Powerball is up to near a billion so go and get one if you still can. And if you win, think of me.
Still feeling a little bit under the weather and my shoulders are killing me, so I probably just have some low grade bug. I’ve been drinking lots of fluids and taking it easy. I made a delicious hearty stew yesterday so we have that to eat for several days. Other than that, Joelle got some bloodwork for her surgery, and I futzed around working. Speaking of- the ad might go up in the next couple of days if it isn’t already I never notice the damned things anyway.
We also found out Joelle will be staying overnight the first night, and we are both psyched about that. It’s just soo much better this way because I take her in, she has her surgery, I can see that she is situated in her room, then I can go home and Joelle-proof the house= get rid of any obstacles in the living room and bedroom and put them in the patio room, get the tray table out, etc. Should anything go wrong post-surgery she will be in the best place for it, and they can do her first rehab sessions right there without us having to go anywhere.
Plus, if she is in a lot of pain they have access to and authorization to use far more powerful regimens of pain relief than I can offer. And I am kind of a total control freak when it comes to giving her the pain meds. I will keep her ahead of the pain and I will set an alarm every five hours and forty-five minutes and administer each and every nose, but you’re not getting more than what it says on the bottle. I will cram you full of as many edibles as you want, but as a West Virginian and an old practitioner of street pharmacology, and you don’t fuck with pills and you don’t fuck with needles. Period. I have seen far too many people go out way too young from that shit. I should add Joelle is perfectly fine with this and I’m not an abusive dick about it (“look I know you are in pain but you are still two hours away how about some ice or an edible), it’s just that I very strictly adhere to the regimen given by the doctors.
Completely unrelated, but if my cats would like to stop fucking dropping kibble in their water fountain making a beige cloudy pool with damp kibble congealed in the filter THAT WOULD BE FUCKING AWESOME.
In the fuck around and find out department, a measles outbreak is running wild in South Carolina:
The measles outbreak in South Carolina is “accelerating” with no end in sight following Thanksgiving and other large gatherings, state health officials said Wednesday.
As of Wednesday, 111 measles cases had been reported in what’s known as upstate South Carolina — an area in the northwest of the state that includes Greenville and Spartanburg.
“We are faced with ongoing transmission that we anticipate will go on for many more weeks,” Dr. Linda Bell, state epidemiologist for the South Carolina Department of Public Health, said during a news briefing Wednesday.
Twenty-seven of those cases have been reported since Friday. “That is a significant increase in our cases in a short period of time,” Bell said. She attributed the spike in part to holiday travel and get-togethers, as well as low vaccination rates.
I know I have posted this before, but once again I must bring you the criminally underrated Alonzo Bodden:
Perfect.
This is grotesque even by Trump standards:
President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that his long-promised “ gold card ” was officially going on sale, offering legal status and an eventual pathway to U.S. citizenship for individuals paying $1 million and corporations ponying up twice that per foreign-born employee.
A website accepting applications went live as Trump revealed the start of the program while surrounded by business leaders in the White House’s Roosevelt Room. It is meant to replace EB-5 visas, which Congress created in 1990 to generate foreign investment and had been available to people who spend about $1 million on a company that employs at least 10 people.
Trump sees the new version as a way for the U.S. to attract and retain top talent, all while generating revenue for federal coffers. He’s been promoting the gold card program for months, and once suggested that each card would cost $5 million, though he more recently revised that to the $1 million and $2 million pricing scheme.
It’s all just his to give away as he chooses, and not fucking one elected Republican will do a fucking thing about it.
Lot of video today in this post, but do not worry, we are not making a pivot to video. Having said that, Brad Lander is running for Congress and this was his announcement ad and it is equal parts charming and hopecore and cheesy and the most earnest thing I have seen in a while and I want you to watch it too:
That almost made this sour old fucker a little misty-eyed. We have a lot of really good young talent running in the next year- all of them coming forward with their own unique approach to their district, offering something positive and going about things in a great way. We need to protect these from the Rahm Emmanuel’s and the rest of those machine politicans.
That’s enough from me.
Part 6: The Pathology at the Heart of Hyperscaling
Lord Fartdaddy
I wonder what angle he‘s going to come up with to keep the money.
