Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

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

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Why did Dr. Oz lose? well, according to the exit polls, it’s because Fetterman won.

Bark louder, little dog.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

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

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Hot air and ill-informed banter

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Nothing worth doing is easy.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

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

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Saturday Morning Open Thread: For the People!

Saturday Morning Open Thread: For the People!

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… To ensure that the government does not run out of funds and shut down at the end of Friday as the legislation is processed, the House also approved a one-week stopgap bill, which Mr. Biden signed into law Friday afternoon. The president also signed a military policy bill on Friday that will be funded by the government spending package.

“We have a big bill here because we have big needs for our country,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California said on Friday, noting that it was most likely her last speech on the House floor as speaker. Evoking a common Democratic slogan this Congress, she added, “This is truly a package for the people.”…

The annual government funding legislation includes a substantial increase in spending for the Pentagon and adds more money for health, education and veterans affairs programs. By providing billions of dollars to aid the Ukrainian government and replenish U.S. weaponry already sent abroad, it also brings the American investment in the country’s war effort to more than $100 billion this year.

Lawmakers also included about $40 billion to assist federal agencies and local communities as they rebuild after droughts, wildfires and hurricanes this year.

“It’s not a question of whether it’s perfect or not — it’s a very good bill,” said Representative Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee. “It addresses some of the serious issues that this country faces and its challenges.”…

And at the end of a Congress that began with a mob storming the Capitol during the certification of Mr. Biden’s 2020 election victory, lawmakers agreed to overhaul an archaic 135-year-old law, the Electoral Count Act, which former President Donald J. Trump and his supporters tried to exploit so he could remain in power…

Power, freedom and the ways in which the former could most effectively be wielded to achieve the latter were very much on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s mind Thursday morning…

Zelensky’s speech was part of “a momentous week for our democracy,” Pelosi declared Thursday in her final news conference as speaker. It had also reminded her of another moment from decades ago, when Winston Churchill, prime minister of the United Kingdom, spoke to Congress in 1941, as World War II was underway. In the audience was Pelosi’s father, Thomas D’Alesandro Jr., then a young congressman from Maryland. Pelosi herself was a toddler at the time.

“It always was a source of pride to me that my father was there that day and now a source of pride that I could be there to hear another heroic leader of … a country at war, come ask for help,” Pelosi said. “When Winston Churchill came … he said, ‘We are doing the noblest task in the world, not only defending our hearths and homes, but the cause of freedom in every land.’ So much the theme, so much the common purpose of President Zelensky.”…

In farewell speeches and events, Pelosi has spent the past few weeks emphasizing the importance of defending democracy, turning a lame-duck session of Congress into her swan song of sorts as a foil against former president Donald Trump. She opened her final news conference Thursday thanking reporters, calling them “guardians of democracy,” a sharp contrast to Trump’s attacks on the press.

Her remarks also came just before a final report was set to be released by the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, when a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol seeking to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s electoral win.

“The 117th Congress began with a violent assault on our democracy, and now we hear its conclusions,” Pelosi said. “We have a vital road map, ensuring justice will be done and that this won’t happen again.”…

Pelosi acknowledged that she would be transitioning from a role that comes with “awesome power” to one with still “strong,” if subtler influence, particularly on women who might want to run for office. Pelosi recalled how, when she arrived in Congress in 1987, there were only 23 women in the House out of 435 lawmakers.

“I want women to have confidence,” Pelosi said. “So sometimes when I act a little more, shall we say, like myself, it’s because I want them to know it’s okay to assert yourself, to have confidence in what you bring to the table, and also to understand your uniqueness.”

Pelosi ended by citing President John F. Kennedy’s inauguration speech, which she said she recalled attending in the “freezing cold.” Most people remember the penultimate sentence, she said, recalling Kennedy’s speech: “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for our country.” But Pelosi said it was the next sentence that struck her: “Ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”

She has told Biden that he has fulfilled in so many ways what Kennedy was signaling in his ability to rally international support for Ukraine.

“Working together with all of the countries to come together to support Ukraine, not by dictating what we think is the way to go, but through listening, working together so that everybody felt committed to a plan for the freedom of mankind,” Pelosi said. “And that’s how I tie being there as my father’s daughter at the inauguration to what happened this week and what our responsibilities are later.”

Reader Interactions

189Comments

  4. 4.

    Lapassionara

    @OzarkHillbilly: Sweet! Made me think of the polar bear in the St Louis Zoo. I bet he doesn’t mind our current arctic temperatures. It is 7 degrees outside this am. An improvement over yesterday’s minus 3.

    good morning

  6. 6.

    WereBear

    I am so impressed with Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She even orchestrated her own memes better than he did.

    Like the red coat and sunglasses. She played tRump and the media the whole time.

  8. 8.

    Gin & Tonic

    A couple of months ago I wrote a longish comment in one of Adam’s threads on the history and significance of the “Slava Ukraini” phrase. To see that last Tweet is truly remarkable. To see the President of Ukraine in the House chamber, and to hear him responding to that, when it was shouted from the gallery, is something that at one time was literally inconceivable.

  10. 10.

    MomSense

    We had a big storm yesterday and my social media feeds are full of OMG look at the ocean covering the entire road, crashing onto this house/business.  OMG look at the river flooding this entire street /downtown.

