Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Radicalized white males who support Trump are pitching a tent in the abyss.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

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

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” was supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly

We’re watching the self-immolation of the leading world power on a level unprecedented in human history.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

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

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

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

Second rate reporter says what?

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

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

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

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

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Some Saturday Respite: A Periodic Post…

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I continue to be astonished at the fundamental, to-the-bone soulless moral depravity that seems to be required in Trumpworld. I know I shouldn’t be surprised given how clearly and how often they’ve told us who they are. But I guess I’m glad that I still have that reflex moment of “unbelievable!” when presented with stuff like the Trump spokesman’s defense of the pickup-lynching image discussed in the post below.  It’s my way of refusing to normalize that evil in our public life. Trump’s behavior and the lockstep (goose step?) responses of his supporters should never be reduced to “Trump-being-Trump.” So I don’t. I won’t.

But one cannot live by rage and disgust alone. So enjoy this, perhaps the best interpretation of the organization of matter at the atomic level that I’ve ever seen.

Some Saturday Respite: A Periodic Post...

What else is there to say?

Well, perhaps this:

Happy Saturday. This thread is as open as the quest for the island of stability.

Image: Randall Munroe, “Periodic Table Regions,” XKCD 2913, 2024

Reader Interactions

85Comments

  2. 2.

    dmsilev

    I feel that’s giving short shrift to human ingenuity; I’m sure people have used a far broader swath of the table as murder weapons.

  3. 3.

    Mr. Bemused Senior

    [from memory] There’s antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium,

    and hydrogen and oxygen and nitrogen and rhenium…

  4. 4.

    bbleh

    Munroe is a genius.

    As to Trumpworld, nothing they do surprises me any more.  What IS starting to surprise me slightly is how many people still insist piously that we must try to Engage And Understand them, because something something dialogue something Reason something Peel Off 2% something.

    They’ve been frothing about how much we hate them for DECADES (which I frankly found astonishing when I first learned about it because what? who? why…?), to the point that it’s an article of faith among them, and they say and do ever more terrible things using that as a justification (again what? is it the healthcare that shows we hate you? the clean water? wha …?), but I gotta admit, I think it is becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.  I don’t HATE them — I still want them to have healthcare and clean water, and not to be bothered in their bedrooms, and so on — but I am increasingly contemptuous of them.  They’ve managed to get what they want, at least to some degree.  Congratulations!

    So when I hear yet again how we need to Turn The Other Cheek, as they storm the Capitol and smear sh!t on the walls, and condemn women to suffering and even death because they’re not functioning properly as baby factories, and want to send me and mine to camps, and and and … I gotta say, I’m just not convinced.  To paraphrase Gilliard, I want to defeat them.

    ( /rant )

  5. 5.

    West of the Rockies

    Trump World is befuddling.

    Ultimately,  I think it is explained by an imprecise mix of factors.

    Through wilfull ignorance,  adherents are victims of misinformation and manipulation.  If all you (choose to) encounter are AM argutainment and Fox News, you’ll believe in horse shit.

    Bigotry and racism are big factors.

    Finally, general cognitive deficiency results in a cultish belief in nonsense (Christianist/Trump idolatry).

    They are cowardly, fearful, angry-stupid people who are all appetite and no responsibility.

     

    Is there a word like the portmanteau hangry that refers to a mix of stupidity and self-certainty?  Confistupid?

  10. 10.

    CaseyL

    I saw this the other day and immediately wanted it for a poster. Be great to hang right next to (one version of) the real thing.

    I also watched a video – from SciShow, one of the YT science channels I subscribe to – that explained the history of the periodic table, and why it’s organized the way it is. (Just the fact that people were able to make the table at all is astonishing to me. )

    It was one of those explanations that I understood fairly well while listening, but could not remember or repeat on my own at all. (I only took the single required chemistry course in high school, and sometimes it shows.)
    ‘
    The xkcd version is therefore very helpful :)

  12. 12.

