The month of fasting and reflection has already begun for many of our overseas observers, of course. Per the Washington Post:
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Millions of Muslims around the world will mark the start of the holy month of Ramadan on Monday, a time marked by intense prayer, dawn-to-dusk fasting and nightly feasts.
Saudi Arabia’s state TV announced the new moon of Ramadan was spotted Sunday evening. Local media in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country, also said Muslims there would begin fasting Monday, as will Muslims in Singapore, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan and the Palestinian territories, among others.
Following these announcements, a mosque in Tampa, Florida announced to its followers that they too would celebrate the first day’s fasting Monday…
The faithful spend the month of Ramadan in mosques for evening prayers known as “taraweeh,” while free time during the day is often spent reading the Quran and listening to religious lectures.
Each day for the month of Ramadan, Muslims abstain from eating and drinking from sunrise to sunset. Even a sip of water, coffee or a cigarette can invalidate one’s fast. There are exceptions to fasting for children, the elderly, the sick, women who are pregnant, nursing or menstruating, and people travelling…
The fast is intended to bring the faithful closer to God and to remind them of the suffering of those less fortunate. Fasting during Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam, along with the Muslim declaration of faith, daily prayer, charity and performing the hajj pilgrimage in Mecca…
Britain’s Independent posted “Five ways to show solidarity and respect to people observing the Islamic holy month,” which seems sensible.
***********
Apart from the holiday, what’s on the agenda as we start another week?
Baud
Is it Ramadan again? It seems like it comes earlier every year.
Happy holidays, Amir. #WaronRamadan
Betty Cracker
Squalls spawned by Tropical Storm Colin woke me up way too early. It’s supposed to rain heavily all day and tornadoes are a possibility. But it least it won’t be 90+ degrees.
satby
@Baud: yes it is. And Valentina is up and racing to eat something substantial to carry her through the day. Qunoot will be traveling, so she’s starting her fast later. I’ve mentioned that one is Shia and one Sunni, so they’re on slightly different time schedules for the prayers and sun-up and down (which I don’t get). Valentina will have the tougher time, it’s sun up in just a few minutes and sundown will be at 9:20 pm tonight. In both of their countries, the day is pretty much 12 hours long.
Happy Ramadan to Amir!
PurpleGirl
Blessed Ramadan to all BJ Muslim readers, especially Amir Khalid.
@Baud: Ramadan is a lunar holiday so its date changes every year. When it comes in the winter months, it is easier to do the fast, harder when Ramadan occurs in the spring or summer and the day is longer. I have worked with several Muslims so I’m familiar with the daytime routines of fasting.
OzarkHillbilly
@Betty Cracker: I saw all the red on NOAAs map this morn. I know hurricane season begins June 1st, but 3 named storms already?
Applejinx
I saw Hillary Clinton tweeting and wishing people a good Ramadan to all Muslims.
THAT was awesome. I liked that. It was simultaneously kind of meaningless and trivial… and anything but. It’s funny when something as trivially courteous as that, which could mean so little in real terms… means so much in real terms.
hamletta
Ramadan? Well, that sucks for those in the Northern Hemisphere!
Makes me want to get out my chick peas.
PurpleGirl
@satby: According to one former colleague, when I asked him why the dependence on the sighting of the moon for dating the holy day when the Arab culture had continued using al-gebra and tracking astronomical events, he told me that by keeping the dating by sighting the moon, the Imam could fudge the dating of the start of Ramadan.
OzarkHillbilly
@Applejinx: It’s funny and sad. Can you imagine “Yer out of your league” Donnie doing that? That’s why it means so much
Baud
@satby:
Holy crap. That’s a long time to go without food. Remind her never to visit the North Pole in summertime.
satby
@PurpleGirl: I thought I was, but the girls tell me that they mostly sleep all day to get through it. Maybe because they’re still young and don’t have jobs. I’m surprised by how much that seems like cheating to me. But I’m sure it’s more complex than that, it’s also hot as hell in both countries and a mid-day siesta is common in hot countries too.
I’m just not a religious ritual kind of person, so I just try to MMOB around people who are.
satby
@Applejinx: you’re surprised by common courtesy? Odd.
hamletta
Watching CNN, and their b-roll includes kids with microcephaly.
