Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Sometimes the world just tells you your cat is here.

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

The world has changed, and neither one recognizes it.

If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.

You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.

Giving up is unforgivable.

The National Guard is not Batman.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

Do we throw up our hands or do we roll up our sleeves? (hint, door #2)

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

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

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.

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

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

Trumpflation is an intolerable hardship for every American, and it’s Trump’s fault.

You are here: Home / Politics / Democratic Politics / 2026 Will Surely Bring More Madness, but It Is Also a Year of Opportunity

2026 Will Surely Bring More Madness, but It Is Also a Year of Opportunity

by | 165 Comments

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Simon Rosenberg is jazzed, coming out of the DNC State Chairs Meeting this past week.

We’re closing out 2025 on a high note, with more consequential electoral wins and a further weakening of Trump and the regime.

It’s why I believe we should view 2026 as a year of opportunity for our pro-democracy movement, and work hard to stay relentlessly focused on our 3-part core mission:

As we are stronger and they are weaker more is possible for us now, and we must act with far greater ambition in 2026.

These seem like the right things for us to be focusing on to me, how about you?

A.  mitigate the damage he’s doing/weaken the regime

B.  advance our agenda

C.  win back power

We Need to be Loud and Clear

As part of our enhanced ambition next year I think there are two areas that Dems must develop a clearer and louder voice – on Trump’s deeply dangerous selling out of Ukraine and Europe to Putin, and his turning of America into a police state. We simply can and must talk about more than affordability and health care. We can be warriors for working people against greedy oligarchy and proud patriots standing up for democracy here and abroad. It’s not an “or.” It’s an “and.”

Can we talk about what makes him weak?

His health.

Epstein, Epstein, Epstein.

Have this been discussed on BJ this week?  This is the first I’ve heard about it.

House Oversight Committee Members who went on TV yesterday seemed shocked by what they received this week from the Epstein estate. For among the tens of thousands of photos they received were ones that showed people in sex acts, and this now infamous one of Epstein and top Trump advisor Steve Bannon.

Note the passed out woman in the photo on Epstein’s desk.

Who doesn’t keep photos of passed out women on their desk???  (Besides nearly everyone!)

2026 Will Surely Bring More Madness, but It Is Also a Year of Opportunity

My eyes aren’t as great as they used to be, can you guys make out a passed out female in that photo?  (click to embiggen)

And this?

2026 Will Surely Bring More Madness, but It Is Also a Year of Opportunity 1

Arrogant fucking pricks, all of them!

Open thread.

 

Reader Interactions

165Comments

  1. 1.

    WaterGirl

    I suppose the title of the post could have been Arrogant Fucking Pricks, but I do prefer to look ahead and try to be constructive as we fight our way out of this madness.

  2. 2.

    RaflW

    Copying from downstairs ~ I want to highlight some quiet hope:

    BF went to a five hour long training-organizing event in Minneapolis yesterday.
    5,000 people (yes, five thousand) attended – in person, in the Mpls Convention Center, on a day when it was 3ºF. The breakout group BF joined was 500 people! One of his colleagues had 40 people from her congregation of about 350 sign up.

    The organizers are an interfaith group working on broad-based issues, so this wasn’t specifically about ICE. But it is about preserving democracy, holding politicians accountable for ACA defunding, and much more. BF said it was really well run (I’m out of town for a few days or would have gone).

    They have a whole series of actions planned for the state legislative term, and have a solid pressure campaign strategy. The next step is having those 5,000 people each invite their networks. They want to have the biggest rally ever held at the MN Capitol.

    And they have specific asks. It wasn’t a dig on No Kings, but by having a state-level focus, it’s more logical to have asks (demands, really) and a plan to put specific, sequentially ratcheted pressure on elected officials (I think both state and from our D.C. caucus).

    I’m pretty optimistic to see that this sort of thing is happening. I wonder what other states interfaith groups are doing?
     

    edit: Isaiah does work on ICE-immigration issues, too, but this event was intentionally broader and about legislative action, not interrupting DHS, which is a related but different track.

  7. 7.

    Suzanne

    Can we talk about what makes him weak?

    Being an incompetent liar makes him weak. Building a political movement based almost exclusively on emotional appeal and performative bullshit means that it is less likely to endure past himself.

    Of course, that isn’t his goal, because he’s solely self-interested. Which is, ultimately, good for us.

  10. 10.

    scav

    His careless bit of stone cold arrogance towards the constitution, the law and basic logic embedded in his listing of amendments is somehow emblematic of that lot.

  12. 12.

    Old Man Shadow

    I’m not a political expert. The message I would personally push and repeat every day to voters is that government should make our community better and our lives easier. Then launch into a list of policies that would do that, from lowering energy costs to clean air and water to more beautiful spaces, free mass transit, national health care and hospitals for rural and underserved areas, to regulating data centers, to breaking up monopolies and ensuring actual competition and innovation.

