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You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2016 / Monday Evening Open Thread: Pointing, Mocking…

Monday Evening Open Thread: Pointing, Mocking…

by Anne Laurie|  January 4, 20165:46 pm| 168 Comments

This post is in: Election 2016, Hail to the Hairpiece, Open Threads, Republican Stupidity, Republicans in Disarray!, Ever Get The Feeling You've Been Cheated?

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Jim Newell, at Slate, inserts tongue firmly in cheek — “What If Republican Voters Don’t Value Seriousness Anymore?”:

Republican presidential candidates and their super PACs have begun 2016 by appealing to the primary electorate’s sobriety, despite scant evidence of its existence. Various candidates, with the key exception of Donald Trump, are offering a message of serious leadership, a trait either that too many candidates possess for voters to decide among them or one about which few voters care. The message serves as both a lament over the decidedly unserious nature of the 2015 leg and a hope for a better stretch in 2016: Either voters will come around to valuing seriousness as voting nears, or Trump will be the Republican presidential candidate….

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, like Santorum, is a previous winner of the Iowa caucuses. And Huckabee, like Santorum, is losing pitifully this year as novice candidates like Cruz and Ben Carson suck up Iowa’s social conservative vote. “This has been, of all the election cycles I’ve been involved in, this has been one of the most bewildering,” Huckabee, per the Des Moines Register, said at a Sunday event, “because it’s almost as if the more experience, the more preparation one has had for this job, it’s almost like it’s a detriment than it is an asset.”

Huckabee should feel especially offended, since he has experience as both a longtime governor and a conservative entertainment personality who’s constantly spouting off attention-grabbing nonsense. But his venting of frustration at the oddness of this cycle harkens back to New York magazine’s Jonathan Chait’s description of the process in September, after Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker dropped out: “The Republican presidential race has appeared to take the form of a kind of reverse meritocracy, in which the candidates with real political accomplishments (Walker and, before him, former Texas governor Rick Perry) are driven out, and novices with strong television skills rise to the top.” This remains the dynamic of the race…

The immediate rebuttal, of course: Serious? These guys are friggin’ terminal! But then again, isn’t this the predictable outcome of every Repub campaign since at least Dubya scraped into office with the help of his old man’s SCOTUS appointees? They’ve happily assured their voters that all those complicated consensus-reality issues are not really important (“We create our own reality”), not like performing the proper ritual obeisances to Heartland America God’s Gift Mightiest Military World Leadership FREEDUMB!!! As a result, the (remaining) Republican voter base doesn’t care about “serious” leadership — they want to vote for the loudest, glossiest, most posturing Cheerleader-in-Chief. And gods know, there’s not one GOP candidate this year who isn’t trying to give them just exactly that!
***********
Apart from the usual P&M, what’s on the agenda for the evening?

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Reader Interactions

168Comments

  1. 1.

    schrodinger's cat

    January 4, 2016 at 5:56 pm

    I really don’t care about Trump or the tin pot militia in Oregon. So I am changing the topic, did anyone watch Sherlock and/or Downton over the weekend?

  2. 2.

    Calouste

    January 4, 2016 at 6:00 pm

    An article in the Guardian today referred to Trump as “Unemployed television presenter Donald Trump”.

  3. 3.

    S. holland

    January 4, 2016 at 6:02 pm

    Loved loved Downton…about time Bates & Ana got off the hook..loved Carstairs storyline…….like the direction it’s going for final season! Sorry, but old enough to like the ending to be happy….as for Sherlock, liked, but loooong wait for the next……..

  4. 4.

    schrodinger's cat

    January 4, 2016 at 6:02 pm

    @Calouste: Funny because it is true.

  5. 5.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 4, 2016 at 6:03 pm

    I realize that a lot of whackjobs are heroes to other whackjobs (Steve King, Palin, Santorum), but I have a hard time believing anyone is gonna make a special trip for this event

    Sabrina Siddiqui ‏@ SabrinaSiddiqui 48m48 minutes ago
    Rubio campaign announced Rep. Darrell Issa will campaign across New Hampshire Tues/Wed this week in @ TheMarcoMobile.

    also, political reporters are using the twitter to mock a picture of Marco’s high-heeled boots

  6. 6.

    raven

    January 4, 2016 at 6:04 pm

    And MSBNC veers to the to the right with Halperin/Heilemann.

  7. 7.

    JPL

    January 4, 2016 at 6:04 pm

    @S. holland: At first, I thought the Sherlock episode was a tease, because it won’t be until 2017 before we see another. I have rethought that though, and it was clever episode.

  8. 8.

    Calouste

    January 4, 2016 at 6:08 pm

    Huckabee can blabber all he likes, but he lost to a guy who lost to that guy, and in the party that is longing for a strongman, that’s an overpowering loser stink. Besides, what has Huckabee’s experience been in the last 8 years? The same as Trump, being a television personality.

  9. 9.

    Brachiator

    January 4, 2016 at 6:12 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: Fell asleep during Sherlock, but will try to watch it again on Jan 10.

    It was a bit of an unintentional Downton weekend. I immediately recognized Highclere Castle as part of the Masterpiece Theater Float during the Rose Parade. Then I caught most of a Downton tribute (apparently co-written by Hugh Bonneville) on one of the PBS stations. The episode itself was fun, and I get the impression that everyone will get a bit of a happy ending (this is not based on any spoiler information). But it’s good to see the old gang again, even if it is for the last time.

  10. 10.

    eemom

    January 4, 2016 at 6:14 pm

    um, Thomas was the only one of the Bush v. Gore majority appointed by Poppy Bush. The rest were appointed by Reagan.

    /legal pedant

  11. 11.

    debbie

    January 4, 2016 at 6:14 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    I watched Downton last night. That kiss at the end couldn’t have been more awkward, could it?

    (I assume this isn’t a spoiler since I didn’t name names.)

  12. 12.

    debbie

    January 4, 2016 at 6:15 pm

    @debbie:

    Also, finally — after a several-season drought — Maggie Smith had a wonderful one-liner that reminded me of the first season!

  13. 13.

    schrodinger's cat

    January 4, 2016 at 6:17 pm

    @debbie: Indeed. I miss evil Thomas, he was too goody goody last night.

  14. 14.

    debbie

    January 4, 2016 at 6:18 pm

    @srv:

    Bigger than Star Wars

    Even though the wall the immigrants were running toward was in Morocco?

  15. 15.

    ThresherK

    January 4, 2016 at 6:18 pm

    Anyone else think the OP title (“Pointing, mocking”) was a recommendation about how the press should be covering the Junior Campers in Oregon?

    In one month I’ll likely be helping some Boy Scouts do a winter exercise in a forest. They’ll have to pull a sledge, orienteer with nothing but a map and compass, set up tents, fix hot meals, make splints for (fake) broken bones, and take quizzes about various knowledges regarding survival. Oh, and not suffer hypothermia, dehydration or malnutrition in about 30 hours outdoors.

    I want these jokers to have to do this before I consider them “survivalists”.

  16. 16.

    jl

    January 4, 2016 at 6:18 pm

    @srv: Wow!

