Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Find someone who loves you the way trump and maga love traitors.

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

In after Baud. Damn.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

Human rights are not a matter of opinion!

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

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

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

Dear elected officials: Trump is temporary, dishonor is forever.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Do we throw up our hands or do we roll up our sleeves? (hint, door #2)

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

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

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

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Let me file that under fuck it.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

They punch you in the face and then start crying because their fist hurts.

Weird. Rome has an American Pope and America has a Russian President.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

You are here: Home / Archives for 2024

Archives for 2024

On The Road – Albatrossity – Costa Rica Week 4: Dinosaurs and other critters

by | 9 Comments

This post is in: , ,

Albatrossity

Dinosaurs!  Looks to be a great week ahead!

(click the image below for a bigger, non-blurry version)

On The Road - Albatrossity - Costa Rica — Week 4: Dinosaurs and other critters 10

Albatrossity

There are more birds (aka dinosaurs) in the images this week, but also some mammals and even some lizards. As before, birds that were lifers for me are designated with an asterisk.

On The Road – Albatrossity – Costa Rica Week 4: Dinosaurs and other crittersPost + Comments (9)

On The Road - Albatrossity - Costa Rica — Week 4: Dinosaurs and other critters 9
Quetzal Education and Research Center (QERC)May 16, 2024

*Flame-colored Tanagers (Piranga bidentata) are a hot draw when they sporadically vagrate to Arizona or Texas. I’ve been in AZ once when one had been spotted in Ramsey Canyon, and I did not go there that day because of the crowd that was expected. But they were abundant in the highlands of Costa Rica, and I got to see plenty of them. This is a male, and it is obvious why they got the name “Flame-colored”. Click here for larger image.

Sunday Night Open Thread: Concerning the Supreme Court…

by | 111 Comments

This post is in: , , , ,

Essays like this help keep me sane. I’d save these two for prime time, but there’s so much news these days…

Here’s the great Charles P. Pierce, from his weekly Esquire subscription column — “The Waiting Is Killing Us”:

Nothing became the administration of President James Buchanan like his inaugural address did. Delivered on March 4, 1857, just after he’d been sworn in by Chief Justice Roger Taney, who had other things on his mind, it was a flat and lifeless attempt to hand-wave away the fact that the country was coming apart over slavery. Don’t worry, the new president said, the system was working; the issue of the expansion of slavery was before the Supreme Court. All was well. Or so President James Buchanan told the nation.

This is, happily, a matter of but little practical importance. Besides, it is a judicial question, which legitimately belongs to the Supreme Court of the United States, before whom it is now pending, and will, it is understood, be speedily and finally settled. To their decision, in common with all good citizens, I shall cheerfully submit, whatever this may be, though it has ever been my individual opinion that under the Nebraska-Kansas act the appropriate period will be when the number of actual residents in the Territory shall justify the formation of a constitution with a view to its admission as a State into the Union. But be this as it may, it is the imperative and indispensable duty of the Government of the United States to secure to every resident inhabitant the free and independent expression of his opinion by his vote. This sacred right of each individual must be preserved. That being accomplished, nothing can be fairer than to leave the people of a Territory free from all foreign interference to decide their own destiny for themselves, subject only to the Constitution of the United States.

… As he sat on the dais, Chief Justice Taney had a lot on his mind—specifically, the opinion he’d been writing in the case of Dred Scott v. Sanford, which was the case through which, Buchanan assured the nation, “the long agitation on this subject would end.” Historian Jill Lepore writes that the word on Taney’s decision already was beginning to leak out.

No one tweeted from Washington that week, but reporters knew a decision was coming, and they knew what decision to expect. This news they sent out by telegraph. On Wednesday, March 5th, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Taney was at home, writing his opinion. “The decision in the Dred Scott case will be delivered tomorrow,” reported a correspondent for the New York Herald, adding that the Court was expected to “decide that the Missouri compromise is unconstitutional and that Congress has no power over the question of slavery in Territories.”

Lepore emphasizes that the decision in Dred Scott was delayed because Buchanan wanted it delayed. Moreover, Buchanan leaned on one of the justices to join the eventual majority. But it’s hard to imagine either man was completely oblivious to the ongoing turmoil in the country…

show full post on front page

Sunday Night Open Thread: Concerning the Supreme Court…Post + Comments (111)

War for Ukraine Day 851: Russia Follows Up On It’s Bombardment of Kharkiv by Bombarding Kharkiv

by | 11 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)

A couple of quick housekeeping notes: First, Rosie is still doing fine. Tomorrow will be here fourth and final treatment of round two.

Second, I’m going to try to keep tonight’s update short(ish). I’ve got some stuff to do and a very long day tomorrow.

As I start writing tonight’s update at 6:50 PM EDT the only air raid alerts up over Ukraine are for Kharkiv and Donetsk Oblasts.

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 851: Russia Follows Up On It’s Bombardment of Kharkiv by Bombarding KharkivPost + Comments (11)

Medium Cool – Your “Go To” Comfort Movies

by | 177 Comments

This post is in: , ,

Medium Cool is a weekly series related to popular culture, mostly film, TV, and books, with some music and games thrown in.  We hope it’s a welcome break from the anger, hate, and idiocy we see almost daily from the other side in the political sphere.

