One of the really nice things about being out here is that the house is so small and the yard so boring that I am spending a lot more quality time with the cats. Were we in WV and the weather like this, both of them would be outside all day. But now they are here right beside me and if I get stressed out all I have to do is reach out in either direction with a hand and have a cat to pet. It’s really kinda nice.
Spent some time chatting to Anne Laurie earlier, and she is still a little bit under the weather but still very much with us, and said every day there is movement, so that is good. Got to chat with the always lovely Mr. Anne Laurie, and that was nice as well.
A little bit earlier I was scrolling Bluesky and a picture of Vance all ho-yayed up doing something involving guns at a range, which, in fairness, could be exciting for him since that’s the most action in a foreign land he has ever seen, the fucking press release writing green zone REMF who apparently has been born again hard. Man, fuck that guy.
At any rate, I am to the point now with Trump, Vance, and Musk that just the mere sight of them in picture form is enough to give me that creepy uncanny valley feeling, or glitch in the matrix for you millenials, and I won’t even bother with a gen z example because none of them are here reading an old man’s blog At any rate, you know what I mean- the creepy feeling something is not right like the feeling you get when it’s time to grab the girl and tell her we need to leave this bar immediately something is about to go down.
Or that awkward uncomfortable and unpleasant feeling like when your socks are wet in your hiking boots and yeah wool does a great job wicking it away but shit wet socks still suck or when you are somewhere in public wearing slacks on a hot humid day (usually a funeral or some asshole’s wedding) and a testicle is sticking to your thigh (your underwire bra slipped and is poking and rubbing you, ladies) but you can’t adjust so you just have to stand there and pretend to give a shit about the event but all you can think about is the unpleasantness in your knickers.
That’s the reaction I get when I just see a picture of them, much less see them on tv or listen to an interview. Just an immediate revulsion and a vocalized “oh goddamnit…” And I just do not get why these MAGA folk don’t get how fucking weird these guys are. I mean Elon Musk is so fucking cringe it is like nails on the chalkboard of my soul. If any actor, told to play a weirdo techbro villain, if they just imitated Musk they would be relentlessly mocked for being so over the top. It would haunt their career- it would be their Ishtar. Or for you kids, their John Carter. The way he holds his hands, the stiff, robotic movement, the odd speech patterns, the bizarre cosmetic surgery choices, all of it. It’s all so fucking weird.
And I have been around weird people my whole life- I grew up surrounded by the kids of college faculty. We were all doomed at birth. I am fine with weird. I love weird. Some might say I seek it out. Likewise, I am a magnet for weirdos and always have been. Joelle could tell you some stories. But this is just weird in a malignant way.
And the whole situation is just so unsettling and uncomfortable that you almost kinda want to believe maybe CERN did set something off or the Cubs or Red Sox winning the World Series launched us into some different universe. I mean we have the historical examples of the Nazis and Mussolini and what not, but what is kind of creepy is how on the nose science fiction writers were about a lot of this.
The good news is that unlike the movie They Live, or my favorite all time Episode, Folie à Deux, with the zombies “Hiding in the Lifght” that only Mulder and Gary Lambert can see, I am not experiencing this alone. I’m not the only one who sees it- you all do, my family does, Joelle does, the people I interact with all do, and so on. The problem, I am realizing, is that we are in the minority.
At any rate, I should be going. Joelle had a function after work so she is coming home late, but she should be back soon and I need to get dinner underway. You all take care.
War for Ukraine Day 1,128: Trump’s & Team’s Shakedown Gets Brushed Off
Doug R
It’s been like that for me for a while-I hear his voice on the radio, I gotta turn it off. We don’t have to hear as much of him here in Canada, but he’s still EVERYFUCKINGWHERE.
The BS about the tariffs, you can hear the complete lack of empathy and understanding in his voice. He’s gone over to the Putin side, anything to fuck allies and make us ALL weaker.
lowtechcyclist
I was at Wal-Mart this afternoon, and “Pink Pony Club” was playing over their sound system. I’m surprised they allow something that ‘woke’ to be played in one of their stores.
