@kendallhtucker @billmon1 Close-up of the Gadsden Flags. pic.twitter.com/SAxmToD9Xm
— Rob Patterson (@BfloHealthAtty) May 16, 2014
.@CultOfNatSec Long March. "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single Cheeto."
— billmon (@billmon1) May 16, 2014
Apparently, #OperationAmericanSpring was a bust cuz the government "hacked" the hashtag: http://t.co/IA1TWjzkbq
Worse than a tornado machine
— billmon (@billmon1) May 16, 2014
Adding to Betty C’s scorn, because (to use one of the military metaphors those guys like so much)… target rich environment!
Do check out RawStory‘s article…
OMG, this stuff is so funny. #OperationAmericanSpring is a false flag comedy routine isn't it?
— scribblemethis (@scribblemethis) May 16, 2014
***********
Apart from pointing & mocking, what’s on the agenda for the start of the weekend?
WereBear
I discovered I can loathe Rush Limbaugh even more than I already did.
Truly, I don’t know my own strength.
The Dangerman
Shit, no Cheetos in Emergency Reserve! Will have to go to Fry’s (ask an electronics junkie if you don’t know) to stock up.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
I’m good with pointing and laughing. Don’t need much more amusement than that.
Trollhattan
Can’t get enough of the Gadsden flag, 21st century edition. Am sufficiently stirred to now go sell my jet ski.
WereBear
Here’s some photos to share:
What 12 feet of sea level rise looks like
Roger Moore
@WereBear:
So is peak loathing kind of like peak wingnut?
WereBear
One’s reach should exceed one’s grasp.
Morzer
Looks like Operation American Spring was several wanks short of a circle-jerk.
Baud
I hate that I had to work in a prime wingnut-mocking day. Phooey!
Morzer
@Baud:
But think how much you can enjoy relaxing and catching up with the mockery of the freakshow.
max
I was thinkin’ you needed to put up that Gadsden flag pic. Should probably use that pic every time somebody posts about those guys.
No. No it is not. It is a demonstration by stupid people who use Rambo (part II! and part III!) as their primary source for understanding political science and American history.
That’s not funny, but it is ridiculous.
max
[‘Roger Ailes isn’t trying to do it, but he is the most successful man in the world at trolling (original sense) old stupid white people.’]
NotMax
@Morzer
On the plus side, no lines at the Port-A-Potties.
WereBear
@NotMax: Did they even order PortaPotties?
Did anyone really plan this, really?
Howard Beale IV
Not even Alex Jones is touching this.
? Martin
@Howard Beale IV: He knows the government is monitoring him. He could blow the whole element of surprise!
Morzer
@Howard Beale IV:
Which has to be the ultimate humiliation. Such a fizzle was the mostly non-event that even America’s most kooky couldn’t be bothered to pretend it mattered.
Mnemosyne
@WereBear:
Nope. SATSQ.
(Longer answer: they really thought they were leading a huge rebellion and, like, didn’t need a plan because The People were going to rise up and follow them.)
Professor
But,but is Fox News covering the march/protest?
Mnemosyne
Also, this quote never gets old for me when it comes to aspiring fascists:
ETA: For those who haven’t read the book, the reveal of the would-be dictator’s Deep Dark Secret definitely puts the lie to the notion that Wodehouse had any pro-fascist leanings.
NotMax
@WereBear
Believe that is a stipulation of the permit.
If they obtained a permit.
From the photos, it would appear Bundy’s livestock may outnumber the participants.
Roger Moore
@WereBear:
No. SATSQ.
ETA: I see Mnem got there first. They thought these things were genuinely spontaneous and people were just going to do stuff for themselves.
Hungry Joe
Re flag: Love the eyes. They kind of remind me of Bucky Katt’s eyes in the “Get Fuzzy” comic strip. Bucky, aggressively ignorant and deeply demented, would be a good Tea Party mascot … except he’s a little too smart for them. And he has a problem with ferrets.
Roger Moore
@NotMax:
You don’t bother with piddly things like permits when the goal is to overthrow the government. If you’re these guys, you apparently also don’t worry about stuff like planning and organization, either.
? Martin
@WereBear:
Did Washington order PortaPotties when he kicked out George III? Fuck no.
Morzer
@? Martin:
Washington used an all-American chamber pot like a true patriot.
Hungry Joe
@? Martin: Did the Germans order PortaPotties when they bombed Pearl Harbor?
NotMax
@? Martin
Port-A-Privy?
Morzer
@NotMax:
Pret-a-Potty?
Litlebritdifrnt
@Professor:
I remember the good ole days when Orly Taitz organized a protest against Fox News for somethingorother and exactly four people showed up, and in an overabundance of caution the NYPD put them in a “cage” it was fucking hilarious. This reminds me of that. Of course this was in the heady days of Orly announcing that she could “have Obama out of office in 30 days” and being cheered on by the tea partiers because they actually believed the delusional cretin.
