• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

This blog will pay for itself.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

This fight is for everything.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

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

Republicans in disarray!

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

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

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

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

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

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

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Mobile Menu

  • Winnable House Races
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • Balloon Juice 2023 Pet Calendar (coming soon)
  • COVID-19 Coronavirus
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • War in Ukraine
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • 2021-22 Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / Thursday Evening Open Thread: Self-Pity Edition

Thursday Evening Open Thread: Self-Pity Edition

by Anne Laurie|  March 9, 20175:39 pm| 318 Comments

This post is in: Domestic Politics, Open Threads, Serenity Now!

FacebookTweetEmail

Live look at reporters trying to keep up with the news cycle. pic.twitter.com/nblhA9oqYs

— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) January 31, 2017


.

This has been my daily life since mid-November, even leaving aside the political component. But we’ve finally bid farewell to the attic insulation crew… whose ‘just a few hours, maybe an afternoon’ project stretched over the last two days. After being rescheduled twice since December, pursuant on the furnace-replacement project, which took ten hellacious days. And the roof replacement (only two days, mostly overlapping the furnace work). Also the Spousal Unit’s (minor, outpatient) surgery, in the middle of many days emptying twenty years’ worth of packrat projects out of the attic and finding a place for them, because roof/insulation replacement. And the Spousal Unit’s ten-day emergency trip to Florida when his mom went into hospice (she’s still alive, but her Alzheimers is stealing more of her every day). During which I got the flu. (I HAD A DAMNED FLU SHOT, okay? I got the flu anyway.)

Once he came home, Spousal Unit decided to make multiple day trips, culminating in a three-day weekend expedition to Cleveland, in pursuit of exactly the right replacement used car of his dreams. (Which turned out to be a VW Jetta ’14, so far the nicest car we’ve ever owned, but the timing could’ve been better.) And both of our elderly flip phones bricked out at the worst possible moments, which would not be so much of a problem if I hadn’t married a Virgo fussbudget who needs to ‘research’ every consumer purchase exhaustively. (I threw a fit & ended up with a refurbished Galaxy 6, but ‘we’ haven’t found the time to get me on a data plan yet; he’s using a drugstore burner because none of the five T-Mobile kiosks within range of the Florida hospice had a model he could stand to buy.) Last week we had a surprise two-day plumbing backup issue, which only cost $500 instead of a possible $1200, lucky us…
***********

So, now that the Epic Whinge is over, what’s on the agenda for the evening?

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « The Two Kellys
Next Post: The Invisible Fist »

Reader Interactions

318Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    March 9, 2017 at 5:42 pm

    I’ve been in a sour mood lately. I’ll join you in self-pity.

  2. 2.

    JPL

    March 9, 2017 at 5:43 pm

    Lucky you indeed. With so many things happening, you haven’t had time to curl up in a ball, crying someone please lock the maniac up, before he kills us all.

  3. 3.

    The Moar You Know

    March 9, 2017 at 5:44 pm

    laughing at the latest “whoops” by the Trump gang.

    Don’t they know to dump news like this on Friday?

  4. 4.

    WereBear

    March 9, 2017 at 5:46 pm

    Virgo fussbudget

    You’re just lucky you got a car!

  5. 5.

    TenguPhule

    March 9, 2017 at 5:46 pm

    Trump to tweet that Flynn “No Big Deal. Obama worse.”

    Media will claim both sides do it.

  6. 6.

    TenguPhule

    March 9, 2017 at 5:46 pm

    @Baud: “Baud, I pity da fool!”

  7. 7.

    geg6

    March 9, 2017 at 5:49 pm

    One of my colleagues, a great woman, educator and administrator, passed away yesterday. Fourth time battling breast cancer. Fuck fucking cancer. She had the most wicked and sarcastic sense of humor, one of the reasons I loved her so. She was a mentor to me, so I have her to thank for my ability to maneuver through academia at a large research university. Invaluable advice she gave me and I’ll always treasure that.

  8. 8.

    zhena gogolia

    March 9, 2017 at 5:49 pm

    Extremely bad mood today. Whenever someone does something dumb in traffic, I assume it’s a Trump voter and start screaming (to myself). I don’t remember feeling this bad in the Dumbya regime (except the day before they started the Iraq war; I had a very bad feeling that day, yes, I did, but now I feel that way all the time).

  9. 9.

    JPL

    March 9, 2017 at 5:50 pm

    @TenguPhule: Trump supporters won’t care, cuz of emails.

  10. 10.

    geg6

    March 9, 2017 at 5:50 pm

    My comment disappeared. Damn it. FYWP.

  11. 11.

    geg6

    March 9, 2017 at 5:52 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    Me too. I didn’t think anything could feel worse than that first day of W’s Totally Fucked Up Adventure, but I should have known that you never say never.

  12. 12.

    Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA

    March 9, 2017 at 5:53 pm

    Luke Russert spotting: he’s on ESPN right now introducing segments that I’m not paying attention to. Looks like a cleaner Casey Affleck, so yuck.

    And that’s This Day In Nepotism.

  13. 13.

    SiubhanDuinne

    March 9, 2017 at 5:53 pm

    would not be so much of a problem if I hadn’t married a Virgo fussbudget who needs to ‘research’ every consumer purchase exhaustively.

    Oh, I was married to one of those once. Feel your pain.

  14. 14.

    ArchTeryx

    March 9, 2017 at 5:53 pm

    Heh. In a way, my Johnny One Note routine the last few months has been the grandest eruption of self-pity in my life. That I have very good reason for it still doesn’t change its essential nature.

    I, like everyone else, was too complacent about Hillary getting in what with all the polls. I never dreamed I’d be in the position I now find myself in. But it’s sh*t or get off the pot time if I want to survive what’s coming.

  15. 15.

    Shell

    March 9, 2017 at 5:55 pm

    laughing at the latest “whoops” by the Trump gang.

    Said “WTF” so many times since January, that its losing its impact.

  16. 16.

    MattF

    March 9, 2017 at 5:55 pm

    Yesterday was a good day for me. I’ve had a Verizon billing problem– I got a FiOS connection last October and got a landline+internet bundle. Unfortunately, the new account was started without ending the old account; consequently I’ve been getting two bills every month, one actual bill for the new account and one bogus bill for old account.

    So… I’ve been calling Verizon once a month for the past four months to complain and to ask to fix this mess. And every time I’ve called, I’ve (eventually) spoken to a customer service rep who apologizes profusely for the situation and promises to fix it. And then doesn’t. Frustrating, very. Last month I yelled at the CSR, which I later realized was a bad sign and a teensy signal that it was time to try something different.

    When I got the usual two bills earlier this week– instead of calling, I went to the physical bricks-and-mortar Verizon store in my neighborhood– and– wonder to behold– there was someone working there who was actually knowlegeable about billing issues. He got on the line with the real Verizon billing department, and (they’ve assured me) actually fixed it this time. Now, I’m not so easily persuaded that everything is OK, but now there is an actual, real, physically embodied person I can complain to if the fix doesn’t work. I think that’s a real advance.

  17. 17.

    Baud

    March 9, 2017 at 5:55 pm

    @ArchTeryx: Is that a Crohn’s disease joke?

  18. 18.

    SiubhanDuinne

    March 9, 2017 at 5:56 pm

    @Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA:

    I had mercifully forgotten all about Li’l Luke. Why’d ya have to go and bring him up, anyhow?

  19. 19.

    Jeffro

    March 9, 2017 at 5:56 pm

    You people think YOU have it rough: as far as I can tell, The Cult is skipping DC this tour – nearest show is Baltimore on a weeknight. Not. Happy. =(

    (30th anniversary of ELECTRIC btw)

  20. 20.

    Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA

    March 9, 2017 at 5:57 pm

    @Baud: I’m just bitter as hell. No patience at work, no motivation at home. After eight years of hope — tempered with a fair amount of frustration, but yes, hope — that we were moving towards becoming the country we like to think we are, now we’ve got this shitgibbon blowing it all up.

  21. 21.

    Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA

    March 9, 2017 at 5:57 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Sharing the misery.

