Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

I conferred with the team and they all agree ā€“ still not tired of winning!

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.ā€

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

Today in our ongoing national embarrassmentā€¦

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

“But what about the lurkers?”

When youā€™re a Republican, they let you do it.

You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Everyone is in a bubble, but some bubbles model reality far better than others!

We know you arenā€™t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

Pelosi: “He either is stupid, or he thinks the rest of us are.ā€ Why not both?

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

The lights are all blinking red.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

I did not have this on my fuck 2024 bingo card.

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

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

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

You are here: Home / Civil Rights / Fundamental Human Rigths / Monday Morning Open Thread: Be The Light You Want to See in the World…

Monday Morning Open Thread: Be The Light You Want to See in the World…

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It's the final holiday stretch at the Biden White House. The theme is 'A Season of Peace and Light'

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— Associated Press šŸ¤– (@asssociatedpress.bsky.social) December 2, 2024 at 5:20 AM

… The first lady is set to unveil the decorations and deliver a holiday message at a White House event on Monday.

Several hundred volunteers spent the past week decorating the White Houseā€™s public spaces with nearly 10,000 feet of ribbon, more than 28,000 ornaments, over 2,200 doves and some 165,000 lights on wreaths, garlands and other displays.

There are also 83 Christmas trees in the mansion, including the official tree in the Blue Room: a towering Fraser fir from North Carolina that was anchored to the ceiling after the chandelier was removed.

ā€œAs we celebrate our final holiday season here in the White House, we are guided by the values we hold sacred: faith, family, service to our country, kindness towards our neighbors, and the power of community and connection,ā€ the Bidens wrote in a commemorative holiday guidebook that will be given to all visitors.

The White House expects about 100,000 people to visit this month…

As part of Joining Forces, Jill Bidenā€™s White House initiative to support military families, the first lady invited National Guard families to be the first members of the public to experience the holiday decor. The Bidensā€™ late son, Beau, served in the Delaware Army National Guard.

 

Biden has AIDS Memorial Quilt at White House to observe World AIDS Day

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— Associated Press šŸ¤– (@asssociatedpress.bsky.social) December 1, 2024 at 4:26 PM

Maybe not the best post to share this, but… How many of us could’ve imagined this back when Reagan’s GOP was pretending AIDS was ‘God’s punishment’?

A twice-yearly shot could help end AIDS. But will it get to everyone who needs it?

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— Associated Press šŸ¤– (@asssociatedpress.bsky.social) December 1, 2024 at 1:13 AM

Many gay couples in recent weeks are rushing to get married, start fertility treatments and take other measures out of fear that some of their rights might be rescinded during a second Trump administration.

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— NBC News (@nbcnews.com) November 30, 2024 at 7:53 AM

Before exiting, Biden heads to Africa to highlight his own counter to China. Will Trump take it up?

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— Associated Press šŸ¤– (@asssociatedpress.bsky.social) December 2, 2024 at 12:25 AM

Fitting coda, alas:

How to sum up 2024? The Oxford University Press word of the year is 'brain rot'

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— Associated Press šŸ¤– (@asssociatedpress.bsky.social) December 2, 2024 at 6:33 AM

Reader Interactions

210Comments

  2. 2.

    NotMax

    Don’t really have music particularly evocative of Cyber Monday in the files (and too lazy to go looking for some) so have some digital Popcorn.

    (Fair notice: strobing visual effects.)

  4. 4.

    Lapassionara

    Nate Silver is telling people not to vote for Democrats because Biden pardoned Hunter. As if we needed any other evidence that the rule ā€œIOKIYARā€ applies to Democrats as ā€œitā€™s NOT ok if you are a Democrat.ā€

  5. 5.

    Betty Cracker

    As seen on Bluesky:

    The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has announced that it will stop publishing content on Elon Muskā€™s social media platform, X, from January 20th, 2025, when Donald Trump will officially become the 47th president of the United States.

    The organisation stated that it can ā€œno longer ethically participate in a social network that its owner has transformed into a machine of disinformation and propagandaā€.

    It joins The Guardian and other European media outlets including Dagens Nyheter, La Vanguardia, Ouest-France and Sud-Ouest in coming off the platform, due to the impact of Musk on the organisation.

    The EFJ is the largest organisation of journalists in Europe, representing over 295,000 journalists in 44 countries has announced that it will stop posting content on X.

    Most mainstream U.S. journalists probably aren’t capable of such a principled stand, but they are abandoning X because Musk stupidly throttled the links they use to market their content. Whatever. X can’t implode soon enough.

  8. 8.

    laura

    President Joe Biden is a very good and decent man. I’ll miss him and mourn for what could have been to the end of my days.

  13. 13.

    Jeffro

    @Betty Cracker:Most mainstream U.S. journalists probably arenā€™t capable of such a principled stand, but they are abandoning X because Musk stupidly throttled the links they use to market their content.

    “If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing” – me

    Karma, she is a tough one, eh Elon?

  14. 14.

    Jeffro

    Btw I don’t know if anyone else gets his newsletter or saw this column, but Jamelle Bouie quoted one of Frederick Douglass’ speeches at length recently and it’s inspiring:

    ā€œStrange things have happened of late and are still happening. Some of these tend to dim the lustre of the American name, and chill the hopes once entertained for the cause of American liberty. He is a wiser man than I am, who can tell how low the moral sentiment of this republic may yet fall. When the moral sense of a nation begins to decline and the wheel of progress to roll backward, there is no telling how low the one will fall or where the other may stop.

    But could I be heard by this great nation, I would call to mind the sublime and glorious truths with which, at its birth, it saluted a listening world. Its voice then, was as the trumpet of an archangel, summoning hoary forms of oppression and time honored tyranny, to judgement. Crowned heads heard it and shrieked. Toiling millions heard it and clapped their hands for joy. It announced the advent of a nation, based upon human brotherhood and the self-evident truths of liberty and equality. Its mission was the redemption of the world from the bondage of ages.

