Looking forward to the Florida rally tomorrow. Big crowd expected!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 18, 2017
Your father never loved you. https://t.co/sdKT1v5esp
— Josh Barro (@jbarro) February 18, 2017
A far more pleasant story, via commentor Aleta — from the NYTimes, “Opening the Heart’s Floodgates, With a Paw”:
The quiet young man had come to me looking for love, ideally at first sight. I asked my usual questions about his work, where he lived, how he spent his free time. I asked about his great loves of the past, what had worked, or not worked, in those relationships. Then I asked how he felt about being jumped on, slobbered on or getting mud all over his couch.
“I’m O.K. with that,” he said. “Can I meet Chance?”
Ah, Chance. The young lab-mix, with a puppy’s zeal for life, who loved to chew on the shelter volunteers’ hands as we leashed him.
“Behave yourself for once,” I urged Chance as I opened the kennel.
He was quiet as I slipped on a harness, but when we turned to leave he began to buck wildly. My heart sank. Then I saw the face of the young man waiting by the door. He’d gone all moony. He only had eyes for Chance.
Much to my surprise, I have become a matchmaker. On Saturday afternoons I pull on my gray T-shirt and head to the Animal Rescue League of Boston, where I help people find their canine soul mates amid the barky din. Doing this work, I’ve not only learned how to pair up people and canines, I have received a master class in the expansiveness of the human heart, a lesson that I very much needed…
***********
What’s on the agenda for the beginning of the (for some of us, three-day) weekend?
WereBear
Gotta work today, and Monday. Ah well.
Picking up on the previous thread: I hope the current administration is so tangle up in each other they all go down; serially, like dominoes.
None of this bunch is ethical. That should come out.
?BillinGlendaleCA
Shopping for a used Prius; fun, fun, fun.
Baud
Nice try NYT. You’re still garbage.
Nicole
Oh my God(dess), that was a delightful article.
Adriano Espaillat, our new Rep, is having a town hall, so I’m going to that today.
And to the gym. I’m more interested in the town hall because it doesn’t require getting sweaty.
laura
I’m having a nice cup of tea, then heading for my 6 to noon shift on the picket line in Gustine, 2 hours from home in the central valley. Hoping the wind and rain have died down enough to not be a problem.
So ready for this strike to end.
Thank FSM for books on tape.
WereBear
@laura: Represent!
I have become enamored of podcasts since my promotion requires more travel, and I’ve tried some audiobooks. It’s a really interesting way of “reading.”
OzarkHillbilly
It was supposed to be sunshine and 60-70 all weekend. Was going to cut firewood today and head into STL tomorrow to spend the afternoon with my son, his fiance, and my Baby Girl at the Krewe of Barkus Parade. Wake up at 1:20, got up at 2:20, went out to the shop to get some stuff done and…. It started raining. WTF? Just checked the weather: 40% chance of rain overnight and today. Sunshine tomorrow, rain like the devil on Monday.
May still chance cutting firewood today, but the dead oaks are down in a hollow and the trail to it ain’t exactly peachy, especially when wet, 4WD or not. If all we got is all we’re gonna get, no problem. Too much more, and I may have to cut wood tomorrow.
Baud
@WereBear: I like audiobooks. Never have gotten into podcasts though.
OzarkHillbilly
@laura: @WereBear: My wife is from Spain and while fluent in English, reading is a chore for her. She loves audiobooks.
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: My wife is deep in the planning for our local dog parade but it’s not until October.
I’ve got a bunch of leftover pine flooring I think I’m going to make some shelves in the basement with them.
WereBear
@OzarkHillbilly & @Baud: It took me a while to try, I am so reading oriented, and it turns out to be perfect for automatic functions like driving, or housecleaning… or picketing :)
Elizabelle
Good morning, all.
Great pick by Aleta. I loved that article, even if it’s in the Fuck the Fucking New York Times. You will notice that it is outside contributors that give value for the subscription now (and K-Thug), not their political reporters or whack editors.
That said, writer Amy Sutherland is famous for “What Shamu Taught Me about a Happy Marriage”, another essay in the FTFNYT, and a charming book. [Bonus: this link isn’t a NYT click.]
Someone needs to apply large animal training to our SCROTUS. Suspect he’s a lost cause, though.
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: Dog bless your wife and the others who do that work. Just showing up is chore enough for me.
WereBear
I have also been using the Brainwaves app to help manage my stress and help me sleep, and it does. So it’s been a real audio journey the last few months.
Also, I belong to Scribd, which lets me choose from a whole library of different books each month, including audio books, and I get 3 book credits and one audiobook credit to pick my own each month. This lets me budget my consumption and I read far more books than the price of one I pay each month.
Resting with a book, of any kind, has been crucial to my recovery.
Central Planning
Anyone else notice that Garrison Keillor looks frighteningly like Steve Bannon, like separated at birth similar?
?BillinGlendaleCA
I did a bit more post-processing on this nighttime pic of DTLA from Griffith Observatory, I think it turned out really nice.
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Nice.