Arguments welcomed, opinions respected, fools un-suffered.  We’re here every Sunday at 7 pm.

I asked for Medium Cool topic suggestions in a post a few months ago, and piratedan came through with several good ones.  How did I know they were good?  Because besides suggesting their own ideas in that post, some people were answering the topic questions posed by piratedan!

Tonight, let’s share our favorite “go to” comfort movies and TV shows.  Dog knows we could all use some!  For me these days, it’s Magnum PI (the new one) and White Collar.  Magnum PI has interesting characters – good people, who help other people, who generally try to do the right thing – and great scenery, with plenty of eye candy.  And they usually catch the bad guys!  They say that smart people tend to live mysteries and that people who like mysteries and cases to be solved often have a strong sense of right and wrong.

Years ago, before the internet, before Tivo and DVRs, before streaming, it was Murphy’s Romance.  Sally Fields and James Garner; she the younger woman, he the older man.  They have chemistry and sparks fly, but he’s too old for her – at least until she decides that he’s not.  Nothing changes, until it does!

There is a great scene in Murphy’s Romance about how you wear your cowboy hat.  I tried to find it, with no success. (By the way, I do not recommend accidentally typing HOT instead of HAT when you are trying to google “Murphy’s Romance hat scene video”.)

That movie got me through the death of my mom, and the end of my relationship a year later.  I would put my tape in the VCR and then I could somehow fall asleep watching it on the couch.  (I don’t know if the research still holds, but at the time I remember reading that a very high percentage of relationships end within a year of the loss of a parent.)

White Collar is such a great show.  So many great characters, great relationships, and oh my so much eye candy!  Matt Bomer!!!  Mozzie. 💕 Elizabeth, Sara, Diana.  Did I mention Matt Bomer?

I am all but begging you, please do not just list the shows you like.  Please share something about your “go to” comfort shows, and if you’re up for living on the edge, maybe even share something about yourself.

Medium Cool – Your “Go To” Comfort MoviesPost + Comments (177)

Don’t Bother Them with Numbers: As Long as More Women are Suffering, It’s Working

by | 135 Comments

This post is in: 

Don't Bother Them with Numbers: As Long as More Women are Suffering, It's Working 1
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham was on Face the Nation this morning, mainly to talk about fires and immigration, but even the host of Face the Republicans let her get in a few home truths:

MARGARET BRENNAN: You have been a very vocal access- advocate, I should say, for Reproductive Health Access. This week marks two years since Roe vs. Wade was struck down. And yet, in 2023, America had the highest abortion number and abortion rate in over a decade. Why do you think there are more abortions happening at a time when there is decreased access?

GOV. LUJAN GRISHAM: Well, I think there are more abortions happening because more women are at risk, which means they can’t get into a provider, they can’t get prenatal care. You’ve got providers who are worried about prosecutions and any number of other issues that interfere with their ability to provide care, less access to contraceptives, less information about public health, less ability to get to your primary care physician. Most families and women live eighty-six miles from a provider- you create a draconian situation; you’re going to increase risk at every single place. And this is a state that’s clear about protecting women and creating equality, but that’s what I believe is the genesis of this situation.

In addition to what Gov. Lujan Grisham said, I’m guessing one reason is that outlawing abortion makes women who are pregnant “call the question” earlier — since mifepristone by mail is the only alternative to a long car ride that they can’t afford.  But that’s just a guess.

Anyway, do I think the fact of rising abortion rates post-Dobbs is going to make forced birthers rethink their positions?  Of course not:  first, they never rethink anything.  Second, along with the rate of abortion, the rate of women’s suffering has gone up, and that’s what they really wanted.  Third, this will just push them to ask for more:  outlawing contraception is next, and boy are they foaming at the mouth to get that done.  Look for Thomas and Alito to break new ground in originalism by pointing out that the founding fathers didn’t have the pill or IUDs, therefore Griswold should be reversed.

Don’t Bother Them with Numbers: As Long as More Women are Suffering, It’s WorkingPost + Comments (135)

Sunday Morning Open Thread: But Seriously…

by | 309 Comments

This post is in: , , ,

If ever you have the time to watch a 12-minute video, it’s probably on a Sunday. There’s a temptation to dismiss Project 2025, and the Heritage Foundation authoritarians who hatched it, as just another airy right-wing phantasy for TFG to spin to the rubes. But if you watch the clip below, it’s clear this is a very dangerous, and frankly un-American, plan with terrible ramifications for everyone:

Here’s a 90-second clip from the interview above, if you want something briefer to share on social media. “Institutionalize Trumpism!”... even Michael Steele, who’s made a nice chunk of change from the Heritage Foundation, repudiates this nutbird’s ranting as “a dramatic shift away” from the ‘sensible’ principles HF has espoused since Ronald Reagan made them nationally powerful.

(Also: If I were alone on an elevator, and Kevin Roberts got on, I’d push the button to get off at the next floor… and that’s even before listening to him rant.)

Sunday Morning Open Thread: But Seriously…Post + Comments (309)