I had no idea this even existed until a few moments ago.
I thank US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. We appreciate that it was on his personal initiative that the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, our anti-war coalition, was formed 2 years ago, uniting efforts and rallying over 50 countries. I thank all of our partners for their support.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) April 26, 2024
Quiet competence. I’ll take that over bluster any day.
Any other examples of quiet competence that you’ve seen recently?
Open thread.
Trivia Man
WaterGirl
SSIA
Baud
Every time I look in the mirror.
WaterGirl
@Trivia Man: What is SSIA?
rikyrah
Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) posted at 8:02 PM on Thu, Apr 25, 2024:
Catching up on other news, I see the NYT got clowned by Politico and responded by beclowning themselves.
(https://x.com/ElieNYC/status/1783662948600127544?t=JC5zSfeW4k9F5wM9HX9WxA&s=03)
David 🏀Caitlin Clark🏀 Koch
No drama O’Biden
rikyrah
You will never convince me that 80-90% of the hostility towards President Biden and his Administration receives…
isn’t because of their COMPETENCE.
COMPETENCE gets shyt done.
but, COMPETENCE
doesn’t allow for them to hide major details from the public so that they can put it IN THEIR BOOKS.
COMPETENCE means that you have to research and understand POLICY when speaking to someone in the Biden Administration.
COMPETENCE means that being a stenographer isn’t good enough.
JCJ
@WaterGirl: First Google result for SSIA is Shoe Service Institute of America.
Second is Special Survivor Indemnity Allowance
Sport and Social Industry Alliance
Trivia Man
@WaterGirl: Subject Says It All
similar to EOM it just signifies I’m done with content even if it looks too short
VFX Lurker
This, this, this. Thank you.
Trivia Man
Here is a good place for me to pitch thevacronym I invented 20 years ago. Still not getting traction but i know THIS PLACE is full of movers AND shakers.
JIC
just idly curious- when you aren’t trying to make a point or be coy or put someone on the spot. I have insatiable curiosity – my motto is “tell me something I don’t know. Pease!” So id like to indicate when I’m… just idly curious
Scout211
This may be an example of quietly getting things done.
The DNC is in negotiations with Ohio to get Biden on the November ballot and Washington and Alabama have already done so. Link
. . .
lowtechcyclist
@Trivia Man:
Ah yes, that End-Of-Month timesheet. :-D
ETA: Speaking of acronyms that one would like to catch on but almost certainly won’t, I came up with TALOMSAATT a few decades ago.
It stands for There’s A Lot Of Money Sloshing Around At The Top (of our income distribution, that is). Why are things the way they are? More often than not, TALOMSAATT is the reason.
ETA2: No, I’m not expecting it to catch on. Too bad – for a long acronym, it’s easily pronounceable. Kinda like Heinlein’s TANSTAAFL.
gratuitous
While the Supreme Court ponders the deep question of whether a former president can crime with impunity, I suspect some Republican in Congress is preparing a lawsuit looking for a ruling about whether the Biden administration can come to the aid of a friendly democracy without Congress’ never-to-come say-so.
Jackie
PECKER FIRES BACK*
*Best headline of the day?
OzarkHillbilly
@Jackie: I still like Filipkowski’s “Trump’s Pecker Problem”
trollhattan
Competence in the how to do development category.
This complex is sited in a big infill development in the city, just north of downtown and not out in some farflung suburb. Believe it’s also on a light rail line.
lowtechcyclist
@OzarkHillbilly:
Works just as well whether those initial P’s are in upper or lower case. :D
HumboldtBlue
DougJ swinging for the fences today.
Jackie
TIFG is literally in court because he was cheating on her while she was home with their newborn son.
Leto
@Jackie: the MSNBC talking heads were detailing what Trumpov’s attorneys were resorting to to try to keep him awake. Fucking toddler. They also said that the jury was very attentive and engaged with Pecker’s testimony, which is a good thing.
zhena gogolia
@HumboldtBlue: BRILLIANT!
Baud
@HumboldtBlue:
Angling for that Biden interview.
Gretchen
@rikyrah: this right here! There are no slimy details for their books. It’s hard work understanding policy and that’s all there is to write about. Gossip stenography is much easier
Leto
@Jackie: all the talking heads have noted how absolutely none of his family is ever there at the trail with him. Moral support? F that! Mary Trump spoke about how the family is very transactional, and right now he has nothing to offer except loser stink.
Idk how the optics of not having any family member there will play, but I hope it plays poorly.
