Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Putin dreamed of ending NATO, and now it’s Finnish-ed.

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

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

“Cheese and Kraken paired together for the appetizer trial.”

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

You can’t love your country only when you win.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Spilling the end game before they can coat it in frankl luntz-approved dogwhistles.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

Bad news for Ron DeSantis is great news for America.

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

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

Ron DeSantis, the grand wizard, oops, governor of FL

We still have time to mess this up!

We’re not going back!

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Reader Interactions

196Comments

  1. 1.

    NotMax

    A tightness of Tannenbaums.

    Consumers in search of both real and artificial Christmas trees this year should start shopping early and prepare to pay about 10% to 30% more than last year because fewer Christmas trees — and less selection — will be available, industry experts said.

    “Some of the major retailers say they have about 43 percent of their inventory right now when it should be closer to 70 percent at this time of the year,” said Jami Warner, executive director of the American Christmas Tree Association, which represents Christmas tree retailers.

    Rising Christmas tree prices and declining tree varieties are the result of several factors, including shipments of artificial trees, most of which are imported from China, being delayed by supply chain issues, and a lack of truck drivers to make deliveries, industry experts said.

    In addition, after the recession ended in 2009, struggling farmers planted fewer trees for several years. Source

  3. 3.

    Immanentize

    Once upon a time there was light in my life
    But now there’s only barks in the fog
    Nothing I can say
    A total eclipse of the dog

  4. 4.

    HeartlandLiberal

    Gonna post this here as I came late to the former thread about what to watch, entertainment.But we liked this series so much gonna leave this here for those interested in something good to watch.
    For those wanting something different, my wife and I just finished Princess Weiyoung on Netflix. All 54 episodes! It is a lavish period costume drama set in the Chinese emperor’s court. Complex and evolving story of love, betrayal, intrigue, power struggles, and murder, but a love that conquers all for a brief time. The costumes are just beyond description marvelous. The story line / plot is convincing. HIGHLY recommended. We have watched a number of multiple episode Chinese productions, some good, one so bad we quit watching after first story cycle. But this was the best ever. A story of triumph of the will over adversity in a society whose middle name is treachery.​

  6. 6.

    Betty Cracker

    There’s a paywalled article at Rolling Stone about the activities of former Tea Party and current Women for Trump grifter Amy Kremer and her drunk-ass daughter in the run-up to the 1/6 Capitol Building attack. Someone leaked texts to RS, and the headline takeaway is that Trump instigated the whole thing, which duh. But my “same shit, different day” takeaway is that once these conservative “activists” get their feed-straws in the rubes’ wallets, they never go away.

  7. 7.

    Geminid

    The Bidens will visit soldiers at Fort Bragg, North Carolina today. I think that by this time next year the fort will have a new name, maybe Fort Ridgway.

    Besides being a traitor, Braxton Bragg was a really crappy general. Nobody liked him except Jefferson Davis, but nobody liked him either.

  8. 8.

    Nicole

    I knew that about the Christmas tree shortage!  Though I think the 2008 economic crisis is what the people selling cut trees are saying is the main cause.  Not enough trees planted 12 years ago, not enough 6 foot Douglas Firs today.  Ah, Bush Jr.  The gift that keeps on (not) giving, in so many ways.  In this case, his nickname of Shrub seems appropiate.

    Thank you for the French bulldog video.  I showed it to my 11-year-old as soon as he woke up and it’s nice to have the kid getting ready for school in a good mood because he was just laughing.

  9. 9.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @NotMax: In addition, after the recession ended in 2009, struggling farmers planted fewer trees for several years.

    I blame Obama. He should’ve had a tree nursery bailout.

  10. 10.

    Immanentize

    Almost done with classes. This morning, then next Monday afternoon (which is a Thursday schedule for Masonic reasons).

    See y’all later!

    PS for DAW and others keeping score, had to cancel the winter cruise w/Immp because both Greece and Turkey are CDC no-go countries. Sigh….

  11. 11.

    Betty Cracker

    @Immanentize: Haha! I was going to dogify further lyrics, maybe something about a Frenchie fart, but then I remembered I’m a grown-up who’s supposed to be working. :)

  14. 14.

    Geo Wilcox

    @NotMax: In my area there is also a very contagious fungus that decimates spruce trees by attacking their older needles. Unlike pines, which drop their old needles spruces do not which makes them super for Christmas trees. The needle drop fungus varieties screw that up big time. You have to spray the trees every year with fungicide which is expensive for tree farmers that have only one big buying season a year.

  15. 15.

    debbie

    Seems odd that the tree farmers would have cut back production during the pandemic. Even if some trees ended up being huger, they would have found homes, if only those of the show-offs.

  22. 22.

    Geminid

    @OzarkHillbilly: At least President Biden will have a “Tree Equity” program to support planting trees in poor urban communities. I was listening to Hew Hewitt’s radio show yesterday, and he pointed out that the tree equity program would cost $2.5 billion. “That’s three frigates!” his guest cried. It was Mike Gallagher,  a Wisconsin Congressman with a shipyard in his district. Then Gallagher went on about how the Civilian Climate Corps would employ 300,000 people. “That’s more people than the entire Marine Corps!” he wailed.

  23. 23.

    satby

    @debbie: they planted crops that would turn over faster. When I lived in MI a farmer down the road had started a Christmas tree field, but two years later had cleared it and planted corn.*

    Edited to add: they reduced production a decade ago. Takes that long to grow a decent sized tree.

  24. 24.

    Betty Cracker

    @Geminid: How can you stand listening to that ambulatory cream cheese sculpture? He’s insufferable. I think he may have lost his WaPo gig? Or at least I haven’t seen one of his awful columns in a while.

  28. 28.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    Target, which some insist can barely stay in business due to a shoplifting epidemic across the country, just reported they’ve made 6.8 BILLION in profits so far this year, up 45% from last year

    Suppy chain! Inflation! Shortages! Shoplifting! Target isn’t alone- they’re all reporting record profits, which is interesting given that we’ve been told for a solid year that the economy sucks. I can’t figure out who is buying all this stuff or what they’re buying given that they have no money and also the shelves are empty.

