Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

I really should read my own blog.

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

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

The snowflake in chief appeared visibly frustrated when questioned by a reporter about egg prices.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

Trump’s cabinet: like a magic 8 ball that only gives wrong answers.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

When they say they are pro-life, they do not mean yours.

T R E 4 5 O N

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Open Thread: Ding Dong Ditch On A Horse

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Open Thread: Ding Dong Ditch On A Horse

This was on my NextDoor page. Made me laugh. I can’t embed the video – but this lady rang the doorbell and then jumped on her horse and ran rode off. The only thing that would have made it better is if the horse had rung the bell.

All kinds of animals ring doorbells these days  including a cow:

And a bear who clearly hates Christmas:

Open thread

 

Reader Interactions

137Comments

  6. 6.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    Every time I see the CRT acronym it throws me because in the context in which it’s currently being used, I keep thinking “why are they talking about old computer monitors and race?”

    I’m old enough to have see the Emily Litella character live. I laughed. If I’d only known how it was an accurate portrayal of getting older…

  7. 7.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Baud: have they looked under all the tables in the bar at the St Regis? he might be napping in a stall in the gents’

  10. 10.

    Delk

    Today is the Von Steuben Day parade made famous in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. It’s no longer held in downtown Chicago but instead it is held in my neighborhood. I can see the finish of the parade from my back windows. Oktoberfest is being held but I’m giving it a pass.

  18. 18.

    NeenerNeener

    From the videos it looks like I’m missing out on all kinds of fun by not having a Ring camera doorbell. I need to fix that!

  25. 25.

    HeleninEire

    OK so here’s what’s up in this pub in Dublin Ireland. Tyrone just beat Mayo in the GAA All Ireland rugby final. The whole pub was rooting for Mayo? Why? I don’t know. Oh, it turns out Tyrone beat Dublin in the semi-finals. Also, too? In the words of my friend John “Also? they’re Tyrone.” Yeah no clue. So anyway this pub is about a mile from Croke Park where they are playing. It is also across the street from Connolly Station. The biggest train station in Ireland. So in about 10 minutes this place is gonna be filled with drunk Irishmen. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

    Gosh it’s great to be back home. Wish me luck!!

  30. 30.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @NeenerNeener:

    From the videos it looks like I’m missing out on all kinds of fun by not having a Ring camera doorbell. I need to fix that!

    Better install a cat door while you’re at it, so goats and raccoons can come visiting.

  31. 31.

    Another Scott

    ObOpenThread – BlueVirginia – Update on VA Redistricting maps:

    Last year, as you cast your vote on Amendment 1, perhaps you thought you were voting for “nonpartisan redistricting,” but that most definitely was NOT the case. In fact, the Virginia Redistricting Commission is a body comprised of Republican politicians, Democratic politicians, and citizens *selected by those Republican and Democratic politicians.” It also consists, absurdly, of two sets (Democratic and Republican) of partisan lawyers and two sets (Democratic and Republican) map drawers.

    So right now, we’re in the middle of an absurd exercise, in which Republican map drawers and Democratic map drawers each draw their maps, and then, somehow, they’ll have to be reconciled, and then…who knows what their fate will be (as VPAP explains: “Once the two consultants craft new legislative districts for the entire state, the Redistricting Commission must reconcile the two plans into a single map. If the Commission is unable to meet its October 10 deadline or cannot muster the super-majority needed to approve a plan, the task of drawing the maps will fall to the Supreme Court of Virginia.“)

    […]

    It’s not immediately obvious the party leanings of the justices on the state supreme court (they are appointed by the general assembly), but the GQP was pushing for this arrangement (to have the court explicitly be the map drawer in the case of lack of agreement), so I have been suspicious and remain so. A non-partisan commission would have been a much better choice (assuming it could actually be non-partisan).

    (I voted against the amendment; it was always going to be uphill to defeat it (by the time the people get a vote, amendments are usually assumed to be approved). Geminid was in favor.)

