Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

This is dead girl, live boy, a goat, two wetsuits and a dildo territory.  oh, and pink furry handcuffs.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

These are not very smart people, and things got out of hand.

American history and black history cannot be separated.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

Jesus watching the most hateful people claiming to be his followers

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

Giving in to doom is how we fail to fight for ourselves & one another.

The only way through is to slog through the muck one step at at time.

Text STOP to opt out of updates on war plans.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

Stand up, dammit!

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

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Reader Interactions

111Comments

  4. 4.

    sab

    What the Fuck Are You Feeding that Plant!

    Our euonymous are gorgeous this year also. The maples are pathetic

    Somebody has spelling problems. eu…whatever.

  7. 7.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @zhena gogolia: So are the Eastern Sierra.  We went up there two weeks ago and saw some of the best color we’ve seen out here.  Already submitted a couple OTR posts of pix ;)

  12. 12.

    trollhattan

    We can really pick ’em.

    Federal authorities closed supermarkets owned by Sacramento City Councilman Sean Loloee — who has been accused by prosecutors of withholding wages for employees — during a raid Thursday.

    “The Homeland Security Investigations and the IRS investigations have conducted an ‘authorized criminal enforcement activity’ at the Viva Supermarket locations,” said John A. Pearl, a spokesman for the IRS. “To protect all parties involved, to include the agents and subjects of the investigation, that’s all I can share with you at this moment.”

    Loloee, who owns the Viva Supermarket in Del Paso Heights (3845 Marysville Blvd.) and two other local Viva stores, has been scrutinized three times by federal prosecutors since 2009. Investigators said he violated federal minimum wage, overtime compensation, record keeping and child labor laws, according to The Bee’s previous reporting. A follow-up investigation in 2020 found that he allegedly violated these laws again, and then a third investigation alleged he coerced employees.

    sacbee.com/news/local/article281056023.html#storylink=cpy

    Dude’s been in hot water ever since taking office, including solid evidence he lived in a tony suburb and not in town–where the house he owns and probably rents out is packed with a couple dozen vehicles, stuff neighbors love.

  14. 14.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    In the CO Rockies, we’ve had some of the best fall colors I can remember.

    Being an East Coaster, for decades I have poo-pooed people here going on about “fall colors” because, well, East Coast = Glorious Fall Colors

    But I gotta admit that this year, for whatever reason, climate, my changing perception on things, who knows, there were some amazing scenes, particularly on the Western Slopes.

    Of course now our backyard ash and the two cottonwoods out front are dumping leaves in anticipation of our first in-Denver snowfall predicted by the weather guessers for Saturday.

  15. 15.

    Spanish Moss

    Gorgeous! I live in New England and that is as pretty as anything I see out of my windows.

  16. 16.

    sab

    @WaterGirl: Husband and I had decided against  early voting and now we can’t agree where to vote. United Methodist Church on N Hawkins, or St Paul’s Church on Market.

    St Paul’s is my church but we haven’t voted there in YEARS.

  18. 18.

    UncleEbeneezer

    I’m a bit bummed that I won’t be able to go to the Huntington Gardens on Friday for their Strange Science, Halloween event, but my co-worker has an emergency and I need to cover for him.  I will be able to go but not until after work for the last hour (my wife will go for the first three hours, solo until I arrive), and I’m not sure how into it I will be after coming straight from work.  But at least now I’ll have a rare Sat morning off!

    Also kind of bummed that one of my tennis gigs, assistant coaching for a local HS team has ended.  I thought I would be there one more week but the main coach informed me on Monday that she didn’t need me since they didn’t make the playoffs.  I’m bummed because I really enjoyed working with the girls/young women and was looking forward to saying goodbye and wishing them good luck.

  19. 19.

    Jeffg166

    Such a reliable plant for autumn color. It’s the only thing in Philadelphia that has the kind of color I remember as a kid. This is another year of washed out color.

