Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

This blog will pay for itself.

Jesus watching the most hateful people claiming to be his followers

If you can’t control your emotions, someone else will.

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

That meeting sounds like a shotgun wedding between a shitshow and a clusterfuck.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

The arc of the moral universe does not bend itself. it is up to us to bend it.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

When we show up, we win.

Decision time: keep arguing about the last election, or try to win the next one?

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

This chaos was totally avoidable.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Excellent Links / Saturday Morning Open Thread: The Season’s Upon Us

Saturday Morning Open Thread: The Season’s Upon Us

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Like so many people here, my Christmas tree is a celebration of my love for my Christian faith, which is why it's festooned with Superman, Batman, and Apollo's hand holding the Enterprise in space

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— Tom Nichols (@radiofreetom.bsky.social) December 6, 2025 at 11:43 AM

Reminds me of this

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— 07kc07.bsky.social (@07kc07.bsky.social) December 6, 2025 at 11:48 AM

David Gauvey Herbert does some great shoe leather reporting to track down a series of men who played Santa Claus at Macy's famous Santaland in New York. Their stories are even more amazing than you could imagine. @jacobfeldman.bsky.social's top pick www.esquire.com/lifestyle/a6…

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— The Sunday Long Read (@thesundaylongread.bsky.social) December 7, 2025 at 9:27 AM

David Herbert, for Esquire — “Playing Santa Does Strange Things to a Man. What It Did to Bob Rutan Was Even Stranger”:

… The 1947 film Miracle on 34th Street established that the one true Santa Claus operates out of the store’s flagship Herald Square location. After a parade float delivers him to Macy’s on Thanksgiving morning, you can find him there on the eighth floor, wedged between an in-store cooking school and a clothing department, deep in a labyrinth of Christmas kitsch called Santaland.

Macy’s has safeguarded this mystique for eighty years. When journalists ask the company who plays Santa, a spokeswoman insists again and again, like a stubborn witness giving a deposition: “Santa is Santa.” The several hundred men who have worn the red suit at Santaland likewise observe an omertà. “We have a vow of secrecy about not talking about Macy’s operations,” says Brian DePetris, who worked as Santa for twenty-one years. “When you break that, it’s like you’re betraying the brotherhood.”

After their shifts, they walk out the front door of Macy’s, a bit of red around their jaws where they’ve rubbed acetone to take off the beard glue, and then dissolve into the masses of Christmas shoppers. Santa sees you when you’re sleeping, but he also sees you on the sidewalk, on the F train, and in line at the grocery store. He remembers your visit but says nothing.

In the mid-2000s, the company pulled back the curtain for a cheesy reality show you can now find only on YouTube called Unwrapping Macy’s. The cable program followed a tall, handsome executive named Bob Rutan as he helped manage the store’s many events: inflating balloons before the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, rearranging orchids at the annual Macy’s Flower Show, and training elves for Macy’s Santaland.

Bob agreed to meet me for lunch on a hot August afternoon. Now in his mid-sixties, he was almost unrecognizable from his reality-show days. Long hair fell to his shoulders, framing a wearied, still-handsome face. In the two decades since the show aired, a hundred thousand American Spirits had yellowed Bob’s fingers and turned his voice to gravel. Instead of the Hugo Boss suit and French cuffs he wore at Macy’s, he had on a Stetson and black boots, but the result was less cowboy than derelict. The look had some upside: He occasionally found poorly paid work as a background actor, playing a homeless person.

Bob scanned the menu with interest and ordered with confidence, and for a moment I saw the man who once regularly dined in nice joints like this one, on an expense account, or with credit cards he struggled to pay off, or perhaps as a gift from a vendor, the kind that helped get him fired from Macy’s. As Bob grazed for French fries that had fallen off his plate, he revealed that he’d been a Macy’s Santa himself before his ill-fated corporate run. I was meeting a lot of middle-aged men who felt their lives had been saved by the red suit. But Bob’s life had gone in reverse. After his Santa work came career implosion, tax liens, and family heartache.

And yet his singular trajectory at Macy’s—from a Santa Claus to the executive in charge of the Santa Clauses—makes Bob a sort of skeleton key to Santaland. For years, journalists have asked Macy’s Santas to reveal the secrets of the red-suit fraternity. Most refused. But when I text a man named Tarantino Smith, I tell him Bob Rutan sent me.

“Yes,” he writes back. “I’m available next week.”

Paul Kochman, who spent one December in the red suit and six more as a special Santaland manager dubbed a straw boss, invites me to McCarthy’s Pub on West Forty-sixth Street, a glass of clear liquor in his hand, and then spirits me to a private spot upstairs. “It’ll probably be a bit of teeny-weeny secret spilling,” he says.

Frank Pascuzzi, who worked at Macy’s for five years and legally changed his name to Santa Claus in 2012, drives me to a red-sauce joint on Long Island where the Bolognese is so thick with sugar that his glucose monitor beeps. “Bob fed into the magic,” he says. But Macy’s isn’t a magic show. It’s a $5 billion corporation. “I guess corporate won.”

Each of these men was working a gig, channeling a myth for twenty dollars an hour. And yet every man I spoke with told me that he knows—doesn’t think, knows—that in at least one sit, with at least one kid, he really was Santa Claus. Not that he’d fooled the child. Not that his Method acting had convinced even himself.

No, he knows as sure as Catholics know a round wafer becomes the body of Christ that he really was inhabited by Santa himself.

I heard about these moments again and again. But I never heard a story of transubstantiation like the one Bob told me hunched over his steak frites. For a few minutes, half a lifetime ago, Bob was Santa Claus…

Reader Interactions

203Comments

  8. 8.

    Suzanne

    Expecting a snowstorm later today, which means: NOT LEAVING THE HOUSE! I went to the store last night and am all set to chill, baby, chill.

  10. 10.

    Ramalama

    The Santaland story as a good take, carrying itself well against the inevitable comparison of David Sedaris’ Santaland Diaries.

    @Percysowner: Same. Six to Eight Black Men was my favorite for years. Then I watched Atlanta, the series, where a black rapper goes to Amsterdam to tour…and it’s unsettling what they encounter during the Christmas season. The rampant blackfaces …. No slight on Sedaris. I love his writing.

  11. 11.

    frosty

    @Suzanne: Same storm is coming to us this evening. Unfortunately I have to go to the grocery store- I’m out of bread! Thanks to Costco though, we’re good on TP until Spring

  12. 12.

    Suzanne

    @MagdaInBlack: After the stress with our dog last week, as well as work stuff this week…. I am very happy to take the time to be calm and peaceful. I got ingredients for chili last night, so I’m gonna get that started.

    I am going to take the doggo for a long walk before the snow starts, though. She doesn’t like walking in it and sidewalk salt hurts her paws. Have tried to train her on the booties, with little success so far.

  13. 13.

    Ramalama

    @Suzanne: Did you buy a loaf of bread, a quart of milk, and a stick of butter? I always think of this cartoon from Sesame Street where a girl goes to the store herself for the first time. And somehow I mixed it in with shopping before a snowstorm.

  14. 14.

    Percysowner

    @BellyCat: ​ Santa Land is available on This American Life. They will ask for money, but you can X out and get to the reading. OTOH This American Life has some great episodes, so they are worth throwing money at.

