Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

I desperately hope that, yet again, I am wrong.

I was promised a recession.

I conferred with the team and they all agree – still not tired of winning!

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

When the time comes to make an endorsement, the pain of NYT editors will be palpable as they reluctantly whisper “Biden.”

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

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

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Usually wrong but never in doubt

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

Bark louder, little dog.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Saturday Morning Slapstick Open Thread

Saturday Morning Slapstick Open Thread

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It’s a Krampus parade, which has been a pious Christian celebration of emotional child abuse since at least the 16th century, but expecting an American ‘Christian’ to know anything about their own religion’s history is as pointless as expecting them to know… well, history.

Speaking of Great Moments in History (Not), this week’s censure of Rep. Jamaal Bowman should not go unmarked…

Rep. Bowman did something dumb, accepted the requisite punishment, and will spend the rest of his career dogged by screeching MAGAts who think they’ve found the perfect rebuttal to TFG’s long criminal career. Per the Associated Press, “House votes to censure Democratic Rep. Bowman for pulling a fire alarm in a Capitol office building”:

House members voted again Thursday to punish one of their own, targeting Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman for triggering a fire alarm in a U.S. Capitol office building when the chamber was in session.

The Republican censure resolution passed with a few Democratic votes, but most of the party stood by Bowman in opposition of an effort they said lacked credibility and integrity. The prominent progressive now becomes the third Democratic House member to be admonished this year through the censure process, which is a punishment one step below expulsion from the House…

The 214-191 vote to censure Bowman caps nearly a year of chaos and retribution in the House of Representatives. Since January, the chamber has seen the removal of a member from a committee assignment, the first ouster of a speaker in history and, just last week, the expulsion of a lawmaker for only the third time since the Civil War…

Bowman pleaded guilty in October to a misdemeanor count for the incident, which took place in the Cannon House Office Building. He agreed to pay a $1,000 fine and serve three months of probation, after which the false fire alarm charge is expected to be dismissed from his record under an agreement with prosecutors.

The fire alarm prompted a buildingwide evacuation when the House was in session and staffers were working in the building. The building was reopened an hour later after Capitol police determined there was no threat.

Bowman apologized and said that at the time he was trying to get through a door that was usually open but was closed that day because it was the weekend…

Marvel at the brilliant oratory from the dumb backbencher the Repubs shoved forward as a figurehead. Hi, Mom!:


Reader Interactions

175Comments

  1. 1.

    Matt McIrvin

    Not only is that a pious Christian celebration, it’s exactly the type that you’d think would be up their alley–it’s of a piece with whacking children with a belt and telling them the Devil is gonna get ’em, which as far as I can tell are time-honored favorite pastimes of Southern Baptists. Remarkable what happens when you can’t look past the end of your nose.

  3. 3.

    Betty

    I can’t think of any good reason for any Democrat or even a self-respecting Republican to vote for this censure. Pure performance art. What a sad state of affairs.

  4. 4.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Matt McIrvin: ​

    it’s of a piece with whacking children with a belt and telling them the Devil is gonna get ’em, if they tell anyone what Pastor Billy did with them on that field trip to the Ark Encounter in Kentucky.

    Finished TFY

    @Betty: Pure performance art.

    That’s all they are capable of now.

  5. 5.

    Scout211

    In the “morning slapstick” category, Nancy Mace is going through some things.  And someone (or many ones) are leaking to the Daily Mail. 

    The 46-year-old mother-of-two was stunned in May 2022 when her entrepreneur boyfriend Patrick Bryant got down on one knee and asked if she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him.

    But less than 18 months since that heartwarming proposal, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal that the couple have broken up and are now in the middle of a messy legal fight over multi-million-dollar homes they bought together.

    According to four sources, the South Carolina lawmaker – who was one of the eight to vote former Speaker Kevin McCarthy out in a historic vote – split with Charleston software mogul Bryant last month.

    Since they parted ways, their rift has deteriorated, and now they are fighting over a $3.9 million beachfront property with six bedrooms and a pool and a $1.3 million Washington, D.C., home they both have equity in.

    ‘I’m not Taylor Swift. No one gives a damn about my relationship status,’ Mace said in response to DailyMail.com’s questions about the dispute.
    . . .
    While dating Bryant, Mace often openly discussed her sex life in the office, including in front of male junior staffers, according to three sources who recalled such comments in graphic detail to DailyMail.com.

    ‘She frequently made sexual references in the office and discussed things that were not appropriate in a work environment,’ one former senior staffer said.

    If one of her staff members were to officially complain about her conduct, she could be subjected to an ethics investigation.

    Trouble on the home front comes as Mace lost three more staffers this week.

  11. 11.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    Calendar.  Sigh, my mind, my mind.

    Well, it is a slapstick open thread, consider that my contribution.

  14. 14.

    Spanky

    Oh, and just for the record,  Nancy Mace has two kids who are young teenagers. I’m sure they’re thrilled that their mom talks about her sex life at work and it gets reported on.

  17. 17.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @HinTN: ​ I ordered an Albatrossity calendar this year. It is supposedly on the way now. I don’t know what to expect, which makes it fun.