  13. 13.

    Scout211

    The legal process is often slow and frustrating but two more wins for the rule of law this week keep me feeling hopeful.

    Thanks to federal judges and appellate courts (for the most part), Trump’s illegal moves have been ruled against according to the law.

    Two this past week:

    Attorney General Bonta: Ninth Circuit Rejects Trump’s Emergency Request to Pause Order Barring Deployment of California National Guard

    Judge orders Justice Department to return data used to indict James Comey

  15. 15.

    Suzanne

    Currently 15 degrees. Yesterday, the snow was forecast to stop around 2 AM, but it was still dumping this morning when I tried to take the dog for a walk around 8 AM. We got about half a block when she did her business and then balked at going any further. Instead, she turned around and started pulling me back home. She’s currently sleeping on a heating vent. Mr. Suzanne and I spent much of the morning digging our cars out, and shoveling the sidewalk and our stairs. Ended up with about 3” of floofy stuff, but there’s a layer of ice under there from last week.

  17. 17.

    WaterGirl

    @SiubhanDuinne: Oops, I always add that, but today I forgot!

    It’s there now.

    It’s from an OTR post:

    On The Road – Winter Wren – Istanbul – Part 4: Hagia Sophia and the Basilica Cistern

    edit: I wasn’t sure what you guys would think about a photo that wasn’t nature-y at all, but I thought it was beautiful so I went for it. :-)

  19. 19.

    Mousebumples

    Good election results yesterday! From Bolts –

    bsky.app/profile/taniel.bsky.social/post/3m7wa6ixa422o

    CONFIRMED: Doug Weiss, the candidate supported by Dems, has been elected mayor of Pflugerville, Texas. He beats the GOP-backed Pat McCord.

    —

    CONFIRMED: Progressive newcomer Alejandra Salinas has won an at-large seat on the Houston city council, beating moderate former councilmember Dwight Boykins.

    (Campaign was rocked earlier this year when Boykins said his website platform was generated by AI after Salinas accused him of plagiarism.)

    bsky.app/profile/trowaman.bsky.social/post/3m7wfum35qc23

    I got one more for you. Flip of a seat in rapidly growing leader city council (Williamson county)

    Image ALT text – Williamson County Democrats’ endorsed candidate Natomi Blair flipped Leander City Council Place 3

    That last seat is also in Texas.

    I’m busy working with my local Dems to help flip seats and elect Dems in 2026. Here’s hoping for a blue trifecta statewide in Wisconsin next year!

  20. 20.

    Elizabelle

    @WaterGirl:  Yep, I knew that was the Basilica Cistern.  It is stunning.  Thanks to you and Winter Wren for sharing it.

    I love Istanbul.  So much to see and learn.

  22. 22.

    Another Scott

    @Baud:

    The blue sign, located in the traditionally red-leaning Madison County, has sparked heated online debate since it was installed just before Thanksgiving by Dylan Creech of Forward Press, LLC. [ sic – It’s Forwrd Press, LLC ]

    “Whether or not you agree with the message, you are being prompted to react and engage with it, which is the core of democracy – having to reckon with some of that stuff,” Creech said.

    Creech said he strategically placed the billboard to reach people who might not typically encounter such messaging on social media, and he anticipated pushback.

    “There are obviously some dissenting opinions online, which is not surprising, but I think it proves my point, proves why this is an important thing to do because there are people saying ‘Should this be taken down?’ and just shocked by it,” Creech said. “My rebuttal is, I’m not saying anything that’s not factual, I’m saying something proven true.”

    […]

    When asked if the billboard would remain, Creech confirmed it would stay up and revealed plans for expansion.

    “Oh, it’ll be there, and frankly, there are more coming in Richmond and Lexington and I’m talking with people in Berea,” Creech said.

    forwrdpress.com/

    Thanks.

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  23. 23.

    frosty

    WG – your post titles have been on a good roll. These are better than just seeing “Respite”

    22F, 4″ snow, just cleaned off the cars. I’m too old for this shit!

  24. 24.

    Baud

    @WaterGirl:

     I wasn’t sure what you guys would think about a photo that wasn’t nature-y at all

     

    It’s like I don’t even know this place anymore.

  25. 25.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @WaterGirl:

    It’s gorgeous. I mentioned in my earlier comment that the light reminds me of a Maxfield Parrish painting. He had several works with that otherworldly blue-and-rose gold light playing on pillars and columns.

    Thanks for providing the information. Winter Wren is a sensitive photographer.

  27. 27.

    Scout211

    I missed  this news from earlier this week.

