"I don’t know how to describe the last 15 years other than to say most Republicans revealed that they would rather have a white king than a Black president."
Yup. Obama's presidency was when it sunk in for them that seventy years of catering to white supremacy was not a sustainable path to electoral power. As David Frum put it, having now been confronted with the fact that their policies will no longer win them elections, they decided not to abandon their policies, but to abandon democracy.
Is it good that the Supreme Court is taking seriously claims that a sitting* President could order his** rivals murdered and face no legal consequences, or literally order a military coup and be safe from any possible legal action afterwards?
How about a sitting President defrocking half a supreme court and putting them under house arrest in Tierra Del Fuego, then elevating a list provided by The Democratic Women's Caucus to the highest court in the land?
I am fixated on how very much the conservative justices want to focus only on abstractions in this case. From the reporting, they all get very shirty when confronted about the actual attempted coup the actual former President in whose interest this case is being heard at all actually carried out. They'd much rather talk about hypothetical future Presidents whose angry opponents (not just those lovable curmudgeons from Delaware!) might prosecute them for offences that... hmmm... we can merely speculate as to the nature of, and about the idea that "crime" is something that really can't be said to apply to "the national interest".
I was going to correct you by pointing out that his name is Child Sexual Assault Defender Mike Huckabee, but then I realised you weren't talking about Child Sexual Assault Defender Mike Huckabee but Child Sexual Assault Defender Mike Huckabee's son, whose name I don't remember. Possibly it's Child Sexual Assault Defender Mike Huckabee Jr.
Lots of campaign stuff to do today (outside of work, obviously). HATE IT. One of the questionnaire questions is "what do you think the hardest part of this job would be?"
I'm annoyed at the question, since I have the job, so it's not speculation, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to answer that the hardest part is actually campaigning. It's another job on top of the actual job, and one you can't do while doing your actual job, because ETHICS. It's sort of opposite of the job, because you're asking people to do something FOR you, which implies you'll do something FOR them...
I don't know. Once again I was awake at 3 with that gagging terror feeling...at least I'm starting to see what the overnighters all get up to, which is cray, bless you all.
That is one place I hope no shovel ever touches. It is like the holy grail of preservation, that and Pomeii.
I thank whatever deity or deities that exist that Fiorelli had the brilliant idea with the plaster waayyyy back when the science was merely looting with a side order of history if they felt like it
You would love it, I think, even without the opportunity to dig! It's entirely enthralling (and I thought I'd hate it--too touristy, blah blah). Carriage ruts in the streets! Medusa bas-reliefs! Every bit of it.
They are taking a careful, measured approach there. It's incredibly well preserved, and they are still making new discoveries there 300+ years after it was first discovered.
... I love Waits, cover a lot of his stuff. Mostly later things, from Rain Dogs and on, when he got more experimental, after meeting his wife and now cowriter Brennan.
’Invitation To The Blues’—together with ‘Tom Traubert’s Blues’—is a rare exception—a thing I do from his earlier work. I just put together my cover recently—this presumably why it’s so high on that list right now. Listened to it a lot trying to get it all to work.
Really pretty happy now with the arrangement I put together. Was able to get lots of the beautiful, wistful dissonance of Waits’ piano into my six plucked strings.
I have just now as of this week performed it twice in total in public—once solo on Monday, then together with the band Wednesday. Both times pretty well received.
1865: Union troops corner and kill John Wilkes Booth, Abe Lincoln’s assassin.
I don't normally do a thing on the history in a new thingy, preferring to keep comments in the thread in which they belong, but I got a fun share on this one.
So supe got a call the other day from an outreach partner saying a reporter wants to know all about the Garret farm. Said farm is where the fucker up there got it in the end, and happens to be on my work place's property (sort of). The reporter /ought/ to know that if they want to discuss the property, they need to contact our PAO guy, because that is all we're allowed to do, refer them to our PAO guy, which supe did.
The thing is, the locals love to tell the tale of how the Army destroyed this Very Important Historic Site (which at the time of acquisition, was abandoned and falling down, but I digress, it is very important) but this is where the sort of comes into play. While the Army sure did nothing to preserve the site, they were not the ones who destroyed it- the DOT did in 66 right before the passage of a law (NHPA) that may have preserved it, when they built a highway right over top of the thing, straight through the middle of the work place.
This is all public knowledge so I can share it, but also something A Reporter should have known about if they did even a modicum of the research. It ain't like road building is not incredibly well documented. A better story would be how the DOT rushed road projects to get ahead of that law in 66, I would think, but whatta I know.
