Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you don’t.

An unpunished coup is a training exercise.

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

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

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

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

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Second rate reporter says what?

Accountability, motherfuckers.

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

Peak wingnut was a lie.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

You are here: Home / Politics / Media / Drama Llama Ding Dongs (Open Thread)

Drama Llama Ding Dongs (Open Thread)

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Update from this morning’s report on the torching of the Fox News Christmas tree, which, as far as we know, was allegedly set ablaze by a rando who didn’t have a known anti-Murdoch agenda: The Foxies intend to milk this incident forever:

I watched two clips of “Law & Order: Special Tree Unit” (formerly known as “Fox & Friends,” or as Adam calls it, “A Blonde with Two Boobs on a Couch”). The hysterical tone of the coverage is reminiscent of 9/11.

So far, the vandalism incident has been used to decry shoplifting sprees on the West Coast, bail reform, “rampance” [not a word — Ed.] in New York City and Kamala Harris’s purchase of a $300 Le Creuset Dutch oven. (Okay, I made that last one up.)

The endless histrionics make me begin to suspect a false flag operation. It would be irresponsible NOT to speculate.

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

195Comments

  3. 3.

    trollhattan

    “Happy holifires, MFers!” is the Starbucks Christmas mug design this year. Have they put 2+2 together on this yet?

  4. 4.

    scav

    They’re no doubt organizing a SWAT team for the next broken bauble or lost icicle.  A burnt out bulb will require an even more forcible response!  Line the tree perimeter with cannon, barbed wire and (toeless) missiles!

  5. 5.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    The only thing that would stop an arsonist from burning a Christmas tree with a match is another arsonist with a flamethrower.

    Occasionally the Holiday Tree of Freedom needs to be refreshed with pine sap.

  7. 7.

    scav

    Your world is so fragile that needles dropping off a single corporate tree spells DOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!!! 

  10. 10.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    The only thing that would stop an arsonist from burning a Christmas tree with a match is another arsonist with a flamethrower.

    Occasionally the Holiday Tree of Freedom needs to be refreshed with pine sap.

    Damn, that’s good.  I’m still laughing.

  11. 11.

    dmsilev

    Wait, they’re going to Build Back Better?

    Seems I’ve heard that phrase before somewhere, not sure where…

  12. 12.

    lowtechcyclist

    @delk: Get Kyle Rittenhouse for armed patrol STAT!

    They’re certainly way more upset about the tree than they ever were about the two guys whose lives he ended.  Quite the moral code they’ve got there.

  17. 17.

    guachi

    About 19 years ago sister’s elderly neighbor in SF died and there were some odds and ends that the neighbors got to take. My sister wasn’t (still isn’t) much of a cook. She asked, as we were fortuitously visiting, if we wanted the decedent’s La Creuset enameled dutch oven. I eagerly said ‘yes’. I was poor but even I knew that La Creuset was good stuff. It ties with my All-Clad pan as best cooking item I own.

    My default assumption is Harris’s critics are elitists who don’t actually cook.

  19. 19.

    Winston

    Who knows? This could start a campaign of burn the fox tree vs stop burning our tree (send donations).

  20. 20.

    khead

    So far, the vandalism incident has been used to decry shoplifting sprees on the West Coast, bail reform, “rampance” [not a word — Ed.] in New York City and Kamala Harris’s purchase of a $300 Le Creuset Dutch oven. (Okay, I made that last one up.)

    So, I read this… flip over to Fox… and sure enough they are doing it again (sprees on video, tree on fire, etc.) while screaming about the urban hellhole (credit atrios) that is Philadelphia.

  21. 21.

    dmsilev

    The endless histrionics make me begin to suspect a false flag operation. It would be irresponsible NOT to speculate.

    A Reichstag Fire for the modern era?

  22. 22.

    randy khan

    If Bill O’Reilly were still on the air, my money definitely would be on a false flag operation, but it does seem like a drunk guy doing a drunk guy thing.

  24. 24.

    Ken

    @guachi: They cook, but with the right cookware — the kind you see advertised on MeTV during re-runs of 1960s shows. “Watch as we use this power sander on the pan, but the miracle coating doesn’t come off! Omelets just slide out every time! Order now and get two pans for the price of one! Just pay extra shipping and handling!”

