Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

They spent the last eight months firing professionals and replacing them with ideologues.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Oppose, oppose, oppose. do not congratulate. this is not business as usual.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

We do not need to pander to people who do not like what we stand for.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

One way or another, he’s a liar.

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

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Every decision we make has lots of baggage with it, known or unknown.

“Alexa, change the president.”

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

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Fucking consultants! (of the political variety)

You are here: Home / Music / Thursday Morning Open Thread: Good Vibrations

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Good Vibrations

by | 297 Comments

This post is in: , ,

“Good Vibrations” hits #1 today in ‘66.
“.. one of the greatest pop singles ever made,” said George Martin. “I remember thinking, ‘My God, this is the future of music.’ .. the textures, the changes, the sounds you’d never heard before — it opened up possibilities for every musician who came after.”

[image or embed]

— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla.bsky.social) December 10, 2025 at 8:35 PM

In 2025, Democrats Flipped 21 Percent of GOP-Held Legislative Seats boltsmag.org/legislative-…

[image or embed]

— Nancy Thompson (@thmpsnnancy.bsky.social) December 11, 2025 at 12:52 AM

Daniel Nichanian, at Bolts:

At the start of Donald Trump’s first presidency, in 2017, large Democratic victories in New Jersey and Virginia, paired with overperformances in special elections, foreshadowed the blue wave of the 2018 midterms. Eight years later, Trump’s return to power has been followed by similar Republican setbacks, including Democrats’ sweep of all 13 statewide elections that took place this November, plus myriad gains for local offices.

Now, with this year’s contests nearly all completed after Tuesday, which saw Democrats stage an upset and flip a state House seat in Georgia, the extent to which the GOP struggled in legislative races has also come into view…

According to Bolts’ analysis, Democrats gained 25 state Senate and House seats that were held by the GOP, out of the 118 that were resolved this year in regular or special elections.

The swing is even stronger than in 2017, when Democrats flipped 20 percent of all GOP-held legislative seats up for election, per Bolts’ review of data compiled at the time by elections websites Ballotpedia and The Downballot…

Meanwhile, Republicans failed to flip any legislative seats this year, losing ground even in New Jersey, where they had high hopes, and failing to gain several districts in New York State that Trump carried last year. (The GOP did manage to flip a handful of seats in 2017.)

And the GOP may have gotten lucky this year: Most of the legislative elections that occurred in 2025 were for seats that Democrats already held, which limited their opportunity for gains. The Downballot has found that, in special elections that both parties contested this year, Democrats performed 13 percentage points better on average than they did in the 2024 presidential race…

Thousands of legislative seats, plus 36 governorships, will be on the ballot during the next year’s midterm elections. At least on paper, partisan control of virtually every state government could shift, but there are a dozen states that already look like key battlegrounds.

Democrats’ priorities for next year include regaining trifectas in Michigan, Minnesota, and Nevada, all of which they lost in 2024, as well as breaking longtime GOP trifectas in Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, New Hampshire, and Ohio.

Meanwhile, Republicans hope to gain a new trifecta in Kansas, where they currently control the legislature but not the governorship, and break the Democratic trifectas in Maine and Oregon. Meanwhile, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin currently have split governments but either party has a plausible shot at controlling the state come 2027.


And the NYTimes apparently smells blood…

NYT SPOX: “.. Americans deserve in-depth reporting and regular updates about the health of the leaders they elect. .. We won’t be deterred by false and inflammatory language that distorts the role of a free press.”
@apnews.com $NYT
apnews.com/article/trum…

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— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla.bsky.social) December 11, 2025 at 12:13 AM


Cherry on this sundae: the offensive op-ed [gift link] was written by former theater critic Frank Bruni. (Trigger warning: Company protocol requires Mr. Bruni repeat that President Biden was just as ‘impaired’ by age.)

Reader Interactions

297Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    Company protocol requires Mr. Bruni repeat that President Biden was just as ‘impaired’ by age.)

    Haha. Perfectly put

    ETA: You know who wasn’t impaired by age — the woman who was on the ballot.

  2. 2.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    I’m scheduled to get my throat cut open tomorrow afternoon, and I can take solace in the likelihood that even so, I’m probably going to have a better day than the First Felon. I’ll probably leave the hospital in better physical and mental health, too.

  5. 5.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    @Baud: The surgeon promised that I’d be singing Christmas carols by the end of the month, which would be a nice trick since I couldn’t sing worth a damn even before the nerves to my voice box were damaged by the surgery this past spring.

    If I come out of it and my health is as good as Joe Biden’s, I’ll be happy. I doubt that being as healthy as Kamala Harris is anywhere in my future. But hopefully soon, I’ll be able to properly voice my outrage at the First Felon and his mafiosi-cum-Nazi maladministration.

  7. 7.

    Professor Bigfoot

    Open thread, so… does anyone else know the embarrassment of making three or four replies on a thread only to discover that the thread is dead and you’re talking to yourself? ;^D

  17. 17.

    Mousebumples

    Great election news! I had sent similar content to WaterGirl yesterday, so to pull from my own email…

    bsky.app/profile/taniel.bsky.social/post/3m7m4fc2hm22c

    A huge night for Democrats:

    —They flip Miami’s mayorship.

    —They flip a state House district in Georgia that had voted Trump by 13%.

    —They keep Albuquerque’s mayorship, while the liberal faction flips city council.

    —And they get big overperformances (+18 & +22) in 2 Florida specials.

    Link to Bolts, with results – boltsmag.org/whats-on-the-ballot/guide-to-elections-in-december-2025/

    Closer look at 2 featured there:

    Georgia: House district 121 (Dec. 9)

    Last year, this legislative district looked unassailably Republican, going for Trump by 13 percentage points and favoring GOP lawmaker Marcus Wiedower by 22 percentage points… Wiedower resigned in October, and Democratic nominee Eric Gisler says he’s keen to reach out to people who voted in November; he faces GOP nominee Dutch Guest.

    Result: Gisler wins, flipping the seat for Democrats.

     

    Miami mayor, Plus Miami Beach council (Dec. 9)

    Democrats hope to gain the mayor’s office in Miami as the city’s GOP mayor retires. The city has a weak mayor, but a flip would have symbolic weight in countering the region’s red drift in recent cycles.

    In the runoff, Democrat Eileen Higgins faces Republican Emilio González. On immigration, Higgins has called Miami’s membership in ICE’s 287(g) program a “tragedy” while González has signaled he is comfortable with it. Higgins has also talked about Miami ramping up affordable housing while González, who says he wants to help Governor Ron DeSantis get rid of property taxes and cut local spending, has minimized that goal. (DeSantis endorsed González.)

    Just east, in Miami Beach, Democrat-aligned candidates won two city council seats in November. A third went to a runoff between Democrat Monica Matteo-Salinas and Republican Monique Pardo Pope.

    Results: Higgins wins the mayoral election in Miami. Matteo-Salinas wins in Miami Beach.

  21. 21.

    Librettist

    He called her “Susie Trump”, because he couldn’t remember her last name.

    Her big plan is to go national, hold rallies, and hope the sick old creep collapses on stage somewhere. Maybe a sympathy backlash will keep it close.

  22. 22.

    Mousebumples

    @Baud: you’re welcome! I’m late to most threads these days so mostly lurking but I was at this thread early ish so I thought I’d share.

    I’m hoping for a blue tsunami next year. 💪

  26. 26.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Will be thinking of you. Be prepared for possibly a few days of droopy-on-one-side mouth — when I had my throat sliced open several years ago, nobody thought to warn me and the first time I looked in the mirror I thought I’d had a stroke. But it’s normal and should be fine in a matter of days. I’m sure all will go well, but I’ll wish you good luck anyhow.