? Martin
@Litlebritdifrnt: She’s on my primary ballot again this election. Sec State again, if I recall. I plan on voting for her again in the hopes she can win the GOP nom.
Morzer
@Litlebritdifrnt:
She tried to gum Obama to death and failed. Miserably.
WereBear
Mr WereBear surprised me when I got home. He wants to go to a kitten event tomorrow morning. This little guy caught his eye:
Meet Fudge
Of course, he had me at “kitten” but we’ll see if we all spark in person.
gratuitous
I’ve thought it over, and have decided whether or not we should mock, ridicule and look down upon these people with utter contempt.
We absolutely should. They worked so hard to earn this ridicule, it would tantamount to wage theft to withhold it.
wasabi gasp
Needs release of monkey bars footage, posthaste.
PsiFighter37
Feel really out of sorts…throat muscles feel tight, real lack of energy, and a bit of lightheadedness. I left work early and took a nap, which made me feel better, but I’m still not really 100%.
I also saw ‘Her’ on demand, which is a good movie, if kind of bittersweet.
burnspbesq
Kings-Ducks game seven at 9:00 Eastern time.
NCAA lacrosse quarterfinals all weekend.
Is the Preakness tomorrow?
dmsilev
So much for Operation Sproing.
As for the weekend, tomorrow I’m scheduled to give a squid a colonoscopy. (OK, it’s a piece of lab equipment with the acronym SQUID, and I’m trying to figure out why some of the plumbing is clogged. But still.)
Suffern ACE
What’s conveyor belt sushi etiquette? I’ve got a gaggle of teenagers gobbling up the salmon and tuna, leaving me with black plates and egg custard. They are strategically placed to grab it all right when it’s placed on the belt. Is it gosh to jump the line?
Amir Khalid
@? Martin:
I’m amazed to learn that that kook is still out and about. Is she still a lawyer, or has she finally been disbarred? (I expect disbarment wouldn’t hurt her livelihood very much; after all, she’d still have her dentist and property-agent licences.)
Calouste
@Mnemosyne:
I’ve said it on the other thread, but these people literally believe magical things happen, that something gets created out of nothing. Probably goes back to Protestant doctrine that faith alone is enough to reach salvation.
WereBear
Yep. You just, you know, call for revolution and it happens. Then they are baffled when it doesn’t.
West of the Rockies
@Hungry Joe: Did our brave boys have porta-potties at Valley Forge? We don’t need no stinking porta-potties!
Morzer
@Suffern ACE:
Can’t you find a little bit of LIBRUL TYRANNY in your heart and simply bludgeon them to death with your zimmer frame?
Villago Delenda Est
@WereBear: Logistics planning (the mark of the professional) is totally missing from all these glorious plans for massive insurgency to topple the government.
I’d call them dilettantes, but that would be giving them far too much credit,
Suffern ACE
@Calouste: yep. The protests that lead somewhere don’t actually have a set end time, but grow over time. These schmucks want it all right now. They don’t even want to risk arrest by camping out.
? Martin
Brown’s revised CA budget included about $2.5B more revenue than previously forecast. Legislature says it’ll be another $2.5B above that.
More interesting is this:
I’ll say it again. The NFL needs to start making massive investments in helmet technology and finding ways to commercialize it and bring the cost down to colleges and high schools. F1 helmets are designed to withstand massive impacts, at a cost of about $25,000 per driver each year. The NFL can afford that bill, and they should (helmets currently cost about $300), and they should work out a program with the manufacturers to get the price down to be affordable to younger players.
Here’s what F1 is most recently responding to. That was a driver being struck in the face by a 2 lb spring at 160MPH. He was knocked unconscious and speared into the wall at high speed. He was badly injured and missed the season but recovered and is currently racing. The current helmets have been modified to protect against that kind of incident and they’re redesigning them to handle a larger impact. How has football responded the brain injuries? There’s no shortage of money in the sport, and states are going to start legislating the problem if the sport doesn’t get their shit together.
Baud
They really should have called it American Winter.
pete
@West of the Rockies: Uh, West, feel free to water the trees of liberty if you can do it surreptitiously, or at least so we can plausibly deny seeing you, but when it comes to fertilizing the soil — use the porta-potty, willya?
Roger Moore
@Amir Khalid:
She’s going to keep at it until she’s dead or institutionalized. She definitely needs to be classified as a vexatious litigant, which would prevent her from filing suits without them being vetted first.
? Martin
@Amir Khalid: I don’t believe they have disbarred her yet, though last I heard they were working on it.
rk
I don’t know who in their right minds expects 10-30 million people to show up at any event. Even Obama at his peak popularity would not have gotten a crowd of a million people. Did MLK draw a million people on his march for civil rights (and that was a huge issue). Who are these delusional morons that expect 30 million people and less than 500 show up.