    WTF did people think would happen with climate change?

  12. 12.

    Geminid

    @p.a.: Next December, probably. They used to get this stuff done by Thanksgiving but this last-minute Omnibus bill is the new normal.

    There will probably be another crunch time late summer when there will be a need to raise the debt ceiling. That time may come sooner if there is a recession, while a strong economy could push it back.

  15. 15.

    mrmoshpotato

    Pelosi: I was speaker and minority leader under President Bush, under President Obama, under what’s his name.

    And under Putin’s puppet.

  16. 16.

    Mimi haha

    7AM and 6°F in Chicago. I love radiator heat.

    A sibling I don’t even talk to sent me an Amazon gift card. I got them nothing and am not planning to, or calling them to thank them. That might be donated someplace, I haven’t decided.

    The radio informs me if I’m planning on tailgating at the Bears game today open fire is not allowed in the parking lot. I’m guessing that’s a given in Soldier Field.

  18. 18.

    David ⛄ 🎅The Establishment🎄 🦌 🕎 Koch

    HBO has a new documentary “Pelosi in the House” (preview)

    It’s phenomenal. A more accurate title would have been “Giant”

  19. 19.

    Geminid

    @emmyelle: Well, Speaker Pelosi (and she is still Speaker for a few more days) will not be leaving Congress. I think she will let the new leadership of her caucus make its own way, but this will free her up to advocate for initiatives and call attention to issues that she particularly cares about.

    And maybe work on her memoirs, which will as the youngs say, be lit.

  23. 23.

    mali muso

    @Geminid: 5 and sunny here. Left a faucet dripping last night just in case, and thankfully the pipes are fine. A good day to heat up the oven and bake more bread, methinks!

  24. 24.

    raven

    @Mimi haha: Damn, we had a Weber fired up for Walter’s last game there! They shoveled off the seats but not the rest where you put your feet. And da Berz lost to the Seahawks!

  25. 25.

    lowtechcyclist

    11° F. and sunny here in northern Calvert County, MD.  Was probably in single digits just before sunrise.  And the wind chill is -2°.

  26. 26.

    Layer8Problem

    Weather at the closest weather station at Teterboro sez 6°F, -14°C for the metrically inclined, with 14 MPH wind gusting to 22 so it feels like -10°F.  I’m not inclined to go out.

  27. 27.

    Geminid

    @mali muso: I’ll be frying up some potatoes and onions in a bit. My cottage is small and very snug. I don’t really have heat besides one electric radiator-style heater, but just cooking heats the house well. And I’ve soaked some beans so I’ve got them to cook later.

  28. 28.

    Immanentize

    As we dip into the Christmasy weekend, I thought I would emerge from the binary shadows to wish you all a warm holiday. Or not — depending on your personal lifestyle.

    For me, things are good right now — the Immp is home, we took a couple days to go to Central NY and visit the beavers at the new  place (the beavers were sleeping), and eat a bunch of good Italian food. How is it that there are so many really excellent Italian Chefs in upstate NY?

    Like everywhere else it seems, it is cold here. Gonna put a blazer in the fireplace and make my Mexican recipe fave: Chili con Carne, EstiloTejas. Merry happy to all of you, all Jackals, and those sweet polar bears.*

    *Fun fact learned in Miami of all places, the skin of polar bears is black, their hairs are hollow/transparent, not white. Nature, what a trip!

  31. 31.

    NotMax

    Spooky.

    Took the last three ice cubes from the tray, put them in a glass, refilled tray and returned it to freezer. When I turned around again there was only one cube in the glass.

    No idea what happened to the other two. Looked everywhere plausible. Just … vanished.

  35. 35.

    JMG

    Temperature yesterday am: 55. Today: 11. A tiny bit of snow fell last night as the storm pulled out. I should go brush it off the cars, but I don’t have the caffeine nor the willpower quite yet. Otherwise, all is well. Daughter is here for Christmas. Son and his wife are on Maui, where wife’s family lives and where her sister got married yesterday.

  37. 37.

    PAM Dirac

    @lowtechcyclist: Got down to 3.5F in Frederick. All the way up to 6.1 now. Went below freezing at 9:30am yesterday and isn’t predicted to get back above freezing until ~11am Tues. At least the grape vines should be OK. Usually no damage until about -5.

  40. 40.

    Nelle

    @OzarkHillbilly: Thank you for this!  Tge photos are rich and haunting.  I find myself thinkjng of the earth after the extinction of humans.  We’ll be leaving quite a debris field.

    In the Alaskan village (off the northeast coast of Alaska) that I spent summers in for eight years, after the thaw in June,  polar bears would come in to nose around the bowhead whale carcass from the previous autumn’s whale hunt, often close to midnight when the sun was low  above the northern horizon.  I tell my daughter that she was only four months old when she saw her first wild polar bear,  but it was wasted on her.   We were in a truck so she wasn’t in danger.

  44. 44.

    Sure Lurkalot

    18 in Denver now, warmer than all day yesterday. Going up to the mid 40s, suitable for actually opening the door and stepping outside. Yea!

  45. 45.

    Spanky

    The 10-day forecast says next Saturday will be showery with an overnight low of 52. Daily and nightly temps easing upward all week long until then.