    We’ll see.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  37. 37.

    zhena gogolia

    @Steeplejack:

    Why is it that I always fall asleep as soon as Perry’s in the courtroom? I stay awake for the setup.

    “The Case of the Substitute Face” was quite a snooze, no matter how you cut it, after the initial thrill of Perry and Della in evening dress on the deck of a ship.

  41. 41.

    Anotherlurker

    Because Addie (Beautiful, beloved Golden Retriever) is recovering from her surgery, I have been doing some Cephalopod research, just because and I ran across this gem:   https://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/sightings.html

    I have never heard of the PNW Tree Octopus and I found this website to be very informative.

    Imagine my surprise when I looked out my door this morning and sighted one here in Walnut Creek!  I didn’t think they ranged this far South from the Olympic Peninsula . I got 2 photos before it scrambled/glided/flew to the roof of the next building!

    How do I share photos?

  43. 43.

    NeenerNeener

    @SiubhanDuinne: The raccoons try to drink from my 4 oz hummingbird feeders after dark. I know that from the trail cam I had set up on my deck to try to get hummingbird pictures. Never got a good, non-fuzzy picture of a hummingbird (the shutter speed is too slow) but got some great black and white portraits of raccoons.

  44. 44.

    Ohio Mom

    My new neighbors—two houses down— took over the subdivision block party this year, and in doing so, moved it from its traditional spot on a long street at the back of the subdivision to *our little cul de sac* in the middle (the cul de sac is somewhere between 400-500 feet long; the subdivision has over 200 homes).

    It’s tonight, 6 to 8 but I expect the food truck and wine, hot dog and popsicle stands (another set of innovations, previously the block party had been a potluck) earlier than that.

    This is just what I want, a crowd of Republicans and their under twelve children who go to mask-optional schools in my front yard during a Covid upswing. Needless to say, I have closed all the windows.

    Oh yeah, their third “improvement” is two hours of music, including the national anthem in honor of 9/11.

    We parked Ohio Dad’s car around the corner and will be leaving for the duration.

  46. 46.

    Steeplejack

    @zhena gogolia:

    That’s season 1, if I remember correctly. Kind of rough and with slightly odd noir touches. Candlestick phones and old-fashioned wall phones with separate earpieces in restaurants, etc. Not what we usually think of when we think of Perry Mason. They finally got into the groove in season 2, but there are still big differences between the early seasons and the last few, when the mise-en-scène is more recognizably “modern.”

  47. 47.

    oatler

    Looks like James Lileks’ prissy “I hate hippies” blog got slam-danced by hippies! Can’t believe he hasn’t deleted them unless his wife is making him do chores.

  48. 48.

    zhena gogolia

    @Anotherlurker: You can e-mail one of the front-pagers, preferably the one hosting this thread, I think it’s TaMara. There’s a “Contact Us” thing at the top.

  51. 51.

    Benno

    Since this is an open thread, I’m flying to Karachi today and probably won’t see the fam for 10 months. My mom starts cancer treatment on Monday. Being an adult kinda sucks sometimes.

  52. 52.

    zhena gogolia

    @Steeplejack: I started watching Spooks (MI-5), beginning with Season 7, where the great Richard Armitage first appears. Imagine my excitement when he starts speaking Russian!

    He does a creditable job, somewhere between Alec Baldwin (good) and Sean Connery (bad) in The Hunt for Red October. But for some reason he’s speaking gibberish. “The guy — good. Why did you buy Chernobyl mushrooms?” I guess they figure none of their watchers will know the difference.

    ETA: Maybe it was “Why did you sell Chernobyl mushrooms,” can’t quite remember.

  56. 56.

    oatler

    @oatler:Sorry,my own stoned mistake. I was looking at the Joe My God  site. Lileks’ blog remains the same Q-Anon refuge it’s been since 2016.

  60. 60.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @HeleninEire:

    Don’t know why you need luck (though I’ll wish you it), but I’m glad you’re back where you belong. It’s always good to reunite with the place of your heart.

