What makes America great? Team USA is showing us. https://t.co/kGvah3Sc82
— Garance Franke-Ruta (@thegarance) August 14, 2016
Apart from more sports-watching, what’s on the agenda for the evening?
Clinton: "If Team USA was as fearful as Trump, Michael Phelps and Simone Biles would be cowering in the locker room"
— Jennifer Epstein (@jeneps) August 11, 2016
"Instead, they’re winning gold medals. America isn’t afraid to compete." https://t.co/gxfzE529Zo
— Jennifer Epstein (@jeneps) August 11, 2016
The only Olympic congratulations tweet from @Reince was, of course, for the air rifle gold medal winner.
— Bob Schooley (@Rschooley) August 15, 2016
I guess you missed this @Reince https://t.co/aFyG71Y48z
— Bob Schooley (@Rschooley) August 15, 2016
Mike E
The headline sez it all: 9iu1ian1 briefly forgets about 9/11
japa21
Since this is my last night with solid foods for a couple days (until late Wednesday) I am chowing down on whatever I can find as long as it doesn’t have nuts, seeds, etc. Will be following in raven’s footsteps, figuratively speaking. Hope I get the same results.
raven
Hate the fluff? Great piece on Allison Felix and her grandmother.
raven
@japa21: Good deal. Do you do a split on the liquid? It was a pain getting up at 2am for the second round but it was so much better than drinking the entire gallon at once. I used Crystal Lite Lemonade and drank it through a straw. I went with low fiber and my last meal was pretty small. Hang tough, it’s worth it.
debbie
Reince is being small, mean, and petty. The Olympics is not political, you wiener.
Gwangung
Seriously…the only Olympic tweet Rince made was for the (obviously) white air rifle winner?
Heh. Heh heh heh.
debbie
@raven:
Glad it went well for you today!
raven
@debbie: They found 5 polyps, all non-cancerous so I go back when I’m almost 70 (which I wish was more than 3 years!)
dmsilev
@Gwangung: Seems to be true, looking at his Twitter feed. Of course, he’s barely tweeted anything at all over the last week. One congratulatory note to Paul Ryan for winning his primary last Tuesday and a couple of retweets. That’s it.
I guess he’s mainly sitting at home staring at the wall and quietly weeping.
raven
@dmsilev: He’s fucking dope, who cares?
SFAW
Reince: “Wait – are you trying to tell me that they let the Coloreds into the Olympics? As competitors? And they let girls compete, too? Well, as long as they draw the line at “no colored girls,” at least there’s SOMETHING still sacred. Wait — what did you say? They let WHO compete? Who’s this ‘Simon Beales’ guy?”
gogol's wife
@japa21:
I hope it goes well.
khead
I spent some time back home in southern WV two weeks ago while attending a family wedding. I also keep up with the home folks on the Book of Faces. I’m not a lawyer and I did not spend the night at a Holiday Inn Express, so I am consulting the folks here at BJ. I mean, the Internets know everything. Especially at Balloon Juice.
Here’s the scenario: Bible Club and Fellowship of Christian Athletes hold a prayer event at a high school. The principal of said high school invites the community to attend on behalf of the club(s) on Facebook. This is a no-no, correct?
There is also a really big rock with the Ten Commandments on the hillside below the Wyoming County courthouse. Private donation. It’s been there for a while and I’m pretty sure that one is a no-no, but good luck finding someone to complain (i.e. sue).
SFAW
@raven:
Congrats, glad to hear things are A-OK.
raven
@khead: They get their asses sued in Georgia.
raven
@SFAW: On to hernia land!
MomSense
@raven:
Glad you came through it so well.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
IMHO it should be, but I think Bible Clubs are pretty common these days. A couple years ago I saw a thing on TV about high school football in the south, real-life Friday Night Lights type of thing, and the amount of Jeebussing going on with the public school was deeply troubling.
schrodinger's cat
Michael Phelps is a God! And America is great, its Trump who is not.
raven
@MomSense: I have a dear friend who had colorectal cancer and she made it through. She has to get them every 6 months. This was nothing compared to what she’s been through.
David ?▶️Hillary/Harley Quinn 2016▶️? Koch
These are some badass bitches (photo)
raven
@David ?▶️Hillary/Harley Quinn 2016▶️? Koch: I’d modify that statement if I were you.
The Ancient Randonneur
@David ?▶️Hillary/Harley Quinn 2016▶️? Koch:
Is that you Imus?
schrodinger's cat
In other news, India celebrated its 70th Independence Day and I blogged about it.
Dusted off a twenty nine year old creation, which has the same verse in 14 Indian languages including Hindi, showcasing India’s best artists and sportspeople.