    @Suzanne: ​ We are getting the same storm here, predicted to start around 1:00 I have a couple of errands to get to, so I’m going out the door early. If the snow starts early, I can just hunker down for the day and put things off.
    ​

  16. 16.

    MagdaInBlack

    @Suzanne: In my past life, one of my favorite winter things was walking the dogs when it was snowing. But, we were out in the country and they were BIG goofy dogs who loved it.

    Plus, how stunningly, beautifully quiet it is during a heavy snow.

  18. 18.

    Suzanne

    @MagdaInBlack: I agree! I lived with my grandparents when I was little, and my grandfather had huskies, so I had years of lovely snowy walks as a kiddo. Current pupper is a “sato”, a street dog rescued in Puerto Rico, and she does not share the huskies’ enjoyment of the snow!

    ETA: Her first winter with us, I took her for a snow walk, and she absolutely gave up about halfway through. I had to carry her back home. LOL.

  20. 20.

    WereBear

    @Suzanne: Have tried to train her on the booties, with little success so far.

     
    Or we can be too successful, as my mother’s Papillion refused to go for a walk if he didn’t have on the appropriate boots, coat, and hat.

  21. 21.

    lowtechcyclist

    Here at the north end of southern Maryland, it looks like snow in the pre-dawn hours tomorrow, but probably only around an inch. But it’s gonna get cold after that, so I think today’s the day for running errands, before probably helping out with concessions tonight as our local theatre troupe finishes up its run of the Addams Family musical.

  22. 22.

    Suzanne

    @MagdaInBlack: Eh. I don’t mind the cold as much as I mind the heat. John’s pictures of Tempe have been filling me with simultaneous nostalgia and revulsion. Like…. oh yeah, that’s my old stomping grounds! Remember feeling your skin roast off and your nose pour blood?!?!

  24. 24.

    MagdaInBlack

    @Suzanne: oh no! I could not do Arizona or any arid locale. Those pictures make me shudder. God bless the people who love it. I could not. I need water.

  28. 28.

    geg6

    @Suzanne:

    Same.  I have a grocery delivery coming in an hour and it’s curl up on the couch under a throw and watch it come down after that.

  29. 29.

    Nukular Biskits

    @prostratedragon:

    Indeed.

    I admit I did  not realize he was still kicking until I happened to run across a clip on Youtube where he discussed his most prominent film and TV roles, which led me to that Coldplay video, which led me to …

    A life well-lived, even with all the bumps and bruises along the way.

  30. 30.

    Nukular Biskits

    Temps expected to start falling like a rock tomorrow with Sun nite/Mon morning being in the 20’s down here.  Lows Mon nite/Tues morning just below freezing.

    Need to erect my little temporary greenhouse made of PVC and plastic sheeting so I can try to save the plants/flowers that I can move.

    I’ll try to cover the lantana, which his still blooming, out front but that may be for naught.

  32. 32.

    Scout211

    Good morning.

    Speaking of weather, I was about to complain that it’s cold, cold, cold in NorCal (highs on the mid-40s) and the fog bank has covered us all day long every day so we haven’t seen the sun for almost two weeks now.

    But you all set me straight with your freezing temps and snowstorms. I guess I can’t complain. Much. It does remind me why I left the Midwest and moved to NorCal, though.  Best decision ever.

    Stay warm and safe everyone. I do remember how it was and I’m glad I’m here, even in the dreary and (relative) cold.

  33. 33.

    Betty Cracker

    It’s Drunken Aunties Cookie Night, so I was up early prepping so we can set “the kids” (all older teens and 20-somethings now) to decorating straight away. It’s the only way to keep them on task. Highs in the mid-70s here, but a cold front is expected next week.

  35. 35.

    Nukular Biskits

    @Scout211:

    I agree … I can’t complain about the temps here, at least with respect to severe cold and days/weeks of it.

    The problem down here is all week the lows have been in the 30s/40s with highs in the upper 50s/60s, then yesterday it got to 75 (had to put on shorts), today in the low 70s, then dropping again.

    I hate temperature ping-pong.

  36. 36.

    frosty

    @Ramalama: The Baltimore trinity is bread, milk, and toilet paper. The stores are cleaned out if even 1″ is forecast. It’s like people think they’ll be stranded for weeks!

  37. 37.

    Scout211

    @Betty Cracker: Oooh, have fun! I know what could happen when the teens and the twenty-somethings decorate cookies.

    My sisters and I still talk about our very last Christmas cookie decorating party. There were two of us home from college and one still in high school. We went rogue on our mom when we mixed the frosting colors and created the ugliest cookies we could, with purples and browns and just really disgusting decorations.  We could not stop laughing hilariously and our mom could not stop giving us the side eye.

  38. 38.

    Deputinize America

    @MagdaInBlack:

    We had a couple of solid snows over the past week and a half. Expecting “ick” cold tonight and more light snow, BUT it’s an “in town” date night for a play (A Christmas Carol), dinner and shenanigans with a hotel room to follow. Dog to board, cats to be left with spare food, and heat turned up at home with cabinets left open.

    My plan involves an afternoon’s debauch followed by drinks and dinner and the show, and more drinks to follow in the multiple bars close to our hotel, followed by turning the heat to 75 in the hotel, followed by tomorrow’s hangover and a nice brunch somewhere.

  40. 40.

    Professor Bigfoot

    @Suzanne: Just the opposite for me— I miss the dry heat.

    For me all I had to do was drink plenty of water and avoid the sun. I went years with a car with no A/C.

    (‘course, it may be somewhat genetic— i have photos of my dad working in his garden in Tennessee in midsummer wearing long-sleeves and a beat up fedora— but the humidity is what kills me now!)

  42. 42.

    J.

    I just read the Esquire story and can’t stop crying. Great piece. (Hope Herbert didn’t do a Nuzzi and sleep with Santa.)

  43. 43.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    Keep Saturn in Saturnalia.

    Yesterday at the taberna I said “lo Saturnalia” to the cashier.  She said “Merry Xmas, sir” back to me.

    I smiled and said “You don’t have to be afraid anymore.  Emperor Julian has given us Saturnalia back.”

    She started crying tears of joy and said “lo Saturnalia” and then everyone in the taberna clapped.

  46. 46.

    Nukular Biskits

    Since this is an open thread, I’m reading a fascinating FTFNYT article shared by Cheryl Rofer on Bluesky:

    How Did the C.I.A. Lose a Nuclear Device?

    The plan was to spy on China, which had just detonated an atomic bomb. Stunned, the C.I.A. dispatched the climbers to set up all this gear — including the 50-pound, beach-ball-size nuclear device — on the roof of the world to eavesdrop on Chinese mission control.
    But right as the climbers were about to push for the summit, the weather went haywire. The wind howled, the clouds descended, a blizzard swept in and the top of the forbidding mountain, called Nanda Devi, suddenly disappeared in a whiteout.

    I admit, I only provided a teaser there.

    Good article, interactive.

    As I told Cheryl in my reply on Bluesky:

    Thanks for sharing this! Great read! It almost salvages the FTFNYT’s reputation as still being able to commit actual acts of journalism

    Caveat: I just started reading the article so there is the possibility towards the end Democrats will be blamed somehow.

  51. 51.

