White privilege, in the original French meaning of "private law", is real. Class privilege is too. http://t.co/ch1juiWhwG
— Noah Smith (@Noahpinion) August 28, 2014
From Quartz, “These seven charts explain how Ferguson—and many other US cities—wring revenue from black people and the poor“:
… Ferguson’s economy steadily withered over the last decade, as did its population. Yet even as the number of adult residents fell 11% between 2010 and 2013, fines collected by the city’s court system surged 85%, hitting $2.6 million last year…
In fact, arresting people for minor violations is exactly the point, as Brendan Roediger, professor at the Saint Louis University School of Law and supervisor of a local civil advocacy clinic, told Governing magazine. “They don’t want to actually incarcerate people because it costs money, so they fine them,” Roediger said, adding that Ferguson’s court sometimes hears as many as 300 cases per hour…
Davis X. Machina’s Law:
“The salient fact of American politics is that there are fifty to seventy million voters each of who will volunteer to live, with his family, in a cardboard box under an overpass, and cook sparrows on an old curtain rod, if someone would only guarantee that the black, gay, Hispanic, liberal, whatever, in the next box over doesn’t even have a curtain rod, or a sparrow to put on it.”
***********
Now that we’re all in the right frame of mind, what’s on the agenda for the evening?
Baud
I’m suddenly hungry for roasted sparrow.
Villago Delenda Est
The supreme irony here is it takes much more effort to wring farthings from the poor than it does to deprive the rich of part of their wealth that they’ll probably not even miss.
The worship of Mammon is the undoing of this country…followed closely by our worship of Moloch.
Baud
@Villago Delenda Est:
Too much worship of Mammon. Not enough worship of Baud.
Iowa Old Lady
I heard some billionaire talking about how economic inequality will destroy both the economy and our democracy. He drew a connection to Ferguson that hadn’t occurred to me, which was that what you see there are people who’ve been economically and politically disempowered for decades. He said you do that to enough people and you have to have a police state (as we saw) or you get pitchforks and guillotines.
muddy
Rachel Maddow was just saying that Alison Lundergan Grimes is going to be on Lawrence O’Donnell tonight, she says that she doesn’t do a lot of national media ordinarily. Now on to more important topics such as the president wearing a tan suit.
Michael Bersin
The Red Lily, Anatole France
“…For the poor it consists in sustaining and preserving the wealthy in their power and their laziness. The poor must work for this, in presence of the majestic quality of the law which prohibits the wealthy as well as the poor from sleeping under the bridges, from begging in the streets, and from stealing bread…”
? Martin
Sort of missed the punchline there a little:
In the last census, Ferguson had 21,203 people. Presumably it now has less given the declining population. That means the Municipal court issued 15% more warrants than there are people in the city – including infants – and heard more cases than there are working-age adults in the city.
The Ferguson legal system treats the city as a penal colony.
Villago Delenda Est
@Iowa Old Lady: The Koch brothers will have huge piles of money to ride out the result of their foolishness. They’re not worried at all. They’ve got plenty of loyal minions who will do their bidding.
Wipe them out. All of them.
Big R
Since people asked me to report back on the results of my first solo trial Monday:
Did not go well for my clients (I, on the other hand, was stellar). What came out of their mouths in trial was not what came out of their mouths in our meetings, which, well, is going to make their lives difficult. Luckily, I’m not done (no jury, so we still get to submit proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law).
MRK
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Baud: I am perfectly happy to worship bawd, but I prefer the term courtesan because I am fancy.
Dog On Porch
@Baud: “..some of the time, but you can’t fool all the people, all the time”.
Which is an adage applicable the other edge of the sword. To quote Hal Holbrook, “the fact is these guys just aren’t that smart”. Sure, they own the (hardy-har-har) “peoples airwaves”. But people en mass wise-up continually. Throw in the immutable law of unintended consequence, and hope. That’s what I do.
Mike in NC
GOP-controlled North Carolina has embraced the Tea Party philosophy of Kansas under Sam Brownback: tax cuts, tax cuts, and more tax cuts! It will destroy the vibrant NC film industry, among many other things, after 30 years of growth. Teachers are getting a whopping $150 raise per year under Governor Pat McCrory and his puppet master Art Pope. The tax burden has been shifted onto the bottom 99% to benefit the Koch brothers and their various PACs, like NC Rising, the latest wingnut group focused on electing sociopaths like Thom Tillis.
