Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

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

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

There are times when telling just part of the truth is effectively a lie.

A tremendous foreign policy asset… to all of our adversaries.

Humiliatingly small and eclipsed by the derision of millions.

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

They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.

Text STOP to opt out of updates on war plans.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

Trump’s cabinet: like a magic 8 ball that only gives wrong answers.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Cancel the cowardly Times and Post and set up an equivalent monthly donation to ProPublica.

If you don’t believe freedom is for everybody, then the thing you love isn’t freedom, it is privilege.

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Sunday Morning Open Thread: ‘Tis the Season…

Sunday Morning Open Thread: ‘Tis the Season…

by | 166 Comments

This post is in: 

… For saaaad office Christmas parties. And the GOP knows from sad! Per the Washington Post‘s Style section, “Inside a congressman’s 15-minute Christmas party, featuring Santos Claus”:

Capitol Hill is a very busy place with very important people, so what’s the perfect Christmas celebration? Perhaps it was Thursday’s speed-soiree in the Longworth House Office Building.

1:30 p.m.: The party had just started but was nonetheless in full swing. Rep. Tim Burchett’s third annual bash had a strict time limit: 1:30 to 1:45.

“I came up with this idea because everybody has the Christmas parties and it’s kind of obligatory,” the Tennessee Republican said. “They go on forever and the music’s too loud and somebody’s always got you cornered with wine breath. I just thought, ‘How do I get out of this mess? Or how did I get into this mess?’” His solution? “I thought 15 minutes was just enough to get them in and get them out. They get a little Christmas cheer and they’re out the door.”

But Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana, arrived almost 10 minutes early, which was technically a violation of the rules but also a very big deal. Burchett ushered him in, made jolly small talk and offered him first dibs of the party menu: “Can I get you a Mountain Dew, peanut butter and jelly or maybe charcuterie?” That’s Burchett’s term for Easy Cheese on crackers.

“None of the above,” said Johnson only half-kidding, which Burchett took not as an insult but a challenge: “When in Rome, baby.”…

1:31 p.m.: Florida Democrat Jared Moskowitz walked in, saw Johnson in the crowd and loudly asked Burchett, “What vote did you promise the speaker?” Laughs all around because the only thing the two Republicans really disagree on is cheese spray.

But this party is a bipartisan affair. In fact, Moskowitz not only played Santa at last year’s party but brought his dogs dressed as reindeer. Burchett loved it. “I had some smart-aleck reporter say, ‘Tell me, congressman, you realize your Santa Claus is Jewish?’ And I said, ‘Well, my savior is Jewish so I think it’s okay that my Santa Claus is Jewish.’”…

About 20 members dropped by, each greeted by Burchett as if they were a best friend. He threw his arms around Michigan Democrat Debbie Dingell. “We’ve been buddies since I got to Congress,” he said. “She was very kind to me when I first got here.”

Moments earlier, Johnson and Dingell shared a bipartisan hug. Feeling festive? “I’m trying to get there,” she said, smiling…

[For the record, Debbie Dingell is retiring. And no doubt congratulating herself on that decision.]
 
1:34 p.m.: Just in the nick of time, Santa Claus slipped in through a back entrance. Actually, make that Santos Claus.

Yes, we’re talking expelled ex-congressman George Santos, covered in red velvet and fur and feeling it. His appearance caused a frenzy of upheld phones eager to capture the hot holiday cameo. Burchett announced the rules: “Okay, everybody! You get one picture with Santos Claus.”…

1:39 p.m.: In the crush to get selfies with Santa, the peanut butter and jelly bar has been inexplicably ignored — this is lunch time, after all. A young congressional staffer opened one of the two loaves of white bread, a jar of crunchy peanut butter and grape jelly, then made himself a sandwich.

“I don’t want my parents to know I’m breaking my gluten free diet,” said the staffer. He took a bite. “I came here to eat.”…

1:42 p.m.: The hall outside 1122 Longworth — decorated with inflatable trees and other colorful decor — was jammed with people with good intentions and poor planning, as if waiting to get in a club about to close. “That’s crazy. That’s insane, dude,” said one guest, laughing. Some slipped in via the back office entrance, while Burchett’s staffers watched the crowd with amusement…

1:45 p.m.: Burchett had promised to flick the lights on and off and kick everyone out, like a dive bar at closing time. But the 15-minute mark came and went and he couldn’t do it. “I’m violating my own rules,” he sighed. “It’s kind of like Election Day — if you’re in line when the polls close, you still get to vote.”

1:51 p.m.: Two last photos with Santos Claus and then a shot with the entire office team. The outer office, now cleared, still had one unopened loaf of bread, the backup can of spray cheese and a few plain supermarket sugar cookies. Someone had scooped up the fancy Christmas cookies with red and green sugars; the Chips Ahoy package remained untouched.

“It was a record crowd,” said Burchett. “I don’t think we can have fit any more people in.”…

Pretty good suspicion that around the 29-minute mark, the murders would’ve started.

