Much has already been written about Boehner peeling out of Washington, but if we concentrate on the good that is going to happen because of this, there is a lot to like for Democrats. First, the seeds of disruption that were planted long ago by tea party wing are going to come to full fruition with his exit. There are a lot of varieties of fail that could come from this, especially because there can be no doubt the wingnut caucus will retain their zest for extremism.
The most likely option is that the predicted successor, Kevin McCarthy, who himself does not fall far politically from the Boehner tree, will continue to attempt to lead as Boehner did, and they will find this unappealing and likely beat him to a pulp. He might offer a fig leaf here and there, but pretty soon they will crush him and attempt to squeeze him out of his position. This will be good news for Democrats as the dyspeptic House Republicans will be on full display. This could lead to an acidic exchange of words within the caucus, and eventually an extremist from the rump (or should we say rind) will be named the new speaker. As we know, these guys want to fight, fight, fight, so they will not settle for a clement leader and will probably only settle for someone whose style has a bit more tang.
Needless to say, the far right will be juiced about the choice of a scurvy wingnut, and then the entire freak show will be on public display as the country heads into a Presidential election. As we know, Presidential election years are already ripe for Democratic pickups, and with blood in the water, this could provide the enthusiasm we need to win big.
This is all navelgazing, of course, but the outcome of Boehner’s exit could be sublime.
My work here is done.
mclaren
Probably too soon to hope for much positive fallout for Demos from this by the 2016 election, but definitely some big results by the 2020 election. Of course midterms trend Republican because of low turnout, but with this much craziness festering in public display in the House, the 2020 midterm could well be an exception.
raven
Fuckin A
Ruckus
@raven:
Well stated.
Hal
A conservative friend on Facebook did a straight up version of this is great news…for John McCain by claiming Boehner’s exit meant repub1 can now stop Obama’s evil agenda. I guess he’s assuming some tea party true patriot will become speaker and lead the republicans into glorious battle.
El Tiburon
Great news for John McCain.
You forget our lame stream media and how they refuse to report the crazy.
Otherwise good times.
Baud
@mclaren:
2020 is not a midterm election.
Trentrunner
Does anyone know if, before he leaves next month:
1) Boehner CAN bring last year’s Senate immigration bill before the house, i.e., do the rules allow it?
2) Boehner WILL do so.
Thanks. :)
Downpuppy
Craziness on display? Nay the ChuckTodds of the world can still hide the most obvious truth from all those who don’t want to see it.
Bex
As someone at Charlie’s place said of Boehner’s resignation, “It’s the end of the Tang dynasty.”
John Cole
I hate you people.
PhoenixRising
Think you squeezed a lot of meaning into a few words there, Cole.
Corner Stone
It seems somehow wrong that this wasn’t a guest frontpage post by Poopyman.
John Cole
@PhoenixRising: Finally. Thank you.
Jeebus people.
different-church-lady
Crazy is about to fall out of congress like Orcs through the gates of Mordor. And I’m pretty sure Peter Jackson ain’t directing this film, so don’t expect six characters to fight them all to draw until the walking trees arrive.
different-church-lady
@John Cole: We were trying to look away politely.
Felanius Kootea
@John Cole: It was just too much man. Too much.
Luthe
Cole, that was fucking hilarious.
eemom
That was awesome, Cole. What a bunch of party poopers.
If you weren’t on the wagon I’d fix you a nice screwdriver.
/lame
Mary G
Very punny, John.
the Conster
I wonder if JB is a joke because he’s a drunk, or a drunk because he’s a joke. It can’t be easy being orange.
Pogonip
I am sorry to interrupt the political discussion but all of a sudden we have fleas in the house, and who knows more about fleas than pet owners? We don’t have pets, I figured one hitchhiked in on my shoe and had babies. I’m spraying and vacuuming and boraxing like crazy. How long does it usually take to get rid of them? Also I am getting conflicting information on whether they can sustain a population on human blood alone. Does anyone know for sure?
Baud
Why are we picking on Cole this time?
scav
navelgazing about an outie.
p.a.
@John Cole: it can be hard to quit abusive relationships.
raven
@eemom: Some people are “on the wagon” and some people don’t drink. I’d think you knew that.
maybe not
Gravenstone
@Baud: General principles.
way2blue
I wish I could agree with your optimistic scenario. but in my experience things can always get worse, and people adjust to the new set point with a bit of grouching and grumbling. Just look at the amount of daily traffic on commuter roads that double people’s commute times to work each day (think I-5 in the Seattle – Tacoma – Olympia corridor). Are the locals demanding an integrated light rail system? Anywhere?
Baud
@Gravenstone:
I’m cool with that.
Myiq2xu
@John Cole:
You people?
