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You are here: Home / Archives for Balloon Juice / Readership Capture

Readership Capture

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: YES QUEEN!

by Anne Laurie|  December 11, 20195:56 am| 118 Comments

This post is in: A Woman's Place Is In The House, Education, NANCY SMASH!, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, Readership Capture, Republican Stupidity

I had so much fun putting a smile on all of these little faces from Randle Highlands Elementary School in Washington, D.C. Thanks to the @TheEllenShow for letting me be a part of #EllensGreatestNight!pic.twitter.com/3lOWaUAqQY

— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) December 11, 2019

And too also:

Pelosi says during the speaker's press holiday reception that Congress is planning on leaving next Friday. "One way or another," they will get everything done in time, she says. pic.twitter.com/4QpfsfWnzz

— Grace Segers (@Grace_Segers) December 10, 2019


“Wanna find out if I still have those ball bats in my office, boys?”

Today was a tale of two press conferences for Pelosi, as she hopscotched from an announcement of articles of impeachment to take a victory lap over a deal on USMCA.

My rundown of a particularly weird morning on Capitol Hill:https://t.co/Idi6QYkkEV

— Grace Segers (@Grace_Segers) December 11, 2019

show full post on front page

… At the first appearance in the Capitol’s stately Rayburn Room shortly after 9 a.m., Pelosi spoke of Congress’s “solemn” duty to act as a check on the president before ceding the floor to the Judiciary Committee chairman to announce impeachment articles accusing the president of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. At the second press conference, Pelosi was flanked by about two dozen Democratic lawmakers, the atmosphere joyful as she touted the newly forged deal on USMCA.

If she experienced any cognitive dissonance over slapping the president with impeachment articles before handing him a bipartisan legislative victory, Pelosi did not betray it to reporters. When asked by CBS News’ Nancy Cordes if it was a “coincidence” that the two announcements were made on the same day, Pelosi swiftly responded that it was not. Congress only has one more week before a long recess, and that means multitasking, she said…

Speaking at a conference hosted by Politico later on Tuesday, Pelosi said the USMCA deal “isn’t about politics or giving the president a win,” and that Congress shouldn’t walk away from a deal that benefits Americans because the president is involved.

But the deal also holds undeniable political benefits for the 40-odd freshmen Democratic lawmakers who flipped Republican seats in 2018, many of whom promised to work with Mr. Trump when necessary and were wary of impeachment before the Ukraine scandal. Several of these members were at the podium with Pelosi as she made her announcement, including Congressman Colin Allred of Texas, Congresswoman Lucy McBath of Georgia and Congresswoman Abby Finkenauer of Iowa…

The House is expected to vote to impeach the president and to approve USMCA next week before leaving for the Christmas holiday, setting up the prospect of the House approving both on the same day. Congress must also approve the National Defense Authorization Act and 12 spending bills to fund the government ahead of its scheduled departure on December 20.

Despite the news cycle accelerating at breakneck speed, Pelosi appears to be unfazed…

In case you weren’t keeping score, Pelosi’s strategy turned out to be correct mere hours later when McTurtle announced that the Senate wouldn’t vote on the trade deal until after it dealt with the impeachment, cutting off the Republican talking points about Dems off at the knees.

— Gay and Bad ???????? (@SJGrunewald) December 11, 2019

"Part of my success is that I don't care. I know my purpose, I know what I'm there to do, and if that's the caliber of question someone wants to drum up, that's their problem."

— Speaker Nancy Pelosi, on ageist and sexist critiques of her leadership#RuleWithUs

— Charlotte Clymer?????? (@cmclymer) December 10, 2019

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: YES QUEEN!Post + Comments (118)

Seasonal Open Thread: Simple Gifts

by Anne Laurie|  December 8, 201911:36 am| 34 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Readership Capture, Trumpery

No pushing. No shouting. No assembly required. Just real news that matters.

With a digital subscription, you gain unlimited reading access to 2020 election analysis, in-depth investigative reporting, and coverage you need to stay informed.

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) November 26, 2019


Local news subs (assuming you have a local paper) make good gifts, too.

