gvg

    Ok Westminster Cathedral is Catholic and relatively new, Westminster ABBEY is the Anglican one the royals use.

    Boris converted to Anglican when he was in school, the new wife is Catholic, so I suspect the 2 prior wives weren’t and therefore he isn’t divorced or even previously married under Catholic law. No special privilege is involved as I have known of ordinary people who this applied to.

  96. 96.

    Just Chuck

    Never cared a lot for Steve Martin’s comedy act.  He is one hell of a banjo player though.

  97. 97.

    Just Chuck

    @Villago Delenda Est: Ugh, probably my least favorite Dylan cover ever.  Probably because I actually like Dylan’s version, unlike, say, the original All Along the Watchtower

  99. 99.

    Captain C

    @OzarkHillbilly: Do Republicans have any agency here? Do they have to do anything other than hate or stonewall?  Otherwise, this is abuser talk, or abuser-enabler talk.

  100. 100.

    Captain C

    @Nicole: At their current rate, that’s more likely to be “ok, I agree. I’m an irredeemable fascist asshole. Since I can’t bring myself to start doing the right thing, I’m going to go do the honorable thing.”

Comments are closed.