Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Mediocre white men think RFK Jr’s pathetic midlife crisis is inspirational. The bar is set so low for them, it’s subterranean.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

“woke” is the new caravan.

Hey hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today?

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

The “burn-it-down” people are good with that until they become part of the kindling.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

“In this country American means white. everybody else has to hyphenate.”

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

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

These are not very smart people, and things got out of hand.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

This blog will pay for itself.

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

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

We will not go back.

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

You are here: Home / Popular Culture / Monday Morning Open Thread: Holding On to Hope

Monday Morning Open Thread: Holding On to Hope

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This post is in: ,

‘Longest evening of the year’ (winter solstice) is not quite three weeks away. After that, here in the northern hemisphere, the weather gets worse but at least the days get longer…

Whatever small steps we can take, to get us through… From the Washington Post, “Kennedy Center Honors: Off-script moments energize the stately affair” [unpaywalled gift link]:

It was a giddy night in Washington. Well, a giddy weekend.

The Kennedy Center Honors is always a stately affair, and Sunday evening was no different — with President Biden and first lady Jill Biden, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), former House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and second gentleman Doug Emhoff in attendance.

But this year a chaotic energy pumped though its veins. Being honored in the arts center’s 2,364-seat Opera House: comedian Billy Crystal, opera soprano Renée Fleming, Bee Gees singer-songwriter Barry Gibb, hip-hop pioneer and actress Queen Latifah, and singer (and legendary tweeter) Dionne Warwick.

Everything that’s usually on the menu was present. Hair-raising musical performances. Touching tributes from past honorees. Biographical videos. Amusing bits. Herbie Hancock.

While it was lovely as always, the air was charged. Spontaneous, off-script, offbeat moments elevated the night. Like when the entire crowd of politicos and arts enthusiasts thrust their hands back and forth and swayed to a hip-hop medley honoring Latifah…

As always, the evening is composed of five segments, each running about 20 minutes and each dedicated to an honoree, with friends, family and creative partners celebrating them in various ways.

For Warwick, the night’s first honoree, that meant booming covers of her songs. Mickey Guyton and the Spinners joined to perform “Then Came You.” Cynthia Erivo earned a standing ovation with a tremendous version of “Alfie” as projected stars twinkled overhead. Gladys Knight, a 2022 honoree, sang “Say a Little Prayer.”…

Crystal was honored by friends Rob Reiner, Bob Costas, Jay Leno and De Niro. First, though, “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda performed his version of a Billy Crystal Oscars-style medley, singing about the comedian’s career to the tune of “My Favorite Things.”…

Queen Latifah’s family — including her father and sister, her best friends, a couple of her aunts, an uncle and a cousin — appeared in a video. “That ‘Equalizer’ show is just the bomb,” said one aunt.

The rest of Latifah’s segment — introduced by 5-year-old rapper VanVan, featured performances by MC Lyte, Monie Love, Yo-Yo, D-Nice, Rapsody, the Clark Sisters and the very choir her late mother had sung in — had the Kennedy Center audience alternatively swaying in their seats and then giving up chair-dancing altogether as old man rhythm jumped into their shoes…

Music continued to dominate as the evening wore down, especially in the tribute to Fleming.

“Your sonic DNA lives inside of me,” said actor and singer Tituss Burgess, who joined actress Christine Baranski and mezzo-soprano Susan Graham in a rendition of “You’ll Never Walk Alone” from “Carousel,” in which Fleming made her Broadway debut in 2018…

The evening included the usual sweet platitudes about the power and importance of art. Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed how the performing arts bind humanity. “We could use more connection, we could use more empathy, we could use more understanding in the world around us,” he said. David Rubenstein, chairman of the Kennedy Center, later added, “Art is not a form propaganda. Art is a from of truth.”…

(Personal request: If you’re gonna dump a downer, please wait until the fifth or sixth comment, ‘kay?)

Reader Interactions

181Comments

  2. 2.

    Kay

    I like winter weather – even the extended periods of darkness- so it’s not bad for me. My son and daughter in law in Denmark tell me their 2 year old, my grandaughter, sleeps longer – more total hours-  during the Danish winter (very dark) but that sounds kind of nice for her, actually.

  3. 3.

    laura

    This year’s honorees are exceptional artists, and Dionne Warwick’s sensible shoe game is second to none.

  5. 5.

    RevRick

    Hope is probably an underrated virtue, often confused with wishful thinking. We are prone to say such confusing things as, “I hope it doesn’t rain on my birthday,” which is clearly mere wishful thinking. But hope is made of tougher stuff.

    I think of the Black community enduring hundreds of years of degradation and brutality in slavery and Jim Crow and yet holding on to the hope that America will finally do better. Hope is grounded in the belief that people and systems can change despite all the evidence .
    We’re all going to need hope a plenty in the face of the looming threats of Trump’s fascism and climate change.

  9. 9.

    Rachel Bakes

    @Kay: we always hope that our son, who frequently wakes for the day at 4am but occasionally 2, will sleep longer in winter or even on cloudy, dreary days. Rarely the case. But winter season and weather lovers here too.

  14. 14.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Simone Biles’s husband’s team beat Taylor Swift’s boyfriend’s team last night.

    Well, they were playing a game, so I hope everybody had fun. ;-)

  15. 15.

    SFAW

    @Omnes Omnibus: ​

    Simone Biles’s husband’s team beat Taylor Swift’s boyfriend’s team last night.

    And a team with Simone Biles at QB and Taylor Swift at nose tackle beat the Jets.* But at least the Jets didn’t get shut out, as the NE Belichicks did.