The Warren campaign has made cross-stitch patterns available featuring the slogan “Capitalism without rules is theft” and, of course, Bailey based on popular merch designs https://t.co/tKkdw4Xiwc pic.twitter.com/0FvcRhkXJx

— laura olin (@lauraolin) December 5, 2019


Free for downloading, at the link. The motto patterns are pretty simple — they could be worked up in a couple of hours, even by a beginner. You could even use waste canvas to cross-stitch them onto a sweatshirt or the back of a denim jacket…

(If I can ever find my cross-stitch pattern books, I may work up ‘Capitalism without rules is theft’ in a florid pseudo-Victorian script. Which is not the Warren style, but the concept pleases me.)

Anybody want to share gift suggestions?

******
Or if you’re looking for a *gag* gift… emphasis on the gag…

The undocumented housekeepers told us they had to check @realdonaldtrump's supply of orange face makeup. Now, the company that makes that makeup — @bronxcolors — is running a sale where you can get a discount on Trump's exact shade. ("BHC06").https://t.co/bGJfQs7Z8N

— David Fahrenthold (@Fahrenthold) December 5, 2019


(Not a big makeup consumer, but as I understand it, concealer is properly used for small areas, to disguise dark undereye circles or hide blemishes. Normal users would cover the patch with a dusting of foundation, like blending paint over spackle. If the Occupant is too lazy or too ignorant not to slather it on like street-mime slap, that would help explain why it looks so extraordinarily unnatural.)

Seasonal Open Thread: Simple GiftsPost + Comments (34)

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Happy Thanksgiving

by Anne Laurie|  November 28, 20195:07 am| 191 Comments

This post is in: Civil Rights, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, Readership Capture

From our family to yours, #HappyThanksgiving! pic.twitter.com/PBDBaUo1Fy

— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) November 27, 2019

I will be changing my wifi password to “IMPEACH45” this Thursday so that my MAGA family members have to put that in their devices to have some of my delicious WiFi.

— Tony Posnanski (@tonyposnanski) November 23, 2019

My MAGA family wasn’t invited this year and I’m going to sit and relax in my PJs happy to not have to listen to the BS coming out of their mouths pic.twitter.com/tvsBTmb323

— Mommy Manifesto (@mommymanifesto) November 24, 2019

It's hard to celebrate Thanksgiving in the original way anymore, so I'm going to settle for giving my Uber driver smallpox and stealing his car.

— Mig Greengard (@chessninja) November 26, 2019

And a little holiday uplift, for those of us who grew up believing it wasn’t a real celebration till the shouting started…

Martin O’Malley just drove Ken Cuccinelli out of the Dubliner in DC w/ a passion-laced and shame-invoking tirade on behalf of immigrant refugee children!!!

— Siobhan Houton Arnold (@siobhanphilly) November 27, 2019

Bingo! Only one of them is living the motto “Man For Others.”
Hint: It’s not Ken.

— katie kelly mack (@KatieKellyMack) November 28, 2019


Cuccinelli really has worked hard to deracinate himself — the Italian-American families *I* grew up with would’ve disowned a member who walked away from a fight with one mouthy mick. And probably cemented the disinheritance with a beating about the head & shoulders from the alpha nonna present.

… The two political polar opposites crossed paths Wednesday night at the Dubliner, a Capitol Hill Irish pub popular on Thanksgiving Eve with Gonzaga High School graduates. Both men attended the school, graduating five years apart in the 1980s…

Cuccinelli did not immediately respond to a requests for comment. O’Malley declined a request for a phone interview, but gave his version of events via text. He disputed Arnold’s account on one point: He said he wasn’t shouting, but raised his voice “just to be heard” in the pub.

O’Malley, a former Baltimore mayor who was Maryland governor from 2006 to 2014 and unsuccessfully sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, said he was at the Dubliner with members of his Gonzaga class…

“We all let him know how we felt about him putting refugee immigrant kids in cages – certainly not what we were taught by the Jesuits at Gonzaga,” O’Malley texted.

In another text, he called Cuccinelli “the son of immigrant grandparents who cages children for a fascist president.”

“We all let him know how we felt about him putting refugee immigrant kids in cages – certainly not what we were taught by the Jesuits at Gonzaga,” O’Malley texted…

(Suspect the Gonzaga Jesuits wouldn’t have approved, either. Backing away from an argument is *not* a Jesuit practice.)

