I’m too busy to post anything of substance, but here’s an open thread for general use, with one exception: For the love of sweet baby Jeebus, no Hillary Clinton comments!
It’s an open thread, so if you want to talk about how Hillary Clinton will triumphantly sweep to victory and stock the Supreme Court with Ruth Bader Ginsburg clones, I won’t stop you. Or if you insist on telling us how Hillary is depriving lesser-known Democrats of oxygen to suffocate the party, I’m not going to delete your comment or anything.
I’m just saying there might be more fruitful avenues of discussion right now. Read any good books lately? Discovered a new TV show or sleeper movie? Got a great recipe everyone should try? Share!
Hildebrand
Finished watching all of the Agent Carter episodes – that was a great show. Hope they bring it back for another series. In other, more productive, news – the sale of the home proceeds as smoothly as possible, the termite inspection was done today (no issues), the general inspection was good (nothing to fix), the appraiser was here this weekend, and the two moving companies were in today to give estimates for the move.
Xantar
Well, there’s that Apple event that’s happening in a few minutes. Hopefully they don’t overlay it with a Chinese translator this time.
Kate P
How about an animal rescue story for the Monday morning blues? I volunteer on the weekends at my local shelter. Yesterday I saw a new arrival an almost 15 year old cat who was owner surrender because the “didn’t have time for him”. We all know how time consuming old cats are. He broke my heart, kept his face turned towards the wall. I posted a picture and the story on FaceBook when I got home and within 2 hours it had reached 1500 people. I am going to pick up the cat at 5 today for a foster to adoptive home situation. The adopter is in Columbus so we have to wait a while for transport. Fingers crossed that all works as planned.
Bobby B.
I saw a documentary last night about Edmund Hillary’s accomplishments and later enjoyed some P-funk by George Clinton.
geg6
If you are not watching American Crime on ABC, you are missing the best television show on any channel, bar none.
Amir Khalid
I rather like this detective-novel series by JK Rowling. It does look like Cormoran Strike is headed for a big confrontation with his assistant/partner in training Robin Ellacott’s self-centred City oik of a fiancé. Probably as soon as the next book.
different-church-lady
You’re saying you want us to look at an object that isn’t shiny?
chopper
anybody try hillary clinton’s cookie recipe?
Josie
@geg6: When does it run?
scav
There are also any number of other traditional obsessions and deceased horses to play with. Putin reveals secrets of Russia’s Crimea takeover plot where the BBC says has weeks of planning stuffed in before the referendum. The beeb is also reporting the detail that the OK SCE frat is criticizing bystanders for not intervening during its ravist chant. (Apparently taking and putting up the video wasn’t intervening in the correct manner for their taste.). Any takers for the young male caucasoid culture of personal responsibility ring of the circus?
nancydarling
I’m re-reading “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”. My son’s sweetie just got a bigger bike (so she can keep up with him on hills) and she wanted to learn to change the oil herself. She got me thinking about Pirsig’s cult classic.
Violet
Anyone have experience with community gardens? If so, do you have contracts or forms the gardeners sign releasing the property owner and the other gardeners from liability should someone get injured or for any other reason? I’d think so but I’m getting pushback in an organization I’m involved with. Would welcome input and any experience others have.
Google shows me I’m right, with all sorts of community gardens posting their legal documents and I even found a legal toolkit for community gardens. I can’t believe I’m getting arguments against doing this from people. Ugh.
Amir Khalid
@scav:
Well, how would the fraternity have wanted bystanders to intervene? By shushing the racists, as if they were going to listen?
opiejeanne
Watched “Chef” last night, and what a sweet little gem of a movie it is.
Reading Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch series, starting out of order with “The DROP”. Excellent writer; enjoying it very much.
And today’s my 65th birthday. YAY!
andy
I’m really liking the winter anime season. I hadn’t been that hopeful for it, but I’m really enjoying Assassination Classroom, Maria the Virgin Witch, Death Parade, and Yuri Kuma Arashi. Gourmet Girl Graffiti and Cute High Earth Defense Club are sort of acquired tastes, and even Kan Kolle has it’s moments. With all this plus second series for Aldnoah Zero and Tokyo Ghoul, my 2D vs 3D lifestyle is pretty complete now.
raven
@Xantar: Looks fine. HBO on Apple TV in April.
JPL
I’ve been reading the twitter feeds about the Tsarnaev trial. After reading some of the testimony it would be difficult for me, not to vote for the death penalty. I always prided myself as opposed to the death penalty but I have this overwhelming desire for him never to look at the same sky as the victims.
raven
@opiejeanne: Get that card?
Another Holocene Human
@chopper: Why are those first lady cookie recipes always vile?
I can’t eat gluten any more due to a digestive disorder, but Toll House chocolate chip cookies have always been the ultimate American cookie recipe to me.
Best day in high school chemistry class was when the teacher handed out the recipe with the ingredients listed by chemical names as a stunt and you didn’t get a passing grade* unless the cookies were edible. Ohhh yeahhhh.
