Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I am pretty sure Katy Tur wasn’t always such a bootlicking sycophant.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

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

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

The US Supreme Court is on the ballot in november.

Donald Trump, welcome to your everything, everywhere, all at once.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

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

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” is supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

Nikki Haley, who can’t acknowledge ‘slavery’, is a pathetic shill.

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

When we show up, we win.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

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On the Road After Dark:  Election Respite Edition

We are going to do something special with On The Road After Dark for a couple of weeks in the run-up to the election and in the days that follow after November 3.

I invited some people to submit photos that wouldn’t necessarily be from a single place or time, but would simply be collections of photos that are especially beautiful, happy,  soothing, or calming.

The folks who were interested rose to the occasion and submitted some amazing collections, which I will be posting each night without introduction.  I am wound up, too, and I want to get to experience them each night, as everyone else does!

Albatrossity – Election Respite, Staying Chill Edition
lashonharangue – Election Respite, Sights Near and Far Edition
Dagaetch – Election Respite, World Edition
SkyBluePink – Election Respite, The Magic of Trees Edition
cope – Election Respite, Beautiful, Soothing or Calm Edition

If you are reading along and think you might want to be part of this by submitting your own collections, contact me by email or let me know in the comments.

Take a Breath and Take Care

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I hate bullies.

Which is one of the reasons I hate what they did to Biden so much.

I see we’ve moved into the get over and get to work phase of the fucking over of Democracy.  Look, I love Kamala Harris, she was my choice in the 2020 primaries until she dropped out. Then I was all in for Biden.  AND I will be fighting for her like I would fight for Biden in 2024. I have a lot of anger to channel into this fight.

BUT, don’t kid yourself, this is a body blow for Democracy – and the outcome in November will determine if she survives the back-to-back blows of an attempted coup, the takeover of the courts, and the nulling of 14 million primary voters.

Every. Word. Of. This.

Two weeks ago I said that the Anti-Biden Brigade has it really easy. If he drops out and we win they can say ‘I told you so.’ If he drops out and we lose they can say ‘He should have done it sooner.’ If he stays in and loses they can say ‘I told you so.’ If he stays in and wins they can say ‘Our pressure made him work harder.’ Over and over. Every angle makes them heroes. Now here we are and all of us who opposed them, and the absolute chaos they cheered on, are busting our asses to pull together a coalition to win. Everyone to a person on this side has said “it’s time to pull back together and get to work. Recriminations can come later.” But…nope. Many have spent the last 24 hours saying “we were right! Look at how it’s working. We told you!” It’s working because millions of us are pissed off that we have wasted a month and want to get back to defeating Trump. So, sincerely. Shut the F up and get back to work. You got your wish. You fucked Joe Biden. A decent man. You aren’t the victims here. Now you are just a bunch of petty dicks. Im sorry some people were mean to you because you decided your full time job, for money, was to brigade a good man out of his job. Don’t fucking compare us to MAGA. We aren’t the ones that shit on our own side.
7:02 AM • Jul 22, 2024

So, if folks are telling you to get over it and get on board, I’m here to tell you, feel what you feel, grieve, be angry, walk away until you are where you need to be emotionally. Don’t let anyone bully you into thinking or feeling you have to rush this or you are somehow less-than if you need more than a minute to process the betrayal. I know you’ll come out fighting for VP Harris. I also understand the need for a breather before you do.

Take a breath and take care of you, please. We will need you in the fight.

That’s what I’m going to do. Step away from here for a while and focus on other things that are important to me and that bring me joy. But I didn’t want to disappear without leaving you with resources for respite. ‘Cause you know, I’m respite girl.

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Tuesday Respite: A Story Just Begging For A Story

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Every now and then I run across a bit of news that cries out for use in fiction. The latest came last week while I was perusing the less prominent, more interesting parts of the Washington Post. Powerball mystery: Someone in this tiny town won $731 million. Now everyone wants a piece of it:

LONACONING, MD. — There haven’t been a lot of big wins in this little town tucked between gentle green mountains in Maryland’s far western reaches. Coal brought work, then took it away. The railroad meant prosperity, then stopped running. They made glass here, and then they didn’t.

These days, the line of cars at the First Assembly of God food giveaway is so long that the volunteers split each box into two smaller portions to feed more families.

But over the past few weeks, Lonaconing — the locals call it “Coney” — has acquired a new shine, a glint of gold in iron country. Sometime in late January, someone bought a Powerball lottery ticket at the Coney Market, and that ticket’s six numbers won the big one — $731 million, the biggest jackpot ever in Maryland and the fifth-richest payout in U.S. history.

That someone lives in Lonaconing, according to the owner of the market. But because Maryland is one of seven states that allow lottery winners to remain anonymous, and because the winner is no fool, the identity of that someone isn’t public.

The fact that someone in this town of 1,200 people (just 400 families, actually, down by half over the past 50 years) is suddenly Midas-rich has caused some strange things to happen.

(Apparently lottery winners can’t be anonymous in most states–why is that? Is it an anti-corruption thing?)

People from around the country are writing to, and even visiting, the store owner, begging him to forward requests for money to the winners. People are making the winding drive into town just to buy tickets with the winning numbers. Townies are impatient for the winner to donate money to help the struggling town. Its businesses are struggling; its seniors have insufficient fixed incomes; “mine water” sometimes befouls its sinks.

And the question remains on everybody’s minds: who won? Anonymous letters are circulating naming various people. Things are perhaps getting a little tense.

