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You are here: Home / Nature & Respite / Sunday Evening Open Thread: Inspiration (& Other Stuff)

Sunday Evening Open Thread: Inspiration (& Other Stuff)

by Anne Laurie|  February 21, 20165:43 pm| 190 Comments

This post is in: Nature & Respite, Open Threads, Daydream Believers

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pretty instantly iconic photo of President Obama & a young guest at a White House reception https://t.co/Bp3BGyYwe5 pic.twitter.com/4qDly5QJp5

— laura olin (@lauraolin) February 19, 2016

Since I seem to be the only front-pager not smart enough to go out & enjoy the weather respite. (In my defense, I did some unexpected basement-cleaning yesterday & now my allergies are set to STUN.)

Apart from All That, what’s on the agenda as we wrap up the weekend?

it matters that young women—50 percent of our population!—have never had that chance.

— laura olin (@lauraolin) February 19, 2016

For the minimum snark requirement…

This picture of Obama with children is absolutely adorable: #ObamaAndKids pic.twitter.com/ZYO3jgPr9P

— Casey (@pari_passu) February 21, 2016

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Previous Post: « Open Thread: This Seems Like Wise Advice
Next Post: Some Clarifications Regarding Heller vs. District of Columbia »

Reader Interactions

190Comments

  1. 1.

    Roger Moore

    February 21, 2016 at 5:45 pm

    If only Obama had been nicer to the Republicans, they wouldn’t have been forced to be so mean to him.

  2. 2.

    Baud

    February 21, 2016 at 5:49 pm

    Hillary would cook and eat those children and Bernie would execute them as enemies of the Revolution.

    Vote Baud!

  3. 3.

    Mike J

    February 21, 2016 at 5:52 pm

    You would have to be some sort of moron to campaign as a third term for that guy, huh?

  4. 4.

    Quaker in a Basement

    February 21, 2016 at 5:52 pm

    Go ahead and put that photog’s name on a Pulitzer.

  5. 5.

    Amir Khalid

    February 21, 2016 at 5:57 pm

    I really like the caption on that picture of Obama with McConnell and Böhner.

  6. 6.

    TaMara (BHF)

    February 21, 2016 at 5:58 pm

    I love that photo and the one of him holding newborn twins is priceless. They’re all great #ObamaandKids (h/t some kind B-J commenter).

    Just got back from taking Bixby to see his first herd of Buffalo, he was clearly starstruck. I was all about the babies. Sooo cute.

  7. 7.

    Denali

    February 21, 2016 at 5:58 pm

    OT:

    In memory of Harper Lee

    http://inquisitr.com/Harper Lee, Elizabeth Warren/Robert Murdoch

    It would be irresponsible not to speculate.

  8. 8.

    gogol's wife

    February 21, 2016 at 6:02 pm

    That top picture is exactly what I looked like when I met Obama (a little taller, fatter, grayer, and a few years older, but the facial expression is exactly the same!).

  9. 9.

    Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA

    February 21, 2016 at 6:04 pm

    @Roger Moore: Yep. Bonus points to the Rs for their use of classic abuser logic.

  10. 10.

    Gimlet

    February 21, 2016 at 6:05 pm

    @Baud:

    You should talk

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CUjNAg9UwAApQGK.jpg

  11. 11.

    Ready

    February 21, 2016 at 6:05 pm

    Rubio on the stump smacking Trump AND Sanders.

    Points to eminent domain abuse by Trump, hits Sanders on “free” college (“more welders and electricians, not philosophy majors).

    Young, energetic and handsome–and soon to be VERY well funded.

  12. 12.

    Ready

    February 21, 2016 at 6:07 pm

    President Rubio and Speaker Ryan–a dynamic Gen X combo who will revolutionize DC even more than Reagan did.

    The Reagan Kids are ready to lead!

  13. 13.

    rikyrah

    February 21, 2016 at 6:07 pm

    @Ready:
    You are so funny

  14. 14.

    A Ghost To Most

    February 21, 2016 at 6:08 pm

    @TaMara (BHF): probably jazzed to see animals his own size. Which herd did you visit?

  15. 15.

    gogol's wife

    February 21, 2016 at 6:08 pm

    @Ready:

    Oh, now we know where RtR went after Jeb imploded.

  16. 16.

    Ready

    February 21, 2016 at 6:09 pm

    Hillary is yesterday’s news, Rubio is the future, he smacks her in all polls.

  17. 17.

    gogol's wife

    February 21, 2016 at 6:09 pm

    Somebody with a 2.0 grade point average in high school is too stupid to be either a philosopher or a welder (or president).

  18. 18.

    Elie

    February 21, 2016 at 6:10 pm

    Gonna miss this President. Hope we can survive this next election by pulling this kind of stuff out of our memories and into our hopes for the future. Had to jump from last thread where it felt like we were going back into the circular firing squad mode. People are complex and it seems some of us don’t want to reconcile our beliefs to any other — that there is no 32,000 mile view. Only I am right and my beliefs are absolute. People talk like they personally KNOW Bernie or Hillary or whoever… a little scary sometimes…

  19. 19.

    TaMara (BHF)

    February 21, 2016 at 6:10 pm

    @A Ghost To Most: There is one about two miles west of town. Funny, they have this whole big pasture, but they hang out near the road. Guess they like people watching.

  20. 20.

    A Ghost To Most

    February 21, 2016 at 6:10 pm

    @gogol’s wife:

    The king is dead. Long live the king.

  21. 21.

    Mandalay

    February 21, 2016 at 6:11 pm

    This woman wrote to President Obama after her granddaughter cried because she wasn’t ready for a new president.

    She got a reply. [via digby]

  22. 22.

    Yutsano

    February 21, 2016 at 6:12 pm

    @Ready: How quickly our allegiances change. And no, young Marco will not be President either.

    My agenda? Unpacking. I have a new flat closer to work on a short term lease in case a job on the Wet Side opens up. Then I can bug out before it gets too expensive. Plus cheap as fuck.

  23. 23.

    Steeplejack

    February 21, 2016 at 6:12 pm

    Here’s a weirdness (possible bug): On the desktop site (Firefox, Windows 10), Laura Olin’s first tweet (about black men) doesn’t show up, only the second one (about black women). On the mobile site (Chrome, Android), they both show up—with the Twitter icons. On the desktop site only the text appears.

  24. 24.

    John Revolta

    February 21, 2016 at 6:13 pm

    BRINKS. FUCKING TRUCKS. REDUX.

  25. 25.

    gogol's wife

    February 21, 2016 at 6:15 pm

    @Mandalay:

    My God, I have to show that to my husband. This is what he deals with with me almost every day. That little girl is channeling my feelings!

    ETA: Especially when she screams, “NOOOO!” when her grandmother says, “He can only serve two terms, his time is up.”

  26. 26.

    Ruckus

    February 21, 2016 at 6:16 pm

    @Steeplejack:
    All 3 show up on my desktop. iMac FF latest version of all software.

  27. 27.

    A Ghost To Most

    February 21, 2016 at 6:16 pm

    @TaMara (BHF): So, not the herd near the Boulder Turnpike?

    So many places to watch wildlife around here.

  28. 28.

