Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

This country desperately needs a functioning Fourth Estate.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Let there be snark.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

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

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

I was promised a recession.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

Somebody needs to explain to DeSantis that nobody needs to do anything to make him look bad.

Republicans can’t even be trusted with their own money.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

Let’s finish the job.

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Come on, man.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

You are here: Home / Civil Rights / Racial Justice / #BLM #M4BL / Wednesday Evening Open Thread: Happy News

Wednesday Evening Open Thread: Happy News

by | 182 Comments

This post is in: , , , ,

… Michelle and I have known Dr. Hayden for a long time since her days working at the Chicago Public Library, and her dedication to learning and education is unparalleled.

More recently, she’s devoted her career to modernizing libraries so that everyone can participate in today’s digital culture. She’s been hard at work revitalizing Baltimore’s library system as the CEO of Enoch Pratt Free Library, updating its technology and raising money to fund essential improvements. Under her leadership, the Pratt library has become the largest provider of public-access computers in Maryland.

As Librarian of Congress, she’ll work in close partnership with Congress, support the copyright office that serves our nation’s creative communities, and explore new ways to share the information housed within our library through innovative technologies.

And I know she’ll be a good steward for the important role that libraries play in our communities. Last year, during the unrest in Baltimore, Dr. Hayden and the library’s staff kept the doors of the Pratt open as a beacon for the community…

***********
Apart from bibliophilia (which is always on topic), what’s on the agenda for the evening?

And speaking of libraries, here’s a glimpse of a private paradise:

Reader Interactions

182Comments

  2. 2.

    chopper

    eco’s library is insane but damn if that isn’t more books than you could read. jumpin’ jesus on a fucking pogo stick that’s a lot.

  3. 3.

    WaterGirl

    Obama has nominated this woman as the new Librarian of Congress. Is there any reason at all to believe that she will be confirmed?

    Edit: why do I feel that this is somehow related to nominating the next SC justice?

  6. 6.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @WaterGirl:

    Yeah, let’s see if the dicks in the Senate can at least be principled dicks.

    ETA: I seriously doubt that most Senators even know, let alone care one whit, who the Librarian of Congress is. But if they’re going to block Obama’s SCOTUS nominee, they should block his nominees for any and every position. “Let the people decide!!”

  7. 7.

    shawn

    I would love to have a library like that in my house, even though the odds are very low I’d ever actually get around to reading any of those books.

  9. 9.

    Miss Bianca

    “We think the American people should be allowed a voice in choosing the next Librarian of Congress”.

    Just wanna see Turtle announce this with a straight face. (well, turtles don’t have much a happy face under normal circumstances, do they?)

  12. 12.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Mr. Twister:

    #SCOTUS sources say Cruz asked to sit w Scalia clerks @ funeral. They said no. Then GOP leadership said no bc he wasn’t 1 of them either.

    Hahahahaha! So great!

    (Also, I love that she filed her Scalia death story with a big ole margarita at her side.)

  13. 13.

    LAO

    Totally ridiculous aside – my senior year of college, my younger brother and I decided to take a class together. The only one we could agree on was “the mystery novel”, which was a small seminar. The final project was a paper on eco’s name of the rose. Which is a goddamn satire on the mystery genre. who knew?

  14. 14.

    Marc

    Just picked up a 4-ebook series from amazon for .99¢ – adding it to my ‘to read’ pile which grows ever larger…

  16. 16.

    WaterGirl

    @SiubhanDuinne: My money is on the President. He will either get his nominee or he will make them pay in November, maybe both.

    I’m thinking of appending this to every single BJ comment until they give serious consideration to Obama’s SC candidate.

    DO YOUR JOB

  17. 17.

    Peale

    @chopper: People never knew what to get him for Christmas, so they just piled on the Barnes & Noble gift cards. If you look closely, he’s also got board games and totebags.

  18. 18.

    Wrb

    For my grandfather libriaries were everything. His father died when he was a few months old, in Oklahoma territory. great grandmother picked cotten, leaving him in a basket at the end of the row. She couldn’t find anyone like her educated husband, so married an abusive harness maker, whom my grandfather hated. He ran away at 14, and put himself through school, finally getting a Ph.D. In philosophy from Cornell. He decided that libraries were the key to allowing poor kids to advance themselves. He directed the library schools and libraries at Chappel Hill, Fisk and other places before becoming the dean of the library school and ddirector of libraries at Columbia, at the time second largest library system in the world after the library of congress. While there he was instrumental in founding the UN, and especially UNESCORTED, which may have been his idea. At Columbia, he fell out with Ike, so took a Ford Foundation gid and founded the state libraries in Ankra, Legos, Delhi, and Beiruit. A life well lived.

  19. 19.

    boatboy_srq

    @WaterGirl: I’m surprised that Palin hasn’t asked for that job – so she can close it down, because we don’t need no stinking public libraries.

    /snark

  20. 20.

