Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

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

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

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

People are complicated. Love is not.

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

The words do not have to be perfect.

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

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

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

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

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

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

A consequence of cucumbers

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

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

This blog will pay for itself.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread: Too Good Not to Share

Open Thread: Too Good Not to Share

by | 124 Comments

This post is in: , , , ,

The Gospel according to Benw.

“And the Lord looked out among her people. And saw that gender was a spectrum, and it was good. And that some boys did like other boys and some girls did like other girls; and it was good; and that some did not like either at all, and it was good. And some boys did themselves dress as girl, and the opposite was also true, and it was good. And that some did not wish to remain themselves with the gender they were assigned at birth based on outward signifiers of their sex, and it was good. And the Lord raised herself a great land called NYC, in which she spoke, ‘cometh to this land and fuck around, and ye shall find out.’”

~Benw

Full marks for this, Benw!  Respect.

Totally unrelated, but it made me so happy that this one is too good to share, too!

Just as I was pressing publish on this post, one of our lurkers, Jobeth, sent me the link to this quiz (Politico, I know)

Who said it: Ron DeSantis or Donald Trump?

Or, as I like to think of them, Satan and the other Satan.

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

124Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    I’m not sure how anyone knows how grand jury testimony went.

    I like the Gospel according to Benw.

  2. 2.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: I stole your Gospel according to Benw title!

    To answer your question, I think they know the Trump guy’s testimony bombed because they didn’t call Michael Cohen as a rebuttal witness.

    Yesterday they arranged for Michael Cohen to be there today as a rebuttal witness; then they didn’t call him.  They felt they didn’t need him.  Cause and effect, I believe.

  3. 3.

    Eunicecycle

    MSNBC carried Costello’s comments after his testimony, and I had to change the channel. He seemed so smug, at least he thought it went well. I am glad to hear he might be wrong about that. I’m not a big Cohen fan but I do believe him about the Stormy payoff. Of course Trump was behind it.

  5. 5.

    feebog

    Heard that Cohen may be called back on Wednesday.  Costello didn’t offer much in his brief appearance before the press after this Grand Jury testimony.   Based on his comments, I think this was likely a nothingburger.

  6. 6.

    WaterGirl

    On the quiz, I got 10 right out of 15.

    I have never listened to DeSantis speak for longer than 10 seconds, so I just answered based on whether I thought something was way too out there, even for DeSantis.

    I was wrong about that 5 times out of 15.  They are equally awful, and I go back and forth about who is more dangerous to our country.  Kind of like deciding whether you’d prefer the world to end with a meteor or a nuclear bomb.

  9. 9.

    robmassing

    I went into the poll with the mistaken assumption that DeSantis, while as much a fascist as Trump, is more sophisticated in his speech.

  10. 10.

    different-church-lady

    I’m seeing this @7Veritas4 Twitter person quoted far to often for me to feel smug about anything.

  14. 14.

    Lacuna Synecdoche

    WaterGirl @ Top:

    Or, as I like to think of them, Satan and the other Satan.

    I always think of them as Satan and DeSatan.

  15. 15.

    Shalimar

    @robmassing: There are comparisons showing DeSantis has intentionally altered his mannerisms over the last couple years to copy Trump as much as possible.  It wouldn’t surprise me to find he has done the same thing with his very limited public speeches.

  17. 17.

    Matt McIrvin

    @WaterGirl: To first order I’d say DeSantis is more dangerous because he polls better against Biden. But that may be because he’s an unknown quantity to most people and they’re thinking of him as “generic Republican”.

  19. 19.

    WaterGirl

    @prostratedragon: Wow. It’s one thing for Michael Cohen to release him from attorney client privilege, but this guy is going after Michael Cohen as if Cohen cheated on the guy with his wife.

    I wouldn’t trust this guy to walk my dog. I hope that guy and his law firm never get another client, ever.

  21. 21.

    WaterGirl

    @prostratedragon: He seems to have misrepresented the situation, too, indicating that he’s not there to help Trump.  Trump asked for this fellow to be heard by the grand jury, which you would never know from what this guy said to the press.

  22. 22.

    leeleeFL

    Since this is an open thread, can I ask what the hive-mind thinks of Windows 11?  Should I move up, or stick with 10?  I hate changes if not necessary.  Thanks in advance.

  24. 24.