Sorry but they remind me of the girls in Tod Browning’s “Freaks.”
rikyrah
Good Morning ?, Everyone ?
cmorenc
I have refereed soccer many years with Muslim crew-mates during the Ramadan period on warm, humid Saturdays and Sundays – these were three or four game sets of competitive-level youth or amateur adult games. They are generally fit, agile men (you have to be to ref these games competently), but the strain of getting through these sets of games on nothing but water was very tough on them. Soccer refereeing is ok as a nice supplemental or “hobby” income source, but no one does this just for the money – it’s hard work and a long day, and not something anyone sticks with for more than a season unless you’re also doing it for the love of the game and the camaraderie – it also requires a thick skin, because you have to put up with a lot of shit from players and spectators upset with your decisions. Back to Ramadan – I certainly couldn’t do some intense physical activity like refereeing if I had to be fasting all day for some reason, religious or otherwise. More power to ’em for their willingness and ability to plow through days like that.
Schlemazel Khan
@satby:
We have had some Muslim friends for nearly 40 years now and there have been years I have no idea how they manage. This is obviously a tradition started much nearer the equator.
local group of Christian minister is distributing lawn signs wishing a blessed Ramadan this year. That is something I think needs to be said. The ignorance and hatred of a few needs to be displaced by the majority who are smarter and more decent than those few.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: I wonder if allowances are made for Muslims living in places like Iceland, where the sun is up for 20 hours or so in the summer?
OzarkHillbilly
@satby: How did you get that out of what Applejinx said?
Schlemazel Khan
@satby:
Common courtesy to Muslims is not common, thats what makes it stand out. I get what AJ is trying to say. It is special not because it is some great deed but simply against the background of ugly that is current American politics in regards to people who are not part of the majority. It is sadly a bigger deal than it should be
OzarkHillbilly
Here’s hoping BillinGlendale is OK this morn.
BillinGlendaleCA
@OzarkHillbilly: Sunset with smoke from the Calabasas fire from the Glendale Galleria parking lot. It was 20 miles to our west.
ETA: They pretty much got it put out yesterday.
Schlemazel Khan
It has been mentioned more than once here that I worry a lot & recently a new worry has crept into my brain that I can’t shake. We all know that Drumpf is not fit to be POTUS and that the masters and owners of the GOP don’t want him representing the party despite what the maddened mob wants. It seems that this TrumpU business could get uglier over the next few weeks and might lead to other issues coming out. I wonder if conditions might cause Drumpf to step down and be replaced? If it occurs after the convention I assume the masters and owners would get to choose the replacement, which might piss off the mob but fool the uninformed. That would not be a good thing, particularly if Dems have focused only on ‘not Drumpf’ as their message.
Baud
@Betty Cracker: There has to be. Go far enough north, and you’d have people going a month with only water.
@BillinGlendaleCA: Good news.
BillinGlendaleCA
Joe of the Morning and his panel were not too impressed with hair Trump and his comments about the “Mexican” judge and “my African-American”.
Baud
@Schlemazel Khan: Someone like Cruz? They couldn’t even pick Kasich, and he was their best shot at winning.
Amaranthine RBG
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2016/06/05/elizabeth-warren-superdelegate-says-doesnt-believe-superdelegates
Sanders has been chastised for saying the same thing.
Baud
@Amaranthine RBG: Correction: No he hasn’t been.
OzarkHillbilly
@BillinGlendaleCA: So that was the fire in yesterdays pic.
BillinGlendaleCA
@OzarkHillbilly: I took that Saturday evening.
Betty Cracker
@Amaranthine RBG: Sanders has been criticized for implying that he is being robbed of the nomination by superdelegates, which is simply not true. He has also been accused of hypocrisy for simultaneously railing against the superdelegates system while telling his deluded dead-enders that he can persuade superdelegates to overturn the nomination of the candidate who has the most pledged delegates and votes.
Now, questioning the wisdom of the superdelegates system, as Warren has done, is perfectly legit. I’m not sure it makes sense myself. If it were up to me, I’d get rid of superdelegates and caucuses and apportion delegates by popular vote totals in state primaries. Clinton would win under that system too.
OzarkHillbilly
@BillinGlendaleCA: For some reason I never connected the 2. I looked at the map and Glendale showed well enuf but I could not find Calabasas. I noted your voice was so far missing this morn and thought maybe you too had been evacuated. The article was pretty vague on the where’s and whatfor’s.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
That’s where I am too.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Betty Cracker:
Yes, they are. I don’t remember the specifics, but it’s considered.
I remember doing the scheduling for a parking operation here in Minneapolis, and the fact that Ramadan not only moves through the year, but that the specific day on which it is going to start and end isn’t officially known until the last 24-48 hours made scheduling hell. We had so many Somalis working for us that we had to line up just about all of the non-Muslim employees to take emergency shifts in the unlikely chance that there was a surprise.
