I spent 12 years in a fighter cockpit when I was 25 to 37. I'm nearing 70 now and have a spine that is pretty much fucked. It comes with the territory - most of the guys I flew with have some problems from years of pulling Gs. Thankfully I managed to retire so I have some pretty good health care, but there is not much they can do for arthritis of the spine. One of my buds flew F-15s back in the day and he can barely walk.
This afternoon's symphony concert will feature the music of Gary Fry, Vaughan Williams. Anton Bruckner and Robert Schumman. Can't believe we've missed out on so many opportunities for high quality live music at dirt cheap prices, but we're taking full advantage now!
Is your car safe from super-maneuverable air defense fighter aircraft?
"This is the Audi RS6 Avant. It's powered by a 4-liter twin turbo V8 producing 591 horsepower, and with a top speed of one hundred and ninety miles per hour, it can do naught to sixty in three point five seconds. What we have here is the perfect car for inexperienced learners in driver's education."
Funny story at work on Friday, talking with a newer staff person. She is younger, makes a comment about "being a hippie" goes on to say she grew up in Santa Cruz - ok that's a point....and then she asks if I know who Ken Kesey is...and tells me he's her mom's cousin. That's potential pedigree.
One runs into that a lot where I live - Eugene and coastal Oregon - because the Kesey's are a big family that goes back a lot farther than hippie days. But where are you?
Money is their addiction. It takes more and more of it to get them high, and the only place to obtain it is from the rest of us. I don't want wealthy economists telling me what the problem is when it's in their best interests to perpetuate it.
Apparently it is fiscally risky for citizens to enjoy a bit of economic respite regardless of how historically stable and prosperous the US economy actually is.
I get the argument about purchase deferrals, but people cannot defer purchases of food and gasoline - two categories that are experiencing decreasing prices.
Gasoline doesn't really make up that much of people's expenditures. Food does. Gas prices are the most visible because of signage. Food prices can be sneaky, as with the famous 14 oz. "1 pound" can at the same price.
Prices that have decreased haven't gone nearly back to pre-COVID levels, nor have people's incomes inflated nearly as much as prices have (even if some prices are returning to the norm).
Americans are right about the economy, but not about the data. If people understood how the data are defined, different story altogether.
What Americans are right about is that the median income cannot provide the lifestyle we consider "median," and today no longer is. The ourchasing power of a full-time job has dropped by half over the past 50 years.
Slow enough to create the mythical frog-in-a-pot effect. So we're suckers for false explanations of where all our wealth went. This is not unintentional, and is well-understood by those to whom our wealth went (the ownership class).
Neither inflation nor deflation are inherently bad for people who work for income, as long as their income keeps pace. They're very dangerous for those who live off rents of what they own.
So that's why we hear what we hear. We mistakenly assume that has something to do with us. Again, that's not unintentional.
I love those montages that have sentences that show why people like/dislike a politician. The one for why the youths hate Biden, the biggest darkest line is: "Biden didn't get rid of my student loans." The second biggest line was "Israel / Gaza war."
That makes me realize three things:
1) Young people have zero clue that the Supreme Court (the one that Trump fixed to be fascist for the next 40 years) nixed that proposal, and
2) It was highly unpopular with the majority of the country.
3) They are also clueless that Trump will just give Gaza to Bibi, and let him do whatever he wants to Palestinians. Sure, Trump will get rid of all news organizations that don't lick his taint, so you won't actually know what's going on, so that should make you feel better, and let you get back to trying to be a Tik Tok influencer. Also, too, Vlad Putin will be given Ukraine on a platter.
It's not just the younglings who tend to believe whatever happens nationally is caused by the current president; lots of adults carry this forward as they move through life.
I am grateful I grew up in a government town (Olympia, WA, site of the state capital, county seat and city government). I could see front and center that the local and state leaders had only a limited effect on most issues. Any illusions of complete authority and responsibility did not hold up long. Watergate added its own flavor to my education, telling me that not everyone at the top was ethical, lawful, reasonable.