    Shalimar

    @WaterGirl: Cohen says he doesn’t remember ever signing anything waiving attorney-client privilege but also says Costello was never his attorney.  So if Costello can’t produce this waiver, it appears he is lying on both those statements

    edit: And the waiver would have to be in writing.  A lawyer wouldn’t get a phone call claiming privilege has been waived and accept it like Costello says he did.  Always get documentation for the file.

  32. 32.

    Shalimar

    @WaterGirl: I had forgotten that Lanny Davis is Cohen’s lawyer.  Is there some secret asshole club with a rule that all these horrible people are only allowed to hire other members?

  35. 35.

    WaterGirl

    @Ken B: I prefer Satan and high-pitched Satan.

    I heard a few words from DeSantis today and it’s so bad that I turned it right off.  No man with a voice that whiny will ever be elected president.

    (Please let that be so.)

  37. 37.

    Brachiator

    I have not been around the Inter Tubes today, so am catching up with all the news. I see that Rupert Murdoch is feeling frisky.

    Less than a year after divorcing Jerry Hall, the 92-year-old Fox mogul is hearing wedding bells again. He’s engaged to Ann Lesley Smith, a 66-year-old San Francisco police chaplain.

  40. 40.

    Ken B

    @WaterGirl: Both High-Pitch and Sassy Boots work for me.

    I just bought a 42 oz bottle of (unpopped) popcorn, so I’m set for the week, at least

    Lincoln apparently had a high pitched voice, I remember reading a historian opining that he could never be elected nowadays, between his voice and his appearance.

  42. 42.

    West of the Rockies

    @Shalimar:

    Copying Trump won’t work unless he returns fire directly at Trump using Trumpian insults.  Otherwise,  I believe that eventually the rubes will regard DePinhead as weak and low-energy.  That worked so well for Jeb!

  44. 44.

    trollhattan

    @leeleeFL: ​I needed a new PC and opted for Win 11, figuring support will continue longer than for 10.

    But I’m keeping my Win 10 laptop on that OS. Oh, just remembered MS said my ICU is too old for Win 11, so I’m stuck with it regardless.

    Other than “we moved stuff around” I see no functional advantage to Win 11. Just hope software and hardware makers continue to ensure their products work on both.

  46. 46.

    Betty Cracker

    @WaterGirl: I like high-pitched Satan! (The characterization, not the odious, adenoidal-voiced, boring, baggy-suit-wearing meat sack.)

    Since it’s the first day of spring by some reckonings, a thought: Floridians greet spring in a way that is different from most of America. Where y’all see a respite from weather-related hardships and associated annoyances, we see the looming season of suck, i.e., hot, suffocating, hurricane-heavy summer.

    But the hideous Trump era introduced a nuance to this longstanding pattern: now Floridians who aren’t assholes can look forward to the departure of Trump and his grotesque entourage from the state in the same way Capistrano anticipates the return of the swallows.

    He’ll be heading your way soon, New Jersey! Sucks to be you! 😂

  49. 49.

    trollhattan

    @WaterGirl: I see perpetual license Office circling the drain before our eyes. They want that sweet Adobe subscription cash, by gawd.

  50. 50.

    Origuy

    I’m getting the BSOD every few days on my Windows 10 laptop, so I’m thinking about installing WIndows 11. I don’t know if it will make any improvement, though, or if I’ll just be trading one set of problems for another. I’m usually a fairly aggressive updater, however.

  52. 52.

    WaterGirl

    @Betty Cracker: Glad you will soon be rid of regular Satan.  You’ve had him long enough.

    I think high-pitched works especially well because you don’t need to be a political, inside baseball person or know about the white boots thing, or anything else, in order to understand it.

    You just have to have heard his voice once – about 5 words is all it takes!

  55. 55.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Sure Lurkalot: trump called for the NYPD to stand back from his supporters’ protest, and today the NYPD brass told him to fuck off

    Nicole Sganga @NicoleSganga 1h
    All NYPD officers — including plainclothes detectives — have been ordered to wear their full uniform tomorrow beginning at 7am ahead of a possible indictment of former President Donald Trump, a police source tells
    @CBSNews
    @PatMilton14

  57. 57.

    Sure Lurkalot

    For some reason, I turned on the oh so far left MSNBC only to see Michael Steele and Mona Charen. FFS, it’s unwatchable. Got good company on this opinion (Driftglass and Blue Gal).