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
Iggy Azalea Fancy?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
“I want my neighbor’s cow to die”
@muddy: I wonder if that’s a sign of confidence, that she thinks the Koch recording may be Mitch’s 47% tape and/or the new info on his campaign manager may give her a big break.
I do like that Lundgren and Michelle Nunn and Mark Pryor seem to be fighting back.
Also occurs to me as I type that all three are legacies, which may explain to some degree their feelings, their instincts for their states, they’re getting good advice from old hands who know more about all politics being local than what the ghosts of Tim Russert and David Broder and Cokie Roberts would say about their campaigns.
Villago Delenda Est
@Mike in NC: The common thread of these twits is that they’re penny wise and pound foolish.
They also forget another bromide, it takes money to make money.
maya
@muddy:
Did he also wear pink shoelaces, a polka-dot tie and a big panama with a purple hatband?
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Baud: Damn right.
Baud
@Big R:
Glad to hear about your performance. You should start hiring better clients.
Villago Delenda Est
@maya: He also arrived in a Pimpmobile!
BobS
@Mike in NC: The Old South isn’t going to just stand idle and let Michigan Republicans set the standard for the New South.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Big R:
Happens to everyone at some point.
mai naem
NPR had a story(it may have originally been a ProPublica piece) last year about a Philly woman who lost her house because her son who was living with her got caught with some pot and the city or county put a lien on her house for his fines. His name was not on the property deed. Then there were people in either DC or Baltimore losing their long time owned houses for not paying property taxes. People bought the tax liens and then foreclosed on the houses. Houses worth hundreds of thousands for a few thousand $$$ because they areas were becoming gentrified.
Baud
@maya: @Villago Delenda Est:
Wearing these!
MikeJake
Ohio had to pass a law to require a minimum population of 200 for a village to have a mayor’s court, to abolish the courts of crappy little villages sprinkled around the state that raised nearly all their funding by ticketing motorists. One of those crappy little villages in the Cleveland area, Linndale, had about a 1/4 mile stretch of the interstate within its borders, with an overpass that was a great hiding spot for a speed trap, and for years they engaged in what could only be described as literal highway robbery on motorists traveling to and from Cleveland, for the benefit of a handful of village employees.
Home rule run amok.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Villago Delenda Est: An actual car owned by Isaac Hayes. Isaac was a bad m….
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
Shut your mouth!
Major Major Major Major
My flight is three hours late and it’s already taken two hours to get to the airport and I missed my train stop and my boyfriend is going to kill me
Whee
raven
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Michelle Nunn lost me when she hooked up with that fucking pig Zell Miller. I’ll vote for her but that’s it.
Ruckus
@Baud:
Have a friend who used to make shoes like those. Over 40 yrs ago.
BruceFromOhio
@Big R: It fucking stuns and amazes me when I hear about people who lie to their lawyer, or lie by omission of facts salient to the reason of having (needing) a lawyer in the first Gaia-damned place.
“Well, yeah, sure, I was drunk when I crashed/stealing from my employer/beating the shit out of her/busted previously for soliciting in the same restroom, but I wasn’t going to tell that to my lawyer!”
Cats in a fucking handbag, people are dumb as a box of rocks.
Villago Delenda Est
@Baud: But he’s talkin’ ’bout Issac!
Violet
@raven: What’s the story on that? I keep hearing she was involved with Zell Miller somehow but didn’t pick up on what happened there.
beth
@Villago Delenda Est: I turned on CNN and wondered why Huggy Bear was giving a press conference!
Villago Delenda Est
@BruceFromOhio:
See: Richard M Nixon some 40 years ago.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Villago Delenda Est: Then we can dig it.
muddy
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): I had a ’73 Thunderbird with a 429. Sky blue with a white top. Reminds me of that.
Hal
In my neck of the woods certain parking tickets, say for expired inspection, start out at 25 bucks. Not bad, except you only have 3 days to pay it. After 3 days, and until the 15th day, it goes up to 50. From day 16 on it is 100 dollars. The city then sends you a nice little note saying you can be jailed if you do not pay said fine. The big secret? They actually don’t jail people for parking tickets, at least not until you have many of them. But why tell that to a town full of poor folks when you can have them panicking and taking out pay day loans to pay off their parking tickets?