But here we are. Simplistic notiions of how things work are pervasive.
Probably 80% of the morons in this country believe the POTUS controls gas prices. I have a Trump loving neighbor who was bitching about Biden's inflation. I asked him how he thought Biden was causing inflation all over the world. He said something like "other countries are experiencing inflation"? He was clueless, because all he watches are Fox News and Newsmax.
CNN interviewed a young woman from the Northeast who was a physician, who didn't EVER vote until Roe was overturned, because as she said "I didn't think politics affected me." Can you imagine being that well educated and not realizing that a POTUS is going to appoint a Supreme Court which WILL affect every aspect of your life for decades to come?
I can see being apathetic about politics prior to 2016, but when you have someone who's openly fascist as head as one of the parties? You BETTER get off your ass and vote.
Also, I'm not sure how much of this is coordinated - I try to be very cautious about conspiratorial thinking - but I do wonder at all this reporting about the youth 'turning on' Biden, after a few election cycles where the youth have come out in bigger than usual numbers and for Democrats. I'm not going to say it's a deliberate attempt to drive a wedge between the youth and the rest of our coalition, by convincing older voters not to trust young people and thus to throw youth issues off the agenda, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was.
Young people, since the dawn of time, have never accepted that we can't do the things that need doing because if we did we'd have to change our systems.
I think a lot of this line of inquiry is media-driven and irrelevant. Do we really care why people think the way they do? Or do we just need them to vote in a certain way?
I'll gladly accept that people who don't think as I do are wrong, probably stupid, and maybe malicious.
But do I need something from them? If not, I go on my merry way, secured all the more in my innate superiority.
If I do, then I have to dispense with that line of thinking, and figure out what they want in exchange for what I want from them.
Obama and Biden did this in 2008 and 2012. Biden did it in 2020. He can do it again. He, and the people he has around him, have the intelligence to realize that the votes they need are not disaffected Republicans in the non-existent center; but those to the Left of the Democrats politically and with lower incomes than the "sweet spot" of the Democratic Party.
Biden is going to have to give them what they want in exchange for their vote. Not what Biden, or we, want to give them. That's why they didn't vote for Gore, Kerry, or Hillary Clinton. They all insisted, on the advice of their (supremely arrogant and, as it turned out, wrong and stupid) advisors, that they could only offer voters to their Left and lower in economic status what the Democratic Party wanted to give them; not what they demanded in return for their vote.
That's how elections are lost. Biden has seen the method that works, work, 3 times. If he fucks it up the 4th time around; well, I don't want to even think about that.
There was a recent Pod Save America episode that looked at polling data that indicated that showing what the administration has done didn't move the needle until they added what was the plan going forward and contrasting it against the Republican plan. I'm pretty confident the Biden team understands all this and will be messaging that at the appropriate time. Meanwhile it's up to us to reinforce the message in our personal circles.
I get that nobody wants to see a hospital get bombed, and I loathe Bibi Netanyahu and his band of far right religious nuts in Israel, but I also understand that if Hamas hadn't slaughtered 1400 people, none of this would be happening. I HOPE that this mess will finally lead to a 2 state solution, and one that doesn't involve Hamas.
I read this really interesting article a few weeks ago entitled "The Long Arc of Political Stupidity." It was about how Bush had insisted on letting Palestinians elect their own government. Israel had told him "they're just going to elect Hamas," but as usual, Bush wouldn't fucking listen to anyone.
I will NEVER forgive Ralph Nader for running for POTUS in 2000. Our current Supreme Court was decided by Ralph Nader and thousands of Floridians who just couldn't vote for corporate shill Al Gore. I wish Democrats in this country would grow the fuck up and stop pissing away their votes on people who are NEVER going to win. All they do is enable monsters to win.
Thanks, it's a good read. I'm still pissed off that there was ever a "president' George W. Bush. He should never have been POTUS, and he left us trillions of dollars in debt, with 2 ongoing wars, a fucked up Supreme Court, and a new brand of ugliness in America. Fuck Bush, and fuck Ralph Nader.