    Something is wrong with the economic reporting. It isn’t being borne out in real numbers.

  29. 29.

    topclimber

    @NotMax: ​
     

    We need a movement to share Christmas trees. I’ll cut mine in half and take the bottom, and someone else can have topside.

    We being those of us who celebrate it one way or the other. Or just enjoy the show.

  30. 30.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Geminid: Then Gallagher went on about how the Civilian Climate Corps would employ 300,000 people. “That’s more people than the entire Marine Corps!” he wailed.

    See? It’s a jobs bill.

  34. 34.

    debbie

    Tuck Carlson has offended even his coworkers.

    Two conservative commentators who have appeared on Fox News for more than a decade have resigned from the right-wing network over what they say is a “dangerous” Tucker Carlson special filled with lies about the Jan. 6 insurrection.

    Jonah Goldberg and Stephen Hayes, two co-founders of the conservative website The Dispatch, wrote that Carlson’s “Patriot Purge” special was “a collection of incoherent conspiracy-mongering, riddled with factual inaccuracies, half-truths, deceptive imagery, and damning omissions.”

    They praised some of the reporters at Fox News, but said the “voices of the responsible are being drowned out by the irresponsible.”

    “The tension between doing that work well and remaining loyal to Fox has tested us many times over the past few years,” Goldberg and Hayes wrote. “But with the release of Patriot Purge, we felt we could no longer ‘do right as we see it’ and remain at Fox News. So we resigned.”

    Carlson’s said Fox is better off without them. ??‍♀️

  36. 36.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @topclimber: I’ll do better than that, somebody else can just have my whole damn tree. Just like they did last year, and the year before that, and the year before that…

    Sacrifices have to be made, doncha know.

  38. 38.

    zhena gogolia

    @debbie: He interrogated a guest about why we should be on the side of Ukraine against Russia. He should be publicly humiliated and banned from the public square. But I won’t hold my breath.

  39. 39.

    NotMax

    @Kay

    Can’t help but wonder if an uptick in shoplifting is a result of self-checkout stations and people not scanning in every item.

  42. 42.

    Spanky

    @Quinerly: ???…!!!

    I’m obviously out of the loop on your goings-on, but I’m guessing that ain’t a car inspection you’re talking about.

  43. 43.

    germy

    Just a reminder to people who are impressed with Jonah Goldberg today that he has been an absolute buffoon for more than 20 years and his Fox resignation is just a lateral move into a more appropriate wingnut welfare niche. There are no good conservatives.

    — Roy Edroso (@edroso) November 22, 2021

  45. 45.

    debbie

    @germy:

    He’s been on NPR more than a few times, not talking nice about TFG et al. So this isn’t a sudden change of heart on his part.

  47. 47.

    Betty Cracker

    Sorry to spring something this gross on y’all first thing in the morning, but I can’t figure out who the Guilfoyle lookalike next to the baby-faced killer is. Maybe it is Guilfoyle? I don’t know.


    BTW, the person who tweeted this welcome to the baby-faced killer is Gov. Ron DeSantis’s press secretary. It’s beyond nauseating.

  49. 49.

    Ken

    @OzarkHillbilly: [Obama] should have had a tree nursery bailout.

    But the free-market decisions by thousands of individuals over a decade ago led by definition to the best possible economic outcome.

    Your idea of government interference would have made things worse by definition, even if it superficially resulted in an abundant supply of less-expensive trees.

  50. 50.

    germy

     Maybe it is Guilfoyle? I don’t know.

    The Black guy at the next table, I wonder what he’s texting.

  53. 53.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    This was the FB page of a friend this morning. He and his wife both teach at USF and their daughter is in HS. He says they don’t know how much longer they can take it in Florida.

    Florida Gov. DeSantis signed four bills yesterday banning different Covid prevention practices. He says he is proud thatFlorida is leading the fight against the Biden administration and what his surgeon General calls “spiritual oppression.” We got a message from teh school district and it summarized the state action this way:
    ✓ Government entities may not require COVID-19 vaccinations of anyone, including employees;
    ✓ Educational institutions may not require students to be COVID-19 vaccinated;
    ✓ School districts may not have school face mask policies;
    ✓ School districts may not quarantine healthy students.

  54. 54.

    Ken

    @NotMax: I must admit that I once used the self-check “item search” and accidentally chose “bananas” instead of “organic bananas”.  When I realized that a few days later, they were as ashes in my mouth.

  55. 55.

    Quinerly

    @Spanky: My offer was accepted last Tues night on a house in Santa Fe for a permanent move after almost 40 years in St. Louis. It actually was a backup offer l submitted on a house l looked at the first day it came on the market. First contract fell through. So here we are.. Inspections and closing date of 12/8 or sooner.

  57. 57.

    Betty Cracker

    @Ken: And when Democrats go on that network to try to reach its audience with facts, when they treat its “news” people like legitimate journalists, they add to the problem, IMO.

  59. 59.

    Spanky

    @Ken: I did something similar, but the other way. I accidentally chose Organic Broccoli instead of Broccoli, and to this day regret overpaying for those 14 ounces.

  61. 61.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Ken: You must be another apostate warrior on the wrong side in the WAR on CHRISTmas!!! A Tree in Every House!!!

  63. 63.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Ken: Yeah, something like that. The best part is the judge let FOX off and quoted that part in his decision. So now it’s a finding in a court of law.

  66. 66.

    Kay

    @germy:

    All of the people who told us they only cared about the Rule of Law and the jury system will now spend a solid week glorifying and promoting the teen shooter. They already have a Kyle product line.

  69. 69.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    I knew they’d glorify the shooting and promote him as a Right wing product. The most glorious thing a young man can do is take out some filthy Lefties. There will be more Kyles.

  71. 71.

