???
Today is the fifth day of the Chinese New Year, people invite the God of Wealth, affectionately known as Cai Shen Ye (???) , to their houses.
The God of Wealth is believed to bring fortune to people.
Wishing everyone a full year of good fortune!!?????????? pic.twitter.com/ccfJwwaERx— China in Pictures (@tongbingxue) February 14, 2024
Speaking of improving wealth…
Wow: CNN spoke to a number of Republicans in NY’s 3rd congressional district who have previously voted for Trump and they said they voted for Democrat Tom Suozzi because “Republicans can’t govern.” That’s amazing. Americans are fed up with Republicans. pic.twitter.com/YOXDpY5QUq
— Harry Sisson (@harryjsisson) February 14, 2024
Worth noting that Suozzi bashed Republicans for killing the border deal in the home stretch of the race, which also suggests it's good politics for Dems to be associated with wanting to make a deal (its specifics aside) and bad for Rs to be associated with killing it for Trump. https://t.co/VryDahCfF3
— Greg Sargent (@GregTSargent) February 14, 2024
From the start of the 2024 cycle, the magic number for Democrats was five – five seats that they needed to flip to take the House Majority. Today, that number shrunk to four, as Democrats took a big step forward in their quest for the House majority.
— Logan Phillips (@LoganR2WH) February 14, 2024
My statement on the decisive victory by Congressman-elect Tom Suozzi. pic.twitter.com/CqyiklOjPy
— Hakeem Jeffries (@RepJeffries) February 14, 2024
Today marks another holiday, of course, and rest assured: There’s an app for that!
Amid artificial intelligence boom, AI girlfriends — and boyfriends — are making their mark https://t.co/iKsKr27n4w
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 14, 2024
… But if you want to see some terribly sad isolates who can’t find connection with normal humans, check out the GOP House:
The U.S. House voted Tuesday to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, with the Republican majority determined to punish the Biden administration over its handling of the U.S-Mexico border after failing last week in a politically embarrassing setback. pic.twitter.com/vHBz8Zaa7u
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 14, 2024
Baud
Baud!/Cai Shen Ye! 20XX!: Mo’ Money, Less Problems
Lyrebird
Happy Grow Your Wealth Day, Anne Laurie!
And thanks for bringing evidence for what I thought might have helped Suozzi’s race!
I don’t know if it’ll generalize beyond NYC/LI where they know TFG so well and loathe him so much, but I was certainly thinking last night that the Rs scuttling the border deal they had been demanding did not help them out. Good!
Bruce K in ATH-GR
They’d impeach Truman for shooting Lincoln. (I checked the math, and yes, it’s impossible, which is not to say that they wouldn’t do it anyway.)
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Well Joe Biden is already running with the Goddess of Wealth (Lakshmi also known as Kamala)
Baud
@Bruce K in ATH-GR:
The modern GOP would nominate John Wilkes Booth for president.
@schrodingers_cat:
They should run with that.
OzarkHillbilly
Huh? What holiday? The holiday is tomorrow. It’s “Chocolate Half Off Day!”
eta: and Fuck the God of Wealth, he never did anything more than trickle down on me.
Marmot
@Lyrebird:
Yeah, exactly how was failing to take “yes” for an answer supposed to help Repubs? Is that viewpoint predicated on the belief that voters have three-day attention spans or don’t really know what’s happening like ever?
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone 😊😊😊
SFAW
@Bruce K in ATH-GR:
Well, there’s your problem. Rethugs don’t believe in math. Or any other science/technical discipline, for that matter.
schrodingers_cat
Which Statistics Nate will subject us to a long think piece titled, why victory in NY-3 spells doom for Joe Biden and the Democrats.
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
Like a ray of sunshine in the dark?
A/K/A a stream of bat’s piss
Baud
@Marmot:
It would be like the GOP offering Dems a really strong abortion protection bill and the Dems saying no because they wanted to keep the issue alive.
Yes, they believe they can market anything to voters, regardless of reality. I can’t blame them for having that belief, but it doesn’t always work out that way.
SFAW
@schrodingers_cat:
Josh Marshall last night:
gene108
@Marmot:
I’m not sure how many people really pay attention to the details of what legislation is passed and what’s scuttled, but the overarching theme from this Republican controlled House is they struggle to do the bare minimum. Whether it’s electing a Speaker to passing a budget, their dysfunction is on full display.
This “narrative” is more important than any specific legislation, and they set it up for themselves by being beholden to the Freedom Caucus, because they won’t deal with Democrats until the government is about to shutdown.
3Sice
@OzarkHillbilly:
Ash Wednesday is a kind of holiday…
I guess Wisconsin is going with Tony Evers’ drawn maps?
Baud
Via Reddit, I think this backfired.
SFAW
@3Sice:
I mean, I like Bruce Campbell, but giving him his own (holi)day?
3Sice
@gene108:
The difficulty arises when “the narrative” is so far removed from reality that it serves to further delegitimize the industry.
Trad Med death spiral.
Trivia Man
@OzarkHillbilly: my favorite is Discount Easter Candy week at the pharmacies. Better selection and, depending on timing of easter, it can be very large quantities that eventually hit 90% off.
Valentines can have sales but its less of a glut.
p.a.
B-Juice yesterday posted another study showing the benefits of immigration. Back around the turn of the century the SF Fed (IIRC) did a study showing how the US born benefit economically simply by speaking English. In high-immigrant areas “Anglophonery” becomes a monetizeable skill. Any English-speaking mooyuk is automatically management material.
And instead of the cranky dinerbigot interviews, how ’bout TNYFT interview some of the red state mayors/city managers who say “immigration saved this town. It was shriveling up before they came” (to probably be treated like shit at crappy jobs, but still, they’re there keeping those places alive.)
lowtechcyclist
@OzarkHillbilly:
Where?? Don’t tease me like this!!!
OzarkHillbilly
@3Sice: Speaking as an Ex Catholic, it never occured to me to celebrate this period of Catholic mourning. Something worth considering.
Ok, I’ve considered it: Nope. Holidays are nothing more than potholes in the road of life. ;-)
Ken
I think Mayorkas should limit his defense to “We spent every penny you budgeted, in the way you said to spend it.” It should be his answer to every question any Republicans ask him during the impeachment hearings — though for political reasons, it should be left to “an anonymous source” to note that the questions were political posturing for the TV cameras, and the questioners didn’t care about the answer anyway.
TBone
Best fortune cookie I ever got: “When prosperity comes, do not use all of it.”
Best candy heart:
“Your money’s on the dresser.” 😆
OzarkHillbilly
@Trivia Man: I have to admit I’ve never paid any attention to Easter Candy Week.
Bad Hillbilly, Bad!
trnc
Looks like the senate will take up the impeachment trial directly after the recess.
I assume she and the rest of the dems will use this as an opportunity to heap scorn on the House for not passing anything useful. Lankford had a good one:
It’ll be interesting to see how any “yes” senators beclown themselves.
Trivia Man
@lowtechcyclist: don’t get excited yet. It often takes a couple days for the sales to start. Im always grateful for the managers who overbought. In good years it can hit 90% off!
Try CVS and Walgreens.
BellyCat
The quiet part (finally) being said out loud by a few Republican voters?!?!
OzarkHillbilly
@lowtechcyclist: (in a whisper) wally world…
Ken
No bitterness there….
Trivia Man
@OzarkHillbilly: Lotta Lutherans in Wisconsin, at least a few people will come into work with ash on their forehead. Still surprises me that many offices close Good Friday. No groceries or consumer facing biz but very common for business places.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Baud: Booth used a derringer, so RINO.
