Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Giving in to doom is how authoritarians win.

They are not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

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

Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

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

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

Anne Laurie is a fucking hero in so many ways. ~ Betty Cracker

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

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

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

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

“A king is only a king if we bow down.” – Rev. William Barber

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Sunday Morning Open Thread: Easter Sunday

Sunday Morning Open Thread: Easter Sunday

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Best wishes to all who celebrate!
 

And a warning for those who celebrate Monday as “Half Off the Seasonal Chocolate” Day…

… About three-quarters of the world’s cocoa — the main ingredient in chocolate — are produced on cacao trees in Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Cameroon. But dusty seasonal winds from the Sahara were severe in recent months, blocking out the sunlight needed for bean pods to grow. The season prior, heavy rainfall spread a rotting disease.

With exports from the Ivory Coast, the world’s top producer, down by a third in recent months, the global price of cocoa has risen sharply. Cocoa futures have already doubled this year, trading at a record high of more than $10,000 per metric ton in New York on Tuesday after rising more than 60% the previous year. Farmers who harvest cacao beans say the increases aren’t enough to cover their lower yields and higher production costs.

Yet the high Easter demand for chocolate carries a potential treat for big confectionery companies. Major global makers in Europe and the United States have more than passed on the rise in cocoa prices to consumers. Net profit margins at The Hershey Company increased to 16.7% in 2023 from 15.8% in 2022. Mondelez International, which owns the Toblerone and Cadbury brands, reported a jump to 13.8% in 2023 from 8.6% the year before…

To help increase production, authorities are promoting education on farming methods that might mitigate the effects of climate change, such as the use of irrigation systems. The president of Ghana also has promised to step in to help farmers get a better deal.

“With the current trend of the world cocoa price, cocoa farmers can be sure that I will do right by them in the next cocoa season,” President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo said last month…

Carried over from last night… Happy International Transgender Day of Visibility!
Sunday Morning Open Thread: Easter Sunday
(I am neither Christian nor transgender, but this cartoon always makes me smile.)

Reader Interactions

107Comments

  4. 4.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    Theological question: is chocolate before breakfast a sacrament or a sin?

    We weren’t going to get Easter candy, but then I remembered there’s a local chocolatier who we’d been meaning to check out for years, so I popped in there for “one or two things” and came out with a pile of really good chocolate.

  5. 5.

    mali muso

    Happy Eiffel Tower day from Paris where we visited the famous tower this morning! Kiddo is enjoying her trip, particularly when we find playgrounds scattered around the city and spend quality time climbing and playing. Who knew the best attractions for her would be free?  Happy Easter to all who celebrate.

  9. 9.

    JPL

    Pine pollen season has descended upon us.   The time of year where every thing takes on a yellow haze.

    Happy Easter!

  15. 15.

    bbleh

    @Baud: alas far too many of them are Christianists — all form and no substance.  When I’m not feeling cranky (well, more so), I sympathize with those who want the human contact, the camaraderie, and go along with some of the more offensive stuff like the “prosperity gospel” and inordinate attention to very particular parts of, eg, Leviticus or some of the Pauline Letters, and even with those who are less well-intentioned and do so for the validation of their own biases, because that after all is a common human failing.  But oh boy, not a good audience for them when they get on their moral high-horses, just sayin.’

    Anyhoo, happy Easter and ITV Day!  And also chocolate bunnies.

  18. 18.

    RevRick

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: It’s neither. It’s an essential food group.

    In Judaism, it’s a sin to pray for something and then not act in accordance. Your purchase of the chocolates is a form of prayer, so to not eat them would be the sin.

  23. 23.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Baud: ​
     

    Unlike in the GOP, the Christians here actually practice the tenets of their faith.

    With enough practice, maybe we’ll get it right one of these days! ;-)

  25. 25.

    mrmoshpotato

    Carried over from last night… Happy International Transgender Day of Visibility!

    Sunday Morning Open Thread: Easter Sunday

    (I am neither Christian nor transgender, but this cartoon always makes me smile.)

    Great cartoon.

  29. 29.

    Layer8Problem

    Visiting the grandkids and Partner’s family are enrolled members of the Ashkenazi tribe so no solid chocolate bunnies for me, but I did get some fine crepe-ish pancakes with homemade jam and powdered sugar. And the almost-nine-year-olds and us older folks watched the first episode of Wednesday, of which the kids decided they approve.  We’re off to the National Portrait Gallery later to stare at some national portraits.

  31. 31.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Spanky:

    Sunrise service, I ‘spect. Great morning for it down here

    Fooled you, we’re in Florida for Easter. It’s a beautiful morning down here too, but I didn’t get myself to a sunrise service, since I really don’t know much about the churches here  (Other than there are a lot of evangelical churches, which I’d rather avoid.)