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Happy ThanksgivingPost + Comments (191)

Friday Morning Open Thread: Readership Capture

by Anne Laurie|  November 22, 20197:08 am| 97 Comments

This post is in: Election Year, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, Readership Capture

Barack Obama bluntly urged Dems nervous about the state of the party's primary field to "chill out" on Thursday, stressing that while there are differences between the numerous Dems running for president, those differences are "relatively minor"

From CA: https://t.co/YpRbf262ku

— Dan Merica (@merica) November 22, 2019

… “Everybody needs to chill out about the candidates, but gin up about the prospect of rallying behind whoever emerges from this process,” Obama said after a lengthy answer that defend the arduous primary process that Democrats are currently in.

Obama, until recently, rarely commented on the 2020 field, but at a fundraiser here in Silicon Valley on Thursday the President cheered on the vigorous debate happening inside the party while stressing the need to get elected and warned about some of the obstacles the numerous women candidates and one gay candidate will likely face…

The former President added it was important to draw a line between contentious arguments playing out inside the party and the need to get elected, decrying “purity tests” because “the country’s complicated.”
“Those are good arguments to have,” he said about debates of health care and climate change, “but you got to win the election.”

He also cautioned Democratic voters from getting too wrapped up in the issues they have with individual candidates, telling the audience in California that people’s “flaws are magnified” during a primary.

“The field will narrow and there’s going to be one person, and if that is not your perfect candidate and there are certain aspects of what they say that you don’t agree with and you don’t find them completely inspiring the way you’d like, I don’t care,” Obama said bluntly, “because the choice is so stark and the stakes are so high that you cannot afford to be ambivalent in this race.”…

The event benefits the DNC’s Democratic Unity Fund, a cache of money that will is being raised to eventually benefit the party’s general election campaign. This is Obama’s first event of the cycle for the DNC…

A number of Democratic candidates — including Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren — have made fighting income inequality central to their campaigns and Obama said he believes it’s one area where there is more room now for Democrats to go big.

“It is something we were aware of in 2008 and we wanted to do more about, but the first thing was putting out a big fire to make sure we didn’t have a great depression,” Obama said of the issue…

“We will not win just by increasing the turnout of the people who already agree w us completely on everything. Which is why I am always suspicious of purity tests during elections. Because, you know what, the country is complicated.” via @BrianSlodysko

https://t.co/RPM4kc95pQ

— Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) November 22, 2019

You may have heard us say this before, but it bears repeating.

Any one of our candidates is better than the current occupant of the White House who's been abusing his power and has engaged in a corrupt bribery scheme.

— Nancy Pelosi (@TeamPelosi) November 21, 2019

Congratulations to @MichelleObama for her Grammy nomination for the audiobook of "Becoming"! A beautiful story, well-told (and well-spoken!) 🏆

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) November 21, 2019

Obama on key values: “Be kind. Be useful. Ask why not? Know you have power to change things. Being a leader is identifying the power in others and unleashing it.” #DF19 #dreamforce2019 pic.twitter.com/yjfGcbNlFT

— Shirlene Chow (@ShirleneChow) November 21, 2019

Friday Morning Open Thread: Readership CapturePost + Comments (97)

On The Road – 🐾BillinGlendaleCA – Orion

by Alain|  November 18, 20195:00 am| 41 Comments

This post is in: On The Road, Open Threads, Photo Blogging, Readership Capture, Travel

Welcome to the new On The Road! It’s been a long time coming, and I’m excited that we’re back.

I’m still deep in the moving/unpacking process. To explain the long time this is taking – I’m moving two houses (my mother’s and mine) into my newly-purchased home. And my house has 1.5 houses worth of stuff from our inability to throw things away combined with my mother-in-law’s stuff we inherited. So it’s not as simple as “put everything in a box” – in some cases, we have three, even four, of an item, but they aren’t together. So as we pack things or reveal things to be packed, we often have to put an item aside until we can get to the other house to group similar items.

Coincidentally, I now live right near a feature called Red Rocks.

And now onto Bill!

I’ve made a couple of trips up to Red Rock to take advantage of it’s dark skies this past month. The first trip I concentrated on the Orion nebula, a wide shot of the Andromeda and Triangulum galaxies, and a wide shot of the Orion nebula complex. I was quite unhappy with the later and returned to reshoot it(with a wider 30mm lens). I also wanted to shoot a narrow shot of the Triangulum galaxy but the battery on my sky tracker ran out of juice. On the way back though Mojave the CHP had blocked off the road for a truck carrying a very long, eh, something to the Mojave Spaceport.

