Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

Hey hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today?

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

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

Donald Trump found guilty as fuck – May 30, 2024!

We’re watching the self-immolation of the leading world power on a level unprecedented in human history.

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Petty moves from a petty man.

When we show up, we win.

Washington Post Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

In my day, never was longer.

You are here: Home / Politics / An Unexamined Scandal / Sunday Morning Open Thread: Second Time, Even Bigger Farce

Sunday Morning Open Thread: Second Time, Even Bigger Farce

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Maybe it’s just that I have a miserable cold, but it really does feel like the entire Republican party is trying to re-litigate Iran-contra — not to mention Jerry Falwell’s “Moral Majority” and all the rest of the Reaganauts’ creepy, eliminationist policies at home and abroad. I’m too old to fight all these battles a second time, dammit!

***********
Anything on the agenda for the day that won’t make me feel like going back to bed and staying there till mid-October (or at least till tomato-plant-ordering season)?

Reader Interactions

161Comments

  1. 1.

    seaboogie

    The righties are so reflexive in their paroxysms of anti-Obama that it is like pouring salt on a snail….probably a good time to troll them really hard, because they are fundamentally incapable of registering anything but whatever is the opposite of Obama. Cleek rules!!!

  2. 2.

    Betty Cracker

    A fierce storm blew through here this morning — high winds, sideways rain, etc. Seems to be all over but the dripping and puddles now.

  3. 3.

    seaboogie

    @Betty Cracker: When I lived in Miami, we had a cantakerous character of a neighbor from Maine – straight out of central casting – who called such storms “gully-washers”. His only redeeming feature – apart from his arcane regional language – was a particular soft spot for the local feral felines, that he fed daily with great devotion. I think they were kindred spirits.

  4. 4.

    amk

    Rest of the world and at least half of murka move on while these kkklowns stomp and yammer. Already their poo flinging shows have lost their charm even with their rw rabid base. At the end of the day, 24×7 poutrage doesn’t put food on the table.

  8. 8.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @JPL: It kinda amazes me how much colder the east coast is compared to the west coast. I lived in Seattle(pretty far north) for 3 years and I think we saw 3 weeks of snow. However, for this native Southern Californian, it still was damn COLD.

  9. 9.

    JPL

    Sure would be nice, if the Iranians actually let the freed prisoners leave the country.

    @BillinGlendaleCA: I still think that Trump is better than Cruz, but I’m only thinking about long term damage to our way of life. If the democrats can’t hold on to the Presidency, there will be damage.

  10. 10.

    OzarkHillbilly

    So once again the black man has to come in and clean up the mess after a bunch of rich white guys:

    Barack Obama signed an emergency declaration for Flint, Michigan, where a lead-poisoning crisis in the city’s water supply has left residents without safe water for nearly two years.

    Supposed to be cold and snowy today (high of 21, just a half inch) so I’ll probably stay inside and maybe wade thru the USDA’s website and see if I can get one of those free ObamaHighTunnels. I’m thinking that tomorrow being MLK Day, I’ll celebrate it by going out and buying the all American AR-15 then go and seize MDCs new maintenance shed on 185 and demand free land while wrapping myself in the American flag. All in the spirit of non-violent protest, get it?

  11. 11.

    Zinsky

    Here’s a reason to stay in your warm bed – it’s currently 14 below zero in Minneapolis. So cold that if you throw a glass of water into the air, it is ice before it hits the ground. And I gotta go into work! Waaah!

  12. 12.

    Botsplainer

    “Joe Bates, the man that wagged his finger at Trump, declined to be interviewed but his wife, Annie, said that the both of them were sick of the attacks.

    ‘You just state what you can do! Each person does something different. There’s no need knocking the other person,’ she said.”

    I’d love to see how many chain emails these two have forwarded that denigrate liberals, Obama and his family.

  13. 13.

    Zinsky

    By the way, screw the Republicans over the Iranian nuclear deal! This and the ACA may be the most consequential things Obama accomplished during his presidency.

  14. 14.

    Gimlet

    @OzarkHillbilly: Barack Obama signed an emergency declaration for Flint, Michigan, where a lead-poisoning crisis in the city’s water supply has left residents without safe water for nearly two years.

    There is “moral hazard” with this.

    Asking for government help is socializm!

    Obama should appoint an emergency governor to manage the affairs of Michigan and Flint. Failed governor Snyder would understand and expect nothing less.

    Also, there should be conditions behind some of these government bailouts so that the rest of the US doesn’t have to bail out states like Kansas after they tax cut themselves into trouble.

  16. 16.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @JPL: Tend to agree, if I had to vote for either tRump or Cruz; it’d be tRump. Cruz scares the crap out of me.