More than the media is probably willing to talk to or about, but for those who don't, it's not surprising. The media isn't really talking about what Biden's actually doing.
So after years of articles saying that high inflation is a major threat to Biden, CNN literally just published one that said why low inflation may cause problems for Biden in 2024.
I used to fear Haley more than Trump, because I KNEW she could beat Biden, and I was fairly certain Trump was going to lose in the general election if he was the GQP's nominee. Now I'm afraid Trump might actually win. Given the choice between Haley and Trump running the country, I'd go for Haley all day long. At least she's not openly fascist.
Just in case anyone else here hasn't been paying attention to news since late Friday afternoon, a state court judge here in lolorado ruled that PAB can appear on the 2024 ballot. The argument from the plaintiffs in the lawsuit was that PAB engaged in an insurrection and is therefore disqualified from holding federal office per Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.
The judge's opinion and order, all 102 pages of it, is available in the CBS article linked below. The meat and potatoes of the holding begins on page 95. Ultimately, the judge determined that POTUS is not an "office . . . under the United States" to which the disqualification was intended to apply. The scant historical evidence suggests that the catchall disqualification applies only to unelected positions, and in the absence of any definitive authority that POTUS was supposed to be included (the amendment expressly mentions senators, reps and the electoral college, but not POTUS), the judge was unwilling to construe the catchall as including POTUS.
The judge provided a lengthy factual and legal analysis supporting her conclusion that PAB did in fact engage in "insurrection" for purposes of the 14th. That's interesting. If you're going to rule that the disqualification doesn't apply in any event, why bother addressing the insurrection issue at all? My guess is that the judge wanted the issue decided in the event that the plaintiffs appeal and our court of appeals or state supreme court reverses and finds that POTUS is an "office" for Section 3 purposes.
Naturally, Captain Incontinent is blabbering about a "radical Democrat judge" who "saw the light."
The judge is an idiot, and I hope that reasoning doesn't get used by anyone else, ever.
But I'll repeat, keeping Trump off the ballot doesn't solve our problems, and I'm not sure doing so without some other hearing finding that he engaged in insurrection first is a precedent we want.
The optics are bad, to be sure. Not that he wouldn't have done it anyway, but now PAB can say the Dems want to take away your right to vote and I;m protecting it and blah blah blah.
That's not my concern. My concern is election officials keeping politicians off the ballot for 'insurrection' on a whim, because we've set the precedent that they don't need a conviction or something similar to base that decision on.
What a journalist! Hoft can see conspiracies that eluded even Tucker Carlson. If only some of those crisis actors had a ballot made of bamboo paper on them, it would blow the whole case wide open.
We're just the two of us for Thanksgiving, and I rolled into the store to do some shopping this morning...people are absolutely crazed and this fucking turkey weighs a ton. Just doing it now because about 7 years ago we were going to do our first "just us" Thanksgiving. We had a blizzard and I was at the store at about 6 pm the night before in a line snaking down the aisles because I needed a fucking pan for the turkey since it didn't fit in what I had. People were laughing at my stupidity. I don't think I've ever been in a longer line for anything. The shame of my woeful foil pan is with me still.
I went on Friday morning, about eleven, and it was INSANE. Where do these people come from? I didn't get celery, either, damn it. I'll have to go to the little store in town and get celery and cream cheese.
I noticed one year they were out of celery--I have never seen that before. And I'm with you--it's overrun with people. Do they cook normally throughout the year?
Yeah, I went to Costco Friday morning. A madhouse. Went to the grocery yesterday morning about 6:30 am. Busy but not insane. I can do that because my schedule is weird and I donhave some control of it; and we have 18-24-hr. grocers here in The Cities.
Not everyone can. And here, too many can; so there's no magical solution.
Glad you got what you needed. And a stiff drink on a Sunday morning is OK. Pretend it has to do with football.
This would have been something to think about THEN!
Seriously, I was starting to cry and my breathing was uneven, and I remember thinking, "I'm never going to get home" followed by "I am going to get home and then I'm going to have to cook this fucking turkey".