    We’ve had years with killer Decembers followed by really mild Januarys and Februarys. Can’t we have something in between where I can see some snow without having to scrape the frost off the insides of the windows?

  47. 47.

    Lacuna Synecdoche

    The benefits of big-city Democratic infrastructure: It’s fucking 8° F outside, but it’s 77° here in my cozy, comfortable, messy, book-ridden NYC studio apt. hovel, where the heat is covered by my stabilized rent — which, living on disability in my late 50’s, is the only way I’d be able to afford it here.

    There are benefits sometimes to living in a city largely governed by commie libtard woke social democrats.​
    ​
    ​

  49. 49.

    NotMax

    Thing I learned this week.

    Actress Zasu Pitts (no mean hand in the kitchen, apparently) published a book of her candy recipes. The one included at the link really couldn’t be much simpler.

  51. 51.

    zhena gogolia

    Was interested to read (on p. A18) the NYT’s version of the story about Cassidy Hutchinson and her lawyer. While the BIG aspect of the story on the internet was how her TFG-siding attorney told her that Maggie Haberman was considered by the Trump camp to be on their side, somehow that tidbit did not appear anywhere in the NYT version of the story. Maggie Haberman was not mentioned. I know I should know better, but I was kind of shocked.

  52. 52.

    Ohio Mom

    @NotMax: Simpler? Something tells me you have a much easier time getting your hands on “three large fresh coconuts” than we Ohioans. I can’t remember the last time I saw a fresh coconut for sale.

    (The bagged, dried-out shredded stuff, sure, I can buy that).

  58. 58.

    SFAW

    I saw some news-feed headline where they quoted Andrew KEVIN McQarthy calling the Omnibus bill the most “shameful” thing EVAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! in DC, because apparently there’s something therein renaming some building for Speaker Pelosi.
    When The Only Speaker Who Matters heard about that, she said something like “has he forgotten January 6th?”
    Fuck Andrew McQarthy, and the rest of his minions-to-be. [Just kidding; they won’t be HIS minions.]

    edited

  61. 61.

    Geminid

    @SFAW: I like the $65 million to restore salmon habitat out West. As Nancy Peltola would say, “Fish, Family, Freedom!”

  63. 63.

    Steeplejack

    It was 8° in Threadkill Lane when I got up an hour and a half ago, now 10°. Faucets still drizzling. Yay. I do not want to be looking for a plumber at Christmas.

    High of 23° today. 🐻‍❄

  64. 64.

    WereBear

    We are +6 F. Sun visible behind the clouds. When sunset is 4:31 pm, like last night, these little things mean a lot :)

    I am set to pick up our holiday dinners from the local deli, five minutes away. Make their own pies. Mr WayofCats loves their stuffing.

    It’s always my favorite option when we have family for the holidays. When it’s just the two of us, we like to get dressed up and pick a holiday brunch or early dinner at a hotel.

    Not this year.

  66. 66.

    Suzanne

    I am going to brave the cold, wind, and ice to go to hot yoga and the store. Then I am going to make a ricotta cheesecake. Yum!

    Maybe I’ll make a NY crumb cake, too. I’ve been enjoying baking a bunch of cakes this holiday season. But as I am not a big chocolate person, I have to say that I am on #teampumpkinspice.

  67. 67.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Sure Lurkalot:

    Now we’re back to typical Denver weather where it gets warm the next day and melts everything.  Okay, not 60 but I’ll take it.

    Might hafta do a rare run in daylight for my usual two laps around City Park (6 miles total).

  68. 68.

    Steeplejack

    @NotMax:

    It’s all relative. My family lived in North Dakota when I was in college. Going home at Christmas (from Missouri) was a trip (in every sense).

  74. 74.

    Suzanne

    @WereBear: Agreed on the pumpkin cheesecake. I also have a recipe for a lemon cheesecake that I want to try.

    The ricotta cheesecake’s crust is made with amaretti cookies. So I decided that it pairs well with amaretto sours. So I have some lemons and limes to squeeze today, too!

  75. 75.

    Anyway

    Stayed home in the crummy weather yesterday and baked a ton of cookies. Now to pack and deliver to my peeps.

  77. 77.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @WereBear: ​
     

    Transplants (which is practically everybody now) who first get here bitch constantly about “why aren’t the streets plowed?” not realizing that the vast majority of time, wait a day and the streets are cleared.

    It’s one thing the City can avoid doing so that they can pretend to be doing something else.

  79. 79.

    raven

    It’s still 12 here and I just got through searching for an old pup that wandered out my neighbor’s dog door sometime during the night. She is a really old pitty mix named “Cookie” and I was pretty pessimistic about her. I came home to warm up for a minute and they posted on FB that they found her in the kudzu field behind out house!!!! Yay for Cookie!

  80. 80.

    raven

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: Is it the park with the cobblestones? Years ago I ran in that park with a golden that belonged to a friend. The pup never flinched but, when we got back, we discovered that all four of his pads we rubbed raw. It was awful.

  81. 81.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: “why aren’t the streets plowed?”

    In STL city the answer is, “Because they don’t.” Except for snow routes, those they plow. And if you make the mistake of parking on one before they have cleared it, be prepared for a very expensive visit to the city impound lot.

