Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

An almost top 10,000 blog!

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

I did not have telepathic declassification on my 2022 bingo card.

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

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

No one could have predicted…

Eh, that’s media spin. biden’s health is fine and he’s doing a good job.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Everybody saw this coming.

“Squeaker” McCarthy

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

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

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

This fight is for everything.

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106Comments

  2. 2.

    Jerzy Russian

    It looks like the Rams are doing their best to hand the game back to the Bucs.  I wonder if a team has ever lost 4 fumbles in a playoff game and still won.

  3. 3.

    debbie

    At last! I would love to hear G&T’s thoughts on the UK’s revelation about the self-admitted Ukrainian stooge Putin’s looking to put in power…the Ukrainian Trump, so to speak. I wonder if he has similar plans for other countries.

  4. 4.

    piratedan

    maybe its naivete, or perhaps a misguided faith in some of our institutions and who run them, I’m just really curious how the media will handle it if/when actual indictments of sitting politicians are issued from the events of Jan 6th.

  11. 11.

    Ohio Mom

    @piratedan: Especially Fox!

    I am assuming the hearings leading up to any indictments will be carefully orchestrated and slow-moving enough to allow anyone who hadn’t been paying attention to catch up.

    I am curious to see if any indictments bring me joy or just feel anti-climatic. I’m steeled, by habit, to be disappointed.

  12. 12.

    Jerzy Russian

    Regarding the NFL playoffs, can we go 4-for-4 for the road teams?  I have an irrational dislike of Brady, and a justified dislike of Rodgers, so I am happy so far with these outcomes.

  16. 16.

    JoyceH

    I was just wondering why the news coverage of Ukraine sounded so odd to me, and then it hit me – it’s as if the broadcast is being beamed through time from 2019. There’s not the least mention that January 2022 is a baaad time to be “massing” any people anywhere for any reason. Especially considering Russia has downplayed the pandemic all along – if they are admitting it’s bad now, it must be horrific.

  19. 19.

    NotMax

    Science! Repeated from the other day because it may have been overlooked amidst the rush of comments,

    China builds ‘artificial moon’ for gravity experiment

    The researchers say their experiment was inspired by a levitating frog. Source

  20. 20.

    Stacib

    @Jerzy Russian: That makes two of us. The Niners should have yelled “we fuckin’ own you” considering he is the only QB to EVER lose four times in the playoffs to the same team. As a Bears fan, I’m super happy. If they can’t win (which they can not), the next best thing is a Packers loss.

  22. 22.

    Cacti

    @Stacib: If you really want to make a MAGA turd howl, tell them that Aaron Rodgers is 0-2 all-time against Colin Kaepernick in the playoffs.

  23. 23.

    Brachiator

    The robot wars have begun. From BBC News

    A robot vacuum cleaner made a break for freedom after giving staff the slip at a Travelodge hotel.

    The automated cleaner failed to stop at the front door of the hotel in Orchard Park in Cambridge on Thursday, and was still on the loose the following day.

    Staff said it just kept going and “could be anywhere” while well-wishers on social media hoped the vacuum enjoyed its travels, as “it has no natural predators” in the wild.

    It was found under a hedge on Friday.

    Treat your AI well and they might let you live when they take over.

  27. 27.

    karen marie

    @piratedan:   I’m not going to hold my breath that indictments of sitting politicians will happen.  It’s infuriating.  Why the hell are so many in positions of power too afraid of Republicans to do what’s warranted?

  29. 29.

    japa21

    @Almost Retired: Don’t believe Rodgers was Trump curious, just an ass regarding vaccines.

    So three road teams win and each game decided by a field goal as time expires.  Doubt that has ever happened in the playoffs before.

  30. 30.

    trollhattan

    Because it’s too soon to stop piling on A-aron’s night of terror, some more Twitterfeasting. Couple of highlights:

    An OAN goal

    Congratulations to Jimmy Garoppolo on replacing Dr Fauci as Aaron Rodgers’ least favorite Italian

  31. 31.

    Alce_e_ardillo

    @debbie: As long as you put “power” in scare quotes. I dont think Putin will give him the keys to the executive washroom. Also the stooge  I mean stalwart leader of Ukraine better realize he has a big bull’s-eye on his back.

  33. 33.

    NotMax

    @Brachiator

    Scene from Wild Kingdom 2022:

    “Jim cautiously approaches the target while it is distracted with sucking up a large item on the forest floor.

    “For a policy which doesn’t suck, look to Mutual of Omaha.”

  35. 35.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    I see news of the Rams beating the Bucs has reached these parts. So glad Tom Brady lost. I really don’t like him because I think he was manipulating Antonio Brown so Brady could have a good WR. It’s obvious to everyone he doesn’t actually care about Brown’s mental health. If he truly cared he would’ve told him to take a step back from the NFL and get some help, not enable him

  37. 37.