Laen
@? Martin:
The helmets in F1, Motorcycles, Skiing, and Snowboarding are very good at minimizing damage because they are designed to break. When they hit or are hit they fall apart to spread out the impact. Like crumple zones in modern cars compared to old cars which were built to stand up to the impact of crashes.
For football you would probably have to replace the helmets on every tackle and more often for lineman on both sides of the ball. The same design concepts won’t work. The NFL is probably going to have to look at soft materials, foams and other springy materials, instead of harder materials that shatter on contact.
jl
@rk:
” Who are these delusional morons that expect 30 million people and less than 500 show up. ”
The people who showed up are delusional. The people who organized and publicized it are either delusional or swindlers.
Roger Moore
@? Martin:
Football helmets and F1 helmets are very different things. Racing helmets are designed to protect against one catastrophic impact, after which they’ll be replaced. Football helmets have to deal with less severe impacts on every play for many games. It’s a very different challenge and one that may actually be harder to deal with.
Mary G
They did order folding chairs:
Choose any one
Alce_y_Ardilla
@? Martin: Color me unconvinced that any technology will substantially reduce head injuries in football, the physics of flying bodies and brain inertia is too great.. But two rules might suffice. One make all helmet contact with tackling illegal, and two prohibit players leaving the ground. That would reduce the flying projectile aspect of foot ball.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mary G: That is hilarious.
Alce_y_Ardilla
@? Martin: Color me unconvinced that any technology will substantially reduce head injuries in football, the physics of flying bodies and brain inertia is too great.. But two rules might suffice. One make all helmet contact with tackling illegal, and two prohibit players leaving the ground. That would reduce the flying projectile aspect of foot ball.
Ruckus
@Laen:
Car racing helmets are made to absorb multiple hits, because you are in a closed area (think roll bars etc) and which may be hit or hit things multiple times. Motorcycle helmets are made to sustain fewer large hits but they are not made to break into pieces. Bicycle helmets have to also not overheat the rider and generally have to sustain one or two hits at lower speeds. There has been some recent info that motorsports helmets could be much better but that all depends on what type of incidents you are talking about. Good motorcycle helmets cost in the range of $600 to $900 with some of the recent lightweights going for $3000 to $4000. Car helmets are in the same range but if you add communications then the price goes up. F1 stuff is I believe one offs for each driver and that raises the cost even more. That was my info when I worked in the business. Things may have changed, it’s been 10 yrs.
Mary G
@Roger Moore: Aren’t bicycle helmets supposed to be replaced after one crash, even if there is no visible damage? You’d need a lot of money.
Ruckus
@Mary G:
That they are. One hit wonders. Down and done.
SiubhanDuinne
@Morzer:
Yeah, well, Obama and his jackbooted thugs are coming for her gums.
SiubhanDuinne
@WereBear:
You’d better bring that kitty home with you.
I mean it, WB. You need that kitty, and that kitty needs you.
SiubhanDuinne
@burnspbesq:
If it isn’t, one of my friends in the area (who has already started serious drinking in anticipation) is going to have to answer to her liver.
shelley
Uhh, doesn’t look like it. More a protracted Tea Party fever-dream.. Maybe next year they’ll remember to get their flu vaccinations.
Wonder if Col. Riley will ever address his would be troops. And what excuse will he give?
SiubhanDuinne
@? Martin:
Didn’t she have a shitload of contempt citations? How were those resolved?
srv
I really need my own drone to terrorize these people
WereBear
@SiubhanDuinne: Awww. Something reached out and grabbed Mr WereBear when he saw the group photo announcing the adoption event.
I hope I can sleep!
? Martin
@Roger Moore: It is harder to deal with due to nature of concussions, but F1 helmets have made massive advances in the last 2 decades mainly because someone decided to give a shit and work on the problem. Football helmets have hardly changed at all and the last two decades have brought huge advances in both materials and manufacturing. The F1 helmets are now custom fit to each driver by digitizing their head. That’s not going to happen in HS, but it certainly could in the NFL and start happening in NCAA. Custom manufacturing is vastly different now with costs dropping quickly. Materials have changed allowing greater outer impact but inner cushioning to take place, etc.
But someone needs to either mandate changes or the sport needs to commit to funding those changes themselves.
Davis X. Machina
@rk: My guess — they figured that their target market was one American in ten — the real Americans — a roughly Biblical-remnant-sized slice of the population. And then they cut that by the 2/3rds of the remnant, to account for mobility problems.
Or they looked at the hajj, and said. “Dang. If the damn towelheads can put 3,000,000 people in Mecca, to worship false gods, then Christian America has to be good for three to ten times that, anyways.”