    Apply these sublime and glorious truths to the situation now before you. Put away your race prejudice. Banish the idea that one class must rule over another. Recognize the fact that the rights of the humblest citizen are as worthy of protection as are those of the highest, and your problem will be solved; and, whatever may be in store for it in the future, whether prosperity, or adversity; whether it shall have foes without, or foes within, whether there shall be peace, or war; based upon the eternal principles of truth, justice and humanity, and with no class having any cause of complaint or grievance, your Republic will stand and flourish forever.ā€

    Have a great week, Jackals!

  16. 16.

    Splitting Image

    @matt:

    Nate Silver is trash, he should go die.

    Now, now. That’s a bit harsh.

    We ought to wish that he lives long enough to suffer first. Then he can go die.

  18. 18.

    Jeffro

    also, love this (gift link) stop doomscrolling about trump and take some positive steps for yourself and our country

    (well at least that’s what I would have titled it =)

    1. Join the union at your workplace
    2. Join your local Unitarian Universalist congregation
    3. Sign up for emails from Indivisible
    4. Join the DSA or WFP (ehh…)
    5. Join a policy group

    And I’ll add a 6th, which some have suggested before:

    6. Sign up for at least one non-legacy media outlet (the Inquirer, the Guardian, etc) and/or progressive magazine (Mother Jones, TNR, etc)

    oh and a 7th:

    7. Get out your old copy of MoveOn’s “50 Ways to Love Your Country“, and pick one or two things you can do, today!

  21. 21.

    Soprano2

    “Brain Rot” certainly is the word of the year. It perfectly describes the electorate who thinks a convicted felon who tried to overturn the results of the last election and stole classified documents from the government is fit to be president again because he promised to make prices at the grocery store and gas pump lower. I’ve heard people say they think gas will be below $2.00/gal because of TCFG.

  22. 22.

    Omnes Omnibus

    It was interesting* to see the usual suspects condemning the Hunter Biden pardon last night.

    *For interesting, read tiresome.

  23. 23.

    Betty

    @Jeffro: For anyone interested in more progressive takes on the news, Mother Jones and American Prospect cover a lot of stories on a regular basis.

  24. 24.

    Soprano2

    @Jeffro: I don’t know how anyone can look at what Musk has done to Twitter and still claim he’s a good businessman. He’s the opposite of that. He was born on 3rd base and thinks he hit a triple. He’s been able to buy things and then convince people he invented them.

  25. 25.

    Chris

    @Mathguy:

    @Lapassionara: Another mediocre person that got lucky. He is not a good statistician and his methods have become laughable.

    I don’t think that’s even the bottom line.Ā  The bottom line is that he’s a former unpopular kid who found his way into the popular kids’ club and promptly started to mirror everything they were doing lest he fall out of favor again.

    Only a decade and change ago, he spent all of 2012 being widely derided by the punditariat as a weird little nerd (and, not to put too fine a point on it, a gay one) who couldn’t possibly be right about Obama having a good chance against Romney because he didn’t understand such important metrics as “there are a lot of Romney yard signs in my upscale neighborhood.”Ā  Leaving them all with egg all over their face is what made him a household name.Ā  Somehow, he decided the proper result of that was to join them.

  26. 26.

    Chris T.

    @Soprano2:

    [Musk] was born on 3rd base and thinks he hit a triple. Heā€™s been able to buy things and then convince people he invented them.

    Note that Shrub (George W Bush) had the same talent. It’s a sort of leering-frat-boy thing, except Shrub really was a frat boy while Musk was, well, whatever the hell it was that he was.

  27. 27.

    Soprano2

    @Omnes Omnibus: Yeah, I want to throttle people. I think Biden has seen who TCFG is picking for law enforcement jobs, and he changed his mind about pardoning Hunter because he realized they were never going to stop hounding him and he was terrified it would cause Hunter to start using again. I wish he would preemptively pardon 1) everyone involved in any investigation of TCFG 2) everyone who testified before the January 6th committee 3) everyone who worked for Jack Smith and Jack Smith and 4) everyone who served on the January 6th committee. It would be unprecedented, but I don’t think we’ve ever had an incoming president before who has made it clear that he’s going to use the full force of federal law enforcement to go after people who were simply doing their jobs or doing what was required of them. Those people should be able to live free of fear. Oh, and he should pardon everyone who testified in TCFG’s two impeachment trials, too

    ETA – did you notice how fast the press called Biden a liar? It couldn’t be that he changed his mind because of the election, nope he was just a liar. It took them years and years to call TCFG a liar, but only a few minutes to decide Biden was one.

  28. 28.

    Chris

    @Soprano2:

    @Jeffro: I donā€™t know how anyone can look at what Musk has done to Twitter and still claim heā€™s a good businessman. Heā€™s the opposite of that. He was born on 3rd base and thinks he hit a triple. Heā€™s been able to buy things and then convince people he invented them.

    If a person can become as successful as Musk no matter how many times he fucks up, then that implies things about our political and economic system that people really don’t want to face up to.

  29. 29.

    glory b

    @Chris T.: Musk is another rich white guy failing upward

    He’s also AN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT, having come to the US via a student visa, dropped out of school, but got a job & stayed rather than going home as the immigration laws required.

    His family was originally Canadian, but (according to his father) was so enraptured by apartheid, they immigrated to South Africa.

  30. 30.

    Geminid

    @Jeffro: As to point #4, people will be able to get a good look at the Democratic Socialists of America and the Working Families Party in next year’s New York Mayoral election. New York City is both those party’s biggest stronghold.

    The DSA does not run candidates on its own and the WFP has its own ballot line under New York’s singular “fusion” system, but the Democratic primary will be where the real action’s at and I expect both outfits will try to have an impact on it.

  31. 31.

    John S.

    @Soprano2:

    Not only a liar, but he also single-handedly sullied the office of the President and has now paved the way for Trump to do whatever he wants. Every epic fuckup will be greeted with ā€œYeah, but Joe pardoned Hunterā€.

    The MSM is so fucking tedious.

  34. 34.

    Renie

    So happy Joe is pardoning Hunter.Ā  He never would have been prosecuted if his last name wasn’t Biden.

  36. 36.

    glory b

    I mentioned this in a dead thread, so I’ll repeat it here.

