First off, I have never identified with an online comment more than this one:
“The longer I live in a red state, the more I understand why the deer throw themselves in front of our vehicles.”
It was a comment I saw somewhere under an article about this appalling thing happening in Kansas:
The Kansas Senate overrode Gov Laura Kelly’s veto on Tuesday, putting the state one step closer to forcing people to use bathrooms in government buildings that match their biological sex at birth.
Senate Substitute for House Bill 244 was overturned by the Senate, with votes falling along party lines.
As the vote was finalized in the Senate, Rabbi Moti Rieber shouted in anger from the gallery.
“First they came for the trans people, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t trans,” he yelled.
Rieber was referring to a well-known writing by a German minister after the Holocaust.
As he was escorted out, Rieber continued to shout, telling the Senate, “Shame on you.”
Fuck you, Kansas.
Jesse Jackson has died at the age of 84. Here is his 1988 DNC speech, which will speak better for him than any one of us can:
Obviously, as a right wing twat when he was politically very visible, I hated him, but I always respected his ability to command that kind of respect and attention and to speak with such clarity. It was such a good speech that libertarian/Republica/gadfly PJ O’Rourke spent the better part of a half a chapter in Parliament of Whores praising Jackson’s ’88 speech while viciously (and mostly fairly) attacking the speeches of the other Dems. Think he even referred to him as a modern Demosthenes, but it has been 35 years since I read the book.
Joelle has found a homeless eight year old Shiba Inu that she is dead set on adopting and I am doing my best to put an end to this madness, but I am pretty resigned to the fact that there is nothing I can do to stop this from happening and my best bet is to lie back and think of England. Here’s the guy:
Because why get a young dog you can more easily integrate into a pack of old cats when you just throw yourself into a pool of increasingly larger medical bills right from the get go?
We meet him on Saturday. I know we are going to get this dog because she loves red shiba inus and that white tail seals the deal and it is going to bond to me because thurston is such an asshole and will be resource guarding her.
Fuck me.
WaterGirl
Yeah, photo number two pretty much tells the story, John. The die is cast
edit: Hard to tell the size from the pic, 30 or 40 pounds
edit 2: he looks sweet. And content. Like he’s home.
zhena gogolia
That is a cute dog.
Barbara
Good looking dog!
A Ghost to Most
Yea, that happened for us in 2002, and we rectified it in 2009. Fortune favors the prepared.
WaterGirl
@A Ghost to Most: I don’t understand, can you say more?
JetsamPool
There’s a shiba inu who often goes on her afternoon walk at the same time as I go on mine. They are small dogs, and very adorable.
hedgehog the occasional commenter
DOGGO
That is all.
gene108
Republicans domestic policy agenda consists of tax cuts for the rich, deregulation of businesses, and laws to fight the imaginary situations they create moral panics over like rampant voter fraud, transgender people using the bathroom, CRT being taught in high school, etc.
Passing laws on shit that’s imaginary, while fighting against objective reality and facts, is going to screw this country over. It’s depressing.
Nouvelle Vague Hoosiere
O’Rourke praised Jackson’s mastery of classical rhetoric, and observed that Jackson, of all the Democratic presidential candidates the most persistent critic of Western civilization, was also the only person at the convention to demonstrate any of it.
Chief Oshkosh
O’Rouke has to have been one of the original Dude Bros.
Fuck him.
lamh47
I woke up way too early this morning to the news that Rev Jackson had passed. It was sad to think he’s pretty much the last of big OG civil rights icons, I think the only one left from the “original” crew is Amb Andrew Young.
I am loving to hear the posts and comments on Rev Jackson’s life and the way he helped to shape and affect the direction of the Dem party from both his 84 and 88 run.
Rest in power, Rev Jackson.
Couple of my favs:
Rev. Jesse Jackson showed up for the family of Vincent Chin and Asian Americans when few others would. His Rainbow Coalition showed us the way to solidarity.
Suzanne
If you don’t wanna get this dog because you want a younger dog….. find a younger dog who is equally cute STAT.