Litlebritdifrnt
@? Martin: Nope AG this time, I can just imagine the chaos if Orly was the AG of California, actually forget that, I cannot imagine the chaos if Orly were the AG of California.
SiubhanDuinne
@Mary G:
Hahaha! This thread and the previous one have taken me back to the glory days of October 15, 2009 — a day that will live in the shimmering wonder of memory — a day that gave us “laughing helicopters” and “faxed credenzas.”
But this is almost as good.
Davis X. Machina
@? Martin: Repeated sub-concussive impacts may be doing the real damage. That happens on every play from scrimmage, and not get-attable by helmets. That’s just Newton’s Second Law happening inside the skull.
SiubhanDuinne
@Roger Moore:
“Vexatious Litigant” would be a good band name.
(EETA: It also, somehow, sounds like a Shakespearian curse.)
(ETA: “EETA” should be “ETA.”)
WereBear
@SiubhanDuinne: Will no one rid me of this Vexatious Litigant!
jl
@shelley: There was a tweeted pic of gazillions of chairs (maybe upwards on this very thread?). But no portapotties? I guess the organizers had a better chance of milking a little coin out of chair rentals than portapotties. Would be interesting to know what suckers put up the dough for this farce. If it is the organizers, then they are fools, not good swindlers.
SatanicPanic
@Mary G: oh shit, that’s sad. But makes me happy.
cckids
@WereBear: Oh my, what a face!! Good luck with the sparks.
Morzer
@Mary G:
Maybe the 29.999 million missing teabaggers gave up when they couldn’t understand how to operate such complex modern technology?
NotMax
@Suffern ACE
Teenagers and etiquette usually don’t play well together.
But announcing “Look! Isn’t that Beyonce over there?” might work as a distraction. Once.
Other than that, maybe “No tuna, no rides home.”
Violet
@Mary G: Is that picture for real? Or is it from some other event. They really ordered that many chairs?
Ruckus
@jl:
@SatanicPanic:
That pic was for the GW graduation, not the 30 moron march. Just a little twitter playfulness.
Baud
@srv:
Oh, man. What I wouldn’t have given for a model airplane and a day off today.
Helen
@Trollhattan: Got my “Don’t tread on my Obamacare” bumper sticker today. I don’t have a bumper. Trying to decide where I will stick it.
When that sticker first came out someone here said “We are in your double-wide and stealing your memes.” Can’t remember who. H/T to you and please identify yourself. I laughed my ass off.
Morzer
@Baud:
I like the idea of a small fleet of model airplanes, all painted black and moving ominously into formation above the teabaggers.
NotMax
@Helen
Tastefully place it on the next vehicle with a Confederate flag decal which you see parked in a lot?
Iowa Old Lady
Early primary voting is under way here, so I voted today. Only decision on the Democratic side was who should be our candidate to replace Bruce Braley in the House. I like Anesa Kajtazovic who came here from Bosnia as a child. She’s been serving in the Iowa legislature.
Roger Moore
@SiubhanDuinne:
It’s one of those very old fashioned legal terms that seem to have fossilized before Independence. Great Britain has actually updated their legal terminology to more closely reflect the vernacular, but we have stuck with the mix of Latin and antique English we inherited when the country was founded.
Morzer
@NotMax:
Maybe we should create a Republicans for Obamacare sticker with Obama as St George slaying the teabagger rattlesnake?
Baud
@Morzer:
Through in a little Wagner and it sounds like a plan.
Morzer
@Baud:
How about this?
youtube.com/watch?v=yys5iioLUNw
Always run up the score against evil!
danielx
So much douchebaggery, so little time…sort of reminds me of one of those wishful thinking drum circles they used to have at yon campgrounds when the Dead were in town: “if we wear enough camouflage and stuff, Obama will be forced from office!“, as opposed to “if we drum hard enough we’ll raise the consciousness of everybody within five miles!”.
Except that those people were generally peaceful and pretty nice, if somewhat cloudyminded, and these people are assholes.
What’s on the agenda….hoping it will stop raining, after five days off and on, so I can cut grass, and paint, and do a number of other chores impossible to perform while it’s pouring. And down to 38 degrees tonight; we’re supposed to get this in late March or early April. Oh, right….it was snowing in late March and early April, my bad.
@WereBear:
The depths of Limbaugh’s loathsomeness have not yet been plumbed by mortal man or woman. BTW, if Mr. WereBear is not interested in Steve Jr, I am…although I would be forced to assign Ivan as his monicker.
Morzer
@danielx:
Ivan Barackovich Katov
jl
@Ruckus: Thanks. Then it was absolutely nothing at all except a few delusional people wandering around the mall. That makes far more sense.
stibbert
@? Martin:
from my readings on the NFL concussion thing, I recall that the league’s experiments w/ softer helmet materials reduced contact injuries, but had increased friction, that would increase the possibility of injury to neck vertebrae.
