Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Their shamelessness is their super power.

The world has changed, and neither one recognizes it.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you do not.

All hail the time of the bunny!

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

This fight is for everything.

We’re watching the self-immolation of the leading world power on a level unprecedented in human history.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

So many bastards, so little time.

Radicalized white males who support Trump are pitching a tent in the abyss.

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

Too little, too late, ftfnyt. fuck all the way off.

This chaos was totally avoidable.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

“A king is only a king if we bow down.” – Rev. William Barber

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

If you don’t believe freedom is for everybody, then the thing you love isn’t freedom, it is privilege.

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / I Hate Summer: An Open Thread with Chickens

I Hate Summer: An Open Thread with Chickens

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wet_hens

My chickens hate the summer as much as I do. They’re heat-hardy birds, but being out in the rain pisses them off. They could go under the shelter in their run or even into the hen house when it rains sideways every afternoon, but they’d rather forage as usual and cluck peevishly. Can’t say as I blame them; I generally keep to my same activities but complain about them more during the summer too.

The mister has been gone for a couple of days to be with his dad, who is gravely ill. I know just what he’s going through, having experienced the exact same hell with my mother a few months ago. But it doesn’t make this time any less surreal and depressing. All I can do is try to be there for him, like he was for me. This is the “for worse” part.

President Obama is scheduled to give a statement about Iraq any minute now. I feel confident that he will continue to be the anti-Bush. Please feel free to discuss whatever.

Reader Interactions

219Comments

  2. 2.

    geg6

    Of course you hate summer. You live in gawd forsaken Florida.

    Myself, I’m loving it. After a winter of record breaking stretches of cold, I’m wallowing in summer.

  3. 3.

    Gin & Tonic

    Could just be me, but it seems like hating summer and living in Florida are fundamentally incompatible.

  4. 4.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    President Obama is scheduled to give a statement about Iraq any minute now. I feel confident that he will continue to be the anti-Bush.

    Will he talk about how Hillary will disappoint all Democrats? Because if there’s one thing we need to be talking more about on this site, it’s how Hillary is going to leave liberals dead in the street with a knife lodged deep in their backs.

  7. 7.

    MattF

    Whenever I start to feel annoyed with Obama I remind myself that W surrounded himself with Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rove, Yoo, Bolton,… not to mention Michael Brown and Alberto Gonzoles.Then I grind my teeth.

  8. 8.

    mtiffany

    Hang in there Ms. Cracker. The aging and eventual passing of parents is never an easy thing to deal with (for all parties involved). But as my grandmother once said to me when I was very young and terrified of the rather new (to me) concept of death: “The thing people don’t get about death is that it’s a gift. It frees the future from the bullshit of the past.” Grandma liked to tell it like it is when Mom wasn’t within earshot.

  9. 9.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    All sensible people hate summer. Heat and humidity suck.

  10. 10.

    Betty Cracker

    @Gin & Tonic: I hate the cold even more. The actual unbearable part of summer is only a few months long; the rest of the year, the weather is great.

  11. 11.

    D58826

    Oh my according to the last Bush ambassador to Iraq, the country is complicated. It’s not just the Shia’s fault since the Sunnis in the Arab world never wanted a Shia lead Iraq. Why in heavens name didn’t they think about that in 2003. One criter wants drone strikes but doesn’t say against who. Orange man wants a plan. Great. If political clichés were weapons, we could reduce the entire territory of Iraq to a smoking hole. As somebody once said in Washington when all is said and done – a lot is said and nothing is done.

  13. 13.

    gene108

    @geg6:

    Myself, I’m loving it. After a winter of record breaking stretches of cold, I’m wallowing in summer.

    QUOTED FOR THRUTH!!!!

  15. 15.

    Joel Hanes

    Death is the price we pay for individuality — that is, for sexual reproduction.
    Every amoeba has been alive for millions of years.

    “Don’t take life so serious. It ain’t nohow permanent” — Pogo

  18. 18.

    No One of Consequence

    @Emma: Exactly. After I picked my jaw up off of my desk and reattached it, I sat here dumbfounded. Gob thoroughly smacked.

    And frankly, I had nothing to say.

    I do hope that they publish wherever that man’s corpse is buried, and that it is unguarded, so that I might one day add some fertilizer of my own. Under cover of darkness, of course. After several days of heavy drinking and greasy fast food…

    – NOoC

  20. 20.

    JCT

    @Betty Cracker: The whole dynamic between the two is really bizarre. Why was she there anyway. Megyn should have asked him to drink some water while she was squawking.

  21. 21.

    Mnemosyne

    I know just what he’s going through, having experienced the exact same hell with my mother a few months ago. But it doesn’t make this time any less surreal and depressing. All I can do is try to be there for him, like he was for me.

    Yep. As I kept saying to G, “I know exactly what you’re going through, and you know exactly what I’m going through.” Our dads died 6 months apart almost to the day (July 4th and January 3rd).

  22. 22.

    Steeplejack

    I’m feeling blessed this summer. In 2012, in my previous apartment, the antiquated air conditioner was useless, but my landlord was a complete asshole to deal with and I was leaving in August, so I suffered through it. Last summer the air conditioning in my current apartment started to fade, which made me nervous. But this landlord, a great American, replaced the HVAC unit back in March, and the A.C. works like a dream. I have been running it at 74° while it gets up into the low 90s outside, and it feels like four-Yorkshiremen sheer luxury.

