Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Tick tock motherfuckers!

I did not have telepathic declassification on my 2022 bingo card.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Hot air and ill-informed banter

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

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

I really should read my own blog.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Eh, that’s media spin. biden’s health is fine and he’s doing a good job.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

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

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Mid-Afternoon Open Thread

Mid-Afternoon Open Thread

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This post is in: 

What’s going on in the world?

Pro-Russians Call Another Eastern Part of Ukraine Independent.

Psychopaths–How To Spot Them.

EDIT: Rwandans Reflect On 1994 Genocide.

NSA Performed Warrantless Searches.

North-Korean Official Reportedly Executed By Flame-Thrower.

Tornado Shelters For Schools Initiative in Oklahoma Derailed.

Film Legend Mickey Rooney, Dead at 93.

UPDATE: Army Specialist (E-4) To Receive Silver Star Tomorrow.

US Navy Researchers Find Way To Turn Seawater Into Fuel.

Reader Interactions

180Comments

  2. 2.

    BGinCHI

    Also writer Peter Mathiessen (The Snow Leopard, among many others), dead at 86.

    And didn’t Westboro Baptist come to your town, sooner, only to get chased out? Saw something on TPM about it.

    Dish it.

  3. 3.

    ? Martin

    North-Korean Official Reportedly Executed By Flame-Thrower.

    Yeah, don’t believe that. The previous report of his uncle being executed by wild dogs is considered to be untrue. And the report of all men needing to get the same haircut as Un is presumably also untrue.

  4. 4.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    At least Rooney had a nice life. The rest of this list is just horrendous.

  5. 5.

    Roger Moore

    As I said in a previous post, I’ll accept secession of parts of Ukraine when they follow the established Constitutional provisions. Until then, they’re a bunch of hooligans.

  6. 6.

    BGinCHI

    I assume the “How to spot a psychopath” link just takes you to Right Wing Watch’s web site.

  7. 7.

    Soonergrunt

    @BGinCHI: They came because the Moore Liquors front marquee, which has it’s own Facebook page was lit up with “Fred Phelps is Dead. Champagne 10% off. Not a coincidence.”
    They only protested for about 7 minutes or so before they packed up and left. There were over 2000 people there to counter protest. By the time I got there to join the festivities, they were already gone, and Moore PD and OKCPD were peacefully dispersing the crowd.

  8. 8.

    Hungry Joe

    What’s going on in the world? Well, there’s some used-to-be odd early April weather here in the lower left-hand corner of the U.S.A.: My garden’s looking beyond ridiculous as I try to provide some shade for the chard, collard, and kale in this 89-degree (and rising) heat: lawn chairs, sheets, towels. Lettuce is gone baby gone, as in, fried baby fried. Will be in the 90s tomorrow.

  14. 14.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Tornado Shelters For Schools Initiative in Oklahoma Derailed.

    Freedumb for assholes is far more important that the safety of schoolchildren.

  16. 16.

    Violet

    @BGinCHI: Aww…that’s a loss. Talented writer.

    In posthumous news, Johnny Cash has a new album out.

    Johnny Cash may have passed away more than 10 years ago, but his music continues to resonate with his fans. His latest album, ‘Out Among the Stars,’ a collection of previously unheard tunes discovered by his son, John Carter Cash, debuted at No. 1 on the country charts.

    There may be more where that came from.

  17. 17.

    Roger Moore

    Vandals in San Francisco have started tipping Smart Cars onto their backs or tops. These are apparently well organized gangs; an eyewitness account of one tipping said it involved a team of 8 men. My suspicion is that alcohol was involved.

  19. 19.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Chris: Well, the NK storyline is always, reliably, they’re batshit insane up there north of the DMZ. So naturally, the crazier the report, the more our media overlords buy into it, at least as an attention grabber to garner sales, ratings, clicks, whatever.

    Whether or not it’s true is utterly irrelevant.

  22. 22.

    jl

    Looks like calling Democrats mental cases is the GOP message of the day.

    Too bad the GOP started on two well-established old battle-axes like DiFi and Reid, since I think the message will not be credible.

    Anyone can go on youtube and see how DiFi all fell apart and got the ’emotional females’ when Milk and Moscone were assassinated. /snark

  27. 27.

    jl

    @ranchandsyrup:

    ” saw a gold smartcar on the 405 this morning with a license plate that said BITCOIN. Can it be targeted next? ”

    The SF smartcar tipping squad will be dispatched, as soon as they sober up enough to travel.

  29. 29.

    ranchandsyrup

    @BGinCHI: *hangs head in shame* I was taken aback by it. First, I thought one had to be over 55 years old to buy a gold car. Then I was trying to decipher what the multitude of glibertarian bumperstickers said. Then I improperly channeled my angst into impotently yelling obscenities instead of taking him out with a PIT maneuver.

  30. 30.

    IowaOldLady

    There’s a story on kos that VW is thinking of accepting UAW representation despite the election results. I hope that happens.

  31. 31.

    Mnemosyne

    Also, too, since we were all discussing the magical properties of Subarus, I was able to fit this bicycle into the back of my Impreza by folding the seats down. I wasn’t able to do that with the RAV-4, believe it or not.

    (I don’t plan to do it often because it’s kind of a pain in the ass thanks to the wide handlebars, but it can be done.)

  32. 32.