    I highly recpmmend the entire podcast sreis “Behind The Bastards,” highlighting litle known actors in history’s disasters.

    I especially recommend an episode form July 2018 about the non-Nazis who enabled Hitler’s rise to power.

    Some of his enablers ended up dying in Concentration camps. Lots of them gave in rather than fight with him.

    Scarily instructive, wish I knew how to link to it.

  37. 37.

    Chris

    @John S.:

    Not only a liar, but he also single-handedly sullied the office of the President and has now paved the way for Trump to do whatever he wants. Every epic fuckup will be greeted with ā€œYeah, but Joe pardoned Hunterā€.

    OH MY GOD YOU GUYS WHAT IF THEY PARDONED NIXON?Ā  NOOOOOOOO!!!!

  38. 38.

    narya

    @Omnes Omnibus: No surprises really, but it turns out that Joe wants to protect his son and doesn’t trust the incoming administration (who would?); I suspect he would not have done that if Harris won, but I still don’t care. I’ve been hoping for it for weeks.

    Meanwhile, if you want to read the Saga of the Failed Bread, you can go here . . .

  39. 39.

    Jeffro

    @Soprano2:ā€œBrain Rotā€ certainly is the word of the year. It perfectly describes the electorate who thinks a convicted felon who tried to overturn the results of the last election and stole classified documents from the government is fit to be president again because he promised to make prices at the grocery store and gas pump lower. Iā€™ve heard people say they think gas will be below $2.00/gal because of TCFG.

    Seconded!

    I missed this back in June, but it’s kind of horrifying to read about the incredibly low-info voting public in this country. Ā I only lay half of that at our snooze media’s feet – the rest is just lying Republicans who lie to pollsters and lazy people who are all too happy to take gossip and social media (same thing) as their “info”.

    …many voters simply havenā€™t engaged with the 2024 campaign or politics more generally on the most basic of levels. Ā To wit:

    • 1 in 5 voters in the Yahoo/YouGov survey said either that they didnā€™t know about Trumpā€™s Manhattan verdict, that Trump was not guilty or that the trial was ongoing. That includes 2 out of every 5 registered voters under the age of 30.

    • A majority of independents have said theyā€™ve heard only ā€œa littleā€ or ā€œnothing at allā€ about Trumpā€™s classified-documents indictment, according to Marquette University.

    • Just 1 in 5 voters in a May Reuters poll said they were familiar with Trump having said that purported voter fraud in the 2020 election ā€œallows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.ā€

    • Republicans, especially, will often tell pollsters things about Donald Trump and his legal problems that are simply wrong

    • Voters also believe strikingly wrong things about the economy,Ā including a majority believing weā€™re in a recession and half thinking unemployment is at a 50-year high. (Unemployment has actually been at 4 percent or below for its longest stretch in those 50 years.)

  40. 40.

    Soprano2

    @Jeffro: The unemployment thing is especially mind boggling in light of the FACT that until the past 6 months I’ve seen “help wanted” signs everywhere! People were begging people to apply for jobs! People knew this!

  41. 41.

    Chris

    @glory b:

    I listened to a few back in 2020.Ā  The one I’ll always remember is the one about American mercenaries going to Afghanistan after 9/11.Ā  No, not Blackwater and DynCorp, random individual citizens who went there of their own volition thinking they were Boba Fett and had a pretty good shot at Osama Bin Laden’s scalp.Ā  Gold medal goes to the guy who traveled there with nothing but a Bible, a revolver, and a katana.

  43. 43.

    catclub

    @Chris T.: Rightly or wrongly, Musk was able to convince a large number of people that Tesla Motors should be worth more than all the other car makers in the world – and they bought enough Tesla stock to prove it. That sounds like an amazing business skill.

     

    To the extent Bill Gates convinced the world that he wrote windows, that is also a business skill.

  44. 44.

    sab

    @Omnes Omnibus: As someone with a family member who has dealt with drug addiction his whole life, I have watched the Bidens with sympathy and admiration. I am so glad and relieved Joe did this pardon.

  46. 46.

    Kristine

    @Soprano2:

    Iā€™ve heard people say they think gas will be below $2.00/gal because of TCFG.

    If the crypto bros and their Wall Street kin play as fast and loose with the economy as they’re promising to, they’ll get their $2 gas. Might even be lower.

    It won’t matter because their $90K SUVs and pick-ups will have been repossessed because they lost their jobs and can’t find new ones b/c unemployment is at 10% and rising and companies are crashing.

  47. 47.

    sab

    @Betty: I am still watching Ali Velshi, the only MSNBC show I watch anymore. As a non-white immigrant he has a different perspective.

  48. 48.

    pajaro

    I am relieved that Biden pardoned his kid.Ā  His prosecution was absolutely unfair, and the nomination of someone for FBI Director who is being put in place to lead a reign of terror against Trump’s “enemies” seals the deal, as far as I am concerned.Ā  Biden should follow this up by pardoning anyone who has been specifically threatened by Trump or his minions with payback.Ā  It’s a perversion of the Justice Department, and something that Democrats have never done since Watergate, to target ones political enemies and then figure our what crimes they might have committed.Ā  I don’t think it’s realistic to pardon everyone who has worked with and for the Administration, but I see no problem with taking the payback list that Trump has compiled and pardoning everyone who is on it.Ā  (and yes, prospective pardons are constitutional, at least so far).

    Biden has already lost two of his kids.Ā  Beau may have died early as a result of his service to his Country.Ā  The Republicans were sadistic in the way they used Hunter’s problems to torture his father, and they were threatening to go after him on top of the criminal case.Ā  It would have been tragic for him to have sacrificed his only remaining child when he had the means to save him and when doing so righted an injustice rather than causing one.

  49. 49.

    Jinchi

    I see that CNN is spinning Biden’s pardon of Hunter as “giving Trump an Opening” to do the same, as if Trump hadn’t sold pardons at the end of his first term and already promised to pardon hundreds of people who stormed the Capitol on January 6th at his urging.

