I am so fucking angry right now and these motherfuckers in congress are on my last god damned nerve:
This fucking guy texted me for a fucking donation on the same day the senate agreed to approve more of Trump's cabinet picks. Hey @aoc.bsky.social get these idiots in line.
These fucking people have lost the plot.
— John Cole (@johngcole.bsky.social) January 31, 2025 at 4:19 PM
I got this mere minutes after I learned the Senate agreed to approve more Trump nominees and then go home for the weekend. These motherfuckers are playing with fire and if they do not get their shit together soon there is not going to be anyone willing to support them in 2026.
In other news, Trump “turned on the faucet” in California but told none of the people living there (especially fun because they voted for Trump in 2024) and almost drowned them:
President Donald Trump declared victory on Friday in his long-running water war with California, boasting he sent billions of gallons south — but local officials say they narrowly prevented him from possibly flooding farms.
”Today, 1.6 billion gallons and, in 3 days, it will be 5.2 billion gallons. Everybody should be happy about this long fought Victory! I only wish they listened to me six years ago — There would have been no fire!” he said in a post on his social media site.
Local officials had to talk the Army Corps of Engineers down after it abruptly alerted them Thursday afternoon it was about to increase flows from two reservoirs to maximum capacity — a move the agency said was in response to Trump directing the federal government to “maximize” water supplies.
Before the Corps ratcheted down its plan, local authorities scrambled to move equipment and warn farms about possible flooding, said Victor Hernandez, who oversees water management on one of the rivers, the Kaweah in Tulare County. He said the Corps gave him one hour notice on Thursday.
“I’ve been here 25 years, and I’ve never been given notice that quick,” Hernandez said. “That was alarming and scary.”
They just pissed away billions of gallons of water that will not be absorbed, will not be used, and will be needed during the summer months. Fucking imbecile.
Today’s fit:
In other news, after Trump and company announced that the DC plane collision was the result of DEI, he signed an executive order proclaiming the accident was the result of diversity, and then he and Elon’s shit flinging monkeys on twitter tried to blame a trans pilot named Jo Ellis who was… not even on the helicopter:
Jo Ellis, a helicopter pilot in the Virginia Army National Guard, was falsely identified as the captain of the crashed Black Hawk helicopter in thousands of social media posts this week. The flurry of falsehoods were so extreme that Ms. Ellis, who is transgender, posted a “proof of life” video to Facebook clarifying that she is alive and had not flown the crashed chopper.
The falsehoods, which tried to tie Ms. Ellis’s transgender identity to the tragedy, spread online shortly after President Trump and his allies attempted to tie the crash in Washington, D.C., to so-called “D.E.I. programs,” an array of initiatives meant to boost diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace. There is no evidence that such programs played any role in the crash.
The DOD released the names of the soldiers on the helicopter, but after seeing this, the parents of one of the soldiers, who was female, decided they did not want her name released:
Fuck these ghouls.
Joelle and I just got back from listening to hear our dog sitter and neighbor, Amos, perform at a coffee shop. He was really good. I’m in a foul mood, as I may have mentioned, so we just went to Ted’s Famous Hot Dogs and got a couple chicago dogs for dinner. Gonna watch something distracting on the television and go to bed. Hopefully less angry.
CaseyL
You’ve got to step away from the news or you might stroke out.
I’m avoiding most news, but couldn’t avoid hearing about the disembowelment of the Federal Government.
We are definitely in the “Americans get what they voted for good and hard” moment.
I’m angry, but mostly at the voters. Not the Dem politicians as much, because they probably feel pretty much like I do: “You voted for this, so go fuck yourselves.”
TheflipPsyd
I apologize that Delaware unleashed that idiot on the country. I am doubly sorry because I voted for him because there’s no other choice. I call him on a regular basis to tell him how much I hate his bipartisan shtick.
Love your response to him.
And I recommend Nobody Wants This for a mood boost.
satby
I’ve been binging Vienna Blood the last couple of weeks, try that if you haven’t yet.
VFX Lurker
What a waste.
ARGH.
the eradicator
This is a coup. Stop being frustrated, fight.
Spanky
I don’t see how I’m going to go to bed less angry.
And I gotta pace myself over the next 4 years.
satby
Yeppers to all of that. The shit is hitting the fan, and the MAGA voters are right in the line of fire. It’ll almost make the pain worth it.
Spanky
@the eradicator: What’s morbidly funny about it is that Trump has no idea that he’s lost control.
Steve LaBonne
My considered, intellectual response to today’s news is FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK
2liberal
This is a wise policy nowadays.
the eradicator
@Spanky: Yep Musk gets the blame if this fails.
Fair Economist
Just donate only to the Dems who vote against Trump’s nominees, and reply to all the others you can’t donate because they’re voting for crazies.
NotMax
One way to get around trademark.
Saw a scene in a Taiwanese program during which someone was typing in search terms on a laptop machine, the full screen of the computer visible, displaying “OOGLE.”
:)
Starfish (she/her)
Thanks, John. I knew some dumb shit happened today. I was just having a hard time piecing it together.
Peke Daddy
Peace out, John.
Softail
in the interest of not spreading disinformation, the water they were going to release is above flood levels and causing other troubles. it was going to be released in an organized way before the army corp of engineers went feral. it was never going to be saved. the reservoir is full
CaseyL
@satby:
I’m so sick of how we infantilize voters.
Oh, but they were propagandized!
Oh, but they only watch Fox!
Oh, but they were upset at Biden/Harris for [INSERT SINGLE ISSUE HERE]!
Oh, but they don’t know how government works!
Fuck all that. Voters are adults. If they’re dumb as rocks, refuse to learn anything, refuse to think beyond their moral superiority, those are choices they made, as adults.
I was sick of the notion that we have to spoon-feed voters, treat them like colicky infants, coax and flatter and soothe and pat them on the head, back in 2016.
I’m no less sick of it now.
No, I’m MORE sick of it now, because Trump & Co. were not, are not, unknown quantities this time around.
People knew what they were doing when they voted for him. People knew what they were doing when they refused to vote against him.
hitchhiker
I started yesterday by reading about the crash at National, and then — like sliding into a swamp of shit — kept going right through about 5 minutes ago.
This is by far the longest exposure I’ve had to news since before the election, and it’s going to be a while before I do that again.
I have my senators’ office numbers in my phone. I call them every day to make sure they hear from someone who has voted for them repeatedly and wants them to know how frightening it is to see the likes of Musk swinging his dick around our government.
Every day I wake up and open my phone to see if the thug has stroked out in the night. My dream is that he spends a few years drooling, in diapers, unable to speak.
NotMax
About that major storm yesterday, guy who reports on weather for a living resides only as few miles away from my place posted that the rain gauge in the weather station at his house measured more than 10 inches of rain over 24 hours.
Across the island chain, reports varied of rainfall anywhere from 1 to 4 inches per hour.
It was a doozy.
Steve LaBonne
@hitchhiker: The Flying Spaghetti Monster doesn’t love us nearly that much.
Miss Bianca
@CaseyL: Christ, I am so with you on this one. I forget where I read someone who was saying, “you didn’t know what the issues were/what Harris or Trump stood for? You have a fucking SUPER COMPUTER IN YOUR POCKET, don’t you think you could, you know, do a little research?”
There is no excuse for that kind of fucking ignorance.
People put more thought and effort into finding the best price for a set of tires than they can be bothered to do to exercise their prerogative as citizens?
Welp…
Almost Retired
So far this is all turning out to be worse than I expected. And I expected it to be bad.
I haven’t decided how I feel about Democrats who vote for some of Trump’s conventionally awful nominees as opposed to the profoundly odious fascists.
In ordinary times I suppose there’s an argument for drawing lines and sending a message by confirming the least awful and refusing to endorse the most repulsive.
But I don’t think that works with Trump. So I think I prefer that Dems vote down all of them. Can’t imagine that voting for the dog shooter or l’il Marco gets you any bipartisan votes.