RevRick
@SFAW: Ash Wednesday is very much a holy day, and our pastor is going to help us celebrate Valentine’s Day by smearing dirt on our foreheads and telling us we’re going to die.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Has polling become less reliable over the last decade or so? It seems so to me. I know people don’t answer their phones anymore, but surely pollsters have some way to compensate. Is it sampling problems in a changing electorate? Can I blame Trump?
CCL
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: nominated for rotating tag.
hueyplong
A border deal would have removed the center ring event at the OMG THE BORDER impeachment circus.
Repeat daily (just before or after market closing and jobs numbers) until the election.
trnc
I like it! Would sprinkle in “After you decided not to give us more resources, you impeached me for not being magical” every so often.
Betty Cracker
I wrote a post a while back expressing optimism that the GOP scuttling the border bill on Trump’s say-so could backfire on them. Then I saw Sargent’s analysis of a recent poll that indicates voters blame Biden more than Trump and Dems more than the GOP for killing the bill.
However, according to Sargent’s tweet above, Suozzi hammered the House GOP relentlessly for killing the bill, and that seems to have paid off. This tells me two things:
Dems have been really disciplined about messaging lately, so that’s a plus.
Trivia Man
@OzarkHillbilly: This could be a good year – its falls on an early date so Less time to sell. Im hoping AI ordering isnt making them better at predicting… lets hear it for inefficient order process!
p.a.
They have to be. The days when they expected the MSM to do its fucking job are FINALLY gone.
OzarkHillbilly
@Trivia Man: I’ve only been in a Lutheran church once and that was for my step daughters wedding. About all I remember is, “It ain’t Catholic.”
Of course you can!
Another Scott
@Bruce K in ATH-GR: Ha! That’s what they want you to think – that it’s impossible.
[ whisper ] But don’t forget that Dillinger killed JFK. [ /whisper ]
[ /Illuminatus!Trilogy ]
Cheers,
Scott.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Marmot: Think of the Republicans like a shock jock and not a politician trying to get policy implemented. Tanking their own immigration bill got them attention.
Another Scott
Today is a good day. More, please.
Meanwhile, … KyivIndependent – NBCNews says Johnson wants a private meeting with Biden before bringing the Supplemental to the floor.
Politics is slow, but things are moving. Johnson can’t just sit on the bill passed by the Senate – and he knows it.
Cheers,
Scott.
RevRick
@Trivia Man: When I first started in the ministry in 1975 in Irwin PA, I was amazed at how many businesses closed for Good Friday, and that there was a three-hour public worship service in which all the Protestant clergy participated. I had grown up in Connecticut and had never heard of such a thing, and we were a state notorious for its Blue Laws.
By the time I left that Western PA church, they held the service at the local Roman Catholic Church and we did a Stations of the Cross with them. But participation was clearly dropping off.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
I wonder how many people just reflexively blame the president for everything.
It’s hard to judge since they’re usually right when it comes to Republican presidents.
Barbara
@Trivia Man: What you want is a snow storm on the day before Easter to cut out the last minute candy shopping.
Baud
@p.a.:
Agreed. I wish more Dems were comfortable when Dems criticize the press. Criticism isn’t oppression of a free press.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
Something like 40% of this country are brainwashed cultists who think TFG is literally Jesus. Better in fact since that Sermon on the Mount message sounds kinda wimpy.
But I’ve been hearing stories for a couple of years of fatigued Repub voters like those mentioned above who are aware that their party is evil and incompetent. And stupid. Maybe we’ve finally peeled off enough to win some elections.
Since we actually HAVE been winning elections against expectations, that seems more plausible than the polls the media keeps trying to feed us.
OzarkHillbilly
If the Valentine displays at my local WW are any indication, it should be a banner year. They way overstocked and I bet Easter will be a repeat.
Another Scott
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Only something like 0.7% of calls result in a completed survey, IIRC about a story on a FTFNYT poll a year or so ago.
Pollsters have to apply magic sauce to try to make the responses into a “representative” sample. And that magic sauce is always backwards looking – assuming the present electorate is always like the past one.
Dobbs and the insanity of the GQP and Covid and changes in early voting and all the rest have thrown a monkeywrench in all that sauce. Some pollsters, somehow, find a way to make it work reasonably well. Others miss by a lot.
I don’t envy the pollsters – it’s a tough job. But if it makes people get out and vote in spite of what the push-polls are telling them is a foregone conclusion, then that’s a good thing.
Cheers,
Scott.
Soprano2
@schrodingers_cat: There was a story on NPR this morning about the Mayorkas impeachment where I heard one of the reporters say that Republicans in the House feel that they can’t pass any legislation because the Senate and White House are in the hands of Democrats! I wanted to yell at the radio “How about you mention that they just turned down a bi-partisan immigration bill that gave them a lot of what they say want, but because it doesn’t have everything on their “wish list” they decided they didn’t want it after 4 months of saying they wanted it”? I wish the press talked more about how the House cannot govern in any meaningful way.
TBone
Guess we should be learning to speak Russkian since it seems like Vlad is pulling all the puppet strings at all times.
“But as Republicans examine Hunter Biden’s questionable business ties, it turns out Bobulinski is connected to one particular character perhaps more unsavory than any other figure in the inquiry’s constellation: Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg…”
But the headline has a question mark, so
https://digbysblog.net/2024/02/13/is-comers-next-big-flop-a-russian-asset/
Soprano2
@Betty Cracker: You really do have to repeat messages over and over to get them to penetrate into people’s brains. That’s where Republicans have an advantage, because they have talk radio and Fox News to do that for them. That’s how they got the talking point about the bi-partisan immigration bill “allowing” 5,000 people to come over the border every day into these people’s brains. I think Democrats are resistant to repeating the same message over and over, but that’s the only way you get normies to remember it.
Marmot
@BellyCat:
I know, right? Be still my beating heart!
sdhays
After border bill failure, ICE considers mass releases to close budget gap:
Release them directly into the Texas Governor’s mansion.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Another Scott:
In science we call this “altering the data to fit the theory” and it’s generally frowned upon and not considered to give you accurate descriptions of reality.
topclimber
@Another Scott: Are internet polls any better?
Eyeroller
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: They don’t exactly alter the data, they just apply a model that may rest on questionable assumptions, which isn’t quite as bad but still not great.
Even when they are not trying to model the electorate and are just polling a policy question, they need a representative sample, and I am coming to the conclusion that people who answer their phones are demographically different from those who don’t, regardless of age.
lowtechcyclist
@RevRick:
Sounds like Arthur Dent: “So this is it: we’re going to die.”
Jesse
Not sure I understand that sxeet about “the magic number is five in the 2024 cycle”. Like, does this guy understand the electoral calendar? We’re not planning on five special elections before the general election in November. Trying to retake the majority before November isn’t even a thing.
Ocotillo
@Trivia Man:
Oh, a topic I can actually impart some wisdom on.
CVS/Walgreens immediately go to 50% off holiday candy but, keep in mind they charge more in the first place so their 50% off is somewhat like 30% off at Target. Target tries to hold off on the heavy clearance pricing.
Walmart does 50% off but it goes fast.
I had not made the observation about whether Easter or Valentines day has better post-holiday clearance inventory but Halloween is the tops.
lowtechcyclist
@Barbara:
Given that it’s already March outside (regardless of what the calendar says – FU, global warming), I wouldn’t get my hopes up.
TBone
In possibly happy news, Joey Baloney may finally Find Out. Maybe.
https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia/joseph-bologna-philadelphia-police-jury-trial-begins-assault-20240213.html
WaterGirl
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Yes, there are ways to compensate for sampling problems.
