Thanks anyway sweetie, but I do not do Xmas movies, Xmas music decorations or trees. Just last night I started watching an old BBC comedy starring Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer (he of the hound dog face) entitled "As Time Goes By" and found it addictive. Dench and Palmer were in love with each other when they were young, but got separated by Palmer being sent to Korea on National Service. His first letter to her got lost, and they each spent the next thirty eight years feeling abandoned. In 1981 they bump into each other- she, widowed and with a grown daughter, he long divorced, and once again find each other attractive. Both have been living without a partner for a long time and are a bit set in their ways, so their reunion as middle-aged adults is far from smooth. If it weren't for the goddamn laugh track it would be top notch, with those two old pros sparring- who doesn't love Dame Judi Dench? Philomena, the two Best Exotic Marigold Hotel movies, her role as M in a string of James Bond movies.
Every 2 weeks the father of an inmate friend (my ex-cell mate Amanda) sends me $50 through PayPal to put on Amanda's JPay commissary account, because he is so computer-illiterate that he can't figure out how to do it online himself. How he ever figured out PayPal, I do not know, but he can manage that. I can actually only send her $46 because there is a $4 fee.
Well I did that Friday, and JPay put it on someone else's account by mistake. That lady, who is another inmate I advocate for but never send $$ to, called me Saturday to ask what the $$ was for. I just got off the phone with JPay, where I learned that once JPay transfers the funds to the MoDOC, it's out of their hands to fix the problem, so now I get to call MoDOC tomorrow and fight with them over this. It's JPay's fault, not mine. And if MoDOC refuses to fix the problem, then I will call my bank and report the transaction as fraudulent and get the $$ back.
And they, and their allies all seem to think that they know how to run the US in a better way. Way back when, when I thought of myself as a possible revolutionary, one though struck me. No one will trust any regime that cannot guarantee that an envelope depositied in a mailbox will be delivered to the adderesse promptly.
Ummm, that actually requires rational thought, though. My RWKDNJ of a big sister lives on Social Security even as she has been rooting for a civil war for the last 3 decades. Never stops to wonder who will maintain roads etc. 🙄
My bride and I are off today to celebrate Xmas with the kiddos and grands. Tonight, we will finish with the twins playing in an over forty ice hockey league game. May the puck be with you Wonkadoodles.
I never thought I could stop hating Chris Christie, but I don't really loathe him as much as I used to. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger and George Conway were my gateway drugs to stopping the Christie hate.
Christ, if this keeps up it won't be too long before I'll be doing sleepovers with Bill Kristol - braiding each other's hair, eating popcorn, and talking about boys who want to be dictators.
Mu gripe with all of these newly shocked Republicans is their refusal to admit that all of Trump's darkest urges have been festering in the crusty heart of Republican politics since at least the early sixties.
It's less a case of retribution than it is ass covering.
Paul Ryan calling Dump an "authoritarian narcissist" was really the icing on the cake.
"Sure, I supported the Tea Party's gross lies and misrepresentations, but I TOTALLY didn't see where peddling lies to a bunch of gun crazed rubes would possibly end up hurting the country."
I saw this shit coming since the GQP convention in 1992, but somehow all of these people peddling fascist propaganda are SHOCKED that the GQP is going fascist? Grab the smelling salts, and fainting couch, Lindsey!
When Rachel interviewed Liz Cheney, they touched on this, though I wish they'd spent more time talking about it. It's a topic that draws me in: how we can find common ground with those we also have strong disagreements with? Those two managed to have a very good discussion about what deeply matters to them, and to so many of us. It feels like a Very Human Thing, to thread that needle, and also a piece of what is supposed to make Congress work (and why congress isn't working that great over the last 20 years-ish).
I'm old enough to remember when politicians, particularly Republicans, understood that you had to compromise in order to get any legislation passed. The GQP is currently more like terrorist hostage takers, saying "if you don't do what we want on xxxxx issue, we're going to blow up the world economy, not pay for any military aid to Ukraine, and we'll not promote anyone in the military unless you side with us on abortion, etc...
The fact that they're starting to tear each other apart, gives me hope that they may blow their own party up.
he didn't start this horror show, just exploited it. We have Newt "Newt" Gingrich to thank for raising the black flag, for scorched earth take no prisoners and poison the wells politics. Once the Right wing got a taste of that, they were hooked and damned if I know how we get them into rehab.
My family is from the South, and I think the biggest mistake this country ever made was allowing us to vote after the Civil War. We should have had every right that other Americans have, other than the right to vote. Clearly, we aren't trustworthy, and we have no idea what is good and right.
I can find common ground with people up to a point.
At the point at which they start expressing racism, homophobia, transphobia, or dehumanizing any group, that's when I can no longer find common ground with such people.
You can't reason someone out of a position they didn't reason themselves into.
I've had these horrible shitbags in my family for years. I have dealt with them since childhood. There is no way to convince them to not be racists, homophobes (they cruelly ran their own gay brother out of the state in the late 80s), transphobes, and misogynists.
My values don't allow me to share air with people like that for very long. And why should I? People act like you have to be civil with these people even if goes against your dearly held values.
IKR? Like we are supposed to treat them like they have actually intellectually arrived at well thought out positions. Hahahaha! Jordan Klepper so masterfully disabuses us if those silly notions. FFS.
I used to laugh at Republicans, now I looooathe them. They are so hellbent on destroying this country, all so that a few hundred oligarchs can not pay any taxes, and so that trans people can be wiped off the face of the earth, and so that their 2nd graders won't be taught CRT.
Agreeing with Bill Kristol on anything is something I once thought was impossible. I still want to know who stepped on the damn butterfly and put us in this timeline.
My cleaning lady comes today (every other Sunday afternoon) and I'm tidying up the house so she won't know what a slob I really am. It's silly, but I always do it.
I would do it once a month for the same reason if I didn't have a cat. It's amazing where cat hair can get to. Vacuuming is one of the things I just can't do anymore.
