Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

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

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Let’s finish the job.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

I was promised a recession.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

We are aware of all internet traditions.

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

White supremacy is terrorism.

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

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

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

“Why isn’t this Snickers bar only a nickle?”

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

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

Innocent people don’t delay justice.

“woke” is the new caravan.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

You are here: Home / Politics / Activist Judges! / Sunday Morning Open Thread: Good Reads

Sunday Morning Open Thread: Good Reads

by | 115 Comments

This post is in: , ,

It’s easy for those of us who can at least pass for ‘normal’ to say, but I do think Mr. Ryan has a point:

Perhaps you have noticed, of late, that society is “collapsing.” That the incoherent babbling of the vicious and insane now dominates prime-time news and every corner of the internet. That both queer acceptance and anti-queer backlash seem to be proliferating in ways that should be impossible, or at the very least should cancel each other out, but are instead turning America into a patchwork quilt of homophobic hellholes and sanctuary jurisdictions, like a thin rainbow sheen floating on a dirty puddle. And that rainbow? It has colors you’ve never noticed before, representing identities you’ve never heard of. Look closely; you might even see yourself reflected in it—at least until some jackbooted mouth-breather stomps through it on his way to protest Disney, or drag queens, or his own children, who have long since disowned him.

I sound flip, I know—a touch indifferent to all that unpleasantness. Forgive me: I came of age on a steady diet of bar queens quoting Joan Crawford while they took their triple-drug cocktails. They showed me that indifference has long been a kind of queer armor. The only defense when you can’t stop them from hitting you is to never let them see it hurt (then kick ’em in the balls when they get winded). These days, however, my indifference is of a different kind: less aesthetic, more practical. Don’t misunderstand: I’m not at all indifferent to the terrible suffering the right is causing for queer people, especially trans people and young people and queer people of color, and those who are all of the above. Quite the contrary. It’s just that I know, in my heart of hearts, that our enemies are stupid, and they will fail.

Let me explain. It’s my position as a queer historian that’s shaped my indifference, and drawing on that background, I’m here to tell you two things. First, you’re not crazy. The war for our future is all around us, and it will get worse. We are living in Weimar America (think Cabaret, but without Liza). There is no off-ramp coming. Many people want to exterminate queer communities, or drive us far enough underground that it’s functionally the same; vastly more people don’t really care but are willing to go along if promised some small measure of security or a return to an imagined time when things were better, whiter, more heterosexual. Radical centrists seem to have taken Martin Luther King’s words on the white moderate—the “ally” who is “more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice,” “who constantly says ‘I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can’t agree with your methods of direct action’ ”—as an instructional guide rather than a warning. And reading the news is like looking into the maw of Pandora’s box: I’m surprised daily by the innovative cruelties that fascists, the fascist-adjacent, and Republicans in general come up with.

Second thing you should know? Despite all of that, they are going to lose—they have, actually, lost already, irrevocably and permanently. Just as they did last time. This is what I mean by indifference…

Terrible things are happening, and will continue to happen, to particular individuals — and it is very much our task to fight as many of these terrible things as we can. But just as people didn’t accept the Dobbs decision and immediately go back to a pre-Roe understanding of how abortion and contraception ‘should’ work, most people aren’t going to blindly accept the right wing’s frantic efforts to shove every human into one of two boxes, with a corresponding set of strictly-enforced boundaries. There is only so much toothpaste one can force back into the tube.

===========

‘Only the Beginning’ thread…

Sunday Morning Open Thread 5

(Clay Jones via GoComics.com)

Sunday Morning Open Thread 6

(Matt Davies via GoComics.com)

Sunday Morning Open Thread 7

(Mike Luckovich via GoComics.com)

Reader Interactions

115Comments

  1. 1.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Gonna be hot again today, then cool down to upper ’80s. Then the NWS is calling for 102 on Thursday and Friday. I know that number will change, but in my experience it never changes for the better. So, come T & F I will not be the lest surprised if temps top 105.

    ps: Blech.

  3. 3.

    Jeffg166

    The radical right always needs an out group to attack. Going after the queers has always been a go to. The majority of the people in this country have found out they have an LGBT relative. Most have accepted them. The hard core right wingers have not.

    I am making triple berry jam. The jars have been boiled the berry mixture is now in the process of boiling down. The weather was cool up until yesterday. It’s a bit sweaty doing this today but if it turns out right it is worth it to have this jam in January, February and March.

  4. 4.

    SFAW

    both alito and thomas should be impeached, sanctioned and disbarred. preferably, on television.