  82. 82.

    geg6

    @Glory b:

    Out here in Beaver County, it’s warmed all the way up to 3 degrees with -14 windchill. We had a short window of sun, so not sure how long the warm weather will last now that the clouds have moved in again.//

  86. 86.

    Suzanne

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: Dude. The whiners in my neighborhood are the long-timers. I swear to FSM, three flakes in, and they’re on my neighborhood Facebook group sharing the contact information for our councilman.

    I have to remind myself that people here have culturally grown up with an expectation of service from government, and that is not a thing I grew up with.

  89. 89.

    geg6

    @Suzanne:

    I beg to differ on the Primanti’s.  The original store is the best though.

    Oakmont Bakery is my favorite, with Kretchmar’s here in the county seat (Beaver) a very close second.

  92. 92.

    indycat32

    It’s a balmy 3 degrees here with sunshine.  I gave kittens some wet food this morning but it froze before they finished it.  Trying multiple things to provide water, but without much success.

  93. 93.

    Kathleen

    @NotMax: I recall a similar period in the 60’s. I finally made it to Tampa where it is in the balmy 30’s (compared to the various minuses in Cincinnati).

    I am missing my granddog Scruffy, who had to be put to sleep a few weeks ago.

    Happy Holiday (or Whatever Kind Of Holiday You Feel Like Having) to all!

  94. 94.

    geg6

    @Suzanne:

    Nobody bitches about road maintenance regardless of the season or weather conditions like Yinzers.  It should be a competitive sport.

  96. 96.

    Suzanne

    @WereBear: Yeah, I think so. For much of the country, government doesn’t really visibly work well, it isn’t responsive to local challenges, and so there’s this vicious cycle of expectations. Of course, it could work better if it was adequately funded. So it feels — to many people, I’m sure — that they put tax dollars in, and don’t get much out. It would be an improvement, from that standpoint to put in nothing and get nothing.

  97. 97.

    MagdaInBlack

    Here in the sunny northwestern Chicago suburbs it was 9 below when I got to work yesterday, heat not working in the shop, paint booth would not ignite and all the paint in paint room was jello as the room was 40 degrees. Preventative maintenance, what does it mean? (corp management)

    On the upside, after work my Hyundai started, my techs b.f. Dodge Ram, would not.

  98. 98.

    Suzanne

    @geg6: It’s unreal. In Arizona, the roads are the one thing that is absolutely perfect. Every road is huge and wide and perfectly smooth, and most are completely flat and straight. People live there in part because they want to drive huge vehicles and drive fast, and there is nothing that most people want more there than great roads.

    I think the roads in PA are surprisingly good, considering that the conditions are difficult. More hills, softer soils, more freeze-thaw cycles.

  99. 99.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I remember in ’82 after the big thunder snow (18-22 inches) brought the entire metro area to a screeching halt. After a few days most of the suburbs had returned to a semblance of normalcy. City Mayor Vince Schoemel promised to have every street in the city plowed and about 2 weeks later he got on TV and declared, “Mission accomplished.” My roommate and I looked out our window at our south side street and….
    Nope. Still a foot and a half of snow packed down to about 8″ in the center of the street.​

  101. 101.

    Spanky

    @Suzanne: The bakeries were one of the things I missed most when I moved to the Maryland suburbs of DC 425 (shit!) years ago. Nothing has really improved, bakery-wise, especially since we moved farther out.

  102. 102.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Sure Lurkalot:

    Main drags, especially highways, are always well cleared, it always throws me when I come out of a snow-packed neighborhood like mine and see that it’s not dire.

    City Park doesn’t have cobblestones.  Now, the “sidewalk” along 17th is broken up flagstone so you can’t run on it in the dark as you’ll trip and maim yourself.

  103. 103.

    Spanky

    @NotMax: That was my one winter in Iowa City. There’s nothing stopping the wind between St Paul and IC. There was a stretch of more than a week where my radiator was nothing but slush and it wouldn’t turn over. I walked into town to get to classes.

    I left Iowa after that one year. Never ever looked back.

  107. 107.

    eclare

    Ugh.  TVA, from which our local utility in Memphis buys its power, has instituted rolling blackouts.  TVA is a federal agency, it’s not some wild west capitalist mashup like in Texas, how did this happen?

  109. 109.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Suzanne: I live in the blue city of Denver and its government doesn’t work well (even my city councilperson would agree). Too many fiefdoms and now short staffed as well. Both my spouse and I were in the building business (architecture, development) and it was often difficult to keep projects on track.

  110. 110.

    Spanky

    Well, Mrs. Spanky feels like crap, and reluctantly cancelled dinner at our friends. I think we did them a favor, because their power has been going off and on all morning. No electric stove for them!

    Likely a cold, but there’s a covid test in her near future.

  113. 113.

    MattF

    @NotMax: I think I was in Minneapolis for that winter. It was cold. I couldn’t keep my keys in my pants pocket because the keys would scrape off the skin on my leg.

  115. 115.

    Geminid

     

     

    @eclare: Sounds like there is an exceptional load because of this weather event. It could be a real hardship on some people.