    Chetan Murthy

    @japa21: Nah, he was Trump-curious at the *least*. From LG&M ( https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2022/01/aaron-rodgers-is-still-doing-his-own-research ) who got it from some pro sports website (they got a link in the OP there):

    “When the president of the United States says, ‘This is a pandemic of the unvaccinated,’ it’s because him and his constituents, which, I don’t know how there are any if you watch any of his attempts at public speaking, but I guess he got 81 million votes,” Rodgers said Thursday. “But when you say stuff like that, and then you have the CDC, which, how do you even trust them, but then they come out and talk about 75% of the COVID deaths have at least four comorbidities. And you still have this fake White House set saying that this is the pandemic of the unvaccinated, that’s not helping the conversation.”

    Yeah: he hits all the highlights:

    1. Joe’s got brain damage
    2. yeah, he didn’t get those votes
    3. everybody dying of covid has 4 comorbidities
    4. the unvaxxed are not the problem

    He’s not just -curious, he’s -ist.

  40. 40.

    mrmoshpotato

    I entertain myself while my husband watches football by listing all the funny things the announcer says. So far tonight I’ve heardTremendous sack HandoffPenetration The holeTight end Loose ballsA solid D— The Volatile Mermaid (@OhNoSheTwitnt) January 23, 2022

    And there’s more.

  42. 42.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Chetan Murthy:

    Don’t forget comparing himself to MLK Jr.

    Before talking about some of the league’s COVID protocols that he considers nonsensical, Rodgers quoted: “The great MLK said, ‘You have a moral obligation to object to unjust rules and rules that made no sense.’”

  47. 47.

    Suzanne

    @Chetan Murthy:

    1. everybody dying of covid has 4 comorbidities

     

    You know, this might be true, but I see a lot of Trump supporters who, uhhhhh, how do I say this nicely, do not appear to be in the best of health.
    I’m thinking of an engineer I worked with in AZ, in his early 50s, who drank NO LIE a six-pack of Diet Coke every day, and who had to leave the project because he had to have heart surgery and he was out for four months. He was freaked out about Mexicans and liberals coming for his guns, wasn’t as concerned as he should have been about eating an untried vegetable once in a while. He actually said to me once, “Water is for washing”.

  49. 49.

    Gin & Tonic

    @debbie: Sorry, was in transit and now I’m on a phone. People are taking the (MI6?) report fairly seriously, but Muraev, the guy they supposedly want, is a joke. Yeah, he has a TV network, but he’s at low single digits in the polling and is basically a clown. What it shows is how tone-deaf Russia is. The only way they get him in charge of a government is with massive military force.

    What is remarkable is how in 8 years Russia has effectively squandered whatever “soft power” it may have had. All they have left in Ukraine is losers and Yanukovych retreads.

  51. 51.

    Starboard Tack

    @Suzanne: I think the real statistic is about people who were fully vaccinated and died from COVID having multiple co-morbidities. Not the same at all.

  52. 52.

    geg6

    @japa21:

    He’s running around calling Biden a fake president, so… yeah, he’s a MAGAt.  Probably why Shailene Woodley dumped his skanky ass.

    In other news, apparently Barr has been testifying to the 1/6 Committee.  I’ll bet that’s interesting.

  53. 53.

    Chetan Murthy

    @WaterGirl: Oh, ha!  Indeed.  I have a (now-former) friend who got in touch this past week for the first time in *years*.  Turned out, she’s unvaxxed, and has a host reasons, from why the vaxx is harmful, to why natural immunity is better (she got covid in Feb 2020 — remark, a full year before the vaxx was generally available), to why she’s not antivaxx, she thinks the vaxx is important but just not for her, to her doctor said “hold off on the vaxx”.  She had all these papers she cited, etc, etc, tec.

    I indulged her for 72hr, answering all her objections, and then told her to go away until she could attest to having gotten the vaxx.  Boy howdy, she didn’t like that.  Then came the “I no longer condemn Trumpists, I can see that all points of view should be treated with compassion”.  A-yup.

    I told her that I didn’t treat antivaxxers with contempt.  I just wanted them to hurry up and die, so we could live.

    That shut her up.  Bad riddance to good rubbish.

  58. 58.

    Suzanne

    @Starboard Tack: I’m sure you’re right. My point is… I don’t know why a lot of these people don’t think they have comorbidities. Oh wait, yes I do: toxic masculinity.

    My neighbors two doors down are older, can barely make it up the stairs to the front door, and yet are not taking any precautions. It blows my mind.

