damn @realDonaldTrump you just got owned by a hardware store pic.twitter.com/mm8PrLqZXX
— Same Sad Echo (@SameSadEcho) January 15, 2016
"I'm voting for The Donald. And I hope you do too." –Dennis Rodman. https://t.co/Mx0sBoxC4m
— Nancy Scola (@nancyscola) January 14, 2016
— Adam Weinstein (@AdamWeinstein) January 13, 2016
***********
Apart from Keeping America Weird, what’s on the agenda for the day?
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
I’ve started spending some time at work watching movies that I’ve missed over the last 15-20 years. The plan was to watch one per night, but a couple of times I’ve doubled up. So far, they have all been winners: Quantum of Solace; Skyfall; the Millenium trilogy; and tonight, Inception and Memento.
Christopher Nolan is fucking brilliant. I thought all three of his Batman movies were outstanding, but none of them crack the top three of those of his that I’ve seen:
1) The Prestige
2) Memento
3) Inception
The last of those is the movie The Matrix really wanted to be but didn’t come close to.
Betty Cracker
The teen texted this to me via someone’s Tumblr:
Help us, Ms. Fisher. You’re our only hope!
raven
Home improvement until kickoff!
David *Rafael* Koch
I don’t envy Trump.
He’s going to have a real tough time deciding btwn Gary Busey, Meatloaf, and Rodman as his running mate.
Betty Cracker
@raven: Some good games on tap for later. I’m hoping for Chiefs and Packers victories but am resigned to Patriots and Cardinals wins.
OzarkHillbilly
In the past week I lost a significant amount of swelling in the ankle, such that when I took my shower this morn I was finally able to get a good look at and feel of it. Damn. I mean just dayumn. Where most ankles have a single knob on the out side, mine now has 2 knobs and a ridge of bone running 4″ up the side of the leg. Looks like something out of an Inquisition torture chamber.
That’s my contribution to weirdness this morn.
Satby
@OzarkHillbilly: Dayumn is right. Sounds like you’re getting a bit better though, good to hear.
OzarkHillbilly
@Satby: Slowly but surely. 18 more days till I get rid of the boot. Not sure how long after that before it is fully “healed”.
Elizabelle
Good morning all.
My mellow is harshed by learning (previous thread; thanks Mnemo…) that Jerry Hall (ex-Mick Jagger partner; gorgeous Texas model/actress) is engaged to Rupert Murdoch. Rupert turns 85 on March 11th, and “sources” guess they will marry before that. Gag.
Always kind of liked her. Is a conundrum.
Baud
I woke up with the stupid Trump fascist kiddie porn song stuck in my head. I’m may have to take drastic measures to put an end to it.
On a brighter note, via Reddit, this is one of the most awesome things I’ve ever seen.
Elizabelle
@OzarkHillbilly: Heal on.
So you are telling us you are even more exceptional than before.
Raven
@OzarkHillbilly: Until you can run in tight figure 8’s. You get to write your name on the floor!
BillinGlendaleCA
I think my wife may be related to Cole. She got a new washing machine and when she first used it, she managed to crack a rib.
ETA: How did she do this? She didn’t realize that it was much deeper than her old washer and leaning over to reach clothes at the bottom, ended up putting her weight on her chest and heard a “crack”.
Satby
Also, I sent a Belle (the rescue dog) update to the contributors I had listed and got a couple of bouncebacks, so for this who missed it: after an extended treatment due to how seriously debilitated by starvation Belle was, she is heartworm free, tumor free, spayed, a healthy weight of 60 pounds, and in her forever home. Her foster parents were my friend Joy’s parents, and when the time came to consider looking for a permanent home, they couldn’t give Belle up. So they adopted her themselves, Joy says that when she calls home her parents mostly talk about their sweet Belle. Happy ending to a heartbreaking story, another Balloon Juice rescue success!
Satby
@Baud: saw you had a tough day yesterday, hope today’s campaign events don’t leave you feeling quite so drained. The nation needs you.
