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Bern's avatar

I come before you directly from my recent immersion in the latest reportage regarding the plastification of the blood of pretty much every sort of organism on the planet, which of course reminded me of the Plastic People of the Universe which drove me directly to Egon Bondy's Happy Hearts Club Banned which so obviously tracks with today's Roypost.

So other than that, I got nuthin' 'cept g'mornin', y'all.

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SundayStyle's avatar

A bright spot is hopefully Reagan is spinning in his grave so forcefully it can be measured via seismograph.

Putin picking up on rightwing talking points and going all-in against "wokeness” and LGBTQ equality as promoted by the Decadent West is a smart strategy. It’s the best way to get and keep our own home-grown authoritarians on board. Game recognize game.

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Bern's avatar

And a shout out to the russkie orthodox religionistas and their merkin brethren (obviously no sistren).

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SundayStyle's avatar

Yeah, Rod Dreher (Eastern Orthodox) practically came in his pants when Putin called out the decadent west. Sorry for that disgusting imagery. For that matter, sorry for mentioning Dreher at all, which is disgusting enough on its own.

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Bern's avatar

I'd heart this, but...

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SteveB's avatar

And when is all this decadence going to translate into reduced effectiveness on the battlefield? I'm assured it's any day now, once the military goes all Woke and the HIMARS are all filled with locally grown organic salad greens instead of high explosives.

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Grouchy Medievalist's avatar

"High" explosives

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SteveB's avatar

OK, strike "salad"

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Bern's avatar

When the umpire yells "STEEEERRRIKE SALAD!" you know woke done gone too far...

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billcinsd's avatar

The military has been woke since 1948, so Vietnam was probably the time for reduced effectiveness on the battlefield

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Pere Ubu's avatar

Christ, here I was facing the future having to think about Margie's books, and you do this! OMFG where's that extra-strength brain bleach?

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Bern's avatar

"Margie's books" is a delightful euphemism.

2 marks!

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SteveB's avatar

I didn't understand it, except that it can't possibly mean "things with pages that you read."

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Pere Ubu's avatar

Goddamn autocorrect!

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ssdd's avatar

I dunno. Our own Vladdites aren’t in danger of leaving the field, at least as far as I can tell. As long as Biden’s for it, they’re against it. Seemed like Putin had more in common with Sarah Huckabee and her SotU response. Yesterday you had Joe saying normal wartime leader stuff, and Vlad blabbering about gay nazis in Ukraine. I don’t think that’s going to make much sense outside the bubble.

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SundayStyle's avatar

Agree. But I think for now they're only trying to convince/keep the bubble on board. They mostly just talk to each other anyway, they don't attempt much persuasion anymore. As the war drags on, they'll probably begin to craft a message that they think might work with the larger public.

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Bern's avatar

Well, once "Gay Nazis in Ukraine" hits Broadway, we'll all be on board.

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SteveB's avatar

A Bialystock and Bloom production!

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SundayStyle's avatar

"Don't be stupid, be a smarty, come and join the Servant of the People Party!"

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Bern's avatar

"Servant of the People"

It's a chef!

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Grouchy Medievalist's avatar

I'm pretty sure it was the RWNJs that picked up on Putin's anti-LGTBQ laws as well as his forceful advocacy for the Russian Orthodox Church -- he's just mirroring it back to further encourage them...

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SteveB's avatar

I'm going with convergent evolution on this one. Similar traits evolved under similar pressures. In both cases, not having one single positive thing to offer the public, so you fall back on pushing the hate button, over and over. They'd be talking about the same things even if there was an Iron Curtain blocking all communication.

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LarrytheRed's avatar

Elon's appearance is like Mardi Gras to them.

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Pat Fitzgerald's avatar

This line -- "Suddenly a new square, as big as four of the current ones, squeezes the others out of the way," -- got me this morning.

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SteveB's avatar

Did he buy Zoom too?

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Bern's avatar

ZOOM2 – Curse of the Screenshare!

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SundayStyle's avatar

Yes, but don't worry, we can still use it for $8 a month. And we get a checkmark. Unfortunately, the checkmark is currently being displayed right over our faces, but I'm sure Mr. Musk will fix that bug.

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Derelict's avatar

I saw Green tweeted yesterday about how horrible it was for Biden to go to Ukraine on President's Day. I hope someone reminded her of all the Republican representatives and senators who went to Moscow on the Fourth of July.