  17. 17.

    cmorenc

    Time for Obama to make a speech recommending that people not sit for hours in their cars with the engine running in a closed garage, and how upset it makes him when people do so.

  18. 18.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Gimlet: Per Maddow, these fuckers didn’t want to spend $100 a day to make the water safe. Think about that, $100 a day.

  21. 21.

    GregB

    My favorite part of the Iran-Contra Deal was the fact that Ronald Reagan’s government delivered a cake along with:

    August 20, 1985 – 96 TOW anti-tank missiles
    September 14, 1985 – 408 more TOWs
    November 24, 1985 – 18 Hawk anti-aircraft missiles
    February 17, 1986 – 500 TOWs
    February 27, 1986 – 500 TOWs
    May 24, 1986 – 508 TOWs, 240 Hawk spare parts
    August 4, 1986 – More Hawk spares
    October 28, 1986 – 500 TOWs

  22. 22.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    Holycrap you guys last night our ’35 year old’ ‘male’ rescue parrot laid a big old egg.
    No wonder ‘he’ had been acting funny.
    Since the deceased former owner’s addled stoner son obviously didn’t know the bird’s gender I wonder how far off he was on the age. Could he actually tell the difference between the ’80s and the ’70s or the ’90s?
    We may have to look for some kind of independent verification of how old he is.
    Meanwhile this egg explains a lot of peculiar behavior.

  24. 24.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    The long term tragedy in the Flint water crisis is the children with high lead levels in their bodies. Money can fix the water but neurological damage is permanent. I hope the state will step up with lifetime assistance for these poor kids the state poisoned through its negligence. And as a secondary concern I hope this story has a long lifespan and will continue to dog the GOP in MI.

  25. 25.

    Schlemazel

    @GregB:
    May favorite part was that he also sent them a bible. I always wondered who came up with the idea that a BIBLE was the right thing to sent the Ayatollah.

    Raven:
    I always heard ‘frog drowners’ same idea I guess

  28. 28.

    Betty Cracker

    @JPL: According to the local news, tornados killed a couple of people early this morning a bit north of Sarasota. The weather peeps hereabouts say this is going to be the stormiest, most tornadic winter in decades due to El Nino. Good times!

    @Ultraviolet Thunder: That is hilarious! Relatives of mine had a cockatoo for 20+ years that they also thought was a male until “he” laid an egg.

  29. 29.

    debbie

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    Per Maddow, these fuckers didn’t want to spend $100 a day to make the water safe. Think about that, $100 a day.

    If this doesn’t embody the paucity of austerity, nothing will.

    @Schlemazel:

    May favorite part was that he also sent them a bible. I always wondered who came up with the idea that a BIBLE was the right thing to sent the Ayatollah.

    It was the Sainted Ronnie himself. The proselytizing never ends for men of good faith.

  30. 30.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    @Betty Cracker:
    The bird will have to go in for a checkup this week and a serious consultation with the vet. And we’re changing the name from Sonny to Sunny. As in sunny side up. The egg fell a long way.

  31. 31.

    Gimlet

    @Baud:

    Any word yet from Mick about whether he’ll let you use the song for your rallies?

    Please allow me to introduce myself
    I’m a man of wealth and taste
    I’ve been around for a long, long year…

  32. 32.

    Amir Khalid

    @Schlemazel:
    Especially since the Ayatollah, as a scholar of religion, was probably more learned in the Bible than the people who sent it to him.

  35. 35.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Pretty cool stuff: 3-D printing comes to the hospital

    Dr. Albert Woo held the tiny skull in his hands, turning it over and studying its imperfections. There was too much bone around the nose. The right eye socket was out of place. The reconstructive facial surgery would have to protect the tear ducts and delicate structures of the eye.

    Woo and a colleague planned out the operation using the replica created with a 3-D printer. The next morning, when they opened up the skull of 5-year-old Myah McWilliams, they already knew what to do.

    “If I’m going to take a child to the operating room, I want to know that it counts,” Woo said.

    …..

    Myah, 5, was born with a condition that prevented the plates in her skull from fusing properly, causing facial asymmetry.

    During the surgery, Woo and Dr. Steven Couch, assistant professor of ophthalmology, referred to a plastic skull mold created from images of Myah’s head and printed in WU’s biomaterials lab. The mold showed the doctors where a tendon behind Myah’s right eye was out of place. They pulled the tendon closer to her nose, allowing her eye to move into a better position.

    The mold of Myah’s facial bones and tendons is an exact replica of her complex anatomy, allowing the surgeons to more accurately plan the surgery. Woo said studying a 3-D mold before a surgery can reduce the length of an operation by half.