  29. 29.

    sab

    @Professor Bigfoot: I post on dead threads every night. There aren’t many live threads at 3 am.

    OT Thank you for recommendimg the electric snow shovel last year. It is really getting a work out this year.

  33. 33.

    Betty Cracker

    For podcast fans, I highly recommend Rachel Maddow’s new “Burn Notice” series, which covers the internment of Japanese American citizens during WW2. I thought I was fairly knowledgeable about that shameful episode in U.S. history but am learning a lot.

    It might sound like it would be a depressing subject, but it’s actually inspiring and has much relevance in our present moment. There were Americans who were trying to do the right thing all along and ordinary people who refused to let officials sweep the atrocity under a rug.

    I know some find Maddow’s TV style grating, but IMO, the effect is entirely different in podcast form. Worth checking out!

    @Bruce K in ATH-GR: Best of luck!

  34. 34.

    Layer8Problem

    Anybody else seeing an utterly blank comment box show up when you hit the Reply button, with no pre-placed name with link of the person one is replying to? Completely blank, in both the Visual and Code tabs, and the Code tab is the only place I can get a cursor to type into. For the WordPress boffins/wallahs managing this I’m running Firefox 146.0 on Arch Linux.

    ETA: I first noticed this yesterday. It’s something I’ve seen before but usually a full page reload or four fixes it. This time, zip. I have to build the reference to the person I’m replying to in the Code tab.

  35. 35.

    Trivia Man

    @Professor Bigfoot: I always consider that speaking to the future. Someday historians will peruse this blog the way we look through the pioneer diaries in utah.
    I wont go so far as to say this is America’s Blog Of Record, but if done digital records survive it is an excellent and thorough sampling of a time and place with a specific user set.

  36. 36.

    Scrounger

    OT Privs. reqd.

    Is it just me, or is it fantastically ridiculous that we have to teach children “How to interact with cops”?  Isn’t it sorta the cop’s job to know how to interact with us?  What makes those uniformed asshats somehow the arbiters of decent behaviour while not acting like such themselves?

    What?

    “Always be polite and respectful and do not raise your voice” – Hello, this is their job.

  40. 40.

    YY_Sima Qian

    The US quickly turning into the the most dystopian place for foreign visitors, by quite some margin (which is extraordinary, considering the company):

    Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand

    Insanely, submitting your past 5 years’ social media to enter the U.S. as a tourist is only a small part of the proposed upcoming requirements.

    You’ll also need to give your DNA (!) among many other new requirements.

    All the additional info you’ll need to give as a tourist eligible for ESTA (meaning those tourists who don’t need a visa, for instance from EU, UK, Australia, Japan, and other Visa Waiver countries):
    – All social media accounts from the last 5 years
    – All your biometrics: face, fingerprint, DNA, and iris
    – All your phone numbers from the last 5 years
    – All your email addresses from the last 10 years
    – IP addresses and metadata from your submitted photos
    – Names of your family members (parents, spouse, siblings, children)
    – All your family members’ phone numbers from the last 5 years
    – Your family members’ dates of birth
    – Your family members’ places of birth
    – Your family members’ residencies
    – All your business phone numbers from the last 5 years
    – All your business email addresses from the last 10 years If you do need a visa (i.e. non ESTA), I imagine the requirements are going to be far more drastic.

    This is straight from the Department of Homeland Security documentation which you can find here: https://public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2025-22461.pdf

  41. 41.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Layer8Problem:

    Anybody else seeing an utterly blank comment box show up when you hit the Reply button, with no pre-placed name with link of the person one is replying to? Completely blank, in both the Visual and Code tabs, and the Code tab is the only place I can get a cursor to type into.

    The blank comment box, no indication of who you’re replying to after clicking ‘reply’, has been happening to me every now and then for a couple of months now.  And it’s an exception when I get a Visual box to type into. Both on Firefox and Edge.

  42. 42.

    Another Scott

    @Scrounger: Yeah.

    If they want to drag us back to the 1950s, then maybe police detectives should go back to wearing suits and ties and fedoras and say “mam” and “sir” when interviewing people.  And they take out their revolvers on the job maybe once every 5 years…

    Grr…

    Best wishes,
    Scott.
    (Who actually doesn’t want to go back to those days.  Instead, we can make things better while moving forward.)

  43. 43.

    Layer8Problem

    @lowtechcyclist: Everything looked normal, expected, and functional when I fired up Chromium (the open-source Chrome thing Google provides for Linux types; no, Chrome will never get installed on my precious box).

  44. 44.

    cmorenc

    @Baud:

    Company protocol requires Mr. Bruni repeat that President Biden was just as ‘impaired’ by age.)

    The uncomfortable truth is that the Joe Biden of 2008 or even 2012 would have thrashed Trump to shreds with Biden’s sharp wit at the June 2024 debate, instead of making allegations of Biden’s senility plausible  to most of the electorate..  That said, it’s also an uncomfortable truth that it’s taken this long for the media to begin honestly reporting obvious signs of Trump’s metal decline and incoherence.

  45. 45.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    @Professor Bigfoot: All the time, only in my case it’s because I’m seven-to-ten time zones away from the US and when I wake up in the morning, everyone Stateside is asleep because it’s stupid o’clock there.

    Then again, under the rule of the First Felon, it’s stupid o’clock around the clock these days.

  47. 47.

    E.

    @YY_Sima Qian: This will destroy so many small businesses. I owned a bakery once that made about 30 percent of its profits from young Pacific Crest Trail hikers, the vast majority of whom were European. Repeated forest fires and COVID halted that revenue stream and that was that. I can’t believe they won’t ultimately reverse this, TACO style, but they are so goddam blinkered they may go through with it. We are living in a time of rapid disintegration of so much that used to be stable.

  48. 48.

    NotMax

    Speaking of songs which include an outre, quasi-futuristic sound, The Big Hurt, sung by Miss Toni fisher, was released in ’59. Climbed to #2 on the charts.
    ;)

  51. 51.

    Layer8Problem

    @Bruce K in ATH-GR:
    An executive order will be tossed out Real Soon Now making all clocks in the fifty states as well as all territories and any and all United States facilities worldwide set to Eastern Standard Time, which will be renamed henceforth Tr–p Standard Time, and thank you for your attention to this matter.

  52. 52.

    Baud

    @cmorenc:

    I don’t really care. I try not to get distracted thinking about alternative scenarios where everyone and everything would have been perfect. Reality is messy. We should call out the media because they’re a persistent problem. Joe Biden is not, just as Hillary’s emails are not.

  54. 54.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Scrounger: “To serve and protect” went by the wayside years ago.  Now it’s mostly roided up dim bulbs who have been taught that the public is the enemy.

    I find it disgraceful that the black parents in my town–moderately upscale and recently named the safest in America–have to have that conversation with their children at an age where kids should be able to be just kids.

  55. 55.

    Scout211

    If any of you didn’t read Cole’s Open Thread last night, he announced that the ad is ready to go and will appear soon in place of the blank space we have been seeing at the bottom of our screens.

    My only beef with the ad placement is it blocks the post/update  button in the pop-up link box (in landscape on my iPad). If I turn the device to portrait, then I can post the link.  I post a lot of links so I hope I can adjust to this minor annoyance.

    @Layer8Problem: Anybody else seeing an utterly blank comment box show up when you hit the Reply button, with no pre-placed name with link of the person one is replying to?