  20. 20.

    teezyskeezy

    To be fair, many right wing American evangelicals and Baptists think the old world churches are evil and have since their churches’ inceptions, so seeing one hate on Krampus as “evil” is also nothing new.

  22. 22.

    Montanareddog

    @OzarkHillbilly:

     

    Embarrassing one’s children is one of the few perks of parenting

    They spend the first 10 years of their lives embarrassing us in public, not realising the shoe is going to be on the other foot a lot longer.

  23. 23.

    mrmoshpotato

    Jeffries: I volunteer. Censure me next. That’s how worthless your censure effort is. It has no credibility. I’ll take it and wear it as a badge of honor. Go home. Sleep well. And say to myself “today was a good day”

    Shorter Jefferies: Shove your censure up your Nazi asses ’til it comes out of your mouth!

  24. 24.

    Matt McIrvin

    @teezyskeezy: They also have this intuitive concept of Satan as an anti-God who is maybe 95% as powerful as God, which those Old World churches would probably consider a dangerous heresy.

  27. 27.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Spanky:

    Oh, and just for the record, Nancy Mace has two kids who are young teenagers. I’m sure they’re thrilled that their mom talks about her sex life at work and it gets reported on. 

    They’re probably thrilled enough at having a crackpot as a mother.

  28. 28.

    Percysowner

     

    When Nancy Pelosi announced she was stepping down I was a little worried. Mostly because she did such a good job that I didn’t think anyone could equal her, let alone do better. Partly because I wasn’t sure who would take over for her. Jeffries has convinced me that he will be top notch. We have a strong, competent bench of leaders. Now we just need to kick the Repugs to the curb, hold the Senate and reelect Biden.

  30. 30.

    Torrey

    @Percysowner: ​
      I agree wholeheartedly. We’ve been used to Nancy’s style, and Jeffries has his own style, which is, of course, different but turns out to be every bit as effective.

  31. 31.

    Spanky

    @mrmoshpotato: Maybe they’ll get some survival tips from Cancun Ted’s kids. Wouldn’t it be great if there’s a support group made up of the kids of Republican politicians?

  32. 32.

    Omnes Omnibus

    I don’t see Krampus as a religious concept.  It’s a folk tradition of a piece with Grimm’s tales of the horrors that await you if you stray from the path in the woods.  If you were a peasant in the mountains or forests of Austria in the pre-modern age, life could be pretty bleak and dangerous.

  34. 34.

    Betty Cracker

    @Torrey: I knew Jeffries would be a better orator—speechifying wasn’t Pelosi’s strong suit. But I did wonder if Jeffries was a strong cat herder. During this Congress, he has demonstrated that he is.

  35. 35.

    Geminid

    Rep. Bowman has a serious primary challenger in Westchester County Executive George Latimer. In his campaign launch video, Latimer emphasized needed infrastructure improvements, a signal that he’ll hit Bowman on his vote against the Infrastructure bill. Latimer did not mention his differences with Bowman over the Isrsel/Gaza war, but that will be a big issue too. The fire alarm censure won’t be.

    This will be a hard-fought campaign. The result might turn on whether Albany Democrats succeed in getting a new redistricting map to replace the one ordered by the Court of Appeals last year. That one replaced the map Democrats hoped might result in a 21D-5R delegation. Instead, Republicans won 11 out of 26 seats.

    New York’s Court of Appeals heard arguments on this question 4 weeks ago and will likely decide soon. The 16th CD might not change much, but this could be a close race between Bowman and Latimer on either map.

  37. 37.

    OzarkHillbilly

    A woman sentenced to work at a fast-food restaurant after being convicted of throwing her Chipotle order at an employee of the chain eatery says she is committed to paying her debt to the justice system and hopes she can eventually progress past the highly publicized episode.

    In a recent interview, Rosemary Hayne said again that she was sorry for the actions that landed her in court and on a video that went viral on social media. She said she’s a service industry veteran herself and believes she’s never treated a customer as brusquely as she was treated on the fateful day, but she added that she would not make any excuses as she prepared to complete her unusual judicial punishment.

    “Those who know me realize that moment didn’t show my true character,” Hayne also said.

    The victim in the case, Emily Russell, was working behind the counter of a Chipotle in Parma, Ohio, in September when she encountered the 39-year-old Hayne as a customer at the fast Mexican-style food establishment.

    As people there recorded on their phones, an irate Hayne brought a burrito bowl up to Russell, slammed it down, and confronted her, as the Ohio news outlet WJW reported. She ultimately threw the entire bowl in Russell’s face, leading to an assault charge.

    Stress has a way of putting one’s true character in the spotlight.

    She apologized to Gilligan, who nonetheless sarcastically said to her: “I bet you won’t be happy with the food you are going to get in the jail.”

    I like this judge.

  38. 38.

    Josie

    I appreciate the way that Jeffries breaks down information in a way to make it easily understood by even the uninitiated. His arguments are so well organized and delivered. Also, he is not bad looking. ;-)

  40. 40.

    Geminid

    @Josie: A New York journalist once wrote that interviewing Jeffries was like “talking to a very handsome robot.” This wasn’t a put-down, but rather a tribute to Jeffries’ impressive message discipline.

  42. 42.

    MagdaInBlack

    I have to look at my situation as a slapstick so Im gonna use a slapstick open thread to vent and please laugh/cry along with me.