#thatsracist
John Cole
@raven:
I don’t know. What’s the difference?
eemom
@raven:
No, sorry, I honestly did not.
rikyrah
New Books Analyze the Photographs of Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth
By EVE M. KAHN
SEPT. 24, 2015
Two of the most famous 19th-century African-Americans, Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth, commissioned formal photographs of themselves as part of their public relations strategies. Books expected out this fall reproduce virtually every known surviving portrait of them and explore their defiance of stereotypes of victimhood.
Truth, who was illiterate and born into slavery in upstate New York, shrewdly copyrighted her photos and marketed them for about 40 cents each including postage. In “Enduring Truths: Sojourner’s Shadows and Substance” (University of Chicago Press), the art historian Darcy Grimaldo Grigsby, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, analyzes Truth’s sittings for a half-dozen photographers.
Dr. Grimaldo Grigsby found 28 different images of Truth, dressed in striped and polka-dot dresses and white shawls and caps. (The prints can now bring thousands of dollars each.) Truth usually tried to conceal her mangled right hand, which was probably injured when she was enslaved and sent out to harvest crops. In the photo studios, she sometimes held knitting projects in her lap; white thread trailed across her skirts. She also posed with a framed oval photo of her grandson, James Caldwell, who had served in the Union Army alongside Douglass’s sons and survived a stint as a Confederate prisoner of war in Charleston, S.C.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/25/arts/design/new-books-analyze-the-photographs-of-frederick-douglass-and-sojourner-truth.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0
raven
@John Cole:
eemom
I amended the statement.
redshirt
I miss the actual mall based Orange Julius.
raven
The original form, which dates from the early years of the twentieth century, was to be on the water-wagon, implying that the speaker was drinking water rather than alcohol and so was an abstainer, at least for the time being.
voncey
@Trentrunner: A new Congress started in January so the Senate bill is dead. Boehner could bring up a new bill identical to what the Senate passed but the Senate would have to pass it again and there’s no way that McConnell would do that. Boehner wouldn’t do it either. He’s not insane but he’s still a conservative.
JWR
I wonder if Boehner’s facing a health crisis, (smokin and/or drinkin’), or if it’s just a political hangover getting the best of him.
celticdragonchick
@John Cole:
Beats me, but I’m having a sip of single malt scotch later and toast the end of the Orange Era.
This week has sucked, I have not been able to help my spouse with her fucking physics homework at all and we are both tired as hell. I need a reason to celebrate something.
Kent
You guys are forgetting this is all about the money and it isn’t going anywhere.
This whole freak show was bought and paid for by the Kochs and all the other nihlist billionaires who would turn the US into Somolia if it meant lower capital gains and estate taxes. It’s no coincidence that the 2012 midterms coincided with Citizen’s United and the gush of anonymous billionaire money into American elections.
What they actually WANT is for the House to melt down into a pool of tea party spittle. All the better to demonstrate that government is completely dysfunctional and unable to accomplish even the most limited objectives. So more tax cuts and more privatization of everything from schools to social security will be in order.
Sigh.
Kent
You guys are forgetting this is all about the money and it isn’t going anywhere.
This whole freak show was bought and paid for by the Kochs and all the other nihlist billionaires who would turn the US into Somolia if it meant lower capital gains and estate taxes. It’s no coincidence that the 2012 midterms coincided with Citizen’s United and the gush of anonymous billionaire money into American elections.
What they actually WANT is for the House to melt down into a pool of tea party spittle. All the better to demonstrate that government is completely dysfunctional and unable to accomplish even the most limited objectives. So more tax cuts and more privatization of everything from schools to social security will be in order.
Sigh.
handy
Shorter Cole:
Orange you glad I didn’t tell a knock-knock joke?
DanR2
Whelp. I think I got my vitamin C quota for the day.
JPL
After Kansas reelected Brownback, I lost all hope. I think things can get a lot worse.
Linda Featheringill
@Pogonip:
You may have to consult an extermination company. They’re hard to get rid of.
trollhattan
@John Cole:
You’re a pip.
shortstop
I know I should be mad at you, Cole, but I enjoyed that. Kind of a lot.
Calouste
Cole is going for the low-hanging fruit with this post.
shortstop
PS: I have been on hold with the IRS for 102 minutes now. Also, the Cubs failed to clinch a playoff berth today after I played hooky to go watch ’em. Yet I am serene.
PhoenixRising
@efgoldman:
We still on House Republicans? Or is this the fleas?
/don’t forget to tip your waitress…
Dolly Llama
@raven: Hey, man. I saw in passing you mentioned something about Ort getting arrested. What happened there?
Corner Stone
@handy: You bastard.
celticdragonchick
@Calouste:
The Party of Fruit Loops!