Ohio Mom
I think the most dangerous one is Vought, those other three are just decoys. Revolting and clownish decoys.
Mr. Bemused Senior
You listen to them?? Why??!
Scout211
The one that gives me the creeps (old phrase from the long ago times) is Stephen Miller. He could be the face of the monster in any psychological thriller. I have to scroll past any news story with him picture in it.
Yeah, Trump, Vance and Musk do give off that vibe like they are about to do something awful and they are going to be jacked up and laughing at us while they do it. But Stephen Miller just seems to me to personify “evil monster.”
I don’t like this scary movie anymore. Could someone please write a happy ending?
lowtechcyclist
@Ohio Mom:
Vance is certainly a decoy, he can’t do shit. Musk has caused real, serious harm. But Vought’s in it for the distance, you’re right that he’s the dangerous one.
BellyCat
SNL with Mike Myers as Elon is banger!!(However, the Trump character reminds me of why I haven’t watched SNL for three decades.)
Math Guy
They are like an itch that won’t go away, only much worse; and it can kill you.
trumps clueless responses to questions about signalgate support my suspicion that he is not in charge, but is mostly there to sign EOs that are written by someone else and put in front of him to sign. Which leaves open the question of who, exactly, is in charge? My suspicion is it is mostly Stephen Miller and Musk.
SpaceUnit
I’ve been tuning a lot of it out. Just don’t have the capacity right now.
I can’t look at their obnoxious faces or listen to their nauseating voices if I’m going to have any chance of getting sleep at night. We’re living in Bizarro America and I don’t know what to do about it.
So much respect to you folks who are staying active on the front lines.
Mr. Bemused Senior
It’s like there is no President of the United States.
Snarki, child of Loki
The timelines split on 1 Jan 2000: we landed on the timeline where the Y2K bug was ‘meh’, but then Dubya, Smart Black Dude, Brexit and Trump.
The other timeline had a technology crash that destroyed civilization, damn those luck fnckers.
Suzanne
Vance is the one who freaks me out the most, because he’s got socially conservative Catholics pulling his strings: The Convert in the White House.
Jackie
@Scout211:
I read somewhere that FFOTUS doesn’t care about the Presidency – just revenge, revenge, and more revenge – and Stephen Miller is the man behind the curtain really running the government. He creeped me out FFOTUS’s first term; he triply creeps me out this time.
geg6
I have the exact same reaction with the exception that, instead of “oh god dammit,” I say “fuck off and die asshole.”
Jackie
@lowtechcyclist:
He’s one of the architects of Project 2025, correct?
NotMax
Like living inside an Edvard Munch painting.
//
Professor Bigfoot
@Jackie: I think that’s accurate.
Trump wants all the perks and benefits of the Presidency, but he does not want the job.
”Everyone wants the Emperor’s throne, but nobody wants his desk.”
HinTN
@NotMax: Oh, yes.
karen gail
While I see Trump, Muck and Vance as creepy, self-centered bullies who seek revenge for perceived wrongs; Stephen Miller scares me. In my life time I have known some evil people, we all run across them at one time or another but few seem to wallow in evil and rejoice in cruelty the way that Miller does. He is often seen bring EO’s to Trump for him to sign. He wears that smirk as he hands the orange one another piece of cruel shit to sign.
In the words of my great grandmother, “that man is pure EVIL and proud of it.”
prostratedragon
That visual-aural horror and revulsion: oh hell yes!
Jackie
Just another Friday night news dump.
Nothing to speculate as to “why…”
Bill Arnold
@lowtechcyclist:
When the Social Security head complained recently that they would have to shut down social security to comply with a judges order, I seriously considered the possibility that the DOGE [criminal gang] had installed a dead man switch in the computer system that needed to be pinged every day or so or else it would destroy the system, or maybe encrypt it for ransom.