    Let me preface this little vent whine by saying I love Joe Biden. I see his economic policies working. I have no issue in that area with Joe and of course I will vote for him.

    That being said, I think there is room for discussion of the large group of us, who though a series of kicks from which we could not recover, find ourselves one paycheck from disaster.

    That is where I am today due to an auto accident that was not my fault.  I am furious and yet retain my sense of humor.

    That is all. I yield the floor.

    Eta: I had a sociology prof who coauthored a book about that subject, how the kicks add up.

  43. 43.

    brendancalling

    @Spanky: From the news recently, they sure need it. There’s the daughter in OnlyFans, there’s the son loaded up on meth running over cops, and so on and so forth…,

  44. 44.

    Suzanne

    Lmao the white American trads are horrified of actual cool white traditions

    I hear this is called “spicy white”.

    Relatedly, occasionally when I am cooking something that requires a specialty ingredient, I go to the “Giant Eagle Market District”, which is the big grocery store. This is a historically German and Eastern European area, and the store keeps the Italian, Greek, Turkish, etc items all together in one aisle. I call it the “not quite white” aisle. Then they have one separate aisle for…. all the other cultures to be smushed together. Mexican, Chinese, Japanese… it’s weird to find Valentina and sambal oelek in the same aisle. White people, man.

  46. 46.

    kalakal

    On a personal note I am a much happier bunny today after 1 1/2 hours of root canal surgery yesterday. Feel much, much better. A bit of advice, words you don’t want to hear from a dental surgeon “That’s unusual”. Wasn’t too bad, just loooong.

    To cheer myself up I watched bits of Have I got news for you eviscerating Johnson & co

    Boris from IT

  47. 47.

    NotMax

    @Suzanne

    Before its closure (at least 5 years ago) the sole chain supermarket in Mom’s town had an entire aisle with kosher foods on one side, halal foods on the other.

  48. 48.

    E.

    @MagdaInBlack: This can be a tough crowd if you’re poor. There is a lot of unrecognized privilege here. Like you I am a supporter of the politics here but I leave the house at 6:30 and get back eleven hours later. I take home about $2,100 a month for my efforts to ever increase the wealth of my sociopathic overlords. The economy is good but there is much immiseration in the lower rungs. Mostly because of rents. Precarity is very real where I work. Losing their homes (rentals) is a common conversation here. There are workers sleeping in their cars. You probably know this.

  52. 52.

    MagdaInBlack

    @E.: I do need to clarify. I did not mean THIS crowd. I mean a conversation in general. 

    As for the rest, you’ve nailed it.

  53. 53.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Spanky: Mouth-shaped fleshlight with remote control app.  Problem solved and yes, you can definitely (ahem) “deliver” a BJ from a distance (though that distance may be limited), lol

  55. 55.

    kalakal

    @Omnes Omnibus: Heh, Jaffa Cakes 😀. I’m not knocking it, it’s my source of Jacob’s Cream Crackers, McVities Digestives, and Marmite. I can do without  Bird’s Custard Powder though

  57. 57.

    Geminid

    The New York City Council just passed a package of zoning law amendments intended to promote renewable energy production in the City. A report in Electrek says that one amendment would allow placement of solar panels over up to 8500 acres of parking lots.

  59. 59.

    brendancalling

    @MagdaInBlack: been there more times than I can count. To this day, anytime I have some good fortune, I’m looking over my shoulder, waiting for the disaster that is surely on its way.

    I’m sorry about your car. Mine needs a lot of work, and I really don’t have the cash to get it all done quickly.

  60. 60.

    oldgold

    Humor to some extent is violence rechanneled. The words we use in connection with humor demonstrate this: slapstick, punch line, ribbing, dead pan, jokes bomb, comedians slay, etc.

  61. 61.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @kalakal: ​
      What’s great* about the two (!!) Woodman’s international food aisles is the British is next to the German which is next to the Kosher, but there is no French or Italian. Big Hispanic (mostly Mexican), big Asian (mostly Chinese and, due to immigration patterns, Laotian/Hmong) I think the Belgian section is actually in the liquor department.

    *For some definitions of great.

  65. 65.

    Josie

    @MagdaInBlack: I can totally relate. My youngest son and I live in a complex with limited parking. Whoever entered our auto info into the database entered his license plate number with one number incorrect. As a result his car was towed, resulting in a $425 bill for towing and auto storage.

    I am fortunate in that my middle son and wife are quite well off and covered the cost until we can get reimbursed for this mess (if that ever happens). He is a starving musician, and I am on teacher retirement, so we would have been ruined by that bill. What if we couldn’t pay it, and we couldn’t get the car out of hock, leading to a higher bill at $20.00 per day? What a racket.

  68. 68.

    Another Scott

    @MagdaInBlack: @brendancalling: @Josie:

    It’s expensive to be poor in the USA.

    :-(

    I too have been there. I remember when some cheap apartment building I was living in in the late 1980s got bought up by some wannabe MotU. He sent a note around with the new policies under his management, among them a returned check fee of $600 and invited me to move if I didn’t like it. Grrr…

    Hang in there. Here’s hoping 2024 is better.

