Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

It’s a doggy dog world.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

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

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

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

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

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

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

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

I really should read my own blog.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

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

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

Cole is on a roll !

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

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Two Posts In One

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I was going to put up a post asking what the heck this is.  (scissors added for scale)

I found it in my garden.  No, not my vegetable garden – in the flower garden – growing on some vine.  It had a curvy(ish) younger sibling, but I tossed that one.  This looks really cool, and I would like to know what it is.

Now, of course, I have to add the news that Jack Smith is asking for some kind of specific gag order so Trump will stop pissing in the jury pool.

PDF of the filing.

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    104Comments

    1. 1.

      Elizabelle

      This would be a good use of the term “gagging.”  For one, it is widely used and understood.

      ETA:  Gag the Bastard.  You know it’s tempting…

      Reply
    6. 6.

      Villago Delenda Est

      Smith’s minions need to make plans for constructing Faraday cages at Bedminster and Merde-A-Loser to kill TFG’s access to the internet.

      Reply
    9. 9.

      Dangerman

      scissors added for scale

      I dunno. Could be really tiny scissors. Shouldn’t there be something of known size to scale properly? Dime, quarter, small pets?

      /engineer

      Also, I’m in for some form of Alien life form.

      ETA: Looks like Not Max got there first and better.

      ETA2: Just realized those could be really big scissors, in which case, RUN.

      Reply
    14. 14.

      Urza

      I really want them to put him in jail for 10 days every time he breaks the gag, or anyone remotely associated with him since he’s known to farm out the social media sometimes.  Would be hilarious to watch them all fail repeatedly to not be assholes and have their orange messiah in prison because of it.

      Reply
    17. 17.

      MattF

      Looks like the Trump prosecution has decided to try to stop Trump’s game. I agree. One can only wonder how far the players in this drama will go. We shall see.

      Reply
    21. 21.

      Scout211

      @Super DaveMy Picture This app says it’s Chinese Okra.

      I would send a pic but don’t know how to do that.

      picture in linked article:

      Chinese okra  goes by many names:

      This vegetable goes by many names: luffa, angled luffa, Chinese okra, and silk squash. Dark green with ridges that run every quarter inch or so through the length of the squash, Chinese okra does not have much in common with the little finger-length squash we know as okra in the States.

      Reply
    30. 30.

      WaterGirl

      @WaterGirl: It seems really smart.  They aren’t just sending 900 questionnaires.  They are to send enough questionnaires to get 900 bodies to show up in person…

      where they have to fill out the questionnaires WHILE THEY ARE AT THE COURTHOUSE and turn them in before they leave.

      Reply
    31. 31.

      dnfree

      @Suzanne: It IS decorative gourd season!  And I haven’t seen any at the farmers market.  I’m getting a little anxious.  I did buy three pumpkins to today to tide myself over.

      Reply
    33. 33.

      SealDeal

      Definitely looks like chinese okra, quite tasty if it’s still young.  Cut up and toss into a stir fry. Once they get older they take on the characteristics of a loofah and they get tougher inside and stringy.  We planted ONE small puny plant a few years ago and once it got going took over my side garden and started vining up the side of the house.  After we ate what we wanted of the younger fruit, I thought ‘cool’ I’ll have loofahs to peel and give away, but these are a bit different than traditional loofahs and the skin was difficult to remove once they dried so I had a big pile of dried pods at the end.

      Reply
    37. 37.

      WaterGirl

      @SealDeal: I will not be attempting to eat the strange vegetable that was growing in my flower bed. :-)

      I wonder if my neighbor – who lives kitty corner from the bed that was growing in – has a vegetable garden.

      I used to know the fellow who lived there, but I do not know the new people.

      Reply
    39. 39.

      Yarrow

      The Texas senators (jurors) are “deliberating” in the Texas AG Ken Paxton impeachment trial. “Experts” seem to think a verdict will come today because the senators want to go to happy hour and don’t want to spend the weekend dealing with this. I am quoting.

      I think they’ll convict him on at least one count to get him out of there because the Republicans would not have brought charges on one of their own if they didn’t expect to convict him. But I could be wrong.

      Reply
    40. 40.

      Jay C

      @Roger Moore:

      Actually, I think “Bibendum” is Latin, not French, and was first used by Michelin in an old ad, showing various tire-men worse-for-wear from drinking broken glass: except, of course, for the Michelin Man, raising his flute of shards and proclaiming “Nunc Est Bibendum” – roughly “drinks it all up”, or “it’s all drunk up”…

      Reply
    41. 41.

      bbleh

      So she imposes a carefully crafted order, and he blows right past it because transgression is a central — even THE central — part of his image and something all his cultists absolutely love about him.

