Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

’Where will you hide, Roberts, the laws all being flat?’

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Every decision we make has lots of baggage with it, known or unknown.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

So many bastards, so little time.

They don’t have outfits that big. nor codpieces that small.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

The revolution will be supervised.

That meeting sounds like a shotgun wedding between a shitshow and a clusterfuck.

I would gladly pay you tuesday for a hamburger today.

We will not go quietly into the night; we will not vanish without a fight.

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

This blog will pay for itself.

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

Decision time: keep arguing about the last election, or try to win the next one?

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Petty moves from a petty man.

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Sunday Morning Open Thread: Happy Diwali!

Sunday Morning Open Thread: Happy Diwali!

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Why it matters: The religious holiday, also known as the festival of lights, is celebrated by over 4 million people in the U.S. and more than 1 billion people worldwide…

Between the lines: Diwali is a time to celebrate life and good conquering evil…

Diwali is celebrated over five days, each day holding a different significance, per the Hindu American Foundation.

  • Day one: People clean their homes and make colored patterns on the floor with powders, flowers, rice or sand called rangolis or kolam. This day is also used to shop and make sweet and savory treats.
  • Day two: Called small Diwali, the day is spent decorating homes with rangoli. Clay lamps are put on display.
  • Day three: People put on new clothes and perform a worship service called puja at the temple. Lamps called diyas are lit, and family and friends come together to share food and light fireworks.
  • Day four: The first day of the new year, celebrated by exchanging gifts.
  • Day five: Honors the bonds between siblings…

    • ======

    Sunday Morning Open Thread: Happy Diwali!
    Sunday Morning Open Thread: Happy Diwali! 1

    NYTimes’ Chief WH Correspondent, Peter Baker: Does it sometimes seem like nothing works right anymore?…

    Reader Interactions

    121Comments

    2. 2.

      Ken

      Diwali is a time to celebrate life and good conquering evil…

      Must every thread be about last week’s elections?

    3. 3.

      Baud

      Via Reddit

      Pope Francis has fired the Texan bishop Joseph Strickland, a fierce critic who has questioned the Pope’s leadership of the Catholic church.

      ….

      Bishop Strickland has launched a series of attacks on the Pope’s attempts to update the Church’s position on social matters and inclusion, including on abortion, transgender rights and same-sex marriage.

      The best part.

      Bishop Strickland was under investigation by the Vatican and had previously declined the opportunity to resign, and in an open letter in September challenged the Pope to fire him.

      “I cannot resign as Bishop of Tyler because that would be me abandoning the flock,” he said.

      The right-wing “Coalition for Canceled Priests” held a conference earlier this year to support him during the investigation.

    4. 4.

      OzarkHillbilly

      2nd day of deer season. I don’t have to worry about Billy Jean (she listens) but Percy has to be on a leash now (and he hates it) because if he catches a scent he has to follow it and it’s hell and damnation to anyone (me) who doesn’t like it.

    8. 8.

      BruceFromOhio

      Lol poor Peter Bakers first world complaints. Hey Peter! Your rag normalized fascism, fascists, and the destruction of democracy. May all your Ubers leave you standing in the rain, and may no one ever return your calls.

    10. 10.

      satby

      Best twitter reply to that dumbshit Baker courtesy of our FP emeritus soonergrunt:

      @soonergrunt  12h

      Newspapers that softpedal facism in one of the major parties, and run “both sides” stories rather than reporting what’s actually happening.

    12. 12.

      satby

      @Baud: He’s a GOP shill, whining about the country going to hell is part of his (and MAGA’s) shtick. He probably had to wait in line for something like a regular guy.

    13. 13.

      satby

      @Baud: Everyone who opposed him, but libs got extra special mention, along with immigrants and “thugs” (and we all know what he means by that word).

    14. 14.

      Baud

      @satby:

      Gotcha. Old man yells at clouds.

      In my limited Internet bubble, I’ve noticed an uptick in propaganda aimed at young people that makes the same pitch.

