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You are here: Home / Open Threads / There are other things going on the world! Open Thread

There are other things going on the world! Open Thread

by Soonergrunt|  June 29, 20123:21 pm| 63 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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Believe it or not, there were other things that happened today even as the wingnuts continued to cry and cry and we continued to enjoy the sweet, sweet taste of their tears.

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are getting divorced.

China’s first female astronaut returns to earth with the rest of the crew

President-Elect Mohammed Mursi of Egypt visited Tahrir Square

The House of Representatives passed the Highway bill with a student loan rider that keeps the interest rates at current levels.

The Judge in George Zimmerman’s new bail hearing adjourned the hearing without issuing a ruling yet.

A Soldier at Fort Bragg, NC shot and killed his Battalion Commander yesterday.  The shooter was facing Court-Martial for theft.  He was critically wounded and is not expected to survive.

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Reader Interactions

63Comments

  1. 1.

    JPL

    June 29, 2012 at 3:25 pm

    What is this Huffington Post.. Gee two mentions to the cruise divorce.

  2. 2.

    Soonergrunt

    June 29, 2012 at 3:29 pm

    @JPL: To paraphrase the Vice President, “this is a big fucking deal!”

  3. 3.

    c u n d gulag

    June 29, 2012 at 3:29 pm

    And don’t forget that Urop decided to help prevent financial disaster.

  4. 4.

    Villago Delenda Est

    June 29, 2012 at 3:32 pm

    That Fort Bragg incident is VERY disturbing.

  5. 5.

    geg6

    June 29, 2012 at 3:32 pm

    @c u n d gulag:

    This. Looks like Merkel is on the losing end of that argument. Looks like the austerity fairies are having a bad day over in the Old Country.

    For myself, the deal on student loan interest rates is a BFD. I like to think that my telling all the parents of my students here who ask what the Stafford Loan interest rates will be to call or write their congresscritters may have had a very, very, very small effect on this. Probably not, but it’s nice to think it might.

  6. 6.

    Ash Can

    June 29, 2012 at 3:34 pm

    What? No more dickish grandstanding by the GOP on student loans and the highway bill? Maybe they decided to quit while they’re behind.

  7. 7.

    Mark S.

    June 29, 2012 at 3:35 pm

    Michelle Malkin Fears For Her Countertops, Blames Obama

  8. 8.

    SatanicPanic

    June 29, 2012 at 3:38 pm

    And I thought Tom and Katie made such a nice couple.

  9. 9.

    Brachiator

    June 29, 2012 at 3:39 pm

    The video about the upcoming Curiosity Mars lander is still the craziest and most awesome thing I have seen in a long time

    Challenges of Getting to Mars: Curiosity’s Seven Minutes of Terror
    __
    Team members at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory share the challenges of the Curiosity Mars rover’s final minutes to landing on the surface of Mars.

    I think you can also download the video from the JPL site.

    Dare mighty things, indeed.

  10. 10.

    Poopyman

    June 29, 2012 at 3:39 pm

    China’s first female astronaut returns to earth with the rest of the crew

    What? Was this not as planned?

  11. 11.

    SatanicPanic

    June 29, 2012 at 3:41 pm

    @Mark S.: She shouldn’t have built in a fire zone and shouldn’t be asking Obama to rescue her. Time to man up and take responsibility. If her house burns down, too bad so sad.

  12. 12.

    Poopyman

    June 29, 2012 at 3:42 pm

    And this is just weather, it’s not climate. Yet.

  13. 13.

    Poopyman

    June 29, 2012 at 3:45 pm

    Here’s one for you, geg:

    HARRISBURG — Gov. Tom Corbett appeared this morning with leaders of Pennsylvania’s public universities to discuss the restoration of proposed cuts to higher education funding and announce limits to tuition increases next year

    .

    What got into him?

  14. 14.

    FlipYrWhig

    June 29, 2012 at 3:47 pm

    @SatanicPanic: Really. Why should my hard earned tax dollars go to bail out Michelle Malkin’s bad choices? It’s a textbook case of moral hazard. Call the libertarian fire department, i.e., your own two hands and a bucket of water.

  15. 15.

    FlipYrWhig

    June 29, 2012 at 3:48 pm

    @Poopyman: First Bob McDonnell stood up for the Univ. of Virginia president, now this. Something’s spooking the wingnuts about education…

  16. 16.

    Roger Moore

    June 29, 2012 at 3:48 pm

    @c u n d gulag:

    And don’t forget that Urop decided to help prevent financial disaster.

