Seriously, I kinda want an expert to tell me that I'm overreacting here. https://t.co/wb1Sa3UHgm
— Daniel Drezner (@dandrezner) May 12, 2016
There will never be an Olympic Games that doesn’t involve some kind of unseemly political tradeoffs (like Russia’s anti-LGTB terrorism pre-Sochi) and unfortunate aftereffects (“Bombshell Report Details Elaborate State-Run Russian Doping Program During Sochi Olympics”). But the upcoming Summer Games in Rio have scored an especially depressing hat trick, as described in Foreign Policy:
Imagine trying to throw a giant party while going through an ugly divorce — and as disease-bearing mosquitoes swarm around your badly damaged house. That, essentially, is what Brazil is trying to do as it barrels toward this summer’s Olympic Games during an impeachment crisis and an as-yet uncontrolled Zika outbreak.
On Wednesday night, the Brazilian Senate voted to impeach President Dilma Rousseff. The political crisis that has rocked the country since Rousseff was first accused of manipulating government funds during her 2014 reelection campaign has only worsened the public health crisis caused by the explosive spread of a particularly dangerous strain of Zika virus…
And now, the Olympics could help a dangerous strain of Zika go global. [Amir] Attaran, who has served as an advisor to Brazil’s Ministry of Health, argued in the Harvard Public Health Review that Zika in Brazil is much more serious than previously acknowledged, and that allowing Rio to host the 2016 Olympics will speed up a global health crisis.
Rio has the highest number of probable Zika cases in the country, and the virus is more dangerous than previously thought — and not just for pregnant women, Attaran said.
“The effects on the adult nervous system are only beginning to be studied, but the preliminary findings are not good, and suggest that exposure to the virus is linked to Guillain-Barré disease, increasing the odds 60-fold,” he wrote.
In addition, new evidence seems to demonstrate both that Zika is clearly a cause of microcephaly, which shrinks babies’ brains, and that the virus can spread through sexual contact…
While it is impossible to compare the 2016 cases of Zika to 2015’s due to a lack of data, dengue fever rates suggest that the military eradication strategy was a failure. Dengue is spread by the same mosquito as Zika, so if the mosquitoes had been diminished, dengue rates would also have lowered. Instead, the first quarter of 2016 has seen a sixfold increase in dengue from last year.That means international athletes and spectators will probably head into an environment with even more Zika than last year if the Olympics do go forward — which they will then carry back to their home countries, helping along a global pandemic…
Of course (most of) the athletes will show up, however grudgingly, because only lab-created elements have a shorter lifespan than elite athletes’ prime competitive years, but even the local sports greats are complaining:
Rivaldo, a former star on Brazil’s national soccer team, has a message for anyone thinking about visiting his country to attend this summer’s Olympic Games: Don’t bother. The 44-year-old ex-midfielder made his comments in a recent Instagram post that decried his country’s crime and political situation.
“Things are getting uglier here every day,” Rivaldo wrote, noting that a 17-year-old woman was killed Saturday in a shootout in Rio de Janeiro, which will host the Games in August. “I advise everyone with plans to visit Brazil for the Olympics in Rio to stay in their country of origin.
“Your life will be in danger here,” he continued. “This is without even speaking about the state of public hospitals and all the Brazilian political mess. Only God can change the situation in our Brazil.”…
(And, yes, it is beyond disgraceful that our very own Republican domestic terrorists are refusing to fund Zika prevention & treatment efforts, because they hate President Obama more than they love unborn babies, and the rest of their suffering constituents.)
That said: We’ve checked off (political) War, (infrastructure/local economy) Famine, (pollution-related) Plague, and now… the chance of hastening a global pandemic. Who’s still on board for a massive festival in Rio this summer?
HRA
I have 14 members of my immediate family on the way today for a cruise close to the area. The bug is one of my worries for them. At least we are able to stay in touch instantly. As always keeping physically very busy will help me not worry as much otherwise.
germy
They’ve taken Cleek’s Law to murderous extremes. Can we call this Peak Cleek’s Law?
Comrade Scrutinizer
Anyone who has played Plague Inc: Evolved knows about how the Olympics contributes to the spread of disease.
amk
shouldn’t drezner actually be freaking out what’s happening in his own backyard first?
D58826
Isn’t the water at some of the aquatic venues unsafe to swim in as well?
