Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It is not hopeless, and we are not helpless.

Marge, god is saying you’re stupid.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

Rupert, come get your orange boy, you petrified old dinosaur turd.

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

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Keep the Immigrants and deport the fascists!

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Giving in to doom is how we fail to fight for ourselves & one another.

I would gladly pay you tuesday for a hamburger today.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. keep building.

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Monday Evening Open Thread

Monday Evening Open Thread

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What a day. Oral argument on Texas SB 8 at the Supreme Court.  Last-day jitters about Virginia.  More crap from Manchin.  It’s exhausting.

I’m going to bed.  But first: one fun thing.  Benw made this awesome GIF of his kitty who will be in the pet calendar, but when I try to open it on my Mac, all I get is the still version which wants to open in Preview.

Here’s a photo of Tanga.  Is there another step with a GIF?  Does it have to be registered somewhere?

Monday Evening Open Thread

Totally open thread.

 

Reader Interactions

147Comments

  1. 1.

    WaterGirl

    You guys all rock, by the way.  74 people took advantage of the $5,000 match offered up by another Balloon Juice angel.

    There’s still $1,675 left of the $5k match money, so if you want to donate I’m not sure it gets any better than this.  (see details at #3)

    If you donate, be sure to tell me how much in the comments so we can get to the $5,000 amount for matching by our BJ angel before it gets double-matched by the outside donor.

    Goal Thermometer

    FOUR DIRECTIONS – AZ

  3. 3.

    WaterGirl

    If you donate $50 through THIS thermometer:  Our Balloon Juice angel adds $50 to that, for a total of $100.  Which the FOUR DIRECTION donor double-matches, adding $200, for a total of $300.  So your $50 turns into $300!

    If you donate $10 through THIS thermometer:  Our Balloon Juice angel adds $10 to that, for a total of $20.  Which the FOUR DIRECTION donor double-matches, adding $40, for a total of $60.  So your $10 turns into $60!

    If you donate $100 through THIS thermometer:  Our Balloon Juice angel adds $50 to that, for a total of $150.  Which the FOUR DIRECTION donor double-matches, adding $300, for a total of $450.  So your $100 turns into $450!

  4. 4.

    frosty

    I have GOT to stop reading anything with Manchin’s name in it. Cole sucked me in a half hour ago. Thank Dog for the two optimists among the commenters.

    Thanks for all your work and coordination with Four Directions WG!

  5. 5.

    WaterGirl

    @frosty: I am all Manchin-ed out.  It’s like the old joke about the guy who goes to the doctor and says it hurts when he bangs his head against the wall.  The doctor says he should stop doing that.

  8. 8.

    realbtl

    I’m visiting my daughter who is in the process of adopting a kitten that because of birth defect had to have both eyes removed. He amazes me, pouncing and climbing like everything is normal. Which it is for hIm I guess.

  11. 11.

    WaterGirl

    @Major Major Major Major: I added the photo version to WordPress, which is what I posted here.

    But Benw sent me the GIF by text, which plays automatically, but I can’t get it from Messages to anywhere else.

    Who yelled at you?

    edit:  I see that you added “by the olds”.  I couldn’t imagine Cole yelling at you.  And was your GIF of an adorable cat with attitude?  Surely that would make it okay.

  16. 16.

    Raven

    Our last day at the beach. Between the red tide, 25 mph winds, and a slow boat the belched smoke all day it’s been a bit of a challenge. I went out twice and caught my limit of red snapper that amount to four fish. Just before the boss lady took this picture I had a really big pompano break my line because I tried to horse it in rather than letting it run and tiring . Serves me right because I knew better, Artie liked the beach way better than we had thought she would so I rate this as a very nice trip!

    flic.kr/p/2mFYDEk

  17. 17.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @japa21: Last Night in Soho was great.  I also saw t he Bond movie over the weekend and it was a Bond movie.  I like Bond movies.

  18. 18.

    JPL

    I care for 3 month old grand imp, and it wasn’t a fun day.  Poor guy is stuffy and just not feeling great.   Family is arriving Wednesday, and if Eli is the same tomorrow, they will have to make their own beds. Eli arrives at 8:30, so just enough time to put the groceries away.   Whole Foods is delivering groceries tomorrow between six and eight a.m, which works with my schedule.   At this time, the delivery fee means nothing.

    The mutt Finch was so concerned when the first grand would cry, and with this one, he’s more chill.   In fact, he goes to the door and wants out.   He’s done his duty with the first one.   When grand imp number one has a sleep over, and he wakes in the morning he no longer says Hi Grandma, but instead asks for Finch.

    I’ll look at my finances and try to donate, but right now I’m going to bed.

