Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

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

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

In after Baud. Damn.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Let there be snark.

I wonder if trump will be tried as an adult.

“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

No one could have predicted…

The GOP is a fucking disgrace.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

I was promised a recession.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Everybody saw this coming.

You are here: Home / Elections / 2022 Elections / Friday Morning Open Thread: Halloween Countdown

Friday Morning Open Thread: Halloween Countdown

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(I adore black cats. I want them all!)



Don’t slack off, but stay positive…

Schadenfreude:

Reader Interactions

253Comments

  4. 4.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Baud:

    I expect they have SOTA security in both DC and SF. Not going to speculate until they release more details.

    The assailant is in custody, so perhaps we’ll learn more later today. Or not.

  8. 8.

    geg6

    It’s a pretty ugly situation when I’m sitting here hoping it was only a regular old violent burglar who broke into the Speaker’s home and assaulted her husband.
    Sometimes I think this country is irrevocably broken. And getting worse.

  12. 12.

    WereBear

    @geg6: It is broken. But assholes did it on purpose while the masses were busy surviving and couldn’t pay attention.

    It’s like rescue. This is a rough looking animal but we can rescue the nation.

  13. 13.

    FelonyGovt

    Good morning! Not sure what to do about Twitter. I’m not on there much, and besides politics I use it to follow the Mets in season and a few other specialty interests. Close my account now, or wait and see if Elon turns it into a cesspool?

  18. 18.

    Jackie

    What horrible news to wake up to. Is Nancy in SF or DC?

    Hoping Mr Pelosi will recover quickly and completely!

  21. 21.

    Gin & Tonic

    @FelonyGovt: It’s rapidly on its way to cesspool-ness. Pedophile Scott Ritter already posted (I won’t link) “I’m back. Bucha was a war crime. Ukraine did it.” He @’ed Elon and a few of the Grayzone cretins.

    I guarantee TFG will be back on before the weekend is out.

  22. 22.

    Ken

    @Raoul Paste: So now we may expect Republican bleating about proof of crime in California.

    More likely, claims that it is a “false flag operation” by the Democrats.

  27. 27.

    Matt McIrvin

    @FelonyGovt: I still have an account there, but when it was getting too much, a thing I did to keep from getting sucked in almost involuntarily was just to make sure I was logged out most of the time. I can look at tweets, but if I try to like or respond to something, that login screen pops up and often it’s just enough of an obstacle that I can go “ah, screw it”.

    There’s great stuff on Twitter. But it seemed like just following people I liked outside of Twitter for other reasons too often led to horrible crap through retweets and hate-responses and such, especially manifestations of the anti-anti-fascist horseshoe left going on about the shitlibs.

  28. 28.

    Gin & Tonic

    Credit where credit is due. Ilhan Omar strongly responds to a pro-russian heckler.

    I am sorry, you all aren’t “anti war protesters”, you are dangerous propagandists who are literally making a mockery of the anti war movement.

    I have never had the pleasure of responding to 🇷🇺 ridiculous internet disinformation in person before. Thank you for the opportunity ✌🏽 https://t.co/xzTLQCymgO
    — Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) October 28, 2022

  29. 29.

    Betty Cracker

    @FelonyGovt: I’m doing the latter — wait and see. I think a lot of people bailed already though, and if Musk reinstates Trump’s account, more people will leave

    ETA: One positive thing about the situation is that it looks like Musk will lose a huge amount of money no matter what.

  30. 30.

    oatler

    @Cacti:

    And the Katie Hobbs burglary.  As Les Nessman would say, it was almost as if they were…organized…and literally taking marching orders from OAN…

  32. 32.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @NotMax: Tonight at the swing dance I intend to do precisely that. In costume. (I still fit into the duds from my stint last millennium in a performing folk dance troupe, and it is kindasorta designed to be danced in. Only problem is with the sash, designed to accommodate knives and pistols, not smaller stuff like driver’s license, bills, credit cards and car keys. Time to dig around my backlog of traveling gear for an old moneybelt…)

  33. 33.

    Baud

    @Matt McIrvin:

    I think Twitter and YouTube algorithms realize that liberals love to hate engage with right wingers, perhaps more than they like liberal content.  That’s my hunch anyway.

  34. 34.

    catclub

    So based on the top of the post, we are not yet boycotting Twitter because it is owned and ruined by Elon Musk.

    Would you boycott it if Trump were allowed back on?

  36. 36.

    Geminid

    I read that President Biden will head to New Mexico November 3rd to campaign with Governor Luhan Griffin and other Democrats. I sure hope that will help put Gabe Vasquez over the top in New Mexico’s 2nd CD race. Democrats need to flip some Republican seats.

    I also saw that Cook’s has moved the reelection races of Mary Peltola (AK) and Sharice Davids (KS-3) from “Tossup” to “Lean D.”

  39. 39.

    Baud

    @Betty Cracker:

    ETA: One positive thing about the situation is that it looks like Musk will lose a huge amount of money no matter what.

    Facebook is going down the toilet too, although I think that has more to do with the “metaverse” than the toxic content.

  40. 40.

    Betty Cracker

    @Baud: Definitely true of a lot of people in my bubble. Recently, Twitter started dumping a shit-ton of right-wing content into my timeline because some of the people I follow hate-follow folks like Jim Jordan, MT Greene, etc. I didn’t mind seeing the people I follow dunking on those assholes, which can be amusing. But I don’t follow the asshole right-wingers myself for a reason, so I don’t want their crap dumped into my timeline. It makes the platform less curatable, which sucks because the ability to curate is the best thing about Twitter.

  42. 42.