    I think I heard a snippet a Trump attack against Hillary Clinton for being responsible, with Obama, for the rise of Daesh. Trump sounded very serious and grave and really tremendously and fabulously strong.

    I guess it will be an impressive A++++ attack until it meets Hillary Clinton, who has long been voicing her dissatisfaction with the Obama approach to Syria, that she was not quiet about long before she declared her candidacy. So, Trump’s attack seemed ignorant and inept to me, and I cannot imagine one that, if I were HR, I would be happier to respond to. That to me, seems like a fat one, right over home plate to hit out of the ballpark, for most general election voters, if not for Trumpist goofballs.

    So, I am contemplating whether Trump might be a horrendously lazy ignorant and inept campaigner in the general election. He is right that the other GOPers are losers, but has he not considered what it will be like to go against an experienced political winner? (far more likely to be HRC, but either way he will face one of those).

  17. 17.

    debbie

    January 4, 2016 at 6:18 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    Yes, that was jarring. I don’t think it will last though.

  18. 18.

    Brachiator

    January 4, 2016 at 6:20 pm

    @srv:

    The reviews are rolling in on Trump’s first ad

    Even better, the BBC satirical show “Dead Ringers” looks ahead to the events of the year 2020, including Donald Trump’s hilarious presidency.

  19. 19.

    JPL

    January 4, 2016 at 6:21 pm

    @debbie: haha. I caught that one.

  20. 20.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    January 4, 2016 at 6:21 pm

    I can’t wait to catch up on this. I keep getting glimpses of the mideast mess and the Oregon clown show on airport TVs.
    Oh, I’m not going to Oregon. I’m in Dallas headed somewhere in Mexico. This was unexpected.

  21. 21.

    schrodinger's cat

    January 4, 2016 at 6:22 pm

    @debbie: Edith too was less of a sad sack.

  22. 22.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    January 4, 2016 at 6:24 pm

    @raven: Heilemann’s OK, not sure why he hangs around Halperin.

    ETA: No, I’m not watching it.

    ETA2: I noticed from Cole’s twitter feed last night that his problems have gotten worse, not only is the mustard missing but so is the soy sauce.

  23. 23.

    jl

    January 4, 2016 at 6:25 pm

    @jl: HRC could start her response by shaking her head and saying ‘Oh, Don, you ignorant slut…’ But I hope not, since that would be an uncivil and sexist, and Bernie would complain about ugly personal attacks.

  24. 24.

    schrodinger's cat

    January 4, 2016 at 6:27 pm

    @Brachiator: I liked it till Moriarty showed up. That was jarring and gratuitous.

    BTW parental units saw Bajirao Mastani and loved it, anachronisms and all. I have to see the movie, my parents hardly go to the theater to see movies these days and them offering fulsome praise is an even rarer event.

    ETA: My dad was full of praise for Ranveer Singh, saying that he has nailed it, even got the accent right.
    *Although Singh grew up in Mumbai he is of Sindhi heritage. Sindh is now a part of Pakistan.

  25. 25.

    jl

    January 4, 2016 at 6:28 pm

    @BillinGlendaleCA: Thanks. If Cole loses it and we read about him occupying an empty fast food joint until his demands are met, we will know why.

  26. 26.

    Chris

    January 4, 2016 at 6:28 pm

    @Calouste:

    Huckabee can blabber all he likes, but he lost to a guy who lost to that guy, and in the party that is longing for a strongman, that’s an overpowering loser stink

    Heck, he lost to two guys who lost to That Guy. Didn’t Romney end up with more votes than him in 2008, as well?

  27. 27.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 4, 2016 at 6:28 pm

    @BillinGlendaleCA: I agree, and me neither. I do want to see one person ask Mrs Christie’s Bullyboy Buffoon how, exactly, his plan for fighting ISIS differs from the “feckless weakling’s”, cause AFAIK he keeps forgetting to explain that part.

  28. 28.

    MomSense

    January 4, 2016 at 6:28 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    I missed Sherlock because I was out (yay me) but I did enjoy Downton. I think Sherlock will be rebroadcast next weekend. I’m really looking forward to watching.

  29. 29.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    January 4, 2016 at 6:28 pm

    @debbie: Morocco, Mexico; one of those ‘M’ countries.

  30. 30.

    jl

    January 4, 2016 at 6:29 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Cruz will win. Who can beat his ‘We win, they lose’ strategy? For the thinking conservatives and independents!

  31. 31.

    Anoniminous

    January 4, 2016 at 6:30 pm

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    Should start taking bets on whether it is the ketchup or Tabasco sauce that goes missing next?

  32. 32.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    January 4, 2016 at 6:30 pm

    @ThresherK: I did that stuff as a Boy Scout, but what is this ‘snow’ you speak of?

  33. 33.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    January 4, 2016 at 6:33 pm

    @jl: I introduced the kid to “Jane you ignorant slut” by saying it to her when she said something wrong; btw, her name is Jane. Her reaction was “whaaa”, I found the SNL clip on the interwebs.

  34. 34.

    lamh36

    January 4, 2016 at 6:35 pm

    Evening BJ…

    So I happened across pics of Harrison Ford in the latest issue of Men’s Journal. and I always see the earring and think…come on Harrison. Then I recall the story he tell about getting his ear piereced back in the 90s and something to do with his good friend, the dearly departed Ed Bradley.

    When I see it now, I think of it as a cute lil wink to his friend, so I don’t mind it so much.

    Anyhoo, this has to be the best I’ve seen him look recently 73 …wow.

    Harrison Ford for Men’s Journal Magazine

  35. 35.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    January 4, 2016 at 6:35 pm

    @Anoniminous: Heh, Balloon Juice fund raiser.

  36. 36.

    ThresherK

    January 4, 2016 at 6:35 pm

    @BillinGlendaleCA: Really, I was not a scout. I am a communications radio operator for these things, and am pretty much described as “ballast”. They don’t ask me to tie knots, build fires or camp overnight, likely because they don’t need these simulated exercises to turn into real emergencies.

  37. 37.

    debbie

    January 4, 2016 at 6:35 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    Hopefully that will last and she and Mary will reconcile before the end. I watched a pre-show tribute and was reminded why I disliked Edith. I’d forgotten Edith secretly told a newspaper columnist about Mary’s sojourn with the Turkish count which turned into a minor scandal. Mary has seemed a bitch from time to time, but I think she’s right.

  38. 38.

    Brachiator

    January 4, 2016 at 6:37 pm

    @ThresherK:

    Anyone else think the OP title (“Pointing, mocking”) was a recommendation about how the press should be covering the Junior Campers in Oregon?

    No, the press is not the Onion. Cover the story plain.

    In one month I’ll likely be helping some Boy Scouts do a winter exercise in a forest.

    The way things are going, right wing nut jobs will insist on a new merit badge for seizure and occupation of federal property (the S&O badge).

  39. 39.

    schrodinger's cat

    January 4, 2016 at 6:38 pm

    @debbie: I find them both annoying. Mary is too smug. Matthew made her bearable. I haven’t liked her since he died.

  40. 40.