    Democrats on the House judiciary committee on Friday will ask Aileen Cannon, the judge who presided over the case against Donald Trump for allegedly hiding classified documents, to release the portion of special counsel Jack Smith’s report concerning his prosecution.

    Smith is scheduled to appear next week for a behind-closed-door deposition with the Republican-led committee, where he may discuss his investigation into allegations that Trump took classified materials to his properties and then hid them from federal authorities. The special counsel dropped that case against Trump, as well as another concerning his meddling in the 2020 election, in the aftermath of his re-election victory last year.

    Cannon earlier this year ruled that the classified documents portion of Smith’s report stay unreleased, citing ongoing proceedings against two co-defendants in the case. However attorney general Pam Bondi dropped charges against those co-defendants earlier this year, and in a motion to Cannon shared with the Guardian, the Democrats will argue that there is now no reason to keep the second portion of Smith’s report from being released.

    Bondi has also refused to release the classified documents portion of the report, and the judiciary committee’s 19 Democrats, led by ranking member Jamie Raskin, sent her a letter on Friday pressing for its release, noting that Smith is expected to discuss the contents in his deposition set for Wednesday.

    “For ten months you have had zero legal basis for withholding the report. Now you have authorized Mr Smith to testify behind closed doors about the investigation that the report memorializes – while still refusing to produce the report itself,” the letter reads.

    Why do I keep reading more information like this in The Guardian than I do in most US based media?  It’s a mystery.

    Edited for fair use.

  28. 28.

    H.E.Wolf

    @Mousebumples: I’m busy working with my local Dems to help flip seats and elect Dems in 2026. Here’s hoping for a blue trifecta statewide in Wisconsin next year!

     Thank you for your service! I’m busy working with my local/state Dems to do the same. It boosts my spirits and reminds me that there are many others – unheralded, and all the more effective for that – working toward the same goal.

    I know I’ll be writing GOTV postcards for Wisconsin in 2026. I always think of the WI jackals when I do. <3

  29. 29.

    RV in NZ

    Holy Sh*t, Australia
    What you need to know:

    • At least twelve people are dead after a shooting at Bondi Beach, where hundreds of people were attending a Jewish celebration for the first day of Hanukkah. At least 29 other people were taken to hospital.
    • Police say the shooting specifically targeted the Jewish community in what Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called “an act of evil antisemitism”.
    • The shooting has been declared an act of terrorism by NSW Police.
    • There were two gunmen: One has been shot dead by police, the other suspect was arrested and is in a critical condition in hospital. Police say they are investigating a potential third suspect.
    • One of the alleged gunmen has been identified as Naveed Akram, 24, reports say.
    • Dramatic video shows the moment a member of the public risked his life by tackling one of the gunmen to the ground and seizing his gun. This man has been identified as Ahmed al Ahmed.
    • Improvised explosive devices were found in a car parked nearby, linked to the deceased gunman.
    • The first victim has been identified as a local Bondi rabbi.
  31. 31.

    WaterGirl

    @frosty:

    22F, 4″ snow, just cleaned off the cars. I’m too old for this shit!

    I’ll see your 22 degrees and raise you 2 degrees here in Champaign.

    um, maybe lower, not raise?

  33. 33.

    Van Buren

    There’s an organization that donates fruit and vegetable baskets to families at my school. Some went unclaimed, so they asked staff to take them. Some of my colleagues rooted through the baskets and took out what they did not want. I could not bear to see perfectly good food go to waste, which is why I spent this morning roasting and peeling 28 beets.

    My hands are a lovely shade of magenta.

  34. 34.

    Jackie

    @Mousebumples: More positive news re Texas:

    The Republican plans to pick off five Democratic-held congressional seats in Texas once seemed like a sure thing. Not anymore.
    President Donald Trump’s flagging approval ratings, particularly among Latinos, and strong Democratic performance in this year’s special elections have changed both parties’ assumptions. Now, the cushion the Texas GOP drew into its new map – Trump won every Republican-favored district by 10 points or more a year ago – seems like it might be too small.
    Democrats beat Trump’s 2024 results in five US House districts with special elections this year by at least 13 points. Over-performance at that level next year would flip three of the five new Texas seats to the Democratic column.
    cnn.com/2025/12/14/politics/texas-redistricting-gop-latinos

    Of course LOTS can happen between now and Nov ’26, but I’m really enjoying the surging winds behind Democrats!

  35. 35.

    MattF

    I had a feeling that MAGA has been hoping recently that the Epstein stuff would just… go away. But nope. Real pictures of real people, all pre-AI. Lots of straws being laid on the back of one poor little camel. And more to come.

  36. 36.

    Ruckus

    @WaterGirl:

    Sometimes the only acceptable answer is to show who the bad folks are, and what makes them bad.

