Wolf Blitzer: "The terrain tonight seems favorable for the frontrunners." Please god let me play poker with Wolf someday.
— AlGiordano (@AlGiordano) April 26, 2016
Title definition: The droppings of the beast pursued…
Literally the only Trump path to victory. https://t.co/BefUty2UWb
— Bob Schooley (@Rschooley) April 26, 2016
Bernie Sanders has been treated terribly by the Democrats—both with delegates & otherwise. He should show them, and run as an Independent!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 26, 2016
I personally think Senator Sanders is too smart to fall for Trump’s advice — although, as the Yammering Yam Himself goes to show, you can never tell what might happen when an aging male’s vanity is sufficiently wounded…
Sign that it's all over for Bernie: Hillary is praising him to the rafters.
— Dan Kennedy (@dankennedy_nu) April 27, 2016
@chucktodd @SensibleStarfsh @TheRealGanzer Hence bernie rally in WV ?
— Jersey_Guy 4 Hillary (@VinnyTimNJ) April 27, 2016
Major Major Major Major
Go Hillary!
Cacti
Looks like CT is the only competitive race of the night on the D side.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
If this were baseball Hillary would have just reduced her magic number to 1 with 6 weeks left in the season. Bernie is done and now is a time see what type of person he is.
NotMax
Merde-er, she said.
Shall refrain from taking the title as a cue to link to scat singing. Or scat anything else, for that matter.
:)
rikyrah
Trump won all five.
If they take it from him..
I just won’t believe it until I see it.
WarMunchkin
So, Sestak or McGinty?
Central Planning
It would be great if Bernie (or Hillary) tweeted the following:
Cacti
@rikyrah:
Yep.
Drumpf has now taken 27 of 44 total contests on the R side.
If they try to take the nom from him, there will be a full on wingnut rebellion.
Comrade Jake
I can’t believe Bernie suggested well the super delegates could still give it to him. Dude…
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Sanders is getting shellacked
Must be a combination of the Blahs distorting the vote and the dumb, poor whites not voting.
dmsilev
@rikyrah: At this point, he very well might hit that absolute majority of delegates, in which case all of the conspiring and such will be especially pointless. Still, you have to admit it would be hilarious to watch the establishment try to take the nomination from Trump.
dmsilev
@Comrade Jake:
It’s the most plausible route to the nomination left open for him. Which should say something about the other potential routes.
Betty Cracker
Surprised Van Hollen had such a huge win in MD.
gf120581
@WarMunchkin: Right now looks like McGinty. Sestak was in danger of finishing 3rd behind Fetterman.
Chris Van Hollen can start making plans for his new Senate seat now.
trollhattan
@Cacti:
So they should do it then. Just sayin’.
mdblanche
@Betty Cracker: It sounded like the wheels were coming off of Edwards’ campaign at the end.
? Martin
Van Hollen defeated Edwards. No opinion there, just reporting.
The Ancient Randonneur
@WarMunchkin: McGinty. We need more female voices in the Senate
Mike J
@dmsilev: I’ll repeat a link from the previous thread:
Judge sets Trump University hearing for first day of GOP convention
gf120581
@Comrade Jake: It’s all he’s got left. And after tonight, I doubt even Weaver could make the pitch with a straight face.
Betty Cracker
LOL! Beginning of Trump’s speech drowned out by Mick Jagger! Trump’s tanning goggle marks seem more pronounced tonight.
aimai
I’ve been pretty unforgiving of Bernie’s tactics in this race, and of his more agressive partisans on the “everything is corrupt and broken” side of the argument. But I think having a contested primary was excellent for the party, and for the country, and for Hillary as a candidate. And although I don’t think Bernie dragged her to left, in any meaningful sense, I do think that having him run to her left enabled her to move closer to being out and proud about the kind of liberal policies she wants to put into practice.
So I’m grateful to Bernie and I would like to look back on him fondly. Here’s hoping the guy goes out with some grace and charm, rather than as the raving asshole he has been for the last few months.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Sanders says he won’t back release tax returns even though Clinton has released 36 years of tax returns.
I told you he would never release them.
Miss Bianca
@Central Planning: I’d love to see that happen. I’d love to see them *both* tweet some version of that.
@aimai: Word.
mdblanche
@gf120581:
It won’t stop him from trying. Worst. campaign manager. ever.
lamh36
So, I had originally planned to visit DFW this week. I scheduled a flight and everything. I even got my friends and family rate from My aunt. I was gonna go to Los Angeles but I couldn’t find a good price at a decent hotel, so I changed it to DFW. Then Prince died and I got mad because the only reason I didn’t see him in concert the 2x I had a chance to was because I didn’t want to go by myself…that happened a lot where I wouldn’t do something cause I couldn’t find someone to go with who would PAY THEIR OWN WAY!
after Prince died I decided that I wasn’t gonna not do something cause I couldn’t find anyone else to go with. I’m always looking for deals and so last night I happened on a good one…so I’m still going to DFW but I’m not staying there…I am actually going to San Francisco for the 4 days and 3 nights. So I’ll be in San Francisco this weekend!
Woo hoo…when I went to Hawaii, I was in SF for just about 24hr for a layover, but I’ve always wanted to go back for an extended trip. So this is it!
I’m gonna be on a budget, but with public transit and having my hotel in a central area will make it easier to get around…woo hoo.
Major Major Major Major
@Miss Bianca: It would be so cool.
Quick, who here is a secret paid Clinton troll? Run that one up the… whatever the metaphor is.
SectionH
@Mike J: Postponed? (Because reasons? It just seems likely.)
Major Major Major Major
@lamh36: oh cool! What do you think you’re gonna do in our fair city?
smintheus
You’re outdoing yourself, Annie.
Jeffro
@dmsilev:
it would be, or will be, or might be…who knows? So many known unknowns, and unknown knowns, to east, south, west, and north…
I can’t wait to see what @Dick_Nixon has to say tomorrow on Twitter
Betty Cracker
@lamh36: Sounds like fun! I love San Francisco — it’s a beautiful city, and such good food! Have a great time!
Bobby Thomson
@WarMunchkin: McGinty has an early lead but SEPA traditionally returns late, and that’s Sestak Country. I think she’ll probably win, though.
I have loyalty to Sestak for taking out Crazy Curt Weldon and primarying Snarlin’ Arlen. The party has lingering butthurt for the latter reason. McGinty has been a terrible candidate so far and I think the party is gifting re-election to Toomey over a personal score. They gave McGinty $1.5 million (nearly 10 times more than any other Senatorial candidate) to spend on this election. Maybe I’m wrong and she’ll be another Gillibrand, but I’m not seeing it. She’s a bureaucrat, not a politician.
Anya
Trump is rambling as usual. I just wonder how does this clown manage to “make deals” as he always brags about? His speech is always the same: “we’re gonna make America great. We’re gonna win. My crowds are big. Media is biased against me.”
Comrade Jake
@aimai: I have to laugh every time I hear some talking head opine that Bernie has pulled Clinton to the left.
No. Not in any meaningful way.
Cacti
Clinton has edged out to about an 800 vote lead in CT with 63% reporting.
amk
Jon Favreau @jonfavs
Dem Nominees
’08: African American
’12: African American
’16: Woman
GOP Nominees
’08: White Man
’12: White Man
’16: Monster in Human Suit
gf120581
@Major Major Major Major: If I am, I haven’t been paid yet. ;)
Cacti
@Comrade Jake:
Clinton, OTOH, has pulled Bernie to the left on guns and immigration.
Comrade Jake
The GOP is going to nominate Trump.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Baud
@amk:
Fixed.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
the Outlaw Joisey Whale has that “Dear God, What have I done?” look again
Betty Cracker
@Anya: It all boils down to “look at meeeeeeeee!” And again, Christie looks like he’s been knocked on the head by a giant mallet.
aimai
@lamh36: That is a great decision to make–to just go and fucking do it even if you are doing it alone. And you know what? You meet extraordinary people that way and have the most amazing time. Travelling with a friend is cool, in its way, but you travel in a little bubble and you miss a lot. My great aunt was a film critic (for the San Francisco Chronicle) and she travelled all over the world, just a tiny little lady, going to festivals in Iran, Spain, you name it. And she always found herself adopted by the person on the plane sitting next to her and taken out and about as though she were family.