And that they were freaking out that they might get caught.
I frankly would not estimate a zero probability for this or something similar, not even close to zero.
Wombat Probability Cloud
I don’t weigh in here as much as I’d like to because my life (partner, pup, habitat protection, scientific research despite being retired) is full up but I have to say that your “uncanny valley” charcterization of Musk, Trump, and Vance is exceedingly spot-on. Like you, I love weirdness but they are bizarre and metastatic (said by someone who has cancer). Thank you for your amazing candor. I’ve got a cousin, once removed (not kidding) who work at CERN so maybe I should query him about recent anomalies?
frosty
@Jackie:
Am I right that if they’re fired they don’t get a pension? If so no wonder everyone resigns.
Wombat Probability Cloud
ps – but, yeah, I think Miller is the key.
Scout211
@Jackie:
ProPublica
Wild guess that Marks did not agree with the new RFK,jr “vaccines as personal choice” policy.
lowtechcyclist
@Jackie:
What would RFK Jr. need someone in charge of vaccines for?
Bill Arnold
@Mr. Bemused Senior:
Mr. D.J. Trump is functionally a meat autopen for when they don’t want to use a real autopen.
Also, DJT is a shiny distraction for the press, so that people like Vought and Miller and many others can operate with no negative press.
Scout211
Upvote!
John Revolta
So tell me a time when Republicans weren’t this way. Nixon was creepy as fuck, and Agnew? Fuckouttahere. And it didn’t get any better from there.
Okay, Ike was a normal human being, but he was a little before my time. And even then you had the Birchers and Joe McCarthy. All my life it’s been painfully obvious: these are sick fucks who want us to die.
Professor Bigfoot
I hate them, all of them; but my ire right now wants to go to the Americans* all around us who voted for that felonious son of a bitch.
But honestly, that Afrikaner son of a bitch… every time I see his smirking Backpfeifengesicht, I want to give it what it so desperately needs.
NotMax
@Wombat Probability Cloud
Hard for this codger to resist a movie reference.
The Flying Wombat.
;)
Professor Bigfoot
@Bill Arnold:
NOMINATED
Math Guy
@Professor Bigfoot: Second!
Gvg
@lowtechcyclist: Walmart has been selling pretty woke stuff for several years now, right along side the maga stuff. Around here it’s less maga hick stuff than it used to be, not sure if that’s everywhere? I noticed it sometime ago. There is money to be made selling to everyone and I am not sure they are even trying to be niche anymore. Target was explicitly Christian respectable when it came to town here but changed into trendy urban kinda liberal over time. Money, plus I think there aren’t enough billionaire to buy enough do dads to support big stores compared to millions of non millionaires. And the millionaires apparently didn’t learn causes of the Great Depression. They must have all paid someone to take their history classes. There are a lot of worse things than higher taxes, like wrecking the economy and trashing the dollar. Throwing away all overseas markets should wreck at least some of them
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@karen gail:
Miller is the closest thing to a 2025 Nazi, agreed, both visually and what he says/does.
Craig
John Carter is kind an interesting look at Dunning-Kruger. Andrew Stanton was a golden child of animation, #2 creative at Pixar, wrote Toy Story and most of the early studio output, directed Finding Nemo. Excellent filmmaker- in his zone. Went to direct a huge FX driven ‘blockbuster’ and whoa, those animation studio skills don’t map over to live action. Straight cliff wall learning curve. Almost unwatchable movie. He’s directed some TV since then and is back at Pixar for the new Toy Story. Dude is a stellar animation director, but a barely workman live action director.
Suzanne
@Professor Bigfoot:
I think he’s not Afrikaner….. but that’s a minor quibble and I otherwise wholeheartedly concur. He’s got that fucken smirk that just needs to be pounded on. He needs a good slapping.
Anyone got a baseball bat?
