Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

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

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

’Where will you hide, Roberts, the laws all being flat?’

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

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

I am pretty sure these ‘journalists’ were not always such a bootlicking sycophants.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

We still have time to mess this up!

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

American history and black history cannot be separated.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

So many bastards, so little time.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

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

This blog will pay for itself.

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

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Reader Interactions

94Comments

  1. 1.

    Ken

    By a pleasant coincidence, I’m just going out to garden.  Wish me luck, I am trying to eradicate a trumpet vine.

  2. 2.

    BlueGuitarist

    This comment

    I’m asking you to love your family more than you hate mine.

    keeps coming back to my mind. That’s Nebraska state Senator Megan Hunt, parent of a trans child, responding to Sen. Linehan’s complaint about Hunt filibustering an anti-trans bill.
    “I’m asking you to love your family more than you hate mine. If your family wants you home to recover from surgery, maybe you should do that. If you want to see your grandson graduate from preschool, you should do that.
    Instead you are here to drag out this session because you won’t come off this bill that hurts my son. You hate him more than you love your own family. And that’s why you’re here.”

    https://twitter.com/HeartlandSignal/status/1659294919784034307

  3. 3.

    TheOtherHank

    I’m sitting in a coffee shop waiting for my car to be done with its smog test.

  4. 4.

    cope

    And I am putting off planting some forsythia and lilac bushes.  It took me two hours to plant four peonies yesterday because digging holes in western Colorado is decidedly different from digging holes in Florida.

  6. 6.

    WaterGirl

    @Ken: Good luck with that!  By which I mean you are going to need more than hard work and a lot of luck.  We are close to “miracle” category.

    But I admire your fortitude.

  7. 7.

    WaterGirl

    @cope: Yikes!  The law of unintended consequences.  Still, your move was a good one.

    I have just one word for you.  Plastics.  Soil amendments.

  8. 8.

    WaterGirl

    @JoyceH: Please send me an email message so I can send you the zoom like.  I saw your note yesterday and tried to reach you three times by email, and they were all returned to me.

    Also, the zoom is open to anyone who is interested in hearing kalakal’s presentation on Agatha Christie’s Life and Work.  Tonight at 8 pm Eastern.  One hour presentation, another hour of discussion and conversation.

    Just send me an email and I will shoot you the zoom link.

  12. 12.

    JoyceH

    @WaterGirl:

    Please send me an email message so I can send you the zoom like. I saw your note yesterday and tried to reach you three times by email, and they were all returned to me.

    Okay, I just sent you an email. I see email from you in my inbox, but maybe you have the old one in your files?

  13. 13.

    Alison Rose

    (Copying myself from Facebook):

    Today would have been Dad’s 81st birthday, the first one without him here. I’ve been going back and forth between sadness and fond memories. Dad was so present in our lives when my brothers and I were growing up. After he quit working for the Grateful Dead (around 2 years before I was born), he never traveled for work. He didn’t go out with buddies to bars or games, didn’t go on “guys’ weekends”. He took maybe 2 or 3 solo camping trips over my whole childhood, but other than that, he was always there with us and for us. It was a blessing then and it remains one now, because it means that almost every happy memory from my youth involves him. I love you and miss you so much, Dad. Happy birthday

    (Posted this with an old photo of him sitting in front of his birthday cake, which I was glad to find in my photo box)

  14. 14.

    cain

    My parents are coming tomorrow the first time since the pandemic started. It will be the first time they’ve come since I got married 2 years ago and moved to a new home. My wife and my parents have built a really strong bond with each other. They met my wife’s daughter’s boyfriend and they hit it off – the boyfriend has the same name as my brother. So family front has been wonderful. Life is on the up and up – too bad this country is still a fucking shit show. Glad I don’t live in any of these red states and I hope those who do here are fighting the good fight.

    My day is going to be spend cleaning the house while my wife and her daughter have a mom/daughter bonding day and go out. :-)

  15. 15.

    cain

    @Alison Rose: Our blogfather is a big grateful dead fan (how he ended up as a Republican is anyones guess) So cool that he worked for the grateful dead!

    Sorry to hear that he is no longer with us. My dad is 84 and he looks like he is 65 and is quite robust. So much vitality – I hope I get to keep him on this planet as long as we can. My grandfather lived to 100 – so he’s got to beat that!