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
I saw what you did there, Mr. Cole.
gf120581
I would expect McCarthy to be even worse then Boner. He would be the most inexperienced Speaker in memory (guy hasn’t even been in the House a decade yet) and has proven himself hopeless in his previous and current leadership gigs (he was the most pathetic Whip I’ve seen, constantly failing to get votes when necessary). So yeah, I’m thinking a more slimmed down Dennis Hastert and I mean the Hastert of his last year as Speaker, after DeLay fell and he was utterly lost without Hot Tub Tom’s hand jammed up his wide ass.
GxB
Hi-C what you did there, JC,
ETA: Grrrr, Smedly!! That will teach me to take too long trying to incorporate a Push-up pun…
JPL
@efgoldman: Yup.. Talk radio, Fox and the Koch brothers have convinced a portion of the citizens that it’s okay. The representatives of the house is gerrymandered so much, the crazies will
continue to hold on to their seats.
celticdragonchick
@gf120581:
Baaaaaaaarrrrrf!
That is one of the most vile things I have read in weeks. Thank you for that mental image.
jl
ABC has a list of the likely successors.
The Short List to Replace House Speaker John Boehner
http://news.yahoo.com/short-list-replace-house-speaker-john-boehner-223025561.html#
I also saw a news story today that Fiornia put out a faked up video that supposedly backs up her bald face total fabrication about what was in the cooked crooked and dishonestly edited Planned Parenthood sting videos. But I can’t find it right now.
Is any one of the GOP presidential candidate not thoroughly vile? Maybe Kasich, who would be a disaster, but maybe he is not personally utterly corrupt. Any other even remote possibilities?
the Conster
OT but the pics of #FLOTUS and #POTUS at the state dinner tonight are amazing.
hitchhiker
So fruity! So delicious! This pun-filled post has made my day.
(bows respectfully)
pseudonymous in nc
Even if the House GOP goes Nearly-Peak-Wingnut, gerrymandering still makes it an uphill struggle for the Dems to take back control. It requires presidential-year turnout and good candidates in swing districts and a willingness for Hillary (assuming she’s the candidate) to campaign very directly against the House nutjobs who’ve been creepy-stalking her.
The gerrymander doesn’t start to unwind until the back half of the decade, and you’ve got wingnut state legislatures like the one in Florida considering mid-decade redistricting with things like prison populations.
gf120581
@celticdragonchick: Sorry. I do get carried away sometimes.
I’m hoping for an ugly bloodbath struggle for power in the GOP ranks. It may be glorious to watch.
Doug R
@way2blue: Rates of car ownership are going down and I seem to recall seeing them building some light rail around SeaTac airport.
JPL
@jl: The local news told me that my rep might be interested.. Tom Price.
schrodinger's cat
@the Conster: I love her hair, the dress not so much. The top half is perfect but mermaid dress has a very fussy and voluminous skirt.
Doug R
@JPL: Don’t forget the pick up chances when they primary someone.
the Conster
@the Conster:
FLOTUS!!!
@schrodinger’s cat: I’ll bet it’s amazing in person. I think it’s her attitude – she’s awesome.
Corner Stone
@jl:
Good Sweet Christ.
celticdragonchick
@gf120581:
No problem. I have enough pain meds on hand to forget the rest of the evening…
(kidding)
MazeDancer
@El Tiburon:
The faked Planned Parenthood videos are an example of why the crazy doesn’t seem crazy to the average person. The media mentions “Planned Parenthood videos” like they’re real. Media never says they’re lies, or that investigations show they’re lies.
Public hears about baby-chopping horrors and isn’t sure why that gruesome stuff should be funded. Only Rachel Maddow has ever said anything about how Fiorina campaign can’t supply the grisly footage described in the debate, when asked for it, because it doesn’t exist.
Talked to someone today, an intelligent, well-informed, big city big biz type who had no idea Fiorina lies all the time. As a business person, knew all about her record at HP. But only knew how well she presented in the debate. Not that the forceful demeanor had been chock full of lies.
No GOP lies are ever mentioned by the media. News is a profit center. So can’t call the GOP liars. Thus, “the crazy” may not be clear to people who don’t closely follow issues.
different-church-lady
@DanR2: Did someone say Vitamin C?
[Can’s been an obsession lately…]
Baud
@the Conster:
Nice.
gf120581
@JPL: He’d be awful too. Price is one of the biggest “hold the debt ceiling hostage” enthusiasts in the House.
There’s a lot of guys eying the post, some utterly ludicrous (Dan Webster of FL, who got 12 votes for the post in January, is running, even though the new House map in FL, when it emerges, will ensure he doesn’t even have a House seat come 2017).
schrodinger's cat
GOP is in a self destruct mode, question is what else are they going to destroy along with their party.