    Salty Sam

    @Ramalama: Did you buy a loaf of bread, a quart of milk, and a stick of butter?

    I used to work for H‑E‑B, Texas’ great grocery chain.  When hurricanes threatened, the stores always experience a mad rush to stock up on “essentials”- water, bread, milk, and eggs.  A store manager once asked me, “WTF!?! Are they planning to survive on French toast?”

  53. 53.

    Baud

    Wave of Gen-Z Unrest Fells Its First European Government

    Bulgaria’s government collapses following youth-driven street protests of the kind that have swept parts of the globe

     
    Two days ago. Missed the news.

  55. 55.

    Anonymous At Work

    Anyone want to give odds that the Republican “Do Something with Healthcare in the Title” bill will never get a CBO score on cost or on coverage?

    Also, goes without saying but waiting for David Anderson to casually rip it a new one.

  57. 57.

    p.a.

    Are youtube commercials targeted by analyzing my views?  Because I generally watch cooking travel star trek star wars critiques and lite-science stuff, but keep seeing these *warning!  Un-Christmassy comment next!!!*  fucking Baer “tactical hoodie” fucking commercials constantly.

    Thank you for your attention to this matter.

  61. 61.

    Just look at that parking lot

    The picture of Macy’s Santa Bob Ritan  looks a bit like Ted Nugent.  ( My apologies if I’ve ruined anyone’s day by having to read that name on this fine Saturday morning.)

  62. 62.

    Suzanne

    @Salty Sam:

    “WTF!?! Are they planning to survive on French toast?” 

    LOL. My plan is oatmeal, chili, and pitas with hummus to eat while I (pretend to) watch football to tomorrow. I already have plenty of TP. I could be good for weeks.

  63. 63.

    RevRick

    Our daughter and son-in-law’s car was totaled in a recent accident (she was stopped at a red light!), so we’re loaning them our second car until they get a replacement. Their car ended up with a bent axle.
    Meanwhile, I’m heading out for our PA-7 Climate Hope Affiliate meeting, which will include a national webinar featuring the Rev. Dr. Benjamin Chavis, who coined the term environmental racism, and gave birth to the United Church of Christ Environmental Justice Ministry.

    Still haven’t put up our tree.

  64. 64.

    Nukular Biskits

    This would be hilarious were the actual topic was not so serious:

    SAN: The military’s new AI says ‘hypothetical’ boat strike scenario ‘unambiguously illegal’

    An artificial intelligence chatbot unveiled by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday appears to have described airstrikes against suspected drug smugglers at sea as “unambiguously illegal.” The platform, powered by Google Gemini, has been made available to military personnel as part of the Pentagon’s effort to adopt AI.

    Disclosure:  I’m employed by a defense contractor and, earlier this week when I signed onto my gov’t IT laptop, there were 2 banners front ‘n’ center in which Hegseth triumphantly touted this AI and demanded the entire defense sector start using it.  This was followed up by an email (apparently) to all .mil accounts.

    Fuck that.

    ETA:  Had I more time this week, I would have fucked with this AI. I have a feeling after this story has now come out, it will be tweaked (much as have so many other AIs) to prevent such embarrassing answers from being provided.

  65. 65.

    mrmoshpotato

    @p.a.:

    fucking Baer “tactical hoodie” fucking commercials constantly. 

    But they’re TicTacal!  Dammit!  (I’m Gumby.)

  66. 66.

    Jeffro

    I think this year we might skip our usual Christmas Day viewing of DIE HARD, but we will probably stick with ordering Chinese or Thai for dinner.

    ah, traditions…

  67. 67.

    Percysowner

     

    My guilt over getting delivery has been assuaged, Kroger canceled all deliveries until Monday. I could switch to Instacart, but I don’t want anyone who doesn’t have to be out in the predicted weather to do it for me. Most of what I ordered was for making soup next week with my daughter, I have tons of stuff to live off the next few days.

  68. 68.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Greetings from Pasadena.  Starting Day 3 of my pilgrimage back to Altadena.  So far it’s been a great trip.   Our old lot, where our home stood eleven months ago is almost unrecognizable now, as is much of our beloved city.  So much so that standing in front of our place I had trouble even connecting it with the fifteen years I lived there (20+ for my wife).  Everything that made it our place is gone.  It’s a pretty brutal and complete erasure.  And the disconnect actually made it a bit tougher for me to really break down in the way that I was hoping to prompt by coming back here.  Weird.  A very WEIRD feeling.  It reminds me of when my Mom spiraled from cancer and I hadn’t seen her in 18 months or so.  When I showed up to see her in the hospital she was comatose and the cancer, chemo etc. had changed her so much that I found myself wondering if she was really my Mom.

    Anyways, what my old lot was unable to stir up, the overall experience of Altadena was happy to provide, lol.  The sheer scale of destruction is just unfathomable.  Like Katrina-level devastation.  Blocks and miles of nothing that used to be filled with homes.  It’s just fucking crazy!  I wandered around our old ‘hood, which is essentially the Eastern edge of where the real Ground Zero begins, and driven all over the city and it’s just mind-numbingly sad.  That said, people are rebuilding and good for them.  And flowers and weeds and grasses are all coming back as if nothing happened because as Jeff Goldblum said in Jurassic Park: life finds a way.  I’ve taken a shitload of pix and perhaps I’ll assemble them for some OTR posts if WG is game.  In addition to all the sadness and loss there are also examples of strange beauty and hope.  And the process of capturing them has been surprisingly good for my own processing and attempt to move on.

    Last night I got to see some old friends for a Happy Hour and today and tomorrow will be filled with much more of that plus some tennis, music and food.  By Monday I’ll be ready to go to my new home, Taos, and likely will feel like I don’t really need to come back here for a long time (in a good way), which is kinda the whole point.

  71. 71.

    Deputinize America

    @Jeffro:

    Have you given Violent Night a watch? Pretty great David Harbour vehicle, standard Santa setup at the start with a bit of Die Hard caper – he turns out to be a badass.

    Body count has to be in the 50s.

  72. 72.

    kalakal

    Am looking forward to eating something other than mush soon

    Been having a lot of ‘fun’ at the dentists in the last few weeks, several root canals, under gum cleaning etc.

    Having a break from that for a month so chewing beckons

  73. 73.

    Scout211

    O/T PSA:

    As of December 1st, Watch Duty is now live in all 50 states.

    December 1, 2025 — Watch Duty announced its expansion from 22 states to nationwide coverage, ensuring that every community now has access to verified, real-time wildfire information when it matters most.

    Founded just four years ago serving only a few California counties, Watch Duty has rapidly grown into one of the most trusted voices in public safety. The nonprofit organization is best known for its actionable wildfire alerts, but also provides air quality index, wind direction, and red-flag warnings delivered directly through the Watch Duty app.

    While Watch Duty’s core services remain free, ad-free, and accessible to everyone, the organization also offers a suite of advanced tools that offer deeper intelligence. These include enhanced mapping, weather insights, aircraft tracking, utility overlays, satellite detections, and other professional-grade features that are all trusted by frontline responders and delivered at a fraction of the cost of traditional commercial platforms.