    “In the past you had to wing it and depend more on the art of surgery,” Woo said. “But now with 3-D modeling, you’re able to have a lot more information to make a better informed decision. We hate to go in and perform a case where we have a complex procedure and afterward we’re disappointed and have to redo the surgery. Having that information helps avoid repeat surgeries.”

  37. 37.

    Elizabelle

    @Ultraviolet Thunder: No Parrot Jr? Alas.

    Good morning all.

    Serious question, and I’d value your thoughts:

    I might be able to volunteer for GOTV in the Iowa caucuses, which occur Monday, Feb. 1. Not sure about the remaining Feb-March primaries.

    My heart is with Bernie and the issues he is raising, but paramount to me is electing a Democratic president in 2016.

    I wonder if keeping Bernie and his message in the race, for as long as possible, might help Hillary in the long run because the enthusiasm is with Sanders voters, who mostly could be induced to vote for Hillary in the fall (I would think)?

    I have no desire to help fatally wound the candidate who might be most viable in the fall (Ie. HRC), and is overwhelmingly better than any Republican candidate. One can see how the mediot pundit-vulture-ratings whores will sweep in and eviscerate Hillary in event of a good Sanders showing. They’re as bad as the GOP candidates.

    SO: should I go to Iowa to help Bernie? Or even Hillary? How would you guys evaluate that? (I think Iowa would be kind of a hoot, and, personally, I hope it’s the last time they go first in the nation. The Iowa caucus has outlived its usefulness, IMHO.)

    Is a confusement for me.

    Here’s the 2016 primary schedule. Just New Hampshire (Feb 9), Nevada caucuses (Sat., Feb 20 for Dems) and South Carolina (Feb 27 for Dems; GOP week before) before Super Tuesday, with 15 states — including Virginia — on March 1).

  38. 38.

    Schlemazel

    @debbie:
    That is the story they tell but I am not sure I believe it. St. Ronnie never impressed me as having an idea of his own. But then again something as stupid as that maybe it was him

  39. 39.

    Satby

    @Gimlet: @BillinGlendaleCA: read the link I just posted about Flint. This state is so full of vicious GOP hatemongers, they knew in Oct of 2014 (within 5 months) that the water was too caustic because GM refused to use it in their plants, it was ruining the machinery.

  41. 41.

    Schlemazel

    @Amir Khalid:
    I honestly have no idea about his background or training but it seems sort of insulting to me unless there was some historical significance to the copy sent. It looks to me like a passive-aggressive way of saying “you are wrong & here is a book to set you straight”.

    What message would someone think he was trying to send?

    EDIT: I’d love to know where the book is today, that might answer the question above

  42. 42.

    Iowa Old Lady

    @Satby: Jesus. How do people convince themselves they should go ahead and send that water into people’s homes? How twisted are their minds? Or maybe their hearts and souls.

    @Elizabelle: I have no opinion on the strategy, but you’re welcome in Iowa as long as you don’t phone me. Seeing a Democratic caucus in action is interesting. I was fascinated when we first moved here from Michigan (where, btw, I taught in Flint).

  44. 44.

    Baud

    @Elizabelle:

    Well, you could canvass for Baud! and avoid these difficult decisions.

    Otherwise, go with your heart because it’s impossible to predict how things will turn out.

  45. 45.

    Satby

    @GregB: I hope so. Won’t hold my breath. And the long term damage to the lead affected children will lead to all sorts of issues (potentially even higher crime rates) that the fine folks of the GOP can demagogue about in a few years. It wouldn’t surprise me if they thought that way, they are that vile around here.
    I’m going to miss my little house I set up for rescue, and some of the people around here, but I won’t miss the politics or the open racism.

  46. 46.

    Elizabelle

    @Iowa Old Lady: Yeah, I hear your pain about the constant telephoning.

    I won’t come unless they let me knock doors instead. Who wants to be the 50th caller to harangue voters about caucusing? Of course, it will be coooolllddd….

  48. 48.

    debbie

    @Elizabelle:

    I think you’re right that Bernie will have a positive impact on Hillary and the party. Not just for the issues he’s raised, but because it serves to remind her that the presidency is not something she’s owed.

  49. 49.

    MomSense

    @Satby:
    This is really the most disgusting case .

    I’m finding it hard to believe that no one advised them of the risks before they decided to make the switch. We’ve been doing water treatment for a long time.

  50. 50.

    Amir Khalid

    @Schlemazel:
    I’m thinking that he must have studied comparative religion at seminary, or at least the Abrahamic faiths. Plus, he did live in Paris for 15 years.

  51. 51.

    Schlemazel

    @Satby:
    The most depressing part is one the writer mentions, this is happening all over the country as voters elect governments only interested in cheap-screwing the infrastructure we need to survive as a nation. We are killing ourselves for a few dollars in tax savings.

