Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Cancel the cowardly Times and Post and set up an equivalent monthly donation to ProPublica.

Text STOP to opt out of updates on war plans.

We do not need to pander to people who do not like what we stand for.

They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. ~Thomas Jefferson

Fight them, without becoming them!

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

Donald Trump found guilty as fuck – May 30, 2024!

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Their shamelessness is their super power.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Stand up, dammit!

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

They punch you in the face and then start crying because their fist hurts.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Going Off the Grid

Going Off the Grid

by | 198 Comments

This post is in: ,

I’m taking the next couple of days off. I’ll be back on Tuesday. I am going to do something I have not done in eleven years of blogging and thirteen years of online work, and just cuttting out. I’m going to work in the yard, sleep in late, and basically shut it all down and not answer emails or texts or anything else, including the cell phone.

If you don’t hear from me in the interim, don’t panic. If you don’t hear from me on Tuesday, well, consider this my GBCW.

I love this:

Reader Interactions

198Comments

  1. 1.

    PhoenixRising

    Good on ya. Enjoy. You may find that you like your own company and want to make a regular thing of it.

  3. 3.

    Sandia Blanca

    Just to review before you go off the grid: no mopping, no power tools, check for the mustard before you leave the store–anything else?

  4. 4.

    lamh35

    I totally don’t believe you’ll be able to resist, unless it’s a slow weekend…lol.

    We all need a vay-kay sometimes

  6. 6.

    YellowJournalism

    If we don’t hear from you on Tuesday, we’ll assume you got drunk and fell asleep over the weekend, forgot to feed Tunch, and he ate you.

  7. 7.

    burnspbesq

    Don’t forget to watch the lax Final Four. Semis (Duke-Cornell and Denver-Syracuse) at 2:30 p.m. Eastern on Saturday. Championship game at 1:00 Eastern on Monday.

  9. 9.

    TheOtherWA

    Everyone needs to unplug occasionally. I hope you have a good time and get a lot done. We’ll be here waiting to see photos of the yard and furry critters next week.

  10. 10.

    askew

    Have fun.

    Since this is an open thread, I am in the process of waiting through the First Reactions thread and I am so disappointed in the comments Kay made throughout the thread. Her argument seems to be Obama should just close GITMO somehow. Apparently just stomping your feet and demanding Obama do something is all it takes even though there is NO FUCKING WAY FOR HIM TO CLOSE GITMO WITHOUT CONGRESS’S APPROVAL. He has no money to close GITMO and he can’t get money without Congress. Congress has forbidden the transfer of detainees to US prisons. There is nothing he can do, yet Kay demands he do it anyway. My opinion of Kay just plummeted after reading her comments, since they were so fucking moronic.

  14. 14.

    Suffern ACE

    Since he’s gone, would it be ok to turn this place into the early 80s adult contemporary fan site we’ve always wanted it to be? I’m all out of love, I’m so lost without you…

  22. 22.

    pokeyblow

    @pseudonymous in nc: That’s like Chicago, where there are simultaneous pressing needs to close a lot of public schools, and to build a publically-financed basketball arena for Catholic DePaul University!

    RAHMBO! USA! RAHMBO! USA!

  23. 23.

    JWL

    “Blogger John Cole Found Dead- Apparent Suicide”.

    “About Time” Say Critics.

    Medical Examiner: “Blogger Pet’s Feasted On Corpse”.

  24. 24.

    Suffern ACE

    @askew: no, you may not post that here. You need to post it in the proper thread.

    I’m beginning to think that John is gone for three minutes and someone needs to maintain order and discipline around here. Shees.

  29. 29.

    Calming Influence

    OT: Our infrastructure superiority asserts itself again – a bridge on interstate 5 north of me has collapsed. Looks like little if any loss of life. Frrreeeedom, you fucking doucebag Tea Party assholes.

  31. 31.

    NickT

    @JWL:

    In later years, eccentric recluse had accumulated over 500 Terrible Towels and the largest in-state collection of Tebow porn. Neighbors described him as “different”, “unusual” and a “serial exhibitionist -especially when mopping drunk after midnight”.

