And yet… Adam Gopnik, at the New Yorker:
… In the midst of such unease, we tend to seek out moments of cheer or just consolation, and suddenly we have found one, in a cave. The cave is in Indonesia—the limestone cave of Leang Bulu’ Sipong 4, on the island of Sulawesi, to be precise—and it was occupied, according to recent findings, more than forty thousand years ago, by early modern humans. Inside it for all that time has been a fourteen-and-a-half-foot-wide image, painted in dark-red pigment, depicting about eight tiny bipedal figures, bearing what look to be spears and ropes, bravely hunting the local wild pigs and buffalo. The discoverers of its antiquity, a team of archeologists at Griffith University, in Australia, including Maxime Aubert, the chief author of an article about the painting in Nature, call it “to our knowledge, currently the oldest pictorial record of storytelling and the earliest figurative artwork in the world.”
The very first storytelling picture! The first narrative, and it tells one of the simplest and most resonant stories we have: a tale of the hunter and the hunted, of small and easily mocked pursuers trying to bring down a scary but vulnerable beast. What’s more, the hunters appear to be what people whose business it is to decipher cave paintings call therianthropes, humans with animal elements, like heads. These eight, then, are the earliest known examples of this mysteriously durable manner of mythical depiction, which runs forward to Egyptian wall paintings and, for that matter, to modern animation. Therianthropes, it seems, reflect the symbolic practice of giving to humans the powers of animals, a shamanistic rite that seems tied to the origins of religion, and here it is, for the first time, a startup.
The detailed resolution of the images in the Nature article is at first disappointing. Though the buffalo, called anoa, are distinct enough, one of the human figures, we’re told, has “a tapering profile that possibly merges into the base of a thick tail and with short, curved limbs splayed out to the side. In our opinion, this part of the body resembles the lower half of a lizard or crocodile. It is thus possible that [the therianthrope] represents a composite of at least three different kinds of animals: a human, an anoa and a quadrupedal reptile.” To this chimerical composite, one might add the trained eye of an Australian archeologist, which seems necessary to ascertain the full effect.
And yet it’s impossible not to feel a shudder of communion with these ancient beings, recounting their hopeful stories of abundance in a time that was, certainly, even more unstable than our own. (We worry daily about the next good leader; they worried daily about the next good meal.) Nor would the storytelling have been the product of a merely male hierarchy of hunting. The patriarchy had little place in caves. A study sponsored by the National Geographic Society in 2013 suggests that three-quarters of the hand stencils found on the walls of dozens of European caves were made by women, and that the paintings alongside them likely were as well. Early man may have thrown the spears, but early woman made the pictures telling how…
I see reviews of the decade about to end and different cultural milestones that defined us but I believe few moments represent the ’10s better than this: a common person taking a complex task in their hands with no skill or preparation delivering a perplexing result for posterity pic.twitter.com/qXdtPvH9ns
— Flavia Dzodan (@redlightvoices) December 20, 2019
Me: I’ll start working out Jan 1st
pic.twitter.com/Fs6qKYjzxq— like she created the fucking rainbow?? (@Rocioceja_) December 28, 2019
(We have that cat, and I need to know where to get that exercise wheel… also a cage to keep him in it!)
mrmoshpotato
That’s a great comic. Welcome 2020 – The year Lady Justice beats the shit out of the Soviet shitpile traitorous Trump trash mobster crime family.
Jim
New Year , clean diapers , but the Orange Psycho (in the WH) cannot make up his mind what color to wear .
eclare
@mrmoshpotato: Here’s hoping. I’m still rattled over gunfire tonight, I have never heard it so loud, close, and rapid, one gun in particular. I’m fine, I’ll check around the house tomorrow, but I seriously considered getting in the tub.
mrmoshpotato
@eclare: Eek! Someone let off 10+ rounds a few blocks from me shortly after midnight.
JPL
@eclare:
That’s terrible.
NotMax
2020 report, 12:01 a.m. – so far, so good.
(Other than the sound of expended fireworks litter clattering like hail on the metal roof of the cottage.)
?BillinGlendaleCA
They interviewed a guy camped out for the Rose Parade, he said it was a family tradition to sleep out for the parade going back 40 years when his dad took him. I then realized I was one of the folk camped out with him 40 years ago for the one Rose Parade I saw in person.
JPL
Happy New Year!
mrmoshpotato
@Jim: We all knew who you were talking about. :)
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax: ?Raindrops keep pounding on the roof ?
mrmoshpotato
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Go Ducks!
spudgun
Happy New Year, everyone! I am SO looking forward to a fresh new year and extremely glad to see the back of 2019, which was a complete shitshow for me.
Here’s to a healthy, happy 2020 for all you wonderful jackals!
Sally
Wishing everyone a happy, healthy and successful New Year.
Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ
Hello Insomnia my old friend, I’ve come to speak with you again….
At least the fireworks and gunfire ceased here by around 12:30 am AZ time. I honestly don’t know what to do with myself because I’m full of worry and anxiety. The kitty video made me laugh so there’s that.
