Joelle and I had a productive day, getting the house organized and cleaning and what not, and we rewarded ourselves by a little jaunt to a phoenix dive bar called Harvey Wineburger’s. Joelle has been so miserable from being cooped up for the past month that she was just dying to go do something that was not physical therapy, so off we went:
As usual, Joelle was happy as can be and I had resting bitch face and looked like a hostage in a proof of life picture, but that’s just how it is. We both had gut bomb burgers and fries and she had a mini pitcher of beer which was fun for her because Nurse Cole has not let her drink while she was on painkillers. Not that she drinks a lot, she doesn’t, but I am kinda strict about that shit. I treat pain pills like they are blasting caps that could blow up at any time.
Best part of the whole date (and the food was great) is that we were back home by 6:30 pm. Nothing good happens at night out in public for olds. That is for the drunks and the young.
The fact that Donald Trump is already fucking his hardcore supporters before he is even inaugurated is giving me life. First, all the MAGA fuckers who traveled there for the inauguration are now screaming for refunds because he moved it inside and they have NOTHING to do. Like nothing. They can’t get into the balls or parties because they never could because Trump and his ilk view them as trash, so you have a bunch of racist douchebags from all over the country who spent money they don’t have to travel there and now are just, I dunno, drinking in their Best Western. Fucking love it.
Second, he rolled out a new pump and dump cryptocurrency, and the fleecing is going to be fucking brutal and I am fucking here for it:
President-elect Donald Trump late Friday launched a cryptocurrency token that exploded in value overnight, potentially increasing his net worth by tens of billions of dollars on paper just days before he is set to be sworn in as president.
Trump launched the so-called memecoin — a digital token with no intrinsic real-world value that is traded on a digital ledger technology called blockchain — with posts on his social media site and X after 9 p.m., prompting the asset to soar in value. Its market capitalization was above $5 billion as of 2:30 p.m. Saturday, according to data from CoinGecko, and it has seen more than $11 billion in trading volume.
Give it to them good and hard, Donald.
In other news, Thurston Howl has been such a fucking asshole that Joelle and I were scheming today to try to get an animal shelter to take a couple hundred dollar donation and keep Thurston in general population at the pound for a few days. Kind of like the old scared straight programs when they would send teen-agers to prisons to have the inmates try to scare them.
We cancelled this idea when we realized Thurston would probably just pick up more bad behaviors in jail.
That’s it for me. Keep safe.
2liberal
She’s much better looking than you.
gene108
MAGA’s don’t have a breaking point regarding their devotion to Trump. He knows won’t ever face backlash from them, unless he shows an ounce of compassion to others, which I bet he won’t.
Tim C
I’ve seen commentary that the Trump Coin is more likely a money laundering thing. Allowing for people to directly bribe him.
Sandia Blanca
Poor Thurston, so misunderstood!
Ned F
Well, at least you’re in t shirts while we in the right coast are bracing for snow and a polar vortex.
KatKapCC
@gene108: Trump could walk into their home and murder their dog in front of them with his bare tiny hands and they would still support him and buy all his crap. It’s a sickness.
dmsilev
Checking in from the LA fires. They’re contained, mostly, so now the long hard process of repairing and rebuilding starts. Local to me, the evacuation zones for all communities except Altadena are lifted, and maybe a third of that town is open again. They got hit pretty hard, so there are all sorts of efforts underway to raise money and provide temporary housing and clothing and so forth. Many many organizations providing help of some sort or another; a special shout out to Pasadena Humane for their massive animal rescue and temporary boarding operation (Click through for the story, and make sure to watch the linked video of Huckleberry the tortoise).
Sadly, Trump will come sometime in the next week or so to survey the damage. Haven’t we suffered enough? I guess I could use another roll of paper towels, so there is that.
John Cole
@2liberal: low bar
Ohio Mom
The Smithsonian museums are open everyday except Christmas and they are free. I won’t suggest the monuments because it’s going to be extremely cold but there are lots of other things to do and see in DC. If those MAGAs can’t find anything to do with a free day in Washington, well, just more proof of how stupid they are.
chrisanthemama
Hello young lovers whoever you are.
Baud
As I’ve said for years, you’ll never see a photo of him doing an event where his mingles with his supporters. But they’ll remain loyal.
A Ghost to Most
I’m too old to speak about Snoop Dogg, but he’s being called Lapp Dogg on the intertubes for kneeling to Lumpy. Any thoughts?
NotMax
Good time for night life.
And sumthin’ in your neighborhood for the afternoon.
;)
Baud
@A Ghost to Most:
Supposedly he performed at a crypto ball, so I don’t know if he’s in it for that grift or something else.
Regardless, I’m disappointed.
Ohio Mom
As long as Trump keeps his crypto scams as a side business — in my worst moments I am convinced he is going to empty the U.S. Treasury to buy crypto, totally destroying the dollar.
NotMax
@Ned F
Gonna be an extended ride on the polar coaster.