    OTOH I do love the name of Snyder’s Chief of Staff, “Munchmore”. Seems there are a lot of guys in the GOP who should go by that name,

  52. 52.

    magurakurin

    @Elizabelle: Go help Hillary Clinton. That you are having second thoughts about Sanders should tell you all you need to know. He’s not the guy.

  53. 53.

    Elizabelle

    @GregB: Agree. If it was known the water was corroding GM machinery, it is criminal. Hope they can prosecute those mofos.

    Agree on jail. This is malfeasance, and will be dreadfully expensive for the affected families and the feds in remediating it.

    Austerity crime, but more likely stupidity and negligence, and even cruelty.

  54. 54.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Elizabelle: Door to door is the only way I will ever do it. I hate phones. Of course when Obama was running it meant I got called ‘ni**er lover’ a couple times but at least nobody pulled a gun on me.

  55. 55.

    debbie

    @Schlemazel:

    We are killing ourselves for a few dollars in tax savings.

    Not just that; these bureaucrats are disregarding and not treating others as they treat their own. This is the same situation as back in the 1980s when Houston, TX officials chose to do nothing about the impact of emissions from electric plants on the children who lived in nearby neighborhoods.

  56. 56.

    Schlemazel

    @Amir Khalid:
    My brother studied for the ministry and I know they spent time on world religions so I get that. But I still wonder what he thought of it.

  58. 58.

    PaulW

    I remember when the Nobel Prize awarded Obama the Peace Prize for simply NOT BEING DUBYA back in 2009. It turns out to have been the right call: Obama promised to used diplomacy to restore America’s standing with the world, and it worked. Obama is doing everything the Republicans failed to do between 2001 to 2008, by ignoring the impulses of the neoconservative rage that still drives the Far Right.

    I’m not surprised Obama is more popular abroad than back here. All his foreign policy efforts have been more reasonable, more rational than Bush the Lesser’s, and nearly every allied nation we’ve got loves him for it.

  60. 60.

    Schlemazel

    @debbie:
    We have always had a habit of dumping shit into poor neighborhoods because they never had the political power to stop it. Starting in the 70s poor people and people of color were better organized and fighting back. That made the dumping a lot more difficult and cleanup efforts came along. Bow of course we have broken labor so that wages are down and tax revenues are down and people are convinced they are poorer because of taxes and this counter balances (wipes out really) the forces for positive change, responsibility and better neighborhoods. I expect these sorts of events to become more common and start to happen to more people who think the color of their skin should protect them from them. If we keep it up I seriously expect there will be a revolution in the US. It will be bloody and ugly and I don’t think the end results will be more democracy or a better government.

  62. 62.

    Satby

    @Ultraviolet Thunder: That is the long term horror of this. There is no safe level of lead exposure, and some of the people, even if they switched to bottled water to drink, may have still used the stuff to bathe or shower in and gotten exposed that way. They were told it was safe to drink multiple times… if they used a Brita filter to make it look more palatable and then drank it they still got full doses of lead. And the people in charge of water treatment had to know that.

  64. 64.

    Satby

    @JPL: From end of school on April 1 to the next weekend (8th?). The girls are excited about our trip, though tent camping one night was vetoed ;)

  65. 65.

    debbie

    @dogwood:

    We’re talking about Flint here. Bureaucrats don’t see the people there as “their own.”

    Then these self-avowed people of faith are not heeding what they hear in their churches.

  66. 66.

    JPL

    @Satby: The filter attached to the faucet is suppose to help, but not the pitcher. I don’t really understand why though, because I assumed that they used the same filter.

  68. 68.

    Xenos

    Anybody remember Nixon conspiring with the enemy to scuttle peace talks so he could run against the Democrats for their failure to end the war?

    Anybody remember Casey conspiring with the enemy so that American hostages would not be released from Iran so that Reagan could run against Carter based on Carter’s failure to get them released?

    Anybody notice a disturbing fucking pattern here?

  69. 69.

    Iowa Old Lady

    This all reminds me of something in one of Tana French’s books. A character says that people say they believe in traditional religions but if you look at their behavior, they’ve made something else their religion. The most common one is money. Money measures your spiritual worth, not just your bank account. So it’s not just unfortunate that you have a low paying job. It’s irresponsible. But if you ask for a raise, that’s an assault on your employer’s well being. If you’re not rich, you’re a lesser being.

    If you think about Flint as punishing the poor and throw in Trump (“I’m rich. I’m really rich.” Manic cheers!), you see this kind of thinking.

  70. 70.

    JPL

    @Satby: The reason I asked is because I live north of Atlanta and have two guest rooms. The son is getting married the ninth and I’m expecting out of town company. Maybe the school can change the date.. haha

  71. 71.

    dogwood

    @debbie:
    Being a self-avowed person of faith in this country is more often than not a political declaration rather than a religious one.

