Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

Pelosi: “He either is stupid, or he thinks the rest of us are.” Why not both?

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

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Second rate reporter says what?

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

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Bogus polls are all they’ve got left. Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls a year from now.

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

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

The frogs are rarely mistaken.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

Cole is on a roll !

Bad news for Ron DeSantis is great news for America.

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

“They not like us!” (that’s for sure!)

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

People are weird.

“And when the Committee says to “report your income,” that could mean anything!

You are here: Home / Open Threads / On the Lighter Side

On the Lighter Side

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Another hot day here today, but the most of the next 10 days look to have weather that actually supports life.  Very excited about that!  The heat has sapped most of my motivation, and I am considering an afternoon siesta.  It’s good to have goals.

Some of the folks I follow on legal twitter seem pretty confident that we may well see a Trump indictment this week.  It’s all speculation, so who knows, but I like to think it’s true. Hoping that it’s not until tomorrow when the heat will break and I will have some energy again.

In the meantime, on the lighter side.

Thank dog for the other Jack Smith.  He brightens my days.

Reader Interactions

173Comments

  1. 1.

    Trivia Man

    I fondly remember that steamy August day where His Eminence The Slime, aka Richard Milhouse resigned in disgrace. Here’s hoping for another positive event in the story of our American Presidents.

  2. 2.

    WaterGirl

    I did make my first popsicles of the year this morning!  Cherry and lemon.  Definitely good, but not one of my best.

    It’s a good thing I created a spreadsheet of all the popsicles I made last year because all the recipes I had made up last year had apparently fallen out of my head while I slept.

    *Is is crazy that I have a popsicle spreadsheet?  If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have remembered my two favorites from last year, or how I made them!  Lemon-white peach, and cherry-lemon-peach.

    I will hit the Wednesday farmer’s market for the first time tomorrow.  It’s an Amish guy who doesn’t actually farm himself, but he brings all the good stuff up from Amish country.  It’s a dad and a wife and his kids.  He’s a dick to the kids; it’s obvious that he’s a bully, if you know what your’e looking for.

    *How do the women and girls survive when they have to wear long socks and long dresses  in the heat?

  3. 3.

    zhena gogolia

    Here I keep putting my sweaters away and keep having to get them out again. It’s fucking cold.

  9. 9.

    Josie

    @Trivia Man: ​
     I remember it so well. I watched it on television with some good friends. We enjoyed every minute. You get so few of those moments when you are a Democrat. You have to savor them.

  11. 11.

    Scout211

    Reposted from downstairs, but this made me laugh:

    The crazy caucus sure showed Qevin who is boss by voting down the GOP agenda, the agenda that they wanted and demanded.  LOL

    A bloc of Republican hardliners took down the GOP leadership’s efforts on two bills this week, a move they said was retaliation for Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s deal with President Joe Biden to suspend the national debt limit.

    The procedural vote, which was 206-220, failed on Tuesday afternoon as the hardliners revolted over their claims that McCarthy violated the agreement he resumed to secure the speakership in January. The move sank a bill to ban the prohibition of gas stoves and to impose new Hill oversight on federal rules.

  15. 15.

    Michael Bersin

    File this one under “morans”.

    An image of one of the bigots holding a sign in the right of way next to Saturday’s Warrensburg, Missouri Pride Festival. I looked at the image(s) [the shutter was set to burst]  several times and I didn’t notice it until this afternoon. No, the image was not altered:

    The Venn Diagram is a perfect circle

  16. 16.

    Scout211

    We had a few hot days in the mid 90s over the weekend but today it’s only 75 and there is some sort of weird reverse weather pattern where a weather pattern is approaching from the east over the mountains and now we have a thunderstorm. This is not typical for our area of NorCal. But I am enjoying the cooler temps,  so I am not complaining.

  18. 18.

    bbleh

    @Scout211: srsly.  “ooooh, it’s a good thing we’re not really mad! THEN we’d show you!”

    But … I’m guessing there will come a day when there’s something Qevin really wants, and that Dems aren’t willing to let him have, and the Krayzee Kidz Kaucus will have its revenge.

  21. 21.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @WaterGirl: Sometimes I think about Harrison’s career tracetory if he bypassed the franchise movies and continued exploring the nuanced Harrison we saw in Witness and The Mosquito Coast. Hell, Harrison was a great scumball bad guy in What Lays Beneath. 

  29. 29.

