This illustration seems like a weird amalgam of DougJ and Tom L, what with the song lyrics and classical art and all:
I’ve had a hellacious day, which has thus far included a WiFi outage, getting stuck on a drawbridge with a rambunctious dog that does not belong to me gamboling through the cab of a truck I am not used to driving, followed by an angry stand-off with someone’s housekeeper. It’s complicated. You?
Open thread!
Yutsano
*pulls up chair*
*sips tea*
Go on…
schrodinger's cat
We should have a Reality Show called FPers of BJ, following you and JC.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
Enjoying the thoughts of a sunny day outside, before the rains return again…
On that brief respite from politics, let’s jump in again! ;-)
A good ThinkProgress piece on the Texas judge who through a hissy fit at the DOJ yesterday:
Read the whole thing, it’s not long.
Bernie isn’t the enemy. Hillary isn’t the enemy.
The Teabaggers and their enablers are the enemy. They need to be voted out.
Cheers,
Scott.
singfoom
@Betty Cracker: Sounds fun, love that you used the word gamboling.
So is the Oklahoma legislature just lost it’s mind? The day after they pass a bill to effectively outlaw abortion (never going to stand in courts), they pass a bill about a bathroom emergency in the most vitriolic language possible – webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us/cf_pdf/2015-16%20INT/SB/SB1619%20INT.PDF and call to impeach Obama over the bathroom emergency.
Is this just an early GOTV effort for the god botherers / burnishing their culture warrior credentials when they come up for re-election again?
Or is that state just fucking nuts?
LAO
I curse you — that song is now stuck in my head!
cope
Last period of the day (plan period) so no students, just listening to Talking Heads waiting for the last bell to ring so I can leave for a retirement party. Oh yeah, and because I also inhabit central Florida, I’ve got one tab open to the weather radar…here it comes.
MattF
I wouldn’t call that ‘art’, even if I was ovine.
Quiet day for me at work. Went out to the Ethiopian food truck, got some spicy lentils, chicken tibs and that spongy flatbread. Rain tomorrow.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:
Thisety this this this. There is absolutely no room for treating your vote as some kind of therapy session, when the fascist barbarians are at the gate.
MattF
@singfoom: Door number three, I fear.
burnspbesq
@singfoom:
Yes. (i.e., your two options are not mutually exclusive).
Kay (not the front-pager)
Me? Angry stand-off with a postal supervisor re: a mail carrier who doesn’t want to drive all the way into our (not all that long) driveway and ring the doorbell to deliver a package for signature, so he says he rang the bell and leaves a slip at the mailbox (on the road). This has happened so often that my son got a camera to record movement on the porch. No delivery attempt today, but of course the supervisor doesn’t believe me. Now I have to go down to the post office and try to get her to look at the film. Not that it will do any good…
TaMara (HFG)
@singfoom: They were tired of Kansas showing them up in the nutter department. Florida, your move.
Doug R
m.youtube.com/watch?v=tojicre_Qe8
You’re welcome
cmorenc
@Betty Cracker:
My day is thankfully void so far of hellaciousness and abundantly full of the small joy of taking care of doing nagging things that need doing or else they’ll bite you. Such as, walking the dog for starters.
singfoom
@TaMara (HFG): Florida doesn’t need encouragement for crazy. You’re just pouring gasoline on the fire now.
smith
@singfoom:
The Oklahoma Rs are in a tight political situation. Because oil and gas revenues are tanking, their economy and tax revenue are in freefall, to the extent that they might not be able to fund little luxuries like schools. Just recently that reality led them to cave on the Obamacare Medicaid expansion, which will help significantly with their money problems. All this frantic, vicious RW legislation is a swarm of shiny objects thrown in the faces of the rubes to distract them from the fact that the Kenyan Usurper has finally prevailed in OK.
rikyrah
@singfoom:
it’s all of the above.
gvg
I lived in Oklahoma for 1/2 of 2nd grade and 3rd grade. It seemed like a nice place and I learned about how badly the Indians had been treated plus I became horse crazy because there were so many beautiful ones when we went for country drives. the school was nice, the streets were laid out well and every square mile had a neighborhood park. Then we moved back to Florida and it’s been over 30 years. I have no idea if I was just too young and it was nuts then or if the various oil busts turned them sour…
slag
@LAO: Same here. Though it sounds like BC has already been cursed at least once already today.
LAO
@slag: I don’t know if it was enough. lol.
? Martin
@singfoom:
The state isn’t, just the people they elected.
MattF
FYI, the online Merriam-Webster dictionary has an innovative ‘rhymes with’ section. Did you realize that ‘auto–da–fé’ rhymes with ‘beta decay’?
LAO
@MattF: I hesitate to ask, how (or why) you learned of this?
A Ghost To Most
I hope it didn’t involve someone waving a chair over their head.
Elizabelle
just ordered my first tapas in Barcelona. Red wine. Waitress looks like Amy Winehouse. Start language training eight a.m. Monday. That’s o dark hundred to you. Staying in Barcelona at least another week. Maybe several. Most beautiful city I have ever seen. Weather perfect blue skies. I cannot say any of this in Spanish. Yet.
raven
Huge storm last night an another coming but I got in between and landed another sweet redfish!
MattF
@LAO: Well, I was contemplating the next step the OK legislature might take in prosecuting physicians, so I googled ‘auto–da–fé’ in order to get the plural right (it’s ‘autos–da–fé’) and found that the dictionary had a ‘rhymes with’ section. It really is a perfectly reasonable sequence of events.
The Lodger
@raven: Were your car windows closed this time?
germy
@singfoom:
Doesn’t this stuff happen every four years as a way of getting the base riled up enough to scoot down to their polling places and vote against teh gayz/teh socialamists/teh perverts while coincidentally voting FOR the candidates who want to slash the taxes and regulations of people who fly over them in First Class?
pat
@singfoom:
Is this just an early GOTV effort for the god botherers / burnishing their culture warrior credentials when they come up for re-election again?
Or is that state just fucking nuts?
Yes.
LAO
@MattF: Fair enough, I thought maybe you were an aspiring poet.
Benw
@MattF: you don’t say!
Miss Bianca
@MattF: Oh, yeah, well *now* it all makes perfect sense…
Omnes Omnibus
@MattF: So you claim.
JPL
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: this
J.
