Exclusive footage of Black America not being ready to let go of President Obama. pic.twitter.com/Pdb1dM9EHo
— Sylvia Obell (@SylviaObell) September 24, 2016
VP Biden w Ruth Bonner, 99, daughter of slave from Mississippi at African American Museum dedication ceremony today pic.twitter.com/36yoNaizxP
— petesouza (@petesouza) September 25, 2016
@AoDespair I can't recall seeing a photo vs video that had such a large difference in emotional #intensity. https://t.co/2UbdLTvzBR
— Ira Goldman (@KDbyProxy) September 25, 2016
Obama is living his best life pic.twitter.com/lHTeQsIsgt
— Colin Jones (@colinjones) September 26, 2016
What’s on the agenda for the new day?
rikyrah
Good Morning ?, Everyone ??
OzarkHillbilly
Trying not to do too much.
raven
Joe is upset that Howard Dean speculated that Trump does blow. . . then they play “Cocaine” as the bumper!!!
Ejoiner
Amazing stories from my daughter’s internship – she said she has never worked anywhere before where everyone absolutely looooooves the boss and works extra extra long hours happily for his agenda. She was at her first event yesterday as a bystander and she said it was like a rock star was in the room – everyone was thrilled and he was charming, kind and gracious to EVERYONE in the event, not just the special guests.
Ceci n'est pas mon nym
Us sane white or white-ish folks have trouble letting him go to. But Hillary will be one heck of a follow-on act, and Obama gets a lot of the credit for who she is by tempering her in the 2008 run and her years as Secretary of State.
But you guys can have dibs on the first hugs. :-)
I’m kind of looking forward to seeing the post-White House careers of both Barack and Michelle. These are two very-beloved people who are going to draw screaming fans for the rest of their lives. And I’m not ashamed, despite my supposed years, to be an idiot fanboy myself.
Luthe
I’m trying to prepare myself for the utter shitshow that will be today’s “open house” at work. *needs more caffeine*
Ceci n'est pas mon nym
OT question on the BJ lexical analysis. For some reason my name seems to be the only one that doesn’t pull up graphical results when I click on it. I got the spreadsheet and I do have numbers there, can somebody tell me how to interpret it? Unlike the graph, nobody has negative numbers in the spreadsheet. Does a 1.0 correspond to the BJ median score?
anger 0.64
anticipation 1.17
disgust 1.15
fear 0.77
joy 1.19
negative 0.78
positive 1.10
sadness 0.96
surprise 0.96
trust 1.27
Immanentize
Hello, All. The weather has turned here north of Boston — cooler and rainy. I am breathing easier after the debate and preparing the house for a visit from my in-laws from Texas. I love them dearly, but family is never quite the same as vacation.
Schlemazel
@Ejoiner:
gosh that must be nice, I wonder what that would be like. Seriously, that is very rare she should enjoy it as long as possible!
Schlemazel
@Ceci n’est pas mon nym:
Best to ask major(4) – EDIT, NM. I should have stopped there anyway
opiejeanne
@Ceci n’est pas mon nym: Nothing happens when I click my name, either.
Schlemazel
@opiejeanne:
The graph changes – you have to click your nym then look at the one graph on the page, it changes to you.
Ceci n'est pas mon nym
@Schlemazel: No, it really doesn’t. It shows whoever was the last poster I clicked on.
opiejeanne
@Schlemazel: Thanks. I didn’t even notice the graph at the side. I expected it to take me to another page.
Man, I am a disgusted, untrusting, sad person. That’s probably about right.
Kropadope
@Ceci n’est pas mon nym: Is that what major meant by saying I was joyful? Apparently I’m trusting too.
Punchy
Today I find out if I’m traveling to the UK for 2 weeks or not. Not sure if I should try driving (or just use a car service on the company dime)…can dumb Americans like myself adjust easily to their road rules?
Kay
My youngest child admires Obama. I can tell by the way he talks about him. It’s nice to have someone admirable as President. I have no reservations about him looking up this person- none. That’s what I’ll miss- just a general sense that the Obamas are good people- not perfect people but reliable, trust worthy, trying to do the right thing, acting from a good place.
I would be horrified if he admired Trump. I would actively intervene and talk him out of it simply because I don’t want him thinking that’s the way to win or be successful.
Anya
* Tears* I am going to miss President Barack Obama something fierce. We don’t deserve him but we got him when he needed him the most. He’s not perfect or a miracle worker (I mean…I didn’t get my pony or the FEMA camp for Sean Hannity, I was promised) but we are lucky to have had him. He’s incredibly decent, smart and a class act.
Jeffro
@Ceci n’est pas mon nym:
Me too (on the idiot fanboy thing). When Michelle spoke recently, the crowd started up a “four more years!” chant and you could tell by the look on her face that even if the 22nd Amendment were repealed, she and PBO would still be making exit plans. But then she said, “Barack and I will be working on your behalf for the rest of our lives”. I hope it is as liberating and rewarding for them as possible – they have more than earned it.
OzarkHillbilly
@opiejeanne:
I doubt it. It just means that at that point in time the things you were posting about elicited those emotional responses in you. If I was posting about Obama no doubt I would sound very trusting. However if I was posting about Trump….
maurinsky
@Ceci n’est pas mon nym:
My name doesn’t even show up on the list! I mean, I don’t comment often, but….
JPL
@OzarkHillbilly: That good!
Ceci n'est pas mon nym
@Punchy: People say you can adjust but I haven’t cared to risk it. Heck I have enough trouble figuring out life as a pedestrian in the UK, like which way to look for oncoming traffic or which side of the street my bus will be on.
debbie
@Ceci n’est pas mon nym:
I must have missed that graph coming out. How cool! I guess I have trust issues to work on.
Anya
@Punchy: If London is your destination don’t bother with a car. It’s way more trouble and you don’t really need it. And yes, you can but it’s tricky so if you need to drive here are some useful tips.
OzarkHillbilly
@Punchy: It takes a while to learn the rules of the road in a foreign country, especially in a city. By the time you had them down and reasonably safe as a driver for all concerned you’d be boarding your plane home.
Kay
@Jeffro:
My daughter either went to or is a going to a Michelle event in Pittsburgh (I’m not sure if it’s this week) because she “realized” they’re leaving in January :)
She’s a reliable voter but she doesn’t follow all this closely- when the Democrats lost the House and Republicans started the Abortion Trials she was like “What happened? When did they go insane?” She had started paying attention during the Reign of Pelosi. She (naturally) assumed that was the status quo.
I called her the day of the midterms and she had already voted but she had roommates then and she told me none of them voted.
amk
oh, great. now we are into psychoanalyzing peeps over innernetz ?
bystander
Moanin’ Joe wants Howard Dean to apologize for conjecturing about Trump’s cocaine use. Hillary should apologize, too! Sad!
amk
putin did it.
OzarkHillbilly
@amk: major x 4 had a project to do for class (or something like that) and he just thought it would be a fun way to do it. He’d learn something and have something to share with everyone.
NorthLeft12
Another stark contrast between Sec. Clinton and Deadbeat Donald is their demeanor and interactions with people. Ordinary people, and especially children. Hillary looks genuinely delighted to engage with people and children. Trump? Not so much.
Now I know a lot of people put this down as phony and faked, but it is my experience that you cannot successfully act like this for extended periods of time. You are either comfortable doing that or you are not. Maybe professional politicians can act this way longer than most, but my limited contacts with politicians and watching them on TV make it pretty clear which ones actually love/like the people they are serving, and which ones act like the people they interact with should be serving them.
Anya
@bystander: I guess that Trump blackmail tweet worked on Joe and Mika.
amk
@bystander: goats gonna bleat.
Iowa Old Lady
I’m still feeling post-debate afterglow. So nyah, nyah, Morning Joe.
I just opened my email and found a message from my new publisher saying my new book will be out around October 15. I was expecting November. This feels like sending a kid off to kindergarten.
Jeffro
@Kay:
“Realized”, hm? I’d kid about young folks and their time horizons but plenty of us middle-aged folks are the exact same way. =)
Big sigh…if they only knew what they could do, if they’d just take an hour to vote (much less organize, GOTV, etc). I like it when Dem speakers (whether Michelle or others) really put it on the audience to “look to your left and right and ask each other, ‘are you registered?’ ‘do you have Nov 8th marked on your calendar?’ ‘can you promise you’ll get at least 3 other people to the polls?’
Baud
@Iowa Old Lady: Congrats!
Baud
@Ceci n’est pas mon nym: No attractiveness score. Sad!
Elizabelle
Good morning all.
CNN: Jake Tapper talking about surprising Hillary’s doing as well as she is in a “change” election.
Excuse me, asshat. People want to turn the country back to the GOP? 2008 wasn’t that long ago. Obama has cleaned up a lot of damage.
Have you noticed NO ONE ever talks about the unpopularity of Republicans in Congress. It’s behind a black screen. Why is that?
satby
Happy Humpday! @rikyrah:
@Schlemazel: Hey, belatedly heard you got some good health news, congrats!
