Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

SCOTUS: It’s not “bribery” unless it comes from the Bribery region of France. Otherwise, it’s merely “sparkling malfeasance”.

“Facilitate” is an active verb, not a weasel word.

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

How stupid are these people?

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

Their shamelessness is their super power.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

Petty moves from a petty man.

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

You are here: Home / John Cole Presents "This Fucking Old House" / Happy NYE

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208Comments

  3. 3.

    Baud

    I guess this post is on time delay.

    I’m certainly not staying up, so happy New Year to all.

    ETA: oh, he’s in AZ.

  6. 6.

    sab

    I tucked the dog into bed. People will be going soon. Cats will have to party on their own.

    At least we have heat again.

  9. 9.

    MagdaInBlack

    I was gonna go to bed, then the explosions started, so I made a pot of coffee and…..

    Happy New Year!

  11. 11.

    MagdaInBlack

    @sab: I wish these were just firecrackers, but that’ll come later. These make me glad the cat is deaf.

    And yes, wee bit early here too, I thought.

  12. 12.

    CaseyL

    Happy New Year’s Eve to all! – it’s still just evening here on the West Coast, but I’ll be asleep long before midnight.

  13. 13.

    RileysEnabler

    Happy New Year to all Jackals, two and four-footed alike. Definitely will not make it past 10:00 PM and the big fireworks shows are all miles away, small mercy.

    Not exactly sure what to hope for in 2025. Sanity? Patience? Kindness and calm? We don’t know yet what will come but can only meet it as best we can.

  14. 14.

    Spanky

    @MagdaInBlack: It’s Haitians coming for the cats!

    I don’t know whether I want to stay up to see how Penn State manages to blow the game or not. They always do better when I ignore them.

  16. 16.

    Mai Naem mobile ¹

    Happy New Years! Doubt I’m going to stay up till midnight. Got the BJ calendars today but haven’t torn all the wrapping off and opened it. Cover pics look nice!

  17. 17.

    Pete Downunder

    Happy New Year. It’s already 2025 in the land down under. At my age 9:00 pm is the new midnight.

  19. 19.

    Steve LaBonne

    We just watched Fargo. Seemed like the right kind of black humor to say goodbye to this fucking awful year. We will stay up for the ball drop because we rarely go to bed before 11:30 anyway. Happy New Year to all and sundry.

  20. 20.

    Death Panel Truck

    The fireworks in our neighborhood terrify our younger cocker Harpo. The older one (Chico, the other Barx Brother) is 13 and almost completely deaf, so he doesn’t mind.

  22. 22.

    JMG

    Had a lovely dinner with Alice at one of our town’s nicest restaurants. Home an hour ago. Am desultorily watching football and channel surfing during commercials. Probably will have one more glass of wine and sit in the living room and look at the tree. We’re deconstructing it tomorrow. A sad duty, but it’s kind of refreshing when it’s done.

    Happy New Year to one and all! There’s so much goodness and happiness within this group. Don’t let the outside world, no matter how bad it gets, take any of that away.

  23. 23.

    Professor Bigfoot

    I’m staying up to watch the Cavs at the Lakers, and I should be able to stay awake for the remaining 45 minutes or so in the year.

    And Happy New Year to all!

  24. 24.

    mali muso

    Not going to make it another hour to the official time, so happy new year to all jackals. If we have to face 2025, at least we can do it together.

  25. 25.

    laura

    Happy New Year All!

    We sailed past Irish New Year, and it’ll be “achievable” to stay up to New York New Year, but there’ll be log sawing well before West Coast New Years.         We had jaeger schnitzel for dinner with scratched and fried par boiled potatoes, parsley and meyer lemon. It was a tasty meal, we’re settling in for a cold night and are planning in the dark coming days to find the cracks and do what we can to bring the light in.

    Thinking of absent friends and hoping each of you are spending this final night of the year in a warm space.

  28. 28.

    Melancholy Jaques

    Happy New Year to everyone here, especially the front pagers. You all help me to deal with what’s happened in our country and I really do appreciate you all.

  31. 31.

    Jackie

    – I am going to be VERY excited if I make it to nine pm.

    ET or MT/PT? Nine pm = midnight ET! That counts in my book!

    Happy New Year, JC!

  33. 33.

    Roberto el oso

    Happy New Year!

    And one last, grumpy vent for 2024: people who set off fireworks within the city limits are fucking assholes.

  34. 34.

    Roberto el oso

    @NotMax: The first few years after Guy’s death, his orchestra was led by his brother, and they would project an image of Guy onto the upper right hand screen so that it looked as though he were gazing down, joining in the (subdued) revelry. Very corny but also kinda nice.

