The Washington Post ran a lengthy story on Congressman Jamie Raskin of Maryland yesterday. I highly recommend it. The author is Caitlin Gibson, and it’s just a beautiful piece.
As you may recall, Raskin had buried his 25-year-old son the day before the January 6th attack on the Capitol Building. He was in the House chamber when the Trump mob violently broke the police lines.
Raskin’s youngest daughter and his older daughter’s husband had accompanied him to the Capitol, and they holed up in Steny Hoyer’s office during the assault, hiding as the Trump thugs ransacked the building.
It was chaos, but Raskin watched it unfold with a strange sense of remove, a clarity of focus; he did not feel the visceral fear that gripped so many others around him. He would come to make sense of this later: What was there to be afraid of when the worst thing imaginable had already happened to him? …
He is still trying to make sense of the intersection of these disparate tragedies — how, at the end of one awful year and the beginning of another, he suddenly found himself reeling from back-to-back calamities, each the outcome of something long-simmering beneath the surface. “The truth is that I see those two terrible, traumatic events as very intertwined in my life,” Raskin says. “In a cosmic sense, they were logically independent of each other. But in my life, they are inextricably bound.”
Raskin is beloved by his colleagues. One of them, Rep. Lucy McBath (D-GA), also knows what it’s like to lose a child. Her teenage son was murdered by a bigot in a convenience store parking lot:
So when [McBath] realized Raskin had returned to the Hill only a few days after Tommy’s death, “I went immediately to see him, and he just fell into my arms and just started weeping and weeping,” she remembers, speaking by phone from her home in Marietta, Ga. “And I knew exactly what he was feeling. I know it. I know those emotions, I know the pain and the doubt. I just wanted him to know that, you know, ‘I’m not just offering you sympathy, I’m here. I know exactly what you’re going through.’ … I love Jamie. We all do. I think every one of my colleagues just truly admires him. We admire his intellect and his sense of compassion.”
Anyway, read the whole thing if you get a moment. It’s a really great story about a good and decent man. As I commented on Twitter, it’s amazing that a man like Raskin shares a species classification with guttersnipes like Gaetz, Gosar, Greene, Boebert, et al., let alone has the same job.
In other news, New York AG Letitia James dropped out of the race for NY governor, just a month and change after announcing that she’d pursue the office. NYT:
Letitia James, the attorney general of New York, announced on Thursday that she was ending her campaign for governor and running instead for re-election, a surprising move that upended the high-profile governor’s race and further solidified Gov. Kathy Hochul’s standing.
Huh. I wonder what that’s all about. I can’t help hoping someone turned up a smoking gun in the Trump Org investigation and James wants to be the one who sends Emperor Tang to the Graybar Hotel. (I realize this is highly unlikely.)
In non-political news of the weird, 43 camels were disqualified from a beauty contest in Saudi Arabia due to Botox use. CNN:
The 40-day King Abdulaziz Camel Festival, located about 100 kilometers (62 miles) northeast of the capital, Riyadh, launched at the beginning of December. In its sixth year, it sees breeders compete for more than $66 million in prize money, according to Saudi state media outlet Saudi Press Agency (SPA), so the stakes are high.
Unscrupulous breeders have been accused of using a number of methods to make their camels more likely to win, such as injecting silicone and fillers, and inflating body parts using rubber bands to enhance their appearance, reports SPA.
This year, organizers have dealt with 147 cases of tampering — the largest number since the festival began. Forty-three contestants were disqualified.
Alrighty then! Open thread.
Open Thread: Hey Lurkers! (Holiday Post)
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Oh please oh please…. My long-distance take: People kind of expected Hochul to be a time-server who would take her pension and the title and go away, and she turns out to be a typical politician with ambition and maybe more chops (and upstate support) than people anticipated?
lowtechcyclist
A camel beauty contest. My mind boggles.
ETtheLibrarian
Those poor camels.
CaseyL
Re Letitia James – I think she decided to stay with the AG’s office because a run for Gov might raise questions as to why there have been no indictments of Trump despite her saying she had them ready to go the moment he left office.
Jerzy Russian
Today I learned about camel beauty contests. This is a full service blog. After the camel beauty contests, I don’t think there is anything more to learn. In spite of that, I will continue to frequent this fine establishment, because what else is there to do?
germy
debbie
@CaseyL:
I can’t imagine a win like Trump wouldn’t be a golden ticket to win a race in the next cycle.
Ixnay
Dibs on “Disqualified Camel” for band name.
germy
Judging a camel beauty contest, that would have been a great gig for Joe Camel, if he hadn’t been cancelled.
RobertB
I read an article a while back about the unscrupulous world of state fair beef competitions. Injections of vegetable oil to plump up parts of the cow that are deemed scrawny, hair dye to make that Black Angus blacker, etc.
O. Felix Culpa
Thank you for highlighting the article on Jamie Raskin, a true mensch. May our country elect a lot more people like him.
Roger Moore
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I assume a huge part of the underestimation of Hochul is her gender; people just assume that a woman will be a pushover and they’re constantly surprised when that turns out not to be the case. James may have tossed her name in the ring just to get her name out there, and decided to stick with her current position when she realized she has a much better chance that way. A contested primary is going to tend to favor the incumbent, which gives James all the reason she needs to stay put.
dexwood
@Ixnay: Ooh, that leaves Botox Camels for me.
