Yesterday’s storm took down our internet just after 5 pm or so, and just came back up at noon. No internet for 18 hours, yikes!
What did I miss?
Jackie sent me this fun video, so I will share it with al of you.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/hcGiRV1XARw
I want to see the expression on this kid’s face when he is 16 and his mom is showing it to his first girlfriend / boyfriend!
I saw this yesterday when I still had internet – do we know what these are about yet?
Between yesterday and today, there have been three new sealed entries on the docket for the Trump/Nauta case. I have no idea what they are, but you best bet I am watching. pic.twitter.com/NCF1yCzrQD
— Lisa Rubin (@lawofruby) June 29, 2023
Well, shit, 5 minutes on the internet (because I saw that Tom had just put up a post) gave me lots of bad news.
BREAKING: SCOTUS just tanked Biden’s student debt forgiveness program.
So it doesn’t matter if it was $10K, $20K, $50K, or all debt. I told you your real enemy wasn’t Biden. But I guess you just didn’t like Hillary enough.
— Mueller, She Wrote (@MuellerSheWrote) June 30, 2023
So, let me get this straight: yesterday the Supreme Court ruled colleges CAN’T discriminate on the basis of race but today they ruled that a web designer CAN discriminate against the LGBTQ+ community? Sorry, but this Court is so freaking messed up.
— Victor Shi (@Victorshi2020) June 30, 2023
Anything else good or bad that I missed?
At least this made me laugh.
Good morning.
More indictments are coming.
Big, beautiful indictments.
The likes of which no one has seen before.
Make America Lawful Again.
— Just Jack (@7Veritas4) June 30, 2023
Open thread.
Steeplejack
You should be aware that Twitter no longer works for people who don’t have an account. There is a workaround detailed at #101 downstairs.
WaterGirl
@Steeplejack: I will go look, but surely they can see what is actually in the tweet in the thread, correct? They just can’t click on it and go to twitter correct?
Can someone send me a screen capture of what this post looks like if you don’t have a twitter account?
TriassicSands
Thursday: Don’t discriminate!
Friday: Oh, go ahead and discriminate!
Another 6-3 decision, this time with Gorsuch leading the charge. Unfortunately, all of Trump’s ‘winning’ is being brought to us by the SCOTUS.
Anyway
OMG, 18 hours without the internets – what did you do?
WaterGirl
@TriassicSands:
Steeplejack
@WaterGirl:
They can see what’s in your post, may not be able to play embedded videos. And definitely can’t get to Twitter to see, say, the rest of a thread or contextual tweets, etc.
eldorado
@Steeplejack: feature not a bug
WaterGirl
@Anyway: I’m sure you’re mocking me, but I’ll answer anyway.
Last evening I caught up on TV shows previously record on Tivo.
Then I went to bed, but even the podcasts that I listen to as I fall asleep were unavailable.
So then I tried Prime because I know I had purchased Bosch, but Prime flipped me off and said too much time had elapsed since my PURCHASE so I can’t watch them off-line.
Then I went to Books on my iPad and figured I could listen to a books I have purchased. Nope. No idea why that was a no-go, they should have been in the library on my iPad.
Then I went to iTunes where I had long ago imported one of the Longmire books on tape.
I figured I could watch a show as I walked on the treadmill, nope.
I couldn’t do my normal work for any of my clients, so I did whatever I could to get organized there, off-line.
FINALLY it all came back.
Jay
@WaterGirl:
the post is fine, we proles just can’t go on twitter, unless we have an account, take out an account, and log in.
All we get when searching for some of our favorite twitter accounts is a sign up page.
One used to be able to look at tweets with out an account, now you can’t. Pretty soon the Apartheid Karen will be charging $8, ($12 for Apple), per view.
Bruce K in ATH-GR
Meanwhile, Mr. Roberts is asking people not to question the integrity of the Court, which seems to me a lot like J. Bruce Ismay demanding to know how soon the Titanic could get back underway for New York after the iceberg incident.
Kelly
@WaterGirl: work around is substitute nitter.net for twitter.com
nitter.net/7Veritas4/status/1674748837330579457
WaterGirl
@Steeplejack: Got it, thanks.