    JPL

    Sorry if this has been mentioned but another family values repub has some explaining to do.. link At this time there is no mention of diapers being found in his office.

    @jeffreyw: Aw! Poor pup was only trying on a new perfume.

  35. 35.

    boatboy_srq

    RE: OK tornado shelters – from the article:

    The attorney general, Scott Pruitt, a Republican, rewrote the 200-word summary that voters would have seen on their ballots, emphasizing the business tax, and, his opponents say, all but dooming the ballot initiative to fail in deep-red Oklahoma.

    Because “we’re broke,” and nothing says We Care For The Young’uns like saying no to a new business tax. Reichwingnuts think Publick Schools, Paved Roads, etc are nothing but commie scams to make Bidness unprofitable. “Are there no workhouses?…”

  39. 39.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Roger Moore: And as I pointed out, the established provision requires a national referendum, which first requires securing 3 million signatures of registered voters, with a minimum of 100k per oblast (like states; there are 24 not counting Crimea.) That’s a very high bar, understandably.

  41. 41.

    jl

    @boatboy_srq: Nothing says caring about our precious youth like allowing them to be scattered for miles over the landscape, crushed under collapsed buildings and hanging up in tree branches like so many cheap rag dolls. No sir.

  42. 42.

    Gin & Tonic

    Oh, and the separatists in Donetsk (in SG’s link up top) tried to get the support of the miners’ union. The head of the union said “no way”, called the separatists psychotic and invited them to come down to the mines to chat (to get pummeled.) Meanwhile, border guards in Luhansk arrested a high-ranking Russian GRU (military intelligence) agent trying to cross into Ukraine.

  43. 43.

    ruemara

    On the good new front, I am the assistant cam/assistant video editor & the marcom/social media coordinator for a small entrepreneur. The the bad news is my 87 Cavalier is not turning over easy. It runs when it starts, but it ain’t starting without begging. And, the extended family pooch, Max, has passed of bone cancer. He was a good, sweet lab. Poor Maxy. 15 years of being a most excellent dog.

  44. 44.

    Gene108

    @EconWatcher:

    He started acting at 5 or 6 years old. He has the longest career of anyone in Hollywood history.

    He was also the last person in Hollywod to have acted in silent films.

    His career went from silent movies to Nifgt at the Museum, which had a good bit of CGI.

  49. 49.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Roger Moore: After all, we’re talking about Louisiana here. The state that gave us such marvelous “Christians” as Jimmy Swaggart.

    They’re all hypocritical scum.

  50. 50.

    Roger Moore

    @ruemara:
    Check your battery. If it’s more than about 5 years old, it may be having problems putting out enough juice to start the car easily. A dying battery is a very common cause of trouble starting, and it’s a reasonably easy and cheap one to fix.

    @Xboxershorts:

    The military can plausibly claim that their worries are all about fuel availability and reducing logistics tail, rather than reducing carbon footprint. Fuel is the number one thing they have to move around, so reducing the amount they have to ship greatly reduces the number of vulnerable truck convoys they have to send through potentially hostile territory.

  52. 52.

    Soonergrunt

    @Xboxershorts: If that technology can be commercialized, it would essentially mean that we wouldn’t NEED much of a Navy. Or much of an Air Force. Or much of an Army.
    And neither would anyone else, for that matter.

  53. 53.

    sharl

    A trivia mcnugget on Mickey Rooney (via @max_read) from The New Yorker’s TV reviewer Emily Nussbaum. When Norman Lear was trying to talk a network into taking on the idea that eventually became “All In The Family”, at one point Rooney was offered the role that Carroll O’Connor ultimately accepted.

    For the next two years, the executives and Lear went through an elaborate production process, taping two pilots—the first in September, 1968, titled “Justice for All” (Archie’s last name was originally Justice), the second in February of the following year, called “Those Were the Days.” Lear wanted to cast Mickey Rooney as the lead, but the actor thought it was too risky. (Rooney did offer to make a different show: “Listen to this—Vietnam vet. Short. Blind. Private eye. Large dog!”) So Lear offered the part to O’Connor, an Irish-American actor whose rare mixture of “bombast and sweetness” he described to reporters as being ideal for the role.

  54. 54.

    Soonergrunt

    @Roger Moore: And if the battery is good, take a look at your starter motor. That’s the next most likely problem starting, and they generally aren’t too expensive either.

  55. 55.

    Xboxershorts

    @Soonergrunt:

    If that technology can be commercialized, it would essentially mean that we wouldn’t NEED much of a Navy. Or much of an Air Force. Or much of an Army.
    And neither would anyone else, for that matter.

    Ayup, 90% of my naval career at sea was spent escorting oil tankers in and out of the Persian gulf.

    Just another hidden subsidy for big oil…..

    I care about climate change and I care about peak oil, but I care more about how much control these oil barons have over our nation and our politics. I consider breaking the oil addiction a matter of national security.

  56. 56.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)

    @Roger Moore: I have a second condition for accepting secession of parts of Ukraine: whatever rules are used, Russia has to apply them to itself as well, including but not limited to Chechnya.

  57. 57.

    max

    @ruemara: The the bad news is my 87 Cavalier is not turning over easy. It runs when it starts, but it ain’t starting without begging.

    Battery. If you’ve got a voltmeter, check it – if it reads something like 12.xx with xx less than says 40 than the battery is dying. If the battery is OK, then there’s a chance the starter motor is going.

