Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

No Kings: Americans standing in the way of bad history saying “Oh, Fuck No!”

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Fear and negativity are contagious, but so is courage!

To the privileged, equality seems like oppression.

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

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you do not.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

The unpunished coup was a training exercise.

Stay strong, because they are weak.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Sometimes the world just tells you your cat is here.

I am pretty sure these ‘journalists’ were not always such a bootlicking sycophants.

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / Friday Mid-Day Open Thread

Friday Mid-Day Open Thread

by | 155 Comments

This post is in: ,

Via Buzzfeed, a tweeted image that shows the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy:

Foretold

Damn, I’m glad it’s Friday. Got any big plans this weekend? We’re probably going to lay low since last weekend’s holiday forced us to be sociable. Maybe I’ll make a half-hearted attempt at getting some housework done. But probably not.

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

155Comments

  1. 1.

    Unknown known (formerly known as Ecks, former formerly completely unknown)

    The words of the prophet are written on the subway walls and tenement halls.

  2. 2.

    MattF

    Plumber fixed my leaky toilets (one was under warranty from a previous repair, the other was a new leak). Did the first pass on my taxes (Turbotax says I get a small refund). Can I go back to sleep now?

  3. 3.

    Miss Bianca

    Saturday, either an exercise ride with the hounds or a clowning workshop in Denver with the rest of the Salida Circus freaks. Weather’s a bit iffy so probably not the latter… Sunday a “King Lear” rehearsal. I’ve gone from having no art/social life to having a completely ridiculous one.

  4. 4.

    Big Ol Hound

    Speaking of cleaning, we had to clean up for the twice a month cleaning lady today. The joys of retirement.

  5. 5.

    Betty Cracker

    I heard a weird toilet-related conversation the other day. We were visiting in-laws in a 55+ community, and apparently my MIL has toilets that are different heights. I thought home toilets were a standard height, but that turns out not to be the case! Anyhoo, the fact that she has different toilets must be widely known, because people who are replacing their toilets have come over to try hers out and see which height they prefer. (I assume they just sat on them rather than actually taking a dump!) Then there was a discussion about how the local Home Depot displays its johns on a platform that is six feet off the showroom floor, perhaps to discourage customers from plopping down on the toilets to try out the heights. Overall, it was a surreal conversation.

  6. 6.

    scav

    You want futile? My half-hearted attempts at house- (and garden-, patio-, hamster-cage, cat-box-, we’re leaving the frogs as-is) cleaning are at somebody-else’s house. I’m not even sure the hamster appreciated the effort. He had to immediately overturn his bowl to make the place seem homey again. (Which I understand entirely. Getting airlifted through the roof by an unfamiliar giant, stuck in a plastic basket and then airlifted back to a recarpeted abode that smells wrong and has all your furnishings and toys in the wrong places and where your caches of foodstuffs have vanished, that could very well lead to some bowl-upsetting to reassert personal control.)

  7. 7.

    Punchy

    Just signed up for a half-marathon on a Saturday, and a triathlon on the next day. Could make for a very painful Monday in mid May….

    When’s this global warming scam going to get me to the low 80’s? Need a respite from wind chills and clouds.

  8. 8.

    Miss Bianca

    @Betty Cracker:

    Some of the guys I work with went to the big Ace Hardware trade show in Vegas earlier this month (I, alas, didn’t because I wanted to caucus). The Big New Thing everyone came back talking about was a toilet that changes the angle of your seating – apparently your feet are elevated so that they’re positioned somewhat above your haunches. Supposed to aid the….elimination process somehow. All the guys came back with “I pooped!” buttons from this vendor. Truly, we live in strange times….

  10. 10.

    ruemara

    Putting the movie on public, would like to finish the next script but I have writing to do for my pay job. Thinking of scrubbing mold off the windows, repainting the bathroom, garbage to take out, and paperwork to sort. Might go to a health faire and get a 10 minute massage. I know, the excitement of my life is overwhelming. And it’s 8:30! What midday?!

  12. 12.

    scav

    @Miss Bianca: You want weird? Just wait until you see the ad for that. Unicorns, rainbow ice-cream a la dairy-queen, and porcelain thrones. Reassemble at your own mental risk.

  13. 13.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Betty Cracker: In my workplace, the toilet in the handicapped (can I say that?) stall is higher than the others. I find it uncomfortable.

    When I was in college and my roommate was majoring in architecture, he complained about the cost of a book he was required to buy that had all the standard dimensions for things like chairs, tables, countertops, sinks, toilets, etc. So, like you, I assumed everything had to be the same.

  14. 14.

    peach flavored shampoo

    Oh my, Mississippi is back in the running for worst ever!

    This part, in particular, caught my eye:

    the bill would allow religious groups to fire someone whose “conduct or religious beliefs are inconsistent with those of the religious organization,”

    Wow. So No Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Baptists, or Atheists Need Apply to every Catholic-affiliated hospital, university, or social services group? If that doesn’t define legal discrimination, I dont know what would. How, exactly, does an employer objectively deduce one’s “beliefs”?

    God damn what a cesspool the southern states have become.

  16. 16.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Miss Bianca: Have you traveled much? There are still plenty of places in the world where the “toilet” is a hole, and sometimes you get footprint-shaped indicators of where you should position yourself.

  17. 17.