I try to mostly post tweets that stand alone, or I provide context, because I don’t want anyone to have to go to twitter in order to understand what I’ve posted.
So folks can see a static image, just can’t play video? Or sometimes video plays and sometimes it doesn’t?
What can Musk possibly be thinking???
Ken
@WaterGirl: My god, it’s like you were hurled back into the 20th century, but without the stone knives and paper books that those primitives accumulated.
Chris
Since I don’t think the topic’s come up (apologies if I missed it): anybody seen Indiana Jones yet?
Reviews appear terrible, though the Internet is prone to exaggerate such things. Won’t be seeing it for a few weeks because I promised a friend I’d wait till they were back to see it with them. I have no compunctions about being spoilered, though (and already have been quite a bit).
WaterGirl
@Kelly: Interesting, but then I would have to manually post all the code in WordPress.
With twitter or YouTube, you just paste in the URL and it does it all for you.
Also, is nitter always in dark mode? I despise dark mode.
Scout211
Today our beautiful NorCal temperatures come to a halt and we are in for an EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING! day. Today it will be 105 and tomorrow 109.
And then we had some excitement this morning. When we got back from our morning walk, smoke was billowing in the air from a nearby property. Yes folks, our first grass fire here in my little rural corner of the world. A neighbor decided to burn his garbage* and the sparks ignited a nearby property and took off in the breeze. CalFire and local fire were there and were able to quickly put it out but the mop-up could last for hours in this heat. It was only about 1 to 2 acres but in this heat and dry conditions, it’s always a worry.
The woman who owns the 5 acre parcel hired our other neighbor to cut a fire road around her fence line with his backhoe. The CalFire personnel told him that the fire road stopped the forward growth, along with the fact that she cuts the grasses down (as most of us do).
*FYI, today is a no burn day.
WaterGirl
@Ken: I am detecting much mockery and zero sympathy.
Martin
Actually, I think the precedent is that if you are a business you can discriminate, but only against gay customers that aren’t real.
Ken
@WaterGirl: Sometimes video works, sometimes not.
As for what Musk is thinking, I hope his few remaining advertisers are asking him that. This cuts their ad views significantly.
Content providers can’t be happy either. Even the ones who only care about followers must realize that this cut back the chance of getting new ones.
Martin
@Scout211: In California, every day should be a no burn day.
Anyway
@WaterGirl:
Not at all! I was serious and curious and interested in the details in your response.
Phew!
WaterGirl
@Scout211: Yikes on the heat. And on the fire.
Did the neighbor’s property catch fire? Or just some of the grass on their property?
WaterGirl
@Martin: Can someone explain how they could end up issuing a ruling where the case was based on fiction? Not even a real gay person involved at all?
How is that even possible?
James E Powell
Last week we learned that Murphy, our rescued pit bull plus something else, had cancer. Our niece, who is the veterinarian equivalent of an RN, advised that he might behave normally for a while, but that he could take a sharp turn for the worse. That was this morning. He went from his usual running around to barely being able to stand up. We say goodbye this afternoon.
Since the day he arrived he has been the clown prince of our yard, a constant source of joyful companionship. I worry about his sister, another pit plus something else rescue. They are constantly together, often sleeping on top of each other. I worry, too, about my own sister. She loves them both so much. Anyway, I am broken hearted, but I will take my boy Murphy to get the mercy he deserves.
WaterGirl
We have another storm brewing and very loud thunder, perhaps I should get going on work for my clients while I still have internet!
Scout211
@WaterGirl: She hasn’t built her house yet so it is bare land right now. There are several neighbors with homes just over her fence line, though.
But grass and wild land fires spread very quickly, so many units are called when one starts. Added: All our grasslands are dry and dead right now, so grass fires are very dangerous.
Ken
@WaterGirl: Mockery, definitely, but I have incredible sympathy for you. One of the worst nights I ever spent was when I moved into my college dorm a day before any roommates showed up, and realized I had not brought any books to read.
Kelly
@WaterGirl: Each person has to change settings to make it look like twitter.