*-okay it was bonus points, and the teacher kind of flubbed what to call chicken eggs, “Gallus gallus ova” would have sufficed. I can’t remember what stupid elocution was on the paper, but fortunately I knew how to make cookies already so it wasn’t hard to guess
pps: this was also the class where we titrated oral anti-acid pills with acid, with super carcinogenic phenyl phthalene as a visual marker, but it went horribly wrong because those darn manufacturers put all kinds of binders and maybe buffers and other shit in there. I was the only holdout who refused to fake my data and got the worst grade. Still bitter.
ppps: I didn’t find out about micro-chem until after I’d chosen not to go into chem as a career because “get all the cancers” like my dead chem g-parents, also bitter about that, additionally, especially because chem majors could pay off their own student loans and no grad school required, mother fuckers
NonyNony
Actually my read on that was the national chapter of the SCE is criticizing bystanders for not intervening. As in “hey you heard these assholes making a racist chant and nobody around them tried to shut them up – you’re just as guilty as they are, if you think about it”.
To which I say – bullshit. The national chapter should have stuck with expressing shock and horror and revoking the charter and kept their judgmentalism about people who don’t want to step in and get in a confrontation with a gang of (possibly drunk) racist idiots to themselves.
Amir Khalid
@opiejeanne:
And a very happy birthday to you.
Roger Moore
@scav:
The thing about them being suspended by the national fraternity is a wonderful piece of ass covering. The national fraternity is shocked to discover that a lily-white chapter is full of racists. Yeah, right. They’re just upset the idiots got caught on camera.
Phylllis
@Amir Khalid: If you like those (and I’ve enjoyed them), you might also like Oliver Harris’ DI Nick Belsey series: The Hollow Man and Deep Shelter.
Currently reading My Thoughts Be Bloody by Nora Titone, about John Wilkes Booth and the rivalry between him and his brother Edwin.
Germy Shoemangler
I’ve been thrilled re-reading Clarence Day’s “This Simian World”
He imagines a race of men who evolved not from simians, but from cats:
A race of civilized beings descended from these great cats would
have been rich in hermits and solitary thinkers. The recluse would
not have been stigmatized as peculiar, as he is by us simians. They
would not have been a credulous people, or easily religious. False
prophets and swindlers would have found few dupes. And what generals
they would have made! what consummate politicians!
Don’t imagine them as a collection of tigers walking around on their
hind-legs. They would have only been like tigers in the sense that
we men are like monkeys. Their development in appearance and
character would have been quite transforming.
Instead of the small flat head of the tiger, they would have had
clear smooth brows; and those who were not bald would have had
neatly parted hair–perhaps striped.
Their mouths would have been smaller and more sensitive: their
faces most dignified. Where now they express chiefly savageness,
they would have expressed fir and grace.
They would have been courteous and suave. No vulgar crowding
would have occurred on the streets of their cities. No mobs.
No ignominious subway-jams.
Imagine a cultivated coterie of such men and women, at a ball,
dancing. How few of us humans are graceful. They would have
all been Pavlowas.
opiejeanne
@raven: yup. I’m officially an old person now; even the guvmint says so.
Jane2
I’m packing for Northern Ireland and can’t wait to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in a city where half the residents don’t. And make it clear they don’t. I plan on listening to a lot of music drinking a lot of Smithwick’s in the parts that do.
Villago Delenda Est
Hillary Clinton PERSONALLY cropped George W. Bush out of the Selma bridge mass photo.
Jane2
@opiejeanne: Happy Birthday!! I hope you have the list of seniors discounts ready.
Tommy
@nancydarling: One of the best books I’ve read, and I’ve read a lot. I just went on a book buying spree on Google Play the other day. I might have 1,000 books in my house. Heck my father has so many books he bought the house across the street from where he lives to put them all.
Told myself I’d never read a book on my phone or tablet. But I did and I have to say it is a very enjoyable experience. The first one I read was Dan Brown’s Inferno. I don’t know much about architecture nor Rome/Itlay. That I could look up an architecture phrase or click a word and see the place on Google was amazing. Mentioned this to my father and I think he wants to disown me.
Belafon
@andy: Where are you seeing those?
Violet
@scav: I’m sure there are probably some SAE chapters that are different, but all the ones I’ve encountered have been white and rich and well-connected. In other words, entitled asshats. That would be the fraternity where the people whose parents’ or grandparents’ names were on the buildings would be.
JPL
@Villago Delenda Est: It would be nice of someone to point out the picture was centered on the lady in the wheelchair who is over ninety. It had nothing to do with Bush.
raven
@opiejeanne: The damn thing is so big it won’t fit in my wallet!
Cacti
A Mississippi Sheriff’s Deputy has been fired, following his racist rant on Xbox Live to another gamer, and posting his badge number to prove his identity.
What’s the over/under on months until this clown is working for another Police Department?
scav
@Amir Khalid: Well, one can only imagine. Maybe there’s an opening for a little helicopter parenting app that pops up like a paperclip. “You seem to be <chanting a racist chant>/<over-imbibing>/<raping someone>. Your Brand Managment supervisor/Parental Units/Fraternal Networking Infrastructre suggests you stop.”