I did a Peloton workout today. I was going to make it a fairly easygoing workout today, but the. I started the workout, and someone with #PelotonRepublicans in their name had started two minutes before me. And, of course, I had to beat them. Don’t worry, I did. I’m so petty.
piratedan
John, typically as a breed Shiba Inu’s are just like you, stubborn, lovingly loyal doggos. I currently have a shiba mix (an Eskinu) and we also adopted a Shiba rescue while we were in Tucson. He was simply an awesome fucking doggo. He never fucked with the cats (we had six), just a happy fucker living his best life, not in the open desert with soft rugs and carpets, steady meals and loads of pets and scritches.
FastEdD
I grew up near Chicago, and I remember sometime around 1968 or 1969 they were having a “patriotic” assembly at my high school. The assembly was mostly pro Vietnam war propaganda, as if being against the war was being against America. Our whole family thought that was bullshit and my Mom wrote an excuse to get her kids out of school that day. She was a teacher herself and she was looking for somewhere for us to go where we could learn something valuable.
She drove me, my brother, and our neighbor across the street Peter Schmidt to a small church in Chicago. We were not church going people, but the speaker that day was a leading voice against the war. It turned out we were the only white people there that day. The speaker was Rev. Jesse Jackson and he shook the rafters with his poetry. I’ll never forget it. We spoke for a minute during the reception.
The assembly at school turned out to be a ceremony where the American Legion chairman gave a fake patriotism award to his own daughter and they were all supposed to clap. The student body was forced to sing God Bless America. Instead my Mom sent her kids to listen to a leading figure in the civil rights movement who later ran for president. I think she knew a better use of our time.
I read this morning that Jesse Jackson paved the way for Barack Obama to become president. Maybe so, but both men had Chicago roots and they didn’t like each other for some reason. When Obama gave his acceptance speech in Grant Park, Reverend Jackson was in the audience listening. Ginger and I had spent election day doing Get Out The Vote and went back to the OC Dem office that night to turn in our paperwork. The election had already been called and we listened to President Elect Obama’s speech on TV. When it was over the volunteers hugged each other and sang God Bless America and we cried. History was made. My Mom knew better than to send us to school that day long ago.
Peace on the journey, Reverend Jackson.
NotMax
Ella in New Mexico
I wish I could upload a photo of my Korean-American daughter-in-Law’s Jindo dog. They’re gorgeous can look almost exactly like Shibas but are much bigger so they’re traditionally used as hunting dogs in Korea.
But just to warn you. guys, both breeds are stubborn and hardheaded as hell, and can be pretty territorial, protective and very independant little fuckers.
We adored “Jindo” but that dog could get into trouble like none other. He was a big time escape artist, and if allowed to get out would disappear. She found him in the desert behind her house after he bolted out of her car and took off. After being gone 2 days she found him covered in asphalt tar and stickers. When he was older, he lost most of his hearing so if he ran off it was almost an emergency.
We used to babysit him and take him camping with us. We finally figured out that if we tied him and our younger dog together on a leash, even if they’d wander off, she could hear our calls. and she’d drag him back home.
But damn, if you love doggos with spirit and devotion, they simply cannot be beat.
Melancholy Jaques
@Chief Oshkosh:
O’Rourke was more of an old school frat boy dickhead. But he wasn’t always talking about politics and even on that subject occasionally had a point.
Melancholy Jaques
I see that Susan Collins is now the 50th senate vote for the vote suppression scheme. She is a total asshole and I will never forgive the voters of Maine for condemning the rest of us to her bullshit.
Do you think this means she is concerned about her re-election chances?
laura
@lamh47: of all of the remembrances and tributes and politically summing up of Jesse Jackson, it was the Sesame Street snippet that had me crying my eyes out- and, frankly, I’m so glad of that.
Also, I’m hoping your settling in with your Family is going well and looking forward to your tales of preparing to go to South Africa for your 50th Birthday!
Omnes Omnibus
That dog? 13/10
Old School
Somewhere around 15 years ago, I had scored a front row ticket to an Aretha Franklin concert. As I was walking to my seat, I noticed Rev. Jesse Jackson was sitting in the third or fourth row.
”How did I get better seats than Jesse Jackson?” I wondered.
I hope I didn’t block his view when I stood up.
Gin & Tonic
Congrats on the new dog.