The Musking of Twitter is a hell of a loss. Worked so well for public emergency broadcasts and a lot of news.
H.E.Wolf
While you were out, I decided to hold a postcard writing party (in my imagination) tomorrow evening. All are invited. We intend to defeat the Ohio constitutional amendment, one postcard recipient at a time. The right wing won’t know what hit ’em.
WaterGirl
@James E Powell: I am so sorry!
With Tucker, I brought Henry with so that he would understand what was happening. That was a big help because Henry understood that Tucker was gone and wasn’t wondering or looking for him to come back.
tears
Chris
@Bruce K in ATH-GR:
It’s always fascinated me how these people not only demand to harm people but demand to be loved by the people they’re harming.
First noticed it in the Iraq War – Republicans would go off on thundering rants about how all Muslims were evil, savage, violent, pedophiles, yada yada, but at the same time were genuinely hurt, bewildered, and offended that these Muslims weren’t greeting them as liberators.
I mean, I have categories of people I hate too – mainly Republicans – but when I call them fascists or whatever, I’m not then astonished that they don’t want to be friends with me.
MattF
@Ken: I see lots of advertisers. And, consequently, I have blocked a large number of accounts.
Jeffro
@Scout211: Yikes on those temps (not just in CA, but across much of the U.S.)
It’s pretty clear that Mother Nature has had quite enough of all of us, and we are in for worse. Here you go, Millennials! Here you go, Gen Z! Please just take the keys now.
Baud
@James E Powell:
Oh, I’m so sorry.
H.E.Wolf
Oh, and this postcard par-tay is ALL in my imagination. The blog doesn’t have to host it! :)
Roger Moore
@WaterGirl:
Nope. It won’t show you anything unless you’re logged in.
Jeffro
@Bruce K in ATH-GR: Why is John Roberts complaining? We’ve all agreed to call it the Leo Court now, right?
I wonder what Roberts’ younger FedSoc self would think about all this, where being forgotten by history is his best possible outcome.
Steeplejack
@WaterGirl:
Go to the Nitter settings and change the theme to “Twitter.” Familiar black text on white background.
Jay
@James E Powell:
so sorry.
When Casey couldn’t walk, we put a support strap on her, to take her out into the yard, lifted her up on the couch or bed. Cleaned up “accidents”. Gave her 8 more weeks of love. She wasn’t in pain. Did the same for Digger. But when it’s time, it’s time. Still rips my heart out.
Brachiator
@Chris:
I have not seen it yet. I thought that Indy 4 was terrible, so that kinda finished off the franchise for me.
But I think that Indy is being swept up in the silly “anti-woke” fury aimed at the studio executives who disliked the Star Wars films. And so the movie is being swamped with dishonest negative reviews.
Steeplejack
@James E Powell:
So sorry to hear this. Godspeed to Murphy.
trollhattan
So, has [cough] Twitter [cough] just blocked accessing accounts from inside a browser? Within the last hour?
Or, is it just me and I should allow my Friday paranoia bout to run a little longer?
Jinchi
@WaterGirl:
I think we all agree that an internet without WaterGirl is a sad place indeed.
Glad to have you back.
Sure Lurkalot
@WaterGirl:
OUR ESTEEMED CHIEF JUSTICE BALLS AND STRIKES SAYS YOU CAN’T QUESTION THE INTEGRITY OF THE COURT.
Splitting Image
@trollhattan:
It started for me after midnight last night.
I can see the text of the tweets in the OP on this page, but attempting to follow any of the links takes me to the Twitter home page.
Elizabelle
@James E Powell: I am so sorry, James. You are doing right by your BFF Murphy, and it’s time, but it is always so hard to lose them.
Sure Lurkalot
@James E Powell: So sorry about your pup Murphy.
Chris
@Brachiator:
Yeah, that gives me some pause when considering the reviews too. Seemingly every blockbuster movie is getting these people now. The storm of anti-woke-fury in Star Wars landed me in the paradoxical position where I thoroughly dislike the Star Wars sequels, but at the same time am instantly suspicious of random people on the Internet that I see bashing them, because Star-Wars-sequel-bashing online is such a cesspool of alt-right crap.