For some cities, falling revenue has been replaced with ticketing. DWI check points that catch far more people with broken tail lights than drunk drivers, forcing people to move their cars to different sides of the rode every night for street cleaning even though the street cleaner only comes around once a week at best. It reminds me of Elizabeth Warren talking about the credit card companies on Fresh Air and in the documentary Maxed Out. All these MBA’s who work hard to find ways to make more money off of people by instituting all these extra fees, all conveniently laid out in teeny tiny fine print no one ever reads.
? Martin
@muddy: You know who else used to wear a tan suit?
Ruckus
@MikeJake:
That was always fun, trying to remember exactly where that was, to make sure you weren’t a half a mile per hour over the limit. There were at least 2 towns around Columbus that had very short sections on rural roads where they’d post a lower speed limit for the 1/4-1/2 mile stretch within the city limits, except the signs were almost impossible to see until it was too late. You had to know where they were because the normal speed limit was like 35 and they’d lower it to 20 or 25 with no obvious changes to the road or surroundings. Ferguson is not the only small midwest town to have an armed revenue service.
Villago Delenda Est
@muddy: Those things were BOATS!
muddy
@? Martin: Everyone in the 50s?
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@? Martin: FDR?
@Ruckus: New Rome was one of them. Over near Hilliard.
Baud
TANGHAZI!
muddy
@Villago Delenda Est: I used to joke about gallons to the mile. But it was really cool because no one could cut you off. It just made a kind of shushing sound, and everyone was in the rear view.
? Martin
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): Needs a pair of chandeliers on the front corners to really carry the look.
Ruckus
@muddy:
Most people I remember had a black or dark blue suit unless they had more than one. All purpose, funerals, weddings, job interviews, etc. Don’t remember seeing tan until the 80’s.
SiubhanDuinne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
As is also Jason Carter, running for Governor in Georgia.
I don’t think legacies in and of themselves are necessarily terrible. Lots of people go into the family business, and why not? It’s what they’ve absorbed and trained for all their lives. I do think giving someone’s untalented or ill-equipped kid a pass because you like the old man, or owe him a favor, is a bad idea all around. Sometimes the distinction may not be immediately obvious to observers.
KS in MA
@maya:
lol
muddy
Who the fuck wants to wear a black suit in August anyway. At least he’s wearing a suit, and not a Member’s only jacket with the name embroidered on it, like some.
Violet
@? Martin:
James Bond.
Ruckus
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
That sounds right, but I can’t remember the names, just the places to make sure you watched your speed. Because you didn’t have to be driving fast at all, just unaware that the limit had dropped, and why.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Ruckus: Tan is pretty much a summer suit color.
raven
@Violet: Bond, James Bond
muddy
@Ruckus: Maybe because I lived in the Middle East? Not in the 50s, in the 60’s. I was looking at old slides this week because someone gave me a slide projector. Seemed like all the men wore light suits. Probably drank G&T to complete the effect.
schrodinger's cat
@muddy: I thought he looked rather nice in that suit.
Belafon
@Ruckus: That was an entire episode of the Dukes of Hazzard.
muddy
@schrodinger’s cat: I liked it too.
schrodinger's cat
Tan is a difficult color to wear for most people because it is so close to many skin tones. The wrong shade of tan or beige can make one look washed out. Grey is my go to neutral.
jacy
One of these days the sparrows, er, chickens are going to come home to roost, as my grandma would say. You can only stratify a society so much before something breaks and real violence occurs on a large scale. Don’t know how long it’ll take to get there, but I don’t see any other outcome.
Quick update for anyone not exhausted from hearing about the bad Lifetime movie my life has become this summer — I had an ultrasound and more bloodwork and met with my gynecologist — news not great, but not as bad as it could be. Tumor is the size of a football — yes, an actual football. It’s very probably malignant, but it could be what they call a low-malignancy tumor. Tests show it’s very probably not an epithelial cancer (the most aggressive) — my CA 125 numbers are normal. And there is no indication that it has obviously spread, which, considering how huge it is, is a good sign. So I’ve been referred to an oncologist, who will evaluate and set up surgery to remove whatever needs to be removed, the sooner the better. It’ll be a major surgery, possibly followed by chemotherapy once they’ve sampled the tumor and know for sure exactly what it is. So I’m just waiting for the oncologist to call me with an appointment date.
