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Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

You cannot shame the shameless.

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

The republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

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

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. ~Thomas Jefferson

He really is that stupid.

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

One way or another, he’s a liar.

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

Giving up is unforgivable.

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

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

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Our messy unity will be our strength.

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

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

Innocent people do not delay justice.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

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You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / Tuesday Midday Open Thread

Tuesday Midday Open Thread

by Betty Cracker|  December 6, 201611:52 am| 262 Comments

This post is in: Domestic Politics, Open Threads, General Stupidity

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camo-lizard

Looks like human beings aren’t the only creatures who believe camouflage renders them invisible: This little guy was hiding in plain sight on a beer can huggie yesterday!

We’re having weird weather in my neck of the woods. A line of squalls is heading our way, and after it moves through, the temperature is supposed to plunge into the 70s/50s for a couple of days. Then, after another front comes through, it’s going to drop to the 60s/40s.

But for now, it’s in the 80s with absurdly high humidity. It’s muggy as hell! But I refuse to shut the windows and turn on the A/C because the minute I do, it’ll start raining and turn colder. I hate being jerked around by the weather!

Anyhoo. Open thread.

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Reader Interactions

262Comments

  1. 1.

    The Moar You Know

    December 6, 2016 at 11:57 am

    I was born and have lived all my life in a place that never experiences snow. Never saw snowflakes until I was in my thirties.

    IT’S THE BEST

  2. 2.

    donnah

    December 6, 2016 at 11:57 am

    Our family is taking advantage of the off season to visit Myrtle Beach, SC. My husband, my three sons, and I are enjoying the mild, cool weather and the absence of the usual crowds here. We’re on the fourteenth floor overlooking the beach and having a wonderful time.

    Games like Splendor, Sheriff of Nottingham, Five Tribes, and Nevermore are filling the hours. We love tabletop games and there’s something for everyone.

  3. 3.

    Joe Falco

    December 6, 2016 at 11:58 am

    Nothing but rainy weather the past few days in NW Georgia. It’s pretty much needed with all the forest fires that’s started here and nearby after it being so dry for so long.

  4. 4.

    Major Major Major Major

    December 6, 2016 at 11:59 am

    Well, did he get eaten, or did he get to warm up in the sun? You’re just enabling bad camouflage behavior by not eating it.

  5. 5.

    Corner Stone

    December 6, 2016 at 12:00 pm

    Speaking of normalizing Trump. After canceling Thanksgiving I am now being pressured to go forward with our “normal” Christmas routine of tree getting, decorating and then later a full meal and gift opening.
    The Trump offender says I should “just get over it” and I’m “ruining it for everyone over politics”. The ex hates anything that even slightly suggests family things are *not* more important than everything else, a factor that was not insignificant in our no longer being married.
    So I asked the kid how he wanted to celebrate Xmas and think about what was important to him and we’d do that. I guess it’s a copout on my part because he knows how strongly I feel about this but he also likes seeing people and being around people that love him.
    This fucking year.

  6. 6.

    gogol's wife

    December 6, 2016 at 12:03 pm

    Reposted from below: The Western Mass. PBS station showed the “Hamilton’s America” documentary Saturday night as a fund-raiser. I watched it three times when it first appeared (before the election). Watching it after the election was a different experience. Mainly, I could not allow Paul Ryan’s face on my TV without screaming obscenities at it. And when Dubya appeared, I thought, “Yeah, finally I miss you” (h/t Bill Maher).

  7. 7.

    jk

    December 6, 2016 at 12:03 pm

    The public editor of The New York Times says she should have been more restrained in criticizing some of newspaper’s reporters’ tweets during a recent interview.
    “In retrospect, I should have held back more, not knowing what the context was for the tweets. I think that’s a fair criticism,” Liz Spayd told Politico in a Tuesday report.
    “But I stand by my view that journalists should be careful, sometimes more careful than they are, with what they say on social media,” she maintained. “That includes how it can be interpreted.”
    On Friday’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Carlson asked Spayd about tweets by Times journalists including Eric Lipton, Peter Baker and Michael Barbaro that appear to be more opinion than straight news reporting.
    Carlson slammed the Tweets during his interview with Spayd, claiming the reporters were anti-Donald Trump and didn’t care to hide their feelings about the president-elect.
    “We tried to keep this guy from getting elected, but did anyways,” Carlson said in characterizing the tweets.
    “Yes, I think that’s outrageous. I think that that should not be. They shouldn’t be tweeted,” Spayd responded.
    “I don’t know that any of those people should be fired, but I do think that when people go over the line like that, and I think some of those are over the line, that there ought to be some kind of a consequence for that,” she added.

    h/t http://thehill.com/homenews/media/308923-after-blowback-nyt-public-editor-walks-back-criticism-of-reporters

  8. 8.

    gogol's wife

    December 6, 2016 at 12:04 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    “just get over it” like they “got over” Obama

  9. 9.

    gogol's wife

    December 6, 2016 at 12:04 pm

    @jk:

    She is THE WORST

  10. 10.

    The Moar You Know

    December 6, 2016 at 12:06 pm

    I don’t know that any of those people should be fired, but I do think that when people go over the line like that, and I think some of those are over the line, that there ought to be some kind of a consequence for that

    @jk: People who should never be allowed anywhere near a newspaper for a thousand, Alex.

  11. 11.

    Это курам на смех

    December 6, 2016 at 12:11 pm

    “Drop to the 60s.” Brrrrrrrrr!

    That said, when Portland’s winter temps fall to the low 30s (our highs are usually warmer), people bundle up like they are crossing the Arctic Circle.

  12. 12.

    cosima

    December 6, 2016 at 12:13 pm

    @jk: Are tweets supposed to be straight news reporting? I thought that was for the actual publication (paper/online/etc). I look hearing about her appearance on the Maddow show. For balance.

  13. 13.

    Iowa Old Lady

    December 6, 2016 at 12:15 pm

    @Corner Stone: Is the celebration usually held at your house? Why can’t someone else do it, the kid go, and you and the kid celebrate at a different time?

    To me, the only thing that matters beyond your wishes is what’s OK with the kid. Everyone else needs to get over it.

  14. 14.

    low-tech cyclist

    December 6, 2016 at 12:15 pm

    @The Moar You Know:

    People who should never be allowed anywhere near a newspaper for a thousand, Alex.

    Indeed.

    And I don’t see the problem with reporters expressing opinions in their tweets, as long as they report the news straight up. It’s not like a tweet from a reporter comes with a header that says, “this is news, factual and unbiased.” If someone complains, the editor should simply say, “OK, show me the bias in this reporter’s news reporting.”

  15. 15.

    Mnemosyne

    December 6, 2016 at 12:21 pm

    A notice for the day commenters that a new poll is up for the Weekend Movie Club: screwball comedies with Cary Grant.

    Yes, I know Bringing Up Baby is not an option. I don’t like Bringing Up Baby, and you can’t make me watch it. So there. ?

  16. 16.

    Corner Stone

    December 6, 2016 at 12:21 pm

    @Iowa Old Lady: It’s a multi part event. The tree decorating is at my house and then on Xmas Eve we (my relatives) do the meal and gifts at my house. Kid then goes to other grandma’s for Xmas day. So he’ll have his normal Xmas day with cousins. It’s the no gathering for tree decorating and then no meal that’s the problem. Luckily for me, my mom wrung the last ability I had for being guilt shamed out of me at about age 12. But I have to balance what’s good for the kid and also not put it all on him.
    I honestly don’t know when, if ever, I will be ready to be in the same room with the Trump offender again.

  17. 17.

    Felanius Kootea

    December 6, 2016 at 12:22 pm

    The Nigerian-American community is super-conflicted about Trump’s appointment of Nigerian-American billionaire, Adebayo Ogunlesi (he bought London’s Gatwick airport in 2006 and was head of global investment at Credit Suisse First Boston) to his cabinet as a member of his Economic Advisory Team. I don’t understand how someone goes from clerking for Thurgood Marshall to “Making America Great Again” with Donald Trump, but then I have never understood sociopathic greed.

  18. 18.

    JPL

    December 6, 2016 at 12:24 pm

    @jk: What consequence did she have? As far as I know she still has her job.

  19. 19.

    Lizzy L

    December 6, 2016 at 12:32 pm

    34 degrees in San Pablo CA (across the bay from SF) at 6 am today. Chilly, for us. It’s about ten degrees warmer now. The weather website says we’re heading into some rainy weather starting tomorrow night, so the temps will go up but it will feel clammy and cold anyway. But rain is GOOD. I am not complaining. And if rain on the coast means that it’s snowing in the Sierras, it’s wonderful.

  20. 20.

    Brachiator

    December 6, 2016 at 12:34 pm

    This little guy was hiding in plain sight on a beer can huggie yesterday!

    Great photo. Makes me want a mug with a chameleon handle.

  21. 21.

    Gindy51

    December 6, 2016 at 12:34 pm

    @Corner Stone: Then don’t be. The kid needs to mature a little and realize that what happens outside the family sometimes affects what is inside the family. I would not do ANYTHING you are not comfortable with. Your kid will be fine doing this on his own, might be good for him actually. You do what makes YOU comfortable, life is too fucking short to be lived any other way esp now a days…

  22. 22.

    jk

    December 6, 2016 at 12:36 pm

    @cosima: @JPL:

    The NY Times had many low points during this campaign that have been well documented here and elsewhere, but I can think of few things more nauseating than having its Public Editor grovel at the feet of lowlife dirtbag Tucker Carlson by throwing several of NY Times reporters under the bus.

    “Are tweets supposed to be straight news reporting? I thought that was for the actual publication (paper/online/etc).”

    Either Liz Spayd is a self-hating NY Times employee or she’s just a moron.

  23. 23.

    PaulWartenberg2016

    December 6, 2016 at 12:40 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    Arsenic and Old Lace wasn’t that bad. They just should have cast Boris Karloff for reals. :(

  24. 24.

    schrodinger's cat

    December 6, 2016 at 12:43 pm

    @jk:

    Either Liz Spayd is a self-hating NY Times employee or she’s just a moron.

    I am voting for all of the above.

  25. 25.

    PaulWartenberg2016

    December 6, 2016 at 12:43 pm

    Trump is now trying to kill off Boeing’s contract to supply Air Force One planes, so he can get the government to lease out HIS Trump airline planes at millions of dollars he’ll gladly pocket.

    I hope to God Boeing sues the shit out of him.

    I hate myself for rooting for a massive corporate company to win a legal battle.

    DAMN YOU, AMERICA, THIS IS WHAT YOU’VE BROUGHT ME TO!

  26. 26.

    schrodinger's cat

    December 6, 2016 at 12:44 pm

    @Brachiator: I would have jumped up 4 feet if I had seen that on my beer can.

  27. 27.

    debit

    December 6, 2016 at 12:44 pm

    @Gindy51: Agreed, one hundred percent.

  28. 28.

    debit

    December 6, 2016 at 12:47 pm

    @Mnemosyne: You don’t like Bringing up Baby? I’m pretty sure that makes you history’s greatest monster.

  29. 29.

    Mnemosyne

    December 6, 2016 at 12:47 pm

    @PaulWartenberg2016:

    They couldn’t, because his contract for the Broadway run prohibited him from making a movie version until that run was over, and it was an enormous hit. It’s too bad, because he was actually a pretty deft comic actor, as he showed later in his career.

    On the other hand, Karloff protected America as an air raid warden in NYC while he was doing the show, so maybe the Nazis were too scared to attack while he was on the job? ?

  30. 30.

    prufrock

    December 6, 2016 at 12:48 pm

    Betty, I’m forty-five years old and have lived in Pinellas County (with the exception of the Marine Corps and college) my entire life. I don’t ever remember having weather like this in December when I was a kid. Do you?

    It worries me greatly.

  31. 31.

    Brachiator

    December 6, 2016 at 12:49 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    A notice for the day commenters that a new poll is up for the Weekend Movie Club: screwball comedies with Cary Grant.

    Hmm. “Holiday” is one of my personal canon “all time all time” films. So, I voted for “His Girl Friday.”

    And her I recall an insightful Pauline Kael essay in which she pointed out that Cary Grant, despite his male beauty, is almost never the one who pursues the woman he ends up with. HGF bucks the trend.

  32. 32.

    cosima

    December 6, 2016 at 12:50 pm

    @jk: I probably should have added the snark sign (I think there’s one) to mine.

