Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

Rupert, come get your orange boy, you petrified old dinosaur turd.

Celebrate the fucking wins.

American history and black history cannot be separated.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Hey hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today?

We still have time to mess this up!

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

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

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Because of wow. / Open Thread: Mirror Images (But Trump’s Is A Funhouse Mirror)

Open Thread: Mirror Images (But Trump’s Is A Funhouse Mirror)

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What’s on the agenda as we gird for another week?

Reader Interactions

343Comments

  1. 1.

    redshirt

    I am 92% confident Clinton wins the Presidency.
    I am 60% confident Democrats retake the Senate
    I am 15% confident Democrats retake the House.

    Any bettors?

  4. 4.

    Baud

    Michelle Obama fav 56/39

    Anyone wondering why polls are so close, look at these numbers for Michelle Obama, who only the 27% could not like.

  6. 6.

    JPL

    @redshirt: Who is the first Republican Senator to say they are not voting for Trump? Jeff Flake is my guess
    Who is the first Republican Senator to say they are going to vote for Clinton. Susan Collins is my guess

  7. 7.

    Howard Beale IV

    Read this and enjoy. Here’s a taste:

    Donald Trump was once threatened with castration after courting the wrong woman — the daughter of a reputed New Jersey mobster, according to a new book.

    Trump, while still married to his first wife Ivana, shamelessly tried to seduce the 30-something daughter of Robert Libutti, a high-rolling horse dealer with ties to infamous Gambino boss John Gotti, the book alleges.

    When Libutti got wind that Trump was trying to bed his daughter, the Garden State gambler confronted the real estate mogul and issued the most frightening of threats.

    “Donald, I’ll f—–g pull your balls from your legs,” Libutti told him, according to the new book by journalist David Cay Johnston, “The Making of Donald Trump.”

  9. 9.

    Iowa Old Lady

    No bets.

    We just got back from a weekend at my brother’s house on a lake in Brainerd MN. While there, I heard no news, but the car radio suggests Trump was stupid enough to get into a sacrifice competition with the parents of the Muslim soldier killed in Iraq. It stuns me that anyone says they’ll vote for him.

  11. 11.

    NorthLeft12

    Hillary and the Dems in general get a bump from an outstanding convention………ya think?

    Most of the speakers, and not just the high profile ones, really hit the mark in defining the obvious differences between the parties. And I not only mean the two Presidential candidates, but also the platforms and their overall view of the US and the world.

    Well done.

  12. 12.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Howard Beale IV:journalist David Cay Johnston, “The Making of Donald Trump.”

    that oughta be fun
    ETA: Can you imagine if Tweety gets hold of that story, trying to tell it without saying “balls” for half an hour?
    ETA, A: I can’t believe this just occurred to me, Tweety is the Harry Carry of pundits

    and that cartoon is very well done, oughta earn some kind of prize.

  13. 13.

    redshirt

    @JPL: Collins may vote for Clinton but she’ll never come out and say it. She’ll play the “waiting to endorse” card until close to the election, hoping people will stop asking.

    She’s got a great niche for herself as one of the few remaining “moderate” Republicans and she’d be foolish to throw it away by saying she’s voting for Clinton.

  15. 15.

    germy

    TV is on in this room. Noisiest fucking golf game I’ve ever heard. Sounds like a hockey game. Crowd screaming themselves hoarse every time someone swings a club.

    Last week, the charger to my macbook stopped working; stopped charging up the battery. I took the long journey to the app1e store (which I didn’t recognize; doesn’t even have a sign in front of it anymore) the tech guy took one look at the cord and asked me if I had a pet. “A cat,” I replied. The guy showed me the bite marks where the charger had been mangled right down to the wire. $85 for a new charger.

    The app1e store made me feel like an old man. First time I ever went in there (years ago) I bought a real computer. Then about seven years ago I returned, and it was all laptops. Last week, the place was filled with tiny little devices. All the big computers are gone, of course, and I didn’t see any laptops.

    I told the guy next time I go in there, they’ll probably have tiny chips on display. That’ll be the state of the art hardware.

  21. 21.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @redshirt: Is Collins up this cycle, or next? Either way I doubt she wants to stir up shit in a state with a GOP that can elect LePage, twice.

    Speaking of Maine, has Angus King endorsed HRC?

    I think Colin Powell and Dick Lugar will endorse Clinton. I don’t see any elected R at the national level doing it, maybe a governor or two. Martinez? Somebody too old for national ambition?
    ETA: Has Powell declared as an indie, given the “my party left me” speech?

  22. 22.

    Hungry Joe

    @redshirt: This sounds about right. Still, we’ve had our fainting couch re-upholstered and currently have nine dozen vials of smelling salts on order. And we’ve stocked up on brandy — purely for medicinal purposes.

  23. 23.

    Adam L Silverman

    @MikeS: It happens occasionally. What’s surprising is that it doesn’t happen more often. And to be honest, this isn’t really a Fox news issue. Even states that don’t have stand your ground usually have a castle doctrine allowing one to use deadly force, if necessary, and not have to retreat when inside one’s own home/domicile/business. 70 year old thinking someone is breaking in wouldn’t certainly count under just the castle doctrine statutes.

  30. 30.

    Schlemazel

    @JPL:
    I’d guess McCain, he is getting killed tied to Drumpf and has every reason to say the man is scum. Between 1998 & 1008 I lost all respect for the man but when he was silent after the orange baboon said what he did about him I found a new level of disrespect even lower.

  31. 31.

    germy

    Okay, I’m not sure if this is appropriate or not. Tough Guy Trump. His exact words, just a bit more catty. (the voice reminds me of the honey badger narrator)

  32. 32.

    Howard Beale IV

    Watch one/all of Trump’s surrogates run with this smearjob:

    What The Media Is Not Telling You About The Muslim Who Attacked Donald Trump: He Is A Muslim Brotherhood Agent Who Wants To Advance Sharia Law And Bring Muslims Into The United States

    Too bad donotlink isn’t around anymore.

  33. 33.

    ThresherK

    @redshirt: Isn’t she the bi(partisan)-curious version of Invisible Boy: Moderate-seeming until her vote would make a difference?

  35. 35.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Schlemazel: I think if McCain pissed off the tea-baggers and trumpsters, he’d put his seat at risk, and he would hate to lose a platform to mong war from

  37. 37.

    Amir Khalid

    @Adam L Silverman:
    Senator Ben Sasse really, really needs to change how he pronounces his name. Like, from “Ben’s ass” to “Ben Sassé“. This would prevent a lot of mockery.

  38. 38.

    redshirt

    @ThresherK: Yep. She never makes a difference. But she gets courted like crazy and has maintained the “moderate” label even during this Congress. Which is impressive, I guess. Like I said, she’s got a great niche.