    They’re obviously in the tank for the Kenyan in Chief. If they supported Freedom(R), they’d stay the course of austerity, destroy their economies, and help elect Mitt (R-Money).

  17. 17.

    Soonergrunt

    June 29, 2012 at 3:49 pm

    @SatanicPanic: I don’t think we’ll have to worry about her counter tops though.

  18. 18.

    Raven

    June 29, 2012 at 3:49 pm

    My boss just pinged me and told me to take the rest of the day off. It’s a hundred and fucking eight degrees outside!

  19. 19.

    schrodinger's cat

    June 29, 2012 at 3:49 pm

    I never much liked Tom Cruise, I could never see his appeal. Benedict Cumberbatch on the other, totally crush worthy.

  20. 20.

    Raven

    June 29, 2012 at 3:52 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: He was good as Ron Kovic.

  21. 21.

    SatanicPanic

    June 29, 2012 at 3:52 pm

    @FlipYrWhig: She’s got a roof and a hose I’m sure, let her handle it. Moocher.

  22. 22.

    Mark S.

    June 29, 2012 at 3:53 pm

    @SatanicPanic:

    I wonder how a private fire department would do trying to save only those houses that paid for protection. It’s probably a little tough with a fire this big, but we all know the free market always works better.

  23. 23.

    Poopyman

    June 29, 2012 at 3:53 pm

    @Raven: So he wants to kick you out of the nice air conditioned office into the heat?

    Nice guy. Of course, I understand that bars are air conditioned ….

  24. 24.

    SatanicPanic

    June 29, 2012 at 3:54 pm

    @Soonergrunt: Assuming she planned ahead and bought granite. If not, then it’s her fault and I don’t feel sorry for her.

  25. 25.

    Svensker

    June 29, 2012 at 3:55 pm

    Glad to hear about the student loans…but grad students are out in the cold. No more subsidized loans for them — interest starts accruing from day one. Just in time for our son to start grad school in the US! Yippee! But at least Jamie Dimon won’t have to pay higher taxes, so that’s good at least.

  26. 26.

    Raven

    June 29, 2012 at 3:55 pm

    @Poopyman: Nah, I work from home!

  27. 27.

    Poopyman

    June 29, 2012 at 3:56 pm

    @Mark S.: You know what would be awesome? If each of those private FDs had their own proprietary couplings.

  28. 28.

    artem1s

    June 29, 2012 at 3:57 pm

    gotta say I have been linking some awesome posts RE: ACA, to facebook today. Put me in mind of this video link that way going around in 2008 after Shrub was defeated and Dems weren’t continually going around wondering when they should open a vein and end it already.

    seems appropriate to re-visit somehow…goodbye to you, all you ACA haters, have fun in Canada or Costa Rico or Somalia, or wherever…

  29. 29.

    Phylllis

    June 29, 2012 at 3:57 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: My season two Sherlock dvd’s came today. I anticipate many days on vacation lost to repeated marathon viewings.

  30. 30.

    Poopyman

    June 29, 2012 at 3:59 pm

    Well, the 3 o’clock reading at BWI is 101 degrees, so that’s another record in the books.

    ETA: The dewpoint is at 71, making the Heat Index 110, but I was out for a walk a while ago and it just didn’t feel that bad. Maybe I’m acclimating.

  31. 31.

    Mark S.

    June 29, 2012 at 4:00 pm

    @Poopyman:

    Deregulation FTW!

  32. 32.

    Roger Moore

    June 29, 2012 at 4:00 pm

    @Raven:

    He was good as Ron Kovic.

    Cruise is actually a very capable actor, but he’s too willing to skate by on his looks and charisma. When he has a director who forces him to act, he can put on a very fine performance.

  33. 33.

    "Fair and Balanced" Dave

    June 29, 2012 at 4:01 pm

    @Mark S.:

    Has anyone else noticed that when something bad happens in an area with a predominantly liberal population, the religious loons always claim it’s G-d’s revenge on Gays, feminists, etc. but when something happens in a conservative bastion (e.g., ultra right-wing Colorado Springs) they’re either totally silent or they blame Obama?

  34. 34.

    SatanicPanic

    June 29, 2012 at 4:03 pm

    @Mark S.: If the fire fighting corporation doesn’t put out the fire in your house, the next time you will call a different company to put out your house fire. It’s really pretty simple.

  35. 35.

    Keith

    June 29, 2012 at 4:03 pm

    @JPL: I remember when they got engaged, someone – Gawker or TMZ IIRC – claimed it was a contractual marriage arranged by CoS. I think they said 5 years for $10 million, no kids required. Didn’t miss the apparent mark by much.