    Tucker/F*cker Carlson was on the Palin bandwagon, so he automatically gets put in the d-bag column for me. That he has his own show is astonishing. That a NYT editor would go on that show to discuss balanced/factual reporting is the height of irony.

    I’m over trying to figure out what is driving the shite-show NYT reporting, how they imagine they will benefit from kowtowing to T&*^%p. I’ve added it to the mountain of despair that I feel over all things political.

  33. 33.

    Lizzy L

    December 6, 2016 at 12:51 pm

    @PaulWartenberg2016:

    Trump is now trying to kill off Boeing’s contract to supply Air Force One planes, so he can get the government to lease out HIS Trump airline planes at millions of dollars he’ll gladly pocket.

    Is this not also a conflict of interest? Asking for my uncle, Sam. You may have met him. Tall guy. long white beard, wears funny clothes.

  34. 34.

    Aleta

    December 6, 2016 at 12:52 pm

    Snow here! It’s great how the light increases again when there’s snow on the ground, because of reflection everywhere.

  35. 35.

    Major Major Major Major

    December 6, 2016 at 12:52 pm

    @Lizzy L: It’s so cold here (SF/Palo Alto)! Two jackets and a hat!

    ?

  36. 36.

    Mnemosyne

    December 6, 2016 at 12:53 pm

    @debit:

    Yeah, I knew that would bring my credentials as the Insufferable Movie Snob into question. It’s weird, because I like all of the elements, including Howard Hawks, but I just find it too episodic and disjointed.

    Though Omnes did make me realize yesterday that the ocelot in “Archer” is probably a tribute to the leopard in Bringing Up Baby.

  37. 37.

    schrodinger's cat

    December 6, 2016 at 12:53 pm

    @debit: I have to back up my fellow snob, I don’t like it much either.

  38. 38.

    Steve in the ATL

    December 6, 2016 at 12:54 pm

    @cosima: orders from Pinch and family perhaps? Though surely they would despise a tacky striver from Queens.

  39. 39.

    Original Lee

    December 6, 2016 at 12:55 pm

    And, just as expected, the GOP is falling into line behind Lord Tangerine Smallhands. House Republicans have removed the Buy America provisions for steel purchases from the water infrastructure bill. So greedy – only the steel being paid for by state infrastructure or drinking water revolving funds had to be Made in America – everything else could come from China or other big dumpers. Why am I not surprised the steel jobs that are still here are getting flushed down the drain?

  40. 40.

    germy

    December 6, 2016 at 12:59 pm

    Over at LGM, they just described the Cheeto Benito has having “the attention span of a dog at a squirrel farm.”

  41. 41.

    Hillary Rettig

    December 6, 2016 at 1:01 pm

    @Corner Stone: “Having a family is like getting a life sentence for a crime you never committed,” – Richard Pryor

  42. 42.

    Major Major Major Major

    December 6, 2016 at 1:03 pm

    @Original Lee: Shocked, gambling, etc.

  43. 43.

    SenyorDave

    December 6, 2016 at 1:03 pm

    Here is actual fake news in the making. This was the headline:

    Judge Nap: Obama’s First Political Scandal May Also Be His Last

    This was from Yahoo, courtesy of Fox News Insider. If you go to the website, the story is about Judicial Watch, one of the original Clinton hate groups, is filing a lawsuit against the Department of Justice seeking access to FBI interviews related to the bureau’s criminal investigation of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

    There is no evidence at all about a scandal, juts JD making the request, but this is how Fox can manufacture a scandal.

    Rupert Murdoch cannot die fast or painfully enough for me.

  44. 44.

    Jeffro

    December 6, 2016 at 1:03 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    I would have jumped up 4 feet if I had seen that on my beer can.

    Exactly – lizards, blech!!

    In other news: Flynn Jr is busy threatening people who are trolling him on Twitter. Some of them are quite funny. About half of them are reporting him to the FBI’s Twitter account as well. Good times!

  45. 45.

    hovercraft

    December 6, 2016 at 1:03 pm

    @PaulWartenberg2016:

    Trump is now trying to kill off Boeing’s contract to supply Air Force One planes, so he can get the government to lease out HIS Trump airline planes at millions of dollars he’ll gladly pocket.

    Hey man what’s the problem, he’s just doing exactly what Obama did.

    DONALD TRUMP: The plane is totally out of control. It’s going to be over $4 billion. for Air Force One program. and I think it’s ridiculous. I think Boeing is doing a little bit of a number. we want Boeing to make a lot of money, but not that much money.

    CNN: Now, interestingly, it was Donald Trump earlier this year that actually went off on Air Force One, calling it a very old airplane, saying it had old engines and it was spewing stuff. Potentially now changing his tune, talking about cost overruns. This would not be completely unprecedented. In 2009 president Obama took office he cancelled a Marine One contract order that was running in the range of $11 billion. That order cancelled. Could President-elect Trump do the same thing? We shall see.

    See he’s doing it because of cost overruns, he’s looking out for the little guy, just like Obama was, if he can lease his own plane to us and cash in, that’s just happenstance.

  46. 46.

    schrodinger's cat

    December 6, 2016 at 1:04 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: Two jackets, for low 30s? wimp.

  47. 47.

    Lizzy L

    December 6, 2016 at 1:04 pm

    @Original Lee:

    House Republicans have removed the Buy America provisions for steel purchases from the water infrastructure bill.

    Would you indentify where you got this info from? I checked The Hill and WaPo, they don’t have it.

  48. 48.

    Mnemosyne

    December 6, 2016 at 1:04 pm

    @Brachiator:

    I haven’t watched “Holiday” in a few years, so I’ll probably re-watch it as well at some point. I also have the Pre-Code version, so I may do a compare/contrast on my OG blog and put a link at SC’s place.

    I find it interesting that the story is pretty open about being a choice between sex and romance, and I’m wondering if that’s a carry-over from the previous version or something that Cukor worked it.

  49. 49.

    Hillary Rettig

    December 6, 2016 at 1:05 pm

    @The Moar You Know: My freshman year lab partner came from Puerto Rico. We were down in a basement labbing it up, but when he heard it was snowing (first snow of the year) he dropped everything and ran outside. His joy was wonderful to witness.

    Then there was the young woman from Georgia? who busted out a gigantic parka *in September.* (We were in Ithaca not Fairbanks.) She was small, so it looked like the coat was was walking on its own, with feet.

  50. 50.

    Betty Cracker

    December 6, 2016 at 1:05 pm

    @prufrock: The weird thing is how consistently warm it has been the last couple of months. I remember the occasional warm spell in December, where it would get up to the mid-80s, and even a wimp like me could go swimming in an unheated pool without freezing my ass off. But it was unusual enough that it stood out.

  51. 51.

    Jeffro

    December 6, 2016 at 1:05 pm

    @Jeffro: Oh and btw Flynn Jr’s transition team email has been shut down now (to help cover Pence’s lies)

  52. 52.

    SenyorDave

    December 6, 2016 at 1:05 pm

    @Original Lee: You would think the Democrats could make some hay about this, the hypocritical aspect, etc. BUt I forgot, Democrats don’t do things like this.

  53. 53.

    Bostondreams

    December 6, 2016 at 1:05 pm

    @PaulWartenberg2016:

    Trump is now trying to kill off Boeing’s contract to supply Air Force One planes, so he can get the government to lease out HIS Trump airline planes at millions of dollars he’ll gladly pocket.

    Not sure this could even happen. The cost of retrofitting his crap is likely nearly as expensive as building the new ones. Lots of electronics and the like would need to be added.

  54. 54.

    schrodinger's cat

    December 6, 2016 at 1:06 pm

    @Mnemosyne: I sent you an email, did you get it?

  55. 55.

    Mnemosyne

    December 6, 2016 at 1:07 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    I didn’t check my email this morning — I’ll go take a look.

  56. 56.

    Jeffro

    December 6, 2016 at 1:09 pm

    Btw on the heels of that Texas elector saying he won’t vote for Trump, here is another piece of the puzzle towards making that happen: not just legal backing but a forum for 37+ electors to get together and throw the election to either the House or Hillz herself.

    Drip…drip…drip…

  57. 57.

    Major Major Major Major

    December 6, 2016 at 1:10 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: Hoodie and a light peacoat, I don’t know if it’s really “two jackets” to be fair.

  58. 58.

    schrodinger's cat

    December 6, 2016 at 1:12 pm

    @Corner Stone: Are you the host or just a guest? If I were the host, I would pointedly not invite the person in question, if I were a guest, I would ignore the said person completely, if it is a big party that should be pretty easy, right?

  59. 59.

    hovercraft

    December 6, 2016 at 1:14 pm

    @Lizzy L:

    Removal of ‘Buy America’ Reform in Water Infrastructure Bill

    Baldwin’s ‘Buy America’ reform removed by Republican House Leadership

    “By removing my Buy America standard, Speaker Ryan and House Republicans are embracing the status-quo in Washington.”

    WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin today released the following statement on the removal of her ‘Buy America’ reform from the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) by Republican House Leadership:

    “By removing my Buy America standard, Speaker Ryan and House Republicans are embracing the status-quo in Washington. This is a failure by House leadership to make a solid commitment to American manufacturers and workers,” said Senator Baldwin. “American workers should build our infrastructure with American products and taxpayers’ money should not be spent on Chinese or Russian iron and steel. It’s disappointing that the President-elect is sitting silent in Trump Tower.”

    And from the WSJ Paywall.

    Bill’s ‘Buy America’ Provision Sets Up Potential Clash for GOP, Donald Trump

    Speaker Paul Ryan and other Republican lawmakers raise objections over requiring U.S. iron and steel in water infrastructure projects

    Brown Slams Leadership For Stripping Buy America From Water Infrastructure Bill

    Senator: Washington leadership is choosing China and Russia over Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin

    WASHINGTON, D.C. – December 6, 2016 (Investorideas.com Newswire) U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) slammed Washington leadership today for stripping Buy America rules from the final water infrastructure bill announced today. Buy America provisions in the Water Resources Development (WRDA) Act would have permanently changed the law to require the use of American-made iron and steel products in infrastructure projects. The provision passed the Senate overwhelmingly. But Republican leadership removed the Buy America language in a compromise package worked out with the House announced today.

    “By stripping meaningful Buy America rules from the water infrastructure bill, Washington leadership is choosing China and Russia over Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin,” said Brown. “This was the first major test of whether Washington establishment Republicans would live up to President-elect Trump’s promises to put American products and American workers first – they failed, and American iron and steel workers will pay the price.”

    The original Buy America rule in the Senate bill would have permanently amended the Safe Drinking Water Act to require American-made steel and iron be used in infrastructure projects funded by the Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF). Instead, Republican leaders stripped that language and replaced it with a one-year provision that is already in effect and does nothing to further ensure American steel and iron will be used in water infrastructure projects moving forward.

  60. 60.

    schrodinger's cat

    December 6, 2016 at 1:15 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: Layering is smart, two jackets for 35F sounded like overkill. You should try silk long underwear. Eliminates the need for bulky layers.

    BTW women of BJ, do Uniqlo’s heat tech tights really work? I don’t like wearing pants all the time and I am thinking of giving them a try.

  61. 61.

    Lizzy L

    December 6, 2016 at 1:15 pm

    @hovercraft: According to Martin Longman aka Booman at Washington Monthly and also Josh Marshall at TPM, The Chicago Tribune published an article in which the head of Boeing criticized Trump’s protectionist policies and attitudes towards China. Boeing does a lot of business with China. 22 minutes later, Trump tweets that he wants to cancel the Boeing order for Air Force One. The number in the tweet, 4 billion, appears to be fantasy. The plane costs about $800 million. Oh, and Boeing stock dropped after the tweet.

    http://washingtonmonthly.com/2016/12/06/trump-attacks-air-force-one-boeing-stocks-plummet/

  62. 62.

    rikyrah

    December 6, 2016 at 1:16 pm

    @jk:
    Phuck her.

  63. 63.

    rikyrah

    December 6, 2016 at 1:16 pm

    @Lizzy L:
    Uh huh
    Uh huh

  64. 64.

    Brachiator

    December 6, 2016 at 1:17 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    I haven’t watched “Holiday” in a few years, so I’ll probably re-watch it as well at some point. I also have the Pre-Code version, so I may do a compare/contrast on my OG blog and put a link at SC’s place.

    I seem to recall that the pre-Code version is more about the relationship between the sisters (Ann Harding and Mary Astor) than their love for Johnny Case (a rather bland Robert Ames).

    I always thought it cool that both versions of the film got Oscar nominations.

