President Joe Biden cancels the final overseas trip of his presidency just hours before he was set to depart for Rome and the Vatican, choosing to remain in Washington to monitor the response to devastating fires raging in California. https://t.co/pAICFDlKsk
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 9, 2025
… I’m fresh out of good news. Maybe tomorrow!
Planet Fitness locations in Los Angeles are “offering anyone impacted by the fires—first responders and residents—free access to shower, recharge, and relax”
No membership is required to take advantage of locker rooms, WiFi, charging stations at any LA County location not impacted by the fires.— Phil Lewis (@phillewis.bsky.social) January 8, 2025 at 3:53 PM
I'm tapping the sign after a single day: these things are going to happen regularly under Trump and it will be incredibly revealing which journalists are honest enough to admit what Trump does is bad for America https://t.co/3nQPKhLhez pic.twitter.com/JydhZFRhbZ
— The okayest poster there is (@ok_post_guy) January 9, 2025
Michelle and I are thinking of everyone impacted by the wildfires in California, and are grateful for the work of the heroic firefighters and first responders.
If you're looking for ways to help, go to: https://t.co/XVedK5rRDK
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) January 8, 2025
Jimmy Carter, a visionary on ending fossil fuels, put solar panels on the White House. Big Oil-backed Ronald Reagan ousted Carter in 1980 and ripped them out
Tonight, as Carter lies in in state in the Capitol, a climate-fueled wildfire is destroying Reagan's former hometown of Pacific Palisades— Will Bunch (@willbunch.bsky.social) January 7, 2025 at 11:56 PM
Guy who lives twenty miles (as of posting) from the wildfires…
huge left/liberal discourse about hey don’t lump people in red states together there are tons of great people out there fighting the good fight, which is absolutely true and good and then newsmax guy says “california deserves to burn” and conservatives nod
it’s just asymmetrical warfare, that’s all— not an art thief (@famousartthief.bsky.social) January 8, 2025 at 1:23 PM
What interests the incoming maladministration:
On The Road – 🐾BillinGlendaleCA – The Aurora and the Comet
Baud
Seconded.
Everyone wants to be tough as long as they think the toughness will fall only on people they don’t like.
NotMax
Color me skeptical as to any large scale feasibility.
different-church-lady
So… [sips coffee] …any bannings from last night?
different-church-lady
@NotMax:
Baud
@different-church-lady:
I’m still not banned.
Jay
@different-church-lady:
Not so far,. some pie.
Baud
@NotMax:
Why don’t they just use gold not found in electronic waste?
different-church-lady
@Baud: You’ll just have to try harder.
satby
@different-church-lady: intriguing. Do I want to know?
Baud
@different-church-lady:
I’ll work on making more grammar errors and misusing words and phrases.
different-church-lady
@satby: Can’t tell you that, but if you do it ain’t hard to find.
Jay
@different-church-lady:
Baud linked to his Facebook page of “no Pants” shots,………… ; )
Bruce K in ATH-GR
@Jay: That goes into the blackmail file right next to who sold Bill the Cat the Tender Vittles that he was freebasing the night he died in the summer of 1983.
NotMax
@different-church-lady
??
Not seeing the connection.
Princess
It had crossed my mind that Putin wants Alaska back and Greenland is supposed to make up for it.
Jay
@NotMax:
Gold Bug ads on you tube,………………..
Scout211
Good morning.
Local news has to refute Trump’s claims about Newsom. The lies have a life of their own and the facts become “fake news.”
KCRA
Here’s one that is so obvious to us, but seems truthy to Newsom-haters.
This will be a challenge. Truthiness seems more believable than facts. And facts sound more like “messaging.”
I so hope that the winds die down in SoCal and progress can be made on the containment of the fires.
satby
@different-church-lady: Found it. That’s part of a decades long pattern, why anyone falls for it I don’t know. The chick from downunder is just as bad. People who show up just to argue can be ignored, as can people who want to get competitive about disasters and whose was worse. As can people who are “just asking questions”. Not everyone who shows up does so to further the discussion; I wish people would quit taking the bait.
Betty Cracker
I can share some good news in politics on the local level: There’s a new sheriff in town as of this week. David Vincent is a Republican, as is every elected official in this county, but unlike GOP incumbent Mike Prendergast (defeated in the primary), Vincent ran on serving the whole community and emphasized local issues like traffic enforcement instead of grandstanding statewide on drug busts and posting MAGA memes online like so many red county sheriffs do.
Prendergast was Rick Scott’s chief of staff and moved to this county explicitly to run for sheriff, where he served two terms. This year, Prendergast was endorsed by DeSantis and FL AG Ashley Moody (a terrible AG and potential Marco Rubio replacement). He outspent Vincent two to one and was still defeated by a lopsided 60-40.
It was the first time an incumbent sheriff lost here in more than four decades. Democratic candidates dropped out and threw their support to Vincent to help make it happen.
Jay
@Bruce K in ATH-GR:
It was actually a prototype “Temptations” product,
Several people were killed in the cover up, including Milo.
different-church-lady
@Scout211: We’ve left mere truthiness in a cloud of dust and speeding at top speed on the Big Lie Express.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
It’s always nice to see some sort of limit.
satby
@Betty Cracker: yay! Now
Now hoping his actions will match his promises.
Jay
@Betty Cracker:
Yay!
different-church-lady
@Betty Cracker: Yay!
(I’m just joining in…)
Chief Oshkosh
@Baud: Hey, now! That’s MY gig, and I don’t appreciate the competition!
Sounds like I should be glad that I was work work working all last night.
Another Scott
@Betty Cracker: Yay!
[ Kermit-flailing-arms.gif ]
Best wishes,
Scott.
NotMax
@Jay
Oh.
I have yet to be served up so much as a single ad of any kind on YouTube so am out of the loop when it comes to such things.
Elizabelle
I will put this up again once we have a Jimmy Carter funeral service thread.
From satirist, Andy Borowitz, now on Substack:
Jimmy Carter Says Best Part of Heaven is He Will Never See Trump.
Another Scott
ICYMI, JuliusGoat’s (A.R. Moxon’s) latest is pretty good.