  16. 16.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Still really bummed that Rafa is going to miss the French Open.  Nadal has won it an unprecedented FOURTEEN TIMES!!  Which is the most dominant performance of any player at a single tournament in tennis history.  He’s only lost three matches there.  EVER.  Roland Garros already has a statue of him, in his honor.  He hasn’t missed the event since 2004.  Nadal has been plagued by injuries throughout his career but especially the past two years.  Somehow he still managed to win the Australian Open AND the French Open last year.  But everyone is worried that his injuries are finally catching up with him (which tbh, we all thought would’ve happened years ago).  Roland Garros will not feel the same without him.  L’Equipe has a piece titled “A Land Without It’s King“:

    Given that Carlos Alcaraz wore diapers, that Twitter did not exist and that Jacques Chirac was President of the French Republic, no need to add more to convince oneself that the last time Roland-Garros was held without the presence of Rafael Nadal, in 2004, none of us closely or remotely resembled what we are today.

    For eighteen years we knew, just by catching a glimpse of our ever-faithful spring companion on a public service channel, that the baccalaureate exams were coming soon. For eighteen years, he has been digging, in the best clay court in the world, the furrow of a unique story in the world of sport, of all sports. A status, first; a statue, then. Fourteen replicas of la Coupe des Mousquetaires sleep every night in a display case in the museum of his academy, in Manacor, a few meters from the tennis courts where he has been looking in recent days for reasons to believe that showing up to la Porte d’Auteuil with a player badge on May 28 would not be pure madness.

    So it will be a Roland-Garros without him and it’s like a novel without an e. You miss one letter and everything feels deserted. At the very beginning of the Open Era, in 1969, Georges Perec had published La disappearance, a book of more than 300 pages without a single e. We would have offered him to join the tennis section of L’Équipe to help us, in ten days, tell the story of these already deserted Internationaux de France, but it has been a while since he is no longer available.

    When will Nadal be available again? Four months that he’s trying to extricate himself from an injury he had been promised would heal in half the time. Weeks that he hits the ball almost every day without ever being able to sprint or slide, helpless witness to this rebellious psoas that taunts him.

    But giving up ten days before the start of the tournament is also sending a message of hope. It’s already branching off into the future, without having to worry about the smartphones of emboldened interns capturing on the fly the painful moments of shortened training sessions. To wisely turn your back on this edition [of Roland-Garros] is to avoid flying past the point of no return. He has never hidden it: his dream of playing until the 2024 Olympic Games, which will not only take place in Paris but also at Roland-Garros, warms his heart and body. At almost 37 years of age, Nadal has officially only retreated. Not retired.

  18. 18.

    Doug R

    Well, the wind shifted so our air quality went from 5-6 to 10, probably 10+ with the next update.
    So driving around with broken a/c, windows open with a N95 on.

  20. 20.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Alison Rose: Nice tribute.  Sorry you are missing your Pops.  What did your Dad do with the Dead?  I’m a sorta fan (prefer Jerry Garcia Band personally) but know lots of Deadheads from my days playing in jam-bands.

  22. 22.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @cain: There are lots of Republican Deadheads, sadly.  I used to work with a guy who fit the bill.  Talked a big game about peace and love and the Deadhead culture etc., but also really hated Democrats/Hillary/Obama.  Apparently it’s a pretty common thing because…well…old, white dudes.  There’s even been some articles about the phenomenon.

  24. 24.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Alison Rose: went to my first (and, admittedly, only) Dead show with a law school friend who was a Deadhead. Years later, he ended up being their general counsel!  Which, from what I could tell, consisted of flying around on their jet and signing licensing agreement.  Not a bad gig for a Deadhead lawyer.

  26. 26.

    Alison Rose

    @cain: Oh, I know – it’s part of how John and I became friends :) I also worked for the company, though after Garcia died, and I think John had a smidge of jealousy :)

  28. 28.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @UncleEbeneezer: Ann Coulter claims to be a deadhead, and I forget which Bush Republican, maybe not Kasich but someone of that ilk/generation.

    In spite of being far too online, I don’t see much of/from Coulter anymore

  29. 29.

    Alison Rose

    @UncleEbeneezer: Well, he was their business manager throughout most of the 70s. After their previous one had ripped them off and absconded with their money, my Dad came on board in 1971 to straighten things out and stayed on through late 78. But before that, he played in the band that was the precursor to the Dead. If you go here and scroll down to the musicians list, Dave Parker is my Dad :)

  30. 30.