Jackie
@OzarkHillbilly: We’re all a bunch of grade school kids! And, we’re not alone – the commentators on CNN and MSNBC are just as bad 😂 One said he was glad Pecker’s cross-examination has finally ended!
gwangung
@Leto: Interesting details (which we haven’t been getting in other threads for the usual Internet ADHD).
HumboldtBlue
@Leto:
Blue Eye Samurai is fantastic, thanks!
Mousebumples
NotMax
@Jackie
Complaining about Pecker being too long?
//
Bill Arnold
@HumboldtBlue:
I watched DougJ exercising his then-early trolling skills on an intelligent RW blog comment section in the mid 2000s.
Respect.
rikyrah
@HumboldtBlue:
DougJ should request an interview with the White House Press Office.
Yes..I continue to be that petty..LOL
HumboldtBlue
@rikyrah:
Biden mentioned DougJ yesterday, said he should do an interview with him, he loves him.
JWR
I know it’s been discussed to death already, but this was on last night’s Amanpour & Co., via CNN (10 minute video):
Ms. Bazelon seems to think that Sam Alito is a friggin’ loony.
Jackie
@Leto: Here’s the printed edition:
HumboldtBlue
Krisit Noem killed her 14-month-old pup because she hated it because it didn’t do the job she wanted to do, well. Now she is trying to blow it off as a normal part of animal husbandry.
I know dozens of people who live and work on farms and who care for animals of all sorts and I have never heard of anyone, other than a sadistic fucking asshole, who shoots and kills a puppy in training.
Baud
I feel like Andy Dick should be a surprise witness in the Trump trial.
smith
Baud
@smith: Haha. I wish.
zhena gogolia
@HumboldtBlue: I’ve been sick all day since I made the mistake of reading that.
Bupalos
We’re fucking over the Ukrainians and using them as a kind of substitution for what we believe we deserve to feel. We are failing them, while they are believing in us. SOMEONE BELIEVES IN YOU AND YOU ARE FAILING THEM.
Ask THEM what they want and FUCKING GIVE IT TO THEM, MAKE IT FOR THEM, THANK THEM FOR TAKING IT AND USING IT AND BEING ON THIS INHUMANE LINE, because right now THEY know what the balance between reality and caution needs to be.
We Don’t.
WE. DON’T.
We’ve proved that. We better pray we don’t have to do this calculation, because we can’t. We aren’t capable. Our democracy can’t do 1940.
And if they don’t WIN, we’ll have to. And… dunno….
Bruce K in ATH-GR
Since it’s an open thread, can I just say that I hate hate hate HATE HATE HATE undefined abbreviations? They are the bane of my professional life, many times, made even worse because all too often I have to determine the meaning of an undefined TLA (three-letter abbreviation) in Greek, and my experience with search engines tells me that there are better-than-even odds that if I search for a Greek TLA, what I’ll get is a fraternity or sorority, which is absolutely worthless for my work. I’ve had to scold colleagues over undefined abbreviations, because too many of them think that the meaning of a certain abbreviation goes without saying, but what goes without saying for one of them doesn’t necessarily go without saying for me.
SiubhanDuinne
@Baud:
David Pecker, Andy Dick, and Mike Johnson walk into a bar….
Ken
@Bruce K in ATH-GR: Sometimes I’ll come across an unfamiliar abbreviation at work and search online, with the usual reaction “OK, I’ll assume they didn’t mean any of the Urban Dictionary entries….”
lowtechcyclist
@HumboldtBlue:
Swinging for the fences? Ha! As Crash Davis said, “anything that travels that far oughta have a damn stewardess on it.”
raven
@HumboldtBlue: I can only think of Artie when I see this shit. She’s come so far but I don’t think she’ll ever completely shake the PTSD from what they did to her.
trollhattan
@Bruce K in ATH-GR: Heh, considering your nym I’m taking this as lovely parody. Well played and a hearty LOL.
Jackie
@HumboldtBlue: 😭
I stopped reading the previous post because of this.😞
Harrison Wesley
@Leto: What, they preferred his regular stink?
Elizabelle
@HumboldtBlue: it’s a tragic story.
Could we not include it on every thread? I realize it says something very important about the casual cruelty of some Republican women.
I wish you and others might realize how devastating it is to hear the details of that story, and how it’s something one cannot “unsee.”
WaterGirl
@Mousebumples: I don’t get what that’s about at all. Too inside baseball. Can you fill us in?
WaterGirl
@HumboldtBlue: Was that yesterday, or was that months ago?
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@rikyrah: Oh, God, how I love Elie Mystal! ❤️ 🥰. His book on the Constitution rocked, and every time he is on MSNBC he speaks truth.
sab
@Bupalos: We are fucking over the Ukrainians but a substantial portion possibly most of us are trying and have so far, finally, succeeded in not doing that.