I do wish, though, that he would be more explicit about what he thinks effective tactics for our side would be. To continue the game analogy, sometimes one side refuses to play because the home crowd is being monsters. Rightfully so. However, if the home team is in a position to win the championship via forfeit, then maybe refusing to play is a bad move? The tactics have to fit the details of the situation.
To enact the policies we want and need, we have to have enough political power. That means figuring out ways to win elections even when the field is tilted, even when the monsters temporarily have the upper hand, even if it requires alliances with those we disagree with on other policies. It’s not an easy task…
Best wishes,
Scott.
Leto
@Elizabelle: that’s good; thanks for the early laugh :)
jowriter
@Elizabelle: That is so good I think I will frame it and look at it whenever I’m feeling despair in the next four years. Thank you, you made me smile. My daughter went to the pubic viewing at the Capitol night before last. She said it was a lovely experience, and the line was very long, despite the very cold weather.
RSA
I call holier-than-thou BS. Southern states are described as deserving their fate all the time by some liberal commenters, just not in the mainstream news media.
satby
This is an older study, but it came to my attention yesterday and it seems worth reading and considering as we try to figure out election success going forward. Or not, whatever.
Elizabelle
@jowriter: Glad that you liked it. And yay to your daughter for paying her respects! I had hoped to do the same, but the line was too long, outside in 20 degree weather, and I am still getting over a sore throat/cold (way better, but lingers).
With The Felon in office, I am glad Jimmy Carter’s presidency and legacy will get a fresh look by new eyes (of Americans; WGAF what The Felon or his band of psychos would have to say?).
More than true, about wildfires burning out of control in Los Angeles, as this great man is memorialized today.
different-church-lady
@RSA: Oh hell, I’ve moved on from southern states — the entire USofA deserves what it’s about to get.
(No I’m not serious. Just very bitter…)
different-church-lady
@satby:
That’s more like it.
frosty
An aspirational gaol for all Balloon-Juice commentaters.
different-church-lady
@frosty: GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!
Dangerman
SoCal has droughts. SoCal has Santa Anas. About once a decade, the Santa Anas are BAD. This year they lined up. It was a perfect storm basically. Not sure climate change can be directly blamed. There are 50 year storms. 100 year storms. This was a 100 year firestorm basically.
What concerns me is clearly SoCal isn’t ready for The Big One. And we know it is coming …
… hell, we knew THIS one was coming. Not enough manpower. Not enough water. A grounded aerial fight which means more manpower and water needed. How much? No idea.
Like Carter’s passing, I’m glad this happened under Biden. TFG would just tell us to rake the beach given he has a thing for CA.
Honestly, in some ways, as bad as it was (is? We have a couple more days to go), it could have been so much worse.
NotMax
@jowriter
Phrasing!
(I know it’s a typo, but couldn’t resist.)
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@satby:
Lotta ‘fucks’ and ‘idiots’ bandied about.
Chief Oshkosh
@RSA: I get it , RSA, I’m born and raised in the reddest of red states and I currently live in a red state. But, call BS all you want, the statement is true. There is a discourse in the left/liberal sphere about lumping together all people of a ‘red’ state. That discourse exists. That is a fact.
No such discourse exists among conservatives, as far as I know (I say AFAIK because I tend to ignore anything any of them say, write, or brain fart out in some other fashion). If anything, their “discourse” is as exemplified by the Newsmax piece noted in the OP.
schrodingers_cat
I attended the state level Ds listening tour yesterday. It was dispiriting. Everyone who I heard was more critical of Joe Biden and the Ds than the Republican party. Many white DSA types claimed to speak for black and brown people. Who died and made them the spokesperson of all black and brown people? Who needs MAGAs with friends like these.
Jeffro
I requested my personal data from Meta/Facebook this morning…supposedly it will take a while before it’s all ready for downloading. (I didn’t want to lose all those pictures, posts, and contacts down the road).
I think I’m going to do what I did with Twitter: keep the account and just check it once a month for messages. (No posting, no engagement, and definitely no clicking on any of their ads).
Is anyone else doing this?
RSA
Thanks for the perspective. You may be right, and I overreacted.
lowtechcyclist
@Chief Oshkosh:
And I’m glad I was tired last night, went to bed early and got off the computer even earlier. Whatever went on last night, I missed it and I’m not going to look at last night’s threads to find out what it was.
The kiddo will be back in school today after a 2-hour delay, so we’ll finally have some resumption of normalcy after last weekend’s snow.
satby
@different-church-lady: I would suggest reading the article for the full context. Because it’s more complex that how we usually perceive the issue of social media.
But that’s why I added “or not, whatever.” Because I have little faith that people will read sources shared.
tobie
@Betty Cracker: Always good to hear about a MAGAt who acted like a dick being kicked to the curb.
Something similar happened in the northernmost county of the eastern shore in Maryland. The head of the Congressional Freedom Caucus Andy Harris had one of his aides (Danielle Hornberger) installed as county executive. She fired county employees, cut local services and–in a big mistake–slashed the school budget leading to the loss of music and AP programs and a sharp reduction in the number of teachers. Everyone hated her and she lost the Republican primary for reelection. She’s gone!
prostratedragon
CSPAN-2 link to funeral. The motorcade has arrived at the cathedral.
RevRick
@Princess: The whole “Trump covets Greenland “ brainfart is rooted in the fact that global warming (a fact Trump vociferously denies) will open up the Arctic Ocean to shipping which will tremendously cut costs. For instance, goods from Japan, which presently have to sail the Pacific and then traverse the Continental US or go through the Panama Canal to reach the East Coast, would instead head north and make a great arc, the shortest distance on a sphere, to reach NYC. And Greenland controls those shipping lanes.
It’s the return of great-power, might-makes-right, law-of-the-jungle politics.
MazeDancer
Sad for Mr.Biden that he didn’t get to see the Pope one last time as President.
Many thousands of homes to be rebuilt in LA. And no immigrants to do it.
While Trump delights in CA’s misey.
TBone
@different-church-lady: this is why I adore you
RevRick
@Scout211: Telling egregious lies is Trump’s strategy of binding his followers to him. They become signifiers of the tribe. And he’s applying Voltaire’s insight that those who believe absurdities will commit atrocities.
Jay
@RevRick:
Yeah, no.
