Because we need something extremely frivolous to help us (Americans) start this extended holiday…
(Via NYMag)
Sailors grow bored during long cruises…
For the optimists:
***********
Apart from all that, what’s on the agenda for the day?
Reader Interactions
125Comments
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karen marie
I haven’t seen any chatter about Turkey (the country). Surprising given that back in October NATO, of which they are a member, specifically said it would back Turkey against Russia, the country whose plane Turkey recently shot down. An internet friend in Athens asked me earlier tonight what my thoughts were in light of Putin’s recent statement, which of course I have not read. Our conversation prompted me to look at other things though to get a quick understanding of at least part of the nexus for Turkey’s actions, and I found this Vox piece to be somewhat edifying. From her Greek perspective, the Turks are a bunch of bandits, still pissed about the loss of the Ottoman Empire. Anybody got a theory about where we’re headed?
Anne Laurie
@karen marie: I actually started a post about this earlier, but figured nobody would be paying attention, and it’s not like I’m an expert. The experts I’ve read (mostly via Dan Drezner & the Washington Post) say that Russia & Turkey have a long unpleasant history of conflict, but right now they’ve also got significant commercial ties (Turkey needs Russian natural gas; Russia needs Turkish ports) so there’ll be days or weeks of chest-pounding rhetoric before anything happens. If we’re lucky!
Zinsky
Never cared much for the Star Wars franchise – I always found it to be derivative of other, earlier sci-fi movies and none of the characters were particularly compelling either. On the Turkey-Russia issue, they both have always played a part in the Great Game or the clash of western vs. eastern empires, due to their geographical locations. However, Turkey has often played the spoiler – being, by nature, bellicose and hard to trust. Russia wouldn’t waste it’s time on Turkey with so many other A-game players doing Kabuki dances in the region (e.g. France, Britain, America, Saudi Arabia, etc.). Putin is a poseur, not a lunatic.
Patricia Kayden
@karen marie: Rachel Maddow had an interesting segment on Turkey v. Russia last night. I believe the reporter she spoke with was Richard Engel. The gist was that Turkey was upset that Russians weren’t targetting just ISIS fighters in Syria but were also targetting anti-Bashir fighters, which included some Turkish fighters. Apparently, Russia and Iran are pro-Bashir, which is in opposition to the U.S., Turkey and 60+ other countries which are anti-Bashir.
raven
Headed for the boat in a bit.
Schlemazel
@Patricia Kayden:
The current events in Syria are a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. SA has once again conned America into fighting their war. Turkey is on SAs side and Russia is on Iran’s side Each for their own reasons..
Keith G
@karen marie: Add also to the above comments, that the Turkish people spread beyond the map borders into Syria. The nation of Turkey is a committed to defend their own whatever side of the border they live on.
Add to that the fact that the current leadership of Turkey was elected partially on a platform of enhanced nationalism. This is part of a very interesting and troubling recipe when one considers that Turkey has a collective security agreement with Western Europe and the United States and therefore may feel free to be a bit more strident then might otherwise be the case.
BillinGlendaleCA
The Morning Joe crew sez Obama is hapless and lost, Joe said sort of like Jimmy Carter(a black Jimmy Carter?). Dana Milbank called him O-bummer, I’ve heard that before; come up with something original Dana. Oh, Nicolle is an idiot; how did that woman get a UC degree?
Gravenstone
Just a cheeky observation, but the name for the site in my recent browser history is … Database Error.
Trudging into work in a bit after breakfast. At least it should be a quiet day since half my department (boss included) is off today.
Schlemazel
@Gravenstone:
same here on all points. Took vacation for Friday so 4 day weekend woo-hoo.
Hope everyone here has a great Thanksgiving!
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: Get some!!!
NotMax
Reminder pre-holiday frenzy alert for two – count ’em, two – unusual-for-TCM movies this weekend. All times Eastern.
Sunday, Nov. 29, 2:30 a.m. – Polyester. Divine at his diviniest, Tab Hunter at his campiest as John Waters sticks a toe into the mainstream.