TBone
Oh God, that T-shirt just brought back a memory of my very first day at high school, when I had to walk up two giant hills to the bus stop before 7am and go to first period gym class by 7:20 am. They wanted me to change into gym shorts at 7am? I told a girl to tell the gym teacher I’d moved over the summer and skipped gym class all year! Didn’t get caught till end of year and was forced to take summer school classes at the local community college that summer, which suited me much better than gym shorts on cold mornings!
Anyhow, at the bus stop that very first day, the kids were passing around a pipe. I thought it was weed but these idiots were smoking Quaaludes!
Gvg
I have been reading a lot of garden catalogs to calm down
Tuesday we were scrambling to process as many students as we could because we were afraid the government was going to shut down financial aid at 5pm. It got called off but I no longer trust things and plan to secretly work some this weekend. The sooner kids are approved and paid the safer. I have thought of a possible attack target we should try to protect but have decided to not mention it because any attempts to identify them could just lead the maga approving people who can be anywhere, to find them faster. Or notice them faster. Identifying them might lead to pre complying if higher ups decided to suck up. It has not been mentioned so far so say nothing.
Ordered a bunch of garden books with Christmas gift cards. Nerdy plant books. My NARGS seed order came tonight.
There has been another plane crash in Philadelphia. Probably not similar to the other one. Crashed into houses though. What is a horizontal stabilizer? I am supposed to fly to tTexas in April to Lady Bird Johnson wildflower center. Was really looking forward to it….last time I was going to have a vacation to Callaway gardens last year, I got Covid.
NotMax
Ali Velshi, subbing for O’Donnell tonight, is en fuego.
Leto
@Steve LaBonne: that’s been mine as well.
Efgoldman would’ve approved this update.
Old Man Shadow
My thoughts are turning dark.
Almost Retired
@NotMax: just tuned in. He is great.
Spanky
@Old Man Shadow: Welcome.
RaflW
I’m not sure what we do to let our elected Dems in D.C. understand just how furious many of us are. Maybe we’re outliers, but probably not. I think they’re risking an exodus from the party.
I called Sen. Smith’s office today and gently but firmly let her staffer know how moronic it is to vote yes on any of the cabinet nominees. And then I promptly unsubscribed from her campaign’s fundraising emails.
I’m not totally shutting the tap for Dems. But I’m going to be more targeted. More local, less national. More grassroots, less suck-ass centrism.
cain
@Fair Economist:
This. There is no greater way to show our displeasure.
None of these Dem assholes deserves our money while all this is going on.
In fact, it’s time to have our own tea party.
Jay
@Softail:
While the reservoirs are often drawn down to accommodate rain over the winter and snowmelt in spring,
The local waterboards have pointed out that the winter forecast is little rain, little snowpack,
While the reservoirs were full, they aren’t now,
and the normal process is to release water as it flows in, to keep the reservoirs full at all times, in case of a dry winter and summer drought.
Current forecast is a dry winter and summer drought.
They also point out that all that water is “owned” under the water laws, and apportioned to farmers, Municipalities and Cities who pay for it. None of these groups will get compensation for the loss, until after lengthy multi-year lawsuits.
Jackie
@CaseyL:
I agree. But I’m willing to wager many MAGATs didn’t expect Musk to be THE President and FFOTUS to be Puppet in Chief.
cain
@RaflW:
Yeah, invest in your local politics. We need to start doing more of that. It has to be grass roots. The feds are fucked – I’m more scared of the FBI being weaponized. I hope GOP and Dems know what they are doing because if the DOJ is taken over they will not help congress enforce anything.
Leto
I mentioned this earlier tonight, turns out it was worse than initially reported:
No survivors expected after air ambulance carrying 6 crashes in Philadelphia, aircraft company says
Among the people on board was a child who had come to the U.S. for “life-saving treatment” and was going back home, a spokesperson for Jet Rescue Air Ambulance said.
JFC…
stacib
@CaseyL: So much this! My anger level is starting to concern me as it hasn’t dropped a bit since election night. The “voters” had every opportunity to avoid this upcoming four-year nightmare, and somehow trump got more votes. I don’t want to donate, volunteer or do one single thing that may help somebody that voted for that guy, and that’s not who I was before 11/5/2024. And, since I can’t tell who voted for who – I’m not doing anything.
SiubhanDuinne
@NotMax:
He’s pulled double or triple duty tonight, appearing also — on very short notice — as an expert* guest commentator on both Jen Psaki’s and Rachel Maddow’s shows.
*TIL he is a licensed pilot and is super-familiar with that NE Philly airport. I really like him, and have turned into a great fan of his “Velshi’s Banned Book Club.”
Percysowner
I read news for a while then decide I can’t cope and stop. I have kept up my recurring donations to various Democratic PACS, but the only Individuals I am giving money to are the 3 Democrats in the special elections for House of Representatives. I mean there is like zero chance they will win, but I’m giving it a go anyway. And once or twice Liz Warren, AOC, and Kamala Harris get me to throw in a couple of bucks.
Jay
@Gvg:
It’s the wing at the tail. it controls up, down, trim angles.
stacib
@Jackie: EXCEPT, neither Musk nor trump tried to hide anything. Musk flat-out told trump’s audience that it was going to be painful, and their first acts would be to gut the government workforce, and yet, those idiots fell all over themselves to cast their votes for this duo.
Spanky
@Leto: Specifically (via the AP):
Jackie
@stacib: Project 2025.
We couldn’t convince voters… and here we are.
SiubhanDuinne
@Jackie:
OT: I keep meaning to ask, and then always keep forgetting, but I’ve noticed that you and a clutch of other regular BJ commenters have started using the acronym FFOTUS. It’s obvious whom it refers to, but what — specifically — do the letters stand for? I assume one of them is “fuck/ -ed/ -ing/ -er” and one is possibly “felon” or “felonious”? But could be “fool” or “fartdaddy” or “freakoid.” I googled FFOTUS, and searched Urban Dictionary, but neither helped. Can you?
Gloria DryGarden
@stacib: i need a gutting knife
Gloria DryGarden
@SiubhanDuinne: Is it First felon of the United States?
…naturally other F words pop up in one’s mind
Gloria DryGarden
@Spanky: This is giving me chills and goosebumps. The horror kind
I guess now I’m lighting a big fat novena candle for all the children of Mexico who live here.
NotMax
@SiubhanDuinne
FF = First Felon
Marc
They are the short wing-like things at the tail of most planes, usually accompanied by control surfaces called elevators (or the whole stabilizer rotates on the horizontal axis, which is called a stabilator), which actually control the “pitch” angle at which the aircraft flies, thus determining whether you go up or down. Most jet aircraft have locking mechanisms on the elevator/stabilator to prevent damage from wind on the ground. One common business jet accident scenario is forgetting to unlock it before takeoff, which doesn’t become obvious until the plane is at takeoff speed. Then the plane pitches up almost vertically, loses flying speed, then dives straight into the ground. There are other scenarios in which elevator/stabilator control is lost, with the same end result. I used to fly sailplanes which we’d store in trailers, one common assembly error was forgetting to install/hookup the stabilizer or elevator control linkage properly. We used to double check each others work, but still, I lost 4 friends that way in 40 years of flying. I, myself, would only buy newer sailplanes that had automatic control hookups, as I’m the forgetful sort.
Chetan Murthy
I bought a Kindle specifically in order to step away from the news: instead of reading books on my Chromebook (and switching every 5min to see what the latest atrocity is), the lappie stays in the kitchen, and I read the Kindle in bed, before sleep and right after waking. Much better.
We’re all consuming 100x too much of this news: we’d know what was going on even if we only consumed news for 10min a day.
Darkrose
@RaflW: Adam Schiff was patting himself on the back on Bluesky. I went to his website and there’s no contact information except a web form that forces the text into all caps. Someone found the Senate office number and his SF office and called; both mailboxes are full (naturally).