The Northwest Passage is littered with islands, reefs, shallow seas, narrow channels. It is a navigation nightmare, even if you don’t include storms and ice pack.
https://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/English/att__e_44160.html
Compare and contrast,
https://arcticportal.org/maps/download/maps-shipping/3299-arctic-sea-routes-with-main-ports-northpolar-russia-projection
tobie
@schrodingers_cat: Good for you for showing up! The character of these organizations is determined by who makes time for them. It’s a different group than Dem voters in general or the electorate at large. I’m not good at getting involved in civic organizations but know I should.
satby
@prostratedragon: so much bathering and taking phone calls?
ick cspan
comrade scotts agenda of rage
I’m still trying to make sense of a piece that was on CNN last night. They found a family that had been the only ones in Pacific Palisades (or maybe the last ones) who were out there with a garden hose. 4-5 generation “Palisaders” according to the 30-something woman on the air with her grandfather. The house in question, along with another one in the family across the street, were going.
She made it a point of saying they left with “11 adults, 3 pit bulls, 1 lab, a 175 pound tortoise and a cat”. That’s not what struck me tho. The grandfather was complaining that they were doing just fine saving the house with that garden hose, all the while somebody else in the extended klan was videoing his efforts and the house was totally up in flames as everything around him burned like Dresden.
He then said “we felt abandoned by the city” as no fire trucks had ever come by and golly gee, the water pressure died around 10pm local time. Otherwise, he suggested things would have been just fine.
Huh? Area officials had told them to gtfu hours beforehand but I can just hear the statements along these lines going forward. It was almost like CNN managed a Cletus safari *during* the fire.
Given we have people here like Uncle Eb who have lost damn near everything and it sounds like all of us have a connection somewhere there, the amount of empathy and compassion we all have is heart warming, hence why I’m struggling to process and articulate that one, small interview, that’ll most likely be part of just the overall news noise going forward.
Kay
I’m at a hotel in Columbus and people are stopping at the huge tv in the lobby to watch the Carter funeral. Its nice – seeing them stop hustling by and stop to pay their respects is very moving. There’s a bit of a crowd but they’re QUIET.
RevRick
@frosty: I prefer Curly fries from Arby’s.
lowtechcyclist
@Chief Oshkosh:
The flip side of it is that while there are certainly individuals, including some here, who have lumped together all residents of a red state, that’s about as high as it goes. You don’t see Dem Congresspersons or any Dems with any clout saying any such thing. But we remember how many GOP legislators wanted to tell NY and NJ to fuck off and die after Superstorm Sandy. There’s no equivalence, nowhere close.
Ramalama
@Another Scott: Loved reading that, The Rules. Thanks for sharing the link.
allium
@Baud: When the new material they developed extracts gold from e-waste, the “full” compound can be used to turn CO2 into organics, or the gold can be removed (and the “empty” extracting material reused).
So nothing prevents it really, but it saves a step.
TBone
What could go wrong?
Oversight is for sissies. I will be fine if Vegas collapses into a sinkhole sumphole.
lowtechcyclist
@Jeffro:
More or less. I still have my FB and Twitter accounts; I just haven’t bothered to close them. It’s not like I ever spent time on FB more than briefly, so I don’t have a trove of stuff I need to reclaim from it. I was genuinely active on Twitter for a few years, but that was totally political, rather than interacting with friends and family. So if Elmo eventually wipes out my account there, I won’t miss it.
Another Scott
@prostratedragon: I’m watching.
Melania seems to be frozen-in.
Donnie didn’t seem to rise to greet anyone.
He and Obama seemed to be trading jokes for a while, and they’re still talking much more than anyone else. So, it seems to fit with my mantra that he will make the event about himself…
Oh well.
Fair winds and following seas, President Carter.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Soprano2
Wow, that’s messed up.
bluefoot
@schrodingers_cat: I see this a lot, especially recently. There’s this whole “white man’s burden” subtext going on. As if people aren’t expecting Black women yet again to save their asses…. Am I bitter? You betcha. Tired of having to defend myself against supposed allies.
narya
@Jeffro: I haven’t used FB much to begin with–I (re)connected with a handful of relatives and long-lost friends, but I rarely post anything at all other than the occasional comment on someone else’s post. I would get out completely except the local Buy Nothing group uses FB, as does the local stitchers group. It’s a real dumpster fire: one post from someone I actually know, followed by ads, fake accounts, more ads, etc.
RevRick
@Jay: I don’t assume navigation through Canadian waters. Rather, swinging around the east coast of Greenland.
bluefoot
@Elizabelle: This made me laugh out loud.
Baud
No more state courts left. All eyes on Alito and the other Supreme 5
NotMax
@RevRick
They finally hit on something after the Moe fries and Larry fries fell flat.
:)
TBone
@Baud: Donold had a perfect phone call with Alito yesterday.
https://crooksandliars.com/2025/01/alito-talked-yambo-day-he-asked-scotus
Baud
@TBone:
Heh. I made the same comment on Blue sky yesterday.
TBone
@Baud: great minds!
West of the Rockies
I haven’t seen any stories recently about declining readerships/viewers of traditional legacy news outlets…
Are news organizations still suffering, or have patrons returned? I’m hoping legacy media is learning a lesson and changing how they cover stories at least to some degree. This post raises that question well.
oldgold
Tuesday Trump and Alito had a phone chat.
Wednesday Trump files an application with the Supremes to stop the “sentencing” hearing scheduled for Friday in NY.
Unbelievable!
Something similar is reported to have happened once before. President Buchanan, before Trump, arguably our worst President, supposedly spoke with Chief Justice Taney days before the Dred Scott was decided. That turned out well.
TBone
Jasmine Crockett School of STFU video
https://crooksandliars.com/2025/01/jasmine-crockett-rips-scott-jennings
SFAW
@Baud:
I call BS. If you were serious, you would of spelled it “grammer.”
lowtechcyclist
@TBone:
Holy shit, wasn’t everybody already laughing, even back before the pandemic, about what a ridiculous failure Elmo’s underground car-moving systems were? I just can’t believe anyone’s paying him to build more of the same – and I also can’t believe he’s spending his own money on digging a tunnel network under Las Vegas.