    Jeffg166

    @Ken: I am trying to get rid of one as well. I dug down to the main root. Cut it off there. Soaked a folded up paper towel with bleach. Put that over the cut stem then cover the paper towel with plastic wrap and doubled up a rubber band to seal the bleach in. Buried all of it. Hopefully the bleach will work itself down into the root system killing the plant.

  31. 31.

    laura

    @Alison Rose: that year of firsts is tough, and the missing and the fond memories never stop, but the comfort of being a loved and wanted child sure helps. Spouse and I are heading to a double memorial this afternoon and there will be a GD coverband. I’ll include you and your Pap in my thoughts when they play Ripple.

  32. 32.

    TheOtherHank

    Since I know you were all in suspense. My car passed its smog check. The ’98 CRV just keeps ticking along.

  33. 33.

    Anyway

    Having friends over tomorrow (15-20 at last count). Cleaning, cooking, putting things away etc etc in progress. I’d rather surf the ‘ net …

    Blech.

  34. 34.

    Alison Rose

    Photo of Dad on the GD archive site

    And on this page, Dad is in the second photo (sitting on the hay bale looking to the side, just behind and slightly to the viewer’s right of the long-haired guy in front (that’s Jon McEntire)) and in the third photo, sitting on the bale in front of the window, to the viewer’s left of the guy in the red shirt and dark jacket.

    There are more photos floating around out there.

  36. 36.

    TheOtherHank

    Since we’re talking about the Dead, the one and only time I saw them was the summer they had their actual radio hit. They played the Calaveras County Fairgrounds along with Santana and David Lindley. I paid a guy $10 for a $20 ticket because he had to leave before the show started. It was a fun afternoon.

  40. 40.

    BeautifulPlumage

    I finally moved the rest of my things out of the apt and now the trailer is very full. Older sis (Trumper) came over & took a bunch of our sister’s things. Used the string trimmer on the tiny bit of lawn & am now enjoying my second coffee outside in 70 deg, blue sky weather. The Seattle area has had (mostly) really nice weather since late April.

    Later I’ll move some furniture around and cut out the carpet in the hallway over the soft spot. A local remodeler is coming over to let me know the cost of repairing that spot & a larger area in the living room.

  42. 42.

    BeautifulPlumage

    @Alison Rose: so sorry you lost your dad last year. Thank you for sharing your post. He sounds like a wonderful human, and the whole thread about him is great.

  44. 44.

    BeautifulPlumage

    @BeautifulPlumage: the last post had comments about cleaning out hoarder houses. I really tried to cut out a lot of my excess when I had to move, and I still have too much!

  45. 45.

    Anyway

    @Anyway:

    Shoulda made it a Zoom call… jk. I am happy to host but get cranky just before as I run around getting shit together. I’ve been working a lot and neglected the house. Paying the price now.

  47. 47.

    sab

    Stepmother’s’ day tomorrow. Big day here since I refuse to be involved with mother’s day with the stepkids since two of the three already have a mother the third’s mother who died young but was the best mother she could be while alive.

  48. 48.

    db11

    @UncleEbeneezer: I’m also sad to see Rafa out of the French Open. He’s been such a fixture and his record of excellence there is unequalled.

    I’ve only been to the tourney once in 1987 (Lendl won) — well before the beginning of Nadal’s dominance — so unfortunately never got to see him play live on the red clay (though I have since in Montreal on hard courts).

    I suspect his era is well and truly over, since it’s doubtful at his age that he’ll fully recover from his nagging injuries.

    I just hope that someone other the Nole takes advantage of his absence in Paris — would love to see Rafa hold onto his (shared) record for Slam wins.

  49. 49.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Alison Rose: Thanks for sharing the stories about your father. What a life and what a dad.

    I saw the Grateful Dead with New Riders of the Purple Sage in the 70’s at the Fox Theater in St. Louis. The show went into the wee hours of the morning and I remember seeing cops in the back of the floor dancing and smoking pot.

    As for today, bad air from the Canadian fires lingers for the 2nd day. Measurement of particulates in the 160s meaning please don’t drive and no cycling for me. Supposedly moving off tomorrow, fingers crossed. It’s very unpleasant.

  51. 51.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @db11: You and me both buddy.  Fingers crossed that Alcaraz, Rune or someone else can keep the trophy out of Nole’s un-vaccinated hands.  I wouldn’t completely count out Nadal having a good season next year (and he will always be a contender on clay) but it’s gonna be tough and would require some serious luck.  When you consider how many injuries he’s had throughout his career, how much time he’s had to miss and then try to recover, it makes his numbers even more astonishing.  Especially in a time when his biggest rivals,  Federer and Djokovic both had unusually long streaks of good health.