  32. 32.

    Corner Stone

    @JWL: “Man masquerading as somewhat well known blogger John Cole found dead tonight. The ugly details in this hour’s broadcast. Stay tuned.”

  34. 34.

    Corner Stone

    I, for one, welcome our new DougJ overlord.
    Clearly this is where he makes his move from wooden puppet to “real boy”.

  35. 35.

    PurpleGirl

    @askew: … waiting through the…

    I think you meant …wading through the…

    Sorry, but sometimes not using the correct word really makes me crazy.

  36. 36.

    pokeyblow

    I just hope that psycho killer dude doesn’t seize this moment to kill all of us, and his co-workers.

  39. 39.

    TheOtherWA

    Yes, a bridge on I-5 has collapsed in my state. Thanks Tea Party assholes for pushing for more tax cuts for the rich.

    Fuck these crazy people! We need to spend money, a lot of it, repairing the infrastructure.

  42. 42.

    Corner Stone

    “God dammit son! I told you not to touch my Turble Towels collection! Why do you make me do this?! WHY!
    Why do you make me treat you this way?? Now get back in the fucking basement, you little imp! Get back down there til Daddy tells you to come out and rub his feet! No! No, you can not watch The Big Lebowski with me again. Stop. Just stopit! You’re not gonna weasel outta that dam dungeon again! I don’t give a fuck what Uncle Wiley Cash has to say!”

  44. 44.

    PurpleGirl

    JGC: Enjoy yourself… but I sorta don’t believe you can stay away from blog.

  45. 45.

    NickT

    Erick Erickson ✔ @EWErickson

    Yes, Christ is love, but he is also wrath, vengeance, and redemption. The modern emo Christ is a fiction. Christ could throw a punch.

    Erick Erickson justifies his ongoing wife-beating with some .. interesting.. Biblical scholarship.

  47. 47.

    NickT

    Speaking of theologians of our time:

    Bryan Fischer @BryanJFischer

    BSA now stands for Boy Sodomizers of America, because that’s what will happen. Mark my words.

  48. 48.

    Calming Influence

    @Geoduck: Absolutely. No income tax? Oh boy! Tax the fuck out of everything else? Ohhhh…I didn’t think of that.

  49. 49.

    p.a.

    @TheOtherWA: I’ve never read Hofstadter- would he help me understand how the richest society in history produces such a rabid minority of loons? ‘Cause I’m stumped. It has to be more than racism and status anxiety, yes?

  52. 52.

    FlyingToaster

    I think our host should have waited until after the Friday DC trash dump. Even if he’s not here, I’m confident we’ll see an outraged drunken tweet tomorrow evening.

    Or Saturday, if the Bruins win. Heh, heh, heh [in my best Pablo as the Master of Disguise voice].

  55. 55.

    mai naem

    Apparently this is the main west coast freeway to Canada so obviously it’s Obama targeting Teabaggers who were trying to get into that sweet sweet socialist canadian healthcare system.

    Also too, me thinks John is trying to get together with his lady friend. The one from was it Austin? or Charlotte? whichever.

  59. 59.

    Punchy

    I, for one, dont believe you can keep your enormously giant hands off yer child for 4 days.

  60. 60.

    BGinCHI

    Breaking News:

    Large man stalking frozen food section in tri-state area dressed as Freddy Mercury.

    BOLO.

  61. 61.

    Narcissus

    Hey remember that time when we had bridges that didn’t fall into rivers

    That was a hoot

  62. 62.

    jl

    Some commenter said Cole doesn’t need welfare checks because he is always online. What now?

    Good luck, John Cole! I hope you survive this hazardous adventure. Keep your folks posted on where you will be around the house. If you plan any bathroom mopping, etc.

  64. 64.

    Mnemosyne

    Cat owners should look into getting a Neko Flies toy for their cat(s). I broke it out 45 minutes ago and all three cats are still obsessed with it. Charlotte is making the same noises she does when she’s cornered a real bug.