BillinGlendaleCA
@OzarkHillbilly: Calabasas is at the far south western end of the Valley, south of Canoga Park.
Schlemazel Khan
@Baud:
Well, there is the danger for them isn’t that? They don’t want Crudz either. JEB? is right out as is Krusty. Their hearts will say Ryan I think but that would set the mob against them. But I wonder if a total clown like Newt, particularly if he is the VP choice might appease the mob just enough (he can’t be tied to the lat 15 years of GOP fail) but pass the smell test for the uninformed.
kd bart
@Betty Cracker:
He’s probably always been but this campaign has revealed Sanders to be a classic big league scold.
Baud
@Schlemazel Khan: It’ll be a cold day in hell before I worry about Newt. At least Trump has fascist charisma going for him. Newt would lose all 50 states plus a few in Canada.
satby
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: I went looking and found this from the U.K.
I wish American media would just try to be as informative.
Baud
GMA is reporting on Betty’s tropical storm. Looks bad.
Schlemazel Khan
@Baud:
He looks good compared to Drumpf and if the whole campaign has been “we are not Drumpf” whoever it is can say “neither am I”. It wouldn’t surprise me if they picked a relatively obscure Congressman or Senator and count on their not getting vetted before the election.
MattF
@Schlemazel Khan: That’s occurred to me, and I think Der Trump dropping out would be a major blow to the Rs. He’ll blame the R party for not fully supporting him– and his constituency, which is a large fraction of the R base, will too.
amk
@Amaranthine RBG: Is she in the dem primaries? False equivalence. I don’t see anything wrong in rewarding long term party loyalists.
JPL
@Baud: That’s good news for Justin Trudeau.
Happy Holidays!
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@BillinGlendaleCA: They’re pulling the fucking hair out!
I watch once in a blue moon – after some big event like the bin Laden raid or Bridgegate and it’s priceless today.
Mika nearly cried. They’re all in SHOCK that Trump is a ……. wait for it….. a racist. Even Halperin. And then ditzy Nicole Wallace said just because Trump won making racist appeals doesn’t mean the base is racist. MIka is now seriously saying Trump’s meltdown must be do to poor cardio conditioning and his advanced age (turns 70 next week). And now everyone is calling on McConnell and Ryan to withdraw their endorsements.
Gawd, this is just so juicy.
Oh, if only Hunter S. Thompson was alive to write Fear and Loathing.
Amaranthine RBG
Yes Bernie is a deluded and dishonest scold. Elizabeth Warren is, well, St. Elizabeth.
The disassociation from reality hereabouts is approaching Trumpian levels.
PurpleGirl
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: Did you see my comment @8? It should be possible to find the dates for Ramadan on a star chart (probably have the word wrong that I’m looking for). But as my colleague told me the religious leaders like to able to fudge the dates and keep to the old rules about sighting the moon.
Amaranthine RBG
@amk: You wouldn’t.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@Baud: all of them, katie
MattF
@PurpleGirl: Yeah. I once did a calculation of rising and setting times of various heavenly bodies at various locations and it was full of fudge factors.
OzarkHillbilly
I am probably the only person in the world who isn’t upset that the people who have put heart and soul into the Dem party have more say than a schlub like me who votes in the elections, sends a few bucks out, and every now and again volunteers.
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: Well, I guess I’m the second only one, because it makes sense to me too.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: Fair debate. But that’s not why people are angry at Sanders.
BillinGlendaleCA
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: I can usually only take about 15 minutes of Morning Joe, I’m still watching.
Amir Khalid
Thank you all for the kind wishes. Technically, even the merest sip of water would break a Ramadhan fast, so if you’re drinking that you are not fasting that day. As for Muslims living in the Arctic Circle, or aboard the International Space Station, or wherever the typical daily cycle doesn’t apply, there is a work-around: if you’re a visitor to someplace like Iceland, you could follow the prayer times and so on that apply in Saudi Arabia, or wherever it is you’re from.
Also, you can postpone fasting days to a more opportune time of year. Or if you’re unfit to fast for health reasons you can pay a penalty in cash, or in kind: a month’s supply (for one person) of the local staple grain.
debbie
@satby:
How wonderful it is that they get along! Wish their elders could see that.
satby
@Amir Khalid: I remember last year your health didn’t permit fasting and how disappointed you were, I hope this year you’re better and able to fulfill the fast? Best wishes to you Amir.