    It’s humanity, in all it’s good, all it’s not so good, and in all it’s pure shit walking.

    And no, I can’t think of any other way to say that. We are all human, but that doesn’t endow anyone with even a millionth of a percent of actual humanity. What does is actually being a positive human being, not a pompous, arrogant thief, or provider of human beings for others to get their jollies off of, or, or, or…. Very few of us are the best of humans but most of us at least attempt to be as reasonably close as possible, while some do everything possible to prove they are not within more miles than the circumference of the earth.

  38. 38.

    Elizabelle

    @RV in NZ:  I know.  It is so horrifying.  With last night’s mass shooting at Brown U, so many newspaper reader commenters were praising Australia, and now this.  Although Aus is still way saner and better than we are.

  39. 39.

    WaterGirl

    @Jackie: I can’t decide whether to go with payback’s a bitch or unintended consequences, bitches!

    edit:  And i suppose there’s always na na na na na. (sp?)

  41. 41.

    Ruckus

    @Suzanne:

    I lived in snow country for 10 years. That was enough for me. More than enough. I left my snow shovel in the garage when I sold the house. And don’t get me wrong snow is amazing to look at, quite a bit less amazing to live with.

  42. 42.

    Lacuna Synecdoche

    @WaterGirl @ Top:

    Who doesn’t keep photos of passed out women on their desk?

    I’m not sure that’s a photo. My first impression was that it’s a surveillance monitor.

    Which would be even more disturbing.

  43. 43.

    Suzanne

    @Ruckus: It doesn’t snow often enough here to make me insane. The desert heat made me crazy, though. People with money get out in the summer. Normal people like me still have to stick around and go to work!

  44. 44.

    Jackie

    @WaterGirl: I like this one:

    Unintended consequences, bitches!

    There’s such a  plurality of bitches in Texas! Abbott, Cruz, Paxton, Patrick… and those are a mere handful!

  45. 45.

    Another Scott

    @Lacuna Synecdoche: Looking at the photo some more…

    1. The blue “picture frame” is in the center of the image.
    2. There’s another red “picture frame” at the left edge.

    I assume they’re “electronic photo album” type things that were popular for a while – you’d put a bunch of jpegs on a memory stick, stick it in the frame, and it would cycle through them.

    Whoever took that picture (Maxwell?), and the others, knew what they were doing.

    Grr…

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  46. 46.

    Kristine

    @Van Buren: If you like beets, this is a really nice recipe. I cut back the sugar to half a cup. I find roasting the beets ahead of time boosts the sweetness sufficiently and I always find savory jams to be too damned sweet anyway. I know sugar acts as a preservative, but I’ve found this stuff keeps in the fridge for weeks and also freezes well.

    Spiced Beet and Red Onion Jam

  47. 47.

    Ruckus

    @Scout211:

    Why do I keep reading more information like this in The Guardian than I do in most US based media?  It’s a mystery.

    Not really. Much of our press is, if not fully, on the conservative side, if for no other reason than look at the clients they might/would lose if they weren’t. Also most newspapers have a concept of providing the news, not making it. IOW neutrality is part of most newspaper’s and TV reporting, it’s how they get people in many places to purchase the products. Neutrality. Or at least close to it.

  48. 48.

    Scout211

    One of my favorite opinion writers, Rex Huppke this morning at USA Today.

    Stop criticizing Trump’s bad economy. You’re making him sad. | Opinion

     

    Guys, I’m going to have to ask you to stop making President Donald Trump feel bad about his loser-stinko economy.

    The guy is polling slightly better than scabies, he’s swiftly losing control of his presidency (and quite possibly his mind) and he has it in his head that “affordability” – a thing American shoppers are not presently experiencing – is a hoax concocted by Democrats and not … you know … a real word.

    On Dec. 11, Trump wrote on social media: “When will I get credit for having created, with No Inflation, perhaps the Greatest Economy in the History of our Country? When will people understand what is happening? When will Polls reflect the Greatness of America at this point in time, and how bad it was just one year ago?”

    Poor Donald. The problem isn’t that grocery prices are high and scattershot tariffs have made Christmas shopping more expensive and Republican cruelty has done away with Affordable Care Act subsidies, leaving millions of Americans to face skyrocketing health insurance premiums. No, the problem is that nobody is giving the president credit for all the good things happening in the make-believe world he inhabits.

    You think you’ve got it hard trying to put food on the table? Try being Donald Trump, the billionaire saint of perpetual grievance.

    Much more at the link, and concludes:

    It’s the holiday season, so maybe we should stop making Trump feel so bad about the mess he has made, at least for a few moments. The poor guy already seems to be falling apart before our eyes.

