Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Infrastructure week. at last.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

In my day, never was longer.

People are complicated. Love is not.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

This fight is for everything.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

White supremacy is terrorism.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

You are here: Home / TV & Movies / Movies / Monday Morning Open Thread: Geekbait!

Monday Morning Open Thread: Geekbait!

by | 205 Comments

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I had no idea this movie was coming out, and now I cannot wait. Taraji P. Henson! Octavia Spencer! JANELLE MONAE!… and rocket ships.

Since the book it’s based on won’t be released till September, I may have to read Rise of the Rocket Girls while I’m waiting.

***********
Apart from finding other reasons to grit through this election season, what’s on the agenda as we start the week?

Reader Interactions

205Comments

  1. 1.

    Schlemazel

    Saw an ad during the Olympic coverage. Since I mute all ads I didn’t hear it but I got the idea & recognized the book it was from. I started my count down timer to how long it takes for the whining about “them Hollywood types taking the credit for the space program away from white men & giving it to colored girls”

    “Made possible by good old American know how, supplied by good old Americans like Werner Von Braun” Tom Leher

  2. 2.

    Patricia Kayden

    Not coming out until January but definitely on my must watch list. Also dying to see the soon-to-be-released movie about Barack and Michelle’s first date.

  4. 4.

    R-Jud

    Janelle Monae! ??

    She’s been posting stills and production photos from this on Instagram for a while. Very excited to see it even though it probably won’t be released in the UK until well in to 2017.

  8. 8.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    Joe of the Morning made a funny: “Trump’s going to win New York(then shows the poll that Trump’s losing NY by 30)”.

  9. 9.

    OzarkHillbilly

    what’s on the agenda as we start the week?

    Flooding: Wondering if I will have to detour around some nameless creek or not this morn. BFD. I am also wondering if my Baton Rouge son still has a car after his apt complex went under on Sat, if he has any dry furniture left in his first floor apt, etc. Last talked to him on Sat when the water was lapping at his door. I’m quite sure he’s alive (it’s not the flooding that kills people, it’s the stupidity) but would like to know he is well.

  10. 10.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    At the airport heading from Detroit to San Diego for a week of work. Did this last week and the jet lag messed me up. Not used to being more than one time zone from home.
    Have a good Monday everyone.

  16. 16.

    raven

    @Baud: The hard part is over! Now I get to get loaded for only the 3d time in over 20 years! Of course my bride has to try to get someone out to fix the AC that broke down last night. I think it is a capacitor but getting someone may be a challenge.

  17. 17.

    Baud

    Good Booman post

    Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is consolidating the support of the Millennials who fueled Bernie Sanders’ challenge during the primaries, a new USA TODAY/Rock the Vote Poll finds, as Republican Donald Trump heads toward the worst showing among younger voters in modern American history.

  20. 20.

    daveNYC

    Hopefully it’s better than Imitation Game. Wonder what the core conflict will be, as Imitation Game had a pretty good hook with trying to crack Enigma (build first computer and beat the Nazis is pretty hard core), whereas orbital calculations are relatively straightforward in comparison, and technically the only Nazis in this movie would be on our side.

  21. 21.

    Schlemazel

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    I have tried to explain this to our kids – YOU know you are OK but WE worry, just a call or something with no news to report is fine.

    Hope you hear soon so you can reduce your anxiety.

  25. 25.

    Patricia Kayden

    @daveNYC: I assume the main conflict would be 4 (or more) Black women working in a field that was not welcome to Black people. From the trailer, it also looks like it addresses the overall struggle for Civil Rights.

    @raven: Echoing all the good lucks already posted.

    @Schlemazel: LOL!!

  26. 26.

    Schlemazel

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:
    Yeah, other than morphine (which is marvelous btw) the drugs they give you in the hospital are just no fun. I assume thats why they are legal. Stay away from hospital drugs!

    “The puritans were against bear-baiting not because it brought pain to the bear but because it brought pleasure to the viewers” Mark Twain

  27. 27.

    Patricia Kayden

    @liberal: Wouldn’t you be more comfortable at Redstate or some other Rightwing website? Not sure why you’re here. Most of us are staunch liberals and are quite happy with our current President. In fact, most of us will be shedding tears of sadness when he leaves office.

  28. 28.

    Schlemazel

    @Patricia Kayden:
    He sort of gives the game away with his sources. The American Idiot . . . er, CONservative? There is as unbiased & reliable a source for thought as any you can find in the feted cesspool of what passes for thinking on the current American right, and with their handmaidens like ‘liberal’

  30. 30.

    Schlemazel

    @Baud:
    He does not read those sources, like all true liberals he gets all his knews form sources like the one he lined to ans FUAX KNEWS. It is the only way a real liberal like himself can stay in the no.

  36. 36.

    Peale

    @Schlemazel: actually, it’s Larson. And the reason one has to read Larison is that no one in the media seems interested in how we’re supporting Saudi Arabia in the dismemberment of a small country, because pretty much everyone else bought into the Saudi line that Yemen is about fighting Iran somehow.

  38. 38.

    Ryan

    @Schlemazel: Why did so many conservatives suddenly become pacifists? Did they learn from shrub’s administration? Or could it be that it is the exact opposite of what Obama wants to do?

  45. 45.

    Kay

    Certain Republicans who have lost to me would rather save face by fighting me than see the U.S.Supreme Court get proper appointments. Sad!

    Proper = conservative. You know he didn’t write that.

    I don’t think people vote on the Supreme Court. I always feel like candidates are desperate when they run on that.

  47. 47.

    BlueDWarrior

    @OzarkHillbilly: As someone who lives in Baton Rouge myself, I am knocking on whatever wood I can find that our neighborhood drainage system holds up for the next couple of days until floodwaters come down from “catastrophic” to “managable”.

    Something about how urban planning is a clusterfuck and how once in a generation storms/confluences-of-events can and will exacerbate those problems.

  48. 48.

    Baud

    @Kay: I think conservatives do. Or have. It’s always been a huge part of their political rhetoric, even low level functionaries.

  49. 49.

    satby

    @Schlemazel:

    I have tried to explain this to our kids – YOU know you are OK but WE worry, just a call or something with no news to report is fine.