    Doesn’t go far enough, but it would be uncivil of me to suggest jail time. [Yeah, yeah — “for WHAT crime, SFAW?” Whatever. Take the lead from Alito re: Dobbs: make something up, the way he did.]

  6. 6.

    SFAW

    @Jeffg166: You live anywhere near central MA? ‘Cause I’ll be over when it’s ready.

    ETA: Or if you’re on the path from NYC to Boston, since I’m in NY today.

  9. 9.

    Gvg

    And Roberts wife was using her connections to profit. That was another story. Very time someone exposes one story, further digging exposes more. I hope reporters start digging on all of them. I hope the liberal ones are clean, because I know the right is going to respond by digging into them, but if anything real is found, well we will deal with it….when we can. Biden still nominates. Anyway, Thomas and Alito need to be impeached. I do think the court should be expanded because of workload and I think it’s a bad idea to let the public perception be that there should always just be 9, like that was in the Constitution. However we also can’t let actual proven corruption go unpunished. Just like letting Nixon go to heal the country was bad down the road, we need to actually impeach AND impose ethics code with consequences that can be enforced either by courts OR by Congress whichever has the will at the time.

  10. 10.

    sab

    Scalia on Bush v Gore: Get over it.

    We might have if they hadn’t put their legal foot on the accelerator to the floor.

  11. 11.

    RepubAnon

    @SFAW: Not jail – that would guarantee them meals and a place to sleep.

    Instead, strip them of all their assets as resulting from criminal assets, give them each a shopping cart, some cardboard, a map of freeway overpasses, and a list of restaurants that don’t lock their dumpsters – and put them out on the street  Let them find out what being poor is really all about, and how their Republican buddies won’t do anything to help them.

  14. 14.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @SFAW: “for WHAT crime, SFAW?”

    That’s easy, for accepting bribes. The confessions are right there in their opinions.

  15. 15.

    Baud

    most people aren’t going to blindly accept the right wing’s frantic efforts to shove every human into one of two boxes,

    I think there are only two boxes when it comes to sex.

    There are people who are willing to have sex with me and there are people who aren’t.

  16. 16.

    Spanky

    @SFAW: I am fully prepared to believe that Alito agrees with Chicolini that there is no sanity clause

    Eta, and I salute the ftnyt for publishing Alito’s little screed. It tells the world who Alito really is, even though, as I suspect, what we read into it is not what the editors saw.

  18. 18.

    WereBear

    @Jeffg166: Jam is, you know, the jam. Damn, that sounds like some fine jam.

    I’ve just giddy because I’ve been getting this French jam to put on top of my cream cheese omelettes and it is obviously DAYUM good.

    It is in octagonal jars with a red and white plaid lid. Come to think of it, this is truly built for re-use. My inner apothecary craves the bottom of the jar as much as the rest of me.

  19. 19.

    narya

    About to head out for a short run, in the hope it clears my brain a bit–at 1 am, a large old mirror crashed to the floor, quite loudly. Took forever to get back to sleep. Today or tomorrow will be Cheesemaking Day (for those who missed the other announcement, mozzarella, followed by ricotta made with the whey from the mozzarella). And a trip to the farmers market.

  20. 20.

    WereBear

    A minute reading of ingredients has convinced me that yes, I can taste the difference in the ones that put high fructose corn syrup in their jam. Which makes them false jams, friends and neighbors!

  22. 22.

    Spanky

    @WereBear:

    I can taste the difference in the ones that put high fructose corn syrup in their jam

    Why do you hate our nation’s corn factories?

  23. 23.

    OzarkHillbilly

    The Washington Post has valued Crow’s gifts, favors and transactions with Thomas at being worth millions of dollars, including Crow purchasing Thomas’ mother’s home and paying private school tuition for Thomas’ nephew.

    Something I have been wondering about. Did Thomas or Alito report these gifts on their tax returns? If not, you can be sure they owe some rather significant back taxes. The 2023 gift tax limit is only $17,000.

  24. 24.

    Evap

    @WereBear: that sounds like Bonne Mamam (or something like that). I have several of those jars that I use for spice mixes, homemade sauces etc.  I love  those jars

  26. 26.

    sab

    @OzarkHillbilly: Early Dad’s birthday ( I think that is bad luck, but that is just me). Compromise date combining stepmothers day, fathers day and dad’s actually birthday ( Dad is spouse not father.) We are sceduled for outside on the restaurant’s porch.  Weather is scheduled for major thunderstorm at about that time. Such is life.

    Next year I might get an actual Mother’s day even though I am not an actual mother. Stepdaughter’s actual mother died, her adoptive mother is a toxic bitch who rejected her. This year she said i am her only mother. Time to stop demanding respect as a  stepmother and realize I am the only mother this child has.