I also have a cat, quite longhaired. Vacuuming and mopping kill my back, as does cleaning the tub. Doing dishes is rough too. I want to elevate my counters, but that costs money I don't have.
I got rid of the tub and replaced it with a walk-in shower. It was one of those big corner "garden tubs" and you had to actually physically get into it to clean it, and I couldn't get into it, so it had to go. Meanwhile, the tiny shower stall had no grab bars and as it was one of those 1-piece fiberglass styles, it was impossible to add grab bars. It took me 3 years to save the $$ for the new bathroom, but I finally got what I wanted.
I've been saving up for a bathroom remodel longer than three years! Trouble is, when I thought I had enough $$$ for the job, I couldn't find a contractor to do it and now they have nearly doubled the prices so I may never get it done.
That's good to know. In my case I would have had to rip the whole shower stall out in order to install the blocking needed for the grab bars, so if I was going to rip it out I might as well install a larger, walk-in one with a seat and grab bars on all three sides.
When we've had cleaning people, I've kind of done the same thing--my feeling is it's a waste to have them pick up stuff or put it away (plus, how would they know where it should go? I don't even know)--I have them in to do the actual cleaning that I don't want to do, so I need to be sure they're able to access the floor/sink/whatever to do that.
I once interviewed a place that did cleaning but they also said they could do the laundry and stuff and I was like, this is a bridge too far for me.
Had a long talk over the phone with my ex last night. She has been urging me to get rid of the car, because the repairs are killing me, and I hardly leave the house anyway. Another thing on the agenda is to get someone to dispose of the chunks of tree trunk that make the back yard useless, then get a storage shed set up back there and empty that goddamn storage unit that costs me between $3-$4 K a year. Glass front bookcases, a rolltop Victorian desk with glassfront cabinet, a comfortable rocking chair, my old walnut 4 poster bed (late 19th century). Ditch the cardboard boxes I've been hoarding for moving again, and all the stuff of Dad's that is junk (a pre-digital TV that doesn't even work, for instance, and his mattress that he repeatedly peed on in his last weeks, clothes, both his and mine that I can't fit into anymore). Then maybe I could vacuum again, without having to move furniture sand empty boxes.
There is a laundry in town that will come and pick up your dirties and return them clean, for a fee. It's nice to know this option is available if I should ever need it.
Speaking as a former cleaning lady, good on you! I never minded how people kept their own house, except for when it kept me from doing MY job of cleaning. The epidemy of this was a client who requested I clean the kid's room and mop the floor.... which was always covered in toys and discarded jammies and that sort of thing. I finally asked her: do you really want to pay me $12 an hour (my going rate in 1983) to pick up after your children? if she did, fine, I'd earn my money, but as I expected, she did not.
I can't speak for all house cleaners, but for myself, I didn't really care how much of a slob or what kind of in-process projects were happening - I just wanted to be able to clean efficiently around them.
My mom (who has a weekly cleaning lady, thank you very much Barbara, you are an ANGEL) likes how getting ready for the weekly cleaning makes her tidy up stuff she's prone to leaving unfinished.
It’s heartwarming that Trump’s attorney is able to accompany him on flights around the country to events at nights and on weekends on the road to keep him from getting lonely since Melania is nowhere to be found.
I bet there is a funky smell that permeates that jet that they just haven't been able to get rid of. Like sour fast-food, flop sweat and a hint of Febreze.
Elon Musk is funding a new school planning to open in Austin, Texas
Members of Musk's inner circle — including Jared Birchall, who runs Musk's family office — are named as leaders of The Foundation, a new school planning to teach "STEM subjects and other topics," in an application to the Internal Revenue Service asking for tax-exempt status last year... The IRS filing, dated October 2022, was obtained and posted publicly by Bloomberg, which first reported plans for the school on Wednesday... "The School is being designed to meet the educational needs of those with proven academic and scientific potential, who will thrive in a rigorous, project based curriculum," the filing posted by Bloomberg states.
STEM, shtem. Yes, STEM is important, and girls need more. But the humanities help develop critical reasoning, empathy, ethics and communication skills. At least equally important for our society. Plus, most STEM work will likely be performed by our AI overlords soon...
There is an article in the latest New Yorker about how AI can now write good code faster than humans can, just set the parameters and watch it go- this is written by a veteran code writer.
University level engineering programs are full up. If you want me=ore engineers, set up state level, state supported, state controlled engineering colleges. Except we tried that here and the university engineering program got it obliterated.
DeSantis campaign has a ‘messaging’ problem, in part because DeSantis tried to run his campaign through one of those independent action committees. Anyway, good to know the problem is the ‘messaging’ and not the candidate.
DeSantis Shakes Up Campaign by Replacing Self with Appealing Person
By Andy Borowitz
TALLAHASSEE (The Borowitz Report)—In a campaign shakeup that he is calling a “game-changer,” Ron DeSantis is replacing himself with an appealing human being.
“In Iowa and New Hampshire, I’ve listened as voters have told me loud and clear what they want in a candidate,” he said. “And what they want is not me.
Let me say to all of the Republican primary voters out there: message received,” he declared.
In the effort to replace the Florida governor, his campaign has begun compiling a list of people who are more likable than DeSantis, a roster that reportedly runs into the hundreds of thousands.
DeSantis’s campaign spokesman, Harland Dorrinson, said that the candidate’s decision to replace himself with a non-odious substitute “shows that he’s willing to make the gutsy calls a leader has to make,” and added that the future of the governor’s white go-go boots is yet to be determined.
I have a strange feeling that the message is part of the problem - "I hate everyone, including obese children who love sugar" - but the whiny bitch behind the message might also be the reason everyone hates his "campaign."