Mile Sur Mera Tumhara (My note blends with yours to make our note)
raven
@The Ancient Randonneur: zactly
schrodinger's cat
@raven: Good to hear that your tests came out all clear!
raven
@schrodinger’s cat: Tanks!
Brachiator
@raven:
I don’t think that is how you are supposed to do it.
Brachiator
@raven: Glad that your test results were good, also too.
Ultraviolet Thunder
I’m back in California. San Diego, where it’s hot as heck. Back home in Detroit they’re getting the whole summer’s worth of rain all at once.
I will be here for the week, then Tuscaloosa for the weekend. I really don’t want to go to a factory in Alabama in August.
Colleague who is with me for training is a Trump fan but seems to be losing his enthusiasm. All he can manage now is slurs against Hillary. This is a positive sign.
raven
@Brachiator: :)
MomSense
@raven:
That’s really tough.
raven
@MomSense: After what I can only imagine was a horrible treatment she has bounced back well.
PPCLI
@debbie: The republicans have used the Olympics to great political effect, so they are wary. In particular I remember vividly the 1984 election. That summer was the Los Angeles Olympics, and the Warsaw Pact countries stayed home to protest Carter’s boycott of the Moscow Olympics. In particular that meant no USSR, no East Germany. which meant that for the first time in decades, the US ended up first in the medal count.
Reagan and his people used that as one of the central exhibits in the ” morning in America” theme. They used it *very* effectively. I’m sure the old campaign hands have not forgotten.
Villago Delenda Est
@SFAW: “Well, gee, Rinse, I know this will come as a shock to a good NSDAP member like you, but colored folks have been participating on the US Olympic Team since at least 1936 when they embarrassed the hell out of your role model, the German guy with the funny moustache. No, not Tom Friedman…”
Schlemazel
@raven:
HA! I used to say “M1-A1” to people – those are really big tanks.
Glad nothing bad was found
piratedan
@khead: Wyoming County…. I have roots there… Oceana and Kopperston to be exact… small world!
lamh36
I don’t curr what’s going on, … all I need to here is “Jitterbug…” and some hand snapping and I’m ready to starting singing… “Wake me up before you go-go”
Pogonip
My new Daytimer arrived in the mail (the old one fell apart after about 20 years). I don’t think they’re selling as well as they used to; the sample calendars they include were, in this unit, for 2014. But one of these days they’ll come roaring back, after enough smartphones and Crackberries have been dropped in the toilet.
Also too, our local Kroger is putting out HALLOWEEN stuff! I enjoy Halloween, but it’s TOO EARLY!
Pogonip
@lamh36: me too!
lamh36
Well shoot now I’m playing my Wham Playlist… Wake Me Up, ain’t even my fav I like I’m Your Man too
Wham – I’m Your Man
SFAW
@Villago Delenda Est:
Two nits:
1) Are we calling the house painter a German or an Austrian?
2) Comparing Friedman (who I assume is Jewish) to that other guy might not be your best choice. (Yeah, I can’t stand Friedman either, but still)
David ?▶️Hillary/Harley Quinn 2016▶️? Koch
Germany vs Canada tomorrow in Soccer Final Four.
My head says Canada, but my ❤️ says Germany cuz not only is Tabbi Kemme is the best defensive back in the world but also because she’s drop-dead gorgeous (photo)
PaulWartenberg2016
I think Twitter crashed. It’s not letting me on.
So, for the Florida voters here, my suggestions for how to vote this August primary cycle.
Also, if anybody knows Michael Taggart, I really need to hear from him. He’s the son of the guy who cleaned the Port-O-Sans at Woodstock: he left a message on my blog article about his dad but didn’t leave a way for me to reach him. And I really wanna hear his story…
Renie
@raven: Glad everything went well! My sister had colorectal cancer and went through hell – 2 years later she still suffers after effects from the radiation. But she also never had a colonoscopy and she was 60 when diagnosed with cancer. Our father died when we were all kids from colon cancer so she should have gotten herself tested over ten years ago. Surprisingly, even today, of the 5 kids in my family I’m the only one who gets checked. People live in denial until its too late..
SFAW
@Pogonip:
Or after enough people play the “Send Me To Heaven” app
lollipopguild
@Pogonip: No Christmas stuff yet?
Major Major Major Major
@Pogonip: you know you can back up a smartphone, right?