  35. 35.

    Chacal Charles Calthrop

    Everyone waiting for the ball drop in Times Square is getting wet while they wait because NYC is having thunderstorms.

    I flew back today; the announcement that we should gather all our belongings before exiting the plane was followed by, “because you won’t be able to get anything you left behind until next year,” which made everyone groan.

  36. 36.

    RevRick

    MrsRev and I continued a 70-some year tradition of her family dining out at an Italian restaurant. I had veal amanda and tiramasu… and a Bombay Sapphire martini.

  37. 37.

    currawong

    We didn’t make it until midnight, mainly because I was up at 5:30am to take Freya for her two hour morning walk and had to to the same again this morning.

    She wasn’t too bothered by fireworks but a local display went off at 10pm tonight for the kids which set off every other dog in the area which in turn set Freya off. At least it was quiet after that – well until 5:30 next morning.

  41. 41.

    Kayla Rudbek

    I wound up at the pub to pick up Mr. Rudbek after the tornado warning went off on his phone. I didn’t want him to bicycle home if there was any more chance of bad thunderstorms. So we are home and I need to wake him up soon so that we can ring in the new year. Apparently there’s an Irish or Scottish custom of opening up the front and back doors to let the new year in, and the jokes on Facebook were that people were going to keep everything closed up.

  43. 43.

    m.j.

    I was doing this thing where I would follow the new year around the globe until I fell asleep or didn’t give a shit for a little while.

    I decided to quit when I visited Buenos Aires and saw a lot of young men standing gamely against the tide, urinating.

  44. 44.

    mvr

    Happy New Year to all of you!  I’m unlikely to make it another hour and twenty minutes til NY here, but the local bomb launchers will wake me up in any case. Another thing I blame on our former Governor, now Senator whose family spends one out of every eleven dollars spent on politics in this state. Repealed the already too lax fireworks laws.  The city can try as it might but when you can buy ordinance at the city limits it isn’t going to do anything to stop the ruckus, or the fires that inevitably result. (See I can make anything political with a little thought!)

  45. 45.

    frosty

    @Jackie: So us East Coasters have to stay up late?? It’s OK, midnight would be an early bedtime for me anyway.

    Happy New Year Jackals!!!

  47. 47.

    sab

    @frosty: Woof!

    I don’t even know what real jackals say.

    ETA Apparently they howl, better than coyotes but not up to wolf standards.

    Google may be evil now, but they do still have good stuff.

    ETA Youwww!

  49. 49.

    eemom

    It’s taken me 62 years to figure out I don’t give a fuck about watching the ball drop. But here I am, free at last….🍾

  51. 51.

    opiejeanne

    @NotMax: Thanks for the tip last night about The Thin Man movies. We started watching them this afternoon and just finished the second in the series.

  52. 52.

    Suzanne

    Me. Suzanne told me, when we were first dating, that when he was a kid, he thought the ball would drop dramatically and shatter into thousands of pieces. God that would be lit.

  55. 55.

    sab

    My stepkids are all in bed already. My oldest sister is supposed to be in California bit is still in Columbus OH.

    Husband went to bed at 11 o’clock.

    ETA Oldest sister, just retired, called me wanting to know about our Scottish ancestors since she might visit there this year.

    She knew absolutely nothing about us and where we came from, or even about Scottish history. I was amazed.

    Hadn’t heard of the Hebrides (aka Western Isles.)  Hadn’t heard of Culloden or the 45.

    On the other hand, I can’t speak fluent Mandarin

    ETA Donald Trump’s mother came from one of the islands we came from.

  57. 57.

    Soprano2

    It’s ironic, we used to spend every NYE at home, either throwing a party or by ourselves. Now we spend every NYE at our bar.  It’s really busy, so that’s good. I hope I can get up for the 8:30 Jazzercize class tomorrow.

  60. 60.

    mvr

    @sab: My sister told me  a while back that she can’t really remember our mom, though in fact there is no one more like my mom than my sister (who can’t remember her).

  62. 62.

    sab

    @mvr: That is so sad. But the rest of you remember.

    I have been remembering my mom. She wanted to die (ripe old age of 84) so I was relieved not sad when she died.

    It has taken me 12+ years to start actually grieving. That seems weird.

  63. 63.

    eemom

    Some asshole in my neighborhood just set off a single deafening firecracker and terrified my thunder-sensitive doggie. (Other doggie doesn’t give a shit.)

    So, 2025 can only get better, I guess.

  65. 65.