Monday, Nov. 30, 2:00 a.m – Fellini Satyricon. Style is elevated over story in a (not always successful) bold and lush orgy of excess. Fellini described his film as a science fiction movie set in the past instead of the future. .
OzarkHillbilly
@Keith G: And don’t forget the wild card Kurds. Everybody hate the Kurds. Well almost everybody. We kind of like them, especially seeing as they are the only ones anywhere who are actually willing to fight ISIS.
Patricia Kayden
@Schlemazel: Syria is such a mess. Unfortunately, the U.S. has no choice but to do something about ISIS so if it means fighting Saudi Arabia’s war against Iran, it still has to be done. My fear is that ISIS gets a toehold in Syria and expands from there into Iraq and who knows where else. I’m hoping that Middle Eastern countries do more to fight ISIS since they will bear the brunt if ISIS gets its way.
@BillinGlendaleCA: I’m kind of surprised at Dana Milbank. Thought he was more sensible than that. I’ve pretty much limited my MSNBC shows to Rachel Maddow, The Last Word and Chris Hayes since it appears to have moved rightward, which is a damn shame.
Mustang Bobby
@raven: Tight lines!
japa21
Well, I am going to be off the grid for a while. Heading to Hawaii to set up Baud’s ground game there. Hopefully it will let me get a place in his cabinet.
Happy Thanksgiving everybody.
PurpleGirl
Politics: One of the first science fiction novels I read was Alas, Babylon. In it the world war is triggered by events in the Middle East. Just saying.
Thanksgiving: I have my reservation at Donovan’s Pub for lunch. I should find a movie to see for later in the day. Need to rebuild personal traditions after several years of being something of a hermit.
Star Wars trailers: I’ve avoided trailers so far but I watched these three this morning. What struck me is that I’ve not played the Star Wars soundtrack in a long time. Time to do so, I always liked the music.
Baud
Kay, if your around, I’d love to get your thoughts on news reports that NCLB is about to be overhauled. Hopefully, you not out “spending time with the family.” Ugh.
Baud
@japa21:
I want to win Maui. Go get em. Aloha.
MattF
@Anne Laurie: Recent book on the fall of the Ottoman Empire. More evidence that what we see around the world counts as the aftermath of WWI.
NotMax
@Baud
Forget if it is today or tomorrow you issue the proclamation pardoning a pumpkin for Thanksgiving.
Another Holocene Human
@karen marie: I don’t trust Greeks on Turks, not only are there old Ottoman empire era grudges but that whole shooting war over Cyprus thing has them hating each other like nothing else.
Erdogan sucks, also, too.
Another Holocene Human
@Zinsky:
The point, I think you missed it.
Star Wars and Indy were about reimagining the filmaker(s)’ beloved childhood serial reels.
Punchy
Today is a workday, no? Arent most peeps going to work? Am I the only sucker slaving for The Man anymore?
NotMax
@Baud
Nearly in the bag already.
Another paltry $2 million will clinch it.
Awaiting the satchel with unmarked bills.
Another Holocene Human
@Baud: This is also relevant to my interests. If not Kay, maybe a front page post?
Baud
@NotMax:
Good work. Maybe we can get Kauai as well. The money is on its way. (I assume, of course, that by “bills” you don’t mean U.S. dollars.)
Another Holocene Human
@Punchy: I’m going to work but the 4-day workweek folks are off today. If that sounds kinda fucked, it is. But it’s probably least fucked in the litany of fucked things so … fuck it.
Oh, and the scholars at our local academic institution, not the one that’s #1 in the country, they are going to class today, but that other one, the one where they throw a misshapen ball around a sacred field which MAY NOT BE USED FOR DANCE PRACTICE OMG? They have a half day and I’d say 90% of undergrads left by last night. Med school reported to have three exams today, muahahaha.
Bobby Thomson
@Schlemazel: Pretty much, and neither Turkey/Saudia Arabia nor Syria/Iran cares much about Daesh. They are an excuse for conducting the real war, which the United States never should have gotten involved in. We have no realistic post-Assad strategy and therefore no reason for removing him, no matter how bad he is. It’s Iraq all over again – the US president makes provocative threats leading to the US achieving its stated anti-WMD goals (inspectors back in Iraq; Syria gave up its chemical weapons), only to insist on regime change. This threatens to be Obama’s Vietnam.