Another Holocene Human
@JPL: There’s no reason justice can’t be served with 20 years in prison, and then he could reintegrate into society, preferably a society across the ocean because people in Boston hold some motherfucking grudges.
I’m pissed about how the Waltham police, the Watertown police, and the FBI fucked up. I’m pissed he’s the only one standing trial when there were other people involved. And I don’t understand why we can’t have this conversation that teenagers do mega stupid things and will often follow family members or friends into anti-social behavior because they don’t have a strong enough sense of their own identity, their empathy for others is not what it will be later in life, and they don’t understand the consequences of their actions. Dangerousness drops dramatically with age for most kinds of criminals. I don’t think he’s a psychopath and I don’t think he’s a Breivik. So why are we so scared of this guy that we have to hang him high?
Shit, I don’t even know if this kid will survive the federal pen. How do you get retribution out of the guy who wasn’t even the driving force? How do you exorcise your fears on someone who is so physically and emotionally vulnerable himself? You don’t.
Villago Delenda Est
@JPL: Well, you know, a reasonable human would figure that out on his or her own.
But we’re not dealing with reasonable humans. We’re dealing with wingtards.
Another Holocene Human
@Cacti: Well that’s depressing news I can use.
Tommy
@Violet: I would not have a problem signing any document you wanted me to, but I can easily see how others might not. Just playing the Devils Advocate here I’d say something like really, do we have to make everything so complex. Can’t we just plant a darn garden.
Villago Delenda Est
@Cacti: I hear Ferguson is hiring.
SatanicPanic
@Cacti: well Ferguson would be the obvious destination
Germy Shoemangler
Some more from Clarence Day (1920), and then I’ll stop:
The super-cat-men would have rated cleanliness higher. Some of
us primates have learned to keep ourselves clean, but it’s no
large proportion; and even the cleanest of us see no grandeur in
soap-manufacturing, and we don’t look to manicures and plumbers for
social prestige. A feline race would have honored such occupations.
J. de Courcy Tiger would have felt that nothing /but/ making soap, or
being a plumber, was compatible with a high social position; and the
rich Vera Pantherbilt would have deigned to dine only with manicures.
None but the lowest dregs of such a race would have been lawyers
spending their span of life on this mysterious earth studying the
long dusty records of dead and gone quarrels. We simians naturally
admire a profession full of wrangle and chatter. But that is a
monkeyish way of deciding disputes, not feline.
We fight best in armies, gregariously, where the risk is reduced;
but we disapprove usually of murderers, and of almost all private
combat. With the great cats, it would have been just the other way
round. (Lions and leopards fight each other singly, not in bands,
as do monkeys.)
Cacti
@Another Holocene Human:
20 years for 3 counts of premeditated murder?
Ummmm, no.
Mandalay
Senior executives of HSBC, the second largest bank in the world, are currently being skewered by British MPs over their bank’s provision of tax evasion services in Switzerland. They are denying all knowledge of course, which led to this response:
Same old, same old. Until the people at the top end up behind bars this is just pablum for the masses.
Pogonip
@Germy Shoemangler: Bullshit. Every vertical object in their society would reek of the urine of males. Also too, buses would never run on time because riders would stand in the door for several minutes before getting off.
Violet
@Tommy: We absolutely can. Until someone injures themselves and decides to sue. Because that’s what some people do. The paperwork is to protect the landowner and the other gardeners from that kind of stupidity.
It’s not even that hard. There are examples of it all over the internet. You just copy and paste the name of your garden into it and done.
Origuy
@Hildebrand: GIven your nym, I’m wondering if you’ve read Hild, by Nicola Griffith? It’s a historical novel based upon the life of the Anglo-Saxon Saint Hilda of Whitby. Not the same person as Hildebrand, but I thought it might have caught your eye. I got it for Christmas, and read a little bit, but got sidetracked. Pretty good, so far.
Doug r
I noticed that solar plane was plugging away as of last night
rikyrah
Republicans are beginning to act as though Barack Obama isn’t even the president
By Paul Waldman March 9 at 12:16 PM
It’s safe to say that no president in modern times has had his legitimacy questioned by the opposition party as much as Barack Obama. But as his term in office enters its final phase, Republicans are embarking on an entirely new enterprise: They have decided that as long as he holds the office of the presidency, it’s no longer necessary to respect the office itself.
Is that a bit hyperbolic? Maybe. But this news is nothing short of stunning:
A group of 47 Republican senators has written an open letter to Iran’s leaders warning them that any nuclear deal they sign with President Barack Obama’s administration won’t last after Obama leaves office.
Organized by freshman Senator Tom Cotton and signed by the chamber’s entire party leadership as well as potential 2016 presidential contenders Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, the letter is meant not just to discourage the Iranian regime from signing a deal but also to pressure the White House into giving Congress some authority over the process.
