Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

When they say they are pro-life, they do not mean yours.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

We still have time to mess this up!

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Dear elected officials: Trump is temporary, dishonor is forever.

If you’re gonna whine, it’s time to resign!

T R E 4 5 O N

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Giving in to doom is how authoritarians win.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

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Reader Interactions

102Comments

  1. 1.

    Old Dan and Little Ann

    I am currently in a PD with about 30 other educators.  The lady presenting just asked who has ever diagrammed a sentence.  I was the only one who raised a hand.  Get off my lawn!

  2. 2.

    Suzanne

    Today brought yet another episode of I Can’t Make it Bigger On The Inside Than It Is On The Outside. I feel like I’ve seen this show before!

    I blame HGTV.

  3. 3.

    TheOtherHank

    @Old Dan and Little Ann:

    I am currently in a PD with about 30 other educators.

    I was completely unaware that Police Departments were concerned about diagramming sentences. I guess you learn something new every day

  4. 4.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Does anyone remember a former* BJ commenter who made the most gorgeous hooked rugs? I don’t remember her nym at all; I think her name on her shop’s website was Donna Something. I recall she did a a rug of Christopher Robin and Pooh, and donated it to a children’s library. I’d like to get in touch with her and ask permission to use that image to illustrate a course I’m teaching. Can anyone give me a lead? Many TIA!

    *It’s possible, of course, that she is a devoted lurker, but I’m sure I haven’t seen her around for at least a few years.

  5. 5.

    Ealbert

    My mother was a teacher and she used to talk about diagramming sentences with her middle schoolers. But the school district I went to would teach grammar by starting alternating years of doing nothing and starting at the beginning, teaching us about nouns, verbs adverbs and adjectives. Any knowledge I have of grammar comes from being a voracious reader and knowing what “sounds” right.

  12. 12.

    Omnes Omnibus

    In addition to diagramming sentences, does no one use read for context anymore?  Professional Development, maybe?

  26. 26.

    Harrison Wesley

    First they came for the educators; but because I couldn’t diagram sentences, I said nothing.

  36. 36.

    Harrison Wesley

    I remember diagramming sentences, but not how I did it. Of course, I’m 74 years old, so it’s been a while.

  37. 37.

    JaySinWA

    I remember diagramming sentences, but could never get beyond basics. I had no clause wits ETA so I had no plan of attack.

    ETA I did study computer language grammar and syntax. BNF anyone?

  42. 42.

    Melancholy Jaques

    @Old Dan and Little Ann:

    Retired last year and while I occasionally miss the classroom, how I do not miss PDs.

    I once had students diagram sentences in an AP English class. I was trying to get them to be more comfortable reading and writing complex sentences. They did two every day at the start of class. And I shit you not, they enjoyed it.

  45. 45.

    Josie

    @Old Dan and Little Ann: ​
     When I first taught, I taught freshman and sophomore English to students for whom English was a second language. I used diagramming as a way to teach them to write complete sentences. We didn’t do intricate stuff, just subject, verb, object, sort of thinking. It was very helpful to them.

  47. 47.

    Geminid

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss keeps racking up endorsements for the IL-09 primary. Last week Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul gave Biss his endorsement. So did the Illinois AFL-CIO.

    And Rep. Pramila Jayapal delivered her personal endorsement:

        Daniel Biss is the kind of leader our movement needs: principled, thoughtful and rooted in community.

    I’m thrilled to endorse him and look forward to working alongside him in Congress.

  51. 51.

    Old Man Shadow

    Semi-regular Christmas reminder that: a.) Mary did know, and b.) the gospel involved a lot more social upheaval and justice for the poor and oppressed and a lot less “mumbo jumbo magic prayer support the oppressors and coddle the rich” bullshit.

    51 “He has done a mighty deed with his arm;
        he has dispersed the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
    52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones,
        and has exalted the lowly.
    53 He has filled those who are hungry with good things,
        and those who are rich he has sent away empty-handed.”

  52. 52.

