Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Tick tock motherfuckers!

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

He really is that stupid.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

Not all heroes wear capes.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

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

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

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

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

Not loving this new fraud based economy.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread (and Holiday Zooms Reminder)

Open Thread (and Holiday Zooms Reminder)

by | 44 Comments

This post is in: 

I thought this cartoon was sweet.
If someone here sent it to me, tell us who you are!

Reminder:

New Year’s Eve:  7 – 9 pm Eastern

New Year’s Day: 1-3 pm Eastern  (hopefully this will allow our friends in other parts of the world to join!)

RSVP to WaterGirl to get the zoom link.

Totally open thread.

Update:  Last week I made a recurring zoom, with “no set time”, so zoom link for the zooms this week are the same as the zoom link from last week!

Reader Interactions

44Comments

  2. 2.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Open thread? I’m still working on my project to read a book from each of the 15 categories Goodreads uses in its Best Book of the Year contest. I’ve reached category 9, YA fantasy. I reviewed Isabel Ibanez’s What the River Knows, set in late 19th century Egypt.

  3. 3.

    Joey Maloney

    Hey, thank you for setting the time for the NYD Zoom. Even though it’s a workday for me I will do my best to attend. Setting a reminder on my handheld right now.

  4. 4.

    Phylllis

    I somehow have two email addresses for you, one with a dash between water and girl, and one sans dash. Which one is correct?

  5. 5.

    WaterGirl

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Dorothy, would you consider doing 3 Medium Cool posts (5 categories to a post) with shortened reviews of the books you chose?

    Or 2 Medium Cool posts (5 categories to a post) with only the ones you liked or would recommend?  (Guessing there might have been 5 losers in the bunch?)

  6. 6.

    WaterGirl

    @Phylllis:  Good question, and I’ll use it as a teachable moment for everyone.

    Since my nym is a single name, WaterGirl, there is no hyphen.

    John Cole would get a hyphen, as would Betty Cracker and Anne Laurie.  But not mistermix.

  9. 9.

    Nukular Biskits

    I’m sure that Betty Cracker doesn’t need me to point this out but FL may be a lost cause for a generation:

    Orlando Sentinel: The ‘Great Sort’ draws transplants pushing Florida to the right, experts say

    A mass migration of Northeasterners and Midwesterners into Florida, many of them conservatives leaving Democratic states, has led to the state’s politics turning sharply to the right, experts say.

    New estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau this month showed that movement is continuing, with hundreds of thousands of people leaving states such as New York, Illinois and California and moving to Florida and Texas in 2022 and 2023.

  11. 11.

    Nukular Biskits

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Well, I ain’t got much of a standing to judge.  I live in MS and “we” just reelected a liar for Trump who had to be dragged kicking/screaming into expanding post-partum Medicaid coverage and who is also implicated (but not yet charged) in a massive welfare fraud case.

    But, hey, WE REALLY OWNED TEH STEWPIT LIBTARDS! HYUCK!HYUCK!HYUCK!

  12. 12.

    gene108

    Got back from my cousin’s daughter’s wedding yesterday. They live in San Diego.

    My cousin had a very elaborate wedding, with events the prior and a post-wedding reception/ feast.

    Spent yesterday sleeping. I slept well enough while in San Diego, but I think all the activities and socializing just wore me out.

    Now to try to be minimally productive the remainder of this holiday weekend.

  13. 13.

    Ohio Mom

    @Nukular Biskits: Trying to be hopeful, maybe the people moving are are mostly retirees and they don’t have that many years left? Maybe it’s better for us that they are concentrated in one state for electoral college purposes?

  14. 14.

    lowtechcyclist

    @gene108:

    Now to try to be minimally productive the remainder of this holiday weekend.

    Screw productivity, my plan is to do as little as possible today, tomorrow, and the next day.  Florida was good but exhausting, and I’m not gonna do a damn thing during these three days that I don’t want to do, unless I absolutely have to do it.  And even those things I do because I want to will involve only minimal expenditures of effort.