Cat48
Well, he’s staying in until primaries are over, per Jane Sanders, who becomes agitated when someone asks. She was on TV today & wanted to make it perfectly clear. So ok!
Baud
@lamh36: I support this.
aimai
@Cacti: Right. Clinton brought a lot of “left” issues to Bernie’s attention–from guns and immigration to race and women’s issues. Right now there’s a dead ender at Kos writing a sob filled diary about how HRC didn’t say exactly the right thing about abortion so even though Planned Parenthood and NARAL are backing her and even though she’d be miles better than any Republican still, (sob sob) she isn’t as good as Bernie would have been!
MomSense
The expression on Christie’s face as he listens to Trump’s rambling ravings is – I don’t even know. What is up with Trump’s weird jaw jutting thing?
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
I like Katie McGinty – she’s got a winner’s vibe to her.
MomSense
@lamh36:
Have so much fun!
smintheus
@Bobby Thomson: If you like fracking, McGinty is the candidate for you. Too bad Pennsylvanians are overwhelmingly against fracking. That’s going to be as big a problem for McGinty if she wins as her almost non-existent political skills.
Cacti
Spread in CT back down to about 240 votes w/ 68% reporting.
Baud
@Cacti: Good for bragging rights, but looks like they’ll split the delegates regardless of who wins the state.
Eric U.
I assume the press reports the beauty contest number and not the delegate count? I was going to vote 3/5 for Hillary, but then I went straight ticket. We could vote for 2 women and 3 men, and since I wanted to send the 2 female Hillary delegates to the state convention, I refused to vote for the male Bernie delegates
Sad thing is, I’m not sure if that joke would be appreciated anywhere, even here
smintheus
@MomSense: I always assumed that Trump is imitating Mussolini.
SectionH
@MomSense: Il Douche Bro?
What smintheus said also too.
Betty Cracker
Jesus, STFU, Trump! What a windbag.
Jeffro
@Baud: You know, it is crazy…they have doubled down twice now (perhaps three times, if you consider Walnuts to be a doubling-down of many of W’s policies, particularly the bloodthirsty ones). W -> McCain -> Romney -> Trump ->
I mean, even Cruz can’t handle that trend line come 2020. There’s no more “right” to move to…and you couldn’t get any whiter, older, richer, or bigoted.
MomSense
@smintheus: @SectionH:
It’s uncanny. I’m surprised Trump Tower doesn’t have a sculpture of his face coming out of the facade.
PsiFighter37
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: That sucks. I’ve met Sestak in person, and he’s clearly the better candidate, IMO. He lost to Toomey by 2% in a really shit year (2010).
PA Democrats seem to have a really bad habit of picking general election candidates that do not turn out well…incredibly frustrating.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@Cacti: Decision Desk says the outstanding precincts are in Clinton strongholds.
jim parente
@aimai: Good for you. I am an avid fisherman. If I waited for anyone to go with me, I would never go. The same hold true for diving vacation destinations.
Take it from me, being your own best company is a wonderful thing.
Have a ball! You are worth it.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Betty Cracker:
I was rooting for him. Van Hollen was the one who called out Ted Cruz’s shenanigans during the debt default on the House floor. He knew the rules, he knew the bullshit, and he knew to be there when it was time to call out the bullshit. I have his speech tucked away somewhere – the guy was on point and awesome. I’m fine with Donna Edwards, but Van Hollen is a great liberal stand up guy. He deserves to win, and big. He’s done a great job representing his constituents, and is a solid reliable knowledgeable shoulder to the wheel.
Gin & Tonic
@Betty Cracker: Is there some law that you can’t shut the TV when he comes on?
Baud
I need a stronghold.
Jeffro
@amk:
so the headline is, “both parties are making history this election”-MSM
catclub
@Jeffro: I think o lot of the excitement over a contested convention was the press. The numbers were saying Trump could pretty easily clinch it. Kind of like the table showing how well Bernie has to do to win,
at 538 – only in reverse. Once Trump swept NY, he needs 52% of remaining delegates available, and that is not counting the so-called unpledged delegates of PA. Now he has won PA with 60%, they are very likely to go for him.
Betty Cracker
Is that woman to Trump’s left wearing a Snuggie?!?!?
Bobby Thomson
@smintheus: well, it’s not like Toomey is against it. She just lacks any charisma.
Mike J
Has anybody got the results from Stars Hollow yet?
Major Major Major Major
@Jeffro: sure, but what if they nominate Trump instead? /failed joke but you get the idea
Gin & Tonic
Well, RI is 100% in. Bernie and Hillz together got 119,000 votes. Il Donaldo got 39,000. Rafael (Ted) Cruz got 6,000.
Andy
@Gin & Tonic:—- Maybe Mr. Cracker likes the Trump.
SiubhanDuinne
@NotMax:
You can’t spell DEFECATED without DEFEATED.
mdblanche
@Gin & Tonic:
Just over the 10% he needs to win a delegate.
Aleta
@Baud: You need a top henchman and a couple of operatives.
Jay Noble
At what point is a Third Party Candidacy just not viable in that the Candidate couldn’t get on enough ballots to have a chance at the needed electoral votes? (And no silly throwing it to the House stuff) It’s only about 4 months from the Party Conventions to Election Day. A write-in President?
Mike J
NATE SILVER 10:12 PM
If The Upshot’s projected margins are right, Clinton will win about 218 pledged delegates tonight compared to 166 for Sanders, very close to our projections heading into the evening,
218 166
geg6
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
Oh god, no she doesn’t. She’s gonna lose. She’s a horrible candidate. Horrible.
Cacti
CT called for Clinton.
Gin & Tonic
@Jay Noble: The deadline for filing in Texas is in two weeks. You need 80,000 signatures of people who did not vote in either primary.
PaulWartenberg2016
Trump has been rambling the last 30 minutes like a drunken sports fanatic, and all he’s been talking about has been himself. /headdesk
A James Joyce novel is more coherent than this.
Did he just claim women don’t like Hillary?
this is coming from a guy who’s losing women by 70 percent, whereas Hillary has around 53-57 percent FOR her.
smintheus
@PsiFighter37: We keep picking the candidates who raise the most money – every single time, no matter how obscure or weak they are as candidates. TV ads basically buy the Democratic nomination in PA. That’s how we ended up with the hapless Dan Onorato for Governor in 2010, for ex.
Even worse, the same thing usually plays out in the general election. Toomey was an abysmal candidate for Senator from almost any perspective, but he had the money and that is what counts in PA.
Betty Cracker
Is that Cosmo Boy Scott Brown in the Trump scrum? What a loser.
chopper
@Gin & Tonic:
in your guts you know he’s a putz.
MomSense
@Baud:
(((((((((Baud))))))))))
smintheus
@Bobby Thomson: No, but Democrats and Independents are hardly going to be enthused about a corporatist Dem running against Toomey. She also has the corruption charge leveled against her for directing state money to a faux-environmental fracking front group at which her husband worked, which Toomey could and probably will attack her on.
MobiusKlein
@lamh36: You will have a good time here in SF.
ask around on a less crowded thread if you need advice on what to see
aimai
@chopper: Well done.
Jeffro
@catclub:
Oh absolutely. The excitement was all on the press side and some of us inside-baseball-lovin’ Dems. No one on the R side, from voters to ol’ Obvious Anagram himself are or have been excited about a contested convention at all.
The few that I talk with are still kind of shell-shocked that their beloved “deep bench” could come to this. As ye reap and all that…
Betty Cracker
Good Christ, now MSNBC is bringing ghostly apparition Hugh Hewitt on. At least they warned us.
mdblanche
@Cacti: Yeah, but that’s just because she’s winning all the towns in southern Connecticut.
Amaranthine RBG
This is a very good development.
Mike J
Best gif of the night. Part those salty, salty tears.
SiubhanDuinne
@Cacti:
CNN is saying Hillary won CT.
Betty Cracker
CNN called CT for Hillz!
Mnemosyne
@lamh36:
Nice! San Francisco is the perfect city for that kind of trip. Great public transportation and a lot of cool, free or low-cost stuff to do. Not to mention great food.
chopper
@Baud:
if you mean a secret base, make sure you buy the sanctum sanctorum package. without that extra C you get stuck with something…horrible.