    FlyingToaster

    February 21, 2016 at 6:16 pm

    @gogol’s wife: This is like his 10th or 12th alias. So long as he sticks to hit-n-run tactics, he doesn’t get banned. And then, well, he engages and can’t resist stating his actual opinions and WHAM! with the banhammer.

  29. 29.

    gogol's wife

    February 21, 2016 at 6:18 pm

    “Rubio is the future,” how macabre.

  30. 30.

    Baud

    February 21, 2016 at 6:20 pm

    @Steeplejack: Turn off Do Not Track in Firefox to see the full tweet.

  31. 31.

    Patricia Kayden

    February 21, 2016 at 6:20 pm

    Ugh. Do we really need a photo with McConnell and Boehner?

    Went to see the movie Race this morning. It does a great job of depicting Jesse Owens’ Olympic triumph in 1936 Berlin. Very inspirational and I’ve always loved Owens’ story so it’s great that it has made it to the big screen.

    My only criticism of the film was that it portrayed Leni Riefenstahl in a sympathetic light which I thought was strange for someone who tried to glamorize Nazism.

  32. 32.

    Mandalay

    February 21, 2016 at 6:23 pm

    @Steeplejack:

    On the desktop site only the text appears.

    I had that as well (Firefox/Win10), but only for a couple of seconds – then it fixed itself. I’m guessing that if you refresh the page it will be fine.

  33. 33.

    Brachiator

    February 21, 2016 at 6:23 pm

    @Ready:

    Rubio on the stump smacking Trump AND Sanders.

    You are so funny. I remember when you were Ready to Rise for Jeb. But now that Jeb has rolled up his ! and run back to momma, you are now backing Baby Rubio? Fantastic. Are you going to chop off more of your handle after the GOP has been soundly thumped?

    Let’s get ready to rumble. And as the song goes,

    I’m ready, ready as anybody can be.
    I’m ready for you, and I hope you’re ready for me.

    And now, to dinner.

  34. 34.

    Elizabelle

    February 21, 2016 at 6:23 pm

    Love the picture of Obama on the rug with the baby.

    Hope he gets years and years of playing with his grandkids. And great-grandkids.

    He’s a good man.

  35. 35.

    eemom

    February 21, 2016 at 6:24 pm

    @Ready:

    Sorry dull troll, but yer Lil Marco is dumber than a bag of hammers. A debate between him and Clinton would make Christie’s smackdown look like a pat on the back. He’d be stammering the same dumbass line over and over way more than 4 times. That or shitting his pants. Or both.

  36. 36.

    FlyingToaster

    February 21, 2016 at 6:25 pm

    @eemom: Plus Lil’ Marco has to survive the Trumpenator.

  37. 37.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    February 21, 2016 at 6:25 pm

    @Baud: Uh Oh, Baud’s gone negative.

    ETA: You still can’t compete with the Hilbeast on that score.

  38. 38.

    Steeplejack

    February 21, 2016 at 6:26 pm

    @Ready:

    Granite, is that you, bruh? I thought you were hitchin’ home on the last empty Brink’s truck.

  39. 39.

    Chyron HR

    February 21, 2016 at 6:26 pm

    @Ready:

    Oh, sorry, kid, but Rubio betrayed the Bush family, and Jeb won’t stand for that, remember? You spent the past six months telling us that.

  40. 40.

    p.a.

    February 21, 2016 at 6:26 pm

    Got my first senior citizen’s discount a few weeks ago; $10 off for an adaptation of Chekhov’s The Seagull. The ticket girl solicited me for the discount. Happy for the ten bucks, but I was told the discount was for 55 and older- I’m 56- and when I offered my i.d. I was told it wasn’t necessary. Fuckers. I don’t look a day over 54.

    The play is called Stupid Fucking Bird, and includes at least 1 instance per act of attempted audience participation, consisting of the protagonist hectoring the audience about the injustice of his situation and our indifference to it. By the third act I don’t think I was alone in rooting for his gun to win their next encounter.
    Wikied The Seagull’s plot after, and this play was actually a pretty faithful retelling.

  41. 41.

    Baud

    February 21, 2016 at 6:29 pm

    @BillinGlendaleCA: After three states and no delegates, I can’t continue to rely on my sunny disposition and positive message alone.

  42. 42.

    Steeplejack

    February 21, 2016 at 6:30 pm

    @Baud:

    “Do not track” is already off.

    And it’s strange that it would nuke only one tweet and not all of them.

  43. 43.

    Steeplejack

    February 21, 2016 at 6:31 pm

    @Mandalay:

    I have refreshed the page several times. No luck.

  44. 44.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    February 21, 2016 at 6:33 pm

    @Chyron HR: Didn’t RtR tell us about all the negative stuff the jeb? campaign had on Marco “Boy Wonder”?

  45. 45.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    February 21, 2016 at 6:34 pm

    This election cycle has made me feel more like an adult than any time in my life. And I’m 56, been around a bit.
    The difference now is that while as usual I see politics from my favorite candidates’ point of view, I also see my candidates from the GOP point of view. Before this I never realized how Democrats were viewed by Republicans. It’s sometimes ugly and sobering. Some of them hate Obama with negative emotion as strong as the happy feels we get when we see him with little kids. I understand that now, and I can feel my own affection for this great man while accepting that others cannot feel the same way. It’s a bit liberating because now it’s not necessary to convince everyone. Just plain winning electorally can be enough and sometimes has to be enough.
    I thank the unfiltered nature of social media for this revelation. Without wingnuts in my FB feed I’d still believe that everyone just had to be convinced of the truth. Exposure to other people’s powerful feelings has shown me a gulf that can never really be bridged and made me comfortable to stay on my own side.

  46. 46.

    Gimlet

    February 21, 2016 at 6:34 pm

    @Baud:

    Try for the endorsement of Harold Ford. Should help in the upcoming southern states.

  47. 47.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    February 21, 2016 at 6:36 pm

    @Gimlet: That’s Harold “Joe of the Morning” Ford to you!

  48. 48.

    Ruckus

    February 21, 2016 at 6:37 pm

    @p.a.:
    Just wait till you qualify for any and all senior discounts. Not just those for inbetweeners.

  49. 49.

    Doug R

    February 21, 2016 at 6:39 pm

    @Ready: At least beer gives you a buzz before you piss it away.

  50. 50.

    Ruckus

    February 21, 2016 at 6:41 pm

    @Ultraviolet Thunder:
    I credit age with giving me the two concepts at work here.
    1. Not everyone will agree with me, no matter what.
    2. I don’t have to give a shit that they don’t.

    ETA Welcome to the club.

  51. 51.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    February 21, 2016 at 6:43 pm

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    Didn’t RtR tell us about all the negative stuff the jeb? campaign had on Marco “Boy Wonder”?

    I heard a rumor that there was a rumor in the making that Boy Wonder had a second family or similar disgraces. That would explain his cottonmouth, flopsweat, brain lockups and extremely bad financial management as well as anything.

  52. 52.

    Anoniminous

    February 21, 2016 at 6:44 pm

    @Ultraviolet Thunder:

    The biggest self-serving bit of nonsense is Aristotle’s definition of human beings as rational animals.

