House Republicans have been directed to shut down the government, hurting everyday Americans across the country.
— House Judiciary Dems (@housejudiciary.bsky.social) December 18, 2024 at 6:14 PM
On CNN tonight, former Rep Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) is referring to “President Elon” and “Vice President Trump”
— Scott MacFarlane (@macfarlanenews.bsky.social) December 18, 2024 at 8:11 PM
Looks like Elon has decided that bullying Trump in advance is a workable, or at least an entertaining, strategy. Per the Bulwark:
Going forward, how are we going to hash out how much the government spends and on what? Through a combination of public edicts from Elon Musk and harried Fox News appearances from Speaker Mike Johnson, apparently. Musk denounced Johnson’s short-term spending plan to keep the government open in last night, forcing the man third in line to the presidency to scurry to do damage control.
“I was communicating with Elon last night,” Johnson said on Fox News this morning. “Elon, Vivek [Ramaswamy], and I are on a text chain together and I was explaining to them the background of this. And then Vivek and I talked last night until almost midnight. . . . They understand the situation. They said, ‘It’s not directed at you, Mr. Speaker, but we don’t like the spending.’ And I said, ‘Guess what, fellas? I don’t either.’”
Are we allowed to be consoled that the speaker of the House isn’t having much fun either?…
The richest man in the world says he wants to shut down the government, forcing millions of American workers – including our troops – to go without pay through the holidays.
Republicans are following his orders. This is insane.
— Congressman Don Beyer (@repdonbeyer.bsky.social) December 18, 2024 at 4:56 PM
Per the Associated Press, “Government funding plan collapses as Trump makes new demands days before shutdown”:
… Trump’s sudden entrance into the debate and new demands sent Congress spiraling as lawmakers are trying to wrap up work and head home for the holidays. It leaves Johnson scrambling to engineer a new plan before Friday’s deadline to keep government open…
The president-elect made an almost unrealistic proposal that combined some continuation of government funds along with a much more controversial provision to raise the nation’s debt limit — something his own party routinely rejects. “Anything else is a betrayal of our country,” they wrote.
Democrats decried the GOP revolt over the stopgap measure, which would have also provided some $100.4 billion in disaster aid to states hammered by Hurricanes Helene and Milton and other natural disasters…
The outcome comes as no surprise for Johnson, who like other Republican House speakers before him, has been unable to convince his majority to go along with the routine needs of federal government operations, which they would prefer to slash.
It all shows just how hard it will be for Republicans next year, as they seize control of the House, Senate and White House, to unify and lead the nation. And it underscores how much Johnson and the GOP leaders must depend on Trump’s blessing to see any legislative package over the finish line.
Musk, who is heading Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, warned that “Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!”
It’s not an idle threat coming from Musk, the world’s richest man, who helped bankroll Trump’s victory and can easily use his America PAC to make or break political careers.
Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland said this is the problem with “an oligarchy a handful of wealthy people run everything and everyone is supposed to live in fear of them.”…
As the shadow Pres-elect, Elon Musk is now calling the shots for House Rs on government funding while Trump hides in Mar-a-Lago behind his handlers.
It increasingly seems like we’re in for 4 years of an unelected oligarch running the country by pulling on his puppet’s strings.— Daniel Goldman (@danielsgoldman.dg4ny.co) December 18, 2024 at 3:06 PM
Elon Musk is absolutely melting down right now ranting at House Republicans every 5 minutes with threats. He’s been up all night stressed out that he can’t just fire all of them today.
— Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) December 18, 2024 at 3:12 PM
In fairness it wasn’t just “a few social media posts” — I counted approx 75 Musk posts on X over 2.5 hrs this afternoon slamming the bill. Exhausting work!
— Eric Columbus (@ericcolumbus.bsky.social) December 18, 2024 at 5:00 PM
Maybe stocks were down 3%+ today in part because Musk/Vivek shooting at the CR and seemingly succeeding is a bad signal for growth/tax reform in 2025.
— Conor Sen (@conorsen.bsky.social) December 18, 2024 at 4:05 PM
“When the Leopards Eating People’s Faces PAC endorsed me I never thought they would eat *my* face.”
— Eric Columbus (@ericcolumbus.bsky.social) December 18, 2024 at 3:41 PM
On the same day that Elon and Trump killed the bipartisan spending bill to keep the government open….over $1.50T was wiped out from the US stock market today….the Find Out stage of FAFO is just starting and it’s gonna be delicious
— WuTangIsForTheChildren (@wutangforchildren.bsky.social) December 18, 2024 at 6:19 PM
Looking for An Excuse to Order Another BJ Pet Calendar?
Steve LaBonne
Priceless stuff from Josh Marshall. “Trump has brought Musk into the central circle of power. He’s not only de facto Vice President. When was the last time you saw JD Vance? He’s practically co-president. Musk is erratic, volatile, impulsive, mercurial. He introduces a huge source of unpredictability and chaos into the presidency that for once Trump doesn’t control. See it clearly: Musk did this. Trump thrives on chaos, but his chaos. Not someone else’s chaos.
Trump is following. He’s trying to pretend otherwise but he’s following. And unlike all of Trump’s other bad hires or hires he gets tired of he can’t just shitcan Musk like all the rest. Musk is worth hundreds of billions of dollars. He’s got a bigger megaphone. And he’s got his own brand. I’m pretty sure there will eventually be a really big and really ugly falling out between the two of them. But it will take a while to get there and the costs are potentially quite large for both of them.
Trump has sewn himself into a sack with Elon Musk, a few billion dollars, a cat and snake and had the sack tossed into the Tiber. That’s the story here. And it will go on for a while.”
danielx
Only consoling thought is that if there’s one thing the orange shitbag can’t stand is any supposed ally getting more attention than him, most particularly one is who is a shitload richer than he is.
Evidently it has escaped Musk’s attention that every time Republican shutdown or permit the government to be shut down, Republicans pay at the polls in the next election.
