Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

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

Not all heroes wear capes.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Come on, man.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

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

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

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

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

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Bark louder, little dog.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

The willow is too close to the house.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Excellent Links / Friday Morning Open Thread: “The Arc of the Moral Universe Is Long”

Friday Morning Open Thread: “The Arc of the Moral Universe Is Long”

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At the beginning of the year, a bunch of you were sharing John Scalzi’s wise words. Time to re-up his argument:

… “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”…

… I think both Parker and King understood that moral endeavors can be measured in years, decades and sometimes centuries. This is not an argument toward complacency; indeed I think it’s an argument against defeatism and fatalism in the face of setbacks and stalemates. We live in moments and days and it’s often hard to see past them, and it’s easy to believe when we are struck a hard blow that all is lost. All is not lost. The arc is long. Nothing is ever fully decided in the moment or the day. There are years and decades and sometimes centuries yet to go. The arc continues to bend, if we remember that it is long, and that we need to imagine it extending further.

We need to imagine that because of the second thing: The arc is not a natural feature of the universe. It does not magically appear; it is not ordained; it is not inevitable. It exists because people of moral character seek justice, not only for themselves but for every person. Nor is the arc smooth. It’s rough and jagged, punctuated in areas by great strides, halting collapses, terrible reverses and forcible wrenching actions…

Remember the arc is long. It’s not one moment or one day or even a year or four years, even when that moment or day or year seems endless.

Remember the arc is not inevitable. It needs you. You are more important than you know, if you don’t give in to despair, to complacency, or to apathy. Add to the moral weight that bends the arc toward justice. You can’t do it alone, but without you the work becomes that much harder.

Remember that those who are working to flatten the arc hope you give up and give in. They are relying on you to do just that. Disappoint them. Disappoint them in big ways. Disappoint them in small ways. Disappoint them each day, and every day, in all the ways you can. Do not consent to this flattening of the arc…

***********
Apart from ignoring the tshit tsunami taking place on the Mall, what’s on the agenda for the day?

Reader Interactions

135Comments

  5. 5.

    Quinerly

    @Baud:
    Morning all! I’m actually going to watch some of it. A friend said if we aren’t watching it, leave your tv on the Disney Channel or whatever…something about the cable and satellite cos counting ratings. Your “viewership” of something else will essentially be held against his #s. Don’t know if this is true or just a Book of Faces meme.

  9. 9.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Baud: In the classes I took they were talking about camera profiles(I created one for my IR work), found some on the web for a small fee($15). They’re much better than the Adobe Standard camera profile.

  10. 10.

    Central Planning

    “Dead country walking” feels appropriate.

    I’m glad I have to work and will miss watching any and all of the inauguration.

  11. 11.

    Quinerly

    @Baud:
    I thought so too. But I’m sure cable & satellite providers track viewership somehow. Is Nielsen even around anymore?

  12. 12.

    Morzer

    @Quinerly:

    But we all know that any news that reveals the impotence of the Great And Putinful Trump is FAKE NEWS VERY BAD NOT GOOD WRONG WRONG WRONG!!!

  17. 17.

    p.a.

    Plumbers up early to install the gold toilets in the WH. WH chef being replaced by auto-burger grill and fry-o-lator (tRump team couldn’t find short order cooks willing to work for him; they’ve all heard how he treats the help.)

  19. 19.

    bystander

    @Quinerly: I was just going to post that leaving your tv off will not affect the ratings. I wish we had had a strategy to give TCM its best ratings ever, preferably not during the Bowery Boys retrospective.

  21. 21.

    SFAW

    @BillinGlendaleCA:
    See, if you were in the DC area, you could get a sky photo of Satan laughing with delight. And while I love the photos you’ve been posting since whenever, THAT one would be something. (Although no Miguel Ferrer to play Stone or Manafort, may Miguel R.I.P.)

  23. 23.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @SFAW: I once had a collection of “Satan in the Clouds” photo’s from News of the World. I really miss that rag.

  24. 24.

    Quinerly

    @bystander:
    That was the point of what my friend said. Pick another channel and leave it on all day. The cable/satellite cos will count it for those shows. Counts against his Nos. I’m now going to do a little on line research while I eat my fresh duck eggs. I have no idea if what she said is true. She read it on the Book of Faces.

  25. 25.

    bystander

    @SFAW: I haven’t been able to put The Stand out of my mind since the Trumputin nightmare began. So sorry to learn Ferrer had left us. I always thought he was a better actor than the old man. Always found him so “actorly”. His mother was the greatest tho. Must have been some household to grow up in.

  26. 26.

    Elizabelle

    @Baud:

    America’s long night begins.

    Be a candle.

    I like that. Thank you.

    Morning, all. Good day to read a book, take a walk, do something in meatspace with friends and family.