Technical Note: The two Orion photos have the notation “LRGB Processing”, this method of processing a photo separates the luminosity and the color in a photo and processes them separately.

On The Road - 🐾BillinGlendaleCA - Orion 3
Red Rock Canyon State Park, CANovember 5, 2019

Star Trails at the Red Cliffs.

When I shoot at a place with an interesting foreground, I’ll set up one camera and shoot star trails. They’re easy to shoot and due to the relative lack of air traffic at Red Rock, easy to process as well.

On The Road - 🐾BillinGlendaleCA - Orion 2
Red Rock Canyon State Park, CANovember 5, 2019

Orion Nebula Complex(LRGB processing)

The area in and around the Orion constilation contain a large number of nebula. The Great Orion nebula shines brightly to the right of center. On each side of the bottom star in Orion’s belt are the Flame Nebula and the Horsehead Nebula. Surrounding these nebula and reaching to blue Rigel is Barnards Loop. Above Rigel is the faint Witchhead Nebula. At the bottom left is the Cone Nebula and Rosette Nebula.

On The Road - 🐾BillinGlendaleCA - Orion 1
Red Rock Canyon State Park, CAOctober 26, 2019

Great Orion Nebula and Running Man Nebula(LRGB processing)

I’ve posted pictures of the Great Orion nebula that I’ve shot here in town, Red Rock is a dark place and more detail is visible up there. There’s a bit of pattern noise that showed up at the bottom, I’ve since figured a way to remedy that. I’ve added in a meteor that was caught in one of the first exposures, you can see it(it’s the green line at the bottom left).

On The Road – 🐾BillinGlendaleCA – OrionPost + Comments (41)

Trolls 1, John Cole 0: Revisiting the Commenting policy

by John Cole|  November 16, 20194:11 pm| 223 Comments

This post is in: Readership Capture

The commenting policy as laid out on Thursday is as follows:

Things that will get you an immediate timeout:

1.) Sexism, racism, ageism; homophobic outbursts, targeting of marginalized groups, etc. We’re not going to put up with personal attacks beyond a joking nature, nor will we tolerate targeted harassment of commenters. Take your shit somewhere else.
2.) Explicit calls for violence. Obviously things said in jest such as “guillotines” or nonsense like that are recognized for the hyperbole they are. But direct, actionable threats or calls for violence are out, for obvious reasons.
3.) Targeted harassment of other commenters or front pagers.
4.) Intentional disinformation campaigns.
5.) Posting links to inappropriate websites or sites that compromise a user’s security.
6.) Divulging personal information about a commenter or front pager (real name, address, place of work, etc.)
7.) I am sure you idiots will think of something else so I will just leave this here.

Apparently we need to discuss, in detail, item #4. Intentional disinformation campaigns include anything that is known to be false with the slightest bit of knowledge and or research. These include things like:

1.) Obama is a Kenyan Muslim.
2.) Climate change is a hoax.
3.) Vaccines cause autism.
4.) The world is flat.
5.) Nicotine is not addictive.
6.) Iraq had WMD
7.) The DNC stole the 2016 election from Bernie
8.) Chemtrails
9.) Seth Rich was murdered by the DNC
10.) Sandy Hook was a false flag operation.

Etc. You get the idea. Also, another example of said behavior is the right wing (and lunatic fringe left) claim that there was no Russian interference in the 2016 election. There was. That is undeniable.

The only thing really up for debate is he extent of HOW MUCH COOPERATION the Russians received from the campaign, because the President and those around him have lied repeatedly about it (and are now convicted felons in several cases).

Take that bullshit to reddit or 8chan or whatever.

Trolls 1, John Cole 0: Revisiting the Commenting policyPost + Comments (223)

Commenting Policy for the New Balloon Juice

by John Cole|  November 14, 20197:54 pm| 211 Comments

This post is in: Readership Capture

Here goes:

First and foremost, Balloon Juice is a community, so our commenting policy is a combination of objective standards as well as some more subjective community standards for decency. So while there will be some very clear lines over which not to cross, there will also be some fuzzy areas that we will deal with when we get to them. It’s not a black and white world, and this is a liberal blog, so you will just have to deal with some nuance.

Punishments:
First Offense: 3 day timeout
Second Offense: 1 week timeout
Third offense: 1 month timeout
Beyond that- Banned.