    Sister Golden Bear

    For those who’ve asked, I met with the shoulder specialist after the latest MRI, and I’ve got partial tears in two rotator cuff tendons, plus a bone spur that’s causing them.

    He’s recommending surgery to stitch up the tears and remove the bone spur. Fortunately, the recovery is a matter of days plus several weeks of PT, vs. surgery for a full tear that requires six weeks of your arm in a sling and lengthy PT.

    Getting a second opinion first — because surgery — but it’s relief to finally have a path forward. Plus knowing that in the interim I’m unlikely to worsen it as long as I’m careful.

  13. 13.

    Mr. Bemused Senior

    @bbleh: Munroe is a genius.

    Agreed.

    As to Trumpworld, nothing they do surprises me any more. What IS starting to surprise me slightly is how many people still insist piously that we must try to Engage And Understand them, because something something dialogue something Reason something Peel Off 2% something.

    I agree with the sentiment. We do have to admit to ourselves that there are a large number of people living in this country who for a wide variety of reasons support Trump. Whether it’s low information, bigotry, habit, misogyny, whatever, those people exist, Coddling them seems a waste of effort. Engaging is frustrating and tiring.

    As for me, I don’t have any close relatives or associates who fall into that category [thank goodness!].  Even if I did, I think I would not be “trying to understand” them. I can’t say what I would do, but my efforts are limited to supporting Biden, Schiff, and so on. And hanging out here of course.

  14. 14.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @West of the Rockies: On a related note, the usual suspects are screeching about Biden intentionally profaning Easter because he issued a proclamation recognizing Transgender Day of Visibility on March 31 — the same day it been held every year since it started 16 years ago.

  17. 17.

    TBone

    Speaking of needing goggles, fElon xitted that the steel trusses from the Key Bridge should be “reused.” If ANYONE should be aware of corrosive effect, it is HIM.

  19. 19.

    West of the Rockies

    @Sister Golden Bear:

    And those same Republicans are totes cool with Trump “comically” endorsing the abduction of Biden

    Best of luck/health in your decision, Sister GB!

  20. 20.

    ColoradoGuy

    MAGA’s admire Nazis and Putin. There’s nothing to understand, they’ve told us who they are.

    Can we peel off a few old-school Republicans who are kind of embarrassed by this? Sure, why not, there’s probably a few million who feel that way.

  23. 23.

    Princess

    @TBone: my understanding it that the steel from fallen bridges is reused. They turn it into rings that engineering students receive at their graduations to remind them of the awesome responsibility of their profession (or was that only at my university?)

  24. 24.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @ColoradoGuy: Can we peel off a few old-school Republicans who are kind of embarrassed by this?

    Diminishing returns. I know there are still Republicans operating on good faith assumptions of the world. I meet them all the time.  But if you haven’t crossed the aisle by now…

    Jus’ sayin’ I think the apathetic are a better bet on where to place effort.

  25. 25.

    MagdaInBlack

    @TBone: I’m sure he will be pleased to learn that steel is regularly recycled.

    My god that man is such an idiot.

  26. 26.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @MagdaInBlack: My god that man is such an idiot…

    …packaged and sold, with an assist from our media, as the smartest man alive.

  28. 28.

    NutmegAgain

    @bbleh: To your middle ‘graph–it’s evidently always projection with these folks. I guess that’s what happens when you idolize a malignant narcissist.

  29. 29.

    Another Scott

    @bbleh: What matters is voting the monsters out of office.  Something something all the rest is commentary.

    Seriously, I get the rage and frustration. Monsters in office are doing real damage. But too many other people, who aren’t in office or in positions of authority but who are in our normal lives, get energy from pissing off others. It’s better (whenever possible) to deny them the reaction, brush off your shoulders (0:54), and move on.

    My $0.02.