Satby
@BillinGlendaleCA: Ouch. Hope she feels better soon.
Mai.naem.mobile
I wonder what the Trump kids really think about his campaign. He doesn’t have a teevee show anymore for extra income. Whether he wins or loses at whichever point, he’s going to have a good sized portion of the population actively avoiding his brand. He’s very directly affecting their inheritance.
Raven
@BillinGlendaleCA: I’ve done that lunging for something just out of reach in the bed of my truck!
jayboat
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
Memento is one of my all time favs- such a great premise for a story.
I think it was because I could relate- serious loss of short-term memory in my old age. 8-]]]
OzarkHillbilly
@Satby: Nice.
OzarkHillbilly
@jayboat: Memento is absolutely terrifying to me.
Anne Laurie
@BillinGlendaleCA: As another vertically challenged woman in a tall man’s world, I deeply sympathize with your wife!
Make yourself popular, buy her one of these pick-up tools. I’ve tried several models intended for indoor use, but when I bought this one so I didn’t have to keep stooping over in the yard, it worked so well for retrieving books from the top shelves and boxes (even mugs) from the kitchen cupboards that the Spousal Unit keeps “forgetting” I can’t quite reach, that it never made it out the front door.
Betty Cracker
@Satby: Glad to hear a good old boxer got the loving home she deserves.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Anne Laurie: We’ve got alot of pick-up tools, being that we’re both vertically challenged, she just didn’t realize how deep it was and that’s there’s no agitator to lean on in these new fangled washers.
Baud
@Satby:
Thanks, Satby. I think I need to schedule some campaign events at a spa. Or some exotic foreign location like Hawaii.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Oh man. Hope she’s doing OK.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Satby: Thanks, it’s going to delay her intro to hiking. The kid convinced her to join us.
Elizabelle
@Baud: Like the gif.
Fun to imagine Michelle and Barack talking late in the evening, and what they REALLY think about the day that passed. They have to laugh. The material is so rich.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Thanks.
Baud
@Elizabelle:
It’s not playing for me now. It’s the top post on Reddit if anyone else is having problems.
OzarkHillbilly
So what has Obama done for you lately?
Elizabelle
Taiwan’s in the club. First woman President.
I hope we get there next year, with Hillary. Bernie would be OK too. No Republicans, please, we’re sane.
57% of the vote; Ms. Tsai lost previous bid in 2012.
JPL
@Baud: Thanks for the laugh. We had the same nightmare, it appears.
I did watch the first three episodes of Man in the High Castle though.
bystander
@Baud: Best laugh of the day. So far.
Was there a Star Wars thread with spoilers? Now that I’ve seen it, I want to mock it without any self censoring. Next to Jurassic Nation, or whatever that last piece of crap was named, it’s not quite as empty and meaningless, but it would be tough to decide if the Academy Awards ever had a Worst Piece of Crap category.
Memento I did not get at all.
Geeno
@Baud: THAT is pure awesome.
JPL
@BillinGlendaleCA: Ouch. Hope that she mends quickly.
Baud
@bystander: I was going to see Star Wars this weekend, but I’m going to have to push it off until next week.
OzarkHillbilly
@BillinGlendaleCA: Broken ribs are tough to deal with. No matter what you do*, they hurt, and sleeping becomes a real challenge. Especially if one is a restless sleeper. My sympathies.
*wrapping them does help tho, if it is possible
BillinGlendaleCA
@Elizabelle: South Korea also has a female President, President Park’s daughter. I learned, when I took Korean, that Chung Hee(President Park, the father) is a female name.
BillinGlendaleCA
@JPL:
@OzarkHillbilly: Thanks, she saw her doc today and she got her some ibuprofen.
ETA: The nursing student(her daughter) will be here on Sunday to provide addition treatments.
amk
@Baud: LOL. Indeed.
Schlemazel
@OzarkHillbilly:
Glad to hear you are on the mend – if that is your first weird you have a way to go to catch up!
OzarkHillbilly
Michigan governor asks Obama for federal aid in Flint water crisis Translation? Republican totally fucks up, begs Democrat to come bail him out.