    “We’re transforming how disaster information is shared by putting people, not profit, at the center,” said John Clarke Mills, Co-Founder and CEO of Watch Duty. “This nationwide expansion ensures no one faces disaster in the dark, like I was in 2021 when I founded Watch Duty. By bringing first responders and technologists together, we’re solving long-standing problems in public safety and we’re doing it better, faster, and together.”

    Wildfire is no longer a seasonal or local hazard. Nearly one in three Americans now lives in an area with significant wildfire risk, and drifting smoke from distant fires threatens millions more. Research reported by The Washington Post estimates that wildfire smoke contributes to more than 40,000 premature deaths in the U.S. each year, making it one of the nation’s deadliest environmental threats.

    Download iOS or Android

    ETA:  I just read Uncle Ebenezer at #68. The Watch Duty app was essential for so many during the LA fires.  Local updates, evacuation zones, shelters, meals, animal shelters, it was all on the app and helped so many people.

  75. 75.

    Deputinize America

    @Jeffro:

    Also, too – I watch Die Hard from the premise that Gruber is a good guy fulfilling his revolutionary ideals and liberating Nakatomi of dodgy bearer bonds. That company was into crooked shit (like Ellis) and everyone there deserved to suffer like bit players in an Uwe Boll Rampage movie.

  76. 76.

    Almost Retired

    @Deputinize America: Excellent plan!  We usually get a hotel when we go to the Hollywood Bowl or the Pantages, even though Hollywood isn’t that far away and kinda smells like urine and the tears of disappointed tourists.  It makes the show seem like more of an event and avoids depressing post-theater traffic.

  79. 79.

    Geminid

    @Jeffro: Have you tried Taste of China, at 29 and Rio? My friend Joan turned me on to them; best Chinese food I’ve gotten in Charlottesville.

  80. 80.

    Kayla Rudbek

    @RevRick: my tree is up, and lighted, but I have barely put any ornaments on it yet (and those few on the tree were new ones from my mom’s Christmas box).  I’ll decorate it more tomorrow during the snow as I don’t plan on going out tomorrow.

  82. 82.

    Kosh III

    Mid 50’s today in Warren County TN with temps plunging after midnight to 17 at 8am. Sunday will be low 20’s and wind(we always have lots of wind.) It will drop to 12 at 6am Monday then by the end of the week it will be pushing 70.

  83. 83.

    Chief Oshkosh

    The Chieftess and I were in Atlanta last night, visiting one of her friends from the justice reform world. She kindly cadged us an invitation to a private event in someone’s home with Senator Jon Ossoff (sp?) dropping by — basically a campaign event. It was an interesting evening. Ossoff remarked on the turning tide, that it’s real, and so real that he and others are worried about complacency (I guess you just can’t celebrate if you’re a Democrat…). However, most of his outlook was optimistic. He repeated several times that only the people could fix our horrible condition, that there would be no hero leader coming to the rescue.*

    Ossoff took only a few questions (his aide told me that Ossoff had come straight from the airport and hadn’t gotten home to see his kids and wife yet, so the aide’s job was to yank Ossoff out and get him home asap). A couple were about “what can we do to help?” A: Keep doing things like this event (Ossoff had noted several times that turnout was amazing for a home event a year out from the election), keep pushing back in everyday life, keep being free citizens.

    One question was, I kid you not, “My most important issue is bipartisanship — why can’t we all just get along?” The Chieftess had to grab my arm to keep me from throwing my dinner plate at that bonehead. Thankfully, the room erupted in groans and eyerolling. Ossoff basically said that he had in fact worked across the aisle to bring the bacon home, but that bipartisanship for it’s own sake isn’t useful these days.

    Ossoff also took the opportunity to relate a couple of stories about Republican Senators and Congresspeople who told him in private how much they disagreed with Trump (one of them even said he reviled Trump and his Cabinet), but still support him publicly out of fear. I think at some point Ossoff and others like him need to name names. Who are these Quislings? But, I can see why Ossoff himself isn’t in a position to do so — he’s up for re-election and Georgia is purple.

    The final question was…different: “What can you and we do to get rid of Schumer (as Senate Minority Leader)?” The room erupted with applause. Ossoff was caught off guard, but basically said “Hey, I have to focus on delivering for Georgia and holding back Trump as much as possible – I don’t have time for palace intrigue.” It was not a ringing endorsement of D Senate leadership, but he didn’t quite throw Chuck under the table, either.

    The Chieftess and I shared a corner of the kitchen bar with a pediatrician who had worked hard on the campaigns of the two Democrats who won the statewide Public Service Commission openings (I think that’s the name — it’s the state body in charge of regulating utilities). She was still on a high about that, and received some backslapping from folks walking by. She is currently working hard to prevent approval of energy- and water-sucking data centers. Quite a horror story there, apparently, with the all kinds of Boss Hogg shenanigans to basically provide “free” gas to the billionaires to run their centers, paid for, of course, via rate hikes to the citizenry. At least all of the poors will get their money’s worth, what with all the noise and pollution that the centers provide.

    *I don’t quite agree with that, and I also think it’s a convenient way for those with relatively more power to avoid the responsibility of exercising that power. Josh at TPM wrote a series of articles about what Congress people should be doing and could have been doing (i.e., groups of US Senators essentially protesting outside of ICE internment camps, groups of Congresspeople visiting NIH and CDC labs, with press in tow, highlighting the effects of the Weathered Scrotum on the sciences, etc.).  However, I agree that Ossoff for sure can’t be one of those heroes because he’s up for re-election AND it’s far from a safe seat.

  84. 84.

    Melancholy Jaques

    Related to the Macy’s Santa Story:

    The documentary Becoming Santa (Not to be confused with the 2015 comedy with the same title) has been in my Christmas movie rotation since it came out in 2011.

    It’s the story of a man who is feeling sad, missing his parents, so to recover his joy for Christmas decides to become a Santa Claus. He goes to Santa school, chooses his uniform, and gets several Santa gigs. It is very cute, if you like the whole Santa Claus thing.

    When I was teaching high school English, I had a unit on Santa Claus I did most years just before the winter break. Totally secular, Santa as advertising, as story we tell children. The students assignment at the end was an adaptation of the famous “Yes Virginia” scenario. None of them had ever heard of it, so the could approach writing an editorial response to a 21st century child’s inquiry. I got some of the best writing on that assignment.

  85. 85.

    prostratedragon

    @Salty Sam:  My brother once described the techtonic shift in a DC-area market the night before a few expected inches, when someone called out, “I said, ‘Get all the bread!'” He found himself able to move up four or five slots in line.

  86. 86.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Scout211: Totally.  We used it to track the progress of the Eaton Fire after we evacuated.  It was very helpful and Altadena people were constantly sharing info from it in our local FB groups

    Added: And I can’t overstate just how important stuff like FireWatch expansion is.  Trust me, when you are going through it and you CAN’T get good info it’s the worst feeling in the world.  Nobody deserves that.  Even putting aside tangible results as far as saving lives/property, just the piece of mind of knowing what the F is happening is so important for people navigating the horror of a wildfire.

  87. 87.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Chief Oshkosh:

    One question was, I kid you not, “My most important issue is bipartisanship — why can’t we all just get along?” The Chieftess had to grab my arm to keep me from throwing my dinner plate at that bonehead. Thankfully, the room erupted in groans and eyerolling. Ossoff basically said that he had in fact worked across the aisle to bring the bacon home, but that bipartisanship for it’s own sake isn’t useful these days.

