It’s Vax Day in Michigan.
The first of the Pfizer vaccines rolled out of the company’s facility in Kalamazoo early this morning, and you know what happened? People — not just reporters, but regular folks — lined up outside to applaud. At 5 a.m. All day on Twitter I could see videos of the trucks making this turn, making that turn. Pulling into the Lansing airport now! Plane is taking off! Here is the plane flying Covid salvation, climbing into the sky!
And how does every one of these tweets end? #PureMichigan, that’s how.
Well, that’s OK, I guess. It’s better to be proud of your state than embarrassed, and we’ve certainly shown our ass to the world plenty in recent days.
And who will be among the first to be vaccinated? The people who denied the virus, refused to wear masks, and then, when they got sick, got line-jumping, top-of-the-line health care, that’s who. These motherfuckers.
Still, let’s not be too impatient. The vaccine is coming. I saw it rolling out of Kalamazoo just this morning.
This was the weekend to…try to relax a bit. The SCOTUS denial came in on Friday night and that was a big load off the ol’ shoulders, but of course the clamoring will go on and on and on for some time. Weeks, months, maybe years? Or maybe it will just peter out. The state’s electors meet tomorrow, of course, and all of them will travel to the Capitol under police escort.
But instead, I took down some beloved books from some long-neglected shelves and just dipped in and out. Jim Harrison’s novellas, some Sinclair Lewis, a little Elmore Leonard. We watched “Let Them All Talk,” the slight new Steven Soderbergh movie on HBO Max. Rewatched “Inglourious Basterds” Friday night because it was Hanukkah, after all. And just tried to unplug.
It’s clear unplugging will be a process that will not happen overnight. These whiny-ass titty babies are going to keep disturbing the peace for a while. But we’re all owed a tune-out from time to time.
Couple fun things to read? Sure: Sidney Powell’s “military intelligence expert”…isn’t. None of that should be surprising.
Good lord, some of these whiners. Tim Alberta’s final “letter to Washington” in Politico.
Hello, Monday.
Deborah said on December 13, 2020 at 7:43 pm
John LeCarre has died. Damn 2020, I think I’ve read everything he’s written, even the early and late stuff. I don’t think it was Covid related but I’ve read it was pneumonia.
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Dexter Friend said on December 13, 2020 at 11:51 pm
In 2006 I became aware of some distant relation in Portage, Michigan, and my brother and I started an email correspondence with our cousin. The cousin’s mother was 101 then, and lived to 106. Her name was Ethyl Hills. After a couple years and having shared our families’ histories back and forth, the emails dried up forever. The point is, I bet that family was proud as hell Sunday, with the world seeing those beautiful trucks rolling out of Portage’s Pfizer plant. I also was glad Michigan finally got some good news springing forth; sorta choked me up a little. Saturday, just seeing Trump at West Point, tossing the coin on the gridiron, ruined the game but just a little. So Portage made me forget Trump for a while. This was really the marker of my lifetime. Centuries from now, historians will teach of the day the vaccine was released unto the world. I mean, this is bigger than damn-near anything.
And…fucking Green Bay destroyed the Lions. As if we didn’t know that was on the agenda.
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LAMary said on December 14, 2020 at 8:56 am
Deborah, have you ever heard any of LeCarre’s audiobooks? He reads them himself. I was struck by how good the reading was before I knew it was the author reading his own work.
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basset said on December 14, 2020 at 9:01 am
Mrs. B is from Portage and her dad retired from that plant – have been watching the video with great interest.
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Icarus said on December 14, 2020 at 9:03 am
Dexter, that game was closer than the score would indicate. It always feels as if the refs favor Green Bay. That Marvin Jones catch was a catch and they did catch the onsides kick. It’s just refs don’t like to be wrong and reverse calls, especially ones that can turn a game.
If they get that first challenge, perhaps Detroit scores and Stafford doesn’t get injured. Still slim chance of them making playoffs even if they had won.
My Bears finally played up to expectations but now have no margin of error to make the playoffs and need a little help. Typical Bears.