  25. 25.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Do not be deterred. We will not be. We’re going to rebuild it. We’re going to rebuild it and we’re going to build it back better.

    Goddamned lazy scriptwriters.

  27. 27.

    eclare

    @guachi:   When I got divorced I let my ex take all the Le Creuset items just to get rid of him, over $1,000.  Damn that was good stuff.

  28. 28.

    dopey-o

    At first they came for the Douglas Firs, and I said nothing.

    Then they came for the Colorado Blue Spruces…..

    But Lauren Boebert and her gun-totin’ elves showed up with the Resistance.

  30. 30.

    dmsilev

    @guachi: It’s good stuff, and it lasts.

    And as far as the press trying to tar Harris as being elitist and out of touch for buying one to give as a gift, call me back when her “excessive” spending hits one percent of any one of Trump’s family.

  32. 32.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @khead:
    They have conned their audience into believing Seattle and Portland were basically burned to the ground during the BLM demonstrations.  It wasn’t hard.  The audience already believes that Los Angeles is a battlefield of street gang crime.  It boggled a Kentucky fast food server once when I told him that I would guarantee downtown Lexington is more dangerous than anywhere I’d gone in LA, including South Central.​

  34. 34.

    Suzanne

    @eclare:

    When I got divorced I let my ex take all the Le Creuset items just to get rid of him, over $1,000. 

    That was a good decision. I like my Le Creuset a lot, but I like not being married to my ex even more.

    And not just because Mr. Suzanne and I have our 12th anniversary this weekend. Dang.

  35. 35.

    Gin & Tonic

    We got a Le Creuset Dutch oven at a close out store years and years ago. I’m not real happy with it – I’ve always cleaned it carefully, but the enamel has taken on a distinctly non-smooth surface. Hart to describe, but it is definitely not the original texture and it makes it hard to clean.

  36. 36.

    Winston

    Next , expect to see a 24 hour armed force surrounding the tree. Then a drone carrying a bladder of gasoline crash into the tree. Then a build back better tree made of asbestos.

  40. 40.

    Gravenstone

    @Ken: Don’t worry about SkyNet. It’s FungiNet that you need to fear. That gives rise to Ents. Fortunate for us that Ents tend to the slow side of things.

  44. 44.

    Hoodie

    @dmsilev: It’s good stuff, but you can buy Lodge enamel coated cast iron for a helluva lot less (e.g., about 1/4-1/3 the price).  We have both and the Lodge stuff seems to work just as well.

  46. 46.

    FlyingToaster

    I’ve seen half a dozen takes on Twitter and in texts with “You know that Fox News paid some homeless guy $10 and a bottle of <insert beverage here> to burn that tree, right?”

    Among the beverages so far:

    Night Train

    Mad Dog 20/20

    Thunderbird

    Calico Jack

    Colt 45

    Hurricane

    Popov

    Everclear  (Which I assume means they were trying to kill the tree assassin, right?)

  47. 47.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    @Gin & Tonic: Le Creuset will apparently replace damaged items if they are really bad.  I read an article by someone who did that recently.  So maybe you could check that out..

  50. 50.

    Winston

    Crowd gathers around the tree and light roman candles. Guards open fire and kill 23 people. Republicans cheer “self defense”. Yet the tree burns again

    ET: perimeter expands to 300 feet.  M60 machine guns come on board.

  51. 51.

    Eljai

    ? O Fox Christmas tree, O Fox Christmas tree
    How smoky are thy branches
    O Fox Christmas tree, O Fox Christmas tree
    Who did this naughty rampance …?

  52. 52.

    Keith P

    I’ve got a Le Creuset Dutch oven…it sets the bar.   I even waited longer to get it in Marseilles blue instead of the usual flame color.

    And my headphones are corded too

  53. 53.

    Josie

    @guachi: Right?  Anyone who has ever priced decent dutch ovens knows that $300 is a good price.  The only way I ever afforded my small one was I purchased it with airline miles when the pandemic made sure I wasn’t going to fly anywhere for a long time.

     ETA: It’s a Staub, and I love it.

