I’ve got nothing for you tonight except the reminder to take time to recharge, refresh, and find the good in the world. There still is lots out there.
Open thread
Overnight Open Thread: Take Time For Yourself
Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
The worst democrat is better than the best republican.
People identifying as christian while ignoring christ and his teachings is a strange thing indeed.
Books are my comfort food!
Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.
And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.
The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.
Cancel the cowardly Times and Post and set up an equivalent monthly donation to ProPublica.
Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.
They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!
Usually wrong but never in doubt
Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?
Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?
So many bastards, so little time.
We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.
“In the future, this lab will be a museum. do not touch it.”
Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.
Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?
The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.
It’s the corruption, stupid.
Republicans do not pay their debts.
You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.
Giving in to doom is how authoritarians win.
Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.
I am pretty sure these ‘journalists’ were not always such a bootlicking sycophants.
War for Ukraine Day 1,151: Another Early Morning Russian Drone Swarm Attack
cain
Spent some time talking to my brother about the challenges of raising kids..I don’t have children so it’s informative.
NotMax
A touch of Carmen.
Tulip time
They get excited over tulip time
But I’m delighted over julep time
;)
Mai Naem mobile
This is a nice story about a very good dog – https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2025/04/19/family-relieved-missing-boy-rescued-ranch-dog-arizona/83164898007/
Stuart in Austin
@cain: My mother never comprehended that you can’t make children be what you want them to be. My approach with my daughter was to provide opportunities to try different experiences in relatively safe circumstances. Now, as she struggles with my adopted granddaughter and my grandson she says she is beginning to understand what a weird kid she was. I’m the middle generation of at least five generations people on the autism spectrum.
Jay
Srry, shakey as FA.
Targeted gang shooting in the Safeway parking lot below our apartment,
I was headed down to the Liquor Store, get T a bottle of wine, me, 2 cans of beer.
I had my pack on, because I did not want to dig out a bag.
Apparently, according to the cops, they missed their target.
Hit a female bystander 3 times, instead.
Femoral, chest, gut.
I have IDF tourniquets, so got the femoral shut down, got chest patches, so she could breathe, gauze and my tshirt and pressure for the gut shot.
Cops showed up, there’s cameras. Ambulance showed up, knowing what they were dealing with.
Too many guns in Canada, in gangs, all from the US.
I used to only have basic first aid in my backpack, now because of the US, I have a f’n carry a trauma ward.
I am going to get piss drunk tonight.
Chetan Murthy
@Jay: Oh jesus, I’m so sorry that happened, and that you were in danger, but OTOH you were there and saved her life.
J. Arthur Crank
I love flowering plum trees and flowering apricot trees. The blooms come in before the new branches really get going.
It is much too warm on San Diego to get tulips. I miss the hell out of them (but not enough to move somewhere cold enough for them to bloom).
frosty
@Mai Naem mobile: Great story! I saw it a day or two ago but it didn’t have the detail of this one. Buford is an amazing Good Boy.
TaMara
@Jay: Thank goodness you were there. So awful. Today (here still) is the anniversary of Columbine and it never seems to end.
I had a similar incident that I was involved in a few weeks ago – no weapons drawn, but a gang incident with a young teen being horribly beaten.
I shook for HOURS afterward. Then I had several sleepless nights wondering what would have happened if I hadn’t been there to intervene. Then a few more sleepless nights wondering what would have happened if there had been weapons.
Again, I’m so glad you were there with what you needed to help and I’m sorry you had to. I hope you can get some rest.
frosty
@Stuart in Austin: One thing I discovered as an adoptive parent is that (if you’re smart) you won’t have any expectation that your children will have your skills or that they will want to go into the family business. They are a completely blank slate and your job is to roll with it and find out who they are and what interests them.
The funny thing, is this is the same situation for any parent. They think the kids will be like them but genetics are a wild card and there’s no more guarantee of that than there are of my adopted sons.
I mean, based on my history, who knew I would raise a fraternity brother who loves golf?
frosty
@Jay: I’m sorry that happened. In the US, sure, we’re gun-crazy, but BC? I’m glad you have that kit and know how to use it. I’ve had a lot of basic first aid but this situation is a bit out of my training.