    I think they start getting that only after we give up on the idea they’ll call and let us know. Whoever first coined “no news is good news” obviously had children.

  50. 50.

    hueyplong

    I don’t get the insistence of some right wing sites on promoting the “Hillary’s sick” and “Hillary’s dying” stories. They take the trouble to demonize her for 23 years and then, right when they have the chance to panic their voters to the polls to stop the election of History’s Greatest Monster, they send the signal that, “Hey, not as scary as we thought, she’s dying anyway and a generic, hapless Democrat [Tim Kaine, or Tom Kean, whatever] will be president instead.” They’re stepping on their own carefully cultivated Fright Narrative, aren’t they?

    Is there something to CPP’s brain-eating Prion Disease Theory?

  52. 52.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    I agree, but how many are there? It’s like 20% of registered R’s, or Trump wouldn’t be the nominee.

    Breitbart commissions national poll from Gravis to get around media “manipulating polls”—and finds Clinton up 42-37.

    I got polled again last night. My husband was laughing because it takes so long! They ask so many questions now. Maybe it has something to do with validity? They’re screening out people who say they vote but don’t? Once I’m in I have to finish. I also believe people like to be on the winning side so I have to give Clinton a point if I can.

  53. 53.

    Napoleon

    Anne, I swear the NY Times had and article on this movie/these women around 4-6 months ago. It really sounds interesting.

  55. 55.

    NotMax

    Curious if anyone is watching or has watched Spiral?

    Haven’t made up my mind about it yet (it’s resolutely gritty and seemingly not intended to be a likeable program) but there’s sufficient intrigue to keep watching, thus far.

    The differences between the interconnections and hierarchies of the French judicial and police systems and what we in the U.S. are more accustomed to is illuminating.

    @Peale

    Daniel Larison at American Conservative is often worth a look. He can offer up well-constructed and researched old-school perspectives that, while perhaps not entirely convincing, do provide nuance and food for thought to both sides of the political equation. And he does not hold back from valid and pointed criticism of Republicans and right wingers. On the other hand he is undeniably blinkered when it comes to certain topics, which becomes evident if one reads him enough, so when writing in those areas is eminently skipworthy.

  56. 56.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Schlemazel: Larison is a consistently thoughtful anti interventionist and well worth the reading. What is going on in Yemen is…. hard to justify.

  58. 58.

    Patricia Kayden

    @debbie: Dang! That would be a compliment (and straight up lie) for anyone to say I looked like FLOTUS. I have been told that I look like Florence though (the maid on the Jeffersons) so there’s that.

  62. 62.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Kay:

    Breitbart commissions national poll from Gravis to get around media “manipulating polls”—and finds Clinton up 42-37.

    That is hilarious! So even Gravis is biased against Trump. Sad!

    @Kay: Never been called for a political survey but I assume that’s because I live in a pretty reliably blue state (Maryland).

  63. 63.

    bystander

    I think it would be pointless to reply to a post yesterday in which I was referred to as full of something on that thread, so I’ll post it here.

    I based my assertion that partners in the 10 year range at top firms make on the order of $10 million p/a on what I have been told by those who ought to know. I looked up the reported figures and see that the average partner take at a top firm is shy of $4 million. So, I’ll stick with the figure I quoted. Figures made public are low balled, and the pay arc, I believe, crests in the $8 to $10 million range.

    Moanin’ Joe is beside himself that a Clinton Foundation donor was appointed to a State committee. I wish I understood why it is that SOPs for politicians take on an ominous, nefarious cast when practiced by the Clintons.

  65. 65.

    NotMax

    @OzarkHillbilly

    Cheap throwaway line is that it’s a qat fight.

    More seriously, when the re-split does occur (not if, when) ironic that once Marxist South Yemen will be the more democratic state.

  66. 66.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @BlueDWarrior: Until my son moved there, I had no idea that flooding in certain areas of BR was not an unusual experience, that it was just one of the things one learns to deal with. In the 6 yrs he’s lived there tho, this is the first time he has been hit with high water.

  71. 71.

    Hal

    This is the week the Trump redemption storyline starts. As long as Trump doesn’t say or do something really stupid or offensive for few days he should be golden with media coverage. But since this is Trump, the likelihood of him not sticking his foot in his mouth seems slim to none.

  72. 72.

    daveNYC

    @Patricia Kayden:

    I assume the main conflict would be 4 (or more) Black women working in a field that was not welcome to Black people. From the trailer, it also looks like it addresses the overall struggle for Civil Rights.

    Which, given the time period, would be basically any job in any location in the country. My question was concerning how they are going to leverage the space race aspect for some high stakes storytelling. ‘People overcoming injustice’ is a solid story, just one that’s often attached to high stakes world changing events in movies. Oftentimes set during the Civil War or WWII, since the bad guys in those conflicts provide added bonus karma points when the protagonists beat them. Plus the subject’s impact is often unique, decisive, or at least violent. So Turing invents the computer and breaks Enigma, or the Tuskegee Airmen kill a bunch of Nazis (and who doesn’t like shooting Nazis?).

    These movies always have some crowning moment of awesome where the protagonists do something amazing in the workplace, so I’m wondering what they’re going to do to create that given the setting, since again, orbital mechanics during the space race, while interesting enough, doesn’t quite lend itself to the very high stakes action that a Hollywood movie is going to be looking for.

  73. 73.

    Ryan

    From a Trump rally via WaPo

    “You can tell he’s an amateur politician,” said Hasler, shaking his head as the Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” blared.

    It doesn’t get any better than that.

  74. 74.

    satby

    @Baud: The poor drone on the phone had no idea why I went off on him, though I made it crystal clear and told him to be sure to write down my response word for word. Made him repeat it to me too. Then I hung up on him.
    One microscopic blow against the machine.

  77. 77.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @bystander:

    Moanin’ Joe is beside himself that a Clinton Foundation donor was appointed to a State committee. I wish I understood why it is that SOPs for politicians take on an ominous, nefarious cast when practiced by the Clintons.

    Clinton Rules(read “The Hunting of The President”).

  78. 78.

    NotMax

    @satby

    Many, many years ago, during an intermission at the opera in Lincoln Center was besieged by a gaggle of young females insistent on getting an autograph, who would not accept the denial that I was some actor on a soap opera, of whom I had never heard.