ThresherK
I have two dozen chocolate ganache-filled cupcakes on standby and today will make raspberry buttercream to top.
Predictive typing likes panache for ganache. Can’t blame it.
Elizabelle
@?BillinGlendaleCA: It did. Love it.
You staying above the water line?
Raven
@OzarkHillbilly: That’s what I did last year, I’m good to help the day of but I ain’t going to no meetings (which are now at our house). It wasn’t until the newspaper stories that I found out she was in charge and it was her idea!
Quinerly
@OzarkHillbilly:
I haven’t been to the Krewe of Barkus Parade in Soulard since 2010. I’m always in New Mexico at that time. You suck.?
Raven
@Elizabelle: my valley family was in full throat whine but I don’t think it was that bad.
OzarkHillbilly
@WereBear: My wife listens when driving, vacuuming, etc but I just can’t do it. Over the years I have trained myself to listen to the radio with half an ear, only tuning in when something interesting comes up. Can’t do that with an audiobook, I constantly find myself going, “Wait, what?”
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud:
@Elizabelle: Thanks. Yes, no problems here except the wind annoyed Nikki, the Cocker Spaniel. At least my street didn’t swallow any cars*, not that I have a car or anything.
*A sinkhole opened up on a street in The Valley and swallowed two cars.
mikefromArlington
So, the I Don’t Care bar and grill fired 12 employees for their Day Without Immigrants observation. Worse part is they were fired by text msg!
Leave ’em a nice note. https://www.facebook.com/IDCGrill
WereBear
@OzarkHillbilly: My biggest challenge was what to do while the audiobook played. Sit there staring into space? Close my eyes and fall asleep? If nothing else, something minimally taxing like playing Gin Rummy on another app fills that void. I can’t just sit there and listen, somehow.
WereBear
@mikefromArlington: Hope they get better jobs, soon.
Once upon a time we didn’t know about the people who ran businesses. I think it’s great that, now we do.
Quinerly
Good morning from Bernalillo, NM! Time is ticking down on my stay here. Great day yesterday with my friend who came over from Cerrillos. We went to the funky, family owned Turquoise Museum and lunched at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center. Today, I have my mind on a hearty breakfast, a morning walk with Poco down by the Rio Grande on Santa Ana Pueblo lands, and a traditional Zuni dance at the IPCC. Oh, and I’m meeting commentator Dexwood and Mrs. Dexwood at a local microbrewery. I do hope a prickly pear cheesecake food truck is there. I heard a rumor. Have great day all. Thanks for all your comments and interest. Rather like waking up to you all.
OzarkHillbilly
@Raven:
Ha! You and Mike Pence. ;-)
@Quinerly: Yeah, but you really suck.
Elizabelle
@Quinerly: Good morning, Quinerly and Poco. We do need pictures, one of these days!
Baud
@Quinerly:
Have you warned the Dexwoods of your intentions?
Raven
@?BillinGlendaleCA: when she gets deaf like Lil Bit it won’t bother her! (Until it blows in her little cocker face)!
OzarkHillbilly
@mikefromArlington: I once worked for a drywall contractor who was the most miserable fuck I’ve ever worked for. Never once saw the man smile and no matter what was going on he always found something to complain about. Once a month I had to knock off early to go to my son’s meeting with his juvenile officer and it just ate him up. Then my mother had to have heart surgery and I asked to have a day or 2 off that week so I could pull my share of the load taking care of the old man etc. Got my lay off check the next day.
As my foreman was handing me the envelope he said, “Don’t worry, you’ll be back in a week.”
I replied, “No I won’t.”
ETA: point being, sometimes you are better off.
Quinerly
@Elizabelle:
Maybe some Poco pictures at the Grand Canyon or when we hit Utah. Ozark knows how shy I am. The Dexwoods can comment on “proof of life” that we really exist.?
Quinerly
@OzarkHillbilly:
You really need to freshen up your material. We have a little more than 4 weeks ahead of us.?
Iowa Old Lady
My favorite moment of that lunatic press conference was when the reporter read EC numbers off to Trump and proved he’d gotten more than only W. Trump spluttered and said someone told him he got the most. I’ll be interested to see if he repeats that brag.
Other than that, I’m just struggling along here.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Why spoil the element of surprise?
OzarkHillbilly
@Quinerly: Oh yeah, so very very very very shy. And quiet, too. Never has a thing to say. ;-)
Quinerly
@Baud:
I have thought about this when “we” all get to Utah and Poco and I are car camping in Goblin Valley SP and Canyonlands NP. Will there be enough room in the “2 bedroom (Ford) Escape?”…..(my friends in St. Louis laughed when they saw my packing job for 6 weeks…we coined the phrase “2 bedroom Escape with Poco.”)
marv
@Central Planning:
No, but I thought he (Keillor) looked so much like the great bassist Charlie Haden I actually checked to see if they had the same birthday (not that I believe in that sort of thing)
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Quinerly: I have full confidence in OzarkHillbilly’s ability to be fresh.