@OzarkHillbilly: rest up as much as you can! I know it’s hard for you to stay down ?
TS
@Punchy: If you’re in London, the tube much easier/faster than using a car service – especially if going into Central London. Also above ground trains & buses for outer areas. Many Londoners don’t own a car.
OzarkHillbilly
@Iowa Old Lady: congratulations
satby
@raven: fuck Joe (and lbj). But kudos to the minion who chose the bumper music!
@Iowa Old Lady: Yay! Congrats!
Iowa Old Lady
@Baud: Thank you. My first publisher closed its doors. My son says I kill restaurants. If I like it, it closes. We’ll see how the new publisher survives me.
satby
@Punchy: I was all over the southern UK for work, and trains, taxis, and the tube in London got me everywhere easily. If you’re going to be in London mostly, no car needed, but I never missed having one in the three weeks I was there, bonus is you can meet and talk to lots of folks if you want as you get around.
Kay
@bystander:
It was dumb, though. More for my ever-expanding list in the wildly over-rated Howard Dean file. I know he’s a physician but he’s not that bright. He’s not all that liberal either. I watched him a debate a conservative lawyer on the FISA court once and Dean didn’t bother to prepare and wasn’t even clear on what laws he was objecting to. He got creamed. It was embarrassing. It was clear he had no idea what he was talking about in the first 3 minutes.
I feel like he’s a good example of how the internet can create a reputation that doesn’t really exist. He may have been undone by media coverage of the scream, but liberals on the internet created a better Howard Dean than the actual reality, so he shouldn’t complain.
Baud
@Kay: I’m reluctantly coming to the view that the internet might not be right about everything.
NotoriousJRT
@raven:
I have to ask: Has anyone had the fortitude to watch this show in its entirety? 69 seconds is the most I can manage at once.
Kropadope
@NotoriousJRT: I did it once. It was the day after Obama got elected and I was in Puerto Rico, so I only had the 24 hour networks for the election and MSNBC was way less awful, on the whole, than CNN or obviously Faux news.
Betty Cracker
@Jeffro: I’m hoping one or both Obamas takes on the cause of voter empowerment in post-presidential life: voting rights, voter registration and GOTV. If we could move the needle on turnout just a little bit, it could change everything.
kirbster
I started to watch Frontline on PBS last night, but gave up when the odious Dick Morris was an interviewee at about 10 minutes in. Did anyone else get past that point? Should I give it another try?
Elizabelle
@Iowa Old Lady: Wonderful news. Happy Wednesday.
Iowa Old Lady
@satby: @OzarkHillbilly: Thank you. I’ll tell BJ when the thing is actually on Amazon.
Kay
@Baud:
There’s something about doctors in government where they feel they don’t have to prepare when they debate lawyers in government. They just have a gut feeling on these “so-called laws and such”. Rand Paul does the same thing.
Watching Rand Paul wave away 100 years of commerce clause law is a sight to behold. A study in arrogance.
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning. What’s the significance of the turtle?
Baud
@Kay: Rand! I forgot he was existed. Libertarians sure are quiet these days.
OzarkHillbilly
@Iowa Old Lady: Don’t do that. BJ might be forced to close.
Bruce K
Should have thought to ask: has anyone heard anything new about the potential government shutdown? My sweetheart back in the US will be directly affected if that happens, and I worry about it, and it’s sort of been lost in the noise of the debate…
Baud
@Bruce K: Saw a blurb about it.
JMG
@Bruce K: As of this morning, it looks as if it will be avoided. House appears to have a deal. Senate not yet,
Ex-Pralite Monk
Melbourne, Florida had its Donald Trump rally last night. By a staggering coincidence, at the same time of the rally, a bolt of lightning hit the Melbourne water treatment plant and now half the county is under a boiled water notice.
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
Joyful?
Kay
@Jeffro:
Pennsylvania has old-fashioned voting laws. They need to open up absentee and early vote. It should just be approached as a good-government, customer service thing. People love the options in Ohio. MOST people aren’t wingnut lunatics- they just want to get it done.
Baud
@Kay:
We’ll find out next month!
Kay
@Baud:
Right? Who would have guessed Republican-libertarians would go quiet when faced with an actual authoritarian?
not a peep out of them regarding Dear Leader Trump.
Matt McIrvin
@Kay: Penn Jillette has actually been talking about what a horrible person Trump is, based on his personal experience of the man. Of course, Jillette is endorsing Gary Johnson.
Baud
@Kay: Not even Gary Johnson can excite them.
Not surprised. I used to see a ton of anti-police libertarian rhetoric all over the place, until the focus shifted to treatment of minorities.
Trump is promising tax cuts and deregulation. That’s all the liberty a libertarian needs.
SFAW
@Iowa Old Lady:
I seem to have had that same effect on companies I’ve worked for. I didn’t even have the excuse of being the CXO, or having my name on the masthead (so to speak), so it’s not as if I’m emulating Corrupt Deadbeat Donnie. Is a puzzlement.
I guess I’m pleasantly surprised that I haven’t killed this blog yet.
OzarkHillbilly
Pet peeve alert, I want to strangle headline writers everywhere when I read claptrap like this: Isis poses ‘sustained’ threat to US for years to come despite loss of territory
ISIS is not, never has been, and I highly doubt they ever will be a threat to the USofA. A threat to Americans? Yes. But until they get a fleet of nuclear submarines they are ZERO threat to America.
JPL
@Bruce K: They are closer to getting it passed. Ryan needs democratic votes but until last night, refused to include funding for Flint. link
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: Johnson is doing really well for a Libertarian Party candidate, though. I think this may be the highest they’ve ever polled.
SFAW
@Baud:
Halloween? Why would that matter? Or did you mean an October Surprise?
Baud
@Matt McIrvin: I rarely come across Jilette. I assume a small minority of them are ideologically consistent.
SFAW
@Baud:
No ponies? Or would it be unicorns, for libertarians?
RSA
@OzarkHillbilly:
Actually, not even that. Sentiment analysis typically relies on a dictionary of words that have been tagged with their associated sentiment, treating a post or other text input as a “bag of words”. If I say, “Trump’s debate performance was just sad,” the term “performance” would have positive associations and “sad” negative, but it doesn’t mean that I feel that way. Because the structure of the text isn’t typically analyzed, negation is also often not handled well: “less than perfect” gets treated the same as “perfect”. (I should say that this doesn’t necessarily apply to M^4’s work, which is pretty cool; it’s just in general.)
Baud
@SFAW: Oh right. It’s still September.
@Matt McIrvin: Right, but none of that is based on libertarian policies.
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: Jillette is more of a nerd-culture hero than a political figure, but he’s huge in the organized atheist/skeptic movement, which is lousy with tech-bro-libertarian politics.
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: Yeah, it’s more “both sides” exhaustion. But it’s more common for the third-party figures who arise under these circumstances to be sui generis guys like Ross Perot or John Anderson, rather than the Libertarian candidate.
Jeffro
@Betty Cracker:
Seconded!, plus let’s add ending gerrymandering, “packing”, caging, whatever else adds to voter disenfranchisement. I think the Obamas could also help Dems thread the needle a bit on voter ID: a big majority of Americans want voters to produce some sort of ID at the polls, and that seems sensible as long as people without the usual kinds of ID have easy access to getting one or an alternative.
It’s a great issue for them with multiple ways to ‘move the needle’, as you say, and all of them are hard for the GOP to oppose without being obvious about what they’re doing.
OzarkHillbilly
@OzarkHillbilly: Another one: The world passes 400ppm carbon dioxide threshold. Permanently
Permanently? Really? Like forever? Long past the end of the solar system? Uhhhh, the sub-headline says: We are now living in a 400ppm world with levels unlikely to drop below the symbolic milestone in our lifetimes, say scientists. So ‘permanently’ now equals our lifetimes. Or less. Haven’t even begun reading the article and they’ve already contradicted themselves.
Journalism, how is it done again?
Cermet
@Ceci n’est pas mon nym: Ditto
Just One More Canuck
@SFAW: the day is young
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
Those guys tend to hate big tech providers like Comcast and Verizon, who would be completely deregulated in a GOP controlled government. That would be an interesting dynamic to watch, but not worth the price of admission.
MomSense
@OzarkHillbilly:
How are you feeling OH? Hope you are able to rest without too much pain.
Jeffro
@Baud:
They’re for gun rights…depending upon who has the guns. They’re anti-police…unless the police are knocking the right heads. They’re for tax cuts…well heck, they’re always for tax cuts; after all, “Libertarian” is short for “I REALLY don’t like paying taxes and don’t bother trying to explain to me why we all make each other pay them”.
What kills me are the folks, some Rs and some “libertarians”, who would justify their support for Trump by starting with this line: “We need somebody to shake up the system”. Maybe I’m turning into a small-c conservative Democrat in my middle age, but…what exactly needs shaking up? Today’s Democrats are better stewards of the budget than Republicans; they protect people’s rights better than Republicans; they’re for a smarter (and therefore stronger) national defense than Republicans. Why the obsession with “shaking things up”? I think it’s because they’re tired of all the partisan fighting and gridlock…but they ought to just man up and lay that blame where it truly belongs.
raven
@NotoriousJRT: I watch it every day.
