Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Infrastructure week. at last.

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

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

This blog will pay for itself.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Let there be snark.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

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

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Reader Interactions

208Comments

  1. 1.

    Corner Stone

    I’m looking for a really high quality wok. One that evenly distributes heat up the sides and I can eventually pass on to my grandkids.
    Any suggestions to research?

  5. 5.

    Amir Khalid

    I expect the agenda here will include continued discussion of the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 by — Ukraine? Pro-Russia separatists? Russia itself? Decepticons? — over eastern Ukraine. 295 people died, a majority of them Dutch. Commenter Bob in Portland will lead said discussion, laying out his case that the CIA did this.

  8. 8.

    Cervantes

    @Amir Khalid: You’re still awake?

    Commenter Bob in Portland will lead said discussion, laying out his case that the CIA did this.

    Is he arguing that it’s true, or that it’s possible, or something else?

  9. 9.

    Corner Stone

    @Amir Khalid: MSNBC keeps putting up headlines that make me wonder if they are trying to intimate that Putin shot down the plane after the US sanctions went into effect.

  13. 13.

    gogol's wife

    @Amir Khalid:

    That recording G&T posted sounded quite authentic. The Cossacks working with the pro-Russian separatists did it — by mistake, apparently, but what a mistake.

  14. 14.

    Corner Stone

    @gogol’s wife: No, it’s not “so whatever”.
    If pro-Russian people in Ukraine shot down that plane using technology and arms supplied by Russia that is one thing.
    If Putin had a hand in shooting down that plane because he was pissed about sanctions that is a whole other something.

  18. 18.

    Trollhattan

    @Corner Stone:

    We received a very nice one as a gift. It’s a Mauviel, thick copper with stainless steel lining and iron handle. The sucker is heavy (not easy to toss food in it one-handed) but the copper transmits heat far better and more evenly than steel. Whether that’s better for traditional wok cooking that takes advantage of the different heat zones I don’t know, but this definitely qualifies as a lifetime piece of cookware.

    ETA handle is bronze, not iron (shrug).

  19. 19.

    BGinCHI

    Ukraine plus Gaza is making me seriously wonder about the human experiment on planet earth.

    Didn’t anyone learn anything in kindergarten? Stop killing each other!

  20. 20.

    Josie

    @Mary G: So sorry. Can you get an AA person in to help? Sometimes the person who is too close cannot help as much as someone from outside. Hang in there. I used to think of life with an alcoholic as hills and valleys, never a level road.

  24. 24.

    Mnemosyne

    @Mary G:

    Can you call the local VA and see if there’s a group he can go to? Like, tomorrow if they’re all done for today?

  30. 30.

    Mike J

    Did Weigel actually add anything of value with this tweet? Wouldn’t everybody have been much more informed much more quickly without having to follow two additional links if the OP had said: Study: Political journalists opt for stenography over fact checking during presidential debates.

    If you really, truly thought we couldn’t live without that deathless prose(“You don’t say”) why not just add it too? There’s no limit on the number of links in a post like there is in a comment. On a blog you aren’t limited to 140 chars. Knock yourself out. Go wild. Quote entire headlines and don’t use url shorteners so people can tell where they’re going.

  32. 32.

    rikyrah

    These were programs that got Black people INTO TRADE UNIONS, which, you should know, is ridiculously impossible in Chicago.

    I’ll say it again…

    CLOSED 55 SCHOOLS.

    could find money for a $20 MILLION DOLLAR EXPANSION FOR A SCHOOL IN THE RICHEST NEIGHBORHOOD IN CHICAGO

    but, programs that help kids find professions…kids that won’t be going to college, but COULD find a very decent living by working with their hands..

    they can’t find money for that.

    uh huh
    uh huh

    ………………………..

    Budget critics air laundry list of school cuts

    By: Sarah Karp / July 17, 2014
    Tags: finance and budgets librarians school budgets

    With a new mandate that students have daily gym class and a policy calling for more arts instruction, school librarians are becoming increasingly rare, speakers charged at hearings on the district’s budget. At the Kennedy-King College hearing, one of three held late Wednesday, speakers also criticized cuts to Simeon High’s career education programs, cuts to welcoming schools that took in students displaced by closings, the additional money being funneled to charters and a plan to save $6 million by reorganizing bus aides for disabled students.

    ………………………

    Simeon’s career education loses out

    Another principal decision that came under fire was the decision to close the electrician program at Simeon Vocational High School. Latisa Kindred said she was laid off after the principal and the network office decided the school could no longer afford the program, and that an automotive teacher was laid off as well.
    …………………………………

    Kindred told the budget panel that she had been able to get students certified as well as into a union. “Working with their hands gives students hope,” she said. “I want to know how [career education] decisions are made? What guidelines are principals given when they make these autonomous decisions?”