Elizabelle
@mikefromArlington: Catoosa, Oklahoma. From KTUL TV:
“Love you.” Jeebus, that is passive aggressive. Workers say they have been there since the restaurant opened two years ago.
However, the owner says that the 12 Latino kitchen staffers were fired for violating his zero tolerance “no call, no show” policy, for which he has terminated others in the past. In TV news report, the workers are not asked about that nor do they indicate whether they did notify of their impending absence.
Not calling in is serious, in my book. I could see the workers being suspended for that, as a warning to other staff. Maybe that zero tolerance rule will bite the owner; who knows?
Wanting to see more reporting on this. Catoosa is due east of Tulsa; no reporting yet in the Tulsa World.
The restaurant’s FB blurb:
Now with less Latino employees. Drink hearty!
Elizabelle
@mikefromArlington: Catoosa, Oklahoma. Due east and very near to Tulsa. From KTUL TV:
“Love you.” Jeebus, that is passive aggressive. Workers say they have been there since the restaurant opened two years ago.
However, the owner says that the 12 Latino kitchen staffers were fired for violating his zero tolerance “no call, no show” policy, for which he has terminated others in the past. In TV news report, the workers are not asked about that nor do they indicate whether they did notify of their impending absence.
Not calling in is serious, in my book. I could see the workers being suspended for that, as a warning to other staff. Maybe that zero tolerance rule will bite the owner; who knows?
Wanting to see more reporting on this. No reporting yet in the Tulsa World.
The restaurant’s FB blurb:
Now with less Latino employees. Drink hearty!
Elizabelle
Hmmm. FYWP didn’t like something in my comment about the I Don’t Care Cafe.
Owner says the 12 Latino kitchen workers were fired because he has a zero tolerance “no call, no show” policy. The TV station report does not make clear whether the employees called or not.
Not calling is a real problem, but I hope the zero tolerance policy hurts the employer more than the workers.
Owner stuck in an enjoy the free time and “love you” at end of a text in which he fired a worker. How passive aggressive.
Nothing yet in the Tulsa World newspaper, but they did have this on unrelated topic:
MomSense
@Quinerly:
Sounds like a perfect trip.
Baud
@Elizabelle: You passed.
ETA:. Never mind.
Quinerly
@OzarkHillbilly:
All this sucking aside, will you see our Red on this trip into Soulard? She’s checking in on my kitties (John Lennon and Ivan)…playing with them and keeping them stoned on her special homegrown nip…. and doing a mosaic in my first floor bathroom. We have chatted back and forth on the Book of Faces but I haven’t phoned her yet. Tell her that I’m still alive and sucking big time.
Elizabelle
@Baud: Ta. Not sure what triggered FYWP. Not talking about kitty cats or dicks. In that post.
Maybe FYWP just doesn’t like Oklahoma. Fine by me.
RedDirtGirl
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I saw a bumper sticker on a car yesterday that said: Powered by Recycled Dinosaurs. Snark? Climate denial?
Immanentize
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I may be shopping for a used Suburu Crosstrek this weekend. Right there is one difference between California and Boston.
OzarkHillbilly
From the news wires today:
If you needed another reason to hate the NFL (owners):
Yes, because his Worker’s Compensation costs him soooooooooooo much, he had to cut the number of bottles of Lagavulin.in the bar on his yacht from 3 to 2. The injustice of it all!
Meanwhile in the STL, life imitates The Wire: Volunteers search vacant St. Louis homes for the missing
amk
gopee. sold cheaply.
Quinerly
@MomSense:
So far, so good. Really haven’t done too much new and off my well worn previous paths out here in NM. Tuesday starts the adventure when we leave Bernalillo and head west towards the Grand Canyon and eventually Utah. Fingers crossed for no snafus. Started planning and budgeting for these 6 weeks back in July.
Elizabelle
@amk: I think cartoonists need to start portraying Saint Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell with Trump combovers.
They are complicit. Pin it to them. Smear them before they do their “responsible statesmen” pivot.
OzarkHillbilly
@Quinerly: Probably not. Knowing how averse to crowds Red is, and how tight my schedule is likely to be, it is doubtful.
Immanentize
@Quinerly: You are going to Goblin? I am very jealous. It has been on my bucket list for 15 years — just haven’t gotten there yet. I will really be looking for your reports from there. “Woof!” to Poco.
Quinerly
@OzarkHillbilly:
I thought you might see her on a pop in at their place or if you got there today, maybe at the Venice. Yep, I know she wouldn’t be caught dead at Soulard’s dog parade. She gets her doggie fix by being one of Poco’s aunts.❤
Baud
Where’s rikyrah? I need my good morning.
Quinerly
@Immanentize:
Stumbled on learning about Goblin when I was mapping my route from the Capitol Reef area to where I end up for 5 days in Bluff, Utah. Looks beautiful and the campground looks nice. I’m at around 3/10 at that point so hoping weather will be ok. Outfitted the car to sleep in the Escape 4-5 nights. Goblin is one of those nights. The hoodoos look magnificent. Loved Tent Rocks a few years back. Goblin looks just as great…plus doggie friendly. Tent Rocks isn’t.
efgoldman
This weekend, every business selling anything is having a President’s Day sale, so we’re going to do our patriotic duty (and help the economy) and go buy a President’s Day. We’ll have to find room to keep it.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Will a substitute “Fuck you.” from me work?