      And then what?  Increasing sanctions, possibly culminating in a limited jail sentence?  He’ll play the martyr to the hilt, his cultists will all but riot, and lots of Reasonable Centrist Media Personalities will start scratching their chins and asking — just asking, mind you — whether maybe That Woman Has Gone Too Far.

      I don’t see an easy way out.  For the court to back down would be a surrender of the rule of law to the mob.  And neither she nor Jack “Sure That’s His Real Name” Smith have backed down from difficult confrontations before. But the politics are going to be brutal, and at least half the Congress-critters who should be supporting the law will be hiding under their desks and not taking calls.

      Ain’t gonna be pretty.

      Reply
    42. 42.

      mrmoshpotato

      @SealDeal:

      Definitely looks like chinese okra, quite tasty if it’s still young. Cut up and toss into a stir fry. Once they get older they take on the characteristics of a loofah and they get tougher inside and stringy. 

      And then you can soap it up and 🎶Splish splash I was taking a bath 🎶!

      Reply
    43. 43.

      mrmoshpotato

      @WaterGirl:

      I will not be attempting to eat the strange vegetable that was growing in my flower bed. :-) 

      What?  Is that living a bit too adventurously for ya? 😁😋

      Reply
    45. 45.

      smith

      So, as I understand it, the term of Jack Smith’s DC grand jury runs out today, and they have been busy for the past week or so. I was hoping we might have another cake celebration, but no such luck. I guess if Smith did obtain more indictments, he will keep them under wraps until they are needed.

      Reply
    46. 46.

      wjca

      what the heck this is.

      We get cucumbers like that occasionally.  Just bog standard cucumbers.  Depends on what the weather has been like.

      Reply
    47. 47.

      bbleh

      Re the putative plant thing, have you cut it open, just to make sure it’s not an alien spy device or a transmitter for the 5G chips we’ve had implanted from the so-called vaccine jabs?  Can’t be too careful…

      Reply
    49. 49.

      Yarrow

      Oh, good Lord. NBC News asked students at whatever university the VP recently spoke at about the Biden administration. One young woman says, “The difference between the Obama administration and the Biden administration is Obama was cool.” Good to know they’re focusing on the important policy issues and accomplishments. 🙄

      Reply
    52. 52.

      wjca

      @Yarrow: The difference between the Obama administration and the Biden administration…

      Heaven forbid they should ask for a comparison to the Trump (mal)adiminstration.

      Reply
    58. 58.

      Alison Rose

      @Yarrow: Well, they may have gotten better answers from others, but this one fits in with the media’s BIDEN IS SO OLD AND OUT OF TOUCH narrative, so of course they’re gonna use it. But if we’re talking about college students, this person could’ve been 18, and I can forgive an 18 year old for not offering profound and substantive remarks to an on-the-spot question.

      Reply
    60. 60.

      bbleh

      @Yarrow: @Baud: @Alison Rose: part of it is just Silly Season, but I think the major part is, nobody other than us political junkies is really thinking much about an election in 2024 that probably will but might not be between Biden and Trump.  (Trump might die!  Not that I would EVER wish for such a thing.)  Ask about Biden, you’ll get a comment about Biden out of context, perhaps compared to whatever pops into their heads — Obama, Trump, their fuzzy vision of the Ideal Candidate, or maybe — as Biden himself has noted! — the Almighty.  And this is why I ignore the “approval/disapproval” polls.

      Reply
    62. 62.

      Yarrow

      @Baud:  One of the young men in the group said they grew up with Obama in the White House and saw Malia and Sasha there. And that they don’t see that in the Biden White House.

      I suspect there was a much longer discussion and stupid NBC News pulled those clips. To the students’ credit the reporter asked them if they were worried about Biden’s age and only a couple of them raised their hands.

      Reply
    64. 64.

      Mike in NC

      Fat Bastard needs to be locked up pending trial and his idiotic social media taken down. Threats and intimidation are all he knows.

      Reply
    65. 65.

      wjca

      @bbleh: Trump might die!  Not that I would EVER wish for such a thing.

      Only consider the pain a guilty verdict would give him.  Such a wish might even be a mitzvah.

      Reply
    66. 66.