  40. 40.

    Adam L Silverman

    @JPL: I have no idea. I think a lot of this is tribal now. And the more Trump does crazy stuff, like he has the past three days picking a needless fight he can’t win with the Khans, the stress will build. And one thing I know for a certainty is that when people are under stress they emphasize their primary associations as a security response.

  43. 43.

    different-church-lady

    a) Just when you think there’s nothing new in editorial cartooning!

    b) Never thought of it before I saw that cartoon, but the white pantsuit makes her Luke Skywalker to Trump’s Darth Vader.

  44. 44.

    PsiFighter37

    I will take 50-45.

    Speaking of which: what are the most likely states from 2012 to flip and why?

    For Trump, I think Iowa is at the top of the list. For Hillary, I would go with NC or AZ (and I think MO is a distinct possibility as well).

  48. 48.

    PsiFighter37

    Also, it seems like the MSM is starting to whack Trump pretty hard…it will soon get to the point where the pressure reaches a boiling point. The only way for him to change the subject is to say something even more outrageous.

  49. 49.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Schlemazel: if I were Ann Kirkpatrick I’d be hammering McCain on Trump non-stop, and maybe she is, and maybe she has polling that says that won’t work, but I hope it’s happening ’cause Trump isn’t the only pathologically delusional and narcissistic asshole with the skin thinner than a potato’s in our politics right now

  50. 50.

    Schlemazel

    some clown named “Jimmy Walker” just won some golf event . . . .DY-No-MIGHT

    meh

  51. 51.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Schlemazel: I saw that name trending on twitter and I thought Kid Dy-No-Mite had maybe died, or was “dating” Ann Coulter again

  54. 54.

    Adam L Silverman

    @JPL: There was another one in GA where the chief of police of a tiny town wound up getting shot by deputies from the county that got the address wrong on a warrant for an arrest. He’d come off a long shift, was racked out in the back bedroom, they knocked, got no answer, took the door down, which woke him up with a start. He thought he was in the middle of a home invasion, grabbed his service pistol and shot the first guy through the bedroom door. The deputies, of course, started shooting back.
    http://www.ammoland.com/2015/01/swatting-gets-police-chief-shot-no-charges-for-homeowner/

  55. 55.

    Schlemazel

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:
    Great point he is a tad prickly so she should go for it!

    @PsiFighter37:
    Even the liberal NBC went after him tonight. Didn’t call him a liar but did show a half dozen lies with proof he was not honest & then said something about how this was going to be a problem for cheeto jesus.

    The gish gallop may kill him yet

  57. 57.

    rikyrah

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    While there, I heard no news, but the car radio suggests Trump was stupid enough to get into a sacrifice competition with the parents of the Muslim soldier killed in Iraq.

    that about explains it.

  58. 58.

    Ruckus

    @germy:
    The apple store 2 blocks from my house has computers with 27 in screens and very powerful desktops, on display and working. Yes most of the store is phones/tablets/watches/laptops but desktops are there. They are not big boxes anymore and not on the tables in the middle of the store but they are there. I’m typing this on a large screen desktop right now.

  59. 59.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Schlemazel: One of his granddaughters from his first marriage came out, denounced Trump for what he said about her grandfather, and endorsed HRC this past week.

  61. 61.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Howard Beale IV: Is that the Walid or his even more wacked out kid? Amazing that only in the US can one make millions falsely claiming to have been a Fatah terrorist.

  62. 62.

    rikyrah

    @PsiFighter37:

    For Trump, I think Iowa is at the top of the list. For Hillary, I would go with NC or AZ (and I think MO is a distinct possibility as well).

    I don’t believe he wins Iowa.

    With the win in the courts this week, I’m feeling good about NC.

    Arizona too.

    Missouri? eh.

  63. 63.

    JPL

    @Adam L Silverman: I think Trump leaked the photos of his wife to the New York Post, in order to deflect the attention from the Khan’s. If they let him tweet, he’d be saying how beautiful his wife is.

  65. 65.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Amir Khalid: Why do you think Speaker Boehner pronounces his name “Baynor”, when based on spelling it should be pronounced “Boner”?

  68. 68.

    Baud

    @PsiFighter37: Someone here said there was a Bernie elector in MO who was not going to vote for Hillary if she won the state. But if she wins MO, it’s a blowout anyway.

  69. 69.

    germy

    @Ruckus: Do they still have the APPLE sign on the store? The store I visited was so minimal as to be almost invisible.

  70. 70.

    lgerard

    Has anyone noticed how trump has been using the third person reference more frequently?

    That is a sign of an impending mental health episode

    And how much longer are the media going to let him use the “we’ll have to look into that” response to every question that requires some actual knowledge beyond whatever his feelings are at the moment?

  71. 71.

    Amir Khalid

    @Adam L Silverman:
    Y’know, I think Böhner’s family should have changed the spelling too. Without the spelling change, people still can (and do) make just that joke.

  72. 72.

    germy

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I always suspected Ann Coulter thought of herself as the Hunter Thompson of the right (minus the substance abuse and wit) and this was her excuse for saying and writing outrageous shit. But her act is getting colder and colder.

  74. 74.

    Brachiator

    @redshirt:

    Any bettors?

    No. I think Clinton will win, and certainly hope that she does, but trying to pretend that you can accurately assess the chance of Democratic success so early in the campaign is kinda pointless.”

  78. 78.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    The one that gets me is “so skirty”. “Now Senner, we know that the toughest topic of them all is so skirty.”

    Here’s Chris Matthews doing a kind of half-effort, more like “so security”, not a full “so skirty”. It’s just so weird though. It’s clearly become a fad, likely someone from the South drawled it out that way and everyone decided it was cool and had to imitate him, and then each other. Similar to how Tom Wolfe described how virtually all pilots eventually started sounding like Chuck Yeager.

  79. 79.

    SFAW

    @redshirt:
    You needed to provide some context, then we non-duffers would have gotten it. (No, not who originally said it, of course — just what triggered it today.)

  81. 81.

    JPL

    @dogwood: The New York Post has a series of pictures of Melania when she was twenty-five, along with a statement from Trump. I’m not sure the MSM mentioned them.

  82. 82.

    debbie

    @JPL:

    I don’t care if they say it; in fact, it’s not fair to expect a Republican member of Congress to say it. So long as they vote it!

  85. 85.

    Adam L Silverman

    @dogwood: They’re real. She did the photo shoot for French magazine Max. Here’s the link to the interview with the photographer:
    http://nypost.com/2016/07/30/meet-the-photographer-who-shot-melania-trump-naked/
    There’s a link there to the article with her pictures.