  16. 16.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Ohio Mom:

    Trying to be hopeful, maybe the people moving are are mostly retirees and they don’t have that many years left?

    Those with the money and energy to relocate to a different part of the country probably have another 15-20 years ahead, so I wouldn’t put too much hope in that.  To win Florida before 2040 is going to involve simply changing minds. ETA: And turning out the Floridians who are already on our side.

    Maybe it’s better for us that they are concentrated in one state for electoral college purposes?

    It always hurts to lose a swing state to the dark side, and Florida had been a swing state.  But maybe enough of them are moving out of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin to solidify the first two as Dem states, and turn Wisconsin a somewhat bluer shade of purple.  And maybe add a tinge of purple to Ohio’s red? One can only hope.

  19. 19.

    Chris T.

    @lowtechcyclist:

    Those with the money and energy to relocate to a different part of the country probably have another 15-20 years ahead, so I wouldn’t put too much hope in that. To win Florida before 2040 is going to involve simply changing minds.

    Or, perhaps, the sea-level rise that is predicted for 2100 but might arrive by 2030… (well, FL would still be red, but with nobody living there except on boats, it wouldn’t matter)

  21. 21.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Ohio Mom: Trying to be hopeful, maybe the people moving are are mostly retirees and they don’t have that many years left?

    We’re always going to have auld pharts whut can afford it moving to warmer climes. At least til climate change turns Murka’s Dangle into an ever more storm-lashed fetid archipelago. Crosstabs by age and SES of the influx would be interesting.

  22. 22.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: Surely you jest!

    edit: I see that I must have missed something upthread or from an earlier thread.  Popping in and out isn’t always best for staying on top of the references.

  24. 24.

    Gvg

    As a native Floridian I am not happy to hear that. On the other side of it, concentrating all the fools who think they can live without paying for competent government as they enter their senior years can be illustrative if the media covers it. The warm states have always had more fraudsters headquartered in them. My theory I’d that those who think they should live on easy street by ripping off others, naturally gravitate towards places perceived as easy to live in. Thus we have always had real estate fraud and other scams from everywhere located in Florida, California and Arizona and those places attorney generals have had to prosecute and help other states all the time. Seniors slipping into dementia who are already inoculated with some silly ideas are easily preyed on. Climate change and hurricanes are not the time to mess around with cheap stupid government. People who move for retirement are away from family who can look out for them. They may get what they deserve good and hard.

    I hope I don’t too. What is wrong with their brains?

  25. 25.

    Ruckus

    @Nukular Biskits:

    You may have more standing – you are directly affected by the shit show that is today’s rethuglican “party.” I’d more call it something worse than a shit show except I’d likely either get elected for office or shot on sight…

    And no, it’s not that we are all affected, but those that live in rethuglican states are getting the results of not just a conservative side of the aisle but some/many who would like to blow up the whole shebang because they can’t get their way of going backasswards at the speed of light.

    We need a government. A population, any population needs a government for numerous reasons/needs, because in no society will money alone work, because the distribution of money is not in any way equal, in any society. It can’t be. It can however be far more unequal, like say Russia, where the leaders are billionaires and the average yearly wage is in low 5 figures.

  27. 27.

    frequentlurker

    I’m usually a lurker on this blog. I’m not trying to sound like a troll but I can’t seem to find an answer for this question through web searches. Some states are removing or trying to remove President Biden from their ballots as retaliation for trump being removed from other states’ ballots. My question is is anyone doing anything to fight back against Biden being removed from those ballots or are people assuming it will work itself out and not doing anything because of that? Commented here because this is the most recent open thread.

  29. 29.

    Ruckus

    @Gvg:

    I hope I don’t too. What is wrong with their brains?