Quinerly
@Baud:
I was wondering too. Lurked for years and the early morning rikyrah always have made me smile.
ThresherK
@OzarkHillbilly: I can’t imagine going through a book, fiction or non-fiction, without lingering over some parts, or skipping others, or putting my finger in one page and flipping back to it so I can better track the narrative.
Podcasts, however, I love. Especially the ones which aren’t broadcast-based, so they can spend as little or as much time as they want on it.
@Quinerly: Wait, you’re not only rambling through some scenic paradise with your best buddy, you can pull up to a truck that serves cheesecake?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Good Morning, Baud. Happy Now?
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: That’s more of an evening aperitif.
Quinerly
@ThresherK:
Yes, I know I suck. Need bumper sticker.
efgoldman
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
You get up this early, or are you still up from Friday, living out there on the wrong coast with the funny time and all.
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA: It’s not the same without the emojis. ?
Immanentize
@Quinerly: you probably read that because the landscape is unique in the world, that they used to use Goblin for fifties movies as Mars or other alien planets. So cool. Nature is such an artist.
CarolDuhart2
@Baud: First “Good Morning” from me, ever.
60 in February? So much for climate denial. (Grumpy)
RSA
@Elizabelle:
Right, the column is run by Dan Jones. He’s hooked up with WBUR to create podcasts of the columns, read mainly by actors.
Iowa Old Lady
I listen to audio books in the car all the time. I can download them from the library to my ipod while sitting in my house. You have to pick the right kind of book though. Frankly, the Harry Potter books were great. They were interesting enough to be entertaining but didn’t need a lot of concentration.
Kay
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a law ensuring services to children with disabilities. It’s a civil rights law that really transformed public schools because it requires services rather than relying on a patchwork of state laws. It also provides federal funding for those services.
DeVos didn’t know what IDEA was in her confirmation hearing. This was shocking because everyone even remotely involved with a public school knows what IDEA is. It’s not a hard question.
This got a lot of media attention, that she didn’t know what this law is, and at the same time the IDEA website went down. Probably not her fault the website went down but parents of kids with disabilities were (rightly) paranoid because she’s a political operative not an educator and this became clear at her hearing when she didn’t know what this huge, historically important law is or really anything else about education.
So this is how she responded:
She’s still a political operative. She’ll take responsibility for nothing and blame either Obama or labor unions for everything. I feel sorry for the people who work there. Another low quality Trump hire.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@efgoldman: It’s still Friday night for me, though sometimes the girls and I do snuggle time and I crash out for a few hours early evening.
@Baud: ??????
Baud
@CarolDuhart2: Hopefully not the last. Good morning, Carol.
efgoldman
@Kay:
Most of them will have to get quite a bit better to reach low quality – and never will.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Kay:
It’s not shocking at all, because Sec. DeVos knows nothing about public schools; in fact, she wants to get rid of them.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: But I’m only here in the mornings. You’ll just have to make it last all day.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@OzarkHillbilly:
Do we have to?
HeleninEire
@Baud: Yeah. I was gonna send you a Good Morning but I don’t know how to do the emojis and I knew my good morning would be inferior.
Anyway – Good Emoji-free Morning!
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
It’s because of you telling Quinerly “You really suck” all week. FSM does not look upon Quinerly-hatred very benevolently.
NeenerNeener
@Elizabelle: Sounds like the NRA will need to start the call for impeachment of Trump. If the RWNJs aren’t afraid anymore, gun and ammo sales will plummet.
Quinerly
@Immanentize:
I did read that. Knew nothing before I just saw it on the map and started reading if I could stop the car there for the night. What a find! I have been warned about all the polygamists in that area and around Bluff. Was talking to a shopkeeper in Albuquerque and she said that Jeffords (I think that was his name) was run out of that area with his sect, ended up in Texas, and ultimately ended up in prison. I’m trusting 70 lb ex city street dog, Poco, to protect me.?
Immanentize
@Kay: also, IDEA is what allows Charter Fucking Schools to thrive as they keep out disabled students; elevating the cost per student for public schools and keeping Charter Schools from having to provide costly services to kids with challenges.
I hate the Charter School grift.
MomSense
@Baud:??☀️
amk
@Elizabelle: guess finally some good has come out of twitler winning bigly?
Immanentize
@Quinerly: I don’t think the polygamists will bother you. Jeffords and his crazy clan cared much more about fighting other polygamist groups for the secret badge of Mormon Superiority. That and having sex with teenagers.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: I never realized that.
Quinerly
@SFAW:
Plus, Ozark is talking about my neighborhood…have lived in the neighborhood where the Mardi Gras dog parade is Sunday since 1984. Was involved in the original organization of the neighborhood MG and that parade. Now I wander the SW to get away from the over commercialization of it. The crowd will be huge if a 70 degree forecast holds.