  55. 55.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    I  received a Martha Stewart Dutch oven as a Christmas present many years ago now and loved it.  Finally had a good pot for stews, etc.  When I could afford it, I replaced it with a Le Creuset and was amazed at how better it was.  It was even lighter!  My favorite piece of cookware, bar none.  The enamel is a beautiful shade of dark blue.  I held on to the old pot for a year or so, so my husband could make his traditional Navy Bean soup for New Year’s Day (a tradition in his family – his dad was in the Navy) without using my new pot.  (I was afraid he would scratch the inside with the immersion blender or some such). I have finally relaxed enough he is allowed to use it for the soup now, and the old pot has moved on.  Oddly, when I was dropping it off at Goodwill, the attendant told me they were not allowed to accept it; I forget why.  Luckily, there was another lady there dropping things off and she immediately took it off my hands.

  56. 56.

    SpaceUnit

    Nothing says “Treason’s Greetings” like burning down your own Christmas tree while you make excuses for an attempted coup.  Hope they brought marshmallows.

  57. 57.

    dmsilev

    @Josie: My mom bought me one as a birthday present several years ago. She very proudly informed me that it was purchased in a close-out sale for well under half the normal retail price (apparently that particular shade of yellow was going out of style I guess).

  58. 58.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    @Keith P: That’s the color I got my Le Creuset frying pan in; my Dutch Oven is a navy blue.  I’m with you – don’t really like their signature orange color.

  59. 59.

    Winston

    After the roman candle attack, FOX decides to blame antifa and does not rebuild the tree. 5.000 homeless are invited to see where the tree was. They line up and take a piss there.

  60. 60.

    Ruckus

    @Anonymous At Work:

    Did you mean tots and pears?

    I can not imagine that TPTB at faux broadcasting are not as vile as they make themselves out to be. Some homeless guy sets their tree on fire and they turn it into WWIII. They want someone to blame, did they ever, even for a 1/4 of a second, consider that the problem might be…..them? Of fucking course not, they are pompous, arrogant, egregious, assholes.

  61. 61.

    cain

    @dmsilev:

    The dumb thing is given what these people make – it’s quite likely they themselves have Le Creuset cookware. Hell I have one – it was at a good price. But generally they seem to be over priced for me.

  63. 63.

    scav

    Emile Henry are also pretty useful.  And, in a shocking example of stunning elite decadence, we not only have Le Creuset and Lodge and E. Henry, we have Copper!

    And we use them all (we do have them in many shapes) Simply amazing how multiple things can be good.  (Ok, Ok, we are a genetically linked larger band of tool geeks and we gift.)

  64. 64.

    Tony Jay

    I… uh… I guess ‘Dutch Oven’ has more than one meaning then.

    Otherwise this thread has outed a lot of people as freakeh.

  65. 65.

    Ruckus

    @Ken:

    Did it though? It seems it was only seconds that the powered up the lies and stupidity. You don’t do that unless you deal in lies and stupidity on a minute by minute basis and all it takes is to open their mouths and the stupid and lies fall out.

  66. 66.

    Ruckus

    @guachi:

    My default assumption is Harris’s critics are elitists who don’t actually cook.

    It might be worse. They could be bots that don’t even eat. That might be unlikely though, they are full of shit.

  67. 67.

    prostratedragon

    @Tony Jay:  Uh-oh, is that another “divided by a common language” thing? Because over here I’ve never heard it used as anything other than a cooking pot, and I do know some people who maybe know some people.

  68. 68.

    Gravenstone

    @FlyingToaster: Everclear  (Which I assume means they were trying to kill the tree assassin, right?)

    That one came with a rag stuffed in the top. It was meant to be the accelerant.

  69. 69.

    oatler

    The tree thing doesn’t hold a…candle to all the arson committed by nazis (Dem congressional offices, Dem campaign HQs etc.)

  70. 70.

    rikyrah

    @guachi:

     

    My default assumption is Harris’s critics are elitists who don’t actually cook.

     

    They can cook, but, don’t think she should even know what La Creuset is. Her being Black and all.

  71. 71.

    Ken

    @Tony Jay: Made me look. And yes, we Americans are using it to mean a casserole dish made of cast iron. To me, there’s also a connotation that you can use it for stovetop cooking (for example browning meats) then move it to the oven.