  73. 73.

    Amir Khalid

    @Schlemazel:
    If he thought it was a clumsy attempt to convert him, he wouldn’t have been very amused. But he would have treated the copy of the Bible itself with respect.

  74. 74.

    Elizabelle

    @Satby:

    I’m going to miss my little house I set up for rescue, and some of the people around here, but I won’t miss the politics or the open racism.

    I wish you the best as you head southerly, and hope you find an even better situation there.

    Maybe more tourists means more outlets for selling your wonderful products. Who is not looking for a little something cool to bring back to loved ones?

    And hope you can rescue away in Florida. No shortage of animals in need.

  75. 75.

    Patricia Kayden

    Thank God for blogs like Balloon Juice where you can read some sensible news without the right wing spin. I depend on left wing blogs for the truth.

    This is going to be a long 10 months of electioneering. And the wingnuts haven’t come close to peaking as yet. Fasten your seatbelt!!

    Thanks again to President Obama and Secretary Kerry.

  77. 77.

    Patricia Kayden

    @debbie: Depends on what they’re hearing in those churches though. There are many right leaning churches out here.

  79. 79.

    Schlemazel

    @Satby:
    Visited some friends in Burton a couple years back and my impression of neighboring Flint was it has become a black majority city. But even if it hasn’t the people there are very poor and that is just Gods way of showing good Christians they should be treated as if black.

  80. 80.

    Satby

    @JPL: The Pur filter filters lead and other heavy metals, as long as it’s changed regularly (and the filters are expensive). Brita filters less contaminants. But seriously, would you want to drink poisonous water and rely on a home filter in the first place?

  81. 81.

    debbie

    @Satby:

    some of the people, even if they switched to bottled water to drink, may have still used the stuff to bathe or shower in and gotten exposed that way.

    Every person interviewed that I’ve heard have said they’re still bathing in the water.

  82. 82.

    bystander

    Just saw that Noreen Corcoran has passed. When I was a kid, I loved watching Bachelor Father with her as John Forsyth’s teenage ward. Her brother Kevin was Moochie and played the younger brother in Old Yeller. He passed away last fall.

    That’s my obit update.

  83. 83.

    Satby

    @JPL: oh, how nice of you! Maybe we can do a meet up with some Juicers in the area when we go through about the 3rd, though that’s a Sunday and some game will probably be on.
    Speak of, where’s raven this morning??

  85. 85.

    Elizabelle

    @debbie: People with GOP leadership: welcome to Chemical Valley! You thought Freedom Enterprises and the poisoned water in West Virginia was just a West Virginia kinda thang?

    We/you all live in Chemical Valley.

    Have not decided where, precisely, I will end up longterm, but it will be a blue state, or — at minimum — a purple trending blue state.

  87. 87.

    Satby

    @Elizabelle:

    And hope you can rescue away in Florida. No shortage of animals in need.

    I’m going to have to find a place that lets me rent with potentially 4 animals now, so more will be a challenge. But I will be looking for chances to volunteer with groups down there, for sure. I’m expecting a bit less free time too ?

  88. 88.

    Gin & Tonic

    WaPo says the plane with the released hostages/prisoners has left Iran. At least part of the delay was some issue with crew rest time requirements.

  89. 89.

    Satby

    @JPL: To clarify, we probably were going to stop in Atlanta only as long as a few hours to visit the MLK museum.. then keep going on to Savannah. So hoping you have a wonderful time with your family and your son’s wedding! It was sweet of you to even think of inviting us for a bit.

  91. 91.

    Applejinx

    Since New Years I’ve been crunching away on a first video game. It’s awkward because I’m also developing games with my rich corporate programmer brother. As he is rich he sees no reason to earn money making games, or to care whether his thing succeeds or not, as it’s purely an intellectual exercise and fraternal-bonding thing.

    As I am frighteningly poor, I have to care, so I have to also be doing my own stuff simultaneously and try to make it non-garbage and flog it somehow: and since it’s just me, I am doing everything from coding to sound design to website maintenance to public relations all by myself while also doing my regular job of audio software coding. If you’re rich you hire people to do these things and throw money at them and get anything you want, and if you’re poor you get none of that, work ten times as hard for far less of a chance to even get a foothold.

    If I don’t die, I’ll do it anyway ;) because when you’re that poor you have nothing to lose and no life to care about anyhow. So I’ll be working Sunday, and basically every waking hour until I either do die, or can pay off some/all of my debts. I don’t think things SHOULD be that way, but they are, and I’m hardly alone in it: that’s kind of the problem, every starving person’s gotta hustle and they’re all up against the same rich fuckers and there’s not many openings for ‘token poor indie success story’.