If Republicans take the Senate back (or, worse, get the tri-fecta in 2024), Ukraine will fall. In fact, I would not be even slightly surprised if President Trump withdraws the US from NATO and begins shipping our most advanced weaponry to Russia.

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Manqueman's avatar

I, like, disagree with everything you just said and predicted but won’t be surprised if you’re proved correct either.

What an exceptional nation we live in, pending MTG’s divorce which I support 10,000%.

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Bern's avatar

Memo to MTG: Murca. Love it er leave it. No, you do not get to take the soil with you. Just leave.

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Manqueman's avatar

No, no, no, I want them all to go and take their third world authoritarian backwardness, racism, and literally deadly policies with them.

They deserve that at the least — they deserve far, far worse.

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Bern's avatar

Sure.

I'm just pointing out that the nation's dirt, water, forests, military bases, ports, interstate freeways, parks, farms, factories, bookstores, bagel shops and all the democracy-favorable citizenry stay here in this nation. The rest of the lot are free to leave, along with whatever they can cart on their backs.

Last time their ilk tried this shit they also attempted to steal half the nation. Hard no this time.

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Manqueman's avatar

Just told you get.

But let me put it like this: They get more problems than the enlightened states, but with their problems,the latter have a willingness to deal with them.

Awful people who deserve the natural outcome of their pathological desires and acts.

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Bern's avatar

Agreed.

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Pere Ubu's avatar

Let's just divorce Margie from the nation. Send her off on an ice floe while there's still ice floes.

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Manqueman's avatar

What I just said (😂):

No, no, no, I want them all to go and take their third world authoritarian backwardness, racism, and literally deadly policies with them.

They deserve that at the least — they deserve far, far worse.

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Bern's avatar

<I hear this in the style of the Nat King Cole Trio>:

You’ll never guess what new lie the MAGAs will try

When they tire of the old ones in the sweet by and by

But they do their musty-fusty selves no favors

When they drag off the dusty shelves as saviors

Those who went to Moscow on the Fourth of July

Yeah

Those who went to Moscow on the Fourth of July

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Howlin Wolfe's avatar

What tune is this set to?

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Bern's avatar

Sadly, I don't hear it all the way thru.

But I kinda here the tempo and the syncopation of "Mississippi Mud"*

*Sorta. Little less than sorta. Maybe only slightly.

Also possibly a stretched out version of the rhythm and the sensibility of "Gone With the Draft"

"… When your year of drillin's up,

You get from camp discharged,

You can come back home and freshen up,

And run around at large!"

That last line is as good as lyricism ever gets.

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Manqueman's avatar

As amused as one can be by the disgraceful reality behind the laughs.

My contempt for all of them is absolute mumble grumble oh never mind.

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Worriedman's avatar

I'll be honest- I am a card carrying, Live and Let Live, all men and women are my brothers and sisters, socialized medicine for the win liberal Democrat.( no more falsehoods or derisions Golden Living dreams of vision etc)

I mean, I pretty much love everybody. Except Russians. I fucking hate Russians. One of my earliest memories was my parents filling the Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser with food and water during the Cuban Missile Crisis, parked in the driveway - ready to go when we got word that they were going to drop the Big One. I have no idea where they were planning on going. I did Duck and Cover in kindergarten. I went through drills where we" evacuated" Into The Fallout Shelter. Which was really just the janitor's room and a dingy ajoining basement full of old desks. As I grew older I read countless books and watched endless movies about The Day After about how me and everyone I loved was going to die a horrible violent radioactive death. I really did accept this as a fact for probably the first 30 years of my life.( when I learned smoke enough weed to get beyond such dull care)

Well, in 99% of my scenarios the Russians were responsible for all this carnage.

So yeah, Nadia Comaneci was hot, Tarkovsky was one badass filmmaker, and I had a near religious moment at a Kandinsky show the Cleveland Museum of Art sometime in the late seventies. Other than that though. I got nothing good to say about Russians.

I guess the Russian people would be okay. My big complaint is about the government. Fuckers like Putin.

The only people lower than that asshole are people like Rand Paul, Matt and Marge who can't wait to kiss his ass.

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Grouchy Medievalist's avatar

There is no such thing as an evil people -- they may have evil governments & don't know how to effectively resist them.

