It was super foggy this morning — the foghorns in the bay woke me up at OMFG o’clock. Again. But shortly after dawn, I got this foggy photo of a starling (maybe) perched high in one of our bamboos:
If you think the Tbogg unit-curious thread below about the Topic That Shall Not Be Named is bad, you should see Twitter! But I’m glad I did check it out because of this lesson in persistence in the face of absurd adversity, courtesy of Patti LaBelle:
I haven’t laughed this hard in a while. I needed this. pic.twitter.com/2aQFpugdis
— deray (@deray) December 7, 2017
Lord, what a catastrophuck! This apparently happened in 1996, and I’m furious that I didn’t know about it for 21 years. Ms. LaBelle was a professional throughout — an inspiration, really. Open thread!
TenguPhule
At this point I welcome our Federal Government shutting down.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
unless you’re using your FP powers to enforce that, I give it six comments
Major Major Major Major
At my latitude, the sunsets are now getting later. Yours too, probably, dear North Hemisphere reader!
ETA we could do another novel recommendation thread
BlueDWarrior
@TenguPhule: I don’t think the Federal Government has worked since 2011. Sure it has funcitoned since then, but can you really say it did any work.
And yet the rabble will continue to be roused to throw spanners in the works and watch the sparks as more pieces of our collective society flying comically in the air. Because everything is terrible now so why not just bulldoze it all and let the murders begin?
If you couldn’t tell, I’m very mad just not about the news today, but because half of our polity apparently believes that if society won’t bow to it, then it can all burn, even if it immolates themselves as well. We’re being held hostage by a group of people who think murder-suicide politically is a quite viable and effective option for the future.
TenguPhule
And let’s brighten the day with even more good news. //
The Trump administration proposes allowing tip-pooling in restaurants. Critics call it stealing workers’ wages.
Wage theft by employers. Here’s that economic concern.
schrodingers_cat
The days grow shorter and my SAAD gets worse. November and December are for me the most difficult months of the year. The lack of sunlight affects me more than the cold.
Yutsano
@TenguPhule: As it seems like virtually nothing is happening in that regard right now, you might get your wish.
As long as I get back pay I’m good.
TenguPhule
@BlueDWarrior:
Yeah, I figured that out last year. But apparently its rude to point out the obvious.
Yoda Dog
I need my buddy, Julio Jones, to hook me up tonight for my fantasy football playoff match. It hasn’t been the best year for him and the Saints have been playing some serious defense, but I remain optimistic, nonetheless.
We shall see.
Major Major Major Major
Now I want to get some bamboo.
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
I had a good writing day because a friend gave me useful feedback on my current novel draft and I enjoyed working with it. OTOH, a short story was supposed to be in a November anthology that’s not out yet, and the editor says on FB that they’re waiting for writers to turn in their edits. I notified them I hadn’t received edits yet.
Mike J
@Major Major Major Major: We get later sunsets starting on the 16th, but days don’t get longer until the 22nd. Sunset today is 4:17pm.
Major Major Major Major
The Onion headline-only article: “RNC: ‘We Warned You Gay Marriage Would Be A Slippery Slope Toward Accepting Pedophilia’”
@Mike J: Alaska?
Comrade Colette Collaboratrice
@Major Major Major Major:
Yeah, but still getting up at the crack o’dark. Nonetheless I always look forward to the winter solstice (even though it falls on my sister’s Yahrzeit this year), because the darkness bothers me more than the cold and the winter rain. There’s a hell of lot to put behind me/us as we face the new year.
Mike J
@Major Major Major Major: Seattle
https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/usa/seattle
Brachiator
A consistent theme of the Trump administration is to try to streamline the running of federal agencies by ignoring the input of anyone with knowledge and expertise. What could go wrong? Well,
These goons are consistently mean spirited and stupid. And yet their core supporters keep giving them a pass.
The one positive note is that crap like this clearly sets the Democrats up to take advantage of these mis-steps. Assuming the Dems don’t keep shooting themselves in the foot.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
Imagine the firestorm if a Dem first lady said this.
Both of them with the ingrained 7/11
Drumpf must have made Melania make late night slurpee runs to 7/11
TenguPhule
@Major Major Major Major:
Snark met reality and reality kicked its ass.
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
Twitter thread
Betty Cracker
@Major Major Major Major: We’ve got a lot of bamboo — several different types. It’s so pretty, and it grows so fast! My husband planted the “clumping” kind vs. the “running” type. Easier to contain that way, apparently. (I’m not the gardener in the family.)
eclare
@schrodingers_cat: Agree, hate this time of year. Don’t care what the temperature is, give me some sunlight when I get off from work.
TenguPhule
@Brachiator:
Our order for crutches is backlogged with the VA.
Tenar Arha
I want to put my head down and take a nap so bad.
I’ve been trying this week to figure out what plan to buy for health insurance this year, since I have had to change/move doctors anyway. I’m running into that metal confusion thing where a bronze plan is looking almost as good or better than the silver. There’s a gold about $100 more too that might be reasonable if I start to get good old middle-aging issues too. ?
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@Betty Cracker: I thought bamboo was one of those things you’re not supposed to plant because it takes over. Not so?
Raoul
Since we have at least the beginning of a theme @top (and wow is she great as everything fails around her), I actually paid 99c plus tax for a late GenX (I think?) Christmas carol on iTunes this week.
Weezer’s O Holy Night. It’s good. Really. (And free via youTube)
LurkerNoLonger
Can someone explain Tbogg unit to me?