  27. 27.

    Proudgradofcatladyacademy

    My lovely Kentucky born and raised liberal boss and I have been commiserating together since November 9th. His location is important to mention because it surprises me he’s so liberal. People out of his office postively gloated after the election going as far as to wish us Happy Trump Day on the 9th. We both agreed since we work from home, day drinking to cope with today might be in order. Spinster Aunt Chablis is chilling as I type this.

    I’m on fence about watching what I consider a coup take place,it has a trainwreck sensibility to it and it’s a principle of mine not to gape at train wrecks.

  31. 31.

    Hal

    Hulu will be streaming all 7 seasons of the Golden Girls in February. They should push up the release to today.

    Also, I mentioned yesterday I watched a piece of Trump’s pre-inauguration speech and at one point he says he’s going to win in 2020 “the traditional way”. Oh, you mean by winning the popular vote? This was in between bragging about how he turned the map red and how he wasn’t supposed to win. Eve of presidency and he’s still the sorest winner. A portent of things to come.

  33. 33.

    bystander

    @Quinerly: I should have known better considering the source I heard that from. Dangling preposition aside, I still think it would have been fun to have organized an effort to give TCM their best ratings. Since the trumpocalypse took off, I’ve watched inordinate amounts of Law and Order and TCM. So much so, that I will pretty soon have completed my own lyrics to the the love theme from L&O.

  35. 35.

    mai naem mobile

    I was looking through the channels last night to see what I could watch today. I was thinking TMC. I’m my channel line up National Geographic is the next channel after TMC. They have several Doomsday Prepper shows today which is oddly appropriate.

  37. 37.

    ColoradoGuy

    I’ve left the TV tuned to the Travel Channel, and have no plans to watch any TV for a day or two.

  38. 38.

    Elizabelle

    Saxophonist Charles Lloyd with Lucinda Williams on vocals: Masters of War, youtube

    Found it through this LA Times link, which includes other musicians covering Nobel laureate Dylan’s timeless tune.

    On Friday, Lloyd and his label Blue Note Records released a live version of the song in response to the inauguration of Donald Trump as president. Recorded this past November at the Lobrero Theater in Santa Barbara, which is not far from the saxophonist’s home, the slow-burning song features Lucinda Williams on vocals as a counterweight to Lloyd’s twisting, searching lines.

    Now 78 years old, Lloyd has shown no sign of slowing down, and in a 2013 interview he spoke about his history of reflecting larger social issues in his music. “I feel that the elders, they all gave me something and I stood on their shoulders,” he said. “It’s incumbent upon us coming along now to sing the song, because the song is eternal.”

    Lloyd put out a statement about the release below, which reflects a similar thoughtfulness:

    Nations have been throwing rocks at each other for 1000s of years. We go through spells of light and darkness. In my lifetime I have witnessed periods of peace, protest, and uprising, only to be repeated by peace, protest and more uprising. The fact that Bob Dylan’s “Masters of War” was written in the early 1960s and not during the last decade, makes it timeless and timely.

    It breaks my heart to think that there are current generations of young people all over the world who are growing up without knowing of Peace in their lives. The words Dylan wrote are a laser beam on humanity. This line, in particular, has stuck with me for over 5 decades:

    “Let me ask you one question

    Is your money that good

    Will it buy you forgiveness

    Do you think that it could

    I think you will find

    When your death takes its toll

    All the money you made

    Will never buy back your soul”

    The world is a dog’s curly tail — no matter how many times we straighten it out, it keeps curling back. As artists we aspire to console, uplift and inspire. To unite us through sound across boundaries and borders and dissolve lines of demarcation that separate. The beautiful thing is that as human beings, even under the most adverse conditions, we are capable of kindness, compassion and love. Vision and hope. All life is one. Who knows, maybe one day we’ll succeed. We go forward.

    Should go on Betty Cracker’s driving mixtape, although she is probably already on the road.

  39. 39.

    Mary G

    Kevin Drum says it best.

     Obama was never able to make any headway against the anger that festers in the hearts of so many Americans toward the poor, the non-white, the non-male, the non-straight, and the non-Christian. Now this anger will guide our next four years. I miss him already, the best president of my lifetime.

  42. 42.

    ThresherK (tablet)

    @Quinerly: Yep, that’s unless you have a diary or a box. I have been an Arbitron household and later a Nielsen household. I wish I were again today so I could show The Weather Channel some luv.

    My singlehanded efforts to save the women’s pro soccer league in ’02 were not successful.

    Good travels to all Juicers today.

  43. 43.

    Van Buren

    When I got up today I was all “This is the end” and “We’re on the eve of destruction ” but now I’m all like “All things must pass” and “We shall overcome “

  47. 47.

    danielx

    @rikyrah:

    Morning R….I won’t say good morning.