    Not on my screen. Chrome for iOS.

  56. 56.

    NotMax

    @Bruce K in ATH-GR

    I’d be singing Christmas carols by the end of the month, which would be a nice trick since I couldn’t sing worth a damn even before the nerves to my voice box were damaged by the surgery this past spring

    Add in enough death metal and no one will notice.
    :)

  58. 58.

    Professor Bigfoot

    @sab: I am glad to hear that!!

    I have mine all staged by the back door, battery inside on the charger… and so far, (in typical Canton fashion) we’ve managed to avoid any more than one inch of snow and that promptly melted off.😂

  59. 59.

    Eolirin

    breaking longtime GOP trifectas in Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, New Hampshire, and Ohio.

    Arizona doesn’t have a trifecta.

  60. 60.

    jonas

    @YY_Sima Qian: A little bit like ag exports, once foreign tourists and tour companies start avoiding the US, getting them back in the future is going to be tough. I’m sure folks in places like Vegas and Orlando are thrilled about this.

  61. 61.

    Layer8Problem

    @Scout211:
    Yeah, Chrome-flavored stuff doesn’t seem to have a problem I’ve noticed. Also, I haven’t seen any blank space either at the bottom of my BJ pages, probably thanks to NoScript and uBlock Origin.

  62. 62.

    Scout211

    This is good.

    Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex crimes and a group of Democratic members of Congress are asking for an independent review of the Epstein case files to determine whether any of the records have been “tampered” with or concealed, ahead of the release of those files by next week.

    In a letter Thursday to the Justice Department’s inspector general, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee asked the internal watchdog to undertake a formal review to check for any “chain of custody” problems with the Epstein files.

    Speaking with CBS News, representatives of some Epstein survivors have also asked for a third-party review to check if any record has been “scrubbed, softened, or quietly removed before the public sees it.”

  66. 66.

    Soprano2

    @YY_Sima Qian: Like I said yesterday, they’ve decided they don’t want any foreigners to come here, period. Who wants to do all of that for a 2 week vacation? I know I wouldn’t.

  72. 72.

    Leto

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: the World Cup is just 6 months away. Perfect timing for this, not to mention just regular tourism. Just the absolute most vile people imaginable doing the most stupid shit.

  73. 73.

    Baud

    Tourists who still want to come here just need to spend two weeks beforehand praising Trump’s greatness on their Facebook. That should fool the AI that’s processing all of this info.

  74. 74.

    frosty

    @Professor Bigfoot: Um…yes? My new One Weird Trick is to check the time stamp on the last comment. If it’s more than about 15 minutes old I reluctantly accept that my brilliant thoughts will go unrecorded and move on.

  75. 75.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @Soprano2: Yeah, there goes any plan of taking my wife & daughters to travel around the US in future summers. I mean, there are other strong deterrents before these new rules, but these requirements are show stoppers.

  76. 76.

    Kosh III

    Sadly, Tennessee has had a Regressive trifecta for 15 years and doesn’t appear to be changing.  I will take the consolation prize of Rep. John Rose-R as governor instead of Marshamarshamarsha fraking Blackburn.
    Jerri Green D would be an excellent governor but “you know…morons.”

  77. 77.

    Professor Bigfoot

    @Steve in the ATL:  The culture of American policing was born in antebellum slave patrols and is carried in police union halls today.

    It’s not coincidence that FOP were Trump’s first major endorsement.

    ”Protect and Serve” is marketing.

    ”Control the Negroes” is reality.

  79. 79.

    Matt McIrvin

    @YY_Sima Qian: I strongly suspect this will be a TACO situation like the “Liberation Day” tariffs: they’re going to back down from some of this because there will be an outcry from people with money and power.

  80. 80.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Well today is the big day.  Hopping a flight this morning to Burbank, driving to Pasadena to check in at motel and change clothes and then heading up the hill to our old city, street, lot for the first time since January.  I’ll have some gabapentin and lots of Kleenex and I had a good talk with my therapist yesterday so I think I’m as ready as I can be.  After what I know will be an emotional roller coaster I plan to treat myself to one of my favorite LA burritos (King Taco) and relax at the motel, maybe even swim if the pool is open since it’s gonna be 80 degrees.  And then tomorrow I’ll start seeing old friends and doing meetups etc. at some of my fave places.

    I’ve been really anxious/nervous for awhile about this trip, in a way unlike anything in my life but last night I actually slept ok and feel fairly calm and at peace for now.

  81. 81.

    Professor Bigfoot

    @Kosh III: Why I ran away from my home state 45 years ago, two weeks after I got my degree.

    Nashville was always a cosmopolitan city for the South; but it was still a city in a Confederate state.

    Now I live in what should be a thoroughly Union state that has joined the Confeds, too. 🤬

  82. 82.

    Bupalos

    @Soprano2: I don’t think the primary interest is to actually restrict visitors or ensnare dissidents. It’s more likely to attempt to influence online discourse. Which can happen without even implementing the policy, all you have to do is talk about implementing the policy and get the idea of these communications being monitored ‘out there.’ “Before you post that, remember that the U.S. government may make use of it in unexpected contexts.”

  84. 84.

    Eyeroller

    @Layer8Problem: I have constant problems with the visual editor and must switch to the code tab. It seems to happen especially if I make more than one reply (not necessarily to the same commenter).  I haven’t really correlated it with browser or platform but it may be worse on Firefox.  I mostl comment on MacOS but use the other platforms as well and tend to use Firefox on all three.

  85. 85.

    frosty

    @Layer8Problem: The empty comment box happened to me once a couple days ago.

    I wish I could find out how to make it always come up Visual. It’s one or the other at random and I’m sick of trying to format text in Code.

  86. 86.

    Soprano2

    @Baud: I was wondering that, who is going to be wasting their time looking at all of that? Of course they’ll have some AI bot searching for “key words” like “Trump”, “conservative” and “liberal”. You know they want to keep out anyone who doesn’t like FFOTUS.

  87. 87.

    Soprano2

    @YY_Sima Qian: I’m not sure most people can even remember all of that stuff! An employer wouldn’t ask you for that level of detail about your relatives. I’m sure they’ll say it’s to keep “terrorists” out, but we all know it’s really to keep any foreign person out.

  88. 88.

    Doc Sardonic

    @Professor Bigfoot: If you didn’t have all that set up and the electric snow blower was in the garage buried under stuff that would require time to move to get to it, there would be a foot of snow on the ground.

  89. 89.

    Layer8Problem

    @UncleEbeneezer:

    I’ve been really anxious/nervous for awhile about this trip, in a way unlike anything in my life but last night I actually slept ok and feel fairly calm and at peace for now.

    All the best doing this, man. We’ll be here for you if you need.

  90. 90.

    They Call Me Noni

    @Betty Cracker: Have listened to the four episodes available now and am awaiting the remaining two.  Knew of the concentration camps, but the details of how they came about is just shocking.

  91. 91.

    Soprano2

    @UncleEbeneezer: I hope it does for you what you need. Things like this are always tough. I still have the directions to the site where my sister died in the plane crash; someday I might actually go there, but I’m still not ready for that.

  92. 92.

    Gretchen

    For some reason folks are pessimistic about electing a Democratic governor here in Kansas. I say, we have one right now! Why shouldn’t we be able to do it again? The main Republican running thinks teachers are transitioning kids at school. You know, the same kids they can’t get to do their homework.

  94. 94.

    RevRick

    @Librettist: Trump’s “who are you going to believe, me or your own lying eyes?” rallies should do very well with the general public. Democratic candidates across the nation are praying he comes to their districts.