But the way they do that is to make assumptions about what the makeup should look like, who is likely to vote, and a zillion other things.
So the methodology is flawed
edit: I see Another Scott got there first.
Soprano2
I watched Monday’s “Daily Show” last night. I didn’t think it was as bad as a lot of you did. He did quite a few old, tired jokes, but he also said things I’ve heard right here on this blog, like that you have to work every day to keep the progress that you’ve made, and one election isn’t going to save democracy, that you have to keep working even after your guy gets elected to make that happen. (I thought he was wrong to say that if the other guy gets elected it’s not the end of the world. It would be the end of a lot of things, I wish more people would acknowledge that.) At least that’s how I took what he said. The interview with Zanny Minton Beddoes was both interesting and infuriating. I wish more people would push back on the idea that old=washed up/tired/not effective. She was peddling that kind of crap, and I thought Stewart should have pushed back more on it, especially when she said how good Biden’s first term was! Stewart did say something like “Doesn’t that mean he could have an equally good second term?”. She did have TFG voters down to a “t”, and her comments about what’s driving them to be against Ukraine aid was spot-on. Also, that diner bit was hilarious! My verdict was it wasn’t as good as it could have been, but it wasn’t as bad as a lot of people here seemed to think it was. YYMV.
schrodingers_cat
@Soprano2: The media acts ike thinly disguised Republican spokespersons.
Soprano2
@sdhays: And of course Republicans and the press will blame this on Biden if they end up having to do it.
lamh36
Ok…I need recommendation for the the best auto insurance to get in California. My car is older, but low miles (I’m talking 41K). In Louisiana I only had liability, but then someone tried to steal it and I had to pay out of pocket for repairs. Now I keep comprehensive.
Marmot
@Soprano2:
Otherwise, I completely agree. I was yelling at NPR about the same phenomenon on a different topic this morning. (Something about how “partisanship” is an obstacle. If it’s obvious what that really means, then there’s no harm in reporters being explicit, right? Jeez.)
Another Scott
@topclimber: I don’t think so (I don’t see how they could be, and they could easily be worse if not done carefully).
IIRC, Zogby has done internet polling for ages. One could check there.
HTH a little.
Cheers,
Scott.
Ken
Easter: jellybeans, creme eggs, chocolate bunnies
Valentine’s: candy boxes of nougats and caramels
Halloween: chocolate bars, M&Ms, pixie stix, Milk Duds…
Yeah, I’ll have to give Halloween the win. Though with the caveat that if you’re late to the sale, the other two will still have the above selection, but Halloween will be down to candy corn.
Soprano2
@schrodingers_cat: I know, the minute I heard her say that I was like “What? Why are you giving credence to that bullshit when you know better!??” It’s as if the Senate bill that Republicans rejected never existed for these reporters, or as if no bi-partisan legislation even passed at all.
Baud
@Soprano2:
I haven’t watched it and don’t plan to. What I find sad about the whole thing is that people of that ilk used to say they cared about the issues. But with Biden being mostly good on most issues we care about, they focus their conversation on his age.
zhena gogolia
@Baud: The NYT letters yesterday were all: “Why won’t Biden address the question of his age?” WHAT THE FUCK IS HE SUPPOSED TO DO, PROMISE TO START GETTING YOUNGER? He could change his name to Benjamin Button, I guess.
SFAW
@RevRick:
Being married into a (mostly) Catholic family, I’m aware. My focus was on something else.
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
Penthouse letters are more informative.
ETA: The NYT is at least consistently untrustworthy. People like Stewart seem to waffle about what’s important to them. I guess by definition, contrarians necessarily fluctuate their stances based on what they need to be contrary to.
Eyeroller
@zhena gogolia: Of course, the editors choose which letters to publish.
Another Scott
@SFAW: I suppose we’ll have a few short cycles of people again speculating that Biden has some sort of horrible melanoma from seeing the pictures of the ash smudge on his forehead today. (I haven’t looked – I assume he’ll get smudged today as always.)
Gotta get those clicks!!1
[ groucho-roll-eyes.gif ]
Cheers,
Scott.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: They are full of shit. Biden gets no credit from them at all. They are like Rod Dreher, they change the issues they supposedly care about like he changes his religion.
They seem to no longer care about M4A or stundent loans, now its peace in the Middle East, which Biden can completely achieve by saying CEASEFIRE NOW
How soon before they tire of this issue? The clock is ticking.
Jeffro
via the NYT:
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Same here. I stopped watching him after he gave John Yoo a tongue bath during the early Obama years. He is not that funny even.
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
Biden’s working on a 6 week ceasefire, so maybe then.
Geminid would know. He actually reads the news.
schrodingers_cat
@zhena gogolia: This is their BUT HER EMAILZ for this cycle. Garbage Times is worse than Fox News and has been for a long time.
It was Judith Miller and the NYT that sold the Iraq War to the masses not Fox News. Cheney knew which “news” organization to use for his evil purpose.
mrmoshpotato
@Baud:
With bin Laden as his running mate.
Baud
@Jeffro:
Nikki has actually been running a nice messaging campaign lately. Too bad for her that she’s such a sad sack in her party.
SFAW
@RevRick:
@Another Scott:
JHC, ya try to make a (probably not very good) joke about Bruce Campbell’s greatest role, and everyone starts bringing religion into it.
mrmoshpotato
@Ken: Don’t you tease me with Cadbury Creme eggs! (Prefer the caramel-filled ones.)
Who’s looking forward to Reduced Price Chocolate Day?
ETA – I see OH and I are on the same calendar page – tomorrow.
Jackie
What position is TIFG promising her? 🤔
SFAW
@Jeffro:
Go-to NPR (non-politico) allegedly-Dem interviewee: “Give me a reason to vote for Joe Biden, but without mentioning Trump, SCOTUS, fascism, or Biden’s accomplishments.”
Manyakitty
@sdhays: seriously. If it wouldn’t lead to so much harm to the immigrants, I’d say to dump them all on Mike Johnson’s doorstep.
mrmoshpotato
@Jackie: Fall guy. Fall gal?
lowtechcyclist
@Another Scott:
The survey that I used to work on (sweet words!) had a response rate of about 40%, and we had our field people knocking on doors to get that. But even at that level of completed surveys, nonresponse bias is an issue. Even within the categories you’re controlling for to ensure representativeness, the people who respond can differ nontrivially from those who don’t.
With 0.7% response rates…man, I’m glad I never had to deal with that sorta shit, that’s all I can say. There’s only so much their special sauce can do.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Soprano2: Yeah, when anyone says Trump being elected wouldn’t be the end of the world, they mean not for them. Stewart will be fine. For that matter, so will I. But a lot of people won’t.
Kay
Such good news. I watched one of the ads they ran on constant rotation in NY and it was a Fox news clip of “migrants” in some kind of brawl. I have no idea if they were migrants or if the ruckus depicted actually happened, or when it might have happened. So, so glad that didn’t work.
I’m also pleased because the NYTimes worked so hard to beat the Democrat.
This is the title of Monday’s “The Daily” – the NYTimes podcast that is so popular:
“Why the Race to Replace George Santos is so Close”
They can’t even cover a race in their own backyard accurately. I mean, come on. They do this shit over and over and over.
mrmoshpotato
@BellyCat:
@Marmot: I guess some of them finally tired of the stink of having their heads up their asses.