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Deborah said on December 14, 2020 at 10:14 am
LAMary on one of our recent road trips we listened to the last LeCarre book. I don’t know if he was the narrator of that, I’ll have to look that up. That’s the only one I’ve listened to via audio book, the rest I’ve read over many years. And of course have watched the movies and the series. We own all of those DVD’s too and have watched them many times. Alec Guinness was spectacular in the roll of Smiley.
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Bitter Scribe said on December 14, 2020 at 10:55 am
I’m just grateful I don’t live in the United Kingdom. Those poor bastards are in for huge disruptions (if not worse) at the grocery stores once the New Year arrives and Britain no longer can trade with the EU on a most-favored basis. Once the trucks start backing up at ports and the supply chain blows up, I bet a lot of Brits will start rethinking this “national sovereignty” bullshit—too late.
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Deborah said on December 14, 2020 at 11:04 am
Well I was wrong, the John LeCarre’s audio book that we listened to on one road trip was not his last one, there’s another one after that which came out in Oct 2019. So now we’ll get to listen to that one on our road trip back to Chicago in January and LeCarre is the narrator.
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Suzanne said on December 14, 2020 at 11:15 am
I can’t remember if I have ever read a John LeCarre novel. I think I did but it was so long ago, I do not remember the title. Sigh. More books to read…
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LAMary said on December 14, 2020 at 11:38 am
The movie,”Tailor of Panama,”is often overlooked since Le Carre co wrote the screenplay with John Boorman but it’s a very good movie. Worth checking out.
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Julie Robinson said on December 14, 2020 at 12:21 pm
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was the first of his movies I’d seen, and the plot was so intricate I needed to have it ‘splained to me later. I did read The Constant Gardener but will seek out his self-narrated audiobooks; they sound like a treat.
Who else has tried to figure out how soon they can get the vaccine? Either the Post or the Times had an interactive you could plug in to for your location, age, etc. Living in Indiana and being a healthy 64 yo, I was fourth from last, which wasn’t encouraging. I wondered if my mild asthma could move me up the list, and then of course I felt deeply ashamed for trying to game the system.
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susan said on December 14, 2020 at 12:30 pm
Julie, that vaccine-getting interactive was in the New York Times.
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Julie Robinson said on December 14, 2020 at 1:00 pm
Thanks, Susan. I ran it again saying yes to health risks and it moved me up. I’m not sure where we’ll be living by the time it becomes available, so I ran it for Orlando and there were even more people ahead of me in line.
No matter what, I’ll be staying home for many more months.
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Jeff Borden said on December 14, 2020 at 1:10 pm
Bitter Scribe,
The Brexit vote in 2016 was a terrible harbinger of our own nation’s embrace of knee-jerk nationalism in the fall of the year. Both nations are now staggering.
The British will soon learn how utterly stupid it was to trade the free flow of goods and services between nations for the buzz of “Rule Brittannia” once again. BoJo made great sport of the E.U. bureaucrats when he was a newspaper columnist, so they are not likely to do him or Britain any favors. I hope the Brits have stocked up on toilet paper.
Starting in January, we’ll learn just how much trouble we’re in as a new administration made up largely of competent professionals will try to put things right after four years of stupidity run rampant. And we can fully expect the Republican Party –now so utterly debased it is sacrilegious to recall it as the “Party of Lincon”– doing everything in its power to hinder and hamper any comeback.
But we will have toilet paper.
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LAMary said on December 14, 2020 at 1:45 pm
My son, who is 26, says he’s not going to get the vaccine. He says if people take care of themselves they wouldn’t need to get the vaccine. He gets this brilliant information from Bill Maher’s podcast. I told him that I stopped listening to Bill Maher long ago because he’s an antivaxxer and there are probably people who died because of his stupid advice and his smug irresponsibilities. My other son’s girlfriend added his misogyny to the mix. Older son kicked in that Bill Maher is not who you go to for medical advice. Sigh.
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Icarus said on December 14, 2020 at 2:05 pm
I’m so far down on that list, like 10th from the end, that I virtually won’t get the vaccine…at least not any time soon.