    Baud

    @Betty Cracker: I’ve always been conflicted about that sort of engagement.  On the one hand, it’s absolutely vital to hold these people accountable through criticism, truth-telling, and mockery.  On the other, sometimes it feels like liberals are caught on the losing end of a call-and-response dynamic with right wingers.

    I don’t have a good solution, so I try not to let it get to me.

  44. 44.

    The Moar You Know

    Just a point, since we are talking about Twitter:  you make them money by viewing, you don’t even need to have an account.  You make them lots more money when you link to tweets or post.

    As I’ve asked before, please stop making posts consisting of mostly tweets.

  45. 45.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Baud: I recall people who spent nearly all of their time just fighting with transphobes. And my feelings were split between “I have to support this, someone has to do it” and just the sheer psychological corrosiveness of seeing all this garbage.

  46. 46.

    Baud

    @Matt McIrvin: I really feel for the people at social media companies that are responsible for screening out things like child porn.  At least they get paid, but I’m sure it’s not enough.

  47. 47.

    NotMax

    @Baud

    Au contraire. Will make out like a bandit a year from now when there’s a second IPO (which I strongly suspect was the plan all along; he couldn’t care less about content).

  48. 48.

    Matt McIrvin

    …But the horseshoe-left types, I think, emotionally bothered me more because they got past a level of mental defenses: I can just dismiss right-wingers by this point as not worthy of consideration, but when someone is bashing liberals from a “far left” perspective, there’s a little part of my brain that says this is something I shouldn’t dismiss, that if I’m a good person I need to give it a hearing. So it can sting in a way that some Republican bloviation can’t.

    And that’s probably part of the reason why THEY seem to hate liberals more than they hate the far right, too.

  49. 49.

    Ken

    @NotMax: I thought he was going to rename it “X”? He was promoting some vaporware with that name a couple weeks ago, and people said it was because he owns the “x.com” domain.

  50. 50.

    Ken

    @Baud: Spare a thought for the HR people who conduct the interviews, and have to screen out the people who really, really want the job.

  53. 53.

    Ken

    @Baud: Yeah.  Now I’m trying to figure out how they can even staff those positions.  I am pretty sure you can’t hire someone to do something that’s illegal.

  55. 55.

    Baud

    @Ken: A long time ago, I heard a professor say he talked to authorities before doing research on Internet porn, or something like that.  I’d imagine that the social media companies do something similar.

  57. 57.

    catclub

    My conclusion at this point is that news addicted people like many of us, are addicted to twitter and will not quit it no matter how bad it gets. They may try to modify their interaction, but will not quit. Ouch.

    Addiction is a thing.

  58. 58.

    Geminid

    @Gin & Tonic: That sounds like one of the same two guys who interrupted an event with Representatives Jeffries and Bowman in Westchester, and also Rep. Ocasio-Cortez’s town hall. A big white guy with a loud, hectoring voice. At the other events his partner started yeiling too, kind of like a tag team. I’ve seen them described as Larouchites, which is not impossible I guess

    Ohmar may have been given a heads up that they were there and had her response ready. I’m not a big fan, but I believe she is a very sharp woman.

  59. 59.

    UncleEbeneezer

    I’m so fed up with people who are shitting on GOTV efforts and nit-picking every warning that “Democracy is on the ballot” because they think telling us that America has never been a true Democracy is some sort of brilliant insight that we aren’t already well fucking aware of.  If you are so upset about Voter Suppression, Gerrymandering and all the other ways that our Democracy fails to reach its’ ideals, that makes it even MORE IMPORTANT for those of us who can vote to do so, and do everything in our power to get everyone else to, as well.

  60. 60.

    LiminalOwl

    @geg6: A suspect is in custody now.

    (And I have seen reports that, yes, Qultists are already saying false flag operation.  Haven’t seen any such myself yet.)

  61. 61.

    Baud

    @UncleEbeneezer: I’m not that plugged in, but I haven’t seen much of that.  It sucks that people doing the work have to be exposed to that sort of rhetoric, but as far as I’m concerned, that’s just another facet of right-wing propaganda, even if the facade doesn’t appear right wing in nature.

  62. 62.

    NotMax

    @catclub

    The entirety of the news media universe has tobogganed downhill since The New York Times dropped the period from their masthead.

    ;)

  63. 63.

    zhena gogolia

    Zelenskyy speaking to Yale School of Management today. I wonder if they’ll ask him for career advice like they did at Harvard.

  67. 67.

    MattF

    Re: Twitter. I’m concerned that the ‘advertising’ revenue Musk pins his hopes on will include RW misinformation lying. Reddit has a lot of intrusive commercial ads and that’s bad enough, adding paid-for conspiracy theorizing would make personal blood pressure spikes an added Twitter cost.

  72. 72.

    ryk

    This morning I deactivated my twitter account and removed the app from my devices. I don’t want to put a single damned penny in that asshole’s pocket.

  76. 76.

    satby

    OT, but if I can just request people keep good thoughts for my sister’s improvement today I would appreciate it. This is the sister with MS, the assisted living staff found her unresponsive in bed yesterday morning and she’s now in ICU on a ventilator. Suspected sepsis from a resurgent UTI. Fingers crossed they caught it early enough to reverse.

  81. 81.

    Redshift

    @The Moar You Know:

    Just a point, since we are talking about Twitter: you make them money by viewing, you don’t even need to have an account. You make them lots more money when you link to tweets or post.

    Lots of money? How do you figure? According to investment sites, they make 85% of their revenue from ads. On-screen visibility of digital ads can be tracked, and ad revenue is based on visibility; if you don’t see an ad, you’re not making them any money.

    14% is from licensing data (about trends and demographics, for example.) Linking contributes a little to that, but not lots of money.

