Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

Text STOP to opt out of updates on war plans.

Petty moves from a petty man.

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

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

Dear legacy media: you are not here to influence outcomes and policies you find desirable.

To the privileged, equality seems like oppression.

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

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

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Stand up, dammit!

“Alexa, change the president.”

Every decision we make has lots of baggage with it, known or unknown.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

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

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

You are here: Home / Politics / Biden Administration in Action / Saturday Morning Open Thread: Holiday Decorating PSA

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Holiday Decorating PSA

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Elsewhere… Cole & MajorMajorMajorMajor already shared the good news about the infrastructure bill. So that’s a pretty good step forward!

Reader Interactions

133Comments

  2. 2.

    NotMax

    Things you’ll never see at the Smithsonian.

    The astronauts who will depart the International Space Station as early as this weekend will be stuck using diapers on the way home because of their capsule’s broken toilet.
    [snip]
    The trip home can take up to 20 hours. Source

  3. 3.

    Spanky

    I’m LOLOLOLing at those lyrics! Maybe I’m too much of a geek, or too big a fan of the Darwin Awards, or maybe just Hallelujah-ed out.

  5. 5.

    debbie

    I was too busy yesterday trying to get myself fired to hear about the jobs reports. That’s wonderful! Six Democrats voting against the infrastructure bill? Definitely not.

    More locally, the GOP-engineered Ohio redistricting maps would have Gym Jordan representing a very progressive neighborhood (Clintonville). I’d like to think this is the beginning of his end, but I know I’d be wrong.

  6. 6.

    germy

    nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/11/fbi-probes-project-veritas-over-ashley-bidens-stolen-diary.html

    FBI Probing Project Veritas Links to Biden Daughter’s Stolen Diary

    The company that owns the website that published the diary pages is reportedly registered to the same address as a consulting company that belongs to a former British spy named Richard Setton who has worked with Project Veritas. The same address was also used to register another company Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe was once the president of.

  9. 9.

    Ken

    Dunno why you’d need to buy one of those adapter cords, they’re easy enough to make with two lamp-cord kits and some duct tape for insulation…

  11. 11.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Because the stark, startling truth more than anything else is what will drive a Dem victory in 2022…and save our democracy.

    maybe i’m just feeling overly pessimistic but facts not in evidence.

  13. 13.

    MagdaInBlack

    I saw that diary thing percolating on the edges yesterday, and now wingnut twitter is starting to bitch about it.

  15. 15.

    prostratedragon

    @germy:  So that’s where all that cussing I heard in the air the other day was coming from. Imagine being a serious professional investigator and having to chase down some James O’Keefe stunt.

  17. 17.

    debbie

    @Ken:

    I know nothing about hanging lights on houses, but why wouldn’t you make sure you had the plugs correctly matched up before you even climbed the ladder? It seems crucial.

  21. 21.

    germy

    @Baud:

    @debbie:

    This is the first time I’m seeing this story.  I had no idea Biden’s daughter had her diary stolen and posted online.

    I don’t know what was revealed, but I’m glad the MSM didn’t run with diary excerpts at the time.

  22. 22.

    Ken

    @debbie: I’d say “doesn’t check plugs before hanging lights” and “thinks of male-male plug to fix it” are part of a larger pattern, perhaps linked to lead in gasoline.

  27. 27.

    prostratedragon

    @Baud:  There is that. But the amount of bullshit to wade through getting there would make it a costly pleasure.

  29. 29.

    Spanky

    @debbie:

    why wouldn’t you make sure you had the plugs correctly matched up before you even climbed the ladder?

    Because one is an idiot. Ol’ Saint Darwin is busy at Christmastide.

  30. 30.

    debbie

    @Spanky:

    Having three brothers and having watched Red Green for years, it’s no surprise, but at what point do the stupid die off?

  31. 31.