    CaseyL

    You want surreal, go to an evening event in an elementary school and use the kids’ bathroom. All the fixtures – toilets, sinks, towel dispensers – are kid-sized and kid-height. I am a short, small-framed woman, and felt like a giantess in there!

  18. 18.

    Gin & Tonic

    Weird. Had a comment vanish, the FYWP admonished me for trying to post comments too quickly.

  19. 19.

    Miss Bianca

    @RSR: @Betty Cracker:

    Oh, God, oh God, it must be this! Because I remember all the guys giggling at our post-show manager’s meeting over some video they’d seen! And now…now I see why…holy Gooodd….that is so wrong!

    @scav: I’m shattered.

  20. 20.

    Keith G

    @Betty Cracker: In the years before I was born (latter 50s), our fraternal grandmother stayed in our family’s home. I never met the dear woman as she passed about 9 months before my birth. She was slightly disabled due to arthritis and our house was fitted with toilets which were taller than what was generally used in residential houses. As a young child I remember realizing how weird it was to use the toilet at some other location and feeling like I was having to sit unnaturally low.

  21. 21.

    bemused

    @Betty Cracker:

    I have heard stories of small children too young to know those convenient toilets on the store floors are off limits when they really had to GO which would explain why the toilets aren’t displayed at floor level. Six feet high does seem much too high for the kiddies to climb up there or even notice the toilets but there must be a valid reason they decided that a toilet six feet off the floor was necessary which I probably don’t want to know.

  24. 24.

    Mustang Bobby

    Going to see a production of “Nunsense” in suburban Miami tonight, then spend the rest of the weekend finishing my paper for the scholars’ conference at the William Inge Festival later this month. It’s all done; I just have to write it.

  26. 26.

    Gin & Tonic

    So, second attempt and that comment also vanished. It didn’t like something, but I used no bad words, just trying to reply to Miss Bianca to say that if she’s traveled much, surely she’d have come across facilities that look like this.

  28. 28.

    JanieM

    @Betty Cracker: It wasn’t until I had bad knees and a bad hip that I realized how much I wanted toilet seats to be higher than most of them are. A bar is nice too.

  30. 30.

    Miss Bianca

    @Mustang Bobby:

    I remember that dynamic from my grad school days…are you an Inge scholar then? I’m afraid “Bus Stop” is the only one of his that I’ve ever seen/worked on, and that was back in high school!

  32. 32.

    LAO

    @Betty Cracker: For some reason, the toilets in the woman’s room at my office are super low. I really never noticed until I returned to work after having surgery in my abdominal cavity. So there I am, sitting on the toilet, and I can”t get up. These toilets are like the height of elementary school toilets and there was no bar for me to leverage my ass up. Finally, after ten minutes I accepted my fate: I was going to die on a toilet in my office. I left bad for the cleaning lady that would discover my body. Finally a coworker came in and helped me.

    Thankfully, I find it funny — but it was seriously embarrassing.

    ETA: I have actually tied the squatting potty. It works! (admitting this can’t be more embarrassing than the my story of being stuck on the toilet.

  33. 33.

    Keith G

    @Gin & Tonic: Thanks for the check. I was speaking at the phone and my tongue seems to have slipped.

    The wonderful lady was Pa’s mum, therefore I should have said paternal.

  34. 34.

    Central Planning

    I’m taking my 2nd to the accepted student open house tomorrow at RIT. Strangely, having 2 kids at the same school does not increase the amount of aid per child.

    Currently waiting to get my tire patched. Picked up a nice large bolt yesterday evening. Didn’t appear to be leaking air, although the clicking sound it made while I was driving was annoying.

    Finally, dishwasher repair person should be coming this afternoon. First world problem having a broken dishwasher with 4 kids.

    And, probably drinking some red wine tonight and tomorrow night. Currently drinking Coppola Claret.

  36. 36.

    Miss Bianca

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Not since Greece a quarter-century ago, and I’d sort of forgotten about them…now memories of public facilities and total “WTF-ery?!?” coming back to me…thanks, Obama!

    @LAO: I’m sorry, but I’m totally laughing at that image now…I am a bad, BAD person.

  37. 37.

    Central Planning

    @Big Ol Hound:

    we had to clean up for the twice a month cleaning lady today.

    My wife cleans up before the cleaning lady comes. I don’t get it, but I go along with it to keep marital harmony.

  38. 38.

    MattF

    @Gin & Tonic: Something.. unusual is going on. A refresh showed zero comments, and then another refresh brought them back. The good news is that the alternative dimensions don’t have a Trump. The bad news is that the Great Cthulhu is going to swallow your soul. Your choice.

  39. 39.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    I have heard stories of small children too young to know those convenient toilets on the store floors are off limits when they really had to GO which would explain why the toilets aren’t displayed at floor level.

    @bemused: Friend of mine has been working at Home Despot for almost 15 years now.

    It wasn’t just kids. Adults used them. Adults who knew they were display models, doing it for the lulz, I guess. They had one guy arrested for it.

    I don’t know if this a “local to my area thing”, or a “United States” thing, or a worldwide thing, but it seems like a lot of people’s behavior, social and public, has really come unglued, particularly with regard to how that behavior affects others.

  40. 40.

    Calouste

    @peach flavored shampoo:

    The bill, passed by the state Senate earlier this week, also allows businesses to deny services based on the belief that “sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage” and that the belief that gender is determined at birth.

