Tonight, you can drink "Scalia's Tears": Malort, Combier, apple bitters, and a bit of salt. For real. @SCOTUS_Scalia pic.twitter.com/l84nhFRvHg
— Geek Bar Chicago (@geekbarchicago) June 26, 2015
… probably not for the same reasons, though. The Washington Post reports on Ted Cruz’s latest cry for attention:
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) has proposed a constitutional amendment that would subject Supreme Court justices to periodic judicial elections in the wake of rulings that upheld a key portion of the Affordable Care Act and affirmed gay couples’ right to marriage…
The proposal from Cruz, who once served as Supreme Court clerk, comes as he is trying to position himself as the presidential candidate of choice for conservatives and evangelicals who disagree with the court’s decisions this week. The Texas Republican is using the rulings to paint himself as a stalwart defender of religious freedom, opponent of same-sex marriage and reaffirm his pledge to abolish the Affordable Care Act should he win the presidency…
The Texas Republican, who had a tepid start in Iowa, tried to use Saturday’s speech, titled “Believe Again” as a way to both solidify his presence in the state and as the uncompromising conservative in the 2016 field. Cruz has come up with a new phrase for the institution he said he is fighting: the “Washington cartel,” which he said is comprised by members of both parties, lobbyists, and now Supreme Court justices…
The candidate also hit 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney, who held a Republican summit earlier this month, for inviting all of the candidates who are “pro-amnesty” on immigration to Utah.
Cruz isn’t running for president now, he’s running for GOP GodKing — aka, Grifter-in-Chief.
Reminds me of my favorite scene in Oliver Stone's Nixon after Supreme Court rules Nixon has to hand over the tapes pic.twitter.com/urKAmqv97t
— Adam Johnson (@adamjohnsonNYC) June 27, 2015
Keith P.
It really amazes me how hard the GOP candidates are biting on this. It’s an absolute loser for them, but instead of just saying “This is why we need GOP presidents – to pack the Court”, they are tripping over themselves to take it to the next level and just piss off 60% (or more) of the country. Not only do they seem intent on fighting the culture war for yet another election cycle, they think they can win it!
EDIT: With the possible exception of Rand Paul, who does seem to grasp the generational ramifications of this fiasco.
Baud
Cruz is no Trump.
Greengoblin
Has anyone seen Hillary’s SSM video at Wonkette? Quite something.
JPL
Scotus tears sounds interesting until you use google to understand what the ingredients are. It awful. Then I read the twitter feed and they (geek bar) admitted they weren’t going for taste. Hilarious.
dubo
Somehow I don’t think the justices that would get booted to the curb are the ones he thinks
Bring it on
jl
@Baud: No, Cruz is no Trump. Not sure who comes off better in the comparison though.
I think almost everyone outside of the GOP primary base will find dead ender twilight struggles and long marches to over turn same sex marriage boring and stupid.
But if you like reality show drama, you will love Trump. The Donald will introduce Real Class into the GOP like nobody has ever seen before.
Trump Tells Univision Execs: Stay Off My Golf Course!
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/donald-trump-univision-miss-usa-feud-golf-course
SatanicPanic
Oh so the Founders were perfect and we should always defer to their judgement… except when we shouldn’t. Is that is Mr Cruz?
NotMax
Judge Posner takes the SCOTUS Obergefell dissenters to the woodshed.
Would quibble with his very last sentence though, and much prefer he had said “defining” instead of “inventing” and “legitimatizing them for” rather than “imposing them on.”
Mandalay
@Keith P.:
It’s an absolute loser as far as winning the presidency goes, but it is no coincidence that those biting hardest (Cruz, Santorum, Huckabee) have zero chance of obtaining the Republican nomination anyway, never mind the presidency. Their agenda is just $$$ and attention.
Walker is being crafty and lawyerly rather than crazy, since he does stand some chance of getting the nomination. He’s correctly stating “as a result of this decision, the only alternative left for the American people is to support an amendment to the U.S. Constitution”. The base will drool at his cojones, but he commits himself to absolutely nothing on something he knows will never happen. Smart.
Bubblegum Tate
Oh god. Malort. Yeah, those are bitter tears, alright!
Botsplainer
@JPL:
I’m sorry, but Scalia’s tears should taste delicious. Spicy savory, with a nice sweet finish. I’m thinking a basil-infused habanero syrup, fresh lime and reposado concoction served in a salt-chipotle rimmed glass.
Baud
@Botsplainer:
I think it would taste like applesauce.
NotMax
Ted’s operating on automatic pilot at this point.
Cruz control.
JPL
@Baud: Maybe add a tad of broccoli with a few strong shots of tequila in order to get it down.
Gin & Tonic
@efgoldman: absolute loser
Late in a dying thread last night I posted an excerpt from the 1964 Republican Party platform. That was the year, if you’ll recall, that the “movement conservatives” took over and nominated the total wingnut team of Goldwater/Miller, who went on to get crushed because they were so far to the right of the American people. Now, true, the platform had a lot of freedom and anti-communism stuff, but it also had such radical ideas as:
See how far the GOP has traveled in a half-century.
burnt
@JPL: I looked up Malort before I dove into the comments here and found yours. They are clearly thinking deeply about this cocktail and having lots of fun. Malort is native to Chicago and famously bitter–so much so that only “1 in 49 men” come back for more. I hear lots of cackling as the bartenders discuss just what needs to go in Scalia’s Tears.
Cacti
I’m wholly opposed to making the judicial branch a third elected branch.
However…
I’d actually be okay with a constitutional amendment that turned their lifetime appointments into a fixed term of 20-24 years or something of the like.
JPL
It would be interesting to know how many Scalia tears the geek bar sold this weekend. It would also be interesting to know, how many ordered seconds.
It appears that burnt figures 1 in 49 order seconds.. lol
jl
Doesn’t seem to be a link in this story to a supporting source. But did Scalia really go there in his dissent?