  52. 52.

    zhena gogolia

    @Omnes Omnibus: Wow. We are just now reading a book by his father, Take a Girl Like You. I’m surprised to find (in the early chapters) that it has a rather #MeToo theme going on.

  54. 54.

    narya

    Tonight’s dinner: salad (lettuce, roasted carrots, avocado, tomatoes (oven-dried and fresh), balsamic dressing); wild turkey (from friend) and scallops (from downstairs neighbor friend) with a lemon, butter, honey, and white wine sauce (fish and fowl rather than surf and turf . . .); asparagus, snagged from the farmers market; farro; and, for dessert, strawberry cupcakes with strawberry frosting. The cupcakes and frosting and dressing are made, and the turkey is cleaned. Wine is in the fridge (a sparkler from the wine of the month club at the local wine shop, and a bottle of rose). I’m taking a little break before I clean things up a bit.

  55. 55.

    Mike in NC

    Courtesy of Digby’s Hullabaloo, FDR’s speech on the Four Freedoms as updated for contemporary Republicans:

    “There is the freedom to control — to restrict the bodily autonomy of women and repress the existence of anyone who does not conform to traditional gender roles.

    There is the freedom to exploit — to allow the owners of business and capital to weaken labor and take advantage of workers as they see fit.

    There is the freedom to censor — to suppress ideas that challenge and threaten the ideologies of the ruling class.

    And there is the freedom to menace — to carry weapons wherever you please, to brandish them in public, to turn the right of self-defense into a right to threaten other people.”

  56. 56.

    kalakal

    @Alison Rose: Sorry to hear that. Anniversaries are always tough, Mrs kalakal and I get that at Halloween, both our mothers died on halloween a year apart. It’s the memories that count and it sounds like your dad left you plenty of good ones. Seems he had a great laugh. Only seen the Dead once, at the Rainbow in London. It was a great show

  57. 57.

    db11

    @UncleEbeneezer:

    Fingers crossed that Alcaraz, Rune or someone else can keep the trophy out of Nole’s un-vaccinated hands.

    +1

    …though as a Canuck I’d love to see FAA pull it off. Plus Uncle Tony being his coach would provide at least a little Nadal symmetry to such a win.

    Unfortunately, he’s cooled off considerably since his scorching run to close last year’s season… so not a likely shot for his first Slam win at such a tough venue.

  59. 59.

    Jeffro

    Hmmm…some folks somewhere in the GOP are starting to realize they’re gonna get clobbered in ’24 if they don’t dial back the anti-abortion crazy.

    (that’s the only reason – it’s not like they’ve developed some sort of sudden respect for women or anything)

    Republicans Deploy New Playbook For Abortion Bans (just HOW horse-racey is that sorry-ass headline?  sheesh)

    but they’re still playing games, of course

    Democrats have fiercely rejected the idea that the North Carolina legislation is a mainstream compromise, pointing out that other restrictions embedded in the bill, including an additional mandatory in-person consultation at an abortion clinic 72 hours before the procedure, will limit abortion long before the 12-week mark.

    “The fine print requirements and restrictions will shut down clinics and make abortion completely unavailable to many women at any time — and that’s going to cause desperation and death,” Gov. Cooper said in an interview.

    Republicans in North Carolina kept the 12-week proposal a secret until the last possible moment, in part to prevent Republican hard-liners from amending the bill to make it more restrictive, according to the person familiar with the internal discussions. Instead of introducing the measure as a new bill, as is typical, Republicans gutted a different piece of legislation and inserted the 46-page abortion proposal, allowing them to move straight to an up-or-down vote and pass the bill less than 48 hours after it was introduced.

  62. 62.

    sab

    @Alison Rose: My dad is 98 with dementia. Still alive but mostly gone to everyone but his caretaker and possibly one sibling. I visit a lot but he doesn’t care that I am there or not. This is life but it still hurts.

    My mom died eleven years ago. I did everything I could for her ( not enough)  and I loved her and she knew it. When she died it was sad but with her severe health issues I could accept it. I am forever grateful that she thought it was time and let me know. With Dad and dementia we are in different and  difficult territory.

  64. 64.

    Dangerman

    @zzyzx: I would kindly ask the Republicans to send over their proposals on toilet paper. Easier disposal.

