I was on my way to mow today and caught a glance of myself in the car window and thought to myself “I need to take a picture of that ensemble” and forgot about it but fortunately for you all much later on, I remembered:
I am not sure what my favorite part of the outfit is? The crooked glasses? The massive over the ear headphones on top of a pink do rag? The beard hairs firing in every direction? The bird shit on the right shoulder? Or the way the dust and the grass clippings have combined to create a lime green sludgy sweat stain around the collar?
Such a good look for me.
So the big beautiful bill passed, because of course it would. They don’t even know or really care what is actually in it or how fucking devastating it is going to be, they just wanted to WIN and OWN THE DEMS and KICK THEM LAZY BROWN PEOPLE OFF THE DOLE. They have no fucking idea what is going to happen. It will be a god damned miracle if dozens on dozens of rural hospitals do not close. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. I know in budgetary terms 45 billion or so does not sound like a lot of money compared to the trillions in the budget, but that is an absolute fuckload of money now being dumped into ICE with no oversight and little to no boundaries for behavior. It’s going to be terrifying. The scope of the bill is so massive it is going to be a major disruptive force and there will be mass layoffs and widespread harm and suffering. This is the kind of thing that will cause so much pain it could drive the people who voted for Trump to violence. And we all know who Fox News is gonna have them target.
This time last year we had the hope and optimism of the Harris campaign and the Kendrick beatdown of Drake and there was so much potential. And now this.
I sometimes really hate white people.
On a personal note, had a great swim and workout today after finishing mowing, and had the trainer check my BP, and I was at 146/70 with 99% oxygen and a resting heart rate of 58, which I think is pretty good for a 55 year old guy with way too much excess weight. Regardless that means whatever this upper respiratory thing is making me sneeze and cough and have an itchy throat is probably just a bug or allergy, which can wait until my physical in a couple weeks and I can stop giving myself panic attacks. If your heart is beating and your lungs are pushing oxygen and yer not bleeding or puking/pissing/shitting blood, yer doing all right. I gotta get rid of this weight. I’m gonna get serious about that now. I mentally have never thought or acted like I am fat (even though I know I am), if that makes sense. And part of the reason I have bruises and cuts everywhere is I still charge around like I am 18 and 155 lbs. I bet I apologize to a doorway at least once a fucking day after bumping into it.
Currently watching the version of the Bridge with Diane Kruger (not the one in Denmark and Norway) who is really quite fetching. I am curious how people with autism and other disabilities view her portrayal. At any rate, that is it for me. My 4th of July plans are to go over to Gerald’s and grill meat and hang out with his family. Try to do something positive for your mental health this weekend.
trollhattan
Getting big The Dude Abides vibes from that photo. We all need more of the Dude in our lives.
Elizabelle
You look. Fetching.
Baud
Lawrence of
ArabiaWest Virginiakindness
All you are missing in that pic John is a couple camels in the background.
Elizabelle
Heading out for a while, but my question is: what would the soundtrack for that picture be?
Shana
Not sure if you’ve considered them but I have successfully lost 50 pounds using GLP1s. It took about a year all told but is the most success I’ve had at losing weight in over 20 years. I’m down 3 or 4 sizes and my knees don’t hurt like they used to after walking a lot.
VeniceRiley
Wife working 12 hour night shifts this week. It’s … a lot.bBut I told a magat who posted a revolution jokey meme about England to enjoy his gold plated toilet discount Marshall’s king; and that made me feel smashing.
Happy 4th!
Mustang Bobby
That’s a great look if they plan on doing a remake of “Lawrence of Arabia.”
lowtechcyclist
Did a 10-mile bike ride this morning, and my leg muscles were saying THANK YOU, IT’S ABOUT FUCKING TIME because with one thing and another, I hadn’t been on my bike in three weeks. But the heat and humidity must’ve taken more out of me than I thought, because I’ve been pretty much wiped out the rest of the day. I did get out about 5pm to pick some wild raspberries though.
cope
When I was a kid in the 7-10 year old range almost 60 years ago, I thought the best look for me was jeans, a dirty white T-shirt and sneakers (no socks). For some reason, my little pea brain thought this was attractive to the girls in the neighborhood. I never gathered any empirical evidence that I was correct, however.