I used the form and told him that we need him to actually stand up and fight for his constituents in the wake of Trump’s assault on the Constitution. I was very polite, even in the PS where I suggested he might want to hire someone to fix the all caps thing.
New Deal democrat
Excuse me, native Buffalonian here.
Ted’s hot dogs is a famous *Buffalo* hot dog stand, Not that salad on a bun Chicago thing.
The family who owns it in Buffalo retired to Phoenix got bored, and well, there you go.
It will be my first stop when I hit Phoenix next Wednesday.
Gloria DryGarden
@Gvg: what seeds did you get? Can you grow alpine stuff in your troughs or crevice gardens where you live?
Gloria DryGarden
@Chetan Murthy: it’s hard to quit. And you’re absolutely right.
lower stress levels helps in so many ways.
the news, inflames me. I get so spitting mad, under my calm exterior.
SiubhanDuinne
@Gloria DryGarden:
Many thanks. Will probably start using it myself.
Grin and Bare
MMWR is gone. Website completely removed.
Here it is for those that need it:
https://web.archive.org/web/20250123035302/https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/index.html
SiubhanDuinne
@NotMax:
TY, NM.
NotMax
@SiubhanDuinne
YW, SD.
;)
George
I heard from a former colleague that all USDA email signatures are being deleted and that on Monday employees will have to create new signature blocks. Use of pronouns in the signature blocks will be prohibited. Also, earlier today USDA apparently mandated that all references to climate change be scrubbed from departmental websites.
Gloria DryGarden
@Steve LaBonne: like that. Yes. FFF, Ffff!
Meanwhile, how can we get rid of musk? He doesn’t have a position, so he can’t be fired, or impeached. But is there something Congress can do?
New Deal democrat
As long as I’ve posted once on my thread, let me also note that I’ve read one commentator who I respect say that Dem Senators, by voting for the relatively more reasonable cabinet selections, may be trying to build credibility with some GOP Senators to get them on board with voting against the worst nominees, like RFK Jr and Tulsi Gabbard.
bluefoot
@New Deal democrat: Former WNYer here. I did a double take when Cole mentioned Ted’s. And now I want a hot dog. Or maybe some frozen custard.
NotMax
Here’s hoping Joelle’s mustard didn’t also go astray.
:)
Jackie
@SiubhanDuinne: First Felon of the US.
New Deal democrat
@bluefoot: And this past year, “Buffalo style pizza” (“cupped and charred”) had a moment.
lashonharangue
It’s hard to tell from the news article if the Corps of Engineer was trying to CYA from the water release order or it was attempting malicious compliance. Given the incompetence of those above, it might be that malicious compliance by lower level government employees is a better strategy than overt resistance.
Xenos
So is that it for air travel in the USA?
For a post-accident investigation to be overwhelmed by right-wing political correctness is like an American Chernobyl. How are we ever to know if flying is safe going forward?
I left the US 15 years ago. I still visit a few times each year for work or to see family. I may have to stop if the FAA is this badly run.
Gloria DryGarden
@Softail: thank you for clarifying. It’s good to hear of full reservoirs.
Jay
@Xenos:
It’s not safe, 99% of US Airports are currently understaffed, both FAA and ATC. The Safety Committee has been disbanded and there is a push to get rid of the TSA and push all screening back on the Airlines.
The evil Al Qaida plot of sitting back and watching the US destroy itself is bearing fruit.
chrisanthemama
@RaflW: Kamala had more money than god and Harry Belafonte combined, and fat lot of good it did. I donated and wrote postcards and really believed we could win. Oh well.
As for where I’m putting my money these days, I’ve finally set up a monthly donation to ACLU, Planned Parenthood, and our local PBS station. I’ve bought/given away 25 copies of Timothy Snyder’s “On Tyranny”, including a few copies to my local library, since there’s a waiting line for all the available copies. I bought a small box of “red cards” from Red Cards / Tarjetas Rojas | Immigrant Legal Resource Center | ILRC in Spanish/English to hand out/leave in public places to let people (doc’d and undoc’d) know what their rights are. Not in the mood to give another dollar to a politician at this point. Life-long Democratic voter. Get your act together, boys and girls.
Jay
@Gloria DryGarden:
According to the local Waterboard, the two reservoirs are only 10% full at this time, and based on snowpack levels and the forecast snow and rainfall, will only be 50% full by the end of snowmelt.
NotMax
Do not click if your daily quota of outrage is topped out.
Otherwise, FYI, the latest atrocities: Trump Signs New Executive Orders While Taking Questions.
Marc
99% of US airport control towers have been understaffed since Reagan fired the controllers. Things likely won’t immediately get worse, but I’ll stick to trains for a while if they get away with screwing around with the FAA for more than a few weeks.
LAC
It is that easy….
https://www.threads.net/@democrascene/post/DFgVeitM9Gb?xmt=AQGzAp2DfJAxknQiyqgHTlC3glo7AcJeUY7oFdao5LMPRA
NotMax
@NotMax
For those loathe to watch, this stood out –
“Tariffs on pharmaceuticals and medicines.”
Gloria DryGarden
DOGE
Destroy
Our
Government
Everyday
Dont outrage the Government ever.
i dunno, I need an opposite acronym.
Where’s notmax?
Dis Only Gross Escalationers. Sigh. Help me NotMax.
Jay
@Marc:
President’s Clinton, Obama, Dolt 45 and Biden managed to get the staffing up to 82%. Dolt 47’s January 20th EO banning any ATC hiring has left 750 ATC graduates, ( almost a year long program with a 2.6% pass rate) looking for other opportunities.
Amtrak will be next.
Steve LaBonne
@Gloria DryGarden: Don Old Gargle’s Elon’s [balls]
Gretchen
@NotMax: Ali seems furious. His knowledge as a pilot probably contributes.
NotMax
@Gloria DryGarden
I’ll have to get back to you.
KatKapCC
You have 224 unread texts???
prostratedragon
@Gloria DryGarden: Priority one.
Marc
I do know several air traffic controllers. They brought up the numbers by privatizing or eliminating the towers at the smaller airports and shifting the FAA controllers to large airports and ATC centers. It’s worked out reasonably well (if you don’t fly into small airports), but a lot of the controllers are overworked and not terribly happy about it.
RevRick
@JohnCole, it seems to me, based on your post and the comments of many others, that we have forgotten that before we dial the anger up to 11, we first need to lament.
As the prophet Jeremiah spoke: Hear, O women, the word of the Lord, and let your ears receive the word of his mouth; teach to your daughters a dirge, and each to her neighbor a lament.” 9:20
The world was turning to shit. The Babylonians were soon going to crush the vassal state of Judah for cozying up to the Egyptians. And Jeremiah, the guy notorious for his jeremiads, declared that our first order of business in times like this is to lament. Because to lament is to acknowledge in one’s body that the world is not as it is meant to be.
Lamenting puts us in touch with our pain. It creates community. When we lament, letting ourselves be wracked with tears and wails, we are telling others that their pain is my pain, their suffering is my suffering. And we invite mutual comfort. Lamenting is healing.
If we skip the lamenting part, we end up stuck in anger and self-righteousness that just eats away at us. And no matter how many tasty hotdogs we wolf down, that anger remains.
Now, lament is not the same as despair. Lament is the flip side of hope! It expresses the belief that the world is worth our grief. Despair, on the other hand, is drained of all hope.
So, weep my friends. Weep for the cruelty unleashed on the vulnerable. Weep for the lives that will bear needless suffering. Weep for the loss of illusions. Weep for the damage that will be inflicted on our home, this good Earth. Weep for the way all the worst emotions have been unleashed in our own souls.
Kelly
We only have streaming TV. No broadcast channel reaches our canyon. Will one of you let me know if all the broadcast channels are playing Swan Lake reruns?