    A long block quote, but simple eloquence.

    I do not believe this man is normal.
    I do not believe he is emotionally stable.
    I do not believe he cares about the full, beautiful diversity of America.
    I do not believe he respects women.
    I do not believe he is pro-life other than his own.
    I do not believe the sick and the poor and the hurting matter to him in the slightest.
    I do not believe he is a man of faith or integrity or nobility.
    I do not believe his concern is for anything outside his reflection in the mirror.

    I believe he is a danger to our children.
    I believe he is a threat to our safety.
    I believe he is careless with our people.
    I believe he is reckless with his power.
    I believe America will be less secure, less diverse, less compassionate, and less decent under his leadership.

    As with the writer, I am grieved. Grieved for this great, crazy, wild, wonderful country, and for what I see as the end of the American experiment.

  48. 48.

    SFAW

    @Quinerly:

    It won’t decrease Shitgibbon’s viewer total, but it may kick his numbers into second place, depending on whether enough people find the same alternative. Which would unleash another unhinged twitstorm.

    And let me be the latest to say: Fuck James Comey.

  49. 49.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @debbie: Nah. I’ve been shooting my mouth off all my life and my head only caught fire once (while caving, somebody got too close with their carbide lamp)

  54. 54.

    rk

    I’m just sad today. Sad that white people hate so much. Trump is the personification of all the hatred and rage of the last 8 years. There is not a single positive quality in him, nothing but meanness, pettiness, ignorance and stupidity. We lost the battle. I just hope we don’t lose the war.

  56. 56.

    Mikefromarlington

    There will some protests tonight in Dublin Ireland on Dame Street against trump today. He’s generally detested here.

    And, I hope they wrap Lincolns bible in plastic to protect from the rain that is on its way.

  57. 57.

    debbie

    I guess there’s an issue with the word “pu$$y” in the link, but I hope Anne will post the photo from the link. The ducklings sculpture in Boston are sporting very appropriate headwear (if you get my drift).

  59. 59.

    SFAW

    @Quinerly:

    As I agreed.

    But if Shitgibbon has a rating of 23 (or whatever), and Golden Girls has a rating of 29, he ends up in 2nd place. Which would drive him even more nuts. It’s about his numbers relative to all the other Pathetic! Losers!

  60. 60.

    Quinerly

    OK, here’s my plan. I AM going to watch the arrival of the Obama family (did I just hear on NPR that the Trumps and the Obamas are riding together from the WH? Is that normal protocol? Don’t recall it.) I AM going to watch the actual swearing in. I also want to see if he can walk that mile plus I think that is on the schedule. Please correct me if I’m wrong about the walk. I guess if it is raining that would be cancelled. I’m not getting sucked into anything else. I ordered “Native Roads: The Complete Motoring Guide to the Navajo and Hopi Nations” as part of my research for my impending 4000 mile 6 weeks driving trip. I’m putting my efforts in and attention to reading about AZ Highway 264 later today.?

  62. 62.

    Chris

    Rode the metro into work at 7. It was actually more deserted than usual, not less. A delightful surprise.

  65. 65.

    Another Scott

    I took a last look at Whitehouse.gov just now. It’s a tasteful, respectful, inspiring summary of what sensible people working together can accomplish in spite of long odds and constant opposition.

    It’s a good reminder, and well worth a look.

    I don’t think I’m going to be looking at it again for a while… :-(

    I made a little Trump? НИКОГДА! graphic – I’m wondering how far and wide I should post it. I plan on wearing it on a hat tomorrow.

    Stay strong, everyone. We’ll get through this and make America better in the long run.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  66. 66.

    2liberal

    a note to the blogfather, and to betty cracker: the steelers are brady’s bitches.

    Brady is 5-1 in his last six games against the Steelers, and in that span he’s produced 19 touchdown passes without throwing an interception. He likes the matchup against this defense, and even when the Steelers held Brady to 222 yards in Week 7, LeGarrette Blount ran wild for 127 yards and two scores.

    if we reach midnight with no nuclear war, I will count it as a good day.

  67. 67.

    MomSense

    Remember every time Agent Orange tried to read a speech during the campaign? I do. He sounded like an idiot. He is going to be reading a speech badly while soaked in golden showers from above which will not do wonders for his hair and makeup. It’s going to be the first spectacular embarrassment of a hopefully short presidency full of embarrassments. I hope the comedians are ready to run with clips of JFK followed by clips of the Apricot Assmouth.
    He doesn’t feel shame but I know that he hates being made fun of especially when he knows it reveals a truth about him.

    The guy just isn’t very bright and it’s going to be on display for the whole world to see.

    I plan to point and mock.

  69. 69.