I’ve been having a crappy week, too, capped off by a bird taking a major crap on my car this morning. But your image on this post made me laugh. Thank you, Betty. :-)
Roger Moore
@? Martin:
Usually elected officials reflect the flaws of the people who elected them.
Linnaeus
I’m trying to deal with a customer’s stormwater pH reading that stubbornly refuses to be where we need it to be no matter what we do to treat the water. Argh.
Miss Bianca
@A Ghost To Most: Or whether or not Betty C was supposed to be using the tradesmans entrance. Because, you know…*awkward*.
Linnaeus
@J.:
There’s a resident flock of crows around my building, so this happens to my car pretty much weekly. The crows plot against us all, methinks.
singfoom
Well, then, my sympathies for the sane people of OK. I hope sanity returns there, for the voters and the legislature.
Elmo
So the OK bathroom legislation provides that a school must make a “religious accommodation” to any student who requests an exclusively male or exclusively female restroom/changing area/etc. But then it specifically says that a single-occupancy restroom/changing area shall not constitute a sufficient religious accommodation.
So the religious accommodation isn’t just to be alone in private – schools MUST provide restroom/changing areas that are open to multiple people, all of the same sex.
So students at small schools that might only need single-occupancy restrooms can now sue for the right to ogle their fellow students, as long as they only want to ogle those of the same sex. It’s the Gay Student Voyeurism Accommodation Act!
shortstop
I don’t see why personally handling electrical work without any training is supposed to be so har….AAAAAAAAAGH!
The Dangerman
@Omnes Omnibus:
See this from a few posts ago?
Well done, Adam. So, so simple…
Ruckus
@singfoom:
They elected these people. That alone should answer your question.
D58826
@Kay (not the front-pager): The man that delivers my mail has worn out a pair of shoes delivering packages to my apartment door. When i was a kid people used to give the mailman, milk man and bread man a tip at Xmas. Yes I am that old that I remember the milkman but at least he had a truck and not a horse drawn wagon. I’m NOT THAT old.
Feathers
@Roger Moore: I recall someone saying of New Hampshire: “They seem so normal, but then they elect the craziest people into office.” New Hampshire is a definite argument against large legislatures.
BTW – love the sheep. Am a long-time, big time knittah. A woman who raises sheep for the wool came to talk to my guild. I’m remembering that she told us you always need another animal to be out with the flock of sheep. Dogs are traditional, but llamas and donkeys popular now. I’m not remembering exactly why this is, but I’m betting it doesn’t reflect well upon the sheep.
piratedan
I would enthusiastically reccommend folks popping over to You Tube and catching the latest Sam Bee segment on the political awakening of the religious right, great synopsis which exposes the hypocrisy for what it is….
peej01
I love how states having money troubles pass laws which will require them to spend a bundle defending them against the inevitable lawsuits.
dexwood
Just finished my annual Spring clean up and flower planting in the backyard pet cemetery. Always bittersweet yet satisfying.
D58826
@Linnaeus: Seagulls used my wife for target practice. Since she was in a wheelchair it was no contest. Only time she ever wore a hat was when we did the boardwalk.
shortstop
@peej01: There are some things more important than fiscal responsibility or state solvency. And one of them is hating on Others.
Chyron HR
@J.:
I think that means you’re going to be the next Speaker of the House.
Ultraviolet Thunder
I’m writing a letter to my shouty boss. I’m complaining that they hired me to be a Field Service Engineer, then stuck me at a desk because every other Field Service Engineer has contrived to suck at the desk work. Classic perverse incentive: if you’re bad enough at it someone else will do the work you hate.
I have made numerous personal and professional sacrifices over the last 15 years, including leaving a LOT of money on the table, to avoid being trapped in an office. So now in a job that’s supposed to be 80% interstate/international travel I’m trapped at a desk for weeks at a time.
There will be shouting. I need to get this off my chest and down on paper. Then I’ll keep it in my back pocket until the right time to present it.
I’ll walk if necessary. One of the sacrifices has been to live cheaply and pile enough savings so I can afford to step away from any job rather than doing something I hate. I ate a lot of Ramen for this freedom and I’ll use it if I have to.
Mnemosyne
My fucked-up shoulder (from an old whiplash injury) has flared up again. I slept very poorly last night and am cranky as fuck. I keep convincing myself that I can still wear cross-body bags and I do it until I hurt myself.
D58826
@singfoom: Man my computer is smart. I clicked on the link and it was blocked because it was a dangerous/malicious web site.
Shell
Beautiful day here in NJ, but looks like well be back in the rainy gloom tomorrow. Funny, after a very cold Spring, the forecast is for a hotter than normal Summer in the Northeast. Of course!
Bob In Portland
Didn’t see this in the NY Times.
rikyrah
@smith:
you know what?
you have nailed it
Jeffro
@Elizabelle: We’ll be fighting jealousy the whole week, then, but enjoy!
? Martin
Here are the 7 Republicans that switched their vote to assure that the LGTB amendment would fail. They had originally voted for it but agreed to vote against as the vote was held open:
Rep. Greg Walden, R-Oregon,
Rep. Jeff Denham, R-California,
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-California,
Rep. Bruce Poliquin, R-Maine,
Rep. David Valadao, R-California,
Rep. Mimi Walters, R-California,
Rep. David Young, R-Iowa.
I have to imagine this will not help them in their district, so let’s make sure people know about it. Mimi is pretty safe in her district and I suspect that Issa is as well, but we can at least make them work a bit harder.
Jeffro
My apologies to Betty and others who are having a difficult day…hang in there!
Here in NoVA, it’s about as pretty and temp-perfect as it’s ever been. Getting things done right and left at work while also taking walks about every hour on the hour…ahhh.
gex
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: What drives me nuts is that even though Bernie isn’t really all that strong on immigration, I have seen Sanders’ supporters yelling about how Obama has deported more people than any other president. As though he made no effort to stop deportations. As though the executive actually should disobey the law and the legal process because reasons.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Ultraviolet Thunder: Wow.
After reading your stories of fixing lasers out in the middle of nowhere with no parts and a looming impossible deadline, I had a picture of you that would have said you would welcome the relaxation of desk work. Funny how we form pictures based on so little and think we have people figured out. ;-)
Best of luck!!
Cheers,
Scott.