Martin
@lowtechcyclist: They probably don’t. I’ll tell the story of my only trip to a Walmart a few years ago. Went in with my dad after discharging him after his heart attack and we got our stuff, including a pair of AirPods and were checking out in the electronics dept when my dad asked if they take ApplePay. The checker said, and this is a quote: “Like fucking Walmart takes ApplePay”.
My sense from that interaction and the overall state of the store is that corporate doesn’t have a particularly firm hold on the employees behavior, and if the afternoon assistant manager making $8/hr wants to put Pink Pony Club on the PA, nobody is going to stop them.
Martin
Looks like China is blocking the sale of the Panama port management to the US firm. Probably equal parts wanting to retain control of it and baiting the toddler with the loaded gun to throw a tantrum, most likely shooting itself.
Chacal Charles Calthrop
@Scout211: Everyone here has no doubt seen the picture of Stephen Miller next to Joseph Goebbels. They really do look alike – especially the dead look in the eyes:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/11/5/1687333/-Trump-s-Stephen-Miller-and-Hitler-s-Joseph-Goebbels-are-chillingly-similar
Marc
Musk is not Afrikaner, they would call him a Sout Piele (salt dick). Don’t use that in polite company. I used to work for a Jewish South African professor, he had lots of good names for Musk, most of which I unfortunately don’t remember.
M31
they might learn the causes of the French Revolution pretty soon, god willing
Jay
@Suzanne:
He’s a soutpeil,
Afrikkaner’s were Dutch/German Colonists.
Musk is the product of Canadian Nazi’s who moved to South Africa to make money off slave labour.
They fucked off back to Canada as soon as they lost their slaves and Felon was up for the draft.
Suzanne
@Chacal Charles Calthrop: I think Stephen Miller most closely resembles a rat, and thus I refer to him as a ROUS.
Martin
@Craig: John Carter is generally considered a mediocre film. Not good, but also not unwatchable.
What’s usually noted about it was just how horrifyingly bad its marketing campaign was. Where marketing usually makes a film seem better than it actually is, John Carters made it seem worse.
Chacal Charles Calthrop
@Craig: it wasn’t just the direction that sank John Carter, it was also the screenplay, which was written by people who must not even have read the ancient blockbusters upon which it was based (Princess of Mars came out in 1912). That movie was a heartbreaking betrayal of the source material.
Martin
@M31: ++
Craig
@Martin: I tried to watch it and suffered through to the end, cause I’m dumb that way, but nobody should spend time watching that tripe.
Wombat Probability Cloud
@NotMax: OMFG, I want one, but promise not to terrorize folks on bikes. Sadly, I see a Hot Wheels versions for sale, not the real deal: http://www.supercars.net/blog/1938-phantom-corsair/
Geminid
@Jay: That’s interesting. Singer Dave Matthews moved from South Africa to Virginia when he came of draft age.
Craig
@Chacal Charles Calthrop: for sure. My original point was supposed to be that moving from a production environment where you have complete control of everything for the entire length of production to an environment where there are way more variables is extremely difficult. Retakes are insanely expensive in Live Action. In animation you can just move the camera left a little and adjust the push in. Move the character around to make the cut smooth. You move to the next setup in live action you better know for sure that you have the magic.
Martin
@Craig: Just noting that it has a rotten tomatoes score of 52% which means that while it may not be to your liking (or mine) some people found it enjoyable or at least mid.
cmorenc
@John Cole:
I’m trying to imagine having the chance to say: “Got to chat with the “always lovely Mr. Joelle”.
:=)
Jay
@Geminid:
There really is no comparison between the two,
As a Quaker (and consequently pacifist), Matthews left South Africa to avoid service.[13]
Felon Husk is just a sociopathic coward.
Mr. Bemused Senior
@Suzanne:
Stephen Miller clip from before the election , responding to a reporter’s question about crime in Venezuela.
Shows just who he is.