  19. 19.

    sab

    @realbtl: My cat is 16 years old and has been blind for about 5 years, cataracts in one eye, toxoplasmosis in the other. He used to get around pretty well, but dementia has finally created problems.

    Your kitten should do great for many years. He has his nose, his ears, and those feline whiskers to navigate.

  27. 27.

    Raven

    CNN) – The University of Florida now says three professors who initially weren’t allowed to testify as paid expert witnesses against the state can testify, if they aren’t paid.

  29. 29.

    WaterGirl

    I just made myself a glass of homemade lemonade and now I’m going to go watch another episode of The Americans.

    I stopped watching in 2016 for some reason and 36 episodes had been sitting on my Tivo since then.  I started watching again on Friday or Saturday and I think I have watched at least 7 episodes since then.

  30. 30.

    CaseyL

    @Omnes Omnibus: Thank you for reminding me about that one!  I want to see it, very much.  There are so many movies out now that I want to see, but I may have to go alone since none of my friends are particularly eager to go back into a theater.

  36. 36.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @CaseyL: Both of the young actresses were really good.  Plus Terence Stamp and Diana Rigg for that real ’60s London feel.

  45. 45.

    Mike in NC

    Checked my email and had about 14 new ones from Terry. Go away Terry, whether you win or lose tomorrow.

  46. 46.

    NotMax

    Have been running through the seasons of Drop the Dead Donkey (sample) which has now shown up on Tubi. Playing it in the background so don’t have to give it rapt attention. Once the series finds its sea legs (and the producers concurrently tone down the laugh track) it hums right along.

    Not nearly as dated as I anticipated it would be, at least for those of us who were there at the time. True, probably 50% of the references speed right over this non-British dome, however enough amusement remains to satisfy an appetite for the innocuous.

  50. 50.

    NotMax

    @Raven

    On the free with ads streaming service Tubi.

    Bears repeating that, while there is no sign-up required to view anything there, completing the sign-up process through their web site accomplishes the ability for it to remember where you were when you stop watching and pick up again later on at that point.

  52. 52.

    mali muso

    Here in Virginia, I’m just hunkering down and trying to drown out the worry. Going to a Dia de los Muertos event being organized by our students tomorrow, so I’ll try to think kind thoughts of those who have passed and send up a little prayer for our collective future.

  54. 54.

    burnspbesq

    Not making any predictions, but it was interesting to see Barrett and Kavanaugh serving up softball questions for the private plaintiffs’ lawyer to knock out of the park. And I thought our new SG (fun fact: our new SG is a former Miss Idaho) acquitted herself well.

  57. 57.

    The Dangerman

    @WaterGirl: The secret to phenomenal lemonade? Meyers lemons. MLsdon’t work for bars or pie, but the Lemonade will make you dance and sing and do like Julie Andres. Pull the curtains so the neighbors can’t see.

    it is insanely good.

    ETA: …and I think it’s close to fierce avocado time. Another insanely good treat. They don’t ship well or they’d be in every store.

  59. 59.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Rachel Maddow is interviewing Steve Kornicki and I just decided I’m going to have to limit my attention to the VA returns cause I can’t take all that county-by-county, percentage-of-remaining-uncounted-vote-needed-for-X….

    I think there might be a ball game on….

  63. 63.

    WaterGirl

    @namekarB:  Thank you!

    Benw just wrote to say that Cmd-Y plays the GIF on the mac.

    Now I need to remember how I got the GIF to work in a post before.  I’m really not a big GIF person but this one of Benw’s cat is perfect so I will have to dust off the cobwebs.

  64. 64.

    burnspbesq

    @zhena gogolia:

    I’m not ready for theaters

    Made my first visit in 20 months last week to the the Metropolitan Opera rebroadcast of Fire Shup Up in My Bones. There was one other person at the start, and she bugged out during the climax of Act 1.

    If there were any current movies I was interested in seeing, I would pick my day and time carefully, but I wouldn’t hesitate to go.

  67. 67.

    Nelle

    twitter.com/ruth/status/1454919677704949769?s=11

    Oh, I don’t know how to twit or convey twits.  This is for the ongoing discussion of media narratives – reporters told to get quotations to fill a storyline set by their betters in the news business.