    My first try’s called Counterpart and it’s about finding kindred spirits, in a peculiar sense. Here’s hoping I manage to do more of that :)

  93. 93.

    Schlemazel

    @Amir Khalid:
    I would have been confused or insulted so amused could have followed. But did the book end up in his personal belongings, a state library or a cold storage locker someplace? That might tell us what he thought of the gift.

  95. 95.

    Satby

    @tybee: raven suggested that we try to swing over to there rather than linger in Atlanta if we wanted to get a real southern ambience. I’m thinking we’ll head that way on the way back, right now it’s looking like an 8 day loop from here through Mammoth Cave and Lookout Mountain, down to St.Pete for mom a couple of days, over toward Orlando to see my sister (maybe a Disney day there), then come home via St. Augustine/ Savannah and hit the museum in Atlanta either on the way down or on the way back. We have to eat as we go, so if we can arrange to meet up with Juicers on the way that would be thrilling for both the girls and me. I have a friend that will watch the animals and if the girls miss a day of school coming back it’s not a huge deal, they get mostly As now.

  96. 96.

    Satby

    @leeleeFL: I’m going down to care for my elderly mother in the St. Petersburg area. She has early stage dementia and though she’s been doing ok so far, she’s clearly starting to have significant issues. My sisters and I have arranged home health care for a few hours each day, and that should be enough for a few more months, but she is going to need a family member very nearby to be with her most of the time by the summer, at least we think so.

  100. 100.

    Amir Khalid

    A dull English Premier League match between two once-mighty teams. Scoreless between Liverpool and visitors Manchester Untied. Guardian liveblog sums it up: “Liverpool would be winning this if their good striker was fit.” BBC liveblog: “Well that was ruddy awful.”

  101. 101.

    ThresherK

    Jon Favreau, the actor/director?

    It doesn’t surprise me when a HollywoodElite turns out to be liberal. But in a world where too many celebs speak out on politics or social issues and just end up coming across as nincompoops–no matter if they are right-wing or left-wing–this is neat.

  102. 102.

    Germy

    Oh, c’mon. We all know who we should REALLY thank:

    Republican primary front-runner Donald Trump on Saturday said his rhetoric condemning the Iranian regime played an integral part in securing the release of four U.S. prisoners.

    “So I’ve been hitting them hard, and I think I might have had something to do with it,” Trump said at the South Carolina Tea Party Convention in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

    “You want to know the truth, who’s using it? It’s a part of my staple thing. I mean, I go crazy when I hear about this,” he added.

    “They’re in one of the worst prisons in the world, and we had to do something, so I’d always talk about it.”

  105. 105.

    WereBear

    @Elizabelle: I say follow your heart. We don’t have an either/or situation with our primaries; we have an environment of abundance.

    Helping either Democratic candidate helps the country, I’d think.

    On a personal note, we regard the issues Bernie is raising to be so important we are attending an afternoon function designed to get him on the ballot in our state.

  110. 110.

    debit

    @Zinsky: Bundle up! If I had my way, I wouldn’t leave the house at all until tomorrow. However, Ellie is one of those dogs who will not poop in her own yard, so at least one walk today is in our future.

  111. 111.

    ThresherK

    @Germy: Wow. When I was a kid, in 1980, it took the actual name of Saint Ronnie on the ballot to get the Iranians to the deal table. Now Trump’s doing it before the first delegate is decided? That’s power!

    @FlyingToaster: (Oops.Thanks for keeping me from making a bigger fool of myself.)

  113. 113.

    Germy

    @Iowa Old Lady: Everyone notices it, but he’s spent his life surrounded by people in his employ, who know to keep their mouths shut. And the people at his rallies just love that he never “apologies” like… that one.

    @Amir Khalid: If Trump wins the whitehouse, it’ll be permanent midnight.

    @ThresherK: Trump thinks of himself as Reagan x100?

  119. 119.

    Ramalama

    @Gimlet:

    Obama should appoint an emergency governor to manage the affairs of Michigan and Flint. Failed governor Snyder would understand and expect nothing less.

    This, seriously.

  120. 120.

    Woodrowfan

    @Satby: I hear you. I am in the same place, but I have no siblings and my Mom lives 500 miles away. Fortunately she is in a great nursing place, has a twice-weekly caregiver who is great, and has enough money. But it’s hard watching them slip away, and I am not very good with handling the paranoia that is starting to get worse on her part. She keeps saying she wants to die, to be with my Dad. I think to myself, “I wish you would too” and then the guilt hits..

  121. 121.

    debbie

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Of course, her critics will not bother to read the last sentence of the article:

    Whatever one thinks of her political positions, she should be lauded, rather than denigrated, for her personal style.

