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I am old enough to remember when American Idiot came out during the George W Bush Administration. It is hard to even wrap my brain around how much idiotic it's gotten since then.

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Nov 15·edited Nov 15Author

It's interesting to me that Gen Alpha and Gen Z are really obsessed with bringing back 90s and early 00s trends and music...something about that Bush-era coming back to haunt us. I started listening to Green Day again because my 13yo and her friends "discovered" them. And I felt like Winona Ryder in Heathers, smoking a cigarette covered in bomb ash.

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Nov 15·edited Nov 15

The perfect choice of music for the dingus this week. I saw Green Day play that whole album in 2005 in Pittsburgh. Shocking how much more it applies today and how I now sort of look back on the George W. Bush era as the "good old days"...... I had the best tour tshirt, but could no longer wear it as it was far too small. I gave it to a friend of my son back when they were in middle school and she was beside herself with joy. She is 22 now and still wears it. That makes me happy.

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I can relate! Though trying to bring back Dick Cheney was probably a step too far.

Middle-age is weird.

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And it came out 2 years before Idiocracy which accurately predicted that I would be unironically wearing Crocs in the future.

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The next person to say "he won't do everything he said, don't worry!" is going to get a feral as fuck response. I AM OVER IT.

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Nov 15Liked by lyz

" I have heard everyone blame everyone else except Trump’s single biggest and largest voting bloc, white men and women."

THANK YOU

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Nov 15Liked by lyz

I am very tired of the post-election analysis. The Orlando Sentinel quoted local sociologist Fernando Rivera who said for Democrats to win "means turning their backs on being a party of grievances — even issues as fundamental as threats against reproductive rights or as offensive as Americans storming their own Capitol. " These analysts would have told Democrats after losing 40 electoral votes to George Wallace in 1968 they needed to turn their backs on civil rights.

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I found an old high school ex on The Fbook, and his posts were/are reading MAGA in real time, and it is fascinating as well as horrifying. He is "proud to be an American", he is the reason I saw the "eating the cats" video, he just posted that the president is creating a "dream team". Van Jones posted that we shouldn't hate our neighbors for voting for Frump, but I simply cannot get my mind around being this willfully ignorant. Can I be disgusted by my neighbors?? EDUCATE YOURSELF, AND ALSO, FUCK YOU. I quit being the bigger person when I hit about 45.

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"So please miss me with the “our democratic institutions will hold” nonsense. They’re already crumbling." Yes. Thank you for saying this. We're in a free fall, and people are talking about sewing parachutes.

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My dad grew up in Hungary. He watched the Hungarian fascists cozy up to the German armies rolling through on their way to Russia. He watched the American and British bombers devastate Budapest in 1944 bombing raids. Then he watched the Soviet Army encircle, starve and obliterate the remnants of the German Army that Hitler told to stand and die in Budapest, along with a lot of Hungarian citizens. He grew up under the ensuing Soviet communist oppression which lasted until 1989.

He told me that under Russian oppression, all the people had to get through life was humor and alcohol. There was plenty of both.

The deepest irony is that today Hungary is led by a Russia-appeaser named Orban and my late-80s Hungarian father voted for Donald Trump. I guess some countries and people just can't help needing an excuse to be funnier and on the list for a liver transplant.

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Oh man, I was not expecting that twist at the end. I'm sorry your dad is lost to Trumpism after all he endured. My Ukrainian grandfather was born in the late 1800s and was drafted into the Russian army at age 14. He hated the Russians for the rest of his days.

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He drank the Murdoch cool aide on the border invasion. I reminded him that he's an immigrant that got here seeking political asylum. I explained that he had by far mostly girls for grandchildren and great-grandchildren. His eyes just glass over.

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I'm also so sorry to hear this. My 92-year-old father is much the same, down to the Fox cultism and the daughters/granddaughters. Though he was born here, his parents were immigrants and came here for a better life. The further irony is then, they were thought of as the unwelcome illegals as the Italians!

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My mother, who campaigned with me for Ann Richards in the 90’s, has been lost to Trumpism. After my Dad died she started going to a church group with her best friend that convinced her of a bunch of things that I simply won’t discuss anymore. We’re still close — I’m an only child — but much of my life isn’t available to her anymore thanks to Murdoch and a bunch of Baptists.

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I'm really sorry, folks. That truly sucks. It feels so hard to find ways to pierce their alternate realities.