    JPL

    @debbie: Thank you so much for mentioning the ducks. If anyone is interested, type in Ducks on Boston Common and then hit news, on google. All the pictures have the forbidden word, so it’s hard to attach a link.

  71. 71.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Quinerly: May be a bit far afield from your intended itinerary, but Utah Hwy 12 is one of the most beautiful drives I’ve ever taken.

  74. 74.

    SFAW

    @Baud:

    The point is that the average person leaving their TV on has no affect on anyone’s ratings.

    Maybe I’m more clueless than usual, but that implies that no matter how many sets are tuned into the inauguration — 100 or 1,000,000 or 10,000,000 — it will not affect the ratings for the inauguration.

    If you’re saying that Nielsen/Arbitron/Shitgibbon’s Ratings Service will not be monitoring Baud’s or Kay’s or Micky Bitsko’s personal set, that’s a different thing, but it’s a red herring.

  75. 75.

    Another Scott

    @Elizabelle: I think I heard yesterday that the National Archives has already taken charge of the Obama Whitehouse web site. The Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine (http://archive.org) has already taken 30 snapshots of it today. I don’t think it’s going to be lost. :-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  76. 76.

    Elizabelle

    @Another Scott: Thank you.

    Apple says to use Command-3 for a screen shot (I have a MacBook Air), but I don’t see anything happening. Any other ways to capture a screenshot of the whole screen?

  77. 77.

    Quinerly

    @Gin & Tonic:
    I’m on it as I make my way in March from Bryce Canyon NP to Torrey and Capitol Reef NP. Fingers crossed re weather. God, I so need this trip. I’m hoping it saves what little is left of my sanity

  78. 78.

    Jeffro

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    Fuck the candle, I’m firing up the blow torch

    Love this.

    Count me as one of the optimists…all will be revealed in short order, This stain on our nation’s history, if not completely scrubbed off (and I’m not sure it should be), should serve as quite the lesson for those with eyes to see and ears to hear.

  80. 80.

    Spanky

    All I know is that I’m gonna keel over if I maintain this level of bile. I gotta gear up for a marathon, not a sprint.

  84. 84.

    Patricia Kayden

    Why we miss President Obama already.

    A huge thanks to Steeplejack for explaining how to link articles without messing things up.

  85. 85.

    SFAW

    @Baud:

    Are all Nielsen viewers “exceptional”? Because if there are no special racial, economic, IQ, whatever criteria, then they get pulled from “average” viewers.

  86. 86.

    danielx

    One of the few things of which I am tolerably certain in this uncertain world: if Hillary Clinton was being sworn into office this day under the same cloud of suspicions and investigations (not about fucking emails but Russian electoral interference etc), House Republicans would be filing articles of impeachment by 1:00 pm.

    @Elizabelle:

    On a Windows machine you could hold down the Function key and then hit the End [PrtSc] key, then Paste into Word or Photoshop or whatever. Don’t know if there’s an equivalent sequence on a Mac.

  87. 87.

    mai naem mobile

    How do you do a screens hot on a Samsung 5. Haven’t been able to figure that out. Use to do it in my other phones

  89. 89.

    SFAW

    @danielx:

    House Republicans would be filing articles of impeachment by 1:00 pm.

    They wouldn’t even have waited for her to take the oath of office. [Yes, I realize that it would also be before 1 PM]

  90. 90.

    Another Scott

    @mai naem mobile: It looks like it’s usually “power button + home button” at the same time on Android. It might vary for your particular phone.

    HTH.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  91. 91.

    SFAW

    @Spanky:

    All I know is that I’m gonna keel over if I maintain this level of bile. I gotta gear up for a marathon, not a sprint.

    Are you saying you’re not even as tough as those candy-assed wingnuts? Because they’ve maintained their bile for 30-plus years.

  92. 92.

    Yoda Dog

    Yay, you got it, Patricia! I had trouble with that too at first…

    Suffragette happens to be on HBO right now. Good movie, I’ve never seen it. Perfect theme for the day, watching these women fight for their voices to be heard.

    ‘Be a candle’ makes me think of the famous Picasso painting. One of my favorite works, also from a time of great pain and struggle.

    Onward, comrades.

  94. 94.

    Another Scott

    @raven: Walk this way?

    (Which always sounds like “Born to Sway!” to these ears…)

    [edit:] No fair changing your post after I’ve attempted to make a funny. :-/

    ;-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  95. 95.

    rikyrah

    From TOD:

    Zizi2

    Our 2,922+ Days with Prez Obama

    “The road ahead will be long,
    Our climb will be steep,
    We may not get there in one year, or even one term,
    But America, I have never been more hopeful
    Than I am tonight that we will get there.”… (Prez Barack Obama, 11/4/2008)

    Put down the Kleenex. Tilt your head up high. Now shout at the top of your lungs. YES WE DID!!! We Obamacrats, Americans, and world citizens can proudly puff out our chests and say we got us a really fine gem of a president. He not only served us productively during his 8-year tenure, he did so without a whiff of scandal, his diligence razor sharp, his humility and empathy never in doubt, and lit up our dreary moments with that smile and quick wit.