    * Hell, with the Jets’ dynamite** offense, a team made up entirely of Simone Biles and Taylor Swift on defense could beat them.

    ** “Dynamite” because I wish someone would blow it up, including OC Hackett.

  16. 16.

    Kay

    Arizona’s Senate race may be the next contest for Democrats where abortion plays a decisive role. As the party looks to hold onto its slim majority in the upper chamber, it is leaning into an abortion rights platform, which helped it score numerous victories over the past year in red and purple states. Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), who’s running for Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s (I-Ariz.) seat, is already targeting Republican candidate Kari Lake’s past comments on the issue. The contest comes amid a larger fight over the issue in the Grand Canyon State, as abortion rights advocates are looking to secure a ballot measure enshrining abortion rights in the state Constitution.

    Democrats, including Gallego, point to audio following the overturning of Roe v. Wade in which she said she was “incredibly thrilled that we are going to have a great law that’s already on the books,” referring to an 1864 law in Arizona — now under litigation — that bans nearly all abortions.

    It’s nice that Sinema gets less and less relevant. That’ll kill her, the lack of attention.

  20. 20.

    Betty Cracker

    I recommend the sitcom “Fisk” on Netflix to anyone in need of a laugh. It’s from Australian Broadcasting Corporation and there are two seasons. The main character is a woman with few people skills who was a lawyer at a fancy firm until her life fell apart, which prompted her to move to a new city and take a position at a downscale family firm. That description doesn’t sound especially funny, but the show is hilarious!

  21. 21.

    Geminid

    @Omnes Omnibus: I caught Ragnarok Lobster’s commentary on the Packers game last night. He’s from Chicago but a Packers fan nonetheless. There were a lot of sarcastic one-liners about officiating and Packers coaching interspersed with shorter comments like “Woo Lawd.”

  24. 24.

    Josie

    Thanks for this, Anne Laurie. I love the diversity of the honorees at the Kennedy Center and the energy their families and friends brought to the evening. It displays the best of our country.

  27. 27.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Steeplejack: There were two big blown calls in the last two minutes that went against the Packers as well.  The officials did not cover themselves in glory at the end of the game.

  28. 28.

    Eric S.

    I’m not much in to award shows but of all the descriptions I’ve read the Kennedy Center Honors always sounds the most interesting.

     

    I caught up with a couple of friends last night. We went to a theater to watch Monty Python’s Holy Grail on the big screen. It was a modified version with subtitles for the many quotable lines and the audience was encouraged to say it sing the lines out loud. A great time.

  32. 32.

    DrDaveChemist

    Hoping to help preserve the thread of optimism, I will agree with Sec. Blinken about the arts bringing people together. For the first time since December 2019, my caroling group performed indoors at an elder care facility on Sunday afternoon. The connection between the singers and the audience as we share familiar seasonal songs has always been deeply satisfying, but was even more so after a three year pandemic hiatus. Sometimes even the dementia patients will remember all the verses. It’s really amazing to see their eyes light up like a little child’s when we trigger a memory.

  33. 33.

    Layer8Problem

    @Betty Cracker:  “I recommend the sitcom “Fisk” on Netflix to anyone in need of a laugh.”

    And that second season dropped recently, which makes us over here happy after our having finished the first the other month and wondering where the damned second season was.  Bloody Netflix.

  36. 36.

    Geminid

    @Omnes Omnibus: Speaking of Packers, former safety Aaron Rouse will chair the Senate’s Committee on Privileges and Elections when the Virginia General Assembly meets next month.

  39. 39.

    Soprano2

    @Steeplejack: Yeah, lots of complaining about that at my bar. I don’t know much about football, and even I could see that should be a violation of the rules.

  40. 40.

    JCJ

    @Steeplejack:  I wonder if not calling pass interference on that was a make-up for that personal foul called when Mahomes was hit by Simone Biles’ husband while still in-bounds.  Unless the rules have changed I thought a player, even a former MVP quarterback, could be tackled in the field of play.

  41. 41.

    Soprano2

    @Geminid: He’s from Chicago but a Packers fan nonetheless.

    I wonder how that happened. My BIL is a big Bears fan, and he HATES the Packers.

  44. 44.

    Soprano2

    @DrDaveChemist: There’s something about music that reaches the primitive part of the brain. There’s a whole documentary about dementia patients and music, called “Alive Inside”. Christmas music especially is something most of us in this country learned in childhood, so I’m not at all surprised that would come back to people. Look at Tony Bennett – he was able to still perform close to the end of his life even though he had dementia.

  45. 45.

    japa21

    @Omnes Omnibus: ​
      Actually, the “non-call” was the least egregious call. There is some justification for not calling interference. However, the personal foul on Simone’s husband was ridiculous as Mahomes was clearly still in bounds. And stopping the clock on the tackle on the sidelines was even worse.
    But as you say, not the best officiated game .

  46. 46.

    Soprano2

    We got a Christmas tree this weekend, and I decorated it and the house yesterday. It’s always a bittersweet exercise for me, because I have so many Christmas ornaments from various trips I’ve taken over the years, plus now I have ornaments that were my mother’s. If hubby isn’t interested in a tree next year we may not get one, or I may get an artificial tree and quit messing with the real ones. I don’t know what next Christmas will be like at all.

  48. 48.

    Eric S.

    @Soprano2: it might depend on the definition of “from Chicago.” My parents moved to the burbs when I was 7yo. I’ve lived in the city 26 for years now. I’m a St. Louis Cardinals fan.