I know just a little tiny bit of what you've been through because I was born with a congenital birth defect called Oligodontia ... I was missing 11 permanent teeth. Fortunately 4 of them were Wisdom Teeth, so they weren't missed, but I had to have the remaining 7 baby teeth pulled when I was 14 (all in the front top and bottom, of course), then wear braces for 3 years, meanwhile learning to smile with my mouth closed, a habit I still have today. I have spent a LOT of time in dentist's chairs having painful things done to me. I had removable bridges which I finally got sick of and it cost me $4000 to get permanent ones when I was 31 and I felt BEAUTIFUL for the first time in my life. However, they are getting old, and it will now cost $25,000 to replace them if they break, and Medicare won't pay for that even though it's a birth defect, and they cover other birth defects, but not dental birth defects.
There is absolutely no logical, rational, medical justification for why Medicare won't pay for necessary dental work. For many elderly people, especially the ones stuck in nursing homes, eating is one of the few pleasures they have left, along with watching TV, and yet Medicare won't pay for dentures or hearing aids. It's like you said ... they don't treat teeth or ears as part of your body.
There is an Oligodontia Society, and I called them to ask about this. They said Medicare never paid for any birth defects when it was first created until someone sued them for their particular birth defect, and then they only covered the specific birth defect related to the specific case they lost, and so far nobody has sued them over any dental birth defect.
Due to my eating disorder and some genetic issues combined (and some previous bad dental work) I ended up without enamel on basically all my teeth so they were hideous and painful and dissolving...I was SO LUCKY that my doctor and dentist worked together to browbeat my insurance into covering at least a portion of the work I needed to have done.
I'm very glad to hear that. I found a dentist in St. Louis who would replace all my old bridges for only $10,000, instead of $25,000, because he had already made all his money and he believed in helping people with severe dental defects, so I saved up the $10,000 and was WEEKS away from having the work done when I was arrested and had to spend it all on lawyers instead. So now I avoid eating anything really chewy, or anything extremely crunchy, like nuts, so as to avoid any possibility of any bits breaking off. Fuck. I love nuts.
I would never guess they were dentures, they look very natural. Farid is going to be a very good dentist!
Reading your post really pisses me off - NOBODY should have to suffer that way. This is the richest country in the world, and we've got people who can't have their basic medical needs met. It's really insane that people vote to cut taxes on billionaires, and to cut "entitlements."
Just olet me say this. For those of you that have for various reasons negleted your dental care. Get back on it now. No matter the cost, having a mouthful of healthy teeth, gums & tongue will make you feel better every time you open your mouth and smile.
Right on, zig. Back in 1976 I was lucky enough to be working for the summer in a Union job with 50% coverage. I will just say that the dental work that was done, back when gold was 70 bucks an ounce and I had to $1500 or so was the wisest that I have ever made as an investment,.
Yours is the happiest smile I've seen since forever. Wonderful tooth-filled holiday smile. Hard-won victory is yours, ziggy, and we're all over the moon for you. Blessings on Farid for being your Tooth Fairy.
Cruz and Cornyn won't answer questions about Kate Cox and her pregnancy/abortion.
Gee, I'm starting to think that voting matters, but I should probably just stay home in 2024, though, because Biden is old, and I'm still not wealthy, and I don't like his position on _______________. So what has Biden REALLY done for me? Not much! I mean besides cause me to make more money, worry less, and not have to think about moving out of the country to avoid fascism.
Republicans were ALWAYS opposed to government overreach, unless it involved telling you who you could marry, whether or not you could be transgender, whether you adhered to their religious anxiety about abortion, what you did in your bedroom, etc...
In other words, they've always been massive hypocrites who had no idea that one of the founding principles of America is freedom FROM religion.
I only trust interviews with long time Democrats who turned to Trump because of their "economic anxiety," and ONLY if it's an interview in an Ohio diner.
Well let's not forget Jill Stein! She's totally electable, AND she could be our first woman POTUS! Let's prove we're not misogynists by voting for her.
Simba barely kneads but he's good at harvesting so he's the farmer. Li'l Feller is a kneading machine, so he's the baker (Although he usually wears a chef's hat.)
I don't see many democrats voting for the guy that almost single handedly blocked the more ambitious parts of Biden's agenda in service of the extraction industries.
And WaPo is doing their usual weekend 10k-word spread of "none of anything in this article constituted anything near illegal behavior on the part of any of the Bidens at any time, but we're going to print it anyway because we need to paint Biden to be as corrupt as PAB because BOTH SIDES" crapfest.
Well, James Comer seems to think the Biden Crime Family is guilty of SOMETHING, so isn't it important that we, as a national news organization, cover James Comer's feelings?
Do you think the House of R vote to start an impeachment inquiry this past week is at all relevant to WaPo’s decision to print an article that says there’s no evidence of wrongdoing?
Sad news - I'm sitting here with Princess Lesley for probably one of the last times. When I got home from errands yesterday she was acting odd, and after a while I figured out that she couldn't see. I was hoping it was just a temporary result of an injury or something, but she was clearly not herself, and she had a big seizure last night. I didn't think she would make it to the morning, but she's still here. At this point I'm just trying to keep her comfortable until I can get ahold of a vet. But she's had twenty good years with barely an illness until yesterday - we should all hope for such a (relatively) long life.
It's so hard seeing a beloved suffer. I pray you feel you're able to do your best and that you feel it's enough. I'm sure she can pick up on how you feel and be a little glad you're there for her.
Yes, but I don't think there's much anyone can do for her, and I'd rather she end her days here than in an examining room. If she makes it to tomorrow I'll get one who makes house calls.
All my virtual hugs to you, my wonkfriend. We are reaching the last days of our little dog's days, not quite as close as you, but we're walking that "quality of life" tightrope every day. I think part of our role in our fur babbies lives is to help them have those last days be the best days we can make them. I think a lot about elderly, feeble relatives, and how they are when they've been at their end days, and just pamper the little guy while he can enjoy it.
Princess Lesley is a lovely one, and I know you'll be with her through it all. It's hard on us, but part of what we owe them for all the joy and comfort they bring to our lives.
She's been such a a sweetie - I just want her to be comfortable and around people and things that are familiar to her. She's asleep on my lap under a blanket at the moment, and not in any pain.
