Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

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

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

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

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Everybody saw this coming.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Not all heroes wear capes.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

You are here: Home / Organizing & Resistance / Don't Mourn, Organize / Sunday Morning Open Thread: Accessorize for Success

Sunday Morning Open Thread: Accessorize for Success

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From faithful Sunday commentor Marvel:

I’ll be going with some friends on the 21st to the Women’s March in Eugene, OR and I’ve put together a design for some placards & patches. The underlying graphic (a fisted rose kinda thing) came from an uncredited photo of grafitti from somewhere (also unnamed)…else I’d credit the artist / photographer, u-bet.

Also, from NYMag‘s The Cut:

The day after Donald Trump’s inauguration, an estimated 200,000 women will march on Washington, D.C., to stand up for equal rights. And at least a couple thousand will be sporting pink knit “pussy power hats.” The Pussyhat Project, which launched in late November, has thousands of followers on social media, and its organizers told the Huffington Post they believe 30,000 to 100,000 cat-eared hats have already been knit.

“For me, a lot of the magic lies in [saying], ‘Hey women of the country, you might not think you’re politically active, but you’re already community organizing in your knitting groups and women’s groups, you just don’t call it that,” said Krista Suh, one of the project’s organizers. “The Pussyhat Project calls it that, which is where a lot of the power comes from.”…

Now just throw on your “Nasty Woman” T-shirt and you’re ready to go.

More hat pics at the NYMag link, including Instagram links to the knitting pattern (if you’re crafty like that, or know someone who is).

***********

Apart from sartorial planning, what’s on the agenda for the day?

***********
Then again, if you know someone who’s going to the Trump inauguration (possibly under duress), BoingBoing has a different millinery suggestion…

Reader Interactions

191Comments

  1. 1.

    CarolDuhart2

    I was just thinking, the Republicans could have nominated Kasich and gotten a lot of things done. Because he wouldn’t have been so nasty, in your face like Orange Cheeto, the pushback might have been less and probably delayed while people caught their breath.

    Trump is likely to be the mother and father of more social and political change than the Republicans realize. A Kasich would have had the usual opposition and no more, mostly the usual male suspects.

    Pussy-grabber has riled up the women. And when women get involved, it’s whole hearted and permanent involvement. For women don’t just pose, they work and hard for their goals. They create organizations that are engaged with the political process. They create art. They network and help each other. And they don’t quit at the first problem.

  3. 3.

    Betty Cracker

    I’ll be at the Women’s March on Washington, but I’m not a hat person. Unless it’s really, really cold, which it might be. Hmmm. Maybe I should get a hat just in case.

  5. 5.

    OzarkHillbilly

    I have a “Resist” t-shirt from Think Progress. I’ll probably just wear that. If it’s warm enough people might even see it.

  8. 8.

    Zinsky

    If this country can be saved, which is looking more and more unlikely, it will be women who do it. Many men are too susceptible to a dick-wagging braggart like Trump. He appeals to that testosterone-driven need to strut around and puff up your feathers. In other words, they are willfully stupid. God bless women! I love them.

  9. 9.

    CarolDuhart2

    On weather.com, it looks like a high of 50 and a low of 37. A little colder for the 21st, but not much

  15. 15.

    bemused

    Marc Jacobs said he has no interest in dressing Melania. He’d rather help people who will be harmed by Trump and his supporters.

  17. 17.

    K488

    K581, the light of my life, has in her own words been going full madame defarge since November turning out those hats for our friends who are marching on Washington.

  19. 19.

    JPL

    It’s fifteen degrees outside and Finch took one step outside, and decided to wait. The sunshine today should take care of the ice patches on the driveway and street.

  21. 21.

    NobodySpecial

    @Gator90: Good luck. The NFL is fixed, which is why I stopped watching it. All I needed to see were the ‘highlights’ from the Lions game that friends keep sending me of blown calls and no calls.

  22. 22.

    Iowa Old Lady

    Here we go with another day when we’re happy because it’s above zero. But no snow, so I’ll take the cold. At least I can still get around easily in the cold.

  28. 28.

    Yoda Dog

    @JPL: True and the refs ALWAYS seem to favor the Raiders in big calls in huge playoff games…. Wait a minute…

  30. 30.

    Yoda Dog

    If it was fixed, I would hope they would give me something better than Tom MAGA Brady winning every single fucking year…

  36. 36.

    mai naem mobile

    I turned on the teepee this AM and had it left on CNN from last night.
    Sanjah Gupta was interviewing a moRon Lumpy voting Republican from Fl who gets insurance fron Obamacare. He hadn’t had insurance for years. Hes hoping the GOP will keep O-care. Jeezus. Go fuck yourself and die quickly like the GOP want you to.

  37. 37.