  53. 53.

    Chyron HR

    February 21, 2016 at 6:44 pm

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    Yep, it’s all waiting there for Hillary to use in the general. Thanks for your service to the Democratic party, JEB!

  54. 54.

    Germy

    February 21, 2016 at 6:44 pm

    @Patricia Kayden:

    Went to see the movie Race this morning. It does a great job of depicting Jesse Owens’ Olympic triumph in 1936 Berlin.

    Yesterday I linked to an esquire article that said they had to add the swastikas digitally because it is illegal to wear them in Germany. And they covered the flags between shots.

    Meanwhile, in this country we have Cruz tweeting “they want to take away our [confederate] flag!”

  55. 55.

    Gimlet

    February 21, 2016 at 6:44 pm

    @Doug R:

    Another beer?

    https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/t51.2885-15/s320x320/e35/12716747_1104738682890939_1343022826_n.jpg?ig_cache_key=MTE4NjY4Mjg5MjUwOTg1OTU3MQ%3D%3D.2

  56. 56.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    February 21, 2016 at 6:45 pm

    Well I tried to head down to a park(Echo Park) to take some pics of downtown LA(DTLA), but once I got over the hill on the freeway and saw the muck around DTLA; I turned around and came back home?.

  57. 57.

    MomSense

    February 21, 2016 at 6:46 pm

    @rikyrah:

    I think Jeb gave Right to Rise to Rubio when he suspended his campaign.

  58. 58.

    debbie

    February 21, 2016 at 6:46 pm

    Double post on the teary granddaughter. Still wish the grandmother had put her phone aside for one moment to console her granddaughter.

  59. 59.

    Germy

    February 21, 2016 at 6:46 pm

    Simpsons did a brief promotional spoof of this bizarre election cycle:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CHQlZiJ8YM

    warning: violence on the debate stage.

  60. 60.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    February 21, 2016 at 6:48 pm

    @Anoniminous:

    The biggest self-serving bit of nonsense is Aristotle’s definition of human beings as rational animals.

    I gave that one up after reading a heap of good pop-psych books about behavior. We’re basically a wad of accumulated biases in search of rationalization. I accept that about myself and just try to keep my biases slanted toward moral outcomes.

  61. 61.

    Gimlet

    February 21, 2016 at 6:49 pm

    @Ultraviolet Thunder:

    Maybe this?

    http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/marco-rubios-childhood-friend-tied-to-miamis-most-infamous-gay-porn-case-8203133

    Thursday, January 28, 2016
    “I’m sorry for Marco that [this arrest] has come up, but I’m more sorry for me and my family,” says Barrios, a solidly built man in a bright-blue polo shirt and mirrored wrap-around shades. “I’m not the one running for president.”

    Barrios suddenly found his long-forgotten after-hours police stop in a Brickell park thrust into national headlines last week, when the Washington Post dredged up the 1990 incident. But the Post missed the crime’s most eye-opening tie to Florida’s junior senator.

    Decades after his legal run-in with Rubio, Barrios was associated with perhaps the most notorious gay porn ring in Miami history, an Edgewater house full of models with names like “Khali Kreme” and “Sincere Luv” who had sex all day in front of dozens of webcams. Couple that with the fact that the park where Rubio was arrested was a well-known gay cruising spot and lurid rumors — with no basis in documented fact — have blown up all this week on the internet, eagerly stoked by Donald Trump supporters casting Rubio as a closeted homosexual.

  62. 62.

    JPL

    February 21, 2016 at 6:52 pm

    @TaMara (BHF): On that site, there was a comment about the pictures making a great coffee table book. I’d certainly by it.

  63. 63.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    February 21, 2016 at 6:55 pm

    @Gimlet:
    I don’t recall that but I remember reading that Rubio had used his position to help out a family member with a history of drug crimes. Gonna go Google that now.

  64. 64.

    Anoniminous

    February 21, 2016 at 6:57 pm

    @Gimlet:

    Rubio is known to masticate in public and he flagrantly consorts with known thespians and other homo sapiens.

  65. 65.

    FlipYrWhig

    February 21, 2016 at 6:58 pm

    Marco Rubio, the human being, is such an unpleasant little shit. Marco Rubio, the politician, is Republican Poochie, a focus-grouped character to appeal to The Youth with catchphrases.

  66. 66.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    February 21, 2016 at 6:59 pm

    @Ultraviolet Thunder:
    Rubio’s BIL did 12 years for drug smuggling. No, that wasn’t it…

    ETA: Oh, yeah. Then Rubio helped him get a Real Estate license after he got out. That’s what I remembered.
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/how-marco-rubio-helped-his-ex-con-relative-get-a-real-estate-license/2015/12/30/a1d96816-ae7f-11e5-9ab0-884d1cc4b33e_story.html

  67. 67.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    February 21, 2016 at 7:01 pm

    @FlipYrWhig:

    Marco Rubio, the human being, is such an unpleasant little shit. Marco Rubio, the politician, is Republican Poochie, a focus-grouped character to appeal to The Youth with catchphrases repeated over and over again.

    Fixed it fo ya.

  68. 68.

    Baud

    February 21, 2016 at 7:07 pm

    @BillinGlendaleCA: The Youth like memes.

  69. 69.

    Ready

    February 21, 2016 at 7:09 pm

    @eemom:

    We will use the same strategy we used with George W in 2000: lower pre debate expectations through the media, then declare victory when Rubio exceeds them. Also focus on weird malapros and mannerisms of Hillary Clinton (we will find something like Al Gore’s sighing to harp on over and over and over again until it’s a media punchline!)

  70. 70.

    catclub

    February 21, 2016 at 7:11 pm

    @srv: Germany had 47% unemployment by the time they resorted to Hitler. Tell me why that does not matter.

  71. 71.

    AnotherBruce

    February 21, 2016 at 7:13 pm

    @Baud: Now that you’ve finally come out against the cannibalism of children. Will you also pledge not to eat puppies and kittens? (If you want my vote.)

  72. 72.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    February 21, 2016 at 7:15 pm

    Katy TurVerified account
    ‏@ KatyTurNBC
    Trump trashes press. Crowd jeers. Guy by press ‘pen’ looks at us & screams “you’re a bitch!” Other gentleman gives cameras the double bird.

  73. 73.

    Heliopause

    February 21, 2016 at 7:15 pm

    We’ve never had a chance to see anybody who looks like Trump as Prez either. If he wins I’m going to grow a giant combover and get a sprayon tan. I don’t know why you want to crush my dreams.

  74. 74.

    Baud

    February 21, 2016 at 7:16 pm

    @AnotherBruce:

    Just because puppies and kittens will make up my kitchen cabinet doesn’t mean I’m going to eat them!

  75. 75.

    Baud

    February 21, 2016 at 7:17 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Other gentleman gives cameras the double bird

    As gentlemen are wont to do.

  76. 76.

    AnotherBruce

    February 21, 2016 at 7:18 pm

    @Baud: OK then, you’ve got my vote!

  77. 77.

    Felonius Monk

    February 21, 2016 at 7:19 pm

    @Ready: Did I get this right?

