DL Open Thread Thursday, March 4, 2021

Joe Biden’s loose lips are going to cost the Democrats the Neanderthal vote. He blasted the states of the New Confederacy — white supremacy isn’t just for the the South anymore — for their “Neanderthal thinking” they demonstrated in lifting Covid restrictions because they find caring about other people’s lives tiresome, and I can just hear that Geico caveman saying, “That is so condescending.” There’s no evidence that Neanderthals were any dumber than Homo sapiens, other than they’re no longer around, and really, can you blame them? Once we showed up, there went the neighborhood.

Today is the day some QAnon Qrazies think Donald Trump will be sworn in as president, so the House <a href="cancelled its session today in deference to a warning by U.S. Capitol Police of a “possible plot to breach the Capitol by an identified militia group.” If someone ever tells you the U.S. has become a Third World country, you should point out that in Third World countries people who try to overthrow the government are executed, so in some regards they have their shit together more than we do.

Today’s Right Wing Freak-Out concerns the 30-year-dead Dr. Seuss. His copyright holders announced that six out of his scores of books would no longer be published or sold because they contain “hurtful images,” and RWNJs reacted as if someone had drawn a mustache on the Mona Lisa. I have three kids, so I have several of the discontinued titles, but considering Amazon was listing “On Beyond Zebra” for $3,585, I might not have them for much longer.

A global warming solution might be brewing in Indonesia, where the Sinabung volcano burped hot ash 16,000 feet into the sky the other day. Geologists think that’s just the fanfare for a bigger eruption that could come in days, weeks or 400 more years.

Finally, a handful of teachers at a private school in Missouri took a turn in the social media dunk tank for spelling out the word “coons” during a game of human Scrabble. I guess nobody’s going to buy the explanation that they’re merely huge fans of bipartisanship in Congress and they were simply honoring Chris Coons, the patron saint of pointless compromise.

The floor’s yours.