    Michael Bersin

    @zhena gogolia:

    I had rejected using the image in my original post on the bigots. I had looked over about a half a dozen frames several times and missed it. A friend did notice it. The difference is – the guy who made the sign chose to tape each individual letter to the poster board…

    Yes, in our county, we keep losing elections to these people.

  30. 30.

    Scout211

    @MattF: what?! He’s just wearing a suit and tie! Where is his purple super hero outfit? I am so disappointed.

  35. 35.

    Burnspbesq

    Long-range forecast says we’ll get our first triple-digit days middle of next week. Not complaining too much; most years they come before Memorial Day.

    Waiting to see whether Bexar County DA accepts sheriff’s recommendations.

  43. 43.

    Tony Jay

    @Michael Bersin:

    I like his little friend in the red hat. He’s too embarrassed by old Randy’s antics to show his face, but he’s too loyal to let him embarrass himself alone.

    That’s friendship for ya.

  45. 45.

    different-church-lady

    We had a pretty bad day at work today, and I am now annihilating myself with alcohol.

    Interventions are welcome.

  48. 48.

    different-church-lady

    @rikyrah: ​
      That’s a hell of a thing to see when you’re reading the comments from the bottom up…

  53. 53.

    different-church-lady

    @Steve in the ATL: ​
     

    Keep us posted on the +n!

    Uh… 2.

    We’ll keep an eye on the toteboard.

    I’m becoming a bit concerned I’m doing more self-medicating than enjoying lately.

  55. 55.

    different-church-lady

    @Jay: Not here.

    Here it is damply bleak.

    Which is okay, because it was very very dry this winter and early spring.

    Nonetheless, this is a very nice cooler with gin, lemon, superfine and gingerbeer.

  60. 60.

    narya

    @different-church-lady: My only intervention is to suggest strongly that you alternate alcohol-containing beverages with water, in at least equal quantities–or perhaps 2:1 water:alcohol. You will be able to maintain the buzz but will be less unhappy tomorrow.

    Also: sorry it was such a shit day at work.

  62. 62.

    JPL

    OMG   I have the best earworm.   Click if you dare.  It’s gonna happen

    LINK

    ok spoiler alert he does die, but the song is good.

  63. 63.

    JWR

    @Trivia Man:

    I fondly remember that steamy August day where His Eminence The Slime, aka Richard Milhouse resigned in disgrace.

    I was at my BFF’s house, jamming in the practice pad, (a two car garage underneath the main house), when BFF’s mom called down to us to get up there right this minute because this is a thing we wouldn’t ever, shouldn’t ever forget. And you know what? She was right.

  64. 64.

    Comrade Scrutinizer

    I sat through the Fitzmas debacle.  I’ll believe indictments when I see ’em.

  66. 66.

    Layer8Problem

    @different-church-lady:  Take a sip, and think of the good stuff.  A good boy or girl of a pooch who’s glad to meet you.  A contentedly snoozing cat.  A happy little kid investigating an endlessly fascinating world.  TFG in an orange jumpsuit screaming “WITCH HUNT!” over and over to bored federal prison guards and his dispirited Secret Service detail.

  67. 67.

    JPL

    @JWR:  That is quite a story.   Now in defense of Nixon, there is not one republican that would give us the EPA today.

  68. 68.

    cmorenc

    @Trivia Man:

    i double remember the day Nixon resigned because it coincided with the day I summited the Grand Teton with a climbing party comprised of like-minded folks who also appreciated the extra zest Nixon’s resignation added to our adventure.  Alas, if Trump gets indicted and convicted, I am now past being able to celebrate in such dramatically adventurous fashion.

  69. 69.

    Scout211

    NYT reports that mark Meadows has testified in front of the grand jury. Link (not a gift link, sorry, just my freebie for June)

    Mark Meadows, the final White House chief of staff under President Donald J. Trump and a potentially key figure in inquiries related to Mr. Trump, has testified before a federal grand jury hearing evidence in the investigations being led by the special counsel’s office, according to two people briefed on the matter.

    Mr. Meadows is a figure in both of the two distinct lines of inquiry being pursued by the special counsel appointed to oversee the Justice Department’s scrutiny of Mr. Trump, Jack Smith.

    One inquiry is focused on Mr. Trump’s efforts to cling to power after losing the 2020 election, culminating in the attack by a pro-Trump mob on the Capitol during congressional certification of the Electoral College results on Jan. 6, 2021. The other is an investigation into Mr. Trump’s handling of hundreds of classified documents after he left office and whether he obstructed efforts to retrieve them.