D58826
OT from the daily beast
Why doesn’t Hillary or maybe Barak use their green lantern powers to make these people go away. At least we know what we will be talking about this time in 2020 -Gop files law suit to force Hillary’s 10th grade grammar teacher to explain why Hillary misused the semi-colon in her e-mails.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/05/09/vanished-emails-from-hillary-s-top-geek-are-m-i-a.html
Corner Stone
Dammit. If you can’t trust a Brazilian sex worker, who can you trust?
Schlemazel Khan
Well, me for one. Given my dim view of humanity at this point I am not convinced it serves any useful purpose for us to continue.
@D58826:
I am sure the pools are fine but the boating events are in badly polluted water. SO the folks in the boats want to be sure not to fall overboard . . . or catch any spray . . . or touch the water in any way . . . so, you know, no problem
MomSense
Our media are barely covering Zika and they certainly aren’t reporting Republican unwillingness to fund any kind of planning to deal with it. Of course they will be there right before the election to fear monger and blame Democrats for failing to protect us.
Snarki, child of Loki
I really is shameful the way that the GOP is not stepping up to stop the Zika outbreak.
We know they CAN. Why, just look at when
ObolaEbola hit US shores, in the months before the 2014 election: nonstop GOP concern about this existential threat!Which got TOTs cured the day after the election. A MIRACLE, I SAY!
Why can’t they do that again, without waiting for an election?
The Other Chuck
@germy:
Look at their stance on global warming: they’ll let everyone die just to spite liberals.
D58826
@MomSense: See Ebola reaction in fall of 2014 for confirmation.
Where is that asteroid when you really need it
PurpleGirl
@germy: I have a gut feeling that Cleek’s Law is like Peak Wingnut — there is no peak moment, they just get crazier and more warped. Nothing to base this on but somehow I don’t think anything involving wingnut’s has a peak moment.
The Lodger
@Snarki, child of Loki: They’re waiting for the Democrats to nominate a VP candidate from Latin America. How else can they convince the base that a whole region is now evil and threatening?
ruemara
Ugh. My cousin adores Brazil. He’s getting geared up to move there and start a business.
My heart goes out to Brazilians for what’s happening to them and to athletes who now have to make such awful choices. And us for having so many sociopaths in government.
shomi
The story doesn’t even bother to mention that they are still trying to finish building some venues.
Anyways, seems like mostly fearmongering to me. Don’t know what the actual numbers are but it must be hundred of thousands of international travellers going through Brazilian airports every month. To say that the Olympics are going to do something that would not just happen on it’s own anyways is kind of laughable.
Sure there will be a surge of travellers for the Olympics. So what. It would probably barely move the needle in terms of speeding up the spread of a virus globally. That would probably happen at nearly the same rate during normal travel patterns.
D58826
This will currdle your Sat. morning coffee. According to the article all of that corporate money ‘parked overseas’ isn’t really overseas. Most of it is invested right here in the old USA just not taxed here in the old USA.
.
http://wolfstreet.com/2016/05/13/which-companies-stockpile-the-most-profit-overseas/
germy
@PurpleGirl:
They certainly have a knack for outdoing themselves…
The Other Chuck
I always recall reading Pestilence as the Third Horseman. War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death. Never could figure out the last one, you’d think the other three have his job pretty well covered.
The Other Chuck
@D58826: Actually, I’m glad it’s at least invested here. It provides us at least some benefit, and it’s much easier to claw back taxes out of it.
Corner Stone
@D58826:
That was incredibly rude of you. It’s a little early on the West Coast to put up the bat signal for the Martin-Splainin. Now he’s going to have to stop his research on curing incurable diseases and otherwise fighting crime to come here and explain what Apple *really* did with that money. And why it could not actually have happened any other way.
D58826
@Corner Stone: Oh jeez, when I started to read your comment I thought it was because I had caused you to spew your coffee all over your laptop. :-) :-) :-)
I saw the original article as on link from Bruce Bartlett on Twitter. Bartlett is a raging RINO who served in the Reagan administration. Currently is campaigning for Trump in order to destroy what he refers to as the wanker party (i.e. the GOP). ‘Wanker’ being a nice safe word to use in the US unless you are familiar with a bit of British off-color slang.
Oldgold
Why don’t they designate Athens has the permanent site for the summer games?
schrodinger's cat
@Corner Stone: The other day he was explaining how hedge fund managers astronomical compensation packages were the result of automation.
