Black Friday Blues

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Blacker than usual for some today.

The Guardian:

Fresh Russian strikes battered Ukraine’s already failing electricity grid, causing blackouts across the country and in neighbouring Moldova, in attacks Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the UN were “an obvious crime against humanity”.

Addressing an urgent meeting of the UN security council late on Wednesday, Zelenskiy said Ukraine would put forward a resolution condemning “any forms of energy terror”. Referring to Russia’s likely veto, he said, “it’s nonsense that the veto right is secured for the party that wages this war.”

“We cannot be hostage to one international terrorist,” Zelenskiy said.

[…]

“When we have the temperature below zero, and scores of millions of people without energy supplies, without heating, without water, this is an obvious crime against humanity,” Zelenskiy told the security council via video link.

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17 thoughts on “Black Friday Blues”

  1. Amazon warehouse workers stage Black Friday strikes and protests around world | Amazon | The Guardian

    Amazon warehouse workers in the UK and 40 other countries are to strike and stage protests timed to coincide with the Black Friday sales, one of the company’s biggest shopping days of the year.
    Employees in dozens of countries, from Japan and Australia to India, the US and across Europe, are taking part in strikes and protests demanding better wages and conditions in a campaign dubbed “Make Amazon Pay”.
    [continues]

  2. Looks like Black Friday will best be approached as a brick and mortar and online anywhere but Amazon shopping day. Ayeee!  Walmart, Target & eBay send their thanks to all striking Amazon warehouse workers.

  5. pogo, also ’bout that time of year when the cranes are migrating. i always see and hear the honking as beautiful vee-shapes of hundreds go by around thanksgiving each year. saw a big blue heron/crane lift out of the pond yesterday, but i think it stays in these parts year round.  

  6. but be careful if you do the black friday and shop local sales. wear your most stylish kevlar vest or you might find yourself and family in GOPers’ thoughts and prayers.

  8. better yet, stay home and watch the game (s) and have leftovers — mmmm pecan pie a la mode

    USMNT to face England at World Cup – The Washington Post

    RAYYAN, Qatar — Their land masses are separated by high seas and their statures in soccer — er, football — divided by similar great distance. It is England’s national pastime — aside from royal watching, of course — and a casual retreat for most Americans.
    Some Premier League clubs trace their history to the 19th century; MLS goes all the way back to 1996. The English invented the modern game; the Americans tinkered with the rules before embracing them.
    And yet the soccer ties between the countries have strengthened, intrinsically connected by exposure to the English game in the United States, the desire of many American players to plot careers in England and a greater respect in England for how U.S. soccer has grown.
    With these dynamics at work, along comes a World Cup collision Friday in Bayt, Qatar, between an English contender firing on all cylinders and a boyish U.S. squad seeking to join the clan of giant killers at this unpredictable tournament.
    Bursting with talent, the Three Lions have their eye on their first world championship since 1966. Learning and evolving, the United States has the modest goal of advancing to the knockout stage after failing to qualify for the tournament four years ago.
    [continues]

    hey, boys, let’s substitute usmint with the ladies uswnt, they at least win world cups

  9. Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving.

    Can’t listen to this Randy Rainbow without a sing a long to Dance 10 Looks 3.  The Marvin Hamlisch lyrics to that one are so clever.  

     

  10. good idea proffered on the hill yesterday by Alton Frye:

    Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will no longer be Speaker of the House of Representatives — but she could nominate the next Speaker. In doing so, she could point the way toward the political accommodations so badly needed in a polarized America.
    While it has never been done before, the Constitution provides an opportunity to choose a Speaker who is not a member of the House. Seizing that option, a magnanimous Pelosi could persuade her colleagues to propose a distinguished Republican for the role.
    Obviously, she would not do so without the support of the Democratic caucus and her successor as party leader, presumably Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.).
    For Jeffries and the caucus, the proposal would present a clear choice between working with an independent Republican Speaker open to bipartisan cooperation and facing protracted friction with an intensely partisan leader, presumably Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), captive to the most extreme faction within the Republican caucus. 
    Furthermore, both in the election of a Speaker and in subsequent legislative votes, a Democratic offer to support a nationally respected Republican as Speaker would provide a rallying point for moderate GOP House members to form coalitions. Establishing that pattern would both increase the possibility of a convergent cross-party majority on particular issues and, crucially, strengthen the leverage of more moderate Republicans in dealing with their own leader. 
    The nominee would need to be a person who has earned the respect of both parties and demonstrated commitment to finding common ground among partisans, whenever possible.
    Such people exist. John Kasich, former governor of Ohio and erstwhile chairman of the House Budget Committee, and Paul Ryan, a former House Speaker and vice presidential candidate, would stand high on the list. (Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) would certainly meet the standard, but the intense hostility toward her among many Republicans would make her nomination controversial rather than unifying.)
    A carefully designed initiative of this sort by Democrats could be an act of high statecraft. It must be framed not to exploit the evident divisions among the Republican caucus but rather to open the way for members in both parties who recognize the nation’s urgent need to replace the hyper-partisan strife that has deformed public discourse.  
    It would have to recognize that such a Speakership would carry a unique burden of balancing the divergent claims and interests that flow through the House. It would certainly not mean easy sailing for a Democratic agenda.
    […]
    A non-member Speaker working to steer convergence toward the political center could help narrow and isolate the fringe elements in both parties. That could be especially relevant in Republican efforts to move their party beyond the extremes that former President Trump promoted and profited from. A dynamic of this nature would be healthy for Democrats no less than for Republicans.
    [continues]

    Alton Frye has worked with many members of both parties in the House and Senate, where he was staff director for the late Sen. Edward Brooke (R-Mass.) and a close associate of Sen. Howard Baker (R-Tenn.).

  12. I hear by the great pine that the mump got really torqued by the rapper axing the mump to be his running mate in ’24. 
    I appreciate that;  in times like these a good laugh is hard to find and that’s some funny shit.
     

  13. Bloat Friday Rant – I needed a ride from my house to a shop to pick up my truck.  Lyft – no response. Uber – $29 plus fee, failure error – check help section – nothing at all in help.  Decide to go inside and try the computer.  Lyft – it will take a while and it will be $10 per mile (a little over $80), plus extra.  Uber – $29 plus fee, failure error – check help section – nothing at all in help. Okay, enough screwing around time to once again go to the local taxi companies.  Call the first one, be there in fifteen minutes, showed up in ten.  Pleasant drive, talked about food and spices, arrive at shop. With tip $28.  Once again the local taxi is so much better than the name rides.

  14. I love taxis.   I’ve been Uber, never Lyft but Taxi is still the jewel of dial–up rides.
    Movie of the Week:    “The Yellow Cab Man” starring Red Skelton. 
    I feel like such a grown-up when I’m in a Yellow Cab…….lol

  15. It depends.  Ride shares are is fine in NYC.  Last trip, had a taxi driver turn away from the destination when we were about 3 blocks away.  I called him on it. He stopped the meter, drove around the block and took us to our destination.   Had I not known my way around, who knows how much he would’ve jacked up the fare.    Ride shares are pricier in DFW than NYC, although cabbies have finally gotten a pay hike and that may impact ride shares to keep drivers happy.   KC has been reasonable. 

  16. Sturgeone – oh yeah, the ride in the Checker Cab is something nearly impossible to describe to any of the kids today.  Cram six full size (big, real big) men, with briefcases, in one. 
     
    Wildest ride was four of us in one and the boss tells the driver we are running late for our flight “can you get us there on time?”.  Oh damn that was a ride. The driver drove through alleys, the wrong way on one way streets (in traffic), and got us there on time.  One of our weaker comrades started to make strange noises.  I think I said something like “hot damn”.  His tip was quite nice.

    LA usually had the weird ones. One ride from downtown to LA international taught me why I should follow taxiis to the airport when I drive. They know where they can do things like drive the wrong way in traffic on the sidewalks because there were no police.

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