    Good for him with that last bit of the answer.  Far more diplomatic/politic (in a good way) that throwing a plate or me standing up and hurling a fuck-heavy invective at the questioner.

  93. 93.

    Hoodie

    @Chief Oshkosh: Interesting.  We have a second home in coastal Georgia.  It’s a pretty deep red area but I’ve recently noticed more worry about energy costs for homes and small businesses.  People seem to be increasingly aware that data centers are using gobs of energy and tie that to increasing costs.  In addition, I imagine the average person is pretty convinced that AI is being pursued to eliminate their jobs and make more money for tech lords, not to make the average person’s life better in any significant way. Therefor, that recent PUC election in Georgia may be more significant than people realize.  Now that a lot of notable tech moguls have clearly aligned themselves with Trump, Saudi money, etc., this could be a powerful issue for Democrats.

  94. 94.

    rikyrah

    @Deputinize America:

    On your recommendation, and I am in that mood, just got it at Prime.

     

    I have fallen for RED ONE. It’s going to be an annual watching for me.

     

    Last night, Peanut and I watched her favorite Christmas Movie- Die Hard😂😂

     

    The kid quotes the dialogue, she’s watched it so many times😂

  95. 95.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @LAC: Thanks so much.  I’m sure the process will go on for awhile but I do feel like I’m turning an important page.

  96. 96.

    marklar

    @Deputinize America: “Also, too – I watch Die Hard from the premise that Gruber is a good guy fulfilling his revolutionary ideals and liberating Nakatomi of dodgy bearer bonds.”

    Well, now I better understand your perspective on Middle East geopolitics.

  98. 98.

    rikyrah

    Well, my furnace decided to go out. Sent a text to the guy, and he should be here sometime today.

    The temp outside is in the single digits and the wind chill is below zero. My house was 65 a few hours ago, and just getting colder😪

  101. 101.

    Paul in KY

    @UncleEbeneezer: I visited Homestead, FL (where I spent 3 years in early 80s) a year after Andrew creamed it. Was amazing the scale of destruction and things (subdivisions, etc.) that were just completely gone.

  105. 105.

    Layer8Problem

    @marklar: ​Wasn’t Gruber’s hoped for end game like sitting on a beach, earning twenty percent? Maybe that was just what he was selling the computer guy henchman.​

  106. 106.

    Librettist

    @rikyrah:

    Ugh. Do you need to bake anything? I’d go with oil filled radiator heaters at the big box if it gets down to keeping the pipes from freezing.

  108. 108.

    Miss Bianca

    @Chief Oshkosh: It’s so interesting to me that so many people – like you, for example –  are SO SURE that someone else can do a better job as Minority Leader than Chuck Schumer, and yet somehow, the people who know him best – i.e. his colleagues – don’t seem to be in the same kind of hurry to get rid of him.

  109. 109.

    Deputinize America

    @Almost Retired:

    I can always justify a $250 room when a cab or uber is $90 each way (and some Uber drivers don’t like serving my vicinity due to distance and traffic load). Plus, the city is decorated nicely this time of year, downtown is a very walkable grid and there are a ton of bars and restaurants. My only sadness is that this is a high occupancy weekend, and so our hotel won’t be one of the boutiques and is instead a business 4 star (at least the location is great).

  116. 116.

    trollhattan

    All politics is local. Alert your kids.

    High school students in Lincoln are seeking to disband a new club associated with slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk and the comments their city’s mayor made at its inaugural meeting.

    Mayor Holly Andreatta, who recently launched her campaign for Placer County Supervisor, spoke for about 25 minutes at the inaugural meeting of Club America at Twelve Bridges High School. In her remarks she tied her daughter’s sexual orientation to childhood trauma, said that separation of church and state was a myth and relayed Kirk’s belief that Martin Luther King Jr. was a Marxist and that his civil rights activism was “not helpful.”

    Club America is the high school program associated with Turning Point USA, a nonprofit that advocates for conservative politics that has been controversial since its inception.

    The club’s inaugural meeting during the lunch period Thursday was packed with students — those in attendance reported that an administrator had to deny some students entry to the classroom to comply with fire code. After the meeting, students opposed to the club began circulating the videos, calling Andreatta’s comments hateful and advocating for the club to be disbanded.

    “My oldest daughter had a lot of trauma as a child,” Andreatta says in a video recording of the club’s meeting. “Something really terrible happened to her when she was very young that I would hope would never happen to any other child, and as a result of it, she’s a lesbian. She’s gay.”

    Senior Rebecca Warner, who identifies as a lesbian, did not attend the meeting, but was approached by one student leaving the meeting who made a hurtful comment about her sexuality. “One student told me they learned that God was working on me because I’ve endured trauma, causing me to become gay,” she said. “Taken aback by what I had been told, I listened to the full audio of the meeting and was hurt by what had been said.”

    Andreatta was not aware she was being recorded by a student in the club. She says that her words were taken out of context by the students who recorded and shared the video and that other aspects of the video, namely the part about her relationship with her daughter, was meant for the students in attendance who were listening and asking questions.

    “I shared that with this group to make a point about loving all people even if you disagree on some things,” she said.

    sacbee.com/news/local/education/article313657871.html#storylink=cpy

    The future Republican martyr has already learned the I didn’t say that/I’m being taken out of context/FAKE NEWS/can’t we all agree I’m the victim here defense for everything, including dismembering a disappointing member of your retinue.

    Lincoln, CA is a very tony suburb carved out of Sierra foothill grazing land. I guess don’t be gay and a kid there.

  118. 118.

    BlueGuitarist

    @Salty Sam:

    I read this and thought, mmm French toast sounds good, maybe soon I’ll be able to stand up and go make some. apparently not yet,

    in the meantime noticed that a story I saw here a month ago is getting more attention via new Chicago sun times article: border thug bovino’s pretense of concern re undocumented drunk drivers traced to his dad drunk driving killing someone.

    had not previously seen anything about the NE PA casino at which  ffotus had recent event is going to pay > $2 million for wage theft, iirc wage theft is more than all other thefts, robberies combined but gets almost no attention.

  119. 119.

    Scout211

    @trollhattan:

    Andreatta was not aware she was being recorded by a student in the club. She says that her words were taken out of context by the students who recorded and shared the video and that other aspects of the video, namely the part about her relationship with her daughter, was meant for the students in attendance who were listening and asking questions.

    “I shared that with this group to make a point about loving all people even if you disagree on some things,” she said.

    ”taken out of context” . . . “to make a point about loving all people even if you disagree on some things”

    Sure, Jan.  Uh huh.

  121. 121.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Miss Bianca: I posit one reason Shumer’s colleagues aren’t clamoring for his demise is that the job of minority leader is thankless and no one else wants it.

    I do not hate Schumer, I have no idea if someone else could do a better job or who that might be. I do think that he falls short of meeting this particular moment in the history of our republic. His skills are for a different time.

  124. 124.

    Miss Bianca

    @Sure Lurkalot: And I would agree, that a lot of the senior Democrats appear to have been shell-shocked by just how flagrantly corrupt, self-seeking, and completed hostile to good governance the newest Trump regime is – now, whether they *should* have been, is an open question, and that they have been seemingly slow to respond to the new normal – which, honestly, isn’t all that new – is also frustrating.