    Hang in there, everyone. Eyes on the prizes.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  30. 30.

    dmsilev

    @schrodingers_cat: That too. I might quibble a bit about some of the assignments in the cartoon, like for instance fluorine is in the ‘kill you in interesting ways’ category’ so either ‘murder weapon’ or ‘very specific health issues’ blobs, not the ‘safety goggles required’ entry.

    But that’s nitpicking purely for the sake of it…

  32. 32.

    Mel

    @Sister Golden Bear: I’m so sorry that you have been hurting, but so glad that you are getting answers and that there is a way to fix things and help you heal and get relief. Second opinions are always a good thing.

  33. 33.

    Geminid

    @The Kropenhagen Interpretation: My take on disaffected Republicans and uncertain Independents is that Democratic candidates shouldn’t chase them, but instead just try not to scare them off. Maybe say “bipartisan” every now and then. “Pragmatic” is an even better buzzword, because most people want things to work.

  35. 35.

    Ken

    Another of Randall Munroe’s takes on the periodic table is in one of his “What If” books. The question was “what if you made a periodic table out of blocks where each block is made from the element?”  The short answer is “don’t” (as is frequently the case with “what if” questions).

    The longer answer, in Munroe style, has such witticisms as:

    The range of toxic compounds that would be produced by this blaze is, at this point, incalculably large.

    and

    There’s no material safety data sheet for astatine. If there were, it would just be the word “NO” scrawled over and over in charred blood.

  36. 36.

    Martin

    That table is very locally biased. An astrophysicist breaks the table down much more simply: hydrogen, helium, and metals. Less than 1% of the observable universe is something other than hydrogen or helium, and the differences among that stuff is not particularly interesting.

  37. 37.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @MattF:

    I’m just waiting for Jon McNaughton to paint Trump, with rippling biceps and massive thighs you could bounce a nickel on, pushing aside the stone, striding into the sunlight, and flexing for Mary Magdalene Melania.

    (Edited to make better.)

  45. 45.

    Martin

    @bbleh: What IS starting to surprise me slightly is how many people still insist piously that we must try to Engage And Understand them, because something something dialogue something Reason something Peel Off 2% something.

    We should try and understand them, not because there’s a path to getting them as voters, etc. But because you cannot address a problem by ignoring it.

    You cannot combat the NYT cletus safari if you don’t know what actually motivates these voters. They can say its economics, and the NYT can repeat that it’s economics, but when it’s racism, or christian nationalism (I repeat myself…) you can’t say ‘hold on – why didn’t you challenge this inconsistency which would reveal its racism or christian nationalism…’ I you don’t know it’s racism.

    I never suggested we turn the other cheek, just the opposite. You need to understand these people to know how to properly engage with them. If everyone is deluded into thinking it’s a tax policy disagreement, that can be resolved via voting. If you think it’s because they’re anti-science dummies, you can’t combat that so you ignore it. If its because they insist that the US be ruled by white christians by any means, including violence, you better fucking come up with a strategy to talk them out of that specific viewpoint because failing to do so will mean solving it by violence, as we have had to do previously.

    Burying your head in the sand and saying ‘they just dummies’ is a great strategy for getting blindsided by a president who refuses to leave office, or a program of political assassination. What are you going to do then? Call them dummies? You think that’s going to work?

    You can’t defeat them if you don’t understand what they want, and how they want to get it.

  48. 48.

    West of the Rockies

    @Martin:

    That is a mind-blowing thought…

    And here we are, on this mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam, with the requisite crap shoot of compounds (organic and otherwise) required for sentient self-awareness — life.

  52. 52.

    TBone

    @Martin: IMO the word ‘beware’ is a better fit than ‘understand’ with regard to cult members.  In my real life, excruciating experience with my Evangeluglican, die hard cult member neighbors (whose son’s room is a still literal shrine to that rotten twat even though son has gone to Liberty U.), they are seriously brainwashed, and then the propaganda is constantly socially reinforced. It is their only faith; their entire purpose in life is church and Rump. Like the Moonies, and we must understand that there is almost nothing that will break the spell but mockery coupled with denazification tactics. They REALLY don’t like being laughed at.