  95. 95.

    Professor Bigfoot

    @UncleEbeneezer:  may this day bring healing to you; may you feel joy in reconnecting; may you stuff yourself silly with good tacos/burritos/tortas— *joy of the day to you!

  96. 96.

    They Call Me Noni

    @Raven: When I read theramin I think of Sheldon sitting on the stairs playing “Nobody Knows the Troubles I’ve Seen”.

  99. 99.

    Scout211

    Meta has removed restricted  dozens of accounts belonging to abortion access providers, queer groups and reproductive health organisations in the past weeks in what campaigners call one of the “biggest waves of censorship” on its platforms in years.

    The takedowns and restrictions began in October and targeted the Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp accounts of more than 50 organisations worldwide, some serving tens of thousands of people – in what appears to be a growing push by Meta to limit reproductive health and queer content across its platforms. Many of these were from Europe and the UK, however the bans also affected groups serving women in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.

    Repro Uncensored, an NGO tracking digital censorship against movements focused on gender, health and justice, said that it had tracked 210 incidents of account removals and severe restrictions affecting these groups this year, compared with 81 last year.

  109. 109.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Betty Cracker:

    I’m one of those who can’t stand her TV show because of that style.

    But yeah, the podcast, at least the bits I’ve heard because I don’t do podcasts, are very different, very engaging.

    And I too learned something, namely the CO governor at the time spoke out against the action, traveled around the state saying so and was thrown out of office for taking a moral stand on something awful.

    That’s a lesson in courage that alas, far too many politicians today ignore.

    I woulda thought we’d know more about that here in CO given CO had an internment camp:

    amache.org/

    exhibits.historycolorado.org/amache

  110. 110.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Soprano2: Thanks.  Yeah my wife was like “no thanks” when I suggested going back.  Everybody deals/processes differently so I totally get it.  But I’ve felt like this was something I really NEED to do, since the night of the fire, in a way that she hasn’t.  The big goal is to kind of emotionally throw myself into the deep end in a way that helps me get closure and move on.

  111. 111.

    Baud

    @Percysowner:

    SC sees ‘alarming’ increase in measles cases, with 280 in quarantine

     

    Sounds like another big government restriction on freedom. The Dems that run South Carolina will stop at nothing. Wait till RFK Jr hears about this!

  119. 119.

    Bupalos

    @Professor Bigfoot: I wish I had gotten that instead of the 1-stage snowblower.

    My favorite EGO ‘tool that will surprise you’ is the chainsaw. It’s way stronger than you expect and really does replace gas, finally ending my string of buying new gas chainsaws every 2-3 years because I’m simply congenitally incapable of sticking to the kind of simple preventative maintenance they require. And on top of that and one thing they don’t seem to tout but I love is that it’s quiet enough that you don’t need ear protection, so you can actually hear what is going on around you which I consider to be a major safety improvement. Durable too.

  120. 120.

    They Call Me Noni

    @Professor Bigfoot: I just now ordered one for Mr. Noni that uses Dewalt batteries (he has several) for Christmas.  He is impossible to buy for and we have a long driveway.

    I can’t believe I didn’t know about this tool before now.  Truly a full service blog!

  121. 121.

    Elizabelle

    @YY_Sima Qian:  There is a 60 day period for public comments, and that will be lit.

    Actually, we should all comment on how this will tank the economy, particularly in red states and others that depend on tourism.

    I have also wondered if some international visitors who are here for lifesaving surgery (especially children) come in on a tourist visa?  That’s a humanitarian issue (Trump won’t care) AND could mean American hospitals see less patients with challenging cases (which I think keeps medical research current– oops — another thing Trump and RFKJr don’t believe in).

    That Customs and Border Patrol is a wish list.  Maybe we can ensure they don’t get it.  At all.

    DNA!  Because they’re all criminals?  Christ.

  123. 123.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Leto: International tourism is already down, though by less than I expected (I can only find numbers from the spring, but international visits were down about 14% off 2024, then–down 26% from Canada). If all this stands it’s going to cause a new round of trip cancellations. I certainly wouldn’t go to a place that asked for all this; it’d be a deal-breaker.

    It’s going to hit the economy of Florida hard but they don’t seem to care for some reason.

  124. 124.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Elizabelle:

    I have also wondered if some international visitors who are here for lifesaving surgery (especially children) come in on a tourist visa?  That’s a humanitarian issue (Trump won’t care)

    He’ll care, he loves that kind of thing. Killing foreign children shows you’re tough.

  126. 126.

    Professor Bigfoot

    @Elizabelle: I am continually reminded of something that Adam said years ago— about a strategy of “probe with bayonets, if you meet mush, continue, if you meet steel hold.”

    This administration has hit nothing but mush so far.

  128. 128.

    Elizabelle

    @Professor Bigfoot:  Or they act like they’ve only hit mush.  When they hit steel, they just pretend they did not and strike another site.

    This administration actually creates its own reality (as journalist Ron Susskind got someone in the Cheney-Bush regime to admit they thought they did).

    And the Supreme Court and Big Media $$$ are so damned supine.

  130. 130.

    Bupalos

    @Matt McIrvin: It’s going to hit the economy of Florida hard but they don’t seem to care for some reason.

    I don’t think Florida is particularly unique in this dynamic. The majority of people can’t or won’t accurately connect cause and effect. And they become less able to do so as they are more stressed. This is the post-truth authoritarian feedback-loop. I think the “conservative” movement has been developing a growing consciousness of this reality over the past couple decades.

    To a point, they benefit politically by making people’s lives worse

    I think this is important to keep in mind because a lot of our discourse on this side of the spectrum seems to still assume a kind of almost institutional function of democratic self-correction, and relies on traditional laws of political gravity. Post-truth authoritarianism is actually able to warp that and create new kinds of gravity.

  131. 131.

    NotMax

    @schrodingers_cat

    “We’ve uncovered a version of the Bill of Rights which includes a “beſt if uſed by” date appended to each of the 10 amendments. Originalism in its purest form.”
    //

  135. 135.

    Soprano2

    @Scout211: So much for them being upset about censorship. I’m sure all the free speech warriors who were howling about conservatives being censored on social media will be right out there saying how outraged they are by this. s/s/s/s/s/s/s/s/s/s

  136. 136.

    Bupalos

    @Elizabelle: Agree. I was going to say– they have hit points of resistance, like the judiciary, which is not yet sufficiently purged or weakened, despite capture of the supreme court.

  137. 137.

    Elizabelle

    @schrodingers_cat:  I can see a fingerprint.  DNA is way more intrusive.

    I don’t recall if I’ve had to provide a fingerprint; it goes by so fast, but I kind of think I did do so on a recent trip.  You are just trying to get through passport control.  I know they’ve got the (biometric?) cameras now, and they check you against your passport photo too.

    Anyone else remember being fingerprinted on entering a European country?  Turkey?

  139. 139.

    Professor Bigfoot

    @Elizabelle: And the Supreme Court and Big Media $$$ are so damned supine.

    I don’t think they’re cowed, or afraid, or bullied.

    I believe they are unindicted co-conspirators.

    That their goals align with the GOP’s goals align with Trump’s goal of a white male supremacist America.

  142. 142.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Steve in the ATL:

    zoom.us/j/99638148566?pwd=dyszZkwxdldCVnp2YWx1WGRMcDZyZz09

    From Google:

    “South Carolina is too small for a republic, but too large for an insane asylum,” was said by South Carolinian Unionist lawyer and politician James Louis Petigru (1789-1863) in December 1860, after his state seceded, expressing his dismay at its secession and predicting doom, highlighting its extreme politics and small size, a sentiment reflecting the state’s deep divisions over slavery and states’ rights leading to the Civil War.