Dan B
@dexwood: AND Plumping Camels for me!
A Mountain cover band. Everybody wears body suits!!
dexwood
@Dan B: It’s a battle of the bands!
Dan B
@dexwood: Fine with me if my group doesn’t have to compete with Rabid Camels.
Cameron
Given the title of the post and its designation as an open thread, figured I’d toss this out there:
https://youtu.be/837-0_8jWAk
Eolirin
@Roger Moore: Also NYS politics is pretty cutthroat, and Hochul may be a much better knife fighter than people expected. We wouldn’t see effects of this directly, but things like the next most prominent candidate dropping out this quickly certainly suggests some behind the scenes positioning that broke in favor of Hochul
The real tell will be if the primary ends up being completely cleared of any serious competition. It’s very hard to displace a democratic governor here now. They go down to scandal and just about nothing else. Once she’s elected she’s got a good shot of having the governor’s mansion for as long as she wants it.
hueyplong
Kudos to Cracker for use of the word “guttersnipe” which, if I recall correctly, was one of Churchill’s favorite terms of endearment for Hitler.
HumboldtBlue
I followed your lead yesterday and read the article.
Bring tissues.
NotMax
Just shows to go ya. Threw the camels into the mix this morning.
;)
Kalakal
@Dan B: Camels of Evil, Theme for an imaginary camel, yep has possibilities
JMS
In the article where I read about James’ decision, it seems that her polling was not good against Hochul. Separately I read that James doesn’t enjoy fundraising and her fundraising may be soft. So it sounds like nuts and bolts politics 101 stuff.
Mike in NC
A Saudi camel beauty contest? Somebody alert Marjorie Taylor Greene to enter.
NotMax
Rhythmic respite.
There’s always room for some Pearly Mae.
;)
CaseyL
@Mike in NC: Yuck, no! I happen to like camels, and think they’re heads and humps above MTG in every category. Including beauty.
Never heard botoxing camels was even a thing. But where there is a prize to be won, humans will figure out a way to cheat.
Yutsano
(h/t guachi)
I’m giddy that a Starbucks in Buffalo decided to join the SEIU. it turns out there wasn’t all that much progressive about their store culture.
Betty Cracker
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: From the linked Times article:
After James threw her hat in the ring, lots of folks assumed that meant Hochul was toast since her power base isn’t NYC. Interesting.
Major Major Major Major
Good lord, botox’d camels? What’s next, uh, having a hard time coming up with anything stupider since I already wrote about NFTs.
Betty Cracker
@Major Major Major Major: LOL! I’ve been sort of pretending NFTs don’t exist and avoiding reading anything about them to maintain the illusion. The cranium file space for “stupid things I know about” is already overflowing, and I can’t locate a delete button.
Boris Rasputin (the evil twin)
@CaseyL: Hard to believe, but cheating in a camel beauty contest is not news – it’s happened in years past.
I worry about myself, for knowing this.
Roger Moore
@Major Major Major Major:
Just wait. The same people who brought you NFTs are hard at work.
lafcolleen
Open thread so —
L
Josh Duggar from the TV Reality Show 19 kids and counting was convicted in federal court of receiving/possessing child sexual abuse materials. case was in fed court – Western District of ARKANSAS.
If you arent familiar – he was the oldest son in a family of Quiverful Evangelicals. The truth of their beliefs was totally whitewashed by the network. presented as religious, yes, but all of the dominionist beliefs completely dropped.
Its pretty apparent that the Duggar parents saw this as a way to make their religion attractive – lots of cute, little obdient kids broght up to be modest and godfearing.
Anyway- Josh has been mired in scandals for years. while still young (early 20s) he was hired as the ED of the Family Research Defense Council. he ended up losing that position when it came out that he had had sexually molested younger girls when he was a teen.
he also was outed as having an account on Ashley Madison – a hookup app specifically for married people.
that was in 2015.
he was arrested earlier this year and his fed case concluded today.
his father Jim Bob Duggar is running for state wide office – so hopefully this puts a dent in that campaign.
there are certainly plenty of hints that some family members are Qanon believers so probably they believe that this conviction is the deep state targeting real Christians rather than going after the REAL child traffickers.
Chetan Murthy
It’s (somewhat) funny (somewhat disgusting when we see it happening to camels or cattle). When we see it happen to human women, it’s …. what? “our culture”, you can’t attack it, what are you, a communist ? A man-hater? Sigh.
Jay
@Jerzy Russian:
Find The Frog is coming,…. so stay.
mrmoshpotato
@Boris Rasputin (the evil twin):
LOL!
Irishweaver
@O. Felix Culpa: indeed. What a moving story, and hopeful.
There go two miscreants
It would be amusing to find out if the “augmented” camels are more (or less!) attractive to other camels, rather than simply to the contest judges!
zhena gogolia
Has Steeplejack checked in today? I don’t know how to search for a commenter.
Dan B
My free copy of Midnight in Washington just arrived! Thank you donor, whoever you are!!
2/3 the way through Fiona Hill’s book and it’s getting exciting. The palace intrigue and international behind the scenes intrigue are riveting.