I thought Madison killed off that idea pretty thoroughly when he had second thoughts about Jeffersons thought experiment (and, Madison was concurrent-majority-curious for a while before he changed his mind)
Priceless
By JOSH MARSHALL
For all the blaze of history and march of freedom this week, no doubt for me the highlight was Justice Scalia’s invoking John C. Calhoun’s “concurrent majority” theory on behalf of denying marriage equality to gay men and women.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/priceless–5
KG
@efgoldman: New Hampshire has an open primary. As does South Carolina. If the Dem primary doesn’t become competitive, more independents may vote in the GOP primary.
Keith G
@Keith P.:
Some might feel that way, totally with conviction. For others, the clock is ticking on some fertile fundraising activity.
Unfortunately for them, ACA and marriage equality were a very quick one-two punch. Were they drawn out a bit more, it would be better for the grift.
As it is, there is a neck-vein popping feeding frenzy to try to take advantage of. They can always moderate later. Beside, Cruz knows that an amendment will have the same chance as a butt plug made of Jello.
Baud
@KG:
Sanders is doing well in New Hampshire. Seems like it’ll be fairly competitive.
jl
@Cacti: Lifetime tenure, elections and limited tenure all have pros and cons. I’m interested in limited tenure, but do worry about corruption through revolving door phenomenon. I think SCOTUS still has enough ethics rules to prevent too much enrichment during term of office. But if there were a possible career afterwards, opportunities for corruption would be greater.
I think it is not true that SCOTUS really has the last word. There are political measures Congress can take to have the last word in short run, stripping Court of jurisdiction over certain kinds of cases is one, I think. But there is not enough political consensus, and Congress does not have enough guts, to take them now.
And executive can always pull an Andrew Jackson: ignore a ruling and see if anyone is going to do anything about it.
RSA
@JPL:
Including bitters is a good idea; I read one drink recipe that sounded reasonable. Italian bitters, even.
@Botsplainer:
Has to be salt on the rim, yeah.
KG
@Baud: hmmm, hadn’t seen the latest polls. Interesting
NotMax
A more drinkable yet still astringent concoction made up on the spur of the moment:
2 oz. Aquavit (akvavit)
1 oz. rosso (red) vermouth
¼ oz. sour apple schnapps
lemon peel twist
Stir well with ice, strain into glass, add lemon twist
Baud
@KG:
It’s his neck of the woods. He needs to do well there to have any kind of shot.
Iowa Old Lady
In my fantasy life, Cruz runs a third party campaign.
Pleeeeeze!
Redshift
@JPL: There seem to be quite a few tweets in their feed from people who ordered it, though a lot more from people who are just amused, of course.
Feathers
What I don’t get is why the media isn’t reporting this as being totally beyond the pale, completely out of bounds. “What country does Cruz want to be President of? Certainly not America!”
Term limits for the Supreme Court would have to include the salary for life, with the requirements to meet the conflict of interest rules for life as well.
Baud
@Iowa Old Lady:
I’ve been speculating that there could be a George Wallace type run on the right because the wingnuts may be getting frustrated. Probably wishful thinking.
kathy a.
@Gin & Tonic: Those were the days, no?
Ted Cruz should know better, and most likely he does, but he’s all about the “debate’ and causing friction even if it means resorting to despicable means and outright lies.
One of the things that is supposed to insulate Scotus from the dark side of politics is that federal judges are appointed for life. They do not run for election; they are therefore not swayed by money or by political forces of the day. And as it turns out, many (not all, see Scalia) find a broader perspective on things over time. So Cruz’ proposal is about the worst possible — this is the one branch that does not shift with the winds of money or political pressure. Or at least, not so much.
Baud
@efgoldman:
It seems that party platforms became meaningless after FDR.
KG
@jl: bankruptcy judges actually have limited terms. They serve 14 year terms, because the bankruptcy court is an Article I court. I don’t know how many of them do something after being a judge.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@NotMax: Posner is too conservative for my tastes, but he is intellectually honest and both capable and more than willing to provide epic takedowns of those he disagrees with.
Iowa Old Lady
@kathy a.:
That’s why I think (hope) he’s ripe for a third party run. He’s not interested in the Republican part. He’s interested in Ted.
JPL
Ted Cruz’s new book is suppose to admit that his father was a Castro supporter, until he came to the states. It was here that he realized that Castro was a communist. lol
NotMax
@kathy a.
It also serves to deliberately insulate them from obeisance to sudden whims of the populace.
KG
@Baud: any word yet on super delegate counts? Or is it still too early? I’m guessing Hillary will get most of them
Baud
@KG: I think it’s too early. That’ll happen in the midst of primary season.
mai naem mobile
I’m wondering if these people realize they’ll be remembered as the Joe McCarthy and Strom Thurmond of their generation. These guys are going to be rich regardless of whether they say this stuff because of lobbyist money – either post- elected office career or through their family members working for lobbying firms. John Roberts,even though hes not elected, has at least figured that out.
Baud
@mai naem mobile:
It’s still good odds for them. Most conservatives are not vilified by history.
JPL
@mai naem mobile: Joe McCarthy is their hero…..
KG
@Iowa Old Lady: interestingly, Texas may have a sore loser law that actually covers the presidency, so he’d have to withdraw before his home state votes in the primaries (unless of course they have cacuses). The problem, of course, is that splitting the GOP vote isn’t going to provide a path to victory. None of them are Perot style candidates that can draw fairly equally from both major party nominees.
jl
@NotMax: Thanks for link to Posner. More I read about the dissents, the less I think of the authors. Posner just covers Roberts and Alito.
IANAL, but why do all the opinions spend so much time on rather ignorant sophomoric history and philosophizing? When IANAL me reads a damn SCOTUS opinions, I expect those suckers to drop some big time law on my head. I might learn something. But I just learn from these dissents that these justices can write silly stuff about stuff they don;t know much about.
