I love this for Brad:
AD: They’re calling him “kneepad Brad.”
Vote against Brad Schimel—and Elon Musk—on April 1.
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler.bsky.social) March 26, 2025 at 11:59 AM
A reminder we could have had wikler running the dnc and now we have a guy whose name I can’t remember he is so silent.
War for Ukraine Day 1,126: So Much for the Critical Infrastructure Ceasefire
bbleh
I just don’t understand what’s up with the Dem “leadership.”
I assume they’re all consumed with infighting, quibbling furiously over nuances to gain some perceived and temporary minor internal advantage, while everything outside goes to literal hell and they assume (?) they’ll somehow escape it. But when I get yet ANOTHER email from the DNC explaining URGENTLY why my donation is VITAL, or I see another video from Chuck or Hakeem about some DAYS-ago outrage expressing — very soberly, from a table in a darkened studio — their very measured but nevertheless SERIOUS disappointment, I wonder whether they’re any more worth saving than the Republicans.
Sigh. Go to another protest, support another state/local candidate. PA did right this week! Yay us!
Chetan Murthy
@bbleh: I wonder too, WTH is going thru their heads. And I have a theory. They (that is to say, the old ones) are thinking:
Somewhere in their brains, they realize that this isn’t the same thing. But it’s only a small, flickering 1980s-era LED, and they can usually ignore it.
I mean, what else explains stuff Schumer’s capitulation? Or Gallego fundraising with that Fascist Andreesen?
sab
Update on my family catastroph: grand-daughter was killed in a traffic accident Tuesday morning.
Our big diverse nobody related to anybody bur still having kids family could not cope. Not a big surprise there. The big surprise was a week later they still hadn’t worked this out, and deceased was still in a fridge in the morgue in Richmond and the morgue was getting antsy. They wanted their drawer back.
How is this for how you wanted to meet your favorite grand-daughter’s death?
Andrya
@sab: I’m terribly sorry. May you find peace.
Melancholy Jaques
@bbleh:
@Chetan Murthy:
I am wondering the same thing, only I don’t have any theories. I am at a total loss to understand why they cannot see that the strategy & tactics they used against George W Bush do not work – have never worked – against Trump & the MAGA movement.
People like Schumer are not our leaders; he isn’t leading anyone anywhere on anything. AOC is a leader. Jasmine Crockett is a leader. They could use a few million more followers. I do not know why more Democrats with a future – that is those aged under 50 – are not doing what they are doing.
sab
@Andrya: Showing scheduled for Sunday. We are paying so it better happen. I hate showings. Invasion of privacy for the deceased. But this young woman was the big sister and friend for nine other siblings. They need proof that she is dead. How sad is that?
The stages of grief. If you are forced to jump to the anger stage afterwards you have to go back to the beginning. Denial.
This will be a long sad summer.
Madeleine
@sab: how is it? Terrible beyond words. I suspect that many are turning to you. Is there someone—are there someones—you can turn to? Please take care of yourself. You have my sympathy.
sab
@Madeleine: I am fine. I loved the girl but she was mostly around on holidays. My husband adored her and drove her to school for eight years, chatting all the way. I don’t see how he will ever recover.
sab
@Madeleine: Phucking finally the family came thru and made some decisions if somebody ( us) paid the bill. So we will, and lovely girl finally gets a showing if not a funeral.
I have never in my life been so angry.
frosty
@sab: OMG, I’m so sorry; your poor husband.
Melancholy Jaques
@sab:
Very sorry for your loss. And sorry for the family discord.
Another Scott
Ken Martin – https://bsky.app/profile/kenmartin.bsky.social
Scroll down.
Good things are happening in these early elections. He claims to be doing the work.
FWIW.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Another Scott
@sab: Condolences to you both, and to everyone who loved her.
Remember the good times.
Best wishes,
Scott.
BellyCat
@sab: So much terrible here. I am so sorry. Sending virtual hugs.
sab
Sorry. I certainly messed up this thread. My husband’s heart is breaking and I don’t know how to fix it, because it isn’t fixable. She will still be dead.
sentient ai from the future
@sab: it’s probably the wrong time for me to point out that the “stages of grief” were never intended, even by the social scientist who proposed them (Elizabeth kübler-ross, I can dig up citations for this if you want, tomorrow), to run serially
sentient ai from the future
@sab: there are no words.
sab
@sentient ai from the future: I know. Everyone’s grief is different, and timed differently.
Dare I say: wise words from Joe Biden.
I will think about that as husband and I move through this at very different paces
ETA And Joe Biden knows grief like I never have, even now.
sentient ai from the future
I’m only half kidding, but we spend enough on the military that we should be able to target a funeral with 9x13s of baked macaroni and cheese.
Would probably do a lot more for our reputation than bombs
hitchhiker
@sab: I’d reach right through the screen if I only could. Outliving our children is a horror, but outliving a grandchild? The thought itself turns me inside out. I’m so sorry.
sab
@sentient ai from the future: It is always right time to point that out. Do grief on your own timelime. It is, after all, your own grief.
sentient ai from the future
VFX Lurker
Your pain and grief and sorrow and anger are real and should be shared. This thread’s as good a place as any to do it. ❤️
Hugs from California. ❤️❤️❤️
cain
@sab: JFC – is the mother still having custody of the body? What happened with that?