    If you don’t have a voltmeter (likely) take it to Autozone or some place like that and ask them to test the battery. They have a simple meter that cranks out ‘Good’ and ‘Bad’. If it’s bad, a new one will run about 80-120 dollars, depending.

    max
    [‘Just had that problem.’]

  61. 61.

    boatboy_srq

    @jl: No doubt some genius will use this as an excuse for more School Vouchers so OK kids can be sent to privately-run teadrassas that have no tornado shelters either.

  63. 63.

    scav

    @Xboxershorts: Might have wanted to think that one through a bit longer. Reducing military dependence on foreign supplies of fuel and shortening supply-lines sure sounds like something a solid portion of their traditional gung-ho base would be all in favor of. “Triumph of good-ol’ ‘mercan know-how” flag-fluttering in background kind of ads. Bit of a twister trying to visualize how a knee-jerk reaction could so swiftly result in a kick to their own ass but there it might very well be.

  65. 65.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @scav: Don’t be so sure. A friend of mine drives a biodiesel VW, and actually got into an argument with some Teahadi fuckwit that biodiesel is somehow “unAmerican”, unlike oil imported in from Saudi Arabia.

  67. 67.

    Tommy

    Gosh I love good clients. Just got off the phone w/ a new client. He had already approved my proposal. I started to ask him questions and he cut me off. Said he was referred to me. He trusts that guy and so he trusts me. He is a small business owner. A salesperson. Said he knows nothing about web design so he will pay me to do what I think is right. Doesn’t want to get in my way or micromanage me. If all clients were like this, well my job would be a lot easier (and more fun).

    This is my happy thought for the day :). Oh and my Cardinals are winning on opening day so all is good with my world.

  69. 69.

    Bob In Portland

    @Roger Moore: Which constitution would that be? They’ve gone through around four or five in the last ten years and two since the illegal coup.

  70. 70.

    scav

    @Villago Delenda Est: Let alone that all-mercan corn rattling around as an additive. You’re
    right. I have so got to break myself of these residual habits in believing in, nay even hoping for, logical consistency in others.

  71. 71.

    Suffern ACE

    I’m actually trying to think of a Mickey Rooney movie that I actually like and that holds up. He’s been a supporting cast member pretty much all of my life.

  74. 74.

    ? Martin

    @SatanicPanic:

    I don’t want to get all what about the children!?!, but seriously, what about the children?

    Tiny coffins are cheaper than adult ones. Probably have better profit margins as well because parents are unprepared and sentimental. Plus, the provide no GDP benefit – they are the very definition of a mocher and taker.

    Won’t somebody think of the job creators!?

  75. 75.

    JGabriel

    JPL:

    Sorry if this has been mentioned but another family values repub has some explaining to do…

    From the linked story:

    Fifth District Congressman Vance McAllister, who campaigned for office last fall as a devout Christian and devoted husband and father, was caught in video surveillance two days before Christmas passionately embracing and kissing one of his congressional aides. …

    The woman who McAllister, 40, was caught kissing for almost half a minute is Melissa Anne Hixon Peacock, 33, of [address redacted by commenter]. She is McAllister’s district scheduler. 
…

    Peacock donated $5,200 to McAllister’s congressional campaign last fall …

    Peacock’s husband, Heath Peacock, 34, also donated $5,200 to McAllister’s congressional campaign last fall, according to the FEC.

    See what happens when you donate to a Republican?

    They fuck your family.

    .

  76. 76.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @raven: The joke when I was there (late 80’s) was that the 2nd ID was there to keep the NKs and the ROKs apart from each other.

  77. 77.

    Tommy

    @Villago Delenda Est: Oh don’t get me started on cars. I drive a V6 1999 VW Passat. Has 30,000 miles on it. When I got it I lived in DC and used this thing called mass transit. How I work out of my house and tend to hop on my bicycle if I need to tool around town.

    I mention this cause my 1999 car gets 31 MPG. Ponder that. A V6 four door sedan. You’d think in the last 15 years they might have improved on that some, but alas not much. I just wish Congress could do something anything. It just isn’t acceptable a car might only get 12 MPG. It doesn’t have to be that way.

  78. 78.

    Chris

    @? Martin:

    Won’t somebody think of the job creators!?

    I think of them every day.

    (Usually in some variation of “FUCK the Job Creators!”)

  79. 79.

    Bob In Portland

    @Gin & Tonic: But it’s okay for the US to finance the current coup regime?

    Well, do you want all those dissatisfied Russkies inside Ukraine?

    The bottom line is that there will be a loose federation or there will be a secession. The tell was the banning of Russian as an official language. Donetsk got the message if they hadn’t noticed the goose steppers before.

  84. 84.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    There’s a story on kos that VW is thinking of accepting UAW representation despite the election results.

    @IowaOldLady: DK is well beneath the “Weekly World News” and slightly better than Newsmax as far as carrying any sort of accurate information. I’d love for it to be true as well, but the ugly facts are is that VW simply can’t do that without a vote. Which they lost.

  85. 85.

    Bob In Portland

    I’m pretty sure that Hersh is a mouthpiece for someone in the permanent government, but this is interesting to consider. Not getting much press here in the US, though. Maybe it’s all the coverage of what’s happening in Ukraine is taking up all the space.

  87. 87.

    Bob In Portland

    @Villago Delenda Est: Apparently, their army pays a lot better. Russia has better pensions than the ones in Ukraine that are about to be cut in half for the IMF. And it’s always nice to have heat in winter.

