.
Here's your chart of the day: Consumer Confidence for young people dives, while Consumer Confidence for old people surges pic.twitter.com/arONYqyOY1
— Joe Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) December 27, 2016
Old Republican voters: Why should we care if the world comes to an end? The only fun we can still enjoy is seeing young healthy people suffer!
***********
What’s on the agenda, as we count down towards the end of this supremely effed-up year?
.
People are joking about this, but… Gallup found that Republican voters’ perceptions changed after the election https://t.co/9C4SMaAVDV https://t.co/jSGOZ4dXOH
— Blake Hounshell (@blakehounshell) December 28, 2016
We joke because soberly pondering such willful collective idiocy inspired by the blatherings of narcissistic ignoramus is a suicide risk https://t.co/nvN2zXojZ0
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) December 28, 2016
OzarkHillbilly
Blech.
tybee
@OzarkHillbilly:
+1
Keith G
Just over at Kevin Drum’s place reading up on balanced billing, why the GOP love it, and how it puts the hurt on many folks.
Then I read that some part of Twitter were all a …twitter….. over the supposed sexism of this statement:
Hopefully, the latter will quickly pass so that more time is spent on the former. Talk policy.
rikyrah
Morning Everyone ???
bystander
I just learned that Debbie Reynolds has died. No, her film debut was NOT Singing in the Rain, despite what these teevee dummies keep saying.
Growing up in the 50s may be key to loving Debbie, but love Debbie I do. Her role on Will & Grace was a classic.
Raven
@bystander: lots of comments about her in the previous threads.
Mustang Bobby
We have a dense fog advisory posted for South Florida this morning from Palm Beach south.
There’s your weather metaphor of the day.
raven
@Mustang Bobby: Any meatballs?
Elizabelle
Good morning all.
Immanentize
Here near Boston we are missing a big storm by a few degrees of warmth. Rain instead of a foot of snow. Good for me because the family is flying to Texas early tomorrow for a week with my in-laws. Lovely kind people (not trumpish at all); but family is never quite the same as vacation, is it?
JPL
@Elizabelle: Good Morning!
Baud
@rikyrah:
@Elizabelle:
@JPL:
Morning.
Mustang Bobby
@raven: No but there’s a hockey puck that owns a big place in Palm Beach.
Baud
Why is the confidence level for young people consistently higher than the olds, even after the recent change?
raven
@Mustang Bobby: cah-ching!
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Olds are on (or expecting to soon be) fixed incomes? My guess anyway.
MomSense
I am living in an airplane hangar. Not really but the fans the Serv pro people set up make it sound like that. I can’t get to my clothes because all the furniture is shoved to one side of my room. Have to force myself to deal with this.
Botsplainer
@Baud:
Olds tend to be fearful fucks.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
@Botsplainer:
Both theories make sense. I always hear about young people struggling, so that graph is a bit of a surprise.
Botsplainer
@Baud:
And interestingly, the things that make olds happy have the opposite effect on youngs, and vice versa, looking at the graph – there’s a lag, though.
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: @tybee: cosigned
Baud
@Botsplainer: The young’s graph is also more volitile.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: The olds are generally pessimistic, cause they see their impending demise.
@Baud: Probably greater variance in their income stream over time.
satby
@MomSense: I’m so sorry you’re going through all this.
Botsplainer
Earworming “Jesse’s Girl” while fixing breakfast and making our lunch salads.
Occurs to me that the unnamed singer isn’t that much of a good friend to Jesse, if he’s planning on snaking Jesse’s girl.
Baud
@MomSense: I’m sorry. I missed the news about the problem, but I hope it’s resolved soon.
Baud
Jesus. GMA just pretended that a staged funny video really happened.
Immanentize
@Baud: and I never had as much money as when I had almost nothing when I was in college. Youngs spend.
MomSense
@satby:
Thanks.
@Baud:
My water heater flooded Christas Eve.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA: Your econ degree finally pays off!
Immanentize
@efgoldman: that is unusual. Hang in there and enjoy the white beauty of Sister Winter.
Baud
@MomSense: Ugh.
Immanentize
@MomSense: So sorry about that. The bottom of mine once fell apart when we were away. Came home to a foot of water in the basement. Yes, Serv pro brought their big fans….
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: I guess it’s good for something other than looking nice* on the wall.
*University of Washington diplomas are quite colorful.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA: Just by posting here, you are a better economist than the ones featured on CNBC.
Immanentize
I know it’s not an either/or, binary thing, but maybe we can just say “Fuck 2016” rather than “Fuck LBJ” for the next few days — at least ’til this disaster year is in the rear view mirror?
Then again, LBJ could be somehow responsible for this clusterfuck of a year….
raven
@Immanentize: no
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: CNBC has actual economists on their shows? I’m surprised.
BillinGlendaleCA
@raven: Your answer to that shocks and surprises me.
//
raven
They show a piece on Debbie Reynolds and note that she had financial issues and she had to tour to make money. In the background is a clip of her at a USO Tour in Korea in 1955! Boo.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA: I made that up. They probably don’t.
BillinGlendaleCA
Madame and the kid had a long discussion after Christmas dinner about the kid’s now ex-boyfriend. My observations about his lack of etiquette at Thanksgiving were merely the tip of the iceberg.
BillinGlendaleCA
@raven: My MIL* meet Marilyn in Korea when she toured with the USO, the MIL worked for the US Army at the time.
Madame’s mother had passed before I met madame, so I never met the MIL.
raven
This clip starts with Hope at Camp Casey in my day but has Debbie singing in 1955 (4:33).
OzarkHillbilly
@Immanentize: Fuck LBJ.