    This is right up there with saying “they make money from clicks” about news sites. They just don’t.

  83. 83.

    H.E.Wolf

    From one of the quotes in Anne Laurie’s post, last night: a viewpoint to bear in mind.

    “Everyone realizes the GOP *wants* you to leave Twitter, right? It’s one of our most effective messaging platforms.”
    — Angry Staffer 🌻 (@Angry_Staffer) October 28, 2022

    (Disclaimer: I don’t have any social media accounts; so other than my pleasure in reading tweets from a few favorite fiction writers, I have no dog in this fight.)

  87. 87.

    Eolirin

    @Redshift: If the internet ad market keeps sliding as badly as it has been it’s not clear to me that any of the social media companies can continue to turn a profit given the costs of providing adequate moderation.

  90. 90.

    Alison Rose

    @kalakal: I love how cats will do that–walk past something, fuck it up, and keep going. That’s my cat with the tchotchkes on my bookshelves. Just strolls past, knocks one down, bats it halfway across the room, then goes on about her business.

  93. 93.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @H.E.Wolf: THIS!  Twitter (and FB too) are crucial to our side’s organizing and have been since 2017.  I use FB for organizing, keeping in touch with friends and looking at scenic pictures.  If you keep your friend list clean (no MAGAts and I unfollow/block anyone sketchy) and don’t get your news from it, even FB is perfectly fine.  Also, learn to step away.

  95. 95.

    Fair Economist

    @FelonyGovt:

    Close my [Twitter] account now, or wait and see if Elon turns it into a cesspool?

    Def wait until the election. It takes time to turn something as big as Twitter into a cesspool. Twitter is probably the best media system for the Democrats at the moment; don’t drop out of that system precisely when our network is most critical. Afterwards I plan to cut back (I should anyway), check out some of the replacement social media (Tribel and CounterSocial), and watch.

  97. 97.

    Fair Economist

    @UncleEbeneezer:

    If you keep your friend list clean (no MAGAts and I unfollow/block anyone sketchy) and don’t get your news from it, even FB is perfectly fine.

    Yeah, I block pretty liberally, and today I’m seeing a number of complaints about “I’m seeing all these Nazis”. But I’m not seeing them myself!

  101. 101.

    bjacques

    @Matt McIrvin:

    I’ve already had my left friends ear bend my ear with Russian propaganda over the past months, and, thanks partly to folks here, I’ve been able to deal with their arguments, whether they’ll listen or not. But they’re my friends. Anyone else who raises an argument I’ve heard before I’ll just tell them to take a walk, because they weren’t the first to afflict me with that particular line of nonsense. Since they weren’t, I don’t feel guilty at all–they can blame it on whoever got to me first.

    ****************************

    Since this is an open thread, I’m gonna break in on myself because I just gotta drop some suggestions for lamh36 for Venice!

    (A “lamh36’s Italian Grand Tour” open thread would be nice…hint…hint…)

    The missus and I have been to Venice a lot, for the Biënnale, which is still on, through the 27th. If you like art, you really have to go see it.

    Focus is on female artists. Tix are €25 for one entrance each to the gardens, the Arsenale, and all the national pavilions around Venice. If time is short, target the Gardens, especially the main pavilion, which features better and lesser-known surrealists; the US pavilion features Simone Leigh, for one of the strongest shows in years. Her work also dominates the entrance of the Arsenale. Greece has a virtual reality staging of Oedipus at Colonus, set in a Roma camp in the real location, just outside Athens. Denmark has the sad tableau of a family of centaurs. France has an amazing film about colonial Algeria and life-sized film sets from it. Russia’s pavilion is empty. Brazil has visual representations of proverbs, mostly involving the body. The UK has Sonia Boyce, with an installation about women of color and British pop.

    Watch out for the Acqua Alta, usually around November, when there’s a southerly wind sloshing the waters of the Adriatic into the Venetian lagoon, and especially around the full moon (8th) and new moon (23rd). There’s a tidal barrier now, operational since 2020, so you won’t have to worry about epic flooding like in 2019.

    Our “neighbourhood” is the Castello district, especially around Via Garibaldi and the area between the Arsenale and the Biennale Gardens. We like a trattoria called Dai Tosi (+39 041 523 7102), from Via Garibaldi, right just after the little bridge down to the other end of Calle Gian Battista Tiepolo (then hang a left). Delicious and reasonable and local. Say “hi” from the couple from Amsterdam around Biënnale time.

    Cicchetterias are your best bet for grazing for bites-sized snacks, or even sitting down in the early evening. If you’re near the Rialto, on the west side, there’s Cantino do spade (+39 041 521 0583), great and reasonably priced.

    You’ll probably have to reserve, sorry, but it’s easy enough to do. Most of these places the owner speaks English. You can also drop in if they’re open and reserve for later or the next day. Just call again if you have to cancel.

    Local osterias wherever you’re staying are also a good bet.

  102. 102.

    Redshift

    @FelonyGovt:

    Good morning! Not sure what to do about Twitter. I’m not on there much, and besides politics I use it to follow the Mets in season and a few other specialty interests. Close my account now, or wait and see if Elon turns it into a cesspool?

    I was originally on it for science and space stuff, plus friends, and got into the politics part later. If you have an account (rather than just following a link to a tweet), you see what you’ve chosen to see. I don’t really see how it turning into a cesspool would affect my experience, unless the people I’m interested in reading leave.

    I’m not discounting targeted harassment, which is a very real concern. If that gets worse, there are plenty of people who would be completely justified in leaving. I get how the takeover could be bad for the country, but I’m not convinced boycotting for that reason outweighs losing continued political engagement on the side of light.

  105. 105.