PurpleGirl
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Yup, we surely do need a gonzo journalist like Hunter.
So 70 is an advanced age????
When ever I see or hear the name Nicole Wallace I giggled. There was a character in several Law & Order, Criminal Intent that was named Nicole Wallace. A thoughly bad person.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: At least I won’t have to refill my bird baths today. We have an awful contingency plan for the chickens in the event of a truly threatening storm that we weather at home (i.e., a Cat 1 hurricane): turn them loose in one of the bathrooms. God, I hope it never comes to that. The mess would be appalling!
debbie
@BillinGlendaleCA:
When you’ve lost Newt…
OzarkHillbilly
@Amaranthine RBG: And you are arguing with strawmen not with what people here are actually saying.
satby
@debbie: Well, as Amir told us early on, the Sunni-Shia split is kind of a Mideast Gulf thing; Valentina wasn’t even aware that she would be considered Sunni.
Betty Cracker
@satby: Have you said where the girls are from? If you’d rather not, that’s totally cool, of course; I’m just curious. I think it’s wonderful that you’ve hosted them and hope y’all stay in touch going forward. Sounds like it has been a great experience for all of you.
satby
@debbie: but it’s true that it would be great if everyone could get along without worrying about how we pray or don’t pray, which I wholeheartedly agree with.
Baud
@Betty Cracker: I doubt the chickens would care for it either. Stay safe.
Amir Khalid
I should also mention: in the Islamic calendar, the year is defined not as a solar year, roughly 365 1/4 days, but as 12 lunar months, which is about 354 days. That’s why Ramadhan starts 11 days earlier every Gregorian year.
satby
@Betty Cracker: Valentina is from Indonesia, Java to be specific. Qunoot is from Bahrain. I probably mentioned it early on but not for several months.
Yes, I am sure we’ll keep in touch, I continue to hear regularly from many of my former exchange sons and daughters via FB, it’s the main reason I stay on FB.
Though Qunoot tells me I need to join Snapchat. Sigh…
satby
@Baud: Seconded Ms Cracker! Keep your heads down!
Baud
@satby:
Heh. Sometimes there are advantages to being a sociopath.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: I know, but I am tired of arguing about superdelegates. It is the Democratic Party. They are supposed to be able to pick their nominee by whatever process they choose. If they want to do it in smoke filled back rooms, they can do so. To say it is not a Democratic process is to invite the “So what?” response. It is all much ado about nothing anyway. When have superdelegates denied the popular vote? Never.
The fact that Bernie has argued that this time they should, says this is not about the process anyway. It’s about Bernie.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: I remember reading about a chicken rescue during Hurricane Sandy. Someone had left a couple of chickens in a hutch, thinking they’d be safe there, but the storm caused flooding that threatened to swamp the hutch. A kind neighbor waded out into the storm, rescued the chickens and allowed them to roam in his or her apartment. The neighbor even sent pictures of the chickens to the owner, who had left town. I hope the chicken owners were grateful enough to clean up all the poop!
amk
@Amaranthine RBG: Yes, I don’t. Of course, I wouldn’t expect bs bots to know anything about party building.
satby
@Baud: She’s adorable, but she must have taken a hundred selfies yesterday. So people could all admire her perfect eyebrows. Serious eyebrow fixation thing going on.
16 is such a nuts age.
satby
@Betty Cracker: THAT is a great neighbor!
Ultraviolet Thunder
Fasting. Maybe that explains why a big hen turkey was grazing 100 yards from my house this morning, across the street from the Middle Eastern market. They say they’re very smart creatures and ordinarily shy of humans. She didn’t seem bothered by rush hour traffic on a main road. But the sun was up so she wasn’t going to get eaten.
OzarkHillbilly
@Amir Khalid: I had always wondered about that. It was the only explanation that made sense to me. Thanx.
Baud
@Betty Cracker: That’s great. I read a book about Katrina, and let’s just say there were parts dealing with animals left behind who were not so fortunate.
I wish books and shows came with trigger warnings about that sort of thing so I could avoid them.
debbie
@Betty Cracker:
A high school friend who lives in Kentucky has done that with her chickens. This year, she expanded her business and hostessed 70 chicks in her living room until the weather was more temperate. Watching them hop around on her prized rugs was quite a sight.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: I have facebook, but only to see what the kid’s up to. I ain’t no twit, and don’t know this smapchat or intergam is.
Iowa Old Lady
I joined facebook to see how my ex-students were doing, but I use it a lot. I’m too wordy for twitter.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Joe just compared Trump to Hitler, wondering if this is what Germany was like in 1933.