  65. 65.

    rikyrah

    December 6, 2016 at 1:17 pm

    @hovercraft:
    This is who they are.
    Does not shock me in the least.

  66. 66.

    rikyrah

    December 6, 2016 at 1:19 pm

    @PaulWartenberg2016:
    This is unphucking believable

  67. 67.

    Major Major Major Major

    December 6, 2016 at 1:21 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: I don’t care for long underwear. I have a thing about folds getting on my skin. I even wear my socks inside-out.

  68. 68.

    hovercraft

    December 6, 2016 at 1:21 pm

    @Jeffro:

    Oh and btw Flynn Jr’s transition team email has been shut down now

    What transition e-mail, he is no longer part of the transition, if he ever was. After all he was never involved, is no longer involved, was only helping his dad with scheduling, wait who, we know of no person of that name.

    There are no facts, we are well beyond truthiness here, we are in the Twilight Zone /hall of mirrors.

  69. 69.

    Mnemosyne

    December 6, 2016 at 1:22 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    I have not heard of those tights, and now I want to try some. I have fleece-lined tights and leggings that work pretty well, but it only gets down into the 30s at night around here.

  70. 70.

    ruckus

    December 6, 2016 at 1:23 pm

    @Это курам на смех:
    I’ve crossed the artic circle a number of times and it really wasn’t all that cold. Not all that much fun in late November but still not as cold as one might imagine.

  71. 71.

    schrodinger's cat

    December 6, 2016 at 1:23 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: Silk is different, try it before you knock it. Its not itchy like most other thermals are.

  72. 72.

    MomSense

    December 6, 2016 at 1:24 pm

    How are we all going to cope with the deluge of bullshit and corruption of a trump admnistration?

    This is madness.

  73. 73.

    schrodinger's cat

    December 6, 2016 at 1:25 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Its a Japanese company recommended by a friend who just graduated from college. They have some of their stuff on sale now.

  74. 74.

    trollhattan

    December 6, 2016 at 1:26 pm

    @Bostondreams:
    Even that wouldn’t begin to approach what the current AF1 has, much less the next generation. If Donny would pay attention to his security briefers, he’d already know how easy it would be for one “bad guy” with a shooty-downy device to take out a pedestrian commercial airliner. Or perhaps he could phone Vlad and have a quick chat about Malaysian Air 17. And I’m sure Trump Eins can mid-air refuel.

    God, he’s a moron.

  75. 75.

    Betty Cracker

    December 6, 2016 at 1:26 pm

    @Corner Stone: I’m struggling with similar estrangements, though not currently pinned to a specific event, so I’m not facing the time pressure you are. People who are urging us to “get over it” are fundamentally misunderstanding the meaning and consequences of electing Trump, IMO. It’s personal. The elevation of that buffoon says my daughter and I are second-class citizens, and anyone who helped make that happen can fuck right the hell off, even if he happens to be my dad, even if she is my auntie. I’ll “get over it” when I’m goddamn well good and ready, on my timetable, which might be “never.” The injurer does not get to dictate the healing schedule to the injured.

  76. 76.

    Major Major Major Major

    December 6, 2016 at 1:27 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: It’s not itchiness, it’s the movement and the folds. I like coarser fabrics (jeans, inside-out socks) that offer friction. I’m from Colorado, I know how to keep warm.

  77. 77.

    L Boom

    December 6, 2016 at 1:27 pm

    Since this is an open thread, I just wanted to mention something I posted about the other day: the mother of a friend and former student of my wife’s ran into some very serious medical problems and is facing a mountain of medical debt due to a few weeks in the hospital and her son having to quit his job to take care of her. Here’s a link to her GoFundMe page, just in case anyone has a little extra to chip in. The situation is looking fairly dire, so any help would be much appreciated by some very good folks.

  78. 78.

    Mnemosyne

    December 6, 2016 at 1:28 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    There’s a Uniqlo store one town over in Glendale. For some reason, that mall gets a lot of “debut” stores — it was also the site of one of the first Apple Stores in the US.

    Of course, this is the time of year where I don’t dare to walk through the mall’s doors until the crowds die down around 8:30 or 9.

  79. 79.

    hovercraft

    December 6, 2016 at 1:28 pm

    @Bostondreams:

    Not sure this could even happen. The cost of retrofitting his crap is likely nearly as expensive as building the new ones. Lots of electronics and the like would need to be added.

    It’s the PEOTUS now, it can do anything it wants. You cannot expect it to ride around in a plane without all that plush white leather and gold fittings, and if the plane doesn’t have his name emblazoned across it, how will the world remember who it is? Free advertising every time it travels, “that’s this thing that’s fucking golden,” to quote another grifter, Blagojevich.

  80. 80.

    Jeffro

    December 6, 2016 at 1:28 pm

    @Lizzy L:

    22 minutes later, Trump tweets that he wants to cancel the Boeing order for Air Force One. The number in the tweet, 4 billion, appears to be fantasy. The plane costs about $800 million. Oh, and Boeing stock dropped after the tweet.

    Speaking of fantasy…I wonder if America’s business owners big and small can figure this out in the next, oh, 12 days or so: YOU’RE NEXT

    Trump truly is chaos incarnate. Elected by a minority of a minority, with only two agendas: self-enrichment (both financially and attention-wise) and advancing Russian interests.

    Electoral College, can you hear me now? Hillz, Harry, PBO, let’s hear it: time for some prime-time truth-telling before ball drops here.

  81. 81.

    schrodinger's cat

    December 6, 2016 at 1:28 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: You can just try the top layer, at 30F long underwear seems unnecessary.

  82. 82.

    Lizzy L

    December 6, 2016 at 1:28 pm

    @hovercraft: Thanks. And fuck them. Fuck them all.

  83. 83.

    schrodinger's cat

    December 6, 2016 at 1:29 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: No more advice, then! Feel free to ignore #81.

  84. 84.

    Jeffro

    December 6, 2016 at 1:30 pm

    @hovercraft: Shall we go in on a big batch of “IT’S GETTING A BIT ORWELLIAN FOR MY TASTE” t-shirts, perhaps with an upside-down American flag in the background? We’ll make some serious bucks on ’em.

  85. 85.

    Keith G

    December 6, 2016 at 1:31 pm

    @Corner Stone: Find a way to uncover some enjoyment. That’s an order.

    Hell, I’m still pissing myself due to post-surgical (paid for by Obamacare) incontinence and I have no idea when my energy levels will return to anything near normal, but I still seem happier than some folks here. We’re all going to die. And not many year afterwards, we will be a dim memory if not completely forgotten, so maybe it’s good idea to put this morose shit aside and try to enjoy today.

  86. 86.

    Comrade Scrutinizer

    December 6, 2016 at 1:32 pm

    @Mnemosyne: How about Arsenic and Old Lace?

  87. 87.

    Mnemosyne

    December 6, 2016 at 1:33 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Yeah, you’re pretty much the opposite of me. I frequently find cashmere to be too itchy, though since I get a skin reaction to mohair, I might be mildly allergic to goats.

    (Probably not, but it’s still funny to see people’s faces when I say I’m allergic to goats.)

  88. 88.

    schrodinger's cat

    December 6, 2016 at 1:34 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Goats smell funny and they are mean.

  89. 89.

    hovercraft

    December 6, 2016 at 1:34 pm

    @Lizzy L:
    Something to look forward to, government by pique. The WWC was piqued by our smugness, now we get to watch the “leader” of the free world govern that way. Who ever said that stability was important to the world? The media and the deplorables wanted excitement and now that’s what they are going to get, buckle up world.

  90. 90.

    Corner Stone

    December 6, 2016 at 1:35 pm

    @Lizzy L:

    The number in the tweet, 4 billion, appears to be fantasy.

    I haven’t seen any cable news source dispute the number. Where did it come from? How does he know this number? Why don’t we have a source to fact check the actual costs and deliverables involved?

    If I am Boeing I get some hard pipe hitting lawyers to show up in Trump Tower and tell that sad sack that China has a 200 plane order with BA and if he fucks that up some shit is going to go down.
    Because if they don’t do it now, they will never get another chance. UTX scammed Trump but that was a different grift. If this gets by then all bets are off who he fucks with next.

  91. 91.

    Corner Stone

    December 6, 2016 at 1:36 pm

    Like I said in a previous thread:
    Free Markets! Free Markets! Invisible Hand! Invisible Hand! We don’t want to be in the business of picking winners and losers!
    Repeat daily for 8 years.
    Fast forward to today: “We have a mafia boss extorting specific companies and putting people in place for a national bust out.”
    GOP:…
    …
    GOP: Genius! He’s a businessman! He’s a dealmaker!

  92. 92.

    Major Major Major Major

    December 6, 2016 at 1:37 pm

    @Mnemosyne: The important thing is we both like my cat.

    @schrodinger’s cat: Thank you though! :)

  93. 93.

    Lizzy L

    December 6, 2016 at 1:37 pm

    @hovercraft: Yes, this.

  94. 94.

    Mnemosyne

    December 6, 2016 at 1:37 pm

    @Comrade Scrutinizer:

    Meh. I feel the absence of Boris Karloff like a giant hole at the center of that movie. Plus it’s a little too dark for my current post-election mood.

    Strangely, until I saw a stage production, I didn’t realize that a big part of Cary Grant’s mania in that movie is that he hasn’t been able to have sex with his new wife yet (in the play, they don’t even bother with that fig leaf and just state outright that he and his girlfriend are looking for a private spot to get it on). The censors must have really cracked down and insisted that the director downplay that element as much as possible since it was well-known from the play.

  95. 95.

    Corner Stone

    December 6, 2016 at 1:39 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: It’s at my house although I don’t do much of the work of “hosting”. It’s a small gathering of usually 5 or 6. For reasons, I can’t not invite the Trump offender and still have the thing.

  96. 96.

    Lizzy L

    December 6, 2016 at 1:40 pm

    @Corner Stone: From Washington Monthly:

    Once Boeing won the bid, they received an initial contract for $25.8 million to investigate ways to increase safety and reduce costs. Then in July, Boeing was awarded a second contract for $127.3 million to “reduce the risk of delays and cost overruns before the USAF commits to full-scale development and procurement.” Prior to that, the Air Force announced an overall budget of $1.65 billion for the two planes. Bloomberg took an initial look at Trump’s claim and came up empty: “Trump didn’t specify where the $4 billion figure came from. The Air Force has budgeted about $1.6 billion through 2019.”

    Maybe Trump has information that is unavailable to our best news sources, but the planes are supposed to cost about $800 million each, not $2 billion each, as Trump’s tweet suggests. It’s hard to see how there could have been cost overruns this significant in so short a time, especially since the deliverable date isn’t until 2024 and the contracts that have been awarded so far add up to barely more than $150 million.

  97. 97.

    Comrade Scrutinizer

    December 6, 2016 at 1:41 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    People who are urging us to “get over it” are fundamentally misunderstanding the meaning and consequences of electing Trump, IMO. It’s personal. The elevation of that buffoon says my daughter and I are second-class citizens, and anyone who helped make that happen can fuck right the hell off, even if he happens to be my dad, even if she is my auntie. I’ll “get over it” when I’m goddamn well good and ready, on my timetable, which might be “never.” The injurer does not get to dictate the healing schedule to the injured.

    Quoted because it needs to be said again,

    Sometimes fear and panic are appropriate reactions. Trump is the Vogon Constructor Fleet, and all the towels on Earth aren’t going to help much.

  98. 98.

    GregB

    December 6, 2016 at 1:42 pm

    National Socialism for Red State companies and economic sabotage for Blue State companies.

  99. 99.

    Major Major Major Major

    December 6, 2016 at 1:43 pm

    @Lizzy L: @Lizzy L: Ooohhhhhhhhh this is bad.

    I knew this was bad, don’t nobody lecture me about it being bad. Just saying, this is bad.

  100. 100.

    schrodinger's cat

    December 6, 2016 at 1:43 pm

    @Corner Stone: Be cold and polite. No smiles, stiff upper lip. That’s what I would do anyway. If they insist on a confrontation, don’t hold back.
    As you can tell, I have lots of practice dealing with annoying relatives by marriage.

  101. 101.

    Corner Stone

    December 6, 2016 at 1:44 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    People who are urging us to “get over it” are fundamentally misunderstanding the meaning and consequences of electing Trump, IMO. It’s personal.