    Quinerly

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: love Santa Fe and New Mexico (obviously). These past 2 months have been my 11th visit out here. Been thinking about a major life change. I guess this might be it if all goes well. The other Buyers’ original contract fell through because of a special needs child’s severe allergies. People were moving to SF from out of state. The house has kitties. And a dog.

    Plus, NM certainly isn’t the place to move if you have severe allergies, imo.

  73. 73.

    Geminid

    @Betty Cracker: I’m pretty detached, so Hewitt doesn’t bother me. He was at least very forthright about Joe Biden being elected fair and and square, and pushed back hard at callers who suggested otherwise. And he sometimes has good guests, like former NATO commander Admiral James Stavrides. They cracked me up one time talking about the Navy’s transition from the Ohio class of missile submarines. Hewitt’s a Navy geek, and the Ohio class are called “Boomers” in Navy jargon. So he and Stavrides yakked away about the problems involved in retiring the Boomer generation.

    Hewitt does a lot of ads himself, and those are sometimes good for a laugh: “If you can afford it, give GOLD for Christmas! And I buy my gold from [Gold Company]!

  74. 74.

    lowtechcyclist

    @debbie: Tuck Carlson has offended even his coworkers.

    Anyone who tolerated Carlson’s Replacement Theory rants is still the scum of the earth, and it’s hard for me to grok that this latest bullshit, whatever it was, put them over the edge when such blatant racism didn’t.

  76. 76.

    Quinerly

    @Spanky: outside of SF towards Las Vegas and Pecos, NM. About 12 miles out in the community of Eldorado at Santa Fe. Community water. House is on a little over 2 acres. 285 corridor, if you are heading to Lamy, NM.

  78. 78.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Betty Cracker: ​ I’m pretty sure that’s not Guilfoyle, (the smile creases are different) tho it’s hard to be certain with all that makeup.

    Now if you will excuse me, I have to go wash my eyeballs with lye soap.

  80. 80.

    Soprano2

    @Nicole: Planet Money did a podcast about this last year. It was interesting. I never thought about it, but of course the trees planted this year will be Christmas trees in 10 years.

  81. 81.

    BlueGuitarist

    Dallas 58 years ago today: does anyone else wonder if Cruz, Sr., shot JFK is one of the very few accurate things TFG said?

  82. 82.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: It’s particularly grotesque that the Florida governor’s staff is using state resources to glorify Rittenhouse. I’m not surprised because this is who they are. I hope there’s blowback but don’t really expect it. Here’s what Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jaimie was killed in the Parkland massacre, said in response:

    Interesting to see @ChristinaPushaw , Press Secretary for
    @GovRonDeSantis celebrating Rittenhouse in Florida where my daughter was murdered by another teenager with an AR 15 in Parkland, Fl. Christina, I remember when your boss once acted like he gave a shit.

    I think Guttenberg is correct to note how far to the right DeSantis has moved since elected. I hope it will matter, but who knows. Like the country, Florida is split in two, with one side increasingly deranged and violent.

  84. 84.

    Quinerly

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: this has been a wonderful trip. Had never been out here in the Fall. My last trip was ending just as the world was changing in 3/2020. Have really enjoyed the leaf change… Especially on the Southern Co and Northern AR camping portion of the trip in September. Actually… That September portion seems like a lifetime ago.

  85. 85.

    Soprano2

    @NotMax: Probably. I figure they have decided that not having to have employees checking out people saves more money than they lose to shoplifiting. They are currently remodeling the Walmart we go to every weekend. I had heard they were going to take out all the checkers and replace them with self-check, but they didn’t do that. They did add a lot more self-check stations, but we still have 8 stations with human checkers. I asked on of them if they would eventually be replaced, and he said “No, corporate got so many complaints about taking out the checkers that they’ve decided to leave some in future remodels”. My comment was that they should have surveyed their customers before deciding to completely do away with human checkers. I don’t mind using self-check if I have a few items, but if I have a cartful I don’t want to scan and bag all that stuff myself.

    I also wish they had reconfigured so that people waiting for the self-check stations don’t block the aisle for people who are shopping. It’s a cluster now. IMHO they should rope that off, and actually they should all design like Trader Joe’s does – have one line feeding all the check stands so you don’t get stuck behind the person who has problems checking out or has 1,000 items in their cart.

    I saw something absolutely hilarious in the aisle at Walmart this weekend. At our location they put all the fancy electric toothbrushes in a locked case. You have to ask for them, and then they put it at the checkout to keep you from stealing it. However, there are whole bunch of that exact same product in the aisle in a Christmas display! I couldn’t believe it. Can they really be that unobservant?

  88. 88.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: It’s one thing to think he shot in self-defense, it’s something else completely to celebrate what he did as if it’s heroic. That’s gross. Of course now that he’s said he supports BLM, they may have second thoughts about elevating him to hero status.

  89. 89.

    Geminid

    @Quinerly: I hope this will be a happy home for you and your pup. And once you are based there, you’ll really be able to explore the Southwest. I think there is a Pecos Wilderness Area right around the corner from your home-to-be.

  90. 90.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: He did what they all dream of doing. It’s kind of scary how many right wingers fantasize about killing all the liberals. I don’t think most of them would actually have the nerve to do it, but OTOH if you look at Rwanda it doesn’t take that much to turn ordinary people into killers, and many of them are already primed for it.

  91. 91.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    It’s just that the high minded defense of this stuff never matches up with the actions. They don’t give a rat’s ass about the “jury system”. They’re promoting him because he shot their ideological enemies.

    If they cared about “the jury system” or “due process” they would strengthen those things. They’re not. They’re instead conducting a campaign tour and absolutely glorifying vigilante patrolling.

    It’ll go exactly like the CRT panic went. From “free speech” and “diverse opinions” to book bannings and ridiculous state speech codes in a matter of months.

    There were lots and lots of trials and proceedings around the BLM protests. A ton of Lefties were prosecuted. One of the Lefties was gunned down by police and it appears police (shocked face) LIED about whether or not he was armed. The Right and elite media seized on EXACTLY ONE case. If your interest is “due process” you’d follow “due process” issues They don’t.