ArchTeryx
@Elizabelle: From dead thread below:
Yes, I do, New York State. But there is absolutely *no* way we can make up for the loss of close to $10B in Medicaid funding. And my job itself depends on Medicaid – I am a financial analyst for NYS. People are already panicking because every single person associated with the Medicaid program in New York just got put on a RIF list. And with work requirements, my disabilities, and the extreme cuts to Medicaid funding, the chances of my getting it after the layoffs hit are remote.
It’s not an immediate or instant threat like it was in 2017, but it’s a train that will not be stopped now. I’m a hostage with a gun to my head between now and 2026.
Marcopolo
@Shana: Congrats. I know from personal experience how much knee relief (and other joints!) losing weight can bring.
It’s kind of crazy that the GLP-1s have been so effective that the national obesity rate decreased 2 or 3% last year. Of course that fucking asshole, RFKjr, hates them & will go out of his way to make them harder & more expensive to access—note the Biden admin had proposed Medicare/Medicaid cover them but that was withdrawn after the election.
Spanky
@lowtechcyclist: Wild raspberries, or wineberries? Raspberries were done a month ago, but wineberries are ready now.
Wineberry canes grow in clumps and are red. Fruits look like raspberries, though.
Jackie
Are you still walking your mom’s pup daily, John?
lowtechcyclist
@Spanky:
I’ve heard people call them both. Anyhow, whatever their name is, I’ve got a few quarts of them in the fridge. They have about a 2-week season that’ll be over in a few days.
Baud
Social Security Administration is sending out emails praising passage of the bill and claiming it provides tax relief to recipients.
SpaceUnit
I always curse at the doorways when I bump into them because clearly it’s their fault.
UncleEbeneezer
Dem Candidates: I will protect SS/Medicare/Medicaid/Roe/PlannedParenthood from Republicans who promise to destroy them.
Progressives/Centrists/Media: SORRY that’s just too boring. What else? Are we supposed to be impressed by the bare minimum (eye-roll). Ok let’s keep talking about Corrupt Hillary, Biden’s Old and Kamala is a war criminal. Maybe we shouldn’t even bother to vote…
And now here we are. Truth is, our side doesn’t take the protection of the welfare state and these crucial programs seriously. Not seriously enough to hammer them repeatedly, when it matters.
tobie
The one person I know on Medicaid is a man in his late 50s whose heart has failed. He wears battery packs to keep his heart pumping while waiting for a heart replacement. He’s always looking for work as a handyman and it sometimes frightens me the hard labor he’s willing to do given his heart condition. He has a record so few employers are willing to hire him, though some will ask him to do paint jobs off the books. What will happen to him now? Is he going to be classified as able-bodied without dependents, even though, try as he may, he can’t get a job? Thinking about him makes me weep.
Josie
John, there is a site than has been very helpful to me in the last few years on the subjects of weight loss and physical fitness. I highly recommend them. https://www.nerdfitness.com/about/
Baud
@tobie:
You’re a decent person.
Elizabelle
@ArchTeryx: Thank you for answering. And I wish you were in a less precarious situation, so much. If it’s not “immediate or instant,” just got to hope something happens to improve your situation. (And yeah, hope is not a plan. But, we are where we are.)
It is untenable to have a malicious POTUS, who’s got no effective checks on his actions until early 2027, at best
May Satan call him home.
NaijaGal
Did anyone else get this email from the Social Security Administration? Made me want to throw things:
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Heh, why not the British claimed to bring civilization to India. SSA is just following those august Anglo-Saxon traditions. This chutzpah is nothing new in the western tradition.
Someone will be here shortly to educate us about Belgium and Congo.