@raven: You’re slipping.
Betty Cracker
@MomSense: We had a similar problem a few years back — a dishwasher hose broke loose in the middle of the night and flooded the house. I wouldn’t wish that on an enemy. Oh wait, yes I would. But I’m sorry it happened to you.
raven
@BillinGlendaleCA: She looked better than Dukakis on a tank! (or Cole for that matter)
BillinGlendaleCA
@Betty Cracker: We had a similar problem when our water filter broke, the first floor of the old house was completely flooded. I used the carpet cleaner to pick up most of the water, and just opened the windows to let the rest dry out. What a mess!
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: Slipping? Im said “but maybe we can just say “Fuck 2016” rather than “Fuck LBJ” for the next few days ” and I said “no”!
BillinGlendaleCA
@raven: That’s not a very high threshold.
Kay
Eric Trump, 5 days ago:
Donald Trump, yesterday:
Well, if this is the new lower standard- conflicts, transparency and lying don’t matter- the only fair thing to do is apply it to all Presidents and Presidential candidates. I’m trying to think of a standard they’ll be held to without those three and I can’t come up with one. I don’t know- physical stamina? Maybe height? Money. We could use money. The richer candidate is the better one. I guess not because no one knows how much money the Trumps have and with lying and transparency off the table anyone can say they’re wildly successful.
Baud
@Kay: Emails, Kay. The standard is emails.
raven
@BillinGlendaleCA: My wife decided to wash this big ass quilt and now the washer is on the fritz. There was a day when I dove into this shit myself but the unit it pretty new so I’m going to have a local service dude come out. I hate it but sometimes ya gotta know your limit.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
So big deal on the consumer confidence; the olds don’t consume, the young do. Please proceeded Donny Dumbass.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Kay:
Well, it’s been reported that Trump does have gold platted shitter. I guess that can be the new standard. Mitt and his silly car elevator just won’t do.
@Baud: And emails, of course.
BillinGlendaleCA
@raven: Madame has had nothing but grief with her new washer; since it’s a Samsung, I guess she should just be happy it hasn’t blown up yet.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: At this point, our only hope is that some reporters decide to go all Woodward & Bernstein on corrupt President Trump to make a name for themselves. The Trumps won’t ever voluntarily release information or do what’s necessary to disentangle themselves from their brand, not when they’re poised to loot the Treasury.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
And don’t underestimate the frightfulness of that.
debbie
@MomSense:
I’m so sorry about this. Will the clean-up take long?
gene108
@Baud:
More precisely a private email server, to handle some government business, housed in your private residence.
And more loosely emails hacked and published by the Russians of your close associates and associated political organizations.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Kay: It certainly can’t be better hair with Donny case.
BillinGlendaleCA
@gene108:
However, said “private residence” is not like your’s or mine, it has 24/7 security provided by the Secret Service.
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: But you didn’t add the obligatory “Fuck LBJ.” You never used to miss an opportunity.
BretH
@ BillinGlendaleCA Our Samsung worked perfectly until it broke, 7 years old. Plastic corner of the outer plastic tub just disintegrated. I fixed it once which lasted a month but it was something that would never hold permanently. When I called repair people they all said it was (at 7 years) near the end of its expected lifespan and I should just get a new one. There’s your consumer society for you.
gene108
@Betty Cracker:
Not going to happen. Trump is going to bully the press like no other President, in the mass media age.
He’s probably not going to hold daily press conferences, as President, and so the media will come running when he even bothers talking to them. We’ve seen this already, when media came flocking to his chit-chat session in Trump Tower.
Plus the right-wing media will polish every Trump turd he drops, so half the country will be convinced his shit don’t stink.
Sadly, I think the only things that will really hurt him, as President, is if the economy tanks and/or we are in protracted foreign conflict. And that will hurt a lot of people far more badly than him.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Betty Cracker: Wouldn’t be surprised if the Washington Post is doing that as we speak. But even if someone did publish a story outlining all this stuff it’s still to early, I think; Trump still having his honeymoon so his voters are still seeing his vices as virtues. Trump like the idiot he is jumped the gun and started acting as president before he was sworn in and actual had power, so he shaved two months of off his honeymoon, so next April.
Kay
Trump has also decreed we should “get on with our lives” and bury the Russian hacking.
He doesn’t care because he’s already President, but recall that there was Russian government interference in Congressional races- Russia intervened to help GOP candidates in swing districts- and that will happen again less than two years from now. It was interference in elections, not Donald Trump’s election alone. He doesn’t read so he may not know that and obviously he doesn’t care because that isn’t about him personally.
We already have a far Right one Party federal government. The far Right Russian government could lock it up so hard no one would even hear a dissenting view. If I were the Russian government I’d move to Senate races. Bang for buck and there won’t be a President to help elect in 2018.
When Republicans in Congress don’t investigate and then block a real investigation by the minority Party we all need to remember they don’t have to take orders from the Trump Family. They have their own enumerated, separate powers under the Constitution- enormous power, actually. They have all the power they need to do their jobs no matter what Trump decrees.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Still loving the new S2 tablet, but I haven’t put it through a long rinse cycle yet.
Kay
@Baud:
He lied to their faces yesterday about the “5000 jobs” and 3/4’s of news agencies put it out as fact. They’re simply not up to this. We’re on our own.