  51. 51.

    satby

    Just reread a Travis McGee book that I appreciate more now than when I first read it back in the 70s. This quote especially:

    “Reasonable conservatism is a healthy thing…but poisonous divisionist hatemongering is the heart of contemporary propaganda, amigo, to strengthen ignorant terrible men who believe themselves to be perfect patriots…any way that they can make Americans hate Americans helps…” John D MacDonald. In Deadly Shade of Gold, 1965

  54. 54.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Splitting Image:

    @matt:

    Nate Silver is trash, he should go die.

    Now, now. Thatā€™s a bit harsh.

    We ought to wish that he lives long enough to suffer first. Then he can go die.

    I’d gladly put him on the tiny ice floe I have reserved for Yglesias and push them far, far, out to sea and let nature take it’s course.

  55. 55.

    John S.

    @Jinchi:

    Itā€™s not just CNN. Every media outlet has unanimously decided that Biden crossed some magic line that Trump will never cross ā€” no matter what he does.

  56. 56.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Josie:Ā ā€‹
      Well, I already knew what I thought of most of them, including a couple of commenters on this here blog.

  57. 57.

    sab

    @Renie: What Hunter got convicted for isn’t anything that Don Jr hasn’t done (lying on a gun application, failing to pay taxes owed), except Hunter did straighten out his tax derelictions long before they went after him.

  58. 58.

    Steve LaBonne

    @John S.: So I trust that anyone who was still wondering why we shouldn’t support these “news” organizations in any way, gets it now?

  59. 59.

    Elizabelle

    I do not have a television, and am generally blissfully unaware of MSM news.

    This morning, visiting my sister, she had GMA on, and they started out with Biden’s pardon and the hypocrisy — he said he wouldn’t do it! — and I left the room shouting “Motherfuckers; you fucking motherfuckers.”

    Sister immediately turned the TV off.

    Jebus. Ā In the mood to send them some lube and breath mints. Ā If I wanted to spend any money on those media whores.

    (And mind you, this came after spending a peaceful and happy Thanksgiving with inlaws a few times removed flying a Trump 2024 flag; topic never came up, and all was copacetic. Ā Just college football and westerns, and everybody on most gracious behavior. Ā I really like them, and figure they will be interesting to observe in about two years time.)

  60. 60.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Chris:

    I donā€™t think thatā€™s even the bottom line. The bottom line is that heā€™s a former unpopular kid who found his way into the popular kidsā€™ club and promptly started to mirror everything they were doing lest he fall out of favor again.

    That last bit describes Yglesias although his wealth and privilege displays in the classic “born on third and thinks he hit a triple” description.

    But, essentially Silver’s doing the same thing in that he steadfastly refuses to learn anything that takes him outside of his (now) privileged bubble and to thereby channel the views & prejudices of exactly the same people with that privilege back at them and be praised and promoted for it.

  62. 62.

    narya

    @sab: And I have long wondered if Hunter’s injuries, and, likely, painkillers, from the childhood accident that killed his mom and sister, contributed to his addiction. Drugs rewire the brain, and I could definitely see getting some of those drugs while the brain is a sponge could foster greater susceptibility to addiction. Not direct cause and effect, but juuuust enough.

  64. 64.

    John S.

    @Steve LaBonne:

    I donā€™t know about all that, but it certainly isnā€™t going to help the MSM with an audience that was already fleeing in droves.

    I just hope the vacuum isnā€™t filled with even more right wing propaganda.

  65. 65.

    sentient ai from the future

    so rather than get in high dudgeon about, say abuses of the pardon power, and talk about how to limit that, these churlish fuckwagons are going to just whine for about a week and then get eerily silent when Steward Rhodes [spit] is fucking pardoned.

    its too much, some days.

  71. 71.

    Miss Bianca

    @Nukular Biskits: And in my neck of the woods, it would be the Ark Valley Voice and the Wet Mountain Tribune, but I don’t mention that because I write for both of them, oh hell no – that would be self-serving!

  73. 73.

    Steve LaBonne

    @John S.:Ā The people who consume right wing propaganda would never go near FTFNYT or CNN. For a long time the only “function” of the latter sort of outlets has been to confuse and demoralize people who are actually or potentially with us. All these outlets should die in a fire.

  74. 74.

    sentient ai from the future

    @Kristine:

    Saw a news item on yahoo finance this morning about a “US Reserve” of bitcoin to somehow pay down the national debt.

    this is the play. use longstanding rightwing shibboleths to sell the US government a bill of goods, while you loot the actual durable stores of value it has. like, bitcoin-for-gold.

    then comes the rugpull, and all those finance bros ask for a bailout because their crypto ETF crashed, oh, and also fort knox is empty and those bitcoins were in fact just strings of digital characters why the fuck did you think they had any fucking value you dipshits?

  75. 75.

    Steve LaBonne

    @Miss Bianca: We have to preserve norms. Someone who writes for a MAGA propaganda outlet could be encouraged by your example to promote it on a blog and that would clearly be a Bad Thing.

  76. 76.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    I noted the White House expects 100K visitors this season.

    Any idea of how many people flocked there over the holiday season when the Orange Fart Cloud and the Slovenian Manikin were in the place?

  77. 77.

    Tony G

    Gary Null (an anti-vaxxer freak who is an “ally” of RFK Junior) has been saying for decades that HIV has nothing to do with AIDS. Ā I wonder whether RFK Junior will push that insane ideology when he becomes the head of HHS? Ā More dead bodies!

  78. 78.

    Old Man Shadow

    One of the things Christmas symbolizes… one of the reason why humanity started having festivities when the nights grew longer, the darkness came earlier, the leaves died, and the air froze was to celebrate the hope and knowledge that the light would return, the plants would bloom, the air would grow warm, and the days long again.

    And yes, in the middle of the darkness, we got together with people, sometimes people from far away, and in the season of scarcity, we threw a party. We lit a fire in the darkness, and we celebrated. And we got together because it might be the last time we saw one another. Some of those who came and feasted with us might not return next year. Might not see the light and warmth and joy return. So we ate with them. We told stories about the past. We joked. We sang. We fought. We made up.

    We were all we had. And we were going to cook up some food, open some wine, and give the darkness the finger.