NaijaGal
@NaijaGal: This is the plan then, tout a few benefits and pretend the devastation that results had nothing to do with the bill. Using government agencies themselves to spread the word.
tobie
@Baud: Thanks. There are so many people who will be hurt by this bill. Maybe we should be sending their stories to Dem Reps and Senators or to local papers just to put a human face on this tragedy.
NaijaGal
@Baud:
Oops – posted my message before I saw yours, I was so mad.
ETA: I wonder, are they sending this message to every American who has a registered email with any government agency?
Baud
@tobie:
I believe Dem Reps read some stories during the speeches today.
Baud
@NaijaGal:
Probably
mrmoshpotato
@Baud: Hahaha, nice.
mrmoshpotato
Time for some YouTube before baseball. Fuck the GOP.
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
Probably Billy Joel.
gene108
John, do you wear a mask when cutting grass? A mask might help with your respiratory issues.
Melancholy Jaques
@Baud:
For whatever reasons, those stories haven’t penetrated into the minds of the Americans who determine elections.
We need to set up a regular production – mostly for social media – of the impacts of what those assholes have done. And, because this is America, unless we can show that they caused misery for white people, the majority of white people are not going to care.
ArchTeryx
@Elizabelle: I don’t have a lot of hope, but what I do have is spite. That is the reason I am still alive, and am going to remain so as long as I can. If I commit seppuku, they win. Not going down without a very hard fight this time, and since I am not on Medicaid right this second (and still have a job), I’m not in immediate danger. In 2017, I *was* on Medicaid, and I’d have lost it if Skinny Repeal passed. That brought me to the edge of the abyss. This is much more tired resignation. They’ve been trying to kill me from birth, why should this be any different?
And yet I’m still here. Fuck you, MAGAts.
Baud
@Melancholy Jaques:
I’m not to optimistic about social media. But my absence of good ideas doesn’t change the fact that we have to try something.
Baud
NotMax
Possible pic caption?
“Salaam aleikum, y’all.”
;)
Ohio Mom
@tobie: I wonder if he gets SSI, that comes with Medicaid, and it’s for disabled people with less than $2,000 in assets. But how that part of Medicaid will fare, who knows?
Safety net programs can be very complicated and sometimes overlap, I’d say they could be complicated to unwind but Republicans will just take a machete to it all.
gene108
@NaijaGal:
Republicans thought through this bill.
The cuts to federal income taxes for tipper employees and on OT pay, as well as cutting income taxes on Social Security payments, which people on this blog have been bitching about Reagan imposing 40 years ago, will help keep them in the good books of enough voters to help them in 2026 and 2028.
NotMax
FYI.
Serf’s up. (WaPo link)
Baud
@NotMax:
Working class president.
Geminid
@Baud: I remember the Obama days, when a fall in the U.S. dollar would trigger waves of alarm from Republicans. But hypocrisy is their stock in trade.
CaseyL
@NaijaGal: I did not, unless it went to Spam, which would be perfect and, no, I am not going to look.
Baud
@Geminid:
The media helps their efforts, which is probably why you remember it.
gene108
@Baud:
A weak dollar is great for exporters! Makes U.S. made goods less expensive for foreign markets.
Weakening the dollar is a genius move by Trump to erase our trade imbalances. U.S. exports are going to soar!
//bitter impotent sarcasm
Baud
@gene108:
Too bad fewer people want our goods thanks to Trump’s fascism.
NotMax
@gene108
Rapid unscheduled dwindling.
//
Ohio Mom
@ArchTeryx: That’s the spirit!
Really, I’m glad to hear the fight in you. It is true that we have a year or so of a grace period to prepare for the disaster awaiting us.
I’ve been thinking for a while that Ohio Dad and I need to review our affairs, maybe meet with an attorney and/or a financial planner. I’m glad we procrastinated because now everything has a different spin. If we had met with either of them last summer, any plans made would be obsolete.
The lawyer I have in mind does disability law (trusts, etc.) and the financial planner I want us to see has two older kids with autism. So they will definitely grok our panic.