Corner Stone
@schrodinger’s cat:
I distinctly remember on this very blog how some were not too long ago cheering the “implosion” of the GOP. And how they’d not wield power in a decade or more.
lamh36
Speaking of Election 2016…
As the kids say..“Bish…Whet?“
Peale
@Hal: dude has like 3 months left before congress decided to leave town. Whatever agenda he has left is what exactly? Maybe he will order our aircraft carriers to surrender to Malaysia?
Baud
@lamh36:
Man, that makes me wish Obama could run again… Just so Fiorina can “check” on his background.
Anoniminous
I view the matter with zest. To get at the nub and pith of the matter, GOP House members dividing into segments is the seed of the Democrats keeping the Presidency, taking the Senate, and having a juicy shot at the House. But this requires the national and state Democratic parties to – for once – avoid the standard navel gazing.
Jeffro
It’ll be interesting to see the various degrees to which the GOP candidates for president (all of them, not just Ted Cruz) are willing and/or able to come out against “Republicans in Congress” now that Boehner is leaving and McCarthy is likely to take over. My guess is, they will drop it entirely where the House is concerned and focus solely on McConnell as the focus of their fake wrath.
Why I do believe I need more popcorn…
schrodinger's cat
@Corner Stone: Their implosion won’t be consequence free for the rest of us.
Baud
@Jeffro:
McConnell won’t face voters for another 5 years. He cares not.
different-church-lady
@lamh36: Carley’s really gotten the hang of the whole “Say any old shit no matter how lunatic” thing. No wonder she’s gaining ground in the polls.
schrodinger's cat
BTW according to the Snooze Hour most Republicans are upset at this Tea party caucus. Who is the brain behind this latest Planned Parenthood – shutdown saga? Is it crazy Cruz?
Poopyman
@Corner Stone: Whut?
different-church-lady
@schrodinger’s cat: “Implosion” implies something is collapsing inward upon itself. This is starting to seem more like an unplanned catastrophic structural collapse radiating outward.
Baud
@different-church-lady:
Supernova?
redshirt
@Baud: Structural degradation.
chopper
@handy:
orange you glad I didn’t say bah-noehner?
beltane
@schrodinger’s cat: Word is that Cruz orchestrated the whole thing. He is the mastermind of fail.
celticdragonchick
@Baud:
More like molten uranium core material eating through the reactor containment vessel and hitting the water table
Tim C.
Again, there’s a real potential for global disaster here. OJ was from the wing of the party that understands defaulting on debt is a million times worse than having more debt. Shutdowns are bad, default would be a catastrophe. The flat-earth caucus is so far gone, they don’t see that. It would be orders of magnitude more difficult to handle a raising of the debt-limit with a crazypants Speaker of the House.
schrodinger's cat
@different-church-lady: Good point. I think its an its an implosion because the internal contradictions within the GOP are driving the events. It won’t be consequence free because they are one of the two major parties we have.
schrodinger's cat
@beltane: What do they think this toddler tantrum is going to achieve?
Peale
@schrodinger’s cat: yeah. Upset as in enjoying themselves? I’m sure they recognize the danger so much that they’re on the phone with their brokers, shorting the treasury note then slipping away for a nitecap. They do not differ from the freedom caucus one bit, and when election time comes will vote them in again.
different-church-lady
@Baud: No, something more like a rift zone eruption.
ETA: What she said. This thing is clearly going to get out of the containment chamber.
Jeffro
@Baud: I didn’t say he’d care; I just said that’s what the Rs will do. As it turns out in just the past couple of hours, Jindal has already said “McConnell’s next”, some GOP reps have said the same, and one Tea Party challenger to a sitting NC rep has an ad out showing her shooting a shotgun, saying she’s “hunting RINOs”
http://www.salon.com/2015/09/25/the_most_bizarre_gop_primary_ad_so_far_conservative_challenger_suggests_shell_shoot_moderate_republicans_or_something/
And here I thought the GOP was already as purity-purged as it was gonna get…
JMG
There won’t be default. Obama can if he wishes just say the 14th Amendment prevents the US from defaulting, that government will continue and dare them to impeach him. A second term President who has 34 Senators willing to back him up can do anything he or she wants.
gf120581
@Baud: He does care, however, about keeping his majority, already a dicey prospect for 2016. Cruz and his merry band of House idiots are not making it easier. It’s no coincidence that some of the Senate GOPers most openly opposed to a shutdown are the ones who are in deep shit in 2016 (even a moron like Ron Johnson gets this). Poor Kelly Ayotte was practically pleading on the Senate floor for sanity the other day, less they help cost her her Senate seat. Fat chance.
shortstop
@Tim C.: This. Lest we forget, the crazypants faction was running around last time saying that default would be no big deal. Hard to even fathom what else they could come up with left unchecked.
jl
@Jeffro: Sounds good to me. I support the failed governor and hapless fifth tier GOP presidential candidate Jindal in his mission. if the reactionary GOP loons in Congress want to start a civil war in the GOP to open up the beginning of the really serious part of 2016 presidential election cycle, more power to them.