The only bit about the story I actually like is how all the people he thought would sympathize with and help him were all no, man, I don't even know you, move it along
The garrets were just the poor fuckers who got stuck with him just as the feds caught up
I used to work at a place where Friday hours were 6-12 (I'd be there at 5 AM). When regular clients would ask what time I was there til and I would answer "Noon", they would respond "Oh, half day huh?" Oh sure. If you think 14 hours is a full day.
I dunno, if the gloves fit tightly enough it might be doable, or at least no worse than wearing any other sort of work gloves. The fur might be a problem, though.
For crying out loud. Telling them they are not allowed to protest is the surest way /to get them to protest.
Which come to think of it the right wing wants. They WANT there to be blood. They want The Man to be cracking skulls on the evening news because the only shot they got in November is for the Dems to split
There's a Xitter thread (/way/ downthread at this point) that points out that billionaires have been infiltrating these kinds of protests with agent-provocateurs for a while now, in order to sow chaos and lay the groundwork for their ultimate goal of destroying higher education.
Neither the press, nor the administrations of these universities, are at all equipped to deal with it, or even see it.
I don't know. All I know is the surest way to get your students to give you a big gigantic finger is to tell them that This One Thing You Are Not Allowed To Protest.
And I agree with em'. Either we have free speech for all, or we do not have it. If some are acting up or threatening people, you arrest those some. You do not tell the all "Nope, yer rights are gone"
Properly organised protests have ways of filtering out the COINTELPRO types.
They can be the best actors and liars in the world, but they have to promote, encourage or undertake certain behaviours to make their infiltration worthwhile.
Oh noes, TABS are late! Guess I'll read them later after I get home and walk the dog.
How can we even start our day without tabs?
MY NEAREST ORPHANAGE IS NEARLY 150 MILES AWAY NOW
I'm surprised you don't have an orphanage that is closer to here.
I took some diligent ... umm... effort on your part to clear the rest away.
YAY THEY'RE HERE!
LET'S GOOOOOO!!
Men are better at..
https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2024/04/26
Calvin's dad inspired me, although my wife warned that if I tried to be a dad like him, I might end up with a Calvin.
A substack note that just showed up in my feed:
"I don’t know how to describe the last 15 years other than to say most Republicans revealed that they would rather have a white king than a Black president."
https://substack.com/@thecause/note/c-54803035
Or a woman anything.
Yup. Obama's presidency was when it sunk in for them that seventy years of catering to white supremacy was not a sustainable path to electoral power. As David Frum put it, having now been confronted with the fact that their policies will no longer win them elections, they decided not to abandon their policies, but to abandon democracy.
Seven Day Weekend
https://youtu.be/-NWUfH20nVs?si=n1koskQgdFpn1tB5
Need one...
I got one coming up in the 3rd week of May, I can hardly wait.
https://www.rawstory.com/trumps-supreme-court/
Is it good that the Supreme Court is taking seriously claims that a sitting* President could order his** rivals murdered and face no legal consequences, or literally order a military coup and be safe from any possible legal action afterwards?
The answers may surprise you!
*Republican
**see the first asterisk
Ah but see, if they went with the obvious LOL NO, then the cases can be tried before the election
But if they give a yes, then the entire Biden Impeachment goes away like a fart in the wind.
So they just HAD to keep stringing it along!
How about a sitting President defrocking half a supreme court and putting them under house arrest in Tierra Del Fuego, then elevating a list provided by The Democratic Women's Caucus to the highest court in the land?
I don't think that would be bad.
I mean, if he wants to try- but Argentina's got a Trump fan in office now so maybe he wouldn't get permission.
We'll remind them of a certain feat of arms from last century, rhymes with 𝘍𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴...
What, when a bunch of squaddies went and liberated a bunch of fucking penguins and Port Stanley Tescos, because Thatcher said so?
They were pretty tough penguins...
It would be objectively good
The Roberts Court is bound and determined to beat out the Taney Court as the worst Supreme Court in history.
I am fixated on how very much the conservative justices want to focus only on abstractions in this case. From the reporting, they all get very shirty when confronted about the actual attempted coup the actual former President in whose interest this case is being heard at all actually carried out. They'd much rather talk about hypothetical future Presidents whose angry opponents (not just those lovable curmudgeons from Delaware!) might prosecute them for offences that... hmmm... we can merely speculate as to the nature of, and about the idea that "crime" is something that really can't be said to apply to "the national interest".