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
@HeleninEire:
@MomSense:
Thank you!
Elizabelle
@Kay: Is that true, that the site was neglected? That seems refutable and checkable. Just because she had no idea.
What an asshole. It’s a slam at the Obama admin by someone who came in ignorant of the program’s assistance. [meant “existence”, but somewhat the same thing]
The use of “stakeholders” — is that term used frequently in discussions on education, or is it business/privatization-speak?
Quinerly
@Immanentize:
I’m not polygamist worthy? I guess I suck.?
Kay
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
I’m hoping she’s not a good political operative either because anyone who has had anything to do with public education knows, with 100% certainty, that there will be one or more questions in any forum on kids with disabilities. They have great ,passionate advocates because the advocates are either parents of kids with disabilities or teachers of kids with disabilities. And that’s exactly what happened at the hearing. One of the Senators has a son with disabilities and that Senator asked the question. I KNEW the question was coming. DeVos was completely unprepared. This is why Trump feels she was “unfairly” attacked. She couldn’t answer a question that is EASY and completely predictable which humiliated her (and thus him). Her response? Lash out and trash the people who did the job before her. Just like the low quality President who hired her.
OzarkHillbilly
@?BillinGlendaleCA: If you really want, you can snarf it all down in one sitting.
@SFAW: The FSM really sucks.
WereBear
I do miss that, though there are some controls (bookmarks, settings that let you go back and forward easily) that somewhat substitute.
I just don’t listen to books where that might be a serious factor, and I retain a surprising amount when in the Zone.
Immanentize
@Kay: Kay, I just had a delicious idea — what is we could draft model legislation that would distribute IDEA costs to all schools — public and charter — in a district based on student population? That shared cost would also alleviate schools’ incentive to fight Individual Plans because some % of the cost would be shared. Such legislation might break Charters entirely.
Immanentize
@Quinerly: oh please don’t make me channel Ozark. Please don’t set that up so nicely….
“Maybe not sucking is the issue?”
Amir Khalid
A
grammarvocabulary fussbudget’s quibble:I just saw a word I’ve never seen before in an Editor’s Blog post by TPM’s Josh Marshall:
That adverb implies the existence of a noun “characterology”, which I have never seen before either (and don’t think is needed in English), and which FYWP doesn’t recognise. I would have written
OzarkHillbilly
@Immanentize: I was just about to say you only have to worry about the polygamists if you are 14 yo or younger.
Elizabelle
@amk:
@NeenerNeener:
Le sigh. Gun nuts are a planet of their own. Herd animals, with the occasional lone wolf.
WereBear
@Amir Khalid: Good point: the real phrase works better.
Phylllis
@WereBear: How is Scribd compared to the late and still missed Oyster?
Elizabelle
@Amir Khalid: maybe it’s a ploy to get Spicer or Trump or Conway to trip over it while denying?
Agree. Bad writing.
MomSense
@Baud:
I listen to a few political podcasts and to some farm and fiber podcasts.
I highly recommend the professionalleft podcast with Driftglass and Bluegal. Stitcher often has a bit of a delay in posting the new ones so I tend to use the Podcast app on my iPhone. Not sure what the equivalent is for android.
Then there is crookedmedia. They have two podcasts. Pod Save America and Pod Save the World. The hosts are Obama admin speechwriters and communications people. They are smart and fun and book really good guests. Pod Save the World is concerned with foreign policy and so far the interviews have been so good.
All of these podcasts have lots of swearing and laughter.
debbie
@Kay:
Kay, I don’t understand how charters can be exempt from this. Surely this is discrimination?
Kay
@Elizabelle:
Everyone in the world uses “stakeholders”. I don’t like it because it’s become this way of mouthing “inclusion” without actually listening to anyone. It’s a very groovy word though. You just sprinkle it anywhere :)
There are words they all latch onto- they usually start in trendy business circles. They were all using “thoughtful” for a while. “Thoughtful criticism” they accept, but not thoughtless criticism. That became a way to reject all criticism unless the criticism was carefully designed not to offend anyone in power. “Mistakes were made” is thoughtful criticism.
“Reform” itself is one of these words. It’s become meaningless. It can mean “improve” or “get rid of completely”. It’s gibberish. I combine these words in my head when I read this stuff- “reform that includes stakeholders and their thoughtful feedback” :) This is how I entertain myself when plowing through it.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Every now and again I’ll throw a drive by comment in the afternoon just to keep you all honest, but it’s rare.
Quinerly
@Immanentize:
You may be on to something.?
Elizabelle
@Kay: it sounds like MBA-speak to me.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ????
debbie
@rikyrah:
Finally! Good morning!
Elizabelle
@rikyrah: You wuz missed.
debbie
@Elizabelle:
That’s exactly what that is. It all goes back to when people thought everything — even nonprofits — would be better run if they were run like businesses. And we’ve seen how that’s turned out!