  36. 36.

    artem1s

    June 29, 2012 at 4:03 pm

    @artem1s:

    Ok link did not embed…
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DH1O6nyKnow

  37. 37.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    June 29, 2012 at 4:03 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    I can’t stand the little poison dwarf and generally will refuse to watch anything he is in.

  38. 38.

    gbear

    June 29, 2012 at 4:04 pm

    @Raven: Ahh, so you already weren’t working anyway.

    (ducks and covers)

  39. 39.

    Raven

    June 29, 2012 at 4:04 pm

    @Roger Moore: And Oliver don’t fuck around!

  40. 40.

    Poopyman

    June 29, 2012 at 4:08 pm

    @SatanicPanic: Charlie Pierce chimes in as well.

    There might be a joke here about a flaming asshole, but I don’t think the current disaster calls for it.

  41. 41.

    Raven

    June 29, 2012 at 4:08 pm

    @gbear: I’ve been doing this for almost 10 years and have never had a complaint about my productivity. Works well for me, not for everyone.

  42. 42.

    artem1s

    June 29, 2012 at 4:10 pm

    @Brachiator:

    that’s an amazing video on the next Mars mission. Hope they can pull it off.

    the RMoney campaign was in Ohio yesterday trying to scare all the NASA employees at NASA Glenn that Obama was about to cut all their funding. Trolls.

    http://www.parabolicarc.com/2012/06/29/cleveland-has-more-to-worry-about-from-romney-than-obama/

  43. 43.

    Jay in Oregon

    June 29, 2012 at 4:17 pm

    @Mark S.:
    No need to speculate: it’s already happening.

    If I remember correctly…
    * The people live in an unincorporated area, outside of the jurisdiction of the city or county that provides the fire service.
    * They were asked to vote on a mandatory fee to be covered by the fire department. The vote failed.
    * The fire department offers the people in the area a $75/year subscription fee. Some of the people in the area refuse to pay.
    * Those peoples’ homes catch on fire. The fire department refuses to put the fire out, and they are the bad guys.

    (This is one of the reasons the ACA has an individual mandate: because if insurance companies are required to cover everyone but people aren’t required to buy it, they will only buy health insurance when they end up needing it. Which drains the risk pool, as it were…)

  44. 44.

    Liberty60

    June 29, 2012 at 4:19 pm

    OK, I am just trolling here, but Conor Friedersdorf hs an article in the Atlantic re: David Brooks.

    He writes this:”David Brooks kept an audience of hundreds rapt Thursday for a compelling 45 minute lecture…”

    To which a commenter responds:

    “The only way I could believe that is if everyone spent the entire lecture making the jerk-off motion with their hand.”

    No, the commenter wasn’t anyone named Doug.

  45. 45.

    The Red Pen

    June 29, 2012 at 4:19 pm

    Don’t Thetans mate for eternity?

  46. 46.

    scav

    June 29, 2012 at 4:25 pm

    @Liberty60:

    ”David Brooks kept an audience of hundreds rapt Thursday for a compelling 45 minute lecture…”

    Just the usual bad auto-correct bounce. Wrapped, e.g. chained to their seats.

  47. 47.

    Martin

    June 29, 2012 at 4:25 pm

    @Mark S.:

    I wonder how a private fire department would do trying to save only those houses that paid for protection. It’s probably a little tough with a fire this big, but we all know the free market always works better.

    We have that, actually.

    And so does Colorado Springs. These free marketeers need to practice what they preach and hire one of these outfits to come protect their homes.

    Of course, that wouldn’t really help unless a lot of them do it and work in unison. We know how well competing businesses work together.

  48. 48.

    geg6

    June 29, 2012 at 4:36 pm

    @Poopyman:

    What got into him?

    The need to get re-elected. The guy has a 36% approval rating. And all the parents who are sending their kids off to college in the fall have been getting told by the people like me at all the state university and state-related university campuses that we can’t tell them what tuition will be or what the state grant might be because of the governor’s threat to veto any funding that isn’t cut to the bone. We’ve basically all been telling the parents to call their state legislators and the governor since they are the ones who will decide.

    Also, the sweetheart deals he’s been making with frackers and crackers and drillers on Marcellus Shale while slashing the education budget to shreds is really starting to piss people off. And, add to that his role in the Sandusky case, and you have a very unpopular governor who may be scrambling to try to bring his poll numbers up.

  49. 49.

