Made it to Amarillo, the last two hours of which were through a torrential downpour. Planned to go farther but forgot I was losing two hours to time zones.
I am spent. The cats and I am are alive, but tired.
Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.
My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.
The worst democrat is better than the best republican.
You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?
People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.
Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.
Welcome to day five of every-bit-as-bad-as-you-thought-it-would-be.
the 10% who apparently lack object permanence
Technically true, but collectively nonsense
Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!
Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.
Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.
GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.
Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”
Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.
The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.
This blog will pay for itself.
Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.
Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.
America is going up in flames. The NYTimes fawns over MAGA celebrities. No longer a real newspaper.
The snowflake in chief appeared visibly frustrated when questioned by a reporter about egg prices.
Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.
Nothing worth doing is easy.
At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.
War for Ukraine Day 1,162: When Is a Deal a Shakedown?
Bulgakov
Amarillo, the armpit of Texas. I wish you safe travels and pit stops for good food.
Melancholy Jaques
Zona doesn’t do DST.
Elizabelle
Cadillac Ranch! You might have to take the kittehs there.
Sister Golden Bear
<Beastie Boys voice> No. Sleep. Till. Bethany!
NotMax
Personally, even though it might take a bit loner, I’d plan my route to avoid Texas altogether.
@Melancholy Jaques
Except for certain Native American areas which do.
Jackie
Have a good night’s rest. Glad you and the felines made it through the first day safely. Sweet dreams!
NotMax
#5:
loner = longer
Pennsylvanian
Had hardship duty today, hosting golden retriever therapy dogs and a puppy (5 mo.), in a common area for a bunch of law school students prepping for exams. Must love dogs. Golden retrievers are probably the heavy lifters in the therapy arena, and I couldn’t be more grateful to spend the better part of a workday in thrall and awe with them.
The homestead cats don’t seem pissed, so I think Goldens have some kind of canine/feline immunity, or at least some arrangement. As well they should. They are immune to annoyance when anyone wants to have or needs their comfort.
TS
I still have a subscription to the Washington Post, mainly because it is $US19 per year ( 5 cents per day, even gives me an image of the paper copy) – which I got as a 1 year special, but they keep renewing at the same price. I’ll never get that price again, so I am a wimp about cancelling. Mainly just do the puzzles now. The opinions are 99% RW & the news items are slanted that way.
They must have some serious reducing numbers because today I was told as a “Premium” subscriber, I can have 3 additional subscribers to my account (used to only be one). Be interesting when they start to rant about all the “new” subscribers.
Jackie
@Pennsylvanian: AWWW!🥰
SpaceUnit
I’ve driven the route you’re on. Pull over and eat grass. There’s no decent food until you reach Memphis.
RaflW
Well done, John. 10.5 hours of driving (mas o menos) is plenty for one day, even before a time zone & a DST.
I gotta get to bed too. 11pm has become my cutoff. I’m finding that in this craptasm called 2025, I need more than 8 hrs of rest, before Jan 20 I was usually fine with 6.75 to 7 hrs. Good night, all.
RaflW
@Elizabelle: BF and I were a little underwhelmed by the Caddilac Ranch, which we saw on (not kidding) January 6, 2021. I think it was about an hour after we left there that BF started saying “Holy shit” a lot as he looked at his phone.
My car has satellite radio, so we listened to NPR across the panhandle of TX and into New Mex and CO. It was an intense and very strange day.
OK. Really. Gonna go try for some Zzzzzs now.
mvr
This is appropriate to your current locale and a good listen even here in Nebraska: https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=emmylou+harris+amarillo#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:70c8cc65,vid:W8R8dvZlScQ,st:0
Tokyokie
So I take it that John didn’t feel like trying the Big Tex Steakhouse Challenge. (Eat a complete 72-oz. steak dinner and get it for free, for readers who haven’t seen the billboards dotting the stretch of I-40, 150 miles east and west of the town. And yes, a 72-oz. steak is essentially a roast.)
mrmoshpotato
I would say sexy but you were driving. I enjoy a good downpour and/or thunderstorm.
VFX Lurker
For what it’s worth, check to see if your library offers the Washington Post for free. Big libraries like the Los Angeles Public Library offer this option.
VFX Lurker
Fortune Magazine – Tariffs threaten a pharmaceuticals shortage, as 95% of ibuprofen comes from China
Hoping this isn’t true; thinking of buying more ibuprofen at Costco the next time I go.
Trivia Man
It is becoming harder for orangehead to surprise me – i just expect his deranged stupidity as his baseline. But today a clip from his Oval room surprised me.
Q: what does the declaration of independence (hanging on the wall) mean to you?
A: its a very important declaration of love and unity.
Marc
On the other hand, when I’m driving through that area (generally too/from more favored spots in NM) I have been known to deviate to spend a night or two in San Antonio, a city I could actually see living in if it wasn’t for the rest of the state.
rikyrah
Glad that you all are safe, Cole 🙏🏽
prostratedragon
@Trivia Man: Malignant Bozeman’s Simplex strikes again.