  22. 22.

    Baud

    March 9, 2017 at 5:57 pm

    @MattF: I once complained about their rep not being to solve my problem in one of their surveys, and I got a quick response that solved the issue.

  23. 23.

    Baud

    March 9, 2017 at 5:59 pm

    @Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA: Yep. I feels ya,

  24. 24.

    MomSense

    March 9, 2017 at 5:59 pm

    Wow, AL you’ve had a lot on your plate and you still found time to supply us with threads. Hope you are entering a less stressful and much easier time.

    My dog ate a bar of soap last night and has been puking all day. At least I missed the worst of it.

  25. 25.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    March 9, 2017 at 5:59 pm

    I’m surprised Cotton is playing this role, but IIRC Arkansas is one of those red states that finally figured out a way to take the Medicaid money.

    Deirdre Walsh‏Verified account
    @ deirdrewalshcnn
    Sen Tom Cotton on CNN: some Republicans agreed w/him in private on slowing down Obamacare, including some GOP members of Scalise’s whip team

  26. 26.

    japa21

    March 9, 2017 at 6:00 pm

    Self pity day, huh. Monday marked six weeks post rotator, bicep, labrum repair surgery. It also marked independence day as the 24/7 huge sling was able to no longer be used. Of course the right arm is supposed to still be against the body and not used for another six weeks. When a person reaches 70 and is right handed, just about everything has an automatic reflex to use the right arm. Of course pain usually stops me but I almost would prefer to continue to have the sling (I use the baby sling when I go out just to prevent someone reaching out and grabbing my hand or arm).

  27. 27.

    Kay

    March 9, 2017 at 6:01 pm

    The Cabell County Commission in West Virginia is suing a handful of drug distributors, alleging they knowingly turned a blind eye to the opioid epidemic that is ravaging the state by delivering and selling mass quantities of pain medications.
    The companies being sued: AmerisourceBergen, CVS, Cardinal Health, H.D. Smith, Kroger, McKesson, Rite Aid, Walgreens and Wal-Mart.
    The federal lawsuit filed today said those companies collectively sold 40 million doses of hydrocodone and oxycodone to Cabell County pharmacies between 2007 and 2012. The county’s population is less than 100,000. From the suit:
    “The sheer volume of prescription opioids distributed to pharmacies in Cabell County is excessive for the medical need of the community and facially suspicious. Some red flags are so obvious that no one who engages in the legitimate distribution of controlled substances can reasonably claim ignorance of them.”
    Cabell County’s lawsuit comes just a few months after the Charleston Gazette-Mail published an investigation that found drug distributors, including many of the defendants in the lawsuit, flooded the state with prescription opioids, equal to “433 pain pills for every man, woman and child in West Virginia,” the newspaper wrote.

    I don’t know if this has any chance of success but these counties are getting killed with the costs. We’ve pretty much stopped hammering the addicts with criminal sanctions- they could fill up jails and it won’t make a bit of difference- but just the cost of caring for their children is huge. That’s without treating the parents and they all need 3, 4, 5 rounds of treatment because they all relapse. It seems like some of the private sector actors in this mess should chip in.

  28. 28.

    efgoldman

    March 9, 2017 at 6:01 pm

    @ Anne Laurie: Congrats! You win!! Look for the prize patrol at your front door any day now!!!
    Spousal unit (almost used his name) is an older version of our SIL. Wonderful guy, great husband and daddy, love him dearly, but be researches EVERY GODDAMNED THING! OTOH, he’s found them some great bargains, especially on travel.
    mrs efgoldman seems to be coming down with something serious too. She had a flu shot. but I don’t know about a pneumonia shot. We shall see. We were going to buy some quikrete and put up the new mailbox post (old one got broken in the last windstorm) but it’s too windy today – and snowing tomorrow, then ground will be frozen over the weekend.
    Our roof is new (2006) and we had insulation blown in 2011. Our furnace is old but all tuned up. Not buying a new one, because we won’t make our money back by the time we sell and move.

  29. 29.

    ArchTeryx

    March 9, 2017 at 6:02 pm

    @Baud: You win the solid-gold kewpie doll!

  30. 30.

    raven

    March 9, 2017 at 6:02 pm

    We’re having the insulation under the house removed and replaced. They were doing pretty well until they just didn’t show today!

  31. 31.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    March 9, 2017 at 6:03 pm

    I’m a Virgo, but I’m too fucking lazy to be a fussbudget. I am in fact right now trying to work up the energy to make my house look, if not clean, at least not embarrassing if someone drops in unexpectedly..

  32. 32.

    frosty

    March 9, 2017 at 6:03 pm

    I’m right there with Spousal Unit. I need to research features and start a spreadsheet before buying even minor stuff. It’s a burden we have to bear (Libra… or maybe worse, engineer/planner).

  33. 33.

    Baud

    March 9, 2017 at 6:04 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: At some level, we are just spectators. Hopefully no Dems vote for whatever they come up with, and if they are able to do anything on their own, we are able to hold them accountable.

  34. 34.

    geg6

    March 9, 2017 at 6:04 pm

    So, to rewrite the comment that disappeared…

    A long time colleague died yesterday, a bit of a surprise. She was waging her fourth battle with breast cancer and lost. Fuck fucking cancer! Dr. Donna Kuga was a great friend, educator and administrator. She was smart and funny, with the most wickedly sarcastic take on life, which was one of the things I most loved about her. She was a mentor when I was hired back in 1998, helping me to navigate life in academia at a major public university. Our world is less funny and kind for not having her here.

  35. 35.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    March 9, 2017 at 6:05 pm

    @geg6: My condolences on your loss.

    “Never” is a dangerous word, as we’ve recently learned, those of us who thought surely 43 was the worst possible ever. Wrong doesn’t begin to describe it.

  36. 36.

    ruemara

    March 9, 2017 at 6:05 pm

    @Jeffro: They’re on tour!? So many good bands are out this year.

    DRI, Social Distortion. The Damned. Hall & Oates & Tears for Fears. I’m calculating my budget and trying to figure out if I can do 2 shorts, pay my bills and maybe catch 2 concerts in a year. I really hope so.

    Also very excited to go back to my apartment to live in. I’ve been recovering at a friend’s (SHE HAS A REAL BED WITH A MATTRESS & EVERYTHING) but i look forward to being in my own (livingroom) space. There’s some logistics to work out, like laundry & shopping & cooking, but I’m glad to head back to my hovel.

    It’s time for me to beg a friend for a ride home in 90 minutes since I’m still on no driving rules. Y’all be good, I’m gonna bang out design specs for the next 7 episodes tbd by 3/17.

  37. 37.

    lapassionara

    March 9, 2017 at 6:06 pm

    Bum mood here too. I procrastinated most of the day, which is becoming a bad habit. Trying to avoid watching the ongoing train wreck, but I have a hard time averting my eyes.

  38. 38.

    MomSense

    March 9, 2017 at 6:07 pm

    @ruemara:

    Wait what happened??

  39. 39.

    Immanentize

    March 9, 2017 at 6:07 pm

    @Baud: Which part? The “shit or get off the pot,” or the “eruption” part? Asking for a friend who just had “trans-anal” surgery….

  40. 40.

    Baud

    March 9, 2017 at 6:08 pm

    @Immanentize:

    Asking for a friend who just had “trans-anal” surgery….

    Which bathroom does your friend use now?

  41. 41.

    Yarrow

    March 9, 2017 at 6:09 pm

    AL, sorry you’ve had such a rough time of it. Last year was like that for me. I sympathize with how draining it can be.

    @geg6: Condolences. It’s rough to lose someone who like and respect so much.

  42. 42.

    Immanentize

    March 9, 2017 at 6:10 pm

    @Baud: All of them

  43. 43.

    ruemara

    March 9, 2017 at 6:10 pm

    @MomSense: Just the surgery recovery. No big.

  44. 44.

    WereBear

    March 9, 2017 at 6:10 pm

    @MattF: So… I’ve been calling Verizon once a month for the past four months to complain and to ask to fix this mess. And every time I’ve called, I’ve (eventually) spoken to a customer service rep who apologizes profusely for the situation and promises to fix it. And then doesn’t.