Lyrebird
@ArchTeryx: Also rooting for you… Our family deals with a Medicaid office in one of the counties west of you, and everyone has been helpful even when very understaffed and such.
We are not in the kind of dire straits that other families are, knock wood, but this is so horrible. Wanting to bake them cookies, but I doubt that’s allowed given the level of security at the building.
WTFGhost
Well, first, this is a declaration of war. There are no reasonable Republicans; explain whip counts, and holding “15 minute” votes open for hours, because they have control of the chamber. Every Senator is at fault – 5 should have refused, but they counted how many could, and held the vote open until they hit the magic number.
Anti-Trump Republicans? Fuck off, you’re Republicans, and you did jack, and shit, about this.
Really Sincere Sounding Anti-Trump Republicans? Fuck off, you’re Republicans, and you did jack, and shit, about this.
Anti-Trump-new-Democrats? “Welcome to the fold; we might have a schism someday, but at least we agree that the Republican Party is fighting a civil war against America”
Get the Trump 2024 signs you stole AFTER the election (AFTERWARDS… right?) and BIG RED PAINTED “LIAR” across the face, with “medicare slashed by a trillion dollars!” (rounding up – they lie, I’ll lie) or
MEDICARE TO BE SLASHED TO STOP GIANT DEFICIT or whatever.
If people introduce themselves, and say they’re Republicans, look at them like they just farted noxiously, and tried to blame it was you. “It’s horrible what they’re doing.,”
Any time you fail to remind people that Republicans are EVIL EVIL EVIL, then, you’re probably not getting the message out right, because the truth itself condemns them.
And don’t forget: they are going to be trying to grab every effing person who looks hispanic. Get ready to form a body shield around any person, blocking all parts of their body – have a friend film. Seriously, *practice* this, you might need it. You want evidence of cops assaulting innocent people just asking to see a warrant. It’s going to happen, and ICE thinks flashbangs and pepper spray will deter it, but, WE SHALL NOT BE DETERRED when fighting tyranny, or so I hope.
Anyway. My thoughts on this situation.
WTFGhost
@Baud: international tourism is sure shot, but, yes, everyone wants to make a deal in hopes of replacing the US, right now, for some “hard to see” reason, which is only difficult to see if you’re wearing your own anal sphincter as a blindfold!
Jay
@gene108:
There is that little Tariff FFS thing.
US Aluminum imported to Canada has a 55% Tariff. A quota system has been put in place as well, one can only import common grade US Aluminum if Canadian Producers and other suppliers are sold out. Specialty Aluminum can be imported from the US, but tariffs still apply, and you need to apply for a “specialty exemption” which can take a month or so to be approved.
So a low dollar isn’t going to be much help, more so given how many people around the world are boycotting US Products.
WTFGhost
@Geminid: No, hypocrisy is something else. Republicans act in *bad faith*. They will always blame Democrats, no matter how obviously the Republicans screwed up. That’s not hypocrisy, it’s something much worse.
I know a bit about bad faith, because when trying to win an ERISA based long term disability appeal, the doctors are going to act in flagrantly bad faith, and they can’t be penalized at all, for whatever BS they make up. It’s shocking to see, and yes, I actually need to be kept safe from such things. Seeing active bad faith *hurts*, like fingernails on a chalkboard.
Anyway: Fox News, Trump, the entire Right Wing of the US, they aren’t hypocrites at all. They don’t have any rules or standards, but “keep the poll numbers close enough so we can steal.” They aren’t covering up Trump’s corruption out of hypocrisy. They just see the problem being the *news stories* about his corruption, so, of course they cover it up. They don’t care how corrupt he is; they’re going to say he’s honest and law abiding and god fearing, and….
It’s even like fingernails on a blackboard in my own *head*. Argh!
No, they simply do not care, and only attack Democrats because they think the attack will stick, not because they think there’s any truth to it. And when you’re ready to call ’em all child molesters, and say they’re destroying this country, if you don’t fight like hell, you won’t even have a country any more, there’s a whole lot of attacks that fly, all on their own… and they’re all newsworthy, of course.
p.a.