    Lily

    🔔   🔔   🔔

    The year is going, let it go
    Ring out the false, ring in the true.

    –Alfred Tennyson

    🥁  Happy New Year !  🎶 🎷

  66. 66.

    opiejeanne

    @NotMax: My daughter who is in Sarasota right now sent us a photo of the pineapple that was dropped at midnight. It’s a large facsimile with lots of lights.

  69. 69.

    eemom

    @Suzanne:

    Me. Suzanne told me, when we were first dating, that when he was a kid, he thought the ball would drop dramatically and shatter into thousands of pieces. God that would be lit.

    Cool scene in Times Square too.

  70. 70.

    opiejeanne

    @sab: Oh no! you didn’t have heat? For how long?  You have my sympathy.

    We had that stupid cyclone bomb in the PNW a few weeks ago and went without power for 64+ hours, and without heat for 6 days.

  71. 71.

    sab

    @eemom: I thought the cats would be celebratimg alone with each other, but the dog and two of the cats are on my bed and three others are in my room, twitching and shivering about firecrackers. And I am still up.

  74. 74.

    sab

    @opiejeanne: Boiler conked out Christmas Eve. Contractor dropped off two very nice space heaters, and weather wasn’t too bad, so house was in the 50s all Christmas. When we plugged in the Christmas tree that blew the circuit for one space heater.

    Lots of visitors Christmas so their body heat kept things toasty.

    We only got the technician with the new fuse this morning. So a full week with only space heaters.

    Cats are pissed/ disappointed in us.

    Well we have a whole new year to make it up to them.

  76. 76.

    mvr

    @sab: It isn’t as sad as you might think. My sister doesn’t have memory issues or anything. I just think that people who are really similar don’t see each other sometimes.  My mom and I were pretty close (my dad and I too) and my sister used to be hard for me to take. But as I got (a lot) older I have come to see that the things that are hardest for me to take about my sister were also traits of my mom’s. So I find this all kind of comforting.

    Your comment about your older sibling not knowing family history put me in mind of this.

    My mom would be 104 in a few weeks so it isn’t really any wonder that no one but me and a couple of other people remember her very well. She was the youngest of 10 and some of those ten were dead before she was born.

  78. 78.

    opiejeanne

    @sab: NYE was my mother’s birthday. She’d be 105 if she were still with us.

    She was born at her grandmother’s house, her family was there having a party and her own mom was very annoyed that her labor started and she had to retire to a room at the back. (possibly a birthing room, since the house was built in the 1870s in a very rural area of the Missouri Ozarks).

  79. 79.

    mvr

    @sab: Actually, that it take a while to grieve doesn’t seem that weird to me. Especially when people die unhappy or in a state where they want to go. You get relief first, or at least I did. My mom had Alzehimer’s and died 21 years ago at age 83. She didn’t exactly want to die, but she was depressed and could no longer really speak in her last weeks. But there is still grief there now.

  80. 80.

    sab

    @opiejeanne: I lost Mom in 2012, physically shot but mentally intact. I lost Dad last April, but he had dementia although he knew I had put him in the nursing home. Whole experience of the last 15 years was an experience.

    I think I will plan my old age better than they did or my siblings will.

  81. 81.

    opiejeanne

    @mvr:  That’s so similar to what we witnessed with my mom: Died in 2003, age 83, Alzheimers and then in a coma for about 3 weeks after suffering a fall where she banged her head against the dresser on the way down. There was no coming back from her particular injury.

  83. 83.

    Chetan Murthy

    @sab: I think I will plan my old age better than they did

    i certainly hope that I will do the same, but looking to my elders and said they would do and then what they did, i have fears and doubts.

  89. 89.

    sab

    @opiejeanne: No it isn’t. Also too we have a hereditary ataxia that kicks in early seventies, so we don’t know what is just wobbley old age and what is the ataxia.

    I know several very hale and hearty folks in their  early hundreds, but Mom was shot at 84. My husband’s aunt was walking five miles a day late in her nineties.

  90. 90.

    a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)

    About eleven minutes to go in the Central Time Zone.
    A happy and constructive New Year to you all!

  91. 91.

    sab

    @Lily: They either hold grudges forever or they just don’t remember. Grand-daughter visited this week. We have her cat. Cat ignored her completely, like he had never seen her before. She got him as a tiny kitten and loved him for six plus years.

    Her family dog acted like she had only left a week ago and was thrilled to see her.

  95. 95.

    sab

    Happy New Year Central Time Zone!

    My Eastern Time zone pets and husband are asleep

    I will be too for Mountain and Pacific, and whatever Hawaii calls its time zone.