    Darkness doesn’t last forever.

  80. 80.

    Miss Bianca

    @Omnes Omnibus: Am I going to have to join BlueSky if I want to see BlueSky posts? Seems that way.

    After seeing what happened to Twitter/X/whatthefuckever, I’m feeling very Bartleby-esque about the prospect.

  84. 84.

    Geminid

     

     

    @Miss Bianca: I’m still waiting for an Ark Valley VoiceĀ article about building a sauna out of rough-sawn wood. I guess you’re too busy chasing a Pulitzer Prize.

  86. 86.

    John S.

    @Baud:

    To be fair, itā€™s not like Trump pardoned a family member and then appointed him ambassador to France.

    The MSM would never stand for that affront to our norms!

  88. 88.

    catclub

    @NotMax: FWIW, my take is that Biden had faith Harris would issue a pardon after January 20th and that assumption did not quite pan out.

     

     

    He could still resign. Then we get the first woman president, and she does ALL the pardons.

  89. 89.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Jeffro:

    • A majority of independents have said theyā€™ve heard only ā€œa littleā€ or ā€œnothing at allā€ about Trumpā€™s classified-documents indictment, according to Marquette University.

    Unpossible! Independents assure me that they are very well-informed on politics…

  91. 91.

    catclub

    @Tony G: Gary Null (an anti-vaxxer freak who is an ā€œallyā€ of RFK Junior) has been saying for decades that HIV has nothing to do with AIDS.

    I was totally unaware that there is now a vaccine that prevents HIV infection!Ā  That isĀ  a big deal.

  94. 94.

    terraformer

    I’m not too pleased with how Oxford has defined “brain rot”: “…the result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging.ā€

    I think it’s more about consumption of lies and misinformation – and believing it’s real rather than simply “trivial” or “unchallenging” content

  96. 96.

    mali muso

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: Not totally sure of the accuracy of this information, but when my kiddo and I had the opportunity to visit the White House a few years back, the word was that the former occupant had CLOSED it to the regular visiting public.Ā  One of the first things that Biden did was re-open it to the people.Ā  It’s actually a listed as a National Park location (other fun fact that I did not know).

  99. 99.

    narya

    @Another Scott: Hah! thanks! They are NOT pretty, tbh, but they are very crunchy and there are sooooo many of them. I’m just glad I was able to find a use for all that dough. And one of the Fail Rolls was consumed this morning with an egg on it, and it was declared tasty, so those won’t go to waste either.

  100. 100.

    Elizabelle

    @Old Man Shadow: Ā Hello there. Ā Have you seen Matt McIrvin around on Slacktivist or elsewhere?

    He seems to be missing from these parts, although I can understand enjoying a break from political news.

    Thank you.

  104. 104.

    Elizabelle

    @NotMax: Ā I don’t know that Harris would have pardoned Hunter — that looks like a quid pro quo — but Hunter would have been much safer under her administration’s prison system.

    A system run by Trump and his criminals and miscreants changes the equation for Biden. Ā This should not be that hard for our leading journalists Ā media whores to figure out.

    Ye shall know them by their reporting.

  106. 106.

    Tenar Arha

    @Miss Bianca: Ā you may be encountering part of the user controlled settings on BlueSky. You can prevent links to your posts from being seen by people who arenā€™t logged in. It means that embeds of quote posts from BlueSky donā€™t always include the quote on other websites.

    My plug-type comment *wink* Itā€™s also got good muting & keyword muting, the best block Iā€™ve ever seen & the ability to decouple a post from a quote posts (and other tools). Iā€™m enjoying using it.

    ETA to fix copy pasta

  109. 109.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Soprano2:

    I think Biden has seen who TCFG is picking for law enforcement jobs, and he changed his mind about pardoning Hunter because he realized they were never going to stop hounding him and he was terrified it would cause Hunter to start using again.

    I figured that if Biden didn’t pardon Hunter, Trump’s appointees would make Hunter’s life in prison such a living hell that he’d commit suicide to end the pain.

    Biden totally did the right thing here.

    ETA ā€“ did you notice how fast the press called Biden a liar? It couldnā€™t be that he changed his mind because of the election, nope he was just a liar. It took them years and years to call TCFG a liar, but only a few minutes to decide Biden was one.

    I didn’t, because I’ve had zero MSM intake this weekend.Ā  But I totally believe it.Ā  They are so goddamned worthless.

    I really don’t care who is calling the shots at the FTFNYT or the networks or the WaPo, or why.Ā  But actual reporters have to sit down and write this crap.Ā  And most of the reporters who write the crap that infuriates us like this are (a) comfortably well off if not rich, and (b) could find another job in a heartbeat if writing this crap offended their sensibilities.Ā  So I’ve got no problem with blaming them, regardless of who else deserves the blame.Ā  They’re solidly in the “who goes Nazi” crowd.

  113. 113.

    Kristine

    @sentient ai from the future:

    then comes the rugpull, and all those finance bros ask for a bailout because their crypto ETF crashed, oh, and also fort knox is empty and those bitcoins were in fact just strings of digital characters why the fuck did you think they had any fucking value you dipshits?

    Shades of the NFT crash. Except, you know, bigger.

    ::sigh::

    I really hope that somewhere in the depths of the Treasury dept etc there are enough long-term staffers who know how to slow-walk all the shit that I’ve no doubt will be heading their way.

  117. 117.

    Leto

    @lowtechcyclist: I havenā€™t looked at news since the election, except local news and thatā€™s mainly to check on the weather. I have zero interest in whatever they decide to bloviate about. Iā€™m reclaiming my sanity and my health. I have my schoolwork to focus on, and if something really big happens I figure Iā€™ll hear about it here. Iā€™m good.

  120. 120.

    Melancholy Jaques

    I’m not sure how I feel about Joe Biden pardoning his son, but I am sure that I don’t give rat’s ass what CNN, MSNBC, FTFNYT, WaPo, or anyone else in the political media feel about it.

    Way past time for us to start ignoring those people.

  122. 122.