Baud
@D58826:
So the story is not worth the pixels it’s printed on.
I’ll admit I don’t understand this. I believe if foreign investors invest in U.S. securities, they are generally taxed on the income from those investments.
oldster
Yup.
They should definitely cancel the Rio Olympics.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@D58826: That piece is a joke. It claims that any company with at least $10 million in assets is a large corporation; I worked for a company that owned four parking ramps in downtown Minneapolis that constituted more than $10 million in assets, but that didn’t make it a large corporation.
More importantly, the author has no idea what “parked overseas” actually means. Yes, the money can be invested in all sorts of U.S. based assets. I know this may come as a big shock, but foreigners can invest in all sorts of U.S. based assets without ever bringing their money here. You may, for instance, have heard about the Chinese central bank owning lots of U.S. bonds.
What “parked overseas” means is that the company can’t use the money to invest in U.S. based operations, and it can’t use it to pay dividends to shares listed on U.S. stock exchanges or to buy back those shares.
D58826
@Baud: The way I understand it This is money that US companies like Apple,that should be subject to US corporate taxes, have moved off-shore to a tax haven. The money doesn’t just sit there it is re-invested in the US among other pl;aces. The article didn’t say but I suspect the investments in the US are also structured to minimize the tax liability in the US.
ruemara
@The Other Chuck: he’s the redundant backup hire for coverage.
Baud
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
This is the summary from the GAO report linked to in that post.
Baud
@D58826:
I thought most of the money parked overseas is income derived from foreign operations of U.S. companies.
I would generally expect every corporation to seek to minimize their tax liabilities. The only issue is what the tax code should permit.
D58826
I admit that when it comes to tax policy I would be in deep trouble without Turbo-tax each April. Bartlett, who posted the link in Twitter, has been an apostate from orthodox republican policy for years. He was a top econ adviser in the Reagan administration. If you follow him on Twitter he is having a great time ranting about the Wanker party and how he plans to help destroy it.
Baud
@D58826: I’m not sure I agree that the means (supporting Trump) justify the ends (hurting Republicans).
D58826
@Baud:
and that is the rub. The real scandal isn’t what a corporation is legally allowed to do, the scandal is that so much of it IS legal under the tax code. If there are good reasons that help to grow the economy then the provisions can be justified. If the provisions just grow the bank account of the 1% then not so much.
amk
@D58826: By supporting donald derp, bartlett can destroy amurka too. A twofer.
D58826
@Baud: With trump that is true. I suspect that he doesn’t really want or expect a trump victory but a trump defeat might bring the GOP back to some degree of sanity.
Prescott Cactus
@The Other Chuck: I think *Hospice is the 4th Horseman and Death is the fifth. I get that confused a lot.
*inserts subliminal image
ThresherK (GPad)
@D58826: My bet is that that water is so unsafe with man-made crap the athletes in it might be the best protected from the zikasquitos. Sailing, kayaking, crew, and such.
Is there opan water swimming in the Olympics?
D58826
@amk: No only Hillary wants to destroy Murka. Trump wants to make Murka great again :-)
Davis X. Machina
@Schlemazel Khan:
It can be done. I learned to sail on the Charles River, and there was a capsize protocol that involved tetanus shots…
amk
@D58826: Gotta love the wingnutz world.
D58826
@ThresherK (GPad): Not really sure about the open water swimming question. The summer games has its share of niche events like curling at the winter games.
D58826
@amk: well without the wingnut world Cole would lose 90% of the commenting around here. BJ would be reduced to photos of Steve and the pups, magnificent animals though they might be.
amk
@D58826: That would be true of the other 99.9% of librul blogs too.
MomSense
@D58826:
Right now the tax code and corporate tax rates are a win win for Republicans. They get to rile up the base with how complicated filing taxes is for the average person, scream about corporate tax rates being the highest in the world while leaving out the part about how corporations and the uber rich love the complicated tax codes full of loopholes because they can finagle their tax bill down to zero.
Turbo tax, H&R Block and the other tax preparation companies like things the way they are as well.
Prescott Cactus
@D58826: The swim portion of the Triathlon ?
Shalimar
@Snarki, child of Loki: It is May. Mass hysteria to influence elections starts in September. Give them time.
Also, too, why would Republicans want to address the zika virus effectively? When you solve a problem, you can’t use it to motivate your electorate in the future.
Aleta
@D58826: At least Wingworld would be gone.