Baud
The Hawaiian people need to know that I’m the only candidate with a plan to build a wall around the islands to combat rising sea levels.
I will also eat spam for votes if I really, really have to.
dr. luba
@Punchy: I am at work, and have been since 0600. Quiet day so far, nothing scheduled; no one wants to spend Thanksgiving in the hospital if they can avoid it. But babies do not pay attention to clocks or calendars, so you never know…….
And I’m working Friday. I seem to be the only person in my large extended family doing so.
OzarkHillbilly
STL County never fails to disappoint:
They really don’t want their police to be held to any kind of standard.
Bobby Thomson
@Patricia Kayden:
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2009/06/28/48137/milbank-pitney/ Seriously?
HeartlandLiberal
My wife and I for decades treated Thanksgiving as our one serious holiday. Living over 500 miles away from most family, we would cook a huge traditional Thanksgiving dinner, Southern style (we are both from Alabama originally). We would invite friends, and usually a couple of foreign students attending the university, far from their homes, and with no family here in America. We are still in contact with many of the friends made over those decades, scattered around the globe from Japan to Africa.
I emailed one in Japan just this week with a news article about a man who is living in the Fukushima exclusion zone, in order to carry for the hundreds of animals abandoned when it was evacuated. He found one dog locked in a barn who had survived for a year on the meat from dead cattle in the barn.
But this year, coming out of three years of serious medical issues, we still just did not yet feel up to doing the big Thanksgiving feast ourselves. We are driving with our son, who is 49, down to the famous old hotel in French Lick, Indiana. We have reservations at their big Thanksgiving buffet. A chance to visit with our son. Who knows how many such times are left? He is not in the best of health. Many, we hope, but with us both closing in on 70, we think about these things.
I wish for all of you a Thanksgiving spent with family and friends, spend in love and compassion. That is what the holiday is supposed to be about.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: He said, unmarked bills, guess that leave me out.
Bobby Thomson
@Patricia Kayden:
The dick whisperer? Seriously?
OzarkHillbilly
@Bobby Thomson: Forgive me if I notice more than a few differences between the US led Iraq war and the Syrian civil war, never mind Vietnam.
Baud
@HeartlandLiberal:
Have a lovely time with your son, HLL.
bystander
@NotMax: Finally realized TCM was showing a Fellini film each Monday morning at 2:00 AM. We DVR’d Juliet of the Spirits this week and intend to DVR Satyricon. Haven’t seen it in years. Thanks for the heads up.
Amir Khalid
@Baud:
You’re a braver man than I. If I ate spam, I would get struck by lightning.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Won’t that kind of impact the surfing? Not sure Hawaiians would like that.
Kay
@Baud:
I was supposed to leave for Chicago and my son and daughter in law’s yesterday but I didn’t finish my work so I have to do another half day. We’re busy, which is great, but it’s messing up my holiday schedule.
The NCLB rewrite is a mixed bag. They got rid of the prescriptive policies, so good, but it’s basically a GOP bill so it hands a lot back to the states. So, for example, they kept annual mandated testing but left what to do about it the bottom 5% of schools to states. It looks like Democrats kept funding for low income schools and special ed – the argument was over “portability” which conservatives wanted and didn’t get.
Overall, I’d have to say it’s a short term win for Republicans simply because they control most states. They may regret it when they get the Presidency back though, because it’s definitely a reduced federal role.
The big take-way is it’s a “return” to the states – that’s a little dishonest on the part of state leglislators though. They play this game where they claim the feds are “forcing” them to do this or that but it’s a game- they all supported Duncan’s approach in the beginning (2009) which is why they put it in state law. It’s bullshit that they were “coerced”. 4 billion dollars spread over 50 states isn’t enough to “coerce” anything. Individual school districts in Ohio under Race to the Top would get amounts like 100k or 200k as an “incentive” to adopt Duncan’s policies. That’s just not a lot of money for a school district. It’s not enough to “force” them to do anything.