JaySinWA
The Newshour reporting attributed the stock market decline to the Fed’s talk about [ETA potential delay of] future interest rate cuts. No mention of the attempt to kill the Federal funding, they had a segment about the apparent death of the funding bill, without a tie in to the market decline, and a belief that there would be some kind of CR stopgap.
I don’t know what the timing was of the politicians caving to Musk & Co, but maybe they were after the market close. Tomorrow may bring a clearer picture, both on the ability to fund and market reactions.
RaflW
I want some federal employees to have the guts to just say “Well, ok then. This control tower at O’Hare is closed if the federal government is closed. Figure it out, people!” and just put down their headsets, power down the radars and tweet out “Musk said shut it down, we will be fine for 33 days. He’ll have to get you home for the holidays, since the government is apparently this useless thing. Let’s find out how useless.”
Glidwrith
I really don’t get this. Why would Shitgibbon care what Muskrat wants? Shitgibbon is prez-elect, it wouldn’t be hard to throw him out of MarLardo for security reasons. He doesn’t have to worry about re-election, his hands are open for all those sweet not-a-bribe windfalls.
I know he’s a puling coward, but REALLY????
eclare
@Steve LaBonne:
He is in a sack with a honey badger on meth.
Unfortunately I care about my fellow citizens, otherwise I would love this.
Steve LaBonne
@eclare: We might as well love it because we can’t do a goddamn thing to fix it.
eclare
@RaflW:
Make it personal, Reagan National.
JaySinWA
@Glidwrith: Trump getting funding from the richest man in the world? Why wouldn’t he listen to someone who can keep him afloat?
kindness
How long before the media blames Joe Biden and Democrats for the shut down?
Jay
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/12/13/americas-oligarchs-could-be-even-more-powerful-than-russias-a87328
Jackie
We ALL know President Musk was elected. What’s “amazing” is the MSM is just “now” catching on.
eclare
@Steve LaBonne:
True. And I really can’t, blue city but deep red state.
karen marie
@JaySinWA: Or drown him. Musk could buy all Trump’s debt and call it in.
RaflW
@eclare: Well played!
eemom
Thank you for not putting a picture of the piece of shit on this post AL. 🙏 #smallmercies
I can endure the sight of his filthy, disgusting, smug ass face even less than trump’s. Didn’t think it was possible to hate a face more than that one, but we live in amazing times.
kalakal
When the government shuts down the first thing that should stop is the payments to SpaceX and Tesla. Lead from the front Musk!
KatKapCC
All this because a whole bunch of people in this country couldn’t stand the idea of a girl in charge.
Quiltingfool
I’ve been watching Blacklist. It occurred to me today that the people Trump surrounds himself with would be blacklisters.
Where the hell is Raymond Reddington when you need him?
In one scene in that show, Red and Liz are sitting on a bench, the White House is behind them. Red gestures at it and tells Liz that it doesn’t matter who is in the White House, the corporations are in charge. Hmmm.
RevRick
@danielx: A shutdown right before Christmas is brilliant. As was the meteor that crashed into the Earth 66 million years ago.
KatKapCC
@RevRick: 66 million years too early.
RandomMonster
I’ve honestly stopped caring. If the nation grinds to a stop, let it happen.
RevRick
@KatKapCC: It was 229,766 out of 155,000,000.
Barbara
@Glidwrith: I honestly suspect he’s not well, mentally and possibly physically.
RevRick
@KatKapCC: Oh, you underestimate the damage these crackpots and narcissists can do.
RevRick
@Jay: The proper terms are lord, earl and duke. And you are a serf.
Another Scott
Yup. Donnie has to get all the attention, always. We should expect much more of this stuff from him.
And, of course, Melon wants his share of the attention, also too.
Pace yourselves, everyone.
(via Fritschner)
Best wishes,
Scott.
tobie
I know one Biden to Trump voter who depends on food stamps. This could be a very bad few months for her. I gather Medicaid, Medicare and Soc Sec will continue for some time but don’t know about healthcare at VA facilities. Oh man, is this going to be a long four years.
Jinchi
The media need to stop writing these stories as though Congressmen have no power. Their lack of action is just cowardice.
Raoul Paste
It was disturbing to see how Elon Musk signed off on his tweet, with this:
Vox populi!
Vox Dei!
Voice of God? Really?
LAC
@RaflW: Government worker here…don’t you ever start a sentence about us “having” or needing the guts, okay? You seem to know nothing about what we can and can’t do in our jobs. We don’t get to do stunts just to show ’em.
This is the consequence of shitty voting decisions.
Apologies for my tone,but I have had it up to here with shitting on federal workers.
tobie
@Raoul Paste: Never forget that the phrase “Vox populi, vox Dei” was meant as a warning against demagoguery.
Harrison Wesley
@Raoul Paste: Maybe he’s gone lefty and meant Vox DEI.
Harrison Wesley
Why should Musk care which party is voted in? He’s the richest man in the world either way.
Kristine
@Harrison Wesley: He’s gone the Sad Puppy route—it’s Vox Day.
Splitting Image
@Glidwrith:
The usual reason. Every petty tyrant eager to kick down is also a lickspittle equally eager to suck up. God-Emperor Donald knows his place in the world of Elon Musk, the Servant of the Servants of God.
bbleh
What’s going to be “interesting” is when and how the MAGAts and their allied “low-information voters” start reacting to the chaos and dysfunction, especially as it begins to affect their lives in a recognizable way.
Naturally the first thing will be frantic finger-pointing at ANYBODY but their heroes — the Orange Thing most of all, and perhaps Elmo also. But the MSM won’t follow suit for long — even Faux will eventually realize it’s just shadow-boxing — and at some point I’m thinking The Narrative will shift, and then The Mob Will Turn. And if / when THAT happens … ruh-roh, Raggy …
VFX Lurker
I can’t imagine what this is like for you and your co-workers. This whole situation stinks.