Trollhattan
@Roger Moore:
A-yup. Same thing goes for Texas and Texans, who I’m constantly being assured by the state is in the process of “turning purple.” Until they start giving us a steady string of Ann Richards in the statehouse and congress I’m assuming that purple is coming from deep bruising. With that said, Gov. Fallin seems to be an extreme case of bad person in the wrong office.
David Fud
@singfoom: Only nuts in the sense that a budget deficit of $1.5 billion is sort of like the final senior project for a procrastinator. They are having to vote on Obamacare, as Richard Mayhew noted a few threads back, plus they are raising taxes, even if just on cigarettes at this point, and reduce funding to schools such that they only go 4 of 5 days per week.
I would say all of that fail parade makes them question if they have failed conservatism and will thereby lose their jobs. Thus, the bathroom bill, impeachment calls, and abortion show, just in time so that they can tell their constituents that the black man made them do all of those non-conservative things.
Just a hunch after having living there for 35 years.
Linnaeus
@D58826:
Ugh, that must have been…frustrating. Cheeky buggers, those gulls.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Ultraviolet Thunder: Wow.
After reading your stories of fixing lasers out in the middle of nowhere with no parts and a looming impossible deadline, I had a picture of you that would have said you would welcome the relaxation of desk work. Funny how we form pictures based on so little and think we have people figured out. ;-)
Best of luck!!
[edit:] Who hates having to html-icize relax to get it past FYWP.
Cheers,
Scott.
Trollhattan
@Ultraviolet Thunder:
Ramen of Freedom would be a great band name.
slag
Good post in Washington Monthly explaining the Obama admin’s attacks on inequality:
Good stuff.
gex
@Ultraviolet Thunder: Good luck. Hope you end up with a better gig, whether at this place or a new one.
rikyrah
@Ultraviolet Thunder:
I feel ya.
Boy, do I feel ya.
germy
rawstory.com/2016/05/oregon-voters-overwhelmingly-reject-candidates-who-backed-bundy-militants/
Iowa Old Lady
I’m pondering the direction I want to take in a short story, since as usual, what I like (dry humor, grief for a lost child, and an occasional elf) is not what most readers will want.
Betsy
@Elizabelle: Sounds delightful! What are you doing in Barcelona?
Roger Moore
@Trollhattan:
Texas is one of those places that probably ought to turn a lot more purple, but will have a hard time doing so in practice because the Republicans are fighting so hard to prevent it. It is now majority minority, though non-Hispanic whites still have a small majority among citizens. But if Hispanics in Texas participated at a rate similar to whites and voted Democratic at a rate similar to what they do in the country as a whole, they could flip the state blue. The problem is that they aren’t really active and the Republicans are eager to keep them that way through voter suppression. When/if they manage to get past that, though, it could be like flipping a switch, where the newly empowered Democrats could undo the gerrymandering and voter suppression that have kept the Republicans in charge.
Jeffro
@slag: I am hopeful that Clinton and the Dems in general will talk about all of these steps they’ve taken to try and increase working families’ take-home pay one way or another…and then talk about it some more…and then some more…
We’re already known as the party of inclusiveness and equality…let’s make sure Dems are equally well known for these ‘pocketbook’-focused efforts as well.
Betsy
@Roger Moore: mmmmmmyeah except gerrymandering, Citizens United, and voter suppression.
Mnemosyne
@Bob In Portland:
Since someone here told me that this massacre was faked, I’m afraid you’re going to have to have more supporting evidence than a few pictures or statements by the UN or Doctors Without Borders.
Otherwise, I’m going to have to assume it’s yet another hoax like you keep saying all of these things are.
kindness
@? Martin: I live in Denham’s district. He’s a big TeaHaddist and I don’t think he’s running against anyone this year. Yea, it’s a red county in the middle of the Central Valley. I was surprised he voted for the amendment to begin with really. This vote won’t cost him a penny at home.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@rikyrah: @gex: @Trollhattan:
Thanks. I have some leverage. It’s just a matter of applying it for maximum effect and minimum damage. I love the company, and the work I was hired for. I think I can get (most of) what I want.
Detroit weather is beautiful today. Looking forward to dog walkies and a pleasant evening outdoors with a book.
chopper
@Ultraviolet Thunder:
how will you use the ramen? will you tie your boss up with the noodles and threaten him?
Roger Moore
@germy:
Strictly speaking, they flocked to their mailboxes to deliver their ballots. There aren’t in-person polls in Oregon./pedant
JanieM
@Elmo: GSVAA — made me laugh out loud. And on this topic, laughs have been few and far between.
Betsy
@Jeffro: can you say more about what that looks like? (Getting things done R&L while taking hourly walk breaks)? I need to know!
Mnemosyne
@Trollhattan:
Texas keeps electing Republican governors and senators, so they’re not anywhere near purple yet. I don’t think you get to call yourself a purple state until Democrats start winning statewide elections on a regular basis. Which, oddly, means that Louisiana may be more reliably purple well before Texas is.
slag
@Jeffro: Agreed. As long as the progress made is sincerely talked about as being part of the journey rather than as being the destination. And as long as progressives are willing to accept that the journey will be long and hard and not always direct.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
According to Al Giordano’s twitter feed, he’s talked to legal counsel and he’s definitely running to unseat Sanders in 2018. This should be highly entertaining.
The Lodger
@? Martin: Walden probably won’t get hurt. He represents Oregon’s red Congressional district; if you want to visualize it, remember Harney County from the Bundy takeover. Aside from Bend and the theater folks in Ashland, I don’t see a lot of LBGTQ awareness out there.
Yellowdog
@Elizabelle: You realize that they use at least four different languages around there: spanish, Catalan, Basque and French, don’t you? I got by on my high school French. Be sure to visit the old town, off las Rambles. You can still see bullet holes from the Spanish Civil War and got deep beneath the city to an excavation of Roman ruins. Also, Gaudi!!
scav
@Iowa Old Lady: Is the elf sad that he lost the child, the child sad that they lost the elf and are they possibly in a desert, having lost each other? Or, as it is an occasional elf, is the child wandering in the desert actually mourning the impulse that would every so often turn her into an elf?
Miss Bianca
@Iowa Old Lady: Fans of Susannah Clarke (waves paw) would beg to differ. Sounds like *exactly* what I would like!
schrodinger's cat
OT: A break from the ugly of the Presidential campaign. The little movie that could, Sairat (Wild) set in rural Maharashtra is breaking box office records in India. Its also done pretty well on the film festival circuit, and praised by the likes of Aamir Khan and Irrfan Khan. I haven’t seen the movie but it has an amazing score and according to reviews does not shy away from the ugly reality of caste in India even in the twenty first century. Also, the female lead is no withering violet who waits for the men in her life to make decisions for her.