U built that Joe
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
@OzarkHillbilly:
I’ve reached the conclusion that a big part of what’s wrong with Bernie is his ideology – it is rooted in permanent agitation, and has nothing to do with nuts and bolts governing.
At the end of the day, he’s an ideologue, and it renders him perhaps even less temperamentally suited to the office than Donald Trump. He perceives himself as a verbal Strelnikov while having even less ability to control his supporters than Maximilian Robespierre.
Iowa Old Lady
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Holy crap.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA: I’ve heard of a few of these, but I don’t know the pluses and minuses of each one. I follow breaking news on Twitter sometimes, but that’s about it.
Ben Cisco
@WaterGirl: Yes, the whole family got together as my brother came in from the road while I was there. Dad’s doing mostly OK, has some health issues that are being looked into, but Mom says he was better while I was there than he had been in a while. As for me, I think going home was the one thing left to do in order to hit the reset button.
PurpleGirl
@Iowa Old Lady: I joined FaceBook only to be able to chat on the kitten cams with other watchers.
Reggie Mantle
@Baud:
http://icelandreview.com/news/2011/08/16/al-jazeera-shoots-documentary-icelandic-muslims
gene108
@Baud:
The lack of food I think I could manage. The not drinking any fluids is what I find insufferable. I have no idea how you can go from sunrise to sunset without a sip of water, at least.
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
Oh, one more thing – I don’t think Sanders faces primary opposition as an independent. Perhaps a portion of his asshole behavior is related to him never having to compete in one.
In short, he can’t be primaried, as some have wished. Perhaps Howard Dean can send a message to purity progressives by reigniting the 50 state rule and making a Senate run himself. Let The Bern face a “Dean Scream”.
Iowa Old Lady
@PurpleGirl: Funny videos are another good reason to use facebook. I posted one yesterday that showed a family of bears invading a backyard pool.
FB is acting up on me today though. I think I’ll ignore it and see if it fixes itself.
PurpleGirl
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class: Strelnikov. Wow, a Dr. Zhivago reference.
Baud
@gene108: Agree. I didn’t realize until today that you couldn’t drink water during the fast.
@Iowa Old Lady: That’s my approach to all of life’s problems.
Betty Cracker
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class:
No. Just, no.
OzarkHillbilly
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Not me. I figure it’s better if I don’t know what they are up to.
SiubhanDuinne
@PurpleGirl:
Ephemeris.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: I noticed the kid’s Facebook post of her camping trip with her bf had something about instagram on it, and I know it was on my phone but I disabled it. I think I’m going to head out to the beach and West LA to take some pics later this week. Today and Tuesday(election day) are out.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it now, Bernie is stuck in 1968. I don’t know how he’ll take it if he finds out the Beatles broke up.
Reggie Mantle
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
More Googling reveals that there’s some argument about it (of course):
http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2013/06/economist-explains-6
Fascinating.
BillinGlendaleCA
@OzarkHillbilly: I do it so her mom knows why she hasn’t called her back.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA: I think Instagram is more photo oriented in some way.
PurpleGirl
@SiubhanDuinne: Yes, that’s it. (A little red-faced because my minor in college was Physics/Astronomy and I learned how to use one.)
OzarkHillbilly
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class:
Maybe, but being a Democratic Socialist pretty much meant that’s all he was ever going to have in Congress (remember, he did quite well at the governing thing as mayor of Burlington). My own take is still that he got into this to influence the discussion with out ever imagining he’d have a realistic chance at winning. And then one day he did have a chance at winning, but the moment slipped away and he doesn’t want to let go of it. Been reading to many of his own clippings, living in the worshipful Bernie bubble, feeling the Bern for too long… Whatever the reason is, he doesn’t want to lose that feeling.
I can empathize. We have all been guilty of lying to ourselves in an attempt to hang on to a dying dream. That doesn’t justify some of his latest actions, but I understand.
Ferd of the Nort
FYI
The mosque in Inuvik work with Ramadan based on the sunrise and sunset in Mecca, transferred over to the local (Mountain) time zone.
Simplest and safest practice.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: I said last night that it was that damn bird that flew onto his podium. That was the inflection point of his campaign.
satby
@BillinGlendaleCA: I have three out of the four, and can’t really bother to keep up with any of them. I have a hard time keeping up with reading this blog and it’s my primary online indulgence.
This and Publisher’s Clearing House. Imma gonna win that sucka.