  20. 20.

    WaterGirl

    @sab: You could always each vote in the church of your preference.  It could be kind of like a procession. :-)

    But then you’d have to agree on which church to go to first.

  22. 22.

    WaterGirl

    @Jeffg166: I had it in front of my house (north side) for a few years and it didn’t do much.  When I added my deck in front, that goes around the side, I moved it to the back yard.  (brutal sun)

    My burning bush like brutal sun a lot more than I do!

  26. 26.

    rekoob

    This might be a good time and place to suggest a DC meetup. I was thinking shortly after the Virginia/Ohio elections at one of Jose Andres’s places:

    Zaytinya — Gallery Place Metro

    I was there last week and it has a lively atmosphere and specializes in small plates/mezze.

    It’s quite popular, so we may need to have a critical mass to get a reservation.  It’s also right across the street from the Gallery Place Metro, in the heart of DC.

    Something to consider — maybe around 17-18 November 2023? Sooner? Later? Weekday? Weekend?

  28. 28.

    raven

    The Lincoln Home was built on the Grand Prairie region that covered 90% of central Illinois prior to European settlement. The black soil of the Grand Prairie supported a rich display of grasses and wildflowers that grew upwards of 8 feet tall in this relatively flat area. Big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), Indian grass (Sorghastrum nutans), and compass plant (Silphium laciniatum) thrived in this climate and soil.

    The black soil of this region formed when the most recent glacial episodes (Illinoisan and Wisconsonian, ca. 150,000 – 50,000 years ago) deposited glacial drift in the flat landscape. These rich mesic soils endured scorching summer heat, intense spring rains, lightning fires, and freezing temperatures. The extensive array of grasses and forbs that grew on the land were able to withstand these diverse weather conditions. Over time, this soil became rich and productive, and prairie plants became anchored through deep root systems.

  30. 30.

    WaterGirl

    I wasn’t thinking this when I put up this post, but with all the discussion of fall colors…

    I would LOVE to have a whole bunch of On the Road posts with fall colors.  Take pictures, you guys, and share them with the rest of us.  My burning bush is the only fall color right now, as far as the eye can see.  So far, anyway!

  31. 31.

    Geminid

    @WaterGirl: I’ve been looking up news about the Gaza war. None of it’s good, but I ran into an unrelated story on Laura Rozen’s Twitter timeline. She reposted Washington Post reporter Seung Min Kim:

        News- the White House is bringing new Speaker Michael Johnson to the Situation Room (as well as leaders of Foreign Affairs/Aprops/Intel) for a classified briefing on Biden’s nearly $106 billion supplemental request.

    @seungminkim 

    Ed.

  34. 34.

    sab

    @WaterGirl: Not in Ohio. We can only vote at the Board of Elections. We are a Republicans control everything state. Law is on his side, but also our secretary of state was apparently dropped on his head in infancy. Not the brightest even in the Republican tool drawer.

  35. 35.

    Suzanne

    Here in western PA, autumn is stinkin’ glorious. Picture-postcard. Mr. Suzanne and I went running on this amazing trail a few miles south of us, with leaves floating down as we ran. Just awesome.

  38. 38.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Mr DAW got out of a zoom meeting early because one of the guys “found out” it was his wife’s birthday, and he had to take her out to dinner. Another guy suggested that he just do it tomorrow night. Luckily for the first guy, he knew better.

  40. 40.

    Redshift

    We were up in the Mid-Hudson Valley last weekend, and the colors were gorgeous (though not fully out, damn climate change!) Some of the brightest were red bushes similar to that.

  41. 41.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Also going on today: debating whether or not I wanna ski for my B-day in Taos. I hear it’s amazing, but skiing is so damn expensive and would effectively eat up a whole day (I rarely have the energy to do much in evening/night after skiing).  So thinking about some B-day alternatives in town that would be easier.

  42. 42.

