Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

This blog will pay for itself.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

No one could have predicted…

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Consistently wrong since 2002

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Take your GOP plan out of the witness protection program.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Tuesday Evening Open Thread: Everything Is Interconnected

Tuesday Evening Open Thread: Everything Is Interconnected

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… especially when “everything” is spelled D-O-L-L-A-R-S.

What’s on the agenda for the evening that doesn’t suck?

Reader Interactions

173Comments

  4. 4.

    dmsilev

    I linked to this this morning but it’s kind of on-topic here: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/gop-lobbyist-gay-players-nfl-bill

    GOP Lobbyist Wants To Ban Gay Players From The NFL

    A Republican lobbyist in Washington wants to introduce legislation in Congress that would prohibit gay people from playing in the National Football League — and he says he’s already lining up congressional sponsors.

    In an interview with the Huffington Post, Jack Burkman, the CEO of Burkman LLC, said he had five members in the House and one senator who would put their weight behind the bill. He predicted up to 36 House members and up to five senators would join the effort in the next three weeks.
    […]
    “This is not about bigotry. It is about common decency and civility,” he said. “Society is moving to a point where we are going to have unisex bathrooms and the next generation thinks that is OK.”

    No, I’m pretty sure this is about bigotry.

  5. 5.

    scav

    Pulled? I thought the NFL jumped, but I’ve not been paying close attention. Should be amusing to watch the pure ones who worship a small-minded sexually anxious god and the allmighty free-market dollar simultaneously play logico-spiritual twister on this one, especially given the Sabbath of the oblate spheroid is involved.

  6. 6.

    NotMax

    As if one needed another reason to not go to Taco Bell:

    Taco Bell fans will get a caffeine-like jolt when the Irvine, Calif., chain launches a dozen classic and novelty breakfast foods next month, including a syrup-drenched waffle taco. Source

    What’s on the agenda for the evening that doesn’t suck?

    The corporate decision to yank a cocktail of Mountain Dew and orange juice from that early morning menu. Merely thinking about sipping such a concoction is oogy.

  8. 8.

    KG

    @dmsilev: I… I… They… um, really? Seriously? I mean, c’mon.

    For people that so lurv the constitution, they don’t seem to be too aware of what is actually in it… like equal protection under the law.

  10. 10.

    Anne Laurie

    @schrodinger’s cat: Because he’s a smart, informed financial reporter who is also a good writer. I greatly missed his blog Whiskey Bar and am glad that now I can follow him on Twitter (even without having to join Twitter myself, fortunately).

  11. 11.

    BruinKid

    Hehehe. So one of my libertarian friends just posted on Facebook about Chuck Hagel looking to decrease the number of troops we have, and another Ron Paul fan responded “Hagel is the man!”

    To which I replied, “…that Rand Paul tried to filibuster.”

    Hehe. And of course he responds like this:

    Obama murders children all day. I guess since the fact that everything Rand Paul does makes you correlate him to me, I guess I should start doing the same thing to you to see how ridiculous your collectivist mentality is. So I guess that means you support dead children, right?

  14. 14.

    scav

    @dmsilev: Oh, and on that one, I’m wondering if there will have to be sexual tests along the lines of drug tests (the equivalent of peeing into the properly designated receptacle) and how they will square that with the theoretical non-activity of the un-married xian knights of the gridiron. And will these be televised in the name of transparency for the more doubting Thomases guarding the sanctity of the events?

  15. 15.

    Soonergrunt

    Trying to complete the rebuild of the engine and transmission of my son’s car once and for all. That’s what I’m doing tonight.
    She starts up, all the gears work, all the belts are tight, we’ve cleared all the warnings from the ODB2. Final checks on the car and test drive this evening, and then I hand the boy the keys and a bill for about $400 for an engine from the junkyard and a few other parts that we needed.

  16. 16.

    Amir Khalid

    @dmsilev:
    @KG:
    What KG said. Aside from the issue of mandating discrimination against a specific group, how do you make a law that only applies to one private organisation?

  18. 18.

    Gex

    @dmsilev: His logic evades me.

    Out gay players are not to be allowed. He wants only closeted gays in the NFL. Wouldn’t it be better for homophobe players who don’t want to be seen (no matter how delusional they are about a gay player’s need to stare at them) to know who to keep their eye on?