We’re not up to it either but at least we know that and are frantically and ineffectually casting around for some.. plan or approach :)
They cover him as if he doesn’t lie constantly. Obviously that’s not going to work.
debbie
@gene108:
David A. Fahrenthold of the Washington Post and Kurt Eichenwald of Newsweek would dispute what you’re saying. They’ve been investigating all along. Even better, their platform is Twitter, so you know Trump will be following them and freaking out about each of their Tweets.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Kay: What makes you think the Russians are that much in love with the GOP? The story I got was it was mainly to trip up Hillary because they saw her as a serious opponent to their ambitions with things like the Ukraine. After the election the Russians were a bit meh because as one of their scholars pointed out Trump is a US president and has to do US president kind of things and that means he will still oppose Russia on things.
I while I wouldn’t put it past Donny Dumbass to sell US policy out blatantly for the sake of his Russian bank loans, doing so would create quite a backlash in this country. Sure the 27% base would support Trump if he danced naked on the White House lawn killing babies but the 23% moderate conservatives would baulk. Far right in this country has never meant cuddling with other countries.
debbie
@Kay:
As Putin’s Pu$$y, Trump will have far less legitimacy than the predecessor he keeps trying to paint as illegitimate. Trump will never be equal to the office, and his pettiness will never let him forget that.
Baud
@Kay: Most media is worthless, but Trump won’t wear well, I think. Most presidents don’t, and Trump starts off hated by a large number of people.
My concern with us is that we only know how to fight blitzkrieg style and don’t have the patience for a siege.
OzarkHillbilly
@BretH: We have a Whirlpool, had it for at least 12 years** (same with the dryer) The dryer has had a few minor repairs but the washer never. Still running strong.
**that’s how long we’ve been together, not sure how long she had them before that.
raven
@BillinGlendaleCA: This worked fine until she put the quilt in it.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Steeplejack (tablet): I’m liking mine too. I’ve found it’s great for photo editing, if only Adobe would upgrade the feature set of the Android version of Lightroom to match the iOS version.
germy
@Kay:
It reminds me of the family of an alcoholic father. Wife makes excuses; pretends “Dad is just tired from work; needs to sleep all day” Kids pretend Daddy flying into violent rages is what all dads do.
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: A wet quilt would be too heavy for most home machines spin cycle. It’s the kind of thing I was always told (by dear old Mom) to take to a laundromat.
Elizabelle
Have a sweet little earworm this morning, so will share it. Clarisse from Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer, singing
Except the lyric is actually
I think my version is actually more optimistic, but there….
Anyway, Rudolf found his feet and his special skill, and so must all of we. Have to try to be happier in the face of angry fates, I guess …
#fuck2016
Kay
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
Because it was all Democrats, and it was in swing districts:
It’s bigger than Donald Fucking Trump. This wasn’t even revealed until after the election. No voter could use this information. They didn’t have it. It wasn’t revealed.
It will happen again. In 2018 it will be Senate races. The idea that this is “transparency” is idiotic. Obviously if it’s only directed to certain candidates and one Party it’s an advantage to the far Right Party. You can’t have one set of candidates stripped naked and the other clothed and call that a level playing field. That’s ridiculous. It’s like applying discovery rules to only side in a lawsuit.
And we’re relying on the far Right GOP and the FBI to investigate. The FBI itself should be investigated. They shouldn’t be in charge of anything. I’d literally rather hire an independent contractor to investigate, as long as Trump doesn’t choose the contractor.
Elizabelle
My comment’s in moderation. Once it gets fished out, we will have to figure out what triggered. I suspect the very last line.
SiubhanDuinne
@Elizabelle:
Thank you for holding.
Your comment is very important to us.
A Front Pager will release you shortly. Currently, all Front Pagers are assisting other commenters.
This message will not be repeated.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: This is why I’m disappointed with the Obama admin’s response to the Russian hack so far. There’s still time to do the right thing, but the clock is winding down.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Elizabelle:
One thing I have found helpful is to make this comment (yours) a reply to the moderated comment. That makes it easier to check when the moderated comment finally appears and to see what’s wrong with it.
Chris
@Betty Cracker:
And by that you mean “our only hope is that President Trump steps on the feet of enough people in the security/intelligence state that one of them finally decides to bring him down by finding a couple of pet reporters to use as stenographers.”
Which, given Trump, isn’t necessarily implausible.
The problem is that even if that sort of thing happened, you couldn’t count on a single Republican in Congress to do what they did during Watergate. The best you could hope for would be an electoral backlash.
Elizabelle
@SiubhanDuinne: LOL. Good morning, Ms. Duinne.
Thank you to you and Steeplejack.
I woke up thinking of Clarisse’s song from Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer, There’s Always Tomorrow, so put a link up. We need some cheering.
Guess I am in the stop motion animated stage of grief for all the woes Fall 2016 has wrought.
Chris
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
Under Trump’s leadership, the GOP shows signs of being not only a white nationalist party but an isolationist one, hostile to all international institutions and bodies up to and including defensive military alliances like NATO. It’s a godsend. They’ve been funding people like this in Europe for years, but until the end of the Republican primary I don’t think they ever in their wildest dreams thought they’d get a shot at doing it in the U.S, too.
JPL
@Betty Cracker: What ever the President decides, the new administration will undo. Paul Ryan wants to rid us of the safety net, and he wants tax cuts for the one percent, so he will ignore the new President’s actions.
I’m distressed, can you tell?
charluckles
@Kay:
Hear, hear! The game has changed, completely. Even if it’s not the Russians, you can bet every 2 bit crack pot and charlatan on up sat straight up in bed when Trump was elected President. You can change the outcome of elections in the most powerful country in the world with a relatively cheap media and misinformation campaign targeted through social media, thats something every power hungry person is going to take note of. Either we find a way to respond or this country and this world are in serious trouble.
Elizabelle
@Betty Cracker: Yeah. Obama has a lot of grace and does not want to look a sore loser.