    MomSense

    @K488:

    Yes! I’ve been channeling that nasty woman tricoteuse myself. Made two more last night. You know it’s a thing when you can’t find any pink yarn anywhere.

    I read an article the other day that said the women’s handcrafts circles during the American Revolution did a lot of organizing and I am starting to see this happening now. The silly aspect of the hats is important because we can’t act out with the rage we feel. We have to try to stay good human beings while fighting back.

  40. 40.

    p.a.

    Magee Hickey! She was a reporter here on the Proper Coast, even has a sandwich named after her; Mickey Hickey. Hot pastrami, cole slaw, melted swiss. $8.99

  41. 41.

    MomSense

    @satby:

    I hear you but we are bringing people in who said they have never felt political before because they hate all the anger etc. Now they want to knit a silly hat, attend the march and be part of a community. This is how you bring more people in to political action.

  47. 47.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Betty Cracker: White women voted for Trump at 53%. Black women voted for Secretary Clinton at 93%. Still trying to figure out why the majority of White women think that voting in a raging misogynistic bigot is a great idea. There is no way that Trump’s policies won’t negatively affect them.

  48. 48.

    Nora

    A woman in my area set up knitting parties. I’ve already knitted five of them and am on number 6. Women’s quilting circles, knitting circles, etc., are where we get together and talk about everything. They’re a very good place to start.

  54. 54.

    Elizabelle

    @Patricia Kayden: I know. I am ashamed for those stupid white women. Don’t know too many of them, thank dog, but WTF is wrong with you, sisters?

    This election has made me ashamed to be white. WTG trump.

  56. 56.

    NotMax

    Totally silly but in a good way. Watching Better Off Ted. Pleasant diversion, especially during those wee hours when the brain is awake but not in the mood to be taxed.

  57. 57.

    CarolDuhart2

    @Patricia Kayden: Some are richies who vote their class and money interests. Others vote the way their church tells them too-they were told that this would end abortion and same-sex marriage. Then there are the Stepford Wives….

  59. 59.

    Kay

    They’re skipping required disclosure to rush thru nominees:

    As Senate Republicans embark on a flurry of confirmation hearings this week, several of Donald J. Trump’s appointees have yet to complete the background checks and ethics clearances customarily required before the Senate begins to consider cabinet-level nominees.

    Matthew Yglesias ‏@mattyglesias 19h19 hours ago
    Matthew Yglesias Retweeted Tamara Keith
    This is all because McConnell and the Senate GOP want to rush hearings to avoid media coverage

    Another regulatory safety net fails. No background checks! Your server at Applebees will be better-vetted than Trump’s nominees. From now on this is the standard- disclosure not required. Racing to the bottom, every day and in every way.

    This was absolutely inevitable. Trump is the boss. He doesn’t disclose or avoid conflicts so none of his appointees will either. He sets the standard. His standards are rock bottom and that will be true of everyone who works for him, because people with higher standards either won’t accept the position or will get out.

  61. 61.

    Elizabelle

    I missed HBO’s Bright Lights documentary about Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds last night.

    It’s on again today at 11 am (HBO East). Hear it’s very good.

  62. 62.

    Elizabelle

    @Kay: This would seem to be something that massive public phone calls could do something about. A lot of Senators sit on those committees.

    Cannot let Trump break our government before he’s even taken the oath.

  64. 64.

    Betty Cracker

    @Patricia Kayden: I’ve studied it a bit since the election, exploring why the white female Trump voters I personally know voted for the raging misogynist. I’ve identified three reasons:

    1) They’re racist assholes
    2) They’re dumber than a bag of hammers
    3) They’re racist assholes who are also dumber than a bag of hammers

    Mind you, this isn’t a scientific survey. But I located not one case of economic anxiety in the bunch.

  66. 66.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @efgoldman: The same thing happens in baseball with balls and strikes. If a really good hitter (say Albert Pujols at his prime) lets a ball go by without swinging, umps are more likely to call it a ball. If a high end pitcher reacts badly to a called ball, an ump is more likely to call a similarly located pitch a strike the next time. Subconsciously they think these highly paid ball players are more likely than not to be correct.

  68. 68.

    Kay

    Looks like President-elect Donald Trump’s son-in-law will be joining the administration. Jared Kushner is currently filing the necessary financial disclosure documents “to take a formal White House position,” the New York Times reports, citing “people involved in the process.” A spokeswoman for Kushner confirmed that he is currently analyzing what he would have to do before joining the White House team. As part of this process he would resign as chief executive of Kushner Companies and also divest “substantial assets.”
    “Mr. Kushner is committed to complying with federal ethics laws and we have been consulting with the Office of Government Ethics regarding the steps he would take,” the spokeswoman said in a statement. “Although plans are not finalized, Mr. Kushner would resign from his position at Kushner Companies and divest substantial assets in accordance with federal guidelines.”