     

    ETA: I was born in Quincy, IL, definite Cards territory. Dad is a big Cards fan. My younger brother and I have both held on to that fandom.

  49. 49.

    Lyrebird

    @SFAW: LOL!

     

    Now instead of finishing my work I’m all caught up in scripting a video with Simone Biles vaulting over or off of defensive linemen…  what would be a worthy SuperBowl ad for these ultra talented folks?

     

    Back to work for reals this time.

  50. 50.

    Soprano2

    If Republicans decide to go after Obamacare and Medicare in 2024, then this move by Biden is more good news:

    President Joe Biden is preparing a package of health care measures that he would aim to pass in a second term, with announcements starting this week centered on cutting prescription drug prices.

    Biden and aides see the potential to transform health care coverage and cost for millions of Americans and, along the way, give the president a full-throated, forward-looking argument on an issue that has consistently delivered for Democrats in recent election cycles. They believe former President Donald Trump made that much easier by suddenly renewing his calls to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act – giving them a strong contrast point with the GOP front-runner.

    Expected to be part of the president’s proposed agenda: expanding the provisions cutting prices for insulin and other drugs, which were enacted for Medicare enrollees last year as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, and further strengthening the Affordable Care Act by making permanent the enhanced federal premium subsidies that have helped about 10 million people afford coverage on the Obamacare exchanges. The beefed-up assistance is set to expire after 2025.

    Aides and advocates are also looking at potential workarounds to provide access to Obamacare coverage in the 10 remaining states that have not expanded Medicaid, now that North Carolina made the move early this month. That alone would make roughly 3.5 million more Americans eligible for Medicaid, according to independent estimates, mostly in deep-red states, but with top 2024 presidential battleground states Wisconsin and Georgia on the list too.

  52. 52.

    RaflW

    As far as Solstice, I’m even more plugged into the analemma. I suspect it’s why Lucia Day is celebrated on Dec 13 in Sweden. That’s roughly when the sunsets start getting later again (correction: that’s when the sunset starts improving in Minnesota. The further north one lives, the later the rebound happens. Stockholm’s earliest sunrise is c. Dec 17. But in Bethlehem, Palestine, it’s Dec 11.)

    I care mildly about sunrise, which keeps getting later into January, but adding in the clouds around here these days, having it dark at 4:30 p.m. is crushing.

  54. 54.

    brendancalling

    Two good things.

    Number one, Martin and I just posted the episode 7 of the Progress Pondcast. In this episode we enjoy the downfall of Santos, dance on Kissinger’s grave, and neatly drown in schadenfreude over the problems they’re having at Moms for Liberty.

    Number two, my band The No Good Crowd just released our first single.

    Please check both out, and have a groovy day!

  57. 57.

    RaflW

    @Soprano2: Just saw this from a Dem legislator in one of the 10 reprobate Medicaid states:

    “KanCare Expansion
    Kansas is now one of only 10 states to not accept Medicaid expansion. We have lost over $6.7 billion by not expanding. 150,000 working Kansans lack access to affordable healthcare because they fall in the gap between earning enough to be able to afford insurance coverage and earning too much to qualify for help. (Earning over $9,500 yearly puts a single parent of two in this gap.) Expanding Medicaid would aid schools, access to mental health care, and hospitals, among others.”

    Italics added. That’s a sh*t ton of money the GOP has deprived all Kansans of. They have a Dem governor and voted strongly to maintain access to abortion, but they have a serious GOP legislature problem.

  58. 58.

    Nukular Biskits

    @Betty Cracker:

    @Nukular Biskits: It looks like the Zieglers are going to try to brazen it out. It seems to have worked for Gaetz.

    Maybe it’s just me, but the universal GOP modus operandi seems to be to power through every scandal, refusing to admit wrongdoing and, quite often, refusing to even acknowledge it.

  60. 60.

    RaflW

    @Soprano2: Ohh, CNN. Trump is not “suddenly renewing his calls to repeal and replace” ACA. He has no replacement! He just wants to shit-can Obama’s signature accomplishment because he hates Barack and is still wounded by that Nerd Prom insult sooo long ago.

    It is incumbent on the g.d. news outlets to point that out. What he says he’ll do has no connection to reality. Dammit.

  61. 61.

    Jeffro

    @Nukular Biskits: and still not one tiny little teeny-weeny peep about it on Fox News.  Apparently “Donna D’Errico’s top OnlyFans requests” and “viral Costco item splits opinions, flies off of shelves” are more newsworthy.

    Someone should come up with a bot or A.I. or whatever that keeps a running tab (by category) on an ongoing, real-time basis on Fox’s “top stories”.  We could call it the “propaganda ticker” and it could update every 5 minutes.

    Here’s what it would look like right now:

    -Dem bashing

    -Dem bashing

    -War on terror

    -U.N. bashing

    -Pop culture nonsense

    -Culture war nonsense

    -Ungrateful millennials nonsense

    -Military-related

    -Sports nonsense

    -Titillating nonsense

     

    Shuffle, rinse, repeat.

  64. 64.

    Nukular Biskits

    @Jeffro:

    Someone should come up with a bot or A.I. or whatever that keeps a running tab (by category) on an ongoing, real-time basis on Fox’s “top stories”. We could call it the “propaganda ticker” and it could update every 5 minutes.

    I think that’s a damned good idea.

  65. 65.

    Jeffro

    @Nukular Biskits: the GOP powers through every scandal, refusing to admit wrongdoing and, quite often, refusing to even acknowledge it.