It is all confession for rethugs at every level.
morning birb
https://open.substack.com/pub/tek01/p/quiet-morning?r=2lkddo&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Kristi Noem bragging in new book about straight-up murdering a pet dog and goat.
Just as long as it doesn't mention that gay people or racism exist.
He didn't murder that dog (that's Huckabee territory), he merely tortured it.
I was going to correct you by pointing out that his name is Child Sexual Assault Defender Mike Huckabee, but then I realised you weren't talking about Child Sexual Assault Defender Mike Huckabee but Child Sexual Assault Defender Mike Huckabee's son, whose name I don't remember. Possibly it's Child Sexual Assault Defender Mike Huckabee Jr.
Lots of campaign stuff to do today (outside of work, obviously). HATE IT. One of the questionnaire questions is "what do you think the hardest part of this job would be?"
I'm annoyed at the question, since I have the job, so it's not speculation, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to answer that the hardest part is actually campaigning. It's another job on top of the actual job, and one you can't do while doing your actual job, because ETHICS. It's sort of opposite of the job, because you're asking people to do something FOR you, which implies you'll do something FOR them...
I don't know. Once again I was awake at 3 with that gagging terror feeling...at least I'm starting to see what the overnighters all get up to, which is cray, bless you all.
It is good that the ethics idea seems a reflex for you. Keep that up! Not the reflux. You got this.
"𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑗𝑜𝑏 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑏𝑒?"
ANSWERING STUPID QUESTIONS
/s
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
"sneaking up on my younger self with a sock full of pennies."
Ugh!
I always answer "Hopefully, gainfully employed."
They seem to like that answer
"Dancing on your grave with the rest of your current staff"
is not the correct answer
Should imagine these are also right out:
"Passed out drunk after a night of debauchery at a Vegas brothel"
"Conquering a mid sized Eurasian country"
"Decapitating mine enemies and drinking wine from their skulls"
And they say they want honest answers.
Make sure you say "since I have the job". I want to see you opponent's response.
"what do you think the hardest part of this job would be?"
HAVING TO SPEAK TO YOU FUCKING PEASANTS TO GET YOUR VOTE JESUS THIS ISN'T HARD JUST VOTE FOR ME YOU FOOLS
Having to work at least one groin chop into every KPI review.
Now we know where to send flowers!
𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗰𝘂𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗲𝘂𝗺 𝗽𝗮𝗽𝘆𝗿𝘂𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗼
Various imaging methods comprised a kind of "bionic eye" to examine charred scroll. https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/04/deciphered-herculaneum-papyrus-reveals-precise-burial-place-of-plato/
"You'll see it under this big W. You can't miss it! A big, big, W!"
🤣
"Precise". It's just a shadow cast by the real location.
Very Amber...
One day they'll discover Plato's real name using this technology. My money is on "Norbert".
"Stop calling me 𝘕𝘰𝘳𝘣𝘺! I changed it, it's 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘰 now"
It was Ian. English spelling, not Scottish.
In a cave, wasn't it?
Bullshit. Plato is buried in an ideal dodecahedron in maths space.
If you're going to argue with a 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗰𝘂𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗲𝘂𝗺 𝗽𝗮𝗽𝘆𝗿𝘂𝘀, you're gonna need a better gorilla suit.
Fuck! I thought the instructions said to wear a ghillie suit.
Mathophilosophical joke. Sue me.
I will, for a buck(y). I got the balls to do eeet.
A geodesic joke, yes?
Yes. Inspired by local geoducks, the musselly ones.
Those things are just wrong.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0qBaBb1Y-U
This is wicked cool
You just want to go there and dig a hole.
oh Nooooooo
That is one place I hope no shovel ever touches. It is like the holy grail of preservation, that and Pomeii.
I thank whatever deity or deities that exist that Fiorelli had the brilliant idea with the plaster waayyyy back when the science was merely looting with a side order of history if they felt like it
Pompeii has had many a shovel there, but they take great care (now) with it.
One of the coolest places I've ever been.
Some day, Blamethrower!
And I hope they are more using smaller, less destructive tools, is what I mean XD Like the archaeology you see on the TV
You would love it, I think, even without the opportunity to dig! It's entirely enthralling (and I thought I'd hate it--too touristy, blah blah). Carriage ruts in the streets! Medusa bas-reliefs! Every bit of it.
They are taking a careful, measured approach there. It's incredibly well preserved, and they are still making new discoveries there 300+ years after it was first discovered.