MomSense
@Kay:
I remember the consultant our school district brought in. He was all stakeholders and vision. Ended up gutting the arts budget and a bunch of us were out. They changed librarians and remaining arts and language teachers to Ed Techs. Ed Techs are paid much less and are only paid for class time, not prep or meetings or all the IEP compliance meetings and documentation. Also too Ed Techs were not part of the teachers union and not eligible for benefits.
It hasn’t gone well.
debit
@rikyrah: Good morning!!
aimai
@debbie: Its the whole point of charters. Whether they do it obviously by screening out disfavored kids, or subtly by putting roadblocks in the way of disabled kids or simply refusing to offer services they can do it easily. I am interning in a public school and we have all kinds of (mandated) inclusion services: occupational therapy for kids who are having gross or fine motor coordination problems, speech and language therapy, reading specialists, math tutors, social emotional learning counselors, auditory processing specialists–none of that is available at the local charter schools. Parents sometimes pull their kids out because they think they will get a better formal education in some new charter school, and then bring their kid back when it turns out that there are no wraparound services to enable their kid with aspergers, dyslexia, or other issues to get help and keep up with the work.
Phylllis
@Kay: There have been reports for years, prior to President Obama and even Shrub, that technology & network infrastructure at fed agencies are woefully behind the times. Mainly due to Congressional unwillingness to budget for appropriate upkeep, maintenance, and replacement.
rikyrah
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Beautiful picture ??
Doug R
@laura: It always sucks when the company wants to claw back. Maybe the Teamsters can help out with the picket line.
Our Teamster local is having a meeting today to tell us the details of our company’s “final offer”. The last offer was rejected by 97.4%. The company wants to take our defined benefits pension and change it to a defined contribution which is worse about 97.4% of the time, plus get rid of the lump sum at retirement plus other sucky things.
Stay strong sister!
CarolDuhart2
@Elizabelle: Also Amway-speak (I got a lot of this in the mid 80’s). Not to mention all of those “motivational-get rich quick-et cetera” books, flyers, pamplets, tapes and other ad nausea I was exposed to as a temp. I can now smell the stuff even before I read it.
Random observation: I wonder if climate change effects this winter has also had something to do with the early Resistance? In the old days a regime like Trump’s deplorables could count on people staying inside except for the hardy during this time of year. It would be March (early birds) and June (everyone else) before there would be kind of mass rallies that would mobilize things. A free six months with relatively free hands.
By June, everything would be mostly in place and the Resistance would be playing catch-up at best.
And we’ve already had some wins.
MomSense
@Elizabelle:
Yup. Came out of McKinsey and Company.
Gin & Tonic
@Immanentize: I passed through Hildale a few years ago. Very odd place, really gives you the vibe of “keep driving”. Big houses behind high fences, but otherwise really impoverished-looking.
rikyrah
@ThresherK:
Sounds delicious ??
WereBear
@Phylllis: I do miss Oyster!
However, new royalty issues (which are fine because authors get more than way, as I understand it) created a crisis for both services, and they went different ways.
Oyster, which was based on UNLIMITED access to their entire library; just bailed on the whole thing.
Scribd expanded their library, greatly upgraded their app and website, and instituted a monthly Selects program, where books & and audio books in multiple categories are made available. There’s 3 freebie print books and 1 free audio book each month, too.
I can get you 2 months free with a referral. Email me at write AT wayofcats DOT com :)
And I don’t think I get anything from it, guys. Great way to try it out. This is open to all Juicers!
MomSense
@laura:
Stay strong! We are rooting for you.
Adria McDowell (formerly LurkerExtraordinaire)
@OzarkHillbilly: Your wife sounds like my dad. I’ve never seen him read a book, ever. He’s a magazine and newspaper guy, though. His issue with books stems from schooling in Puerto Rico in the 50s.
It’s gonna be crazy warm here in Central Ohio this weekend, so today we are going on a picnic, walk, and fishing trip. Tomorrow, Mini-Me has a birthday party of a gymnastics friend to go to. After that, we’ll take my husband out to dinner for his birthday. 42 years young!
Hope everyone has a relaxing weekend. Except Dolt 45, of course. Fuck that guy.
Taylor
@Phylllis:
After 9/11, we discovered that FBI IT was antediluvian.
rikyrah
@Baud:
Hey Baud Morning ???
Elizabelle
@CarolDuhart2: Pre-Springtime for Pu ssy hats?
I wish we had a major march every single month. The causes and the resistance are there. Good exercise, too.
Keep Trump and his “party before country” accomplices worried.
Immanentize
@rikyrah: Yea! I can get on with my day!
Jazzman
@Central Planning: It’s more the other way around: Steve Bannon could be Garrison Keillor’s alcoholic, ne’er-do-well half brother, the one the family never talks about.
And the marked resemblance of Mike Pence to the cartoon character Race Bannon has been mentioned before. So Trump’s administration includes both Race Bannon and Master Race Bannon.
Phylllis
@WereBear: Fixing to do that right now. Thanks.