  88. 88.

    rikyrah

    Kay,

    did you see what’s happening in KAnsas?

    KS House, Senate OK school finance bill that eliminates due process for teachers
    By Bryan Lowry
    Published Sunday, April 6, 2014, at 11:24 a.m.

    TOPEKA — A bill that allocates millions more to schools but also strips teachers of a protection they have had since 1957 will head to the governor’s desk.

    Both the House and Senate passed compromise bill HB2506 at the tail end of a marathon work weekend.

    The House voted 63-57. The Senate voted 22-16.

    The bill would put $129 million toward addressing inequities to satisfy a March 7 Kansas Supreme Court ruling.

    It also would eliminate public school teachers’ right to due process hearings that was established by a 1957 Supreme Court case. And it would provide tax breaks for corporations that donate to scholarships for private schools.

    http://www.kansas.com/2014/04/06/3388925/kansas-senate-convenes-sunday.html

  89. 89.

    Bob In Portland

    @raven: So we really are still fighting WWII. Because if we are we were against the Nazis last time.

  90. 90.

    IowaOldLady

    @CONGRATULATIONS!: IANAL, but I think a positive vote would have compelled them to unionize, but they can also choose to accept a union on their own. Anyone know better?

  91. 91.

    shelly

    last fall as a devout Christian and devoted husband and father, was caught in video surveillance two days before Christmas passionately embracing and kissing one of his congressional aides. …

    And safe to assume he’s a teetotaler, so he can’t blame too much eggnog.

  92. 92.

    Tommy

    @shelly: I am just a few pages into Michael Lewis new book on Wall Street. He has introduced one of the main characters, a Canadian that was moved to NYC to try to more successfully sell investment services in the US. He jokes that they had a hard time finding people to hire, cause their unofficial mission statement was not to be an assholes. When they paid hundreds of millions to buy a high frequency trading company he thought they were all assholes, plus nothing they said was true.

    He was an industry insider and he had the same feeling I did when I learned what was happening on Wall Street. (1) How is that legal and (2) This is just a deck of cards that will fall.

  94. 94.

    different-church-lady

    The list in full is: glibness and superficial charm, grandiose sense of self-worth, pathological lying, cunning/manipulative, lack of remorse, emotional shallowness, callousness and lack of empathy, unwillingness to accept responsibility for actions…

    Which is a long way of spelling “Donald Rumsfeld”

  95. 95.

    JPL

    @JGabriel: lol

    TPM has it up now along with a statement asking for forgiveness from God and family. He’s also now asking for privacy because of his innocent children.

  97. 97.

    Tommy

    @JPL: Folks that run around saying you or me isn’t as “good” as them cause they have found god really ought to try to live better lives. When you make your politics about “what would Jesus do” and then you do something Jesus wouldn’t have done, don’t ask me to either forgive you nor give you privacy.

  98. 98.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)

    @Tommy: Out of curiosity, what do you charge? I’ll probably need a website in the not too distant future if I get anything ready to publish but I have absolutely zero clue as to how to get started and something like Wix really doesn’t help me because I would still have to design pages and I have no sense of design. At all.

    I doubt I could afford you but I thought I’d ask.

  99. 99.

    max

    Mike Giglio ‏@mike_giglio 3h
    Yes I have interviewed my cab driver on the way from the Donetsk airport and he would greet Russian troops “with flowers.”
    Mike Giglio ‏@mike_giglio 3h
    Pro-Russia organizer tried to cancel our meeting in Donetsk just now bc wife wouldn’t let him out of the house. Guess they’re spooked too.
    Mike Giglio ‏@mike_giglio 3h
    There is a lot more respect for cab-driver interviews on Twitter than I expected
    Mike Giglio ‏@mike_giglio 3h
    Pro-Russia activist en route to occupied Donetsk buildings says he’s going to defend them; expects security forces will move on them tonight
    Mike Giglio ‏@mike_giglio 1h
    I’m going to give my Twitter to Eugene for a bit, a 24-year-old protester at the occupied govt building in Donetsk
    Mike Giglio ‏@mike_giglio 1h
    I want to ask u to not simply believe what they tell you on mass media. Make your own opinion, learn the facts from history to understand us
    Mike Giglio ‏@mike_giglio 1h
    Eugene had to run but also had this to say: tell them we are not paid. And we are not Russian spies. All Ukraine citizens
    Mike Giglio ‏@mike_giglio 35m
    Pro-Russia protesters inside the occupied govt building in Donetsk, armed with metal rods pulled from railings
    Picture link
    Mike Giglio ‏@mike_giglio 34m
    Where the “Donetsk People’s Republic” was born today, inside assembly hall at occupied regional govt building
    Picture link
    Mike Giglio ‏@mike_giglio 32m
    Just left occupied Donetsk govt building. Few thousand inside and out, many armed with rods + clubs, entrance blocked w tires + barbed wire
    Mike Giglio ‏@mike_giglio 31m
    I was in the Donetsk gov building hours before it was cleared last time around. That occupation had nothing on tonight’s.
    Mike Giglio ‏@mike_giglio 28m
    Announced 20 mins ago in Donetsk gov building that cops will clear in two hours. All up at arms, calling reinforcements. Would be a big mess
    Mike Giglio ‏@mike_giglio 22m
    Young protester in motorcycle helmet in Donetsk gov building: “We will fight until the end. We hope it won’t get bloody. We don’t want war.”
    Mike Giglio ‏@mike_giglio 14m
    Protester in Donetsk gov building: “We will do like we did in Crimea. The referendum was not allowed by the authorities in Kiev there too.”
    Mike Giglio ‏@mike_giglio 13m
    A few of the guards who escorted me though the occupied Donetsk gov building said they were actually from Crimea, and had just arrived today
    Mike Giglio ‏@mike_giglio 8m
    75-year-old man in occupied Donetsk gov building says pensioners have been robbed by the state: “We are only surviving. Not living.”
    Mike Giglio ‏@mike_giglio 3m
    To get in Donetsk gov building: pass thru crowd of guards w clubs, wind path thru tires + more guards w clubs. 100s of guards w clubs inside