I’m really kind of ambivalent* about whether or not Obama should oblige. I mean what’s next, Gov Brownback appealing for an emergency Kansas only stimulus package?
*sarcasm folks, just sarcasm. i really want the people responsible to pay a price, not their victims
Satby
@Baud: didn’t get it was a gif, but when I clicked through it worked. Who wants to bet how long it will be before it shows up in some right wing nut’s FB feed as a real thing that happened?
Satby
@OzarkHillbilly:
I’ve been pushing that hard, that it was an unnecessary disaster created by Republicans and now as usual they have to ask that black guy they hate to save their asses. I hope the civil lawsuits impoverish that duck Snyder and his cronies.
NotMax
@Baud
Make America Laid Back Again.
Schlemazel
@BillinGlendaleCA:
OUCH! My wife has cracked ribs a few times, it hurts and there is not much to do for it, my sympathies to her. She may need help getting comfortable at night to go to sleep, that is the case for the Mrs. My wife already get a ton of sympathy from family and friends – she is married to me!.
Hope the rib does not cause her too much trouble.
JPL
@OzarkHillbilly: It’s a no brainy, you contact Snyder and say that as soon as you go on tv and announce how your policies failed the citizens of Flint, then I’ll help you out.
You also have to raise state taxes in order to pay for your mistakes.
OzarkHillbilly
@Schlemazel: Not my first by any means, but this one kind of hurts. I dressed up in drag (all in red- I was SMOKIN’!!!) for a buddy’s B-Day celebration and it was acknowledged by a majority of folks in attendance (both male and female) that I had really nice legs. Never again.
Satby
@JPL: Then it’ll be that black guy and the feds refusing to help just because it’s partisan politics. Which will play here. If course, the only cash strapped towns that got Emergency Managers were all mostly poor, mostly minority towns that tended to vote for Democrats to begin with. White bread Republican towns? Even when the town near to mine was bankrupted by an embezzling official it didn’t get a manager.
Kay
Amash is the hipster libertarian in the House. He’s kind of a cult star among people who pretend they’re not Republicans but always vote for Republicans.
I love that he’s decided to pretend this water crisis isn’t happening, in keeping with true libertarian tradition. Don’t bother them with boring “mommy state” issues like… potable water.
OzarkHillbilly
@Satby:
I am fairly certain that Snyder at least has some kind of immunity.
JPL
@Satby: The people of Flint are still be threatened with their water being shut off if they don’t pay their bills. In a perfect world the Governor should have to write a personal check for his screw up.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Schlemazel: She’s actually been through this once before as a result of an auto accident. She has to work today and was trying to find somebody to take her shift, but no luck. Other than that, she’ll rest.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
Glad the swelling’s gone down. Are you putting any weight on it yet?
Baud
OT: Looks like the Supreme Court is going to let Bob McDonnell off the hook.
debbie
By the way, Trump Wife #2 (Marla Maples) wasn’t an immigrant. But I guess accuracy isn’t the point of that sign.
raven
@BillinGlendaleCA: Do you know about this trail?
Bukak Mountain Kim Shin-jo Route
Schlemazel
@OzarkHillbilly:
There goes your career as a leg model! Oh well, how are your hands? I hear hand models make bank.
currants
@Anne Laurie: THANKS for the link! Have a similar problem here.
debbie
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
Memento is one of my all-time favorites, but I get totally lost watching Inception. I’ve tried several times but never seem to figure out what’s going on.
OzarkHillbilly
@debbie: Got rid of the crutches last week, still have the boot and will for another 18 days. Pretty sure the walking on it is what is responsible for the sudden and drastic reduction in swelling.
Schlemazel
@debbie:
its not a problem for Trump so the judges rule the sign is OK.
OzarkHillbilly
@Schlemazel: My hands? You want to know how a 57 yr old carpenters hands are?
MazeDancer
@jayboat:
Memento is getting a remake. Or, at least, got an announcement for a remake.