    But not until after he completes the China deal he’s doing as the President-elect son in law.

    Let’s see how the sleazy Trump family get around the nepotism rules in the federal government and set a new lower standard for every President who comes after them. This family will take advantage until they are stopped. They have no standards themselves- they are the people rules were invented for- they require regulation.

  69. 69.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Betty Cracker: LOL! I’ve yet to meet a Trump voter/supporter in the flesh but if I ever do I plan to ask him/her: “So what exactly do you think Trump is going to do for you on a personal level?” I really want to know what they think a narcissistic, immature, gibberish-talking idiot like Trump is going to do for them when Trump has no history of helping others. His charity was a farce which he is eager to shut down before it gets him into trouble.

  70. 70.

    tobie

    @MomSense: As a fellow knitter, can I ask roughly how much yarn the hat takes? I know the pattern calls for 100g/200yards but I’m working with sport weight wool, since it’s the only skein of pink I have in the house, and was hoping I’d have enough with 50grams. (Am trying to avoid driving to the wool store if I can help it.)

  73. 73.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    Kay, is that legal? Can’t holds be put on the nominations because the disclosures weren’t filed?

  74. 74.

    Stan

    Maybe I’m stating the obvious here but – this march is not limited to females ;) It includes an awful lot of guys. My son and me, for instance. Looking for pink hats right now.

  76. 76.

    debbie

    @efgoldman:

    Yes. It’s become cool to be impolite and rude. I’ve tried to think back to when this first became okay. I think maybe Archie Bunker.

  77. 77.

    Patricia Kayden

    @efgoldman: Well the “voting against their own self interest” rationale certainly explains why anyone would vote for Trump. I’m waiting for them to wake up to the nightmare they’re about to unleash. Should be quite interesting because they’ve given full control to Republicans and the consequences of this will be horrific.

  78. 78.

    Botsplainer

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Yeah, she’s been surprising me of late.

    Of course, then again, there is the balance and utter absence of value judgment of Ruth Marcus this week, who thinks that the judgment as to whether something is a lie needs to be left to the reader. She did a long piece on how the media will struggle to cover Trump “fairly” which I won’t link because it made me want to take a hammer to my phone.

  79. 79.

    MomSense

    @tobie:

    I made two out of 100g of worsted weight (about 200 yards)

    CO 92 join in the round knit k2p2 rib for 3 3/4 inches then knit until 7 1/2 inches. Then I turned inside out and did 3 needle bins off. Two ends to weave and meow!

    I think there are a couple patterns on ravelry with instructions for different weights.

  80. 80.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @efgoldman:

    Oh yeah. Wade Boggs got those calls for years; it was almost comical.
    Same in reverse for Greg Maddux (and later Tom Glavine).

    And for not bad reasons. These guys are getting paid millions of dollars for swinging at/throwing 100 mph orange sized balls into very exact locations. An MLB ump gets paid at most $350K.

  82. 82.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Kay: There must be a way for Democratic Senators to filibuster this blatant breaking of the rules. Democrats need to figure out a strategy to fight back because Republicans are in full destruction mode.

  83. 83.

    matryoshka

    @Kay: That is horrifying. When I was applying for a temp job, I had to be drug-tested, background checked (including credit check and criminal history), provide a complete salary history, take numerous abilities tests, have three immunizations, and sign a waiver saying they could recheck any or all of these at any time. The process took 3 weeks. But people who are going to govern without so much as a thoughtful consideration?

  84. 84.

    Baud

    @debbie:

    It’s never too early to start the glad-handing!

    At first, I thought you were talking about OzarkHillbilly’s vasoline party.

  85. 85.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kathleen: HA! Football games became unwatchable for me due to the ever changing rules on contact. It got so I no longer knew what was a legal tackle.

  87. 87.

    JMG

    @Patricia Kayden: They won’t care. As long as Trump puts hurt on the people they hate, which is about 54 percent of this country and 80 percent of the world’ population, they’ll gladly suffer.

  90. 90.

    tobie

    @Kay:

    They’re skipping required disclosure to rush thru nominees.

    Add to that: in 2009 McConnell told Reid that not a single hearing could begin till the Cabinet pick had filled out *all* the necessary paperwork. Dems should be screaming about this today on the Sunday shows and all of next week.

  92. 92.

    Feathers

    @Botsplainer: Don’t underestimate the knitters. They got the Olympics to back down on a trademark battle. A surprisingly large percentage of knitters are in the tech/sciences/academia and while the knitz4Jesus crowd is there, the feminist, activist contingent is the more vocal one. Someone did a study back in the blogosphere days, trying to find out how material got spread from blog to blog, the slo-mo “viral” of the day. It turned out that knitting blogs were the main vector between the political, tech and academic blogs. Women who were both knitters and in some other profession shared material which then got picked up by knitters in other arenas who had blogs about some other interest.