  28. 28.

    SFAW

    @Baud:

    I would think that income (or income equivalent) would get taxed to the recipient. But, I ain’t a lawyer, so what do I know?

  31. 31.

    CaseyL

    Yesterday, I planned to go to the Phinney neighborhood to do some strolling and grocery shopping.  When I got there, I realized the Greenwood Classic Car show was happening – a lovely, mile-long street fair, with all kinds of cool old cars.

    So I parked where I found a space (some few blocks off the blocked-off main drag) and enjoyed the show.  One of the vehicles on display was a still-working, still-used (and much beloved) vintage 1950s-era RV.  Completely adorable.  The couple who own it had salvaged most if not all of the original interior.

    Fun Fact: The original RV did have a black water holding tank (for the toilet) but not a gray water tank (for kitchen and shower), so they had to install one.  Apparently, back in the day, gray water was considered inoffensive enough to just let it run out into the road/camp ground.

    I have a weakness for vintage RVs.  They’re just SO CUTE.  The lady told me there is a vintage RV show/rally up near Bellingham later this summer.  I may go.  I still fantasize about getting an RV after I retire and exploring the country in it, and I might as well add “vintage RV” to the fantasy.

  34. 34.

    WereBear

    @sab: Yes. I often feel like step-parents are the Alan Ladd character in Shane.

    Come into town out of nowhere and try to clean up a terrible mess. With the end being a murky ride out of town with a possible wound.

    But sometimes, we’re there for a kid who has no one else. That does make us the hero, too.

  35. 35.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @sab: IMHO, Celebrating birthdays is bad luck. So is celebrating Father’s day. Which works out great for me as I get to ignore them! HOORAY!!!

    A thing I learned a long time ago, is beyond preparing for the worst do not let a weather forecast change my plans. They are likely as not to be wrong as they are to be right, and even when they get it right they never get it 100% right.

  36. 36.

    SFAW

    @Baud: I understand that reasoning, but that would imply that the donor’s wealth gets taxed, not income. [Yes, I realize the argument could be made “Well, but what if they just sign over a paycheck or capital gains/dividend check?” But that’s still the wealth that gets taxed, not the income.]

    So, I guess I still don’t get it. Probably a failure of intelligence on my part.

  40. 40.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: ​I think the only logic being implied is that somebody should pay some taxes and they settled on the giver as they are most likely to be in the higher income bracket.

    There goes my dream of confiscating 2 SC justices homes for back taxes. Sniff, sniff…

    eta: and I’m off to see the river
    the wonderful river of Oz. Or something like that.

  42. 42.

    mrmoshpotato

    @narya:

    at 1 am, a large old mirror crashed to the floor, quite loudly 

    The pieces will have 7 years bad luck!

  44. 44.

    Quantum man

    Question to you all: does the delay in Trump’s trial make sense? Seems the need for security clearances would have been obvious and built in to the original request for an early trial date.

  45. 45.

    Karen S.

    Pride! It’s forecast to be in the 80s, sunny, and windy for today’s Pride parade in Chicago. My wife and I are going to go watch it from the rooftop of a friend’s building, which should be fun and much more pleasant than being among the throngs of people on the sidewalks. The building’s near the start of the parade. We’ll bring sunscreen and lots of water.

  46. 46.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Quantum man: When the date was first announced a lot of the commentary seemed to imply that in cases like this these things are never static, and that the chance of the trial really happening then was low.

  48. 48.

    Matt McIrvin

    This is such a dumb argument because if other supreme court justices are being bribed I would absolutely like to know about

    Sometimes I think conservatives really don’t understand liberals at all; they assume we’re them in inverse reflection.

  49. 49.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Jeffg166:

    I am making triple berry jam.

    What are your three berries? Straw? Black? Blue? Rasp? Logan? Goose? Huckle?

    Whatever your combination, I’ll bet it’s wonderful!

  51. 51.

    Scout211

    @Quantum man: I read somewhere (maybe here?) that August 14th was only a place holder and December 11th, if it stands, would still be a speedy trial. Security clearances take time and a another delay past December 11 is not unlikely.

    But it’s all up to Loose Cannon.  She controls the calendar.

  52. 52.

    MagdaInBlack

    @Karen S.: Once upon a time I had friends who had an apartment on the parade route. Watching from their windows was great fun. Enjoy!