Albatrossity
Did he put his face or name on the card? That would be on point for the narcissistic old conman.
Gvg
Who the fuck does he think he is? The President doesn’t get to declare who is or isn’t a Citizen. Aside from the constitution, the pathways are set up by standard laws passed by both haouses of Congress and then signed by the President. No such law has been passed that I have heard of.
Memory Pallas
I didn’t “almost get misty eyed,” I full on teared up at the “singing” portion ending the Brad Lander video.
Scout211
@Albatrossity: Yes.
Trump Gold Card.
ETA: I don’t know why he loves that portrait of himself so much. It always looks to me like he’s constipated.
eclare
Just happy to be here.
Scott S.
Not to get weird about it, and I like Brad and the ad, but he’s definitely walking on a treadmill against a green screen. 🤷♂️
schrodingers_cat
I like Dan Goldman and hope that Brad Lander loses the primary challenge.
Ohio Mom
Cole, I saw your BlueSky tweet/skeet/whatever it is, on adult adoption. It was a definite thing in ancient times.
Ages ago, I took a class on the First century, focusing on when Judaism and Christianity split, and the teacher (a professor at the Jewish seminary here in Cincinnati) said that it was common back then for older couples without children to adopt (albeit informally) a young man who could help them with the farm or flock, with the promise the young man would inherit it all.
A sort of elder care system.
Gin & Tonic
@schrodingers_cat: My son lives in his district and likes him.
Ohio Mom
I was hoping Brad Lander was going to at least be a member of Mamdani’s kitchen cabinet, if not helping in some sort of official capacity. I worry about Mamdani being a little too inexperienced for the job, charm is only going to get him so far. Lander knows his way around and I thought they could make a good team.
There is probably a back story there I don’t know about.
brendancalling
Great ad.
mrmoshpotato
Hopefully they don’t ask RFK Jr for help, because he’ll probably tell them to swim in sewage while shooting up smack.
tobie
@schrodingers_cat: Happy to see the progressive Jewish PAC J-Street refusing to lend any credence to Lander’s claim that Goldman is an AIPAC-lackey.
Their full statement is here. They’re not getting involved in this race but must have felt compelled to correct the record given Lander’s claims.
wjca
Powerball (and other government-run lotteries): a tax on ignorance of statistics. Consider: your chances of buying a winning ticket are indistinguishable from your chance of finding the winning ticket lying on the sidewalk.
Jackie
@wjca:
Either is acceptable ;-)
mrmoshpotato
@wjca:
What if you live somewhere with no sidewalks?
MagdaInBlack
@Jackie: Ha! I laughed…and agreed ☺️
John Cole
@wjca: You are as bad as my mom when I told her about the kid I gave a 2 dollar bill in exchange for a penny. I didn’t waste 1.99, I opened an endless array of possibilities in which that 2 dollar bill could change that kid or someone else’s life. And I will never know what happened so I can think on it for the rest of my life. I bought a powerball ticket for two bucks and it opens the potential for endless possibilities for a bunch of hours until I lose and then it will go to education or senior care or something we should already be taxed more to take care of, so fuck it. I think both were high value uses of 2 dollars.
Old School
That reminds me – I haven’t checked how my ticket for last Saturday’s drawing went. I hope I won the jackpot!
zhena gogolia
@schrodingers_cat: Goldman is great.
Suzanne
Alonzo Bodden is great. I saw him at the Tempe Improv some years back. The crowd was smaller than it should have been.
Omnes Omnibus
@wjca: The odds of getting your original 2 bucks back aren’t that bad.
TS
$$$ does not equal top talent – but it sure gives trump his %
Old School
The platinum card will cost $5 million, but that program isn’t live yet (for whatever reason).
Geminid
@Ohio Mom: Zohran Mamdani has almost 5 years experience as a New York State Assemblyman, so I’d say he has a decent base of knowledge. And Mamdani has his share of ambition and knows he has to have a successful first term as mayor if he is to have much of a future in politics. Mamdani strikes me as a pragmatic, hardworking politician who is highly incentivised to succeed, and I think he will.
p.a.
Hear about the new lottery game?
6 ways to win!