Reader Interactions

166Comments

  3. 3.

    lowtechcyclist

    It’s past time for Congressional Dems to say to themselves and each other, “fuck norms, we’re not going to make nice to people who are about to try to destroy this country. We’ll be formally polite when necessary, but we aren’t going to party with these people. Fuck that shit.”

    Also, nobody expects Republicans to try to be bipartisan, so it’s time the Dems started training the media to stop expecting it of them. No time like the present.

  6. 6.

    Elizabelle

    So:  The Economist picked its word for 2024.  And it is one well known to us.

    So the word everyone was Googling was kakistocracy: the rule of the worst. The first root, kakos, is found in few others in English. “Kakistocracy” is not found in ancient sources; it seems to have been coined in English as an intentional antonym to aristocracy, originally “rule by the best”.

    … Kakistocracy has the crisp, hard sounds of glass breaking. Whether that is a good or bad thing depends on whether you think the glass had it coming. But kakistocracy’s snappy encapsulation of the fears of half of America and much of the world makes it our word of the year.

  8. 8.

    NotMax

    Bizarrely out of touch barely scratches the surface.

    And no way did Santos show up without pocketing a fee. On top of travel expenses.

  11. 11.

    zhena gogolia

    @JPL: I don’t know what he thinks he’s playing at. I guess “resistance” isn’t in fashion any more.

  13. 13.

    MagdaInBlack

    @Elizabelle: Whenever I see the word “kakistocracy” my childish brain thinks “kaka” and so I automatically call it the “shitacracy.”

    I feel it fits them.

  14. 14.

    Elizabelle

    @khead:  Yes.  We are in for a kakistocracy because of all the sane-washing.  Because of all those in the theatrocracy.

    More from The Economist:

    Greek has another root for “rule”, kratia, which is even more common. It features in democracy, aristocracy, gerontocracy, theocracy and plutocracy, as well as meritocracy (a modern coinage for which Alan Fox, a British sociologist, married a Latin root with a Greek one in 1956). The Oxford English Dictionary is also full of rarer species such as ochlocracy (rule by the mob), gynaecocracy (rule by women) and thalassocracy (mastery of the seas).

    Two other “-cracy” words seem appropriate in this election year. One is theatrocracy, or rule by theatre-goers. This sounds as if it might refer to dominance by the media elites writing for the culture sections of newspapers. But the word has its origins in Plato, who described people skilled in fanning the emotions of the crowd at a theatre into a powerful political force. This might, in hindsight, have been a good word of the year for 2016, when a former reality-tv star with a talent for working the crowd was first elected president.

    It’s not just The Felon.  It’s all the political and media enablers, too.
    They said they would have had another shortlist had Kamala won.  No doubt.

  15. 15.

    Elizabelle

    @MagdaInBlack:  Shitocracy works.  Especially given the decline in literacy in this country.

    Anyway.  We are in the season of lights. Don’t want to think about those morons any more.

  19. 19.

    Jeffro

    @Elizabelle:We are in the season of lights. Don’t want to think about those morons any more.

    Agreed! (if only for the day)

    Mrs. Fro and I are gonna finally see WICKED later today, followed by pizza at our favorite local place, followed by Sunday Night Football.  It’s gonna be like having Christmas in Dec…er…like having two Christmases!

    Also, Assad is out and that is helping draw folks’ attention to Gabbard, etc etc.  “Slowly and then all at once…” hint hint, America ;)

  21. 21.

    Elizabelle

    @Jeffro:  That sounds marvelous!  Enjoy!

    Since it’s not as arctic, tomorrow is another Fidos night (take your pup along) at the local botanical garden.  We might have to see all those beautiful holiday lights again.

  25. 25.

    Gin & Tonic

    russia’s foreign ministry on situation in Syria: “We urge all parties involved to refrain from the use of violence and to resolve all issues of governance through political means,”

    Just like russia is doing in Ukraine.

    It would be funny if it wasn’t tragic.

  26. 26.

    geg6

    Moskowitz should be ashamed of himself.  It is in no way appropriate for any Dem (I’ll give Dingel a small pass due to retirement) to be making nice with these cretins.  I have lost all respect for him, regardless of how awesome he can be on the House floor.  No decent person chooses to socialize with nationalists and Nazis.

  27. 27.

    RevRick

    I’m thankful that I have a church to worship in this morning where I get to sing a bunch of Advent hymns and listen to my lesbian pastor open her thoughtful sermon with an awful dad joke and be amongst people who care about the world.
    My only regret is that this week’s texts are fairly nice by Advent standards, with only a whiff of warning from the prophet Malachi, who asks, “But who can endure the day of his coming?”, and Luke listing all the oppressive rulers and collaborators who kept the Jewish people under the thumb of Rome as prelude to introducing John the Baptist. Too bad it isn’t next week’s text from Luke, where John opens with the blast: “You brood of vipers…”

    Now that’s a fitting description of the incoming Trump administration and his merry band of petty tyrants and predatory billionaires.

