Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

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

In after Baud. Damn.

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

He imagines himself as The Big Bad, Who Is Universally Feared… instead of The Big Jagoff, Who Is Universally Mocked.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Usually wrong but never in doubt

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you don’t.

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

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

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Let me file that under fuck it.

Motown is Joe-Town!

Fight them, without becoming them!

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

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Thursday Evening Open Thread

Reader Interactions

39Comments

  4. 4.

    Kelly

    Our Border Collie Daisy is six months old today. Mostly walks well on a leash if we’re in the nearby woods with no other distractions. Recall is entirely unreliable but we let her play off leash with a neighbor dog. His recall is great and she stays with him. We live at the end of the road so there’s not a lot of risk. Our biggest problem in the house is when our cat Phoebe gets on the kitchen counters. Daisy is very eager to help keep Phoebe off the counter but the result is chaos

    She loves to play ball but is reluctant to drop the ball. My latest trick to get her to drop the ball is to ignore her and look at my phone. “No not the phone!! Play with meee!!!

  5. 5.

    NaijaGal

    Hi WaterGirl! I’m often late to threads or reading things a day later- thank you for the “hate” thread yesterday. I’m glad to see that there has been some examination on BJ of the role that racism and white supremacy played in the presidential election, even though it makes some uncomfortable. I get that it’s more palatable to focus on economic issues/fears raised by voters, no matter how incoherent or plain wrong, because many Democrats imagine that those can at least be addressed through messaging, presenting factual information, proposing bills that uplift and help, etc. It is much more daunting to contemplate the fact that someone just hates any of their fellow citizens who is nonwhite and there is no persuading them otherwise – there seems no easy solution to that problem.

     

    One aspect of white supremacy/racism in the US that I haven’t seen explored as much as I would like (and forgive me if I missed any posts where this was discussed) is that white supremacy is a danger to US national security. If voters with white supremacist views have simplistic views of the world in which white people are good and nonwhite people are a danger or threat, there is no room in that binary thinking to grasp that there are white people outside the US who actively hate and want to destroy the US. That is, these voters likely see Vladamir Putin as more of an ally than Barack Obama! Think of the Ohio-based Trump supporters who proudly wore “I’d rather be a Russian than a Democrat” t-shirts starting in 2018 (those t-shirts are still on sale on Amazon).

     

    I believe that this issue has already been exploited by US adversaries and has already had an impact on US elections. I see a direct connection between Obama’s election (and reelection), Trump’s emergence, and what is going on today. Resentment of nonwhite progress is obviously not new – however, going back in time, when the backlash to Reconstruction occurred, the US wasn’t a superpower. It is now. Something has to be done to address this – again, not saying it’s easy, but the stakes are too high and the alternative is truly scary.

    My long-winded two cents.

  6. 6.

    YY_Sima Qian

    As expected, Xi will not be attending Trump’s inauguration:

    Trump’s Inauguration Won’t Have Xi Jinping Among the Guests
    The president-elect invited Xi in a departure from protocol; China’s leader isn’t planning to accept

    By Lingling Wei and Alex Leary

    Despite being invited, Xi Jinping isn’t planning to attend Donald Trump’s inauguration next month, but he might send a senior official to represent him, according to people close to Beijing’s thinking.

    …

  9. 9.

    VeniceRiley

    Our farmy breeder friend in Norfolk does these silly cute pictures with her dogs, alpacas, and sheep. I’m always amazed how they’ll pose for her. Amarante Doodles on FB, tik tok, whatever, and they’re aces. Best dogs ever. Before you judge, the spouse needed a break from a long line of rescues and wanted a big AF doggo.

    And, while America lives in fear, I blew a wad to extend my visa here. Then the government here approved for TODAY …

    £50K plus extra awards of £1-20K for gays removed wrongly from the armed services back in the day!  But, what brought her near tears was that you can apply online to get your cap and badge back (that was taken off her) and an in person apology.

  12. 12.