    MomSense

    January 4, 2016 at 6:39 pm

    @lamh36:

    I’ve had a celebrity crush on him since 1977. I’ll have to check out the interview.

  41. 41.

    jl

    January 4, 2016 at 6:41 pm

    @BillinGlendaleCA: I reject revile and refudiate you. That is the depravity that sets into a person who did no snow as a boy scout.

    Did you grow up around Glendale? They couldn’t even spring for a trip to Mt Pinos or something for a little snow camping?

  42. 42.

    jl

    January 4, 2016 at 6:45 pm

    @Brachiator:

    ” The way things are going, right wing nut jobs will insist on a new merit badge for seizure and occupation of federal property (the S&O badge). ”

    Get a special merit badge for holding down a two seater privy and stocking enough root beer.

  43. 43.

    ThresherK

    January 4, 2016 at 6:45 pm

    @Brachiator: I await the RWNJ corruption of “scout” in the same way that “militia” is no longer what the Constitution considered.

  44. 44.

    Mnemosyne

    January 4, 2016 at 6:48 pm

    @ThresherK:

    We somehow ended up watching a lot of “Drunk History” over the holiday break, and one of the stories was about how a guy named Stetson Kennedy was able to use the “Superman” radio show to mock the childishness of KKK rituals and hold them up to mockery in front of the whole country.

    Mockery works better on conservatives than Very Serious People want to admit. Plus we have better comedians on our side.

  45. 45.

    geg6

    January 4, 2016 at 6:50 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    Downton here. I love Mrs. Hughes and Carson. Just love them.

    In other news, I was super thrilled to see that OLD MAN CAT now has his own FB page.

  46. 46.

    bemused

    January 4, 2016 at 6:50 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    I liked the episode when she helped save the pigs with no hesitation ending up covered in mud and slop. What Edith did was pretty low but long ago and I’d like to see the two of them finally quit sniping at each other in this last season.

  47. 47.

    ThresherK

    January 4, 2016 at 6:51 pm

    @Mnemosyne: That Superman was on the good side of social history in tha past, well before I was of comic-book-reading age, has not gone unnoticed.

  48. 48.

    jl

    January 4, 2016 at 6:53 pm

    Should I score some good acid to get the morning started right from now on? I fear this year will be very weird.

    Megyn Kelly says Donald Trump once tried to ‘woo’ her
    https://www.yahoo.com/politics/megyn-kelly-donald-trump-woo-213617942.html

    Edit: note Kelly’s explanation for why she had a ‘vomit bucket’ by her side as she questioned the GOPers at the debate. Not sure I buy it.

  49. 49.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 4, 2016 at 6:54 pm

    Even knowing that there’s a big difference between having an opinion on an issue and that issue impacting somebody’s vote, these numbers, or rather their lack of any impact on politics, astound me
    Sahil Kapur ‏@ sahilkapur 5h5 hours ago

    Support/oppose “requiring background checks for all gun buyers,” per @ QuinnipiacPoll in 9/2015:
    DEM: 98/2%
    GOP: 90/9%
    IND: 92/6%
    ALL: 93/6%

    (just flipped through that Halperin/Whosits show while I wait for the phone call I’ve been waiting for all damn day, and they had the godawful Carville-Matalin two-headed asshole on. Are they the worst married couple in politics? The country? The world?)

  50. 50.

    bemused

    January 4, 2016 at 6:54 pm

    Oh goody, the James Carville/Mary Matalin act is back on tv, msnbc.

  51. 51.

    bemused

    January 4, 2016 at 6:57 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Yes, yes, yes.

  52. 52.

    ThresherK

    January 4, 2016 at 6:58 pm

    @jl: This is the exact opposite of the storytelling trope “Meet Cute”.

  53. 53.

    Brachiator

    January 4, 2016 at 6:58 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: Bajirao Mastani is playing at a few movie theaters in Southern California, unfortunately none of them very near me. But I might have to see a client in the Culver City area, and might try to see it on the big screen, just for the fun of it.

    The financial side of the movie got a good write up in Forbes recently.

    Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Bajirao Mastani has overhauled Rohit Shetty’s Dilwale to rank as the fourth highest grossing Hindi film in Indian cinemas in 2015, a year which saw just six local titles surpass 100 crore ($15.1 million), the usual benchmark for a theatrical hit.

    Bhansali’s historical romantic drama starring Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Priyanka Chopra, Milind Soman and Tanvi Azmi finished the year with 141.5 crore ($21.38 million). That beat Shetty’s action-comedy-musical starring Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, which earned 134.63 crore ($20.3 million), to rank fifth….

    Bajirao Mastani is earning solid sums internationally including $6.1 million in the U.S., where Dilwale has raked in $4.8 million. However Dilwale has outscored its rival in the UAE with $8.1 million versus $3.5 million, and in the UK with $3 million versus $1.6 million…. Each has grossed a tad more than $A1 million ($US729,000) in Australia.

  54. 54.

    Frankensteinbeck

    January 4, 2016 at 7:03 pm

    they want to vote for the loudest, glossiest, most posturing Cheerleader-in-Chief.

    They want to vote for the most open racist. Carson didn’t have that stuff. Trump went nowhere until he dipped into hard racism. Yeah, they like loud, glossy, and posturing, but don’t miss the forest for the trees.

    Either voters will come around to valuing seriousness as voting nears, or Trump will be the Republican presidential candidate….

    Or the voters’ preferences won’t change in the slightest, but the ‘serious’ people will be able to get their voters to, you know, actually vote, and Trump’s will be content just to yell a lot. Republican voters are not going to ‘come around to valuing seriousness as voting nears.’

  55. 55.

    Botsplainer

    January 4, 2016 at 7:08 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    I had some genuine amusement today. A client’s 16 year old daughter was having a minor issue with cramps. His soon to be ex, aggrieved over the notion that he is now starting dating before his divorce is done texts the following:

    XXXX is having cramps, and Advil won’t cut it. If you’re not too busy fucking your c#nt slut whore, please go get her some Midol.

  56. 56.

    Smiling Mortician

    January 4, 2016 at 7:09 pm

    I’m ridiculously happy about my decision to install the Chrome “Trump Fart” extension last night. In fact, I’m typing this message just to see what it changes The Donald’s name to . . . I’m partial to “arse blast,” but there are plenty of good options.

    ETA: Bun shaker. Hm. OK.

    ETA2: Oh, it changes every time I save. I could do this all night.

  57. 57.

    Brachiator

    January 4, 2016 at 7:10 pm

    Two under-reported news stories:

    On Xmas Eve, Little Marco Rubio throws a tantrum and formally blocks Obama’s nominee to become ambassador to Mexico, our number 3 trading partner. Rubio is unhappy with Roberta Jacobson, the State Department’s assistant secretary for Western Hemisphere affairs, because she helped lead the negotiations that re-established U.S. diplomatic ties to Cuba.

    The nomination has been held up since June. This insults Mexico and puts Rubio’s Cuban fixation ahead of coherent US foreign policy. I mentioned in an earlier thread that I would like to see this brought up in one of the GOP presidential debates.

    The Other Thing. It was interesting that email revelations suggested that early on Angela Merkel found HRC to be a more reliable US ally than the rest of the Obama Administration.