Svensker
@Pogonip:
It can take forever. And, yes, they can live on human blood for a long time. You can spray bomb the house, but you will probably have to do it a few times. Vacuum frequently, but change the bag (if you use one) every time. Wash all your bedding frequently.
It’s a huge pain in the ass. Good luck.
SatanicPanic
I feel like I’m going to get acid reflux from reading this post, but good job Mr Cole
Corner Stone
@Poopyman: You’re the undisputed master of punny posts here at BJ. Cole’s extended attempt should have had a Poopyman imprimatur, if you ask me.
JPL
@efgoldman: I’m not sure that is true. Maybe he would lose the primary but if not, he’d win as a repub.
redshirt
I hope LePage considers a Presidential run in 2020. I’m going to encourage him.
jl
@redshirt: Dude like LePage should jump in right now. Two slots opened up recently.
amk
@John Cole:
You wrote this when you were hungry, dintja?
beltane
@Pogonip: Vacuum frequently, the floors, furniture, everything. Steam clean the same. Flea bombing has worked for me but you may have to do it a couple of times. Winter seems to kill them off around here but that may not be the case everywhere.
Mike E
@raven: Wrong vitamin.
JPL
@efgoldman: Repub candidate against Dem candidate wins. It doesn’t matter who the candidate is. Vitter paid no price for his diaper days.
It’s the Brownback effect
Ohio Mom
@Pogonip: I had an apartment full of fleas once after I let a friend of a friend and her cat crash on my couch. She’d just moved to town and was apartment-hunting. The flea eggs hatched after she left.
From this experience, I can confirm that you really do have to hire an exterminator. They have super-toxic stuff that works.
Jeffro
@efgoldman: True, and beside the point: he is still a GOP candidate for president, calling out his own party’s majority leader to be next on the chopping block, right on the heels of the frickin’ GOP Speaker of the House resigning Ka-razy.
redshirt
@efgoldman:
1. Yes! Unless he changes the rules, 2 terms are the limit for Maine Governors. Thank FSM. And 2. Fucking Cutler gifted Maine LePage in two elections. Amazing. That’s what a 3rd party will accomplish.
trollhattan
@different-church-lady:
They were the coolest band of their era. Have you listened to any of Holger Czukai’s solo stuff?
raven
@Dolly Llama: He was on probation for having a house and grounds that were trashed. They gave hime quite a while to clean it up and he didn’t go fast enough so they threw him in the joint.
Zifnab25
Definitely some of your best work, John
sralloway
@mclaren: 2020 is presidential year.
Sandia Blanca
Citrusy and delicious! I love this post, JC.
J R in WV
@Pogonip:
It would be easiest to have a friend with pets come of the stay for a few days with dogs treated with Vet prescribed systemic flea treatment. The native fleas would jump on the dogs, bite once, and die, die, die.
But of course, there are eggs. Probably a professional exterminator would be the best trick… but research the various companies for satisfaction ratings, there are a lot of shiftless guys out there.
sralloway
@Baud: Posted mine without scrolling down. Mea culpa.
Aleta
@Pogonip: I knew people who got them over and over, despite no pets. Finally they discovered they had opossums living under the house. So if you’re in a house, and if there’s cracks in the foundation or a squirrel hole in the eaves, the thing to do might be to cover the hole. Using an actual carpenter or foundation person and doing it when the animal is (by nature) — not in its nest (is it nocturnal, etc) would be most effective.
A simple thing to do is to clip a lightbulb with some heat-producing wattage over a saucer of water in the area you’ve seen them. Put a little dishsoap in the water; they jump in and die. This lets you know if you have a lot or a few. And you can see if they are just in one spot or spread out. If you brought in a used couch or blanket, and they are concentrated there, you can just take it outside or run it through the drier for a few hours or seal it in a black plastic bag left in a hot car in the sun for more than a day. You’re trying to kill the eggs and the adults at the same time. Otherwise you have to repeat whatever your treatment is several times as the generations hatch out.
I havent had fleas for years, but last year got a bad infestation just before leaving for awhile. I mean, bad. We poured salt all over the couch and the floor, left it a day and vacuumed. Maybe did it twice. Amazingly effective.
With bombs or sprays, you can end up with just the fleas who have a resistance. As well, air-based pesticides don’t travel that far into cracks. (It’s why the pesticide approach to bedbugs doesn’t work well, and has to be repeated over and over.) A lot of flea products are coming from China and there have been widespread problems with counterfeit ones, or ones that have become ineffective due to increased resistance. If you do buy something, you could ask a vet what brand they recommend right now.
There’s also the time-honed and traditional method of driving a flock of sheep into the front door and out the back.