  65. 65.

    keestadoll

    It’s easy to do JC. I’ve gone off the grid so many times! I know you said no cell, but no land line calling t’boot? How little drunk on the prairie are you going?

  69. 69.

    Poopyman

    @Narcissus:

    The bridge is not considered structurally deficient but is listed as being “functionally obsolete” – a category meaning that their design is outdated, such as having narrow shoulders are low clearance underneath, according to a database compiled by the Federal Highway Administration.

    The bridge was built in 1955 and has a sufficiency rating of 57.4 out of 100, according to federal records. That is well below the statewide average rating of 80, according to an Associated Press analysis of federal data, but 759 bridges in the state have a lower sufficiency score.

    I think we can all agree that at this point that span is “structurally deficient.”

  70. 70.

    Corner Stone

    Yeek yeek woop woop!! why you all in my ear?!
    Talking a whole bunch of shit
    That I ain’t trying to hear!

  76. 76.

    ruemara

    God, I adore that Dead Milkmen song, along with “Punk Rock Girl”. I will not go off the grid, but I will go take pictures of my friend performing in a banjo band. It seems there’s some sort of musical fest and she got me a pass. I think my friends want me to go outside or something.

  77. 77.

    Mnemosyne

    @NickT:

    Of course, the people that Christ would “throw a punch” at were the rich and powerful, not the poor and downtrodden. Unless EE is under the impression that the moneylenders in the temple were somehow the equivalent of the homeless guy who asks him for change in front of McDonald’s.

  78. 78.

    MattR

    @Poopyman: I was already nervous every time I cross the Tappan Zee Bridge. and after today’s collapse in Washington I may end up going the long way to a Memorial Day BBQ to avoid crossing it. Thank god they are finally replacing it. Should have been done 20 years ago.

    More than 50 million vehicles traversed the Tappan Zee in 2010, up from 10 million in 1960, and while the bridge was designed to carry the 36-ton trucks of the fifties, it must now withstand today’s 45-ton behemoths. Thus the deteriorating concrete, which falls off the bridge in chunks, sometimes creating holes in the roadway through which the river below can be seen. Forty-five such “punch-throughs” were recorded in the eighteen months prior to a 2009 engineering assessment of the bridge, which estimated that nearly 60 percent of the deck needed to be replaced.

    EDIT: And here is a Bloomberg op ed from 2012 stating that there was no rush to replace the TZ because it was “functionally obsolete” not “structurally deficient”

    And with good reason. Despite the rhetoric about the current bridge being past its expiration date and near collapse, it is nowhere near the most pressing safety concern in the state.

    According to the Federal Highway Administration’s National Bridge Inventory, the Tappan Zee is rated as “functionally obsolete,” but not “structurally deficient.” The latter relates to the soundness of the physical structure, while the former is a traffic engineering designation.

  79. 79.

    Calming Influence

    Just heard on KIRO7 that it’s not easy to see all the bolts during bridge inspections. Expecting to have to remove shoes and bolts when traveling on interstates in the future.

  83. 83.

    Gravenstone

    @NickT: True, just looking for confirmation that he’s consistent in his anti-sodomite stance amongst religious organizations. Of course, I’m sure his own special brand of religious fanaticism is exempt from such requirements,

  84. 84.

    MattR

    @Suffern ACE: That bridge is kinda scary too (and from what I recall the Newburgh-Beacon is no picnic either). But shorter and scary is better than longer and scary (and with more traffic). If I detour, I would actually go over the GWB or through one of the tunnels and up the west side of Manahattan and deal with the extra traffic.

  87. 87.

    Calming Influence

    @sacrablue: Cool, huh? I felt my first in northern California in 1981, and the friends we were with were saying “it is NOT cool! You could get KILLED!”

    But it is cool.

  88. 88.

    trollhattan

    Hilarious. If history is any guide, expect triple the normal number of JC posts. Flipside is we can really wreck the joint. Win-win!