Twelfth right now on the autogenerated ‘you streamed these the most so far this year’ list my streaming service puts together for me:
Tom Waits—Invitation To The Blues
https://youtu.be/Ag2hddV1hE4
... I love Waits, cover a lot of his stuff. Mostly later things, from Rain Dogs and on, when he got more experimental, after meeting his wife and now cowriter Brennan.
’Invitation To The Blues’—together with ‘Tom Traubert’s Blues’—is a rare exception—a thing I do from his earlier work. I just put together my cover recently—this presumably why it’s so high on that list right now. Listened to it a lot trying to get it all to work.
Really pretty happy now with the arrangement I put together. Was able to get lots of the beautiful, wistful dissonance of Waits’ piano into my six plucked strings.
I have just now as of this week performed it twice in total in public—once solo on Monday, then together with the band Wednesday. Both times pretty well received.
Watching Claude Rains as The Invisible Man.
https://youtu.be/uSSlYwVEMSM?si=cazgOZrh5HbacZnD
Seems like a contradiction.
When he rides the bike! I love this movie SO MUCH!
But is it a double feature?
Next up is The Invisible Man's Revenge, so yeah sure.
Ahem
Science fiction
Double feature ~sings~
Hm. IMdB says I can watch "Forbidden Planet" on Tubi with ads...
I have that on DVD. IT'S "FORBIDDEN PLANET" FERGAWD'SSAKE!
1865: Union troops corner and kill John Wilkes Booth, Abe Lincoln’s assassin.
I don't normally do a thing on the history in a new thingy, preferring to keep comments in the thread in which they belong, but I got a fun share on this one.
So supe got a call the other day from an outreach partner saying a reporter wants to know all about the Garret farm. Said farm is where the fucker up there got it in the end, and happens to be on my work place's property (sort of). The reporter /ought/ to know that if they want to discuss the property, they need to contact our PAO guy, because that is all we're allowed to do, refer them to our PAO guy, which supe did.
The thing is, the locals love to tell the tale of how the Army destroyed this Very Important Historic Site (which at the time of acquisition, was abandoned and falling down, but I digress, it is very important) but this is where the sort of comes into play. While the Army sure did nothing to preserve the site, they were not the ones who destroyed it- the DOT did in 66 right before the passage of a law (NHPA) that may have preserved it, when they built a highway right over top of the thing, straight through the middle of the work place.
This is all public knowledge so I can share it, but also something A Reporter should have known about if they did even a modicum of the research. It ain't like road building is not incredibly well documented. A better story would be how the DOT rushed road projects to get ahead of that law in 66, I would think, but whatta I know.
So you're saying... he bought the farm?
The only bit about the story I actually like is how all the people he thought would sympathize with and help him were all no, man, I don't even know you, move it along
The garrets were just the poor fuckers who got stuck with him just as the feds caught up
How the destruction of Garret Farm in 1966 is bad news for Biden's reelection campaign...
lol think it was just a local richmonder, but not sure since we never talked to the guy, just pawned him off on our PAO ^.^
Hey, that is his job! It was right and proper!
FUCK YES 4.11 HOURS OF WORK AND IT'S THE WEEKEND!
PAAAAAAAAARTAY!
https://youtu.be/ksOCraawZME?si=8ryvFN0TFW2DoB5h
Here comes the weekend!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QezaVrJWTuU
Good for you, but *some* of us still have another shift to go. :-( Friday morning is just Thursday night to me.
Enjoy your weekend, though, I'm only 22 hours behind you, I think.
I used to work at a place where Friday hours were 6-12 (I'd be there at 5 AM). When regular clients would ask what time I was there til and I would answer "Noon", they would respond "Oh, half day huh?" Oh sure. If you think 14 hours is a full day.
I still have my 4 hours to put in, but we will get there!
Progress is made on alternate Fridays.
"Is there anything so great, that if you added a person in a gorilla suit, it would not be greater?"
A posh banquet.
A bank heist.
An NCAA final.
A high-sped car chase.
A police line-up.
A convention of people in gorilla suits.
.
No. NOTHING cannot be made better than if a person in a gorilla suit is added.
I want an airline staffed by people in gorilla suits.
A Supreme Court argument on behalf of DJT
answer me a question. I wrote this
"El Bastardo is my friend but if you tell anyone that I'll fucking cut you"
In British that's really brutal. That's not "I shall disown you and ignore you", it's physical violence. Which of course I don't mean.
Which is it in US English?
"Fukui is my friend, but...".
