Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Let me file that under fuck it.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

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

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

If West Virginia and San Francisco had a love child.

ha ha ha! Nice try weird people.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

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

Democrats have delivered the Square Deal, the New Deal, the Fair Deal, and now… the Big Joe Biden Deal.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

The gop couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

If marriage is the equivalent of selling yourself into slavery, women with self respect should reject the offer.

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Reader Interactions

57Comments

  3. 3.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: It’a 4:47 WaterGirl time.  Definitely afternoon.  Late afternoon blog time.

    I would say 6pm is early evening.

    edit: I added “late”, it’s the least I can do if that makes you happy.

  5. 5.

    WaterGirl

    @Old School: Blog time.

    Looks like no ruling today on immunity / jurisdiction / double jeopardy.  Hoping this isn’t Henderson dragging things out to slow the process down.  The longer it takes. the less hopeful I am.

  9. 9.

    Scout211

    I haven’t been online, so this may not be breaking news here on the blog, but it was still news to me.

    Judge strikes down Elon Musk’s massive, multi-billion-dollar pay package

    A Delaware state court judge has thrown out the 2018 pay package that helped to make Tesla CEO Elon Musk one of the richest people in the world.

    Delaware Chancery Court Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick, who oversaw the bench trial that concluded in November 2022, ruled Tuesday that Musk and the Tesla board “bore the burden of proving that the compensation plan was fair, and they failed to meet their burden.”

  17. 17.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @WaterGirl: Goddamned but Andrea Mitchell is dumb as post. The whole POINT at issue is that the actions taken against the MI Gov, AG, etc. is at the federal level, but Mitchell bumbles along, confused that it’s somehow in a state court.

  18. 18.

    WaterGirl

    @Scout211: I don’t know enough (anything, really) on the background for this, so I don’t know how to interpret it.

    edit: oh, wait, that’s a package related to Musk’s pay, not pay he was paying out to others?

  20. 20.

    dmsilev

    @Scout211: Awww, poor baby. Or at least, somewhat less excessively rich baby.

    Doesn’t bode well for the fate of one his recent temper tantrums, the “give me another 12 percent of Tesla’s shares or I’ll be forced to send all of my wonderful AI ideas to a competitor that I also run”. Which, with a normal company, would result in the Board firing the CEO for excessive assholery (yes, even after grading on the CEO curve).

  21. 21.

    Scout211

    @WaterGirl: Yes, his compensation package:

    Attorneys for the shareholders who brought the suit had argued that the package of stock options was excessive and that the directors on Tesla’s board were not truly independent and were too close to Musk to protect shareholders’ interests.

    They also argued that the financial targets the company had to hit for Musk to qualify for each of the 12 separate blocks, or “tranches,” of stock were not the “stretch performance goals” as the company told shareholders when seeking their approval of the package. Instead, they argued the milestones were essentially the same as the company’s internal growth projections that were being shared with banks and rating agencies.

  22. 22.

    Jay

    @WaterGirl:

    beaten to the punch,

    Attorneys for the shareholders who brought the suit had argued that the package of stock options was excessive and that the directors on Tesla’s board were not truly independent and were too close to Musk to protect shareholders’ interests.

  24. 24.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @WaterGirl: Yes, she does look tired. She also looks and speaks like someone who has no fucking clue what she’s doing. I will say this, though: her error gave the MI AG an opening to emphasize what a crappy job the SCOTUS is doing.

  27. 27.

    trollhattan

    @Jay: Perhaps discussed already, but Nitter is on an iceflow with granny, never again to organize tweets for us. IDK of a different workaround that, well, works.

    Zed, the developer behind the free and open-source Nitter project, has announced that the project is discontinued and not working anymore. Nitter was a privacy-oriented alternative front-end for X/Twitter, enabling users to access the social media content without JavaScript or a user account. This provided a level of anonymity and privacy for users.

    Zed made the announcement simply stating “Nitter is dead.” on GitHub, without providing a detailed explanation. However, it appears the project’s termination is linked to X/Twitter’s decision to disable the creation of guest accounts. Nitter was heavily reliant on these anonymous accounts, which were only supported by older versions of the Twitter app.

    Although some Nitter instances are currently still operational, it is anticipated they will cease functioning shortly as they expire. This development leaves those who were using Nitter to monitor or follow X/Twitter users without an account with fewer options. The most straightforward alternative now seems to be creating a verified X/Twitter account.

    https://alternativeto.net/news/2024/1/privacy-oriented-x-front-end-nitter-is-shutting-down-following-changes-to-guest-accounts/

  28. 28.

    WaterGirl

    @Dan B:   Hard agree on both points about the AG.  Glad you took the time to watch it.

    I loved how she asked a question, paused long enough for us to consider the question, and then she answered it herself.  Very effective.

  29. 29.

    Ohio Mom

    @glc: Oh I loved the book Archy and Mehitabel! I wonder if I still own it, I will have to look.