    JPL

    @WaterGirl: I’d love for Hillary to campaign on this issue. If the republicans ignore this part of the Constitution, what else will they ignore when convenient.

  22. 22.

    hamletta

    The last LoC was appointed by Reagan. A lady at my church works there and said they were overjoyed when he stepped down, because he was old and behind the times, resistant to change, blah, blah.

    She’ll probably be at choir tonight, so I’ll ask her about Dr. Hayden.

  24. 24.

    boatboy_srq

    @WaterGirl: Isn’t it sickening that we have to remind the GOTea Congresscritters that they were elected to govern? “Do your job” should have been the Dem/Prog demand for the last seven years.

  26. 26.

    cmorenc

    @shawn:

    I would love to have a library like that in my house, even though the odds are very low I’d ever actually get around to reading any of those books.

    In that case, what you’d have would be a book museum rather than a library, but nothing wrong with that if you are the sort to get off with having a book museum room in your house the way some have a trophy room. I am fortunate to have a true study in my house that’s my personal man-cave, and it has a couple hundred books, some of which I’ve read, at least half of which I’ll never get around to reading more than a partial chapter of. In other words, my study is part book museum.

  27. 27.

    jl

    She sounds like a good nominee. Boatboy’s comment above makes me think that a GOP controlled Congress with a library sounds kind of odd. Hope they don’t use the fact that Obama nominated someone to run it as an excuse to try to shut it down and outsource it to WaPo or something (naw, WaPo too leftly, maybe outsource it to Breitbart operation).

  28. 28.

    Calouste

    Well, the Republicans aren’t even hiding their fascism anymore:

    In an interview on Wednesday, [Rep. Duncan D.] Hunter told POLITICO that Trump has the strength needed for the job. “We don’t need a policy wonk as president. We need a Führer* as president,” Hunter said.

    * Hunter might have used the English translation, but I’m sure that was a mistake on his part.

  29. 29.

    Brachiator

    I think Ray Bradbury is credited with calling libraries the people’s university.

    And yeh, in the age of the Internets, I know people who think that libraries are obsolete and unnecessary.

    @Wrb:
    Great story.

  30. 30.

    Hal

    @boatboy_srq:

    Isn’t it sickening that we have to remind the GOTea Congresscritters that they were elected to govern? “Do your job” should have been the Dem/Prog demand for the last seven years.

    All the tea party republicans who ran in 2010, 12 and 14 ran on opposing everything Obama wanted. They got their wish.

  32. 32.

    boatboy_srq

    @OzarkHillbilly: McConnell and the rest already HAVE a job. The title is “United States Senator”. The job description is found in Article I of the Constitution. What we need is a more immediate penalty for their not performing the duties outlined.

  33. 33.

    Calouste

    Talking about libraries and books, I recently found out that none other than Dolly Parton runs a program, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, that has mailed out 70 million books to children.

  35. 35.

    boatboy_srq

    @Hal: GOTea philosophy is self-fulfilling and self-perpetuating: complain that government doesn’t work, elect people who will ensure that it doesn’t, rinse/repeat.

  36. 36.

    Mike J

    That’s not Eco’s library. One of the responses to that tweet has a pic of the read one, with him in it.

  38. 38.

    jl

    Also, I just heard a news report that Obama administration is floating NV gov Brian Sandoval as SCOTUS nominee. Report said he would be acceptable on social issues. But what about corporate control, voting rights, campaign finance, environment? Anyone know?

    I guess I can ask my NV connections. I vaguely recall Sandoval being cozy with old school NV mining interests and fossil fuel industry. Sandoval seems much more conservative than required, but I don’t know enough about him to know if he is acceptable on basic competence and sanity.

    Maybe this is an Obama tactic? If Senate won’t even consider it, then Obama can yank his nomination and nominate someone more liberal? And bank the disgruntlement of Hispanics and maybe some Westerners? That kind of strategy might work. I think GOP stupid to box themselves in like they did, and floating a name like Sandoval is a sign that Obama is willing to take full advantage of that.

    Another wild card is what Roberts will do. The extreme reactionaries hate him because he is a competent hack who takes the long view and not willing to do anything to get short run gains at long run cost. And I have read he is extremely pissed about lack of confirmations to federal bench. He could start pumping out a bunch of 4-4 decisions that let liberal lower court rulings stand and see if that influences Congress. Of course, that is assuming Roberts prefers a competent person now, rather than betting on a GOP WH and Congress giving him another Alito. But GOP floated not confirming anyone next term either, and that might prompt Roberts think FTS, I will make them hurt for that garbage.

  39. 39.

    Iowa Old Lady

    That library is beautiful and I want to sit there, but as I grow older, I feel less and less need to pile books up around me. I keep those physical books that I want to reread and toss or give away the rest. I have more on my kindle and I use the library. If I feel an urge to reread Great Expectations, I can do it even if it’s not sitting on my shelves.

  40. 40.

    WaterGirl

    @JPL: “If you don’t want to do your job, then why are you taking a government paycheck?”