    Yup – and per what I just noted above, when Fox is your base’s only source of info, you can just leave out anything that makes the party look bad, 24/7.

  66. 66.

    Nukular Biskits

    @Betty Cracker:

    I don’t know that it’s so much a Trump innovation as it is that the GOP took his example and ran with it.

    I think “conservatives” were always predisposed to refusing to be held accountable but truly did fear their voters.  Now, at least with respect to the US House and state legs being so gerrymandered, there is little to no true accountability.

    And, of course, we should never forget the power of Cleek’s Law and the innate need to “OWN TEH STEWPIT LIBTARDS!”

  67. 67.

    Nelle

    @RaflW: Thank you for this.  About three years ago, I began recording the rising and setting times of sun and moon and observing patterns.  That’s when I realized it isn’t a stately and equivalent procession.  I’ve also lived in Northern Alaska and New Zealand, so there may be a reason I’m all scrambled about timings.

  71. 71.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Betty Cracker:

    Yet another Trump innovation?

    No honking way.  An Obama era innovation.  Witness Sanford, and it just kept getting worse from there.  I think Trump’s shamelessness was one of his ‘answered the casting call’ traits.

    @Jeffro:

    when Fox is your base’s only source of info, you can just leave out anything that makes the party look bad, 24/7.

    Hell, the base will demand you do.  They want to hear that Democrats are evil and Republicans are heroes.

  76. 76.

    Nukular Biskits

    And speaking of shamelessness:

    In a 32-29 vote on Saturday, members of the Texas GOP’s executive committee stripped a pro-Israel resolution of a clause that would have included the [edit: Nazi] ban. In a separate move that stunned some members, roughly half of the board also tried to prevent a record of their vote from being kept.

    Posting mobile so it’s not easy for me to do the linky thing, but that’s from a Texas Tribune story over @ DailyKos.

  80. 80.

    RaflW

    @Nukular Biskits: Rick Wilson writes “The Villages is notoriously home to more swingers and STDs per capita than anywhere in the known universe.”

    I had not known this. As soon as I read it, though, it seems all to believable. The purpose of these right wing social codes (I’ll refrain from calling them moral codes) is to disempower the folks Republican men want to prey upon, not to actually stop the behaviors.

  81. 81.

    Kay

    @Suzanne:

    One of the things I judge younger parents on is that I think little kids don’t get enough sleep. I don’t say anything but I’m secretly judging you if your child is melting down because she’s tired.

    So my two grown children who have small children take them to a lot of places, which is great, but little kids also need a lot of downtime or they get overstimulated , IMO. I’m not that subtle but I try to get this across in a way that isn’t obnoxious so I jumped on the news about more sleep “she needs it! she’s exhausted!” – my DIL is really perceptive – she probably picked it up.

    I love the thought of her sleeping on and on in the Danish dark. Sounds lovely and peaceful. She’ll be two inches taller when she wakes :)

  82. 82.

    RaflW

    @NotMax: He’ll be like Oprah:

    “You get a pre-existing condition!”

    “And you get a pre-existing condition!”

    “And you get a pre-existing condition!”

    Seems less exciting that getting a car, but I’m odd that way.

  83. 83.

    Soprano2

    @Jeffro: Michelle Wolf did a hilarious bit on The Daily Show last week about this; one of the premier Fox News hosts did almost 20 minutes whining about things that happened to him on Thanksgiving, like the car wash closing early, crap like that.

  84. 84.

    Betty Cracker

    @Frankensteinbeck: I’m not saying Republicans never tried to brazen it out in the pre-Trump era, but now it seems to be the default position regardless of how serious the scandal or charges or how damaging their fuckups are to the party. Trump has something to do with that, IMO.

    Newt Gingrich, a self-interested scumbag if ever there was one, resigned after the midterms faceplant during the Clinton admin. Larry “Wide Stance” Craig, Mark Foley and Bob Packwood resigned due to scandals. Trent Lott resigned a leadership position for making a bigoted joke that seems positively tame in comparison to the shit Trump said as candidate and president every single day. Republicans are worse now. 

  86. 86.

    Grumpy Old Railroader

    What George Carlin said about these people, “It’s a big club and you and I ain’t in it.” I really do not know why we pay so much attention to all this BS

  87. 87.

    Jeffro

    @Kay: One of the things I judge younger parents on is that I think little kids don’t get enough sleep.

    It’s just true!

    We used to get grief (from our own parents/the kids’ grandparents!) for keeping Fro Jr. and Froette on such regular bedtimes all through their childhood and into their teens.

    But we could see the differences between them and their peers (energy level, general attentiveness, even frequency of illnesses) the whole darned way.  No apologies here!  =)

  88. 88.

    Jeffro

    Btw the NYT actually has up a headline piece about what trump’s potential 2nd presidency would actually look like (i.e., “much more radical”), and it’s really good.

    And Haberman’s on the byline, too – wild!

    In the spring of 1989, the Chinese Communist Party used tanks and troops to crush a pro-democracy protest in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. Most of the West, across traditional partisan lines, was aghast at the crackdown that killed at least hundreds of student activists. But one prominent American was impressed.

    “When the students poured into Tiananmen Square, the Chinese government almost blew it,” Donald J. Trump said in an interview with Playboy magazine the year after the massacre. “Then they were vicious, they were horrible, but they put it down with strength. That shows you the power of strength. Our country is right now perceived as weak.”

    It was a throwaway line in a wide-ranging interview, delivered to a journalist profiling a 43-year-old celebrity businessman who was not then a player in national politics or world affairs. But in light of what Mr. Trump has gone on to become, his exaltation of the ruthless crushing of democratic protesters is steeped in foreshadowing.