KatKapCC
@SiubhanDuinne: One thing I’ve always appreciated about Velshi is how full-throated and forthright he is in support of abortion rights. More so than many other liberal men I see on the news.
Jay
@Marc:
Sadly, part of the job of being an ATC is being overworked. It is constantly intense. I took Canadian ATC training in the early 80’s, graduated, passed on the job, started driving commercially for a lot less money. Much less stressful, much less going on constantly, only 2 dimensions to watch, all visual.
NotMax
@Gloria DryGarden
Disintegrating Our Government Entirely?
KatKapCC
@Gloria DryGarden:
I can think of a few ways.
Marc
@Jay: I started flying during the Johnson administration, being an FAA controller back then was a stressful, but decent well-paying job, I haven’t heard it described that way since Reagan. It’s a mere matter of getting the money to train/hire enough staff, just like everything else these days.
Joelle
@New Deal democrat: We have a buddy from our class at Bethany who grew up on Long Island/now lives in Buffalo. He and I have this tradition that just sort of organically occurred which is… whenever either of us goes to Ted’s Hotdogs’s (me in Tempe and he in Buffalo) we send a pic of of ourselves and our spread during the Ted’s visit and say, “How ya like me now?” Then the person who sent the pic is sent back a pic from the other person who went to Ted’s because the other person went. It’s silly and childish and pointless. You let me know if you want in.
Ju
@TheflipPsyd: Unless that $10 is going to help get him some sort of spinal support, I don’t see a point in sending him any money.
Captain C
@KatKapCC: Not that it’ll happen, but I’d like to see him stuck in a last-Seinfeld episode-style cell with TCFG until they both croak. With no entertainment other than each other.
KatKapCC
@Captain C: I’m gonna borrow one of my favorite George Carlin lines and say: Dip him in gravy and lock him in a small room with a wolverine who’s high on angel dust.
Jay
@Marc:
As a Commercial Driver, I made half what I would as an ATC, and benefits and pensions sucked on comparison, or were nonexistent.
On the other hand, 8 hour days vs. 12 hour days, (couldn’t drive more than 8 hours by law and hours started not when I hit the road, but instead, signed off on the load. Too dangerous for a truck driver to work more than 8 hours, fatigue and poor decision making you know).
Steady schedule, as even when the “projectile vomit flu” hit, there were always drivers available, if needed, so OT shifts barely existed
As for the pay thing, it was Reagan, everybody but the 1% got screwed.
prostratedragon
@KatKapCC: Go Blue!
cain
@RevRick: 100% this.
Marc
@Jay: I originally wanted to be an airline pilot, but back then it was hard if you weren’t ex-military (and white), and I realized after a while that I really wasn’t a by-the-books kind of guy. So, I took up writing software. When I started it was barely a minimum wage job (roughly half women back then), then it became The Next Big Thing for white nerds with CS degrees to do, which I also was not, so most of my career was spent writing software on a contract basis. Not exactly steady work and no benefits, but every once in a while I end up someplace where they’d hire me full time, so I’d stay a few years. My last job before retiring, oddly, was 20 years at a university helping PhD students write software for their research. I can’t complain, I did make enough that I could buy the occasional airplane or glider to fool around with.
Captain C
@KatKapCC: That works too.
prostratedragon
One thing:
and anther thing:
Jay
@prostratedragon:
Ha, ha, ha, ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,
OANN
ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,
prostratedragon
@Jay:
Delighted as I am to see something like karma strike here, the implications are putting a damper on it for me.
prostratedragon
@prostratedragon:
Meanwhile, we will see few more apt occasions for this new gospel pearl.
Ohio Mom
@RevRick: That’s interesting. I describe myself as alternating being in despair and being frozen, like you are when you see a car accident unfolding before you. You know there is nothing you can do and you know it’s going to be awful.
I am very aware neither state leads anywhere good.
cain
@prostratedragon:
lol – I wonder if the editorial are going to cry now. They’ll still give the orange fuck his tongue licking regardless.
Gloria DryGarden
@RevRick:
Thank you.
let my weeping become a prayer.
Amen
YY_Sima Qian
@New Deal democrat: Maybe that line of thinking is precisely why people such as RFK, Jr. & Tulsi Gabbard are nominated, so that anyone else slightly less unhinged sail through. In any case didn’t work w/ Hegeseth.
Meanwhile, Rubio is out there defending Trump trying to seize Greenland & the Panama Canal to LATAM, & he is the “sanest” of the bunch, which is bar so low as to be invisible. Every single one of them will promote & execute policies, or through negligence/incompetence, hurt a lot of people at home & abroad. That is obvious, but the Senate Dems that voted for any of these carnival barkers & circus freaks will have their support recorded for posterity.
prostratedragon
Bizarro World:
How to resolve a constitutional crisis from outside the constitutional executive. Would help if a handful of GOP Reps could get it in gear. Silly I know, but seems to be where we are.
KatKapCC
@prostratedragon: Would also be nice if more Dems were being loud about it, rather than approving his nominations and asking for money.
prostratedragon
@KatKapCC:
Maybe. But what I hope they’re doing is trying to line up votes for the 3rd attempt.
sentient ai from the future
while spelunking r/fednews threads gawking at the administrative coup (already in progress) i came across this paper from the army war college and that led me to the IREX Media Literacy Training Manual and the Stanford History Civic Online Reasoning program curriculum. I think the current mess is a result of not teaching people this shit young, so we gotta do the work to train as many as we can right now.
some of you might be able to use this stuff.
YY_Sima Qian
Hegemonic collapse proceeding apace (link to a post on X):
SiubhanDuinne
@NotMax:
For my sins, I watched the first few minutes of your clip. FFOTUS (thanks, everyone!) introduced his new Secretary of Energy, former ND Governor Doug Burgum.
Uh … Burgum is the new Secretary of the Interior.
Poe Larity
I missed this. More please:
Lord Fartdaddy (Formerly Mumphrey, Smedley Darlington Mingobat, et al.)
A tree just fell on our house. This is something we did not need.
Jay
@YY_Sima Qian:
Cue malicious compliance.
Back in the day, I “had” to do a vendor “walk”. That’s where you travel to various existing vendors to do discussions, inspections, overviews and certifications.
The VP at the time, hated my guts, from when he was Head of Engineering, and I kicked him out of my ECIB Meetings and got him banned for being abusive.
But he had “pull” with the CEO and the Board.
So, prior to my trip, (Seattle, Silicon Valley, San Diego, (USN), Cleveland, Milwaukee) I was “required” to document every interaction of my trip, according to HR.
So I did, all 1786 pages.
Came back late Saturday, went in Sunday, printed it off, along with the HR “demand”, with 4 copies for all of HR, one for the VP, one for the CEO and 8 for the Board, billed for all the OT.
Jay
@Lord Fartdaddy (Formerly Mumphrey, Smedley Darlington Mingobat, et al.):
How bad?
prostratedragon
@Lord Fartdaddy (Formerly Mumphrey, Smedley Darlington Mingobat, et al.):
Cripes! Everyone ok — apart from nerves?
SiubhanDuinne
@Lord Fartdaddy (Formerly Mumphrey, Smedley Darlington Mingobat, et al.):
Yikes!! Are you all safe?
SC54HI
Finally. Senator Wyden is demanding that the Treasury Secretary Bessent account for musk’s reported activities. Hope it can slow the damage at least.
SiubhanDuinne
@Jay:
I have always loved the term “malicious compliance” (I believe it’s also sometimes called “work to rule”), and now I know why. What a great demonstration of the concept!
sab
I bought a dozen eggs for $6.49 today. Just normal eggs. The fancy ones were $8.49.
prostratedragon
Insomniac theater: The Last Wave on TCM, momentarliy.
YY_Sima Qian
@Jay: That is hilarious.