    Suzanne

    @Spanky: Seriously. Why not check the plugs? Because you lack foresight. I’m sure the Venn diagram of “people who don’t check their plugs” and “people who voted for Trump” has some significant overlap.

  33. 33.

    Suzanne

    Speaking of which, that reminds me that I need some new strings of lights for the tree this year. I am trying to be merrier this year, because I was really fucken not into it last year.

  36. 36.

    evodevo

    @Spanky: I know…and what is preventing one from just using one of those multi-head extension cords where you can plug in several things?

  38. 38.

    Anne Laurie

    @debbie: Six Democrats voting against the infrastructure bill? Definitely not.

    What I’m reading is that, after Pelosi had corralled a sufficient number of Republicans (lucky 13) to ensure passage, she gave the hardcore burn-it-all-down Progressives a choice to vote no.  Which six of them chose to take advantage of, if only to preserve their ‘credentials’ concerning the de-linked, still-to-come BBB bill.

    I’m disappointed about the second bill myself.  That’s why I’m not a legislator — old & out-of-shape as I am, I’d have to be physically restrained from punching some of my colleagues out at least once a week…

  43. 43.

    Spanky

    Ya know, things were simpler back before we had electrickery at Christmas. We just hung burning candles on our Christmas trees, and we LIKED it!

  44. 44.

    germy

    Oklahoma Ave in the Bay View neighborhood of Milwaukee. Like many problematic stroads in Milwaukee, this was widened from 2 to 4 travel lanes in the late 1960s. It recently had a "paint-only" 4-to-3 road diet.

    It should be restored to its original design or narrower. t.co/Zm8fzOHJeZ

    — Michael Bradley (@MikeBradleyMKE) November 5, 2021

    I’m glad Pete B. and Biden are open to fixes and solutions that don’t revolve around cars. I love trains and I’m glad we’ll be improving alternatives to driving.

  52. 52.

    schrodingers_cat

    @debbie: The performance artists known as the Squad. They vote against the Dems and with the Republicans with an alarming regularity.

  56. 56.

    NotMax

    Partially through the free for the month of November first season of Magellan (original title Commissaire Magellan) on Prime.

    Watchable enough and likeable cast, although stretching each episode to 90 minutes exposes a plenty of padding; also more red herrings than in a Soviet cannery. The eponymous detective is a textbook study in equanimity.

    Also somehow wasn’t aware that the second season of the Icelandic noir Trapped popped up on Prime. If the first season spouted your geyser, check it out.

  59. 59.

    Immanentize

    @Anne Laurie: Of course this is what happened — it’s called releasing votes and happens all the time. It is just that in this Congress there are too few Dem votes to release, in most cases. Historically, it has been the moderates or blue dogs that have been allowed to be released on votes. I have no doubt that if they needed them this group would have voted for the bill. Jayapal was clearly involved in counting votes, too.

    ETA what Baud said at 57.

  61. 61.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Baud: Good on her for not voting like the Green Tea ? party.

    Since the Bernier-than-thou Squad members are all about symbolism what message does this all-or-nothing approach to politics, convey?

  63. 63.

    sab

    @schrodingers_cat: If they want to virtue signal when it doesn’t matter I am okay with that. They still have their own constituents to deal with. The important thing is they didn’t actually try to tank the bill like progressives used to do. Incremental progress might get us somewhere this time. They gave up a lot to get this bill through. I think they are entitled to vote their frustration so long as they didn’t tank the bill. And they didn’t.

  67. 67.

    Mike E

    Finally! Something to celebrate during plague times. Now we can get back to crying about gas prices and supply chains the war on Xmas!

    Immanentize

    Schrodinger’s law!

  68. 68.

    schrodingers_cat

    @sab: I don’t buy this cover story that they are doing this for their constituents. They are doing this to build their own brand.

  69. 69.

    gene108

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    maybe i’m just feeling overly pessimistic but facts not in evidence.