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Every week, without fail, you make me laugh/grimace/think/shout (the ol LGTS). Thank you. Also, I’m running my first Half tomorrow, and am sooo nervous- your words about running are exactly right to me, too. So much solace, strength, and community has come to me from this unexpected (and sometimes dumb) sport.

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Nov 15Author

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!

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Report back! We want to hear how it was! We know you’ll do great.

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Jordan, you're gonna be amazing!!! You can do it! I was so nervous, too. Take in all the runners, spectators, music, signs, views. You're doing something that most people won't ever do! Best to you tomorrow, you got this!

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Molly Ivins is the perfect spirit with which to enter into this era. I remember all her columns about "Shrub", but also her writing about "you got to dance with them what brung you". It's a matter of where and how, and absolutely turning the anger to humor. Since that is my defense mechanism, I'm in my element. And thanks for this dingus. It's what I proposed, and I'm avoiding most of the news until a later, undetermined date. Possibly in 2028.

Cheers, Lyz, to running your first marathon - that is truly amazing. I'm only going to run if the grizzlies can get me out of my car.

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Nov 15Liked by lyz

l think we might be selling RFK Jr and his brain worm short. They are going to drive demand for healthcare. If he gets his way, vaccines will be gone and the physical therapy profession will be in high demand when polio comes roaring back. Can’t wait to see how that goes.

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Nov 15Author

Make America Polio-Striken Again

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Nov 15Liked by lyz

Iron lung manufacturers are gonna be raking it in.

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I have a phobia of hypodermics so bad that I often vomit when I have to have a blood test or get a vaccination. Thanks to Mr. Brainworm, I have gotten all my shots current since 2020 and will keep up forever, just to spite him.

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Where it's really going to get interesting is when all they serve at McDonalds is bear and whale meat.

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The McFozzi. The McYogi. The McWillie. McMoby. The McDick.

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"It’s going be a real shocker when the party that touts our military actually ends up completely dismantling it. That’s what we call dingus-on-dingus crime."

Let's not forget that they tout the military but gut the VA. And they want the most diverse organization in our country to be less woke. True dingusry in action.

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A bit OT, so I hope it's ok:

I had a dream last night about Zombie Mitch McConnell. Which is annoying because living-allegedly-Mitch has already eaten lots of brains. I feel like there should be someone in charge of the zombieverse saying, "You've eaten enough brains, save some for the rest of us."

On a more serious note, I can't begin to tell you, as a trans woman, how much it means that you're so passionately in our corner.

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I so needed my morning cup of Billie Joe. (and Tré and Mike). I saw them this summer and their music is just as fresh (and applicable) as when it came out in the 90s and 2000s. They are also one of the bands who play for nearly 2 1/2 hours: they did all of Dookie and American Idiot, plus 8 or 9 other songs. Sadly, I got COVID at this show when we were all crammed onto the concourse during a thunderstorm, but at least I had my moment with them.

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Nov 15Liked by lyz

So damn spot-on Lyz! So exactly "we have met the enemy, and they are us"! Being white and male, I can say that in truth. Being in Texas, sad that my vote was purely symbolic! Personal greed trumped human rights!

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Good luck to Morgan! I hope she crushes the marathon and that y'all have a blast in Savannah. Also, if Morgan feels moved to reciprocate your act of friendship with a trip to Iowa, I happen to know that it's lovely there in June. Especially for distance runners!

Chris Mattei is a Connecticut treasure and though I am sad that he wasn't elected as my state's attorney general back in 2018, I am so glad that he is providing such excellent representation to the families of Sandy Hook victims vs. Alex Jones.

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You had me at Molly Ivins today -- which reminds me to give some money and attention span to what's left of the Texas Observer, speaking of laughing through tears.

More proof of Orange Julius Caesar's governing style aka Flood The Zone. So much dingus-try, how to even pick a spot to kick back, never mind hold one's ground? The net effect of this fantasy Cabinet draft is that Marco Rubio will appear to be the grown-up in the room. Lyz-heads, the Rubio Abyss stares also. Avert your gaze! TGIF. Joy to those marathoning in Savannah and to all of us running toward our objectives.

Lyz, where is Morgan taking you out? The chow in Savannah is consistently excellent and the whole town lives up to its "what are you drinking?" reputation for welcoming.

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