    There’s another high profile self defense/vigilante case going on right now. None of them talk about it. That’s because it doesn’t fit the self defense/BLM protest narrative they need.

  92. 92.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: I’d be surprised if they even mentioned the Arbery trial on Fox News. If those three are acquitted, it will be really bad for the rule of law. It’ll be open season on anyone someone thinks shouldn’t be in their neighborhood. I wonder how they’ll explain why they didn’t pursue all the white people who looked at that house under construction.

  93. 93.

    Quinerly

    @Geminid: love Pecos area. Have hiked there alot over the years out here. JoJo and I just hiked there at the end of Oct. And had a wonderful lunch at “Frankie’s at the Casanova” in Pecos! Was glad to see that culinary institution survived Covid. 2 other restaurants in the area didn’t.

  95. 95.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Betty Cracker: Snag a pine from the wild. They are the weed of the South. It’ll be a Charlie Brown tree, but when in Rome… Also, if you’re concerned about killing a living thing, you could always “plant” it later by just tossing it out the backdoor. It WILL grow. Sadly.

    ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

  96. 96.

    Kay

    @Soprano2:

    I’m amused that they’re all decrying the media coverage of the trial but none of them mention that Fox was embedded with the defendant. Fox embedded with the defendant because Kyle Rittenhouse is the first product the Fox documentary team is rolling out. They scheduled his interview to coincide with the roll out. I mean, JFC. Just stop with the sanctimony and scolding.

    Has a single one of these people ever even followed a criminal case involving self defense before? They became passionately interested in criminal justice, but just for this two week period? Just stop bullshitting us. You’re Right wing warriors. We get it.

  97. 97.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Then it seems to me that governors of other states should announce travel bans for people coming from Florida. Won’t hold up, but at least make ’em take you to court.

  98. 98.

    Kay

    @Soprano2:

    The state has a really strong case and the judge is a serious person – he’s not allowing it to turn into a clown show. There’s lot of recorded evidence. I listened to all the recordings of the initial contact of the defendants with police, which will matter a lot because they’re minutes after the shooting. What the defendants said.

    One of the truly horrifying parts of the case is Arbery didn’t die immediately. You can hear him at one point. No one offered him aid. They’re standing around discussing what just happened like they’re at a fender bender and he’s dying 20 feet away. A police officer eventually goes to him, to check if he’s dead.

  99. 99.

    Geminid

    @Quinerly: I see that the Comet II restaurant in Santa Rosa is still making it. When I camped at Santa Rosa State Park, a take out order of Comet II’s chile verde was a must. Makes my stomach glow just thinking about it.

  100. 100.

    Another Scott

    @Soprano2: A commenter retweeted on Ragnarok Lobster’s Twitter noted that it’s quite common for people who shoot-up protestors to claim that they support the same causes as the protestors.  We shouldn’t be surprised.

    As dsquareddigest says, never give known liars the benefit of a doubt.

    Grrr….

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  101. 101.

    Kay

    @Soprano2:

    I think we’ll see a reluctance among police and prosecutors to even investigate or charge once self defense is raised. A lot of Right wingers believe Rittenhouse should have been released with no process at all, and police obviously agreed- they were fully on board with him initially.

    One of the commenters on the Atlanta Journal Constitution site raised an interesting point. She wondered if the shooters don’t offer aid to their victims because if the victims survive they can tell their side of the story. That didn’t even occur to me, but obviously self defense is a heck of a lot easier to prove with the other side of the fight silenced.

  102. 102.

    Spanky

    @Quinerly: Well, here’s hoping all goes well! My only trip to NM so far was to drive a co-worker’s Uhaul on his move back there back in the 80s. He was from MD but went to NMSU in Socorro. When he finally came back to MD after about 10 years out there he hated it. “Too many trees” he said, so he found another job in Socorro, and off he went.

    Now my college roommate and his wife live north of SF, but we’re not going anyway until the pandemic is well and truly over, I think.

  103. 103.

    Soprano2

    @OzarkHillbilly: I know a lot of people who feel the same way, including my husband, but if I only have one or two items it’s way faster than waiting for a cashier, so I choose convenience. I like having the option, but I don’t want that to be the only option.

  104. 104.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Geminid:Besides being a traitor, Braxton Bragg was a really crappy general. Nobody liked him except Jefferson Davis, but nobody liked him either.

    I always wondered if the US army was trolling the Lost Causers by naming it Fort Bragg.  The Army gets told they need to name the new base after a Confederate general for national unity and the Army says fine, Braxton Bragg it is.

  105. 105.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Via Arwa Mahdawi at the Guardian:

    Peng’s circumstances may be extreme, but they are by no means unusual. When women speak up about sexual misconduct they tend to be punished for it. Speak up about sexual harassment at work and you may find your career suddenly starts to stall. You may find yourself being ostracized; being branded a troublemaker; threatened with the terms of draconian NDAs. Speak out about sexual misconduct at your university and you may find yourself being treated like you’re the one who did something wrong. You may get quizzed about how much you drank, what you were wearing, how many sexual partners you had. Speak out about the popular kid in your town? Your house might get burned down.

    That last example isn’t hypothetical – it’s what happened to Daisy Coleman. In 2012 14-year-old Coleman and her 13-year-old best friend Paige Parkhurst were assaulted at a party. After they accused the high school football star both girls were subjected to horrific bullying and harassment. The Colemans had their house burnt down, and mutilated dead rabbits were put in Parkhurst’s car. Daisy’s mother was fired from her job and the family ended up leaving town. Daisy died of suicide last year. Her mother took her own life four months later.

    From that last link:

    The organization that Daisy Coleman co-founded, SafeBAE, announced Melinda Coleman’s death on its Instagram page late Sunday.

    “We are in shock and disbelief to share with our SafeBAE family that we lost Melinda Coleman to suicide this evening,” the organization said. “The bottomless grief of losing her husband, Tristan, and Daisy was more than she could face most days.”