Brachiator
I think I forgot a link for the VA story. Here.
Maybe the change in the sunsets is affecting me, too. Of course, here in Southern California, much is due to the blotting out of the sky due to smoke from brush fires.
Major Major Major Major
@Mike J: That page has your sunsets getting longer starting (at the latest) on the 14th.
Betty Cracker
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): According to the mister, there are varieties that do not run amok. But you do have to plan carefully when planting stands of bamboo, taking into account the eventual radius of the clump, lest it heave over your fence. We learned that lesson the hard way!
Raoul
@Major Major Major Major: Another week here in Minneapolis. We’re stuck at 4:31 till the 14th. We don’t creep back to even a 4:45 sunset till friggin’ Jan 4. What a slog this time of year is. But yes, the analemma is kinda cool.
Comrade Colette Collaboratrice
@Raoul: Oh yes! That’s an awesome version of my favorite carol! It’s on my workout music rotation year-round. Since I don’t celebrate Christmas, I figure I can not-celebrate it anytime.
rp
@Brachiator: Shulkin was originally an Obama appointee, so I wonder if a RWNJ staffer said they were cutting the program without his approval.
Humdog
I just brought my dog home from hospital after major surgery. She is so shaved and stitched and sad it is pathetic. Eight weeks of keeping her still will be a challenge, but not today. Poor little thing!
Major Major Major Major
@Betty Cracker: I don’t have access to the actual ground so mine would be potted.
Well, maybe next time I’m in Japantown.
Humdog
@Major Major Major Major: Lucky bamboo is good indoors but I would recommend other, rush looking plants for a pot on a deck. Nandina does well in pots in your area.
cope
@LurkerNoLonger: 1 Tbogg Unit = 500+ post replies
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@LurkerNoLonger: a thread with 500 or more comments, I’m not sure of the original story
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@Humdog: Poor baby. I can’t imagine keeping a dog still for that long.
Betty Cracker
@Humdog: Poor thing. Hope she’ll be okay. I hate it when the dogs are sick. They have no idea what’s going on, and it’s not like you can just explain they’ll be okay.
Major Major Major Major
@Humdog: I don’t really have a deck either!
satby
@Humdog: hope she feels better soon.
As to weather, we had the first real snow today, and it was about an inch.
Weather and animals is all I am willing to discuss right now. Everything else sickens me.
Kay
The Trump Administration sure lie and omit a lot for people who don’t have anything to hide.
Objectively- do innocent people lie this much? Not usually! Maybe they just enjoy lying but usually it’s to cover something up.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
First Mark Halperin, now Harold Ford.
I’m shocked – shocked!
The cast of Morning Blow is rife with sexual harassers.
HOOOOOOOOOOOOOCOONODE!
Brachiator
@rp:
Thanks for the clarification. Things get interesting. A Democrat blamed “the Trump administration for this.”
But here, it is possible that Shulkin and Carson are executing Trump’s vision. Between the two of them, they are some sad sacks.
And yeah, Shulkin was originally nominated to an under-Secretary post by Obama. But Trump and both political parties appear to bear responsibility for his rise to his current position.
NotMax
Surprisingly, only chance this month to catch it on TCM is Friday the 8th at 8 p.m. – the Alastair Sim version of A Christmas Carol.
Followed at 9:45 p.m.by the 1935 Seymour Hicks version, Scrooge.
Pretty solid weekend line-up all around, whole lotta pleasantly companionable stuff. Plus one odd duck, Nine Days in One Year at 2 a.m. on Monday, a Soviet film from 1962 revolving around a fateful mishap at a nuclear lab.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
Evil Frank Drebin
TenguPhule
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
/Facepalm
At least he’s not actually here. There’s that.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I’m a sucker for ACC. My only disappointment in the more recent ones (Patrick Stewart, George C Scott) is you’d think with all your modern technology they could make Marley’s scream much scarier. I like Scott’s Scrooge because he’s well- and cleanly dressed, not obviously nuts or nasty, just cold.
Lapassionara
Alain posted this morning. That was a nice start to the day. Now, can someone bring me up to date on EFGoldman?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: the Japanese were some bad dudes back then, bad hombres, believe me, could’ve used a wall around Hawai’i, but now there our friends, they love me now, I got a hat, a beautiful hat, many people in Japan say they like me much better than Obama, but I’m not supposed to say that
/he didn’t really
Hungry Joe
Wind whipping up, 78 degrees, humidity below 10 percent. Wandering outside every 20 minutes or so to check for smoke in the air or on the horizon. No fires around here (central San Diego) yet, but when it happens, it happens fast. We’ve got a list of stuff to grab, and a crate for the cat out (hidden, of course), and enough dog and cat food packed to get ’em though a couple of days. … Damn! What about litter and a litter box? It’s one thing after another ….
All this while Ms. Joe is hammered with a monster cold and I’m recovering from yesterday’s eyelid surgery. I look like I got my ass whupped — lots of swelling, two black eyes in the works. I should come up with a good “Yeah,-but-you-should-see-the-Nazi” story.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: I just read that too. Do the Trumps ever tell the truth? About anything? I remember Trump lying about his own reaction to winning the election, telling one audience he was completely surprised because he thought he would lose, then telling another (a couple of days later, IIRC) that he knew he would win all along. Why lie about something like that?