MomSense
BTW the 45 budget looks like horseshit. Goodbye Arts and Humanities Endowments, PBS, Legal Services Corp, Americorps…
HeleninEire
OK headed out. Lots to do today. Some shopping to stock up on some things I cannot get in Dublin. Then it’s lunch with my beloved niece and nephew. Then out to Queens for drinks tonight at one of my bestest former watering holes with one of my bestest drinking buddies, Otto.
Catch you all tonight.
CarolDuhart2
@CarolDuhart2: But it’s been pretty warm in a lot of places, including DC, and instead of the lonely radicals braving the cold, anybody who hates Orange Cheeto can come out and let their opinion be known.
Random observation two: It looks like the talking points havent been updated since 1968. “Silent Majority” is one term I have literally heard online. “Coastal Elites” is another. The reliance on casual racism as if people haven’t gotten to know the other in the past 50 years.
Random question three: Everyone keeps talking about a Reichstag Fire event that will somehow make people gather around Trump. Any ideas on how to prevent this, or nullify the effects of one?
WereBear
@WereBear: CORRECTION: Email me at writeme AT wayofcats DOT com :)
Stupid autocorrect!
MomSense
Ok have fun everyone. Heading South to the New England Textile Arts gathering.
Elizabelle
@MomSense: Saw that. More ammunition for resistance, I think.
The popular vote of 3 million (or 10 million) is not down with that, and maybe not nonvoters either.
Don’t fuck with Sesame Street.
WereBear
@MomSense: I ditched the Apple Podcast app and went to Overcast instead. Much better, and it doesn’t hog all your memory.
OzarkHillbilly
@Adria McDowell (formerly LurkerExtraordinaire): I never saw my old man read a book either. When I asked my avid reader mother why Pop never read anything other than the paper she said it was because all week long at work he had to read reports and letters etc.
Reading as work? Who’da thunk it?
CarolDuhart2
@Elizabelle: We probably could. I know that there’s a #ScienceMarch, and a #TaxDayMarch for April. So far I haven’t heard of anything for the rest of the year or for March itself, but some things take time.
Baud
@rikyrah: About damn time.
Good morning, rikyrah!
CarolDuhart2
@Elizabelle: And the arts crowd have money to spend to remind some Congress-critters that by freeing up money from PBS, et al, they now have it to spend on opponents and primary challengers.
OzarkHillbilly
@CarolDuhart2:
Just let Trump be Trump. Been working so far.
Peale
@CarolDuhart2: nope. I don’t see it happening. China could drop a nuke on Seattle and I don’t see people rallying around Trump. I could see a lot of people saying “you know, China wasn’t dropping nukes on Seattle before Trump got here” and he’d lose another three point in his job approval
skerry
@CarolDuhart2: The People’s Climate March is scheduled for March 29.
Spanky
@skerry: That link says April 29, a mere week after the Science March.
Eric S.
@WereBear: I use Smiling Minds which is nice too. My therapist recommended it.
skerry
@Spanky: It is in April. It was scheduled way before the Science march. I wish they had combined the two into a single day.
WereBear
@Eric S.: Intriguing. Thanks!
Adria McDowell (formerly LurkerExtraordinaire)
@MomSense: I really enjoy Pod Save America/the World.
The Bob and Chez Show podcast is really great, as is the Bugle podcast, which originally had Brit comedian (and obsessive cricket fan) Andy Zaltzman and a certain Mr. John Oliver.
Adria McDowell (formerly LurkerExtraordinaire)
@OzarkHillbilly: My mother is an avid reader, too! I was as well, before I became a mom (sleep deprivation) and before I started grad school. My therapist says I should try and get backing into the things I once loved, before depression hit. Currently working on it.
Why are moms always the avid readers? Lol….My brother isn’t much of a reader either. Still more than dad, though. My husband loves his Laurel K. Hamilton books, a love he shares with my stepdaughter.
zzyzx
@Peale:
HEY! What did we do to you?
dww44
@Central Planning:Do you have a link? My mental image produces no similarities between the two.
danielx
Supposed to be in the sixties today, so opening the windows. Forty degrees above normal in February, okay, but if it’s forty above normal in August…not so much.
Lapassionara
@Kay: this. I have imagined Devos leading, sorry, “facilitating,” a “rebranding” exercise at the department. With a PowerPoint, of course.
I hate jargon! But if I hear or see it, it gives me a clue to the character, or lack of character, of the speaker or writer, so I guess it does serve a purpose.
The Lodger
@efgoldman: Hasn’t the president already been bought?
PaulW
At BARTOW Syfy now. Pics later
Uncle Cosmo
@Quinerly: You want a bumper sticker, I gots just the one 4U:
PS. Posting from a northeastern suburb of Prague–been here since the 7th, heading home next Monday, My USAphilic friends here are shaking their heads in utter gobsmacked amazement at the antics of Dolt 45, shaking them so hard I fear for their cervical vertebrae…
PPS Everyone remember to fly your flags (& wear your flag pins & stick on your flag postage stamps) upside-down. It’s a distress signal, & no time in US history has it been more appropriate. (I’m wearing my flag pin downside-up at a spiffy supper at the Tancici Dum on the Vltava tomorrow night & hope someone notices…)
JanieM
@Kay: “Thought leaders” — that’s another juicy one.