The director is a prize winning Dalit poet who comes from a social milieu not that different from the one shown in the movie. This is his second feature film and the first movie for his lead pair. That such a thoughtful movie has achieved commercial success makes me feel hopeful for humanity in general and India and Maharashtra in particular.
Yad lagla (gone mad) depicts the craziness of young love.
PsiFighter37
CNN is carrying Trump’s speech at the NRA. Not surprisingly, those insecure, small penis men endorsed the man with small hands.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@chopper:
That would just encourage him. He feeds on conflict of all kinds.
Eric S.
@Linnaeus: I never saw it but in college I’m pretty sure there was a pterodactyl in my neighborhood. It’s the only thing that could be leaving droppings that big on my car.
Mnemosyne
@Ultraviolet Thunder:
Have you ever read a book called Crucial Conversations? It was a really eye-opening look at how to approach people firmly and directly without making them feel threatened. It really changed the way I interact with people at work in a major way. Get the 2nd edition — it has a lot of updates and changes.
Trollhattan
@Ultraviolet Thunder:
If he feeds on conflict, you need to use the Star Trek response. Say this over the office intercom:
“This is Kang. Cease hostilities. Disarm.”
Anonymous At Work
Someday, somewhere, man will be able to ask, “What is Love?” without someone answering, “Baby, don’t hurt me.”
That day is not today.
SuperHrefna
@Mnemosyne: ouch! Sympathy – I hope it settles down soon. Shoulders are so painful. I seem to have fucked up my left shoulder doing yoga, had an MRI yesterday so I should find out soon what the damage is. I’m hoping it avoid shoulder surgery, I had it six years ago when I tore my right rotator cuff and it put a serious dent in my year.
Elmo
@JanieM: Yeah. It isn’t about keeping your own bits private. It’s about being surrounded by a sea of similar bits and getting the opportunity to look. Which might very well BE a bona fide religious experience for some students, but I’m not sure the state should be in the business of accommodating that…
burnspbesq
@Elmo:
I think it’s safe to say that the legislative intent is that no trams student can ever use any bathroom.
Iowa Old Lady
@scav: You have a very vivid imagination.
@Miss Bianca: That’s encouraging. I need to think for a bit.
Jeffro
@Betsy: I think it’s actually helping me pick up the pace a bit at work…gotta knock something out before taking a ‘lap’ outside around the building, lather, rinse, repeat.
Oh hey what do you know, time for another lap…
Roger Moore
@burnspbesq:
The legislative intent is to enforce traditional gender norms and to crush trans people if they don’t conform. Enforcing traditional gender norms is a big thing for conservatives, probably because a lot of them are afraid that they won’t be able to conform themselves without somebody enforcing conformity.
reid
I know this isn’t news to most, but after listening to Trump’s speech in front of the NRA, he’s worse than any politician when it comes to pandering and lying. I had to turn it off after a few minutes. So disgusted.
Trollhattan
Courtesy of LGM’s BSpencer, Dinesh D’Felon has made the very helpful connection between transgender and goat.
SuperHrefna
@Anonymous At Work: I’m of an age/ethnicity that the question “What is Love?” sends me straight to Howard Jones. God the ’80s were one hell of a time to wear clothes. It was fun though!
singfoom
@D58826: That’s really odd, it’s just a PDF of the bill on a state of OK site. Maybe your anti-malware is set to prevent you from hitting PDFs.
Anyways, sorry for putting a “bad” link out there.
Mnemosyne
@Iowa Old Lady:
I will share a piece of wisdom from an author at the LA Times Festival of Books — if you’re writing something that you think your regular readers won’t get, use a pseudonym. In her case, she wrote a few younger-skewing YA books and then wrote one that was much more for older teens (drug use, murder, etc.) so she published it under a new name so the 12-year-olds who loved her previous books didn’t rush out and buy something that was too adult for them.
singfoom
@Elizabelle: If you have the time, I really really really recommend taking the train north to Figueres and visiting the Dali Museum that Dali built himself. It’s really quite something to see as a building and the art inside is amazing as well. Of course the guy built his own museum, heh.
Enjoy all the patatas bravas
germy
@Roger Moore:
I wonder if that explains the high turnout?
72% is nothing to sneeze at…
Elmo
@burnspbesq: Oh, I completely agree – but by eliminating the option of single-occupancy entirely, they really are saying that “religious accommodation” requires exposing oneself in a group of other naked people. Which might indeed have been a religious practice in some societies, but not usually in Oklahoma!
Miss Bianca
@Trollhattan: I like this approach.
Doug R
@Eric S.: Probably a roc. We tell the tourists it’s good luck.
Brachiator
@Ultraviolet Thunder:
Good luck to you. Your situation really resonates with me.
A small company I do lots of business with was bought by a larger, multi-national company. Not a lot of changes for a while, then a boatload.
This week, 2 sales people, both wonderful people and good friends, decided that they had enough of ill treatment and indifference to their concerns. They got to the point where they got stomach aches in the morning before they came to work. Separately, on Tuesday and Wednesday, they resigned. It’s just a damned shame and the company seems totally unconcerned, both about my friends, and their customers.
I can only applaud their decision and wish them the best, but I am totally bummed.
Some years ago, I was in a similar situation, and realized that having some peace of mind when I went to work was essential. And although I can put up with a degree of craziness and office politics, there is a limit, after which I am gone.
germy
@singfoom: I believe there are quite a few Gaudi buildings in Barcelona. I don’t know why I love Gaudi’s work so much. Unusual and different from the school of brutalism that took off so successfully here in the states…
WaterGirl
Betty Cracker:
I just accused Frankensteinbeck of trying out an opening sentence for his next novel in an earlier thread, and then I come to this one and see that this paragraph is a thing of beauty, as well. So much talent here at BJ!
Edit: I see that I am not the only one who wants to hear the housekeeper story. Pretty please, we’ll be good if you just tell us a story.
Betty Cracker
@SuperHrefna: Wow. I’ve been reliving my own high school days a bit since my kiddo is graduating, and that song takes me right back.