  90. 90.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    I posted a link to the bridge collapse on Facebook with the comment “No one will be able to get to the unfunded schools anyway.” (Yep, I’m one of those facebook people.)

    Then I also posted the story about the 18 year old who bought a gun at a party, stuck it in his pocket and then shot his dick and a testicle off, with the bullet getting lodged in his thigh. “Ow.”

  91. 91.

    Suffern ACE

    @MattR: and yet we don’t have a large tea party on this state. Just the folks who finance it in other states, but build us crown jewel medical centers and renovate the opera house.

  92. 92.

    LT

    Good onya, Cole. Go away, look at a tree, fart on the doggies, enjoy your damn self.

    Come back smarter…

    EDIT: I kid! I meant Come back taller! Taller!

  97. 97.

    eemom

    fer fuxsake, I am so old I remember when Cole would do a post like this, and everybody knew there’d be like 83 times more Cole posts than usual while he’s “off the grid.”

  99. 99.

    LT

    LIttle River Band – never knew until I moved to Oz that they’re a bunch of Aussies! How could I not know that when they owned the radio when I was a kid?!

  101. 101.

    zombie rotten mcdonald

    Bitchin Camaro is great, and Punk Rock Girl is even better.

    I’ve been leaning toward doing the same thing, John; even put the main blog on Deathwatch while I make the call….

  102. 102.

    MattR

    @Suffern ACE: That is because they already own the politicians in NY state. There was no need to create a new, fake “party” here.

    Rockland gets screwed because it is considered a NYC suburb by the follks upstate (who resent the power that NYC holds in state affairs) but is not actually part of NYC so doesn’t have the clout to get much done themselves. I don’t think the people in Westchester care all too much about the TZ. Maybe the business owners who employ Rocklanders coming over it care, but not the average citizen. So nobody with any power ever cared enough to break the gridlock of all the local groups who were insisting on getting everything their way. I think Cuomo finally got scared that the bridge was gonna collapse on his watch and decided he better use his influence to get things moving.

  103. 103.

    Bob In Portland

    @NickT: 35 years ago my punk band had a song, “Jesus Was An Athlete”.

    Jesus was an athlete
    even though he didn’t compete
    as a man he was complete
    Jesus was an athlete

    He walked on the water and he walked on the land.
    He never took money to endorse any brand.

    He used to talk to Gary Lavelle
    before the bullpen went to hell.

    He didn’t care ’bout Rosie Ruiz.
    Every loser is a friend of his.

    Jesus was an athlete
    even though he would compete.
    As a man he was complete.
    Jesus was an athlete.

  104. 104.

    trollhattan

    @sacrablue:

    Looks like Plumas County, a 5.7, Didn’t feel it so it never happened. Last quake I really felt in Sac was Loma Prieta, so I figure we’re well overdue.

  105. 105.

    Gex

    The thing I have learned since cutting WAY back on Balloon-Juice was that it was easier for me to express here because here is where people *can* ignore my stuff without feeling guilty. For me it was easier thinking I wouldn’t be burdening anyone.

    Pretty much the opposite of what Mr. Troll thought. Oh well. I hope Mr. Troll can forgive my whining about this also. What an attention whore I am.

  108. 108.

    Redshift

    @MattR:

    That is because they already own the politicians in NY state. There was no need to create a new, fake “party” here.

    Speaking of which, David Koch is holding a fundraiser for Ken Cuccinelli. Buying wholesale, I guess…

  109. 109.

    CaseyL

    Ooh! $30 car tabs!

    When I-695 passed back in ’99, it kicked the legs out from under the DOT, which depended on the excise tax for a large part of its budget. Washingtonians have Tim Eyman to thank for our decaying transportation superstructure – Eyman, and all the morons who voted in favor of 695. The roads have gone to hell since then, and so have the bridges.

  111. 111.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    I predict that this won’t last for long. :) John will HAVE to yell at something or somebody before long.