1,225,398,455 ways to lose.
Omnes Omnibus
Some of you people have no sense of fun.
Matt McIrvin
@Gvg:
At least until the SCOTUS ruling in a few months that says the phrase “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” in the 14th Amendment means Trump can declare anyone an unperson he wants and also you have to give him a blowjob on command.
wjca
Does the place you buy lottery tickets have a sidewalk…?
And if not, on the driveway, or even the middle of the street.
mrmoshpotato
@wjca: Driveways and streets aren’t sidewalks. 😁
Princess
Piggy is taking huge bribes to let workers in the country; meanwhile, Canada is fast-tracking permission for US H1B visa holders to move up north.
Geminid
@schrodingers_cat: I’ll also be rooting for Goldman
Dan Goldman and Brad Lander make an interesting contrast. I think Lander is basically what the video portrays: a warm, upbeat person. Goldlman is cooler and more aloof, traits with which I can identify.
He’s also kind of driven. Goldman’s father was a US prosecutor who died when Goldman was a child, and that might account for his tenacity.
At age 49, Goldman is the younger of the two; Lander is 56.
I think the two men will fight hard but clean. Outside groups could make this a nasty primary, though.
Timill
@Old School: You didn’t :-)
usamega.com/powerball/drawing/2025/12/6
prostratedragon
tobie
@Geminid: I think Lander’s statement that we need “fighters, not folders” was an ugly dig at his opponent. If this is the tenor of his campaign on Day 1, it’s only going to get worse as the primary season heats up. I took a quick look at the legislation Goldman has sponsored in his short time in Congress and it’s sizeable.
congress.gov/member/daniel-goldman/G000599?q=%7B%22sponsorship%22%3A%22sponsored%22%7D
I guess he’s a fighter. Notable measures include changing the tax code so wealthy individuals pay tax on what they borrow (think “margin accounts”), defending immigrant rights, preventing pretrial gun purchases, and mandating that ICE and Border Patrol carry visible IDs.
PJ
@schrodingers_cat: I am a long-time constituent of Lander’s, and he is a completely disingenuous careerist. I cannot in good conscience vote for him for anything.
HopefullynotCassandra
@Matt McIrvin: please don’t give our resident black robed sadists any new ideas
Geminid
@PJ: Welp. So much for my impressions!
kalakal
@Omnes Omnibus: Says the man who dissed Brian Cox’s musical highlight
hells littlest angel
I read that and wondered which fucking thing he did just today that you were referring to.
PJ
@Ohio Mom: The backstory is that Mamdani had no use for Lander once he was elected. Lander has been aiming to be mayor at least since he became a city council member, 12 years ago. I’d bet it’s been his goal for longer than that. If he were deputy mayor, he’d be using any chance to show that he was the guy actually running the city government. Why put up with that?
It’s far better for Mamdani if Lander is in Congress – he’ll be out of his hair, away in DC most of the time. Even better if Lander loses to Goldman, because then he’ll have two time loser stink on him and will be even less likely to be a real rival in the future.
TS
@Princess: I live in Australia but every time I visit the Washington Post website I get an ad suggesting I immigrate to Canada.
HopefullynotCassandra
@prostratedragon: because we already have a law and the entire history of our country prohibiting our currency from profiling living politicians. The only intent this GOP considers is how Mr. Trump feels this morning.
Quiltingfool
Joelle is getting her knee replaced, yes? I had mine done a couple of years ago, and once you get through the rough part, oh, man, it is the greatest!
The hospital “gave” me the neatest thing. It’s a machine that circulates chilled water around your knee. They said put ice in the cooler portion, but that would have been difficult for me as hubby was out of town during the week. Frozen water bottles are perfect and no mess to boot. It really helped.
I agree about the pain meds. I set my phone alarm and took meds at the prescribed time, at first. When the pain wasn’t as bad, I extended the time, basically to wean myself off the meds. Constipation is a bitch.
You might think about a raised toilet seat, too. I had one that was meant for skinny people, and I am not a skinny gal. I wasn’t going to fall off the toilet after being wedged in that thing!