Martin
Condolences to any Columbia grads here. Your alma mater is going to get hazed pretty fucking hard.
cmorenc
@John Cole:
In the Sci-Fi movie “Fifth Element”, Gary Oldman pulled off portraying a very Musk-like portrayal of an evil techbro character, albeit in a bit camp fashion, especially the creepy sociopathic arrogance.
Martin
@cmorenc: Fire 1 million.
Friend of ours did the visual effects on that film.
Timill
@Wombat Probability Cloud: Well, both of the Bugatti Royales (41 111 and 41 150) from that collection have been sold in the past, so not impossible. Not that anyone here could afford it…
Martin
Looks like another close call at Reagan Intl. today.
satby
Happy to hear Anne Laurie is doing better. 💖 That’s the best news.
Geminid
@Jay: I did not bother to point out the differences between Dave Matthews and Elon Musk because they were so obvious.
prostratedragon
@Martin: Has something new happened? (Things already are more than bad enough.)
Jay
@Geminid:
Some people love the Dave Matthew’s Band, some people hate it. Hard to tell.
prostratedragon
@cmorenc: Gah, right you are.
Origuy
A 7.7 magnitude earthquake hit Myanmar today and 100,000 people are feared dead.
A geologist’s report.
Omnes Omnibus
@Jay: Hating DMB and knowing the difference between Matthews and Musk are two completely different things.
West of the Rockies
Earnest question: how are the kids of college faculty weird? Asking on behalf of my kid. (I really don’t think I’ll be offended, but I am genuinely curious.)
Steve in the ATL
@Omnes Omnibus: one of my law school friends was buddies with Dave back in Virginia and parlayed that friendship into a remarkably successful career as an entertainment lawyer. Among other things, he discovered Hanson and mmmbopped his way into being their manager, and fulfilled his Deadhead dreams by becoming CEO of the Jerry Garcia estate.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steve in the ATL: You mention things like this in public?
Steve in the ATL
@Omnes Omnibus: I actually learned about the Hanson thing from a People magazine in my dentist’s waiting room.
🐾BillinGlendaleCA
@Steve in the ATL: Hanson was playing on the store PA and my fellow OFA Ed says “Those Hanson girls sure are cute”. He’s a funny guy.
Craig
@Martin: good for them. I’m talking about someone at the top of their profession that thought they could shift to something that turned out to be very different environment and dropped down to mediocre at it.
Geminid
@Jay: They were local heros in the Charlottesville area. I was never a big fan, but I credit Matthews for hooking up with some very solid musicians and creating a sound that stood out the electric guitar-based music of the time.
Have you read the New Lines Magazine article on Musk published February 19? It’s by Capetown-based reporter Joseph Dana and is titled:
There’s some material on current South African politics and more on the politics during the transition from apartheid. I’ll try to link it the article again because its very good in my opinion. The conclusion:
https://www.newlinesmag/argument/the-worldview-of-the-afrikaner-diaspora-now-haunts-the-us
Ed. Doggone! This link does not work. The article’s easy to find though. I think I know the problem so I will try again.
https://www.newlinesmag.com/argument/the-worldview-of-theafrikzner-diaspora-now-haunts-the-us
Aaargh! I’d fire my #@%*# proofreadef if he wasn’t family. I will try again in another comment.
Jay
Dear Canada,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhiKlhTmwDU
Geminid
@Geminid: All righty now:
https://www.newlinesmag.com/argument/the-worldview-of-the-afrikaner-diaspora-now-haunts-the-us/
Got it.
Martin
@prostratedragon: Interim President stepped down. The leadership vacuum is going to get deeper. Interim President sold out to Trump, then resigned. The next president now has a deeper hole to fill, now that there are going to be Trump appointed censors at the institution that they possibly cannot remove, which will make that job even harder to hire. Meanwhile Trump knows he has the institution on the ropes and will keep piling on to make an example for everyone else.