    I think this is going to be a throw the bums out election. The most surprising result from 2021 is NJ Senate President, Steve Sweeney (D) lost to Ed Durr a delivery truck driver, who ran and lost in a couple elections the last few years, has no political experience, and was significantly out spent.

    Sweeney got things done for his district, and was one of most powerful politicians in NJ.

    I think the narrative’s been set after the scenes from the August 15 withdrawal from Afghanistan, and Congressional Democrats squabbling over BIF and BBB that Democrats are in disarray, and are pushing a radical liberal agenda.

  72. 72.

    Immanentize

    @gene108: Change election is how I read the Terry Mac loss. But we can also present change candidates! Terry Mac was the opposite.

  73. 73.

    sab

    @schrodingers_cat: Whatever. If they don’t hurt our efforts in the process I am okay with it. When we need their votes we have them. In contrast to Ted Kennedy blowing up the Clinton health plan in the nineties, a vote he regretted for the rest of his life. Lost us a generation of incremental improvements.

  74. 74.

    Baud

    @gene108:

    If that’s the case, then at least we can stop blaming Obama for the stimulus being too small in 2009.  It wouldn’t have made a difference anyway.

  76. 76.

    sab

    @schrodingers_cat: You’re in Massachusetts. I am in Ohio. Obvious progressivism just doesn’t work here. Incremental improvements do. Sherrod Brown is as progressive as almost anyone in Congress, but he always goes incremental because that might work. If Congresspeople need or want to signal more progressive and vote against a bill that wil pass I am okay. They had Pelosi’s back through the whole proces this time, which is a huge change in their approach.

  77. 77.

    OzarkHillbilly

    good news

    Kevin M. Kruse Retweeted
    Jennifer N. Victor@jennifernvictor
    ·
    18h
    Never let anyone tell you that petitions, sunlight, and public scrutiny don’t work. Nice work, everyone.

    Michael McDonald
    @ElectProject
    · 20h
    UF has now officially reversed its disapproval of my work in the voting rights lawsuit

  78. 78.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Immanentize:

    What should be the narrative here is “Holy shit, Pelosi got 13 Republicans to cross over.”  The woman is a legislative god, and does not get enough credit for it.  Pity she can’t control the Senate.

  80. 80.

    trnc

    Oh sure, headlines tom’w will spin the achievement to be about the division (and ignore that infra was something DJT couldn’t get done.)

    “Couldn’t get done” implies he actually tried, but he didn’t since he couldn’t figure out a way to personally profit.

  85. 85.

    japa21

    @OzarkHillbilly: Yep.  Also, hope you are doing a little better.  I remember that after my rather extensive neck surgery, I had a catheter for 3 days. Of course, I was pretty much limited to the hospital bed but I still ended up begging the nurse to remove it.  Can’t imagine a week dragging it around.

  90. 90.

    germy

    From @WSJopinion: By refusing to tie work to welfare, progressives and the Biden administration are undermining the American work ethic to the detriment of those they want to help and to the rest of us as well, writes @RealBenCarson t.co/2ArUGG6Uqe

    — The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) November 6, 2021

    The Democrats just passed a mammoth infrastructure bill. In response we at the @WSJ present the most brain-damaged Trump cabinet secretary to tell you all how lazy and worthless you are. t.co/hAjX2Ndbvo

    — Roy Edroso (@edroso) November 6, 2021

  91. 91.

    sab

    @Baud: Obama started with a stimulus dthey thought the other side could accept. Eventually they did. So he gets blamed for not asking for enough (which he would not have gotten.)

    Biden did the opposite, asked for everything within reason and then allowed them to whittle it down to what they could stand to vote for. Criticized severly for givimg in.

    Who knows? I think Biden’s approach got us more but who knows. The political context was different. And I think we were on the brink of overall economic catastrophe in 2009. But we saved the macroeconomy and let all the individuals in the microeconomy flounder.

  92. 92.

    Snarki, child of Loki

    @Baud: “I would love to  be the one to put the Project Veritas folks in cuffs.”