    16. 16.

      Baud

      While the NYT is garbage, apparently garbage sells.  I read their subscriptions are through the roof, leave WaPo in the dust. Too bad for this country.

    19. 19.

      Jeffro

      This is definitely a new (and possibly, needed) take on our upcoming presidential election: a trump-Biden rematch is what the country needs

      I’m still mulling it over…

      Like so many others, I also wish we could avoid that choice or at least defer it. As the journalist Amy Walter has put it, “Swing voters would rather eat a bowl of glass than have to choose between Trump and Biden again.” Well, it may be time to grab a spoon and unroll the gauze. When half the country believes democracy isn’t working well, when calls for political violence have become commonplace, when the speaker of the House is an election denier, it is time to face what we risk becoming and to accept or reject it. We have no choice but to choose.

      Even if some combination of poor health and legal proceedings somehow pushed Biden and Trump aside — and some blandly likable generic candidates took their places — we could not simply rewind the past eight years and return to our regularly scheduled programming. America would still face the choices and temptations that Biden and Trump have come to represent; the choice would not change, even if the faces did.

      Of course, we already faced this choice — and made it — in 2020. Why insist on a do-over? Because a country approaching its 250th birthday does not have the luxury of calling itself an experiment forever; this is the moment to assess the results of that experiment. Because Jan. 6 was not the final offensive by those who would overrun the will of voters.

      Because a lone Trump victory in 2016 could conceivably be remembered as an aberration if it were followed by two consecutive defeats, but a Trump restoration in 2024 would confirm America’s slide toward authoritarian rule and would render Biden’s lone term an interregnum, a blip in history’s turn. And we must choose again because the fever did not break; instead, it threatens to break us.

      2024 could have been about which party had the best plan for dealing with climate change, or just how big of a child tax credit the nation could afford.  Instead, it’s going to be about whether we turn our democracy over to a corrupt and addled goon who has already promised to imprison his enemies (and worse).

      So yes, let’s have trump-Biden if we have to.  But the fact that the GOP is going to be running with trump at all is what makes the stakes so high.  At least Lozada is talking about the stakes, though, and not the odds.

    20. 20.

      bjacques

      They should replace Peter Baker with Ed Anger, who’s at least entertaining.

      I’m madder than a ring-tailed snake caught in a Roto-Rooter!

    21. 21.

      lowtechcyclist

      Diwali is a time to celebrate life and good conquering evil…

      When is the latter supposed to happen?

    22. 22.

      New Deal democrat

      I sent this comment to Josh Marshall at TPM about the Ohio GOP’s apparent plan to strip their Supreme Court of authority to enforce the abortion Amendment just passed by the voters, and I thought it would be worthwhile to share it here:

      Can the Ohio Legislature really pass a law preventing the Court from implementing the Abortion Constitutional Amendment passed by the voters last Tuesday?

      Well, the answer seems to be “yes and no.”

      The Ohio Constitution, at Article 4, Section 2 says:

      “The supreme court shall have appellate jurisdiction as follows: … Cases involving questions arising under the constitution of the United States or of this state.”

      Then at Section 4 it says:

      “The courts of common pleas and divisions thereof shall have such original jurisdiction over all justiciable matters and such powers of review of proceedings of administrative officers and agencies as may be provided by law.”

      So it seems pretty clear that the Ohio Legislature can indeed remove jurisdiction over all matters relevant to the Abortion Constitutional Amendment from the trial courts, and thereby also remove appellate jurisdiction from the Supreme Court.

      But Section 1 also says:

      “The Supreme Court shall have original jurisdiction in the following: … Mandamus”

      And

      “No law shall be passed or rule made whereby any person shall be prevented from invoking the original jurisdiction of the supreme court.”

      And there is the flaw in the GOP’s strategy. Once any prosecutor or other official lifts a finger to continue to enforce Ohio’s current abortion law, an aggrieved party can bring an action in Mandamus to force the official to cease action. There appears to be nothing the Legislature can do to prevent the Supreme Court from hearing that case.

