Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

The house always wins.

I swear, each month of 2020 will have its own history degree.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Too inconsequential to be sued

Something seems odd about that, but i have been drinking.

Everybody saw this coming.

Fuck if i know. i just get yelled at when i try it.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Let there be snark.

I don’t care how fun he is after a few whiskies. fuck that guy.

Americans barely caring about Afghanistan is so last month.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

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

The covid deniers are really testing our commitment to universal health care.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

This is how realignments happen…

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

It’s not even safe to go out and pick up 2 days worth of poop anymore.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

Friday Evening Open Thread: Also Running (In Circles)

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Everybody on social media needed a little treat, some jamoke to abuse, after this long week…

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He’s running!

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Chris Christie, that is. He’s running, but he’s going nowhere. Here are excerpts of remarks Christie made at the Reagan Library last night (courtesy of CBS News), which will surely doom him with the MAGA base:

“We need to give our supporters facts that will help them put all those fantasies [about election fraud] to rest so everyone can focus with clear minds on the issues that really matter,” Christie said. “We need to quit wasting our time, our energy, and our credibility on claims that won’t ever convince anyone of anything.”

“All this lying has done harm to our nation, to our party, and to each other,” he said, and he sought to remind the audience of the Republican Party’s values, which he listed as conservatism, faith, decency, integrity, freedom, liberty, competence and truth.

“If the conservative cause depends on the populist appeal of one personality, or on second-rate imitations, then we’re not going anywhere. Voters looking for Republican leaders want to see independence and mettle,” Ryan said, adding, “They will not be impressed by the sight of yes-men and flatterers flocking to Mar-a-Lago.”

Astute observers will note that Christie was one of the yes-men and flatterers who used to flock to Disgraceland. He helped build the monster that ate his party, and now he wants to thrust an arm down the creature’s gullet and pull the party back out?

I think he’d have better luck waiting for it to emerge from the other end.

Open thread.

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Schadenfreude Open Thread: OSHA Is the New HIPAA

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… A conjure word that, it is imagined, will immediately stun one’s many (perceived) enemies into submission!!!1!…

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Mandates, and the designated asshole

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When I was a teenager, I did not have a good relationship with my parents. We clashed about big things. We battled over miniscule things on misguided principles. I was a generic sixteen year old piss and vinegar know it all. Moving to Pittsburgh and getting enough distance where I could make my mistakes on my own allowed me to have a good relationship with my parents once I got to my early twenties to today.

One of the things that I truly appreciate my parents doing was making it extremely and repeatedly clear over the course of five or six years that they were more than willing to be the designated asshole whenever my friends were thinking about doing something that was truly and spectacularly dumb that I knew was a bad decision ahead of time. I could always blame my parents for being completely unreasonable assholes if I needed an escape hatch that allowed me to save face and maintain social cohesion with my group of friends. And I used the designated asshole card once or twice that probably saved me a long and significant interaction with either the medical or criminal justice system.

I thought about my parents last night when the President announced that OSHA would be issuing rules that large employers would either need to require vaccination or enact “test to stay” policies and medical groups that receive federal money for Medicare, Medicaid or other direct health programs would have to require vaccination of all staff. The Feds are taking on the role of the designated asshole. Bosses can say to their employees and protestors “Don’t blame me, blame CMS or OSHA and we can’t afford the fines/loss of Medicare eligibility….”

These are the steps needed to allow a new normality without overwhelming our hospital systems this winter.

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(TGI)Friday Morning Open Thread: President Biden Is *Very* Good At His Job

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ICYMI…

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COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Thursday / Friday, Sept. 9-10

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On The Road – frosty – Death Valley National Park – Historic Sites

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frosty

We made stops at several sites. Death Valley had a short history of gold mining, a longer history of borax mining, and then finally tourism and park status when borax could be mined elsewhere more easily. The president of one of the borax companies was the first person to encourage the tourism industry.

On The Road - frosty - Death Valley National Park - Historic Sites 7
Rhyolite, NVApril 26, 2021

Rhyolite, just outside the park in Nevada, is one of the ghost towns. It started as a two-man camp in January 1905 and two weeks later 1,200 people had moved in. By 1906 it had indoor plumbing and electricity, paid for by the new mine owner, along with several substantial buildings, including 19 grocery stores, 50 saloons, 19 lodging houses, 35 gaming tables, and 3 railroads serving a peak population of 5,000 (more or less). By 1910 the mines began to fail and by 1911 they closed. The 1910 census counted 675 residents. Newspapers, post office, and train service ended, the electricity was cut off in 1916, and a year later the town was abandoned, just 12 years after it was founded.

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