  62. 62.

    zhena gogolia

    I miss twitter. I used to constantly browse it. Now I just check Aaron Rupar and a couple of others every few hours. I miss being able to freely range around. The “incognito window” thing works okay but is so cumbersome I’d rather not most of the time.

  67. 67.

    Matt McIrvin

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: I follow some forums about retro gaming on old video game consoles. People who collect them sometimes also collect old CRT televisions as the easiest and most authentic way to enjoy these games–they are, after all, the display technology that the games were designed for, and they lack the bit of time lag that almost all modern digital TVs will give you, which is important for really twitchy games. They’re just about the only people who actually want these old TVs, so they’re not hard to get, though often they may not be in the best working order. Anyway, there’s a lot of talk about CRTs on these forums.

  68. 68.

    Jeffro

    A few days ago, the NYT had up a goofy piece on how America would be different if we had six political parties that included a quiz which supposedly told quiz-takers which of the six parties they’d be in.  It had the degree of economic liberalism/conservatism* on the X-axis and one’s degree of social liberalism/conservatism on the Y-axis.

    (*although, tellingly, it was labeled as the increasing degree of conservatism on both axes – can’t even use the L-word on a simple graph!)

    My RWNJ dad and brother took the quiz and immediately pronounced themselves members of the “Growth and Opportunity Party”…pretty far right economically, but lying just below the X-axis in terms of social conservatism.

    I’m working on an opinion piece that puts them squarely back in the Pro-Insurrection MAGA Party, which is where they belong until I see actual evidence to the contrary.  Not sure if I should title it, “Nice Try, MAGAts” or “Give Me A Fucking Break” or “Growth and Opportunity Party my ASS”.  But I’m open to suggestions!

  69. 69.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Jeffro: I find that those “Political Compass” style quizzes are almost always designed to railroad you into believing you’re politically sympatico with whoever designed the quiz. I wonder what the bias is in this case.

  70. 70.

    narya

    @mrmoshpotato: Had Two Brothers’ Octoberfest today (Atom Smasher?) after my beer run; quite tasty! Next weekend is Whiner (which is in a fascinating building) and One Lake.

  71. 71.

    Ohio Mom

    @Benno:
    There’s always Zoom to keep up with your mom. Wishing her effective treatments with minimal side effects.

    @zhena gogolia:
    Yes, these new neighbors are on the jolly side. The first time we met them, they already knew our names (must have memorized them from the subdivision directory). It was somewhat unnerving, especially for a born-and-bred New Yorker who just wants to be left alone.

  74. 74.

    Felanius Kootea

    @Anotherlurker: You almost had me there. Tree octopus ? indeed. Between this and my initial confusion about Eleanor Holmes Norton’s escaped zebra tweet, I think I need a nap. At least we have wild zebras here in California descended from zebras that escaped Hearst Castle back in the day. I was delighted to spot one a couple of years ago.

  76. 76.

    smith

    @Jeffro: FTFNYT shows its ass again. The reason they call that political position “Growth and Opportunity” is because they (still) have swallowed whole the Laffer-Curve-supply-side-trickle-down myth that lower taxes on rich people leads to growth and opportunity. This in contravention to all empirical evidence of the last 40 years. It’s remarkably easy to demonstrate that Democratic management of the economy, without huge tax giveaways, pretty much always results in more economic growth, and especially more opportunity, more equitably distributed.

  79. 79.

    trollhattan

    Watched (and photographed) a high school XC meet this morning to cheer on my kid’s old school. Love a sport where everybody roots for every kid, from the winners to the stragglers. This ain’t football.

    Our kids did well and the fastest girl might be the fastest HS distance gal in northern California. Last week she broke a course record by nearly a minute and today she won by about 40 seconds, which shouldn’t really happen in a varsity field of 149.

    It was a long damn year+ with no sports to watch in person.