    OT (because that’s the way we roll here):

    G. Zimmerman’s attorney seems to be going for the old ‘it was her lifestyle and that she was dressed for rape and all but asking for it’ in his defense of Zimmerman killing Martin. Except for the fact that Zimmerman didn’t see any of what his attorney is alleging is proof that Martin was trying to kill Zimmerman until after Martin was killed.

    It’s like someone using the above ‘rape defense’ and asking us to ignore the fact that the rapist was blind and didn’t know shit about their victim.

  112. 112.

    Redshift

    @Gex: I know the feeling. It’s hard to tear myself away (even when I really should be doing other stuff), but I’ve also had to accept the fact that while I have good conversations here and there’s a good feeling of community, nobody really misses me when I’m gone.

  113. 113.

    trollhattan

    @sacrablue:

    I once rode out a quake on a waterbed when I was homebound with stomach flu. This, I must say, was a time I hurled much hatred at mother nature.

  115. 115.

    TaMara (BHF)

    @Gex: You know the real BJ-ers welcome your posts and support you. Come vent anytime. We all do it when needed, why shouldn’t you? Fuck him, btw, I saw his nastiness it was uncalled for and unwelcome.

    [[hugs]]

  116. 116.

    trollhattan

    @dewzke:

    There’s a sort of “Raiders” test, where you must get past Tunch by heaping sand in equal weight to get past the trap.

    Bring a lot of sand.

  117. 117.

    dewzke

    I’m gonna post this on behalf of my “not knowing where he is” brother. Even ending number on Interstates are East and West….Odd or North and South. Even starting are around a city and odd are spurs into the city!

  119. 119.

    Suffern ACE

    @Odie Hugh Manatee: this is going to be another one of those high profile cases where everyone knows all of these facts that aren’t going to be entered in as evidence. And 1/2 are going to be outraged at the verdict. I don’t know which 1/2 though.

  120. 120.

    Mnemosyne

    @Mark S.:

    Yep, that was pretty much my reaction, too. Fincher did not understand the difference between a twist ending (one that casts new light on everything that came before) and a trick ending (one that makes the whole rest of the movie completely nonsensical).

  122. 122.

    Mnemosyne

    @Gex:

    There’s also something soothing about the semi-anonymity of it — you can bitch and moan about your friend or your boss or your partner and it’s pretty unlikely to come back and bite you in the ass like it could if you confide in the wrong person IRL.

  123. 123.

    MattR

    @Mnemosyne: That is my problem with Fight Club, another Fincher film. Maybe I was spoiled by The Sixth Sense which works beautifully when you rewatch it knowing the twist at the end (and which had come out a couple months before), but I can’t watch Fight Club knowing the twist because it makes too many scenes ridiculous. I was blown away watching the Sixth Sense for the first time when the twist is revealed. I laughed when watching Fight Club. Then I got angry that I had just wasted two hours of my life.

  124. 124.

    Mark S.

    @Mnemosyne:

    SPOILERS

    If I were Michael Douglas’ character, at the end of the movie I would hunt down and kill every single last mother fucker involved in that thing, starting with my idiot brother. I would not be thinking that was the greatest thing that ever happened to me.

  125. 125.

    MomSense

    @Gex:

    Hello!

    Ok, so I am now hooked on Doctor Who. Thanks a lot everyone who kept talking about it here. I’m pretty sure I just watched Kylie Minogue. the werewolf from the UK Being Human, and Richard Bucket (bouquet) save Christmas.

    I’m starting to think there are only 50 British actors who play all the roles.

  129. 129.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    @Suffern ACE:

    For me there’s one unassailable fact in the case:

    If Zimmerman had left Martin alone that night, Martin wouldn’t be dead and no crime would have been committed.

    End of story.

  130. 130.

    David Koch

    obviously when a bridge collapses it’s God’s judgement.

    laugh, but we didn’t have bridges collapsing when we had prayer in school.

    also too, it’s all obummer’s fault. he could have stopped it if he wanted too.

  131. 131.

    NotMax

    @David Koch

    laugh, but we didn’t have bridges collapsing when we had prayer in school.