Brag (not humble): I got a DM from a classmate I so admire saying that my long piece for our class has been her favorite piece in the class this semester and that it reminds her of Joyce Carol Oates. WHAT A FUCKING COMPLIMENT! I will submit the piece for review next week and share a link when it shows up somewhere. Until then, I think you can find it here:
Thank you! I owe so much to the wonks, particularly shan for her encouragement, because they have engaged with me whenever I have had something to share. My writing career began with a noncomment.
I spent 12 years in a fighter cockpit when I was 25 to 37. I'm nearing 70 now and have a spine that is pretty much fucked. It comes with the territory - most of the guys I flew with have some problems from years of pulling Gs. Thankfully I managed to retire so I have some pretty good health care, but there is not much they can do for arthritis of the spine. One of my buds flew F-15s back in the day and he can barely walk.
It was fun while it lasted...
This afternoon's symphony concert will feature the music of Gary Fry, Vaughan Williams. Anton Bruckner and Robert Schumman. Can't believe we've missed out on so many opportunities for high quality live music at dirt cheap prices, but we're taking full advantage now!
11/18/23 Global temperature hit 2 degrees Celsius. Uh-oh.
https://open.substack.com/pub/billmckibben/p/its-so-hot?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=1nx43t
Is your car safe from super-maneuverable air defense fighter aircraft?
"This is the Audi RS6 Avant. It's powered by a 4-liter twin turbo V8 producing 591 horsepower, and with a top speed of one hundred and ninety miles per hour, it can do naught to sixty in three point five seconds. What we have here is the perfect car for inexperienced learners in driver's education."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7YVxLLIuGM
Bingo!
https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/elon-musk-says-rocket-exploded-because-it-insisted-on-working-remotely?fbclid=IwAR0DTi12BIvMWRF29F3YjjRw7VfUcCyfRyMpJCmO-4qLEBHjK0Kk_-iCkzQ
Republ8cans I would just love if they weren't ultimately against my liberty: Chris Christie (I'm petty, too), Schwarzenegger, OK AG Drummond
I have personal beef with Ahnuld. Bastard cost me real money.
Funny story at work on Friday, talking with a newer staff person. She is younger, makes a comment about "being a hippie" goes on to say she grew up in Santa Cruz - ok that's a point....and then she asks if I know who Ken Kesey is...and tells me he's her mom's cousin. That's potential pedigree.
One runs into that a lot where I live - Eugene and coastal Oregon - because the Kesey's are a big family that goes back a lot farther than hippie days. But where are you?
Currently in Northern Nevada.
She's bonafide!
Falling prices may sound good, but deflation can be dangerous. Here’s why
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/11/18/economy/deflation-falling-prices-explained/index.html
Money is their addiction. It takes more and more of it to get them high, and the only place to obtain it is from the rest of us. I don't want wealthy economists telling me what the problem is when it's in their best interests to perpetuate it.
So; damned if you do, damned if you don't?
Apparently it is fiscally risky for citizens to enjoy a bit of economic respite regardless of how historically stable and prosperous the US economy actually is.
I get the argument about purchase deferrals, but people cannot defer purchases of food and gasoline - two categories that are experiencing decreasing prices.
Gasoline doesn't really make up that much of people's expenditures. Food does. Gas prices are the most visible because of signage. Food prices can be sneaky, as with the famous 14 oz. "1 pound" can at the same price.
Prices that have decreased haven't gone nearly back to pre-COVID levels, nor have people's incomes inflated nearly as much as prices have (even if some prices are returning to the norm).
Gee, I wonder why Americans have such a bad opinion of the economy?
Americans are right about the economy, but not about the data. If people understood how the data are defined, different story altogether.
What Americans are right about is that the median income cannot provide the lifestyle we consider "median," and today no longer is. The ourchasing power of a full-time job has dropped by half over the past 50 years.
Slow enough to create the mythical frog-in-a-pot effect. So we're suckers for false explanations of where all our wealth went. This is not unintentional, and is well-understood by those to whom our wealth went (the ownership class).