    Mr. Trump’s violent and authoritarian rhetoric on the 2024 campaign trail has attracted growing alarm and comparisons to historical fascist dictators and contemporary populist strongmen. In recent weeks, he has dehumanized his adversaries as ‘vermin’ who must be “rooted out,” declared that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country,” encouraged the shooting of shoplifters, and suggested that the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, deserved to be executed for treason.

    As he runs for president again facing four criminal prosecutions, Mr. Trump may seem more angry, desperate and dangerous to American-style democracy than in his first term. But the throughline that emerges is far more long-running: He has glorified political violence and spoken admiringly of autocrats for decades.

    Part of me still can’t really register that Milley line.

    Anyway, good piece!

  89. 89.

    Spanky

    @Betty Cracker:

    Republicans are worse now. 

    No they’re not. They’ve just discovered that there’s really no punishment for their behavior. (Short of felony. Sometimes.) Which is worse, imo.

  90. 90.

    frosty

    @Soprano2: ​ We got an artificial tree last year. It comes with lights attached so that’s one ritual I don’t need to do any more. Looks pretty good too.

  92. 92.

    Geminid

    @Jeffro: What I get from the Milley line is that Milley really jammed Trump on January 6, and Trump hates him for that.

    Another reason I look forward to Milley telling his side of the story. I don’t think he’ll wait too long either; Milley’s no shrinking violet.

  94. 94.

    cain

    @Nukular Biskits:

    “Florida is the Mos Eisley of American States. If you’re looking for a wretched hive of scum and villainy, just take I-75 South from Atlanta.”

    lol – Rick.

  95. 95.

    Citizen Alan

    @Geminid: I would say they are worse now in the sense that I don’t think someone like Marjorie Taylor Green could have been elected to federal office twenty years ago. And I certainly don’t think someone like Mike. Johnson who is an in your face christian dominionist could have risen to be speaker of the house.

  96. 96.

    cain

    @Betty Cracker: easy to do since the right wing noise machine is going to grow silent. If it was as, Rick said a Democratic sex scandal it would have gone nuclear.

    We don’t have that kind of noise machine – but my hope is that that someone goes to jail.

  97. 97.

    Geminid

    @Citizen Alan: Gerrymandering spurred a race to the bottom among Republicans, and I can see the effects in this Republican House Majority. This dynamic towards radicalism has certainly been working for decades but Trump turbocharged it.

  98. 98.

    trollhattan

    Any time Westlands Water District loses in court, an angel gets its wings, a case of Perrier, and a chinook salmon fillet.

    The California Supreme Court rejected an appeal by the nation’s largest agricultural district in its bid for a permanent water contract with the Bureau of Reclamation.

    The state’s highest court on Wednesday denied a request from the Westlands Water District to reverse a series of lower court rulings refusing to validate the contract, a decision that opponents of the deal said will leave the Rhode Island-sized agricultural district with little choice but to rely on temporary agreements.

    A coalition of Native Americans, commercial and recreational fishermen, scientists, and conservation groups had opposed the contract, saying there needs to be more scrutiny about use of water in drought-plagued California, as well as attention to impacts on fisheries.

    “It’s a huge win for the public and for the environment,” said Steve Volker, an attorney representing several groups in that coalition.

    The Westlands Water District is pursuing a permanent contract for the water it draws from the Central Valley Project, under a 2016 federal law that allows Reclamation to create perpetual agreements in exchange for payments of outstanding debts tied to infrastructure costs.

    Although the Trump administration issued a permanent contract in 2020, under the Reclamation Act of 1902, the agreement is not enforceable until validated by a state court*

    But a lower California court refused to validate the contract in 2020, asserting it lacked key details about the finalized costs Westlands is required to pay the federal government. The California 5th District Court of Appeal upheld that ruling earlier this year.

    “The law is clear that Westlands wrongly attempted to gain approval from the courts of a contract that was materially incomplete and therefore unlawful, and this is not a minor misstatement of a few details,” Volker said. “This is a major effort by Westlands to mislead the public by not disclosing the critical terms of this water purchase contract.”

    In a statement to E&E News, Allison Febbo, general manager of the Westlands Water District, said that the state Supreme Court’s decision was not a surprise to the organization.

    “Although disappointing, petitions for review are rarely granted,” Febbo said. “Further, neither the denial of review, nor the underlying lower court decisions, impact the validity of Westlands’ ongoing contracts with the Department of Reclamation.”

    Members of the Hoopa Valley Tribe praised the decision. The tribe has opposed the contract, arguing that it “discounted Westlands’ massive debt” to taxpayers.

    “‘Petition for review denied.’ That is the Supreme Court’s entire decision, and it is the right decision,” Hoopa Valley Tribal Chair Joe Davis said in a statement.

    An Interior Department spokesperson declined to comment on the court’s ruling or whether it would formally exit the unenforceable contract.

    Volker noted that a separate lawsuit remains pending in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California to set aside Reclamation’s permanent contract with Westlands. That lawsuit has been fully briefed, but no decision has been issued.

    *Trump’s Interior Secretary at the time: David Berhardt, head lobbyist for…
    Westlands Water District.

  99. 99.

    Nelle

    @Kay: We are old (72 and 79) but we care for our 17 month old grandson two days a week.  He crashes and takes long naps here.  Either we are boring (solid possibility) or he is tanking up because he lives in a very active family with youngish parents (we were old when our son was born and call him a “last gasp baby”) with two active sisters, ages 6 and 4.  Last Thursday, the grandson took a four hour nap.