    WaterGirl

    @sab: Then what the heck did you mean by this?

    Husband and I had decided against  early voting and now we can’t agree where to vote. United Methodist Church on N Hawkins, or St Paul’s Church on Market.

  44. 44.

    Redshift

    @WaterGirl: Seems to me he’s also putting the full weight of the office on him, and it’s somewhat flattering. So not just hoping for good faith, but impressing upon him that he has the choice to take this seriously and not just stick with the kneejerk responses he came in with.

  45. 45.

    Mousebumples

    @WaterGirl – Wisconsin is filled with fall color right now. My maple is gorgeous, along with other neighborhood trees…

  47. 47.

    WaterGirl

    @Redshift: Yeah, I had a maybe similar thought.  Let him see what it’s like to be “on the inside” so that when he pulls a bunch of dick moves, he will know what he’s missing, and maybe he’ll think twice.

  48. 48.

    RevRick

    My wife’s sister and her family live in Maine and have been locked down. The schools in Freeport and South Portland were closed, so the sister and brother-in-law have been doing grandparents duty.

    Chester County PA was on edge for days when a convict escaped the county jail. This will get increasingly stressful for the folks in Maine as long as the killer isn’t found.

  49. 49.

    CaseyL

    That is a gorgeous bush.  How long does it stay looking like that?

    My townhouse complex is surrounded by conifers, so on the one hand we don’t get much/any Fall Foliage.  OTOH, we also don’t get sad naked trees once all the leaves fall down.  (We do have a few maples, including one right by my porch, which deprive us of dramatic color in autumn and still are sad/naked in winter.  But they do drop leaves everywhere with great gusto, so there’s that!)

    Just got off a webinar of State Employee Retirement Benefits, even though I’m still 5 years out.  This is the first of two webinars today, and was a basic overview of all benefits retirees get.  There will be a second one later this afternoon offering a deep-dive into health insurance coverage.  But most of the questions were about retiree health insurance, which the hosts answered cheerfully enough, while reminding everyone that the later session is the best way to find out all that stuff.

    Among the non-insurance questions were whether retired state employees still get state-subsidized ORCA cards (mass transit): we do not.  I’m pretty sure that was a retiree benefit once upon a time, maybe 10 or 20 years ago.  No longer.  Alas.

  50. 50.

    sab

    @WaterGirl: They change where we vote every election. We don’t agree where we are supposed to vote. How nuts is that? My parents voted in the same place for sixty years. I voted in the same place for twenty years.

    Now, every vote it is Where?

    I love Ohio but often it sucks.

  54. 54.

    WaterGirl

    @CaseyL: It stays pretty long, until there is a heavy rain or a lot of wind, both of which take the leaves down.  So far, so good!

    I’ll let you know how long it last.

    We will have a hard freeze in a very small number of days. I should have cut my last hydrangeas this morning before the rain started.  There are maybe a dozen or so bloom; when the rain stops I’ll cut them and put them in a vase.

    I have the last of my cosmos in tiny vases.

    edit: and i see that it needs water!

  62. 62.

    WaterGirl

    @sab: Oh, I see!  Crazy.  Almost like they don’t want people to vote.  Don’t want it to a ritual.

    I was so sad the year they split the district down the middle of my street and I didn’t get to vote at my regular place anymore.

    That’s when I started voting early. So sad.

  64. 64.

    Ruckus

    @WaterGirl:

    The apt complex I live in had a halloween lunch, a bit they do for a few holidays every year. The patio they hold these on is next to my apartment and they bring decent food and music. LOUD music. I’ve been unavailable for a bit.

  66. 66.

    JPL

    @Brachiator: My thought was obviously for the victims, but children also who might be robbed of Halloween activities.     The second part sound frivilous, but it’s not meant to be.

  70. 70.

    eclare

    @JPL:

    Oh I didn’t even think of that.  One more formerly safe childhood pleasure gone if he isn’t captured.  And you know those kids have planned their costumes, etc.