It’s just weird, how much they lie. And it depresses me to contemplate hearing about that pack of pathological liars for the rest of my life, no matter what becomes of them.
different-church-lady
That woman can sing a song she doesn’t know better than most stars today can sing songs they do know.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Kay: @Betty Cracker: I think that as he nears forty, Junior still has the kind of daddy-worship that makes him think he can be got out of any kind of trouble. I guess no one’s explained to him about federal vs state laws.
also vaguely wondering if SNL will alter their portrayals of the Fredos this weekend, they very convincingly still portray Eric as the dumber one, or if those details are too inside-baseball for their audience
geg6
@Humdog:
Awww, my best wishes for a swift recovery for your pup!
different-church-lady
@cope: Am I not doing enough to promote my own coinage?
UPDATE THE LEXICON ALREADY, FOLKS!!! IT’S THE ONLY INTERNET THING I’VE EVER BEEN PROUD OF!
sukabi
Betty, very nice artistic photo of bird / bamboo..???
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@TenguPhule: Since he doesn’t read anything, his faint knowledge of Pearl Harbor must be solely based on the raunchy John Belushi film (1941) (photo)
TenguPhule
@Lapassionara: He’s here and there in the threads. Showed up briefly in the Tbogg.
WaterGirl
@Humdog: My dog had to to the same thing for 6-8 weeks after back surgery. You get a crate where there’s not a lot of room for them to get rowdy, and they have to be in it unless they are going outside to the bathroom or come out just to lie with you on the floor. I promise the time goes much faster than you think it will.
germy
NotMax
@David Merry Christmas Koch
Probably got bored and antsy, only managed to sit through one Tora!
:)
different-church-lady
@TenguPhule: The entire tipping system is broken beyond repair. We should force the restaurants to pay their workers. Repeat: their workers.
TenguPhule
@different-church-lady:
Aren’t you also a consistent thread winner here?
gene108
@schrodingers_cat:
For me it’s both the cold and the sunlight. I don’t get to feeling right until March. Hang in there. Spring is just around the corner!!!
We just have to get Winter out of the way first :-(
TenguPhule
@different-church-lady:
Instead we now appear to be heading in the exact opposite direction. Workers must now subsidize their employers, only more so.
different-church-lady
@TenguPhule: Yes, but I’m not really proud of that.
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
I think Don Jr. is dumb, a stupid person, so I’m delighted that he’s all tied up in his clumsy lies. He’s the weak link in the crime family.
I agree with you about hearing about them. I went to get my hair cut today and US magazine had Ivanka on the cover. To torture myself I looked at it, hate-reading. The issue she feels passionate about is education, because of course it is. It’s the issue everyone who doesn’t know anything jumps into :)
ruemara
@schrodingers_cat: Do you have a full spectrum light?
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@Hungry Joe: Keep an eye out. Glad you’re safe for now.
Mary G
@Major Major Major Major: This month’s splurge is “Persepolis Rising,” the latest Expanse novel by James S. A. Corey. Little bit of plot recycling, but good, very very good.
Also, too bamboo is the devil’s plant.
schrodingers_cat
@gene108: Cold is okay as long as there is no sleet and ice, you bundle up. I have built a formidable winter wardrobe now, I am like a walking ad for L L Bean. BTW if you don’t already try silk long underwear, its the secret to being toasty warm in winter.
TenguPhule
@different-church-lady: You should be, sometimes its the only ray of sunshine in a shitty shitty day.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Lapassionara: He stopped by somewhere in the TBogg unit.
raven
After tons of input from the jackals last night we got way too expensive nonrefundable tickets to LA and it’s Rose Bowl here we come!!!
Major Major Major Major
@Mary G:
Is that a good thing, or a bad thing?
I just finished reading The Wrong Stars by Tim Pratt, a space opera I was accidentally at the reading of; and White Corridor by Christopher Fowler, from the Bryant & May series of books about a pair of cranky old British detectives.
Tazj
@NotMax: Thank you, that version of A Christmas Carol is my favorite followed by the Muppet version. I have it on DVD somewhere, it’s lost in a pile of other DVD’s in the house.
Well, the third time was a charm. It’s the first heavy snow of the season and I finally went down in the driveway while carrying back the recyclables they failed to collect this morning. This is after I slipped twice, first when taking some kitty litter to the curb last night and then again while shoveling off the front steps. I’m not hurt, just a little embarrassed though it must have been a funny sight from a far.
ruemara
@raven: I am so jealous. I want to go to the Rose Parade, it’s my fave. Have a blast!
eclare
@raven: Yay! Have fun, GO DAWGS!
schrodingers_cat
@ruemara: I am not sure, will have to check, may be I should get some of those bulbs, when I am shopping this weekend.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@germy: Harold funked the bar exam so naturally he doesn’t know New York Times v. Sullivan.
lamh36
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: Ugh.. Joe Scar and Mika B are the LAST persons I want to hear talk bout this stuff…Joe Scar is free and clear…because he harmless office flirting led to wedding bells with Mika…
Still came off as skeevy to me…seeing as BOTH of them were married at the time, so … that office romance could have gone any number of ways…
As for Harold Ford, as I said in the past thread, I don’t like the guy, but the glee with which folks are “celebrating” the accusation against the guy, is ugh…in my book, because if true, there is an actual person who was the recipient of his actions
raven
@ruemara: That’s going to be tricky. No one I know thinks it’s a good idea to try to do both and, as of now, i/we don’t plan to. There is some good info abut going to see the floats being built the day before so we might try that.
Betty Cracker
Well, this is interesting! (Via Roll Call)
Riddance, rubbish, etc.
