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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

Do we throw up our hands or do we roll up our sleeves? (hint, door #2)

We can’t confuse what’s necessary to win elections with the policies that we want to implement when we do.

Not loving this new fraud based economy.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

All hail the time of the bunny!

When I was faster i was always behind.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

You cannot shame the shameless.

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

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

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

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

When we show up, we win.

Let me file that under fuck it.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Radicalized white males who support Trump are pitching a tent in the abyss.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

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You are here: Home / Politics / Biden Administration in Action / TGIF Open Thread

TGIF Open Thread

by Anne Laurie|  June 4, 20213:33 pm| 66 Comments

This post is in: Biden Administration in Action, Open Threads, President Biden, Proud to Be A Democrat

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First Lady Jill Biden marked her 70th birthday with a quiet bike ride down Gordon's Pond Trail, which was not closed to the public according to Secret Service, so onlookers who passed the Bidens by wished her well. https://t.co/A2Br5Q5wbK pic.twitter.com/vvcaykRsJh

— ABC News (@ABC) June 3, 2021

Because we need some lighter news.

Thank you, HumboldtBlue:

‘Beyond falling virus numbers? Beyond getting a pandemic under control?’ — Jen Psaki after a reporter questioned Pres. Biden's record 'beyond falling virus numbers' pic.twitter.com/cOGnK6i88i

— NowThis (@nowthisnews) June 4, 2021

Because of our vaccination program and our economic response — America is headed into a summer dramatically different from last year’s.

A summer of freedom.
A summer of joy.
A summer of get-togethers and celebrations.

— President Biden (@POTUS) June 3, 2021

Biden wants to extend pre-school to 3-4 years old and two years of free community college. Those would be the extra 4 years. https://t.co/5BM2Eu0ef7

— Marquise. (@MarquiseDavon) June 2, 2021

stating something that is empirically true is literally the opposite of trumpian. be good at your job. be not bad at your job. https://t.co/E0WSFsf1Q3

— World Famous Art Thief (@CalmSporting) June 4, 2021

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Next Post: Tony Jay Guest Post: UK Coronavirus / Media Politics, Pt. II »

Reader Interactions

66Comments

  1. 1.

    zhena gogolia

    June 4, 2021 at 3:43 pm

    I love your posts!

  2. 2.

    Spanky

    June 4, 2021 at 3:45 pm

    I hope that “free community college” also means “free technical school”, because a lot of people are more suited to skilled handiwork than the white collar kind.

  3. 3.

    Old School

    June 4, 2021 at 3:46 pm

    TGIF!

  4. 4.

    HumboldtBlue

    June 4, 2021 at 3:48 pm

    @Spanky: ​ 
    It will up here because College of the Redwoods expanded its vo-tech classes 8-10 years ago to fill that niche of skilled labor. Those classes are as much a part of the school as English and math.

  5. 5.

    Ken

    June 4, 2021 at 3:50 pm

    Tonight for the first time in 15 months, I’m getting together with friends to play board games.  There’s a Biden accomplishment.

    (I don’t think I’ll have a panic attack and run screaming from the room.)

  6. 6.

    HumboldtBlue

    June 4, 2021 at 3:52 pm

    @Ken: ​ 
    I hung out with my friends on Sunday, barbecued, watched NBA playoffs and had a great time unmasked in front of people for the first time in 18 months.
    I gotta say, the resilience of the kids (2nd and 3rd graders) is pretty impressive.

  7. 7.

    Mary G

    June 4, 2021 at 3:52 pm

    Happy tears:

    A reporter was doing a story about dogs in the shelter — when this good boy came up and hugged him — and wouldn’t let go. The reporter ended-up adopting him… pic.twitter.com/dCxnrufAeR— Rex Chapman?? (@RexChapman) June 4, 2021

  8. 8.

    Omnes Omnibus

    June 4, 2021 at 3:53 pm

    @Ken: Just wait until someone sinks your battleship.

  9. 9.

    Brachiator

    June 4, 2021 at 3:53 pm

    ‘Beyond falling virus numbers? Beyond getting a pandemic under control?’ — Jen Psaki after a reporter questioned Pres. Biden’s record ‘beyond falling virus numbers’

    I needed a good laugh and God knows you cannot take this question seriously.