Of course, it is more likely that Chinese & Chinese American academics will simply choose to leave states such as TX & FL, or the U.S. altogether, as they have been in increasing numbers since the launch of the “China Initiative” during Trump’s 1st term.
Jay
@YY_Sima Qian:
I posted this twice, once on a Ukraine thread, 2 days ago, earlier today,
Nice Infographic,
https://interactives.lowyinstitute.org/features/china-versus-america-on-global-trade/
Should be “fun” for the US given how they have driven so many other trading partners away.
Go Tariffs,…………………………………..
Jay
@sab:
with the tariffs, should get “fun”,
22% of US eggs and egg products come from Canada, 14% from Mexico.
sab
@Jay: OT My sister, who is newly retired as a public university professor, has been worried that her state teachers pension may not be as safe as she would like. She was wishing she had Social Security instead.
Now that the Muskrats have infilitrated Government Services Administration, that should put her mind at rest. She has a less worse retirement option.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Jay:
I mean, it’s not like it’s going to be fun for Canada or other countries either. The US is one of the largest economies in the world. If we go down, so will you.
And have you seen the political state of other nations lately? This dysfunction is not an America-only phenomenon. You are not immune to this. Hell, look at Argentina. Or Britain. Or France. Or Germany.
Gloria DryGarden
@SC54HI: can we parlay this into demanding that musk stop, be stopped, as he has no jurisdiction, no authority, no appointment, no official job, and also, too, he has a major conflict of interest, because most of his wealth comes from government subsidies and contracts
(IIRC)
sab
We just blew a chunk of my inheritance on an EV Honda Civic today. Being old, we know it is the last car we will ever buy. My husband is excited. I am already mourning our FIT.
The Honda people were lusting after a trade-in of my Honda FIT but we have kids and grandkids lined up hoping to get it as a handme down car. I love my FIT but Honda decided to stop selling them in the US market. The Honda sales people told me they still are available in Europe. They too are sorry Honda stopped selling them here. I don’t know about nationally, but in NE Ohio they are wildly popular
ETA Since we will need a new car within the next four years we decided to jump before the tariffs kick in.
My stepdaughter was laughing that a co-worker was bitching about “now we have tariffs on yarn! Who cares about yarn imports!”
Gloria DryGarden
@Jay: dang.
so us has been shooting itself in the foot.
different-church-lady
@CaseyL:
Well, they’re working on that…
different-church-lady
Holy god people DO NOT GIVE POLITICIANS YOUR CELL NUMBER!!!!
Jay
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Did you look at the infographic,
Maybe you should.
Since 2001, the US has fallen from the major trading partner for export’s and imports from 91% down to 22%, globally,
When you have lost Greenland,……………………………
China currently buys more wood from Canada than the US, thanks to the Softwood tariffs under the Bushes, while costing ‘Mercans 35% more for a house.
In the short run, Tariffs will hurt, but for 22 years, Canada has developed both Government and Private initiatives for finding new markets. 86% of our rare metals now go to China, Japan and Taiwan, where 2 decades ago, it all went to the US.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@different-church-lady:
They get them from things like Act Blue, I think
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Jay:
The US is still one of the world’s largest economies. If something happens to us, it will affect you.
I honestly find some of your comments really distasteful, like you’re gleeful this is happening
Jay
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
BTW, since cocksucking Dolt 47 into their mouths, the Federal Conservatives are now polling 3rd.
Funny that.
sab
@Gloria DryGarden: I have issues with your pronouns. ” Us” then “its.” Shouldn’t it be “us” then “ourselves”?
// Pedantry is my last grasp for normality.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Jay:
Hey, I’m glad, hopefully the polls are right and stay that way up until the Canadian elections. Just don’t pretend the same forces at work here in the US don’t apply in Canada and elsewhere. You are not immune
different-church-lady
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): DON’T GIVE YOUR CELL TO ACT BLUE EITHER!!!
different-church-lady
@sab: Well that’s it, Biden is toast now.
sab
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Calm down. I believe he is trying for mordant humor. If he didn’t like us or worry about us he wouldn’t even be on this blog.
Jay
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Right now, I don”t have a job. Job postings are down over 80% as Canadian Companies are wrestling with the path forward.
Yeah, Canada will take a short term hit, the US will take a long term hit.
I am not “gleeful”,
Nobody in the US give a shit about Canada, Mexico or the ROW, and it is biting them in the ass.
Too Bad, sucks to be you.
sab
@different-church-lady: Sadly laughing at your comment.
different-church-lady
@New Deal democrat: It’s like if Charlie Brown asked Lucy to hold the football.
Jay
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
You have no Clue.
Since the 1980’s the Federal and Provincial Con’s have hired and run US Wingnut campaigns.
We have been fighting back for over 40 years.
sab
@Jay: Yes. The old saying is when US economy gets a cold the Canadian economy gets pneumonia. Goku is old enough he should have heard that already.
different-church-lady
@Jay:
How’s that been going for you?
Jay
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Still haven’t looked at the infographic I see.
Right now, sucks to be a major trading partner with the US, should have gone with China in the Aughts.
sab
@Jay: Being an ignorant American, I only learned on this blog last week that ROW is Rest of World.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@sab:
See his comment at #142.
“Too bad, sucks to be you”.
What a nice attitude to have.
@Jay:
Sure you’re not gleeful.
And oh, right absolutely “nobody” in the US gives a shit about Canada, Mexico, or the ROW. Except all of the people who voted against Trump. Fuck us, I guess, right?
I’m sorry you’re out of work, but a lot of innocent people are going to be hurt by this who didn’t vote for Trump and China coming out of this smelling like roses is not a good thing if you value freedom, democracy, or human rights. I’m not saying the US is perfect, far from it, but the US being fucked up doesn’t mean the PRC is a good global leader
Jay
@different-church-lady:
In BC, okay, squeaker. Last election, but they , the Con’s have lost 4 for being frauds.
In Ontario, Con’s new motto is Fuck USA under Ford,
Alberta, well,……….. they are too busy sucking up to Billionaire Ozzi Coal to make a difference, the oil and gas tariffs should shake a few trees,
Sask is straddling the fence,
Quebec is “hell yeah”.
The Maritimes are WTF, we took you in during 911, fuck you.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Jay:
Okay, and? Republicans ran the same campaigns here. We’ve been fighting the same thing for 40 years too. So has much of the western world if you think about it. The UK has had it pretty bad under the Tories. Thatcher did a number on the UK, just like Raygun did to us. That doesn’t mean you’re immune to the global anti-incumbent wave that has been sweeping the world
sab
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Why on earth are you arguing with Jay? Talk about yelling past each other on the same side.
Lots of Americans didn’t vote for Trump, but unfortunately a slight majority did, and this will badly hurt a lot of people in allied countries who did not get to vote at all. We just made a very bad choice and we are not the only ones who will suffer the consequences.
Jay
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
I don’t get a vote.
You do. I can’t even donate.
America voted to fuck themselves over a proven con man, rapists\, sorry, I can’t link or copy all Jeff Tiedrich’ s 65 word epithets offhand of Trump,
You, America, are deliberately breaking 63 years of trade and security alliances with your most stalwart allies,
so, little sympathy.
Dan B, and his partner have a bed here, if needed, and others.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@sab:
I’m arguing with him because he has this tendency to want to lump all of us together, as if every American is a Trump supporter. And he sometimes appears gleeful that the US is in the position it’s in and thinks Canada will somehow come out of a US decline/collapse relatively unscathed. I think it’s crazy to think having a basket case/failed state on your border won’t affect you long term
And I also take issue with the attitude that Canada is immune to the same dynamics affecting the US, when you see the same forces playing out politically worldwide. The world as a whole has undeniably shifted rightward. It’s like people still think it’s 2005 and the US is the outlier
New Zealand elected a far-right party for crying out loud when Jucienda Arden’s government by all accounts was very good. Didn’t matter, throw out the bums.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Jay:
I, and tens of millions of others, did our damn level best to beat Trump, but it wasn’t enough unfortunately. A lot of people were blinded by propaganda and misinformation. Again, you are not immune
And I don’t believe in collective guilt.
sab
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): He doesn’t lump all of us together. He just has issues with our government, which is currently very fucked up. It doesn’t help Canada or Canadians ( or Mexico or Mexicans) that 49% of us voted against Trump’s insanity, when 51% of us voted for Trump and his insanity.