Joel
From Booman’s recollection, Sestak has a rough reputation among the people who have/had worked with him. Might be reasons as simple as that for the party apparatus backing McGinty.
trollhattan
Instead of watching returns I’m on the porch watching hummingbirds flit around like battlebots in a 3-dimensional arena. Nature’s best entertainment value. A second variety has arrived, half the size of the year-round Anna’s. Need to ID these.
redshirt
@chopper: The only good stronghold is a mountain stronghold.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@Mike J: FTW
Jeffro
@PaulWartenberg2016:
Yup and better still, this is the guy who stood behind Palin, embarrassed and impatient and grinding his teeth to powder, when she was launching her word-salad endorsement of him. But that was her, and then, not him and now…
It’s almost terrifying, how unbelievably ignorant he is…and the lengths to which he’ll keep talking about nonsense in order to try and cover that up.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Mike J:
LOL, But let’s not be berniebros
Mike J
Newtown 52.9 45.4
NRA had a hard time with GOTV I guess.
Betty Cracker
@trollhattan: Lucky! We rarely see hummingbirds in our part of FL. Just a hundred miles north, different story.
mdblanche
Newtown:
Clinton 1371 52.91%
Sanders 1177 45.43%
Cacti
@Joel:
Sestak also has loser stink all over him.
He already lost to Toomey once.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: Be original. Have a lair.
Miss Bianca
@Mike J: So bad, and yet…so good.
Miss Bianca
@trollhattan: Hummies have just come to town (so to speak) in the mountain aerie.
@Baud: ooh…aerie. Mountain aerie. That’s what you need!
Cacti
@Mike J:
Bernie “two guns” Sanders regrets any harm inflicted on the reputation of firearms during the Newtown spree killing.
mdblanche
@PaulWartenberg2016:
Obligatory link.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Baud:
You’ve already won here, where we’re all superdelegates for Baud.
AkaDad
The thought of Hillary winning all the States Obama won in 2008 plus Arizona and Georgia is making my nipples hard.
Bobby Thomson
@Joel: I can guarantee the party apparatus doesn’t give a shit about the fee fees of his staffers.This is payback for not standing down and giving Specter the nomination. And it’s monumentally stupid and will cost Democrats a fairly easy pickup.
catclub
@smintheus: You could be right, but 2016 might end up being pretty good for women candidates.
Anoniminous
Looking at the Pennsylvania rules on the GOP side and found Trump will get 17 delegates for the win and nothing else:
By my count Trump will get 107 of the 172 total delegates available and will be moving into distinctly Trump unfriendly territory: Indiana, Nebraska, West Virginia, Montana, New Mexico, and South Dakota, Oregon, and Washington. New Jersey should go for Trump and he is leading in California, at the moment. There are 505 delegates still “on the range” with the preponderance to be given by the Winner of the congressional district. This creates the interesting possibility of Trump winning the state wide vote of all the remaining states and still coming up short of 1,237.
frosty
@aimai:
Absolutely! I did that a lot when I was younger. My wife hooked up the trailer and hit the road for 4 months last summer – I was able to join her for 3 weeks before I had to fly back to work. She had a great time and met a lot of people on the road. You’re never too young or too old. Road fever baby, do it now!
Juju
@trollhattan: I love watching hummies flit around here. We have rubythroated here.
Bobby Thomson
@Cacti: By only two points in Two thousand fucking 10. McGinty came in dead last in a four person race for the gubernatorial nomination. She didn’t just lose to Tom Wolf. Both Rob McCord and Allyson Schwartz got twice the votes McGinty got, and McCord was a felon. McGinty is the embodiment of loser stench and the only reason she won the primary is because the DSCC buried Sestak.
chopper
@the Conster, la Citoyenne:
thanks to many hours at the dojo I’ve graduated to “ultradelegate”.
Joel
@mdblanche: Also obligatory.
catclub
@AkaDad: TMI.
OTOH, In Mississippi, 11% of whites went for Obama. If 17% of whites had gone for the Democrat, they win.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@catclub:
It’s a cultural moment inflection point. Game of Thrones had the same big theme about dealing with the wisdom of women.
Amaranthine RBG
@Anoniminous: I don’t know about the other states, but WV is very Trump friendly – or at least it was a few months ago: http://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/20160105/ny-times-trump-support-highest-in-wv
However the armpit of central Pennsylvania went today, that’s how WV will go.
Mike J
Anya
@Betty Cracker: Christie brought his wife with him this time and she was wearing a pink snuggie.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@catclub:
How many white men does that 6% represent, that you’d need to flip? I’m genuinely curious. A few thousand in the whole state? Tens of thousands?
Amaranthine RBG
@trollhattan: Oh, maybe calliopes if they are really small. Where are you?
Calliopes have an 8,000 kilometer migration and weigh only 1/10 of an ounce.
Elie
@Juju:
Wow! I love ’em too! We have (in northwestern WA state), Rufous and Anna’s hummingbirds. The Anna’s are here now year round. I am brewing up nectar daily cause the Moms are sitting on eggs and/or have biddies that they are feeding so need tons more nectar. The next phase will be seeing the little ones come to the feeder and try to figure out whats what… They do pretty quickly then they are off back to the south in Aug (at least for the Rufous). The Anna’s hang around through the cold of winter. They’ve come to my feeder with ice I have to break on the contents!
Amazing animals! Tough little fighters!
mdblanche
Ew. There’s an oily tick on my TV screen right now. Oh wait, it’s just Ted Cruz.
aimai
I really hope we don’t have mice again. I’m sitting in th ekitchen reading election returns and I’m starting to hear those little scratchy noises.
Adam L Silverman
@Jay Noble: We’ve already past that point. If I’m recalling correctly an independent attempt at this stage would get on, at the most, 1/2 the states’ ballots.
Miss Bianca
@Amaranthine RBG: @trollhattan: Calliopes are the first to show up here, rufouses the last (usually around July).
@Elie: Already got the feeder out – usually go thru’ 2 10-lb sacks of sugar for the season (April-Oct), might be more this year because the neighbor who used to feed them as well has moved, got a part-timer there now. We’ll see!
Elie
@Amaranthine RBG:
Where are you? Calliopes are our mountain hummers. We don’t see them much along the shore in WA but I did see one here at my feeder one year. I am in Whatcom County on Birch Bay, near the border to Canada….
Joel
@Anoniminous: Pennsylvania has 54 unbound delegates, true, but most of those will probably honor the election results.
Even with zero unpledged delegates, Trump still has a good shot at 1237; winning Indiana and West Virginia, taking ~100 delegates in California, 50 more in New Jersey, and a handful of delegates in Washington, Oregon, and New Mexico gets him there.
Elie
@trollhattan:
Where are you?
Anoniminous
@Amaranthine RBG:
Thanks for the local knowledge. I’ll move WV to Trump in my
guessingpredictions.WarMunchkin
@Bobby Thomson: Jesus, we dropped 6.5 million on a Senate primary? WTF
Joel
@Bobby Thomson: Fetterman probably killed Sestak. Certainly was strong in my part of the state.
mdblanche
@Amaranthine RBG: It looks like He, Trump is winning every county in PA.
burnspbesq
@gf120581:
He did so on NPR shortly before 9:00 Eastern time. The NPR folks were far more polite than I would have been.
Anoniminous
@Joel:
Trump definitely has the inside track to 1,237 and the most likely outcome is he’ll make it. I do not know enough to predict how the Pa delegates will jump. It used to be they would do what the state party leaders told them to do :-) but I’ve been away from the Right Coast too long to say.
SFAW
@mdblanche:
I bet it was that notorious wingnut, efgoldman, whose vote put Rafael Pendejo Cruz over that line.
burnspbesq
@lamh36:
We may pass in the air; I’m on my way to ATL for the ACC lacrosse tournament. I’ll wave at some point.
Davebo
@lamh36: You’ll love San Francisco. I’d never been but my girlfriend dragged me there and I had a blast so we went back again, two trips last year.