    JoyceH

    I think for the next four years weā€™re going to have to forget about ā€œnormsā€ as a guide to our behavior. Remember that the people who hid Anne Frankā€™s family were breaking the law. As for Kushner, I hope France rejects him, which they can do, because the nomination is a freakinā€™ insult.

  125. 125.

    Elizabelle

    @karen marie: Ā “Enshittification” was a word for 2024. Ā Article in The Guardian a few days ago.

    Has to do with decay of online platforms, but I think we can apply it to society at large at this point.

  127. 127.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Baud: Ds are hated because they are the party of non-white people and other marginalized groups (LGBTQ) etc.

    But it is hard for white people, even many who vote D, to accept that.

    Biden was too old because he respected the base of the party and gave them moreĀ  importance than NYT and the podcast bros. Bernie Sanders is not too old because he always centers the grievances of white men.

    Haven’t yet seen one IRL.

  128. 128.

    John S.

    @Baud:

    I got to witness a guy yesterday with his Cybertruck trying to do actual truck things like transport a large screen TV.

    It was hilarious.

  129. 129.

    Betty Cracker

    So, itā€™s a cold day, and I figured a nice hearty soup would be a good thing to cook for dinner. I browsed some recipes and settled on Italian wedding soup. Got all the stuff. Now Iā€™m reading the instructions, and I have to make 80 mini meatballs. Good lord! 80!

    The recipe says itā€™s six to eight servings, which is fine since we like to make things in bulk and freeze leftovers in a couple of packets for future use. So itā€™s normal for everyone to get 10 meatballs apiece? Seems excessive!

  132. 132.

    Leto

    @Betty Cracker: theyā€™re Italian meatballs which means that theyā€™re Italian sized meatballs, not ginormous American Italian meatballs. Think the size of the last digit of your index finger. My Italian grocer sells them and I frequently use them for soups.

  134. 134.

    John S.

    @schrodingers_cat:

    A lot of us ā€œwhite folkā€ have accepted that ā€” and the fact that being Democrats makes us race traitors to the people who hate us for those reasons.

    Which means they actually hate us even more than any minorities.

  135. 135.

    John S.

    @Baud:

    Iā€™m not sure what they designed that piece of shit for, other than to be the ultimate ā€œlook at me, Iā€™m an assholeā€ vehicle.

    Itā€™s quite effective at that.

  136. 136.

    Betty Cracker

    @Leto: Yeah, the recipe says to use a heaping teaspoon for each meatball. Definitely small. But 10 per serving still seems like a lot. I guess weā€™ll find out. Wish we had an Italian grocer around here, but no such luck.

    @John S.: Got to admit it fulfills that brief admirably!

  139. 139.

    RandomMonster

    So looking forward to Melania’s continuation of the Red Wedding Christmas theme. How can she outdo her last one? I’m thinking a full on Nuremberg rally motif would preserve the color scheme.

  141. 141.

    Barbara

    @Melancholy Jaques: I think I stopped caring how it all turned out when I found out that the Hunter Biden prosecution for the false statement was initiated because of something he wrote in his freaking memoirs.Ā  Most people are prosecuted for this offense when they are arrested for something else and the background check shows a felony conviction, which precludes their ownership of firearms.

    Then, even after they had a plea bargain, there was naked political interference in the disposition.

    Don’t give me a fucking lecture about norms when “Norms for thee and unbridled fucks for me” has become the marching orders of an entire political party.Ā  Fuck off.Ā  We are entitled to protect our own from outrageous fuckery.

  142. 142.

    Leto

    @Betty Cracker: do you have a recipe for them? Trust me, 10 seems like a lot but itā€™s a perfect serving size. Plus if you think itā€™s too manyā€¦ just serve/make less :p

  143. 143.

    Barbara

    @Betty Cracker: If you have a small melon ball scoop you can you can press them out pretty quickly and then just give them a little rolling before you put them in the soup.

  144. 144.

    Betty Cracker

    @RandomMonster: I suspect she might be a no-show. Hasn’t she already said she’s not going to take up residence right away after the corrupt felon is sworn in? Sounds like she’s not interested in going back to DC at all, so maybe we’ll be spared another disturbing holiday display.

    Speaking of disturbing displays, Trump’s “official portrait” was never hung in the White House, AFAIK. Next year he can preside over the unveiling of a hagiographic portrait by the deranged person who paints all those dumb portraits of Trump doing things he never does, like riding a Harley, reading a bible or preserving scraps of the constitution.

  145. 145.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    The media fauxrage over this pardon reminds me of their collective garment rendering over Clinton’s pardons.

    And yet, probably some of the “worst” pardons in terms of crimes committed being washed away were Bush I’s of the Iran-Contra scumbags.Ā  They made the front page of FTFNYT the day after xmas 1992.

    But to hear today’s media about Hunter’s pardon, you’d think he was a 6 Jan insurrectionist.Ā  Oh wait, those will happen in due course and let’s see how fauxraged Our Media Betters will be when that happens.

  148. 148.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Betty Cracker: My wife made Sopa De Lima, a lovely chicken broth soup with turkey, veggies, fried tortilla strips and a bunch of lime juice. Ā It was one of the great Mayan cuisine discoveries of our trip to the Yucatan. Ā Our usual go-to, big-batch dishes for cold, gloomy weather are:

    ā€¢ Japanese (or Vietnamese) curry
    ā€¢ Korean Chicken Stew (pretty spicy but lots of ginger)
    ā€¢ Hatch Green Chili Stew (if we can get the famous NM chilis)

    But we wanted to try something different so now Sopa De Lima will def be added to the list.

  149. 149.

    Trivia Man

    @Soprano2: great comparison – He is todayā€™s Edison!!!

    Pitched as a compliment but actually a sick burn. An entrepreneur who throws money around, Ā steals credit for everyone elseā€™s ideas, uses courts to enforce his special position, and earns a reputation as a successful genius.

  151. 151.

    RandomMonster

    @Betty Cracker: I suspect she might be a no-show. Hasnā€™t she already said sheā€™s not going to take up residence right away after the corrupt felon is sworn in? Sounds like sheā€™s not interested in going back to DC at all, so maybe weā€™ll be spared another disturbing holiday display.