I expected a lot more stuff about history of civil contracts, maybe specific history of civil marriage law in the US? From what I read of majority opinion, it did a little more of that. When I have time and more commentaries out, I want to read through them all.
Brachiator
@Keith G:
This may not work. The Tea Party and religious fundamentalists may demand assurances that the GOP nominee will save America by stamping out Obamacare, gay marriage, and illegal immigration. With the mortal survival of the nation at stake, any move toward moderation might be viewed as apostasy.
With respect to key social issues, there is no move toward the middle that will provide electoral benefits to either the Democrats or the Republicans. And for now, the Dems are in a much stronger position, closer to the general national mood.
cahuenga
Sooooo. The constitutional literalists are proposing a change to the constitution… Right. Got it.
David Koch
Pffffft
Rafael Eduardo Cruz isn’t even American
send the maple leaf terrorist back to canada
Jim, Foolish Literalist
a Scalia cocktail? an Old Fashioned made with Old Grand-Dad, bitters and a dash of Campari?
jl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Whatever the booze, whatever the recipe, extra heavy on the bitters. That is key.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@jl: maybe sour mash instead of Old Grand Dad
Keith G
@cahuenga: That is the given M.O. of a texturalist. i.e. adhere to the written word and if there is a flaw or a new need, go through the amendment process and change the text.
At least that is what they claim to believe in.
Miki
Poor Ted …. Try as he might he always ultimately comes off as the guy who scratches his ass and sniffs his fingers.
Brachiator
@JPL:
There’s nothing particularly explosive here. From the Wiki:
Castro was still formally denying that he was a commie through 1959 – 1960. The elder Cruz’ move to the US even predates the Cuban disillusionment of the middle and upper classes, around 1960, and the large scale move of many of these people to the US.
KG
@efgoldman: that, and the dissents didn’t really have any precedent they could rely on. There weren’t really any lower court decisions that supported their position. Nor were there any Supreme Court precedent that they could rely on. Which is why they were left with “this is the way it’s always been” and not much else.
Old Dan and Little Ann
For anyone who gave me kinds words earlier about Yeller, thanks again. He was found near a huge park a few miles from my house. Whoever found him dropped him off at the nearest vet hospital which happens to be our regular vet down the road. They zapped him and posted his picture on their facebook page. The chip embedded in him is unique to where we adopted him. So I heard from the adoption place that he had been found. I pick up the running rascal tomorrow at 7:30 a.m. Now I just get to wait until his next adventure.
Baud
@Old Dan and Little Ann:
Good news!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Brachiator: Yeah, my understanding is that he links his repudiation of Communism to his discover JESUS! Also, sobered up. The religious-fueled conversion(s) still have great appeal, I think.
La Caterina (Mrs. Johannes)
@Old Dan and Little Ann: Glad to hear it! You must be relieved.
catclub
@kathy a.:
Jenny Thomas is a political activist. Justice Thomas should be recusing himself from issues she is heavily involved in. He does not, as far as I cant tell.
catclub
@cahuenga: They want dozens of amendments to that perfect, Jesus-inspired document. Funny.
KG
@jl: to follow up with my last comment, I’m skimming the opinions. Roberts quotes Lochner. That is always a tell. Lochner is the case that a lot of conservative lawyers talk about when it comes to the 14th Amendment. Under Lochner, the Supreme Court held that a law limiting the number of hours a baker could work violated the due process clause because it unfairly limited liberty of contract. Basically, it was the line of reasoning used to oppose progressivism in the early 20th century and the new deal.
catclub
@efgoldman: Yeah, that ‘we’ll uphold the 1964 civil rights act’ platform plank does not really comport with Goldwater winning Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, SC and Arizona.
Aleta
@JPL: were they going for a pissy look?
Pete Downunder
Australia has mandatory retirement at age 70 for all judges, including the High Court (the Aussie equivalent of SCOTUS). If they have served as a judge for 10 years or more they get a very generous pension so there is no real incentive for revolving door graft. The system seems to work. It’s true you lose the good with the bad, but the government of the day appoints the judges so if the public sticks to liberal governments (as opposed to Liberal Party governments which are conservative) things should be OK. Even the Liberal Party tends to pick well respected rather than politicized jurists.
Jeffro
@efgoldman: Exactly. 50% + 1 vote, right? Hey Karl Rove, how’s that permanent Republican majority thingy workin’ out for ya?
Also: shouldn’t a drink called Scalia’s Tears just mix applesauce, fortune cookies, and saline, in a jiggery-p o k e r y kind of way?
Poopyman
@Keith G:
An apt analogy, since both would only work on gaping assholes.
fuckwit
Holy fuck there really is no such thing as peak wingnut.
They have gone full-on into whacko territory. And show no signs of ever coming back.
Maybe that’s a good thing, as the electorate backs away from them slowly.
fuckwit
Also, again, I can’t help giggling every time I read someone writing “IANAL”, because I pronounce it “I ANAL”.
But at least I don’t read it as an ISIS flag. So I could never work for CNN.
srv
Al Haig is one of the most underappreciated public servants ever.
Poopyman
@Old Dan and Little Ann: Yay! I’d been hoping you’d get good news tonight.
Gin & Tonic
@srv: That’s good. Now pull the other one.
joel hanes
@jl:
The Donald will introduce Real Class into the GOP like nobody has ever seen before.
The Donald is too late. Nancy Reagan got there first, 35 years ago.
Jeffro
@efgoldman:Exactly. 50% + 1 vote, right? Hey Karl Rove, how’s that permanent Republican majority thingy workin’ out for ya?
Also: shouldn’t a drink called Scalia’s Tears just mix applesauce, fortune cookies, and saline?
