Here’s an open thread for the night owls and early risers. It’s all things to give your brain a break. Somehow, these seem to be controversial posts, LOL. But just try and stop me…
First up, your weekly Josh Johnson:
And just an awesome kid doing awesome things:
Totally open thread
War for Ukraine Day 1,154: If a Paper Tiger Roars in the Forest, Does Anyone Notice?
mrmoshpotato
I am absolutely amazed at how Josh Johnson can produce so much material week after week. He has an amazing mind.
I watched his show about the Blue Penis launch after it premiered on YouTube, and was surprised he could come up with 53 minutes to talk about that bullshit. (Tax Bezos down to a livable wage!)
It was hilarious!
NotMax
For no particular reason, a brief foray into Shakespeare (kind’a sort’a).
:)
Ruckus
That boy.
The world has one more great human. We should all be so lucky to know someone like him.
NotMax
E minus 4 for election in Canada on the 28th.
Speculation?
moonbat
Thanks for spreading the word about the talented Mr. Johnson. He is amazing.
And brain breaks are what we all need. Keep up the good work.
Thor Heyerdahl
@NotMax: Well, none of the Canadian NHL teams have a playoff game on election night… so we are afforded no distraction
sab
Has Yutsano commented at all lately? I miss him.
Geminid
@sab: I noticed Yutsano commenting a day or so ago, at the end of a thread.
Viva BrisVegas
@NotMax: Canada election speculation:
Liberals 200 +/- 5 seats (172 needed for government).
E minus 9 for election in Australia.
Gretchen
I love Josh Johnson.
Geminid
I saw a couple interesting Politico stories. One is about the prospective retirement of Rep. Jan Schakowski. Two people “granted anonymity to describe private conversations” say the 80 year-old Schakowski intends to retire; Schskowski said she would mske an announcement May 5th: “Stay tuned.”
Schakowsky has represented Illinois’ 9th CD since 1999. The district includes Evanston and extends west through Chicago’s northern suburbs. The Politico report said Evanston Mayor Daniel Bliss and State Senator Laura Fine, both Democrats, are expected to run for the seat while TikTok “influencer” Kat Abughazaleh is already in the primary race.
Another Politico article was titled, “DNC gives David Hogg an ultimatum.” Evidently, DNC Chair Ken Martin is expected to announce a prospective rule that would require DNC officials to stay neutral in primaries. According to the reporter, Assistant Chair David Hogg opposes the rule but indicated he would choose his political action committee over his DNC post. There ought be more reporting on this one today
Baud
@Geminid:
Both interesting pieces of news. Thanks.
I agree with the Martin rule.
narya
@Geminid: I got called a “shitlib” yesterday (don’t even know what that is?) because I said nope to Kat going for that seat. (Her campaign video says a sentence about Mump and then trashes Dems and says they need to grow a fucking spine.) I like the Baud rule.
Baud
@narya:
Anyone can run for any seat, of course. If Kat’s message works, more power to her.
Same for any other candidate.
Matt McIrvin
@narya: “shitlibs” are what leftists call Democrats when they want to sound like Rush Limbaugh. I remember the word well from pre-Musk Twitter.
prostratedragon
@Matt McIrvin: Why would anyone want to sound like Limbaugh? //rhetorical
narya
@Matt McIrvin: huh; okay, thanks. There was also a sneering reference to this place, and mocking me for mentioning kindness in my bio, but whatevs.
@Baud: understood. But I personally I am turned off by someone who starts off with “Dems suck; vote for me, running as a Dem.”
Matt McIrvin
@narya: Basically, if you claim to be some kind of progressive or Marxist but seem weirdly enthusiastic about Trump winning because he makes liberals cry, you probably mention shitlibs a lot.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
We spent last night with two wonderful talented young people, Suleika Jaouad and Jon Batiste. Yesterday was the release of Jaouad’s book The Book of Alchemy and the first day of the stage show “The Alchemy Tour” built around it. Day 1 was here in Philly.
They talked on a sofa set piled high with her journals, she read, he noodled on the piano, he read, SHE played (they met on band camp; she plays the double bass). It was a wonderful oasis of peace and love and laughter. They didn’t shy away from the subject of her leukemia, now back for a third time.
Toward the end of the evening as they noodled musically together, the noodling became “It’s a Wonderful World” and I said to myself, “You know what? It is.”
Baud
@prostratedragon:
That’s the dominant culture in the US. It’s not just MAGA.