    Never heard of Galloping Gertie, huh?

    And we still have prayer in school. Always have. Just not mandated, school authority led in unison prayers.

  132. 132.

    pseudonymous in nc

    @Poopyman:

    The bridge was built in 1955

    So it was basically built with the interstate system, and though it was probably overengineered, even old-school overengineering has its limits. Problem is, once something’s been around for nearly 60 years, Americans start to assume it’s been there forever and be there forever. A sports stadium, on the other hand, is considered obsolete within 30 years. (Kingdome: 1976-2000.)

  133. 133.

    NotMax

    @pseudonymous in nc

    And nuclear power plants with original operational lives of 35-40 years keep on getting operating permit extensions well past that.

  134. 134.

    magurakurin

    @Mark S.:

    Ever watch a movie that insults your intelligence so much that you’re incredibly pissed off afterwards?

    Crash and Babel.
    nihilistic dreck disguised as art. Babel was particularly bad. There is dialogue in several languages and I guess it is designed to highlight our inability to communicate and relate as humans. Unfortunately for the film maker I understood three of the languages perfectly well, which sort of obliterated that point for me. An utter piece of shit that movie is. An utter piece of shit.

  139. 139.

    David Koch

    @NotMax: the only reason the tacoma bridge failed was because Frances Farmer was an atheist. it’s a proven fact.

  140. 140.

    eemom

    @Redshift:

    nobody really misses me when I’m gone.

    There’s also the flip side, as with General Stuck….where some of us who missed him and cared about what happened to him enough to try to find out got called stalkers for our trouble. You can’t win on the intertrons, I guess.

    OTOH, it is an evolving medium.

  148. 148.

    c u n d gulag

    Enjoy your time off, John – away from us assholes.
    We’ll still be here when you come back.

  149. 149.

    JPL

    @raven: I’m so sorry about your addition. Either you choke up the 30,000 or pay thousands in legal fees to repeal the decision. ugh..

  150. 150.

    raven

    @JPL: Oh there is no way we could hack the sewer relocation. I have contacted a lawyer but know I won’t hear anything over the holiday weekend.

  154. 154.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    The best part about this is how it’s such a notable event when someone reports that he’s going to spend a handful of days not doing something that no one ever did at all 15 to 20 years ago.

    I think of that partly because I watched the movie “After Hours” by Scorsese last night and I remember so well when it came out, I knew some of the locations used in NYC, I mean saw them being done up as sets as they prepared to shoot the movie, yet as fresh in my mind as that all seems, watching the movie reminds me that the hookup date that starts the whole story had nothing to do with the Internet but was from a casual encounter in a coffee shop. In person. And then a phone call using a dial, and I mean an actual rotary dial, phone. And the cabs were either those boxy style ones or the old Ford sedans that look like they’re from the 60s but are probably 70-something models, and anyway the point is– it looks OLD. And Linda Fiorentino first walked away with my heart and soul by just grunting a few lines of sultry dialog, the rest was sheer raw stage presence.

    On the other hand, when I stay with my buddy in SOHO/Little Italy he still throws me the keys down from the loft just like she does in the movie. The neighborhood has completely changed, but my friend and his loft have not.

  156. 156.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @David Koch: Well, if implants count, all of them. Eastern European ones, at 18 cents on the dollar, but my hoity-toity (and five times as expensive) Paris dentist says it’s the best work he’s ever seen.

  157. 157.

    Todd

    This would be HARVARD LAW graduate Tom Cotton.

    huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/22/tom-cotton-corruption-of-blood_n_3322251.html

    WASHINGTON — Rep. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) on Wednesday offered legislative language that would “automatically” punish family members of people who violate U.S. sanctions against Iran, levying sentences of up to 20 years in prison.
    …
    The provision was introduced as an amendment to the Nuclear Iran Prevention Act of 2013, which lays out strong penalties for people who violate human rights, engage in censorship, or commit other abuses associated with the Iranian government.
    …
    Cotton also seeks to punish any family member of those people, “to include a spouse and any relative to the third degree,” including, “parents, children, aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, grandparents, great grandparents, grandkids, great grandkids,” Cotton said.