      FWIW, as I’m sure you already know, Marbury v. Madison was a similar action in Mandamus.

      And I am not sure even GOP Justices would want to participate in the defenestration of their own authority in that case.

      Ultimately, by the way, I am not sure that doing away with gerrymandering would end the problem in Ohio. I did a brief unscientific check of the 33 Senate races in 2021 and 2023, and it would take a flip of 11% in the partisan vote statewide to hand Democrats control of the Senate (i.e., if every GOPer who won by 10% or less lost, the GOP would still control the Senate). Which is another way of saying that there are probably more GOP voters statewide than there are Democrats. If Ohio voters want to stop these Legislative outrages, then a significant percentage of them are going to have to vote like it in partisan elections.

      But I think it is fair to say that if the Legislature refuses to allow the Abortion Constitutional Amendment to take effect, a majority of likely voters will be incandescent with rage. And if an anti-gerrymandering Amendment and an Amendment amending Section 1 to include Constitutional questions among those as to which no law could prevent jurisdiction were both to be placed on the November 2024 ballot, from a strictly partisan point of view Democrats could hardly ask for a better environment.

    23. 23.

      lowtechcyclist

      @Jeffro: ​
       

      At least Lozada is talking about the stakes, though, and not the odds.

      Thank goodness someone at that benighted paper is.

    28. 28.

      Dorothy A. Winsor

      @Jeffro: That’s a good column. A Biden victory in 2024 would say yes, we meant it when we voted that way last time. A Trump victory means I’m gathering my paperwork and claiming that Canadian citizenship that I inherited from my father. Maybe I can sponsor Mr DAW.

    30. 30.

      lowtechcyclist

      @OzarkHillbilly: ​
       

      Hats off to the photographer. I doubt the article says anything we don’t already know, but that pic…

      And again, anytime someone makes a big deal of the stakes rather than the odds, that’s a step in the right direction.

    31. 31.

      Enhanced Voting Techniques

      Since we like bitching about the crap the MSM does, here is a video about William Randolph Hearst.

      youtu.be/SMzT5KPHJ7w?si=KABikf9nGOWJ8vDS

      The short of it, the MSM has always been an endless stream of  BS with click bait headlines and jerked around by the weirdos who own it.  The MSM didn’t change, we just got more aware of what they what they are doing.

    36. 36.

      SFAW

      @Jeffro:

      Because Jan. 6 was not the final offensive by those who would overrun the will of voters turn America into Gilead.

      Fixed, because “overrun[ning] the will of the voters” is just a by-product.​

    38. 38.

      JMG

      @Baud: The two reasons the Times is flourishing while the Post isn’t have nothing to do with news as such. They are 1. Wordle and the other puzzles the Times runs, and especially 2. The Food Section. Shift those two features to the Post and the papers’ financial situations would be reversed. Odd that the paper run by the zillionaire businessman didn’t figure that one out.

    39. 39.

      Betty Cracker

      Day five: Honors the bonds between siblings…

      I like this idea. Sibling relationships don’t get enough attention in my culture.

    41. 41.

      SFAW

      @BruceFromOhio: ​
       

      At the moment, my calendar is open that day.

      It seems highly likely that mine will be, too, in a manner of speaking. And even if I’m still here, it seems unlikely that I’d be aware enough for it to matter.

    44. 44.

      sdhays

      @New Deal democrat: Gerrymandering also changes the electorate by encouraging people to not vote or vote differently simply because the chances of a different outcome are virtually impossible.

      But point taken. Ohio is a pretty conservative state.

    47. 47.

      Betty Cracker

      @Jeffro: I agree with that column and hope the addled authoritarian goon doesn’t choke on a Big Mac before America renders its verdict. Because if he were replaced with someone like DeSantis, that would also represent a choice between autocracy and democracy, only the options would seem less stark to the aggressively low-info voters who decide our elections.

    48. 48.

      Frankensteinbeck

      @SFAW:

      “overrun[ning] the will of the voters” is just a by-product.