  32. 32.

    Geminid

    “Key has risen.” Or at least, a crane has started lifting pieces of the Francis Scott Key bridge onto salvage barges. This is according to DC all-news radio station WTOP.

    The report included a clip of Maryland Governor Wes Moore saying that the work would proceed carefully because salvage experts must assess the stability of the remaining bridge sections after pieces are craned away. Also, they also still need to recover the remains of six missing bridge workers.

    The initial plan includes clearing a channel sufficient to let barge cranes snd salvage barges through in order to work the wreckage from the harbor side.

    The Coast Guard is managing the operation and according to Navy Times,* two Navy commands are assisting. The Navy Sea Systems Command is lining up salvage barges and tugboats to carry away wreckage. And the Supervisor of Salvage and Diving will “oversee mobilization of 12 assorted tugs, survey ships, crew and dive boats that will arrive in coming days.”

    The report also noted that the 1000-ton capacity “Chesapeake 1000” barge crane, the largest on the East Coast, and several lesser cranes were on the scene.

    * “Navy to aid Francis Scott Key collapse recovery,” Navy Times March 29, 2024.

  35. 35.

    mrmoshpotato

    @lowtechcyclist:

    The Lord is risen indeed! (I’m right here!) 

    Well, if you’re going to be blasphemous*, why not on Easter morning? 😂

    *Pendants, pedants, pundits, don’t start.

  36. 36.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Layer8Problem:

    We’re off to the National Portrait Gallery later to stare at some national portraits. 

    Beware: The portraits will win a staring contest.

  40. 40.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Geminid: ​
     

    Also, they also still need to recover the remains of six missing bridge workers.

    So they don’t think there were any other fatalities? Nobody driving on the bridge when it collapsed? That would be a miracle, even at 1:30am.

  42. 42.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Geminid:

    As I suspected, opening up the harbor will be accomplished quickly.  Having a massive military that has stuff to do just this kind of thing helps.  It’s also outstanding training.

  45. 45.

    MomSense

    @mrmoshpotato:

    I wouldn’t say it follows you around, more that it is very compelling.  It’s a small painting and yet it draws you to it even though it is in a room full of magnificent paintings.  I went there skeptical and the need up a believer. It’s not that the eyes follow you but your eyes keep turning to it.

  47. 47.

    TBone

    Awakened by zombie Roomba running itself at 4am for no good reason and Hubby thought we were having a home invasion when it unceremoniously busted through the bedroom door.  Comforted myself watching Wynton Marsalis on Mr. Rogers and Henrietta thought everyone forgot her birthday.  It STILL didn’t dawn on me that today is Hubby’s birthday DOH!!!

  52. 52.

    Geminid

    @lowtechcyclist: Authorities have seemed certain about that number for some days now. I guess that could change. It sounds like the police stopped the through traffic in time, but the missing workers could not make it off the bridge in time.

  53. 53.

    mrmoshpotato

    @MomSense:

    It’s a small painting and yet it draws you to it even though it is in a room full of magnificent paintings. 

    “Closer.  Closer.  Closer.  Woah, too close!  Back up.  Personal space and all.”

  54. 54.

    Miss Bianca

    @lowtechcyclist: I believe, from what I’ve read, that the authorities were able to halt traffic coming onto the bridge before it came down. The poor transit workers weren’t so fortunate, but quick action did prevent even more fatalities.

  55. 55.

    mrmoshpotato

    @TBone:

    Awakened by zombie Roomba running itself at 4am for no good reason and Hubby thought we were having a home invasion when it unceremoniously busted through the bedroom door. 

    The Roomba has risen!

    Also, not its fault you didn’t have a ceremony planned.

  56. 56.

    RevRick

    Easter is both unpossible and inexplicable if we ask the question how. However, its reality is undeniable when you look at the effect it had.
    In a world where foreigners/other races, slaves, and women were considered as contemptible others, the early Church stood all those assumptions on their heads. The clearest evidence is found in Galatians 3:28, where Paul alludes to a baptismal creed/hymn, which sings “There is no Jew or Greek, there is no slave or free, there is no male and female.” He uses it to bolster his argument that the presence of a church composed of Jews and Gentiles is a powerful witness to the transforming power of God in Christ.
    In contrast to the imperial ideology of rigid social hierarchy, the early church elevated women to positions of authority and power. Paul himself at the close of Romans (16:1-2), mentions Phoebe, whom he describes as a bishop of the church in Corinth as well as his patron (boss), who financed and oversaw his ministry.

    Clearly, something happened on that morning we celebrate today.

  59. 59.