    Also, the conflicting attitudes of the “no gays in the NFL” folks crack me up. They both imply that gay players are too sissified and weak to play the game AND that one gay player is so unstoppable that he could force himself on another player in a locker room filled with 52 other NFL players.

    They only act out of animus. You can tell because the things they say are often nonsensical or inconsistent.

    ETA: If one gay player can take on a locker room full of NFL players and force them to do something they don’t want to do, he will be the most sought after NFL player in the league, as taking on a whole team is much tougher than taking on an O line or D line. We’d be talking guaranteed Super Bowl championship.

  19. 19.

    raven

    Losing the superbowl because of the King holiday sent my old man over the edge in what was one of the saddest things in my life. He felt that other states had done similar things with no punishment and he saw it as a great injustice. This was from someone who coached integrated teams in the early 50’s in Chicago an always seemed to care about equal rights. He was a DuPage County republican and pretty much a right-winger but this really was when I first saw this “old people pissed off” syndrome that has us in our grips today. Bums me out to think about it.

    eta He lived in Phoenix his last 20 years.

  21. 21.

    NotMax

    Let’s see. Good news, good news.

    [searching…]

    Aha. Jackpot. (Plus bonus pet connection.)

    A US couple have struck it rich while out walking their dog after finding $11 million in rare, mint-condition gold coins. Source

  22. 22.

    MikeJ

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    AL likes to quote him extensively and I was wondering why.

    Sadly only tweets so 90% of the time there’s no indication what he’s talking about until you leave balloon juice and go read something else. At least this one you might be able to guess, but usually the posts are utterly cryptic. 120 chars and a shortened url aren’t particularly useful or clever on their own.

  23. 23.

    shelly

    What’s on the agenda for the evening that doesn’t suck?

    Well, we’re only supposed to get ONE inch of snow tonight with this latest storm, so I guess that’s an improvement.

  26. 26.

    Southern Beale

    Well, the NFL needs to get the fuck over it. You build a brand like the Super Bowl and Any Given Sunday and Monday Night Football that’s a pillar of American culture, you can expect to get pulled into the goddamned culture wars, so pick a side, people.

    Goddamn I’m tired of these corporate sucks trying to stay out of this stuff. Their entire existence is based on elaborate, expensive marketing and advertising plans that sell the idea of their “American-ness.” So don’t be fucking shocked that the public expects you to take a side in this stuff.

  28. 28.

    Amir Khalid

    Sports news: Manchester United’s post-Sir Alex Ferguson hangover continues under his successor David Moyes, with a 2-0 UEFA Champion’s League loss at Olympiakos. United must now win their home leg of the tie by at least three goals, or on penalties, to make it to the next round of the knockout stage.

    A disgusted fan tells the BBC:

    Surely to god Fergie could do a better job than Moyes, and by that I mean Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas. #MoyesOut

  30. 30.

    BGinCHI

    I think the NFL will be overjoyed to have everyone distracted from the fact that so many players have brain damage from concussions.

    Nothing like a little gay to rally the troops.

    Methinks it ain’t gonna work.

  32. 32.

    Amir Khalid

    @Gex:

    ETA: If one gay player can take on a locker room full of NFL players and force them to do something they don’t want to do, he will be the most sought after NFL player in the league, as taking on a whole team is much tougher than taking on an O line or D line. We’d be talking guaranteed Super Bowl championship.

    Exactly! This guy doesn’t want any NFL team gaining an unfair advantage by signing a gay player!

  37. 37.

    Amir Khalid

    @dmsilev:
    I think she too could do a better job of managing Manchester United than Moyes, who made his name by unerringly guiding Everton FC to the middle of the English Premier League table (or thereabouts) for 11 seasons.

  40. 40.

    Yatsuno

    @Amir Khalid: It’s a game. How many Constitutional violations can you get into one law? Winner gets a show on Fox.

    @NotMax: Personal confession: that’s one of my favourite drinks. I shall go hide in the shame corner now.

  42. 42.

    NotMax

    Another school massacre in Nigeria.

    At least 29 students have been killed after suspected Boko Haram militants attacked a boarding school in north-east Nigeria.

    The BBC’s Will Ross in Lagos says the remote school in Yobe state was attacked overnight when students were in their dormitories.

    All the victims were teenage boys and 11 others were seriously injured. Most of the school was burned to the ground.
    [snip]
    Teachers at the school in Buni Yadi said the gunmen gathered the female students together before telling them to go away and get married and to abandon their education. Source

  43. 43.