It’s one thing to criticize the administration’s actions, or try to impede them through the legislative process. But to directly communicate with a foreign power in order to undermine ongoing negotiations? That is appalling. And just imagine what those same Republicans would have said if Democratic senators had tried such a thing when George W. Bush was president.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2015/03/09/republicans-are-beginning-to-act-as-though-barack-obama-isnt-even-the-president/
Tommy
@Violet: Like I said I would have NO problem signing whatever you want. And you are totally correct, more than a few people like to sue others for no reason. I hate this, but it is the current state of affairs and you have to protect yourself.
MattF
Started reading Ishiguro’s “The Buried Giant” last night. It’s… slow… reading… But I’m going to soldier on, at least for a while.
JPL
@Another Holocene Human: That’s how I felt before I started following the trial a few days ago. I don’t believe he values life, but maybe the defense will convince me otherwise.
The defense is going to cross examine a witness this afternoon, the first one they will cross examine. There have been 21 witnesses.
Original Lee
Tech question: I was given a Jabra Solemate. For occasional meetings in the local elementary school gym, I want to be able to use use my iPhone as a mic and the Solemate as the speaker.
(The mic and sound system at the school are horrible in a way that would require a page of Douglas Adams-level description to describe.)
I don’t mind paying a few bucks for a good app. I just don’t want to buy a headset that I’m only going to use maybe three times a year. Suggestions and/or recommendations?
MFA
In re: blaming the OU SAE bystanders– they’re talking about the other members of SAE who are on the charter bus but listening rather than chanting. They’re not excusing those who weren’t stopped; they’re indicting those passive/acquiescent brothers and/or pledges as also responsible. This, I think, is correct.
Amir Khalid
What a wonderful human being that Tony Abbott is.
Cacti
@rikyrah:
I’m sure it won’t happen, but I’d love to see the DOJ open up Logan Act investigations on all of the signatories of that letter.
Tommy
@Original Lee: I am not sure I understand what you are asking. If you sync the headset to your phone it will serve as a speaker. With the Bluetooth headset I have I can of course talk to people, but also listen to music. Anything that plays on the phone goes to the headset. Does that make sense?
Cacti
Apologies for the Politico link, but apparently Trey Gowdy has been shamed into canceling his “Beyond Benghazi” fundraiser appearance.
PurpleGirl
@opiejeanne: Happy Birthday. Best wishes for a healthy and loved filled long life. Enjoy the day.
ETA: Are you still in Hawii? Was the trip planned around your birthday? Great place to spend the day.
Pogonip
Hey, didn’t Hilary Clinton have a cat?
NonyNony
@Tommy:
Excuse me, but no. Not for no reason.
Suppose you are using the community garden and you get injured – maybe you get an infection from a cut from some old fencing and you end up in the hospital with a hefty bill to pay. Best case, you have health insurance that covers the cost for you. But if it costs them enough, then they’re going to be looking to get that money from someone else and will be looking for the individual or group that is “at fault” for your medical condition. Without that waiver, the insurance company is going to sue whatever organization owns the property that the community garden is planted on, because that’s how medical bills are paid in our country.
That isn’t an artifact of “someone looking for someone to sue” – that’s an artifact of how our system of laws and insurance interact. Which is why you need the waivers – so that when the insurance company comes a calling you can hold out the contract their customer signed and say “look here’s where your customer agreed that we have no liability for injuries – go take it up with them”.
It’s how the law works – it isn’t a matter of people scamming the system, it’s how the system (such as it is) was cobbled together to operate. Because FREEDOM and CAPITALISM and whatever.
Pogonip
@Violet: I would think that when doing anything, including swatting mosquitoes, with Americans you’d need legal releases.
Punchy
Any chance those frat boys are forced to exit both the frat and the uni, too? I’d think that level of overt racism is a severe violation of…..(trying not to laugh)…..U of O’s….(giggling)….student….(hahahahaha!) code.
Nevermind, I see all the kids are white. Expulsion not an option; cue “victimized” parents of said shitheels threatening to sue for “defamation” or some such shit.
Karen in GA
Open thread? Iggy. Obedience class. Schooling ensues, in a way.
Original Lee
@Tommy: Makes perfect sense. Except the only way I’ve been able to figure out so far to get my voice over the speaker is to call somebody and have them keep the line open while I talk. Which is stupid. I don’t seem to have any app on my phone that can be used to accept my voice as input, if that makes any sense.
Mike in NC
@Cacti: A knuckle-dragging specimen of feces like Trey Gowdy will probably end up in the US Senate or SC governor’s mansion some day.
Karen in GA
@opiejeanne: Happy birthday!
burnspbesq
Apparently Rafael Cruz, speaking in Iowa yesterday, characterized the corruption investigation of Sen. Melendez as retaliation for deviating from the Obama line on the Iran negotiations.
Riiiiight.
Another Holocene Human
@Cacti: I know under Mass courts, for example, murder 1 is 30 years, 3 counts is 90, but then you have a bunch of attempted murder charges, yadda yadda, maybe or maybe not toss an “aggravated” on there (not sure if they do that in Mass) and you could be looking at life.