    For some reason, they hire people for those 800 lines, but they don’t train them, they don’t pay them, and they don’t expect them to do anything.

  45. 45.

    Baud

    March 9, 2017 at 6:11 pm

    @Immanentize:

    All of them, Katie.

    FTFY

  46. 46.

    HRA

    March 9, 2017 at 6:12 pm

    http://buffalonews.com/2017/03/09/ice-border-patrol-not-ones-seeking-removal-undocumented-workers/

    I have no words to describe how this feels except to say I am exhausted of what we are living in now.

  47. 47.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    March 9, 2017 at 6:12 pm

    @geg6:

    I didn’t think anything could feel worse than that first day of W’s Totally Fucked Up Adventure,

    It does make one nostatic for the carefree days of Darth Cheny declaring himself a Fouth Branch of the goverment.

    We should have a tag “Praying for the American Pinochet”

  48. 48.

    Yarrow

    March 9, 2017 at 6:13 pm

    @ArchTeryx:
    I heard on the radio that Ryan says the health care bill will come to a vote “in the next couple of weeks.” I thought they wanted to rush it through and vote on it in the next few days. The longer it drags out the more people will get too look at it. Time is not on their side with that. I’m calling my reps every day, often more than one office per day. Keeping up the pressure.

  49. 49.

    Baud

    March 9, 2017 at 6:13 pm

    @HRA: LGM had a post up today about that.

  50. 50.

    Baud

    March 9, 2017 at 6:14 pm

    @Yarrow: They’ll put it on the floor if they have the votes. Nothing they say about timing is reliable.

  51. 51.

    Immanentize

    March 9, 2017 at 6:15 pm

    @Baud: merci!

    ETA Or whatever it is in Russian as seen-from-her-house she might say.

  52. 52.

    Arclite

    March 9, 2017 at 6:15 pm

    @Anne Laurie:
    Buy an unlocked phone like a Moto G from Amazon, then get a data plan from Ting. It’s pay for what you use as you go with no contract. I have 3 devices on it and pay about $80 per month.

  53. 53.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    March 9, 2017 at 6:16 pm

    @Yarrow: What I heard is they want to get it voted on before April 18, which is their next recess, and there are plans for rallies demanding Trump’s tax returns be subpoenaed. They don’t want another round of bad town hall stories.

    I suspect the reason Ryan was all hot to get this fast-tracked is he thinks it’s only going to get harder.

  54. 54.

    bystander

    March 9, 2017 at 6:16 pm

    As a Virgo fussbudget myself. I have to wonder why all this fussbudget bashing is condoned on BJ.

    Rude Pundit had a great post the other day about how Trump has made him realize he could hate somebody more than he hated Jr. and Cheney.

  55. 55.

    Roger Moore

    March 9, 2017 at 6:17 pm

    @MattF:

    now there is an actual, real, physically embodied person I can complain to if the fix doesn’t work.

    This general kind of thing is why I still believe in brick and mortar stores. It’s much harder to ignore somebody who’s physically there in front of you demanding your attention than somebody on the phone, especially given that they know where you work. It’s certainly possible for brick and mortar stores to have terrible customer service and online ones to have great customer service, but that’s not how the smart money bets. Also, too, this is why I like shopping at the Farmer’s Market better than the supermarket; there’s nothing like cutting out the middle man when you want quality products.

  56. 56.

    Baud

    March 9, 2017 at 6:18 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: It will get harder. No way the CBO scoring helps them, and the opposition will only grow.

  57. 57.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    March 9, 2017 at 6:19 pm

    @Baud: and people will be asking more and more, why are you doing this instead of investigating what Russia did. At least I fucking hope.

  58. 58.

    Mnemosyne

    March 9, 2017 at 6:20 pm

    My First World Problem of the Day is that I have another three days to get ready for my trip to Disneyworld, and I’m freaking myself out about all of the stuff I haven’t done yet and wondering if I’ll have enough time. Laundry tonight, first pass of packing tomorrow, leave the house around 5:30 on Sunday to head towards the airport (and hopefully have time to have a nice dinner with G beforehand).

    I feel like if we can all get on our flights and get to the same airport at the same time, the rest of the trip will go smoothly, but I’m going to be slightly freaked out until I actually meet them at the airport.

  59. 59.

    Yarrow

    March 9, 2017 at 6:20 pm

    @Baud: Right. But it’s gone from “this week” to “next week” to “in a few weeks.” I’ve watched it change. It doesn’t look good and the more they drag it out the more people look at it and the worse it’ll go for them. Also, the more they own it.
    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I suspect the reason Ryan was all hot to get this fast-tracked is he thinks it’s only going to get harder.

    Yes, and it is fast-tracked to vote on it even in a few weeks. But when they announced it Monday night they said they’d vote on it this week. Then next week. Now “in a few weeks.” It keeps drifting….

  60. 60.

    HRA

    March 9, 2017 at 6:20 pm

    @Baud:

    I tried to figure out what LGM stands for when I have seen it here and failed. Help!! :)

  61. 61.

    Baud

    March 9, 2017 at 6:22 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I think the scandals will only get worse. Plus, the administration will actually start doing terrible things in areas other than immigration.

  62. 62.

    Yarrow

    March 9, 2017 at 6:22 pm

    @HRA: Lawyers, Guns and Money, I think.

  63. 63.

    raven

    March 9, 2017 at 6:22 pm

    @geg6: Damn, sorry to hear that. My boss took a two week short-term disability leave that is the precursor to her going on long term. I was happy to hear her say that being gone for the past two weeks helped her realize that her job is done and she needs to focus on herself for the short time she has left.

  64. 64.

    MattF

    March 9, 2017 at 6:22 pm

    @HRA: It’s the Lawyers, Guns, and Money blog.

  65. 65.

    Baud

    March 9, 2017 at 6:22 pm

    @HRA:

    http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/

  66. 66.

    Immanentize

    March 9, 2017 at 6:22 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I think the issue (which might align with the recess) is that they have passed a reconciliation budget plan which must be acted upon by the end of April (not sure of exact date) or they cannot use reconciliation (again) this year

  67. 67.

    Roger Moore

    March 9, 2017 at 6:23 pm

    @WereBear:

    For some reason, they hire people for those 800 lines, but they don’t train them, they don’t pay them, and they don’t expect them to do anything.

    That’s what happens when you forget the actual function of a department and just treat it as a cost center.

  68. 68.

    Baud

    March 9, 2017 at 6:24 pm

    @HRA: And here is the specific post I was referring to.

    http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2017/03/return-racist-union-movement

  69. 69.

    MomSense

    March 9, 2017 at 6:26 pm

    @ruemara:

    I missed all of this. I hope you are recovering well and that you will be able to really rest and HEAL. Don’t push yourself too much.

  70. 70.

    Jeffro

    March 9, 2017 at 6:26 pm

    @ruemara: definitely going to have to catch social distortion!

  71. 71.

    Yarrow

    March 9, 2017 at 6:26 pm

    I also heard on the radio that unemployment claims rose. I was surprised by the news. Apparently layoffs were down, but it still doesn’t make sense to me. They said the job market was really strong but that news makes me wonder. Could it be tourism related?

  72. 72.

    Roger Moore

    March 9, 2017 at 6:28 pm

    @Baud:

    They’ll put it on the floor if they have the votes.

    The contrapositive is also true: if they don’t have the votes, they won’t put it on the floor. They’d better hurry, though, because every day they risk losing votes of Representatives who are hearing from their constituents. If they don’t bring it to the floor soon, they might very well never bring it.

  73. 73.

    Jeffro

    March 9, 2017 at 6:30 pm

    On another note, NFLTG Shep Smith sure went off the reservation on Fox News talking about Michael Flynn retroactively registering as a lobbyist for a foreign country (turkey) – Joy Reid posted a clip of Smith talking about Flynn which led directly into Smith saying (and I quote) ” there’s been too much lying and too much Russia here”

    Which in this day and age is a borderline instant nomination for a profiles in courage award

  74. 74.

    Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA

    March 9, 2017 at 6:30 pm

    @geg6: I’m so sorry. It sounds like the world is a better place for having had her in it.

  75. 75.

    HRA

    March 9, 2017 at 6:31 pm

    @Baud:

    Thank you to you and the others here who told me about the blog LGM. I have seen it listed in Memeorandum and have never gone there. I will be going there now.

  76. 76.

    Yarrow

    March 9, 2017 at 6:31 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    If they don’t bring it to the floor soon, they might very well never bring it.

    Yes. And that’s why I was surprised to hear the news people say that Ryan expected to bring it to a vote “in the next couple of weeks.” Because that’s pushed out from where they started (“this week”) and even from yesterday, when it was “next week.” Seems like it’s an indicator they’re getting more pushback than they’d expected and fewer Reps are on board.

  77. 77.

    MattF

    March 9, 2017 at 6:33 pm

    @Roger Moore: Maybe I’m prejudiced, but, IMO, the prospect of Trump using the ‘bully pulpit’ to promote the Congressional plan is less appealing to Representatives than the media geniuses think it is. After all, it tends to underline the fact that he’s been lying about his healthcare policy all along– so why believe him now?

  78. 78.

    Shana

    March 9, 2017 at 6:33 pm

    @WereBear: Yeah that’s the truth. We added international service for a month last year. Our billing month starts on the 10th of the month, and I made sure that the international charges were for the calendar month not the billing month. I was assured that was correct. Then we come back from our trip and find a $375 bill because, of course, they started the international charges on the 3rd, when I called, for the month ending on the 10th and everything for the rest of our 3 week trip was charged on a by-the-minute rate. It took me about a week and 4-5 phone calls to get it straightened out. I’d call, they’d assure me it was taken care of, I’d check the bill online the next day, find it wasn’t fixed, call again. I eventually yelled at my CS person, because they could see on their system that I’d been calling about this for a week, and even had the notes from when I’d called to set up the international service. They had all that documentation of my calls from the start, including the names of the people I’d talked to, AND STILL NO ONE FIXED IT. Sigh.

    Next time I have an issue I’ll go to the actual shop though.

  79. 79.

    Yarrow

    March 9, 2017 at 6:34 pm

    Hmmm…my comment just disappeared into the ether. Trying again.

    @Roger Moore:

    If they don’t bring it to the floor soon, they might very well never bring it.

    Yes. And that’s why I was surprised to hear the news people say that Ryan expected to bring it to a vote “in the next couple of weeks.” Because that’s pushed out from where they started, when it was “this week,” and even from yesterday, when it was “next week.” Seems like it’s an indicator they’re getting more push back than they’d expected and fewer Reps are on board.

  80. 80.

    Yarrow

    March 9, 2017 at 6:34 pm

    My comments keep disappearing. Not moderation. Just gone.

  81. 81.

    Major Major Major Major

    March 9, 2017 at 6:34 pm

    Open thread?

    This is the dumbest thing, but the book club my mom is in wants to read my novel for this month’s book, and I’m super excited.

  82. 82.

    Baud

    March 9, 2017 at 6:35 pm

    @HRA: I used to frequent them more before the election. I’ve never commented there, but a lot of Juicers do.

  83. 83.

    MattF

    March 9, 2017 at 6:36 pm

    @Yarrow: Yeah, that’s been happening to me every now and then. Sometimes, a specific comment is just cursed. I try posting it repeatedly, but it never appears.

  84. 84.

    TenguPhule

    March 9, 2017 at 6:36 pm

    Head of EPA declares that CO2 does not contribute to global warming.

    Humanity had a good run. Then Trump managed to survive and doom us all.

  85. 85.

    bemused

    March 9, 2017 at 6:37 pm

    I’m also a Virgo and absolutely, unequivocally not a fussbudget. I couldn’t be because I monitor myself all the time. I gave up on monitoring everyone else. They never listen to me. So what if I have to rearrange the placement of the dishes in dishwasher after my husband has loaded it haphazardly with nothing in the right places and empty spaces that could be filled, for crying out loud.

  86. 86.

    Yarrow

    March 9, 2017 at 6:37 pm

    @MattF: Yeah, that’s what happened. I changed a few things in it and it still wouldn’t post. Couldn’t see any offending words, so who knows.

  87. 87.

    JPL

    March 9, 2017 at 6:37 pm

    @Yarrow: I blame Obama, and Sessions special prosecutor to investigate him will get to the bottom of it.

  88. 88.

    Elmo

    March 9, 2017 at 6:37 pm

    When my wife had her surgery in January I had to clear my decks of all travel. Of course that just meant postponing it all to … now. I just got back from a week in Spokane; last week I was in Boston, before that Chicago, and next week it’s Southern Ohio.

    In my brief sojourns home, I still have to catch up on all the dishes and cleaning and laundry cuz wife can’t do those things for another two months at least.

    I’m 50 years old, and learning what “tired” is.

  89. 89.

    Baud

    March 9, 2017 at 6:37 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: Congrats!

  90. 90.

    Ksmiami

    March 9, 2017 at 6:38 pm

    @bystander: yeah and I basically hate every single fucking voter who voted Trump or third party and am thinking that becoming an expat is looking better everyday

  91. 91.

    Yarrow

    March 9, 2017 at 6:38 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: That’s exciting!

  92. 92.

    japa21

    March 9, 2017 at 6:39 pm

    @TenguPhule: During his confirmation hearing he stated that human activity contributes to climate change. Another lie.

  93. 93.

    Mary G

    March 9, 2017 at 6:41 pm

    You have been put through the wringer, AL. Thanks for still posting.

    I have had bronchitis since just before New Years. Have taken a shit ton of antibiotics, which have screwed up my digestive process royally, while not touching the cough, and spent a fortune trying OTC remedies recommended to me, even the ones by strangers. My housemate is off to the pharmacy for another inhaler right now. I have put off going to the pulmonologist, because he moved his office to far away, but I guess I’ll give in. Thought I was getting better yesterday, hardly coughed at all, then woke up at 4 a.m. by a lung attempting to escape through my mouth. The latest chest X-ray taken yesterday was normal, so that’s good.

    Darrell Issa caved and is having a live in person town hall on Saturday and I don’t have the energy to go.

  94. 94.

    Baud

    March 9, 2017 at 6:41 pm

    @japa21:

    he stated that human activity contributes to climate change

    He probably meant gay marriage.

  95. 95.

    Major Major Major Major

    March 9, 2017 at 6:42 pm

    @Baud: Thanks!

    @Yarrow: I agree!

  96. 96.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    March 9, 2017 at 6:42 pm

    @MattF: If I have the timeline right, they’ve already kind of quietly cancelled a Trump visit to KY, to put pressure on Rand Paul, and are now sending Pence instead, while insisting that was the plan all along

  97. 97.

    Barbara

    March 9, 2017 at 6:43 pm

    @geg6: I am so sorry for your loss.

  98. 98.

    zhena gogolia

    March 9, 2017 at 6:44 pm

    @Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA:

    Such a HUGE step backwards. And that’s best-case scenario.

  99. 99.

    WereBear

    March 9, 2017 at 6:45 pm

    @geg6: I’m sorry.

  100. 100.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    March 9, 2017 at 6:46 pm

    andrew kaczynski ?‏Verified account @ KFILE 7h7 hours ago
    The “Women Vote Trump” PAC set a goal of raising $30M. It raised $26K. One of the founders now running for Congress.

  101. 101.

    zhena gogolia

    March 9, 2017 at 6:47 pm

    @bystander:

    Hmmm . . . a reference to my protest about ageism?

    Where’s that sarcasm font when you need it?

  102. 102.

    WereBear

    March 9, 2017 at 6:47 pm

    @Mary G: That’s awful. Hope things get better.

    And you are missing your chance to cough all over Issa.

    I always figured in the unlikely event I would meet Rush Limbaugh in person, I might just projectile vomit on him. Totally involuntarily.