    Where my imagination fails me is what the one party that actually *is* interested in good governance and following the rule of law is supposed to do about it without breaking the rules of law and custom themselves. Maybe that’s because I’m old and a bear of very little brain, into the bargain.

  125. 125.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Hoodie: I agree. I think the Dems should bang on about the techbro billionaire vampires (TBVs?), who are making us pay for them to steal our jobs, which is the ACTUAL replacement that some mooks ought be worried about.

  127. 127.

    Sure Lurkalot

    Reading about how so many of you are bracing for frigid temps and snow, it’s downright balmy here in Denver. 60’s forecast for the entire week except for one day in the 40’s and no precipitation in sight. It’s kind of scary, actually. We’ve had only one snow so far and that wasn’t until December.

    We have tickets for the annual holiday light show at the Botanic Gardens Tuesday, it is truly spectacular. I remember times going when it was so wicked cold, but this year, gloves and hats will probably be superfluous.

  128. 128.

    Miss Bianca

    @Sure Lurkalot: Yeah, it’s really nice out right now in the central mountains. I’m feeling a little buggy from my my flu shot yesterday, so I’m not going to be out and about till…probably sundown or so. Which is when it will start to get cold again, lucky me!

  129. 129.

    Trivia Man

    @Deputinize America: I really enjoy Office Christmas party with Jennifer Anniston and the guy from the movie about a 40 year kid in a middle school spelling bee.
    Fantastic heavy metal Christmas carol in an outrageous party scene.

     

    eta Jason Bateman

    Dio sings God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen and nails it

  132. 132.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Miss Bianca:

    Where my imagination fails me is what the one party that actually *is* interested in good governance and following the rule of law is supposed to do about it without breaking the rules of law and custom themselves.

    This is so true. While it’s hard not to feel Dems bring a bar of soap to a knife fight, there’s also the Dems reinstating Cuellar to his committee post. Belief in innocence until proven guilty is all well and good but the pardon process for political corruption stinks. We should stand for due process…truth, justice and the American Way (as mythical as that may be).

    And yet, in light of the desire for the wholesale demolition of our government, it’s hard to see any way out besides the good guys breaking the rules too.

  133. 133.

    Jackie

    @Chief Oshkosh:

    It was an interesting evening. Ossoff remarked on the turning tide, that it’s real, and so real that he and others are worried about complacency (I guess you just can’t celebrate if you’re a Democrat…). However, most of his outlook was optimistic.

    I agree that Ossoff for sure can’t be one of those heroes because he’s up for re-election AND it’s far from a safe seat.

    I just read this an hour or so ago:

    Georgia Insurance Commissioner John King is sounding the alarm on party donations heading into the mid-terms.

    “The usually low-key King posted a lengthy statement to social media, almost a manifesto, after Democrats managed to flip a Republican state house in Oconee and Clarke counties,” wrote Atlanta Journal Constitution Senior Political columnist Patricia Murphy. “That unexpected special election loss followed two 26 -point Democratic routs in November for a pair of statewide Public Service Commission seats, which Georgia Republicans have dominated for decades.”

    “Georgia Republicans, we have a problem,” King wrote, before describing unmotivated GOP donors, unmotivated Republican base voters and a muddled party message that put other issues ahead of people’s difficult economic realities.

    “Unless the party changes course,” he warned, Republicans will be outraised, outspent and defeated next year, too.

    “Everyone behind the scenes knows it, even if hardly anyone is willing to say it publicly,” King wrote.

    Georgia GOP Chairman Josh McKoon denies the party has a problem, chalking the PSC losses as the result of the timing of the races, which overlapped with off-year city elections that typically turn out more Democrats.

    “These elections don’t have any predictive value,” McKoon said, but other party team players aren’t buying it.

    Murphy reports “a communications vacuum” at the state level as Gov. Brian Kemp enters his last year in office and the state’s next top three Republicans — Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, Attorney General Chris Carr and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger — face off in a primary race to replace Kemp. Each one is trying to put affordability at the top of their list of issues, but they’re all competing against each other, including on messaging. And President Donald Trump’s own message operation in Washington isn’t helping, with Trump dismissing Americans’ affordability issues as a “Democrat hoax.”

    “You’re doing better than you’ve ever done!” Trump said at a recent rally in Pennsylvania, but Georgia Democratic Party Chair Charlie Bailey called Trump’s comments “insulting and idiotic.”

    “This isn’t rocket science,” said Bailey. “If you do things that hurt folks and make it harder for people to achieve the American dream, they might have a bad reaction to that. And that’s what we’re seeing in Georgia.”

    Murphy said King had sought to run for Senate in 2026 but dropped out when he learned Trump was not giving him an endorsement in the GOP primary. Murphy said that snub has given King the freedom to be the Republicans’ very own Paul Revere, warning the GOP, “The midterms are coming!”

    “Only Republicans can decide if they’re willing to listen,” said Murphy.

    —RawStory

  134. 134.

    trollhattan

    @Scout211:

    Am going utterly bugshit having not seen the sun for two weeks paired with the wild daily temperature swings from 42 to 45.

    Let it be also noted fog and 42 seems vastly colder than sun and 30. Paging mister George Harrison.

  135. 135.

    Baud

    @Jackie:

    “If you do things that hurt folks and make it harder for people to achieve the American dream, they might have a bad reaction to that.

     

    Since when?

  136. 136.

    TerryC

    @Scout211:But you all set me straight with your freezing temps and snowstorms. I guess I can’t complain. Much. It does remind me why I left the Midwest and moved to NorCal, though.  Best decision ever.

    I spent last weekend at a wonderful celebration of the 50th anniversary of the first permanent disc golf course, Oak Grove, in Pasadena. (50 years later there are 16,000+ courses in the US alone.) Several days of fun in the sun!

    Shock! The day after I came home to Ann Arbor I had to get my tractor out to rescue the mail truck from a snow drift in front of my house.

  137. 137.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    @Layer8Problem: Something like that. (Off-topic, it also reminds me of the villain from Broken Arrow, who planned to use his nuclear-ransom money to buy 5% of Volvo and live off the dividends, thinking that he’d have peace of mind by “helping make one of the safest automobiles in the world”.)

  138. 138.

    Ohio Mom

    @UncleEbeneezer: Your comment brought back memories of reading about your move, and your first stabs at settling in your new home.

    I am astounded that it’s only been eleven months. How we experience time is so weird.

    I think it would be interesting (and sobering) to see your photos.

  139. 139.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Miss Bianca: Sure thing, but this will be meandering (sorry, if I had more time, I’d write a shorter letter).

    My take on Shumer is similar to Sure Lurkalot’s at #120: he has skills, but they don’t meet this moment. I certainly don’t hate Shumer. For instance, I wasn’t one of the people in the room clapping when Ossoff was asked how we could get rid of him. He was a good Senate partner to Nancy Smash (though very much in a supportive role, seemed to me) when they boxed Trump’s ears in Trump’s first term, and he seems to want the job. But, to the extent that he ‘leads’ other Senators and sets a course for the caucus, I think he’s still operating on how things were under, maybe, Shrub or Obama, or even Trump I.