Which included saying it’s a masterpiece so we’re going to do it again just the same, basically.
Satby
@OzarkHillbilly: I don’t think that immunity applies to deliberate malfeasance,and it seems that the Snyder admin knew long before they acted how bad the lead contamination was. IANAL though, so I could be wrong.
JPL
@efgoldman: Well the answer will come quickly, if Brady limps on to the field after injuring his ankle the last game.
Satby
Three day weekend coming up during the coldest snap of weather so far this year. So we’re going to hunker down in the house (unless we get snow) and start packing up stuff for my eventual move south. I got a great bar code reader app and will be scanning books to sell on Amazon, updating my vintage Etsy store, and trying to pimp my sale at my Skinluvvers store. Three days is not enough!!
OzarkHillbilly
This is one man who really does wish he wasn’t in Kansas anymore:
Wonder how the anti govt loons in Oregon are going to protest this clear case of govt overreach.
ixnay
@BillinGlendaleCA: Oh, man, that will take forever to heal. I did the same thing reaching into a pen of baby chicks. What she may have is separate the rib: the union between the rib bone and the cartilage came apart. No real treatment, except don’t breathe deeply.
I see on further reading that she has seen her doctor, has painkillers, and has done this before. I’ll hope it’s actually a cracked rib and not a separated one: bones heal faster than cartilage. I’m 6 months out from my rib going “pop” and I still know right where that costochondral junction is.
Whichever it is, best thoughts for rapid healing.
WereBear
@David *Rafael* Koch: he’s Trump. He can have all three compete in some daft Veep contest.
OzarkHillbilly
@Satby:
I’m not sure where you are getting that, as the lead contamination is coming from a perfect storm of ignorance. You can say they could have known, and even say they should have known, but everything I’ve read says they didn’t know because the only thing they considered was cost, not at all how the water would interact with the old lead pipes in the city.
Do you have something more from up there?
Ultraviolet Thunder
I’m in Tuscaloosa for the weekend with a colleague to work at the Mercedes plant.
Women come to breakfast in their PJs at this hotel, which is delightful. But Fox News is on the TV. Loud.
Boo to that.
debbie
@MazeDancer:
FFS. Remaking Memento? Has Hollywood used up its last good idea?
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
Yes, I’d think getting the circulation going would be a big help with healing. Just be sure to listen to your ankle and not overdo the activity. No jetés!
WereBear
@Satby: What app? What are you using it with?
Got a bunch of DVDs I need to catalog.
WereBear
And on a separate note, sorry for all the owies going on in this thread.
Mike J
@Ultraviolet Thunder: If you haven’t built a tv b gone it’s your own damn fault. Nobody even needs to know you have it.
WereBear
@OzarkHillbilly: So we have an effective medicine for PTSD. But so many aren’t allowed to use it.
Really frosts me.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@Mike J: @Mike J:
Mitch Altman says he’s going to stop selling those. I haven’t asked him why.
I’m the original TV hater. I don’t know why but I just stopped watching around 30 years ago and can’t tolerate it now.
OzarkHillbilly
@efgoldman:As far as I know, there were no illegal acts. I almost said there were no criminal acts, but that is clearly wrong as what has happened is a crime.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Baud: That is a genius animated .gif. :-)
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
Satby
@OzarkHillbilly: ” In 2015, EPA water expert Miguel Del Toral “identified potential problems with Flint’s drinking water in February, confirmed the suspicions in April and summarized the looming problem” in an internal memo circulated on June 24, 2015.[72] The Del Toral memo was not publicly released until November 2015, after a revision and vetting process.[72] In the interim, the EPA and the Michigan DEQ engaged in a dispute on how to interpret the Lead and Copper Rule. According to EPA Region 5 Administrator Susan Hedman, the EPA pushed to immediately implement corrosion controls in the interests of public health, while the Michigan DEQ sought to delay a decision on corrosion control”
From the very detailed Wikipedia article, which also details how the state didn’t follow the law about corrosion control to prevent the problem for over a year, from when the water was switched in April of 2014.