    Asean Johnson’s mother Shoneice Reynolds said she was at a meeting at Simeon about these cuts on Tuesday night and many students came out to speak about the importance of the programs. “It was a beautiful meeting and we invited CPS and the fact that you did not come shows you do not care about our children,” she said.

    Also, an older gentleman spoke about being able to make a living based on his participation with the electrician program at Simeon.

    http://www.catalyst-chicago.org/notebook/2014/07/17/66050/budget-critics-air-laundry-list-school-cuts

  33. 33.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Mary G:

    Oh no. Please tell us what we can do to help him and/or make things easier for you. And whenever it’s appropriate, please remind him that he has hundreds of friends at this place who love him, support him, and wish him only the best.

    {{{Hugs}}}

  34. 34.

    Groucho48

    Well, to be fair to the journalists. The study only looked at tweets. Hard to be analytic of a debate point in a tweet.

    Having said that, it wouldn’t surprise me if an analysis of articles and blog posts showed about the same percentage.

  35. 35.

    Corner Stone

    @Botsplainer: I have two now (different sizes) that are very thin, both with wooden handles.
    They do the job but I get the feeling they aren’t giving me the results I want.
    I don’t know, maybe I don’t know what I am actually looking for.
    I’d like something light weight that I can get scorching hot, but transfers heat well.

  36. 36.

    rikyrah

    hat tip-Miranda at POU

    A White Girl Said She Was Shoved. A Black Boy Denied It. Guess Who Went To The Principal’s Office?

    The eight young men in this video are full of unfair stories like the one at 1:24 about being sent to the principal’s office. Some of the tales are frustrating, some are heartbreaking, some are rage-inducing. But the saddest part? They’re used to it. And despite being young, they have a brilliant analysis about why.

    http://youtu.be/ezZn_N43Jdw

  37. 37.

    KG

    oh, this is fun… Hugh Hewitt has come out in support of legalizing the migrant children from Central America. Basically, find them foster homes and make them Americans because, hey, it’s a humanitarian crisis. The responses on FB and twitter leads me to believe that Hugh is the next to be eaten by the tiger.

  38. 38.

    PsiFighter37

    The Ukraine shit is fucked up – I just don’t understand how you blow up a civilian airliner. That said, if I was any airline, I would not be flying over space where you know people are shooting at each other – and shooting at planes.

    As for Gaza – the more things change, the more things stay the same. People have been fighting each other in that part of the world for thousands of years; why should we expect things to ever be different? That’s my exhausted (it’s been a long week), cynical take on it.

  41. 41.

    geg6

    @Mary G:

    Oh no. So sorry. I don’t believe in supernatural beings, but you truly are an angel right here on earth. Hope he gets some help.

  42. 42.

    Karen in GA

    @Mary G: Oh, hell. I hope he gets — and can accept — the help he needs. And I hope you have the support you need. And adding my voice to the choir — you know we’re all here for you.

  43. 43.

    James E. Powell

    @BGinCHI:

    People wouldn’t be killing each other all over the place if it weren’t for Obama projecting so much weakness!

  44. 44.

    Violet

    From The Guardian liveblog about the Malaysian Airlines crash:

    There are unconfirmed reports that a number of the passengers on the plane were high-profile AIDS researchers and scientists on the way to Melbourne, Australia for the 2014 international conference.

  45. 45.

    Cassidy

    @rikyrah: Wanna hear something really fun regarding race and schools? So here in my hometown, we’ve got two magnet schools that are “medical” magnets. One is the worst school in Florida, no shit, rated F. Upon completion of the medical program, students were awarded their CNA and ready to enter the workforce. The second is focused on the gifted elite of the county, students had to go through a selection process, took college prep courses, and had access to the University of Florida hospital across the street. Can you guess the predominant races of both schools and which one was in the “hood”? Bonus question: which one did my former employer, the Navy hospital, partner up with to encourage kids to enter into Navy Medicine?

  50. 50.

    burnspbesq

    @KG:

    Hugh Hewitt has come out in support of legalizing the migrant children from Central America.

    That’s actually not shocking. Hewitt is a very devout Catholic. Maybe Pope Frankie (and, just as importantly, Bishop Soto, who was our auxiliary here in OC before he got the gig in Sacto) got through his otherwise thick head.