I am questioning whether this actually makes sense, however.
I grew up in Mass, murder 1 is 30 years and a lot less with good behavior. I have not seen a lot of recidivism with this. But other states seek DP on murder 1. Same crime. (Example, person with no prior criminal history who makes their spouse “disappear”.)
If the additional punishment accomplishes no useful goal, then what does that make us as a society?
We all know about people who got out and killed again. This gets to dangerousness. This is why some states have an aggravated homicide charge. People who kill for personal gratification. They need to be put away for good. Even a Swedish study concluded that psychopaths needed to be intervened with in early childhood because once adults there was no correcting them. And they aren’t big on long prison terms. It’s a combination of low intelligence and brain abnormalities and/or brain damage. So no, you don’t let the Willie Hortons out of prison. I’m pissed at the states who rush to execute because they often deny families closure because they’ve just eliminated the one person who could locate a grave, etc.
Just because we’ve “always” done something one way doesn’t mean we have to keep doing it.
The biggest factor in reducing recidivism is, guess what? Getting caught.
More resources for proper investigation. Less calls for blood. It could help.
Snarki, child of Loki
@Villago Delenda Est: “Hillary Clinton PERSONALLY cropped George W. Bush out of the Selma bridge mass photo.”
She could have pushed Dubya off that bridge, but she DIDN’T.EVEN.TRY.
I, for one, look forward to the first US President that knows how to write Sendmail configuration files.
PurpleGirl
@JPL: I know what you mean. My general position is against the death penalty but there are just some killers who strike me in a certain way and I don’t want them to breath and see sunlight anymore.
(Also note, the Oklahoma Federal Building bomber I would have kept alive simply because he wanted the death penalty carried out — give him a long life to think about what he did, why, and to wish for death. I know it’s mean, but the man struck that cord in me.)
catclub
@Tommy:
That was because you read Dan Brown, nothing to do with technology. ;)
MomSense
The pup figured out how to move her ears in new ways and it is unfreakingbelievably cute. My kids call it her guaranteed to get whatever she wants maneuver because she looks so sweet. She tries to lift her ears up like a shepherd but they go out to the side instead and flop at the ends. Then she pulls them around to the back flopping as they move and we oooh and aaah and give her treats. Think Dumbo or Stitch. I need to get some video. It’s squeerific.
Josie
@opiejeanne: Happy Birthday!
catclub
@Pogonip: Socks, I believe.
Violet
@opiejeanne: Happy birthday! Hope you have a wonderful day!
mr_gravity
Watched “The Last Man On Earth” and actually laughed. out. loud. The shot of a grown man lying in a kiddie pool full of margarita just spoke to me. Catch it if you can while you can. Any show that can hold my attention 30 minutes will surely be cancelled before the season ends.
Tommy
@Original Lee: Let me see if I got this right. You want to use the headset as a speaker and also a mic to record to the phone? Now I am on an Andriod/Samsung so I am a little behind on how your iPhone works, but don’t you have an app on your phone already that serves as a voice recorder? It just came preinstalled on my phone and I use it all the time to leave myself a message like “buy milk” or “call this client about x, y, z.”
Now with that said you might want to look to a set of headphones. For under $75 you can pick up a really nice one that also has a mic built in. I’ve never used mine in this manner, to talk or record, I use them to listen to music when I walk/jog/or are on my mountain bike. But they would do this as well, plus you could use them other times, outside of a few times a year, to just listen to music.
Violet
@NonyNony: Yes, and this is the situation I’m wanting to avoid. The property owner has generously offered up the property and I want to protect them from any of those sorts of issues. Equally, because involved gardeners “buy in” via a very small fee, the entire group of community gardeners is also at risk should someone sue.
This isn’t all that hard. It’s how things are done. You don’t have to like it but you’re stupid if you don’t protect yourself. And the forms are readily available and easy to modify. I simply can’t believe I’m getting pushback.
catclub
@MattF: I have read various long books but cannot see the point with Ishiguro. I finished maybe one of his books.
stinger
@Germy Shoemangler: As luck would have it, I’ve just started reading Andre Norton’s Breed to Come (1972) sf paperback. When I’m finished, I’ll have to look for This Simian World.
max
Hillary Clinton planted the email story.
max
[‘To distract from Benghazi, obvs.’]
Tommy
@catclub: LOL. Dan Brown is a guilty pleasure of mine. I will openly admit that. Kind of my “trashy novel on the beach” thing.
Origuy
@Original Lee: It looks like the Megaphone Free app will do what you want.
JPL
@Another Holocene Human: How long does he get for loss of a limb? How long does he get for placing the bag behind an eight year old? He was nineteen not thirteen and placed the bag behind a family that will be forever damaged. He then left the scene, returned to college and smoked a joint.
catclub
@rikyrah: I only wonder which 7 GOP senators did not sign it.
Cacti
@Another Holocene Human:
In Tsarnaev’s case, I don’t think parole is even a possibility if convicted of Murder 1 in Federal court, which is where he is now. The Federal Sentencing Guidelines give very little latitude for the sentencing of homicide offenses.