    The larger problem, for me anyway, is that I was not shy about how deeply visceral this was for me and what it meant to ever even utter pro-Trump thoughts. Vote however you want, but this is what’s going to happen when you tell me you support him, for any fucking reason. That’s personal and it was unfathomable to watch the progression of bile and anger and just nutbaggery develop over the course of the campaign. You have a fucking Master’s degree! How the fuck can you believe that shit to be true? How can Trump admitting he sexually assaults people somehow be equivalent to HRC being married to WJC?
    That was the kind of shit that developed over the last few months of election season and it’s just nuts.

  102. 102.

    Bobby D

    December 6, 2016 at 1:46 pm

    You picked the wrong coast, Crackah!
    Over here on the left coast, a little fog this morning, already burned off, low humidity, sunny skies, 40s/60s.
    Wine country rolling hills are beautifully colored now, santa anas come through on the regular giving us 70s or even 80s and dry in Oct-Dec. Our hottest month is usually October, oddly enough. And many places (homes, office blgs, hotels) don’t have AC at all, my office building doesn’t, base lodging doesn’t, and while I have a single window unit at home I haven’t turned it on in about 3 years and even then only for a couple of days. Drastic difference here vs. my prior home in the Mojave desert where it would be over 100F about 100 days a year and gets snow and low 20s in the winter.

    Clean air, diverse and well educated population, arts, music, food, wine, and weed, we’ve got it all. Now that the nestlings are gone, you might look at getting outta that swamp full of crazy people (I grew up in the south, GA and FL, and fled like a scalded dog after college). Water’s a little cold in the Pacific, but it keeps us from being a redneck Riviera ala Panama City Beach or Daytona.

  103. 103.

    Это курам на смех

    December 6, 2016 at 1:46 pm

    Comparing AF1 to Trump’s plane is like comparing the world’s most advanced supercar to an AMC Pacer. Any talk of “retrofitting” his plane is total nonsense.

  104. 104.

    Corner Stone

    December 6, 2016 at 1:48 pm

    Ok, something just exploded in my neighborhood, and it wasn’t my brain. My whole house just got hit by a shockwave and a loud noise. Hope it was a transformer (not the alien kind. Although that may be our best option at this point).

  105. 105.

    Corner Stone

    December 6, 2016 at 1:49 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    Goats smell funny and they are mean.

    But oh so tasty…

  106. 106.

    Это курам на смех

    December 6, 2016 at 1:50 pm

    @Lizzy L: People are going to get really really tired trying to fact-check every utterance that escapes his pie hole. Eventually they will give up trying.

  107. 107.

    Another Scott

    December 6, 2016 at 1:51 pm

    @Это курам на смех: Few things feel colder than being in the low 30s with high humidity. Some argue that it has to do with changes in the insulating properties of clothing, but all I know is that I nearly froze to death as a kid in Georgia waiting for the school bus in December, yet didn’t have much trouble at all staying warm walking to school in Chicago when it was -20F.

    YMMV.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  108. 108.

    mai naem mobile

    December 6, 2016 at 1:51 pm

    @Corner Stone: where do you live

  109. 109.

    trollhattan

    December 6, 2016 at 1:52 pm

    @Corner Stone:
    Liberal Fantasy Theater isn’t going to touch Trump, but Bigass Giant Corporations can. Boeing, Apple, Microsoft…hell, Walmart are at risk if he acts on even a few of his many, many campaign promises. Maybe mister Goldman Sachs can grab him by the First Scrotum and set him straight, before he send the economy into the crapper. Ain’t nobody in Congress going to do it, right Paulie?

  110. 110.

    Original Lee

    December 6, 2016 at 1:53 pm

    @Lizzy L: I got it from Bloomberg. Also House Democrats are tweeting about it.

  111. 111.

    trollhattan

    December 6, 2016 at 1:53 pm

    @mai naem mobile:
    Boomtown.

  112. 112.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 6, 2016 at 1:53 pm

    @Это курам на смех:

    People are going to get really really tired trying to fact-check every utterance that escapes his pie hole. Eventually they will give up trying.

    Pretty sure that’s the plan.

  113. 113.

    SFAW

    December 6, 2016 at 1:54 pm

    @Lizzy L:

    Maybe Trump has information that is unavailable to our best news sources

    I believe his news source is the establishment what won the Nobel Peace Prize for Journamalism, the “Making Shit Up” Network.

    His equally-reliable back-up news source is “The Voices In His Head” — said voices sounding uncannily like that of Tommy Flanagan … yeah, that’s the ticket.

  114. 114.

    mai naem mobile

    December 6, 2016 at 1:55 pm

    @Это курам на смех: I have no doubt this AF1 is some kind of scam/grifting on the part of Lil Hands. Maybe the Boeing CEO didn’t give h enough of a bribe for the Inauguration or whatever.

  115. 115.

    Corner Stone

    December 6, 2016 at 1:56 pm

    @mai naem mobile: The Greater Houston Metro Area. It’s not a target environment and the Houston Ship Channel is many miles away. A refinery exploded when I was young and my mom’s house is much closer to the channel and we felt the blast waves from about 12 miles away. I thought someone had rammed a car into our garage.
    There are no sirens and no smoke trails on a clear sunny day so probably not natural gas. My power is still on but my best guess is still an electric transformer somewhere nearby.
    Way too large to be firearm of any handheld sort.

  116. 116.

    SFAW

    December 6, 2016 at 1:57 pm

    @Comrade Scrutinizer:

    Trump is the Vogon Constructor Fleet

    Bullshit. The Vogons were competent. (Well, if you ignore the poetry thing.)

  117. 117.

    schrodinger's cat

    December 6, 2016 at 1:58 pm

    @Another Scott: True, damp cold is the worst.

  118. 118.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 6, 2016 at 1:58 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    The injurer does not get to dictate the healing schedule to the injured.

    This needs to be said again and again.

    Here, I’ll get things started.

    The injurer does not get to dictate the healing schedule to the injured.

    The injurer does not get to dictate the healing schedule to the injured.

    The injurer does not get to dictate the healing schedule to the injured.

    Rinse, repeat, ad inf.

  119. 119.

    germy

    December 6, 2016 at 1:59 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: I imagine a cage full of dead canary fact checkers.

  120. 120.

    SFAW

    December 6, 2016 at 2:00 pm

    @Это курам на смех:

    is like comparing the world’s most advanced supercar to an AMC Pacer.

    The Gremlin, on the other hand …

  121. 121.

    Lizzy L

    December 6, 2016 at 2:00 pm

    @Original Lee: Thank you.

  122. 122.

    hovercraft

    December 6, 2016 at 2:01 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    Hope it was a transformer (not the alien kind. Although that may be our best option at this point).

    As long as you are okay.
    ?I/ think Optimus Prime and Bumblebee would bring some much needed thoughtfulness to the cabinet if they were willing to tolerate working exclusively with decepticons.

  123. 123.

    Pogonip

    December 6, 2016 at 2:02 pm

    @Corner Stone: I would say go ahead, unless you plan to let Trump live rent-free in your head for up to 8 years.

    I think family is definitely more important than politics, and it’s an interesting mental exercise to try to look at it the other way around. I have one of those conservative relatives, and even he would never have cancelled a holiday over Obama (though he’d have probably bored everyone silly bitching about him).

  124. 124.

    germy

    December 6, 2016 at 2:02 pm

    @MomSense:

    How are we all going to cope with the deluge of bullshit and corruption of a trump admnistration?

    This is madness.

    What I find frustrating is this: I’ll read a story here or on LawyersGunsMoney (for example about “replacing” air force one) and all these facts are featured, about how he’ll make millions billing the gov for his own private plane, and then I’ll see the same story on my local media (either the TV local news or their website or national TV news) and they’ll report the same story, but minus all the facts about the grift.

    And they make it seem like impeccable logic: “Cutting back all that wasteful gubmint spending!” without all the background I learned on Balloon-Juice or LGM.

  125. 125.

    trollhattan

    December 6, 2016 at 2:02 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    Way too large to be firearm of any handheld sort.

    You did say Texas….

    My employer at the time lost a dozen in the 2005 BP Texas City refinery explosion, but that’s outside Houston (America’s Chemical Capital!). As is the BP norm, shabby management, maintenance and lack of following protocols caused an eminently preventable tragedy. Now where have we heard that before?

  126. 126.

    FlipYrWhig

    December 6, 2016 at 2:03 pm

    @hovercraft: But remember, the White Working Class thinks Democrats don’t do enough for working people. Meanwhile Republicans just straight-up pillage and plunder and they go, hey, whatchagonnado, at least by voting for Republicans someone I’ll never meet has to be more uncomfortable peeing. SMH.

  127. 127.

    Mnemosyne

    December 6, 2016 at 2:06 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Sadly, I can say from experience what the reply will be: I didn’t injure you, you injured me by putting that Mooslim Kenyan into the White House who ruined the whole country, so really you’re the one who owes me an apology!

    Basically, the election validated all of their most hateful, petty feelings, and they’re going to thrash around demanding that the rest of us validate their feelings, too.

    That’s why we can’t be quiet or let any of this shit go. White supremacists think that silence equals consent, so it’s our DUTY to loudly and publicly oppose them at every turn.

  128. 128.

    Pogonip

    December 6, 2016 at 2:10 pm

    @Corner Stone: We had a house explode here a few years ago when some untrained person a landlord hired cheap was backhoe-ing and hit a gas line. ‘The backhoe-er was killed and a little boy was badly burned. ‘Tis also the season for unmaintained furnaces to explode.

  129. 129.

    hovercraft

    December 6, 2016 at 2:12 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: @Это курам на смех:

    People are going to get really really tired trying to fact-check every utterance that escapes his pie hole. Eventually they will give up trying.

    Pretty sure that’s the plan.

    Per Josh Marshall
    Shiny Object

    It seems increasingly clear that the Secretary of State search is the shiny object Trump is using to distract from every other appointment he makes. Specifically, we have a cavalcade of fairly qualified candidates for State which are reviewed, paraded and then tossed aside while basically every nominee or appointee who actually gets the nod is consistently hard right or wildly unqualified or both.

    This worked during the campaign, the media needs to wise up and stop fixating on the shiny objects, and focus on the stuff they are trying to slip by them.
    I’m sure they will catch on, sometime in the spring of 2021.

    ETA: correction

  130. 130.

    Corner Stone

    December 6, 2016 at 2:12 pm

    @trollhattan: I was wondering if VDE* had started his march to the sea and neglected to tell us.

    *Villago Delenda Est was once an artillery officer I believe.

  131. 131.

    SatanicPanic

    December 6, 2016 at 2:13 pm

    @trollhattan: Won’t this be a sad irony for the left? Oh well, I’ll take help from wherever.

  132. 132.

    Botsplainer

    December 6, 2016 at 2:14 pm

    @trollhattan:

    To tell you the truth, I’d be OK with him choosing to fly places in Trump One with his Trump pilot and no security upgrades.

    Just sayin’….

  133. 133.

    Mnemosyne

    December 6, 2016 at 2:14 pm

    @FlipYrWhig:

    My (step)mom was raised WWC and still holds a whole lot of racist beliefs, so I was a little surprised to see that she seems really freaked out by Trump’s election. I think he reminds her of one too many bad stepdads and abusive ex-husbands.

  134. 134.

    GregB

    December 6, 2016 at 2:15 pm

    @hovercraft:

    I realized that when I saw the Brady Bunch style deca-graphic of Trump’s Sec. State choices.

    This is going to be the Three Card Monte Presidency.

  135. 135.

    Corner Stone

    December 6, 2016 at 2:16 pm

    @Pogonip:

    I think family is definitely more important than politics, and it’s an interesting mental exercise to try to look at it the other way around. I have one of those conservative relatives, and even he would never have cancelled a holiday over Obama

    I can’t agree with this for a number of reasons. But mainly, if it was Jeb! or Kasich or Romney or even God forbid Cruz. I would’ve gritted my teeth and hated it but that would be that. IMO, there simply can be no argument made about the way conservatives, GOP or RWNJ hated Obama and what Trump is or represents.

  136. 136.

    Cacti

    December 6, 2016 at 2:16 pm

    @mai naem mobile:

    I have no doubt this AF1 is some kind of scam/grifting on the part of Lil Hands. Maybe the Boeing CEO didn’t give h enough of a bribe for the Inauguration or whatever.

    Nothing that complicated.

    I think Conald just wants some bitchin’ taxpayer-funded upgrades to his personal jet.

    Always pick the stupidest/most venal reason.

  137. 137.