  51. 51.

    beltane

    @burnspbesq: Just out of curiosity I checked out the bulletins of my local parishes and was pleased to see that compassion towards immigrants was a prominent feature in all of them this month.

  53. 53.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @burnspbesq:

    Lois Lerner issued the shoot-down order.

    It’s true. But no one will ever be able to prove it, because at this very minute the server is crashing, completely erasing her email giving the order.

  54. 54.

    burnspbesq

    @beltane:

    For the minority of Catholics who walk it like we talk it, the current crisis would very much be seen as a call to action. At our heavily Mexican-American parish, I expect there will be a second collection at every mass on Sunday, and people who can’t really afford to donate will dig deep.

  55. 55.

    Jane2

    @Mary G: Sorry to hear that. Adding to the others…we’re here with whatever help we can give.

    I hope HBM gets the help he needs, and please, you take care of yourself.

  57. 57.

    KG

    @burnspbesq: oh, his position isn’t shocking, I know Hugh from my time in law school and while he always preaches the rosiest of pictures for the GOP, he’s not the type that is going to eat the still beating heart of a child (Cheney might, depending on what kind of wine you served with it). it’s interesting because the comments range from “no, send them back” to “you’re crazy, send them back” to “send them back and go with them.”

  58. 58.

    burnspbesq

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    at this very minute the server is crashing,

    IRS servers don’t crash by themselves. At this very moment, Joe Biden is on the loose in the Martinsburg Data Center with a sledgehammer and a gallon jug of acid. Just ask Darrell Issa.

  60. 60.

    rikyrah

    Ohio Charter School Chain Under Investigation – July 16, 2014

    The Ohio State Board of Education has ordered an investigation into
    19 charter schools in the Horizons Science network after allegations
    surfaced of severe misconduct among school officials at one of the
    schools in Dayton, according to The Columbus Dispatch. Four former teachers at the Horizon Science Academy Dayton High School leveled hefty accusations against their ex-employer at the state education board’s monthly meeting Tuesday.[….]

    The Columbus Dispatch article details other accusations and says this is not the only investigation Horizon Schools has been connected to recently: “Ohio’s Horizon schools are among 30 in the Midwest operated by the Chicago-based Concept Schools. Some of the schools also are part of a separate probe by the FBI, reportedly about the use of federal technology grants.[….]

    http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/charterschoice/2014/07/

  61. 61.

    Helen

    @Mary G: OMG – what can we do? Can you give him something to build? I am not being facetious. He seems to do well when he has something to do with his hands and his time.

    You have been so good. When I first read what you wrote: that you were a few zip codes away from him and you were going to get him. I thought “what a brave and compassionate soul Mary G is.” Because you had no clue what you were getting yourself into. I don’t know if I could have done that myself.

  62. 62.

    Bob In Portland

    Well, the US never lies, so I’ll wait until the State Department tells us what to believe.

  63. 63.

    Pogonip

    @Mary G: I guess I missed something, as HBM is unfamiliar to me, but I lived with an alcoholic and it’s the 8 1/2th circle of hell. I had to unload mine for the safety of my child. I pray you have better luck.

  64. 64.

    muddy

    I feel bad about HBM and Mary G. Been on both sides of that, it’s a gut wrencher all around. It’s been a weird time lately, I was asking my sister last night if it was Dog Days or something. We have both been plagued with a profound ennui, not taking care of business and not giving a shit anyway. The bad attitude is pretty standard for my family, but the lack of action or caring is not in any way usual. Random unconnected things are breaking, both in equipment and in bodies. Bad moon.

    I read once that most revolutions begin in July because people feel cranky. I don’t know if it’s true or to the point, but it seems like it could be. Truthiness.

    In solidarity with you Mary, it’s really hard to be the one who doesn’t get to choose. I know which I found harder for myself, and it wasn’t when I was the one with the problem. The helplessness is very stressful, keep after your own health.

    If HBM is reading at all, I hope he knows that we care about him and wish for better for him. The punishments of the outside world and ghosts of the past are so much it’s sad to go ahead and do their shitty work for them. For myself and several close to me, the “Fuck Them” is the best reason to stay in control. Used to be that phrase led me to drink and fuck up all around. But Fuck Them! I’m having better and I hope you will too.

  67. 67.

    jenn

    @Mary G – best to you and HBM! And if there’s something useful that folks can do, beyond thinking happy thoughts towards you both!, let us know.

  71. 71.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    @Pogonip: No, HBM is a commenter on the blog. I won’t go into the details or back story since it isn’t my story to tell.

  73. 73.

