Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

“Joe Biden deserved better than he got from some folks in his own party.”

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

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

No Justins, No Peace

In after Baud. Damn.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Bark louder, little dog.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Never forget that he train is barreling down on Trump, even as he dances on the tracks.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

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

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

Please don’t feed the bears.

The new republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

It’s not hopeless, and we’re not helpless.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Wednesday Evening Open Thread

Reader Interactions

98Comments

  1. 1.

    WaterGirl

    I actually put up my small tree this week, so I am now feeling a little more ho ho ho (merry!) than I was previously.

    Not going out of town for Christmas because of Mr. Bear, so on the bright side, I don’t have a flurry of activity due to out-of-town travel!

  5. 5.

    Gin & Tonic

    Just found out our grandson has Covid, so not coming for Christmas. Since he’s 6, that means his parents and sister are staying put as well. Will be sad not to have them, but this has been such an irredeemably shit year, I guess nothing else could have been expected.

  6. 6.

    sab

    I want to keep our christmas tree in storage and have a little tree with a clothespin like that. My spouse says no.

  8. 8.

    Jackie

    Heh, apparently the judge isn’t buying Rudy’s penniless state.

    Judge Beryl Howell orderedRudy Giuliani Wednesday to immediately pay $148 million to two Georgia poll workers who successfully sued him for defamation, court records show.

    In a scathing 13-page order, Howell demands immediate enforcement to shorten the odds that Giuliani dodge the judgment in favor of Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, explained legal analyst Harry Litman.

    Judge Howell describes Giuliani as an “uncooperative litigant” and dismisses Giuliani’s contention that, despite mounting debts, he would not “conceal his assets.”

    “Giuliani feebly counters concerns about him hiding assets, stating that ‘there is no evidence in the record of any attempt by [him] to dissipate assets,'” the order says.

    https://www.rawstory.com/rudy-giuliani-must-pay-now/

  9. 9.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: Don’t worry about that!  Make a “ho” joke if you like, I’m not thin skinned.

    But fair warning, if you write in a comment again that sounds like you are saying that I don’t post anything of substance, I am pretty sure I will be cranky all over again.

  10. 10.

    Alison Rose

    Okay, so…there is a whole lot to say about this:

    An Oklahoma man who in 1975 was convicted of murder in a liquor store robbery was exonerated in court on Tuesday after he had spent more than 48 years in prison, the authorities said.

    It was thought to be the longest time served by a wrongfully convicted inmate in the United States, according to the National Registry of Exonerations, which tracks the length of sentences for wrongful convictions.

    The man, Glynn Simmons, 70, was declared innocent in a ruling by Judge Amy Palumbo of Oklahoma County District Court. Mr. Simmons was released on bond in July after Judge Palumbo agreed during a status hearing to vacate the judgment and sentence at the request of Vicki Zemp Behenna, the Oklahoma County district attorney who had been reviewing his case.

    Ms. Behenna, whose office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday, found that important evidence in Mr. Simmons’s case had not been turned over to his defense lawyers.

    Like, a LOT. But I got to this part:

    Joe Norwood, a lawyer for Mr. Simmons, said that the Tuesday ruling paved the way for Mr. Simmons to receive up to $175,000 in compensation and gave him the opportunity to file a federal lawsuit.

    “UP TO $175,000” for 48 years, 1 month, and 18 days in prison for a crime he didn’t commit??? That’s fucking it?? Even if he got the full amount, that would be $3,645.83 for each year. You have got to be kidding me. Christ on a carousel, that is insulting to the nth degree.

  13. 13.

    lamh36

    Happy Holidays BJ.

    I’ve been so busy, but I’ve been lurking!

    I’ve got work on Christmas day AND New Year’s day this season, so I may have to continue lurking, but just in case, hope everyone has a nice Christmas and a great New Year!

  20. 20.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @sab: My spouse says no.

    “OK, you do all the work, and I’ll sit back on my ass and laugh at you the whole time.”

  21. 21.

    RevRick

    @WaterGirl: Our Christmas plans are in limbo at present, because our daughter called last night to report the granddaughter is ill. So, things are on hold in our personal life.

    Our church, however, will be rolling out a 60-day challenge to our members and friends to engage in prayer, Scripture reading, and meditations on care of Creation, (1/1-2/29/24) in preparation for our  taking a church-wide inventory of our corporate and individual impact on climate change. We’ve developed a booklet that we’ll be emailing out, as well as posting it to our website and Facebook pages.

  22. 22.

    dmsilev

    Looking forward to finishing off my work load for the week so I can head off to visit family with a clean conscience and not too much overhanging stuff-to-do for the following week or so. That’ll be nice.

  30. 30.

    WaterGirl

    @Gin & Tonic:  Well, the half I do know is pretty damn shitty, and stress is exponential not additive, so that sucks.  Still grateful that you are still with us, though.  I won’t be talked about of that!

  32. 32.

    Yarrow

    @Gin & Tonic:  Sorry to hear about your grandson. May he recover quickly with no lingering issues. Also, I feel you on the absolutely shit year. I don’t care about seeing the back of 2023 because 2024 isn’t going to be any better. It all sucks.