NotMax
@lafcolleen
Small correction. Not statewide, District 7 special election for Arkansas state Senate. Primaries to be conducted next week (December 14), special election on Feb. 8th.
ian
Saddened to see James drop out, though heartened if it will bring increased results in Trump probe. She seems real hit or miss, the NRA lawsuit and the Cuomo investigations went real well, but I was under the impression she had indictments lined up for TFG as soon as he left office. Any NYers (or anyone) have opinions as to why/what is moving/not moving in the AG’s office?
Cameron
Next stop for our anti-vaxxers?
https://www.rt.com/russia/542680-covid19-believers-targeted-gunman/
Dan B
@There go two miscreants: How would one know? LOL!
WaterGirl
@Dan B: imm was your book sponsor. you can thank him next time you see him. :-)
i think a lot of the books are arriving on Saturday.
WaterGirl
This is a great post and has interesting comments, so i don’t want to lure anyone away, but if anyone wants to take a minute and welcome some lurkers in the Hey lurkers thread, maybe they will feel more at home.
then you could run right back here. :-)
NotMax
@Dan B
“I’d walk a mile for
athat Camel.”;)
Dan B
@WaterGirl: Thanks for the info! Thanks to Immanentize wherever you are!!! I bought an extra calendar as a result so the shelter will benefit.
Dan B
@NotMax: Hubba hubba!
(Wolf whistles… do Camels whistle? One must needs know!)
Ixnay
@Kalakal: theme for an imaginary camel, but only if Jack Bruce sings it
mrmoshpotato
@zhena gogolia:
No word from Steeplejack since 11:16PM on the 7th.
CaseyL
Holy cow. Just checked cnn to see if anything interesting was happening out in the world, and saw this:
More than 5 million people should prepare for possible nocturnal tornadoes Friday
Are nocturnal tornadoes unusual?
If you live anywhere between Texas and Ohio, you’re
screwedin for an adventurous weekend. Stay safe, y’all.PJ
@CaseyL: Also, James was polling at half what Hochul was getting (something like 18% to Hochul’s 36%). That’s not insurmountable, but it would have been a difficult battle, and the odds were not in her favor. I understand that you do not make it to high elected office without a good deal of ambition, but to jump from AG to Governor without actually having prosecuted Trump, or successfully concluded any major prosecution, was not a smart move. Plus, it would surely be argued that the main reason she investigated Cuomo was to clear her own path to being Governor.
Leto
We’re laughing at a camel beauty contest, yet we have dedicated threads on the Westminster Eugenics Program. Oh humans, don’t stop being you!
@Boris Rasputin (the evil twin): I learned about this stuff the first time I deployed to Kuwait, 20+ years ago. Figured it was the same as horses.
zhena gogolia
@mrmoshpotato: Really? I thought I saw him commenting yesterday.
zhena gogolia
@CaseyL: I feel as if they’re calling things tornadoes now that didn’t use to be tornadoes.
dexwood
@Dan B: Don’t know about whistling, but they sure can spit. I was glad to be wearing sunglasses.
PJ
@Betty Cracker:
Nobody north of Westchester much cares what people in NYC think. Having a power base (and I’m not sure that James does) in the city means nothing if you haven’t done the work to reach out to people upstate and get their support. Chuck Schumer, who lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn, visits every single county in New York every year to listen to people. He shows up everywhere (fairs, parades, barbecues). That kind of work is what generates his power base.
Brachiator
Pretty much the same as the Miss Universe contest.
NotMax
@Dan B
Private Snafu and a camel with a curly ‘do (approx. 0:42 – 1:19).
;)
eclare
@CaseyL: I don’t know that they are unusual per se, but they are more dangerous because you’re asleep and even if you are awake, it’s night, so you don’t see them.
I am in that range and plan to have everything charged and the car full of gas so it can work as a charger. Lots of trees around me.
Brachiator
Certainly gives the metaphor of “lipstick on a pig” new meaning.
Hubba hubba. Look at those humps!
trollhattan
@CaseyL:
Suppose a couple weeks out from shortest day there’s a lot more night for tornadoes to show up than six months from now.
As far as thunderstorms to spawn them, here in the west those are super rare this time of year. Maybe a hotter-than-usual Gulf is keeping Tornado Alley chugging year-round now? Wouldn’t be a big surprise.
Soprano2
So here’s the idiocy that’s going on in my state right now.
Republicans in MO are trying to get local health departments to quit gathering and releasing data about Covid so they can say it’s no longer a problem in Missouri.
Brachiator
@RobertB:
I that …kosher?
Old School
@Soprano2: I’m sure the hospitals are happy to know that it will soon no longer be an issue.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@Soprano2: I hate my state so much.
Brachiator
@Soprano2:
I really don’t understand the Covid denialism coming from right wing politicians. Yeah I get that they seem to be willing to do anything to keep the economy going, fighting lockdowns, etc.
But I have never, never, ever seen them offer any alternative public health strategy. They typically fall back on empty skepticism about public health measures, or strangely assert that each individual asserting their “personal responsibility” can magically defeat the pandemic.
But suppressing data is not just stupid, it’s dangerous. Hospitals will get full. People will still die.