    “Kornblum strongly suggests you try to develop your personal relationship with Merkel as you can,” [Sidney] Blumenthal writes.

    “He says she dislikes the atmospherics surrounding the Obama phenomenon, that it’s contrary to her whole idea of politics and how to conduct oneself in general. She would welcome a more conversational relationship with you.”

    This was in the early months of the Obama Administration and was also underscored by economic advisor Larry Summer’s arrogance towards Germany in various discussions. But it is an indirect confirmation that some world leaders looked at Hillary Clinton as a strong, and known quantity.

  58. 58.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 4, 2016 at 7:14 pm

    @Brachiator: “He says she dislikes the atmospherics surrounding the Obama phenomenon,

    taking everything that comes through Sidney Blumenthal with a couple of pounds of salt, I do wonder what that means

    (ETA: sounds like Tweety’s getting that thrill up his leg wrt Hillary Clinton, talking about her strength and her dignity during the Clenis storm, of which he was one of the loudest scolds)

  59. 59.

    jl

    January 4, 2016 at 7:19 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I guess he has gotten over HRC snipping off his balls for.. well… for.. I dunno, for some mysterious reason she did that to him and he was upset.

  60. 60.

    dogwood

    January 4, 2016 at 7:21 pm

    @debbie:
    I don’t know if anything will ever top “What is a weekend?”

  61. 61.

    Roger Moore

    January 4, 2016 at 7:21 pm

    @Anoniminous:

    Should start taking bets on whether it is the ketchup or Tabasco sauce that goes missing next?

    Cholula. He already had a Cholula emergency when he ran out and didn’t want to get dressed to go and buy more. If he had any sense, though, he’d be using rooster sauce instead.

  62. 62.

    Brachiator

    January 4, 2016 at 7:21 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    Trump went nowhere until he dipped into hard racism.

    I don’t think this is entirely true. Trump announced June 16 and was leading in some polls by July. He hinted at birtherism early on and went for full bigotry and fear mongering fairly early. And he has consistently built on the idea that he is the rich outsider who understands and rejects the standard ways of doing business in Washington, stealing all the thunder of the Tea Party and the GOP mainstream.

    Journalists, pundits, the GOP grandees and even some Democrats are all wondering with trepidation whether he can actually win primary votes. If he does well, it will scare the crap out of lots of people.

  63. 63.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 4, 2016 at 7:25 pm

    @jl: the gossip is he lobbied hard to be appointed WH press secretary in 1996. I think the most remarkable Tweety/HRC moment was in 2008 when he actually fucking reached out and pinched her cheek. I think that was the moment I felt the most sympathy for her. How she didn’t punch him, I don’t know.

    Also in that clip: “Please come on my show” “Yeah, right”. She’s on his show tomorrow.

  64. 64.

    trollhattan

    January 4, 2016 at 7:27 pm

    Words fail me.

  65. 65.

    MomSense

    January 4, 2016 at 7:33 pm

    @trollhattan:

    No. No. No. That is heartbreaking.

  66. 66.

    schrodinger's cat

    January 4, 2016 at 7:37 pm

    @Brachiator: The two movies are not in the same league. Dilwale is kind of the usual masala film, more or less mindless entertainment. Shahrukh Khan is capable of so much better.

    He was wonderful in Chak De India (Go India in Punjabi), where he is the coach of the national women’s field hockey team, which has been perennially underfunded and neglected.

    Bajirao and Mastani is based on the real life Bajirao Peshwa, the second hereditary Peshwa, who expanded the Maratha kingdom northward in the 18th century. Marathas were one of the most consequential political powers in India before the British take over in the 19th century.

    The British could not expand beyond their “factory” in Bombay because of the Marathas in the 18th century. Also, the Portuguese were defeated by Chimaji Appa (Bajirao’s younger brother) in the battle of Vasai, and confined to Goa. AFAIK this is the first mainstream Hindi movie based on Bajirao. That’s the reason I am so curious about the movie.

    * Peshwa = Prime Minister

  67. 67.

    Shell

    January 4, 2016 at 7:39 pm

    One of the Bundy ‘militia’ actually calls himself Fluffy Unicorn.

  68. 68.

    raven

    January 4, 2016 at 7:41 pm

    Downton Abbey is a suck ass soap opera that I am forced to watch.

  69. 69.

    Bobby Thomson

    January 4, 2016 at 7:42 pm

    @debbie: how derivative. The original Star Wars was filmed in Tunisia. Can’t Jar Jar Trump do something original instead of humping Lucas’ corpse?

  70. 70.

    Brachiator

    January 4, 2016 at 7:43 pm

    @efgoldman:

    If refusing to confirm legitimate appointees were an issue, Obama and the Dems would and could have used it as a cudgel with which to beat Yertle the Tertle and the RWNJ senators for years

    Or the Democrats are weak at making a case for themselves. They have always tended to let GOP obstructionism get confused with “both sides do it.”

    And Little Mario seemed to have waited for the holidays, when news coverage would be thin, before he acted to block the nomination.

    I think that everything that the Democrats can do to show Mexican American voters and other Latino voters that the GOP in general and Little Marco in particular, is not a friend, helps. HRC’s “I’m your abuela” stuff fell flat, and the Democrats have to do more than just let Trump play El Diablo.

  71. 71.

    gogol's wife

    January 4, 2016 at 7:46 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    I loved both! I was laughing all through Sherlock and crying at appropriate places in Downton.

  72. 72.

    debbie

    January 4, 2016 at 7:46 pm

    @dogwood

    If you missed it, she acidly asked Isobel, “Is it cold up on the moral high ground?”

  73. 73.

    Shell

    January 4, 2016 at 7:48 pm

    @efgoldman: @efgoldman: @efgoldman:

    Them’s fighting words

    From the Huffington Post
    ‘A man who claimed his name was “Fluffy Unicorn,” and said he was a “bodyguard” for the Bundys, stands at the foot of the road. Law enforcement has made no effort to contact the occupiers, he said.’

  74. 74.

    gogol's wife

    January 4, 2016 at 7:48 pm

    @bemused:

    I liked that episode too and was hoping that Julian Ovenden would get more of a part on the show.

  75. 75.

    Brachiator

    January 4, 2016 at 7:50 pm

    @raven:

    Downton Abbey is a suck ass soap opera that I am forced to watch.

    You lost your TV remote control?

  76. 76.

    schrodinger's cat

    January 4, 2016 at 7:50 pm

    @raven: Husband kitteh doesn’t watch it with me. He finds it too sappy. I need to talk to your wife and find her secret.

  77. 77.

    raven

    January 4, 2016 at 7:53 pm

    @efgoldman: Nah, the princess likes it and we watch a number of things that I like and she doesn’t so I do it. She did tell me to shut up when I was making fun of the insipid dialogue.

  78. 78.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 4, 2016 at 7:55 pm

    @lamh36:

    Very nice. I just found myself involuntarily making that rrrrrRRRRRRrrrrr noise that Barbara Feldon used to make.