    It is not clear precisely when Mr. Meadows testified or if investigators questioned him about one or both of the cases.

    For months, people in Mr. Trump’s orbit have been puzzled by and wary about the low profile kept by Mr. Meadows in the investigations. As reports surfaced of one witness after another going into the grand jury or to be interviewed by federal investigators, Mr. Meadows has kept largely out of sight, and some of Mr. Trump’s advisers believe he could be a significant witness in the inquiries.

  70. 70.

    Ohio Mom

    @different-church-lady: One of my favorite adages is: It is not neccessary to hope in order to persevere.

    Describes my life as a special needs mom. I also had a crappy day, if you find solace in having company.

  71. 71.

    different-church-lady

    @narya: Friends and I invented the Aquatini: water, shaken with ice, served up.

    Serves two purposes:

    1) Hydration

    2) Psychosomatic belief you’re still drinking.

  75. 75.

    JWR

    @JPL:

    True, but remember, the EPA does not make Nixon a good president. It just meant that any veto on his part would be blown out of the water by the Dems overwhelming numbers.

    As for the practice pad, we were 14 years old and determined to blow Led Zeppelin out of the water. Sadly, that didn’t happen neither. ;)

  77. 77.

    Layer8Problem

    @Baud:  “A/K/A The Rat.”
    Not a direct quote, but I’m hearing it in my head with Clint Eastwood’s voice.

  78. 78.

    bbleh

    @different-church-lady: half-seriously, remember that it’s actually GOOD for you to indulge those sorts of moods, to a point, rather than suppressing them.

    At least I certainly hope so, because I have them at LEAST once a day …

  81. 81.

    narya

    @different-church-lady: I also found some NA spirits (I quit all alcohol for awhile before & after surgery last year); some were meh, but some were a nice way to have a Special Beverage, when combined w/ club soda. I have found that it’s the Special part of the beverage that is often as important as the alcohol content, but of course YMMV. I went with Lyre’s, and there are others available out there now, too. (the FYNYT had a review of NA spirits at one point.) I should also note I’m about to pop a beer, and it will, in fact, have A in it.

  82. 82.

    JPL

    @Baud: yup folks didn’t like to see streams and lakes on fire.   I still doubt republicans would care.  Greene would blame Mexico.

  83. 83.

    Layer8Problem

    I’m staring out my window into a pile of yellowish-gray fog with a distinctly smoky odor.  Utterly sunless.  This is rather unsettling.

  86. 86.

    cain

    ha! “Lawfare” – I hearken back to my childhood days (ok it was high school) and remembered the Transformers, specifically “Soundwave” who had the cool voice box. “Ravage! Eject.. operation.. Warfare!”

    I loved those shows.

  87. 87.

    Scout211

    @JPL: Greene would blame Mexico.

    I believe Marge blames Jewish Space Lasers for the fires.  All the fires.

  88. 88.

    🐾BillinGlendaleCA

    So, this was slightly embarrassing…

    Walk over to the store, clock in for my shift, put on my apron, log into my work phone, start checking orders…

    One of my fellow OFA’s sees me, says “You’re not on the schedule”

    I check the schedule, I’m not on it, check my cell phone, I’m off today and tomorrow, not Thursday and Friday like I thought.

    I log out of my work phone, take off my apron, clock out.

  90. 90.

    🐾BillinGlendaleCA

    @Baud: Heh, at least I didn’t start pulling an order.

    ETA: It has not been unheard of for them to change the schedule and forget to let you know.  It not supposed to happen, but it sometimes does.  In this case, I just screwed up on which days I had off, it is not set days(I had Thursday and Friday off last week).

  92. 92.

    cain

    @Trivia Man: Yeah, it was kind of like the star wars episode. Where him resigning was like “Epsiode 4: a new hope” only to get Reagan in “Episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back” and well I’m not sure which one is Episode 6! I’m kind of guessing either Clinton or Obama in “Episode 6: Return of the Jedi”

  97. 97.

    JWR

    NBC early news is reporting a possible mass shooting in a VA high school graduation. :(

    And has anyone mentioned the PGA/LIV merger? Apparently, many players were blindsided by the move. But it’s golf, a game I care about not one whit.

  100. 100.

    JWR

    @Baud:

    Yep. Moderate Republicans. Seems so… quaint, nowadays, don’t it?

    ETA, raven mentioned the PGA/LIV merger in the last thread.

  101. 101.

    zhena gogolia

    I wrote to the NYT to complain about their constant stream of “JOE BIDEN IS OLD” stories. I got a reply that I am sure was written by a chatbot. So insulting.