Neither inflation nor deflation are inherently bad for people who work for income, as long as their income keeps pace. They're very dangerous for those who live off rents of what they own.
So that's why we hear what we hear. We mistakenly assume that has something to do with us. Again, that's not unintentional.
Where do the tumbrils factor in?
Generally, right toward the end.
I love those montages that have sentences that show why people like/dislike a politician. The one for why the youths hate Biden, the biggest darkest line is: "Biden didn't get rid of my student loans." The second biggest line was "Israel / Gaza war."
That makes me realize three things:
1) Young people have zero clue that the Supreme Court (the one that Trump fixed to be fascist for the next 40 years) nixed that proposal, and
2) It was highly unpopular with the majority of the country.
3) They are also clueless that Trump will just give Gaza to Bibi, and let him do whatever he wants to Palestinians. Sure, Trump will get rid of all news organizations that don't lick his taint, so you won't actually know what's going on, so that should make you feel better, and let you get back to trying to be a Tik Tok influencer. Also, too, Vlad Putin will be given Ukraine on a platter.
It's not just the younglings who tend to believe whatever happens nationally is caused by the current president; lots of adults carry this forward as they move through life.
I am grateful I grew up in a government town (Olympia, WA, site of the state capital, county seat and city government). I could see front and center that the local and state leaders had only a limited effect on most issues. Any illusions of complete authority and responsibility did not hold up long. Watergate added its own flavor to my education, telling me that not everyone at the top was ethical, lawful, reasonable.
But here we are. Simplistic notiions of how things work are pervasive.
Probably 80% of the morons in this country believe the POTUS controls gas prices. I have a Trump loving neighbor who was bitching about Biden's inflation. I asked him how he thought Biden was causing inflation all over the world. He said something like "other countries are experiencing inflation"? He was clueless, because all he watches are Fox News and Newsmax.
CNN interviewed a young woman from the Northeast who was a physician, who didn't EVER vote until Roe was overturned, because as she said "I didn't think politics affected me." Can you imagine being that well educated and not realizing that a POTUS is going to appoint a Supreme Court which WILL affect every aspect of your life for decades to come?
I can see being apathetic about politics prior to 2016, but when you have someone who's openly fascist as head as one of the parties? You BETTER get off your ass and vote.
Also, I'm not sure how much of this is coordinated - I try to be very cautious about conspiratorial thinking - but I do wonder at all this reporting about the youth 'turning on' Biden, after a few election cycles where the youth have come out in bigger than usual numbers and for Democrats. I'm not going to say it's a deliberate attempt to drive a wedge between the youth and the rest of our coalition, by convincing older voters not to trust young people and thus to throw youth issues off the agenda, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was.
Young people, since the dawn of time, have never accepted that we can't do the things that need doing because if we did we'd have to change our systems.
Sure, that's true. And not restricted to youth.
I think a lot of this line of inquiry is media-driven and irrelevant. Do we really care why people think the way they do? Or do we just need them to vote in a certain way?
I'll gladly accept that people who don't think as I do are wrong, probably stupid, and maybe malicious.
But do I need something from them? If not, I go on my merry way, secured all the more in my innate superiority.
If I do, then I have to dispense with that line of thinking, and figure out what they want in exchange for what I want from them.
Obama and Biden did this in 2008 and 2012. Biden did it in 2020. He can do it again. He, and the people he has around him, have the intelligence to realize that the votes they need are not disaffected Republicans in the non-existent center; but those to the Left of the Democrats politically and with lower incomes than the "sweet spot" of the Democratic Party.
Biden is going to have to give them what they want in exchange for their vote. Not what Biden, or we, want to give them. That's why they didn't vote for Gore, Kerry, or Hillary Clinton. They all insisted, on the advice of their (supremely arrogant and, as it turned out, wrong and stupid) advisors, that they could only offer voters to their Left and lower in economic status what the Democratic Party wanted to give them; not what they demanded in return for their vote.