  72. 72.

    Winston

    Finally, Biden orders the entire plaza to be evacuated and drops a 500 lb bomb in the plaza. It destroys all the pissers and the surrounding area including FOX studios

    Republicans are pissed.

    Season  2 has yet to be approved by Netflix.

  75. 75.

    prostratedragon

    @prostratedragon:  After a moment’s consultation with a search engine, I see that my experience has not strayed to those parts, or anything else ending with arts.

  76. 76.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Ruckus:They want someone to blame, did they ever, even for a 1/4 of a second, consider that the problem might be…..them?

    Maybe, but their audience is more like addicts who need something to be outraged about to get another hit.

  77. 77.

    Almost Retired

    The twelve days of Antifa Christmas conservative sabotage have started early.  Yesterday, it was the Nashville Nathan Bedford Forrest statue (or whatever that thing was).  Today it was the Fox Christmas tree.  Tomorrow?  Make sure your sprinkler system is operational, Creation Museum…..Day four?

  78. 78.

    Ruckus

    @A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan):

    I had a bag of clothes and plastic clothes hangers that I took to Goodwill and they wouldn’t take the hangers. I took them to the rec room at my complex and put a free sign on them. Gone in a day. I’d bet that they can’t sell them for enough to bother.

  79. 79.

    dmsilev

    @Tony Jay: Well, here in LeftPondia, a Dutch oven is a pot, usually cast iron, sometimes with an enameled coating. Used for both stovetop and oven cooking, things like soups and stews and braised meats and so forth. Also nice for baking bread, the so-called “no-knead” recipes use them as basically steam baths during the first half of the bake.

  81. 81.

    ian

    Our Christmas tree burned down!! Jesus would be so upset!!

    Should we do a story on people starving to death in America?, no? O.K., lets talk about the burning tree some more.

  82. 82.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Jeffro: The master has spoken;

    New York Times Pitchbot@DougJBalloon
    Jet fuel can’t burn Christmas trees. This was an inside job.

    Incidentally, the Fox tree was plastic lol

  83. 83.

    randy khan

    @Keith P:

    No Le Creuset here, basically because the pot I want is too heavy for my wife to lift.  But I still want it.

    I like good kitchen tools.  A while back I bought three Japanese knives – big chef’s knife, smaller chef’s knife, and smaller serrated knife – and working with them just makes me happy.

  84. 84.

    Another Scott

    Just 56% of Mississippians are white.

    But white Mississippians make up almost 70% of COVID-19 cases and deaths over the last month (way up from just over 25% in May 2020).

    Mississippi is one of the few states where Black vaccination rates exceed white vaccination rates. pic.twitter.com/7V7yiMYamm

    — Ashton Pittman (@ashtonpittman) December 8, 2021

    Hmmm…

    (via LOLGOP)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  87. 87.

    Almost Retired

    @ian:  Maybe that flaming Christmas tree was a modern day burning bush – a sign by Yahweh to convince Steve Doocy to lead his people out of America.   At least I hope so.

  88. 88.

    Ruckus

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    That audience has been carefully built and inundated with bullshit for 30 yrs now. But after that long of spewing nothing but bullshit, they know how to do nothing else. It’s bullshit all day, every minute of every day. They are so full of it that it flies out of their mouths whenever they are open, and I’m pretty sure they couldn’t stop or if they could even try.

  89. 89.

    Jeffro

    @Another Scott: Black vaccination rates exceeding white rates entirely (even including white Democrats) – wow.

    Then again there are what, 10 or 11 white Democrats in Mississippi?

    But still, that’s just ridiculous.  What a death cult.

  90. 90.

    Tony Jay

    Incidentally, has anyone considered that the patriotic, All-American Christmas tree went up in flames because they put it too close to the patriotic, All-American flaming cross?

    Inquiring minds, etc.

  92. 92.

    JaySinWa

    I am struck by the pictures of the tree burning while the lights appear to be still on. I wonder when someone managed to cut the power, or a breaker blew. At some point the wiring should have shorted out.

  94. 94.

    JPL

    @danielx: It was a bunch of branches stuck into a metal frame made to look like a Christmas tree.   If they are so upset, they should send their reporters into the woods to find some more branches to put on the frame.