    Quick dash to the men’s room ensued.

  80. 80.

    satby

    Just heard we’re going to be under flash flood warnings from this afternoon until tomorrow night. Won’t be bad like down south though.

  86. 86.

    Baud

    @daveNYC:

    Which, given the time period, would be basically any job in any location in the country.

    When will Hollywood make a movie about white guys trying to break into Southern housekeeping in the sixties? #TheRealRacists

  87. 87.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Baud: No, though the young woman was rather insistent that I was even after multiple denials on my part.

  90. 90.

    WaterGirl

    @OzarkHillbilly: When I was little I thought a flood would be so cool because there would be water everywhere. (Remember, this is WaterGirl speaking.) I pictured perfectly clean swimming pool water and how much fun it would be.

    So sad when I grew up and realized floods would be so awful and dirty. And did I say awful? Sorry your son and so many others are going through this.

  91. 91.

    TS

    @bystander:

    Moanin’ Joe is beside himself that a Clinton Foundation donor was appointed to a State committee. I wish I understood why it is that SOPs for politicians take on an ominous, nefarious cast when practiced by the Clintons.

    Both sides – Trump is so yooogely bad – got to find something to complain about with Hillary. MJ and team think it is terrible that people aren’t taking any notice of what Hillary did/does or whatever. It’s a joy to see Halperin looking so so sad.

  93. 93.

    p.a.

    More interaction with US medical system this week. Last yearly checkup blood test showed v mild anemia which led to colonoscopy. 3 polyps, no sign of bleeding, so hematologist next. Resting heartrate morn of colonosc 44 bps, so now cardiologist on schedule too. My norm resting rate 54 +/- 2; I work out 5-6 days/week & have lost 70lbs since 12/15/15 so 50-some doesn’t concern me, but 40’s…

    I know the blogmeister here claims to be a hypochondriac, but I bet I could match him Dr’s call for Dr’s call. I used to get mosquito bites, forget the cause of the bump 2 days later, and fixate on the ‘lump’ for days. (If you knew my family history w cancer it would be more understandable, although I’ve never had it.)
    :-0

  95. 95.

    Patricia Kayden

    @satby: Melissa McCarthy is a gorgeous woman and quite hilarious although I haven’t watched all of her films.

    @daveNYC: To be honest, I’m not all up into NASA. I just know that I’m looking forward to seeing Black women portrayed as highly advanced scientists in a mainstream movie — especially as they will be played by such icons as Henson and Monae. I’m sure the movie will have a technical achievement focus along with the Civil Rights focus. According to this link, these women played a pivotal role in the launch of John Glenn into orbit. I think you’re missing the point which is that Black women are not often seen as scientists and that this is a previously little known story. That’s exciting enough for me.
    http://www.comingsoon.net/movies/trailers/757523-hidden-figures-trailer-featuring-taraji-p-henson-octavia-spencer-janelle-monae#/slide/1

  97. 97.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @WaterGirl: My sons and I got caught in a flash flood while camping in a remote area along the Current River once. We found ourselves on an ever shrinking island of high ground, listening to trees snap off like twigs nearby. Wasn’t worried about dying as the current was slow right there and we’d easily be able to wade/swim to higher ground, but my truck and all my gear??? So I watched the water as it swamped stick after measuring stick after stick, ever closer to the tires of the truck while the boys read books with all the concern of a couple of preteens in the library.

    An interesting experience.

  98. 98.

    TS

    @Baud:

    She wasn’t vetted! in 3..2..1…

    Yep – we still don’t have the details of how she acted during the first 10 years of her life. Got to check that out.

  99. 99.

    satby

    @Patricia Kayden: Thanks!
    And I agree, every story doesn’t need “high stakes world changing events” to be compelling, though for all the people at NASA, Glenn’s launch was very high stakes. As was being a black person during Jim Crow. That’s tension and compelling enough for me.

  101. 101.

    Immanentize

    @raven: late to the party but good luck! As we discussed, I had this done a couple of years ago and the worst part is the damn boredom for a week of recovery.

    Let us know when you re-enter the world from la la land.

  102. 102.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @p.a.: I had some minor surgery once (well, more than once) and as usual I refused general anesthesia (hate that stuff). For an hour plus the heart rate monitor alarm kept going off because my heart rate was so low, and finally the docs just turned it off entirely.

  103. 103.

    Immanentize

    @OzarkHillbilly: man Baton Rouge has taken a beating. Feels biblical.

    All the best to your so. And when he calls, tell him how worried we all were and how he needs to contact Balloon Juice sooner in the future!

  104. 104.

    Cat48

    @raven:
    Good luck and enjoy the Versed, the drug my doc gives everyone for the procedure. Unfortunately, it wears off much too quickly!?

  105. 105.

    Matt McIrvin

    @satby: The celebrities people compare me to have been on a continuous downslope over the years. I’ve noticed that a lot of it is basically about hair, because usually I resemble the person only in terms of hair, or the lack thereof.

    When I was a young teenager, people said I looked like Ricky Schroeder (who later grew up into a sexy man, but people had stopped comparing me to him by then). Then, Gary Busey and Larry Bird. Now I get Chris Elliott and Bunsen Honeydew of Muppet Labs.

  107. 107.

    Punchy

    From this otherwise no-shit TPM article:

    “These things, just because you say them, they’re not true,” he added. “We have been covering the substance. We have been covering the things that are bad to Hillary Clinton.”

    Tapper Translation: Bothsiderism! We do it, I promise! Lookie, HRC is the devil, I promise! We’ll cover that very soon, please dont be so mad at me Paulie!

    Unfuckingreal.

  108. 108.

    Bostondreams

    Anybody else watching Stranger Things? My wife and I binged the first four episodes last night, and only stopped because it was 1:30 am. Wow. Classic King/Speilberg vibe. Just fantastic.

  109. 109.

    Cat48

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Sounds scary at the Current River experience. I hope your son is ok, but I’m sure he will be. It looks like the National Guard is rescuing folks trapped in homes with helicopters & Obama has signed off on Federal Aid so they will have help to recover, per BBC. Of course, you won’t feel better until you hear from him some way. Parents are like that. Thoughts & prayers to everyone inv.

  111. 111.

