Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

Fucking consultants! (of the political variety)

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Mediocre white men think RFK Jr’s pathetic midlife crisis is inspirational. The bar is set so low for them, it’s subterranean.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

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

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

How stupid are these people?

75% of people clapping liked the show!

… gradually, and then suddenly.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Petty moves from a petty man.

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

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Washington Post Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

Republicans do not trust women.

You are here: Home / Archives for 2024

Archives for 2024

Wednesday Evening Open Thread: The NYTimes & the GOP, Hand in Glove

by | 96 Comments

This post is in: , , ,

But it’s fantastic *content*!…

show full post on front page

Wednesday Evening Open Thread: The <em>NYTimes</em> & the GOP, Hand in GlovePost + Comments (96)

Let’s Check In on Kristi’s Bed Shitting Ways

by | 176 Comments

This post is in: 

Kristi Noem, Governor of the Sunshine State, girlfriend to Corey Lewandowski, and Trump sycophant vying for the VP spot, has been leaving some pretty big skid marks in the sheets recently.

First, the citizens of South Dakota had to pay $300k, and the South Dakota Health Secretary had to issue an apology, to the Transformation Project, a state contractor that was going to hire a community health worker for the transgender community.  Kristi engineered dropping the Transformation Project as soon as the whole MAGA world decided that trans people were the designated object of hate.

Second, she’s admitted that her stunt sending the South Dakota National Guard to the Texas border was a $1.3 million “gift” to Texas.

Finally, she’s been banned from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation because she claimed that drug cartels are murdering people on the reservation, and specifically that a gang called the “Ghost Dancers” is responsible for some of the violence.  There’s no evidence that they are, plus invoking the name of the Ghost Dancers is a major insult to the Ogalala Sioux Tribe because it’s a reference to a ceremony that was one of the pretexts for the Wounded Knee massacre on the Pine Ridge reservation.

On the bright side, she’s got a new book, the title of which is probably a reference to her political future in South Dakota after all the stunts she’s pulled.  The new book comes out in May, and her last book was published in June, 2022, so she’s really working that angle, too.  She’s pretty much an unthreatening lightweight, so I think she has a pretty good chance of being Trump’s VP pick.

Let's Check In on Kristi's Bed Shitting Ways

Let’s Check In on Kristi’s Bed Shitting WaysPost + Comments (176)

Wednesday Afternoon Open Thread

by | 134 Comments

This post is in: ,

Cup of CREAMED coffee

In the morning thread, I complained a lot about having to drink black coffee because I ran out of half-and-half and milk, and many agreed it was a tragic situation. I ransacked my well-stocked hurricane-country pantry in a fruitless search for canned milk, sweetened condensed milk or any plausible dairy-like product.

I even checked the freezer for ice cream. The only dairy I could find in the house was cheese, and that obviously wouldn’t do. So I choked down two cups of vile black coffee.

It delivered caffeine adequately, I guess. But I still didn’t feel right. So a while ago, I went downstairs to our enclosed game room (it’s a stilt house) to see if there was an RC cola in the downstairs fridge, aka, the beer fridge. There was. And there was also half a pint of heavy whipping cream!

Fuuuuck! I’d forgotten all about that!

I’d stashed it there more than a week ago when my sister and I returned from our aunt’s birthday party with a cooler containing several craft beers (our rural relations won’t touch the stuff), plus the leftover heavy whipping cream I’d brought along to make a pie topping at the party.

I flew back upstairs lickety split, brewed some coffee and am now enjoying a properly creamed (overly, even) hot beverage. And all is right with the world.

Open thread!

Wednesday Afternoon Open ThreadPost + Comments (134)

Global Trade Patterns

by | 219 Comments

This post is in: 

If you have been paying attention, this is not a surprise, but it is still jarring to see it in black and white:

Global Trade Patterns

I have now survived, in my lifetime, an “OMG THE JAPANESE ARE BUYING ALL OF AMERICA” and an “OMG THE CHINESE ARE BUYING ALL OF AMERICA” scares. Back to the point of the article, I generally think this is a great development, if for no other reason than lessening global shipping. And unless my fundamental understandings of economics are wrong, this will bring wealth to both nations, lifting both economies, and perhaps lessening the immigration crisis (although many of the people at the border are from other portions of central and south America who are fleeing regimes that we have encouraged/destabilized).

Any thoughts?