    Geminid

    @Josie: Cuellar has been moderating his policy positions for a while. This May, when his runoff with Jessica Cisneros was near, I looked up his ratings from conservative organizations. Heritage Foundation gave Cisneros a “0”, the Susan B. Anthony List also gave him a “0”, and the National Right to Life Action Committee rated him 7 out of 100. Cuellar’s former A rating from the NRA was now a C.

    I noticed that some rating services have changed his race from Tossup to Lean D. The voting behavior of Valley Hispanics seems to be in flux, though, so that’s  a race I’ll be watching Novermber 8.

  107. 107.

    narya

    At least one person I follow is leaving the bird app, I think, but I’m gonna wait and see. I don’t post much at all, but I do find some of the live-tweeting (e.g., of the various J6 trials) to be useful. I am pretty limited in terms of whom I follow, so I am not as subject to the cesspool. Basically, if the folks I follow move, I’ll move with them.

  108. 108.

    geg6

    TPM is now reporting the guy used a hammer in the attack. He hit an 82 yo man with a hammer.

    Thank the FSM that Paul Pelosi is seemingly okay. Jesus.

  109. 109.

    satby

    Thanks everyone! The morning update says she’s stable. She may have pneumonia, but the antibiotics should also handle that. So we just have to wait.

    @Fair Economist: you’re right, a lot of us need to cut back. Watch out for Tribel though, saw some warnings from pretty reputable sources that you should approach with extreme caustion.

  111. 111.

    Redshift

    @Betty Cracker:

    Recently, Twitter started dumping a shit-ton of right-wing content into my timeline because some of the people I follow hate-follow folks like Jim Jordan, MT Greene, etc.

    Dumping it in because they’re retweeting it or replying to it, or what? I don’t get stuff just because someone I follow follows it. If you mute or block the accounts they’re retweeting, maybe that will take care of it?

  114. 114.

    ian

    @H.E.Wolf: Is there any evidence this is true?  Either clause, that this is a deliberate GOP campaign to get liberals to leave twitter, or that twitter is where a majority of liberal messaging gets out?

    I am skeptical of all things I read from some rando internet person.  Claiming you are a former white house staffer doesn’t make everything you say true.  If they make some broad claim like the one above, I need to see some support before I believe

    (edit you to mean the angry staffer, not you, this is something I need to work on in my writing)

  116. 116.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Gin & Tonic: I love they think it’s “Anti-war” to support rewarding countries that start wars (by letting keep a sizable chunk of what they’ve stolen).

  118. 118.

    MisterForkbeard

    @narya: I basically never post on twitter, but I’ve been using it to follow a few people.

    If Musk screws up twitter at all, I’ll leave. If he puts Trump back on, I’ll leave. But I’m not part of twitter’s profit margins or target audience anyway.

  119. 119.

    kalakal

    I’ve never gotten into Twitter and Musk’s latest exercise in burning money means I’m not about to try. If he does turn it into MAGAville it’ll go the way of all the other wingnut safe spaces like Gab. Right wingers will only have each other to troll so no fun for them (Sad!) and everybody else goes elsewhere.

    What will our elite journalists do?

  121. 121.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I believe you can “mute” phrases or terms on twitter. It’s in your profile under “settings and privacy.” That lets you keep getting tweets from someone you follow as long as they ‘re not talking about what you don’t want to see

  122. 122.

    Benw

    My kids are SO pumped for Halloween this year. Even more than usual; I think this is the first year trick or treating feels completely normal again. They are ready to GO

  123. 123.

    Mike in NC

    We had to venture into central South Carolina yesterday to see an oncologist. Passed not one but two shops hawking Trump shit! The good news is that my wife does not have cervical cancer, but a far less serious condition that can be treated on an outpatient basis before the end of the year.

  125. 125.

    Cacti

    More details on the Paul Pelosi attack:

    Deliberately targeted.  Assailant used a hammer.

     

    Yep.  Republicans are violent terrorist apes.

  126. 126.

    Miss Bianca

    @satby: Oh, that’s awful. I am so sorry to hear it. Keeping my fingers crossed for your sister over here in the mountains.

  127. 127.

    geg6

    LOL at all you Twitter addicts. You realize Twitter was already headed into the toilet, right? Ads are way down and your following someone doesn’t make them any money if no one is advertising there. Your political discussions don’t make them any money. Idiot MSM twitting their stupidity doesn’t make them any money. You need ads. And when the ads dry up (as they are right now and have been for a year or so), so will Twitter. And it will be on to some new thing. Facebook and Instagram are facing the same headwinds. Find something new to waste time with because, not only is Musk going to turn Twitter into an even bigger cesspool than it already is, it’s going to get a lot worse when it’s My Pillow all the time. Smart organizers and smart activists will find something better. Leaving Twitter won’t make or break any of them. Of course, the only group on Twitter I find in any way valuable, Black Twitter, will probably find it first and it will be up to everyone else to catch up.

  130. 130.

    Cacti

    @geg6: I’ve never seen the allure of Twitter and have never had an account.  So its ownership makes little difference to me.

    As far as its future goes, it’s the 15th most popular social media platform in a saturated market, and really offers nothing that you can’t find somewhere else.

  133. 133.

    geg6

    @Cacti: ​
     
    Exactly my point. It’s not all that, as so many here are making it out to be. Believe it or not, people, there were activists and political organizing before Twitter and there will be after Twitter.

    I honestly think it’s an addiction for some people.

  134. 134.

    kalakal

    It’s very difficult to convey the total collapse of the British govt. The latest Tory attempt to sweep everything under the rug is already coming unglued over the reinstatement of Braverman. It’s quite likely she’ll be gone by Monday which means she’ll beat her own record for shortest time as Home Secretary in history.