I’m dealing with some really inept recruiters. why do they ask when I’m available for a phone call if they are just gonna call me when they feel like it anyway?
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Deborah said on December 14, 2020 at 2:55 pm
Everyone and their pet cat must be trying to access the NYT interactive on vaccine timing, I’ve been trying for about an hour on both my phone and iPad. I don’t have any Covid related complications but I am 70. LB has a compromised immune system from her neurological condition so she’ll probably get it before me and my husband, he doesn’t have any complications either except that he’s 73.
The toilet here in Santa Fe is getting replaced on Weds afternoon. I tried to get it done sooner. Boy have I learned a lot about toilets in the last few days, like about flow and 10″ or 12″ centers. It’s hard to find low flow models in 10″ versions which is what we need, that could also be delivered before April. Meanwhile were being extra, extra careful about flushing. My husband went to Abiquiu, I’m staying in Santa Fe to supervise the bathroom here and because of slippery stairs still out there at the cabin. It got down to 10 there last night.
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LAMary said on December 14, 2020 at 3:07 pm
That dreamboat Stephen Miller says the GOP will have their own electors vote on the election today submit their votes to congress on Monday.
https://a.msn.com/r/2/BB1bUhJH?m=en-us&referrerID=InAppShare
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Deborah said on December 14, 2020 at 3:24 pm
This has nothing to do with the current thread but it does to a previous thread: It’s funny, I felt like the Connie Schultz novel, Daughters of Eiretown was a bit of a slog to get through but I find myself continuing to think about the story days after finishing listening to it more so than other books after I’m finished reading them. Why is that? Something must have resonated deep down with me.
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ROGirl said on December 14, 2020 at 3:32 pm
The British have always looked down on the Continent and joined the EU reluctantly.
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jerry said on December 14, 2020 at 4:32 pm
As a Brit I am so furious about Brexit. The vote was obtained through lies from many politicians desperate for us to be GREAT again. It seems obvious that we are better being part of the European Union than stuck out on the periphery.
There is a strand in this country who are desperate to regain sovereignty at whatever cost. And I fear the cost will be great and borne not by the wealthy but by those further down the economic ladder.
At least you can look forward to a sensible leader next year in the US. Over here we’re stuck with Johnson, an incompetent posh boy who has got the role he wanted only to find he can’t handle it. But it will be the rest of us who have to drink from the poisoned chalice.
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David C said on December 14, 2020 at 4:53 pm
It looks like I’m in the top quarter, but I could see me dropping quite a bit. I’m an essential worker because I work in defense industry but I can easily work from home. We’ll see. The people on our production lines need it a lot more than me.
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Dave said on December 14, 2020 at 5:30 pm
LAMary, I know how you feel. Add to that three children, the oldest is six, and a wife who agrees and you’ve got my son. I know he doesn’t watch Bill Maher but he reads Robert Kennedy, Jr. newsletters regularly, as well as who knows what. He’s already told us we shouldn’t get this vaccine. They’re convinced that if they continue a healthy lifestyle, nothing will go wrong.
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Deborah said on December 14, 2020 at 5:47 pm
Finally I was able to get the results of where I stand in line to get the vaccine in Chicago and I’m a little closer to the top than the middle, but just barely. There are millions more ahead of me and behind me. So it will be a while.
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LAMary said on December 14, 2020 at 5:47 pm
Robert Kennedy Jr. is on Bill Maher pretty often. I would not consider either of them to be reliable sources of medical information.
Jerry, the person I refer to as the in-house Brit agrees with you. He’s been in the states for twenty years but he’s in contact with family and friends there. Whenever I see Boris Johnson I think of the when he got stuck on a zipline during the London Olympics. He was just hanging there, immobilized. Weird yellow hair blowing in the breeze…
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Bitter Scribe said on December 14, 2020 at 6:31 pm
I’m reading this story from The Sun about what a wonderful job Boris Johnson’s government is doing preparing for a no-deal Brexit, and I cannot get out of my head that clip/GIF from “Animal House” of Kevin Bacon running around screaming at the top of his lungs, “REMAIN CALM! ALL IS WELL!!!!!”