    There was a case a few years back of a high school girl who had been raped and was being harassed and shamed out of school. The high school girls came to a knitting group who met at the local Panera, because they were the only public feminists around. The knitters got the attention of the media and some level of better treatment of the young woman involved.

    Is some of it silliness and an interest that won’t last? Of course. But I’m going here in Boston because others in my knitting group are, and hats are being knit. During my ongoing gas leak crisis this weekend, I agreed to make a hat for the hella cool 14 year old across the street who is reading Ms. Marvel, but “too lazy” to go to the march – if she promised to go. She did, and she’s getting the hat. I’ll make one for myself, but I expect to give it away at the march.

    The making of the hats is a way to connect — knitters are very social. Knitting is something you can do while carrying on a conversation. And wearing the hats will be a way to find like minded women – and invite them to your knitting group.

    BTW – if the pussy hat is a bit too much/cute – there is also a free pattern up on Ravelry for the RESIST Hat, which has a band of stranded colorwork with the word “Resist” in the pattern.

  96. 96.

    NotMax

    @Momsense

    Fun (?) fact:

    In ancient Rome, wool was fulled by having barefoot slaves tramp on it while standing ankle deep in a vat of human urine. Urine was thus a valuable, and therefore taxable, commodity.

  98. 98.

    MomSense

    @NotMax:

    In Scotland women would pee in a bucket and then use the urine to set the dye in fabric and yarn – while singing! Lots of old urine songs.

  99. 99.

    JMG

    @OzarkHillbilly: Umps and officials, like all the rest of us, see what they expect to see. Hall of Famers get the benefit of close calls because officials expect them to succeed as they have had so much success already.

  101. 101.

    Feathers

    @tobie: Stashbot shows 140 yards for a sport weight hat, but you won’t have a fold back brim, so I’d just knit at a larger gauge than usual. You could also do the ribbing in some other color and have the top with the ears in the pink, which would totally work.

    I have some of the bulky yarn with the reflective thread in hot pink, so that’s what I’m using.

    NOTE: I have a comment which is stuck in moderation – thanks!

  102. 102.

    tobie

    @Feathers: Yes, two-tone seems to be the way to go. I’d rather sit in front of the fire on this cold day and knit then go out shopping. Don’t know Stashbot, so thanks for mentioning it.

  105. 105.

    Iowa Old Lady

    Iowa’s legislature is all R for the first time since we’ve lived here. The local paper tells me their top issues are abortion, voter ID, and gun rights. You’re shocked, I know.

  110. 110.

    Oldgold

    Given what the intelligence services have determined concerning Russian interference in our election on behalf of Trump, how is it possible that all hell is not breakingout over the fact we do not know what his financial ties are with Russia? Remarkable.

  111. 111.

    Feathers

    @tobie: Stashbot is an app which gives the yardage for a wide variety of knitting projects and sweater styles in sizes from baby to XXXL and all the various gauges as well. Incredibly useful, both when knitting from stash and at the store. It’s available as a hard copy too. Ann Budd’s “The Knitter’s Handy Book of Patterns” is also amazingly useful. It has a set of 8 patterns for standard items, hats, mittens, socks, a raglan sweater, all from baby to extra large and fingering to bulky weight.

  113. 113.

    Ohio Mom

    Just read in today’s paper that there will be a sister march here in Cincinnati. I’m thrilled because there was no way I was going to be able to leave town.

  114. 114.

    Svensker

    @MomSense:

    In Scotland women would pee in a bucket and then use the urine to set the dye in fabric and yarn – while singing! Lots of old urine songs.

    Old Harris Tweed famously smells of pee when it gets wet.

    Waste not, want not!

  118. 118.

    cmorenc

    @CarolDuhart2:

    Pussy-grabber has riled up the women.

    It is maddening that >50% of white women voted for the pussy-grabber, which substantially exceeds the % of white women who are Republicans.

  119. 119.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Oldgold: The media appears to be ok with what Russia did, for the most part. If Russia had interfered to benefit Secretary Clinton all hell would be breaking loose. No way everything would be proceeding as if nothing improper happened.

  122. 122.

    Aleta

    Is there an easier way to cover old wallpaper on a bathroom wall than (my carpenter wants to) steam it off, put up netting, cover in mud = joint compound, paint. The wallpaper is pretty smooth already. Would beadboard panels be easy to put up over it instead?

  123. 123.