    On second thought, forget that. Trump promised Americans a rose garden and delivered a plot of weeds. That was the real scam. Holidays or not, he deserves to find out that karma is no hoax.

    Rex Huppke, my spirit guide.  🤣

  49. 49.

    Fair Economist

    @Ruckus: From the South originally, i was in Chicago 7 years. The first two snowstorms of the year were fun. After that, bleah.

  51. 51.

    Eyeroller

    @Another Scott: I am another with bad eyesight, but looking closely, you can start at the blacked-out head and see that it’s somebody wearing a short-sleeved shirt with her arms tucked under her chest.  What is confusing is the “legs.” They do not seem to be in the right position.  I would need to enlarge it even further, but it sort of looks to me like the bare feet of somebody just out of the picture.

  52. 52.

    chemiclord

    One problem I see with focusing on the selling out of Ukraine is that opens the door for the cries of Gaza and the West Bank, and I don’t see this coalition being able to give an answer that even a simple majority of this coalition can agree on.

  54. 54.

    Kristine

    @Van Buren: If you’ve already cut up the beets, you can probably give them a quick hit in a food processor to cut them up.

    I’ve been roasting the beets whole, freezing them, then grating them. Did not wear gloves the last time, and along with red hands I suffered a touch of frostbite on a couple of fingertips. Think I will go the cut ’em up/ roast ’em/food processor route next time.

  55. 55.

    Scout211

    @Eyeroller: I don’t see anything that looks like it belongs to a human in that little screen on the desk, but it could be the combination of my vision and my iPad resolution.  I will trust that jackals with better vision see parts of a human somewhere in that small screen on the desk, but I can’t.

  56. 56.

    Ruckus

    @Suzanne:

    I was born and live in SoCal and other than while in the USN and that 10 years while I had a job in snow country, have for the vast majority of my life. I also have traveled extensively as I’ve stated here before, in and out of the USN. Humanity is humanity, in all its ups and downs. I’ve stood on a mountain at about 6,000 feet in New Zealand, on ice several feet thick and traveled thousands of miles by ship in the USN, talked to people in many countries, have stood on Antartica and the northern tip of Norway, which is way above the Arctic Circle, even stood on Cuba – 3 times. This world has some unbelievable places to visit and some unbelievable human beings living on it. And yes those unbelievable bits and places/humans are everywhere.

  58. 58.

    CCL

    @Suzanne:

     Normal people like me still have to stick around and go to work!

     
    Lower class, blue collar neighbor friend remembers driving down Indian School Road, in July, windows rolled up even though the car had no air conditioning – just because they didn’t want the other drivers to know.
    Back then… you could keep an old AZ car running for years – as they weren’t prey to road salt and snow.

  59. 59.

    WaterGirl

    @Lacuna Synecdoche: That makes more sense.  And yes, it’s deeply disturbing

    I mean, if they had monitors in the space where they kept the women, GIRLS, then would others watch (or did they record?) when other men were in with the girls

    @Another Scott:  What you wrote makes sense, too.

    Trophies of the girls, to shuffle through like the things they were seen as.  Ugh.

  62. 62.

    Jackie

    @Scout211: That was a fun article LOL

    He should have said instead of the promised Rose Garden, we got a concrete slab, though!

    (I understand he was referring to the great Lynn Anderson’s song ;-) )

    @eyeroller beat me.

  63. 63.

    Shalimar

    Are we positive it is a picture frame and not a tablet meant to look like a picture frame that has a video feed of the girl passed out on the couch in the other room so he can see when she wakes up?  It would be a very strange picture to frame.  It would be incredibly creepy but understandable if it was a cam feed.

  67. 67.

    geg6

    @Suzanne:

    Got about 5 inches out here in the western exurbs.  I am not shoveling until I have to.  I’m too old for this shit.  One good thing is the windshield cover I got last year.  That’s one thing I don’t have to scrape off.

  68. 68.

    trollhattan

    Donny and PleatherFace have an Advent gift for you all.

    Measles outbreaks are growing along the Utah-Arizona border and in South Carolina, where hundreds are in quarantine, the AP reports.

  69. 69.

    Fair Economist

    @NotMax: I think “Abbatravaganza” sounds better. I get that they were going for a portmanteau but it doesn’t quite work.

  71. 71.

    BeautifulPlumage

    Speaking of opportunities:
    The last Russian An-22 crashed after repairs a few days ago & the video is amazing

    The Bluesky thread also had a post* about the maintenance plant that had just repaired it (it was the first test flight following the repairs) is almost bankrupt, hadn’t paid wages since September, and was going to have their power shut off on the 12th.

    Appears that the sanctions and war costs are doing their thing.

    * Not able to link to that post

  72. 72.

    Suzanne

    @CCL: So I lived a block north of Indian School Road for a couple of years, before midtown Phoenix got hip and expensive. LOL. Wish I had bought property.