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Deborah said on December 14, 2020 at 6:36 pm
So as we all know Biden got the Electoral college votes to make him president elect and right on schedule Trump announced Billy Barr leaving (fired?) to try to take our attention away from his major loss. So predictable.
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LAMary said on December 14, 2020 at 7:27 pm
But there’s Stephen Miller’s alternative electoral college’s decision that trump won to consider. I’m trying to get my head around exactly what sort of person would think an alternative electoral college would be taken seriously.
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Margaret said on December 14, 2020 at 7:37 pm
Thank you, Pfizer (and Moderna). No thanks to those idiots in the WH who have played around with fire, but let the rest of us get burned. (more like incinerated) I can’t believe they’re still whining and denying the facts. It is pathetic.
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Suzanne said on December 14, 2020 at 9:40 pm
LAMary, I understand why you can’t wrap your head around “exactly what sort of person would think an alternative electoral college would be taken seriously.” I live among them. It will be perfectly reasonable and sensible to many of my neighbors. They live in a fantasy world.
A woman who goes to my church posted this on Facebook:
“Trump says up to 10 countries set for peace with Israel. Be ready! Bible prophecy is being fulfilled before our eyes, whether you like President Trump or not (hold your thumbs, this isn’t about him nor do I care to hear it) he has already fulfilled one of the last prophecies in the Bible prior to Jesus’ return. Moving the US Embassy in Israel back to Jerusalem and recognizing Jerusalem as the Capital of Israel is one of the prophecies that must be fulfilled. No other President in history has done this, but Donald Trump did.
We haven’t seen nothing yet!! What the world is experiencing right now is Just the tip of the iceberg!!!
Just in case anyone wonders where I stand: The 7-year tribulation will be worse by far than anything anyone could imagine. If you think this is our last Pandemic or “natural” disaster you are sadly mistaken. Read the book of Revelation. As a Christian, I’ve heard about the corruption and debauchery of the end-times most of my life. It appears the book of Revelation is unfolding right before us. We shouldn’t be shocked either, given the state of immorality in our world. Every day, the boundaries of sin seem to be pushed further and further. The line between right and wrong has slowly been erased by society, television, and pop culture. Witchcraft, spiritualism, “New Age” belief systems are being celebrated and exalted, even among some professing to be Christians. We have been removed further from the world God created and intended. We need to take this time to re-evaluate ourselves. We need to prepare and repent. Jesus will return just as His Word tells us. This is a huge wake up call, and I am taking it seriously. I want to go Home to my Father, when my time is up.
Until the Lord calls me away from this world to the next, I want to make it clear that I believe in Jesus Christ as the true Lord and Savior. I believe that Jesus is the Son of God, was sacrificed on the cross, died for our sins, and rose again. He loves us all dearly (far more than we deserve) and forgives our sins if we repent. His Word says “whoever believes in Me, will not perish but have everlasting life”.
This is the best challenge I have seen on Facebook, so if the Holy Spirit moves you, and you’re not embarrassed, just copy and make this your status update.
Can I get an Amen for being a believer in the Father, Christ Jesus, and the Holy Spirit?“
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Jakash said on December 15, 2020 at 12:47 am
I’ve read the whole Bible, including Revelation, and saw no mention of the U. S. Embassy in Israel anywhere.
I’m not holding my thumbs and I know she doesn’t care to hear it. Still, as to “He loves us all dearly (far more than we deserve) and forgives our sins if we repent.”
Her hero, LameDuck-Loser Trump’s thoughts on that particular matter: “I’m not sure I have ever asked God’s forgiveness. I don’t bring God into that picture.”
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Sherri said on December 15, 2020 at 2:09 am
I grew up among people who worried that UPC codes were the Mark of the Beast from Revelations.
They spent far more time thinking about Armageddon and Rapture and Heaven than they did the poor and hungry.