Getting his sentence shortened would likely require commutation or a pardon.
askew
Can we talk about your passive-aggressive bullshit you just posted? Jesus that shit is annoying.
Anyway, I randomly got a bonus today after being screwed over at my review. It was weird and unexpected but still good news. And in 2015, there has been very little good news for my family so I’ll take it.
Roger Moore
@catclub:
Obviously they’re RINOs.
ETA: Oops; I thought you were asking why they didn’t sign, not who. My guess, though, is that is exactly the ones who are most likely to be accused of RINOism- ones who are hoping to stay electable in blue or purple states.
Germy Shoemangler
@stinger: Looks interesting… I’ll have to check it out.
Elizabelle
@opiejeanne: Happy Birthday! And how good to spend it with Michael Connelly. His non-Bosch books are good too. I love how faithfully he portrays Los Angeles (and some of the people who come to grief there).
@Amir Khalid: Yeah, I like the Cormoran Strike books too; I thought Cuckoo’s Calling (?) was better than the new one (The Silkworm). And Robin’s prig of a boyfriend def does not deserve her. She has started to figure that out, happily.
ETA: plot in the second novel was beyond preposterous. But I enjoyed London and its environs all the same.
askew
@Jane2:
Yikes. I went to Northern Island back in 1997ish and it was very scary. They had just cleared out the city of Derry due to riots. It was a ghost town with just tanks and armed police everywhere. Huge culture shock from the rest of Ireland.
Mike J
The man is trying to keep galtians down:
https://twitter.com/zlinger/status/521472818811125761/photo/1
JPL
@PurpleGirl: The defense admitted guilt but they are hoping to find sympathy because his brother was really the bad guy. It might have worked had they actually they actually plead guilty and moved to the penalty phase. The testimony thus far is devastating. Of course, it will be during the penalty phase also, but what a double whammy.
catclub
@Roger Moore: GOS diary thinks it is these:
Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
Dan Coats (R-IN)
Thad Cochran (R-MS)
Susan Collins (R-ME)
Bob Corker (R-TN)
Jeff Flake (R-AZ)
Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
Liberty60
I suggest more amiable, less controversial topics such as Edward Snowden and Glenn Greenwald.
Elizabelle
@nancydarling: Never read “Zen”, but have requested this one via the library.
Matthew B. Crawford had a good op ed on what we lose when we give away silence (to marketers, etc.) in yesterday’s NY Times. Here’s his website. New book out on living in the age of distraction.
Has an earlier book on “Shop Class as Soulcraft” about the meaning of work and making things. He’s a fellow at UVa AND might still have a motorcycle repair shop in Richmond VA. Here’s link to an article that grew into “Soulcraft” from the Atlantis Monthly.
Roger Moore
@catclub:
Wow. They must have been in too much of a hurry to swing by his office or something; it’s hard to imagine that he would have refused to sign on principle.
Cervantes
@MattF:
Not his best.
Gin & Tonic
@nancydarling: I’m re-reading “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”.
Coming in late and too lazy to read all the comments in between, but I tried many years ago, after having read it first, way back in the Pleistocene when I was young, and just found it didn’t hold up to re-reading. I’d be curious to hear your take.
Tommy
@Elizabelle:
I don’t often suggest books because I find what I enjoy reading many others do not. “Zen and the Art ….” might be a book that works with almost any human. Kind of a universal thing going on. Dense at times it is still a pretty easy read. You will cry, laugh, and pump your fist in the air in joy. Yeah it is that good.
Paul in KY
@NonyNony: The ‘bystanders’ didn’t intervene because they were probably singing right along with them.
Paul in KY
@Germy Shoemangler: If you get up close to a tiger, you will see their heads are not particularly ‘small’.
Iowa Old Lady
Betty, you’re hilarious. You better brace yourself for the next two years.
Mike J
@Iowa Old Lady: I don’t mind the occasional “she’s not good enough my pure, pure heart” nonsense, but there are a couple of trolls here that have never commented about anything other than Clinton not being pure enough.
Paul in KY
@Another Holocene Human: He, with malice aforethought, allowed 2 large bombs to go off where they would kill/maim innocent people. I guess Hitler would have got 30 & reintegration into a foreign country (like Argentina).
Another Holocene Human
@PurpleGirl: IDK about that particular guy, but some of the sicker narcissistic rapist types will attempt to kill themselves quickly after entering custody (think Warren Jeffs, Ariel Castro). So living a long time in prison where they aren’t able to act out their sick fantasies of control over the vulnerable and helpless truly is a greater punishment than a quick execution.
And yeah, I gotta admit there’s something satisfying about that.
It doesn’t seem just to me that these people get to torment someone in a way that will follow them their whole life and they get to take the easy way out. Fuck that.
And these are the people with high dangerousness and little hope of “reform” whatever that means when you’re a recondite sadistic fuck, so the most efficient outcome is when they do kill themselves. Killing themselves prior to trial IMHO seems to traumatize victims and victim families because they are denied the process and the day in court. Unless it’s the rape of a sexually active adult woman where the court system tries the victim. Then, yeah. Kill yourself. Plea out. Confess to other shit. Go away.