Do your best at physical therapy. Here’s another thing I learned: even though your new knee feels great and you aren’t walking like a drunken sailor anymore, you might have some back or hip issues. I did. I went to a chiropractor I trust and got my back and hip pain under control. Your body has to adjust to correct walking.
Jackie
@prostratedragon:
He wants his ugly mug and name on everything. Which Republican is going to suggest an amendment to rename the USA to UST? <eyeroll>
eta: It would be more honestly be the DAT (divided states…)
prostratedragon
Headline in movie The Miracle at Morgan’s Creek (1943): “HITLER DEMANDS RECOUNT.”
Trollhattan
Shots fired.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Jackie:
@prostratedragon:
Awfulness and illegality of putting his face on a US coin aside, all of those proposed portraits look horrible lol
Omnes Omnibus
@kalakal: A sense of fun is not incompatible with good taste. No matter what Baud says.
Omnes Omnibus
@TS: It does have more snow.
prostratedragon
@PJ: Kind of like sending Rahm Emanuel to Japan.
Quiltingfool
@Quiltingfool:
I’m sure you and Joelle have things under control and don’t need MORE advice…
Recovery is a pain, but I remember standing at the stove cooking dinner and realizing my knee didn’t hurt. For the first time in years. That is worth every minute of discomfort from surgery.
prostratedragon
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): So many of the things he does are consistent with him wanting to increase the hatred against him.
no body no name
I play powerball because it’s a work thing. Nobody expects to win it’s just a fun waste of money that funds good things. Oh well.
Geminid
@prostratedragon: I have this alternate history where Biden’s diplomatic appointments get scrambled. Jeff Flake is sent to Tokyo where he does fine. But Rahm Emanuel is sent to Ankara, and R.T. Erdogan ends up declaring war on the United States.
Jay
wonkette.com/p/brad-lander-wants-to-be-new-yorks
and of course,
Because both are Jewish, with much different opinions on US/Gaza, expect a lot of Macedonian, Indian, Pakistani and Nigerian “One True New Yorker” accounts on the Dead Bird Site to flood the zone.
govtrack.us/congress/members/dan_goldman/456923
Melancholy Jaques
@Scott S.:
He was also walking way too fast while talking. Did Aaron Sorkin coach him. Needed more of a saunter with a few pauses for effect.
sab
OT I am a boomer and I have to take a required minimum distribution next year from the IRA I inherited last year. I don’t much need the money now and it will increase my income and have other unpleasant tax consequences.
I am the tax person and I had been avoiding thinking about this. Then my older sister called me as she is concerned about the same issue.
We can give IRA distributions to a qualified charity (e.g. our local foodbank) if we jump through the right hoops.
As my sister put it: she would rather give all the money to the food bank and avoid all the taxes than to keep most of the money and give some to help our government blow up small boat people in the Carribean who probably aren’t drug smugglers.
Melancholy Jaques
Back when I was still smoking, I would occasionally buy a ticket along with my Marlboros and especially when the jackpot was huge. Nowadays I sometimes think I might buy one when I’m getting gas, but I usually forget. Guess that reduces my chances of winning from almost zero to zero.
Jay
Carrying US ID and proof of Citizenship does not protect against “Kavanaugh Stops” which can last anywhere from 1 hour to 31 days, if you don’t pass the Arctic White Colour Test.
sahanjournal.com/immigration/ice-arrest-cedar-riverside-minneapolis-somali-man/
sab
@Jay: Or probably even if you do with the wrong attitude.
I had hoped to spend my retirement travelling and sightseeing.
Now I am not sure that travelling, much less travelling overseas, is worth doing. Risky and a bother to get back home safely.
rikyrah
@Trollhattan:
Just telling the truth
prostratedragon
@Geminid: Thank heaven Joe got it right!
Trivia Man
Brad Lander is running against Dan Goldman in a primary. I was curious about Dan, some interesting details. One of the richest congressmen, he is connected. Great Great Grandpa founded Smart & Final grocery store chain. Great Grandpa was president of Levis, he is “heir to the Levis fortune” Wiki says. Mom was chairman of the board at Sidwell Friends, he attended there as well. Degrees from Yale and Stanford Law. Covered the Olympics as a writer for NBC, married an Olympic diver, later divorced. Beat the Republican last time with 81%, seems like a safe blue district.