I don’t have much else to say other than “Elon Musk is a prick.“
Splitting Image
@VFX Lurker:
He is also extremely small and petty.
KatKapCC
@RevRick: I don’t know what these numbers are. The second seems to be a rounding up of all the votes, but the first…?
Ksmiami
Let the red hats destroy themselves. Eat sparrows you complete fucktards.
Another Scott
@KatKapCC: Less than 250,000 votes in the swing states gave Donnie the win in the Electoral College.
HTH!
Best wishes,
Scott.
SpaceUnit
It’s only beginning.
KatKapCC
@Another Scott: Okay, but those are not the only people who voted for him. Why are we letting the other 77-and-something million off the hook? They also don’t want a girl in charge.
NotMax
Billionaires in disarray.
//
danielx
@Another Scott:
True dat.
I recall reading an interview with a (naturally anonymous) Repub congressional aid after one of those debacles. Wherein His Nibs blew up some excruciatingly negotiated legislative deal via Twitter for some reason that made no sense to anyone except him. Statement went about like this, as I recall it: “That fucking asshole couldn’t keep his fucking mouth shut for eight fucking hours. Fuck him.”
BellyCat
Elected National Con Artist with Fake Wealth and Tiny Megaphone vs. Unelected International Con Artist with Real Wealth and Real Megaphone in three, two, one…
Montanareddog
Could be that these are underpants gnomes with an actual plan:
The sclerotic American political system has allowed disaster capitalism to take hold of the levers of power. The US is early 1990s Russia and Trump is their Yeltsin, and Vance is their Putin. Except, the consequences for the world will be far more consequential.
Jinchi
He shut down the government on December 22nd, 2018 and kept it closed for 35 days.
Mike in Pasadena
JaySinWA
@Mike in Pasadena: I think calling Trump a PINO might work even better, President in name only.
prostratedragon
@Mike in Pasadena: Or else we’ll really know something.
ETA Love PINO!
eclare
@Mike in Pasadena:
Yep. Narcissistic assholes don’t stay BFF’s for long.
BellyCat
Upvoting PINO!
Trump to Elmo: “But…but, you’re supposed to advise me in PRIVATE, not though Xhitter! Please? Pretty please…”
Mike in Pasadena
@JaySinWA: i like pino! And pinot noir.
JaySinWA
Daniel Goldman went for Puppet President-Elect. I like that as well.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Hmm doesn’t Musk pull these stunts constantly with the Tesla stock?
eclare
@JaySinWA:
I like that too. Puppet Trump.
strange visitor (from another planet)
@eclare: “i’m not the puppet. you’re the puppet!!”
Kathleen
@kindness: As long as it will take for Democrats to blame Joe Biden and Democrats. I think it’s called a “New York minute”.
Kathleen
@LAC: I appreciate all that federal workers do. Adding federal workers to my prayer list.
The Thin Black Duke
I hope for the next four years Kamala Harris reminds voters What Could Have Been.
JaySinWA
@Kathleen: Being unsure of whether a New York minute was fast or slow, I had to look it up. Apparently it means fast.
Kathleen
@The Thin Black Duke: I have a strange maybe twisted thought. There is no doubt in my mind that if she had been elected Rethuglicans and their fascist handlers would be wreaking havoc on every level to create cataclysmic chaos. If there’s going to be a cataclysm let it be under Rethuglican rule. The play Macbeth helped me realize that evil inherently contains the seeds of its own destruction.
Kathleen
@JaySinWA: Yup,
JaySinWA
@Kathleen: I think the same think would have happened under a Hillary Clinton presidency as well. Obstruction was rampant at the end of the Obama presidency
ETA RE: the seeds of destruction seem pretty slow to grow. The wheels of justice are grinding extremely slowly these days. There seems to be a lot of sand in the gears
ETA2 Of course the next administration is promising to reverse those wheels to spit out the guilty and grind up the just.
ColoradoGuy
The Oligarch Axis (Elon, Rupert Murdoch, and fellow oligarchs) are showing Trump who really runs the country now. And there is nothing Trump can do about it … they own him, and he knows it.
The rest of the GOP knows it too; the congresscritters and the entire MAGA movement are adorable little pipsqueaks compared to the media saturation and financial power of the Oligarch Axis.
P.S. A New York Minute is counted in seconds in the rest of the country. It’s fast, and you don’t see it coming.
Kathleen
@JaySinWA: I agree. I started feeling this country was becoming ungovernable during the second Obama administration. This destructive energy is much bigger than the Trump phenomenon.
Ruckus
@Glidwrith:
elon has more money than he does. A lot more.
That is the entire concept of why.
JaySinWA
@Kathleen: It makes the successes of the Biden administration even more remarkable. It lulled us into overconfidence.
Ruckus
@Barbara:
Suspect?
SUSPECT?
Surly you jest…… Of course he is. Actually it’s both of them…..
Martin
@Ruckus: And nobody keeps working after earning a few million dollars unless there is no number other than ‘all of it’ that will satisfy them.
Kathleen
@ColoradoGuy: It will be interesting to see if any Rethuglican reps are smart enough to tell Musk that if the government shuts down and things get really bad it doesn’t matter if they’re primaried because any Republican is going to lose the next election. Or another scenario is Trump gets so pissed off at Musk usurping his power and publicity that he tells Republicans to vote for the bill (wouldn’t that be crazy). Trump supposedly only cares about what Fox says and if Fox is critical of the shutdown he might do it to undermine Musk.
Ruckus
@KatKapCC:
If she was a girl I could understand.
She is a WOMAN. Full grown, smart, fully capable. So of course she couldn’t lead this country.
Kathleen
@JaySinWA: Thank you. He and the Democrats consistently pulled rabbits out of the hats with minimum fuss or muss on the surface. That’s one of the reasons I’m so sick and tired of the Biden/Dem bashing.
Kathleen
@Barbara: I agree and he’s not the only one.