It’s a fabulous, if expensive city but deals can be found. And the Chinese food… to die for. As good or better than I had in Hong Kong the same year.
catclub
@Mike J: It is accurate in that Trump would put his name on US Army gear. Also likely to rename Postal Service.
seaboogie
In this week’s issue of The New Yorker, ALL of the cartoons are Trump cartoons! Since he takes such affront at personal attacks and mockery – that’s not going to rest easy with him. Wonder how he will respond, because I’m pretty sure he won’t be able to sit this one out.
Mike J
@catclub:
I think your math is off. 6% of McCain’s 724k is 43k, subtract from McCain add to Obama for a 86k swing, cuts McCain’s 169k margin in half, but doesn’t change the outcome.
WarMunchkin
Honestly not sure what to think about McGinty/Sestak/Fetterman. Well, okay, I would have preferred Fetterman. But this Sestak guy isn’t some Alan Grayson type dude, and considering 2010, it’s not like this is Ned Lamont. He ran against an actual Republican. And our side has dropped all this money for… someone who hasn’t held office?
AkaDad
@catclub: That’s interesting. Is that just white men or women as well?
catclub
@Adam L Silverman: Trump has survived and thrived on free media. I think as an independent he would do outrageous things and then tell his followers to write him in. The media would likely cooperate.
Mike J
@Joel:
Katie McGinty 552,714 42.2%
Joe Sestak 418,480 32.0
John Fetterman 262,096 20.0
Elie
@Miss Bianca:
I am cooking up nectar daily and refilling sometimes twice a day. I have one 4 port feeder in front and a high capacity 8 port feeder on the side of the house which seems to have all the Rufous moms. They literally cover all the ports. The smaller feeder hosts the Anna’s as well as Rufous. They seem to cooperate and they nest in the thorn bushes next to the feeder.
burnspbesq
@Davebo:
Italian food in SF is vastly underappreciated. Loves me some Trattoria Contadina.
Adam L Silverman
@catclub: That may be. And if it were likely to happen it would be nigh impossible to make any reasonable predictions because we don’t have anything really analogous to predict from.
smintheus
@Joel: The establishment has always been fine with Rahm. Sestak took down Specter, which is what they can’t forgive. McGinty has zero track record as a politician except for an unimpressive gubernatorial primary campaign, and almost as little political skill, so they are going way out on a limb backing her against Toomey.
catclub
@AkaDad: White men and women.
On the one hand, 17% of white voters seems do-able.
On the other hand, upping the the percentage of white voters from 11% to 17% is more than a 50% increase.
Miss Bianca
I hate it when I reach that point in the job application where I have to “Provide a detailed account of how I meet the required competencies listed on the job announcement and how my accomplishments, qualifications, skills, areas of expertise, personal characteristics, etc. make me a good fit for this position.”
“Wheeeerrre do I begiiinnn…”
seaboogie
@aimai:
If you do, try one of these. I was very successful in eradicating two generations (possibly three) of mice. Used shelled raw sunflower seeds as bait.
Caveat: They seem to be most active and caught around 2 – 4 am, so I took several longish walks with a flashlight in the wee hours to drop them off in a wooded area far enough away from my joint. Don’t just drop them nearby outside – trust me – they know their way back. Field mice sure are cute little buggers, tho…
Anya
@Bobby Thomson: Why do they hate Sestak?
I just hope McGinty is not the Martha Coakley of PA.
Omnes Omnibus
@Miss Bianca: “Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show. To begin my life with the beginning of my life, I record that I was born….”
WarMunchkin
@Anya: I didn’t want to drop the C-word, thought it would be sexist.
In other news, Chris Van Hollen also won, so great night for the establishment, I guess.
PurpleGirl
@lamh36: Fly, fly, fly away and have a good time. I used travel by myself, even go to fancy restaurants by myself. One friend was amazed I could do that. She was raised that you had to have a MALE escort to a good restaurant. I laughed at her any number of times. If I had to have an escort I’d have never gone out. It’s still how I see things. So again… have a good time, do the tourist thing if you want but know that you can travel by yourself and enjoy yourself..
Elie
@Miss Bianca:
I always look up their web site or any info on the program or whatever and couch my experience and abilities using their “buzz words” and try to use any programs they describe where I can match any examples I have. It takes half a day sometimes to do it right and yes, its a pain, but it gets you an interview (most of the time).
Miss Bianca
@Omnes Omnibus: LOL!! It’s a library position, they *might* go for it…on the other hand, since it’s a prison library position, they might not have such a sense of humor about it…but I may just begin there for my own delectation! Thankee, sir!
@Elie: And here’s the sober, sensible position…Lord, it’s Chaos Muppet and Order Muppet, both come to my rescue!
smintheus
@WarMunchkin: McGinty is a Rendell/Clinton apparatchik; that’s why she had the big money. Bobby is right, the establishment is cutting off its nose to spite its face, because I can’t see McGinty winning against Toomey.
Elie
@PurpleGirl:
I learned to really enjoy experiences with just me — including sight seeing. If your face looks open, people, wait staff, etc are pretty tuned in and help make it a great experience…
joel hanes
@the Conster, la Citoyenne:
Van Hollen is a great liberal stand up guy
I’m very glad to hear this, given that he has apparently won.
(I contributed to Donna Edwards’s campaign, and have just received her “thanks for your help” concession email)
He was DNC chair leading up to 2010. Nothing they did during that cycle made me think “liberal” or “stand up”
So I’m glad to hear your positive opinion. Perhaps a sea change is in the offing.
Onward!
Omnes Omnibus
@Miss Bianca: Who is chaos muppet?
SFAW
@geg6:
Calm down. She’s already taking important steps to strengthen her campaign org: she just brought in a triumvirate of people that know how to run a campaign: Bob Shrum, Joe Trippi, Allison Lundergan Grimes, and Martha Coakley. and, in a few short weeks, she’ll add Jeff Weaver to that mix.
That’s a team that will be tough to top.
Omnes Omnibus
@SFAW: You’re a vicious bastard, aren’t you?
burnspbesq
@joel hanes:
DCCC, not DNC. He was a highly effective fund-raiser. I like the guy, but I’m surprised he won. Feels like an own goal by Edwards, who seemed to have the early momentum.
Anya
@WarMunchkin: I am still shocked at Chris Van Hollen’s big win. But someone mentioned Van Hollen’s office does an excellent constituency work. Maybe that helped. I donated for Donna Edwards campaign and I was sure she had a chance. At worst, I thought he would win with a slim margin.
BillinGlendaleCA
@AkaDad: TMI!
seaboogie
@Omnes Omnibus:
@Miss Bianca:
Thanks for the smile Omnes, and Miss Bianca – I say, do it! Seems especially appropriate for a prison library position. And good luck to you!
ETA: I think it would give you some especially good talking points in an interview in such an instituion.
Elie
@seaboogie:
Out here we have to be mindful that our little “deer mice” as they are called — they reside in our garages and out buildings — can carry Hanta virus — which is deadly for humans. I do not fool with them at all. As much as I like animals, they are trapped and killed and disposed of. Their droppings contaminate the dust and dirt and humans ingest it at their peril. When we first moved here, my cat LOVED to play (and eat) with them and that stopped (I kept him in) after we found out about this very real risk here. Its not everywhere, so not recommending everyone do what we do.
FEMA Camp Counselor
@Anya: Two reasons, if memory serves me right:
1.) He primaried Arlen Specter back in 2010 after they had cut a deal with him and he switched parties.
2.) I forget where I read it, but Sestak apparently has a reputation for being very difficult to work with both as a legislator and as a boss. I remember reading about how his congressional staff had an unusually high turnover rate, for example. It could be that on top of the Specter thing, he just rubs people who know him the wrong way.
mdblanche
@Omnes Omnibus: Extremely.
Miss Bianca
@Omnes Omnibus: I leave it to yourself to determine.. You may well be an Order Muppet in your personal life, but when it comes to job advice you are definitely Chaos Muppet! : )
joel hanes
@burnspbesq:
Thanks for correction of my sloppy error.
Again, I’m glad for a more-informed-than-my-own view of that race.
Or of anything, really.
WarMunchkin
@FEMA Camp Counselor: How did someone who is shitty to work get promoted to three star admiral?
BillinGlendaleCA
@Elie: Satan, my former employer, has a facility* near there.