    Hopefully the TVA’s infrastucture is adequately protected from freezing and this is just a capacity problem. Texans lost power for so many days because weather protection that is standard up north was neglected and that affected different types of electrical generation in various ways. I think in at least one case a natural gas pipe froze and the power plant it supplied had to shut down. That rarely happens up north.

  116. 116.

    Another Scott

    @Geminid: Agreed that it’s probably related to heavy power draw because of the low temperatures.  Much of the East is affected.

    PowerOutage.US has a map and lots of detailed numbers available.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  117. 117.

    Heidi Mom

    @geg6: Kretchmar’s still exists??!!!!!  I’m so happy to hear that.  We left Beaver in 1995, I went back for a funeral in 2004 and was relieved to see it then, but just thought the odds were against its continued existence.  I should have trusted in its excellence.

  119. 119.

    frosty

    @Steeplejack: ​
     Balmy! Six degrees here in South PA when I woke up at 8:30 this morning. Up to nine now, with a forecast high of 16. Take the sweater off!

    I put the plastic sheet “insulation” on one window yesterday and killed the cold drafts. I’ll do two or three more today.

  120. 120.

    Soprano2

    It’s 6 degrees here and sunny; I can hear the melting snow dripping on top of the air conditioner. We have to go on our weekly Walmart/Aldi run because we’re out of dry cat food (shh he’s sleeping on my lap, don’t tell him!) and we need stuff so hubby can bake pies for tomorrow. Supposed to be 50º by Tuesday, hurry up Tuesday!

    They never plow the side streets here because a) it would cost too much and b) it usually melts before they could get to it. People have no idea how many miles of paved streets are in a city, or what it would cost to plow them all.

  122. 122.

    Geminid

    @Another Scott: There are probably a lot of people in that region who are running their electric cook stoves for heat. Heat pumps are a common source for heating in the mid-south and even though they have been improved, heat pumps can really struggle once temperatures get below 20°.

  123. 123.

    BC in Illinois

    Daughter #1 and her family are on the road to visit Daughter #4 and her family.

    St Louis to the Outer Banks of N Carolina.

    They made it through the elements so far, had breakfast near Knoxville and are on their way to Asheville. Six or so hours left to go.

    A couple of hours ago she sent this:

    You know what’s appropriate listening while driving through snow-dusted NC mountains?

    Lord of the Rings, battle of Helm’s Deep.

  126. 126.

    MattF

    @Geminid:

    …even though they have been improved, heat pumps can really struggle once temperatures get below 20°

    Yeah. My very advanced heat pump is sometimes going to ‘electrical’ heating, which, an expert has remarked, is more efficient than burning your house down.

  128. 128.

    Steeplejack

    Last night Alex Wagner and Stephanie Ruhle stayed up late on MSNBC to process the latest tranche of January 6 committee interview transcripts that were released. (Links on that page go to PDF files.) They emphasized how many “witnesses,” notably including Mike Pompeo and Ivanka Trump, repeatedly replied, “I don’t recall,” when asked about the events of January 6 and their actions.

    In light of the news about Cassidy Hutchinson being coached/​badgered by her Trump lawyer about using “I don’t recall” as a free pass, I would love to see some investigative entity—hopefully the DOJ—delve a little deeper and press these weasels on their faulty memories. It strikes me that “I don’t recall” is an all too convenient, face-saving alternative to pleading the Fifth Amendment. And you can’t compel someone’s testimony if they can’t remember anything, amirite? Grr.

  131. 131.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Miss Bianca: As someone wrote in a book about the Keplerian revolution, all you have to do is look up and track the positions of the stars over a few hours, and you’ll see that the Earth rotates (and that it’s round).

  132. 132.

    Geminid

    @BC in Illinois: Sounds like they took I-40 over the mountains. That was the last stretch of I-40 to be completed. I want to drive it sometime.

    Asheville looks like a nice place. I had a bus layover there one evening and walked around. There were a lot of houses with really nice woodwork and it seemed like every other one had wind chimes. The city is in the Southern Highlands and it’s full of azaleas and rhododendrons.

    Mt. Pisgah campground is about 30 miles southwest of Asheville, on the Blue Ridge Parkway. That’s one of the nicest places I’ve ever camped.

  133. 133.

    Steeplejack

    @frosty:

    Stay warm! (Despite your nym, I guess.)

    Huh. FYWP or somebody changed my polar bear emoji to a brown bear plus a snowflake. WTF. Hmm, looks like Windows doesn’t have a polar bear emoji. (Earlier comment sent from my phone.)

  134. 134.

    Another Scott

    @Chetan Murthy: Hah!  That’s what the RoundEarthers want you to think.

    SpaceCentre.NZ:

    At a glance the flat-earth model looks workable, especially in the Northern Hemisphere. However, there are problems.

    For starters, the stars rotate anti-clockwise when you are north of the equator, but rotate clockwise when you are south of the equator. Flat-earthers have proposed various explanations such as the example below. This image is from a video by YouTuber Everything Flat Earth, that illustrates how the visibility and rotation of the stars could be explained on a flat Earth.

    [Flat Earth Star Map]

    This is an example of how the sky could work, but is it how the sky does work? Well, no. In this video, the stars are moving in a way that doesn’t match what we see. For example, people in high northern latitudes would see stars rotating in different directions. If you know the night sky well, you’ll see other things in this model that don’t match observation.