  80. 80.

    frosty

    @Jeffro:

      Did you notice the FTFNYT used GQP framing when labeling the “Patriot” Party? I guess Patrick Henry and all those old timey patriots were really just fascists ahead of their time.

  82. 82.

    PsiFighter37

    No thread on 9/11 remembrances, eh? Color me surprised. Hard to believe for this New Yorker that it’s been 20 years, as that day will always feel like it was just yesterday.

  84. 84.

    Ohio Mom

    @PsiFighter37:

    Maybe because none of the front-pagers live in the city? In the rest of the country, today is a day to wallow in 9/11 porn and is best ignored.

    in two hours, there is going to be a 9/11 moment on my cul-de-sac. I’ve lived here for 19 years and most of my neighbors are scared of downtown Cincinnati. They have no feeling for NY, they just like getting worked up about dark-skin people attacking “our way of life.” It’s kind of revolting, really.

  85. 85.

    Mike in NC

    @PsiFighter37:  We were in DC for a few days this week (funeral for a neighbor at Arlington National Cemetery). Left yesterday and had no desire to see any of the preparations for the 20th anniversary of 9/11. Still waiting to see who the media will hold responsible for the massive screw-up that it was: Clinton or Obama?

  87. 87.

    smith

    @PsiFighter37: I’m sure it’s different for people who were in NYC or DC that day, but for me the remembrance of 9/11 is clouded by the straight line I see from post-9/11 psychosis and the current pathology among the Goobers. As much as the election of a Black man as president, the humiliation of seeing the greatest military power in the history of the world completely caught off-guard and out-foxed  by a handful of Ay-rabs armed only with box cutters broke something in a lot of people whose psyches just couldn’t take that.

    The current violent, hyper-macho, totally obdurate mindset on the Right is just one more manifestation of that brokenness. The fact that this country’s attempts to retaliate in Afghanistan and Iraq were largely failures hasn’t helped either. If anything it’s getting worse.

    It would be comforting to imagine that 9/11 and 1/6 are bookends to a certain era in American history, but I  can’t convince myself. It.just.keeps.ratcheting.up

  88. 88.

    MomSense

    @Delk:

    I met some friends at one of the many local breweries.  So good to be outside in the sun and laugh with friends.  I married them two weeks ago and they are still giving off the newlywed glow.

  90. 90.

    Geminid

    @Yutsano: We’ll still sell the Saudis their own Patriot batteries, and they can afford them. The Biden administration is cutting down our presence in the Middle East. I believe our troops in Iraq are to be out of there by the end of this year. The several thousand staged in Saudi Arabia may not be long behind.

    Military resources are being refocused on countering major adversaries, which are China and Russia. The Army Times recently had an article on the transfer of the 2nd Infantry Division’s Artillery headquarters from Ft. Lewis to Korea. That in itself does not seem like a big deal, but the reason given is that the Army is reorienting itself to fight adversaries on a whole-division scale, instead of parceling out brigades to suppress insurgencies in fights of marginal strategic importance.

    And those drones the Iranian-backed Houthi’s shooting at Saudi Arabia are no stategic threat to that kingdom. The war in Yemen is unwinnable by either side, and the sooner Saudi Arabia and Iran settle the conflict the sooner the Yemenis can stop starving.

  91. 91.

    debbie

    @smith:

    Not me. I’d left NYC six years earlier, but I still can’t get past what the people in the towers must have gone through.

  92. 92.

    JPL

    @PsiFighter37: SIL worked in building 7,  and BIL couldn’t find his son.   SIL was still home because she didn’t have to be at work until 11.   It was a horrible day for those who lost loved ones, and for all those who couldn’t locate loved ones for hours and hours.

  93. 93.

    WaterGirl

    @PsiFighter37: I think to all, or at least most, of us the memory of that day has been seared into our consciousness.

    But the anniversary of Sept 11 has been so bastardized that it now seems inexplicably linked to war war war and the jingoistic crap that got us into Iraq and Afghanistan.