OzarkHillbilly
@RSA: That was my feeling as well, but not being versed (at all) in what M4 was doing could not say.
Cermet
@Punchy: Yes, I did without an issue; however, be aware that what appear to be highways can have traffic circles! And many small roads have curbs even in the deep country side – and often little room between the curb/drive section which can be a major issue with turns. Finally, the London beltway has an unmarked toll for the main bridge that results in a huge fine if you haven’t pre-paid the toll – you can only pay the toll on-line before you use the bridge!
Matt McIrvin
@OzarkHillbilly: Permanently enough. Excess CO2 dissolves into the ocean over a period of several decades, but that reservoir is starting to back up–the turnover that circulates it into the deeper ocean takes several centuries. Basically we’re already locked into at least a thousand years of excess warming unless there’s some way to actually extract a significant amount of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and sequester it.
Baud
@Jeffro:
“Shaking up the system” is the new “states rights.” It code for stop helping those people.
Cermet
Glad I’m a near zero on all scores on the BJ lexical analysis. Hold, on a minute. Does that mean more than I realize?
SiubhanDuinne
@Ceci n’est pas mon nym:
@opiejeanne:
At least on an iPad, you have to scroll all the way to the bottom to see your own (or whatever you clicked on) graph.
MomSense
@Punchy:
Take the car service. I had enough trouble crossing streets without killing myself.
RSA
@OzarkHillbilly:
I see what you did there.
bemused
Trumpers say their vote is for Trump, for change. They say the word change a lot but none of them have any idea what that change would be or how change would work for them. I recently saw a tv reporter ask a not so white naturalized citizen who he was voting for. He said not Hillary but Trump for change. Trump talk is completely vague and empty, all illusion. They just imagine Trump change would be just what they want it to be, filling in the empty blanks themselves not getting that Trump is delivering chump change.
Jeffro
@Baud:
Hmm. I haven’t been reading it that way…I’ve been seeing it more as a lazy way for Rs and Ls to avoid confronting the actual differences in what the parties stand for, and especially in what Trump and Clinton stand for (the better to continue simpleminded ranting about paying taxes). But I guess at the root of complaints about tax paying is what the taxes go for…which leads back to what you’ve said.
Have to think about that some more. Maybe it’s both? Some folks just being naturally low-info/lazy, some folks more actively reaching for an excuse not to help those folks.
OzarkHillbilly
@MomSense: Mostly I’m tired. I run out of energy fast. I went and saw my doc yesterday and her first words to me were “So, they tried to kill you, eh?” She said I’m gonna feel this way for a couple weeks. As to the shoulder it remains about what one would expect, varying levels of pain but nothing out of line. I see the surgeon tomorrow.
Jeffro
Btw I didn’t realize what some of y’all were talking about w/ “comment scores” until just now…if I’m reading mine right, I am lower on fear and higher on positivity & trust than the average commenter. Isn’t that better summed up as ‘more naive’? LOL
Cermet
@Bruce K: A deal is close and could occur today (but will the House go along with the deal?). Hope it works. I have to show up no matter what since I am salaried.
FlipYrWhig
@Baud: After it was “states’ rights” it was “runaway spending,” to wit, spending too much money on Those People.
Patricia Kayden
@Iowa Old Lady: Congrats!! That is really great news for you.
Baud
@bemused:
Reporters constantly seek out those types of folks.
@Jeffro:
I almost respect the true anti-tax people the most. At least they are asking for something tangible for themselves.
JMG
@Jeffro: It’s the old magic wand theory. My leader will wave his wand and all will be well. Obama had to deal with that in his first term. Americans want government to be simple and to require no effort from themselves. If our system of government fails, which is now moving briskly from if to when IMO, that’ll be why.
Kay
@Baud:
My eldest is a techbro libertarian or they are his peer group judging by the people he invited to his wedding and he loves Clinton. It’s really funny. He likes what other people hate about her- he isn’t looking for “warm”- he wants steely and savvy and effective.
The same was true for me with Bill Clinton. I thought his car salesman vibe was his authentic self and the people who sneered at it were snobs.
Kropadope
@Iowa Old Lady:
I’ve been thinking that if Donald sits out the last two debates, they should just keep replaying the first one. The Don being outshone and pouting while more and more people see why would be a beautiful thing.
NickM
Re: Trump’s cocaine use. He certainly acts like he’s on something — it’s a theory with a lot of explanatory power of the things we observe about him. At the debate, with his interruptions, stream of consciousness chatter, dry mouth, sniffing and dramatic loss of energy from beginning to end certainly seemed like the performance of someone on speed or something. And Spy magazine did an in-depth story of his amphetamine abuse in 1992 (easy enough to google – I’d link but I’m not good at cyber), when he was a C-list news story and there was little political hay to be made from raising the issue. In sum, there’s far more evidence of his possible drug abuse than there was that Obama was born outside the U.S., and the consequences are immensely greater. It honestly is a legitimate avenue for investigation, IMHO.
eclare
@Iowa Old Lady: Congratulations!
Frankensteinbeck
@Baud: and @Jeffro:
‘Libertarian’ is short for ‘I’m socially aware enough to loudly proclaim I’m not a bigot, but not self-aware enough to admit I’m one of the meanest bigots around.’
OzarkHillbilly
@Matt McIrvin: There is permanent, as in forever, and there is everything else. There have been many times in the history of our planet when CO2 was over 400 PPM and then dropped. With time it will do it again, maybe not until after humans are gone, but it will happen.
If I am being a pedant about headlines (and I am) it is because the media is in the business of words and words matter. It’s not like it was a blog comment where 2-3 dozen people might read it. That shit rarely bothers me. It is a headline in a major news organization, which tens of thousands of people will read and all too many will read no further.
And this matters, really fucking matters, because if it is permanent why bother trying to fix it?
And again, my pet peeve.
OzarkHillbilly
@Cermet:
Probably less.
MomSense
@OzarkHillbilly:
Your body is working really hard at healing even if you are just sitting or lying down. I’ve been through a couple of major surgeries and it’s tough. I felt bored and exhausted at the same time. That’s when I discovered how great audio books can be. You can close your eyes and still enjoy a good book without having to hold one up.
Matt McIrvin
@Kay: Most of the techies I’ve worked with over my career here in the Northeast, who talk about politics at all, are actually liberals–though they’re wealthier-than-average liberals, and sometimes there are some associated attitudes like knee-jerk antipathy toward unions. But there’s a substantial minority of very vocal libertarians, as well as some people who sort of have the NPR-centrist “why can’t all the smart people just get in a room together” attitude.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud:
What they are asking for is all the benefits of govt without having to pay for it. I have no respect for leeches.
OzarkHillbilly
@MomSense: When I was in the hospital my wife brought her ipad for me. She had Shadow Divers on it. A great way to spend time when I just did not have the energy to read. I’d close my eyes and just get lost in the story. (and it is a great story)
OzarkHillbilly
@efgoldman: I envision them in a dinghy.
Origuy
@Punchy: If you’re staying in London or other cities, you shouldn’t need a car. The last two times I was in the UK, I spent a lot of time in rural Scotland and the North, where I did drive. On the moterways (like our freeways), it’s not a problem, just that most of the exits are on the left. Be careful coming out of car parks, that’s where I screwed up. If you are on single lane roads, there are places called laybys to pull into if you meet oncoming traffic. The rule is for the person who gets to the layby first to stop there. If the layby is on their left, they pull into it as far as they can. If the layby is on the right, they pull as far as they can to the right so that the other car can go around in the layby. You will make someone very cross if you miss that.
In the cities, be aware that you can get a ticket if caught by a camera. I drove in a bus-only lane in Manchester and got a ticket that Budget charged to my credit card and sent me a letter about. And of course, there are roundabouts everywhere. They go clockwise. Yield to anyone in the roundabout and move into the inner lane until ready to exit. They are generally well signed to indicate which exit to take.
As a pedestrian, remember to look right then left when crossing.
MomSense
@OzarkHillbilly:
I just looked it up and it does look like a great story. I think my son would enjoy it, too. Lately he is mainly reading fantasy, and assigned books of course, but I think he would find that interesting.
rikyrah
Singing like a canary:
Christie aide: Governor knew about Bridgegate scheme at the time
09/27/16 12:40 PM
By Steve Benen
As the “Bridgegate” scandal started to unfold, it wasn’t long before the obvious question emerged: what did New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) know and when did he know it? Of particular interest was a photograph showing Christie alongside two of his top aides, David Wildstein and Bill Baroni, at an event on the morning of Sept. 11, 2013.
The timing and the personnel matter: Wildstein and Baroni were integrally involved in hatching the scheme to cripple Fort Lee, New Jersey, and their plan was underway when they saw Christie that morning. Did the governor’s aides let Christie know what they were up to at the time? This morning, Wildstein testified under oath that they brought the governor up to speed. NJ.com reported today:
As Wildstein put it, the three of them joked about the tactics on the third day of the deliberate scheme.
maryQ
Aww, Michele-I will join you at pretty much anything.
