Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

The words do not have to be perfect.

This blog will pay for itself.

Fuck that bum, let’s go Joe!

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

I really should read my own blog.

Democrats are back in array!

A norm that restrains only one side really isn’t a norm – it’s a trap.

Not all heroes wear capes.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Dead end MAGA boomers crying about Talyor Swift being a Dem is my kind of music. Turn it up.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

We still have time to mess this up!

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

He really is that stupid.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Friday Afternoon Open Thread

Friday Afternoon Open Thread

by | 186 Comments

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How much longer are media outlets going to put “the country formerly known as Burma” after each mention of Myanmar? Just wondering if there’s a statute of limitations on these advisories.

The people who are going to get it already have. The people who don’t probably still use Chungking, Peking, Bombay, etc., and fret over the Soviet menace. Let’s move on already.

Any big plans this weekend? I’m taking a road trip down to South Florida. I’ll share any mermaid / merman sightings.

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

186Comments

  1. 1.

    SoupCatcher

    Just got an email from the DNC that the President has shot down Keystone XL.

    Reading the title in my inbox gave me goosebumps.

  2. 2.

    Luthe

    Since we just had a thread about the unemployment rate, can we get a Balloon Jobs thread sometime soon? Just to boost that labor force participation number a little…

  7. 7.

    Randy P

    Well, it’s my birthday this weekend. Which is somewhat of a pain, because it’s up to me to announce how I want to mark it, and life being pretty good there is nothing particularly I want.

    So traditionally for some years we’ve been marking it with a steak dinner. One time we went to Ruths Chris (a chain of high-priced steak restaurants), but that was quite the disappointment. The veggies were nice if overpriced. The steak was just overpriced, period.

    One time I requested dim sum. That was kind of fun (chicken feet, anyone?) but slightly too exotic for my dinner companions.

    There are a couple of Brazilian places in town (Philly). Wonder if those are worth the price.

  11. 11.

    Betty Cracker

    @Mustang Bobby: I’ll be on Key Biscayne most of the time. I think every minute of my time there and every morsel I’ll consume have already been predetermined (the friends I’m visiting are Planners!), but if there’s something I shouldn’t miss near KB, let me know! I still haven’t found a deli that replaces Wolfie’s in my affections, so if you can recommend one of those, I’d be grateful.

  12. 12.

    Big R

    @Randy P: Always. Brazilian barbecue has to be experienced to be believed. Just fast for at least eighteen hours prior to get the full enjoyment.

  13. 13.

    Randy P

    @Randy P: Also it’s a yardwork weekend. This is my weekend to rake the leaves. And the wisteria has already outgrown and taken down the second trellis I built for it a couple of months ago. So I’m putting a couple of 4 x 4 posts in the ground with the trellis in between. The idea is to extend it into an arbor later, maybe in the spring. Let that damned plant try to pull THOSE down.

    I should add that the wisteria was my idea and my project. I always wanted one. It hasn’t flowered yet, but it’s 2 years old and dang it’s doing well.

  14. 14.

    Cervantes

    The people who are going to get it already have.

    What is it you think those people have already got? (Just curious.)

  15. 15.

    hilts

    Someone should start a music thread with songs to celebrate the downfall of Ben Carson’s pathetic and idiotic presidential campaign.

  17. 17.

    Luthe

    @Randy P: I can’t recommend Brazilian, but I *can* recommend a (kosher) vegetarian dim sum place called New Harmony. It’s on 9th between Arch and Cherry St. They have all you can eat dim sum on Sundays. If you want Burmese, there’s a place called Rangoon across the street from New Harmony. And of course there’s Penang, which is Malaysian and offer chicken feet as well as more conventional fare (I recommend the mango chicken).

  20. 20.

    Goblue72

    Well it’s only 11:30 AM here in California, so quitting time is 6-7 hours away.

    When it eventually arrives, there will be Zin. And likely something from a food truck at Off the Grid – hopefully the Lobster Roll truck is there. If not, Duck Bao sammich. Followed by sleep and a day of that San Francisco tradition known as day drinking, starting with Bloody Mary’s and corned beef under the Bay Bridge.

  21. 21.

    Tommy Young

    @Randy P: Same here. Yard work, yard work, garage cleaning and organization. Took advantage of the Menards 11% off thing and got some new shelving units, things to organize my rakes and shovels, hang my mountain bike, and some of the cordless yard tools I bought this year. I know the owner of Menards is a total far right loon, and I feel somewhat guilty shopping there, but they just opened up a store here a few months ago and I flat out LOVE the place.

    Oh and my #2 LSU Tigers play this team I think is from some state called Alabama :).

  22. 22.

    Punchy

    @Betty Cracker: Only a little place called…..Islamorada! Drinky-est place south of Miami, east of Key West, North of whatever cruise ship is sailing the Caribbean.

  25. 25.

    Another Holocene Human

    Um, Betty? Maybe because the name of Burma/Myanmar has been a big political hoopla, particularly since the junta insisted on changing the name to Myanmar and upon political recognition at the same time, both of which the rest of the world were fain to grant, because the rebels were using the old colonial name Burma as a more neutral alternative to the ethnically divisive “Myanmar” (the country has 14 major ethnic groups), and because it’s just plain fucking confusing to your average American who can’t even find Honduras or Jamaica on a map, never mind anything in Old Asia.

  27. 27.

    benw

    Great news for me this weekend! I just had dinner with Gen. Westmoreland last night and found out I’ve been accepted to West Point!

  28. 28.

    Funkula

    Site redesign question: are we going to get comment links at the bottom of the post back? I know there’s work still being done, so I’m not demanding it immediately, I just want to know if it’s in the queue or not. It’s a decent-sized usability issue for me, since I decide whether to delve into the comments after reading the post and scrolling back up is irritating.

    And no, I’m not asking for the link to be moved, just duplicated. It may serve a purpose at the top, but there’s no reason it can’t serve one at the bottom as well.

  29. 29.

    Another Holocene Human

    @Tommy Young: Just FYI, Menard’s are anti-union, wage-theftin’ fucktards. That said, where I live, sometimes I do have to buy shit at Walmart, much as it pains me.

    I feel like Menard’s owner is some hateful right wing Catholic anti-gay anti-woman anti-secular fuck as well, kinda like Domino’s, fuck them also, too, and their pizza sucks.