    I think we would be better off with 5 minutes of silence for each time that day – when the first plane hit, when the towers fell, when the plane hit the pentagon and when the plane went down in Pennsylvania.

    Nothing on the air on TV, nothing on the radio, just silence where we can all live with that memory.

    And not the memory of “go shopping!” and muslim hate and the terrible things the U.S. did to itself in response to that day.  We gave Bin Laden more than he could have ever hoped for.

    So I’m not watching the Sept 11 crap on TV, or looking online. That seems more like dishonoring the people who gave their lives that day.

  94. 94.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @smith: it’s hard for me wrap my head around the different reactions to 9/11 and Covid, even while recognizing the spectacular and murderous intent of the attacks (ETA) puts them into a wholly different category. I think part of what’s skewing my reaction to the anniversary is the way the media and the broader Blob has been wallowing in its vicarious martial sanctimony for the last month wrt Afghanistan.

  96. 96.

    Anotherlurker

    @smith: On Sept. 10th, I worked a Yankee game.  I woke up to the horrors of 9/11.   I felt the terror of the situation.

    With Shrub’s Axis of Evil speech, my heart sank, because I saw that this tragedy will descent into jingoism and political manipulation.   The concept of “keep the people scared, stupid and angry” popped into my brain.  God, I hate being a Cassandra.

    When I expressed my thoughts on the matter, I was attacked by friends and co-workers alike.

    I go into hiding on Sept. 11 and listen to classic CDs.   Brubeck’s “Take Five”, BS&T’s”Child is Father to The Man”, Lorena McKennett’s “The Wind That Shakes The Barley” and Springsteen’s “We Shall Overcome: The Seager Sessions”…   The perfect respite from the the wallowing!

  98. 98.

    Steeplejack

    @zhena gogolia:

    Cool. Glad you are able to feed your ever  growing Armitage thirst. He’s in there for a good two or three seasons, I think. Have you seen him in Berlin Station? Can’t remember. He has another good run there (2016-19). You might have said that one was too grisly.

  99. 99.

    Steeplejack

    @zhena gogolia:

    What’s your “platform” (device, OS, browser)? Another Scott or I might be able to fix you up. I’m navigating freely with Firefox on Win10 and the Brave browser on my Android cell phone. And I think there’s an equivalent solution for Macs and iPads.

  102. 102.

    zhena gogolia

    @Steeplejack:

    I haven’t tried that one yet. It is such a weird experience to be trying to catch up on a 20-year career in a few weeks. It’s fun in a way because there’s no end to it, but I have been accused of having an unhealthy obsession. Not by my husband, though. He’s very sweet and does a fantastic RA impression that really gets me going.

  113. 113.

    zhena gogolia

    @WaterGirl: Yes, it’s working on Safari. But I’m reluctant to redo all my bookmarks. For a couple of days it was working on Firefox, and I transferred all my twitter bookmarks there, then it stopped working. I’ll give it a week and see. It seems to be erratic or some kind of rollout.

  116. 116.

    Another Scott

    @Anotherlurker: +1

    A neighbor was killed at the Pentagon.  His widow spent 10 or more years trying to help others traumatized by it (and herself) via visits with her golden retriever.

    :-(

    My recollection is that there was a lot of uncertainty how W was going to react.  It was clear that he was going to go after bin Laden, and had the country’s support to do so.  So, there was a couple of weeks of uncertainty about what was actually going to happen.

    But it was clear by his 9/16 speech that he was going to turn it into something much more, something that wouldn’t have a defined end – the GWOT (war on terrorists with “global reach” – presumably the qualifier so that we wouldn’t be going to war with the IRA and similar groups, though anyone can get on an airplane… :-/).  He never really explained how one could win a war against a tactic (terrorism is a tactic, after all).

    Bush told Blair on September 20th he intended to invade Iraq. https://t.co/E5dfVUWuSP

    — Richard M. Nixon (@dick_nixon) September 11, 2021

    And, here we are.