    I know some great folks in Charleston. It sucks so hard for them.

  143. 143.

    Elizabelle

    @Leto:  You raise an excellent point re the World Cup.

    FIFA and all the sponsors have to be screaming about this.

    Would they even award hosting the World Cup to a country that required such intrusive procedures to even get a tourist visa?  I think  they would not.

    Is this a Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller fantasy that never got properly run by whatever adults might be in the Trump Administration?  (And no, an adult does not come to mind.  But there must be one or two.  Maybe the Solicitor General?)

  145. 145.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Professor Bigfoot: They back off on stuff all the time. It just depends on who complains. We were going to have gigantic, economy destroying tariffs on essentially all other countries but they’re nowhere near that high. We were going to annex Canada and Greenland!

    “TACO” is the finance guys’ acronym for it–they now bet on Trump immediately backing off from anything that angers them enough for them to complain about it. Of course, he’ll only back off enough to get them to quiet down.

  148. 148.

    Elizabelle

    @ Schrodinger’s Cat:

    Yep. Per ETIAS:  The EU has rolled out fingerprinting for non-EU travelers.  As of October 12, 2025, although they’re allowing six months for some cross-border entry points.

    I sort of recall being fingerprinted when I entered Germany before that date (mid September) , but it would make sense to start rolling it out in stages; maybe as a trial.  Who knows, maybe Germany required it sooner than the EU.

    Europe’s long-delayed Entry/Exit System (EES) officially starts rolling out today, October 12, marking a major change in how non-EU travelers enter and leave the Schengen Area.

    The system now requires all non-EU visitors to register their fingerprints and facial images when crossing into Europe’s passport-free zone.
    This new EU-wide biometric database will gradually replace manual passport stamps, digitally tracking travelers’ movements across 29 countries. The EES is set to be fully operational by April 10, 2026

    [ETIAS is The European Travel Information and Authorization System.]

  149. 149.

    prostratedragon

    @Leto:  I guess the organizers of these things are supposed to fall into place with the necessary bribes for their attendees to be exempted.

  150. 150.

    dww4

    @Betty Cracker: Re the Maddow TV style being grating on tv, I think the descriptor doesn’t really fit now that she’s on just once a week, and mostly starts off that Monday night show with an inspiring recap of all the recent  anti-Trump protests that aren’t being covered by the MSM.

  153. 153.

    Elizabelle

    @Baud:  Are you a lucky bug who has been there recently?

    Japan is on my two to three-year bucket list.  Would love to see it.  Have never been to Asia.  Thinking of combining it with a visit to friends in Australia.

  158. 158.

    Elizabelle

    @Baud:  Just back from looking at flights!  Although I think it will be 2027.  To see.  Never say never, and keep one’s eyes open.

  159. 159.

    Scout211

    Interesting (and creepy) read on Mother Jones this morning.  (archive.ph version)

    I Asked the Pentagon About Pete Hegseth’s Mentor. Then the Threats Started.

     

    Six weeks ago, Jack Posobiec asked me to comment on whether I have a “creepy fetish for Asian women.”

    That was one of several false and wildly personal allegations that the far-right pundit and newly minted member of the Pentagon press corps said that he planned to include in “a story that I’m writing about you.”

    I immediately understood his October 28 email to be a threat, though it was not made explicit. The day before, I had sent the Pentagon press office a series of questions concerning Eric Geressy, a senior Pentagon adviser to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Geressy, who served with Hegseth during a tour in Iraq in the mid-2000s, is part of the Pentagon effort to instill a “warrior ethos” within the US military. He now leads a team reviewing the role of women in the armed forces.

    . . .

    I had discovered that Geressy’s email address was linked to a public Goodreads page with a “currently reading” list that included various books featuring stories about “Asian wife sharing.” These pornographic works, with titles such as “Asian Wife Went With Her Dad’s Friend: A Cuckold Story,” appeared on the list alongside two books by Hegseth and a handful of military histories. They contain detailed descriptions of cuckolding, group sex, and scenes involving “ladyboys”—a term used to refer to Thai transgender women. The page, active since 2021, was taken down the day after I contacted the Pentagon and Geressy about it.

    I also asked about a 1997 domestic violence allegation against Geressy, about his dating habits, and past relationships with foreign women. I inquired if the Pentagon had assessed those relationships as part of Geressy’s security clearance process, and, more broadly, if his personal life might create concerns about his susceptibility to foreign influence operations.

    . . .

    Posobiec’s email arrived the day after my initial inquiries. The false claims he asked about, particularly the Asian fetish thing, seemed to mirror my questions. Posobiec, who in 2016 promoted the bogus Pizzagate conspiracy theory, gave me a deadline, 5 p.m. on October 29, that was the same as the one I had given the Pentagon press office. A Pentagon spokesperson and Posobiec both denied coordination. Geressy declined to comment. But considering the questions, timing, and Posobiec’s links to Defense Department officials, the situation seemed clear. This was either an incredible coincidence or a deliberate message: Publish your article and get smeared.

    Posobiec’s email claimed I have “a history of objectifying women,” and that I had engaged in some kind of misconduct. The email also included questions about my marriage.

    . . .

    On Wednesday night, after weeks of silence, I heard from Posobiec again. He said he was “finalizing my story,” and wanted to know if me, my wife, “or your in-laws” wished to comment. His message arrived an hour and forty minutes after I wrote to Geressy, posing some last questions and telling him I was “finalizing this story.”

    Trump’s Pentagon wants reporters to be not just docile recipients of the administration’s preferred narratives but active propagandists. That is a direct attack on the free press. It is also an insidious danger. It threatens to make us bad at our jobs. It can be harder work to treat people whom we cover critically like complete human beings, people who deserve empathy and a real chance to explain themselves. If the department yanks credentials for tough reporting, if a press secretary just attacks a story without engaging with questions, and if inquiries draw personal attacks, why give spokespeople, or the officials they work for, any opportunity to respond at all?

    Much, much more at the link.

  162. 162.

    dnfree

    @Layer8Problem: I had the “inability to reply” to a comment last night.  No matter how many times I tried, the code to connect to the reply did not show up and the comment box remained blank.  Also Firefox on Windows 11. It worked to reply to you now, though, on an iPad with Safari.

  163. 163.

    They Call Me Noni

    @UncleEbeneezer: My heart goes out to you sir.  I hope your trip brings you some measure of peace and closure.

    Our previous home burned in February 2014.  Total loss.  I cannot imagine the devastation of whole neighborhoods gone.

    In our case the one saving grace was that our insurance company was very easy to deal with.  I hope you are experiencing the same, but reporting and replacing everything you own is like having a whole nother full-time job.

  165. 165.

    Eyeroller

    @coin operated: When I had one, for Top Secret (Q, yes I was a Q) you had to provide past addresses for something like 20 years. That was before social media existed so I don’t know what the current requirements for that are.​

  166. 166.

    Elizabelle

    @UncleEbeneezer:  So glad you are making the trip.  May it all go more smoothly than you are expecting.  You will be a welcome face to your friends and any California neighbors you encounter.

  167. 167.

    cain

    @Betty Cracker: ​
     
    Speaking of history, talkingpointsmemo had a great thing about East India Company that I thought I was pretty good. Essentially, a lot of people got rich (if they survived) and had a lot of influence over the the British govt.

  168. 168.

    Raoul Paste

    @Baud: I met a world traveler at a reunion and she told me that Australia was her favorite destination.  Any city or attraction in particular?