GregB
I went and saw Bernie Sanders at a campaign event in Nashua today. He talks to the crowd like they are adults. It is very refreshing.
Expanded Social Security. Free state college tuition. 1 trillion in infrastructure spending. Accelerated investment in renewable energy. Take care of wounded/disable veterans. Welcoming the hatred of the plutocrats.
He took non screened questions.
Smart, honest, straight forward. He’s a real gem of a human.
Keith P.
@Jeffro: What is a “Sodomizing Scalia” made of?
Schlemazel
My Scalia cocktail would be
2 oz imodium
1 oz pepto-bismol
dash of Kaopectate
Followed by a 5 pound chaser of cheese.
This would leave you in a condition similar to Fat Tony’s
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Jeffro: and (cat) piss and vinegar?
Is Al Haig still with us?
Aleta
With marriage rights affirmed in such a strong way, I think the GOP is now less likely to lose donations and support from conservative + tolerant GOPers, no matter what is being said by some individuals at the moment.
Gin & Tonic
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Died five years ago.
Jeffro
@Keith P.: I dunno – what?
Schlemazel
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Nah, Al is wearing a tutu and picking 1 fresh pineapple every day with Richard Nixon
Omnes Omnibus
@efgoldman: This.
@KG: And this.
Brachiator
Wow. Didn’t realize that the Log Cabin Republicans were so concerned about the feelings of conservatives. They are pleased with the Supreme Court decision, but want to wipe away GOP bitter tears and keep all victory celebrations on the down low.
Schlemazel
@efgoldman:
If you get that backed up your brain probably starts working like Fat Tony’s but, like him, you would sure be full of shit.
Schlemazel
@Brachiator:
Yup, they are GOPpers
When they win its whooping and dancing and in your face “GET OVER IT!!”
When they lose its “You have to be respectful of the our side and you shouldn’t take this win to mean you have the right to ask for anything else”
gf120581
My reaction to Cruz and, indeed, the entire range of GOP whining:
Oh, the tears of unfathomable sadness! Mmmm, yummy! Yummy!
Aleta
Conservative Gin Rage: 1. take drink order 2. trip and spill at table just before serving
Omnes Omnibus
@Schlemazel: Exactly. And my response to those celebrating this is, spike the fuck out of the ball, do the Ickey Shuffle, or whatever else you want.
PurpleGirl
@Old Dan and Little Ann: Oh, that is good news. Thanks for letting us know the scamp was found.
ETA: I know you are relieved. It’s good the puppy was chipped. It’s too long a story for here, but one of the racing greyhounds my friends were finding a home for got lose one day and one friend and I went looking for him. Luckily he was returning home (I think for the doggie cookies we gave him) and we were so relieved.
Another Holocene Human
Visiting family, marched in the SF Trans March last night. Great event, great turnout. Wish I were at SF pride. Boston pride when I was going was always a sucky bummer and DC pride was even worse although I did get to see Tammy Faye live one year. Stuck in airport waiting to go home. North Central Florida is a real let down after a couple of days in the Bay Area.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Gin & Tonic: Then who’s in charge?
Heh. I love the image. You ever see the Richard M. Nixon twitter feed? Guy’s good.
Aleta
@Brachiator: got to keep the family together for the sake of lower taxes and fewer federal regulations
KG
@Omnes Omnibus: this seems like the appropriate level of spiking the ball
Omnes Omnibus
@efgoldman: I just like name.
ETA: Also, I love lamp.
Poopyman
@Omnes Omnibus: Damn! I was gonna go there before your ETA hit.
Omnes Omnibus
@Poopyman: I thought the ETA would be better than fixing the typo.
GregB
It’s funny but there was a time not too long ago where it seemed to be a conservative Republican talking point that the very foundation of liberalism was cracking and all that liberals stood for was being destroyed.
It kind of seems like their whole make believe world is collapsing around them.
Doug R
@David Koch: no thanks. Although his native province did just vote a socialist government in
gf120581
@GregB: The president’s a black guy, his likely successor is a woman, there’s universal health care, gays can get married coast to coast, the Confederate flag has become a pariah, there’s a honest to god socialist running for president…the world made sense once! ;)
Omnes Omnibus
@gf120581: Eek. To the Fainting Couch. Pray fetch me my clutching pearls.
jl
@Schlemazel: But no bitters. What kind of Scalia cocktail is that supposed to be? Recipe needs some adjustment, IMHO.
Tree With Water
The republican presidential candidates are all extremely dangerous people, made all the more so because there is not a dime’s worth of difference between any of them.
Frankensteinbeck
@gf120581:
You laugh, but I think this is a critical element of our current political landscape. You know how FOX can sell so many old people on ridiculous lies? Because for someone born during segregation, none of those lies are weirder than the truth. For some, this is a beautiful world. For those with a streak of racism, @gf120581‘s list are the specific Nightmare Dystopia results they were told to expect.
gf120581
@efgoldman: I think it was Ezra Klein who tweeted, “If you had told me in 2004 that by this time we’d have an African-American president, universal health care, and gay marriage nationwide, I would have thought you were insane.”
To borrow a quote from a great film:
“It’s astounding…Time is fleeting…Madness, takes its toll…” ;)
Tommy
@efgoldman: You and me both. I recall in like 1992 working for my first candidate. I went door-to-door for Jerry Brown in the state of Lousiana. Ponder that for a couple seconds. How stupid it was but also wide-eyed hopeful. I keep that hope with me everyday even now!
gf120581
@Frankensteinbeck: There’s a lot of truth to that. I mean, just this last week, with (a) Obamcare upheld and now certain to stay, (b) gay marriage becoming the law of the land, and (c) the Confederate flag and, fuck, any and all traces of the Confederacy becoming persona non grata …for the conservative base, this is the End Times.
Steeplejack
@gf120581:
We do not have universal health care. We’ve got semi-universal health insurance, which is not the same thing. But it’s progress.