    ETA: I mean the pics are real. I think her bust is real too based on the pictures, especially given the implant technology of the mid 90s, but I have no way of proving that. Some later photos, though, they appear to be bolt ons based on positioning.

  86. 86.

    dogwood

    @Amir Khalid:
    True. But those name-mocking jokes get pretty old after awhile. One of the things that makes Charles Pierce tedious to read at times is his over-the top name calling that he seems to think is so clever.

  87. 87.

    JPL

    @debbie: Mr. Khan said that he received support from several Republicans, who said that they would not vote for Trump. He said private phone calls are a matter of trust, and wouldn’t name names.

    I think it fair if constituents ask.

  88. 88.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    and that cartoon is very well done, oughta earn some kind of prize.

    I saw it last night and posted it to my Facebook page. It’s had a terrific response, and I think has been shared some non-insignificant number of times. It is very cleverly written/constructed.

  89. 89.

    germy

    @SFAW: Yes, I immediately thought of the two dowagers seeing the mailbox with “Souse” printed on it. Great opening scene from The Bank Dick.

  90. 90.

    rikyrah

    David W. ChenVerified account
    ‏@davidwchen
    Khizr Khan, after son’s death, invited UVA ROTC cadets to dinner annually, and gave each a pocket Constitution

  92. 92.

    Lizzy L

    Ghazala Khan has an Op-Ed response to Trump in the WaPo. It is sad and eloquent. Warning: do NOT read the comments.

  95. 95.

    germy

    @sukabi:

    next time save yourself some money and get one off ebay.

    They don’t explode? I’ve had mixed results buying other stuff from the bay of e.

    And I read somewhere that counterfeit products are showing up more and more on amazon.

  98. 98.

    Ruviana

    @Bill E Pilgrim: Nukular. When I was a kid I asked my parents what the difference between “nuclear” and “nukular” was. They said there was no such thing as “nukular.”

  100. 100.

    Brachiator

    @germy:

    the tech guy took one look at the cord and asked me if I had a pet. “A cat,” I replied. The guy showed me the bite marks where the charger had been mangled right down to the wire. $85 for a new charger.

    A nice bit of accurate diagnosis.

    I told the guy next time I go in there, they’ll probably have tiny chips on display. That’ll be the state of the art hardware.

    Implants.

  102. 102.

    sukabi

    Subliminal good vs evil messaging.

    ETA and yes I think it was a conscious choice on her and her stylists part.

  105. 105.

    Howard Beale IV

    Lawrence Tribe tweet: “Nikita Khruschev’s impressive daughter says Putin hates Hillary and sees Trump as a useful idiot he could manipulate to dominate the U.S.

  106. 106.

    germy

    @Brachiator:

    Implants

    That’s sort of what I imagined. Customers walk into the store and get something injected into their necks. They pay with their wristwatches and then roll away on their floating skateboards.

  107. 107.

    Luthe

    @Adam L Silverman: The Post is a red-top pretending to be a real paper. And it’s in the tank for Donald. I’ve read birdcage liner with more journalistic integrity. (Though the headline writers can be pretty funny)

  108. 108.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @Ruviana:

    Actually I read somewhere that some of the original nuclear scientists pronounced it that way. And I quote:

    Steven Pinker has proposed[22] a phonotactic explanation for the conversion of nuclear to nucular: the unusual and disfavored sequence [kli.ər] is gradually transformed to a more acceptable configuration via metathesis.[citation needed] However, Arnold Zwicky notes that [kli.ər] presents no difficulty for English speakers in words such as pricklier. He also regards the proposition of metathesis as unnecessary. Zwicky suggests a morphological origin, combining the slang nuke with the common sequence -cular (molecular, particular, etc.).[23] Supporting Zwicky’s hypothesis, Geoffrey Nunberg quotes a government weapons specialist: “Oh, I only say ‘nucular’ when I’m talking about nukes.”[24] Nunberg argues that this pronunciation by weapons specialists and by politicians such as Bush – who are aware of the more accepted pronunciation – may be a “deliberate choice”. He suggests that the reasons for this choice are to “assert authority” or to sound folksy.

    We all have our peeves, ain’t that the truth. I apparently have to completely surrender to the fact that “begs the question” now means “raises the question” or “demonstrates the need to answer the question” and what, just discard what it actually meant for century upon century? Apparently so. Now I’m astonished if I ever see it used the traditional way.

  110. 110.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @SFAW: I know, not a correction, just a good natured comment.

    I don’t actually know if WCF knew that, i.e. which way he was implying the name should be pronounced, I imagine the point was not to call him a souse. Was the joke I mean.

  113. 113.

    germy

    @Howard Beale IV:

    Laurence Tribe ‏@tribelaw Jul 30 Cambridge, MA
    Eat your shriveled heart out, Donald! Oh, I forgot: that wouldn’t offer much nourishment:

  114. 114.

    BR

    @lgerard:

    Has anyone noticed how trump has been using the third person reference more frequently?

    That is a sign of an impending mental health episode

    Is that the case? I didn’t know that use of third person is significant in any way.

  116. 116.

    dogwood

    @rikyrah:
    I’ve been surprised that there hasn’t been any outrage from the soldiers in Captain Khan’s unit. Maybe they’re all Trump supporters, but you’d think this crap would piss-off at least a few of them.

  117. 117.

    Howard Beale IV

    From the MarySue (via Hollywood Reporter): Jon Stewart To Bring “Onion-Like” Animated Series To HBO

    No launch date is official as of this posting, but Bloys stated that they’re optimistic for a September or October premiere–coincidentally, just prior to the 2016 presidential election. The addition of Stewart during The Late Show‘s live programming was a welcome one, so launching his new show in time for the height of political coverage would be a really smart move. Either way, we’ll all be happy to have him back.

  118. 118.

    germy

    @Bill E Pilgrim: I remember reading that an editor once called Robert Benchley, trying to find out why an essay he had promised was late. Benchley’s excuse was that he was having the devil’s own time with a cognitive accusative.

    (I have no idea what that means, it just sounded like a great excuse)

  120. 120.

    ThresherK (GPad)

    @SFAW: For you PBS viewers, that also applies to Hyacinth boo-KAY, sometimes called “that Bucket woman!”

  122. 122.

    PsiFighter37

    @rikyrah: I’d like MO, because I’d love to get Roy Blunt dumped at the same time (the Democratic candidate is their SoS, Jason Kander – only 35 years to boot, so a great contrast against the stodgy Blunt). I don’t think Burr will lose, mainly because his opponent is a former state rep who isn’t very well-known. That said, if Clinton and Cooper can win at the top of the ticket, there’s a chance.

  126. 126.

    Mandalay

    Guess who is in a tight re-election campaign….