Baud
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
Nice.
narya
@Matt McIrvin: that makes sense; apparently they could determine I was a “centrist” from a one-word comment ;-)
I will be interested to see which hats end up in the ring—same for Durbin’s seat. JB seems focused on being governor, though everyone assumes he has other ambitions. He’s a good governor, and we need that now.
lowtechcyclist
@Matt McIrvin:
Anyone who considers it more important to make [fill in blank] miserable than to make Americans’ lives better can go fuck themselves, AFAIAC.
satby
@Baud: I’ll be very surprised if the carpetbagger influencer gets any traction in the race.
And “sneering reference to this place” is pretty standard over at MM’s oasis of clear eyed realists who decry the groupthink here but *always* agree with each other right down the line.
lowtechcyclist
That said, good morning, y’all. 🙂
narya
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: the Netflix doc on them was nice too. Lovely respite!
Baud
@lowtechcyclist:
Good morning.
narya
@satby: it was on Bluesky, which has a block function. You say block function, I say pie filter. :-)
lowtechcyclist
@satby:
I knew there was a reason I hadn’t bothered to check it out. Though I do miss TBone.
They Call Me Noni
@Ruckus: Yeah, the kids are just fine.
Professor Bigfoot
Good mornin’ Jackals!
When leftists start that “shitlib” shit with me, I hit ’em in the face for being inadequate white men who hate the fact that the Democratic Party has too many Black people, women, and Jews in positions of authority.
Go ahead, boy, call me a shitlib, so I can tell you what a useless dumbass you really are.
Geminid
@narya: Interestingly, David Hogg specifically said that his “Leaders We Deserve” PAC* would not sponsor a candidate to run against Rep. Jan Schakowski.
That guy– and I bet it was a guy– who called you a “shitlib” certainly wasn’t doing his favored candidate any favors. Kat Abughazaleh doesn’t need supporters like that but evidently she has at least one already.
I tend to associate the derogatory word “shitlib” with David Sirota; he used it a lot, and his followers still do.
Professor Bigfoot
I’d bet my very last nickel it was a white guy.
Baud
@satby:
Is it group think when others agree with me because I’m right?
@Geminid:
TBH, I think this is AOC’s biggest problem. She’s really good and positive, but much of the time her fans talk about her online, it’s to bash other Dems. There’s a lot of negativity and hostility there masquerading as criticisms.
Wasn’t shitlibs big with the Young Turks crowd?
ETA: Once again, I don’t have an issue with Hogg’s PAC. But it’s not an appropriate role for a DNC official.
Baud
@Professor Bigfoot:
It’s online so it could be a bot.
Geminid
@lowtechcyclist: Kay puts up some good posts over at Mistermix’s place that are worth reading.
MagdaInBlack
@Geminid: I have very much enjoyed Kay’s posts over there.
lowtechcyclist
@Geminid: Kay is another one I miss, so maybe I should check it out.
Baud
@Geminid:
Glad to hear she’s found a place to express her thoughts.
I’ve been too busy to explore other places. I haven’t even been on Blue sky recently.
sentient ai from the future
i’m interested in our resident sinophiles’ takes on this, but the way xi has been responding to the tariffs seems intended to make the shitbag back down in the most obvious and humiliating way, because he knows he’s got those orange tictacs in a fucking vise.
in the meantime, the stock market is addicted to happy talk, so anything shitbag or bessent do to even hint that they are trying to figure out a way to back down and save face will goose the market for a day or so and then we are back to square one, or worse.
i don’t know how long this goes on, i just think china is more than happy to take the win here and build out its relationships elsewhere because of this completely unforced error by the US.
i think i need to go back to trying to learn mandarin
Geminid
@MagdaInBlack: Kay is a very incisive observer of people and she’s met a lot of different people in her law practice. She’s also learned a lot first-hand in her years of political activism.
Kay also stays very much up-to-date on issues of women’s health and rights. I think she is a very sound reporter in these areas, even if I don’t always agree with her political analysis. I value reporting more than analysis anyway.
Baud
@sentient ai from the future:
People believe what they want to believe, sophisticated business investor decision.
For all the talk of rationality in economics, it’s pretty clear that the business community, like many other American communities, is driven by cultural forces right now.
Professor Bigfoot
@Baud: A bot written and controlled by a *white dude.* ;)
Baud
@Professor Bigfoot:
Heh. It’s
turtleswhite dudes all the way down.Professor Bigfoot
I suspect that it’s ALWAYS been driven by cultural forces. American capitalism was born in the Enslavement, and as much as we’d rather it were otherwise, there’s no way that birth didn’t directly affect American business culture.