  95. 95.

    Jeffro

    I popped over to the Faux News website to see if they’re still covering the tree story…it’s not in their top 5, but I do see stories about

    • how Hillary just can’t let 2016 go, and
    • Ted Cruz calling the DOJ “politicized” under Biden

    …eyes rolling SO HARD here…

    Up is down, down is up, projection is everything with these people.

  96. 96.

    Ruckus

    @Almost Retired:

    You hate the rest of the world that much that you want to inflict the faux crowd upon them? Don’t normal humans have enough problems without dealing with that mess? I mean listen to Tony Jay discuss the problems of the large island he lives on, of people infected with the same disease we are, Murdoch disease, which causes a complex disruption of any and all thought processes. A major side effect being a hate of all who do not look like them, the idea that the world is ending and that money must be given to lying sacks of shit.

  97. 97.

    hueyplong

    At least the chronically enraged FoxNews geriatrics can note with satisfaction that the burning plastic tree released a lot of toxins into the librul NYC environment.  As Jesus intended.

    Had the tree been erected by libruls, its plastic nature would have been a three news cycle-long scandal.

  98. 98.

    Cameron

    It wasn’t some homeless Democrat – it was obviously Jewish space lasers.  Get a brian, morans!

  102. 102.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Jeffro:

    I popped over to the Faux News website to see if they’re still covering the tree story…it’s not in their top 5, but I do see stories about

    • how Hillary just can’t let 2016 go

    More like, how they just can’t let Hillary go.

    She’s been a private citizen, and nothing more, for just over five years now.  But they still yammer endlessly about her.  They just can’t drop her, let her go.

  103. 103.

    Ken

    @JaySinWa: I am struck by the pictures of the tree burning while the lights appear to be still on.

    This is New York, not Texas. They can keep the power on during a disaster.

  105. 105.

    trollhattan

    @randy khan: ​Used to think German kitchen knives were the ultimate but a couple of Japanese knives have me completely reconsidering.

    Different blade angles, for one thing.

  107. 107.

    NotMax

    Solution is simple. Erect the biggest tree which will fit, made entirely of asbestos, inside the enclosed lobby. And keep it up year ’round to pwn the libs.

  113. 113.

    Ken

    @Almost Retired: The twelve days of Antifa Christmas conservative sabotage have started early.

    I can’t make “Nathan Bedford Forrest statue” scan, but “Fox Christ-mas Treeeeee” fits the “five gold rings” beautifully.

  114. 114.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @Hoodie: Yes I have a Lodge one and it does just fine. It’s cast iron coated in durable enamel. Not sure how it could possibly be inferior to the Le Creuset, in terms of cooking performance, in any way, and it looks just as pretty too.

  119. 119.

    WaterGirl

    @Suzanne: Then i remember it all wrong!  My memory is that you two were talking and discovered that you both read Balloon Juice.

    i like my version better. :-)   Reality bites.

  121. 121.

    eclare

    @NotMax:   Not enough.  Need constant sanding with blowers.  I have asbestos in my basement, as long as you leave it alone, you’re fine.

  122. 122.

    Dan B

    @Tony Jay: My partner believes it’s a prank involving gaseous exhalations under the covers then pulling said bedsheets over bedmates head.

    Was it practiced at a 10 Downing Street party ? last year at a special party?  Did it cause clouds of white powder to erupt from bedchambers?  Asking for friends.

  123. 123.

    Tony Jay

    @trollhattan:

    Oh, that one’s perfectly fine in mixed company. Fanny, on the other hand…

    @tybee:

    Now this one here, this one knows exactly what it means, because that is right on the button.

  125. 125.

    Tony Jay

    @Dan B:

    That’s the second and considerably less obscene version. The one I heard first at Uni was a lot worse and, well, it’s the kind of thing a man and woman (for example) have to love each other very much to even suggest…

    Tories  on the other hand, probably consider it second base.

  127. 127.

    cain

    David Brook’s lament on ‘What the hell happened to American Conservatism’ is trending on twitter. The feedback is delicious. David Brooks laments about a conservatism that as far as I can remember, has never existed.

    They have always been pieces of shit.