    Well, if they do try to retake the government building this is going to be very bloody.

    max
    [‘Fun.’]

  100. 100.

    Chris

    @JGabriel:

    Fifth District Congressman Vance McAllister, who campaigned for office last fall as a devout Christian and devoted husband and father

    If your main selling point in the interview is “I am a devoted husband and father,” expect to be called on it when it turns out to be horseshit. Too bad you couldn’t campaign on “the issues” instead.

  102. 102.

    Roger Moore

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    A friend of mine drives a biodiesel VW, and actually got into an argument with some Teahadi fuckwit that biodiesel is somehow “unAmerican”, unlike oil imported in from Saudi Arabia.

    If fossil fuel burning engines were good enough for Jesus, they should be good enough for you!

  103. 103.

    Tommy

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): My prices vary greatly. Most of the time around $1,500. But I’ve done sites for less. I like to think I charge what the product is worth and not what I can force you to pay :). Heck I did a site for a 80 person law firm last year. They had paid $9,000 for their last site that was literally embarrassing. When I sent their IT guy my estimate he said I could charge more. I said maybe, but I’ll make money and you will be happy. Maybe not the best way to do business, but then 100% of my business is via referrals.

    With that said Wiz is terrible. Look at Squarespace or WordPress.com. If you can get around a computer and you don’t mind learning something new (head to YouTube for help — you will be stunned what you can learn there), the ability to publish a web site in 2014 is much easier then you might think. Heck if you head to a site like Microlancer or eGuru folks with do work for a few hundred dollars. My gut is it is going to India or China, but it is an option.

  104. 104.

    Roger Moore

    @JGabriel:

    See what happens when you donate to a Republican?

    They fuck your family.

    I thought they only caught a kiss on camera. Is there more footage they aren’t showing?

  107. 107.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)

    @Tommy: My problem is less the tools than the design, though that may just be because I can’t deal with it well enough to get to the question of the tools. More it’s that I have absolutely no idea what a website should look like and when I sit down to do it I just get really frustrated. I have no skills at layout and design and am completely indifferent about them as subjects, which is a bad combination for someone with autism.

  109. 109.

    Omnes Omnibus

    I saw a bumper sticker today that read:

    Sorry I missed church but I have been busy practicing witchcraft and becoming a lesbian.

    The driver was a guy in a baseball hat.

  110. 110.

    Tommy

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): That is why I suggested WordPress.com. It is a dumbed down version of their product I use. They also host it for you. There are tens of thousands of free themes (the look and design of your site) and many more you might only pay $50 for. You just plug your content into the theme (again the design). I use something different, such as theme frameworks (think of it like a blank slate), but I am 110% sure you will find something that will work for you.

    I might also add this site is built on WordPress and around 18% of the most popular sites (insert traffic) are as well. It is a product that will grow with you. The interface is stupid simple to use. And literally you can do anything and everything with it.

  112. 112.

    Lolis

    @ruemara:

    My brother had a Cavalier about that age doing the same thing. He finally gave up on it and moved to Mexico, where he doesn’t need a car.

  114. 114.

    raven

    Apparently one sign that some of the anti government elements in Ukraine are Russian is that some of them stormed the opera house thinking it was city hall!

  116. 116.

    WaterGirl

    @Mnemosyne: I don’t think I have mentioned that my Cocoa was stolen the day the POD arrived to hold all my possessions after the tree fell on my house. $650 bike, gone, and I hadn’t even had it a year. So sad.

  117. 117.

    Mnemosyne

    Sitting on the hold so my insurance company can explain to the allergist that my doctor wants me to see that I don’t need a group number and authorization code because the Giant Evil Corporation’s insurance is Special and all of us are Special Snowflakes who don’t have to follow their stupid insurance rules.

    THANKS A LOT, OBAMA! :-(

  118. 118.

    boatboy_srq

    @Violet: That’d only happen of R&H put together a Baum-based musical. “Oklahoma, she says, is the name of the star,” and “there’s a bright golden haze on the yellow brick road” just don’t have the same ring to them…

  119. 119.

    Tommy

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): No problem. Anytime I am here if you have a question just let me know. It will take some effort but folks that do what I do for a living often make it sound like what we do is so complex they scare people away from trying to do it on their own. This pisses me off to no end. I am not saying what I do is easy, but alas I am not doing open heart surgery either :).

    My gut is and I know this from talking with my clients, that often they will use a service like Wiz, see the benefits, then come to me when they want something more advance. So I want everybody that needs a site to have one, cause in the future they might come to me. I just refuse to be the person that says you can’t do it yourself, you have to hire me. That just isn’t true.