    I blame the headline writer.

  123. 123.

    Mike in NC

    Today’s laughable column by Chuck Kraphammer is called “Defy America, pay no price” about Iran. Because America is apparently the fascist deathstar that Zionist scumbag has always dreamed it was. Put the shithead on suicide watch and I’ll gladly provide some razor blades and a loaded pistol.

  124. 124.

    Satby

    @OzarkHillbilly: and the jaw-dropping thing about that article full of stereotypes: it was written by a self identified lesbian. Who evidently chooses girlfriends by how they dress. Bad enough she wrote it, but that an editor let that see the light of day… ugh.

  126. 126.

    Satby

    @Woodrowfan: My mother has a heart condition and recently went back to chain smoking. She knows, as your mother probably does, that her mind is slipping away and we suspect she’s hoping to go before her brain does. Don’t feel guilty, they don’t want to live like this either. It’s a cruel disease.

  128. 128.

    Satby

    @debbie: I didn’t think the last line redeemed the article in the slightest. If a guy had written that it would have been pounced on as the sexist drivel that it was. But it was delightful of the author to explain how the way I dressed signifies my (non-existent) lesbianism.

  130. 130.

    debbie

    @Satby:

    When the doctor told my mom she had 6 months to live, she accepted it far better than anyone else. I think she was actually relieved that the end was in sight. My dad had died 30 years earlier and she never really recovered from that. Between that and the various diseases she’d been dealing with (cancer, emphysema, diabetes, heart and kidney failure), it was like someone else had made the choice for her and she was grateful for that. None of us heard her express any fear or anger after that, and because she was never one to keep her thoughts to herself, I know she went gracefully with more peacefulness than she’d known since my father’s death.

  131. 131.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @debbie: to be honest I didn’t read anything beyond the headline. The page changed because my head hit the desk so hard, then I had to go get an ice pack for my headache and I just couldn’t face it anymore.

  133. 133.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Ultraviolet Thunder:
    I don’t know about that individual species, but it’s common for even experts to only be able to tell parrot genders apart with surgical exploration. How the parrots tell the difference, I couldn’t say. They might not. ‘Boy, girl, who cares? I’d hit that.’ is a known option in species sexual strategies.

  136. 136.

    Tripod

    1980 is a far removed from 2016 as 1980 was from 1944. But hey, if Teddy wants to beat that nostalgia drum….

  137. 137.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @debbie: My 96 year old confined to a wheelchair with one surviving child Aunt had this to say when told she had cancer: “Thank God.”

  138. 138.

    Eolirin

    @debbie: The framing is terrible too, tbh. It’s really saying that Hillary dresses like a feminist by not caring about catering to male gaze. They could have been making a really strong point about double standards and the role women’s fashion and the expectations around it take in reinforcing negative gender dynamics (it briefly touches on it, but it’s the entire point), and instead chose to focus on lesbian associations, which are tangential to the actual issue, at best.

    Edit: Hell, if you really need to include lesbians in there somehow, the right way to do it is to point out how bad the dynamic is that someone who rejects male gaze in favor of pragmatic professionalism in style is able to be causally branded a lesbian for it. Sexy or must be gay is fucked up and needs to be called out more

  139. 139.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Frankensteinbeck: I am reminded of a certain species of dung beetle that deposits their sperm by piercing any dung beetle body they can catch with their spear like penis. Male or female it works because if it’s a male should that male mate with a female he will deposit sperm from both beetles in the female.Video of their “mating dance” is hilarious as it is really just a free for all of males chasing a female.

  140. 140.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Frankensteinbeck: I am reminded of a certain species of dung beetle that deposits their sperm by piercing any dung beetle body they can catch with their spear like male sexual organ. Male or female it works because if it’s a male should that male mate with a female he will deposit sperm from both beetles in the female.Video of their “mating dance” is hilarious as it is really just a free for all of males chasing a female.

  142. 142.

    WereBear

    @Woodrowfan: She keeps saying she wants to die, to be with my Dad. I think to myself, “I wish you would too” and then the guilt hits..

    There are so many myths in American society about facing The End, I wish you wouldn’t torment yourself about what is a totally natural response. My own father had terrible dementia, to the point where he had brain pain… something no drug could touch. I’m not sorry I agitated to let him go and stop treating all his other illnesses, which created more side effects that tormented him.

    If I had not, would my stepmother have just kept on and on? No one else was seeing this situation clearly.

    I don’t know your situation like my own; your mother could be depressed, and she could or could not have a “good reason.” But you can also examine your response and clear the charge of selfishness, if so.

  143. 143.

