“If you want justice, you’ve come to the wrong place.” Sounds like a Monday!
And while on the topic of viper pits and psychopaths, NYTimes media critic David Carr reviews a new bio and delicately shivs its subject:
… The most devastating takeaway in Mr. Sherman’s book is the idea that Mr. Ailes, a man who carried more bananas for the elephant than almost anyone, did significant damage to the Republican Party.
Mr. Ailes is, in essence, a fairly moderate Republican, a fan of both Bushes, a promoter of Mr. Christie and the former military leader David Petraeus. Those versions of middle-of-the-road Republicans would have an awfully hard time running the Tea Party gantlet Mr. Ailes all but invented in his push for ratings…
…[I]n the last election, Mr. Ailes conflated his two passions to damaging effect. He gave jobs to many Republican candidates, offered oodles of advice to them, and provided hundreds of hours of airtime for the cooking and serving of conservative red meat.
In Mr. Sherman’s book, Mr. Ailes is quoted by fellow Fox News executives as saying, “I want to elect the next U.S. president.” It could be argued that he succeeded, although it wasn’t the candidate he wanted.
As the plangent tones of the world’s tiniest violin orchestra fade, what’s on the agenda for the start of a new week?
NotMax
Only 7 more shopping days until MLK, Jr. Day.
Or something.
OzarkHillbilly
Really slow news day. I guess everybody in the MSM is trying to catch their breath from Bridge-a-palooza.
Glocksman
Heh… :)
On another topic, I took up a suggestion posted by Lilbritdifrnt in an earlier thread and renamed my WiFi’s SSID.
Router SSID screencap
Think someone in my apartment building will get nervous?
Also, if it wasn’t illegal to do so, I’d install Reaver on my linux netbook, hack into ‘stayoffmyshit’, and lock him out of his own network for being stupid enough to name his router something like that while leaving easily hackable WPS enabled.
PurpleGirl
@Glocksman: My netbook is WiFi enabled but I don’t use it. I have the password for it written down someplace. (I know I should find it but I’m lazy sometimes and I don’t have my router set up.) There are about a dozen people/apartments around me that have and use WiFi. And none of them have their connection pass coded.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Glocksman: I’ve seen FBI Van #140 on the scan on my phone/tablets, but it’s not showing up tonite. I do have SkyNet showing up.
Poopyman
Well, we just had to be different and went with ATF rather than the FBI. No one’s mentioned anything about it yet.
Mustang Bobby
This weekend I learned that in order to replace the taillight bulb in a 2007 Mustang, you have to disassemble the back end of the car. So noted.
I saw an ad on TV for software called “Password Genie” that you use to store your passwords, etc. safely. But what happens when you lose/forget the password to the Password Genie?
Bill E Pilgrim
@Mustang Bobby: You get three wishes, but if you forget those too, then you’re screwed.
Schlemizel
@Mustang Bobby:
Write that pw down & carry it in your wallet just in case. Seriously, how often do you lose your wallet? Plus its not just sitting around for someone to find.
There is a superior tool called “Password Safe” from sourceforge (http://passwordsafe.sourceforge.net/) that costs nothing and works great. No sense paying for the unknown product that spends money on TV advertising. (and pwsafe was designed by Bruce Schneier)
Also, had a similar experience changing the headlight of a 2004 Chevy Impala, had to disassemble the front end of the car practically.
Calming influence
Beating a (drummer) horse Anne, but check out Terry Bozzoi
Mustang Bobby
@Schlemizel: Thanks, I’ll check out that software.
I also know that changing the headlight lamp in a 1988 Pontiac 6000 LE Safari station wagon requires removing the grille. Fortunately, it’s held on with four clips that unlock and then the whole piece pivots out.
Calming influence
@Calming influence: Not sure Terry Bozzio would make a good catcher, but you’ve gotta love his enthusiasm.
brantl
I would submit that last word should be rantings.
kindness
Aisles is the same as Murdoch. Neither is bush41 conservative. No middle of the roads there. Both are much more happy with a laise faire bush43 know nothing they can point at shiny objects. Perry comes to mind.
So I disagree with that premise on that. I don’t think Romney was Fox’s prime choice.
mai naem
Scarbo isn’t around today so Mika isn’t giving Christie a full thorated blow job today. Ofcourse Chuckie Cheese has to bring up some story about the Clintons and their hit lists because Bill Clinton had to be convinced to show up at events for pols who had endorsed Obama. And that is the same Chris Christie closing the lanes at Fort Lee. Oh, okay.