    Steeplejack

    @Aleta:

    Is this the same carpenter the experts here (not snark!) were telling you to get rid of last week? I thought the consensus was to use the special waterproof wallboard (I’m blanking on the name) in the bathroom. What your carpenter is suggesting sounds time-consuming and expensive, not to mention trouble down the road.

  125. 125.

    cmorenc

    @Zinsky:

    If this country can be saved, which is looking more and more unlikely, it will be women who do it. Many men are too susceptible to a dick-wagging braggart like Trump. He appeals to that testosterone-driven need to strut around and puff up your feathers. In other words, they are willfully stupid. God bless women! I love them.

    The paradox is that when most men meet a person like Trump in person in an among-peers type social gathering, they will instinctively recognize him as an obnoxious douche-bag they wouldn’t trust, nor choose to hang out with or work with. Yet, many of them will be awed at a distance by exactly the same sort of guy who has accumulated enough highly desirable bling (cars, women, house etc).

  129. 129.

    Feathers

    @Patricia Kayden: I’ve come to the conclusion that the media has a real problem with “actual” wrongdoing. Reporting on this has consequences. Your opinion matters. Knowledge of the facts matters. You have to give credit to those who did the actual hard work to uncover it. It’s not easy and you can get things wrong. There may not be new news about the investigation/trial/hearings everyday. it becomes old news.

    “Scandal” is totally different. You can talk all day, write every day about scandal. You only have to have an opinion, and don’t even have to keep track of the facts. There wasn’t actual wrongdoing with all the messy consequences – the story remains timeless, unbounded, evergreen.

    So we have a media which ignores Republican wrongdoing and revels in Democrat’s scandals. And pretends that this is “hardhitting.”

  130. 130.

    RedDirtGirl

    I’ve already mentioned this, but this seems like the thread for it.
    I got a button maker for xmas, and my first design says:

    This Pu$$y Grabs Back!
    Nasty Women
    March.
    1/21 in DC

  131. 131.

    Michael Bersin

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    The Missouri General Assembly has republican super majorities in the House and the Senate. The republicans also have the Governor (Eric Greitens – he of no government experience, but he can fire a minigun), the Lieutenant Governor, the Attorney General (a right wingnut “constitutional lawyer” who wants to take on the feds), the Secretary of State (Jay Ashcroft, John’s – yes that one – son, a legacy!), and the State Treasurer. Democrats have the State Auditor (who runs off cycle in 2018).

    Their agenda and bills filed for the new legislative session include, wait for it, guns, abortion, “religious freedom”, and right to get paid less.

    House Republican Caucus press conference – January 4, 2017 (January 7, 2017)

  132. 132.

    chris

    @Betty Cracker: Native Floridian? Gonna hang out all day in 40-50 degree weather? Maybe get two hats, Betty, and a down parka. We need you.

    ETA: And some electric socks. /concern troll

  133. 133.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Aleta:

    Would beadboard panels be easy to put up over it instead?

    Looking like this stuff? (comes in many forms and materials) Yes, quite a bit, with trim at the corners and ceiling in addition to the base board. But you will have to remove and then remount any medicine cabinet, vanity, towel rods, etc and working around a tub/shower can be problematic depending upon the existing install.

    Also, depending on humidity etc, the stuff, depending on the exact materials it is made of, can start to look kinda ratty in 5-10 years.

    Another option is FRP. (fire rated panels)(used in commercial kitchens) easy to clean and glues up on the wall (you’d still need to remove the wall paper) lasts damn near forever (tho I have seen it yellow in some applications) I did a couple of rental baths in the past year with it and the customers were happy with it. (you can buy it at L0wes)

    As to what your carpenter has suggested, I’ve done a lot of that too, and it’s not as bad as I suspect you think it will be (unsure about the “netting” part- I always use mesh tape over any cracks and gypsolite over the existing lathe for filling voids and then mud over that)

  136. 136.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Michael Bersin: You didn’t sufficiently elaborate on Greitens’ highest qualification for the governorship:

    NAVY SEAL

    After all, it was on every piece of campaign bling. (and not much else)

  140. 140.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Frankly, we do give a damn:
    The relationship between profanity and honesty

    We found a consistent positive relationship between profanity and honesty; profanity was associated with less lying and deception at the individual level, and with higher integrity at the society level.

    Heh, fuck all you fucking fucks. I may be the most foul mouthed sumbitch you’ve ever met but at least you know I ain’t lying about shit. Also, I have integrity. I wonder how much I can get for it?

  141. 141.

    Feathers

    @Michael Bersin: Crazy. If you can’t hear, say you can’t hear, don’t go offering up against the rules motions to be voted on. But I am all to familiar with folks whose first impulse is to act out, rather than work the problem.

  143. 143.