  98. 98.

    kalakal

    @Sister Golden Bear: That makes sense sort of. New Years celebrations get wilder as you go north in Scotland, to the Orkneys, and then Shetland. The Faroes are probably lit (don’t know, never been there) and then a hop, skip, and a jump to Iceland where the hot springs glow

  99. 99.

    Kelly

    @sab: My Mom died in July at the age of 88. I haven’t grieved or maybe I grieved while she declined.

    Her last year was rough. Infections weakened her and led to dementia. I managed to care for her in her home of 32 years for 8 months. Took all my time but I’m retired. After she broke her arm I moved her to memory care where she lasted another 4 months. It was close enough I could visit her most days. My brother and sister would visit her once a week.

    She had a good life and nobody lives forever. I was thinking about a good life and nobody lives forever when Jimmy Carter died.

  101. 101.

    kalakal

    Mrs kalakal had never seen Die Hard. Last year it was free on Prime or whatever so we were watching and paused at 5 to midnight to watch the NYC Times Square bit. At 12:15 tried to resume and it had gorn. Turned out it was free until midnight.

    Today as an anniversary celelebration I borrowed it from the library and she finally got to see it all the way through. She loved it. Of small joys is a better world built.

    Happy New Year to you all

  104. 104.

    Jay

    @sab:

    We have 3 heating pads, one is for my back, the other two were for our cats.

    We were on wind, solar and wood heat, and while the fire may have gone out, (stoke it in the am, go to work, come home, build a new fire in -40C,) power never did.

    If it got cold, the dogs would just move to the bedroom, tuck in under the two down comforters and snuggle up.

    Happy New Year all.

  106. 106.

    Liminal Owl

    Happy New Year, all.

    We debated going to bed after the movie finished. (Die Hard, because I’d never seen it before, so we started it on Christmas and got interrupted.). Didn’t think we’d be able to stay awake until midnight, but managed… and then he fell asleep almost immediately, while I’m still up at almost 1:30.

    Hopefully not an augury for 2025…

  108. 108.

    eclare

    @kalakal:

    I tried to watch it a few years ago, but I found it so nerve wracking that I had to turn it off.  I guess thrillers are not my thing anymore.

  109. 109.

    kalakal

    @sab: It’s fun. It would be a good action movie regardless, what makes it great is Alan Rickman. He was a fantastic baddie. Amazingly it was his first film role

  111. 111.

    smike

    @JMG: You know, that whole post could be sung to the tune of Alice’s Restaurant. Exactly as written. Not bad for a start to the year…

  112. 112.

    kalakal

    @eclare: I find a real problem with a lot of modern thrillers is so many of them have the action scenes in the dark with intermittent splashes of light. I just can’t work out what is happening half the time. Ageing brain and eyes

  114. 114.

    sab

    @Kelly: So true. Jimmy Carter had an amazing life, not by circumstance but because he and Roslyn chose it, over and over again.

  116. 116.

    NotMax

    @kalakal

    There’s an anecdote that after its success, agents and writers would pitch movies with “It’s like Die Hard, but in a shopping mall,” or a subway, or on a cruise ship, and so forth. Until years after that someone tried beginning a pitch to a wet behind the ears, smooth cheeked new studio executive with “It’s like Die Hard but in an office building.”

  117. 117.

    NotMax

    Italics fail. End of year fix.

    @kalakal

    There’s an anecdote that after its success, agents and writers would pitch movies with “It’s like Die Hard but in a shopping mall,” or a subway, or on a cruise ship, and so forth. Until years after that someone tried beginning a pitch to a wet behind the ears, smooth cheeked new studio executive with “It’s like Die Hard but in an office building.”

  120. 120.

    kalakal

    @twbrandt:

    Thank you, it really is

    As a Scot I have mixed feelings about Auld Lang Syne. As a song I love it, I just hate the way it’s normally performed, especially the TV and ‘a real Celtic Christmas’ dross

  121. 121.

    La Nonna

    We lasted til 10 pm here, lots of fireworks in Ostuni, our ancient dogs slept through it all, capped 2024 with a nice bottle of Allini Prosecco.  All buckled up for whatever 2025 brings, and keeping a bolt hole here in case any family or friends need a rescue.

  124. 124.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Spanky: ​
     

    Hey Spanky, did you get that hailstorm where you are? This was maybe about 6:15pm. First there was lightning lighting up the western sky about as bright as I’ve ever seen lightning do that, then those big almost solid raindrops that always make me think, if I was still living in Bristol (1700 feet above sea level) this would be hail. And then next thing, it was marble-size hail. All that in the 2-minute drive through my neighborhood.