  58. 58.

    p.a.

    tRump is a moron, but it’s wrong to assume the same because of any other Rethug pols’ speech patterns; remember the level of their target audience, and the “newspeak-ish” aspect of just using signifiers without needing a recognizable grammatical structure.  gibberish “9/11!”, gibberish “lieberal”,  gibberish “woke” etc.

  60. 60.

    Shalimar

    @Sure Lurkalot: Michael Steele is on these shows to trash Republicans he once worked with and knows personally.  His actual politics rarely get into it.  I have no clue about Charen, who I lost track of after her horrible column 30 years ago.  Apparently she is mainly noteworthy now for thinking adultery with porn stars is a bad thing.

  63. 63.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: trump: “I will pay the legal fees for anyone who protests for me in New York when I am arrested”

    The kicker, and I am not making this up:
    “I mean it this time“

    that little glimmer of self-awareness, a confession, but the rubes and the marks still think he gives a fuck

    also, he goes straight for the Q crowd, “where we go 1 we go all”

    ETA: I fell for a joke

  65. 65.

    Betty

    @WaterGirl: Cohen came on later and disputed everything Costello said. Claims there was no attorney-client relationship and he has no recollection of ever waiving anything.

  70. 70.

    Another Scott

    @Origuy: I would suspect hardware, not software.

    Is it a Dell?

    Is it outside its warranty?

    (Ask me why I’m asking these questions…)

    Good luck!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  73. 73.

    Jeffro

    I know the MAGAts just don’t (and won’t, ever) get it, but…there are a LOT of long, well-supported, meticulously documented knives out for ol’ trumpov.

    Their sad little white nationalist fantasy land restoration bubble is about to pop Pop POP and it’s just going to be glorious.

    Meanwhile, my personal niche is to make all the trump enablers (both those in my personal orbit and anyone who happens to stray across my Twitter feed) flinch for at least a second at all the damage they’ve caused.  Bunch of fucking head-in-the-sand ostriches (with apologies to ostriches!)

  77. 77.

    Geminid

    It sounds like Costello is a red herring, dropped into the proceedings at the last minute for purposes of spin. The Trump camp will claim that Costello blew Cohen’s testimony to pieces, but the thuggish Bragg and his Trump-hating grand jury ignored his testimony. Of course that isn’t true, but Trump’s people will tell their credulous listeners that this is further proof that Trump is being railroaded

  78. 78.

    karen marie

    @prostratedragon:  For someone who’s not Individual-1’s attorney, Costello is awfully invested in proving that his former client is a liar.  I went and looked up what Cohen was convicted of in 2018 (he actually pled guilty) and it wasn’t “lying to Congress,” as Costello says in that video.

  79. 79.

    Lacuna Synecdoche

    @WaterGirl: ​

    It’s really hard to know which to hate more: Microsoft or Adobe.

    You can run Windows without Photoshop, but you can’t run Photoshop without Windows*.

    Therefore, you should hate Microsoft more.

    ———
    * Or something that emulates Windows libraries, like WINE. And even then … well, good luck.

  80. 80.

    Suzanne

    @WaterGirl:

    (Please let that be so.) 

    Yeah, I struggle with this, too. I think it’s really important to differentiate between what I want to be true and what I genuinely think to be true. Especially about matters of judgment, it can be difficult.

    As we saw with the Iraq War, in which a whole bunch of shitty people convinced themselves to invade the wrong country! At least I never fucked up that bad.

  81. 81.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Shalimar: They both were appalled that the silencing of a sex worker might be the 1st indictment. It might taint public opinion about more serious crimes wink wink.

    The fucker has been a crime scene since he was 10. At this point, I don’t care if he is indicted for cheating at golf. His supporters will be outraged at the drop of a MAGA hat.

  82. 82.

    artem1s

    @trollhattan: ​
     

    I see perpetual license Office circling the drain before our eyes.

    I thought Office 365 already was a yearly subscription. In any case Affinity has stepped up is a great replacement for Adobe creative suite. desktop, one time purchase. Very inexpensive compared to pre-subscription CS6 prices. I can’t wait for Affinity to put out a PDF editor that will replace Acrobat Pro. Once that happens I never have to use another Adobe product again.