    TBone

    @mrmoshpotato: 🤣 I was so discombobulated about all the hubub and The Last Picture Show was playing on the bedroom TV and Hubby was in a panic and all I could think to say was “Happy Easter, I guess!”

  63. 63.

    TBone

    Today I relish in offending my extra religious friend or two by sending them a meme of the painting of Jesus kneeling with His hands clasped and He is making fart noises with them.  He would be proud of me for reminding these people to lighten up!  After all, if I don’t sin, He died for nothing.

    🎶

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=j7sodwiQJ6c

  64. 64.

    Trivia Man

    As a child I couldn’t wrap my head around the time line. Dead fir three days then resurrected? But friday evening to late Saturday night/ early Sunday morning is not even 36 hours. Thats not 3 days!!

    Then I realized the difference between “after 3 days” and “on the third day.” Maybe the Mormons just had a different default phrasing.

  68. 68.

    TBone

    @mrmoshpotato: nope!  But I will be soon, I hope. I’m making pickle soup with leeks today.  Need to be able to concentrate on not chopping a finger off!

  70. 70.

    Ohio Mom

    @RevRick: There is midrash (a kind of traditional story that expands upon Jewish scripture) that tells us that when we arrive in the hereafter, one set of the questions God will ask us concerns all the earthly pleasures we didn’t partake of when they were right in front of us.

    God created those pleasures for us, it is an insult to refuse them.

    I am sure uneaten chocolate falls into this category.

  72. 72.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @mali muso: Did I hear that Notre Dame has reopened?

    I had a couple of days in Paris after a conference waiting for my wife to join me. Attended a gospel concert of all things. I don’t think anyone spoke English, they were all from francophone Africa or the Carribean, but they sounded pretty good singing in English. The posters promised “The authentic sound of the African-American church” in French.

    Didn’t see the Eiffel Tower, there were no time slots (July, peak season). But I’ve been up to the top before.

  76. 76.

    mali muso

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    @Fair Economist:

    thanks! We are having a fun time. It’s my first time in Paris having to take a kid’s interests and pace into account, so I’m learning to slow down a lot more than when I’ve visited on my own. More breaks, lots of free time in parks, and keep the timed/scheduled activities to about 1 each day. 🤣

    @Trivia Man: today was my first time to the very top. I climbed the stairs to the first floor back in the late 90s and remember having sore legs the next day. You can still climb up to the second (middle) floor but the top requires a ticket for the elevator. It was a fun experience, probably doing it once is enough.

  77. 77.

    mali muso

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: I believe they are still finishing the reconstruction. We drove past yesterday and parts of it are covered in scaffolding. There is a “virtual experience” (maybe using VR goggles?) that you can do on sight.

  78. 78.

    Almost Retired

    We would occasionally find a hidden Easter egg for several years after our kids outgrew the hunt.  This says something about the quality and creativity of our egg-hiding skills.  It probably says even more about our housekeeping.

  81. 81.

    Almost Retired

    @TBone:  Every time we would find one we’d google something like “hollow chocolate rabbit expiration date.”

  82. 82.

    Jeffro

    Note: I am attending services today up at my mom’s church in NoVA and…they have QR codes in the back of the pews(!)

    for both “more info” and “to donate”(!!)

    and the choir just finished sound check (!!!)

  83. 83.

    Soprano2

    @OzarkHillbilly: Not if you perform there, although the trip cost me plenty (worth every penny).

    Hubby is still in the hospital. Yesterday the doctor discovered that he actually has a yeast infection, so she changed the antibiotic he’s getting. She said he’ll be in the hospital until tests show that he’s cleared the infection, because the meds are given by IV. Is it terrible that I’m relieved a little? I feel like I need a couple more days to get things in order. I miss him, but it’s also a relief that he’s being cared for. The nurses will be glad when he’s gone, because he either won’t or can’t remember to use the call button when he needs to use the bathroom, so every time he gets out of bed the alarm goes off and they come running. They’re afraid he’ll fall down. It might be that he knows they come quickly when he does it!

    If the greenhouse is open I’m going to get some strawberries and plant them in our raised bed. The soil should be good, nothing but weeds has grown in there since 2019.

  84. 84.

    Princess

    If anyone comes at you about Biden and Easter and transvisibility, you can remind them of the many trans and gender-nonconforming saints recognized by the Catholic and Orthodox churches. Many are saints known by women’s names who took on male names and male dress and lived their whole lives as men.

  87. 87.

    Glidwrith

    @mali muso: We made it to the first floor of the Tower and that was as far as I could deal with. Between the swaying and being able to see the ground THROUGH the stairs…..

    The only way I got back down was to firmly grip the rails and stare straight ahead.