    RevRick

    @Old Man Shadow: In the Gospel of Luke, the Christ Child is welcomed by the stinky, dirty shepherds, the most marginal of people in society. In the Gospel of Matthew, he is met with political violence and oppression. And in all the Gospels the overarching context is always the empire and its ideology.

  54. 54.

    p.a

    Think it was 8th grade, about 1972, middle school english, book by or inspired by Noam Chomsky involved lots of sentence diagramming: descending “tree” structure.  Did not go over well.

  58. 58.

    Karen Gail

    Not only do I remember diagraming sentences, remember the lecture about dangling participles; but have no clue what grade any of those things took place. Strong is memory of writing essay and having it returned, graded and marked up with red pencil and note at bottom. “See me after school.”

  62. 62.

    RaflW

    @trollhattan: More like Delta airlines trying to say that their flight that crashed so dramatically in Toronto (DL 4819 – the flip-over one where everyone escaped alive) ‘landed on time.’

  64. 64.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Melancholy Jaques: if it would help me write better complex sentences, it might be worthwhile to look up how to do it again.
    forgotten even the terminology for sentence diagramming. Prepositional phrases, etc.

  65. 65.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @TheOtherHank:

    I was completely unaware that Police Departments were concerned about diagramming sentences. I guess you learn something new every day

    Does knowing how to diagram help you to plant a lethal object on a subject.

  66. 66.

    Karen Gail

    So visitors are going to have to submit five years worth of social media screening; that is going to make sure that tourists stay away. I was thinking of all the “small” places that see international tourists that will fail. Lived 90 minutes away from Wisconsin Dells, it is a “small” tourist attraction; population is around 3,000 people. They depend on tourism to keep the town running, without tourism many of the small businesses that supply the basic needs will go out of business. People think no tourists means the casinos, resorts and attractions suffer; but everyone in town will suffer. Once again the interconnection between visible income, tourists, and invisible income workers will impact a few people first season but will having lasting impact on towns, cities that rely on tourism.

  69. 69.

    trollhattan

    @Karen Gail: ​
    My imaginary US of A reentry includes an imaginary conversation in which I respond “What social media?”

    Because I have none. Never have. Would the punk understand my “You mean My Space?” quip? I think not.

    An open Chrome tab to Balloon Juice would get me the boot I expect. “Who’s this ‘Betty Cracker’ and how do you know her?”

  70. 70.

    trollhattan

    Welp, buckle up.

    The Senate Thursday rejected plans from Republicans and Democrats to ease soaring health care costs, making it more likely many Californians face health insurance premiums that could double shortly. Covid-era credits for people with Obamacare-inspired health care policies will expire at the end of this month. That is likely to mean an increase averaging about 97% for Californians who now have those policies.

    Senate Democrats proposed extending the subsidies for three years. That effort was blocked as it received 51 votes, when 60 were needed to proceed. Sens. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., and Adam Schiff, D-Calif., were for the Democratic plan, joining the other 43 Democrats as well as two independents and four Republicans.

    A Republican alternative was also thwarted. All 47 senators who caucus with Democrats and one Republican, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., blocked consideration, which also needed 60 votes. Padilla and Schiff voted no.

    sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article313621116.html#storylink=cpy

  73. 73.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Old Dan and Little Ann: I diagrammed sentences,  traditional style, in the third grade. I know now that linguists regard most of what was taught in that exercise as incorrect, but it did instill the idea that English syntax had a recursive structure with specific grammatical features.

  74. 74.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Melancholy Jaques:

    Sure, we all know, heh heh, it wasn’t an educational comment, more of a “Big Tech’s funding a *lot* of voices” given she’s a lobbyist for them.

    And as somebody said in the comments “Is she auditioning for a position at Faux “News?””

  75. 75.

    Karen Gail

    @trollhattan: Since antichristianty is one of the negatives all my pagan sites; especially, Wiccan would keep me not only out but deported to some prison. Balloon juice wouldn’t be as much a problem as Stonekettle Station where I comment often.

