You know who else liked cute, fluffy kittens?
Hmmph! I bet that kitty’s descendants speculate endlessly about what would happen if they could travel back in time and scratch that monster’s eyes out.
It’s still raining. This seems like a good day to find a bar & grill on a river or beach and watch the storms roll in. What are you up to?
Open thread!
Just One More Canuck
Driving from Toronto to Prince Edward Island for vacation
Betty Cracker
@Just One More Canuck: Well, that sounds fabulous!
the Conster
@Just One More Canuck:
Was there this time last year – where are you staying? The pink ocean on the bridge side is crazy.
kindness
Title one might see at Wonkette. Good job Betty!
Joseph Nobles
@kindness: “Saturday Mid-Day Open Thread”?
mtiffany
Being jealous of your fabulous, indolent lifestyle, obviously…
That, and waiting for the rain to pass so I can check out what’s left of a basketball-sized hornet nest that I sprayed last.
Omnes Omnibus
What am I up to? Psyching myself up to venture in the heat for a bike ride. I am dressed and water bottle are filled so I am really out of excuses. Plus, it’s only going to get hotter.
Schlemazel
looks shopped to me! It would, however, explain this:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/241646336230463370/
Amir Khalid
In keeping with your references to Thor’s Day, maybe the post headline should be Saturn’s Day Mid-day Open Thread.
dopealope
Have you ever tried Sinbads in Eustis? Their chicken wings are great, and the ceiling is fun to read.
oldster
That’s not even a vaguely plausible job of photo-shopping.
It’s clear that the kitten’s head has been pasted over what was originally Charles Lindbergh’s body. Then they tried to alter the shadow on the wall to make it fit, but you can still see his aviator goggles pushed up on top of his head.
Who are these amateurs?
eric U.
trying to install ubuntu on a new hard drive. This requires multiple trips down to the basement to prepare a usb drive. Old hard drive died, of course I had just enough stuff on it that I feel foolish for not backing it up. Unfortunately,it’s spinning, so I’m not sure why it’s not talking. Apparently you can occasionally get the ones that aren’t spinning to work.
mtiffany
@oldster:
And if you maginfy the image eleventy-hundred percent and look at the text of the book Hitler is reading and examine the kerning…
Oldster is right: amateurs are soooo amateur.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@Just One More Canuck:
I’m an Anne of Green Gables fan, so I’ve always been curious about PEI. What does one do on a vacation there?
Just One More Canuck
@the Conster: We’ll be in Cavendish, near the Anne of Green Gables area, but we’ll be going all over the Island, maybe even getting in some golf – looking forward to it
@Betty Cracker: Thx
mtiffany
@Mnemosyne (tablet): Wait three hours for the sister-in-law to show up?
oldster
@mtiffany:
Oh, sure–the kerning is all wrong. Of course.
But if you want to know what the book *really* says, you have to play it *backwards*.
Vance Maverick
Not Charles Lindbergh, but Oliver Reed and kitten.
shell
Is Hitler reading a script?
***************
Proof that there IS a perpetual motion machine.
’Hillary Clinton to appear before Benghazi panel, Oct. 22’
Isnt this like, the fifth investigation so far?
Just One More Canuck
@Mnemosyne (tablet): Anne of Green Gables is a big industry there, but the cycling is supposed to be great, and there’s a lot of golf and other things as well
MattF
@mtiffany: Yeah, but that shadow is obviously Bill Ayers, proving that Hitler was a librul.
Phylllis
A nap, some pina colada frozen daiquiri, then into the kitchen to roast tomatoes and caramelize Vidalia onions for tomato pie for supper.
OzarkHillbilly
Anybody in the STL area want to adopt a half starved tick infested kitten? Found it in the chicken run this morn when I went to let the birds out. Common coloring (orangey tiger stripe) male, barely weaned, I would guess it’s been dodging coyotes for less than a week. Presently at the vet with the wife, going to take a few weeks of slow feeding to get it up to weight. We’ll see about getting him snipped.
My choices were wring it’s neck, bring it back to health and hope somebody might take it off our hands, or wait until it drives us nuts and wring it’s neck then. Obviously enuf, we are at the stage of B or C.
Anyway, we really don’t need another cat. I’ll check back later even tho I know it’s hopeless.
PS: I really hate gutless weasel shitheads who don’t have the balls to do their own dirty work and just hope nature will do it for them and then it becomes our problem.
the Conster
@Mnemosyne (tablet):
Really, not much. Beaches, golf, and looking on more potato fields than you will ever care to see again in a lifetime. Charlottetown is cute, but quite small and the harbor is lovely, but 3 days there was plenty. We spent a week driving through the maritimes – New Brunswick – PEI – Nova Scotia, staying in St. John, Charlottestown and Halifax so that we could walk the waterfronts of these old cities. As a native Bostonian, the history there is the mirror image of colonial history – the Loyalists who deserted the American Revolution are their heroes who helped repel American aggression.
Gimlet
Republican or Republican lite? What to do…
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W. Va. — Centrist Democrats were wiped out in the 2014 elections and in their absence emerged a resurgent liberal movement, embodied most recently by the surprisingly competitive presidential campaign of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
“The national Democratic Party’s brand makes it challenging for Democrats in red states oftentimes and I hope that going forward, the leaders at the national level will be mindful of that and they will understand that they can’t govern the country without Democrats being able to win races in red states,” said Paul Davis, who narrowly failed to unseat Republican Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback last year.