    Ruth Sanford : Ran into a tv reporter in local park looking for parents to interview about vaccines for kids. He said he was having trouble finding someone who didn’t want it for their kids to “show both sides of the story”

  69. 69.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Eric Boehlert @EricBoehlert 6m
    is this possible? the Dow hit 36,000 and TVEyes says that hasn’t been mentioned on cable news all day?

    this was predicted! (in 1999, when the authors predicted it would happen in three to five years)

    Dow 36,000: The New Strategy for Profiting from the Coming Rise in the Stock Market
    by James K. Glassmanand Kevin A. Hassett | Nov 14, 2000

    you might remember Kevin Hassett from such political positions as “Chief Economic Advisor to Donald Trump” and “Chief Economic Advisor to the 2000 John McCain campaign”, and every Republican presidential campaign in between

  76. 76.

    rekoob

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: When I saw the close, I thought about Kevin Hassett and his silly approach to markets. I didn’t realize it went over the *magical* 36K level intraday. He was a part of the whole idea that markets were the economy and that a low-tax/low-regulatory regime were going to lead to a permanent Republican majority and prosperity for all. Paul Krugman and Brad DeLong were more helpful in understanding where we were and could be.

  79. 79.

    Kayla Rudbek

    I’m trying to decide whether I was a Karen tonight or not. I was walking around Brood X Hatchery Road and I heard banging/ thumping noises coming out of the trailer of a parked semi. The doors to the trailer were closed and latched, with one being zip tied shut. This semi has parked frequently along that road before, but I’ve never heard noises from the trailer before. Closed and latched doors plus noise in the trailer = trouble to my mind so I called 911. The county cops came out, knocked on the trailer and the cab, looked in the cab. They didn’t hear anything so they issued a warning for the truck owner, as it’s a residential neighborhood and commercial vehicles aren’t supposed to be parked on that road.

    I wouldn’t have bothered to call the cops for just an illegally parked truck (it’s annoying for line of sight on that road but I figured it was the county road, not part of the HOA, so I thought it was legally parked). Heck, I don’t call the cops for the reek of weed that I smell along that road sometimes, or the people who are just parked in their cars there and hanging out at times during the day, even if I feel uncomfortable with that.

    And if there was someone in the trailer, I wasn’t comfortable with the idea of trying to get them out on my own. And if there was someone in there and they didn’t call out to the cops…

  81. 81.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @burnspbesq:

    We had about 30, and everyone there stayed through the wonderful curtain calls.

    What did you think of Fire? I thought it was terrific, and I’m happy to know that it’s apparently being folded into the repertoire.

  83. 83.

    rekoob

    @Kayla Rudbek: For what it’s worth, I believe you did the right thing. You’re familiar with the normal lay of the land, and your Spidey Sense was awakened. We all have those moments — they define us, at times.

  85. 85.

    namekarB

    @WaterGirl: Now I need to remember how I got the GIF to work in a post before.

    GIF files should open with any browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari) and is not dependent on your operating system. I know that on my Mac using Chrome I can single click to activate and deactivate a GIF. Not sure how that is supposed to happen on an Android or iPhone

  87. 87.

    WaterGirl

    @namekarB: Yeah, but there’s a trick to it in WordPress.M4 posted the link to what I used last time for the flaming dumpster fire the was just so perfect for the Republican convention.

    At least that’s behind us, and Biden won.  We should be grateful every day for that, in spite of all the stress and bullshit.

  88. 88.

    Torrey

    @WaterGirl:

    I donated when the earlier thread went up. It was $25, if you need the amount for the list of donations. I’m a bit confused by the math, though. The thermometer is now at $9640, which should mean we met the $5K match, right? Or, if the BJ angel is putting in dollar for dollar as the money is contributed, wouldn’t that mean there is just $540 to go to collect the full matching $5K?

    No one else seems to be having this confusion, so it’s probably just me.

  92. 92.

    The Pale Scot

    There’s little arrows on the side that scroll. I think ur whole collection is accessible. The car back window is loaded with anti treason stickers.

  93. 93.

    burnspbesq

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Impressive in every way. Blanchard’s score and Lemons’ libretto are both brilliant (kudos to the orchestra and all-star jazz players for navigating some challenging stuff with no hiccups that I heard), and the singing, acting, and (especially) dancing were very very good.

    Can’t wait for a DVD. Might think about a trip to Chicago in March.

  95. 95.

    trollhattan

    Puppy got hisself another rat tonight, nearly managed to bring the corpse into the house to boot, took a doorway intervention.

    Five years of no kills more ambitious than bees and that’s three rats in the last month. Conflicted.

  98. 98.

    rikyrah

    Dear Betty Cracker,

     

    Get yourself to CVS/Walgreens/Wal-Mart…

    Cross your fingers as you fill out the paperwork to get your booster.

    And, take Mr. Betty Cracker with you.

     

    GET??THOSE??BOOSTER??SHOTS??

  100. 100.

    WaterGirl

    @Torrey: The Balloon Juice angel matches up to $50 of each donation.  So when someone donates more than that, they get matched with $50 and then the double-match of the external match person.