    For instance, IMO, neither of the recent shutdowns were handled especially well, particularly the first one. Though I do give Shumer a lot of credit for what must have been a tough gig holding the caucus together as long as it did on the second one, and for focusing the caucus on the ACA premiums debacle (!), Dems are coming out of the second one on top mainly because the Republicans and Trump are just so amazingly awful and incompetent. And that’s OK; I’ll take the win. But I think he could have done this earlier, and certainly could have laid the ground work for better performance and outcome in the first shutdown if that ground work had started in earnest with the first of the DOGE, HHS, and ICE shitnannegans.

    Ossoff briefly touched on this, that the initial shock of what was happening “paralyzed everyone,” including Dems in Congress and in local politics. I thought “Bullshit. It didn’t paralyze me and it didn’t paralyze other professionals that I know” (people in the trenches at NIH, CDC, VA, DoD, DOJ, and various court systems).

    In this I refer back to TPM, when Josh wrote that several of those people had set up visits to their domains for elected Dems to come shine a light on the impacts of the Trumpists and MAGAts on research, healthcare, and justice. Josh’s sources said that Dem leadership demurred, saying that “we don’t do those sorts of visits.”

    And even earlier, some elected Dems had, for instance, visited ICE/CBP detention centers and got a lot of press on how bad they were and how bad the ICE/CBP agents were behaving. Then, for some reason, those visits stopped. I have no special knowledge of why they stopped, but Josh claimed his sources told him that it was because Dem leadership said, in effect, “we don’t do those sorts of things – leave it to the activists.”

    I think that, if instead of being paralyzed and then (apparently) defaulting to “we’re just legislators, so all we will do is legislate,” a more agile leader would’ve encouraged his safe caucus members to get out to the ICE facilities, to make visits to CDC and NIH, to get into good trouble. That is decidedly NOT what Senators traditionally do.

    Are we in traditional times?

    All that said, at this point, getting rid of Shumer would just start anew the “Dems in Disarray” narrative, so I certainly am not in favor of it until after the midterms, after which, we’ll just have to see. I hope for the landslide that will make him and Jeffries look like geniuses, and so we should keep both and let the eagle fly, but I know in my heart of hearts that we could’ve ramped up earlier and more effectively.

  142. 142.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Chief Oshkosh: It could be worse. I just saw someone complaining about Starmer’s Labour Party which truly seems to have decided to go hard right… and then using the slogan “scratch a liberal, a fascist bleeds”. Which if I were in the UK I would probably be echoing, though I don’t know how useful it is in our moment here.

  143. 143.

    Baud

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Does UK use “liberal” the way we do? I know in Australia, liberal means the same as conservative here

    though I don’t know how useful it is in our moment here.

     
    Anyone who says that here is a fascist sympathizer themselves.

  152. 152.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Baud: I don’t think it’s quite the Aussie usage, though. More like, say, Tony Blair. Or even Bill Clinton pronouncing “the era of big government is over” here.

  153. 153.

    Ruckus

    @Betty Cracker:

    Highs in SoCal upper 70s/low 80s over the next week

    Lows in the high 40s. It was cool and extremely foggy Friday and clear and 50 when I woke up this morning. When you are used to warm to hot, 50 feels cold. When I lived back east, winter time could be in single digits and often was.

  154. 154.

    martha

    @Scout211: Ahhh, my childhood through young adulthood…tule fog. We used to go to the foothills just to see the sun. And I have some nightmare inducing memories of driving from Sacramento to Davis over the Yolo Causeway during those times…windows down to hear better, creeping along the lane line…ugh.

  155. 155.

    Jackie

    MSNOW is reporting two US soldiers and civilian interpreter were ambushed and killed in Syria.

    edited

  156. 156.

    dnfree

    @Scout211: ​
      I grew up in northern Illinois with three brothers. Two of the brothers moved to Northern California decades ago. They consider themselves “the smart ones”.

  157. 157.

    Geminid

    @Sure Lurkalot: I had not heard of Rep. Cuellar’s restoration to a committee post. So I looked it up and found there was a vote Thursday to restore Cuellar to the position of ranking member on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security.

    The Texas Tribune reported:

       Some House Democrats said this week that they were uneasy about restoring Cuellar to his previous role, Politico reported [Link]. But 17 of the 27 members of the House Appropriations Committe voted in a secret ballot Thursday to restore him to the post, with 7 voting against and the rest [3] voting present or recusing themselves, according to a source familiar with the vote.

    I’m not sure how this vote by a Democrats on a House committee reflects on Chuck Schumer’s fitness to be Senate Minority Leader.

    The Tribune article also previewed Cuellar’s reelection bid. The 28th CD Cuellar represents was redrawn in the recent Republican gerrymander. While Trump won the Laredo-based 28th by 7 points last year, the new configuration would have given Trump a 10 victory. Cuellar won by 5 points last year. National Republicans are backing Webb County Judge Tano Tejirina for their nomination (County Judge is a powerful position in Texas).

    So Cuellar looks to have a challenging reelection ahead of him. That’s assuming he wins renomination. Cuellar had no significant primary opposition last year, but in 2022 he barely squeaked by attorney Jessica Cisneros, winning a runoff by 229 votes.

  158. 158.

    Professor Bigfoot

    I’ve a feeling the power snowshovel is going to see some use tomorrow.

    We haven’t even gotten to the winter solstice!

  159. 159.

    Anonymous Expat

    Tom Nichols is a d-bag. Loudly left the Republican Party when Gingrich ran for President, but was apparently fine with him when he was ushering in the party’s hard turn towards fascism in the 90’s.

  160. 160.

    Almost Retired

    It is the annual Santa Stroll today between the Hermosa and Manhattan Beach piers.  It’s all good fun in the morning, but once the bars open we are awash with belligerent drunken Santas.  Building holiday memories…..

  161. 161.

    LAC

    @Professor Bigfoot: Thank you for this.  A sobering, and sadly, unsurprising analysis of  where we were and are.  Still bewildered by those who think this is rehashing or belaboring “past” issues when our very rights currently hang in the balance.  Especially ironic with a regime that wants to push us back to the “good old days”  Apparently everyone is entitled to look back except us.

  162. 162.

    Geminid

    @Jackie: That’s certainly bad news. The U.S. has maintained a force in Northeast Syria since the Obama administration sent a mission there in 2013. It was part of the effort to suppress ISIS, which had taken over large swaths of northeast Syria and western Iraq.

    The force typically has consisted of ~800 Army soldiers, but it was increased to 2,000 a year ago when the Assad regime collapsed. We were in the process of scaling the mission back and ending it in the new year.

    Northeast Syria has been one of the most dangerous areas in the whole Middle East, but I think that up until now, no American soldiers had been killed there.

  165. 165.

    trollhattan

    @TerryC: ​
    Does everybody in Ann Arbor have a tractor, or are you the neighbor all the other neighbors call when they want something…tractored?

  166. 166.

    Rusty

    That story of Santa’s at Macy’s just about broke me. Beautiful and sad and beautiful again.  That is true storytelling.

  167. 167.

    glc

    This is the second time in as many days I’ve come across the term “festooned.”

    One of the few compensations of the holiday season. Along with some nice fruit, given or received.