But he’s got to be much stronger in establishing the public record on this one. I hope the story gets beyond the media screen, but also think more than half the country has tuned out, since most of us are in various stages of grief and disbelief.
Obama needs to make more of an issue. Maybe he will, with announcing the sanctions against Russia.
(Which, I guess, will have to be strong enough to do their work in the few days before Russia’s puppet takes the oath of office.)
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Elizabelle:
I don’t see anything wrong with your moderated comment. There are rare occasions when FYWP balks at a YouTube link for no apparent reason. My guess is that’s what happened here, since your second message went through successfully with a different URL.
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
It’s sort of fascinating how quickly the libertarian ideal of “information wants to be free” failed massively. They never considered how information can be wielded inequitably- that it isn’t a broad theory in practice- it’s Candidate A stripped naked and Candidate B fully clothed. That’s the Clinton/Trump race in a nutshell.
It takes decades for systems like courts to come up with schemes that ensure a fair playing field as far as disclosure. The rules are essential. Libertarians thought they could just wing it and no one would take advantage of the lawless playing field. They make the same mistake every single time and they never learn. They really have to be the dumbest people on the planet. Process protects and it doesn’t just protect the powerful. The less powerful need it much more. It’s all they have.
germy
Has anyone else seen this?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/david-fahrenthold-tells-the-behind-the-scenes-story-of-his-year-covering-trump/2016/12/27/299047c4-b510-11e6-b8df-600bd9d38a02_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_farenthold-850a%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.82eeea5f303e#comments
Fahrenthold is the man! A great reporter.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@SiubhanDuinne:
Funny, because I just got off the phone a little while ago from a successful call to Social Security. Only had to wait on hold for about five minutes, but I did get multiple consoling comments from the recorded voice, plus some wretchedly bad music.
I agreed to take a short poll afterwards, and the question about “how long were you on hold” had the options 0 to 15 minutes, 15 to 30 minutes or longer than 30 minutes. Ugh.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Steeplejack (tablet): I’ve had comments with links go into moderation because they’re too long. If it’s a long link, I use tinyurl.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Kay:
As they kid once said when I brought up Libertarians, “Oh, they’re idiots”.
gene108
@debbie:
Their reporting did not make much difference. If that’s the best the media can do, it is not enough.
@Kay:
Republicans only care about being in power and shoveling money to their billionaire paymasters. Period.
If they had to sell our democracy out to Russia to achieve a perpetual Republican majority and more tax cuts for billionaires, they would not hesitate.
And so far they have not hesitated in trying to make investigating the hacking as inefficient as possible.
SiubhanDuinne
@Steeplejack (tablet):
Ugh indeed.
Corner Stone
@Betty Cracker: A sternly worded letter to the editor isn’t going to do it for you?
Steeplejack (tablet)
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Hmm, I’ll file that away. Although germy had a gigantic one at 94.
germy
@SiubhanDuinne: Still better than our captains of private industry. Try calling your cell phone provider or cable company. They make SS feel like a hot bubble bath on a cold night.
gene108
@Kay:
Why do you assume libertarians want a system that protects the less powerful?
It used to be taught that government rules were their to protect people, such as meat inspections.
I don’t think that gets through to folks anymore.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@OzarkHillbilly: Yep. The recommended way to wash a quilt is, actually, hand washing in the bathtub. Second best is the biggest commercial-grade front-loader you can get access to.
Elizabelle
@BillinGlendaleCA:
They are idiots. Useful idiots, to the Republicans. People who have either not had sufficient brushes with reality, or are
not playing with a full decklacking empathy.Selfish, immature fools.
germy
@Steeplejack (tablet): I’m a Balloon-Juice PLUS member. I paid for the deluxe package and got an autographed photo of Cole’s cat. (paw dipped in ink). Also, my comments always get fast-tracked past moderation.
Betty Cracker
@JPL: It’s true that Trump could roll back sanctions, but he can’t extract knowledge from people’s heads nor rescind reports that have already been distributed. What I’m hoping the president does is give an Oval Office speech in which he discusses the scale of the hack (I bet not one person in 100 realizes that House races were also targeted), discloses as much evidence as it is safely possible to distribute and provides recommendations on what needs to be done going forward.
Tens of millions of Americans believe their election was tampered with, and they are correct. It’s a BFD, worthy of a prime-time address. There’s nothing we can do to reverse the outcome, but if we’re to have faith in our elections in the future, we have to treat this as a highly serious matter and not allow it to get swept under the rug by the primary beneficiary of the hack.
SiubhanDuinne
@Elizabelle:
And to you, Ms. Belle. Hope your day is a good one.
Don’t think I’ve ever heard Clarisse’s song, so I’ll follow your link and give it a listen.
Botsplainer
@Kay:
My prediction is that both Fahrenthold and Eichenwald will be out of jobs and having to freelance in 6 months time. Washington Post will fall right in line once Trump’s SEC starts looking hard at Amazon and his related entities. Same thing for anything touched by Mark Cuban and Warren Buffett. George Soros will find himself the subject of multiple criminal inquiries and likely indictments for something about something, and will have to figure out a spot.
There will also be targeted hacks on many Democratic incumbents for 2018, and I’d guess that a lot has already been siphoned. Campaigns will be wise to go a little old school – quiet meetings on strategy, no digital tracks. Face to face, limited telephonic and pen on paper only.
I’m kind of a twitter asshole, use my real name, and spend a lot of time trolling Trump, NYT journos, Stein, Sanders and Netanyahu directly. Interestingly, somebody tried to hack into my Facebook from an IP address popping out of Colorado this sometime in the middle of the night. Never had that happen before. Facebook locked it and I changed the password to something harder. I’m now trying to get the IT guy in today to change all my office system passwords, because the current one is kind of a joke. Hope I’m in time on that.