"And..."
I don't know how to declare what you mean.
Americanskis have a sort of clannish "friendship" and "camaraderie" and "loyalty" among our manly cliques, but, I cannot define the sentiment.
I will light your cigarette, and regale you with a story.
I will pay your bar tab.
I will pick you up at the bottom of an escalator.
I will get you a car home.
I will buy you breakfast.
I will carry your coffin.
I will comfort your loved ones [not in that way (unless you want me to.)]
I will regale others of your exploits.
Shit, Americans are so fucking literal.
I like you.
Alright? C'est ca. I like you.
Fuck's sake. Stupid fucking colonials.
T'encoulez!
vaffanculo
A space station... https://youtu.be/m8Cs75Ufgvo
I know you're asking for this.
The Presidential Suite at the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite is made better
https://substack.com/profile/155630927-fukuisanyesota/note/c-54853138?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=2knplb
Ahhh, the classics.
*click*
"Enhance."
*click*
"More."
I would put money on nobody having ever done that before.
I'm wearing one 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸!
Piano tuning.
"If you can't tuna piano..."
...but you can tuna fish..."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6biU7Ee-RmY
Surgery.
You are that guy.
Also, fool disclosure, this scene from M*A*S*H is why I got my first gorilla suit.
"My FIRST gorilla suit..."
I love you for many reasons, but having multiple gorilla suits over the years is one of them.
I'm on my 3rd.
"Haruspex."
field archaeology. Wouldn't be able to manipulate the trowel so good.
Come to think of it, concrete work too, for the trowel and the concrete all over the fur, ruining the suit
I dunno, if the gloves fit tightly enough it might be doable, or at least no worse than wearing any other sort of work gloves. The fur might be a problem, though.
If it is a proper gorilla suit, the fingers ought to be padded to imply about twice to three times the size of human fingers.
Far worse than any work gloves I've had XD
"If it's a proper gorilla suit..."
It has a fly. And pockets. And slashes into ones pants pockets.
Fool disclosure, I am a fucking professional.
A fly would do nothing for me. I'd need one with a back flap
:( Gorilla suits are sexist
Mine's got a crap-trap, too.
Can't be too careful, eh?
You just need properly sized gorilla tools, not those puny human tools. They're for puny humans!
Would save my fingers from all the drying out and inevitable cuts and scrapes!
"If the glove don't fit..."
"Foompt!"
Every time I bought a MAD magazine I always flipped through it to find Don Martin's stuff first, followed by Al Jaffe's.
Otterly cute otter get crumbs on her face.
https://youtu.be/G_3tSb8HPlA?si=7j4wIaFIYaI5acIk
"Otterley"?
Is this what you wrote?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmLJgh6yyoE
𝗖𝗼𝗹𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗶𝗮 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗰𝘁
The university had given students a midnight deadline to disperse, but it appears that has come and gone. CBS New York's Christina Fan has the latest on what we know from campus. https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/video/columbia-university-protests-continue-with-encampment-still-intact/
Conservatives are bemoaning, "Uncracked skulls are sending the wrong message!!!"
For crying out loud. Telling them they are not allowed to protest is the surest way /to get them to protest.
Which come to think of it the right wing wants. They WANT there to be blood. They want The Man to be cracking skulls on the evening news because the only shot they got in November is for the Dems to split
I sense Putin's taint.
There's a Xitter thread (/way/ downthread at this point) that points out that billionaires have been infiltrating these kinds of protests with agent-provocateurs for a while now, in order to sow chaos and lay the groundwork for their ultimate goal of destroying higher education.
Neither the press, nor the administrations of these universities, are at all equipped to deal with it, or even see it.
Same as it ever was. There was that going on in the 60s too.
And as it was then, so it is now, up to the protesters to police their own.
I don't know. All I know is the surest way to get your students to give you a big gigantic finger is to tell them that This One Thing You Are Not Allowed To Protest.
And I agree with em'. Either we have free speech for all, or we do not have it. If some are acting up or threatening people, you arrest those some. You do not tell the all "Nope, yer rights are gone"
Properly organised protests have ways of filtering out the COINTELPRO types.
They can be the best actors and liars in the world, but they have to promote, encourage or undertake certain behaviours to make their infiltration worthwhile.
Edit: It is sort of like how Right wing assholes are still allowed to protest all they want even though 1/6 happened.
We are not the only ones who have noticed that the convention is in Chicago, and there is an unpopular war afoot.
They'd have no tricks at all if they were not dirty as all fuck