    Face

    @BlueDWarrior: You know what really helps for this flooding? Tax cuts. And slashing funding to the evil state agencies charged with assisting with temp housing and infrastructure repairs. Just ask Bobby Jindal.

    SE LA is completely f#cked and it’s time for the Dem gubbnah to shine with the very little he has at his disposal.

  113. 113.

    Dork

    What is going on in Yemen is…. hard to justify.

    When life hands you Yemens, give them some Yemen-ade.

  114. 114.

    rikyrah

    As Trump’s Chances Dwindle, In Come the Conservative Fantasy Peddlers
    by David Atkins
    August 14, 2016 6:33 AM

    One of the curious hallmarks of modern conservative culture is the stubborn adherence to ideology and “known truths” even in the face of obvious evidence to the contrary. A half century ago the stereotype was that liberals were the starry-eyed purveyors of untested ideologies and assertions about the essential goodness of human nature, even as conservatives played the role of sober grandfathers who tempered liberal passions with doses of reality. This was never really the case even back then, but it was much closer to the truth than it is now.

    Today, it is Republicans whose assertions about the nature of world consistently meet with rejection by reality. Supply-side economics is a proven failure. Climate change is real. Abstinence education doesn’t work. Giving money to the underprivileged doesn’t make them lazy, but rather strengthens the entire community. Tax cuts don’t spur growth, especially when given to the wealthy. Letting gay people get married doesn’t bring down God’s wrath on the nation. Wall Street doesn’t function well when it’s allowed to regulate itself. Letting the private insurance market dictate healthcare costs leads to worse outcomes. And so on.

  115. 115.

    Steve in the ATL

    My hotel in Utah is showing Fox News in the lobby. Holy shit this is awful. The ores has been biased against trump, trump is giving a major foreign policy speech and its ok if he doesn’t give details, aaaaand of course Hilary’s emails.

    They are not going to like my comment card!

  117. 117.

    rikyrah

    The Garland Pre-Compromise Is Already Sabotaging Clinton’s First 100 Days
    by David Atkins
    August 13, 2016 3:12 PM

    As confidence grows that Trump will lose in November, speculation is already beginning about the first 100 days of a new hypothetical Clinton administration. Top of the list is filling the Supreme Court vacancy left by the passing of justice Antonin Scalia.

    In theory, a Clinton Administration supported by a Democratic Senate majority should be able to reshape the court in a significantly more liberal direction. But it seems increasingly likely that Clinton’s hands will be tied by the Obama Administration’s decision to nominate a centrist in Merrick Garland in the hopes of compromise with the current GOP. Democratic Senators are already pushing for Clinton not to displace Garland with a more liberal choice in the interest of “preserving political capital.”

  118. 118.

    Cat48

    @Baud:

    I guarantee you if Paul Manafort worked for Hillz that there would be 24/7 coverage. They seem to accept Manaforts non answer. I woke up late, but I’ve only heard it mentioned once today. “Manafort said it didn’t happen”. “Oh, OK!”

  119. 119.

    Emma

    I haven’t really been keeping up with the Olympics except through the threads here. So when I checked my usual am news, the BBC, I find out Gabby Douglas has nearly been hounded into a nervous breakdown by the Fox types and the usual slew of Internet garbage. What the bloody hell is wrong with people in this country? I am so angry right now I’m shaking.

  120. 120.

    rikyrah

    Trump Can’t Apologize to Save His Business
    by BooMan
    Sat Aug 13th, 2016 at 12:02:42 PM EST

    So, there are legal proceedings going on because a chef who was under contract to work at Donald Trump’s big new Trump International Hotel in Washington DC pulled out of the contract last year after he heard Trump’s anti-Mexican tirade during the speech he made announcing his candidacy.

    They’re actually arguing over whether or not the chef, Geoffrey Zakarian, was justified in backing out based on the fact that Trump had called Mexicans a bunch of drug dealers and rapists, and there’s even some dispute about whether Trump eventually apologized or retracted his remarks or merely “clarified” or “articulated” them.

    Of course, Trump never apologized. Instead he made some effort to distinguish between “illegals” who rape and sell drugs, and “legals” who do not necessarily do those things.

    However, Ivanka and Donald Jr. were concerned about Zakarian’s hurt feelings and made some effort to soothe them. Ivanka wrote down some talking points for her father to use as a way of softening the blow, but not because it was creating a political liability. She did it because the family didn’t want to lose the services of a well-respected chef who they were planning to use as a marketing attraction.

    ………………………………………………………

    There’s no particular reason to rehash this all now except that it highlights something important about Trump and his family. The effort to clarify or soften the remarks was not made for political reasons. It was made strictly for business reasons. But even when told by his children that they were in jeopardy of losing their prized chef, Trump still couldn’t bring himself to do enough to rectify the situation.

    Instead, he sued the chef. And then he sued José Andrés, a Latino chef who was supposed to open a restaurant at his DC hotel but reconsidered when he heard what Trump had to say about Mexicans.

    So, we will eventually find out whether, once you’ve signed a contract, you have to work for someone who subsequently reveals themselves to be a virulent racist or face financial penalties for refusing to do so.

  121. 121.

    satby

    @rikyrah: conservatives think Garland is a gun-grabbing liberal. Just for that I want to see him take a seat on the bench.
    Yes, I do realize that’s a mirror Cleek’s law statement. But Garland is extremely well qualified too.

    Edited because my Kindle and I are fighting today. I seem to be losing.

  123. 123.

    peach flavored shampoo

    Now I get Chris Elliott and Bunsen Honeydew of Muppet Labs.

    Anytime you can work “Bunsen Honeydew” into a blog conversation, you know you’re having a great day.

    /unapologetic Muppets lover

  125. 125.

    Feathers

    @bystander: My question with your number was that, as I recall, it was mentioned as an average. Utterly achievable for someone in the Clinton’s position, not a stretch goal – absolutely. The lack of clarity was in defining the very small group of people, Rhodes Scholar level grads of top three law schools, for whom this could be considered a norm. One of the problems with talking about inequality and “corruption,” folks just don’t know how the one percent lives, and how they make their money.