Feebog
Still overcast and drizzle in SoCal this morning. Good day to stay in and putter around. I’m going to help my grandson do his taxes, really get into a book I just started, and perhaps a late afternoon movie is in my future. Stay dry out there Juicers. Oh and Bill, you will love a Prius, we leased one last year, so far, so good.
J R in WV
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Love the photo. Nice twinkly colors like piles of jewels. What direction is the camera facing for this photo? I assume you were on the mountains east of downtown LA?
What lies way behind the city, where the lights seem to be sparse along the top of the lit up urban space? Just asking. I don’t see much big city around here.
Annamal
Trump’s pick for ambassador to New Zealand is…not so great (seriously Scott Brown, I mean there are worse picks but he’s definitely not a good one)
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/89560459/its-an-insult-backlash-against-trumps-pick-for-diplomatic-post-to-new-zealand
I don’t see him being refused but I am grateful that I no longer work near the US embassy because I suspect it’s about to become the target of a *lot* of protests.
J R in WV
@Elizabelle:
More a government as service provider. For an environmental agency, stakeholders are businesses, neighbors, green activists, etc. For a social services agency, stakeholders are people who need services, private groups who provide services, contributers, lawyers who represent people who were denied services, Oh, yeah, government managers, statehouse reps, etc.
For schools, stakeholders are teachers, students, parents, companies who need well educated employees, and the public who funds the schools. Not commercial educational corporations who want public funds for fun and profit and the famed hookers and blow!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@J R in WV: It’s from Griffith Observatory so it’s northwest of the city and looking southeast. The area behind the tall buildings in downtown range from the OC and Signal Hill(you can see a bump of dim lights) on the left and the Port of LA on the right.
CaseyL
@Kay:
Defensive crouch. Common among people who are in over their heads, know it, and just hope no one else figures it out. I had a job once where I was in over my head – it didn’t end well – and I’ve recognized the symptoms ever since.
Mind you, I wasn’t in a position to fuck up the nation’s education system at the time. I have no sympathy for Erik Prince’s grifting little sister: she might not know anything about improving education, but she sure as hell knows how to fuck things up.
In other news, this is a lazy day. Rainy day, so no plans to get into the Great Outdoors. I did have plans for the weekend but they went south, so I’m catching up on some reading. Just devoured the new Thomas Perry, and next up is Ancillary Justice.
J R in WV
@Phylllis:
Reports that federal “technology & network infrastructure at fed agencies are woefully behind the times.”
This is because the feds (somehow, not sure of the origins) rely on contractors for all IT services. I saw this personally at EPA. Grants were awarded that allowed us to hire contractors to develop functionality EPA needed, mostly related to transferring regulatory data to the EPA collected by regulated facilities in the state and by our agency.
Once we requested developer services instead of funds to obtain our own services. We typically paid $65-75/hour for excellent guys on site. EPA wanted to pay a guy $148/hr to develop for us in DC. I told them that was way too high, a waste of precious resources. Eventually we got them down to only $50/hour above our local rate, but the guy wasn’t really nearly as effective as our hires.
Then at one point the EPA’s contract was rebid, and their current contract holder lost the bid to continue, so everyone who knew anything about EPA’s problem set, current tools and methods, data requirements, was gone on date certain… probably the end of the Federal fiscal year. October, right? They had a really great team, using state of the art methodology and tools, helped us understand new data technology, brilliant inventive technologists, then ALL GONE!
I’m sure good and bad contractors do work all over the federal government. We tried really hard to use contractors working closely with staff people, interviewed people in groups, used contractors who proved to be high-end capable to listen during interviews. We had genius level guys, much like some of the EPA staff I worked with, who vanished.
We didn’t contract with a company to provide technical services. We hired individuals, after reviewing multiple candidates and interviewing the closest matches. Sometimes we needed a code team, sometimes we needed someone who could design a system architecture and build data models for complex technical and scientific data. All different from federal contracting, where, if I understand it correctly, the contract house is responsible for analysis/design/staffing/development/testing the software, network, hardware, databases, etc.
Turnkey contracting. How the PPACA website failure happened. How the FBI data architecture failed, how the FAA air traffic control system failed, how the IRS modernization project failed. And I imagine all those contracting companies were paid at a very high level for all the work invested in those total failures.
But federal agencies cannot hire sufficient highly skilled (and paid) staff to direct and manage those projects, much less to execute them. Sad. They can somehow, pay a contract house enough to pay a mediocre programmer $148/hr back in 2005 or so. Plus profit margin!!
Somehow. I thought that was the swamp, but guess not.
J R in WV
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Bill,
Thanks for the info. Never been to LA, so I will use Google Earth to get a better idea of how that terrain lays out. I would love to visit La Brea, The County Museum of Natural History, the art museums, etc. I hear there’s some good food at those truck, too.
JR