President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden packed food boxes for the hungry and chatted with volunteers at a food bank as part of a day of service for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The president repeated his call for the child tax credit to be renewed. https://t.co/p6z4SYaXJb
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 16, 2022
As the nation prepares to mark the birthday of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., some members of his family are spending it in conservative-leaning Arizona to mobilize support for languishing federal voting rights legislation. https://t.co/GX95kQHFha
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 15, 2022
One possible charity:
Specialized rescue and adoption organizations are helping to rehome pets of terminally ill people and seniors.https://t.co/waaCRl1zqg
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 11, 2022
germy
Yesterday my wife and I saw a TV commercial for a local mattress store. They were advertising their MLK Day Sale.
Typical tacky locally-produced commercial. Big bright color fonts with dropshadows and spinning graphics.
I wondered if they’d toyed with the idea of saying “You’ll have a dream… on your new comfortable mattress!”
satby
For anyone who wants to take part in the Betty White tribute, the spay/neuter group I am a member of was notified this month that ALL our partner vets are raising their fees. We have to decide between raising our client copays or keeping them as low as possible and running out of funds sooner. Donations gratefully accepted. SNAP of Michigan
germy
p.a.
“If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”
― Frederick Douglass
Baud
@p.a.:
Is that from one of his debates with Lincoln?
OzarkHillbilly
Revealed: many common omega-3 fish oil supplements are ‘rancid’
Sounds just like Republicans.
p.a.
@germy: not bad copy!?
p.a.
@Baud: Yes, I believe during the Constitutional Convention.
p.a.
@OzarkHillbilly: I think the last attempt at perfume to mask the rancidity was called Mitt Rmoney.
OzarkHillbilly
@p.a.: Yeah, it didn’t work. Then they laced it with trump crack and voila!
debbie
@germy:
You betcha they were!
Steeplejack
All is quiet this morning in Threadkill Lane. We got about 2½" of snow yesterday afternoon in my corner of NoVA, followed by rain last night. Pickup truck plow guy came down the street late last night, and the pavement looks mostly clear, although I fear it’s probably very icy. Glad I don’t have to go anywhere today. Current temp is 34°.
OzarkHillbilly
China’s birthrate falls to 61-year low despite moves to stave off demographic crisis
Humanity is in desperate need of some different economic models. Our current ones are not sustainable.
Ken
@p.a.: Oh, right, I remember the rap between the two of them in act II of Hamilton.
sab
Snowing a lot here in NE Ohio. Well over a foot and no letup. Pitbull went down the back stops and found herself in snow over her elbows (or whatever they’re called on dogs) so she came right back in.
There doesn’t seem to be any traffic, which is a very good thing. Last time, years ago,when we had a blizzard on MLK day the city’s computer system was hit with a malware attack. They got so distracted by that that they forgot to request snowplow/salt backup from ODOT.
Dorothy A. Winsor
I’m skipping Zumba here until omicron dies down, but a friend went on Friday and called me to report. Everyone was properly masked, since they bullied one holdout last time and she finally pulled her mask over her nose. But another woman told my friend that someone in her majong group tested positive and is quarantined in her condo where management has been calling her six times a day.
My friend was edging away from this person at that point, since the majong player had obviously been exposed and yet here she was at a crowded Zumba class. So she didn’t get a chance to voice her theory that management was checking to make sure the covid patient was in her condo and not, say, at a godamn Zumba class
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
The Zumba variant is coming.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Baud: People are crazy
WereBear
@satby: Shared as part of my #BettyWhiteChallenge on Twitter today :)
@WayofCats
Ken
@Baud: Ah, yes, the exercise series. That was, what, the fifth one after we ran out of Korean letters? No, sixth, I forgot the Disney princesses (and don’t we all wish we could). Let me check viripedia…
Oh, right, the exercises were right after the dance series. I remember that one had its problems. There was the debate over whether “Lambada” would be confused with “Lambda”, and of course “Tango” had been used when we went through the phonetic alphabet.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Ken: It’s hard to find anything so absurd that it’s obviously a joke. Reality has outstripped our imaginations. I don’t know how The Onion stays in business
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
You’re not going to believe this but the vote for the MLK holiday among Democrats was 287-8 (4 of the 8 would quit the party and become republicans), while among republicans their vote was 126 to 95.
BOTH SIDeS!
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone ???
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
Baud
@Ken:
It would be ironic if the Snow White variant is the one that does in all the remaining antivax Trumpers.
Spanky
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Fixed
rikyrah
Rugged Amethyst #TexasBorn #CaliBred (@groove_sdc) tweeted at 10:35 PM on Sat, Jan 15, 2022:
The left is terrified of the Obama coalition. They’d rather burn in hell w/ Bernie DudeBros than serve in heaven w/ Black voters. They don’t want another Black man or woman to be nominee unless he or she is beholden to them. This was always the basis of their opposition to Kamala
(https://twitter.com/groove_sdc/status/1482572069787348992?t=XCC0JY5F5wu3TLonJoSAgg&s=03)
WereBear
@Steeplejack: We probably got 5-6 inches. Back in the day, this would mean a day off at the local ski mountain, though today is a holiday.
I have shifted my morning listens to podcasts who leaven their news with comedy. I didn’t think I’d like Knowledge Fight, but it’s turning out to be just the angle I need at this point in time.
Geminid
@rikyrah: I think Mr. Amethyst is on the money. The prospect of a successful Biden-Harris administration is as big a threat to some leftists as it is to Republicans.
satby
@WereBear: thanks!
zhena gogolia
@sab: Fetlocks?
WereBear
On a personal note, one bright spot lately is our two baby girl kittens. They are 18 months, Rhiannon, and 9 months, Morgen.