  120. 120.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    @raven:

    Hitchhiking down to Benh Xe Moi in the Delta. A ROC marine deuce pulled over. Jumped into the back, passed around my cigs. The ROCs had a bag o’ heads to show me.

  121. 121.

    Mnemosyne

    @ruemara:

    Yay! Also, when my old Camry (inherited from my brother) was having trouble starting, there was a spot on the engine block where I could hit it with a hammer and it would magically start up. Sadly, I don’t remember exactly what that spot was.

    Even better, I had to do it one time when my mom was out visiting and we were running errands in my car, and suddenly my parents were able to help me out with a down payment on a new car a few weeks later. It was like magic! ;-)

    @WaterGirl:

    D’oh! And they don’t make the Cocoa anymore, which sucks.

    I still love mine dearly, because it’s a total workhorse. It was sitting out on our balcony for 8 months and yesterday, I brought it downstairs, pumped up the tires, washed off the dust, and rode it 12 miles at CicLAvia without a hitch. Dutch bikes FTW!

  122. 122.

    WaterGirl

    @ruemara:

    On the good new front, I am the assistant cam/assistant video editor & the marcom/social media coordinator for a small entrepreneur.

    So excited for you!!!

  123. 123.

    Baud

    @CONGRATULATIONS!:

    DK is well beneath the “Weekly World News” and slightly better than Newsmax as far as carrying any sort of accurate information.

    I’ve had my issues with that blog, but their FP’s have done a decent job recently on focusing on the parties and issues and the elections. So kudos to them.

    @Tommy:

    I might also add this site is built on WordPress

    Oh my, that’s so not an endorsement.

  124. 124.

    Tommy

    @Mnemosyne: I have a Cannondale I bought in 1991. I’ve used it almost daily since then. I upgraded a few things, but I see no need to buy another one. Sure I’d kind of like to, but my gosh a good bike costs an arm and a leg these days. I picked up a buyers guide a few weeks ago and was like “nope I am not paying $3,700 for a bicycle.”

  125. 125.

    MomSense

    @ruemara:

    Talk about the fullness of life! Congratulations on the job! Sucks about the car. So sorry to hear about Max.

  126. 126.

    Matt

    “How to spot a psychopath”, Lesson 1:

    Is the name on the chyron “Dick Cheney” or “Donald Rumsfeld”? Congratulations, you’ve spotted one!

    Lesson 2:

    Is there an (R) next to their name? See above.

  127. 127.

    Tommy

    @Baud: LOL. I was only a lurker here when they went through the upgrade/theme change. I know no polite way to say this, the person didn’t know what they were doing. About 15% of my work is helping somebody complete a project with WordPress where the developer (if you can call them that) had no clue what they were doing.

    At some levels WordPress is so user friendly anybody thinks they can do it. Well not so much. But again not rocket science by any means.

  130. 130.

    ranchandsyrup

    The congresscritter from LA that got busted making out with his scheduler was the dude that invited the Duck Dynasty star to this year’s state of the union.

  132. 132.

    PsiFighter37

    Lawlz, another married ‘Family Values’ Republican being shown that he can’t keep it in his pants. I bet he’ll blame gay marriage for the clear failure that his marriage is/was.

    Also, too, I miss San Francisco. Even though my half marathon brutalized my legs, it was so fucking nice there. My buddies and I were sipping on the new GoT beer in Dolores Park and just lounging around. If I could get my job in SF, I would do it in a heartbeat. Sadly, I am not a techie or startup guy, so not happening anytime soon.

  135. 135.

    Roger Moore

    @Tommy:

    At some levels WordPress is so user friendly anybody thinks they can do it.

    I think that’s the main problem. It’s supposed to be easy enough that anyone can do it, which means everyone tries.

  136. 136.

    Mnemosyne

    @WaterGirl:

    I think it just didn’t sell as well as they hoped. I think part of the problem was that most of Trek’s bikes have men’s and women’s versions, and by having a women-only bike, it didn’t get as much exposure as they hoped. Let’s face it, most of the American cycling world is still focused on sports (road racing/cyclocross/mountain biking) rather than everyday transportation or commuting. It’s too bad, because it’s an awesome little bike.

  137. 137.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @raven: He can’t. Speculation in the past is he’s a LaRouchie, which means that he’s got an impermeable to clues force field around him.

  138. 138.

    Gin & Tonic

    @raven: Another sign is that many of them speak Russian with a Russian accent, not a Ukrainian one. Just as you can distinguish (mostly) someone from New Orleans and someone from Chicago, Russian in Kharkiv is distinguishable form Russian in Moscow.

  141. 141.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Tommy:

    You’re not trying to talk us all out of posting our reflexive “FYWP” comments, are you? Mine is so ingrained that when I type “FY,” autocorrect fills in the “WP” part.

  143. 143.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Suffern ACE:

    I was never a huge HUGE Mickey Rooney fan. I liked him a lot in National Velvet, and he was cute enough in the Andy Hardy movies and the whole string of “Hey-kids-let’s-put-on-a-show!” films with Judy Garland (can’t remember if there was overlap or if they were completely different genres). But his Japanese stereotype character in Breakfast at Tiffany’s kind of creeped me out even when the movie was first released. I couldn’t articulate then what my problem was, I just found his portrayal of the character very weird and creepy. Years later, the Asian acting community protested retroactively, and I believe Blake Edwards actually apologized and said he wished he could film it over again with an Asian actor, or at least not have Rooney do such a broad caricature. Anyhow, it ended up souring me, a bit, on Mickey Rooney.