    A Humble Lurker

    @Pogonip:
    Higgs Boson’s Mate. Was a poster here who was in a bad way. Mary G lived near and sort of adopted him.

  79. 79.

    Helen

    @A Humble Lurker: And when HBM was commenting he seemed OK – cool. Maybe I missed something, because when MaryG said she went to go “save him” I remember being surprised because I don’t really remember him being in distress (well, any more distress than we all are at times). But perhaps I am mis-remembering. But….he seemed to be doing really well at MaryG’s. Go look at the Garden Threads. He was building her planting thingees, and gardening thingees (can you tell I am a city dweller?) and he is super talented.

  80. 80.

    Pogonip

    @Corner Stone: I suppose that this admission will prove to those few who had lingering doubts that I am an utter Philistine, but for decades I have been stir-frying just fine in a cheap Dutch oven (the good ones don’t get hot enough quick enough). The high sides keep things from flying out as I stir. Buy one of those $49.99 pan sets and when the Teflon wears off, throw it away and get another set.

  82. 82.

    Pogonip

    @A Humble Lurker: Oh, yes! THAT looks familiar.

    Mary, don’t be one of those women who get involved with an alcoholic (or worse, a string of them). Help as you can, but if you even sorta kinda think you might possibly be falling in love, run.

  86. 86.

    CarolDuhart2

    @PsiFighter37: It hasn;t been thousands of years. Muslims and Jews got along fine until the early 20th century. There were thriving Jewish communities in that part of the world for centuries. It wasn’t until Zionism kicked out about a hundred thousand Palestinians that the strife started.

    Islam considers Jews “People of the Book” like Christians-lesser but on the right path. There are Jews in Iran, after all, even after the Revolution.

    Most people conflate this conflict with the Crusades and those battles. But there was a long period of relative peace with the Ottoman Empire in charge.

  88. 88.

    Hal

    So I just turned 40 this year, and one thing I have noticed over the past few months is the number of posts on Facebook from “friends” that are in the range of self help mantra like “don’t let anyone else treat you bad” or posts about being strong, standing up for yourself etc.

    I feel like my life is in the dumps right now on many levels, but damn, is this what 40+ is like? It’s almost depressing as hell because by now I thought people in my age range would have their shit together. Maybe it’s just a reflection of the times we live in or just social media revealing what’s been kept more private in the past. Anyhow, there’s always 50+!

  89. 89.

    muddy

    @Pogonip: I have very heavy pans. Now I’m old and can’t toss them anymore. Have to stir. Am feeling pleased at this point that I can hold the really big one up with one arm to scrape it out. But they are present and at this point free.

  90. 90.

    raven

    @Hal: I hit the Wall in my 40’s. It was time to take stock and go in another direction. It was painful but it worked out.

  93. 93.

    Pogonip

    @Hal: I know a lot of nutty folks over 40, sorry. I think if you were a nutty young person, you’ll be a nutty old person.

    The more I learn about Facebook, the more firmly convinced I become never to go near it. (I would have to, of course, if I were in business for myself–even then, the account would be for the business, not me. You’d hear all about Pogonip’s Cheap Woks and nothing about Pogonip personally.)

  94. 94.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @KG:

    he’s not the type that is going to eat the still beating heart of a child (Cheney might, depending on what kind of wine you served with it)

    Some fava beans and a nice chianti.

  97. 97.

    Pogonip

    @muddy: I love curmudging. And in two months I’ll be 55–the best age for it. Assuming i don’t get hit by a truck. You know how people drive these days.

  101. 101.

    Howard Beale IV

    @Violet: Sadly, we won’t know until MAS releases the passenger manifest.

    As the only nation to have ever used nuclear weapons in anger, perhaps it’s time for a field test to make sure they still work-y’know, just in case shit gets real.

  102. 102.

    muddy

    @Pogonip: It’s hard to get a good curmudge on as a woman. My dad was a proud curmudgeon and people would praise him and say how delightful it was. They think I’m being a bitch.
    So, fuck them!

  103. 103.

    muddy

    @SiubhanDuinne: I assumed McCain was the one who operated the anti-aircraft gun, thinking it was aimed at Iran. But starting a war is the important thing, regardless of who what where.

  104. 104.

    Corner Stone

    @Pogonip:

    You’d hear all about Pogonip’s Cheap Woks

    With a small adjustment you could qualify for a tax exemption for religious entitities:
    Pogonip’s Cheap Woks and Good Works: Let Us Feed Your Belly and Your Spirit

  105. 105.

    Botsplainer

    From the Guardian:

    The International AIDS Society has released a statement, confirming that a number of the passengers were on their way to the international AIDS conference in Melbourne.