    Bonus is that the new HVAC unit is more energy-efficient than the old one, so I have not had any occurrences of what happened last year: random losses of Internet access, I think because the router is on the same circuit as the HVAC and when the latter came on it would sometimes cause the router to hiccup.

    All that said, I’m not hating summer yet, because we had an extended, beautiful spring here in NoVA. This week is the first time I’ve seen highs in the 90s, whereas last year at this time we had already had an extended heat wave with temps close to 100°.

  24. 24.

    Emma

    @Betty Cracker: I just read the Digby thing. Liz Cheney gives me heartburn and vasovagal syncope. Seeing her actually talk even if recorded by bring on the big one.

    PS: I actually became a member of a health club, forking out real cash, because I realized there was no way I was going to be able to walk outside this summer. Miami is the embodiment of an all-over permanent sauna.

  26. 26.

    Mike in NC

    We’re experiencing a nasty heat wave with temperatures in the 90s and humidity pushing 85%. Been going on for several days with no end in sight. Too oppressive to step outside for even five minutes to do battle with the moles that are making a mess of the yard.

  27. 27.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Betty Cracker:

    Simpering, smirking, and blinking. And she was swallowing frequently and hard. A lot of curious body language going on there.

  29. 29.

    kindness

    Betty’s wet chickens will make a more compelling response to what ever it is Obama says than what Republicans will no doubt throw down.

  33. 33.

    muddy

    @Betty Cracker: I have a summer house in Vermont. It’s also a winter house in Vermont. And yes, it is glorious. High 70’s, low humidity, lovely breeze.

  34. 34.

    Patricia Kayden

    So Betty, how do your Boxers react to/interact with your chickens? My dogs are fascinated with my African Gray Parrot and budgies (especially the full Boxer) but mostly stay away from them.

  39. 39.

    Gex

    I’ve quite had it with this rain in Minnesota too. Last weekend I stood outside in it all day Saturday and Sunday morning taking my motorcycle rider course and I’m fed up with walking the pup in the rain twice a day. I barely get a chance to get dry before I’m out in this crap again.

    I gotta quit drinking because apparently I blacked out my entire move to Seattle.

    @Betty Cracker: I’m so not like that. I was just thinking I’d rather be walking the pup in -20 degrees than in down pour twice a day.

  40. 40.

    StringOnAStick

    After my slipping into senility father told me to get the hell out last week (after doing 4 long days of landscaping slave labor) for suggesting he needs to cut back on some activities and start hiring help for their 1 acre monstrosity, I drove the 5 hours home thanks to Starbucks and loud music, got to bed at midnight, and woke up with the start of a screaming case of contact dermatitis from the work I’d done there. I knew I was allergic to landscape junipers, but the 3 arbor vitae’s (cedars) I cut down are apparently even more of a problem for me.

    So, I am on my second round of nasty steroids to stop the reaction, and I’m ready to climb out of my skin, a typical side effect. I’ve never had such bad dermatitis before, or such a bad reaction to the drugs but I suppose a double dose is to blame for the latter. If the skin of my arms touches anything, the still messed up nerves interpret it as a swarm of spiders; therefore trying to sleep rather sucks. Only 3 more days of drugs, after which I hope for two things: (1) an end to the edge-of-crazy potential steroid-induced psychosis, and (2) it stops feeling like my arms are covered in spiders all night long.

    Betty, I count the both of us as extra blessed to have such wonderful spouses at moments like these. I hope your husband is doing OK; you’ve both had a lot to deal with this year.

  43. 43.

    Betty Cracker

    @Patricia Kayden: We keep them separate. One of the boxers would probably be okay with the chickens, but the other would almost certainly eat one.

    @muddy: I had friends who had a place in Brattleboro, and I loved the countryside and the people — lots of DFHs, but this was 20 years ago.

  45. 45.

    D58826

    The president hasn’t even spoken and Orange man is saying the wheels are coming off and Rubio that the Obama presidency is over. There was a time when during an international crisis the opposition party keep its mouth shut till things started to sort out. Boehner is complaining that Obama didn’t do things in Syria that the GOP did not support when the ideas were first proposed. David Frum is concerned that Iran will be the big winner in all of this. Well, Dave, who was it that destroyed the country that was the counterweight to Iran. It is amazing how much history has simply gone down the memory hole.

  47. 47.

    Jay C

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    HIs presser on Iraq was scheduled for 12:30 ET, still not on yet – expected to announce dispatch of Special Forces detachment to iraq for “assistance” (?)

    And if you look quickly, you’ll spot the ghost of Lyndon Johnson shaking its head over in the far corner….

  50. 50.

    raven

    @Jay C: Not really a detachment, mix of SF, Seals and even Rangers. I don’t know what we’re going to advise these weenies to do at this point if they haven’t gotten it yet.

  53. 53.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Jay C: “And if you look quickly, you’ll spot the ghost of Lyndon Johnson shaking its head over in the far corner….”