Lapassionara
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: thx
Lapassionara
@raven: Good! We will want a full report.
TenguPhule
@Betty Cracker: Republican governor. Safe seat. //
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Major Major Major Major: I’ll second the Expanse books. Hard SF that doesn’t devolve into hardware porn, decent characterization. And also recommend the Ancillary books mentioned in the earlier thread.
Anything by Ursula Vernon / T. Kingfisher.
Getting more to the horror side, Alyssa Wong has some amazing short work.
And a page of links to recommendation discussions: File770 2017 Recommended SF/F Page
different-church-lady
@Betty Cracker: Nice to see they’ve finally expanded the Clearance Sale to a second aisle.
lamh36
I have never meant the following three words more than I do now:
FUQ THIS BISH (and this entire administration…and their supporters…hell, fuq any and every one who’s purity test and stupidity…led to these mofo being here)
As someone said, do they NOT know who da fuq John Lewis is…
Mary G
Columbia Journalism Review says Facebook/Twitter fake news bad, but MSM worse:
Litlebritdifrnt
So Sarah Fuckerbee Sanders is going after John Lewis for “not honoring civil rights leaders”. Didn’t any of the Trump administration take history lessons? Today both Trump and Melania fucked up their “Pearl Harbor” tribute tweets and now this? WTF.
In happier news we are going to stay at Pine Lake Resort next week with Mum and Norman. (I had tried to do a cut and paste of the website for you guys so you could see it but what can I say computer fail anyway if anyone wants to look its Diamond Resorts Pine Lake Carnforth) Anyhoo, nice lodge by a lake full of wild fowl, swimming pool, jacuzzi, spa and a gym for DH. Got Christmas dinners and lunches to attend as well, so it should be a fun week. Also we are going on a trip to Hawes to the Wensleydale Cheese Factory. Finally going to the Church in Warton to lay wreaths on all the relatives graves (Warton is the home of George Washington’s family by the way).
Raoul
@different-church-lady: Agree. The system in many countries, of ‘service included’ makes so much more sense. A few coins or small bills for a nice nod, but the cost of dining out should be built into the menu.
And in places like Minneapolis, it’s confusing. We don’t have a tip credit, but still have the expectation to tip 15-20 percent. I do it, as to not be a pig, but it would be better IMO fo restaurants to pay $15/hr or more and build the cost in!
ThresherK
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: “Funked” the bar exam? Misspell?
(I’m way too German and Irish to comment on any African-American’s funkiness (or lack thereof).)
lamh36
trollhattan
@lamh36:
Genuinely nauseating, and not just a little. ‘Scuse me while I go clean up.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
schrodingers_cat
@Mary G:Vichy Times helped deliver the election to the fascist.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Sucktastic afternoon. I got to experience an emegency extraction of an abscessed tooth.
Fucker actually formed a zit on the gum, it had grown so quick. I already had an appointment set for Monday to put in a permanent filling on a root canal under a crown (which is where I thought the soreness was from). Figured I could wait. Then the zit formed while every bite of lunch hurt. I called the dentist, and she demanded I come immediately.
She started a root canal, but the moment she hit the pulp, it was clear that the tooth was cracked through and rotten – all I could do was keep apologizing for the smell.
trollhattan
@ThresherK:
Wurstköpfen unite!
Elizabelle
@raven: Yay! You won’t regret it. Have a great trip, and some pics would make a great OTR morning feature.
TenguPhule
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Its a day of infamy.
ruemara
@schrodingers_cat: If you can get a bulb that goes to minimum 5000 K – 6000 K, that can help. If possible, look for a full daylight spectrum bulb, but an LED that does up to 6000 K might do the job.
@raven: The behind the scenes is the best part for me. I’d want to go to photograph that.
schrodingers_cat
@ruemara: Thanks, will do that.
ETA: Last year after we moved in the guy from Mass Save came and changed many of the bulbs I have no idea what he put in.
TenguPhule
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Look on the bright side. Thanks to modern medicine, at least you survived the experience. That used to be an actual cause of death not that long ago.
Steeplejack
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
“Sorta like that time I did coke off a model’s ass at Studio 54. That was a really wild scene.”
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Oh ow. Take drugs.
cintibud
I use a light for SAD as well. Good thing I live on the Western edge of Eastern Time zone – sunset here isn’t until 5:15! My app says sunset will be at 5:15 from Dec 1 until Dec 13th. Will get all the way up to 5:18 on the 21st.
And my favorite Christmas Carol movie is the one starring Mr. MaGoo!
japa21
@TenguPhule: May be a safe seat, but not because its a GOP gov. Governors don’t name House replacements.
NotMax
@schrodingers_cat
Sounds as if you’ve got gear suitable for a vacation stay here (operating year ’round now). Where the drinks are served not on the rocks but ‘in the rocks.’
lamh36
Alright some non-political news…comic book action movies…for those on BJ who love em like I do
‘Dark Phoenix’: Your first look at 2018’s incendiary X-Men movie – EW’s First Look at Dark Phoenix via @ew
Lord knows, I can’t stand Jean Grey…I find her utterly boring. But what I LOVED when Jean Grey became Dark Pheonix, then Jean got interesting to me…lol
japa21
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Just had an extraction last week. Was easier than I thought. Didn’t have to be an emergency. They had me on penicillin for a week to get rid of the abscess, but bone loss was too great. Dentist recommended an implant but my dental insurance doesn’t cover those so I’m getting a bridge instead.