    When we moved to AZ when I was a kid, SuzMom’s car did not have air conditioning. I still remember driving into Phoenix for the first time, just choking on the heat. I also remember my AC giving up the ghost a few times over the years and soaking my clothes with sweat.

    It just doesn’t seem so bad to wear boots and gloves and a puffer coat a few times a year.

  75. 75.

    Pink Tie

    That video of the man disarming the shooter is amazing — that is real, physical bravery.

    Are we still calling people “females”?

  78. 78.

    zhena gogolia

    People magazine alert — Cheeto failed at flipping a coin at the Army-Navy game.

    “Trump with one of the worst coin tosses I’ve seen lmao,” one person wrote alongside the clip, while another user reposted the video and captioned Trump’s attempt: “Me on my first day of coin toss school.”

    “I’ve never seen someone screw up flipping a coin until now,” wrote a different user, as another said, “It’s actually possible he doesn’t understand how coin tosses work.”

    But they do kind of normalize it and try to make it look cute.

  80. 80.

    MattF

    @trollhattan: My theory is that the MAGA solution to healthcare costs is for all the weaklings to die of measles.
    @Dorothy A. Winsor: There’s likely a messaging app… somewhere. I’m currently fighting around with my Apple devices, having ‘upgraded’ everything to the current system version. Enough has stayed the same for me to do what I want, although it often looks different and more complicated.

  82. 82.

    JoyceH

    @MattF: that’s what gets me about about all the claims that this and that is a hoax – the claimer relies on technology that is available today and wasn’t available three years ago let alone thirty.

    I wish someone would ask the press secretary, “Explain something to us – Trump claims that his entry in the birthday book is phony. Could you explain whether he is contending that back when this book was being compiled, someone else created the greeting, forged Trump’s signature and submitted it as Trump’s entry, in order to  – what? Embarrass a game show host? Or does he allege that more recently, as he became politically important, then someone created the greeting, forged Trump’s signature, and then inserted the forged greeting into a bound book in a locked vault in a lawyer’s office?”

  86. 86.

    RevRick

    @Old Man Shadow: The average person cannot process more than three messages. Think advertising. They repeat the same simple message until it’s screaming in your brain. The rule of thumb is that a message has to be said at least six times before half the people become vaguely aware of it. A list of policies is overload and just noise.

  88. 88.

    BeautifulPlumage

    @montanareddog: I trust the poster, they’ve been documenting the war since it started. Apparently, the cameras are on the homes there, which makes sense if you live near a Russian airfield.

  89. 89.

    zhena gogolia

    Speaking of technology, my wristwatch has died, and the jewelry store where we got it is going out of business any day now. What do people do about wristwatches? I don’t want to use my phone as a watch.

  90. 90.

    BeautifulPlumage

    @trollhattan: there were 7 folks on board, and it does look like 3 made it out. Now the question is how well were their parachutes maintained and packed

  92. 92.

    geg6

    @zhena gogolia:

    I just buy a new one.  The latest one I got was a little pricey (not too much, more than $100 and less than $200).  But I believe I will probably never need a new battery for it.  It’s got a solar rechargeable battery in it.  I really like it.  It’s a Citizen.

  94. 94.

    Another Scott

    @zhena gogolia: I’ve been using Fitbit-type things for a while (since before the Covid days).  I like them, it helps me be more active and to keep track of long-term trends in heart rate and so forth that might be meaningful, with the caveats:

    1. The Charge X models only seem to last about 2 years for me, for some reason.  :-/
    2. Because of #1 I recently got a small Pixel Watch 3.  It’s been fine so far.

    The Pixel Watch does a lot of things I don’t care about – no, I don’t want to answer my phone with my watch, no I don’t want to use it to pay for stuff – that it has taken me a while to figure out how to turn off.

    There are a huge number of watch-like choices now, for very reasonable prices, with good functionality.  You don’t have to learn all the functions – and probably don’t want to anyway.

    HTH a little.  Good luck!

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  96. 96.

    RevRick

    @frosty: 1-2 inches predicted became 6 inches. But I have wonderful neighbors. The mom across the street came over with her four kids (aged 4-9) and shoveled our sidewalk. Of course, there were snow angels and snowball fights.

  98. 98.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @geg6: Yeah I have a Citizen Eco Drive basic field watch that’s going on 20 years old. Zero maintenance- never even a battery change. I think I paid around $100 for it and I think that’s what they still sell for or did until tariffs. No idea how many more years it’ll last but doesn’t show any signs of crapping out yet. Quartz movement so it keeps great time.

    update: this is the watch – $129 at Walmart. walmart.com/ip/Jacob-Time-BM8180-03E-Citizen-Eco-Drive-180-Mens-Watch-Black-Dial/49092728?wmlspartne…

  101. 101.