    How many of us young and young at heart, and even detractors, can say we’ve ever been so absorbed day in and day out with any President at such a granular level, as we have Prez Barack Hussein Obama? Sure, the technologies of our age simulate such high levels of intimacy with political leaders we may never meet. But the Obamas made us live vicariously in the warm embrace of their hugs.

    Beyond policy convergence, we felt their human connection to us to be genuine. Not posturing. And prior to winning the presidency, candidate Obama himself opened the sluice gates to many of us to dive into political engagement through both electronic media and human to human contact in the streets

    How many of you got connected politically with complete strangers for the first time by signing up on http://www.barackobama.com and eagerly awaited David Plouffe’s weekly map update? How many of you created “Dashboard” pages on that website to organize people you knew, to volunteer, donate, host house meetings and parties, make calls, register people in the streets, enter registration data, or even quit your jobs to go to “Summer organizing school”?

    Rest at link above.

  97. 97.

    Woodrowfan

    @Quinerly: The outgoing and incoming Presidents normally ride together to the Capitol. Hoover refused to speak to or make eye contact with FDR, which is why FDR is smiling and waving his hat at the crowds. Carter and Reagan so hated each other that they had Tip O’Neill ride between them.

  98. 98.

    Patricia Kayden

    @rikyrah: Right there weeping with you. What a day. The United States of America has lost its collective mind and is swearing in a Reality Star as its President. Unbelievable. A day that will forever in infamy. Woe is us.

    But looking forward to the world-wide protests happening tomorrow. We still have it in us to fight back and resist.

  99. 99.

    Another Scott

    @Woodrowfan: Different times.

    There’s no room for anyone to sit between two people in The Beast – there’s so much armor plating and so forth that it’s like a sub-compact in there. Donnie by himself may not fit…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  101. 101.

    p.a.

    @SFAW: actually they’re on simmer until elections approach, when the rethug party usually hits on some non-issue(s) to get to a boil. Pavlov, meet your dogs. (sometimes their issues don’t resonate enough for assorted reasons.)

  102. 102.

    japa21

    I heartily recommend this link.

    A couple quick quotes:

    Harry Truman was an angry man, given to firing off unwise attacks. Richard Nixon was vindictive and paranoid. Andrew Jackson was a hater. Warren G. Harding, a featherhead who surrounded himself with crooks.

    We’ve had flawed presidents before. Though never have all these negative qualities and more been bound up in a single individual, such as the one who will put his hand on a Bible at noon Friday and swear to uphold the Constitution.

    No matter. This isn’t about Trump. He’d disagree because, to him, everything is about Trump. So I’ll say it one more time. He’s a symptom, not a cause. The Republican Party meticulously laid the groundwork for him over a quarter century, starting with Ronald Reagan’s cheery jihad against government, given steel by Newt Gingrich’s deeply cynical use of Orwellian buzzwords. Calling Democrats traitors began as a tactic. Then they began to believe it.

    Either way, now the hard rains come. The people on the hilltops will do alright, as the well-positioned tend to, soaked and scared but essentially OK. The ones in the valleys will flail in the swirling waters and some will drown. When the flood recedes, we’ll see what’s left of this country we love. If I thought shaking my fist at the rain every day would make it stop, I would. But it won’t.

  103. 103.

    rikyrah

    Worst. Negotiator. Ever.
    Donald Trump’s nuclear arms gambit shows he’s a loser.

    by Mike Lofgren
    January 20, 2017

    If there is one thing Donald Trump wants us to know, it’s that he negotiates great deals. He has also been shrilly disdainful of Obama’s foreign policy handiwork, particularly the nuclear agreement with Iran (which, it must be pointed out, involved not just the United States and Iran, but all five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, plus Germany). This, Trump said, was the worst agreement ever, presumably including the 1938 Munich agreement, presupposing he has ever heard of that one. Nothing so criminally naïve as the Iran deal would ever happen on his watch.

    Yet it appears that we may be on the road to a diplomatic agreement under President Trump which will make the Iran deal look as if that country had unconditionally surrendered to the United States.

    In interviews with The Times of London and Bild that occurred less than a week before his inauguration, Trump said he could envision dropping economic sanctions against Russia in exchange for nuclear arms reductions between the two countries. A simple quid pro quo, right?