    I am still recovering from helping my (poorly medicated) ADD with hoarder tendencies friend move this weekend. It was an exhausting and discouraging process but she says she is happy settling in in her subsidized senior apartment. So all the angst and chaos over the last few months was worth it. Because boy was there was a lot of angst and chaos leading up to the move.

  31. 31.

    BlueGuitarist

    @Baud:

    “it was evening all afternoon.
    It was snowing and it was going to snow”
    – Wallace Stevens, 13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird

  32. 32.

    wjca

    @smith:  We were told to expect it around the end of the month, which seems to be here.

    No cause for depression yet.  “Around” the end of the month includes the whole week.  Any time thru Friday qualifies.

  37. 37.

    JaySinWA

    @Scout211: his compensation package:

    That Cybertruck just doesn’t cut it. Should have been something like the Ford F series.

    Wait a minute you’re not talking about compensation issues about his “package”, are you?

  39. 39.

    Mike in Pasadena

    25 historians have filed an amicus brief in in the trumpty dumpty vs colorado case before the Supremes demonstrating that the historical record is clear that the 14th amendment covers the president, too.  Just listened to one of the co signers explain the history. If I find the the link to the brief I’ll  attach it to a later thread.. I’m  sure the majority wont be forced to resort to, “No, no, you don’t understand. Historical analysis only applies when it supports right wing results.” Instead, the MAGA 5 will simply say that he did not engage in insurrection as described in the amendment. That simply means they will need to reject and overrule the Colorado court and every other court that has considered the question.

  40. 40.

    Freemark

    I don’t understand why Andrea Mitchell has this job. She has always been bad at it but the last 5-10 years she has been absolutely atrocious. It’s embarrassing.

  41. 41.

    wjca

    @Mike in Pasadena: Instead, the MAGA 5 will simply say that he did not engage in insurrection as described in the amendment. That simply means they will need to reject and overrule the Colorado court and every other court that has considered the question.

    I wonder if they are up to the challenge of defining clearly just what would qualify (in their view) as “insurrection”.  I’m guessing that personally participating in an armed attack on a military base would qualify….  Maybe?  In some cases?

  43. 43.

    Jay

    @sab:

    I was amused. When we got Little Bit*, from the “place”, she rode home in the 4Runner with Digger, (Belgian Shepard) and Casey, (PittX) whom she had never met. She hissed at them, but they ignored her and quickly fell asleep on their mats, having had a long hard day of sniffing everything in 40 acres.

    So, she climbed up front, sat on the dash, staring out as we drove down through the snow to home at the time.

    When we got home, she immediately found her way up to the kitchen counter, a good spot to hiss at Capra, (orange tabby) and the dogs, as we got ready for dinner. We all ate at the same time.

    After dinner, we had this cast iron end table, fancy castings and all, and she somehow managed to scale the ornate base, squeeze through a 2″ hole in the ornate cast top, to then climb up onto SWMBO’s shoulder and fall asleep.

    *she was named “Lil Bit” because she fit in the palm of my hand at the time, but grew up into being a 30lb “chonk”.

  48. 48.

    Manyakitty

    @Suburban Mom: I want to knit a scarf to the directions of the wind in Bleak House. Also, too, I think it’s the first instance of spontaneous human combustion in English literature.

  50. 50.

    Alison Rose

    @karen marie: Oh man, that would take a long ass time to listen to, the book could chock a truck, LOL. I’m not great with audiobooks, either. My mind wanders very easily and I constantly realize that I haven’t been listening and have to back it up and try to figure out where I drifted off. But I do have a friend who has mentioned wanting to read it one day, and she loves audiobooks, so I’ll pass that link along to her!

  51. 51.

    gene108

    @WaterGirl:

    She looks so tired. (She being Andrea Mitchell)

    Andrea’s 77 years old. I will never understand those people in careers that they do not want to retire from.

    Is their life so boring that they need work to fill the void?

    The people I’m thinking about, like Mitchell, aren’t hard up for money or anything that forces some people to work at 77.

    I really don’t get it at all.

  53. 53.

    a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)

    @gene108: The thread is pretty much dead, but these people don’t want to find themselves like Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, snarling “I am big! It’s the pictures that got small!” to some hapless barista—or one of the aides at their assisted living facility.

  54. 54.

    Alison Rose

    @gene108: A lot of people in the news business seem to suffer from the same issue as many politicians, where they think that the world simply couldn’t survive without them doing their jobs. Now, some journalists have obviously done incredible work and are indeed very important to society. Andrea frigging Mitchell ain’t one of them.

  56. 56.

    wjca

    @gene108: I will never understand those people in careers that they do not want to retire from.

    Is their life so boring that they need work to fill the void?

    Nope.  For instance, I’m doing something that I enjoy.  It could be a hobby in retirement, except . . . somebody is willing to pay me to do it.  So, not retired.  Not a matter of filling a void; I’ve got plenty else going on as well.  But the stuff I get paid for is part of the mix.

    I suppose you could look at it from the other side.  I have enormous sympathy for anyone who spent their life working at a job they didn’t much like, just to support themselves (and their family).  I can certainly see how they would be delighted to retire as soon as they could afford to.

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