    Ha! I’m praying that President Obama will limit our military’s involvement in Iraq’s civil war. So far, he hasn’t shown any inclination to warmongering.

  57. 57.

    Betty Cracker

    Obama is on now. REAL-TIME SUMMARY: Update on response: working to secure embassy and personnel in Iraq, relocating people and reinforcing facility. Significantly increased intelligence for better picture of what’s happening. Also will continue to increase security forces in Iraq — will coordinate with Iraqis, provide additional equipment, will send additional advisors (up to 300) to help the Iraqis. Has positioned additional US military assets. Has identified targets and will be prepared to take military action if situation on ground requires it. Will consult w/ Congress before taking any action. Kerry dispatched to yap at regional leaders. Iraqi leaders need to get their shit together. Recent days have reminded us of scars of Iraq war. Vigorous debates have resurfaced. What’s clear is the need to ask hard questions before taking military action. What is in our national security interests? That’s the focus.

  58. 58.

    Corner Stone

    It’s the height of comedy for our president to tell Iraqi politicians they have to rise above their differences and work together.

  61. 61.

    Paul in KY

    Betty, very sorry to hear about your FIL. Hoping for strength for your family in these trying times.

  65. 65.

    Jay C

    Obama presser:

    Main points: we’ll bolster security @ embassy
    – provide intelligence and resources to Iraqi gov.
    – send “300″ advisors
    – No combat troops
    – Iraqis (and their neighbors) have to get their own act together, BUT: It’s their deal, THEY have to deal with them.

    Closing with reminder that we have to keep “national interest” in mind re foreign wars….

  66. 66.

    Paul in KY

    @No One of Consequence: Freaky! Honest ‘reality’ from a Fox spokesbot. Wonder what Darth Cheney said. Probably something like ‘Hiiiisssssss, (licks lips), you will pay for this effrontery, hhhiiiissssss’.

  69. 69.

    Jay C

    Question about “confidence” in Maliki: PBO ducks yes/no answer. No suprise.

    Next question: “Advisors” – “mission creep”?? BHO: NO. SO far

  70. 70.

    Belafon

    I was looking up some history on the military advisers sent by Eisenhower to Vietnam, and ran across this:

    In May 1957 Diem, then President of South Vietnam, made a state visit to the United States for ten days. President Eisenhower pledged his continued support, and a parade was held in Diem’s honor in New York City.

    Imagine trying to hold a parade for any country’s leader these days.

  71. 71.

    the Conster

    @JPL:

    McCain seems to forget that point.

    The fact that the latest VA scandal took place in Arizona just blows my mind – you can’t tell me that McCain’s office wasn’t contacted numerous times by someone needing help or that staffers – and probably him – didn’t know how bad things were fucked up there. He’s the most odious person after “dick” Cheney.

  73. 73.

    Corner Stone

    @SatanicPanic: Only because our politicians like to encourage others to risk their necks and/or shed blood. Iraqi politicians don’t seem to mind getting the job done, as needed.

  74. 74.

    The Pale Scot

    Yea, I’m really missing the droughts of the last decade, does it have to rain every fucking evening? And it’s not even a good cleansing downpour that’ll wash the car, just enough for optimal mold conditions and a power outage.

  76. 76.

    Gin & Tonic

    @raven: Know a guy who was there at the end. Must have worked with Snepp. I’ll ask next time we’re having beers.

  77. 77.

    muddy

    @StringOnAStick: I’m sorry you have such a bad reaction. As I said before, it’s always my belief that the undue stress really exacerbates the physical injury.

  79. 79.

    Jay C

    Third question re “regrets” over residual force left in Iraq? PBO: Not his Admin’s decision: blames (rightly, IMO) Maliki Gov’t re (non-)immunity:

    Fourth question: Syria: send weapons to Syrian oppo?

  81. 81.

    SatanicPanic

    @Corner Stone: What I mean is that no matter what the right wants to claim, the average American isn’t in danger of facing death squads anytime soon. Being a mature democracy we can survive gridlock every now and then.

  88. 88.

    D58826

    @Belafon: The parade was probably the biggest thing Ike gave him. Ike wasn’t real big on the idea of fighting in the jungles of SE Asia

  91. 91.

    feebog

    Obama went to congress for consent to intervene in Syria and neither house even took a vote. The Boner wants a plan? Sounds like President Obama just handed him one. Oh, and Darth Cheney can bite me.

  92. 92.

    the Conster

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    Losing to “that one” did it, although he wasn’t much better before. The guy is just an impulsive asshole, and an incurious one at that. He must be awful to live with – no wonder Cindy has so many houses.

  96. 96.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    @schrodinger’s cat: The British Army’s Royal Regiment of Artillery has only one battle streamer on its colors; it says Ubique (Everywhere). You could have taken a leaf from their book and said “Everything.”

  97. 97.

    Paul in KY

    @muddy: She probably told him before interview that she was going to have to say something to that effect.

  104. 104.

    dmsilev

    My oh my oh my:

    John Doe prosecutors allege Scott Walker at center of ‘criminal scheme’

    Madison — Prosecutors allege that Gov. Scott Walker was at the center of an effort to illegally coordinate fundraising among conservative groups to help his campaign and those of Republican senators fend off recall elections during 2011 and ’12, according to documents unsealed Thursday.