Things that will get you an immediate timeout:
1.) Any of the ism’s- sexism, racism, homophobic outbursts, targeting marginalized groups, etc. We’re not going to put up with personal attacks beyond a joking nature, nor will we tolerate targeted harassment of commenters. Take your shit somewhere else.
2.) Explicit calls for violence. Obviously things said in jest such as “guillotines” or nonsense like that are recognized for the hyperbole they are. But direct, actionable threats or calls for violence are out, for obvious reasons.
3.) Targeted harassment of other commenters or front pagers.
4.) Posting links to inappropriate websites, or sites that compromise a user’s security.
5.) Divulging personal information about a commenter or front pager (real name, address, place of work, etc.)
6.) I am sure you idiots will think of something else so I will just leave this here.

Things you should avoid that may lead to punishment:
1.) Just generally being a no life asshole who derails every thread with your own personal hobby horse. Yes, we have the pie filter, but some people don’t like to use it. They shouldn’t have to suffer because some idiot has come in and posted 75 comments on an 80 comment thread that has nothing to do with the original post.
2.) Repeated attempts to derail a conversation. Unlike yours truly, we have actual experts here- Adam, Cheryl, Dave, and others are good at what they do. Weare lucky to have them. When they are trying to have a serious conversation and you are just trolling or being a jerk, you take away from the rest of us. You are stealing a valuable asset- their time and wisdom. It’s selfish, irritating, and I don’t want to see it.
3.) Again, left blank here for other things you all will inevitably come up with.

Process for Bans:
If you have been flagged for inappropriate behavior, one of the front pagers will spam your comment. Once that has been done, they will email me, give me a link, and I will figure out what to do. I will consult with them, but I will have the final say, so direct your venom and incoherent tweets and emails at me.

A Closing Note:

I absolutely hate that I even have to have these policies, but there it is. I don’t expect it will be too big of a problem, because most of the people self select out and go somewhere else where their nonsense is appreciated (reddit incel forums? Red State? Who knows? Who cares?)

For the most part, you are free to talk about whatever you want. Just don’t be a dick. Treat people decently (I’d say treat them the way you want to be treated but I know some of you self-loathing idiots will take advantage of that), and you will find that people will be good to you in return. A lot of us have known each other for a good long while. We want new people to feel the same way. This is a community. Treat it like one.

This is subject to editing and changes.

Commenting Policy for the New Balloon JuicePost + Comments (211)

Looks Like You Haven’t Burnt it Down Yet

by John Cole|  November 13, 20197:57 pm| 185 Comments

This post is in: Readership Capture

Miracles never cease.

How do you like it? Is it faster?

Looks Like You Haven’t Burnt it Down YetPost + Comments (185)

Welcome To the New 2019 Edition of Balloon Juice

by John Cole|  November 13, 20196:01 pm| 319 Comments

This post is in: Readership Capture

That’s right, we’re rolling in the new website with the soothing tones of Barry Manilow.

First off, I’d like to thank all of you for showing an alarming amount of patience during the never-ending rebuild and for your help testing, and especially the people who just shut the fuck up and didn’t do anything- you, people, are the true heroes.

I’d also like to thank the OG crew of folks who did the initial selection of the web developer.

And of course Watergirl, who carried this baby to completion.

I’d also like to thank Alain and crew, who literally performed miracles for the past two years keeping this puppy afloat. I don’t know the specifics, but I know we were like umpteen updates behind and Alain was constantly hotfixing stuff because the database was so wrecked we could not even recreate the website on a test server. We really would have been up shit’s creek without them. Thanks, man. I’m glad to have you onboard as a front page poster and super happy to take this burden off of you.

I would also like to ANNOUNCE SOMETHING VERY SPECIAL and something I am super excited about. Please welcome commenter Ruemara to the front page. I am so surprised I managed to not blab this before. WELCOME ABOARD RUE!

And that’s it. Obviously there are going to be some wrinkles, we are going to be doing some tweaking here and there, and we really need to make the site as ADA compliant and screen reader friendly as possible (AND ONCE AGAIN, FRONT PAGERS, PLEASE ADD ALT TEXT TO IMAGES FROM HERE ON OUT), but that is it.

I’m only mildly compelled to tell you all to go fuck yourselves, so I am going to call this a victory. I’m going to head out to get something to eat.

