Today in stupid:
Saw this earlier today while driving on a mostly unpopulated stretch of road that borders a salt marsh on the Gulf of Mexico. There were several wrecked boats still dotting the landscape, presumably from last summer’s hurricanes.
A small business in a nearby town had a homemade sign with a red spray painted arrow pointing west and “GULF OF AMERICA.” So if the local cops want to bust someone for vandalizing a derelict vessel, they might want to interview that guy first.
Open thread!
Baud
A ship wreck is an apt metaphor.
ryk
I guess the hearts mean the graffiti artist is a fan. Probably thinks he’s making a compliment
eclare
Hey
Has anyone gotten a survey from the American Community Survey, supposedly part of the US Census Bureau? A good friend of mine did, and she is freaking out because the questions are very personal and not answering is punishable by jail.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: It really is. For a second I thought maybe it was an anti-Trump guerilla art installation, but then I remembered where I was and saw other misspelled pro-Trump crap painted elsewhere on the boat.
sentient ai from the future
Re: governor hairdo,
from the descriptions I’ve read of the podcast now (you could theoretically pay me enough to listen to it, but as a practical matter I refuse) it seems like he’s mainly sticking his fingers I to the wind and trying on transphobia, rather than being a true believer like he of the tiny face*.
This is not better. Worse, in some respects for what it says about his underlying character.
*his face isn’t actually tiny, that’s just gravitational lensing from the size and density of his noggin.
eclare
@ryk:
I took it as sarcasm. Who knows?
Old School
A homemade sign with red spray paint?
Hasn’t any official “Gulf of America” signs been installed yet?!?!?
Themyscira 4 Ever
Ameria: Love it or leave it!
TBone
Needs moar cowbell
Baud
The “SS” stands for Shit Show.
sentient ai from the future
@eclare: a quick read of the Wikipedia page suggests that prosecution for noncompliance is unlikely in a normal administration. Refusing to cosign fascism takes many forms.
TBone
@Baud: heh
SpaceUnit
Imagine being in a coma for ten years and then suddenly waking up in March 2025.
TBone
@eclare: sounds like a Russki psy-op to me.
TBone
@SpaceUnit: holy guacamole! Oops, I meant
Shiver me timbers!
ARoomWithAMoose
@eclare: Sounds sketchy.
Look at the envelope’s postage rate. If it’s presorted (even “first class” presorted) it’s junk mail.
If there’s a legally required response, it would be either certified mail or a process server would show up at the door with it.
eclare
@sentient ai from the future:
Yeah she has read all of that, still freaking out.
Harrison Wesley
“Gulf of America” tee shirts are a thing in my area.
sentient ai from the future
@SpaceUnit: I think if that were to happen I might indeed “have a cow, man” as the kids say.
eclare
@ARoomWithAMoose:
Thanks, sent to my friend.
Baud
@SpaceUnit:
I wonder if I can be put in a coma and woken up in 2035.
TBone
@Harrison Wesley: we have unpredicted snow in mine today.
Golf of America
mrmoshpotato
@TBone: Yarrrrrrr!!!!!!!
TBone
@mrmoshpotato: *Bette Davis screech:
But YARRRR Blanche, YARRRRRR!
Shed’a been a fearsome pirate.
Belafon
@eclare: It’s the missing c intentional or not?
Baud
@Harrison Wesley:
They’ll be a collectors item on Antiques Roadshow 2078.
SW
The Indian Ocean is now The Australian Ocean.
eclare
@Belafon:
Huh?
dmsilev
@Baud: Sign up to be a test subject for Neuralink?
Oh wait, you said “wake up again” is part of your requirements.
Old School
@ARoomWithAMoose:
It’s legit.
kindness
If whom ever spray painted that thought they were applauding Trump….. well. we need no additional explanations how MAGA minds are kinda mixed up. I’m hoping it’s sarcasm myself.
West of the Rockies
MAGA morons (but I repeat myself) are such fragile, pissy, mean-spirited creatures… just gotta paint their stupid slogans to display their rage and fealty. They must be miserable people.
eclare
@Old School:
Thanks! Sent to my friend.
TBone
I’m watching Anthony Quinn and Shelley Winters in Flap. So bad, it’s good!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flap_(film)
sentient ai from the future
@Old School: yes, but it’s administered by the commerce department, and they have no enforcement arm, and neither does it seem likely that DoJ would prosecute given they are gonna have their hands full with many other fires breaking out.
It also seems too subtle as an avenue to gin up a prosecution of an enemy for this gaggle of goons.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
I saw somebody I’m guessing BCrack knows about, the (dis)Honorable Carlos A. Giminez, (R) from the 28th District.