RevRick
Harry Enten posted a poll of how the 2024 election would turnout today if there was a redo. Whereas Trump won by a little over 1% in 2024, in a redo Harris would win by 8%! And looking towards the midterms, Democrats retain 89% of Harris voters while Republicans retain only 83% of Trump voters. More importantly, amongst those who sat out 2024, but plan to vote in 2026, Democrats have a 16% advantage.
xephyr
Re the Shiba Inu, thanks John for my best laugh of the day.
Eyeroller
I have not had a dog since I was 12 so I don’t really know, but seems like an older dog might integrate better, especially if he has a basically calm temperament.
As to “biological sex at birth,” I suppose they mean phenotype since that’s all that is visible. Klinefelter syndrome has come up here sometimes. It’s among the most common chromosomal anomalies in humans and affects up to 1 in 500 or maybe 1 in 1000 males. They are phenotypically male but (basically) biologically female or I guess one could say neither or both. Though there can be symptoms and mild developmental delays associated with it, most men with Klinefelter have none that are noticeable other than *perhaps* an effeminate appearance and a chubby body, leading to bullying (and infertility). But they can use a urinal so I suppose they pass the bathroom test.
Eyeroller
@Melancholy Jaques: Yeah I saw that. I wondered whether she is counting on the filibuster or whether she really believes that.
Either way, I don’t care that Plattner may be problematic and Mills is old. I just want her gone. I am tired of her fake “moderate’ shtick.
lamh47
If ya’ll got Disney+, ya’ll def check out Wonder Man. Yahya and Sir Ben Kingsley did the damn thing.
Best thing Marvel’s done since at least Loki or WandaVision I’d say!
Rusty
For the third time the shitty state legislature of New Hampshire passed a anti-trans bathroom law, and our terrible governor Ayotte vetoed it. Given she has no principles, its been tough to figure out why. One possibility is she has a trans family member, but the much more likely story is that we are tourist dependent and pissing off liberals from Massachusetts would be bad for business. Ayotte is trying to play both sides with regards to the giant warehouse the federal government is converting into an ICE concentration camp in Merrimack NH. The legislature has blocked all attempts to keep it out of the state. One of the state representatives recently stated the goal isn’t to make things better for the people of NH, it is to enact laws to drive Democrats from the state. We are ruled by assholes.
Marleedog
Shiba Ino is the avatar of the Fellas. Good choice. 8 Y.O. is not that old for a smaller dog. He is probably good for another 5 at least.
In dog beers, I have only had one.
Binky
Ha! That’s going to be your Velcro dog! Reminds me of that one time my mom brought home a dog and my dad was all “that damn dog etc and so forth” and then the two of them spent most of their time together in his garage recliner with the dog in his lap saying “welllll who’s been a good girl?!”
Albatrossity
Rabbi Moti Rieber is a good person, and absolutely right to cast shame on the KS lege. This anti-trans bill has a sordid history. Committee “hearings” that were basically unannounced, and the use of a vile legislative shortcut called a gut and go, where a bill that already passed the other house is completely re-written to have another meaning entirely. The original bill was about bail bonds, it was obliterated and the anti-trans language inserted. Makes it hard to track bills, but that is sorta the whole point.
But at least our Dem governor vetoed it, unlike the case in California, where Newsom agreed with the late and unmourned Charlie Kirk that trans athletes were a big problem…
More here, if you are interested.
Scout211
This local story, now national news story, has been haunting me all day.
We are on our second day of a strong winter storm with rain and wind in the lower elevations and heavy snow in the foothills and Sierras. All three highways to the Tahoe area have been shut down due to blizzard conditions. This morning, an avalanche near Truckee caught a group of backcountry skiers (4 guides,12 skiers) and now 10 are missing and 6 are stranded. 48 rescuers are on their way but hadn’t arrived by 5:00 PT yet.
I guess we will know why this group went backcountry skiing in blizzard conditions with avalanche warnings in the area once they are rescued. But I just keep asking, Why?