*It’s an oil refinery.
Amaranthine RBG
@Elie: I’m in SF Bay Area. I see them in Sierras and in Idaho and Montana a lot. Lovely little creatures.
Omnes Omnibus
@Miss Bianca: In order, Animal, Cookie Monster, and Gonzo are my top three Muppets.
divF
@WarMunchkin:
Adam L Silverman
@Miss Bianca: Just take the KSA/required experience from the announcement and one by one list against them you’re formal education, other forms of training, and/or experience that would allow you to do the job.
Mary
I’m super bummed that none of my preferred candidates on the MD down ballot won. Not that there’s anything wrong with the folks that did win, but just not the result I was hoping for.
Randy P
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Well, I’ve been a Sestak fan but if McGinty can bring out the voters and knock out the odious Toomey, more power to her.
She was the choice of the party machine and PA voters pretty much line up with the machine.
joel hanes
@Elie:
mice
Back in my ancestral Iowa, the Ace Hardware store carries herbal rodent repellant: little muslin bags full of chopped bits of strong-smelling plants. Amazingly pungent.
I threw a couple boxes of such bags in the corners and along the walls of a big farmland outbuilding, and in the boats wintering there under covers. I think that the mouse invasion diminished remarkably.
Your mileage may vary.
The smell gives me a headache; I wouldn’t use them in my house.
Adam L Silverman
@SFAW: Why are there four people in your triumvirate? Are two of them very small and therefore cumulatively you still average out to three people?
the Conster, la Citoyenne
..unless it’s revolutionary to elect the first woman president after the first black president…. nah.
WarMunchkin
@divF: Kind of sucks how Eisenhower wasn’t able to do anything noteworthy.
trollhattan
@Amaranthine RBG: @Elie:
Southern Sacramento Valley. Have in-laws in the Sierra foothills who get half a dozen varieties, always a show.
joel hanes
fewmets
And now we know that AL has read (and probably loved) The Once And Future King
Me too.
Miss Bianca
@Elie: That’s cool – our rufouses are vicious little bastards – they drive off the other hummies, and they have to be lured away and pacified with their own dedicated feeder!
Omnes Omnibus
@Miss Bianca: @Adam L Silverman: Also, in a white on white footer on your resume, put in every key word that they list. If they do a computer search, the words will be there.
SFAW
@Omnes Omnibus:
You’re only figuring that out now? (“After all we’ve been through together?”)
@mdblanche:
What, are you trying to tell me that Cruz is not a pendejo? Well, I guess technically, he’s not stupid. But “cabron” was not as mellifluous, in my opinion. Maybe I should have added pinche to it?
Miss Bianca
@Omnes Omnibus: Fozzie Bear, Janice the bass player, and Animal for me. Hey, we match one out of three!
ETA: Eee? “White on white footer”? This is a new concept for me…”what a fascinating modern age we live in, to be sure!”
Mike J
@the Conster, la Citoyenne:
The revolution continues, but it’s Obama’s.
divF
@WarMunchkin: What compensated for Ike’s military experience was being a university president (Columbia, 1948-1953), a job in which no one really listens to you.
seaboogie
@Elie: I hear you, and understand that outbuildings can be quite another issue since it is nearly impossible to mouse-proof them. I was working within the confines of my little cottage that used to be a garage, and its pretty air (mouse?) tight right now. Had a wood rat in the space above my bedroom ceiling a few years back too – oh my goodness! Just about the cutest rat you’ve ever seen. Like a giant field mouse – big eyes and ears. But we got strategic and managed to block the ingress and egress while s/he was out.
Omnes Omnibus
@SFAW: Just pointing it out for the punters.
Miss Bianca
@Omnes Omnibus: Eee? White on white footer? This is a new concept pour moi…”what a fascinating modern age we live in, to be sure!”
Mike J
@Miss Bianca: Order and chaos are one axis. Each side has winners and losers. Gonzo=chaos, loser. Ernie=Chaos, winner. Bert=order,loser, Kermit=order, winner
Which isn’t to say that bad things don’t happen to the winners and good things never happen to the losers. But their overall trajectory and personality is set.
Adam L Silverman
@WarMunchkin: You have to understand how general officer/flag officer promotion boards work. The officers on them have an inherent bias for promotees who match the same make, model, and type as themselves. What they look for in the selectees is what made them successful, or what they believe made them successful, and got them where they are. He was a hard charging Surface Warfare Officer and was tasked, as flag officer, with providing straight talk to the Chief of Naval Operations. This is what the CNO said about him:
< "Veterans tell Specter to take down ad against Sestak (VIDEO REPORT)". Pa2012.com. 2010-04-21. Retrieved 2011-06-02.> (link is now dead)
This pisses a lot of people off – and it certainly seemed to with Secretary Rumsfeld.
I think the real issue here is that he hasn’t been able to hire a chief of staff that understands how Sestak operates and therefore is unable to hire staff who can thrive in that environment.
SFAW
@Adam L Silverman:
Possible answers:
1) I’m flouting convention
2) I can’t count
3) I’m checking to see if anyone was paying attention
4) It’s Tuesday
5) Five is RIGHT OUT6) There is NO reason #67) I don’t speak Latin
8) Your explanation
9) Thanks, Obama
10) I studied maths at Trump University
AnotherBruce
@trollhattan: Rufous hummingbirds.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Mike J:
President Black Ninja.. The FDR that was under their purity pony noses, while they were whining for the new FDR in 2010 and all stayed home. Clinton gets it.
SFAW
@Omnes Omnibus:
OK. Apologies for not giving you enough credit.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: Ah, and here’s another voice of calm reasonableness…Order Muppet, for sure! : )
Bobby Thomson
@WarMunchkin: 1.5. But still.
Omnes Omnibus
@Miss Bianca: If the computer makes you pop up in HR, your resume could get to the people who can say yes. You always need to get to the people who can say yes. But you know that.
burnspbesq
Delegate count on the night looks like 196-129 (60.3 percent) for Clinton. Sanders’ win in RI is 13-11. Yay.
Scott Alloway
@PsiFighter37: Concur. Just screwed a potential seat pickup.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Miss Bianca: OT: My YorkiePom has a Yorkie head and a Pom body with black fur.
Adam L Silverman
@SFAW: 11) all of the above!
Omnes Omnibus
@SFAW: I occasionally seek to serve my community.
Miss Bianca
@Mike J: Oh my…an order/chaos winner/loser Muppet axis…love it!
PurpleGirl
@Elie: Yes, I like traveling by myself, haven’t done it in a while due to some health problems but I hope to take a trip maybe this year or next year.
Adam L Silverman
@Miss Bianca: I have a very good understanding of how to crack OPM scoring for job applications. The key is to get through the screening, which is going to be based on a scoring sheet. The key is to get through that and referred to the hiring authority for further action.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: 12) get bent.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: I plan to take care, and follow your and Elie’s excellent advice, despite any desire or tendency to quote Dickens…
@Omnes Omnibus: Always good to have an edge…I’m applying for two positions at the prison, actually, one just vacated by a friend of mine, who told me cheerfully, “I’ve already talked to my boss about you and told her you’d be great!” And the boss is on the hiring committee…so NO PRESSURE THERE to look awesome, right? (sweat).
WarMunchkin
Calling back to the debate we were having earlier in another thread, I chuckled a bit.
burnspbesq
Speaking of what is right and just in the universe, Mets win, Nats lose.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: I’m designed to pick large things up and put them down. Folding over is not really possible given the way my muscles attach to the bone.
Omnes Omnibus
@Miss Bianca: Order Muppet.
mdblanche
@SFAW: No, I was referring to your besmirching efgolfdman’s honor.
As for Cruz, you’re too kind. Seriously, you’re too kind.
SFAW
@Omnes Omnibus:
How is giving Adam a hard time serving your community? Or were you giving me a hard time via Adam’s comment?
I thought lawyers were supposed to be paragons of clear something-or-other.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: Not where I was going with my comment, but have you considered yoga?
Miss Bianca
@BillinGlendaleCA: Aww…and a feisty terrier personality, sounds like! Cute!
burnspbesq
@SFAW:
Don’t over-generalize. Orly Taitz. David Addington. John Yoo. Hugh Hewitt.