  127. 127.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Happy New Year all  you people east of the Left Coast.  And you people on the Left Coast, Happy New Year in 20 or so minutes.

  129. 129.

    Geminid

    @lowtechcyclist: We got snow and thunder briefly right around 3:40, about a hundred miles to your west. Then the sun came out just as it was setting for the last time in 2024.

  132. 132.

    Soprano2

    @Kelly: You probably grieved a little at a time as she declined. I think that’s normal under those circumstances. By the time they die it’s a much of a blessing as anything.

  133. 133.

    Rose Judson

    Was in bed at half-past ten, woke up at midnight when someone in our cul-de-sac started shooting off fireworks. Was surprised to discover a cat and a Child in bed with me. Nice way to start the year, being snuggled.

  134. 134.

    Citizen Alan

    Welp, i had my black eyed peas,  my collard greens, my cornbread, and so far half a bottle of champagne. (I actually broke out my ” i’m celebrating because someone I hate has just died” champagne, so I need to pick up another bottle soon.In case mitch mcconnell or somebody kicks it.) At this point, that’s really all I can do to prepare for 2025.

  138. 138.

    Geminid

    @Jay: I wonder if you saw the news this past weekend about PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan. He has been imprisoned on Imrali Island west of Istanbul since 1999.

    Two Turkish National Assembly members from the Kurdish-based DEM Party spent some hours with Ocalan on Friday and they released this statement from him on Saturday:

       I have the neccesary competence and determination to make a positive contribution to the new paradigm Mr. Bahceli and Mr. Erdogan have empowered.

    In light of this, I am ready to make the neccesary positive steps and make the call.

    All these efforts will take the country to the level it deserves and will also be a valuable guide for a Democratic transformation. This is an era of peace, democracy and brotherhood for Turkiye and the region.

    Strengthening the Kurdish-Turkish brotherhood is not only a historical responsibility but also of fateful responsibility and urgency for all peoples.

    For the success of the process, it is essential that all political circles in Turkiye take the initiative, act constructively, and make positive contributions without being stuck in narrow and periodic calculations.

    The events in Gaza and Syria have shown that the solution to this problem, which is tried to be made gangrenous by external interventions, can no longer be postponed….

    The Mr. Bahceli whom Ocalan refers to is Devlet Bahceli, head of the MHP party and President Erdogan’s coalition partner. The MHP party historically has been strongly anti-Kurdish, and it’s Gray Wolves “youth wing” played a notorious role in the suppression of the PKK insurgency in the 1980s and 90s.

    Bahceli made a speech to the National Assembly last month where he called for Ocalan’s release and a settlement of Turkiye’s war with the PKK. It was a bombshell for Turkish politics. Bahceli’s speech and Ocalan’s statement were the result of long negotiations between Ocalan and Erdogan’s government that may finally bring an end to a conflict that has cost 40,000 lives since 1984.

  139. 139.

    NotMax

    Explosions from next door so powerful they knocked stuff off shelves in my cottage. And it’s not even midnight yet.

  140. 140.

    MagdaInBlack

    @NotMax: I also wish to thank you for the Thin Man marathon reminder. Once upon a time I had the dvd boxed set, but I think it ended up on the other side of a relationship bridge I burned ;-)

  141. 141.

    NotMax

    Crikey. Sitting inside it sounds like the heaviest rain possible pummeling the metal roof. But it ain’t water falling from the sky.

    @MagdaInBlack

    You’re welcome.

  142. 142.

    Betty Cracker

    @Rose Judson: I had a similar experience, except instead of fireworks, it was semiautomatic gunfire from the yahoos down the road that woke me up, and I found myself on the sofa wedged between two snoring dogs.

    Happy New Year, everyone!

  145. 145.

    Jay

    @Geminid:

    The MHP party historically has been strongly anti-Kurdish, and it’s Gray Wolves “youth wing” played a notorious role in the suppression of the PKK insurgency in the 1980s and 90s.

    That’s quite the white wash of the Grey Wolves NeoFacist Terrorist Organization.

    Maybe, it will lead to the understanding that Kurds are also Turks and that they are better inside the tent, (by both sides), than outside.

  146. 146.

    TBone

    @NotMax: is it hail?  We are not having the expected weather here yet, all is deceptively quiet and it was raining last night so no one set off any of the usual explosions.

    Happy 2025!

  147. 147.

    satby

    @Betty Cracker: Ammunition must have come down in price, it was mostly yahoos shooting semi-auto guns all around last night, with the rare firework to break the tedium of gunfire. I expect to find spent bullets around tomorrow, it was that pervasive.