    Here is the wonderful James O’Brien on just what a mess it is

    https://youtu.be/U1lRkbkXQ4g

    In practical terms the day to day practice of the legislature has seized up. Sunak has 22 cabinet posts to fill and the available talent pool is exhausted by the time he’s picked someone to get the tea & biscuits

    This, god help us, is a real exchange from the House of Commons, it’s both very funny and terrifying at the same time

    https://twitter.com/RhonddaBryant/status/1585604530061860864?s=20&t=5aVE1XWqQJW1WbFFeBOiUw

  135. 135.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @NotMax:

    Twitter
    Elon Musk
    Dolt 45
    Cats
    Cilantro

    I love cilantro so much, when I have cilantro in the fridge I’ll throw it randomly into sandwiches and sometimes just grab a couple of springs and chomp on them while looking for another snack.

    Once overheard someone say in a salvadoran restaurant, “Muy bien es cilantro, pero no tanto”. (Loosely: “Cilantro’s good — in moderation”) I always wondered if that person made it up or whether it’s a real proverb. At any rate, I disagree. There’s no such thing as too much cilantro.

    Wanna fight?

    Also, I suppose it’s obligatory for me to defend cats. Cats are OK. Some of them are actually cool. The tough old tabby my kids grew up was pretty cool. My older daughter was vastly amused that male visitors to the house always bonded with him.

  136. 136.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Matt McIrvin: ​
    I used to sign in using my gmail info. But that’s broken now. I tried to use my Apple info, but there’s no way to update a phone number for the required two step authentication, and no way to get a human to respond, because that cuts into Tim’s bonus, I guess.

  137. 137.

    brendancalling

    @geg6: I got kicked off Twitter more than a year ago for tweeting something mean at the vicious piece of shit Sinema. I can still check in for breaking news, but generally that’s when it’s something that requires frequent update (a mass shooting, a disaster, an attack on a politician).

    Otherwise, I don’t miss it at all. Just like I don’t miss Facebook, which I only use when I’m announcing my weekly Philly gig (to which everyone who lives in Philly should come).

    Other than that, social media is a useless, filthy cesspool that has gotten adults and children addicted to multiple dopamine doses every day

  140. 140.

    Gin & Tonic

    @geg6: It is a good way to get breaking news from a quickly-evolving situation, or one where other media aren’t (for whatever reason) covering it well. It has been invaluable to me for keeping up with the war in Ukraine.

  141. 141.

    Kropacetic

    @geg6: I always hated cilantro until my mother used it with a very subtle touch in her chili.  Delicious.  I’ve since found a few other things.  It’s easy to overdo, but delicious when done right.

  144. 144.

    kalakal

    @Gin & Tonic: That’s now I interact with it. I’ve never joined but follow (some) links that others post and have found it good for that. Lurking at one remove.

  145. 145.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @kalakal: ​
      My wife a few days ago passed along a New Yorker interview with Prue Leith, judge of The Great British Bake Off (or as we know it here in the States for idiotic reasons, The Great British Baking Show).

    I like Prue and she’s led quite the interesting life, but I learned in that interview that unfortunately not only did she vote for Brexit, but she still thinks it’s a good idea. Just being done wrong.

  146. 146.

    Cameron

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: There are a number of people (I think percentage may be as high as 15-20) to whom cilantro tastes like soap.  It’s a genetic thing.   I’m not one of them, but I do personally know two of them

  147. 147.

    Origuy

    @Cameron: It would be interesting to know more about that. I like cilantro, but my sister can’t stand it. We’ve both done 23 and Me DNA testing, but I don’t think that’s one of the genes they look for.

  149. 149.

    kalakal

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: I’m sad to hear that, I like her too.

    I really can’t understand anyone except disaster capitalists who are still in favour.

    I always thought it was a bloody stupid idea and that it’s advocates were people I’d trust as far as I can throw my own liver but the initial non-binding referendum was so vague and get that a lot of normies would go for it. What the Tories produced was so far to right of the available options and the resulting mess ought to have shocked them back to reality.

    Tory politicians are always banging on about ‘The Benefits of Brexit’. My favourite question to Brexiteers is

    “If we rejoined the EU which Brexit Benefit would you most miss?”

  152. 152.

    kalakal

    @Cameron: I’ve heard that. I’ve used it for years in Indian & South East Asian cooking and love the stuff ( Happily so does Mrs Kalakal) though usually as a ground spice. Until I lived in the US I’d never heard of Cilantro, to me it’s Coriander

  154. 154.

    Cameron

    @kalakal: I think here coriander refers to seeds and cilantro to the plants.  Not sure why that differentiation exists.  I love it either way; it’s pure bad luck that the two people I know who don’t are a former and the current GF.

  155. 155.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Matt McIrvin:

    …But the horseshoe-left types, I think, emotionally bothered me more because they got past a level of mental defenses: I can just dismiss right-wingers by this point as not worthy of consideration, but when someone is bashing liberals from a “far left” perspective, there’s a little part of my brain that says this is something I shouldn’t dismiss, that if I’m a good person I need to give it a hearing. So it can sting in a way that some Republican bloviation can’t.

    Since I mostly use Twitter by reading the timelines of a small subset of the people I technically follow, I don’t tend to get into a lot of back-and-forths with people who are coming from a distinctly different place than I am.

    It’s happening with LWNJs a fair amount over Ukraine, though, but their bullshit is so stupid that I have no problem dismissing them.  Stuff like how all the weapons we’re giving them are being sold on the black market. (The black market seems to be using them very well against the Russians, so it’s all good!)

    I don’t feel any remorse about muting/blocking idiots of any ideological stripe.  If they don’t have substantive arguments based on real facts, then fuck ’em.