    Elsewhere, this is a two year old story about an unexpected unemployment problem, but it popped up for me recently, and I enjoyed the whimsy.

    Much has been said about the economic benefits of legalizing marijuana — Colorado has brought in $1.5 billion in state revenue since 2012. But one job that’s in jeopardy because of legalized recreational cannabis? The marijuana-sniffing dog.
    Once a dog has been trained to sniff marijuana, it can’t be untrained.

    I later saw follow-up stories about teaching old dogs new tricks, but there are reliability issues. And some of the poor little critters get flustered during trials under cross-examination.

  10. 10.

    guachi

    June 4, 2021 at 3:55 pm

    C’mon, Joe! You’re wife is dropping you. Lay down those watts!

    I’m a cyclist, so forgive me for staring at the bikes but… those look like entry-level bikes. Like they rented them for the ride, or something.

    She’s riding a Trek. Probably a Trek FX1 but I can’t tell the brand that Joe is riding.

  11. 11.

    Another Scott

    June 4, 2021 at 3:55 pm

    @Mary G: Kinda looks like a “her” to me??

    Good, good.

    Cheers,

    Scott.

  12. 12.

    mrmoshpotato

    June 4, 2021 at 3:56 pm

    @Ken:

    Tonight for the first time in 15 months, I’m getting together with friends to play board games. 

    One game of Monopoly takes 15 months.  Get comfy!

  13. 13.

    zhena gogolia

    June 4, 2021 at 3:56 pm

    @guachi:

    There was at least one time during the campaign when they were biking. I think the reporter shouted out who was going to be the VP candidate, and Biden said, “You!” Something like that.

    Maybe they rented them, but this isn’t their first time biking.

  14. 14.

    Baud

    June 4, 2021 at 3:57 pm

    A summer of freedom.

    A summer of joy.

    A summer of get-togethers and celebrations.

    But no summer of love?

  15. 15.

    Brachiator

    June 4, 2021 at 3:59 pm

    @Spanky:

    I hope that “free community college” also means “free technical school”, because a lot of people are more suited to skilled handiwork than the white collar kind.

    I think that trade schools are often part of the community college system. This is certainly the case in California, with schools like Los Angeles Trade Technical College.

  16. 16.

    Bridgier

    June 4, 2021 at 4:00 pm

    @guachi: definitely need to get something a little rowdier.  POTUS/FLOTUS on an Evil Chamois Hagar would be a sight to see….

  17. 17.

    mrmoshpotato

    June 4, 2021 at 4:00 pm

    @guachi:

    I’m a cyclist, so forgive me for staring at the bikes but… those look like entry-level bikes. Like they rented them for the ride, or something. 

    Ahoy there, BikeSnobNYC!

  18. 18.

    Brachiator

    June 4, 2021 at 4:03 pm

    @Baud:

    But no summer of love?

    That was the 60s, dude!

    And just in time for summer concerts:

    A women’s urinal has been created by two ex-University of Bristol students, which they claimed was six times quicker to use than a conventional loo.

    Amber Probyn and Hazel McShane designed the hands-free Peequal because they were fed up with long queues for the ladies toilets at festivals.

     

  19. 19.

    Ken

    June 4, 2021 at 4:04 pm

    @guachi: Like they rented them for the ride, or something.

    BikeGate! This will be the only thing the WH press corps asks about for the next month.

  20. 20.

    Fair Economist

    June 4, 2021 at 4:06 pm

    @mrmoshpotato:

    One game of Monopoly takes 15 months. Get comfy!

    Don’t be ridiculous. A game of Monopoly doesn’t take 15 months.

    It just FEELS like 15 months.

  21. 21.

    Ken

    June 4, 2021 at 4:08 pm

    @mrmoshpotato: One game of Monopoly takes 15 months.

    Clearly you don’t play by my cousin’s family rules, which not only put the tax money under Free Parking, but everything paid for properties including houses and hotels.  Fifteen minutes into the game there’s a huge stack of bills and they’re basically waiting to see who hits it first, because they’ll win the game.

  22. 22.

    Old School

    June 4, 2021 at 4:11 pm

    @Baud:

    But no summer of love?