    The flat-earth model works best at the North Pole, but as you get farther south, the problems increase. Perhaps the most glaring issue is the location of Southern Hemisphere stars like Sigma Octantis that always appear directly south. In the flat-earth model, south isn’t a single direction—it’s a 360° circle pointing away from the North Pole. In this scenario there is no way to explain how Sigma Octantis is always due south from any location in the Southern Hemisphere.

    This brings us to the crux of the matter: The fact that there is no flat-earth star map.

    It’s being suppressed by the gigantic RoundEarthers conspiracy.

    ;-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  141. 141.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Geminid:

    I’ll be frying up some potatoes and onions in a bit. And I’ve soaked some beans so I’ve got them to cook later.

    Are you sure you’re not in my apartment?

  143. 143.

    Kelly

    45f here in the western Cascade foothills. We only caught the edge of the arctic blast. Woke up to a thin coat of ice yesterday that was gone by afternoon. The Columbia River Gorge is the main conduit for frigid air draining from eastern PNW plateaus. The land east of the Cascades is several thousand feet higher than the western valleys. The Portland metro is at the outlet to the Columbia River Gorge. First to freeze, last to thaw. Some seeps thru the passes. Eugene is around a hundred miles south of the Columbia but got hammered anyway. Local topography swirls the cold air leaving warmer spots like us. The Coast Range sends warm wet air from the Pacific up over the cold pools in the western valleys which sets up the super cooling of the rain which freezes on contact.

  144. 144.

    Burnspbesq

    @Immanentize:

    How is it that there are so many really excellent Italian Chefs in upstate NY?

    Once upon a time, there were lots of decent-paying manufacturing jobs in all those towns up the Hudson River valley and along the Erie Canal, that drew a lot of immigrants who entered through Ellis Island. Where there were large Italian immigrant communities, the service infrastructure—Catholic churches and schools, restaurants, groceries, etc.—naturally followed.

  147. 147.

    Steeplejack

    @Steeplejack:

    Good thread on Mike Pompeo’s amnesia.

    J6 comm. staffer: Once you learned of the unrest, what did you do?

    Pompeo: I don’t recall. I watched it for a while. I was disturbed that there was rioting at the Capitol, a place that I had worked for 6 yrs. I don’t recall. I am confident that I went on with the rest of my day. 👀
    pic.twitter.com/1OMgcfjE2e

    — Laura Rozen (@lrozen) December 24, 2022

  150. 150.

    Brachiator

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Amazing photos of the bears. I liked this little detail.

    It was too dangerous to land on the island that day, so I took pictures from a drone equipped with special low-noise propellers. I also used certain tricks of the trade that allowed me to shoot the animals without disturbing them. After a while, the bears practically ignored the unusual buzzing.

  154. 154.

    CaseyL

    @🐾BillinGlendaleCA: ​

    I saw that, and instantly imagined going outside and seeing it for reals, and how awe-inspiring/terrifying it would be.

    @Steeplejack: ​A stargate! Exactly!

    Here in Seattle, the thaw is in full swing. Temp in the 40s, snow and ice melting: it is the day of the Big Drip. I shoveled off my deck a bit, getting pelted by huge raindrops. But it’s all beautiful to me, because the last few days of Deep Freeze exceeded even my cold tolerance. (I will now re-think ever moving to Vermont or Maine!)

  156. 156.

    James E Powell

    @kalakal:

    Nice to see Keith Emerson enjoying himself. I wore out my copy of Pictures at an Exhibition

    I was never really into prog rock, but I saw EL&P twice & both times they just blew me away.

  157. 157.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    One week post-quad/knee surgery, sick of this bed, sick of this room. I’m getting bitchy at wife, wife definitely over dealing with me. I think the water line to dishwasher froze (low was about -6F yesterday, not much better today). I’m along that dread I71 corridor between Louisville and Cincy, we’re telling Cincy daughter to stay home and encouraging the others not to come.

    I’m arguing on FB with truckers, the trucker-adjacent and MAGAts on the I71 incident group. I had the audacity to think that trucking firms and shippers failed drivers, their own companies and the public by insisting on deliveries through this event, and that there need to be hearings and regs springing from this. Of course, what I’m suggesting is woke communism. At the same time, I also was reserved in sympathy for motorists who chose to put themselves in harm’s way by traveling despite the ample warnings (also known as “you ain’t the boss of me and muh cherished freedums”). I’m supposed to offer thotsnprayrs and hope! And it’s the governor’s fault!

    I shouldn’t post when I’m cranky.

  158. 158.

    Ohio Mom

    @Geminid: My niece lived in Asheville for a while and we visited once. Lots of hipsters and farm-to-table restaurants. Pretty scenery, some interesting old buildings to look at.

    We skipped the Biltmore Estate because I am not interested in spending that much money to see how people that rich lived (tickets start around $70).

    Also not interested in Asheville’s other draw, outdoor activities like hiking and camping. But if that’s your thing, Asheville is probably worth a visit.

  159. 159.

    Burnspbesq

    We’re at 32 now in suburban Austin, going up a bit more before falling back into the 20s overnight. 40s forecast for tomorrow, and 50s on Monday.

