Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

Trump should be leading, not lying.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

The way to stop violence is to stop manufacturing the hatred that fuels it.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

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

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

Giving in to doom is how authoritarians win.

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

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

You are here: Home / Archives for 2024

Archives for 2024

How Eager These Men Are to Become Slaves

by | 76 Comments

This post is in: 

Cornelius Tacitus, The Annals:

[…] So corrupted indeed and debased was that age by sycophancy that not only the foremost citizens who were forced to save their grandeur by servility, but every ex-consul, most of the ex-prætors and a host of inferior senators would rise in eager rivalry to propose shameful and preposterous motions. Tradition says that Tiberius as often as he left the Senate-House used to exclaim in Greek, “How ready these men are to be slaves.” […]

I saw someone post this quote on Bluesky a couple of days ago, and it seems relevant to the last few days:

  • Last night ABC announced a $15 million settlement with Trump over George Stephanopoulos using the same word the judge used to describe Trump’s assault of E. Jean Carroll.  The settlement includes a “statement of regret” from Stephanopoulos.
  • Jeff Bezos, owner of the Washington Post, will donate $1 million to Trump’s inaugural.  He joins Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, as well as Sam Altman of OpenAI, as a donor.
  • Zuck is not only a member of the $1 million club:  his trip to Mar-a-Lago included him standing, hand over heart, while listening to a rendition of the national anthem sung by imprisoned January 6 convicts.
  • The billionaire owner of the LA Times has announced that he’ll personally approve every opinion headline to make sure co-president Elon Musk won’t be offended.

What is the point of having billions of dollars*, private jets, opulent yachts and staff to cater to your every whim, if you also need to roll over and practice submissive urination to Trump?

* I just checked and Bob Iger, President of Disney (ABC’s owner) is only worth $700 million, so I guess that pauper might have to bend the knee…

How Eager These Men Are to Become SlavesPost + Comments (76)

Sunday Morning Open Thread: Sentimental Gesture

by | 270 Comments

This post is in: , , ,

www.nytimes.com/2024/12/13/u…
Nevertheless, SHE is UNDETERRED! “But Ms. Gillibrand wants Mr. Biden to use his presidential power while he still has it to force the issue, effectively daring Republicans to wage a legal battle to take away equal rights for women.”
BidenPublishTheERA.org #ERANow

[image or embed]

— Horses&Roses.bsky.social (@deedeegiese.bsky.social) December 13, 2024 at 9:09 PM

There’s at least one front-pager I expect to show up and piss on this idea, but this is my post and I am very much in agreement with Senator Gillibrand. Sure, the Repubs will squeal like scalded weasels, and it will take no energy at all for their bought & paid-for SC(R)OTUS justices to reinvalidate the amendment, but: As Democrats it behooves us to leave our message in the history books. If not now, when? “Gillibrand Presses Biden to Amend the Constitution to Enshrine Sex Equality” [gift link]:

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York is on a mission in President Biden’s final days in office. She wants to convince him that he can rescue his legacy by adding the century-old Equal Rights Amendment, which would explicitly guarantee sex equality, to the Constitution as a way to protect abortion rights in post-Roe America.

He could do it all, she contends, with one phone call.

Both houses of Congress approved the amendment in 1972, but it was not ratified by the states in time to be added to the Constitution. Ms. Gillibrand has been pushing a legal theory that the deadline for ratification is irrelevant and unconstitutional. All that remains, she argues, is for Mr. Biden to direct the national archivist, who is responsible for the certification and publication of constitutional amendments, to publish the E.R.A. as the 28th Amendment.

The move would almost certainly invite a legal challenge that would land in the Supreme Court. But Ms. Gillibrand wants Mr. Biden to use his presidential power while he still has it to force the issue, effectively daring Republicans to wage a legal battle to take away equal rights for women…

Kelly Scully, a White House spokeswoman, said senior administration officials had been discussing the proposal with lawmakers and other stakeholders.

“President Biden has been clear that he wants to see the Equal Rights Amendment definitively enshrined in the Constitution,” Ms. Scully said in a statement. “It is long past time that we recognize the clear will of the American people.”

show full post on front page

Sunday Morning Open Thread: Sentimental GesturePost + Comments (270)

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Spring *Will* Return, Someday…

by | 26 Comments

This post is in: 

Sunday Morning Garden Chat 139
 
Right now, I’m hanging on to that promise! From (former) ‘only commented on fundraising threads’ fellow Massachusetts resident MJ:

Here are some photos of Spring on the South Shore of Massachusetts.

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Spring *Will* Return, Someday...

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Spring *Will* Return, Someday... 1

I bought Irises around 2021 when Satby recommended a sale at Schreiner’s Gardens in Oregon. Then later Mike in Oly suggested Bluebird Haven in California for Irises. So, thanks to them!