Davis and his ilk were partly victims of a historically dismal year for Democrats, who saw their gubernatorial ranks fall to 18. Their candidates were weighed down by perceptions that President Barack Obama was too liberal. Now, Democrats in red states are worried that the party’s shift toward an even more polarizing, populist tone could turn off the swing voters they need to mount a comeback in 2015 and 2016, when a handful of GOP-tilted states with Democratic governors are on the ballot.
lahke
At Lowell Folk Festival. Come on over– it’s free.
oldster
@Vance Maverick:
Oliver Reed? Of “Three Musketeers” fame?
In that case, the conspiracy goes much deeper than I’d thought.
shell
Like their fellow shitheads who abandon dogs by the side of the road, thinking, ” But its an animal, they can take care of themselves in the wild!”
debbie
@Vance Maverick:
Either way, that’s a really ugly shirt.
MattF
Via Daring Fireball: Did you know that when you visit the Verge website (no link!) there are twenty-two different advertising/analytics companies that come along for the ride?
Privacy? Ha ha.
Pogonip
In case anyone else here does not watch TV, Sippy Cupp is not a rapper, but an Ann Coulter wanna-be, although S. E. Cupp (groan) does appear to be biogically female.
Fox is no longer on 14 hours a day as it was when Mom had her faculties, but my father still watches it occasionally, so I happened to see Coulter on there a couple of weeks ago, and noticed that as he ages he seems to go to less and less trouble to hide his sex. Maybe he’ll appear on a double bill with Caitlyn Jenner one of these days.
(Yes, I know it’s possible Coulter suffers from one of those rare disorders that masculinizes females, but the more parsimonious explanation is “drag queen,” so to me he’s “he” until I get more information.)
We now return you to your regularly scheduled Hitler photoshopping.
In ” The Psychopathic God,” Robert G. L. Waite claims Hitler feared moonlight, horses–and cats. Although I suppose he might still have steeled himself to have the publicity picture taken with the kitten, then had the hideous beast removed pronto.
mtiffany
I’m sure this has been said before but it bears repeating: whoever decided html5 autoplay was a good idea should be put to death by pressing with the collected works of Anne Coulter and Sarah Palin.
Pogonip
Oops! I left out, Satby explained S. E. Cupp to me. (Belated) thank you, Satby.
OK, back to Hitler.
Pogonip
@debbie: You know, now that you mention it, Hitler generally wore Bavarian suspender-shorts on casual day. Maybe it IS photoshopped and that is really S. E. Cupp!
On a closer look, I think it’s Alec Guinness, who did play Hitler at least once.
Gimlet
Was thinking after this latest shooting in Lafayette, that aging men and women both seem to drift to paranoia, conspiracies, racism-xenophobia, religiosity and need for guns.
Either it’s my restricted social circle or there are few left wing “radicals” in that age group. They may have leftwing views but are not extremist and intolerant with them.
the Conster
Deray McKesson is in Waller County and tweeting out his obervations – about Waller County, the autopsy (which he’s reviewing), the jail setting which is in the same building as the sheriff’s office, and what he’s learning about the investigators. Way more questions than answers, and he’s convinced she was murdered. They used a rape kit on her body. There’s no answer as to whether her clothes had evidence of her own saliva (like hanging would leave), it’s possible to enter the jail from the back without being filmed, every authority involved has extensive history of racist behavior, etc.etc.
Amir Khalid
Ted Cruz has found himself some billionaire sponsors — or maybe I should rephrase that: some billionaires have found themselves an orphan presidential candidate.
bemused
We’ve had a string of upper 80 degree days and I picked up a mojito mixer concentrate on sale from the local health food store, brand name Stirrings but found out that there is no rum in our liquor supply. Any recommendations of best rum for mojitos?
Steeplejack (phone)
@bemused:
Mount Gay. Not Bacardi, not Captain Morgan, not Ron [anything].
CaseyL
For a few days, Seattle has returned to its normal weather – cloudy, cool, rainy – and thank FSM, say I.
So I’m celebrating by doorbelling for my City Council candidate, which I’ve been unable to do the last few weekends because of the heat (and that one weekend when I was out of town).
@Vance Maverick: Sigh. Oliver Reed. God, he was gorgeous when he was young. Was still damn fine in the Three Musketeers, too. The Assassination Bureau, which he starred in with Diana Rigg, was a very fun flick.
MattF
@Amir Khalid: It’s hard to even describe this or compare it to older scams. The old lexicon for grifting just doesn’t apply– by something like three orders of magnitude.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@mtiffany:
We’re going up to their place to sit on their couch and maybe play board games with the kids while she makes up her goddamned mind about what she “spontaneously” wants to do.
Goblue72
Getting ready to drive to Point Reyes for overnight camping – https://rkmoore.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/4-30-2010_7lr7012_s_1.jpg
geg6
Got a haircut and did my grocery shopping. Just finished lunch with the pups. It’s a gorgeous, non-humid hot summer day, so heading to the sister’s pool for some relaxing and chilled wine. Dinner will be some juicy grilled burgers with locally grown corn, lettuce and tomatoes (our lettuce is done and tomatoes not quite ripe yet) and sweet potato oven fries. Made a peach and nectarine tart the other night and it is fabulous with some vanilla bean ice cream! Wine TBT later.
Pogonip
@Mnemosyne (tablet): Can you ” spontaneously” and accidentally lock her in the basement, then let her out when you and the kids get back from having fun? Grin.