    That doesn’t mean I’m not sorry he’s dead.

  145. 145.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    @raven:
    ROK. I plead old age and the similarity of Jinglish Janguage consonants for the error. Are you going to the reunion? I’m tempted although I’ll have to sell my lovely hair to toothbrush people to finance the thing.

  147. 147.

    max

    Mike Giglio ‏@mike_giglio 1h
    It’s been a couple weeks but this is the first time I recall seeing pro-Russia protesters in Donetsk wearing body armor…
    Mike Giglio ‏@mike_giglio 59m
    Chants of “Russ-i-a” ahead of possible police storming outside occupied gov building in Donetsk
    Picture link
    Mike Giglio ‏@mike_giglio 54m
    Electricity just cut at occupied govt building in Donetsk, raising crackdown fears
    Mike Giglio ‏@mike_giglio 49m
    Love it when one bored protester in Donetsk raps his metal rod as hard as he can on another bored protester’s motorcycle helmet
    Mike Giglio ‏@mike_giglio 42m
    Little ladies passing out surgical masks outside the occupied govt building in Donetsk, Cairo-style
    Mike Giglio ‏@mike_giglio 28m
    Seems far too many people at gov building in Donetsk for cops to clear it w/o, as one protester put it, “giving Russia an excuse to invade.”
    Mike Giglio ‏@mike_giglio 18m
    One pro-Russia activist I know in Donetsk says he has met just one “Russian tourist” here and “I don’t like that guy. He looks… scary.”
    Mike Giglio ‏@mike_giglio 16m
    Apparently the “Russian tourist” from the previous tweet tried to come to Donetsk with a big crew, but others were all stopped at the border

    The “Russian tourist” is probably an actual infiltrator – maybe a GRU hitter. Might be private paramilitary/street thug too, recruited for ‘special mission’.

    Mike Giglio ‏@mike_giglio 1m
    Could be wrong, but it looks to me that the situation in Donetsk is going to be a waiting game that might not be resolved tonight.

    If the local Uki security guys are on the ball, they’re going to wait until about 4-5 in the morning. When the protestors are sleepy and thinned out, roll the building.

    max
    [‘Still going to be bloody.’]

  148. 148.

    WaterGirl

    @Villago Delenda Est: I spent hours today trying to get my tax info together, and my reward at the end was going to be catching up on today’s BJ threads. Not sure I can blame Obama for this one, though I can surely blame the tree falling on my house last spring for all my disorganization this year. So I’ve got that going for me.

  149. 149.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @WaterGirl:

    Well, we know John’s racing his new Subie around the hills and hollers of West Virginia, so there’s no telling when we’ll see him. And Tom has some personal stuff going on. Anne Laurie is still scrolling through her Billmon feed, whilst simultaneously checking Charlie Pierce, to populate her early Monday evening open thread; Betty Cracker is feeding the chickens, the boxers, and Mr. and Ms. Teenage Daughter Cracker; Kay is attending a town hall meeting or an election observer orientation session; DougJ is trolling other blogs and can’t be bothered with Balloon Juice; ABL is being both Angry and Black; SPT is … well, who the fuck knows what SPT is up to?; and normal people like TimF and mistermix (evolved or not, who can say?) are probably getting ready to watch a basketball game.

    ETA: Apologies for forgetting Soonergrunt and Richard Mayhew. Both have posted recently, so I’m letting them off the hook for the evening.

  150. 150.

    scav

    @ranchandsyrup: OOOOOOO, that makes the obvious varient of Duck Dynasty waaay too obvious a low-hanging target for comedians. Throw in some obvious sets / costumes from the other Dynasty, mash-up well, and that could be quite the sketch.

    ETA, Really, almost so very obvious as they’ll all avoid it.

  153. 153.

    WaterGirl

    @SiubhanDuinne: Since we’re here alone, we could reminisce about growing up in/near Oak Park.

    Did you ever go to Riverview? Or eat at my favorite italian beef place on 16th street? (Carm’s) Or go to my parent’s local bar, the Roxy Tavern? What was the name of the shopping center in Oak Park? We went there every year for our “school” clothes.

  154. 154.

    Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader

    Tornado Shelters For Schools Initiative in Oklahoma Derailed.

    Are they trying to figure out how to properly credit God for tornadoes?

  157. 157.

    Roger Moore

    @WaterGirl:

    Not sure I can blame Obama for this one

    Why ever not? Nobody else lets a little matter like stuff not being his fault stop them from blaming him. Get with the program!

  159. 159.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @WaterGirl:

    Riverview, absolutely!! In fact, funnily enough, I was just reminiscing about it with my cousin and siblings a few days ago! What great memories.

    I also have wonderful memories of Brookfield Zoo (Lincoln Park, too, but Brookfield was more the “neighbourhood” zoo).

    Alas, I did not know Carm’s. But if they had matchbooks, chances are my cousin has one or more samples — he hasn’t lived in the area since 1954, but as an avid matchbook collector he specializes in Chicagoland covers.

    Did you ever eat at The Berghoff? Or see a childrn’s puppet opera at Kungsholm?

    We are all planning to meet up in OP in fall of 2015 on the margins of my own 55th OPRFHS reunion.