    BGinCHI

    @Amir Khalid: Moyes’ talent is playing great defense and either drawing nil-nil or losing on last-second goals. But then again, who was gonna follow Fergie?

  47. 47.

    bemused

    @NotMax:

    Gross. I don’t feel so hot just reading about it. Taco Bell competing with state fair food now? Although I’d say some state fairs like MN have some fantastic decent food bucking against the trend of fried concoctions.

  48. 48.

    NotMax

    @Yatsuno

    The amazing thing about each of our own personal closets is that they are commodious accommodations for an infinite number of skeletons.

  52. 52.

    NotMax

    And, in the ‘What were they thinking?’ department (although attributing thought to this stunt is a tenuous theory):

    A South African bakery apologized Tuesday for producing a line of cookies with bad taste messages relating to the upcoming trial of Oscar Pistorius, the double-amputee Olympian charged with murder in his girlfriend’s shooting death. Source

  54. 54.

    dmsilev

    @schrodinger’s cat: Thanks! And sorry I can’t be of more use wrt keyboard suggestions. I don’t do heavy-duty writing on my iPad, so the on-screen keyboard is good enough for my purposes.

  55. 55.

    JPL

    GA’s discrimination law won’t even make crossover day. Wahoo…. We are better than Arizona. Actually I was hoping for a vote because I wanted to see Arthur Blank shit in his pants after touting a new stadium.

  56. 56.

    dmsilev

    @gogol’s wife: Well, you weren’t too too far off. When I was a kid, my family took a vacation to Yugoslavia (back when that still existed). It was quite nice being able to give people our last name and not get a blank stare or a “could you spell that for me again?” in response.

  58. 58.

    Amir Khalid

    @BGinCHI:
    No one could follow Fergie, I agree. But I don’t think anyone quite expected Moyes to turn Manchester United into Everton. As we speak, Man U and Everton are level on points in the Prem. United have their noses in front by the barest margin: a goal difference of +12, just +2 better than Everton’s. Manchester City, for decades the lesser club in that city, are title contenders with a GD of +42.

  59. 59.

    Peter

    @dmsilev:

    “Society is moving to a point where we are going to have unisex bathrooms and the next generation thinks that is OK.”

    Not sure what that has to do with gay people, but sure, safety issues aside – which might be an exaggerated fear, might not be, I don’t have good information one way or the other – I don’t see anything wrong with unisex bathrooms.

  63. 63.

    BGinCHI

    @Amir Khalid: Having their two biggest scorers out for a stretch really hurt ManU though, to be fair. Still and all, Fergie won with whatever he had. I still don’t know how he did it. Last months of this season are going to be cracking.

  68. 68.

    Trollhattan

    @raven:

    My observation, reinforced by my in-laws’ ill-fated staying in Lake Havasu over one summer, is that too much heat eventuallly makes everybody nuts.

  71. 71.

    Bruce K

    Dammit, I lost five years off my lifespan passing through an Athens metro station where some dumbass Olympiakos fan was celebrating a victory by throwing goddam lit M-80’s onto the tracks. Way to go, Man U. Way to go. /sarcastic clap

  73. 73.

    Amir Khalid

    @BGinCHI:
    It doesn’t really look promising for Manchester Untied*. Fergie picked a mid-table manager for his successor. They could well end the season where they are now, with European competition in 2014/2015 only just out of reach, unless they gain six points on Spurs in the last 11 matches. I dare not bet on them doing that.

    *Typo, but I’m letting it stand.

  74. 74.

    NonyNony

    @Gex:

    They only act out of animus. You can tell because the things they say are often nonsensical or inconsistent.

    At this point I’m fairly convinced that there’s a strong desire on the right to make sure that “gay” is a protected class before this window passes and even people on the right stop caring so much about “teh gay”.

    I know that’s not true – I know that their actions are perfectly explainable via a bit of game theory and the incentives that have lined up for conservative politicians at the state level looking to attract primary votes and/or avoid primary challenges. But it is kind of amazing how those bad incentives all line up to produce legislation that, even with the current Supreme Court makeup, is almost sure to end up with “gay” becoming a protected class for discrimination lawsuits under the law. You’d think they could stop themselves, but apparently not.

  76. 76.