    The International AIDS Society today expresses its sincere sadness at receiving news that a number of colleagues and friends en route to attend the 20th International AIDS Conference taking place in Melbourne, Australia, were on board the Malaysian Airlines MH17 flight that has crashed over Ukraine earlier today.

    At this incredibly sad and sensitive time the IAS stands with our international family and sends condolences to the loved ones of those who have been lost to this tragedy.

  106. 106.

    Helen

    @Hal: What you need to do is stop imagining. I imagined that at 30 I would be BRILLIANT and everything would come together . No so much. OK, I said; at 40 I would be SMART (or at least smarter than the average bear) and rich. Not so much. Well, I imagined, at 50 I would NOT GIVE A SHIT. Well, golly that kinda happened. But here’s the rub. I am not bragging but…. You need to work at not giving a shit. It works; try it. When something freaks you, say “Hey Hal, so what? I don’t give a shit!!” Also – having money helps. Save your money, Hal. It buys you out of a lot of stress.

  107. 107.

    StringOnAStick

    @Hal:It seems like your 40’s is where more than a few people start thinking “I’m half done, and this is all there is? Crap!” For me it was when the career I went to graduate school finally and completely cratered as a victim of the early 1990;s economy. A few years working as a landscaper, house painter, and factory seamstress was a bit hard on my self esteem, so I was consuming self help stuff at a huge rate. Maybe some of your FB friends are feeling/experiencing the same career uncertainty?

    I turned 56 last week, and today I went on a 6 hour mountain bike ride. I’m completely, totally exhausted, but I went farther on this trail than I have ever been able to in the last 20 years. My back hurts, but nothing some good stretches won’t fix, as soon as I get the energy to do it.

  108. 108.

    James E. Powell

    @Bob In Portland:

    Well, the US never lies, so I’ll wait until the State Department tells us what to believe.

    As always, every road leads us right back to Benghazi!!!

  109. 109.

    Pogonip

    @muddy: Molly Ivins curmudged pretty well. If worst comes to worst, we can don fake beards, line Queen Hatshepsut, to do our curmudging.

  110. 110.

    Howard Beale IV

    Now we’re gonna see if the NSA/CIA is worth the money they get. Clock’s ticking, guys….

  114. 114.

    Cassidy

    @Hal: I wouldn’t put too much stick in it; that stuff is all over Facebook. Everyone needs a reason to get out of bed. It reminds me a lot of Fight Club tbh.

  115. 115.

    muddy

    @Pogonip: I get past some of it by being ginger. People expect you to go off even if they never saw you do it before. Sometimes the stereotype is annoying, but sometimes it’s quite liberating.

    Something else that’s liberating is not being so conscious of my appearance and presentation. I was very concerned with hitting the mark in all ways when I was young. Maybe it’s just an easier bar to clear to feel attractive when you’re in your 50’s? Mostly you just realize everyone else is consumed with their own shit, and never mind you.

  121. 121.

    GRANDPA john

    @Hal: i turned 77 last week. Until you get into that general age Span ,I wouldn’t worry much about the 40’s

  124. 124.

    JCJ

    @Botsplainer:

    Agree completely about the thin wok. My wife recently bought a new one at an Asian grocery store for about $15.00. She loves it and it does exactly what she wants when cooking Thai or other dishes. When we buy street food in Bangkok or elsewhere in Thailand when visiting my wife’s family we often laugh about how good the food tastes and how basic the cookware is. No one has expensive anodized whatever cookware there.

  128. 128.

    Mary G

    Thanks to everyone for the support. I shouldn’t have invaded Higgs’ privacy like that. He has done lots of work in the past and has a handle on what is out there for him now, if he choses. I am going on with my gardening and taking care of myself and the animals.

  129. 129.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    @Helen:

    HBM had decided that it was time to end his life. Many of us (me included) figured that if that was his choice then so be it, I wished him well, and hoped he would sleep well. Mary G decided (in a very courageous way) that there was no way in hell she was going to let that happen, and off she went and rescued him. It would appear that the two of them have been doing famously since then until this most recent problem. I too think that it is down to the fact that HBM has nothing left to build, he appeared to be doing great when he was building stuff for Mary G but now it appears that he has run out of projects and has reverted to his previous depression. I am hoping that Mary G can figure out something else to keep him engaged. Not that I am at all putting the onus on Mary G to save him from himself but she has been an absolute trooper thus far and I am hoping she can continue to be one.

  132. 132.