Guess I’ll have to read the article to see the particulars. But if Las Vegas is paying real money to Elmo for this, the people running the city should have their heads examined to see if anything’s in there.
different-church-lady
@lowtechcyclist: Exactly: when we blow off steam here we don’t have any actual power to increase the odds that “everyone” in Idaho dies in a plague. But they do.
Scout211
Alito assures the media that Trump’s legal issues were not discussed in that phone conversation. It was all about a former clerk’s possible employment in the Trump administration.
And we all believe Alito, right?
SFAW
@TBone:
Well, in 11 days, President Skum will be inaugurated, and then he can just dictate what Vegas (and the rest of the country) will have to endure/deal with.
lowtechcyclist
@NotMax:
I say you’re full of Shemp.
Omnes Omnibus
@RSA: I don’t think anyone here ever actually disapproved of disaster aid to red states in the wake of an actual disaster.
suzanne
Does anyone know of a current count of the Senate Dems who are going to vote in favor of the Laken Riley Act? Last thing I read indicated five Ds in favor so far.
different-church-lady
@Scout211: I believe Alito
(…is entirely corrupt.)
TBone
@lowtechcyclist: mob rules
TBone
Passage Press
Scout211
Speaking of Elon
This is my shocked face.
BlueGuitarist
@Another Scott:
always appreciate your comments.
Am I missing a joke re “latest” in the link to Jan. 2023?
Harrison Wesley
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: Cletusizing under fire? Somebody’s getting an award for that one!
TBone
@Scout211: it’s gangster code.
Also were his lips moving?
Mai Naem mobile ¹
I remember reading an article several years ago(possibly >10yrs) that insurance companies would force us to do something about climate change because they wouldn’t cover the cost of the consequences climate change. Doesn’t seem like that happened. We just keep on keeping on.
montanareddog
@oldgold: I come not to criticise Alito. For surely he will recuse himself, because Alito is an honourable man.
SFAW
@TBone:
Yambo? Google provides diverse explanations. Being a Certified Old Fart (COF), I do not know which one is relevant.
Elizabelle
@bluefoot: Andy Borowitz is a treasure. For all we know, he is a jackal.
SFAW
@montanareddog:
If only he fell on his sword, like that other honourable man.
TBone
@Mai Naem mobile ¹: in that regard
https://bsky.app/profile/greene.haus/post/3lfbvx4movs2b
Baud
I guess no one hear read John Roberts report about talking smack about the Supreme Court.
TBone
@SFAW: the orange potato plus Rambo
oldgold
@Scout211: What they admit to is damning!
You have a Justice asking the most transactional person on the planet to do him a solid by hiring his mentee.
Another in a long line of Trump’s “perfect” phone calls.
Kay
@Mai Naem mobile ¹:
I read an article that included some analysis by a German reinsurer that says otherwise. I don’t think anyone is ready for hugely expensive climate catastrophes all over the world, and obviously that’s just property loss not lives. Even insurance companies run out of money.
I’ll try to find it.
TBone
@Baud: hahahaha LOL I’m choking
Omnes Omnibus
@SFAW: I think it another “clever” way to avoid typing Trump. Yams are orange, get it?
SFAW
@Omnes Omnibus:
But-but-but MoveOn had an (unpublished) ad comparing Bush II to Hitler, so BOTH SIDES!
Harrison Wesley
@allium: I’ve heard that Elon Musk has started a project to extract gold from human waste.
narya
@Mai Naem mobile ¹: Well, the “forcing us to do something” has sort of happened, in that insurance companies are flat-out refusing to issue policies. Some states (including CA, IIUC) have “funds” to replace that lack, but they’ll be insufficient for something like this. On top of that, everyone else’s rates still go up a lot. Chris Hayes had a piece on that last night.
MazeDancer
Since there is no Jimmy Carter Funeral thread – Yes, that was Andrew Young reading
Omnes Omnibus
@SFAW: This is true. ::sadly shaking head::
Kay
@Baud:
They keep doing blatantly corrupt things and then complaining that no one respects them. Whining at people while continuing to behave like this isn’t going to work.
SFAW
@Omnes Omnibus:
Your explo seems to make sense, and I can see it might be a play on “Rambo” (which makes even more sense), so I’ll use that one. Thanks.
And, to be off topic for a second: any chance The Pack would trade Jordan Love or Malik Willis, even-up, for Aaron Rodgers?
Ghost of Joe Liebling’s Dog
@Harrison Wesley: … and coincidentally, Turnip’s hair has gone white. (Ish.) Verry eenteresting!
Omnes Omnibus
@SFAW: No. Hey, you have a guy who has thrown 501 touchdowns and is a first ballot Hall of Famer. You should be happy.
SFAW
@Harrison Wesley:
I heard he’s going for the teeth first. And he’s proposing some “medical camps” to help people rid themselves of their pesky gold fillings.
They’ll have big signs over the gates: “Extrahieren macht frei.”
BlueGuitarist
@lowtechcyclist:
@NotMax:
https://youtu.be/n7ztVRFqDwM?si=FU8kOsj-113zDh2g
Jump n’ the saddle, “The Curly Shuffle”
SFAW
@Omnes Omnibus:
No, no, I’m already WAY too happy that he’s a Jet. I just want to spread some happiness to less fortunate teams and their fans.
ETA: Although in fairness, the Jets O-line would probably get Love or Willis injured by the second game
Glory b
@Another Scott: I read him semi regularly,he’s a bright guy but never says what he thinks effective Democratic tactics would consist of.
That’s the hard part.
p.a.
Psychologically, their whinging is interesting. They’re untouchable. They’re vile. Why don’t they just laugh it off? (Maybe Campground Clarence does.) Or just rub it in our faces? Maybe Roberts tells them not to push the envelope that much. Maybe it’s like Lincoln’s speech on the slave power, roughly: they not only want to be left alone to do what they will, they require we praise the corruption as a great thing.
BlueGuitarist
@MazeDancer:
thank you!
HeleninEire
NY Court of Appeals has denied Trumps request to halt his sentencing. It now goes to the SCOTUS.
TBone
I guess orange potato plus Rambo was too cryptic?
Kay
Fetterman backs conquering Greenland.