    Alison

    Hoping this thread isn’t about to die or a new post isn’t about to go up, but just in case…if there are any BJers in the Santa Rosa CA area, or if you know someone who is – my niece Mallory ran away from home this past Saturday and her parents haven’t been able to find her yet. It’s frustrating as hell because her older sister is apparently in touch with her and knows where she is but is refusing to tell anyone. We’re just super worried and want her to come home :( Please keep your eyes out or ask others to – there’s a (admittedly not very clear) flyer here http://alisonroseishere.tumblr.com/post/77820936891/this-is-my-niece-mallory-she-ran-away-this-past She’s 13, white, about 5 feet tall and slim, with long strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes.

    Thanks folks.

  78. 78.

    ranchandsyrup

    Barely made it into Franklin BBQ today. They cut the line off right after our group. Spent afternoon in happy brisket coma. Gonna have a few beers on 6th street.

  79. 79.

    Trollhattan

    @NotMax:

    I suspect beer was involved. Admit I don’t care if anybody makes hay out of Pistorius’ plunge from grace. Dude had issues (from PEDs?) and had no business being anywhere near a gun, much less spraying the inside of his house with it. Moran.

  80. 80.

    NotMax

    Must admit to consternation and being torn. She may be (as the kids used to say) all that, but political dynasties make my hackles rise to red alert level.

    Democrat Debbie Dingell plans to run for the seat being vacated by her husband, Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), two senior Democratic strategists on Capitol Hill familiar with her plans told Post Politics. She will begin her campaign as the clear front-runner to succeed her husband.
    [snip]
    John Dingell announced his retirement Tuesday. The longest-serving member of Congress in history, he has spent more than 58 years in the lower chamber, leaving a mark on numerous historic pieces of legislation.
    [snip]
    John Dingell’s father held his seat before he followed in his footsteps. If Debbie Dingell wins and spends nine terms in office, a Dingell will have held the seat for 100 years. Source

  81. 81.

    WaterGirl

    @schrodinger’s cat: This is what I have for my iPad 2.

    I love it – purchased it after raven recommended it. I’m not sure if you can tell, but there’s a slot in the keyboard that holds your iPad up at an angle. I really like mine, and it’s solid and stable enough that I can sit with it balanced in my lap. Not sure whether there is a new model for the iPad 3, but if you are interested, if you go to the zagg website they have a chat thing so you could say “I want something like this one but for the iPad 3”.

    http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Keyboard-Built-In-Stand-920-003402/dp/B0054JE706/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1393370281&sr=8-10&keywords=zagg+ipad+case+and+keyboard

  82. 82.

    Trollhattan

    @Alison:

    Horrible. Have the authorities considered an Amber alert, or is that only for suspected abductions? What’s with the sister?

    Mine’s twelve, so I can empathize.

  85. 85.

    Mnemosyne

    @Alison:

    Is her older sister an untrustworthy person who would leave her younger sister in an unsafe situation? If not, then (unfortunately) backing off a little and keeping the lines of communication open might be the best strategy. If your niece is feeling desperate enough to run away and cut off communication, trying to strong-arm her back home is just going to make things worse.

    If there’s a way for you to intervene as a trustworthy adult who won’t automatically discount everything she says, now might be the time to try and pass that message through her older sister. Encouraging her parents to look for a family counselor now would also be a good step so they can have that in place when she comes home.

    If there are mental health issues involved, my ADHD/bipolar nephew did really, really well at the Yellowstone Boys & Girls Ranch, though he was already almost 17 when the family convinced him to go. It is a place of last resort but it is NOT one of those creepy unsupervised “boot camp” kind of places.

  88. 88.

    negative 1

    @NotMax: They should. The problem is that they will always have the same friends as the original, and be even more inclined to listen as they are essentially ‘kingmade’ in everyone’s eyes.
    The money quote on the issue always goes to the inimitable Matt Taibbi, who once observed that in a political dynasty the son is always meaner and more stupid than the father.

  89. 89.

    different-church-lady

    @dmsilev:

    . “Society is moving to a point where we are going to have unisex bathrooms and the next generation thinks that is OK.”

    Society is moving to a point where only rich people will have bathrooms, and the last generation thinks that is OK.

  90. 90.

