Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Take your GOP plan out of the witness protection program.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

This really is a full service blog.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

You are here: Home / Archives for Open Threads / Because of wow.

Because of wow.

Meanwhile In Canada…

by | 136 Comments

This post is in: , , , ,

Apparently since all of the Canadian teams have been eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs, there’s not a whole lot going on in the Great White North…

From The Ottawa Citizen:

An apparently dog-tired pooch diverted traffic in Oxford Mills on the weekend until police picked him up to continue his snooze in the back of an OPP cruiser.

Grenville County officers got the report at 3:30 p.m. Saturday of a large dog lying in the middle of Water Street.

“The dog appeared content and refused to move, thus causing vehicles to drive around him,” officers noted.

“Fortunately, police were able to persuade the uninjured dog to continue his apparent much-needed rest in the back of the cruiser.”

Officers returned the pup to his home in the village about 50 km southwest of Ottawa where he’d escaped from a fenced backyard.

“The dog was happily reunited with his owners but sadly missed by the officers,” police said.

The dog, having successfully slept on the yellow line, is now a member in good standing of the local outlaw motorcycle club!//

Open thread, if you can stay awake.

Meanwhile In Canada…Post + Comments (136)

Thursday Morning Open Thread: #SheThePeople

by | 145 Comments

This post is in: , , , , ,

Sounds like this was quite the EVENT!

Patrick Svitek, for the Texas Tribune:

… Appearing at Texas Southern University, a historically black college, eight candidates made their pitches at a forum hosted by She the People, a national network of women of color. The three-hour event was one of the biggest gatherings of the Democratic primary candidates yet, let alone in Texas.

Taking questions from moderators and the audience, the candidates covered a range of issues that have already animated the primary — health care, criminal justice and voting rights — while sharpening their cases for how those issues impact women of color. The massive 2020 field is historically diverse, and most participants faced the same question at the end of their time onstage: Why should women of color choose you?…

For some candidates — particularly those who are neither women nor people of color — the forum at times appeared to be a humbling experience. The other hopeful from Texas, Beto O’Rourke, paused before answering why women of color should back him, acknowledging that their support is “not something that I’m owed, not something that I expect” but “something that I fully hope to earn by the work that I do on the campaign trail.” He cited a number of prominent black women in politics that he has learned from — including Houston U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a fellow Democrat who has a bill to study reparations that O’Rourke and several other candidates support…

Regardless, the day was a boon for Texas Democrats who increasingly view the state as a battleground. As he left the forum, state party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa said the event — with its number of candidates and early timing in the primary — was unlike anything he has seen in his 35 years in Texas Democratic politics.

“One of the things that came out of this event today is a recognition — [one] that people who have been involved in politics have known about for a long time — that women of color deliver [a] large number of votes for the Democratic candidates in every election cycle,” Hinojosa said. “That number’s increasing significantly over the years. In the last election cycle, they delivered big time for Democratic candidates. They’re more energized, engaged and angry today than they’ve ever been before.”

Not surprisingly, one candidate started with an extra edge…

show full post on front page

Thursday Morning Open Thread: #SheThePeoplePost + Comments (145)

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Notre Dame Is Still There

by | 160 Comments

This post is in: , ,

show full post on front page

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Notre Dame Is Still TherePost + Comments (160)

Pulitzer Prizes Awarded Today

by | 46 Comments

This post is in: , , ,

Easy to miss, given the destruction of Notre Dame Cathedral.

Here is the full list. Some highlights (my highlights, ymmv)

Public Service:  South Florida Sun Sentinel for exposing failings by school and law enforcement officials before and after the deadly shooting rampage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Breaking News Reporting: Staff of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for immersive, compassionate coverage of the massacre at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue that captured the anguish and resilience of a community thrust into grief.

Local Reporting: Staff of The Advocate, Baton Rouge, La., for a damning portrayal of the state’s discriminatory conviction system, including a Jim Crow-era law, that enabled Louisiana courts to send defendants to jail without jury consensus on the accused’s guilt.

Feature Writing: Hannah Dreier of ProPublica for a series of powerful, intimate narratives that followed Salvadoran immigrants on New York’s Long Island whose lives were shattered by a botched federal crackdown on the international criminal gang MS-13.

History: Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, by David W. Blight (Simon & Schuster) A breathtaking history that demonstrates the scope of Frederick Douglass’ influence through deep research on his writings, his intellectual evolution and his relationships.

Special Awards and Citations: Aretha Franklin for her indelible contribution to American music and culture for more than five decades.

Pulitzer Prizes Awarded TodayPost + Comments (46)

Open Thread: Notre Dame Has Suffered Before…

by | 178 Comments

This post is in: , , ,

The Guardian‘s got a live feed here. Per that story, construction of the cathedral officially started in 1163, and wasn’t finished for almost 200 years. As I recall, it was a site of worship long before that — every time repairs have been done in the lower levels, prehistoric artifacts are unearthed. It’s a terrible loss, to France and the world, but the cathedral will be rebuilt again.

Not to go all Sally Sunshine, but even in the quick clips posted by Cheryl below, you can see there was work being done. My first thought was that some unfortunate worker took a shortcut with an acetylene torch… or, worse, ‘improperly disposed of smoking materials’, which seems to be the cause of half the multi-alarm fires in the Boston area.

Which won’t stop the rumors / conspiracy theories, of course…

Open Thread: Notre Dame Has Suffered Before…Post + Comments (178)

Up, Up, and Away – and Down, Down, Down!

by | 18 Comments

This post is in: ,

Folks,

Barring more upper-atmosphere wind issues that postponed yesterday’s launch, between 6:35 and 8:31 pm Eastern today, Space X will launch their first commercial Falcon Heavy Flight. Should be exciting!

Perhaps most exciting is their attempt to land three boosters simultaneously, two on the pad on terra firma and one on a autonomous drone ship. I’m hoping for an exceptional show.

 

 

URL is https://www.spacex.com/webcast

 

This video should go live approx 20 minutes before launch.

This really is a week for space. Yesterday’s amazing release of the first picture of a black hole and today’s earlier crash-landing on the moon by Israel’s Beresheet spacecraft will make this week one for the history books. Let’s hope the launch tonight isn’t postponed and is perfect. Fingers crossed!

Up, Up, and Away – and Down, Down, Down!Post + Comments (18)

Up, Up, and Away – and Down, Down, Down!

by | 36 Comments

This post is in: ,

Folks,

At 6:35 pm Eastern today, Space X will launch their first commercial Falcon Heavy Flight. Should be exciting!

Perhaps most exciting is their attempt to land three boosters simultaneously. I’m hoping for an exceptional show.

 

 

URL is https://www.spacex.com/webcast

 

This video should go live approx 20 minutes before launch. Enjoy the marvel, everybody!

 

ETA: Looks like flight is postponed until 8 pm. Let’s hope it’s still a go and we can see the landing!

Up, Up, and Away – and Down, Down, Down!Post + Comments (36)