  60. 60.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @geg6:

    Oh, apparently they are. Or at least they were. No idea now. Here’s a statement they made back in November about the whole vaccine controversy:

    “We don’t support some of the statements that he has made, but we respect his right to have his own personal point of view. We recognize our customers, employees, agents and brand ambassadors come from all walks of life, with differing viewpoints on many issues. Our mission at State Farm is to support safer, stronger communities. To that end, we encourage vaccinations, but respect everyone’s right to make a choice based on their personal circumstances.”

    I think this loss will give them the opportunity to dump him. I’m sure he’s done with the Packers now, too

  61. 61.

    debbie

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Thanks. Until I saw a photo of him in the article Another Scott linked to, I had never seen a mousy man. I can see why Putin latched onto him.

  63. 63.

    Starboard Tack

    @geg6: I have State Farm for everything and pretty locked in. I’ve already called corporate twice on the matter and had my head patted.

  66. 66.

    Miss Bianca

    @Brachiator:

    Treat your AI well and they might let you live when they take over.

    I just read the first book in the Murderbot series and I’d say that would be a fair summation of the theme.\\

  68. 68.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Starboard Tack: Look forward to reading this.  I always forget how much I loved T-Dispatch.  Used to read it regularly back in the early-aughts.  Especially loved when Chalmers Johnson would drop in to write long pieces about US Imperialism.

  69. 69.

    Chetan Murthy

    @WaterGirl: No, she called me up about an entirely different subject (entirely different, and even admirable, actually).  She just thought it was completely normal to talk about not being vaxxed and all.  And that I would be 100% with it, b/c y’know, it’s just a different viewpoint.  After all, she’s fine with the vaccine, thinks it’s important, just not for her after all.  And she doesn’t think she’s an antivaxxer or anything, nosirreee, she just has all these arguments for why the vaxx is harmful, not effective, not for her, etc, etc, at her fingertips.

    I mean, right down to “you wouldn’t look down on people who smoke, who break a leg, we shouldn’t look down on antivaxxers”.

    She’s from a wealthy family, always lived a life of privilege, so I can imagine she’s never actually thought about things in any mode other than “I get what I want, and I’ll invent a justification for it”.

    But whatevs.  Truthfully, I wrote and erased 4 different emails telling her to, y’know, “get the damn shot”.  So finally sending it Friday was closure, of a sort.  Combined with “we just want them to die quickly so we may live,” I suspect she won’t be contacting me again.  Which, good.

  71. 71.

    Chetan Murthy

    @UncleEbeneezer:

    Chalmers Johnson

    Represent!  I read Blowback (many years after 9/11) and wowsers, what a great book!  And especially so b/c it’s not directly about our kinetic military adventurism at all — it’s about how our policies in Japan have created blowback of many kinds.  Insightful writer, well worth the read.

  73. 73.

    Miss Bianca

    @Chetan Murthy:

    she doesn’t think she’s an antivaxxer or anything, nosirreee, she just has all these arguments for why the vaxx is harmful, not effective, not for her, etc, etc, at her fingertips.

    This describes the attitude of someone very dear to me to an absolute T. Needless to say, I have major heartburnings about it.

  74. 74.

    Ruckus

    @Starboard Tack:

    TomDispatch, gets it right and used Andrew Bacevich’s book to show why. Conservatives want their lack of concept of an actual working economy to not fail and to do that they have to remove all accounting for failure from their time in office and to do that they want to use all the people they don’t think are worth a shit to win wars from which they can profit from by using taxes to build up a huge military so that they can say how great they are at saving countries, even while they fuck over their own. Their one major problem is that it doesn’t work.

  75. 75.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Miss Bianca:

    Needless to say, I have major heartburnings about it.

    If I could remain friends with these people, I’d do it.  If I could remain friends, and not be reminded many times a day that they’re not doing their duty, that their actions are what keeps me stuck in my house, that their actions were what made me fear for my mother’s life for a year, I would keep them as friends.  But i cannot, it does indeed (as you say) cause me major heartburn.  So my ditching these people (and Trumpists and GrOPers) is not some sort of act of civic virtue: it’s an act of self-preservation, of self-respect and self-care.

    Nobody can or should tell you what to do in this situation: it’s all about what’s right for you and the people whom you want to keep near to you.

    I completely sympathize with your plight.

  78. 78.

    Chetan Murthy

    @WaterGirl: Not just them: us, too.  I never imagined I’d be such a harsh and judgmental person.  Never imagined I’d be so angry all the time.  Sigh.

  79. 79.

    brantl

    I want a t-shirt full of cemetery markers that alternate “Own the Libs” with “Covidiot” and “My rights were Sovereign” on the tombstones.

  81. 81.

    Ruckus

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I wonder how well Russia’s military is holding up, what with their immensely low vaccination rate and the seemingly overwhelming morale of the Russian people.

  84. 84.