    “There so many good people out there who are looking for work, who want to work. Your refusal to do your job is an insult to anyone who is looking for work. Your refusal to do your job is an insult to all people who believe it’s important to live up to their responsibilities. Your refusal to do your job is an insult to every single person who voted for you and to every person that lives in your state.

    “Do you think the average person in america only has to do their job when it suits them?”

    ….says Hillary and Bernie on the campaign trail.

    DO YOUR JOB.

  41. 41.

    boatboy_srq

    @Calouste: 2000: the GOP marketed a candidate “you would want to have a beer with” (never mind Shrub was supposedly dry). 2008: the GOP marketed a candidate who could provide “Reform, prosperity and peace” (never mind the warmongering and the Beach Boys moment (or was that the “On the Beach, boys!” moment?). 2016: the GOP leading contender is one part “fvck’em all” and one part “we’ve all been had”. At least the (relative) honesty is refreshing.

  44. 44.

    boatboy_srq

    @Iowa Old Lady: Interesting corrolary for modern society, millenials etc. So much modern residential architecture is “open plan” (i.e. minimal interior walls). I’ve mentioned to more than one realtor that it’s as if new houses were designed for people who don’t read, because there’s no place for worthwhile bookshelves and what little shelving is built-in is more geared for tchotchkes than for books.

  45. 45.

    LAO

    It would be awesome if there was a mechanism for the senate democrats to certify a question to the Supreme Court as to whether the senate’s refusal to consider or take action on a president’s Supreme Court nomination was unconstitutional.

  46. 46.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @WaterGirl:

    “If you don’t want to do your job, then why are you taking a government paycheck?”

    I wish Bernie or Hillary would say exactly this to Senators, adding “Sounds like welfare fraud to me.”

  47. 47.

    Iowa Old Lady

    @boatboy_srq: It’s funny. I mostly read e-books now for the convenience but they don’t feel the same to me as physical books. I can’t browse them as easily. I don’t see the author’s name or even the book’s title as easily and so sometimes forget them.

  48. 48.

    bystander

    They’re already rejecting Sandoval. I was hoping Sandoval’s name got floated just to prove what blind dopes repubs are.

    I’m also tired of the equating Obama’s filibuster of Alito with the head of the Senate telling the POTUS not to even bother to nominate anyone.

  49. 49.

    Mike J

    @jl: In an earlier thread, I posted a link to a Politico article on him that came out yesterday. Talks about how Republicans hate him, but he’s the most popular politician in Nevada. raised taxes for education funding, pro choice, pro Obamacare, pro DREAMers, pro renewable energy, anti tort “reform”, and on and on. And if he’s on the court, he can’t run for Reid’s seat.

  50. 50.

    Goblue72

    @jl: Sandoval as a head fake is only thing that makes sense. As a serious pick, it’s BS. Sandoval is a conservative.

  52. 52.

    Baud

    @WaterGirl:

    If you don’t want to do your job, then why are you taking a government paycheck?

    There so many good people out there who are looking for work, who want to work. Your refusal to do your job is an insult to anyone who is looking for work. Your refusal to do your job is an insult to all people who believe it’s important to live up to their responsibilities. Your refusal to do your job is an insult to every single person who voted for you and to every person that lives in your state.

    Do you think the average person in america only has to do their job when it suits them?

    I’m Baud and I approve this message.

    FTFY

  54. 54.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: I should have been more clear – I was sure you could do better than anything I wrote. :-) I’m your Valerie Jarrett, not your press secretary.

  56. 56.

    boatboy_srq

    @Iowa Old Lady: E-books are wonderful for travel, commuting, or for the technical manual you need right-this-BLEEPing-second. Other than that I’m indifferent. Print media is still the thing for me if I’m going to enjoy reading – and of course finding a decent bookshop with an informed proprietor is getting more difficult daily. But it’s one thing to use e-books as a convenience, and another because your home doesn’t have any flipping place to put a bookshelf.

    Not to mention that the really good e-readers (b&w with e-ink: easier on the eyes and much better power consumption) are out of fashion because the thinks-it’s-a-tablet versions are selling better.

  57. 57.

    jl

    @Mike J: Thanks.

    ” pro renewable energy ”

    I vaguely remember some flap where Sandoval was accused of rigging regs and rates against solar energy. Maybe your link will explain what that was about.

    It’s important to me that a SCOTUS nominee have a sane approach to Constitutional interpretation. How is Sandoval as a lawyer-man, anyway?

    And I wonder whether NV can still be considered a swing state? If Sandoval can’t get the nomination, will Obama find another qualified moderate (assuming that is what Sandoval is) from another swing state, or narrow blue state?

  58. 58.

    boatboy_srq

    @WaterGirl: I was thinking more about her desire to be Trump’s Energy Secretary: so she could shut the department down and let private industry have at all the oil/coal/gas/timber…

  59. 59.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: You are always so succinct – I envy your ability to do that. The first one and the last ones were pretty short, but my middle one was pretty ramble-y.

  61. 61.

    Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)

    Good news: Doc says I’m five by five, and cleared to return to work. In other news, it turns out it’s not my clothes making me look fat so much as it is the fat that’s making me look fat. Lifestyle changes already underway; Mom cleaned out my cupboards while she was here.

  65. 65.

    WaterGirl

    @Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant): That sounds like great news! What does “five by five” mean?

    Still so very sorry about your wife. I missed the thread where you referred to something about your heart and being at high risk of a cardiac event, but I apparently missed something important in between.

  66. 66.

    FlipYrWhig

    @bystander: Yeah, you know, I’m not expecting Republicans all to _vote for_ the person Obama picks — and I’m not expecting Democrats all to vote for the person a Republican president picks. The Democrats gave a hard time to Roberts (78-22) and especially Alito (58-42). And it’s not like the Republicans rolled over for Sotomayor (68-31) and Kagan (63-37). Nobody’s saying the Republicans are supposed to get on board unanimously so that Obama’s pick prevails 98-0.

  67. 67.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @Mr. Twister:
    I was more interested in the line of clerks waiting to pay their respects. How much destruction is waiting in that line? How much damage will they do to this country as the ooze their way into the practice & then onto the bench when a nut job is appointing?

    Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu Wahington wgah’nagl fhtagn

  70. 70.

    jl

    @Baud: You are going to try to move Chester Arthur and Franklin Pierce out the asterisks? I laud your Sandersesque ambition. You are (virtually) very brave.

  76. 76.

    Nate Dawg

    One of the depressing aspects of this election race has been watching Nate Silver flush his credibility down the drain.

    I don’t know what kind of pressure (social, financial, ESPN?) is pushing him to shill for Rubio, but he’s completely ignoring the hard data analysis that made him popular in 2008 in exchange for an analysis that *always* coddles the establishment, even when the data goes against it.

  78. 78.

    Snarkworth, short-fingered Bulgarian

    Professor Macksey’s library is wondrous to behold, but it lacks something essential: A comfy chair for blissful reading. All I see is prim wooden chairs with hard spindles. Pshaw!

  79. 79.

    Mnemosyne

    I believe Dr. Hayden will also be the first actual librarian (as in, holder of an MLIS degree) to have the position. Traditionally, it’s been held by a historian or other academic, not a librarian.

    It’s been the same here in California, but our State Librarian (a former journalist appointed by Jerry Brown) is currently attending SJSU to get his MLIS.

  82. 82.

    chopper

    @Wrb:

    His father died when he was a few months old

    yet he still managed to have children of his own. busy infant.

  86. 86.

    PurpleGirl

    Dr. Hayden sounds like a wonderful pick to be Librarian of Congress. At one time the Design Museum in the former Andrew Carnegie house had pictures of all the libraries that he supplied the building funds for. He believed that public libraries were important for people to be able to better themselves. He’s provide the building if the community was able to pay for the upkeep of the library. I loved looking at the pictures.

    As a child I haunted my local library on Saturdays. I’d sit there and read a couple of books and take home a couple more. The librarian told me I could take out as many as I wanted (there was supposed to be a limit) as long as I didn’t take all the books on one topic at the same time. (grin) As soon as I was old enough to travel to Manhattan by myself I began to go to libraries there.

    I also bought books — as many as I could. I’ve lost myself in other worlds and other times. I’ve collected many books and weeded out many books. When I lacked human friends, there were always books.

  87. 87.

    germy

    @TallPete:

    This nomination is going to very controversial.

    It will:

    Hayden is an actual librarian, she fought the Patriot Act, lobbies for open access, and the RIAA hates her.

    Next up: watch for a move to rip the US Copyright Office (which now gets to make rules on things like whether the DMCA prohibits you from using generic insulin in your insulin pump) out of the Library of Congress, relocating it in Congress where it can be directly overseen by the Congressjerks who have been on the entertainment industry’s take since their first campaign.

  89. 89.

    WaterGirl

    @Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant): Oh my gosh, that must have been terrifying on top of everything else. What a relief to get this news. Perspective is a wonderful thing; I hope it helps you move forward after your devastating loss.

    When I lost my parents, work was a wonderful distraction. I could shift into “normal” mode, for at least a few hours, which was helpful. For awhile, though, it wasn’t unusual for me to walk out of work at the end of the day, thinking about some work-related thing, only to find myself burst into tears the second I got into the car and shut the door. We are strange creatures. All the best, we are very fond of you here.

  91. 91.

    Brachiator

    @Nate Dawg:

    One of the depressing aspects of this election race has been watching Nate Silver flush his credibility down the drain.

    How so?

    I’ve seen a few articles from him this election cycle, but I didn’t see anything that was particularly awful.

  92. 92.

    sigaba

    I kinda like the Sandoval idea, though it’s pretty much a concession from Obama that he knows he’ll never be able to nominate the person he wants, and he’s just using the process to hopefully score a few senate seats for the Ds.