  28. 28.

    Suzanne

    I saw my first Hanukkah lawn inflatable yesterday. A llama wishing me “HAPPY LLAMAKKAH”.

    Kinda made me happy that bad taste crosses boundaries of religion, ethnicity, race, etc. We have lawn inflatables as monoculture!

  32. 32.

    Don

    Why isn’t it obvious? We are now the minority party. They aren’t listening to us anymore. This is what it is like to have no power. The Democratic Party, the liberals, are held in low regard. This has been the end of liberalism, and we are having trouble coming to terms with it. It’s going to take awhile. Which comes first, mass protests or acceptance? Either way we are going to go backward.

  35. 35.

    apocalipstick

    Burchett was on CNN’s Have I Got News For You (highly recommend) as the ‘funny Republican’ and Amber Ruffin called him out in a way that none of our serious journalists seem able to do. His bumbling response showed how most Republican positions are a tissue of falsehood.

  40. 40.

    dww44

    So I’m righteously angry and need your help in getting a message to Biden and the State Department.   A few minutes ago on MSNBC in a live report from Tel Aviv a reporter kept referring and quoting “President” Trump.  No one from Biden or his team is anywhere to be found.  This is happening a lot.  I’m sick of this.  “One President at a time” seems not to be the case. Biden needs to be seen!

  43. 43.

    dww44

    @Baud: Yes he does. He and his administration need to be front and center on the Syrian situation.  Trump doesn’t get to dictate US policy yet nor be its public voice.

  44. 44.

    MagdaInBlack

    @dww44: Seems highly likely Biden has some pretty serious foreign policy issues he is dealing with right now and being “seen” is not high on the list

    We will “see” him when he has something to say.

  47. 47.

    TBone

    @NotMax: I lost the battle over placing the 5′ inflatable, orange-ish poop emoji in a Santa hat on my front lawn.  Hubby not into that much chutzpah!  He isn’t feeling well at all (and I’m getting concerned) but despite being seriously under the weather has decided that today’s comparatively mild temperature necessitates getting up on the roof to replace our tasteful, white only lights along the roofline and also around our front windows with new lights because the old ones only lasted two years.  The poop emoji would have been much easier, and we’re gonna miss church today because, between the two of us, there is only so much get up and go energy available.  The lawn and leaf cleanup outfit I hired way back before Turkey Day has still not shown up to clear leaves and trim bushes.

    Thank you for the Tumpa energy!

  48. 48.

    Suzanne

    @NotMax: I think all those inflatable things are an offense to my aesthetic sensibility! But no one asked me my opinion.

    See also: the Ford F-series of trucks, chunky highlights, any snack food designated as FLAMIN’ HOT.

  50. 50.

    dww44

    @MagdaInBlack:  I disagree I’m tired of us ceding legitimacy to the president elect who is increasingly being addressed by news media as the “President “. Some ones in Biden’s Administration ought to be addressing this head on. Perception does count for a lot outside this  blog.

  51. 51.

    Elizabelle

    @dww44:  Hadn’t you heard from the Fucking Vichy Times?  Biden is in the Witness Protection Program.  It’s all The Felon.  All the time.

    Except:  have you guys noticed a falloff in so many photos of The Felon on websites?  I think they may have noticed we are scrolling past and ignoring them.

    Healthiest thing you can do with this whorish, captured media.

  52. 52.

    tobie

    @dww44: This is true…not least because indirectly the Biden admin contributed to Iran and Russia’s routing from the Levant by arming their opponents. Had the isolationists and/or Putin collaborators been in charge, Russia and Iran would be cementing their hold in Syria and Lebanon.

    On another note: I followed the sage advice of the BJ commentariat and renewed my US passport on line. It came in less than 3 weeks. That’s govt efficiency. Thank you, Joe.

  53. 53.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @Gin & Tonic: This comment brought a chuckle:

    Gregg Carlstrom
    @glcarlstrom

    The Iranian embassy getting raided after its brutal client dictator makes an ignominious exit from the country is a real “history doesn’t repeat, but it does rhyme” moment

    A couple of months ago the nearly universal assumptions was that Assad’s position was increasingly secure:

    kriegshetzer
    @coandaeffekt

    “EU should restore ties with Assad to curb migration, says Meloni

    “Italian PM Giorgia Meloni calls for better relations with the dictator to ‘help Syrian refugees return home’”

  56. 56.

    Elizabelle

    @TBone:  That is perfect!  Did you come up with it?

    They should hand out lube and breath mints at the White House Correspondents Dinner.

  57. 57.

    Geminid

    @Gin & Tonic: There is some CNN video circulating of John Bolton’s speculation about Syrian government files that the rebels could find when they captureed Damascus, and “what they show about a number of Americans.”

    Michael Weiss commented:

       HTS rather than Senate Republicans scuttling Tulsi’s appointment is a distant but particularly funny possibility.