    On a different note, though, I owe him big time.  Last May, he was so big and active that I wasn’t sure I was fit enough to keep him safe.  Back to the gym, the first time since before Covid, for resistance training.  I now have a bio strength age of 40.  Not bad for a 72 y.o. woman, right?

  101. 101.

    Joe Falco

    @trollhattan:

    *Trump’s Interior Secretary at the time: David Berhardt, head lobbyist for…

    Westlands Water District.

    It is no surprise that his entire administration, like a dead fish, rotted from the head down.

  104. 104.

    Brachiator

     

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Simone Biles’s husband’s team beat Taylor Swift’s boyfriend’s team last night.

    LOL. Very good. Football crossing the streams of pop culture.

  110. 110.

    Miss Bianca

    @Jeffro: Burgum? Am I supposed to know who this is? (only partly snark)

    ETA: Oh. Governor of North Dakota? He was one of the GOP primary “candidates”? Yeah, rings a vague, distant bell…

  111. 111.

    Jeffro

    @Baud:

    Mr. Burgum’s departure technically narrows the field of Republican hopefuls, as Mr. Trump’s critics, such as Senator Mitt Romney of Utah and the commentator George F. Will, issue calls for candidates not named Trump to consolidate around a single alternative…
    That pressure is now on Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey, who has shown no sign of traction with Republican voters nationally but whose relatively strong polling in New Hampshire is preventing Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor, or Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida from consolidating the anti-Trump vote.

    Nickel bet that the Haley and DeSantis campaigns are reaching out to Christie offering everything short of the VP slot if he’ll just get out of the race and endorse one of them.

  116. 116.

    Juju

    @Soprano2: Speaking as a person who does the tree all by herself, get a fake tree with lights, that goes together and comes apart easily. I always loved having a real tree, but taking care of one with the lights, and I admit I’m a pathological perfectionist in that regard, and decades worth of ornaments, it is so much easier to do a fake tree. All I have to do is set up the tree, do the ornaments and garlands, roll it into place,  plug it in, get the light remote and push the on/off button.

    I am happy to read that you did a tree. My mother, who has dementia, didn’t want to do a tree so many times, but I always did one anyway, and she loved seeing all the ornaments from her past, especially the ornaments that were part of my grandmother’s wedding ornament gift, and ornaments that my dad got for her over the years. Those seem to be something she doesn’t forget when she sees them.  I hope your husband has a similar reaction. Look at fake tree sales in January. I have one that came from Front Gate. I couldn’t find a live tree a few years ago and couldn’t find a decent artificial tree either. I ordered one from Front Gate that was on sale and received seven days before Christmas. It’s weird, but wheels on a tree turn out to be useful. If you like the smell of pine in the house, as I do, there are places in the internet you can order fresh tree greens for decoration on tabletops and mantels. I get mine from a place called Christmas Farms in Michigan. I hope you have a happy Christmas with your husband.

  117. 117.

    Kay

    Ways to go but they’ll get there. It’s polling at 62% for rights in FL. Nice.

    Backers of a proposed constitutional amendment that would ensure abortion rights in Florida have totaled more than 621,000 valid petition signatures as they try to meet a Feb. 1 deadline to get on the 2024 ballot.

    The Florida Division of Elections website Friday morning showed 621,690 valid petition signatures for the measure, which is sponsored by the political committee Floridians Protecting Freedom. The committee by Feb. 1 will need to submit at least 891,523 valid signatures statewide and meet signature requirements in at least half of the state’s congressional districts to get on the November ballot.

  120. 120.

    Jeffro

    @Miss Bianca: (from the WaPo):

    Burgum, 67, pitched himself as a job creator uniquely qualified to build the economy and bridge connections between small towns and big cities, but that platform never found traction with a Republican base that has favored former president Donald Trump as Burgum mostly avoided attacking the front-runner, who he had supported in 2020.

    I’m still trying to think of a time when a candidate won a primary, or an election, by not going after the front-runner.

    Politics 101, Republicans:  If you pretend like the orange king has no flaws and in fact might be Teh Greatest Preznit EVER, voters don’t have a reason to switch their allegiance to you.

  123. 123.

    Baud

    @Jeffro:

    I’m still trying to think of a time when a candidate won a primary, or an election, by not going after the front-runner

     
    Even Dean Philips knows to call Biden old.

  126. 126.

    Jeffro

    @Kay: love to see it!

    Abortion rights measures are going to drive turnout all over the country next November.  Y’all can keep biting down hard on that chrome bumper, GOP, we’re good.

  129. 129.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    @Jeffro:

    That pressure is now on Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey, who has shown no sign of traction with Republican voters nationally but whose relatively strong polling in New Hampshire is preventing Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor, or Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida from consolidating the anti-Trump vote.

    Except neither Haley nor DeSantis really are the anti-Trump vote. They are the “We’re ready to fill in should Trump wind up dead or in jail because we are nearly as Trumpy” vote. Christie is the only remaining anti-Trump candidate.

  130. 130.

    Miss Bianca

    @Jeffro: Yeah, but even the one who’s done so – Chris Christie – doesn’t seem to be getting any traction with voters, so I dunno what an honest, grifting GOP Preznitential candidate is supposed to do!

    Fortunately, it ain’t my problem.

  135. 135.