@WaterGirl: Well, thanks, but I doubt anyone would pay to read about my silly-ass squabbles.
singfoom
@germy: Yes, tons of Gaudi buildings in Barcelona. La Sagrada Familia (still not done) and Parc Guell amongst others. When I visited a couple years ago I hit them all. He was a genius.
Geeno
Can someone help a brother out here?
James E Powell
@SuperHrefna:
The 80s – the Greatest Hair Decade
schrodinger's cat
@reid: What kind of a party lets Trump rise to the top? He does not have a single redeeming quality.
Iowa Old Lady
@Mnemosyne: That’s good to keep in mind. I may wind up doing that.
? Martin
@burnspbesq: Based on their reasoning, it would be safe to assume that they think no gay person could also use a bathroom. That reasoning being ‘what’s in my pants matches what I find fascinating inside other people’s pants’.
PaulWartenberg2016
Hope to see every one of you at the Barnes & Noble bookstore in Wesley Chapel FL tomorrow afternoon.
germy
@singfoom: Believe it or not I had a vivid dream once that Gaudi’s style had become the norm here, and my little town was full of buildings and houses that looked like his work. Our town hall, the churches, everything. It was a weird dream.
Major Major Major Major
Well that went well.
Brachiator
@Mnemosyne:
Great book. I think I hit someone over the head with it once.
Actually, it sounds interesting. Thanks for bringing it to everyone’s attention.
raven
@The Lodger: nope
Mnemosyne
@SuperHrefna:
I am now laying on the floor in one of the conference rooms to see if that helps. The other problem is that I’ve been doing too much cell phone typing, so I need tom knock that off. When my bad carpal tunnels interact with my bad shoulder, this is often the result.
Miss Bianca
@germy: somewhere among my effects is a sketch of what my little house would have looked like if I and my ex had been able to afford a Gaudi-style remodel. I just remember the undulating roof line and tile job that was supposed to evoke a dragons tail.
@PaulWartenberg2016: keep hoping. I dont even know where Wesley Chapel is! Seriously tho best of luck!
? Martin
Today in ‘Failures of Critical Reasoning’, the NRA is all flushed with delight that our Mr Trump will protect us from Hillary repealing the 2nd Amendment. So, can the lawyers inform us how she would repeal the 2nd amendment, get ⅔ of the Congress and ⅔ of state legislatures to approve that? Other things that I expect Hillary will be accused of trying to repeal:
+ Boobs (replete with hand gesture)
+ Sylvester Stallone movies
+ the Bible
+ Lynyrd Scynyrd
+ Money
+ and of course Israel
raven
Shooting near the White House. Obama is not there.
Shell
Poor dears. They must be so worn out from waiting almost 8 whole years for Obama to finally descend and grab all their guns.
WaterGirl
@Mnemosyne: I recommend that book to people all the time. It can really make a difference.
Major Major Major Major
@? Martin: Friend of mine on FB says she has no chance because something something center-fire rifles, I don’t care enough to ask what the hell he’s talking about or where these “Dem voters who own guns but care about whatever california just did” are.
Brachiator
@schrodinger’s cat:
One that is desperate to retain and maintain the presidency.
Trump is politically incompetent, and the available evidence demonstrates that in the past he was either more liberal or largely indifferent to politics. His presidential run is purely ego driven.
I think that the GOP grandees are convinced that they can either control him or rein him in if he gets too far out of control. And he seems to be cagey enough to go to neo-cons and the Heritage Foundation for advice. He is a shrewd, street level businessman. He knows how to let the people he is dealing with think that they are getting a good deal.
The problem is that he looked at Obama and thought, “if this black guy who I totally disrespect can do the job, I obviously can do a much, much better job. I’ll be terrific. And my hot wife will look even hotter in the White House.”
He is wrong, and if he somehow manages to win, the scope of the disaster that will result is terrible to contemplate.
scav
@Major Major Major Major: No chance of what? Conceiving a child? if so, I respectfully suggest she’s using her center-file penis replacement incorrectly.
WarMunchkin
Just realized that if Hills loses, Mitch McConnell becomes one of the most influential Republicans in history. A loss for us, especially if partially due to liberal apathy, would be a resounding strategic validation of obstructionism.
SuperHrefna
@Mnemosyne: Ouch. I hope it helps! Do you know what is causing it? Inflammation, tendonitis? Have you ever tried ultrasound? I get my physical therapist to use ultrasound when my tendons are strained, the sound waves bounce around in there and fluff the tendons out again. Even if it doesn’t help with your shoulder it will definitely help with carpel tunnel syndrome. I’m a huge believer in physical therapy, it’s helped me get over so many disasters. Exercises, massage, ultrasound and hot/cold packs. They keep me functional :-)
Shell
Ah, Betty, why not have a little wine. If only so we can see another wine foil sculpture
D58826
@Linnaeus: What really made it ‘funny’ was when we moved down to Charlotte, a couple of hundred miles from the coast, there was a flock of gulls over at the local shopping center. Raiding the trash but we joked that they were the southern cousins of the Jersey gulls sent to keep an eye on her. Never saw any gulls in philly even though only 60 miles from the coast.
Mnemosyne
@SuperHrefna:
It’s whiplash from an old car accident — almost 20 years ago now. I probably need to track down a new physical therapist and/or chiropractor and get it looked at.
Brachiator
@? Martin:
What kind of nonsense are you spouting here?
Hillary loves Sylvester Stallone movies. Including “Cliffhanger.”
ETA: “Cliffhanger” is one of the worst films of all times. I think one critic said, ‘Often, if you’ve seen the trailer, you’ve seen all of the movie. If you’ve seen the trailer for “Cliffhanger,” you’ve seen a better movie.’
D58826
@? Martin: can we add Bob-in-Portland from the blog to the list??
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker: I beg to differ! I think I would read pretty much anything you would write. You are one of the front-pagers whose threads I *always read.
*Exception that proves the rule- your post last week about one of our previous front pagers. I just couldn’t get through that one.
Mnemosyne
@Brachiator:
I think this is a much bigger aspect of the white disrespect towards Obama than most people are willing to admit. There is still a tendency to believe that any random white guy is going to be more qualified for any job than any black guy, even one who graduated summa cum laude from Harvard Law. Because Obama is good at his job and black, that job must be easy by definition.
A Ghost To Most
@Major Major Major Major:
Interview? I hope that is not snark.