My guess is that they’re going to wind up with some Trump loyalist as president to take the external pressure off the institution which is going to drive the faculty out. Nobody else is going to suicide their career taking that job.
Jay
@Geminid:
I like the Dave Matthew’s Band. It was a lot better than alot of what was out there at the time.
Yes, read the New Lines,
Did you see the CBC one?
https://www.cbc.ca/newsinteractives/features/joshua-haldeman-elon-musk-saskatchewan-tech-utopian-conspiracist
Ruckus
John,
I’m not all that sure we are in the minority. A lot of conservative folks seem to see elon as exactly how you describe him. Now they may still see shitforbrains as the person they want running the government but I’d bet that more than a few of them are seeing what we are seeing, off the scale incompetence, complete and utter assholyness out of basically all the top cats meddling in current US government. Because that is all they have and with elon’s help it has reached side/shit show proportions. (either seems to work here – maybe it’s both – although it isn’t funny in any way, shape or form)
prostratedragon
@Martin: Oh. Thanks, I guess. Her resignation was expected, actually — rather as if she got the short straw for a capitulation that was already in the works.
VFX Lurker
I suspect the books sold like hotcakes because everyone on Mars was starkers. The Martians wore ornaments, not clothes.
Every visual adaptation of that series suffers from clothing.
Jay
@VFX Lurker:
Could be worse. In the BDSM community there are a bunch of “lightweights” calling themselves Goreans.
Jay
@VFX Lurker:
Could be worse. In the BDSM community there are a bunch of “lightweights” calling themselves Goreans.
Jay
WP strikes again.
Geminid
@Jay: That’s a good article. Those Technocracy adherents were some strange people. I read they not only wore gray clothing, they also drove gray automobiles. Weird.
The Lost City idea was the basis of a 1930s detective novel, The Singing Sands. I’m not sure of the author but it might have been Dorothy Sayers..
Ed. The Singing Sands was written by Josephine Tey and published posthumously in 1952.
prostratedragon
@Martin:
@prostratedragon:
Seems they’ve already looked in-house for an interim, Claire Shipman.
The harpies have also started in specifically on my affiliated college, Barnard.
Martin
@prostratedragon: She’s co-chair of the board. This isn’t someone seeking the job.
BellyCat
@Martin: Didn’t realize Columbia’s President was interim. They fucked up but good
ETA: Confoozled. Was the Pres who capitulated an interim or not?
ETA#2: Ahhh…. Both are interim. Total shit show.
Tony Jay
@Jay:
In the postulated other universe where the Y2K Bug caused civilisation to collapse, a small convention of Gorean fanbois meeting up at a conference centre outside of Lakewood, New Jersey became the kernel of a ‘manstrong’ slaving empire that within a generation had taken over the former United States and is currently waging a losing war against the southern Aztlans and the northern Kanukky League to distract its citizens from the economic downturn caused by putting everyone who gives them a boner in chains.
Their mystic scryers have occasion visions of our dimension. They refer to it contemptuously as ‘Wannabe World’.
no body no name
@Ohio Mom:
Agree. I can’t wrap my brain around his wanting people to be in anguish about going to work. It’s insane. I’ve had coworkers I hate. I’ve hated certain fields of work. I’ve never thought “I want this person to be in trauma for going to work”. That’s a level of malice I didn’t think existed.
MagdaInBlack
@Tony Jay: Good morning! I’ll have whatever you’re having because……I understood that ;-)
YY_Sima Qian
@Martin: Also creating leverage for the “grand bargain”.
no body no name
@karen gail:
It’s the pure evil of it. I’ve known my share of sociopaths in my line of work. A good sociopath can be a ton of fun. They’re usually extroverts and very charismatic. Great drinking buddies and wingmen. 10/10 would friend a sociopath again.
As Walz said though these people are just weird. The dead eyed soulless bullshit that happens. I find Hegseth the most relatable of the lot of them. I can fathom an alcoholic former Army major with some issues. That I can get. There but for the grace of god go I. Miller? How the fuck did that happen?