(I shared your views on movie 4, suspect this one won’t do much for me either and that I’ll continue thinking they should have just left it in the eighties. But hey, I’ll give it a shot all the same).
Chris
@James E Powell:
Wow, I am so sorry. Especially at the fact that the whole thing happened so fast. My condolences to you and yours.
dexwood
@James E Powell: My sympathy. We do what we can to make their lives better. In the end, we do what we must for them. Never easy. Wag on, Murphy, wag on.
Martin
@WaterGirl: This falls in the same category of how could a billionaire buy Clarence Thomas’ mom’s house. Because nobody bothered to check.
In a functioning system there would be SERIOUS consequences for deceiving the court like this, but that won’t likely happen unless Senate judiciary takes up the matter and investigates. And I doubt anyone considered what to do if USSC rules on a matter that is fraudulent. How do you even bring a case like that? Does the court vacate their own decision? Is John Roberts even capable of acknowledging that they fucked up?
trollhattan
Teevee notes:
-Enjoying Season 2 of “The Bear”, did not slip a bit IMHO.
-Finished S2 of “Poker Face” and it’s just crazy good, plus this season attracted some heavyweight actors, who are well used.
-“Strange New Worlds” is the best STTOS spinoff. Fight me.
Paramount+ decided that I decided to spend more/month for the added “benefit” of Showtime. Really, guys? Anyway, it gives access to “Yellowjackets” which, somehow, is even weirder in S2, but with Christina Ricci and Juliette Lewis, how can you not watch?
Dorothy A. Winsor
@James E Powell: I’m sorry. That’s hard.
JWR
Re: the twitter/nitter thing… if you’re running Chrome on Winders, there’s an app for that!
It took all of 2 minutes to read about it, install it, reset the ugly white text on black background to my own preferences, turn on a little enable video play thingie, and voila! the scent of musk no longer fills my screen.
Jinchi
@trollhattan: It’s not you.
It might be a sign of the site falling apart over time after he fired everyone, or it could be Elon’s idea of a genius move to boost the site’s engagement numbers.
trollhattan
@Splitting Image: Cripes, okay, not just me.
If Eltonn thinks this is going to get folks to flock to signing up, I have a counter theory.
Steeplejack
@trollhattan:
It started before 4:00 a.m. EDT this morning. There is a workaround described at #101 in the thread immediately downstairs.
Chris
@trollhattan:
I never had a Twitter account and for the longest time I thought it was just a matter of time, that eventually they’d tighten up on outsiders reading or something and I’d end up deciding to take the plunge and get a Twitter account.
Musk’s takeover was when I realized, huh, okay, I think I’m actually never getting a Twitter account in my life.
Jinchi
@trollhattan: Personally, most of my engagement with Twitter has been via BJ links.
John Cole should ask Elon to subscribe to BJ for $8 a month ($11 via Apple). If he truly cares about free speech, he’ll pay it.
Then he could weatherproof WG’s internet connection.
phein64
@WaterGirl: Over here in the People’s Republic, our power was restored about 9:30 last night, but cable is still out. T-Mobile’s hotspot just ain’t the same.
laura
@WaterGirl: vibes. Nothing but vibes. When you have the majority, they just let you do it.
I hope the court’s majority dies in a grease fire.
mrmoshpotato
Who’s ready for a NASCAR shitshow this weekend?
Also, air quality has improved (thank you, storms), but it’s a spicy beast outside.
Fuck the GOP, fuck the Shitstain Six, and fuck NASCAR.
the pollyanna from hell
My resistance to enrolling in twitter was arbitrary and nonsensical. The current twitsaster makes it seem prescient.
Roger Moore
@Chris:
My general feeling is the “wisdom of the crowd” approach is completely broken because bad faith actors have discovered they can flood the system with crap. You’re much better off listening to one or two reviewers you know and trust, or at least ones whose bias you can try to account for.
The crap flood problem extends far beyond reviews of popular media, of course. We’ve all seen how social media that depends on user reports can be manipulated by bad actors. Online stores might as well give up on their reviews, too, since those are routinely gamed.