    So a TON of people gave more than the $50, which is really wonderful, and 52 people gave and didn’t put it in the comments, so those weren’t matched because there’s no way to know how much a person donated in order to match up to $50.

    Does that makes sense?

    That gives people who donate smaller amounts a chance to be extra matched which is great for people who don’t have $100 or $250 or whatever to give.

  102. 102.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @burnspbesq:

    Agree on all counts, but probably won’t return to Chicago until 2025 (if then). But with you on all the particulars, and on desirability of a DVD.

  103. 103.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    @realbtl: I read a great book about a blind kitten called Homer’s Odyssey: A Fearless Feline Tale, or How I Learned about Love and Life with a Blind Wonder Cat by Gwen Cooper.  That cat was a favorite with all who met him.  Blind cats can lead a great life. Just don’t move the furniture too often, and of course a blind cat can’t be let outside (for their own safety).

  104. 104.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    @WaterGirl: I’m jealous because you have the viewing experience ahead of you.  It was a great series, for multiple seasons.

  105. 105.

    The Pale Scot

    and 52 people gave and didn’t put it in the comments, so those weren’t matched because there’s no way to know how much a person donated in order to match up to $50.

    Oh. To be clear, I gave 50.00

  106. 106.

    gwangung

    In for $50.

    (Currently watching a recommendation by one of my crushes, Seven Souls in the Skull Castle. Though she’s quite happily married and is a bit bemused by my crush, she never fails to make recommendations that intrigue me.)

  108. 108.

    trollhattan

    @burnspbesq:

    Agree, that’s at least part of it. The backyard persimmon went nuts this year so that’s a nice attractant.

    Yay us. Next they’ll be looking for warm winter quarters.

  109. 109.

    Kayla Rudbek

    @WaterGirl: yeah, Mr. Rudbek thought that someone might have been working inside the trailer, but I would think that if someone was legitimately working inside the trailer, that they 1) would have left one of the doors open and 2) have responded when I knocked on the trailer or when the cops knocked on the trailer.

    Now I’m thinking that it could have been some sort of thermal thing -metal parts shrinking/bending and making noises as the sun was setting. But I’m still relieved that I did call the cops. Hopefully it won’t make NextDoor tomorrow…

  111. 111.

    Kayla Rudbek

    @rekoob: yeah, I’ve walked by that truck before when it’s been parked there, and I never heard any noises from the trailer before.  Maybe it was metal contracting as the sun was setting that made the noises, but I was perturbed when I checked out the trailer doors and they were closed, latched, and one zip tied shut.

  113. 113.

    grammypat

    Since it was not obvious to me that the match REQUIRES a comment, I will add:  In for $50+tip.  Maybe there’s a way to highlight this for other, infrequent or reluctant, commenters who did not catch this *minor* detail.

  114. 114.

    dmsilev

    @Kayla Rudbek: Could the zip tie have been a tamper-resistant seal? Shippers sometimes put those on trucks to demonstrate to the sender and receiver that nobody has opened the truck doors between origin and destination.

  115. 115.

    Ohio Mom

    @Kayla Rudbek:

    Quit beating yourself up.

    We are supposed to look after one another, and given the limited information you had, that’s what you tried to do. 

    The worse you may have done is annoy a few people. If you had done nothing, the worse you could have done is let great harm come to someone.

    If you erred, it was on the side of reasonable caution. Being an uninvolved bystander is not a role to aspire to.

  116. 116.

    Kalakal

    @NotMax: I loved that program when it first came on. Got the full dvd set and still find it hilarious. One thing I have noticed when watching old comedies is just how irritating the laugh tracks are

  130. 130.

    BeautifulPlumage

    I put my donation in the other post,  not clear if the 5k match was done, but psyched for the 2x match!

  133. 133.

    joel hanes

    @WaterGirl:

    I’m a computer engineer.  Or was, anyway.

    Round numbers are 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, …

    Decimal round numbers are ugly in binary, octal, and hex

  136. 136.

    AlaskaReader

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Was intrigued by your post and knew I had a UV flashlight for golf glo-balls.  Found the flashlight, replaced old batteries and voila, two of the glass plates in the cabinet are uranium glass.  Never knew what we had. Thanks.

  146. 146.

    bruceJ

    @WaterGirl: On a Mac selecting it in the finder and hitting space will give you a animated preview of the gif; as will right-clicking an opening with Safari.

    But Preview shows the disassembled frames of the gif in a list on the left-hand side. (cool fact you can drag them around to really mess it up! Also you can re-arrange, cut-n-paste and combine PDF files the same way. Preview is an awesome and very underrated tool.)

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