    JoyceH

    @eclare: I know! How do you grow up as a 20th century American and not know how to flip a coin? Think of how many games he’s attended over the decades. How did he go through childhood and never flip a coin?

  102. 102.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    @WaterGirl: Thanks to xkcd, I can’t see that without wondering whether that’ll end with “hey hey, goodbye” or “Batman” or “Katamari Damacy”.

  103. 103.

    Jackie

    @eclare:

    They are all so weird.  How do you fuck up a coin flip?

    By not flipping it. FFOTUS cupped it in his hand and gently tossed it up. Started tails up, no rotation whatsoever, landed tails up. The ref didn’t have the cajones to make him re-flip it correctly. Apparently no one thought to have FFOTUS practice – because who doesn’t know how to flip a coin after age 5?

  106. 106.

    MattF

    @JoyceH: From watching it, he found a way to cheat at a coin flip. Or, rather, ‘invented’ a new way to do it. Now you just have to find out who among the MAGA minions put money on it.

  107. 107.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @JoyceH: I’m sure he knows, or knew, how to flip a coin but dementia does weird things to people’s ability to do basic physical tasks. Also he may have not remembered what he was supposed to do with the coin from one moment to the next.

  109. 109.

    JoyceH

    @Jackie: That’s what gets me about Trump – he doesn’t have the self-awareness to realize he didn’t know how to flip a coin or the humility to ask someone to show him how. In Trump’s mind, people don’t need to explain things to him, he already knows them. How he knows things without being told or taught is unexplained – I guess he just absorbs the info from his famous good genes.

  110. 110.

    Ramalama

    @NotMax: I really love the song Arrival, but never heard it sung with words before, just Frida and Agnetha doing background vocals.

    Nice live version.

  112. 112.

    Another Scott

    @geg6: Citizen Eco-Drive watches are magical.

    As long as you don’t get one with day and date dials.  :-/  Those can be maddening to set correctly after a leap day (especially if one can’t easily find the manual).   There are “perpetual” versions that understand leap days, but those only come in spendy limited models.

    Fine mechanical things are great, but sometimes the lack of aggravation from modern electronics really is progress.  Choices are good!

    Thanks.

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  115. 115.

    strange visitor (from another planet)

    @WaterGirl: of course he did, that was epstein’s whole deal. he was running an influencer- blackmailing operation underneath the underage sex-trafficking.

  119. 119.

    mrmoshpotato

    @JoyceH:

    That’s what gets me about Trump – he doesn’t have the self-awareness to realize he didn’t know how to flip a coin or the humility to ask someone to show him how. 

    He’s too narcissistic to ask for help or instructions, because then he’d be admitting he doesn’t know something.

  120. 120.

    Jackie

    Not an admission of guilt at all!

    President Trump has already discussed the idea of preemptively pardoning an array of Trump advisers, policymakers, and others who the president believes will likely be criminally investigated once Democrats are back in power, Zeteo reports.

  121. 121.

    scav

    @Jackie: “who doesn’t know how to flip a coin after age 5?”

    Someone devoted to the proposition that “luck” should always favor the already haves — well, after himself bien sûr.

  125. 125.

    Kayla Rudbek

    @zhena gogolia: Timex is still in business (I bought a few Timex analog watches earlier this year when I had to start working onsite), as I can’t bring a smartwatch into office). Although since I tend to switch between watches, I haven’t gotten the leather strap ones to soften up yet. I was a little disappointed that I couldn’t find my older watches from when I was younger.  I still miss that ND leprechaun watch that was massively oversized for my wrist.

    I’m still trying to figure out what to do for steps tracking and I think I might have to buy an antique analog pedometer off eBay (I may have one in the Room of Doom and Yarn aka my home office but I would need to find it and see if it still works)

  126. 126.

    Kayla Rudbek

    @NotMax: one can buy kits to open up the watch back and replace the watch, but as I get older and more irritable I let Mr. Rudbek do it for me.

  128. 128.

    cain

    @RV in NZ: ​
     
    FUCK antisemitism. One is dead, the other definitely I hope lives to serve justice.

    Tough week with shootings on this side of the pond too. Our moronic president doesn’t even have “thoughts and prayers” now. So, I guess we’ve moved on to these being just a non-event.

  129. 129.

    JoyceH

    Any advice on how to unstick a keyboard key? My shift key is stiff and balky and I use it all the time. I’ve done all the recommended stuff I found online other than the ones that require removing the key cap – I’m afraid it won’t go back on. Or the keyboard is several years old – buy a new one?