  163. 163.

    StringOnAStick

    @Kelly: Greetings from the Great Meltout in Bend.  We got our single digits over with early, and by yesterday afternoon it was in the 40’s and the trees were raining on us. The last bit of snow that fell overnight had a slight rain crust from the warm air showing up at around 3am.  I took the chance to gently explain to the new young couple on the corner (from the LA area) that city code requires them to shovel their sidewalks, and since the cluster of mailboxes is on their side yard area, it’s really important as far as their home insurance goes.  He didn’t realize this and was thankful, then asked if all this snow was normal; I guess they didn’t realize they were moving to an area that has an actual winter, diminished though it may be.  I told him how it had been an inversion and warmer in the mountains, and he asked what an inversion was so I explained cold air and how it drains north along the Deschutes river to the Columbia gorge; he found that rather amazing.  It made me realize how growing up in a very mild climate like Southern CA means there’s a lot of stuff about weather that you just don’t know.

    There’s also stuff like having not pulled all the Ponderosa needles off their roof, so their front steps and walkway are a sheet of ice.  I offered a ladder and we’ll help him out tomorrow since the big warm up means we can actually do that.  They’re just a young couple who moved to a much rougher climate than they’ve ever experienced and are grateful for the help.

    Now I need to go refill the bird feeders.  A rather rare (for here) red breasted sap sucker dropped by yesterday!

  165. 165.

    StringOnAStick

    @Brachiator: I wish all drones had “special low noise propellers”; the standard ones sound like a snowmobile rapidly approaching and are annoying when out hiking.

  166. 166.

    scav

    @CaseyL: Ah, we had about the perfect snow experience.  It was the light floofy stuff that was easy to get a full scoop-full and fling it about when shoveling — granted, with the downside that the wind would just pick it up and redeposit it behind you.  Got enough of the really cold crunch of it underfoot but not the clear tone it reaches at 10°.  Pretty, Pretty, Pretty and then, boom, gone overnight, no weeks of slushy grimed puddles and black-capped alps in every parking lot.

  167. 167.

    Another Scott

    @Ohio Mom: We stayed in a nice B&B and did the giant house thing.  It was interesting and worth doing once.

    The highlight for me was having what was probably the best burger I’ve ever had in my entire life in a restaurant that was a converted gas station.  It was long enough ago in the Before Times that I don’t recall the name or location.

    It’s a pleasant town, but one could see even then that it was growing a lot and traffic and gentrification and sprawl was going to take away a lot of its charm in the not too distant future.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  168. 168.

    Geminid

    There sure was a lot of news last week! I finally circled back to the Trump tax return story through a Politico article from Thursday titled “Five red flags in Trump’s taxes.”

    I learned that there is a Joint Commitee on Taxation:

         Though not well known outside tax circles the Joint Commitee on Taxation is Congress’ brain on tax issues, and the House Ways and Means Commitee turned to the nonpartisan agency for help deciphering Trump’s exceedingly complicated filings.

    Outside experts reviewing the Joint Commitee’s report identified five salient issues in the returns (the “red flags”):

    1) Mammoth Business Losses. “It’s the elephant in the room” said Steve Rosenthal, a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center.

    2) Mingling Expenses?

    3) Loans to His Kids.

    4) Land Conservation. “Analysts question the $21 million deduction Trump took in 2015 for a conservation easement at his Seven Springs estate in Westchester County, New York.”

    5) Foreign Taxes. Large deductions for foreign taxes paid. But how ’bout some receipts?

    Link (I hope):

    https://www.politico.com/news/2022/12/22/red-flags-trump-taxes-00075198

  169. 169.

    J R in WV

    @Suzanne:

    It’s unreal. In Arizona, the roads are the one thing that is absolutely perfect.

    In the big cities, and more urban areas, quite true. But in Cochise county and other very rural counties, not so much. Subsidence cracking in places, dirt roads in other places, low tax base also too.

  171. 171.

    HumboldtBlue

    @NotMax:

    I am never not amazed at how the simplest of dishes, onions, potatoes, some salt and pepper can end up making one of the all-time most delicious dishes.

    This time last week, overnight temps were dropping into the high 20s. The past four days have been in the 60s, and we are currently enjoying classic Humboldt weather — the sun is shining bright, and it’s raining. I’ve had the kitchen window open all week. Weird weather.

  173. 173.

    Geminid

    @Ohio Mom: The North Carolina Arboretum is a nice spot to visit in Asheville. It’s on the Blue Ridge Parkway, at the western edge of town. The Parkway runs through two cities, Asheville and Roanoke, Virginia (although it really just skirts the eastern edge of Roanoke).

    Asheville is also a big center for outdoor recreation. There’s all kinds of biking, kayaking, and hiking (of the up and down type) nearby. The French Broad River runs through town and in the summertime it stays full of kayakers. There’s probably good fishing too.

  175. 175.

    Kelly

    @StringOnAStick: I upgraded my rain gutter cleaning this year with a new 6.5 hp Ridgid shop vac and a gutter cleaning kit from Home Depot. No more ladders or climbing on the roof. Anything too big to suck into the vacuum sticks to the end where I can easily swing it down and pull free. I think the high power vac is necessary for the thing to work.

  176. 176.