    There’s still a bunch of G. W. Bush-appointed federal judges who are certifiably non-wingnut.

  93. 93.

    Redshift

    @JPL:

    I’d love for Hillary to campaign on this issue. If the republicans ignore this part of the Constitution, what else will they ignore when convenient.

    All of them, Katie.

  94. 94.

    Origuy

    I love my Kindle Paperwhite, small and light enough that I can take it anywhere. For fiction or most history, it’s perfect. Maps and diagrams don’t work well on it, nor anything with color diagrams. I use a tablet for that, but it’s a little cumbersome. I still buy some books and magazines and use the library, but those are likely to be at home when I want to read while I’m out. I just finished the first book of Game of Thrones on the Kindle. I have the paperback at home, but it’s an inch and a half thick.

    I joined Bookbub and get an email every day with links to cheap ebooks in the genres I select. I’ve got so many books stacked up that I’ll never run out of reading material.

  96. 96.

    WaterGirl

    I had forgotten what a little bunny my little white pup looks like as he tries to hop through the deep snow. Very sweet, brings back memories of last year when he was just a little baby puppy.

    Speaking of the snow… I only shoveled a little bit, really! Just enough so the guys could make it out to use the outdoor facilities and in front of the door and a single shovel-width path to the street so I could make it to the mailbox. But I tweaked my back, which is now quite unhappy with me. I just took an advil and am going to lie down and watch TV for the evening. Since I just took one advil, I might have to take a glass of wine with me for the cumulative effect. :-)

  97. 97.

    debbie

    @WaterGirl:

    I really like your first quote. A Google search only comes up with your post. Who said this?

    “If you don’t want to do your job, then why are you taking a government paycheck?”

    This would be a great bumpersticker.

  98. 98.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Renie: I’m going to guess that he picks a fairly wingnuttish military figure. Yes, I know Trump says that the Iraq War was a mistake, but that’s just trash talk. It’s not because he’s antiwar; it’s because he thinks it was incompetently managed, because his brand is being the Tough Boss. He’s still a “national greatness” ass-kicker-in-chief kind of guy who has obvious issues with brown-skinned foreigners. Maybe Jerry Boykin?

    Or maybe he’d pick someone else who’s not currently in politics. Giuliani?

  99. 99.

    Mike in NC

    While touring Prague in 2010, one of the rare things we got to see was the library of the Strahov Monastery. Google that and your mind will be completely blown.

  100. 100.

    WaterGirl

    @debbie: Me! I made up all three quotes – I put them in quotes since I was suggesting them as ideas for the candidates.

    edit: If you design the bumper stickers, maybe Cole could sell them at the BJ store! I would buy one for sure.

  101. 101.

    Ben Cisco

    @Elizabelle: Reminds me of a call from my dialup days:

    ME: Sir, I’m having a bit of trouble hearing you..
    CUST: THAT’S WHAT I’VE BEE-(BOOM!!)
    ME: What was that?
    CUST: Lightning hit a tree outside my (open!) window.
    ME: OK, please call back AFTER the storm has passed ok thanks bye!

  102. 102.

    Mike in NC

    @FlipYrWhig: A Trump/Giuliani ticket would be impressive, if only for being representative of very stupid and angry asshole white people from New York (we just came back from a three-day trip to Long Island and feel the need to drink heavily).

  105. 105.

    lamh36

    @Mnemosyne: Yep…saw that when announced. I follow a group of “Blerd” on twitter and Ava herself…

    Never heard of the book, but I do love the concept

  106. 106.

    debbie

    @WaterGirl:

    Ah, got it. I think it would need to be one of those magnetic things that can be attached to the side or trunk of the car so that it could be easily read, or even personalized for a specific Congressional Gooper.

  107. 107.

    JPL

    @Ben Cisco: Many moons ago, I worked for IBM and was located in TX. Anyhow, a client called and was quite chatty and I could see a tornado forming while looking out the window.
    I politely said excuse me, but I have to call you back.

  108. 108.

    JPL

    OT.. Call me wicked but I enjoyed this headline for NYT…
    Breaking News: Apple is said to be developing measures to make it harder for the government to break into iPhones

  109. 109.

    Mike J

    @jl: The Public Utilities Commission screwed people with rooftop solar, basically making it so utils don’t buy back excess energy,

    Sandoval just reactivated the Renewable Energy Task Force to come up with solutions. Is the task force meaningless PR or a way towards actually finding solutions? I don’t know, I don’t live in Nevada.

  110. 110.

    Wrb

    @chopper: a fierce fella, he was. I believe his drive came,min substantial part, from the combination of an abusive illiterate stepfather and mother’s tales of a bookish and honorable real father. The one book I inherited from him (Carl Milton White) was his dead father’s (Milton White) copy of John Milton’s Paradise Lost, great poem of the insurrection. Those in that line were Quaker refugees from the English restoration, landing in Virginia tidewater in the mid 1600s, but being too saintly and shit to take up with slaveholders and instead falling in with Cherokees and other lowlifes. The first poem written in the new world – that remains- was by Henry White, one of the first of ’em.