  157. 157.

    Betty Cracker

    According to CNN, the suspect who attacked Paul Pelosi yelled, “Where’s Nancy?” after he broke in. So yep, it looks like a politically motivated attack.

  158. 158.

    Anyway

    @Cacti:

    Best wishes for a quick recovery to Paul Pelosi.

    Few months ago Rep Jayapal had someone stalking her house,and threatening her. Cops had to be shaned into treating it seriously.

    I worry that this will keep well-meaning people out of politics…

  161. 161.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @lowtechcyclist: I limit who I follow on Twitter and who friend on Facebook.  As a result, I don’t see a lot of the horrors that others describe.  Both are useful and entertaining tools if you choose to use them for your benefit.

  163. 163.

    Geminid

    @kalakal: At the time, I read that super wealthy British businessmen wanted to avoid new income reporting requirements that the EU was to institute starting in the new year. That was a big incentive to push Brexit.

  165. 165.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    @Anyway: Never had it.  Cilantro just does not work for me.  Tastes terrible.  Not sure why, but even the scent is irritating to my senses.  It’s the only cooking herb that I  have that reaction to.

  167. 167.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Benw:

    My kids are SO pumped for Halloween this year. Even more than usual; I think this is the first year trick or treating feels completely normal again. They are ready to GO

    My kiddo aged out of the trick-or-treating age group during the pandemic.  Trick-or-treating at 12 was normal; trick-or-treating at 15 is uncool.  I’m surprised one of his friends isn’t having a Halloween party, that’s more the thing at that age.

  169. 169.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Betty Cracker:

    ETA: One positive thing about the situation is that it looks like Musk will lose a huge amount of money no matter what.

    ETA: One positive thing about the situation is that it looks like Musk will lose a huge amount of OTHER PEOPLE’S (and probably Russian) money no matter what.

    Fixed.

  172. 172.

    Redshift

    @UncleEbeneezer:

    Also, learn to step away.

    Very much this. I’ve told this story before, but the only new year’s resolution I’ve ever kept is “don’t get into arguments with idiots,” which resulted from getting into an argument with some Twitter rando that my brain wouldn’t let go of.

    The short version is, even if you see jerks being wrong on Twitter, don’t engage (though you can post separately to debunk their bs for the benefit of others.) You won’t convince them, and replying is way different from just seeing their crap. Your brain is optimized to remind you of unfinished tasks, and an open-ended conversation is an unfinished task, whereas reading a crappy tweet isn’t.

  174. 174.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    @lowtechcyclist: I limit who I follow on Twitter and who friend on Facebook.  As a result, I don’t see a lot of the horrors that others describe.  Both are useful and entertaining tools if you choose to use them for your benefit.

    Yeah, I’ve been able to do that quite well with Twitter.  I never really was able to do that with Facebook, though.  I didn’t have a wide net of FB friends, but sometimes you’d get into a stupid disagreement with a friend’s friend, and FB’s algorithm would make sure it stayed on top, ahead of more recent posts: not responding didn’t make it drop down and out of sight.  Just felt very toxic to me, so I never go there anymore.

  175. 175.

    Eyeroller

    @Cameron: Because they come from different languages and different cuisines.  Coriander (which is what the seeds are still called in the US) is the UK term which originated in French (ultimately from Greek).  Cilantro is the Spanish word for the plant.  We use cilantro as the word for the leaves due to their use in Mexican cooking.

    Seems similar to courgette versus zucchini.  In the UK it goes by its French name.  In the US it goes by its Italian name, for what I assume are obvious reasons given immigration patterns.

  176. 176.

    Cameron

    Really, arguing with nutso true believers, of whatever political stripe, is just one more example of the old caution against mud-wrestling with a pig: you get dirty, and the pig likes it.  I try (usually successfully) not to jump into online arguments any more than I jump into face-to-face ones.  Other than a fleeting thrill of self-righteousness, what do you gain?  It’s not like any of these bozos will suddenly spout, “My God! You’re right!  How could I have been so blind!”

  178. 178.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    Side note: today, October 28, Greece celebrates “Okhi Day”, literally “No Day”, commemorating the response to Mussolini’s ultimatum demanding Greece allow Fascist Italy to occupy “strategic locations”.

    History records that the response of Prime Minister(1) Ioannis Metaxas was “alors, c’est la guerre”. The Greek population interpreted that as a simple “okhi” or “no”, with the underlying meaning being similar to the Snake Island garrison’s answer to the Moskva.

    The Greeks pushed the Italians out of Greece and halfway into Albania before Hitler decided to pull Mussolini’s chestnuts out of the fire.

    So, yeah, today, Greece has a bank holiday essentially dedicated to telling Fascists to go fuck themselves.

  180. 180.

    Alison Rose

    @Redshift: I haven’t used Twitter for years, but I have to remind myself of this when encountering trolls on FB posts from Zelenskyy and other Ukrainian accounts and pages. Most of the time, it’s easy to ignore them, but occasionally they say shit so fucked up or wrong that it’s very difficult.

  181. 181.

    Zzyzx

    @Cameron: the one case for it I can see is so that other people can feel less alone.

    Like if prominent person X attacks trans women and no one pushes back, it can feel like no one cares.

    I don’t know what the correct path is but that’s the reason for that approach.

  184. 184.

    Elizabelle

    @Betty Cracker:  A lot more so than the Cuban Confederate canvasser in Hialeah, FL.

    That one sounds like the white supremacist’s dad spinning a lie on call in radio, and Rubio glommed on to it.

    I would love to see that blow up bad on Rubio.  Victimizing the Latino community for outrage gains.