Ruckus
@Martin:
True.
At least most 2 legged, upright beings who actually are human.
Living only for money takes one out of running of being human.
Ruckus
@tobie:
but don’t know about healthcare at VA facilities
I’ll let you know. I’m a regular at a major one. I do actually imagine I could be a tad more pissed off than I am now. Which might not be all that healthy. Especially without health care.
Ruckus
@LAC:
I get my healthcare from federal employees. The VA.
We all have something to lose if these dipshits fuck up the government. Even those without obvious connections/needs.
The federal government is what makes this place work. It’s what we pay for – to have an operating, rational, reasonable government. And even the uber wealthy need that, no matter that they think they don’t.
Jay
@Ruckus:
As we have seen in NYC, the MOU already have their own Police Force, (that we pay for) and soon, their own “911” with which they can SWAT us serfs any time they want.
You can terrorize an entire community by shooting kids in school, and it’s not “terrorism”, but shoot just one CEO,…………………………
Gloria DryGarden
@Jay: how’s T?
I may have missed some of your news lately. Dealing with some irl stuff.
hope things are moving in positive directions
eclare
@Gloria DryGarden:
How are you? Haven’t seen you in a while.
Jay
@Gloria DryGarden:
Surgery went well, but 7 hours starting at 6 am, No need for a stoma, T seems to be healing well, 9cm of bowel removed, uterus and fallopian tubes gone, 3 small incisions glued shut.
Food has sucked though, she can’t have any dairy, but they didn’t amend her menu until late today, so her breakfast was a piece of white bread with grape jelly, so I have been bringing her meals (lunch and supper).
She may come home tomorrow.
Her #2 “feature” is of course, messed up, but, pain is manageable.
It’s a “time will tell” situation.
Jay
@Gloria DryGarden:
Hopefully, just petty IRL stuff?
Rusty
Trump and Musk added raising the debt limit to the negotiations. That is the real tell. They need the debt limit raised so they can implement massive deficit increasing tax cuts for the wealthy. The Democrats should only agree to permanently getting rid of the debt ceiling, it’s been a nasty weapon for the Republicans to use against the Democrats, this is a rare case of the reverse.
Gretchen
@Jay: That sounds promising? I hope she feels better soon. Keep us posted.
Gloria DryGarden
@Jay: small incisions is nice. If it were me, I’d need to grieve a long while after losing my sacred female organs. Overall, it sounds like she may come through ok, just hard stuff.
i can’t have dairy, if I can help w ideas, I will. It’s a hard thing to give up. Some of the fake things are pretty good, but they don’t replace the protein. I wish her good healing from all this surgery. I hope they got it all.
im having a hard time with words, but I’m sending thoughts of care. I hope that it not only sounds promising, but that it unfolds into smooth healing and ease of transition into new diet and for everything to go well.
Jay
@Gretchen:
@Gloria DryGarden:
Thank you both.
We never used T’s female organs. Both T and I have hereditary conditions that we don’t want to pass along.
The dairy thing is it’s bad for her reconstructed bowels, so if anybody knows of an “I can’t believe it’s not butter”, that you actually can’t believe is not butter*, speak out. That would be #1.
#2 would be a non-dairy cheese that tastes like cheese.
*We are both of the margarine Generation, and so switched to butter about 5 minutes after we moved out of our parents house, and we both bake.
Gloria DryGarden
@eclare: thanks for asking. Things have been difficult in a number of ways. Very. Stressed. Hard to take the steps I need to take. More in a sec, I’ll include Jay
@Jay: not exactly petty. The car thing might cost well over $1000, and take several days, all to be able to take an emissions test, usually $15-25. They can’t test it til I fix this thing. A wire under the dash that makes something work, that I don’t care about, but has to work for the test. Taking the dash off is 5 hours of labor.
also holidays often hit me very hard, old childhood stuff, but the last few years , and some recent things, have compounded it. Deep stuff, grief, patterns, irreparable family stuff. It’s really hard to talk about in any kind of brief salient way, out on the thread.
I could say more in email, you can ask betty cracker for it, if you want.
Matt McIrvin
@danielx: Isn’t the idea to *stop* the crisis when Trump is inaugurated, creating the appearance that he fixed it?
(In other words, the classic extortionist economic argument for voting Republican; you do it to appease them, to stop them from using what power they still have to wreck everything.)
MagdaInBlack
@Jay: Thank you for the updates, Jay. I saw your update yesterday, but I’ve been short on words lately. I’m glad the surgery is over and she appears to be doing well. ❤️
Gloria DryGarden
@Jay: I discovered fake eggnog, but I do it at home now: nut milk or coconut milk, w maple syrup and some generous shakes of nutmeg.
i like miyokos brand for non butter, it’s pretty satisfying. I bake w coconut oil, or palm shortening. Or nut butter. Or applesauce/ plum purée kind of thing.
cheese is brutal. Kite hill makes a fake cream cheese spread. Daiya has some Cheeze Things. Mozzarella, smoked Gouda.
some vegan friends like miyokos and violins and have a heart brands, but they all have corn,( one of my sworn enemies.) im partial to the daiya cheesecakes, and the coconut milk ice creams. It all costs way more than dairy.
people do creaminess w cashews, but inflammatory. Or macadamia nuts, $$, or avocados. Nut butters can be thinned w water and used as a sauce. Add herbs to taste.
eclare
@Gloria DryGarden:
Oh gosh that is a big financial hit, on top of seasonal grief. I’m sorry you’re going through this.
Gloria DryGarden
@eclare: thank you
MagdaInBlack
@Gloria DryGarden: I’m with you on a couple of things. I’m looking at a hefty car repair I do not know how I’m going to pay and holidays are not my best time of year, also due to grief patterns and old bs that resurfaces..
We shall cocoon our way thru the season, perhaps?
Gloria DryGarden
@MagdaInBlack: short on words lately.
yeah, me too.
