Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

… makes me wish i had hoarded more linguine

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

This blog goes to 11…

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Naturally gregarious and alpha

Nevertheless, she persisted.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

We still have time to mess this up!

This is how realignments happen…

I can’t take this shit today. I just can’t.

Fuck if i know. i just get yelled at when i try it.

Too inconsequential to be sued

I don’t care how fun he is after a few whiskies. fuck that guy.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Four legs? good! two legs? we’re not so sure…

Yes we did.

Saul Alinsky is my co-pilot.

No one could have predicted…

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Women: they get shit done

Han shot first.

I really should read my own blog.

Open Thread: Obama Museum and Selma Anniversary

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Open Thread: Obama Museum

 

You are America. Unconstrained by habit and convention. Unencumbered by what is, ready to seize what ought to be. For everywhere in this country, there are first steps to be taken, there is new ground to cover, there are more bridges to be crossed. America is not the project of any one person. The single most powerful word in our democracy is the word ‘We.’ ‘We The People.’ ‘We Shall Overcome.’ ‘Yes We Can.’ That word is owned by no one. It belongs to everyone. Oh, what a glorious task we are given to continually try to improve this great nation of ours.

PRESIDENT OBAMA, 2015

 

I thought on this Selma anniversary, it was good to hear from Pres. Obama.

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Yesterday Was a Pretty Big Day

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The Covid Relief bill, which as many of you have already noted, is a pretty big fucking deal, has a lot of good stuff that will help a lot of people. I think the part that excites me the most is the billions spent to expand and facilitate covid testing and distribution of the vaccine, as well as help development of a new vaccine.

The other part that strikes me as game changing is the child tax credit:

The package makes a significant change to the social safety net through the tax code that could have an impact on child poverty rates and potentially form a pillar of Mr. Biden’s economic legacy. The plan would raise the $2,000 Child Tax Credit to $3,000, set the credit at $3,600 for parents of children under age 6 and make parents of 17-year-olds eligible. It would also make the credit fully refundable, so low-income households would get the full benefit, no matter how little they earn. For a household with a 4-year-old and 7-year-old that doesn’t earn enough to pay income taxes, the plan would boost their maximum child tax credit to $6,600 from $2,800.

The proposal would also authorize periodic payments, so that the credit becomes a near-universal child allowance like those in some other countries instead of part of a lump-sum tax refund.

While the package would make the child tax-credit changes only for one year, it is broadly expected that Democrats will seek to make them permanent in the future.

Again, game changing. This will help lift so many kids out of poverty.

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Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Snippets

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I seem to remember there are hellebore fans among us…

Low tech ‘farming’:

High tech ditto:

(You guys want pretty pics on Sunday morning? Send me some!)

***********
I broke down & placed my annual order with my favorite heirloom tomato grower in California. The already expensive shipping costs have just about doubled — priority mail is no longer reliable for live plants, so Laurel’s using express shipping exclusively. Decided it was still worth it to me (where else am I gonna find great varieties like Chocolate Stripes, Ruby Gold, or Tati’s Wedding?), but now I feel like Louis deJoy personally owes me money, the sumbich!

Still in the 30s here north of Boston, but the temps are supposed to climb into the 50s this week, so I’m planning to drag the three potted roses and Spousal Unit’s half-dozen planters of autumn-acquired dwarf irises out of the garage into the side yard. Meaning, no doubt, there will be at least one more snowstorm before the end of March…

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

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COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Saturday/Sunday, March 6-7

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Late Night Open Thread: Fake Outrage Is *All* The GOP Has Left

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Late Night Open Thread: Fake Outrage Is *All* The GOP Has Left

(Drew Sheneman via GoComics.com)

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Open Thread: Bad Guys

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I am catching up on Black Lightning this evening, and I thought – not for the first time – that Tobias Whale is the creepiest bad guy that I have ever seen in a film or TV show.

Professor Moriarty in the TV show Elementary also creeped me out, though I don’t exactly know why.

Who would you name as your best/worst bad guys in film or TV?

Totally open thread.

Update:  Sort of related…  (has to do with TV) I am finishing Season1 of Crossing Lines, which I paid for on Amazon Prime, and I have Season 3 recording on Tivo, but I cannot find Season 2 streaming anywhere.  This show keeps me engrossed while I am walking on the treadmill, so I would really like to find Season 2!

In the meantime, I just downloaded Season 1 of Bosch for when I finish the final 2 episodes of Crossing Lines, Season 1.

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Saturday Evening Open Thread: A Big Biden Deal, Indeed

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From the Washington Post, official paper of the company town where the monopoly industry is politics, “Biden stimulus showers money on Americans, sharply cutting poverty in defining move of presidency”:

President Biden’s stimulus package, which passed the Senate on Saturday, represents one of the most generous expansions of aid to the poor in recent history, while also showering thousands or, in some cases, tens of thousands of dollars on Americans families navigating the coronavirus pandemic.

The roughly $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, which only Democrats supported, spends most of the money on low-income and middle-class Americans and state and local governments, with very little funding going toward companies. The plan is one of the largest federal responses to a downturn Congress has enacted and economists estimate it will boost growth this year to the highest level in decades and reduce the number of Americans living in poverty by a third.

This round of aid enjoys wide support across the country, polls show, and it is likely to be felt quickly by low- and moderate-income Americans who stand to receive not just larger checks than before, but money from expanded tax credits, particularly geared toward parents; enhanced unemployment; rental assistance; food aid and health insurance subsidies…

The total numbers are staggering. Cumulatively, the government will hand out $2.2 trillion to workers and families between the relief passed last year and this latest bill, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan group. That’s equivalent to what the government spends annually on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid combined…

The Democratic stimulus package also provides significant funding for vaccine distribution and state and local governments. Business and health leaders say getting most Americans vaccinated is key to the economic recovery. But most of the attention on the bill has focused on its overall price tag and the payments that are set to go to about 150 million American households.

The latest stimulus will reduce poverty by a third, lifting nearly 13 million Americans out of it, according to an analysis by Columbia University’s Center on Poverty and Social Policy. Black Americans, Hispanic Americans and poor families with children are set to benefit the most. Child poverty would be reduced by more than half, the researchers predict…

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