    So under this bill you could be refused service if you have had sex outside marriage. Which is probably around 95% of the American adults.

  46. 46.

    Matt McIrvin

    Our front screen door was destroyed by a windstorm yesterday. I came home to find a sliding plate-glass panel hanging half out of the disintegrating frame; I barely saved it from falling and probably shattering all over the place.

    That is all.

  47. 47.

    Miss Bianca

    @Betty Cracker: @Central Planning:

    Claret? Someone is making a claret? A blend I’m only familiar with from Regency-era novels, I’m afraid, where it seems to alternate with Burgundy as vino of choice for the upper crust…I’ll have to look for it!

  48. 48.

    raven

    We’re going to the Masters Monday, it a practice round so you can take a camera! The princess was puzzled when I invited her, “why would I go to that”? I reminded her that it was a big garden and she was ok with it! I got 4 tickets and will finance a couple of nice off shore trips in May it’s a big win.

    Oh yea, Final Four!

  49. 49.

    dmsilev

    @bemused:

    there must be a valid reason they decided that a toilet six feet off the floor was necessary which I probably don’t want to know.

    I’m sure there are men who would regard that as a range and aiming challenge, so to speak.

  50. 50.

    Miss Bianca

    @LAO:

    I think it was the sense of resignation you conveyed that did it to me…the “well, this is how I’m gonna go” feeling (errr…so to speak).

  52. 52.

    SiubhanDuinne, Mob Enforcer

    @Mustang Bobby:

    It’s all done; I just have to write it.

    I had that exact same thing yesterday that was due by close of business. (Got it done with seven minutes to spare.)

  54. 54.

    Aleta

    I’m hosting a fundraising dinner for the Baud! Campaign tonight. To keep the event as Green as possible, all attendees are requested to stay home. By supplying your own dinner you may forgo the Y150000 per plate donation.

  55. 55.

    chopper

    @CaseyL:

    my kid’s school an old high school repurposed for grades 1-5 so luckily i don’t have to deal with tiny sinks and toilets on teacher conference day.

  56. 56.

    bemused

    @CONGRATULATIONS!:

    Yes, I’ve heard that too as well as people pooping in department store rooms for trying on clothing. I don’t know if there is more of these idiots now or we just hear about them now with our social media.

    Now I’m imagining how people poop on a toilet in a Home Depot aisle and don’t get caught and why they want to do it in the first place. I would think many are mentally challenged in some way but wouldn’t doubt there are others who are just assholes.

  57. 57.

    raven

    @Central Planning: Same here. We stopped having her when the renovation started and she has yet to be re-employed. Every once in a while the girl says something but I just shut up and see what happens.

  58. 58.

    SiubhanDuinne, Mob Enforcer

    @dmsilev:

    I’m sure there are men who would regard that as a range and aiming challenge, so to speak.

    WE AIM TO PLEASE.
    You aim too, please.

  59. 59.

    Roger Moore

    @Betty Cracker:

    I thought home toilets were a standard height, but that turns out not to be the case!

    Taller toilets are a big deal now. There’s a standard height, but they’re increasingly moving to taller “comfort height” ones that are supposed to be easier to sit on and stand from for people with limited mobility.

  60. 60.

    Peale

    @Calouste: Yeah. I feel like its 2004 all over again for me and I have to watch state after state enact gays-no-marry amendments. Its just relentless to follow. And since I’m not a believer in the inevitability of Democratic demographics and the belief that somehow millennials are going to turn into great progressive voters, we’re kind of stuck with these laws unless they are overturned.

  61. 61.

    raven

    @CONGRATULATIONS!:In “The Great Deluge” Douglas Brinkley talks about how many folks pooped on desks in stores in the aftermath of Katrina. Getting back at the man I guess.

  63. 63.

    Miss Bianca

    @SiubhanDuinne, Mob Enforcer:

    So, speaking of which…I just consigned to the Trash bin the third or fourth in an increasingly-urgent series of emails from a “Ms. Memory Wong” (no, I am NOT making this up, even if it is April Fool’s Day), urging me as “Dear Purchasing Manager” to consider adding her company’s hygienic sprayer/shattaf/bidet shower (bolded in original) to our line of products. Uh…no. Sorry, Ms. Memory Wong (if that IS in fact your name!), but…no. I just don’t think this country is ready for it.

    ETA: Not that I’m expecting you to go all Mob Enforcer on her. Just sayin’, is all.

  64. 64.

    Immanentize

    When we used to leave my cat, Franz Josef, at home in Texas for a day or two to be watched by the neighbor, he would almost always poop on our bed. I miss big old Franz …. mostly.

  66. 66.

    Mustang Bobby

    @Miss Bianca: Inge scholar by default. I’ve been going to / participating in the William Inge Theatre Festival since 1991, and since I’m a playwright/scholar, I contribute to the festival’s scholars conference with my ruminations on his work. This year I’m comparing his work to that of Lanford Wilson, another Midwestern playwright and the subject of my doctoral thesis.

    Doing double duty this year; they’re doing a one-act of mine in the New Play Lab series.

    The festival takes place in Inge’s home town of Independence, Kansas, which is about 70 miles north of Tulsa. It’s going on April 20-24; if you’re in the area, stop by.