      Yep.  They want to get their way.  They like being able to do it because the majority agrees with them, but if the majority doesn’t, then fuck democracy.

      Like anyone with that asshole a viewpoint, their way is cruel.

      EDIT – @Jeffro:

      “Swing voters would rather eat a bowl of glass than have to choose between Trump and Biden again.”

      I feel the same way, and I love Biden.

    49. 49.

      lowtechcyclist

      @Dorothy A. Winsor:

      That’s a good column. A Biden victory in 2024 would say yes, we meant it when we voted that way last time. A Trump victory means I’m gathering my paperwork and claiming that Canadian citizenship that I inherited from my father. Maybe I can sponsor Mr DAW.

      We all have to make our own choices, but damned if I’ll let him and his brownshirts take this country without a fight, and that includes after next November if he’s President-elect this time next year.

      If that rat bastard were to invoke the Insurrection Act, it will be time to protest peacefully and make the soldiers choose whether they’re going to shoot their fellow citizens for doing so, or support the Constitution and ignore an unconstitutional order.

      Push comes to shove, the Northeast, West Coast, and probably a couple of Midwestern states like Illinois and Michigan can secede. There aren’t enough military to force them all to stay.

    50. 50.

      Geminid

      @Dorothy A. Winsor: I wonder if anyone has written a book about the Sherman brothers, Senator John Sherman and General William Tecumseh Sherman. They were both orphaned as boys and raised by a friend of their father’s (who did not like it when William courted and married his daughter). They each went on to be high achievers.

    51. 51.

      Jackie

      @Jeffro: This (to me) states the crux of why 2024 is so important in which way Americans decide America’s future as a country:

      A contest between Biden and Trump would compel Americans to either reaffirm or discard basic democratic and governing principles. More so than any other pairing, Biden versus Trump forces us to decide, or at least to clarify, who we think we are and what we strive to be.

      Excerpted from the NYT article you linked to.

    54. 54.

      Salty Sam .

      @Dorothy A. Winsor:@Betty Cracker: For reasons too buried for me to articulate, I love stories about brothers.

      Very timely for me- my brother is currently not speaking to me (I called him out on some grossly inappropriate behavior at a family gathering), and it is really upsetting to me now.  I’ve been struggling with this for weeks.

      But last night Salty Spouse and I rewatched “A River Runs Through It”, and the final sermon by Rev. Maclean put it all into perspective for me:  “And so it is that those we live with and should know who elude us, but we can still love them.  We can love completely and without understanding.”

      I think I’m ready for the fifth day of Diwali…

    55. 55.

      lowtechcyclist

      @sdhays: ​
       

      @New Deal democrat: Gerrymandering also changes the electorate by encouraging people to not vote or vote differently simply because the chances of a different outcome are virtually impossible.

      But point taken. Ohio is a pretty conservative state.

      One thing about gerrymandering is that it can give a party that wouldn’t otherwise have it a veto-proof majority. Not saying it’ll happen in Ohio, but it’s hardly unusual for a red state to elect a Democratic governor, or vice versa. But gerrymandering can make it pointless to try to do so.

    56. 56.

      Jeffro

      @Betty Cracker: I hear you and mostly agree…but I have to admit, I’d really rather just have Orangemandias off the board via Big Mac.  He has such a malign grip on his cult, and is so skilled at pushing all their buttons (all while manipulating our snooze media and cashing checks from our enemies), it’s beyond dangerous to the country.

    57. 57.

      Another Scott

      @sdhays: Ohio gave us Howard Metzenbaum.  It’s not naturally reactionary.  As you say, gerrymandering, and voter suppression, are big (but not the only) reasons why Ohio is so far to the right now.  (Similarly with Texas, Florida, Georgia, NC, …) Change is a long process, but change will happen.

      A national updated voting rights act will not be a silver bullet, but will help a lot.

      Cheers,
      Scott.

    61. 61.

      OzarkHillbilly

      @Dorothy A. Winsor: I don’t know!