My wife had CNN on last night and that assclown was on talking about a House (R) meeting with Edolph yesterday. The one topic he touched on was the sell off of Federal lands.
As he put it “The Federal gubmint owns one quarter of the land in the US. We should be monetizing that…”
As soon as he got to that, I walked out of the room.
What I did gather from what I heard is that it was a room full of eager people willing to do what Edolph was gonna tell them to do.
Monetize. These people are lucky I’m not king because if I ever hear some variation of “run government like a business”, the people uttering any variation of that will end up with their head affixed to the end of a pike and put outside the city gate as a warning to others.
Or I could get all Cultural Revolutionary on them in a variety of unpleasant ways.
Satanley (aka weasel)
@eclare:
There’s a guy that works for that part of the Census that posts on dKos regularly. He’s been getting chewed out by MAGA folks over the same survey :)
Will see if I can find a recent post…
https://www.dailykos.com/story/2025/2/26/2306503/-MAGA-Caller-Demands-Answers-From-Me-About-The-Census-Bureau
zhena gogolia
@SpaceUnit: I kind of feel as if that’s what happened to me.
sentient ai from the future
@eclare: if your friend has the benefit of a dem congressperson this is precisely the sort of thing constituent services would want to help them with, which would help that friend engage further with the political process.
zhena gogolia
@West of the Rockies: Well, as soon as the ground gets soft enough, I’m putting my Harris-Walz sign back up, along with a “We Stand with Ukraine” sign, and I’m keeping them there. I’m taking a leaf out of their book. Never surrender.
ETA: Especially since the Christmas lights spelling out T – R – U – M – P in the yard of the local slumlord’s apartment building by the BigY are still there.
Gloria DryGarden
@eclare: a friend works for the census, and yes, it’s a lengthy survey. I’ll track him down, see what he says. I’d be more worried because our data doesn’t seem safe anymore. The census, when I worked for them, was very clear about separating identity from data, so you would never be personally tracked.
Satanley (aka weasel)
@Baud: Indeed! At first I took it as being a sarcastic statement but given the hearts and that metaphor is lost on those people…
Alce _e_ardillo
@Baud: Only if the insect overlords are in need of a midnight snack.
Gloria DryGarden
Gulf of Ameria.
we were due for a rename anyway.
the missing C might stand for competent, capable, critical thinking.
TBone
Georgetown Law’s *chef’s kiss of non-compliance:
https://bsky.app/profile/leecarpenter.bsky.social/post/3ljqephxl2k2p
Gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling all over.
Mr. Bemused Senior
@zhena gogolia: [ from the Cycling Tour Python episode]
grumbles
While the execution is weak and uninspired, the canvas of visually gross roadside trash combines with a proud display of ignorance providing a compellingly authentic vision of American leadership’s current state.
I’d advise the artist to explore a deeper range of materials and drill on technique.
Gin & Tonic
My daughter spends some of her time helping Ukrainians who have come to the US in the last couple of years navigate American bureaucracy. She informs me that those who had green card interviews scheduled for today and tomorrow have had those cancelled.
For those who are unfamiliar with the process, one of the last steps in applying for “permanent resident” status (a “green card”) is an in-person interview. If you’re outside the US, this is done at a US Consulate; if you’re inside, it’s done at an INS office. No interview, no green card.
This is nothing but performative cruelty now.
eclare
@Satanley (aka weasel):
Thanks! Sent to my friend. I am sure she’ll fill it out. Just the shock of “jail!” was big.
eclare
@sentient ai from the future:
Nope, R rep and R senators.
TBone
@grumbles: one doesn’t normally find drills on boats, does one? I would think extra holes unnecessary on such a vessel.
eclare
@Gloria DryGarden:
Thanks!
Ohio Mom
@eclare: That sounds fishy. Ohio Dad’s cousin recently retired from the Census. They have statistical ways of working around less than 100% in responses. Obviously, they never get 100%, as western religions teach us, this is not yet a redeemed world.
I’d trash that ASAP.
Didn’t low tech cyclist retire from the Census? Pity he’s not on this thread.
eclare
@Gin & Tonic:
That is just…there are no words.
eclare
@Ohio Mom:
Thanks, I let her know.
@heymistermix.com
Looks like they had a three hour cruise.
Old School
@Gin & Tonic:
Presumably related to this:
bjacques
A shipwreck on the strand is a lighthouse to the shore…
A. Aboto
@eclare:
@eclare: I filled one out several years ago. Having worked in local govt, the American Community Survey is legit. The more personal questions are an attempt to get detail on the sample of respondents that can be applied to the broader population. Ordinarily, I’d doubt that trumps nuts at the census bureau had time to screw with the survey contents before it had to be printed & mailed.