I hate how our election turned out, but that is how it turned out and Trump is now our face to the world. I hate that but it is what it is.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@sab:
What do you call what he’s doing in #154, then? Or in #142?
Jay
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Guess you never heard of Harper or Preston Manning.
Fucking ignorant ‘ Mercans.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Jay:
Yes, I’ve heard of Harper, at least. What does that have to do with my point? The world has moved to the far right, overall. That’s a fact
And I don’t appreciate being called names
Jay
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Tough shit, you have the immediate to deal with it, the ROW as well,
you as a Nation chose, don’t expect any National sympathy, like 911,
Look at the graphic I posted,
The US is no longer a reliable trading partner, the US is no longer a reliable security partner.
The world will move on, we have to,
sab
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Comment # 154 makes my point. Comment #142 is a bit over the top (nobody in America cares…) but cut him some slack. You still have a job. He doesn’t,because of how our majority voted.
He and I and others comment back and forth almost every night. He knows we care because we tell him so. That doesn’t help his job situation, and quite frankly you are showing him that you don’t care either. You have a job in USA after our shitty election, and he in Canada does not.
Jay
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Man, you are such an idiot.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@sab:
I have a shitty job that doesn’t pay me enough to live on my own
Jay
@sab:
Thank you.
Sucks to be in the US right now, srry.
Jay
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
That your system that the US voted on.
sab
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): About 14 years ago Ruemara told me to stop digging when I was badly on the wrong side of an argument.
I suggest you do that this morning. Usually you have useful comments.Not so much tonight.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
sab
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Jay has no job at all.
sab
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Those are our Republicans not his. We need to own the fact that these monsters are ours, and not yell at foreigners who don’t like them.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@sab:
Hell, the way shit is going, I probably won’t have this job this time next year, anyway, the economy will be in a depression
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Jay:
I’m aware. Believe me.
I’m genuinely sorry you don’t have a job at the moment. I hope you find work soon.
sab
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I sure hope not, but I share your concern. I am not intending beating up on you, just trying to point out that our bad choices impact a lot of others who have no choice.
Jay
Our BFF’s Bun and Bob, Phoenix Az, just lost for all intent’s and purposes, VA coverage.
Bun is dual citizenship, they will be back in Alberta, this weekend where they have family.
Bob was a US Army Engineer during Vietnam. The only thing keeping him alive was the VA coverage,
sab
@sab: The person I was in the argument with still hasn’t forgiven me. So I pied them. I hope and expect it turns out better between you and Jay. I think it will. You both seem sensible and kind.
ETA Comnent directed (indirectly) to Gofu.
sab
@Jay: Will Alberta pick up the slack since we failed another vet?
I have some dual citizenship great nephews. Hope the duality is a plus not a negative.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Jay:
I’m sorry that happened to them
Jay
Alberta con’s are ripping the health services apart again, 6 months since the last time, and have enshrined covid CT
Bob is is an agent “rainbow” vet and Alberta does not have the experience with all the issues.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Jay:
What is “covid CT”?
YY_Sima Qian
@Jay: Yeah, it is a nice video from the Lowy Institute. The U.S. geopolitical strategy for the past 8+ years has been trying to defy economic gravity (both in terms of current status & momentum) while also pursuing economic nationalism at the expense of all of its trade partners. The contradiction is unresolvable.
Trump the 2nd time around has dispensed w/ all pretense & made it impossible for everyone else (particularly US allies/partners) continue bury their heads in the sand.
sab
@Jay: OMG. My dual national great nephews, in additional to having to be trilingual ( English, French, Mandarin) now have to be bilingual in bureaucratese?
I remember the first time I used the legal term “term of art” with my art historian sister. She burst out laughing. ” You lawyers even have a jargon word for jargon!”
MagdaInBlack
@RevRick: ❤️
sab
@Jay: Wow. I sort of knew that, but seeing it is a big wow. And no, we cannot sanction or legislate it away. We just need to do business better.
Gloria DryGarden
@sab: I just saw my typo, or failure to capitalize. Fixing it.
YOU’RE quite right. That entry was confusing with that mistake. Pedantry is welcome. I don’t always capitalize, I write on here at very late hours, on poor sleep, and I find typos, and missing words, in my entries, when it’s too late to fix them. But I prefer fairly good grammar and good spelling. Even some amount of punctuation, for clarity at least. On Facebook, we used to call people like me, who sometimes point out an error in word usage or spelling, “grammar N_z_s” but we sure can’t use that anymore. Thanks for catching my goof-up. I had just come back in and seen it, and hoped it might make sense. You deserve stable, sane , clear language. I try. Sigh.
Fix:
YY_Sima Qian
@Jay: Sino-Canadian relations had been fairly positive until the end of the Obama Administration. There was even some momentum for an FTA early in Trudeau’s administration.
However, John Bolton helped to poison the atmosphere by somehow getting Trudeau to detain Huawei’s CFO Meng Wanzhou (also happens to be the daughter of the founder, Ren Zhengfei) while transiting Vancouver, a request the Trudeau probably should have found a way to get out of (such as by waving Meng away from Canadian territory). The saga accomplished absolutely nothing for the U.S. & Canada, other than at the end exchanging Meng for a couple Canadians (the “Two Michaels”) that the PRC had arrested & threw into solitary confinement, in retaliation for Meng’s detention & house arrest. The Meng affair, & the mutual recriminations since, did succeed in causing the Sino-Canadian relations to nose dive, & hasn’t recovered since. Of course, Beijing made its share of contribution w/ cyber hacking, buying influence w/ Canadian politicians, & transnational repression of CPC critics among the Chinese diaspora in Canada. (I know you know all of this, but most USians may not.)
The PRC has formally submitted the application to join the CPTPP, of which Canada is also a member. The application had not much chance of progressing, since the USMCA deal had included a poison pill that essentially gave the U.S. veto power over Canada signing FTAs w/ “state driven economies” (read the PRC). Canada (& the UK) have been sure to veto PRC membership.
Now that Trump himself is tearing up the deal he had championed, perhaps now is the chance for a do over for Canada, to rebalance its trade relationships. We’ll see how the Brits calculate their interests, but a Tory government will be sure to toe DC’s lines & jump at DC’s direction.
Gloria DryGarden
@YY_Sima Qian: slightly over my head but interesting. You have such an amazing grasp of economics and international relations.
If it doesn’t interrupt your conversation w Jay, I have a desire to understand more.
What did US do to defy economic gravity? I think , because it’s not my area, I didn’t realize we were doing economic nationalism to a point of interrupting trade relationships with other countries. Which presidents were involved with that? Are the relationships with other countries damaged irreparably? ( I see that they might be, soon.)
I’m always grateful when people are willing to explain things to me, when I’m asking beginner level questions. But I have no wish to derail your advanced exchange with more knowledgeable folks.
Matt McIrvin
@Gloria DryGarden: Congress doesn’t have an army. If Trump just ignores the laws, and they’re not willing to impeach and convict him (which would just put Vance in anyway unless they did him too), there’s not a lot they can do.
Gloria DryGarden
@Matt McIrvin: having Vance next in line is a true impediment. I still wish they could demand musk gets his hands out of the government. It’s like having two narcissist for the price of one. Even though I understand they have very powerful people behind them in project 2025 land.