TenguPhule
@lamh36: How do they reconcile this with the Logan film?
Cosmic retcon, alt universe or just another reboot?
schrodingers_cat
@NotMax: I don’t know, I was chilled to the bones in Quebec City when I was there one December. That looks like more winter than I can tolerate.
TenguPhule
@japa21: It was a joke.
Major Major Major Major
@Betty Cracker:
So they’re just going through Congress in alphabetical order now?
japa21
@raven: SO I guess it is a little too late to recommend you not go, huh? Not that I would anyway.
Have fun.
schrodingers_cat
Fun fact, I can spell fascist correctly without any help now. Have had a lot of practice typing it off-late.
japa21
@TenguPhule: Sorry. I remember you being one of the ones correcting someone else with Conyers’ resignation.
schrodingers_cat
@raven: Have fun, take pictures and share. Will you be fishing in the Pacific.
No Drought No More
Esquire is shutting me out from posting today, so please bear with me as I piggyback here to respond to the a post by Charles Pierce re. Al Franken’s resignation. If I don’t get this stuff of my chest, my toes will explode, it’s as simple as that:
Also: Had the governor of Minnesota not been a democrat, would the calls from his fellow democrats for Franken to resign happened at all? I doubt it, which diminishes the whole point about this political execution. But if so- if they tell us they were indeed prepared to do just that, come hell or high water- what does that say about their collective political judgement?
The republican party is today conspiring with Donald Trump to aid and abet Russia’s successful attack upon American democracy. Make no mistake about it- it was another Pearl Harbor, albeit one without all the noise. The republican party and their supporters are the mortal enemies of the government of our inheritance. They hate this country, and mean to destroy it. They are well on there way to achieving their goal, the rotten motherfuckers, and I’m sick and tired of mushed mouthed congressional democrats who lack the courage to attack them for what they are.
In the face of the ongoing crimes of the GOP, it seems to me congressional democrats in 2017 are inexplicably terrified at even raising their voices, much less fulfilling the obligations of their oaths of office, that is, of doing their duty as they swore they’d do. And you are right, C. P. For the good of the country, GODDAMNIT, they better snap the hell out of it, and fast.
sharl
@LurkerNoLonger: I see that your question was already answered, but the origin story of the TBogg Unit involves two commenters here – a Trollhattan comment inspired different-church-lady to propose the term, and it took off from there.
{Paul Harvey voice} And now you know the REST…of the story.{/PHv}
ThresherK
@lamh36: STOP THE PRESSES!
NPR made an enemy of someone who was already an enemy of NPR?
I’m pleasantly surprised.
TenguPhule
@japa21: That wasn’t me. You’re thinking of someone else.
Steeplejack
@NotMax:
I remember Blackadder’s Christmas Carol as being very funny, although I saw it only once. Robbie Coltrane was particularly good as the spirit of Christmas. I think it’s on Netflix.
Irony Abounds
@Betty Cracker: I’m going to have to see the hides of about 50 GOPers to make me feel better about what happened to Franken today. I may have reached the end of being even partially rational in my hatred to Trump and the GOP, and it doesn’t help that the Democratic Party is pretty much of a clusterfuck organization itself. It’s hard to count on plans you’ve made for the future when the USA is rapidly becoming the USSV (United States of Soon to be Venezuela).
Humdog
@WaterGirl: She will not stay quiet in her crate with her padded e collar on. She thrashes about dangerously. She will accept one or the other but not both.
I’ve moved a spare mattress to the floor in a small room and she and I lay on it and she will settle down. It I should like a giant crate for two. Doesn’t even need the e collar as long as I stay close. February 1 is a loooong time away!
TenguPhule
@schrodingers_cat:
/cough
trollhattan
@schrodingers_cat:
Congrats? By all rights it should be spelled “fascyst” but we can’t have nice things.
ThresherK
@schrodingers_cat: Fun fact: After this year, my tablet’s predictive spelling now suggests treasonous once I get to T…R…E…
ruemara
@cintibud: Love Magoo’s Christmas Carol.
japa21
@TenguPhule: Actually, I am probably not thinking at all. Too damn cold.
sharl
@lamh36: willsommer’s follow-up tweets say that cerno and his fans were actually whooping it up in that facebook link, thinking this he came out looking pretty good in that exchange.
Those alt-right chumps, and the MAGA chuds in general, really do live in their own world. Separate media and “information” delivery systems, separate mutual support teaming, separate sets of standards for public comportment, etc. I don’t know how populous and committed that crowd actually is, but there are enough of them to make the situation very very super ungood.
lamh36
I made a prediction almost right after the allegations against F&C came out, that we would see a Congress with C&F forced out, and Roy Moore being sworn in as the next Senator from Alabama…
Welp…2 out of 3…soon we’ll see if I can go 3 for 3
lamh36
Sen Ron Johnson (R) on MTP bascially saying by SCOTUS, Roy Moore, if he wins should be seated, but will “of course” have to go before an ethic board…and the women called to testify…
YEAH RIGHT…bullshit
Peale
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: I’d recommend clearasil toothpaste, but the stuff I used to put on my nose never seemed to do anything. Popping seemed to work faster even though i was told it cyssd brane damaje. Can you pop a tooth zit?
germy
TenguPhule
@lamh36: Can I get some lotto numbers from you? I’m gonna need them to pay my taxes pretty soon.
lamh36
@TenguPhule: Reboot…different timeline. Logan is much advance in the future…
I think the Pheonix film will be the 2000s…Apocalypse was 90s
germy
@ruemara:
Thank you! I loved that one, but I haven’t seen it since I was a ten year old.