    Let us know if you need help.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  69. 69.

    kalakal

    @NotMax: Yep, HP sauce 😀

    @Omnes Omnibus: Publix has a big Hispanic section, medium SE Asian section – mostly pre made sauces, small British section, medium kosher. not much else.

    The cans of coconut milk are interesting,

    SE Asian – expensive price

    Hispanic -medium price

    Mixed in with other canned goods – cheap

  71. 71.

    MagdaInBlack

    @Another Scott:I do appreciate your offer.🙂

    At this point I do not feel that it is right for me to ask people here for help in this situation, asking others to fix my mess so to speak.  ( feels trumpian sorta 😉)

  72. 72.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @MagdaInBlack: It’s not a matter of place, it’s a matter of need. It wasn’t anybody’s place to ask for help for my SiL after my brother committed suicide but when WG and Cole offered we took them up on it. The people here came thru and it made a big difference for R, more than anyone can know.

  77. 77.

    Jeffro

    Here’s some slapstick for y’all, in case you missed it earlier this week: How to Decide Between Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis.

    (gee thanks, Ramesh Ponnuru!  VERY helpful!!  except I think I just sprained my eyes rolling this this hard…soooo much stupid here…)

    Underlying the choice between Haley and DeSantis is a difference of opinion over Trump. Both camps see the former president’s character flaws. But Haley Republicans tend to think that the pre-Trump party was on the right track on economics and foreign policy. DeSantis Republicans are more likely to believe that something like Trump’s populist turn was necessary for the party to adapt to a country that has changed a lot since Ronald Reagan was president.

    That split explains some of the peculiar dynamics of this race. Voters who wholly reject Trumpian populism as well as Trump’s personality are, naturally, not considering voting for him at all, and they are drawn to Haley. So she is not, at least currently, competing with Trump for the same voters. The most anti-Trump Republicans are flocking to Haley even as DeSantis criticizes Trump more than she does.

    …the polling indicates that not all of Trump’s supporters are wedded to him, which suggests there’s a narrow path to defeating him. His character and conduct render him dangerous in office — as he showed by trying to subvert the Constitution after he lost last time — so it’s a matter of some import that Republicans move on from him. The differences between Haley and DeSantis are in comparison small. Either would be a nominee that the vast majority of conservatives would and should be comfortable supporting.

    That brings us, or should bring us, to a question of political judgment. DeSantis is actively courting voters who are ambivalent about Trump, while Haley is not. He is therefore the greater potential threat to Trump in a one-on-one contest.  But Haley could keep him from making it to one.

    Utterly ridiculous.  The Koch network has already weighed in here, RP, and they chose Haley.

  78. 78.

    rikyrah

    Kenny is absolutely, always on point. One of the most fierce defenders of the Biden Administration.

     

    I would hope that one of the FrontPagers would post Kenny’s Video defenses of the Biden Administration.

    In this one, he’s confronting those supposed ‘ allies’ who are trying to downplay the possible horrors of a second Trump Administration.

    2RawTooReal (@2RawTooReal) posted at 8:39 AM on Fri, Dec 08, 2023:
    It’s getting weird. Donald Trump isn’t joking about being a dictator on day one. Was he joking with the “grab them by the ” comment? Wasn’t trump charged with sexual assault  and forced to pay $5 million to the victim https://t.co/WG51EpfFEP
    (https://x.com/2RawTooReal/status/1733134180517593330?t=STzBVKvzs9Rz1tPnRf88xw&s=03)

  79. 79.

    rikyrah

    Arthur Delaney 🇺🇸 (@ArthurDelaneyHP) posted at 5:16 AM on Fri, Dec 08, 2023:
    Hunter Biden says Republicans are trying to “kill” him to destroy his father’s presidency.

    “They’re trying to kill me, knowing that it will be a pain greater than my father could be able to handle,” he told Moby.

    (Yes, Moby)

     

    Arthur Delaney 🇺🇸 (@ArthurDelaneyHP) posted at 5:52 AM on Fri, Dec 08, 2023:
    Hunter Biden on MTG and his other antagonists:

    “I realized that it’s not about me. And then the second thing that I realized is that these people are just sad, very, very sick people that have most likely just faced traumas in their lives.”
    (https://x.com/ArthurDelaneyHP/status/1733092151678926919?t=q2Q5oI4YPILvPLDsE5Kl2Q&s=03)

  82. 82.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @rikyrah: ​

    Was he joking with the “grab them by the ” comment? Wasn’t trump charged with sexual assault and forced to pay $5 million to the victim

    A victim, no way do I believe she was the only one.

  83. 83.

    Another Scott

    Meanwhile, … Reuters – How a factory city in Wisconsin fed military-grade weapons to a Mexican cartel:

    Racine, Wisconsin is best known for factories, farming, and an extravagant televised prom celebration.

    But in 2018, Racine’s suburban sprawl on the edge of Lake Michigan became a source of high caliber weapons for one of Mexico’s top fentanyl trafficking gangs, the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG), U.S. federal arms-trafficking investigators allege.

    The cartel exploited permissive federal and state-level gun control rules to buy some of the most powerful weapons available to American civilians, according to two former agents with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and two other sources, all with knowledge of the investigation.