Other than legal weed and cosplaying white working class, does anyone know what part of the Democrats agenda this “dude” actually supports?
Legal weed isn’t even our issue. John Boehner is a weed industry lobbyist.
Elizabelle
Gerald Ford’s son, Steven, is eulogizing Jimmy Carter now.
The Felon is sitting in the front row with a scowl on his orange face throughout.
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone 😊 😊 😊
Another Scott
@BlueGuitarist: Whoops!
(It showed up on Mastodon/Explore today so I assumed. Sorry.)
Thanks.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Elizabelle
@rikyrah: Hello there.
TBone
@Kay: the quote
However, Fetterman said it would be a “responsible conversation” to discuss “just buying it out.”
He’s into getting attention, good or bad.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@lowtechcyclist:
Every time I see somebody here do that, I’m reminded that many of them have spent no time living in red states or in red portions of ostensibly blue states (like living in southern IL, that’s as “red state” as you can get).
“Lumping” like that in effect would have meant people like me and Ozark back in Misery were to be screwed/deserved-what-we-got simply by geographic association. Living in that location for 22+ years definitely tempered my “fuck the red states” attitudes.
Kay
@Elizabelle:
The Trumps can’t attend funerals. It’s not about them. Melanie behaves as badly as he does. Her pissed off puss at every public event, like she’s doing us a favor standing there rigidly. Why does she come? She adds nothing.
BlueGuitarist
@suzanne:
According to The Hill:
Fetterman and Gallego are cosponsors
Will also vote for:
Peters and Slotkin (MI), Rosen (NV), Kelly (AZ).
inclined to support:
Shaheen (NH)
Mai Naem mobile ¹
My sister asked me yesterday who James Woods was. Not as a joke, she really didn’t know who James Woods was.
Glory b
@schrodingers_cat: Criticism of Dems has now become fashionable. Meanwhile, the same people will wonder why enthusiasm for Dems drops.
And yes, I wonder also why so many white DSA types are sure they have their fingers on the pulse of the black community.
Kay
@TBone:
Fuck him. Trump wants it to benefit Putin. Tell the dumbass Mr Fetterman sovereign countries aren’t FOR SALE.
Christ. Along with cosplaying as a welder he’s also going to cosplay as a belligerent MAGA? Is Pennsylvania for sale? No? Then why can he buy Greenland?
Elizabelle
@Kay: They are appalling people.
And that stands out, because the former presidential families around them show humor and elegance and intelligence.
Great eulogy by Steve Ford; Gerald entrusted his eulogy to his son, as he thought Jimmy might outlive him.
TBone
@Mai Naem mobile ¹: Hahaha good, I wish I didn’t know also.
BlueGuitarist
@Another Scott:
thanks!
Found the rules intro very interesting
but checked the date when I got to
“The guy the Republican Party wanted as Speaker is a tall slack pale pillar of skin and dandruff named Kevin McCarthy”
Elizabelle
I so hope Trump’s eventual funeral is in Moscow. It might still be.
It is laughable to think what people will have to say about him, or what they do say and what they leave out.
TBone
@Kay: I keep my powder dry for actions, not words.
suzanne
@Kay:
I wouldn’t mind being bought by Denmark. Just saying.
;)
Elizabelle
Ted Mondale delivering Walter Mondale’s eulogy for JEC.
RevRick
@NotMax: So, no Moe fries?
Kay
@TBone:
The goddamned arrogance. “Buying it out”. Greenland has indigenous people on it who have been there for 5000 years. Norway and Denmark have had treaties with Greenlanders since 1300. Fetterman can’t fucking “buy” them. They’re not for sale.
TBone
Hahaha! Courtesy of Jeff Tiedrich today, a blast from the recent past
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NPtXj5t2YPk
Trigger warning it is Donold
tobie
@Glory b: I don’t know why politicians and activists can’t just argue for what they think is right. Explain why a policy is necessary, what it will do for prices, jobs, education, etc.
Betty Cracker
@tobie: Good riddance to bad rubbish!
I’ve wondered if there are any lessons for Dems in deep red areas to take away from situations like that. I don’t know. Seems connected to highly specific local circumstances.
For instance, the defeated sheriff in my county pissed off the Trumpiest MAGA dopes here by participating in the arrest of the J6 insurrectionist known as “Sedition Panda.” (Who will probably get pardoned and come back soon — ugh!)
But his margin of defeat suggests it couldn’t have been that alone. He fucked up/got bad PR for other things too. It was a combination of factors.
I guess the takeaway is there is a limit to what people will put up with from incumbents, even if tribal affiliation seems to always drive reelection. That’s good to know because there was plenty of reason to doubt it!
Glory b
@Kay: Hey, I was in favor of Conor Lamb, a regular Democrat that flipped a red congressional district.
But no, too many progressives thought that because he flouted sartorial norms and insisted on wearing hoodies and shorts to almost every event, he was one of them.
They didn’t get played, they played themselves.
Elizabelle
Carter Funeral thread just went up. (Thank you, Water Girl.)
tobie
@Elizabelle: Thanks for posting about the event. I should probably check c-span online.
Elizabelle
@Betty Cracker: “Sedition Panda.” Now there is a concept.
Glory b
@suzanne: I’m ready!
p.a.
What was Fetterman’s online presence before he ran this time? Were there clues he was a Blue Dog? Strokes affect people.
Mai Naem mobile ¹
@Kay: I am wondering if anybody has asked TFG about plans for his funeral. I remember Jimmy Carter eulogizing at Ford’s funeral and joking about him and Ford discussing their funeral plans because POTUS funerals obviously have quite a bit of pre-planning while they’re alive. How would you even ask TFG and his answer would be something stupid like ‘the bigliest evah, the bigliest headstone, gold casket, casket NFTs, casket flag souvenirs, $1M tickets to see the funeral at the cathedral…
Elizabelle
@tobie: Yes, I am listening/watching on C-Span.
Striking how JEC outlived many of those who had prepared eulogies for him.
Kay
@TBone:
Danes think Trump and the international far Right that Trump.is a part of want Greenland to benefit Putin. Putin is a threat to them. They don’t want the US far Right aiding Putin and sacrificing their safety and sovereignty to far Right goals.