Now I just have to find a jar large enough to hold a tumor the size of a football
Ruckus
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
Was that the one southwest of Columbus, on 40 that had a block or two of it?
There were a couple in the northeast, around Westerville as well.
Gin & Tonic
@raven: Was Roger Moore the worst, or second-worst Bond? Discuss.
Gin & Tonic
@muddy: Ahem.
scav
King City, CA is one I remember and that police car parked in University Heights next to Iowa City. and I’m a non-driver.
KS in MA
@schrodinger’s cat:
Me too. He would look nice in a suit made from an old flour sack.
schrodinger's cat
BTW what is Maureen Dowd’s problem with Obama? She has written almost the same column three times in a row about how “Barry” sucks. I find her tiresome to the extreme,
Gin & Tonic
@jacy: No rule says you have to keep it.
muddy
@Gin & Tonic: Yes, sa’ab.
raven
@Gin & Tonic: I haven’t really been into that stuff since the early days but it was cool to go to Negril in the early 70’s while it was still like it was when Dr No was filmed there.
Violet
@Ruckus: There were a couple of those where I grew up too. Everyone knew if you were heading up that state highway that when you got near those little towns you slowed down. If you didn’t, you got a ticket. Speed trap.
My dad worked with a young guy who had a red sports car. One weekend he was heading out of town and obediently slowed down when he got near the first of the little towns because he knew all about the speed traps. Some other car zoomed past him and my dad’s coworker figured he was in the clear. Nope. The other car got away but they stopped him. Red sports car, the cop told him. Of course he was the one speeding. Don’t argue with me, son. That’s the price for having a red sports car.
schrodinger's cat
@jacy: If they haven’t done the biopsy yet how do they know that it is malignant?
ETA: Good luck! I am keeping my paws crossed for you.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Ruckus: Yep, that’s the one. I never got nailed in any of them.
@Gin & Tonic: Worst. Easily*
*No offense intended toward commenter Roger Moore.
Ruckus
@muddy:
I was a kid in the 50s in socal and even then not everyone wore a suit unless they had to. But I don’t recall seeing many tan suits until years later. In my middle class town, church, funerals, weddings, lawyers were about the only suits I saw.
muddy
@schrodinger’s cat: She freaked out so hard over Bill Clinton I had the impression she hit on him and was spurned. She knows “Barry” wouldn’t stand close enough for her to attempt it. It’s pre-emptive scorned stuff.
raven
@schrodinger’s cat: She said “very probably”. That isn’t “is”.
muddy
@jacy: I’m glad your news was “good” – as these things go. So glad they don’t think it has spread.
Violet
@jacy: Oh my goodness! It does sound like that’s reasonably good news, all things considered. A friend of mine had a massive abdominal tumor and when they did surgery it turned out not to be malignant. I hope the same for you. In any case it sounds contained, which is excellent news. And good news on the genetic testing.
Fingers crossed the surgery goes well and your recovery is swift.
scav
@jacy: Well, at least that’s one way to take off a chunk of weight with no accusations of frivolous vanity. Maybe just a photograph and a frame, a quick ultrasound mp4 like babies anymore?
Villago Delenda Est
@schrodinger’s cat: Her problem is that no one at the NYT will touch her, she’s damaged goods.
Yes, I know, vicious and sexist, but frankly the woman deserves it.
BruceFromOhio
Mmmm, sparrow. Goes well with a nice Reisling. Or some MD 20/20.
Loading drivers and software on the new-to-us laptop so the OffspringFromOhio has a decent machine to use for the school year, looking forward to a beautiful Labor Day weekend in the Buckeye.
And the Browns are notching a meaningless win over the Bears practice squad.
Mnemosyne
@jacy:
FWIW, my stepbrother was diagnosed with stage 3B lung cancer about a month ago and apparently the tumor is responding really well to the chemotherapy — shrinking every week, hard for the doctor to get cancerous cells from it to biopsy, etc. Hopefully that kind of good news will be coming for you as well!
Ruckus
@jacy:
Take whatever good news you can get.