There’s a joke that you can improve any story by adding a five-word sentence in after the first one, and that’s exactly where my fiction-addled mind went. That sentence? And then the murders began. Obviously I don’t want this to actually happen, but you know what? I’d watch that show.

Open thread! Let’s try to keep it respiteful.

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On The Road – Dagaetch – Election Respite, New Zealand Edition

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Dagaetch

Many years ago I took a bit of a personal sabbatical and traveled around the world. One of my stops, and probably my favorite, was New Zealand. I spent a month there, driving around with a rented car, enjoying a place that truly does feel like a natural movie set. It was actually so beautiful that in some ways, I found taking pictures difficult – there was such an abundance of scenes that I couldn’t focus on specific compositions, and found myself just looking around with a smile on my face. Nearly every spot in the world has some form of natural or human-made beauty, but I can’t think of any other place where the beauty is quite so endless.

On The Road - Dagaetch - Election Respite, New Zealand Edition 9
Mountain fields near Mt. Cook

I arrived in New Zealand after 2 months in southeast Asia, mostly in cities. I was prepared for culture shock, but I wasn’t prepared for the utter peace that hiking in these open valleys would bring. At one point I simply sat on the ground and looked around, content to enjoy the serenity and allow myself, however briefly, to set my cares aside.

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On The Road – JanieM – Election Respite, The Four Seasons Edition

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JanieM

Albatrossity said of Dagaetch’s 10/28 set: “I’m glad I got to go first; this would be a very hard act to follow!” I have to say that ten times over; I don’t belong in the same company as photographers like Dagaetch, Albatrossity, and others who post here. But I do have fun taking pictures, so I’m going to keep going for it anyhow.

This set tracks the seasons. I thought of doing one on winter only, and in fact on the ice storm of Christmas Eve Eve 2013 only, but in the end I decided it would be more fun to track the whole year.

On The Road - JanieM - Election Respite, The Four Seasons Edition 9
Summer – Queen Anne’s lace – Maine

The fields near my house are now mowed, but for many years they were left alone to be raggedy and beautiful with wildflowers. Buttercups in the early summer, then black-eyed Susans, daisies, thistle, Queen Anne’s lace, milkweed, wild asters, clover, and lots of others I don’t know the names of. Queen Anne’s lace always reminds me of my grandma, who lived in rural Ohio. She taught me the names of a few wildflowers and showed me how, if you put Queen Anne’s lace in some water with food coloring in it, the flower will turn from white to that color.

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On The Road – lashonharangue – Election Respite, Croatian Cascades and Waterfalls Edition

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lashonharangue

My last OTR submission included a picture of a Krka National Park waterfall. WaterGirl sent me a note saying I should submit one with all waterfalls. I actually went to two national parks in Croatia on that trip, Krka and Plitvice Lakes. Here are some photos from both. I have little to tell about these individually. Mostly it was just a lot of walking on well maintained trails and taking photos with my phone. Plitvice was especially impressive. The geological processes there (carbonate rock dissolution and tofa formation) were responsible for a seemingly endless series of lakes and waterfalls.

On The Road - lashonharangue - Election Respite, Croatian Cascades and Waterfalls Edition 19
Krka National Park

We visited the park at the end of April. Kind of shoulder season with a fair number of visitors. But apparently not what it is like in summer.

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On The Road – way2blue – Election Respite, Late Edition

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way2blue

WaterGirl had invited me to submit a few photos as a calming OTR diversion to the amped up election drama. I was traveling at the time, so here’s a late edition, in case next week needs even more time out. I’ve picked photos that remind me of how beautiful & diverse our country is…

On The Road - way2blue - Election Respite, Late Edition 7
WOODSIDE, CA

My daughter & I attended a fundraiser at Runnymede Farm for a group she had volunteered for (Environmental Traveling Companions) that provides summer recreation activities for disadvantaged & disabled children. The property has an incredible collection of sculpture. This is one that caught my fancy…

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On The Road – randy khan – Some Art to Calm the Soul

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On the Road: Week of November 9 (5 am)
Albatrossity
Jerry
?BillinGlendaleCA
Yutsano
Mary G.

In After Dark this week, we continue with a few more Election Respite posts as we detox from the stress, and toward the end of the week, we slide into Fall Colors.

On the Road  Election Respite and Fall Colors: Week of November 9 (10pm)
randy khan – Election Respite, Art to Calm the Soul Edition
way2blue – Election Respite, Late Edition
lashonharangue – Election Respite, Croatian Cascades and Waterfalls Edition
JanieM – Election Respite, The Four Seasons Edition
ema– Fall Colors

Next week, we have a full week of Fall Colors in On the Road After Dark.

?  And now, back to Election Respite

randy khan

Art is a balm in my life, and I thought I’d share some of the favorite things I’ve seen over the past few years (well, actually 15 years, but most of them are from the last 5). Oh, and I wanted things that would make people smile or made me feel calm or serene. With one exception, each of these photos is from a different trip, and they’re from six different cities.

On The Road - randy khan - Some Art to Calm the Soul 10
Central Park, New York, New YorkFebruary 19, 2005

The first photo is from The Gates, by Christo and Jean-Claude. I’d been interested in his work since I was a kid and I read about Running Fence. We had a chance to go to New York for the day to see it, and took the opportunity.

It was great. It had snowed not too long before we got there, and the contrast of the bright orange gates with the white snow was great. And it was a little windy, so the fabric was fluttering in the breeze. It’s kind of hard to really convey the piece in one photo, but this one is close enough.

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