James E Powell
@Oldgold:
A crusty old politician once told me, “Everything you think is a problem is somebody else’s paycheck.”
Glidwrith
@Shalimar: Agreed for the mass hysteria in May. I think the move by the White House to immediately address the bathroom issues, rather than letting it simmer over the summer, is to force it to peak before the election and rob the ‘Thugs of one of their rally points for GOTV.
Feathers
@Davis X. Machina: The Charles is now clean! There are actually plans to add a swimming area. It would be like the European ones where there is a quay with steps going down into the water. The water is safe, but the bottom of the river is hopelessly nasty. My grandfather remembered swimming on Magazine Beach.
Mike in NC
@MomSense: Lunatic Ted Cruz pledged to abolish the IRS and make filing taxes so simple you would do it on a postcard. Most of his supporters took that to mean they would never pay a federal income tax. Yay USA!
MomSense
@Mike in NC:
This should be an issue that journalists should examine but it has been abandoned.
J R in WV
@D58826:
Well, for me that’s the missing link in why the people with billions of dollars want ot move it to Ireland, Caymans, Panama, etc. Because, of course, Irish Bonds or Stocks don’t return anywhere like as much as almost any profitable investment vehicle in the US.
But it even makes sense that an Irish or Panamanian corporation could buy investments – stocks, bonds, TBills, etc – in the US, or anywhere else. Just not that they then wouldn’t have to pay taxes on income earned in the US…
Never mind who owns those off-shore companies, Gates, Buffet, Microsoft, Apple, GE, if the profits are gained here, taxes need to be paid here.
ETA: on topic, I think the boaters and rowers and such should be issued high-proof Vodka to drink after each event, or even during an event, if they encounter any of the water they’re competing in, or on. That would at least lower the odds that they’ll contract some water-borne tropical disease from the bay they’re racing in.
I wouldn’t go to Brazil right now for any amount of money!
amk
Have the moral majority ‘religious’ nutters started kissing donnie’s ass yet?
tmflibrarian
@Oldgold: Where’s the grift in that?
O. Felix Culpa
OT, in water is wet news, the NYT has a feature story indicating that Trump is creepy towards women, compiled after dozens of interviews with work colleagues, beauty queens, and other females he’s hit on and/or denigrated.
Sorry, no linky because I am tech-deficient on my cell.
Amir Khalid
@amk:
Does it matter now if they do? The Don has the Republican base in his hands and the party establishment by the balls. Even the moneybagses are coming around to kiss his ring: Sheldon Adelson has promised him one hundred extra large.
Woodrowfan
is there any other kind of British slang?? ;)
Big Ole Hound
@Corner Stone: It’s all the jocks that have sex too. Free condoms in a bowl in the lobby of every olympic dorm if one gets zika it will spread quickly when they all go home.
D58826
And OT but a touch of humor. On MSNBC there is a ’20 worst chain restaurants’ piece. Nothing on the list is surprising but writing this with a straight face must have been a challenge :
http://www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddrink/restaurantsandnews/the-20-worst-casual-dining-restaurant-chains/ss-BBsVVDs?ocid=iehp#image=20
Mike J
@Davis X. Machina:
CBI? That’s where I learned. The best deal in the sailing world, particularly if you work in downtown Boston. You can be on the dock by ten minutes after five and sail until eight pm all summer, and it costs peanuts.
For the people that asked about staying out of the water in the olympics, here’s me on a different olympic class boat in the Charles river, circa ’85.
Ruemara
Well, this is annoying. Not even 24 hours with the new car & it has a flat tire. Posting from Whole Foods, waiting for roadside assistance. Thank goodness I have that.
amk
@Amir Khalid: Kinda hoping they will stay mad, ‘cos ted, and stay home come nov.
Feathers
My sister and her family are still planning to go, at least as of last week. They are sports mad, but participate as much as they watch, so are tolerable. She took her Girl Scout troop to the Atlanta Olympics and has also gone to Salt Lake City, London and Vancouver. They get tickets for a few minor events and then just wander the crowds going to the medals ceremonies and such. She was talking about the danger in terms of pregnancy, and she was a Girl Scout for 12 years and a leader for two decades now, so I have no doubt they’ll be able to get through it safely, but the risk of it all is horrible. As the doctor in the HSPH article said, yes the virus will spread, but it spreading now, and loosing any head start we may get on prevention and treatment is not a good thing.