  111. 111.

    Calouste

    @Brachiator: Silver has been going on for a long time about how Trump couldn’t possibly win the nomination despite having a solid lead in both the national and the early primary polls basically since he got into the race. It didn’t have anything to do with numbers, just with Silver’s Village cred.

  112. 112.

    WaterGirl

    @debbie: “… or even personalized for a specific Congressional Gooper.” I love that idea! Also, the magnetic part. All we need now is some artistic person here to make it happen! We should offer them in the flavor of every single Republic who supports this SC blockade, starting with the members of the committee who me today and made the no, no, no commitment.

  115. 115.

    NotMax

    For those keeping score at home, the ballot in Missouri’s D primary to determine who will oppose incumbent R Senator Roy Blunt now includes the name Chief Wana Dubie.

    (Not making this stuff up, honest.)

  117. 117.

    Nate Dawg

    Well he’s been basically moving Marcos goalposts since December. He’s calling on Cruz to drop out, even though Ceuz has an actual win and is ahead in a major state next week. It’s kind of mind-boggling, and if I gave a fig’s prick about Rafael, it would be annoying how everyone is saying he has no path when the obvious rejoinder is “if Cruz has no path, then Rubio should isn’t even alive.”

  118. 118.

    Brachiator

    @Calouste:

    Silver has been going on for a long time about how Trump couldn’t possibly win the nomination despite having a solid lead in both the national and the early primary polls basically since he got into the race. It didn’t have anything to do with numbers, just with Silver’s Village cred.

    I looked at some earlier stuff, and listened to a couple of the 538 podcasts, which were generally more sober in their analysis. But I just looked at a Slate piece which nicely summarizes Silver going off the rails.

    It’s kinda sad. His speculations are just as wild ass wrong as the ones I see here on Balloon Juice. But we’re amateurs. Silver should know better.

  119. 119.

    Calouste

    @Calouste: And to add: Sam Wang said after Saturday’s primaries that he basically considers the races decided for the current frontrunners and that he is thinking about taking a break until June.

  120. 120.

    Central Planning

    And speaking of libraries, here’s a glimpse of a private paradise

    That would be paradise for my wife. I, on the other hand, would hate that (and I’m sitting in a room with 6 book cases now)

    I had my other carpal tunnel surgery today. The needle the stick through the meat of your wrist… yeah, that hurt while they did that. The woman next to me (42 years old) started screaming, crying, and calling for mommy. I’m glad I got my injection before her. Surgery was fast though – probably less than 20 minutes from prep to walking out of surgery room. This time, they gave me a Rx for 60 (!) hydrocodone. I expect I will use less than 5.

  124. 124.

    nutella

    @srv:

    But when it comes to policy, who supported the crime bill?

    Congressman Sanders of Vermont. He voted for it.

    Not Hillary Clinton. She probably would have if she had held elective office at the time, but the fact is that Sanders voted for the crime bill and Clinton did not.

    Anyone who says that support for the 1994 crime bill is a reason to support Sanders over Clinton is an ignoramus or a barefaced liar.

    ETA:

    The problem is, black voters don’t know his history in the way they know the symbolic language of Hillary Clinton

    West is a black voter who doesn’t know his (Sanders’) history. Maybe he should learn about it before saying things like this in public.

  126. 126.

    moderateindy

    Did anyone else find it odd that this is the first female Librarian of Congress. It seems like being librarians were more or less the perview of women. The fact that at some point some politician didn’t nominate a woman for this position, even as a matter of optics, really surprises me. If I had a daughter I would tell her to stay away from DC and politics, because that’s where the worst sexism, and sexual harrassment exists

  127. 127.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):

    Wikipedia says “on the advice and consent of the Senate.” It’s a ten-year term, but apparently can be re-upped again and again. This is the first LC nominee since, I think, 1987, and he just retired last year.

    There is an acting Librarian. Of course, there’s no such thing (AFAIK) as an “acting” associate justice of the Supreme Court.

  128. 128.

    Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class

    @JPL:

    It’s soooooooo awesome that our unanswerable, unstoppable, uncontrollable multinational corporations are coming up with communications protocols in defiance of the ability of democratically elected governments to get into.

    All so a bunch of dateless hotheads can be secure that nobody could ever know their hentai or bring porn habits, aging wingnuts and petty officials never worry about their cache of n****r jokes getting uncovered, white supremacists and militia morons can plan their violence free of the threat of exposure and sleazy politicians and businessmen can hide their graft and corruption.

    At this point, I’m rooting for Chinese solution to our brilliant tech overlords – a quick firing squad and bullet in the head, followed by a bill to the family.

  129. 129.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @moderateindy:

    I think it may be a bit like cooking. All the good cooks traditionally were women — your mama’s meat loaf, your grandma’s apple pie, cookies from the nice lady across the street — but when it came to chefs, with the celebrity and fame and high prices and their own restaurants, then it was men.