  36. 36.

    Nukular Biskits

    Been a long week (and, yes, I know it’s only Wednesday) on business travel.  Been here in SAN since 03DEC.

    Flying home tomorrow.

    What have I missed the past 3 weeks?

  39. 39.

    RaflW

    @Baud: Why don’t the parents ever sign pledges to just SFTU. We don’t need to know about the ‘purity’ of this or that child. Put them through these ridiculous rituals if you must, but spare us the society page blurb

    Also, to be a bit less crabby: Happy Solstice Eve! (It’s not really a thing, I don’t imagine, but one needs things to look forward to. Havning a few more seconds of daylight in just 48h is, while incredibly predictable, also exciting. Or at least a relief.)

  41. 41.

    Alison Rose

    @Nukular Biskits: Colorado told Trump to go fuck himself in Nov 2024, a Georgia jury told Rudy to go fuck himself but first to give the two election workers every dime he owns and then some, Newsom told DeSantis to go fuck himself like the never-gonna-be-president loser he is, and John Cole probably told at least 50 people to go fuck themselves for various and sundry reasons.

  48. 48.

    lamh36

    @WaterGirl: Same job here in NOLA.

    We are transitioning from a contracted lab to a local managed lab, and the process has been unorganized, unguided and with what seems like not enough planning.

    Lordt..the transition was already messy and aggravating, but this dang transition has turned into hell.  Other part of the lab have lost a good number of folks, but so far we hadn’t lost any, but just yesterday 2 of our techs got job offers and so we are going to be down 2 techs soon as this year is over. The plan was to merge the 2 company labs in April, but at this point, shit they might want to just merge the labs now cause at my lab we will LITERALLY not have coverage for at least 2 of our 5 area assignments…smh.

    And I still ain’t tell them about me leaving for the job in Cali…sigh.

    Add to it, regular lab supplies messes, and my supe is out this entire week and past Christmas day, but shiid…I’ve been calling her azz with all the mess…cause I don’t get paid to deal with all this type of bullshit.

    It’s all so damn much and I STILL haven’t had time to do what I need to do for my damn Cali move.

    So I’ve been either too busy or too damn tired…ugh

  49. 49.

    Jackie

    @BR: Joy Reid is discussing that: “Let the people vote and make the decision.” She tartly reminded her viewers “the people voted their choice in 2020 – only for TIFG to start an insurrection trying to overcome the voters decision.”

  51. 51.

    lamh36

    @WaterGirl: I’m still in the know, but gotta admit I’ve slacked off on movies stuff after the pandemic.  It’s just been so much easier to stream things at home.

    Cause of that I’ve missed a good bit of the films in the theatres.  Only way I am able to keep up anymore is thx to my social medias.

  52. 52.

    PatrickG

    Reminder that the Apple Store has come to Balloon Juice! See here for more details, but TL;DR: I work at Apple and get a 15% discount on products for friends and family. Jackals being what they are, I’m going to call you family. Just safer that way.

    But if you plan to buy an overpriced Apple product anyways, hit me up! Also: this offer does not expire, so I’ll be popping into open threads here and there to remind people that Balloon Juice is truly a full service blog. My small way of giving back to the community. :)

  53. 53.

    Scout211

    Festivus is just three days away!

    Will we be having a Festivus thread? Asking for a friend . . .

    The non-commercial holiday’s celebration, as depicted on Seinfeld, occurs on December 23 and includes a Festivus dinner, an unadorned aluminum Festivus pole, practices such as the “airing of grievances” and “feats of strength”, and the labeling of easily explainable events as “Festivus miracles”.

  58. 58.

    Rose Weiss

    @Yarrow: I have Christmas decorations from 2020 saying “good riddance to the worst year ever!”  Obviously the following years weren’t any better, except fewer people died of covid.

     

    @Yarrow:

  60. 60.

    HumboldtBlue

    Gonna be a good Xmas here. For the first time in four years, I have money to spend, and I am aggressively doing just that. Two big Santa sacks are ready for the nine and 10-year-old girls, stuffed with candy, stickers, ornaments and a gift certificate to the awesome local bookstore.

    The 15-year-old is part of the “adult” group now (she’s even bringing her “boyfriend,” some dweeb) and I got her name in the secret Santa pull. She got some bath stuff and a lovely little Xmas bag sewn by a local maker, and everything I got for her was made locally.

    We have two local Xmas markets that feature nothing but crafts and such made locally, so we get gifts and a chance to support local crafters.

    Gonna be a great Xmas Eve night.

  61. 61.

    lamh36

    @lamh36: HA…not sure why that one comment is blank…probably too quick with the return button…LOL

    Oh BTW, even as work is a mess, family life is going well.

    I have a brand new nephew, baby Emmanuel Abide’ T was born last Tuesday early morning to my youngest baby sister in Dallas.  This is baby number 4 for her (she’s the mother of Layla 7, Joshua 5 and Olivia 4) and she had him in her husband’s car on her way to the birthin center!!!!!

    Sis was trying to hold on for 41 weeks, but baby Emmanual said “Surprise surpise…” (IYKYK)”.  He said “I’m getting out this place right now ma’am”…LOL

  62. 62.