When this thing first hit, I figured that there would be a fair amount of blaming God’s punishment for the pandemic. But I did not foresee the incredible rise of anti-science nonsense or the use of partisan politics to evade hard choices.
raven
@Brachiator: They know who butters their bread,
Juju
My niece did an internship with then Lieutenant Governor Hochul in 2019. She really enjoyed her time with the Lieutenant Governor and said at the time that Hochul would probably make a better governor than Cuomo. What I hear from my family in Albany is that Hochul is doing a really good job so far. She took her job as Lieutenant Governor and public service seriously and is handling her new job in much the same way. If I had to choose between Hochul and James, it would be a difficult choice, but Hochul has a bit more experience and James is great doing what she’s been doing. That’s all I know I know about the situation.
trollhattan
The War on The War on Christmas (WOWOC) continues, on Fox!
Assuming the victim role, surprisingly easy.
Tony Gerace
@lowtechcyclist: I’d walk a mile for a camel!
debbie
@Brachiator:
I’m torn. The more of them that die, the better it will be for us. A horrible thought, to be sure, but this is where we are in this country.
trollhattan
@Brachiator: Doesn’t that essentially make them all walking Butterballs? (Just not, you know, turkeys.)
debbie
@trollhattan:
Have they decided the arsonist was Antifa disguised as a homeless man? //
Matt McIrvin
@RobertB: All I know is, pumpkins become ineligible for biggest-pumpkin competitions if they become cracked, because of the worry that people might introduce fluid through the cracks to increase the pumpkin’s mass. But it seems to me you could probably do something with hard-to-detect fluid injection regardless.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
MSNBC:
trollhattan
Knew it was coming; hoped it would take longer.
Brachiator
@debbie:
The problem is that conservative stupidity about Covid-19 hurts innocent people and makes it harder to deal with the pandemic. I was recently reading about how hospitals in New Mexico are having trouble dealing with increasing numbers of Covid patients. But these are not just locals, but includes people brought in from Texas, where there is vaccine resistance and stupidity on the part of government officials.
Peale
Those camel wrinkles wouldn’t be so pronounced if they had started using moisturizer at a young age. Although, I’m guessing no amount of Neutrogena would offset the dry air of the desert, even if applied 4x per day. Probably best to use Aquaphor.
Another Scott
@Brachiator: The GQP doesn’t want the government to do anything except run the police and the military. Any social benefit provided by government weakens the argument that “government is the problem”.
“Wow, the government did a really great job in crushing the pandemic! Maybe we should work on infant and women’s mortality! And figuring out ways to keep people out of hospitals!
And …” – said no GQPer, ever.
There are variations on that theme, but that’s basically it.
I’m not at all surprised that they’re continuing to push this BS – they’re not deep thinkers.
Cheers,
Scott.
Miss Bianca
@Boris Rasputin (the evil twin):
And now knowing that you know this, I now worry about you, as well.
debbie
@Brachiator:
I think it’s been noted that practically all of the hospitalized are unvaccinated, and as a result, staff are becoming less empathetic.
trollhattan
@debbie: Being homeless conveys automatic antifa membership, invitations to all the secret meetings, and a copy of “Antifa’s Guide to Mayhem, and Lunch.”
Betty Cracker
@Brachiator: I can explain the COVID denialism in right wing politicians in two words: it works.
It has so far, anyway. Look at the fawning press Ron DeSantis gets in outfits like Politico. It’s revolting.
Many voters are like children with divorced parents, and the Democrats are the mom who makes them eat their fruit and vegetables and brush their teeth before bed. Republicans are the dad who lets them have candy corn for dinner and stay up all night. Guess who they like best?
Peale
@Brachiator: Its really hard to have a policy based on both “personal responsibility” and “suppression of information.” Its rather clear that they don’t actually want people to exercise personal responsibility, but instead want people to go out and spend money in bars and ignore those coughing fits.
J R in WV
@ian:
I recall reading that she has recruited some hot prosecutors to continue the investigation, and of course announced today that Mr Trump has an appointment for a deposition on his real estate valuations related to whether the value was intended to raise money or save on tax payments.
So I think work continues, just that it’s harder than it looks to build an air tight case against an experienced crime family.
I would like to see federal money laundering indictments handed up ASAP, tying TFG to the Russian mob. That would really hurt, and if it looked like he might squeal on the Russian mob, they would work on him hard, with GRU tools. Imagine finding him dead from Novachuk nerve agent… or fallen from his own tower… ah, what a relief it is ~!!~
Anonymous At Work
Please please please someone tell me that Wonkette covered the camel beauty pageant cheating scandal…
Miss Bianca
@Brachiator:
It’s hard to escape the conclusion that they really, just really, don’t believe in public health, period.
MisterForkbeard
Maybe this has already been reported, but: “Donald Trump: Utterly Without Merit” would make a lovely headline: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trump-loses-executive-privilege-claims-jan-6-subpoena
His executive privilege joke lawsuit got shot down really damn hard. Hopefully this also takes the wind out of Bannon and Meadows’ objections. Maybe even get Bannon’s June court date pushed up significantly.