Proposed new line for the Who’s Who of Heaven: “From ‘spontaneous’ assholes, good Lord, deliver us.”
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@Vance Maverick:
Though I’m sure many of his ex-wives would disagree, it seems a little unfair to turn Oliver Reed into Hitler. But, then, I’m a Reed fan — like Warren Oates, Reed was always interesting to watch in a movie no matter how bad the rest of the movie was. And he got to die as he had lived, surrounded by drunk people at a bar.
Redshift
@shell: Yes, but those at least pretended to be Benghazi investigations. This is the “whatever we can dig up on Hillary and their against the wall through deceptive leaks” committee, aka Whitewater 2.0.
Goblue72
@CaseyL: I was looking forward to someone more active than Jean Godden finally taking her seat, but it appears her competition are even more reactionary NIMBY.
bystander
Making a peach/blackberry crumble for dinner.
Just learned that the NYC council is considering barring tourist helicopters because of the noise pollution. Personally, I want them banned because I don’t want to be the innocent random bystander who meets his fate when a helicopter full of tourists careens into his apartment.
The best part is that the commercial interests who fly these things around the city have banded together under the very touching tag Helicopters Matter. No, really.
PurpleGirl
Decided I did need to DO something today. So, I’m packing a bag of stuff to take to a Housing Works thrift shop. For a few years, since they sued Mayor Guiliani for a social services contract they should have won and which he wouldn’t sign for them to get, they’ve been my focus for donations. I may take a taxi there.
gnomedad
You know who else had a gigantic head?
Big ole hound
@geg6: RIGHT ON IN EVERY WAY.
mai naem mobile
I didn’t realize Hitler.had such a shitty combover. Hell, I didn’t realize he had a combover. I kind of paid more attention to the mustache.
Redshift
@Gimlet: Shorter: guy who lost badly in 2014 preemptively declares it will be liberals’ fault when he loses badly in 2016.
bemused
@Steeplejack (phone):
Doing some further searching, I dug up an overlooked bottle of Mount Gay! Yay, now I don’t have to go out to liquor store. It seems that we have neglected our hard liquor stash for quite awhile, going for beer or wine instead.
redshirt
@Just One More Canuck: The bicycling is amazing in PEI – they converted old rail lines into dedicated bike paths that run for a good length of the island.
Also too, great golf. I played a couple of courses and one was perhaps he prettiest I’ve ever played (forget the name, sorry).
Amir Khalid
@Mnemosyne (tablet):
Per Wikipedia, Oliver Reed was married to his second wife at the time of his death. (Between his marriages, Reed had a mistress with whom he had a daughter.) So he had just the one ex-wife.
mtiffany
@the Conster:
PuffHoe had a brief article on the autopsy. It concluded she was a suicide because she had no defensive wounds on her hands to indicate a struggle, but the report also noted there were ’30 or so’ abrasions around her wrists.
Abrasions on her wrists? Like her wrists may have been bound with something, perhaps handcuffs?However could that have happened in a jail?
It’s difficult to sustain defensive wounds on your hands when they’re cuffed behind your back.
Given the overreaction of that cop that arrested her, is it really such a stretch to think the rest of the police department would behave the same way?
raven
PEI= fish
bemused
@mai naem mobile:
Speaking of shitty combovers, has anyone else watched the doc, You’ve Been Trumped, about Trump’s big money and bullying tactics to build a golf course in Scotland? I had read about it but just watched it and it was interesting to see the small group of homeowners he wanted out of his way. One homeowner was said she should have gotten a photo of the wind blowing his long batch of hair around.
FlipYrWhig
@Gimlet: Clearly if a Democrat can’t win in Kansas, something must be badly awry! It’s such a natural hotbed for Democratic politics.
Also, an actual prairie state Democrat decrying populists… that has to be making 19th century politicians rotate in their graves like hot dogs at a ballpark concession stand.
A Ghost To Most
@Gimlet:
I really don’t know how many old left wing radicals are left,but we aren’t all gone yet
Riley's enabler
Playing with the foster kitties. I’ve got a young mama and two babies who just hit 9 weeks. Annie is a holy terror and her brother Andy is either simple or the world’s most laid-back kitten. They are both tiger – striped tabbys and wildly adorable. Mama is a super short-haired girl with something exotic in her ancestry. Sweet lap – loving ladycat, about 18 months old. Anyone looking for a cat/kitten in the Houston area? They will go back to the shelter next week for snipping, have had their first shots. I’m hoping to find them terrific homes.
the Conster
@mtiffany:
Questions about access to the jail too – there’s a rear entrance that isn’t surveilled apparently! Also the 30-40 cuts on her arms which had just begun to heal, which weren’t noted on her intake. So many ways to cover up the truth, I fear, again, that we’ll never know.
OzarkHillbilly
@mtiffany:
An autopsy would show when those abrasions occured. If there was healing, it could not have happened at time of death, it would have had to happen at time of arrest. Which is what I read the autopsy said.
Cacti
But I thought AH was a dog lover.
the Conster
The best NYT Hillary email story clusterfuck explainer I’ve seen yet. Michael Schmidt has some splainin to do .
gene108
@Redshift:
Not true. It’s been a problem for Democrats that the national party brand has become toxic in many states for a number of years. State and local politicians do not want to be associated with national Democratic figures like President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, etc.