  67. 67.

    Betty Cracker

    @Miss Bianca: If you like big reds, definitely try it! My local grocery carries Coppola’s version. It’s the only claret I’ve ever had — I’d only heard about it in books too until spying it on the shelf!

  73. 73.

    Miss Bianca

    @Mustang Bobby:

    Shan’t be anywhere close, but I wish you best of luck! (or should I bid you break a leg? Reading a conference paper *is* performance of a sort, nicht wahr?)

  76. 76.

    Miss Bianca

    @Aleta:

    Heh heh heh.

    @raven: You know, I keep forgetting just how funny Rodney Dangerfield really was, even if “Cringe Comedy” is normally not my thing (too easily mortified myself, I fear!).

  78. 78.

    trollhattan

    @Miss Bianca:
    Claret is a British term applied by the import houses to certain red French wines (mostly Bordeaux IIRC) but means bupkis in the New World. I suspect it is generally applied to Bordeaux blends here (cab, cab franc, merlot, petit verdot, malbec) but can basically be used for any red blend with proportions that can’t be legally labeled as a varietal.

  80. 80.

    Mnemosyne

    @Roger Moore:

    Except that it’s usually a “comfort height” for a 6 foot tall man and leaves the rest of us feeling like third-graders because our feet barely touch the ground.

    I can’t believe I’m answering this rather than doing actual work. You guys are a terrible influence.

  82. 82.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Peale: Millennials are not necessarily great progressive voters, but what they are specifically is very pro-LGBT-rights. Even in really conservative states, they’re relatively so.

  83. 83.

    Mandarama

    @Calouste:

    @peach flavored shampoo:
    God damn what a cesspool the southern states have become.
    Become?

    I was gonna say…I’m a sixth-generation Mississippian and part of the first proud gen to run like a bunny, and I didn’t go far enough. I don’t think any of my ancestors achieved more than a cesspool. (Figuratively speaking– some of them didn’t manage that in the literal sense.)

  86. 86.

    Brachiator

    @Mnemosyne: A little break from Toilet Talk

    Hamilton coming to Seattle

    The national tour of “Hamilton” will make its way to town as part of Seattle Theatre Group’s 2017-18 Broadway at the Paramount season, the theater announced Thursday.

    “Hamilton” will take the stage at the Paramount Theatre sometime in the 2017-2018 season, but details about engagement dates and the length of the run have not been revealed. The first national tour will begin in San Francisco in March 2017 before moving to Los Angeles in August.

    Seats are expected to go quickly: 2016-17 season-ticket subscribers will have the first opportunity to secure seats for “Hamilton” at the Paramount by renewing their subscriptions for the 2017-18 season. New 2017-18 subscriptions and single-show tickets will be available after that.

    Those interested in subscribing for the 2016-17 season have some time to make up their minds. Six-show packages will remain on sale until mid-August. The season kicks off with “Beautiful — The Carole King Musical” on Oct. 19.

  87. 87.

    Mandarama

    @Calouste:

    So under this bill you could be refused service if you have had sex outside marriage. Which is probably around 95% of the American adults.

    Based on my experience, that would be probably more than like 98% of Mississippians. It’s not like there’s a whole lot else to do there.

  88. 88.

    Miss Bianca

    @trollhattan:

    Ah, thanks for that claretfication! : )

    @raven: Really? Really? Oh, I will have to tell my brother, he would be so jealous – he LOVES him some Rodney Dangerfield.

  93. 93.

    Shana

    @Roger Moore: Yeah, we’ve remodeled two bathrooms in recent years and got the taller toilets for both rooms even though one of them is what we call the “kid’s bathroom” and would probably be labelled as such by whoever buys our house when we’re ready to leave. I find them pretty comfortable and I’m only 5’3″.

    I head to NYC tomorrow morning for what we’re calling American History Musical Weekend. Hamilton (sadly without Lin-Manuel Miranda) on Saturday night and 1776 at Encores Sunday afternoon. We bought our tickets last summer before the show had technically opened, but after I saw it with SIL in previews.

    I also plan to visit Mood and B&J fabric stores Saturday afternoon to pick up supplies to make some new clothes since I’m losing weight on my medical weight loss program. 11 pounds in 6 weeks. I’m going to actually eat a lunch on Saturday and Sunday instead of the meal replacements I’ve been having so far. I’m nervous about it but determined. We’ll see how it goes.

  94. 94.

    Mike J

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Millennials are not necessarily great progressive voters, but what they are specifically is very pro-LGBT-rights. Even in really conservative states, they’re relatively so.

    Fred over at Slacktivist is always pointing to surveys showing that even religious kids are pro LGBT

  95. 95.

    trollhattan

    @Miss Bianca:
    Happy to pontificate :-) (cough…wine nerd…cough)

    It helps to be within driving distance of a couple thousand wineries.

  96. 96.

    Mnemosyne

    @Brachiator:

    Honestly, if we can’t get LA tickets, G and I would probably be better off getting tickets for Chicago since we have family there and could combine trips.

    @Shana:

    I think you just described G’s perfect weekend — he loves both “Hamilton” and “1776.”