Peale
@Juju: I thought that Paterson was doing a decent job, too. Until the state trooper scandal broke, I would have voted for him. Unfortunately, Cuomo managed to turn the large party donors into his personal donors, and that was that. I will vote for Houchul in any primary because I think that if you have any NY Democrat in office that isn’t weighed down by a scandal after a few months and is doing a decent job, you should keep said governor. James can wait in line.
NotMax
@Betty Cracker
“It’s not just any old candy corn, it’s a full meal.”
;)
J R in WV
@Soprano2:
So they suspect no one will notice those refrigerator trucks parked out behind the hospitals? Or the inability to get treatment for your heart attack or breast cancer at the local hospital? Just stop counting the Covid deaths and everything is OK, hunky-dory!??
I don’t think that will work out for them. Not at all.
Old School
@Boris Rasputin (the evil twin):
Here’s a camel cheating story from 2018.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Rose Twitter is declaring that James deciding for another term as AG is a plot against Zephyr Teachout.
Who was unstoppable!
Mike in NC
@Tony Gerace: The late actor Charlton Heston appeared on some late night TV talk show when that slogan was popular. He’d made a few historical movies and wasn’t reluctant to tell everybody how much he hated working with camels.
PAM Dirac
Jamie Raskin is my congressman and I have been very impressed by him. He not only has the intellect, compassion, and work ethic for the job but he also understands that all the good ideas and intentions need to be turned into results and anything that makes someone’s life better is worth working for, not matter how small. Two specific things stand out in my personal experience. In 2018 he come to a fundraiser in my state legislative district to support the D candidates. It is quite a red district (~67R-33R in 2012) so it was quite an uphill task. It also wasn’t going to make any real difference to the legislative session as the D’s would have a veto proof majority even if all these candidates lost. Nevertheless, he showed up and was throughly prepared, giving really nice speech with lots of specific praise for all the candidates. It was far beyond what he needed to do and a real boost for the candidates (who made progress, but still lost ~58R-42D). The other thing I remember is when the pandemic was ramping up in early 2020 he organized a series of phone town halls. He got a number of local officials to talk about preparations, plans, knowns and unknowns. You signed up and when it started your phone got called, so you didn’t even need to remember when it was and call in. It was tremendously comforting to hear people who took their job seriously and were working together to serve the public. Anyway, I guess the one plus from Supreme Court punting on gerrymandering is that Raskin is still my representative and I hope he will continue to be.
Ksmiami
@debbie: not horrible… there are legions of us hoping that Covid reduces our enemies numbers…
eclare
@debbie: Believe me you are not the first or only person to have that thought.
Ksmiami
@Betty Cracker: except that in this case the Republican dad goes off and takes a second mortgage that he gambles on horses or NFTs and pays for jewels for his mistress and ultimately leaves his kids high and dry…
Ksmiami
@Brachiator: not if we allow hospitals to start turning away the stupidly unvaxxed…
Winston
13 days to go, when the Webb telescope will be launched. I am glad I lived long enough to see it. (fingers crossed). It will take until June 2022 for the first images. God porn.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-03620-1
schrodingers_cat
In Massachusetts we are all waiting for Maura Healey to throw her hat in the ring for governor. She hasn’t announced yet.
germy
smedley the uncertain
@Soprano2: The De Santis ploy…
Major Major Major Major
@Betty Cracker:
A lot of otherwise intelligent people on my timeline are absolutely obsessed with “web3” (“web 3.0”, don’t ask), and I absolutely despair that we’re wasting engineering talent and enthusiasm on this shit, but I also yeah, don’t have the energy to write a “take-down”.
SiubhanDuinne
@Winston:
“God porn.” I absolutely love that.
Ken
Are you using your Webb Advent Calendar for the countdown? (Be sure to read the title text.)
Also, it beat the forecast.
Geminid
@Juju: I’m glad to see that Tish James will run for another term as Attorney General. That’s an important job, and she seems very good at it.
I don’t follow New York news very closely, but my impression is that Kathy Hochul is good at her job too. I’ve read enough about her history to believe she is hard working, and a dedicated retail politician like Senator Schumer.
germy
Ken
“Nope, you can’t possibly have COVID, the governor said Missouri beat it. Your pulse oxy must be defective to be reading only 28. Just go home and try to get a good night’s sleep. Also if you have any unvaccinated family, kiss them goodnight.”
Winston
@Ken: Heh. If I die before, I won’t be disappointed, I guess. The next week or so I will be glued to this story
ETA and then if it makes it to LG2 and unfolds like it is supposed to …. like I said. God porn.
Miss Bianca
@PAM Dirac: Raskin is your rep? Lucky you – mine is Lauren Boebert.
Altho’ my county is about to get put into a different congressional district, which is Ed Perlmutter’s (CD-7). From everything I can tell so far, he’s a good guy. A Democrat, so with our red counties added into his district he’s got more of an uphill battle this time round – while Boebert could have been redistricted *out* of her district in one of the other iterations of the new electoral map.
I’m guessing, just based on what I heard at one of the hearings, that the whining from Boulder (which would have been part of that district) was *epic* for that one.