    Belafon

    @MikeJ: Not too long ago, billmon used to post at Daily Kos. It wasn’t constantly, but he was one of those group of respected diarists that people would see his name, click like, and then read the diary. And they were good. And then the 2.0 DKos people, the ones who post diaries about how the government has infiltrated every website and the person who just commented on your comment may be working for the government, came along and he quit writing there.

  91. 91.

    Alison

    @Trollhattan: Think that’s only for kidnappings. They’ve talked to the police but they basically said they’ll keep an eye out but they can’t go around looking for her.

    @Mnemosyne: Her sister is a brat, who is basically more worried about getting someone in trouble, and is also super naive and thinks her sister is just fine being out on the fucking streets. My mom told my brother to try to talk to her calmly and just ask her what she thinks the endpoint of this is, how long she thinks this can go on, and point out to her that the longer she stays away, the more likely she is to get into real trouble. She’s supposed to go to some court-ordered alcohol awareness class tonight, after having been arrested for having alcohol at school a while back. If she doesn’t show up to that, I imagine there will be an arrest warrant or something, whatever they do for juveniles.

    I’ve tried talking to her myself, but we’re not close and it would be too easy for me to just flip my shit and tell her to stop being such a stupid little fuck. Obviously I know that won’t help.

  92. 92.

    Origuy

    I flew into Manchester a few years ago and got a ticket for driving in a bus lane. Was caught by one of those ubiquitous traffic cameras so I didn’t know about it until I got home. Ever since, my favorite team in the EPL is whoever is playing Man U. It’s my least favorite place in the UK for other reasons.

  93. 93.

    WaterGirl

    @Alison: Are you still here? I can only imagine how scared I would be if one of my nieces had run away.

    I read your comment and then hopped in the shower a few minutes later. As I was showering it struck me… if older sister knows where younger sister is, but won’t tell anyone, it seems likely that older sister feels she is protecting her younger sister from someone or something.

    I would be talking to older sister to ask if she feels younger sister needs protection from someone or something and try to understand why older sister feels younger sister might need protecting.

    That might be the key to why she left and why she won’t return, and why older sister won’t tell where she is.

  95. 95.

    Mnemosyne

    @Alison:

    I’ve tried talking to her myself, but we’re not close and it would be too easy for me to just flip my shit and tell her to stop being such a stupid little fuck. Obviously I know that won’t help.

    If she’s already drinking enough to be getting caught with it at school, there is a MUCH bigger problem here than teen rebellion. And telling an alcoholic/addict to stop being stupid and self-destructive doesn’t do much (but you probably already knew that).

    I know the 12-step programs get a lot of grief around here, but it sounds like a few Al-Anon meetings might do the rest of the family some good in learning better ways to deal with an alcoholic.

    ETA: Also, too, what WaterGirl said. There’s something she’s not telling you guys.

  96. 96.

    Alison

    @WaterGirl: No, this isn’t about protection. Mallory ran away because she was pissed off at being grounded for having gotten suspended. She is that kind of teenager who thinks she shouldn’t have to obey any rules at all and her parents are horrible for ever making her do anything.

    (ETA, meant suspended, not expelled)

  97. 97.

    Alison

    @Mnemosyne: Well, I wouldn’t go so far as to call her an alcoholic. Lots of kids drink, it doesn’t mean she has an addiction. This was one instance. Obviously it was fucked up but jumping right to “alcoholic” seems reactionary.

  103. 103.

    Alison

    @Mnemosyne: I know it’s not normal, FFS. I’m just saying, a kid having alcohol does not necessarily mean she is an alcoholic. yes, of course I want her parents to be aware of it and to head off any possible burgeoning issues, but right now the concern is finding her and getting her home.

  105. 105.

    Big R

    @Alison: I guess the data point that isn’t available as of this comment (98 comments in thread) is how sensible is Older Sister. If she’s generally level-headed and thoughtful (insofar as any adolescent can be), then the question should be, “What aren’t you seeing in this situation? Why is Mallory better off (in this possibly-wrong, but certainly-rational teenager’s mind) on the streets than at home?”

    Of course, if Older Sister is a brainless twit, then that doesn’t apply.

  106. 106.

    p.a.