  170. 170.

    frosty

    @Eyeroller: ​When I had one, for Top Secret (Q, yes I was a Q) you had to provide past addresses for something like 20 years.

    I remember reading that around the time I got out of college, so I started keeping track. That’s how I figured out I’d moved 15 times in 5 years. Counting all the friends’ couches I crashed on when I was between apartments, jobs, etc.

    Now, I’ve been at the same address since 2003, so just one in the last 20 years.

  173. 173.

    StringOnAStick

    @Betty Cracker: Thanks for this suggestion on Maddow’s history of this subject.  We visited the Tule Lake camp last summer and it was an education to be sure.  I’d love to hear more!

  176. 176.

    trollhattan

    One year earlier, on Dec 3, The Beatles released Rubber Soul, the record that primarily inspired Pet Sounds, and then Revolver came out 8-5-66. Nothing would be the same in the music world after those three. As a postscript, by the time they finished Revolver The Beatles had decided they were done with touring. Next stop: Sgt Peppers.

  177. 177.

    trollhattan

    IMHO “Abolish ICE” is the wrong framing and will go over like a lead balloon among the “persuadable.”

    I’d prefer breaking DHS back into its components and dealing with the parts individually, special [ahem] focus on ICE and Boarder Patrol, both of which need reining in/reinvention. They’re gonna call you “soft on immigration” no matter what.

  178. 178.

    Doc Sardonic

    @Professor Bigfoot:

    I had a thought recently, much like a flash of movement caught in the corner of your eye, and your comment brought it to the front of my mind. There is an old saying that history doesn’t repeat, but it rhymes. It seems much like our weather runs in ~80-100 year cycles, history’s rhyme meter is much the same.

  179. 179.

    Deputinize America

    AITAH:

    I run a small, moderately successful merchant bank in London with the help of a single assistant. I pay that assistant a weekly wage commensurate with his skills and that wage is appropriate to the area.

    I work very hard, don’t really take time off for holidays, and need his assistance whenever I am conducting business. His performance is adequate, but nothing great, and he is demanding a single holiday shift off as well as his pay for the full day’s wages for that skipped holiday shift.

    WIBTAH in either telling him to work the holiday or that I’m considering stopping his wages for the day that he isn’t doing his job?

  181. 181.

    Captain C

    @Matt McIrvin:

    It’s going to hit the economy of Florida hard but they don’t seem to care for some reason.

    Unfortunately, the majority of Florida folks probably would vote for a Republican conscious Cat 6 hurricane that openly promised to kill them and wreck their state permanently over voting for a competent Democrat.

    If said residents could find a way to do this without harming our Ms. Cracker and the rest of the good people there, I’d be fine with that.  Unfortunately, many good people would get hurt by this, so we have to keep fighting and hoping for better things.

  183. 183.

    Captain C

    @Elizabelle:

    And the Supreme Court and Big Media $$$ are so damned happily complicit supine.

    Fixed that for you (though supine definitely works in this context too, it’s just deliberate on their part IMHO).

    ETA:  or what the good professor said at #139

  184. 184.

    trollhattan

    @Baud: ​
    Interesting. What will be their excuse for keeping him be, now?

    Or will they release him with an invoice for $750/day room and board?

  185. 185.

    trollhattan

    Predictably petty people are petty, as predicted.

    “The Trump administration jettisoned a plan to honor the abolition of slavery, women’s suffrage and the civil-rights movement on quarters for the nation’s 250th birthday,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

    “Those themes were part of a proposed five-quarter special series that went through years of debate and design but was never officially announced by the U.S. Mint. They were replaced with images inspired by the Mayflower Compact, the Revolutionary War and the Gettysburg Address.”

  186. 186.

    Peale

    @Deputinize America: Really depends on the holiday. Is it Michaelmas? Because no one really should be giving out freebies for Michaelmas. If its Michaelmas, you’re definitely not the asshole here.

    That said, I can sense that that struggle you’re having here is probably related to some deeper issues that you may have had in your life. For a small fee, I can send three of my best counselors over for a visit to get to the heart of the matter at a time that’s convenient to you.  You say that you never take days off, but does that mean your nights are free? We’re available then. We can come over after you’ve completed digested your beef and potato dinner.

  188. 188.

    Captain C

    @Doc Sardonic:

    It seems much like our weather runs in ~80-100 year cycles, history’s rhyme meter is much the same.

    Long enough for living memory of bad things and fuckups to die off.

  192. 192.

    Elizabelle

    @Captain C:  I know. You would think people could understand from, like, reading.  Or even watching film footage.  Because a lot was written at the time, and after.

    But no.

    Touchdown!  I gotta check Amazon for more sales.

  194. 194.

    Elizabelle

    @Captain C:  Don’t hurt the manatees and Florida’s innocent wildlife, either.  Even the too numerous iguanas.

    Burmese pythons?  Have at them, hurricane.

  195. 195.

    Professor Bigfoot

    @Elizabelle:  Therein lies another facet of the problem: Americans simply do not read.

    I would wager that the majority of Republican voters have not read a book since that last one they were assigned in high school— and they may well have cheated on that.

    ”These are not serious people. These are not intelligent people.”

  196. 196.

    Another Scott

    @frosty: WP/Browser quirks are indeed annoying.

    I use Brave or Chrome everywhere.  Things mostly work in ways I can deal with (I prefer the Code tab as the Visual tab puts in extra white space that drives me nuts).  But, of course, the Chrome-based browsers don’t show the rotating tags in the banner (it appears briefly then vanishes).  :-/

    One of the tiny annoyances that’s the cost of good conversations on a free site run by great people.

    ;-)

    Thanks.

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  197. 197.

    Elizabelle

    @Professor Bigfoot:  They are not curious people, apparently.  Curiosity is so underrated.

    And, do they contract their thinking out?  To their pastors?  To their coworkers and associates?

  200. 200.

    SFAW

    @Professor Bigfoot: ​
     
    Back when I’d comment here more frequently, J R in WV and I seemed to have an unofficial/unacknowledged competition to see who could make the most dead-thread comments. Since he left us, I am less inclined to kill threads that way. [Although some might opine that my commenting at any point will hasten a thread’s demise.]

  201. 201.

    Peale

    @Matt McIrvin: The problem is that a lot of the people with money and power at the moment are techbros who are totally into creating that sci-fi dystopia. Its data. Big data. That will need a lot of whirling chips to process.

  204. 204.

    wjca

    @Soprano2: I’m not sure most people can even remember all of that stuff!

    Not only did I never know all my relatives various email addresses (beyond the one I use), I wouldn’t bet on remembering all of the email addresses I myself have used in that time.  Fortunately, there will be no way for them to check all that information.  Certainly not more that 1 email and phone number per person.  Quite possibly not even the names of your various relatives.

    Basically, it’s not information gathering or anything like vetting tourists.  It’s just inconvenience and intimidation.

  207. 207.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Soprano2: They’re already giving entering tourists off-the-cuff 5-year bans for having said mean stuff about Trump on social media. That’s been going on for months but it’s probably pretty haphazard. This reminds me of nothing so much as the McCarran-Walter Act nonsense during the McCarthy era, when they basically banned any foreign national who had ever publicly expressed a leftist opinion from entering the US.

  208. 208.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Professor Bigfoot: The late William Safire got a lot of mileage from putting “nattering nabobs of negativism” into Spiro Agnew’s mouth.​
     

    ETA: How many right-wingers have there been since him who were well-read and entertaining? I’d bet the list is very short.