Soprano2
@Baud: I’m going to wait to see a few more shows by Stewart before I decide that’s what he’s doing. He also did a good bit showing how TFG and all his spawn can’t seem to remember anything when they are under oath for depositions, and said that it seems the real thing that causes memory problems is a deposition! You also have to remember that Stewart isn’t the total of the Daily Show, they have a lot of good people on there and do some good stuff. That diner thing was hilarious, especially the part where Dulce Sloan was outside the diner and then gave Stewart crap for being an old guy who came back and took a job he was too old for! LOL I’m not ready to write the whole thing off based on one show. And yeah, I know Stewart has done some subpar stuff too.
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Yep. I will also probably be fine. As would most anti-Dems. The people who wouldn’t be aren’t featured in the media.
lowtechcyclist
@Soprano2:
Not just that, but in 2019, the Senate and White House were in GOP hands, and did that stop Nancy Pelosi from passing legislation, even though Mitch was going to ignore every last bill she sent his way? It most certainly didn’t!
They can’t pass legislation because they’re a bunch of dysfunctional baboons – and I must apologize to baboons for comparing them to the louts in the House GOP.
Just Some Fuckhead
Bunch of superstitious fools. All they have to do is eat blackeyed peas.
Another Scott
@SFAW: I lost track of most popular culture references sometime around 1983.
;-D
Cheers,
Scott.
Manyakitty
@schrodingers_cat: I won’t even click on their recipes any more.
Jeffro
also via the NYT, Thomas Edsall takes way, way too long to get to the obvious point: let’s just say it, the Republicans are the problem:
Ah, but what part, Tom, what part of the electorate?!?
(Tom inserts comments from a dozen experts on what’s driving this before starting to clarify…sort of…)
I know hardcore MAGAts consider this a huge plus that the world thinks poorly of us with him in charge, but on net, I think it’s worth reminding the rest of America’s voters that the orange cretin disgusts normal people around the world as well as here at home.
narya
I don’t much bother w/ VDay candy sales–there’s a schmancy chocolate store near me, but the only stuff on sale is the solid chocolate, not their amazing filled chocolates. They use Callebaut, which, frankly, I can get cheaper at Whole Paycheck. Easter, however, is the Time of the Peeps. I’ve noticed that the stuff disappears off the shelves within a couple of days, so I really have to get there the day after Easter. Love me some Peeps, but only after they’ve ripened (i.e., been opened and left to get stale). Yes, I know most of you hate Peeps; more for me!
Ken
Was that maybe the clip of Sliwa’s “guardian angels” beating up a guy they called a migrant, but who (surprise) turned out not to be?
Baud
@Soprano2:
I don’t watch many comedy shows these days, and he doesn’t care what I think. I just hope it ends up being a net positive.
hueyplong
@mrmoshpotato: Wouldn’t FoxNews also have some segments on how JW Booth and law-abiding derringer owners have been canceled by the Woke Left?
Trivia Man
@Soprano2: I am honestly impressed by Hannity’s ability to stay on message and repeat his “hook” verbatim 100+ times an hour. He even says the current catch phrase in a chanting sing song like he’s reading ng it off a bumper sticker… which makes it sound even more plausible and “common wisdom” every one agrees with. I don’t listen often so i can’t recall what his current ones are. But I guarantee if you listen for 10 minutes you will hear SOMETHING catchy and repeated 5+ times
Cut and run is a short one I remember, usually it is 3-5 very short phrases in a list. Always identical wording. Very effective.
Jeffro
@SFAW: we’re supposed to not mention Joe Biden’s accomplishments when promoting reasons to vote for Joe Biden??!?
Why, I do believe the goal posts have been moved out of the stadium and mounted on a high-speed rail car.
Kay
So the NYTimes told listeners on Monday/Tuesday that the race was “so close” – did they correct that on Wednesday to align with reality?
Their Wednesday edition is “The Biden Problem Democrats Can No longer Ignore” so I’m not sure but I;m guessing ‘not’.
This isn’t political coverage. I don’t know what it is.
SFAW
@Baud:
Well, that’s because he’s a pro-pants (or anti-pantsless) bigot.
H.E.Wolf
Congratulations on the new job (they’re so lucky to have you!!) and the new location!
I’ve had good experiences – in CA originally, and now elsewhere – with Amica Mutual Insurance.
Northern CA office info:
https://www.amica.com/en/customer-service/contact-us/find-an-office/ca/northern-california-office.html
As with anything to do with cars, your mileage may vary. :)
Kay
@Ken:
And where the police then charged the vicitim of the assault rather than the attackers? No, not that one.
Marmot
@Kay: Ugh. I listened to that worry-farming Daily episode. While there were interesting details about the district’s demographics, they have clearly missed a big factor or two in voters’ motivations.
I wonder if the NYT crew will realize that, or just go back to, “Shouldn’t Dems worry? Are they worrying enough? Here’s a reason they should.”
It must get a lot of clicks from our depressives.
MisterForkbeard
@zhena gogolia: The dumb thing is that Biden has addressed it, repeatedly. He says he’s doing just fine and can handle the job. His current job performance agrees with him.
That said, even a fairly democratic friend of mine is appalled that Jill accompanies him on a lot of interviews because she’s much more outgoing. She can be gregarious and spontaneous – Joe can’t because he’s the President and he has to carefully weigh his words (especially now). But he says Joe looks very slow and creaky compared to Jill.
But it’s the emails thing all over again. They’re going to say he hasn’t addressed it or he’s not answering honestly until he gives the exact answer they want, and then they’ll bash him for making any kind of admission.
SFAW
@Jeffro:
I was riffing on an NPR interview from 2016, where an allegedly-Dem voter said (approximately) “Give me a reason to vote for Hillary, without mentioning Donald Trump or the Supreme Court.”
This is not apocryphal; I was listening to the NPR program where/when she said it. I didn’t punch my radio, but I think I uttered a few “choice words” in response.
Kay
Doug J makes huge fun of The Daily. I’ve never listened to it but reading the titles of the shows I completely understand why he thinks it’s comical. They deserve to be jeered at. The titles are really just whatever narrative they’re pushing that day – always benefitting the Right.
lowtechcyclist
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
That’s not necessarily what they’re doing. My WAG, based on a couple of decades in statistical sample design, is that they divide the population into cells by sex, race, ethnicity, and age, and weight up the responses in each cell to the population of that cell in the entire population.
The problem is that, even within each cell, nonresponse bias can be nontrivial, and also if the number of responses you got was small, you’ve got to choose between not very many cells (which means you’re collapsing different groups together) or having cells with very few respondents in some of them (which makes the results for that cell much more unreliable).
These days, when you’ve got to call 40,000 phone numbers to get 300 measly responses, too many pollsters are in that bind.
H.E.Wolf
Prone.
/Stokely Carmichael
Baud
@Kay:
What’s the Daily? Associated with the NYT or a different media rag?
twbrandt
@RevRick: When I was growing up in suburban Detroit in the 60s-70s, most businesses closed on Good Friday. The large Presbyterian church my family attended had a three-hour service from noon to three, in which most of the other Protestant clergy participated (the Baptists kept to themselves).
MisterForkbeard
@Kay: We all know what it is. NYT pushing an agenda and/or getting clicks.
One of the great sadnesses of my adult life is learning that even the nominally ‘good’ institutions are incredibly undependable. And for the NYT, we don’t have any levers to correct behavior.
OzarkHillbilly
@lamh36: Get a rusty old beater. Not only has nobody ever tried to steal mine, but it says, “I don’t give a fuck.” and they get out of my way when they see me coming.
MisterForkbeard
@SFAW: This became a thing. I had to deal with Very Left friends saying the exact same quote to me a couple of times. And you could, even pretty easily! Pretty simple to give historical examples of Hillary doing exactly the things she’d want them to do.