The Zika virus makes the Obamacare cave to religious groups on birth control doubly craven. These are people who won’t take yes for an answer. I’m sure that the right is fighting all Zika awareness and funding, due to the fact that it will bring the need for birth control and abortion to the forefront. Will they offer cradle to grave healthcare and assistance to microencephaly babies? Of course not.
The proposal to keep some indoor events in Rio, but move other events to venues around the world, including London and Sydney, would be best in this situation. But honestly, they should just keep them in Athens. Greece could use the tourism and support. The waste of the games is enormous.
Redshift
@D58826:
I could live with that.
dmsilev
@Mike J: There was (is?) an even better deal for kids. Sail all summer long, morning through early afternoon, for $1. Was much cheaper than summer camp when I was 13; my parents just needed to provide some lunch money and trolley fare.
D58826
@Ruemara: My Uncle had a blowout on a car with 190 miles on it. The dealer offered to prorate the entire set with General Duel 90’s, This was 1964 and then the list price was north of $400.00, My Uncle politely told them to pound sand and replace the tire under the warranty. They did.
Redshift
I’m at our congressional district Democratic convention, listening to the forty-three(!) candidates for the five national convention delegate slots for Hillary. Too many really great people to choose from!
Amir Khalid
@amk:
Sitting out an election means giving up leverage within the party. I think it’s more likely only a minority of them will sit November out; the majority will vote only for Congressional and local Republican candidates.
D58826
Further proof that the political world has slipped its moorings. The link is on twitter but there is a piece in the Nation that describes how Elizabeth Warren and Tom Cotton (yes that Tom Cotton) are working together to prevent financial advisers from cheating their customers. Politics can make strange ……
Schlemazel Khan
@Davis X. Machina:
I remember as a kid being in DC and seeing signs at Mount Vernon not to touch the water in the Potomac as it was hazardous. There was (is?) a fountain spay in the river near the Jefferson Memorial and on windy days they would broadcast warnings not to sail near it because the mist was hazardous to your health. But we don’t need no stinkin EPA!
O. Felix Culpa
@Ruemara: Oh, so sorry about the tire. Hope that you’re back on the road without further ado shortly.
MattF
@Ruemara: I got a new car back in December. A week after I rolled off the dealer’s parking lot, the battery died. FWIW, the battery got replaced and the car has worked nicely since then.
nastybrutishntall
@Feathers: IIRC the Supreme Court caused the birth control mess, not Obamacare itself.
MattF
Via CNN:
ETA: There’s also an Alex Jones theory about Zika, but I’ve ignored that.
Villago Delenda Est
@D58826: /rolls eyes
Oh, sure, and the fact that I never invite my plumber or electrician over for martinis is obviously an attempt to cover something up.
Villago Delenda Est
@D58826: And meeting adamant opposition from plenty of Rethuglicans.
Origuy
There is a 10km open water swimming event for both men and women. At Rio, it is planned to have it at Copacabana Beach. The swimming part of the triathlon will be there, too.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Schlemazel Khan: The Potomac is in much better shape than has been in a long time, but the Anacostia still needs lots of work.
Cheers,
Scott.
D58826
@Villago Delenda Est: @Villago Delenda Est: yep to both
And they can’t seem to get their act together on the Puerto Rico default.
David Frum has an interesting visionary counterfactual postmortem of a Trump upset in November. While he doesn’t think it is really going to happen, best for Hillary not to get complacent. She should probably read Dewey’s memoirs of his 1948 election victory. :-)
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/05/the-path-to-a-trump-presidency/482796/
Zinsky
My company has a significant business presence in Brazil. I used to travel there a lot but since last October it has been mission-critical business only travel there. Even our CEO has to be approved in advance by a committee. Zika has been judged to be a very high risk factor. The economy is also fucked. Politics is a shitshow there ( not that it isn’t here). To boot, the water is polluted or non-existent. Although I have many friends there, I’m glad to stay away.
exregis
@D58826: The money that A-ple has overseas has never left the USA because it never entered the USA. These are profits for Apple from foreign sales, which account for about 60% of all of Apple’s revenue.
Suppose you earned income in Florida and New York. The money you earned in Florida is not subject to New York taxes. Similarly the money Apple makes outside the USA is not subject to USA taxes, unless Apple wishes to spend the money in the USA. Then it would be taxed here. What Apple does is try to earn its overseas money in overseas localities with the lowest global taxes. Not nice, but not hiding USA cash subject taxes.