Omnes Omnibus
@SFAW: “Get bent” was a possible answer to the “Why are there four in your three” question. Lawyers are paragons of nothing. Nothing, I tell you!
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: I knew where you were going with your comment and decided the reply I actually made was the best way to go.
Yes, I have tried yoga. I have several of the TRX yoga exercises actually worked into my normal rotation. And I’ve tried yoga by itself. When I first started back into martial arts when I started grad school, I started a pretty regular and regimented stretching regimen. I gained no real increases in flexibility and managed to do something to my left hip that while the doctors can’t nail down (as in they know I’ve got a recurring cause of pain there), they cannot define what is actually causing it. But it started as a result of stretching I was doing. In reality I just don’t worry too much about it.
SFAW
@mdblanche:
Yes, I know.
Two things:
A) ef is a big boy, and I think he knows I think highly of him anyway
B) He knows that I know he’s pretty damn far from being a right-winger.
C) I was employing a literary device called a “palindrome.” Or perhaps “anagram.” Or maybe it was “Spoonerism”? Or something.
D) His nym has only one “f” in it. (Typos are OK, but not with someone’s nym.)
SFAW
@burnspbesq:
You’re depressin’ the shit outta me, now.
seaboogie
@Adam L Silverman:
I got curious for an image to have in my mind when you post (after all of the frilly apron and tiara comments on recipe threads) and googled you, finding your presentation at the War College. My takeaway on the visual (apart from being impressed with your presentation, as far as I watched it) was that you kind of match Bill’s description of his pup
In my impression, you look like an accountant from the neck up, and like The Rock from the neck down. Your suits are surely custom-made, yes?
As always, I appreciate your knowledge and analysis on such a wide diversity of subject matter, hereabouts Dr. S……
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: I just say that I am not bendy.
cokane
It’s not even logistically possible for Sanders to run as an independent in the general. A number of states have already passed the deadline for being on the ballot, as well, some of those states don’t even allow write-ins.
Origuy
@lamh36: There’s a million things to do in SF. I’m coming up for the Mission Artscape run on Saturday. The murals in the Mission District are amazing, and there’s some great Mexican and Latin American places in that neighborhood. Sunday you might want to check out the How Weird Street Faire on Howard Street. Or if you just want to hit the tourist spots, that’s cool, too. I don’t do that often enough myself. Don’t plan on walking up and getting a ticket for Alcatraz, though. Weekends sell out quickly.
SFAW
@Omnes Omnibus:
Yeah, I figured it was something like that. But I would never say anything like that to Adam. There are a few here that I would — RacistToRise, for example — but Adam is not one of them.
Miss Bianca
@Omnes Omnibus: Only when it comes to job searches…complete Chaos Muppet otherwise.
Mnemosyne
@SFAW:
No poofters!
burnspbesq
@SFAW:
Sorry. Maybe this will help.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cq6jquFrb08
stinger
@lamh36: Good for you! Have a fantastic time!
Omnes Omnibus
@Mnemosyne: There is no Rule 6!
smintheus
@WarMunchkin: My dad worked under Eisenhower in his European HQ after WWII. He says Ike was obnoxious in the extreme.
SFAW
@burnspbesq:
It did. Thanks!
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: I was always stiff as ye olde board. Girls are supposed to be bendy, nu? Not me – and I hated yoga. Or at least it didn’t seem to work for me. Till I tried Bikram yoga for a lot of years (no studio near me now, alas). Something about the combination of extreme heat/humidity and the extreme regimentation broke something down in me…still not super bendy but way better than I was…
Sometimes I wish I had a little more heat/humidity at my disposal here in the mountains – I wouldn’t need a studio to keep up my practice in FL, sounds like!
LesBonnesFemmes
@lamh36: Right on! I live in Walnut Creek, and the Wife and I love the City. Have a wonderful time.
SFAW
@Mnemosyne:
What, did you just move to NC?
@Omnes Omnibus:
Already got it covered
Adam L Silverman
@seaboogie: Thanks, I think. I’m not really sure about the accountant from the neck up, but I’m going to try to work the whole pastiche out as a compliment. All of my suits are from Jos A Banks (buy 3 suits for the price of one!). My problem is that I need a 50 coat for my chest and back* and upper arms, but the trousers that come with them are for guys with wastes that are wider than their chests. I’m also somewhat high wasted. Coats have to be taken in below the chest and let out for the chest and shoulders. Trousers have to be hemmed, taken in in the waist (way in if you’ve ever seen the waist size that comes with a 50 coat), back pockets moved, rises adjusted (some times). Its always an adventure. Also, all my ties have to be longs – 18 inch neck! Finally, I had my jaw repositioned from the inside out since that video – for structural/dental health requirements, so my face looks a but different now that my bite has been repositioned permanently.
* I’m beginning to think I’m Jewish-Grizzly-American. I’ve got a mass of muscle in my upper back that seems to be wear the muscle bump on grizzlies are. It would explain my dietary preferences and desire to hibernate…
Omnes Omnibus
@Miss Bianca: When i was taking riding lessons, I would need to lower the left stirrup two notches to mount. Then reach down and adjust.
Ruckus
@WarMunchkin:
Many times they are horrible to work for, not bad at all to those above them. They know which side their bread is buttered on. As long as the results over all come in OK and those above them are satisfied officers can move up in rank. It’s when they start stinking up their own output that they start going sideways. And in the old military it seems that being an asshole is, if not respected as a trait, it is at least not held against someone. Either that or I just had the misfortune to meet a real nice bunch of asshole officers. There were some that were OK, one who seemed actually human but the majority were assholes
Adam L Silverman
@seaboogie: And you’re quite welcome. I’m planning on doing a policy oriented post tomorrow about Trump’s foreign policy speech once its over and I’ve had a bit of time to digest his remarks.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: I’m not bendy.
Adam L Silverman
@Mnemosyne: Haven’t heard that since I left Scotland.
Adam L Silverman
@Miss Bianca: As someone who grew up in Florida and escaped to Colorado to visit his grandparents – and final year in high school, I can honestly say that heat and humidity does not increase my flexibility or ability to stretch. It just sucks.
Omnes Omnibus
@Ruckus: Not meaning to start an inter-service fight, but that problem is particularly rife in the Navy. The commander of a ship is the ultimate authority. In the Army, primarily because of geographical disbursement, lower ranks have more discretion. Sestak was an Admiral.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: Ah, someone else who’s had had to have a face rearranged…fascinating! Happened to me after getting belted in the puss with a windshield. Upon the fifth operation the surgeons decided to reposition my jaw (TMJ and the like – still a plaguey thing, but not nearly as bad). I remember one of the women in my grad program examining me carefully afterwards and exclaiming, “It’s like looking at your twin!” – which cracked me up.
Miss Bianca
@Omnes Omnibus: You are a rider? Or were? I had you pegged for a motorcycle man…not that the two are mutually exclusive.
Adam L Silverman
@Miss Bianca: In my case it was that the orthodonture I had as a kid wasn’t done correctly, because the structural issues were not diagnosed properly. When I first went to my then new dentist after moving to Carlisle, PA, I asked him about who to see to deal with the cosmetic gap between my top front teeth. He took a look at the xrays he’d just done, had me reopen my mouth, poked around for a bit, and said: “its your lucky day, I’m also credentialed in orthodontics, tmj, and sleep dentistry.” The problem was that my bite was such that my lower front teeth were placing pressure that was causing the gap to expand and for my top front teeth to slowly move into a position where they would have been pushed out of my mouth. He came up with a course of treatment to first reposition the jaw so the bite was in the right place, then orthodonture with brackets and bands to bring my back teeth into the proper position for the new bite, then orthodonture with invisalign to reposition everything else properly. The final thing, should I decide to pursue it, is purely cosmetic to deal with some chips – both my top front teeth are chipped from martial arts training. The guy did a great job.
Mnemosyne
@Adam L Silverman:
I didn’t realize there was a branch of the University of Wollalamoo in Scotland, but I guess all philosophy departments are the same.