Steeplejack
@mrmoshpotato:
What is NASCAR doing this weekend that’s worse than their usual bullshit?
Soprano2
@WaterGirl: It’s good to have an IPod. 😀 Sorry about your outage, that sucks!
mrmoshpotato
@James E Powell: I’m sorry. You’re doing right by him.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@Martin:
I blame the defense attorney team for failing to dig this out. NEVER take the word of Christian activists at face value – distrust and verify.
There are some bar complaints deserved here.
Alison Rose
Brazil making us look bad:
Knowing what we know of him, he’d run in 2030 if he were going to be 95, but even so, this is amusing.
Chris
@Roger Moore:
Yeah, I’d agree with that. I remember what IMDb had turned into a decade ago, at least on the message boards for any film that was remotely popular at the moment. Completely unusable.
mrmoshpotato
@Steeplejack: Street race in downtown Chicago.
me
Seems all the nitter hosts are now broken as of the last few minutes. github.com/zedeus/nitter/issues/917
Steeplejack
@mrmoshpotato:
Oh, Lord. Good luck with that!
Steeplejack
@me:
Bummer.
JWR
Update on the twitter / Nitter Redirect extension… It don’t work!
Srsly, short of the one time I grew curious about using a Windows program “crack”, (for “cracking” a program password), I’ve never used a buggier app
ETA, @me: Hmm. I’ll try again later. But for now, it’s all a bust.
Captain C
@Chris:
Once I get to correctly describing someone as a fascist or worse, I generally don’t want to be friends with them, either.
trollhattan
@JWR: Thanks!
Found, installed, it functions but I’m getting an error. Any ideas what I’m doing wrong?
me
@JWR:
I’ve used a nitter redirect extension for firefox for months with only minor issues. Seems like Twitter has decided to try to kill it entirely now possibly since so many people are using it to get around the login requirement.
cain
@me: elon intends to break the product till nobody uses it.
Steeplejack
@trollhattan:
Nitter.net has been nuked, at least for the time being. Cyberwar! And thanks for breaking the margin again.
lollipopguild
@mrmoshpotato: The driver who hits the most pedestrians wins? I know, it’s not a video game.
Eunicecycle
@H.E.Wolf: I just received a postcard from someone to vote no on issue 1. I have seen very little that says vote yes, maybe one TV commercial. And it was blaming outside groups, when the whole issue was funded by an outside group!
Mike in NC
@James E Powell: Condolences regarding your buddy Murphy.
WaterGirl
@trollhattan:
KrackenJack
@me:
Just tried the firefox add-in, Steeplejack’s URL edit and the Nitter link example up thread. All of them display some variation of “Tweet not found”.
Oh well, fewer pet pics and Ukraine updates. I’ve been peeking in at Newsie on Mastadon once a week.
Dan B
@WaterGirl: The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) makes up crap in almost all of their cases. The courts only hear what the lawyers tell them. There is no other due diligence. ADF has a $70 million budget. They’re Christianist so the usual anti LGBTQ and anti abortion.
Steeplejack
@KrackenJack:
Twitter has just nuked Nitter. That’s why it’s not working, at least until someone finds another workaround.
mrmoshpotato
Pixel roasting iPhone
Bravo to whomever came up with this ad campaign.
Chris
@Captain C:
I mean, that’s kind of the thing: I don’t say that kind of thing to people whose approval and admiration I want, by definition, and whether or not I want it I don’t expect it because that’s not how human beings work. There’s something baffling about people who do.
Ksmiami
@Captain C: if you’re sitting at a Nazi Bar… it just makes you a Nazi.
H.E.Wolf
@Eunicecycle:
How cool that you got a postcard! And I’m not surprised that the “yes” folks are being disingenuous in their ads. Their actual goal – to reduce the rights of OH voters – isn’t likely to be a popular one.
trollhattan
@Steeplejack: He’s not getting any brownie points today, let me tell you!
Jackie
@me: I tried to open a nitter link posted on earlier thread and got a “not found” message. Related or no?
Baud
Time for mitter.