    Mnemosyne

    December 6, 2016 at 2:17 pm

    @GregB:

    This is going to be the Three Card Monte Presidency.

    And the MSM is going to spend the next 4 years insisting they totally know where the queen is no matter how many times they get it wrong.

    ETA: From Wikipedia: “In a true Monte scam, the mark will never win a single bet, as it is not necessary. There are too many ways for a well-run mob to attract the marks, suck them in, and convince them to put money down.”

  138. 138.

    Pogonip

    December 6, 2016 at 2:18 pm

    @hovercraft: I wonder how the heck Paul Ryan stays in office?

  139. 139.

    PsiFighter37

    December 6, 2016 at 2:18 pm

    Apparently Trump just finished a meeting with the SoftBank CEO about investing in the U.S. I can’t believe this is how the country is going to operate – basically anyone who gets a face-to-face meeting with Trump will get shitloads of favors.

    What a clown show. And this is supposed to be the opposite of ‘crony capitalism’?!

  140. 140.

    D58826

    December 6, 2016 at 2:21 pm

    @Bostondreams: According to one article today it is a 747 or nothing. All the gear won’t fit in a 757. Besides the new planes won’t be ready till 2024.

  141. 141.

    FlipYrWhig

    December 6, 2016 at 2:22 pm

    @Mnemosyne: That’s encouraging, sort of.

  142. 142.

    PsiFighter37

    December 6, 2016 at 2:23 pm

    @D58826: The 757 isn’t even a plane that Boeing makes anymore. This whole thing is Trump getting more goodies for his plane and getting paid to fly it around.

  143. 143.

    raven

    December 6, 2016 at 2:27 pm

    @PsiFighter37: It’s called a sit-down wit a wise guy.

  144. 144.

    Mnemosyne

    December 6, 2016 at 2:28 pm

    @germy:

    Here’s my (non-expert) assumption given my internet diagnosis of Trump as someone with Narcisssitic Personality Disorder: he’s going to spend a whole lot of time playing “Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better” with the specter of Obama’s administration. He’s going to “do the same things Obama did,” but bigger and better and with more gold plating on them to prove that he’s better than Obama.

    And when he fucks those things up, he will become even more enraged and double down.

  145. 145.

    Shell

    December 6, 2016 at 2:29 pm

    screwball comedies with Cary Grant.

    I guess cause its not in the screwball category, but cant help bleating “What, no ‘Mr. Blandings Builds His Dreamhouse?'”

  146. 146.

    Mnemosyne

    December 6, 2016 at 2:30 pm

    @Shell:

    That just seemed cruel to our bloghost.
    ?

  147. 147.

    PsiFighter37

    December 6, 2016 at 2:31 pm

    @raven: SoftBank also owns Sprint, which was prevented by the current FTC from merging with T-Mobile. Guarantee that gets approved in January after the 20th…

  148. 148.

    Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class

    December 6, 2016 at 2:31 pm

    @PsiFighter37:

    Retrofitting security related things to put on Trump One is bound to go great.

    I also think they should be rushed. Resolving engineering based problems ahead of time for safety or reliability is something only pussy cucks do.

  149. 149.

    Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class

    December 6, 2016 at 2:32 pm

    @PsiFighter37:

    Retrofitting security related things to put on Trump One is bound to go great.

    I also think they should be rushed. Resolving engineering based problems ahead of time for safety or reliability is something only pu55y cucks do.

  150. 150.

    pluky

    December 6, 2016 at 2:35 pm

    @Hillary Rettig: Oh boy. If she thought Ithaca was cold in September, January when the hawk was screeching down Cayuga then up the hill must have sent her screaming back to Georgia!

  151. 151.

    Steeplejack (tablet)

    December 6, 2016 at 2:36 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    Though Omnes did make me realize yesterday that the ocelot in Archer is probably a tribute to the leopard in Bringing Up Baby.

    No. Just no. And Omnes did no such thing.

  152. 152.

    hovercraft

    December 6, 2016 at 2:36 pm

    @Pogonip:

    I wonder how the heck Paul Ryan stays in office?

    Duh with the help of the media.
    He is the golden boy of the GOP, the serious one with the big ideas. Never mind those are the same ideas the GOP has been flogging forever, cut entitlements, privatize what’s left and give the rich big tax cuts. Villagers all believe that to be a serious policy wonk, you must believe in these principles, that’s why Ryan is a grown up, whereas Obama was too liberal and partisan, and refused to compromise with the ever so reasonable John Boehner who was forever pushing the Ryan budget.
    The media portrays him as the most serious “thinker” in DC, and if only there were more people like him, and or willing to follow his lead, all of our problems would be solved. So his constituents believe in this nonsense too, even when he ran with RMoney, after the 47% line, and Ryan himself saying most people don’t pay their fair share, they still voted for him overwhelmingly for his seat.

  153. 153.

    germy

    December 6, 2016 at 2:36 pm

    post truth:

    Carson’s spokesman Armstrong Williams, who had previously told the New York Times that his boss grew up in public housing, backtracked Monday night, leading the paper to publish a correction.

    “Using information from a close friend of Ben Carson, the nominee for housing secretary, an earlier version of this article misstated that Mr. Carson spent part of his childhood in public housing. The friend, Armstrong Williams, said Monday that Mr. Carson had never lived in government housing,” the Times wrote.

  154. 154.

    Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class

    December 6, 2016 at 2:39 pm

    @PsiFighter37:

    I’m going to have to stop trolling Twitler under my real name. I’m undoubtedly going to start suffering pushback at some point.

  155. 155.

    MomSense

    December 6, 2016 at 2:40 pm

    @germy:

    When I got in my car stupid MSNBC was on and Welker was saying that der trump canceled the Boeing contract because of 4 billion in cost overruns. I wanted to scream. No such thing happened. They just repeat the lies uncritically.

  156. 156.

    JMG

    December 6, 2016 at 2:41 pm

    Boeing CEO was subject of article in which he expressed worries over Trump’s China and trade policies, since Boeing lives off exports and China buys airplanes. Trump saw article. Tweet about AF1 was result. That simple.

  157. 157.

    SenyorDave

    December 6, 2016 at 2:41 pm

    @Corner Stone: IMO, there simply can be no argument made about the way conservatives, GOP or RWNJ hated Obama and what Trump is or represents.

    Totally agree, I tried to frame argument this way for a Trumpkin at work and almost ended in a shouting match.

    Obama – intelligent, thoughtful, very decent guy who clearly thinks things out and tends to surround himself with people who think things out
    Trump – obnoxious, belittling bully who doesn’t ever think before he reacts, openly disdains knowledge

    What is it about Obama that many Republicans loathe? Can’t quite put my finger on it, what is different?

    When co-worker defended birtherism and said it had no racial element, I told him point blank that birthers and those who defend birthers are bigots.

  158. 158.

    germy

    December 6, 2016 at 2:41 pm

    @Mnemosyne: I started my career entering the world just when Reagan took power. Now I’m entering my dotage under herr drumpf.

    They got me coming and going.

    I worry about my twenty-something offspring who I see struggle every day trying to find their place in the world. I was really hoping HRC would win, and they could continue their education debt-free. Now, I don’t know. I wake up at 3:30 a.m. with anxiety in my chest. I worry about my wife’s healthcare. I worry about Social Security. I worry about unnecessary war.

    Thanks to everyone here keeping me distracted.

  159. 159.

    hovercraft

    December 6, 2016 at 2:42 pm

    Brokers Bill Secret Service Protection As Nifty New ‘Amenity’ At Trump Tower
    TPM

    Real estate brokers are marketing Donald Trump’s Secret Service detail as an exclusive new “amenity” at Trump Tower, Politico reported Tuesday.

    In a Nov. 13 email obtained by Politico, Ariel Sassoon and Devin Leahy of the Douglas Elliman real estate agency advertised a $2.1 million one-bedroom apartment on the thirty-first floor to “Fifth Avenue Buyers Interested in Secret Service Protection.” They referred to the tower as “the Most Secure Building in Manhattan,” calling the federal agents assigned to protect the President-elect and his family “The New Aminity [sic].”

    The Trumps live at the Fifth Avenue building that serves double-duty as his campaign and transition headquarters. Secret Service will continue to guard the building once the President-elect decamps for Washington, D.C. as his wife Melania intends to remain in New York so that their son Barron can finish school.

    As Politico noted, most of the 263 units in Trump Tower are independently owned, though the Trump Corporation, which manages the building, receives a processing fee for unit sales. There are currently 16 active sale listings and 16 active rentals in the building.

    Your tax dollars hard at work, making money for the ruling syndicate.

  160. 160.

    Corner Stone

    December 6, 2016 at 2:42 pm

    @hovercraft: Ryan is a policy wonk, dontchaknow? He’s a wonk’s wonk. If ever you needed a wonk to wonk he would be your wonkiest wonk.

  161. 161.

    germy

    December 6, 2016 at 2:43 pm

    @MomSense:

    They just repeat the lies uncritically.

    That’s what’s killing me. And I lack the time and the energy to challenge them; it’s a tsunami of bullshit. I literally can feel myself shutting down.

  162. 162.

    Mnemosyne

    December 6, 2016 at 2:43 pm

    @Steeplejack (tablet):

    Hello, ditsy rich girl keeps a wildcat as a pet? That idea didn’t come out of nowhere.

  163. 163.

    Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class

    December 6, 2016 at 2:44 pm

    @germy:

    You’re living my very same life. Begun career under Reagan, worry about 20-somethings, waking at 3:30 am….

  164. 164.

    Corner Stone

    December 6, 2016 at 2:46 pm

    @hovercraft:

    the President-elect and his family “The New Aminity [sic].”

    WTH is an “Aminity”? Is that anything like an Amity? Like Amity Schlaes or AmityVille Horror? All terrifying in their own right.

  165. 165.

    FlipYrWhig

    December 6, 2016 at 2:48 pm

    @Corner Stone: It’s something that makes you feel like Idi Amin.

  166. 166.

    Mnemosyne

    December 6, 2016 at 2:49 pm

    @germy:

    Our decision not to have children is looking smarter every day.

  167. 167.

    Another Scott

    December 6, 2016 at 2:51 pm

    @Cacti: The speed of Donnie’s reaction to the Boeing CEO (~22 min as mentioned above) makes it seem to me more like a personal pique thing. And remember his “someone screws me, I screw them back 10x as hard!” mantra.

    Donnie can’t stand criticism, especially from his (perceived) betters. (The fact that just about anyone you could pick off the street is better than Donnie doesn’t enter into his thinking, of course.) So, Donnie lashes out, and in the process hopes to make others think twice about criticizing him.

    I see that Boeing’s stock is back up where it was before this all happened, as one would expect…

    My $0.02.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  168. 168.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    December 6, 2016 at 2:52 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    Honey West had an ocelot.

  169. 169.

    MomSense

    December 6, 2016 at 2:53 pm

    @germy:

    Yup I’m waking up at 3:00 with anxiety. There are a lot of us. One of the knitting designers I follow on IG said she is waking up in tears every day because her sister and her children are scared and have already been taunted and teased because they are Muslim. This is a woman who never discusses politics but she is feeling such fear and despair.

  170. 170.

    germy

    December 6, 2016 at 2:55 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    Our decision not to have children is looking smarter every day.

    It hurts me to see my offspring struggle. One had a job at a media center. The sort of job that thirty or forty years ago would have been unionized and highly paid. They kept him part-time, no benefits, with a “rotating” schedule. He was never around on xmas or thanksgiving because they had him working.

    They let him go suddenly last year. The wealthy family that owns the media company needed more money, apparently. A bunch of layoffs, and now he’s working two part time jobs, hoping to find something in his professional field.

    I’ll be 62 when herr T&!%p leaves office (if he decides to) and I bitterly resent it. And who knows who my party will nominate in 2020. Andrew fucking Cuomo?

  171. 171.

    Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class

    December 6, 2016 at 2:55 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    As an aside, you’d think a broker listing an upscale property with that price tag at that commission level would proof their ad copy a little better.

    Guess hiring competent proofreaders cuts into the hookers and blow cashbox.

  172. 172.

    Major Major Major Major

    December 6, 2016 at 2:57 pm

    @Corner Stone: Good thing he’s not a girl. Girl wonks are cold, insincere and boring.

  173. 173.

    germy

    December 6, 2016 at 2:58 pm

    @MomSense: I have a big 1970s digital clock next to our bed with a big, glowing time display. Almost every night I wake up suddenly, see the time 3:30 and I can feel a wave of anxiety rush up to my chest. In the early hours, I run over every outrageous thing the cheeto said at his rallies.