Omnes Omnibus
@Miss Bianca: I have ridden. English. I first took lessons at Ft. Sill when I was t the artillery course. A Marine officer and I both were doing it. The horse were both mares – one quiet placid and one who was a bitch and a half. Because of my lack of bendiness, the instructor put me on the placid mare. It didn’t work. The Marine thought the bitch and a half was unpleasant to ride. So we we switched. The B+1/2 simply responded to a tap from my heels – no kicking. All of a sudden, it was fun. I ain’t good at it, but I have jumped a little.
Yes, there is a metaphor in there.
ETA: I have a motorcycle license. Haven’t owned one in years.
seaboogie
@Adam L Silverman: Curious about the power-lifting thing, and bendiness.
I have two customers who are power lifters here in Sonoma, CA – one a coach and the other a client – and both truly lovely people. The coach came in just last week to get a birthday gift for his lady client in our artisan fine jewelry shop. In that moment I was all about “Oh, I know who this is for – your selection will be perfect!”.
However, it never occured to me to ask them what the attraction of power-lifting is. Said coach also had another client who was recently featured in the local newspaper – she was in her late seventies and competing. I sort of figure that bendiness is more useful (more inclined to Yoga, I am, and sort of a bendy floor-sitter), so I will ask you the question that I did not pose last week: what is the appeal of power-lifting? Is it going with your natural physionomic strengths, like yoga is for me?
Adam L Silverman
@Mnemosyne: It was just a common expression in Scotland in the early 90s. I also learned that only poofters, apparently, eat smooth peanut butter. Though this may have just been simple prejudice on the part of my highlander house mate.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: Whereas I managed to skip that childhood orthodonty thing altogether, only to be faced with jaw wiring, braces, etc. as an adult. Joy!
full disclosure (g): I too have seen your War College video. Was poking around the Intertubez looking for the links to your papers. I was so hella intrigued I’ve started watching others in the same series. But don’t tell anyone at work – they think I’m taking time in the afternoon to watch training videos! : )
seaboogie
@Miss Bianca:
That was a wonderful turn of phrase, Ms. Prison-Librarian-To-Be……
Ruckus
@Omnes Omnibus:
Well of course the navy is my experience area. I believe you are correct about the navy officer part. Had one captain that thought he was obligated to be an asshole. He was so good at it that it cost him any advancement. He went from being a destroyer flotilla commander to having his own ship but it was a amphibious landing ship. Rank wise, a sideways move. Career wise, a vote of almost no confidence and a stop order on advancement.
Mnemosyne
@Adam L Silverman:
I can’t imagine they watch less Monty Python in Scotland than we do in the US.
seaboogie
@Omnes Omnibus:
Thank FSM for punctuation, and – also too – I totally went to “side-saddle”. Maybe with Ye Olde Queene turning 90, and the poofter comments. Sorry. Totally dug your diabolical white on white resume tips.
ETA: You’ve referenced your Brideshead Revisited hairdo, if I recall correctly…
Omnes Omnibus
@seaboogie: Hair: Probably similar to any of Lady Mary’s suitors.
Miss Bianca
@Omnes Omnibus: I never owned one. A motorcycle, I mean. But learned to ride on a Yamaha Seca 650, which was a fun bike.
Ah horses…yes, there’s definitely a metaphor buried in there somewhere – But – artillery? Never tell me that the Army was still training horsemen! Altho’ the Master of my Hunt was telling me that there have been some cavalry training videos that were recently declassified and are up on Youtube – I’ve been meaning to search for them – figuring I might pick up some tips on rough cross-country riding!
Adam L Silverman
@seaboogie: I’m not sure I’m power lifting per se. I’m not training to compete. When I first started back into lifting back in 2005 it was part of an overall fitness training regimen to increase muscle mass, cardiovascular capacity, and thereby be healthier. It had the added benefit of reducing non-muscle mass (fat). At that point I was lifting on a three day split, plus cardio after the lift. A minimum of four mornings a week I was running two or three miles with my dogs (and since the dogs would stop and sniff or do their business, this was more like run a stretch, stop for dogs to do their thing, run a bit more, stop for another minute or two, etc).
When I got back from Iraq I started using the TRX and used it almost exclusively for strength training until AUG 2014 when I decided to lift weights instead for a bit. For just about a year I was lifting and doing it heavy. 85-90% of max for each exercise. I’d do that for about 90 days, then do 30 days of very low weight with very high reps to confuse the muscles and allow a reset to get past plateaus. However, I kept overworking my psoaz, which would then be aggravated by sitting to do work, causing it to tighten up more. This would then lock up other things leading to sciatica. It didn’t effect my strength, but it made walking more than 50 feet incredibly painful and my leg would start to lock up. So I switched back to the TRX and have been using it exclusively combined with high intensity interval cardio since.
To tie it all together: I enjoy it. At some level its like Zen: me, the amount of weight to be moved, and the focusing in to do it. This even happens on the TRX and is even more complex as most of the TRX exercises work through multiple planes. I also like the way it feels/makes me feel. Even the past five or six days after I started back from a 2 and 1/2 week layoff because of my sinus infection where I’m very sore, its a good sore.
Miss Bianca
@seaboogie: My personal writing style: Half Jane Austen, half Raymond Chandler. Because I am a Fucking Lady.
err…
Adam L Silverman
@Miss Bianca: There’s some good ones there. Did you see the one I did with Max Manwaring from the year before dealing with Haiti? Max is a national treasure.
Adam L Silverman
@Mnemosyne: More. I believe they have people on six hour shifts watching it constantly.
Omnes Omnibus
@Miss Bianca: In the ’20s and ’30s, the cavalry and artillery were still constituted the horsey part of the Army.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: No! Haven’t found that one yet – I’ll look for it! Still working thru’ the Mideast!
ETA: Got any more recommendations? There are a *ton* of them!
Adam L Silverman
@Miss Bianca: It was from the 2011 Great Decisions series.
The Mideast series has some good talks. My former colleague and friend Larry Goodson’s talk was excellent. I can’t remember if Andy Terrell or Chris Bolan did talks, but if they did they are both very knowledgable on the region.
My favorite is the single comment on my talk that USAWC should have had someone else do the talk. The person that was recommended would have been an excellent choice. The problem, of course, is that that person has never worked at/for the US Army War College.
Omnes Omnibus
@Omnes Omnibus: Christ, poor editing: In the ’20s and ’30s, the cavalry and artillery still constituted the horsey part of the Army.
stibbert
Majority Inspector’s Report:
My north-of-Pittsburgh suburb’s polling-station had unprecedented *heavy* turnout for a primary, w/ 425 voters + 12 absentee ballots (~300+6 was more usual). Dem voters seemed more engaged, they out-numbered Reps by 40, where the party differential is usually no more than 15 either way. We also had 10 non-D/R ‘non-affiliated’ voters show – usually we’d get one – the only thing their ballot gave them was a Y/N on the existence of Philadelphia’s Traffic Court, but they came to vote just the same, & most left w/ a registration mail form that would let them change their party registration. An 11th decided to write a provisional ballot on the D side.
We were all pretty whacked at the end of the day, as usual we didn’t pay more than cursory attention to our results as we ran the print-out from the machines & tabulated the 12 absentee ballots. Clinton & Trump handily crushed their rivals in the presidential. In the D senate race, McGinty outstripped Sestak.
PA voters also chose among convention delegates. On the D ballot (vote for 3 M & 3 F) there were 10 names, each clearly marked for Clinton or Sanders. On the R ballot (vote for 6), there were 14(?) names, all of whom were marked ‘non-affiliated’.
Finally, we had a fun reading our machine print-outs – there was one D write-in for Trump, & one R write-in for Clinton!
seaboogie
@Adam L Silverman: Thank you – you did answer my question. I think that the exercise we choose is a sort of focus and meditation that resonates for us in our bodies. I am walker/sitting meditation/yoga solitary. And at this point in my life, learning to accept that that is perfectly fine. The ashram is my (spiritual) gym – which is to say that I don’t go there either very often, though that is my intention.
Omnes Omnibus
@stibbert: Thank you for the on the scene report.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: OMG, I *saw* that – I almost left a comment myself to say “I thought it was great!” – in the spirit of defiance or solidarity or such like.
I’ll seek out your recommendations!
Miss Bianca
@stibbert: Seconded! So – did the traffic court issue pass?