Heliopause
Thanks, John. As you know, I receive $1 every time a liberal blogger predicts the demise of the GOP based on events of the previous 12 hours. My net worth is now $857,234,888. That money’s going to come in handy, since the GOP continues their program of social destruction in spite of these predictions and my Social Security/Medicare/personal savings are therefore doomed. Good thing I’ve got that little nest egg, eh? And all thanks to you.
sralloway
@John Cole: Nah, you love every one of us a-holes who come here. You’re a gentle giant, Cole, and you take care of people, pets and the planet. it’s a tough job, but you are doing the best one could expect. You are a good man and never let anyone say otherwise.
Pogonip
@Svensker: Thanks! On the bedding, how frequently is “frequently”? Once a day? Twice?
Pogonip
@Aleta: Thanks! I was using BORAX but salt is cheaper. I’ll salt the house before I leave tomorrow.
Arclite
There’s an “Orange is the new black” joke in Boehner’s departure somewhere.
benw
I know I’m late to the party, but damn it’s bananas how good this post is.
Pogonip
P.S. Aleta, how bad is a “bad” infestation? I drowned 4 each of the first two nights, got maybe 8-10 bites a night. This is night 3. Haven’t seen any to drown yet, but I’m sure they’re lurking. Do those kinds of numbers count as a ” bad” infestation?
guachi
Why do I have the greatest urge to see what CNN’s Don Lemon has to say about Boehner’s resignation?
dopealope
The Annoying Orange
Aleta
@Pogonip: oh, and be sure to throw the vacuum cleaner bags out
The Pale Scot
Ian Paisley, cursing the tides.
Ian Paisley Heckles the John Paul
Poopyman
@Corner Stone: Thanks, but it’s too long. I am bear of very little brain, and long posts bother me.
(Also the three margaritas.)
The Pale Scot
@John Cole: G, don’t sweat it.
We mostly riff off your baseline,
You’re our GrooveMaster
The Pale Scot
@Pogonip: There’s a flea powder that is stronger than the other stuff, it’s regulated by the USDA instead of the EPA. I wouldn’t put it on a pet but it’s real good for carpets and such.
Made by Hart I think.
Amir Khalid
@Peale:
Hey! Aircraft carriers wouldn’t be much use to Malaysia. We don’t have that many planes. On the other hand, the Royal Malaysian Navy has always hankered after a submarine. You guys could send one of those over.
benw
@Amir Khalid: Maybe the carrier comes with the planes. Or are planes surrendered separately? As for the sub: ballistic missile or attack?
Pogonip
@redshirt: Dairy Queens now sell Orange Julius.
Fleas delenda est!
redshirt
@Pogonip: Are there any DQ’s in malls?
PaulW
We are still overlooking one key thing:
WE GOTTA GET THE GODDAMN VOTE OUT FOR DEMOCRATS.
And the Democrats need to be running candidates in EVERY possible election they can this year. Even at the state level. Give the party reasons to show up to vote across the board.
Geoduck
@way2blue: The Seattle-area light rail system is expanding, but it’s a painfully slow process- it’s a fight against both Eastern Washington wingnuts who hate the fact that the Seattle population swamps them at the voting booths (and control just enough of the state legislature to keep Seattle from getting any money), and more local NIMBYs who want to keep the Filthy Poors away from their neighborhoods. As an Olympia area resident, even managing to someday push full-time rail service through to Tacoma would make my life easier.
PaulW
as for the Speakership, I doubt McCarthy wins. the base didn’t like Boehner and they’re going to see McCarthy as Boehner 2.0.
There’s a likelihood the first ballot won’t resolve a majority vote. Boehner won the previous challenges because in 2011 and January 2015 he was already Speaker and had support: all the challengers were disorganized and running for themselves. THIS time there is no established Speaker to rally around, and there’s every possibility that the previous challengers – Gohmert, Webster, two or three others – will get more votes this time, now emboldened by the fact that one of them can claim it as a True Wingnut. Just not enough for any one of them to win out.
When’s the vote?
ally
@rikyrah:
I saw that — it was fantastic. Photos are must-see!
redshirt
@PaulW: Maybe Nancy Smash can win with 39 R’s and all the Dems.
Amir Khalid
@benw:
An attack sub, of course. We don’t do ballistic missiles.
Amir Khalid
@PaulW:
What if no one really wants to be Speaker, or if no one is a position to win it without compromising away their power?
amk
@PaulW:
There is not gonna be a teabagging speaker. Dems and moneybaggers won’t allow it.
Kropadope
@Arclite:
Throw Obama and Congressional Republicans in there somewhere and I think that’ll bring you a good portion of the way.
Mike J
@Geoduck: Speaking of various modes of transport in the Seattle area:
I usually race dinghys in races at my own club. Tomorrow I’m in a keel boat race at a different club. I’m going to surrender the tiller to one of our more experienced skippers. I may be trimmer. So rather than handling 275lbs with one other person on board, I’ll have 3000lbs with 4 others. It ain’t the America’s Cup, but it’s something different, and a much dryer/warmer series for winter time sailing.