;)
zhena gogolia
You are not old.
As I said this morning, the indoor inauguration is a perfect metaphor for how Trump is going to stay warm with his billionaire buddies and leave We the People out in the cold.
zhena gogolia
@Ned F: I just noticed John’s T-shirt — brilliant!
Lord Fartdaddy (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
Oh, that’s nice. So nice. I bet President-elect Fuckhead will drop everything to get those people their money back.
TBone
TIL that the Nat’l. Archives librarian, Colleen Shogan (appointed just before the Mar-A-Lago search), is married to the communications director of a rebranded Koch Bros. venture and is a censorious MAGA fuck.
Her husband is communications director for Charles Koch’s nonprofit, Stand Together.
Also she’s a fucking censor, not a librarian (just another emotional support printer). I had designated her Secondary Villain of the Week but she’s now in first place with this new to me information.
Fixed to Free link
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/america-s-top-archivist-puts-a-rosy-spin-on-u-s-history-pruning-the-thorny-parts/ar-AA1tacpf
Learned at wonkette.
Ksmiami
@Ohio Mom: nah crypto only works if the dollar is strong and stable.
Nukular Biskits
LOL!
KatKapCC
@dmsilev: The work the firefighting teams have done is just phenomenal. I’m always so impressed by them but this time, even more so.
I’ve also been glad to see all of EOs the governor has signed to help people affected. Things like prohibiting landlords from penalizing or evicting renters for sharing their home with displaced people, extending property tax deadlines and waiving late fees, fast-tracking temporary housing, etc.
The Pale Scot
Cue Holy Grail’s Help I’m being Oppressed!
Uh Oh, Charlie Kirk Is Oppressed By Sign Language Now
NotMax
@Nukular Biskits
“Oh my. He certainly didn’t have these tattoos when we dropped him off.”
:)
Villago Delenda Est
Yup, Thurston is incorrigible. Hell, he’d probably influence all the dogs in the pound in a negative way.
KatKapCC
@The Pale Scot: These fucking people.
Villago Delenda Est
@The Pale Scot: Kirk is what he always accuses liberals/progressives/sane people of being. A snowflake. Stomp your widdle feet some more, Charlie, you incurable reactionary asshole.
Gloria DryGarden
@TBone: good to know.
i mean, aw, fuck! Damn
Villago Delenda Est
@Ksmiami: The convicted felon, a Finance Major graduate of UPenn, doesn’t comprehend that. “You don’t know anyone as stupid as Donald Trump. You just don’t.” — Fran Lebowitz.
MCat
What a great picture. I’m so glad that Joelle can get out for an adventure. John, I just love the shirt.
Quiltingfool
@The Pale Scot: Sign language, my God. My husband’s parents were deaf. He and his sisters know sign language. When I told him there was griping about deaf interpreters at news conferences, he was dumbfounded. His question was, “How is anybody hurt by this?”
This question needs to be posed to these assholes: “How does this hurt you personally? Show me on the doll where the interpreter hurt you.”
I know better than to be vengeful, but I would really like that asshat to lose his hearing. And no closed captioning for him either!
TBone
@Gloria DryGarden: I see what you did there! (I got some of my comment details wrong due to fatigue but the gist is there).
TBone
Fuck Snoop Dogg for bending the knee.
Sister Golden Bear
@Tim C: And a rug pull.
Porque no los dos.
Bill Arnold
The Trump raised-stage-fist as a symbol of “masculine energy” and “fight fight fight” continues to be amusing.
He literally does not know how to make a proper tight fist, that won’t break if it hits something hard.
The Thin Black Duke
@TBone: “It’s All About Money/Ain’t A Damned Thing Funny.”
hitchhiker
My favorite part of that story is that there was no reason to move the thing indoors; he just felt like it. The temperature was well within range of what others have put up with and not complained. It’s not like it’s 15 below zero or something.
He just preferred indoors, and fuck anybody who didn’t like it, including all the dopes who ran up their credit cards for the chance to glory in his presence.
They’ll get over it, that’s his attitude. And he’s right, they will.
Still funny to watch, though.
TBone
@The Thin Black Duke: excellent!
I see I wasn’t the first here to note this absolutely appalling turn of events. They didn’t have anyone who was cool, now Snoop wears MAGA STINK so they still don’t. Lap Dogg hahaha!
JoyceH
@hitchhiker: No reason?! You obviously don’t understand. It wasn’t the predicted cold, but the wind. The wind would muss his hair and make it look even more ridiculous than usual.
JoyceH
@JoyceH: replying to myself…. I also suspect the speech as written was running hella long, even before Trump’s usual diversions from the teleprompter, and his staff, fearing for their own lives, urged the change in venue.
sab
@Bill Arnold: I am a girl and even I knew how to make a proper fist.
narya
@JoyceH: also too: smallllll crowd.
geg6
I am suspicious of the idea that Joelle is on board with your horrible plan to torture poor Thurston. From what you’ve said previously, Thurston was an angel living with just Joelle. So maybe Thurston’s assholishness is due to some factor not present in the previous months. And don’t go blaming Steve or Max either.