Keith P.
@Jeffro:
Sodomizing Scalia –
2 oz Jagermeister (for the taste of ass)
1 oz cinnamon schnapps (for the pain)
Splash of Grenadine
Served over ice with Vaseline smeared around the rim.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack: I am still waiting for someone fetch me my clutching pearls, damn it.
Omnes Omnibus
@Keith P.: There is something very very wrong with you. No offense.
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
I think it’s Woodhouse’s night off.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
I went to Slate to read the Posner piece and stumbled across this post about Rachel Dolezal:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2015/06/17/rachel_dolezal_was_raised_by_strict_fundamentalists_the_revelation_sheds.html?wpisrc=obnetwork
Short version: her family of origin was basically the Duggars, except that they adopted kids from Africa rather than just pumping them out. There’s even a sexual abuse scandal around one of her older (biological) brothers. Dolezal was awarded custody of her 16-year-old (adopted) brother because her parents were abusive and he sued for emancipation.
Yes, she’s seriously fucked-up in the head, but the source of that fuckedupedness is a little more clear now.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack: Damn it.
jl
@gf120581:
‘ there’s a honest to god socialist running for president…’
I suppose you are funnin’ us there. Sanders is not a socialist. I think the last socialist to make a splash and realistic run for any office, state or federal was Eugene Debs.
Sanders is a Democratic Socialist, who advocates a Scandinavian, or maybe more accurately, Nordic model, since Finland is in the mix too. Private enterprise is quite healthy and doing very well in Scandinavia, in some ways healthier than in the crony corporate capitalist United States. Norway allowed its ‘too-big-to-fail’ banks fail in their financial panic of the 90s. I’ve read that it is easier to form a small business and the rate of small business formation among population is higher in Sweden than the in the US. Sweden even partially privatized its social security system, but did it in a way that was not a scam for ordinary workers, and it worked, unlike the scam in UK which blew up in people’s faces. Denmark has a very robust social safety net and generous worker retraining program, so they can run a relatively unregulated labor market that is almost as laissez faire as US, in some ways, which makes for flexible and responsive business climate that at the same time does not punish workers or trap them in poverty.
I think some Scandinavian/Nordic Model economics would do the US good, and we would actually have a healthier more robust capitalist economy. Not anything that crony corporate capitalist rent seekers would like and they would howl like stuck pigs, since they would have start earning their money, rather than pumping it out of the lesser people’s pockets using special breaks and favors.
Anyway, I heard Sanders joking that Pope Francis makes him look like a conservative on economics.
Omnes Omnibus
@jl: Forget it, he’s rolling.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Thank you for that ear worm.
jl
@Omnes Omnibus:Excuse me, Sir, I’m looking for the BJ nerd prom. Maybe I’ve wandered into the wrong thread :).
Omnes Omnibus
@jl: Oh, you found it alright. Look, mate, I responded to your pedantry with a pop culture reference. I think we’re in nerdpromland.
danielx
@gf120581:
To which we could add the various states legalizing the ganj, Republicans (any Republicans) in favor of reforming sentencing laws and the like, attitudes changing more quickly than demographics explain, and some other goodies.
On the flip side, we have universal surveillance, $300 Rolling Stones tickets, not one major banker in jail after seven years and prove positive that creatures like Scott Walker actually exist. I won’t even think about foreign policy, it’s too painful.
PurpleGirl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: What, you don’t like doing the time warp?
Ajabu
@efgoldman:
Hope you’re still here.
I wanted to comment last night re: your “Got a banjo on your knee?” remark but it was 2 am.
My wife was born in Mobile. Alabama (although she’s a Caribbean woman by temperament) and when we were first married a smart ass friend said, “Does she have a banjo on her knee?”
I replied, “She did have, but she had it surgically removed. She had a Banjoectomy.”
And then I wrote that tune, Banjoectomy.
A little music trivia for you.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Susan Sarandon, from dancing the Time Warp (or at least watching with rocky horror) to playing Sister Helen Prejean. Quite a career.
jl
@Omnes Omnibus: But but… someone was imprecise on the internet!!
Omnes Omnibus
@danielx:
Source?
Omnes Omnibus
@jl: It grates so, doesn’t it?
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Omnes Omnibus:
Heh. Good one.
That movie is surprisingly smart for being a dumb comedy.
Tommy
@Omnes Omnibus:
For many years my best friend in DC parents worked at the World Bank. His parents had this place in Middleburg, VA. I guess working for the World Bank was a good idea, because it was one of the most amazing pieces of land and houses I’ve ever been too. They only came back to it once every few years.
My friends and I liked to venture out to the place once a month or so and get outside our drone lives. At times we ate like kings. Others we ran around nude. Well because, well because …..
I say all this because he was from Denmark. He seemed to walk to a different drummer. A different lifestyle.
Omnes Omnibus
@Tommy: Thank you for sharing?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Steeplejack (tablet): I caught it on TV a few weeks ago, and I’d forgotten how little dialogue Belushi has outside of that scene. The man must’ve burned an enormous amount of calories with his eyebrows. And Bluto gets the best ‘where are they now’ send-off.
jl
@Tommy: For awhile, back in the day, the Danes were the really bad ass crazy rape burn and pillage Vikings. You can ask the Brits about them.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack (tablet): I still love it. After all these years.
jl
@Omnes Omnibus: The idea of running around in the nude through the meadows and woods shocks you, huh? Take a deep breath, relax. ‘It is just the nature’ as some Scandinavian might say.
Have the Scalia cocktail of your choice and clam down, Sir.
Tommy
@Omnes Omnibus: Question mark? I guess thanks for thanking me to share. You are the arbitrator of my thoughts.
Omnes Omnibus
@jl: One of the funniest things about the Vikings is that once they had done a bit of pillaging, they then traded with other placed they visited. You didn’t be one of the first places a raiding Viking visited.