    I suspect you’re right. I’m sure she would prefer the company of a body guard or similar in her NY apartment.

    BTW, I visited the National Portrait Gallery this year and there was a temporary Trump portrait in the Hall of Presidents. I took a selfie flipping it off.

  152. 152.

    Steve LaBonne

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: It will be the usual “Democrats say” bothsides bullshit. But hey, if they want to keep pissing off the only people who actually consume their rotten product until they go out of business, more power to them.

  155. 155.

    Trivia Man

    @Kristine: Gas prices are particularly transparent. Archives of weekly prices, by region, back to 1994 are here: eia.gov/petroleum/gasdiesel

    See what REALLY happened at the pump.

  156. 156.

    Miki

    @Omnes Omnibus: When I commented here shortly after the election that Joe should pardon Hunter I got push back from someone who seemingly supports his decision now.

    I was right then and I’m right now – this broad pardon is a demonstration of justice tempered with mercy. To not use that power “because it might look bad to some” would have been foolish and pointless, especially in light of the patent threats being made by multiple players in the upcoming administration.

  157. 157.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Leto: Italian markets probably have better ones anyways. Ā Not sure if Betty has many (or TJ’s) near her, but imo, they are pretty good and the time/energy saved from making homemade meatballs is well worth it (don’t tell my Sicilian Grandma’s ghost I just wrote that, lol)

  158. 158.

    Trivia Man

    @Barbara: I used to be in catering and made meatballs in 40 lb batches, typically 4-8 per week. Melon baller is the correct answer. Scoop, slide across your palm to flatten it, fling into baking sheet. Since we charged per hundred it was easy to in rows of ten and bag 103 after cooking. (I call it a meatball hundred instead of a bakerā€™s dozen)

  159. 159.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Miki: I can see the logic of Biden not pardoning Hunter. Ā But I also don’t think it’s really a big outrage that he decided to.

  164. 164.

    Baud

    Look who else things the NYT is garbage!

    ā€œDonā€™t feed the trollsā€ also extends to bad opinion pieces in papers of record.
    They run them bc people react to them the most.

    If we stop linking to bad columns and instead post thinkers we find valuable (& generate convo around it), incentives change.

    Itā€™s not easy and takes constant practice!

    ā€” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@aoc.bsky.social) Dec 2, 2024 at 1:19 PM

  165. 165.

    different-church-lady

    @Baud:Ā ā€‹

    Itā€™s not easy and takes constant practice!

    Oh. Well then I wouldn't be interested.

  166. 166.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    Diary over at Teh Orange that lists all of Hair Furor’s pardons:

    https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/12/2/2289721/-Can-t-blame-Biden-for-bad-pardons-Trump-already-granted-and-will-again

    That’s a who’s-who of “great” pardons.Ā  I’d forgotten about Scooter Libby.Ā  That bastard should have served serious jail time but no, Dubya commuted his meager sentence and the Orange Fart Cloud pardoned him.

    Yup, ole Hunter’s right up there with them.

  168. 168.

    Leto

    @UncleEbeneezer: my Italian friend is from Southern southern Italy (waaay south), and they do everything by hand. My Italian market specializes in Southern Italian wares and I can basically buy everything I need from them, versus her preferred method of just making it herself. Please donā€™t tell her as well! :)

    Edit: Iā€™ve been to my friendā€™s hometown, and if you drive just a short distance youā€™re at the coast and can see Sicily on a clear day. Iā€™ll toss some salt for both of us!

  170. 170.

    different-church-lady

    @Layer8Problem: I guess to be serious for a moment: the validity of AOC’s idea depends on whether we’re all just talking to ourselves, or if this really does go out into the world of the broader electorate.

    From a simply mechanics perspective: nut-picking might seem like it relieves stress and alerts people to what the worst are planning. But linking to idiot pundits has the perverse effect of incentivizing the publishers to create more of that kind of content — the algorithms don’t distinguish between an approval click and a hate click.

    But it remains a question in my mind whether MSM made any difference in this election, and whether it will make any difference going forward. Social media bubbles might mean much much more. Is there a way to curate other peoples feeds? If we amplify our smart people more than their dumb people, are we just enthusing our own base without gaining anyone else?

    Hmmm… suppose that^ amounts to a lot of thinking out loud…

  179. 179.

    RevRick

    @Soprano2: The idea that gasoline will ever cost $2/gallon is insane. As I pointed out in a thread below, crude is priced at $68/barrel at the wellhead, which then has to be shipped to the refinery, refined, shipped to the distribution terminal, and finally to the gas station, and every entity along that line needs a profit.

    I donā€™t know what the rock bottom price of crude is, where drilling becomes unprofitable, but I suspect at $60/barrel itā€™s no longer worth the effort.
    Most people donā€™t realize how much effort must be put in just to maintain current levels of supply, as old oil fields become depleted and new ones must be drilled. And while the fracking boom has sent US production to record levels, oil production from fracked wells have notoriously short lifespans.

  184. 184.

    Betty Cracker

    @Miki: I thought it would be gross for Biden to pardon his son back then. It’s icky now too by the standards Biden outlined when he denied he was considering a pardon, but those standards are long gone, and therefore the calculus has changed. IMO, Biden made the right decision, but it’s nothing to celebrate. It says the battle for the soul of the nation is done, and the fucking orcs won.

  185. 185.

    Chris

    @JoyceH:

    I think for the next four years weā€™re going to have to forget about ā€œnormsā€ as a guide to our behavior.

    “Norms” in our day and age are Calvinball rules that are invented by people who want us to lose.

    Ford pardoned Nixon.Ā  HW pardoned everyone involved in Iran-contra.Ā  Trump pardoned Kushner.Ā  The “norm” that presidents aren’t allowed to use the power specifically granted to them by the constitution when it looks like something that would be a conflict of interest in any other field, if there ever was one, has been completely pulverized over half a century, usually with the same media organs currently tearing Biden apart leading the charge.Ā  (“Oh, the country needs to heal!”Ā  “Oh, the country can’t afford another scandal!”)