NotMax
@mrmoshpotato
So loud outside that had to pause what was on the TV as even with the volume cranked to max could not hear it.
Retreated to the recliner with a pillow wrapped around to cover the ears. It was THAT noisy outside for over 20 minutes. Neighbors right next door literally blew up a fortune. Sheesh.
mrmoshpotato
Military Bowl, eh? Nice to see Northrup Grumman jerked off in public.
“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.” -Ike
Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ
@spudgun:
@Sally:
@JPL:. Happy New Year to you all as well!
mrmoshpotato
@spudgun: Same to you.
eclare
Wishing everyone a happy and healthy 2020!
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax: Damn. Don’t they know there are volcanoes that go boom for free?
NotMax
Whew. Explosions petering out now. Been in this cottage 36 years and only during earthquakes have felt if shaking so much on its piers.
mrmoshpotato
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl
Yes. This is an actual bowl game. Watch Ohio and Nevada throw potatoes at each other Friday afternoon.
NotMax
@NotMax
felt it, not felt if
Anyone happen to know if the increase on tariffs applies to fireworks?
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax: Do you love the smell of gunpowder on New Year’s morning? Smell like money that went up in smoke?
mrmoshpotato
@Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ: We need to raid the strategic stash of puppy videos.
raven
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Did they throw tortillas and marshmallows?
mrmoshpotato
@raven: I……ummmmm…..what?
raven
@mrmoshpotato: A tradition on Colorado Boulevard.
raven
@mrmoshpotato
Baud
From Leang Bulu’ Sipong 4 to Balloon Juice: the Evolution and Devolution of human expression.
Happy New Year, everyone.
raven
@mrmoshpotato: We were so close for the parade I couldn’t use my dslr so I used the phone.
Sloane Ranger
Happy New Year everyone!
I heard loud bangs and crackling sounds very close by starting just after Big Ben sounded midnight and went out to have a look, as did half the rest of the street.
Neighbours a couple of houses down had commandeered the road and were giving a free fireworks display. The smoke at the end was like an impenetrable fog.
I don’t know what would have happened if a car had driven down during and just after the display. Fortunately none did.
JPL
@raven: What time are you flying to Chicago?
NotMax
@mrmoshpotato
When we used to have New Year’s Eve gatherings of our friend/gaming group, one fellow always brought along his homemade hand-forged harquebus, along with a canister of black powder, to set off a charge or three. Similar in design to this medieval example.
Sound was nothing like the sheer volume of the boomies tonight.
raven
@JPL: I’m leaving after I do Lil Bit’s eyes. 10 pm flight.
rikyrah
Happy New Year, Everyone ?????
HalfAssedHomesteader
@mrmoshpotato: In which we also learn that the NYT knew all the details but sat on the story because reasons.
Happy New Year everybody.
satby
Happy New Year everyone! Every year seems like more gunfire and less fireworks, so each year I get more convinced that guns should be confiscated, at least from the kind of idiots who shoot them off as a celebration.
NotMax
Woo hoo! Highlight of the New Year celebration – wall calendar has been changed.
/wild and crazy guy
:)
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@raven: What kind of lens did you have on the DSLR? a regular 18 to 55 mm lens would have been perfect for that float.
satby
@NotMax: that’s you, living la vida loca!
NotMax
Viennese New Year’s tradition: the Radetzky March.
Baud
@satby: He didn’t say to what year?
satby
@NotMax: love that Seiji Ozawa conducted the audience’s traditional clap along too.
satby
@Baud: true. Maybe he’s already a year ahead. Hope NotMax doesn’t tell us if November doesn’t go well.
Cheryl Rofer
MagdaInBlack
@Cheryl Rofer:
The ears suggest we may have been asked just what we think are doing in the sink ?
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Ecco Homo isn’t quite there; the if the restoration turned up a Wafu Anime suffering Jesus about the power up and leap off the cross, that would be the 2010s.
I think the Downfall Hitler in the Bunker Rant scene mems my personal 2010s in a nut shell. Something powerful that accurately showed how batshit insane the Nazis were, that ended up being Disneyfied by the internet into something safe to point it made Nazis cool.
Quinerly
Good morning! Soft tail thumps from Poco. Happy New Year to all.
arrieve
Happy New Year to all. I actually heard the cheering from Times Square last night (I live three blocks away). Or to be more precise, I woke up, heard some screaming and thought, It must be midnight. And it was. I’m going to walk over shortly and take pictures of the aftermath — old confetti, and party hats in the gutters. Glad to see 2019 in the rear view mirror and hoping for a better 2020 for us all.
Cheryl Rofer
@MagdaInBlack: No, just the normal cat reaction to having a camera around.
Baud
Starting the new year with a Bloomberg ad on the TV. Yay!
MagdaInBlack
@Cheryl Rofer:
or that .