I agree with your frustration. Most of us do. But giving in to frusteation means stop trying when trying might help.
When trying is essential.
WaterGirl
@smith: Good one! If only.
Jackie
Good for Maine!👍🏻
WaterGirl
@Bruce K in ATH-GR: I’m with you on that. My pet peeve.
Lots of reasons why people do it, none of them great.
edited to sound less cranky,
Geminid
@WaterGirl: Will Stancil is a University of Minnesota researcher on metropolitan policy, and he’s also a well-known Twitter polemecist. The local Minnesota state Representative is retiring, and Stancil is vying with 3 other Democrats for the nomination. Its a safe Democratic district.
Matt McIrvin
@Jackie: Except that Trump is currently leading the polls in Maine too.
WaterGirl
@Geminid: That helps, thank you.
Now that I know all that, I am pretty sure I would never vote for Will Stancil. That posting / campaign / gimmick is too cute by half.
Ugh.
Jackie
@Matt McIrvin: I don’t follow polls. They haven’t been reliable for the past 10+ years.
People vote; polls don’t.
Citizen Alan
@raven: Between this, Shitgibbon never owning a pet in his life, and R-Money’s treatment of his family dog, are there ANY Republicans who aren’t animal abusers?
Bupalos
@sab: oh yeah, I’ll have to go back and see what I wrote that sounded like giving up.
NEVER. I give up when I lose enough blood that I can’t form the word “never.” The reality is that the administration’s first priority has been and still is “managing nuclear escalation.” Which means “kicking the can down the road until a worse situation emerges.” We’re putting Ukraine and democracy onto a drip-feed where we just administer whatever amount we’ve determined keeps it alive.
And we’ll get that wrong at some point if we keep trying to play defense this way.
Bupalos
@Citizen Alan: Yeah, I was waiting to hear the Romney thing.
It’s too perfect for toxic partisanship to leave it alone.
But if you haven’t heard, the current battle lines where we’ve let this collapse to mean Romney is a critical ally right now. So…what are you doing? Morals? Purity?
Bupalos
@Citizen Alan: Also it’s fairly interesting to see that you think this thread is about Noem’s potential animal abuse (on mostly the same terms that every non-vegetarian abuses animals everyday). Because when I read the headline and post to which you’ve responded, it seems to be about what we’re doing positively with the power we won 3.3 years ago.
mrmoshpotato
@rikyrah: How did the FTFNYT assclown themselves?
Bupalos
@mrmoshpotato: The first part answers the second part.
Bupalos
@mrmoshpotato: The first part answers the second part.
mrmoshpotato
@Baud: And let’s not forget Penis McHardon!
sab
@Bupalos: I never thought you gave up. I thought you implied we had and should give up. Glad I got it wrong.
ETA I pie people I think are trolling us. I have never had you in the pie filter. I often disagree, but I have never considered you willfuly wrong, and rarely think you are wrong at all.
mrmoshpotato
@Bruce K in ATH-GR: WCT!
AM in NC
@HumboldtBlue: WOW! That’s gonna sting.
Chief Oshkosh
@SiubhanDuinne: Don’t forget Peter O’Toole!
Geminid
@WaterGirl: I don’t think Will Stancil will win that nomination, but the campaign could be a good learning experience. I believe the primary isn’t until August.
MomSense
My home inspector is the definition of quiet competence. I was impressed watching him work.
Jackals, I’m under contract! In addition to the awesome library and fedco my new town is also home to Johnny’s Seeds. We may need a jackal Sunday Garden meet up chez MomSense. Other than those places there are lots of cows and little else.
mrmoshpotato
The guys who jackhammered the shit out of our alley to pour new concrete were loudly competent.
The pouring of the concrete was quietly competent.
mrmoshpotato
@MomSense: Mootastic!
Ivan X
@JCJ: Biden is going to tax and/or confiscate all our shoes.
Geminid
@MomSense: I hope its a happy home for you and yours.
Uncle Cosmo
Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Madison, Hamilton: Founding Fathers.
Trump: Foundering Fathead.
Four little letters, a world of difference.
Sister Golden Bear
@HumboldtBlue: Gov. Puppy Killer is getting absolutely dragged online. Samples:
Meanwhile Americans of the Non-Puppy Killing Party are posting pictures of Biden and Harris with their respective dogs.
Uncle Cosmo
(NB This is a riff on a ditty I remember but can’t for some reason turn up on the Net, about a woodpecker who attacked a metal pole: “And he pecked and he pecked and he pecked and he pecked/ And he pecked, til his pecker broke.”)
sab
@MomSense: Cows tend to be big, so you have that. Lots of mostly big cows.