When you do, can you post it in the Notes section? (either by checking the box when you do a top level post in the non-comments, or by starting the story in Notes to begin with).
That way, we can find it easy (I will scroll a bit through this discussion, but who knows if I'll spot last night's story) and revisit it through the link on your profile page.
THere are certain pets who are part of the Wonk Family, and I love that we get to share their stories.
Trump ask his drooling base of red hat MAGAts at a Trump hate fest, if they've ever heard of Vladimir Putin, and the slobs start cheering and clapping. They're literally cheering an authoritarian dictator...and also Vlad Putin.
I don't think many people mistake the GQP for a brain trust anymore. They just keep getting dumber and meaner and more gun crazy. I suspect this isn't going to end well.
Thanks anyway sweetie, but I do not do Xmas movies, Xmas music decorations or trees. Just last night I started watching an old BBC comedy starring Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer (he of the hound dog face) entitled "As Time Goes By" and found it addictive. Dench and Palmer were in love with each other when they were young, but got separated by Palmer being sent to Korea on National Service. His first letter to her got lost, and they each spent the next thirty eight years feeling abandoned. In 1981 they bump into each other- she, widowed and with a grown daughter, he long divorced, and once again find each other attractive. Both have been living without a partner for a long time and are a bit set in their ways, so their reunion as middle-aged adults is far from smooth. If it weren't for the goddamn laugh track it would be top notch, with those two old pros sparring- who doesn't love Dame Judi Dench? Philomena, the two Best Exotic Marigold Hotel movies, her role as M in a string of James Bond movies.
Who's sweetie? Are you talking to your partner? That's ok, not everything we watch will be everyone's cup of tea.
Why?
https://nypost.com/2023/12/16/news/mt-shasta-ski-parks-plans-for-virgin-mary-statue-draws-ire/
‘Cause they’re idiots. Still, private property.
Every 2 weeks the father of an inmate friend (my ex-cell mate Amanda) sends me $50 through PayPal to put on Amanda's JPay commissary account, because he is so computer-illiterate that he can't figure out how to do it online himself. How he ever figured out PayPal, I do not know, but he can manage that. I can actually only send her $46 because there is a $4 fee.
Well I did that Friday, and JPay put it on someone else's account by mistake. That lady, who is another inmate I advocate for but never send $$ to, called me Saturday to ask what the $$ was for. I just got off the phone with JPay, where I learned that once JPay transfers the funds to the MoDOC, it's out of their hands to fix the problem, so now I get to call MoDOC tomorrow and fight with them over this. It's JPay's fault, not mine. And if MoDOC refuses to fix the problem, then I will call my bank and report the transaction as fraudulent and get the $$ back.
These people are monsters.
I'm sure MDOC will correct the situation by deducting $50 from Amanda's account.
Plus, I bet you $1 they charge me a fee for whatever they do.
And they, and their allies all seem to think that they know how to run the US in a better way. Way back when, when I thought of myself as a possible revolutionary, one though struck me. No one will trust any regime that cannot guarantee that an envelope depositied in a mailbox will be delivered to the adderesse promptly.
Ummm, that actually requires rational thought, though. My RWKDNJ of a big sister lives on Social Security even as she has been rooting for a civil war for the last 3 decades. Never stops to wonder who will maintain roads etc. 🙄
My bride and I are off today to celebrate Xmas with the kiddos and grands. Tonight, we will finish with the twins playing in an over forty ice hockey league game. May the puck be with you Wonkadoodles.
I never thought I could stop hating Chris Christie, but I don't really loathe him as much as I used to. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger and George Conway were my gateway drugs to stopping the Christie hate.
Christ, if this keeps up it won't be too long before I'll be doing sleepovers with Bill Kristol - braiding each other's hair, eating popcorn, and talking about boys who want to be dictators.
Mu gripe with all of these newly shocked Republicans is their refusal to admit that all of Trump's darkest urges have been festering in the crusty heart of Republican politics since at least the early sixties.
It's less a case of retribution than it is ass covering.
how any of them can face themselves in a mirror after they've FINALLY gotten a fucking clue is beyond my comprehension.
Paul Ryan calling Dump an "authoritarian narcissist" was really the icing on the cake.
"Sure, I supported the Tea Party's gross lies and misrepresentations, but I TOTALLY didn't see where peddling lies to a bunch of gun crazed rubes would possibly end up hurting the country."
I saw this shit coming since the GQP convention in 1992, but somehow all of these people peddling fascist propaganda are SHOCKED that the GQP is going fascist? Grab the smelling salts, and fainting couch, Lindsey!
When Rachel interviewed Liz Cheney, they touched on this, though I wish they'd spent more time talking about it. It's a topic that draws me in: how we can find common ground with those we also have strong disagreements with? Those two managed to have a very good discussion about what deeply matters to them, and to so many of us. It feels like a Very Human Thing, to thread that needle, and also a piece of what is supposed to make Congress work (and why congress isn't working that great over the last 20 years-ish).
I'm old enough to remember when politicians, particularly Republicans, understood that you had to compromise in order to get any legislation passed. The GQP is currently more like terrorist hostage takers, saying "if you don't do what we want on xxxxx issue, we're going to blow up the world economy, not pay for any military aid to Ukraine, and we'll not promote anyone in the military unless you side with us on abortion, etc...
The fact that they're starting to tear each other apart, gives me hope that they may blow their own party up.
Thank you Mitch F*cking McConnell.
he didn't start this horror show, just exploited it. We have Newt "Newt" Gingrich to thank for raising the black flag, for scorched earth take no prisoners and poison the wells politics. Once the Right wing got a taste of that, they were hooked and damned if I know how we get them into rehab.
The Turtle is going to go down in history as one of the most corrupt assholes in American history.
Compromise is an INTEGRAL aspect of functional democratic governance.
THAT is simply a critical facet of the representative democracy abstract.
You know that, and I know that, but tell the hillbillies in Alabama and Kentucky and South Carolina and ...
Those are the ones who cannot compromise and should have been crushed at the end of the Civil War.