    New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte said in a statement Sunday that Capt. Humayun Khan made the ultimate sacrifice and was a “true American hero.” Ayotte said his family deserves support, respect and gratitude and has every right to express themselves any way they choose.

    Ayotte she was “appalled that Donald Trump would disparage them” and that the GOP presidential nominee “had the gall to compare his own sacrifices to those of a Gold Star family.”

  128. 128.

    Cat48

    I haven’t been around much this weekend so I have to ask, did you see’Melania’s nude photos in the NYPost & I guess Obama would have had to withdraw from his campaign, if they had naked photos of Michelle. Maybe Trump keeps insulting people so no one will talk about it. She has heels & that’s it.

  129. 129.

    Brachiator

    @germy:

    That’s sort of what I imagined. Customers walk into the store and get something injected into their necks. They pay with their wristwatches and then roll away on their floating skateboards.

    I just hope we will be able to adapt to having backlit eyeballs.

  130. 130.

    MikeS

    @Adam L Silverman: Thanks, so this isn’t unheard of. In this case in NJ, if he had just locked his bedroom door and called 911, they should have been able to tell him that was the police outside and no one would of gotten hurt. Instead he had to try to drive off the intruders by firing through his own closed door! I wish the Gov’t could actually keep statistics on this kind of thing.

  131. 131.

    James E Powell

    @PsiFighter37:

    what are the most likely states from 2012 to flip and why?

    Somebody on one of last night’s threads mentioned NEV as a possible flip from blue to red.

    We are going to hear every week how Trump is ready to flip Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin. We heard it every week during Obama v Romney and I don’t think that the corporate press/media have updated their election cliche guidebooks.

    I don’t see how Trump gets anywhere if he doesn’t get Florida. I expect both Clinton and Trump to be spending a lot of time & money there. It was Obama twice, but close both times. I won’t stop worrying about it until I read the results the day after the election.

    Don’t know if that preacher can get people to the polls, but if he can, I’d like to see NCarolina turn blue again. Every time a Confederate State goes blue, the Baby Jesus smiles.

    I hear talk about AZ going for Clinton, but I can’t believe it.

  132. 132.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @germy: > a cognitive accusative.

    That sounds like an old fashioned 19th century term for “a brain enema”.

  138. 138.

    germy

    @JPL:

    I’m sickened by those photos.

    Me, too. And I think of my father who was a very young man at the time. He didn’t wait to be drafted; enlisted right after Pearl Harbor. Came back home with PTSD (except they didn’t call it that back then) and he never got the help he needed.

  141. 141.

    Brachiator

    @Cat48:

    Maybe Trump keeps insulting people so no one will talk about it. She has heels & that’s it.

    This is a non issue. I feel sorry that she has to drawn into her husband’s mess this way.

    In fact, I extend to Trump the sympathy that he could not honestly give to the wife of the man who spoke so wonderfully about his Muslim son.

    If somehow Trump won, I would not care if Melania and Ivanka did a nude photo shoot in the Oval Office.

  142. 142.

    germy

    @sm*t cl*de: I should have confused the apple store guy and said “No, we have no pets.” And then, after more puzzled questioning from him, admitting that I am very nervous and that I sometimes chew power cords.

  143. 143.

    James E Powell

    @dogwood:

    One of the things that makes Charles Pierce tedious to read at times is his over-the top name calling that he seems to think is so clever.

    With you on this one. I’m a Charles Pierce fan and regular reader, but I want to tell him to stop, please just write.

  144. 144.

    JPL

    @germy: From the NYTimes This was 1941 after the American Bund Rally.. It was a large percentage of the same group though, renamed.

    At least 60 per cent of the persons who attended the anti-war rally sponsored by the America First Committee in Madison Square Garden last Friday night were members of or sympathizers with the German-American Bund, Newbold Morris, President of the City Council, declared last night.

    At this time, the leader of the American Bund movement was in jail because of embezzlement.

  145. 145.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Regarding the message in the cartoon @top: There must be a term for that kind of structure that can be read either direction and have some kind of coherence either way, and in which the sense of one negates or contradicts the other — but I don’t know what that term is.

    However, I have seen a couple of other examples of this structural conceit. There are probably many more floating around out there.

    Today (Chanie Gorkin)

    Today was the absolute worst day ever
    And don’t try to convince me that
    There’s something good in every day
    Because, when you take a closer look,
    This world is a pretty evil place.
    Even if
    Some goodness does shine through once in a while
    Satisfaction and happiness don’t last.
    And it’s not true that
    It’s all in the mind and heart
    Because
    True happiness can be attained
    Only if one’s surroundings are good
    It’s not true that good exists
    I’m sure you can agree that
    The reality
    Creates
    My attitude
    It’s all beyond my control
    And you’ll never in a million years hear me say
    Today was a very good day.

    (Now read the lines from bottom to top.)

     Here’s another.

    Our Generation (posted to Twitter by Derek Nichols, brother of the unnamed 14-year-old author):
     
    Our generation will be known for nothing.
    Never will anybody say,
    We were the peak of mankind.
    That is wrong, the truth is
    Our generation was a failure.
    Thinking that
    We actually succeeded
    Is a waste. And we know
    Living only for money and power
    Is the way to go.
    Being loving, respectful, and kind
    Is a dumb thing to do.
    Forgetting about that time,
    Will not be easy, but we will try.
    Changing our world for the better
    Is something we never did.
    Giving up
    Was how we handled our problems.
    Working hard
    Was a joke.
    We knew that
    People thought we couldn’t come back
    That might be true,
    Unless we turn things around

    (Now read the lines from bottom to top)

  149. 149.

    Bryan

    @Bill E Pilgrim:

    apparently have to completely surrender to the fact that “begs the question” now means “raises the question” or “demonstrates the need to answer the question” and what, just discard what it actually meant for century upon century? Apparently so. Now I’m astonished if I ever see it used the traditional way

    YES! Thank you! Who decided — and why — that when we become incapable of using words/phrases correctly, their incorrect usage becomes correct by default?

  150. 150.

    burnspbesq

    @Luthe:

    I’m old enough to remember when the Post was a liberal afternoon paper (not quite as liberal as the Journal-American, but close), and the Daily News was a neanderthal rag.

  156. 156.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Schlemazel: He’s been consistent about it every time he’s asked all the way through the convention. He told reporters he’d much rather take his kid to see a dumpster fire than attend the RNC this year.

  157. 157.

    James E Powell

    @Bill E Pilgrim:

    and what, just discard what it actually meant for century upon century?

    I imagine that a lot of villains and hussies agree with you.

  159. 159.

    redshirt

    @germy: You would have gotten away with it. Apple power cords, due to their design and materials, are well known for wear and tear simply based on the angle of the cable from the power brick.