When your opponent can successfully run an ad that says “voted with Nancy Pelosi 90% of the time” and it illicit a largely negative reaction, there’s a problem for Democrats in many states.
And saying just rely on the Obama coalition of minorities, single women, etc and ignore white voters does not work in states like West Virginia that’s 90% white or Kansas that’s 87% white.
I just think there’s enough economic insecurity around that sticking to some form of populism may overcome fear of the Scary Liberal taking away your guns, forcing you to have abortions, and gay marrying you to your turtle.
From my small sample size of irregular to non-voting associates, they are disillusioned with the political system because nothing seems to work for them. Economic security ideas like paid sick leave, raising the minimum wage, etc do perk their interest.
Might be the case in more conservative states too.
Xff
catclub
@Steeplejack (phone): I am reminded, however, of Andrew Tobias’s motto:
“Any luxury, once tasted, becomes a necessity.” So by never drinking good rum you will never feel the need. Likewise for avoiding good champagne.
A Ghost To Most
@Mnemosyne (tablet):
many of the churches in PEI have lobster dinners for good prices.
Many bars serve mussels.
catclub
@raven: PEI = eating too much lobster.
p.a.
@MattF: No. It’s Prescott Bush. And the book is the Skull and Bones register.
MattF
@the Conster: Worth watching the whole thing. NYT behavior is much worse than I thought.
gelfling545
@Redshift: You know I’m at the point where I think that even if there were something crooked in the Clinton dealings she’d still get my support over them because clearly, if there is, she’s a whole lot smarter than the GOP combined forces. She’s got all these “scandals” but they can’t produce a shred of evidence? Clearly a mastermind!
gelfling545
@Redshift: Well, clearly it’s just a fluke that Sanders can turn out big crowds in TX and AZ with a message far more liberal than we have heard in….ever.
raven
@catclub: While fishing
the Conster
@MattF:
Yeah, Michael Schmidt needs to be fired. Full stop.
Origuy
I’m going to the Maritimes next month for the Canadian Orienteering Championships. Flying into Halifax and exploring it for a day, then driving up to Moncton, NB. A few runs there, including running a short course at Hopewell Rocks (at low tide). The tides there are the highest in the world . I’ve got a few days off and going to Cape Breton for the Scottish culture. Then back to PEI for a couple of days and two courses, ending up near Truro, NS for the last two events.
Any must sees in Halifax or elsewhere? I’ll get enough physical activity from the orienteering courses, so no long bike rides. There’s a lobster dinner planned on PEI.
the Conster
Also, Dave Wiegel is doing yeoman’s work live tweeting Trump’s speech. He asked the crowd how they like his hair, because it’s all his. LOL. He’s turning on Walker now. He’s like having a rabid porcupine in the bathroom with you.
Iowa Old Lady
@the Conster: I watched that whole video, and it is a good explanation, but my husband asked me to turn it down. It was complicated and boring and unsexy.
And that’s one reason these attacks succeed. They’re simple and fit with a narrative that’s already been developed.
the Conster
@Origuy:
I loved Halifax – it’s a great walking city, with tons of ethnic restaurants. We stayed two blocks up from the waterfront, which is very lively and scenic. We also hiked up to the old fort overlooking the city. Day tripped around the area.
We also went to Bay of Fundy National Park. Hopewell Rocks was too crowded so we kept going, but it looked like it’s worth the time.
Tommy
@bemused: He is an asshole. When I used to live on the east coast I used to head once a year to the “Outer Banks” of NC and play golf. I went to college on a golf scholarship. Maybe it is because my family came here from Scotland, but I so love a links course.
This was ages ago, but if Trump owned the course I’d never go.
the Conster
@Iowa Old Lady:
All three local news stations last night quoted the Times article about IGs recommending a criminal investigation into Clinton’s emails without any nuance or context, and without correction. Mission accomplished.
the Conster
Guy’s not on an ego trip at all.
ETA: exits to Twisted Sister – We’re Not Going to Take It. If he were running for senior class president, he just won.
FlipYrWhig
@gene108: Paul Davis in the quoted piece specifically says that the populist turn is hanging red-state Democrats like him out to dry. I’m not sure if everyone understands very well the differences between liberal and populist. I can grudgingly respect a KS or WV politician who thinks that Democrats can’t be pegged as too liberal. I don’t really understand why the same person would complain about populism, because populism is historically an express appeal to the working class. If the working class in your state doesn’t want to hear populism, and they also don’t want to hear liberalism, it’s not entirely clear to me that they’ll ever hear anything anywhere on the Democratic spectrum at all.
Tommy
@the Conster: I don’t know if you realisze this:
Looking for a place to go and thinking Halifax might work. I really want to go to Barcelona. But it isn’t cheap to get there. I want to go to the open air market of Barcelona.
Lavocat
I always thought Adolph was merely a cat in human form.
Mike in NC
@Origuy: Haven’t been to Halifax in 15 years, so I’ll pass on recommendations. One fun thing we did back then was take a tour of downtown and the waterfront in an amphibious truck. The Lord Nelson was a great hotel to stay at.
Tonight we’re going to whip up some Pat Conroy crabcakes.