      I know, I just find the fact that an accomplished writer is unable to articulate something kind of funny. :-)

      As far as father/son conflicts go, they are a rich vein of self inflicted misery. Fortunately, I have more or less managed to avoid them with my sons. The few that have occurred we were able to avoid long lasting damage.

    62. 62.

      Betty Cracker

      @Jeffro: I hear you too. It really is a dilemma because you’re right about the malevolent clown’s unique connection to his cult, but it seems like the quickest way to end this 7+ years of continuous existential crisis is a second defeat of their preferred avatar of grievance and lawlessness.

    63. 63.

      kalakal

      There are examples of robust press response to evil right wing nutjobs

      From the people that brought us “Liz the Lettuce” here’s a take on the ambulatory bag of bile that is the 3rd highest ranking politician in the UK

      Suella Braverman

      For those viewers who are unfamiliar with Braverman she is in charge of the entire criminal justice and immigration system in the UK .Her recent hits include decaring homelessness to being a “lifestyle choice”, trying to order that refugees/asylum seekers crossing the channel should be left to drown and should any make it to shore she is trying to get them deported to Rwanda ( eat your heart out DeSantis! ) in order to fill out the appropriate forms, which are in the UK. She recently got herself in deep shit by declaring that that well known hotbed of revolutionary Marxism, the Metropolitan Police are a bunch of Woke Lefties biased against ordinary, decent like Nazis Tories. It is fair to say the situation has not developed necessarily to her advantage

    64. 64.

      SiubhanDuinne

      @SFAW:

      It seems highly likely that mine will be, too, in a manner of speaking. And even if I’m still here, it seems unlikely that I’d be aware enough for it to matter.

      The date is three weeks precisely after my 116th birthday. I suppose theoretically it’s possible I’ll also be around, being interviewed by feature writers about the secrets to my longevity.

    66. 66.

      RevRick

      @New Deal democrat: Incandescent rage doesn’t even begin to describe what would happen. GOP women in suburban districts would see this as a massive FU hurled in their direction, and after they got over their initial shock, would clearly see what Republican officials think of them. Sherrod Brown’s reelection prospects would soar, and I suspect even Jim Jordan would stand on shaky ground. Talk about winning a battle and losing the war.
      Oh, and Joe Biden is probably secretly praying, “Do it!”

    67. 67.

      Citizen Alan

      @Betty Cracker: I have one sibling, and she’s a maga freak. And if he says one damned word about politics when I go back to mississippi for christmas, I will go no contact and hire a lawyer to divide our joint property inheritance without ever returning to mississippi.

    69. 69.

      SiubhanDuinne

      @Geminid:

      the Sherman brothers, Senator John Sherman and General William Tecumseh Sherman

      I had no idea until now that these two men were even related, let alone brothers. Can’t think why it never occurred to me to wonder.

    70. 70.

      OzarkHillbilly

      @kalakal: I don’t understand how it is that she is still around. She makes a point of pissing on every body, enemies and allies alike.

    71. 71.

      Citizen Alan

      @lowtechcyclist: Trump would nuke us if he had the opportunity. And tommy tubberville would make sure that there won’t be any military leaders around willing to stop him.

    76. 76.

      Citizen Alan

      @Another Scott:

      Of all the reasons I have to utterly despise the many people I blame for Shitgibbon winning in 2016, I think the biggest one is rucho v. common cause, in which the Supreme Court in 2019 held 5-4 that partisan gerrymandering was ok. Replace Scalia with any democratic nominee or even leave it vacant with a 4-4 opinion that leaves the appellate decision in place, and that case flips the other way and every gerrymandered state would have to reapportion with fair maps.

      But no because buttery males.

    78. 78.

      New Deal democrat

      @Geminid: James Lee McDonough’s biography of Wm. Tecumshaw Sherman goes into a lot of detail about his correspondence with his brother.