Deputinize America
So my pop passed a little after 6 pm after a perfect day. Oldest daughter had flown in last night from FLL, my other daughters had come, and my wife was able to spend most of the day. He did squeeze a couple of hands, but as the morphine had started, there wasn’t much cognition but a lot of labored breathing. The Orthodox priest from the family parish came and delivered last rites at around lunchtime with the family in attendance, including my new son-in-law (it is a really beautiful rite). We sat all afternoon, the girls and my mom laughing over old stories and I sat next to him, alternately holding his hand and stroking his arm, and his breathing was lulling me to sleep. I suddenly realized that the breathing stopped and his arm felt different – I knew at that point he was gone, and the nurse confirmed.
I couldn’t imagine a quieter death.
Scout211
@Deputinize America: My deepest condolences. What a tough and emotional week your family has had. It sounds like you all had a peaceful goodbye, which is a blessing.
Barbara
@Deputinize America: Condolences. So wonderful that so many in your family were able to come together, and that the last moments were peaceful. It’s hard to ask for more.
p.a.
@Deputinize America: Wishing peace for you & your family.
SpaceUnit
@Deputinize America:
Peace to you and your family.
Gin & Tonic
@Deputinize America: My condolences on your loss, but I am glad to hear it was peaceful.
Kristine
Pupper looks like a big fox. Beautiful dog.
::checks Duck Duck Go::
Shiba’s average life expectancy is 12-15 years, so fingers crossed you get a few low-vet bill years.
Speaking as someone who nursed a dog through Canine Cognitive Dysfunction during her last year or so, 8 is a great time to start the new pup on salmon oil or other brain support. It’s good for their joints too.
John Cole
@Deputinize America: I am sorry to hear this.
steeeevo
8 means 10.5 in rescue dog years
marklar
@Deputinize America: May your father’s memory always serve you, and all who loved him, as a blessing.
Another Scott
If doggo has a giant red duster tail
Your choice is gone, it’s a guaranteed sale!
Handsome pooch. Best of luck with him.
Best wishes,
Scott.
rikyrah
The dog is cute, Cole 🥰
Old School
@Deputinize America: My sympathies. Glad the family could be together.
Kristine
@Deputinize America: Heartfelt sympathies. A peaceful passing surrounded by loved ones is about the best any of us could hope for.
WaterGirl
@Rusty: I’m sorry, that’s awful.
rikyrah
@Deputinize America:
So sorry for your loss😢🙏🏾
zhena gogolia
@Deputinize America: I’m sorry.🙏
Another Scott
@Deputinize America: We should all be so lucky as to pass like that.
Thank you.
Peace and comfort to you and to everyone who knew and loved him.
Best wishes,
Scott.
rikyrah
@Rusty:
Sorry Rusty. That does suck
WaterGirl
@Deputinize America: I’m so sorry. That takes me right back to the night my dad died. I’m glad it was peaceful, and I’m glad you and your mom were able to make the right choices for your dad.
But still very sorry for your loss. The whole process started a very short time ago, and when things go from zero to 60 in a a very short time, it’s so hard for your brain and your heart to catch up.
Sending love to you and your family.
rikyrah
@lamh47:
Thanks for the review
Steve in the ATL
@Deputinize America: salam alaikum, saheb
Socolofi
@Deputinize America: so sorry to hear that… best to you and your family. been there, and it just… sucks.
rikyrah
@Melancholy Jaques:
She is always so concerned 🧐🧐🧐
rikyrah
@lamh47:
I AM SOMEBODY
Thank you, Rev. Jackson 🙏🏾 😢
tobie
@Deputinize America: My heartfelt condolences. What a comfort it must have been to your father to have you all near him.
laura
@Deputinize America: Grace and Peace as You and your family find solace and comfort in your loss and your shared grieving.
Socolofi
To the original comment, “the longer I live in a red state….”
I grew up in a red state. Couldn’t wait to get out. At the first opportunity (college), I bolted. My folks thought I’d come back over summers. I never did. I was gone. Usually back for a week or so once a year to see the folks, but that was it. And at the time, there really wasn’t a big anti-{gay/trans/immigrant} thing going on there (it was a while ago)… it was old school Reagan Republicans and I was a Clinton Democrat.
So I’m just curious… I totally get that there are various income levels that make it really, really hard to leave a state. But a good chunk of people in any given red state could move if they wanted… so, kinda curious for this crowd who live in red states, or have family that does… why do they stay?