Germy Shoemangler
@Paul in KY: Next to a child. Reminded me of ol’ Timothy, who timed his blast to when the toddlers would be having snack time.
Who are the protestors outside the courthouse pleading his innocence? One of the victims walked by them and waved his prosthetic leg at them.
Gin & Tonic
@Tommy: Funny to see your glowing review exactly one comment down from my … ambivalent … one. But that’s what makes for horse races.
When I was in my early 20’s that book was Deep and Meaningful. I took another pass when I was in my late 40’s, I think, and gave up, thinking his Big Insights were pretty shallow.
Another Holocene Human
@Paul in KY: He was 19 years old.
Kind of a difference in class here.
Brain doesn’t finish maturing until about 26 or so.
19 is well in the anti-social danger zone. Plenty of people commit felonies 15-25 and then become contributing members of society at 40+ after serving their time. Or 50+ in some cases. Those are just facts, all the rest is emotional reaction.
Paul in KY
@Another Holocene Human: I was 19 years old too & I damn well knew the repercussions of acts like he did (when I was at that age).
He should, at minimum, get an LWOP. He can then have many years to try & cure himself & do penance for his evil acts.
geg6
@Amir Khalid:
She’s a good story teller, in any genre apparently.
geg6
@Josie:
Thursday nights at 10pm. Just excellent and like nothing you’ve ever seen on tv.
Another Holocene Human
@Cacti: Yeah, I realize he is being sentenced in federal court. Mandatory mins and draconian sentences are part of the problem.
Look, he gets his life in prison and everyone goes home smirking self righteously and showing their teeth, I’m just saying it doesn’t have to be this way. We chose this. It didn’t happen to us.
And while you may be saying “well, he really deserves it”, I’m thinking about all those 15, 16, 17 year olds routinely tried as adults, the whole system is wrong and developmentally inappropriate. Teens often give false confessions, don’t understand their rights, lack resources for appropriate counsel, and frankly have diminished capability which is why they should be in the juvenile system to start with. They get dumped in grownup jail which is no place for them to be while their educational, emotional, and developmental needs are neglected. Instead of making an effort to set these kids on a better path–why not save 75% of them? why not try?–we make more Pee Wee Gaskins, shatter more families, lock innocents away with the guilty as blood sacrifices to our white supremacist gods.
Have you ever seen Lockup Raw UK Edition? I mean there isn’t one, right? Because when they film inside northern European prisons it looks like a school or a camp. With locks. (Their jails are pretty scary, though–makes many of our jails look cushy.) And funny story, they serve much lower sentences, come out, and commit less crimes. Especially violent crimes. Hmmm.
Original Lee
@Tommy: I just want to talk into my iPhone and have my voice come out on the Solemate speaker, without having to record anything or call anybody up. I don’t want to buy a headset to accomplish this.
Another Holocene Human
@Paul in KY: I was 19 years old from an abusive household and did plenty of inappropriate and also illegal things because I lacked appropriate boundaries. I also didn’t understand the law.
I never fantasized about bombing people I hated but I had plenty of violent ideation. Who’s to say what set of circumstances might have set that off? I’m a very different person now. I don’t have those kinds of thoughts. I have a great deal more empathy. Maybe from age but also from deliberately reconnecting with emotions I shut down to survive my childhood.
I don’t know Tsarnaev’s background but I know what science tells us about 19 year olds in general. We have to be honest with ourselves. Many of us were only a few bad decisions away from mega big trouble as teens.
Mike R
@Another Holocene Human: Having worked in prisons, specifically in the area of rehabilitation and training to help our clients become employable, you are correct that many become useful members of society. However, they usually have crimes such as burglary and armed robbery and embezzlement and drug offenses. Whatever his reasons and motivations this young man set out to destroy lives through murder, great bodily injury and terror for political reasons which puts him, in my view, a complete different class. He gave no mercy or concern to destroying non combatant civilians my thought is 70 to 80 years in prison without parole so that he can think about what he did. Everybody has an opinion and mine is worth what you paid to read it.
Original Lee
@Origuy: It looked OK when I found it in the App store, but only 2.5 stars makes me wonder a little. Thanks for the input, and I’ll let y’all know if it works the way I want it to.
Hildebrand
@Origuy: Interesting. I will definitely look for that.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@Mike R:
Totally off the Tsarnaev topic, but San Diego is introducing an interesting prison program where they teach bicycle repair to inmates and the bicycles are given to parolees so they have their own transportation and don’t have to rely on friends or family who may have gotten them into trouble in the past:
http://www.cbs8.com/story/28007010/parolees-will-soon-get-bikes-refurbished-by-inmates
catclub
@Roger Moore: I am less surprised than you on Thad Cochran. I would have bet more on Flake or Coats.
Cervantes
@catclub:
Flake refused because Corker did. They are working on a different approach.