    It’s been like this forever.Ā  There was no “norm” that the Secretary of State can’t use a private email server.Ā  It was invented out of thin air because we needed a reason to screech about Hillary Clinton, and then buried immediately as soon as the election was over.Ā  There was no “norm” that people in their eighties can’t be president.Ā  If there was, we’d have occasionally heard about it with regards to Trump, not to mention media darling John McCain back in the day.Ā  It was invented for Biden and we’re never going to hear it again.Ā  And so forth.

    All things being equal, there’s something to be said for obeying unwritten norms.Ā  However, that’s not even what this is, and hasn’t been in forever.

  186. 186.

    Soprano2

    @zhena gogolia: That was another head-bashing part of my conversation with my manager Saturday – he said all those politicians are corrupt, so it doesn’t make any different who’s elected. I told him no, they’re not all corrupt, but he’s from New Jersey so he didn’t believe me. When I told him Republicans have been open about wanting to turn us in to Hungary, he was skeptical and said I was approaching conspiracy theory territory. He thinks it’ll be 4 years and then someone else will be president, we’ll survive it. I said “but what shape will our country be in?”. I told him it bothers me that most people don’t seem to care what happens with government unless it seems to affect them directly, and that a lot of things affect them but they don’t know where those things come from or who does them. He didn’t vote, BTW.

  187. 187.

    Citizen Alan

    @Jeffro:ā€™ve heard people say they think gas will be below $2.00/gal because of TCFG.

    I genuinely hope that a year from now, gas is $7.00 a gallon and that eggs are unaffordable for all but the super-rich. I am seriously considering trading in my Hybrid SUV (33 mpg) for a Hybrid Accord (51 mpg) because I anticipate a gas shortage and will be pleased to see it.

  188. 188.

    Soprano2

    @Trivia Man: I’m telling you, all people seem to remember is that gas dropped below $1.50 when TFCG was president, and they think he can bring that back. They’ve totally forgotten the reason it dropped so low, but they know that it made that huge SUV/truck that someone evidently forced them to buy a lot cheaper to drive.

  190. 190.

    Belafon

    @different-church-lady: Have you seen the stats where people didn’t know about Trump’s trials in New York, neither the sexual assault one nor the tax one, or the fact that they didn’t know that we were having our best run of low employment in over 50 years (instead they thought we were in a recession)? All of this is because the media didn’t actually report the news, especially those that rely on Fox or Sinclair for news.

  191. 191.

    Citizen Alan

    @catclub:I think I am happy that I am not sure who Stewart Rhodes is.Ā  Did he found Rhodesia?

    No, but I’m sure he would have if given the opportunity.

  193. 193.

    Citizen Alan

    @Baud: The Cybertruck was designed for one thing and one thing only: to announce to the world that “I am ostentatiously rich and have a big dick.”

  194. 194.

    Leto

    @Citizen Alan: I have a hybrid Accord (2023) and fucking love it. On the highway my avg is around 47 (cruise control is the only way to go). Out and about in the local area, where I can utilize the electric motor closer to 100%, itā€™s damn near 99 mpg. I like playing the game of: how long can I keep the electric motor going before the ICE kicks in. Iā€™ve gotten really good at it.

  196. 196.

    Citizen Alan

    @RandomMonster:Ā  Given the response to Hegseth’s Nazi tattoos by the MAGAs, I would not be surprised if at some point they decorate Christmas trees with actual Swastikas. And when anyone complains, they will clutch their pearls because the “Christmas-Hating Democrats” are mocking for their attempt to reach out to Native Americans by decorating the White House with “Navajo peace symbols.” Because the Dems are always the real racists, dontchaknow.

  197. 197.

    Geminid

    @RevRick: This is all true basically, but I will point that fracking was around through the second half of the last century. It was the more recent development of horizontal drilling technology that enabled the US to become the world’s top oil producer.

    Right now the U.S. produces a little over 13 million barrels per day. Saudi Arabia and Russia are back around 10 million bbl/day.

  198. 198.

    Another Scott

    @Citizen Alan: Careful.

    ā€œMarkets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent.ā€ ā€• John Maynard Keynes

    Humans are irrational. Don’t expect that the economic future is going to be rational even with all the insanity in politics. We just don’t know.

    And I’d caution everyone who thinks that enough people will return to sanity after the world falls apart. Humans are really, really good at rationalizing and fooling themselves. Tribalism is very, very strong.

    Remember, “Bush kept us safe!”

    :-/

    Hang in there.

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  202. 202.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Citizen Alan:

    The Cybertruck was designed for one thing and one thing only: to announce to the world that ā€œI am ostentatiously rich and have a big dick.ā€

    More like ā€œI am ostentatiously rich and I have severe anxiety from thinking I have a tiny dick.ā€

  203. 203.

    RevRick

    @Geminid: Oh, I know about the development of horizontal fracking, and the thing is that while it vastly increases output in the short run, long term it only depletes the field faster. Iā€™ve heard that two of the three big fields -Bakken and Eagle Ford- are near or at peak, and will soon go into irreversible decline.

  204. 204.

    Dan B

    @caphilldcne: Thanks for your pictures.Ā  Yesterday was a sad one for me.Ā  I remembered the friends and former boyfriends who passed away.Ā  I don’t really know how I survived or how the coming years will go.

  206. 206.

    caphilldcne

    1. @Dan B: thanks so much for sharing that. World AIDS Day is a commemoration and I know the losses can be really hard. I think itā€™s wonderful That your friends and boyfriends are still present for you, Iā€™m sure theyā€™d encourage you to keep on! Ā Iā€™m thinking of you and sending good thoughts your way! Ā Open to a chat sometime. I can be reached at all one word: slow steady run at gmail dot com or WG has my email too.
  207. 207.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @glory b: i went looking for it. I found the series on I heart, and I see that itā€™s fee, but my search inside there, for July 2018 didnā€™t bring up an episode . Maybe if I join and have a fee account, Iā€™ll try again later

  208. 208.

    Dave

    @Betty Cracker: Truthfully that display was probably the most honest thing to come out of that administration and I sort of appreciated at that level at least compared to everything else. Especially compared to what is going to be a much worse second term.

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