    In the documents, prosecutors lay out what they call a “criminal scheme” to bypass state election laws by Walker, his campaign and two top deputies — R.J. Johnson and Deborah Jordahl.

    The governor and his close confidants helped raise money and control spending through 12 conservative groups during the recall elections, according to the prosecutors’ filings.

    The documents include an email in which Walker tells Karl Rove, former top adviser to President George W. Bush, that Johnson would lead the coordination campaign. Johnson is also chief adviser to Wisconsin Club for Growth, a conservative group active in the recall elections.

  105. 105.

    D58826

    The GOP’s favorite general i.e. Petraeus, gave a speech in London, basically giving Obama political cover. It’s an Iraqi political problem not an American military one.

  108. 108.

    TaMara (BHF)

    Do you think the presser was delayed so Obama could let the critics remarks play out in the press, having a good laugh about it and then stepping out and show them how leadership is done?

  109. 109.

    Belafon

    @Paul in KY: Which is one of the reasons I don’t buy the “Iraq is Vietnam” idea. If Iraq falls, it will, what exactly? Cause the region to become more muslim?

  110. 110.

    Corner Stone

    @dmsilev: Haven’t they been trying to nail Walker for about the entirety of his tenure? Nothing ever seems to come to fruition on any these claims.

  112. 112.

    Corner Stone

    @TaMara (BHF): I’ve never once seen a president hit his mark. It’s like the Iron Law of Presidentin’, do not be on time for any presser.

  113. 113.

    muddy

    @Morzer: Come and visit, it’s nice. Always happy to meet friends from BJ, even though you say such mean things to me.

  114. 114.

    Corner Stone

    No, Kelly O’Donnell, Republicans are not interested in stabilizing the region.

  115. 115.

    Morzer

    @muddy:

    I like Vermont very much. I am simply envious of your low humidity, in contrast to the steambath which is Somerville.

  116. 116.

    Corner Stone

    Welp, KSA has now officially denied backing ISIS. So, I guess that’s that. Fin.

  117. 117.

    pat

    I’m waiting for Gramps McCain to stroke out on camera. He sounds more and more angry and delusional every time they shove a mic in his face.

  118. 118.

    TaMara (BHF)

    @Corner Stone: Probably right, but I was just struck how while the press waited they indulged the critics. And at least to this Obot’s ears, sounded pretty damn stupid next to the president’s remarks.

  119. 119.

    the Conster

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    I just went and read the transcript – you’re right – what incoherent contradictory bullshit. Why doesn’t anyone in the media just tell him that what he says makes no sense? I picture him like Rumpelstiltskin, stamping his foot in inchoate rage until the ground opens up to take him to his forever home.

  121. 121.

    StringOnAStick

    @Gin & Tonic: Thanks, but no, it is definitely not poison ivy; I actually don’t have much of a reaction to poison ivy. My doc told me more people are allergic to those landscape cedars than junipers, and I’ve been very clear for over a decade now that any touch of a landscape juniper sends my skin over the edge immediately. It’s what’s called a Type IV allergic reaction, meaning it started from years of exposure since everyone plants those damned things around here and I’ve done landscaping for fun and profit since I was a kid; I’ve finally accumulated enough exposures that it is nearly an immediate reaction now. Calamine or OTC cortisone cream have zero effect on stopping it; I have a prescription steroid cream that if I get it on there soon enough, I can stop the reaction. I didn’t have that with me when I was at my folks’ place and by the time I got home it was too late for that to work (I tried, believe me – I hate taking catabolic steroids!).

    Yes, it was a stressful situation, but to be honest I’ve been estranged from my parents off and on for decades, always because they told me to go to hell because I am a liberal and they are Foxbots/Birchers from a long way back. My dad is growing almost maudlin over the fact he’s getting old and he flips back and forth from wanting to see me, to hating my guts because of my views not matching his. I’ve gotten pretty good at not letting it hurt me that much anymore just by learning the benefit of detachment and cognitive distancing. You folks who are close to your relatives are lucky, but I don’t see myself as deprived in any way; it just is what it is.

  122. 122.

    Hill Dweller

    I doubt it will get a lot of play in the Village, but I liked the way PO placed the responsibility of “validating” our soldiers’ sacrifices on the Iraqi government. The wingnuts have been using said sacrifices as justification for going back into Iraq militarily, but PO cleverly turned that bullshit on it’s head.

  123. 123.

    tesslibrarian

    @JPL: He doesn’t forget. He just doesn’t care. I’ve yet to see proof he cares about anything other than tv appearances and petty sniping at “that one” who dared to beat him.

  125. 125.

    JPL

    @Corner Stone: That’s what I’m thinking too . If too many repubs get charged with campaign abuse, the Supreme Court will rule that’s it legal.

  127. 127.

    muddy

    @Morzer: It was horrid here a couple of days ago. It never seems to last very long, thank the gods. My studio is in the cellar so that’s nice and cool, but when it’s nice out I sometimes drag my wheel outside. I love that.

  128. 128.

    Anoniminous

    Am I still an UnPerson?

    ETA: guess FYWP has decided to honor my existence. I feel so … validated.

  129. 129.