    ETA: I’ll paste it in here for BJ analysis.

    “Good afternoon,

    Thank you for writing to us.

    We are an independent newsroom that aims to provide our readers with a full picture of the world by pursuing the facts without fear or favor.

    President Joseph R. Biden’s age is a major factor that could affect his candidacy and one that voters have legitimate concerns about. (His peers are less strident.)

    The American people expect a lot from their leaders and generally want to be assured that they can live up to those expectations as long as we give them power. In that way, his age seems newsworthy.

    That said, it is not the only factor in this race and our editors weigh its relevance to calibrate its prominence among the many issues we will cover.

    It may even lose some salience as a knock on Mr. Biden if his predecessor wins his own party’s nomination again. As this article notes, former President Trump is only four years younger than Mr. Biden.

    I hope that clarifies and that you will continue to support our journalism. Thanks again for writing.

    XXX (in case it’s real), news assistant”

    ETA: I submit that this was not written by a person born of another person.

  102. 102.

    Scout211

    @JWR: Trump is all over it. He predicted it one year ago.

    Golf Digest

    By now you’ve already heard the news. It’s been beamed straight into your eyeholes, earholes and, um, other holes. The PGA Tour and LIV Golf — opposing sides of a particularly bitter professional golf feud over the past year and a half — have laid down their arms and joined hand-in-hand in sweet golf harmony. The news came as a surprise to everyone, including players on both sides who were just as blindsided as the golf media who were just blindsided as golf fans who were just as blindsided as your mom’s second cousin Dave, who probably just texted you about it. In fact, the only person who didn’t seem to get a proverbial shaving-cream pie to the face on Tuesday morning was former president Donald Trump, who predicted this exact outcome almost a year ago.

  104. 104.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @zhena gogolia: We are an independent newsroom that aims to provide our readers with a full picture of the world by pursuing the facts without fear or favor.

    Wrong on all three counts.

  108. 108.

    zhena gogolia

    @Baud:
    My response (yes, I have fallen into the trap of arguing with an AI bot):
    Your response does not address the question of why this “newsworthy” topic requires ten articles rather than one. You also don’t seem to acknowledge that you shape voters’ responses as well as report on them. May I remind you of Hillary Clinton’s e-mails?

  109. 109.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @Baud: This is why whenever I get an ad for the FTFNYT on YouTube I flag it as offensive.

    Eta: I can’t be any less subscribed than I have been for the last four years.

  111. 111.

    JPL

    @zhena gogolia: Well last time I complained and canceled service, I was offered $4.00 a month including crosswords, cooking , everything.   That lasts until August and after that I assume I’ll keep the crossword.

  112. 112.

    zhena gogolia

    @JPL: Wow, they didn’t give me anything the last time I canceled. (This is a kind of on- and off-the-wagon thing with me.)

    ETA: I used to get responses from somebody who claimed to be Dean Baquet. I don’t think it was him, but they were written by a human being, at least.

  114. 114.

    zhena gogolia

    Maybe if I keep arguing with it, it will start singing “Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer, do.”

  118. 118.

    JPL

    @zhena gogolia:  Yup couldn’t refuse that.  They even reimbursed be for the cost of the crossword.

    We had home delivery when we lived in CT in the seventies, so maybe that swayed them.

  125. 125.

    hilts

    To anyone out here who loves pizza, RIP Andrew Bellucci

    Andrew Bellucci, a renowned chef who helped spark a revival of coal-oven pizza in New York, has passed away at 59. Bellucci was the owner of Andrew Bellucci’s Pizzeria in Astoria, Queens, where he died unexpectedly of heart failure.

    Bellucci was interested in the history of pizza in New York and spent time researching archival news sources about pizza at the New York public library. This work led to his commitment to coal-oven pizza, which he was convinced was the original way New York pies were made. He took pizza seriously as a craft when it was still mostly seen as a cheap takeout option and helped usher in a pizza renaissance in the city.

    https://www.tastingtable.com/1306499/new-york-pizza-legend-andrew-bellucci-dead

     

     

     

  126. 126.

    different-church-lady

    @zhena gogolia:

    May I remind you of Hillary Clinton’s e-mails?

    NYT newsroom: “SHIT! We forgot to do a page one feature about  that today!”

  135. 135.

    patrick II

    @Scout211: ​
     

    a lawyer for Mr. Meadows, George Terwilliger, said, …Mr. Meadows has maintained a commitment to tell the truth where he has a legal obligation to do so.”