  161. 161.

    WaterGirl

    @Roger Moore: I will blame Obama for my having to work on my taxes again tomorrow. Tax-wise, I am either a “last week in January girl”, or the dreaded “right before april 15th” girl. Right about now, I’m wishing it was a January year!

    @raven: Since there are no Riverview rides, I will console myself with a long, hot shower. It’s a cold, damp day here. If it has to be cold, I would much prefer snow to this cold rain.

  163. 163.

    ranchandsyrup

    @scav: I like that idea. They’re gonna need some dramatic montages to set the scene.

    Can’t google this right now, but I imagine there is a pr0n parody whereby the D in Duck is replaced with an F.

  164. 164.

    scav

    @ranchandsyrup: Seriously, the idea of the grainy image resolving into the couple in question with one of the Beardy Guys appearing in one of those low-slung dresses . . . a few duck calls,

  165. 165.

    Roger Moore

    @ranchandsyrup:

    Can’t google this right now, but I imagine there is a pr0n parody whereby the D in Duck is replaced with an F.

    I can Google it, and you are indeed correct; it’s apparently gay porn, just to rub salt in the wound.

  169. 169.

    WaterGirl

    @raven: I’ve been here since 1972, but I had never seen the water slide at Lake of the Woods. When did that go in? Or, alternatively, when was it there and when was it taken out?

  170. 170.

    Ruckus

    @Tommy:
    My old blog(a blogspot blog) seems to be unusable for some reason that google won’t tell me so I’ve gone back to WP. They have changed a bit, you can use a theme but if you want to change anything that’s a cost per year and the changes are limited unless you pay even more. A paid theme is better but more than I want to pay so I’m having to make due with what’s available. Not a big deal but not as user friendly as it used to be. OTOH it’s harder to screw anything/everything up with few to no changes to a theme.

  172. 172.

    WaterGirl

    @SiubhanDuinne: Brookfield Zoo was a regular stop for us! It’s kind of sad now, though. Have you been lately? There is a polar bear who has been there for years, and he is definitely not happy. :-(

    We often ate at The Berghoff if we went downtown.

    I recall seeing a ballet – The Nutcracker – somewhere downtown, sitting on bleachers outside. Do you know what i’m talking about?

  175. 175.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @WaterGirl:

    We often ate at The Berghoff if we went downtown.

    In my day — years and years before yours, I expect — there was an elderly waiter at the Berghoff named Hugo who was a whiz at doing origami with currency. Everyone in my family at one point had rings crafted with the $1 or $5 exactly in the center of the signet. He did cranes and dogs and kites and I can’t remember what-all. I think the idea was that whatever bill(s) you gave him to fold, you were expected to give him at least that much as an extra tip (above and beyond the normal server’s tip).

    I do not remember an outdoor, stadium-seating “Nutcracker” or other ballet. I think my ballets and operas were all at the old Civic Opera House on Wacker Drive. Most of the visiting companies were the Sadler’s Wells Ballet (now the Royal Ballet) — I saw Margot Fonteyn in her heyday, also Moira Shearer — and I have a vague memory of seeing the great flamenco dancer José Greco, but that might have been at Orchestra Hall.

  176. 176.

    Lurking Canadian

    @Soonergrunt: It’s not that kind of technology. It’s not utter bullshit (my first reaction was that it was a delayed April Fool’s joke), but it’s not likely to replace oil for civilian uses; or even for military ground and aviation uses. What they’ve come up with is a scheme to make hydrocarbon based fuels from chemicals, including carbon, extracted from seawater. That’s good. It means the burning of those fuels becomes carbon neutral, because the carbon dioxide was already in the sea to begin with.

    However, the process is a net energy sink. A carrier battle group can do it, because carriers carry around a gigantic nuclear power plant every where they go. It would have genuine logistic benefits for the navy, because it means the carrier group wouldn’t need a logistical tail to fuel their aircraft and escorting surface ships. They can just make their own.

    Could we use it to make gasoline for our cars? From the sound of it, yes, if we had a giant nuclear power plant near the ocean, it could make fuel using the same procedure. (There are catalysts mentioned, which are probably rare elements, but let’s assume we can find them.) But that means that all the energy currently coming from the burning of gasoline needs to instead come from new nuclear plants. That’s a LOT LOT LOT of nuclear plants, and anyway if we want to do that, we can already use hydrolysis to crack water to hydrogen and just burn that instead.

  177. 177.

    J R in WV

    I can’t imagine the mental state of prominent politicians in OK… storm shelters should be in the freaking building code, like fire proof techniques with the sheet rock.

    But no shelters for kids, that’s just sick. They should get personally sued into bankruptcy every time kids get killed in a storm – and you know they will, later this summer storm season.

    I don’t even like driving through tornado alley, no matter bow fast I drive, I feel like a standing target.

  179. 179.

    J R in WV

    And the Spec 4 should be getting the Medal of Honor on top of the Silver Star! When I read about these heroes it seems like fiction, until you realize it was for real. This guy did it over and over, with explosions right next to him…no telling how many of his brothers he saved.

  180. 180.

    dww44

    @Mike in NC: Though he had a supporting role in that one,and costarred with the likes of William Holden, Grace Kelly, Frederic March, and small roles to newcomers Dennis Weaver and Earl Holliman. I remember bits of the film to this day. It was released in 1954.

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