    Members of a local family, working with a cousin in Mexico, enlisted friends and relatives who bought guns on their behalf in Racine and transported them to California and south across the border, according to an indictment from Wisconsin’s Eastern District Court unsealed in February.

    […]

    The great majority of illegal guns in Mexico come from the United States, Mexican and U.S. authorities say. A 2013 University of San Diego study estimated a quarter of a million guns illegally cross the border each year.

    Mexico, a country of 127 million people, has tight gun laws – and just a single gun store, located on a military base. By contrast, the United States has nearly 78,000 gun dealers – more than the combined number of McDonald’s, Burger King, Subway and Wendy’s franchises, according to gun-control advocates Everytown for Gun Safety.

    […]

    Follow the money.

    As always, the world is getting smaller by the day and many, many things are interconnected.

    Grr…,
    Scott.

  86. 86.

    schrodingers_cat

    @kalakal: The Goya coconut milk is sub par not thick enough that’s why its cheap. My grocery store’s store brand is almost as good as Chacko. Trader Joe’s is pretty good too. Of course the best is homemade with fresh coconuts.

  87. 87.

    MagdaInBlack

    @Steeplejack: Insurance is covering the repair. I have no transportation to work. I am looking at least  3 week repair, with no way to get to work. I am confident I will lose my job.

  88. 88.

    schrodingers_cat

    @MagdaInBlack: Hugs to you and hopefully the situation gets resolved soon. Been there as a grad student with a freak winter auto accident with a brand new (to me) car that was totaled. Buying a replacement while I still had payments on the car was difficult. As an international student on an assistantship I couldn’t even work extra hours to make some more cash

    Insurance came through though. But the immediate aftermath was harrowing as it was winter

  92. 92.

    Geminid

    @rikyrah: These were among a number of passenger rail projects announced this week. Five affect Virginia, including increasing service from DC to Chicago.

  93. 93.

    Delk

    I bet the classmates of Mace’s kids can’t wait for the next time they pull the ‘do you know who my mother is?’ boast/threat.

  94. 94.

    Quiltingfool

    @Scout211: Did anyone tell Nancy Mace to keep her sexual encounters to herself? Has she no sense of being appropriate?  What the hell is wrong with her?  I don’t know about anybody else, but I really don’t like ANYONE to discuss their sexual shenanigans with me.  Yuck.

    I suppose she needs to brag about how great she is at sexy time, but someone should tell her that most normal people don’t like it.  It makes people feel uncomfortable.

    As Kay would say, “low quality hire.”

  100. 100.

    Geminid

    @Jeffro: The Virginia 5th CD Republican primary is heating up. Marjorie Greene is calling Bob Good a liar who only pretends to back Donald Trump. Good’s challenger, State Delegate John McGuire, tweeted a picture of himself with a humongous backpack blower, and said he was “going RINO hunting” once he finished the chores.

    I don’t think Bob Good ever imagined he’d be primaried from the right but that’s what McGuire is doing.

  101. 101.

    Quiltingfool

    @kalakal: I’m glad your root canal went well.  I’ve had 3 and I hope to not have one again.  It isn’t painful, but takes so long to get it done!

    I went to the dentist for a cleaning yesterday and when the dentist looked at my teeth he discovered one tooth that will eventually crack along an old filling.  When I say “old filling,” I mean an amalgam(? – mercury/silver) filling that is about 55 years old — they don’t use that stuff anymore!

    No root canal Yay! But new filling and crown.  I already lost a back molar because it cracked to the point of no return, don’t want to lose another.  It costs, but I’m thankful I can afford to keep the tooth.  So many don’t have that option.

  102. 102.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    @MagdaInBlack: I think theidea of a fund raiser for helping you with this is a great idea. I would like to help you keeping your job. I ve been there and it’s scary

  105. 105.

    JWR

    @MagdaInBlack:

    That being said, I think there is room for discussion of the large group of us, who though a series of kicks from which we could not recover, find ourselves one paycheck from disaster.

    Hey, I resemble that remark! But srsly, I’m in the same boat, along with you and with others, but I was forced into a very early retirement due to an ever worsening case of Sciatica, which severe and chronic pain is now centered in my right foot. And it’s hella painful! But going on SSDI cut my income almost in half, which really sucks, especially when I manage to get one of my many projects started and realize I’m gonna have to buy something that isn’t food or bills, and so I commiserate wholly. :-/

  106. 106.

    Brachiator

    Rep. Bowman did something dumb, accepted the requisite punishment, and will spend the rest of his career dogged by screeching MAGAts who think they’ve found the perfect rebuttal to TFG’s long criminal career.

    Sane people have already moved on from Bowman’s relatively trivial actions.

    It’s sad how the GOP House leadership keeps playing to MAGA madness.

  108. 108.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @rikyrah: @Scout211:  I was amused when she made jokes about coming to the National Prayer Breakfast late because of sex and all the Republicans were scandalized by the thought of a single woman having sex.

    But apparently talking about her sex life at the office is a pattern.

  109. 109.

    Geminid

    @Brachiator: Republican House leaders were glad to have something that their entire caucus would vote for. They can’t get their people together aside from performative votes like this.

  112. 112.

    Brachiator

    @kalakal:

    Glad to hear that your root canal went okay. I’ve been there.