  132. 132.

    Brachiator

    @JPL:

    Breaking News: Apple is said to be developing measures to make it harder for the government to break into iPhones

    Upcoming Fox News headline: Why does Apple hate America?

  134. 134.

    Steve from Antioch

    @jl: I don’t know what role Sandoval played in it, but Nevada recently changed the solar reimbursement rate. Previously, people with solar panels could sell power back to the power company at retail rates. Now the rates will be slashed to only 25% of that amount.

    The cherry on top is that it applies to previous installations as well. As in: people who spent $30K on solar panels expecting to recoup the cost in 20 years. Sorry. Now that will be 60 years …

  138. 138.

    FlipYrWhig

    @nutella: Hey, Brother West, does this mean we progressives get to rail at Bernie Sanders for voting against closing Guantanamo? When it comes to policy, who opposed it? BUT THATS DIFFERENT BERNIE HAD GOOD REASONS AND IT WAS COMPLICATED Oh, you don’t say. How about immigration reform? What a jackass.

  139. 139.

    Central Planning

    @Ben Cisco:

    Be VERY wary of that stuff.

    Absolutely. Last time I only used 3 or 4, and that was only one at night when going to bed…. trying to turn/get comfortable and keep the hand raised was a challenge.

    I’ve taken those narcotics before and to me, they give me a similar feeling like having too much to drink. That does not really excite me for a drug.

    Now, if it gave me hallucinations or radically changed how I perceived color and the environment around me, I think that would be fun. I probably would enjoy LSD but I’m petrified of what it might do to me after the trip is over. I wouldn’t want to have a flashback while driving my kids around, or in a business meeting, or lots of other things I like to do.

    The few times I smoked pot, my friends and I would laugh for hours. My stomach would hurt the next day from laughing so much. That’s really my only basis for thinking I would enjoy dropping acid.

  140. 140.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Renie:

    I’ve heard noises that VP is the job Rubio really wants, and that’ sway he hasn’t really gone after Trump they way he might have done.

    TRUBIO 2016!!

  142. 142.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Mnemosyne:

    My librarian friends* are saying that she is, indeed, the first actual librarian to be nominated.

    *They are all also Hamaniacs. Did you see the thread the other day where I said I have finally, finally listened to the OCR? (And said the reason was because I wanted to be able to look you in the eye.)

  144. 144.

    bemused

    @Central Planning:

    60! Good grief. Why do some docs prescribe that much? I had root canal years ago and was prescribed TWO pills for the pain of dry socket. Only needed one. Today when we know the dangers better, one would think that doctors wouldn’t be prescribing a huge amounts at one time.

  145. 145.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant):

    I’m not sure what “five by five” means in this context, but it seems to be good news. Have been thinking of you. It is not always easy to adjust into new-normal situations, but I hope your transition includes lots of happy memories to keep you balanced. So glad you are a part of this odd little virtual community, and I hope you post frequently.

  146. 146.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Earlier this evening I heard a couple of minutes of that new MSNBC program with Halperin and Haldeman or Heinekin or whatever their names are, and holy kee-REIST, do they ever hate Hillary!! I guess I knew that they (nor, really, any of the Villagers) would not ever be in the tank for her, but the two of them made Mrs. Greenspan sound like the president of PUMA.

  147. 147.

    Brachiator

    @lamh36: RE: Sports writer posted a racist letter she received about #CamNewton

    Newsday writer Kimberley Martin says she wanted to prove how deep racism is when it comes to black people.

    And water is wet.

  148. 148.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @WaterGirl:

    Yes, after my father died I cried all the way home for a long time, but was able to function competently in my job. Rinse and repeat for weeks and months on end. Not sure when I came out the other side, relatively dry-eyed.

  149. 149.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @bemused:
    I got an Rx for ocxy when I was going through radiation. It was impossible to get & I finally had to go through the cancer place & they would only give it to me in liquid form. I never got to crush & snort it ;). It never did much for me so I have about a quart of the crap & am not sure how to get rid of it.

  150. 150.

    Central Planning

    @bemused:

    Why do some docs prescribe that much?

    Who knows? The bottle says I can take up to 8/day, so that would only last 7.5 days. I can’t imagine being in pain for that long without going to the doctor and asking WTF?

  152. 152.

    FlipYrWhig

    @SiubhanDuinne: They are horrible hosts, funny looking people, and have no insight into anything. It’s Conventional Wisdom The Animated Series. Truly stupid decision by MSNBC. Like taking the worst features of Chris Matthews and Joe Scarborough and running it through a blender with the print edition of Politico, then pouring it into two roughly human-shaped molds.

  153. 153.

    Poopyman

    Only up to comment 50, so apologies if this has been covered …

    I heard that Reid had requested that Sandoval be vetted. Now his vetting has been leaked, but it’s not at all clear that it was by the White House and not Reid’s office. Or Sandoval’s people, for that matter.

    Back to the comments ….