  72. 72.

    Dan B

    @WaterGirl: Mostly in parks but we are still in drought and the reservoirs are at 30% capacity so drizzly Seattle is close to rationing.  We have ponds that get water from the roofs so we’re able to water but there were still some stressed plants.

  74. 74.

    Gin & Tonic

    So the IAEA reports “powerful explosions” around ZNPP. I wonder what the source of those explosions could possibly be…

    Powerful explosions shook area near Ukraine’s Khmelnitsky NPP overnight, shattering windows on the site. No impact on operations but highlights dangers to nuclear safety & security during ongoing military conflict. t.co/qaTyQYdMuS pic.twitter.com/k77X6pUav3
    — IAEA – International Atomic Energy Agency ⚛️ (@iaeaorg) October 25, 2023

  77. 77.

    TriassicSands

    @sab:

    I live in Washington State where we have all mail-in voting. Recently, in what for me was the worst imaginably bad timing, I had to move from one town to another. I changed my address with the clerk, but in the last two days I have received three ballots. I’m going to assume they want me to vote three times. Of course, I won’t, but what if they send me three ballots next year? Oh, the temptation.

    All mail-in voting, is, on balance, better. At first, I missed physically going to vote, but mail-in voting has some very real advantages. The ballots arrive about 18 days before the deadline — a visible reminder (for those who are paying attention or are very busy) that election day is upon us. With the ballot in hand, and almost three weeks, it helps encourage research into the lesser known candidates and offices, some of which are “non-partisan” despite the political nature of the decision-making. Drop-off is easy, because we don’t have a fascist governor or legislature trying to suppress voting. Or one can mail it in, no stamp required.

    In case of age, infirmity, or a busy schedule, including a job that makes getting time off to vote difficult, mailing or ballot drop-off is easy. Even those who are swamped could put their ballot in a drop-off box at 3 AM (except on election day itself), if necessary.

    Nothing is likely to get Americans to be better informed, but with all mail-in voting at least it is easier for the willing to cast their votes.

    Since 1968, I have never failed to vote. One year, long before mail-in voting, after starting up El Capitan in Yosemite, I rappelled to the ground from 600 feet up, hitch-hiked to the Post Office, cast my absentee ballot, hitch-hiked back to El Cap, jumared back up the 600 feet, and finished the 34 pitch, ~3,000 foot climb. I vote.

  80. 80.

    CarolPW

    @TriassicSands: With all of the threats to poll workers I think mail in is going to have to be the way to go anywhere that actually wants people to vote. For states that don’t care, some may have initiative opportunities for people to tell the state that mail in is how they want to vote.​

  82. 82.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @WaterGirl: I trust that among some solid stuff, PUJOTUS feeds the new Shrieker of the Grouse a few fascist-fascinating crumbs of disinformation…so that when Cheetoh Benito immediately starts spouting off about them, Dark Brandon has an ironclad excuse to cut the Unterstrombinnedführer, um, SOTH right out of the loop for good.

  87. 87.

    Dan B

    @Uncle Cosmo: New SOTH is a big fan of Christian kook David Barton who has been contacted by Johnson about staff.  Barton believes that the Constitution grants more rights to Christians because it copied much of the Bible.  He wants to recriminalize homosexuality.  Whee!

  89. 89.

    Geminid

    @Uncle Cosmo: CIA Director Burns to Speaker Johnson:

    “Now I have to tell you some very, highly sensitive information. Whatever you do, DON’T TELL LAUREN BOEBERT!”

    And then Burns lays the trap.

  90. 90.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @brendancalling: Not quite metal, but my wife stumbled upon this great yawning cat image known as “Like Linus” from the Deftones that I was totally unaware of.  It was used in promotions for their first single, Bored and first album, Adrenalize.  Somehow despite being a pretty big fan I had never seen it before.  Anyways it reminded me how amazing that 1995 album was and how I’d never heard anything like them before.  Along with Tool whose first album, Undertow also completely blew my mind and made metal interesting to me again, at the time.