Ruckus
@Brachiator:
The only job I had other than working for myself between 1978 and 2012 was like that. Sitting at my desk one day I found out that 2 of my fellow employees had quit the same day, unbeknown to either of them. The funny part was I was sitting there when I found out wondering what it would be like if I quit that day. I did leave a few months later when I had finished lining up everything I needed for my next supposed income stream. The CEO told me that I had to tell my boss that I was quitting and I told him no, not getting in any more bullshit arguments with a drunk, you want him to know you tell him, I’m out of here. One of the most fun days I’ve ever had at work.
Miss Bianca
@? Martin: FFS. I am up to here with these idiots. What part of Not Going to Happen Nohow are they incapable of grasping?
Apropos of nothing, a new cut from Sean Lennon and Les Claypool from Primus = Awesome.
Major Major Major Major
@A Ghost To Most: Nope! It went really well!
Shell
Oh, for fucks sake.
“Doctors have been recommending folic acid supplements and prenatal vitamins with folic acid for years in case women are not getting enough folate in their diet.
But now researchers from Johns Hopkins University are linking autism with a high intake of folate or folic acid.”
Gelfling 545
@J.: my car is so elaborately splattered with bird droppings you’d imagine they had a personal grudge against me. I can’t have it washed until I get the door handle that snapped off replaced which had to go to the back of the line after my brake line broke, followed by needing to replace the brackets supporting the exhaust. Next would be the link pins whatever they may be then, it is to be hoped, the door handle. I can’t take a chance on getting water inside the door & messing up the electronics for the window. I’ve had very little trouble with this car – which will be 9 in August – but 3 of the 4 door handles have snapped off at various times, though, oddly enough, never the driver’s door. Even people who still have garages on this street don’t use them, the driveways being so narrow. How they accommodated 40’s & 50’s vehicles I can’t imagine, so we’re at the mercy of the birds. I keep telling myself it’s a small price to pay for the privilege of having had a variety of birds return to the area.
Old Dan and Little Anne
My wife told me this morning that she had a dream Paul Ryan confronted her about a previous sexual encounter. W.T.F?
Major Major Major Major
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: Oh sweet.
WaterGirl
@Major Major Major Major: That’s so great! They say that if you are getting interviews, you will get a job. When you’re not getting interviews, that’s an uphill climb. Keep us posted.
Ruckus
@schrodinger’s cat:
He does not have a single redeeming quality.
That’s not true. He’s a perfect example of a supposedly wealthy, bigoted, gigantic fucking asshole.
D58826
@WarMunchkin: Was watching Tweetie last night and they talked Trump around the Egyptair coverage. The GOP talking head was saying that the Penna. GOP is somewhat optimistic that moderates might be attracted to Trump. In the past they were turned off by the culture war attitude of the GOP. Trump has toned that down but is emphasizing the economic anxiety issues that ring a bell with these folks. Now it was the GOP talking head but the point was not an unreasonable one. So can’t look at Nov. as a sure thing for the democrats. Of course given the EC dynamics she could win by one vote in each of the 30 of the biggest states and it would still be an EV landslide. Hopefully it doesn’t get down to that
Mike in NC
@efgoldman: It’s still raining in NoVA and our houseguests from NoVA have brought the rain here.
Mary G
Test@SuperHrefna: The hand surgeon I saw yesterday has sent me for PT rather than surgery. He had to look up my condition -Vaughn Sydrome – on his tablet, so I don’t think he’s who I’d want to have him do the cutting anyway.
Brachiator
My bad mood continues, will probably last all weekend. I have been reading about and looking forward to the expansion of the Expo Line in Los Angeles. After 50 or 60 years, you will have a light rail option that will take you to Santa Monica and the Beach.
You’ve had the 10 Freeway and some bus lines, but this holds more promise, even though it looks as though the line stops a few blocks away from the beach itself.
There are free rides today and some official celebrations along the route.
But in some of the official literature, the dopes published the official unveiling date as the 19th instead of the 20th. The date is wrong in places on the goddam Metro web site. And no one that I’ve talked to who already uses the bus and rail system was able to get a schedule for the new line.
And one radio station used an old, old description, the “subway to the sea,” to describe the Exp Line, even though none of this segment, none of it, none, nada, zip, is underground or connected to the Red/Purple Line, which does have a subway segment.
Dopes. Absolute dopes.
On the other hand, we will have the magnificent Space Shuttle fuel tank snaking through the city tomorrow. That should be amazing. I might try to go out a get a few photos.
? Martin
@Major Major Major Major: CA has been flirting with legislation that would ban all semiautomatic centerfire rifles with detachable magazines (assault rifles). CA already bans most of these weapons, but there are some loopholes, and this would close those loopholes.
Expect a lot of this from the fringe. Some things we already have here in CA, which you can expect to come up:
1) Open carry is illegal, even for unloaded guns
2) If minors are present, guns must be locked our of reach and rendered inoperable while stored (trigger lock or the like)
3) CA regulates ammunition for hunting – limits mostly on the amount of lead.
4) CA will seize weapons if you commit a crime or have a mental impairment. They will come to your door with a subpoena and take them forever.
Clinton had nothing to do with any of this. CA voters are in favor of these initiatives. This could be interpreted as a states right, however, those rules only apply to lynching black people and forcing women to get pregnant.
chopper
@Ultraviolet Thunder:
he sounds pretty crass.
D58826
A certain symmetry in the news today. The Trump is giving a speech to the NRA and the WH has just come off lock down after an armed man approached a security check point and refused to drop his weapon. Secret Service shot him and he is in the hospital. SEE a good guy with a gun stopped a bad guy with a gun. This time. Of course in Trump’s butlers world view the secret service agent was the bad guy who stopped a good guy from doing something huge
Brachiator
@Mnemosyne:
In addition to the birther crap that Trump jumped all over, he also bought into the weird conspiracy theory that Obama’s grades were faked, and this is why Obama refused to make all of his college transcripts public. At the same time Trump would harp about how smart he was, what a good school he went to, and how smart his children were.
But yeah, we saw the racist side of this with Palin. There are many of these idiots who claimed that good old salt of the Earth Palin was Obama’s intellectual superior, exactly because she didn’t need none of that namby pamby Ivy League school mis-education. And her children are role models for the country (did any of them finish high school?). On the other hand, I have seen the nastiest comments posted on news sites about Obama’s daughter after she announced that she would attend Harvard.