Satby
@WereBear: it’s an Android one called QR and BarCode Reader, I just went for the one with the best reviews. It’s free too!
D58826
ot but there are reports that four Iranian-Americans, including the WAPO reporter Jason Rezalan have been released by Iran . Good will jesture as part ofthe Iran nuclear deal. If true both good news and that darn Kenyan has struck again
Mike in NC
GOP klown kar update: local paper claims JEBzzz “earned key endorsement” by Lindsey Graham, which can only mean his polling will now sink into negative numbers.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@Satby:
Interesting. My BIL works for the MI DEQ in the air division. I’ll ask him if there’s anything he’s allowed to say about this and report back when I get back to Detroit.
I think that should be a face to face conversation.
OzarkHillbilly
@Satby: After rereading what you said I think I know the “act” you are speaking of is the act of doing nothing after the early reports of problems and NOT the act of changing the water supplies (which is what I was referring to earlier). I don’t know as the malfeasance you (we) are charging Snyder with is much more difficult to prove as being criminal, it seems to me.
Satby
@OzarkHillbilly: that’s the question, and there are pending class action suits that will sort it out I suppose. But I wish they’d hold Snyder and his ilk personally responsible.
Zippity
I just saw a new Marco Rubio ad featuring a woman whose brother was a Border Patrol agent killed “because of Obama’s Fast and Furious scandal.” It was horrible and I just don’t understand what kind of person allows themselves to be used like that. This wasn’t a Super PAC ad-it’s an official campaign ad. Guess he needs to try and make up for his immigration bill.
OzarkHillbilly
@Satby: Yeah, but without an actual indictable offense I don’t think there is any way to hold them personally responsible. Kind of like suing a city when their police shoot your unarmed child who was not engaged in criminal behavior. The city pays, not the cop.
D58826
Also OT but worth a laugh at the total ignorance of the GOP clown car. According to foreign policy expert Marco Rubio if the two Navy boats had strayed into Israeli waters there would not have been an incident. He apparently doesn’t remember (or doesn’t want to remember) the USS Liberty, a Navy ship attacked by the Israeli Air Force in 1967. The ship was in in international waters miles from the Israeli coast and it cost multiple American lives. Yes it was on a recon mission but it was still on the high seas. But its OK if Israel does it.
lurker dean
Iran news reporting Jason Rezaian being freed in prisoner swap. Love our president.
geg6
@OzarkHillbilly:
Don’t remember where I read it, but I remember reading a piece where some local or state official wrote a memo or email outlining why they should not switch from the getting their water from Detroit and the lead from the pipes issue was a prominent part of the argument. It was deliberately ignored, I think, by the Snyder appointee. Since that appointee is, I assume, reporting directly to the governor, that makes Snyder ultimately responsible. In a sane world, anyway.
Amir Khalid
@Mike in NC:
As far as I can tell, Lindsay Graham is just one out of 100 Senators in Washington DC, not regarded as a thought leader, of no particular importance in setting Republican Senate strategy or in crafting/passing legislation. He makes news as John McCain’s BFF and travelling companion, but that’s about it. I still wonder why he ran for president at all. Am I missing something?
geg6
@lurker dean:
LOL! Ralph Reed was on Bill Maher’s show screaming about how Obama has completely failed this guy just last night. Hilarious how he trolls them. Always ten steps ahead of their lousy game. I’m gonna miss that so much. Neither Hillary nor Bernie can pull that off so elegantly.
OzarkHillbilly
@lurker dean: I blame Obama. Wait a minute…
@geg6: That is the kind of stuff that is going to have to be found but there has to be a clear smoking gun like an e-mail that says “Guv says fvck Joe and his chicken little “the sky is falling” crap, we need to move forward now.”
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone :)
Going to enjoy this 3 day weekend.
Off to swim and run errands :)
OzarkHillbilly
@Amir Khalid:
The money.