    ETA: is there a tip jar in the front for their employee’s children’s dinners?

  30. 30.

    Betty Cracker

    @Cervantes: That the official name is now Myanmar, not Burma. I have no opinion on whether it was right or not to change the name. My objection is the apparently never ending parenthetical.

  31. 31.

    Eric S.

    Heading to see Spectre tonight. Tomorrow is my niece’s 3rd birthday. Then Sunday I’m running a half marathon in the ‘burbs. I’m hoping for a 2 hour finish. My brother is going for an 1-1/2 hour finish. I hope he makes it and I’m less than half hour behind him.

  32. 32.

    Tommy Young

    @Funkula: Yes, yes, yes. It would already be there but some server issues so I am not doing any work at the moment. It is literally, I kid you not, the top action item on my to-do-list.

  34. 34.

    Dork

    @benw: I had breakfast with the guy this morning and found out the military is storing grain alcohol in silo-shaped pyramids. Perhaps the Luxor?

  35. 35.

    Linnaeus

    My big weekend plans include warm compresses on my left eye about six times a day to deal with this stye on my eyelid.

  37. 37.

    Another Holocene Human

    Also, re: Burma, if you’re thinking, “just cause it’s a junta, what’s wrong with that” just realize that the junta was a criminal state that funded its activities by growing narcotics. Where have we heard that before?

    I went to school with someone who was a rebel in his teens instead of going to school and he talked about setting narcotics fields (I guess opium? his English was spotty so not sure what drug was being grown) on fire and getting very sick from the smoke.

    The Burmese economy collapsed and there was a lot of labor trafficking into Thailand. Girls especially were sold into debt peonage (under false pretenses, of course) and forced into prostitution in a foreign country where they didn’t speak the language. Prostitution is illegal in Thailand so if there was a raid (that is, if the police were not paid off), the Burmese girls would get railroaded in legal proceedings directed in Thai. The whole situation was a human rights disaster.

  38. 38.

    Betty Cracker

    @Another Holocene Human: See above response to Cervantes. Anyone who will ever give a shit already knows about the name change, and people who can’t find Jamaica or Honduras on a map aren’t enlightened any further by being told repeatedly that the official name used to be Burma.

  39. 39.

    Tommy Young

    @Another Holocene Human: Oh I know. In my little town some people from out of town that moved here, bought the local feed store that also had a True Value in it. Been a feed and hardware store in the building since like 1865. They moved to Ace and gutted the place, and decided to use the entire space, not just a small part of it. It is now a mini-Lowes or Home Depot. It rocks. So most of what I would get at a Home Depot or Menards I can get there.

    But not the stuff I got two weeks ago at Menards, like the pulley system I got to hang my mountain bike. I admit I wanted to hate the store, had never been in one until a couple weeks ago. But my gosh that is a kick-ass store. Why, oh why can’t it be owned by a liberal or at least not a bat shit crazy far right Republican. Why?

  40. 40.

    Roger Moore

    @MobiusKlein:

    The Burmese folks I work with call it Burma.

    The problem is that there are more than just ethnic Burmese in Myanmar, and the non-Burmese have serious enough problems with the Burmese majority that they’ve had ongoing civil conflict. The name change was part of an attempt to defuse that ethnic conflict, and IMO should get more respect from the rest of the world because of it.

  47. 47.

    hilts

    @Mike J:

    Great choices!

    I realize there have been a lot of premature pronouncements of the beginning of the end of Trump’s campaign, but I have a gut feeling that we really are seeing the beginning of the end of Carson’s campaign. I think the West Point lie will prove to be the tipping point for this pediatric neurosurgeon asshole.

  49. 49.

    Tommy Young

    @hilts: At first when Trump started to lead the polls I assumed he would implode quickly. Clearly I was wrong. I now, for a fair amount of time, have felt it won’t implode until people start to vote. If he doesn’t win, or comes in like third, he won’t be able to help himself and I see him actually telling the voters they are “dumb.” When he does that, well that will be the beginning of the end.

  51. 51.

    Mandalay

    @Betty Cracker:

    That the official name is now Myanmar, not Burma.

    According to you and the junta who seized power by force.

    But not according to the US government. And not according to the British government. And not according to Aung San Suu Kyi who might be unofficially running the country soon (depending on how rigged the election is).

    There is a very good reason that the name “Burma” has not been discarded. You should look into the history a little before ranting on this.

  53. 53.

    Another Holocene Human

    @Roger Moore:

    In the Burmese language, there have been controversies about the name of the country since the 1930s, and the decision of the regime in 1989 carried the controversy into the English language. The regime believes that Myanma is more inclusive of minorities than Bama, while opponents point out that historically, Myanma is only a more literary version of Bama. Quite the opposite of being more inclusive, opposition parties and human rights groups contend that the new English name “Myanmar” is actually disrespectful of the minorities of Burma. Minorities, many of whom do not speak Burmese, had become accustomed to the English name “Burma” over the years, and they perceive the new name “Myanmar” as a purely Burmese name reflecting the policy of domination of the ethnic Burman majority over the minorities.

    That’s Wikipedia but that reflects what I recall about the situation. That’s what I was told by Burmese (not Myanma/Bama) refugees. Besides the fact that anything associated with the former junta carries a political association.

  56. 56.

    MazeDancer

    Surprise – Carson Campaign now says Politico story about Caron lying about getting into West Point is an “outright lie”.

    They claim Politico lied. And that the email was never meant to say that Carson lied about West Point. Fox is reporting this, of course. And expecting a Carson Campaign update soon. But here is the wing nut story as it stands now. (Apologies for a RWNJ link.)

    http://www.ijreview.com/2015/11/464986-ben-carson-campaign-blasts-outright-lie-politico-story-about-west-point-background/

    No amount of print or video evidence otherwise withstanding, Carson campaign claims Ben never said he applied to West Point. So they’re doubling down on liberal media is to blame.

    Really, even sleazy Politico is going to verify an email before publishing a bombshell story.

    RWNJ’s now thrilled liberal media attacked and predict Carson will soar in polls.

  59. 59.

    Betty Cracker

    @Tommy Young: I made the same assumptions and also would not be surprised if Trump starting insulting voters if he falls behind. Also, I expect the GOP establishment slime machine to try to take him down at some point, maybe when they decide which schlub they’ll back for the nomination. Trump is rich, but so are they, and he’s provided plenty of material over the years they can use to slime him.