There are evil ideas, many of which are shared on either side of whatever Curtain you like, and which have the same effects on our society & others.

Also, most of the world thinks of the USA like we used to think of the USSR. We just have the "benefit" of relentless CIA disinformation that dehumanized & vilified Russians for decades.

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SteveB's avatar

I remember a news report that quoted a Russian soldier (anonymously, of course) saying something like "They just use us, they throw our lives away, they don't care about us at all" followed immediately by "Of course I'm going back to the front, I must defend my country!"

That contradiction isn't unique to Russia, of course, you can hate your government and still hate the asshole who keeps shooting at you even more. But centuries of a people expecting nothing but brutality and incompetence from their government is something the Russians excel at. Generation after generation of that, and "Shrug, keep quiet and survive" becomes a reflex, and anybody who wants to hold the government to a higher standard just leaves (as is now happening, by the millions.)

This is another thing Putin and his Republican admirers have in common: The systematic destruction of all expectations that the government might do anything to make your life better. Never ask for anything, fall in line, focus on the hate, it's all we're ever gonna offer, so make sure you get your share.

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Grouchy Medievalist's avatar

Accounts always differ, but I don't think the Russians would have won WW2 for us if they were just resigned & misused... They suffered horrible casualties on the Eastern Front but I don't think they would have done so if the average soldier didn't think they were fighting for something worthwhile.

Until Stalin lost his mind & subsequent premiers followed in his footsteps, the USSR was a major improvement on the tsars... high literacy, free school, a drive towards gender equality. And when the USSR disintegated, the USA was right there to help sell off all these public utilties & benefits off to oligarchs & gangsters.

Not saying it was perfect... anti-semitism was still thriving, for one thing.

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Bern's avatar

The emaciated dead of Ukraine would attest Stalin and his mind parted ways before WWII...

And it's possible the soldiers were fighting for their comrades and nought else – a commonly-enough-asserted principle among booted grounders worldwide.

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Bern's avatar

"Ma! Uncle Steve said 'systematic' agin!"

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Worriedman's avatar

I use systemic fungicides all the time.

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Bern's avatar

Now you done it! I'mo tell Aunty Marjie on you!

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Maggielle's avatar

"The systematic destruction of all expectations that the government might do anything to make your life better. Never ask for anything, fall in line, focus on the hate, it's all we're ever gonna offer, so make sure you get your share."

This is it, all of it. It even reminds me of growing up, and how does that happen? How did my parents get there? There's a big Christianist component there, but I'm going to go lie down for a minute or five.

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Bern's avatar

The religionistas bang on about how the gummint ain't good enough at takin' care of evahbody, and they could do it better. Whenever I mention that they need not wait for the gummint to get outta the way, they get quiet, 'cause they know their universal caretakin' track record suggests otherwise.

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SteveB's avatar

"Well, we're not saying WE should be giving everybody health care, just that the gummint shouldn't be doing it."

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SteveB's avatar

"People should get it from a... um... from a health care store or something."

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Howlin Wolfe's avatar

To be fair, or accurate, anyway, Nadia Comeneci isn’t Russian, but Romanian. So consider her hot without reservation!

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Whipstitch's avatar

Nadia Comaneci is Romanian. Am I missing something?

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Pere Ubu's avatar

Borscht is pretty tasty.

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Worriedman's avatar

I 've drunk my share of vodka , I'll admit.

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Bern's avatar

You can have mine too.

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SteveB's avatar

I drink only rainwater and pure grain alcohol, I think we all know why.

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billcinsd's avatar

Nadia Comaneci is not Russian, Olga Korbut was the Russian gymnast the scored a perfect 10. Nadia is Romanian

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SteveB's avatar

Rachel Maddow had some footage from a rally* on the Mall last weekend, a few Russian flags being waved about, also some Soviet-era flags, participants include Proud Boys and the followers of Lyndon LaRouche. Featured speaker? Tulsi Gabbard. I saw that and thought, man, a couple of years ago you were on a big stage debating Joe Biden, and now look at you...

*I've been at plenty of rallies like this, a hundred people and everybody knows each other. Always a nice chance to catch up with old friends, but the folks I hang with aren't EVIL.

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Bern's avatar

Were there about 20 separate groups of god-botherers around the edges? "Cause if not, it wasn't a real rally. The godly few are legion when the time comes. And they know the way to the Mall in their sleep.