MattF
@the Conster: The thing that startled me was that the IGs memo doesn’t even say that any of the thousands of emails is presently ‘classified’– just maybe not appropriate for FOIA release. This means, e.g., that there may be emails that contain FOUO (For Official Use Only) information but do not contain anything classified.
tybee
weather is here. wish you were beautiful.
highs in the mid 80’s, low humidity, breezy, blue sky…
took the seine to the north beach. loaded two coolers with shrimp, flounder, mullet, croaker, crabs and a smattering of other seafood.
now it’s clean the net, clean the catch, pick out what gets cooked for dinner and prepare the rest for storage in some manner or another.
the Conster
@MattF:
Exactly, but that apparently is too hard to describe in the Times article. So Schmidt deliberately set out to confuse and conflate and as the video says, put two unrelated ideas next to each other using the same words in both instances so that a faulty conclusion is reached. It’s really stunning.
BillinGlendaleCA
@MattF: Watching this on the gabfest shows, including interviews with Michael Schmidt, I got the impression that this was, as Larry Wilmore would say, weak tea.
the Conster
@Tommy:
Well, you won’t confuse Halifax with Barcelona. I have a thing for port cities with harbors. I like to poke in and out of all the wharfs and buildings, and Halifax, like Boston, has gone through a waterfront revival that has repurposed a lot of the old defunct working port buildings into public and retail space. I like to read all the plaques, see what the statues say, look at old graves. Halifax like Boston has integrated lots of foreigners, improving the local restaurant scene. We had a few great meals, and did a lot of people watching. There are harbor tours as well.
Mike E
@Lavocat: You’re confusing him with Fritz.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
I’m stopping at the Cuban bakery to pick up pastries despite my annoyance with my sister in law. I’m sure that will be wrong, too, and somehow a sign that I think she isn’t caring for the kids correctly. Sigh.
lamh36
Yo…what da hell did Hulk Hogan say and how did I miss this?
https://twitter.com/psddluva4evah/status/624893516506886144
BillinGlendaleCA
@lamh36: I saw that on the local news last night, they said it was something 7 to 10 years ago, but did say much beyond that.
Omnes Omnibus
@lamh36: Here you go.
MattF
@lamh36: There’s some video… Not the youtube variety, as I understand… Shows some, ah, unauthorized activity…
Major Major Major Major
Oh god I had the weirdest night. I was showing this hapa twink from Nebraska who’s into daddies around the Castro so he could buy a toy for his boyfriend, and then he got drunk and I lost him. He’s fine, but at the time it was like “this is the perfect storm of something bad happening.”
parsimon
What am I up to? Well, having tended extensively to the garden earlier, I now see that the garden gate is wide open: No, I securely closed it. We have a groundhog problem, so I closed it, securely.
I’m beginning to wonder who’s opening it.
Iowa Old Lady
@Major Major Major Major: Your Friday night was much more exciting than mine.
BillinGlendaleCA
@efgoldman: There’s a Disneyland in PEI?
Death Panel Truck
I don’t know if there are anyone here from Tri-Cities, Washington, but I gotta say, I have had it with these goddamn planes flying over my goddamn house. They’re upsetting my cockers and generally just pissing off my wife and me.
God, I fucking hate boat race weekend. Especially the air show.
J R in WV
Sounds like the NY& Times is beginning to concentrate on high-end professional propaganda, as opposed to just plain lying like Judith Miller did 14 years ago, to foment an illegal war against a harmless opponent.
Another person who needs a trial in The Hague, to be in a cell next to the Cheney crime family, or the Bush crime family.
But this guy is truly professional in developing the theme of his propaganda. Outstanding, NY Times. Way to go, supporting the actual people who subscribe to your rag. Hom many republicans do you think funnel subscription money to the Times owners?
Maybe they actually make more $$ from the Rs than from the Dems now, I suppose they can cross their subscription names and addresses with political registrations and contributions to tell whether they are really a liberal paper or a conserva-stupid paper now.
Gotta follow that cheesy money trail, don’t they!
Major Major Major Major
@Iowa Old Lady: Seriously, like, hapa? check. twink? check. into daddies? check. from nebraska? check. first time in the castro? check. drunk? check.
Oh, shit, I hope he’s ok lol
Iowa Old Lady
TPM reports that Trump banned the Des Moines Register from an Iowa event today because they published a critical editorial earlier in the week. I guess if you have all the coverage you’d ever want, you can do stuff like that.
lamh36
Ok, I found it. I’m never surprised to hear that some white folk like using the n-word in private when anger or frustration is directed at black folk, it’s their go to expression
http://www.nationalenquirer.com/celebrity/hulk-hogan-racist-scandal-wrestling-caught-on-tape-saying-n-word-daughter-brooke-exclusive
BillinGlendaleCA
@J R in WV: The NYT has had a Clinton fetish for the last 20 years or so.
bk
Going tonight to see “Bye Bye Birdie” at Super Summer Theater at Spring Mountain Ranch State Park. One of the hidden and lesser-known gems of Las Vegas.
opiejeanne
Baking peanut butter cookies and bickering with my husband. It only started raining around 10 last night and already I have cabin fever, although it may be just that I’ve been cooped up with him after his surgery and I’m feeling a bit ornery. He says I’m the crabby one, but I’m the one baking him cookies! Meh.
rikyrah
Mourners Gather for Sandra Bland’s Funeral
By MITCH SMITH JULY 25, 2015
LISLE, Ill. — Family and friends of Sandra Bland, the Illinois woman who was found dead in a Texas jail cell, gathered Saturday to celebrate her life, even as many questioned the circumstances of her death.