    You can wreck your apple power supply just by wrapping it up “improperly.”

    Fucking Apple.

  160. 160.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @scav: Hah. Knowing about “bof” is the mark of real fluency if you ask me.

    I once had a document being reviewed by a bigwig and when it came back I asked a colleague to help me decipher because I was somewhat new at that point and didn’t know what he meant when he answered one of my margin questions by just scrawling “Bof”. The guy I asked just looked at it and laughed.

  162. 162.

    Schlemazel

    @Bryan:
    Thats easy. It happens because people want to appear smart so the use words and terms they really don’t understand because they sound smart.
    I used to work for this guy & kept a list in my desk
    “Thats a mute question”
    “We have to separate the wheat from the shaft”

    He was not the kind of guy you could correct

  163. 163.

    Schlemazel

    @Adam L Silverman:
    GOOD! I wonder what the future holds for him. He might be OK after Drumpf loses because the clowns will pull back or they may blame him & come after him in a primary.

  164. 164.

    Adam L Silverman

    @MikeS: There are two potential issues with your suggestions. 1) if these were actually intruders intent on robbing and/or harming this guy and his wife, retreating further and calling 911 might not have helped them. 2) Given that he was probably dumping adrenaline because he thought he was facing a break in/intruders, under NJ’s castle doctrine he didn’t have a duty to retreat further, even though that might have been prudent, so he resorted to what he figured was legitimate use of force.

    Not saying it was a good idea, but that’s most likely what happened.

  167. 167.

    germy

    @burnspbesq: An interesting cat. He was working some boring job when he wrote a letter to the editor. They printed it. He wrote another letter to the editor, a longer one, and they asked him if he wanted a job.

    Not sure that sort of success story happens anymore.

  168. 168.

    JPL

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Wow.. When I was in grade school, Charles Lindbergh’s flight was mentioned, but his involvement with America First movement was erased from history books.1941

    I’m reading the May 25, 1941 NYTimes and the ads are about buying British goods week. That helped.. lol

  169. 169.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I think Sasse will be the Thune/Rubio of 2020– the dream of Bill Kristol, the WaPo oped board and Andrea Mitchell, a young and principled but not crazy conservative–, but from what little I’ve seen he seems smarter than either one of them. Could be dangerous. Lets hope Ted Cruz is feeling his oats four years from now.

    (and yes, I am already concern-trolling about 2020. Why wait?)

  170. 170.

    ThresherK (GPad)

    @Schlemazel: A number of years ago in a Montreal hostel that show was on the common room TV. A lovely Irish lass (with a infectious laugh) and I were roaring at the show–probably one of the “wouldn’t you rather have a beaker?” scenes–and after five minutes we found ourselves trying to explain to a German fellow why it was funny.

    I am German and Irish, mainly. Fortunate to get the Irish sense of humor.

  172. 172.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    “Thats a mute question”
    “We have to separate the wheat from the shaft”

    Those are brilliant. What was that comedian’s name… Norm Crosby. Yes, I’m dating myself. Yes, that is a straight line. Please proceed, thread.

    Bonus comment: A non-native English speaking friend once asked me what “The dogs say goodnight” meant in the song “What a wonderful world” by Louis Armstrong.

  173. 173.

    MikeS

    @Adam L Silverman: I understand that he didn’t have a duty to retreat, but I’m wondering what the likelihood of a good outcome would have been in this case and then further speculating on the benefit of having/using a gun during a “break in” because we don’t have any public statistics (Thanks Congress and NRA!)

  174. 174.

    germy

    @ThresherK (GPad):

    I am German and Irish, mainly. Fortunate to get the Irish sense of humor.

    I remember an old joke about someone eating at a German/Chinese restaurant. An hour later they were hungry for power.

  178. 178.

    germy

    @Baud: But Huntsman had Obama cooties. Sasse is considered “clean” enough to be attractive to voters with Drumpf fatigue.

  179. 179.

    burnspbesq

    @Bill E Pilgrim:

    One of the great Borscht Belt standup comics. Back in the days when a comic could make as much money in the Catskills as in Vegas.

  180. 180.

    Cat48

    @Brachiator:

    I,agree with you and I have sympathy for Melania only. Let’s be honest about the Oval photos, the press & lots of folks would be upset. I just think Michelle Obama would.have been crucified for it, bc they made up slime & threw it at her continuously.

  181. 181.

    burnspbesq

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Actually, it was the Giants. My maternal grandfather was a huge Giants fan; he took me to see them the first time they came back to play the Mets. Explains my lifelong hatred for both the Yankees and the Dodgers.

    That same grandfather took me to see UCLA play Holy Cross at the Garden when Kareem was a sophomore. It was the last fun time I had with him before he got sick.

  182. 182.

    redshirt

    @Bill E Pilgrim: I had a friend once who’s Mother would mess up any and all cliches or aphorisms. The one that’s stuck with me for decades is her often repeated advice to “burn that bridge when you cross it”.

    I’ve taken it as my life’s advice.

  184. 184.

    Baud

    @germy: Maybe. I stopped trying to figure out how the conservative mind works, much less how it will work four years from now.

  185. 185.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Daniel Dresser ‏@ dandrezner 35m35 minutes ago
    “I have to wash my hair. It’s more complicated than you think.” #TrumpDebateExcuses

  189. 189.

    ThresherK (GPad)

    @germy: Is there a list of jokes one doesn’t have to explain to Germans? I remember at least one study showing, yes, Germans have the least sense of humor of any Euro nationality. I want to say it was 10 years ago.

  190. 190.

    Cat48

    @germy:

    I wish I had Obama cooties :). I watched Michelle & Barack’s speeches again as I couldn’t sleep last night. I wish they weren’t leaving.

  191. 191.

    JPL

    @Cat48: Melania chose her field of work, and I assume she is fine with that. I was offended when a Trump supporter said that Trump needs to win, so Melania can bring some class back to the White House.
    If Trump wins, the only who would care about the photos, would be teen age boys.

  194. 194.

    TriassicSands

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    All the “decent” and “sane” people are appalled by Trump’s behavior.

    It remains to be seen if his behavior has any negative effect on his support. I wouldn’t bet on it. It’s not like “decent” or “sane” describes the Trump supporters.

  195. 195.

    Brachiator

    @Cat48:

    I just think Michelle Obama would.have been crucified for it, bc they made up slime & threw it at her continuously.

    Sadly, I have to agree. I admire Michelle Obama all the more for the nonsense that she has had to deal with.

  197. 197.