    More on topic for the thread: Time spent waiting on this film, which looks fantastic, would be well spent watching October Sky, even if it is about white dudes. Jake Gyllenhaal is a high schooler in a 1950’s Kentucky mining town who wants to be a rocket scientist. Chris Cooper plays his father, a mine supervisor who probably worked hard to help pave the way for his sons to have good careers in the mine. October Sky played for nearly a year at the local indie theater, which should be taken as a huge recommend. Needless to say, got a rave review in High Powered Rocketry.

  126. 126.

    Cat48

    @rikyrah:

    There’s a story in the NYT about liberals being angry that Clinton is not running on anything, but Trumps dangerous, not qualified. Maybe they should leave winning to her and just Shutup. I don’t have a problem with Garland. They probably want a liberal Scalia type. It’s her choice.

  128. 128.

    NorthLeft12

    @daveNYC: After watching the trailer, it seemed to be a twofer; AA and women’s rights. Maybe more about women than AA rights.
    Personal note; there is nothing sweeter [IMO] than completely blowing other people’s biased [usually negative] expectations out of the water. This movie appears to go there.

  129. 129.

    Punchy

    Also from TPM, this article which is certainly a blog post topic in itself. Just for the hilarity of everyone coming up with possible questions.

    For reals: what would be the “correct” answer for views on gay marriage? Is DT for or against it? Anyone know?

  130. 130.

    hueyplong

    I”m not sure exactly what Garland will be, but I know what he won’t be. He won’t be Fat Tony, who is currently dead and likely to remain so.

  131. 131.

    amk

    @Cat48: The loony left has been b&m’ing with all Obama appointees and were proved irrelevant. They just crave some relevance now and hence the attempt to kneecap her.

  133. 133.

    NorthLeft12

    @Cat48: Not running on anything? Really?

    From what I am seeing, Ms. Clinton is trying to address the issues and highlighting the platform from the DNC, but that is getting washed out because it is not as interesting to the press as her responses to der Trump’s idiotic ramblings.
    And, just to be clear, she has to respond to his lies and baseless accusations.

    These “liberals” you speak of seem to have a short attention span.

  134. 134.

    Face

    So an imam and his assistant get–let’s call it what it was–cold-blooded assassinated, and it’s barely a blurb in the national media. Can you imagine if a Catholic priest and his altar boy got similarly smoked walking down the street? Bill Donahue (sp?) would be on his third stroke by now, turning purple in rage on all the cable news programs. Ditto for a Rabbi getting wrecked or a Pastor getting pasteurized. But a dirty Muslim? Hey look! A 18th Michael Phelps interview!

  135. 135.

    Major Major Major Major

    @rikyrah: Why is nobody going with the simple explanation that Obama thinks Garland would make a good Supreme Court justice? He’s a straight shooter, for Christ’s sake.

    And can anybody explain what’s going on in Milwaukee? It looks like a cop shot somebody who was, on camera, waving a gun at the cops after running from them during a traffic stop, so… let’s have two days of riots?

  137. 137.

    Cat48

    @amk:

    It made me angry! Why aren’t they phone banking or something helpful? Then, I forgot when I saw the Manafort story & got happy again.

  139. 139.

    Cat48

    @NorthLeft12:

    Well, they are from Bernie camp, so she has been running on the platform. They don’t cover her speeches that much. Bill Clinton should call the liberals–Robert Reich his former DOL & Ben Jealous, and explain There’s no wrong way to win in this Race.

  140. 140.

    Tenar Darell

    Did anyone read the article from about 10 days ago in The Atlantic about The Despair of Poor White Americans?

    I finally got to it this morning & there’s something about it that is bugging me but my criticism is more of an inchoate “nope” than anything defined or rational. It’s basically two book reviews wrapped up in a think piece, and it is setting off all sorts of alarm bells. (Being super charitable, maybe that was the point).

    Was anyone here discussing it when it came out? Maybe reading other criticisms (not in Disqus) will help. Anyway it’s not going to go away until I figure out my uneasiness. If you read it, I’ll be keeping an eye out on this thread on my phone today.

  142. 142.

    ruemara

    @daveNYC: black women back then showing they can work as well or better than white men back then and you’re wondering what the core conflict will be? I’m pretty sure they all try to win John Glenn’s hand.

  143. 143.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Tenar Darell: Let me guess, Hillbilly Elegy?

    This sort of thing comes around from time to time. “Why won’t somebody think of the plight of the (white/male/white male) people?” And they have some legitimate points, but they’re always conservative, and the thing is, there ARE people thinking about these issues! It’s the very institutions the writers have spent their careers decrying (social services, feminism, the government, etc.).

    So, I can have sympathy for the people who are essentially victims of their ideology, but fuck these authors.

  145. 145.

    rikyrah

    @Emma:

    I haven’t really been keeping up with the Olympics except through the threads here. So when I checked my usual am news, the BBC, I find out Gabby Douglas has nearly been hounded into a nervous breakdown by the Fox types and the usual slew of Internet garbage. What the bloody hell is wrong with people in this country? I am so angry right now I’m shaking.

    There have been some nasty internet trolls against Gabby.

    It was ridiculous.

  146. 146.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Major Major Major Major: You know, here’s the thing about Hillbilly Elegy, Thomas Frank, &c. We have two political parties. People are going to vote for the other one. We’re not going to have some sort of gathering of the tribes where the Democrats get all the women, all the people of color, all the LGBT people, all the college-educated white straight men, AND all the non-college-educated white straight men. Let the people who vote for Republicans demand that THE REPUBLICANS do something for them. We already know what Democrats do for them, which is a lot. If they don’t like it, well, at a certain point that’s their problem to figure out.

  151. 151.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Cat48: A lot of “liberals” are always masochistically aroused by the prospect of the next betrayal. It makes them feel alive and like they matter: they’re so dangerous and powerful they have to be snuffed out with skulduggery. They are ridiculous and no one should listen to them.

  152. 152.

    Tenar Darell

    @Emma: I’d add caveats to this. The President gets to nominate who she wants to the Court. So historically if she in the end picks Garland, she will always have a teeny suspicious asterisk next to her choice until archival papers are released. Plus, my instincts just really want her to punt and say “if I’m elected I will nominate who I choose to the court, as that will be my prerogative as President,” or something like that because reasons. ;-)

  153. 153.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Face: According to the New York Daily News, the suspect is a Latino sharpshooter who acted in revenge for a spat between Latinos and Muslims in the area. Whatever the motivation, it’s horrific how easily angry people can get access to guns.