We’re probably going to get trounced (we have a crew of n00bs (like me) and our sail area/displacement ratio ain’t so hot), but we’re going to have a blast and afterwards, several beers. If you see a badly handled spinnaker on Lake Washington tomorrow, that will be us.
benw
@Amir Khalid:
Well, there’s always room for improvement!
Aleta
I’m not that studied in politics or Washington, but I don’t think JBoe’s decision happened suddenly. He had to give the inner circle time to make plans, and they had to come up with an offer he couldn’t refuse. So it’s likely there are plans already in place, rather than out-of-control disarray. Effective or not, who knows.
Maybe I give the TP-GOP too much credit for intelligence, but my theory is, they’re not stupid. Compulsively driven by money and power, murderous with self-interest, limited understanding of numbers but (given the power) destructive in their use, obsessive and happily mean, yes. And not original thinkers.
Stating the obvious, their minds are on the election and on their usual strategy. Namely, tank the economy (they really don’t care as long as it gives them more seats or the Presidency), and make voters afraid of terrorists, crime, unemployment and potential homelessness. When people are anxious, they’re less likely to listen to policy proposals, more likely to vote irrationally.
OK, I know I’m too pessimistic any more. I have to work on that.
(Hypothetically…if every Democratic voter of means could give a job to at least one person for a year, couldn’t this work better than jillions of dollars spent on ads and lawn signs?)
seaboogie
@Pogonip: You need to get some Frontline and put it between your shoulder-blades so that you don’t lick it off. Then when they bite you the fleas become sterile and no new generations. Easy-peasy.
seaboogie
@Aleta: I’m assuming it’s wise to do the lightbulb/water/dishsoap thing to get a fix on the situation in order to determine the number of sheep in the flock that will be effective.
Aleta
@Mike J: Hoping to sail for the last time this season. Not my boat, and it’s a very small (stable) one, but my friend’s wife doesn’t like him to sail alone, and for me the feel of catching the wind and moving is so entirely sublime.
Pogonip
@seaboogie: What seemed to me was the first logical step was to call the vet’s office, give them my height and weight, and ask how much Frontline I should apply to myself. They said it makes people sick.
Aleta
@seaboogie: @seaboogie: very funny!
And you want to take up the dishes of soapy water before bringing in the sheep, lest they stop, mill around, and begin to bubble.
Mike J
@Aleta: Here’s the boat we’ll be racing in. Never meant to be a speedster, but a great little boat.
Aleta
@Pogonip: They’re working on something you can put between the flea shoulders; much safer for people and pets.
amk
@efgoldman:
and you gonna bet that they won’t?
ShadeTail
@Pogonip:
It all depends on how many there are, and how much food they have. Generally, what you’re doing takes them out pretty fast. But the real problem, I suspect, isn’t the fleas you already have inside, it’s the fleas you still have outside and track in anew. Don’t focus on just spraying inside, get the outside also. If you own your own house, make the outside radioactive to fleas. If you rent, get the landlord/manager to have someone do that.
Aleta
@Mike J: What a truly beautiful shaped hull. And it looks like a feeling of some width while still being sleek and simple (An elegant equation so to speak.)
seaboogie
@Aleta: That is a pretty entertaining visual…!
Aleta
@Pogonip:
http://www.publichealth.lacounty.gov/eh/docs/Specialized/Vector_Management/fleas.pdf
I have to say I’ve had amazing luck controlling other (not flea) insect infestations since I realized their sensitivity to humidity levels in order to hatch. I bought a dehumidifier and well worth it. Since flea eggs don’t last as long as others, and fleas don’t last very long w/o food, I think I would spend the electricity and try to go below 50% in the room they are in, and stay out of it, plus catch them in water traps.
Vhh
@mclaren: 2020 is a presidential election and not a mid term.
Pogonip
@ShadeTail: I rent but I’ll do it myself; that way I know it’s done right. These are town houses, I don’t share a hallway, so I can treat my postage stamp sized yard myself.
Gian
just think of his retirement careers he could sell blue pills like Bob Dole
we could call them Boehner pills
Aleta
@Aleta: or maybe not the water traps for the sake of low humidity….
Pogonip
@Aleta: Dehumidifier it is! I’ll get one tomorrow.
Given klling an average of 4 fleas daily and 10 bites a night, is my infestation heavy or not? A lot of articles talk about “light” or “heavy” infestations but never give definitions.
Radio One
I predict that Keven McCarthy will prove to be an awful Speaker of the House, if elected. If not, anarchy for the GOP.
Omnes Omnibus
@Radio One:
Worst Pistols cover ever.