    No, this year will be the slutty summer of casual sex.

    Although Mrs. School has expressed her doubts about that.

  23. 23.

    Anne Laurie

    June 4, 2021 at 4:15 pm

    @Mary G: To my eyes, that is an about-to-stop-nursing bitch.

    She just wanted to get away from the kids, whatever it took, poor girl!

  24. 24.

    Ken

    June 4, 2021 at 4:17 pm

    @Old School: No, this year will be the slutty summer of casual sex.

    Board games, haircuts, casual sex… there’s all sorts of pent-up demand finally being released.

  25. 25.

    Barney

    June 4, 2021 at 4:18 pm

    “Apart from the virus recovery, the economy, the world respect, what has Joe Biden ever done for us?”

  26. 26.

    Ohio Mom

    June 4, 2021 at 4:20 pm

    Zhena:
    I think that was the goofball Doocy from Fox asking who would be VP.

    Biden seems to enjoy teasing Doocy (he deserves every bit of it, needless to say).

    On another note, free preschool for all will allow schools to start identifying and helping kids with learning differences and developmental delays during critical brain growth years.

    You can really influence a kid’s developmental trajectory during the preschool years. Universal preschool will have lasting effects, it’s an important idea and a worthy goal.

  27. 27.

    Ken

    June 4, 2021 at 4:20 pm

    @Barney: Are we doing the Life of Brian skit?

  28. 28.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    June 4, 2021 at 4:27 pm

    On a FB photography site I won Picture of the Day for my Milky Way and Live Oak that I shared with you all on Wednesday’s OTR.  Other than that life is a shit sandwich sans bread.

  29. 29.

    trollhattan

    June 4, 2021 at 4:29 pm

    @Spanky: 
    Betting it’s common among community college districts to have a robust technical and vocational tracks. The one nearest us has aviation tech and cosmetology, for example. You essentially exit the program into paying jobs (presuming you pass the boards on cosmetology).

  30. 30.

    James E Powell

    June 4, 2021 at 4:30 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    You’re awesome!

    And the more bread you have, the less shit you have to eat.

  31. 31.

    Jeffro

    June 4, 2021 at 4:38 pm

    We’ll be up there in a week, Uncle Joe – come back, stop by, I’ll buy the ice cream!  ;)

  32. 32.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    June 4, 2021 at 4:38 pm

    @James E Powell: Yeah, ain’t got no bread though.

    Actually, I got one other compliment on my work.  I met another photographer when I was shooting at Leo Carrillo a bit over a year ago.  Turns out he’s pretty well known and has been featured on APOD(NASA’s Astronomy Pic of the Day) 6 times.  The pic he was taking that night was the Milky Way out of a sea cave.  He posted a pic of the zodiacal light* from Death Valley recently on IG, I gave it a like and added a comment that I’d shot it at Leo Carrillo, he wanted to see it(only my patrons had seen it so far), so I put it up and shared the link.  He thought it was an amazing photo

    *Zodiacal light is a portion of the sky that lights up after the sun has set, it’s caused by the recently set Sun reflecting off dust particles near the inner planets.  It usually only occurs near the Spring and Fall equinox in the higher northern and southern latitudes, but occurs all year long near the equator.

  33. 33.

    Roger Moore

    June 4, 2021 at 4:39 pm

    @Ken: 
    If you use the published rules and play well, the game doesn’t take too long. There’s a slow beginning part while everyone buys up properties, a flurry of trades, and then a while of everyone going around hoping to avoid the other players’ monopolies. Eventually, someone gets bankrupted, and then it’s pretty much over. The game only takes a long time if people never trade to get monopolies.
    Monopoly is actually quite well designed in terms of the flow of money in the game. When there are no monopolies, the combination of the cards and money from passing Go is enough that people gradually build up cash reserves. Once they start building houses and hotels, the combination of finance for mortgages, loss of money reselling houses and hotels, and the cost of the “assessed for street repairs/make general repairs on all your properties” cards combine to pull money out of the game, so it will eventually end. Doing things like giving people money for landing on Free Parking actually makes the game drag on by putting money back in.

  34. 34.