    Jeffro

    @Oldgold: I think that will be the next step. I’m already starting to see things popping up about a Russian who bought one of trumps Florida residences but never moved in there (i.e. Effectively donating trump millions of dollars )

  145. 145.

    Jeffro

    @Another Scott: sounds good

    Lululemon carries some men’s stuff too so I may have to pick up a track jacket or something … I am all for the resistance but you do not need to see me in yoga pants

  146. 146.

    Yarrow

    Trump can’t leave anything alone. He is going to come down on people who aren’t Trump supporters or remove people to install his supporters. One example.

    President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration committee has replaced a longtime inauguration parade announcer, according to several reports. Charlie Brotman told The Washington Post and NBC Washington that the committee delivered the news via email.

    “I was totally shocked,” Brotman told NBC. “I’ve got friends and family expecting me to do this and I want to do this.”

    The email (which attempted to soothe the burn by calling Brotman “a Washington Institution and a National Treasure”) stated that he’ll have the title “Announcer Chairman Emeritus,” and he’d have “a prime seat” at the parade in honor his service.

    He’s 89 years old and has announced every inauguration parade since Eisenhower. So they dump him by email two weeks before the inauguration. Nice. And who’s replacing him? Some freelance announcer named Steve Ray. What’s notable about him?

    Steve Ray, an announcer who volunteered for the Trump campaign, will take Brotman’s place.

    Uh huh.

  147. 147.

    Quinerly

    @Aleta:
    Late to the thread. I just covered 1980’s era wallpaper that I tried to strip. In tears after 3 days and a deadline. These were bathrooms at my NC beach place. I used rough beadboard that I “pickled” (whitewashed..gave it a beachy, driftwood weathered look) Carpenter cut the Lowe’s panels to fit,trimmed it out. I then did three coats of satin/matt/clear finish polyurethane. Painted trim white. Tile was white. Looks spectacular. Google “pickling wood.” There’s also a ready made product sold by Minwax (basically white latex paint diluted with water, brushed on and then rubbed off…I did two coats)

  148. 148.

    Uncharismatic megafauna

    @Patricia Kayden: In 2013 when the Dems were last in the majority in the Senate, they succeeded by simple majority vote in getting the Senate to adopt a ruling that the vote under the cloture (filibuster) rule for all nominations other than for the SC is a majority vote. So, 51 votes can end any filibuster on non-SC nominations.

  153. 153.

    Aleta

    @Steeplejack: Yes, it’s him. He was recommended by the other desperate dorks in our neighborhood with very old houses. It’s very hard to get carpenters, etc. here. The older ones ones, trained by their older ones, were/are very good, but have gotten scarce and buried in multiple jobs at once and (the ones I know personally) have suffered physically for lack of health insurance.

    He seems good in many ways, likes old houses (kind of rare), and a nice guy. But offers no options. He came to fix the floor where the sink pipes had leaked through it, and to the basement beams below. He was also going to remove the 1950s wooden ’tile board’ behind the bath. But somehow it got removed on all 4 walls. I didn’t expect to be making any decision beyond the bath wall, so trying to quickly figure out what to do. He told me Fri as he was leaving about his next step Monday morning. The communication part is strange and difficult for me, but I’m trying and he’s willing.

    I think steaming the wallpaper is time consuming. (It’s beautiful, from the 30s, was made in this town and was known for its quality. It’s still very smooth and there are no holes in the walls.) So I wonder if some nice looking real wood board could just go over in the same way the 50s wood board had.

  154. 154.

    Calouste

    @Yarrow: I expect a massive purge of flag officers who aren’t buddies of the three generals that have been named for cabinet positions. First item of order for a budding dictator is to take control of the military.

  155. 155.

    Aleta

    @OzarkHillbilly: Thanks much for answering. He already removed the sink fixtures etc on that wall and took everything quite far down, incl floor trim. Not the ceiling molding yet. (Only one subfloor, the wide planks, remains; there was hardwood tongue and groove over that but it’s gone now.) He’s very fast, works behind the closed doors, understandably likes to concentrate and keep up his momentum, not talk until the end of the day.

    There remains plaster on one wall, still in good shape except for one very small area of lathe showing. The wall behind the bath had old dry wall (signed by R Smith May 12 1950), still fine he says, and surprisingly only had water marks around the faucets, no mildew or mold. The 50s wood board (looked like tiles) he removed seems to have protected everything very well. The other exposed walls are the smooth wallpaper over seemingly even older dry wall, but also no moisture effect showing.

    There’s mildew around the wood trim of the bath so the plan from the beginning was to pull out the bath and remove that. protect that wall. I don’t know what the options are for that surround (I think handlaid tile too expensive).

    ETA that link is actually just what I was picturing!

  156. 156.