    Counting sheep doesn’t help.

  174. 174.

    hovercraft

    December 6, 2016 at 2:59 pm

    @pluky:

    Oh boy. If she thought Ithaca was cold in September, January when the hawk was screeching down Cayuga then up the hill must have sent her screaming back to Georgia!

    I was born in Milwaukee, spent my earliest years in Ottawa, but them mu parents had the good sense to move back to Africa. My older sister then made a terrible decision and elected to go to college in Buffalo, my parents in their infinite wisdom decreed that I should attend the same school as we only had each other here. The blizzard of 1985 put paid to that brief experiment.

    BUFFALO, Dec. 29— About midway through the weekend, the National Weather Service announced that 5 feet 2 1/2 inches of snow had fallen on Buffalo this month – more than during any other December in recorded history. …
    This season in Buffalo, it has been snowing on and off – though mostly on – since Thanksgiving. By early tonight the monthly snowfall tally had reached 67.8 inches, only half an inch less than the record for any month, set in January 1977.

    It is not just the snow on the ground that makes Buffalo a harsh environment. When the wind whips up, the result is often a whiteout, a snowy cocoon obliterating everybody and everything. Under such conditions, an outsider may become apprehensive. A true son or daughter of this city, however, remains undaunted. …..

    That was more than enough for me, that summer when I went home on vacation, I packed everything I owned, and transferred to the much warmer climes of a wet and dreary London.
    I realize that there have been much worse storms than that in recent years, but back then it was just too much of a shock to my system.

  175. 175.

    Josie

    December 6, 2016 at 2:59 pm

    @Corner Stone: It sounds like you have already made up your mind about what you can put up with. I would feel the same as you do. What you have to figure out is another way for your son to enjoy the holiday celebration. Could you and he decorate your tree, and ask one of the other 5 or 6 people to host the stuff that normally happens at your place. Then he could go if he wishes and you would not have to. I am lucky, since the other grandmother, who is a Trump voter, along with her husband, has made a strict rule of no politics during holiday dinners, etc. I hope you can find a workable solution. Family dynamics can be tricky.

  176. 176.

    Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class

    December 6, 2016 at 3:00 pm

    @MomSense:

    I agonize over my youngest daughter, for whom everything was looking so goddamned bright.

    Merit doesn’t matter. Hard work doesn’t matter.

    It only matters to be born wealthy – everybody else can work themselves unto death, their concerns meaningless.

    You want an environment where people within the military and intelligence services are motivated to sell out and turn traitor for money? If I was running PRC intelligence in the US, I’d be jumping with glee.

  177. 177.

    Betty Cracker

    December 6, 2016 at 3:01 pm

    @Corner Stone: Yep. The two situations aren’t comparable. I invited Uncle Tater over and included broccoli on the menu, even though I realize he doesn’t like it. He invites me over and serves anthrax. But hey, I should just get over being poisoned — it’s the same thing!

  178. 178.

    Corner Stone

    December 6, 2016 at 3:01 pm

    @Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class: Pretty sure one of his kids does it. Maybe Barron since he’s so good at the cyber, believe me. But maybe not the speeling just yet.

  179. 179.

    Pogonip

    December 6, 2016 at 3:02 pm

    @hovercraft: They’re assigned to protect Trump and family. Not anyone else. Anyone who moves in there is a fool.

  180. 180.

    prufrock

    December 6, 2016 at 3:02 pm

    @Betty Cracker: You share the same memories I do. And it’s not just this year. Maybe it’s just confirmation bias, but I remember cold Halloween nights trick-or-treating. I haven’t seen one of those in at least a decade.

  181. 181.

    Corner Stone

    December 6, 2016 at 3:02 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: Sounds like one of the side characters in a Jack Higgins novel that always gets someone killed because they fall for her lifeless charms and complete lack of sexual affect.

  182. 182.

    Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class

    December 6, 2016 at 3:06 pm

    @Pogonip:

    As I ask spouse (who is in a position to know), “who actually seeks to go stay at a Trump property, much less buy a piece?”

    She’s never had an inquiry, even though they’re in her network, nor has she ever steered anyone that way. She thinks the decor is tacky and that they’re overpriced for the amenity level. We figured that only assholes actually want to go to those.

  183. 183.

    Another Scott

    December 6, 2016 at 3:06 pm

    @germy: Noooo! You mean Ben – I stabbed a kid but a belt buckle broke the knife – Carson (or his people) has trouble remembering the truth about his background? Unpossible!!1

    (sheesh)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  184. 184.

    hovercraft

    December 6, 2016 at 3:07 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    “The New Aminity [sic].”

    Haven’t you watched Divergent, it’s one of the factions, duh!

    Members of Amity value peace and harmony above all else. …. Amity children are seen playing hand clapping games and singing songs.

    Just you wait and see America, soon we will all be harmoniously singing hail to the hairpiece, may he rule us all forever.

  185. 185.

    Pogonip

    December 6, 2016 at 3:07 pm

    NBC news has a story up about another elector defecting.

  186. 186.

    Mnemosyne

    December 6, 2016 at 3:07 pm

    So here’s my Deep Thought before I leave for lunch:

    One of the biggest problems with this now being a “post-truth” environment is that when we tell people all the outrageous shit that Trump and other Republicans are doing, they won’t believe us because, hey, everyone knows that politicians lie and the media just repeats the lies. Trump can charge the government $3 million a year for his Secret Service protection because the news is a bunch of lies and, anyway, they read on Breitbart that Obama pocketed $5 million for his Secret Service support, so Trump is actually saving the government money!

    I’m guessing that, pretty soon, the fact that the former Republican Speaker of the House was prosecuted for molesting young teenage boys will go down the memory hole, and if anyone brings it up, it will be dismissed as one of those “media lies” like Pizzagate. Which was totally true, by the way, but the media refused to cover it.

  187. 187.

    Pogonip

    December 6, 2016 at 3:09 pm

    @prufrock: I remember one where my mom made me wear my winter coat. I was disgruntled because it covered my costume.

  188. 188.

    Betty Cracker

    December 6, 2016 at 3:09 pm

    @prufrock: Yep. I stopped carving jack-o-lanterns ahead of time because they rot in the heat. Now I carve them on Halloween or not at all.

  189. 189.

    Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class

    December 6, 2016 at 3:09 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    Judging by that photo I saw of Barron and Melanoma a couple of days ago, I’m not convinced that he has to be any good at cyber – mommy seems to have that aspect of his life covered…

  190. 190.

    schrodinger's cat

    December 6, 2016 at 3:10 pm

    @Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class:She can consider grad school in other anglophone countries, Australia, Canada etc.

  191. 191.

    Jeffro

    December 6, 2016 at 3:13 pm

    @Pogonip: YES! Two down, 36 to go! ETA wait…this might be the one we were already talking about…we’ll see…

    Hey, when Trump’s son-in-law’s paper prints an op-ed asking the FBI to crack down on anti-Trump protestors, maybe it’s obvious that this gang cannot be sworn into power. This is America, not some banana republic. Well okay, it’s kind of a banana republic, but it’s OUR banana republic…

  192. 192.

    Ajabu

    December 6, 2016 at 3:14 pm

    @Botsplainer:
    Works for me, too!
    I don’t think we’d have to rent his plane for very long…

  193. 193.

    Gravenstone

    December 6, 2016 at 3:16 pm

    @Brachiator: A quick Google search shows that such things exist. Search, buy, be merry(ish).

  194. 194.

    Corner Stone

    December 6, 2016 at 3:16 pm

    @Pogonip:
    Scene in Trump Tower:
    KAC: Shit! NBC reporting another EC defector!
    Kushner: Grab it! Grab it! Grab it! Grab his fucking phone!
    Trump: Another what did a whosit now?
    KAC, Kush and Ivanka: Noooothinnnggg. Now where’s that SNL skit replay button?

  195. 195.

    hovercraft

    December 6, 2016 at 3:16 pm

    Conway Considering Leading Outside Group In Support Of Trump Agenda

    President-elect Donald Trump’s senior adviser and former campaign manager said she’s considering leading an outside group to support Trump’s agenda.

    The group, which the Washington Post reported Monday might be called “Unleash the Potential,” would encourage Trump supporters to apply political pressure to Democratic senators in states won by Trump, especially those who face tough re-election bids in 2018. More than half the 48 members of the Senate Democratic caucus face re-election in two years, the Post noted.

    Conway said such a group would provide “a surround-sound super structure” to bolster Trump’s policy priorities and support his cabinet nominees.

    “He’s going to be a very active president who wants to accomplish things quickly,” she said, according to the Post, adding: “We want to honor that by being ready.”

    While the exact structure of the group is still up in the air, Conway’s leadership of it could mean millions of dollars spent in support of Trump’s message. Conway is a close political adviser and personal friend to Rebekah Mercer, daughter of billionaire hedge fund manager and conservative activist Robert Mercer and herself an extremely active funder for Trump’s presidential bid.

    The Mercers, according to a September Washington Post report, were among those who urged Trump to re-tool his campaign over the summer. Rebekah Mercer discussed the advantages of hiring Stephen Bannon with Trump at a private gathering in the Hamptons. Bannon, Conway and Citizens United president David Bossie, all close to the Mercer family, joined the Trump campaign shortly afterwards.

    I’m sure the Mercer’s are already on board to give the shitgibbon an even more republican senate come 2018. Yay.

  196. 196.

    Bobby D

    December 6, 2016 at 3:16 pm

    @Another Scott: Tell it! I grew up in the southeast, and went on to live in the arctic during winter for several years. The coldest I’ve ever felt was in the Appalachians, exactly as you describe…low 30s and humid with a breeze. Could not get warm, finally made an emergency camp, trailside, and put up the tent crawled in the sleeping bag and started brewing. My fingers would barely function enough to light the stove and I really thought I was in trouble. I’ve had some pretty big adventures in my climbing career, and almost bought the farm more than once in that context, but a simple little weekend solo backpacking getaway in those little “mountains” (come on, they’re “hills” at best), was the one that almost got me.

    As for AF1…I have a few stories. I worked at a military base for many years that was the defacto landing/staging location for the AF1 backup plane when POTUS was in our region. My house literally bordered the base, and I could sit on my front porch and look at the AF1 backup plane sitting about 200yds from my door. Never been in the thing, but stood right next to it on the airfield it many times.

  197. 197.

    Gravenstone

    December 6, 2016 at 3:19 pm

    @PaulWartenberg2016: Someone pointed out in John’s Twitter feed that Shitgibbon’s twatter happened after a report that Boeing was questioning the POS PEOTUS and his trade policy wrt China. So it’s as likely to be a brushback to them and their corporate bottom line as anything else.

    And there’s no feasible way he can use his own aircraft in lieu of AF1. It doesn’t have the requisite comm and defense packages, and retrofitting them isn’t really feasible since it would have to be stripped to the airframe (if not partially replaced outright).

  198. 198.

    Miss Bianca

    December 6, 2016 at 3:20 pm

    @Original Lee: Oh, wait – wasn’t this the guy who was going to Make America Great Again by Bringing Jobs Home or some such horseshit?

    Oh, why do I even bother to snark…

  199. 199.

    Gravenstone

    December 6, 2016 at 3:26 pm

    @Hillary Rettig: Several years ago I was attending a fire fighting course in Marinette, WI in November. During one of the days of training it decided to snow, much to the delight of several members of the class who were from Dubai and involved in the oil industry. It was clearly their first exposure to the hateful stuff, so it was fun to see.

  200. 200.

    raven

    December 6, 2016 at 3:30 pm

    @germy:

    I’m so tired of being tired
    Sure as night will follow day
    Most things I worry about
    Never happen anyway

  201. 201.

    hovercraft

    December 6, 2016 at 3:31 pm

    Is the Trump/Bannon Infrastructure Plan Off the Table?

    by Nancy LeTourneau

    December 6, 2016 1:37 PM

    We’re not hearing much talk these days from Trump or his surrogates about his promise of a $1 trillion infrastructure plan. This morning, House Speaker Paul Ryan listed the top three priorities for Congress next year: repeal Obamacare, make changes to the tax code and roll back regulations. Two things that were missing from that list are border security and infrastructure.