Ken
@NotMax: Despite the obvious danger that it will turn everyone who eats it into a giant blueberry, I was looking for that candy corn around Halloween, and unable to find it. Plenty of empty shelves with the tag for the product, but operative word is “empty”.
germy
The Moar You Know
@Yutsano: I worked for them as a barista almost twenty years ago, and I can give you one overwhelming reason why they desperately needed a union; to force management and the company to protect their workers from sexual harassment and violence from customers. Because they don’t and won’t.
Ken
“… I thought you removed the shipping straps…”
Winston
@Ken: If these damned mosquitos would just leave it alone. Fucking vibrations.
zhena gogolia
@germy: What is that supposed to mean?
Oh, I think I got it.
Paula, what did you do with the picture?
PAM Dirac
@Miss Bianca:
My condolences, but best of luck in your new district. I’m not sure if Maryland is going to mess around with the districts. Before the Supreme Court ruling (I think the Maryland districts were part of that suit) there were redistricting plans that would have dumped me into a R district, but with the ruling everyone decided to wait until after the census. We will see what happens.
divF
How about some Sopwith Camel ? (From the album “The Miraculous Hump Returns from the Moon”).
Scout211
The appeals court has rejected TFG’s appeal to keep his records from the January 6 committee. But the ruling is being paused.
J R in WV
I don’t see web 3.0 as a great improvement. I manage to keep Google from knowing where we are to within the continent. It knows we’re in the USA somewhere, but places us from upstate NY to southern CA… so Google doesn’t know where I am at all.
I did a little math on the Hubble and Anti-gay telescopes, and from my feeble math, Anti=gay telescope is ~33.16 sq meters while Hubble is ~4.52 sq meters, so nearly an order of magnitude more reflector space. Plus years more technical experience. So God Porn may happen.
My cousin and I are interested in mineralogy, and share data and photos of what we call geo-porn — high end photos of rocks worth 6 or 8 figures, with multiple crystals of gemstone protruding from a crystal matrix. Aquamarine crystals, like a dozen, or tourmalines, like a dozen, standing up like candles on a birthday cake.
Sure Lurkalot
@Miss Bianca: Perlmutter is a good rep. Of course , dirt would be an improvement over Mama Done Got The Guns.
As for the Colorado maps, boo hiss. The commission knelt to the god of both sides. It’s not even a case of following rules the other side ignores. They are not representative of the current state of play here.
Miss Bianca
@Scout211: Son of a bitch, sometimes I just wish the courts would just say, “denied, sucker”.
You know, when it’s a *white guy* criming, just for a change.
cain
@Brachiator:
At some point, you need to send them back. State resources should be focused on residents. If your hospitals are filled with out of staters who should have known better and gotten a vaccine – well there is a consequence for that. I don’t feel that the state of new mexico should punish its own people. (eg not just covid, but cancer or any other thing that might require emergency services)
cain
@Another Scott:
But the corollary is that they are special snowflakes and their particular situation is just and deserve free whatever.
trollhattan
@divF: Zoikes, actually have that LP from back in the day.
Criminally underappreciated band.
“Coke, Suede and Waterbeds
“They all got bodies but we call them heads.”
cain
@Major Major Major Major:
Even though I’m in tech – I have no fucking idea what web3 is?
Another Scott
Meanwhile, in Virginia, …
(Presently VA has 11 seats – 7D : 4R)
The new redistricting commission system is revealing itself to be the (insert derogatory term of your choice) that many predicted.
Grrr…
Cheers,
Scott.
debbie
@Scout211:
The mind reels.
Steeplejack (phone)
@zhena gogolia:
Not quite dead yet. I have been sleeping—a lot. When I’m sleeping I’m not hurting. When I’m not sleeping . . .
I have found resting positions that are not too uncomfortable, and my pain level is going down somewhat. Progress. But still traversing the “Ow! my balls!” zone.
Nice to know that people are thinking of me. Thanks, all.
Ruckus
@Miss Bianca:
I think we have to ask if they believe in much that has happened since say 1800. That’s not the hour that’s the year.
trollhattan
@cain: 50% more better than Web 2, I can tell you that.
debbie
@debbie:
debbie
@Steeplejack (phone):
Hope you are able to sleep through the worst of the pain.
zhena gogolia
@Steeplejack (phone): Praying for relief soon!
debbie
Another Scott
@cain: I think the rationalization there is:
They won’t say these things out loud, of course, but many of them believe that ending government programs and taxes (except for the military and police) will enable a Free Market Paradise where they will rise to the top. They can’t campaign on that though, because only a tiny fraction of voters believe that the path to prosperity is via ending Social Security and Medicare, making every road a toll road, letting anyone sell anything with no health and safety standards (get your Fentanyl Chewing Gum!!1), etc., etc.
Like Burundi.
It’s a cult.
(sigh)
Cheers,
Scott.
cain
@debbie: They are going to appeal to the right wing supreme court – you know that’s what all this is going to lead to. Christ.
debbie
cain
@Another Scott:
They are a cult. It doesn’t take into account any kind of chaos that could happen to any of them. Accidents, healthcare, natural disasters – they gonna ask their neighbors for help?
I have no idea how you wake these people up – given that some of these hold on to even their covid conspiracy even as they die.. I don’t think any will.
CaseyL
Open thread, right?