    MattR

    June 29, 2012 at 4:39 pm

    @Jay in Oregon: @Martin: Seems like this is a pretty good analogy for the health care debate about whether individuals can choose not to be part of the market. You might do everything in your power to avoid participating in the market, but there are forces beyond your control that might overrule you.

  50. 50.

    Roger Moore

    June 29, 2012 at 4:40 pm

    @Liberty60:

    He writes this:”David Brooks kept an audience of hundreds rapt Thursday for a compelling 45 minute lecture…”

    I think he meant “comatose”; it certainly makes more sense.

  51. 51.

    28 Percent

    June 29, 2012 at 4:43 pm

    That’s too bad – Tom Cruise Crazy was bad enough when he was so in love with Katie. Where else does he have to go from here?

  52. 52.

    geg6

    June 29, 2012 at 4:46 pm

    @Litlebritdifrnt:

    Me, too. He’s just not a good enough actor for me to get past my complete and utter revulsion for him as a human being.

  53. 53.

    Jay in Oregon

    June 29, 2012 at 4:46 pm

    @28 Percent:
    Someone has already asked JoCo if he’s going to change the lyrics to the song:

    http://twitter.com/jonathancoulton/statuses/218767414861635584

  54. 54.

    Joel

    June 29, 2012 at 5:29 pm

    If the song of the week isn’t this one, then something is wrong with you guys.

  55. 55.

    Joel

    June 29, 2012 at 5:29 pm

    If the song of the week isn’t this one, then something is wrong with you guys.

  56. 56.

    Brachiator

    June 29, 2012 at 5:30 pm

    Hadn’t seen this before. Fun photo of the different reactions of Pelosi and Boehner to the Supreme Court health care decision

    Pelosi-Boehner photo: lots of buzz
    __
    Pelosi looks joyful; Boehner looks like a child who has had his toys taken away from him. Or maybe just a man sentenced to eating a lot of broccoli.

  57. 57.

    quannlace

    June 29, 2012 at 5:36 pm

    And yesterday, the first black Marines (WWii) were honored at the White House.

  58. 58.

    Patricia Kayden

    June 29, 2012 at 6:16 pm

    “The House of Representatives passed the Highway bill with a student loan rider that keeps the interest rates at current levels.”

    Great! More good news for the week.

  59. 59.

    Bago

    June 29, 2012 at 6:43 pm

    You forgot Mass Effet 3 has DLC for an extended ending, totaling almost 2 gigs. SO. MANY. PERMUTATIONS.

  60. 60.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    June 29, 2012 at 6:43 pm

    @Raven:

    We’re ‘enjoying’ another ‘summer’ here on the south Oregon coast. right now it’s 63 degrees and cloudy. If we’re lucky, we will see the sun again on Monday, when it’s expected to heat up to 67 degrees! It’s been like this for the last few years, the interior is burning up while those of us on the coast are wearing jackets and dodging raindrops.

    There is a chance that the increased precipitation we are now getting is a result of a recent SC ruling, so there’s that ‘outlier’. ;)

  61. 61.

    Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn

    June 29, 2012 at 7:56 pm

    @geg6:

    He’s just not a good enough actor for me to get past my complete and utter revulsion for him as a human being.

    The reason A Few Good Men is one of my favorite movies despite the fact he’s in it is because I can completely buy it when the character he’s playing is a smug jagoff. It’s why Top Gun works for me, too, and Tropic Thunder (although I only saw that once and didn’t know till the end credits that was him).

    Other than that, meh.

    My wife’s recently been revisiting old Dawson Creek eps, courtesy of the Netflix, and has mentioned more than once how sad it is to contemplate that Holmes went on to marry the likes of him. (I’ve sorta felt sorry for her, too.) Mrs. Pantload will be happy to hear about the ol’ splitarootie.

  62. 62.

    gene108

    June 29, 2012 at 8:10 pm

    @Odie Hugh Manatee:

    Not here on the east coast. In NJ it’s in the mid-90’s, though spending a good part of my childhood in NC, I rarely find NJ very humid.

  63. 63.

    Mnemosyne

    June 29, 2012 at 8:23 pm

    @Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn:

    I am not a Tom Cruise fan, either, but I did like Minority Report. It’s pretty fun to watch him be desperate and tortured throughout the film, and the “happy ending” may not be what it first appears if you think over the events of the film and think about a crucial line said by a minor (but important) character.

    Any movie that makes Tom Cruise drink spoiled, rotting milk while he’s temporarily blind gets an “A” in my book.

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