Fetterman either fell for far Right propaganda or he’s one of them.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Betty Cracker:
“All Politics Is Local”, despite (R) efforts to nationalize everything down to the proverbial local dog catcher level, still has some resonance. I saw it play out that way many times back in The Reddest or Second Reddest Country in Misery right up until we moved.
Soprano2
@TBone: John Roberts wonders why people have such a poor opinion of the SCOTUS, when this kind of thing is happening. How dumb can he be?
Mai Naem mobile ¹
@p.a.: I’m beginning to wonder about Fetterman but I’m going to wait till I see how he votes. He may have been spooked by Bob Casey losing.
suzanne
@Glory b: To be utterly fair….. it was kind of a gamble on an alliance. I got the impression that progressives thought that the working-class cosplay would win enough votes in the Pennsyltucky part of the state that they could put together a winning coalition. That gamble seems to have borne out.
Fetterman’s appeal was not just to progressives. There’s a lot of that working-class white population who loves him. Shit, I had two neighbors (older white blue-collar Dems) on my block dress up as him for Halloween.
I was torn between Fetterman and Kenyatta, went with Fetterman because I thought he’d be more “electable”, and now I regret that shit.
tobie
@Betty Cracker: I think at a local level one can really tell when governance fails. If a sheriff buys a new fleet of vehicles for the police department, some other department will pay the price in ways that immediately affect local residents.
Your earlier post about good news stood out to me because Deutsche Welle had some very interesting geopolitical news today:
Lebanon finally gets a President! Possible beginning of a new era.
Russia’s searching for new bases for its forces formerly in Syria and having trouble. Its influence in Africa is at risk.
I’d link but I’m not sure where to find the articles on DW’s English website. Still interesting to see what’s happening elsewhere and the new alliances being forged. Trump may align with Putin but other coalitions are emerging.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@p.a.:
His campaign manager was in effect a Blue Dog/”New Liberal”, that much I knew. But Fetterman never really channeled any of that crap on the campaign trail so it was hard to get a read on him along those lines unlike Sinema who was always an out-and-proud Blue Dog.
rikyrah
stacy (@stacycay) posted at 6:05 PM on Wed, Jan 08, 2025:
The Supreme Court will almost undoubtedly overturn Obergefell, which is the ruling that protects gay marriage federally.
However, Democrats in 22 passed a law to require red states to honor gay marriages in blue states if this happens.
The parties aren’t the same. It matters.
(https://x.com/stacycay/status/1877144675439558708?t=wnh7y7-VFSRgFQjxLASzkQ&s=03)
Soprano2
@Harrison Wesley: They actually do that at places where they process gold. I read about it in an industry publication a long time ago.
rikyrah
Greg Sargent (@GregTSargent) posted at 7:49 AM on Thu, Jan 09, 2025:
If Trump were president now, he’d be using the wildfires to extort Gavin Newsom and CA, and everyone on here knows it.
As Nicole Hemmer notes on the pod, he has a history of this, and this impulse is deeply rooted on the right.
Check out our exchange:
https://t.co/3u7RUTpl4I https://t.co/jp7HX0YgqL
(https://x.com/GregTSargent/status/1877352081771598069?t=I2B8AWHFHbH98xFSJGIjCQ&s=03)
rikyrah
scary lawyerguy (@scarylawyerguy) posted at 7:44 AM on Thu, Jan 09, 2025:![]()
if Joe Biden did anything other than offer all federal assistance when a natural disaster struck a “red” state, the media would have had a week-long meltdown excoriating him for not being ~ presidential ~ but Trump, they’re like “dude does things his own way, whatcha gonna do”
(https://x.com/scarylawyerguy/status/1877350701904396570?t=gDrosO3gDu_RzNXNBhkqYA&s=03)
TBone
@Soprano2: no bottom to the depths of his public stupidity
Mai Naem mobile ¹
@Soprano2: calling Alito for a reference is such total bullshit. Who the fuck buys that? The fucking POTUS elect is calling on references? What? Is he the fucking HR person at the WH? How is any sentient human being buying this shit?
rikyrah
Barb McQuade (@BarbMcQuade) posted at 7:46 AM on Thu, Jan 09, 2025:
As @Steve_Vladeck writes, there is no lawful basis for SCOTUS to halt Trump’s NY sentencing. Any appeal must wait final judgment. Let’s see if the Court is up to the job they swore to do.
https://t.co/G2FJQhBCsC
(https://x.com/BarbMcQuade/status/1877351197964706247?t=IAk1_tzwpxRDDnw7N3KTvg&s=03)
NotMax
@Elizabelle
No Diet Coke buttons in the pews.
schrodingers_cat
@Glory b: They don’t of course, but they think they can speak on our behalf because they are all knowing and benevolent.
schrodingers_cat
@Glory b: They don’t of course, but they think they can speak on our behalf because they are all knowing and benevolent
They really set my teeth on edge. Also, one woman started her 2 min speech with Comrade Luigi and the revolution we need. I headdesked hard.
Kay
@TBone:
This MEDDLING. The big bullies are going to go in there and buy the indigenous Greenlanders. Good luck with that. They survived the Vikings for 500 years and came out on top. They’re much, much tougher than the two coddled rich kids, Donald Trump and John Fetterman.
rikyrah
Shaun Rein (@shaunrein) posted at 5:09 PM on Tue, Jan 07, 2025:
The very people who say China is evil for saying it will reunify with Taiwan (even though majority of world adhere to one China policy) are supporting Trump’s demands under military threat that Greenland, Panama Canal be taken over by the US…and Canada become a 51st state
(https://x.com/shaunrein/status/1876768272013779041?t=t0ZfpnAV-XNViHBS6BCFHQ&s=03)
Elizabelle
Do you think The Felon’s ridiculous remarks on buying Greenland are actually a way to try to drive fissures in the NATO alliance?
Jebus, he is a pestilence.
Soprano2
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: Yep, I’ve lived in a conservative area of MO all my life. Springfield is slowly, slowly becoming a little more liberal, but the surrounding areas are as conservative as can be. Shoot, Mike Moon (R-Insane) is from near where I live.