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Deborah said on December 15, 2020 at 4:38 am
When I was a student at a Lutheran college we were required to take two courses, Old Testament and New Testament which basically consisted of reading the entire Bible and discussing it. In my Old Testament class Revelations didn’t get much discussion as I recall, Song of Solomon got the most.
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Dexter Friend said on December 15, 2020 at 5:11 am
One glorious day for Michigan, then GOP Rep. Gary Eisen starts talking about violence at the electoral college voting site. “I cannot guarantee there will be no violence…” I heard the radio interview…it was just incredible. https://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/12/14/gary-eisen-michigan-electoral-college-radio-interview/6537175002/
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Connie said on December 15, 2020 at 7:27 am
Eisen has lost his committee appointments as punishment for that radio interview. He did not run again.
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nancy said on December 15, 2020 at 7:35 am
I’m a writer and find tapping out a few lines pretty simple and easy. I try to keep this in mind when I see those cut-and-paste screeds like Suzanne posted. Still, I’m amazed anyone does that.
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Julie Robinson said on December 15, 2020 at 9:05 am
Even worse is when their friends heap praise on them for writing something so brilliant. I can predict whose feeds this will appear on in the next day or two.
BTW Revelation is singular and the last book of the New Testament. It’s very trippy. You’ll make yourself nuts if you try to match the real world to a fever dream. Oh, wait, they’re already there.
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Deborah said on December 15, 2020 at 9:42 am
Shows how much those 2 classes meant to me.
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Jeff Borden said on December 15, 2020 at 11:45 am
Aside from Grimm’s Fairy Tales, perhaps there are no scarier stories than those in the Bible.
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basset said on December 15, 2020 at 11:54 am
And McConnell finally admits that “the Electoral College has spoken”… the damage is already done, though.
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Mark P said on December 15, 2020 at 12:00 pm
All the stupid end-of-world crap from Revelation just shows how little fundamentalists actually know about the Bible. The stupid leading the stupid.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on December 15, 2020 at 12:13 pm
Revelation 23:16 ~ And whence the place of counsel returneth to the city of peace, you will know the work of the one of clay feet with head and hair of bronze. (17) There the sign of the eagle will be affixed, the door will open to the stranger and sojourner, and when there is an ambassador from the far place in the holy city, you will know the times are drawing near. (18) Though the signs are brighter, dark will be the tribulations, and the diseases therefrom, darkening the skin, stiffening the expression, heavy the weight there will be. (19) Seven seals opened are only the beginning, for from the grove of peach trees a disputed course of ballots cast will be cast, and cast again. (20) Angry the skies, grim the horizon, but there is yet more before the morning comes.
As far as “the corruption and debauchery of the end-times” yes, I’ve been hearing about those in church circles my whole life, and in my current bitter & cynical mood, I’d say it’s usually framed with some pretty extreme examples from the culture, which the Good Lord knows are always there, but in deeper analysis or extended conversations always comes down to a) treating same-sex relationships decently, b) affirming women in leadership roles anywhere, but especially in church life, and c) minority groups getting uppity and demanding. I’ve spent the last three days with my father-in-law, who would be in assisted living were we not doing what we do every 10-12 days, prodding and poking at me about how stupid changing the Cleveland Indians & Washington Redskins names are, and how it’s a sign of all that’s wrong with modern life. Gahhhh.
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Jakash said on December 15, 2020 at 12:37 pm
Thanks for indicating what they’re talking about MM Jeff. I wonder how many faithful Christians over the past 2 millennia would have guessed that the “place of counsel” was the U. S. Embassy.
Matthew 24:34 — “Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.”
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Sherri said on December 15, 2020 at 12:37 pm
The NYTimes begins the reputation laundering process for Jeffrey Toobin, quoting a bunch of prominent people who don’t think he should have been fired.
Save your time and read Mediocre instead.
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Mark P said on December 15, 2020 at 12:46 pm
Sherri, I had no idea so many prominent people masturbate on Zoom.
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Icarus said on December 15, 2020 at 12:51 pm
JTMMO @ 42: It’s almost as if it’s written in a way that could be interpreted in simultaneously broad and narrow ways.