    To cheer myself up I watched bits of Have I got news for you eviscerating Johnson & co

    Love this show. There satire is often more accurate than the traditional UK news.

    The panel was on fire this week.

  113. 113.

    E.

    @WaterGirl: yeah that was me. Now instead of laminating dough by hand each morning I repackage frozen croissants into a bag that says “Baked Fresh Daily” and try not to weep.

  114. 114.

    WaterGirl

    @E.: I’m sorry.  I really hoped you were going to be able to hang in there with your business.

    No hope of working for some other awesome bakery that could really use your skills and expertise?

  117. 117.

    WaterGirl

    @E.: Fucking covid.  We all lost something, including time and interactions, but some people lost a hell of a lot more than others.

    Some bakery owner who’s tired of it all should snap you up to run their place. :-)

    For a salary commensurate with what you bring to it!

  119. 119.

    E.

    @WaterGirl: The forest fires played an equal role. My bakery was in a small town on the Pacific Crest Trail, which guided thousands of very hungry young people, many of them Europeans, directly to my door. But year after year the fires shut the trail down, during and after Covid. I wasn’t able to make it.

  120. 120.

    MagdaInBlack

    I want to thank you all for your kindness and encouragement. I am digging in to some ideas WG had  and hoping for the best ( while planning for the worst as Adam says)

    ❤️

  121. 121.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Josie:I hope you contact WaterGirl. People would be pleased to help. You could at least get help with a car rental so you could keep your job,

    Thirded, or fourthed.

  123. 123.

    Kathleen

    @Omnes Omnibus: I am employed by a Giant Food Retailer and I find it amazing how many factors go into determining how and where items will be placed. That being said as customer of Giant Food Retailer I sometimes get frustrated because I can’t find an item where I think logically should be located.

  124. 124.

    rikyrah

    @Josie:

     I hope you contact WaterGirl. People would be pleased to help. You could at least get help with a car rental so you could keep your job,

     

    I agree. Contact WaterGirl.

  127. 127.

    BlueGuitarist

    Hey BJ fam,
    You may have seen me mention that The Midnight Callers are my new favorite band.
    One of their songs – New York Tramp – (link below) is a finalist for
    Coolest song in the world at Little Steven’s Underground Garage.
    (After a recent 60 minutes piece, Steven is more widely known as Bruce Springsteen’s best friend and frequent guitarist.)
    You can vote once every 12 hours, just click on the heart below the song to vote.
    (That’s once every 12 hours from each device.)
    The contest ends Friday, December 22 at 12:00 noon ET.
    You don’t have to register; you can just scroll down and vote.

    Also, you can see the 49 other songs Little Steven thought were the coolest song one week this year; you can hear snippets if you don’t have spotify, or play the spotify list.

    Here’s the video of The Midnight Callers, New York Tramp:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_h6WaiEtXi0

    Vote here/Vote Aqui:
    https://www.undergroundgarage.com/coolestsong2023

    My plan for the next 12 days: get out the vote for The Midnight Callers, New York Tramp
    Plan for next year: get out the vote for Democrats up and down the ballot in super swing districts.
    Love all y’all

  129. 129.

    cain

    @MagdaInBlack: Eta: I had a sociology prof who coauthored a book about that subject, how the kicks add up.

    I’m sorry to hear that. I hope that your situation stabilizes. More importantly, you don’t have to get a new car and new payments. Most importantly, you are safe and did not get injured.

  131. 131.

    MagdaInBlack

    @cain: Lol You are correct. I still have my paid for car once it is repaired and all i have is some chest bruising. 🙂

  132. 132.

    cain

    @E.:

    @MagdaInBlack: This can be a tough crowd if you’re poor. There is a lot of unrecognized privilege here. Like you I am a supporter of the politics here but I leave the house at 6:30 and get back eleven hours later. I take home about $2,100 a month for my efforts to ever increase the wealth of my sociopathic overlords. The economy is good but there is much immiseration in the lower rungs. Mostly because of rents. Precarity is very real where I work. Losing their homes (rentals) is a common conversation here. There are workers sleeping in their cars. You probably know this.j

    I’m definitely in the privileged section – although things that my wife goes through shows that our experiences in this country can still be mixed regardless of income level.

    We still a large disparity when it comes to income level and what it takes to live on basic necessities. I look at today’s rents and house prices wondering how people can actually afford living in the northwest. My wife’s teacher income until a few months ago was still in in the high $50k – after taxes there isn’t much to save on.

  135. 135.

    MagdaInBlack

    @cain: The rents here too are climbing. Mine has gone up, but fortunately not as much as other condos here.

    Wages went up some and for the most part it was rent, insurance and utility costs ate it.

  136. 136.

    cain

    @Another Scott: Mexico, a country of 127 million people, has tight gun laws – and just a single gun store, located on a military base. By contrast, the United States has nearly 78,000 gun dealers – more than the combined number of McDonald’s, Burger King, Subway and Wendy’s franchises, according to gun-control advocates Everytown for Gun Safety.

    That is a startling statistic. You know how much Americans love their fast food – that there are more gun shops than fast food franchises is breathtaking. How the fuck do they all stay in business?

  137. 137.