    @JPL: I posted this on ajc today

    Arizona really didn’t think this through: if you really want to protect your religious folk from supporting sin, I’m afraid it will require spending some tax dollars. Georgia will have to start a publically-available registry of homosexuals so people will know who (what) they are dealing with. Otherwise you will have a situation where only the most outre’ homosexuals will be obvious to the God-fearing population. It will be like when light-skinned coloreds could ‘pass’. We all know how THAT turned out.
    Then there should be inspections at major border crossings for those visiting the state. Men or women travelling alone or with only same-sex passengers should be questioned. They could lie of course, but the law’s provisions should take that into account. Fines, expulsion. Nothing more; you’re not Mississippi after all. This could only be temporary; as word got out homosexuals would realize they’re not welcome and visits would drop. Just beware of outside agitators!
    Let’s not forget how much modern technology can help. Computerization, automation of the homosexual database. Building and maintaining the system could actually be a job-creator! And they don’t have to be government jobs; Georgia could contract out the work.
    Possibly the easiest way the religious public is protected from homosexual contact would be for some kind of identifying mark, tatoo or symbol be required to be worn by homosexuals. I believe this was used successfully in the past. Better yet (again, technology to the rescue) an implanted transponder like those used on pets and children. Individuals wishing to shun homosexuals could be provided a tax break to purchase the transponder-reader.
    One problem I do forsee, some antireligious individuals could attempt to aid homosexuals to circumvent the law (Athens, I’m looking at you). Say, an antireligious straight man goes with a lesbian to a baker to order her not-a-wedding-cake-because-marriage-is-between-a-man-and-a-woman. A giveaway would be if they say they don’t want names on the cake. I doubt they would be dumb enough to order 2 brides for the top- that could be done mail order. Here is another case where fines and publicization of the offense (for both the straight and the 2 partners) should be required.
    I hope these notes prove helpful to the God-fearing people of Georgia. It may take time, and a bit of money, but anything worth doing is worth doing right. You can top Arizona. I’m sure of it.

  107. 107.

    Mnemosyne

    @Alison:

    Sorry, I didn’t mean to lecture you when I know you’re already under stress. Hopefully she’ll come to her senses and be home soon.

    We went through a LOT of this with my nephew before he agreed to go to Yellowstone, so it sounds very familiar to me, unfortunately.

  108. 108.

    gelfling545

    @dmsilev: Can Congress even DO that? Tell a private institution not to hire whole class of citizens? My thought would be that it’s outside the limits even for “big government”.

  109. 109.

    Alison

    @Mnemosyne: Thank you. Yeah, I mean…this is already hard enough, and I don’t really need to add anything else to the mix. Getting her home is step one. After that we can all try to address whatever problems she has. She was already seeing a counselor but I think she needs a real psychiatrist, or something…

  110. 110.

    catclub

    @negative 1: “who once observed that in a political dynasty the son is always meaner and more stupid than the father. ”

    Does that include the Daley’s? I thought the father was pretty mean – but smart, so mixed messages.

  111. 111.

    Davebo

    I always thought the homo/hetero bathrooms at Supper Club were a smart move. My wife and I always found the homo room the cleanest.

  113. 113.

    Trollhattan

    @Alison:

    You’re all in my thoughts, especially that mixed-up kid. While it’s true some kids that age tinker with booze it’s very bad for them, developmentally, with their still-young brains. Hopefully she comes home, and soon. She needs a major intervention, stat. I’ve been around too much of this over the last several years.

  114. 114.

    dmsilev

    @gelfling545: I don’t think so (putting aside the question of whether it would pass and how many seconds it would take for Obama to veto it). I think it’s just a delayed reaction to the Obama administration making it legal for gays to openly serve in the military. I mean, football is just like the army, right?

  115. 115.

    Gex

    @Russ: This standard should also mean that the gun industry aids and abets the murders, rapes, burglaries, assaults, and suicides that their business transactions lead to. Of course it doesn’t because it’s always Calvinball in right wing land.

  116. 116.

    RSR

    I recall a substantial push to get MLB to relocate the All-Star game out of Arizona a couple years ago.. Did not work, IIRC

  117. 117.

    JoyfulA

    @raven: As a Northerner child, I read about “Georgian clay eaters.” They were pregnant women who were supposed to be deficient in certain minerals that pregnancy exacerbated, so they ate clay that had those minerals. It all sounded perfectly sensible to me.

    And Kaopectate doesn’t “soothe the stomach.” It’s an antidiarrheal.

  119. 119.