Corner Stone
@germy: What are these…”on a cold night” that you speak of?
Steeplejack (tablet)
@germy:
I’ve had a fair amount of contact with Social Security and Medicare this last month. It has generally been pleasant when I have gotten through to a live person, which hasn’t taken very long, in most cases. I’m sure they’re understaffed to ensure that the Republican prophecy that “government doesn’t work!” remains self-fulfilling.
germy
@Botsplainer: Maybe Cuban will be safe. Did you see the news item (and photo) of him lunching with Bannon?
What they said was off the record.
Elizabelle
@SiubhanDuinne: Did you never see the original Rudolf special? You missed something, if so. Check it out.
Wiki says it first aired on NBC in 1964 (with ads for General Electric small appliances), the ending was modified in 1965, and it’s aired on CBS since the early 1970s. It’s been chopped a bit over the years to fit in commercials. Original version was 55 minutes long; not sure if that included the GE appliances …
Kind of remember Norelco electric shavers being a sponsor, for many years.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Elizabelle: I think you just described the kid’s ex-bf.
Chris
@Steeplejack (tablet):
Good Lord, don’t you just hate that shit?
Steeplejack (tablet)
@germy:
Elitist bastard!
:: shakes fist ::
germy
@Elizabelle: I remember the old norelco shaver commercials, with Santa riding a shaver like a sleigh, going up and down snow hills, his little arms flapping.
Elizabelle
@BillinGlendaleCA: She’s better off without him! As you suspected.
Saw the photo of the kid and her mother. Beautiful women.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Betty Cracker:
Well put.
Elizabelle
@Betty Cracker: I agree.
Definitely needs a primetime address. A relentless one.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Elizabelle:
(☺) They are, indeed.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Chris:
I think they should go sort of New Age/ambient, somewhere between “Is that almost music?” and “stoner ringtone.” You just need something to let you know you’re still connected. The really maddening thing about the bad music is that your ear quickly picks up on the repetition.
Immanentize
@raven: that made me smile. Still chuckling.
J R in WV
@raven:
I think there’s a filter in new clothes washers, so if the quilt gave up a little bit of stuffing, it could clog up a filter. Also don’t know if it is “user serviceable” due to odd new fasteners intended to require professional support service. Like Torx, etc. I bought a kit of just such tools not long ago to work on a dishwasher.
I fixed it just fine, replacement part was stainless rather than plastic, so better, then a couple of months later the motor/pump burned up. replacement part cost more than a new dishwasher, so there you go.
Now I’m waiting for a calm clear day for a timber cutter to cut some dead ash trees on the farm. Mostly we just let these things go on in the woods as they will, but these are close enough to the house to be an issue if they fall right, or wrong. If they fall downhill, they could reach the back bedroom, which would be bad for us sleeping. Cash transaction in the 3 digits. Ash is a great firewood, but it won’t be in a convenient location to transport.
Botsplainer
@Kay:
As Assange said last week, Wikileaks isn’t hacking Russia because debate is “transparent and open” there.
Gin & Tonic
@Botsplainer: He should ask Anna Politkovskaya for her opinion on that.
Corner Stone
@Kay:
I love this. Oh? You’re not taking it just “seriously”, you’re taking it “incredibly seriously”? Well, then! That makes all the difference and we will certainly take you at your word now!
Please proceed, Your Eminence.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Steeplejack (tablet):
Well, the Boomers have been becoming Social Security eligible in the past few years.
Woodrowfan
@Elizabelle: is thta the one where they explain why the prospector is always licking his pick Axe?? (He’s looking for a peppermint mine)
PJ
@Kay: The real impulse behind the dissemination of “information just wants to be free” was “we want stuff for free”, stuff being creative work protected by intellectual property, such as music, movies, books, games, etc. This hugely advantaged corporations like Google, which made billions off of directing people to where they could get this stuff for “free”. When it comes to their own property, libertarians are distinctly less inclined towards “sharing.” And, as you note, they are so embedded in their privilege that they cannot fathom, or care, that making information “free” does not mean that it will be distributed equally or fairly or that there is any guarantee as to its truthfulness.
J R in WV
@OzarkHillbilly:
We have a big front-loader Sears set and wash the quilt once or twice a year, depending on the dogs. Usually they get on the bed while they are reasonably clean, which is ok…
Anyway, it handles it fine, being the big set. The quilt is a thick queen-sized monster.
Chris
@Steeplejack (tablet):
What I hate is when they interrupt it every thirty seconds to tell you that your call is important to them. On top of making you sit up and pay attention over and over only to find out that no, it’s just the robotic voice, it’s just fucking obnoxious as hell.
(What I hate even more: the system – i.e. most of them – that’ll tell you that you’re waiting in line because all their representatives are busy assisting other customers, but won’t tell you your place in the line. It means you can’t even make a “okay, I don’t have time to wait that long, I’ll try again some other time” or “oh, is that all? Okay good, I can wait ten minutes” decision).
Elizabelle
@Chris: I like classical music, or anything soothing, without words, if I need to hold.
That way, your thoughts and time are still your own, and you can be concentrating someone else. The “you’re so important to us” every 15 seconds is disrespectful. Reminds you the corpbot is in charge.
ThresherK
Between Debbie and Carrie we’re talking, obliquely, about the entire history of sound movies.