We failed at Reconstruction, which I am firmly convinced is part of the problem we are experiencing right now.
My family is from the South, and I think the biggest mistake this country ever made was allowing us to vote after the Civil War. We should have had every right that other Americans have, other than the right to vote. Clearly, we aren't trustworthy, and we have no idea what is good and right.
I can find common ground with people up to a point.
At the point at which they start expressing racism, homophobia, transphobia, or dehumanizing any group, that's when I can no longer find common ground with such people.
Why bother?
Appealing to the stupid with fact-free blatherings kind of draws the line for nyself
You can't reason someone out of a position they didn't reason themselves into.
I've had these horrible shitbags in my family for years. I have dealt with them since childhood. There is no way to convince them to not be racists, homophobes (they cruelly ran their own gay brother out of the state in the late 80s), transphobes, and misogynists.
My values don't allow me to share air with people like that for very long. And why should I? People act like you have to be civil with these people even if goes against your dearly held values.
IKR? Like we are supposed to treat them like they have actually intellectually arrived at well thought out positions. Hahahaha! Jordan Klepper so masterfully disabuses us if those silly notions. FFS.
I hear ya. Recommence to shaking my gead.
I used to laugh at Republicans, now I looooathe them. They are so hellbent on destroying this country, all so that a few hundred oligarchs can not pay any taxes, and so that trans people can be wiped off the face of the earth, and so that their 2nd graders won't be taught CRT.
I suspect that Bill Kristol's "guest" sleeping bag smells too much of Kissinger hagiogrophy to enable a restful sleep.
Agreeing with Bill Kristol on anything is something I once thought was impossible. I still want to know who stepped on the damn butterfly and put us in this timeline.
The new improved "AI Bill Kristol" cares nothing for what the peons call: "honesty?"
When the Cubs won the series in 2016 everything went bonkers.
"Hillary, as a lifelong Cubs fan, you can either get a World Series victory or be elected President."
"Loki, you are a fucking bastard."
My cleaning lady comes today (every other Sunday afternoon) and I'm tidying up the house so she won't know what a slob I really am. It's silly, but I always do it.
I do the same, but just once a month. I can't afford more. She makes a lot more than I do.
I would do it once a month for the same reason if I didn't have a cat. It's amazing where cat hair can get to. Vacuuming is one of the things I just can't do anymore.
I also have a cat, quite longhaired. Vacuuming and mopping kill my back, as does cleaning the tub. Doing dishes is rough too. I want to elevate my counters, but that costs money I don't have.
I got rid of the tub and replaced it with a walk-in shower. It was one of those big corner "garden tubs" and you had to actually physically get into it to clean it, and I couldn't get into it, so it had to go. Meanwhile, the tiny shower stall had no grab bars and as it was one of those 1-piece fiberglass styles, it was impossible to add grab bars. It took me 3 years to save the $$ for the new bathroom, but I finally got what I wanted.
I've been saving up for a bathroom remodel longer than three years! Trouble is, when I thought I had enough $$$ for the job, I couldn't find a contractor to do it and now they have nearly doubled the prices so I may never get it done.
Yes, that's a big problem. I was lucky and got it done 5 years ago.
you know, Medicare will get you a lower cost for grab bars. They only cost me $60 when I had them installed in my father's shower nine years ago.
That's good to know. In my case I would have had to rip the whole shower stall out in order to install the blocking needed for the grab bars, so if I was going to rip it out I might as well install a larger, walk-in one with a seat and grab bars on all three sides.
When we've had cleaning people, I've kind of done the same thing--my feeling is it's a waste to have them pick up stuff or put it away (plus, how would they know where it should go? I don't even know)--I have them in to do the actual cleaning that I don't want to do, so I need to be sure they're able to access the floor/sink/whatever to do that.
I once interviewed a place that did cleaning but they also said they could do the laundry and stuff and I was like, this is a bridge too far for me.
Had a long talk over the phone with my ex last night. She has been urging me to get rid of the car, because the repairs are killing me, and I hardly leave the house anyway. Another thing on the agenda is to get someone to dispose of the chunks of tree trunk that make the back yard useless, then get a storage shed set up back there and empty that goddamn storage unit that costs me between $3-$4 K a year. Glass front bookcases, a rolltop Victorian desk with glassfront cabinet, a comfortable rocking chair, my old walnut 4 poster bed (late 19th century). Ditch the cardboard boxes I've been hoarding for moving again, and all the stuff of Dad's that is junk (a pre-digital TV that doesn't even work, for instance, and his mattress that he repeatedly peed on in his last weeks, clothes, both his and mine that I can't fit into anymore). Then maybe I could vacuum again, without having to move furniture sand empty boxes.
There is a laundry in town that will come and pick up your dirties and return them clean, for a fee. It's nice to know this option is available if I should ever need it.
I would do exactly the same.
paul teases me, saying that he'd never invest in housekeeping services because I'd clean the whole house before they arrived anyway.
I do the same when girlfriend comes to visit.
Speaking as a former cleaning lady, good on you! I never minded how people kept their own house, except for when it kept me from doing MY job of cleaning. The epidemy of this was a client who requested I clean the kid's room and mop the floor.... which was always covered in toys and discarded jammies and that sort of thing. I finally asked her: do you really want to pay me $12 an hour (my going rate in 1983) to pick up after your children? if she did, fine, I'd earn my money, but as I expected, she did not.
I can't speak for all house cleaners, but for myself, I didn't really care how much of a slob or what kind of in-process projects were happening - I just wanted to be able to clean efficiently around them.
My mom (who has a weekly cleaning lady, thank you very much Barbara, you are an ANGEL) likes how getting ready for the weekly cleaning makes her tidy up stuff she's prone to leaving unfinished.
I do the same. Mostly because I want her to spend time on the stuff that I hate to do (floors, bathrooms).
I love this entire concept, cleaning up before the cleaning person arrives to make for a non-slob impression.
If you live alone, you might need SOME kind of goad to make you cease just letting things go.