I used to work for a fellow who had a Daytimer he took everywhere, another backup Daytimer he had his personal assistant copy everything into, a computer, two backup hard drives, a third periodically updated backup hard drive he kept in a safe deposit box, a smartphone, and backups of that. Before he went anywhere he had his assistant print out two copies of the directions and program it into his car and his phone too, and a separate Garmin sometimes as well. Baggies of individual nitro pills in all of his coats, extra wad of cash on his person at all times… dude was nuts.
japa21
@raven: Yes, I do the split, thank goodness. First will be tomorrow evening and the second at 8 AM since the procedure isn’t until 3:00. My expectation is that they will find a bumper crop of polyps and nothing else.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@lollipopguild: No, and there won’t be. Haven’t you heard about “The War on Christmas”?
lamh36
Damn…I loved me some Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou back in the day…and Careless Whisper has ALOT to do with it. Oh i I knew now what I knew then…don’t think it would matter actually…
:-)
lollipopguild
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Some people have always been at war with Christmas. Others keep Christmas in their heart all year.
Mnemosyne
@lamh36:
Back in Ye Olden Days, the rumor had it that Andrew Ridgeley was the gay one. Now he’s been married to one of the singers from Bananarama for 20 years.
Major Major Major Major
@lollipopguild: what if we keep the war on Christmas in our heart all year?
Steeplejack
@lamh36:
Back in the day I had my little brother convinced that the guy’s name was George Michael Wham! (including punctuation).
Er, I should probably check to make sure he has figured it out.
lamh36
Not for nothing, one of the BEST concerts I’ve ever been to as adult was George Micheal in DFW.
He sang all his solo hits, and Wham songs.
He sang my fav Wham Song
Everything She Wants
debbie
@raven:
Glad today went so well. When’s hernia land?
randy khan
@Major Major Major Major:
That seems . . . excessive, but two backups, one offsite, seems like the minimum you actually should have. (And with portable hard drives less than $100 these days, not terribly expensive.)
patroclus
Everyone’s favorite Bundy Bro – Jon Ritzheimer, of the famous “Daddy swore an oath” and “Stop sending us sex toys and candy” youtube fame – pleaded guilty today.
“Daddy took a plea.”
schrodinger's cat
@Steeplejack: I had my brother convinced that my parents had leased him and would return him if he annoyed them.
Fair Economist
Michael Phelps breaking a 2100-year record for individual golds? Not worth a tweet from @Reince
Simone Biles winning first ever American vault gold? Not worthy.
American women with the largest winning margin ever in the team competition? Not worthy.
Katie Ledecky setting multiple Olympic records? Not worthy.
Simone Manuel winning first swimming gold as an African-American? Not worthy.
What does he tweet for? A shooter. Telling.
Not to disparage the air rifle winner – congrats to him. But far from the most remarkable win in these games.
Feathers
@lamh36: @lamh36: Man, I love to drive my niece and her friends crazy by cranking “Careless Whisper” while I’m player chauffeur. They are totes into Taylor Swift now, but when I started, it was all about Katy Perry. Tried to convince them that back in the day Wham! was Katy Perry and Justin Beiber rolled into one, but they weren’t buying. Got a bit of dance along with “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go.” Looking forward to catching “Keanu” for the George Michael songs.
Schlemazel
@Fair Economist:
her. the winner was a her
BTW – I hate all of you for reminding me of those gawd-awful WHAM! songs. Now I have the damn things stuck in my head
Fair Economist
@Renie: I also put off colonoscopy far too long in view of my father’s history. He eventually had colonoscopies every year and they frequently found something, but because of the constant vigilance he never got colon cancer. Finally did it at 51; three polyps, two pre-cancerous, so it was a good thing I did.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Looking at this twitter thing going around today of naming your seven favorite movies, I was thinking I could maybe do seven favorite comedies/dramas/foreign/indie/etc, or seven favorite of every decade since 1930. I don’t think I could cut my favorites to seven.
Doug R
As a dual American/Canadian citizen, may I point out there were 2 gold medal winners at the women’s 100m freestyle? And the R-rated Vancouver produced Sausage Fest includes at least one Wham! song. And the Vancouver produced Deadpool included Careless Whisper.
khead
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I thought the bible club was ok for students (even on school property), but I wondered about the principal pimping the meeting like an active member of the club. I don’t really want to get the principal in trouble – I grew up with the guy and I think he means well – but it seemed kinda, well, blatant. And we are talking about the kind of small town where not a lot of folks would even consider rocking that boat.
Steeplejack
@Pogonip:
The last few years I have gotten into the habit of keeping an At-a-Glance calendar book—one week on a two-page spread, about 8" by 10". My schedule is not very full, and it gives me an old-school feeling of tactile satisfaction. Plus I get to use a pen. It’s easy to flip through the pages, and I use it for all sorts of non-“appointment” notations.