    Melinda Coleman’s husband, Michael, died in a car accident in 2009, according to the Kansas City Star. In 2019, her son Tristan, 19, also died in a one-vehicle crash in western Kansas; Melinda Coleman was in the car but survived, the Star also reported.
    ……………………..
    Norris told TODAY Coleman, 58, was devoted to her children and sought to serve as a model of living through adversity. She is survived by two sons, Logan and Charlie.

    Jeebus. How much adversity is a person supposed to take?

  107. 107.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Kay: Adam Silverman said in one of his posts that if you pull a gun and intend to claim self-defense, you’d better take the shot and hope the person you shot dies–it’s legally much better for you that way, because the dead cannot testify.

  110. 110.

    Woodrow/asim

    @germy: I find it bleakly hilarious — and frankly, surprising — that Rittenhouse said he supports BLM. The Conservatives are trying to manipulate him like they did Norma McCorvey/Jane Roe (or my own Mom) and he’s not even aware of it enough to play along.
    I’ll also confess I’m just going off the headlines; I don’t need to do my head in trying to read a whole article on this kid, at this time. He’s gotten far too much of the spotlight, and a good round of ignoring him in favor of the victims, and refocusing on BLM’s needs, would do us all a world of good.​

  111. 111.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @germy: huh, I might be right that Ritterhouse is just a dumb ass teen who got talked into those shooting by the meth gang militia he stumbled into because he is underaged.

  112. 112.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: The thing I can’t get out of my mind about the McMichaels’ trial for killing Arbery is that they had gotten away with it. They weren’t charged for months, IIRC, and if their idiot codefendant hadn’t videoed the murder, they’d probably still be menacing passersby.

  113. 113.

    Kay

    @Soprano2:

    I don’t know. But in the Arbery case we have statements made by the defendants moments after it occurred and those are really valuable, because they can’t then go back and form their story around the self defense elements in the statute. I read all the docs and listened to the tapes of interviews with Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin case and that evolution happened with him- as he realized his situation his explanation of events and his state of mind started to align with self defense. They need to pin down the self defense claiming shooters immediately, with a real interview. Any delay benefits the shooter.

  114. 114.

    Fair Economist

    @Kay:

    Something is wrong with the economic reporting. It isn’t being borne out in real numbers.

    It’s classic media misdirection – misleading reporting without being literally false, done to make Democrats look bad. They yammer endlessly about inflation and supply chain shortages, *without* mentioning these are being caused by an unprecedented boom. The supply chain is moving *more* than it ever has before; it just can’t keep up with an economy that wants even more than that. And that shortfall is causing inflation.

  115. 115.

    Feathers

    @OzarkHillbilly: Reminder that Christmas tree farms are basically a tax avoidance grift. My guess is that with the mortgage crisis people couldn’t afford to buy these “farms.” Since trees are probably planted when the “farmer” buys the property, there is now a shortage. Also, since the sorts of people who rely on tax grifting to be able to buy a house are also probably more likely to lose them to foreclosure, the banks were probably not planting trees on property they were controlling.

  116. 116.

    Another Scott

    @Soprano2: There are many layers to this.  Kyle and his people realize that there’s a bigger audience on Fox News and CNN than on Stomrfront Daily.  Plus, there’s the old saw, [colbert] “I’m not racist, here’s my black friend…” [/colbert]  And humans are really, really good at fooling themselves.

    Dunno.

    FWIW.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  117. 117.

    Quinerly

    @Geminid: l had it on my list for a stop after Christmas since originally would be leaving Winslow on 12/27 and would be hitting I 40. I am in the process of canceling my Dec AZ plans because of this house. Plus, if it falls through, l still need to get back to St Louis early. My mind is made up about a move. One way or another, l need to start moving in the direction to get my house on the market. Someday I’ll make it to Santa Rosa again!

  118. 118.

    Fair Economist

    @Soprano2: Near me a number of grocery stores have put in self checkout, and then later removed them; I assume for shoplifting reasons. This is a middle-class town with a lower than average crime rate.

  119. 119.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    Absolutely. Well, they had law enforcement ties and they claimed they were exonerated – no further inquiry is necessary. They flashed the get out of jail free card and that was enough.

    I listened to one of the motion hearings and was given hope. The third defendant, not the shooter but the joyrider who gleefully joined the hunt, claimed that Arbery was carjacking his truck. The truck has Arbery’s handprint on it because joyriding lyncher hit him with the truck.

    The level of entitlement – “I DESERVE to be able to boss you around” is just off the charts. It’s a mental illness. Arbery ran and ran and ran. He wouldn’t take orders from them. But if we HAD Arbery, if they hadn’t have killed him- Arbery could tell us HIS state of mind- perhaps his terror at being hunted by 3 Right wing lunatics. But they kill the other side of this story, so we never get it.

    It would be one thing if they were using fists or skateboards as weapons and then we could have both parties testifying, shit they would probably CHARGE both, but they use guns, so we only hear from the shooters. They permanently silence the best witness against them.

  120. 120.

    cope

    Because BJ is pedant friendly, it behooves me to note that the eclipse re-enacted by the cute dogs represents a solar eclipse rather than last Friday’s lunar eclipse. As you were.

  121. 121.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Feathers: It’s still Obama’s fault. He should have put a Xmas tree planting requirement into the bank bailout. But what does one expect from a Mooslim America hater.

  122. 122.

    JMG

    I wonder if the Christmas tree shortage is like the stories about the turkey “shortage” a couple of weeks ago, that is, it’s pure bullshit. Every supermarket here is awash in turkeys and has been for the last week to 10 days. Prices are up, but that’s not exactly a shortage. Same with Christmas trees, where prices have been going up for some years now, but there are still plenty of them. Truckload of them passed us on I-95 on our ride back from the airport to our house last week after being in France.

  123. 123.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Another Scott: It could also be  Baby Face Killer  has had quite the education in the world in the last year and deliberately poisoning himself as a Right Wing Icon out of sense of self preservation.