    JPL

    @Mary G: Thank you for sharing. I just signed on and want to wish both of you well. You are both beautiful people and commenters.

  133. 133.

    Bob In Portland

    Here.

    Big question. Did Ukrainian fighters accompany the airliner until three minutes before it was downed?

  134. 134.

    WaterGirl

    @Mary G:

    Higgs if you are reading this thread, I didn’t think the “Mary basically adopted him” was a fair characterization. That makes it seem like a one-sided deal, which it doesn’t appear to be from where I sit.

    Hard times, though. I know you have been very discouraged about all the crappy news on all sides lately. Me, too. We have had perfect weather lately – not hot, not humid – and still I’ve been cranky lately, which is pretty unusual for me. It all gets to you after while. Take care

  135. 135.

    Botsplainer

    @Corner Stone:

    That knot represents a thickness of 1/4 inch of petrochemical based fabric. If you held a match to it, the burn would take half the room

  136. 136.

    Karen in GA

    @Hal: I love the platitude-riddled FB posts. They’re up there with the “I’m so wounded” and the needless-defensiveness images that people post up all the time: “Until you’ve walked a mile in my shoes, you don’t know my pain, you don’t know what I’ve had to overcome, you don’t have the right to judge, I’ve seen more than you can imagine, so shut up and deal with it, because you might think I’m harmless now, but if you anger me…” (and yeah, it’s amazing how much they can fit in there, isn’t it?).

    I have an aunt who’s hit the Facebook trifecta — vaguebooking, misspellings, and caps lock. “SOME.PEPLE THINK THERE FUNNY BUT CARMA IS.A BITCH!”

    Or maybe it’s just my family — they’re a bunch of attention-seeking drama freaks. Ugh.

    I don’t blame Facebook for it, though. The people I always thought were smart and funny before Facebook came along are smart and funny on Facebook. The people who were always manipulative attention-seekers are manipulative attention-seekers on Facebook.

    Of course, none of that addresses your 40+ issue. I’m 46 myself, and I don’t have very much figured out, but I know that staying away from platitude-spouters and drama freaks is a good start.

    Wow, that was way more than I planned to write on the subject. I should get out more, maybe.

  137. 137.

    muddy

    @Mary G: You’re a good egg, and I wish I wasn’t on the other coast because I’d love to know you better. Cheers!

  139. 139.

    Bob In Portland

    @A Humble Lurker: Russia didn’t lie us into Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Libya and a whole bunch of other countries. I don’t want the US killing people for oil money.

  141. 141.

    Botsplainer

    @Bob In Portland:

    I’m going to remind the Frank Gorshin impersonator who runs Russia to lay off the asparagus as a courtesy to you in your efforts to please him so.

    Wipe your chin. Tidiness at all times.

  143. 143.

    Corner Stone

    @Botsplainer: I can’t stand Uncle Ronnie, but have to give him mad props. That old bastard had someone on staff who knew how to tie the fuck out of a tie.
    The tie he had during the debate with Carter at the LoWV was straight balls.

  144. 144.

    WaterGirl

    @Mary G: Hopefully Higgs can forgive your lapse on the privacy front, and so can you.

    I have a hard time letting it go when I am not happy with how I’ve handled something. If you or anyone else has suggestions on that front, I am all ears.

  145. 145.

    Violet

    @WaterGirl: Figure out what you’re getting from beating yourself up, then work on that. That’s my suggestion. A lot of energy goes into beating yourself up over something you did and that energy could be used for something much more positive.

  148. 148.

    Cervantes

    @Pogonip: Over-heated Teflon releases per-fluoro-octanoic acid, which is harmful to humans.

    PS: Re-consider, too, when you have a moment, that use of “Philistine.”

  152. 152.

    2liberal

    Apart from welcoming Zaid and awaiting Kay’s next dispatch, what’s on the agenda for the evening?

    waiting for TBOGGs next post.

  154. 154.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @GRANDPA john:

    Ah, so it’s YOU! I knew there was somebody here who was senior to me (I’ll turn 72 in a couple of weeks), but apologies, I couldn’t remember who that commenter was.

    Hope you are keeping fine.

  156. 156.

    Pogonip

    @Litlebritdifrnt: Boy, I did miss a lot. Had no idea he was contemplating suicide. I hope he reconsiders–if you decide you don’t like being dead, you can’t undo it all and start over tomorrow.

  157. 157.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Helen:

    I think it was only one thread. But I agree, MaryG has come up trumps again and again, and HBM is just an amazing craftsman. I wish both of them, separately and jointly, only the best.

  158. 158.