NotMax
@Iowa Old Lady
Reminded of a line in this song from Fiorello! – “Nobody likes a candidate whose name they can’t spell.”
Though my favorite part of that tune has always been:
Politics and poker
Running neck and neck
If politics seems more predictable
That’s because
Usually
You can stack the deck
Baud
@Morzer:
Heh. Luke, use the derp.
Helen
@NotMax: I live in NYC. We do not see the confederate flag here. I’d have to go to Staten Island for that. NYC technically, but not really. Also, they got slammed by Sandy. All that sweet, sweet FEMA money is kinda mellowing them out. Oh wait – I can go out to Long Island – Peter King’s district. I just may see one or two of those flags.
NotMax
O/T:
Is there a worldwide glut of strawberries? This is either the third or the fourth week in a row they’ve been on special at 2 lb. for $5 at the supermarket.
Nice, big, juicy ones they are, too.
Iowa Old Lady
@NotMax: If I’d had to write in her name, I’d never have been able to do it. She’s a smart young woman and Iowa has never sent a woman to Washington. I hope she does well.
Tommy
@Helen: FEMA isn’t the best. I will give you that. I recall being in Baton Rouge for Andrew. Early 90s. I was not ready. The lady that lives next to me, gave me the key to her apartment, went home to New Orleans. Her bathtub and pots and pans filled with water. I was like, as a Yankee, not sure how this was important. I drank water out of those pans and her tub. Didn’t have water for ten days. No power for two weeks. I think folks misunderstand the power of Mother Nature. She can be a cruel bitch!
WereBear
He does look Ivan.
Though if he does come home with us, Fudge will be only a baby nickname. Mr WereBear likes Knights of the Round Table names; we have a Tristan already!
NotMax
@Helen
Mom lives in King’s district (though she wouldn’t vote for him in a month of Sundays). It’s been downhill for representation there since Lester Wolff was redistricted.
rikyrah
State Legislature Targets Moral Monday Demonstrations with New Rules
May 15, 2014 4:55 pm
By Chad Nance
You’re a North Carolina politician and you’re being investigated by the SBI- what do you do, hotshot? Put the SBI under your control. You’re a North Carolina politician and the people you have put in charge of the State’s DHHS, DENR, and Board of Elections have overseen disaster after disaster- what do you do, hotshot? Blame the Feds. You’re getting yourself roughed up and challenged by a protest movement organized and populated by people who are angry at your policies- what do you do, hotshot? Change the rules to make sure that those demonstrations cannot continue in the same way.
In a quiet corner of the state government called the Legislative Services Commission, new rules about access to the North Carolina’s legislative building are being rewritten for the first time since 1987. In a move clearly aimed at the Moral Monday movement, Republicans on the committee hope to limit any demonstration or event on the property of the legislative building to 200 people or fewer. With the Moral Monday demonstrations bringing tens of thousands of protesters from around North Carolina, restricting the event to 200 people would effectively shut down the movement and the demonstrations that have been pulling in reams of bad press for the Republican supermajority and McCrory Administration since they began in 2013. According to some lawmakers, these changes were instigated by a judge’s admonishment that the old rules needed clarification. This request was made during a series of trials for Moral Monday arrestees.
Republicans had to give up one of their wish list items; their attempt to keep citizens from having free access to the second floor was put into one draft, then removed. What does remain, however, is language that is directed squarely at the Moral Monday demonstrators. The rules now state, “Visitors to the complex may not disturb or act in a manner that will imminently disturb the General Assembly, one of its houses, or its committees, members, or staff in the performance of their duties.”
camelcitydispatch.com/state-legislature-targets-moral-monday-demonstrations-with-new-rules-3056/
SiubhanDuinne
@WereBear:
Forsooth!
Helen
@Tommy:
No no you mis-understood. I am saying FEMA is the best. But those Staten Islanders are the island of Republicans in NYC who hate the government. Until they needed Sandy FEMA $$$$$$$, then? not so much on the hating the government thing.
SiubhanDuinne
@Roger Moore:
I really should pay more attention to The Law, just because legal terminology is so cool.
/Further affiant deposes not.
SiubhanDuinne
@WereBear:
Sir Dinidan!
NotMax
@SiubhanDuinne
Always suspected even the Romans would have stumbled over certiorari.
Mnemosyne (iPad Mini)
@WereBear:
As G and I can tell you from experience, it is entirely possible to fall in love with a cat though the internet. That was how we got Annie, our middle kitty.
The really funny part was that we each spotted her separately on the same site and sent links that crossed in email.
Tommy
@WereBear: There is a III at the end of my name. Not a whole lot of originality in our naming of children. My only niece is Katie. Not the most original name, but not Tommy, which everybody has been named for like the last four generations. Katie rolls off my tongue better then my name does, Tommy. Oh I should add when folks want to call me Thomas or Tom I correct them, my name is Tommy.