  154. 154.

    Joel

    @Tenar Darell: The lazy thinkpieces are coming in strong this year. The Thomas Frank virus is spreading and it needs to be fucking killed. I thought Andrew Gelman crushed his stupid-ass hypothesis years ago.

  155. 155.

    Original Lee

    Just got back from a family reunion near Shipshewana, Indiana. So many red hats – not the cardinals’ or the Cardinals’ kind, unfortunately. Almost all worn by people over 70, but maybe younger folk would have worn them if they were worried about skin cancer (which they clearly were not). One elderly female relative-by-marriage was particularly vocal in her support for the Hamster-Heedit Bampot. Took my patience in both hands and (tried) respectfully to find out why. Boiled down to “he’ll shake things up”. Abolishing NATO – “Well, maybe that needs to happen. Those guys are not doing their fair share.” Immigration – “My family had to wait three years for visas AND we had to have a sponsor. These guys just walk across the border.” Not paying his people – “Maybe they didn’t deserve to be paid.” Being a terrible businessman – “Bankruptcy is something that can happen to anyone.” She’s very well-to-do, but had to drop out of high school to take care of her younger siblings when her dad died and her mom had to go to work. She worked her butt off, both before and after her marriage into our family, and they have done very well for themselves. She does not appear to watch Fox or listen to the radio much; in fact, her attitude seems to be “I don’t believe it” if there’s any news that contradicts what she “knows”. So I’m really baffled as to where her Trumpeter views are coming from.

    ETA a “not” in front of doing their fair share.

  156. 156.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Tenar Darell: she should say that for several reasons. One, it’s true. Two, it makes the Repub senate keep thinking about their numbered days; maybe they’ll confirm Garland. Keep in mind we might lose this election. Three, it gives people the vapors because she’s showing insufficient deference to any number of men.

    @Joel: It’s harder than it looks to crush a bloodsucking parasite.

  157. 157.

    1,000 Flouncing Lurkers (was fidelioscabinet)

    @Major Major Major Major: I’ll pay attention when they start talking about how these people have been convinced “liberals” have set their minds on destroying their protections–Social Security and the like–but otherwise I am convinced these things are just another exercise in inspissated bullshit marketing.

    I am also interested by the fact that people will froth over governmental regulation but they will never say a word over the requirements insurance companies come up with to “limit liability”, which has to have at least as restrictive an effect on business as anything government can come up with,

  158. 158.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Tenar Darell: Read it. Found it interesting how the author sidestepped the issue of poor Whites choosing to harm themselves by voting (overwhelmingly) for a political party which doesn’t have their interests at heart. He simply said that most poorer Whites don’t vote at all and moved along.

    Also, found it interesting how he underplayed racism among poor Whites as if that was something ginned up by liberals. He really stretched to belabor that infamous “both sides do it” meme.

  159. 159.

    Tenar Darell

    @Cat48: It’s a review of Nancy Isenberg’s history book White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America & J. D. Vance’s memoir Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis. The reviewer was Alec Macgillis (sp?).

  160. 160.

    burnspbesq

    Per Loomis, if you live in Washington you can now buy weed that was processed and packed by UFCW members.

    Look for the union label … at least until you’re too fucked up to care.

  161. 161.

    Patricia Kayden

    @rikyrah: I hope none of this nonsense is getting back to Gabby. She is such a role model for other little (especially Black) girls who want to pursue gymnastics. I recall the nonsense in 2012 about her hair that erupted in social media. **rolls eyes**

  162. 162.

    satby

    @Tenar Darell: I just did because of your mention, but it left me more with a “meh”. The problem is probably the author trying to critique two books that seem so similar but aren’t really. And the artificially limited subject matter of (mostly) Southern or Appalachian whites as stand ins for all underclass whites.
    And that doesn’t even touch on the notion that these problems aren’t actually white only, they’re just described that way.

  164. 164.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    So, we will eventually find out whether, once you’ve signed a contract, you have to work for someone who subsequently reveals themselves to be a virulent racist or face financial penalties for refusing to do so.

    @rikyrah: Sadly, unless said contract has a specific clause in it about racist asshole behavior being unacceptable, it’s a valid contract.

  165. 165.

    Cat48

    @Major Major Major Major:

    I know it’s about Hillbilly Elegy, etc., but Charles Murray’s book about poor whites is mentioned in the first paragraph. I’ve read an an excerpt from Hillbilly Elegy, seen the author interviewed several times. The photo at the top of the story, with the poor whites, I’m quite familiar with people who live that way. I was born in Arkansas so I’ve visited with my relatives who still lived there almost every year because my parents were born there. My dad moved to IL to work in a factory so we weren’t quite as poor.
    I don’t know why poor whites are considered “forgotten” all of a sudden. Poor people of all races are forgotten. Its complicated but I did everything I could for my child. That’s all I can do.

  167. 167.

    Emma

    The President gets to nominate who she wants to the Court. So historically if she in the end picks Garland, she will always have a teeny suspicious asterisk next to her choice until archival papers are released

    @Tenar Darell: Two points. Obama is president until the end of the year. HE gets to choose. And his choice is fine.

    WHY in the name of hell would she have “an asterisk” next to her name? Because the pure-pony super-liberals don’t like her choices?

  168. 168.

    eric

    @Patricia Kayden: The election of Bevin In Kentucky should have put this nonsense to bed. Here was a situation that had manifestly obvious good impacts in people’s lives and the fuckers still voted to dismantle it. So, enact a policy that helps rural white Americans. Check. The party that did it favors equal rights for all Americans. Check. President is a near. Check. Fuck that outreach bullshit,

  169. 169.

    J R in WV

    @Face:

    It was the top story on Google news for several days!

    With a ton of other news happening, what exactly do you expect?

    Republican party imploding, Olympics hitting their stride with many hiccups, etc, etc. Usually in August the news biz is very slow, as in going out to cover schools getting ready to open…

  170. 170.