    What is it about Harvard?

  158. 158.

    Todd

    @Mark S.:

    Ever watch a movie that insults your intelligence so much that you’re incredibly pissed off afterwards?

    The Ninth Gate. The ending ruined the whole thing.

  160. 160.

    Kay

    @askew:

    I was hardly “stamping my feet” askew.
    I know Congress is never going to authorize closing the prison because they have a kind of “cover”; they can say they didn’t create the problem (arguable, I know) so they don’t have to risk fixing it.
    Courts kicked it back to Congress, the
    military tribunals are a disaster, so that
    leaves The President
    I know he’ll get hammered whatever he does but I think 2nd term Presidents have more latitude than 1st termers, especially this one because he has completely unhinged opponents who threaten to impeach and claim everything he does is unlawful.
    I was extremely critical of Bill Clinton 2nd term, but you didn’t know me then so you’ll have to take my word on it :)
    So. If there is a way, a (perhaps!) extraordinary action he can take on THIS. (not the public option or the whole other list of domestic complaints) I think he should go forward with it.
    Congress won’t do shit in response. They’ll be relieved he took care of it.

  162. 162.

    Suffern ACE

    @Todd: what does that even mean? Do we have laws like that?

    So do all the family of GE employees need to go to report to detainment centers?

  163. 163.

    raven

    @JPL: Not sure. Our friends who are in property management and a background as a legal aid said be very careful about suing the city on this.

  164. 164.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Exactly. Rand Paul will give a long speech and raise a lot of money and they’ll huff and puff, but they’re the lawmakers and they did NOTHING.

    I mean, seriously, WHAT is their plan here?

    Continue to pretend this absolute boondoggle doesn’t exist down there?

    He’s already made quite a bit of progress. He was busily arraigning and processing people in 2009 and that was completely ignored. I know the last prisoners are the most difficult, but the fact is no one even noticed (or pretended not to notice, more likely) when they were moving them in front of magistrates.

  165. 165.

    Poopyman

    It’s a man’s world, baby:

    Paul Tudor Jones, the hedge fund billionaire, told an audience of University of Virginia students, alumni and others that it is difficult for mothers to be successful traders because connecting with a child is a focus “killer.” As long as women continue having children, he said, the industry is likely to be dominated by men.

    It’s been too quiet around here this morning.

  166. 166.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @Poopyman: Not sure about steel truss bridges, but standard slab highway bridges have to be below 50 to qualify for the Federal bridge replacement money.

  167. 167.

    JPL

    @raven: The deck should have been grandfathered in but I don’t know what happens after you remove the deck. The entire situation sucks btw.

  168. 168.

    Poopyman

    Elsewhere in the WaPo, Jennifer Rubin writes an article titled “Ten most inane things in Obama’s awful speech”, and it’s topped by a picture of a podium, a President, and a Marine with an umbrella.

    Or maybe that was The Onion. Can’t tell anymore.

  169. 169.

    Todd

    @raven:

    Not sure. Our friends who are in property management and a background as a legal aid said be very careful about suing the city on this.

    They’ll likely win, and pop you back on legal fees.

    Your only option is restoration of the previous status quo – you will have to work to restore your deck as being grandfathered, I suspect.

    Does this sewer line appear anywhere in your chain of title? If it doesn’t, you might be able to make a claim via an owners title policy, assuming you have one.

  173. 173.

    Todd

    @JPL:

    The deck should have been grandfathered in but I don’t know what happens after you remove the deck. The entire situation sucks btw.

    Yup. That’s a problem. He needs a lawyer who is the most well-known, “hail-fellow-well-met” zoning fixer in his community, and those guys aren’t cheap. He could hire a regular lawyer for less, but a regular lawyer will bang his head against the wall, and in the end, he’ll spend even more money because of all the extra work, not to mention the delays.

  175. 175.

    Todd

    @raven:

    The line is on the plat. That’s what is so confusing, they issued the permit.