Chris T.
I’m still working on a dead thread from this morning but I’ll stick my main comment here instead.
Re MacKenzie Scott giving away billions… I had a thought a while ago. I was looking for some information regarding my own grandparents and came across information about work done by “Mrs <Grandfather’s Name>”. They basically erased my grandmother’s existence, she was just an extension of her husband.
It then occurred to me that when we give faint praise to earlier Gilded Age moneybags types for their public works, we may be mis-attributing it. Had the Ex-Mrs-Bezos been unable to divorce Bezos and reclaim her name, 100 years from now we might have all kinds of public goodies labeled “Bezos Thingum” instead of “MacKenzie Scott Thingum”.
Maybe we didn’t have a better class of billionaires (then millionaires) back then after all. Maybe we just had different social rules.
frosty
I’m glad to hear Joelle will stay overnight after the surgery. My sister (and Ms F) both had both knees done at the same time. My sister stayed in the hospital for two days, getting PT several times a day. It was a great head start for her.
Both are doing great! Ms F can go on hikes (well, walks) with me on our Road Trips which she couldn’t have done before. Best wishes for Joelle.
Jay
Video at link.
bsky.app/profile/iwillnotbesilenced.bsky.social/post/3m7ogal76xs2l
Anyway
Are they carrying visible IDs? No dog in the Landers-Goldman primary but interested in any kind of accountability/restraints on ICE — doesn’t appear to be any and was surprised to hear of a “mandate”
WTFGhost
@wjca: Just as a Bayesian, I must ask you: how many jackpots were claimed by those who found tickets, versus those who purchased them?
Because if the odds are “indistinguishable” we assume parity, correct?
Yes, you don’t think dreaming of winning money is worth two bucks, other people do. Some people don’t like bacon, others do.
Jay
@Anyway:
Courts have ruled,
Cities, States and Municipalities have mandated laws,
ICE/CPB have just paid it no nevermind.
They are above the law.
Gretchen
I’m disappointed to hear that Landers’ opponent is Goldman. I like both of them. Kind of how I feel about Tallarico vs Crockett. I’d love to see all four of them in Congress.
Geminid
@Trivia Man: I recalled that Dan Goldman barely won his first primary. That was in 2022, and the 10th CD was an open seat after redistricting.
So I checked and sure enough, Goldman won with only 25.8% of the vote. State Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Nioau was second with 23.7%; Rep. Mondaire Jones, who had repped the 17th CD in the lower Hudson Valley was 3rd with 18.2%; and Carla Rivera– who I think was a City Councilwoman– was 4th with 17.0%.
Those three runners-up were considered more “progressive” than the merely liberal Goldman, so there was some consternation in left-wing circles over the result.
Then Goldman made a name for himself with his effective questioning of Judiciary Committee witnesses. Goldman’s prosecutorial focus and deadpan delivery wowed people and helped make him a “star.” He also affiliated with the Progressive Caucus. So last year, Goldman was unopposed snd there was no Democratic primary.
I think he would have been unopposed this time had it not been for the Gaza War. That war had a much bigger effect on Democratic politics in New York City than in most other places. In particular, the war politicized a lot of young New Yorkers, and many of these were the new voters who helped propel Zohran Mamdani to his June primary victory, and then his win last month.
Now there is a feeling that New York City’s electorate has changed in such a way that the 10th CD can and should be represented by someone to Dan Goldman’s left. It’s possible Brad Lander will be that man.
Personally, I think this primary will be well worth watching. I like this kind of stuff. But even if I didn’t, I think I’d have no choice because this is a big national story now, and people will be arguing about Lander and Goldman right up until the June primary.
Another thing to look forward to in the New Year!
klokanek
The blue-yellow theme in the Lander ad is so Ukraine. All the feels!!
Ramalama
@sab: Are the hoops long and winding?
Ramalama
@Chris T.: I would think it’d be tricky or very difficult for historians to find evidence of the wife’s largesse. Unless you were someone like Isabella Stewart Gardner, but that was an house of art turned into a museum. Or unless the husbands and wives had a ton of correspondence…like John Adam’s and Abigail Adam’s did.