That's how elections are lost. Biden has seen the method that works, work, 3 times. If he fucks it up the 4th time around; well, I don't want to even think about that.
I'm not convinced about 2, but also Biden has been doing as much as he can for as many people as he can on student loans.
There's still year to make sure people learn these things.
There was a recent Pod Save America episode that looked at polling data that indicated that showing what the administration has done didn't move the needle until they added what was the plan going forward and contrasting it against the Republican plan. I'm pretty confident the Biden team understands all this and will be messaging that at the appropriate time. Meanwhile it's up to us to reinforce the message in our personal circles.
I thought that was pretty good analysis.
Details, DETAILS!
I get that nobody wants to see a hospital get bombed, and I loathe Bibi Netanyahu and his band of far right religious nuts in Israel, but I also understand that if Hamas hadn't slaughtered 1400 people, none of this would be happening. I HOPE that this mess will finally lead to a 2 state solution, and one that doesn't involve Hamas.
I read this really interesting article a few weeks ago entitled "The Long Arc of Political Stupidity." It was about how Bush had insisted on letting Palestinians elect their own government. Israel had told him "they're just going to elect Hamas," but as usual, Bush wouldn't fucking listen to anyone.
I will NEVER forgive Ralph Nader for running for POTUS in 2000. Our current Supreme Court was decided by Ralph Nader and thousands of Floridians who just couldn't vote for corporate shill Al Gore. I wish Democrats in this country would grow the fuck up and stop pissing away their votes on people who are NEVER going to win. All they do is enable monsters to win.
went a-googlin' to find it for later reading, so thought I'd drop the link here:
https://thewire.in/world/george-w-bush-and-the-long-arc-of-political-stupidity
Thanks, it's a good read. I'm still pissed off that there was ever a "president' George W. Bush. He should never have been POTUS, and he left us trillions of dollars in debt, with 2 ongoing wars, a fucked up Supreme Court, and a new brand of ugliness in America. Fuck Bush, and fuck Ralph Nader.
Thanks, I was going to request that.
More than the media is probably willing to talk to or about, but for those who don't, it's not surprising. The media isn't really talking about what Biden's actually doing.
So after years of articles saying that high inflation is a major threat to Biden, CNN literally just published one that said why low inflation may cause problems for Biden in 2024.
God I hate the MSM.
Jesus, they really suck.
That's too bad
https://www.thedailybeast.com/fani-willis-proposed-new-rico-trial-date-could-ruin-trumps-2024-plans
I used to fear Haley more than Trump, because I KNEW she could beat Biden, and I was fairly certain Trump was going to lose in the general election if he was the GQP's nominee. Now I'm afraid Trump might actually win. Given the choice between Haley and Trump running the country, I'd go for Haley all day long. At least she's not openly fascist.
She's certainly on the fascism-spectrum.
I still remember this (I've apparently been reading Wonkette for a loooong time) https://www.wonkette.com/p/nikki-haley-fixes-south-carolinas-bad-vibes-with-stupid-phone-greetings
Please don't make me think about making that choice!
Tst-tsk-tsk; innit just tragic?
Just in case anyone else here hasn't been paying attention to news since late Friday afternoon, a state court judge here in lolorado ruled that PAB can appear on the 2024 ballot. The argument from the plaintiffs in the lawsuit was that PAB engaged in an insurrection and is therefore disqualified from holding federal office per Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.
The judge's opinion and order, all 102 pages of it, is available in the CBS article linked below. The meat and potatoes of the holding begins on page 95. Ultimately, the judge determined that POTUS is not an "office . . . under the United States" to which the disqualification was intended to apply. The scant historical evidence suggests that the catchall disqualification applies only to unelected positions, and in the absence of any definitive authority that POTUS was supposed to be included (the amendment expressly mentions senators, reps and the electoral college, but not POTUS), the judge was unwilling to construe the catchall as including POTUS.