Happy New Year !
debbie
Dzodan is exactly right: There is no better symbol of where we are now than that “restoration.”
debbie
@eclare:
Here it lasted 35 minutes, a new record. Not as close as yours, I think, but I’d bet plenty of people were worried about where all those bullets landed.
debbie
I’m worried about Betelgeuse. I cannot imagine seeing Orion without it.
OzarkHillbilly
Living in the country, gunfire is a common occurrence, except on New Years. That it’s as quiet as a tomb.
MomSense
It’s the new year. Here’s hoping for a good one.
Baud
@debbie:
Baud! 2020! will Bring Back Betelgeuse!
Baud
@MomSense: I’ll settle for meh.
geg6
Do all you people live in Iraq or something? Guns going off to celebrate New Year? Not a thing here in Western PA, which seems weird because if anyone clings to their guns like they are artifacts of their religion, it’s Yinzers.
Anyway, happy new year from me, my John, Koda, Lovey and Cleo. We had a nice dinner of lobster risotto (John and I) and three small langostino tails, one each, for Koda, Lovey and Cleo. Everyone went to bed early, fat and happy.
debbie
@Baud:
I’m on board for that! Happy New Year otherwise!
debbie
@geg6:
Worse. Ohio.
MomSense
@Baud:
Meh sounds pretty good to me. I guess my new year is already above average since the gun nuts and fireworks enthusiasts all seemed to be far too exhausted from the snowstorm to make any noise last night.
eclare
@geg6: Memphis
Immanentize
Let’s get this one done right!
Happy New Year, friends
debbie
Yowsa. This happened last NYE and I don’t know where on the street it happened, but the street is only two blocks over from my apartment.
satby
@Baud: honestly, me too. But it’s not destined to be, obviously. It’ll almost be 2021 by the time we know for certain that we’ve been able to overcome the forces of evil. It’s going to be another tough year and we probably shouldn’t imagine otherwise.
I wasn’t in a particularly celebratory mood as a result.
OzarkHillbilly
@debbie:
Barbara
Late to the thread, but if you ever get the chance to see cave paintings you should take it. We visited Les Eyzies in France and it still stands out for me as one of the most profound experience I’ve had with a work of art. Most caves like this have to remain closed to the public to preserve the drawings.
Baud
@satby:
Not really. The primary will be over by early June.
Oh, you meant Trump. Never mind.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
I was Googling around yesterday and opinions ranged from it having no effect on Earth to deep, scary shadows. I don’t know; I’d hate to think there will be people who will not see it in the Orion constellation.
Searcher
There are a surprising number of cat treadmills on the market; I’ve been contemplating getting one for awhile (there was a study that involved putting hamster wheels in the great outdoors, with a camera, and apparently wild rodents would come up and run on it for a bit).
This looks most like the Go!Cat!Wheel?
NotMax
@Immanentize
Hau’oli makahiki hou. Let’s get this one done left!
;)
OzarkHillbilly
@OzarkHillbilly: Ooopps.
Forgot the Link.
eclare
@debbie: Yep. News here reporting last night a bullet came through a roof and hit the couch. Luckily no one was hurt.
germy
I wonder if those old cave paintings were created by women.
Most people always imagine men painting the caves, then going out hunting. But who knows how those prehistorical societies were set up? Maybe women were the artistic trailblazers.
Baud
@germy:
That’s what the article says.
OzarkHillbilly
@debbie: At 700 light years away, when it does finally go supernovae, it will have no effect on earth. As far as it disappearing from the Orion constellation, nothing is forever, not even the stars. The constellations we see now were not to be seen 10 or20,000* yrs ago because the earth was then in a different location in the galaxy as were the stars. If it does blow up I will count myself as lucky to able observe it and it’s expanding nebula. It would be a sight to see.
*to pull a number out of my ass
germy
@Baud: Well, this is what happens when one comments without clicking on the link first.
Baud
@germy: It’s in AL’s post.
How much fun did you have last night?
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
I know that, but I don’t have to like. Let some other star in the sky explode in our time.
Baud
@debbie:
I vote for the sun.
Steeplejack (phone)
“Wake Up, Everybody.” ?
germy
@Baud: Went to bed early and was asleep by 9:30. I don’t do New Years Eve.
Immanentize
Report from one quiet nerd New Year’s.
The Immp decided we had to watch Lord of the Rings so that he could set it up this:
We started the second CD of Twin Towers (the second movie in the series) at exactly 10:56:08. This allowed Theoden, King of Rohan, to say,
“And so it begins”
exactly at the stroke of midnight (just as the Orcs and Uruk Hai charge at Helms Deep). It was perfectly timed and a perfect metaphor. We clinked our fine crystal glasses filled with good champagne. No gunfire at all, at least none heard over the battle….
Then again, maybe you had to be there …
OzarkHillbilly
I know you all are every bit as surprised as I am.
Because everybody knows cops are truthful and honest to a fault.
JPL
@debbie: Years ago a little boy was killed in a church while attending a midnight service from a celebratory bullet.