  132. 132.

    patroclus

    @Tony Jay:How are the words “clerk,” “geyser,” “derby,” “aluminum” and “Edinburgh” (or “Pittsburgh”) pronounced?

  134. 134.

    The Dangerman

    @randy khan: Drunk guy thing is generally just random pissing. Maybe this Dude was a Marine and he really does piss fire. Now THAT would be cool. Scary, but cool.

  135. 135.

    Ruckus

    @cain:

    Most didn’t seem to be as obvious pieces a long time ago. Not saying they weren’t, they just played a better game of citizens. Not always a lot better but still even a bit better than the last light of a dying but not fast enough culture.

  139. 139.

    Kalakal

    @trollhattan:

    When I moved to the states 10 years ago I stated working on the reference desk at a public library – within a week I’d managed “knock up” and “rubber”. You Americans have filthy minds :)

  140. 140.

    VOR

    @Frankensteinbeck: Oh absolutely. I have a co-worker who was convinced Minneapolis burnt to the ground in 2020. He went off on a work call yesterday about the concentration camps and forced injections in Australia. I had to keep a straight face when he cited Candace Owen’s statement about how the US ought to liberate Australia.

  141. 141.

    JaneE

    Enameled cast iron is super good cookware.  Le Creuset, Staub, privately branded – I have never had a bad piece and the advantage to the no-name stuff is that it is usually lighter weight, not a bad thing when you are talking the larger pieces, and by objective standards it is all heavy.  I just looked up the price of a Le Creuset piece I bought close to 40 years ago – the big oval – and it is now $685.  When I have it full of pot roast & veggies, it takes both of us to lift it into the oven now.  Holding it at arm’s length to clear the oven door was always a challenge, but old age caught up to me before it did the Le Creuset.   Plus, you can use it on induction ranges, an old pot that did not go obsolete when new cooking tech came in.

  142. 142.

    mrmoshpotato

    @randy khan:

    If Bill O’Reilly were still on the air, my money definitely would be on a false flag operation, but it does seem like a drunk guy doing a drunk guy thing. 

    The tree would’ve sued BillO for sexual harassment.

  144. 144.

    James E Powell

    @cain:

    David Brook’s lament on ‘What the hell happened to American Conservatism’ is trending on twitter. The feedback is delicious. David Brooks laments about a conservatism that as far as I can remember, has never existed.

    They have always been pieces of shit.

    Or as one of them wrote, It Was All a Lie.

  145. 145.

    JaneE

    @randy khan: See if you can find the size pot you want in a private brand.  Frequently the private-label versions are not so heavy as Le Creuset.   Neither was Descoware  (Breuxelles Ware) and many like Julia Child loved it.  Just have your wife try it, because they are all pretty heavy.  I need help getting my 9 1/2 qt. into the oven when it has 10 lbs of food in it, but my husband obliges.

  148. 148.

    rikyrah

    Yes

    HigherHeights (@HigherHeights) tweeted at 6:07 PM on Tue, Dec 07, 2021:
    Yesterday, @GlyndaCarr, President and CEO of Higher Heights, joined the @VP and other Black Women leaders at the White House for a follow-up meeting to discuss progress on the Build Back Better Act, progress on voting rights, and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. #BlackWomenLead https://t.co/L9PvQAfij5
    (https://twitter.com/HigherHeights/status/1468371505536983043?t=x9QJHZ96YCMdvJspMukiNg&s=03)

  149. 149.

    Old Man Shadow

    Have we gotten to “JOE BIDEN AND BILL GATES MADE HIM BURN THE TREE THROUGH THE MICROCHIPS IN THE VACCINE!!!1!” yet?

  151. 151.

    Ken

    @Old Man Shadow: Now, now. Fox hosts wouldn’t spread such nonsense. But I’m sure as they find someone making that deranged claim, they’ll have him (or her) on several of the shows, and all the hosts will solemnly listen to the ranting, wipe the spittle from their fact, and turn to the camera and say something like “Why would people be saying these things, if there’s nothing to it….”

  152. 152.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Ruckus: Oh yes, it’s bullshit, but the key point is it’s bullshit to keep them in a state of panic or angry or both that the same time.

