My family (about 25 people) is having a build-your-own-taco bar for dinner. Then we'll be watching the little kids running around like lunatics while the adults gossip.
I just spent a month in Villefranche and Intermarché was my grocery store there. When the Unloved ad showed up, I was all, hey that's my store and, therefore, my wolf.
With highs in the 70s expected it's feeling warm for Christmas here in NW GA. Have a great holiday. I'll be doing a little last minute shopping with little Juan and then settling in for the day.
Are you getting Juan a special gift? I had a neighbour that I hung out with who had a sweetie dachsund called Keanu. I bought him a giant Dino bone almost as big as him. He was in heaven.
Kimba the White Lion did it first, back in the 60s he taught Buddhist virtues, stopped the animals from killing each other and made the jungle vegetarian and as a result became ruler. Of course, the Americans couldn't stand for that so he was transmuted into Simba, the Lion King, who rules because of his genetics.
I first saw this in Japanese. I was shocked, I tell you absofuckinglutely shocked that Disney would appropriate someone else's story. </sarcasm_animated_Casablancan>
Speaking of commercials, Madame and I stream the British Arrow Award each year around this time. The Walker Art Center from Minneapolis puts them on. Splendid fun!
Happy Holidays Everyone! May your stocking be full of candy and your booze selection be exceptional. My bil will be making fancy prime rib and I can't wait. Falalalalalalalala.
"It's a mystery! I thought everyone loved the trickling down!"
Trump ally 'mystified' by voter disapproval as wealthy prop up economy
"Allies of President Donald Trump, speaking to Politico, said that his plummeting economic approval is "baffling" as the rich prosper while the poor struggle, with one former adviser saying that he "just can’t quite get [his] arms around" the problem.
"President Donald Trump’s economy has exceeded expectations in his first year back in office," Politico's Wednesday stated. "Mainly for America’s wealthiest households, that is."
According to available data, spending splurges by the wealthiest Americans are keeping "Trump's economy humming," with the Royal Bank of Canada finding that the wealthiest 10 percent of the country spent around $20.3 trillion this year, nearly matching the spending of all other earners combined, $22.5 trillion. The US economy, juiced by the wealthy, grew by 4.3 percent in the 3rd quarter. Bank of America also reported 4 percent growth in income from its top earners, compared to the much more stagnant 1.4 percent for lower earners. ...
According to Politico, some of Trump's own allies remain stumped as to how things can be going so well economically for the president, on paper, while his approval across the board is tanking, including Stephen Moore, an economist and former adviser to the president who has worked with the administration on its messaging.
“I’m mystified by the whole argument about affordability. I just can’t quite get my arms around it because it’s a really, really strong economy right now,” Moore told Politico. “If the trends continue as they have over the last six months, it’s going to be harder and harder for the Democrats to sustain this narrative that it’s not a good economy.”"
Well, go buy "groceries" and try to pay your utilities while living on a fixed income, and you'll figure out why it is a shitty economy for most Americans
Ho, ho, ho!! 🎅🏾 Santa is delivering such a *wonderful* economy! How come the proles are restless?
Nutlick's 4.3% GDP growth last quarter? HOW ME THE NUMBERS, you lying, ignorant treasonweasel. It's all propaganda and bullshit ... even the MAGAs can see through it.
GF and I decided we're cooking the holiday meal today. We're stocked up beer/wine, and the game hen is thawed. I got all the spices/herbs lined up like soldiers, waiting for orders. I'm on the hen and stir-fry broccoli; she's in the instant mashed potatoes. Also it's raining in SoCal, and a bit foggy here. So we're not going to go stir crazy.
Happy holidays and I hope everyone finds whatever peace they can find. Thanks to Wonkette and the non-commenters for keeping me closer to what passes for sane for me!
Well, I just spent more on ex-sweetheart's The Holidays gift than I spent on my whole family, but it's worth it. Ex-sweetheart is incredibly handy and know how to do lots of stuff, but he doesn't have any tools so he is always borrowing mine. I got him a SAE/metric socket set to work on his car and a 300 piece tool kit with a drill. That ought to set him up real good for future chores I ask him to do.
The DOJ "suddenly" covering their asses by "investigating" that Nassar letter? That likely wasn't supposed to happen for another few weeks, but the internet sleuthed out the fact that it was bogus on day 1. So now they have to jump on that train prematurely.