How much for ICE? Well… let’s organize them and send them to fight for Ukraine in the most important battle of our lifetime. Way more important than terrorizing undocumented women and children here. See how they do.
A person can dream…
brendancalling
I see people talking about how the democrats will fix it when they win in 2026 because people will punish the GOP for this, and I’m like—OK? If you say so?
That’s not just a bet on Dems winning the election, that assumes a fair election, and an election AT ALL.
Im not even sure if it’s a good thing of Dems win. The pattern seems to be be “GOP breaks enough shit that voters kick them out; Democrats fix (some) things and get voted out for their efforts; GOP breaks more things; Dems fix things and get voted out for their efforts; GOP breaks more things…”
Is that healthy? It doesn’t seem healthy to me. I mean, look where we are. Biden gave those red states all that funding and new energy jobs, and got bupkes for it. Now those same jobs are going away, and we all know the Dems will somehow get blamed for that too.
One thing’s for certain: if we ever get power back we need to wield it like a cudgel. No more comity, none of this “norms and traditions” shit.
Baud
@brendancalling:
Midterm wins in 2006 and 2018 were preludes to wins in 2008 and 2020.
It’s after we have a trifecta that we suffer from premature disappointment.
WTFGhost
Is there anyone else wanting to walk past a bunch of dark alleys in the hope Junior or Kushner or someone would start a fight so you’d be perfectly justified in punching them in the face until you’re sure they’re not going to hurt you any longer?
My PTSD makes it hard for me to find certainty.
(No, I wouldn’t kick them in the balls! Once you do that, you know you can run away. No, first you punch them in the face, *then* you kick ’em in the fork, *then* you call the cops.)
I’m sorry – that’s my inner 10 year old, raised when “kids fight; let them get it out of their systems,” and I never wanted to start a fight, but I had great satisfaction in finishing a few.
WTFGhost
@brendancalling: I have never thought of calling for disliking people for party identification, but that’s officially no longer okay. To be a Republican today is to support evil. If we don’t understand that, it doesn’t matter what 2026 brings.
Republicans have proven this was a gun fight, and then stuffed the US full of poison pills, to boot, so, it’s time to fight back, and not let up, about how Republicans are evil-squared, plus evil to the Xth power.
no body no name
People need to start boycotting the US service industries and hit the white collars where it hurts before the pressure is going hit the people who matter in this country. I expect that will start happening at some point.
RevRick
@tobie: I have a few friends on Facebook who suffer from chronic conditions and are unable to work, but are not necessarily classified as disabled. I shudder to think of their futures.
Meanwhile, in SW Nebraska a health clinic serving a town of 900 will close.
Meanwhile, I, on Twitter, “thanked” Sen. Marsha Blackburn for giving me thirty pieces of silver to betray folks like your friend who face a lot of challenges and also our children and grandchildren by gutting the efforts to address climate change.
The return of Mo Salad
Classic recycling in Florida is servicing the concentration camps per
https://bsky.app/profile/joncooper-us.bsky.social/post/3lt3usi3ems2g
Ask for a quote at:
https://classic-recycling.com/contact/
They have no CAPTCHA and accept any email and phone number.
Then pick a dumpster size and leave a message.
SW
The United States will never fulfill its promise until white people are just another minority group.
RevRick
@WTFGhost: Miss Congeniality taught me its SING — solar plexus, instep, nose, groin.
Melancholy Jaques
@Baud:
Social media are where narratives are created and the means by which they are pounded into the heads of Americans. We have to use it to get our stories out.
Melancholy Jaques
I know all the pros & cons & criticisms, but I still think the musical 1776 ought to be shown on free tv every July 4th.
RevRick
@NaijaGal: The fact of the matter is the standard deduction for federal income taxes for a couple is $30,000. Which also happens to be the average income of a couple on Social Security. So, this benefit to seniors is meaningless to them.
Danielx
Most excellent look.
Am I allowed to say I’m not feeling too patriotic at the moment?