  89. 89.

    sab

    @Almost Retired: Yikes! When we had multiple dogs we used to have an egg hunt in the yard, with peeled eggs. It was a blast.

    Simon, the husky/boxer usually got most of them. The lab and shepherd mixes just weren’t as into it as he was.

    Ponyo the Staffie cannot be trusted to look for the eggs even on Easter Sunday.

    Simon used to keep looking for eggs all summer. It was kind of sad. He never gave up.

  90. 90.

    Fair Economist

    @Soprano2:

    Is it terrible that I’m relieved a little?

    No. Anybody involved in difficult eldercare knows the push-pull between wanting to take care of them and needing relief.

  91. 91.

    Glidwrith

    @Princess: Even better, Christ was female (no male involved at conception) and was therefore cross-dressing or even argue if he had the equipment, then obviously he was transubstantiated (pun intended) into having it.

  92. 92.

    sab

    One of my goofiest childhood beliefs was that it is always sunny on Easter Sunday. It was, in Florida. Then we moved to Ohio. What a shock to my belief system. Today didn’t disappoint. Very cloudy. Possible rain.

  94. 94.

    sab

    @Soprano2:  I have been thinking about you and your husband a lot lately.

    I just moved my dad into a safer nursing home  this week. He is much happier. They have dogs!  and a cat. It is an amazing place.

    My brain isn’t what it used to be and my husband is devoted to me. And we aren’t rich like my dad is. The future is scary.

  95. 95.

    Loquacious Scribble

    Sooooooo, life is being made difficult for chocolate farmers in Africa? You mean the ones that use child and/or slave labor?

    Yeah, I am going to have to admit to mixed feelings on this one.

  96. 96.

    Trivia Man

    @mali muso: awesome! Can you walk down? I try to hit the stairs at every hotel i stay, at least once. My record is about 45 floors (down only) in chicago. An interesting experience, 8/10 would do again

  97. 97.

    Trivia Man

    @Almost Retired: My favorite annual tradition was the Easter Beer Hunt.

    we had a regular friday poker  game at the same house for 10 years. Every good friday id hide my empty PBR cans (always a 12 pack for me at those games). I think my record  was he found one In august once.

  98. 98.

    There go two miscreants

    @Ohio Mom:

    God created those pleasures for us, it is an insult to refuse them.

    I am sure uneaten chocolate falls into this category.

    On the other hand, there is the pleasure of still fitting into my jeans!

  99. 99.

    Soprano2

    @sab: I saw that, I’m glad you were able to improve your dad’s situation. It sounds like a great place, my husband would love having a dog and a cat if he were in a place like that.

    I’ve learned that none of us know the future, so I think you have to live as best as you can. Hope for the best but plan for the worst.

  100. 100.

    planetjanet

    @Baud: The best explanation I have for why I am a Democrat is Matthew 25.  As Christ said, “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”
    “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?  When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?  When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?”  “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'”

    That is the core of my values.

  102. 102.

    Chris T.

    @TBone:

    Chocolate bunnies are hollow, just like Rethuglicans’ oaths and promises.

    Dove Chocolates makes (or made—I have not seen any this year) solid ones, and they’re pretty good chocolate too, unlike a lot of the cheap hollow ones. (Though bad chocolate is probably still better than no chocolate.)

  103. 103.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @lowtechcyclist: The first thing the pilot did when the power failed — literally before attending to the emergency — was to use his cellphone to call the pilot HQ office (radios were out), which in turn called the police, who immediately shutdown traffic to the bridge.

    If the pilot had waited until after doing anything else — e.g. trying figure out why they lost  power — far more people would’ve died.

  104. 104.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Sister Golden Bear:

    The reason I asked is that in the videos that show the bridge’s collapse, it sure looked like there were cars in motion on the bridge in the last seconds before the collapse.

  106. 106.

    jonas

    To the point about X’s falling value, I presume they mean 73% off what Musk paid, not what the company at the time was really worth (probably $15-20 billion if you were being realistic). Right now, Musk’s Tesla wealth is being used to guarantee the solvency of X and service its debts, so the “value” of X probably doesn’t matter a whole lot to its creditors (as opposed to equity stakeholders like Fidelity). I guess they figure that because X is Musk’s greatest vanity project to date, he’s unlikely to just walk away from it and leave them with a worthless social media platform, but people who chase vanity projects like this also tend to be mercurial assholes who will, yes, walk away from it and leave the “little people” like Fidelity and JP Morgan holding the bag once they get bored with it and something else shiny comes along.

  107. 107.

    jonas

    @lowtechcyclist: I think those were construction vehicles parked on the bridge (or perhaps trying to evacuate it). The freeway traffic had been stopped a few minutes before the collision (thank heavens).

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