    Jebbie folded like a cheap suit, so you are unemployed. Neither the Trump nor the Cruz campaigns wanted anything to do with you, so you signed up to carry water for Rubio. Now you are Marco’s Waterboy. Based on what I’ve seen you’re going to earn your keep. So, instead of hanging out here annoying folks, why don’t you get to work –– I hear Marco calling for another bottle of Poland Spring.

  78. 78.

    Mike J

    February 21, 2016 at 7:20 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Hate spewed against Muslims, Hispanics, the press are happy to just giggle along,

    NOW shit is getting serious. Trump is actively speaking about his betters.

  79. 79.

    Mike J

    February 21, 2016 at 7:21 pm

    @Baud: My saw has a laser guide on it. Distracts the cats from cabinet work, or any other carpentry, really.

  80. 80.

    Felonius Monk

    February 21, 2016 at 7:21 pm

    @Baud: Good campaign slogan: BAUD – The leader who won’t eat your kids, kittens, or puppies. Good family values.

  81. 81.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    February 21, 2016 at 7:21 pm

    @Germy: :-) Thanks.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  82. 82.

    Baud

    February 21, 2016 at 7:23 pm

    @Felonius Monk: Will it fit on a bumper sticker?

  83. 83.

    pseudonymous in nc

    February 21, 2016 at 7:25 pm

    @Ready: ‘We?’ Wheeeeeeeee! Wheeeeee! All the way home.

  84. 84.

    Mandalay

    February 21, 2016 at 7:28 pm

    @Ultraviolet Thunder:Those stories are pretty weak on substance, but they still offer plenty of material to use to drag Rubio into the dirt.

    The sanctimonious response from Rubio’s spokeman was interesting:

    Orlando made some very big mistakes almost 30 years ago, served his time, and has paid his debt to society

    That comment is a perfect lead-in to ask Rubio why he opposes giving ex-felons in Florida the right to vote.

  85. 85.

    Felonius Monk

    February 21, 2016 at 7:28 pm

    @Baud:

    Will it fit on a bumper sticker?

    If it doesn’t, we’ll mandate larger bumpers.

  86. 86.

    SiubhanDuinne, Annoying Scoundrel

    February 21, 2016 at 7:31 pm

    @Ready:

    The ‘Pubs wouldn’t even have to spend money on a new logo. Just re-use the one from 2012.

  87. 87.

    Germy

    February 21, 2016 at 7:32 pm

    @srv:

    The best pointy-head ivory tower Harvard elites and the Bezos Post have to offer is Full Metal Godwin

    Not to worry! When Trump wins the presidency he’ll have them all lined up and shot!

  88. 88.

    eemom

    February 21, 2016 at 7:32 pm

    @Ready:

    You’re pathetic, “we”. Is there someplace I can donate for you to purchase a life?

  89. 89.

    Baud

    February 21, 2016 at 7:32 pm

    @Felonius Monk: Sounds good. I like big bumpers.

  90. 90.

    Mandalay

    February 21, 2016 at 7:33 pm

    @Baud:

    Just because puppies and kittens will make up my kitchen cabinet doesn’t mean I’m going to eat them!

    Your failure to issue a categorical denial is troubling. You appear to be conflicted on the issue.

  91. 91.

    Chyron HR

    February 21, 2016 at 7:35 pm

    @Ready:

    You seem to be confused, son. Rubio is running against a man named Donald Trump right now. You might want to try and beat him.

  92. 92.

    SiubhanDuinne, Annoying Scoundrel

    February 21, 2016 at 7:35 pm

    @Yutsano:

    in case a job on the Wet Side opens up.

    Oh, nice, an ocean view.

  93. 93.

    Germy

    February 21, 2016 at 7:35 pm

    @Baud:

    I like big bumpers.

    And you cannot lie…

  94. 94.

    Felonius Monk

    February 21, 2016 at 7:39 pm

    @Baud:

    I like big bumpers.

    Front bumpers or rear bumpers? Or both?

  95. 95.

    Renie

    February 21, 2016 at 7:40 pm

    @srv: her article is heavy on endorsing rubio. guess the message is out, the old GOP wants rubio

  96. 96.

    Renie

    February 21, 2016 at 7:41 pm

    @Ready: a new troll? or is this JEB?’s old troll who has switched sides.

  97. 97.

    gogol's wife

    February 21, 2016 at 7:41 pm

    Last scene of Lester’s Three Musketeers on right now. It’s good. Oliver Reed at his best.
    ETA: I guess it’s not the last scene, I just remembered it that way. Faye Dunaway getting her comeuppance.

  98. 98.

    Mike J

    February 21, 2016 at 7:44 pm

    Why did nobody tell me of the passing of Vanity?

  99. 99.

    Patricia Kayden

    February 21, 2016 at 7:50 pm

    Hopefully this article is right and Trump has a strangehold on the Republican nomination.

    I am salivating at the thought of Republicans choosing Trump as their Presidential candidate. November is going to be fun.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-has-a-stranglehold-on-the-gop-nomination-so-why-isnt-he-getting-credit/2016/02/21/5fb2ef48-d8be-11e5-925f-1d10062cc82d_story.html?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_monday-fix-655pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

  100. 100.

    Gvg

    February 21, 2016 at 7:55 pm

    His hair is so grey. I know we all predicted it but it still makes me sad.

  101. 101.

    Andy

    February 21, 2016 at 7:55 pm

    @catclub: The unemployment measure that the presstitute press reports is meaningless as it counts no discouraged workers, and discouraged workers are a huge part of American unemployment. The reported unemployment rate is about 5%, which is the U-3 measure that does not count as unemployed workers who are too discouraged to continue searching for jobs.

    The US government has a second official unemployment measure, U-6, that counts workers discouraged for less than one-year. This official rate of unemployment is 10%.

    When long term (more than one year) discouraged workers are included in the measure of unemployment, as once was done, the US unemployment rate is 23%. (See John Williams, shadowstats.com)

  102. 102.

    gene108

    February 21, 2016 at 7:59 pm

    Anyone know of a good way to get rid of old college textbooks, other than throwing them in the trash?

    Through my several trips through college, I’ve accumulated some textbooks, I thought might come in handy later or am holding onto for nostalgia’s sake.

    I went to reduce the number I have.

    I could try selling them on-line, but I have a felling the market for old editions and/or out-of-date textbooks (15-20+ years old) is not too high.

    Donating them is problematic, as I tried this with a cousin’s textbooks, but was told textbook company’s are very strict about who can resell them, so the Salvation Army / Goodwill is out.

    I’ll check with my local library, if they will use them.

    Otherwise, I feel I’m out of options.

    I’m open to suggestions.

  103. 103.

    JPL

    February 21, 2016 at 8:06 pm

    @gene108: I’ll be the bearer of bad news. If you can’t find a collector, take off the covers and you can recycle the paper.

  104. 104.

    Mike J

    February 21, 2016 at 8:06 pm

    @gene108: Pity SA/Goodwill won’t stand up to them. Pretty much all publishers think used bookstores are theft, but first sale doctrine means they’re out of luck. A charity org would do better in the court (at least that of public opinion) taking on a textbook publisher. I understand why charities don’t wish to spend money on lawsuits, I just wish the extortionists can so freely go after them.