I am so going to miss these people. And while I am enthusiastic about the kind of President that I think Hilary Clinton will be, I would love to somehow get through the next four to eight years without thinking about Bill. He was an OK president as well, but the drama, the constant drama, was Just Too Much.
JMG
@Matt McIrvin: The belief that politics should be simpler than it is is just as prevalent among smart, successful people as in the rest of the populace. It’s an American myth that predates the Constitution.
rikyrah
Quick Takes: Another Bombshell About the Trump Foundation
by Nancy LeTourneau
September 27, 2016 4:24 PM
* Lost in all the chatter about the debate, David Fahrenthold dropped yet another bombshell about the Trump Foundation.
Donald Trump’s charitable foundation has received approximately $2.3 million from companies that owed money to Trump or one of his businesses but were instructed to pay Trump’s tax-exempt foundation instead, according to people familiar with the transactions.
In cases where he diverted his own income to his foundation, tax experts said, Trump would still likely be required to pay taxes on the income. Trump has refused to release his personal tax returns. His campaign said he paid income tax on one of the donations, but did not respond to questions about the others.
OldDave
@maurinsky:
Yah, me too. Back to lurking about …
NorthLeft12
@Punchy: UK road rules; I found it easier than I thought it would be. My wife and I drove over 5,000 kilometers in three weeks [I did all the actual driving] with little [lost the cover on the passenger side mirror when I got too close to a hedge] issue. I had a manual transmission too, which I love to use.
Basically, you just follow the traffic. I only went the wrong way once when there was no other traffic around. English drivers are outstandingly good. Much better than the average Canadian, American, or Italian in my experience.
schrodinger's cat
@JMG: Not just an American myth, its pretty universal. Its the spirit that animates Aam Aadmi Party in India too, whose entire platform is that politicians are corrupt sweep them all out and vote us in.
Most AAP legislators have zero experience, they are currently in charge of the state government in Delhi and voters are finding that they are more inept than either the Congress or BJP (the mainstream parties)
rikyrah
Trump Seems Unconcerned About Gender Gap
by Martin Longman
September 27, 2016 4:03 PM
I’m not a woman but I do know a few, and they seem to have a common experience with being interrupted by men, particularly in business settings, that they have no reticence about sharing with me. So, watching Trump talk over Clinton repeatedly last night probably triggered a lot of people and made them vastly less inclined to like him
If that wasn’t bad enough, Trump is still insulting a former Miss Universe, accusing her on Fox & Friends this morning of gaining fifty pounds and being the worst winner in the history of the pageant. Considering that Machado went on to have a very successful career in soap operas and appeared in Playboy ten years after she supposedly “plumped up,” I have a hard time believing Trump is even telling the truth about the extent of her weight gain (not that being truthful would help in this case).
OzarkHillbilly
@MomSense: How old is he? It could give him nightmares about the real world terrors of the deep. Without realizing it, you will find yourself holding your breath.
bemused
@Baud:
Plenty homegrown local folks in my small town/rural area who say they want Trump change. Not many reporters to seek them out but they are diligent at writing rants in local papers. What they mean by change, imo, is sticking it to libtards, environwackos, equal rights advocates, etc. who they blame and hate for everything they think is wrong and unamerican. I suspect that Trump changers across the country have same motives.
rikyrah
Team Trump has adultery on its mind
09/28/16 08:43 AM—UPDATED 09/28/16 09:11 AM
By Steve Benen
Towards the end of Monday’s presidential debate, Donald Trump was clearly annoyed by Hillary Clinton’s criticism of his misogyny, but he declared to the audience that he would not say what he wanted to say. “You want to know the truth?” he asked rhetorically, “I was going to say something extremely rough to Hillary, to her family, and I said to myself, ‘I can’t do it. I just can’t do it. It’s inappropriate. It’s not nice.’”
The next morning, Trump’s campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, appeared on MSNBC and told a national television audience that the Republican was referring to Bill Clinton’s adultery. It was apparently “inappropriate” to bring this up on Monday night, but not on Tuesday morning.
Nevertheless, Team Trump seemed quite excited yesterday to generate chatter about the topic Trump “was going to” bring up during the debate. Politico had this report yesterday:
Some skepticism is probably in order – largely because I find it hard to imagine Democrats getting this lucky.
Major Major Major Major
@Ceci n’est pas mon nym: Well, we’ll see if this gets to everybody!
On the spreadsheet 1.0 is the median. I subtracted 1 for display purposes.
As for folks not seeing it when you click your name, apostrophes in user names are a known bug, as are emojis. I went in and fixed a few by hand but didn’t get them all. Otherwise you could just be having a browser issue, and maybe try another one? Keep in mind that the graph updates but the window doesn’t actually scroll anywhere.
If you’re not on the list you didn’t leave at least 100 comments in the last four months. Sorry, I had to cut it off somewhere, there were thousands of commenters. The spreadsheet will have you though.
OldDave
@Origuy:
True Story. I nearly lost my toes once in London after looking the wrong way out of habit. I’ve not tried driving there, but found a ride around taken while sitting in the front passenger seat both instructive and terrifying.
liberal
@bemused: Sorry, motive isn’t the issue. Stupidity is the issue.
rikyrah
Donald Trump Just Had His Worst Hair Day, and It Had Nothing to Do with His Hair
Spandan Chakrabarti
September 27, 2016
Hillary Clinton flattened Donald Trump last night.
There is very little doubt even in the Trump supporting camps that Hillary Clinton won the first Presidential debate on policy. But policy was never Trump’s strong suit. He is the candidate of the gut voter. That is where Clinton obliterated Donald Trump: style.
By all accounts, Hillary Clinton prepared for two Trumps to show up on the debate stage: one, Trump’s natural cocky, belligerent, easily agitated self, or two, a makeover Trump that is more subdued in an attempt to appear presidential. I think it’s fair to say, however, that no one has to guess twice about which Trump the Clinton campaign preferred would show.
So when Trump tried to appear calmer and subdued in the first few minutes of the debate, Hillary Clinton did a masterful job of setting all the right traps to bring out Trump’s insolent, childish, asshat self.
And boy did Donald take the bait.
From forcing Trump to respond to daddy’s “small loan” of $14 million to exposing him for stiffing people who did work for him, objectifying and demeaning women and calling The Donald a racist to his face, Clinton was on her game while Trump looked like a floundering, petulant, flustered and thirsty manchild. From inexplicably defending Russia against hacking into the United States and explaining that nearly a billion dollars in debt to foreign banks is “really not that much” money to astoundingly admitting that his lawyers have spotted something so nefarious in his tax returns that they are advising him to keep them secret and bafflingly chest-beating about being a tax cheat, Trump was in a meltdown mood the whole time.
rikyrah
When Trump said that not paying taxes ‘makes me smart,’ undecided voters in N.C. gasped
CARY, N.C. — Donald Trump so captured Ron Townley’s attention as “an outsider ready to tear down the system,” just the one who might break the Washington logjam, the doer to build new airports and highways, that he was considering voting for him.
But Trump’s response Monday night when Hillary Clinton accused him of not paying a cent of federal tax left Townley appalled.
“That makes me smart,” Trump said, unapologetic and smiling, during the presidential debate, held in Hempstead, N.Y.
That comment caused a gasp in the hotel conference room where Townley and five other undecided voters in this battleground state were watching the debate.
“That’s offensive. I pay taxes,” said Townley, 52, a program director for a local council of governments.
“Another person would be in jail for that,” said Jamilla Hawkins, 33, who was sitting beside him in the Crescent conference room at the Embassy Suites in this city of 150,000 near Raleigh.
Hawkins’s mother had chided her to get off the fence and support Clinton, but the 33-year-old felt no connection to the Democratic nominee. “I just wasn’t sold on her. A lot of my friends were on the Bernie Sanders train,” she said.
But Hawkins said the debate made her appreciate Clinton more. She said she now leans toward voting for her — a feeling shared by most of the undecided voters gathered here for an informal focus group.
eclare
@rikyrah: Here’s hoping! I have no worries she is “over-prepared”.
NotMax
Another voice heard from.
liberal
@Kay:
Whence the “but”? Most physicians aren’t all that bright.
bemused
@liberal:
Or excuse. Motive is just a reason to do something, hidden or not. Doesn’t mean that stupidity doesn’t enter in which it certainly does with wingnuts and bigots.
eclare
@Major Major Major Major: I found it very interesting and easy to use. Thank you!
liberal
@Betty Cracker:
LOL. Barack is going to be too busy with his new life as a venture capitalist.
hovercraft
@Iowa Old Lady:
Congrats!!!
amk
@liberal: And you know this how? Moron.
Major Major Major Major
@amk: I’m willing to award a point for creativity on that one.
Kay
@liberal:
People always say it about Dean and Paul. “Did you know he’s a DOCTOR?”
Yeah. I did. I also know Howard Dean just made an internet diagnosis, the sort of behavior that is sadly not unusual for him.