Hoping everything works out OK.
raven
@BruceFromOhio: And they are still in a rain delay at Vandy!
oops, just kicking of and the crowd is tiny.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@jacy: Good thoughts headed your way.
Mnemosyne
@Gin & Tonic:
I am easily grossed out, but I’m not sure I would be able to resist keeping it, myself. Sounds like it may need a gallon jar to keep it, though. Maybe even 2 gallons.
Violet
@schrodinger’s cat: Maureen Dowd is not worth reading. Whatever her problem is with President Obama it’s HER problem. It’s in her mind. It has no basis in reality. She’s easy to psychoanalyze because so much of what she writes is projection.
Villago Delenda Est
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): A lot of people dis Timothy Dalton, but I really liked him, even if Licence to Kill was not all that great, I really liked The Living Daylights. I also liked Pierce Brosnan, particularly in Goldeneye. It helped, I’m sure, that he was playing opposite of Sean Bean who as usual was superb before he was killed off.
Gin & Tonic
Nothing compared to jacy’s issues, but I traveled two hours today to see an old, old friend, a dentist, to get him to give me a second opinion (well, third by now) on some work that I think my “normal” dentist fucked up on. He looked at the x-rays, looked in my mouth and said “too bad I don’t still have kids in college.” Har, har. I’ve drank enough booze with him to float a boat over the decades, so he can say that, but that’s not news one wants to receive.
CaseyL
@jacy:
Gotta have a trophy to show people. A large pickle jar should do the trick.
Best of luck with the surgery!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@schrodinger’s cat: her piece on pot was some pretty unethical “journalism”, but because a surprising number of adults respond to the subject of marijuana like 4 year old giggling over the word “poopy”, nobody seems to have noticed.
as far as her take on Obama, I really think she’s frustrated because she hasn’t been able to get a hook in him. I can’t remember the last time I saw even a Villager refer to one of her columns favorably, unless you count Laura Ingram. Not even Tweety.
Speaking of people driven a little nutty by Obama: Ron Fournier took to twitter the other day to defend Cornel West from Jonathan Chait.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Villago Delenda Est: I thought Lazenby was okay as well. My rankings: 1. Connery 2. Craig 3. Dalton 4. Lazenby 5. Brosnan 6. Moore.
raven
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: That idiot Mornin Joe has the last couple of days.
Anne Laurie
@jacy: Ask your favorite diner for a five-galloon pickle/condiment jar. And make sure your surgeon knows to keep it for you!
(Yeah, I couldn’t resist, either. My surgeon wouldn’t even save the gallstone he said was the size of a golfball, and mine was one of the last full-incision, two-hands removals, too.)
Srsly, you’ll be in my thoughts & prayers.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@raven: ah. My old man likes to say, water finds its own level.
jacy
@schrodinger’s cat:
You know how doctors give you news — hedging and probabilities. At least she thought that the radiologist had jumped the gun with “adenocarcinoma,” which is apparently exceedingly rare, and pretty grim. She said she’d never seen one of those in real life. The only reason she gave me for thinking it probably malignant was the size, so who knows? I’ve read enough research over the last couple of days to know that it’s all just guesswork until they actually look at a cross-section….
@Gin & Tonic:
Anything having to do with teeth gives me the willies. Hope it’s not too terrible… I think there’s good reason that a lot of people’s anxiety dreams have to do with their teeth falling out.
J R in WV
@jacy:
Wow!
At least they found it now, and can do what is needed to protect you as much as can be done.
It doesn’t sound as bad after the details as it starts out. Best of luck, I will think of you late at night, hoping you are alright.
jacy
@scav:
I actually have lost about 30 pounds since the I found out about my husband and the tramp– I just stopped eating for several weeks — so now you can actually see the tumor, which is kind of creepy. I figure by the time I’m able to get out of bed again after surgery I’ll weight the least I’ve weighed since I was about 17. Now if I could only figure a way to market that…..
Mnemosyne
@Gin & Tonic:
Have you talked to your current dentist about the problem? When I had a root canal that had to be re-done by an endodontist, my dentist gave me a credit for what he’d charged me for the initial root canal. At a minimum, s/he should refund you whatever you were charged for the screwed-up work.
(The root canal problem wasn’t my dentist’s fault, really — it turns out that I have oddly shaped roots that need an endodontist’s equipment — but I appreciated the credit.)
