Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Naturally gregarious and alpha

Gastritis Broke My Calculator

Today in our ongoing national embarrassment…

This is how realignments happen…

Shock troops for the Unitarian Jihad.

It’s a tarp!

Lighten up, Francis.

All your base are belong to Tunch.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense.

An army of rabid, anonymous commenters

Also, too.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity.

Where tasty lettuce and good mustard aren’t elitist.

This Blog Goes to 11…

Word salad with all caps

Saul Alinsky is my co-pilot

Consistently wrong since 2002

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Screw the Judean People’s Front. Splitters.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Usually wrong but never in doubt.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

We have all the best words.

Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack!

Meet-Up Proposal in Seattle (with Bonus GOTV Action!)

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Message from commentor (& experienced meet-up planner!) Casey L:

H.E. Wolf and I would like to propose a Seattle meetup, but more of a working meetup than a social one. We want to get together with a smallish group of Seattle area jackals and do postcards for the “Postcards to Voters” political action group.

I’m pretty sure you’re familiar with them (I first heard about them on BJ) but in case not: People sign up online with the group, who then send them lists of voters in targeted cities, along with the wording to be used on the postcards. The postcards can be downloaded from the P-2-V site, or people can buy and use their own, within stated guidelines.

H E Wolf and I want to host a meetup during which we would explain the process, distribute and complete a small batch of cards, and also send people home with “starter kits” (5 postcards and postage) for them to complete and mail on their own. (We will pay for the cards and postage.)

The proposed dates are over President’s Day weekend: Sunday the 16th or Monday the 17th, at 12:30. The proposed location is Elliot Bay Brewery on Lake City Way in North Seattle (parking is free, a major consideration).

If you’re interested, leave a comment below, or send me a message via the ‘Contact Us’ link & I’ll forward it.

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WhitePeoplePalooza 2020 Has Ended

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WhitePeoplePalooza 2020 Has Ended

WhitePeoplePalooza, doing business as The Virginia Citizen’s Defense League’s (VCDL) annual day of lobbying in Richmond, Virginia, has come to an end. Without, apparently any acts of extremist domestic terrorism.

Robert Evans (above), as well as Eve Ettinger and JJ McNabb have all the details in their twitter feeds.

The most depressing part is the result of discretion being the better part of valor. The counterprotestors, from legitimate civil rights groups to antifa stayed home because they couldn’t be sure they’d be safe. Some of that is they were unsure just who was going to show up and what kind of agro they’d encounter. The proud boys and patriot prayer and III%ers and OathKeepers and a bunch of other “patriot” and “militia” groups with a history of street violence did turn out. Including leadership, despite them being either wanted for arrest in other jurisdictions for violent behavior at previous events or being on bail awaiting trial for the same thing. And these groups, especially the OathKeepers, blew enough smoke on social media, that no one could be sure if they had law enforcement support for what they might do. As a result those who would oppose them stayed home or out of the way. While this meant that WhitePeoplePalooza ended with no violence, at least that I’ve seen reported, it also meant that if you can turn out enough white Christians in support of extreme positions who are heavily armed and make a lot of noise that they have law enforcement support, that you can prevent others from dissenting for fear of violence – both from the white Christian demonstrators and, possibly, from police allied with them. And that’s a problem.

And then there were these dipshits!

I’m pretty sure this guy isn’t Jewish, despite his outfit.

And this guy is definitely not an ancient Israelite. Also, why is Joe Stalin laying hands on the President in prayer?

Anyone know why Ice T is doing security for the InfoWars schmucks?

Here’s a better picture of this genius:

WhitePeoplePalooza 2020 Has Ended 1

As for the doofus with the Barrett .50 cal, I don’t think the guy did much marching, just stood around posing for pictures. Those things aren’t light, they’re not ergonomic, and they’re not designed to be humped around all day. They’re a long range sniper rifle, though there are now better and lighter alternatives thanks to improvements in ballistics. Barretts weigh about 30 lbs depending on how they’re configured and customized. Comparatively, most AR pattern rifles weigh between 6 and 10 lbs depending on caliber and configuration. My guess is if he had to walk farther than a block carrying that thing he’d stroke out.