@Gloria DryGarden: jay: violife brand of cheeses.
I think I got it past auto correct this time
some vegan sauces uses nutritional yeast for a cheese like flavor. I have not tried it from scratch, but some things have it in, like fake vegan Mac n cheese.
m.j.
Mars with people.
Submarine in cave.
Gloria DryGarden
@MagdaInBlack: yes.
Gloria DryGarden
@m.j.: is that p to v action, or some specialized hiding?
sorry, I don’t know you here, it might not be a joking matter.
but if men are from mars, I can definitely think of a man who could go first to mars, long as he pays for it himself.
p.a.
PINO, Vice-Preznit tRump, Preznit Elmo, Puppet tRump, Elmo’s butler, all great memes to piss off the mental midget.
Jay
@Gloria DryGarden:
@MagdaInBlack:
Sending you both a bit of “Holiday Cheer”.
My Best Xmas.
T and I had just bought the “place” I had started building. 4 months in, Had a roof, some walls, some proper windows, toilet but no running water, had a genny, a wood stove, and we decided to spend the Xmas week “camping” up there.
So I built temp “walls” out of HDF foamboard, ( to be reused elsewhere), to wall off a “warm space”.
The wood stove was not great. It was a cheap fireplace insert. The fire had to be kept burning at all times to keep the space warm, as the stove did not “hold heat”.
So, cooler, camp stove, air mattress on the floor of what would be the laundry/utilities room, just a plywood floor, sleeping bags, jugs of water.
Xmas eve, a bit of a shock. T had opened the window about 2 inches before bed. It froze open.
Then the fire went out.
How did I know?
Casey, (PitX), Digger, (BelganX), Capra, (orange tabby) and Lil-Bit, (orange tabby) all abandoned their dog an cat beds in front of the wood stove to come charging into the laundry/utilities room and jump on the bed, seeking warmth.
So if you know those air mattress beds, 210 lbs jumping on the bed all at the same time, creates a bit of a “bounce” effect. So much that I wound up on the floor.
I got the fire restarted and stoked, cranked the vent so the heat was on high, while T settled the 2 dogs and cats under the sleeping bag covers.
I did not go back to sleep, but I did go back to bed, and with continual stoking of the fire, by 6am we could finally close the window.
Best Xmas ever.
Gloria DryGarden
@Jay: adventures in uncertainty and togetherness,
not sure if you’re sarcastic about best, or if it truly was special. just lucky no one got their claws through That air mattress. That would deflate your whole experience..
I think it’s nice to take a break from shiny plastic balls on a tree, and the work of decorating. YMMV
MagdaInBlack
@Jay: Bless you Jay, you made me laugh. I have some wee experience with roughing it in a house we bought and were gutting/remodeling, but never had to do with just a wee wood-stove insert for heat.
I don’t hate the holiday season, I’m just indifferent to it. I do like the lights tho !
Eta: fuel oil furnace, un-insulated farmhouse, might as well have been just an insert. Dear god, we were young and naive.
Betty
@JaySinWA: It’s an entire puppet show on the Republican side.
Princess
The one thing Trump and Musk could do to convince even their own voters that the federal government bureaucracy is good actually and must be preserved is shut down government for a month or more.
BretH
Late to the party but wife has alpha gal and found the Sown unsweetened oat creamer (sadly $$$) by far the best half and half substitute.
Princess
@karen marie: For all we know, Musk has already bought all Trump’s debt and Trump knows it.
kalakal
Musk’s business acumen has improved
He bought twitter for 44 billion
The US for 250 million
Chris Johnson
@Glidwrith: If Putin likes Elon better, then Trump HAS to deal with him. And Elon (presumably) controls Starlink, not Trump. Elon controls Putin’s communications and gets to sabotage Ukraine’s… and the USA’s… communications if he would like.
Yeah, Trump HAS to deal with Elon. And Elon knows it. He gets to be co-puppetmaster as long as Putin wants him to.
Gloria DryGarden
@BretH: I like the calafia creamers, half almond half coconut milk, and the ones w mushroom extract in them, by Laird.
satby
I pretty much hate it. But then, I’ve worked retail for a large portion of my life, including now in my not quite retirement. The season of comfort and joy really brings out the greedy and stupid. All overlaid with some of the most obnoxious music ever written running on a two hour repeat loop.
Princess
@Jay: I can assure you that even if the two of you were not using T’s female organs to have a child, her body was using them every single day and not having them will mean big and sudden changes for her (on top of everything else). Best wishes to you both
ETA I find oat milk the most palatable.
Anyway
I thought he spent 450 million in PA over the 4-5 weeks prior to the election and 100 million through another PAC
Either way it paid off for him …
Jay
@Gloria DryGarden:
@MagdaInBlack:
Definitely the best. Good food, long walks in the snow, So quiet you could hear the snow fall, cats and dogs decided that beds were not the place to be, laps were the place to be. Good music.
And MagdalnBlack, T and I were not “young”. But we had adventures,
At the time, we were renting 1/2 a duplex on the North Shore, ( theoretically a “bad place”, but it was not. Old prejudice that is still there. The railroad workers in times past, lived on the North Shore, the Railroad Barons lived on the south shore.
Anyway, our neighbors in the Duplex were the “Cat Ladies”, and their son Matt, a young musician who lived in his Winnebago in the driveway. They were very nice, very social, and freaked out a bit because when I would cut and trim the front lawns, I would do both lawns. No other neighbor had ever done that. It’s just another 15 feet. They were very social.
Next door to them was a train wreck, drama world with a young son. Next door to us were the “Party Girls”, who suckered Matt into installing mirrored tiles on all their bedroom ceilings and would have parties every week end,
So a week in the aspens, firs, snow, quiet, and just us, was wonderful.
Gloria DryGarden
@eclare: I don’t mean to lie by omission; the recent other things are a separate big deal that just dovetail perfectly with my holiday stuff. It’s a lot to process. I don’t want to be disingenuous, I just don’t have enough clarity to proceed, or say anything useful.