Immanentize
@NotMax: better!
OzarkHillbilly
@Immanentize: That your son actually took the time to figure that out tells me he really needs to get back in school.
NotMax
@Immanentize
Compelled to go find this.
:)
OzarkHillbilly
@debbie: Different strokes.
Immanentize
@eclare: Ever read Vonnegut’s “Deadeye Dick”?
debbie
@JPL:
That’s horrible. I don’t suppose it suppressed the gunfire the next NYE?
Immanentize
@NotMax: I remember Kosh! Wow, that was a feat of memory? Too much TV knowledge??
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly: QFT
eclare
@Immanentize: No, I’ve read some of his stuff but not that. You recommend?
Also, great movie syncing by the Immp!
zhena gogolia
@NotMax:
Wow, we had not a peep this year. I slept right through midnight. Maybe it was too cold/misty outside.
Immanentize
@eclare: It’s good, not great, but it involves a completely accidental cross-town shooting as it’s set up.
ThresherK
@Immanentize: My favorite webcomic creator did a very similar thing with Spiderverse last night.
prostratedragon
Catscapes
OzarkHillbilly
Talk about cold cases:
He was quite the winner this Joseph Henry Loveless:
Immanentize
@ThresherK: nice!
ThresherK
@OzarkHillbilly: That surname seems a bit Dickensian to me.
OzarkHillbilly
@ThresherK:
Rather apt, isn’t it?
MomSense
@Immanentize:
I told my kids and here was the reply.
Is this all you have to conjure Saruman?
OzarkHillbilly
@prostratedragon: I read an article in iirc the Guardian about the cat ladders people will build on the outside of their buildings in, again iirc, the Netherlands.
Found it. It’s in Switzerland, cool pics.
Dorothy A. Winsor
For the New Year, I’d been thinking about taking some of Trump’s more ridiculous tweets or rants and rearranging them to form little poems that I could post on twitter. But I have discovered the flaw in my plan. I have to read the tweets or rants. I don’t think I can.
Kay
Says the man who gutted a historic civil rights law protecting the right to vote, which, despite his arrogant and completely unsupported prediction that doing so would NOT have this effect, led to state law after state law designed to stop certain Americans from voting. He was proven wrong almost immediately- remove federal protections, some states will suppress AA votes and therefore AA political power.
That’s his legacy. Voter suppression. He could not have been more wrong.
satby
Elections have consequences, and this is a good one ?
eclare
@OzarkHillbilly: Those are cool pics.
Kay
Civics education- like how federal civil rights laws protect citizens from state laws that violate their rights. No matter which state they live in.
debbie
@Kay:
That belongs right up there with trickle-down economics.
eclare
@satby: Saw that, very good news.
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay:
Roberts would do well to read some of the opinions issued by the lower courts where actual facts are more important than philosophical purity.
germy
How aggressive do you have to be to piss off the Pope?
debbie
@satby:
I like that others not included in these pardons can still petition to have their records cleared. That sounds, I don’t know, almost enlightened.
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: you and I are reading the same site. Long form report on voter suppression is there too.
17 million purged so far since 2016.
Booger
@debbie: That sentence reads like a Mad Lib.
satby
@germy: she did nearly pull an elderly man right off his feet.
germy
@satby:
“Bless me now!”
satby
Was supposed to meet my dear friend for breakfast today, but had to cancel because I’ve caught whatever bug is going around. I’m going to try and shake it off by the weekend, because on Sunday I’m escorting the family of my young market assistants to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. Parents are probably as excited as the kids to see it; they’re ex Old Order Mennonites (horse and buggy variety) and were only schooled until the 8th grade. I’ll be subtly steering the group to exhibits on evolution ?
OzarkHillbilly
@satby: I saw the headline, Voter purges: are Republicans trying to rig the 2020 election? and could only think, “Duuuhhh!
Kay
@OzarkHillbilly:
What was amazing was the speed with which he was proven utterly and completely wrong:
Just about every state that had historically suppressed voting immediately began state enforcement of voter suppression or drafted and passed new laws suppressing voting. Roberts had been promoting his theories on voting rights since he was 25 years old. He led the conservative charge against the VRA. They were as wrong as it’s possible to be and that was shown almost immediately.
In fact, I think he emboldened states that had NOT suppressed AA voting- northern states like Ohio and Wisconsin and Indiana- to START suppressing AA votes.
Citizen Scientist
Happy new year jackals! Was planning on running today, but trapped in bed as usual by one of our cats. Peace be with you!
debbie
@satby:
Hope you can beat it. That sounds like a wonderful field trip!
Fair Economist
@Immanentize: That sounds like a hoot.
Kay
The “civic education” part of Robert’s scolding is also nonsense:
If Roberts thinks government institutions are less trusted than they were in 1940 or 1960 – and he does- he’s going to have to blame it on something other than education. He could look to, oh, I don’t know, people like him who hold powerful state positions?