    Mnemosyne

    @Alison:

    A link to look at LATER :-) about oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), which was yet another thing in the mix with my nephew. It usually seems to be tied in with an underlying untreated problem (like undiagnosed ADHD, depression, anxiety, OCD, etc.) but often becomes so frustrating to deal with on its own that the underlying problems get missed. There are a bunch of books and programs linked to in that article, so hopefully something will help once she’s safely home.

    Like I said, this is all sounding very familiar, and not only with that one nephew. Did I mention my niece in Florida who “borrowed” her dad’s car to drive 200 miles away to go drinking with her friends? Good times, good times.

  120. 120.

    JPL

    @p.a.: AJC’s comments are filled with such swill I don’t read them. Do you have a link because I want to see how you are attacked. haha

  121. 121.

    PurpleGirl

    Something that doesn’t suck… Kitten Cams.

    The Cupcake Kittens are a month old today, Foster Dad John will be getting a new momcat and three kittens, and there are other I don’t watch because there’s only so much time in the day.

  122. 122.

    Laertes

    @catclub:

    Yeah, that’s a pretty good counter-example. Richard J’s legacy will always be, first and foremost, inciting his police to riot in ’68. Richard M’s record has a minor blemish here and there but nothing like his old man. I lived in Chicago for much of his time in office and i don’t recall ever having strong opinions about him one way or other.

    To be as fair as possible to Richard J, both eagerly exercised as much authority as they could possibly grab in their respective eras. The Chicago Machine* was an entirely different animal in the Boss’ day. Junior never faced a crisis as dire as the ’68 situation. Maybe if he’d been tested as sorely as his dad had been, he’d have failed just as completely. But he wasn’t and he didn’t.

    *Incidentally, to anyone who knows the first thing about Chicago politics, the idea that a black state senator from the south side in the late ’90s was part of the Machine is laugh-out-loud funny. The Machine was mostly dead by then, and when it had real power it was lily-white (and, earlier still, predominantly Irish.)

  123. 123.

    Gex

    @gelfling545: In theory if Congress has exempted that specific industry from anti-trust laws without exempting all other industries, I suppose they could do this too.

  124. 124.

    Howard Beale IV

    @JoyfulA: Kaopectate changed formulas over the years. A decade ago it contained attapulgite and kaolin until the FDA banned that formulation.

  125. 125.

    SRW1

    @Amir Khalid:

    Part of the blame has to go to SAF, though. The MU midfield has been in need of an urgent upgrade since at least the 2011 Champions League final when they struggled mightily to bring the ball out of their own half against Barca. Continuing to rely on Giggs and Scholes in midfield, as well as Fredinand in D was joke.

    In addition, which of the players SAF has brought in during his last years other than RvP were a success? The team SAF bequeathed to Moyes was a Potjemkin village and that SAF managed one last hurray last season is probably more a damning verdict on Mancini than anything else.

  127. 127.

    JoyfulA

    @Howard Beale IV: The old formulation was the antidiarrheal, and it worked! Then maybe 15 years ago, the “Kaopectate” was just generic Loperamide, which had gone off patent, which is too strong, if that’s the right word.

    I did not know that the good stuff was banned. For a decade, I’ve been going to find some on the Internet, pretty soon.

  128. 128.

    Pogonip

    This proposed law is incredibly stupid. Say you are a large gay man who’s good at knocking down other large men. You can be honest and work for forty years, or you can stay in the closet and make five million a year for five or six years, then come out the day you retire and laugh all the way to the bank. What to do, what to do?

    My agenda: to laugh at the polar vortex, because I got a nice new warm blankie in the mail today.

  130. 130.

    p.a.

    @JPL: no comments on the mobile site, go to full site. I scanned the comments; I didn’t see lots supportive of the anti gay bill, but the thread shifted to aca and got pretty stupid/evil.

  133. 133.

    NotMax

    @Gex

    An underlying question is whether antitrust law applies at all.

    A technicality, yes, but major league baseball’s longstanding exemption, for example, resulted not from a legislative carve-out but stemmed from a Supreme Court ruling that the intention of the law in regulating commerce did not apply.

    That said, there is no shortage of other federal laws under which the proposed bill (presuming the all but non-existent possibility of passage and a veto override) could be challenged as an unconstitutional infringement, particularly once legal standing of opposition was established and upheld.