    Jeffro

    June 4, 2021 at 4:41 pm

    @Old School: there was a very funny picture from some dorm hall at my undergrad institution last week

    It was a poster-sized “Hot Girl Summer Points List”.  You get 10 points for making out with a stranger, 20 points for making out with 2 in a night, 50 points for um er having relations with a stranger, etc.  It went up to 500 points for things I’m not gonna even put in italics.

    You deducted points for a UTI, or for getting a boyfriend (the horror!)   =)

  35. 35.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    June 4, 2021 at 4:45 pm

    @Jeffro:

    500 points for things I’m not gonna even put in italics

    Yeah, it’s too early for Balloon Juice After Dark.  Maybe wait a bit.

  36. 36.

    Wapiti

    June 4, 2021 at 4:46 pm

    @Ken: We played Bananagram’s at my sister’s on Sunday, 5 players total. We had played over zoom maybe 4 times, but it was a lot of fun to play together at last.

  37. 37.

    Gin & Tonic

    June 4, 2021 at 4:52 pm

    For those who haven’t been following, Roman Protasevich, the Belarusian blogger/journalist/dissident who was arrested off the Ryanair Athens-Vilnius flight recently, appeared on Belarusian state TV the other day to “confess” and to pledge his support of Lukashenko. Since I’m not going to link to Belarusian TV, here’s an artist’s conception of that appearance:

    Raman’s confession
    Author: Tjeerd Royaards pic.twitter.com/pbv8D5RnWQ

    — Franak Viačorka (@franakviacorka) June 4, 2021

    Note that Belarusian-to-English transliteration is weird.

  38. 38.

    catclub

    June 4, 2021 at 5:03 pm

    @Ken: pent-up demand

     

    hence the magazine name.

  39. 39.

    debbie

    June 4, 2021 at 5:10 pm

    This is nice to see after a crappy work week. Thanks.

  40. 40.

    JoyceH

    June 4, 2021 at 5:11 pm

    @guachi: Some cyclists start at “entry level” and stay there – and enjoy themselves and get some exercise. You got a problem with that?

  41. 41.

    Feathers

    June 4, 2021 at 5:14 pm

    @Spanky: in lots of places the vo-tech high schools offer community college courses at night, for courses like welding and auto body, which require specialized equipment. I know a friend was debating whether to pay the audit rate or the for credit tuition. Also, for credit always got priority in enrollment, so that was a consideration.

  42. 42.

    debbie

    June 4, 2021 at 5:15 pm

    @guachi:

    More importantly, why isn’t the security detail wearing helmets?

  43. 43.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    June 4, 2021 at 5:15 pm

    @guachi:

    [. . .] those look like entry-level bikes. Like they rented them for the ride, or something.

    Or, you know, bikes that casual weekend riders who aren’t brand queens might have.

  44. 44.

    catclub

    June 4, 2021 at 5:16 pm

    @Feathers: ​
      retirement learning here i come. Best learn to weld on someone else’s stuff.

  45. 45.

    VOR

    June 4, 2021 at 5:17 pm

    @Ken: The show “Comrade Detective” on Amazon Video is a parody set in mid-80s Romania. There is a sequence where the detectives, true Communist believers, consult with some prisoners in an attempt to understand the game “Monopoly”. They view it as a diabolical tool to indoctrinate young children into the capitalist system.

  46. 46.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    June 4, 2021 at 5:18 pm

    @JoyceH: That’s why I ride a tricycle.

  47. 47.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    June 4, 2021 at 5:18 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    My brother has a beach house in Rehoboth, regularly hikes Gordon’s Pond Trail and has seen the Bidens biking many times.

  48. 48.

    bemused

    June 4, 2021 at 5:20 pm

    Dr. Biden is so accomplished, youthful and beautiful. She and Michelle Obama are the best First Ladies ever.

  49. 49.

    Jeffro

    June 4, 2021 at 5:21 pm

    @Steeplejack (phone): LOL @ ‘brand queens’

    SO stealing that

  50. 50.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    June 4, 2021 at 5:21 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Congratulations! (On the photo, not the sandwich.)

  51. 51.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    June 4, 2021 at 5:25 pm

    @Steeplejack (phone): Thanks.