YY_Sima Qian
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): There is no stopping the PRC from being a global leader (other than the CPC regime itself), or one indeed of the top 2 or 3 (depending on if the EU can ever get its act together). It is already a peer of the U.S. & enjoys great influence everywhere outside of the West. There is no prospect of the PRC becoming the only global leader (even in the most optimistic scenarios for its developmental trajectory). There are now too many major & middle powers w/ too much agency, as long as they choose to leverage their power & exercise their agency.
However, the PRC dominating the world order (however remote the possibility) & be detrimental to liberal democratic values is contingent upon liberal democracies failing to sustain their legitimacy, maintain their global influence, & demonstrate their superior performance. The issue is that the U.S. has now nose dived into the cesspool, again, & much of Europe is in danger, too. One cannot prevent the PRC from “winning” by default. What was the Onion’s headline? “The CIA Uncovers Dastardly Chinese Plot of Sitting Back & Watching the U.S. Implode.”
David_C
Ted’s is a Buffalo joint. Not sure a Chicago dog would be the best choice.
Matt McIrvin
@Gloria DryGarden: Note also, the majority of Congress isn’t even opposed to Trump at this point. If we can hold something like a normal midterm in 2026, maybe they could be then, but they’d need a 2/3 supermajority in both houses to override his veto of any legislation they pass.
Princess
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): If you think you can compare the last ten days in the US to what’s going on in Britain, France, and Germany, it demonstrates you have not the slightest grasp of how bad it is in the US., and how much worse it’s going to get. Magnitudes worse.
lowtechcyclist
@New Deal democrat:
The problem IMHO is when ‘relatively more reasonable’ includes weirdos like Sean Duffy who want to channel more transportation money to areas with higher marriage and birth rates.
Half the Senate Dems voted for that bozo.
Gvg
@Gloria DryGarden: I live in Florida. No, I don’t even try alpine stuff. NARGS is not just alpine. It’s plant lovers, who are unable to limit themselves to just tiny bun plants that grow on cold mountains. Or maybe they wouldn’t have enough members to keep going if they were that exclusive. I don’t know, but their seed list is very wide ranging. Before import rules got so strict, I was a member of the Scottish rock garden society for their seed exchange too. Thought about the British one, but for some reason the Scottish one was always better.
Anyway I got several Lycoris, zephyranthes (rainlilies), dieramas, various woodland species and a new species of cerastostigma. Next up the 2nd round. I shall sow seeds this weekend. Around here, we sow green beans on Valentine’s Day. Most native stuff should be sown in October or November and start in winter. Also need to cut freeze damage from 2 weeks ago but also mulch with pine straw in case of another surprise freeze or frost. Garden is soothing.
Gloria DryGarden
@different-church-lady: toast, but no eggs to go with it.
(Gol darn it.)
Betty
@SC54HI: I want injunctions, not warnings! Where are the lawsuits?
rikyrah
@RaflW:
Should have told them about unsubscribing from the fundraising emails
Gloria DryGarden
@Gvg: this is so sweet. I used to volunteer at Denver botanic, and our rock garden curator is amazing, panayoti keiladis, you probably know him, he’s big in nares, and so approachable. I so admire the Rock gardens we have. I never joined the society, but think about it, maybe attend a symposium or two.
i am jealous you can have Lycoris! I bought bulbs once, I’ve seen them on the western slope, but I guess it’s too cold in Denver. You can slip into zone 6 if you plant right by the house on the south, or by a heating vent, maybe even zone 7 in a lucky year. Mostly not.
Good luck. It’s cool to hear about the valentines start date. I think folks start tomato seeds here in march. I would, too, if I had a decent window space.
Gloria DryGarden
@New Deal democrat: Is there a special limit on how many times one can post on a thread?
I’ve probably crossed the line sometimes, but I get all interested. And engaged.
Gloria DryGarden
@Matt McIrvin: good point.
Still…
Gvg
@YY_Sima Qian: if they are willing to work for Trump, by definition they are not normal or regular republicans.
Vice President Cheney’s daughter stood up to them and has death threats for instance.
they only appeared to be normal because they hadn’t been asked to do anything exceptionally illegal up till now, so we hadn’t known how corrupt they were. We know and knew how bad he was. We know it was useless to work for him to try to mitigate his orders.
anyone still taking a job with him thinking they can moderate him will have to act and speak crazy in public and seem to believe his moronic views, so we won’t be able to tell that until after the fact anyway. Also if we appear to like someone, Trump and his trumpanzees are likely to grow suspicious and turn on the person anyway. There is no upside that Ican see to approving any of them, and it’s demoralizing us, their only support and power. I think that is more important now than deals with the GOP.
Gvg
@Gloria DryGarden: As I understand it he is also in violation of laws and if he screws up with confidential information he can be sued or face prison, even if he is a government official, which I don’t think he is. I think all of those people should be facing charges because they are not authorized.
I have to do training on keeping that kind of data secure every year. It’s scary to me. Frankly I think security should have been called and they should be thrown out. EO don’t override actual laws.
Gloria DryGarden
Yup.
@Jay: I didn’t fucking know this. Our right wing crazy thing is connected to Canadian right wingers who want their stuff to take hold in the US?
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Bless your heart.
I don’t think Jay is being gleeful. I think he cares, and he understands from experience a lot about how this international relationship and economic activity stuff works. I find his expertise and clarity refreshing. I appreciate getting a perspective from outside the country. I get a sense of compassion and shared concern for the state of our world. Not glee.
As this thread has progressed, your comments have gotten more negative and accusatory, and I think you’re starting to throw inappropriate shit comments at Jay. I suspect he’s just as pissed off as we are, about these conservatives wrecking things.
Could you please take a step back and become curious, instead of believing your judgements?
Gloria DryGarden
@Gvg:
amen to all of that.
Asking my gods, and the FSM, too, to help us make a difference. To help anyone taking action.
frosty
@different-church-lady: DON’T GIVE YOUR CELL NUMBER TO MINIVAN!!
Oops, can’t canvass without that any more. I get texts from campaigns all over the country. Bastards.
pajaro
We are 12 days into this. 12 days. Our elected Democrats in Congress are in the minority in both Houses. That means, if they hold together, and if Republicans hold together, they can stop nothing. I repeat, nothing. I don’t know whether opposing every nominee would help them garner Republican support for the most vulnerable of Trump’s nominees or not, but I don’t think that any of you slagging the Democrats for not opposing everyone know the answer to that either. I don’t know whether fighting hard against every nominee would mean there would be less press attention for nominations like RFK and Patel, or not, and none of you know either. The best and most effective ways for Democrats to draw the attention of the American public to what is going on are not completely obvious, and it may require setting up communication systems that are new. I think all suggestions would be welcome. In the meantime, most of the action to stop Trump is going to have to take place in the courts, or in blue states, not in Congress.
If you remember your history, the Union had lots of trouble getting its act together at the start of the Civil War. If everyone had decided after the disaster at Bull Run to end their support of that feckless Lincoln, who wouldn’t fire all his incompetent generals, we’d be a vastly different and worse place. Congressional and State level democrats are going to take action, or fail to take action, in ways that you don’t like. That’s true no matter where you stand. You can encourage them to do better while you recognize that they are trying to do the right thing, or you can walk away while you claim that they just don’t care. It’s your call.
YY_Sima Qian
@Gloria DryGarden: You flatter me! I am just a rando on internet, not an economist or IR scholar, by education or vocation. (Not that most of the professionals have covered themselves in glory over the past couple of decades.)