    This of course is speculation. But Assad officials were preoccupied with the crisis of the last 10 days and might not have found time to “clean up” sensitive files.

    They might not have wanted to either. Russia’s decades-long presence in Syria has almost certainly ended, amidst mutual recriminations.

     

    @geg6:

  58. 58.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Gin & Tonic: ​
     

    russia’s foreign ministry on situation in Syria: “We urge all parties involved to refrain from the use of violence and to resolve all issues of governance through political means,”

    The least our State Department should do is issue a press release with exactly the same wording, just replacing ‘Syria’ with ‘Ukraine’ in the title, preamble, or wherever.

  59. 59.

    zhena gogolia

    @Elizabelle: Oh, but this morning five NYT opinion writers have advice for President Biden for what he should do with his last days in office.

  64. 64.

    Starfish (she/her)

    @NotMax: He didn’t serve wine at his party. A lot of these Southern politicians are Southern Baptist and allegedly teatotallers, but everyone has jokes about their Southern Baptists and all the drinking they do.

  66. 66.

    BlueGuitarist

    @geg6:

    Debbie Dingell is not retiring, she just got re-elected, but is mentioned in the article about Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow retiring, replaced by Elissa Slotkin.
    By Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) or Progressive Punch ratings, Moskowitz’s voting record is one of the 5 or 10 least liberal/progressive among Democratic house members

  67. 67.

    Ramona

    @RevRick: I’m sorry if you’ve mentioned it before, but which denomination church do you attend? Somehow, I am left with the impression that it might be UU.

  70. 70.

    tobie

    @dww44: Saw this on Mastodon. The Biden admin is doing some justified bragging but the press never has, and now never will, consider this newsworthy.

    To bring down housing costs, we have to build, build, build.

    And under my Administration, the rate of new housing starts is up 16% compared to the last administration.

  71. 71.

    dww44

    @Baud: That’s a narrow take that doesn’t benefit Democrats or democracy. I believe that we lost in November in part because we were unable or unwilling to immediately confront the messages coming from Trump and the right. We have to get better at this and correcting the perception that Trump is already President is a good place to start.

  74. 74.

    Starfish (she/her)

    @Elizabelle: Scrolling past gives them ad impressions and they make money off of that. A lot of folks have just quit consuming news.

    They thought that they were going to make money off of Trump’s nonsense again, but they are not if no one is consuming their garbage anymore.

  76. 76.

    Geminid

    @geg6: These events in Syria could be a real challenge to the Iranian regime. One big complaint of the protesters that the regime has repressed since the death of Mahsa Amina in September, 2022 is the diversion of their country’s resources to the “Axis of Resistance” that their government had built in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon as well as the West Bank and Gaza.

    Now the Axis of Resistance lies in tatters, and some portion of the regime’s credibility must also.

  79. 79.

    dww44

    Since my request for help in contacting the Biden administration has not been answered, I did call the White House comment line which is only open Tuesday thru Friday during normal banking hours.  And, perhaps understandably, no ability to leave a recorded comment..

  80. 80.

    TS

    @dww44:

    We have to get better at this and correcting the perception that Trump is already President is a good place to start.

    Try telling that to the MSM – they  have been supporting trump against Biden/Harris for the past 4 years. Democrats can say all they want- no-one is hearing it.

  86. 86.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @Geminid: Supposedly Khamenei did not want to intervene in Syria in ’12, but Suleimani & Nasrellah convinced him. Now that Suleimani & Nasrellah are dead, & the the linchpins of the “Axis of Resistance” overthrown, perhaps Khamenei will finally devote more of Iran’s limited resources internally. Or, he could order nuclear breakout.

  88. 88.

    dww44

    @TS: doesn’t mean we stop pushing back loudly and publicly. I did email MSNBC about the reporter repeatedly referring to Trump as the President.

  90. 90.

    Elizabelle

    @dww44:  Good for you.  Their language is egregious.

    Although, maybe MSNBC thought “good.  Somebody is still watching us.”

  93. 93.

    oldgold

    In my opinion Mike Johnson is the worst and weakest Speaker of the House of Representatives in at least the last 80 years and perhaps ever.

    There is an obscure clause in Section 3 of Article ll of the Constitution that this spineless Speaker, in league with the Short-Fingered Vulgarian may use to wreak havoc to what is left of our Constitutional order. It is:

    “… in Case of Disagreement between them (The Senate and the House of Representatives) with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he (The President) may adjourn them until such time as he shall thinks proper…”

    Consider the possible consequences of this. Recess appointments could be the least of it.

  94. 94.

    Starfish (she/her)

    Some of this burning desire for Biden to do something and this need for Democrats to slap a Republican when they see one is a bit unhinged.