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Spring *Will* Return, Someday... 2

show full post on front page

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Spring *Will* Return, Someday…Post + Comments (26)

Saturday Night Open Thread

by | 171 Comments

This post is in: 

For obvious reasons I have not had the time to even scan the news, so no politics tonight. I will just assume everything is ok because no one has called me to inform me to turn on the tv.

Joelle and I are having date night this week at home- I took an edible and she went and picked up sandwiches from a local place and we are going to watch a couple more episodes of Yellowstone, a poorly written shlocky bit of right wing agitprop loaded with odious people doing awful things to each other, but somehow oddly fucking compelling and riveting. There’s always Jimmy, I suppose, the only good one of them.

Joelle introduced me to this place called the Cheba Hut. Quick side note, one of the things I love about Joelle (and I have told her this and am not breaking any news to her this way) is that she can just look at me and tell when something is not going to happen and that stubborn mode is activated. We were planning to go out for dinner but I just did not have it in me and she didn’t even flinch. That’s kinda cool to have someone who “gets” you.

At any rate, when I was an undergrad in Morgantown in 1992, there was this little deli near the medical school right by a landmark mexican place called Los Mariachis which is still there today and will serve as a tidy reference point for anyone who has ever been Morgantown. The deli was the first of its kind around there- like an Italian place where you could get all the imported sauces and oils displayed on chrome racks, as well as a large refrigerated display of imported meats and cheeses and a deli sign and the first big espresso machine with all the syrups I had ever seen. I know for you big city folk this is basically everything everywhere when you were growing up, but it was the first here.

At any rate, they baked the most delicious bread, big pillowy loaves that mushroomed over the bread pan into the size of a chef hat, and they would serve their deli sandwiched using that bread. My go to order was a roast beef and swiss with lettuce, tomato, and copious amounts of horseradish mayo. It was amazing. Sadly, that place closed down, but it clearly made a huge impression on me.

All of this is a long way of saying that I had the best sub I have had since Shakespeare’s Deli in the early 90’s I got the sandwich called the KGB which is roast beef, horseradish, green bell pepper, shrooms, swiss, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle, Shake & House dressing. It was so good I only ate half so I could eat the other half in an hour or so and relive the experience.

So if you are ever in this area- Sheba Hut. It’s good. They even seasoned the lettuce before putting it on. Fucking maestros.

Saturday Night Open ThreadPost + Comments (171)

War for Ukraine Day 1,025: A Brief Saturday Night Update

by | 20 Comments

This post is in: , , , , , , ,

Painting by NEIVANMADE. It has a white background an in the center are Soldiers in green doing air defense by firing at incoming Russian missiles in the upper right. The missiles are red and yellow. In the upper left, written in green, is the text: "SAVE THE BRAVEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD!" Below the Soldiers, also written in green, is "SUPPORT FOR KHARKIV"

(Image by NEIVANMADE)

The sinus infection is kicking my dupa today, so I’m just going to run through the basics.

Here’s last night’s air defense tally:

⚡️ Ukraine downs 58 of Russian 132 drones launched overnight, Air Force reports.
Ukrainian air defense intercepted 58 drones out of 132 launched by Russia overnight, the Air Force reported on its Telegram channel on Dec. 14.

[image or embed]

— The Kyiv Independent (@kyivindependent.com) December 14, 2024 at 5:09 AM

The Kyiv Independent has the details:

Ukrainian air defense intercepted 58 drones out of 132 launched by Russia overnight, the Air Force reported on its Telegram channel on Dec. 14.

The attack targeted 11 oblasts, primarily in southern and central Ukraine, with Russia deploying 132 Iranian-made Shahed drones, according to the report.

Defensive operations were carried out across all targeted oblasts, with air defense systems active in Chernihiv, Sumy, Kyiv, Poltava, Cherkasy, Vinnytsia, Odesa, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, and Kirovohrad.

The Air Force reported that 72 drones failed to reach their targets, while two returned to Russia.

The overnight assault followed a massive aerial attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure earlier on Dec. 13. During that offensive, Russia launched approximately 290 missiles and drones across multiple regions.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said at least 93 missiles were fired, including some supplied by North Korea, with Ukrainian forces successfully intercepting 81 of them. Eleven missiles were shot down by F-16 fighter jets.

Moscow’s forces also deployed nearly 200 drones in the Dec. 13 strike, which Zelensky described as “one of the largest against our energy grid.”

President Zelenskyy has announced that Ukraine will fill the humanitarian aid food gap created by the fall of the Assad regime and the Russian (sort of) pull out and abandonment of Syria:

⚡️Ukraine sending humanitarian aid to Syria to prevent ‘food crisis,’ Zelensky says.

“We are ready to help Syria prevent a food crisis … I have instructed the government to organize food deliveries in cooperation with international organizations and partners willing to help.”

[image or embed]

— The Kyiv Independent (@kyivindependent.com) December 14, 2024 at 2:34 PM

From The Kyiv Independent:

Ukraine is preparing to send humanitarian aid to Syria in order “to help prevent a food crisis,” President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Dec. 14.