Mourners, some wearing all white clothing, other in ornate suits or colorful dresses, arrived by the hundreds Saturday morning at DuPage A.M.E. Church in Lisle for Ms. Bland’s wake and funeral. Just after 8:30 a.m., a hearse pulled up to the church. One woman, wearing a T-shirt that read “#SandySpeaks” — a Twitter hashtag used by acrtivists and friends of Ms. Bland in recent days — became visibly emotional as the hearse arrived.
Ms. Bland, 28, was remembered by leaders at DuPage as a smart, outspoken woman who once sang in the youth choir and participated in the church’s Girl Scout unit. After graduating from college, she returned here and served on church committees, befriended the congregation’s elderly and earned a reputation as a prolific taker of selfie photos.
The authorities in Texas have said Ms. Bland committed suicide by hanging herself with a trash can liner on July 13, three days after she was arrested on a charge of assaulting a public servant and jailed in Waller County. Many at DuPage, a large African-American congregation in this predominantly white slice of the Chicago suburbs, have expressed doubts about that explanation.Photo
A funeral service for Sandra Bland, in an undated photo, is scheduled for Saturday at the church.CreditBland family, via Associated Press
The Rev. Theresa Dear, an associate minister at DuPage,had known Ms. Bland since she started attending the church as a young girl. Ms. Dear said the official account of Ms. Bland’s death clashed with her memories of an ambitious, educated Christian who was excited about the future and who had helped organize the church’s recent Women’s Day event.
“This is someone who had over 50 selfies, healthy self-esteem,” said Ms. Dear, who is also a national board member of the N.A.A.C.P. “Someone who had two job offers. Someone who just talked to her family and knew that help and rescue was on the way. This is someone who knew the Lord, and was extremely close with her church family and her sisters, her biological family.
“None of that adds up to taking one’s life or suicide.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/26/us/sandra-bland-funeral-texas.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0
lamh36
So…on the agenda for this wknd…more recipes! On tap this weekend, 2 slow cooker meals, one today (Slow Cooker Tikka Masala), one tmrw (Slow cooker Lasagne) and my first ever attempt at Cheesecake, Chocolate Chip cheesecake to be exact!
Got my ingredients early this time. We’ll see how they turn out.
Major Major Major Major
@J R in WV: @BillinGlendaleCA: Yeah it’s just a Clinton thing I think.
On the other hand, I’m reminded of an old Daily Show bit where they had a fake Times(?) cover. Stewart said “Look, if the democrats made it rain cookies, the headline would be… Democrats leave millions milkless!”
About the ACA I think.
Keith G
@the Conster:
,
Oh he is, is he?
I think we do.
@mtiffany:
The jail was run by an entirely different agency than the monster who arrested her.
The autopsy was carried out by a third agency in an adjoining county.
Ms Bland should never have been pulled over, abused by cop, arrested and jailed, and then left unmonitored given her history. Her grievous mistreatment should be beyond comprehension – unfortunately it is common enough to be within our comprehension.
But I think it is very safe to believe that she was not murdered. That does not make her abuse and her death any less traumatic and infuriating.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@Major Major Major Major:
Sounds like thre opening for a gay remake of “The Hangover.”
Major Major Major Major
@Mnemosyne (tablet): Let’s Kickstarter it. Worked for Pseudonym after all :)
lamh36
If it wasn’t for Trump overload, I bet the wingnuts would be all over this trip
Gian
@MattF:
Hogan got fired for repeatedly using a word commonly used to denigrate black people with stereotypes of black people in the conversation about who he’d want his daughter to have sexual relations with.
he’s totally not THAT racist (according to his comments) ’cause it’d be OK if she boinked a super rich NBA giant.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@efgoldman:
Oh, I didn’t tell you the kicker, which just happened a few minutes ago: my brother texted me and said that WC is running errands and he wants to take my older nephew to the computer store, so I can come up and take the girls to the outlet mall if I want to.
I had forgotten the inevitable kicker when I was complaining last night. I’m expected to clear my schedule and wait around for them to be ready for me, and then I have to jump because I’m the youngest (at 46!) and don’t have kids, so obviously my time is not important. Jaysus. And I can’t say “no,” because then I miss out on seeing the kids.
Librarian
Hitler would’ve never been caught dead wearing a short sleeved shirt.
catclub
@lamh36:
Amazing. Unpossible.
Inconceivable.
Iowa Old Lady
@Mnemosyne (tablet): Families are so much fun. /sarcasm
shell
Any produce missing? Could be a covetous neighbor.
lamh36
hot as hades here in NOLA.
It’s the high 90s, but thanks to NOLA humidity, it can get to 100 in a hot car.
Worse thing about “wet” heat, it’s draining and you don’t even realize how much until you’ve either succumbed to heat stroke, or you get inside an air conditioned house and realize how hot ur skin really feels.
Major Major Major Major
@efgoldman: This is not a story about groundhogs.
This is a story about gophers.
This one time, in college, I was sitting on a friend’s porch smoking a [redacted] and there was a Great Blue Heron just standing there on one leg staring at the ground. For like five minutes. And I was thinking, you stupid bird, you look so stupid, bird.
And then it jammed its beak into the grass, pulled up a gopher, swallowed it whole, and flew away.
And I’m left with this roach in my hand and a shocked look on my face.
rikyrah
Behind the Lens: Photographing the President in 50 Countries
by Pete Souza
Today, President Obama visits Kenya — the 50th country he has visited during his Administration. It’s also my 50th country traveling with the President.
To mark the occasion, as I did when the President visited his 50th state, I chose one photograph from each country that we’ve visited.