They were likely hoping that some of the big networks had run with it and led shows with it, etc before they pulled their gotcha reveal.
I was going to send a Christmas Greetings email to all the ladies in prison I advocate for (about 15 of them) but I called the two women's prisons on Monday to make sure the emails would make it through the censors in time for Xmas, and was told that the censors had the whole week off and inmates wouldn't get any emails until Monday. Also, no visits are allowed this week because of staff being on vacation. Also, if anyone wants to send special meals from ICareGifts (they send tasty hot meals to inmates at outrageous prices) they are not allowed to deliver any this week because of staffing issues.
The problem is that there are LOTS of small groups, but none of them have enough political power to effect changes. What's needed is a federal-level advocacy group with a lot of good fundraising to pay for good lobbyists to promote federal minimum standards in jails and prisons, plus support from the national media, because effecting change at the state level in all 50 states is far too difficult and time consuming. We all know that no change will be approved at the federal level during the current administration, so there is no improvement in sight.
The big problem is staffing. Most jails and prisons are grossly understaffed, because who wants to work there???????? Also, most prisons are built in small towns in rural areas where the job pool is thin on the ground. In Missouri they had to change the job requirements so that they don't require a high school diploma or a clean criminal record just so they could attract more applicants.
The medical care in jails and prisons is abominable, and the food is slop a dog wouldn't eat. Improving both of those things would eliminate a lot of inmate complaints and anger.
There are a lot of illegal drugs in the prisons, all brought in by staff, who are never screened.
My mother always left the tree up until Epiphany, which is a Holy Day of Obligation in the Catholic church, so we had to go to church that day (BORING LATIN MASS), then come home and take the tree down. I always found it to be a very depressing day when I was a child.
I remember a Catholic friend of mine back in the '80s giving a mini-pep talk to another friend, along the lines of, we're all away from home (this was Denver and a substantial number of young folks were emigres from "back East") and it's hard this time of year, we tend to drink too much and that's normal & to be expected, but by the Feast of Epiphany you gotta sober up!
One of the fav tactics of malignant narcissists metastasized in the USA Federal government is that they use confusion as a tactic. My ex would deny he was cheating while he’d leave an unused condom, still wrapped in that little hole in the side of a car door that you use to pull the door closed. It’s funny what these shit weasels do just to confuse their prey. So long story short, I don’t give any credence to the Epstein letter, though the penmanship is definitely of a person that is more refined, possibly a DOJ staffer? It’s fun to wonder for a while, and then it’s just so disgusting that those in power over justice are the epitome of unjustness.
My bride and I had a great Christmas Eve Eve at the urgent care center. Somehow, and do not know how, I burst a vein in my left hand while eating breakfast yesterday. The whole hand and wrist became very painful and I could not remotely move my fingers to make a fist. Called the consulting nurse and she said have urgent care check it out. So my bride drove me over and we were there from about 8:30 am until 4:00 pm. I had done nothing physical with the hand that morning and very little the day before. They ran EKGs, ultrasound of the wrist and hand, ultra sound of my heart, ultrasound of my entire left arm, wrist and hand, X-rays, BP & pulse, and blood tests and all showed-up aces. So it appears my left wrist/palm had a stroke. Photo here:
My Old Country Dad tried that (without the hitting) with my sister (3rd born). It never took, he gave up and in the end 3 out of the 6 of us turned out to favor our left hands.
As therapists tend to say, it wasn't the immediately preceding movement of the hand that caused the vein to burst, it was the cumulative result of multi-million movements of the hand before that one.
In about half an hour I am going to get slightly tipsy, eat half a bag of Ruffles potato chips (very bad for me, but I love them and they are my gift to myself) and then take a nap. Merry Christmas.
Your header gif info: https://martiniambassador.substack.com/p/an-unloved-wolf-learns-to-change
And meme chat: https://open.substack.com/chat/posts/049b6c83-f144-49bc-b6d2-751470bc8871?utm_source=share
Happy holiday wishes to all!
The berry scene takes the Oscar
My family (about 25 people) is having a build-your-own-taco bar for dinner. Then we'll be watching the little kids running around like lunatics while the adults gossip.