    The Moar You Know

    The legislative power trio that’s going to be written about for decades is going to be Pelosi/Schumer/Biden.   How they got so much done with what no sane person could term anything like a reliable majority is astounding.

    I read Caro’s “Master of the Senate” a few years back and you get a real insight into that process, and what it takes to be successful at it.  LBJ was extremely good at it, often with thin majorities, but sometimes even from the minority position he got wins.  Rayburn always delivered, but he always had a majority.  That will be Jeffries’ challenge, as he doesn’t.  He’s damage control.  It isn’t easy and I’m not going blame him for any losses because those are baked in to his position.

  177. 177.

    Poe Larity

    Take delivery of a new Model 3 or Model Y between December 21 and 31, 2022 for a $7,500 credit and 10,000 miles of free Supercharging.

    When will liberals tire of getting owned so hard?

  178. 178.

    BC in Illinois

    While people are still talking about visits to North Carolina, my daughter, SIL, and four kids are still driving across the state. Four or five hours remain, from High Point to Nags Head.

    Long car rides means audiobooks for the whole family, some geared for the kids, some have names like “decluttering at the speed of life.” Two of the four children have devices with their own personal audiobooks because life is not fair.

    6 year old – I don’t want to listen to Mom’s torture book.
    Mom – I think she’s funny!
    8 year old – she’s not funny, she’s a torture person.
    8 – What’s in the activity bag you packed.
    6 – Boring stuff and nothing that will block the torture sounds.

    8 – You can tell yourself your own story.
    6 – If I tell myself a story, I’ll already know what happens because it’s my story.
    8 – how do you think stories are written, someone has to come up with them.
    6- but I don’t want to write a story!
    8 – you could tell a story about the electricity going out in a hotel [true story from earlier in the day] and then the zombie apocalypse coming [true things said when electricity went out ] and a little boy.
    6 – the boy would get eaten by the zombie, the end.
    8 -maybe he finds a cure for zombies.
    6 – no!
    8 – … the cure is love!
    6 – Noooo!

  179. 179.

    Ruckus

    @Gin & Tonic:

    The world grows up slowly. But that growing up includes recognizing a person who not only does good but is great at doing so. And growing up is also recognizing extremely selfish people, like the one he fights against. Life is not a staged contest to see who can dress best but to recognize humans for actually being better, being far less selfish and a very valuable part of the bigger picture. We have the leaders of 2 countries, one in a shooting war and one in a war of overcoming stupid, both of whom are, from most vantages, not the people that would be chosen, but both of whom have shown that they are actual leaders of human beings by actually leading rather than pontificating BS. Slava Ukraine!, Go America!

  180. 180.

    Mimi haha

    I sincerely hope no one thought I was going to attend the Bears game today. I just thought it off the news person on the local NPR station had to explain open fire would not be allowed in the parking lot.

  181. 181.

    Geminid

    @The Moar You Know: Hopefully Senate Democrats can do the damage control Jeffries is unable to.

    But Jeffries will also be inflicting damage. The legislative battles are important, but there is also a political battle that will be fought, basically over: who is more capable of delivering for the American people in the next Congress?

    January, 2025 seems like a long way away, but the next Congress will be shaped by how the  public perceives this one. Hakeem Jeffries is a very good public communicator who seems especially good on the attack, and I think he will do damage to this reactionary Republican caucus.

  182. 182.

    Ruckus

    @Quiltingfool:

    Check your inbox, just sent the email.

    I am west coast time – and I am retired so I often sleep in, because I can. Block looks amazing! Thank you.

  185. 185.

    Ruckus

    @MomSense:

    Not to be too crude but I’d bet it is difficult to think reasonably when one’s head is firmly stuffed up where the sun don’t shine, which seems to be a place a lot of people seem to store their’s and then make obvious by wondering what is going on around them.

  186. 186.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Spanky: ​
     

    We’ve had years with killer Decembers followed by really mild Januarys and Februarys.

    And if you were here for the 2009-10 winter, we had 18 inches in December, followed by Snowmageddon in February.

  187. 187.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Spanky:

    Well, Mrs. Spanky feels like crap, and reluctantly cancelled dinner at our friends. I think we did them a favor, because their power has been going off and on all morning. No electric stove for them!

    Likely a cold, but there’s a covid test in her near future.

    Good luck – hope she doesn’t have Covid.  My wife and I both have it – I hardly notice that I’m supposedly sick, but she’s been sick as a dog for a week and a half now.

    If she’s got it, tell your wife to go for the Paxlovid. My wife passed that up because she was afraid the rebound effect would hit when we were in Florida for Christmas; instead, she’s been way too sick to travel, and we’re right here at home.

    Speaking of power loss, are you in the BGE part of the county? We lost power, along with thousands of others around here, one night a couple weeks ago.  Wondering if it got you too!

  188. 188.

    El Muneco

    @NotMax: Upon reflection this year, I unironically think that the Dropkick Murphys “The Season’s Upon Us” should be on the shortlist. About loving your family and the people you’re with even as you recognize they’re far from perfect. TVTropes would call it a “decon/recon” where it’s not a true deconstruction, it just uses the same techniques to reconstruct something that is in the tradition of standard Christmas fare, but not truly _of_ it.

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