    As someone who has long favored a U.S.-Russian nuclear builddown, I can understand the superficial attractiveness of Trump’s trial balloon. But there are compelling reasons why it is a bad idea.

    First, nuclear arms negotiations should not be linked to extraneous issues. Agreements such as the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty of 1987 and the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty of 1991 were complex, highly technical treaties with years’ worth of negotiations and even “pre-negotiations” before they were signed. Dragging in additional issues could very well have killed them.

    Second, the United States negotiated multiple nuclear agreements with the Soviet Union even when the latter was under considerably more stringent sanctions from the allied powers than Russia is today. Under the Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls (COCOM), exports of even some of the most basic Western technologies were under a strict embargo. (By contrast, Western high-technology firms such as Intel, Google, and HP now operate software development centers in Russia). Somehow, the Soviet Politburo saw fit to negotiate solely over arms even when under more stringent economic sanctions than those faced by Vladimir Putin

  104. 104.

    p.a.

    Question (I don’t really follow ‘process’ news):
    Did Obama devote enough energy to the Dem Party, since as the Pres he was ostensibly its leader? (I know he took office in a shitstorm that required so much energy, but the health of his party is an unwritten part of a President’s job.)

  105. 105.

    Woodrowfan

    @Another Scott:

    @Woodrowfan: Different times.

    Sadly, yes.

    There’s no room for anyone to sit between two people in The Beast – there’s so much armor plating and so forth that it’s like a sub-compact in there. Donnie by himself may not fit…

    Huh, he’s my height and weight. I’m out of breath going up several flights of stairs. When I saw his supposed doctor’s report I laughed……

  106. 106.

    J R in WV

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I guess with LEDs that now carbide lamps are passe – even in caves. When I was a kid, they still sold carbide and the lamps all around here, a left over from when they were used in the coal mines. We used to buy it, and make our own jets.

    Pint mason jar with some carbide gravels in it, and a tiny paper cup of water. Put a lid on the jar with a carefully sized orifice, shake the water into the carbide and light it. You can get a brilliant white flame 6 or 8 feet long. You could get an explosion with too small an orifice and too much water+carbide, but we never did.

    Just dumping a little out in a new drizzle and lighting it was cool, little blue and yellow flickering flames. Caving was so cool back in the day, in the 1970s when we were doing it. Once my back started spasming I felt I had to quit… not cool to do something that could involve rescue teams when you knew it was a possibility.

    I quit kayaks too, that’s what I was doing the first time my back spasmed, my legs went numb on the New River. We had brand new boats, too. I would put in on a bank every 20 minutes or so, walk around, the feeling would come back, then after a little while on the river, they would go numb again.

    Was glad it wasn’t a neurological disease, my Dr pressed around my lower back, asked if that hurt. No, not really. “Well, it will.” Sure enough. Been seeing him ever since then, so he knows where my pain first came from.

    Never did set my head on fire, though. That sounds too real. This Trumpeter shit ain’t nothing to you, bro! You had your head on fire!!

  107. 107.

    hovercraft

    I’ve had a terrible start to what is a terrible day.

    So I’m sitting next to a white woman in her late fifties, who tells me she watched some of the pre Armageddon coverage this morning, she comments about all the balls, I say that they are saying it’s going to be one of the smaller celebrations in recent memory. Nah uh , the Shrubs was smaller, okay I say, but that was because the Supreme Court…. I tell her about the large turnout expected for tomorrow, and she goes into a both sides spiel, (McConnell et al conspiring the night of the inauguration, is the same as people, citizens coming to DC to march and protest), and says he’s taking over the White House twitter feed, and that is costing him a substantial number of his followers, i.e. he’s popular. I counter with Kim Kardashian has a ton of followers, he is president now, time to stop the twitter rants it’s not presidential, but, but, but other than Obama this is the first president to be fully on social media, who knows what would have happened if it had been available in the past. She then tacks on that she remembers 8 years ago that Obama didn’t want to give up his Blackberry, so you see this is not unusual. I come back with the issue was securing the device not the content, it was resolved by the NSA providing him with a secure one. Ah well you see, times change, this just another change. At my obvious disgust she throws in that 8 years ago she was saying the same things about the presidency if Barrack Obama, she’s just a patriot who supports the president, she was just raised that way.
    I stopped talking, she is beyond reach, comparing anything about Obama to the shitgibbon is insane. I’m going to try to avoid having any more conversations with people who make me want to send them to FEMA camps for re-education. That was Obama’s biggest failure, not opening those camps!!

  108. 108.

    maurinsky

    How to be a candle: since November 9, I have suddenly become an activist. Like, I go to meetings at least once a week and work with other people on action plans – beyond just calling our representatives. There is the start of a “tea party” like project, which is to rally once a week at the offices of your Congressional representatives, to let them know where you stand. In my case, I will mostly be able to thank them for opposing Trump. That starts next Tuesday at noon. I’m going to an immigrant rally this afternoon.