Helen
@NotMax: My Dad too (he hates King). I grew up in that district, but moved to NYC in 1981. Not a clue who was the rep when I lived there. My Dad is turning 80 in August and is a white blue collar, high school educated man who worked in warehouses his whole life. And he’s the biggest stinkingist tree hugging liberal that I know. He made me what I am.
WereBear
@SiubhanDuinne: Good one!
WereBear
@Mnemosyne (iPad Mini): That’s adorable. Meant to be.
With both Reverend Jim, and Olwyn, I went to a particular shelter because I was interested in another cat. When they turned out to be unavailable I browsed.
Jebediah, RBG
@Ruckus:
Yeah, I’ve got one that I held onto (but don’t use anymore, of course) that has a deep, pointy indentation right over my forehead. I’d hate to know what the injury would have been without it. (Of course, that wipe out did fracture my neck.)
WereBear
@Tommy: Fortunately, I love my given name, which my parents picked for its unusualness. Ironically, when I meet someone else with my name, we rarely get along!
SiubhanDuinne
@WereBear:
Although, looking at the eyes, Merlin might be more appropriate.
jl
@NotMax:
” Is there a worldwide glut of strawberries? This is either the third or the fourth week in a row they’ve been on special at 2 lb. for $5 at the supermarket. ”
Where are you? I’m on my way.
Lurking Canadian
Since this is an open thread, let me say that I’m very near the end of Elizabeth Warren’s “Fighting Chance”. It’s awesome. She’s awesome. If the Democrats had 59 more like her in the Senate, shit would get real.
James E. Powell
@burnspbesq:
Kings-Ducks game seven at 9:00 Eastern time.
Wasn’t there a time we had hockey threads around here? Or is my memory failing.
Anyway, LA’s up 3-0 in the 1st. The third goal had to be embarrassing for the Ducks. Do they have the right guy in goal? It will be interesting to see if the Ducks can come back and make a game of it. Nothing would surprise me.
WereBear
@SiubhanDuinne: There is something special there! Mmmm, I love that suggestion.
We would be an excellent home for continuing his Feral Cure, having both social cats and understanding humans.
Lurking Canadian
@jl: this is the time of year in North America when strawberries spontaneously grow out of the ground. The astonishing thing isn’t that they’re cheap now; the astonishing thing is that they are available at any price the other ten months of the year.
NotMax
@Lurking Canadian
No horticulturist I, but idly wonder if there might be some sort of connection between heavy and prolonged snow cover and what seems (from here) an abundance of strawberries?
WereBear
‘Night all. Will update tomorrow.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@jl: They’re available at the pick your own places in NC right now. $10/gal.
My agenda for this weekend: quilting classes and Godzilla! (Not at the same time. Though that could be interesting….)
Howard Beale IV
My doorbell rings this morning, and I go down to answer the door…
Jehovah Witnesses. They ask me if I think prayer works,
My mistake-I told them I have no opinion one way or another.
I need to install a remote camera-preferably one that’s noisy…
Morzer
I love this tweet:
David Avallone @DAvallone
Sorry I keep tweeting about #OperationAmericanSpring, but it’s just so rare that I get to see a crushing Confederate defeat in real time.
2:25 PM – 16 May 2014
maya
There’s a new hashtag for #OperationAmericanSpring _______ #OhShitThoughItWasTuesday
James E. Powell
@Howard Beale IV:
Tell them that you are praying that they will go away and leave you alone.
kindness
I don’t follow twitter but I think Billmon would be worth the time. Scott Kaufman is a good writer. Like his stuff at LG&M as well as Raw Story. Makes ya think.
Morzer
@Howard Beale IV:
Have you tried saying:
“Oh I know that prayer works. I just prayed to the Lord Satan to send a couple of gullible virgins for a sacrifice – and here you are! Now, if you could tie yourselves to the altar and think ritual sacrifice thoughts while I go and sharpen the cleaver, I’d be mighty obliged to you.”
Helen
@Howard Beale IV: I did the whole Europe backpacking thing in 1992. I was 29 at the time and really stupid. I am in Geneva, Switzerland walking through the park. Feeling great. Two women come up to me and want to talk. They tried to hand me the leaflets. I look down and say “I don’t know that language, I know English” One of them looks at the other and says “Do we have them in English?” and then I see the Jehovah’s magazine.
I was so shocked that I yelled. “Let me get this straight – I leave NY to get away from you people and you are everywhere?”
Jeebus, really?
jl
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism:
” They’re available at the pick your own places in NC right now. $10/gal. ”
NC!? I’m in CA. I don’t think I can make it up on volume. Damn. Love to visit NC again, though.