  62. 62.

    RSA

    A few very minor design suggestions:

    The title of the top-level Web page is “Balloon Juice | “. The trailing vertical bar is there to separate the name of the site from the title of a post, but without a post title it looks kinda weird.

    Because the search box has a caption, “SEARCH BALLOON JUICE”, it would be reasonable for the box to contain an example, prefaced by “e.g.”

    What’s under the Categories menu entry at the top of the front page? It looks like a subset of the tags–but it seems like an arbitrary subset, with two entries for Bernie Sanders, one for torture, … Is it the most common tags over the history of the site, maybe? I think it might be more useful with either all the categories or the most common recent ones.

  63. 63.

    SG

    I could easily have missed the announcement, but has there been any word from our host about a new 2016 Pets of Balloon Juice Calendar? It’s getting kinda late….

  65. 65.

    Fair Economist

    @hilts:

    I think the West Point lie will prove to be the tipping point for this pediatric neurosurgeon asshole.

    My thoughts exactly. The Republican Establishment (broadly defined, including the donor billionaires as well) want this nutcase GONE but they can’t attack him on most of the cray-cray because it’s religious cray-cray and they can’t offend all the fundie nutcases that vote for them each November. But this – this they can go after full-time and nobody’s going to be offended. We’ve all seen how the Wingnut Wurlitzer can go full volume on the tiniest problems, even when they’re not true. By Monday I expect somebody will have come up with a semi-clever snarky reference for this and we’ll hear it on Fox more than a #1 song on a top 40 radio station.

  67. 67.

    Mandalay

    @Another Holocene Human:

    Besides the fact that anything associated with the former junta carries a political association.

    Right. If Putin “officially” renamed Moscow as Marxgrad then everybody here would still call it Moscow. But when a junta changes the name of a country we are supposed to automatically fall in line and obediently use “Myanmar”? I don’t think so, and nor does our government.

  68. 68.

    Betty Cracker

    @Mandalay: In that case, shouldn’t media outlets say “Myanmar, also known as Burma” instead of “formerly known as Burma”?

  69. 69.

    Another Holocene Human

    @Cervantes: I think it’s not Angle Land because it was actually Aenglaland and finally people just got gosh darn sick of twisting their tongue over a country with “la-la” in the name.

  72. 72.

    haydnseek

    @MobiusKlein: I know what you mean. I quizzed some of the Cambodians in my neighborhood about the name change to Kampuchea. The ones that didn’t roll their eyes and chuckle said “Gesundheit!”

  73. 73.

    Another Holocene Human

    @Pogonip: And every once in a while, the US imprisons some small time crook to prove they are really fighting hard against white collar crime.

  75. 75.

    MazeDancer

    Carson Campaign screaming Politico article an “outright lie”

    Carson Campaign now denying they sent any confessions of lying to Politico. And that Politico warped it. And NY Times wrote a lying headline. And now the right wing is focusing on the discussion of “he never said he applied”. Because Carson has often said “I only applied to one place, that was all I could afford.” And that was Yale.

    “Applied” discussion is being used cover up Carson’s lies about “full scholarship”.

    Carson campaign does say some of the details about Westmoreland were a little off. Right wing says this liberal attack will only help Carson.

    No doubt he’s already fund-raising on it.

    Posted about this before, but for some reason it’s in moderation. So not including links in case that the problem

  76. 76.

    Another Holocene Human

    @Luthe: Well in Gainesville, we have Vietnamese. And, uh, Vietnamese. And Vietnamese.

    (Not really good Vietnamese, mind you. Two hours from the coast? Get outtatown. But I do have my few places I get a few dishes.)

  77. 77.

    Gimlet

    http://dailycaller.com/2015/11/06/team-carson-politico-story-is-an-outright-lie/

    “Dr Carson was the top ROTC student in the City of Detroit. In that role he was invited to meet General Westmoreland. He believes it was at a banquet. He can’t remember with specificity their brief conversation but it centered around Dr. Carson’s performance as ROTC City Executive Officer.

    He was introduced to folks from West Point by his ROTC Supervisors. They told him they could help him get an appointment based on his grades and performance in ROTC. He considered it but in the end did not seek admission. There are “Service Connected” nominations for stellar High School ROTC appointments. Again he was the top ROTC student in Detroit. I would argue strongly that an Appointment is indeed an amazing full scholarship. Having ran several Congressional Offices I am very familiar with the Nomination process.

    Again though his Senior Commander was in touch with West Point and told Dr. Carson he could get in, Dr Carson did not seek admission.

    The Politico story is an outright Lie. Dr. Carson as the leading ROTC student in Detroit was told by his Commanders that he could get an Appointment to the Academy. He never said he was admitted or even applied.

    The campaign never “admitted to anything.”

    This is what we have come to expect from Politico.

  78. 78.

    PurpleGirl

    Don’t have plans for this weekend but next weekend I’m going to Connecticut for six days. Staying with my cat rescuer friend — gonna spend time kittensitting and resting. Really looking forward to it. Playing with kittens :)

  79. 79.

    Benw

    @Gin & Tonic: he seemed kinda reserved, yeah. But he was pretty sympathetic when I told him how unfair it was that I got the boot from HP after my wildly successful stint as CEO.

  80. 80.

    Another Holocene Human

    @MazeDancer: See, I can believe a very intelligent person lies easily. Most people are dumber than them so they get away with it all the time so why not keep lying?

    I have a much harder time believing a highly intelligent person being involved in impulsive, violent behavior unless emergent mental illness is involved, because the part of the brain that aces IQ tests is exactly the part of the brain that stops you from engaging in impulsive, violent behavior. Right? So, impossible, no, but improbable, yes. Occam’s Razor says he builds up this terrifying story as a good “witness” in his social group (and everyone else in the group exaggerates/lies about their “witness” as well–eg, I was an atheist, I was a Satanist, I was down and out, etc–so his lying is a form of social conformity), and if there’s a shred of truth to these violent stories they are extremely exaggerated.

  82. 82.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Mandalay: The Soviet Union did rename a bunch of cities in Russia (St. Petersburg to Leningrad, Tsaritsyn to Stalingrad to Volgograd, etc.), and sources in the West generally went along with the changes, and with the later changes when the USSR collapsed.

  83. 83.