    Satby

    @debbie: Peace to her, and what a comfort it might have been to realize she was ready even if you and the rest of the family weren’t. I think knowing that time is winding down can make us appreciate what we have … hope so anyway. I’m Irish, so we consider a peaceful passing after a longish life to be an event that’s poignant but not necessarily sad, and sometimes a blessing. I hope it was that for your mom, and I hope that for those facing the loss of elderly loved ones anytime.

  145. 145.

    danielx

    You would think they’d be hesitant to bring up all those Iran hostage unpleasantries, but hey, those things happened under a Republican administration and that of the sainted Ronald at that, so they didn’t happen. As better writers than me have noted, being able to ignore history – nay, to believe it never happened! – is an absolute requirement for conservatives. Or as some obnoxious Russian put it…..

    And if someone pipes up: “What about those who . .. ” the answer comes from all sides, reproachfully and amicably at first: “What are you talking about, comrade! Why open old wounds?” Then they go after you with an oaken club: “Shut up! Haven’t you had enough yet? You think you’ve been rehabilitated!”

  147. 147.

    Eolirin

    @srv: Plz troll better. The authoritarianism link is blindingly obvious to everyone here. Though the oversimplified caricature bit is particularly hilarious given that he’s reducing Trump support down to a single variable.

  149. 149.

    Amir Khalid

    @Satby: So Hillary dresses like a professional person, eminently presentable but not flashy or off-putting. There’s nothing straight or gay about it; it’s just how you’d expect a woman president to dress. It seemed to me like a story about nothing. Stories like this are why I don’t even use all my five free stories every month.

  150. 150.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Satby: I’ve freed it – just got onto the dashboard for the day to see what’s what. Sorry for the delay.

    Are you familiar with the St. Pete area? Please let me know if you need/want recommendations for restaurants and other things while you’re down here to see your Mom.

  153. 153.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @WereBear:

    My own father had terrible dementia, to the point where he had brain pain… something no drug could touch.

    This hit me like a ton of bricks…because it may explain my mother’s last few months–when she wasn’t sleeping she was screaming, & no one knew why, & she couldn’t tell us.

    A dear friend had a stroke on Thanksgiving Day 1996 that didn’t affect his motor function or intellect but his sensorium–he spent the next 4 years in constant pain (his description: Imagine an electric current running down the left side of your body, 24/7/365). Methadone only relieve some of the pain until he died from a massive heart attack the day before the 2000 election.

    Mom lived on her own for 10 years after Dad passed, til dementia surfaced at 94, She died last August at 102+, & while it wasn’t a blessing, it was a mercy.

  154. 154.

    Uncle Cosmo

    Somewhat o/t, but could we get an open thread for a geographic role call ;^) of who’s where in Juiceville? I see a post that sez (e.g.) “we had tornadoes today” & wonder if the poster is somewhere where that’s not all that unusual (like OK) or where it’s flat-out wack (like Manhattan).

    FTR I am in so-called Charm City–Baltimore, MD (pronounce Bawlmer Merlin), hon. You don’t like the weather here, wait a couple of minutes, it’ll change…

  155. 155.

    The Fat Kate Middleton

    @Elizabelle: I live in east central Iowa and have yet to receive a single phone call. On the other hand, I receive a mailer a day from both Hillary and Bernie (and have even been sent a couple from Jeb!). I’d love to have you visit me on behalf of either H or B. No canvassing or phone banking for me this caucus season – age and arthritis make it too difficult. But I have a house with many more bedrooms than we need, so am putting up out-of-state volunteers such as yourself. Warning: it was -19 degrees this morning at our acreage in northern Iowa.

  156. 156.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @The Fat Kate Middleton: I’m most likely coming to Iowa within the next week, (I already have a place to crash lined up, I think.) Could I come visit you & make the case for my friend of long standing, Martin O’Malley? Martin wasn’t too proud to talk to the one guy who showed up in the middle of a storm (though the media chose to ridicule him for it) & if we can work out the logistics, I wouldn’t be too proud to talk to you 1-on-1 (or anyone else you have over).

  157. 157.

    PST

    @Schlemazel: Re “frog chokers” and “frog drowners,” in my neck of the woods we called those storms “toad stranglers” when I was a boy.

  159. 159.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    You ever get the weird feeling that whole sailor thing was someone in the State Department saying “Look if you want signal you are all grown adults and maker your critics look like utter idiots, here’s what you do…”

  161. 161.

    Procopius

    @Elizabelle: No way those guys can be prosecuted. I haven’t read Snyder’s “emergency manager” law, but you can be sure it not only provided them with dictatorial power, it provided them plenty of opportunities to get rich and protected them from any kind of liability. I don’t think anybody has ever accused Snyder of being dumb. They’re doing the same kind of thing in about a dozen cities now. Unfortunately, the Republican power is from rural voters who hate the cities and people who live in them.

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