Democrats were promoting an amendment to reduce the role of testing in schools but the amendment was a disaster, IMO. It had elaborate reporting requirements. Schools will see it as an unfunded reporting mandate and they are sick to death of those. The cure was worse than a disease. It’s too late anyway. There was so much pushback to the insane amount of testing that states are reducing it anyway. The Congressional response lagged so far behind what was happening in states and schools they’re almost irrelevant on the “too much testing” issue.
Duncan gave an interview with the WSJ where he admits no mistakes and frames the whole debate in his usual bullshit, belligerent way as either/or: either you want his policies or you don’t want good schools. He sounds bitter.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Amir Khalid:
Doubtful, but it could cause a heart attack(sodium content, fat…).
NotMax
@Baud
BTW, that includes Molokai and Lanai at no extra charge.
Mustang Bobby
@Another Holocene Human: Same here; NCLB (aka Nickelby) weaves its way into all sorts of public school grant funding.
bystander
@MattF: I’ve wondered if 1919 isn’t a contender for the “Year of Revolution” title. No offense to any 1848ers out there.
Have to run now. Coming up: A hard hitting interview of Ivanka Trump on GMA. How is that not free advertising for Trump for Pretzeldent?
Patricia Kayden
@Bobby Thomson: LOL. Never heard of the dick whispering incident. Never really watched much of Kurtz’ show either.
@Bobby Thomson: “This threatens to be Obama’s Vietnam.” Not if President Obama stays firm about no American boots on the ground.
Gimlet
@Baud:
The Hawaiians demand a human sacrifice to the volcano. The silver tongue of Baud may get them to settle for Spam but I’d review “The Wicker Man” before negotiating.
Baud
@Kay:
Yay!
I mean, I’m sorry.
Thanks for the rundown. Maybe Dems can get a few states back and do something good with this. It’s the season for hope, right?
Baud
@Gimlet:
No worries. I can find a human. My supporters are really dedicated.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
Good point. I’ll have to include artificial wave generators in the wall design.
PurpleGirl
@Amir Khalid: But you have two reasons not to eat Spam — First it is ham which is not halal, amirite; and second, it’s a weird, constructed meat product, which is why the rest of us hold up our noses at it. (Confession: sometimes I like Spam, I also like scrapple.)
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: What, a Republican isn’t good enough?
NotMax
@Amir Khalid
Don’t think you can get off the Spam wagon scot-free.
@Gimlet
Balderdash. Modern practice is to leave unopened bottles of gin ahead of the lava flows to placate Pele.
Really.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
I assume pagan demon gods have standards.
bemused
@PurpleGirl:
Spam, ugh. It doesn’t even look the least bit appetizing.
NotMax
@Amir Khalid – @NotMax
Also too, this or this</a..
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: DOH! you’re right of course. My thinking has been skewed by the Christian Gods who so dominate our religious discussions here these days.
elmo
I took vacation this week so I’ve only been working (responding to emails, taking conference calls, etc) about half of each day. Paradise!
And you SPAM haterz can send it all to me. Fried SPAM sammiches on white bread is Food of the Gods, says my childhood palate, and I’ve never outgrown it.
Gimlet
@NotMax:
You neopagans are all alike, no respect for tradition!
Kay
@Baud:
I hope Democrats pay attention to Louisiana. Bel Edwards ran on public schools and funding state universities and Louisiana was sort of the epicenter of ed “reform”. He ran against it.
They might be paying attention, state-level, because Cuomo is solidly in the “market based” ed reform camp and he’s getting ready to reverse himself on a big issue. I laughed because he waited until Thanksgiving weekend to leak this huge shift. His poll numbers on education are terrible.
Baud
@Kay:
The tide seems to be slowly shifting. I credit your work. Have a happy thanksgiving.
Sherparick
Today’s moment in Red State Irony. Probably the two most anti-tax, libertarian, self-conceived Randian paradises in the Union are Wyoming and Alaska. But it also turns out that Government makes up a larger share of employment in Wyoming then any other state, with Alaska coming in second. http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/alaska-would-rather-go-broke-than-pay-taxes/
Germy
The New Republic asks the musical question What If Trump Wins?