  105. 105.

    SiubhanDuinne, Annoying Scoundrel

    February 21, 2016 at 8:07 pm

    @gene108:

    If you’re crafty, and if the books are thick enough, you could make a few of those safe boxes disguised as books — cut out the middle and glue the page margins together, and voilà!, you have a place to stow cash, extra keys, jewelry, and other small valuables.

  106. 106.

    tybee

    February 21, 2016 at 8:08 pm

    @gene108:

    you bought them, you can sell them. or give them away.

  107. 107.

    Patricia Kayden

    February 21, 2016 at 8:09 pm

    Am watching Game Change on HBO once again. Just cannot get enough of that film. Shows how the GOP thought everyone in this country was daft enough to elect someone as dumb as Palin to a position where she was a heartbeat away from the Presidency.

    Every time I see McCain, all I can think about is how his forehead should have a huge photo of Palin on it.

  108. 108.

    Chyron HR

    February 21, 2016 at 8:11 pm

    @Andy:

    There’s a secret unemployment stat that the government is hiding, but Alex Jones and the Timecube guy know what it REALLY is!

    And yet some silly people still have trouble taking Sanders’ supporters seriously.

  109. 109.

    raven

    February 21, 2016 at 8:12 pm

    @gene108: I spent a number of years developing online courses and once I got on the textbook mailing lists they didn’t stop sending desk copies for years. I took them to habitat.

  110. 110.

    JPL

    February 21, 2016 at 8:15 pm

    @Patricia Kayden: Palin could be our next Secretary of Education.

  111. 111.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    February 21, 2016 at 8:16 pm

    @Chyron HR:

    Everyone in the conservative twitterverse discovered the labor participation rate when unemployment hit 5%. Not taking into account things like baby boomers aging out of the labor force, and the effect of people being able to get health care benefits separate from employers of course. Naysaying Obama isn’t just for the right. I wonder why that is…

  112. 112.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    February 21, 2016 at 8:18 pm

    @TaMara (BHF):

    (h/t some kind B-J commenter).

    ME!
    ME!

    It was ME!

    Wow. My comments have never been called kind before. I may have to turn over a new leaf.

  113. 113.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    February 21, 2016 at 8:23 pm

    @efgoldman: Hey Goldie, how did Obama lose the Massachusetts primary in 2008?

    I could never figure that out. He had the support of Deval Patrick, Ted Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy, John Kerry. He had all of the many campuses. At least 15% of the vote was Black. The Whites are liberal. And yet he lost to Clinton by 15 pts.

    Any ideas?

  114. 114.

    The Lodger

    February 21, 2016 at 8:23 pm

    @Felonius Monk: For a minute, I thought Poland Spring was the Eastern European version of Arab Spring.

  115. 115.

    A Humble Lurker

    February 21, 2016 at 8:24 pm

    it matters that young women—50 percent of our population!—have never had that chance.

    Really? I’ll vote for Hilary in the general (I’d have to be brain dead not to and I don’t think I’m quite there yet) but this sounds a lot like ‘you should vote for Hilz ‘cuz woman’ which was the same logic that got Palin McCain’s VP slot.

  116. 116.

    AnotherBruce

    February 21, 2016 at 8:25 pm

    @Mandalay: So we have the first big scandal of Baud’s campaign. If only he would deny eating puppies and kittens, so we could all move on.

  117. 117.

    Achrachno

    February 21, 2016 at 8:25 pm

    @srv: Rednecks AND plutocrats. Wow!

  118. 118.

    The Lodger

    February 21, 2016 at 8:26 pm

    @Renie: Hint: It’s never a new troll.

  119. 119.

    Fair Economist

    February 21, 2016 at 8:26 pm

    @Andy:

    When long term (more than one year) discouraged workers are included in the measure of unemployment, as once was done, the US unemployment rate is 23%. (See John Williams, shadowstats.com)

    Shadowstats is complete garbage. He just makes up the numbers.

  120. 120.

    Patricia Kayden

    February 21, 2016 at 8:28 pm

    @JPL: The way she jigged herself up for that bizarre Trump endorsement, I think she’s aiming for another VP run. A Trump/Palin ticket would whet the Republicans’ red meat base. (And be hilarious at the same time.)

  121. 121.

    Wrb

    February 21, 2016 at 8:34 pm

    @gene108: I’m trying to build a library of serious books for a rural county that has a library that only stocks romances and recent deceive books. I might be interested in these and any other serious books of which someone wants to be shed.

  122. 122.

    Wrb

    February 21, 2016 at 8:37 pm

    @Wrb: detective, not deceive

  123. 123.

    The Lodger

    February 21, 2016 at 8:39 pm

    @efgoldman: @Wrb: Deceive books? Are those Conservative Book Club offerings? Anything by Glenn Beck?

  124. 124.

    schrodinger's cat

    February 21, 2016 at 8:40 pm

    @gene108: Have you tried selling on Amazon?

  125. 125.

    SiubhanDuinne, Annoying Scoundrel

    February 21, 2016 at 8:42 pm

    @Patricia Kayden:

    I can’t imagine that even Trump would choose Palin as his running mate (however much she may be plumping for the job). He’s horrible and grotesque in many ways, but I don’t think he’s actually stupid. And naming Palin would be stupid.

    ETA: Unless, of course, he doesn’t really want to be President. I’ve thought from the beginning that he doesn’t want the job, and he may be looking for some kind of self-sabotage that wouldn’t look like same to his base.

  126. 126.

    Steve from Antioch

    February 21, 2016 at 8:45 pm

    @gene108:

    Only use of old textbooks I can think of: http://www.instructables.com/id/Invisible-Book-Shelf/

  127. 127.

    PaulW

    February 21, 2016 at 8:51 pm

    just wanna mention good news for fellow writers in one of the anthologies I’ve been published in: Edith Maxwell and Harriette Sackler are EACH up for Best Short Story for the Agathas (a “Cozy Mystery” award). Edith for “A Questionable Death” and Harriette for “Suffer the Poor,” both published in History and Mystery Oh My!

  128. 128.

    Iowa Old Lady

    February 21, 2016 at 8:51 pm

    @A Humble Lurker: I understand the preposterousness of the Palin logic, but I also ask you to think about the scene in Grant Park the night Obama was first elected. Jesse Jackson had tears running down his face. That wasn’t just because he agreed with Obama’s policies. I wouldn’t presume to tell him he shouldn’t feel that way.

  129. 129.

    Howard Beale IV

    February 21, 2016 at 8:51 pm

    @Andy: Anyone quoting Shadowstats for anything definitive is a fool. U6 already takes those discouraged workers into its calculation. What I suspect the Shadowstat asshole is doing is adding in the number of retirees and people on disability in order to make his U6 number look awful when compared to the official U6.

    You lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas…..

  130. 130.

    PaulW

    February 21, 2016 at 8:52 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: I have. nobody’s buying. :( :( :(

  131. 131.

    JPL

    February 21, 2016 at 8:52 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne, Annoying Scoundrel: Trump is narcissistic and although he might have thought it a long shot at first, no more. He wants this.

  132. 132.