JeanneT
@cintibud: OMG I thought I was the only one who watches the Mr. Magoo Christmas Carol. That one, and the Patrick Stewart version are my favorites!
Cacti
In case you weren’t feeling depressed enough, just thought I’d leave this set of facts:
Bob Menendez (D-total sleaze), was charged with multiple felonies, fought them, wasn’t convicted, and still has his Senate seat.
Al Franken (D-MN), was charged with innuendo, didn’t put up a fight, and was hounded out of the Senate.
Fighting back: It works
schrodingers_cat
@TenguPhule: Bad spelling is bad.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Peale:
She opened it up to jam in gutta percha fibers in order to determine the channel of the infection and thus determine which root was abscessed.
In other words, the fibers followed a subcutaneous river of pus.
germy
@JeanneT: I haven’t seen Magoo’s Christmas Carol in about fifty years. It still holds up? I’ve been reluctant to spoil a fond childhood memory by watching it again.
Kay
@lamh36:
I think they’ll get rid of him. It’s Alabama. They can get any random Republican who is not a child molester. They’ll trade up.
The fact that he’s a child molester distracted from the fact that he’s a nut job with a 20 year history, including video of him telling people teaching evolution causes drive-by shootings. He’ll embarrass them weekly.
different-church-lady
@Kay:
You’ve seen who’s president, yes?
NotMax
@japa21
Little portable heater I recently ordered arrived yesterday. Instruction pamphlet is a veritable feast of Chinglish. Includes this warning, verbatim:
lamh36
I’d like to give a preemptive FUQ YOU to Alabama Republicans for electing Roy Moore (And if I’m wrong, still FUQ em anyway for being Trump supporters and voting for him in ’16)
Yutsano
Short term CR passed the House. Two weeks. No real details yet.
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Geez. I had to put my hand over my screen so I couldn’t see those details.
Patricia Kayden
@Brachiator:
This is never said by Rightwingers when money is dumped into the laps of the ultra wealthy via tax cuts though. Funny that.
TenguPhule
@lamh36:
I can see which amendment is first on the Republican repeal list come the Constitutional Convention.
TenguPhule
@Yutsano: Fuck. So much for bright spots.
lamh36
@Kay: you obviously have more faith in a certain segment of the voter population and GOP Congresspeople than I do
ETA: Johnson basically called Franken a scumbag, but wouldn’t even use the same words for Roy Moore, instead he mentioned a “ethics procedure”…again I say BULLSHIT
different-church-lady
@Cacti: As I said in an older thread (or maybe even this thread, I can’t keep up anymore…): You know what happens when you don’t fight against a rat fuck? You get fucked, and everyone thinks you’re a rat.
chopper
@TenguPhule:
long as you’re willing to cut me a paycheck while I’m furloughed, sure.
Kay
Given what had been discussed. So Don Jr. lied. Again. He’ll have to revise his account of that meeting for the 4th time.
Having Trumps testify is really a waste of time, unless the objective is to catch them lying. That’s the only information they impart- that they’re liars – and sensible people knew that already.
Brachiator
@Mary G:
Great story. Thanks very much.
Another from the same site that I think is worthy of a closer look is the degree to which the news has become more partisan, and how conservatives especially seek out only right wing sites. This article focuses on Breitbart, but one very interesting tidbit about the right wing media ecosystem in the age of Trump was this.
When you factor in the growth of other right wing media, such as Sinclair Group, the impact on media becomes even more chilling.
TenguPhule
Dupuy is Ms. Waist fee fees. She can kindly find a hole to go fuck herself in.
Patricia Kayden
@germy: What a mess. MAGA!! And while you’re at it, cause unnecessary strife in an already tense Middle East.
Mary G
@Yutsano:
ETA: 14 Dems listed voted yes, WTF, and the Rep nuts known as the Freedom Caucus voted no.
TenguPhule
Fucking Democratic Leadership is making me agree with FUCKING CARLSON.
AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
germy
ThresherK
@NotMax: Sounds similar to any Japanese motorcycle manual from the early 70s. Hope your heater works just as well.
Why don’t you buy one and ship it to the White House? We can start a pool to see how soon the curtains in the Oval Office catch fire.
different-church-lady
@Kay:
That’s the ENTIRE point, in my view.
Cacti
@TenguPhule:
As of today, we are the party of Tina Dupuy.
Real mystery why the GOP keeps eating our lunch.
germy
@NotMax:
Here we elect them president.
Cacti
@different-church-lady:
As the late Tupac Shakur said: “I’d rather die like a man, than live like a coward.”
Al chose the second one.
debbie
@Yutsano:
Did you get back pay after the last shutdown?
different-church-lady
@TenguPhule: Wouldn’t it be a bit difficult for Franken to speak from the “female experience” and presumptive of him to speak to it?
I mean, I know what she’s getting at, but that is some kind of word salad.
germy
wikipedia
different-church-lady
@Cacti: Makes you wonder if maybe they got a point with this “SNOWFLAKE!” garbage.
japa21
@NotMax: Actually, I believe that was written in Trumplish.
lamh36
Chuckles Todd throwing out Gretchen Carlson as a possible Minnesota Senate candidate…
Mahn…if you don’t GTFOH
Yutsano
@Mary G: Mostly trying to determine if it can get out of the Senate. Thanks!
different-church-lady
@germy:
Is it possible for a radio show to die in a fire?