    YY_Sima Qian

    Good paper detailing how windfall profits from price inflation is unevenly distributed, & the burden of price inflation is also evenly distributed, & why people across the political spectrum might be angry about the status quo:

    Isabella M. Weber
    @IsabellaMWeber

    NEW PAPER: The 2022 fossil fuel price jumps caused an oil and gas profit explosion. We show the US reaped the largest profit increase (USD 275bn) of any country. Big Oil claims this benefits the American people. In fact, 51% went to the richest 1%, only 1% to the bottom 50%.

    This new working paper has been the outcome of an interdisciplinary collaboration with high powered modelers and wonderful colleagues.
    @GregorSemieniuk @BJMbraun @JFMercure @PabloSalasB
    Link: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/4a4559c7-41c7-4a91-a9fd-fef265d58247/content 2/

    At the height of the global energy crisis in 2022 that threw people around the world into energy poverty, quarterly net profits in stock market-listed oil and gas companies were at a record globally, peaking in quarter 2. 3/

    The US is the #1 beneficiary of the global fossil fuel price explosion: US listed companies had the largest profit increase in 2022 relative to recent averages, making the US the country with the highest profits earned (US$ 301 billion), overtaking Saudi Arabia & Russia. 4/

    Profits of US headquartered, listed companies (US$ 301 billion) far exceeded total U.S. investments in the low carbon economy (US$266 billion) in 2022. A reminder of how far away we are from a green transition. 5/

    Since 2021, the stock market valuation of fossil-fuel companies diverged sharply from that of renewable energy companies. The total global & US volumes of profits earned by renewable energy companies is dwarfed by those of fossil fuel companies. 6/

    We use company income & ownership data to construct a global network of shareholdings with 397,619 nodes including private companies. The diagram shows how 2022 fossil fuel profits are intermediated until they reach ultimate U.S. beneficiaries. Not much goes to pension funds. 7/

    The distribution of fossil fuel profits exacerbates existing inequalities. 64% of households are white but claim 87% of profits. 14% of households are Black but only get 3% and 10% are Hispanic but get a mere 1%. 51% go to the richest 1%, just 1% to the bottom 50%. 8/

    Inflation differs across income groups as consumption baskets’ prices rise at different rates (round dot). But fossil fuel profit flows alone also compensate large shares of inflation for the rich sharply increasing the inequality in inflation burdens (squares and disks). 9/

    Policy implications: Curbing high oil & gas profits could reduce income inequality in times of high energy-induced inflation. Taxing 2022 incremental US profits could have paid to double investments in the low-carbon energy sector from $266 to $540 bn that year. END/

  13. 13.

    VeniceRiley

    The death of communism starts and ends with the Soviet Union. If capitalism started on Team Moscow, it would be sh*T too. Same for socialism or any other ism.

    I think this entire period was wrongly framed, TBH. Our mistake, and I hope it isn’t a fatal one for earth.

  15. 15.

    WaterGirl

    @NaijaGal: I have been happy to see you back here again recently.  Not sure if you saw one day that I wrote that your comments have been on fire lately. (In a good way!)

    We have our work cut out for us, that’s for sure!

  16. 16.

    Jeffro

    trump has already admitted he’s not going to be able to lower grocery prices

    At a rally in North Carolina earlier this year, Trump told the crowd, “From the day I take the oath of office, we’ll rapidly drive prices down and make America affordable again.” He vowed: “Prices will come down. You just watch. They’ll come down fast.”

    In the interview with Time, Trump offered a more realistic assessment, with no promises on how he would cuts costs. He said he would address energy costs and the supply chain, which he said would bring down food prices.  “I’d like to bring them down. It’s hard to bring things down once they’re up.”

    Dems…the ball is in your court, right there, first down and goal to go on the 6-inch yard line, just waiting for a slam dunk and then a home run…

    Btw in the same TIME interview, trumpov said 1) he’s going to pardon the J6 rioters “within minutes” of being inaugurated, 2) he doesn’t really care about transgender issues, 3) he hedged on closing the Department of Education, and 4) he’s still playing games about what he’s going to do re: Ukraine.