  170. 170.

    Geminid

    @Baud: My guess is that for various reasons, a version of the British Conservative Party never could get traction in Australia. So when Australia’s Labor Party began to thrive a century ago, the Liberal Party became that nation’s conservative party by default. This is just speculation though.

  172. 172.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Professor Bigfoot: We’re not to the winter solstice but (at least where I live) we are PAST the day of the earliest sunset, which I think was Dec. 6 or 7. (The latest sunrise is in early January. That doesn’t affect me as badly.)

    This is what I tell myself to keep going.

  174. 174.

    kalakal

    @Baud:

    Does UK use “liberal” the way we do?

    No. Calling someone a Liberal means they’d be pretty much dead center politically

    The Lib(eral) Dem(s) are the centrist party. They’re somewhat  split personality between a sort of middle class center left ( which is how most people think of them – a sort of wishy washy soft left) and a Libertarian-Lite ( but socially Liberal!) wing.

    Historically there were 2 parties, the Tories who are todays Conservative and Unionist Party and the Whigs* who morphed into the Liberals and in 1906 won the biggest election victory in UK history and by 1920 were basically extinct being replaced by the Labour Party. For the next 120 years or so they’ve been a very much 3rd party occupying the political center( usually between 20 & 50 MPs out of a possible 650). The only time they’ve “been in power” is when elections have left no party with an absolute majority and they’ve had the casting vote so to speak eg the Lib-Lab Pact of 1977-78 and when they put the Cons in power in 2010 – the “Coalition”**

    UK politics is really splintering at the moment and the Tory/Labour 2 party stranglehold is dying on its ass, there’ll likely be a lot of multiparty coaltions in the future

    *Both were pretty right wing being originally composed of the aristocracy with their main point of difference being  their views on the power balance between the Crown & Parliament after the Restoration Settlement of 1660 and The Glorious Revolution of 1688 with the Tories being the more ardent monarchists. Gradually the Whigs became more assosciated with New Money and the rising & expanding Middle Class.

    ** This proved super toxic for the LibDems , they lost 49 of their 57 seats in the 2017 election

  175. 175.

    sab

    @Professor Bigfoot: I just dropped off a signed contract and a big check with my lawn service guy for seasonal snowplowing.

    I can handle the sidewalks, but our driveway is on a steep hill. I’m too old for that.

  183. 183.

    Miss Bianca

    @Aziz, light!: Same. I’ll read ’em, but I won’t trust ’em.

    (although there is one that I *never* read, and just delete when their name comes into my inbox. I think it’s Lauren Egan, or something. I find her patent delight in “Dems in disarray” narratives to be nauseating.)

  186. 186.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Anonymous Expat:

    Oh, most of them are that way.  Years ago Driftglass coined the term “Republican Detachment Disorder” for kkklowns like Nichols, Brooks, Will and the rest.

    This whole “I never had anything to do with this madness during my career as a water carrier for the modern GOP” is cognitive dissonance we typically only see among right wingers who’ve spent their lives voting against their economic interests.

    To believe them is to believe that the whole Trump Phenomenon suddenly appeared one day like a mushroom cloud over the offices of the RNC.

    They helped create this and are now simply embarrassed that the id of the modern GOP is president with a pack of like-minded people in Congress.

    They’ve been busily ejecting clouds of ink to obscure the fact that they’re stripping off and burning their lab coats, notebooks and mad scientist goggles, fervently hoping we don’t notice that their decades long careers in mainstreaming the worst impulses of the GOP base helped create this shambling monster now ravaging their castles with the pitchfork and torch-wielding villagers at the monster’s side.

  187. 187.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Anonymous Expat:

    Tom Nichols is a d-bag. Loudly left the Republican Party when Gingrich ran for President, but was apparently fine with him when he was ushering in the party’s hard turn towards fascism in the 90’s. 

    Say it loud, say it proud!

  188. 188.

    Ramalama

    @frosty: I love the term Baltimore Trinity, and what it consists of.

    I am trying to think up ways where I can use it to its maximum power.

  190. 190.

    Geminid

    @Geminid: I assumed the two soldiers and one interpreter were killed in northeast Syria and were part of the military mission stationed there. But it turns out the attack occured in central Syria, near the ancient city of Palmyra. The soldiers were part of a separate force operating out of al-Tanf, a Syrian town right on borders of Iraq and Jordan.

    This force has kept an even lower profile than the one in northeast Syria, and seems to be joint CIA/Army operation. Three US soldiers supporting the al-Tanf force were killed by a drone early last year, at a base in Jordan just over the border.

    That was an Iranian drone supplied to an Iran-affiliated Syrian militia. This latest attack is said to have carried out by one of Syrians operating with the Americans as the “Syrian National Army.” That’s basically a US-controlled militia, and is not part of the armed forces controlled by the Damascus government.

     

    @Jackie:

  191. 191.

    japa21

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage:

     

    There are a few who have actually admitted their roles and have openly apologized for what they have done in the past.

    Politician wise, Joe Walsh is a perfect example.  Not only has he admitted that his language contributed to the newer political scene, he has committed to trying to change it.  He is a registered Dem and votes straight Dem ticket.

     

    Charlie Sykes was a very conservative radio host on WTMJ in Milwaukee.  Ha has also admitted to being overly passionate in his right wing approach to things, and although he was never as bad as, say, a Rush Limbaugh, he admits that he also played a role.  He is openly critical not only of Trump, but also the Republican party.

  194. 194.

    Kayla Rudbek

    @Professor Bigfoot: the way I look at it, they are raising the danger that they fear (and I think that God put some people in this world to be swords and cut through things, the only thing to watch out for is making sure that you’re cutting through the correct targets)

  195. 195.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @mrmoshpotato:

    I can’t either.  I have the text in my electronic “clip file” and typically I put the link there as well but for whatever reason, I didn’t.

  196. 196.

    Paul in KY

    @Ruckus: Early evening (dark) here in the KY. About 29 degrees and dropping. Supposed to be pretty cold (for around here) tomorrow.

  198. 198.

    Paul in KY

    @trollhattan: He is a nut about them right now. Watches youtube videos, writes out song names and debates with me why ‘song a’ is better than ‘song b’, etc. Loves George the most and next is Ringo & Paul equally. Is sorta dismissive of John! Have to put up a word or two for him.

  201. 201.

    Matt McIrvin

    @kalakal: It seems like UK Labour is moving into the Lib Dem slot ideologically, or maybe even part of Tory territory.

    It does remind me of what happened to the US Democrats in the 1990s and 2000s. Our left isn’t wrong when they say that happened, they just insist that it’s been continuing ever since and I think the trend started to reverse around 2005 or so.

  202. 202.

    Timill

    @Matt McIrvin: My impression is that the Tories have hauled off to the right, chasing UKIP/Reform territory, and that’s left a vacancy in the centre, and Labour are looking to take some of it. Much to Tony Jay’s disgust.

    But I haven’t lived in the UK since 2008…

  203. 203.

    Geminid

    @Geminid: Correction: reports are that the attacker *was* part of the Damascus government’s security forces in Palmyra. He fought with ISIL back in 2014, then served in the rebel coalition led by al-Sharaa’s HTS. He ended up in Palmyra security forces under the auspices of the Damascus government.

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