This clip from Singin’ in the Rain is just the kind of colorful silliness I needed right now. It only has a bit of
Kathy SeldenDebbie Reynolds but I love the almost surreal beginning medley, and “surreal” is not a term one applies to MGM A-pictures often.The main song is obviously a ripoff of “A Preitty Girl is LIke a Melody”.
Woodrowfan
I had a bio major take my “writing for historians’ class some years back. I never did figure out WHY, but I suspected that as a STEM major he thought a liberal arts course would be an easy A. At any rate, he was a libertarian Randite and trying to teach him to do research was like talking to an especially stupid stone wall. He simply could not grasp why you had to read more than one book on any subject. If it was “the best book on x” why did you need to read more than that? Explaining about different perspectives, different interpretations, etc, none of it made any sense to him. I thought our reference librarian was either going to dry or kill him or both.
and yes, his understanding of American history was abysmal. I’m sure he was elated when the trump was elected.
Betty Cracker
@Chris: I don’t know why all companies don’t adopt the call back method used by some businesses. Instead of making customers wait — practically guaranteeing that they’ll be pissed off when the agent finally gets to them — some companies detect your phone number and say they’ll call back within a certain time frame, giving you the option to choose a different time and number. It’s all automated.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Chris:
Social Security did give me an “estimated wait time” message this morning. I heard it only once because my call got picked up in about five minutes.
When I called the ACA exchange earlier this month I got a message saying the wait time is screwed, leave your number and we’ll call you back. And I did get a call the next morning.
(Had an interesting problem there: the exchange website absolutely would not let me cancel the auto-renewal of my Obamacare policy. I’m moving to Medicare next year.)
SiubhanDuinne
@Elizabelle:
Nope. For that matter, I’ve also never seen A Charlie Brown Christmas or The Grinch, although the images and some of the music are recognizably part of the holiday Zeitgeist, so I’m not totally unaware.
I had mercifully managed to avoid that movie about the kid who wants an air rifle and licks a metal pole in the freezing temperatures and there’s a table lamp shaped like a woman’s leg, but about ten years ago my brothers made me watch it. Hated it.
I probably won’t, thanks. I think these kinds of programs have to grab you as a child (or perhaps as the parent of a young child). I was well into my twenties when the three animated classics were released.
This is in no way a criticism of the films or their legions of devoted fans. I’m just not the intended audience.
germy
@ThresherK: Fun fact: Debbie Reynolds was performing in benefits for AIDS patients and research years before ronald reagan even said “AIDS”
BillinGlendaleCA
The Milky Way(sort of) from the Cave.
Chris
@Steeplejack (tablet):
Yeah, dealing with the ACA has been… kind of a mess. I’m under no illusions that dealing with the private sector directly (which is what I did last year in a no-Medicaid-expansion state) would be better, mind you. But holy shit, the wait times and bureaucratic mazes. And they say the DMV’s bad.
Elizabelle
@SiubhanDuinne: You’re being a grinch!
The first Rudolph, A Charlie Brown Christmas (and also the Great Pumpkin halloween special), and the animated Grinch Who Stole Christmas are excellent. I think they would warm your heart too.
They have not been spoiled. And they’re not cynical. For that reason alone, they are worth watching.
debbie
@Elizabelle:
I agree. They’re as fun to watch now as they were when I was a kid. I think I know Grinch by heart.
Chris
@Elizabelle:
The Grinch song is still my favorite Christmas carol.
Elizabelle
@debbie: I love Max. Long suffering dog.
Elizabelle
@Chris:
Singing: You’ve got termites in your soul.
Totes the spirit of Christmas. I kid.
I do find the Hoos kind of cloying. Would be tempted to steal their presents too. I’m not sure that’s accidental.
debbie
@Elizabelle:
Yes! Yet he survived and was always happy. I could use whatever gene created that.
Brachiator
Another work day today, with a few twists:
Walking to the office, I encountered a coyote hanging out and enjoying the morning. He stood alert until I gave him more space, then stretched out and relaxed on a patch of green space.
Power outage killed the computers, disconnected phone calls.
Ah, well, hopefully will get to leave a little early today.
New Years will be quiet. Might check out a couple of movies.
Larkspur
@germy:
Are you sure that’s ink? Have you given it the sniff test?
germy
@Larkspur: I’d assumed it was brown ink…
GrandJury
If you don’t vote you get the government you deserve. Young people don’t vote in anywhere near the numbers that old people do.
Yes, they are going to get screwed over by the incoming cabal of ar$ $holes. If they voted then we wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place. I doubt the tangerine ballsack, with all his inevitable screw ups and scandals, will be enough to inspire them to vote next time either. Young people can’t be bothered to vote. Always has and always will be that way.
As far as all the faux watching olds who elected that clown. They are going to get the gov’t they deserve too..good and hard, without lube.
Elizabelle
@GrandJury: Maybe that’s what it’s going to take, too.
Brachiator
@PJ:
An oversimplification. There is a lot of idealism still among some computer folk, for example, who champion open source communities, and Creative Commons in which anyone has access to information, and can use it for almost any purpose as long as they credit the original author.
Nicole
@SiubhanDuinne: Rudolph is in a class by itself due to the sheer weirdness of the story. Somehow, a song about a reindeer born with a red nose morphed into a tale of said reindeer exploring the Arctic with a prospector who obsessively licks his pickax and a runaway elf who aspires to be a dentist. Oh, and there’s an island of toys that didn’t pass quality control who are governed by a winged lion. And an abominable snowman.
I’m not making any of this up.
Elizabelle
@Nicole: All true.
And said prospector’s sled dog team includes a poodle and other unsuitable dogs. Always on the lookout for footage of them.
But the whole thing works. Sheerly on charm.