    Steady leadership, fer sure…

  17. 17.

    Quinerly

    OT

    Great hike this AM with JoJo las Orejas near Ramsey Canyon (Hereford, AZ). Resting Border Blimp was still resting.

    After hike…Fabulous Chicken Fried Steak, gravy, poached eggs, hash browns, sour dough toast breakfast (Country House, Sierra Vista)

    Vintage clothes shopping in Bisbee, AZ

    Fantastic full band at St. Elmo’s Bar at 3pm  in The Gulch area of Bisbee, AZ

    Pants off, feet up at my rental at 6:30pm

    Tubac and Tuscon bound Saturday.

    Life be good. I love road trips. My traveling mojo is back!!!

  18. 18.

    Jeffro

    @YY_Sima Qian: this is good but a singular focus on the combination of building housing like mad + dropping interest rates would make this country an economic nirvana

    (well plus keeping the blessed price of blessed eggs cheap, I guess)

  20. 20.

    WTFGhost

    @NaijaGal: I’ve long felt similarly about white supremacy, but I feel that the Republican auto-hate of Democrats is a graver danger.

    That said, I think white supremacy essentially *became* auto-hate of Democrats, so, there you go.

    Hey, here’s a random thought about how WS could cause problems. How do you get a slave to work? Well, you probably don’t, and neither do I, but the answer was: keep him or her living in constant terror of what pains you might inflict for any reason, or no reason at all.

    (Don’t tell me whether it was a *good* method or not; it was the method used.)

    How do you get a free person to work? Make it worth their while. NEVER degrade them. They might accept a knock if they were stupid, never a beating or whipping. And even if they’re *dull*, you treat them like *humans*, or they’ll suggest you have sex with yourself, sex with the horse you rode in on, sex with both parents of the horse you rode in on, simultaneously, WHILE undergoing a root canal, and suggest, further, that the bluebird of paradise fly up your nose.

    NOW:
    Republicans want to put work requirements on all forms of assistance – “if you don’t work, you will have no safety net, and may die, but meh, Repubs don’t care.”

    That is the slavery principle: keep ’em scared.

    Democrats say “provide assistance without pointless barriers, and, work requirements are usually BS methods used to drive people off assistance; first, assistance, then, worry about them getting off of assistance – due to steady employment!”

    That’s the freedom principle: make it easy, and make it worth their while.

    I swear, I think that divide in thinking “whip ’em into working” versus “help them get steady employment” really does come down to slavery mode, versus freedom mode, in thinking.

  23. 23.

    Trivia Man

    @NaijaGal: My personal theory, perhaps naively and overly optimistic, is that we should be much closer to the people if Iran. Thousands of years of learning, arts, science, culture, strength…. Being squandered by the theocracy. And which theocracy us helped by us because it is so easy to whip up hate against a darker skin tone.

  25. 25.

    WTFGhost

    @Trivia Man: IIRC, a lot of Iranians are not darker skinned than nominally “white” people – just one of those oddities of human and national development.

  27. 27.

    Dan B

    @WTFGhost: Thanks for another version of my proposal that the core of Democrats / the left is “Treat people / communities fairly.”  It works to lift people out of poverty and elevates society.

  28. 28.

    Jeffro

    oh

    you don’t say

    it’s almost like there’s a reason the guy is anti-government, and especially anti-IRS

    Mr. Musk’s ‘charitable’ foundation has fallen further and further behind. In 2021, his foundation was $41 million short, then $234 million the following year. Now, the hole is deeper still.

    Private foundations do have a way to solve the problem if they do not give away enough money. They can distribute more the following year as a make-good. Mr. Musk could choose to do so in 2024.

    Mr. Musk did not respond to requests for comment. His foundation, which is required to make its tax filings public, provided the 2023 document to The New York Times.

    The I.R.S. appears to be among Mr. Musk’s early targets as a leader of Mr. Trump’s government efficiency initiative. The tax agency serves as the federal government’s charity regulator and thus oversees Mr. Musk’s foundation.