If so, I wish it for this one.
Kay
I’m going to the school Christmas concert tonight. We always go. It’s a fundraiser for the music program so you “buy” tickets. They are of course also free to anyone who wants to come but if you can afford it you buy them as a donation.
I feel like I’m (sadly) sort of cynical about Christmas but 2nd graders singing just slays me every time and I wish peace and goodwill to all mankind for several hours afterward :)
Irony Abounds
@TenguPhule: Carlson is making that argument today, so he can make the same argument for Moore. One big difference, among others, is that Moore is clearly lying about his past associations with the young women all the while calling them liars while Franken took responsibility for some of his actions and while denying others he was extremely respectful in doing so. All the good it did for him, btw.
Anotherlurker
@raven: Good choice! I hope you enjoy a great Rose Bowl
debbie
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
Good one, but I’d bet Trump is more unself-aware.
MJS
@Betty Cracker: Many people here predicted this bloodbath! Roger Stone’s ratfucking knows no bounds!
Shana
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: 1941? You mean the movie where the sun rises over the ocean in California in the last scene? That 1941?
Cacti
@different-church-lady:
I’d say they have strong case for that one.
I’d also say they have a point with their belief that Dems aren’t nearly as smart as they think they are.
ruemara
@different-church-lady: Dupuy is a narcissistic idiot who pounces on opportunities to talk about Dupuy.
@germy: Christ. When you consider she’s a fairly regular guest on liberal chat shows.
debbie
@raven:
Yay!
debbie
@raven:
That would be more fun. We used to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade balloons being inflated the night before. Loads of fun and merriment.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Can’t find anything on the tubes to link to, but according to MSNBC right now, it sounds like the Russians are dropping the piano on Slab-Head Donnie.
debbie
@Betty Cracker:
About god damn time.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I’d never heard of her before yesterday, but she subbed for uber-Bernie-Bro and lefties-than-thou Jon Fuglesang today. I didn’t listen
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
John Revolta
@ThresherK: @NotMax: My favorite example of this was in a manual for something I don’t remember what about 40 years ago, It told me, “Should the abnormality occur…………….” For years we used to say “Uh oh, the abnormality is occurring……………….”
Leto
@Litlebritdifrnt: The other home is Sulgrave Manor. The Crown sold the estate to Lawrence Washington in 1539/1540, and he then built the manor over the next twenty years. Sulgrave is right next to where I was stationed and the locals are very proud of it’s connection to us. I know it’s a bit of a drive, probably about 5 hours, but it’s definitely worth it if you get the chance. Cheers!
Edit: make sure to take plenty of pictures to send to Alain!
J R in WV
@Lapassionara:
EFGoldman took a turn for the worse, got less able to get around, had some falls. Spent time in the hospital, w/o wifi so off the networks. Then a rehab center, also not good communications.
Now he’s home, has posted sporadically since getting his freedom back, seems to be doing OK. Slowed down some is all, apparently. Still remembers to fuckem!
Cacti
@Irony Abounds:
Of course he’ll make that argument for Moore.
And after they seat him in the Senate, and have an ethics committee investigation, the GOP gets to cast themselves as the party of due process and respecting the will of the voters, while pointing to the Dems as a kneejerk mob hunting for heretics.
This was such an own-goal by the Dems.
different-church-lady
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Looks like I picked the wrong day to stop shooting speedballs…
ruemara
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I’ve listened to her as a guest before. I remained unimpressed. I think she was also an editor for The Daily Beast.
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: All the folks flipping out on Al should be more pissed that they lost to the keystone kops of spy cabals.
Patricia Kayden
@TenguPhule: I’m kind of sad because I love Ms. Dupuy as I’ve heard her speak on several lefty radio programs and she’s always very interesting. She should be happy that he resigned and she and his other accusers got their pound of flesh. Given who we have in the White House, I’m not sure he should have resigned but here we are. She really needs to let this go now. I hope she understands that quite a lot of folks on our side are furious that Franken has left the Senate. I was just listening to Randi Rhodes and a few callers were asking whether he could reverse his resignation. If Roy Moore is seated in the Senate, Franken should withdraw his resignation immediately.
Major Major Major Major
@different-church-lady: it’s always the wrong day to stop shooting speedballs.
ThresherK
@Kay: Front Row Center with Thaddeus Bristol is mandatory for you.
It’s actually a holiday tradition in my house.
different-church-lady
CNN.com frontpage article headline:
And I’m like, “Are we talking about Russia or Franken?”
bystander
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: As sucktastic as that may have been, it’s a whole lot better than septicemia. You’re lucky your dentist insisted on the procedure today. Don’t make me recount the story of the second day of my trip to Rome spent ankles in the air and a drill and suction in my mouth for six hours being worked over by Italian dentistry’s distaff response to Sid Caesar and Howard Morris.
frosty
@raven: Great news! Have fun and go DAWGs!
(Not normally a college ball fan but thanks to you I now have a dawg in this hunt).
John Revolta
@germy: @JeanneT: I haven’t seen it in a long time, but as I recall it has some pretty good songs in there.
Steeplejack
@Shana:
That movie is a hot mess, but it will always hold a place in my heart for the sight of legendary film icon Toshiro Mifune deadpanning “Rotsa ruck!” to the dick German officer as the Japanese kick him off their submarine.
debbie
@lamh36:
Here’s his post of the audio. I couldn’t figure out who the reporter was, but Cernovich sounds like a real a-hole.
different-church-lady
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: Trump has apparently scheduled a physical in response to Slur-gate.