    StringOnAStick

    @Hill Dweller: I love that PBO did as you said: “placing the responsibility of “validating” our soldiers’ sacrifices on the Iraqi government.” Absolutely pitch perfect, and the dems need to keep that statement in rotation with every interaction with the press, just like how the other side sticks to their talking points.

    Every time I hear a wingnut say we have to send in more soldiers (some of whom will die) so that all the prior soldiers who DID die somehow “didn’t die in vain”, I want to scream. Send more to die because some already did? That’s insane. It’s government by gut reaction from leaders with the mental age of 6.

  133. 133.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Corner Stone: It’s particularly foul because they could have been scoring points all day without saying fuck-all about Bergdahl. Just say that clueless Obama is playing into the hands of terrorists and emboldening them by showing weakness and blah blah blah, and your audience is already good and whipped up by that alone. I don’t remember Democrats railing at Terry Anderson.

  134. 134.

    Betty Cracker

    I had to leave the live stream because of a phone call just after PBO started taking questions. Did I miss anything juicy?

  135. 135.

    Trollhattan

    @Belafon:
    What’s easier to picture is a bunch of baffled New Yorkers standing at the curb saying “Diem? Who da fvck is dat? When am I gonna get across dis goddamn steet? I got work to do here!”

  139. 139.

    lahke

    Totally OT, but is anyone here empowered to comment over at Kevin Drum’s place? I can’t do any of those commenting options from my work computer, and it’s killing me not to stick my oar in.

    Kevin keeps going on about how the drop in lead exposure explains reductions in murder, violence, rapes, and now school disciplinary actions, and then professes himself puzzled by the drop in abortion rates. Doesn’t he realize that lead-related problems in impulse control might take a different form in females?

  141. 141.

    D58826

    The initial republican response is the policy is a failure unless the US becomes the air force for the Shia faction. You can do something about ignorance but stupid is incurable.

  143. 143.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    @Corner Stone: Walker is kind of like a mafia don in this stuff. Everyone knows he okayed it, but he is never in the room when words are said.

    That being said, the fact the these documents are being released in a victory for the forces of good. The current lawsuit was filed to stop the John Doe investigation and to have the documents that it collected destroyed. Their release into the wild stymies at least a part of the plaintiffs wishes and makes it look more likely that the appeals court will let the investigation go forward.

  147. 147.

    ? Martin

    @StringOnAStick: Someone needs to educate our free-market conservatives what ‘sunk costs’ are. I find it as distasteful as anyone else to refer to our fellow citizens that way, but that’s the reality. If you don’t make that point, then we need to hammer conservatives for going into Iraq instead of sending troops to Vietnam, so those young men in the 60s and 70s didn’t die in vain. There’s no statute of limitations on how long we honor our dead and we can no more bring a soldier who died in Iraq in 2009 back to life than we can a soldier who died in Vietnam in 1968 back to life. Like I said before, you can’t bomb your guilt away. You just have to live with it.

  151. 151.

    Mnemosyne

    @PurpleGirl:

    This action still sounds more like Nixon/Ford and the very end of Vietnam than the start of a new ramp-up, though. YMMV, but aren’t the far-lefties always saying that Obama is to the right of Nixon? ;-)

    @StringOnAStick:

    My dad was stolen by Fox News in 2000, and he never recovered. He was always a Republican, but more along Rockefeller lines. Once Fox News and Rush Limbaugh got hold of him, though, he was a goner.

  154. 154.

    Trollhattan

    Ladies and germs, your new House Majority Leader and likely Speaker, speaking:

    On justice being blind: “One of the most important I think that can happen today, Lynn Jenkins’s bill, an idea of fairness, the idea that when you look across the street from the Capitol, you see the Supreme Court, you see the statue sitting there, blinded in the process with the weights in- between.”

    On HealthCare.gov: “He only totes the 8 million. But the insurers are saying many of that is duplicate, that people inside the Web site that we all know did not — wasn’t successful. . . . How many have paid the premiums? How many will continue? How many are duplicates? How can we fall as we go forward?”

    On his home state of California: “We are suffering through one of the worst droughts in a century. It’s even worse based upon the regulations that we have. . . . Unfortunately, like many of our bills, we sent it to the Senate, the Senate refused to act on it, let no one act on what is their policy for a drought in California? This has gone beyond the point.”

    Apologies for linking to Dick Whisperer, but since McCarthy is a Bakersfieldian I have had little exposure to the guy, who is evidently GWB-lite. It’s gonna get old, fast.
    washingtonpost.com/opinions/dana-milbank-house-gop-leader-kevin-mccarthy-has-an-odd-way-with-words/2…

  156. 156.

    Howard Beale IV

    And things may not be all that great for the Outlaw Jersey Whale, too:

    Back on planet Reality, meanwhile, Paul Fishman, the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, wades through the sewage of Christie’s stewardship. Two sources with intimate knowledge of the case say Fishman’s pace is quickening — he has empaneled a second grand jury, and the U.S. Justice Department has sent assistant prosecutors and FBI agents to work the case.

    “What’s taking the most time,” according to one source, “is separating what’s viable from all the bad stuff they’re finding that may not be viable.”