Edit: Can’t help but gripe about CA strawberries. Many operations have been industrialized to the point that the strawberries are worthless. Big as your head, and beautiful, but about as tasty as a gourd. Why? For shipping to other states? Urban CA supermarket customers will buy anything with a pretty face? Something about CA strawberry industry driving real strawberries out for puffed up gourd thingies?
Linnaeus
Someone needs to take an axe to this shockingly gilb NYT op-ed by Timothy Egan:
The 1990s called and they’d like their “intolerance” tropes back.
Morzer
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism:
Quiltzilla – fluffily destroying a city near you now!
jl
@Lurking Canadian:
” this is the time of year in North America when strawberries spontaneously grow out of the ground. ”
Not where they grow them in CA. I think we must specialize in the other ten months of the year kind, along with maybe places in Mexico.
debbie
@WereBear:
This morning, after bemoaning how divided the country had become, Glenn Beck begged his minions to stop making fools of themselves.
jl
@Linnaeus: Thanks. I guess you can be a clueless white dude at the NYT writing BS and its all OK.
Commencement speeches are part of an official school function; they are not part of instruction or free academic debate, and students and other nosy people have been making fusses about invited speakers for a long long, very long, time. Just like people have been making fusses about official WH visits and such like since forever.
Or, have I missed the Q and A sessions that come after the, often very highly paid, speaker at the official school function quits yapping (edit: ceremonial platitudes.. insights, my wide ass)?
Edit: I think a lot of these invites are a kind of high brass networking, marketing, schmoozing, and when wider administration and students involved, school advertising and promotion. Otherwise, why all the celeb doofuses invited?
NotMax
@Howard Beale IV
Always use the same ploy when they invade.
Me: Correct me if I’m wrong, but you believe that only Jehovah’s Witnesses go to heaven?
Them: Yes.
Me: Well, spending eternity being surrounded with Jehovah’s Witnesses wouldn’t even qualify as my last choice.
Speechless, they slink away.
Origuy
@Suffern ACE:
I’m sure it’s too late, but next time ask the sushi chef or waiter for what you want and tell them not to put it on the belt.
Suffern ACE
@Linnaeus: war and torture are just different ideas. Innovative, really. What do you have against creativity, bigot?
jl
@Suffern ACE:
” war and torture are just different ideas. Innovative, really. What do you have against creativity, bigot? ”
There is that added element with Rice. But the this guy Egan is BSing in other ways too.
jl
@Suffern ACE: The sushi boat places you go to have lines? That is high class. Count your blessings.
burnspbesq
@Litlebritdifrnt:
She’s no more likely to beat Kamala Harris than she was to beat Debra Bowen. Both of those ladies are highly popular because, first and foremost, they do the jobs they were elected to do and do them well.
Linnaeus
@Suffern ACE:
That op-ed is full of flaws, but that one really stood out. Would Egan say that, say, racism is just a matter of difference of opinion? I’m guessing he wouldn’t.
Plus he seems to neglect the fact that, just maybe, those objecting to Rice being the commencement speaker were exercising their freedom of speech? It’s not like they have the power to prevent Rice from saying what she wanted to.
Ruckus
@Jebediah, RBG:
Had a motorcycle helmet like that. Truck bumper hit the helmet at the temple. Closing speed about 40 between the two of us. Walked away from that, no damage to the head or neck. Without a great helmet I doubt very much that I’d be alive let alone a vegetable.
Football has a real problem and that problem is the continued hits, sometimes several in a game. The brain is just not meant to have hits in the multiple g range, let alone several. I’m sure a reasonable helmet could be made or even that the current ones might be OK at keeping the outside looking fine. But continued hard, fast hits aren’t good. The brain keeps hitting the inside of the skull, which for most of us is a pretty hard thing. Picture yourself inside of a car without seat belts or airbags running into a solid wall at 60 mph. That’s the brain running into the inside of the skull. It’s not a pretty picture. A helmet can slow down and cushion the blow but if the blow is severe enough or happens multiple times that’s the game right there.
Linnaeus
@jl:
What’s disappointing to me is that usually Egan’s pretty good. But he really missed the mark badly on this one. Every political columnist on the center-left has to have their Broder moment, I guess.
burnspbesq
@James E. Powell:
Apparently I used all my hockey karma getting my alma mater to the NCAA Championship. The Ducks have failed to show up.
max
@Morzer: Maybe the 29.999 million missing teabaggers gave up when they couldn’t understand how to operate such complex modern technology?
Their scooters didn’t have the range.
Or the speed.
max
[‘Somewhere in West Virginia, a little old lady is travelin’ down the highway, beepin’ away.’]
jl
@max:
” Maybe the 29.999 million missing teabaggers gave up when they couldn’t understand how to operate such complex modern technology? ”
Maybe they forgot to specify which mall. Watch for reports of bitter white people with teabagger signs wandering Gallerias and random factory outlets from around the country.