  79. 79.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 4, 2016 at 7:55 pm

    the million minute hate goes on

    hilip Rucker ‏@ PhilipRucker 2m2 minutes ago Lowell, MA
    Young girls, maybe 9 or 10 years old, stood to yell at Trump, “Build that wall! Build that wall!”

    That makes me sad

  80. 80.

    Mike J

    January 4, 2016 at 7:57 pm

    “The Hammonds have turned themselves in. It is time for you to leave our community. Go home, be with your own families and end this peacefully,” the sheriff said.

    Isn’t it a bit late for that? Why should they get to just leave without even posting bail first?

    I’m 100% in the wait them out camp (as opposed to the “nuke them from orbit” camp (as much as I understand the appeal of it)), but it seems like at this point when they do come out, they need to go to jail.

  81. 81.

    mdblanche

    January 4, 2016 at 8:00 pm

    @eemom: To be technical, Rehnquist was first appointed by Nixon. Reagan only elevated him to chief justice.

    /pedantry pedant

    @jl: If you don’t like Tweety’s opinion, wait a minute and it will change.

  82. 82.

    Brachiator

    January 4, 2016 at 8:00 pm

    @efgoldman:

    It’s pretty clear from reports and polling that Latinos are even more estranged from the RWNJ TeaHadis than they were last time.

    This has to translate into a strong Latino vote. And as I noted, Democratic Party efforts so far seem kinda weak. The Democrats cannot just depend on the Trump bogey man. They have to actively get out the Latino vote. Both Bernie and HRC are weak in this area.

  83. 83.

    raven

    January 4, 2016 at 8:00 pm

    @Mike J: Posting bail? Uh, they would have to be arrested before they could do that, no?

  84. 84.

    jl

    January 4, 2016 at 8:00 pm

    @raven:

    ” She did tell me to shut up when I was making fun of the insipid dialogue. ”

    I usually fall asleep during the those BBC snore fests. You are forbidden that refuge?

  85. 85.

    ThresherK

    January 4, 2016 at 8:03 pm

    @Shell: To quote Linda Belcher

    “He’s surrounded by men who play with toy ponies; he’s in the least amount of danger possible!”

  86. 86.

    raven

    January 4, 2016 at 8:06 pm

    @jl: I was a little groggy from watching a zillion football games over the past two weeks. I found out today that this crazy “dive in the pool on January 17th” fundraiser is right in the middle of a payoff game! I stand to win the oldest person prize but they are messing with my pigskin..

  87. 87.

    debbie

    January 4, 2016 at 8:06 pm

    @Mike J:

    Even the Mormon Church has turned against the Bundys.

  88. 88.

    dogwood

    January 4, 2016 at 8:07 pm

    As soon as Downton came up I waited for the That Show Sucks crowd to weigh in. It took a little longer than usual.

  89. 89.

    raven

    January 4, 2016 at 8:08 pm

    @dogwood: I weigh in whenever it’s mentioned. Now you want to watch something in that genre that is good try All The Kings Men

    “On the outbreak of World War One the male staff at the royal residence of Sandringham are swept along by the tide of jingoism and all enlist including 14 year old George Dacre, who lies about his age, the recently-married Ted Grimes and the elderly estate manager, veteran soldier Frank Beck. Blissfully ignorant of the horrors in store they arrive at the Dardanelles, where Beck is shocked by the lack of supplies and organization. Camped on a beach to await orders they are easy prey to Turkish snipers. Ultimately they go into action at Gallipoli where they are apparently swallowed up by a cloud of mist and never seen again. Only Ted, wounded by a sniper and a prisoner of the Germans, returns to Sandringham. Although the queen mother, Alexandra, sends men to try and discover the soldiers’ whereabouts, only Beck’s watch is ever found.”

    p.s. Maggie plays the queen.

  90. 90.

    Felonius Monk

    January 4, 2016 at 8:12 pm

    @debbie:

    Even the Mormon Church has turned against the Bundys.

    I wonder if they’ll all get kicked out of the Secret Underwear Club.

  91. 91.

    raven

    January 4, 2016 at 8:12 pm

    Santorum says the Oregon boobs are the same as Occupy Wall Street.

  92. 92.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 4, 2016 at 8:13 pm

    sounds like HRC is giving a speech I would like

    Benjy Sarlin ‏@ BenjySarlin 9m9 minutes ago
    HRC’s recurring applause line: “I don’t think Pres Obama gets the credit he deserves for making sure we didn’t fall into a Great Depression”
    –
    Clinton: “I want to defend the Affordable Care Act and I want to improve it”
    –
    Clinton crowd in Des Moines erupts in cheers for Paris climate agreement. Watching Democratic events is different.

  93. 93.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 4, 2016 at 8:14 pm

    @efgoldman: as one of tweets said in reply, they’ll probably be Democrats in ten years. Still, sad to think of children being trained to scream in hatred

  94. 94.

    jl

    January 4, 2016 at 8:17 pm

    @raven:

    ” I stand to win the oldest person prize but they are messing with my pigskin..”

    I didn’t know any of those January ice dives were done in the nude.
    And if you fall asleep during a BBC droner, it is bad form to snore.

    @raven: And it seems like all of the GOP presidential contestants are distancing themselves from the visitor center losers, but trimming just enough to come back in with the excuses for white reactionary lawbreaking if they see the chance. Jackasses.

  95. 95.

    mclaren

    January 4, 2016 at 8:17 pm

    Since Dubya? Puh-lease! Since Reagan!

    The Cruel Man with the Kindly Smile assured America that “forest fires have produced more pollution than all the smokestacks in America,” and the electorate lapped it up. The senile sociopath Reagan told Americans that the California teachers’ union adhered to the same philosophy as the Nazi party, and the electorate gave him a standing ovation.

    This has been going on a long long loooooooooooooooooooong time.

  96. 96.

    raven

    January 4, 2016 at 8:19 pm

    @jl: It’s not really been that cold. I suppose the water will be brisk but nothing like that stuff up north.

  97. 97.

    mclaren

    January 4, 2016 at 8:21 pm

    @jl:

    So, I am contemplating whether Trump might be a horrendously lazy ignorant and inept campaigner in the general election.

    Probably. Plus, don’t forget that the Donald likely hasn’t set up any intensive ground organizations yet, so he’s way behind the curve. The organization a candidate builds in the primaries is what gets used to wage the general election war, and so far Trump has done essentially nothing.

    Meanwhile, HIllary is building massive on-the-ground organizations in the key battleground states. Trump is toast.
    ‘

  98. 98.

    dogwood

    January 4, 2016 at 8:22 pm

    @debbie:
    The Mormon Church was never supportive of them. The Mormon Church is not like the Evangelicals who often embarrass themselves by supporting any kook who claims to be a member of the faith. The Mormon Church doesn’t get baited into weighing in over insults either. When the Book of Mormon opened on Broadway lots of very serious know-nothing’s expected outrage from the church. I think they issued one press release stating that the BOM provided musical entertainment while the real BOM provided a path to salvation.

  99. 99.

    jl

    January 4, 2016 at 8:23 pm

    @efgoldman:

    ” Truman was a slug ”

    Who polluted your mind with that vulgarity? Truman was a corrupt machine politician and coarse little bankrupt haberdasher.