  103. 103.

    zhena gogolia

    March 9, 2017 at 6:47 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    You’re a sweet, innocent baby, aren’t you?

  104. 104.

    zhena gogolia

    March 9, 2017 at 6:49 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    That’s wonderful!

  105. 105.

    Yarrow

    March 9, 2017 at 6:51 pm

    @Mary G: So sorry to hear of your continuing troubles with bronchitis. That’s really rough. Do you have some good probiotics you can take along with the antibiotics to help with your digestion?

    I know it’s just a home remedy type thing, but have you tried the Vick’s Vapo Rub on the bottom of your feet? I’ve had it work for family members. Not sure if it works on bronchitis, but it helps with coughs. They usually say put it on the chest, but for some reason the bottom of the feet works. You can wear socks after you put it on.

    Please take care of yourself.

  106. 106.

    SFAW

    March 9, 2017 at 6:53 pm

    a Virgo fussbudget who needs to ‘research’ every consumer purchase exhaustively.

    Hunh. I had always assumed genetics or upbringing was the reason for me being that way. So the fault really IS in my stars, not myself. Brutal.

  107. 107.

    debbie

    March 9, 2017 at 6:55 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    I am so sorry you lost such a good friend in such a horrible way. Why can they not find a way to end cancers?

  108. 108.

    zhena gogolia

    March 9, 2017 at 6:56 pm

    @debbie:

    I think you mean this for geg6.

    My condolences to geg6 too.

  109. 109.

    Yarrow

    March 9, 2017 at 6:56 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:
    I like the way the CNN headline worded it better.

    GOP Congressional candidate’s ‘Women Vote Trump’ PAC came up $29,973,187 short of fundraising goal

    That’s a lot short.

  110. 110.

    SFAW

    March 9, 2017 at 6:56 pm

    @Baud:

    No way the CBO scoring helps them,

    Well, that’s because the CBO is fake news, and a Demon-crat-packed board of shills, and they’ve never been right, and e-mails, and SPLUNGE!

  111. 111.

    ArchTeryx

    March 9, 2017 at 6:57 pm

    @SFAW: Lack of money can do that too. That’s why I research consumer purchases half to death. I can’t afford to make any mistakes.

  112. 112.

    SFAW

    March 9, 2017 at 6:59 pm

    @Yarrow:

    That’s a lot short.

    Well, it only seems that way, because their goal was $30 Mil

    Of course, it’s hard for me to figure out how a PAC that raised $26M for a $30M goal is $29M short. But that’s mainly because I’m non-innumerate asshole

    ETA: OK, so now I’m either innumerate or illiterate, or both. Where’s that towel to wipe the egg off my face?

  113. 113.

    zhena gogolia

    March 9, 2017 at 7:00 pm

    @ArchTeryx:

    I think of you every day. I am praying that these evil fuckers do not prevail and that you can keep your insurance and a reasonably healthy life.

  114. 114.

    Baud

    March 9, 2017 at 7:00 pm

    @SFAW: $26,000, not $26,000,000.

  115. 115.

    debbie

    March 9, 2017 at 7:00 pm

    @Mary G:

    I’ve had a cough for a little more than two years, something called allergic asthma. I woke up one day and was suddenly allergic to everything (they tested for everything except food). I’ve been trying to deal with it with inhalers, but I’ve had pneumonia twice in a year and a half. I’m going to have to get serious about a pneumonia vaccine. Aside from inhalers and antibiotics, I’ve found that taking Delsym and Mucinex and lots of water take the edge off the coughing. Sometimes I also get a script for Tessalon Perles (there’s a generic version) which calms down the lung muscles from feeling they have to cough so much. You might want to ask your doctor about them. They won’t end your cough (which you don’t want because your lungs do need to clear themselves of gunk), but they will lessen it significantly.

  116. 116.

    Major Major Major Major

    March 9, 2017 at 7:01 pm

    @SFAW: @Baud: A million is a thousand thousand, you see.

  117. 117.

    SFAW

    March 9, 2017 at 7:01 pm

    @ArchTeryx:

    Understood, and you have a good reason.
    However, although I never have as much $$$ as I’d like, I don’t have too much worry, so I my “reason” is not as justified as yours.

  118. 118.

    Gin & Tonic

    March 9, 2017 at 7:03 pm

    @SFAW: You gotta know your M’s from your K’s.

  119. 119.

    MomSense

    March 9, 2017 at 7:04 pm

    @geg6:

    Fuck Fucking cancer! I’m so sorry for your loss.

  120. 120.

    SFAW

    March 9, 2017 at 7:05 pm

    @Baud:

    $26,000, not $26,000,000.

    Yeah, see my ETA. Oy.

    No brain, no pain.

  121. 121.

    rikyrah

    March 9, 2017 at 7:05 pm

    Emily Atkin‏Verified account @emorwee

    The founder of EPA’s environmental justice office quit yesterday after 24 years at the agency. Here’s his resignation letter.

    https://twitter.com/emorwee/status/839842380262096897?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

  122. 122.

    SFAW

    March 9, 2017 at 7:06 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Yes, as I’ve already acknowledged.

    Morans’R’Me.

  123. 123.

    rikyrah

    March 9, 2017 at 7:07 pm

    NARAL‏Verified account @NARAL

    WOW. The #GOP’s reason to object to insurance covering prenatal care? “Why should men pay for it?” Watch:

    https://twitter.com/NARAL/status/839940098552696832?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

  124. 124.

    rikyrah

    March 9, 2017 at 7:08 pm

    PHUCK.OUTTA.HERE.

    Taegan Goddard‏ @politicalwire
    Bernie Sanders: “The model the Democrats have followed for the last 10 to 20 years has been an ultimate failure.”

  125. 125.

    Patricia Kayden

    March 9, 2017 at 7:08 pm

    @raven: Thanks Obama!!

    @HRA:

    Berger, an immigration lawyer of 40 years, said the Trump administration’s focus on enforcement of immigration laws could harm the local economy.

    “There has to be a safety valve to prevent overreaction to remove illegal aliens from this country without consideration to the consequences of the local economy,” he said, pointing out that Western New York farmers are often unable to hire Americans.

    “So they rely very heavily on undocumented workers,” he said.

    Yep. This is Trump’s America and we’re all going to suffer for it.

  126. 126.

    debbie

    March 9, 2017 at 7:09 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    Sorry. My clicking skills ain’t what they used to be.

  127. 127.

    Patricia Kayden

    March 9, 2017 at 7:09 pm

    @rikyrah: Yet they are against contraceptives and abortion. Fascinating.

  128. 128.

    Major Major Major Major

    March 9, 2017 at 7:10 pm

    @rikyrah:

    Bernie Sanders: “The model the Democrats have followed for the last 10 to 20 years has been an ultimate failure.”

    Yes, I briefly read a Sam Stein article about this before I noticed I was reading a Sam Stein article. Classy.

  129. 129.

    Baud

    March 9, 2017 at 7:10 pm

    @rikyrah: I saw that quote today in a HuffPo article about his plan to win back Trump voters. The article didn’t feature any plan.

  130. 130.

    SFAW

    March 9, 2017 at 7:10 pm

    @rikyrah:

    Bernie Sanders: “The model the Democrats have followed for the last 10 to 20 years has been an ultimate failure.”

    Is that the model where Dems allow “Independents” to (in effect) do the bidding of the Rethuglicans, but from within the Democratic Party? Asking for a friend.

  131. 131.

    Yarrow

    March 9, 2017 at 7:11 pm

    @SFAW: Don’t feel bad. I did it too! Then I went looking for the tweet, clicked through to the article and saw the headline. That’s why I like the headline better. It’s clearer and also it makes it look much worse.

  132. 132.

    schrodingers_cat

    March 9, 2017 at 7:12 pm

    As someone married to a Virgo fussbudget I feel your pain.

  133. 133.

    SFAW

    March 9, 2017 at 7:12 pm

    @Baud:

    The article didn’t feature any plan.

    Sshhh! It’s a seekrit!

  134. 134.

    Major Major Major Major

    March 9, 2017 at 7:12 pm

    @Baud: @Major Major Major Major: Yeah, that article.