YY_Sima Qian
Every one of JD Vance’s recent appearances w/ enlisted troops have only white faces in the shots, even though POCs make up a disproportionate percentage of the enlisted.
Good luck waging campaigns to advance US hegemony w/o POCs to fill out the rank & file.
no body no name
@YY_Sima Qian:
I’ve seen others with black troops. I’d also be careful on this. Once you hit combat arms it gets more white. This was a huge issue with SEAL. It, still is, so white that David Goggins had to go out and try to recruit. It’s still a white male thing. That did nothing.
The military is not your friend. People need to grasp that. It’s still conservative and minority representation falls flat once you reach the people doing the actual killing. The more elite the whiter and more right wing. Everyone needs to get that. They aren’t going to save you.
YY_Sima Qian
@no body no name: I am aware of the increasingly reactionary bend among the “shooters”, but the “elite shooters” won’t be doing a lot of shooting or going very far at all w/o logistics or sustainment, or regular formations doing most of the fighting & the occupying.
David_C
More on the Marks forced resignation. NBC has not shied away from properly labeling Kennedy.
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/fdas-top-vaccine-scientist-dr-peter-marks-rcna198682
All of HHS is in a bad place, mentally, with the weekend RIFs and contract cuts being forced. None of this makes sense except in a “weaken America” plan. I’ll see if I have a job and how many of the people we depend on will be let go. Efficiency is not having fewer people to do the same work and not giving them some new tools that lighten the load.
Debbie(Aussie)
@Jay:
thar was awe inspiring.
i remember going to Expo 88 in Brisbane 1987. The presentation in the Canadian pavilion had me in tears, of joy and amazement,
JoyceH
@YY_Sima Qian: I saw a clip of Vance’s remarks with a backdrop of service members deployed to be wallpaper. I was struck by how ENTIRELY expressionless they all were, every one of them. They must have been thoroughly admonished beforehand – NO facial expression, NONE. Any display of emotion will win the person a five mile run – in snow shoes.
raven
@Debbie(Aussie): I’m watching footy as we speak! Brisbane vs Geelong!
Debbie(Aussie)
@raven:
Go the Lions!
KM in NS
OT: I’ve been offline for several days… I haven’t seen TBone in a while… did I miss something?
also, glad to see Tony Jay commenting!
Geminid
@KM in NS: There is someone with a similar nym to T-Bone’s commenting over on Mistermix’s blog. They seem to be from Pennsylvania so it might be T-Bone.
Betty
@Jackie: They are all weird. Thank you, Tim Walz for saying it out loud. Miller and Vought seem the most evil, completely soulless. None of them care who they hurt. Of course, the entire Trump Cabinet is full of no-good people.
different-church-lady
Okay, this ChatGPT shit is getting really weird now…
Barry
@Scout211: Miller makes me believe in reincarnation.
Which Nazi died just as he was born?
karen gail
@no body no name: I have often believed that those who appear to be soulless actually are; there is something missing in them. I have known; personally, since a couple are blood relatives, that they are missing something inside of them. It is more than just being a sociopath or psychopath, they are missing the “spark” that makes others human. I would say that even animals have that “spark” that gives them something more. One Elder called them “soulless.”
different-church-lady
@Gvg: When corporations discover that marginalized groups have money, they’re all about marginalized groups. But their heart is never in it, they’re just checking the boxes, and they’ll retreat at the first sign of trouble.
different-church-lady
@karen gail
I had a cat that acted more alive than 90% of the people I know.
karen gail
@no body no name:
I remember either reading or hearing a lecture about what happens to young men with a bent towards killing. (Yes, there are some women who join military with bent to kill, but they rarely make it to elite troops. We have mostly forgotten that most deadly Russian snipers were women during WWII.) The person said that the military takes a budding serial killer and turns them into a weapon of mass destruction. The person went on to say that for some reason the “best” killers seem to be white males; knowing this the military actively seeks out ways to appeal to these people.