Jay
@The return of Mo Salad:
Spam sent.
brendancalling
@Baud: different times, and might as well be a different country.
twbrandt
On a positive note, I recently finished So Very Small, Tom Levenson’s excellent history of the development of the germ theory, which led to so many of the tools we use to control or even eradicate so many of the infectious diseases that have plagued humankind forever. Tom is an excellent writer and the book is very readable. I learned a lot from it, and highly recommend it.
Belafon
Need to invent a race so I can stop having to be white. Maybe creamofchicken.
bbleh
@Melancholy Jaques: I agree. PERSONAL stories, stories that people can relate to on an INDIVIDUAL HUMAN level, have a real impact, far beyond statistics or policy summaries or many other things with which too many political consultants seem obsessed.
Look at what the story of Kilmar Abrego Garcia did for The Narrative about deportation.
I’ve long screeched about Dem politicians getting OUT of DC and in front of cameras with EVERYDAY PEOPLE who are being hurt by Republican policies and getting them to tell their stories. I think if anything is going to get to the folks we need to motivate — and it ain’t that many! remember how CLOSE this election was! — it’s that kind of relatable storytelling
Oh, and as to the OP, hare! hare!
RevRick
@John Cole MrsRev and I started watching the third season of White Lotus aka wealthy white assholes. Also the concluding episode of Bug’s Life, Bee-hind the Scenes.
If you’ve never watched it, I heartedly recommend Resident Alien. Allen Tudyk is a comic genius. Even the opening credits are a hoot.
Citizen_X
Ha ha! I did, and yes, it went directly to the spam folder.
Not “correcting” that one.
Ohio Mom
@SW: Whites could one day be a minority group as far as numbers go but could still hold all the power — see South Africa for example.
Ohio Mom
@Belafon: Convert to Judaism, we are only provisionally white. The U.S. was a high point of our history, we had safety and freedoms like never before. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted.
Bill Arnold
@gene108:
Agreed on this. I’ve usually worn a mask, either a dust mask or more recently a N95, for maybe 10+ years while mowing, unless it has very recently rained.
It makes a big difference in post-mowing lung function, that is quite obvious on those occasions where I forgot, or was just avoiding masking because safety glasses were getting fogged.
Kayla Rudbek
@Marcopolo: and the thing is that they also reduce other compulsive behaviors like shopping, gambling etc. so the right wing en should love the idea of women going on a drug that makes them lose weight and stop spending money…
Kelly
@CaseyL: All on it’s own Gmail sent the “Social Security Applauds Passage of Legislation” to my spam folder. LOL
japa21
@twbrandt:
Seconded. An excellent read and very important now.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@gene108:
Press X to doubt
japa21
@RevRick:
And any income above that has to be somewhat significant to matter.
twbrandt
@gene108: this bill hurts a lot more people than it helps. And even people like me who likely benefit from the social security tax cuts will are utterly appalled by it.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
Got a question for the commentariat.
A few days ago, my workplace received a letter from the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency, which is under the Defense Department.
I honestly have no idea why. We’re a supermarket chain. What would the DOD want with us? It was addressed to our store and not corporate for some reason. My manager just said to forward it to corporate.
Does anybody have any idea about this?
Bill Arnold
@twbrandt:
Likewise. Excellent book.
A chronological series of stories about how very entrenched orthodoxy (some of it religious in its roots, some just people holding onto power), and sometimes quackery, delayed germ theory for an absurdly long time.
I was dreading picking it up every night because the Kindle progress indicator was showing like 30-40 percent. But the text ended at about 50 percent; there are a lot of references and notes.
Lyrebird
@Belafon:
There’s always mayo nation, but I like what I heard from a friend’s daughter even better: Peach People. I’m old enough that the crayons were called “flesh” color, now they are called peach, and this sweet child knows that some of her family members are brown and some are peach!