    Peale

    @Gimlet: I’m actually fine with Politico being labeled part of the liberal media if that means they will be harassed by Angry Mobs of Right Wing Hacks. Heck I’d give them Jim VandeHei’s home address and phone if I thought it would make him pack up and leave.

  84. 84.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    I’m overnighting at a nice hotel in Stuttgart (it’s 9:40 pm) and spending Saturday flying home to Detroit.
    Sunday will be miserable jet lag recovery and chores. Like laundry.
    Because Monday I head to Toronto again.
    I miss BJ since falling into lurkerhood 3 years ago.

  85. 85.

    rikyrah

    @Tommy Young:

    @hilts: At first when Trump started to lead the polls I assumed he would implode quickly. Clearly I was wrong. I now, for a fair amount of time, have felt it won’t implode until people start to vote.

    Get back to me on December 1st. If Trump is still in it, and Carson is out, we’ll see where Carson’s crazies went…

  87. 87.

    hilts

    @MazeDancer:

    Ben Carson is every bit as full of shit as Donald Trump, but his soft spoken personality appealed to some pundits and they chose to ignore his more flagrant bullshit statements.

  88. 88.

    Brachiator

    @Another Holocene Human: RE: Maybe because the name of Burma/Myanmar has been a big political hoopla

    And sadly, the upcoming elections might be political hoopla of the tragic kind. From today’s news stories:

    Yangon: Five saffron-robed monks arrived uninvited and preaching hate in opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s constituency in the final days of campaigning before Myanmar’s watershed election on Sunday.

    President Thein Sein, a former general, has ominously warned that if Suu Kyi’s party wins there will be Arab Spring-like chaos and bloodshed.

    “Stupid people, be ready to suffer,” read a pamphlet, written in the anonymous voice of a British colonist mocking Suu Kyi’s supporters that was distributed in villages the monks visited.

    And strangely, “people with moustaches” has become a dog whistle for Muslims.

    http://www.smh.com.au/world/myanmar-elections-sense-of-foreboding-as-tension-mounts-20151105-gks702.html

  90. 90.

    Amir Khalid

    @Pogonip:
    “Brown cat” works fine for me. Incidentally, there’s another breed of cat known as the Malayan. The breeders are in California, I think. To my knowledge, neither they nor the cats have any connection at all to my country.

    The name Malaya is itself all but obsolete, as far as my country is concerned. The states south of Thailand are these days collectively known as Peninsular Malaysia, or just the Peninsula. (The two states on Borneo are called “Sabah and Sarawak.”) Our oldest public university still goes by University of Malaya, the Peninsula’s Penal Code still uses the name Malaya, but that’s about it.

  91. 91.

    Mandalay

    @Betty Cracker:

    shouldn’t media outlets say “Myanmar, also known as Burma” instead of “formerly known as Burma”

    You previously posted this:

    I have no opinion on whether it was right or not to change the name.

    My advice is that you learn the history behind the renaming, form an opinion on that, and then you can probably answer your own question. There is no right or wrong answer, but there are informed and uninformed opinions.

    FWIW, my anecdotal experience when traveling there was that a majority of those I spoke to preferred “Myanmar” to “Burma”. But I suspect they were also shit scared of the authorities, and I doubt if they were speaking freely to a tourist.

  92. 92.

    PurpleGirl

    @Randy P:

    There are a couple of Brazilian places in town (Philly). Wonder if those are worth the price.

    Are they buffet style, all you can eat? There was a place (Greenfield Churrascaria) on Northern Blvd (Queens) that was all you could eat. They had waiters walking around the dining floor holding plates/skewers of meat and on each table was a hockey puck (red on one side, green on the other) which you turned over depending on if you wanted more meat. They had steak, lamb, rabbit, pork, sausage, you name it. At certain times they even had venison. Veggies and salad were at a side bar where you could take what you wanted. Great place. It was well worth the price. The Google search tells me it’s closed, bummer. It was a nice place.

  94. 94.

    singfoom

    Ok, FYWP thricely.

    Bad “trade” deal is bad. Obviously my link to public citizen and new zealands text of the TPP are causing the problems. I’d include links, but FYWP.

    Google new zealand tpp or public citizen tpp and you’ll find the links I wish I could include. I hope Congress in it’s infinite childishness torpedoes the bill. I’m sure they won’t torpedo it for the right reasons but as long as it doesn’t get passed.

  95. 95.

    Tommy Young

    @hilts: I have actually never thought Trump was either delusional or deranged. From everything I read about Trump before his run for office and after just reinforces this if you look at his actions through this prism. Trump can’t run a business. You can see this through his four bankruptcies. He ran his airline into the ground. His casinos. The USFL. But his brand, the Trump name is worth billions. IT IS ALL HE HAS! Slap it on a hotel, condos, golf courses, or a fraudulent university and it is a license to print money.

    Trump is on TV almost every second of the day. His name is known by far, far more people than before. It would have taken ad campaigns (said as a former ad agency guy) into the hundreds of millions to get his name out the way he has basically for free. And that is all he cares about.

    Honestly, he is laughing all the way to the bank. So is he evil, likely, but I don’t think delusional or deranged. But that is just my two cents ….

  97. 97.

    Peale

    @Randy P: Churrascarias are usually decent for meat and hit or miss for sides and sometimes the service at them is a little pushy if you start to reject too many dishes and are just waiting for that last round of something before calling it a feast. But they are tasty and you will get very stuffed. Plus caipirinhas after dinner until you fall over. Can’t beat that.

  98. 98.

    Mandalay

    @MazeDancer:

    So not including links in case that the problem

    That does appear to be a problem today. We can all make stuff up and not get called on it.

  99. 99.

    hilts

    @rikyrah:

    Between Trump, Carson, and Jeb, Chris Matthews will end up having more orgasms this election cycle than the last 4 election cycles combined.

  100. 100.

    Pogonip

    @Amir Khalid: I think a lot of pedigreed cats are named after places they have no connection with. The more exotic it sounds the more you can charge for a kitten. Maine Coon cats, though, really do seem to hail from New England.

    What we call Siamese are called Wichienmat in Thailand; the “Korat,” an expensive silvery-gray cat, is called Si-Sawat in Thailand. The “Burmese” is common in Thailand where it’s called Thong Daeng.