    But that is only when under legal obligation.

  136. 136.

    mrmoshpotato

    Haha!  Tiny handcuffs for the tiny-handed, short-fingered, Soviet shitpile mobster conman!

  138. 138.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @Scout211: a lawyer for Mr. Meadows, George Terwilliger, said, …Mr. Meadows has maintained a commitment to tell the truth where he has a legal obligation to do so.”

    RINO. Any recognition of verifiable fact, as opposed to the “Truth (TM),” is a threat to the whole Republican Party.

  141. 141.

    different-church-lady

    Okay, I’ve stopped drinking and now I’m cleaning the kitchen.

    Interventions are welcome.

  143. 143.

    Kay

    i have two women coming at 7:30 who want to pass petitions to get Ohio’s reproductive rights initiative on the ballot. I know one of the women but not the other. I’m not canvassing anymore and I honestly think they shouldn’t either, but they want to so obviously I can’t stop them. Anyway they can get two sigs in this house- my husband and youngest son. I already signed a petition. I just think this is too risky at this point, going door to door – the guns, the Right wing nuts, etc. They’re giving them lists w/R’s on the them too.

  147. 147.

    eversor

    @NotMax:

    There’s a reason this kinda snark doesn’t move the needle or change minds and is mostly silly in crowd high fiving that causes other people to roll their eyes.

    The most obvious is that those weren’t dresses.  Anymore than kilts or modern Arabic clothes are.   So it has no bearing on the “issues” around drag and cross dressing.  It’s not witty.

    The next is that this isn’t really about drag or trans at all.  It’s about religion.  It’s about putting wins on the board for team Christian.  When they lose on something they are just going to pick on a target they see as vulnerable to try and put points on the board for Jesus.  This is of course a stupid strategy.  Most people’s views of drag or trans was a sort of “it’s sort of odd, I don’t really understand it, but they aren’t hurting anyone so let them do what they want”.  However by picking a fight over it they instead make an ally for trans and drag out of everyone else they bullied in the past.  Even people they didn’t bully mostly think the bible waving morality police are obnoxious busy boddies and can’t stand them and will adopt “if they are against them, than I’m for it” attitude with a side dose of “if you are telling me I can’t go to a drag show or compete in a high heels race, than I am going to a drag show and running in the high heels race! you aren’t my boss” mentality that’s very common in America.

    That’s what pisses them off so much.   By screaming about something they make it more popular and accepted among everyone else due to a mix of “I don’t care about this, but fuck the morality police let’s have more of it” to “if they say it’s bad, it must be fun”.

    They are just to full of rage and too stupid to realize they are their own worst enemies in all of this.

  152. 152.

    japa21

    @different-church-lady: Actually, this is one of his more accurate rants.  At least he isn’t focusing on Christianity as the source of all evil, but rather on people who really don’t understand what Christianity is about but think they do.  He doesn’t necessarily realize this but then I’m not sure he realizes what Christianity is about either.

  154. 154.

    eversor

    @japa21:

    Patriarchy and gender roles along with heirarchy features prominently, even from Jesus.  You can’t have Christianity without all those.  And if you are not actively endorsing all those you aren’t Christian.

  160. 160.

    Ohio Mom

    @Omnes Omnibus: There were  Mexican Jews on Ohio Dad’s paternal side. They wanted to go to the States but quotas kept them out. Eventually they moved to Israel.

  162. 162.

    Josie

    @Ohio Mom: ​
     When I was researching for my book, I found an interview online with a Mexican Jewish historian whose parents had emigrated during the war. He said that Mexico was more welcoming to the Jewish refugees than the U.S. I found that rather interesting.

  166. 166.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Josie: ​
      I know of people who ended up in Costa Rico because that’s where they let the Jewish emigres/refugees disembark.

  167. 167.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @zhena gogolia: Odd how eversore’s attitudes about Christianity ignore the very individuated beliefs of actual Christians.

  169. 169.

    Seefleur

    @Omnes Omnibus: And do we not remember John Cole’s cleaning tales? Naked mopping – drunk cleaning, it all leads to the same end… the mustard goes missing.

  171. 171.

    SFAW

    @Omnes Omnibus: ​
     

    I’ve tried drunk cleaning before. Do not recommend.

    Well, unless the drunk(s) was/were asking you to do that, that’s to be expected.

  172. 172.

    cain

    @Scout211: Yeah, well it looks like we in the northwest is getting that hot weather. I wonder if we’re just swapping weather patterns now.

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