    Roger Moore

    My agenda is to spend some time recovering from a stressful few days at work. We got a surprise visit from the relevant federal regulatory agency, who have spent the past few days asking for records and asking questions. Nothing hostile or accusatory, and I have a clean conscience, but damn stressful anyway.

  160. 160.

    Ruckus

    @Mary G:
    Mary, I’m in SoCal, what can I do to help?
    Next, there is a 24 hr VA hotline
    800-273-8255
    Send Anne an email she can forward it to me. Let me know if you need physical help.

  161. 161.

    Pogonip

    @muddy: Once you pass 45, it seems like no one cares any longer whether you are dressed up and made up. This is very refreshing. Especially when you have developed some as yet unidentified allergy and your eyes itch all spring.

  162. 162.

    raven

    Our age-old sewer project went before the county commission “agenda setting” meeting tonight. It’s been 14 months since we broke ground, and the sewer line, and it’s great to see a report by the public utilities department that recommends acceptance of the bid. Now it has to clear one last hurdle at the next commission meeting on the 5th of August and the contractor can start the work!

  163. 163.

    PaulW

    All this horrifying stuff in the news, and I doubt anyone’s gonna notice that a Florida court overturned the state’s gay marriage ban…

  164. 164.

    Helen

    @Pogonip: I was in the coffee room at work today and a young girl said “can I wear this shirt untucked?” I laughed and laughed and said “I have been untucked and without heels for 2 years.” That being said, just last summer I stopped wearing panty hose. Yeah I am old. The first day I did it I called my sister and said “I feel like Kramer when he went camando “I am FREE Jerry, FREE!!!”

  166. 166.

    Pogonip

    @muddy: And let’s not forget the best part–no more periods! You can wear white every darn day from 1April through 30 September if you are so inclined. And I suppose during the other half of the year you could wear cream-colored “winter white.”

    Trivia time! Marilyn Monroe often wore white and often bled through onto it (she had severe gynecological problems). The press decently kept it quiet.

  167. 167.

    muddy

    @raven: After my recent obnoxious experience at Town Meeting I sympathize entirely with this ridiculous process. About time!

  170. 170.

    Pogonip

    @Helen: I feel sorry for girls these days. Those skin-tight clothes, especially the maternity clothes, look uncomfortable. There’s a time and place for sprayed-on clothes, and the time is not every day.

  171. 171.

    raven

    @muddy: Yea, we’ve come to a place where we are thankful this is happening. Watching the complexity of the survey, planning and design has help us realize that the fact that the entire neighborhood, including a school, sewer runs right through our yard makes this a big deal. For the city to spend $300k to move it is pretty good for us.

  172. 172.

    Hill Dweller

    I’m a big Maddow fan, but I’ll never understand why she thinks Andrea Mitchell is competent.

  176. 176.

    Helen

    JEEZ Andrea Mitchel is now repeating the “there were AIDS researchers on the plane” ‘reportedly’ I think any reporter saying any variation of “it has been reported…” should be fired, fined, and arrested. REPORT IT YOURSELF, ASSHOLE.

  177. 177.

    Corner Stone

    @Pogonip: It’s just…lady parts…I’m reminded of that awful time I actually typed out the word “vagina”. Gosh that was awful.
    Oh, darn.

  178. 178.

    JPL

    @Helen: Yup.. The plane was shot down cuz of researchers who could prove that Russia’s anti-gay laws were being enforced to stop the spread of dangerous cooties.

  180. 180.

    Hal

    @Hill Dweller:

    I’m a big Maddow fan, but I’ll never understand why she thinks Andrea Mitchell is competent.

    I feel the same about Chuck Todd. Ever since his ridiculously over the top IRS scandal quote, I can’t take him seriously.

    EDIT: Had to look it up just to make sure I wasn’t imagining:

    http://billmoyers.com/2013/07/09/how-the-media-outrageously-blew-the-irs-scandal/

    The pace at which the scandal went from zero to Watergate was breathtaking, with the narrative of a Nixonian plot to sic the feds on political enemies forming in the immediate hours after the IRS’ initial apology for the targeting on Friday, May 10. On NBC’s “Nightly News” that day, the first words out of White House correspondent Chuck Todd’s mouth were: “It harkens back to a Nixonian-type tactic, if you will, a political tactic here in the White House.”

  181. 181.

    catclub

    @PsiFighter37:

    I just don’t understand how you blow up a civilian airliner.

    you do know about the Iranian Airliner that the US shot down, and got remarkably little worldwide disapproval for, yes?