Steeplejack
@danielx:
Okay, that one’s the majesty of the free market at work: idiots paying to see the world’s premier Rolling Stones tribute band. “Dead at 30; buried at 80.”
Omnes Omnibus
@jl: I’ve been on European beaches. I have also done the sauna and roll in the snow thing. I wasn’t expressing shock or dismay – just surprise that that commenter addressed his remarks to me.
Steeplejack
@Jim, Foolish Literalist, @Omnes Omnibus:
It really does hold up exceedingly well.
My upcoming candidate to go into that pantheon is Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack: Yes, if only for Doogie Hauser.
jl
@Omnes Omnibus: IIRC different Vikings had different styles. Swedish Vikings where into bidness and trading. The Swedish might have been big part of setting up golden age of the Kievan Rus, or maybe they did it for hire. Anyway, they could build stuff and build economies. Danes were crazy and into protection money to keep places they raided ‘nice’. Debased Swedes and Finns got together with Estonians and went into piracy business in the Baltic. Different groups had different business models, as it were.
Edit: I think most of the exploration west and colonization came from Norway, but not sure.
jl
@Omnes Omnibus: Omnes, you are a nexus here at BJ. I thought you knew that.
Tommy
@jl: Yeah I can read history. My buddy Mark was about 6’5 and 240 and not an inch of fat on him. Switch back to 1200 AD and him running at me as a Scot with a sword I think I might run the other way. But we didn’t run the other way. Say what you will about my ancestors but we never ran. We always fought.
Tree With Water
@jl: Daneslaw. Or something like that. If memory serves the Danes once settled a portion of southeast England (I think it was) and everything was fine for many years, until most were were subsequently slaughtered by surprise attack- just why exactly, I cannot recall. Lebensraum, most likely. Or maybe someone someone stole a cow and things simply escalated.
Omnes Omnibus
@jl: That is true.
@jl: Not a nexus, just here far too much.
Tommy
@Omnes Omnibus: Don’t be so full of yourself. It was a comment to the whole, not just you. And the comment about running around nude was just a small part of the comment, not a direct part of it.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Tree With Water:
Mmm, Dane slaw. I have a really good recipe for that.
jl
@Tommy: Maybe. Or maybe you were both raiding Vikings and you stayed in Scotland and he went back home. Never can tell…
Omnes Omnibus
@Tommy: Dude, I made my original comment because you, I believe, mistakenly addressed a perfectly reasonable reply to me instead of the commenter to whom you meant to reply.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I listen to the British History Podcast, and we’re finally, finally getting to the fucking Vikings! Actually, it’s been really interesting all along, but I’m looking forward to the Viking episodes.
And fuck accuracy, I’m going to imagine them wearing horned helmets.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack (tablet): It has mustard, right?
Tree With Water
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Thanks for that link, looks interesting.
jl
@Tree With Water: The Danes took over the whole middle third of England and split in two parts,around 900, that is the Danelaw I think, and England got it back partly by paying huge tribute, Danegeld up into Norman invasion, I think.
Maybe England could be part of Denmark today if the English had not held on.
I remember reading episodes where England would eff with Denmark, and I wondered why. English literally towed away the whole Danish Navy during Napoleonic Wars I think. Maybe that history was why. Or maybe not. I don’t know.
Tommy
@jl: Did the DNA test thing and that might be more accurate then you are aware of. For a gift a few years ago I got my dad a DNA test. I got a family tree back almost 500 years. Back, back, back …..
The DNA test showed two things. (1) I might have a lot more Dane blood in me than I thought and (2) I got African American blood. Not a little, but a lot. Only conclusion is my parents many years ago, well you know ……..
jl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: thanks, I’ll check that out. Especially if the Vikings are coming up!
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Omnes Omnibus:
Of course. And pickled beets—yum!
srv
I think someones bot Turing Testing needs a banjoectomy.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@Tommy:
Did you use 23andMe or a different company? I’ve been considering it myself.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack (tablet): Dear god. That’s asking a lot. I am working on my issues with cats. Don’t ask me to work on my pickled beet issues at the same time.
Omnes Omnibus
@srv: More likely spoof than bot.
Tree With Water
@jl: So my recollection of a great Danish killing having occurred is mistaken, eh? Must have gotten it mixed up with one of the other innumerable mass slaughters of the age on that island. Google here I come, goodnight folks.
jl
@Tommy:
‘ (1) I might have a lot more Dane blood in me than I thought ‘
Ah hah… See! You and your Danish friend might have been on the same side back in the day.
‘ (2) I got African American blood. Not a little, but a lot. Only conclusion is my parents many years ago, well you know ……..’
Don’t know how far back your family goes, but there was a lot more race mixing in the US history than we remember. I read that was quite common back in early nineteenth century until 1840s or so. Especially between Irish and black freedmen, who were both outcast groups back then. Rigid racial segregation was much more of an engineered social control sort of thing than we remember. TPM blog had an interesting piece on its front page a day or so ago on the ridiculous and disgusting efforts of Wilson in the 1920s that tried to spread extreme racial segregation policies all over the country.
Do you have much info about your family history in the US?
Omnes Omnibus
@Tree With Water: I don’t recall specifics, but I can say that there were definitely back and forths during the time. You aren’t necessarily wrong.
Omnes Omnibus
@jl: Wilson in the ’20s? One asks of the pedant….
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Omnes Omnibus:
Hey, no pressure. The Dane slaw will be there when you’re ready.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack (tablet): Thanks, brah. The cat thing might take some time, but I am working on it.
Anne Laurie
@Tommy:
You say your people came from Skye? Half of them were those Viking invaders, back in the day.