      ”Life is strange” trivia: Wm. Tecumsah’s wife was Catholic. He never converted, and was extremely disappointed when his younger son became a Catholic priest. His son is buried in the Order’s cemetery right next to the son of Confederate general Greenstreet (iirc), who also became a priest.

    79. 79.

      RevRick

      Apropos of nothing, I’m preaching at my home church about the challenges of addressing climate change, playing off Isaiah 24’s doom scrolling versus Hebrews 11’s affirmation of hope.

      We webcast via YouTube at 11 am., and the link is on www,stjohnsuccallentown.org

    80. 80.

      Another Scott

      @Citizen Alan: +1

      TIFG only won because a bunch of small nudges from people putting their reactionary rocks on the scales.  Comey, FTFNYT,  voter suppression, etc., etc.

      They tell us with every one of their anti-democratic stunts that they know they cannot win fair elections.

      As infuriating as all that is, it shows that we can reverse it.  It won’t be easy, and there’s no magic single election where suddenly everything will be better forever and ever, amen, but we can make the future we want if we do the work – every single election.  We’re not doomed.

      They won’t give up.

      We cannot give up.

      Change is always coming.  The reactionaries want to drag us back into the mud, but there are more of us who want to move forward and make a better world for ourselves and our posterity.  When we do the work and turn out, we win.

      Thanks.

      And Fight for 15!!

      Cheers,
      Scott.

    81. 81.

      SFAW

      @SiubhanDuinne:

      being interviewed by feature writers about the secrets to my longevity.

      “It’s because I read and comment on Balloon Juice almost every day. I mean, SOMEONE has to correct the egregious grammatical errors, and SteveInTheWTFKW isn’t always available. Literally. Oh, and sometimes I write poems/lyrics that are well-received there.”

      Did I cover the key points?

    83. 83.

      Barbara

      @SFAW: I looked it up.  “Interred next to him is Father John Salter, a nephew of Alexander Stephens, Vice President of the Confederate States of America.”

    85. 85.

      kalakal

      @OzarkHillbilly: It’s a mystery. It’s as if they made MTG head of the DOJ. MTG might edge it on legal knowledge* Braverman is really popular with the ultras and loathed by everyone else.

      *not sarcasm, Braverman is unaccountably  qualified as a lawyer despite having  no discernable knowledge of the law

    86. 86.

      Barbara

      @Another Scott: “TIFG only won because . . .” of misogyny and the multi-decade campaign to demonize Hillary Clinton.

      Here is the proof: Pennsylvania had six statewide elections in 2016, at both federal and state level.  Two women and four men ran on the Democratic ticket.  All four men won their statewide elections and both women lost.  Okay, not proof but pretty darn suggestive.

    87. 87.

      lowtechcyclist

      @SiubhanDuinne:

      The date is three weeks precisely after my 116th birthday. I suppose theoretically it’s possible I’ll also be around, being interviewed by feature writers about the secrets to my longevity.

      I’d be merely 104 years old that summer, and I honestly believe I’ve got good odds of making it to 100, based on family history and my own fitness.  But104? That’s a bit dicier.

    89. 89.

      Queen of Lurkers

      @Betty Cracker: This is a nice celebration, but it focuses not on all sibling relationships but between brothers and sisters. There is a touch of the patriarchal about it because it’s the sister who hosts and wishes long life to her brother while the brother promises to protect and honor her.

    90. 90.

      smith

      @RevRick: Incandescent rage doesn’t even begin to describe what would happen. GOP women in suburban districts would see this as a massive FU hurled in their direction,

      This sounds a lot like what the WI GQP realized they would face if they went ahead with their plans to impeach Justice Janet P as soon as she was seated. There is a certain level of voter engagement that simply can’t be overcome by all the usual GQP anti-democratic stunts.

      I only wish we had the same level of outrage over TFG’s plans for his second coming term. Somehow our media is still unable to light its own hair on fire, even with the promise of the military shooting down peaceful protesters in the streets, and show trials and probably executions of generals who didn’t comply. Do they imagine they won’t be shipped to the reeducation camps with the rest of us?