Princess
I think Trump moved it indoors for several reasons, one of which is it means he won’t need to walk as far. Can you ever imagine him doing the walk Obama and Michelle dig at his first inauguration?
scav
Alas for So Cal, more Santa Anas predicted Monday to Tuesday with low humidity and another Red Flag Warning out of the NWS.
mrmoshpotato
As a good man frequently said, “Fuck ’em!” That applies to multiple groups mentioned.
sab
@A Ghost to Most: I hope my husband doesn’t find out. He loves Snoop.
Math Guy
I don’t care what anybody else says, you are a nice looking couple. Cherish your time together.
The Thin Black Duke
@hitchhiker: There’s rumors that Trump’s people asked the local PD to help provide security and they said no.
Math Guy
@hitchhiker: It is 0 here right now with a wind chill of -22 and you won’t here any of us complaining.
Leto
I discovered the perfect meme for that today, and it’ll be useful for the entire 4 years. You’re welcome. Sound button bottom right.
Ruckus
@Lord Fartdaddy (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
I bet President-elect Fuckhead will drop everything to get those people their money back.
The only way he’d give a rats ass if they got their money back is if he got a 98% cut of it.
And he’d be pissed that they got that 2%
JoyceH
@narya: oh yeah, that too. The bulk of inauguration tickets are distributed through Congressional offices so they would have had a heads up if those puppies weren’t moving.
Oh, and the parade is cancelled too so the poor stranded MAGAs won’t even get a glimpse of the famous Trump garbage truck. (Yes, that stupid garbage truck was going to be in the parade.)
Leto
@Bill Arnold: Some historical comparisons for that “fist”.
mrmoshpotato
Could the orange shitstain even get his tiny hands around a dog’s neck?
JoyceH
Hey, shouldn’t dogs love cats? – they poop candy!
prostratedragon
Cute picture, you-all (wavey-wavey). Like the t-shirt.
hitchhiker
@Math Guy: I spent my salad days in Duluth MN. I sneer at people who can’t figure out how to dress for weather.
And I especially sneer at the thug, just for the pleasure of it. He’s never going to be anything but a tiny worthless asshole.
rikyrah
Glad that Joelle got out and about 🤗
rikyrah
That he stiffed them with the Inauguration 🤣🤣🤣
Math Guy
@hitchhiker: 👍
rikyrah
TikTok is gone 😔
rikyrah
Watched the Jaime Foxx/Cameron Diaz movie on Netflix. It was good. I enjoyed it.
rikyrah
The crypto scam 🤬
zhena gogolia
@hitchhiker: this is my mood
persistentillusion
@Leto: Gods above, that’s terrible, even for the Tangerine Tantrum.
Ukko
@rikyrah: I really hate the way they are sucking up to TFG in the error message. I get it, that is the game now—we are so much better that this corrupt dictator schtick.
jackmac
@Ohio Mom: Maybe bored MAGAts looking for something to do in D.C. could locate the National Archives and view the copy of the Constitution. They might actually learn something, but I wouldn’t hold out much hope.
cain
@John Cole:
Yeah it’s tough punching above your weight class That’s how it is for me..
I’m humbled that I was picked. And I spend my life that I am worthy. I know that in my next life it will be the same because I know it is the same soul.
RevRick
@Sandia Blanca: I want to know if he was named after Thurston Howell 3 from Gilligan’s Island.
Math Guy
@rikyrah: If I recall, the reason I stopped lurking and started (occasionally) commenting a year or two ago was to point out the mathematical/thermodynamics reasons cryptocurrencies are a scam. I probably don’t need to do that anymore; it is pretty clear that if trump is promoting it, then it is a scam.
Matt McIrvin
There has to be some kind of German word for “people who you think are basically on the right side are saying shit that you think is probably wrong, but mostly through lack of nuance and imputation of maximally evil Bond villain motives to stuff that is actually just kind of dumb, and you really don’t want to get in a fight with them and should probably just unfollow them but they’d maybe take that the wrong way too.”
Because this is, like, half of the people I’m reading right now.
RandomMonster
Tell me how this works. The trash performers who would have played on the Mall will be playing where? Not in the Rotunda?
Geminid
@Gloria DryGarden: Hey Gloria, you seem like you might be interested in Neolthic culture. I ran acrooss a cool article in New Lines Magazine* titled:
The article’s author is Lidia Wilson, and it’s dated January 17,2025.
The archeological dig began in 2003 by accident, when someone started plowing a patch of ground near their cottage. They wanted to plant some wildflower seeds. But the plow snagged a massive flagstone that turned out to be part of an extensive complex of Neolithic Era buildings that were constructed over a period between 3600 and 2400 BCE.
The location was the Ness of Bredgar, on one of the Orkney Islands. This “Ness” an isthmus, and this one separates the saltwater Loch of Stennes on the west from the freshwater Loch of Harray to the east. The photo heading the article shows a very pretty landscape.