    Fishman’s challenge is to nail down specific criminal charges on several fronts — the diversion of Port Authority money to fund New Jersey road and bridge projects; the four-day rush-hour closures of George Washington Bridge lanes in Ft. Lee; and a web of real-estate deals spun by David Samson, long a Christie crony, when he chaired the PA’s Board of Commissioners as Christie’s appointee. (One such deal, a stalled office-tower development in Hoboken, New Jersey, is central to a claim that Christie’s lieutenant governor told the town’s mayor that the state would withhold Hurricane Sandy relief aid from Hoboken if the mayor didn’t sign off on the development project.)

  158. 158.

    Cassidy

    @Gin & Tonic: See, you’re playing the game wrong. It’s always too fucking hot is the premise. How many different ways can you say “bring me something cold with alcohol” is how the game is played.

  159. 159.

    Betty Cracker

    @Mnemosyne: I don’t think Obama will get sucked into an escalation, but I do question just how much fucking “training” and “advisers” the non-crazies in Iraq and Afghanistan need. It seems like we’ve been running a large-scale training operation in both countries for what, 13 fucking years now? Shouldn’t every able-bodied man of military age be at Seal Team Six skill levels at this point? Kee-rist.

  160. 160.

    jl

    Brian Schweitzer, splurts out the ‘folksy’ blunt talkin’. At least he splurts it out equally to both sides. I’m not impressed.

    Brian Schweitzer: Southern Men Like Eric Cantor ‘Have Effeminate Mannerisms’
    TPM, CATHERINE THOMPSON, JUNE 19, 2014

    ” Former Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D) doesn’t have much of a filter. ”

    “Don’t hold this against me, but I’m going to blurt it out. How do I say this … men in the South, they are a little effeminate,”

    [Feinstein] ” was the woman who was standing under the streetlight with her dress pulled all the way up over her knees, and now she says, ‘I’m a nun,’ when it comes to this spying!” he told Cogan. “I mean, maybe that’s the wrong metaphor-but she was all in!”

    talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/brian-schweitzer-eric-cantor-dianne-feinstein

  161. 161.

    Betty Cracker

    @jl: Jaysus, what a lunkhead. It’s too bad he’s such a blithering oaf, because he actually does make sense on some issues.

  163. 163.

    Corner Stone

    @Betty Cracker:

    Did I miss anything juicy?

    No, standard stuff after your synopsis. The Q&A was de rigeur for the most part. I thought he might say something foolish about Iran at the very end but he basically just said, “As long as Iran just pees in the punchbowl a little, we can still leave this party by midnight with our slippers still on.”
    And, I hate it when in a presser Q&A the reporter will read a long winded prepared question. Just ask the damn question, nobody cares how many facts your unpaid interns can pile into a blurb.

  164. 164.

    Suffern ACE

    @Belafon: Bibi gets a lot standing ovations from Congress.

    Can’t see any large parade these days. I think those days ended when Kennedy was assassinated.

  165. 165.

    martha

    @Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): IANAL and all that, but the going mantra in right wing world is that “speech is money.” Yet, they’re claiming that their “consultations” don’t equal a campaign contribution. Does that really fly? Is that a valid argument? Really?

  169. 169.

    Citizen_X

    @raven:

    I don’t know what we’re going to advise these weenies to do at this point if they haven’t gotten it yet.

    Don’t throw down your weapons and run away?

  170. 170.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Trollhattan:

    Saw Milbank’s compilation of McCarthyisms earlier (yesterday?). He has a little refining to do in order to reach Palinesque levels of word-salad, but I think he’s made a fine start.

  171. 171.

    Corner Stone

    @Citizen_X:

    Don’t throw down your weapons and run away?

    That was probably a not bad decision. A lot of people really close to these guys probably really wanted to get in on this action.

  172. 172.

    Cervantes

    @SatanicPanic:

    Too bad no one on the right was saying that sort of thing 12 years ago

    Twelve years ago he was the (Vice) President. Today he is not, and (a) she does not need him as much; or (b) even she can’t afford to be seen as entirely his empty-headed pawn; or (c) both.

  174. 174.

    PurpleGirl

    @Belafon: I thought about editing the comment to include Eisenhower but I don’t remember him as president. I came to political awareness with the Democratic Convention that nominated JFK. My political mind starts there.

  175. 175.

    Trollhattan

    Go Gabby, go.

    Former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords threw out the first pitch for a charity softball game in Washington DC yesterday, and also taunted rapper 50 Cent on Twitter for the hell of it. Looks like someone is back on her game.

    Giffords, who left Congress after being shot in the head in 2011, threw out the first pitch at the annual Congressional Women’s softball game, in which a bipartisan team of women in Congress play against women in the DC press corps to raise money for young women with breast cancer….

    Incidentally, it’s still perfectly legal to buy 30-round magazines for a Glock pistol in most of the country, but Gabby’s working on that too.

    wonkette.com/552177/gabby-giffords-does-thing-better-than-other-people-did-thing#RMYaumESdXmI1ROf.99

  176. 176.