  124. 124.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    My husband isn’t confident the Arbery shooters will be convicted. He believes the defense got the jury they wanted. I’ve followed it more closely than him though, and if I had to guess I would guess they convict.

    But boy if they don’t convict on these facts all bets are off. It’s open season. The person with the bigger gun makes the laws. If they don’t convict I will have to reconsider my position on a lot of things.

  126. 126.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    I love how all the Right wing shooters have adopted the same exonerating lies police use in shootings. The Arbery defendants produced “he was fooling with his waistband” as to their fear he was armed.

    He’s fucking running for his life from three maniacs. I’d have to yank my shorts up too.

    Add that to the list of scary actions we may not take in the vicinity of an armed Right winger- unless we drop to the ground and obediently follow every order they issue they’ll kill us.

  127. 127.

    Just Chuck

    @Soprano2: Huh, all the walmarts I’ve been to in CO have amusement-park-style ropes before the self-checkouts, and every TJ’s I’ve been to in CO and CA has always had separate lines.  TJ’s just actually staffs its checkout lanes, unlike Safeway where there’s typically just one or two human cashiers even on busy days.

  129. 129.

    Just Chuck

    @Soprano2: Cops have an actual duty to render aid, so it’s not depraved indifference, it’s accessory to murder.  Which of course is to be expected from police nowadays.

  130. 130.

    brendancalling

    @Nicole: My dad is not only Jewish, he’s an atheist. He doesn’t care much about Xmas, but after my mom died he found himself in the position of having to buy a tree for family holidays.

    The first year, he bought a giant tree that basically went undecorated, because his heart wasn’t in it (both from temperment and the recent death of my mom). The next year, he didn’t get a tree, saying he was leaning toward a Festivus pole.

    But then he decided that Festivus kind of mocks other people’s religious beliefs, so he finally bought a 12 length of PVC pipe, painted it green, and wrapped it in lights. The Holiday Pole is now our family tradition.

  131. 131.

    Jeffro

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:[DeSantis] says he is proud that Florida is leading the fight against the Biden administration

    Which is all this is – it’s certainly not fighting Covid, and it’s not about ‘freedom’.  DeSantis is prolonging the pandemic by opposing sensible anti-Covid measures ‘just because’.  If his orange role model told everyone to get vaccinated, he’s be out there 24/7 screaming that Biden & Co weren’t moving fast enough.

    Republican officials are fully on board with a higher death count, just to spite ‘Brandon’.  They don’t care how many additional deaths they cause – it is all about kneecapping President Biden.  I hope Ds across the country pound that home and bring those facts to their logical conclusion: today’s Republican Party cannot be trusted with power, not one bit of it.

  133. 133.

    Cameron

    @Betty Cracker: I really don’t like thinking that, after living here for five years, I might move back to Philadelphia.  Sic transit gloria wanker, or whatever that Latin thing is.

  136. 136.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Quinerly: ​Know the place well – I frequently[1] visited my college classmate after he moved out from Baltimore and built a house there, and before he sold it to move to handicap-friendly housing in FantaSe proper.[2]

    [1] Pre-pandemic but also prior to Southwest jacking the prices for their daily BWI-ABQ direct flight into the ionosphere. I’ve flown to Europe for less.

    [2] FTR I am not impressed with FantaSe building codes that compel builders of multimilliondollar homes to make exterior walls look like they’re slathered in mud. The one time I visited Flagstaff AZ I liked it much better – about the same population but lacking the pricey pretention. Plus two astronomical observatories and the Grand Canyon in striking distance (complete with an international clientele of tourists).​​

  138. 138.

    Just One More Canuck

    @debbie: maybe there’s a park or some green space nearby where you can plant it, or maybe some tree planting club will take it (there’s a group like that here in suburban Toronto)

  139. 139.

    Cameron

    @Chief Oshkosh: IIRC, early in the pandemic when NYC had loads of cases, DeSantis tried either a ban or a quarantine (memory fails me) for New Yorkers.  It was about as useful as Trump’s wall.

  141. 141.

    Kay

    I’m gonna plug the Atlanta Journal Constitution again for Arbery coverage, if it interests you and you want to follow it in depth. I paid for a subscription (which I won’t keep past this) but it’s good work and they deserve praise and to get paid. 

    I actually lived in Atlanta a hundred years ago when I was young and carefree, and I love newspapers so I read the AJ/C then- paper copy-  it’s been kind of nostalgiac for me :)

  143. 143.

    Geminid

    @raven: That looks like a good place to camp. Nearby Alma is about 50 miles north of Silver City. I’ve never been to that part of Southwest New Mexico, but I bet it’s nice.

  147. 147.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    I would also think the tape of one of them spitting out the n-word while standing over the body might hold some sway.

  148. 148.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Westyny: OK fine, make it Tom. That’s my name and I promise not to take it personal that there are assholes out there named Tom. There are nice guys named Tom too. Not that I am one of the latter.

  150. 150.

    debbie

    @Matt McIrvin:

    I’m so fed up with these people who claim self-defense because the murder victim tried to fight back. This is Trayvon Martin all over again. DO THEY NOT HAVE A RIGHT TO THEIR OWN SELF-DEFENSE???

  152. 152.

    laura

    @Quinerly: I’ve been thinking about you since last week when you dropped the news about your wee impulse buy and I wanted to share that there are so few decisions that we make secure in the knowledge that it’s the decision at the right time even when it involves a new chapter with consequences, but you make the decision and take the plunge because YOU KNOW that it’s the right decision. So buy that home, make a new start, concede your pup will never learn english and say a fond farewell to the life you knew in SL and take the best and a few worst memories with you in the conestoga wagon and set forth for what mysteries await you in the new West that has really piqued your interests. If it doesn’t work out, move farther West. Trust yourself and buy that home. ❤

  153. 153.

    debbie

    @Woodrow/asim:

    A supporter of BLM went to the demonstration to protect a business against those same people he supports? Guess I missed the announcement that pigs had begun to fly. //

  154. 154.