Revelation(s) is Hollywood’s favorite goto for horror or even apocalyptic fantasy stories. It probably helps that most people have never read it from start to finish.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on December 15, 2020 at 1:28 pm
My guilty conscience coupled with confidence in the general laziness of humankind bids me note that the Biblical book of Revelation ends with chapter 22, verse 21. Just so everyone continuing downthread knows, but a comment like this is, per St. Murphy, almost guaranteed to evoke a new thread from Nancy. (And don’t read 22:18, or if you do say a prayer for me!)
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Jakash said on December 15, 2020 at 1:28 pm
“The Queen’s Gambit is really great and I’m also pretty sure it holds the record for Love Scene Involving Characters With The Most Different Eyeball Spacings”
https://twitter.com/SortaBad/status/1338540653727215618
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Jakash said on December 15, 2020 at 1:43 pm
Wow, I vaguely remember posting some misguided comment or another here before, but this strikes me as being my most embarrassing gaffe to date. I can probably top it in the future, however.
Jeff, don’t you realize that truth is stranger than fiction these days? That nothing appearing in The Onion is more preposterous than what is actually transpiring in this benighted country? When you turn your varied talents to creating fake news, and do it so effectively, what’s a clueless nerd such as myself supposed to think?
The “course of ballots” did seem a bit on the nose, but — in for a dime, in for a dollar. Well done!
Calling me lazy, while rather mean, is certainly on-target.
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Dorothy said on December 15, 2020 at 1:45 pm
On Saturday I turned on the t.v. to mindlessly watch anything while I folded laundry. I found “Alabama Snake”, a documentary about some guy who was abusive toward two wives and found God, became a preacher, and then turned around again when demons took over his soul and attempted to kill his second wife by holding her arms near biting snakes. This was a docu-drama, where they re-created much of the story using actors and scenery and fire and who knows what else. It was horrifying and ridiculous and kind of stupid, yet I could not shut it off. The thick Alabama accents (lots of people narrated this – the two wives, one of the guy’s kids) alone were reason enough to change the channel, but I was mesmerized! What I found so astonishing was how these people actually believe that the guy found God, became a preacher, and they claim they saw him chase demons out of people while in church. The re-enactment of it was just like scenes in a movie. But do people actually shake and tremble and have their eyes roll up and fall on the floor, believing they are being transformed?! I found it laughable. They seem to be able to convince themselves that it was all real and I just wanted to laugh at how dumb they all looked. After he became a preacher, it lasted for a little while until he suddenly went back to his old ways, and turned into a devil again. Give me a break. He bamboozled his way to become a so-called preacher, acted in a way to convince people he was real, and then when he got tired of it, he decided to be a shit again. And then it dawned on me: Trump did this to people. He convinced them he was all-knowing, can fix anything and everything, and was cheated out of the election. I’ll never get over the fact that so damn many people fell for it.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on December 15, 2020 at 1:53 pm
Humankind means me, and thee, Jakash! We’re in this together. If you can reach the bowl of chips, pass ’em over so I don’t have to get up. Thanks.
Dorothy, if you have a chance, watch Robert Duvall’s “The Apostle” with one of Farrah Fawcett & June Carter’s last movie performances. It is a respectful attempt by Duvall to show the better side of that religious experience without excusing the worst of it. A fascinating story, fictional but very true to life, in my experience.
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Mark P said on December 15, 2020 at 2:15 pm
Dorothy, in another time these people would be known as holy rollers.
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Sherri said on December 15, 2020 at 2:33 pm
Mackenzie Scott has given away $4 billion in the last 4 months, no strings attached, no grant application process. Amazing what you can accomplish if you (a) don’t assume you know the answer, and (b) are willing to relinquish control.
https://medium.com/@mackenzie_scott/384-ways-to-help-45d0b9ac6ad8
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St Bitch said on December 15, 2020 at 2:36 pm
ICU and ER staff at University of Iowa Hospital in Iowa City got their first inoculation yesterday…direct from Kalamazoo.
