Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

The snowflake in chief appeared visibly frustrated when questioned by a reporter about egg prices.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Welcome to day five of every-bit-as-bad-as-you-thought-it-would-be.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

“But what about the lurkers?”

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

I would gladly pay you tuesday for a hamburger today.

When I was faster i was always behind.

There are times when telling just part of the truth is effectively a lie.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

When we show up, we win.

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

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

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

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Too little, too late, ftfnyt. fuck all the way off.

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

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

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Christmas Tree Masterclass

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Back in the 90s my parents sold the B&B they’d been running for a decade and bought a nearby house with a very high-ceilinged living room. I remember them showing us the place before we moved in (I was about 12 at the time), and my Dad remarked, “you could put a hell of a Christmas tree in here.”

Well, he’s made good on that over the years. Here’s this year’s edition, which is over 13 feet high, I’m told.

Christmas Tree Masterclass

Obviously, a tree of this size requires structural support even if, like my parents, you don’t happen to have a resident cat at the moment.

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Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Christmas Day

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A huge barred owl flew down a Virginia family’s chimney, knocked over the star on top of their Christmas tree, and perched himself on top www.wusa9.com/article/life…

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— Phil Lewis (@phillewis.bsky.social) December 21, 2024 at 4:14 PM

Per the local paper (Washington Post):

… It descended into a home in Arlington, Virginia, on Wednesday evening, first sitting on a highchair, then the kitchen cabinets, before pushing aside a gold star on the tree and claiming the top spot.

The Burgoyne family, who live in the Donaldson Run neighborhood, called the Animal Welfare League of Arlington. Spencer Murray, a sergeant with Animal Control, reported for duty. (One can only hope he said: “Owl do it!”)…

Savannah Burgoyne said she heard a sound coming from her chimney earlier that day. She checked with a flashlight but found nothing. Later, she heard her family’s Bernedoodle, Luna, bark and run around. Burgoyne dashed downstairs to see the owl perched on her daughter’s highchair. She called her husband, Jason, who called the Welfare League…

The Welfare League also hopes the tale serves as a friendly reminder to keep chimneys capped to ensure no feathered or furry friends sneak down to escape the cold…

After turning off the lights and opening the doors failed to encourage the Burgoyne’s tree topper to fly outside, Murray safely scooped up the owl with a net when it flew low enough.

Then he took the owl outside and watched it soar away, into the dark of night, not unlike Santa’s sleigh.



Ho! Ho! Ho!
Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Christmas Day

(Clay Jones via GoComics.com)

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On The Road – ema – Mister, Can You Spare A … Few Thousand Dollars?

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ema

Every year Bergdorf Goodman transforms one of its upper floors into a Christmas extravaganza of decorations, pretend gingerbread houses, and mini Santas. The prices are, of course, quite silly*, but if you just want to browse and overdose on holiday stuff, Bergdorf Goodman is the place for you. 

*$3,195 for a gingerbread house, >$300 for a tree ornament

(sorry, didn’t have time to upload any clips so just pictures)

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On The Road - ema - Mister, Can You Spare A ... Few Thousand Dollars? 9

Tuesday Night Open Thread

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Merry Christmas Eve, Y’all!

Actually, what is something like “y’all” but said only in this region of the country? I’d like to pick it up and add it to my vocabulary so I can piss off all the people at the general store in Bethany when I get back acting like I’m all cowboy and shit.

I had a weird interaction today. I was at the pharmacy picking something up for Joelle. I picked my stuff up, walked out, and as I was alking to the Honda saw some older guy- late 60’s early 70’s guy in an escalade pull into the spot on my passenger side, but like 6″ away. He sat there for a moment, and as I was starting to get into the driver’s seat, he started opening his door into mine. I yelled “Hey” and he kept doing it so I blurted out “Are you mental have you taken leave of your senses.” He yelled “FUCK YOU” and I said “You’re the fucking one smashing into my door.”

At that point his wife started screaming at him to stop being such an asshole and I just sat there. I couldn’t even do anything to get away because he would have raked the entire side of my car with his door if I tried to reverse, so I yelled “Just fucking stop so I could leave.” He did, I reversed, and he got out, and as I was driving away he yelled “Fuck you.”