PurpleGirl
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): And blue and white searsucker among certain upper crust groups. Also white dinner jackets and black pants for parties.
mai naem
@jacy: I don’t know if this piece applies to your situation, I only mention it because you mentioned a gynecologist.
bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/2013/12/17/boston-surgeon-and-physician-wife-push-stop-com…
muddy
@PurpleGirl: I went to a wedding 5 years ago, and a guy wore one. I had never seen one in real life before. He was a fussy kind of person, mid 60’s.
ETA: I was unclear, I meant the seersucker blue and white.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@PurpleGirl: Seersucker is great for summer (very comfortable), but it is a bit cliche and I don’t think it should be worn after dark. It is one of the reasons that tan gabardine is out there.
srv
God bless America
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@srv: The US didn’t invent waterboarding. It’s been around for hundreds if not thousands of years.
Mnemosyne
@srv:
Don’t worry, I have it on full authority from the New York Times that waterboarding isn’t really torture. It’s just like fraternity hazing!
scav
@jacy: I was wondering about that sudden realization there’s essentially an alien inside and the sudden desire to keep poking it. How did I miss that!?. I had a similar realization with a brain tumor (large counting merely thumb sized) but that they took out within days and it wasn’t very pokable.
Roger Moore
@MikeJake:
California created the CHP specifically to stop that kind of traffic ticket farming. Municipalities aren’t allowed to issue tickets for traffic infractions on California or US highways, though they are still allowed to stop motorists for criminal violations like DUI.
Mnemosyne
@scav:
I was tempted to link to the relevant scene in Aliens, but I don’t want to freak poor jacy out more than necessary.
(Not the one in Alien with John Hurt — the one in Aliens where Ripley has a nightmare.)
mai naem
This must be the article(very long) that the NPR story was based on. Its crazy. newyorker.com/magazine/2013/08/12/taken
scav
@Mnemosyne: I think there’s generally a phase where it’s like you don’t know how to operate your own body and don’t quite trust what your nerves are telling you. How do you know what they are calling heart burn is the same as what you’ve been calling heartburn? Is that where the heart actually is anyway? I ended up with facial paralysis and actually spent a day mildly panicking if I would be able to chew properly the first time I got solid food. And oh that burger was such a disappointment when it showed up. I think now I’d prefer the imagery from Dr11 walking into a tree: “Steering’s still a bit off.” “Everything tastes wrong!”
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@PurpleGirl: if I’m correctly remembering a profile of Thomas Frank by Ana Marie Cox from a few years back, he likes seersucker suits and bow-ties, which came back to me last week when I saw that he was interviewing Cornell West, I imagined them sitting together sharing their studied disdain for Obama and complimenting each other on their studied sartorial affectations. The only one missing would have been Michael Moore in his sweatshirt, ball cap, ill-fitting sport coat and passionate outrage.
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): Ronald Reagan wore a brown suit and a red-checked shirt when he spoke at the ’92 RNC convention, which I remember because around that same time, I read an article about the Gipper’s old pal Sinatra that said he hated to see a man in a brown suit after five. Such a man was a “Clyde”, which I gather was worse than a square.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Tan isn’t brown, but, in any case, all of my suits are blue or grey. It makes the time of day thing easier. For the real seersucker folks, a switch to a DJ around dark would happen anyway. FWIW wingtips are daytime shoes. I don’t own any.
ETA: The all of my suits are blue or grey statement is inaccurate. I have a Prince of Wales check suit with both blue and grey.
Mnemosyne
@mai naem:
I read that article, and it’s very good (though depressing as hell). Some places are literally committing highway robbery: Give us all of your cash and we won’t send you to jail on trumped-up charges.
The threatened trumped-up charges? Having too much cash. It’s a great catch, that catch-22.
Mike J
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
Wingtips were originally hunting shoes. Very, very casual wear, as mens business wear goes.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
it was the after dark, after five thing that made me think of the brown suit. Not suggesting you’re a Clyde. Also, I’m amused by the idea of a friendship between Ronald Reagan and Frank Sinatra, one who loved TV dinners while watching Little House on the Prairie, the other loved gallons of Jack Daniels and a young Shirley MacLaine. And apparently dumped Lauren Bacall.