Professor Bigfoot
@Baud: Mostly.
There is a turtle or two in there, too.
Princess
@NotMax: latest projection is Liberaks get 183 seats (majority would be 172). I’d b live anything from a blowout to a Conservative minority. My few Conservative friends seem really upset and doomy, which is good. But I’m not plugged into the younger crowd, (below 40 or so) and they’re the ones who are going to vote Conservative.
The issues here echo some of those in the US election — economy, in the sense that young people can’t find a way to move forward; housing — costs are sky high; immigration, framed around the pressures that puts on housing and health care. They’re all genuine issues.
I’m really glad Poilievre and Chrystia Freeland between them got rid of Trudeau for us. I think he is a lightweight who had good rhetoric his first term but was not up to the task in any way.
JML
@Baud: yeah, you really shouldn’t have DNC members putting their thumb on the scale in a primary. I assume there will be lefties that will be furious about this, because they assume it’s being designed to keep the left down in the Democratic Party, but the reality is it will help the left just as much by keeping the party out and trying to sell a more centrist candidate as being “more electable” too.
Just let the voters decide what they want in a primary. Go win it yourself.
Professor Bigfoot
Open thread so I’m gonna go “off the reservation” and “beyond the pale”😉:
The only HBCU in Ohio is threatened by new Ohio legislation.
O. Felix Culpa
@JML: Party officers are required to remain neutral in primaries at the state and county levels. I’m surprised that it’s not already a requirement at the national level. Hogg may have spurred positive unintended consequences by his assholery.*
*To clarify, I agree that many of the gerontocracy as they’re derisively called should make way for younger leadership. Dianne Feinstein is a tragic object lesson of how one shouldn’t hang on too long. But I’m cautious about several things: the inherent ageism in old = useless; the potential loss of seniority in Congress (which matters!); and the timing of inward-focused battles when we should be fighting fascism.
With respect to the latter, why isn’t Hogg targeting swing districts with vulnerable Republican representatives? That could actually add to Democratic numbers and make a significant difference in 2026 and beyond.
No One of Consequence
@Ruckus: My thoughts as well. Good job Mom and Dad, that doesn’t happen by accident. And Best Job to the young man making empathy a defining character trait. Big hearts deserve support.
-NOoC
zhena gogolia
@narya: You got called a “shitlib” at mistermix’s place?
zhena gogolia
I certainly don’t miss being screamed at or sneered at.
O. Felix Culpa
@zhena gogolia:
I think narya said it was on BlueSky.
@zhena gogolia:
Neither do I. I find the comments these days to be far less nasty, even when people disagree. It’s refreshing.
zhena gogolia
@O. Felix Culpa: Yes, there are lots of disagreements, but no bombardments or sealioning.
narya
@zhena gogolia: No! Bluesky. It was just . . . weird. I blocked one person and ignored the others and moved on.
lowtechcyclist
@Professor Bigfoot:
Minor correction: Central State is the only public HCBU in Ohio. According to the article, private Wilberforce University is also a HCBU.
It’s still a horrible law though. It reeks of “you have to sanitize history having to do with race, or it might upset white students.”
zhena gogolia
@narya: Okay — sorry that happened!
satby
@lowtechcyclist: oh, go on over there. In any random comment thread, she’s spamming as usual.
satby
@narya: Blue Sky is full of people debating the possibility of Bernie running in ’28. Good to know ageism only applied to Biden.
Miss Bianca
@O. Felix Culpa:
You sound exactly like me reading a lecture to a good friend of mine (a Democrat) who was all rah-rah about David Hogg! Except I started off with, “Don’t SPEAK to me about that little pissant! – ” LOL
RevRick
@mrmoshpotato: Josh Johnson is a superb storyteller. I love watching his routines.
RevRick
@Professor Bigfoot: White supremacy claims superiority, but is clearly quite fragile and delicate, because it cannot bear scrutiny or criticism. Which is revealing in its truth.
President Johnny Gentle (famous crooner)
The endless attacks on this most recent Blue Origin group seems a little misogynistic to me. There had been 30+ space-tourists before them. But no one really bats an eye when it’s male rich guys or celebrities. Fake-astronaut Jeff Bezos, Michael Strahan and other random CEOs? No problem! Katy Perry and Gayle King? ABSURD!