    SFAW

    February 21, 2016 at 8:53 pm

    Well, it’s good to see that Rocky the Racist, a/k/a RtR is back, and as delusional as ever. Well, actually, it’s not good to see him back, but at least he provides some comic relief, if you find delusional racists funny.

    Tonight, I’m going to take it easy, tune in the Oscars, and see if Susan Lucci finally wins.

  133. 133.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    February 21, 2016 at 8:53 pm

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:

    I’m from Massachusetts, so I’ll take this.

    The primary map in MA in 2008 was really interesting – the Obama votes came exclusively from the minority communities in Boston and the residents of Boston proper, Cambridge, Lexington, the campuses (of which there are a lot), the Cape, and the wealthiest most educated suburbs west of Boston, with the Berkshires and the hill towns of the Pioneer Valley (where UMass and the 5 colleges are) completing the Obama coalition. The Clinton support came from the middle and working class enclaves west of Rte. 95 and all through the mill towns of central Mass. and inland from Buzzards Bay, and the communities along the New Hampshire border. Race probably had nothing to do with it, though. /snark

  134. 134.

    raven

    February 21, 2016 at 8:54 pm

    @PaulW: Hell, the textbook companies can’t sell them.

  135. 135.

    PaulW

    February 21, 2016 at 8:54 pm

    @gene108:

    Old college textbooks are kind of hard for public libraries to include in their collections: for one, it depends on the quality/condition and publication date of the book (if it’s more than three years out of date, they won’t add it). At best, they will give the textbooks to their Friends group to sell at the bookstore for fundraising efforts.

    Re-selling on a book retailer as a collectible item might work, but again depends on the value of it as a collectible.

  136. 136.

    PaulW

    February 21, 2016 at 8:56 pm

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:

    Massachusetts Democrats may value experience – Hillary had more years as a Senator, for one thing – over potential. That’s the only thing I can think of how Obama could have lost.

  137. 137.

    SFAW

    February 21, 2016 at 8:57 pm

    @Howard Beale IV:

    What I suspect the Shadowstat asshole is doing

    So that’s where Dean Chambers went …

  138. 138.

    PaulW

    February 21, 2016 at 8:57 pm

    @raven:

    To hell with textbooks. I’m talking about my own books! (reviews Kindle Direct Royalty Statement) (cries uncontrollably)

  139. 139.

    raven

    February 21, 2016 at 8:58 pm

    @PaulW: Sorry.

  140. 140.

    J R in WV

    February 21, 2016 at 9:00 pm

    The Obama with kids pictures were so, so good. He is so good with little kids, from babies in arms to teen, Girl Scouts, camping on the W H lawn, not exactly wilderness experience, but they got to meet Mr. and Mrs. Obama…

    I don’t care who the Rs run, I think Hillary will scorch them coming and going.

    She’s so practiced with the haters attacking her, it doesn’t really hit her in a vulnerable spot any more. Those hearings were a prime example – she was immune to them in a situation where all the power was with those haters, and they could not get to her.

  141. 141.

    schrodinger's cat

    February 21, 2016 at 9:00 pm

    @PaulW: I have sold some of my physics texts, husband kitteh and I had a copy each and we did not need 2 copies, but these are some classic texts like Quantum Mechanics by Sakurai etc.

  142. 142.

    PaulW

    February 21, 2016 at 9:01 pm

    @Ready:

    Don’t forget empty-headed, absent from work, and clueless.

    When Christie hit Rubio for sticking to his scripted 30-second one-liners, he exposed Rubio’s real flaws of inexperience and failures to think for himself.

    Stop Trying to Make Rubio Happen. He’s Not Gonna Happen. He’s in Third Place. He hasn’t won anything, and he’s not going to because he’s got nothing to impress the actual voters with.

  143. 143.

    PaulW

    February 21, 2016 at 9:02 pm

    @SFAW: are the Oscars tonight?

  144. 144.

    Patricia Kayden

    February 21, 2016 at 9:02 pm

    Latino celebrities are pleading for the Latino electorate to not vote for Cruz or Rubio (and Trump, of course). Will be interesting to see if the Latino vote edges closer to the Black vote when it comes to voting against Republicans.

    http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/latino-celebs-plead-dont-vote-for-trump-cruz-or-rubio-20160211

  145. 145.

    Bob in Portland

    February 21, 2016 at 9:03 pm

    @Chyron HR: You did not quote Andy,did you? Years ago The Atlantic, that viper pit of the radical Left and conspratorial Right, had an interesting, detailed article on how the “official” unemployment rates are counted. Over the last half century each party in turn has lopped off various categories of the unemployed. It was bipartisan too.

  146. 146.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    February 21, 2016 at 9:15 pm

    @PaulW:

    No. Next Sunday.

  147. 147.

    SFAW

    February 21, 2016 at 9:22 pm

    @PaulW:

    Sorry. Just a little joke. Well, an attempt at one. I guess it probably helps if attempted jokes are funny.

    As Steeplejack pointed out, they’re next week.

  148. 148.

    George Hayduke

    February 21, 2016 at 9:22 pm

    @Ready:
    Oh, that Right to Rise shitheel found a new man crush.

  149. 149.

    PaulW

    February 21, 2016 at 9:24 pm

    http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gHpE3u-TZYQ/VnwPCtqbnQI/AAAAAAAABXo/vSFejF3LS_4/s1600/2016_rubio3parodybumpersticker.jpg

  150. 150.

    PaulW

    February 21, 2016 at 9:24 pm

    @raven:

    Ahh, it’s not your fault. I have a lousy marketer on payroll, that’s all.

  151. 151.

    SFAW

    February 21, 2016 at 9:26 pm

    @PaulW:

    Stop Trying to Make Rubio Happen. He’s Not Gonna Happen. He’s in Third Place.

    Why bother arguing with him? It’s been clear for N months that he’s not just intellectually dishonest, but dishonest in word and deed. (“Amongst our weaponry …”)

    Unless your doctor told you that your blood pressure is too low, and you need to increase it, why would you do that to yourself?

    ETA: But I like the bumper sticker.

  152. 152.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    February 21, 2016 at 9:27 pm

    Allah pundit ‏@ allahpundit 52m52 minutes ago
    Bush bundler: Mike Murphy will make a “minimum of $14 million” from this year’s campaign

  153. 153.

    George Hayduke

    February 21, 2016 at 9:30 pm

    @Ready:

    “Obama new what he was doing”
    ___whrrr___click___

    “Obama new what he was doing”
    ___whrrr___click___

    “Obama new what he was doing”
    ___whrrr___click___

  154. 154.

    SFAW

    February 21, 2016 at 9:30 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    As Sonny and Cher put it:

    “The Grift goes on, the Grift goes on, baby.”

  155. 155.

    PaulW

    February 21, 2016 at 9:39 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    That is a legitimate scandal, and one the media needs to pursue vigorously: the entire campaigning system has turned into an unregulated con job with so-called experts racking up millions in “consulting” fees while few campaigns get the actual fund-raising money. It’s obscene.

    It’s not so much that billionaires are buying up politics, which is bad on its own. It’s that there’s billions in WASTE going to fraudsters and failures.

  156. 156.