Obligatory:

WhitePeoplePalooza 2020 Has Ended 2

Open thread!

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Respite: The Best Work News Announcement Ever

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I was having dinner last night with my nephew, who is a computer science guy, and he told me about something from last spring that must be shared: the all-time best announcement of gaining tenure by anyone in all the universes.

The perpetrator is Harvard’s James Micklin, whose work centers on distributed systems, how to make them better, and how to make them more secure. Also, my nephew told me, he was one of the most effective and inspiring teachers he had in college.

Respite: The Best Job News Announcement Ever

More at his website, including links to papers that are beyond my ken, but not that of many here. At his site you’ll find the usual tabs (research, publications and so on) — and one less common on faculty pages:  wisdom. Top of the list of wisdom nuggets? This dispatch from the halcyon shores of tenure, which begins as follows:

BREAKING NEWS: I’ve received tenure at Harvard! I want to thank all of the enemies that I had to destroy to achieve this great honor. Roger Davis at Princeton’s department of nutrition—you questioned my research on the efficacy of an all-Pop-Tart diet, but I am living proof that the diet works. Yes, I have nose bleeds every day and my pancreas has the dysfunction of a failing Soviet client state, but I believe that having constant double vision makes me twice as optimistic about life…

It goes on in that vein for a bit, and then concludes:

Martha and the boys are doing well; we built a cabin by the hills. We pluck the blueberries beneath the torch of moonlight and watch the stars dance in the ocean of the sky. When little John sits on my knee, I see my father in him, and my father’s father too. He points to the field that lies just before the curve of the river, and he says, “Papa, why have you attached a plow to Bruce Jøhansen and forced him to plant ragweed despite his crippling seasonal allergies?” One day, son, you’ll understand—when you have tenure.

Tenure is a process that casts all who enter it into the realm of the absurd.  I can’t remember the last time I encountered someone who embraced the crazy with this much gusto (to be sure, prudently, from the safe perch of the far side of that passage through the Fire Swamp). His USENIX articles, linked on the same page, are also a ton of fun.

With that: open thread, with a special invitation for tales of the ridiculous at work.

Image: Nikolay Petrovich Bogdanov-Belsky, Mental Calculation. In Public School of S. A. Rachinsky, 1895

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Two Nights in a Row, Now I Know That It’s Broken

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I have a bit of a different take on the NYT endorsement of the two women in the race. I think we all know assholes who’ve done us wrong – that includes cheating romantic partners, jerk friends, etc. These people do something bad that shows a specific asshole character trait, they can’t apologize or admit they did something wrong and therefore admit that they have that trait, so they make a gesture of some sort to show “see, you’re wrong, I really don’t have this bad character trait.”

So, in the case of the Times, they shat upon Hillary every chance they got, perhaps showing misogyny among other bad traits, and now they endorse not one but two women. We love women twice as much as you! Suck on that, haters!

Except, maybe, if you really respected women, you’d respect them enough to treat them with the same respect you give to men, and pick one to endorse.

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Armed fanatics in Virginia

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Please stay safe, Virginians; armed fanatics are roaming around:

The other photos in reporters’ Twitter feeds are surreal. There’s an Info Wars armored vehicle rolling around too. It’s worth remembering what inspired these lunatics to intimidate their fellow citizens and attempt to cow lawmakers:

Three bills that will prohibit firearm possession in public spaces, limit monthly handgun purchases, and require background checks for firearm transfers passed the state Senate on Thursday, marking the first of stronger gun-control legislation proposed by the new Democratic majority in the General Assembly.

That’s it. There’s an exemption for transfer of firearms between family members, so there’s not even the excuse of opposing laws that impede the generational transmittal of grandpappy’s shootin’ arn.

For what it’s worth, I think the gun-humpers will lose this battle eventually. Allowing unfettered access to weapons that can kill dozens of people in under a minute just isn’t sustainable long term. The question is how much blood will be shed before sanity prevails. Here’s hoping none is shed today.