Satby
@HeartlandLiberal: A happy Thanksgiving to you, your wife and son. Safe travels!
debbie
I first heard about this this morning. Does anyone know what’s going on? It sounds like proactive free walks for all kinds of corporate mischief:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/white-collar-crime-white-house-response_564dd06be4b00b7997f95240
Baud
@debbie:
You didn’t think the GOP was interested in criminal justice reform for the sake of human defendants, did you?
debbie
@Baud:
I thought they’d be less obvious. My mistake.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@HeartlandLiberal: Wishing you a delightful Thanksgiving.
Baud
@debbie:
No need to hide. They know Obama will get the blame.
Satby
Wow, I sleep through all the good threads! So Happy Thanksgiving to all and enjoy whatever you feast on.
My relentless optimism paid off yesterday. After I stopped reading the blog and got down to my job search, I noticed the house seemed a bit cool. Yeah, the furnace was out too. So, called the furnace guys and left a message, and took the car in to get my tire replaced and the other back one checked. Both tires were repaired for only $20!!!
Got home, furnace guy came and the condensation thingies was just not draining right, he fixed that and only a service call charge. Woo-hoo!
And Tamara’s thread last night taught me a better way to do turkey on the grill. It was a great day. Ready for the holiday today, the girls and I are going to go volunteer at a community center in a couple of hours. Then home and preparation for tomorrow.
MomSense
@Satby:
Yes! I was really hoping things would work out.
I need to visit your shop for goodies.
tybee
the american “Banzai!!”
Baud
@Satby:
Good news!
@MomSense:
What’s this I hear about a new dog.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
Catching up with Beat the Press at CEPR. I liked this comment from DJM:
It’s funny how Supply and Demand is an iron clad rule in western economics except when it comes to workers and wages, isn’t it? It would be nice if Adam Smith would rise from the dead and give a few TED talks to wake the field (and the reporting on it) up about such a basic concept…
:-/
I hope Yellen does a one-off on raising interest rates, says, “Ok, I raised interest rates. Now shut up!”, and then waits for extended signs of increasing wages, increasing family incomes, increasing inflation, increasing labor force participation rates, and actual signs of hitting the NAIRU before doing it again.
Nice clips, AL. Go Navy!
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.
Cheers,
Scott.
Kay
@Germy:
We have a moderate GOP judge here who is really upset about Trump. He’s a Republican, but he’s decent. He called me the day after the ’08 election to tell me it was an amazing night even for a McCain supporter because Obama was so positive. He doesn’t know why Kasich isn’t more popular. I kind of get it because most of our local Republicans really are pretty moderate. We had a brief Tea Party “wave” they got some seats on city council but they screwed up a deal to buy a mini mall and put city offices in there and it became an example of wasteful government. They’re all gone. They lasted one term.
debbie
@Baud:
Really? Maybe this was supposed to be stealth legislation. Hopefully the White House will make lots of noise about it.
I think people across the entire political spectrum are pissed at the lack of accountability. It seems that the only people who want Wall Street to get a pass are Wall Streeters. Likewise with coal mine operators and refinery owners.
Between Trump and crap like this, the GOP seems to be imploding quickly. It just all seems so amateurish.
MomSense
@Kay:
Unfortunately it seems like people need to see a lot of charter school failure before they figure out how important public schools are. It kills me that far too many of my progressive friends trash talk schools. Seems like it usually boils down to their special snowflake is too good for the public school so they go to a charter school and then that school falls apart or the realities of the commute during the long winter hit and they finally realize that the public school around the corner is good enough.
Baud
@debbie:
History tells me that all that won’t matter. But maybe this time will be different.
debbie
@Satby:
Good Karma! Glad it all worked out so easily for you.
Germy
@Kay: I’m glad it was brief. In some towns, they hunker down and stay where they are.
NotMax
@debbie
The “Ignorance of the law is too an excuse, neener neener!” bill.
OzarkHillbilly
@Satby: somehow or other things always work out. glad this time it was the cheap way.
Kay
@MomSense:
I think you just have to recognize that schools are systems. The idea that everyone can have everything they want is just not rational, because when you pull one string the whole fabric changes.