The link to the Lowy Institution interactive feature that Jay shared shows the center of gravity for global trade shifting from the U.S. to the PRC over the past 3 decades, to the point where the PRC is the primary trade partner for the vast majority of the world’s economies, be they the U.S.’ allies, partners, neutrals, competitors or adversaries. Over the past 2 decades, the PRC has become an increasingly important source of investment & lending to the Global South, either under the formal but somewhat malleable BRI construct, or more recently by the PRC’s offshoring of low value added, labor intensive manufacturing. The PRC had been at the center of the pan-Asian supply chain & industrial ecosystem for the past decade. It is the kind of industrial superpower the world has not seen since the U.S. in the ‘50s, its industrial output & value added are both larger than the G7 combined. It is dominating a range of sectors traditional (steel making/Aluminum smelting, ship building, infrastructure construction, construction equipment) & new (clean energy, BEVs/PHEVs, electricity transmission, consumer electronics, telecom infrastructure, fintech), highly competitive in a range of others (home appliances, nuclear energy, AI, internet platforms), & making very rapid progress in those it is still behind (semiconductors, biotech/pharmaceutical, medical equipment). It is often the lender of last resort for marginal Global South countries to achieve the minimum level of capital formation (public infrastructure, farming equipment, industrial facilities) required to develop their economies & societies, since they have long been ignored by the industrialized West & multilateral institutions dominated by the West (such as the World Bank & the IMF).
For all of the problems w/ some of the BRI projects, for all of the apprehensions that the PRC’s neighbors have w/ its increasing assertiveness & coercion, the PRC is central to their continued economic wellbeing & realizing their developmental objectives. That is economic gravity.
Obama tried to channel the PRC’s rise through the TPP, ostensibly setting the rules friendly to Western interests, & nominally to both entice & force the PRC to join & accept those rules. It is debatable whether the posture toward the PRC wrt the TPP was sincere, or merely an attempt to steer trade flows away from the PRC. The effort was already swimming against the prevalent economic current of the time, but at least it offered a potential framework for competitive coexistence under a shared rules based order.
After the TPP became casualty to U.S. domestic politics, Trump 45 closed to go it alone in a trade war against the PRC, initiated a tech war against the PRC & tried to coerce allies to get onboard, but ended up achieving very little w/ either efforts. Trump also raised tariffs against allies & broke the WTO.
Biden 46 continued the trade war, & continuously escalated the tech war to the dying days of his administration (while also keeping most of the tariffs against allies & kept the WTO broken). His team tried to leverage the widespread concern w/ extraordinary concentration of the global supply chain in the PRC to push “onshoring”/“near shoring”/“friend shoring”. When U.S. allies/partners displayed skepticism for decoupling from the PRC, the Biden team settled on a “compromise” of “de-risking” by decoupling in select sectors, which often seemed like decoupling by another name, as the scope of “selective” decoupling seemed to constantly expand. Biden also pressured/coerced allies/partners to align w/ the U.S. in its escalating tech war against the PRC, because their perception of the PRC challenge was different from the U.S.’, as were their preferred response to meeting that challenges, & the U.S.’ tech war would undermine the financial interests of key companies in allied/partner countries. Biden managed to attain partial alignment, but had to draw down quite a lot of the U.S.’ geopolitical capital to do so.
Continuing the trade war failed to win any concessions from the PRC, “near” & “friend shoring” merely extended the supply chain through 3rd parties by way of transshipment, relabeling & final assembly, making the supply chain more opaque & more brittle, w/o meaningfully reducing dependence on PRC produced intermediate goods. The export restrictions on advanced chips has had an impact in making the lives of Chinese clutch companies more complicated & difficult, but so far the PRC is continuing its rapid advance in consumer electronics, AI, miltech in spite of the more restricted access to the most advanced chips.
I think there is the distinct possibility that the PRC might emerge completely self-reliant on even the most advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment (specifically the EUV lithography machines) & fabrication process in 2 – 5 years time, rendering the semiconductor export controls meaningless.
Trump 47 is showing every indication of resuming his effort to reshore all of the “stolen” manufacturing by waging omni-directional trade wars, further escalate the tech war, not to mention threatening to seize territories. All of the U.S. allies/partners who reluctantly & partially aligned w/ the U.S. on the tech war against the PRC, at the expense of their economic interests & to the detriment of their relations w/ the PRC, are find themselves in Trump’s cross-hairs. They thought they were engaging in collective action to confront the rise of a revisionist powers in the forms of Russian & the PRC, only to find the great power they came to rely upon for their security is the biggest revisionist power of all:l. They thought they were defending liberal democracy against rising authoritarianism, only to find elements associated with/ the current U.S. administration aligning w/ & encouraging/supporting the far right reactionaries in their countries. In the meantime the PRC continues to solidify its central position in the pan-Asian manufacturing ecosystem, & continue to make rapid advances in all industrial & tech sectors, despite the headwinds posed by the still deflating/stabilizing real estate sector, & high local government debt.
Sorry for my typically long winded reply.
pajaro
@Gloria DryGarden:
I believe that Musk is violating numerous laws. If he’s acting as the government, he needs to adhere to the rules of government officials. The only way to deal with this is to go to court, and I’m pretty sure that lawsuits will be filed quickly.
pajaro
@Gvg:
Republicans own the government right now. That means that if Musk and company violate criminal laws, it’s going to be the Republican-led Department of Justice that’s going to decide whether to investigate. The problem with calling security to kick out Musk is that the people in charge of OPM want him to be there.
The only part of government with the power to alter this is the court system, and I hope that lawsuits will be filed soon, so that judges can determine whether Musk’s actions comport with federal law. Courts may have the ability to declare what Musk and others are doing are against the law and order them to stop, but no one is going to jail for any of this.
George
@pajaro: Thanks for your comments–you provide a realistic analysis of what Democrats are even able to do while being in the congressional minority, and what we all are up against.
RaflW
@stacib: Most people who voted for trump/Musk have no idea what substantive work the government does. They might think of the IRS, FBI and the Army, but do they think about how their teevee weather person would be hobbled by NOAA going on skeleton crew (or, more importantly, how farmers would be screwed by the hollowing out of NOAA)? Nope.
They think their highways have potholes now? Hahahha, just wait.
So much more. But the curse of the Democrats is that people just do not notice a government that functions well.
Gloria DryGarden
@YY_Sima Qian: that helps a lot, thank you. I see there are a lot of pieces involved. Your thoroughness is useful. I imagine others benefit too. It’s so complex.
bowing in thanks.
Gloria DryGarden
Thinking of the plane crash, and the principle of FAFO:
Don’t the helicopter rides of government officials go through that congested air traffic zone near the Potomac? It might come to matter, if these events get just a wee big closer to home.
robtrim
There is a new Pentagon press policy: NBC, NPR, Politico, NY Times kicked out of Pentagon work space for OAN, Breitbart, NY Post and Huff Post.
Kayla Rudbek
@Gloria DryGarden: yes, the only reason that National Airport is still open to passenger traffic is that the Congresscritters don’t want to have to go all the way out to Dulles on a Friday afternoon after the legislative session is done for the week.
pieceofpeace
@Darkrose: Thanks for this; my immediate project.
artem1s
@SC54HI:
may not be “attempted”. there’s a couple of federal workers reddits. I was looking over them this morning. there’s concern that Soutpiel’s forces are building back doors into the Treasury department’s servers so they can take over/disrupt distribution of federal dollars. this may be what Vivek was referring to when he was bragging about kicking half the people off SS based even or odd numbers.
Fire Sale
tam1MI
Schiff was one of the Tonya Harding Democrats. He wouldn’t stand up for his own goddamn President. He won’t stand up for you. This has been known since July.
Chris T.
@sab:
Jargon is in fact necessary, which is why it keeps being invented.
Any discipline with any kind of rigor (or rigour if you’re British) has to have terms that have a particular meaning to the people who work in that discipline, so that they can talk to each other. You can’t define all your terms for 20 minutes before you speak for five minutes: it’s impractical. So you adapt existing words, or steal them from Latin (typical for lawyers) or Greek (doctors) or whatever. These become … terms of art.
Chris T.
@YY_Sima Qian:
Maybe, but you’re also in a position where you can observe things on the proper levels (here in the States it’s sometimes difficult to get world news, although those who seek it can still find it) and—probably more important—you are actually intelligent. 😀