  210. 210.

    catclub

    @schrodingers_cat: ​
     

    Doesn’t this intrusion into the privacy of visitors infringe the first amendment.

    All the rights you think you have when in the US are not there at the borders. And the Border Patrol can operate within something like 100 miles of the border
    as ‘ border’.

  213. 213.

    Geminid

    From this morning’s Politico Playbook:

       After weeks of back and forth, the Indiana State Senate is expected to gavel in at 1:30 p.m. for its final gerrymander vote. The debate could last hours. There are 50 members of the Senate– 40 Republicans and 10 Democrats. They need a simple majority to approve the House-passed maps.

    According to Politico Indiana reporter Adam Wren* the vote is expected to be close. If there is a tie, the pro-gerrymander Lt. Governor will break it.

    * Great name! “The name’s Wren. Adam Wren.”

  214. 214.

    Matt McIrvin

    @catclub: The Trump Administration takes that much further and believes that Bill of Rights protections ONLY apply to citizens (and they get to say who is a citizen).

    The executive’s claimed power to deport non-citizen immigrants at will is the hook they hang it all on. They basically think it gives them the power to do anything: arbitrary imprisonment without trial, torture, etc.

  215. 215.

    wjca

    @Elizabelle: DNA!  Because they’re all criminals?

    No. DNA because that’s how you can tell whether their ancestry is pure!

    Being a criminal?  Not really a concern for these people, except (verbally, but not really) when campaigning.

  216. 216.

    Peale

    @wjca: Yep. Originally I thought they were looking for something. Like just a few news stories about some German tourist that was turned away at the border of a planned trip to Disney World because his signature block included pronouns would be enough to make it so only right wing tourists would come to the US. Suck it libs. You need to be a full bore AFD member for at least 5 years before you’ve even earned the right to visit Niagara Falls.

    But this is just a bunch of paperwork that even right wingers are going to turn away. “What do you mean, you don’t know your sister’s current cell phone number. Denied!”

  218. 218.

    Elizabelle

    Heather Cox Richardson conversed with Paul Krugman today.  I just caught the last few minutes, but it’s already up on her website.

    And, yesterday (?) she had a nice suggestion:  do NOT buy a subscription to her Substack.  It is out there for free; she does not need the money.  Buy a subscription to a smaller publication (maybe especially local) that needs the $$$ or might go under.  HC Richardson says that if she ever actually does need money, she will tell us.

    This came up in her discussion of the odious, odiferous Oracle Edgelords (Larry and David Ellison), who already consumed Paramount and are now going after Warner Brothers.  Jared Kushner is in the mix, and the Ellisons may be a front for several Saudi families, too.

  219. 219.

    Baud

    @Geminid:

    There are 50 members of the Senate– 40 Republicans and 10 Democrats.

     

    Jeez. Imagine if the US Senate were 80-20 in favor of Republicans.

  220. 220.

    catclub

    @Bupalos: “Before you post that, remember that the U.S. government may make use of it in unexpected contexts.”

     

    This should do wonders for burner phone sales.

    It is a similar approach to travel with a computer

    (perhaps when traveling for business) to authoritarian states.

  221. 221.

    Elizabelle

    Link to that Talking Point Memo article with the East India Company.  Apparently already a gift link.

    Will the 21st Century Nabobs Win Their War on Public Accountability?

    A friend of mine ran an analogy by me which really resonated. Perhaps others have drawn the comparison. I don’t know.

    In the late 18th century what would later evolve into the British Raj was coalescing into full British domination of the Indian subcontinent — especially after two key battles in 1757 and 1764 waged not by Britain but a private company called the British East India Company. That made it possible for what were often British men of relatively modest origins to build almost unimaginably large fortunes. Life in India was a matter of extremes for British operatives of the East India Company … Countless young Brits went out to India and died in short order. But if they could avoid dying in a relatively few years they could build these unimaginable fortunes. None of them wanted to stay. Virtually no Britons died of old age in India at the time. The whole point was to make as much money as possible in as little time as possible and get back to Great Britain while they were still alive. Then they would pour that money into an estate and land.

    They were called “nabobs,” a corruption of “nawab,” …

  222. 222.

    Another Scott

    @frosty: I remember being creeped out when I setup an online account at UPS years ago.  As I recall, for part of “verifying my identity” it rattled through a list of something like 20 addresses I’d had in the previous few decades and I had to pick out the correct ones.

    I assume they got them from a credit-report-type site.

    Presumably the feds can access such sites too, at least for some purposes, but I dunno if they need a warrant to do so or not.  It’s probably much easier for them if people supply the information voluntarily.

    I really wonder about what the world will be like in 10-20 years when everyone will have GB dossiers of nearly their entire lives.  And it seems that the warehouse-sized supply of creepy insects is out of the bag…

    :-/

    Thanks.

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  223. 223.

    Belafon

    @Peale: I saw a video on bsky of a company that has created a robot that they showed fighting the CEO. The robots model number is T800.

  224. 224.

    cain

    @E.: ​
     
    Forget music tours too. You think they are going to put up with that? You can forget any kind of foreign based shows, actors, and so on.

    You can bet that they will also start requiring that of U.S. citizens. If they can find a way to isolate immigrants who are citizens and apply rules to them they will.

    A lot of MAGA have foreign spouses too. This will absolutely affect everyone. They can’t even blame the Dems here.

  226. 226.

    Soprano2

    @Captain C: IMHO it’s not an accident that some people once again think fascism is a good idea, since most of the people who had a good memory of it have died (I know Spain was fascist into the 1970’s, but I don’t think many people knew much about that).

  229. 229.

    Belafon

    @Geminid:

    There are 50 members of the Senate– 40 Republicans and 10 Democrats.

     
    Dear Blue-Staters (not just here),

    Are you as brave as those ten Democrats?

  232. 232.

    cain

    @Scout211: ​
     

    Just showing that U.S. based corporations cannot be trusted. This will accelerate the move to UN/EU based digital infrastructure. The U.S. is no longer a beacon of freedom.

  233. 233.

    Deputinize America

    @catclub:

    Y’know, I went to frickin’ bona fide Communist countries with a smartphone, and nobody demanded a scrape.  Wandered about Beijing with it, Hanoi, HCMC, Da Nang, Laos.

    Never a word.  Wife went to Myanmar several times – no trouble at all.

    I suspect that they’ll start jacking with returning Americans at airports next.

  235. 235.

    Elizabelle

    @Gin & Tonic:

    How many right-wingers have there been since [William Safire] who were well-read and entertaining? I’d bet the list is very short.

    Perusing the FTF NY Times’ list of post 1980s columnists should find you several  They are always on the lookout for same.  No icky Democrats need apply for a really longterm tenure.  (Notice how they keep fleeing.  Interesting, that.)

    #Fuck the Sulzbergers and editor Joe “Clueless” Kahn.

  236. 236.

    Captain C

    @Elizabelle:

    Don’t hurt the manatees and Florida’s innocent wildlife, either.  Even the too numerous iguanas.

    Burmese pythons?  Have at them, hurricane.

    Agree with all of this.

  239. 239.

    Geminid

    @Geminid: This morning’s Playbook also had some background on yesterday’s Federal Reserve action. The 12-member Federal Reserve board voted for quarter-point interest rate cut. Three members dissented. One wanted a larger cut, and two wanted no cut. “A number of regional fed leaders, who didn’t vote, opposed the cut.”