Aleta
@Pogonip:
The other thing would be, try not to feed them if possible. If you can, don’t sleep or sit where they are jumping. If they are only in one room, don’t go in it. ()Or just pass through with your feet and legs and arms covered.) . There seemed to be a lot of other numerical info in that LA county public health link, including useful info on how the larvae feed (which would help you target where they are).
If you are seeing 4 a day ? That’s much much less than were in this house last summer.
My cousin (who came in to check after I left) said his pants were covered with them. He just put the couch outside and left. Two weeks later we used copious salt, mostly in one area, and vacuumed a couple of times and washed animal bedding and sheets. (The eggs tend to fall into the bedding of the host, so that has to be washed or at least hot dried a long time, and repeated after you use them.
That did it– didn’t see a single one after that. And it’s been more than a year now.
That thing with the lightbulb and water will both kill them and give you an idea of how infested you are. I think maybe not that much if you can’t figure out where they came from.
SWMBO
@Pogonip: If it is an aggravation to you, it is a heavy infestation.
Ian
@mclaren:
Can you count to four?
Ian
@Kent:
Moar counting errorz
Zinsky
Hope you are right John, but I doubt it. Americans are too stupid and apathetic. We may get the Senate back in 2016, but no way the House. Hope the sorely needed re-districting in 2020 will solve that, but I doubt that too. A big problem is that the mainstream media treats it as a bipartisan problem, when it is only the Republican Party that is crazier than a shithouse rat!
rickstersherpa
Unfortunately, this group and the bubble they live within could do a lot damage over the next 15 months. The Government has to be funded and the debt ceiling raised, and this group was willing to default in 2011. And in the Fox Borg and Wingnut media all the bad consequences of default will be because of Obama and the Democrats. The affinity of white tribalism means 40% of the country is in the bag for these nuts, and don’t have any illusion about them becoming disaffected.
PaulW
Just an update to my two cents on the Speakership woes: http://noticeatrend.blogspot.com/2015/09/holy-sh-this-is-it-kids-we-are-in-crazy.html
PaulW
@Radio One:
I doubt McCarthy will win unless the party can clamp down on the wingnuts. Because the Far FAR Right faction is emboldened now: they’ve removed what they viewed as the last roadblock to their achieving TOTAL VICTORY in their scorched earth campaign. The only thing stopping them now will be their own division – too many egos at the top pushing to be the next Speaker. Boehner only won this past January for the Speaker vote because most of the party knew kicking him out then was bad optics. Without him to rally around, and with the wingnuts sitting there threatening to agitate even more if they don’t get their way, this is going to get messy.
Frankensteinbeck
@Pogonip:
Entomologist time, in case your attention to this thread isn’t completely dead!
The big questions are ‘What kind of flea’ and ‘Is there another host’. The person who mentioned that there might be an animal you aren’t aware of living in the house was very smart. If there is, nothing except getting rid of that animal will get rid of the fleas.
The good news is, fleas are very species-specific. They cannot take nutrition from the blood of anything but a very few animals that match them. Dog and cat fleas cannot feed from humans – but they will try. Boy, will they try. In fact, since fleas in a house with no proper prey will be starving, they will bite the living crap out of you and it will seem like a fleapocalypse. If these are not human fleas (which live on humans and rats), and there is no proper host in the house, they will die out.
The bad news is, fleas are some of the toughest sons-of-bitches in the animal kingdom. Particularly difficult is that their pupae are all but indestructible, and can hibernate for as much as a year. That’s the big reason why flea infestations tend to come back when you think they’re gone. A few pupae escape the sweep, hatch four months later, and everything starts again – if there’s a proper host.
Most of the advice above has been pretty good. Vacuuming wakes up pupae in carpets, so you get less Flea Anchor Babies. Fleas breed wherever their host sleeps, so wash bedding, wash bedding, wash bedding. That’s the biggest thing, washing anything that might have adult or flea larvae in hot water. Upholstered chairs are a big issue, too – as far as the fleas are concerned, you might as well be sleeping there. Washing bedding isn’t nearly as important if they’re not human fleas, because only human fleas can breed off of you, but it’ll still help speed the die-off. I hadn’t heard of the dehumidifier, but that’s a cute trick that from theory should totally help with a normal infestation.
BUT. If there is a secret host in your house, the only way you will fix this is to get rid of that host. You won’t be able to clean its bedding or dry out the spot it lives in or any of that. It will remain breeding fleas at an incredible rate, and the ones who get lost and reach you will be desperately hungry.
Frank Wilhoit
@jl: Kasich may not, in the narrowest construction, be personally corrupt, but all he does is give his friends state-government jobs, mostly the ones that allow them to handle large streams of funding or to shake down the subjects of potential regulatory action. This, for example, is the only reason for his notorious decision to accept the Medicaid expansion.