    Soylent Green

    You guys keep coming up with assessments of Trump’s medical status. It’s like whoever it was diagnosing Terry Schiavo’s brain through the TV screen. He doesn’t have Alzheimer’s or any other DSM-worthy illness and is not about to stroke out any minute now. He is just a 70 year old who is getting tired of the grind and is under a lot of stress, so has dropped his guard a bit. His lifelong talent for bullshitting everyone is being put to its first real test. Let’s hope the pressure grows.

  198. 198.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Soylent Green: It’s like whoever it was diagnosing Terry Schiavo’s brain through the TV screen.

    Except he was an MD and a US Senator voting on legislation written about Terri Schiavo, not some schmoe blowing balloon juice on a blog

    ETA: and I’m pretty confident you’re wrong about this;

    He doesn’t have … any other DSM-worthy illness

  202. 202.

    WaterGirl

    @JPL: I assumed that Trump had leaked the photos to distract from all the other crap that is coming his way right now. Well, that and his “hey, vote for me, I’m a big man, my wife is hot!” mentality.

  205. 205.

    dogwood

    @Cat48:
    I’m starting to feel happy the Obamas are leaving. I’m happy they can vacation where and when they want to. Happy the president can play a round of golf without right-wing outrage. They served with dignity and grace and didn’t get much support from their own party at times. So they deserve to be done with this crap, and I’m going to enjoy not seeing them maligned on a daily basis.

  209. 209.

    germy

    Here is TMZ’s take (they certainly have their own style):

    Khizr Khan, the father of a Muslim U.S. soldier killed in combat, is making a final plea to Republican leaders to derail Donald Trump’s campaign … problem is, he’s kinda tardy for the party.

    Khan had one of the most talked about DNC moments when he accused Trump of not understanding the U.S. Constitution. We got him Sunday in Washington, D.C. and asked what he thought of powerful Republicans such as Speaker of the House Paul Ryan praising his speech.

    Khan’s response? If they agree with me, do something about it. The clip is basically his call to action for the GOP — which ignores the fact the party’s already nominated Trump. Prime case of too little, too late?

    Also interesting here … Mr. Khan’s become somewhat of a celebrity, and actually had fans standing nearby hanging on his every word.

  211. 211.

    hovercraft

    @Baud:
    That’s a damming number, only 56 approval rating. I guess it was her controversial remarks about slavery and the white house.

  212. 212.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Bill E Pilgrim:

    We all have our peeves, ain’t that the truth. I apparently have to completely surrender to the fact that “begs the question” now means “raises the question” or “demonstrates the need to answer the question” and what, just discard what it actually meant for century upon century? Apparently so. Now I’m astonished if I ever see it used the traditional way.

    Mine is “decimate.” The accepted meaning has migrated from “(destruction of) one unit in ten” to “complete and utter devastation.” If I use it correctly, I can guarantee either that nobody in my audience will understand what I’m saying; or that they will, in fact, know the correct definition but will assume, quite naturally, that I’m misusing it (because everyone does). The only way to avoid the situation is not to use the word at all. And that’s a shame.

  215. 215.

    Brachiator

    @JPL: You should check out this novel.

    The Plot Against America is a novel by Philip Roth published in 2004. It is an alternative history in which Franklin Delano Roosevelt is defeated in the presidential election of 1940 by Charles Lindbergh. The novel follows the fortunes of the Roth family during the Lindbergh presidency, as antisemitism becomes more accepted in American life and Jewish-American families like the Roths are persecuted on various levels. The narrator and central character in the novel is the young Philip, and the care with which his confusion and terror are rendered makes the novel as much about the mysteries of growing up as about American politics. Roth based his novel on the isolationist ideas espoused by Lindbergh in real life as a spokesman for the America First Committee and his own experiences growing up in Newark, New Jersey. The novel depicts the Weequahic section of Newark which includes Weequahic High School from which Roth graduated.

    Maybe Trump read it and thought it was a comedy, and something to use as a model for his platform.

  216. 216.

    Fair Economist

    @SiubhanDuinne: Some googling (after a bit of wasted time considering Hofstadter’s Crab Canon) revealed a term for things that have the opposite meaning when the lines are read backwards, the rather prosaic “Reverse Poem“.

  220. 220.

    JMG

    @dogwood: Don’t be so optimistic. They’ll be targets all their lives, and the Secret Service will treat them accordingly. The abuse will never stop. They’re still dissing Carter after over 35 years of doing the Lord’s work (as he sees it) as an ex-President.

  223. 223.

    Major Major Major Major

    I found a Leonard Cohen song where he refers to himself thusly:

    He will speak these words of wisdom
    Like a sage, a man of vision
    Though he knows he’s really nothing
    But the brief elaboration of a tube

    “The brief elaboration of a tube.”

    That’s being made of meat for you!

  224. 224.

    Fair Economist

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Mine is “decimate.” The accepted meaning has migrated from “(destruction of) one unit in ten” to “complete and utter devastation.”

    I think that shift happened a long time ago. In a half century of life, I’ve never seen “decimation” used in anything like the Roman sense outside of Roman history.

  226. 226.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @SiubhanDuinne: The old crank newsman Edwin Newman had a funny passage about that, teasing about someone having written “almost completely decimated”, he wrote “I understand decimated to mean “reduced by a tenth”, thus “almost completely decimated” I take to mean “reduced by an eleventh”.

    He was a crank though and mostly just wrong, for example he pushed the idea that “Hopefully” used in certain ways is “incorrect”, whereas the linguist Steven Pinker pointed out that it’s exactly the same as “Frankly…” or “Honestly…”, i.e. a statement about the speaker’s state of mind, and really demolished the whole silly objection.

  229. 229.

    WaterGirl

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Maybe you’re right. But I still think they will never forgive Barack Obama for being a great man while black. The Obama family is everything they believe is not possible in their world view.

  232. 232.

    Prescott Cactus

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    It’s been called ” flipping the script “.

    Tim Horton’s Donuts (ack) used it in a promo for donations to a Summer Camp for kids.

    HERE Is a link to the ad’s goals

  234. 234.

    Cat48

    @JPL:

    This whole campaign is just so odd. My husband asked me why would, even a tabloid publish those? He’s very private person & has empathy, unlike Trump.

  235. 235.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Fair Economist:

    Perhaps it’s a regional rather than generational thing? I’m plenty old, but don’t quite remember the Caesars, and the “one in ten” was certainly what I was taught at home, and later at university.

    Anyhow, as mentioned, I’ve given up using it myself, and have resigned myself to shuddering quietly when I hear other people misuse it.

  236. 236.

    Steve in the ATL

    @burnspbesq:

    Characterless, obsolete ballyard with shit food. Worst fan experience outside Atlanta.

    You must have been to Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, the old concrete doughnut. Turner Field is awesome.

  238. 238.

    Brachiator

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Mine is “decimate.” The accepted meaning has migrated from “(destruction of) one unit in ten” to “complete and utter devastation.”