    Emma

    @Patricia Kayden: Well, it’s back. And whether she lightens her skin. And why she wore a pink leotard instead of a red-white-and-blue. And why she didn’t put her hand over her heart during the playing of the national anthem. And why she was so “selfish” as to take a place in the Olympic team. And it does seem to be getting to her. Check the BBC coverage.

    I’m not much for wishing retribution on others, but I hope Karma is in a particularly bad mood these days.

  172. 172.

    MomSense

    @Tenar Darell:

    That article is about the population I serve. I have so many thoughts about the issues raised but I find it difficult to express my opinions and feelings on the subject. Maybe an attempt at a discussion here would be helpful.

  173. 173.

    Tenar Darell

    @Patricia Kayden: Yeah, that’s got to be part of what I was picking up on. And thinking more there’s a point in the article (which I can’t find) where it’s really verging on both siderism about the conservative vs. liberal response to these problems in the past & into the future which twigged my “Um, not the same thing dude” meter.

    I may not have read it but I’m aware of When Affirmative Action Was White by Ira Katznelson. Basically the reviewer elides that background & how it was conservatives who racialized all of the New Deal programs (it was easy, after all they started out white!) that liberals put in place to help these same communities which are struggling again/still today. Equating being chased away as equivalent to the group that lied us into this mess probably helped raise my hackles.

  177. 177.

    Cat48

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Well, I really thought it was the “white opioid problem” which is not news. There’s “Pain Clinics” on every corner. I think FL had/has the most. The GOP needs to actually fund the bill they passed for rehab, etc. That’s the one good thing about SC, they regulate the actual drugs very closely. The states with the clinics need to shut them down!

  179. 179.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Cat48: the opiod problem is the only drug problem we’re paying attention to.

    I heard about an interesting study the other day. Black pain patients were way less likely to get prescribed opioids for the same symptoms than white patients.

  180. 180.

    Tenar Darell

    @Emma: I don’t have a beef with Obama’s pick, I have a beef with the Senate that is refusing to hold hearings or have a vote now. His being able to get 3 nominees onto the Court would be awesome. Truly historic.

    As for why I’m saying there’d be an asterisk for Hilary Clinton? Because armchair historians & crappy political commentators do this automatically. And I hate the “first draft of history” bull, but she deserves to be her own history making President from the beginning too, even if what she chooses does continue her predecessor’s policies.
    Or, maybe it’s just revenge on this Republican Senate. A big “you wouldn’t pick who Obama wanted, so now my Democratic Senate [one hopes!] will confirm my choice without your input.” Like I said because reasons ¯\_(ツ)_/¯, though that’s really not a particularly edifying or logical one.

  181. 181.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    Totally late to the party, but I think that movie looks very engaging! I hope it inspires some future mathematicians and other science explorers.

  182. 182.

    MomSense

    @Major Major Major Major:

    It works for some because it is a whole lot easier to throw up your hands and say fuck it (or try to move away from it like I’m trying to do). I had someone comes to me terrified because they just found out they lost their support person who cares and teaches life skills for their down syndrome child so they can work. From previous interactions I know this person votes Republican because they don’t want their tax dollars going to pay disability to illegal aliens. How do you respond? It’s like triage. First responsibility is to make sure the kid is looked after. There is a direct benefit to the child and family to continue services. There is a benefit to society, moral and economic, to continue services.

  184. 184.

    J R in WV

    Regarding the movie, one person I’m aware of, Katherine Johnson, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama (why I’ve heard of her). Born in White Sulphur Springs, WV, she went to West Virginia State College and helped integrate West Virginia Uunversity’s grad school where she studied Math.

    From Wikipedia:

    From 1958 until she [Johnson] retired in 1983, she worked [for NASA] as an aerospace technologist. She later moved to the Spacecraft Controls Branch. She calculated the trajectory for the space flight of Alan Shepard, the first American in space, in 1959. She also calculated the launch window for his 1961 Mercury mission. She plotted backup navigational charts for astronauts in case of electronic failures. In 1962, when NASA used electronic computers for the first time to calculate John Glenn’s orbit around Earth, officials called on her to verify the computer’s numbers. Johnson later worked directly with digital computers. Her ability and reputation for accuracy helped to establish confidence in the new technology. She calculated the trajectory for the 1969 Apollo 11 flight to the Moon.

    People didn’t understand and use computers that they did have, so they wanted someone who knew the math to do it to back up the computer machine’s answers. At least some of these women were hired to be “computers” as their job titles. This was a thing, before IBM 360s were as common as physicists. She obviously went far beyond that work pretty quickly.

    Should be a great movie. Imagine what she might have done in the total absence of institutionalized racism!

  185. 185.

    Tenar Darell

    @Cat48: Yeah, by mentioning the “mostly” conservative articles it could definitely be a reason to not bother spending time reading on. (I’m a completist, and a little stubborn about it. I couldn’t help myself & just kept going. I’m even like that with novels, I’ll skip ahead so I can sleep sometimes. It’s an affliction ;-).

  186. 186.

    Citizen_X

    @daveNYC:

    Wonder what the core conflict will be

    Pretty sure it’s going to be humans vs. primitive attempts at space flight, since the latter is (still!) pretty good at killing humans.

  187. 187.

    Major Major Major Major

    @MomSense: exactly. Not to mention a moral obligation. As liberals, we believe in giving people opportunities and support even in spite of themselves. It’s the “fuck them, they get the policies they deserve” stuff that really bothers me. So what if they do? We just give up and focus on building trains in California full time?

  188. 188.

    Cat48

    @Tenar Darell:

    There’s nothing wrong with that ? I have to admit I don’t read items like that until late evening. I feel I’ve heard a lot thru interviews the young author did so it’s not that urgent. I.plan to buy Hillbilly Elegy.

  189. 189.

    Tenar Darell

    @Major Major Major Major: @MomSense: I’ve always been suspicious of when people say anything like “let them leave/go to h-e-double toothpicks/secede/” because one, fellow citizens & two, what about the minority who could be 49.99% of the population. Too many seem to think blowing sh*t up is good rather than painful & traumatic for all. (probably down to internalized Mr. Rogers’ “look for the helpers.”)

  190. 190.

    Cat48

    @Major Major Major Major:

    I don’t mind passing benefits that would help them as long as we restore the funding to urban poor. GOP deliberately cut grants that helped inner city poor to hurt Obama. They’re truly evil.