    Good luck with the food. An interesting “willpower” mind trick they’ve discovered is that if you tell yourself you CAN’T have something, you’ll only want it more. But if you consciously CHOOSE not to have it, you’re more likely to be able to stick to your resolution. My 10-plus years of Weight Watchers says that it’s a good idea to decide ahead of time what you’ll have for each of those meals and consciously tell yourself that you are CHOOSING those healthy dishes and that’s what you want. It sounds a little woo-woo, but it does help.

  97. 97.

    trollhattan

    @Mike J:
    It’s interesting to watch the youngn form opinions on such social constructs, especially as one who grew up at a time it wasn’t even a third-tier issue. She, and her cohort seem quite accepting of gay rights and their being a part of the social fabric. Am sure that isn’t true everywhere but it shows without indoctrination kids just shrug and resume being kids.

  98. 98.

    GregB

    Suggested title for the book about the shattering of th Republican Party.

    A Million Little Feces.

  99. 99.

    Iowa Old Lady

    @Mike J: The insane state laws allowing LGBT discrimination seem completely anachronistic to me. I look and say why are they still clinging to this? Why is it so crucially important to them? Move on.

  100. 100.

    elmo

    Getting all of my various parts ready to attend my first-ever black tie event Wednesday. The Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS) is having a black-tie gala at the National Building Museum in DC, and my boss designated me as one of the lucky attendees. (cough)

    One of the other VPs looked sort of quizzical when he announced who was going, looked at me and said quietly, “It’s black tie.” Boss overheard and said “No, it’s black tie optional.” Other VP, still quietly to me: “That means people will be wearing the kinds of clothes people wear at black tie events. And you’ll have to socialize.”

    He knows me really well.

    So I ordered two different dresses (one a gown, one not) on Amazon, and they both fit so I’m keeping them. I also ordered a clutch purse and some clip-on earrings. This weekend I will get a haircut and figure out how one gets a manicure.

    Oh, and I suppose I had better buy makeup and figure out how that works.

    My wife is enjoying all of this immensely.

  101. 101.

    trollhattan

    @Central Planning:
    That’s interesting, it’s enough cab to be labeled cabernet but the labeling emphasizes Claret. They’re going big on the old-world aspect.

    BTW, Don Corlione’s desk is at the winery.

  102. 102.

    bemused

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    Mississippi LGBT discrimination bill has passed both House and Senate, goes back to House so looks like this one may get enacted. Does MS have many corporations and big businesses that are going push back hard as happened in Georgia?

  103. 103.

    Brachiator

    @Shana:

    @Mnemosyne:

    In today’s NY Times: ‘1776,’ a Musical Portrait of Squabbling Politicians

    Even in times of tumult, history moves at different paces. To see the hit Broadway musical “Hamilton” is to experience the American Revolution as a hotheaded, hotfooted affair, sped forward by impatient firebrands who act as fast they talk.

    But take a look at the same era as it’s portrayed in “1776,” the 1969 musical by Sherman Edwards and Peter Stone about one excruciatingly protracted session of the Continental Congress in the year of its title. As Garry Hynes’s stately Encores! concert production of that show reminds us, the birth of great change often involves a slow and difficult labor, especially when a hidebound institution called Congress is involved.

    Consider the opening lines of this production, spoken with deliciously ripe disgust by Santino Fontana in the role of John Adams: “I have come to the conclusion that one useless man is called a disgrace — two are called a law firm — and that three or more become a Congress.”

    I don’t know how that definition played to audiences 40-odd years ago. But on Wednesday night, when the production opened at City Center, it brought the house down. Adams goes on to sing, in further describing the august body he serves, “You see/we piddle, twiddle and resolve/Not one damned thing do we solve.”

    Piddle, twiddle …. Could be talking about toilets…

  105. 105.

    Miss Bianca

    @Central Planning:

    Is it bad that it’s only 11:30 local time and I’m already thinking “h’m…wine…”?

    @Brachiator: Loooove “1776”. I’d almost forgotten “Piddle, Twiddle and Resolve/Not one damn thing do we solve”, but I’m sure it would have more resonance for me now than it did in 1976!

  106. 106.

    Mary G

    As someone who needed knee replacement in the 80s, but couldn’t afford the 30% co-pay, I can attest to the value and necessity of a taller toilet. I had a plastic sort of booster seat that was a nightmare in many ways.

  107. 107.

    Amir Khalid

    @trollhattan:
    I know “claret” only as a name for the shade of maroon used in the home shirts of London-based West Ham United FC and Birmingham-basedAston Villa FC of the English Premier League. Their shirts are commonly described as “claret and blue”.

    I was well into my thirties before I learned that claret was a kind of wine.

  108. 108.

    Mnemosyne

    @Brachiator:

    I think it’s also, literally, a generational difference. Adams and Jefferson are settled men in their 40s debating the merits of revolution. Hamilton, Laurens, and Lafayette are teenagers (literally!) getting into street brawls.

    So that messenger in “1776” who keeps trudging in is bringing messages from Hamilton informing Congress that they have resorted to eating their horses. And I mean that quite literally — the majority of the surviving dispatches from Washington are in Hamilton’s handwriting.

    ETA: Though I said “literally” a lot, at least I used it correctly. Right?

  109. 109.

    Shana

    @Mnemosyne: What’s been working for me so far is thinking of this as, instead of a diet where you just say “Oh I shouldn’t have that, I should have this” is to think of it as a medical necessity. If you have high blood pressure, you take medicine for that because you need it for your well being. I’m trying very hard to think of this program, and what will come afterward as a medical necessity for me.