I don’t think two cans of beer will do it for piss drunk. If there’s nothing else in the place, commandeer T’s wine. Apologize later. She’ll understand.
eclare
@Jay:
Holy shit! That gunshot victim is lucky you were there.
SpaceUnit
@Jay:
Holy crap!
ColoradoGuy
@Jay: It was a horrible experience for you, but you saved a life. That action will create ripples throughout the world as the result of that life you saved. You did a great thing.
Bart
RIP Pope Francis.
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/obituaries/article/2025/04/21/pope-francis-has-died_6740454_15.html
Love that one of his last acts was shitting all over JD Vance.
Ruckus
@cain:
Sure it’s work raising kids.
But.
It’s interesting to see them grow up, learn and become individuals and that life goes on. Haven’t had any of my own but have had a couple of partners that had them, and got to help raise them. Right now have a neighbor who has a great grandson who is a pretty cool, I’ve picked him up at his elementary school not far down the street a few times – his great grandmother and I live in the same complex and he often stays with her till his mom gets off work.
Geminid
@Bart: I just saw the news on Clash Report. Francis made it for one last Easter.
Baud
@Bart:
Wow.
And agreed. He went out doing the Lord’s work.
mrmoshpotato
@Jay: Know that you most definitely saved her life. Take care of yourself.
mrmoshpotato
@Bart: Rest in peace, Pope Francis.
Even as a lapsed Catholic, I liked his ability to critically look at the Church’s practices.
prostratedragon
@Bart: Amen and amen.
West of the Rockies
Jay, you are awesome. Your actions may save a life!
West of the Rockies
@Bart:
I sooo agree about Vance.
Man, maybe it was J.D.’s dreariness that did in the old fellow.
Splitting Image
@Bart:
I just saw that. If Francis achieved nothing else with his administration, he proved that there is a big difference between a conservative and a reactionary.
Francis may have been old and set in his ways, and therefore not moving his institution forward as quickly as we would like, but he wasn’t actively working to turn the clock back to some imagined utopia from decades past or to burn the world to the ground if he couldn’t get his way.
Rest in Peace. I hope he appointed enough cardinals of his own stamp to ensure that his successor is cut from similar cloth.
Tony Jay
@Jay:
I’ll raise one tonight in your honour, Jay. Sterling work saving a life, but yeah, you’ll definitely need a while and some room before the bitter juices of that memory drain out.
JoyceH
I just have the awfulest feeling that the next pope is going to be one of those horrible haters that Francis was always having to rein in. Because that’s the timeline we’re in now apparently.
Tony Jay
@Splitting Image:
That would be better for everyone, but given that this is the Catholic Church, and how ravenous the Fraternal Alliance of Sex Cases, Idolators, Supremacists and Traditionalists must be to get one of their false priests back in the white and gold…
…gonna be a hell of a Conclave.
Geminid
@mrmoshpotato: Turkish journalist Ragip Soylu’s appraisal:
I don’t think Soylu much likes J.D. Vance though. He took three pokes at Vance and his visit with Pope Francis. One was some video of Vance shaking Frances hand and being pleasant, with the caption:
Ragip Soylu is Turkiye bureau chief for Middle East Eye now, but he spent a couple years reporting from Washington for the Turkish newspaper Daily Sabah and he pays attention to US politics. Soylu is also a contemporary of Vance, which might add some edge to his disrespect.
Baud
@Jay:
👍
zhena gogolia
I love that last image!
kalakal
@Jay: You saved a life. That’s a great thing. i’m sorry you had to go through that horrible experience.
Take good care of yourself, you deserve and need it
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone 😊 😊 😊
Wanderer
@Jay: Well done Jay. I’m so glad you were not injured and had the selfless courage to give the victim such intensive lifesaving aid. Well done indeed.
UncleEbeneezer
Very late to this thread, but yes, everyone take some time to yourselves to live. We’ve sort of been forced to dial back on political stuff since we are both still grieving from the fire but it really has helped to do so and I hope a lot of people here will do so preemptively for the sake of your own joy and mental health. Being Very Online is not good for your brain/soul and I can tell you firsthand that reducing the amount of bandwidth you give to Trump, Musk etc., is good for you. Do it, when you can.
They Call Me Noni
We have a plum tree right outside our garage man door and for the brief time it flowers it smells so good.
StringOnAStick
@UncleEbeneezer: so true.