I’m on a community panel for our public schools and it is really hard to thread the needle and serve all the different needs. But the idea no one is trying so we should blow it up and replace it with contractors? That’s just not true. Some of the people on this committee are the definition of “earnest”. They take the duty to serve everyone seriously.
JPL
@HeartlandLiberal: Have a wonderful time and what a beautiful hotel. I just googled it. Every year I tend to bitch the day before because of all the cleaning and cooking but I really do enjoy Thanksgiving Day.
Baud
@Kay:
Republican philosophy in a nutshell.
OzarkHillbilly
@debbie:
Wishful thinking, I’m afraid.
Germy
@Baud: I had a co-worker who used to attend town meeting and complain his school taxes were too high. He told the town board the school bus drivers should be fired and replaced with a private bus contracting company.
He seemed to think that would reduce his taxes (probably got the idea from talk radio). It never happened, but he never stopped advocating for it.
I doubt a plan like that would have saved him any tax money.
Matt McIrvin
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:
It’s because we’re running out of economists to explain it! People need to have more babies and get them degrees in economics!
Baud
@Germy:
I don’t recall ever seeing even a fake study by one of those conservative think tanks that says that unfettered contracting actually saves money.
Germy
@Baud:
I could be wrong here, but wasn’t much of the ACA website design work given to contractors?
And then after all the bugs, the RW pointed, laughed and said “See?? The gov can’t do anything right!”
Randy P
@Punchy: I was actually all lined up to get up at 4 am and leave before 5.
But by 1 am my head was stuffed and I had nearly lost my voice. Still debated going in by my wife read me the riot act.
Now I’m working on trying to abate the symptoms enough that the family coming for Turkey day doesn’t flee, or quarantine me.
satby
@MomSense: Congrats on the soon to be new addition to the family! So cute, and gives Korra a playmate. Good stuff.
Patricia Kayden
@Germy: I doubt the kind of White men attracted to Trump care about him going after “other” people like Muslims, “the blacks”, Mexicans, etc. In their mind, he’s one of them and he’s never going to go after them.
Germy
@Patricia Kayden: Yes, the white men see Trump rallies as safe spaces. Which is why they react with such rage to a BLM activist.
Not sure how effective Kasich’s commercial will be.
but I’d rather have an obvious, scary nut win the GOP nom than a stealth, “happy face” conservative (someone who sounds reasonable but then wins and fills his cabinet with crazies).
satby
@Baud: @debbie: @OzarkHillbilly: thanks everyone!
Germy
Tom The Dancing Bug is particularly brutal in his satire this morning.
Satby, yesterday I told my wife about your troubles and she added you to her prayers. I think it’s good karma. You do so much good for others.
rikyrah
The article in question:
The Rest of the story is at the link.
satby
@Germy: Thanks for that and tell your wife thanks too. I hope so.
Ask her to throw in an extra prayer one of those job applications results in a job, ok? Extra help I can always use :)
MomSense
@satby:
Thanks, I’m a little nervous about how welcoming my dog will be. She has a lot of attitude. He is very sweet and I can’t believe he hasn’t been scooped up already. He’s definitely a cuddler.
Yutsano
@dr. luba: Dunno if it makes you feel better but I’m working Friday too. Which will be dead. No one THINKS we’re open, but we are.
Gin & Tonic
@Germy: I could be wrong here, but wasn’t much of the ACA website design work given to contractors?
Yes it was. And I know they’re a big outfit, this is anecdata, yadda, yadda, but at my workplace we took on a project where the same outfit was prime contractor. Their work was so slipshod that after a year of banging our heads against a wall, senior management said fuck it, we kicked them out and took all the work in-house.
Amir Khalid
Test:
bold
italic
Paul in KY
@raven: Best of luck!
PurpleGirl
@Germy: It could have ended up costing more and the town getting worse service. The private company would want to make a profit and therefore would pay the drivers less (meaning worse workers) but continued higher costs to the school system. People often do not think things through to the end.