Read up on the latest DNA untangling; a bunch of the Viking men stayed in the Celtic lands (because, unless you were a lordling’s son, why go home?) and a bunch of Celtic women ended up kidnapped to Scandinavia. The Spousal Unit’s people came from Norway — “Vikings who didn’t have the good sense to emigrate earlier” — and he’s always being mistaken for Irish, here in Beantown.
sparrow
@GregB: The more I see of Sanders, the more I like him. I have ex-republican (aka conservative but sane) acquaintances on facebook that prefer him to the slew of GOP crazies, even as they hate Hillary with the heat of a thousand suns. I don’t know how broad his appeal really is, though. But for me, it’s Sanders 10000x over Hillary in the primary, and then Hillary 1000x over the republican in the general. I hope Sanders wins though.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Omnes Omnibus:
I still have cat issues, and the housecat and I have been together three years.
jl
@Tree With Water: I don’t know. Let’s check the Wiki:
Danelaw
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danelaw
Maybe battle of Stamford Bridge?
Looks like a lot of Vikings just stayed in England farming and marrying and allowed themselves to be Christianized after English victories. And Danes got tired of invading after they lost a big battle, and left the Christianized Dane colonists behind.
Tommy
@Mnemosyne (tablet): I used Ancestry.com service because that is the site my father is using to track shit. We were NOT happy with it. Not even remotely happy. So I can only say don’t use them, who to use otherwise I am not sure.
I have a family tree that opens up on paper and scrolls the length of my house. The scroll is right next to me. Back to the, well back to times so many years ago. Talking Medieval times. Dad is all over the shit.
I have to admit at some level I don’t care that much. But then, well my family is a bad ass group of people. More than once we stood on a field in the high lands and motioned the Brits to come and fight.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@jl:
A lot of people don’t realize it, but the first “one-drop” law wasn’t passed in the U.S. until 1910. A lot of our “ancient history” of strict segregation is barely 100 years old:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-drop_rule
Before that, people just kind of stopped being black after enough generations. Slavery was different, since the enslavement was passed through the mother, but it’s not uncommon for ostensibly white people to discover a few black freedmen (or women) in their family line.
joel hanes
@jl:
For awhile, back in the day, the Danes were the really bad ass crazy rape burn and pillage Vikings.
Jomsvikings
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack (tablet): I have allergies to them and the fuckers come and sit on my lap and rub against me. I swear they know and they are fucking with me. But for personal reasons, I am working on it. I might just need to mainline Suda fed (odd break to avoid possible moderation).
Tommy
@Anne Laurie: Look at my other comments. I agree with you 100% in what you said. I have more than a little other blood in me.
Omnes Omnibus
@joel hanes: Damned Scandinavian socialists.
jl
@joel hanes: Yikes. Don’t remember reading about them. But they don’t even know if these Jomvikings were real or myth.
Anyway, from the Danelaw article, looks like Alfred the Great had some shrewd strategy. After he won a battle, he would spare the Danish colonists and let them stay if they converted to Christianity. So, looks after a winning a few battles Alfred kind of co-opted Danes living in England into being more English than Danish, except for one coastal area up north.
JGabriel
If the “conservatives and evangelicals” couldn’t prevent a black guy with the middle name of Hussein from getting elected to the presidency, what the fuck makes them think they can win a Supreme Court election?
Omnes Omnibus
@JGabriel: First, you have realize that Cruz is bug-fuck nuts. Second, refer back to first.
Tommy
@Mnemosyne (tablet): The best I can tell from my DNA analysis and other stuff is somehow somebody from my mon’s side of the family had a child or two with the slaves they owned. It hurts me to even say that ……………
But there is no other way I have those DNA markers.
Anne Laurie
@Omnes Omnibus:
Direct stares & crowding up in someone’s personal space is very rude by cat standards — but that’s how we primates solicit attention.
Since your allergies make you look away & keep your hands to yourself, you’re the only polite ape in the room. Of course you’re popular with the felines!
P.S.A.: Most people get acclimated to the dander of the cat(s) they share a home with, after a few weeks. If it gets serious, you might want to talk to an allergist — the speciality has come a long way in recent years, and part of that has been accepting that “well, get rid of the pets” just isn’t a workable solution for a lot of their patients.
jl
@Mnemosyne (tablet): Thanks… I guess. I did not know the details of the one drop rule. Horrifying. Some places in the South, in the 20th century(!) tried to impose an apartheid more brutal and insane that what was developing in South Africa at the same time.
Another place a lot of mixing between the races could have happened in many family trees is in the Wild West. I remember reading how many freedmen migrated West to find opportunities, and that, besides Native Americans, after the Civil War, the West was about a third White Europeans, a third African-American and rest Hispanic.
And rules were looser out West. Mark Twain wrote a humorous and almost unacceptably racist piece about how Easterners were scandalized that blacks could become policemen in San Francisco. Not sure whether the piece was more racist against black or Irish, though. Twain was evolving from conventional racist to whatever he was later in life at the time.
Edit: and strange that our history has become so ‘white washed’ that if you portray the west as it really was, some doofus critic will complain about putting other races and ethnicities, and nationalities, in just in order to be PC “Where all the white cowboys at?” I remember reading some idiot critic criticizing some recent Westerns that way.
Omnes Omnibus
@Anne Laurie: I also suspect that the moment I am dead, they will eat me. Unlike dogs who would come to my grave every day if they only had the thumbs to carry the flowers.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@Omnes Omnibus:
Some people find that If the cat is bathed once a month, it greatly reduces the allergens after about 3 months. It’s probably best to have a professional do the bathing. Also, vacuum often and don’t let the cat(s) hang out in the bedroom during the day or at night.