MattF
Yesterday MoDo was reflective and amusing about Christie:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/12/opinion/sunday/dowd-thunder-road.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&_r=0
And brought up the subject of Bridget Anne Kelly
You think we may be hearing more from Bridget? What if there’s an indictment?
IowaOldLady
The NewsMax headlines on the right don’t sound enthusiastic about Christie. I suppose they’re all waiting to see what happens.
PurpleGirl
NY1 this morning had a comment from Guiliani, who supports Christie. Il Duce says that Christie was in the middle of a campaign and was in campaign mode and was too busy to notice things like the bridge closure.
Does that mean that Christie wasn’t paying any attention to his duties as governor? If so, he needs to refund the people of NJ some of that salary he got as governor.
The Red Pen
Oh yay! Season 4! Just in time for my season 3 DVD to ship next month! (I guess I could download the shows like everyone else…)
On another topic: how long until a Christie recall?
Villago Delenda Est
@IowaOldLady:
Well, they’ve been ambivalent, at best, about him for months. You know, he committed a couple of wingtard sins…he was photographed hugging the near sheriff, and sang his praises.
This is not good in wingtard land.
THEN he had the audacity to actually appoint a Muslim to a court position, thus failing the the wingnut common sense view that anyone Muslim as a terrorist who is wearing a shoe bomb RIGHT NOW and is planning on hijacking your SUV to blow up something.
So this guy is obviously a RINO.
Villago Delenda Est
@PurpleGirl:
Hardly surprising that Il Duce would rationalize a way for a hands-on manager to not be hands on.
debbie
Listened to NPR’s long interview of Gates. What a major league A-hole! He’s still pissed at Biden over Vietnam; he’s pissed that Obama’s “young” NSC staffers spoke directly to the generals instead of going through him (“That’s not how it’s done.”); and he doesn’t realize how insanely stupid he sounds when he says he had to leave because he could no longer be objective about the stress his decisions were putting troops through.
Maybe Rumsfeld was the smart one in the bunch.
Villago Delenda Est
Ailes worked for Richard Nixon.
Just let that sit in for a few moments.
Winning is the only thing. It’s about getting power, not governing.
Villago Delenda Est
@debbie:
Actually, it IS how it’s done. And Gates knows it. He’s just saying that because he knows that the Village vermin he talks to have no fucking idea how most organizations work, particularly the military, where all sorts of shit happens that the guys “in charge” don’t know about.
raven
@debbie: Interview page.
sparrow
@PurpleGirl: I leave mine open because it can be helpful to neighbors if their router goes out or something. I monitor it regularly and it’s almost never being used by anyone but me. If someone were an asshole and hogging bandwidth I’d just block their mac address.
I guess it is technically a risk, but I prefer to believe my neighbors are nice people and aren’t going to download “Shrek Eleventybillion: The reckoning” over my wifi connection. When I was a student my connection sucked ass and regularly went down, and I have bad bad memories of walking around my apt. complex with a laptop trying to find an open signal to submit science proposals to NASA. ugh.
Frankensteinbeck
@kindness:
Ditto. Ailes has always been a cheerleader of not just cutting but destroying social services, stomping on anything brown locally or internationally, and removing every regulation that might stop the rich from doing whatever they feel like, ever. Having even enough short term rationality to see that a debt default hurts the rich is not moderation. George Jr’s loyalty tests and belief that the government should be run by gut feelings sure as Hell weren’t moderate. Ailes had to stoke the voters he needed into shrieking fear and hate to make them vote so far against their own self-interest. He got the politics of shrieking fear and hate.
To the OP, I read the article.
Wow. The entitlement. I wouldn’t know where to begin.
danielx
@brantl:
Fixed.
Back to the dentist’s chamber of horrors to get the temporary implant crowns taken out so I can get impressions made for permanent crowns, then get the temps put back in. Which doesn’t sound like a big deal, except that the dentist uses a damn torque wrench to tighten down the crowns and it feels like he’s torquing your head right off your neck.
debbie
@raven:
Without naming him, I think Gates was bad-mouthing McCain on the surge in Afghanistan.
Southern Beale
People on the internet have waaay too much time on their hands but I have to say this is pretty funny. And it just happened again, too.
debbie
@Southern Beale:
Who are these idiots who think throwing up a picture of lynching Obama will not be noticed?