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas Martini, and thanks for this wonderful post.
Meghyn Kelly wants Bari's job.
And odds are she might get it.
I just spent a month in Villefranche and Intermarché was my grocery store there. When the Unloved ad showed up, I was all, hey that's my store and, therefore, my wolf.
Like we in the pack sez, "He may be a SOB, but he's our SOB; n'as for you Bs; you may be a DOB but you're still our DOB" </howl>
With highs in the 70s expected it's feeling warm for Christmas here in NW GA. Have a great holiday. I'll be doing a little last minute shopping with little Juan and then settling in for the day.
My late partner would always shop on Xmas Eve. He said that there weren't many people out. I wouldn't know; you couldn't pay me to shop.
Are you getting Juan a special gift? I had a neighbour that I hung out with who had a sweetie dachsund called Keanu. I bought him a giant Dino bone almost as big as him. He was in heaven.
Juan has a t-rex stuffie that he has demolished. I want to get him a new one
Scritches to Juan! And good luck braving the shopping crowds today!
Best holiday season wishes to all Wonketteers from the two of us at Lux Manor! 🎄⛄🎄⛄
Right back attcha Michael & Luxites, peace to all.
That wolf is everyone's spirit animal.
Everyone here. 🎯♥️
Aroooo!
LOL ♥️
Season's greetings to the Wonketariat! May Santa be good to all you good people here. Perhaps he will grant us that one wish we want??!! 😉😜😉
Kimba the White Lion did it first, back in the 60s he taught Buddhist virtues, stopped the animals from killing each other and made the jungle vegetarian and as a result became ruler. Of course, the Americans couldn't stand for that so he was transmuted into Simba, the Lion King, who rules because of his genetics.
https://youtu.be/XhyHO3b0u9E?si=-Hho5yyjd8XArPk7
I first saw this in Japanese. I was shocked, I tell you absofuckinglutely shocked that Disney would appropriate someone else's story. </sarcasm_animated_Casablancan>
I watched the German dubbed reruns in the mid seventies. I loved that show. Thanks for the nostalgia! :D
This is the sweetest gif. It's like the classic "lion lies down with the lamb". A consummation devoutly to be wished!
I'm a vegetarian and I approve this message❤️💚
I'm an omnivore, and I approve this message also!
I like you
That ad is such a great story.
American Christianists: EMPATHY BAD!!!
Speaking of commercials, Madame and I stream the British Arrow Award each year around this time. The Walker Art Center from Minneapolis puts them on. Splendid fun!
https://walkerart.org/calendar/2025/2025-british-arrows-awards
French companies aren't afraid to go all furry, which is a good thing.
I recall the old Orangina ads fondly.
French television has no qualms going all the way out there. That is for damn sure. LMAO
ALL the way Out There: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BKOC4zaB6I
Rrrrroooowwwwrrrrrrr!
The Helen Lovejoys of America would collectively want to speak to the manager if you aired this.
LOL
Happy Holidays Everyone! May your stocking be full of candy and your booze selection be exceptional. My bil will be making fancy prime rib and I can't wait. Falalalalalalalala.
I read this article every year at this time, to remind me of the real reason for the season.
https://www.cracked.com/blog/the-true-meaning-christmas-that-everyone-forgets
"It's a mystery! I thought everyone loved the trickling down!"
Trump ally 'mystified' by voter disapproval as wealthy prop up economy
"Allies of President Donald Trump, speaking to Politico, said that his plummeting economic approval is "baffling" as the rich prosper while the poor struggle, with one former adviser saying that he "just can’t quite get [his] arms around" the problem.
"President Donald Trump’s economy has exceeded expectations in his first year back in office," Politico's Wednesday stated. "Mainly for America’s wealthiest households, that is."
According to available data, spending splurges by the wealthiest Americans are keeping "Trump's economy humming," with the Royal Bank of Canada finding that the wealthiest 10 percent of the country spent around $20.3 trillion this year, nearly matching the spending of all other earners combined, $22.5 trillion. The US economy, juiced by the wealthy, grew by 4.3 percent in the 3rd quarter. Bank of America also reported 4 percent growth in income from its top earners, compared to the much more stagnant 1.4 percent for lower earners. ...