JGabriel
@Omnes Omnibus: Heh. Fair enough.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@Omnes Omnibus:
Ha ha, no. The dogs would totally eat you if you died. In fact, since dogs are omnivores, they’re actually somewhat more likely to eat you than a cat would since cats generally don’t scavenge.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mnemosyne (tablet): I will pass this on. Thanks.
jl
@Mnemosyne (tablet): I think I read someplace that cats will dig in sooner though. A dog, at least if it likes you and you were a nice and kind owner, will sit around and fell all sorry for awhile, and get over the heartbreak of it all before it sits down to chow down on your corpse.
Edit: though it may be that you are correct. Dogs are more scavenger than cats are, so if a cat is of a mind to take a bite, it wants you fresh.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mnemosyne (tablet): That may be true, but they would feel bad about it like the Uruguayan rugby team did.
Tommy
@Mnemosyne (tablet): My cat is so anal about what she eats I am not sure I would pass the test. My cat is never more than a few feet from me. If I tried to give her a bath I’d have to call 9/11 ahead of time :)! It would be a blood bath and I would be on the losing end.
moderateindy
As someone that has lived in or near Chicago for the majority of my life, I can assure you that Malort is the perfect addition for any conservative cocktail, as it makes most people wretch with total disgust.
Best ever “commercial” for the drink….seriously funny
https://youtu.be/q7s16ewP1RU
Anne Laurie
@Omnes Omnibus:
In one of the Discworld books, the King of the Free Dogs dies tragically, but his followers slip back every day to mourn at his memorial “until they forgot.”
Sir Pterry had a fine grasp of the doggy, as well as the human, mind.
Omnes Omnibus
@moderateindy: I’ve had Malort. I am giggling uncontrollably.
Anne Laurie
@Tommy: Grooming professionals have the training to do cat baths correctly. Also the tools.
Omnes Omnibus
@Anne Laurie: But they cared as long as their constitutions allowed. The cats would start eating as soon as I stopped moving. See, this view is what I am trying to get past. I AM working on it.
Tommy
@Anne Laurie: Yeah I guess. I have a pretty close relationship with my cat. I can man-handle her and she wouldn’t care. My cat and I are close. I am about to head out of my home office and go to bed. She will be behind me, will walk with me step for step to bed. Fall asleep next to me.
jl
@moderateindy: Malort seems nice. Funny commercial.
Swedes have some seriously weird ideas about what kind of hard likker and what kind of candy tastes good. I know from personal experience. They pack that stuff when they travel, complaining that they can’t get it anywhere else in the world (or as they say ‘in deverld’) . I’ve suggested that there is a good reason for that.
But, then I have had friends laugh hilariously as I have tried to keep a civil face while swallowing and eating some of their Swedish treats.
Omnes Omnibus
@jl: Don’t even ask me about the lutefisk stories.
Anne Laurie
@Omnes Omnibus: I played the Malort ‘commercial’ with the Norwegian-American Spousal Unit watching over my shoulder. His spontaneous response: “Well, it probably tastes a lot better in conjunction with the lutefisk.”
Omnes Omnibus
@Anne Laurie: Well, one would wipe the other out – except for the memory of the horror.
opiejeanne
@jl: Melungeons. They can screw up a family tree like nobody’s business, and they seem to have been a mixed race group of people. The way they screw up your family tree is that there was such prejudice against them that when they’d leave home and move to a nearby city they would pick a new name, something they saw in a newspaper or on a shop sign, and tell everyone who asked about family that they were orphans. If one is in your family line you come up against a brick wall that is just about impenetrable.
I suspect that my mother-in-law had some melungeon in her background, which means there is African blood in my husband’s family, which would explain some things, and could be why her family just disappears from records, going back. If she weren’t already dead this would have killed her.
jl
@opiejeanne: Never heard of that group before. I saw article in Mnemosyne’;s link.
But I think a lot of immigrant families changed their names in order to fit in with whatever was the dominant group in an area. Or maybe their names tended to get recorded by somebody from the dominent ethnic group that was different, and heard it and spelled it differently. Some of my siblings and cousins have done some genealogical research, and they told me that one difficulty is picking up the track on families after a move, and the surname morphed into something different.
Anne Laurie
@jl:
My Irish paternal grandfather passed through Ellis Island in the mid-1920s, as an adult fully literate in English. Even then, the immigration official changed the spelling of his last name to “properly” conform to its pronunciation. (Gave my poor brother fits winding up probate when my grandmother died, some 70 years later, because the name on her survivor’s pension from the Royal Constabulary had never been changed.)
It never surprised me that less fortunate immigrants ended up with names that had little or nothing in common with those they’d left the various Olde Countries bearing!
sm*t cl*de
For present purposes, allow me to recommend Dildo Akvavit.
OK, it’s spelled “Dild akvavit”, but that’s good enough for government work.
shell
Paraphrasing Charlie Pierce, ” Have we reminded you lately what a colossal dick Ted Cruz is?”
Cervantes
Ted Cruz:
Whereas Bobby Jindal, despite having attended only a minor Ivy, has a more efficient idea:
Maybe Bobby should be elected Emperor and Ted his deputy.
SWMBO
@Tommy: I was a pet groomer in college. Build yourself a wooden frame. Put chicken wire on it. Add lead sinkers to get it to submerge. Cover the bottom with fabric so it doesn’t scratch the tub. Fill the tub with water (halfway) and have a plastic cup or bowl to dip the water with. Put the cat on the wire and pull her tail. As long as you maintain tension on her tail, she can’t let go of the wire. Her claws don’t retract if there’s tension. Lift with your other hand and put frame, cat and all in the water. Bathe the cat with your free hand. The only weapon she has at this point is teeth. Be careful washing around the head. If it helps her cope, let the water out of the tub while she’s in it. (I think some cats are like little kids–they think they are going down the drain). Throw a towel over her and dry her off. Apply antibiotic ointment and bandages as necessary. Do not expect to be her friend for a while.
pseudonymous in nc
Always read “has proposed a constitutional amendment” as “has farted in its general direction”, because it’s no more meaningful a statement.