ETA – so sorry for your loss, and I hope your husband finds a way to make peace with it all.
sab
@cain: In dysfunctional families the law is always a bit confused.
Drug addled mother. Violent served time father. Stepmother with no legal rights whatever. The courts will give you the actual kid who needs a home, but they are wary of giving you the kid’s rights. I actualky think thst makex sense.
I am a huge fan of best interests of the kid. I just wonder if the courts make the right call.
sab
@cain: Law is weird but it is what it is and has been.
Moving forward, I want the law to be what it is however I feel about it. Easier to plan against a bad law than plan against a shifting chimera.
NaijaGal
@sab: Oh that is awful! I’m so sorry.
frosty
@sab: No, the thread isn’t messed up. Political news is just news. Your news is real for all of us.
prostratedragon
@sab: Very sorry to hear of your unexpected loss, and all the side dramas. Unfortunately the grief andanger are what we must go through at these times, but time and small comforts do help.
Maxim
@sab: I’m so sorry. How terribly painful.
Andrya
@sab: No one can stop you from having a funeral, if that would help.
Decades ago (1979) a friend of mine who had horrifically abusive parents died of brain cancer as a very young woman. The parents refused to have a funeral. Her many friends held an “unauthorized” funeral in Golden Gate Park (San Francisco). Remains not present, but spiritual readings, people sharing their memories, poetry, music. It took time, but it was a healing experience for all of us.
You might also consider grief counseling or a bereavement support group.
Wishing you peace.
John Cole
@sab: My goodness! Where did this happen. This is awful?
TS
@sab: How incredibly sad, no idea how you are coping but sending all best thoughts to help you through such a loss
Odie Hugh Manatee
@sab:
No sorry necessary, as I am sure everyone else would agree. Life is messy and we talk where we feel most welcome to talk when we really need to.
My condolences to you, your husband and family in this horrible time. Keep yourself together and take care of you and yours. It sounds like you’re the only one who has it together right now.
Losing a young life is always tragic. So much potential lost when a future is cut short.
Martin
@bbleh: I think Democrats (not all of them, just the leadership and enough of the members to elect those leaders) are just too enamored with the economic status quo that they are going to keep running back to the same billionaires who insist on the same terrible ideas to keep the money flowing, resulting in the same outcomes.
Martin
@sab: So sorry to hear that. I’ve never really learned to cope with loss like that. I seem to carry it forever. I hope you and your husband can find some peace.
Rusty
@sab: What a terrible loss, I hope that somewhere in all the chaos you can find a few moments of grace. Under duress people can show their worst selves. It doesn’t excuse the behavior, but I hope your family can find their moments of peace to show some of their better selves.
Liminal Owl
@sab: I’m so, so sorry. How awful.
Gloria DryGarden
@sab: that is so huge, and what a devastating shock for your family. I’m so sorry. It’s most kind of you to arrange a viewing; some people need that, to see, and understand the death is real.
It won’t matter that you went to anger, there is no order or pattern for the stages of grief, and sometimes the stages come back around, in any order.
a favorite grandchild, that’s so hard.
sending hugs and light, and waves of kindness, grace, and comfort for all your family.
Debbie(Aussie)
Sab, I am more sorry than words can convey. I send you virtual love and hugs. I hope that sometime in the future, your memories will be a blessing, to you, your husband and to all who loved her. Deb
Professor Bigfoot
@sab: So very sorry for your loss.
Nukular Biskits
@sab:
Peace for you and your family.
Ramalama
@sab: That is just awful news. I’m so sorry. So incredibly sorry. The surviving eight other children are step-siblings raised together? That was your only grandchild of the bunch?
Betty Cracker
@sab: How horrible. I’m so sorry.
p.a.
@sab: I’m so sorry. The aftermath of a death is never good, but this… 😥
Baud
@sab:
I’m sorry for your loss. I remember you talking about her moving. Very sad how tragically it turned out.
Baud
Via reddit, Atlanta represent
Baud
Righteous rant
Chief Oshkosh
@sab: I am so sorry for the loss of this child and for your grief and new challenges.
MagdaInBlack
@sab: I am so sorry for this loss and pain. I am sorry too, that you have to deal with folks who choose this time to show their whole ass, as if the loss itself is not enough.
Soprano2
@sab: Oh God I’m so sorry, that sounds horrible.
narya
@sab: oh that is so horrific; I’m so sorry.
brendancalling
@sab: oh my god. I am so sorry. I don’t even know what to say—I’m so sorry.
Chief Oshkosh
@Baud: That is an amazing rant. And, as titled, it IS the human face to Trump’s failed national security regime.
Gvg
I am so sorry Sab. What a loss for all the sort of siblings and your husband. Maybe they can be encouraged to help each other cope, and find help from that. A lot of the young college age students I deal with have trouble coping with relatives deaths, especially when it is geographically away from them and then they are expected to just continue on with their lives as if nothing changed. They end up feeling very isolated. Does your husband like to make phone calls?