    After an extended taser-ing, of course.

    Hey! I found a use for the male-to-male extension cord…

  93. 93.

    Baud

    @sab:

    I’m not redebating policy.  I’m saying policy or the economy may not matter if the dire predictions prove true.

  94. 94.

    gene108

    @japa21:

    I’m going through a plasmapheresis treatment, because my transplanted kidney’s going into rejection. I have a catheter in my chest, which was put in on Monday and comes out next Friday. I’m under orders not to shower. I can’t get the catheter wet. Finding ways to bath, still feel clean, and keep the catheter relatively dry has been a challenge.

    I have Saturday, November 13 circled on my calendar as the next day I can shower. I’m going use up all my hot water.

  98. 98.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Baud: I’m trying to think of a good taxonomy joke here but coming up empty.

    Close, though – I once had a real Army surplus blanket that had a sewn-on label saying “Blanket, bed, wool, O.D.” Is that proper taxonomy?

  100. 100.

    sab

    My husband’s best friend for 60 years, when they were both ten, went into the hospital with seizures and a possible stroke yesterday. He has been on an EKG ever since to detect any  brain activity. Quick for him. Devastatimg for his wife. She hasn’t worked since they got married, so her only income is Social Security (the wife’s half share.) He is/was a really wonderful man.

    We are all devastated, and very worried for his wife.

  101. 101.

    JML

    Here’s my concern today about Democratic politics: Mpls had a ballot measure regarding a substantial change to policing (ending the MPD as it stands and creating a new department of public safety). It was voted down handily, failing in 10 out of 13 wards in the city. The most common response I’ve seen from the people pushing “Yes” on that question has been that it was voted down because people are racist.

    North Mpls, which is the blackest ward in the city and has experienced some of the most difficult challenges with policing directly, voted it down.

    I’m sure that race had something to do with it going down (race impacts most things in Mpls elections), but was it voted down because a majority of voters were racist and influenced by racist appeals, or did the Vote Yes contingent fail in their communications? Literally going up to election day you had the same people saying Vote Yes on 2 would eliminate the Minneapolis Police and saying it wouldn’t end the Minneapolis Police, depending on who asked and how they asked the question.

    It was an utter fail in communications, and I’m concerned that the lesson they’re taking away from it is the simplistic (and mostly wrong) response that Mpls voters are racist and that’s why they lost.

  102. 102.

    trnc

    @gene108: ​
     

    Finding ways to bath, still feel clean, and keep the catheter relatively dry has been a challenge.

    Sorry to hear all of that, but maybe this is an opportunity. You have a reason to stop bathing, so wait a few more days and then go visit some annoying people you haven’t been able to get rid of.

  104. 104.

    sab

    @JML: Everyone Black that I know in my city wants police and more police The kids all seem to have guns these days. They just don’t want police that kill their innocent children and husbands.

    We don’t seem to be doing that (killing Black men at random) in my little city. I hope I am not just naive about it. I am not naive about the unjustified random traffic stops. Those are real and ubiquitous.

  105. 105.

    debbie

    @Anne Laurie:

    Not sure that’s the best way to build their cred. It certainly puts a larger target on their backs which will be helpful to the GOP’s electioneering lies.

    And if they don’t like BBB, pass the fucking thing, keep Dems in the majority in 2022, and then come back with additional social programs.

  107. 107.

    Ken

    @Gin & Tonic: “Blanket, bed, wool, O.D.”

    You remind me of Eric Frank Russell’s “Allamagoosa”.

    “Inscribed collar, leather, brass studded, dog, for the use of.”

  108. 108.

    schrodingers_cat

    @OzarkHillbilly: I don’t hate them and have nothing personal against them but I do think their insistence on ideological purity and their rhetoric are unhelpful to our cause. Which is I see first and foremost as keeping the Republicans in the minority. YMMV.

    I hope you feel better soon.

  110. 110.