    91. 91.

      Geminid

      @Dorothy A. Winsor: The William Sherman/John Sherman letters were found by Rachel Ewing Sherman, William’s daughter when she organized her late father’s papers, and published in 1894.

      Rachel Ewing’s father had been orphaned at age 9 when his father, a central Ohio judge, died of typhoid fever. William and his younger brother John were adopted by Thomas(?) Ewing, a prosperous friend of their father.

      William Sherman graduated from West Point in 1840 and married his step-sister Ellen in 1850. One source describes Ellen Ewing as “a beautiful young woman who played piano and harp.”  Ellen’s father opposed the union at first because of the difficult life she might lead as an Army wife but eventually consented to the marriage.

      By then Mr. Ewing was a member of President Zachary Taylor’s Cabinet, and the wedding was held in Washington, D.C. Wedding guests included the President and his Cabinet members as well as Senators Daniel Webster and Henry Clay.

    92. 92.

      smith

      @Eric S.:

      @Ron from MN: We accept you and your offer.

      – An Illinoisan

      We’re going to have to do something about WI, though. A demilitarized zone? Maybe if we could convince Canada to take the lot, WI would come along for the ride.

    93. 93.

      The Thin Black Duke

      Do they imagine they won’t be shipped to the reeducation camps with the rest of us?

      Yes.

      It’s easy once your empathy is surgically removed.

    94. 94.

      Another Scott

      @Barbara: + eleventy billion.

      My best friend from high school was in the “ABC” camp – “Anybody But Clinton”.  He got increasingly reactionary over time.  :-(  (He was a bitter crank at the end, though I could still see that idealistic friend inside, and died of leukemia a few years ago.)

      Misogyny is toxic and is another important reason why TIFG won.

      But even then, he only barely won.

      We’ve seen that the monsters will try to come after strong women (attacks on Pelosi, attacks on Whitmer, attacks on Willis).  But they’re losing.  Spanberger, as Geminid reminds us, is going to be a strong and compelling candidate for governor in Virginia.  (And though she is more conservative than I prefer, assuming she wins the nomination, I will gladly vote for her and expect her to win.)

      One of Biden’s (many) important legacies is walking the walk and pushing so many women through the glass ceiling in every area he can.

      Thanks.

      Cheers,
      Scott.

    97. 97.

      Bill Arnold

      @Baud:
      Here’s the Truth Social post on Veteran’s day. I’ve read that at least one other used the word vermin, and that a very recent speech did as well.

      In honor of our great Veterans on Veteran’s Day, we pledge to you that we will root out the Communists, Marxists, Fascists, and Radical Left Thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our Country, lie, steal, and cheat on Elections, and will do anything possible, whether legally or illegally, to destroy America, and the American Dream. The threat from outside forces is far less sinister, dangerous, and grave, than the threat from within. Despite the hatred and anger of the Radical Left Lunatics who want to destroy our Country, we will MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

      So, the Donald J. Trump package “we”[1] promises to root out fascists from the USA. We The People must do as he says, and, excise of D.J. Trump and MAGA, who use clear and unambiguous Fascism 101 language, from the power-controlling parts of the USA polity. They are the self-declared “threat from within” – MAGA projection is a 100 percent reliable indicator.
      [1] His symbiotic demon is an oaf. :-)

    99. 99.

      3Sice

      Loomis over at LGM is taking cheap shots at Jimmy Carter over some textile tariff dustup from half a century ago.

      His basic argument seems to be that manufacturing infrastructure built before electricity, and gilded age workforce staffing practices, would somehow be viable in the 21st century?

      History’s Greatest Monster aside, today the US is… still a massive exporter of textile products (#3 on the planet – USA!, USA!, USA!). While sector employment has dropped by more than 50% since 2005.

      Without context, these sorts of assertions are steampunk fictions. A sci-fi future, but with dirigibles!

    100. 100.

      sdhays

      @smith: Somehow our media is still unable to light its own hair on fire, even with the promise of the military shooting down peaceful protesters in the streets, and show trials and probably executions of generals who didn’t comply.