Ron Filipkowski
It’s heartwarming that Trump’s attorney is able to accompany him on flights around the country to events at nights and on weekends on the road to keep him from getting lonely since Melania is nowhere to be found.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5c70665d3e01692dd2386d4b4b9e7997bafd1c1de0be8e6016f5b9c89c602c9b.png?w=800&h=680
Trump looks rather gaunt in that picture, at least compared to what I usually see.
That man is unwell.
Good. He certainly makes ME sick.
Ozempic. It's what all the cool kids are doing.
He hasn't been well for years.
I bet there is a funky smell that permeates that jet that they just haven't been able to get rid of. Like sour fast-food, flop sweat and a hint of Febreze.
And the incontinence
Isaac Asimov libel right there
Elon Musk is funding a new school planning to open in Austin, Texas
Members of Musk's inner circle — including Jared Birchall, who runs Musk's family office — are named as leaders of The Foundation, a new school planning to teach "STEM subjects and other topics," in an application to the Internal Revenue Service asking for tax-exempt status last year... The IRS filing, dated October 2022, was obtained and posted publicly by Bloomberg, which first reported plans for the school on Wednesday... "The School is being designed to meet the educational needs of those with proven academic and scientific potential, who will thrive in a rigorous, project based curriculum," the filing posted by Bloomberg states.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/14/tech/elon-musk-funding-new-austin-school/index.html
That will not be a proper school.
It will be an Indoctrination Station.
I’m sure the strict education laws of . . . lemme see . . . Texas, will ensure . . . that students . . . oh hell, you’re right.
XOLLEGE
I'm so sick of these fucks stealing the names from sci fi to use for their putrid endeavors.
Meta, Palantir, and now Foundation.
Such geeeeeeeeeeenius captains of industry can't even come up with their own original names for their bullshit.
Elon tried, and came up with X.
https://substack.com/profile/155630927-fukuisanyesota/note/c-45565570?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=2knplb
LMMFAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So in other words Musk is getting a government subsidy to educate people to work at his companies. That's so bootstrappy!
Your child can grow up to be an incompetent supervillain with a melting face! Apply now!
STEM, shtem. Yes, STEM is important, and girls need more. But the humanities help develop critical reasoning, empathy, ethics and communication skills. At least equally important for our society. Plus, most STEM work will likely be performed by our AI overlords soon...
There is an article in the latest New Yorker about how AI can now write good code faster than humans can, just set the parameters and watch it go- this is written by a veteran code writer.
STEAM (where "humanities" is under "the arts").
And "critical reasoning, empathy, ethics and communication skills" are vital when running a cash register or returning carts from the parking lot.
Given them time and they will develop self returning shopping carts. It might actually be a good first step to actually getting self driving cars
They might help you hang on to some semblance of sanity while you chase carts all day...
If "Foundation" involves Elon Musk, a better name would be "Lostation," or perhaps "Tarnation."
"I need more uncritical STEM proles to drive down engineering costs, please."
University level engineering programs are full up. If you want me=ore engineers, set up state level, state supported, state controlled engineering colleges. Except we tried that here and the university engineering program got it obliterated.
beat me to it
Never understood all this gushing about stem. As bad as seeds. What you need is decent bud.
If it wasn't run by Elon, it sounds groovy.
DeSantis campaign has a ‘messaging’ problem, in part because DeSantis tried to run his campaign through one of those independent action committees. Anyway, good to know the problem is the ‘messaging’ and not the candidate.
Posting this a second time;
DeSantis Shakes Up Campaign by Replacing Self with Appealing Person
By Andy Borowitz
TALLAHASSEE (The Borowitz Report)—In a campaign shakeup that he is calling a “game-changer,” Ron DeSantis is replacing himself with an appealing human being.
“In Iowa and New Hampshire, I’ve listened as voters have told me loud and clear what they want in a candidate,” he said. “And what they want is not me.
Let me say to all of the Republican primary voters out there: message received,” he declared.
In the effort to replace the Florida governor, his campaign has begun compiling a list of people who are more likable than DeSantis, a roster that reportedly runs into the hundreds of thousands.
DeSantis’s campaign spokesman, Harland Dorrinson, said that the candidate’s decision to replace himself with a non-odious substitute “shows that he’s willing to make the gutsy calls a leader has to make,” and added that the future of the governor’s white go-go boots is yet to be determined.
Yeah, that's the ticket.
I have a strange feeling that the message is part of the problem - "I hate everyone, including obese children who love sugar" - but the whiny bitch behind the message might also be the reason everyone hates his "campaign."
Tacky O will never be First Lady, and I’m here for it.
She's got a better chance of being POTUS than her dumb hsuband.
I got my dentures!
The new smile and the story:
https://open.substack.com/pub/ziggywiggy/p/new-teeth-new-smile-new-me?r=2knfuc&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Now grab your camera and take pictures! Oh, and you look fantastic!
You look fantastic.
Now you’re as beautiful on the outside as you are on the inside!!!!
Congratulations, I am so happy for you!
So happy for you, Ziggy! You are beautiful and have a joyous smile!
Huzzah!!!!!!!!!!! You look HAPPY and GORGEOUS!
I know just a little tiny bit of what you've been through because I was born with a congenital birth defect called Oligodontia ... I was missing 11 permanent teeth. Fortunately 4 of them were Wisdom Teeth, so they weren't missed, but I had to have the remaining 7 baby teeth pulled when I was 14 (all in the front top and bottom, of course), then wear braces for 3 years, meanwhile learning to smile with my mouth closed, a habit I still have today. I have spent a LOT of time in dentist's chairs having painful things done to me. I had removable bridges which I finally got sick of and it cost me $4000 to get permanent ones when I was 31 and I felt BEAUTIFUL for the first time in my life. However, they are getting old, and it will now cost $25,000 to replace them if they break, and Medicare won't pay for that even though it's a birth defect, and they cover other birth defects, but not dental birth defects.