  148. 148.

    Geminid

    @Geminid: This development in Syria may relate to the one in Turkiye discussed above. From Clash Report yesterday:

    NEW: Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa met top SDF officials yesterday.

    Reports are that the discussions were “positive.”

    The Syrian Democratic Forces have partnered with a US military mission in Northeastern Syria for almost a decade. The goal is to suppress ISIS– or Daesh as it’s called in Syria– which took over large swaths of eastern Syria and western Iraq in 2011.

    The SDF’s core fighting force is the YPG militia, a rebranded branch of the PKK. Ahmed al-Sharaa, Syria’s defacto leader, has said all fighting forces not under contral of Syria’s Defense must be disarmed disarmed. Now it looks like the SDF will in some way be incorporated into Syria’s national army.

    There has been a lot of loose talk from the Israelis about forming an alliance with Syria’s Kurds as a counterweight to the new Syrian government. That could be the “external interventions” PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan referred to in the statement at comment #138 above.

  149. 149.

    NeenerNeener

    Happy New Year, fellow Jackals! I’m waiting for the sun to come up so I can retrieve my garbage can from the curb. Out of force of habit I put it out last night, forgetting that today is a holiday and they won’t be doing collection in my neighborhood now until Friday. I’m a wee bit embarrassed. I just hope I can get the #^@%# thing back up the driveway with actual garbage weighing it down.

  152. 152.

    Betty Cracker

    I stopped by a mom-and-pop deli in an unfamiliar town late yesterday afternoon to pick up a sandwich. (I had just completed a scan that required fasting, so I was starving!)

    The proprietor was a lovely man from NJ who’s been making sandwiches in Florida for 20 years. I asked him if he baked his own sub rolls (they were really good), and he said no, but he ordered them from a specialty bakery in Tampa and had them delivered daily.

    He asked if I wanted a bag of rolls — for free! — because he’d ordered too many for the day. Of course I said yes because FREE and GOOD!

    So, this morning Bill and I are having French toast for breakfast. Later on we’ll have Italian subs for lunch. Gonna go out of my way to patronize that deli in the future!

  157. 157.

    MagdaInBlack

    @Betty Cracker: Score! You got some great sub rolls and french toast for breakfast, he scored a new customer!

    It’s little interactions like that that keep me going. Happy New Year

  159. 159.

    Geminid

    @Jay: How is saying “that the Gray Wolves played a notorious role in the suppression if the PKK insurgency in the 1980s and 90s” a whitewash? It seems accurate to me.

    If you you want to be my editor, tell me how I should have written that.

    Now I see you have added a description of them as a “Neo-Fascist Terrrorist Organization.” That’s fine if you want describe the Gray Wolves that way. It fits.

    But I did not call the PKK a “Marxist-Leninist Terrorist Organization that funds itself through an extensive extortion and heroin distribution network in Europe,” and that’s as true a characterization of them as yours is of the Gray Wolves.

  160. 160.

    satby

    At 6 am we’ve already hit today’s high of 34°, and the temps are beginning the downward plunge into the polar vortex predicted to make this the coldest January since 2011. Goody.

    @sab: Got your heat fixed just in time!

  161. 161.

    Betty Cracker

    @satby: I’m choosing to take it as a sign! It’s also a needed (for me) reminder that there are good people all around, even in Florida. I’m not much for New Year’s resolutions, but I’m gonna try to notice the assholes LESS and spot the good people MORE in 2025. ;-)

  163. 163.

    Jay

    @Geminid:

    They did a lot more than just target the PPK and Kurds for death.

    Established by Colonel Alparslan Türkeş in the late 1960s, the Grey Wolves rose to prominence during the late 1970s political violence in Turkey when its members engaged in urban guerrilla warfare with left-wing militants and activists.[2][4][28] Scholars hold it responsible for most of the violence and killings in this period, including the Maraş massacre in December 1978, which killed over 100 Alevis.[4] They are also alleged to have been behind the Taksim Square massacre in May 1977, and to have played a role in the Kurdish–Turkish conflict from 1978 onwards. The attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II in 1981 by Grey Wolves member Mehmet Ali Ağca[2] was never formally linked to Grey Wolves leaders, and the organization’s role remains unclear.

    The organization has long been a prominent suspect in investigations into the deep state in Turkey, and is suspected of having close dealings in the past with the Counter-Guerrilla, the Turkish branch of the NATO Operation Gladio, as well as the Turkish mafia.[56] Among the Grey Wolves’ prime targets are non-Turkish ethnic minorities such as Kurds, Greeks, and Armenians,[40][57] and leftist activists.[58]

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Wolves_(organization)

    Drug running, money laundering, murder for hire, arms smuggling, terrorism, mercenary actions, etc.