So that is the kind of energy Arizonans were putting out today. I swear to god this shit only happens to me, I feel like fucking Larry David but without being an instigator.

There was also big cat energy today. I had to go to three different groceries to get the stuff I needed and the oddly specific list of things Joelle wanted, and the first place, Sprouts, I walked in and this big mexican man behind the deli counter yelled “HEY CAT DADDY” and his coworker started saying how awesome the shirt was. Then an older woman by the produce there. And this happened several times in Frye’s and then Trader Joe’s. It’s the weirdest god damned thing. I have worn this shirt dozens of times and only every now and then does someone comment.

I thought about it a while and then I think I decided that all the cat people finally are done procrastinating preparing for Christmas because they are out of time and are forced to be in grocery stores, so I was just shopping at peak cat person time. If you have any other ideas let me know.

Oh, another funny encounter- at Sprouts I was in the herb section and the guy in front of me was getting chives, rosemary, thyme, and sage, and had 2lbs of butter in his car, and I said “Standing rib” and he laughed and said yeah and then the guy behind me said “Me too.” I said “don’t forget the horseradish” and walked off. It was a very pleasant and extremely dude interaction.

I’m not gonna talk about politics because fuck it we are old, it’s the holidays, we don’t know how many we have left, so fuck it. Shit will still be standing on 2 January.

Trimmed up the bone in, put my butter rub on it, and have it wrapped in aluminum foil for overnight. I will take it out and let it get to room temp. We’re also going to have some smashed new potatoes, peas, and a nice salad. Joelle is feeling much better than yesterday, so that is good, and it made everything easier. She spent a good bit of time icing on the couch cackling at the inappropriate parts, which is to say all of them, of Bad Santa. Also gave the dogs and cats a real treat with some Evanger’s ground rabbit and I could down some of the fat from the back of the prime rib and gave it to them.

You all have a good night. We’re gonna go watch some more of the worst people on earth with the last couple episodes of Yellowstone.

DON’T FORGET YOUR PETS OF BALLOON JUICE CALENDARS!

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War for Ukraine Day 1,035: The Third Ukrainian Christmas Eve of Russia’s Genocidal Reinvasion

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A screen grab of NEIVANMADE's Christmas 2023 art. It shows Joseph and Mary standing over the baby Jesus in a crib/manger. All have Orthodox style halos. The sky behind them is a dark blue and there is a golden thatched roof over them. To the left of the top of the roof's center a star/comet is visible.

(Image by NEIVANMADE)

As Christmas Eve gives way to Christmas Day in Ukraine – 7:38 PM EST/2:38 AM local time in Ukraine – over 1/2 of Ukraine is under air raid alert and Russian Air Force strike fighters and bombers are up over western Russia. The Ukrainians are facing drone storms, rockets, and missiles as a Christmas present from the genocidal Putin.

Air raid alert map of Ukraine. All of eastern, northern, and most of central Ukraine are under air raid alert/shaded red on the map. Russian fighters and bombers are aloft over western Russia.

This is after the Russians bombarded Kryvyi Rih earlier today:

On Christmas Eve, russia launched a missile that destroyed a four-story building in Kryvyi Rih.

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) December 24, 2024 at 9:28 AM

Fireworks burst beyond my window, their festive clamor scraping old wounds. In Ukraine, carols are drowned by explosions. This photo from Kryvyi Rih shows a Christmas tree under ruins. The world wraps itself in tinsel and cheer. I sit in its shadow, waiting for a miracle.

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— Iryna Voichuk (@irynavoichuk.bsky.social) December 24, 2024 at 1:39 PM

Christmas eve when your neighbor is genocidal russia

(Kryvyi Rih today, after the russian missile attack on the city, that injured at least 11 people, including a 16 years old girl)

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) December 24, 2024 at 10:55 AM

The Kyiv Independent has the details:

Editor’s Note: This is a developing story and is being updated.

Russia attacked a residential building in the city of Kryvyi Rih in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, injuring at least 15 people, Governor Serhii Lysak said.

One person was killed, according to the governor.

Preliminary reports say that a Russian ballistic missile hit a four-story apartment building in the city, according to Mayor Oleksandr Vilkul.