Sherparick
@Patricia Kayden: There was a slide on Business Insider that showed Syria has about five different factions and six outside powers all with conflicting interests and agendas. If Iraq, Lebanon, and Palestine/Isarel are complicated messes, Syria is apparently this way cubed. They were all once provinces of the multi-national (although dominated by Turks) Ottoman Empire, and the provincial lines were drawn with little regard to ethnic and tribal boundaries. Syria and Lebanon had large numbers of Marionite Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Assyrian Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox Christians, Shia, Alawites (a branch of Shia), Kurds, Druze, and Sunni Arabs and Turks, the later making up most of the ruling class. When the French came in after WWI, they played divide and conquer by elevating the Christians, Druze, Shia, and Alawites into government and police positions. Lebanon was split off for the rest of Syria with what was then a Christian majority. When the rest of Syria became independent, the Alawites dominated a ostensibly secular Baath Arab nationalist Party, from which Assad’s father arose, chiefly by murder, to control. The Alawites, other Shia, Christians, and secular Sunnis are basically stuck fighting for Assad be subject to being wiped out by the Sunni Wahabist factions fighting against Assad. These factions are backed by Saudi and the Gulf States intelligence services, and we in turn back the Saudis, even while bombing their creations in Syria. The Turks are backing the Turkish ethnic group and fighting the Kurds as well as Assad. And this is what the Neo-cons want to send U.S. ground troops into.
Paul in KY
@Punchy: I’m a slaving, till 1400.
Paul in KY
@HeartlandLiberal: Best wishes to your family. Hope your Thanksgiving is the best!
schrodinger's cat
@MomSense: We want photos! Your new puppy sounds adorable.
ruemara
@HeartlandLiberal: Sounds like a good plan and a good life. May your holiday be great.
I’m baking a few test things, vermouth cupcakes and a harvest themed sweet roll challah, popping in on one friend for a bit and stopping over to another friend for the evening. I can find some time to workout today and wrap up edits and titles later.
I’m nearly done with my pitch, even though my pitch is utter bollocks. What can I say except it’s harder to explain a film than do a film. Oh well, I’m not a fan of the studio I’m pitching to declare the winning property be a work for hire (!!!?!!). But a risk worth taking.
bemused
@PurpleGirl:
They’ve got their narratives and will stick to them even if it kills them.
Steeplejack
Very windy here in the high desert this morning (20-30 mph from the southwest). My brother’s house is making pleasant rattling noises, and a wind chime is going crazy in the side yard. Temp 54°, going up to 56° later.
When I got up about dawn (6:26 today) to feed the dogs, I saw a hummingbird hunched on the pole holding his feeder outside the kitchen window. My brother says he has one or two that winter here, so I’ve been keeping the feeder full. Hope he has a warm nest.
My raging cold has abated a bit, and I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to go out to dinner tonight with my old college friend who lives here in Las Vegas. Plus it’s Mexican food and margaritas. Want! And I’m really tired of sitting around with the dogs and blowing my nose every 30 seconds.
Low-key Thanksgiving with my mother tomorrow. We’ll go out to eat somewhere and then chill back at her house. I’ve got a USB drive from my brother in D.C. with a ton of pictures and videos of her year-old granddaughter, so we will marvel at those on my notebook.
If I perk up a bit I might make a mincemeat pie, as part of my ongoing effort to preserve this small bit of Crackro-American heritage.
Now to reheat my coffee and tackle the crosswords.
gene108
@Germy:
The solution is to turn school buses into for profit enterprises. Instead of the costs of school buses coming from taxes, you pay a fee to the school bus company to use their service.
Get behind on your payments and your kid does not get picked up to go to school. E-Z P-Z.
We could also turn classrooms / school into pyramid schemes, thus making teachers / school administrators actual private sector job creators instead of government parasites.
You open a school and recruit students for a fee. You recruit other teachers to recruit more students. They keep most of what they make for recruiting their students, but give you a cut for providing the opportunity / resources. Then the newly recruited teacher recruits another teacher, who passes on a cut of what they collect from their students up the line.
This is a truly capitalist solution to the public education system.