Ohio Mom
Just got back from the dentist (no cavities, woot!). When the hygienist asked how I was, I said worried sick because we’re all on Social Security and Ohio Son needs his Medicaid Waiver.
She said if they tried anything, there would be massive protests and she thinks the election wasn’t on the up and up. We have more allies than we think.
TBone
@eclare: I have some words. I won’t subject youse guys to ’em today.
zhena gogolia
@Old School: Vomit, vomit, vomit
RaflW
@Themyscira 4 Ever: Ameria: Love it, or shipwreck tryna leave it!
eclare
@A. Aboto:
Thanks!
TBone
@Ohio Mom: my Asian emigre dentist and his white female staff are all that also too!
Ohio Mom
@A. Aboto: I guess it is legit:
https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/about/top-questions-about-the-survey.html
The threatening language still seems weird to me but it appears to be standard.
About privacy concerns, Ohio Dad assures me the NSA already knows everything about you.
TBone
@Ohio Mom: I’d love to see my dossier. Once, some besties (a couple) were renting their basement apartment in their home to her brother. He got into big trouble with the ATF and the law came down on their entire house, armed with dossiers on every occupant except the dogs. The nice officers even let my friend read hers!
She made every effort to correct their impressions about her from said dossier, unsuccessfully. She is prolly still mad about that.
Belafon
@Old School:
It’s a petty move from a petty man.
RaflW
@Old School: I did get the old “Long Form” for the 1990 census.
Filling out the Community Survey is really important. Even if the current maladministration may make one skittish. The data helps drive a lot of programatic decisions and, well, we would be well to keep supplying the data while we can, and in hopes that an admin after 2028 can salvage and use it for the good purposes it was intended to serve.
Gin & Tonic
@Old School: When I was there last summer, I had a chance encounter in Lviv with a guy from Kharkiv. His daughter had emigrated to Belgium some years prior, and he was waiting until September, when he turned 60 (men between 18-60 can’t leave the country) to join her. Making conversation, I asked if he had any interest in returning home. He said “I have no home.” Some of those 240,000 people have nothing to return to. The overwhelming majority of them are women and children (again, men are restricted from leaving.)
Shalimar
@Harrison Wesley: I might get a t-shirt that says “Gulf of America – We contaminated it, so they forced us to take it”
gene108
@Betty Cracker:
Previous employer received surveys from BLS off and on. Responses to these surveys are how BLS, Census Bureau, etc. generate their analysis on whatever they typically measure and report on like wages employers in an area pay for positions, for example.
I’ve not gotten an individual survey before. What I remember from the BLS survey is the letter/form has a ‘.gov’ website that I could either submit responses to or would give instructions on how to complete the form.
Being a business survey the questions were not personal.
WaterGirl
@Gin & Tonic: That’s purely vengeful and downright sick.
TBone
@Shalimar: good one! Over a picture of a Horizon off shore derrick.
hitchhiker
@sentient ai from the future: say what?
I think I missed something.
A Ghost to Most
Does the SS stand for Shit Stormtroopers?
Elizabelle
@Gin & Tonic: That is terrible, cruel, petty, and completely believable.
I hope that Canada puts out the welcome mat. The Ukrainians have a lot of skills and courage, and are truly refugees.
TBone
@hitchhiker: Gov. Newsome on with Charlie Kirk, he of the misproportioned face with
Which is a lovely, polite, and apt description.
Old School
@hitchhiker:
Politico:
Van Buren
@eclare: Yes. Some of the questions were a PITA. How much did we spend on water bills in the last year? Takes a few minutes to do that for water, oil, gas, electricity,internet….
JiveTurkin
So Gavin Newsom opposes trans women competing in women’s sports. Okay, he can take that position. But on FUCKING Charlie Kirk’s show? The same racist pos who said this not too long ago: “If I see a Black pilot, I’m gonna be like ‘boy, I hope he is qualified,'” Just type “Charlie Kirk” and racist in a search engine and you’ll get all sorts of goodies.
I guess Newsom is staking out the right-of-center position in the Democratic party. He also is apparently going after the coveted neo-nazi wing of the party. There is no possible defendable excuse for appearing on Kirk’s show. Just so we know he’s not heartless he does express his “sympathy” for trans people.
He went on to express sympathy for trans people, noting “these poor people” have higher rates of suicide and depression and saying “the way that people talk down to vulnerable communities is an issue that I have a hard time with, as well.”