    Vegetarians do this in restaurants all the time. My husband, who keeps very kosher both in the house and outside, does the same thing. There are foods he can have and foods he can’t. I hope I can make that mental shift and keep thinking this way.

  110. 110.

    Iowa Old Lady

    @bemused: I don’t know. You’d think they have big oil companies who might object. One difference between NC and MS is that NC has a reputation as a happening place with major universities for instance. MS, not so much.

  111. 111.

    Cacti

    @Miss Bianca:

    “Piddle, Twiddle and Resolve/Not one damn thing do we solve”,

    “In foul, fetid, fuming, foggy, filthy, Philadelphia!”

  112. 112.

    muddy

    You can get risers for toilets at medical supply places. There’s one like a tall flat donut that just sits on top of the seat, and one that has a toilet seat mounted on an aluminum frame with handrails that you just stand above the toilet. The second kind can also be used with its pail for use as a bedside commode.

  115. 115.

    dogwood

    @Peale:
    These anti-LGTB religious freedom laws are purely reactionary. Right wing nuts would have to hire bathroom monitors to make these laws even remotely enforceable. The nuts in NC now believe their public restrooms are safe from transgender contamination, which is pretty ridiculous since they’ve been sharing bathrooms with transgendered people for decades. These laws will end up being like any other anachronistic blue law that stays on the books for decades and sometimes centuries. Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t fight them tooth and nail, but they don’t scare me as much as voter suppression laws which are actually enforceable.

  116. 116.

    trollhattan

    @Amir Khalid:
    One of my bathrooms has “merlot” as an accent color (despite “Sideways”) and I once had a car with “Bordeaux” interior, which friends dubbed French whorehouse red on account of the velour upholstery.

  117. 117.

    Miss Bianca

    @Mnemosyne:

    If you are going to Chicago for Hamilton let me know…I may try to bag tickets for the same time! Got a ton of theater friends there I haven’t seen for almost twenty years (including one who used to comment sometimes on BJ back in my Lurker Phase), and it’s past time for a visit! : )

    @Cacti: Oh, it’s all coming back to me now…hope that’s not a portent for the Democratic Convention!

  119. 119.

    Mnemosyne

    @Shana:

    Also, find foods you really like that also fit into your plan. I never have trouble at a steakhouse because I really do like filet mignon and prefer it above any other cut. I’d rather have grilled or steamed asparagus than goopy creamed stuff.

    Concentrate on the things you enjoy eating that also fit into your plan and that will help a lot.

    Oh, and one last weird tip: figure out if you’re a salad person or a soup person. I’ve discovered over the years that eating salad as my first course actually makes me hungrier (and they don’t fill me up as entrees, either). It’s better for me to start with soup, which does make me feel more satisfied, more quickly, and most non-creamy soups are the same calories as a starter salad or lower.

  120. 120.

    Gin & Tonic

    @elmo: “Black tie optional” is a completely meaningless guidance, at least for the menfolk. If they own a tux they’ll more likely than not wear it, but if they don’t, then they have to kind of guess about how uncomfortable they’ll be in a business suit, depending on the kinds of people there and what percentage will be wearing black tie. If half are in a tux and half in a suit, it’s not so bad, but if there’s 98 guys in a tux and you’re one of two in a suit, you’ll feel really weird and look like a cheapskate.

    Not really a problem for me, as I own a tux, but I hate that “optional” thing with a passion.

  122. 122.

    Mnemosyne

    @dogwood:

    I’ve been seeing a photo on Facebook of a grocery store in Georgia (Kroger, I think) that has a sign on their unisex bathroom pointing out that they have a wide range of customers, including parents who may need to be in the bathroom with an opposite-sex small child, caregivers or adult children who may need to assist an opposite-sex elderly parent and, yes, transgender people. I liked how they listed all of the completely innocent and normal reasons someone might need to go into an opposite-gender bathroom and slipped transgender people on there as just another totally normal occurrence that they’re accommodating.

  123. 123.

    Mnemosyne

    @Miss Bianca:

    I’ll let you know, but it might not be until 2018. (They have a sit-down engagement, so I’m not too worried that Hamimania will die down before then.) We may try for NYC in 2017 as a graduation present for G since neither of us have ever been there.

  124. 124.

    Brachiator

    @Mnemosyne:

    I think it’s also, literally, a generational difference. Adams and Jefferson are settled men in their 40s debating the merits of revolution. Hamilton, Laurens, and Lafayette are teenagers (literally!) getting into street brawls.

    Jefferson was 33 in 1776, mature compared to 21 year old Hamilton, but still a bit of a Young Turk.

    I’m reading a “History Today” magazine piece about Ben Franklin in London. During his time there, he was still more of a Loyalist, and even lobbied to have his son made royal governor of New Jersey.

    So that messenger in “1776” who keeps trudging in is bringing messages from Hamilton informing Congress that they have resorted to eating their horses. And I mean that quite literally — the majority of the surviving dispatches from Washington are in Hamilton’s handwriting.

    Of course. He was Washington’s “right hand man” (write hand man).

  126. 126.

    Amir Khalid

    @Gin & Tonic:

    If half are in a tux and half in a suit, it’s not so bad, but if there’s 98 guys in a tux and you’re one of two in a suit, you’ll feel really weird and look like a cheapskate.