Jay
@Princess:
T went through menopause during covid. So no medical treatment, hormones, advise, etc.
Yes there will be changes, that has been our life together.
Any further details would be a rather sad “Balloon Juice After Dark”, but I am still here with her, and love her like crazy.
Gloria DryGarden
@satby: I find bouncy christmasy music is quite tolerable in July. Seems like bouncy summer music. I like dark European carols and folk tunes, medieval slightly dark stuff.
endless loops of it would be irritating.
comfort and joy, it’s my understanding that some people do have that experience.
Jay
@Gloria DryGarden:
Working Retail will cure you of that. Right quick.
Gloria DryGarden
@Jay: I love it. “So quiet you could hear the snow fall” the trees, the walks..
AM in NC
@Martin: THIS. My husband and I sold our business and retired early with a couple mill in the bank. I want time and experiences, not all the things in the world. It ain’t a competition to see who has the most toys. At least not to me. Now I can read, garden, volunteer, start a theater company, and hang out with people I love. PLUS not be thinking about the business all the time.
These freaks who always want MOAR, MOAR, MOAR need to be reined in good and hard. It’s a sickness. A sickness that has infected our culture.
MagdaInBlack
@Jay: One of my favorite things was to take the dogs for a walk at night when it was snowing. Yes! so quiet you could hear the snow fall. Good stuff =-)
Gvg
If Musk misbehaves wildly enough maybe even Republican legislators will finally see the need to trim excess accumulated wealth off too powerful people and put limits on election spending with teeth plus consider spending going to Supreme Court justices to be corruption that impacts them. I mean when allowing wealthy men to give gifts to Thomas and Alito, plus others we probably haven’t found out about yet, results in those GOP legislators getting threats, not just to reelection, but sometimes escalating to threats to their lives or to relatives (especially female relatives). They were OK with it when they assumed it was just a threat to democrats which speaks to their lack of character, but it was poor judgment on their part. Now they, and some stupid voters are likely to see.
Can we make it visible enough to direct a backlash usefully? a higher tax rates seem to have rising popularity generally if not with republicans yet. Musk specifically needs to be curbed, not just lose contracts, but carefully managed so he doesn’t hurt people. He may need control of companies removed, a big step in this country. Proof of need must be provided.
Gloria DryGarden
@Jay: then this is perhaps the next best Christmas ever, be cause you’re still there w each other, and you love her like crazy. How does it get any better than that?
I hope she keeps healing, builds her strength and you have many happy years ahead, regardless of weird health adjustments and things.
MagdaInBlack
@satby: I’ve done a lot of retail work during the holidays, but what burned me out was family drama and enforced cheer.
But! I don’t have to do that anymore, so yay!
Suzanne
It’s details like this which make me want to throw up.
I wonder if they share memes. Or nudes.
Gloria DryGarden
@Jay: what am I getting cured of? Repeating loops of music? Any tolerance for Christmas carols? Pretend joy?
Gloria DryGarden
@MagdaInBlack: me too.
Family undercurrents, pretending cheer, lies by silence. And
yay I don’t have to anymore.
eclare
@Gloria DryGarden:
Your response was fine, I certainly didn’t think that you were lying by omission. No explanation needed. I am just sorry you are going through a rough time, I don’t need the details.
Jay
@Gloria DryGarden:
It would be better with cats and dogs, for both T and I, but we are in a “no pets” apartment.
Still, I get to be with T.
I took “Sequence” to the hospital today. It’s a card/board game we have been playing for about 20 years now. I think the score is 1475 T, 438 J so far, but I am getting up there. : )
m.j.
@Gloria DryGarden:
Sorry, I didn’t get all that.
It was sort of a challenge to describe in 3 words a stupid idea Musk had, has, and is still having.
Barry
@Glidwrith: Musk can bypass Trump and intimidate Congress, maybe as much as Trump can.
Suzanne
@Jay: Very happy to read your good news about T. Hoping that things only get better from here for both of you.
As for dairy-free stuff…. I find the oat products are more milk-adjacent than the almond. There’s a Califia Farms oat creamer that I like because it doesn’t have added sugar. I bet that most of their products are good.
Harrison Wesley
@Suzanne: Wasn’t that a Sam Cooke song? “That’s the sound of the men/Workin’ on the text chain.”
Gloria DryGarden
@eclare: thanks. I don’t need to explain details, I just felt I was lying, and that wasn’t ok.
Thanks for caring about this rough patch I’m working through.
Gloria DryGarden
@m.j.: spare lean 3 word descriptions, (of heinous things) a cool challenge. Beautiful
different-church-lady
The country voted for insane. So insane is what we’re gonna get.
Jay
@Gloria DryGarden:
All three.
Here, other than the Big Chain Stores, many stores don’t play any “soundtrack for your shopping experience”.
It can get awkward. My local Halal shop doesn’t play any music. As the owner explained to me one day, there is nothing I could play that would not offend someone.
I worked at Depot before Covid, through Covid and a bunch. In Tool Rental, we had a volume control for the “music”, because Tool Rental used to be an Arby’s. We would set it to 0 and load up on the PC’s what we wanted to hear, we were lucky, until we had to walk outside tool rental.
18 hours of dreck, 24/7 all on a 2 hour loop. And you are there for 8 1/2 hours to 16+ hours if somebody misses a shift.
Geminid
The Port of Latakia, Syria’s largest, reopened today. It had been closed since the Assad regime fell. The interim government also reopened the Damascus and Aleppo airports yesterday.
There is still some fighting– and a lot of tension– in northern Syria where tbe Turkish proxy Syrian National Army is skirmishing with the US-supported Syrian Democratic Forces in the countryside outside of the city of Kobani, which is held by the SDF. Kobani is on the Turkish border and Turkish Army units are staged right across from it.