Captain C
So I used Google maps to see how far the Phoenix-Amarillo drive is, and while it did not give me what seems to be the most expedient route (I-17 to Flag, I-40 to Amarillo), it did offer as one of the choices a route that would take me north of the Hopi Reservation and put me on I-40 in New Mexico, only 4 or so hours out of the way.
Mai Naem mobile
@VFX Lurker: i hope Adderall’s made in China and affects Orange Ahole’s supply. The only way the idiot understands anything is if it affects him personally. When he dies the funeral is going to have biggest audience evah because people are going to want to make sure he’s dead. Better be open casket.
eclare
@Sister Golden Bear:
Love it!
JoyceH
Guys, today I may have had a flash of Foresight, a vision of an upcoming fiasco that could only happen in the world that Trump has made. The news folk were talking about the tariffs and the lead time necessary to get goods on the shelves, and predicted that with the date and the current level of tariffs on China, there would be few if any fireworks for the Fourth of July. I heard that and two words flashed into my head – homemade fireworks. Seriously, can’t you see it?
eclare
@SpaceUnit:
Hey John, if you want lunch recs, I gottem, for Memphis.
VFX Lurker
Oh, no.
I can picture folks smuggling fireworks from Mexico, but I’m not ready for that.
bjacques
And of course…
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vBDbUjUH5So&pp=ygUWYW1hcmlsbG8gdG9ueSBjaHJpc3RpZQ%3D%3D
JoyceH
@VFX Lurker: Get ready for it. They’ll be sharing recipes on the internet. If we’re lucky, they’ll just blow up their own garage and not take out a small town high school marching band.
ascap_scab
Since you’re on I-40, once you get past Little Rock, stop at Nick’s Bar-B-Q and Catfish in Carlisle, AR. Get a slab (with sauce) to go.
Follow the signs and truckers.
🐾BillinGlendaleCA
@VFX Lurker: These tariffs are getting to more and more a big headache.
sab
I cannot imagine travelling across the country with cats. They must be horrified.
We have one cat who likes to go to the bank drive-through teller window. Nothing longer. All the others hate cars.
Satby said that Echo yowled the whole way from South Bend to Akron.
sab
3 am train just went by. It was very short. Not many cars, and only one locomotive. Last Fall sometimes they had four or five locomotives.
Martin
DHS and Secret Service raided a house in my city of someone who had posted flyers with the faces of ICE agents. Didn’t realize that was illegal.
Reporting is that the WH didn’t use the official Signal app but a 3rd party one that allows for archiving, I guess to comply with federal document keeping rules. It does that by emailing the archive in plaintext.
Martin
@VFX Lurker: If you’ve seen what fireworks in LA look like, you’re never ready for it.
sab
@Martin: Yikes. Is it illegal or do they just say it is illegal?
We maybe should not harass S Ct people at home and in restaurants. Keep them focussed on general protections for a free society, and not their own personal protection in a fascist society.
sab
@sab: What I meant to say is if it is actually illegal (probably is, despite Pam Biondi’s opinion) we need to keep a space where the S Ct justices can still refer to the law, and not just their own sense of self-preservation.
Bullying doesn’t change people’s minds. It just scares them. And scared people with lifetime appointments do bad stuff and make bad decisions.
Betty Cracker
@sab: I once drove from Boston to Tampa with a cat who howled every step of the way. I kept thinking she’d go hoarse at some point, but she did not.
sab
@Betty Cracker: Wow. That was a long trip. I can’t imagine.
I took the pitbull for a toenail trim today. We have lost her muzzle, so I took her in bare teeth available. She was a perfect lady until they hoisted her (she is very plump) onto the table.
They had a nifty new muzzle. Blindered her but didn’t restrain her snout. She was angry but not frantically afraid. A real improvement.
p.a.
My cousin’s son went to T Tech in Lubbock. I quipped, “at least the food is good” (never having been, assuming good bbq) and his response was “everything sucks in Lobbock.”
sab
We just had another train blast through. This is not usual. Hopeful sign? ( Trains are commerce.)
sab
@p.a.: Mack Davis: Happiness is Lubbock Texas in the rear view mirror.
tokyokie
@p.a.: West Texas isn’t really known for its ‘cue. They may raise a lot of beef there, but that doesn’t mean they can cook it well.
🐾BillinGlendaleCA
@Martin: VFX is a fellow resident of Glendale.
lowtechcyclist
Glad you didn’t push it any further, John. Driving in a downpour is exhausting and frazzles the nerves; I can’t imagine pushing it even for two hours under those circumstances. Hope you’re getting some good sleep right now for the next leg of the trip.
Never been to Memphis (all too familiar with the other end of TN though) but I’d stop there for BBQ for sure if my route took me near there.