Open thread.

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Monday Morning Open Thread: That NYTimes Endorsement

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(Kinda contentious for a first-thing-in-the-morning thread, but I suspect it’s what everyone will want to talk about anyways… )

Give them full credit: Only the Thought Leaders at the NYTimes could irk me so much by nominating the same candidates *I* would’ve recommended. They wanted to go with the obvious choice for most of their paid subscribers — but they were terrified of nasty social-media pushback from people who are never voting for a Democrat, such as the Oval Office Occupant. They tried to split the difference, with the usual painful / comic result…

… The Democratic primary contest is often portrayed as a tussle between moderates and progressives. To some extent that’s true. But when we spent significant time with the leading candidates, the similarity of their platforms on fundamental issues became striking.

Nearly any of them would be the most progressive president in decades on issues like health care, the economy and government’s allocations of resources. Where they differ most significantly is not the what but the how, in whether they believe the country’s institutions and norms are up to the challenge of the moment…

Choosing who should face off against Mr. Trump also means acknowledging that Americans are being confronted with three models for how to govern this country, not two. Democrats must decide which of their two models would be most compelling for the American people and best suited for repairing the Republic…

Good news, then, that Elizabeth Warren has emerged as a standard-bearer for the Democratic left…

[Ten paragraphs decently recapping Warren’s message, and campaign to date.]

… Ms. [SENATOR!] Warren’s path to the nomination is challenging, but not hard to envision. The four front-runners are bunched together both in national polls and surveys in states holding the first votes, so small shifts in voter sentiment can have an outsize influence this early in the campaign. There are plenty of progressives who are hungry for major change but may harbor lingering concerns about a messenger as divisive as Mr. Sanders. At the same time, some moderate Democratic primary voters see Ms. Warren as someone who speaks to their concerns about inequality and corruption. Her earlier leaps in the polls suggest she can attract more of both…

[Eight paragraphs dismissing the remaining male candidates.]

… Good news, then, that Amy Klobuchar has emerged as a standard-bearer for the Democratic center. Her vision goes beyond the incremental. Given the polarization in Washington and beyond, the best chance to enact many progressive plans could be under a Klobuchar administration.

The senator from Minnesota is the very definition of Midwestern charisma, grit and sticktoitiveness. Her lengthy tenure in the Senate and bipartisan credentials would make her a deal maker (a real one) and uniter for the wings of the party — and perhaps the nation.

[Six paragraphs on Klobuchar.]

show full post on front page

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On The Road – emrys – Korean War Memorial, Washington, D.C.

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Good morning everyone,

Let’s start this week out right!

 

 

These are from early 2005. I waited for a snow day as that seemed most appropriate. I pretty much had the place to myself, only say one other small group.

On The Road - emrys - Korean War Memorial, Washington, D.C. 6
Korean War Memorial, Washington, D.C.

My approach was from the north, with the Vietnam Memorial on the left and Lincoln Memorial on the right.

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Late Night Open Thread: Mormon Humor, More Risque Than You Might’ve Expected

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Toss the Jello Salad?…

… “The Governor understands the importance of the Utah Department of Health conducting a campaign to educate Utahns about HIV prevention,” his spokeswoman, Anna Lehnardt, told FOX 13 in a statement. “He does not, however, approve the use of sexual innuendo as part of a taxpayer-funded campaign, and our office has asked the department to rework the campaign’s branding.”

The condoms had wrappers that touted the “Greatest Sex on Earth” (a parody of Utah’s “Greatest Snow on Earth”); “This is the Place” (which was uttered by Brigham Young when pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley); the subversive “SL, UT” for Salt Lake, Utah; “Toss the Jello Salad;” and, of course, the local landmarks “Fillmore, Beaver.”

The campaign was a joint venture between the Utah Department of Health and Love Communications. Wyoming and Alaska have done similar campaigns using popular slogans native to their respective states…

About 100,000 of the condoms were to be distributed for free through local health departments, the Utah AIDS Foundation, bars and other community locations. In response, the Utah Department of Health said Wednesday night it has told those who would distribute the condoms to refrain from doing so while the campaign is re-worked…

[Insert your own ‘now a collector’s item’ joke here.]