The sequel about New Year’s does not.
Kay
@PJ:
I used to fight with my kids about that. It’s stealing. All their blah, blah, blah about it- I’d just repeat “still stealing!”
My eldest works in the tech industry and he picked some of it up when he was younger, but now he’s older and he needs to get paid for work so he understands it a lot better.
My daughter got it immediately. She’s good with that stuff. She asked for a raise when she was a busgirl. It still makes me smile to think about her going in there – they said “no” but she was completely unfazed. It wouldn’t occur to me to ask for a raise at a minimum wage job in high school. It was just beyond my imagining.
The Lodger
@Chris: To me the most annoying thing about these voice break-ins is that whenever I hear one I have to switch my attention to it for an instant (because they might possibly be a real person) before I can filter them out. I have to do that this morning so I can drop one of those Internet-enabled services we never use, and I’m not looking forward to it.
SiubhanDuinne
@debbie:
But that’s my point. I wasn’t a kid when they came out. I was in my 20s, recently married, beginning a career. For certain, the movies I saw and loved as a child are still very special to me. The dynamic applies;the specifics don’t.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Kay: You are missing my point; the Russians messed with the election because they saw an advantage in weakening/stopping Hillary, they can quite easily decided to turn on Trump tomorrow. The GOP are utter idiots for no seeing this point.
Chris
@The Lodger:
Exactly! Oy.
hovercraft
@Kay:
Some people are trying to call the media out, but as Sargent points out below, far too many are simply re-printing his bullshit. I wonder how long before they stop being stenographers for a pathological liar.
Memo to the media: Stop giving Trump the headlines he wants
By Greg Sargent
December 29 at 10:32 AM
Donald Trump is once again claiming credit for beating back the scourge of outsourcing, this time insisting that he is the reason that Sprint has announced plans to move thousands of jobs back to America from other countries.
“Because of what’s happening, and the spirit and the hope, I was just called by the head people at Sprint, and they are going to be bringing 5,000 jobs back to the United States,” Trump said, adding that the news of jobs “coming back into the United States” marks “a nice change.” Trump later added that the jobs were coming back “because of me.”
But based on what we know right now, it is not at all clear what role Trump — or whatever “spirit” of “hope” his victory has created — had in bringing these jobs back to the U.S.
Yet here are some of the headlines that greeted Trump’s claim:
* CNN: “Trump declares victory: Sprint will create 5,000 U.S. jobs.”
* The New York Times: “Trump Takes Credit for Sprint Plan to Add 5,000 Jobs in U.S.”
* USA Today: “8,000 U.S. jobs? Trump takes credit for Sprint, start-up decisions.”
* ABC News: “Trump claims Sprint to create 5,000 jobs ‘because of me’.”
* The Associated Press: “Trump takes credit for 8,000 jobs from Japanese mogul.”
* The Washington Post: “Trump touts thousands of new jobs in deal with Softbank CEO.”
To be sure, you could find the facts of the situation buried in the body of these stories. (Some of these headlines refer to 8,000 jobs, rather than 5,000, because of an additional 3,000 jobs that Trump announced.) But the 5,000 jobs seem to have been previously decided, and the broader plans of which they are a part seem to have predated the election……..
Some headlines did manage to convey this basic underlying problem. Politico noted in its headline that Trump was touting “previously announced” jobs. Bloomberg was even better, stating flatly in its headline: “Trump seeks credit for 5,000 Sprint jobs already touted.”
A suggested rule of thumb
I would like to propose a rule of thumb for these situations: If the headline does not convey the fact that Trump’s claim is in question or open to doubt, based on the known facts, then it is insufficiently informative. The Bloomberg headline does accomplish this. If the headline merely conveys that Trump claimed credit for something, without also conveying that this is open to doubt, then it risks being misleading, particularly since people often scan headlines without digging deeper into the stories and the factual details.
Why is this a risk any news org would choose to take, when it doesn’t have to? Look, it’s obvious that Trump has adopted a strategy of actively trying to game such headlines in his favor. Trump’s claims about Carrier jobs staying in Indiana turned out to be significantly less rosy upon closer inspection. And remember when Trump falsely claimed credit for keeping a Ford plant here that was going to stay anyway? It really doesn’t take much to convey it in a headline when Trump’s claim is in doubt.
Chris
@hovercraft:
I’m trying hard not to reach the point where I simply assume that any headline like that that vindicates the conservatives is bullshit, because it’s so dangerously close to “I don’t like that news so I won’t believe it.” But they make it so goddamn hard.
Botsplainer
@Elizabelle:
My personal favorite Christmas movies are Bad Santa and Die Hard. I’d like to see “The Long Kiss Goodnight”, but there are no streaming options available.
Sibelius
@BillinGlendaleCA: Had to buy a new one last week. Let’s see, the LG we had gave up after 5 years so I couldn’t throw money at them. The repair guy said NO SAMSUNG!, so they were out. Went with Electrolux, because the soap dispenser on the Whirlpool on the showroom floor wouldn’t close. It’s a crap shoot out there. On the LG I dug out the paperwork and I did in fact buy the ext. warranty (which I NEVER did before) but it expired a year ago. Repair guy said 5 years is average now. New water heater too, the “old” one gave up after 7. Had to put $5,000 into the 16 year old Mercedes, but should get at least another 20,000 miles for that. We hope. Merry Christmas to us!
khead
Love Rudolph, but I can’t help noticing how crappy all the adults are now that I am older. Except Yukon. I want a Charlie in the box.
Everyone should see Charlie Brown Christmas for the Gospel of Linus. On a side note, I wonder…. if the specials were made today, would Charlie just go off on the other kids? I mean, dude busted his ASS for the Thanksgiving feast and then took the miserable job in the Christmas show and what thanks did he get?