    Ohio Mom

    @Aleta: Your handyman sounds like the twin of the first fellow we ever hired. Some of what he did was fine, most of it unecessary though. He’d done great work for friends of ours, which made his spotty judgement and unexpected detours mystifying. It took us years to build up a stable of tradespeople and now most of them are getting ready to retire.

    @Iowa Old Lady: There is a Jewish prayer of thanks for firsts, or things that are reoccurring after a long time: Think of the thrill you feel when you see the first crocus pushing through the snow, or the feelings you burst with at a loved one’s wedding. We thank the powers that be for “allowing us to reach this season.” I have always thought that is what Biden was saying but lacking knowledge of Jewish prayer, was left with BFD.

    @CarolDuhart2: Maybe we can find a way of meeting up, either at the march or someplace warm afterwards.

  157. 157.

    Yarrow

    @Calouste:

    I expect a massive purge of flag officers who aren’t buddies of the three generals that have been named for cabinet positions. First item of order for a budding dictator is to take control of the military.

    Yep. I don’t think people have any idea how bad it can get because we only know dictatorships from movies and TV shows. If you read articles or follow on social media people who have lived under dictatorships, they have been and continue to be screaming as loudly as they can about this. Their warnings are going unheeded by people who can do something about it, it seems. I don’t know what to do. There seems to be no one willing to stop this from happening.

  161. 161.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Ohio Mom:

    There is a Jewish prayer of thanks for firsts, or things that are reoccurring after a long time: Think of the thrill you feel when you see the first crocus pushing through the snow, or the feelings you burst with at a loved one’s wedding. We thank the powers that be for “allowing us to reach this season.” I have always thought that is what Biden was saying but lacking knowledge of Jewish prayer, was left with BFD.

    I so want Joe Biden to know about this. Please send it to him!

  162. 162.

    Suzanne

    My mother is sitting in my dining room crocheting pussyhats as I type. I am off of handcrafts until my finger fully heals up.

    I got some awesome snoring Snorlax slippers yesterday for my birthday. They are epic.

  164. 164.

    Quinerly

    @Aleta:
    If you want pictures of the finished product, I can email to you. I happen to be “stranded” at the beach place…weather…not driving back to St. Louis until tomorrow. Highly suggest the 3 coats of the matt finish Minwax polyurethane. A must in bathrooms because of moisture. I ran the beadboard to the wall tile. Caulk well. Had a great carpenter that was precise with his cuts. Cheaper overall than what it was going to take with the wallpaper removal..that was going to require a lot of repair, sanding, etc…

  165. 165.

    Suzanne

    @Aleta: If you cover it up with beadboard, over time, moisture will get in to the wallpaper and cause mold damage. If you have the money, the best thing to do is to actually remove any existing drywall or plaster and lath, and replace the drywall with a fiberglass faced board like Densglas. Then mud and skimcoat as typical.

  166. 166.

    Suzanne

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Another option is FRP. (fire rated panels)

    One correction: FRP stands for fiberglass-reinforced plastic. It carries absolutely no fire rating. It usually has a Class A flame spread rating, but that is not the same as a fire rating. Fire ratings are given on entire assemblies, rather than individual components.

  167. 167.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Yarrow:

    Out of all proportion to the actual significance of the story, the makes me almost incandescent with rage, and so sad for that poor old guy.

  169. 169.

    Suzanne

    Y’all. Do not leave paper wall covering in a bathroom, especially concealed behind another material. If it is vinyl wall covering, that’s another story. But if it is paper, and especially if it is old, it will grow mold like a sonofabitch. There are even mold problems with green board, which bills itself as mold-resistant drywall for bathrooms and behind tile, but it still has paper facing. (My former office had such bad problems with it that we made it a company-wide practice advisory.) In wet areas and behind tile, you can use gypsum drywall with fiberglass facing, or cement board.

    Wallpaper removal sucks and is expensive because it is laborious. Why not remove the existing drywall altogether? I bet it’s not much more money, might even be the same price, as it is much easier.

  170. 170.

    Aleta

    @Suzanne: Thanks. That’s a concern as well. I was surprised that the old wood board made 60 years ago had protected so well. New materials, I am at a loss as to what to trust.

  171. 171.

    Michael Bersin

    @Tilda Swintons Bald Cap:

    Dealing with the comments allowed me to exercise my troll swatting chops from my days as a moderator on the Forum for America (not to be confused with the Blog for America). Show Me Progress doesn’t usually get a lot of comments. That’s fine by us. It was interesting.

    A lot of people traveled over to the post because of a self-righteous defense posted on social media by one of their “leaders”. Apparently they consider me part of the establishment.