Keith G
The GOP certainly have been playing in crazy land. And there are those on our side who need to be watched carefully lest they step out into the weeds.
Dedicated, old fashioned police work most certainly would have interrupted the plot. The evidence was in plain sight, but a disinterested administration and petty agency leadership did not follow the leads.
Maybe they do not mean to (or maybe they do), but these Obama insiders are corroborating Condoleezza Rice and others who have whimpered, “How could we have known?”
These data collections are not necessary and will come to a bad end.
debbie
@Keith G:
Actually, all the Bushies really needed to do was read that presidential briefing paper on Bush’s desk telling him that AQ was looking to highjack airplanes.
Sanjuro
The second sentence of article seemed to cut to the core as well. “His owners” to me, seems like a very sharp, very long stilleto dagger thrust at Ailes.
“He has made billions for his owners, created an entirely new genre of TV and, in doing so, he has changed the way politics is conducted.”
PurpleGirl
@Southern Beale: Some of those goat pictures are really great. Thanks for the laughs and the links.
Randy P
Walking.
Threw my back out on Friday doing nothing in particular and have spent the time since trying to get to where I can walk more or less normally and sit up for more than an hour at a time. I know I’m in plenty of company, especially with fellow guys in their 50s. For instance, even when I left work Friday in pain, my boss while sympathetic, had plenty of his own stories and so did the other guy in his office.
But it still hurts.
What’s annoying is that I’d felt on the verge of this episode for over a week, since the Jan 3 snowstorm. I’d been trying to do stretches to ward it off, but on Friday I think I aggravated it instead. Surely there’s a way to prevent the crisis when you see it coming that far off.
Also annoying if the snow had anything to do with it, since I grew up in snow country and consider myself pretty good at moving it around. But I think it was already spasming before the white stuff hit.
MattF
@Randy P: Ugh. Hot bath, ibuprofen, walking. My BIL used to have to drive from NYC to Rochester regularly, and every so often would have to just get out of the car and lie down on the side of the road. Good luck.
El Tiburon
CAN SOMEONE EXPLAIN WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE:
I have an iPhone 5. The other day I punched the Balloon Juice icon on the screen and instead of going to Balloon Juice, it took me to an article by Olvia Nuzzi from nsfwcorp. titled “Anthony Weiner Called Me Monica” from July 2013. I’ve deleted the icon from my home screen twice, googled Balloon Juice, opened it up, then saved it again to my homescreen.
But when I close it and then hit the BJ icon, back to Olivia Nuzzi. WTF? Has anyone ever experienced something like this? And if so, how do you resolve?
Keith G
@Villago Delenda Est:
I would be curious to hear more about whether in is standard practice for policy aides to communicate with combatant leadership. Under what conditions? What topics are or are not off topic?
No matter who in in the White House or running the NSC this seems to be very problematic. Remember that GW Bush had a National security staff populated by some who were Cheney-ites and much more bellicose than the President himself. I am not sure I want any of them whispering in a general’s ear.
CarolDuhart2
Ailes is an impresario who doesn’t know that the acts he’s trying to sell are long-past their sell-by date.
“Change is Evil” doesn’t work when things are changing the way a lot of folks like them to, and when a President is elected on the premise that Change is Good.
Keith G
@debbie: Exactly. Massive data collections are not necessary.
Randy P
@Keith G: I was working for a defense R & D lab at the time of 9/11, and we had discussions like that in all seriousness. It was probably motivated by a need to be useful — we’re techies, what could technology do to prevent something like this? And I remember all sorts of Big Brotherish schemes being kicked around, such as universal video surveillance databases and face recognition software.
It wasn’t until we started hearing about the legal objections to the Bush-era surveillance state that I started to realize, oh yeah, there are legal issues here.
NSA is techies. They’re motivated by the same mindset. Techies want data. Techies will tell you all the great things they could do with all that data, and they’re sincere in their desire to do good. It’s the responsibility of the civilian oversight to PROVIDE some friggin oversight, to rein them in and if possible to educate them.
MattF
@Randy P: There’s an important technical lesson as well. “More data” is often the solution to technical questions, and it’s often an instinctive reaction to a hard problem. But, when you’re looking for a needle in a haystack, ‘more data’ can be the wrong thing to do.
CarolDuhart2
@Randy P: And that was back in 2001. I can only imagine what can be done now with off-the-shelf technology without even basic modifications. But because something can be done doesn’t mean that it should be done anytime, anywhere, to anyone. That’s where civilian oversight comes into play, and that oversight should be integrated into every part of the process. From procurement to actual use, someone needs to be there looking out for the rest of us.