I really hope you enjoy the new website. We worked very hard to add as much of the things you guys wanted, while also keeping the “blog” feel to the joint. We’re also spending a LOT more on hosting to speed things up, and I hope it works out for you all. Have fun.

Welcome To the New 2019 Edition of Balloon JuicePost + Comments (319)

On The Road: Finishing Up

by Alain|  October 28, 20195:00 am| 20 Comments

This post is in: On The Road, Open Threads, Readership Capture, Travel

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Today we’re finishing up HinTN’s long-lost, then re-sent submissions from an amazing trip to Utah. So far, it’s been wonder after wonder, and I know you’ll just love today’s offering!

But…this brief resurrection of On The Road is now over, and so OTR will return when the new site launches.  When it does, please use the new form that will be available on the new site to make submissions. As soon as I have one, I’ll begin the new On The Road.  One issue with the new form and site is that the old OTR content will not be edited to look like the new OTR stuff, so layout, etc. will be very different. It looks good and works well, clean and simple – I can’t wait for the first submission and post!

That plus my moving is why I’m fine with having a hiatus – there will be a clean break between old and new content and layout, etc. and I don’t have a lot of time for the next couple of weeks. I’m still mid-craziness, though things are getting better by the day.

 

Continuing the series from HinTN.

 

 

The only one from Dead Horse Point State Park.

Dead Horse Point – Colorado River View from Ryans Bench

Dead Horse Point State Park is a small slice of the hugeness that is Islands in the Sky, but it is especially beautiful in its overlooking of the Colorado River. This photograph is from the location of a bench placed in honor of a young man who loved these lands, worked at the park, and died much too young.

 

 

And then there’s Arches NP. Wow, just WOW!

The first of five from Arches National Park.

Arches – North and South Arch

This is more or less what I thought Arches was going to be about, but I was delighted to discover how much more there is to this small park.

Arches – Sand Dune Arch

Sand Dune Arch was located in an enclosed space reached by passing through a narrow defile. Sand collected in the space, creating a beach you could sink your bare feet into satisfyingly cool sand and kids could play underneath and on top of the arch itself.

 

Arches – Broken Arch Across the Desert

Emerging from the beach at Sand Dune, the trek across the desert to Broken Arch beckoned with this vista.

 

 

Arches – Arches in the Making Part 2

One of the most interesting aspects of being in Arches, indeed in all these parks, was the immediacy of the vastness of geologic time. Both water and wind work ever so slowly and inexorably on the seemingly immutable land. These “arches in the making” were exemplars of this work.

 

Arches – Landscape Arch and its Replacement

It was a brisk one hour round trip out to Landscape Arch, which in geologic time is probably not much longer for this world. Luckily, it has a replacement close to hand. If you look closely you can see how it’s growing wider.

Also too, Moab was a delightful town.

 

Wow, just wow. Utah has amazing geology and I’m so thankful you could share some of it with us. In the late ‘oughts, I did a couple of solo roadtrips from Colorado into Utah. Out West, I just love to drive and see, just see everything. So I went to Arches and did a couple of brief, hour hikes and took some (not so good!) photos and saw enough of Canyonlands to know I wanted to go and really explore and spend some time. Since then, I’ve learned of lots of interesting remains in Canyonlands, things left over from explorers, outlaws, hermits, Native tribes, etc. You could spend a lifetime exploring its entirety just on the geology, flora, and fauna, but with archaeology added, it really should be on folks’ “don’t-miss” list.

 

Have a great day, Halloween, and related holidays. I hope the Great Pumpkin is kind to you and yours.

It’s comforting that my mother died on All Soul’s Day/Dia de los Muertos. I’ve been a light collector/fan of Day of the Dead artwork, sculptures, and figurines for over 20 years now, but this year everything is packed; pre-Christmas, decorating isn’t a priority right now!

 

On that note, OTR shall return with the new site, take care, all!

On The Road: Finishing UpPost + Comments (20)

On The Road: Another Day

by Alain|  October 25, 20195:00 am| 28 Comments

This post is in: On The Road, Open Threads, Readership Capture, Travel

Good morning, everybody and Happy Friday!

Today we continue with some fantastic submissions from HinTN that I’d lost but have been re-sent. We’ll continue Monday, and that may be it until the new site. I very much wanted to run these as the last ones before my hiatus so I’m so glad HinTN reached out and re-sent them to me – I felt horrible being unable to retrieve them, and am thankful for gracious people.