There is absolutely no logical, rational, medical justification for why Medicare won't pay for necessary dental work. For many elderly people, especially the ones stuck in nursing homes, eating is one of the few pleasures they have left, along with watching TV, and yet Medicare won't pay for dentures or hearing aids. It's like you said ... they don't treat teeth or ears as part of your body.
There is an Oligodontia Society, and I called them to ask about this. They said Medicare never paid for any birth defects when it was first created until someone sued them for their particular birth defect, and then they only covered the specific birth defect related to the specific case they lost, and so far nobody has sued them over any dental birth defect.
Due to my eating disorder and some genetic issues combined (and some previous bad dental work) I ended up without enamel on basically all my teeth so they were hideous and painful and dissolving...I was SO LUCKY that my doctor and dentist worked together to browbeat my insurance into covering at least a portion of the work I needed to have done.
I'm very glad to hear that. I found a dentist in St. Louis who would replace all my old bridges for only $10,000, instead of $25,000, because he had already made all his money and he believed in helping people with severe dental defects, so I saved up the $10,000 and was WEEKS away from having the work done when I was arrested and had to spend it all on lawyers instead. So now I avoid eating anything really chewy, or anything extremely crunchy, like nuts, so as to avoid any possibility of any bits breaking off. Fuck. I love nuts.
I should have gotten some years ago. It would have saved me much pain and money.
I would never guess they were dentures, they look very natural. Farid is going to be a very good dentist!
Reading your post really pisses me off - NOBODY should have to suffer that way. This is the richest country in the world, and we've got people who can't have their basic medical needs met. It's really insane that people vote to cut taxes on billionaires, and to cut "entitlements."
AMAZE-BALLS! Dental work is awful, but well worth it. Teeth are just another thing that should not only be for the wealthy! Beautiful!
The rest of us don't need those luxury bones, ya know!
Your comment makes me want to laugh and cry - "teeth are just another thing that should not only be for the wealthy."
Christ, what a country, where half the population is stupid enough to vote to cut taxes on billionaires, so people can't have nice (necessary) things.
Yay! Victory!
This is wonderful. Congratulations!
Just olet me say this. For those of you that have for various reasons negleted your dental care. Get back on it now. No matter the cost, having a mouthful of healthy teeth, gums & tongue will make you feel better every time you open your mouth and smile.
Right on, zig. Back in 1976 I was lucky enough to be working for the summer in a Union job with 50% coverage. I will just say that the dental work that was done, back when gold was 70 bucks an ounce and I had to $1500 or so was the wisest that I have ever made as an investment,.
Too bad chemo pretty much destroyed mine.
That must have been some toxic chemo. I've never heard of chemo weakening teeth, usually it's just hair loss, nausea, and weakness.
I hope it worked, and killed your cancer, as well as your teeth.
My chemo gives me acid reflux and sometimes I vomit in my mouth a little during the night. That's the kind of thing that weakens teeth.
They tell you to get any work needed done before you start because it'll mess them up, but time was of the essence and money wasn't plentiful.
It didn't kill all of it. Immunotherapy every 2 weeks keeps it at bay.
I don't think I'd get work done on my teeth if they were just going to fall out!
Glad you've got something keeping it at bay.
Yours is the happiest smile I've seen since forever. Wonderful tooth-filled holiday smile. Hard-won victory is yours, ziggy, and we're all over the moon for you. Blessings on Farid for being your Tooth Fairy.
Woot!!
That is wonderful and you look gorgeous!
Thanks oblivias!
Woot Woot!
congratulations!
Cruz and Cornyn won't answer questions about Kate Cox and her pregnancy/abortion.
Gee, I'm starting to think that voting matters, but I should probably just stay home in 2024, though, because Biden is old, and I'm still not wealthy, and I don't like his position on _______________. So what has Biden REALLY done for me? Not much! I mean besides cause me to make more money, worry less, and not have to think about moving out of the country to avoid fascism.
The abortion/choice issue needs to be framed as a women's heath issue, but also as a general governmental overreach/intrusion issue.
Who's really the party of Big Government?
Republicans were ALWAYS opposed to government overreach, unless it involved telling you who you could marry, whether or not you could be transgender, whether you adhered to their religious anxiety about abortion, what you did in your bedroom, etc...
In other words, they've always been massive hypocrites who had no idea that one of the founding principles of America is freedom FROM religion.
I'm going to hold out until I can get some confirmation that Joe Biden is the right choice from the patrons of a rust-belt diner.
Oh, and I forgot to add, older white male patrons specifically.
Tears of frustration and laughter, mixed together...
I only trust interviews with long time Democrats who turned to Trump because of their "economic anxiety," and ONLY if it's an interview in an Ohio diner.
But, but Cornel West will be better as president!
Well let's not forget Jill Stein! She's totally electable, AND she could be our first woman POTUS! Let's prove we're not misogynists by voting for her.
Too late.
Oh, man! I can't believe this cart still has good hits in it, man.
Take a look at this important message: https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fmedia_upload%2Fcomment%2F7f88aed0-65a1-4728-8542-b8b667d81e2c%2F6a0cd72b-637c-4513-827c-421ac53a823d.jpeg
Mine makes biscuits with tiny little perforations in them
Squee!
The Farmer Cat and the Baker Cat should be friends.
I suspect that those are not real cats.
Stop ruinting the ambiance!!
RUINTING!!
Real cats would never allow a moving biscuit to pass by them un-swatted, AND YOU KNOW IT.
Alrighty, then!
Hey... I win? Now I've lost interest.
Good day, sir.
Are you really a cat?
Uh, Molotov!
Simba barely kneads but he's good at harvesting so he's the farmer. Li'l Feller is a kneading machine, so he's the baker (Although he usually wears a chef's hat.)
I'm glad the media is giving oxygen to Joe Manchin and his idiotic 3rd party candidacy.
He's a Republican now, there is no 3rd party. He's actually running against tfg whether he knows it or not.
I think he'll actually help Trump more than Biden. If I thought he'd help Biden, I'd be willing to vote for him.