  100. 100.

    jl

    January 4, 2016 at 8:25 pm

    @mclaren:

    ” and so far Trump has done essentially nothing. ”

    From what I have read, it seems like Trump has bragged about spending loads of big money (to probably contract it out with few and meager results) to create a GOTV operation. Doesn’t seem to be much there yet.

  101. 101.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 4, 2016 at 8:25 pm

    Anne Rumsey Gearan ‏@ agearan 7h7 hours ago Chicago, IL
    re climate, @ HillaryClinton says R’s not really “that ignorant.” They’re “doing the bidding” of oil co’s, Koch bros & their “puppeteers.”

  102. 102.

    debbie

    January 4, 2016 at 8:29 pm

    @raven:

    I’ve seen that, and it is good.

  103. 103.

    Mnemosyne

    January 4, 2016 at 8:30 pm

    @dogwood:

    When we saw “BOM” here in LA, the LDS took out several ads in Playbill, so they seemed to roll with it pretty well. And since the play comes down on the side of even made-up religions improving the world, I can see their point.

  104. 104.

    Iowa Old Lady

    January 4, 2016 at 8:36 pm

    Just got yet another call from the Clinton organization. Have never had one from Trump.

  105. 105.

    schrodinger's cat

    January 4, 2016 at 8:46 pm

    Rang De Basanti (color me saffron). Inspired Bhangra music by A. R. Rehman. Rang De Basanti was the slogan of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru etc. who were Communists and charged by the British of sedition and sentenced to hang.

    Though now unfortunately the right wing loonies in India have appropriated saffron. Saffron traditionally has been the color of renunciation for both Hindus and Sikhs. When you fight wearing saffron or under a saffron banner you are ready to die for your cause.

  106. 106.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 4, 2016 at 8:51 pm

    Alex Seitz-Wald ‏@ aseitzwald 49m49 minutes ago
    Boos for Paul Ryan at Trump event.

  107. 107.

    jl

    January 4, 2016 at 8:52 pm

    @efgoldman: I’m a Truman fan. Was just questioning your unconventional, and crude, anti-Truman political invective. Slug? I never heard that before.

    ‘Coarse little bankrupt haberdasher’ has some panache and style to it. That is the kind of anti-Truman insult I read in the history books as schoolboy, and have cherished ever since (his presidency was before my time here).

  108. 108.

    schrodinger's cat

    January 4, 2016 at 8:53 pm

    Rang De Basanti (color me saffron). Inspired Bhangra music by A. R. Rehman. Rang De Basanti was the slogan of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru etc. who were Communists and charged by the British of sedition and sentenced to hang.

    Though now unfortunately the right wing loonies in India have appropriated saffron. Saffron traditionally has been the color of renunciation for both Hindus and Sikhs. When you fight wearing saffron or under a saffron banner you are ready to die for your cause

  109. 109.

    NotMax

    January 4, 2016 at 8:54 pm

    It’s January – bate your breath for the new, improved commenting system.

  110. 110.

    dogwood

    January 4, 2016 at 8:56 pm

    @Mnemosyne<
    I remember couple of condecending theatre critics
    asking Trey Parker if he thought Mormons would be able to really get the point of the play. He cleverly retorted that he wasn't worried at all because he could always tell when there were Mormons or people familiar with Mormons in the audience because they laughed at all the jokes that the New Yorkers didn't get.

    I'm going to see it again in a couple of weeks as a birthday outing.

  111. 111.

    jl

    January 4, 2016 at 8:57 pm

    People on the tweeter are saying that the Malheur Visitor Center Liberation Army is specifying that their rebellion care packages of snacks be sent via USPS.

    I guess FedEx and UPS shipping fees are steep out there.

    Ahh.. the price of Freedom is high. Very high.

  112. 112.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    January 4, 2016 at 8:59 pm

    @jl: I grew up in Thousand Oaks, and yes we did go up to Mt. Pinos once. It was quite cold, and there was this white stuff falling from the sky. I stayed in the car because I feared the sky was falling. We did a 50 mile hike in the Sierra, but that was in the summer.

    ETA: The kid and I are planning to do the Mt Pinos hike once the snow up there gets to a reasonable depth(under 3″).

  113. 113.

    jl

    January 4, 2016 at 9:03 pm

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    ” The kid and I are planning to do the Mt Pinos hike once the snow up there gets to a reasonable depth(under 3″).”

    Sounds like fun. But I didn’t say it was decent snow camping, just can get a few inches up there once in awhile. Makes building snow shelters either impossible or a snap, depending on your point of view.

    I remember great snow camping up at Pine Crest in the Sierras. Nice and deep and never very cold. Zero F was frigid, which is not very cold at all.

  114. 114.

    dogwood

    January 4, 2016 at 9:04 pm

    I have no idea why my name is now “undefined”. And why the above text is screwy.

  115. 115.

    dogwood

    January 4, 2016 at 9:05 pm

    Now it’s back to normal? I’m clueless.

  116. 116.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    January 4, 2016 at 9:09 pm

    @Roger Moore: You have no idea what you’re talking about, substituting Rooster sauce for Cholula. Good day sir!

  117. 117.

    NotMax

    January 4, 2016 at 9:11 pm

    @efgoldman

    For which eternal thanks is given.

  118. 118.

    NotMax

    January 4, 2016 at 9:15 pm

    Jeb’s dropping the hammer (per RtR) resulted in the world’s quietest thud.

    What tool will he lob next?

    Electric drill?

    Vise grips?

    Stud finder?

    Dibs on pipe wrench.

  119. 119.

    schrodinger's cat

    January 4, 2016 at 9:16 pm

    @jl: USPS? Not carrier pigeon? What about freedumbs from the gubmint?

  120. 120.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    January 4, 2016 at 9:16 pm

    @jl: Truman was rather unpopular towards the end of his second term, something to do with Korea.

  121. 121.

    Tommy

    January 4, 2016 at 9:18 pm

    Wow, just wow. Mom in town. Got her laptop on my lap, the one I got for her two years ago. Her first computer. Said she was having problems and I said let me look at it. Again wow.

    It is a malware/spyware bomb. I don’t even know how she uses the darn thing. I’ve always wondered who the spyware, malware people targeted. I mean doesn’t everybody have a malware and at least one spyware app running. Connect to the Internet via a VPN. Runs both a virtual firewall (not the BS that comes with Windows) and at least two anti-virus programs?

    Well I guess not because this computer is a case study in DOING NONE of that and clearly mom is an easy mark. Just cause I hate this shit on a computer and I love my mother, I got a feeling I am going to be at this for the next 7+ hours or so to clean it up.

    Or maybe I just throw the thing in a trash can and get her a Chromebook tomorrow, since she thinks eBay is the Internet and all she needs is to be able to browse the web.

    Now I have to just brace myself to try, for a second time tomorrow, to teach her how to use the Amazon Fire I got her this X-Mas (I even did a “custom” set-up based on what she said she’d like to do with it, and it didn’t help). She just wants to text, surf the web (insert eBay), stream some stuff to her TV, and Skye with her six year old grand kid.