  77. 77.

    stinger

    @SiubhanDuinne: ​
     It’s so funny this topic has come up — I got three diagramming workbooks last week and am working my way through the first one. The early stuff is easy; I find what I’ve forgotten are some of the terms: intensifier, adverbial noun, predicate adjective, appositive, correlative conjunction. But it’s all coming back to me! I loved diagramming as a kid, and taught it when I was a sixth grade teacher.

  78. 78.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Karen Gail: you’re making a good case for enlarging the broom closet, in case one needs it.
    im careful what I repost and like on Facebook, and paraphrase lots of things, as a way of hiding in plain sight. Wonder if I need to readjust.

  79. 79.

    Just look at that parking lot

    48 years ago today,December 12th, 1977, the film Saturday Night Fever premiered in NYC.  I hated that movie & would rant on about hating disco music. But a lot a women liked it , so I held  my nose and jumped in. To a young twenty something year old, having sex was more important than having any principles in regards to music preferences.
    Latter on I did gain a little self respect and have refused to ever do the Macarena.

  80. 80.

    RaflW

    Putting this here for now, may circle back to it later if there’s a newer politics open thread (the new thread is on immigration).

    I got rolling on Bsky this afternoon, after driving across the upper midwest/planes states the past couple days:

    —

    Trump is hovering around 36/60 approve/dis right now. And this is before what is likely to be some pretty rough economic times arriving soon. Even farmers are mad. Heard a Nebraska grower say y’day they want to sell soybeans not get handouts (and his entire crop is in storage waiting for a customer).

    $12Bn is not nearly enough to cover their losses. It will get them through the winter to buy inputs for next year. But they can’t sell what they’ve grown now. Who is going to buy 2X as much next fall? [And other countries are growing more beans to meet global demand, so the world market is now long-term shifted!]

    These are *proud* people. They don’t want, but will take, the aid offered. But it rankles. They’re not getting up at 5am tilling fields or fixing fertilizer spreaders to just cash checks from Trump. Their honor is bound up in what they produce, not in being on the dole. We’re already seeing Deere warning of big cuts in equip. sales and related jobs, too, across the farm belt.

    Local elevator co-ops are going to be next in feeling pressures. They need the farmers to sell whats in the elevators to keep cashflows going, and to make room for the next (planned) crop. The rural economy is precarious. I’m very frustrated that these people vote for politicians who don’t fix their issues. That sucks! It’s counter-productive! But they’re in a bind none the less.

    They’re mad, and we – Democrats and liberals – should be finding ways to provide real solutions and to take them seriously, even as they piss us off. Or none of the bad voting will change, and we’ll swirl the drain all the more. /fin

  81. 81.

    Karen Gail

    @Just look at that parking lot: So of the disco was so bad; but it was still way better than the Macarena. Some of us 20 somethings did find disco offensive but then I liked swing dancing.

    Still don’t get why anyone thought John Travolta was sexy; not my idea mine was more Sean Connery.

  82. 82.

    Scout211

    @Karen Gail: Still don’t get why anyone thought John Travolta was sexy

    He rode the Vinny Barbarino coolness train for a few years, but that train soon crashed.

  84. 84.

    dnfree

    @zhena gogolia: Maybe at your level of education you aren’t required to do professional development?

    My husband is a social worker, degreed and licensed and certified, and he had to complete a certain number of hours of continuing education/professional development every couple of years or lose his license.  Another example of a “profession” that the Trump administration doesn’t think is one.

  85. 85.

    coin operated

    @RaflW: What is needed is comprehensive farm reform and a goddamned immigrant worker program. Row crops ain’t cutting it anymore. What’s left requires serious terraforming, greenhouses, and a lot of manual labor. Good luck getting any of that out of this administration, and good luck getting any previous row cropper to buy into the change.

  86. 86.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Old Man Shadow: ​

    Semi-regular Christmas reminder that: a.) Mary did know

    Well, we know what ‘to know’ means in the Bible (at least in the King James) so the question is, who did she know? If she knew Joseph, then a lot of theology has to be reworked!