    Syria, the budget, etc. are all things that are going to be Trump’s problems because they are longterm things that the government is supposed to handle. I am sure that he would prefer to sit around and cut funding for the VA and give tax cuts to his homies, but he has some real problems that he and his unqualified band of cabinet appointments are going to have to deal with, while babysitting Elon Musk. It is a lot and I am not sure that they are going to get any of it done. Melania is trying to sell Christmas ornaments to the rubes before she is first lady again. I am not sure that she should run the first lady’s office like it is freaking QVC, but she is going to try.

    Now if the Southern politicians want to sit around and eat bacon-flavored cheese in a can instead of governing, who am I to judge?

    The Democrats are still doing their job and getting all the judicial butts in seats that they can.

  99. 99.

    Another Scott

    @YY_Sima Qian:

    EN.YNA.CO.KR (Yonhap):

    Prosecution says it has booked Yoon as suspect, citing ‘numerous’ complaints
    Lee Minji, 이민지

    Politics 14:17 December 08, 2024

    SEOUL, Dec. 8 (Yonhap) — President Yoon Suk Yeol has been booked as a suspect on charges of treason, the prosecution said Sunday.

    “Numerous complaints have been submitted, and an investigation is under way in accordance with the process,” said Park Se-hyun, who leads a special investigation headquarters into Yoon’s short-lived declaration of martial law last week.

    Park said prosecutors are investigating the charges of treason and abuse of power against Yoon.

    [ image – Park Se-hyun, who leads a special investigation headquarters into probes on President Yoon Suk Yeol’s short-lived declaration of martial law last week, speaks in a press briefing on Dec. 8, 2024. (Yonhap) ]

    Park Se-hyun, who leads a special investigation headquarters into probes on President Yoon Suk Yeol’s short-lived declaration of martial law last week, speaks in a press briefing on Dec. 8, 2024. (Yonhap)

    [email protected]
    (END)

    Yoon is going to be going through some pretty intense things in the next few days, it looks like.

    Authoritative dictionary entry for FAFO??

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  102. 102.

    Another Scott

    @dww44: I don’t know why you’re seemingly surprised that a guy who was called “president” for the last 4 years is still being called “president”.

    Eyes on the prizes.

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  103. 103.

    YY_Sima Qian

    The NYT once again makes clear where its interests & values lie. Seven reporters on this story:

    The Growing Cost of Making C.E.O.s Safe
    The tragic killing of UnitedHealthCare’s Brian Thompson has spurred companies to ratchet up security for their most senior executives.

    By Andrew Ross Sorkin, Ravi Mattu, Bernhard Warner, Sarah Kessler, Michael J. de la Merced, Lauren Hirsch and Vivienne Walt
    Dec. 6, 2024

  106. 106.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Betty: At the bottom right of the post are three dots. Click there. I selected “embed post” and then used the “text” tab here. I see there’s also “copy post” which I think is just the text of the post. I’m still figuring it out.

  109. 109.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Apparently on Meet the Press, Trump said he wants the whole Jan 6 committee prosecuted, will pardon the Jan 6 rioters, and would deport children who are US citizens of undocumented parents.

    I hope the normies watching see all that.

  111. 111.

    RevRick

    @Ramona: I belong to the United Church of Christ. We’re the amalgam of the Congregationalist-Christian and the (German) Evangelical and Reformed churches with an African American strand thrown in for good measure.

  113. 113.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @dww44:

    So I’m righteously angry and need your help in getting a message to Biden and the State Department.   A few minutes ago on MSNBC in a live report from Tel Aviv a reporter kept referring and quoting “President” Trump.  No one from Biden or his team is anywhere to be found.  This is happening a lot.  I’m sick of this.  “One President at a time” seems not to be the case. Biden needs to be seen!

    I too feel very angry about this. I called the White House to tell them someone needs to track and reply to these reporters, so they start calling that other guy “president elect xyz!&@.”

    The switchboard forwarded me to the main White House, and that voice mail message said call back between 11-3 Tuesday through Thursday. Or send an emessage to____. If you want the instructions for leaving them an e-message , call them yourself.
    202-456-1414, which is the switchboard, my phone says, but I dialed 202-456-1111 comments, which must be the direct line to comments

    white house.gov

    perhaps contact the news program you watched, and demand they correct themselves.

  114. 114.

    Geminid

    @YY_Sima Qian: I don’t think Khameini  will order a muclear breakout. For one thing I don’t think the Israelis would allow it. The Israelis cannot totaly destroy Iran’s neclear arms-related facilities but they can wreck them badly enough to set the program back some years.

    With a large portion of the 100,000+ missiles Iran gave Hezbollah either fired or destroyed on the ground, Iran’s threat of retaliation is much less of a consraint on Israel.

    And it is still the stated US policy that Iran will not be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons, and we can do a lot more damage than can the Israelis.

    I sometimes follow Iranian military tech commentator “Patarames” and he made an interesting point, that Iran’s large stockpiles of ballistic missiles would be rendered virtually useless if they acquired nuclear warheads. With conventional warheads, these missiles are a real and credible threat to Israel (and other nations as well).