  135. 135.

    schrodingers_cat

    March 9, 2017 at 7:13 pm

    @rikyrah: Putin lackey says what?

  136. 136.

    debbie

    March 9, 2017 at 7:14 pm

    @rikyrah:

    That is unbelievable. I wish they’d posted the name of the “gentleman from Oklahoma.” I’d like to tell him a thing or fifty.

  137. 137.

    Patricia Kayden

    March 9, 2017 at 7:14 pm

    @Mary G: Wow. That sounds horrible. I hope your pulmonologist comes up with a treatment which works for you.

  138. 138.

    waysel

    March 9, 2017 at 7:14 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: Good one.

  139. 139.

    danielx

    March 9, 2017 at 7:14 pm

    Trying to figure out what kind of flooring to have installed in kitchen and hallway/entryway. An obnoxious task, but the 25 year warranty on nafco tiles in kitchen was up last 2014 and the sumbitches are peeling and coming up, sure enough.

  140. 140.

    SFAW

    March 9, 2017 at 7:15 pm

    @Patricia Kayden:

    Yet they are against contraceptives and abortion. Fascinating.

    Well, actually, they’re just against women having “unapproved” sex. The “no-contraceptives” thing is to make it harder for the wimmins.

  141. 141.

    rikyrah

    March 9, 2017 at 7:16 pm

    Kyle Griffin‏Verified account @kylegriffin1

    Brookings predicts that “at least 15 million” could lose coverage under the GOP health plan

  142. 142.

    Yarrow

    March 9, 2017 at 7:17 pm

    @Patricia Kayden: I also heard on the radio (I was in the car too much today) that the number of people crossing the border illegally has dropped since inauguration day. I didn’t quite catch if it was just Mexicans or everyone crossing the Mexican border, because they said something about the number of Central Americans crossing the border was still up. In any case they said they expected Trump to say this was because of his immigration policies.

    I wonder what the farmers are thinking. Betty Cracker mentioned in a previous thread that the nearby park that is usually full of strawberry field workers’ kids this time of year is empty.

  143. 143.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    March 9, 2017 at 7:17 pm

    @debbie: I have a feeling he will become very well known in a very short time..

    135 comments. By the pricking of my thumb, by 150 Wilmer trolls will come.

  144. 144.

    Mnemosyne

    March 9, 2017 at 7:20 pm

    @rikyrah:

    Sorry, when did women start getting pregnant by themselves with no need for sperm? I must have missed that news.

    But if that’s the game we’re playing, I’m happy to stop paying for treatments for testicular and prostate cancer. Why should I pay to cure a cancer in body parts I don’t have?

  145. 145.

    rikyrah

    March 9, 2017 at 7:21 pm

    Analysis | The budget rule you’ve never heard of that ties Republicans’ hands on Obamacare

    Here’s something not in the health-care headlines that probably should be: The Obamacare replacement bill Republicans rolled out this week is only step one of their multipronged approach to changing the Affordable Care Act.

    Sure, Republicans would like to do it all at once — peeling off this section of the Band-Aid has been painful enough. But they can’t. That’s because of a special budget rule called reconciliation, which forces them to make a decision: undo some of Obamacare with a simple majority vote in both chambers, or undo all of it and face a 60-vote majority threshold — a majority Republicans don’t have and won’t get — in the Senate.

    Here’s everything you need to know about reconciliation.

    Why Republicans care so much about reconciliation

    The some-or-all approach required by reconciliation basically comes down to this reasoning: If a policy directly affects the nation’s economic bottom line, you can use reconciliation to pass said policy with a simple majority. If a policy doesn’t directly affect the nation’s budget, you have to follow the regular rules for passing legislation.

    And these days,” regular rules” is synonymous with a 60-vote filibuster in the Senate by the minority party (especially on a bill as controversial as health care). In 2017, that means 52 Senate Republicans would need at least eight Democrats to join them — which, under this bill, is about as remote a possibility as President Trump giving up Twitter.

    The alternative is to pass some Obamacare changes that affect the nation’s budget now using the simple majority vote afforded by reconciliation, and worry about the rest later. That’s actually how Democrats passed major parts of the ACA in 2010, and it’s how Republicans passed some of the Bush-era tax cuts a decade earlier.

    What that means for Obamacare

    Listen closely and you’ll notice that supporters of this bill — such as House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) — are championing it even while cautioning that many big changes to health care are yet to come. That’s code for reconciliation.

    The ability to buy insurance across state lines, an attempt to lower drug prices and malpractice liability protections for health-care providers, “can’t be done through this current bill,” Trump press secretary Sean Spicer acknowledged this week.

    Here’s what Ryan recently said about it:

    Ryan outlined three phases in which health-care reform would be achieved: first, via the special budget procedure known as reconciliation, of which the current measures are a part; then, through regulations at the Department of Health and Human Services; and finally, the passage of other bills that will need bigger backing and could include the ability to buy insurance across state lines.

    http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/analysis-the-budget-rule-you%e2%80%99ve-never-heard-of-that-ties-republicans%e2%80%99-hands-on-obamacare/ar-AAo4zlr?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=iehp

  146. 146.

    Yarrow

    March 9, 2017 at 7:22 pm

    @debbie: His first name is John. That should narrow it down.

    I loved the murmur from the room when he asked why men should pay for prenatal care. The people in the room knew that was bad. Asshole.

  147. 147.

    debbie

    March 9, 2017 at 7:23 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    We must stop subsidizing Viagra!

  148. 148.

    Major Major Major Major

    March 9, 2017 at 7:23 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    Sorry, when did women start getting pregnant by themselves with no need for sperm? I must have missed that news.

    But if that’s the game we’re playing, I’m happy to stop paying for treatments for testicular and prostate cancer. Why should I pay to cure a cancer in body parts I don’t have?

    I saw somebody on the book of faces today arguing that we shouldn’t have to pay for things like ASL interpreters since deaf people all make a conscious choice to remain deaf.

  149. 149.

    Mnemosyne

    March 9, 2017 at 7:24 pm

    @rikyrah:

    As I keep saying, one of the reasons they want to do this through reconciliation is because that’s how PPACA passed. They really are just that petty.

  150. 150.

    rikyrah

    March 9, 2017 at 7:24 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    that’s cool :)

  151. 151.

    Roger Moore

    March 9, 2017 at 7:24 pm

    @MattF:

    Sometimes, a specific comment is just cursed. I try posting it repeatedly, but it never appears.

    Apparently some terms are cursed and will cause automatic deletion of comments without the normal moderation. IIRC, this can happen when a comment contains the name of a banned poster, but there appear to be other banned words, too.

  152. 152.

    schrodingers_cat

    March 9, 2017 at 7:24 pm

    @rikyrah: I detest Ryan and McConnell more than I do T. They know fully well what their getting in bed with T is going to cost the country in the long run. They can stop him, they could have stopped him but they didn’t and they won’t.

  153. 153.

    rikyrah

    March 9, 2017 at 7:25 pm

    Malcolm Nance‏Verified account @MalcolmNance

    Malcolm Nance Retweeted JΞSŦΞR ✪ ΔCŦUAL³³º¹

    Trump’s ignorance has done what 70 years of communism couldn’t. Destroyed Republicans trust in American intelligence. It’s treasonous.

  154. 154.

    bemused

    March 9, 2017 at 7:26 pm

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I hate that Ryan looks so upbeat and cheerful this week. Evil bastard.

  155. 155.

    debbie

    March 9, 2017 at 7:27 pm

    @Yarrow:

    It reminds me of that Akin guy who stated that women were self-aborting.

  156. 156.

    rikyrah

    March 9, 2017 at 7:27 pm

    Phillip Carter‏Verified account @Carter_PE

    Whoa: LTG(R) Mike Flynn retroactively registers with DOJ as foreign agent for >$500K of work done before election

  157. 157.

    jl

    March 9, 2017 at 7:29 pm

    @debbie: Good girls were self-aborting. The naughty ones who enjoyed it, or lying about it, and therefore deserved whatever they got, were not. I think that was his real point.