MomSense
@OzarkHillbilly:
Almost 13. About three or four years ago he was swimming in the ocean off a dock. He got out of the water and watched as a fisherman pulled two yuuge stripers out of the water. His eyes widened as he realized they were swimming with him.
I think he will find it fascinating and have to comfort me because I will be freaked out.
maryQ
@rikyrah: Please let this be a campaign commercial. Please.
aimai
All these photos have special meaning for me now that I am in Social Work school and we are talking all the time about Community Organizing and what it takes to motivate people for change. Last night we were watching a documentary about the young people (high school students) involved in Selma and on the bridge with John Lewis on Bloody Sunday. It is especially moving to see these images of President Obama and Michelle and John Lewis and the dedication of the Museum. We have come so far as a country–there will always be people trying to drag us back but, from a Community Organizing and Strengths perspective, we have to always remember how far we have come, how hard people have fought, how strong people are in order to keep fighting against this current tide of Trumpism. Some of the younger people in class–well, they are ALL younger!–don’t have any historical memory before President Obama, really. And so Trumpism and Ferguson and the murder of Trayvon Martin and Charlotte have hit them especially hard. They really feel that nothing has gotten better. Watching Selma with them seemed to make them despair even more as though seeing how long the fight has been made them think that it has never changed terrain, or that it can’t be won. Battle after battle and yet no end in sight. But I think John Lewis and President Obama see things differently: battle after battle, inch by inch, taking new territory, creating new fighters, winning new (and in some cases unimagined) fights for new kinds of people. Incorporating more and more people in our beloved community.
Kay
@rikyrah:
As far as I’m concerned this puts Christie into “Trump Category” liar. Go back and look at all those public denials.
Chris Christie is a world-class liar. He’s up there with the greats. Freaking psycho.
hovercraft
@Elizabelle:
The GOP are the party of the Presidency, so the beltway idiots are always on the lookout (aiding) for things to revert to the ‘norm’. Obama has bored them for eight years, no great scandals, no exciting no wars, Libya doesn’t count because we were never really in it. And the Clintons are so 90s who wants to go back there, and Bill has probably calmed down and is keeping it in his pants. Trump would be really exciting, he would be a welcome ‘change’ for the media. We might all die, but hey it would be exciting. Assholes.
Major Major Major Major
@Kay: Not to mention Ben Carson.
@rikyrah: @RSA: This is correct. It’s just a toy!
OzarkHillbilly
Trump boasts after first debate against Clinton: ‘I didn’t want to embarrass her’
He really is a 7 year old getting up off the ground after having his ass kicked by a girl.
MomSense
@Kay:
His lying is all the more egregious considering his RNC convention speech. I’m still fuming about that spectacle.
OzarkHillbilly
@MomSense: I was reading such books by then. If he is anything like me…. You are in trouble. ;-)
Kay
@aimai:
I’m glad you will be a social worker. You’ll be great.
magurakurin
@NickM:
spy magazine article link
Kay
@OzarkHillbilly:
Threats! She’s supposed to be afraid of what he reveals. That’s how he operates. If people don’t see this they’re dopes. He’s 70. This is his MO.
I’m to the point where I believe the only person who will stand up to him is Hillary Clinton. Maybe it was fated. Thank fucking God she’s not warm and cuddly. He’d roll right over her like he did the entire GOP field and all of media.
aimai
@rikyrah: You really wonder how a scoop this big gets “lost” in the media shuffle. I mean–its actually literally immoral how little coverage Trump has gotten for real scandals, especially when you compare it to things like whitewater, travel gate, and e-ghazi. Unbefuckingbelievable–Trump commits straightforward, easy to understand and easy to verify literal fraud and the media attention on it is silence.
Wapiti
@NorthLeft12: My wife and a friend used a car in Ireland. Their after-trip thoughts were: having two people was useful, one to drive and the other to remind the driver of the rules. They started in the country and only ended up with city driving near the end of the trip, which probably made it less painful.
aimai
@Kay: Thank you Kay! I am loving it–loving the classes, the readings, and the incredible (young!) people all around me who are so exceptional and so dedicated.
Kay
@MomSense:
The day before the lie was revealed he was on CNN ranting about Clinton’s ethical values.
Psycho. It’s scary that he was a US Attorney. They’re really powerful. He’ll just steal money as governor. As a US attorney he can put you away for life.
schrodinger's cat
@aimai: Did you watch Frontline, yesterday? Plus, Judy’s tongue baths to right wingers are kinda getting increasingly nauseating for me.
Matt McIrvin
@JMG: With educated intellectuals it’s associated with the “Idiocracy” attitude that our politics is awful because it’s dominated by stupid people, and if smart people just took over things would be much better.
gvg
I hope the media and our people don’t make the Obama’s into the Kennedy’s after office. It makes me cringe to hear comments about Michele’s clothes. I swear, I think the citizen fans aided my lazy media, ruined the living Kennedy’s lives. I admire Obama alot and respect him but think it’s unhealthy to consider oneself “fans”.
Selfishly I want him to work on causes I care about. Like getting more democrats elected so government can work.
satby
Booman linked to this a few days ago and it’s good ; as is Martin’s post on it.
Weaselone
@OzarkHillbilly:
CO2 levels follow a seasonal trend, decreasing during the summer in the Northern Hemisphere. I expect that the use of “permanent” just meant that seasonal variations would no longer drop the atmospheric concentration below 400 PPM during any part of the year.
Kay
@aimai:
We have some great ones. Ours unionized last year which made me smile. I knew exactly who ran that quiet campaign and I was right.
I was in the courthouse elevator with 2 wingnut county commissioners and they could not believe these nice women had betrayed them in this fashion, with all these “demands”. I was standing there smirking.
Patricia Kayden
@rikyrah: Secretary Clinton should talk about Guiliani’s decision to cheat on his first wife and then kick her out of the Governor’s mansion to install his mistress (current wife) if Trump brings up President Clinton’s affairs at any future debate. Ditto Trump’s indiscretions and philandering. The nerve they have to even think they can shame Secretary Clinton because her husband cheated on her.
schrodinger's cat
@Matt McIrvin: I guess politics is the only field where lack of relevant experience is considered a plus.
Again going to the AAP example Kejriwal is an IITian and was in the Indian civil service both of which have killer entrance exams to get into but he has been a total blunderbuss as a politician. He is like Jill Stein with a mustache and a broom (AAP’s symbol)
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay: I took it as “I could have beat her but, you know, hitting girls is wrong.” after all, that’s what I said in the 1st grade. ;-)
Matt McIrvin
@hovercraft:
Which is how you can tell they’re stuck perpetually in the 1970s-80s, when you could make a good argument that the Republicans really were the party of the Presidency. (Now their real power base is in the House of Representatives.)
Patricia Kayden
@rikyrah:
Because it’s hilarious to inconvenience hundreds of people on a bridge for hours at a time, including children, the elderly and those who have serious illnesses, to lash out at a political opponent. Sociopaths.
aimai
@schrodinger’s cat: No, I have class until 9 pm Mondays and Tuesdays. I’m knocked out by the time I get home. No TV for me unless its reruns of The Blacklist on Netflix.
OzarkHillbilly
@Weaselone: In which case, somebody needs to teach them what a fn’ dictionary is and how to use it. Seriously, this is their fucking job. If I had built houses the way they write, I’d have been a janitor.
Matt McIrvin
@Patricia Kayden: There’s a danger here; if Clinton takes the bait and returns sleaze for sleaze, a lot of potential supporters are just going to react with disgust to the whole race and tune out. There’s already a lot of “I hate both of these candidates because the campaign is so unpleasant and negative,” which I think fuels the impulse to vote third-party as a “none of the above” or to not vote.
MomSense
@OzarkHillbilly:
Well his oldest brother is currently climbing big mountains in the Canadian Rockies. His girlfriend told a friend they had a “bear encounter”. He casually mentioned something about repairing the tent. I don’t know if those two things are connected or not.
SenyorDave
Wow, Arizona Republic endorsed Clinton, has endorsed Republicans since the 1890’s. Thisis what they said:
“Since The Arizona Republic began publication in 1890, we have never endorsed a Democrat over a Republican for president. Never. This reflects a deep philosophical appreciation for conservative ideals and Republican principles. This year is different. The 2016 Republican candidate is not conservative and he is not qualified,” the editorial said.
Interesting that old fashioned newspapers actually seem to have some principle (at least their editorial boards).
Chris
@NorthLeft12:
I agree.
Mitt Romney tried to look like a human being, and failed; he came off as a stiff-assed douchebag who clearly didn’t want to be there. George W. Bush, as many flaws as he had, came off like he genuinely enjoyed “pressing the flesh.”
(I loathe them both, so I feel like I’m not being influenced by my personal feelings in distinguishing them).
amk
@Patricia Kayden: She is not going to get into the mud with a pig.
Some one posted here a very good zinger.
You do not declare bankruptcy on a marriage, donald.
That should do it.