  84. 84.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Matt McIrvin: There are some issues that GOP overreach really hasn’t gone over well with voters.  On every one of those issues DeSantis has taken the most extremely unpopular position possible.    His war on Wokeness, fucking with public schools, and criminalization of abortion are not going to play well to the Independent and Swing voters he would need to beat Biden.  And he has zero charisma and if he somehow beats Trump for the nomination I don’t think Trump is capable of doing anything but telling his MAGA base to not support DeSantis out of spite.  Maybe the potential of a pardon for Federal crimes would be enough to motivate him, but given that it’s Trump, I wouldn’t count on it.

  87. 87.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @BellyCat: SciShow has years worth of a great explainers on a wide variety of science topics, as well as related channels on psychology, animals, ecology, and more. It’s one of my favorite shows to have on in the background while reading BJ After Dark.

  90. 90.

    karen marie

    @Geminid:   Why would the prosecutor throw in a red herring intended to make their case look bad?  It’s a grand jury.  The target doesn’t get to put on witnesses.

  91. 91.

    JoyceH

    @Ken B:

    Lincoln apparently had a high pitched voice, I remember reading a historian opining that he could never be elected nowadays, between his voice and his appearance.

    Nah. Lincoln was a guy, and his voice can’t have been worse than Trump’s whiny sing-song.

    BTW, the other day we were introduced to yet another Trump aide, female type, and sure enough — young and pretty. It’s so irksome to me that if you’re a man, you can look like Steve Bannon and get a job in Trumpworld, but if you’re a woman, you’d better look like Hope Hicks.

  95. 95.

    Scout211

    @trollhattan: I used to buy a one-time MS Office purchase for my Mac. But this always became an issue:

    Office 2021 is a one-time purchase that comes with classic apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for PC or Mac, and does not include any of the services that come with a Microsoft 365 subscription. One-time purchases don’t have an upgrade option, which means if you plan to upgrade to the next major release, you’ll have to buy it at full price.

    Twice I had to repurchase it at full price when it would stop updating. The cost over time was really not a savings over the 365 subscription, especially now that Mr. Scout and I can both use the same 365 subscription over all of our computers and devices. The 1-person Office suite could only be used on my Mac (after Office for iOS started requiring 365).

    So for us, 365 is a much better deal. (One subscription, 6 devices).

    ETA: corrected text, added text

  96. 96.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    @karen marie: Its nice to lock in an opposing witness on the record and to see how a jury reacts.

     

    Also too Dump is an idiot to preview any defense

  97. 97.

    kalakal

    @artem1s: I wish Affinity would put out a video editor. I don’t use Premier Pro ( except at work ) but the non-apple alternatives Vegas, Resolve etc are pricey

  98. 98.

    different-church-lady

    If you’re not sharing docs with others, then LibreOffice just freakin’ rocks.

    It does indeed open and save to standard MS Office file formats. However, I’ve heard the more granular compatibility can spotty. But if you’re just using it for yourself, it’s almost too good to be true.

  99. 99.

    kalakal

    @Ken B:

    Lincoln apparently had a high pitched voice

    So did Otto von Bismarck, mind you he never had to stand for election

  102. 102.

    BellyCat

    @artem1s: Thanks for Affinity tip. Was not aware of them.

    Adobe professional user for decades here. Thousands and thousands of dollars handed to them for upgrade after upgrade for my company. I finally drew the line when they went to the even more rapacious subscription model. Of course, operating system upgrades eventually  rendered all permanent Adobe licenses non-working. Simultaneously, my needs became infrequent BUT SO MUCH WORK NOW INACCESSIBLE.

    Subscription “might” make more sense to some if one could choose a plan based on number of times used. Like a calling card. No monthly penalty when not used, and less resentment when actually needed to simply open old files or fart around a couple times a year.

    Here’s an idea to unite both sides of the polity: Federal law requiring software to work for X years after purchase date, on current OS released, requiring free updates in that timeframe. This would mirror current policy requiring car parts to be available for a period of time after purchase of the vehicle.

  103. 103.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    This is real, I think. Who the fuck knows anymore?

     Jackson turner @hjacksonturner Mar 19
    Replying to @StormyDaniels
    Anybody find the stormy does a donkey video yet?

    Stormy Daniels @StormyDaniels 4h
    My night with tiny wasn’t filmed

  105. 105.

    Geminid

    @karen marie: I could  ot say because I do not know the circumstances behind Costello’s testimony. My understanding is that Mr. Bragg let Trump’s attorneys know that Trump liable to be indicted, and had better present evidence of innocence if they had it. Perhaps they pressed Bragg to hear Costello first, claiming that he could impeach Cohen’s testimony. It was Bragg’s decision, but their initiative.