WaterGirl
@Bupalos: I see that you discovered that you had appended some extra letters on the end of your nym, which threw you into moderation.
WaterGirl
@MomSense: So happy for you!
I always buy from Johnny’s Seeds.
Manyakitty
@Baud: Andy Kaufman.
Actually, for the longest time, I expected him to yank a giant zipper and jump out of his orange asshole suit.
TBone
Ya hate to see it 😆😆😆 (I did not use sound, it’s unnecessary)
https://twitter.com/MeidasTouch/status/1783553895874035766
TBone
@MomSense: 💙😍
Kristine
@Scout211: Good news. I was concerned that Republican SoSs and/or legistures might take the opportunity to throw sand in the gears.
thruppence
Might not be quiet but we have a heck of a thunderstorm with hail sweeping through the Colorado front range at the moment. My late mother would be happy, she loved a good thunderstorm.
Trivia Man
@Ken: Pro tip: Safe Search On!
Kristine
@MomSense: Congratulations!
Trivia Man
@Chief Oshkosh: Dick (!) Cavett’s favorite joke, apparently. I hung out with him at an event for a few days, and i swear I heard him mention “I think peter o’toole might be the only double phallic named celebrity” to at least 15 different people. And he said it to me 3 different times.
WaterGirl
@Trivia Man: What is “Safe Search”? If it’s a real thing, it seems like it would be helpful to know about it.
Elizabelle
@MomSense: Wunderbar!! May all go well for your purchase and move.
Trivia Man
In Bing, and probably orher search engines, there is an easy setting for safe search Strict, Off, or Moderate. I generally only use Bing for certain kinds of research so the filter stays in one position. Good news is its always an option, you don’t have to sign in or use an app or ask permission.
In my standup set i had a bit about setting it to Safe when searching if you are easily shocked or offended. My funny example was a famous global news outlets. Ill save the details for the next Balloon Juice After Dark when i can work a little blue.
Trivia Man
Safe Search also in DuckDuckGo
David 🏀Caitlin Clark🏀 Koch
@SiubhanDuinne:
Dick Pole
Trivia Man
@David 🏀Caitlin Clark🏀 Koch: Don’t forget the famous Wisconsin race car driver Dick Trickle. Or former US Olympic chair Dick Pound.
Bex
@SiubhanDuinne: From my new book, The Three Dicks.
TBone
Safe Search ON👍 highly recommend Duck Duck Go. They even offer untrackable email now – you keep your own email address and they do the footwork so you can’t be invaded. Every video on YouTube is ad free on my first watch. I never get pop ups anywhere.
seefleur
@MomSense: So excited to hear that! We’re about an hour apart… Howdy neighbor!
Soprano2
We’re getting soaked here. We’ve probably had 4+” of rain yesterday and today, with more to come over the weekend. We needed it, but not all at once!
Matt McIrvin
@Trivia Man: obviously we need to make “Cavett” a slang term for penis.
Melancholy Jaques
@Mousebumples:
What is this Will Stancil guy all about? I googled him and found University of Minnesota Law School page with his bio and photo. He has a lot of degrees and looks kind of like Rick Moranis.
frosty
@HumboldtBlue: I so much want to pass this on to Ms F and all my whacko liberal friends, but without the context on the FTNYT and Pendejo’s comments, no one who hasn’t been obsessively reading Balloon-Juice will get it!
Trivia Man
@Matt McIrvin: I feel bad for him. His dream was to be a movie star leading man. Great voice, smart, charisma… and 5’ 5” or so.
At least he had a good run n as a talk show host. Ive tried to FaceTime nd the show i did with him but its so old it’s buried beyond my skills. Disney Channel 1987 so im sure it exists SOMEPLACE
Trivia Man
@frosty: Pretty much inside baseball… but WE ARE HERE FOR IT!
MomSense
@seefleur:
Howdy! Let’s get together!
MomSense
@seefleur:
Oh I’m going to be at Lake Maranacook while I wait for the house to close which is, I think, very close by. Have a cabin on the lake for a month
Another Scott
@MomSense: Excellent! Fingers crossed.
Enjoy your new adventures!
Cheers,
Scott.
JanieM
@MomSense: Long on the back burner….but I’d still love to meet you sometime as well. WaterGirl has my email address and hereby my permission to give it to you.
I’m away from home until May 7….but will keep the idea of meeting up in mind for the longer term even if you’re gone from the neighborhood by then.
JanieM
@JanieM: seefleur too!