— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) January 7, 2022
I know some of you appreciate good political cartoonists as much as I do…
This post is in: Excellent Links, Republican Venality, Violent Insurrection at the Capitol
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) January 7, 2022
I know some of you appreciate good political cartoonists as much as I do…
This post is in: Open Threads, President Biden, Proud to Be A Democrat, Right to Vote
… not our democracy. Be nice if we were only fighting the Republicans, but it is what it is.
President Joe Biden made an impassioned plea for U.S. voting rights legislation stalled in Congress, calling it a ‘battle for the soul of America.’ He also made his most direct plea yet for the Senate to change its filibuster rule to pass legislation https://t.co/VH5HE7XzMC pic.twitter.com/7Psv3SFLqB
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 12, 2022
The fight for voting rights takes persistence. As MLK exhorted, “The clock of destiny is ticking out. We must act now before it is too late.” Thank you, @POTUS, for refusing to relent until the work is finished. Welcome back to Georgia where we get good done. #FTVA #JLVRAA
— Stacey Abrams (@staceyabrams) January 10, 2022
Holy crap. Clyburn on MSNBC using the straight-party vote on the 15th Amendment, & Strom Thurmond telling him he was embarrassed by his filibuster of the 1957 civil rights bill, as a couple of two-by-fours right between Manchin’s eyes.
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) January 12, 2022
Americans support eliminating the filibuster by 24 points. In case any Senators care what Americans think. pic.twitter.com/TOM2FPWb6G
— Nick Knudsen ???? (@NickKnudsenUS) January 11, 2022
normal democracy stuff https://t.co/fxTgOfXd5p
— Gerry Doyle (@mgerrydoyle) January 12, 2022
Reactions to Biden speech on U.S. voting rights https://t.co/iTFeE0gDtO pic.twitter.com/MS4TWoZFof
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 12, 2022
Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Kill the FilibusterPost + Comments (153)
This post is in: Anderson On Health Insurance
The ACA Open Enrollment Period for Healthcare.gov ends at 11:59pm on January 15th — that is this coming Saturday.
After the Open Enrollment Period, getting individual market health insurance gets a whole lot harder. After January 15th, you need a Qualifying Life Event (QLE) to open up a Special Enrollment Period to get coverage. A QLE is a major change in your life like a birth, death, marriage, move or loss of coverage.
As of this morning, the ACA markets are running at a record volume with over 13 million sign-ups. Get signed up by Saturday and save yourself some headaches.
This post is in: COVID-19 Coronavirus, Foreign Affairs
Top U.S. health officials on Tuesday defended the government’s response to the Omicron variant as they faced accusations from lawmakers about scarce coronavirus tests and confusing guidance.
“We’re doing the best we possibly can,” Dr. Anthony Fauci said. https://t.co/afakdDCfOr pic.twitter.com/TKwMGGN84N
— The New York Times (@nytimes) January 12, 2022
COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Tuesday / Wednesday, Jan. 11-12Post + Comments (70)
by WaterGirl| 13 Comments
This post is in: On The Road, Photo Blogging, way2blue
It’s not unusual for us to have so many On the Road submissions in the queue that you don’t get to see your pics published for a month or two. At the moment, though, we have enough submissions for this week and next, but nothing at all after that. So if you have been thinking of sending in some pics but haven’t done it, this would be a great time to send them in and get to see your pics published with a short turnaround.
Before our visit to Südsteiermark, we spent time in the Zillertal Alps of Südtirol near the village of Meransen/Maranza. The town has a gondola up to ski runs on Gitschberg [8230 ft] which was still running in October. We would take the gondola up to Nesselhütte [6915 ft] to hike up, down & around a web of trails with stops at Nesselhütte for glühwein / beer. Great autumn colors as the larch foliage had turned yellow. Although a bit taxing at first given my home is closer to 600 ft elevation.
We hiked a combination of trails such as this one, access roads for the ski infrastructure, and wobbly, muddy mountain bike tracks
This post is in: COVID-19 Coronavirus, GOP Death Cult, Grifters Gonna Grift, Open Threads
Hot takes are a renewable resource pic.twitter.com/hskBNs71gC
— CeaseAndDeceaseHat (@Popehat) January 10, 2022
Bethany Mandel’s job is being a MOMMY, who homeschools. Her side gig, for pin money, is running point for the deranged ideas that her fellow Realistic Conservatives mutter among themselves.
If (usually when) Bethany’s hot takes prove a little too ‘prescient’ for the bulk of us normies on social media, she pulls back in to her safe little bubble — how can you libtards be so cruel to a MOMMY?!? — secure in her husband’s guaranteed lifetime sinecure(s) in the Wingnut Wurlitzer. And her professional fellows take note, and wait for the next opening.
Which is why I usually ignore Mandel’s ‘provocative takes’. But we should have this on the record: She, and the people who run with her, consider 800,000 dead Americans mere collateral damage on the road to FREEEEDUMB!
No amount of optimist on my part about the eventual end of the pandemic mitigates the rage and despair I feel about being stuck in the same country as these fucking people. pic.twitter.com/fp1l1FesZN
— Daniel “dietary course correction” Summers, MD (@WFKARS) January 9, 2022
Late Night Open Thread: ‘Grandma Killer’ Mandel Is At It AgainPost + Comments (91)
This post is in: Open Threads
This was a word from earlier this week:
The only game I play is Shanghai – on my iPad – and I play a few games before I go to bed because it’s a great way to clear my mind.
But you guys have been talking about Wordle, so I decided to try it.
Here is my first try tonight. Oh wait, never mind, I can’t do that in case you guys are Wordlers or you haven’t tried it yet but you will try it now as a result of this post. Good thing I caught myself or I would have returned from the FOUR DIRECTIONS POST later and found that everyone is pissed at me.
I think I like this game! A lot! Of course, it helps that I got it in 4 lines on my first try. Is that good? Average? Below average? This is Balloon Juice, where everyone is above average!
It looks like everyone gets the same word on a particular day? Seems like that would be a problem… surely people would see other people’s results and then the game would be spoiled? (I’m sure someone here can explain why that’s not a problem.)
Here’s an open thread to take about games or politics or music or whatever you like so you have a current place to talk while the FOUR DIRECTIONS Q & A is going on, if that’s not your thing.
Tuesday Evening Open Thread: What’s the Word(le)?Post + Comments (120)