Roger Moore
@cain:
Too many of these techbros don’t seem to understand that “you’ll use it the way we want you to use it” is not an attractive feature.
Subcommandante Yakbreath
@James E Powell: So sorry to hear this. Deepest condolences.
trollhattan
@Baud: Mitter Romnie!
me
@Jackie:
Probably related.
I’ll miss a couple of twitter users but I’m not making a new account. elon can eat shit.
Maxim
@James E Powell: I’m so sorry about Murphy.
Maxim
@WaterGirl: IANAL, but a lawyer friend of mine says standing is not as cut and dried as laypeople think and this is probably not as big a deal, legally, as we are making it. Of course it’s scummy in principle, but not necessarily improper on technical grounds.
JWR
@me:
If by twitter you mean Elno, then yeah, that seems to be the problem. At first, I was able to access full pages, then only the pinned tweet, and finally, what @WaterGirl posted at #84 above.
West of the Rockies
I’m in a bad shitty mood at the end of a dead thread, but I don’t find the baseball kid entertaining. 20 other kids are waiting for him to finish his routine. Swing the bat.
JPL
@James E Powell: I’m so sorry, and sometimes words don’t help. virtual hugs though.
BR
It would be great to switch to twitter screenshots if possible rather than embedded tweets.
Tazj
@James E Powell: I’m sorry.
Blue Galangal
I sure hope this marks the next big migration to Mastodon. I’ve been avoiding twitter since the Nazis took it over and keep hoping that others will also.
Bee Girl
@West of the Rockies: I completely validate the shitty mood after the disgustingly inevitable SC decisions but – it’s T-Ball so at least 10 of those 20 kids are watching butterflies or trying to tie an errant shoelace and not experiencing any angst over this bit of tomfoolery. :) It’s almost always the parents taking it way too seriously.
Tazj
@WaterGirl: That’s what I want to know as well. I thought theoretical cases weren’t supposed to come before the Supreme Court but I’m not a lawyer or paralegal so I don’t know.
catclub
assumes facts not in evidence.
catclub
@Roger Moore:
Next you’ll be saying that emacs has too long a learning curve.
West of the Rockies
@Bee Girl:
Fair enough. And I loathe Little League parents who take that nonsense too seriously.
WaterGirl
@Sure Lurkalot:
OH YES, I CAN!
Just watch me, you racist, lying, disingenuous prick! (Roberts, of course!)
WaterGirl
@Martin:
Let’s hope that Sheldon Whitehouse is all over this.
WaterGirl
@Dan B: We need an organization on our side that exposes that crap shortly after the cases get introduced, so they are exposed as shams before they can make it anywhere near the Supreme Court.
Chief Oshkosh
@Scout211:
“*and said neighbor is now hospitalized with a CalFire axe handle partially stuck up his ass…” is how that story should end.
Roberto el oso
Houston weather: last Thursday night we got a thunder & lightning storm, along with a hailstorm (marble to golf ball sized). It came on so quick, and at rush hour, that there were lots of pile-ups on the freeways out of downtown. The ensuing sirens went on for hours.
I take my cig breaks outside on the balcony, on a cast iron rocking chair with cushions on the seat and back. Yesterday I sat down and made the rookie move of resting my arm on the arm-rail and got scorched immediately. I now have a bubbly rose-red welt from my elbow to the middle of my forearm. It was a little after 8 in the morning, but that old sun was already giving us the Anvil of God treatment.
Chief Oshkosh
@West of the Rockies: I thought part of the point is that the kid was waiting for the official (?) to tee up the ball
ETA: But yes, the USSC has put a lot of people in a shitty mood (me included and to the point of distraction).
Tazj
I got a chance to skim over Sotomayor’s dissent. The plaintiff didn’t even sell wedding websites but came to believe that God wanted her to show people “his true idea of marriage.” To me it seems scandalous that the case was even taken.
KenK
Whoever is runner the Jack E. smith twitter account isn’t getting paid nearly enough.
WaterGirl
@Tazj: You and I apparently know more than 6 Supreme Court judges.
kalakal
@Martin:
Amended for completeness
Kathleen
@James E Powell: I am sorry for your loss.