Jay
@Deputinize America:
I am glad that you and your family had a peaceful last day with your Dad.
I am so sorry for your loss.
LAC
@Deputinize America: My condolences. I am glad that his passing was peaceful and that he was surrounded by family.
stinger
@Deputinize America: So sorry for your loss, but it sounds like a good day for him and the rest of the family. Peace to you all, especially your mom.
Jackie
My heart is filled with happiness! I can’t wait to hear what you and Joelle name him/her!
Now, to read the thread!
Sure Lurkalot
@Deputinize America: Condolences to you and your family. May your memories of the good times never fade.
LAC
@rikyrah: Amen! Hope we can find someone better than asshole O’Roarke for a tribute.
Jackie
@Scout211:
Just read about this. Horrifying news. :-(
Sister Golden Bear
@Deputinize America: My condolences. But glad to hear it was peaceful and he was surrounded by those who loved him.
MCat
@Deputinize America: My sincere condolences to you and your family. It sounds like he had a very peaceful transition surrounded by people who loved him. That is a profound blessing.
NotMax
@Jackie
Dollars to donuts it won’t be Donald.
//
Steve LaBonne
@Socolofi: My wife and I will not leave Ohio (which would be financially difficult though not completely prohibitive) because 1. Her son and her grandchildren live nearby. 2. We’re in our 70s and it’s a hard age to start a life elsewhere. 3. I want to stay and fight and I have my amazing UU congregation as comrades in arms. 4. We live near Cleveland and Akron and they have a lot to offer despite being in a shithole state.
anitamargarita
Lucky dogs, all of you!
Origuy
Jesse Jackson came to my office building seven or eight years ago during Black History Month. Our CEO was Meg Whitman, who was actually good friends with him. They had worked together on some foundation, housing I think. He was clearly not well, but when he started speaking, he still had some of the fire that he was famous for.
Rusty
@Deputinize America: Peace be with you, your family and you dad, now in God’s hands. May we all be so lucky to be surrounded by those we love.
prostratedragon
@Deputinize America: Condolences. It is good that you and family were with him.
dexwood
@Deputinize America: I wish you and your family peace and strength and many smiles one day as you think of him. My wife’s father died peacefully Sunday evening surrounded by much of the family. Mrs. Dexwood was holding his hand, I had my hand on his shoulder when he breathed his last. He had been my father-in-law for 51 years. He was better to me, more my father, than my own. He was 97. A truly good man.
Jackie
@Deputinize America:
That’s beautiful. I say beautiful because that’s exactly how my dad left this world. We couldn’t have asked for more for our dad. Tranquil, serene and gently. And beautifully.
May you and your dad’s beloved feel peace and, yes, joy, in his gentle transition.
Hugs to you and yours.
mvr
@Deputinize America: My condolences. Losing a parent is not easy.
NotMax
Wow. Swing and a miss just now from closed captioning.
Dialogue: “Do you think he’s angry enough to firebomb your car?”
CC: “Do you think he’s angry enough to firebomb Mecca?”
:)
mvr
Happy to say I voted for Jesse Jackson in the ’84 primaries. I still have a Rainbow button with his name on it somewhere that I run across every now and then. I’m pretty sure my mom did as well, though my dad was not yet a citizen. Not sure what I did in ’88 – just don’t remember who I voted for in the primaries but likely I voted for him again.
Saw him give a good speech at an outdoor anti-Apartheid demonstration at Princeton in the late 80s or 1990. Big crowd on the lawn. (The way we look back on those protests and the more general tolerance of dissent then should tell people a little bit about how we should have reacted to the more recent protests regarding Gaza, whether you agreed with the more recent protesters or not.)
And another one during the extended great recession as Jenny, my spouse, was early in the process of getting “riffed” by my current university in Nebraska. I recall him asking us to raise hands if our jobs were getting cut or something like that and it seemed personal, but still iffy at the time.
Not a perfect politician or activist but on balance a mostly good one. There are not many left from back in the day. (BTW, if you ever get a chance to visit the Lorraine Motel which is now a civil rights museum in Memphis, you should.)