    I’ve of course spent more than a few hours with her trying to explain the basics of a tablet after X-mas morning, and well that didn’t go well. I am pretty sure my frustration was about the same as when my mother tried to potty train me or teach me to walk.

    So deep breaths ……

  122. 122.

    NotMax

    January 4, 2016 at 9:19 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat

    Perhaps someone will start a campaign to carefully wrap and send bags of garbage.

    C.O.D.

  123. 123.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    January 4, 2016 at 9:20 pm

    @jl: At almost 9K feet, it stays snowy up there all winter. It should have enough for snow buildings after tomorrow. We’re supposed to get a bit of rain down here.

  124. 124.

    PurpleGirl

    January 4, 2016 at 9:20 pm

    @jl: FedEx and UPS probably don’t deliver out in the boonies and would turn the packages over to USPS anyway for the final leg of the delivery. It happens in places like NYC, I can’t imagine it not happening out there. So the USPS would be cheaper.

  125. 125.

    jl

    January 4, 2016 at 9:22 pm

    @NotMax: Well, they didn’t specify new snacks, did they? How would anyone know that slightly recycled snacks would not do just as well?

  126. 126.

    NotMax

    January 4, 2016 at 9:22 pm

    @Tommy

    Backup what she cannot bear to do without and then reformat the drive on that sucker.

  127. 127.

    schrodinger's cat

    January 4, 2016 at 9:23 pm

    @Tommy: Reformatting the hard drive and reinstalling everything may be the way to go.

    ETA: GMTA or mind-meld?

  128. 128.

    Schlemazel

    January 4, 2016 at 9:23 pm

    @Tommy:
    You can get the chromebook for a couple hundred dollars, well worth it if you can afford it. Particularly if she has an android phone when she will be familiar with the interface.

  129. 129.

    LanceThruster

    January 4, 2016 at 9:25 pm

    #TheMoronBrotherhood

    http://image.cdn.ispot.tv/ad/7eSa/velveeta-shells-and-cheese-liquid-gold-rush-harmonica-large-5.jpg

  130. 130.

    Tommy

    January 4, 2016 at 9:33 pm

    @Schlemazel: Great minds.* I just told her that. Money isn’t an issue for her and this makes no sense how FUBAR her computer is. She tells me, well other then all those things that “pop-up” telling her she should do this or that it is fine. I am like mom, with all do respect what you consider “fine” or how a computer is supposed to work might not be in fact how your computer is supposed to work.

    As to the others that said to back stuff up (always the best advice to give BTW), I just found my mother doesn’t know what a bookmark is. I am not sure what the heck I would backup :).

    *I think it is safe to say I am a power use. I have a $3,000 CPU and run a three monitor set-up. When my former gaming quality laptop got “long in the tooth” I got a Chromebook, knowing I’d only use it to surf the web, but also that most of the apps I ran on my Samsung phone/tablet (Evernote, Todoist, Trello at the top of the list but others) I could also get a Chrome extension or app for, it was a marriage made in heaven.

  131. 131.

    Origuy

    January 4, 2016 at 9:34 pm

    @BillinGlendaleCA: Ever been to Vasquez Rocks near Palmdale? Spectacular rock formations, some of which have appeared on TV and in movies. Much lower altitude than Mt Pinos.

  132. 132.

    Gin & Tonic

    January 4, 2016 at 9:36 pm

    @Tommy: It’s a Windows machine? You’ve set up a user account for her with limited privileges, right? And installed anti-virus and malware programs for her, right? And turned on Windows Firewall with restrictive settings, right?

    Oh, maybe you didn’t? Then you own the problem, dude.

  133. 133.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    January 4, 2016 at 9:37 pm

    @Origuy: I’ve been by the area, but I’ve never been there.

    ETA: As far as hiking goes, we’ve got some alternate(read lower elevation hikes) in Echo Mountain and the alpine railway hike and the Verdugos. We’re supposed to do a hike with her mother on the 13th either Mt. Hollywood or Mt. Lee(Hollywood Sign mountain).

  134. 134.

    NotMax

    January 4, 2016 at 9:44 pm

    @Tommy

    Photos or music or recipes, if she’s the sort of person who keeps them on the machine. Log-in/password files from her browser(s) and similar account info from Skype.

    Guessing she’s not a gamer, but any games she may have installed which you can certify are not in and of themselves malware.

  135. 135.

    raven

    January 4, 2016 at 9:46 pm

    @Origuy: Went there all the time as a kid in the 50’s. Went to Corriganville too!

  136. 136.

    danielx

    January 4, 2016 at 9:49 pm

    @efgoldman:

    Sriracha. John is much too trendy for ketchup or Tabasco(tm)

    I’m thinking Crystal Hot Sauce.

    Apart from the usual P&M, what’s on the agenda for the evening?

    Is that an abbreviation for pointing and mocking, or pissing and moaning? Given that this is Balloon Juice, it could go either way.

  137. 137.

    The Lodger

    January 4, 2016 at 9:49 pm

    @NotMax: Lead pipe. In the conservatory.

  138. 138.

    schrodinger's cat

    January 4, 2016 at 9:50 pm

    @danielx: Purring and Meowing since this is Tunch Land.

  139. 139.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    January 4, 2016 at 9:50 pm

    @raven: Ever go to Jungleland?

  140. 140.

    jl

    January 4, 2016 at 9:50 pm

    @raven: Was at Corriganville a couple of years ago. Still an interesting place to walk through. I like the old Tarzan jungle set, and the Mexican village that was used in a few famous movies.

  141. 141.

    Tommy

    January 4, 2016 at 9:52 pm

    @jl: Stupid question in this thread are you talking about the Echo lakes outside of the Pacific Crest Trail, not that far from Tahoe? I just looked and somehow I don’t have any picks of my hikes there. Around 9,000 feet. Not on the trail. The three years I went there off ski season we always hiked there, striped nude, and swam in that lake. Pretty sure you are talking about someplace else, but you never know.

    I will have some of those pic, not us swimming nude, in those lakes the next time I am here. Just 35MM stuff that I guess never got scanned in.

  142. 142.

    NotMax

    January 4, 2016 at 9:54 pm

    @The Lodger

    Heh.

    But make that copper pipe.

    Jeb! Will Flux It.

    ;)

  143. 143.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    January 4, 2016 at 9:54 pm

    @jl: My dad would take me to a bunch of the movie sets around Thousand Oaks when I was a kid. Most were gone by the time I was 10 or so. They filmed a couple of seasons of Gunsmoke out there. When I was a teen we went hiking in Malibu State Park where the M*A*S*H set was still active(for the TV series) and intact.

  144. 144.

    Tommy

    January 4, 2016 at 9:55 pm

    @NotMax: She has nothing. Just found out she doesn’t know what a bookmark is. Why I just got her a tablet is she wants to do more but can seem to figure out the tech,. I try to help, am more than patient, but mother doesn’t take guidence well.

  145. 145.

    Mnemosyne

    January 4, 2016 at 10:03 pm

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    People I know claim that the hills of Malibu are actually a pretty good facsimile of the Korean landscape. Y/N?