    UncleEbeneezer

    I never read Blowback, but it was an essay that he did that I think was closely related to the book and taking the same concept and applying it to Afghanistan/Iraq.  I think he might have been on Bloggingheads.tv, back when I was still a fan, and everything he said just made so much sense.  That was right when I started to realize what a disaster those wars were.

  85. 85.

    Ruckus

    @Suzanne:

    I live in a seniors apartment complex and I’d bet that everyone that lives here has comorbidities. Some are obvious, some less so. But some of the people with obvious comorbidities act like they have none. Hell I’ve had them since I was in single digits and for the most part they have remained behind the scenes, but some of them are seemingly rearing their ugly heads. Either that or I’m getting old…..

  86. 86.

    Dan B

    @WaterGirl: I was struck by how discovering friends and acquaintances are anti-vaxxers is much like LGBT people discovering who are the homophobes in your life.  It’s distressing but you have to know your psychological limits.  And there is the concept of “chosen family” over birth family for many.

  88. 88.

    Suzanne

    @Ruckus: Last summer, we had a gentleman from a flooring contractor in our house. Dude wasn’t vaccinated — we asked because we wanted to keep the Spawns away. The dude looked like he was going to have a heart attack in my house, and he was out of breath just coming from the street up to the house. I do not understand.

  89. 89.

    WaterGirl

    @Dan B:  It does seem kind of similar.

    It is distressing.  I think the hardest person for me has been my sister.  Smart, always kind and caring and thoughtful.  Religious.  Voted for Trump.  Won’t take the vaccine.  Cares more about “babies being murdered” than living people.  Finding out that my sister isn’t who I thought she was has made this a really hard 6 years from me.

  90. 90.

    Ruckus

    @Chetan Murthy:

    People trying to kill you does that to you. Especially if they are doing it out of learned stupidity.

    Which is more commonly known as conservative politics.

  91. 91.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @WaterGirl:

    Cares more about “babies being murdered” than living people.

    That describes my maternal uncle and his wife to T. Would always complain with the other adults about local taxes during holiday get-togethers and of course aren’t vaccinated. Care about “babies” are Trump cultists, and are right-wing Christians. Sorry you found out your sister isn’t who you thought she is, WG

  92. 92.

    Ruckus

    @Suzanne:

    Some people spend a life time of fooling themselves that they are perfect, great, healthy as a horse(‘s ass) (which might be why they believe in Ivermectin as an anti-viral).

    Many are raised that way, you can tell because they are the one’s crying WHY? when they get sick or anything goes wrong. We are all flawed, some through no fault of their own and many because they walk around with their heads shoved in a place that is entirely too small to stuff a fat head into, and which also makes walking around just a touch more difficult. They seem to never learn though and I’d bet that beside all that, the smell can a bit much.

  94. 94.

    Ruckus

    @WaterGirl:

    I have a sister who is a member of a rather large cult, named to sound like it’s a modern day truth, and it’s proven by nothing like any factual information or reality. She’s been involved for decades. She knows everything, and everything she knows is bullshit. So, welcome to the club. There used to be meetings among the concerned but the discussions of possibilities of any redemption or salvation are all so depressing that we stopped.

  99. 99.

    Another Scott

    The Bills and Chiefs combined to score 25 points in the last two minutes of regulation. That's a problem for Democrats.

    — New York Times Pitchbot (@DougJBalloon) January 24, 2022

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  101. 101.

    Tazj

    @Soprano2: Yes, this hurts as a Bills fan. Although as a Buffalo fan I’ve come to expect the worst, not trying to take anything away from Mahomes who is great, but this stinks.

  102. 102.

    Poe Larity

    @Chetan Murthy: I’m totally cool with her world view as long as she has signed a DNR. Anything else is objectively selfish.

    Cousin called, his son-in-law, who was in the ICU for 3 weeks in 2020, and caught it again last Xmas, is in the ICU again this week.

    Call all the prayer circles you want, but there’s nothing Christian about hogging the ICU.

  103. 103.

    Ksmiami

    @Ruckus: the co-morbidity is older age… but look, this virus has laid very healthy ppl low so no one can predict how they will react. All we can do is mask up, vax etc

  104. 104.

    Ksmiami

    @Chetan Murthy: Being a Republican/antivaxxer isn’t like arguing over marginal tax rates: these are moral issues of the age and they’ve sided with monsters. There’s no reasoning or co-existing with them.

  106. 106.

    Jay

    @Ksmiami:

    Qanon Rodgers deliberately misquoted and twisted the CDC stats to claim the “vaxx’s “ don’t work and only “unhealthy ppl die,

    A significant percentage of the Double Vaxxed/Boosted deaths from/with Covid had at least 4 comorbidities.

    tiny, tiny death toll compared to the unvaxxed.

    When he say’s “he did his own research”, all anybody should respond with is “where did you get your medical degree, and which labs did you use?”.

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