Note: I’m not trying to deny white privilege and I’m sure you’re not either, just want to join you.
japa21
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): YKWYD
Ealbert
We need to keep an updated it of hospitals closing because of this bill, first up:
July 3
Community Hospital in McCook, Nebraska
(per DailyKos)
bbleh
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Trump’s Razor: the stupidest explanation is the most likely.
Somebody mis-typed an email address, and there’s nobody around checking work.
Some low-level gomer thought “supermarket – vegetables – illegals! And drugs and spies!”
Maybe you have a Chinese takeout counter. China! Threat!
Seriously — they’ve fired or forced out SO much of the former competence of the federal government that you really shouldn’t underestimate the probability of it being sheer stupidity
(Any idea what the letter said?)
Scout211
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I have gotten those letters before at my office (before I retired). The letters were for former clients who were going through a background check for jobs that required a security clearance.
It’s possible a former employee is going through a background check. This could be why it was sent to the store and not corporate.
Added: Google AI agrees with me, so I must be right. LOL
Jay
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Whisky Pete is drunk again?
Your Manager/Admin is allowed to open it, as it is addressed to your store.
There is a bunch of “spam” being sent out by a lot of Departments interrogating about Corporate/NGO/Institution DEIA.
The general response has been to round file it.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Scout211:
That’s probably the right explanation
twbrandt
@Bill Arnold: One thing I liked about the book was that it showed just how messy science really is, and that great discoveries are made despite that.
Jay
@Scout211:
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Well, DHS did put a gardener in charge of Counter Terrorism.
So maybe a produce boy in charge of Missile Defence.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@japa21:
LOL
@bbleh:
Nope. It was never opened. I suspect Scout’s explanation is probably correct.
Still, I can’t help but feel paranoid in the Trump age
You’d think Kegseth would be more sensitive to that stuff considering he’s a Whiskey-American
satby
The pink do rag makes the whole ensemble. I love a man not afraid to wear color.
p.a.
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Anybody there on Kegsbreath’s DM chain?
Professor Bigfoot
@Belafon: Seize on your actual ethnic ancestry.
Don’t be “white,” be Scottish, or Irish, or Welsh, or German or Austrian or Italian or *any combination thereof and more besides.*
Ethnicity is about language, culture, and cuisine.
What is white culture? What is white cuisine?
Tell me you’re proud of being Irish and I’ll shake your hand and pat you on the back. Likewise French or Spanish or Portuguese, and lets tear into some of those ethnic recipes!
Give up whiteness and join the world.
Professor Bigfoot
@Ohio Mom: Ah, that’s precisely what they’re working towards right now— the Constitution and all that “all men are created equal” crap are right out the window.
They will turn the entire USA into the Jim Crow South.
WTFGhost
Okay, because I try to be loving toward every person I meet….
If you can exercise hard, but you know you’ll feel tired after, that’s not normal – that’s probably PEM, post-exertion malaise, and, for years, I assumed it was because I was too fat.
Clumsiness – like frequently bumping into doors – is not normal, and it might be a (very mild, treatable, understandable) neurological issue. Neurological doesn’t mean your brain is spazzing – sometimes, it means your body is spazzing, and firing signals your brain can’t handle, and that’s okay. If you’re diabetic, and ignore your sugars too long, your feet might start to itch, and that’s neuro pain, and effing hard to treat. If you’re diabetic, keep your A1C in control, even if you splurge on sugars and starches from time to time. (One pizza binge that leave your A1C in the “well controlled” state is safer than being a *bit* high, every day.)
Okay, but, normally, your body learns to move with extreme precision. You shouldn’t be bumping into doors.
Now, me, my head, in its natural state, is a bit tilted. I expect that makes me a bit uncoordinated, and sometimes, clumsy. I’m okay with that, but it’s still important to keep up with my primary care/internist doc, and my eye doc. (If you have diabetes, you need an eye doc, to check your vision yearly. It can be a plain old optometrist, not an ophthalmologist.) And, you should be aware that you shouldn’t be running into doors. You just shouldn’t – your body is good at adjusting.