Joelle
@piratedan: well of course you’re a Shiba lover Pirate Dan! I should have known. It takes a true rebel spirit to appreciate the dichotomy of a Shiba Inu’s independent nature yet fiercely loyal persona.
Old School
@dexwood: My sympathies to you and your family.
cain
@Suzanne: aww.. but poor homeless senior dog is never gonna get adopted. :( :(
Gretchen
Kansan here. I’m sick about bathroom bill. But the head of the KS legislature is running for governor, and he is going in full-tilt on the bathroom bill and supporting ICE, and that’s not really where most people here are. The comments on his Facebook post celebrating the veto over-ride are full of men itching to kick butt outside of bathrooms, so I’m weighing in after each one. Does this make women safer to have violent men starting fights outside the bathroom when you just want to go in and pee? I just saw the “drunk uncle at Thanksgiving” theory on Bluesky. You’re not going to change drunk-uncle’s mind arguing, but you may change the minds of the cousins silently listening. So I’m speaking to the silent cousins. They don’t like violence, they don’t like meanness. Masterson is running for governor against a sane, nice young family man from the Kansas City suburbs, and KC doesn’t like this shit.
cain
@NotMax: The only way to stop this to get a bunch of trans folks who identify as women and just keep mingling in the male bathroom and harassing them. Start putting make up, filling the area with lipstick – get chairs loudly have conversations in the bathroom.
Until it’s hard to tell whether it’s the women’s bathroom or not. Hell invite the women over too.
Give them what they want. (but make sure you always go in with a partner or two)
Gretchen
@Suzanne: Rod Dreher has written about Jesse Jackson’s “dubious legacy” on his substack. Should I read it?
Tim in SF
JC, I’ve done fundraisers for Muttville, a senior dog adoption center in San Francisco. The thing is, when you adopt a senior dog, it’s a different arrangement from adopting a puppy or a young dog.
You adopt a young dog, and he’s with you for his whole life. He’s completely dependent on you, and when he gets sick, you gotta pay to get him better, or you gotta pay for insurance every month. That’s the deal.
With a senior dog, it’s different. You’re saving them from spending the rest of their days on the concrete floor of a shelter. You’re rescuing them after their owner probably died or some other equally tragic thing happened. You’re making sure that they have a dog bed to sleep on and kibble to eat and maybe someone’s lap to put their head on while watching TV. Basically,that they spend what time they have left with some love and in more comfort than a shelter can offer. And when their time comes, it comes, and you don’t need to go bankrupt over it.
Senior dog adoption is something most people avoid because it sounds sad, but everyone I know who has ever done it, and I do mean every single person, said it was one of the best things they ever did.
cain
@Deputinize America: What a beautiful death. I hope we all have the chance to pass this way.
My condolences to your family.
cain
@Jackie: Joelle will name him after her favorite toy, “Megatron”
Juju
@Deputinize America: I’m sorry about your father, but am glad you were there for him.
Sister Golden Bear
Even worse, bill also revokes the drivers license of any trans person who isn’t willing to have their gender marker changed back to the sex they were assigned at birth. It also retroactively invalidates any birth certificate unless it lists the sex assigned at birth for all trans people who went through the process to get it legally changed.
The intent is to out trans people and make them targets for all the discrimination that Republicans have legalized—and all the upcoming discrimination they will legalize.
frosty
@Deputinize America:
My condolences to you, and I’m glad that it was peaceful and you were there with him.
Juju
@cain: At this point in my life I only adopt older dogs, just for that very reason. Too many people only want the younger dogs. I have never regretted a minute with my older buds. Right now I have a mixed terrier breed whose elderly person died. She was just the right dog to have with my 92 year old mother with dementia. She knew exactly how to deal with my mother, very often better than I even knew how to deal with my mother. It has only been recently that Ruby Jean doesn’t check my mother’s bedroom every morning for my mom. It’s every seven or so days now. My other dog is a retired golden retriever breeder girl, whose life as a breeder girl must have been a horrendous nightmare. It’s my goal for her to make sure she feels secure, happy and loved for the rest of her life. We are making progress together. I got in the habit of giving her a hug at the door each time she went outside. She didn’t much care for the hugs at first, now if I forget to hug her she stands at the door and waits for her hug.