Traveling abroad with the President is very different.
Often times, I am at the mercy of the host country for access. Some countries are more accommodating to me than others. I am lucky to have counterpart official photographers in many countries who are extremely helpful to me in this regard. I of course try to return the help to them when they visit the White House with their head of state.
We’re also rarely in any one country for more than a couple of days, which gives us only a partial glimpse of each place. And because of security, the sites we are able to visit are often limited too.
All that said, we’ve had the incredible opportunity to visit the Pyramids in Egypt, Stonehenge in the United Kingdom, the Great Wall in China, Petra in Jordan, and the Shwedagon Pagoda in Myanmar (Burma). (So I really shouldn’t complain too much.)
I hope you enjoy this gallery. And stay tuned — we’ll be adding a photograph from Kenya and additionally, Ethiopia, following his visit next week.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2015/07/24/behind-lens-photographing-president-50-countries
Major Major Major Major
@rikyrah: Thanks!
lamh36
rikyrah
this was an interesting article. of course, the right-wing doesn’t think America could learn anything from other countries
…………………..
Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture
by Chantal Panozzo on July 21, 2015
I was halfway through a job interview when I realized I was wrinkling my nose. I couldn’t help myself. A full-time freelance position with a long commute, no benefits, and a quarter of my old pay was the best they could do? I couldn’t hide how I felt about that, and the 25-year-old conducting the interview noticed.
“Are you interested in permanent jobs instead?” she asked.
“I could consider a permanent job if it was part-time,” I said.
She looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language and went right back to her pitch: long commute, full-time, no benefits. No way, I thought. Who would want to do that? And then it hit me: Either I had become a completely privileged jerk or my own country was not as amazing as I had once thought it to be. This wasn’t an unusually bad offer: It was just American Reality.
Now that I’m back, I’m angry that my own country isn’t providing more for its people
Before I moved to Switzerland for almost a decade, American Reality was all I knew. I was living in a two-bedroom apartment making $30,000 a year in a job where I worked almost seven days a week with no overtime pay and received 10 days of paid time off a year.
In other words, for the hours worked, I was making minimum wage, if that. The glamour of this job was supposed to make up for the hours, but in reality, working every weekend is a ticket to burnout — not success.
My husband and I were so accustomed to American Reality that when he was offered an opportunity to work in Switzerland, we both thought about travel and adventure — not about improving our quality of life. It hadn’t occurred to us that we could improve our quality of life simply by moving.
But without realizing it, or even asking for it, a better life quality came to us. And this is why, now that I’m back, I’m angry that my own country isn’t providing more for its people. I will never regret living abroad. It taught me to understand another culture. And it taught me to see my own. But it also taught me something else — to lose touch with the American version of reality.
Here are seven ways living abroad made it hard to return to American life.
http://www.vox.com/2015/7/21/8974435/switzerland-work-life-balance
catclub
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2015_07/elite_pundits_predicted_trump056761.php
The group typified by Bill Kristol knows nothing about anything. Surprising!
opiejeanne
@Death Panel Truck: I have been to the Tri cities area twice. I hope never to go again.
rikyrah
@lamh36:
nooooooooooo
Mike J
@Death Panel Truck:
Next week on Lake Washington in Seattle. Which will be inconvenient for those of us who sail on the lake, since it will be full of drunken yahoos.
debbie
@rikyrah:
A serious question: Is there a trash can liner strong enough to support a person’s weight long enough for them to die, and if so, would a town jail be spending money on something less than the cheapest?
Tree With Water
Paul Rosenberg took a fair look at Bill Clinton today (at Salon.com), and at his recent admissions of the mistakes he made as president. Hillary should read it, to better help craft an explanation of what EXACTLY it is that she has learned from her catastrophic support of the Bush-Cheney War. Just what is the abiding lesson of that tragic misjudgment, the one has she taken to most to heart? Because if she has learned anything, she should be able to do it, and in convincing fashion. If she can’t, she probably hasn’t learned a damn thing. In which case she will continue to parrot the fairy tale that “good people, up and down the chain of command, did their level best, but were misled by faulty intelligence”. Which a no more than a shit sandwich supporters of that war feed idiots to mitigate their guilt..
http://media.salon.com/2015/07/bill_clinton2.jpg
sparrow
@Major Major Major Major: I had to read that three times… I live a sheltered life. Glad it turned out ok.
BillinGlendaleCA
@rikyrah: Thanks, Pete’s a really good photographer.
BillinGlendaleCA
@opiejeanne: I’ve been to the tri-cities once, I came away with a similar feeling.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Death Panel Truck: I live between two large Forest Lawn cemeteries; Memorial Day, Veteran’s Day, and the Fourth of July these yahoos fly their vintage aircraft over the cemeteries. Those fuckers are loud and my Cocker is not at all amused. Oh, did I mention that they do it in the morning when I and my girls are still sleeping.
gogol's wife
Why do people living in residential neighborhoods hire bad (bad, bad, bad) rock bands to play at their private outdoor functions, thus ruining Saturday for everyone in a five-mile radius?
cckids
@bk: my sister saw that last night. She said it was very enjoyable. Have fun!
Always nice to see another Vegas-ite here :)
Kathleen
@Mnemosyne (tablet): I loved Anne of Green Gables! Years ago I found an autographed copy of one of the books in a used book store. I of course bought it, but it disappeared in one of our many moves.