    Well, the Roman Army is not in charge anymore, so no one has any stake in the original meaning.

    Language moves on, accumulating creative errors. Desert is no longer a wasteland. Nobody uses “enormity” correctly.

    One day words will be replaced by emojis, and it will all be a “mute” point.

  239. 239.

    JPL

    @Brachiator: Probably not.. Since the freedom girls caused me to have nightmares. I did read Those Angry Days, and at the time thought, okay America got through that period, we will now too. That was awhile ago, though and I’m not sure that I feel as optimistic.

  241. 241.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Speaking of all this I just learned recently that they’re tearing down Candlestick. Sad!

    I’ve never even been to the new one, so I don’t get complaining rights, but still. Willie McCovey, hunched over the plate, driving one into the right field stands….. sigh.

  243. 243.

    JPL

    @Cat48: lol I did mention to my adult sons, that plastic surgery had to be involved. Then I added that a good friend agreed, and at that point, there was a sigh and then really.

    To say the election is odd, is an understatement, I hope.

  245. 245.

    Steve in the ATL

    @SiubhanDuinne: I learned the correct meaning as well (Episcopal schools!) but don’t use, not because it gets used incorrectly, but because I rarely need to describe the loss of 10% of something.

    I have to go to work tomorrow so I don’t have time to list all the linguistic errors that keep me awake at night.

  246. 246.

    redshirt

    Decimation is a perfectly cromulent word.

    Especially since how often does the original meaning ever happen now a days? Never?

  248. 248.

    inventor

    @SiubhanDuinne: My pet peeve word is using “impact” instead of “effect”. The impact HAS an effect.

    Of course all of that pales in comparison to “literally” meaning figuratively. It literally makes my brain explode!

  249. 249.

    Tilda Swinton's Bald Cap

    Laurence Tribe tweets:

    @tribelaw

    Nikita Khruschev’s impressive daughter says Putin hates Hillary and sees Trump as a useful idiot he could manipulate to dominate the U.S.

  251. 251.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    I think “digimate” would be the modern term for the old meaning.

    Except that it sounds like an Australian vibrator, so never mind.

  253. 253.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @redshirt:

    Especially since how often does the original meaning ever happen now a days? Never?

    I had it done to the XIV Legion just last week.

  254. 254.

    Cat48

    @dogwood:

    You’re right about all the bitching, I won’t miss that part at all. I can always play a video heh. I think they’re having a State Dinner for Singapore tonight & this weekend they’re heading to Martha’s Vineyard. Just thought I’d warn you :)

  256. 256.

    MomSense

    I had to take a mental health break from the trump insanity today. We are watching Enchanted Kingdom, narrated by Idris Elba.

  258. 258.

    bk

    @burnspbesq:

    But I did go to a Mets game at the Polo Grounds

    Got you beat – I went to a Giants game at the Polo Grounds, 1957. My first baseball game!

  259. 259.

    hueyplong

    I finished day 3 of the California Bar 2 hours early so as not to miss the first pitch at Candlestick at a time when the Giants were in last place. Willie McCovey was and is a god.

  260. 260.

    Mary G

    Marco Rubio’s line “let’s dispel with the fiction” bugs me. Shouldn’t it either be “dispense with the fiction” or “dispel the fiction” or am I remembering it wrong? Have been too lazy for months to Google it.

  263. 263.

    redshirt

    @Cat48: I’m surprised the Obamas vacation in the Vineyard. I wonder why. I’m guessing it’s because someone highly connected already vacationed there and so recommended it.

    I mean, I get it. Not far from Washington. An island, so remote and easier to secure. Rich and used to other famous vacationers. A big enough infrastructure (restaurants, theater, etc..) to be interesting but still small time.

    But the Vineyard, Bams? So snooty.

  266. 266.

    Brachiator

    @inventor: Or affect vs effect. And strictly speaking, a reference to “the hoi poloi” is incorrect,but why fight it?

    ETA I am fighting autocorrect, which wants to render a word as polio.

  267. 267.

    Ruckus

    @germy:
    I think so but then I know where it is when I walk to it so I can’t say I ever paid any attention to the sign.

  269. 269.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @Mary G: That got a lot of criticism at the time. Many people noticed. Paul Krugman was snarking on it in tossed off ways in columns for a week, I seem to recall.

  270. 270.

    Cat48

    @JPL:

    You’re right, Election = Outrageous and Unprecedented! The really bad parts are yet to come I fear.

  273. 273.

    Brachiator

    @redshirt:

    I’m surprised the Obamas vacation in the Vineyard. I wonder why.

    In part, because assholes bitch like motherfuckers when the Obamas go to Hawaii.

  274. 274.

    Eric U.

    @redshirt: I’m going to have to submit that killing 1 in 10 was pretty devastating, so the current usage seems reasonable to me.

  275. 275.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Yes, thanks. I’ve looked it up in many dictionaries and usage manuals on various occasions through the years, and I do realize that my preferred definition is generally labeled hist. if not obs.

    I still think it’s rather a shame. There are plenty of words and phrases available which convey “destruction, devastation, demolition, ruination, wipe-out, etc.” without corrupting a word which should be reserved for more precision. (It’s especially irksome to hear a reporter at the scene of a major disaster say something like “The center of town is about 85 percent decimated.” Makes my teeth itch.)

  276. 276.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Brachiator: and if they went to Montana or Wisconsin, they’d be accused of pandering. They can’t win, and he doesn’t have any more elections.

  277. 277.

    hovercraft

    @MikeS:
    The scenario you describe is similar to what Oscar Pistorius claimed happened, except for the 911 part, and the shooting through the door part, and he was the one outside the bathroom part. Okay so nothing like that.

  279. 279.

    Adam L Silverman

    @redshirt: I’ve seen every episode of House and, as a result, I can confidently say “its not lupus, its never lupus”.

  286. 286.

    Cat48

    @redshirt

    The Vineyard has a black neighborhood, Oak Bluffs, that he used to stay in every year with Valerie, who has a home or rental there. The neighborhood has been there for years. He may stay in the white area rental now, but he has that huge entourage. He golfs & socializes with a lot of folks staying in Oak Bluffs every year.

  293. 293.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Major Major Major Major:

    you can use effect for both though

    No, you fucking can’t; unless you mean it in the sense that you can use “shitgibbon” for “run” in that they are both words.

  295. 295.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Omnes Omnibus: sure you can. It’s becoming the common usage except in corner cases, which, again, lawyers.

    For the record, I also say e.g. “me and him” or “him and Jim” at the start of a sentence, especially in fiction. Because the ‘correct’ usage makes you sound like an asshole.

  297. 297.