  53. 53.

    Chris T.

    @Sister Golden Bear:

    He’s recommending surgery to stitch up the tears and remove the bone spur.

    They can grind off the spur, but whatever made it grow in the first place is likely to make it grow back. Whether this is a problem depends on how many years you have left in your body.

    As for resewing the torn bits, just make sure whoever does it is highly skilled. There’s very little room in there for, well, anything. The shoulder is, like the spine, one of the horrible design mistakes for the eons. (The alternative to repairing them is to work them very gently for a very long time while they self-repair.)

  54. 54.

    karen marie

    @Geminid:   If I hear “bipartisan” coming out of the mouth of another Democrat, I am going to SCREAM – unless in the context of “look, we negotiate with the terrorists but they refuse to take yes for an answer.”

  55. 55.

    George

    @West of the Rockies:  Trump world is not befuddling at all if you see it for what it really is: A very large cult. A charismatic narcissist as its leader, a set of beliefs separated from reality, and an overwhelming persecution complex. The unfortunate thing for the world is that cult members aren’t self-exiled to a commune in the Mojave Desert.​

  57. 57.

    bbleh

    @Martin: I think I’m pretty clear about what they want and how they want to get it.  They don’t make any secret of either!  But I don’t think that requires any sort of “engagement” or attempts to “understand” in any sympathetic way.  For one thing there’s certainly going to be nothing reciprocal on their part: if they win, their goal is simple domination by any means necessary, and neither engagement nor understanding plays any part in that.  And for another, and more practically, what I know is, I want to defeat them, and I think I have a pretty good idea how they can be defeated.  I don’t think any further understanding is required.

    They’re not dummies; they’re motivated and organized and some of them are in some ways very clever.  I have a strong practical respect for them as a force. I also have a strong practical respect for, say, the ocean or a stampede of large animals, because not to respect what they can do is foolish.  But as to their ideas, or their feelings, not a bit.  Perhaps long ago, but they worked hard to kill that off.  So no, to hell with them and their ideas and feelings and their little dogs too.  And happy Easter!

  58. 58.

    Martin

    @West of the Rockies: Even more mind blowing is the inclusion of the term ‘observable’.

    Most of the universe is dark matter. We have no fucking idea what it is. Most of what’s left is plasma – ionized gas partially stripped of its electrons. The three states of matter we learned as kids – solid, liquid, gas – is barely observable at all. We mostly guess how much is out there because we’re standing on the stuff, and we can see it in our local solar system. Beyond that, it’s only the last few decades we could see solid matter outside of our solar system, and we can only speculate about liquid.

    We are very, very insignificant in the grand scheme. I find suggestions we’re the only life in the universe to be pretty silly.  I also find the suggestion that other life would care enough about us to visit to be similarly silly.

  59. 59.

    Misterpuff

    @George:

     Trump world is not befuddling at all if you see it for what it really is: A very large cult. A charismatic narcissist as its leader, a set of beliefs separated from reality, and an overwhelming persecution complex. The unfortunate thing for the world is that cult members aren’t self-exiled to a commune in the Mojave Desert.​

     

    No, in fact, it is mainlined into our society by a fawning and unquestioning media. (It Gets Clicks!)*

    *The Ad Slogan For Our Time – Mad Men 2030 (produced in Canada)

  61. 61.

    Martin

    @George: I think that’s a mistake. Trump allows them to reveal their agenda, but he’s not instrumental to it. You can slot other people in there as needed. Their agenda is older than Trump is.

  63. 63.

    Citizen Alan

    @The Kropenhagen Interpretation:

    True. In my opinion, there are two types of republicans in this country. The first type consists of fascist white supremacists who want to utterly destroy american democracy. The second type does not support any of those things but is happy to work with the people who do just so long as they don’t have to pay taxes.