Mai Naem mobile ¹
@rikyrah: I just wonder how you work with overturning Obergefell? Are gay marriages no longer valid? What happens to SS benefits of gay married people ?What happens to gay divorce agreements where one lives in a red state and the other lives in a blue state? What about if you’re in the armed forces and in different states but on the army/naval/air base? What about kids of gay married or divorced parents? It would be a total shitshow.
Harrison Wesley
@SFAW: Is it safe?
Soprano2
@Elizabelle: They want to be accepted as part of “elite society” without having to act like they belong there. TCFG and Melania behave more like what we call white trash than anything else.
rikyrah
This phucking attack on the LA Fire Chief as ‘ DEI’ is bullshyt.
The woman scored #50 on the Fire Department Test.
OUT OF 16,000.
#50 out of 16,000.
Christopher Webb (@cwebbonline) posted at 6:53 AM on Thu, Jan 09, 2025:
The idea that everything would be fine if only white men ran the world is a weak, short-sighted argument—a fantasy clung to by insecure men who can’t handle reality.
DEI has become the bogeyman for those who believe that if I’m gaining, they must be losing. In reality, DEI simply ensures women and BIPOC are looked at fairly in addition to white men.
Blaming our fires or disasters on DEI is not only ignorant but vile. https://t.co/Zi1ZHP67nA
(https://x.com/cwebbonline/status/1877337912972554441?t=cMHdOpA7dncOpmXh_Nv_Rg&s=03)
NotMax
@Kay
Greenland will be holding elections in April.
Normally almost a footnote in any news cycle. Don’t expect that will hold true this time.
Harrison Wesley
@Elizabelle: Naw, Four Seasons Landscaping. Fertilizer unto fertilizer.
Jeffg166
@Mai Naem mobile ¹:
He is a has been. I am sure he still gets work but not the type that made his name for him.
Hollywood is filled with has beens. The shelf life for a movie star seems to be getting shorter and shorter.
suzanne
@Mai Naem mobile ¹:
I think this is exactly right. I don’t think there’s been a change in Fetterman’s beliefs. I just don’t think he ever really had any and he will do what it takes to grow his career.
Fetterman’s strategy — which worked — was to go to every rural county in his hoodie and shorts and meet with rural white people, in an attempt to win just enough votes there to keep the margins small, and then run up the score in Philly and Pittsburgh. It worked. But now that means he’s got to keep those rural margins small.
Jeffg166
@Elizabelle:
I think it is to get attention anyway he can. He has the attention span of a fruit fly. This afternoon he will contradict what he said yesterday.
Ramalama
Every single Quebecer and Canadian I have ever spoken to has, at one point or other, mentioned the sanctity of Canada’s water supply. How it will never be for sale. I imagine any attempt to actually annex (aka “steal”) Canada will call up the water issue and every able-bodied person will take up arms I’m not kidding they are peaceful and nice until you mention water shut up.
rikyrah
@Kay:
Phucking ridiculous
Jeffg166
@suzanne:
Bob Casey should have retired. I voted for him but he has nothing remarkable in his time in office.
I had a question about getting coverage through my husband’s federal health care. I wrote Casey and Toomey’s offices. I heard back from Toomey and not a peep from Casey.
rikyrah
@schrodingers_cat:
If you don’t have smoke for Republicans, I have no reason to listen to you.
rikyrah
@Betty Cracker:
CLAP CLAP CLAP
Elizabelle
Jackals, definitely check out grandson Jason Carter’s eulogy (C-Span or however) when you get a chance later. It is superb, and very down to earth.
Parfigliano
@Kay: That’s her Slovenian Slut Snarl from her “modeling” days.
suzanne
@Jeffg166: I didn’t love Bob Casey, either. Three terms and he was adequate. I still put his sign in my yard, and threw some dollars his way, and of course voted for him. The best we might be able to get out of PA is mediocre, but I’ll take mediocre over bad any day of the week.
Elizabelle
President Biden delivering his eulogy now.
Elizabelle
@Jeffg166: The attention span of a fruit fly, and like a fly, he is thrilled to find himself among shit.
brantl
@MazeDancer: You seen this pope once, you’ve seen the best that they’ve had to offer in 100 years, or maybe ever.
Geminid
@suzanne: When Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney endorsed Connor Lamb in tbe primary, Kenney said he respected all three candidates, but he wanted to win and he believed Lamb gave Democrats their best chance.
I thought that was a credible argument. Connor Lamb was basically a younger version of Bob Casey Jr. and Casey had won reelection in 2018 by 600,000 votes.
But I noticed Fetterman’s proponents argue that Pennsylvania was such a tough state for Democrats that only someone with Fetterman’s secret “progressive” sauce could win that seat. It was as if Casey had won by only 6,000 votes, and GovernorWolfe(?) hadn’t won by wide margins.
There was a lot of projection going on in Fetterman’s case. Without much of a public record, Fetterman managed to seem all things to all people. That dynamic started breaking down after his primary victory, when Fetterman enthusiastically accepted the endorsement of Democratic Majority for Israel.
Personally, I had no problem with this, but I was struck by how shocked some “progressives” were. Yet Fetterman had never espoused anything other than the conventional Democratic position on Israel. Left wing Democrats just saw what they wanted to see.
jowriter
@NotMax: OMG. Was in too much of a hurry. Sorry.
LAC
@rikyrah: i know. Some of our ‘allies” are always speaking for us and at us, while looking through us.
Not a good start to the great rebuilding.
suzanne
@Geminid:
Agree.
I think there is a triangulation that happens in purple places, though, on the voters’ side. I saw it happen with Sinema in AZ and I saw a similar dynamic with Fetterman. When you spend a long time losing a lot, and someone comes along who seems like they might be able to bring enough people together, everyone kind of puts their misgivings aside to get behind whoever looks like the likeliest candidate. And sometimes it works, but even when it does, it’s disappointing. I will note that the Dems all knew that Kyrsten Sinema sucked, for years. Her shittiness was no surprise to anyone. But…. she won, for a long time.
But it’s a bit of selective memory to imply that Fetterman was only loved by progressives. Kenyatta was arguably more progressive, and Fetterman got tons of normie Dem support. PA has an older-than-average population, and lots and lots of old-fashioned white working-class Dems. (“Scranton Joe” fans.) Fetterman explicitly campaigned to that crowd, as well.