  146. 146.

    mclaren

    January 4, 2016 at 10:03 pm

    @efgoldman:

    There is no “normal” at Balloon Juice.

    Crazy is the new normal. The pyramids were granaries! We need to fire cruise missiles at Mexicans coming across the border! The way to increase the U.S. GDP is to work longer hours!

    This entire presidential campaign is like The Colour Out Of Space on steroids.

  147. 147.

    Tommy

    January 4, 2016 at 10:04 pm

    @danielx: Well as somebody born in Louisiana. Went back for grad school and gone to tours on Avery Island in the early 90s,Tabasco isn’t trendy, it is just good. If you become trendy for making the same thing you’ve made for 100+ years and then the Internet and I don’t know celeb cooks make it “cool” is that a bad thing?

    I should also note two things. I bought some Tabasco sauce tonight and I also have a couple Tabasco ties. One I used to wear to the office with a $3,000 Tom James custom made suit in the DC area and nothing, I mean nothing did people comment on more than the tie.

  148. 148.

    jl

    January 4, 2016 at 10:04 pm

    @Tommy: Echo Lakes area is a beautiful place.

    I am talking about Pinecrest Lake (reservoir, really) just west of Yosemite National Park. Used to be a boy scout camp near there at a place called Strawberry Flat.

    I think it is all private resorts now. Also a beautiful place, though I think some of it might have gotten burned in the Rim Fire of a few years ago.

  149. 149.

    NotMax

    January 4, 2016 at 10:05 pm

    @Tommy

    Although she’s had a laptop for a couple of years, Mom (soon to be 88) has always been leery about using it.

    Sat down with her last Sept. to walk her through computer 101. Basics such as teaching her how to use the scroll wheel on the mouse, what a bookmark is, how to share something from YouTube with her friends via e-mail, etc.

    Before that, installed Malwarebytes and Ccleaner so could have her learn hands-on how to use them. Also made the cursor super large and changed Windows to single click from double click. Those last two she still effusively thanks me for.

  150. 150.

    FlyingToaster

    January 4, 2016 at 10:07 pm

    @jl:

    ‘Coarse little bankrupt haberdasher’ has some panache and style to it.

    Except that he wasn’t himself corrupt, nor did he turn a blind eye to it in his later career as judge. Nothing like Buddy Cianci :) He was remarkably unprejudiced for a man of his time; his friend and haberdashery partner was not allowed in his house until his mother-in-law died (due to Eddie Jacobson being Jewish).

    Truman was, however, a machine politician in Missouri, and therefore 3/4 of the folks around him were corrupt. And he was friends with Pendergast… AFAIK (and according to my niece who still lives there), not a damn thing has changed in Missouri politics, except that the racists switched parties and are now blatant.

    I shook Truman’s hand when I was 5, at some D party meetup my parents took us to.

  151. 151.

    danielx

    January 4, 2016 at 10:07 pm

    @Tommy:

    Depending on where you are in DC, 3k suits are (cough) a dime a dozen. Tabasco ties are rare.

  152. 152.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    January 4, 2016 at 10:07 pm

    @Mnemosyne: It’s a bit more vertical than Korea, but not a bad approximation. I’ve never been to the village(it’s more a part of Seoul now) where M*A*S*H was supposed to take place.

  153. 153.

    debbie

    January 4, 2016 at 10:12 pm

    @Tommy:

    If money isn’t an issue, get your mom a Mac and make yourself the administrator. If she doesn’t have permission to install anything, she can’t do any damage.

  154. 154.

    Amir Khalid

    January 4, 2016 at 10:16 pm

    @BillinGlendaleCA:
    You’ll end up wounded, not even dead …

  155. 155.

    jl

    January 4, 2016 at 10:16 pm

    @FlyingToaster:

    IIRC, Pendergast gave Truman his start in politics, and was furious at Truman’s ingratitude.

    Impressed you got to shake his hand. If we shake hands at a BJ meetup someday, I will be one degree from Truman himself!

  156. 156.

    dogwood

    January 4, 2016 at 10:19 pm

    @mclaren:
    And don’t forget according to you, setting fire without a permit to land you don’t own is the same as turning on your gas range.

  157. 157.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    January 4, 2016 at 10:20 pm

    @Amir Khalid: That’s what happened to Jayne Mansfield’s son. He was mauled by a lion at Jungleland.

  158. 158.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    January 4, 2016 at 10:21 pm

    @jl: The closest I ever got to HST was his tomb.

  159. 159.

    Kilgore Trout

    January 4, 2016 at 10:28 pm

    @Shell:

    We had some militia nutballs in the rural part of Snohomish County (north of Seattle) some years back. The guy who claimed to be the sheriff went by the name of fnu lnu, which is I gather is law enforcement jargon for “first name unknown, last name unknown”.

    http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20001029/NEWS01/10290717

  160. 160.

    danielx

    January 4, 2016 at 10:37 pm

    @FlyingToaster:

    Have visiting the Truman Library on my bucket list, just to see the Masamune sword given to Truman in 1946. One of only ten known to exist in the world, and the only one in the US. Presented to him by Walter Kruger, not MacArthur, who would have vastly preferred to use such an implement on Truman.

  161. 161.

    Rafer Janders

    January 4, 2016 at 10:45 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    People I know claim that the hills of Malibu are actually a pretty good facsimile of the Korean landscape. Y/N?

    Eh. i always thought that Korea resembled Wales more than Malibu.

  162. 162.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    January 4, 2016 at 11:01 pm

    @Rafer Janders: Korea, northeast of Seoul.

  163. 163.

    jl

    January 4, 2016 at 11:10 pm

    @danielx:

    ” Presented to him by Walter Kruger, not MacArthur, who would have vastly preferred to use such an implement on Truman. ”

    The feeling was probably mutual. But Truman had self discipline.

  164. 164.

    Mnemosyne

    January 4, 2016 at 11:16 pm

    @Rafer Janders:

    As I understand it, most of the Pacific Rim is pretty similar in appearance. I had a native Californian coworker who was disappointed to discover that Australia and New Zealand looked pretty much like Southern California.

  165. 165.

    catclub

    January 4, 2016 at 11:31 pm

    @Calouste: I hope Hillary emphasizes that they were all too afraid to run against the black guy, but now they think they can beat a girl.

  166. 166.

    sukabi

    January 5, 2016 at 1:16 am

    @PurpleGirl: pretty sure the feds aren’t going to let Vanilla Isis get mail delivery.

  167. 167.

    Schlemazel

    January 5, 2016 at 1:34 am

    @Tommy:
    Although I don’t game I am a semi-power user and feel your pain. We got my MIL a PC mainly so she could get photos of the grandchildren and do some light surfing. Because she is several hundred miles away I installed one of the remote control tools but I was forever having to futz with her PC. This was long before chromebook & I often lamented that I wish Fisher-Price would come out with a “My First Computer” . She finally got feed up with it & dumped the whole thing and refuses to get anything else now. We mail her pictures by post.

  168. 168.

    sm*t cl*de

    January 5, 2016 at 1:52 am

    @Mnemosyne:

    Australia and New Zealand looked pretty much like Southern California.

    Hey now, it’s the other way around.

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