    MattF

    I see it’s catheter day. I’ve had a few rounds of bladder stone surgery, so I’m familiar with a particularly uncomfortable case of that sort of medical device. Most recent time they wanted to send me home with one— but since I live alone, that sounded like an extremely bad idea, and I just flatly refused. All sorts of “you’ll regret it” warnings, and… it actually wasn’t so bad.

  115. 115.

    schrodingers_cat

    @debbie: Its all about the clicks and likes. And hating on Ds is a booming business. Gets you on TV, that’s for sure. They also voted for visas for Afghan refugees.

    And the Squad members are legislators I have not seen any bills they have gotten out of committee that lays out their vision since the one Ds offered is unacceptable to them. Obstruction is not progress. They should call themselves Obstructionists.

  116. 116.

    Fair Economist

    @schrodingers_cat: They’re not opposed to the BIF; the point is that by passing it *before* the BBB, there’s now no leverage to get the BBB passed. The progressive caucus as a whole was levered off with a promise from Biden that he could get Manchin and Sinema to agree to a meaningful BBB. If they don’t, the squad will be the only progressives that don’t end up looking gullible.

  117. 117.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @zhena gogolia:

    FWIW, at dinner with some “normies” last night, the irritation was more at Jayapal than at Manchin. Sinema was not popular either, though.

    Hmm, one of these things is not like the others.

  122. 122.

    JML

    @sab: I think there’s a lot of that in Mpls too. People want better police, they want fewer scared people in the role that want to shoot first and ask questions later, and they want fewer police who see every black person as a potential threat. But they want more police overall and safer city, and they don’t understand how these major reforms are going to get there, especially when the people pushing them are also screaming “defund the police”.

    The messaging on all of this is terrible, even from the well-meaning.

  126. 126.

    Soprano2

    @schrodingers_cat: I don’t care what the activists say, the “Defund the police” slogan is terrible, and it doesn’t help them achieve their objectives. It’s the kind of thing people come up with when everyone in the room has the same viewpoints and experiences. I will always believe that you make better decisions as a group when the people in it have different viewpoints and experiences. People who are the same have the same blind spots.

  127. 127.

    Quiltingfool

    @Anne Laurie: Oh, don’t punch anyone, you’ll hurt your hand.  I hear Amy Klobuchar might have a stapler she’d let you borrow!/s/

    Speaking of Senator Klobuchar, is it wrong of me to gleefully imagine a scenario whereby she beats the crap out of several Republican Senators with her trusty stapler?  I’d pay to see that.

  128. 128.

    Bill Arnold

    @debbie:

    I know nothing about hanging lights on houses, but why wouldn’t you make sure you had the plugs correctly matched up before you even climbed the ladder? It seems crucial.

    It is a “one-bit-error” – easy to make when there are bunches of other unfamiliar decisions requiring simultaneous focus and no/insufficient planning was done. (The lack of a plan is common for DIY-ers.)

  133. 133.

    J R in WV

    At our little house in the Arizona mountains, off grid, we have a bank of solar panels, a bank of batteries, and a small Honda generator. On the outside of the house, beside the battery bank, there is a 30 amp  twist female connector plug to plug the Honda generator into if the battery bank cannot provide electrical power to the circuit panel inside the house.

    To connect the generator to the house, we needed a heavy cable with male plugs on both ends, 30 amp twist plugs.

    When that special cable is plugged in, neither the house side NOR the generator side has (should have) any power. After it’s plugged in, and you start the generator, the house lights up, the fridge gets cold, etc.

    Being off the grid, there isn’t much power consuming equipment installed. Sat dish, fan to move air around, fridge, microwave, some low watt LED lamps is about all. IIRC the generator is about 2200 watts. I have a multi-meter to check the house voltage, but basically in the battery bank isn’t charged up nothing works.

    They aren’t always a do it yourself disaster, sometimes in a special purpose installation they are exactly what you need…

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