    SiubhanDuinne, Annoying Scoundrel

    February 21, 2016 at 9:49 pm

    @JPL:

    I think he wants to win the election. I don’t think he wants to be President. Not sure how he’s planning to square that circle, and I don’t plan on giving him a chance to find out.

  157. 157.

    SiubhanDuinne, Annoying Scoundrel

    February 21, 2016 at 9:51 pm

    @SFAW:

    Are the Oscars tonight? I never watch, but I’m usually more aware of build-up.

  158. 158.

    moonbat

    February 21, 2016 at 9:53 pm

    @gene108: Just in case no one has mentioned it. There are several charity organizations in Philly that take old, used textbooks and give them to prison inmates to study with. Maybe there is a collection point in your area?

  159. 159.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    February 21, 2016 at 9:53 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Tad Devine is worst. Murphy is bilking fat cats. Devine will be taking a similar amount back to his mansion, but sadly all that cash is being drained from the working class and working poor.

  160. 160.

    Felonius Monk

    February 21, 2016 at 9:54 pm

    @gene108:

    Donating them is problematic, as I tried this with a cousin’s textbooks, but was told textbook company’s are very strict about who can resell them

    That’s bullshit. Donate to BetterWorldBooks -– they resell to raise money to fight illiteracy.

  161. 161.

    SiubhanDuinne, Annoying Scoundrel

    February 21, 2016 at 9:58 pm

    At the other end of the age scale from that incredible little boy up top, here is a 106-year-old woman dancing in the WH with POTUS and FLOTUS. This video will just melt your heart.

  162. 162.

    Lurking Canadian

    February 21, 2016 at 10:03 pm

    @gene108: The World Bank Volunteer Serviice runs the “Book Project”. They ship gently used textbooks to schools in developing countries. If your books are still relevant to your discipline, Imm sure they’d take them.

  163. 163.

    Lurking Canadian

    February 21, 2016 at 10:05 pm

    @Ready: Dude. Don’t you get tired of this? Do you have a button on your homepage with a label like “Will post campaign-related bullshit for food?”

    Can’t you find any more honest work? Something like selling crack on a schoolyard, maybe?

  164. 164.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    February 21, 2016 at 10:20 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne, Annoying Scoundrel: That is such a GREAT video! Thnaks for the treat!

  165. 165.

    SFAW

    February 21, 2016 at 10:23 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne, Annoying Scoundrel:

    No, I was just kidding. I wrote it expecting someone would tell me I might be waiting for awhile, or some such.

    If I were actually a clever chap, I’d say I was too clever for my own good. Sorry for getting you going, it was not my intent to freak people out (so to speak).

  166. 166.

    gogol's wife

    February 21, 2016 at 10:23 pm

    Primo Downton episode tonight!!!

  167. 167.

    Joel

    February 21, 2016 at 10:27 pm

    @gene108: Generally, textbooks that old are worthless, with the exception of niche fields that are updated infrequently.

  168. 168.

    SiubhanDuinne, Annoying Scoundrel

    February 21, 2016 at 10:27 pm

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:

    I sure hope all the wonderful Obama moments on video are archived somewhere accessible after 1/20/2017. I have a feeling I’m going to want to pull them out pretty frequently.

  169. 169.

    SFAW

    February 21, 2016 at 10:28 pm

    @efgoldman:

    Norman coordinate?

  170. 170.

    Tripod

    February 21, 2016 at 10:28 pm

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:

    He blew threw the nest egg and got nowhere near the pledged count they needed going into Super Tuesday… They’re only up in the few states where Bernie is polling well (MN CO MA OK). This thing is over on 3/1 if they can’t contest Texas.

  171. 171.

    SiubhanDuinne, Annoying Scoundrel

    February 21, 2016 at 10:35 pm

    @efgoldman:

    Yeah, me too pretty much, but still, NPR generally mentions the Oscars in their newscast the morning of the awards. And I just hadn’t heard anything like that today (and now I know why, thanks to SFAW’s clarifying comments to me and others).

  172. 172.

    Matt McIrvin

    February 21, 2016 at 10:44 pm

    @Howard Beale IV: Just adding discouraged and “marginally attached” workers is actually U5, which is only a little higher than U3. U6 also includes people who are working part time because it’s all they can get. And both of those go up and down pretty much in sync with U3.

    I suspect the Shadowstats guy is pulling numbers purely out of his butt. He has a measure that tracks all the official numbers, but at a higher level, up to the point where Obama takes office. Then it just rockets away to imply that no economic recovery has happened at all. It’s not even the labor force non-participation rate, because that would have made Dubya’s administration look worse than it does.

  173. 173.

    amk

    February 21, 2016 at 10:47 pm

    @gene108: Donate to local library?

  174. 174.

    Matt McIrvin

    February 21, 2016 at 10:49 pm

    @Renie: not only is it the Jeb guy, I’m pretty sure it’s the same guy who was telling us how McCain was going to win in 2008, and Romney on 2012. He’s got a stellar track record.

  175. 175.

    Ruckus

    February 21, 2016 at 10:57 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:
    It’s uncle Billy Kristol! He’s come to visit. We should all be appalled that he found us but at least no one will have to link to him ever again.

  176. 176.

    Ruckus

    February 21, 2016 at 10:59 pm

    @efgoldman:
    Are you trying to say that jebby isn’t fast on his feet or that he’s too stupid to know what a reversing beep means? Or both.

  177. 177.

    mclaren

    February 21, 2016 at 11:11 pm

    And in black & white, yet. Wow. That looks like a photo of MLK with a young admirer from 1962.

    The more things change…

  178. 178.

    mclaren

    February 21, 2016 at 11:16 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:

    The shadowstats site figures are bunkum, but the site itself captures an important basic truth: many official measures of the economy mismeasure or outright misstate the actual state of the economy.

    Example: we hear a lot about corporate earnings and GDP. Corporate earnings are up, the GDP is growing. Therefore the economy is healthy. What’s the problem?

    Corporate earnings and GDP disconnected severely from the median wage starting in the 1980s. Today, the GDP keeps going up, but the median wage has declined after accounting for inflation.

    Another measure is consumer durable goods. These are largely tied to purchases of homes and look disproportionately bad when the housing market tanks.

    Yet another example is average rent. The real measure is the ratio of minimum wage to average rent, when keeps dropping. There is currently no major city in the United States where a single person making the minimum wage can afford to rent a one bedroom apartment.

    This is radically new. Nothing like this ever used to be the case in America.

    Working people are not deluded. They are not fantasizing that their lives have turned to shit economically, it’s real. The problem is that many government statistics disguise this fact.

    The most notorious example remains the way that people who have given up looking for work are no longer counted as “unemployed,” and therefore as the economy worsens, the unemployment rate actually drops — even though a high percentage of the labor force is idle and not working.

  179. 179.

    Nate Dawg

    February 21, 2016 at 11:18 pm

    Just took a visit over to inbREDSTATE.com, and it’s full-on meltdown. They do seem to be jumping on the Ruboitoy bandwagon to excise Trump, but Cruz being so formidable (and yet falling short) is bugging the hell out of them. If it weren’t for Trump, they believe, they would have a real Constitutional conservative on the path to the nomination.