The judge provided a lengthy factual and legal analysis supporting her conclusion that PAB did in fact engage in "insurrection" for purposes of the 14th. That's interesting. If you're going to rule that the disqualification doesn't apply in any event, why bother addressing the insurrection issue at all? My guess is that the judge wanted the issue decided in the event that the plaintiffs appeal and our court of appeals or state supreme court reverses and finds that POTUS is an "office" for Section 3 purposes.
Naturally, Captain Incontinent is blabbering about a "radical Democrat judge" who "saw the light."
https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/judge-rule-donald-trump-eligible-colorado-primary-ballot-lawsuit-trial/
Short version: once you’re President, you’re immune from any legal consequences.
The judge is an idiot, and I hope that reasoning doesn't get used by anyone else, ever.
But I'll repeat, keeping Trump off the ballot doesn't solve our problems, and I'm not sure doing so without some other hearing finding that he engaged in insurrection first is a precedent we want.
The optics are bad, to be sure. Not that he wouldn't have done it anyway, but now PAB can say the Dems want to take away your right to vote and I;m protecting it and blah blah blah.
Which is why this case never should have happened in the first place because that was always gonna be the outcome.
You go in with a "given" that isn't a given legally (he engaged in insurrection) and then lose and then he gloats.
That's not my concern. My concern is election officials keeping politicians off the ballot for 'insurrection' on a whim, because we've set the precedent that they don't need a conviction or something similar to base that decision on.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Yep!
Trump engaged in insurrection but should remain on the ballot, Judge says.
But Joe Biden is old and must not run again.
Logics and reasons.
Joe is responsible for Joe though. He chooses not to be younger and that's on him.
The mass delusional psychosis of this country is very depressing.
What a journalist! Hoft can see conspiracies that eluded even Tucker Carlson. If only some of those crisis actors had a ballot made of bamboo paper on them, it would blow the whole case wide open.
How about we just take a few canes of bamboo to their cellulite-dimpled, overpaid asses?
How did Panda Chow even become a thing to those idiots?
I know, I was here, but still.
We're just the two of us for Thanksgiving, and I rolled into the store to do some shopping this morning...people are absolutely crazed and this fucking turkey weighs a ton. Just doing it now because about 7 years ago we were going to do our first "just us" Thanksgiving. We had a blizzard and I was at the store at about 6 pm the night before in a line snaking down the aisles because I needed a fucking pan for the turkey since it didn't fit in what I had. People were laughing at my stupidity. I don't think I've ever been in a longer line for anything. The shame of my woeful foil pan is with me still.
I went on Friday morning, about eleven, and it was INSANE. Where do these people come from? I didn't get celery, either, damn it. I'll have to go to the little store in town and get celery and cream cheese.
I noticed one year they were out of celery--I have never seen that before. And I'm with you--it's overrun with people. Do they cook normally throughout the year?
Yeah, I went to Costco Friday morning. A madhouse. Went to the grocery yesterday morning about 6:30 am. Busy but not insane. I can do that because my schedule is weird and I donhave some control of it; and we have 18-24-hr. grocers here in The Cities.
Not everyone can. And here, too many can; so there's no magical solution.
Glad you got what you needed. And a stiff drink on a Sunday morning is OK. Pretend it has to do with football.
I think that I would'a offered someone at the front of the line 5 bucks to buy it for me.
Sorry to rub it in.
This would have been something to think about THEN!
Seriously, I was starting to cry and my breathing was uneven, and I remember thinking, "I'm never going to get home" followed by "I am going to get home and then I'm going to have to cook this fucking turkey".
Brag (not humble): I got a DM from a classmate I so admire saying that my long piece for our class has been her favorite piece in the class this semester and that it reminds her of Joyce Carol Oates. WHAT A FUCKING COMPLIMENT! I will submit the piece for review next week and share a link when it shows up somewhere. Until then, I think you can find it here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1A8wU8MjIAQnJx02HEyIjiVukPvFdqtQ2/view?usp=drivesdk
It's about a 5 minute read.
Woo Hoo!!!!
Congrats!
Thank you! I owe so much to the wonks, particularly shan for her encouragement, because they have engaged with me whenever I have had something to share. My writing career began with a noncomment.