    Just a couple of weeks ago, when Steve Bannon talked to Michael Wolff, he said this:

    It’s everything related to jobs. The conservatives are going to go crazy. I’m the guy pushing a trillion-dollar infrastructure plan. With negative interest rates throughout the world, it’s the greatest opportunity to rebuild everything. Shipyards, ironworks, get them all jacked up. We’re just going to throw it up against the wall and see if it sticks. It will be as exciting as the 1930s, greater than the Reagan revolution — conservatives, plus populists, in an economic nationalist movement.

    Apparently Bannon’s argument was enough to get none other than Rush Limbaugh on board. Yesterday he made a perfectly Keynesian argument in favor of infrastructure spending. It was a sight to behold!

    You know what this actually reminds me of, if this happens? Three initials: FDR. Let’s just play a little game here. Let’s pretend that Trump actually does follow through on his plan to rebuild airports and schools and roads and bridges. It’s exactly what happened in the 1930s.

    We built — ready for this? — in a span of five to seven years, we built the Golden Gate Bridge, we built the Bay Bridge connecting Oakland to San Francisco, and the Hoover Dam, in the Depression. That money actually produced things. There were actual results from it, which created tax paying jobs, which created tax-creating incentives, expanded the tax base, and increased productivity by enabling people in California to get to and from a massive number of new jobs much sooner and easier with those bridges.

    The day that Limbaugh sounds just like Paul Krugman is a day to note for the history books.

    But I’m guessing that this whole Carrier deal is turning the tables on the plans for infrastructure investment. People like Pence and Ryan are loath to spend federal money on anything. And Trump was able to get endless publicity out of offering their favored approach of corporate tax cuts to save a few jobs. Let’s be clear…the promise to Carrier was for much more than the $7 million in state taxes that is being reported in the media. As I noted the other day, a Carrier source told Alan Murray that, included in the deal was a promise from Trump that their parent company’s corporate tax breaks (soon to be enacted by a Republican president and Congress) would dwarf the $65 million/year the move to Mexico was designed to save. That’s the kind of thing conservatives like Pence and Ryan want to see.

    What Trump wants more than anything is the kind of attention and acclamation he’s received for saving about 800 jobs. He’ll bluster about imposing taxes/tariffs on companies that move overseas, but he’s done nothing to demonstrate that it’s anything more than empty rhetoric designed to rile up his base of supporters. What conservatives want more than anything else is a repeat of the same old “trickle-down” economics of pandering to the one-percenters with tax cuts and the gutting of regulations. The Carrier deal gave everyone exactly what they wanted. In doing so, it may have ended any plans for infrastructure investment. I’d be interested to hear what Steve Bannon thinks about that. He and Limbaugh are going to have some catching up to do.

  202. 202.

    Scamp Dog

    December 6, 2016 at 3:32 pm

    @Corner Stone: It’s Omnes that’s a former artillery officer; I don’t think I’ve ever seen VDE mention his/her current or former lines of work.

  203. 203.

    raven

    December 6, 2016 at 3:34 pm

    @Gravenstone: I hitched from the Sault to Chicago after taking my sis up there to join her boyfriend who split the draft. I got a ride from a biker and, after stopping at every bar in the UP, I took off walking and hitching. It was August and I almost froze to death. Lucky a UPS guy picked me up and took me to Marinette-Menonomee.

  204. 204.

    Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class

    December 6, 2016 at 3:34 pm

    @Jeffro:

    There’s something I don’t like about the guy who wrote the piece (besides the subject).

    He’s claiming a shitload of credentials and is a real renaissance man, by way of HIS telling it. Thing is, the tone doesn’t match the claimed credentials, his stock photos on the web don’t appear to reflect his claimed age, and there are major gaps in the resume, with jobs that don’t seem to make sense to me as they appear on his timeline.

    Here he’s described at UT-Austin:

    Austin Bay is an author and a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist. His latest book is a biography of Turkey’s Kemal Ataturk (Palgrave/Macmillan 2011). He is the author of three novels and several non-fiction books, and is a contributing editor at StrategyPage.com. He has a doctorate in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University. Bay is a colonel (retired) in the US Army Reserve. In the 1970’s he served in Germany with the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment and 1st Infantry Division. In 1991 he served on active duty during Operation Desert Storm; in 2004 he served in Iraq as a plans officer. For four years (1989-93) Bay worked as a special consultant in strategic wargaming in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Bay is a graduate of the US Army Command and General Staff School and the US Army War College. He is also actively involved in developmental aid projects (primarily in East Africa) with the Episcopal Church. His other interests include jazz piano and yoga.

    His Creaters Syndicate profile:

    Austin Bay is author of three novels. His third novel, The Wrong Side of Brightness, was published by Putnam/Jove in June 2003. He has also co-authored four non-fiction books, to include A Quick and Dirty Guide to War: Third Edition (with James Dunnigan, Morrow, 1996).

    Bay writes a syndicated column on international affairs for Creators Syndicate. He is a commentator on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition, covering foreign affairs but often addressing issues in Texas that have a national interest. Bay has appeared as a guest commentator on Fox News Channel, CNN, C-SPAN, MSNBC and ABC News’ “Nightline,” as well as on numerous regional radio and TV shows. As a journalist, he has filed reports from throughout Europe, Central America, Africa, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. He is a contributing editor to FYEO, an Internet foreign affairs newsletter found at http://www.StrategyPage.com, and writes a weblog on his home page, http://www.austinbay.net.

    Bay, who has had two commercial wargames published, worked for four years as a special consultant in wargaming in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (1989-1993). He is a colonel (retired) in the U.S. Army Reserve. In 2004, he was recalled to active duty and served in Iraq as chief of strategic initiatives, Multi-National Corps-Iraq (May-September 2004). He received the Bronze Star for meritorious service in Iraq.

    Bay also served on active duty in the Pentagon during Operation Desert Storm (1991). On active duty in the 1970s, Bay served in Germany as a tank platoon leader in the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment and as an assistant operations and chemical/nuclear defense officer in the headquarters of 1st Infantry Division’s forward brigade group. (Goeppingen, Germany). While with 1st Infantry Division, his duties included liaison work with NATO allied units — in particular with West German, Canadian, and French forces. In 1995, the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization sent him to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to observe anti-ballistic missile training exercises. In 1999, Bay accepted a special reserve tour in Guatemala, where he was deputy commander of a Hurricane Mitch recovery operation and medical relief mission. In October 2001, Bay served a two-week tour with Central Command headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida.

    Bay has a bachelor of arts from Rice University (1973) and has a Ph.D. in English and comparative literature from Columbia University (1987). He is a graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff School and the U.S. Army War College. He currently teaches a course in strategy and strategic theory for the University of Texas’ PLAN 2 undergraduate honors program. Recent projects include organizing a micro-development aid project for the Episcopal Church’s Diocese of Texas.

    Bay is a member of The Authors Guild, Mystery Writers of America, The Modern Language Association, The Reserve Officers Association, The National Conference of Editorial Writers and The Society of Professional Journalists.

    According to his own bio on his own website, it looks like he’s a warrior’s warrior.

    Maybe Adam can confirm if this asshole is real or not.

  205. 205.

    raven

    December 6, 2016 at 3:35 pm

    @Scamp Dog: He’s a dogface too,

  206. 206.

    Steeplejack (tablet)

    December 6, 2016 at 3:37 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    Hello, Hepburn’s character receives the leopard from her brother in South America and is supposed to pass it on to her aunt. It’s not her pet. Anyway, the trope of rich people having exotic pets is clichéd enough that you don’t have to draw tenuous connections to explain its appearance.

  207. 207.

    raven

    December 6, 2016 at 3:38 pm

    @Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class: Well the Big Red One wasn’t in Germany after the Bam but I guess it doesn’t really say that.

  208. 208.

    Doug R

    December 6, 2016 at 3:39 pm

    @D58826: You’d think it would fit in a 777 although a 787 would send a wonderful efficiency message.
    He’s probably trying to wrangle an Airbus 380 with upper and lower separated decks, that’s just his style.

  209. 209.

    Corner Stone

    December 6, 2016 at 3:40 pm

    @Scamp Dog: I’m not looking to cast asparagus on anyone but I do believe I have seen VDE speak of being an artillery officer, I think “Redleg”. I could be wrong though.

  210. 210.

    Betty Cracker

    December 6, 2016 at 3:40 pm

    @Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class: I think Bay used to be a front pager at Little Green Footballs before Johnson saw the light.

  211. 211.

    Iowa Old Lady

    December 6, 2016 at 3:41 pm

    The planes Boeing was working on weren’t to be delivered until 2024, so Trump wouldn’t have flown in them anyway. The timing sounds like he looking for revenge because they criticized him–using fake figures of course.

  212. 212.

    Major Major Major Major

    December 6, 2016 at 3:41 pm

    I think Friedersdorf wrote a good piece about the importance of making an assertive, positive case for liberalism rather than leaning too heavily on stigma. There, I said it.

  213. 213.

    Tilda Swinton's Bald Cap

    December 6, 2016 at 3:41 pm

    Elliott Lusztig @ezlusztig

    Hacked by Russia. Kneecapped by the FBI. Her voting base was suppressed by every Red State in America.

    Still won by 3 million votes.

  214. 214.

    Mary G

    December 6, 2016 at 3:44 pm

    @hovercraft: That sounds horrible. My mom signed a one year contract with the University of Wyoming right out of college. She said it was the longest year of her life. (She was from Texas.) The minute the job was up she moved to Honolulu for a job she had lined up months earlier.

  215. 215.

    hovercraft

    December 6, 2016 at 3:44 pm

    @Doug R:

    He’s probably trying to wrangle an Airbus 380 with upper and lower separated decks, that’s just his style.

    But, but, but,……….. Make America Great Again, what happened ? Oh, I guess he was just joshing.

  216. 216.

    Mnemosyne

    December 6, 2016 at 3:46 pm

    @Steeplejack (tablet):

    My version is funnier.

    QED.

  217. 217.

    Anonymous

    December 6, 2016 at 3:49 pm

    @Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class: He’s an adjunct professor at UT, which is a tell. Probably making $10/hour. All those organizations at the end take anybody who pays the membership fee. I smell resume inflation the same as you, and that column is straight out of Joe McCarthy. Including OMG Communists in Texas! It’s a disgrace.

  218. 218.

    Another Scott

    December 6, 2016 at 3:50 pm

    @hovercraft: Also too:

    But a quick look at United Technologies’ taxpayer profile suggests that the company is already quite adept at avoiding federal income taxes. Over the past fifteen years, the company has enjoyed $38 billion in U.S. pretax income and has paid a federal tax rate averaging just 10.3 percent during that period—which means that the company is consistently finding ways to shelter more than two-thirds of its U.S. profits from federal taxes.

    Indiana Senator Joe Donnelley and Governor Pence are sensibly upset that Carrier raked in federal and state tax incentives for job creation before announcing this move. And United Technologies has benefitted, big-time, from the largesse of the federal government in the past: the company was the seventh largest federal contractor in 2014, enjoying almost $6 billion of federal contracts in that year alone. Even more troubling to Governor Pence should be the fact that last year, the company didn’t pay even a dime of state income taxes on its $2.7 billion in U.S. profits.

    If this move seems profoundly unpatriotic, it shouldn’t be surprising: United Technologies has been more aggressive than almost all other Fortune 500 corporations in shifting its profits, on paper, into foreign jurisdictions. The company now claims to hold a staggering $29 billion of its profits abroad—that’s one out of every three dollars the company has earned over the past fifteen years. The company’s limited financial disclosures make it impossible to know how precisely much of these profits have been assigned to UTX’s tax haven subsidiaries in the Cayman Islands, Luxembourg, or Gibraltar—or whether the company has paid any tax on these offshore profits.

    Donnie giving UTC more money from the Treasury is certain to make things all better for people in Indiana and in the rest of the USA. Bigly!

    :-/

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  219. 219.

    Mary G

    December 6, 2016 at 3:50 pm

    @Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class: He’s an adjunct professor at UT, which is a tell. Probably making $10/hour. All those organizations at the end take anybody who pays the membership fee. I smell resume inflation the same as you, and that column is straight out of Joe McCarthy. Including OMG Communists in Texas! It’s a disgrace.

  220. 220.

    Steeplejack (tablet)

    December 6, 2016 at 3:51 pm

    @hovercraft:

    Conway is not getting a seat at the table place at the trough because she’s not related to Trump and she doesn’t have a penis, so she’s got to get her grift on with a quickness.

  221. 221.

    Betty Cracker

    December 6, 2016 at 3:51 pm

    @hovercraft: My husband is from Buffalo. He left when he turned 18 and will only visit in the summer.