  164. 164.

    Betty Cracker

    @TBone: Roberts’ umbrage would be more credible if the FedSoc Six hadn’t issued a ruling that essentially makes presidents absolute monarchs last year. I hope he trips on his robe and face-plants in a spittoon.

    (And just like that, I broke the resolution I made 5 minutes ago. Oh well. A moment of appreciation for Justices Sotomayor, Kagan and Jackson!)

  166. 166.

    TBone

    @Betty Cracker: aye to Justices Sotomayor, Kagan and Jackson!

    Sorry, I was in the middle of posting that before I saw your resolution.  Here’s to noticing less bad and more good *offers Irish coffee in effort to redeem good juju

    ETA a spittoon is the perfect reference hahaha!

  171. 171.

    TBone

    @lowtechcyclist: they have additional security now but maybe DOGE will trim that budget (haha, I crack myself up).  As always, enforcement is the feet of clay for these jabronis.

  172. 172.

    Geminid

    @Jay: I know about the history of the Gray Wolves. It may not be common knowledge over here, but it is in Turkiye and for anyone who has studied that nation’s post-WWII history at all deeply.

    I also know that the PKK has also done most of this. When I looked up Wikipedia’s article on the Turkiye’s civil war that took place 1976-80, I saw that 400 of the 5,000+ political murders were attributed to the PKK, and most of their victims were Kurds.

    The PKK did not formally declare war on the Turkish state until 1984, but they were eliminating their rivals in the Kurdish community before that. Ed. They were every bit as violent and ruthless as the Gray Wolves.

    But I’ll stand by my characterization of the Gray Wolves as being “notorious for their role in suppressing the PKK insurgency in the 1980s and 90s.” My comment was about Abdullah Ocalan’s statement released this weekend. I wanted to describe for others the MHP party whose leader, Devlet Bahceli, figured in Ocalan’s statement.

    I wasn’t trying to “whitewash” the Gray Wolves,” I was trying to present some background to an important development in a comment that was long enough as it was

  173. 173.

    satby

    @MagdaInBlack: John didn’t ban emojis. He told people not to spam threads by replies to almost every post with a single emoji. He should have just emailed the people he was annoyed by.

  174. 174.

    JWR

    One of the Sunday morning gabfests had one of those, let’s go around the panel for predictions about the coming year, and more than one chose to predict that Sam Alito will soon be gone, giving The Great Orange One Leonard Leo yet another SC appointment. And screw John Roberts all to Hell with his balls and strikes BS!

  175. 175.

    MagdaInBlack

    @satby: There was no malicious intent in my reply. It was just humor. Pure simple early morning coffee chat humor. Please don’t be looking for that where there is none.

    Happy New Year =-)

    P.S. I’m on the last bar of your charcoal soap, which is fantastic for taking garlic and onion scent off your hands.

  176. 176.

    TBone

    Some possible really good news!

    What if it’s possible to produce plastics without making them from petrochemicals and without the plastic breaking into microparticles that take forever to degrade?

    https://www.thecooldown.com/green-tech/origin-materials-company-bio-based-plastics-pet-landfill-waste/

    LFG!

    Oh, and that’s not all. While learning how to produce these kinds of bio-based plastics, the researchers also “stumbled on” a way to make traditional, petrochemical-based, single-use plastics much easier to recycle, according to a report by Forbes.

  180. 180.

    lowtechcyclist

    @TBone: ​
     

    they have additional security now but maybe DOGE will trim that budget (haha, I crack myself up). As always, enforcement is the feet of clay for these jabronis.

    I was more thinking in terms of FO in the latter sense, of people no longer paying attention to their rulings, rendering them meaningless and impotent.

    While that wouldn’t be a good thing in general, they would have only themselves to blame if it came to pass.

  182. 182.

    JPL

    Happy New Year to all those that celebrate.

    btw There was a tragic incident in New Orleans.  A vehicle drove into a crowd and killed ten and injured thirty.

    My first thought was Ozark hearing that his son was hit by an automobile and his journey to New Orleans.   Miss you Ozark.

  183. 183.

    TBone

    @lowtechcyclist: yep but there’s a reason they had to request extra security, as you pointed out, they know they are in the FO stage!  They don’t command the military yet and do not have Capitol Police.  They know we are chafing under their imaginary yokes.

  186. 186.