According to Politico, some of Trump's own allies remain stumped as to how things can be going so well economically for the president, on paper, while his approval across the board is tanking, including Stephen Moore, an economist and former adviser to the president who has worked with the administration on its messaging.
“I’m mystified by the whole argument about affordability. I just can’t quite get my arms around it because it’s a really, really strong economy right now,” Moore told Politico. “If the trends continue as they have over the last six months, it’s going to be harder and harder for the Democrats to sustain this narrative that it’s not a good economy.”"
https://www.rawstory.com/alternet-posts/trump-2674826909/
Well, go buy "groceries" and try to pay your utilities while living on a fixed income, and you'll figure out why it is a shitty economy for most Americans
Ho, ho, ho!! 🎅🏾 Santa is delivering such a *wonderful* economy! How come the proles are restless?
Nutlick's 4.3% GDP growth last quarter? HOW ME THE NUMBERS, you lying, ignorant treasonweasel. It's all propaganda and bullshit ... even the MAGAs can see through it.
GF and I decided we're cooking the holiday meal today. We're stocked up beer/wine, and the game hen is thawed. I got all the spices/herbs lined up like soldiers, waiting for orders. I'm on the hen and stir-fry broccoli; she's in the instant mashed potatoes. Also it's raining in SoCal, and a bit foggy here. So we're not going to go stir crazy.
Christmas falls on a Thursday just rarely enough to be a special treat for those who can get the extra Friday off from work or school.
In the 200 years between 1901 and 2100, it happens just 27 times. Non-leap years: 1902, 1913, 1919, 1930, 1941, 1947, 1958, 1969, 1975, 1986, 1997, 2003, 2025, 2031, 2042, 2053, 2059, 2070, 2081, 2087, 2098. Leap years: 1924, 1952, 1980, 2036, 2064, 2092.
Showered, shaved, and about to go find a fast food biscuit.
It's just coming out of the oven, waiting for you!
Well, that's nice. Headline from the Washington Post:
𝗜𝗖𝗘 𝗱𝗼𝗰𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝟴𝟬,𝟬𝟬𝟬 𝗶𝗺𝗺𝗶𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲𝘀
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘱 𝘢𝘥𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘪𝘮𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦-𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘱 𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘐𝘊𝘌 𝘥𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸.
“Warehouse” is a weird way to spell “death camp”.
Yeah. Just as George Takei and others have said, these are concentration camps, no way around it.
Happy holidays and I hope everyone finds whatever peace they can find. Thanks to Wonkette and the non-commenters for keeping me closer to what passes for sane for me!
Well, I just spent more on ex-sweetheart's The Holidays gift than I spent on my whole family, but it's worth it. Ex-sweetheart is incredibly handy and know how to do lots of stuff, but he doesn't have any tools so he is always borrowing mine. I got him a SAE/metric socket set to work on his car and a 300 piece tool kit with a drill. That ought to set him up real good for future chores I ask him to do.
Nothing says love like setting someone up to do work.
Good tools last for decades.
I just retired a flashlight this year, a Christmas gift from a friend 20 years ago.
Its still good, but for work I need something a bit brighter. So its on the shelf as a backup.
Nice, I'm giving tools to one of my kids.
It's one of the best tools you can give a person.
How thoughtfully selfish, ; )
I know, right! I really need him to mount the key box asap! LOL!
😁💕
Last year I got ex-sweetheart an actual bed. He'd been sleeping on an air mattress for who knows how long.
The DOJ "suddenly" covering their asses by "investigating" that Nassar letter? That likely wasn't supposed to happen for another few weeks, but the internet sleuthed out the fact that it was bogus on day 1. So now they have to jump on that train prematurely.
They were likely hoping that some of the big networks had run with it and led shows with it, etc before they pulled their gotcha reveal.
I was going to send a Christmas Greetings email to all the ladies in prison I advocate for (about 15 of them) but I called the two women's prisons on Monday to make sure the emails would make it through the censors in time for Xmas, and was told that the censors had the whole week off and inmates wouldn't get any emails until Monday. Also, no visits are allowed this week because of staff being on vacation. Also, if anyone wants to send special meals from ICareGifts (they send tasty hot meals to inmates at outrageous prices) they are not allowed to deliver any this week because of staffing issues.
The cruelty, it is the point.
This needs fucking changed. Can you recommend some advocacy/reform/awarness groups? I need to educate myself.