The Ring of Brodgar, a circle of standing stones at the north end of the isthmus, is a famous local landmark and so are the Stones of Stennes at the south end. But nobody knew there was a major Neolithic social, trading and (apparently) religious center in between them that periodically was a gathering place for thousands of people.
The archeological dig was a volunteer, community effort. The director figures they explored about 10% of the complex, but they did not go very deep. After 20 years, they decided it would be better to leave the site for future generations with more advanced earth scanning technology. So they covered the site back up and returfed it. I guess those wildflower seeds got planted somewhere else.
* New Lines Magazine is edited by Hassan I. Hassan, a Syrian American based in Washigton, D.C. British-Lebanese war correspondent Oz Katerji recommended Mr. Hassan as a sound source for reporting on Syria. He is that, but his magazine covers a wider variety of subjects..
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@TBone:
Makes you wonder why Biden would appoint such a person to be the National Archivist. The president’s people vet these candidates thoroughly. Some deeply misguided effort to assuage Republicans unhappy with the Mar-a-Lago search?
I’m also reminded that even though Biden had already appointed and the Senate confirmed a majority of the governors for the Postal Service Board, they still failed to get rid of DeJoy
Funny enough, Trump has already said he will seek to replace Shogan, so all that sucking up and obeying in advance won’t save her job.
I want to know why Biden selected her in the first place and I want to know why the WH did not publicly weigh in on her conduct
Quaker in a Basement
No one should be surprised that Snoop is hanging around the inauguration. He’s all about getting paid. Remember those TV commercials he did with Lee Iococca years ago?
Best of luck to him.
sab
@rikyrah: So unlike everyone else, their management is respecting our laws. Congress decided, Supreme Court agreed.
Hopefully that will help in the long run.
Redshift
Now you know why the Ms and I left town for the weekend. (Actually, we left before the latest shitshow because we didn’t take to find out what how those assholes might run wild.)
Gloria DryGarden
@zhena gogolia:
excellent metaphor!
Hers hoping all those disinvited guests find enrichment and enhanced curiosity at the Smithsonian.
They could always stop in at the Holocaust museum for a sample of potentially relevant history.
sab
@Geminid: That is so interesting. Orkney being a big deal isn’t suprising back then when everyone went by boat not land.
Gloria DryGarden
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): why didn’t they get rid of dejoy?
Redshift
@RandomMonster:
Other than Carrie Underwood singing whatever it was, the musical acts aren’t part of the inauguration itself. They’re an inaugural concert, which might have been on the Mall if the weather had been good, but it still wouldn’t have been a separate event, not at the Capitol.
geg6
@RevRick:
Yes. My pup, Lovey, is Thurston’s sister. Their mom was named Ginger.
Gloria DryGarden
@Princess: my joking comment is that he thinks
if it’s indoors, lightning can’t strike him and god will be unable to smite him.
John Revolta
Man, Elvis Costello has really let himself go
Melancholy Jaques
Kind of sad to see the Detroit Lions get waxed. As a native of Cleveland, I generally root for teams from unfairly maligned Rust Belt cities, especially when their teams haven’t been successful for a while. I don’t think Jared Goff’s reputation will ever recover.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Gloria DryGarden:
I have no idea. I suppose they think he’s doing a good job.
I read that the mail sorting machine removals in 2020 had been planned for years, going back to the Obama administration, and were just being implemented around that time. So it wasn’t necessarily him being evil in that respect.
However, I’ve read from postal employees in the USPS subreddit that he’s been stonewalling contract negotiations. The postal union has gotten new leadership or is in the process of doing it, and they want to get rid of the separate pay scales for workers
Some have speculated that Biden “forgave” DeJoy because he appeared to get on board with electrifying the USPS truck fleet as well as helping get the financially crippling prefunding requirement for postal worker retirement funds that was passed during the Bush Admin repealed by Congress back in 2022 by having pull with Republicans
I thought that DeJoy had sabotaged the electric mail truck thing though, maybe I’m wrong
As far as I’m concerned, mail delivery times have increased and postage rates have gone up, with postal workers getting fucked over, all under DeJoy
ETA: I remember expressing interest in joining the USPS and being told it wasn’t a good choice any longer for a good career. I’d like to know why Obama, Biden, or the Dem Congresses didn’t do anything to improve postal workers’ working conditions. I understand they’ve had a shitty union for some time, but they could’ve selected governors (of the postal board) and subsequently postmaster generals that could’ve made that a priority, along with ensuring the postal service is an excellent service for the American people
Gloria DryGarden
@Princess: my joking comment is that he thinks
if it’s indoors, lightning can’t strike him and god will be unable to smite him.
@Geminid: thanks. This is way cool. I’ll look into it!
There was something recently about an old site similar to new grange but in Spain. If I find it again, I’ll forward the specifics, or at least a name.