BruceFromOhio
@Baud:
You’d be surprised at what a hardass Gaia can be about her opponents, and what lengths everyone has to go to satisfy Our Mother.
Elizabelle
@MomSense: Yea!
Another MomSense pup! Something else for all of us to be thankful for. Photographic evidence soon, please. And this might help Korra calm down. Having another dog to play with could be very good.
imonlylurkening: The Sequel
Testing
BruceFromOhio
@MomSense: This makes me absolutely furious. We moved to our township because of the GREAT public schools, and the idiot voters have been starving the system ever since. Two years ago a whacko charter-school agent got elected to school board and systematically pissed off just about everyone except the mouth-breathing knuckle-draggers. She got the hook this last election, thank Gaia, but charter school chatter is now in the local lexicon. Meanwhile our fantastic teachers and aging, leaky infrastructure continue to operate on fumes. The youngest TeenFromOhio graduates in May, but Mrs and I have both decided we want to stay involved because we gained so much from the system.
At least we have a nice shiny new stadium.
Another Holocene Human
@Germy: No worries, it wouldn’t.
The new trend for private bus contractors is to take over the contract after bidding too low and then declare that the former entity, public or private, was cooking the books and it was just too bad but they had to cut routes … unless they get more money.
Another Holocene Human
@Gin & Tonic: You wanna scream, one of the excuses the board of trustees at UF gave the faculty (and by extension all employees) for why they couldn’t get catch up pay for all the lost years of the recession (and Rick Scott cuts) was that they had to spend the money on PeopleSoft for the students.
People. Soft.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@ruemara:
Unfortunately, I think that may be a somewhat standard clause — the studio/production company buys the screenplay from you and copyrights it under their name.
Check the WGA’s website, but there’s language you can have in the contract saying the company recognizes you as a “professional writer” or something like that. If you have that, then you have some WGA protections (like credits and minimum payments) even before you qualify for membership.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@ruemara:
Also, too, pick up a book called “The Writer Got Screwed … But Didn’t Have To” — it looks like Amazon has 1-cent used copies. We used it for my entertainment law class for my MFA and clearly explains a lot of the traps people fall into early on with good examples.
NotMax
@ruemara
What Mnemosyne said, plus inclusion of a clause outlining reversion of rights.
Scum-sucking lizardsagents/entertainment lawyers serve a purpose. Going in without having one on your side representing your interests is like bringing a Q-tip to a knife fight.karen marie
@Another Holocene Human: Yes, Greeks do indeed hate Turks, but it is mutual. The Turks like fucking with the Greeks, repeatedly, and with greater frequency recently, invading Greek airspace, according to Wikileaks.
Thanks all who responded to my inquiry.
mclaren
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Hey, cool! So Obama is sort of like, one of the best presidents of the 20th century? Neat-o!
mclaren
@Sherparick:
Thank you. At last, someone gets it. Turkey is part of the former Ottoman Empire and is made up of all kinds of disparate ethnic groups that were once vassal states and fiefdoms. The Turkmen and the Kurds are entirely different ethnic groups from the previously dominant Turks, and the Kurds don’t recognize the Turkish border in the north or Turkish sovreignity over their enclave in the upper part of Turkey, same deal with the Turkmen.
When Kamal Attaturk jammed together all those different ethnic groups into modern Turkey and secularized and modernized the Ottoman Empire into what we call Turkey, all those ethnic feuds got tamped down and suppressed. But, as with so many other fake modern “states” in what used ot be called Mesopotamia pre-WW I, the ethnic feuds are now re-emerging after the collapse of the USSR and the different ethnic states formerly corralled by first the Ottoman Empire and later by the USSR or the threat of the USSR are starting to demand their own separate states.
Something similar is happening with the Catalonia region of Spain, incidentally, which just voted to become independent in 2017.
Time will tell how this all plays out. One characteristic of the early 21st century, however, as historian Martin Creveld has pointed out, is that states at all levels are suffering fractures and disintegrations. Formerly unified nation-states are breaking up into smaller ethnic and cultural units. The U.S. has the same problem with the deep south, which essentially wants to bring back the Confederate States of America, while the rest of America despises that idea and wants to remain a unified country.