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay:Somebody should ask him if he has any thoughts on being proven so wrong so quickly, like during an interview or something.
joel hanes
@OzarkHillbilly:
Roberts seems to me to be motivated, not by “philosophical purity”, but by a determination to keep Republicans in power.
I cannot account for “the equal dignity of the states” in Shelby County (a novel legal concept which, as far as I can tell, he pulled out of his nether orifice) as a product of philosophical purity.
A partisan, and thus a liar during confirmation, but a patient and canny partisan liar.
germy
@OzarkHillbilly: Margaret Brennan could do the inteview!
Kay
A contract. This is going to be a busy month for political media. They’re going to have to explain why they presented Trump’s foreign policy as a series of huge successes when none of that was true and we’re now all watching those lies unravel as real events completely contradict the President and the low quality hires.
Can anyone explain to me why Benghazi was treated as a huge Obama Administration scandal and covered DAILY re: Hillary Clinton and yet there are no questions at all about the attack on the embassy in Iraq? Trump was golfing. If this had happened under Obama Jake Tapper would have a special investigatory team of pundits on 24 hour rotation until the 2020 election.
SiubhanDuinne
@satby: When my siblings and I were little, we always called it the Museum of Science and Interesting.
Immanentize
@MomSense: I love your kids.
But I hate when Theoden says that because the next moment goes particularly poorly. No gloating ever!
MomSense
@Immanentize:
Ha! I do love Two Towers especially when Treebeard loses his shit and destroys Isengard.
debbie
@Kay:
I haven’t heard Trump refer to a contract; the NPR clip I heard was Trump saying, “He’s a man of his word. He gave his word.” Oh, please, “Trump” and “word” in the same sentence? I cannot stop laughing! //
germy
Kay
The thing is, TRUMP knows that Benghazi is the easy comparison. He got out ahead of that yesterday. There is no one who understands how well Trump manipulates media than Trump himself. 50 years of practice. 50 years of success.
He’s sitting down there in Florida, in the golf cart, he sees the news and immediately thinks “this should reasonably be treated like Republicans and media treated Benghazi- Holy shit- get in front of THAT”
He knows their business better than they know it. It’s the only thing he’s really good at. Manipulating coverage of himself.
OzarkHillbilly
@joel hanes: While I tend to agree with you the evidence is not conclusive.
Kay
@debbie:
OMG, remember the coverage of the “summit”? It was government/media state produced propaganda.
O. Felix Culpa
@satby: I remember the guns going off like crazy on NYE back when we lived in Pilsen. And of course some little girl got hit by a falling bullet, which for some reason people forget (or ignore) is subject to gravity. Happy New Year nonetheless!
ETA: To clarify for those not familiar with the Windy City, Pilsen is a Chicago neighborhood formerly inhabited by Bohemian immigrants, but now predominantly Mexican with gentrification in process.
Immanentize
@MomSense: A hit! A fine hit!
Two Towers is our favorite of the 3.
I got Immp the Lego Tower of Orthanc for Xmas. It includes an odd Treebeard figure. But it is a cool kit
germy
My favorite part of this Rudy interview is when the obsequious reporter bleats out “Happy New Year!” to Rudy’s back as he walks away.
Cheryl Rofer
@Kay: @debbie: A bunch of us nuke nerds and North Korea specialists on Twitter have been saying for a long time that Trump’s “negotiations” with North Korea are a farce. Interesting that cable tv hasn’t picked that up.
And it’s even garnered a post on an almost top-10,000 blog.
Bottom line: The big question is how long Trump can keep up his pretense that he actually accomplished anything and what he will do when the pretense breaks. So far, my contention that his “LALALALALA I can’t hear you” can keep going for a very long time is holding.
joel hanes
@OzarkHillbilly:
Citizens United
Shelby County
Rucho
I rest my case.
germy
jeffreyw
@SiubhanDuinne:
?
OzarkHillbilly
The best of 2019 wildlife photography awards – in pictures .
O. Felix Culpa
@Immanentize: You have a wonderful son. HNY to you both and here’s to health for us all and the expulsion of the demented shitweasel (you know who I mean) from the body politic!
Frankensteinbeck
‘Therianthropes’: When you don’t want to admit that furries are the oldest human art genre.
Omnes Omnibus
@geg6: Yeah, it isn’t a thing that I have experienced in Wisconsin. And Wisconsin is very “hunting friendly.”*
*Before anyone says anything about Madison not being like the rest of the state, I’ve lived elsewhere too.
Kay
@Cheryl Rofer:
I don’t think it is “holding” as much as other people do. Unfortunately, though, the lies don’t boomerang back and just hit HIM- they hit all “the institutions” and damage credibility broadly. The main result of media repeating his lies is now BOTH liberals AND conservatives believe media has no credibility.
I always felt like the lies were more damaging than what was immediately appreciated- that we would all pay for Trump’s lying. That the damage isn’t limited to him and his administration. That the lack of credibility would spread, and infect the other institutions that enabled it. It isn’t just him that’s damaged. It’s becoming systemic. I don’t know how to fix it, or stop the spread.