Resignation “for health reasons” on the way?
bystander
My impression is that Facebook is the Russian version of vKontakte.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Sounds to me like there’s no such thing as bad attention for her
mai naem mobile
Just saw on the twitter machine rhst AZ Rep Trent Frank’s is going to resign. This is the wingiest of wingy RWNJ of the AZ Grand Ole Pedophile caucus. He was a nut job when he was in the state house and remains a nutjob. Bet he had several govt paid sexual harrassment settlements.
Patricia Kayden
@lamh36:
Who is the “we” and what does he mean by “cared for each other”? White enslavers did not care for the Black people they enslaved. What rubbish.
Ramalama
@schrodingers_cat: I second the silk long underwear route! Quebecistan plus 130 pound Malamute = long walks in super sub zero weather. Silks made a yuge difference.
mai naem mobile
Fuck Tina Dupuy. Wonder how much Roger Stone paid her?
Patricia Kayden
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: That’s great news if true. Wonder why. Feels like they’re getting a whole lot out of Trump but who knows?
Another Scott
Bitcoin almost touched $16,000 today:
What could possibly go wrong?!?!??! I mean, if Goldman Sachs is involved, it has to be safe, right??!?!?!?
(sigh)
Cheers,
Scott.
debbie
@Patricia Kayden:
I’d bet Russia’s pissed about Jerusalem.
germy
@mai naem mobile: Trent’s a weird looking dude. Looks like a character actor from the 1950s that would throw his pistol at George Reeves’ Superman after the bullets bounced off.
Patricia Kayden
@mai naem mobile: Good. Republican sexual harassers need to start stepping down because we all know dang well that it’s not just Democrats who harass women.
TenguPhule
@Another Scott: I see tulips in its future.
Patricia Kayden
@debbie: Possibly. Never thought of it. It’s interesting that the only two countries where Trump is popular are Russia and Israel and yet those two countries may not like each other.
Major Major Major Major
@TenguPhule: @Another Scott: Absolutely, a soon-to-be-classic example of irrational exuberance.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
I caught a clip of Sally Quinn (reactionary Queen of The Village): says Drumpf is worst than Watergate and he’ll be forced to resign. Have to think she’s reflecting what she’s hearing from her well connected sources.
JanieM
@Major Major Major Major: Where I live, sunset is at 3:59 today through the 11th. I don’t have time to dig for the seconds hand at the moment, but hey, that’s close enough. So we start to get later on the 12th. I can’t wait! As a night person I’m almost never up at sunrise, so this is the turn that matters to me.
This and the day I can’t see any more ice in the lake across the road are two big days I wait for each year. This one is bittersweet, because although I’m glad for later sunsets and less darkness, what’s to come (a Maine winter!) can be just a tiny bit daunting. ;-)
Miss Bianca
@TenguPhule: I know. As I said to Mnem the other day, when you find yourself agreeing with RWNJs that “political correctness” has gone too far, you know you’re having a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day.
SiubhanDuinne
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady):
I believe faithful commenter JPL is out of town and may not be tracking BJ threads, but when I first met her IRL — a good six or seven years ago, now — she was engaged in a fight to the death with bamboo just going berserk all over her back yard. I think I told her she should just get herself a couple of giant panda cubs from ZooAtlanta and let them deal with it.
germy
A real physical, or a “physical”? The physical in quotes is when his Dr. Quackenbush gives him a quick glance and then writes “Looks good to me” while drumpf waits in his limo.
Major Major Major Major
@SiubhanDuinne: And did she?
sharl
I’m not 100% certain, but I’m pretty sure that’s Bob Garfield, which likely means ol’ cerno-the-rapist is gonna be featured on WNYC’s On the Media, which is rebroadcast by a lot of NPR affiliates. Excellent…
Miss Bianca
@germy: Oh, fuck me, Jesus. Is that from Wikipedia, or The Onion?
So, what if this dimbulb decides to “question the story she’s told herself and others” about her terrible sexual assualt trauma at the hands of Senator Franken? Is she going to *try* to get raped to see what it’s really like?
I can’t even anymore.
debbie
@sharl:
Good ear! I’m hoping that On the Media comes back to my local station.
LurkerNoLonger
@germy: This woman sounds like a nut.
ruemara
And away we go. Have a good time, Jackals.
Cacti
@mai naem mobile:
I don’t think even her husband gets to do that.
SiubhanDuinne
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady):
There’s a lovely bit in The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N in which his assignment is to write a letter to a family member. So he writes to his uncle, who works in an appliance store or something, and at one point says “If your eye falls on a bargain, pick it up.” The night-school ESL teacher, Mr Parkhill (“Pockheel”), points out the grammatical ambiguity, whereupon Mr. Kaplan points out, with great dignity: “Mine onkel has a glass eye.”
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@SiubhanDuinne: Hee.
Amir Khalid
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Do they have a shop that never has any cheese in stock?
Sab
@TenguPhule: Does tipping in cash help prevent this?
TenguPhule
@Sab: Sadly, no. They’ll be required to report it and probably pay deducted or fired if they don’t and get caught.
Jeffro
@Kay: School holiday concerts ROCK!
cintibud
@JeanneT:
I just looked at wikipedia for the Mr Magoo Christmas Carol and it says the music was written by a duo who went on to do the music for Funny Girl. I haven’t seen it in many years but I still remember some of the songs.