    The acquisition of nuclear warheads would change this equation. It would mean that Israel would not know if a missile fired at them carried a nuclear or a conventional warhead. They would not wait to find out, but instead retaliate with their own nuclear weapons.

    Iran’s nuclear program is a luxury that has cost them many billions of dollars in expenditures and lost trade because if the international sanctions it has brought.

    It is not broadly popular either. Israel sits hundreds of miles away, on the other side of Iraq and Syria. It poses no physical threat to Iran, only to the men– and they are all men– who rule it. In the age of the internet and the smart phone, most Iranians know that Iran and Israel got along fine before the mullahs took over and they have no reason to believe the two nations won’t get along fine once the mullahs are gone.

  116. 116.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Gloria DryGarden: I called the White House to tell them someone needs to track and reply to these reporters, so they start calling that other guy “president elect xyz!&@.”

    People are going to need to find a balance between getting outraged at everything that Trump and the MSM do and accepting it as normal.  Burning yourself out before Trump even takes office is counterproductive.  YMMV.

  118. 118.

    Another Scott

    Meanwhile, … Phys.org – Why is Garfield orange, anyway. I mean, in detail – why?.

    Garfield, star of the eponymous comic strip created by Jim Davis in 1978, is, like many of the cats that roam our homes, orange. He is orange in the same way that some people are redheaded, some horses are brown, or some dogs are Irish setters, but there is one important difference.

    For all other animals, including redheaded humans, we know what causes this characteristic color, but surprisingly, we didn’t know what causes it in cats—and felines in general—until now.

    Two papers have just been published on bioRxiv—one of the most popular pre-publication repositories of unreviewed articles—that explain the genetics behind orange cats. One comes from Greg Barsh’s lab at Stanford University, California. The other is from Hiroyuki Sasaki’s lab at Kyushu University, Japan.

    […]

    People are still learning stuff every day. Bodies are complicated!

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  120. 120.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @YY_Sima Qian:

    The Growing Cost of Making C.E.O.s Safe

    FTFNYT, what’s the cost of this and where’s your tag team op-ed?

    There have been at least 78 school shootings in the United States so far this year, as of November 27. Twenty-five were on college campuses, and 53 were on K-12 school grounds. The incidents left 36 people dead and at least 105 other victims injured, according to CNN’s analysis of events reported by the Gun Violence Archive, Education Week and Everytown for Gun Safety.

  121. 121.

    Kristine

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Thanks for the reminder. I had already opted out, but had to make sure.

    Here’s one I learned about this week. If you use Siri:

    Settings ->Apps ->pick an app ->Siri

    Depending on your OS version, under Siri you may see “Learn from this app,” which allows Siri to use your app interaction to make suggestions across apps.

    It was turned on for all of my apps. I have a lot of apps. There’s no bulk opt-out option—I need to turn off each app individually.

    https://support.apple.com/en-us/102420

    I seldom use Siri, but I opted out all the apps I use. I should probably get rid of the dormant ones.

  124. 124.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    I have heard for years now Congress is surprisingly chill when the press camera is gone. Since the ’00s, Daily Show has repeatedly pointed out how much the Culture War is pure bullshit for the cameras. Just recently my mom was showing me a news letter from a Democratic representative describing how she’s been in bipartisan committee meetings were they were getting things done, only to walk out into the hall to find Mary Talyor Green screaming to the press about this will be a fight to death.

    And here is an example of it action. This the Congressional UAP hearing last month, everyone is talking like normal people about the topic, except Lauren Boebert and Nancy Mace. I would also point out the expression on the faces on of these two women while they doing their crazy talk – it’s clear they both know they are full of shit.

    Perhaps a lot of you might reconsider your information sources if you don’t understand this?

  126. 126.

    Bill Arnold

    @Baud:

    Correct. He’s had a good year, despite Syria.

    Sure, but a suicidalbrave reporter should still ask him about warm water ports.

  127. 127.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Omnes Omnibus: I might be willing to push this one; I’m sort of a grammar police for proper titles. Misnaming our president 6 weeks before transition bugs me. A lot. The trick is to have time in that limited range. So I may be dropping it.

    Btw, I googled msnbc, and the possible links included rachel Maddox, morning Joe, and donald trump. (I didn’t dig for a contact us link. )
    Nothing for the current president. Who is busy doing things.
    it seems like media slant to me. But I never checked before in the interim between election and inauguration.

    it appears President Biden has been nearly invisible, in msm, put on page 5, not given much press, given headlines that make him appear lame. So, more of the same.

  128. 128.

    TBone

    @NotMax: I wish I could call down to a concierge and get some sandwiches sent up too!  Thank you for that lovely reminder to keep the spirit in the holiday – I just had to go to back to the store because I was short one big, red velvet bow for my wreaths and garland so I bought the red Santa bush hat trimmed in white fur and a belt buckle that makes hubby look like Crocodile Dundee on a bender.  He is on the roof futzing with lights wearing it.