YouTube offers video transcripts of Reddit threads where people who have been done wrong (or did wrong themselves) tell their tales of woe. The videos are posted with clickbait titles like, “We have two kids but my wife says she now wants to be child-free.” Soap opera stuff, but RL soap opera stuff.
I never watched that kind of thing on TV, or read newspaper stories about it, but for some reason have gotten into the habit of reading the more interesting ones that pop up on YouTube.
Maybe it’s because I never used to pay attention to this kind of thing before, but the one reaction I have to most of these stories is “My *god* how can people BE like this?” How obliviously entitled, spoiled, narcissistic can someone be?? And their poor friends, relatives, and partners who get caught in the shit, who still wonder what the hell happened to them.
It’s giving me what I earnestly hope is a skewed view of humanity. But after the last few years, seeing too goddamn many of my fellow Americans go happily down the Trumpist/Q-Anon rabbit hole…
Well.
I really wonder if the number of human beings who are NOT gold-plated assholes are actually way, way outnumbered by those who ARE. I mean, like it’s not even close.
debbie
American parenting in TFG World:
Another Scott
@debbie: :-)
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
NotMax
@Steeplejack
Brings a new level of nuance to “sacking out.”
;)
Gin & Tonic
@Steeplejack (phone): Thinking of you while trying not to think of your gonads.
Steeplejack (phone)
@NotMax:
Delete your account.
Major Major Major Major
@cain: crypto-mediated everything. It’s absurd
Steeplejack (phone)
@Gin & Tonic:
Same here.
debbie
@Geminid:
And she’s already back at work:
eclare
@debbie: That’s great!
brantl
@Dan B: That’s a punk band, an spliinter from Diarrhetic Camels.
MisterForkbeard
@Miss Bianca: That’s pretty much what they did. They called it “wholly without merit” and then said “You have 14 days to appeal it to the Supreme Court” with an implied “go fuck yourself”. :)
Yutsano
@debbie: I can save Ms. James some time there: signs point to yes.
eclare
@NotMax: Hahaha…
smith
@debbie: Would have been even more fun if she’d scheduled it for the 6th.
debbie
@smith:
No argument from me.
Soprano2
@J R in WV: I think he’s trying to emulate what DeSantis did. If there are no numbers you can say “What Covid, that’s not a problem here anymore”. They know people don’t like having to isolate after an exposure, so they just get rid of the requirement and they think they solved the problem. If course, our city and school district told them to pound sand when the state government tried to tell them how to run things.
I had a jackhole co-worker come back yesterday after 3 months off for heart bypass surgery. He admitted he had confirmed Covid 1 1/2 months before the surgery, but he never took off from work as far as I know! Guess who he thinks is just great…..
Ohio Mom
@Steeplejack (phone): Don’t forget to eat! Your body needs protein to knit itself back together.
Thanks for checking in, hope you are feeling much better soon.
opiejeanne
@Matt McIrvin: They increase the weight of pumpkins by nicking the stem and placing a bowl of milk so that the pumpkin will drink it through the nick. There’s a somewhat entertaining book about people who are obsessed with winning the title of largest pumpkin, Backyard Giants. One guy bought a piece of land next to his garden just so he could grown the biggest one, another guy had to mount an armed guard to keep his monsters from being vandalized, possibly by other competitors.
Brachiator
@Another Scott:
In the past, even Republican governors and federal officials dealt with pandemics. I don’t recall any GOP leaders saying “we don’t want that polio vaccine.”
Something has changed. If this is current GOP policy, the Democrats should make the Republicans admit it, since the press don’t seem to be willing to ask hard questions.
lgerard
Get Festive!
https://twitter.com/JimmyTraina/status/1468981212169523211
WaterGirl
@debbie: That’s really wonderful!
Brachiator
@cain:
RE: I was recently reading about how hospitals in New Mexico are having trouble dealing with increasing numbers of Covid patients. But these are not just locals, but includes people brought in from Texas, where there is vaccine resistance and stupidity on the part of government officials.
Nope. The federal government would have to help provide additional funding and personnel for hospitals.
Miss Bianca
@MisterForkbeard: Ah, well – *that* puts a different spin on the bottle.
One that warms the cockles of my liver, it does… >:>
Sure Lurkalot
@debbie: That’s excellent!
NotMax
That was quick. Bebop be dropped.
NotMax
The tentacles reach far and wide, don’t they?
Brachiator
@NotMax:
Wow. Too bad.
NotMax
On its face, approving taxpayer funding of discriminatory practices as defined in statute ought to be a slam dunk “no.” Given the current tenor of the court, though….
cain
@Major Major Major Major:
???
cain
@debbie:
At this rate, all the supreme court is going to hear is all the stupid cases against Trump.
cain
@Brachiator: I’m actually ok with that – it’s what the feds are for. The GOP just have to admit that govt is worth something. :-)
Steeplejack (phone)
@Ohio Mom:
Thanks. I have been eating all right. Just finished two bowls of hearty soup with the niece and nephew.
They’re running a little late tonight. They have gone upstairs to brush their teeth and go to bed. Just heard my niece yell, “I hate everybody!” Dunno what that’s about, but it seems to be normal?
karensky
@RobertB: Humans are a creepy species!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
thoughts and prayers
zhena gogolia
@Steeplejack (phone): It’s normal around here. I say it several times a day.