David Collier-Brown
@Martin: Both Democratic and Republican politicians are carefully filtered to ensure they are corruptible…
https://leaflessca.wordpress.com/2024/12/15/the-elephant-in-the-roomenforced-corruption/
KSinMA
@sab:
I’m so sorry to hear it.
Betty
@sab: It has to be exhausting to deal with such a dysfunctional group. And you can’t choose your relatives. I hope things soon settle down for you and your husband.
JML
@sab: so very sorry for your family’s loss. please be kind to yourselves as you work through this and the weird, uncomfortable business of death.
satby
@sab: what so many have said already: deepest condolences to you, your husband, and all who loved your granddaughter.
rebelsdad
@sab: I am so sorry. Death and loss are always hard, but there’s something especially jarring when it’s someone who is so young and has their life ahead of them. I’m holding you, your husband, and family in my heart this morning.
pajaro
@David Collier-Brown:
To prove that Democrats are corrupt, you linked to an article on Canada politics?
There is some Q Anon level disinformation about democratic politics and politicians that is going on here. Martin talks about billionaires that are in control of the Democratic Party. I have no idea what he’s talking about. Maybe it would be good if we had a few, as we could get them to start a TV network that would be a counterweight to Fox. but that’s hardly our problem.
As for the DNC, one of their current project is town halls in Republican Districts, and they are also raising money for the same candidates that we are here.
I subscribe (unpaid) to Simon Rosenberg’s Hopium Chronicles. Every morning I click on for a minute of my life and learn what the democrats have been doing the previous day. That’s all it takes and it’s not the only site where you could keep abreast of their activities.
NobodySpecial
@pajaro: Lots of even well meaning liberals forget that every major media channel is fed from the same right wing puke funnel.
The Dems aren’t silent – they’re being silenced by the billionaires who own the media. The same people who work to depress liberals so they don’t turn out for elections, the same people who work to cause every split imaginable in the Democratic Party to keep their low-tax free-market guaranteed contract Republican daddies happy.
People looking for anything other than their own hands to save them are dumb as hell.
Ben Cisco
@sab: So very sorry to hear this. Condolences to all.
Karen S.
@sab: I don’t post here much but I wanted to add my heartfelt condolences to all the others. I’ve experienced the grief from a relative’s death recently but it didn’t have the sort of family dysfunction like you describe mixed in. I am so very sorry.
ErikaF
@sab: I am so sorry for you and your family. My condolences to you and your husband. It’s not easy dealing with dysfunctional families – at my sister’s funeral with her dysfunctional friends and boyfriend things happened that I now look at as a comedic episode of 6 Feet Under. Please take care of yourself and your husband, and remember the good times with your granddaughter.
RevRick
@sab: I understand how this feels. My 17-year old niece was killed in an auto accident back in the 80s… and it absolutely devastated my brother and sister-in-law. It made the D.C. local news as she was a passenger in a truck with two sisters, and one of the sisters was also killed. I recall my mom being angry at the news report. My dad seemed just deflated, I suspect because his older sister died of a childhood illness, something my grandmother never got over.
I was asked to officiate the funeral and I recall the grim procession to the cemetery. With teens, there are always dozens and dozens of vehicles.
May the Source of all comfort, comfort you and your family in this time of grief.
NYCMT
My god, Sab, I am so sorry for your loss. May you be comforted as all mourners are in Zion.
RevRick
@Baud: My iPad screen melted from that woman’s wrath. She was justifiably irate. I’ve written a letter to our local paper asking how Sen.McCormick and Rep. MacKenzie are going to respond to this horrendous security breach.
Basilisc
I’ve always thought the “Corruption” angle has a lot more political punch than the “Constitution” or “Kitchen table issues”. Dems need to surround these guys in a cloud of corruption, which is easy since they actually are.
UncleEbeneezer
@sab: Ugh, I’m so sorry. Virtual hug to you.
ChrisSherbak
@Melancholy Jaques: Very sorry. It’s horrible you (and your husband) can’t fully process your grief while the rest of the family dithers.
arrieve
@sab: I am late to this thread but I want to share my heartfelt condolences. When inconsolable grief is tossed into an already chaotic situation, it is so so hard to navigate. But I know that everyone here will give you all the support we can.
brantl
@sab: Dog knows, you’d have hoped to be long dead by then, as she would have had a long and happy life. I hope something can bring you solace.
Miss Bianca
@sab:
very late to the thread but just wanted to say how sorry I am to hear such devastating news. My condolences to you and your husband.
Old School
@sab: My condolences. Wishing you strength.
tam1MI
@sab: Let me add my voice to the others expressing condolences for your loss. May your granddaughter’s memory be a blessing.
PJ
My condolences. There is nothing worse than losing a child or grandchild.
Paul in KY
@sab: Very sorry to hear this. My condolences.
whatsleft
@sab: Deepest condolences on your profound, wrenching loss. May you find the strength to overcome with the help of memories of her life and character.