      “Journalists”: <salivating> Sounds like a lot of fantastically juicy content.

    101. 101.

      Betty Cracker

      @Citizen Alan: I hope she has the sense to keep her mouth shut! My wingnut relatives mostly do around me. Thankfully, my sister is a fellow liberal. Our younger brother is an annoying contrarian.

    102. 102.

      lowtechcyclist

       

      @Citizen Alan:

      Trump would nuke us if he had the opportunity. And tommy tubberville would make sure that there won’t be any military leaders around willing to stop him.

      Who am us, anyway? To quote Randall Munroe, “There are more Trump voters in California than Texas, more Biden voters in Texas than NY, more Trump voters in NY than Ohio, more Biden voters in Ohio than Massachusetts, more Trump voters in Massachusetts than Mississippi, and more Biden voters in Mississippi than Vermont.”

      We’re all mixed together; there’s no way to nuke the libs without nuking a lot of Rethugs too.  And even after a hypothetical secession, the economies of blue and red America would still be intertwined; nuking blue America would cause a major depression in red America. (Not to mention they’d get a fair amount of radioactive fallout as well.)

      Which also means there’d be blue soldiers in red-state bases with access to planes, bombs, and other weapons.  It’s hard to see the government of the Fascist States of America, including Mango Mussolini, surviving very long in the wake of making such an attack on the seceding states.  I suspect even a Trumpist-run military could figure out that a nuclear war on blue America would be a massive everybody-loses scenario.

    104. 104.

      smith

      @lowtechcyclist: But blue America is helpfully concentrated in and around urban centers. Makes aiming the nukes pretty easy. And don’t worry about fallout in the red rural areas — them’s ultra-macho warriors there, not going to be fazed by a little touch of radioactivity.

    106. 106.

      Juju

      @Another Scott: Also get rid of the electoral college. With a popular vote, or what the rest of the world calls a vote, there would be no chance of a Trump presidency or second presidency.

    107. 107.

      Jeffery

      I think this is today. It’s Nepal’s version of Diwali .

      Day 2: Kukur Tihar – Worship and Gratitude Towards Dogs – Nepali Dog Festival

      The second day of the festival is the “Day of the Dogs”. On this day, Nepalis honour and thank dogs who are believed to assure safe journey of the departed souls to heaven.Hindus honour dogs with calendula garlands and Tika and then feed them a delectable spread of food. Nepalese policemen can be seen applying red tika on patrol dog foreheads and presenting garlands to thank them for their faithful serviceIn Nepal, dogs are considered to be the messengers of Yamraj, the god of death. Dogs play the crucial role of being the gatekeepers of death. It is said that the dogs lead the souls of the dead people in the underworld across the river of death.

    111. 111.

      RevRick

      @smith: That’s just how fascist regimes get away with it. People assume the bad stuff will only happen to someone else, right up until the knock on the door at midnight.

    114. 114.

      Kathleen

      @Another Scott:  Edited to delete I disagree. Just adding. He won because there was funded, coordinated attack against Hillary Clinton from the right, the left, Russia and the media.

    115. 115.

      Kathleen

      @smith: They’re convinced they’ll have sinecure under Stephen Miller at the Ministry for Propaganda and Entertainment. They’re honing their shiny black jack boot polishing skills as I type.

    117. 117.

      sab

      @Jeffery: That is so cool. I will not tell my extremely spoiled pitbull about it.

      I also like the idea of Fall cleaning instead of Spring  cleaning.

    118. 118.

      Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

      @Dorothy A. Winsor:

      If Trump wins, I hope I’d stay and fight back like the Ukranians, instead of running. Look at Venuzuela. There is an estimated eight million refugees from that country. Many of those people are children and elderly, but a LOT of them are abled bodied adults. With THAT many people, if they had stayed and fought, instead of running, there would be a different government in Venuzuela. There would be a chance to clean things up and put the economy back on track.

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