    And this is a wild story from news aggregator “OSINTdefender” (who likes commas):

       Overnight, for the first time since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began, the Ukrainian Armed Forces carried out a drone attack on Lukoil’s Filanovsky Oil Platform, part of Russia’s largest oil field in the Caspian Sea, with at least four long-range drones striking the platform, starting several fires and forcing extraction to stop at more than twenty oil and gas platforms.

    I don’t know how far those drones had to fly, but the Caspian Sea is a long way from Ukraine.

  240. 240.

    wjca

    @schrodingers_cat: Doesn’t this intrusion into the privacy of visitors infringe the first amendment.

    They are increasingly taking the position that Constitutional rights only apply to citizens.  (And not necessarily to them.)  It will be no surprise if the Supine Court provides a ruling to that effect

    EDt:  @Matt McIrvin: got there first

  241. 241.

    Dave

    @Scout211: I’d almost forgotten about Posobiec who is a much bigger shit heel than Hegseth himself.

    The worst people who can’t even aspire to genuine mediocrity outside of a very malignant and carefully crafted value system.

  246. 246.

    Aziz, light!

    @Baud: Disney making $1 billion investment in OpenAI, will allow characters on Sora AI video generator

    I read this as “Sora Aoi video generator.” In the 2000s, Sora Aoi was the most popular AV idol (nude model and porn actress) in Japan who is still a big celebrity there and I thought, wow, Disney is making porn videos?

  248. 248.

    Leto

    @Matt McIrvin: ​ I saw an opinion piece in the WaPo arguing this point. Didn’t read it because most of their opinion pieces as of late are simply laundered far-right talking points.

  252. 252.

    trollhattan

    Grampa decides a thing.

    “After the U.S. military seized a large crude oil tanker off the Venezuelan coast, President Donald Trump suggested the ship’s contents could remain in U.S. possession,” CNBC reports.

    Said Trump: “Well, we keep it, I guess.”

    He’s giving it to Barron to play with, isn’t he. “Here son, I got you a boat.”

  254. 254.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Soprano2: A little while ago I was poking around YouTube looking for funky old broadcast TV visual effects and stumbled on a recording of a Franco-era Spanish state TV sign-off, and discovered in the comments to my chagrin that there are a LOT of people in Spain who are nostalgic for Spanish fascism.

  256. 256.

    RaflW

    @YY_Sima Qian: United and Delta (and probably American) are all banking on a blockbuster 2026 of travel to–from Europe. Adding city pairs, putting bigger planes on routes, etc.

    More of that is about what they think American travelers will do, but our economy is probably a lot flimsier than most will admit. If the looming recession starts to bite a bit harder, poof there goes optional travel.

    I saw one data point that suggested Delta’s flights are 80/20 US vs European origin passengers. But in modern flight economics, if you lose 5 points in summer loads (so one quarter of Delta’s expected EU travelers say “Oh hell no” to these pre-clear requirements) their break-even point is in range. And fares tend to decline to try to fill the planes.

    One also wonders what EU entry rules might crop up to ‘reciprocate’

    eta: Add in the abusive new foreigner-fees to go to National Parks, and whole vacation plans here in the US may be wrecked. [CO Public Radio: “A $100-per-person charge for foreigners entering Rocky Mountain, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon and other popular national parks is stoking apprehension among some tourist-oriented businesses that it could discourage travelers”]

  257. 257.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Leto: What’s to stop them from simply declaring any citizen they don’t like an “illegal alien”? You say you’re a citizen and you want to fight it in court? Sorry, illegal aliens don’t get to do that.

  262. 262.

    Baud

    Anyone know who Adam Mockler of CNN is?

    Mockler: As much as the Trump admin tries to act like it’s different from prior Republican administrations, they’re doing the same thing. They cut taxes for the richest, they cut benefits for the poorest, and then they go to war for either regime change or for oil.

  263. 263.

    Kelly

    We just caught the edge of the atmospheric river flooding Washington state. No flooding but we’re breaking records for the warmest low temperatures. Salem Oregon was 55 breaking the old record of 52 set in 1929. That’s why we call these events a Pineapple Express

  264. 264.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    These changes are going to be devastating for Disney, which i will remind everyone has been consistently good on DEI & LGBTQ+ issues, stood up to DeSantis, and renewed Kimmel. It’s not a good thing.

    The only plus is there are quite a few right-wing small businesses that get significant revenue from tourists. May they weep.

  265. 265.

    tobie

    @UncleEbeneezer: Goldman always performs well in hearings and he has been sponsoring legislation to support immigrants and applications for visas since coming to Congress in 2023. Last night I linked to his legislative record, looking only at the bills he’s sponsored. Yes, he’s great on tax policy and immigration. What I overlooked was that he and Becca Balint wrote the Community Housing Act in 2024 to boost home construction and make housing more affordable. I don’t think “affordability, affordability, affordability” is his mantra, as it is for other public figures, but he’s been doing work on this for some time.

  267. 267.

    Kathleen

    @Raven: Thank you, Raven! I’m already hooked listening to the first part which starts in 1939. I grew up listening to Benny Goodman and my dad had a vinyl recording of his 1938 concert in Carnegie Hall. I love big band swing/jazz and this history is wonderful.

  269. 269.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    @YY_Sima Qian: I can’t imagine possible foreign visitors going through all this just to visit Yellowstone, New Orleans, or Disneyland. I certainly wouldn’t. The US will clearly lose billions in foreign tourist $ if this goes through. Can only imagine the screams from areas who depend on tourists. Does Donald think tourists only go to blue states? Ask LA and FL for starters.

  270. 270.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    @Bruce K in ATH-GR: When I visited Greece in 2018, I loved emailing my husband. It was like time-travel. I’d send him an email in the afternoon and he would get it that morning in CA.

  271. 271.

    Old School

    @Baud:

    Anyone know who Adam Mockler of CNN is?

    He’s part of Meidas Touch.  A frequent guest on CNN (at least based on how often his clips show up in my social media).

  278. 278.

    geg6

    @Baud:

    A Gen Z You Tuber.  He’s very good.

    ETA: He’s part of the Meidas Touch Network and might be the best thing they have.  Like I said above, he’s very good.  He pantses Scott Jennings on the regular.

  280. 280.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Professor Bigfoot: of course. I even do it on purpose, figuring lurkers and folks who do a look back to check, might see it.
    but certainly one’s comments could end up being nearly invisible.

  281. 281.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @YY_Sima Qian: that’s an equally bad thing about this. We could have had meetups in any city near your travels, and some of us might have met you.
    gol darn it. At least you have stunning national parks where you are, too… but dang, Yellowstone, Tetons, Grand Canyon, canyon lands, redwoods…

  282. 282.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Scout211: yikes. I need to look into this; this is important
    I went to blue sky, hoping to connect, and be ready to quit Facebook.
    it’s certainly more negative points for Facebook.

    WaterGirl, other front pagers, do you think scouts comment is worthy of its own thread?

  283. 283.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Professor Bigfoot: Hmm. I’ve got one of their snow throwers but that thing looks like it’d be more useful in tight spaces, like around the cars when they’re up on the driveway. Never saw it before. I guess it uses the same cells as the other gadgets?

  284. 284.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Baud: I got the heck out of there, but it wasn’t what I was interested in anyway– in the years right *after* the Generalissimo kicked off, the state network TVE was doing wonderful, freaky things with analog video tools like Scanimate in their idents and such, and a bit later with early CGI.

  287. 287.

    Chris T.

    @Layer8Problem:

    Anybody else seeing an utterly blank comment box show up when you hit the Reply button, with no pre-placed name with link of the person one is replying to?

    All. The. Time. For about 10000 years now. It hits about 50% of the time, at random.

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