    Is the plat line in the correct location?

    And did your contractor do the permit application, or did you? I’ve long held that contractors have a duty to check these things out if they’re doing substantial work on permit applications.

  176. 176.

    raven

    @Todd: He did, he’s a friend with a great history with other work. Are you sitting down?

    We have no contract with him for a $78,000 addition.

  177. 177.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @raven: Do you have a copy of the permit application paperwork? Very curious if there’s any mention of the line in the paperwork, and especially in the permit review correspondence.

  179. 179.

    Todd

    @raven:

    He did, he’s a friend with a great history with other work.

    Ugh. That could be awkward. Is this a friend friend, or a guy who does good craft work who has become your friend over time?

    We have no contract with him for a $78,000 addition.

    That doesn’t surprise me at all. A while back, I did a collection for a guy on a $200,000 addition with no written contract and no written specifications. He wrote out a draw schedule on a restaurant menu pad and engaged in multiple changes without any change orders or writings. Plus, he made several major screw ups, was slow and eventually got kicked off the job. I got him some, but it was a very expensive lesson for him, and ultimately was the final straw that cost him his marriage.

  181. 181.

    raven

    @Todd: He and his wife are social friends. They are great people, have fought the city to keep chickens and turned off their power for a month just to see how it would be to live that way. Like I said, he did great work on three other close friend’s houses. He doesn’t advertise and does lots of residential and commercial work for the local, how you say, progressive community.

  182. 182.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    I think he should just start to move them (looks like he is, actually, with Yemen) but that’s why I should never be in charge. I got so frustrated with the health care law I wanted him to just announce it by executive order. I was seriously thinking, “can’t he do this administratively?”

    He’ll want this big public DEBATE :)

  183. 183.

    Todd

    @raven:

    He and his wife are social friends. They are great people, have fought the city to keep chickens and turned off their power for a month just to see how it would be to live that way. Like I said, he did great work on three other close friend’s houses. He doesn’t advertise and does lots of residential and commercial work for the local, how you say, progressive community

    I’ve always said that there are some outstanding lonesome tradesmen who have no understanding about the administrative side of their businesses or their responsibilities with regard to the regulatory requirements of their positions. The smart ones recognize their limitations and fill in the gaps with employees or contacts/contracts with reliable consulting professionals.

  184. 184.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @raven: Yeah. I’ve been involved in similar projects, cleaning up after similar contractor/surveyor/engineer fuckups, and in this area there’s always a ton of correspondence questioning various things shown on the plans. One church project from a couple of years ago ended up with a 3″ notebook crammed full of just the correspondence.

    Was a utility location service ever called in before construction started?

  186. 186.

    lojasmo

    @Gex:

    Glad you stuck around. This place has a surprising number of stalkers, trolls, and fuckheads.

  187. 187.

    Angela

    @burnspbesq: I just bought tickets to the three days today for our family. The three sons are home, so I think we will spend the weekend at the Linc watching lacrosse.

  189. 189.

    Thlayli

    Obviously Cole is heading out into the Pacific to land a 1000-pound bluefin tuna, which will last Tunch about two days.

  192. 192.

    ChristianPinko

    Is the video Cole’s way of telling us that he’s going down to the shore?

  194. 194.

    askew

    @Kay:

    So you are still stomping your feet and saying do something even though there has been tons of people who have clearly explained he doesn’t have the authority to close it. You’ve learned nothing and seem incapable of understanding that Obama isn’t Emperor. So incredibly boneheaded.

  195. 195.

    askew

    @Kay:

    I think he should just start to move them (looks like he is, actually, with Yemen) but that’s why I should never be in charge. I got so frustrated with the health care law I wanted him to just announce it by executive order. I was seriously thinking, “can’t he do this administratively?”

    Oh, so the problem is that you don’t understand how our government works. I get it now.

  197. 197.

    dance around in your bones

    @askew: askew, your name is so apropos.

    Don’t be dissin’ on our kay! She is teh awesome!

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