  52. 52.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    June 4, 2021 at 5:32 pm

    @Jeffro:

    Feel free—not mine.

  53. 53.

    rikyrah

    June 4, 2021 at 5:35 pm

    @Mary G:

    ???????

  54. 54.

    Nora Lenderbee

    June 4, 2021 at 5:37 pm

    @guachi:  You can have just as much fun on a low-end bike as a high-end bike. I’m a cyclist with several fancy bikes. It’s great to see the Bidens riding, period. I don’t need a president who’s thinking about shaving off a few more grams by replacing his spoke nipples with unobtanium.

  55. 55.

    Geminid

    June 4, 2021 at 5:43 pm

    @Spanky: I think free community college means free technical school. In any event, after President Biden announced his infrastructure program, Kamala Harris visited the battleground state of North Carolina and spoke at the Greensboro Technical Community College: “We are going to take a giant leap into the future. That is what the American Jobs Act is about.”

    Then Harris visited an electric school bus plant in High Point. Biden’s plan called for the conversion of twenty per cent of America’s school buses to electric during this decade. I think that is one target that will be exceeded. Once parents understand the improvement in the air their children breath, every school district will want them.

  56. 56.

    Fair Economist

    June 4, 2021 at 5:44 pm

    @VOR:

    They view it as a diabolical tool to indoctrinate young children into the capitalist system.

    That’s – kinda true? The game was initially developed to demonstrate how *awful* the capitalist system was, with all players but one bankrupt, and with a companion socialist game which everybody could win at. But people found the capitalist version more fun to play, and the socialist companion game was dropped, so it is kind of propaganda for the fun of capitalism, albeit unintentionally.

  57. 57.

    rikyrah

    June 4, 2021 at 5:45 pm

    Daily Kos (@dailykos) tweeted at 4:07 PM on Thu, Jun 03, 2021:
    Kristen Clarke confirmed and either Republicans are eerily quiet or their voices aren’t registering https://t.co/ylhExoDglK
    (https://twitter.com/dailykos/status/1400559835897290758?s=02)

  58. 58.

    Patricia Kayden

    June 4, 2021 at 6:05 pm

    Jen Psaki on Trump and Facebook: "It feels pretty unlikely that the zebra is going to change his stripes over the next two years. We'll see."— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 4, 2021

  59. 59.

    catclub

    June 4, 2021 at 6:38 pm

    @Patricia Kayden: ​
      I think a better quote would be ‘the zebra won’t change his spots’ but that could be just me.

  60. 60.

    Omnes Omnibus

    June 4, 2021 at 6:47 pm

    @catclub: I think you should be very worried because I was about to post the same thing.  Not a good sign for your mental health.

  61. 61.

    cain

    June 4, 2021 at 9:21 pm

    @Baud: It is for me!!!

  62. 62.

    StringOnAStick

    June 4, 2021 at 9:54 pm

    I’m not a brand queen about bikes though I have what was a hot and super light full suspension mountain bike 20 years ago, right before they started really beefing up the frames because the sport headed towards being much more technical and the lighter frames were breaking under the strain.  I’m not a technical rider, I like to cruise in the woods, not do death defying jumps, etc.

    Now the bike I love has had the front shock fail and it may have been rebuilt too many times and I’ll have to scour the used world for a serviceable replacement front fork/shock.  I love that bike, it weighs 24 pounds and all the new ones are hideously expensive and heavier by a lot.  I really hope it can be fixed, I don’t want to replace it; we’ve been through a lot together

  63. 63.

    SFAW

    June 4, 2021 at 11:39 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: 

    Just wait until someone sinks your battleship.

    With the candlestick. In the Library. While yelling “Yahtzee!”

  64. 64.

    different-church-lady

    June 4, 2021 at 11:42 pm

    That woman is deadly with answering a question with a question.

  65. 65.

    Kayla Rudbek

    June 4, 2021 at 11:47 pm

    @guachi: and now I’m wondering whether the Bidens would like riding a tandem.  The Eastern Shore/Delmarva is a great place for tandem riding, nice and flat…

  66. 66.

    Kayla Rudbek

    June 4, 2021 at 11:49 pm

    @debbie: agreed. They could find helmet models that would accommodate the wiring/electronics that they need for work.

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