  101. 101.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Omnes Omnibus: It appears that way. It also appears (hope you’re listening, Tommy) that once posted, URL’s open differently based on their content type. So, for example, the Imgur or YouTube links in this thread open “in-line”, i.e. in a Javascript-created window on top of the BJ content, whereas the links to. e.g. IJReview actually move you to that site. That’s a usability issue, in that to close the JPG you have to find and click on the little “X”, whereas with the other links you use the browser’s “Back” button.

  105. 105.

    Librarian

    The Burma/Myanmar thing seems to be similar to Congo/Zaire, where a junta arbitrarily changes the country’s name while everybody else, including the inhabitants, continue to refer to it by the old name. When the present Burmese government is overthrown/gotten rid of, the country’s official name will revert to Burma.

  106. 106.

    hilts

    @Tommy Young:

    You make a good point. I think “deranged” and “delusional” are much better descriptors for Carson than Trump and right now I find Carson more repulsive and nauseating than Trump. I can’t stand hearing someone with a goddamn medical degree trashing the theory of evolution. Carson is a flat out fucking disgrace to the medical profession.

  108. 108.

    Brachiator

    @Another Holocene Human: RE: Maybe because the name of Burma/Myanmar has been a big political hoopla

    And sadly, the upcoming elections might be political hoopla of the tragic kind. From today’s news stories:

    Yangon: Five saffron-robed monks arrived uninvited and preaching hate in opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s constituency in the final days of campaigning before Myanmar’s watershed election on Sunday.

    President Thein Sein, a former general, has ominously warned that if Suu Kyi’s party wins there will be Arab Spring-like chaos and bloodshed.

    “Stupid people, be ready to suffer,” read a pamphlet, written in the anonymous voice of a British colonist mocking Suu Kyi’s supporters that was distributed in villages the monks visited.

    And strangely, “people with moustaches” has become a dog whistle for Muslims.

    ETA: An earlier version of this note is in the moderation phantom zone. Perhaps this one as well..

  109. 109.

    Betty Cracker

    @Mandalay: That would undoubtedly be edifying for me but wouldn’t change the way the media characterizes it. But to complicate things further, it turns out some media outlets DO say “also known” rather than “formerly known.” Even CNN, which gets so much wrong. Go figger.

    @Peale: And you win the thread. Well done!

  110. 110.

    Punchy

    @Amir Khalid: Not sure, but if forced to guess, I’d say it’s cuz peeps in Florida suck at almost everything, including spelling.

    However, the place is almost halfway between Miami and Key West, so it is (was?) a great halfway watering hole on the way to glorious Duval Street.

  111. 111.

    Tommy Young

    @Gin & Tonic: Well two things.

    1. I made no changes to anything that placing links in a post would put a comment in moderation. I kept the setting as they were before I even started working on the site. I’ll look into it, but seems to be something that just started happening today.

    2. And again I will admit when I don’t know something, but how the “comment” handles links is something I can’t find any settings on. But you note something that again becomes a problem I sense almost nobody, or at least nobody that has issues with the site, seems to understand (not saying you). It would seem you prefer a link opens in the browser window and not in-line, because the back button is easier to use then finding the “X.” A lot of people have said they prefer it in-line, staying on the site, so they just close the window.

    I tend to agree, it isn’t even close IMHO, that in-line is superior. I can’t make everybody happy!

    But then again, can we FREAKING wait until we launch the new commenting system? In fact, I am not going to respond to a SINGLE comment about the commenting system anymore until the new one is up and running. Frankly this has just gotten out of hand. The phrase “dog with a bone” comes to mind.

  112. 112.

    Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA

    @benw: Did you stab him afterwards? Or attack him with a hammer?

    Meanwhile. Weight Watchers weigh-in last night. I could have sworn I had done well, but I only lost 4 tenths of a pound. That isn’t a bad thing, but I really thought I would have done better. Kind of messed with my head a little, and I’ve already snacked too much today — funny how losing 21.5 pounds is something to celebrate, but then losing 21.9 is a disappointment. So in a few minutes I’m off to the gym for the first time in over a year to get my head back into this.

  114. 114.

    Steeplejack

    @Randy P:

    Just got on the Google and see that you have a Chima in Philadelphia (1901 John F. Kennedy Boulevard). I have been to the one in D.C. many times (Brazilian in-laws), and it is f’mazeballs. It would be an excellent birthday treat.

    You also have a Fogo de Chão (1337 Chestnut Street), which should be equally good. I haven’t eaten at the one in D.C., but my brother (actually married to the Brazilians) says it is comparable.

  115. 115.

    Jeffro

    Wow is this good and to the point about Carson:

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2015/11/06/ben-carson-has-weird-ideas-and-makes-stuff-up-what-kind-of-president-would-he-be/?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-f%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

    [Carson maintains that unlike “all the archeologists” who say that the pyramids were built by the pharaohs to be their tombs, he believes that the biblical figure Joseph built the pyramids to store grain. There is precisely zero evidence for this belief.

    This is hardly the only matter about which Carson says all the scientists are wrong. He thinks that the theory of evolution was born when Satan encouraged Charles Darwin to devise it; all the copious evidence for evolution is meaningless. Carson also says that he once stumped a “well-known physicist” by asking him how the organization of the solar system could be compatible with the second law of thermodynamics, which states that systems tend to move toward entropy. Carson is either lying about this or wildly misinterpreted the conversation he had, because there’s no contradiction between the two, and there isn’t a physicist on earth who would tell you that the solar system proves that God’s hand was at work. But people who learn only a tiny bit about certain scientific ideas often become convinced that they’ve happened upon a striking new revelation that all the so-called experts have never considered before.

    So what does this have to do with what Carson might be like as president? When George W. Bush said he was “the decider,” he was describing accurately a large part of the job. Every day, the president’s aides bring him decisions he has to make, decisions that are often complex and uncertain. He has to weigh different kinds of evidence and make predictions about the future. People who know more than him about a particular topic — the economics of the labor market, the internal politics of Iran, the health effects of power-plant emissions — will offer him their advice based on their expertise, and he’ll have to integrate their perspective with other considerations that might come into play in a particular policy decision.

    Ben Carson’s ideas about things like the pyramids, combined with what he has said about other more immediate topics, suggest not only that his beliefs are impervious to evidence but also an alarming lack of what we might call epistemological modesty. It isn’t what he doesn’t know that’s the problem, it’s what he doesn’t realize that he doesn’t know.]