    I discovered today that that bush hat lights up the white fur around its rim with a little, hidden button. Am pleased with my purchase!  Had many laughs with fellow customers at the store as well as the cashier.

  129. 129.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Gloria DryGarden: ​
      Like I said, YMMV. Some may find any particular problem to be one that they want to devote time and energy to. I am just saying that, given what we face, people will have to make choices or they will burn out.

  130. 130.

    stinger

    @different-church-lady: Yeah, but… Congress hustled Santos out by the elbows and now he’s welcomed back as Gay Santa? He should have been banned from the premises for life. Tim Walz was right — these people are WEIRD.

  137. 137.

    Jackie

    @apocalipstick:

    Burchett was on CNN’s Have I Got News For You (highly recommend) as the ‘funny Republican’ and Amber Ruffin called him out in a way that none of our serious journalists seem able to do. His bumbling response showed how most Republican positions are a tissue of falsehood.

    Burchett surprised me for doing Have I Got News for You!. He wasn’t funny, although he tried. I guess looking like he’s sucking sour lemons is his natural expression. I love Amber Ruffin! And, I love this new “game show” on CNN.

  138. 138.

    sentient ai from the future

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    one of my hobbyhorses these days is trying to redirect news junkies like ourselves to ore authoritative sources of information.

    because a lot of news junkies and politics junkies just react to what the increasingly circuslike MSM throws in front of them. it’s a big problem on the right but also a problem on the left. (glares witheringly at Raw Story)

    We need people to be reading not only the bullshit news and the FTFNYT, but also the FEDERAL REGISTER and the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD.

    we need to be SCOURING the actual-no-shit sources of the federal government (and the state governments, which have analogues) for the information that will help us protect ourselves and our vulnerable loved ones from the malignant depredations of the incoming maladministration as they set upon the sources of stability in our nation in the World’s Biggest Bust-Out.

  140. 140.

    New Deal democrat

    @Geminid: It appears Israel is taking advantage of the situation to bomb all of Assad’s defense and “research” infrastructure.

    Also, probably more importantly, this:

    Netanyahu declares collapse of 1974 disengagement agreement on Golan, orders seizure of buffer zone

    There are photos of Israeli military vehicles entering the area, and bombing it as well.

    How many times is the dare to mutually escalate going to be made, before it is accepted?

  142. 142.

    DavidM

    My cynical brain immediately went to wondering if there’s a deliberate trap here for those who don’t want to hang out with the appeasement/abasement crowd – of being accused of being part of the so-called war on Christmas.

  143. 143.

    trollhattan

    Another reason for correspondents to pack their helmet: celebratory gunfire.

    The speed of the Assad regime’s collapse is boggling. But hey, 54 years is quite a run (of terror, but why quibble over who tortured who?).

  144. 144.

    Bill Arnold

    @Kristine:
    One key bit of smartphone hygiene is with location services; for iPhone, turn off full-time location services for all apps (“Never”) that don’t need it, and “While using” for the ones that need it, and remember which those are and close them unless actually used.

  145. 145.

    Jackie

    @p.a: Exactly. Those watching MTP today for the most part, are watching because TCFG is on, so most likely they support his plans.

    I rarely watch because I can’t stand Kristen Walker, or Chuck Todd before her.

  148. 148.

    Another Scott

    @dww44: Confront away.  Godspeed to you.

    But responding to rage baiting doesn’t help make things better.

    My opinion is that that energy could be better spent – we have no control at all over what other people do and say.  We only have control over ourselves.

    YMMV.

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  149. 149.

    karen marie

    @dww44: But they are. Those rules are applied assiduously to Democrats. Everyone knows Republicans are special snowflakes. The only rule that applies to them is IOKIYAR.

  150. 150.

    Another Scott

    @sentient ai from the future: +1

    I skim the Briefing Room at the White House every day.  I also skim GovExec.com to see what actions the federal government is actually taking.  RollCall.com can be useful at times, but isn’t updated as frequently.  Similarly, the cabinet departments all have public announcements nearly every day that are easy to find.

    The WWW makes it very easy to find authentic sources.  We don’t need talking heads to tell us what something means any more – we can see for ourselves.

    Thanks.

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  151. 151.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Gloria DryGarden:

    it appears President Biden has been nearly invisible, in msm, put on page 5, not given much press, given headlines that make him appear lame. So, more of the same.

    Maybe he should stage an insurrection. I hear that’s a good way to get coverage.

    /s, just in case you were wondering

  152. 152.

    E.

    @DavidM: Tim Burchett is real scum and he would absolutely use non attendance as a weapon if he thought it would help him. But who cares. If you are going to tell your constituents that the current GOP are fascists, then why are you going to their Christmas parties and joking with them. You have two choices when confronted with a Nazi: punch them, or leave their presence. No other anctions are acceptable.

  155. 155.