    WaterGirl

    @BlueGuitarist: I voted for them!

    It’s the least I can do after all your hard work to preserve our democracy!

    Plus, I didn’t see anything else on the list that was better. :-)

    (On my screen, this song was in the bottom row on the left.)

  138. 138.

    Geminid

    @cain: I think some of these dealers are pawn shops that sell other stuff. Others may not have a store but sell at gun shows. A third group might be larger retailers like Walmart and Dick’s Sporting Goods.*

    Still, there are a lot of firearms dealers out there with stand-alone stores.

    * A friend told me about standing in line at the Charlottesville Dick’s gun counter. He was buying shotgun shells. A customer ahead of him wanted to buy a pistol, and the clerk ran his information and told him to wait, she might find a better deal for him in the storeroom. So she left, and two minutes later a couple cops showed up and took the guy away. He was a “prohibited purchaser.”

  139. 139.

    Layer8Problem

    @zhena gogolia: ​
     Instead of upper-class problems, Freemasonry, how-to-lead-my-best-life angst, and “does he like me” stuff, Russians. Natasha dancing with Uncle while the author winks and nudges about the Uncle truly loving his housekeeper. Please don’t misunderstand, I’m enjoying the whole thing.

  140. 140.

    cain

    @MagdaInBlack:

    @cain: Lol You are correct. I still have my paid for car once it is repaired and all i have is some chest bruising. 🙂

    That’s the spirit! I’ve had some knocks but I’ve always looked in the good in everything and when you do it changes the energy you project. When you’re projecting positive energy you attract kindness and prosperity (and not necessarily the wealth kind I might add) – something to think about.

  141. 141.

    Another Scott

    @cain: I think the word “dealer” is important, but I haven’t checked the original cite.

    One can have a machine gun in the USA if one goes through the process to get a “tax stamp” and be registered as a “dealer” and follow all the rules.  I’m ass-u-ming that there are a lot more people who are registered that way than there are actual physical gun shops.

    My $0.02.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  143. 143.

    kalakal

    @schrodingers_cat: Goya coconut milk is poor quality indeed. Publix has it in their mid price range. I do a lot of Indonesian cooking, I lived there till I was five) and am picky about coconut milk

  146. 146.

    Ruckus

    @Quiltingfool:

    As someone who was long ago an employer it’s “no quality hire.”

    The jobs were either well trained/experienced or we’ll teach you. Some jobs have requirements that not everyone has. Math to at least working trig was one of ours.

  147. 147.

    BlueGuitarist

    @WaterGirl:

    Thanks for voting for The Midnight Callers song New York Tramp as the coolest song in the world!

    This is an election where you can vote twice a day per device!

  150. 150.

    Dopey-o

    @OzarkHillbilly: It’s not a matter of place, it’s a matter of need. It wasn’t anybody’s place to ask for help for my SiL after my brother committed suicide but when WG and Cole offered we took them up on it. The people here came thru and it made a big difference for R, more than anyone can know.

    I look for donation opportunities, even for people I don’t know. It’s a chance to show my Christian Bona Fides (take that, Eversore  Eeyore!)

  152. 152.

    Barbara

    @MagdaInBlack: If you start a gofundme I will contribute.

    By my reckoning, you need a few weeks worth of a rental vehicle and/or cab/ride sharing (which could be cheaper — assuming you just need to get there, and not that you need to drive your car around for work).  Your insurance evidently does not include loaner vehicle during the course of repair.  I don’t remember where you live so maybe mass transit, bicycling or other options are also off the table.

    I’m really sorry.

  153. 153.

    3Sice

    Trad American is over consuming in what ever disposables Madison Ave. is cramming down the pipeline this year.

    The “scary ghost stories” lyric refers to a Victorian tradition – tales of the macabre during the holiday season.

  154. 154.

    catclub

    @Matt McIrvin: They also have this intuitive concept of Satan as an anti-God who is maybe 95% as powerful as God

     

    I would think that 95% of infinity is … infinity.

  155. 155.

    catclub

    @kalakal: UK shop foot traffic goes clockwise, here it’s anti clockwise

     

    For us it depends on whether the fresh veg section is to the right or left of the entrance. And in one store it is straight ahead, so  we go straight, then  clockwise, then anti-clockwise.

  156. 156.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    @Quiltingfool: Same thing just happened to me. Cracking tooth from (very) old filling which needed to be replaced by a crown, discovered at a routine cleaning and inspection appointment. Also blessed to be able to say “let’s fix it” immediately before it got any worse. Dentist seemed a little startled that i could jump on it right away, which made me realize how messed up dental coverage for the average person is in this country. Dental problems can affect the health of your entire body.

  159. 159.

    Layer8Problem

    @zhena gogolia:  One gets a sense of the care the author put into it, just from the length of the chapter.

    I have an acquaintance of Russian extraction, via Kazakhstan, who I have a drink with at our local Irish pub occasionally.  He was the one I once spoke about to you who insisted that The Twelve Chairs was untranslatable.  He told me something once that resonated with me, that Keira Knightley was lovely but not Russian enough for Anna Karenina.  That matched something I had heard once about Soviet citizens being shown Lean’s Dr. Zhivago when it came out and saying “very nice, but those people aren’t Russian.” Maybe Tolstoy is hammering on it but in that chapter it sounds like “now I’m showing you that they’re Russians.”  Just the paragraph about Anisya Fyodorovna handing Natasha the kerchief for the dance.