  54. 54.

    frosty

    @CaseyL: ​I still fantasize about getting an RV after I retire and exploring the country in it…

    That’s what we’ve been doing since I retired. If the vintage one has been restored well it’s going to be much better quality than the crap they’re pushing out the factory doors in Indiana these days. I’ve had to become an RV carpenter, plumber, electrician, and gasfitter!

    ETA and even so, we’ve still had to call mobile techs to fix something while we’re on the road. Word to the wise: check the roof and window seals at least annually.

  55. 55.

    JPL

    @Scout211: What;s to prevent trump from firing his attorneys and delaying the trial, until the new ones get clearances?   I think that is his plan.  Every three months get new attorneys

  58. 58.

    sab

    @frosty: Stepdaughter is a mother of a nine year old. I didn’t want to detract from her day as a mom. I didn’t realize that she was pining as an abandoned child.

    She wants her child to know that there is a chain of mothers to daughters, and she doesn’t want her child to know that with  toxic adoptive mom that chain was broken. Because of course it wasn’t.    I also remember she had a mom. Her mom (skip toxic mom)  to me to her child.

    Family is love and connection. Blood relationship is only a part of the connection.

  64. 64.

    Delk

    @Karen S.: my husband and I used to live at the end of the parade on the 39th floor. Little Pride ants, lol!
    Was thinking of going somewhere near the start of the parade but my back is killing me. Have fun!

  65. 65.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Quantum man: Trial dates get moved all the time.  Nothing nefarious.  August was never going to happen.  December is a reasonable time for both sides to to be ready, motions filed, decided and appealed, etc.  Also, although Cannon has not done of criminal trials, she has set very early trial dates for each and the dates have been moved back.  Don’t read anything into it.

  66. 66.

    Jeffg166

    @Amir Khalid: Four quarts of Strawberries, two pints of  blueberries and one pint raspberries plus three cups of sugar. The yield was three pints of jam and a cup more.

  70. 70.

    Jeffg166

    @SFAW: It only produced three pints and a cup. The pints are going nowhere. The cup I will make scone in the morning to use on them.

  72. 72.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Scout211: ​
    Speedy trial rules are complicated as they require a balancing test involving a bunch of factors. A general rule, though, is if a defendant is in pretrial detention a trial that starts within 90 days is considered speedy. For a defendant who in not in custody, it is 270 days. Any delays that are due to the defendant are not counted toward that trigger.

    ETA:  Speedy is one of those words that means something very different in the legal world than elsewhere.

  74. 74.

    bbleh

    @Matt McIrvin: I think it is exactly that.  Every Accusation Is A Confession and all.  They aren’t wired to think other than according to tribal law, or even to consider that other people might be so wired, and even if they do have the occasional flicker of insight, it is ruthlessly suppressed because it is unorthodox.

  76. 76.

    narya

    @Spanky: I figured someone would indulge me with that :-)

    @WereBear: Seconding/thirding the quality of those jams–I have several myself. I’ve made jam once, when a whole batch of peaches was minutes away from going from “perfectly ripe” to “blackened mess,” but the amount of work involved, often in an unairconditioned kitchen in summer heat, has convinced me that letting experts do it is a fine substitute. Actually, I made it in pastry school, too, but the conclusion remains

    ETA: I am so glad the pride parade exists, and I have absolutely no desire to go. My old organization likely will be well-represented, and it’s a fine day for it (though rain is expected later).

  77. 77.

    SFAW

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Thanks. Of course, I would feel better about the explainer if they hadn’t screwed up (grammatically or whatever) the first paragraph of the explanation itself.

    The gift tax is a federal tax on transfers of money or property to other people who are getting nothing (or less than full value) in return.

  78. 78.

    bbleh

    @Quantum man: as to security clearances in particular, the judge told the lawyers to get in touch with DOJ within a week to arrange clearances, and DOJ said they would have clearances up to and including the TS/SCI level for the lawyers of record in TWO DAYS.  There are a few documents classified at codeword level for which clearances are gonna take more like a few months, but overall that’s unheard-of fast.

  79. 79.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @SFAW: ​
      Sure, go ahead and criticize the the result of my 1 second google search. The fuck, man?!

  80. 80.

    Scout211

    @Omnes Omnibus: Speedy is one of those words that means something very different in the legal world than elsewhere.

    Thank you for posting actual facts.

    Your input here is extremely helpful and very much appreciated by this non-lawyer.  

    So “speedy” for Trump would be 270 days. Good to know.

  82. 82.

    JAFD

    @Jeffg166:

     ‘Twill be a real Bob Dylan breakfast – everybody must get sconed

    The park around the Lansdowne Sycamore has a bunch of Juneberry bushes, if you ever want to try them.

  84. 84.