    Betty Cracker

    @JPL: How awful. CNN’s coverage implies (but doesn’t say outright) that it was a deliberate act. Bourbon Street is always hopping, but it would have been especially crowded on NYE with the Sugar Bowl in town.

  189. 189.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Taking down the Christmas tree today and reading one of my Christmas gift books. I finished Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers. That was fun.

    I was just over at Scalzi’s blog. Among his resolutions, he lists concentrating on friends and community more. I think I’ll borrow that. I tend to let long silent times go by without calling or visiting friends. We talk about supporting those who need it in the Era of the Felon. Maybe I should start with those closest to me. God knows, they’re all sick with worry.

  196. 196.

    JPL

    @Betty Cracker: Raven like most of the Balloon Juice crowd probably would not be out and about that time.

    Not sure what happens tonight, but they will obviously tighten security.

  198. 198.

    mark

    @opiejeanne:

    I was without power for 4,5 days.

    I’m 68 tears old. I don’t think I have been without

    power for 24 hours over the past 40 plus years. Total.

    Those were 4.5 miserable days.

    I work for the largest electric/gas utility in Western Washington.

  199. 199.

    JPL

    It would be surprising if they didn’t know who the individual was.   They quickly called it domestic terror and identified a bomb attached to the vehicle.    I don’t know why they don’t share the information with us.

  200. 200.

    MagdaInBlack

    @NotMax: I’ll take the giant stuffed panda (recalling my mother playing bingo at a small town 4th of July carnival)

    Good Morning

  201. 201.

    Ohio Mom

    Ha! I win the went-to-bed-earliest contest. I fell asleep around eight while reading in bed. Woke up briefly around 11 to change into pajamas, then back to dreamland.

    I don’t have any expectations or big plans for 2025 but at least I’m well-rested.

  202. 202.

    Geminid

    Some more Syria news, from the DC-bssed Middle East Institute’s Charles Lister:

       Syria’s Druze-majority governate of Suwayda elected Mohsana al-Maythawi as its governor– and today the HTS-led transition [government] approved it.

    That’s Syria’s first ever female governor.

    Suwayda Governate sits in western Syria, adjacent to the Israel and the Golan heights. Its Druze,* Arab and Christian citizens chased Assad’s forces away as the HTS-led rebels approached nearby Damascus.

    The transition government’s recognition of Ms. Al-Maythawi is unusual in that it has appointed other governors of its own choosing. Al-Maythawi was elected by local leaders and in this case that was sufficient for Syria’s defacto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, who is a pragmatic (and sharp-dressed) man.

    * The Druze are a distinct community of approximately 700,000 members spread from northern Israel through western Syria into Lebanon. They follow a singular, esoteric religion that branched off of Islam 950 years ago.

  203. 203.

    mark

    @sab: My home was built in 1979. Life has changed in a big way since then. Our home has been converted from electric to gas heat. Our oven/range has gone from electric to gas. Same thing for the water heater.

    Lots of electric devices added. Freezer in the garage, computers. game consoles, counter top appliances, smart phones, etc.

    The panel was out of balance and we kept popping breakers. Had an electrician come in and add new circuits and got us back into balance.

    Spendy, but well worth the investment.

  207. 207.

    Josie

    @Geminid: ​
     I hope we continue to be impressed by al-Sharaa. He could do a world of good if he continues to lead Syria in a a good direction.

  208. 208.

    Geminid

    @Josie: I find Ahmed al-Sharaa to be fascinating person. He gave a interview recently to Al Arabiya that’s worth watching. It was in Arabic, but it’s subtitled.

    Reports are that al-Sharaa does speak some English though, and that he and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan conversed in English during their high profile stop for coffee on Mount Qasioun overlooking Damascus.

    That was during Fidan’s visit to Damascus last week. The whole event was staged from beginning to end so as to express mutual respect and confidence between the two governments.

    Ed. Al-Sharaa even drove Fidan to Mt. Qasioun in a shiny Mercedes sedan. This was unusual in itself. Powerful political leaders typically don’t drive cars themselves, but are instead driven.

    Hakan Fidan is a fascinating person in his own right. Fidan earned a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Maryland Global Campus while he was a noncom posted in Germany, and then went on to earn a Ph.D. at an Istanbul university. Fidan did his post-graduate study from 2012 to 2023 as head of Turkiye’s national intelligence agency M.I.T. before Erdogan tapped him to be his Foreign Minister.

    Fidan is half Kurdish, and he played an important role in the negotiations that led to the statement by PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan last weekend, that opened a path forward to a resolution of the 40 year war between the PKK and the Turkish state.

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