    I do have to believe that Rubiotoy pulls this out somehow. The Party Decides, and all.

  180. 180.

    mclaren

    February 21, 2016 at 11:21 pm

    @gogol’s wife:

    Somebody with a 2.0 grade point average in high school is too stupid to be either a philosopher or a welder (or president).

    Yes, somebody like Merce Cunningham, because every human being is perfectly suited to excel at either language or math, and no one is born to be a painter or a dancer or a musician or a therapist or a diplomat.

    People like you are so ignorant it makes the universe pucker and threaten to implode into a black hole of sheer cluelessness.

    Read Martin Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences and learning something.

  181. 181.

    Technocrat

    February 21, 2016 at 11:30 pm

    @Nate Dawg:

    It’s a hoot watching them slap the banhammer on overly-enthusiastic Trump supporters. So weird how liberal sites don’t ban (as a rule) but conservative sites are run like little gulags.

  182. 182.

    mclaren

    February 21, 2016 at 11:31 pm

    @J R in WV:

    I don’t care who the Rs run, I think Hillary will scorch them coming and going.

    Right now, the Republican field is the lame leading the blind and the deaf. Rubio has that great big childhood family friend who happened to be Miami’s biggest cocaine dealer hanging over him (plus Marco has never actually accomplished anything in his life), Ted Cruz is so deeply hated by the party establishment that elite Repubs would rather see Hillary become prez than Ted, Trump is a crazy-talking opossum-headed nitwit who spews gibberish right and left and implodes with rage whenever someone challenges him, Kasich is a gelatinous bureaucrat with no appeal and no charisma…this is a field of candidates straight out of Tod Browning’s film Freaks.

    Any of these clowns will get blown away so thoroughly by Hillary that the Republican party will fracture and explode, especially if Trump runs and loses.

    What next? The Republicans will run a dead armadillo they found on the highway in 2020?

  183. 183.

    seaboogie

    February 21, 2016 at 11:32 pm

    @Ready:

    Young, energetic and handsome–and soon to be VERY well funded.

    Funding, Schmunding, this one needs to be VERY well hydrated.

  184. 184.

    mclaren

    February 21, 2016 at 11:35 pm

    @gene108:

    Donate ’em to your local library.

  185. 185.

    Brachiator

    February 21, 2016 at 11:37 pm

    @mclaren:

    Corporate earnings and GDP disconnected severely from the median wage starting in the 1980s.

    Actually, it was probably much earlier, but your overall point is valid.

    Today, the GDP keeps going up, but the median wage has declined after accounting for inflation.

    Another good point. You could also throw in that automation and technological advancement has helped reduce the need for large numbers of employees in many industries. So, GDP can increase even as unemployment also increases, and still leave a sick economy.

    The problem is, I don’t see that either party (or the presidential aspirants) has grasped the full significance of this and has much in the way of solutions. And this goes double, unfortunately, for Sanders, who is stuck in a 1930s view of the economy.

  186. 186.

    mclaren

    February 21, 2016 at 11:50 pm

    @Brachiator:

    If this keeps up, capitalism will break down. The basic assumption behind conventional capitalism (even European-style socialist-flavored capitalism, or Japanese keiretsu-flavored managed capitalism) has always been that a rising tide lifts all boats.

    That has now stopped. The biggest new companies, like Craigslist or Google, employ very few workers. Almost all the profits now go to a handful of founders like Larry Page & Sergei Brin.

    This means that we’re going to have to start thinking about radical solutions like a guaranteed minimum income if we want our society to continue. Otherwise, as the tax base drops, there simply won’t be enough money for basic projects like repairing our highways and sewers. In fact, we’re already seeing this. Regions like Detroit Michigan, where wild animals are reclaiming abandoned houses and grass is growing in the middle of cracked highways were the police no longer patrol, are becoming more and more common in America. That’s like a cancer. If you don’t fix centers of economic pathology like that, they’re going to kill the body politic.

  187. 187.

    mclaren

    February 21, 2016 at 11:50 pm

    @Technocrat:

    So weird how liberal sites don’t ban (as a rule) but conservative sites are run like little gulags.

    It’s the authoritarian personality at work.

  188. 188.

    Nate Dawg

    February 22, 2016 at 12:02 am

    @Technocrat: They’ve banned so many people over the years, it’s a wonder their readership is so….Oh, right. It’s actually a rather small cult compared to similar sites.

    And kind of sad how they think they have any sway whatsoever in anything to do with Republican politics.

  189. 189.

    sempronia

    February 22, 2016 at 12:18 am

    @gene108:

    If you’re in the SF Bay Area, you can donate them to Bridge to Asia. If you’re not, you can mail them to Bridge, but they ask you to bear the cost of postage (media mail rate) as part of your donation.

  190. 190.

    Brachiator

    February 22, 2016 at 12:42 am

    @mclaren:

    The basic assumption behind conventional capitalism (even European-style socialist-flavored capitalism, or Japanese keiretsu-flavored managed capitalism) has always been that a rising tide lifts all boats.

    No, this is not quite true. This is the soft lie pedaled to soothe the masses, but any objective view of capitalism acknowledges shocks and inequalities. And in Japan, the need to maintain order and a degree of stability as a social requirement predates capitalism there. Even in the West, to some degree, the necessity for political stability is as important a goal as the maintenance of capitalism. Of course, the idea that some groups could be oppressed in the name of stability continues to be a nasty and shortsighted bit of conventional wisdom.

    That has now stopped. The biggest new companies, like Craigslist or Google, employ very few workers. Almost all the profits now go to a handful of founders like Larry Page & Sergei Brin.

    I don’t know about Craigslist, but what you write about Google is a huge oversimplification.

    But Craigslist is interesting on another level. This tech company helped accelerate the destruction of the entire newspaper industry, through the elimination of paid classified ads. The impact on employment has been massive. So here, you have to look at the numbers of jobs and incomes that disappeared all over the country. That Craigslist employs very few people is almost trivial compared to the larger economic consequences of the company’s innovations.

    This means that we’re going to have to start thinking about radical solutions like a guaranteed minimum income if we want our society to continue.

    This is not a radical solution. And it assumes falsely that there is some magical cornucopia of money that can be wrested from the wealthy to pay out to everyone else forever. There also seems to be the implication here that you don’t need a healthy economy and jobs that pay sufficient wages. In short, no solution for economic stagnation.

    Otherwise, as the tax base drops, there simply won’t be enough money for basic projects like repairing our highways and sewers. In fact, we’re already seeing this. Regions like Detroit Michigan…

    This has always been a problem. Maybe it’s accelerating.

    Kodak had been one of the largest employers in Rochester, NY since 1888. Kodak invented a digital camera in 1975, but tried to suppress it. They also refused to jump into the digital photography business. Competitors arose slowly, at first, but by 2001, Kodak begin an accelerating decline.

    Rochester (which had been the flour producing capital of the US in 1838) now has to reinvent itself again to deal with the loss of previously successful businesses.

    Flint is going to have to do the same thing as well. Maybe a minimum income needs to be part of it. Perhaps we should also help people to move out of dying cities. And maybe some cities will have to die if they cannot be sustained.

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