Belafon
@sparrow: I run two routers in my house, one of which my children have access to, and the one the adults get access to. This allows me to turn that router off if I need to cut the kids off for some reason.
debbie
@Keith G:
People often aren’t bright enough to see what’s right in front of their noses.
Hillary Rettig
In case anyone’s interested, my ebook on finding work, It’s Not You, It’s Your Strategy, is available for a free download in English or Spanish here: http://www.hillaryrettig.com/download-its-not-you-its-your-strategy/
Feel free to download, and share with others.
(It’s free January only.)
Glocksman
@sparrow:
It’s more than technically a risk these days.
This incident happened not three miles from where I used to live.
I really don’t want to wake up some morning staring down the barrel of a gun wielded by a Federal agent wanting to ask me about the emailed threats ‘I’ made against the President.
OzarkHillbilly
@Randy P: Ooooff.
OzarkHillbilly
@Randy P: Cyclobenzaprine
Worked for me the last time around.
OzarkHillbilly
Please release me, let me go….
Moderators: Trying to give Randy P a leg up on his back pain but caught in moderation hell.
WereBear
@Randy P: Book. The Egoscue Method by Pete Egoscue. Full of exercises that really work.
boatboy_srq
@Randy P: Same exact experience here – and add to that dropping 6# tin of tomato sauce on my toe. Walking? Hobbling, is more like it. At least mine isn’t as bad as yours sounds: I was up and hobbling midafternoon Friday, and I could work from home that day. In the office today, and only moderately uncomfortable.
@Glocksman: Not the first time I’ve seen this sort of SSID, but I still think it’s effing brilliant.
@Mustang Bobby: I still say replacing the original lights with LEDs is the way to go: WAY lower power consumption and brighter lights – plus the peace of mind in knowing you don’t have to replace a bulb for 80000 hours of use. If you intend to have the Mustang showing alongside the Pontiac, you can box up the originals so you can swap them in before a show. And Password Safe rocks.
Citizen_X
@Glocksman: From your link:
Oh my! An outbreak of common sense, in one instance (after screwing up), from one small-town police department. It’s a miracle!
The Red Pen
@El Tiburon:
I’ll try.
OK, what is happening is that you paid too much for a smart phone.
Also, you might try a different browser to see if you get the same result. Different result == browser bug. Same result == site weirdness.
The Red Pen
@MattF:
“Big Data” is the biz-tech fad of the season.
Shana
@Schlemizel: Turns out that the windshield wiper blades on my Toyota Avalon can’t be replaced. You have to replace the entire wiper, not just the blades. After owning Toyotas for over 30 years this is the worst bit of engineering I’ve seen on one.
Thanks Obama.
StringOnAStick
@Randy P: The key to keeping future back events from happening is strengthening your core muscles. My husband has a bulging disk and is religious about doing a hard round of core exercises 3x/week; this lets him still ski and mountain bike like he wants to. He tells me he constantly has “tighten your core” in his mind no matter what he’s doing. It’s been years since he has “an event”, and the extremely tricky snow conditions last Friday tweaked his back for the first time since he’s gotten serious about core strength, and within 24 hours it was almost completely resolved, instead of weeks/months like before. He’s 55 and always been a serious athletic type, so this requires commitment and a regular, consistent schedule, but it works.
kindness
@The Red Pen: Another Apple hater. An proud of it apparently.
See this person didn’t even say they have a rockin’ phone, just that they aren’t the most tech minded. I for one am impressed with your triumphalizm though. In truth, Apples phones do rock. I’m still using my 4 and love it.
kindness
It is cruel and unusual that I only get 10 episodes of GOT a year. That is way too long for my withdrawl pangs. Thankfully as we all will soon be able to see, Winter is Coming.
Mnemosyne
@El Tiburon:
You need to go into your Settings, clear all of your cookies, and then go back in. That usually fixes the problem.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@Randy P: A physical therapist and ultrasound got rid of the pain for me after a couple of “episodes”. I’ve got an exercise regimen now, and I occasionally follow through.
The other thing is to obsessively heed the PT’s advice: “Never bend and twist.”
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@StringOnAStick: I got a lot of core strengthening exercises from a site called “bigbackpain.com” Many of them were ones that were recommended by one PT or another over the years.