  130. 130.

    cain

    @Jackie: ​
     
    haha! So they might have to change the maps again but now they got a problem. The SCOTUS allowed them to use the maps because it was “too close to the election”. But if they try to change the maps the SCOTUS will have to backtrack to let them do it.

    I told y’all that Texas fucked themselves with that map. That gerrymander is going to fuck them because as I said they can’t fuck with the blue districts like they used because they’ve mixed in the red population. But now the red population is pissed too.

    So now it might turn out that Texas could end up having a lot more blue reps. That probably terrifies them.

  133. 133.

    Jackie

    @Scout211:

    Hey Jackie, did you see that Rivers is starting today?

    Yes. May our defense make him feel every bit of his age and send him to the hot tub so he can play with his grandkiddos after a day or so :-D

    @mrmoshpotato:

  142. 142.

    HopefullynotCassandra

    @MattF: that is not how infectious diseases like measles work (which you likely know, but MAGA has deliberately(?) forgotten.
    Measles kills healthy people and unhealthy people.  It also wipes out immune memory in every single person it affects.  So, goodbye whatever immunity there infected people had to Covid, flu or even the common cold.

  144. 144.

    sab

    @Another Scott: It looks like two girls, one on the right with long stawberry blonde hair and her face mostly hidden by a blanket, and one on the left with a redaction box over her face.

  146. 146.

    Mousebumples

    @H.E.Wolf: late to return to this thread, but glad to hear that! I might be chairing my local data team. 🤯 I think I’m going to do it, but still mentally debating if I’ll over extend myself.

    And thanks, as always, for your postcarding!

  147. 147.

    Another Scott

    @sab: That seems to make sense.

    Made me look some more…

    Epstein’s pants have what appears to me to be “JRRO” on the left pant leg.  In a Google search, the first apparently relevant thing that comes up for me is JRRO, llp, an accounting firm. I hope folks are following up every single apparent lead like that…

    Follow the money!!

    Thanks.

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  149. 149.

    Kayla Rudbek

    @JoyceH: I’m not allowed to carry a smartphone into the building either so it has to be analog once I step inside the outer doors.

  151. 151.

    SW

    Watching Trump slowly die in public isn’t nearly as satisfying as I had imagined.  For one thing I am a little disappointed in myself for not being able to generate any sympathy for him.  I would feel bad if we were talking about a dog or even a snake.  But this guy has been so destructive to so many people as well as the country as a whole that it is impossible not to believe that his shuffling off the stage would be a very good thing for everyone and everything.  But apparently I am not capable of deriving any pleasure from watching it happen.

  153. 153.

    TS

    @RV in NZ: There are currently 15 dead after the shooting. The gunmen were father and son, the father was the legal owner of 6 guns, he is dead. It has been declared an act of anti-sematic terrorism by everyone in positions of political power, as wellas the Federal & State Police.

    Netanyahu is blaming the Australian PM and using the attack to promote his ideas in our country.

    Australians are so deeply saddened by this event against its Jewish community in an iconic area of Sydney that it will take many moons to recover (if ever) – the assumption of security via our gun laws is lost forever. The reality of the volume of weapons in the country and the fight to have more is beyond understanding.

    What should not be forgotten – 2 people did this – should we now become a country of hate because of the acts of 2 people. Many would like this to happen, within & without. Not only have the gunmen attacked the Jewish community they have increased the level of hate that comes from the RW part of the Australian community against their own people. We have all lost, we are all lesser because of the acts of 2 people.

    Have world events been the justification for this attack, we are part of a global community whether we wish to be there or not.

  154. 154.

    Miss Bianca

    @SW: To me, the most unsatisfying element  – because I’m just not a nice person – is just HOW DAMN LONG it seems to be taking.

  155. 155.

    Eolirin

    @Miss Bianca: I do not want Trump to die until after we win in 2028, because President JD Vance is more terrifying to contemplate than even the current state of affairs is.

  157. 157.

    Archon

    @Eolirin: JD Vance has absolutely none of Trumps malevolent vaudevillian charm.

    MAGA won’t completely die with Trump but the cult of personality around it will.

  159. 159.

    Matt McIrvin

    @TS: People are so easy to manipulate, you know? Someone kills a bunch of civilians, now every civilian in the group that guy belongs to needs to die, now someone kills a bunch of them, now every civilian in the group THAT guy belongs to needs to die, repeat unto infinity.

    I can’t say I don’t understand it, because it’s perfectly understandable. Do the same kinds of feelings occur in me, yearnings for indiscriminate bloody revenge against vast groups of people? YES THEY DO. They’re hard to restrain. Being a civilized person means making the effort.

  160. 160.

    Matt McIrvin

    @SW: Time is just creeping up on Donald Trump like it does on everybody. There’s no justice in it. Plenty of people who did nothing wrong are experiencing no better, every day.

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