On a relaxed tangent, If I could write novels, I’d love to write some imagined historical fiction in ancient places with different spirituality practices. I don’t think I have enough skill to be an assistant researcher for such stories. There’s some fiction about celts, and ancient life in the British isles. But I’ve not found anything about Summeria and the surrounding city states. I like wonder what life was like in other cultures.
RandomMonster
Um, okay. Why do I remember Biden’s inauguration having a seemless series of songs, poems, speeches, whatever, with some swearing in mixed in?
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Melancholy Jaques:
Whenever I see “Detroit is a ruined wasteland lol” “jokes” online I see red. They’ve always come across to me as racist, because
sab
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): When I was in my twenties, everyone knew their mail carrier. We had the same person for decades. Part of what they did was wellness checks on seniors and shutins.
There was a lot they did for their community that wasn’t just mail delivery.
Now, I have a different carrier almost every day, and they misdeliver a lot
ETA Our mail system was a wonder of the world, and Republicans blew it up so that some of their guys could cash in on parts of it.
Gloria DryGarden
@Bill Arnold: I commented about the masculine energy garbage over on blue sky, in reply to mistermix.
still getting the hang of what does and doesn’t thread on blue sky..
Goku, thank you for your answer. The whole pre election and pre Christmas un making of the postal service did seem to slow things down rather a lot. I had no idea dejoy was merely implementing a planned retirement of sorting equipment. But has it been replaced? Varied mail carriers did report back then, that things were a mess. But I’ll reconsider, or look into it, with this info.
Gloria DryGarden
@RandomMonster: we need to have our own YouTube live with inspiring songs and poems, as both inspiration, and protest.
I wonder if someone has such a thing in the works..
sab
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): You are near Youngstown. Same process of ridicule is at work. I see it with Cleveland.
Jackie
@Melancholy Jaques: As a longtime Washington fan/ Seahawks Bobby Wagner fan, I’m completely blown away that the Commanders beat Detroit. They’re now my NFC team to root for over Rams/Eagles. I’m now conflicted about my AFC choice. I was hoping Buffalo would finally get a SB win.
My original SB choices was Detroit vs Buffalo, but now???
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@sab:
Obama, Biden, and the various Dem congresses should’ve reversed this. DeJoy should’ve been bounced ASAP, but he wasn’t.
On top of that, there are 3 vacancies on the board of governors that Trump will be able to fill
Juliet
Joelle is pretty and smiley. John’s eyebrow is raised as though he is totally skeptical about everything.
sab
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Yes they should have. Republicans have spent 50 years dismantling this country’s infrastructure, and Democrats only thought they were nibbling at the edges
ETA I grew up in the Jim Crow South. None of this is new to me. Wink and nod and intimidation and favoritism.
Also ETA This is why I am so pleased to see TikTok fold. They at least respect our law. We banned them so they went. Hopefully that mighrt help them reopen the door later.
West of the Rockies
I find it funny that all that money will bring the walking gas bag no genuine happiness. He won’t/can’t spend it. What I mean is, what can he buy now and use that he didn’t already have anyway, or that he couldn’t buy with the money he already had? Golf clubs? A golf course? A car? An expensive meal out?
I think a hundred dollars to a homeless person would bring more happiness and use.
What would it feel like to know tens, hundreds of millions of people will celebrate your death? That maybe none, not one, will be saddened?
Congratulations, Donnie. You win nothing.
Melancholy Jaques
@Jackie:
I don’t have a team I care about; I gave up my hometown Browns. I moved away 26 years ago & Browns v2.0 suck in multiple ways. I don’t feel any particular connection with my adopted home town teams: Rams & Chargers.
So, while I am sad for Detroit fans, I am happy for Washington fans. Their team is recovering nicely from a horrible owner. And it’s fun to watch emerging star QB Daniels.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Gloria DryGarden:
Well, take it with a grain of salt, it was based on a comment I saw in r/ezraklein, but yeah.
It wouldn’t surprise me if it was a planned retirement of those machines prior to Dejoy’s tenure that was possibly hijacked by him or he incompetently mismanaged it
sab
@Juliet: I thought he looked pleasantly surprised although skeptical of her camera work. Senior moment: camera work= selfy skills. I thought hers were excellent.
Melancholy Jaques
@West of the Rockies:
He won the power to make other people suffer. It’s what he values most.
Gloria DryGarden
@Quiltingfool: sign language
I learned some, on a week-long job in a class of deaf and Hoh kids. I think I absorbed 10 emergency signs in half a day, because the substitute teacher and I ( sub para) didn’t know any. She thought I was amazing picking it up, but I thought she was amazing not bothering to learn any. It’s come in handy over the years, with different kids.
How strange that they’re fussing over it, how non-inclusive of them.
I can see that it might seem like a visual distraction, and certain egotists might feel upstaged.
Sign language interpretation might seem like a different stream of expression, or off -topic, to a hearing person, who doesn’t comprehend what it’s about.