Adam L Silverman
@Miss Bianca: Chris Bolan’s ISIS talk. Larry Goodson’s Syria refugee crisis talk. Craig Nation’s Russian Perspectives lecture. If they’ve got his Thucydides lecture posted watch that too! David Lai’s China’s Foreign Policy. The Gettysburg lectures, specifically Steve Knott’s, Carol Reardon’s, and if they’ve got Len Fullenkamp’s lecture watch that one too!. Now Rear Admiral (then COL retired) Jim Helis’s talk on Afghanistan. Paul Kan’s lectures on Mexican cartels and crime in Latin America. The Arab Spring talks by Fawaz Gerges and David Comins. If you want to understand CIV-MIL relations: Mary Beth Ulrich’s CIV-MIL talk. Craig Nation on the Caucuses. Tom Shepherd on the Horn of Africa. Rear Admiral Helis’s National Security Talk. Frank Jones’s talk.
Adam L Silverman
@seaboogie: Glad I was on target. I also still do/teach aikido several days a week. And I really need to start doing tai chi again.
Adam L Silverman
@Miss Bianca: It was really a non sequitur of a comment.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman:
Technically, huh?
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: Holy crap! Ask and ye shall receive…I look forward to becoming much more educated!
You’re spoiling us tho’, you know – making some of us as impatient with facile “warmongers!!bad!!11!!” talk as with the “bombs-fuckyeah!!” contingent. Bringing “nuance” and “complexity” and “context” and “history” and crap like that into our political chattering, what next?!
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: Its a fun story. He came to USAWC as a colonel and went through the Professor USAWC program where he was sent to do a PhD. Upon retirement, as part of the Professor USAWC program, he transitioned into a Title 10 civilian faculty slot and remained chairman of the Department of National Security and Strategy. In that capacity he was my frontline supervisor for the faculty portion of my duties at USAWC as the Cultural Advisor.
In 2012 he was selected to become the Superintendent of the US Merchant Marine Academy. That billet is coded for a Rear Admiral Upper half (2 star admiral) in the US Navy Reserve, as well as being an SES billet. So on one morning in late July 2012, COL (ret) Jim Helis, PhD was recalled to active service and immediately promoted from COL, US Army to Rear Admiral Upper Half, US Naval Reserve. He is the only Naval officer that anyone knows of who wears a screaming eagle on his uniform:
https://www.usmma.edu/leadership/superintendent/radm-james-helis-usms-superintendent
He is also a scholar, a gentleman, and a very dear friend.
Adam L Silverman
@Miss Bianca: These are important discussions, even if they aren’t anyone’s cup of tea. One of the most monumental decisions a society can make, or allow to be made on its behalf, is to apply military power to a problem. Whether its having the military do work that would be better suited to Foreign Service Officers or personnel from other civilian agencies because its easier just to order a 20 person team to country X to build a school than try to wrangle the dearth of civil servants that could do this work on the non-lethal side to going to war, there’s a lot of import to studying, discussing, and thinking about these things. Especially when you look at who is running for President and for the House and for the Senate. And who is advising them. At a certain level personnel is policy.
I know this isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, and Mclaren’s complaint that these discussions often show that those involved in them are trapped within the system, but ignoring them and the system we have to work within can lead to catastrophe and ruin.
seaboogie
@Miss Bianca:
Again, awesome turn of phrase. One which invites repetition, with emphasis on a different word each time. Well done!
Adam L Silverman
@Miss Bianca: Honestly, other than the commencement videos, the how to plan for retirement (unless you’re a Soldier nearing retirement), the Dean Ornish talks, and the clearly public affairs things, most of the lectures and symposium are worth watching. Some of the top experts on a variety of topics are on the teaching and/or research faculty at USAWC.
seaboogie
@Adam L Silverman:
Agreed. Can we nominate you to an influential advisory position in the next administration? Pretty sure Cole would feel better about Clinton’s hawkishness if that were the case.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: Considering our position in the world, and the way we simultaneously fetishize and marginalize the military and its role – privatizing functions which are, whether one likes it or not, part of the fundamental bedrock of government – I can’t imagine a *more* important series of discussions to be having – certainly as important, serious, and worthy of reasoned debate as domestic economic issues. I have only to be ashamed of my own ignorance of what we are asking the US military to do, and why. But I am trying to catch up.
ETA: I guess what I’m saying is that it sometimes feels hard to *find* a forum for reasoned debate – passions on both sides run high, and outstrip reason sometimes -and I know I’m not the only one who appreciates the perspective you bring to these questions.
Adam L Silverman
@seaboogie: I would think it would be highly unlikely. I have the wrong set of connections. That’s not to knock my connections, they’re just unlikely to be the ones needed for that sort of thing.
Adam L Silverman
@Miss Bianca: I understand. Also, a lot of times it seems hard to get into. There’s jargon, often times a lot of acronyms, and while the simplified formulation of “ends, ways, means” seems simple or the shorthands of “personnel is policy”, “relationships matter”, and/or “personalities matter” seem simple in concept, they often aren’t in practice. And that’s usually an experiential issue. I knew, as in based on education, a fair amount about policy and strategy. I didn’t really understand them though until I started working at that level. This is similar to my understandings of low intensity warfare – revolution, insurgency, terrorism, etc. I didn’t learn anything, factually, per se that I didn’t know before I deployed to Iraq in 2008. But the experiential learning that resulted changed my understanding of the information I had learned in the classroom and in my own research prior to the deployment.
And on that note: I’m to bed. Before I fall down. Everyone have a lovely night.
J R in WV
@Omnes Omnibus:
Back when we had a work horse and a dairy cow, we realized that our Veet had been a Cavalry Vet in the Army. When Pet kicked a gash in her hind hock, Dr Phillips gave me pint jars of antibiotic juice and reusable glass hypos that were Army Issue back when the Army still kept war horses. I healed that big ol’ horse.
She was cut into the bone, and I hosed it out twice a day with the garden hose, sprayed a foaming antiseptic into it, and wrapped it with a giant Pamper and leg wrap. Then shot her in the neck with I forget how many CCs of antibiotic juice. It took weeks, but she was completely healed a nd I could ride her on the ridge tops again. She weighed about 1800 pounds. Her trot was too big to stand, but her gallop/canter was smooth like a ilving room couch.
Juju
@Adam L Silverman: how good are you at catching salmon?
Applejinx
@Cacti: Whoof.
You know, guys… if the new narrative is that Clinton is SO LEFT and has always been so left that Bernie Sanders is playing catch-up, failing, and there was never any point to him being there anyway because he’s only a distraction to how amazingly liberal and progressive Hillary is and has always been…
On the one hand, it makes me want to spit, but looking at it pragmatically, why YES please, go right ahead, and may that be a trial balloon symbolizing the highest reaches of the upcoming Clinton administration. May they do their utmost to leave Sanders a footnote in history, a blip on a political landscape that was lastingly revolutionized by the prescient Clintons, who led the enthusiastic swing toward a government of the people. Notably Hillary, who had always drawn Bill to the left and finally got to lead the country back to love and fairness and abundance for the regular person.
If that’s the price of making this a reality rather than going with a Trumpian hellhole (regardless of which party implements it!) then I consider it a price worth paying. I admit to being a little shocked and I don’t think it’ll play in the MSM, but knock yourselves out.
Heh. “Hillary was always really more Left than the Vermont Socialist’. Hey, if that’s the way you want to play it, I’m a happy guy. At least as a Vermonter, I can help make sure we keep having the ol’ coot (as a Democrat, which he’s already said he’d remain, I think? Didn’t Weaver say he would remain a Dem from now on?)
Robert Sneddon
@Adam L Silverman: A friend of mine went from being a corporal to colonel in roughly the same fashion, leaving the Army about thirty years ago as a ranker and then going on to get a Ph.D in Psychology before being accepted as a lecturer at Sandhurst where he was breveted colonel for administrative purposes.
He rides motorcycles too, come to think of it.
Uncle Cosmo
@Omnes Omnibus: Baud! requires a mountain fastness. Or pehaps, in the interest of parsimony & a better match to his campaign, a half-fastness…
Miss Bianca
@Uncle Cosmo: UC, I woke up in the middle of the night murmuring “fastness! Mountain fastness, not aerie!” to myself! GMTA…