Maybe it was covered on the news, but I’m taking a TV fast at this point while riding out the latest corona surge…it’s helping me to tune in to my immediate surroundings, and fuels my creativity. I’ve definitely been addicted to the boob tube…and have been going through withdrawals…but it’s definitely worth it.
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Suzanne said on December 15, 2020 at 2:44 pm
Oh, Lord, we are doomed. Someone I know posted on Facebook that obviously there was voter fraud because she has proof right here, an article posted on scribd.com. Because, sure, scribd.com is just like NBC news or the Washington Post.
One of the comments, I kid you not, was this:
“I just learned this election how all states vote entirely different. This is a national vote that we the people are voting for. It should be nationally the same. Not state by state or possibly even city/county different. Every poll should be equipped the exact same way and all rules the exact same. This would help weed out some of the corruption.”
Maybe we do need poll tests…
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Dorothy said on December 15, 2020 at 2:49 pm
Oh Jeff I’ve seen The Apostle. I really liked it! I’m a big Bobby Duvall fan so I see a lot of his movies. An actor in that movie got my attention – Walton Goggins. I thought that was a great name and glad no one convinced him to change it. Goggins is a memorable name. He looks a lot like Jim Carrey – they could play brothers.
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beb said on December 15, 2020 at 2:50 pm
Has President-Elect Biden told Trump to STFU yet? I think he should. All this whining about voter fraud is dispiriting.
It’s also dispiriting to hear people being told to stock up on “second amendment supplies” And the people talking about secession ought to be reminded that we already fought a war over this. Conclusion: No backsies. Also have they paid any attention to Brexit. If Texas seceded there would a “Trump Wall” alright — going through Oklahoma! This trumpers need to do what the rest of us did in 2016 — grab the lube and bend over.
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Julie Robinson said on December 15, 2020 at 2:51 pm
Today’s posts put me in mind of a book I finished a couple weeks ago, and have been thinking about ever since. It’s called Slaves in the Family, by Edward Ball, and though it’s long, it’s worth your time.
The author knew his family had enslaved others on the many rice plantations they owned, from before the Revolutionary War, and started extensive research of records and interviewing descendants of both slavers and enslaved.
Many refused to speak with him (mostly white). Some waxed eloquent on the glories of the old days and what benevolent owners the Ball family had been (all white). Some invited him to their ancient clubs, made up of (all white) old families, some invited him to a concert where the choir, (all white) sang slave songs in Gullah, because they consider the language too important to lose. The idea of inviting Blacks to sing along apparently didn’t occur to them.
He learned the real story from his research and interviews with Black family members. All the owners were brutal, raped women, whipped everyone, sold off individual family members when they needed cash, on and on. And of course it was all legal. At one point anyone who brought in enslaved people or even indentured servants got acres of land.
It all fell apart with the Civil War, of course, and afterwards the family lost their wealth and plantations rapidly. A couple of his stated facts really stood out to me. First, that the city of Boston had more manufacturing than all the Confederate States, and second that fewer than a third of the southerners had bothered to send their children to school. This included plantation owners.
The book was highly enlightening to me in understanding how entrenched racism is in the south, and how difficult it will be to change. And, perhaps to a lesser extent, the good ol’ boy who doesn’t need larnin’, and is prey to charlatans of all kinds. Not painting this brush over everyone, as I have friends and family who don’t fit these categories. But very eye-opening.
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Mark P said on December 15, 2020 at 3:08 pm
I would be willing to give up Alabama and Mississippi as a reservation for all Trump supporters and all second amendment fanatics. Turn them loose at the border and let them have at it.