Have a great weekend, everybody!

 

These are from Canyonlands NP.

Canyonlands – Green River Overlook

Canyonlands NP and Dead Horse Point SP share the same space near Moab, UT Dead Horse Point is tiny; Canyonlands NP is huge. It has three contiguous but very distinct areas, all of which overlook from various elevations the confluence of the Colorado and Green Rivers. We only got to visit Island in the Sky, which shares space with Dead Horse Point State Park. The view south over the Green River is amazing because the drop from the overlook to that tableland is about 1,000 feet. Then wherever the water ran the land is just carved away into the drainage for the Green River.

 

 

Canyonlands – View through Mesa Arch

This photo looks east through the Mesa Arch, over the Colorado River to the Lasale Mountains.

 

Canyonlands – Jeep Trip Hammer Formation

We took a jeep trip at Canyonlands, too, and along the way we saw more of Thor’s Hammers.

 

On The Road: Another DayPost + Comments (28)

On The Road: A Brief Return!

by Alain|  October 24, 20195:00 am| 15 Comments

This post is in: On The Road, Open Threads, Readership Capture, Travel

Good morning, everybody!

 

This is a brief return of OTR. These are pictures I’d hoped to run a few weeks back, so I’m glad to finally be able to run them. I will continue tomorrow and Monday, and we’ll see how  things stand then.

The move is going well, but slowly. It’s a complicated situation but the end is in sight and normal life should re-commence in a couple of weeks.

Without further ado, enjoy the pictures and the day!

 

These are a continuation from HinTN, long-overdue thanks to yours truly losing them and then access to my old email. The delay is 100% my lame-ass fault.

 

These are from Capitol Reef  National Park.

Capitol Reef – Approach from Boulder Mountain

 

As you drive from Bryce to Capitol Reef NP you cross Boulder Mountain, which affords a first look at the area around Capitol Reef.  It is primarily a long geologic feature called the Waterpocket Fold, a huge sandstone formation that runs north and south to the west of the Henry Mountains.

 

Capitol Reef – Arch in the Making

 

The park is so big that we took a four hour jeep ride just to try and get a sense of the land.  Of course we saw a nascent arch.  They are everywhere in this area when you start looking.

 

 

Capitol Reef – Petroglyphs

 

The park includes a very hospitable river bottom with lush grasses and fruit

 

 

I just love seeing petroglyphs, it’s an amazing way to touch mankind from ages past. Looking at them you can almost see a bare arm scratching on the walls during a smoky, boring night or rainy day.

 

Have a great day, everyone. We’ll return to Utah tomorrow!

On The Road: A Brief Return!Post + Comments (15)

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Readership Capture

by Anne Laurie|  October 19, 20195:29 am| 120 Comments

This post is in: I'm With Her, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, Readership Capture, All we want is life beyond the thunderdome, Rare Sincerity

We’re searching for additional artifacts that tell the story of @BarackObama and @MichelleObama for possible inclusion in the Obama Presidential Center Museum. Have something you’d like us to consider? Tell us about it here: https://t.co/5AHpo319ej

— The Obama Foundation (@ObamaFoundation) October 17, 2019

Elsewhere:

This is the only news concerning @HillaryClinton that I give a shit about today. We spent an entire election on this inane story four years ago because a lot of otherwise intelligent people deemed it important. Many of them still run media outlets today. https://t.co/00hAIiZBEN

— Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith) October 19, 2019

conveniently released on a Friday afternoon

— Jennifer Epstein (@jeneps) October 18, 2019

Remember when Jared Kushner wanted a DIY SCIF to talk to the Russians without NSA?

— Xeni Jardin (@xeni) October 18, 2019

This is a lie with more than 3,000 retweets as of Friday afternoon, and hundreds of people responding to lap it up. https://t.co/tDdCbN9p0h

— Julian Sanchez (@normative) October 18, 2019

How right does Hillary Clinton have to be on Russian disruption to not be treated with skepticism every time she talks about it?