Global Trade PatternsPost + Comments (219)

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: President Biden Is Serious; His GOP Antagonists Are Not

by | 246 Comments

This post is in: , ,

Per the Associated Press:

… The Associated Press declared “None of these candidates” the winner at 12:01 a.m. based on initial vote results that showed it with a significant lead over Haley in seven counties across the state, including in the two most populous counties. At the time the race was called, “None of these candidates” led with about 60% of the vote. Haley trailed with 33%.

Former President Donald Trump did not appear on the ballot. Gov. Joe Lombardo, Nevada’s Republican chief executive, endorsed Trump and publicly indicated his intent to cast his ballot for “None of these candidates.” A significant number of Trump supporters appear to have followed the governor’s lead. Initial returns showed “None of these candidates” leading in seven counties that Trump carried in his 2016 Nevada caucus win.

Besides Haley, the seven-person GOP primary field included former candidates Mike Pence and Tim Scott, who both dropped out of the race after the primary ballot had been locked in, as well as four relatively unknown hopefuls.

The victory for “None of these candidates” has no official impact on the race for the GOP presidential nomination, since the primary was non-binding and had no delegates at stake. The Nevada Republican Party opted to hold a presidential caucus Thursday to award delegates and has essentially disavowed the primary.

Republican voters who cast ballots in Tuesday’s primary are also allowed to participate in Thursday’s binding caucuses, but the state party has barred candidates who appeared on the primary ballot from also competing in the caucuses, forcing candidates to choose one event over the other. Haley chose to compete in the primary, while Trump opted to compete in the caucuses, where he faces only one candidate and is expected to win most or all of the delegates up for grabs…

 

Despite the source, this is worth reading — “The president is, once more, keeping a relatively low profile as major events pop up around him”:

show full post on front page

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: President Biden Is Serious; His GOP Antagonists Are NotPost + Comments (246)

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: February 7, 2024

by | 29 Comments

This post is in: ,

… The CDC’s latest biweekly estimate of the variant’s spread was published Friday. It comes as key trends reflecting COVID-19’s spread are now showing signs of slowing, following a peak over the winter holidays.

“Several key indicators are showing decreasing levels of activity nationally,” the agency said Friday in its weekly respiratory viruses report.

Only the South has seen trends of the virus rise in wastewater over recent weeks, according to the CDC’s tally through Feb. 1.

Most parts of the country are also seeing steep slowdowns in COVID-19 cases diagnosed in emergency rooms, except in the South where trends now appear to have roughly plateaued in some states…

show full post on front page

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: February 7, 2024Post + Comments (29)

On The Road – BillinGlendaleCA – Disaster!

by | 19 Comments

This post is in: ,

🐾BillinGlendaleCA

After returning from my hike up the North Fork of Big Pine Creek, I decided to stay at home and concentrate on fixing a long standing problem with my star tracker.  I was getting star trails and my polar alignment was perfect.  I removed my iPolar(a little camera that fits in my polar scope part of the tracker, connects to a computer and will polar align the mount) when the USB cable broke and didn’t realize at the time I needed to recalibrate it.  I recalibrated it and I got much better tracking and continued to try to optimize that.

At the same time, I noticed that one of the tires on the Prius had a slow leak, so any distant treks were out until I could get that fixed.  In early December, I was out in my yard shooting and the battery on my camera went dead during the shoot as well as the tracker.  I went inside to plug in the tracker and the USB charging cable went into the hole and didn’t connect to anything.; moving the tracker, I heard something moving around inside.  I took the tracker apart and the USB connector had fallen off the logic board.  I now had no way to charge the tracker’s battery, so I had a brick.

My plans for 2024 included upgrading my mount to a Goto style mount and I had been looking primarily at the SkyWatcher Star Adventurer GTI.  Suddenly my timeline was accelerated, I looked at the Star Adventurer azGTI but decided that the SA GTI was the better choice.  When the price on Amazon dropped a week prior to Christmas, I ordered the mount.  I used it for about a month and decided that I needed a better method of polar alignment, so I also got a mini computer to control the whole image acquisition process as well as a power bank to power everything.

On The Road – BillinGlendaleCA – Disaster!Post + Comments (19)

On The Road - BillinGlendaleCA - Disaster! 8
Glendale, CANovember 20, 2023

The Orion nebula(M42) and the Running Man nebula shot using the old star tracker.  This is a really easy target to shoot since you can actually see it even in light polluted skies.