D58826
@geg6: Based on absolutely no evidence but I suspected at the time the nuclear deal was signed, there was a wink and nod agreement to deal with these 4 people. Diplomacy requires patients and long term thinking. Both in short supply in the US and esp. the GOP.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Amir Khalid: I read somewhere that Graham ran to counter Rand Paul’s “isolationist” foreign policy mumblings. The supposed plan was for him to stick around as long as Paul did, but then drop out. Looks like he expected Paul to drop out by now, but Graham dropped out first (so he wouldn’t be crushed in the SC primary).
FWIW.
Cheers,
Scott.
GregB
@lurker dean:
In another sign of astounding weakness.
MomSense
The beautiful snow is covering a wicked layer of ice. Going to sit on an ice pack now.
Josie
@D58826: I so hope this is true. Trump was bitching on Morning Joe about how the our weak president had failed these people. President Obama rules!
Elizabelle
@Amir Khalid: Re Lindsey running: Gravitas. Or what passes for it.
Had to get his and President McCain’s message out there: bomb, bomb, bomb, invade, invade, invade.
Either that, or shits and giggles. And airtime.
Wonder if he would have initiated the run if he knew he would end up at the kiddies table. LOL.
Josie
@MomSense: Oh, no. I hope you are okay.
Baud
Speaking of Obama, WaPo
Mandalay
@Elizabelle:
You got me looking at the size of that club. It’s bigger than I had realized. No Arab nation is a member.
PaulW
Editing my pro-Obama book today during laundry runs.
If you were going to write a pro-Obama book looking back on the 8 years of the insanity we’ve dealt with, what title would you give it?
I’m hovering between “Yay Obama” or “You F-ckers In the GOP Didn’t Know You Were You Stepping Up Against Did You?”
Also, I need to ask permission to quote John Cole’s “You’ll Never Get These 21 minutes Of Your Life Back” post from 2009.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@PaulW: B-J is under a Creative Commons license according to the bottom of the front page. Dunno if that matters, but of course you should try to get JC to sign off on it, assuming you can get him out from under his menagerie. :-)
Smart is a good word to describe Obama, I think. It would be nice if it were rehabilitated, after being destroyed by “the best and the brightest”. :-/
Good luck!
Cheers,
Scott.
GregB
@PaulW:
Well, you can title the chapter about all of his domestic naysayers as:
A Confederacy of Douchebags.
Give me credit in the preface.
Gin & Tonic
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: Here we say “wicked smaht”.
Baud
@PaulW:
You’ll miss me when I’m gone.
Alternative title: Prelude to Baud!
MomSense
@Josie:
Fortunately I have a little padding there! We are having a nor’easter now.
Baud
@MomSense: MomSense got back?
Mike E
@PaulW: How about: Our Last President
jake the antisoshul soshulist
@debbie:
It is easier to recycle all the old ones, good or bad.
Creativity iz hard.
jake the antisoshul soshulist
@NotMax:
Shorter Trumpistas”make America white again”!
debbie
@geg6:
Reminds me of one of my favorite ads.
Mai.naem.mobile
Well,thanks Obummer,you couldn’t even manage to become a lame duck president to make McCain and Lindsey happy. Another #fail.
Thoughtful Today
LOL @ #2
“Help us, Ms. Fisher. You’re our only hope!”
redshirt
@PaulW: “Thanks Obama!”
redshirt
@efgoldman: I’m fearing a loss for the Pats today too. Nothing looks good – this week has been the weirdest playoff week in Patriots history. The trends are all bad for the Pats.
Curse you stupid Bengals! You not only hurt the Pats chances, but you giftwrapped a Denver victory over the injured Steelers.
At least if KC beats New England today, they’ll also have a good chance of beating Denver in Denver. I do not want to see Manning go to the Superbowl (and get blown out by the NFC team)
PaulW
@GregB:
but then they’ll think it’s a book about the Confederacy… :(
raven
Iran is releasing 4 Americans. Cue the asshole!
Central Planning
I have a long weekend of FIRST Robotics with the local school team. Interesting challenges this year.
If you’ve never heard of FIRST Robotics, check it out. The program is phenomenal.