They would just tell me “I don’t believe that Hillary would actually do any of those things”
Miss Bianca
@Baud: The modern GOP, at least in my neck of the woods, is holding a Lincoln Day dinner with…wait for it…a “John Wilkes Booth” AR-15 raffle.
I mean, I know they’re garbage human beings, but come on…
Kay
@Marmot:
They have a basic framework for their narrative – “Democrats are too far Left on (fill in blank) which will alienate this voter group (fill in blank) and benefit Republicans. They use it over and over and over.
It’s like they’re training their listeners/readers to stay inside this box.
But they should have to explain big errors like this. They told people the race would be close and not just that but WHY it would be close. If they’re going to invent an entire fucking story and call it “news” then at least correct it when it doesn’t have their fairy tale ended of GOP victory. 54/46 is not close.
Craig
@Soprano2: I can’t listen to NPR. it’s just terrible.
geg6
@Soprano2:
Subpar stuff???? Are you serious???? His idiotic rally???? His interview with Yoo???? His interviews with Obama and Pelosi???? Subpar????
That was egregious garbage. So he hired some good people who go on to do vastly superior work than he’s ever done. The CNN clip that got it all started with Stewart being held up as such a great “truth teller” was nothing but a fucking both-sider rant that cemented many people’s view that both parties are “the same” and what still poisons every political moment today? You call this subpar shit? Um, no. He’s an idiot who is not worth holding up as any kind of good guy. And he hasn’t changed a fucking bit since 2015. Not the kind of person I waste my time with.
Kay
@Baud:
It’s the NYTimes morning podcast, where they interview and promote their own political people. The “analyst” on the “we hate Joe Biden” edition today is that awful Baker person. So they regurgitate what they put in the paper for another format – like the books they write and peddle but a podcast.
Miss Bianca
@RevRick: When I was a kid in choir (Episcopal church), the 3-hour Good Friday service was very much a thing, and even tho’ the boys’ choir was the “prestigious one”, the girls’ choir always got stuck with doing it. Funny, huh?
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Betty Cracker:
The Founding Fathers felt that way. At least that little part of modern ‘Murka they’d “get” as in “WTF do they let everybody vote?”
It’s also an outgrowth of the GOP war on public edumacation in that a dumb population is easier to control.
mrmoshpotato
@narya: Well, you enjoy your Peeps, and your stale Peeps! :)
lowtechcyclist
@Manyakitty:
Can’t neglect DeSantis, send a bunch to him too!
mrmoshpotato
@hueyplong: Most likely.
Soprano2
@Kay: It’s Republican advocacy is what it is.
Baud
@MisterForkbeard:
I’ve come to recognize that online isn’t real life, but it is depressing to hear about people’s real life experiences with idiots that mirror online idiots.
Baud
@Kay:
Thanks. I don’t do podcasts so I don’t have to put any effort into avoiding it.
Manyakitty
@Miss Bianca: what? I think my brain exploded from reading that. Speechless.
OzarkHillbilly
If it was the one I am aware of, I have read that migrants weren’t involved. Not sure where it was I read it so take it for what that is worth.
lowtechcyclist
@Jeffro:
Same thing happened to a lesser but still very nontrivial degree with Dubya. Hell, Obama got a Nobel basically for not being Shrub.
Kay
@geg6:
Someone on social media said he appeals to loosely attached, mostly middle aged or older people who consider themselves liberal but don’t really consume political news or have any great interest in government. That’s an actual group that politicians want and need because they generally vote – his audience is college educated and as you know, they vote. I could see the value in that and why he would appeal to them.
geg6
@narya:
I’ll happily pay the premium for non-sale chocolates at the local chocolatier, Rosalind’s Candy Castle. And I will happily skip the cheap chocolate on sale at the national drug and big box stores. I will still nosh on some peanut M&Ms now and again, but I can buy a bag of expensive, hand-crafted chocolates and keep it for a couple of months because the expensive stuff is not too ridiculously expensive (I have much more expensive urges), but is so lush and decadent that I only need a bite or two to satisfy my chocolate cravings.
TBone
When my paramour asks how I’d like my eggs in the morning, I always say “unfertilized.”
Manyakitty
@lowtechcyclist: no doubt, but I want little Rev Mikey to gain personal understanding of the wages of his sins.
lowtechcyclist
@Trivia Man:
You are made of tougher stuff than me. I’d rather spend the time slamming my head against the wall.
Kay
@OzarkHillbilly:
Thanks. It’s not that one because I looked into that one – I wanted to see it because police charged the “migrant” (the vicitm of the attack) and not the attackers. I wanted to see what the video looked like for his civil suit against the Guardian Angels :)
Baud
@lowtechcyclist:
Less brain damage that way.
Soprano2
@geg6: I guess we just have to agree to disagree. I don’t like those things Stewart did, but I don’t hold him to the same standard I would hold an actual reporter to. I think we forget that at his core he’s a comedian, not a reporter. I want him to be better, but in some ways he’s saying some of the same things that more knowledgeable people are also saying. I’m listening to Pod Save America right now, and these people who love Biden and want him to win say that it’s up to Biden to get out there and demonstrate that the concerns about his age are overblown. They say that although the press is promoting them more than is warranted, these concerns also predated the press obsessing about them. They think him not doing the Super Bowl interview was a mistake, and just like what Stewart said they say he can’t just have people saying he’s sharp and in control in meetings and behind the scenes, he needs to get out in front of the public and demonstrate that repeatedly. Are they shills for Republicans too? They know Biden is still sharp, but they’re concerned that too many voters can’t see that for themselves, and will draw their own conclusions based on how Biden walks now because he’s having back problems. They aren’t wrong, people are just that shallow.
Edited for clarity.
Jeffro
@SFAW: my bad! I thought it was something from this year. =)
I did not know that was the standard for Dem candidates but I should have guessed.
JML
@MisterForkbeard: and whenever someone says “I just don’t believe” in response, it’s a signal that they’ve made up their mind and are not persuadable. It doesn’t matter if you have reams of facts to back up your argument, you’re not going to change their belief…because that’s something they WANT to be true, and they’ll look for any possible explanation to make it so. Including deciding the people telling them different are liars, have a hidden agenda, blah blah blah dismissalcakes.
Baud
@JML:
Agreed. The MAGA (or anti vax) mindset isn’t limited to the right.
Baud
@Jeffro:
The standard is reality + 1.
Ramalama
@Baud: Superbowl Jesus is now my favorite Jesus.
Baud
Good. I was worried about the appearance of impropriety.
mrmoshpotato
@Ramalama: Even better than Notre Dame’s Touchdown Jesus.
TBone
Another warship has been reassigned to submarine duty according to a commenter (I have not verified). “The ship was the Caesar Kunikov. It was sunk on February 14th. Its namesake died on the same day.
/cue spooky music
There is footage from three naval drones. The third one backed off and watched the ship sink.”
SLAVA UKRAINI
lowtechcyclist
@TBone:
For a nation that basically doesn’t have a navy, they’re sure beating the hell out of the Russian navy!
TBone
@lowtechcyclist: 😍
topclimber
Boy this edit feature likes to disappear comments.
NotMax
Wishing y’all a very merry Candysale Eve.
geg6
@Kay:
That would be me and all my friends and family. None of us like Jon Stewart and haven’t for at least a decade and a half. Middle aged or a bit older, college educated and white. I don’t see the appeal and I especially don’t think younger people will see the appeal. They don’t even know who he is. Trevor Noah, now, they know. Hell, they even know Colbert and Kimmel. I haven’t heard a student mention Stewart in a decade.