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susan said on December 15, 2020 at 3:25 pm
Mark P, we’d have to evacuate the good people first from Alabamy and Mississippiiiii!Iii, before you let in the Trumper yahoos. Lots of blacks folks live there, are possibly too poor to leave, or don’t want to leave their home. Such a sad sad country we live in.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on December 15, 2020 at 3:47 pm
Dorothy, did you know the Woodward-Ginther family when you were at Kenyon? They had a recent tragedy with the kids in a car accident at that awkward intersection at the foot of the hill. Rhen was driving, Hope was killed. Sorry if that’s your first word on the event…
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Deborah said on December 15, 2020 at 4:12 pm
The hospital here in Santa Fe where I went to the ER recently for my headaches/double vision episode got 112 doses of the vaccine for their workers yesterday which I was happy to hear, but they probably needed more. The Covid lane and the rest of Emergency were separated thank God, I had no fears about it while I was there.
I must say I’ve only been to an ER room twice in my life, once when I tripped and fell on my face on Michigan Ave in Chicago a couple of years ago and this recent trip in Santa Fe and I will say they were both impressive experiences. Everyone I dealt with was kind, helpful, informative etc. I have no complaints.
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LAMary said on December 15, 2020 at 4:29 pm
I grew up across the street from a park that had a pond that froze over in winter. I think I had three visits to the ER due to ice skating issues. Badly sprained wrists from falling the wrong way mostly. The kind that makes any movement of fingers really painful. I have bump on the back of my hands still.
My kids went to the ER a few times. Older son had asthma until he was about 14 so during allergy season or whenever some idiot was using a leaf blower near him we’d schlep over to the ER for some nebulizing. Younger son had spectacular bike accidents, never anything half assed. Broken jaw, broken arm, both requiring surgery and either pins or screws or wires. Nothing since then. I guess it’s been about ten years. Yay.
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LAMary said on December 15, 2020 at 4:30 pm
I grew up across the street from a park that had a pond that froze over in winter. I think I had three visits to the ER due to ice skating issues. Badly sprained wrists from falling the wrong way mostly. The kind that makes any movement of fingers really painful. I have bumps on the back of my hands still.
My kids went to the ER a few times. Older son had asthma until he was about 14 so during allergy season or whenever some idiot was using a leaf blower near him we’d schlep over to the ER for some nebulizing. Younger son had spectacular bike accidents, never anything half assed. Broken jaw, broken arm, both requiring surgery and either pins or screws or wires. Nothing since then. I guess it’s been about ten years. Yay.
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Suzanne said on December 15, 2020 at 4:31 pm
While I am ranting about ignorance, here is one more.
For the second time in a week, I have had someone complain to me about Daylight Savings Time making it get dark so early.
No, I have tried to gently remind them, if there was no such thing as DST, it would still get dark at 4:30/5:00 pm, depending on where you live in your time zone. We are now on standard time, not DST.
I go through this every year. It never ends.
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Jakash said on December 15, 2020 at 5:25 pm
Sunset today: 4:20. Top that! (Well, I guess Susan and Sherri might be able to.) On the upside — last week, it was 4:19, so it’s already moving in the right direction…
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Sherri said on December 15, 2020 at 7:06 pm
4:16 sunset here Jakash, so not that much earlier than you. The big difference is at the other end: our sunrise wasn’t until 7:50 this morning.
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susan said on December 15, 2020 at 7:30 pm
At my place up north, sunrise this morning was at 7:46. sunset this evening at 4:01. At my place 150 miles south, where I am right now, sunrise was at 7:42, sunset this evening at 4:10.
Jakash, it doesn’t start moving in the right direction until after Dec. 21, 2:02 AM here in Warshington. Although, I think the sunrise times lag for awhile, but the sunsets start later on around Dec. 16… Hey! That’s tomorrow! Woot!
https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/usa
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Dorothy said on December 15, 2020 at 7:39 pm
Jeff @61 – yes I sat right beside Kent all the time I worked at Kenyon. And April taught me to knit. I knew the kids a little bit – they’d come in the office after school and do busy work, or hang out in their dad’s office. Great kids. Such a shocking tragedy and I’ve been sick about it for a couple weeks now. I sent a check to another colleague to help pay for any expenses they were having due to trips to the hospital in Columbus, meals, etc. Rhen came home from the hospital much quicker than I expected. I’m sure you know Kent’s brother is the mayor of Columbus.
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