Iowa Old Lady
@OzarkHillbilly: BJ is my support group. :-)
Ruckus
@Punchy:
It’s fairly easy in the country, not as much fun in the city to drive on the wrong side of the road. When I say wrong side it’s them that does this. Of course they say this about us.
Really the rules aren’t much different, the side of the road you drive on is/can be.
The Very Reverend Crimson Fire of Compassion
@Ceci n’est pas mon nym: Hey, at least you’re ON the danged list. We lurkers have to be content with basking in YOUR reflected glory, y’know.
OzarkHillbilly
@schrodinger’s cat:
I had this conversation with my brother. Explained to him the fact that because of term limits we no longer elect the people running our state house and senate. Their aides, who were the aides to the previous Rep or Sen, do.
Kay
I love how we’re all pretending Ailes suffered some great loss of influence from being revealed as a disgusting pig who terrorizes female employees.
He’s running Donald Trump’s campaign. He hasn’t lost any influence or power at all in the GOP.
If Trump is elected this alleged “pariah” will be running a country that is 50% women. This freaking predator is running a major Party campaign while the special snowflake white male voters are all anyone talks about.
MomSense
@Kay:
Wasn’t he one of the US Attorneys who was not replaced by the Bush admin? I inferred that meant he was willing to go along with the voter fraud witch hunt that targeted Democrats.
sigaba
I have to run around this morning and make sure the stage is ready Thursday for a remix, of our Christian movie which has FINALLY found a distributor (we gotta put the logo on reel 1 and redo the deliverables).
After that I have to figure out how to replace some music with sound design in the new project. We’re doing a quickie temp so they have something to submit to Sundance next week.
Major Major Major Major
@satby: thanks, I really enjoyed reading that. I will say though that what happens with the first comment to it is why I’m glad BJ has never switched to threaded comments.
Major Major Major Major
@The Very Reverend Crimson Fire of Compassion: I link to a spreadsheet! FFS :)
OzarkHillbilly
@MomSense: My little brother was ‘attacked’ by a bear while in his tent. He woke up to hear something outside and sat up to see what it was. The bear heard him moving and pounced on top of him, then took off. Poor little bro didn’t even have a scar to show for it, just some welts on his back.
schrodinger's cat
@aimai: You missed nothing. FL covered Trump as a lovable rogue and HRC as a conniving Lady Macbeth.
hovercraft
@Kay:
Yes I’m sure she’s shaking in her boots, because he’s going to ‘reveal’ that she stood up for her marriage and husband. Do they know that this woman has been called everything under the sun, and as far as I can recall has never had a public eruption. If he attacks, and she becomes emotional, how does he think that will look to the nation? This towering raging asshole, yelling at a woman about her husband cheating on her, rubbing her face in it? Please proceed Mr Trump, that wil be a winning move for you.
SenyorDave
@Kay: If Trump is elected this alleged “pariah” will be running a country that is 50% women. This freaking predator is running a major Party campaign while the special snowflake white male voters are all anyone talks about.
My wife is not into politics much, and was amazed when I explained the whole Ailes situation to her. Her comment was maybe Hillary should bring it up in the debates, and I said it was tough because there might not be a context.
She said something to the effect that maybe she could ask Trump if steps were taken to make sure that Ailes was not in a one-on-one situation with any woman involved with the campaign, since there are very credible allegations of harassment against him, including financial settlements based on his harassment. I though hmm…
schrodinger's cat
@OzarkHillbilly: He got a real bear hug! What kind of a bear black or grizzly?
Major Major Major Major
@OzarkHillbilly: that’s horrifying.
hovercraft
@Matt McIrvin:
Exactly, unfortunately the GOP base and their media fanboys haven’t realized this yet. So long as the demographics keep moving the way they are, the electoral advantage the democrats have will only get stronger until the GOP takes a deep breath and makes real changes. Eventually the same thing will happen in the states, as the cities become more and more diverse, both parties will have to make adjustments, the urban rural divide is creating gridlock.
OzarkHillbilly
@Ruckus: Seeing as it was the Germans who invented the damn thing, the right side is the side they drive on.
Major Major Major Major
Sam Wang points out in a comment thread that the way senate polls track so closely with presidential polls suggests 1) ticket-splitting isn’t very prevalent and 2) unlimited! corporate! cash! doesn’t actually do anything. ?
@OzarkHillbilly: pretty sure Germans didn’t invent roads or picking one side.
schrodinger's cat
@Punchy: I tried driving in India in Mumbai, they too drive on the right side of the road. It was easier in the suburbs, harder in the city proper. Public transport or cabs are much better anyway in any city, you don’t have to worry about parking for one.
OzarkHillbilly
@schrodinger’s cat: A young (2-3 yo iirc) black bear
@Major Major Major Major: It was for the bear. It was the 3rd incident so they put it down.
Kay
@hovercraft:
I’m impressed by how tough she is. That was the claim in the ’08 primary but I didn’t see it so I didn’t believe it.
Her complete lack of fear impresses me. Trump had freaking Jeb Bush cowering. Jeb bush has been a powerful person a long time. He couldn’t handle Trump at all. Clinton is unbowed.
aimai
@Matt McIrvin: I think we have to admit that a lot of (fucking moron white people) are looking for a reason not to have to vote and to choose. Voting seems fun, for a while, when candidates are posing and posturing for you and offering to do shit for you and the country. Some people LOVE that feeling that they are being personally pandered to and that their personal vote and imprimatur of approval is wanted/needed/desired by the candidate and by other people intheir social circle. But then the truth is they get tired of it. They get tired of people talking at them about important, confusing, boring, stuff like policy when they really just want to feel like they are getting to choose Miss America and that she will give them a blow job afterwards out of gratitude. Sometimes these people don’t pay attention until the public pressure to choose gets to be too high and they are pushed into saying that they have an opinion. Sometimes they get tired and frightened because they are being asked (or feel they are being asked) to publicly choose and therefore to expose, in a sense, what their values are.
So they turn their fear and self loathing (because they don’t really have any judgment or values and in their heart they know it) onto the candidate and the parties and the press. IF only we had a better candidate I would be able to choose and I could be proud of myself for choosing! If only we had a better press I could choose and everyone would applaud my wisdom and thank me for the hard work of voting!
In this election, this kind of middle of the roader/swing voter/ undecided voter is especially absurd because they obviously have all the information they need but they are pretending they don’t. Because they fear voting for Trump because its obviously an obscenity and they don’t want to choose Hillary because people in their lives, who they feel responsible to, are telling them that that is a bad choice too. So obviously they are going to flail around trying to find an excuse for not choosing.
It has nothing to do with the candidates. This is a psychodrama of stupid, venal, moronic, childish, cowardice on the part of a large number of our co-citizens. They don’t really want the power of the vote at all and they will do and say anything to get out from under excercising it.
amk
Pepe the Frog branded a ‘hate symbol’.
mission accomplished, assholes.
hovercraft
@Patricia Kayden:
The constituents in Fort Lee are very democratic, and the way they did the “traffic study”, it was primarily local traffic that was affected. So to these heartless assholes, they were punishing democratic voters. Funny thing though, Lying Christie was supposed to be able to get democrats to vote for him, in what world did they think this wouldn’t eventually get out? After which how many democrats would vote for him? His presidential chances were always overblown, just like that other asshole from across the river. Gulliani and him deserve the just deserts they are getting now, having to bow a scrape before the short fingered vulgarian is poetic justice.
OzarkHillbilly
@Major Major Major Major: Karl Benz invented the first car. Pretty soon there after they had to decide which side to drive it on. Germans being German and prizing efficiency and order, I feel it is safe to say they did. :-)
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay: I have always been impressed with how tough she is. I went with Obama in ’08 because I did not want to go thru ’92-’00 again (and other reasons too) and naively thought with Obama we wouldn’t have to. I know better now.
Major Major Major Major
@OzarkHillbilly: I thought we already had like municipal things saying which side of the street your horse goes on and stuff though.
MattF
Another WaPo article about, erm, ‘unusual’ stuff going on with the Trump Foundation. In this case, a Trump employee claims that the $10,000 portrait purchased by the foundation is just being ‘stored’ in that casino. An expert on tax law comments:
MattF
Ugh. Wrote a comment with a forbidden word.
hovercraft
@Kay:
I want to grow a hide that thick when I finish growing up.
Mike J
Fire up the
batOmnes signal.Kathleen Hennessey Verified account @khennessey
OAKLAND, Md. (AP) — A group of clowns has decided not to take part in a parade amid a rash of creepy clown sightings across several states.
MomSense
@OzarkHillbilly:
That’s the stuff of nightmares for a mom. Wow he was lucky. I even saw a small black bear this summer but it was moving quickly away from us. My dog was on hyper alert and acting strangely long before I saw it.
Matt McIrvin
@aimai: What kills me is that so many of them are, in every other way that counts, smart people. And they think they’re being the smartest kid in the room by being so above it all, when really they’re running on these simple gut aversions.