    Kayla Rudbek

    @Suzanne: I am somewhat disappointed that Herrschners doesn’t have much in the way of Hanukkah items to embroider and cross-stitch (although that may go against the Jewish prohibition of making graven images so maybe I shouldn’t be as surprised). I will know that other minority religions have truly arrived when Herrschners, Michaels, and JoAnn Fabric start selling decor and craft kits to celebrate their holidays (with the caveats about Judaism and Islam prohibiting making graven images).

  157. 157.

    Geminid

    @E.: I’m not sure whether Rep. Moskowitz in fact told people that the Republicans were facists, or if he is being held respnsible here for other people’s rhetoric.

    But whether he did or not, I’m not getting strung out about him visiting Burchette’s Christmas party. Moskowitz has no duty to me or any other Democrat except those in his district. If they raise a fuss, fine. For my part, I will judge Congressional Democrats by their work and not their social life. I don’t expect them to be my surrogates in that respect.

  159. 159.

    BellaPea

    Tim Burchett is (unfortunately) my congressman and he will no doubt be in that office for life unless he decides to run for governor. Tennessee has gone so red in so few years that it is scary. I hate to leave, have lived here most of my life except for a few years going to college in Kentucky, and it is a beautiful state in so many ways. However, the politics are just dreadful. We have a state attorney general who thinks he’s some kind of avenging angel for right-wing causes. If we had the financial resources, I would damn well try to convince my husband to leave the country.

  161. 161.

    mrmoshpotato

    @MagdaInBlack:

    Whenever I see the word “kakistocracy” my childish brain thinks “kaka” and so I automatically call it the “shitacracy.”

    I feel it fits them.

    I like this.

  163. 163.

    Ruckus

    @geg6:

    While obviously not on the same side, one still has to work with or at least around them. If you create two islands without any concept of neighbors – nothing gets done. It is a part of politics. HOWEVER. Sure one side is trying (and not completely ineffectively) to destroy most/all concepts of actual governing, by stealing everything, tied down or not. But what else do we have? IOW I have no answer, zero,  zip, nada, none. I believe we are seeing a concept of shitforbrains side going backasswards at least 300 years governmental wise. They no longer seem to want democracy to work. (OK that may be just a tad weak on the description – they seem to want to go backwards to a time that having money required theft, whips and chains. For everyone else. They seem to believe that money is made by decree not by work and effort, which used to be a lot harder than today. I’d bet they want slavery back. They of course wouldn’t call it that, but it’s what they want. They can’t seem to actually do much that builds wealth so they have to take it.

  164. 164.

    Geminid

    @New Deal democrat: I’m not sure who specifically you think might accept this dare, if in fact this turns out to be a permant expansion of Israeli claims on the Golan Heights (which I doubt).

    The rebels have indicated that they do not intend to go to war over the portion of the Golan Heights behind the 1973 ceasefire lines. That has been a very secure border ever since early 1974 when the two nations established ceasefire rules which they have observed since. To expand Israel’s land claims in the Golan would be contrary to Israel’s security interests, and buyng trouble Israel does not need.

    That’s why I suspect this move is a temporary measure and not a land grab. We’ll know for sure soon enough for me. Same with the 20 kilometer deep security zone Turkey has maintained across its border with Syria for years now.

    But maybe the Israeli Prime Minister hopes to pospone testifying in his corruption trial this week by starting a whole new war! He seems pretty desparate. Netanyahu has been able to postpone testifying several times already but it looks like he may finally have to show up Tuesday morning. He’s been trying to figure out a way fire the Attorney General for weeks now but so far he’s failed to remove her.

    If I were interested in what Israel’s cooking in Golan I’d first look up what Gideon Saar, the Foreign Minister and Daniel Hagari, the IDF spokesman are saying about it..

    I’ll mainly follow this issue through reporters like Ragip Soylu, Istanbul bureau chief for Middle East Eye. He’ll report on what the Israelis are saying and are doing. Soylu has looking at all these issues from much closer than I am, and has a better base of knowledge than any US reporter.

    There’s also Saudi-based Al Arabiya and Qatar-based Al Jazeera. If this Golan matter is a big deal they’ll report on that and why. There also are plenty of Syrian journalists both in and out of the country covering these events.

    Generally I have found Turkish and Arab news sites to be the most valuable sources for learning about this conflict, including the Golan Heights issue which I know of through them. They pay attention to Syria in a way that people outside the region do not.

  165. 165.

    Ruckus

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Yep, MagdainBlack says it all.

    They want a shitracracy so that they can have everything and those they don’t like or respect or believe they are human get squat and they get everything. Of course it’s not all roses – a lot of those humans they think are a complete waste do many of the things that makes this a better place to live than a cave or a slave owner’s mansion. They think their shit doesn’t stink – and it doesn’t – it reeks – to the moon and back. They do not want the 21st century, they want to return to a time that paychecks were known as whips, that money was not common and the concept of a minimum wage was not even a concept yet. They want everything and they want to get paid to own steal it.

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