  116. 116.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Gimlet:

    They told him they could help him get an appointment based on his grades and performance in ROTC. He considered it but in the end did not seek admission. There are “Service Connected” nominations for stellar High School ROTC appointments. Again he was the top ROTC student in Detroit. I would argue strongly that an Appointment is indeed an amazing full scholarship.

    Maybe if Carson had been OFFERED THIS FUCKING THING that would matter. He wasn’t. That’s why it’s what laymen call “a lie.”

    I also don’t get why the vibe these chumps get from Carson isn’t extreme arrogance. Because that’s what I get. It’s different from Trump’s arrogance or Cruz’s or Paul’s, but they’re all species of the same phenomenon: “I obviously know everything and it’ll be excruciatingly boring to explain it to you.”

  118. 118.

    Tommy Young

    Huge ham hock from the butcher in the fridge. Red beans soaking overnight. I’ll be ready for LSU vs. Bama with some corn bread and a huge bowl of red beans and rice. I can’t wait.

  119. 119.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Tommy Young: I thought I was being helpful in describing the behavior I see as accurately as I can reproduce it, without passing judgment or casting blame. I do believe that when URL’s are handled *differently* based on their content type, that that presents a usability concern. I assumed that the URL handler was part of the theme, and not part of the commenting system. If I was mistaken, then I’ll just wait quietly.

  121. 121.

    Mandalay

    @Librarian:

    The Burma/Myanmar thing seems to be similar to Congo/Zaire

    Your example is much trickier since there are two countries named “Congo”: The Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire) and The Republic of the Congo (formerly The People’s Republic of the Congo). What a mess.

  122. 122.

    Steeplejack

    @Gin & Tonic:

    [. . .] the Imgur or YouTube links in this thread open “in-line” [. . .]. That’s a usability issue [. . .].

    No, that’s a feature, you nitwit! It was deliberately changed to be that way. I have retooled my reflexes to always do right-click, “open in new tab.” Sigh.

  127. 127.

    Tommy

    @Omnes Omnibus: And no settings were changed. So that is a bug IMHO. Clearly settings shouldn’t change on their own to where you could put in links yesterday without going into moderation but today, not so much. UGH!

  128. 128.

    NotMax

    @PurpleGirl

    While was there in September, drove past a place on Northern Boulevard in Queens sporting a banner advertising “Korean Cajun” food.

    Blackened kimchi?

  129. 129.

    Tommy

    @Gin & Tonic: I am not mad nor frustrated with you. You have been nothing but polite and helpful across the board. For lack of a better word/phrase I am just “broken” down on this topic and would like a few hours just to enjoy myself, chat about stupid Republicans, and recharge my batteries to attack the final edits this weekend.

  131. 131.

    hilts

    @FlipYrWhig:

    “I also don’t get why the vibe these chumps get from Carson isn’t extreme arrogance. Because that’s what I get.”

    It’s because Ben Carson is a soft spoken lunatic as opposed to a raving lunatic. Thus far, he’s said plenty of insane or stupid things, but all the while he’s exuding a perfect zen-like serenity.

  132. 132.

    PurpleGirl

    @Tommy Young: That’s how I feel about Michael’s Arts and Crafts. I do have options but it’s so convenient to shop and Michael’s. At least Hobby Lobby doesn’t stores near me. There was a Creativity years ago, but it closed. There’s an independent Lady Jane Crafts; I like it but it is a longer bus ride for me. A.C. Moore had a store in Queens but closed it a few months ago. I’d need a car to get to their other stores on Long Island and New Jersey.

  136. 136.

    Villago Delenda Est

    St. Petersburg! Petrograd! Leningrad! St. Petersburg!

    Let’s call the whole thing off!

  137. 137.

    Mandalay

    @Betty Cracker:

    But to complicate things further, it turns out some media outlets DO say “also known” rather than “formerly known.”

    Right, there does not seem to be any uniform policy, though AP, Reuters and UPI all seem to use “Myanmar” without qualification.

    But the larger issue is that there is invariably (?) a political agenda associated with renaming a city or a country. Erasing the old name may or may not be a good thing, depending on your perspective.

  138. 138.

    jl

    Now that the Dem debates will be going at least monthly through March, I’ll probably skip the GOP garbage. I have seen enough, and watching just two of those things may have done bad things to my general emotional and mental constitution.

    But I heard a news report that Huckabee and Christie have been demoted the kiddie debate, and Pataki and Graham told to stay home.
    Hope i remember that correctly. Jindal still allowed in?

    Anyway, I hope the battle of attrition whittles choice down to some schlub that can’t get much over 10 percent, and we end up with GOP candidate that no one likes very much. Hope for Jeb? if he can make his millions last?

  140. 140.

    Calouste

    @hilts: I don’t think Trump is deranged or delusional. Self-promoting to an extreme degree, arrogant, bloviating, obnoxious, all yes to that. But if he was deranged or delusional, he would have been fleeced like a Merino sheep in his 40 years or so in the real estate business, and even though he by most accounts he isn’t a stellar businessman, I think it was calculated that the growth of the money he inhered from his dad more or less kept up with the stock market. Where you know that if you gave Ben Carson $20 million to invest he would probably have lost it all in 5 years to a variety of scammers.

  142. 142.

    Brachiator

    I just finished reading a news story that noted that while many Kentucky residents want to get rid of Obamacare, they love the state plan, Kynect.

    On the other hand, the new governor, who won handily in the recent election, wants to get rid of Kynect.

    Republicans are crazy. The support that Carson and Trump still are getting just confirms this more and more.

  144. 144.

    Tommy

    @PurpleGirl: I hear that. Menards just opened near me. Parents have had one for several years and I swear I think they live in the darn place. They kept trying to describe it to me, that it had like food and cloths, and it didn’t make any sense to me. Then I needed two new toliets a month or so ago. I looked around at a lot of places both online and in the store, and Menards, when you factored in their delivery charges (next to nothing — and same day) and the 11% off, their prices were impossible to beat.

    I walked into the place and I have to admit next to a place like the Container Store (I am an organization freak) it was maybe the coolest store I can recall being in. I am ashamed to admit how much money I spent in the place, or how long I was in the store just going down aisle after aisle.