Finally: please tell me you don’t have “post-exertion malaise” which I’m betting you know, from Covid-19. If you do, it’s not being fat, it’s not being clumsy-like-walking-into-doorways. It’s a big biden deal, and you need to care for yourself, because a whole bunch of people, each year, feel as shitty as I do, and don’t have umpty years knowing how to effing survive. They’re suddenly in the middle of “must survive” and they think it’s ordinary, dull, fatigue, and act like they’re invincible, until they save up a couple hundred in cash to buy the double barrel 12 or 10 gauge, figuring pure decap is better than assuming a .357 will be a clean kill.
I wrote a personal statement, and that was the basis of it, for my disability appeal. “Y’all wouldn’t last an effing year, you putzes,” I said, though I’d only say the last if I knew there were some Yiddish speakers. (The “putz” is the shaft of the penis, absent the crown, per a Philly Yiddish speaker circa 1988. I’m damned if I remember what the “full monty” is called, when viewed as a whole.)
Anyway: “y’all wouldn’t last a year, not without fifteen effing years of surviving this crap, like I have!!!”
Well – you, John Cole, shouldn’t face this challenge alone, if you’re facing it at all. Remember, most of y’all are lucky as eff, because you provably don’t have me/CFS, so you don’t need support from family and friends.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
Another interesting thing happened the other day at work.
An older white man with an accent I can’t place approached the service desk, asking for a loyalty card. I ask for his ID, like I do anyone, and hands me a Republic of South Africa national ID card, saying he doesn’t have his green card yet.
Methinks this is one those “poor white South Africans” that Trump and his ilk was claiming were being buried in mass graves.
The address he gave me isn’t low-income housing either AFAICT. It’s a 3400 sq ft 4 bedroom, 4 bath home, older, the kind built in like the 60s or 70s, but certainly not something an actually poor asylum seeker/refugee would live in.
Like, you’re 73 years old dude, what the fuck are you doing here? He’s likely retired, so it’s not like he’s here on an employment visa or something. He has no work history here, so he won’t qualify for Medicare, what will he do for healthcare? I assume he has some kind of pension, state or employment based, from SA with some personal savings
I know Scrodinger’s Cat and others have talked about how difficult the immigration process is to get permanent residency (green card), that the wait is years long.
Maybe I’m off base, but it sure seems like this guy was one of the white South Africans the Admin was granting asylum to
Jay
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Taco Don’s and FElon’s White Supremacy “refugees” are in Buttfuck Colorado and Nuremburg Idaho, stuck in seedy side of the highway motels, with no documents, no support, no money, no work permits, living off the kindness of strangers and food banks.
A lot of South Africans, at the end of Apartheid, fled to Canada and the US, most were Business Owners of Middle Age or younger, and they brought their wives and kids with them. For some of them, now is the time for Family Reunification for some of them, bringing in their parents.
Soapdish
*Looks at John’s pic*
I’m pretty sure I bought that album….
kalakal
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
I got a social security card really fast and a Red Card ( work authorization card) in a few weeks. The first Green Card took nearly 2 years. I was on a K1 visa. This guy sounds as though he is one of the ‘endangered’ South Africans
2liberal
I asked chat gpt about the demographics of the USA 20 years from now. Trump administrations are the creation of white America. That America won’t exist in 20 years. Cole will probably be here to see it, I might still be here.
WTFGhost
Hopefully this is my sign-off for the night.
“Tons of Steel” – The Grateful Dead/The Dead
It was my theme song in 2003/2004 and the awful aftermath.
“I’ve done ’bout everything…
“… but try draggin’ my feet!
“900,000 tons of steel… made to roll…”
cain
I only hit 155 lb over the last 5 years. But then at 18 I was 125 lb. I was very scrawny.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
One day? You should try Alameda County in California. The is a reason both the Right and the Hard Left hates this state.
Princess
@Elizabelle: Soundtrack is Squeeze Take Me I’m Yours.
rikyrah
Love the picture, Cole🤗
MCat
@ArchTeryx: Me too. Lots of SPITE.