— Schooley (@Rschooley) October 18, 2019

Ok. I’ll say it. I think that’s precisely what Hillary intended. https://t.co/JzAhPUAj4l

— Armando (@ArmandoNDK) October 19, 2019

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Readership CapturePost + Comments (120)

Friday Morning Open Thread: Day of the Girl (Year of the Felons)

by Anne Laurie|  October 11, 20194:09 am| 225 Comments

This post is in: Hail to the Hairpiece, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, Readership Capture, Republican Venality, Daydream Believers, Let A Thousand Watergates Bloom

With #DayoftheGirl on Friday, I want you to meet Diana, whose life was transformed by a scholarship from @AGEAfrica. It’s an example of what happens when we invest in the promise inside every girl. Support their work through @GirlsAlliance: https://t.co/uAJh9LbSW0 pic.twitter.com/NthggSn7zv

— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) October 7, 2019

Elsewhere…

It's becoming a challenge to keep up with the high crimes and misdemeanors.

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) October 10, 2019

The front page of Friday's @NYDailyNews. pic.twitter.com/g1MiQHdTj6

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 11, 2019

Seven years ago today https://t.co/WMwknIjSRl

— Lachlan Markay (@lachlan) October 10, 2019

President Trump with the two men he claims not to know, the personal attorney he hopes doesn't get indicted, and the Vice President. via https://t.co/H6lQUwj22f pic.twitter.com/LUYotTJRRg

— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) October 10, 2019

show full post on front page

Two of you donors were arrested today, @GOPLeader https://t.co/WGwtQ1hhpQ

— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) October 11, 2019

“I think there are two people Putin pays – Rohrbacher and Trump.” – man who took money from Ukrainian criminals https://t.co/ZrduUC3Uxz

— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) October 10, 2019

In addition to this other stuff, Giuiliani is in midst of a nasty divorce. All his finances are discoverable. He best have declared & paid taxes on his Ukraine-related earnings. Judith has him by the…

On the bright side, if he goes to prison, he might escape paying alimony.

— Ana Navarro-Cárdenas (@ananavarro) October 10, 2019

I kid, I kid. This flow of news isn't like waterboarding. @seanhannity hasn't smugly minimized the flow of news and promised to endure it for charity then run away and pretended he never made the promise and flipped out at anyone who brought it up.

— BoycottBlizzardHat (@Popehat) October 10, 2019

You can probably understand Trump-era politics as a kind of “broken windows” phenomenon following from lax enforcement on white collar crime in the 21st century. pic.twitter.com/mZXj0nJuAV

— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) October 11, 2019

to me, it's a problem with that culture https://t.co/anE0H5kZCJ

— Jesse Singal (@jessesingal) October 11, 2019

Friday Morning Open Thread: Day of the Girl (Year of the Felons)Post + Comments (225)

On The Road: On Hiatus

by Alain|  October 8, 20195:00 am| 23 Comments

This post is in: On The Road, Open Threads, Readership Capture, Travel

Folks,

Today is the last regular post for a few weeks as I have to focus on packing and moving and unpacking and a bunch of related things. Our offer was accepted and things are moving fast!

I had hoped the new site would be live and the new submission function would be functional and so we’d have a bunch of content lined up, but that’s not the case and I don’t have the time to deal with email submissions right now, so please accept my apologies.  I’ll try to post something here and there, but I don’t expect I’ll be back to a regular schedule until next month, unless the new site comes on before then.

 

Today’s picture is the view, a 5-10 minute walk from my soon-to-be front door. I’m so very excited to be so close to the river as I spent age 7-30 minus college near this same river but miles downstream. I spent countless hours along and in it, exploring, learning, fishing, partying, and in general, playing with Nature. I’m glad I’ll have such access again – being able to walk to the river from home is such a nice thing, it becomes a companion, a refuge from home and the stressors of life that you can almost stumble to, instead of having to drive somewhere and deal with all that hassle.

Looks like I can eat 1-3 fish per month (depending on species) from this part of the river, which is so much better than where I used to live downstream – fish are verboten for those who care and it always breaks my heart to see so many immigrant laborers fishing to feed their families in the late afternoons and evenings. I get it, and I love to eat fish, so I fish to eat, not just for sport, but it saddens me seeing them feed their families a significant part of their weekly protein from not-so-good waters. The fish that far downstream have heavy metals and nasty chemicals in them, but fresh, “free” protein is undeniable as is the joy of some good time outside catching dinner.

 

 

Have a great rest of the week, everybody!

On The Road: On HiatusPost + Comments (23)

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