things to be thankful for in these dark times

let’s appreciate the good, and mock the stupid

Nov 27, 2025

folks,

I spend 364 days of the year bitching and moaning about how fucked to hell everything is. today, I want to talk about what I’m thankful for.

I’m thankful for Ms. Spouse, because she’s put up with my crap for almost 46 years — and for that she deserves sainthood.

I’m thankful for our daughter, because she’s very easy to brag about, and no parent could ask for more.

I’m thankful for my family, because they’ve been putting up with my crap for even longer than Ms. Spouse has.

I’m thankful for my friends, because holy shit, I found a bunch of kindred spirits who are as weird as I am.

I’m thankful to be surrounded by an amazing, supportive community of readers and commenters. I’m thankful for my readers, because without you, I’d be shouting into the wind. and I’m thankful for my commenters, because you’re smart and witty, and you keep me on my toes — any mistakes or ill-conceived ideas on my part, and you’re right there to school me.

I’m thankful that we live in this weird fucked-up world where a cranky loudmouth like me, with no real plan beyond ‘Donald Trump is an asshole, and I’m going to troll him mercilessly on social media,’ can turn it into [gestures all around] this.

I’m thankful for Democratic Governors like JB Pritzker and Gavin Newsom, who have spent the last year holding the line again Preznit Fuckwit’s fascist agenda.

“remember what they were asking. they were telling troops, ‘follow the law.’ and who’s responding negatively to that? the 34-time convicted felon in the White House. so when he attacks people, it’s because he knows what he’s doing is wrong.”

(no, I don’t know why Pritzker was doing barista cosplay during that presser. let’s just presume it was because reasons.)

I’m thankful for Democratic Senators like Ruben Gallego, who are as fed up with this as shit as we are.

“fuck you and your investigation.”

I could not have said it better.

I’m thankful for Democratic Representatives like Jasmine Crockett, who refuse to be intimidated.

Jake the Snake: “what went through your mind when you first heard [Marjorie Taylor Greene] was going to resign on January 5th?”

Jasmine Crockett: “honestly, I was like, you got to be kidding. you’re on the other side of the president for one week, and you can’t take the heat? imagine what it is to sit in my shoes.”

I’m thankful for lawyers like Marc Elias, who have been doing all that is humanly possible to fight Donny Convict’s tinpot authoritarian hellscape.

“Donald Trump and the cynics want us to believe that he is all-powerful, and that if you fight back you will lose. he wants you to believe that if you fight back you may face danger. and he wants you to believe that it won’t matter, because he is in control of everything — and it is not true. it is time for us to build not a resistance but an opposition — something that is durable, something that will last for four years, and beyond. and we need to build that opposition now, and we need to all gird ourselves for the long run.”

I’m thankful I’m not such a tiresome pantload that I’m banned from own mother’s Thanksgiving table.

(from 2024) “I was not invited to my mother’s house for Thanksgiving. apparently there wasn’t enough room. she said it was a ‘scheduling situation.’”

oh, I see. a ‘scheduling situation.’ how fucking pathetic.

I’m thankful that I’m not a whale-head-chainsawing shitgoblin who imagines that heroin is some super fucking awesome kind of study aid.

“I was at the bottom of my class. I started doing heroin, I went to the top of my class. suddenly, I could sit still.”

kids, don’t do heroin.

I’m thankful I’m not a humor-impaired furniture fucker.

“think about turkey. who really likes — be honest with yourself, who really likes Turkey? you are all full of shit, everybody who raised your hands … turkey doesn’t actually taste that good. chicken is good all the time.”

who disses turkey in a speech to the troops the day before Thanksgiving? way to shit all over hallowed American iconography, dumb-ass. what’s next? a soliloquy about how George Washington was actually kind of an asshole?

hey, JD — is this your handiwork?

I’m super fucking thankful that Holy Mike Johnson is miserable right now.

What emerged from the interview was a portrait of a Republican leader barely keeping his head above water in a job to which he does not appear particularly well suited.

oh, boo hoo hoo. shut the fuck up. eat binky.

I’m thankful I’m not a ketamine-addled Nazi who fucked his own brand straight into the shitter.

I’m thankful that I’m not a spite-fueled, broken-inside man-baby who has never known a single moment of joy in his entire miserable life.

by the way, here’s how a real president commemorates Thanksgiving.

speaking of real presidents, here’s what Barack HUSSEIN Obama was up to yesterday: he and his family were serving Thanksgiving meals at the Armed Forces Retirement Home.

and where was Donny? he’s holed up in his unspeakably tacky Florida golf motel. he has no public appearances on his schedule for the rest of the week.

what a man of the people!

I’m thankful that I’m not in a cult.

I’m thankful that I’m not stupid enough to believe the asinine “war on Thanksgiving” drivel that Fox News trots out every single year at this time.

from 2019: “Trump vows Thanksgiving name won’t be changed.”

holy shit. was anybody seriously worried about Thanksgiving being renamed Communist Martyrs Remembrance Day? I swear, Fox viewers are the most gullible fucking rubes in the universe.

from 2020: “they also turn their neighbors in, in China, in the Soviet Union. this is so un-American, and right now, just keeping your family’s Thanksgiving traditions is an act of civil disobedience. the home is sacred. what we do inside of our homes is our business, and I want the government out of it. and believe me, big government — Marxism — this is the one space they’ve been trying to penetrate for a long time.”

covid protocols, that’s what they were whining about — in the middle of a pandemic that killed over a million Americans. damn those Marxists for trying to keep you safe.

from 2023: “we went to go buy a turkey today. it was ninety dollars — for a turkey! … it’s all a choice by Joe Biden.”

spoiler alert: yeah, no.

and, lastly, I’m thankful that I’m not a fragile fucktangle of insecurities who needs to be constantly ‘proving’ my masculinity via a series of inane stunts, only to have it all blow up in my face — or crotch, if you will.

have a great Thanksgiving, everyone!

here’s your daily reminder that I can be found on Blue Sky at this link.

this is going to be my closing message for the foreseeable future:

practice self-care. do what you need to do to keep sane. if that means you need to disengage with my daily posts for a while, I get it. this community of ours will still be here when you return.

to all the people who have signed on in the days since the election, welcome aboard. settle in as we all try to deal with the shitfuckery that’s ahead of us.

we are all in this together, and we are all here for each other.

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