Omnes Omnibus
@D58826: What evidence from HRC’s career thus far indicates that she would become complacent?
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus: Since when has “evidence” ever been relevant when talking about HRC?
WaterGirl
@Ruemara: That is totally not fair! I would go back to the dealer and see if they could cover any costs.
Mike J
@Omnes Omnibus:
She’s completely ruthless and will stop at nothing to crush her enemies! But she’s complacent.
James E Powell
@exregis:
But the location of income can be manipulated, financial metaphysics.
Kropadope
I met my friend’s new girlfriend last night and it helped me come to a determination about being an out homosexual while introducing oneself to new people. Introducing myself thusly, “I am Kropadope and I am gay,” is obviously awkward conversational style and introduces as central to my identity a facet of my personality that I see as tertiary at best. Shoehorning it in elsewhere seems similarly awkward. At the same time, I don’t want to be hanging out with one foot still in the closet.
Then opportunity struck, actually as I was getting ready to leave. It was a new apartment and my shoes were outside the door, so I didn’t remember which door to leave from. First door I open was the closet, naturally, so everyone’s having a good laugh. “What do you need in there?” “That’s not the way out, etc.” So, my buddy says “You like it in there, Krop?” and I responded “You know I figured out years ago the closet’s no place for me.” More general merriment ensued and I got the message across to my new female acquaintance.
So I decided that sometimes you just need to say some gay-ass shit, when contextually appropriate. If done correctly, they’re laughing with you, not at you and avoids the “why should I care?” aspect of coming out.
trollhattan
@Mike J:
She has learned from Obama’s feckless tyranny.
Kropadope
@Omnes Omnibus:
I would never describe her as being complacent. The biggest risk I see with her is a propensity to make bad decisions because it’s what all the cool kids are doing.
D58826
@Omnes Omnibus: well lets expand it a bit to her campaign staff and supporters. Romney’s folks were convinced that he was the next president right up to the point that the election was called for Obama (and even then Rove took some convincing) . ‘Hillary’ was kind of a short hand for the entire campaign or all those folks who look at the EV maps and say wow 390 votes, i can safely skip voting this year. My vote won’t be missed./
D58826
@WaterGirl: I would to. But it depends on the nature of the sale and certainly the dealer. New car it would be covered. Used car with something like a 90 dealer warranty probably covered also. Sold ‘as is’ you might be out of luck. If dealer likes to get repeat business and customer recommendations he will make it good. If he doesn’t file a complaint with the BBB. Won’t get the tire fixed but will be a bad mark on his record for the next person who looks up his business practices.
Millard Filmore
@James E Powell: “financial metaphysics” … is that also known as Hollywood Accounting?
Ruemara
Dealer has to cover it. It’s still under original warranty & I got the extension of the premium warranty because this is so fucking typical of my damned life, accent on damned. Like having major crises when I have no medical, I’ve learned.
But, I’m suspicious. This is the second time I’ve driven a car, parked & all is well, come out the next morning & I have something jammed into the tire. I’m gonna keep an eye on this.
J R in WV
@Ruemara:
Yeah, when I drove a new car to work, it seemed like it was no time until I had door dinks and/or key gouges on one side or another.
I always thought I was friendly and easy going, but someone at the job must have not liked me anyway. Go figure!
Tim in SF
@The Other Chuck: I thought Pestilence was the first horseman.
Death is always the fourth.
Corner Stone
@schrodinger’s cat: Martin is an awful human being who lacks empathy and does not understand society.
WaterGirl
@schrodinger’s cat: @Corner Stone: Not to be a scold, but it seems there would be plenty of opportunities to disagree with Martin in a thread where he’s present, rather than saying harsh things about someone when they are not even here to defend themselves.
Corner Stone
@WaterGirl: I’m pretty ok with it. However, your concern is noted, citizen.
WaterGirl
@Corner Stone: Okay, so I think the use of “concern” and “citizen” might be a slam, but I’m not really sure. So if you intending to slam me or sneer at me with your comment, I guess you’ll have to be more obvious than that. :-)
Citizen Alan
@Oldgold:
You want to bankrupt Greece every four years instead of just once a century?!?
pluky
@The Other Chuck: The first three make you suffer, then the fourth (Death) comes in for clean-up.
Bitter Scribe
I’m still glad Chicago didn’t get the Olympics.