    Heck I am an avid walker, hiker. Had not bought any good hiking socks in ages. I spent more than $125 just one socks, wonderful socks like you usually can only get at like a L.L. Bean or REI, for a lot less money.

    But the owner is about as big of an asshole as you can get and I actually do feel guilty shopping there, but I want to go back :)!

  145. 145.

    Steeplejack

    @Calouste:

    [. . .] if you gave Ben Carson $20 million to invest he would probably have lost it all in 5 years to a variety of scammers.

    Or he would have a cache of overpriced Krugerrands in the basement.

  146. 146.

    Roger Moore

    @Mandalay:

    If Putin “officially” renamed Moscow as Marxgrad then everybody here would still call it Moscow.

    Like the way that we talk about the Battle of Volgograd because nobody paid any attention when Stalin renamed it after himself.

  147. 147.

    RSA

    @Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA:

    So in a few minutes I’m off to the gym for the first time in over a year to get my head back into this.

    Hey, congratulations on the progress you’re making! I’m a convert to exercise, from last fall, so a year and a few months. My weight has changed very little, but I think I’ve gained some muscle. Certainly I’ve gained strength and stamina, and that’s worthwhile.

  148. 148.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Tommy Young: “I know the owner of Menards is a total far right loon, and I feel somewhat guilty shopping there”

    Sadly, the same applies to Home Depot and Lowe’s

  149. 149.

    Tommy

    @PurpleGirl: Oh one other thing. Even if it is hard to get to, at least you have one or so non-big box craft stores aroiund you. In the 70s and 80s my mom was in craft stores 24/7. Her hobby and often I was along for the ride. Always local places. Heck she turned her hobby into a business going to craft fairs, long before there was something like Etsy.

    I have pleasant memories of those stores because they were always eclectic. Somewhat odd even, reflecting the personality of the owner. Of course as you could guess, they are all gone. For me all I have is Hobby Lobby.

  150. 150.

    Brachiator

    @Betty Cracker: In that case, shouldn’t media outlets say “Myanmar, also known as Burma” instead of “formerly known as Burma”? I thought that “formerly known as” could only be used when referring to Prince.

  151. 151.

    Iowa Old Lady

    @RSA: Regular exercise helps me avoid depression.

    Also years ago, I read someone saying exercise is the fountain of youth, and I’ve more or less found that it does ward off lots of physical deterioration for a while.

  152. 152.

    Roger Moore

    @Amir Khalid:

    Incidentally, there’s another breed of cat known as the Malayan. The breeders are in California, I think. To my knowledge, neither they nor the cats have any connection at all to my country.

    Wikipedia says the original breeders were British, which makes sense with the name; Brits are much more likely to talk about Malaya than Americans. And there seems to be a habit of naming lots of cat breeds that are originally descended from Siamese after regions in the general neighborhood, e.g. Burmese, Tonkinese, Balinese, Javanese, Himalayan, Singapura, etc.

  154. 154.

    Origuy

    There are several churrascarias in the South Bay; I’ve been to a couple of them. One of them brings around a skewer of grilled pineapple, which I love. The enzymes in pineapple help digest meat, so it isn’t just to clear the palate. Once they had teriyaki chicken hearts. I’d never had chicken heart before. They were tasty, if a little chewy.

  156. 156.

    JPL

    Since this is an open thread, Jerry Jones should release Greg Hardy, immediately. Not sure if it has been mentioned but Deadspin has pictures of the altercation that occurred with his former girlfriend. Links put me in moderation..

    I assume that you can just google Greg Hardy..

  159. 159.

    Tommy

    @RSA:

    I’d proselytize about exercise like an evangelist if I let myself.

    So would I, so would I. I went from the gym a few times a week to the goal of 20,000 steps a day, which I hit many more days than not. Doing it for more than a year and I find if I don’t get those steps in, I am actually kind of in a bad mood or grouchy. Not only is it exercise, but fresh air, being outside sun on the face, oh and I tend to think more clearly on my daily walks than any other time in the day.

    Now if I just had the willpower to put in 20 or so minutes of yoga a day, which I can’t seem to do, I’d be right about where I’d want to be from a fitness point-of-view.

  160. 160.

    goblue72

    @Tommy Young: Trump’s bankruptcies are so legion that the caselaw involving his bankruptcies and the bondholders he screwed over in connection with the Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City are commonly used in law school securities regulation (and bankruptcy) classes.

  161. 161.

    Tommy

    @japa21: I can see that. I can’t speak for Bama fans but I know LSU fans, and I am close to rabid, can be more than a little full of ourselves and kind of assholes. I try not to be like that. Plus to be honest, it is easy to dislike a team that for the last 15 years or so is always pretty darn good. That is how I came to dislike Flordia State and Notre Dame earlier in my life when LSU totally sucked.*

    *When I was in grad school at LSU in the early 90s it was the first time the Seniors had never had a winning season in the 100+ year history of the program. It was dark, grim times to say the least.

  162. 162.

    Eric U.

    I’m pretty sure most of the local stores that sell things like hardware and lumber are owned by republican freaks. This probably explains some of the silly things about a lot of the stores that I shop at. I met the owner of the car dealership we frequent, and he’s a christianist nutcase.

  163. 163.

    Randy P

    @Steeplejack: Fogo de Chao is the one I have walked past many times and wondered about.

    OK, you guys have decided me. Fogo de Chao it is for the big day!

  164. 164.

    Germy Shoemangler

    When Stoney Emshwiller was 18 years old, he filmed himself interviewing his older self. Thirty-eight years later a 56-year-old Stoney completed the interview by answering his younger self’s questions. He’s funded the production of a movie, called “Later That Same Life.”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9n9dt2fKeE

  165. 165.

    J R in WV

    @MobiusKlein:

    Me too. We hired an IT guy from there, he always called it Burma, that other name was for the Generals who were ruining the country for everyone else.

    He was really smart – banned from Las Vegas cashinos because he could win some of their “games” – it isn’t ganb’ling if you can win, it isn’t a game if you can’t win.

    Hope I’ve mispeled enough for this to not go to moderation!

    Burma! not Myanmar !!

  167. 167.

    japa21

    @Tommy: My thinking is a little different. First, my Alma Mater, Michigan State, is behind both of them in the polls. But more importantly, Nick Sabin skipped out early on his contract with MSU to go to LSU, and then deserted them for Bama.

  168. 168.

    Brachiator

    @Amir Khalid: RE: Even the women?