Ramalama
@mrmoshpotato: I hadn’t heard of Touchdown Jesus till you brought it up. And my Dad went to Notre Dame for grad school. And he was all about the football. Huh. New topic to discuss with the siblings!
Marmot
@Kay:
If I agreed more, the Universe would collapse in on itself here in my head.
But on why, I’m more of the opinion that they’ve noticed they get a lot more engagement from the “here’s why Dems should worry” angle, regardless of the supposed reason for worrying — “Dems too left” or “president old” or whatever.
Nearly alone among newspapers, the NYT has actually managed to make money lately. And that’s due to zealously protecting their undeservedly high-end reputation, podcasting, and aggressive marketing, among other things.
I could be off, but I put “should Dems worry” under aggressive marketing. It’s surprising what struggling companies will do, and assuming the NYT is acting purely out of political interest — well, it seems a bit like a conspiracy theory. Not that that’s what you’re doing.
Ramalama
@NotMax: Wondering what they did with all the unsold Christmas bark that didn’t get picked up even at discount? Probably crushed it all down to make sausage, as food people apparently do.
Baud
@Marmot:
As much as I dislike the NYT, I can’t disagree that a good bit of the problem is on the demand side.
topclimber
Seems like BJ saw my comment as candy and at the WHOLE THING while editing.
Ksmiami
@Another Scott: I imagine Biden saying something to the tune of “Look ya little punk, I’ve held back on calling out your traitorous ass but I’ll start on TV tomorrow if you don’t bring the bill to a vote… and I have video of you and your son at Vegas pornfest 23… don’t push me on this.”
Geminid
@H.E.Wolf: That’s a good one.
Last night you mentioned your postcard efforts for the NY03 race, and I thought of you when I read a Twitter post by “Ellen#BlueVotebender.”
She was responding to Ross Barkan, who credited Suozzi’s win to Hakeem Jeffries and national Democrats because the party’s state and Long Island organizations are “desiccated”:
Rep. Grace Meng reposted this and commented:
Anyway
@Manyakitty:
Stopped that after their cheerleading of the Iraq war
Betty
@sdhays: These are people, families with children. We shouldn’t be talking about dumping them anywhere.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
That’s legitimately insightful. Now I just need a contrarian detector!
Ocotillo
Qualifier: I have not seen the ads that were ran in the old Santos seat race about the migrants but it sounds like what was being shown was a recent story where they have video of a group of migrants attacking and kicking a police officer. NBC News ran in it on their evening news two or three times and there were clips of Hochul saying you don’t attack a cop, etc…
The migrants were arrested and released and that is where the explosion of coverage got going. I think Hannity was likely exploiting that with the Guardian Angel incident and I guess they thought they had one of the migrants that had attacked the cop and were wrong.
Marmot
@geg6:
Have any of them mentioned South Park? That’s the political poison I loathe most among our supposed pop-culture allies.
Marcopolo
The problem w/ the Daily Show piece about Biden & Trumps’ age was that it was just a lazy both sider piece. Lazy being the operative word. Which is one of my problems with Stewart. Yes, he’s had a couple of moments where he’s illuminated some political stupidity/hypocrisy or other but most of what he does just seems to be lazy. So many ripe topics to dissect in our current politics & he does the age thing—without bringing anything particularly new to it.
As for the NYT (and other major media outlets) and their coverage of politics (and a lot of other things): 1) I now just assume that the approach they use to cover anything is designed to get the most eyeballs/clicks as possible. This explains for me the headlines that don’t match the articles, the political stories that conflate the two parties agendas, the coverage that makes every election into a tied horserace. 2) That combined with, yes, lazy reporting (stenography, going back to the same Rolodex of sources again and again and again, trying to write to a narrative as opposed to doing reporting that actually susses out the story) means that the value I get from their reporting has dropped off a cliff over the past couple decades. I’m sure a lot of that is related to the ability of editors to see exactly how much engagement each article gets (so if you’re a reporter the editor is always looking over your shoulder), to the decline of at least print media financial strength, and to the hollowing out of newsrooms but knowing all that doesn’t make it better.
Manyakitty
@lowtechcyclist: pretty soon, Russia won’t have a Navy, either. Woohoo!
Marmot
@Baud: How dare you put that so succinctly!
Matt McIrvin
@Soprano2: There’s kind of a two-step political entertainers do, where they’ll make all these bids to be taken seriously but retreat to “I’m just a rodeo clown” when they’re called on inaccuracies or obnoxious statements. You see it most often on the right but liberals aren’t immune, especially since so many of these figures on our side openly identify as comedians rather than news reporters or editorialists.
3Sice
Anyone expecting Trump to drive 2016 – 2020 levels of engagement might take a look at the ratings history of the Apprentice.
TBone
I am reminded that today is also Frederick Douglass Day.
https://douglassday.org/
Matt McIrvin
@Marmot:
Isn’t that true? The electorate are basically collectively very dumb. Even people who in the abstract are smart, because they’re busy and not perpetually engaged with politics.
Marmot
@Marcopolo:
Yep. Except you know what kind of bias is at work. And pointing out the problem is the first step to fixing it. Not that the NYT would.
Still, it’s a good premise for a Columbia Journalism Review piece.
Citizen Alan
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
Fred Clark used to talk about the fact that Tim Lahey, the author of the left behind series, used to get around the blatantly unchristian conduct of his characters by suggesting that the beatitudes do not apply to the present world. Rather, they describe how all the Christians will act towards one another once they get to heaven and the non christians are all in hell being tortured for earnity
Ken
This has also been a (winning) legal argument when Fox has been sued for inaccuracies in their reporting. Oh, they say, that was not the reporting part of the show; that was the commentary part, and our presenters were just presenting their opinions and/or making humorous observations.
NotMax
@Ramalama
Run through a shredder to be recycled as jimmies?
Matt McIrvin
@Citizen Alan: Yep, that’s “dispensationalism”– the idea that God changes the absolute laws of morality from time to time, and everything in the Bible that doesn’t agree with their awful ideology is for use in some other “dispensation”.
Marmot
@Matt McIrvin:
“A person is smart. People are dumb animals.”
Sure. But apparently Suozzi repeatedly pointed out Repub hypocrisy. And it seems to have worked, and we shouldn’t assume it won’t!
JML
@Matt McIrvin: ah, yes the old Rush Limbaugh trick. whenever he crossed a line or got called out on his gross conduct he’d just claim “I’m only a comedian, you’re not supposed to take it seriously!” and then victim-blame anyone who was offended by his jackassery because they just didn’t understand. Throwing that in Stewart’s face might actually get him to change his behavior, because he’d hate being comped to Rush…
NotMax
@Marmot
“Single-mindedness is all very well in cows or baboons; in an animal claiming to belong to the same species as Shakespeare it is simply disgraceful.”
— Aldous Huxley
.
Bruce K in ATH-GR
@JML: Ah, yes, the Schroedinger’s Joke tactic. If the audience likes it, it’s a truth bomb, and if someone the audience doesn’t like it, then they’re to blame for not having a sense of humor and not getting that it was OBVIOUSLY a joke.
NotMax
@JML
Still a fond memory is how Liimbaugh’s venture into TV went down almost faster than the Hinderburg.
Jeffro
Yes. And it’s a good warning to all nations that are cough cough heavily invested in surface ships.
Frank Wilhoit
@gene108: “Republicans can’t govern” is not the flex we think it is because to their voters, governing is the wrong thing to do. They cannot be made good but they might be made complacent.