  222. 222.

    Mary G

    December 6, 2016 at 3:53 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: Brave man!

  223. 223.

    hovercraft

    December 6, 2016 at 3:55 pm

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    using fake figures of course

    I will so miss Obama and his master trollers.

    Aboard Air Force One, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said there are unique technical requirements for the project to ensure that future presidents have upgraded capabilities while representing the United States abroad.

    As for Trump’s tweet, Earnest said, “I’d refer to my colleagues at the Department of Defense for the particulars of the procurement contract. Some on the statistics that have been, uh, cited, shall we say, don’t appear to reflect the nature of the financial agreement between Boeing and the Department of Defense,” according to a pool report.

  224. 224.

    Millard Filmore

    December 6, 2016 at 3:58 pm

    @SenyorDave:

    When co-worker defended birtherism

    Obama was born in the USA because the appropriate state authority *said* he was born in the USA. Nothing else is of any importance.

  225. 225.

    Major Major Major Major

    December 6, 2016 at 3:58 pm

    @Mary G: One must make an assertive case for one’s beliefs! :P

    I do think it’s a good piece though. It reminds me of myself a bit before and after grad school (library and information science). I can articulate the case for free speech and against government intelligence practices much better now than I could before and I can just shred “if you have nothing to hide…” types in a way I couldn’t before in an argument. Rather than just having a sense that these things were right or wrong, and knowing some of the rote arguments. Understanding a problem is always better than just knowing the answer.

  226. 226.

    bemused

    December 6, 2016 at 4:01 pm

    @hovercraft:

    Love the Ernest digs but might be a bit too subtle for thin-skinned trump to catch unless someone explains it to him.

  227. 227.

    NotMax

    December 6, 2016 at 4:10 pm

    @Steeplejack

    The aunt is played by the wonderful May Robson. Any time I come across her in a film, cannot help but think about the world altering changes she had seen by the time the movie was made. Born before the civil war; Lincoln was shot five days before her 7th birthday. Her last film appearance was after the U.S. has entered WW2.

  228. 228.

    Miss Bianca

    December 6, 2016 at 4:10 pm

    @hovercraft: I’d say “government by shit-fit”, myself…

  229. 229.

    trollhattan

    December 6, 2016 at 4:12 pm

    @Doug R:
    Nyet, Antonov An-225!

    Can a Vlad hook a brother up?

  230. 230.

    Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class

    December 6, 2016 at 4:13 pm

    @Mary G:

    The guy doesn’t write like any PhD that I’ve ever read – particularly one with a credential from an Ivy.

    The whole thing is disorganized and disjointed, and includes some really awful constructions that violate general principles of writing that a professional author would avoid out maintaining discipline.

    I do stuff like that, too, but I’m just a dumb ass street lawyer who does mostly divorces. Nobody expects much greatness from my prose.

  231. 231.

    SenyorDave

    December 6, 2016 at 4:15 pm

    @hovercraft: I will so miss Obama and his master trollers.

    One of my favorite moments of the campaign:

    “You’re telling me that the candidate who snorted his way through the first two debates is accusing the other candidate of taking drugs? That’s a curious development in the campaign,” Earnest said.

  232. 232.

    trollhattan

    December 6, 2016 at 4:18 pm

    @Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class:
    Look around you, good sir, are you not surrounded by discerning weirdosadults right here who demand great prose at all times? We do have standards, you know.

  233. 233.

    Bobby D

    December 6, 2016 at 4:19 pm

    “Bay is a graduate of the US Army Command and General Staff School and the US Army War College”

    BFD, I’m a grad of the Air Command & Staff College and the Air War College (USAF equivs of the above). These are basic professional military ed credentials, essential for both AD and Civs, as we cannot promote to GS-14 or GS-15 in my org without it. It’s not some grand accomplishment, it’s a basic professional requirement that everyone at higher management/leadership levels must attain.

  234. 234.

    Another Scott

    December 6, 2016 at 4:20 pm

    @Bobby D: “What do you call the person who finishes last in his class at medical school?”

    “Doctor.”

    ;-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  235. 235.

    germy

    December 6, 2016 at 4:20 pm

    MSNBC: Joe Biden hints at possible 2020 run for president – MSNBC’s Brian Williams shares Vice Pres. Joe Biden’s remarks on Capitol Hill today about the possibility he may run for the White House in 2020.

    He’ll be almost 80.

  236. 236.

    gogol's wife

    December 6, 2016 at 4:22 pm

    @NotMax:

    Charlie Ruggles is really good in it too. But I don’t like it much.

  237. 237.

    Major Major Major Major

    December 6, 2016 at 4:23 pm

    @germy: Yeah, I saw that and… uh… I mean, if he wants to, I guess.

  238. 238.

    Another Scott

    December 6, 2016 at 4:24 pm

    @germy: Hey, 3rd time’s the charm, amirite?

    Cheers,
    Scott.
    (Who is anxious for MSNBC to ask Webb and Gilmore and Chafee and Fiorina if they’re going to run in 2020, also too.)

  239. 239.

    NotMax

    December 6, 2016 at 4:27 pm

    @Doug R

    The current 747s in use have three decks.

  240. 240.

    trollhattan

    December 6, 2016 at 4:27 pm

    @germy:
    If he still has his Joe mojo he can be useful poking hot forks at Trump–he’s a lot better at that stuff than Bernie could ever hope to be. As it is, I hope he stumps for key candidates in ’18.

  241. 241.

    Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class

    December 6, 2016 at 4:28 pm

    @Bobby D:

    His timelines look really hinky to me, even factoring service as a reserve officer. His submitted bio pics look out of whack for his age, too.

  242. 242.

    Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class

    December 6, 2016 at 4:30 pm

    @germy:

    Shit, he may as well.

    There are no personal imbroglios that any pol ever will have to worry about anymore, as we’re in the age of the post character Presidency.

  243. 243.

    Major Major Major Major

    December 6, 2016 at 4:32 pm

    @trollhattan: I don’t want Bernie to be the nominee either…

  244. 244.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 6, 2016 at 4:35 pm

    Is anybody besides me watching our POTUS give what is probably his final foreign policy speech? He’s at MacDill. I missed the first 10-15 minutes, but what I’ve heard sounds like good, solid stuff, as you would expect. I’ll find a transcript later and read the whole thing.

    I will miss this man so very much.

  245. 245.

    Corner Stone

    December 6, 2016 at 4:41 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I will miss this man so very much.

    Why will you miss him? He’s not going anywhere any time soon, is he?

  246. 246.

    Betty Cracker

    December 6, 2016 at 4:42 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: He’s sub-tweeting the shit out of Trump, from what I gather from the excerpts I’ve seen…

  247. 247.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 6, 2016 at 4:49 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    No one better.

  248. 248.

    hovercraft

    December 6, 2016 at 4:50 pm

    @Mary G: @Betty Cracker:
    Obviously your Mom and husband are both smart people, they don’t return unless have to.

  249. 249.

    Bobby D

    December 6, 2016 at 4:50 pm

    Isn’t MacDill just up the road from you Betty? Give POTUS a wave for us!

  250. 250.

    randy khan

    December 6, 2016 at 4:53 pm

    @PsiFighter37:

    Small correction: The Sprint-T-Mobile deal never even got announced, and it was the Antitrust Division and the FCC that told Softbank to forget about it.

    In standard antitrust analysis, there’s actually a not-terrible argument that a Sprint-TMo deal should be allowed, given the dominance of AT&T and Verizon. There’s also a not-terrible argument that it should be forbidden because of how the market breaks down – basically, Sprint and TMo are the companies that serve the low-cost end of the market, and Verizon and AT&T serve the high-cost end, so a merger would be bad for the low-end customers.

  251. 251.

    Yutsano

    December 6, 2016 at 4:58 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    She can consider grad school in other anglophone countries, Australia, Canada etc.

    Isn’t Germany offering English grad school education also?

  252. 252.

    Botsplainer

    December 6, 2016 at 5:05 pm

    Fuck, I give up. Posted a list of Kentucky’s electors without comment – figured people could figure out how to talk to them.

    Turns out that the oldest on the list (born 1929) is the oldest cousin of a really close friend of mine, and we go back to high school.

    Goddamn it.

  253. 253.

    Scamp Dog

    December 6, 2016 at 5:08 pm

    @Corner Stone: Well, I like asparagus, so it’s OK.

  254. 254.

    hovercraft

    December 6, 2016 at 5:12 pm

    @Corner Stone: @Betty Cracker:
    I put a link to the video in the thread upstairs.

  255. 255.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 6, 2016 at 5:15 pm

    @Bobby D: Yes and no. As the former Cultural Advisor at US Army War College, I can say that the attendance at the Senior Leader Colleges (USAWC, Air War College/AWC, Naval War College/USNWC, National War College/NWC, and the Eisenhower School formerly the Industrial College of the Armed Forces) is selective. While the resident courses have about 300 O5s and O6s per year – the vast majority from the service that runs the specific SLC and with National and Eisenhower being balanced, the attendance of DOD, Department of the Army, Department of the Navy, Department of the Air Force, and/or civilians from other US government agencies in attendance is quite small. Usually one to two per seminar. So each service, and then each component (Reserve, Guard) within that service determines who goes. On the civilian side, depending on the Federal agency it can be much less organized/structured and much more hit and miss. And for many Federal civilians there is no SLC attendance requirement to make GS 14 or 15.

    The Distance Ed programs at the SLCs take far more personnel and are less selective, but they also do not get JPME II certification despite the quality of the programs. This then requires everyone who needs JPME II to do the JPME II specific qualifying course. And, of course, there’s also the service members that get routed into the Service Chief’s Fellowship programs instead of attending an SLC. So its not quite as cut and dried as you’ve described.

  256. 256.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 6, 2016 at 5:21 pm

    @Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class: Never heard of him. But 1) I was assigned to US Army War College from US Army Training and Doctrine Command’s Army Culture and Foreign Language Directorate from 2010 to 2014. He retired in 03, was recalled in 04 for a year deployment to Iraq, so he likely attended sometime in the early to mid 80s provided he did a full 30 years or Reserve component equivalent. Since it appears he attended before my time, I do not know him. 2) Based on the way selectees for the Senior Leader Colleges are done, he should have been in attendance sometime after his 22 year of service. Occasionally someone will get routed sooner (I knew a US Army Reserve O5 that was sent way early – before his O5 level/Battalion level command) and when this guy attended we often had folks attending way late out of sequence. They’d get continuously pulled by general officers that wanted them to work for them. This was stopped by the Chief of Staff of the Army in 2011 as we were eating our seed corn. Folks would arrive too late in their careers, finish the course, and retire within 2 years as there was no where left for them to go. 3) From his bio it is unclear if he attended the resident or the distance course. Both have undergone a lot of change over time and both are very good courses.

  257. 257.

    Botsplainer

    December 6, 2016 at 5:32 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I’m curious about any method of verification, particularly the claimed PhD.

    Wouldn’t be the first time.

  258. 258.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 6, 2016 at 5:37 pm

    @Botsplainer: My guess is he had to provide a transcript to UT Austin even for an adjunct position. So he likely has one. And remember, universities love it when military folks do advanced degrees. They’re either being paid for directly by the services because that officer or senior NCO needs the degree for their ongoing military service or they’re using GI Bill funding. Either way it frees up other funding at the university to cover other graduate student (and other non academic related) expenses. So the bar can sometimes be set lower, even if its just the inherent bias that “this person is bringing us free money/freeing up other money – lets not spoil it”.

  259. 259.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 6, 2016 at 5:38 pm

    @Botsplainer: check the alumni rolls for that university for that graduating class.

  260. 260.

    bmaccnm

    December 6, 2016 at 6:57 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: But they taste really good.

  261. 261.

    J R in WV

    December 6, 2016 at 9:08 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    No, no no. Everyone must assume by default that everything that he says is false.

    Drumpf: “What a beautiful day this morning!”

    Response: Check for current rain/sleet/tornado!!

  262. 262.

    J R in WV

    December 6, 2016 at 9:36 pm

    @Gravenstone:

    The first time I went to college, in 1968, one of my fellow freshmen was from California, and had never actually seen it snow. We enjoyed watching him cavort outside in a pair of gym short. For a while.

    Then he got wet… the next day he went to town looking for winter coat, etc. His dad was a successful cult leader, to afford the small private college.

    Then I got drafted… Thanks Nixon.

    Fuck LBJ AND Nixon!!!!

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