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SteveB's avatar

At the kind I used to go to, every Socialist group you've ever heard of (and a few you haven't) has a lit table. In a nod to Calvin Trillin, I think of them as "The table-as-a-verb crowd", as in, "Who's up for tabling this weekend?"

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SteveB's avatar

OT, but some good news from the restive northern province of Wisconsin: The two Democratic (excuse me, it's nonpartisan, meant to say "not-fascist") candidates garnered a total of 54% of the vote in the Supreme Court primary, the two Republican (erp, sorry, "fascist") candidates totaled 45%. So encouraging news for the general election in April. The electorate in the general election will be different (and larger) than in the primary, but there's no reason to believe it's going to be appreciably more Republican/fascist, so we've got a good shot at our 2024 electoral votes actually going to whoever wins the most votes in the election, imagine that.

BTW, I saw a pop-up ad for the two Bad candidates which described them as "constitutionalist" (has "conservative" fallen out of favor?). One of these supposed "constitutionalists" (the one with a dingle, who now advances to the general) got paid by the Wisconsin Republican party to advise on a 2020 post-election plan that included the fake electors scheme. Because nothing says "constitutionalist" like "subverting the Constitution's rules for electing a President."

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Bern's avatar

Subversion is such a lefty (probly even frenchy) term. Round these parts we call it 'massaging'.

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SteveB's avatar

In Trump's case the "massaging" didn't bring a Happy Ending.

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Whipstitch's avatar

Only six more weeks of Willie Horton style ads!

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Howlin Wolfe's avatar

I think the “constitutionalist” descriptor is for judicial fascists. “Conservative” is still the label the ordinary fascist pols wear proudly on their sleeves as if that’s their entire argument. Come to think of it, that is their entire argument, a universal enthymeme. It allows them to reverse engineer any opinion, begging their questions within an inch of their logicsl lives.

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SteveB's avatar

Both are "conjuring words", a phrase I stole from here and am not giving up. Likewise any reference to "the Constitution." A think we must worship but must also be very, very careful never to read (hey, just like the Bible!)

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D. Sidhe's avatar

I did not need a number of those images.

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redoubtagain's avatar

(So L. Ron Musth gets the center Paul Lynde square. Good to know.)

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Bern's avatar

Peter Marshall: Now listen carefully, Paul… during the time of the hula hoop, the yo-yo, and Davy Crockett hats, who was in the White House?

Paul Lynde: I’ll say the yo-yo!

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Howlin Wolfe's avatar

That’s funny! Also very Lyndean.

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Bern's avatar

All credit (if that's how it should be characterized) to https://www.just-one-liners.com/

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DrBDH's avatar

Biden gets more like FDR so of course the reichwing reps denounce him and if that means embracing Putin, so be it. Kiev is the new Yalta and these bozos are the clown car version of Father Coughlin.

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Derek Hendy's avatar

You had me at “The dark square flickers on, revealing VLADIMIR PUTIN,” which is perhaps the creepiest “Hello” ever.

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Howlin Wolfe's avatar

The that idiot Comer says “dos vedanya”, which means “goodbye” in Russian. I don’t know why you say goodbye I say hello!

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Pere Ubu's avatar

If I remember correctly, its literal translation is "see you later".

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Howlin Wolfe's avatar

That’s what the google tells me. I have no knowledge of Russian to speak of, beyond nyet and c’novum godum (Happy New Year) so when confronted with this, I had to look it up. Roy leaves little nuggets like this in the REBIDs. Easter eggs, I believe they’re called by the TikTok generation.

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leslie's avatar

"[GREENE stands, which puts her upper body out of frame, but we can see her giving the thumbs-down, and that below the waist she’s wearing only bikini bottoms.]"

The bikini bottoms and the WOOOOOOOOs and the BOOOOOOOs kill me. I mean, it's all funny. But.

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billcinsd's avatar

IRL, Greene and Boebert got in a fight over McCarthy as Speaker

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Bern's avatar

Catty & Bratty

There's a sitcom future for the 2 of them once the sheen wears off (or maybe sheens need to be scraped off with No. 3 steel wool.) Burly, calloused researchers stand at the ready.

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bill's avatar

Had me from "travel mug" on down. HI-woo hoo-Larious!

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