Comment interrupted by random tablet reboot.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Once after a very long mapping trip in a surprisingly stupendous cave, I awoke to a chipping sparrow plucking hairs out of the top of my head. I didn’t think that meant this particular cave was going to be the next Lechuguilla. I just figured my curly hair was particularly suitable nesting material.
Maybe if the bird had left a suitable deposit on his speech notes, Bernie would not have mistaken it as a sign from the gods.
MomSense
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Instagram is photos with descriptions. It’s really cool because you can filter it in such a way that you only see the things you like. I have a lovely feed of dogs, kittehs, nature photography, farms, and fiber artists and makers.
D58826
This has to rank up in the top 10 of totally lacking in self-awareness. According to a Money article Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan, is telling the American people they are being manipulated by the terrible news media (FAUX and MSNBC specifically) and those rascally politicians running for president. So glad he shared his wisdom with us.
MomSense
Woah, FLOTUS is not messing around. Check out #StateOfWomen and theunitedstateofwomen.org
The video she tweeted is really good.
rikyrah
@Amir Khalid:
Happy Ramadan
bemused
I don’t buy lottery tickets but can’t resist sending in my PCH entries even though that’s a long shot too. An occasional stamp is much cheaper than a buying a handful of lottery tickets each week. And I really don’t get people who buy pull tabs at a bar. I’ve seen piles of non-winning pull tabs sitting in front people who have ripped them open in seconds and then buy a bunch more.
Once I got a PCH letter that I had won a minor amount (just enough to declare, iirc) but it asked for my SS number. I was highly suspicious of that request and couldn’t determine if was legit or not. A relative who worked for UPS said address (to return form to) looked legit PCH but I just didn’t trust it.
Since them I have wondered exactly how PCH does contact bit winners and how do the winners know it’s the real deal.
OzarkHillbilly
@bemused: If somebody asks you for your SS#, chances are it’s a scam.
The Thin Black Duke
@Baud: My preciousssss…
NotMax
@Ferd of the Nort
IIRC there are even rules covering orbiting astronauts, who experience multiple sunrises and sunsets over 24 hours.
MomSense
@Amir Khalid:
I hope you are feeling much better and can observe Ramadan as you are able.
NotMax
So, finally got around to watching something starring Shmendrick Bandersnatch, To the Ends of the Earth. He was more than okay but I fail to see what all the fuss over him is about.
(Might have seen something previously in which he appeared but if so it left no lasting impression.)
Cat48
@Amaranthine RBG:
That’s great, so now everyone will hate Superdelegates suddenly. I feel sorry for Hillary, the first female to clinch a party nomination and doubt is deliberately caste. “It’s rigged with Superdelegates.” I don’t think a man would be treated this way. The Convention should be hers to plan, not to be shared with Bernie & Cornell West. So typical of the way women are treated. Sigh
bemused
@OzarkHillbilly:
Just so. Didn’t do it though letter came with envelope to return form via pre-paid UPS.
Still wondering how the mega winners are informed but guessing the number of commenters here who have had that experience are zero.
Chris
@Betty Cracker:
I watched an Iranian comedy years ago about an escaped convict who’s mistaken for a mullah and accidentally ends up having to play the role. He ends up overwhelmed with anal questions from the local Koran nerds, like “but what if you’re in space? How do you know which direction to pray in anymore when you don’t have a compass? And isn’t ritually washing before prayer harder in zero gravity?”
hedgehog mobile
Blessed Ramadan, Amir.
satby
@NotMax: I just watched the first episode the other night. He’s pretty young in it. I enjoy him as Sherlock, he was made for that role.
Chris
@Betty Cracker:
Indeed.
satby
@bemused: I won $10.00 once, they just mailed me a check. If you win over $10k they show up with it, it says so in the fine print. Someday… (jk)
rikyrah
June 06, 2016 8:30 AM
Muhammed Ali: “I Am America”
By Nancy LeTourneau
Many have noted that, on the occasion of Muhammed Ali’s death on Saturday, the statement released by Barack and Michelle Obama doesn’t read like a press release from the White House – but was probably written by the President himself. This is the line that made all of the headlines: “Muhammad Ali shook up the world. And the world is better for it. We are all better for it.” But there was another part that grabbed my attention. It goes directly to Ali’s impact as a Black man in America.
“I am America,” he once declared. “I am the part you won’t recognize. But get used to me – black, confident, cocky; my name, not yours; my religion, not yours; my goals, my own. Get used to me.”