    BUT:  horrified about the attack on the Pelosi home.  What 22 year old wants to come up against a hammer, much less an 82 year old?

    Mostly, I am so relieved a gun was not involved by the attacker.

  185. 185.

    kalakal

    @Geminid: Yep, absolutely true. The EU were bring in ‘transparency’ regulations that would have hit the offshore banking industry hard. As the City of London is Tax Haven heaven this was a big incentive. Of course its blown up in their faces as they’ve lost all their passporting business with the world’s largest market.

    The other big driver, apart from the disaster capitalists wanting a fire sale of UK assets, was Tory interparty warfare. They’ve been tearing themselves apart over the EU for decades and were finding themselves being seriously outflanked on the Right by UKIP to the point were they’d lose an election. So just like the GQP they shifted to the right and let the crazies take over.

    On the other side of the horseshoe was Lexit, the incoherent dream of a socialist utopia free of the oppressive neo-liberal EU regime and it’s heavy headed regulations. Of course neo-liberal regulations is oxymoronic but then 99% of the time sentences that include the words neo-liberal are like sentences that begin “I’m not a xxxxist but…” . Full of sound and fury signifying nothing

  186. 186.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Eyeroller: I remember being in Italy and having some menu ingredient translated as “rocket”. “What is that in English?” I asked. “That is the name in English” was the response.

    We call it “arugula” in the US, which seems to be an Italian word so you’d think that’s what it’s called in Italy, but it was a different word. Perhaps “ruchetta” which Google tells me is the name for the plant in Italy.

  188. 188.

    Tony Jay

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    Her son is Danny Kruger, a Tory MP who believes in ‘Christian values’ like banning abortion, not wearing masks during Covid and keeping Flobalob in Downing St.

    He’s a right-wing scumbag in a Party of right-wing scumbags, and the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.

  191. 191.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Cameron: As someone who often cannot resist fighting with trolls here, I will add that countering lies with the truth can make a difference.  If there are readers who honestly know little about a subject, a troll comment that is not rebutted or debunked could result in misinformation being spread.  Or so I tell myself.  And then there is the question of when one has rebutted and everything further is gratuitous damage which is another thing entirely.    And one I may not have the world’s greatest handle on.*

    *And there is my self-reflection quota for the month satisfied.

  192. 192.

    Burnspbesq

    Eastman has asked Judge Carter to reconsider his ruling on the crime-fraud exception. His arguments are kinda pathetic.

  196. 196.

    Betty Cracker

    @Zzyzx: Mine is set to latest responses too, but a while back, I started getting tweets in my timeline from people like Jim Jordan, and above them is a notice like “so-and-so follows.” I know I’m not the only one because lots of people were bitching about it when it started.

  198. 198.

    Zzyzx

    @Betty Cracker: weird. I only see those posts when my settings switch from latest to home.

     

    I’ve given up with Facebook. They’ve destroyed my interest in trying to figure out how to stay on latest posts.

  199. 199.

    Elizabelle

    LA Times:  Jerry Lee Lewis has died, aged 87.  Honestly did not know that he was still alive.

  201. 201.

    Eyeroller

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:  Different regions in Italy. Arugula is the word in southern Italy, from which most Italian immigrants to the US originated.  Google tells me that ruchetta is also from a dialect, this time to the north.  The “standard” word is rucola.

  205. 205.

    Betty Cracker

    @artem1s: West’s account wasn’t deleted — he was locked out, not suspended. Same at Instagram. AFAIK, he hasn’t posted on Twitter or IG again after the platforms deleted the antisemitic content.

  208. 208.

    kalakal

    @zhena gogolia: Lawrence Fox is just horrible, I don’t know if something happened to him or he always was but he became very publicly and obnoxiously deranged during covid. Shame, I thought he was very good in Lewis

  212. 212.

    Elizabelle

    @Alison Rose:  Meh.  That was four wives back.  And it seems that was one of the longer lasting of his seven marriages.  (Their child drowned.  Another son was killed in a Jeep accident.  Another wife drowned; and one died of a drug overdose …)

    His final wife was the former 13 year old bride’s brother’s ex-wife.

    Cousin [Crying] Jimmy Swaggart survives him.  Mickey Gillis was another cousin.

    The LA Times obit is a trip. 

  213. 213.

    Tony Jay

    @kalakal:

    Yeah. Imagine thinking Sue-Ellen ‘Leaky Su’ Braverman was the best candidate for any position more powerful than garden hose stand, never mind Prime Minister.

    But Prue is ever so proud of him. Bleaugh!

  215. 215.

    catclub

    @kalakal: ​
    &nbsp

    ;I really can’t understand anyone except disaster capitalists who are still in favour.

    There was a financial times video on youtube detailing the slowmoving disaster of Brexit. Lots of small businesses suffering.

  216. 216.

    kalakal

    @Zzyzx: The one that always freaks the English out is jelly. When Americans talk about peanut butter and jelly sandwiches our only response is shocked disbelief.

    English Jelly = American Jello

  218. 218.

    Elizabelle

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:   From the LA Times:

    While rock was a music and culture he had shaped profoundly, Lewis often spoke about turning to the ministry and singing only gospel songs — forever torn between the sacred and the profane.

    “You can’t straddle the fence,” he said in a 1981 interview with The Times. “The way I believe it is you’ve got to be on one side or the other. You can’t serve two gods. Satan is pretty strong, though…. You’ve got to rock or you’ve got to preach. You can’t do them both.”

    His mother sent him to learn to be a preacher at 15.  Didn’t take.

    His parents bought him a piano (mortgaged their house to do so) when he was 8 years old after his older brother, Elmo Jr., (aged 9) was killed by a drunk driver.

    Out of Ferriday, Louisiana.  What a life.