    Especially the women.

    And here’s a weird tip from a site labeled myanmar career corner: “If you have a moustache you may want to consider shaving it off – people with moustaches can be perceived as being aggressive. You can always grow it again once you have got the job.”

  169. 169.

    Dan

    I spent some time in Burma. Going by some conversations with guest house owners, taxi drivers, and one barber, if you support the junta, you refer to it as “Myanmar;” if you’re pro-democracy, you say “Burma.” Highly unscientific, I know, but it’s widespread enough that I heard it quite often.

  170. 170.

    Roger Moore

    @Jeffro:

    Carson maintains that unlike “all the archeologists” who say that the pyramids were built by the pharaohs to be their tombs, he believes that the biblical figure Joseph built the pyramids to store grain. There is precisely zero evidence for this belief.

    And excellent evidence to the contrary. Specifically, we have a very good idea that the pyramids were built during the 4th Dynasty, which was hundreds of years before Joseph would have been there. Not to mention the obvious insanity of building a grain elevator with the ratio of construction cost to storage capacity you’d get from the Great Pyramid.

  171. 171.

    Mqandalay

    @Roger Moore:

    Like the way that we talk about the Battle of Volgograd because nobody paid any attention when Stalin renamed it after himself.

    Your example is especially lame since Stalin was our ally at the time, and our government surely had higher post-war priorities than worrying about the names of battles.

    The USA certainly fell out with Stalin later, but there was no single defining moment. In contrast, our government has always opposed the junta that seized power in Myanmar/Burma, and has always opposed the change of name.

    But you are free to believe that we would all start referring to “Moscow” as “Marxstad” if Putin renamed it, based on the example you offer. Like Bartleby, I prefer not to.

  173. 173.

    Mandalay

    @Roger Moore:

    Like the way that we talk about the Battle of Volgograd because nobody paid any attention when Stalin renamed it after himself.

    Your example is especially lame since Stalin was our ally at the time, and our government surely had higher post-war priorities than worrying about the names of battles.

    The USA certainly fell out with Stalin later, but there was no single defining moment. In contrast, our government has always opposed the junta that seized power in Myanmar/Burma, and has always opposed the change of name.

    But you are free to believe that we would all start referring to “Moscow” as “Marxstad” if Putin renamed it, based on the example you offer. Like Bartleby, I prefer not to.

  177. 177.

    RSA

    @Tommy:

    Now if I just had the willpower to put in 20 or so minutes of yoga a day, which I can’t seem to do, I’d be right about where I’d want to be from a fitness point-of-view.

    Yeah, for me it’s Do I have the time? Do I have the willpower? and Have I pulled a muscle lately? that stand in the way of daily exercise. Otherwise I’d be golden.

  178. 178.

    mclaren

    @Betty Cracker:

    That the official name is now Myanmar, not Burma.

    Bullshit. If Americans are so all-fired gung-ho about calling countries by their correct official names, then explain to me why we Americans call Deutschland “Germany.” The official name is Deutschland. But nobody, absolutely nobody in America talks about the “Deutsch” or the “Deutschlanders.” They’re always called Germans.

    Ditto the Polska. No, we call it “Poland” and “Poles.” Ditto the Magyar. Ever see a Hungarian driver’s license? It says MAGYAR on the top. Not “Hungary.” But we keep calling them Hungarians instead of Magyars. Nobody seems to complain about that. Why is that?
    So excuse the fuck out of me if I have zero patience for this game of verbal calisthenics other countries want to play with their names. “Ooohhh, ooohhh, it’s not Burma, it’s Myanmar.” What next, Zorgblept? Zhshsh2? Quaddlreuytp? Fuck that, the country’s name is Burma. End of story.

    Mumbai? Bullshit, it’s Bombay. It’s always been Bombay. Deal with it, India. People in Shithole America do not call other countries by their proper names and never have. We’re barbarians. Learn to like it.

  179. 179.

    Jeffro

    @Roger Moore: I know, right? I get that some people just can’t give up on their fairy tales, but shoehorning them into *real* history, to include *real* historical landmarks that can be proven to have nothing to do with said fairy tales…it’s sad.

    If you wanna have faith, have faith: don’t look at pyramids and twist yourself into a pret-zero trying to make them support your weird fantasies, Dr. Carson.

  182. 182.

    Cervantes

    @Betty Cracker:

    I have no opinion on whether it was right or not to change the name. My objection is the apparently never ending parenthetical.

    OK, but that parenthetical (and other such dodges) are precisely a way of working with (or waffling about) the name change, and moreover a way of (not) dealing with the illegitimacy of the current regime.

    The people behind SLORC are awful. They are murderous thugs. We ought to have found our way by now to a more honest and open discourse about them — but in the absence of such a discourse, I’m not going to spend time complaining about any signal of opprobrium our stalwarts in the mass media care to send, no matter how faint, or inadequate, or even unintended.

    Anyway, I’m out. Have a great week-end.

  183. 183.

    NotMax

    @Gin & Tonic

    Easy to pronounce than the original Dutch name of Vlishing, anyway.

    Also home to what is known as the Flushing Remonstrance (signed in 1657), an important early colonial precursor to the First Amendment.

  184. 184.

    PaulW

    Right now on my twitter feed half the people are talking about Ben Carson having a conniption on live television coping with his West Point “exaggerations”.

    It’d be nice to say he’s toast but Gods help us the GOP voting base is too unpredictable and might actually enjoy… the feeds are saying he’s attacking the reporters right now, so maybe he does get out of this with his support intact.

  185. 185.

    PurpleGirl

    @NotMax: The Queens Museum a few years ago had a photography exhibit for they asked a selected group of photographers to document the diversity of Queens today. They also had on display the original Flushing Remonstrance. An incredible document. A friend’s nephew was one of the photographers and I was able to attend the opening of the exhibit. The photos were great. But I was enthralled by the Flushing Remonstrance.

  186. 186.

    jefft452

    @Another Holocene Human: “because the name of Burma/Myanmar has been a big political hoopla, particularly since the junta insisted on changing the name to Myanmar and upon political recognition at the same time, both of which the rest of the world were fain to grant”

    There is a good case to be made that the media should refuse to call it Myanmar and instead continue to call it Burma

    There is no good case to be made that the media should continue to use “Myanmar, formerly known as Burma”

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