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Evening Open Thread

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Looks like we could use a new thread, but I don’t have any topics. Too busy today cleaning house, shoveling snow, and paying bills. But that makes tomorrow ready for good things like practicing piano!

While I was cleaning house, I moved the kitties’ boxes and the mat in front of the door so I could clean that area. But when I wanted to clean where the boxes were,

White cats (Zooey and Ric) with gray spots sitting on mat on box. Mud shoes to the side.

So I cleaned the rest of the house, and only this little bit was left to vacuum. I thought for a bit they were going to move, but nah.

Zooey and Ric, still on the mat on the box, but in neat closeup loaf configuration.

When I started making my supper with ham, they decided to come in the kitchen and beg. That gave me the chance to finish vacuuming and put things back in order.

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Election Year Open Thread: Cancel Iowa

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I’m sorry, Iowans, you’re lovely people and I’m sure you mean well, but this is not an optimal way to select the leadership for a country as large and diverse as ours. Because the rest of us are tired of finding euphemisms — unpredictable! — for the fact that too many of you are actually insulated from the effects of your choices:

And, no, you’re not responsible for the DNC’s weirder efforts to please all its warring factions, but if we weren’t all fixated on your antiquated caucus system (yes, and NH’s cranky insistence on being FRIST IN THE NATION, forty-nine other states be damned), the DNC would have a much more practical path…

… “I think that people need to idle their engines a little bit,” says Penny Rosfjord, an Iowa Democratic Party district chair. “A caucus was never meant to be smooth; it’s kind of a messy process. It’s not a straightforward, check a box and move on.”…

Of course, it’s never easy to give up a perceived entitlement...

… but once you’ve laid down this burden, we’ll all be happier voters!

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2019 Music Discovery

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What’s your favorite band or performer that you discovered in 2019? It doesn’t have to be music made in 2019 – just something you found last year. Here’s mine – Cigarettes After Sex. Their new album, Cry, dropped last Fall, but they’ve been around for a while. Honorable mention – Big Thief.

Also, whoever gave KEXP a bunch of money for their new performance space, and the money to make really good performance videos, is showing other rich people how rich people ought to spend a little bit of their money, even after we institute higher taxes.

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Seemingly Reasonable Advice That’s Hard to Follow

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There was a post the other day with this recommendation from HRC:

Try to vote for the person you think is most likely to win because at the end of the day that is what will matter. And not just the popular vote, but the electoral college too.

Well, OK, how do I do that? Do I become a mini-pundit and have an imaginary Cletus safari to some diner in Ohio or Wisconsin where I imagine which candidate will appeal to the Obama/Trump voters there? Or should I instead take a stroll down 12th Ave in Tucson, stopping in a few restaurants on the way (yum) and interviewing some non-voting latinos to see which candidate would motivate them to go the polls? And even if my little made-up thief sample of voters yielded a clear answer about which candidate is most likely to win, can I trust it?

Every person reading this blog is in many ways unable to determine who will win because we aren’t the kinds of voters who need to be persuaded to turn out, or to change their vote. Most of us will crawl over broken glass to vote for whomever the Democrats nominate. We are not the voters who need to be convinced to vote for a Democrat, or even to vote. So, for many primary voters like us, this exercise of imagining who can win is pointless – we just lack the imagination to do it. Our brains don’t work the way theirs do. We’re not better or worse, just different.

Instead of trying to pick a winner, my suggestion is to choose a candidate that speaks to you, but try not to get too hung up on your chosen candidate. Pretty much anyone who didn’t buy their way on the debate stage the other night could beat Trump under the right circumstances. Hell, Corey Booker and Kamala Harris could have beaten him. With the right six sigma strategy and a good SWOT analysis, even Pete might get it done. So, if your candidate isn’t the final winner, don’t look for a fucking conspiracy, and don’t listen to the conspiracy mongers. They’re the ones that will cause real damage to the party, not Democrats who pick a candidate because they like their message without worrying about whether they can win.