    It’s not the age that has screwed up their brains, it is the crap they store in said brains. A brain is not a repository (or at least it shouldn’t be) for pompous arrogance and the decision making to think that pissing on the rest of the world is normal. But then we are all humans and have morals and personalities and a concept of survival (morals and personalities and a concept of survival can be both good and BAD).

    Take racism – Please. Racism is about being better/above someone else that is actually minimally different than you or those that look like you. It has zero basis in fact, it is all in the minds of the supposedly higher/better individuals, when they are the exact opposite of who they think they are.

  30. 30.

    gene108

    @schrodingers_cat:

    The bride’s parents (my cousin and her husband) are Tamil and Bengali respectively. The groom’s parents are Gujarati and Goan Konkani. There was something from every part.

  31. 31.

    gene108

    @frequentlurker:

    So far Republican efforts amount to looking for shit to throw at the wall to see what sticks. They haven’t found anything to really use to keep Biden off the ballot. Nothing to actually fight back against has been passed.

    So far it’s bluster without even the effort Comer has put into impeaching President Biden. Outside of calling out the obvious baseless tit-for-tat these calls for keeping Biden off of state ballots, I’m not sure what else can be done right now.

  32. 32.

    Geminid

    @Miss Bianca: Well, I’m stretching the truth a little bit here. But I checked out the responses on Twitter to Boebert’s announcement that she’d contest the 4th CD instead of the 3rd. A lot of people said that if she was gonna move she shouldn’t stop at the state line but instead keep going. A couple suggested Florida as a destination since she was born there.

    It was a funny thread. A few constituents were sad, like “We’ll really miss you.” The rest were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

  34. 34.

    Miss Bianca

    @Geminid: My God, you actually waded into that thread? :)

    ETA: I still don’t know what on earth possessed her to try that move. I know your theory is that she was maybe egged on by other state Republicans, but I find that hard to believe.

  35. 35.

    Geminid

    @There go two miscreants: They sounded sincere. Boebert must have some fans in the district. But I bet more Republicans were glad to see her go because it looked like she would lose next time.

    Fourth District Republicans don’t have that problem, but that doesn’t mean they’ll vote for Boebert in the primary. It seems to me June 25 will likely be the end of Boebert’s electoral career.

  38. 38.

    wjca

    @Baud: Liberals for Privatizing Social Security seems like a good group to join at this point.

    So set it up!  Seriously, it sounds like a primo way to siphon RWNJ money away from other causes.  I bet the Koch folks, for example, would be good for a few million to get you started.

    And, as TIFG has shown, you can redirect funds to something totally unrelated to what the name suggests.

  40. 40.

    kalakal

    @Gvg: They’re also going to have a few problems with the ‘help’ in Fl. Those who have been doing all those low paid jobs are being driven out by the GQP and Pudding Boots’ racist policies and performative jackassery over immigration

  42. 42.

    Scout211

    New filing today from Jack Smith.

    IANAL, but this seems like the crux of the matter with regard to presidential immunity:

    Special counsel Jack Smith pushed back on former President Donald Trump’s claim that he should be cloaked with absolute immunity from criminal prosecution, arguing in a new filing Saturday that the sweeping assertion “threatens to license Presidents to commit crimes to remain in office.”

    Smith’s response to Trump’s immunity claim in the federal election subversion case comes ahead of oral arguments before a US appeals court in Washington, DC, which are scheduled for January 9.

    “The defendant asserts (Br.1) that this prosecution ‘threatens … to shatter the very bedrock of our Republic.’ To the contrary: it is the defendant’s claim that he cannot be held to answer for the charges that he engaged in an unprecedented effort to retain power through criminal means, despite having lost the election, that threatens the democratic and constitutional foundation of our Republic,” Smith wrote in the new filing.

  43. 43.

    Almost Retired

    @raven:  Walked by there this morning.  It’s extraordinary.  Haven’t seen anything like it since 1989, when half the Redondo Pier washed away.

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