Also, too, Jack Donaghy in a tux: “It’s after six, what am I? a farmer?” apparently inspired by Tina Fey’s perception of Lorne Michaels
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Amused or disturbed?
Origuy
I remember a family trip from Indiana to DC in the mid 60s. On the way back, my dad got a speeding ticket in, I think, Chillicothe. I have a vague recollection of having to go to the courthouse to pay it. That was before the interstates were finished. I also remember going through narrow roads in West Virginia.
If Scotland votes for independence, the US president will certainly be invited to whatever ceremony they have. I’m hoping Obama wears a kilt.
StringOnAStick
@mai naem: The procedure described in that article doesn’t apply to Jacy’s situation. Since there is a risk of Jacy having cancer, there is no way they will try removing the tumor in more than one piece – they don’t want to cut it up and set loose a bunch of
potentially malignant cells. They will do as large an incision as they need to in order to remove it in one piece. The fact that her doc thinks it is well-contained is very good news for her and for the surgeon too.
The procedure described in that article was used to remove benign uterine fibroids laproscopically, which means tiny incisions and using a specialized device to chew up the fibroid while suctioning the debris out of there. It was the standard for a long time, and then it was done at least once for what they thought was a typical fibroid and it was a malignant mass instead, with poor results. The manufacturer of the device has recalled it because of that. I have a friend on Medicaid who needs fibroid removal and wants to preserve her chance to have another child, but because of this change it means instead of a simple set of tiny incisions, it will be like having a C-section.
karen
@jacy:
I was just in your shoes and I know it’s a scary time. If you need to talk, let me know or email the Front Pagers and they can give you my email address. Hopefully your cancer cells are not invasive and once they get the tumor out, you’ll be golden. Thoughts and prayers for you, Jacy.
Elizabelle
@Big R:
Sounds like an understatement. Laughing, which your clients may not be doing at present.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Elizabelle: My rule: tell the truth to doctors and lawyers. Tell whatever you want to anyone else.
pseudonymous in nc
The variation I heard once: “if someone would only guarantee that the other guy doesn’t get any ketchup.”
jacy
@karen:
Thanks so much — one of the great things that I’ve found being in this situation is that so many people (BJers, my clients, fellow writers, Facebook friends from high school) have been so supportive and just so nice. It really means so much and makes the scary or sad moments at least bearable. The worst thing for me (especially with my husband — who was really my best friend for 17 years — just suddenly basically absent for most of this) is the terrible silence when you’re alone and there’s nobody to talk to. If you’d like to talk, you can email me from the contact form on my website — even when I’m freaking out, I try to keep on top of my email.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@pseudonymous in nc: What kind of barbarian puts fucking ketchup on a sparrow? Clearly, sparrows are a hollandaise bird.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@Big R:
This reminds me of a comment from a quote from a commuter rail operator, back when I was a transit consultant: “We could run a hell of a railroad if it weren’t for all these damn passengers.”
Anne Laurie
@Origuy:
I’m sure the “experts” have already decided what tartan he should wear, based on Ann Dunham’s bloodline. But should that happy day dawn, one suspects the notorious Special Relationship will require that the President, at most, send Joe Biden to represent us…
John Revolta
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Hell, Sinatra dumped Marilyn.
On the other hand, when Reagan met Nancy, she apparently had a reputation as “the BJ Queen of Hollywood”. And I ain’t mean Balloon Juice.
So there’s that.
Anne Laurie
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
Nobody loves the English or house sparrow more than I do, but let’s be honest: they’re guttersnipes.
Also, there’s a running gag in Pratchett’s Discworld books, where rats (fried, boiled, escallopped, or onna stick) are a Dwarvish delicacy. But always with ketchup!
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Anne Laurie: Let us never suggest mayonnaise as appropriate for anything. FWIW rats would be best with Sriracha, but if people don’t like the spice, ketchup would be the next choice.
James E. Powell
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
You know what they put on sparrows in Amsterdam? Mayonnaise! I seen ’em do it.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@James E. Powell: I love that city. I’ve even picked out the house on Brouwersgracht in Jordaan that I want to buy. Despite that, mayo is wrong. Here I stand, I can do no other.
Villago Delenda Est
@Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason: System administrators feel pretty much the same way about the “lusers” of the system.
Villago Delenda Est
@James E. Powell: The Germans love mayo with their French Fries (or, as they’re known in the Vaterland, Pommes Frites.