    Morzer

    talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/scott-walker-criminal-scheme-allegation

    State prosecutors in Wisconsin have alleged that Gov. Scott Walker (R) was part of an effort to illegally coordinate conservative groups’ fundraising during the 2011 and 2012 recall elections in the state, according to The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

    The revelation was contained in documents unsealed Thursday by a federal judge. In the documents, according to the Journal Sentinel, prosecutors described a “criminal scheme” to skirt state election laws by Walker and his campaign, as well as two of Walker’s deputies: R.J. Johnson and Deborah Jordahl. Walker and his deputies allegedly helped raise money and control spending through 12 conservative groups during the recalls.

    The Journal Sentinel highlighted one email exchange contained in the documents: a note from Walker to Republican political strategist and former George W. Bush adviser Karl Rove in which Walker described Johnson’s role coordinating the activity.

    “Bottom-line: R.J. helps keep in place a team that is wildly successful in Wisconsin. We are running 9 recall elections and it will be like 9 congressional markets in every market in the state (and Twin Cities),” Walker wrote to Rove on May 4, 2011.

    Looks like Walker had good reason to try and negotiate a deal.

  177. 177.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    From the estimable Juan Cole

    It’s come to this: Fox News brings on NFL’s Terry Bradshaw for Benghazi analysis
    Fox News on Wednesday continued its multi-year obsession with the terrorist attack in Benghazi by inviting NFL football analyst and former quarterback Terry Bradshaw to weigh in.

  178. 178.

    WaterGirl

    @Morzer:

    Looks like Walker had good reason to try and negotiate a deal.

    I don’t understand your reference to trying to negotiate a deal.

  181. 181.

    Shortstop

    Crazy busy with work so will just have to content myself with saying:

    1. Scott Walker, HA, HAAAAAA!
    2. I love summer, heat and humidity. Never felt happier than in the Amazonian rainforest. Winter can kiss my ass.

    Looking forward to reading the thread later!

  182. 182.

    Morzer

    @WaterGirl:

    His attorney was talking to the John Doe investigators about three weeks ago – which was widely interpreted as part of an attempt to arrange a deal. The WSJ (no link, because paywall) said:

    We’ve learned that Steven Biskupic, who represents Friends of Scott Walker, has been negotiating with Wisconsin special prosecutor Francis Schmitz to settle the state’s investigation. The understandable concern among the direct targets of the John Doe is that Mr. Biskupic will cut a deal that would exonerate Mr. Walker while wresting concessions from some of Mr. Walker’s allies.

  183. 183.

    catclub

    @Morzer:

    Looks like Walker had good reason to try and negotiate a deal.

    No, he had good reason to hope a friendly judge would quash the entire investigation.

    NOW, he will need to negotiate a deal. It will be interesting between Chris Christie’s indicted subordinates and Walker’s, who flips and gives up the boss first.

  184. 184.

    WaterGirl

    @Morzer: ergh!

    Why would the prosecutor want to cut a deal when it seems that they have a sleazy law-breaking politician on the hook?

    Thanks for the info.

  185. 185.

    martha

    @catclub: Exactly–he thought he had that in Judge Randa. Fortunately, there have been some tenacious lawyers on the other side and they haven’t given up. Randa wanted to destroy these documents to save his RWJN cronies–the Judge in the 7th Circuit that released them today thought otherwise.

    Even if the 7th Circuit finds for the RWNJs, the curtain has been drawn. Thankfully.

  186. 186.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    @Morzer:

    Not that any Republican governor would throw everyone he can to the wolves in order to save his own hide.

  187. 187.

    Bill Arnold

    @Gin & Tonic:

    ure it wasn’t poison ivy? I’m super-sensitive, and I often find it in the same area as junipers and cedars.

    I get a similar contact dermatitis (hives actually) from certain junipers (not sure about cedars). Not as bad, but can be scary.
    I’m also allergic (or whatever the proper term is) to poison ivy, and it’s quite different, a blistering rash.

  189. 189.

    Hal

    I think I have the reverse of seasonal affective disorder. I hate humidity and heat. I was watching an episode of House Hunters once with a couple that moved from San Diego to Portland because San Diego was too sunny for them, and I could totally relate.

  192. 192.

    WaterGirl

    Paging lamh36:

    Steve Benen:
    Um, what? “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says some of its staff in Atlanta may have been accidentally exposed to dangerous anthrax bacteria because of a safety problem at one of its labs. Agency officials say the risk of infection is low, but that about 75 staff members were being monitored or given antibiotics as a precaution.”

    Benen links to this for a more complete story: news.yahoo.com/cdc-probes-lab-workers-possible-anthrax-exposure-201644657.html

    Edit: I wonder if this has anything to do with the open positions at CDC?

  194. 194.

    Elizabelle

    The embattled frontman of a Christian metal band sentenced to prison for plotting to have his wife killed recently confessed that he and other band members had become atheists, but continued to pose as Christians so they could keep selling records, according to a report by The Christian Post.

    Source: nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Christian-Singer-Tim-Lambesis-Admits-He-Was-Atheist-263867071.html#ixzz35…
    Follow us: @nbcsandiego on Twitter | NBCSanDiego on Facebook

  195. 195.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    @WaterGirl:
    Not the best news in light of the fact that scientists have recently recreated the Spanish Flu virus that killed 50 million people in 1918.

  196. 196.

    GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)

    Speaking of summer, lightning stuck our 100′ linden tree in our back yard, and a limb the size of a medium tree (maybe 30′ long) fell on the roof of our garage.

    Estimates for tree removal run from $1500-$3500. WTF?

    Dunno what the garage repairs will cost.

  197. 197.

    StringOnAStick

    @Elizabelle: Well, that was an interesting story, especially his statement that lots of Christian rock bands are just in it for the money, and aren’t Christians at all. I guess the Christian rock terrarium is just an easier place to be a bigger fish than you would be the in general cultural pond.

  198. 198.

    StringOnAStick

    @Bill Arnold: Poison ivy has an irritating oil on it’s leaves (gives it that glossy look) and if you can wash that oil off quickly and effectively enough you can minimize the reaction. Poison ivy oils end up in the smoke from forest fires, and fire fighters have ended up with allergic reactions inside their lungs from breathing that smoke (I can’t imagine how awful that would be).

    The problem for me and apparently you is the pollen in landscape junipers. Pollens are proteins, and proteins are very complex molecules so you can have reactions that are very specific, based on your prior exposure history. I am not at all bothered by native juniper trees, so my reaction is specifically to the pollen of the type of junipers that have been bred to be the various common landscape junipers, and now apparently to that upright columnar landscape cedar commonly called “arbor vitae”.

    It’s been 13 days since the exposure and lots of drugs later, and my arms are still red and scarred looking with a strong desire to scratch. Worst reaction I’ve ever had, which I suppose means the next exposure will be even worse. Argh.

  202. 202.

    WaterGirl

    @GHayduke (formerly lojasmo): $5,400 to have my big tree taken completely down after it fell on my house last may. So I feel your pain.

    As I understood it from asking around last year, if you have State Farm, they pay for tree removal. Other companies, tree removal on your dime. Who do you have your insurance with?

    Garage repairs? I know the answer to that one! Way more than you think possible. :-)

    Edit: “tree removal” = cutting down the rest of the tree. Of course they all pay to have the fallen part taken away.

    Edit 2: Forgot to say that I’m really sorry that happened and that you have to deal with all of it.

  205. 205.

    WaterGirl

    @StringOnAStick: I meant to comment earlier – 13 days of that is a long time, maybe enough to lose your mind, but you seem to be doing okay on that front, at least!

    I had a crazy thing on both arms, shoulder to wrist last year. My dermatologist said she had never seen anything like it. (kind of disturbing to hear that) Nothing she prescribed helped. I finally tried Califlora (calendula gel) that I keep around for skin related issues. It really made a big difference in soothing my skin. It might be worth a try to help with the redness and itching and healing.

    I felt bad enough when I read about it when you first got it, but I’ll say again: 13 days of that is forever. So sorry!

  208. 208.

    Mnemosyne

    @Elizabelle:

    I’m more cynical — I suspect it may be a fake report so conservatives can reassure themselves that a “real” Christian wouldn’t do something like that.

  210. 210.

    Elizabelle

    The NYTimes has a more thorough story on the CDC anthrax release.

    How the agency could have allowed such potentially dangerous bacteria to escape into the air remains unclear. It all began in early June, when scientists from a lab with a high level of biosafety precautions prepared some samples for research in other labs that were not equipped to handle live anthrax.

    The plates had appeared negative for the bacteria at the time they were distributed to the other labs, the agency said, but the original steps taken to kill off the anthrax “did not adequately inactivate the samples.”

    Scientists in the other labs, believing the samples were safe, were not wearing adequate protective gear when they handled those potentially infectious samples.

    My question: was it simple human error, or was the CDC working with a hardier strain of anthrax that survived the deactivation process? It’s not clear from the NYTimes story.

    Over the course of the 20th century, anthrax had a 75% kill rate (that’s dropped with modern medicine; 5 of 11 who contracted it in 2001 died), and worrying for the CDC employees:

    The incubation period for anthrax is usually more than two weeks, so it is possible the scientists could still come down with symptoms. The incubation period can sometimes take months, according to the agency’s website.

  211. 211.

    WaterGirl

    @Betty Cracker: I think he said the tree is 100′ tall. I think you need special equipment for a tree that size. They had to take out my tree in pieces, using a crane that carried it over my neighbor’s garage.

  215. 215.

    Cervantes

    @Shortstop:

    Lovelier she than the loveliest day;
    Others me will pardon
    As the memory never goes away,
    And not least in a garden.
    For t’was in a garden she came along
    To offer me her favor,
    I feel it still, and to her belong,
    And think of it, for ever.

    — Goethe

  216. 216.

    Corner Stone

    Good God. I have learned to respect spanking my funky bass in a whole new way.
    And yes, I spank the fuck out of my funky bass.

  217. 217.

    Corner Stone

    @Cervantes: Gotye?
    But you didn’t have to cut me off
    Make out like it never happened and that we were nothing
    And I don’t even need your love
    But you treat me like a stranger and that feels so rough
    No you didn’t have to stoop so low
    Have your friends collect your records and then change your number
    I guess that I don’t need that though
    Now you’re just somebody that I used to know

  218. 218.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    @Shortstop: No, God the Father hogs the spotlight by playing bass and singing – Kind of like Sting. The Holy Spirit plays a mean guitar, though.

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