    I decided I would feel better about everything if I made my best effort to fight the forces of evil. I don’t have kids at home anymore, so I have plenty of time and energy when my work day is over.

  109. 109.

    Brachiator

    I was hearing on the news how Trump had to have his arm twisted to attend the traditional Congressional luncheon and other inauguration activities. Such a weird, rigid old man.

    I’m going to avoid everything related to the inauguration today, including the Internets. I need a break from the madness. Got a little work to take care of, then I want to finish reading the book of the film, Hidden Figures.

  111. 111.

    Spanky

    @SFAW:

    All I know is that I’m gonna keel over if I maintain this level of bile. I gotta gear up for a marathon, not a sprint.

    Are you saying you’re not even as tough as those candy-assed wingnuts? Because they’ve maintained their bile for 30-plus years.

    They’ve had a lot more time to marinate in it. Like a college kid going up against an experienced drunk.

  112. 112.

    Chris

    @MomSense:

    Remember every time Agent Orange tried to read a speech during the campaign? I do. He sounded like an idiot.

    I’d be much more sympathetic to him if he all he was was inarticulate, but of course it doesn’t stop there. He’s a terrible person all around.

    I was trying to remember the last time a national Democratic politician was as embarrassingly incoherent as Donald Trump, Sarah Palin, George W. Bush, or Dan Quayle… and then I realized: nobody that incoherent and obviously stupid would ever have been allowed to rise that high as a liberal in the first place. Their own constituents have minimal standards of competence, and the media would eat them alive.

    Another one for the IOKIYAR pile.

  113. 113.

    Jeffro

    @danielx:

    One of the few things of which I am tolerably certain in this uncertain world: if Hillary Clinton was being sworn into office this day under the same cloud of suspicions and investigations (not about fucking emails but Russian electoral interference etc), House Republicans would be filing articles of impeachment by 1:00 pm.

    Yes…that is exactly what Rep Chaffetz and others were threatening prior to the Comey letter (they were also threatening Comey prior to the Comey letter, fwiw!)

    And remember: they were also contemplating voting on exactly ZERO of HRC’s Supreme Court nominees, for an entire four/eight years. To give the voters yet another chance to weigh in, you see…

  114. 114.

    J R in WV

    @Quinerly:

    I am so jealous of where you’re going! I love the Navajo nation, New Mexico, AZ high mountain deserts, Petrified Forest National Park, the painted desert. Highly recommend the Hubbard Trading Station, and take the tour of the residence and visit the tiny museum.

    Another great one still in operation is the Toadlina trading post near Two Grey Hills clan, they still deal in rugs with the weavers, and have a great museum full on Navajo rugs from the early days of weaving right up to tiny square-pants bob weavings kids do to get started. As authentic as the Hubbard Trading Post national monument, but in a different way.

    And there’s a monthly auction of all kinds of rugs fresh off the loom at a school – I forget where, NW of Gallup, Google will show you. Straight from the weavers to the buyers…

  115. 115.

    Chris

    @Jeffro:

    Count me as one of the optimists…all will be revealed in short order, This stain on our nation’s history, if not completely scrubbed off (and I’m not sure it should be), should serve as quite the lesson for those with eyes to see and ears to hear.

    I really, really hope you’re right. I’m a cynic by nature, but nothing gives me more joy than being proven wrong about it.

  117. 117.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @J R in WV: There are still a few carbide cavers. I always liked the warm quality of the light, but yeah, most use LEDs these days. The thing I dislike about LEDs is you can’t make a carbide tent with one. A couple of times that was a life saver for me (not literally- I don’t think).

    Funny about the back spasm, I was floating the Current River in near flood conditions the first time my back spasmed. Scared the fuck out of me, a long way from anywhere and this most extreme and excruciating pain from out of nowhere has me screaming on a gravel bar. Just f’n paralyzed with pain.

  118. 118.

    Jeffro

    @Chris:

    I was trying to remember the last time a national Democratic politician was as embarrassingly incoherent as Donald Trump, Sarah Palin, George W. Bush, or Dan Quayle… and then I realized: nobody that incoherent and obviously stupid would ever have been allowed to rise that high as a liberal in the first place. Their own constituents have minimal standards of competence, and the media would eat them alive.

    Another one for the IOKIYAR pile.

    Exactly right. Dems would also never have accepted someone as ideologically incoherent, someone who treats women this badly, someone with such disdain for minority groups. Even in the reverse (if there were a Dem who was anti-male, and/or anti-white) it wouldn’t have flown – we just aren’t built that way.

  119. 119.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Jeffro:

    if not completely scrubbed off (and I’m not sure it should be)

    It won’t be if I have anything to do with it.