    Steve in the ATL

    @burnspbesq:

    Not awesome enough, apparently.

    The ballpark, and food, are awesome, but it’s surrounded by Negroes and the owners don’t like that. New stadium will be really nice, and surrounded by white people, but it lies at the worst traffic jam in a city known for traffic jams, which does not bode well for weeknight games.

  298. 298.

    magurakurin

    People can fight against the changing meaning of words all that they like. It’s a free language. They all are. But it most likely won’t do much good. Some prescriptions do take root, though. The prescription against double negatives for example. Once a staple of the English language, now outlawed. The battle is almost surely lost on “decimate” and probably “literally” as well. Also, too “irregardless” and “hopefully.” It’s not my cup of tea, but if one gets pleasure from defending older meanings of words…whatever wiggles your waggle.

  299. 299.

    dogwood

    @redshirt:
    They have been vacationing on Martha’s Vineyard with a group of friends for years. Same with Christmas in Hawaii.

  301. 301.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Major Major Major Major: @WaterGirl: Funny story. I had to have a bunch of tests run for something several years after I got back from Iraq. I came back with a chronic, annoying issue most likely the result of the fact that all the waste was burned and everyone was breathing it in, or that the base we were on was built on top of the impact area of the old Iraqi Army Bessmayah artillery range – so we were living on top of bits of depleted uranium and other stuff, or that someone had decided that it was safe to use grey water (not potable, but not non-potable, which drove the brigade’s public health doc nuts – if its not potable it can’t be not non-potable…) for the showers, the water in the sinks in the latrines and shower trailers, and/or the fact that we were 15 KM south of the Narhwan brick factory, which burned heavy fuel oil in its kilns, so we were breathing that crap to. Or all of the above combined. I cracked up my doctor’s PA when they ordered all the tests. When she got to lupus on the list I responded with: “I’ve seen every episode of House. Its definitely not lupus. Its never lupus”.

  304. 304.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Major Major Major Major: Fiction is, of course, different. And are you telling all of us that we sound like assholes? I’d like to think that when I do, it is for something other than correct grammar.

  307. 307.

    J R in WV

    @germy:

    1934-1939
    When Nazis held mass rallies in Madison Square Garden

    At least most of those fuckers are dead now. A shame they’ve reproduced to create today’s Trump Republicans!

  308. 308.

    WaterGirl

    @Adam L Silverman: That is a funny story. I hope your annoying chronic thing was fixable, or it turned out not to be chronic after a while, or that at least it became less annoying.

  310. 310.

    Adam L Silverman

    @redshirt: Nope. They honestly don’t know what it is. They know what it isn’t: everything they could think to test me for.

  314. 314.

    dogwood

    @redshirt:
    The history of the Black community on MV isn’t much different than that of white communities there. Affluent people buy property in nice, prestigious places and vacation there. The black elite couldn’t buy anywhere they wanted to in the not so distant past, but they could buy on MV. Valerie Jarrett isn’t just someone who hangs around the Obamas because they bring her prestige. She was their introduction into the elite black world 20+ years ago. There are some interesting books written about the president that chronicle his rise to the pinacle of power. It didn’t all begin with a speech in Boston in 2004. He really didn’t come out of nowhere.

  315. 315.

    Ruckus

    @Adam L Silverman:
    You remind me of fun times in the navy. We dropped anchor in Naples Bay, that’s in Italy not FL, and the ship can not make fresh drinking water in harbor so we had to purchase fresh water from a local supplier. They bring a barge to the ship and pump the “fresh” water to the customer. Problem was the water was not exactly potable. Of course the ship trusted the supplier and didn’t test the water like they were supposed to. I know that some use the terms black or gray water but I prefer to say that it had a brown component in it if you follow my drift. A human based brown component as we found out to our disgust and ill health. They had to find another supplier and pump all the contaminated water overboard.

  322. 322.

    J R in WV

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I had my annual physical last July 11th, and a week later the nurse called me to say my cholesterol was OK, but my liver numbers were higher, and I should stop drinking. Grrrr.

    Now I have ten thousand questions, and no answers. And no champagne.

    At least I’m spending less money. On champagne.

  323. 323.

    Miss Bianca

    @Adam L Silverman:

    And one thing I know for a certainty is that when people are under stress they emphasize their primary associations as a security response.

    Ah. You’ve just explained something for me. Thanks.

  324. 324.

    Steve in the ATL

    @redshirt:

    Dy’all still do that tomahawk chop?

    Yes, but there are fewer chances to use it now that our team sucks. The nineties were great, though!

  332. 332.

    Brachiator

    @dogwood:

    Valerie Jarrett isn’t just someone who hangs around the Obamas because they bring her prestige.

    Also, there has not been much reporting about how the black elite, especially in Washington, D.C, related to and interacted with the Obamas. Lots of stories, of course, about Obama and the Village, official Washington society, but not about Obama and black Washington society.

    Also, there has been some stuff written about Valerie Jarret as political advisor and friend of Obama, but not as much about how Obama’s election affected Chicago black society.

    60 minutes recently repeated a profile of Jarret, but it is noteworthy, but not surprising to see how little the White House press corps understands or cares about black Washington.

    Margo Jefferson’s Negroland is an excellent memoir that reveals much about the life of upper middle class blacks in Chicago.

  333. 333.

    Brachiator

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    “Effect” is usually a noun. “Affect” is usually a verb. The movie affected us. It had an effect on us.

    But one can effect a change.

  336. 336.

    SFAW

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Can we agree that the Yankees are Satan’s Team?

    When the sorely-missed Steve Gilliard wrote “FTFY,” he didn’t mean “Fixed That For You.”

    ETA: Nine years gone. Damn.

  337. 337.

    SFAW

    @shomi:

    Anything less will not send the right message.

    Hillary could get 400 EV, and it would still “not send the right message.”

    Or have the right-wingers suddenly become sane, and I missed it? You remember Reinhard Priebus talking about how the Republicans need to reassess, after the 2012 election? (Or whatever phrasing he used.) That lasted for, what, three months? And then they went back to the same old shit, only worse. Because they realized that, short of getting on prime time TV and saying “Obama’s done a decent job,” their base will keep voting them back in.

  339. 339.

    SFAW

    @Tripod:
    A-fucking-men to that.

    My father was a kid when Lindbergh took off from Roosevelt Field, he remembered it fairly well, talked about it once or twice. Never mentioned Lindbergh’s German sympathies, however.

  341. 341.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Major Major Major Major: FWIW, my rule:

    Effect is a noun , rarely & in technical instances a verb (“to effect the change”)
    Affect is a verb , rarely & in technical instances a noun (“flattened affect“)

    Now I see IOL beat me to it at #285 supra. Fook!

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