“Unfortunately, we’re preparing for difficult news,” Vilkul said in a statement.

Two people were rescued from under the rubble. Ten of the injured victims were hospitalized after the attack. Four of them — a 78-year-old man and three women aged 72, 65, and 42 — are in serious condition, Lysak reported.

Ukrainian officials condemned the missile attack, which targeted a residential neighborhood during the holidays.

“While the rest of the world celebrates Christmas, Ukrainians continue to suffer from endless Russian attacks. Terrorists do not understand human morality,” said Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets.

Andrii Yermak, the head of President’s Office, addressed the Kryvyi Rih attack on his official Telegram channel.

“Russians are murderers. Nothing sacred, no humanity,” he said.

Emergency services are still working at the scene of the attack, officials said.

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

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Space Science Open Thread: Mars, Beyotches!

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The position of every Dem should be that NASA will spend $0 on crewed spaceflight. Flights, training, R&D, all of it. It's a waste, we have a deficit, we should spend on cops, blah blah blah whatever.
Republicans have no choice but to throw money at it now, and will trade to ensure that happens.

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— Max Kennerly (@maxkennerly.bsky.social) December 21, 2024 at 7:30 PM

Rich guys with big fantasies:

… Isaacman made headlines earlier this year when he became the first private astronaut to conduct a spacewalk. The five-day mission took place using a capsule built by Elon Musk’s company SpaceX. During the flight, Isaacman and SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis donned space suits supplied by the company and floated briefly outside the capsule…

Isaacman is a friend of Musk, and his online payment company, Shift 4, has extensive financial ties to SpaceX. According to financial disclosure documents, Shift 4 had invested $27.5 million dollars in SpaceX as of 2021. That same year, Shift4 announced a five-year partnership that would make it the payment platform for Starlink, the satellite internet service run by SpaceX.

If confirmed as NASA administrator, Isaacman would oversee billions of dollars in contracts that the government has awarded to SpaceX. He would also be in a position to funnel more money to Musk’s company…

In fact, in previous posts on Musk’s social media platform X, Isaacman appears to have shown a strong preference for SpaceX. He has supported allowing SpaceX to increase its launches out of California, after lawmakers there voted to restrict its flights from Vandenberg Air Force Base. He’s also been critical of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) to carry astronauts to the moon, as well as the agency’s decision to award a lunar landing contract to Blue Origin, the spaceflight company of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. The Blue Origin award came after NASA gave a multi-billion dollar contract to SpaceX for the same mission…

Farrar says Isaacman would not immediately be able to restructure NASA’s large programs, such as its Artemis mission to deliver astronauts to the moon. That’s because many aspects of those programs are dictated by Congress, which sets the budget for the space agency. “The real question for NASA is whether Congress will permit it to abandon legacy projects like SLS so the budget can be redirected to SpaceX,” he says…

Back during the first Gilded Age, plutocrats started the trend of buying themselves vast Western dude ranches (frequently using government dollars), where they could live out their manly Cowboy & Indian dreams. That’s still popular, of course, but Space, beyotches! has both a technocratic sheen and the imagined advantage of becoming an actual God-Emperor in a whole new realm. Especially for a soutpiel like Elon Musk, who’s been steeped since birth in the idea that when the going gets tough, the privileged elite skip out…

Like it or not, the agency that has the institutional knowledge on life support, deep space tracking, and a dozen other technologies needed for Mars is NASA. Not to mention that for reasons of practical politics, a half-trillion dollar Mars landing has to be a national project

The irreducible length (~two years) of a Mars mission is so far out of our experience that it frontloads any landing attempt with multiple two-year testing cycles in far Earth orbit, to work out the life support bugs. There’s just no way around this grind as a prerequisite.

That means that to go to Mars, you have to sustain the support of Congress for a decade or more, as parties come in and out of power. Old Elon was on track to achieve this, his pose was disdaining politics in favor of a good old wailing electric guitar American can-do spirit

He had the cultural capital, the money, and a promising rocket program that put him on track to realizing the Martian dream, and he gave that up to become an ideologue in an administration where such influence has historically had a short shelf life. Talk about a mind virus!

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