JGabriel
Wow. What patriots! It’s just like that time Washington changed the course of the Revolutionary War at the Delaware River when he turned the troops around ’cause it got cold in December.
THAT’S the kind of commitment required to TAKE BACK OUR COUNTRY.
Thank you Tea Party, for showing us the TRUE meaning of liberty, patriotism, and courage in the face of the kind of mild discomfort that might you give you a headcold.
You really taught us libtards something special today.
jl
@JGabriel:
billmon sez:
‘ Apparently, #OperationAmericanSpring was a bust cuz the government “hacked” the hashtag:’
Hashtagazziiiiii!1!1!1!1!!
Now that Trey is one the case, he will widen the investigation. Special prosecutor!
Omnes Omnibus
@max: When England was in that situation while facing the Spanish Armada, they used fire ships. Also too, [insert random Churchill quote].
JGabriel
Helen:
I’ve never been accosted by the Witnesses yet, but I have my speech all planned out in case they ever show up at my door:
JGabriel
jl:
I don’t know why, but every time I see Trey Gowdy’s name, some part of my brain automatically scans it as Goy Howdy!
And I’m not even Jewish. Or dyslexic.
jl
@JGabriel: I like the way Trey Gowdy talks. He sounds like a fundamentalist preacher man getting ready to cast out demons. Maybe that is one reason he was tapped for the job. Nice contrast to the miserable failure who preceded him.
Edit: I will listen to all the Trey Gowdy interviews I can now, since I will not be able to stand to hear him once the hearings really get going. Tu-Ray Ga-Owdayh hayuz koowestchy-uns ahyan he wahnts aa-ahnsuwhs! Seriously, I like listening to his style o’ talk.
Omnes Omnibus
@JGabriel: An army buddy of mine who tended to be afflicted by horrible hangovers once buzzed German JWs into his apartment on a Saturday morning. He heard someone ringing his bell and assumed it was me and another guy coming to get him for lunch. He spoke virtually no German and was standing in his boxers when the dudes walked in. I think he gave them 50 marks for a Wachturm magazine.
JGabriel
@Omnes Omnibus:
Rum, sodomy, and the lash?
Omnes Omnibus
@JGabriel: That, as an army guy, is one of my faves from Winston.
Lurking Buffoon
@Howard Beale IV: Not that anyone will probably read this as late to the thread as it is, but to my knowledge the whole point of door to door proselytizing the Witnesses do is to get rejected again and again… sort of a soft version of insular cult behavior. So the best way to troll them is to be extremely inviting while making them uncomfortable enough to leave. A friend of mine answered the door naked when they knocked and invited them in for a friendly discussion on spirituality. He was never bothered again.
Morzer
@JGabriel:
Sensible policies for a happier Britain!
Omnes Omnibus
@Morzer: Give me a fucking whisky.
Morzer
If anyone is interested in the outcome of the Indian elections, and wants some insight into Narendra Modi, they might find this profile of him from 2012 worth reading. It makes for some deeply troubling thoughts about how Modi has operated in the past – and where he might take India:
caravanmagazine.in/reportage/emperor-uncrowned
Morzer
@Omnes Omnibus:
Peaty, I can manage. Smokey can be arranged. Fucking, however, is a bit more difficult.
Omnes Omnibus
@Morzer: I think it is an Islay thing.
NotMax
@Morzer
There may be a niche market for Loch Schtup.
ssngus
@NotMax:
LOl!
My invoice for a replacement keyboard will be arriving soon. :)
ssngus
FYWP!
ssngus
I now have Two (2) comments in mod.
:P …:P
ssngus
OK! Three comments.
?????????
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Morzer:
Maker’s Mark will fuck with you.
stibbert
Had a good time when a pair of Italian JWitness guys knocked on my apartment door in Florence. I was fluent enough to tell them, “Sono solo un eretico palido.” [I’m just a white heretic.]
aangus
@Higgs Boson’s Mate:
No shit!
:)
Howard Beale IV
@Lurking Buffoon: What was wild was: it was 11;00 AM-what the fsck were they doing ringing around the complex at that time? (granted, I am a telecommuter-but still….)
I think I’m gonna have to put up signs that say: “No solicitors and no Jehovah Witnesses.”.
The last time I was ever dealt with JW’s was Christmas day when they rousted me, and I asked them:
“Are You Jehovah Witnesses?”
They said “yes”
I said: “I’m sorry, but I don’t accept your theology.”
I was never bothered by them again–until today.
Howard Beale IV
@Morzer: Now he’s got himself a Diplomat Visa from the State Department-before that he was blocked from getting a US Visa. Curious times indeed.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
Let’s hope this is an early harbinger of teabagger turnout in November.