2016 took one of my favorite stop motion characters – Heat Miser. George Irving died on Monday.
khead
@Botsplainer:
Bad Santa and The Ref.
J R in WV
@BillinGlendaleCA:
What’s the exposure on that shot? and relative ISO? I’m interested in available dark shooting, my camera is really good at it, even hand-held, although I’ve never tried dark sky pictures yet. I have a Panasonic Lumix FZ200, still going strong.
hovercraft
@debbie: @gene108:
I think you are both actually correct, the media will continue to ask how high when he tells them to jump, but there will be a few intrepid reporters who will continue to do their actual jobs, and investigate his ass. We have two classes of reporters, the vast majority who are toadies, and will do anything for the privilege of gaining access to him, and then there are a tiny minority of people out there who spend every day digging through the mountain of bullshit that is his “empire”. The big question is how many of the former will eventually join the latter. As he continues to shit on them everyday, and his act is no longer “new and exciting”, how many of them will start calling him on his bullshit.
Throughout the election he was a novelty act, there to keep them entertained, he was more fun to report on, everyone else was boring, so they wrote a single paragraph on every other candidate and stuck to it, day after day, and they incorporated the shitgibbons attacks into those blurbs, drumming them into voters minds, Low energy, boring Bush, Lying Ted who everyone hates, Little Marco, Crooked Hillary, the media played every speech and every attack on an endless loop. He had no need to spend money on commercials, the media was his campaign advertising. He no longer has an actual adversary to distract the media with, when he is sworn in in a little more than three weeks, (jeebus), what Hillary said, or even Obama said becomes irrelevant, it will be the POTUS. The question is how long before the media actually recognizes that it’s real, they got their man, now it’s time for him to actually do the job, maybe then they’ll join Farenthold and Eichenwald and do theirs.
And maybe I’ll get a magic pony. Sigh.
PJ
@Brachiator: There may be some people who touted the notion from genuinely idealistic reasons (whether it is a good or bad ideal is open to serious debate), but one glance at the internet will show you that its practice generated massive profits for corporate behemoths at the expense of creative workers, and that, if anything, it has made access to actual useful, truthful information more difficult. When few will pay for investigative reporting, or any kind of real reporting, we are left with fake news and propaganda. (Obviously, the causes for the decline of the press are manifold, but the fact that newspapers are mostly economically unviable now is a major factor.)
hovercraft
@Elizabelle:
I heartily endorse your last line.
#fuck2016
Elizabelle
@Woodrowfan: Don’t remember the Peppermint Mine song. Probs on Youtube. Will check it out and report back.
In current version, Cornelius licks for gold. Be interesting to check that out against the very first version.
Brachiator
@PJ:
I disagree with much of your conclusion here. I also don’t automatically bewail corporate behemoths or their profits. Some idealists, for example, would prefer that personal computes remain the niche product of adept hobbyists. You and I are communicating on the Internets with PCs or tablets or smartphones because of “greedy” corporations pooling the talents of developers.
This is a whole different problem. But useful. Yeah, the business model for newspapers has collapsed for all kinds of reasons.
But here’s the thing. People have always wanted entertainment for cheap. And they don’t care how they get it. In Elizabethan times, thieves would copy the dialog of plays so that new competing productions could be mounted at cheaper or competitive prices. Dickens complained about American publishers who cheated him out of book royalties and went on tour to try to beat them at their own game. Movie producers moved to Hollywood not just because of the weather, but to get out of the legal jurisdiction of copyright holders.
People got used to “free” (ad sponsored) radio and tv and now want all news to be free as well. And of course, people justified stealing from recording artists because they could get free music. None of this has squat to do with evil corporate behemoths and everything to do with greedy consumers.
Also people who hate the truth desperately want propaganda. Ironically, the Internet allows this need to be filled more easily than legitimate news.
Barry
@BretH: “When I called repair people they all said it was (at 7 years) near the end of its expected lifespan and I should just get a new one. There’s your consumer society for you.”
They might have been doing both you and themselves a favor. They have probably done $200-300 worth of repairs on older appliances, just to have them break down again in a couple of months.
Barry
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: “What makes you think the Russians are that much in love with the GOP? ”
Because (1) the GOP is Russia’s best bet to weaken the USA, (2) the GOP is Russia’s best bet to weaken the Western system of cooperation and commerce and (3) the Russians almost certainly have Trump by the short and curlies, along with several cabinet officials/personal staff (and likely his sons, especially if they were sloppy during any trips to the Land of KGB cameras).
Between blackmail, bribery and easy manipulability, Putin has to be sleeping much better in the past several weeks.
BillinGlendaleCA
@J R in WV: It’s shot at ISO-800 and 15 seconds. I’ve cheated a bit, the background(trees, wall, and building) are from the jpg from the camera and the sky is from the RAW file that’s been processed though Photoshop’s ACR.
goblue72
@Immanentize: When the last of the Boomers kick the bucket, LBJ is going to wind up on the list of greatest Presidents in history, and certainly #2 of the 20th century, immediately behind FDR. Greatest civil rights President after Lincoln. Greatest or second greatest President for the poor and working class. Two major social welfare programs for the poor to come out of the New Deal are about all that still survive – Social Security and public housing (with maybe 3rd in the form of AFDC, but that has been almost obliterated via TANF, courtesy of Clinton) LBJs’ legacy includes Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps, Head Start, ESEA, Legal Services and HUD. Poverty rates from start of War on Poverty to the end of its peak funding declined from 17% to 11%.