Also, I think that Conor Lamb flipping a district shouldn’t be interpreted as some great sign of his political skill. Chris DeLuzio has now won that district twice, and Conor Lamb hasn’t done anything in public life since.
Obligatory: any of them are better than any Repub.
ETA: Fetterman had a whole line, said over and over, “the Union way of life is sacred”. He has basically supported anything that US Steel wants, because he wants to keep those steelworkers happy. Which is fine, but lots of the progressives wanted to shut down the coke works because of air pollution.
SFAW
@TBone:
Hi, completely missed your explanation on the first go-around. Thanks!
rikyrah
At Jennifer Hudson’s talk show, her staff lines up and does a song and dance for every guest as they go down their own personal ‘ Soul Train’ line.
This guest is the star of Squid Games. He’s Korean.
They sang to him IN KOREAN.
The video, when he realizes it, is awesome.
Justin (@__ajga) posted at 9:53 AM on Wed, Jan 08, 2025:
His face when he realised they was speaking Korean warmed my heart.
(https://x.com/__ajga/status/1877020763141636242?t=dauRP1Z_tbJPeny3b5iJGQ&s=03)
different-church-lady
@Mai Naem mobile ¹: He’s probably convinced he’ll live forever.
stinger
@prostratedragon: Thank you.
Elizabelle
@rikyrah: That made me smile. And what a handsome and graceful star.
Thank you. Would not have seen that.
Citizen Alan
Because their Russian handlers tell them so?
rikyrah
@Kay:
Fetterman is a clown.
Just ridiculous
Geminid
@suzanne: I did not mean to imply that Fetterman was only loved by progressives and liberals. I just focussed on the disillusionment with Fetterman on the part of those particular groups because they are the ones most angry at him now. Anyway, I always thought the policy differences between Fetterman and Lamb were exaggerated by their respective advocates.
Pennsylvania in 2022 was a very different state politically than was Arizona in 2018. Pennsylvania Democrats had elected Governor Wolfe twice and Senator Casey at least twice. On the other hand, in 2018 Sinema was trying to be the first Arizona Democrat to win a Senate seat since Dennis DeConcini in (I think) 1988.
I thought Conor Lamb was every bit as electable as John Fetterman, if not more. I did not think the same with Malcolm Kenyatta, mainly because he was a gay Black man and I think that would have hurt him in Pennsylvania.
Kenyatta still might won though, because Mehmet(?) Oz was a bad candidate, easily portrayed as the out-of-touch carpetbagger he was.
Citizen Alan
@Mai Naem mobile ¹: i’m thinking it will involve a pyramid constructed with slave labor.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Citizen Alan:
Historical pedant in me wants people to understand who built the pyramids:
https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/were-the-egyptian-pyramids-built-by-slaves
But, given Hair Furor’s only understanding of how the pyramids might have been built probably came from watching ‘The Ten Commandments’, I get the reference. :)
Citizen Alan
@TBone: you can draw a straight line from bill clinton meeting with loretta lynch to show her pictures of his new grandchildren to james comey being in a position to tank hillary clinton ten days before the 2016 election. But Samuel alito can personally call the president-elect to lobby on behalf of a law clerk getting a job in the administration at the same time he is poised to appeal an important matter to SCOTUS, and no one in the media will bat an eye.
Hell, even the admitted facts are egregious. I can’t imagine any judge I have ever worked for personally lobbying via phone to help a clerk get a job in this way.
I am so tired of feeling like ethics and character and respect for the rule of law are all part of a suckers game.
mrmoshpotato
What asshole is honking wildly outside and needs to blow it out their ass?
suzanne
@Geminid:
I agree with this. The difference was really stylistic. Lamb looked like a rich, educated white Catholic boy from a bougie suburb — because he is. Fetterman does his Carhartt schtick and moved to a dying steel town to kind of take on that “gritty” affect.
I think Lamb would have been utterly mediocre as a Senator, which, honestly is fine.
I will say that having multiple reasonable choices in a primary was quite an experience! AZ was much different. Many races never had a Dem at all.
Parfigliano
@Citizen Alan: Get used to it because in today’s USA they are for losers
brantl
@Mai Naem mobile ¹: So he had a spine removal?
Ruckus
@NotMax:
Who knew that you’d be the one to see that?
Ruckus
@Jeffro:
I’m not. I left most of my social media places quite a while back. In many ways just not worth the effort. twit/x seems like the worst case of not worth the effort. I’ve looked for words to describe how money has bought the socializing of the web and other than greedy fucks, I have no words. But greed is one human trait that really can screw up most anything.
Ruckus
@lowtechcyclist:
There’s no equivalence, nowhere close.
This.
To me the leaders of the grand old poop party have seemingly decided that if they can’t have it, no one else can either. It being everything.
To me they have been losing something for some time, because things have changed a hell of a lot in my old fart lifetime. One of those things is communication has changed and for far better. I’ve said this here before but look what we are doing here – communicating. And doing it not as a few people at a bar or town meeting. Much of the world can take part. Now time is an issue of course seeing as how the world rotates and all but since the advent of the web and what we are doing here now the concept of a lot of things has changed. And never forget that conservatism wants to conserve – it’s in the name. Now what they want to conserve is power over others, as they always have. They want the past, which they could, well conserve. They can’t conserve something which hasn’t happened. Other than their version of the past. They don’t want to change, to improve, to grow, to see, they want to conserve. It’s in their name.
Geminid
@tobie: Al Arabia has several articles about Lebanon’s new President, Robert Aoun, including on his background, his speech to Parliament, and reactions from world leaders.
Aoun won today with 99 votes out of the 128 parliamentarians. It was the second ballot; he fell short of the required 86 votes yesterday but Hezbollah’s members and their allies from the Amal Movement backed him today. Next Aoun has to get a Prime Minister approved which could take a while since the various Cabinet ministers will have to be determined as well.
Under Lebanon’s constitution the President must be a Maronite Catholic, the Prime Minister must be a Sunni Muslim and the Speaker of Parliament must be a Shiite Muslim. The Speaker is already in place; that would be Amal head Nabih Berri.
Lebananon has gone without a President since October of 2022 so this is an important step.