That’s the Ali I came to know as I came of age – not just as skilled a poet on the mic as he was a fighter in the ring, but a man who fought for what was right. A man who fought for us. He stood with King and Mandela; stood up when it was hard; spoke out when others wouldn’t. His fight outside the ring would cost him his title and his public standing. It would earn him enemies on the left and the right, make him reviled, and nearly send him to jail. But Ali stood his ground. And his victory helped us get used to the America we recognize today.
………………………..
That’s why I found the quote chosen by President Obama to be so powerful. Rather than an attempt to transcend race, Muhammad Ali demanded to be recognized for who he was.
The confident (cocky) Black man has always been the biggest threat to racism. No one exemplified that more than Muhammed Ali. He seriously threatened most white people with statements like the one Obama quoted (I know, I was living in the South at the time). That is the Ali this President said he came to know as he came of age.
RedDirtGirl
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class: Does anyone know why Bernie didn’t vote on the emergency funding for fighting the Zika virus?
D58826
@Amaranthine RBG: And read what Warren says in addition to her displeasure with super delegates
I would take ‘I don’t think that superdelegates ought to sway the election’ to mean they should respect the wishes of the voters, in this case Hillary.
Gin & Tonic
@bemused: State lotteries: a tax on people who are bad at math.
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
@Betty Cracker:
The functional difference between The Bern(pbuh) and Der Drumpf is that Donnie is dumb but like any good con man knows how to pander to get whatever he wants. At the end of the day, he knows he’s not going to do much of what he said. Bernie is too fucking stupid to realize he can’t accomplish his stated goal.
What is the difference between “building a wall that the Mexicans are going to pay for” and “free college and healthcare for all, and the millyunayuhs and billyonayuhs are going to pay for it, and it won’t disrupt anything”?
The difference is that Trump knows his wont happen. Bernie isn’t that self-aware.
OzarkHillbilly
@rikyrah:
Bears repeating.
D58826
@Chris: I agree but in a different way. His temperament is nothing like ‘old little hands’ but as an outsider most of his political life he may have a hard time playing the inside game that politics/governing requires. To govern requires compromise and I’m not sure that Bernie is willing or able to compromise his participles in such a public way. Still a much better choice than Trump
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
@RedDirtGirl:
Heightening contradictions, probably. Or maybe some protest over pharma subsidies.
Whatever reason he had, I’m sure it was was chock full of stupid.
bemused
@satby:
That’s what I would expect a legit process to look like. It was quite awhile ago but I think my supposed “win” was something like $3,000 but it didn’t pass my smell test. Now there is more information available about PCH scams and the actual PCH winner contact process.
schrodinger's cat
Bernie and Trump are differently awful. Trump’s rhetoric is beyond the pale, Bernie says the right things and has no earthly idea how to get those ideas implemented. What I find troubling about Bernie is his behavior at the first whiff of power. The holier-than-thou attitude of how he is better than everyone. He is not yet the nominee and he already wants a purity purge out of personal animosity (Barney Franks, Malloy and DWS). Very Stalinist.
Original Lee
@Baud: The main reason I want to keep superdelegates is Drumpf. If the GOP had superdelegates, we probably wouldn’t be looking at Drumpf as the nominee of the opposition party.
Reggie Mantle
@Gin & Tonic:
Well, if you’re going to tax something, tax something there’s a lot of.
PurpleGirl
@RedDirtGirl: Do we know if Sanders was in DC the day the vote was taken. According to some stats I found several days ago, Sanders hasn’t been present for roll call vote 6.8% of the time vs the average 1.6% for other Congresscritters.
schrodinger's cat
Bernie and Trump are differently awful. Trump’s rhetoric is beyond the pale, Bernie says the right things and has no earthly idea how to get those ideas implemented. What I find troubling about Bernie is his behavior at the first whiff of power. The holier-than-thou attitude of how he is better than everyone. He is not yet the nominee and he already wants a purity purge out of personal animosity (Barney Franks, Malloy and DWS). Very Stalinist. His quest for ideological purity which in practical terms mean unquestioning Bernie worship is troubling to say the least.
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
@Original Lee:
This.
Betty Cracker
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class:
One proposal is racist AF, and the other, while unrealistic, isn’t evil. That’s a distinction worth noting, IMO.