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All the President’s Henchmen

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Maddow on AM Joy yesterday:

Me too, Rachel. The Trumps and their mobbed-up flunkies are an extreme danger to the republic and must be defeated. But GOP establishment figures like Barr, who’ve proved willing to go to any lengths to keep the con going, are a more insidious menace.

Some connected and elected Democrats vouched for Barr when Trump nominated him. They figured a long-term DC player could be trusted to protect institutions instead of subverting them on behalf of the demented conman. It was a bad bet.

The hot tub salesman who filled the AG job on an acting basis was an unqualified numpty, but at least he was impeded in his corruption by lack of familiarity with the job. Not so Mr. Barr. Consider a small sample of Barr’s inappropriate actions since his confirmation:

  • Lied about the contents of the Mueller report before its release
  • Held a press conference just prior to the Mueller report release to lie about it some more
  • Buried the whistleblower report and unlawfully failed to transmit the complaint to the FEC
  • Dismissed IG investigations that cleared Trump’s perceived enemies and reopened investigations
  • Undermined relationships with allies to investigate “deep state” conspiracy theories
  • Obstructed investigations into corrupt attempts to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census

Parnas is a shady character with his own agenda, so it makes sense to treat his unverified claims about Barr or anyone else with skepticism. But as Maddow points out, Trump did mention Barr as well as Giuliani during the phone call with Zelensky to advance the extortion scheme.

Speaker Pelosi gets it. She called Barr a “rogue attorney general” and one of “the president’s henchmen” the other day at a press conference (clip included in another post). She’s right:

Does anybody think that the rogue attorney general is going to support–appoint a special prosecutor? No, because he’s implicated in all of this. This is an example of all of the president’s henchmen, and I hope that the senators do not become part of the president’s henchmen.

Pelosi’s remarks about Barr didn’t get the attention they deserved because of the media circus around Trump’s impeachment. But it was reassuring (for me, at least) that she chose to make them.

Because only a portion of one half of one branch of government is currently acting as guardians of the Constitution the entire government swore to uphold, it’s a heavy lift to ask the House Dems to investigate the attorney general too. But no one else is going to shoulder that load. It’s up to the Speaker.

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Sunday Morning Garden Chat: The Promise of Tulips

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Thanks to WaterGirl (again) for a winter mood-brightener:

At my house, there are happy tulips everywhere you look in the spring!

These solid pink ones are my favorites, and the white ones really make everything else pop. The white ones are sensational at dusk, when they seem to jump out at you.

Double tulips

I can look up the name of the double tulips if anyone wants to know what they are. I just love them, even though they don’t really look like tulips.

tulips

I get all my bulbs from Colorblends, which satby turned me on to several years ago.

favorite pink tulip

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I’m trying a tulip experiment myself this year — I planted a bunch of double-tiered Angelique bulbs in a 20″ bowl planter, along with some little blue scilla for contrast. Both of us have really enjoyed the ‘spring roses’ (as the Spousal Unit dubbed them) when I’ve tried them before. But they’re effectively annuals in our yard, so I’m going to see if the bulbs survive the winter under conditions where I can just move the pot when they’re done flowering, and use the space for annuals.

Reminder: If you have garden pics that you never had the chance to send me last summer, this would be the *perfect* time to share them!

What’s going on in your garden (planning), this week?

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Election Year Open Thread: What A Coincidence, Guys!

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The media starts talking about Warren’s sterling debate performance, and suddenly it occurs to her competitors that she could very well be a useful second banana…

Still looking for the offer from Buttigieg’s team, but maybe he’s young enough not to automatically assume that any woman would automatically be flattered to be offered a job as his backup. Because Bernie and Biden both have the feeble, misogynistic ‘in my day’ excuse. Unlike, I suspect, the Bernie / Biden staffers who thought it would be smart marketing to put it out there at this point in the race…

Clownshow Mike, demonstrating their ‘rationale’:

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