Melancholy Jaques
@Deputinize America:
Sorry for your loss. It’s such a blessing he had his family with him at the end.
Jay
@cain:
Nope, the way to break the bill, is to organize large numbers of cis white men to “enforce” the bill.
The “show us your genitals and ID” posse.
Hey, it’s a $1000 of taxpayers money reward for every person they catch who’s genitals don’t match their ID.
Dad with a daughter at a sporting event, the Mall, etc, “nope, she’s either got to go to the women’s bathroom alone, or you can take her into the Men’s room and get charged”.
Enforce the fact that neither men nor women can’t use a shared bathroom in a public space, like a College Dorm, Hospital room, elder care facility, if there is more than one resident or a resident of the opposite sex.
It is after all, an “open carry State”, so just get a bunch of white, male, armed, trans/LBGTQ+ allies to police every public washroom in the State.
Melancholy Jaques
@Eyeroller:
I decided – for the time being anyway – that I will not have anything to say about the Democratic Primary for senator in Maine. I am curious about the people running to succeed Jaren Golden.
NotMax
Just for funsies.
Not anywhere near obligatory but the discussion triggered memory of this tune.
:)
Gretchen
@Sister Golden Bear: Yes, it’s all sickening. I can tell you that there’s a substantial portion of the population, especially in the Kansas City suburbs, that absolutely hates this shit. I’m hoping that we will be enough to throw these monsters out of power. I’m not sure of it, and it’s discouraging, but I have to cling to that hope. We have a good candidate, Ethan Corson, running against the freakshow Ty Masterson who revels in this stuff. Masterson is hitching his wagon to every culture war and Trump thing that he can find, and I don’t think most people here like it. Even the ranchers: Trump upped beef imports from Argentina dramatically, directly competing with Kansas ranchers. They’re his base and he’s cutting them off at the knees. We’ve had non-gendered bathrooms at the Kansas City airport for 3 years – nobody has gotten assaulted, and the wait times for women are shorter. Are western Kansas ranchers going to vote R on bathroom issues when Trump is tanking their beef market? I’m hoping not. I’m really trying to keep hope alive.
Jay
@cain:
Plan B.
Lock the public washrooms.
Post the text of the Law, under the bolded header, “Public Washrooms are Closed”, with the penalties highlighted.
And a list of every State Politician that voted for the bill, with contact information.
Tenar Arha
@Deputinize America: My condolences. May his memory be a blessing.
Gretchen
@Jay: The KS legislative leader in on Facebook crowing about overriding the governor’s veto of the bathroom bill. See Ty Masterson. The comments are ugly. There are a bunch of men who are just itching to patrol the bathrooms and kick butt of anyone who they think doesn’t belong in a particular bathroom. I’m in there saying, so you’re threatening fistfights while I just want to go pee? Is this supposed to make me feel safer? Because it doesn’t.
NotMax
@Jay
So old can remember when program host Jack Paar walked off the Tonight Show on live TV after NBC’s standards and practices department censored a bit because a term that might be construed to mean bathroom was deemed “too dirty.”
Princess
@Sister Golden Bear: And basically to drive trans people out of public spaces.
it’s so odd because everywhere I go in Europe and Canada I find bathrooms that are basically all gender and public – you just go in a private stall but everyone shares the sinks etc. And who cares what someone’s drivers’ license says?
NotMax
@NotMax
Slight correction. At that time the show was not broadcast live, it was live on tape the same night.
Jay
@Gretchen:
the Law, as written, is functionally unenforceable.
It’s “just” and I hate to say it that way, harassment.
It’s performative.
What, and leave their Momma’s Basement, Code Red Mountain Dew, Cheeze Balls and Level 4 Call of Duty behind?
Probably the most effective push back would be to abide by the “Law”.
Close all public bathrooms and make it clear why.
Joelle
@Jackie: We plan to keep his original name, Bolo. As in “Be on the lookout” for updates after Saturday.
Sister Golden Bear
@Princess: Yes, it’s about eradicating trans people from public existence.
Kayla Rudbek
@Deputinize America: so sorry for your loss. At least it was peaceful.