    If there’s 98 guys in a suit and you’re one of two in a tux, do you wind up taking drinks orders all evening?

  128. 128.

    Mnemosyne

    @Brachiator:

    Something I just caught last night — one of Jefferson’s last lines in “Washington On Your Side,” is “the emperor has no clothes.” Two songs later, Jefferson finds out that’s exactly what Hamilton is hiding rather than financial speculation.

    Jefferson was a bit younger than Adams, but he was definitely more settled than Hamilton and his teenage contemporaries. He was practicing as a lawyer by 1767 and was a delegate in the House of Burgesses from 1769 to 1775. Hamilton didn’t enter college until 1774.

  130. 130.

    Mnemosyne

    @Brachiator:

    Also, speaking of handwriting, an interesting bit from the Chernow book: several of Hamilton’s longer pieces after the war are in both his and Eliza’s handwriting (and spelling, because women were not as well-educated at the time). Most probably, he had her take dictation after he got tired, but it also may be a bit of evidence that she was more involved with helping him with his writing than she was given credit for, even if only as a sounding board.

  133. 133.

    A Ghost To Most

    @Calouste:

    So under this bill you could be refused service if you have had sex outside marriage. Which is probably around 95% of the American adults.

    Being Mississippi, there is probably an exception for family.

  134. 134.

    Shana

    @Mnemosyne: I’m definitely a soup person. If it’s a cold meal it just doesn’t seem fulfilling somehow, although that’s changing a bit.

    I’ve also discovered that if something’s really highly seasoned it’s more satisfying to only have a small amount. I’ve always liked spicy food and that helps too.

    ETA: As far as I can tell, only group tickets for Hamilton are on sale now for Chicago.

  136. 136.

    Paul in KY

    @Amir Khalid: Off topic, but I have a relative (with 3 small kids) who’s a Christian missionary out in wilds of Myanmar. How crazy is that?

  137. 137.

    Ruckus

    @Iowa Old Lady:
    I look and say why are they still clinging to this? Why is it so crucially important to them? Move on.

    You just hit upon it. The move on part. That is the antithesis of their entire thought process. Move backwards yes, move on, no way. It doesn’t make any sense that they go through life looking in the rear view mirror, but to them that view was better. It didn’t start with the civil war but that was a big deal, to be told that their lives and what they believed in was totally wrong. They fought a war over it, that’s how strongly they believed in it. And that belief has never changed. It’s spread and that’s why the southern strategy was so bad. It took that idea that the south should not have lost and the end result 150 yrs later is tRump.

  139. 139.

    Origuy

    @elmo: A friend of mine is a makeup artist; does photo shoots, runways, and wedding parties. I get the feeling that she thinks a lot of women don’t really know how to do makeup. It might be worth finding a professional in your area and paying for an hour of her time.

    I haven’t worn a suit in years and none of mine fit me. The only formal wear I own goes with my kilt. I wear that two or three times a year.

  140. 140.

    Brachiator

    @Mnemosyne:

    Something I just caught last night — one of Jefferson’s last lines in “Washington On Your Side,” is “the emperor has no clothes.” Two songs later, Jefferson finds out that’s exactly what Hamilton is hiding rather than financial speculation.

    I haven’t got here yet. I slowed down listening to the cast album until I had time to listen to a chunk of it. A bit of “superstition” involved as well. I enjoyed Act I so much that I was afraid I might be disappointed later on.

    I’ve gone back to listen to some YouTube videos that document how Miranda quotes and references hip hop songs in Hamilton (I’m pretty good on catching the pop, jazz, R&B, and Caribbean influences). I am just astounded and impressed at how well he weaves all of this into history and a cool drama.

    In listening to a couple of podcasts, I have a deeper appreciation of Burr. There is, not surprisingly, an Aaron Burr Society, which, much like the Richard III Society, goes overboard in trying to repair Burr’s reputation. And he has a couple of very sympathetic biographers.

    I didn’t know that there were rumors that Martin Van Buren was Burr’s illegitimate son (possibly just related to the more outrageous political jibes of the time and a reverie of Gore Vidal in his novel about Burr).

  142. 142.

    Mnemosyne

    @Brachiator:

    The play is ultimately pretty sympathetic to Burr. I think they said one of the most influential books they read was “The Heartbreak of Aaron Burr,” which isn’t a full biography and more a look at Burr’s relationship with his daughter. The poor guy really did have everyone he loved die throughout his whole life. As far as I can tell from a quick search (though I’m sure someone will correct me), all of his legitimate children and grandchildren predeceased him, though he does seem to have had at least two illegitimate mixed-race children whose descendants survive today.

  143. 143.

    Brachiator

    @Mnemosyne:

    Jefferson was a bit younger than Adams, but he was definitely more settled than Hamilton and his teenage contemporaries.

    Jefferson started out ahead of Hamilton, but Hamilton caught up big time as a member (along with Jefferson) of Washington’s cabinet.

    several of Hamilton’s longer pieces after the war are in both his and Eliza’s handwriting…. Most probably, he had her take dictation after he got tired, but it also may be a bit of evidence that she was more involved with helping him with his writing than she was given credit for, even if only as a sounding board.