And of course, there was the Romney aide who suggested that the British and other Europeans would immediately be at ease with Romney because they would once again be dealing with an Anglo Saxon president.
Major Major Major Major
@germy: yes.
germy
and then mitt went over there and pissed them all off.
rikyrah
@Mnemosyne:
Yep…
how being President of the Harvard Law Review was the pinnacle for any aspiring law student..
until the Black guy got it.
And now, it’s by luck, that this Black guy won the Presidency.
Not that he’s the best and brightest…just luck.
That, if he were White, with his accomplishments, they’d be preparing another space on Mount Rushmore.
Barack Obama is a brilliant man. And a Brilliant Politician. He also is a hard working man.
Of all the people running for President in 2016, only Hillary actually wants to do THE WORK of being President.
The rest of them, only wanted TO BE President.
There is a difference.
Jeffro
@efgoldman:
I know, it has been crazy here. But yes, today has been amazingly gorgeous. Guess what’s in the forecast for tomorrow, though? =(
BillinGlendaleCA
@Brachiator:
The Expo line connects with the Red/Purple line at Metro Center(7th Street) and is underground briefly until you get to Staples.
rikyrah
@Brachiator:
I honestly don’t believe she even finished college.
But, I can say, without hesitation, that any non-White candidate for Vice President, with Palin’s ‘credentials’ would have been laughed off the national stage never to be heard from again.
And, I dunno if any of her kids finished high school. I know for damn sure, not one of them old enough has set foot in a college.
SuperHrefna
@Mary G: Good luck! If this is your first time with PT the main thing to learn is the difference between healthy and unhealthy pain. PT often hurts because it usually involves strengthening the muscles around the hurt area so that they can do more, and take the pressure off the hurt area. But it shouldn’t make things worse. You learn the difference between the healthy pain of muscles learning to get stronger and the unhealthy pain of things being damaged further. I just had tendonitis in both shoulders and while it’s resolved in my right shoulder there is something hinky going on in my left shoulder ( hence the MRI I had yesterday to investigate) the main way I can tell what is going on is that pain in my right shoulder is all the healthy kind whereas the pain in my left shoulder is the unhealthy kind when I externally rotate it, and the healthy kind when I do anything else with it. Pain is hard to describe, but if you pay close attention to your body you can learn to tell the difference – and tell your PT if you experience any of the unhealthy pain!
Jay
Folks, I post here hardly at all but I know this is a pet-friendly blog and.my 19 year-old tabby died last week. As I prepare to pick up his ashes tonight, the only thing keeping me remotely happy is the thought of getting a new cat. My two requirements are “low-maintenance” (i.e. no kittens) and “short hair,” but I’m hardly an expert. Any suggestions?
Major Major Major Major
@? Martin: Well thanks, that’s easier than wading through the bullshyt.
The rest of the thread with him was fun though. Just a bunch of git jokes.
Jeffro
@schrodinger’s cat:
Obviously a party with no guiding principles other than Cleek’s Law, I suppose. The 16 members of the “deep bench” (tee tee) recognized on some level that Trump supporters were a significant portion of GOP primary voters and didn’t want to take him on, so this is what they get. Maybe next go-round they’ll try and affirm some things that they actually stand for, as opposed to just being anti-Obama.
Iowa Old Lady
@Brachiator: In the same way, Trump says Elizabeth Warren only became a Harvard professor because she claimed Native American status and affirmative action kicked in. That’s wrong in so many way, but among them is that she’s “goofy” looking and too old for him to want to screw.
rikyrah
@Jay:
Sorry for your loss :(
Jeffro
@Mike in NC:
Not today it isn’t! Tomorrow, though…
Major Major Major Major
@Jay: So sorry to hear that. Always just awful to lose a little furry family member.
I like my gray cat. The vet says it’s a Korat. He’s chill.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Shell: TheAtlantic:
One probably should assume that any medical study talked about in the popular press is wrong, unless the report lasts more than a couple of minutes and consists of more than 3 paragraphs in the story.
Stuff is complicated. Distilling new medical findings down to 2 sentences will almost always get things wrong.
FWIW.
Cheers,
Scott.
bemused
@Jay:
Sorry to hear that. One of our sweetest kitties was also19 when she died. When you have a great cat that long, it really leaves a hole. We still talk about her, many memories, even though we love our current two.
No recommendations. We’re long hair cat people. Just spend some time with prospective kitties and see which one’s personality appeals to you the most.
D58826
@Brachiator:
Well Bristol repeated shows that comprehensive sex education is a good idea and maybe she should have paid a bit more attention in class.
Mnemosyne
@Jay:
I’m so sorry for your loss. I’m a big advocate of going to a shelter to see which cat you’re drawn to. Ideally, the shelter has switched to the “big room” model where they all hang out together and you can see who approaches you or who you want to approach.
But it works even if they’re all in cages. I got Boris, the world’s greatest cat, at an LA city animal shelter by hanging out inside the room and seeing who was willing to come say “hi” at the front of their cage.
burnspbesq
This is pretty cool.
espn.go.com/espnw/culture/article/15613771/the-israeli-palestinian-basketball-teams-breaking-all-bar…
D58826
@rikyrah: I would add that he is a thoroughly decent man and he and his family have been role models to the world that does qualify as American exceptionalism
Betsy
@Jeffro: I like that idea! Thanks.
Brachiator
@Iowa Old Lady:
Trump has an absolute knack of picking up the wingnut idiot side of any fake controversy and running with it.
Sigh. This sounds just like Trump.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Jay: Condolences to you. That’s a great run for a pet. Remember the good times.
I would suggest visiting your local shelter and seeing if one there makes a connection with you. Sometimes vets have good pointers as well.
Best of luck. Hang in there.
Cheers,
Scott.
hedgehog the occasional commenter
@Jay: So sorry for your loss–it hurts so when they leave us :(
We adopted our two boys from a PetSmart (they regularly have rescue organizations doing adoptions). Our Midnight boss-kitteh is a short hair, probably part Burmese.
SuperHrefna
@Jay: I’m so sorry Jay, losing a cat is so painful, and after 19 years, wow. Truly the end of an era. You could go for a Turkish Van in honor of Tunch, but I’m also a big believer of getting to know the cats at the local shelter. There is usually a room you can have some one on one time in to see if you get along together.