I don't see many democrats voting for the guy that almost single handedly blocked the more ambitious parts of Biden's agenda in service of the extraction industries.
Most voters aren't that well informed. Manchin sounds like a nice guy, and he's not old!
He does not sound like a nice guy
He's like an entire year younger than the former guy!
According to the media, Manchin and Dump are spring chickens, and Joe is a doddering old fool.
And WaPo is doing their usual weekend 10k-word spread of "none of anything in this article constituted anything near illegal behavior on the part of any of the Bidens at any time, but we're going to print it anyway because we need to paint Biden to be as corrupt as PAB because BOTH SIDES" crapfest.
Well, James Comer seems to think the Biden Crime Family is guilty of SOMETHING, so isn't it important that we, as a national news organization, cover James Comer's feelings?
~WaPo editors
Do you think the House of R vote to start an impeachment inquiry this past week is at all relevant to WaPo’s decision to print an article that says there’s no evidence of wrongdoing?
MTP is just spouting all sorts of horseshit today.
So, the usual
Gr=rr#%@rr%h&=rrr
Evergreen feeling of mine since GWB stole an election in 2000, with the help of Ralph Nader and Antonin Scalia.
I understand completely.
Whew, that's a relief!
Well, back to beating my head on the desk.
Sad news - I'm sitting here with Princess Lesley for probably one of the last times. When I got home from errands yesterday she was acting odd, and after a while I figured out that she couldn't see. I was hoping it was just a temporary result of an injury or something, but she was clearly not herself, and she had a big seizure last night. I didn't think she would make it to the morning, but she's still here. At this point I'm just trying to keep her comfortable until I can get ahold of a vet. But she's had twenty good years with barely an illness until yesterday - we should all hope for such a (relatively) long life.
https://substack.com/profile/156018579-sayitwithwookies/note/c-45561721?r=2kw0pf
Damn, I hate to hear that.
It's so hard seeing a beloved suffer. I pray you feel you're able to do your best and that you feel it's enough. I'm sure she can pick up on how you feel and be a little glad you're there for her.
20 years is a superb run. Soon she'll be chasing butterflies in sunny fields after a lifetime of love.
I'm so very sorry. Giving her twenty good years is something you can be proud of.
Sad news. Losing a beloved pet is nearly unbearable. May her passing be peaceful and your memories of her be a blessing.
Thank you Gerry.
You and Princess Lesley are lucky to have each other.
oh no.
All the hugs to you, and skritchers to the Princess.
So sorry to hear it.
What a good, long, healthy, loving life she's had!
Oh, dear, that's so hard! My sincere condolences!
I'm sorry for this - it's the worst
peace to you, healing to yr princess
I'm so sorry. Is there an emergency vet near you? They're usually open 24/7.
Unfortunately they also tend to be cost-prohibitive....
Yes, but I don't think there's much anyone can do for her, and I'd rather she end her days here than in an examining room. If she makes it to tomorrow I'll get one who makes house calls.
You are SO good to do what she would want....
I'm very sorry, SIWW. You've clearly been great kitteh guardians and she's clearly a great kitteh. It's grand that y'all found each other.
She's been in my lap almost every day since she came to live with me -- she's really the sweetest.
Awwwwww
Oh noo, heart wrenching, I'm so sorry, such a cutie! Broken heart 💔
All my virtual hugs to you, my wonkfriend. We are reaching the last days of our little dog's days, not quite as close as you, but we're walking that "quality of life" tightrope every day. I think part of our role in our fur babbies lives is to help them have those last days be the best days we can make them. I think a lot about elderly, feeble relatives, and how they are when they've been at their end days, and just pamper the little guy while he can enjoy it.
Princess Lesley is a lovely one, and I know you'll be with her through it all. It's hard on us, but part of what we owe them for all the joy and comfort they bring to our lives.
She's been such a a sweetie - I just want her to be comfortable and around people and things that are familiar to her. She's asleep on my lap under a blanket at the moment, and not in any pain.
Hoping for a good outcome and thank you for being there with her. I know she feels your love and concern.
Thank you Sophia.
God? hisssssss:
https://x.com/dutchessprim/status/1736364004342169692?s=20
Excellent. And historically accurate.
https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fmedia_upload%2Fcomment%2F1e0fbc76-a397-4c37-b0fe-f7ba6702db84%2Fecf4072f-d556-4022-b0c9-76cd713d5b9e.jpeg
Thank you for the Simba origin story last night!
You are welcome. I really need to post an article that summarizes the whole thing before I forget more things.
When you do, can you post it in the Notes section? (either by checking the box when you do a top level post in the non-comments, or by starting the story in Notes to begin with).
That way, we can find it easy (I will scroll a bit through this discussion, but who knows if I'll spot last night's story) and revisit it through the link on your profile page.
THere are certain pets who are part of the Wonk Family, and I love that we get to share their stories.
okeedokee
I look forward to it!
Trump ask his drooling base of red hat MAGAts at a Trump hate fest, if they've ever heard of Vladimir Putin, and the slobs start cheering and clapping. They're literally cheering an authoritarian dictator...and also Vlad Putin.
20 years ago these same people would be screaming to execute someone who’d give such public adulation to a Russian leader.
I find it odd that people like Roseanne and Trump keep calling US "communists" and "Marxists" and yet they are the ones licking Putin's ass in public.
Why is this Santa Claus flying in crossing the boarder breaking in to everybody's homes.
- PAB
BOO!!!!1!!
- Frothy booger eating butt picking red hats
Calling MAGAts "deplorables" was the understatement of the decade.
Now ask them to point to Russia on a map.
Hilarity ensues.
"Well, I know it's near Sarah Palin's place."
//points to Canada, scratches butt, and asks for directions to the nearest Cracker Barrel
I’ll never forget those guy who punked CPAC with those Russian flags that said “trump” and the idiots were happily waving them.
I don't think many people mistake the GQP for a brain trust anymore. They just keep getting dumber and meaner and more gun crazy. I suspect this isn't going to end well.