There are parallels in other communication events, where people ask off-topic basic questions, or go off on a tangent. Some folks take it in stride, skip over it, but others find it distracting, or disorienting, like it’s a side conversation.
In the case of sign language interpretation, people need to get over it; the accommodations include people who want to be included, and that’s important.
Gloria DryGarden
@West of the Rockies: he could use that money to pay off E Jean Carroll , for crying out loud. Clear up one of his debts. Just one.
I love that you’re thinking about homeless people. The heart,
in the middle of us all trying to adapt to rotten news about heartless unpleasant actors on the world stage…
Helps me breathe again.
kind thoughtfulness makes such a difference. Thank you for showing me this.
Gloria DryGarden
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): mismanaging and hijacking seemed more like what he was into… Or perhaps was commanded to accomplish, by I -forgot-his-name.
Game show host declines to continue hosting effective mail service on his platform…
Rudi666
@Ohio Mom:
I don’t see MAGAt’s going to a museum. Museums are full of “fake science ” and other stuff,
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@sab:
I don’t know how to feel about the banning of TikTok. I’m not sure if TikTok actually presents real national security risks or not. I do know that a lot of younger people liked to use it and was a useful tool for liberals/leftists.
I thought it was potentially worth it to get funds for Ukraine, but given the election outcome, I’m not sure it will matter now.
A little bit ago, when I typed “why did” into Google, one of the suggested searches was “why did Biden ban tiktok”
So Biden looks like the jerk again on his way out
sab
@Gloria DryGarden: Back in my childhood in church at the 9 o’clock service where the girls sang (not the men and boys like at the 11 o’clock service) we had a woman signing and I always found it fascinating. My city has a big deaf population because they were recruited for factory work. The noise didn’t bother them, and they could communicate around the noise.
Jackie
@Melancholy Jaques:
Yes! And one of my fav former Seahawks Bobby Wagner kicking ass!
sab
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Well it was passed by a big bipartisan majority so I do blame him in large part. I am just responding to TikTok’s reaction. So responsible and law-abiding.
Gloria DryGarden
@Rudi666: yeah, but cool history, there has to be some section about men, and guns, wars, planes and power dominance effects rippling through
Gloria DryGarden
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): but, um, Biden didn’t do it. Congress did.
im a tad tired of people blaming Biden for their gas and egg prices.
Gloria DryGarden
@sab: That is wonderful. I find them fascinating to watch as well. They dance it up at music concerts, to convey the rhythm and fun of it, it’s magical.
Matt McIrvin
@sab: TikTok is gonna come back in like a week, so Trump can get the credit, and my daughter’s generation will remember forever that Biden killed TikTok and Trump brought it back.
Good leftists on Mastodon (excuse me, I guess it was actually on Bluesky, that bridge is something) are informing me that the Democrats hate TikTok because it told the truth about Gaza.
This is just a political disaster all around.
West of the Rockies
@Gloria DryGarden:
My gosh, you’re most welcome. I am doing my best to not let Trump live rent-free in my head or heart. So many better ways to spend the hours…
Matt McIrvin
@sab: This is ONLY going to be blamed on Democrats, just like the invasion of Iraq is now a Democratic war started by Hillary Clinton.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Gloria DryGarden:
Where did I say that he did? Of course, Congress is the entity that passed the legislation, but I don’t recall Biden opposing it too much or criticizing the act of banning it.
Unfortunately, perception is reality and he will be perceived as the one who banned Tiktok
sab
@Matt McIrvin: It is a disaster, but it was when they voted for it and as bipartisen as it was I do blame Biden. He pushed for the ban not against it. He has a Cold War outlook on China.
Gloria DryGarden
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): i know you didn’t say he did; I was reacting to the blame he’s getting.
sab
@Matt McIrvin: Well duh! Our Democratic President thought it was a good idea so he deserves to be blamed for it. I am as pro-Biden as almost anyone, but this was another of his international relations fuck-ups. Domestically he was best president of my lifetime, but internationally not at all.
West of the Rockies
Well, I doubt the TikTok kerfuffle will matter to voters by the next election. So many other issues will have come and gone.
sab
@sab: Did no one in the Democratic Party or our Democratic Presidential administration notice how many American users there were or how many Americans were earning a living off TikTok?
I was aghast when they had the vote but I thought maybe they had some secret national security information that I didn’t have. Turns out no, they were just spun by our American based abusers of culled information who saw a foreign threat to their profits.
Gloria DryGarden
@sab: you mean Facebook and Twitter, X?
Everyone, you know how the blog gets hiccups around 2 am blog time? And doesn’t load comments without a weird delay? It started at 130 am tonight. Just noticing.
NotMax
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
The end of glibilization as we know it.
//
sab
@Gloria DryGarden: What are you talking about? I am not referring to a Balloon Juice glitch. I am referring to an astonishing lack of information by the Democratic Party when they pushed for this ban, and now they are shocked that millions of American TikTok users are very angry.