Yech!
Baud
@JiveTurkin:
Kirk was a guest on Newsom’s podcast.
HopefullyNotcassandra
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: Can we start by getting fair fees for our range land from folks like the Bundys???
Yeah. I thought not.
How about fair royalties on oil wells on our public lands?
No? Ok, then.
Mr. Musk keep your hands off the Oklahoma City Federal Building.
https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/2025/03/04/federal-buildings-for-sale-musk-doge-includes-okc-federal-building/81447792007/
Please know if you sell our lands and buildings and then rent them back to us, we will notice. We will hold you, and your precious Big Balls, accountable.
It is nearly thirty years since the right -wing wingnut murdered babies and their parents for the “sin” of providing honest services to the people of the U.S. at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.
It is nearly 30 years since that horrible day. History is rhyming and evil is gleeful to see it.
HopefullyNotcassandra
@TBone: Georgetown’s Dean Treanor made me smile, a big, broad toothy grin. Thank you for sharing!
BlueGuitarist
House of Representatives censured Al Green for disrupting Trump’s speech.
Institutional racism.
6 Representatives censured this century, 4 non-white; Boebert and Greene were not censured for disrupted the previous president’s speech.
Keeping an eye out for cane users, in all walks of life, shaking their canes at R liars and telling them the truth.
Some Dems had signs that said “Musk Steals.” I think that refers to Musk getting $8.5 million a day from the US government; a big target for anyone wants to stop waste, fraud, and abuse.
Meanwhile Axios (via Politicalwire) “House Democratic leadership is privately confronting members who disrupted President Trump’s speech to Congress.”
10 Dems voted with Rs re censure.
Jay
Those reps are:
https://www.wonkette.com/p/which-of-these-10-house-democrats
Princess
@JiveTurkin: Worse — it was Newsom’s podcast, not Kirk’s. Newsom invited zkitk on it.
I see the point of our guys talking on their venues if they feel up to it. But I don’t see why the reverse would be valuable.
Anyway, that’s one less thing to worry about. Ain’t going to be president now. Forward, Pritzker, Great Khan of the steppe.
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
Second measles death, this time an unvaccinated adult in New Mexico. Second measles death in current outbreak
there also a measles case in PA and one in FL
Geminid .
@JiveTurkin: I’m not looking past the midterms very much, but the talk of Gavin Newsom running for President got me thinking about him. My gut reaction is that Newsom doesn’t have the right stuff, and no particular strategy on his part can remedy that.
Newsom comes across as a lightweight, and the line he took on transgender sports issues was a good example of that. Hosting Charlie Kirk on his first podcast was another. Two lightweight moves in one fell podcast.
For example, Newsom could never beat Jay Pritzker, and I expect there will be a couple of other strong candidates which is plenty. With the exception of 2008 I think this will be the best pickings we’ve had this century. We have whole lot ground to cover before then, though.
Peale
@eclare: Here is the online sample form
from the census site. So if it isn’t that form, your friend can skip it.
Yes, the questions are really detailed and sometimes arcane (like why the hell do they care if I have a septic tank or am connected to a sewer!), but it is supposed to take a snapshot of a household and development on the day it was filled out.
The one item I’d be wary of this time is the question on citizenship. In the past, I’d be less wary of that information. It doesn’t ask if the non-citizen is documented or undocumented, so Trump hasn’t gotten his way on that yet.
LeftCoastYankee
So Gavin Newsom is less helpful on trans rights than Bill Kristol.
Yeah. One more day where white guys should STFU.
schrodingers_cat
Yes there are some Ds that are not perfect. But the worst elected D is better than the best elected R. So though I didn’t like some of the stuff some elected Ds do, like Slotkin bashing KH. I am not going to train my rhetorical guns on them. YMMV.
glory b
@HopefullyNotcassandra: I am a broken record.
Big Balls family owns the organic snack food company “Lesser Evil.”
Boycott!
glory b
@schrodingers_cat: Why can’t people figure that out?
Even here, where so many of us are (supposed to be) smart.
Trollhattan
@Old School:
Hokaaay, that’s a weird take seemingly out of left field.
Coincidental tale: the trans CSU SJ women’s volleyball player sparked the following sportsball uproar.
Got all that?
My kid’s roommate played D1 volleyball four years and was once on a team with Brooke Slusser, the player of note.
(No, not George Santos, now knock it off you scamps!)
Her comment: “She’s not very good.”
Trollhattan
@glory b: Should be Lesser Weasel.
TBone
@HopefullyNotcassandra:
😁
Jay
So what else did I miss on todays shit show?