Jeffro
Btw folks, this will come as a complete shock to you all, but a 1/3 of the GOP is batshit insane
(seriously!)
LARGE number of Republicans believe Taylor Swift’s running a Deep State op against them and their guy
NotMax
@Jeffro
Remember the Kursk? Russia sure do.
;)
Jeffro
@Jeffro:
Geminid
@Geminid: Rep. Meng’s district borders Suozzi’s, and she came in for some praise herself from constituent Russell Drew:
California Rep. Ted Lieu agreed:
Rep. Lieu posted this with a picture of himself, Rep. Meng and another lady standing in front of an Asian market, smiling and holding Suozzi flyers.
“Harini Joyful Warrior Krishnan” added:
Ken
@Citizen Alan: @Matt McIrvin: Although dispensationalism doesn’t cover “do as I say, not as I do” situations. I’m sure Tim LaHaye had more than a few of his own, but (as Fred Clark noted) his wife was a major example.
She so strongly believed in traditional roles for women, like not getting involved in political affairs so they could concentrate on their home and husband, that she founded Concerned Women for America, a major political lobbying organization that pushed traditional roles for women, and moved several thousand miles away from her husband to run the organization.
NotMax
@Jeffro
Reminded of a poll not all that long ago which reported that some 30% of people believe the Sun revolves around the Earth.
Frank Wilhoit
@Citizen Alan:
This is key. The beatitudes and more importantly the Commandments are only considered and only intended to apply within the community. That fact deprives them of any ethical value.
Baud
@Jeffro:
That group: Balloon Juice.
Ken
Clearly the Sun, like all things, revolves around Donald Trump; Donald Trump is on the Earth; therefore the Sun incidentally revolves around the Earth.
Sister Golden Bear
@Baud:
Fixed it for you.
RaflW
Hey, AP. It seems politically embarrassing to groundlessly and nakedly partisanly vote to impeach Mayorkas. Not that it wasn’t also embarrassing to fail by one vote last week.
The whole circus, while failing to move a bill to actually try to fix anything, is really pulling the lid off of how shockingly terrible the GOP is for this country’s functioning.
NotMax
@Frank Wilhoit
Personally favor the Bauditudes.
:)
Anyway
AANHPI ???
Ken
@NotMax: Blessed are they who have no pants, for they shall be comfortable.
NotMax
@Ken
And Hell, being at the center of the Earth, is the true center of the entire universe.
Jeffro
@Baud:
WORD
scav
So, 0.7 is their listen to the end of the call success rate, but we’re supposed to believe that it’s a magical 0.7 of the population that doesn’t throw out jack shit responses to amuse themselves?
Marmot
@NotMax: Yeah, but that’s not from Men in Black!
smith
@Jeffro: According to Gallup’s most recent polling from January of this year, only 25% of Americans identity as Republican (they no longer even reach the crazification factor). If those numbers are valid, the 60% of Rs who believe the election was stolen works out to 15% of the population. Assuming all the polls cited are actually representative, that means twice as many believe the sun revolves around the earth as believe the Big Lie.
Sure Lurkalot
@Another Scott:
“John Zogby, an American pollster, renowned for his keen political analysis, has recently stirred controversy with his negative projections for President Joe Biden’s 2024 election campaign. Zogby’s polls have indicated a rough road ahead for Biden, while concurrently showing a surprisingly strong support for Robert Kennedy Jr., an independent candidate. Kennedy, despite receiving generally unfavorable press, has managed to secure around 20-24% of the national support, with figures even higher in critical battleground states.”
“The controversy, however, lies not in Zogby’s projections, but in the undisclosed financial transactions between his firm, John Zogby Strategies, and the Kennedy campaign. Records reveal that the Kennedy campaign has paid Zogby’s firm over $200,000 for various research and consulting services. Further funds have also been funneled from a super PAC supportive of Kennedy and from Children’s Health Defense, an anti-vaccine nonprofit led by Kennedy himself.”
Zogby folks vehemently deny. “Money for nothing” I guess.
Jeffro
I read this, and then realized, I already know all of this history.
Froette (who’s interested in public policy) however, does not. I’ll have to forward her the article.
The Key to Understanding the Modern GOP is Its Hatred of Taxes
rekoob
@Anyway: Pretty sure it’s Asian Americans/Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders.
TBone
Will Friday be “Happy Lose Your Wealth Day” for a certain fascist orange shit stain? I’ve been so patient and such a good girl, it seems only fair!
Chris T.
@JML:
“So, if you don’t believe in gravity, I’ll just push off this cliff here, OK?”
Ramalama
@NotMax: YES!! The Jimmies generator. Note: I am currently hoarding Christmas bark from Costco.
Lent is here and in my first time ever am going to opt in, first-time Lenter, long-time Catholic (cafeteria). In an effort to prolong the Christmas goodness.
Wonder what those Taliban Catholics on the Supreme Court are giving up, oh wait, ethics.
Marmot
@smith: + (45% independents)*(43% Repub-leaning) = + 19% “conservatives”
Anyway
@rekoob: Thanks. The NH threw me …
Sister Golden Bear
@Ramalama: @mrmoshpotato:
Pikers.
Ohio Megachurch Pastor Literally Kicks Bible From Stage As Part Of Super Bowl Sunday Themed Service [Video]
“With play-by-play announcers, color commentary, a referee, and a stage covered in AstroTurf, the Crossroads pulpit resembled Allegiant Stadium more than any church on Sunday morning as Senior Pastor Brian Tome and Pastor Alli Patterson sported football jerseys as they took the stage for the “pregame” coin flip. After Tome wins the flip, the referee asks, “Would you like to kick or receive the Bible?”
“I will receive,” Tome replied. Patterson is then seen taking a few steps back as another pastor squares up the Bible — which had a football-style book cover on it — before kicking the Bible off the stage and into the crowd. Patterson then high-fives her colleague in celebration. In another sequence, the Bible is kicked yet again — this time a shorter distance — as the rest of the “players” on stage jump on top of the book as they tackle one another.”
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@TBone: And here I thought it was Anna Howard Shaw Day.
TBone
@Sister Golden Bear: I fukn quit, just can’t top this even with my rabid imagination.
Juju
@Ken: I disagree. Easter is better. Cadbury crème eggs, Cadbury mini eggs,( Cadbury chocolate in a sugar shell), Lindt gold chocolate bunny, Russel Stover strawberry cream egg and skittles sour jelly beans. If I’m going to eat chocolate I want it to be a higher quality than the stuff they use for Halloween candy.
StringOnAStick
@Kay: Back in the most popular years of The Daily Show when Stewart was hosting, surveys showed that their viewers had the most accurate understanding of current affairs of any MSM news, with FOX dead last in that competition. The standard was repeatable, accurate facts. The best thing Stewart ever did was having Colbert join the show, and that launched Stephen’s career.
My husband and I used the be daily watchers, but once the mango menace won, political comedy lost all appeal. I stopped listening to NPR last fall (it was car only listening, never in the house anymore); my husband stopped years ago. I struggle a LOT less with depression now and I know ditching NPR is a significant part of why.
H.E.Wolf
@Geminid:
I gather we share a fondness for obscure jokes.
Thank you for highlighting the wonderful comment by Grace Meng: “Whatever happens tonight, thank the people without the fancy titles.”
It has always been the people without the fancy titles who move this country in a more positive direction. Dedicated (as opposed to dessicated), often unheralded, and essential!
Juju
@Ken: Candy corn!!!!!😱😱😱😱
Ramalama
Today is the solemn day for Superbowl Jesus followers, and also fans of Frederick Douglass, but February 14th is also the day when (mostly) men find out whether or not they’re to remain married, get married, or remain firmly in the doghouse.