OzarkHillbilly
@Major Major Major Major: Details details, there you go again using logic.
aimai
@Matt McIrvin: Yes, I agree. I encountered some fucking stupid “both sides do it” and “we need a better debate system” from the lovely lefty social work students yesterday (they were half ex bernie babies). I had to give them “this is not a case of both sides do it” with both barrels. It was like being the old witch at a teen fairy convention.
MattF
@aimai: That said, it’s an unfortunate fact that elections are decided by people who can’t make up their minds– for whatever reason. I had some hope that this particular political truism wouldn’t be true in this year-of-Trump, but it seems to have emerged, once again.
Matt McIrvin
@hovercraft:
Unless the Republicans at some point have a lucky break, take complete control again and dismantle or rig the democratic process so badly that demographics don’t actually matter any more. In the House they managed to future-proof themselves probably for decades.
StringOnAStick
@MomSense: Seconded that Shadow Divers is a great read, just finished it last month and my husband and I are still talking about it. There is a 2 hour NOVA special related to the story too, but the book is just part of that video. Makes the video much more interesting for sure.
schrodinger's cat
@MomSense: I saw a black bear fambly on the green by the side of the interstate near Bangor once. They wuz cute and cuddly.
OzarkHillbilly
@StringOnAStick:
I’m going to have to find that. Do you recall the title of it?
Mnemosyne
@hovercraft:
One of the reasons Bill Clinton’s speech at the DNC was so powerful was that it was all about how she had made him a better man, and he very clearly loves her despite his peccadilloes. They thought their marriage was worth fighting for, so they put the work in and saved it. I still don’t get why conservatives think that was a bad thing.
aimai
@Mnemosyne: They don’t think its a bad thing. They are intensely jealous–they always were jealous of Clinton as a hound dog and of HRC for standing by him.
01jack
@OzarkHillbilly: “Hitler’s Lost Sub” (2000). I don’t see it available for streaming on Netflix or Amazon, though.
Chris
@OzarkHillbilly:
I really wish it were politically acceptable to point out the obvious, that al-Qaeda and Daesh pose no more direct threat to the U.S. than a nasty crime wave. (Wasn’t around for the seventies and eighties, but I suspect the crime problem of that era killed a lot more Americans than terrorism in the last fifteen years, even including 9/11).
As a threat to our interests in the Middle East, yes (and a threat to the people in the region, definitely), but that’s different from the kind of “ISIS under your bed” hysteria Trump’s feeding on.
Botsplainer
@MomSense:
Those subs are some crazy diving. Lots of ways to die, and they tend to be really silty, with a ton of equipment snagging protrusions without much in the way of exit spaces.
Anybody who has dived a cave or wreck can attest – it’s a whole ‘nother level of difficult.
hovercraft
@Matt McIrvin:
A truly terrifying prospect. If we can motivate enough of our people for the next two elections, and keep the White House out of their hands, we will be okay. Given that the South and the Southwest are moving in our direction, we should be able to heave at least a fifty fifty shot at the senate, and that means the judiciary. The only thing the GOP cares about as much as the presidency is the judiciary. At some point they will change, they have to. If we lose the presidency then we are screwed.
FlipYrWhig
@Chris: Trump is deliberately merging “ISIS” (a small number of people) with “refugees” (a very small number of people) and “Muslims” (a very very large number of people), whipping up fear that all of Those People will come to America with bombs, guns, and knives, and all his fans repeat it.
D58826
ffrom NYT
Sound famaliar
paywall
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/28/books/hitler-ascent-volker-ullrich.html?wpmm=1&wpisrc=nl_daily202
hovercraft
@Mnemosyne:
They have the ‘wrong’ type of marriage, she is an equal partner, that is not the preferred model. If she was powerful but seen as a wife and mother first, that would be one thing, but she’s always been her own woman. She sets a bad example for women. Women are supposed to honor and obey, she shows women how to be independent within a marriage. They resent her staying because they think/ thought that if she had divorced him, she would have split up the dynamic that is the ‘Clintons’. They rightly see them as a unit that beat them at every turn. They resent that she didn’t do the divide part for them, as a unit they fear they cannot defeat them. If she had left, that would have diminished both of them.
Chris
@Jeffro:
I’m pretty sure Democrats have been the more small-C conservative party for decades. Less military adventurism, less political radicalism, less demanding that we burn the whole thing down and start over. Even the budget deficit tends to get better under Democrats than under Republicans. If you’re temperamentally conservative, if you value caution and restraint in your politics, if you prefer to change things by tinkering within the system than by tearing down whole chunks of it, if you think our economy shouldn’t be a Las Vegas casino and our foreign policy shouldn’t be run by Zapp Brannigan, then the Democrats are by far the better fit for you.
That’s in no small part why I’m one, as well.
NorthLeft12
@TS: I agree to some extent. Using a personal car in London is madness. Their outstanding transit choices make travelling around the city a breeze and very affordable. However, once you get outside the cities, a car is a must if you want to enjoy the scenery and efficiently travel to many of the wonderful tourist sites [Stonehenge, great houses, cathedrals, castles, etc.].
Yes, the buses and trains provide much better service than we are used to in North America, but it is still confining IMO.
My rental car was very cheap. Maybe $600 Canadian for three weeks. Not including the expensive gasoline costs.
Mnemosyne
@aimai:
I don’t think it’s quite jealousy, but I’m not sure what the right word would be. I don’t think that, say, Newt Gingrich regrets giving his first wife divorce papers while she was still hospitalized after cancer surgery.
I think they feel like he’s letting down the side and not upholding Bros Before Hoes. He’s not letting them get away with their excuses for why they have to constantly be on the prowl for their next ex-wife. If he had divorced Hillary and married a much younger woman, they would be thrilled at the confirmation that they really can’t help themselves and it’s not their fault — it’s just how men are, baby!
But he didn’t — the Clintons worked on their marriage and came through it stronger than ever. And if there’s one thing conservatives hate, it’s thinking they might be expected to take responsibility for their own behavior.
schrodinger's cat
@Mnemosyne: The story that they tell themselves is that she is a power hungry conniving bitch who stayed with Bill because of her ambition.
Uncle Cosmo
@Punchy: Yes you can.
First time I drove in Yerp was in Northern Ireland, a Ford Focus 4-speed manual shift. (Cheap barstid that I am, when I found out I could get the stick for a whole weekend for the automatic’s daily cost…) It took about 5 minutes to get comfortable with the floor shift & clutch. (NB the pedals are in the same configuration as in the US, & the shift works the same way, only you have to work it with the wrong, i.e., not right, i.e., left hand. I didn’t find this much of a problem, but it may have been an advantage that I hadn’t driven a stick for ages & had no reflexes to counter.)
As long as there is traffic on the road (with or against you) you’ll have no trouble staying to the wrong, i.e., not right, i.e., left side of the roadway–just ape the natives. Be very careful when the road is deserted though, that’s when instincts developed over a driving lifetime take over. Especially in empty roundabouts–remember to turn to the left or you will cause cars approaching from other directions to screech to a halt, shake fists & scream Goddamn Yank! (Happened to me on the way to the Giants’ Causeway.)
Whenever you encounter a zebra crossing (lines across the roadway) or pelican crossing (flashing light), stop for any pedestrian in or about to step into the roadway. Period.
Also try to keep as close to the edge of the lane on the driver’s side as you can. Yanks routinely shy away from the centre ;^) line, which is why all rental cars have breakaway side-view mirrors on the opposite side, for those instances when we bash them into telephone poles or such. Something to do with viewing angles out the right-hand windows, I think.
Another thing: If you are the type who frequently checks your rear-view mirrors, you will have to discipline yourself to look leftward instead of right. I found this more disconcerting than anything else.
Then there’s the terminology, which is essentially a foreign language:
(More Brit to Yank here)
You’ll manage; have at!
schrodinger's cat
@Chris: ISIS is not an existential crisis for the United States neither was AQ.
Major Major Major Major
@FlipYrWhig: there’s orders of magnitude more refugees than ISIS members, I think.
opiejeanne
@rikyrah: On the third day of the Bridgegate scheme? I thought it only lasted a single day, and that was bad enough, but three days of that?
Or do I misunderstand?
Elizabelle
@SenyorDave:
@Kay:
Noticed after the debate that CBS or CNN reported that Ailes had helped prepare Trump without ever mentioning that he’d recently been forced out of Fox due to sexual harrassment allegations. They just left the impression that Ailes was campaign/broadcast pro.
This from an industry that is breathless, breathless about Hillary “emails” Clinton. I mean, it’s 13 words to inform viewers of what kind of professional Donald Trump turns to.
FlipYrWhig
@Major Major Major Major: True, I meant refugees coming to America, but even then I may be wrong about the relative scale. Still, Muslims are a billion people, and not all Muslims who set foot in America are refugees or terrorists or terrorists pretending to be refugees or poisoned Skittles or whatnot.
FlipYrWhig
@Elizabelle: Yeah, I’m actually pretty surprised that Trump’s reliance on Ailes and his own particular disgustingness, which amplifies Trump’s own, isn’t heard about more.
Major Major Major Major
@FlipYrWhig: ah, that makes sense.