      Jackie

      Somebody just learned Special Counsel Smith has requested a gag order…

      “Biden Prosecutor, Deranged Jack Smith, has asked the Court to limit 45th President, and leading Republican Nominee (by more than 50 points, & beating Dems!) DONALD J. TRUMP’S, PUBLIC STATEMENTS,” Trump wrote on Friday. “So, I’m campaigning for President against an incompetent person who has WEAPONIZED the DOJ & FBI to go after his Political Opponent, & I am not allowed to COMMENT? They Leak, Lie, & Sue, & they won’t allow me to SPEAK?”

      The then added, “How else would I explain that Jack Smith is DERANGED, or Crooked Joe is INCOMPETENT?”

      Reply
    68. 68.

      bbleh

      @Jackie: fortunately, the waitstaff have learned to keep an eye on the news and discreetly remove certain condiments when necessary.  The house staff are most appreciative.

      Reply
    71. 71.

      Omnes Omnibus

      @bbleh: Something I would advice with respect to all clowns.  They might be French, existential, and mostly harmless, but is that a chance you want to take?

      Reply
    72. 72.

      wjca

      @bbleh: the first Ronald McDonald was definitely someone I would cross the street to avoid.

      Crossing the road to avoid McDonald’s (or Burger King or Taco Bell or Jack in the Box) is merely good nutritional practice.  Not to mention a blessing to your sense of smell.,

      Reply
    82. 82.

      KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager))

      @Anyway: Bitter melon was my guess, so I did a word search on comments to see if anyone else IDed it. Since you’re unsure, I’m going to second your guess.

      Reply
    85. 85.

      E.

      Jackal pedants should enjoy a current cnn.com headline about Ashton Kushner resigning from the board of an “anti-sex abuse group.”

      Reply
    89. 89.

      stinger

      @Yarrow:

      “The difference between the Obama administration and the Biden administration is Obama was cool.”

      The Obamas had two little girls, slightly older than today’s college students would have been at the time of that administration — in other words, just enough older for the interviewees to have talked about in school and looked up to. The Bidens don’t have young children living in the White House, so from that perspective, no cool factor. The opinion is understandable, if shallow.

      ETA: Or what Yarrow said at #62.

      Reply
    91. 91.

      buddhacat

      It’s a common gourd, a loofa; we make curry from it (as all Indian veggies eventually end up as curry anyway.) Gets mushy if cooked too long.

      Reply
    93. 93.

      rekoob

      @oldster: To hazard a guess, I believe the original ad in that article reads, as you say, “Now it’s time to drink”, and then the French copy then reads, “That is to say, Michelin drinks (or soaks up) all obstacles”. That fits in with the idea that the tires reduce the hazards (punctures and surface irregularities). Fond of Michelins, but also a big fan of Nokian Hakkapeliittas for the snow.

      Reply
    96. 96.

      SomeRandomGuy

      @WaterGirl: Well, nothing was *going* to happen until you issued an open invite to every horror movie ever made. Want to sneak around and have unprotected sex with your new boyfriend (I’d add “for the first time” but that sounds vaguely insulting in context….)?

      Oh, yeah, and have a friend around who likes to pop out and scare people, just to make sure your doom is as swift as it is certain!

      Oh, fine, don’t listen to me on a Friday night, just, if you’re holding on to a shotgun (that you vaguely remember the salesman at S-Mart calling a “Boom Stick”), don’t come crying to me! (Also, it’s Klaatu, Barada, Nicto.  Make sure *one* of you says it right.)

      Reply
    97. 97.

      Betsy

      @Scout211: that article says okra are squash.  Not!!

      Okra is in the mallow family, with cotton, marsh mallows (yes, really, they are just mallows that grow in the swamp), and hibiscus. And the roselles from which Jamaica tea is made.

      I know.  It’s a compulsion.

      Reply
    100. 100.

      sempronia

      It is a ribbon squash or loofah (we call it 絲瓜 in Chinese). You eat it when it’s young and tender like yours appears to be. When they’re much bigger and harder, you can dry them and use the fibrous skeletons as bath sponges. If you want to eat this one, you would use a vegetable peeler to take the skin off, especially the stiff, hard ridges. Slice it up and stir-fry with a little gravy. They have a delicate, vegetal taste. I like to add dried scallops, rehydrated and shredded between your fingers.

      Reply
    102. 102.

      Rugosa

      @WaterGirl:

       Hi WaterGirl, Gourds and squash are close relatives and cross-pollinate with abandon. A random cross popping up like that could well have a bitter or otherwise unpleasant flavor.

      Reply

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