Every year at this time, high school students learn of a new challenge and they get 6 weeks to design/build/test a robot that can meet some/all of the challenge. Teams are run as a business, so it’s not just programming, electrical, and mechanical students that work on the robot. There’s marketing, sponsorships, social media, community outreach, travel, and more. And there’s about $25m in scholarships for the high school students as well.
One other goal is to have adult mentors in different fields be on the team so students can work with people in industry. It’s a great way for students to get exposed to many people in many different disciplines. Also, if you’re a mentor and your kid is on the team you get to know many of their friends. ;)
PaulW
@Baud:
I’d thumbs up if I could.
PaulW
@redshirt:
I think Twitter will collectively sue me if I use that.
PaulW
In football news, I just want the Bucs to win the NFC South division next year and lose in the NFC championship game in double-overtime to the Minnesota Vikings, so that Super Bowl 51 would be an epic matchup between Minnesota and Cleveland.
Yes, I want the Rapture to begin before kick-off. :)
raven
Ah, here’s where they will scream
D58826
Listening to the GOOPERS on MHP on MSNBC. These folks all must live underneath the scum on the local drainage ditch. The Iran deal isn’t a good deal because it doesn’t contain Iran’s unconditional surrender to all of our demands. It’s not a good deal becasue Iran is saying mean things about Israel. The prisoner swap isn’t a good deal because it isn’t 4 for 4. Give me a break. After 20+ years of hostility Nixon went to China and here we are in 2016 and we still have issues with China’s behavior. Well its the same thing with Iran. It starts with small steps. Will it work, who knows but you have to try. The GOOPERS on the panel are totally ignoring the China precedent. Whatever Obama is doing its not enough or maybe its to much or it should have happened sooner. Calgary Ted is already running his mouth. He is happy that the minister was released but it should have happened sooner . I guess the other three don’t count. And of course according to Cruz we don’t know about any of the other negatives. As for the imbalanced in the swap, Israel has given up hundreds of prisoners just to get the remains of a soldier back. The GOP doesn’t seem to be bothered by that.
Germy
Headline:
Fact Checker of Republican Debate Hospitalized for Exhaustion
BY ANDY BOROWITZ
tybee
@Central Planning:
one of our spawn got into that and went to the nationals…and lost. but he’s hooked now. :)
MomSense
@Baud:
Badonkadonk.
J R in WV
@OzarkHillbilly:
They don’t wrap broken ribs any more, after analysis of medical outcomes showed that it caused pneumonia if patients with wrapped ribs. They were less able to cough, and died for the lack of it. Or were made more ill, anyways.
MomSense
@Central Planning:
Thanks for that link. That sounds right up my kid’s alley.
We have a wind blade challenge here in Maine that is similar. We had great experiences even though my kids’ teams didn’t win.
SiubhanDuinne
@Central Planning:
I’ve worked with Canadian FIRST teams in the past. They are all great, smart kids.
PurpleGirl
@J R in WV: As I had it explained to me when I had bruised my chest muscles in a fall, wrapping the ribs keeps them from moving as you breath and then the lungs get bruised against the ribs and that sets up the conditions for pneumonia. I was given prescription naproxem sodium (otc Aleve) for the muscle bruises.
sukabi
@JPL: or, he (Obama) could pull the elected “leadership” and those responsible and put in emergency managers to administer the rescue / recovery (eta) as THE #1 condition for funding cleanup.
Thoughtful Today
Amir Khalid @ 96
Lindsey Graham’s prominence on the national stage doesn’t make much sense to me either.
I assume several factors:
-> Right-wingers get disproportionately more and more favorable Corporate media attention.
-> Some Senators don’t seek National media attention (Democratic Senator Al Franken talks almost exclusively to his State’s media outlets).
-> Some Politicians are moths to National media camera lights.
The ‘serious’ Sunday morning ‘news’ shows have for decades notoriously brought on Republicans and right-wingers in disproportionate numbers.
“If It’s Sunday, It’s John McCain” or his BFF Lindsey and random right-wingers.