  153. 153.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @lowtechcyclist: She’s been a private citizen, and nothing more, for just over five years now.  But they still yammer endlessly about her.  They just can’t drop her, let her go.

    We should start telling them that Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates developed teleportation tech that when combined with the 5G tracking devices in the vaccine means that if they say Hillary Clinton three times in a row she shows up behind them and cuts their throats and adds another notch to the Clinton Kill List.

  155. 155.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @cain: David Brook’s lament on ‘What the hell happened to American Conservatism’ is trending on twitter. The feedback is delicious. David Brooks laments about a conservatism that as far as I can remember, has never existed.

    Oh so speaking of that I was reading some Facebook flameware between a Liberal and some Maga Twit and I was fascinated how coneptemious the Maga Twit was of GW Bush and his ilk.  So all is not peace and love in Republican land.

  156. 156.

    Tony Jay

    @patroclus:

    That’s easy. Pronounce them how they’re spelled. 8-)

    Seriously, though, I think the American pronunciation has crept in with a few of them. I’ve heard clerk as “klirk” and “klark”, geyser was always “geezer”, wasn’t it? Derby as “Dar-bee” (Liverpool humiliated Everton in the derby) and “Der-bee” (that’s a nice hat your dog’s wearing, is it a derby?).

    No one says “Aloominum” though. That’s a sign of lunacy.

    And Edinburgh is “Edin-Burrah” because we’re just too lazy to make the Scots stick all the ‘O’s in there, while the people who named Pittsburgh simply didn’t know any better.

    On the other hand we pronounce Middlesbrough “Middlezburrah”, so we’ve got no consistency.

  157. 157.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @hueyplong: I would imagine the next time to conservative cries about being threatened by a Woke Mod. “Well, thank god it was Hillary with that Bezos teleporter, you would have been dead for sure. you know how she can kill quickly, efficiently and leave no trace” kind of stuff.

  160. 160.

    p.a.

    @Tony Jay: heard a utube brit laughing about Americans hearing his accent & asking if he’s ‘Bridish’, then realized that’s how I’ve pronounced it also.

  161. 161.

    Another Scott

    Speaking of insanity, …

    I thought Virginia freed itself from an all-powerful monarch in 1776?

    Perhaps @GlennYoungkin still thinks he's a CEO and can't recall his 4th grade separation of powers lesson?

    All to save each Virginians $4.37/mo….@VirginiaLCV @VCNVAorg @vasierraclub https://t.co/cDssOE6Qct

    — Senator Scott Surovell (@ssurovell) December 8, 2021

    He hasn’t even taken office yet. We, unfortunately, get to look forward to 4 years of this performative crap that is wanted by giant corporations in the state.

    Grr…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  162. 162.

    Sloegin

    Fox definitely paid someone to torch their tree.  Time to spread it far and wide on social media.

    Who cares if its true or not?  They certainly don’t.

  163. 163.

    hueyplong

    @Tony Jay: British English pronunciation is a trap for the unwary, a little like the 36 or so incarnations of Peachtree for names of streets in Atlanta.  Immediately separates the locals from the tourists.

    Once in the 80s I butchered BAR-klee by saying BUR-klee and the guide reacted as though a skunk had sprayed the party. It was clear they’d been infiltrated by an American, and a hillbilly to boot. All I could do was mumble my apologies in shame while hoping I could hop aboard a passing turnip truck.  Or lorry.

  164. 164.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @danielx:

    “What this poll is telling us is we’re going to take back the House and the Senate and the American people want a change,” McDaniel opined. “Biden is underwater. Harris’s approval is under 30% and Republicans are more trusted on three key issues: the economy, inflation and crime.”

    I’m afraid to ask if this is true. I know they have to say these things, but I see talk of inflation on the news all the time and people complain all the time about high prices for everything

  165. 165.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    I am going to let Tony do the pronunciations, although I would add Worcestershire (as in the place and the sauce) because listening to my American husband try to pronounce it is hilarious.