  91. 91.

    JPL

    @Leto: I assume the elves will carry cause you know mall Santa will be next.   What better way to satisfy a sick mind.

    I wish people would wake up and realize that this is not the way to be exceptional.

  93. 93.

    NotMax

    @WaterGirl

    Learned an hour or so ago that aunt in Brazil (Mom’s sister) died peacefully at home. Not unexpected as she turned 101 in March.

    I’ll thank folks for any condolences in advance. No need, please, to clutter up the thread with them.

  100. 100.

    EarthWindFire

    @rekoob: I’m game if not right after Election Day. We’re thinking of retiring to coastal Delaware and plan to visit that weekend to see what it’s like off season.

  102. 102.

    sab

    @WaterGirl: We don’t vote in “our church.” We vote wherever the Board of Elections tell us, which is usually a church.They have parking and a sense of civic responsibility. The BoE switches us around a lot (voter suppression? ) This year we ar confused again. Husband thinks there, I think here, we’ll find out trying to vote.

  104. 104.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    Not to be a Debby Downer about Fall color (and that burning bush WG posted is gorgeous!), but it all reminds me of death since that’s what causes it.  The leaves are dying, and the lack of chlorophyll is what allows the other colors in the leaf to show.  Give me a vibrant green anytime. Spring is my favorite, with the light green (almost neon) new growth at the ends of the fir trees.

  105. 105.

    kalakal

    @Cameron: That’s the chap, had books recalled due to “innacuracies”

    theguardian.com/books/us-news-blog/2012/aug/13/book-thomas-jefferson-complaints-inaccuracies

    Or from a more scholarly perspective

    wthrockmorton.com/2012/08/09/thomas-nelson-pulls-david-bartons-the-jefferson-lies/

    He’s got form for calling himself “Doctor”

    wthrockmorton.com/2016/10/10/life-christian-university-confirms-david-bartons-earned-doctorate/

    A shining wit* of the Wingnut Welfare brigade

    * Spoonerism

  106. 106.

    🐾BillinGlendaleCA

    @UncleEbeneezer: I took two trips up to the Eastern Sierra this year.  I was up at Bishop Creek the week before you and it was about a week pre-peak, still nice.  I went up to Big Pine Creek last Friday, at peak at the trailhead, but a few days past peak once I climbed above the First Falls.  I ended up hiking all the way to Third Lake.

  107. 107.

    sab

    Test question: who knows what “there is a light at the end of the frog”  means? That has changed my life. My husband says ” who even knows what it means?”

    Somedays I wonder why I am married.  Today has been one of those days.

  109. 109.

    Gvg

    @A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan): Actually, the trees are preparing to sleep and withdrawing the chlorophyll and other nutrients into the permanent structures (stems and trunk) leaving behind the temporary stuff they can’t reuse. The vivid colors were always there, but covered up by the green solar energy converting chlorophyll. The leaves fall, to become soil and be reused by the roots. It’s just a very slow sleep wake cycle to a different than us creature.

    That said, I grew up in Florida and hate winter. Bare trees to not look good, snow looks like mars after I endure cold awhile and fall color should be the orange tree crop getting ripe.

  110. 110.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    @Gvg: Thank you! What a nice perspective.  So it is just death for the temporary stuff and the tree is just going to sleep. And yes, I struggle with truly realizing trees (generally) work on a  much longer life cycle.

    It’s just a very slow sleep wake cycle to a different than us creature.

    ETA: Being more animal-oriented, but working to become a gardener, I have previously struggled with pruning – what, cut off its arms!?!  Plants are different than animals (but wonderful)!  My husband and I recently went to a native plant nursery and had the best time. Pollinators and hummingbirds will hopefully be happier next year.

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