  64. 64.

    Chris T.

    @Mr. Bemused Senior:

    [from memory] There’s antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium,
    and hydrogen and oxygen and nitrogen and rhenium…

    Note that these lyrics end with:

    These are the only ones of which the news has come to Harrr-vard
    And there may be many others but they haven’t been discarrr-vard!

    Alas, since then, they have been “discarvard” (or at least, given names that need to be squeezed in somewhere).

  65. 65.

    Feathers

    @TBone: I keep imagining the Elon episode of that ‘00s basic cable classic Engineering Disasters. Need to bring it back, if only for Boeing. We used to call it “Cops for Nerds.”

  66. 66.

    Geminid

    @karen marie: Yes, that word really triggers some Democrats. But a couple of years ago, when Abigail Spanberger said “bypartisanship” a lot on her way to victory in the Virginia 7th CD,  it didn’t bother me at all. I was like, “You go, Abby!”

    The 7th CD voters are 1/3 or more Independents, and a lot of those people lap that bipartisan stuff up. It didn’t mean that Spanberger is softheaded, just that she’s pragmatic.

  67. 67.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    That Table of Elements chart made me lol. That doesn’t look like the one I used in Chem! Memories of fun stuff like VSEPR theory and equations like pressure/volume/temperature come to mind.

    Time to forget it again.

  68. 68.

    George

    @Martin: Absent a figure or figurehead to coalesce around, though, I doubt that the GOP would have become completely crazy, as it is today. Going back to 2016, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, and the other “serious” GOP candidates all were, or had been, elected politicians with records they could run on, or run from. Trump was a newcomer with no political record, so could lie about his beliefs and his record, and no one cared.

    He cares about one thing above all else: Self-aggrandizement. It is a weakness of the GOP/fascist mind that Republicans cannot see through his BS. Like any successful cult leader, he knows how to play the rubes for maximum narcissistic supply. ​

  69. 69.

    Mr. Bemused Senior

    @Chris T.: it was shortly after the song appeared that Lawrencium (103) was added. I think Tom Lehrer acknowledged that in a live performance.

    Google informs me he has since updated it.

  74. 74.

    Boris Rasputin (the evil twin)

    @Mr. Bemused Senior: Something I learned in almost 40 years in public service. There are people who God Himself cannot make happy, and many who He cannot make sensible. Outside of the aithiests here, prove me wrong

  78. 78.

    VOR

    @Feathers: Thing is, any replacement for the Francis Scott Key bridge will be different. We do not build bridges like that anymore because of lack of redundancy – as illustrated by the bridge’s failure. And the increasing size of ships means a higher bridge with a greater span between support structures would be needed. Oh, and placement of LARGE dolphins to protect the supports.

    Nobody is going to just pick up the broken and twisted pieces of the old bridge and put them back the way they were. Elmo is just being a troll again. Hmm, maybe he’s going to claim his Boring company could replace the bridge with a tunnel.

  79. 79.

    Geminid

    @VOR: I heard on WTOP News that workers started cutting up the bridge this afternoon. I think the 1000 ton capacity “Chesapeake 1000” crane and three lesser cranes have arrived or will shortly. It will be quite a project, with a lot of underwater work.

  80. 80.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Martin: Most people also vastly underestimate how fucking hard interstellar travel would be, according to everything everyone knows about physics.

    (I’ve heard speculations about the inevitability of civilizations filling the galaxy with exploring von Neumann machines, which is a bit more plausible but still involves a truckload of assumptions pulled out of the aether.)

  82. 82.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Geminid: I’ve always been a little suspicious of her because of her association with the Problem Solvers Caucus which was in turn a creation of none other than No Labels! But she’s a reliable if centrist Democrat and I’ve contributed to her general-election campaigns (my sister lives in that district).

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