The problem is that there are LOTS of small groups, but none of them have enough political power to effect changes. What's needed is a federal-level advocacy group with a lot of good fundraising to pay for good lobbyists to promote federal minimum standards in jails and prisons, plus support from the national media, because effecting change at the state level in all 50 states is far too difficult and time consuming. We all know that no change will be approved at the federal level during the current administration, so there is no improvement in sight.
The big problem is staffing. Most jails and prisons are grossly understaffed, because who wants to work there???????? Also, most prisons are built in small towns in rural areas where the job pool is thin on the ground. In Missouri they had to change the job requirements so that they don't require a high school diploma or a clean criminal record just so they could attract more applicants.
The medical care in jails and prisons is abominable, and the food is slop a dog wouldn't eat. Improving both of those things would eliminate a lot of inmate complaints and anger.
There are a lot of illegal drugs in the prisons, all brought in by staff, who are never screened.
That's kind of you.
Send them with Merry Belated Christmas. They'll understand. :)
Technically, the holiday season lasts until January 6 (Twelfth Night, the Feast of the Epiphany).
My mother always left the tree up until Epiphany, which is a Holy Day of Obligation in the Catholic church, so we had to go to church that day (BORING LATIN MASS), then come home and take the tree down. I always found it to be a very depressing day when I was a child.
I remember a Catholic friend of mine back in the '80s giving a mini-pep talk to another friend, along the lines of, we're all away from home (this was Denver and a substantial number of young folks were emigres from "back East") and it's hard this time of year, we tend to drink too much and that's normal & to be expected, but by the Feast of Epiphany you gotta sober up!
We also tend to eat too much, but hey, who can resist home made cookies???
Send them anyway. I'm sure they'd be happy to receive them, even if they don't arrive before the holidays.
I did that. I should have thought of this last week, though. I'll plan better next year.
One of the fav tactics of malignant narcissists metastasized in the USA Federal government is that they use confusion as a tactic. My ex would deny he was cheating while he’d leave an unused condom, still wrapped in that little hole in the side of a car door that you use to pull the door closed. It’s funny what these shit weasels do just to confuse their prey. So long story short, I don’t give any credence to the Epstein letter, though the penmanship is definitely of a person that is more refined, possibly a DOJ staffer? It’s fun to wonder for a while, and then it’s just so disgusting that those in power over justice are the epitome of unjustness.
Agree all round. Not buying the bullshit.
My bride and I had a great Christmas Eve Eve at the urgent care center. Somehow, and do not know how, I burst a vein in my left hand while eating breakfast yesterday. The whole hand and wrist became very painful and I could not remotely move my fingers to make a fist. Called the consulting nurse and she said have urgent care check it out. So my bride drove me over and we were there from about 8:30 am until 4:00 pm. I had done nothing physical with the hand that morning and very little the day before. They ran EKGs, ultrasound of the wrist and hand, ultra sound of my heart, ultrasound of my entire left arm, wrist and hand, X-rays, BP & pulse, and blood tests and all showed-up aces. So it appears my left wrist/palm had a stroke. Photo here:
https://substack.com/profile/76665937-weejee/note/c-191301545?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=19n7td
/ honest, I did not punch anyone or thing
Warranty probably expired.
Southpaws complain about the way insurance companies treat them all of the time.
Although I am naturally left-handed Sister Caligula and her ruler made sure that I eat and write with my right hand.
My Old Country Dad tried that (without the hitting) with my sister (3rd born). It never took, he gave up and in the end 3 out of the 6 of us turned out to favor our left hands.
My father was beaten into submission as well, but I was born in the late 60s and was allowed to maintain my feral sinister handedness.
Maybe residual damage from the nun whacking my left hand with her ruler?
At my age, likely this.
As therapists tend to say, it wasn't the immediately preceding movement of the hand that caused the vein to burst, it was the cumulative result of multi-million movements of the hand before that one.
Trump calls Colbert a “pathetic trainwreck.” The projection is now literal and exact. Pathetic trainwreck of a president. Thanks, Trump supporters.
In about half an hour I am going to get slightly tipsy, eat half a bag of Ruffles potato chips (very bad for me, but I love them and they are my gift to myself) and then take a nap. Merry Christmas.