    Scout211

    @Omnes Omnibus: It’s 270 before any question of speedy could even arise.

    Thanks. I was about to edit my comment to “at least 270 days” but now I don’t need to.

  86. 86.

    bbleh

    And btw, great OP!  I feel much the same way, but it’s hard to take the long perspective when we’re in the middle of yet another sex panic.

  87. 87.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    @Baud: Alito and Thomas have received unreported income for services rendered, not gifts. Maybe they are genuinely in denial about that, but the rest of us aren’t.

  92. 92.

    Tenar Arha

    @Evap: and @WereBear:

    I love that jam, and I use those jars for lots of bulk stuff I buy at Costco too: equal/sweet & low packets, sugar, & fiber, chocolate chips, raw almonds, cranberries etc. & I make salad dressing too in them because it’s easier to mix the ingredients together.

  93. 93.

    Jeffg166

    @JAFD: Never heard of Juneberries. What do they taste like?

    Only found out about wineberries last year. There’s a wineberry plant growing up the street from me in a vacant lot which is their preferred spot. Looks like a raspberry and tastes similar. In the same family.

  94. 94.

    Karen S.

    @Delk: The rooftop is on a 5-story building so we won’t be that high up. I’m really looking forward to it.

  96. 96.

    Jackie

    @JPL: “What;s to prevent trump from firing his attorneys and delaying the trial, until the new ones get clearances?   I think that is his plan.  Every three months get new attorneys”

    TIFG is struggling to find attorneys with the required FL license as it is. It may be his plan, but even Cannon isn’t apt to go along.

    My fanciful dream is TIFG has to request a change of venue (DC) because he can’t assemble a competent team of attorneys in FL.

  101. 101.

    NotMax

    The alleged quality of the product inside does not (IMHO) justify the hefty price. But once in a while when there’s a good sale, the emptied jars Talenti gelato or sorbet comes in are handy empties to have around.

  102. 102.

    Ruckus

    @Baud:

    There are people who are willing to have sex with me and there are people who aren’t.

    Group one has more than what, one? That are willing to actually agree to that? Really?

  103. 103.

    scav

    @Ruckus: I was more intrigued by the flexibility that what and how , (methods and body-parts, etc) afforded.  Where does talk dirty but no touching fall?  Does it have to be real time?

  104. 104.

    StringOnAStick

    @SFAW: Funny, when we would save up enough credits for a free trip (part of my husband’s compensation package at his last job), we’d have to pay income taxes on my half since I wasn’t an employee.  I guess that rule doesn’t apply to USSC justices, or maybe they are considered to be employees of these billionaires?

  106. 106.

    StringOnAStick

    @Omnes Omnibus: i was being sarcastic.  What these justice got are bribes, what I got was a employee benefit, but I wasn’t the employee.  Finely sliced cheese in many people’s eyes.

  108. 108.

    karen marie

    @Gvg: “heal the country” was and is always bullshit. It was and is to cause people to forget more quickly, leaving few to recognize the serial fraudulence of Republicans.

  109. 109.

    cain

    @frosty: Indeed. My wife’s kids love me like a parent. Especially our oldest daughter.

    What I didn’t expect is their biological father also recognizing me as a co-parent. He wishes me happy father’s day. We’ve become a truly integrated unit – these kids while had to deal with the divorce – everyone knew why – but i think what they didn’t realize was that after I came into the picture that the kids got double the love, and even the dad got a friend/buddy.  :-)

  110. 110.

    Kristine

    @NotMax: Imo they went downhill after Unilever bought them.

    I have scads of those jars. Gaby needed special food when I boarded her, so I used to pack her individual meals in them. The kennel staff really appreciated it.

  111. 111.

    evodevo

    @Baud: Hey…I got an ’88 Shasta TypeC sitting in my barnyard you can have LOL – nothing works and the roof leaks, but hey – have fun restoring it…most is original..

  113. 113.

    sab

    @OzarkHillbilly: Gift taxes are owed by the donor not the donee.

    ETA On the other hand, a bribe is more like earned income than a gift. So the recipient owes income and payroll taxes.

  114. 114.

    dnfree

    @Jeffg166: Your mixture is close to what the Canadians call bumbleberry.  Add rhubarb, and maybe apple.  (I don’t add apple.). Make pie or crisp.  This is the time of year for it!

  115. 115.

    JAFD

    @Jeffg166: Tried to find ‘tasting notes’ from a couple of years ago, no results.  Seem to remember “grapes and blueberries”.  Hope you can find some to try yourself.  Season for ’23 may already have ended, tho…

Comments are closed.