  191. 191.

    rikyrah

    @Face:

    So an imam and his assistant get–let’s call it what it was–cold-blooded assassinated, and it’s barely a blurb in the national media. Can you imagine if a Catholic priest and his altar boy got similarly smoked walking down the street?

    You must add…IN FRONT OF A MOSQUE!!

    See, that’s why I’m not buying ‘ this isn’t related to religion’ bullshyt. You’ll have to connect every dot in the universe for me to NOT believe that this isn’t a hate crime.

  192. 192.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Tenar Darell: Seeing as you could not say, I am unable to see what you find troubling about it. Both books are oversimplifications, and for good reason: Readability. The authors are trying to sell books, if you let a book get bogged down in the details, people will get bored and stop reading it.

    All that said, I’ll offer my own oversimplification of what ails the “white working class”. It’s the same thing that has always ailed the white working class: Classism, a thing as old as man himself. We papered over it with the New Deal in the Great Depression and the GI Bill following WWII (2 things that were in fact focused on the white working class) and things did in fact get better for the WWC. We fooled ourselves for awhile into thinking this was a permanent change in the American class system, but we did not count on the Reagan revolution.

    It took a while but those chickens are now coming home to roost.

  196. 196.

    Cat48

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I never thought of that, but broken bones, operations, etc. Sounds sort of sadistic :(
    I can’t stand to see any person or animal, for that matter, in pain. I’m weak.

  197. 197.

    MomSense

    @Major Major Major Major:

    At the same time I absolutely do not want the Dems to dog whistle or in any way chase after votes from people whose motivation is IGMFY and racist. First it is wrong and we have to model our values. Secondly, I think it is a losing strategy.

    I know that trade is one of those issues that sets us off, but I really disagree with the lack of attention paid to service job workers. We keep talking about bringing good paying manufacturing jobs back. We’ve been talking about that for decades but it isn’t happening and it feels to me like obsessing about something out of our reach while we fail to organize with our neighbors for living wages for the jobs we hold right now.

    Jobs at the Holtrachem plant were pretty good, high paying jobs. I still don’t want to bring that Mercury dumping plant back. I can also think of a bunch of things I’d rather fund than the DDG but hose are some of the best jobs in our state. The issue is more complicated and our values are sometimes in conflict which is why our discussions tend to be so polarized.

    And if I ruled the world, we would have a WPA for artists, musicians, etc. I’d also do massive stimulus and just fucking install solar panels on roofs, retrofit existing homes and apartments so I’m not chasing after help with fuel oil for families after the heating oil subsidy is exhausted. Construction jobs are good paying jobs! So what if it benefits people who don’t vote for Dems. It will HELP.

  198. 198.

    Origuy

    @Cat48: My housemate was living in South Carolina for a while. She has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and arachnoiditis. Both cause chronic, disabling pain. The EDS causes her teeth to decay, making it look like she has meth mouth. She’s white. She had to move out of South Carolina because she couldn’t get her pain treated properly. The doctors either couldn’t or wouldn’t prescribe what she needed, which at that time was methadone. The assumption was that she was a junkie. Yes, she had an opiod addiction. She also had an addiction to not being in agony all the time.

  199. 199.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Cat48: The article I read said that for things that were obvious, (broken bones etc,) blacks and whites both got them at the same rate, but for things (back pain etc) that didn’t show up on standard tests (x-rays etc) whites were far more likely to receive pain meds than blacks.

  200. 200.

    Major Major Major Major

    @MomSense: I like trade. But reasonable people can disagree about that. The thing is even if we were to somehow revitalize American manufacturing there would still be people left in the lurch by market cycles and the general vagaries of capitalism, not to mention the eventual re-slump in American manufacturing due to trade, again. So regardless of what we do on trade we need these stimulus, retraining, infrastructure initiatives in place. we could replace coal jobs with solar or wind manufacturing or something if we’d just spend a little money.

  201. 201.

    MomSense

    @Major Major Major Major:

    At which point we come around full circle to people who won’t vote for the candidates who want to put them to work for good wages because they’re overriding concern is that some able bodied “illegal” is sitting around collecting disability checks.

    It seems most practical to me to focus on getting our coalition to vote in every single election. I think the outcome would be that politicians would be much more “courageous” on immigration reform, infrastructure spending, civil rights, and progressive taxation if they knew the voters who agreed with them wouldn’t abandon them in the midterms.

  202. 202.

    Cat48

    @Origuy:
    The Drs. & the state have forms that have to be completed & you have to have a urine test. It was bizarre to me, but I was in a lot of pain & had to wait for 6 weeks for neck/spine surgery & I didn’t think I could stand the pain that long. They gave me drugs afterwards too, but no more tests or forms. It all worked out, but they do put you thru the wringer in this state.

  203. 203.

    Cat48

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    That makes me feel better, sorta. For pain, especially the back, they can often give injections to bring down swelling. Etc. That’s better than pills, but you need an MRI to see if that’s possible. Motrin helps mine.

  204. 204.

    Robert Sneddon

    @MomSense:

    We keep talking about bringing good paying manufacturing jobs back. We’ve been talking about that for decades but it isn’t happening

    A lot of those jobs have been automated out of existence, they’re never coming back in part because they never went abroad since the new factories built in Mexico and Malaysia by the big businesses were automated from Day One.

    Case: time was putting a windscreen onto a car on a production line was a semi-skilled job usually done by a team of three people with strong fingers. There was a rubber gasket and the glass and bits of cord and a balletic effort to keep up with the moving line. I was involved very peripherally in a robotics project back in the 80s to automate this job. In the end the engineers redefined the job rather than building robots that could do stuff with gaskets and cords; nowadays windscreens are glued in place directly onto the bodyshell, presented to the frame by a robotic arm guided by lasers and video cameras to ensure precise alignment. In order for this to work they had to make the bodyshells more accurately so the glass would fit the frame perfectly every time so they stopped spot-welding the bodyshells by hand and started using robots instead, more well-paid semi-skilled jobs lost. Paint-spraying, ditto. Fitting components, a lot of that is now automated or not done on the line any more. And so on.

    TL:DR: the old jobs don’t exist any more, they can’t be “brought back”.

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