The Golux
@Baud:
Here’s a possible antidote. It’s been running through my head for the last few days, and I’m not tired of it yet.
Satby
@MomSense: ? sounds like an ouch was experienced. Hope it’s not too bad.
God, we’re a decrepit lot!
bystander
@Baud: Send me $10 and your phone number and I’ll save you a trip to the movies.
@D58826: The repubs were already on MSNBC Melissa Perry to tell us that 7 is greater than 4, therefore the Affirmative Action POTUS was snookered again. One of the geniuses said, diplomacy implies trust and a 2 way street. Of course that’s the opposite of how diplomacy works but somebody has to get paid for bloviating crap that can’t bloviate itself.
Steeplejack (phone)
@MomSense:
LOL. A nym and a word I never thought I would see together.
BruinKid
@Elizabelle: So our elections actually eerily parallel Taiwan’s elections. Except the DPP = GOP, and the KMT = Dems. Even down to the DPP birthers who questioned Ma’s place of birth. Yes, Taiwan has birthers too!
As Taiwan now switches to a more belligerent foreign policy of “Fuck you, China”, begging for China to retaliate and start WWIII, this implies that Trump/Cruz will win in November and immediately get us into a war with the entire Middle East.
Crap.
Thoughtful Today
“House GOP rents out theater to watch Benghazi movie.”
What’s the text emoji equivalent to eye rolling?
Thoughtful Today
doh, wrong thread
Bob In Portland
Hope everyone’s happy:
https://consortiumnews.com/2016/01/15/mh-17s-unnecessary-mystery/
Central Planning
@MomSense:
There are elementary and middle school FIRST programs too. I bet your school (or one nearby) has a FIRST team. I think I can safely say ALL teams are ALWAYS looking for new students. We would let anybody join at any time.
At least with our team, you get out of it what you put into it. There are leadership positions for the team in general and each of the subteams (again, electrical, programming, marketing, etc) We try to have the seniors on the team be mentors for the younger students. It’s hard but it generally works ok.
Finally, the best part about FIRST is that you don’t have to be doing robotics your entire life to get on the team and be a meaningful contributor (unlike most (all?) sports). There are a couple good youtube videos about FIRST – there’s one that Morgan Freeman narrates, and another with celebrities talking about the importance of STEM. Look for them, they’re great.
ETA: Chief Delphi is one website where tons of robotics students and mentors hang out. Everyone helps everyone at FIRST.
MomSense
@Satby:
Hot shower, ice, and a chick flick has brought me back. Wish everything in life were so easy to solve.
@Steeplejack (phone):
I’m full of surprises!
@Central Planning:
He has done several robotics camps. The first was a lego robotics program. I checked out the list and it looks like there are a couple groups in commuting distance. I’ll run it by him because he is a little bored with his math program at school and this could perk him up. Over the winter break he was talking with one of his brother’s friends who is in a graduate program out west studying AI. So for the past month he has been doing a lot of reading about the subject. This is a good time to find a group for him. From what I just read on the website, I really like the approach at FIRST.
Gin & Tonic
@Bob In Portland: Hey, Bob, long time no see. How’ve you been?
Mnemosyne
@OzarkHillbilly:
Sorry, but that was one of the worst-written articles I’ve ever encountered on the Internet. It was like mclaren wrote it when he was off his meds. I especially loved the part that talked about the “material grandmother” of the kids.
The Denver Post article that’s the obvious source of the story has better information in it. Basically, the guy’s mother-in-law was pissed that he and her daughter (his wife) were moving to Colorado, so she took the kids to the police station in Kansas and claimed they were abandoned. Now the kids are in the Kansas foster care system, and the parents are having a hard time getting them back because dad is an admitted recovering drug addict (former heroin user) who’s currently using (legal) pot while living in Colorado.
If the guy can show that he’s medically benefiting from marijuana and isn’t using other drugs, he should get his kids back, but I can’t really blame Kansas for being wary since different family members are giving them different stories. Oh, and that mother-in-law who caused the whole problem sounds like an asshole.