  106. 106.

    Another Scott

    @different-church-lady: Indeed.  I find Impress so much easier to work with than PPT (it doesn’t get in my way and always want to format things in ways that I have to change).  Draw is almost a 2D CAD package and very handy – much more accurate and flexible than trying to make diagrams in PPT.

    LibreOffice is just an amazing bit of software.

    But importing complicated MS Office things into it, especially PPTx into Impress can require some manual repair, so sharing with MS users can be problematic.  (Of course, moving between Mac Office and Win Office can have issues as well…)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  108. 108.

    Splitting Image

    @BellyCat:

    Adobe professional user for decades here. Thousands and thousands of dollars handed to them for upgrade after upgrade for my company. I finally drew the line when they went to the even more rapacious subscription model. Of course, operating system upgrades eventually rendered all permanent Adobe licenses non-working. Simultaneously, my needs became infrequent BUT SO MUCH WORK NOW INACCESSIBLE.

    If you have a lot of old files which you need to keep available for future use, Virtualbox and VMWare are your very best friends. Most Adobe products will work just fine in a virtual machine (I’ve had Premiere Pro and Encore crash on me), and you can install the old Mac versions on a modern PC and vice versa.

    Adobe has worn out its welcome with me too, but it’s good to have CS3 or CS5 around for when you need it. They also tend to work lightning-quick in a modern virtualized PC without all of that bloat they’ve added over the years.

  110. 110.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Matt McIrvin: Talk me down but the never trumpers are not our friends. They do not believe in what we seek. I’m tiring of being shoved supposedly ex Republicans as somehow entitled to be more expert because they were once…wrong? Horribly wrong?

     

    .

  114. 114.

    Darkrose

    Wow, that was some amazing baseball! Just watched Japan edge out Mexico in the bottom of the 9th–some great pitching on both sides, with an Ohtani double to start the comback in the 9th. Screw Olbermann; the WBC is great!

  115. 115.

    Splitting Image

    @different-church-lady:

    I would think you’d need a version so old it wouldn’t attempt to “phone home” upon install?

    The last I heard, Adobe’s registration server was still active, so if you have a legit copy, you can install it on a Windows 7 or XP VM and it will work like a normal install, even if it does contact the server to activate. As said above, the way they are eliminating the lifetime licenses is by allowing new versions of Windows to make the old programs obsolete. Installing an old operating system in a VM gets around that.

    This also works for old versions of Microsoft Office. Bioware games work like champs in VMware too.

  118. 118.

    Eolirin

    @Origuy: Frequent BSODs are usually going to be caused either by a hardware or driver problem, with the exception of bad updates.

    @trollhattan: I’d take current MS over every single one of their competitors by a mile. 2000s MS is more of a contest.

  120. 120.

    Eolirin

    @BellyCat: PSD files at least can be opened by a number of other cheaper programs, some of which are free. I’m betting most if not all of the other adobe file formats can similarly be opened by other programs, I’m just not as familiar with them.

  121. 121.

    strange visitor (from another planet)

    @Eolirin: photoshop runs BETTER on macs. most adobe programs do.

    i use cs4 on a win 10 lenovo laptop. no problems here. clearly i shouldn’t upgrade.

  122. 122.

    TriassicSands

    @leeleeFL:

    As always, MS made changes that weren’t necessary, but require figuring out where things are now. The biggest reason to upgrade to 11 is the support period. Windows 10, unless MS has changed it, gets support until October 14, 2025. Windows 11 should be supported until sometime in 2031 or 2032. I haven’t seen a final date yet.

    At this point my OS needs are quite simple and there is not advantage for me, that I’ve found, for 11 over 10. If you’re buying a new computer it makes sense to go with 11. All computers that run 10 won’t necessarily run 11, which is typical of new releases. So, if you’re not ready to buy a new computer, then you may as well stick with 10 and get a new computer before the support ends in 2025.

    The fact that support ends doesn’t mean the OS won’t work, it just means there probably won’t be further security updates, which will make your computer less safe.

  124. 124.

    Jimmiraybob

    I have to disagree.  In this update of the passion play Trump is Jesus and DeSantis is Judas.  I’m surprised that the Donald hasn’t started calling him Judas to cement his cult’s loyalty.

Comments are closed.