I was busy for most of the day on Cartel business, (DJTdiot’s Trade Advisor, Navarro says Canada is run by Mexican Cartels), boxing up Transgendered Mice, (White Supremacy House doubled down on it’s web page) for smuggling into the US.
Yes, I remembered to poke some air holes in the boxes this time.
Fun Fact, More fentanyl was dispensed by Trump’s White House doctor per the pharmacy logs from his first term than what is crossing the border from Canada.
TBone
@Princess: just wanted to see this again
Geminid .
@Princess: Led by Hetwoman Spanberger, Virginia Democrats will rally to the Great Khan’s glorious banner!
TBone
@EmbraceYourInnerCrone: crap. Covid boosters appointment rescheduled to next week will now include measles boosters, I hope.
Yep, the only time I don’t despise CVS
TBone
@Jay: that is, indeed, a fun fact! Who committed that journalism?
TBone
Another Shero, Boston Mayor Wu! She gave ’em the What For! with both barrels!
Video:
https://crooksandliars.com/2025/03/mayor-michelle-wu-blasts-republicans
A deguello in HerHonor
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ImtdntJQfSs
BlueGuitarist
Mike Johnson’s chief of staff arrested for DUI after Trump speech – dude backed his car into a parked Capitol police vehicle. dk vehicle make. In the great hegseth dui hire tradition – the hits just keep coming.
schrodingers_cat
@glory b: Whiteness can blind you to your privilege, I guess. You and I we don’t have that luxury.
TBone
Another palate cleanser
French Senator’s Stunning Rebuke Of Trump And Musk
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
@TBone: got my RSV, TDaP, Covidbooster and pneumococcal vaccine in the last six months. Going to pay for getting my titers checked. I can order the test on the Labcorp website pay out of pocket and get it done at a Labcorp draw station. 189$ I think. Going to do it. Was born in 1961. I don’t know if my vaccine was one or two doses… grand son is four months. I do Not want to give him anything
Harrison Wesley
@TBone: I’m so old and befuddled that when I first read your comment I wondered “What does Fred Shero have to do with this?”
TBone
@Harrison Wesley: that’s funny. I am frequently befuddled and I love that word, so points to you for the smile!
ETA even funnier now that I know his nickname
TBone
@EmbraceYourInnerCrone: got smart! Agent 99
Geminid .
@TBone: You can see a lot more like that on the Nomadic Warriors for Pritzker account. They’re @nomads.bsky.social.
The account heading shows a smiling Jay Pritzker, decked out in Mongol armor complete with a pointy brass helmet. There’s a fierce-looking hawk perched on his forearm glaring at the viewer. Good stuff!
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
@TBone: Bwahahaha!
TBone
@Geminid .: thank you for that information! I will now read with gusto!
ETA already hit pay dirt!
RaflW
@Baud: Which is, to me, the marginally worse of the possible pairings.
HinTN
@BlueGuitarist: Dude’s been with Pastor Mike for years.
TBone
@TBone: I’m guessing no one got my Bette Davis as Pirate Baby Jane joke. I miss NotMax today.
Sister Golden Bear
@Trollhattan: The only decent coverage of the SJSU volleyball who accused of being trans (the player herself hasn’t said she is), came from ESPN. Because their sports reporter actually looked at the player’s record and how she compares to other players, both on her team and other teams.
HopefullyNotcassandra
@TBone: I got it. We went walking and now the thread is over
it was another toothy grin for me
Jay
@Sister Golden Bear:
On my Swim Team, in the Master’s Group, (us olds) we have three Trans women, (funny enough, I knew them when they were male, in their early teens). It’s basically a club, now with grandkids of members. I’ve been there for over 50 years as a swimmer.
None of them rank Provincially, and they are only in the top ten of our Master’s team, because our team has only 10 Masters competing.
I have yet to hear of any transgendered Athlete of either sex, dominating their sport in any way outside of Rec Leagues. There is a transwoman in our mixed Beer League softball who is pretty dominant, from the second inning on, but that’s only because she can hold her beer.
TBone
@HopefullyNotcassandra: thanks! I like smiles, they’re contagious.
different-church-lady
I sense that graffiti might be in the ironic voice.
different-church-lady
@TBone: Non futuis Bostonia
Lily
Some day an investigation will come for he who ordered the desecration of this national anthem:
Gloria DryGarden
@Baud: I’ve started getting ship wreck imagery in my so-so micropoems. Seems pretty apt.
Paul in KY
@SpaceUnit: That would be so freaky. IMO, would make a good gallows-comedy film.