OzarkHillbilly
@joel hanes:
“The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.”
Like it or not, he could sincerely believe this fiction, just as Republicans everywhere sincerely believe in the power of the free market even as Amazon, Google, and other corporate behemoths capture the markets. Having an apparent blind spot is not evidence of mal intent, it is evidence of ignorance, sometimes wilful.
zhena gogolia
@Omnes Omnibus:
Very elsewhere.
Omnes Omnibus
@debbie: Aren’t you in the C-bus area? It’s been 11 years since I lived there, but I don’t remember gunfire. To be fair, I lived in German Village and right behind the main library so it might not have been the area for gunfire.
Omnes Omnibus
@zhena gogolia: More elsewhere even than Appleton.
debbie
@Kay:
I’d love to know what Trump’s trips, etc. to “visit” with Kim have cost. It must be horrendous. I think this kind of information would work against what you refer to in your above post about him being so successful at manipulating the media. What could he do, other than to bleat “Fake News”? And how many people beyond his MAGATroops believes that anyway?
Kay
@Cheryl Rofer:
It’s a very short hop from “Trump has no credibility” to “the United States government has no credibility” – the damage doesn’t just accrue to him. You can’t successfully cordon off the infection and limit it to just him. That’s what they tried, some of them, but it won’t work and it hasn’t worked.
I’ve now met a couple of disillusioned Trump supporters. They don’t say “I was fooled and I backed the wrong horse”. They say “it’s ALL a lie”. He’s been damaged by the lying but the damage he’s done with it is much bigger and more profound than just him. The “containment” strategy of some in government and most of media re: Trump simply didn’t work. It’s becoming systemic.
debbie
@Kay:
I don’t think it’s holding either, and I point to those days of 100+ tweets as evidence Trump thinks the same.
debbie
@Omnes Omnibus:
I’m about a half-block from Capital University if that places it for you.
I don’t know that hunting would be a factor (in fact, I’d bet more hunters would not be as willing to waste as much ammunition as show-offs et al.); it’s more about gangs and MAGATs with their toys.
I can’t say with certainty how close the gunfire was to my place because I only know the sound from movies, and I’m not sure that’s accurate.
ETA: I want to remember to ask friends who live in German Village if they ever hear gunfire. I’d be surprised if they didn’t.
Omnes Omnibus
@debbie: Gunfire on the streets of Bexley?
Kay
@debbie:
It’s become comical to me. His mad tweet storm yesterday can be summed up by “none of this is HAPPENING!”. They’re all like that now. “Do NOT believe your EYES, comrades!”
Omnes Omnibus
@Kay: But, aside from the MAGATs, who believes him?
Kay
@debbie:
They have a whole industry around “what is thinking?” He tells us what he’s thinking- yesterday he was thinking he saw the comparison to Benghazi and needed to make that not happen. I know because he said that. He was also thinking the collapse of his fake-deal with NK made him look weak and stupid so he needed to deny it was happening. Again- very clear in his tweets.
joel hanes
@OzarkHillbilly:
Watch what they do, not what they say.
Cheryl Rofer
@Kay: What I said
Meaning that Trump is unfazed by Kim’s actions. ETA: Apologies if I wasn’t clear.
I don’t watch cable news, so I can’t agree or disagree about the media’s coverage. If they have indeed been promoting Trump’s line that everything is fine, then there will eventually be a reckoning. But the media will present that as a total surprise. Hoocoodanode?
ETA2: Fixed the blockquote
debbie
@Omnes Omnibus:
The girl who got hit in my link above was more than a mile inside Bexley limits. But I think it’s mostly Bexley-adjacent. The interstate is also not very far away. I wouldn’t be surprised if passing cars fire into the air as they pass by.
zhena gogolia
@Omnes Omnibus:
Menominee Falls? Fondalac?
OzarkHillbilly
@joel hanes: I agree. I have always said a person/party may or may not be racist but if the results of their preferred policies end with racial disparities, what difference?
But that’s not what we were talking about, we were talking about the intent behind the actions of Roberts.
Omnes Omnibus
@zhena gogolia: Wausau with a cabin near Rhinelander.
mrmoshpotato
@germy: Why is there a tweet showing what a hypocritical bastard Dump is about everything?
Kay
@Omnes Omnibus:
I don’t think one can cordon off “Trump and his administration” from “the United States”. The question isn’t “who believes Trump”. The question becomes “can the public believe anything?” All of the damage isn’t hitting Trump and the lack of credibility he creates isn’t just around him.
I think that was the plan – he’s just one President, the damage can be limited to him- I never thought that was true. It can and has (to a certain extent) and will become systemic. It won’t be “Trump lies”. It will become “none of these institutions can be trusted” – he launches the weapon but when it boomerangs and comes back it sprays everything around him.