    WaterGirl

    @lamh36: Wow, that’s a lot to deal with.  No wonder you’re exhausted.

    Seems like a good move for you to be getting out there, though!  I bet you are glad of that.

    When does your CA job start?

  64. 64.

    Ruckus

    @Alison Rose:

    Well the jail didn’t, it’s the court that put an innocent man in jail. The jail just very likely treated him like shit. Like they pretty much do to anyone in jail.

  65. 65.

    Yarrow

    @Rose Weiss: 2016 remains the worst year of my life. 2020 was a cake walk in comparison. If I tell people even the tiniest sliver of what I’ve been dealing with over the last year and a half or so, every time I watch their eyes fill with horror and they physically begin to back away. So I don’t do it much. And even so, still 2016 was worse. It’s been a bad run.

  66. 66.

    RevRick

    @WaterGirl: That’s actually the title of a book published in 1944 by John Hugo about seven-day Ignatian retreats in the 1930s.
    But it’s just our United Church of Christ doing its Calvinist thing of being on a cause of bettering our world, whether that be ordaining the first African American, woman and gay man, supporting Civil Rights and a woman’s right to choose (1971), joining Cesar Chavez in his farm worker union, or protesting Indian Removal and slavery.

  67. 67.

    Quinerly

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    He’s got skeletons somewhere. He has that “look.”

    Unrelated….you been following any of the KDHX shit show? It breaks my heart to see it being destroyed.

  68. 68.

    WaterGirl

    @lamh36:

    she had him in her husband’s car on her way to the birthin center!!!!!

    holy cow!!!

    did her husband keep driving, hoping to make it there, or pull over by the side of the road?????

    I assume everyone is okay.  yikes!

  69. 69.

    Alison Rose

    @lamh36: Congrats!

    I was almost born in the car. I was three weeks late, so by the time things finally started, they went fast, and back then there was no hospital in our town, so Dad had to drive Mom about 15 miles down the freeway to the county hospital. Mom said it was all she could do to keep from pushing. They pulled up to the ER entrance where she was brought right into a triage room off the entry. The upside of three weeks late was that once she was on the table, it took all of 20 minutes, LOL.

  71. 71.

    lamh36

    @WaterGirl: Cali job begins late Feb.  Plan to move the week before hopefully.

    I am def happy that I’m getting out of the personnel management of it all.  the new job is more a policy/regulations type position.

  73. 73.

    trollhattan

    Dad brag, engage: runner girl made conference cross-country all-academic first team, 2nd time in three years. 🎊

    End Dad brag.

  78. 78.

    lamh36

    @Baud: thx!

    8 years ago, went from having 1 nephew for 16 years to today that nephew (now 22) is graduating from college next year, and I now having 3 nieces and 4 nephews!

  81. 81.

    lamh36

    @WaterGirl: kept driving to make it.

    Sis said she literally had catch baby E with her own hands!  Went from active labor and 2.5 hrs later…hey baby!

    LOL

  82. 82.

    Nelle

    @Alison Rose: Today is my niece’s birthday.  She came so fast that the reported dialog was:  Clerk: Religion? My sister, gasping: Baby!Now!  Doctor:  Need gloves.  Nurse:  What size?  Doctor:  Never mind.  My niece: crying.  All in hallway of ER.

  83. 83.

    lamh36

    @Alison Rose: My 2nd youngest sister was almost born in the elevator at my mom’s doctor’s office…LOL.  She had a final exam, and Robin was ready to drop in the elevator…LOL

  85. 85.

    lamh36

    @WaterGirl: Def would love to as well, but I already had to push the start date forward 2 months they wanted it to be January!

    So I am glad they at least gave me 2 months.

  86. 86.

    Rose Weiss

    I just spoke to my son in Philly (I’m a west Coaster), he was positive for covid yesterday and today so does my DIL and 3 y/o grandson. All fully vaxed, but the adults are feeling like hell while the kiddo is running around and wanting to play. It will be a subdued Christmas for them.

  93. 93.

    Alison Rose

    @lamh36: It’s wild how totally different the experience can be. Even with my brothers and I, my mom had three completely different births. Oldest brother: 2 weeks early, 26 hours in labor; second brother: 1 day early, 5 hours in labor; me: 3 weeks late, 20 minutes in labor.

    I teased her that if they’d had a fourth kid, she would’ve been pregnant a whole ass year.

  94. 94.

    trollhattan

    @WaterGirl: ​

    @Alison Rose: ​

    @eclare: ​
    Thanks kindly, everybody! It’s gratifying to see all that work acknowledged–the entire team works so hard year-round and they’re just great, funny folks. Squad.

    Now, on to indoor track then outdoor track and oh, go to school in the meantime m’kay? Get tired just pondering it, where are those slippers?

  97. 97.

    Chris T.

    @PatrickG: I’m planning to replace my ancient MBP (2015) with M2 or M3 Mac but not until next year some time. I want a lot of RAM (for running VMs if nothing else) and it looks like some of the M3 MBPs do 48GB RAM now, but man they are stupid expensive….

Comments are closed.