  220. 220.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Amir Khalid: That’s a nice word. Now I have to figure out the etymology of it in Ukrainian, where it is (roughly) baklazhan – which sounds like it comes from another language.

  224. 224.

    geg6

    @Kropacetic: ​
     
    I have the (apparently) genetic thing that makes it just taste like soap. And anything it is on or in taste like soap. Literally. Horrible stuff, but only for those who have this issue.

  226. 226.

    kalakal

    @zhena gogolia: Can’t say I’m surprised, I’m not really up on celebs until they do something really good/bad/ stupid but he has just been horrible for the last few years. Are his dad and uncle equally looney do you know? I hope not

  227. 227.

    Elizabelle

    @geg6:   You and Julia Child.  She was not a cilantro fan either.

    I can take cilantro in small doses, and like it.  It’s good in Mexican and Asian foods.  But sometimes it does taste like soap to me, too.

  229. 229.

    zhena gogolia

    @kalakal: That I don’t know. I just stumbled across his tweets complaining about diversity casting a few years ago. I wonder how some of his fellow actors feel about that.

  230. 230.

    geg6

    @Anyway: ​
     
    I love a banh mi. I just make sure to ask for no cilantro or take it all off before eating. Soap banh mis are not pleasant.

  233. 233.

    kalakal

    @zhena gogolia: Yeah, I saw that later on. It was just pathetic, if anyone on earth has built in connections to acting it’s him and he’s whining about how he’s a victim of the system and it’s all so unfair and stacked against him. His family is acting royalty.

  236. 236.

    JoyceH

    @kalakal: ​
     

    English Jelly = American Jello

    I thought I knew all the English-to-American translations, but this is one I don’t know. What DO the English call what Americans call ‘jelly’? That’s the clear fruit spread, the one with bits of fruit is jam.

  237. 237.

    kalakal

    @Omnes Omnibus: Except in Portugal where they make it from Quince.

    The Portugese also make carrot jam which led to some nifty footwork by the EU to classify carrots as fruit*.

    *legally in the EU to be called Jam it has to be made from fruit but the Portugese have made carrot jam for centuries and weren’t about to change the name

  238. 238.

    CaseyL

    @Alison Rose: ‘

    I wonder if there’s any overlap there with people who don’t excrete and/or detect asparagus pee smell.

    I can answer that: No.  Cilantro is awful to me, even the smell, but asparagus does its thing to my pee just fine.
    @Anyway:  There are a lot of dishes I either need to pick out the cilantro bits or just avoid.  Vietnamese cuisine is one where I love some dishes and have to avoid others.  The sammies are in between: maybe I can pick out most of the cilantro, maybe I can’t.​

  239. 239.

    Betty Cracker

    @Elizabelle: Also Ina Garten! Like you, I can put up with small amounts of cilantro, but it tastes like soap to me unless there’s only a tiny amount.

  240. 240.

    H-Bob

    @kalakal: If you think the British government is bad, look at the Northern Ireland situation!  The DUP, with less than 30% of the seats, is vetoing the election of a speaker for the assembly and the executive for the government.  There will be a new election but it’s unlikely to affect DUP’s veto power.

  241. 241.

    kalakal

    @JoyceH: Just to add the confusion the British do have some jellies that are roughly the same eg redcurrant jelly but they’re not that common. I guess if it has the name of a fruit at the beginning followed by jelly then it’s like an American Jelly. Not to be confused with jam, marmalade and definitely not Jelly

  242. 242.

    Tony Jay

    @kalakal:

    “Just because I’ve covered myself in shit and pig intestines, no one will hug me. Cancel culture is out of control!”

    Fox thought he was going to be the photogenic young rule-breaker surfing a wave of reactionary populism into public office and/or so much celebrity he’d finally escape the label of “someone more famous’ son/nephew”.

    Didn’t work out that way.

  243. 243.

    JoyceH

    The Pelosi attacker has been identified as David Depape, and he’s just who you expected he was. His on-line presence documents conspiracy theories about COVID, the election, and 1/6. He is charged with attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, and burglary. And Paul Pelosi is undergoing brain surgery.

  244. 244.

    kalakal

    @H-Bob: Crazy. And very scary Belgium went 589 days without a formal government* after their 2010 elections and no one was too bothered but Belgium is very different to Northern Ireland

    *the vote was split between 11 parties, it took all that time to form a coalition

  249. 249.

    Geminid

    @kalakal: On Nevember 1, Israel will hold its 5th election since 2019. Last time 13 parties passed the 3.25% threshold to win at least 4 seats. Eventually Yair Lapid formed an 8 party, 61 MK coalition. It lastes 11 months.

    This time polls predict only 11 parties will win Knesset seats. They’re showing the 4 party coalition led by former PM Netanyahu winning 59-60 votes. He’ll need 61 to form a government, so you could say this one is a cliffhanger. These polls historically are pretty accurate, but a swing of one or two out of 120 Knesset seats is very possible.

    If Netanyahu does not get to 61, it’s possible Defense Minister Benny Gants will put together a coalition, with Lapid’s assistance. The alternative is another election.

  251. 251.

    West of the Cascades

    Black beanie baby kitties – kute!!

    (less than six words, very late to a dead thread).

  252. 252.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    @satby: Maybe? I’m not sure. If rightwingers liked a complete echo chamber, then truth social wouldn’t be such a sad place. Right wingers hate us in part because they don’t want to believe they are the crazy ones. They can’t handle that we see them that way. They want to hurt us because of it.

  253. 253.

    The Lodger

    @geg6: I must have outgrown that about the time I hit 40, because I can still taste cilantro but I don’t think of soap anymore. Maybe I mutated.

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