  155. 155.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Origuy:

    Having grown up in my family’s bookstore (and being the owner of, perhaps, 15,000 books myself), I naturally have an enormous affection for the dead-tree variety — yet probably 98% of my reading these days is done on the Kindle app of my iPad. I love being able to adjust the backlighting (intensity and color) and font size for varying levels of tired eyes, ambient lighting, etc. it took a long time to embrace e-readers, but I’m never sorry I did.

  160. 160.

    Cheap Jim, formerly Cheap Jim

    It is odd that it’s a presidential appointment, seeing as it’s Congress’s own library. But as a Baltimorean, I can say we’ll miss Dr Hayden when she’s gone.

  162. 162.

    satby

    On the topic, Carla Haydon is eminently qualified, and a really nice person. I met her once in 1991 when I was a literacy tutor for the Chicago Public Library.

  163. 163.

    gogol's wife

    @hamletta:

    We disagree about who should lead the Library of Congress. I think it is a post that’s about the cultural heritage of the United States, and about a major institution that serves historians, not about computers. Anybody can help them with computers. But go ahead, insult me again, I’m not going to get into a flame war about the Library of Congress.

    There are plenty of major scholars who are also tech-savvy, by the way.

  165. 165.

    Calouste

    @SiubhanDuinne: Doesn’t matter. If Trump wins New York it’s such a landslide, he doesn’t need New York’s electoral votes for his VP. Having a Presidential and VP candidate from the same state isn’t explicitly forbidden in the constitution, the only thing that the constitution says about this topic is that electors aren’t allowed to vote for both a Prez and a VP from their own state.

  168. 168.

    Mnemosyne

    @gogol’s wife:

    Uh, wow, I didn’t realize how little respect you have for librarians and archivists. You realize that scholars wouldn’t be able to find the information they need without all of the work the librarians do, right? Those books didn’t magically organize themselves.

  170. 170.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @hamletta:

    Not a lifetime appointment de jure although evidently a lifetime appointment de facto. I suppose every decade, the incumbent simply says “I’m goin’ nowhere” and the Prez/Senate says “Cool, whatevs.”

    The Librarian of Congress is the head of the Library of Congress, appointed by the President of the United States with the advice and consent of the United States Senate,[3] for a term of ten years.[4]

  171. 171.

    Mnemosyne

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    No, I missed that! My brother in law was in town, so I was off doing touristy things with him. He is also a Hamimaniac, because he has good taste. ;-)

    Lin-Manuel was retweeting videos from the ALA conference with “Hamilton” singalongs, so I was already aware of the librarian/”Hamilton” fan crossover.

  173. 173.

    Mnemosyne

    @gogol’s wife:

    Then why not have a librarian in charge of the Library of Congress rather than yet another scholar? There are a lot of huge technological challenges ahead that I think a professional librarian is better equipped to handle than a professional scholar. Knowing how to use a library is not the same as knowing how to create a useable library.

  175. 175.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @FlipYrWhig:

    Not sure I would even know them if I saw them. I hear MSNBC occasionally on Sirius XM in the car, but unless it’s Rachel or someone I can tolerate, I usually flip over to either BBC or classical music. But I was quite struck by the venom tonight, and maybe kept the radio dial in place a bit longer than I should have.

  177. 177.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @satby:

    Getting back to work has helped my other friends who’ve lost a loved one, they say.

    Maybe should have mentioned this earlier, but in one of the down-thread discussions about RBG and why she didn’t just Do The Right Thing and retire already, I was reminded that her husband died a few years ago and she said in an interview that her work really helped her cope with her sudden widowhood.

  178. 178.

    chopper

    @srv:

    But when it comes to policy, who supported the crime bill?

    sanders voted for it.

    Who supported, not just the deregulating of banks

    sanders voted for it.

    just stop, doug.

  179. 179.

    Kropadope

    @chopper: Trouble is, when the only vote you have is yes or no, that could leave you voting for a problematic bill that has other aspects to it that you don’t like.

    Take a look at the speeches each candidate gave regarding their support for the bill. Bernie was warning us at the time about the problem of mass incarceration and how much damage it would do to U.S. civil society and how many lives would be ruined. Hillary was warning us about “super-predators,” basically dehumanizing broad swathes of the populace.

  181. 181.

    No One You Know

    @PurpleGirl: Yep, me too. And although my house is old enough to have actual bookshelves, I always wanted to live in a library, and now, it’s almost true: 12 floor-to-ceiling bookcases, and I’ve read 85% of their contents at least once. Spouse is responsible for the rest! :-)

  182. 182.

    ET

    @germy: The real mover behind this is the Register of Copyrights she really wants it. There has been a bill introduced but if it isn’t done before this session of Congress is over it won’t get done anytime soon – I just don’t know if this is going to be something that anyone will want to expend any energy on.

    @SiubhanDuinne: This 10 year law was passed this past fall likely because Billington’s tenure really had been too long particularly because of the fast changing nature of information and technology. 100 years ago not much changed fast and long tenure were ok.

Comments are closed.