  158. 158.

    Major Major Major Major

    March 9, 2017 at 7:29 pm

    @rikyrah: What is all this retroactive registration, amended testimony bullshit that people are allowed to get away with? We’re not talking about somebody who forgot about a 1099 one year.

  159. 159.

    JMG

    March 9, 2017 at 7:31 pm

    PPACA did not pass through reconciliation. Not at all.Senate passed its own version that had passed with 60-vote majority and then House passed the same version waiving its former version that was in conference.

  160. 160.

    Major Major Major Major

    March 9, 2017 at 7:34 pm

    @JMG: Yes, Mnem (*ahem*) should get better at making it clearer she’s saying that Republicans think that, not that it’s actually true.

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: We made it!

  161. 161.

    Baud

    March 9, 2017 at 7:34 pm

    @JMG: Right. But they modified it with reconciliation.

  162. 162.

    Roger Moore

    March 9, 2017 at 7:38 pm

    @rikyrah:

    The alternative is to pass some Obamacare changes that affect the nation’s budget now using the simple majority vote afforded by reconciliation, and worry about the rest later. That’s actually how Democrats passed major parts of the ACA in 2010, and it’s how Republicans passed some of the Bush-era tax cuts a decade earlier.

    This is misstating how the Democrats used reconciliation when passing PPACA. What actually happened was that they passed the majority of the bill under regular order and then passed some financial tweaks under reconciliation.

    In more detail, what happened was that the House passed its version and sent it on to the Senate, which then made some tweaks and passed its version. Normally, this would result in a conference committee where the two Houses would iron out their differences and then have a final vote on exactly identical bills in each House. Unfortunately, Ted Kennedy died before the process could finish, and the Democrats lost their filibuster-poof majority in the Senate. So rather than face a filibuster of the conference committee version, they had the House pass the final Senate version and then passed the difference between that bill and the conference committee version through reconciliation.

  163. 163.

    Baud

    March 9, 2017 at 7:43 pm

    @Roger Moore: They really never got enough credit for getting that done.

  164. 164.

    rikyrah

    March 9, 2017 at 7:43 pm

    The Hill‏Verified account @thehill

    U.S. Embassy stops visa interviews for Afghans who helped U.S. Troops

  165. 165.

    Roger Moore

    March 9, 2017 at 7:43 pm

    @rikyrah:
    When does Flynn register as a foreign agent for all the work he did for Russia Today?

  166. 166.

    schrodingers_cat

    March 9, 2017 at 7:43 pm

    @bemused: Is the “liberal media” still fluffing him?

  167. 167.

    Roger Moore

    March 9, 2017 at 7:45 pm

    @JMG:

    PPACA did not pass through reconciliation. Not at all.

    Not quite. You’re right that the bulk of the ACA passed through regular order, but as I mentioned above, there was a package of fixes that would have been in the conference bill that were passed through reconciliation.

  168. 168.

    schrodingers_cat

    March 9, 2017 at 7:45 pm

    @Baud: I predict that BS minions will be arriving at any minute to shit on ACA in this very thread.

  169. 169.

    SiubhanDuinne

    March 9, 2017 at 7:46 pm

    @rikyrah:

    Every day, I am more ashamed of my country than I was the day before.

  170. 170.

    Roger Moore

    March 9, 2017 at 7:46 pm

    @Baud:
    Yep. I think it was Harry Reid, the master parliamentarian, who proposed that strategy.

  171. 171.

    Major Major Major Major

    March 9, 2017 at 7:48 pm

    @Roger Moore: I seem to remember some liberal blogger (David Waldman?) coming up with it first.

  172. 172.

    The Thin Black Duke

    March 9, 2017 at 7:49 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: Let them starve.

  173. 173.

    bemused

    March 9, 2017 at 7:49 pm

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I didn’t pay attention to media’s take one way or another. I just saw short bits and photos of Ryan today and resented his cheery facial expressions.

  174. 174.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    March 9, 2017 at 7:50 pm

    @Roger Moore: I am waiting for Spicer to come out with the “Look, Flynn is a Republcian” defense.

  175. 175.

    JMG

    March 9, 2017 at 7:56 pm

    @rikyrah: Good way to get more of them on our side.

  176. 176.

    efgoldman

    March 9, 2017 at 7:56 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    I think it was Harry Reid, the master parliamentarian, who proposed that strategy.

    Yertle McTurtle also knows that his majority is much, much too small to break a filibuster under regular order. But it only three Republiklowns break ranks on reconciliation, for whatever reason, it’s toast. Then Granny Starver can push as much shit as he wants thru the house – doesn’t matter. That actually may be their shitty, secret plan.

  177. 177.

    JPL

    March 9, 2017 at 7:57 pm

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: Spicer will say Flynn was a democrat.

  178. 178.

    Major Major Major Major

    March 9, 2017 at 7:59 pm

    @efgoldman: Trump’s not so secret plan is to just kill Obamacare by running it poorly if the repeal doesn’t happen, then blame obama.

  179. 179.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    March 9, 2017 at 8:01 pm

    So Gorko, jurko or what ever his is name, is an Hungerain wetback and Trump’s measure of all things American? I see.

    He was debating some AA about race and I am surprised the AA didn’t throw “This is American stuff, Non-Americans like you wouldn’t understand” or “My granddad fought against Hitler, your’s fought for him” in his face.

  180. 180.

    efgoldman

    March 9, 2017 at 8:02 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Trump’s not so secret plan is to just kill Obamacare by running it poorly

    Like everything else he gets verbal diarrhea about, he doesn’t know jack shit about how it works. Price knows a bit more, but like all the RWNJs, what he “knows” is mostly wrong.

  181. 181.

    Debbie1

    March 9, 2017 at 8:04 pm

    @raven: That’s what you get for repealing & replacing your insulation. Oh wait. I totally misunderstood that.

  182. 182.

    FlipYrWhig

    March 9, 2017 at 8:04 pm

    @Baud:

    I saw that quote today in a HuffPo article about his plan to win back Trump voters. The article didn’t feature any plan.

    Isn’t the plan touring through coal country and saying that banks are wicked bad?

  183. 183.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    March 9, 2017 at 8:05 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Trump’s not so secret plan is to just kill Obamacare by running it poorly if the repeal doesn’t happen, then blame obama.

    That really sounds like a Blackadder stupid clever plan to me, even his “don’t think” base is going to see their health care fail under Trump. Sure Trump can blame Barrack Obama SHADOW PRESIDENT, but then it shows Trump as a bumbling wuss to his base.

  184. 184.

    Major Major Major Major

    March 9, 2017 at 8:05 pm

    @FlipYrWhig: hey, it won him the primary.

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: no he like said this out loud to people with visible recording devices.

  185. 185.

    Calouste

    March 9, 2017 at 8:06 pm

    @rikyrah: And what has Wilmer achieved in the last 10 or 20 years, or even in the last 35 years that he has been in Congress? Except filling his and his wife’s pockets to the extend that he is too scared to release his tax returns?

  186. 186.

    efgoldman

    March 9, 2017 at 8:08 pm

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    So Gorko, jurko or what ever his is name, is an Hungerain wetback and Trump’s measure of all things American?

    Over at LG&M, dnexon fisked Jerko’s doctoral dissertation, with excerpts.
    First of all, the writing wouldn’t pass most tenth grade English teachers
    Second, the theories and conclusions show a total lack of knowledge about history, politics, and the world in general.
    It makes Newtnik’s dissertation at Tulane look lie a masterwork.

  187. 187.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    March 9, 2017 at 8:08 pm

    @FlipYrWhig: Chris Hayes, currently playing host to Steve King (Batshit Racist- Bumfuckeroo, IA), is hosting yet another “Bernie and the Trump Voters” party next week. Apparently Hayes finds pleasure in the company and conversation of raging assholes.

  188. 188.

    Roger Moore

    March 9, 2017 at 8:08 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Trump’s not so secret plan is to just kill Obamacare by running it poorly if the repeal doesn’t happen, then blame obama.