  120. 120.

    Yoda Dog

    @hovercraft: I don’t understand how you guys get so far into these convos but I commend you. After about 5 secs into that, I would’ve found the politest way possible to tell her to please stop speaking to me immediately. Im glad im barricaded in with kids today.

    ETA: I hope your day improves.

  121. 121.

    Chris

    @Jeffro:

    Yeah. And this is something that occurs to me whenever conversations about partisanship happen, with the whole “would you turn on your party if it nominated someone as awful as Trump?” Well… yes, but it’s kind of difficult for me to imagine anyone that awful ever being nominated by the Dems. Before FDR, sure. But that’s just it, before FDR, I probably would not have been a Dem, because they had a tendency to nominate superlatively awful people.

    I pretty strongly believe that presidents’ strong and weak points are ultimately just a reflection of their supporting coalitions’ strong and weak points, and Trump and Obama both confirm this strongly.

  122. 122.

    Another Scott

    @hovercraft: It’s really hard for people to change their political beliefs. It’s even harder to try to reason with someone to change them.

    You done good. It’s important to speak up, even when it seems hopeless. Someone on the periphery may be persuaded, even if the person you’re talking to isn’t at the time.

    Hang in there.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  123. 123.

    Quinerly

    @J R in WV:
    Hubbell is on the list for this year. I will be on a back road out of Gallup to Ganado working my way to Holbrook for a night. Spent some time last year at Toadlina and that trading post. Sweet museum. Didn’t allow for enough time plus an incredibly muddy day. As for the rugs…are you talking Crownpoint Auction? Some day on that. Timing has been off on all trips. Thanks for the kind words. I started working on plans for this trip in July. Just Poco, the dog, and me!

  125. 125.

    PST

    @Van Buren:

    When I got up today I was all “This is the end” and “We’re on the eve of destruction ” but now I’m all like “All things must pass” and “We shall overcome “

    Me too. I remember listening to that song and how hopeless I felt about the world as a teenager. Now 50 years have flown by. On balance, I think we live in a better world. If I could choose to be reborn, not knowing who I would be or where I would be or what my material circumstances would be, I would choose 2017 over 1953.

  126. 126.

    Patricia Kayden

    @hovercraft: Boy am I glad that I don’t converse with or interact with any Trump supporters. I’m sure some of the White folks at my work and in my neighborhood (and church) voted for the Bigot-in-Chief but we don’t talk about politics at all so that’s perfect. But good for you for being so civil and polite. I couldn’t do it. I’m not going to pretend that I have any respect for Trump.

  127. 127.

    Jeffro

    @hovercraft: @Yoda Dog: @Another Scott:

    I find that lately, anything said that smacks of “both sides” irritates me more than actual partisans, even Trump partisans.

    And I find that asking Trumpistas to ‘flip it’ (i.e., make it Hillary conspiring with the Chinese, not putting her assets into a blind trust, nominating people who are clearly guilty of insider trading or are very pro-China, etc) makes them extremely uncomfortable. So I plan to do a lot more of it.

  128. 128.

    Kathleen

    @bystander: I always watch L&O reruns when I’m at home. Totally addicted. SVU, the regular one and Criminal Minds. Love TCM also. Did anyone see the Civil Rights documentaries broadcast on MLK’s birthday? The one on the Highlander Scholl was jaw dropping and so timely.

  129. 129.

    hovercraft

    @Patricia Kayden: She is very clear about where I stand, in fact she becomes visibly uncomfortable when I talk about Obama and the insults he had to endure. @Jeffro: She tried to give me “both sides” bullshit, and I asked her why place of birth and never been an issue before Obama, McCain was born in the Panama Canal zone, yet it was never and issue, Ted Cruz, Canada, not an issue, like you would expect from a person with the intellectual depth of a gnat, she looked uncomfortable for a moment and then was fascinated that McCain was born in Panama, and wondered if that meant that all military stationed overseas forfeited the rights of their children to run for president. I often enjoy making them squirm, but today I am not in the mood.

  132. 132.

    SFAW

    @Yoda Dog:

    After about 5 secs into that, I would’ve found the politest way possible to tell her to please stop speaking to me immediately.

    Me too, if “Excuse me, but you need to STFU right now, before the universe collapses on itself from the Stupidity you’re pumping into it” can be considered “polite.”

    Well, I guess technically, if that were the politest thing I could say …

  133. 133.

    glory b

    @2liberal: I’m hoping for a better Steeler outcome. I’m not a sportsball fan, never have been, but the Steelers are owned by the last Dem owners, Rooney was Obamas ambassador to Ireland, and no NFL team has closer ties to Trump than the Patriots.

    I’ll take a symbolic victory over the Pats.

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