I have looked at the standard calendar apps on my phone and tablet and can’t get past their fundamental ugliness. Haven’t been motivated to look for a better one in the app store.
khead
@piratedan:
I grew up in McDowell Co. I think the last time I saw Oceana was sometime in the late 80’s for a baseball game. It’s been nothing but downhill for both places since then.
divF
@Feathers: I only know “Careless Whisper” as Josh Reddick’s walkup music. OTOH, I really like Josh Reddick, so it is a positive association.
p.a.
Mine was 8 oz every 15 mins, no split, beginning at 5pm. Not fun. 3 polyps, still no report, done 8/2.
Major Major Major Major
@randy khan: yeah, the hard drives (plus cloud stuff) were all fine, the rest was madness.
Steeplejack
@schrodinger’s cat:
Heh, I’m sure he still bears the emotional scars.
jenn
@khead: Re the bible club & prayer get-together, if I’m understanding correctly, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. It sounds like it’s an event, functionally similar to the drama club putting on Bye Bye Birdie, or whatever drama clubs are doing these days. The issue for me, and what is my understanding of the problem with prayer in schools, is mandatory prayer in schools, and so on, wherein there is (a) necessarily some combination of inclusion, exclusion, and/or coersion, depending on what are the childrens’ beliefs, (b) no separation of church and state, because that period of prayer was required by the school. Assuming the school is not mandating or coersing people to join the Bible Club and attend the event, that adherents to other religions would be allowed to form such a club, and that the school publicizes other events on Facebook, I don’t have an issue and don’t think the legal system would either.
Aleta
I lost a brother-in-law to colon cancer. (He thought he had a months-long flu and put off seeing a dr. for some months because of a deadline on a work project.) A few months ago I lost my sister to it, though there’s some question as to where it started. (I don’t think I can access her records, though I’d like to know.) Now we have a niece, 33 or so, who has been getting treatment for the last two years for cc that has spread to 3 other places.
Finding it when it’s still inside the intestine wall makes all the difference in the world. For a while, I was on the 3 year plan (another test after 3 yrs if a certain kind of polyp is found). But basically I’m nothing but grateful for the “opportunity” to get tested and be told all is OK.
Petorado
Michael Phelps credited the success, good vibes, and overall positivity of the swim team to an admonition he told the team as they prepared for the games. He asked team members to keep their negativity to themselves and not use it to infect others. Phelps said after that moment he saw the team really come together and be more focused on success than failure. In this regard, all the negative and separatist rhetoric coming out of Republicans may be doing even more damage to this nation’s sense of “team” and success than we may realize.
jenn
@Steeplejack: Me, too, on the paper-based planning. I organize my life better and am so much more effective when I’m paper-based versus pure electronic. The act of writing stuff down versus typing (and even worse, screen-keyboarding) cements thoughts into my head a lot better.
The Golux
@raven:
I posted this in a previous thread, but in these parts (Connecticut), the prep only requires two 10-ounce bottles of magnesium citrate. Much easier to force down. Ask your doctor about it next time.
Honus
@raven: I’ve been getting them for 27 years (I’m 61). Had a cancerous polyp when I was 35 and had a colonoscopy every 6 months for a while, then every year, and finally got on the three year plan. I remember when they first got video so you could watch (conscious, but far too knocked out on that Demerol to remember anything). The worst thing is always drinking that colyte solution. The procedure is a breeze, and then you get to eat after not eating for a day.
Martha from Augusta
@raven: Oh, HerniaLand! I only went there as a child; do they still have Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, or has it been repurposed into something from the Marvel Universe?
(Glad to hear things went okay.)
lamh36
Report: Actor, Louisiana native Wendell Pierce ‘lost everything’ in Baton Rouge area flood
divF
@Martha from Augusta:
“Hernia, hernia, hernia, hernia…” – according to Tom Wolfe, the sound of the stickman’s patter at a Vegas craps table.
Raven: glad to hear you came out ok.
p.a.
@Honus: I once had a sigmoidoscopy. NOT GOOD. No anesthesia. If I had known ahead, I may have self-medicated.
Prescott Cactus
@Petorado:
Pass the dutchie on the left hand side
Mnemosyne
@The Golux:
That’s what my prep was, too, here on the Left Coast. I don’t think I could drink a gallon of anything without puking.
As everyone says, the prep was the worst part, and that’s mostly because it was BORING. A lot of sitting around waiting for things to happen. I was totally knocked out for the procedure itself, to the point that they had a little trouble waking me up afterwards because I have naturally low blood pressure.
rikyrah
@japa21:
Good luck.