YY_Sima Qian
In relation to the “Affordability” thread earlier, it is far more than just the CPI number:
Baud
@Geminid:
That seals it for me. I can’t stand older people running for office.
Professor Bigfoot
@John Cole: Like any form of gambling, it’s entertainment.
I buy a 2 dollar ticket and I spend the next few days thinking about all the great stuff I’m gonna do with my winnings.
Then I lose, I chuckle, and move on.
Professor Bigfoot
Fully in agreement, with that one small change.
Professor Bigfoot
@Quiltingfool: Mrs. B got one of those when she got her knee replaced; and it’s amazing.
Nurses recommended that we freeze half-liter bottles of water to drop into the circulation tank— that way you can quickly swap them out, put the melted ones back in the freezer and pull out the frozen ones in the tank.
I feel so much like Jack Aubrey: “… this modern world we live in…”
StringOnAStick
@Quiltingfool: I had both my knees replaced when I was 60, after decades of pain. I was concerned about doing it since I’m pretty sporty; too many people telling me it would screw me up and I wouldn’t be able to “do anything anymore”, when I was at the point that the pain was making that true anyway!
I talked to several people who had done it 2 years before I did, and all of them said they were still getting an increase in their range of motion, so that was heartening. For me, it took over 2 years after surgery where I wasn’t constantly aware of it, but then again I had lived a life on constant knee pain awareness for years. Now it’s 7 years later and I’m skiing better than I ever had in the past, hiking almost as much as I used to (hey, I’m older too!), and gardening like a fiend, but by NOT kneeling on my knees because I was told that was a bad idea plus it feels….creepy. Other than that, I’m thrilled with my new knees.
Geminid
@StringOnAStick: That’s good news. I trust your finger has healed properly. I remember when you hurt it because I’ve done paving myself.
I wonder if you caught my comment about Hot Club Nax last weekend. They’re an Austrian quintet that plays in the Jazz Manouch style. I recommended their song “Joseph Joseph” as an example.
Miss Bianca
@tobie: Lander isn’t “young” – he’s older than Goldman. And yeah – he’s embracing the kind of empty sloganeering that apparently all Democrats are supposed to adopt now so they aren’t seen as old fossils fit only for ice floes. Fuck whether the people they are primarying have passed any worthy legislation, fuck what they believe in or what kind of constituent service they offer – are they “fighters”? You know, like, “warfighters”? Or are they “folders”?
Fuck, we really do live in the stupidest timeline.
dnfree
@wjca: I always tell people I am way ahead on the lottery compared to most people who buy tickets. I haven’t won anything, but then I haven’t lost anything either. A few ticket-buying people come out ahead of me in the long run.
dnfree
@sab: We do most of our charitable giving through a QCD since we have to take required minimum distributions. There are rules for sure. You can’t give to a fund like the United Way or a community fund that distributes money to other charities. You can’t specify to the charity what the funds are to be used for. The funds have to be used for current needs, not put in some kind of endowment fund. The check has to go from your IRA holder to the charity, with you never having possession of the money. (Vanguard makes the check out to the charity care of me, mails it to my address, and I deliver it to the charity.). You have to have a letter from the charity acknowledging receipt, that they’re a legally designated charity, AND that no goods or services were provided to you.
dnfree
@Professor Bigfoot: Here I am, replying to you on a dead thread! I was raised in a church that didn’t allow gambling (no Bingo games there), plus I’m a very risk-averse person. The idea that maybe “throwing money away” could be entertaining is foreign to me.
Paul in KY
@Scout211: He thinks he looks ‘tough’.
Paul in KY
@John Cole: The daydreaming is generally worth the $2.
JustRuss
I’m a bit under the weather too, so I raise my mug of lemon and honey tea in your direction. Cheers Cole.
SteverinoCT
Funny story: I was living in Florida when they started their state lottery with a scratch-off (1988, sez Wikipedia). They had a “second chance” deal where you saved your losing ticket and could win in a drawing. The first winner of the drawing found a discarded losing scratch-off, figured what-the-heck, and held onto it. When it won, he used the occasion to decry the whole state lottery concept. Hilarity ensued.