  87. 87.

    Karen Gail

    @coin operated: The biggest problem with giving up the row crops is that it can be done by machinery; very few people are needed. To switch to something that would not require massive machines would also mean dealing with what has been done to the soil. First they poison the land, then heavy machines compress the soil until it is rock hard below the few inches of dirt that row crops use. Now since the soil is dead very little other than thistles and dandelions can survive. You can’t even put the land in pasture until something is done to heal the land. With the land dead and open, it becomes dust and blows away; many farms have tiled the land so that where there were once wetlands and places where water collected are now gone.

    Terraform, green houses all sound good but it leaves out the number of years it would take to make the land safe to grow food crops or even be able to pasture animals.

  89. 89.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @lowtechcyclist: excellent point!
    on the level of mythology, and mystery religions, and symbolism and archetypes, it all makes a lot more sense.

    I’ve been listening to a lot of Dr Richard Carrier, on historicity of Jesus, which parts of the New Testament were written when, by whom, or that had forgeries and non real events in them. He explains it well, with tons of historical research and evidence, kind of soothing. Here’s one on pagans in Roman culture valuing science more than Christians. Dr Carrier on Rome, pagans and science

  90. 90.

    catclub

    @Suzanne: ​ 

    Today brought yet another episode of I Can’t Make it Bigger On The Inside Than It Is On The Outside. I feel like I’ve seen this show before!

    I think in CS Lewis’s “The Last Battle” (Narnia series)there is a tent that is bigger on the inside than on the outside. Deus ex sewing machina​

  91. 91.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Scout211: in classes of four year olds, during movement time, I have been known to slip in that famous dance where Travolta points diagonally up, then down to the other side. The kids got into it, some showed their parents, and a few parents came back the next day and asked about if I really did show them that. They were amused.
    that song from the famed disco dance, stayin alive, is now out on YouTube in a madrigal form, sung as if in the 1600s. Pretty amusing.

  92. 92.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @dnfree: I suspect it gets called continuing Ed, CE, in some places, and PD in other places. It was required for ongoing membership in my professional organization for massage therapists. Probably required in many professions, whatever it’s called.

  94. 94.

    Deputinize America

    @Gloria DryGarden:

    I’m convinced that the transition from a pagan state to monotheism betrayed humanity.

    This is based on the simple premise that monotheism leads to stagnant societal development because a “Team Ethos” by those in power becomes inevitable. More scientific developments would have arisen under paganism as it withered and died.

    Roman systems of governance survived the end of the Imperial lines at the hands of the waves of Germanic assimilations, while the empire in the East endured nearly another thousand years. It wasn’t the religious stuff that the tribes were emulating, either – it was the basic structure of government, and that went on for another century or two. All the Christianism did was destabilize the base society.

  95. 95.

    Karen Gail

    @coin operated: Guess the best visual would be where a desert has been slowly turned into green; because that is what would have to happen. The “good” part is that soil scientists now know that hemp can pull the poisons from the soil but they have only tested how much and how long on small patches. Think square yards not acres; at this point they have been using the hemp in building materials and haven’t fed that hemp to animals.

  97. 97.

    rikyrah

    Team Talarico
    @TeamTalaricoHQ
    .
    @JamesTalarico
    : My family’s from South Texas. Voters there feel betrayed by both parties, and many voted for Trump last year. Now everything is more expensive and corruption is the worst it’s ever been. It is incumbent upon us to make the case to these voters and persuade them to join us in this effort to stop the extremism and corruption
    x.com/TeamTalaricoHQ/status/1998938943673233583?s=20

    Tim
    @trouble_man90
    The “yea we suck too” approach has been tried time and time again, and it is a proven loser argument that doesn’t work. It doesn’t inspire democrats and doesn’t disarm being a democrat in the eyes of independent and conservative voters that you’re trying to appeal to.

    x.com/trouble_man90/status/1999041312344211777?s=20

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