I don’t even use TikTok and I saw this anger coming.
Talk about being in a bubble. DC people were absolutely. They got spun by the tech bros.
sab
@Gloria DryGarden: Nobody seems to give a shit or a xit about what US companies do with our data. That should be a problem, but that doesn’t feed into our new cold war project.
prostratedragon
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
This article from last April describes the difficulties in making changes to USPS governance. The short answer is that the Board votes still are not yhere, and getting them there would entail a lot of risk.
NotMax
Hit the trifecta.
On the Roku home screen:
Severance on Apple TV+ listed in the options on the left hand side of the screen
Ad for Severance on Apple TV+ in lower left hand corner below that list
Larger ad for Severance on Apple TV+ on the right hand side of the screen next to the channel choices.
;)
Ruckus
@gene108:
unless he shows an ounce of compassion to others, which I bet he won’t.
It isn’t that he won’t, he can’t. He’s incapable of compassion because he is the bestest person in the world, just ask him.
Gloria DryGarden
@sab: i agree, it should be a problem, all our data being mined and used.
The blog hiccup was a separate topic. I apologize for not labeling it more clearly, saying “everybody”, wasn’t enough.
One night a few of us had our comments post 3x, because it wouldn’t load, so we pressed the post button again. And then after a delay they did post, multiple times. It was at 2 am, and folks explained to us that this was a thing, that at 2 am the blog had a moment, and that most people knew about it. Tonight that not quite posting thing happened early. 130 am is not that late in my time zone, that’s only 1130 here.
TBone
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): she LIED at her confirmation hearing!!! This is my shocked face . . .
TBone
Where is the A.M. crew today, I need the distraction from the real life nightmares I cannot awake from today…somebody please snark or rant or something, it’s too quiet in here, the voices in my head must be silenced! STFU and go away doomy gloomies!
TBone
Self soothing, self care solace hugs from Peter Gabriel
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VjEq-r2agqc
bjacques
@Quaker in a Basement: I remember Lionel Hampton performing at either Reagan’s second inaugural or GHW Bush’s. There’s a California band called Venice (from Venice Beach) who are big here in NL, and the missus and I know one of the members. We saw that he or one of his bandmates performed at Trump’s first inaugural. They’re not wealthy, so a gig’s a gig, I guess.
About that remote voting issue in the House, things are taking an interesting turn, not necessarily to Witchfinder Private Johnso’s advantage…
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/01/18/politics/house-remote-voting-new-moms-congress/index.html?iid=cnn_buildContentRecirc_end_recirc
prostratedragon
In this scene from Jewel Robbery (1932), we find William Powell’s character robbing a jewelry store, temporarily taking several hostages in the process.
bjacques
@prostratedragon:
Hash ‘im, boys!
That hiding the cigarette trick at the end, I remember seeing John Cusack do it in “Class” when one of the teachers comes to check on the dorm.
TBone
@prostratedragon: thank you thank you thank you
He gave his weed to the security guard hahahahaha
I once had a security guard at the Spectrum get me and a friend high on great weed at a Dead show, tucked under a stairwell
prostratedragon
@bjacques: Nothing new under the sun, is there?
@TBone: Glad to be of help. My own never-stable sleep pattern has been wandering lately.
TBone
@prostratedragon: I really needed that, Casa TBone is a shitstorm this morning you reminded me how to calm TF down
Geminid
@TBone: Well, I’ve got some of this morning’s stories from Al Arabiya, the most significant being:
The ceasefire was to begin at 8:30am local time but was delayed until 11:15am. That’s 4:15am Eastern Standard Time.
A story from Afghanistan:
This might turn out to be an important Syria story:
And there was sort of swords-into-plowshares story out of Syria, accompanied by pictures of the interim government’s tropps loading up mortar shells, grenades etc. from a cache discovered in Deraa Governate. They’d been left scattered on the ground by locals salvaging the crates for firewood.
TBone
@Geminid: thank you!
TBone
@prostratedragon: I hope for better regular sleep for you!
Professor Bigfoot
@TBone: I’m feeling that too; can’t sort it out from “not enough sleep last night” or “tomorrow our long national nightmare of prosperity will end.”
Professor Bigfoot
@TBone: well chosen… I needed that too.
Geminid
@Geminid: That should read “…withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan.
prostratedragon
Dark joy: “Pelo negro,” from Waking Life soundtrack
@Geminid: Still some hope in that box.
Chris Johnson
@Ohio Mom: That would be the PLAN, which does not mean it’ll work.
I figure the money in his coin now is largely Russian money, rather than his own base. If it’s a quick pump and dump, it’s to raise money for Putin. If it mysteriously fails to dump, then you called it.
The purpose would be to demonstrate ‘oh hey, this is continuing to be the best thing ever!’ Therefore as a legal executive action, Trump decrees there are no dollars anymore and it’s ALL made up of this.
THEN, dump. Like a dinosaur-ending meteorite.