My mind always wants to turn ‘Amarillo’ into ‘Armadillo.’
Baud
@🐾BillinGlendaleCA:
How’s the Orange Apron handling the upcoming shortages?
Betty Cracker
@sab: It’s good that they found a solution that reduces the fear factor for your dog.
Both of my dogs freak out when we go anywhere, and I feel sorry for them, but it’s such a hassle.
I wish there were such a thing as a mobile dog grooming outfit in my neck of the woods because I would be willing to pay someone to trim my dogs’ claws, but taking them to a groomer is such a hassle that we just end up doing it ourselves.
Both of our dogs are ill-behaved, and that’s on us. I am good at training puppies to do their business outside, and they’ll sit, stay, lay down, come to my whistle, etc. — the basic stuff. But they are poorly socialized. It’s the isolation, I guess.
Over nearly 30 years of marriage, the mister and I have had several dogs, but these two are biggest brats of the bunch. Especially Pete!
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
Fred Clark, aka Slacktivist, works for that same chain, I believe. Here was his comment:
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2025/04/24/world-war-t-is-exhausting/
sab
@Betty Cracker: Our pitbull was raised with chihuahuas. And also not much trained at all.
She loved the chihuahuas, but they really chomped on her ears, so she is terrified of larger dogs.
Also too, I think dog hostility might be in pitbull DNA.
She loves her cats. Our newest two cats have gradually realized that she does indeed love cats.
I caught Solomon our huge new cat sniffing noses with the pitbull yesterday.
Baud
@lowtechcyclist:
Yeah, it’ll be interesting to see if Trump caves in time to mitigate the damage.
🐾BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: From what I’ve heard they stocked up at the distribution level, I know our overheads are pretty much full.
Baud
@🐾BillinGlendaleCA:
Do you know how much extra time you have before you feel the bite?
🐾BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Even if he stopped this nonsense today, we’d still have issues.
Separate from the Orange, the tariffs and supply disruptions are really hitting the astronomy business. Pretty much all consumer grade astro equipment(cameras, mounts, telescopes, etc) is made in China. Most of the on-line astro retailers have “Out of Stock” on most items, and the remaining stuff is going for 25% more that it did a month ago.
🐾BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: No idea, above my meager pay grade.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@TS: Of all the beta male oligarchs kissing Trump’s ass it’s pretty obvious that Bezos is the beta-est.
I’m absolutely sure the WaPo is losing subscribers at breakneck pace. I live in DC…the Washington Examiner is the right wing alternative to the WaPo so where’s the market for another right wing rag in a town full of liberals?
Even considering it as a national paper like the NTY the right wing media ecosystem is pretty much saturated.
Baud
@🐾BillinGlendaleCA:
Americans will have to stargaze vicariously through people in other countries.
Truly a mess. I know Trump’s poll numbers are down, but it’s really amazing to see how much people will put up with when it comes to Republicans.
jonas
Amarillo? Spent a week there one night…
Princess
New Deal Democrat was asking yesterday why the big measles outbreak in Canada. It’s the Mennonites. It’s the Mennonites in Texas, it’s the Mennonites in Mexico. https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.7507545
Baud
Rusty
@TS: I let my subscription lapse bealcause I am still angry about their coverage, but you can get the crossword puzzles without a subscription, just have to tolerate a short ad.
raven
Amarillo By Morning
NotMax
@Baud
FYI. An in-depth look.
US Port Update – May 1, 2025.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: Peggy Noonan has an explanation for why “regular people” are willing to put up with Trump’s depredations so far, even though it’s starting to hurt them a little. You’re going to be shocked, so brace yourself. It’s because liberals “had it coming.”
Noonan is a delusional old loafer-humper, but I don’t think she’s wrong when she says that’s why “conservatives” are willing to endure pain. It’s the old sparrows and curtain rods thing. She understandably (because she’s Noonan) conflates “conservatives” with “regular people.”
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
I don’t think hating libs is confined to conservatives though. So I kind of agree with her factually. But not morally. I don’t blame us for the moral depravity of others.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: Well, that’s a good point. I don’t think Noonan is wrong when she says Trump is an extreme reaction to real establishment failures, though of course she elides the fact that the most consequential establishment failures were on Republicans. Here’s the “they had it coming” part:
I don’t really recommend it, but here’s a gift link to her column if you’re interested. (I’m a long-time hate reader.)
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
Not gonna click. But that excerpt is pretty lucid for her.
I don’t think there’s much controversy over the nature of Trump’s populism. (I note she ignored non illegal immigrants and “DEI.”). The disagreement is over the validity of his targets and how he has chosen to go after them.
kmax
John, don’t be afraid to take it easy on the drive. WV will still be there if you are a day late.
Last winter I listened to my wife and added a day to our annual drives to Florida. Much better.
I was losing that extra day to fatigue anyway.