    Nice news for this evening a) Michael Sheen (the actor) has turned himself into a not-for-profit entity.  He has lots of money (15M I  think) and decided he has more than enough to be happy and so has said that everything he earns from now on goes to various charities that he supports.  He sold his houses (don’t know where they were) and moved back to Wales so he can get fully involved in the causes he supports.  I already loved him (particularly due to his bromance with David Tennant),  and I hope more actors follow suit.

    b) Finally I just discovered this place http://www.bayviewgardencentre.co.uk via a link on the book of faces.  It is 13 minutes from my house! It is a Garden Centre and has a restaurant with fantastic views of Morecambe Bay.  It is my idea of nirvana and I didn’t even know it existed until today.  Planning a visit Saturday.

    PS)  I have been pissing myself for two days reading the responses to Argle Bargle’s absolutely clueless tweets.  Sure people will give up free healthcare for a dryer and one bathroom per person.

  169. 169.

    no comment

    Maybe Fox should take a lesson from the Grinch. When the Whos seemingly lost everything, they rejoiced because they still had each other.

    What am I saying?! Republicans can’t even understand the complexities of Green Eggs and Ham.

  170. 170.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Another Scott:

    I assume from context that he can’t unilaterally do that himself. His arrogance strikes me. VA is a state that is trending blue and he only won by a few percentage points. I have to think that the fact that the VA governor cannot serve consecutive terms means he doesn’t have to worry about reelection and he thinks that he can let his freak flag fly

  172. 172.

    Ken

    @hueyplong: Once in the 80s I butchered BAR-klee by saying BUR-klee

    In fairness, it’s spelled “Coldchestershireham” so it’s difficult to guess the correct pronunciation.

  173. 173.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Mike in NC:

    Yeah. I guess given historical trends and how thin margins are along with the stakes I’m not very sanguine about 202

    @hueyplong:

    It doesn’t lol

  175. 175.

    Jager

    @Gravenstone:

    I was in a dive bar one night, about 11 a guy staggered in off the street, threw a handful of crumpled dollar bills on the bar, and asked the bartender, “How much Everclear will this buy?” The bartender filled a water glass, the guy choked it down and staggered out.

  176. 176.

    Kalakal

    @patroclus: “Shire” is  wonderfully variable.

    If it’s by itself it’s pronounced the American way –  eg there’s a pub in Leeds called the Shire Oak and any American would be fine. When it’s on the end of a word it’s all over the place but roughly a “sher” noise, eg “Derbysher”, Lancashire is more “Lancasheer” but Yorkshire goes in the other direction “Yorkshur” while Cheshire is more like “Chesher”. These counties are all basically adjacent to each other.

    Never is it “xxxxxshire”

  179. 179.

    Tony Jay

    @Cameron:

    I confess, sometimes we just make these words up to take the piss. It’s like the Irish with Siobhan. How the tiny wee fuck is that “Shivorn”?

  181. 181.

    Tony Jay

    @WereBear:

    …………

     And they let people know about it?!? Hollywood Babylon indeed. 

    …………….

    I don’t think I want to know who was the ‘baker’ and who was the ‘oven’. Some things should remain a mystery.

  182. 182.

    cain

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: 
    They have moved on past all those.. those are all RINO. Hell even Reagan would be a RINO now – but he’s not because they’ve pretty much accorded him God status. The tent is getting smaller and smaller.

  184. 184.

    Kalakal

    Nothing comes close to the Welsh

    “Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch”

  188. 188.

    NotMax

    @H-Bob

    1) You can bet your bottom bitcoin it was used intentionally.
    2) “Build Back Brandon” just didn’t work.
    ;)

  193. 193.

    Kropacetic

    @Kalakal: I see. I hope that’s instructive when I see similar words.

    @NotMax: Surprised this is the first I heard of this. I wouldn’t know where to begin with that one.

  194. 194.

    NWO Joe

    @guachi: I have a couple of those cheap enameled tin things. I have used them to cook off various birds and cuts of land crab over the years and they are pretty much indestructible. Everything from Pot Roast to Baked Beans. I’ve seen La Creuset and always wondered what the fuss was; might have to try a piece. But honestly these are great for what I do. Look like the day I got them nearly 15 years ago.

  195. 195.

    NWO Joe

    @Sloegin: They didn’t even care enough to use a goddamn tree. It was a simulacrum of a tree with “an aluminum superstructure” according to an article I read. Nothing but a Christmas Cone…

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