  134. 134.

    aimai

    @Alison: I am really sorry. How old is her older sister–no one refuses to tell just to be a “pain in the ass”–I’ve got two girls (17 and 15)–I can’t imagine the older one allowing the younger one to be in danger and not telling us what was going on. I feel terrible for your brother and sister in law.

  136. 136.

    NotMax

    @NotMax

    A sidelight of that SCOTUS decision was the clear admission that it did not deny Congress the authority to include or exclude a specific industry by legislation. So under that precedent, at least, the landscape is decidedly painted in shades of gray.

  140. 140.

    NotMax

    @Baud

    Using executive authority to thwart the will of the people’s representatives with the stroke of a pen?

    Queen! Royalism! Tyranny!

    /snark (as if it was necessary to point that out :) )

  143. 143.

    MikeJ

    @Baud:

    Yeah, but it’s not often I get to quote a Newsmax headline approvingly.

    Interesting that Newsmax referred to it as a “gay discrimination” law. Obviously the law really is about discriminating against gay people, but wingers usually have better message discipline.

  144. 144.

    Baud

    @MikeJ:

    Good point. They should have called it the “religious freedom law.” Inadvertent slip, or on the Chamber’s payroll?

  145. 145.

    ? Martin

    Apple threatened to relocate their new sapphire glass factory being built Arizona. It’s a pretty big threat – they have the money to move it, and it’s probably going to represent 90%+ of the sapphire glass produced worldwide. It’s a cornerstone for a larger industry.

    I’m sure Apple wasn’t the only business on the phone with the governor.

  147. 147.

    ? Martin

    Nobody should lose sight of the fact that both houses of the AZ legislature passed this. This is very clearly what the GOP wants to do now.

  149. 149.

    NotMax

    @? Martin

    Not meant to impute a “both sides do it” equivalency, yet it also cannot be ignored that three Democrats signed on to what was was for all intents and purposes the same bill in Georgia.

  150. 150.

    scav

    Odd (but not unexpected). Active discrimination is apparently a legitimate special right so long as it’s religiously motivated — and from the “proper” religion, of course. Although the news feeds with side-by-side (carefully otherwise unlinked) stories about the legal situations in Uganda and Arizona (and Russia for that matter) might start to give at least a few pause about the company they’re keeping.

  153. 153.

    Gex

    @NotMax: Anti-gay policies were pretty bipartisan not that long ago. Not surprised that there are holdouts, especially in the south.

    ETA: Edited out some stuff.

  156. 156.

    NotMax

    @scav

    Unfortunately, the limits of comprehension of too many would yield the following rote responses:

    Rooskies are godless commies.

    Africa is peopled by heathen savages.

    Ignorance and non sequitur are the convenient currencies in which they traffic.

  157. 157.

    JPL

    @Gex: What south? I normally don’t defend GA politics but so far we are talking about Kansas and Arizona. Someone in GA introduced a discrimination bill but it wasn’t voted on and won’t be.

  160. 160.

    scav

    @NotMax: I try for an uncharacteristic bout of hopefullness once a month or so — just for practice so the neural paths don’t completely atrophy.

  161. 161.

    Gex

    @JPL: Fine, whatever. I was responding to a comment. Please, I beg of you, accept my humble apologies.

    ETA: What particularly sucks is I tried to write that in a way that didn’t seem to single out the south too much, that there are probably holdouts everywhere, but fuck it.

  163. 163.

    Constance

    I’m way too late to this thread but my suggestion for Arizona business homophobes is that they develop a symbol they can display in their windows. GLBT folk will know they don’t want to serve them. The assholes displaying the code get a direct lesson in “Actions Have Consequences” when they realize how many GLBT stop spending money in their establishments.

    I am so weary of this shit.

  171. 171.

    RaflW

    Delta Airlines issued a statement today on the proposed AZ and GA anti-gay business-discrimination bills.

    “”As a global values-based company, Delta Air Lines is proud of the diversity of its customers and employees, and is deeply concerned about proposed measures in several states, including Georgia and Arizona, that would allow businesses to refuse service to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals. If passed into law, these proposals would cause significant harm to many people and will result in job losses. They would also violate Delta’s core values of mutual respect and dignity shared by our 80,000 employees worldwide and the 165 million customers we serve every year. Delta strongly opposes these measures and we join the business community in urging state officials to reject these proposals.” link

  172. 172.

    brantl

    They should pull the superbowl but they won’t. When has pro football given a shit about human rights?

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