    New tax filings show that the Musk Foundation fell $421 million short of the amount it was required to give away in 2023. Now, Mr. Musk has until the end of the year to distribute that money, or he will be required to pay a sizable penalty to the Internal Revenue Service.

  29. 29.

    TS

    @YY_Sima Qian:

    why people across the political spectrum might be angry about the status quo:

    I prefer this explanation as to why people are angry

    @NaijaGal:

     I’m glad to see that there has been some examination on BJ of the role that racism and white supremacy played in the presidential election, even though it makes some uncomfortable.

    I would add misogyny to the above

  30. 30.

    Bill Arnold

    @Jeffro:

    trump has already admitted he’s not going to be able to lower grocery prices

    Promises made, promises (will be) broken.
    Trump: “Vote Trump, and your incomes will soar. Your net worth will skyrocket.”
    Offer only applies to Trump voters, though.
    I suppose it could happen with a depression combined with hyperinflation. He didn’t promise increased incomes and skyrocketing net worth in inflation adjusted dollars.

  31. 31.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @TS: It’s not either/or, but both. There are ~ 20 – 30% of Americans, or ~ 30 – 40% of activated voters, who are committed racists, xenophobes, misogynists, authoritarians & militarists. These can only be defeated & contained, not won over by either good public policy or populist rhetoric. However, I do not believe such people form an enduring majority, even among likely voters.

    What of those who’ve checked out of politics, or those Dems who did not show up to this election?

  32. 32.

    Bill Arnold

    @Bill Arnold:

    I suppose it could happen with a depression combined with hyperinflation.

    Sheesh. I apparently need evening coffee. (May also be thinking too much about bizarre dystopian scenarios.)

  34. 34.

    bjacques

    @Baud: The Soviet Union backed US and British civil rights groups and peace organizations—the best of us—and tried to infiltrate both in hopes of causing racial turmoil domestically and neutering the West internationally, but to no real effect. Civil rights activists wanted reform and equality, not revenge, and did just fine without Moscow gold, while peace marchers never got close to power except maybe in West Germany.

    Putin must have realized that cultivating instead neo-Nazis, grifters, cranks, and trolls—the worst of us—yielded far better results for far less effort, because they already live in a permanent state of grievance. Like Putin, they don’t want to make the world better to drag everything and everyone down to their level and thus prove humanity doesn’t deserve nice things. The GOP post-Cold War are Putin’s natural allies.

  35. 35.

    bjacques

    @WTFGhost: coincidentally, gutting Social Security and Medicare, letting billionaires loot the economy and price-gouge, and neutering the NLRB could force enough people back to work to ease the labor shortage and restore bosses to their rightful place above us.

  36. 36.

    sab

    @YY_Sima Qian: My Chinese brother in law, after 25 years here, finally decided a green card is not good enough. Swearing in for US citizenship next week. We hope that doesn’t damage his ties in China too much because he lives so much in both countries.

  37. 37.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @NaijaGal:

    It is much more daunting to contemplate the fact that someone just hates any of their fellow citizens who is nonwhite and there is no persuading them otherwise – there seems no easy solution to that problem.

    This has been bothering me. It feels incomprehensible. I don’t know how to word this with coherent elegance, but how does one not see the value in each person? Their light, their ability to love and care and think brilliant thoughts?
    it breaks my heart. I wonder if it will break our country.

  38. 38.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Dan B: your proposed central tenet of democrats,

    “Treat people / communities fairly.”

    has elevated my mood and lifted me up.
    Just holding the possibility that people could live with that as their centerpiece.

  39. 39.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @sab: Shouldn’t matter at all. It’s just that he now needs to apply for a visa to visit China. Get a 10 year multi-entry visa for visiting family, & he should be good.

    Probably wise, there is no guarantee the Trump Administration would not try to revoke permanent residence status from people. Then again, they are planning to set up an office for “denaturalization” of citizens.

Comments are closed.