    :-/

    Biden is going to pull the last of the US troops out of Iraq by 12/31, so we’ll get to go through that press and the chickenhawks wailing and gnashing their teeth again before the new year.

    All of these deaths will have been in vain if we don’t start getting smarter about not being railroaded by the jingoists.

    Grr…

    Indeed, don’t forget. It’s important to learn the correct lessons as well.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  118. 118.

    Another Scott

    @zhena gogolia: A lot of the oppressive Twitter weirdness of a week or two ago seems to be gone for me.  Now, I hit “esc” to clear “Don’t miss what’s happening” box and then if I want to open a tweet to read more, I just open it in another tab (and hit “esc” again).  Don’t have to use Private Browsing, or block cookies, and I don’t have to do any other trickery.

    Chrome on Winders (with uBlock Origin).

    On the latest Firefox on Winders (with uBO), I don’t even need to hit “esc”, and clicking on tweets works as expected without forcing them into a new tab.

    Dunno.

    HTH a little.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  119. 119.

    NotMax

    @NotMax

    Shall also add (although have mentioned it before) that it is worth the bit of extra effort to sign up with Tubi. It is not required to do so in order to watch anything but if not signed up it won’t remember where you were if you left off part way through a movie or series.

  122. 122.

    Steeplejack

    @zhena gogolia:

    As I said Monday, it’s my favorite of his films. And it’s right up your alley—a screwball comedy à la française that would have fitted right into the golden age. Fast pace, great music, gorgeous scenery, Oscar-nominated script. Belmondo! Dorléac! What more do you want?

  124. 124.

    Another Scott

    @The Pale Scot: I missed the story of why his original account went away, but his number of followers was decimated 10x over.  :-(  He seems like a good guy, and has a good charity he’s supporting, and he (re)posts funny stuff.

    Glad to help!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  126. 126.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @WaterGirl: Look, I am a terrible influence.  Full of bad advice.  “Sure, you can ski that….  You’ll be fine.”  “A drink’s party on the roof?  Shouldn’t at least wait until we can see the tornado?”  “A shrunken head collection and a subscriptions to ‘Knives Monthly’?  No red flags there.  Ask her out.”

  127. 127.

    The Pale Scot

    @Anotherlurker:

    I haven’t heard about the octopi for years, It was posted to Andy Schlafly’s Conservapedia (Andy and a bunch of other offspring of deplorables among  other things are/were re editing the Bible to remove all of the wimpy socialist woke stuff the hippy rabbi is alleged to have said). There were many comments at post including from site editors. I think PZ Myers finally laughed at it and made it public to a wider audience

    https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Conservapedia:Pacific_Northwest_Arboreal_Octopus

  130. 130.

    Anotherlurker

    @The Pale Scot:  Thanks for the info about conservatpedia. They definitely got played.
    The PNWTO website is still operating.

    I am honored to have 2 pictures and a description of this morning’s encounter with one included in their sightings section. In the best tradition of Bigfoot and Nessie photos, my 2 shots are delightfully out of focus. My Golden Retriever, Addie, contributed the model, a smiling 8 armed squeaky toy. The sight’s owner contributed, in a very deadpan manner, info on the critter’s ability to glide from tree to tree.
    The sight is nearly perfect satire, IMHO. Deadpan with enough solid scientific info on Cephalopods to make it very believable. Check it out https://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/sightings.html

  131. 131.

    frosty

    @Another Scott:  Hmm. I deleted all the Twitter cookies etc on the advice a week or so ago and it was back to normal. Now it’s the same BS as before. I get out of the popup by clicking the X. I’ll try ESC next time.

    Firefox on Windows and iPhone.

  132. 132.

    The Pale Scot

    @trollhattan:

    My HS played against Renaldo Nehemiah in track and field. I’m pretty sure that he went to a Catholic grammar school and competed against my class. That’s because there was this one dude that was so far ahead of everyone else that it looked like they were running two separate races. Just ZOOM and the race was over

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