  160. 160.

    Matt McIrvin

    @3Sice:

    The “scary ghost stories” lyric refers to a Victorian tradition – tales of the macabre during the holiday season.

    A Christmas Carol survives as our modern remnant of it, so it’s possible to take it as a reference to that.

  161. 161.

    WaterGirl

    If there are any BJ peeps in Illinois who live nearly Arlington Heights, and could possibly help with driving MagdaInBlack somewhere, please get in touch with me by email.

  162. 162.

    zhena gogolia

    @Layer8Problem: Yes, that is done very well in the Soviet version by Bondarchuk. In the BBC version with James Norton and Lily James and Paul Dano (which I love), they have them doing Roma (“gypsy”) dances — totally wrong!

    I’m trying to read Twelve Chairs right now, using two different translations, and it’s very difficult. I can’t say I enjoy the Russian text much more. But I adore all three movie versions I watched — Mel Brooks’s, Leonid Gaidai’s, and Mark Zakharov’s miniseries (which has the magnificent Andrei Mironov as Bender). Somehow in the movie version, all the famous catchphrases come through as funny, while in the book I’m just not feeling it.

  163. 163.

    zhena gogolia

    @Layer8Problem: Oh, and Keira is all wrong for Anna K., of course, but that version has grown on me. Tom Stoppard knew what he was doing in the adaptation, and Matthew Macfadyen is wonderful. Even Domnhall Gleeson seems good to me now.

  164. 164.

    Layer8Problem

    @zhena gogolia:  My friend said Bondarchuk’s the one to watch and I personally will make a point of it. I mentioned the Audrey Hepburn/Henry Fonda/Mel Ferrer one to him and he seemed shocked that such a thing was even attempted.

    Regarding The Twelve Chairs, I take it one of the translations is the University of Chicago [?] one? How is that?

  165. 165.

    zhena gogolia

    @Layer8Problem: One is Northwestern — that’s an older (1960s) translation that is the easiest to read. It seems fairly accurate. There’s a “new, improved one” by Anne O. Fisher (I can’t remember who the publisher is), and although it has good footnotes, the translation itself is very hard to read. Pevear & Volokhonsky have given everyone the idea that they don’t have to write actual English sentences that make sense. I had switched to the Fisher translation and couldn’t figure out why my reading had slowed down so much. Then I switched back to the Northwestern edition, and things went much more smoothly. It doesn’t have any footnotes, though. The Russian is very hard to read because there are so many topical references that I keep having to consult the footnotes, which is annoying. So I just decided to get on with it and read the readable translation for now.

    The Bondarchuk movie is impressive but often saccharine, and it really drags. Watch it for Andrei Tikhonov’s fantastic performance as Andrei and Oleg Efremov’s fantastic performance as Dolokhov. Bondarchuk is too old to play Pierre (here’s where Dano is an improvement), and although beautiful, Lyudmila Savelyeva as Natasha is really cloying. (But she’s wonderful in the dance scene, as one might expect, since she was a ballet star.)

    Audrey Hepburn was my first Natasha, and I adore her in the role. That green velvet dress she wears when Anatole seduces her is to die for. The BBC version has some amazing moments. Russians will never, ever like non-Russian adaptations of their classics.

    ETA: As I assume English people and American people would not like Russian adaptations of Dickens and Hawthorne!

  166. 166.

    Barbara

    @zhena gogolia: A review of the film noted that one problem with just about every adaptation of Anna K. is that Tolstoy’s plot is as much about the men as it is about Anna, who, in this view, is like a bomb dropped in their laps as a test for navigating morality in contemporary life.  Nevertheless, the actor who played Lev, Alicia Vikander as Kitty, and Jude Law as Karenin were really tremendous.

  167. 167.

    Layer8Problem

    @zhena gogolia:
    Fisher’s the one I’m thinking of, from Northwestern if the Internet’s not playing with my head, but Richardson also did a translation published by Northwestern so I have a choice! I had started someone’s late 1950s early 1960s translation that I found online. Someone complained about the quality and I figured it might not be strictly “good enough”.

    “As I assume English people and American people would not like Russian adaptations of Dickens and Hawthorne!”

    As it happens; but I’m told Russians do outstanding Moriarty’s when it comes to Sherlock Holmes.

  168. 168.

    zhena gogolia

    @Barbara: I’ve come to have more appreciation for Knightley’s performance.

     

    @Layer8Problem: Right, they’re both Northwestern. You were probably reading the one I decided to stick with. It might have some mistakes, but I’m getting the general idea. I can’t believe I’ve never read it before.

    I haven’t seen any Russian Sherlock Holmes. I love Oleg Menshikov as the kind of Russian Sherlock Holmes, Fandorin, in The State Councillor.

  169. 169.

    Layer8Problem

    @Layer8Problem:   And the online version I had started was Richardson’s it seems, from the links at the end of the Wikipedia article, with a 1960 introduction by Friedberg, so go figure.  And Mironov’s image in the 1976 series article’s seems to fit Bender perfectly.

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