  184. 184.

    muddy

    They shot the shit out of an oil platform in the Persian Gulf too. I’d actually been on that platform a number of times, and at the time thought the 30′ shark I saw going past was the biggest threat.

  185. 185.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @raven:

    That sounds like really good news, Raven! Gosh*, it’s been an epic, hasn’t it?

    *In deference to Omnes, I should revise that sentence:

    Holy fucking Jesus balls, it’s been an epic, hasn’t it?

  189. 189.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Hill Dweller:

    I’m a big Maddow fan, but I’ll never understand why she thinks Andrea Mitchell is competent.

    I expect there are some things her contract demands.

  190. 190.

    MomSense

    @Mary G:

    MaryG don’t beat yourself up about this. You genuinely care about HBM–and so do we. He reached out to us when he was suffering and you were there for him. It’s ok for you to reach out when you need support.

    I am sending you both love and support and friendship.

  193. 193.

    Mandalay

    @Hill Dweller:

    I’m a big Maddow fan, but I’ll never understand why she thinks Andrea Mitchell is competent.

    She probably doesn’t. She also probably doesn’t think Chuck Todd, or “Mr. Rather” or Chris Matthews are especially competent either. In fact she may well think that they are all fuckwits, but she’s bought and paid for just like everyone else on cable news, and it’s part of her job to fawn over Andrea Mitchell.

    You may like her political views, and her talent, but she is still bought and paid for. And if she crossed the invisible line and pissed off her paymasters she’d be gone, just like Ashleigh Banfield and Phil Donahue.

  194. 194.

    Pogonip

    @muddy: Well, to be fair, I did mention gynecological problems–Marilyn Monroe’s, not mine. I don’t have any that I know of. Menopause, no sweat–literally. I had one hot flash, only from my knees down, oddly enough. I thought, “I see what they mean, that is unpleasant. I hope it doesn’t happen again.”. And it didn’t.

  195. 195.

    muddy

    @Anne Laurie: I go along those lines myself. You have mentioned this previous, and I was bummed not to get to go to the meet-up because I felt like maybe we were cousins from the auld sod. Love those books. I only found them a few years ago, I had always passed by because they were in Fantasy and not Science. Don’t generally like magic. This is a magic of a whole other kind! Love it, love them, those women are the best.

    I started reading Pratchett when I read a paragraph at Lance Mannion’s place about Mr. Tulip and Mr. Pin from The Truth, it was so perfect I went out instantly and got the book at the local store. I was actually having a Mr. Pin moment at the time. ;-) Then it was Winter and I had some bug, so I went over there and bought 3-4 at a time so I could read them in bed. Until I had them all. I was sad to have missed them for so many years, on the other hand it was really sweet to find something so perfect and have a big pile of it all at once. And have been read more than once, in different orders.

    I have been meaning to ask in here sometime if someone wanted to do some trades with me of Pratchett books. I turned my son on to them, and he couldn’t wait for new ones and got hardbacks of the last several. I have purpose built a bookcase special for my 30 (or whatever) paperbacks. These newer ones are lying horizontally which offends my eye. I’d be happy to trade my hardbacks for someone else’s paperbacks.

  197. 197.

    muddy

    @Pogonip: Oh, I missed that one, how could I have skimmed that? Just the sort of think I think should get in conversations. I have often called for feminine protection product commercials to be advertised with the appropriate colored liquid, they always show blue.

  199. 199.

    Bob In Portland

    @Botsplainer: Gee, I hope that made you feel good. I lost a lot of high school classmates in Vietnam. That war was based on a lie. You lose anyone in Iraq?

  200. 200.

    Bob In Portland

    @Chyron HR: You see, I don’t defend Putin or Russia.

    I point out that our last two dozen wars have been built on lies. The US. America.

    Russia did not lie us into Iraq to look for the WMDs. Russia did not commit Iran-contra. Russia did not lie us into Vietnam.

  201. 201.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    @Bob In Portland: Yeah, you have two tricks. One, US intelligence agencies are running everything. Two, the Russians are completely clean.

  202. 202.

    Bob In Portland

    @Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): Never said Russians are completely clean. No one is. But our intelligence agencies are particularly dirty. Maybe you hadn’t noticed that. Remember Operation Phoenix? COINTELPRO? Goes back a ways.

    Now, if the US intelligence services are starting wars all over the globe in order to control energy, are you for it or against it?

    This is not a trick, or a trick question.

  204. 204.

    Paul in KY

    @Hal: I’m 55 & having a great time. However, I have a well paying Civil Service job & plenty of off time, etc.

    I’m sure that helps a great deal.

Comments are closed.