Uncle Cosmo
@Punchy: Also, co-sign the notion to eschew a self-directed vehicle in Greater London. Not worth the hassle. Plus congestion charges. Get a transport pass for however long & take the Choob (the Brit pronunciation of “Tube”) everywhere, or a coach (bus). Riding the top of a double-decker down Oxford Street during shopping hours is worth it for the experience alone.
Uncle Cosmo
@bystander: I agree. As soon as Morning Joke apologizes for the DEAD INTERN. Bastard.
Elizabelle
@D58826: Saw that. Publisher and writer found their market at the best time for that book, IMHO.
NorthLeft12
@rikyrah: Yeah, that’s hilarious. Rudy G. and Deadbeat Donald scolding Hillary Clinton about staying with her husband after he committed adultery.
Yeah, that will go over well. Perhaps they can get Newt to chime in too.
OzarkHillbilly
@01jack: Thanks. I remember that title now but I don’t think I ever watched it.
SFAW
@D58826:
I’m sure the “good Americans” won’t stand for that.
Arbeit macht frei, baby!
NorthLeft12
@Wapiti: Yes, that was my wife’s job too, besides being the navigator. My daughter [who works in London] joined us a couple of times on the road to assist too.
hovercraft
@opiejeanne:
Chris
@FlipYrWhig:
True, but he’s also merging “ISIS,” the insurgent quasi-state in the Middle East, and “ISIS,” the few loonies going on shootings or bombings in the West. Which is kind of like merging the Weather Underground with actual communist states.
Uncle Cosmo
@Kay: Doctors are often victims of the “medical God-delusion”. They think they’re sooooo much more intelligent than any non-doctor on the planet that whatever they come up with on the basis of 5 minutes’ (if that) semi-hard thought re any discipline ought by rights to trump ;^D the conclusions of trained professionals who’ve been working in the discipline for years.
The fuckers demand respect for their “expertise” (which in large part consists of rote memorization & Big Pharma soundbites; few MDs in my experience are competent at inductive reasoning) but refuse to respect the expertise of anyone else who’s devoted a lifetime to a field of study.
Chris
@D58826:
Fascist movement. Conservative elites standing by the fascist movement because fuck it, we can’t stand against it if it means we’re going to have to ally with those horrid socialists. Far left fringe saying that hey, at least he’ll kick down the rotten establishment and besides, you know that fascism is just one pendulum swing from socialist nirvana. Tons of apathetic voters who couldn’t care less.
Oy.
Major Major Major Major
@Uncle Cosmo: I agree with all of this, with of course the emphasis that #notalldoctors
Uncle Cosmo
@OzarkHillbilly:
Bangalore! I often think that the the right wing has gone to great efforts to place (& probably financially subsidize) operatives in media organizations in positions specifically responsible for writing headlines & chyrons. Doesn’t matter what the story actually says so long as the head is slanted in the (far-) right way. Kind of the media equivalent of Stalin’s “Those who vote decide nothing. Those who count the vote decide everything.”
Chris
@Mnemosyne:
I also think, as with many things with the Clintons, they hate the fact that they personify the values that conservatives claim to hold.
Conservatives tend to frown on divorce. At least when done by a woman. When women find out that their husbands cheated, it’s fairly common advice from social conservatives to “well, you’d better forgive him, because divorce is wrong and you should keep the family together and besides everyone’s sinned at some point.” (Or go for the gold and say “well, it’s your fault anyway, you’re the one who couldn’t keep him satisfied. You clearly need to work harder at this marriage thing.”)
Hillary… made a choice to in fact do something like that, forgive her husband and try to keep her marriage together. If she’d done that as a conservative married to a conservative politician, they probably would’ve cheered: she’d be a model of how Good Wives are supposed to react to that. But she did that while liberal, and married to a liberal politician, and without repenting of her liberal beliefs. There are few things conservatives hate more than a liberal who’s living according to their values. It like she and Bill are rubbing it in their faces that they’re better than them according to their own values.
D58826
@Chris: He is also lumping in other pre-existing jihad/terrorist groups around the world into ISIS as if ISIS created them from the ground up. Most of these groups pre-date ISIS and have simply latched on to the franchise. ISIS uses them to appear bigger and stronger than they really are. BOKO HAREM is an example. IT existed before ISIS and will continue to exist after ISIS is defeated. Three guys and a hand grenade can claim to be ISIS affiliates but that doesn’t create an existential threat to any country, esp. the US and the west. In the US you are still more likely to get shot by a drunk in a bar fight than murdered by a terrorist – whither ISIS or some other name.
NeenerNeener
@SFAW: So I’m not the only Angel of Corporate Death? Good to know.
Elizabelle
@Uncle Cosmo:
I think that’s true, and would love to see an actually fair journalist or site look into that possibility.
Many headlines are definitely slanted and not representative, and the content is often hidden behind a paywall (NYT, WaPost, LA Times). So you have a lot of visitors and readers who don’t read the article and realize the headline was misleading. Meanwhile, the headline is out there. In the libtard media.
It’s not paranoia. We have seen the idiocy that’s on board at the NY Times. How could there not be many cases of “Jonathan Karls” beavering away on headlines?
Jeffro
@Baud:
Hey, as long as they ‘walk the walk’ about it – ie, not use it as an excuse for racism & don’t expect much in the way of government services – then more power to ’em. It’s just that those folks seem to be the true unicorns of our politics.
D58826
oH MY when you lose Cronkite, I mean the Taliban
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/taliban-leaders-watched-us-presidential-debate-blast-non-serious-trump/ar-BBwJlbR?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=iehp
Jeffro
@OzarkHillbilly:I envision them in a dinghy.
I can’t read or hear that word without thinking of “ALICE” (the TV sitcom).
opiejeanne
@hovercraft: Oh. My. God.
I knew about the why but somehow missed how long that lasted. Criminal behavior.
Jeffro
@Matt McIrvin:
I’d say that’s pretty unlikely. She’ll probably limit herself to one hint and then note that “when they go low…and that most especially includes you, Donald…we go high”. And then he has essentially pantsed himself as a slime ball with nothing to run on.
Jeffro
@Matt McIrvin: And it looks like the Clintons are prepared…maybe even baiting Trump once again
Bodacious
@kirbster: Hey, I watched it. Frontline piece was pretty good, as I posted before. They had presented a Hill that was unique and driven – both good things in my book. Yeah, Dick Morris makes me gag, but they had Robert Reich to bring context to what a jerk he was. If I was preparing for a hit piece, I was misguided. She looked strong, and Trump looked like a narcissistic carnival barker……………who knew?
hovercraft
@Jeffro:
Love It. Now what are the chances of him not going there? It’s what he’s been chomping at the bit to go there for ever. Ohh popcorn.
NorthLeft12
@Matt McIrvin: I agree with you that it is a terrible idea for Sec. Clinton [herself or campaign] to hit back at Trump or Guiliani [just ignore that miserable fuck] on their philandering episodes. There are plenty of independent operators on Twitter and other platforms that will dive right into that. I would imagine there are even a few MSMers that will go there too. The comedians will have a field day with it.
Miss Bianca
@aimai: that’s the thing I would most love to get across to younger people, as i’m contemplating a career shift back into teaching (history!): that battles for freedom are more often fought inch by inch, house by house, and sometimes individual victories, while splashy, are only temporary, or come to seem small in the context of the huge war of reaction, but that “we fight till we win”, as Woody Guthrie put it.
Hell, I want to teach it because I need to keep learning it myself, over and over and over again.
Miss Bianca
@D58826: worth repeating, as one commenter here pointed out when complaints surfaced to the effect that “Trump isn’t Hitler, come on, guys”, that *Hitler* wasn’t Hitler till he had a country to ru(i)n.
Jeffro
@hovercraft: Well whatever happens, Eric Trump is already proud of his dad for not going low. Isn’t that sweet?
JR in WV
@Punchy:
My friend who drove his family in a mnivan around Ireland did it no problem. I, on the other hand, nearly died of fear riding in a taxi in the BVI years ago. I literally had trouble crossing the street for the traffic being in the wrong lanes.
So hard to say. Maybe ride around the first day, see how strange it feels to you.
Gelfling 545
@Matt McIrvin: There is no danger of future President Clinton taking any kind of bait in this matter. Do you think any of this is a surprise to her?
maurinsky
I have driven in England and Ireland, and it was like a light switch went on – I just did most things the opposite way, and had almost no problems.
My one problem was when we were driving through downtown Athenry – I popped the mirror off of a car parked on one side of the driveway width street. The gentleman who owned the car came out of the pub, popped the mirror back and and sent us on our way with a friendly wave.
Jeffro
@D58826: I just read about this (but thank you for the link and info). I wonder why some people seem to think this couldn’t happen again, that they’d see a modern Hitler coming a mile away?
So you know…let’s vote Trump just to “shake things up”. Unbelievable.
Ruckus
@OzarkHillbilly:
We probably chose the right side just to thumb our noses at the British.
No One You Know
@01jack: Fantastic documentary. I still have it–although it’s in VCR format.