    Geminid

    So, President Biden will appoint Jerome Powell to a second term as Fed Chairman. Lael Brainerd will be Vice Chairman.   From Politico.

  155. 155.

    Chacal Charles Calthrop

    @Immanentize: I went to Troy in the pre-pandemic days.

    the problem with visiting Troy is that you’re seeing it with tourists who just saw the ruins of Ephesus and other over-the-top Roman ruins, which look so Beaux Arts Victorian that one half -expects to come across the ruins of a train station.

    then at the ruins of Troy, which is a pile of Neolithic rubble, there are all these Classics majors freaking out while ordinary tourists scratch their heads and say, I don’t get it. Why is this nothing-looking place I’ve never heard of so much more important than all the splendid places we just saw that I’ve also never heard of?

  160. 160.

    Cameron

    @brendancalling: Don’t get me wrong – I love Philly and lived there for about 45 years.  There were a few things that motivated me to move here, some of which may no longer apply.

  164. 164.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    I think the cases are hard from the prosecution side on those issues. Purely from a tactical standpoint I don’t know that we should be so sure that bringing in racism (which I believe is absolutely part of Arbery) helps or hurts the prosecution. That’s cynical, but it’s also true, IMO.

    Trayvon Martin- that wasn’t about Martin at all – the defense turned it into a trial on “guns”. Vote to aquit if you support gun nuts!  We can’t be mad at the prosecution for not “making our case” – they have to do their own.

    Obviously, the authoritarian bent of the vigilante cases bothers me, a lot. I want to have a discussion on whether we as a country have decided that any random person may assume the police role. I don’t recognize Kyle Rittenhouse’s authority over me. If the weapon gives him authority, then he’s no different from a criminal. I would like to explore where these people got the idea that other people have some duty to take orders from them.

    The shooter in Arbery insists he just wanted Arbery to “talk to him”. He doesn’t have any fucking authority to pursue and then detain someone and force them to explain their presence. Arbery doesn’t have to talk to any random white person who demands he do so, or get shot. If that’s the new Right wing legal regime we need to discuss it, because I personally have no plans to take orders from them. No. I won’t. They can do their cosplay patrols and strut around with the big guns but the minute they involve someone else they need to explain where this authority they claim comes from.

  165. 165.

    stinger

    @Woodrow/asim:

    He’s gotten far too much of the spotlight, and a good round of ignoring him in favor of the victims, and refocusing on BLM’s needs, would do us all a world of good.​

    This, thank you.

  166. 166.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    I would like to explore where these people got the idea that other people have some duty to take orders from them.

    Cowboy movies is my guess.

  167. 167.

    scav

    @Kay:

    Add that to the list of scary actions we may not take in the vicinity of an armed Right winger- unless we drop to the ground and obediently follow every order they issue they’ll kill us. 

    In other words, all right wingers now have the authority of the police.

  168. 168.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Jeffro: I hate the “I read somewhere” but I did recently read that Florida is pushing natural immunity as good or better than vaccination and such recovered folks should be treated the same. I think DeSantis is doing an end around Sweden or Great Barrington…letting the virus wash through the populace with little to no mitigation, his version having little to no concern about the vulnerable. Hence, the death rate in the Sunshine state.

  169. 169.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    I think it’s more than that. I think it’s gun culture in a kind of toxic brew with people assuming they are “the community” and therefore they speak and act on behalf of the state. They keep running into other people who don’t accept their authority, and I am firmly in the group who do not accept it. I don’t care that Rittenhouse “meant well”. No one granted him police power. No one has to recognize it. This power is coming from the gun. Without the gun, it would have been a fight between two people, one of whom hit him with a skateboard. The skateboard wielder would have been charged with something, more or less serious, depending on assault factors.

    Without the trucks and the guns it’s three people chasing Arbery on foot, and Arbery would have gotten away because the three defendants used the trucks for a reason- they could never have outrun him. He’d be alive and charged with trespassing or unlawful entry or something. They had his fucking picture on their phone. Police would have picked him and charged him with a misdemeanor.

    These people are taking bad situations and turning them into absolute tragedies, with body counts. They have to be stopped. Rein in your Right wingers. They’re out of control.

  171. 171.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    In the initial interview with police at the scene one of the Arbery defendants says he was pointing the gun at Arbery and Arbery wouldn’t comply. He wouldn’t drop to his knees or whatever fucking sign of submission and obedience these people want. The defendant takes this as a sign Arbery is dangerous, but think about the incredible assumptions of power that’s behind saying that. “I had my gun! Why wouldn’t he take orders?” And then to flip it around where the person who refuses to submit to their fake authority is the dangerous person? Where does this leave the rest of us?

    They leave us two choices. We either comply or they shoot us and claim self defense. Running away won’t work- they’ll pursue you. The power comes from the gun. Without the gun it’s just a 17 year old cosplaying police one evening, annoying, but not a tragedy.

  172. 172.

    Amir Khalid

    I’m watching the livestreamed closing arguments in the McMichaels and Bryan trial. (I won’t call it the Ahmaud Arbery trial because he’s not the one being tried.) Defence counsel for the McMichaels is trying very hard to convince the jury that Arbery’s behaviour was hinky enough to justify cornering him with pickup trucks and then brandishing a shotgun. I don’t know about the jury, but I’m not buying it.

  174. 174.

    Miss Bianca

    @debbie: Wait, Jonah Goldberg? The author of Liberal Fascism? Tucker Carlson is too extreme for that guy? 

    Mind officially blown for this morning.

  176. 176.

    Miss Bianca

    @Quinerly: When will you be situated? I am due for a NM visit. My sister’s colleagues at the Indian School and the various pueblo schools where she taught are going to have a memorial service for her at some point, so I will be planning my next trip around that. Congratulations – you are moving to one of my “heart” places. Been seriously considering a move down that way myself, but prices are insane right now. : (

  180. 180.

    opiejeanne

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: At Gettysburg you follow a tour guide,or take a tour bus, or best of all, hire a trained driver. The latter are great and have time to answer a lot of questions, especially if your hearing isn’t quite what it once was. They’re worth every penny they ask, and we tipped him that much as well.