Betsy
It’s really hard to get a good cat from the shelter in this urban county. If you find a healthy one that you like and you go away to think about it for an hour, by the time you come back he or she is gone, adopted by someone else. This happened a few times because I wanted to be sure I got a really good match and it takes me a while to make big decisions. Finally after Round 3 of this, the adoption technicians there recommended that I meet the cats in the F IV room.
Because very few people were ready to adopt an FIV positive cat, These cats hung around the shleter longer, enabling me to think and make my decision.
I adopted an adorable cat named Swiffer, and I really love him. Chances are his F I V positive status will never manifest in any illness, but then again you never know.
However I do know and Swiffer has told me in all but words, how very very happy he is to be out of that cage, and in a home!
Steeplejack (phone)
@Jay:
Go to a shelter and pick the one you bond with—or the one that picks you.
martian
@Jay: I am so sorry about your kitty. It’s wonderful that thinking about giving a new beastie the chance at a good home is giving you some comfort.
Do you like chatty cats? That’s maybe something to keep in mind. Some varieties, such as Siamese, are very talkative. I had an alleged-to-be half Siamese that I used to have long, involved conversations with. I adored him. Best cat ever. Some folks find it annoying, though. Cats being cats, even my bestie often veered from conversational into demanding, hectoring monologues. He had an opinion on everything. Other than that, I also recommend hanging around the shelter and seeing who you connect with. When our area PetSmart hosts adoptions, I often see sociable older animals whose people were forced to give them up due to sad circumstances. Maybe that would be a good option for you.
Miss Bianca
@Jay: Aww. Sorry to hear about the kitty loss.
I love ginger tabbies, fwiw But tuxedos always seem to have really charming personalities too. But I echo the suggestion of go to the shelter and find the one you bond with. Might surprise you!
D58826
OT but CNN is reporting that they have seen the ACARS data from the EgyptAir flight and it was reporting smoke from an area near the forward bathroom and/or electronic bay. At this point not enough information to say if the smoke is related to the root cause or just a secondary effect. And not enough info to say whither a ‘fire’ was a mechanical issue or some type of bomb.
satby
@dexwood: What a sweet tradition!
satby
@Mnemosyne: Watergirl just recommended that book to me recently too. It’s very helpful!
Andy
I have no doubt that the cynics and so-called “pragmatists” within the Democratic party fully expect Sanders movement to lose momentum after the election. Will it really matter if Sanders does make removal of WS a condition of his support if they replace her with another Clinton ally? If after the floor is swept and the lights go out we return to this dismal status quo?
The most risible criticisms of Sanders is that he is running as a Democrat only as a matter of convenience. Of course he is! A lot of us remain in the party only as a matter of convenience. In California, I can still vote in the Democratic primary if I declare as unaffiliated, but not as a Green. But you can’t even do that in most other states. You want to have a voice in this system? Make sure you register accordingly. Be “pragmatic”. What a lousy system.
San Francisco Examiner;
Sanders’ vision for the future of America is optimistic, egalitarian and just. The revolution he speaks of, however distant or far-fetched, is about restoring hope to so many who have assumed the terrors and injustices of modern life were insurmountable. That vision, that government can better people’s lives and root out entrenched corruption and cowardice, deserves our heartfelt support and full-throated endorsement.
Betty Cracker
@Andy: It would be goddamn pathetic if Sanders made removal of DWS a condition of his support, but unfortunately, it wouldn’t surprise me a bit. DWS sucks at her job, and she won’t be DNC chair much longer — even if HRC gives her a sloppy wet smooch on the convention floor.
The Sanders phenomenon was so heartening at first — millions of young folks expressing liberal ideas, hope and optimism. I hope they stick around and do the hard work required to realize that vision. But if it’s all about avenging Sanders’ so-called victimization by attempting to overthrow an apparatchik who’s already on her way out, how fucking sad that would be?
Andy
@schrodinger’s cat: –That would be called the movie-“Neighbors”. Which this blog exemplifies. As the new parents, of course.
Andy
@Betty Cracker: –An aside view/thought:
“Now that they’ve discovered the notion that a political party, faced with a dangerous political enemy, should suppress all internal criticism of its putative leader lest she be “harmed” by that criticism, and that the party should refrain from fractious internal debates lest it be ill-equipped to defeat the enemy, I wonder if liberals are rethinking their views on Lenin.
The principle of democratic centralism and autonomy for local Party organisations implies universal and full freedom to criticise, so long as this does not disturb the unity of a definite action; it rules out all criticism which disrupts or makes difficult the unity of an action decided on by the Party.
Actually, by the standards of today’s liberal, Lenin’s strictures come off as relatively benign. He at least called for “universal and full freedom to criticise” the party unless and until that criticism threatened “the unity of an action decided on by the Party.”
Whereas the Democrats haven’t even yet decided on Clinton, and we’re already being told that any criticism of her in anticipation of that decision will threaten the party’s ability to act upon that decision once it is made.
Speaking of that language of harm — the New York Times headline reads, “Bernie Sanders, Eyeing Convention, Willing to Harm Hillary Clinton in the Homestretch,” and the article repeats the charge — I’m reminded of the language Justice Scalia used in the Bush v. Gore case in order to grant a stay to the Florida recount.
“The counting of votes that are of questionable legality does in my view threaten irreparable harm to petitioner” [Bush].
Despite all the obvious differences in the two situations, I’m struck by the similarity: in both cases, it’s being argued that democratic rules and norms should give way to — indeed, might harm — the personal needs and concerns of the candidate.
During the early republic, UCLA political scientist Karen Orren has argued, the prerogatives of political office were thought to be a kind of personal property right, something that belonged to the officeholder.
In the nineteenth century, those “officers’ rights” slowly began to give way — under pressure from democratic movements from below — to a notion of citizens’ rights. Matters of state, in other words, weren’t to be viewed through the prism of their effects upon the officeholder; they were to be understood from the vantage of the democratic citizen and the needs of a democratic polity.
Now, apparently, we’re returning to the earlier view of politics. Now we’re expected to view matters of state through the eye of the officeholder. Now we’re expected to consider how an insistence that we count all votes in Florida — or see a primary campaign through its end — helps or harms the fate, the personal fate, of the officeholder. Or would-be officeholder.”
“There are many words for that type of political system. Democracy is not one of them.”
Jacobin.
Betty Cracker
@Andy: Get back to me when you master paragraph breaks and original thought (not necessarily in that order).