“The institution” is only as strong as its component parts. If it’s made up of people who are weaker or lower quality the thing as a whole is lower quality. It can go a while on reputation but it can’t just keep making withdrawals from “the credibility bank” without making deposits.
zhena gogolia
Citizen Alan
@joel hanes:
If I could work dark magic, every single “progressive” who mocked the idea of considering federal judicial appointments in their voting decisions would now be dying in misery of a wasting curse.
Kay
I feel they should just shut the charity part of his new businesses down now, because you all know how that ends. The product lines should take care of themselves, with market mechanisms, investor lawsuits, etc but the charity needs preemptive action. Stop him before he pays family members with donated funds and moves to Florida.
O. Felix Culpa
Elizabeth Warren’s NYE speech is worth reading. She closes with On Imagination by enslaved poet Phillis Wheatley:
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@zhena gogolia: there were pictures of the Large Adult Children arriving with their own kids, cause what do school-age children like better than dressing up in miniature formal attire and standing around a grown-up party. Also, did you know today is Fredo’s birthday?
Is it wrong that I find their dysfunction playing out publicly so amusing? ETA: Looking at that time stamp, I guess yesterday was his birthday. Daddy was watching TeeVee and forgot
debbie
@zhena gogolia:
Love this comment:
Kay
@Citizen Alan:
It is odd though, how so many Democrats and liberals ignore courts. I mean, none of us do, but rank and file Democrats do (along with Lefties, who are ridiculously dumb about it). There needs to be some kind of voter education effort there. Why won’t they vote on judges? Right wingers do.
Omnes Omnibus
@Kay: And I think that the institutions are holding at a fundamental level. Below the level of political appointees, where the career people operate, they are holding. The State Department professionals are doing their jobs, etc. They cannot hold forever and they are being hollowed out, but they are still holding. New leadership with a new administration will fix a lot of it. And I do not disagree that we need to encode some of the norms that we thought were understood into law just to make sure. I also think that the GOP is an anti-democratic organization that must be defeated at every level in every election for the next 20 years.
I think that you and I simply have a fundamental disagreement on where we are as a country. My view is not as dark as yours. My view isn’t as dark as many of the people who comment here. And I really don’t see the point of dwelling on the negative; I think it leads people toward despair. YMMV.
germy
The Long, Dark History of Russia’s Murder, Inc.
https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2019/12/18/the-long-dark-history-of-russias-murder-inc/
germy
I’ve never seen a man wear opera pumps with no socks. These people are fashion trailblazers.
Kathleen
@satby: That Guardian headline was ridiculous. What do they think Republicans have been doing for the past 20 (probably 20+) years. “Gee, Republicans MIGHT be trying to rig 2020 election by purging voter rolls”. Ya think, Guardian? (Rant over. For now.)
Oh, and Happy New Year everyone.
WaterGirl
@germy: Good morning! This comment had more than 7 links in it, so it went into moderation. All good now.
germy
germy
@WaterGirl: Thank you! I figured it must have triggered some alarms….
satby
@Kathleen: the Guardian isn’t an American news organization, so they cast their stories with background context for their primary audience, which would be in the UK. An audience that been paying closer attention to the cray-cray that’s U.K. politics rather than ours.
WaterGirl
@Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ: Gunfire + your -ex just out of jail. Who wouldn’t be jumpy? I’m sorry you have to go through this. I really wish it weren’t so.
zhena gogolia
@debbie:
That was my favorite too!
WaterGirl
@Quinerly: Best to you and Poco. Thinking of you.
Kathleen
@Kay: Hamilton County Dems pushed Judicial races in 2018, which included sending sample ballots and setting up phone banks just for judicial races. Results of their efforts were positive. Proud to say a friend of mine was instrumental in this initiative.
Suzanne
@geg6:
Close…. Phoenix. The fireworks and guns were crazy last night. My Luna was really stressed out.
zhena gogolia
@Citizen Alan:
This morning I was trying to console myself that if we could hold Trump to one term, maybe we could repair the damage. After all, there isn’t much of a legacy from George H. W. Bush — and then the words “Clarence Thomas” floated into my mind.
zhena gogolia
@Quinerly:
I wish you and Poco peace and happiness in the new year.
Kathleen
@satby: I thought about that before I hit “Post but was feeling rather ranty at that moment. I am grateful that at least one newspaper is covering the story for 2020. In retrospect Guardian probably doing better job in this area than its American counterparts (though that bar is pretty low).
WaterGirl
@Immanentize: I love that! You guys did good with the Immp. You should be proud.
I am impressed that with everything you guys have been through that, every time, you pick yourselves up and dust yourselves off and can still acknowledge your blessings. Most impressive.
WaterGirl
@satby: Yay!
Quinerly
@zhena gogolia: thanks. He’s going down hill pretty fast. Sad time.
WaterGirl
@SiubhanDuinne:
I love that! I always appreciate reminders like this, and the Riverview discussion, that many of us here had shared childhoods, even if we didn’t know one another.
Quinerly
@WaterGirl: thanks. Much appreciated.