Just more non-orthodox warfare. And again, just because it’s clearly a plan doesn’t mean that it will work. These plans get real sketchy when they are literally all plans to ruin United States stuff, baldly and brazenly, crafted by idiots and opposed by the likes of old shrewd evil Republicans like McConnell, like the corn lobbies etc.
I heard RFK means to ban corn syrup. How many Republicans are heavily invested in that industry?
Just because the plans are Bond-villain evil doesn’t mean they’re gonna work. Putin’s lost his damn mind and doubled down on the chaos monkey strategy.
Baud
@Chris Johnson:
I in no way support RFK, but I would be fun to see him go after Republicans who support unhealthy foods.
RFK will lose that fight, of course, but I would be fun while it lasts.
TBone
@Professor Bigfoot: hugs
Geminid
@sab: According to the New Lines article, the importance of the Orkney Islands in Britain’s Neolithic society was confirmed recently by a chemical analysis of Stonehenge’s “Altar Stone.” It was thought to have come from Wales, but the analysis showed the stone had been brought all the way from the Orkneys.
I read that Ken Follett has a Stonehenge novel coming out this year. I’m not sure how accurate Follett’s historical reconstruction will be; I just know it’s gonna be really long.
@Geminid:
Dorothy A. Winsor
I clicked on tiktok this morning to see what I’d get.
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
I hope Trump brings back TikTok so liberals can see examples of how to appreciate a president that does things we want.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Baud: Interestingly, tiktok’s Seller Center is still open. That’s the part from which people sell things. I sell books there and have two orders mid-shipment.
zhena gogolia
@Matt McIrvin: Um, I don’t think that is the general interpretation of the Iraq war.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@Rudi666: Honestly I’m half wondering if the new administration will let their oligarch buddies just walk off with whatever they want from the National Gallery and Smithsonian. Like that lunar landing module would look cool in my garage. And that Beirstadt would totally complete the look of my hunting lodge.
Also I wonder what happens to that emoluments clause case that slowly worked it’s way to SCOTUS. My recollection is they dismissed it because he lost and was no longer president. But they have all the lower court rulings so In theory the case if revived should go straight to their desk. I have a morbid curiosity about the BS legal justifications the dipshit 6 would come up with to say sure it looks like he’s in violation but really because of our made up bullshit he’s not.
I was pulling for Detroit last night. I grew up in Michigan and a Lions fan. I moved to the DC area during the Matt Millen disaster era and after a year or so gave up following them because the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze anymore. Never could warm up to the DC team though so I just pretty much stopped following the NFL. But still it looked like their year and I’m disappointed for everyone I know back in Michigan that still roots for them religiously. I suspect Goff may have been mildly concussed from that helmet to the chin he took but maybe he just had a bad game at the wrong time. It happens.
zhena gogolia
@Baud: Don’t hold your breath.
I only get flamed on here when I defend Biden. It’s some kind of terrible violation of blog norms.
ETA: or Garland
ETA: even front-pagers (or one of them, anyway) scold me for it
zhena gogolia
I miss sc.
Geminid
@zhena gogolia: I thought of a sure-fire way for WaterGirl to get more readership capture on her Pet Calender posts. She could put up pictures of a cat and dog, with the caption:
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
Where is she?
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
My respiration remains steady.
Geminid
@Baud: Ms. Cat is visiting London, I think.
Baud
@Geminid:
Oh, I remember now. Hope she’s having a good time.
p.a
zhena gogolia
@Geminid: OMG!
zhena gogolia
@Baud: I don’t know, but she’s been excoriated a lot and hasn’t been commenting lately
zhena gogolia
@Geminid: Oh, right, I forgot — good to know.
LAC
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I wish that folks would learn about the processes first before commenting. The board of governors as the sole authority to remove the postmaster general. The selections of the board governors by the president have to be confirmed by the senate and cannot come from just one party. They serve terms. There are three vacancies but not because Biden did not select anyone.
I used to work there in the late 90s and cut my teeth in labor employment law. It was rough and the emergence of internet along with competition from other carriers was not handled well. USPS never went back to the rose colored lensed machine it was seen as.
sab
@zhena gogolia: I miss her too.
evodevo
@sab:
Yep…a lot of us retired just before or just after the Plague Year. I think for us part-timers, the compulsory work on Sundays/holidays to deliver massive amounts of Amazon packages to fulfill the PO contract with Bezos was the final straw. I got a hernia out of the deal, and when 2020 hit, that was it for me. I was still delivering on the route when I was 73, and a lot of carriers in the old days didn’t retire until their 70’s or 80’s (if their health held out) because they liked the job, the bennies were great and their customers on the route appreciated them. It’s not the same nowadays.
Kathleen
@zhena gogolia: I have missed her!
Betty
@Ohio Mom: He included that idea in his Truth Social post. He will try.
WaterGirl
@geg6: From Thurston’s perspective, probably nothing is right in his world since Joelle’s surgery. EVERYTHING IS DIFFERENT.