Major Major Major Major
@sparrow: I figured that sentence would confuse people. Lots of code words.
J R in WV
Well, the summer afternoon got more interesting. Mrs J says, “Come here and help me…” and I said “where are you?”
She was standing in the living room, but where I couldn’t see her well. When I walked over she pointed at the floor and said “Look!”
It was a little skinny black ratsnake, lying spread-out on the floor. I put on fireplace gloves and took the little thing out back to the woods behind the house.
Not long after that, Mrs J went outside to work on stuff. Yesterday we had smelled something dead as we left for town… she found it – a dead raccoon, well past its sell-by date. Shovel and trash bags. It was small, but very buggy and aromatic.
Life in the woods, isn’t it wonderful!!! ??
We did get a tiny culvert cleaned up, I’m hoping to get a bigger one opened up tomorrow, with the little backhoe on the tractor. Then maybe get gravel delivered Monday if the rain holds off til evening. Wet gravel is so expensive, as they charge you for the water-wet weight. Plus the water keeps it from flowing steadily from the tailgate, so spreading it isn’t really possible like it is with dry flowing gravel.
Life in the country, ain’t it grand!
Suzanne
What I am up to: Did an hour of weightlifting and an hour of yoga this morning. Came home and had a great brunch of vegetable egg white frittata with my mom. Now have hair dye processing on my head, mud mask on my face, and callus remover on my feeties.
BEAUTIFUL, I AM BEAUTIFUL.
mtiffany
@Keith G:
I’ll believe it was a suicide as soon as a coroner from a different state rules it a suicide. The whole system is suspect as soon as one preson within it is shown to be acting in bad faith.
Debbie
@Suzanne:
How hard is it to come down enough for yoga after lifting weights?
PurpleGirl
@Cacti: Any man who would test a cyanide capsule on his dog is not a dog lover.
Major Major Major Major
@PurpleGirl: He felt worse about that than he did about testing it on his wife.
Kathleen
Courtesy of LGM, here is a link to a Kurt Eichenwald article about the NYT piece on the latest Clinton “scandal””
http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2015/07/the-clinton-rules
Althea
can haz Late-Afternoon Puppy Blog?
Althea
The ad’s background images include a shot from an ISIS-produced video, footage of a smoldering World Trade Center, and an image of the president shaking hands with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.
Obama and Rouhani have never met, however. The photograph was created from a image of Obama meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan in 2011.
When asked for comment, Restoration PAC spokesman DanCurry told BuzzFeed News, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re saying that’s a photoshop — can you explain what you’re talking about?”
When Curry was told that Obama and Rouhani have never met, Curry said he would “take a look at that.”
mtiffany
@Althea:
Why go to the added expense of photoshopping the image? The people inclinced to believe that Obama shook hands with Rouhani probably wouldn’t know the difference between Rouhani and Singh, except for perhaps the particular shade of brown…
/snark
Althea
The Photoshopping of an American President
rikyrah
@debbie:
Does not add up to anyone who is thinking.
Tree With Water
@PurpleGirl: Lest We Forget: Dick Cheney “hunts” birds with clipped wings that are penned in fence enclosures bang-bang, shoot-shoot..
gogol's wife
@efgoldman:
That sounds nice!
Suzanne
@Debbie: I spend the first half of the yoga class kind of wobbly, because my muscles are still tighter and twitching from the weights. But the second half of the class feels great. Nice and stretchy and strong.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@mtiffany:
Someone in another thread brought up the (at this point unfounded) speculation that it was fatal medical neglect, either a head injury from when she was arrested or an epileptic fit. That may not legally be murder, but IMO it may fit the bill morally.
Pogonip
@lamh36: Can you please publish how the lasagna turns out? I’ve considered making it in a crock pot but have never taken the plunge.
Pogonip
@Major Major Major Major: Can you please translate the second sentence in the story?
rikyrah
@Pogonip:
I, too, would love to know how a crock pot lasagna works out.
Suzanne
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): I have speculated on that, thought I don’t know if I’m the commenter you’re referring to. I also wonder if she was denied access to any anti-seizure drugs she may have been taking.
A friend of my mother’s was denied her lawfully prescribed psychiatric medications while she was in Tent City. She sued Arpaio and MCSO about it.
debbie
@rikyrah:
I stream radio through my headphones at work. Over the past week, I heard I don’t know how many interviews and discussions about Sandra Bland, but not a single word about possibility of the garbage bad being that strong.
I wish Eric Holder were still around.
mtiffany
@Pogonip:
LOL. Do you blush easily? “Toy” or some variation thereof.
sigaba
It looks like he’s reading a screenplay…
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@Suzanne:
I think you brought up the seizure possibility and TaMara brought up the head injury possibility. IIRC, anyway.
Suzanne
@debbie: I don’t know if it’s been fully explained in the media yet, but most suicides of that type don’t actually involve real hanging, as in by some noose to snap the neck. Most suicides in jails and psychiatric hospitals of that type are actually caused by hypoxia, or strangulation. One could commit suicide with a garbage bag while lying down on the floor. Psych patients have done so by tying or wedging clothes or sheets, or luggage straps, etc, then rolling back and forth. This can happen in under three minutes and the bag wouldn’t have had to actually support her weight for this to work. I have read a number of stories on the Bland case but have not seen anything that explains this in detail.
Debbie
@Suzanne:
And yet I’ve also seen comments about ligature marks. I’m so sick of people thinking they can get away with this kind of thing.