    I suspect the staying power of the activists they used to out organize (yes, they did) will not be there for the 2020 state convention. They did take the four elected DNC members from Missouri – I’ll be surprised if they keep them. Self-importance doesn’t wear well for four years when there’s a lot of in the trenches work to be done.

  172. 172.

    Corner Stone

    @Suzanne: The only positive outcome of Hurricane Ike destroying my house was I got to go back in and remove any wall with wallpaper and had new sheetrock hung while they were rebuilding. Hate the stuff, always have.

  174. 174.

    Aleta

    @Yarrow:

    Steve Ray, an announcer who volunteered for the Trump campaign, will take Brotman’s place.

    The better to lie to you with my dear, said the big bad wolf.

  175. 175.

    Suzanne

    @Aleta: I know. Even commercial contractors will use greenboard in wet areas sometimes, because it is cheaper. PISSES ME OFF. Bathrooms usually don’t have good enough air circulation, and often never really dry. When demo is underway on my reno projects, I like to go in to see where there have been problems over time. I would estimate that mold has been present at least 1/3 of the times I’ve done this. (And I do institutional and commercial, not residential, so the spaces get renovated fairly frequently—much more often than in a residence.)

    I ran into something I had never seen before on the job I am working on now. The building that I have been working on for the last two years was replacing a smaller masonry building that had to be abated and demolished. Abatement took over three weeks, demo took about three days. However, when they went to demolish the masonry walls, we saw that there was no horizontal reinforcement in the masonry. HOLY SHIT. I’m amazed it was still standing.

  176. 176.

    Suzanne

    @Corner Stone: I am anti-wallpaper in houses. There are some nice commercial wall coverings available and they can look good in small accents, but I would never do them in a home. If someone wants to use them in a house, I would recommend using them over panels so they can be easily removed.

    Don’t get me started on the ludicrous borders trend of the late-80s to early-90s. ***spit***

  177. 177.

    debbie

    @Suzanne:

    What about if it’s wallpaper covered by multiple layers of paint, like in apartments? Could mold develop underneath?

  179. 179.

    Lurking Canadian

    @Suzanne: I’m just a weekend warrior, but my advice matches Suzanne’s. Take the whole damned wall down and replace it. The additional labour of hanging a few new sheets of cement board is probably less that what it’ll take to scrape the wallpaper.

    Added bonus: once it’s opened up, you can also upgrade the wiring and the plumbing. Unless you built the house yourself, I guarantee there are some nasty surprises in there.

  180. 180.

    Corner Stone

    @Lurking Canadian:

    Unless you built the house yourself, I guarantee there are some nasty surprises in there.

    You mean Builder’s Grade installers/tradesmen may have potentially cut a few corners? Shocked! Shocked, I am!

  182. 182.

    Suzanne

    @debbie: Absolutely. Paper and wood are where mold thrive. When they’re concealed, they don’t dry out fully.

    One of my projects—in a healthcare facility—had such bad mold that it was growing on metal framing, because the studs didn’t ever fully dry out. Gross gross gross.

  185. 185.

    Suzanne

    @debbie: It’s generally only really bad in wet areas, like bathrooms or kitchens, and if the space doesn’t dry out. The vast majority of residences don’t have exhaust except in bathrooms and at the stove hood, because the building code assumes that people will open windows, and they only have centralized return. Also, air in commercial buildings is typically drier than in homes due to the larger HVAC systems and stricter code requirements. So the drier you can get the paper, the better.

  186. 186.

    Ohio Mom

    @Lurking Canadian: My neighbor carefully scraped the worlds ugliest wallpaper from her dining room walls, then found out she had also removed the top layer of the drywall. Apparently, the wallpaper had been very strongly glued down. So she had to have new drywall hung.

    After that, she went straight to putting up new drywall in the wall-papered living room, and the lightly-used steamer went into storage.

  187. 187.

    debbie

    @Suzanne:

    My bathroom doesn’t have a vent fan, other than the window I try to leave open whenever possible. Mold got into caulk and grout. I spent years trying to scrub it away, and the building maintenance guy took pity and redid the caulk and I guess acid washed the grout.

    I now run a small fan in the bathroom all the time and spray down the tiles every day with Tilex Daily Shower, and I’ve noticed my 2-year-old allergy-induced cough is beginning to get better. I still figure it’s a lost cause, though.

  188. 188.

    Another Scott

    @debbie: When I was a kid, my mom once rented an old house that had painted wall paper. There ended up being huge (like 1-foot diameter) bubbles under the combination a few weeks after we moved in. Talk about a nightmare…

    :-/

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  189. 189.

    Shana

    @Betty Cracker: Honey, today’s it supposed to be a high in the low 20s with 20 mph winds in DC. You ARE gonna want to dress warm, you’ll be outside for hours. I’d suggest double layer of socks too. Your Florida blood will not be prepared.

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