Turkiye considers the Kurdish YPG militia that is the SDF’s main fighting force to be a branch of the PKK, which has fought a 40 year war against the Turkish state. They want the YPG disbanded and its top leadership banished from Syria.
Turkiye’s Foreign Minister sounds like he expects Syria’s interim government to get this done. From Ragip Soylu:
Meanwhile, Turkiye’s Ministry of Defense commented on last night’s statement by our State Department that a ceasefire between Turkiye and tbe SDF had been extended for several days:
different-church-lady
@Glidwrith:
He finally met a bigger asshole than he is?
Elizabelle
@different-church-lady: Insane, and perhaps terrifying too. A taste of what is to come.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Harrison Wesley: I think Musk wants to be president himself but is, of course, ineligible.
Princess
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I note in passing that Musk has no immunity.
Harrison Wesley
@Geminid: Wonder how long it will take us to screw the Kurds this time.
Harrison Wesley
@Princess: Yet.
Jay
@Gloria DryGarden:
We are all good here. You don’t have to tell us your life story, this is not Facebook, you told us you are going through some things, and we are here for you. We don’t need the deets, unless you want to tell us.
So, the other day, when T was under the knife, I was getting my beer,
“He had his beer from year to year until his bier had him”,
A woman came in with a dachshund on a retractable leash.
Masked, as always, I did my eye smile. Dogs respond, kids respond, deer , well you have to to the hand flick,
dog charges over, gets ear rubs, chest scooches, butt rubs, then tries to jump on me. I said no. Meanwhile, the woman is laughing.
So the dog crawled up under my fleece, stuck their head out through my collar, and started licking my face.
Gotta take the little moments.
WereBear
@Jay: THIS was one of the things I knew I couldn’t stand about retail.
Offices were bad enough, with the person with the highest body temperature seated next to the thermostat and office radio the blandest step up from elevator music.
tobie
@Ruckus: Tare care of yourself, please. I’m trying to find a way of staying informed without jumping off the deep end at every outrage. It’s tough. Look out for yourself.
m.j.
Wealthy traffic tubes.
This isn’t hard.
TBone
I wrote to my financial advisor as soon as I heard about DOGE. He doesn’t really share my politics but tries to stay neutral for appearances. We have, in the past, discussed the folly of Elno. So I wrote a text in Oct or Nov. sending him a link about DOGE and telling him I want to meet to shore up whatever we can because “I smell chaos in the water.”
We’d had a meeting set for the first week of this month but then he rescheduled to this afternoon. Gah. A day late, many dollars short.
I knew Donold & friends would do this to show dominance. Why is everyone capitulating as though the rethugs are already in charge?
Chief Oshkosh
@Jinchi: THIS is my biggest take-home message. The elected Republicans have way more power IF they choose to use it. And they have options on how to proceed (I can easily imagine Nancy Smash or Hakeem the Dream using any one of several approaches to managing Trump. Hell, even Schumer could do it). However, in addition to lacking courage, they lack the intelligence and practical experience and knowledge to use their power effectively.
Chief Oshkosh
@TBone: Yep, I am living through the same with my advisor. As you describe yours, maybe we have the same guy. Ugh. I’d planned to retire in about 4 years. Probably not going to happen now.
WereBear
@Splitting Image: Also oddly mushroom shaped.
TBone
@Jay: that news really lifted my spirits, I am so happy to hear “no stoma” and she’ll be home soon! Best best best wishes for recovery.
Jay
@WereBear:
When I started, (well a bit after, when I got promoted), the assembly floor, QA, Receiving, Shipping, Stores were all in an open space.
Everybody had a radio or CD player.
When their neighbor’s “sounds” started drowning out their “sounds”, they would just up the volume. It was well before ear buds or affordable headphones.
When the noise would get too loud, I would complain. No results, no response.
I had a Delco 284 boom box at home, (Tape, radio, CD player) so one day I brought it in.
When the noise became too loud, I loaded in a CD, cranked the volume, (way louder than anything on the floor),
The CD, Verdi.
Funny how that worked.
Only took a week and people started turning down their volumes.
Jay
@TBone:
Thank you. Not out of the woods yet, but promising.
lowtechcyclist
@Jinchi:
Which is actually brilliant timing for those engineering the shutdown. Like then, it’s nearly two years until the next election. This shutdown won’t still be on enough people’s minds to make a difference in November 2026, just like the 2018-19 shutdown wasn’t on anyone’s minds in November 2020.
WereBear
@Jay: LOL. Great choice,
Glad about the good news I read above. <3
TBone
@MagdaInBlack: short on words, when it happens to me, is a bellwether. I am screaming into that void again LET THE FUCK GO OF HER. Just in case it works.
Jay
@WereBear:
Thank you.
Dad liked opera, and bagpipes. Hated rock and roll, pop, country, etc.
I got to introduce him to Malcolm McLaren’s Madam Butterfly.
lowtechcyclist
@Jay:
Best wishes to T for a smooth recovery (well, as smooth as these things get). And I’m glad she has someone like you to look after her through it all.
Geminid
@Harrison Wesley: This situation is worth watching closely. The U.S. Army has maintained a mission to fight ISIS in Northeastern Syria since 2013, and the SDF has been our principle partner. It’s YPG component is almost certainly a rebranded branch of the PKK.
During this time Syrian Kurds have created an autonomous ministate, Rojava. Now its leaders are trying to work out terms with the new Damascus regarding the status of Syrian Kurds going forward.
The U.S. has influence here, but it’s limited in part because our mission could be pulled by the upcoming addministration. Our influence might also be limited because this mission’s purpose was to fight ISIS, not sponsor autonomy for Syrian Kurds even we in effect enabled the formation of Rojava.
These matters will play out in the next few days I think. and depend on negotiations between Syrian Kurdish representatives and the interim government. The result may be– eventually at least– the disbanding of the YPG as an independent fighting force.