Gvg
@different-church-lady: depends on the money, and they keep track. If there is enough money, they can face some trouble, but prefer to get the money without the trouble. Walmart has a long time reputation and customer base. Trump and the GOP attacking them might be almost as upside down as attacking SS openly.
I do wonder what would happen if they said why is Walmart selling this stuff and Walmart just told them because people want to buy it and we want to make money. We owe it to our stockholders….
KM in NS
@Geminid: thank you
WTFGhost
@David_C: Well, HHS should have known better than to try to save lives when Trump was trying to win re-election. It’s their own dumb fault, depending on “science” and not “propaganda.”
@different-church-lady: I confess, I wouldn’t have compared sticky scrote to underwire poke; totally different sensations, and it’s not easy to compare sex-linked discomforts. Most women I’ve queried about Pokey underwires with my little Gumby trying to skate into my thigh book, have called for the special cops with the butterfly nets.
@Barry: It depends on whether you’re Evangelical Christian or traditionalist. Evangelicals demand ensoulment the instant of death/moment of ‘conception,’ which means you have to find who was doing the nasty about two days before ovulating, at the instant of Nazi-death.
(See, sperm last long enough to get to where eggs drop; eggs dropped pre-sex won’t last long enough to get fertilized; this is why morons who speak “morning after pill” are idiots.
(See, morons are just stupid most of the time; idiots are people who are stuck in a barrel of fact, and fight their way free back to comforting lies.))
@karen gail: Um. Awkward moment, but, I’ll call out, exhaustion can also make a person feel like they have a missing spark. It takes more energy than you’d ever guess, to be a normal human. When I’m in a state where y’all people are obstacles to be maneuvered around, who sometimes say things that I must respond to, and around whom I can’t scream in pain, well, going dull and quiet causes people to make lots of assumptions. Some of us will surprise you, is all I’m saying – love and compassion are heavy burdens to carry visibly.
karen gail
@WTFGhost: I get the reasons that you suggest for not having “spark”, but even those who are clinically depressed have that “spark” it is just greatly subdued. Trauma victims may have that dead stare but it subdues the “spark” rarely destroying it completely.
A psychopath can appear to have a “spark” but it feels fake, that is why I like the term “soulless” for humans; it tells other that there is something missing
As for normal? since I have never quite fit as normal; I gave up even trying since it hurt to much to try to be something that I am not.
Glidwrith
@Martin: We actually bought it because hubby is a fan of original sci-fi. We put on as background noise while doing other things.
Keekey
I usually just lurk but I have to give you a written high-five for the Folie à Deux reference, John.
WaterGirl
@Keekey: Welcome!
Gloria DryGarden
@Geminid: i don’t think TBone is mostly coming back. Unless she comes to lurk. I’ll look for her on mister mix, on bsky…
Geminid
@Gloria DryGarden: Lots more discussion on the Saturday morning thread, and information too.
Personally, I hope T-Bone does come back. But she has to do what’s right for her.
Gloria DryGarden
@Geminid: i saw all that, later. Thx
Greg Ferguson
Dear Cole – a generous post, & thank you.
Down here in Tucson, the mood is similar. District 6 is always kind of knife-edge, but Ciscomani & his office are hiding under their desks and cowering. Bernie & AOC got many times expected crowds for their rallies. Yay!
———————-
I have noticed your missing birds in Tempe. I don’t know why that is, because we have *lots* here – mourning doves in the morning, owls at night, TONS of hummingbirds (no songs, but….) – many others I can’t necessarily identify. I live in Midtown, so not on the edge of the wild. They flock to not-spectacular shrubs in the yard; I see them every morning outside my window. I hope you and Joelle can figure out a habitat solution to attract them – so many desert birds, with voices, that would comfort you.
👍👍❤️🤠
Keekey
@WaterGirl: Thank you! : )