    The walking tour of the cemetery was enlightening, too, but I only caught part of it while we were waiting for our driver to be finished with an earlier client.

  181. 181.

    J R in WV

    @Spanky: ​
     

    @Quinerly: ???…!!!

    I’m obviously out of the loop on your goings-on, but I’m guessing that ain’t a car inspection you’re talking about.

    Q is selling off her place in/near St Louis to buy a place just outside Santa Fe NM. I suspect someone is coming to inspect her for sale place in / near St Louis. Realtor or appraiser…

    Best of luck Quinerly!! Hope you make a ton of $$ to make it easy to move to New Mexico, which is probably better than MO. Everywhere may be better than WV, but we have such great neighbors here in our tiny hollow.

  182. 182.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: I keep thinking how people would look at this case if he had been a woman. That has a completely different vibe. Do you think people would have thought a woman should submit under those circumstances? Absolutely not! We’re taught to run away in situations like that if we can.

  183. 183.

    dopey-o

    We cruised around in Santa Fe though and I’ve seen pictures of it, especially at Christmas. It’s wonderful@Dorothy A. Winsor:

    We lived in Santa Fe in the 70’s when the whole bagolito craze began.

    For those who don’t know, a bagolito is a small paper bag with sand and a candle, set out at night to light the way for the Holy Family.

    Natives called them farolitos, and now you can buy strings of plastic replicas with light bulbs inside. It’s just like Disneyland On the Plaza.

  184. 184.

    Geminid

    @Ruckus: Oh my goodness, Hew Hewitt is one of the biggest chicken hawks out there! He can’t wait to confront the Chinese. He’s a huge supporter of the military-industrial complex. Last year, when the first big Covid relief bill was being considered, Hewitt advocated stimulating the economy by paying contractors for major weapons systems the whole cost up front! I remember him pitching the idea to retired Air force general. Hewitt asked, “How much would it cost to pay for the new strategic bomber program in full, General?” The general hemmed and hawed, then hemmed some more. I think he knew the number, but it was so high as to be shocking. The Air Force likes to fund these things one year, $10 billion at a time, at least until production gears up.

  185. 185.

    J R in WV

    @Kay:

    My husband isn’t confident the Arbery shooters will be convicted. He believes the defense got the jury they wanted. I’ve followed it more closely than him though, and if I had to guess I would guess they convict.

    But boy if they don’t convict on these facts all bets are off. It’s open season. The person with the bigger gun makes the laws. If they don’t convict I will have to reconsider my position on a lot of things.

    And it will be Lynching Time Again Down South, won’t it?

    Everywhere south of the Canadian border, that is !!!

  187. 187.

    PST

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    The Army gets told they need to name the new base after a Confederate general for national unity and the Army says fine, Braxton Bragg it is.

    It’s kind of interesting that the other Fort Bragg — the one on the Pacific — was named for Bragg before the Civil War. He evidently had his admirers as an artillery officer. The big Fort Bragg in NC was nothing but a firing range, Camp Bragg, when it opened during WWI and may have been named after Bragg because he was from not too far away. I hope more thought would have been given if anyone had suspected it might turn into the behemoth of today.

  188. 188.

    Geminid

    @PST: They should rename the North Carolina fort after General Matthew Ridgway. He commanded the 82nd Airborne Division and parachuted into Normandy with it on D Day. He fought most of the European campaign as a corps commander. Six years later, after the Chinese blew up MacArthur’s last offensive and General Walker was killed in a jeep wreck, Ridgway was sent to Korea to salvage the American position and pulled it off.

    Braxton Bragg was an idiot. Contemporaries said that it was painful to watch him work with a map. He was even worse when it came to working with people.

  190. 190.

    J R in WV

    deleted

    commenting is totally borken for me right now. Can’t include a link to the comment I am commenting on, several comments just disappeared, etc. Totally borken.

  192. 192.

    Pauline

    @dopey-o: In southern Arizona where I grew up, they are called luminarias. I have fond memories of visiting Tumacacori National Park on Christmas Eve night when the church and grounds were lit up with them.

  193. 193.

    Kay

    @Soprano2:

    I’m the only one looking at it this way- the jury won’t- but to me it’s a big deal just generally. I think it’s a real question. I keep being told these people “want to help”. Okay, putting aside whether I believe that or not, are we sure we want armed “helpers” roaming around? Maybe I’m an outlier but I don’t. People keep ending up dead when they help.

    Stop helping.

  194. 194.

    Ruckus

    @Geminid:

    I have done specialty defense department work in the past and there are reasons the costs are so high, they are, structural, technical, low production, restrictive work rules, time demands, and on and on. And because costs are high, profits can be rather decent. And because production numbers are generally lowish there are always production issues. I have stories but not sure I can share them and most would have no idea what the hell I’m talking about. But the end result is that the business is profitable, wasteful, inefficient, costly, and necessary, even if that last part is somewhat debatable. The biggest issue to my mind is the race to the bestest, biggest, most macho, weapon systems – and the escalation of warfare as the most important issue for government, because when you have the weapons, by george you’ve got to use them, to prove how good and great  a country it is that makes/has them. And so replacements can be produced, for more money.

  195. 195.

    bluegirlfromwyo

    @debbie: You’re ahead of me. I missed where defending a business meant going into a random crowd instead of being at the business.

  196. 196.

    dww44

    @Kay: I agree with you and have always believed that vigilante justice is wrong and dangerous.  A not insignificant part of my fellow Americans used to think this way too….. before the 2nd Amendment fetishization took over the market place.  I despair for the country with so many guns on the street and the right wing’s absolute worship of them and their rights to open carry and scare the living daylights out of otherwise normal citiznes.​
    ​
    ​

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