Coats … well … he’s being inscrutable.
Elizabelle
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): That’s actually a great idea. Keeps them fit, too.
Tree With Water
Begging people NOT to discuss the odds on favorite to carry the banner of the democratic party in 2016 does not bode well for either candidate or party.
Elizabelle
@Another Holocene Human: Yeah, I’d like to see a meaningful sentence for Tsarnaev — minimum of 30 years served — and he will have to convince the parole board of his fitness to return to society. His youth and early adulthood; gone.
I find him both young and swayed by his brother. Have not paid attention to trial, as others have.
nancydarling
@Gin & Tonic: Try reading it again when you’re 71.
Gin & Tonic
@nancydarling: Hmm. Can’t tell whether that’s an endorsement or not.
Betty Cracker
@Another Holocene Human: I’m generally in favor of less draconian sentences too, but not for mass murderers. Teenagers can be stupid and impulsive, but there are some crimes that are too terrible to be mitigated by youth — at least, to the extent that the perpetrator is old enough to know right from wrong and understand the permanent consequences of what he’s doing, which applies to 19-year-olds, IMO. I don’t want the dude tortured or mistreated in my name, but if he’s convicted, I hope he’s locked away for life.
@Tree With Water: Just in this one thread! It’s an important topic, and I plan to post about it again myself, probably many times! After the morning thread, it just seemed like a good time for a break from that discussion, that’s all.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@Elizabelle:
I, too, would prefer to make him explain 30 or so years from now how he’s reformed and why it’s safe to let him our rather than pre-make his excuses for him. The only reason he didn’t kill more people is because they were crappy bomb-builders and My brother made me do it! is an awfully convenient excuse since his brother is dead and can’t defend himself.
I’m all for people reforming themselves in prison and being given the opportunity to do that, but let’s not rush to decide that he’s already reformed when there are three families who had to bury loved ones, leaving aside the dozens who were seriously and permanently injured.
Tree With Water
@Betty Cracker: I got caught flat-footed by the treachery and/or stupidity of those democrats that supported the Bush-Cheney War. I had assumed till then that our War in Vietnam had instructed them, and that a stampede to war was impossible for the lessons learned. I was wrong, of course, and am all the more bitter towards them for it. I hold those democrats in special contempt who, rather than begging forgiveness (or fading away), celebrate their complicity by seeking the presidency. To quote Peter Griffin, “they grind my gears”.
Elizabelle
For good stuff: early morning movie tomorrow, 7:00 am Eastern, Sundance cable channel. Brew the coffee or set the DVR.
“Everything Must Go”, terrific little movie starring Will Ferrell, in a serious role, and a young black actor (teenaged) who’s amazing. Christopher Jordan Wallace. Looks like he was in a movie about the Notorious Big, too. Wiki article gives away all the plot points, so beware. It’s good to let this one just unfold before you.
Loved this one when it was in the theatres in 2011. Filmed in Phoenix and Scottsdale; beautiful mountain in neighborhood backdrop. Compelling story, from a Raymond Chandler short story.
Rotten Tomatoes audience score was 53%; critics liked it better. Maybe they expected Talladega Nights. This is 180 from that.
nancydarling
@Gin & Tonic: I’m sorry I was flip. Spoiler alert for people who haven’t read it and intend to.
The book speaks to me now because my son lost a dear friend in a speed flying accident a few months ago. His mom is having a hard time dealing with her loss as would I. It’s at the end of the book but how Pirsig writes about the loss of his son (who made the road trip with him) and mending the hole in the pattern of life moves me deeply. I don’t know the mom but I read her facebook page once in a while and she is looking for answers. I wonder if I should write her and recommend this book.
I asked my son about buying the book for his girlfriend/aspiring motorcycle mechanic for her birthday. He bought the kindle edition and says I should definitely get her the dead tree edition. He is something of a “seeker” and so is she. They also both ride motorcycles.
Pirsig is a better philosopher than he is a motorcycle mechanic. He has dealt with mental health issues himself and writes about that. God knows, we need to pay more attention to mental health in this country.
There are over 1100 reviews of the book on Amazon. A lot of people have found it worthwhile.
Gin & Tonic
@nancydarling: Thanks for taking the time to respond. It wasn’t my intention to probe.
vheidi
@Amir Khalid: me too, and no spoilers
Renie
@opiejeanne: If you have Amazon Prime, they have a BOSCH show. Its very good.
opiejeanne
@raven: I know. What is up with that? It’s not like they couldn’t have made the cards the size of a credit card.
opiejeanne
@Renie: I just noticed that. We are considering paying for it.
opiejeanne
@PurpleGirl: We are still in Hawaii, and the trip was planned for both of our birthdays. His was last Thursday.
We’ve never been to Hawaii before and we absolutely love it. Maui is where we are staying. Other islands can wait for the next visit.
Paul in KY
@Another Holocene Human: You are lucky you didn’t do a (probably deserved at time) stretch in the pen.
That doesn’t mean we let every other criminal escape the consequences of their premeditated actions.
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