    Another Scott

    Meanwhile, … MotoringResearch.com (in the UK):

    […]

    However, there remains a large question mark over whether the Cybertruck will be sold in Europe. According to a German TUV safety certification expert, the vehicle will require “strong modifications to the basic structure” before it can be sold on this side of the Atlantic.

    […]

    Stefan Teller, automotive expert at SGS-TUV Saar GmbH, outlined his concerns about the Cybertruck. “The front of the vehicle must not be stiff,” he explained. “The bumper and bonnet must be able to absorb energy to protect pedestrians.”

    This means the aforementioned “strong modifications to the basic structure,” would be necessary. Teller follows that, for type approval, the Cybertruck needs to comply with 50 to 60 different regulations.

    Looking back at the reveal of the Cybertruck, much was made of how stiff and strong its rolled stainless steel structure and panels were. Great for resisting damage, perhaps, but less so for the occupants and unwitting pedestrians.

    […]

    Short video of crash tests.

    I would not want to be in that thing in an accident, or be hit by one!…

    (via IamHappyToast.)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  139. 139.

    wjca

    From the Late Night thread, but I’m feeling smug about it.

    @Baud: I wonder how the media will handle Joe winning the NH primary as a write in.

    “Write-in candidate wins NH. Democrats in disarray!”

    But you knew that…

  142. 142.

    Anoniminous

    @Jeffro:

    Mr. Trump’s critics, such as Senator Mitt Romney of Utah and the commentator George F. Will, issue calls for candidates not named Trump to consolidate around a single alternative…

    Like Republican primary voters give two flying bat farts what Romney and Will say.

  143. 143.

    RaflW

    @Baud: And I know how to call Dean Philips a disloyal piece of shit. (It sounds like a lot of other people think that too. I’m sure he saw how much of a turd in the punchbowl his run has been, and that he’d come in 2nd or 3rd in fundraising just to keep his seat, so he’s not running again locally. Good riddance to bad garbage).

  144. 144.

    NotMax

    @Juju

    I don’t do Xmas trees but find it somehow gratifying that tinsel has seemingly fallen out of fashion.

    Once came across a boxed set of bubble lights for a holiday tree dating from the 1930s or 40s buried in the attic of a house in which i lived for a time. No, did not attempt to plug them in.

  147. 147.

    trollhattan

    @Another Scott: ​
    Not that Elmo’s rolling doorstop occupies the same cohort, but no American Monster Pickup sporting the ginormous vertical Fuck You Grill would pass EU pedestrian safety regs. I mean, how could they possibly?

  149. 149.

    MagdaInBlack

    @NotMax: My mother had a set of those, I remember as a kid in the early 60’s. I was fascinated.

    Also packed away in that box were old metal branch clips, that you put on the tree and they held a candle………………..GAH!

  150. 150.

    Anoniminous

    @Villago Delenda Est: ​
     
    The only people who care what Georgie Will says are upper Westside Manhattanites who are Liberals as long as it doesn’t lower the income stream(s) from their Trust Fund(s.)

  151. 151.

    TBone

    Comment found recently : “The cybertruck looks like it would be really uncomfortable to have sex in the back of, but like with the Popemobile, it’s not a problem for the target market.”

  152. 152.

    Old School

    LONDON — Oxford University Press has named “rizz″ as its word of the year, highlighting the popularity of a term used by Generation Z to describe someone’s ability to attract or seduce another person.

  155. 155.

    trollhattan

    @Geoduck: Rogers should have been the guy to get the Favre stench out of the locker room, but that didn’t turn out so well and I give it another generation before their reputation recovers.

    Some of us remember Bart Starr. Was there ever a better sportsball name? I think not. (Okay, special mention award goes to Sonny Sixkiller.)

  157. 157.

    Geminid

    @Villago Delenda Est: Well, there would be nothing wrong with not knowing who Burgum is. Even well-informed people’s depth of knowledge vary from area to area.

    I saw that last month when retired Colonel Eugene Vindman announced for the open Virginia 7th CD seat. Vote Vets made sure the announcement was widely publicized.

    Delegate Josua Cole asked who Vindman was, said he hadn’t seen Vindman around the district. So people in Vindman’s national following told Del. Cole that he was pretty ignorant of important political affairs, and added that they had never heard of him.

     I knew who both Eugene Vindman and Joshua Cole were, but that’s because I’m a political junky living in Virginia. Plenty of Virginia Democrats don’t know who Eugene Vindman is, and not that many Democrats outside of Virginia know who Joshua Cole is.

  159. 159.

    Quinerly

    @Betty Cracker: thanks for reminding me about Wide Stance Craig. My curiosity prompted me to go to his Wiki page…”where is he now” kinda thing. I guess I totally forgot he tried to withdraw his guilty plea. He did serve out his term, but got busted for paying his almost $250,000 in atty’s fees out of his campaign fund. Seems he has dropped off the radar after his consulting firm closed in 2019.

  160. 160.

    Another Scott

    @trollhattan: Good point.

    I thought that the feds were slowly rolling auto safety regulations into US pickemups, but obviously they don’t all apply yet.

    2004-2021 F-150 crash tests show that even 20 year old Fords had crumple zones.

    I’m reminded of GM’s X-Frame – oooh! More rigid! But, um, you’re kinda dead if you’re T-boned…

    Seriously, that Cyber thing looks like a death trap. :-/

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  161. 161.

    RaflW

    @Baud: My pipe dream is that we end up before too long with one Dakota and a North and a South California.

    (I gave up demon weed many years ago, so my pipe now is just the vivid daydreaming imagination of my childhood.)