CarolDuhart2
@Kay: And it’s ridiculous to ignore courts. Who gets to go to jail, and who just gets probation? That makes a difference in long-term outcomes for people. Felons aren’t allowed to get jobs in certain professions. Five years or so in jail puts you behind the eight-ball for a lot of things like education and even socialization and of course that’s five years of missed wages.
A drug felony means you are shut out of a lot of federal benefits like housing and food stamps and student aid. When a kid can get probation instead, they can also get help or stay on the help they are already getting.
zhena gogolia
@Quinerly:
I’m so sorry.
debbie
@Kathleen:
Ironically, here in blue Franklin County, practically every judicial race went to Republicans.
WaterGirl
@OzarkHillbilly: The top photo was amazing, though it took a minute before I could make out what it was.
I am obviously not a photography expert, but with the exception of that top photo, I would put some of Albatrossity’s nature photos in the same class as the ones at your link.
What a treasure it is to have him share his photos with us.
eclare
@Quinerly: I’m so sorry.
germy
I saw a t-shirt with this:
The two worst mornings of the 21st century
9/11 and 11/9
with a graphic of the towers and #45
https://teespring.com/resist-72?pid=2&cid=2397
debbie
@Omnes Omnibus:
Just got confirmation from friends in German Village (on Third Avenue, about halfway between Livingston and Schiller Park) that there was plenty of gunfire last night. The husband is a vet and said it felt like he was back there all over again.
WaterGirl
@debbie: Is it wrong for me to say that sometimes people are stupid?
zhena gogolia
@germy:
Very cool. If only I still wore T-shirts!
Kay
True. Lefties have actually been terrible on opposing Trump. They’re too cool to engage on that level. Better to opine on how Trump is just a symptom of a larger problem and thereby give him a complete pass.
germy
https://wnyt.com/politics/president-donald-trump-barack-obama-most-admired-men/5594737/?cat=10621
jeffreyw
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Quinerly: Sorry, sad indeed.
debbie
@WaterGirl:
The only thing wrong with your statement is that it’s stated far too politely!
debbie
@germy:
That has to be killing Trump!
debbie
@Quinerly:
Just seeing this now. I am so sorry for you and for your road buddy.
joel hanes
@WaterGirl:
A visit to the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry when I was in the fifth grade is probably why I ended up a computer engineer.
(An interactive display taught binary notation and arithmetic, and Dad and I spent most of an hour puzzling it out.)
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Kay: last week Sanders was listing off all people “we” were going to fight: Trump, the Republicans, big corporations and… the Democratic Establishment! TNR devoted a recent issue to the failures of “neoliberalism”, which is of course Obama, who caused trump by not being President Green Lantern.
You mentioned above that the left doesn’t talk enough about the courts. I agree, but I would toss in that big chunks of the broad left, and the twitter- Bernie-left in particular, are deeply invested in the Cult of the Presidency. Congress was just an excuse Obama used no to pass the purity agenda, and Bernie will pass his agenda through righteous rage, Mitch McConnell and Joe Manchin be damned!
Gvg
@Kay: They are the liars. Unable to acknowledge their own mistakes, they pretend it’s everyone else’s fault. Sometimes I would be rude enough to tell them that, other times not. I don’t have persuasive gifts though.
Gvg
@Kay: Education does not equal Civic education. And I do think it’s less than it used to be. I am not sure what to attribute it to. It may be that I simply paid more attention to what I was taught in school than most people, and that is has always been pathetically inadequat, but how can I tell? I don’t recall there being so many politicians who didn’t know basic facts about our government 20 years ago but maybe I wasn’t paying enough attention when I was young.
i actually miss AVC Americanism versus Communism. It taught analytical thinking about government even though it was meant to teach propaganda. And i didn’t have a great teacher, it was the subject, with a lot of news reading required. A lot of topics are no longer taught because of various education “reforms” and budget cuts since I was in school. They teach to test now, with no extras.
zhena gogolia
@Kay:
Bernie’s job is to keep Trump in office.
WaterGirl
@joel hanes: We probably had pre-BJ meetups and didn’t even know it. :-)
joel hanes
@WaterGirl:
It’s my impression that I’m a bit older than you. I was there in 1962 or 1963; not sure which.
That was the only time I was in Chicago before 1990, so it would have been a pretty amazing coincidence had we been there at the same time. We also went to the Field Museum and to the Shedd Aquarium on that trip. Also we ate dinner at The Palmer House; being a ten year old boy, I ordered a hamburger.
Mike in Pasadena
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Rob Sears composed “The Beautiful Poetry of Donald Trump” of tweets and speeches so that you don’t have to read that nonsense. I saw it in a bookstore in the Schipohl airport Amsterdam. Did not want to carry it the rest of the trip. Printed in Britain. Only place I found on Amazon was a seller in Great Britain.
WaterGirl
@joel hanes: Yep! Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, Art Museum, lunch at The Palmer House or Berghoff’s.