Steeplejack (phone)
@zhena gogolia:
?
I forget how dramatic everything is with kids.
Ohio Mom
@Steeplejack (phone): I was worried you were all by your lonesome, now I know you have family looking after you, I know you’ll be fine. It just might take longer than you’d like.
@zhena gogolia: Me too.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Ohio Mom:
Yes, I’m convalescing at the sanitarium on the grounds of Sighthound Hall. The staff has been very attentive. Next milestone tomorrow: taking a shower!
Patricia Kayden
Procopius
I’m not familiar with New York state politics, but the thought that immediately occurred to me is she may be worried that she could be accused of persecuting/prosecuting [family blog] Cuomo to create a path for herself. I’m pretty sure Hochul’s campaign would beat that drum, even if Hochul didn’t. I think Cuomo is still popular with a lot of upstate New Yorkers, but I don’t know how much resonance that charge would get. She seems to be a very in-touch lady, so maybe she has polling data that show she doesn’t have enough of a lead.
Procopius
Which is why I didn’t understand why the CDC did it after the vaccines became available. There are a lot of reasons to suspect corruption going on, although some of them are obviously conspiracy theories.
rekoob
@Steeplejack (phone): Glad to hear you’re convalescing peacefully. I’d like to readdress an interaction from a couple of months ago, namely, life in Sussex County, Delaware. I’ve been giving more thought to that area, and perhaps you and others at Sighthound Hall have some perspective. I’m leaning more towards inland (Georgetown), but happy to consider areas around Lewes, Rehoboth, Dewey, and beyond. I’m currently in Central Virginia, which means that I could put on tactical gear (pants!) and meet for a beer and sandwich as appropriate.
trollhattan
File under “H” for Holy fucking shit, these people!”
Do not anticipate these douches cutting a sweet deal because a lot of rich folks had their places burned to the ground on this fire and Lake Tahoe basin was essentially closed for the duration.
Steeplejack (phone)
@rekoob:
I can respond at greater length when I’m on my computer. I’ll make it a point to hit the morning thread and the early evening open thread tomorrow.
The short version about Sussex County is that you have to think about how close you want to be to the water and how much you’re willing to pay for that. You also need to realize that Highway 1 is a madhouse all summer and on a lot of non-summer weekends. It’s the only major north-south artery. Georgetown is a bit inland, so you’re somewhat isolated from that, but you have to consider how much stuff that you want to do is on Highway 1.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Another Scott:
So then what are the implications of this? Are VA Dems completely fucked?
Ken
I’m going to have to say no, but only because “permeate” generally connotes that the substance is less than half of the whole.
Scout211
@trollhattan:
In one news story I read (I think it was KCRA) their attorney claims that they are not guilty (of course) because they were the first people to call 911 and then drove around in their dune buggy warning homeowners nearby.
Apparently the attorney wants us to believe that they didn’t do it because they were the ones who saw it first. Call in a fire, therefore, not guilty!
edited for clarity.
Ken
Have they tried blood?
No, silly question, of course someone has. Did they live long enough to report the results?
Bill Arnold
@Major Major Major Major:
I’m old enough to remember that Web 3.0 used to be the Semantic Web. Something actually useful.
Like the word Crypto used to be Cryptography, but was also usurped by selfish greedheads. (There has been an annual “Crypto” conference for like 40 years. ( https://crypto.iacr.org/2021/ )
Ken
Perjury-flavored icing. And he’s dumb and/or arrogant enough to not understand that they’ll only be asking questions where they already know the answer.
James E Powell
@Brachiator:
What’s changed is that the majority of White Americans have been encouraged & supported in letting their ignorant, racist flags fly. Their political philosophy comes down to people they hate must be scorned & humiliated and not much more.
rekoob
@Steeplejack (phone): Many thanks for your response, and we can catch up in later threads. This isn’t urgent for me, but I’m trying to think through the best approach. Ideally, I’d like to be within a 200-mile radius of New York City, which means Coastal Delaware to roughly Buzzard’s Bay, Massachusetts. I’m with you on proximity to the actual shore, but I’m also sensitive to how the shoreline may change. I’m aware of the congestion, which is one of the reasons I’m thinking about Georgetown, with its airport and potential for passenger drones at some point. Lewes offers a couple of driving options to NYC, and if drones add to it, so much the better. Perhaps we’ll trade thoughts soon.
Frankensteinbeck
There is nothing weird about cheating in camel beauty contests except our knee-jerk ‘camels are weird and ugly’ cultural reaction. Dogs get beauty contests. Horses get beauty contests. All livestock get beauty contests. Camels are important livestock. Cheating in contests isn’t weird, and there is passion, big money, and prestige in animal beauty contests.
As for Missouri and Republican reactions to Covid in general, they’re assholes. Fuck the other guy. A black man became president. They’re being publicly shamed for bigotries that were culturally safe and normal ten years ago. They are absolutely raging, frothing-at-the-mouth determined to keep their right to be assholes, so fuck the other guy even if they are in the crosshairs too. Even if they hurt themselves more. Nothing is more important than giving people who restrict assholery the middle finger. Nothing.