  162. 162.

    trollhattan

    @Another Scott: Having ridden in Tesla cars, I find the experience carlike, if the car had been designed by the Samsung refrigerator division, and otherwise unremarkable, but I can’t imagine myself even getting into one of those truck thingies.

    Feel the same about Hummers.

  163. 163.

    Geminid

    @trollhattan: Sam Huff had a good football name. So did Dick Butkus

    Ed. Bart Starr was a decent passer, but I think he’ll always be known best for his quarterback sneak against Dallas, in the “Ice Bowl.”

  164. 164.

    Soprano2

    @Juju: Thanks for the information. I’ve definitely thought about doing that, I love real trees but if I had to do it all by myself I couldn’t do that (he brought it in and held it up while I tightened the screws into the trunk). He used to cut branches off the bottom and then use them to fill in the holes, I miss stuff like that a lot.  I hung these sticks I got from Aldi with scent in them on the tree. I don’t need wheels; we have a drum that he made to elevate the tree so our animals don’t bother it. At least for now I don’t need wheels.

  166. 166.

    Juju

    @SFBayAreaGal: I bought the tree at FrontGate. It was a slim profile noble fir, which they still carry, but I can’t find one on their website that has the rolling stand. I got the tree care pouch that came with the tree and looked at the information and discovered that what came with my tree when I bought it is something you have to buy separately now. The device is a Treekeeper universal rolling stand. If you Google that all sorts of places sell them including Amazon, go figure. FrontGate is FrontGate.com. I hope this helps.

  167. 167.

    Juju

    @Soprano2: I didn’t know how much I needed a tree with wheels until I bought one. My tree has always been in a corner of the family room and it was a tight squeeze for me to get around the tree to decorate. Now I can decorate and roll it into place.

    I am lucky that my animals have not been terribly interested in the tree. Last year was my dog Lulu’s first Christmas with us, and I think her first Christmas ever. Lulu is a retired abused breeder girl. She was terrified of the tree on wheels at first but watched from a safe distance, all the tree decorating. By the time I finished she was brave enough to stand about three feet away from the tree. I took a picture of the very brave Lulu standing next to the tree to document her progression from a mostly scared girl to a happy secure girl. It will be interesting to see how she reacts this year.

  168. 168.

    Geminid

    @Soprano2: I bet Dick Butkus was a star even then. That’s also probably the healthiest he ever was. Butkus really wore his body down playing linebacker.

  169. 169.

    Geminid

    @Juju: Rep. Nikki Budzinski, WaterGirl’s new Congresswoman, also has a dog named Lulu. A French Bulldog. Budzinski probably has to leave Lulu home in Springfield during the week when Congress is in session.

  170. 170.

    Brachiator

    @Another Scott:

    However, there remains a large question mark over whether the Cybertruck will be sold in Europe. According to a German TUV safety certification expert, the vehicle will require “strong modifications to the basic structure” before it can be sold on this side of the Atlantic.

    Interesting. Tesla should have considered this from the beginning.

    Some of the test drives of the Tesla Cybertruck are useful and interesting.

  172. 172.

    Ruckus

    @Spanky:

    I actually agree with Betty. I’ve been around and see rethuglicans at work for a lot of decades. I had an issue with the military once when I was in and mom suggested that I call our congressman. Born and have lived most of my life in CA and can tell you that 50-60 yrs ago having a republican representative in CA was not unusual. Mine was also a member of the John Burch Society. Not a liberal in any way, shape or form. Don’f forget the rethuglicans that we’ve sent to the WH, long ago. My congressman was more than willing to assist me, never asked my political leanings, he actually was a congressman. Would a rethuglican congress person do any such thing for someone, even someone they represented, who wasn’t in their political party in this day and age? Possibly. Maybe. I’m not going to assume positive in any way. Seems quid pro quo is the operative concept, you didn’t vote for me so suck it is the expected answer.  I’m sure not every rethuglican is as bad as the worst but expectations are pretty good and realistic that they are.

  173. 173.

    Ruckus

    @Nelle:

    As an old my own self, I have to say that staying reasonably active is far better than doing nothing. I sleep better, I am able to do things that others my age can not. And no I am not as strong or tireless as I was 20-30 yrs ago but I live in a seniors apt complex and a lot of the people I see my age have real problems. But people older than me that stay minimally active are in far better health than those that don’t.

  174. 174.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Geminid: Actually, the joke I was making was that Burgum has ZERO name recognition outside of North Dakota and/or political junkies like Juicers.

  175. 175.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @trollhattan: I used to ride around in Hummers professionally.  They’re fantastic off road vehicles.  Kinda pointless on freeways, though.

  176. 176.

    Geminid

    @Villago Delenda Est: I get it. I was just adding on because this phenomenon interests me generally, and it made for a suboptimal campaign launch for Eugene Vindman. It was really kind of funny to watch.

  177. 177.

    trollhattan

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Encountered a civilian H1 yesterday parked at the curb, and holy hell I forgot how wide they are–it poked a couple feet into the traffic lane. Years since I last spotted one on the road that wasn’t CANG.

    Big proponent of military veehicles, and military weapons, in the hands of the military. Tools of the trade. The rest of us? Not so much.

    Had an H3 loaner once and holy hell was that a miserable excuse for a car. Sounded like a threshing machine trying to get up to freeway speed, gunslit windows you can’t watch traffic through, dumb control layout, just crap.

  181. 181.

    Mike in NC

    Fat Bastard always avoided the Kennedy Center Honors stuff for years because he was a crude, uneducated, racist slob from Queens NY who blew his nose on the sleeve of his shirt.

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