While that makes them teen cats, they are so much smaller than the Tactical Team of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello that they seem all the more kitten-like. Morgen can teleport and bend her tail at 90 degree angles. Rhiannon has the heart of a giant cinnamon muffin.
The best part is how my promise to Tristan that these two baby girl kittens would be his new best friends… that promise did come true :)
This cheers me up. Our own Dr. Smith oh, the pain! is not heard from so much lately.
debbie
@Baud:
I would be proud to come down with the Dopey variant.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Bunch of cryptobros paid megabucks for a rare edition of DUNE in the mistaken belief that they would then own the copyright. They seem to be planning to make movies, make the book public, sell merch, etc.
WereBear
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Oh, yeah, we should listen to THEM. Whatta bunch of maroons.
And my niece loved the first book in your series this Christmas. Just messaged me to say how much.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@WereBear: Thank you for telling me that. It’s so rare to hear back from readers. It’s like tossing the book into a black hole.
Ken
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Buried deep in the responses to the original tweet:
I love the “seems unbelievable”. They didn’t misrepresent because, what? Investors are far too savvy and would have discovered the lies? I think the word “Theranos” should end any argument making that claim.
Also dredged out of the thread: There is indeed “some other play”. They plan to scan the pages, sell NFTs for the scans, then destroy the original in the idiot belief this will make the NFTs more valuable.
WereBear
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I have been encouraging her to share in a review, of course. It’s kind of amazing that now, people can choose a book from reviews from other people who like the same thing.
That has been invaluable to me. In fact, I shouldn’t let reading on a tablet keep me from leaving more reviews on books I’ve enjoyed, so I’ve gotten the Smart Key app, an Apple Pencil, and one of those little Bluetooth keyboards.
Betty Cracker
Saw a clip this morning of the Trump rally in Arizona, and it was shockingly race-baiting, even for that racist puke. He claimed that white people “go to the back of the line” for coronavirus treatment. Trump is bone-stupid, but he does possess a talent for riling up the cult, and in his present circumstance, this attack is pitch-perfect for that purpose.
He’s being outflanked on COVID denial and anti-mitigation measures by DeSantis, so what better way to reassert his “leadership” than to claim white people face medical discrimination? It’s evil but probably effective with the deranged followers.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@WereBear: If I finish a book, I usually try to leave a review. Most of the time, I don’t say much, but I know that the sheer number of reviews plays into Amazon’s algorithm for whether they recommend a book (if you like this, you may like that)
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Betty Cracker: I haven’t seen the attendance figures for that rally. Did he do better than he did in your fair state?
Skepticat
There’s a roaring gale, but fortunately with rain rather than snow, here on the coast of Maine as I sit with the cats and make online donations to the local animal rescue group in honor of Betty White and to a scholarship fund for a recently departed friend.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
It’s a drug, and like any drug, the people need a bigger dose to get the same high.
debbie
@Betty Cracker:
He has ALWAYS, ALWAYS resorted to racism. It’s his ace in the hole, so to speak.
Geminid
@Betty Cracker: In other trump news, there is another story about trump trashing DeSantis as an ingrate with a “dull personality,” this time in Axios. I suspect that trump intends these stories to be leaked.
Betty Cracker
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I was wondering that too. According to the AZ Republic, the rally attracted more than 15K, which is far larger than the pathetic crowds in Florida.
Geminid
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Rally crowd estimates in local media were around 15,000. It was held outdoors at a venue that hosts music festivals. Trump plans another one two weeks later, near Houston, Texas
Betty Cracker
@Geminid: Here’s hoping it blows up into a bitter, personal and ugly brawl! I wouldn’t bet on Trump to prevail either, at least in FL. To Baud’s point at #43, maybe the reason Trump’s influence seems to be waning in FL is because DeSantis fills that void. But while DeSantis’s running to the right of Trump excites the wingnut base, it may alienate independents and drive Democratic voter turnout. That’s my hope anyway.
Geminid
@Betty Cracker: One interesting factor is that trump has no loyalty whatsoever to the Republican party, and no scruples either. If he sees DeSantis as a threat trump won’t hesitate to undermine him in the fall. Same with Brian Kemp if he beats David Perdue in the primary for Georgia Governor. In Kemp’s case, this would not be a matter of rivalry, just spite.
WereBear
I think a lot of them are driven even more right because of the dangerous monomania of that wingnut base.
Say what you like, conservatives are really more likely to murder you. Or at least try. So, like the craven cowards they are, they try to out-whacky the competition…
ellie
I just donated $25 in honor of Betty White to the shelter we adopted our cat from in December. He is the bestest kitty!
Kathleen
@Baud: I predict that this time next year media will be giving Dr. King Full Metal Biden/Harris treatment. (“While many Liberals applaud the arrests of freedom fighters from the 1/6/21 protests they ignore the fact that Dr King was also arrested and has a criminal record.”)
Another Scott
@satby: Donated.
Cheers,
Scott.
debbie
@Kathleen:
I don’t know. Clowns like Glenn Beck are still positing that he is MLK’s heir.
Kathleen
@debbie: Urk. I still can’t get over the right wing JFK Jr fan boys awaiting his return. Almost 60 years ago they posted pictures of his father that said “Wanted For Treason” .
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Betty Cracker: I’ve often thought that no one outside of his immediate family would be happier than Mitch McConnell if the actuarial tables and McDonalds caught up with The Beast. I may have to add DeSantis to that list.
LiminalOwl
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Thank you—I hesitate to write to authors, fearing to waste their time; it’s good to know that some welcome it. I do add stars on Amazon but can rarely think of anything intelligent to say about books I loved. Trying to improve that.