    Also, single ply; gotta be green.

    Also, no shenanigans or we are sending Mr. Whipple over to kick some ass.

  65. 65.

    sab

    @sab: Mom died knowing that Dad had dementia. She had limitations in her acceptance. Demetia was one of those stupid limits. So glad she died before she could weigh in on his declining intellect.

    How would you want to be a kid ( now old) thinking that that summarized your parents.

  66. 66.

    kalakal

    @Alison Rose: Halloween round here is very nice, most of the neighbourhood sits out front with candy and kids come from all over ( it’s very safe, almost no traffic, big side walks and verges, really rare in FL) so it’s a very party atmosphere. Both our mothers would have loved it , so it’s a bit bittersweet but more sweet

  67. 67.

    sab

    Cancer is horrible and painful and kills people we love. That is most of what it does. Sometimes it phucks up and gives people who love each other time to say goodbye,

  68. 68.

    Geminid

    @Jeffro: That North Carolina abortion law makes it all the more essential that Virginia Democrats retain their Senate majority this November, and retake the House of Delegates.

  69. 69.

    UncleEbeneezer

    BREAKING: Special Counsel Jack Smith has won ANOTHER battle to obtain “stored communications” from a tech firm. Little else is known as it’s under seal, but hearings are proceeding after Smith likely already obtained the evidence after a stay was denied.

  71. 71.

    Jackie

    It’s getting to the point there’s a new lawsuit everyday!👍🏻

    “Donald Trump will face trial in yet another civil case on an expedited schedule now that his children, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and Ivanka Trump, have been voluntarily dropped from the case after they made it clear their father was the “principle architect” of the conduct called into question.”

    “The lawsuit dates back five years, when viewers of the Apprentice sued Trump, his company, and his kids. According to the lawsuit, they were conned into paying thousands of dollars for desktop videophones that Trump touted as the next big piece of technology. In reality, they were rendered obsolete by smartphones, according to Bloomberg.“

    Linked to RawStory as Bloomberg is behind a paywall.

    https://www.rawstory.com/trump-children-2660355040/

  72. 72.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @zzyzx:

    I do think the GOP doesn’t appear to want a serious deal and I think the WH is going to have no choice but to use some alternative workaround to avoid default

  74. 74.

    HinTN

    @Ken: Otherwise known as Cow Itch Cube. We celebrate the good this thing does for the hummingbirds when it blooms.

  75. 75.

    Anyway

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    RIP Martin Amis. I liked Amis’ early work but he turned into a cranky, bitter middle-aged author. Maybe it’s the price of achieving success and accolades at an early age.

  77. 77.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @Alison Rose: Andrew Hickey just released his latest podcast episode – A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs… it’s a 4 and a half hour episode on the Grateful Dead. Maybe your dad gets a brief mention.

    There were strong links between libertarianist science fiction and Silicon Valley that eventually grew into the tech bro masters of the universe ethos…you get the origins of that in the episode. Hickey seems to sort of imply a link with the Dead scene there but I’m not sure how much of it existed in actuality.  But I went to college with the kids of some Wall a Street bankers and a lot of them were dead heads. So it was more than a Silicon Valley libertarian thing. These were second gen Deadheads though – the late ’80s – early ’90s college kids ones.

  81. 81.

    Jeffro

    @Geminid: heck yes it does!

    “Don’t Florida our Virginia!” works, and “Don’t North Carolina our Virginia” works almost as well.

  85. 85.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @James E Powell: Money,  London Fields, The Rachel Papers.  He was very much of a time and place.   Not sure how well his work has aged.  Nick Hornby trod some of the same ground with a softer touch.

  86. 86.

    oatler

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    RIP. I loved most of his stuff, from The Rachel Papers to The Information. I believe Michael Moorcock had a beef with him, judging by the way Amis is portrayed in King of the City.

  89. 89.

    cain

    @Jeffro: Won’t that piss off the hard liners? There is going to be an intra-party fight at this point. They are going to be spitting mad I suspect.

  91. 91.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @Omnes Omnibus: I went to a working class high school. The white kids of limited means were mostly into hair metal or its precedents like Zeppelin and AC/DC plus a few other harder rocking classic rock bands.

    I was into alt rock especially The Smiths, REM, New Order and Camper Van Beethoven.

  93. 93.

    James E Powell

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    The densest concentration of Deadheads I met in my life were the guys in law school who went on to work for large corporate law firms. I never learned if they were sincere or if it was an affectation.

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