Gretchen
No, not fuck you Kansas. We are Rabbi Moti Rieber. Why do you want to throw us away because there are terrible people here, and there are also wonderful people like Rabbi Rieber fighting with everything they have? When Kansas goes 60% troglodytes, and 40% normal people, try siding with us 40% and help us shift 10% our way instead of just throwing us overboard?
Gretchen
@Jay: That’s what I say on every public officials facebook pronouncement: what’s the enforcement mechanism? Who is doing the bathroom checks? They never answer, but the thing that disturbs me is how many men in the comments are eager to kick some ass. They’re not sure whose ass they want to kick, but they want to kick some ass. And these idiots like Ty Masterson think they can handle this mob.
2liberal
@Melancholy Jaques:
Will the Democrats be able to stop it using the filibuster?
sab
@Gretchen: Women are safe from trans women in women’s bathrooms, but trans women are very unsafe in men’s bathrooms.
That is the whole point. A lot of these men care nothing about our safety. They just want to have the opportunity to do horrible things in their own space.
sab
@Joelle: Good. Older dogs with names already should keep them.
We had a rescue lab that had been lost or abandoned. We gave him a name, but he always looked at us with puzzlement when we called him that. ” Why not call me by my real name?”
Wonderful dog. We had him for more than ten years, so he must have been at least sixteen when he died.
NotMax
@sab
From 1938’s Merrily We Live:
Marian Kilbourne: [Introducing the two Great Danes] How do you do? I’d like you to meet my dogs. This dog’s name is “Get Off The Rug.” His name is “You, Too!”
:)
Gvg
@Socolofi: Florida did not used to be red. And even the republicans when I was growing up weren’t so negative and hopeless. They had plans too to improve the state and in fact in a lot of ways until the 90’s Florida was improving. I think the space program and a growth economy from the air conditioning southern migration population boom may have helped us. However when the republicans were taken over by the true believers of know nothing who repeated slogans but didn’t understand anything AND the Democratic Party just died here we really started going down hill. I have many relatives here who are not nasty republicans, I don’t have a lot of money and it wouldn’t be easy to move. If I did move at my income level I wouldn’t have easy family assistance to overcome problems nor the money to compensate. I am talking about mechanical help, car loaning, transporting appliance that need replacing, getting ill. All kinds of things. And then I love Florida the place, the nature and the memories, and the climate. I hate cold. Last I am stubborn and I think I know better than these idiots what we should be doing to do better. I guess I should mention too that I am not that social and don’t make new friends that easily. Moving would be hard for me personally.
TerryC
I chose good when I came to Ann Arbor for anthropology grad school and then law school in 1973 and stayed. Where else could I live where all three of my kids and their kids still choose to live close by?!
columbusqueen
You have been chosen by the dog gods, Cole. Deal with it.
Miss Bianca
@Deputinize America: My condolences. It always hurts, but you made the right decision and helped his passing be as dignified and beautiful as a death can possibly be (since they are neither of these things naturally.)
Paul in KY
@Eyeroller: A girl can use the urinal. Have seen it done.
Paul in KY
@Deputinize America: My deepest condolences to you and your family. I am so glad he passed with no pain and with his loved ones there!
Paul in KY
@Socolofi: I had family (ma & pa). I had promised them I would help them when they got old. They passed in 23 and 25 and we (wife, son & me) are working on moving up to Chicago.
Gloria DryGarden
Bathrooms at the show:
Many of us ladies have been known, during a theater or symphony intermission, to line up at the mens room, and once all the men have used the facilities, we use it. Because the line at the ladies room goes way down the hall. It takes us a little longer, especially in fancy dress, and in particular, if pantyhose is involved. This is considered quite normal.
Paul in KY
@dexwood: My condolences to your family. Glad he was surrounded by loved ones and left in peace. 97 pretty good age!
Gloria DryGarden
@Deputinize America: Thank you for sharing your last day with him. It sounds peaceful, and so loving, that you were there with him. I’m sorry for your loss.
Helena J. Montana
You really do take curmudgeonhood to new heights.
Paul in KY
@Princess: They appear to be civilized in Europe.
Paul in KY
@Joelle: He’s a handsome dog!