    Eliza and Burr’s wife Theodosia both seemed to be very interesting women. Theodosia died too young, but Eliza Hamilton, of course, lived to be 97, organized Hamilton papers and seemed to have supervised the efforts of one of her sons in writing her husband’s biography.

  144. 144.

    J R in WV

    @Central Planning: I rented a truck in Arizona (because I needed to to access the camp, haul firewood and lumber, etc) and it had a tire go low. I pumped it up and went to town, when I came out of the store it was low again.

    I stopped at a tire shop to get it looked at. The fellow eventually came over to me rolling the wet tire/wheel and said “Someone has done you a disservice!” He had Xed a big plug that was leaking, and told me that he wouldn’t plug a tire – it was dangerous. He was hispanic, and we were about 3/4 mile from Mexico.

    I told him it was a rental, and asked him if a patch would last 2 or 3 weeks. He allowed that it might, charged me $20 which the rental company covered.

    I had a friend who had a flat from a spark-plug in his tire once, later on he picked up an open-end wrench, same truck.

    You might want to get your tire actually replaced – a bolt is going to leave a big hole.

  145. 145.

    Mnemosyne

    @Brachiator:

    I think Chernow and Miranda both developed long-distance crushes on Eliza. But I’ll let you get to the end of the play so I don’t spoil anything. Let’s just say, the play has an interesting way of dealing with the fact that Eliza destroyed her own letters that she had written, though the timing is an invention since no one knows when she did it.

  146. 146.

    Brachiator

    @Miss Bianca:

    So, Martin van Burren, then?

    Verily!

    @Mnemosyne:

    As far as I can tell from a quick search (though I’m sure someone will correct me), all of his legitimate children and grandchildren predeceased him, though he does seem to have had at least two illegitimate mixed-race children whose descendants survive today.

    Is the claim of the illegitimate children relatively recent? I don’t recall it popping up in stuff about Burr that I’ve seen earlier?

    There is an interesting side not here about how history is too often segmented or pigeonholed. The children’s descendants are sometimes mentioned in Black History Month articles, but totally disconnected from any of their white ancestors. A work by Frank Webb, possibly Burr’s grandson, was the second novel by an African American to be published and the first to portray the daily lives of free blacks in the North.

    His wife, Mary, was noted for giving dramatic readings of Shakespeare and other authors, and found a patron in Harriet Beecher Stowe.

  147. 147.

    elmo

    @Miss Bianca: That would be so, so awesome – especially since she has recently taken to shaving her head, a la Sinead O’Connor, because her various ailments make hair actually painful. But alas no, this is a limited-ticket function, so there’s no plus-one.

  148. 148.

    Mnemosyne

    @Brachiator:

    I think it’s relatively new information — DNA testing is making it easier for people to prove (or disprove) family legends. According to Wikipedia, their mother may have been Indian (from Calcutta) and not Black, so it’s interesting that they gravitated to the African-American community. Burr himself was a pretty strong abolitionist (though he did own a few slaves) so he probably would have been happy to have descendants helping with the Underground Railroad.

  149. 149.

    elmo

    @Origuy: LOVE me some guys in kilts!
    I would definitely pay for an hour with a professional if I could find such an hour myself. I’m actually flying back to DC from Vermont that afternoon, so it’s going to be fly to Dulles, drive the two hours home, change, and then drive the hour-plus into DC for the gala.
    So Exciting! :P

  150. 150.

    Miss Bianca

    @elmo:

    My ex-husband used to say something had made him “so mad his hair hurt!” I had no idea that could actually be a thing! Ouch! : (

    @Origuy: Seconded on the kilt thing.

    The guy who does my waxing is also a professional make-up artist, When I get to the point of running for national office and needing $1200 haircuts, no question that he will be my make-up/facial guy. ; )

  151. 151.

    Brachiator

    @Mnemosyne:

    DNA testing is making it easier for people to prove (or disprove) family legends. According to Wikipedia, their mother may have been Indian (from Calcutta) and not Black, so it’s interesting that they gravitated to the African-American community.

    The claim that the servant was Indian is actually kinda odd, and almost makes no sense. I would tentatively put this in the same category of people claiming Portuguese ancestry in order to try to deny African ancestry. But a very minor quibble.

    DNA testing would be problematic here because there are no (or very very few) white male descendants in the Burr line to do reliable matching.

    But I guess this does indirectly bring up the interesting little historical tidbit that where DNA testing is available, it often confirms previously dismissed oral history of the black descendants.

    Burr himself was a pretty strong abolitionist (though he did own a few slaves) so he probably would have been happy to have descendants helping with the Underground Railroad.

    It certainly adds complexity to Burr’s legend, as does his apparent insistence that his daughter be educated as rigorously as any man.

    And again, there is the irony, which always makes for good drama, that Burr and Hamilton seemed very similar in their views on slavery and abolition.

  152. 152.

    Robert Sneddon

    @Origuy: A shop just along the street from me does formal kilt hire including black-tie kilt outfits which comprise dickie jackets with white formal shirts and black plaid bow-ties and a Dark Island tartan kilt which is basically black-on-black. It does help if you’ve got the legs for it though.

  153. 153.

    Central Planning

    I know this thread is getting old, but:

    @Miss Bianca:

    Is it bad that it’s only 11:30 local time and I’m already thinking “h’m…wine…”?

    NEVER.

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