Reggie Mantle
@schrodinger’s cat:
Considering the people here who say “I don’t want your fucking vote if you don’t wholeheartedly support” the Queen, this is pretty risible.
burnspbesq
Heh. The Law of Unintended Consequences in action.
https://www.lawfareblog.com/three-years-later-how-snowden-helped-us-intelligence-community
burnspbesq
@Reggie Mantle:
You, sir, are risible.
gvg
@Schlemazel Khan:
Don’t forget that if Trump is not actually running, that something more will have happened and it will also damage the GOP in some way. Then the selection process will be unavoidably cancelling the voters will so it will seem illegitimate to many, even some who don’t like Trump. It will be starting from a disaster. The GOP doesn’t have superdelegates so chances are they would have to make something up to do it. Voters will be surprised.
The Democrats at least have a system to override if nessesary explicitly stated and reminded us every election. Thus I and most Dem voters have thought about when they “should” be used…death before election or major scandal/indictment that is confirmed as real and probably true are my opinions. Not an affair. something like sabotaging peace talks or selling arms to banned countries or serious hidden mental health issues.
schrodinger's cat
@Betty Cracker: Don’t you find Bernie’s penchant for purity purges scary? He is not even the nominee yet of the party he recently joined and he wants to get rid of people for petty personal reasons.
OzarkHillbilly
@PurpleGirl: He is running for President. Or at least that’s what he says.
jeffreyw
I saw that John posted a video clip of cicadas yesterday to document the noise. We had a swarm emerge last year here in Southern Illinois and I did the same thing for much the same reason.
Ad a short post I did over at W4Dinner.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@bemused:
Dunno if it’s before or after the balloons and cameras, but there’s a lot of paperwork starting with an affidavit that you meet a list of eligibility requirements. No one in the family working for certain companies, etc.
D58826
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class: I would disagree with the word stupid. I think Bernie is an ideologue and I don’t mean that in a negative way. He just looks at the word in terms of black and white, no shades of grey. So its a $15 minimum wage and anything less is a sell-out, even if the votes are not there to pass a $15 minimum. Or that the negative economic impact of a $15 outweighing the benefits. In a nut shell – his way or the highway.
A Ghost To Most
@Reggie Mantle:
As fascinating as a debate about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, and just as “silly”.
OzarkHillbilly
@gvg:
They do but they are more constrained by party rules.
gvg
@Reggie Mantle:
You don’t understand our Hillary support at all. Calling her a queen to us is nonsense. Most of us supported Obama last cycle and were pretty anti Hillary then. We are focused on winning the general election because the GOP keeps nominating more serious nutbars each cycle. Bernie is attacking our party and that makes us mad. Not Hillary only, but our party which is what we use to keep the ravening wolves at bay. The party is useful too us so we need it. We cannot risk Trump winning just like McCain and Romney also scarred us but it’s getting worse……so we also will need to fight again for at least several more cycles. The party isn’t perfect but it’s pretty good and as I said useful. When it’s not a high stakes preelection cycle we talk quite a bit about whats wrong especially locally and what we can do about it, then try to do some of the ideas. Bernies specific attacks are a problem.
Your own rudeness doesn’t help and you are getting much more pushback than some other Bernie supporters. For instance you are insulting us with your mistake about our Hillary support.
Sanders started with a specific handicap to beating Hillary which is that he was previously not a Democrat and was obviously using our party. About a 1/3 of us were always skeptical of him because of it. Now he is attacking it and confirming some original doubts plus worrying many who were originally pro Bernie. If you had really been a lurker, you would know that he had more support in the beginning including Cole. Bernie’s attacks on our party feel like he is attacking us not just Hillary so naturally we are pretty mad at him.
Why is it so hard to understand that he is losing because more people voted for someone else? In the past not many years ago, he wouldn’t have gotten this much support, you can’t expect things to change instantly.
Humdog
@gvg: thanks for this comment. You speak for me too here.
Betty Cracker
@schrodinger’s cat: I actually do think that is petty and unfortunate. But it’s not in the same league as Trump — not even the same solar system, IMO.
schrodinger's cat
@Betty Cracker: Trump is dreadful, but Bernie’s tendencies towards persecution mania are not pretty either.
Miss Bianca
@Amir Khalid: Blessed Ramadan to you! Fascinating – I had no idea you could pay a grain penalty if you were unable to fast for some reason. To whom is the penalty paid – the local mosque?
@Humdog: @gvg: hear, hear.
Mnemosyne
@Reggie Mantle:
And we’re supposed to take someone named after an Archie comics character seriously, why, again?
Oh, right, because you worked craft services for “The Wire.”
Miss Bianca
@Mnemosyne: See, it’s you pointing out the “Archie” connection that makes me very, very suspicious. Here I thought that nym was a conflation of Reggie Jackson and Mickey Mantle – I completely forgot about the Archie rich/bad boy character!