The announcement comes a week after the Russia-backed regime of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad collapsed on Dec. 8 amid a large-scale rebel offensive.

Kyiv will contribute to stabilization in Syria in the aftermath of Assad’s fall, Zelensky said.

“We are ready to help Syria prevent a food crisis,” he said.

“Including through the Grain from Ukraine humanitarian program. I have instructed the government to organize food deliveries in cooperation with international organizations and partners willing to help.”

Zelensky called on global partners to assist in ensuring a stable peace in Syria, which endured years of civil war “ignited with … Russia’s involvement.”

Kyiv launched the Grain From Ukraine initiative in fall 2022. Since then, the program has saved 20 million people from hunger, according to Zelensky.

Ukraine is one of the world’s leading agricultural producers and has been a major supplier of grain and other products to countries in Africa and Asia.

Here is President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump.

show full post on front page

War for Ukraine Day 1,025: A Brief Saturday Night UpdatePost + Comments (20)

Saturday Evening Open Thread: The Real Horror of DEI

by | 89 Comments

This post is in: , , ,

When you see people like Elon Musk pointing to stuff like IQ to justify their disdain for encouraging diversity, it’s hard to avoid concluding that having a black guy in charge of something more than HUD, not as a novelty but as the normal state of affairs, was just too much for them to process
[image or embed]

— Chatham Harrison is tending his garden (@chathamharrison.bsky.social) December 12, 2024 at 11:42 AM

Used to be, a well-to-do white man’s unambitious sons could count on a ‘gentleman’s C’ from the right prep school and a few properly sourced letters of recommendation for a slot at an Ivy and a following lifetime of sinecure(s). But now, there’s all this competition from outsiders — Irish Catholics, Central European immigrants’ outlandish offspring, even Jews! — what’s a white man [dry sob] to do?!?

When I was in middle school, I read (mostly mocking) variants of this sad plaint from Mark Twain, Teddy Roosevelt (not at his best, there), and Finley Peter Dunne. Only difference between the complaints during the first Gilded Age and our current low-rent knockoff era are that, during the original, Jared Kushner’s old man could never have gotten close enough to the Harvard board to write them a million-dollar check as an introduction.

We’re going to hit an inflection point where the older men in power/management age out (read die), and the 30+ years of women having higher educational attainment becomes suddenly visible in org charts.
And shit’ll get *weird* s a result.

— Wandering Hoo (@wanderlib.bsky.social) December 12, 2024 at 11:14 AM

This is what I’m saying! A lot of powerful men are feeling that crunch. They know that what comes after them will not be what came before, & it scares them. Above all it scares them on behalf of their kids who they know can’t compete with that
[image or embed]

— Chatham Harrison is tending his garden (@chathamharrison.bsky.social) December 12, 2024 at 11:22 AM

Informed by 18 years as a divorce lawyer, I agree. There’s so much light and questionable heat on the most debated gender war issues.

Financial autonomy IS the heat, they’d love for you to take your eye off that ball, and there’s no world where it’s good advice to girls to give that up.
— Anselm (@gorobei.bsky.social) December 12, 2024 at 4:42 PM

Yep. And the talk on the right about the importance of trades (but never the importance of unions) & how you shouldn’t need a degree to get ahead (because your fuckup son needed five tries to fail out of college for good)

— Chatham Harrison is tending his garden (@chathamharrison.bsky.social) December 12, 2024 at 11:25 AM

The Trump team’s proposed immigration bans are another piece of the jigsaw, here:

we simply must stop all these perfidious nigerians from coming to america and becoming doctors

[image or embed]

— not an art thief (@famousartthief.bsky.social) December 12, 2024 at 11:24 AM

show full post on front page

Saturday Evening Open Thread: The Real Horror of DEIPost + Comments (89)

Dad Update

by | 88 Comments

This post is in: 

Hey all- just wanted to let you know that dad is resting in the hospital, as comfortable as one may be, and will live to tell some more stories. Apparently he had two arteries blocked and the heart attack was much more serious than initial reports, and he actually coded in the ambulance and they shocked him and did compressions and brought him back. When I asked him if he saw Ajax (our childhood dog) at the end of the tunnel he said “I didn’t see anything I think it is all nonsense.”

I think mentally he is ok but when the cardiologist came in this morning and told him and my mother that he basically died and was brought back to life, that really freaked him out. The doctor said it was as serious a heart attack as one can have and that he is a miracle. I personally think he is just too fucking stubborn to die.

The challenge for the next few weeks will be to find the right combination of meds to protect him from another event while also not making him too dizzy to function (some of the blood thinners and combinations make his life hell because of dizziness). Regardless, we are all grateful he is still alive.

On a personal note I have too much shit going on to process or deal with my personal emotions, so I am very much looking forward to the mental breakdown I am going to have in the middle of January or February when Joelle is healed and dad is back to normal and all the other shit in my life has calmed down enough for me to spiral. Yay.

Dad UpdatePost + Comments (88)