Sending you positive thoughts.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
an actual press release from the Trump campaign
rikyrah
@lamh36:
So sad for him. He lost so much because of Katrina, and now this.?
schrodinger's cat
@Steeplejack: I am sure, he does. My next door neighbor had me convinced that ghosts walk among us but the have reverse feet compared to the living. The next few months I was checking everyone’s feet. Children can be so gullible.
Ken
@srv: Yeah, Richard Mayhew put up some posts on exactly that subject several weeks ago. He regularly posts on health insurance. You should check him out, he’s over at a blog called Balloon Juice.
Martha from Augusta
@p.a.: is that where a Freudian analyst shoves a scope into your subconscious?
JanieM
@Fair Economist:
It wasn’t “him,” it was “her.”
Just sayin’.
john fremont
@raven: Good to hear.
I had a cancerous polyp removed and rectal resection surgery 3 years ago . Spent part of the with an illeostomy while everything healed up.Glad yours was uneventful.
eric
@rikyrah: two of my favorite scenes ever are his scenes in The Wire. The first is the speech to Omar on the bench and the second is the time drunk with McNulty and he tells him about discharging his service weapon and the mouse.
Anne Laurie
@schrodinger’s cat: Shamelessly stolen (with credit, of course!). See next post…
Aleta
@jenn: I love computers but feel no affinity for digital lists and unexplainable resistance to digital calendars. Only paper calendars with big squares work for me; I can’t say why. Plus I’m just attracted to them and other paper. Paper is a bit magical, spiritual, ancient gift somehow.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@eric: I’ve gotta watch the Wire again
@lamh36: I hope the Bunk pulls through, he’s good people.
Honus
@Fair Economist: air rifle winner was a girl from WVU.
Ben Mays
@khead: I was born in Welch (McDowell) and have certainly been over to Oceana to see the “Irish Writing” on the stones there.
Honus
@The Golux: that’s the fleets, right ? Tried that once but my doctor went back to the gallon jug. I did split it last time, and you only have to drink about 2/3 of the jug. Still tastes like anti freeze, which is pretty much what it is.
p.a.
@Martha from Augusta: if only… ?
dexwood
@eric:
My favorite –
Honus
@p.a.: oh yeah, I had one of those too. Office procedure. Much worse than the colonoscopy. Also the lower GI. no food for two days, then you drink a radioactive shake and they inflate your intestines and spin you around on this giant rack while they film you.
Feathers
@JanieM: She was on my nephew’s HS shooting team! Saw someone FBing a rant that the gunsports were being ignored for political reasons. Ha! Ha! Laugh a shitload of nonTV sports. Was good and didn’t post the suggestion that they compete in bikinis and speedos.
schrodinger's cat
@Anne Laurie: Thanks for FPing my post!
madmommy
@Feathers:
My son and his band friends refer to Careless Whisper as “the song of our people”. They are sax players.
burnspbesq
@David ?▶️Hillary/Harley Quinn 2016▶️? Koch:
Go Canada! Duke needs more medals (Rebecca Quinn is a Blue Devil).
James E Powell
@p.a.:
I had one of those years ago. I remember walking into the room, seeing what looked like a garden hose coiled on a table, and thinking “Oh my . . .”
J R in WV
@khead:
Wyoming county is pretty primitive. Not surprised you saw/heard about these things. In my grade school one county over, in the 1950s, they worked pretty hard to turn everyone into Baptists, HardShell Southern Baptists. Didn’t take with me, thank FSM!
Don’t know what to do about it, either. They have also given up on FDR Democratic Party for the Whites Only Republican Party. Pretty sad. The UMWA signed a new contract the other day. It was with 5 mines. No one noticed.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@Ken:
Yeah, but knucklehead doesn’t really want to engage in meaningful dialogue; he wants to chortle over perceived failure, giggle over human suffering (those who could lose their insurance), all while his party still has not even a shred of a replacement plan. Because, uh, freedom, guns, and brass truck nuts.
TriassicSands
@debbie:
I wish you were right, but I think Garance Franke-Ruta would disagree, as would the people who shout “USA, USA, USA” at every opportunity.
Omnes Omnibus
@TriassicSands: Good job – working to be an asshole about things. We are so proud.
bjacques
@lollipopguild: We are at war with Easter. We have always been at war with Easter.
Did anyone else catch the first-ever Olympic Skeet Surfing Event?
Ian
@SFAW:
Well damn. And I assume you are of martian descent?
qwerty42
@raven: They get their asses sued in Georgia.
It’s those godless Georgians. They probably wish folks “happy holidays” too. Also.
tarragon
@Fair Economist:
Simone Manuel winning first swimming gold as an African-American?