Source: I used to work in a flower shop. Today is the largest day in flowers. The following day is the day when workers in flower shops learn about the private lives of said men (“I ordered red roses, not pink!” “They were delivered to the wrong address and her friends all got them but not her!”)
Soprano2
@Ken: She thought of herself as an ‘honorary man’, that’s how she justified it.
TBone
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: that important lady died in my home County. And Tina Fey hails from there as well so yes! It all ties together 😆
TBone
@H.E.Wolf: fist bump
Juju
@zhena gogolia: Joe Button.
smith
@Marmot: I’m not sure if the opinion polls cited pushed independents to say which way they leaned and then put the “conservatives” in the R column, but if they didn’t, and just used the respondents’ self-reported party identification, then the number of R leaning independents wouldn’t be counted. You’d need another poll asking independents these particular questions (or maybe they did have separate reporting for the independents in the sample. I’m too lazy this morning to look it up).
geg6
@Marmot:
No, not one time.
Hoodie
@Sister Golden Bear: People are strange. Gives new meaning to “drop kick me Jesus through the goal posts of life.” I guess they view it as a metaphor for eagerness to receive and spread the word, but it might be further evidence that Christianity has become more of a lifestyle brand or self-help cult than a cultural tradition.
TBone
@Hoodie: another version
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9QEFhkcOleQ
Manyakitty
@Anyway: not sure my boycott goes back that far, but it’s easily been 10 years.
Juju
@SFAW: He’s good at his job and he’s a very nice empathetic human being who cares about more than what he can get out of the presidency to line his pockets. Also, I seriously doubt that was an actual Democrat.
Ramalama
@TBone: I’ll give you one Jesus and raise you an Iris Dement. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlaoR5m4L80
VFX Lurker
When I first moved to SoCal 20+ years ago, a co-worker recommended Mercury Insurance. I’ve had comprehensive Mercury Insurance since then, through multiple accidents. Lots of careless drivers in SoCal!
I think The Finance Buff recommends switching insurers every year to take advantage of first-year deals, but I’ve been happy with Mercury.
Wishing you a good car insurance experience!
Citizen Alan
@geg6:
I loved Stewart until that stupid rally. The one where he focused on both sides being just as bad. And to prove it, he played a long clip of politicians being ridiculously partisan and dishonest generallystupid. And it was ALL Republicans except for a single clip of Alan Grayson. And that clip, IMO, wasn’t even objectionable!
Ramalama
@Sister Golden Bear: I mean wasn’t step-Dad Joseph a used camel salesman? These Megabyte pastors are just following tradition (marketing marketing marketing).
Marmot
@geg6: Yes! Thanks.
Marmot
@smith: Aha. Thanks.
H.E.Wolf
Headed into a long meeting, but first… back atcha! 🤜 🤛
Juju
@lowtechcyclist: It only means something if it’s a brick wall.
Citizen Alan
@NotMax: When you think about, it’s surprising that the idiot numbers aren’t higher given the statistic that over half the country apparently can’t read above the 6th grade level. Being a glass half full kinda guy, I find it amazing that around 40% or more of the people who can’t read nevertheless reject these stupidities.
Citizen Alan
@Sister Golden Bear: What is this surprising? To evangelicals, the Bible is a prop, nothing more. It’s primary purpose is to have something to hit non-Christians over the head with.
Fair Economist
What I find even *more* amazing than Republican voters realizing Republicans can’t govern is CNN reporting it. We usually get Cletus safaris interviewing (Republicans posing as) Independent who say they’ll still vote Republican in spite of massive corruption, sex crimes, blocking legislation they supposedly want, etc.
SFAW
@Juju:
Yeah, I’ve wondered about that from time to time.
ETA: Re: the 2016 “Dem voter”
Origuy
Brought up in the Disciples of Christ, so I never had ash on my forehead. But it seems to me that when Ash Wednesday falls on February 14, the priest should use a little heart-shaped stencil with the ash. Wouldn’t that be cute?
artem1s
@Another Scott:
Remember when Squeaker McQarthy had his meeting with Dark Brandon and decided to renege on the budget deal they made? Wishing the same results on his successor. The dumbass probably believes the Hur report and that he can pull the wool over the old guy’s head.
wjca
I know it’s a (mostly) dead thread, but I gotta say “No way!” Because bin Laden is one of Those People.
Now Stalin, or Hitler might be a serious possibility….
RevRick
@twbrandt:
@Miss Bianca: By the time I migrated to the Eastern part of Pennsylvania, three hour Good Friday services were a thing of the past. It reflected the gathering decline of Protestant mainline churches— which are now mostly sideline, at best. The church my wife and I attend now was a regional powerhouse when we first arrived in 1988. Now, the Consistory President jokes our endowment will outlast our membership.
The feminist movement of the 60s was given great impetus by the casual misogyny of that era.
dnfree
@Trivia Man: In years where orthodox Easter is a week after “regular Easter”, it’s a real boon for those who celebrate later.
wjca
Last I looked, the Hawaiian Islands were in the Pacific. So how are Native Hawaiians not Pacific Islanders?
TBone
@Ramalama: I love her! 💝
A Favorite
https://youtu.be/VOS7OiLE11c
Paul in KY
@lamh36: USAA is the best, if you qualify for it.
Paul in KY
@Trivia Man: He’s paid very well to read his propaganda off the teleprompter.
Paul in KY
@Soprano2: I think Jon goes to alot of parties where he can run into GQP entertainment types and this stuff is him being able to say to them ‘Oh, I hit the Democrats too!, etc. etc.’
Ruckus
Americans are fed up with Republicans.
That could have been written pretty much at any time in my 3/4 of a century. It’s just more true now than it used to be.
Unfortunately it doesn’t mean that they will disappear or that the conservative party will actually improve. Humans do not all see the world past their noses or allow that not everyone has to look alike or that actual freedom goes more than one way. With the population of the world growing it will only go one way unless the vast majority hop on board – I’m not holding my breath, as there are a lot of humans that seem to think that time actually can go backwards – many centuries. Of course those humans seem to have only studied (if at all) a small part of history. And history is replete with how vial some humans can be to other humans. Often to the point that they see others as not even human. They need to really look in a fucking mirror and understand that not everyone will look like them or be as stupid as them, or actually might understand that humans come in different shapes, sizes, colors, gender, religion or lack of, and that they only lower themselves by believing they are special and should be allowed to fuck over other humans. Which didn’t work when humanity started and works even less with 8 billion of us now living. Humanity is going to have to adjust it’s concept of not sharing, of equality, of living, if they want to remain able to do that third concept.
evodevo
@OzarkHillbilly:
Yep..I had an f250 4WD for many years, that between farm work and hauling construction stuff, looked like someone had taken a sledge hammer to it. People backed up at intersections when they saw it coming LOLOL
Ruckus
@Betty Cracker:
Review the numbers of people on sites like BJ, or even more political ones and then come up with a number of them that look at several on a regular basis. Subtract that number from the over 18 population. Now realize that most of those folks get all their info off of TV. Think about how many of them really, really think about politics in any way deeper/longer than likely 12 seconds a month. Do you, like me, think that is a rather significant number of adults in this country? Because I think it’s likely greater than 1/2 of the over 18 crowd. And I’m saying actually thinking about it, not just a word pops into their brain and is forgotten and they move on to food or sex.
Ramalama
@TBone: Wow, I never heard this song before. Time to get up to speed with Iris D!
KenK
@Baud: show you the money!!