Villago Delenda Est
@Mnemosyne: The best there is!
scav
There’s mayonnaise and there’s mayonnaise, much as there is ketchup and ketchup, mustard and mustard. Stuff in jars is food product cheese level.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@scav: And all of the mayonnaise is evil. It is known.
John Revolta
@Anne Laurie: The common English Sparrow is neither English nor a sparrow!
Well, that’s what it says in my Golden Nature Guide. You gonna argue with Herbert S. Zim?
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@John Revolta: But what is its wing speed?
scav
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): In your narrow goateed universe, it may be so.
eta. My universe came equipped with Josè-Luis and a copper bowl. He managed a mean Paella over a BBQ grill as well. sorry his timeline didn’t extend to yours–he’d be good in a beard.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@scav: I do not live in a goateed universe. My face demands a clean-shaved world.
Anne Laurie
@Villago Delenda Est:
Garlic mayo… or, if you prefer, aoili… is objectively the best dip for fries!
scav
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): Well then perhaps you may live in hope of stumbling across Josè-Luis. At the very least, let him feed you all the little flowery octopus and rabbits and other bits.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Anne Laurie: Now you are just trolling.
SectionH
@Anne Laurie: As sold by CMOT Dibbler.
scav
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): Moules-Frites.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@scav: I don’t deny that the Belgians have done something wonderful with mussels. I just object to their treatment of frites. YMMV – mine won’t.
SectionH
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): Amsterdam is no paradise either. The Dutch healthcare system is being gutted in terms of coverage and IDK what else – Interesting perspective from a friend who moved to the Nederlands many years ago, and now resides in Sweden, and seems to like it. He is just a bit, no, srsly left wing, but honestly, some of the alarmist things he posts seem to be real.
I love Amsterdam – and many other places in the Netherlands – anyway (“rich” American), but I can’t deal with <8 hours of sun/day. And rain, fog, just uuuuh-ness. They did invent "cozy" for a reason.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@SectionH: FWIW I have also picked out places in London, Paris, and Rome.
Suzanne
@jacy: Glad to hear from you—you’ve been in my thoughts. Glad to hear that the news is not all bad, but, holy shit, a FOOTBALL?!?!
SectionH
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): Well, places in Canary Wharf – we were there last week, and I always pick up any realtor’s papers – were kinda imaginable, as in we’d trade down sq ft. Like by half…
John Revolta
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): Do you mean an English or a common house sparrow?
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@John Revolta: None of your fucking business, damn you. Damned intrusive people these days.
Villago Delenda Est
@John Revolta: Well, an African swallow, may be, but not a European swallow.
Villago Delenda Est
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): You haven’t experienced the true mayonnaise craziness of Korea, have you? Where riots would break out in the Seoul commissary when a banana shipment came in? Where mayo was rationed because all these Korean wives of GIs would try to buy cases to sell on the black market right outside the gates of Yongsan? Rice was rationed, too, to prevent rice profiteering, along with the usual things like cigarettes and hard liquor and beer. Interestingly, wine was not rationed, as there was no market for it on the local economy…the Koreans were not into wines.
John Revolta
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): You’ll never get across the Bridge of Death THAT way, boyo.
Amir Khalid
Some here had already predicted this, so we can’t claim to be surprised. But this was no industrial accident; this was the result of a willful, systemic recklessness about firearms.
R-Jud
@jacy: Best of luck, jacy. Hope you get some fun post-op drugs. FWIW, my mom had a 6-pound ovarian tumor about the size of a basketball removed back in 2000, and it was benign.
Fred Fnord
@MikeJake: That can’t be right… local police can’t ticket on an interstate, can they?
Original Lee
@Ruckus: One of my aunts was notorious for driving very very fast on the interstates. She had a Cadillac of some kind (I was very young at the time and don’t remember the model), and having spent some time driving on the Autobahn when her first husband was stationed in Germany, was not uncomfortable with 100+ mph. She always collected at least one speeding ticket when she came to visit us in the summer. IIRC, one town would see her coming and call further down the road for a barricade.
MikeJake
@Fred Fnord: Ohio is a home rule state, which means municipalities have the same enforcement authority as the state within their territory. As the state can ticket speeders on the interstate, so can local police.