@benlockwood Fascists love to redefine words like "progress" to suit their agenda, don't they. about 15 years ago I had a debate with a right-winger who called himself the "progressive conservative", and claimed that his regressive stance on abortion rights was "progressive" because he was willing to compromise on something less than a total ban (so now we've got a compromise and can move on to other issues. Progress!)

I can never tell if they really understand how awful they're being (and enjoy it), or just don't care, or have no clue.

@rnd Have you watched any of archive.org's repository of direct-off-air VHS tapes? (e.g.

@rnd This is but one of many reasons we completely stopped watching it about 20 years ago (except when trapped in a waiting room, where it is often unavoidable).

Apparently it has gotten worse since then.

(added) One might say US TV is ad-broken.

Get the bag. Appease the feline overlords.

@amcooper Gee, do ya think so, Wally?

...yeah, I think in the back of my mind I had some examples along those lines.

@amcooper Yeah... even (or especially?) when threatened with personal consequences.

@mehdirhasan ...thus proving to the oligarchs that he is in fact the leader they want.

@VeroniqueB99 We use several catch-all domains for our email, and I make up a new address for each signup.

The spam we get on those addresses doesn't always have a name in it, or a full name, but it often does... so yeah, it should work at least some of the time.

@cdarwin I'm seeing a lot of every-accusation-is-a-confession from Hegseth, there. He's really telling on himself.

@sargoth It's entirely possible that you might, under certain circumstances, experience intense dislike of the situation and feel like burning the whole place down.

Another day, another penguin...

#fragPost

We're reading Rhythm of War as a bedtime story. I have the e-book open on my laptop, so I'm constantly seeing the title in my taskbar...

...and my brain insists on singing it to the tune of "Rhythm of Love".

Thanks, brain. So helpful-like-a-cat.

@sargoth No real people. Only right-wingers and conformists, maybe.

@packetcat We read it a couple of years ago (@melorriii made us do it!). It is, indeed, very good stuff.

My advice?
Embrace the Muppet lifestyle.
Tell bad jokes. Sing off key. Dance for no reason. Laugh at anything and everyone.
And most importantly, wearing pants is always optional.

@amcooper Yeah, I get that -- but that's supposed to be understood as part of the job, in my view.

I mean, in more reasonable times it would never come up -- but when it does, that's how the system is supposed to work (if it's going to work at all).

Maybe we need a better system. Possibly.

@amcooper If I was in his position, I would say "okay, thank you for being up-front about your corruptness; I now know to never support any of you or Mr Jeffries under any circumstances."

...and I might add "Go ahead and make my life a 'living hell' if that's what you enjoy. I will take your fire so my constituents don't have to -- and I will document all of it. You are writing your own resignation-letters, saying this to me now."

@farah : What @denebeim said.

@leigh @vaurora

I am still reading this, but it's really good.

One comment (in support) -- you wrote:

Some people ask whether the Al Capone theory of sexual harassment will subject men to unfair scrutiny.

...to which my response is: yehmaybe, but perhaps we should balance that against the fact that women are being subjected to, you know, more actual abuse, maybe?

If men care about women, they will be happy to support a process which helps protect women better, I should think.

(...right, Anakin?)

cc: @blogdiva

@Xibanya [goes looking online for "laryngeal cartilage softener"]...