Then I guess the question will be, “is abandoning the YPG the same thing as screwing the Kurds?” That question is one of the reasons this situation is worth watching closely. That shouldn’t be hard either; I expe will be reported on closely by international as well as regional news sites.
TBone
@Jay: the outcome is much better than I had expected and SUCH a great surprise! Hallelujah is what I’m shouting in my mind.
When I expect the worst and it doesn’t come it is cause for celebration, please forgive the religious connotation but that word just appeared on its own whatever meanings it has.
TBone
@WereBear: hahahaha
Someone made a meme chart showing the tiny percentage they won 2024 with compared to the previous Dem wins. Donold’s win was so tiny in comparison, the graphographer drew his line as a toadstool.
Jay
@lowtechcyclist:
Thank you.
TBone
@Chief Oshkosh: FUCK I’m so sorry!!!!
Jay
@TBone:
I always think of Leonard Cohen.
TBone
@Jay: GOOD, me too! Specifically, K.D. Lang singing it. I shared that video here before for its haunting beauty.
SFAW
Since when have they wanted to do that? Not for the last 30-plus years, at least. Maybe the author meant “destroy and rule,” and auto-correct messed it up?
Chief Oshkosh
@Chris Johnson:
I still do not understand how this was allowed to happen. Maybe there are hidden guardrails at DoD. A drug-addled sociopath should not be allowed to have any influence on national security, yet we’ve apparently put one in the driver’s seat.
Jay
@TBone:
Never really liked KD Lang’s version.
I liked the grittiness of Leonard’s Version,
But then I like “You like it Darker”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0nmHymgM7Y
I wasn’t” a huge fan of Joni Mitchell, until she got old, and her voice changed. Her “At Last” album.
It’s like Dianna Krall, okay, but then she covered “Drink of You”, and it’s T and my song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aieYAlKWnoM
CaseyL
With Musk in charge, the pot with the frog in it will be boiled PDQ.
Good! If the mood of the electorate is, basically, “Get It Over With,” then a collapse sooner than later, and a very fast one at that, is a good thing.
“People will suffer!” – Yes, well, they’re going to suffer anyway. The next 4 years are going to be about as godawful as anyone can imagine. Maybe not “Rwandans kill all their neighbors” bad, but pretty damn close.
This way it gets done fast. Maybe that will burn the fever out.
Kayla Rudbek
@Jay: for margarine, Country Crock is what I use (it comes in tubs and sticks, always read the ingredients). For cheese, Daiya has the most calcium, Violife has more flavor and adds vitamin B12 but doesn’t have as much calcium. Mioyko’s is also tasty but again lower on the calcium than Daiya. Since I am allergic to dairy, I have to make sure that I get enough calcium through supplements and diet.
Chief Oshkosh
@TBone: Thanks. We’ll do fine. We have very modest needs and tastes, except for travel – advancing age-related issues make coach just a bit too difficult anymore.
Anyway, I hope the both of us get our advisor(s) to wake up and smell the coffee. I’m reluctant to dump our guy, but it is, after all, a business relationship and should be reevaluated with some frequency.
Kayla Rudbek
@Gloria DryGarden:
@Jay: also, Babybel makes a vegan version of their mini cheese, which does have calcium. So I’ve been using those as regular snacks and it improved my calcium levels.
Splitting Image
@Chief Oshkosh:
One?
frosty
But why would Musk worry about this?
Super Dave
When your enemies are shooting at each other, step aside and enjoy the show.
i know real people are going to get hurt. That’s the price of electing a moron who’s willing to let the oligarchs take over.
Liminal Owl
@Kristine: oh darn, you beat me to it.
Gloria DryGarden
@Jay: group score 1913…
Gloria DryGarden
@Jay: very sweet adorable dachshund story.
the music loops at store jobs sound mind numbing and irritating as all heck
love the Verdi story. I can just bet that reset everyone….
Gloria DryGarden
@Kayla Rudbek: the almond breeze nut milk has more calcium than most. I’ve started reading the nut milks for calcium, and making better choices.
Ruckus
@Glidwrith:
shitforbrains is not all that and a box of dog biscuits. He is far less.
Musk is a multi billionaire. To shitforbrains that makes him smart beyond belief. shitforbrains is motivated by only one thing – MONEY. Sure he likes power because people have to listen to him if he has POWER and MONEY. shitforbrains is motivated strictly by MONEY. He lies about how much he has because it’s all about the MONEY. He’s not an actual idiot but his concept of life is very narrow. His actual health likely is not all that and a box of kleenex because he never seems to care about anything but MONEY.
The picture is we see is that he’s an egomaniacal idiot who if he was Catholic would have the pope bless his bankbook. Because in his world MONEY is the overriding concept of everything.
Ruckus
@Another Scott:
melon seems to have a slight taste for MONEY. And seems to be reasonably good at collecting it. shitforbrains seems to think that everyone should give him money because he’s so great. (His opinion, not in any way mine)
They both seem to think that history about 3-4 hundred years ago would be better for them, that the dollar is the overriding concept of life and to be over the top wealthy is power. And as a background concept they are not really wrong. HOWEVER. As a concept of a country and laws we are all supposed to be equal.
In reality they do have a point, money does buy a lot of power. Humanity likes at least a reasonable economic value per human, they are just greedy fucks that believe they should always have far more and be adored by all because of it. They are wrong.
The Pale Scot
@LAC:
Blue food Dude..
Liminal Owl
@Gloria DryGarden: I’m sorry, this is very late because I started working and lost track. But if you see this: much sympathy for all you’re going through, and you’ll be in my prayers. Also, if you feel like emailing privately, tell WG I gave permission to provide my contact info.
Liminal Owl
@Jay: also very very late, but I’m glad there is good news about T’s surgery. Wishing you both all the best. FWIW, my beloved had a somewhat-similar surgery (minus the female organs part, since he never had those, but he lost a few others) and is cancer-free almost 15 years later. May T have a similarly good outcome.
eta: @Jay: awww! Love this story.