    The same as his plan for the rest of the government, then.

  189. 189.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    March 9, 2017 at 8:09 pm

    @rikyrah:

    Taegan Goddard‏ @politicalwire
    Bernie Sanders: “The model the Democrats have followed for the last 10 to 20 years has been an ultimate failure

    I am so fucking white my skin turns orange in the sun Boener syle because I can’t tan and even I get Barrack Obama was something special. God damn it Sanders.

    If only the Dems had the guts to bodly nominate an old white man last year like Sanders instead of a woman.

  190. 190.

    efgoldman

    March 9, 2017 at 8:10 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Apparently Hayes finds pleasure in the company and conversation of raging assholes.

    It’s the ratings, Gracie. MSNBC remains (deservedly) dead last among cable news nets. Conflict is supposed to sell.

  191. 191.

    Yarrow

    March 9, 2017 at 8:14 pm

    @efgoldman: MSNBC seems to think that hiring Fox News rejects is going to help it in the ratings somehow. I don’t think it’s going to work.

    Speaking of which, isn’t Megyn Kelly supposed to have a show on MSNBC or NBC or something? What happened to that?

  192. 192.

    JPL

    March 9, 2017 at 8:15 pm

    Private email accounts are only a problem if you are a dem. link

    https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/840000303378370560

  193. 193.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    March 9, 2017 at 8:15 pm

    @efgoldman: More and more like the Creationists every day.

    But I still don’t see why people, especially African Americans, aren’t mocking Jerko as Euro Trash and asking him repeatedly to spell out his funny sounding name. AA certianly have plaid enough blood to call themselves Americans. Show up at debate with a picture of their great-great Grandfather in a union army uniform and dare Jerko to match that (“Yep, my ancestors were slaves, until they SHOT the damn chains off. Now let’s turn your people glorious history of being shoeshines for the Hapsburgs.”)

  194. 194.

    Mike J

    March 9, 2017 at 8:18 pm

    @efgoldman: But their target audience doesn’t like the same kind of circus Fox audiences do. That’s why Air America was such a dismal flop.

  195. 195.

    TenguPhule

    March 9, 2017 at 8:18 pm

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: Baldrick Plan. Let’s be clear that this applies from Season 2 onwards..

  196. 196.

    efgoldman

    March 9, 2017 at 8:19 pm

    @Yarrow:

    isn’t Megyn Kelly supposed to have a show on MSNBC or NBC or something? What happened to that?

    I’m not wired into the business any more, but Occam says part of the payoff settlement was a non-compete for a certain length of time

  197. 197.

    Shana

    March 9, 2017 at 8:19 pm

    @Roger Moore: Well that strategy has worked for him so far in life.

  198. 198.

    Corner Stone

    March 9, 2017 at 8:19 pm

    @Yarrow:

    Speaking of which, isn’t Megyn Kelly supposed to have a show on MSNBC or NBC or something? What happened to that?

    They are still disinfecting all the areas black TV hosts may have somehow touched before MK will step foot on set.

  199. 199.

    Chyron HR

    March 9, 2017 at 8:19 pm

    @FlipYrWhig:

    For as long as it takes to get through Russiagate without anyone asking about Tad Devine’s resume.

  200. 200.

    FlipYrWhig

    March 9, 2017 at 8:20 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: @Enhanced Voting Techniques: I still don’t quite get how Bernie Sanders, a guy who represents a small rural state and whose most avid base of support was college-aged and college-educated people, has managed to succeed in styling himself America’s leading champion of downtrodden industrial laborers.

  201. 201.

    efgoldman

    March 9, 2017 at 8:22 pm

    @Mike J:

    their target audience doesn’t like the same kind of circus Fox audiences do

    A very big part of their problem is, they don’t know who/what their target IS.

  202. 202.

    debbie

    March 9, 2017 at 8:22 pm

    “Like I’d want to hear more from that fool?”

    http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/obama-denies-wiretapping-trump-like-id-want-to-hear-more-from-that-fool

  203. 203.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    March 9, 2017 at 8:24 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    no he like said this out loud to people with visible recording devices.

    So Trump really is Balric stupid, damn.

  204. 204.

    efgoldman

    March 9, 2017 at 8:25 pm

    @FlipYrWhig:

    has managed to succeed in styling himself America’s leading champion of downtrodden industrial laborers.

    The key words are “styling himself.” He is delusional, of course, and the downtrodden industrial laborers aren’t paying any attention to him at all.
    I’m styling myself the King of New England; let’s see how far I get.

  205. 205.

    waysel

    March 9, 2017 at 8:28 pm

    @efgoldman: Hail to King Goldman!

  206. 206.

    waysel

    March 9, 2017 at 8:29 pm

    It’s about that easy.

  207. 207.

    Mary G

    March 9, 2017 at 8:30 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Me too.

  208. 208.

    efgoldman

    March 9, 2017 at 8:31 pm

    @waysel:

    Hail to King Goldman!

    But I don’t have any goldiebots!

  209. 209.

    Roger Moore

    March 9, 2017 at 8:33 pm

    @efgoldman:

    The key words are “styling himself.” He is delusional, of course, and the downtrodden industrial laborers aren’t paying any attention to him at all.

    But the news media is paying a lot of attention to him, which is what he really cares about. The question is why the media is willing to accept him as the voice of the downtrodden industrial laborers.

  210. 210.

    frosty

    March 9, 2017 at 8:33 pm

    @MattF:

    I’ve been getting two bills every month, one actual bill for the new account and one bogus bill for old account.

    Wells Fargo has been sending us bank statements for my wife’s late brother for 2 years now. The bank says they can’t be stopped and the account can’t be closed without an Executor and there isn’t one. Callng and telling them to keep the money hasn’t helped. Needless to day, this is a disturbing reminder every month.

  211. 211.

    waysel

    March 9, 2017 at 8:35 pm

    @efgoldman: I’m your first. Ground floor, cutting edge, avant garde.I know other dumb people, too.

  212. 212.

    Mnemosyne

    March 9, 2017 at 8:41 pm

    @frosty:

    Silly question, but did you already give them a copy of his death certificate? I can’t believe that they have NO process for when someone dies without a will.

  213. 213.

    efgoldman

    March 9, 2017 at 8:43 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    the news media is paying a lot of attention to him, which is what he really cares about.

    Because right now there’s no other easily available camera-loving spokesperson. Perez would be the one. but (a) he’s not a publicity hound and (b) he’s got actual real, important work to do.
    I wonder if Wilmer thinks he’s actually going to run again next time. The party correctly won’t let him near a Democratic ballot. Plus he’ll be too old. Too, too old.

  214. 214.

    FlipYrWhig

    March 9, 2017 at 8:44 pm

    @Roger Moore: @efgoldman: I am extremely Bernie-skeptical, to say the least, but I think he certainly _cares_ about working class white people in post-industrial America. And it’s fine for him to try to make common cause with them.

    Yet somehow I feel like it’s being pitched as though he’s already their hero — and that he thinks so too — rather than that the whole thing is an experiment to see _if_ what he has to say to working class white people in post-industrial America really strikes a chord. I mean, the same people he gets so much credit for winning over in the 2016 primaries were, in 2008, overwhelmingly voting _for Hillary Clinton_. Hell of a lot of good that did for the electoral prospects of the Democratic Party the next time they had a chance to vote.

  215. 215.

    Major Major Major Major

    March 9, 2017 at 8:45 pm

    @efgoldman: don’t be silly, only women can get too old.

  216. 216.

    Ohio Mom

    March 9, 2017 at 8:46 pm

    @frosty: Considering how many people Wells Fargo has ripped off, there’s some irony that when invited to take money, they demur.

  217. 217.

    efgoldman

    March 9, 2017 at 8:46 pm

    @frosty:

    Wells Fargo has been sending us bank statements for my wife’s late brother for 2 years now. The bank says they can’t be stopped and the account can’t be closed without an Executor

    If you haven’t already, mail a bill back in the envelope provided along with a photocopy of the death cert. After that, toss the bills in the shredder unopened.

  218. 218.

    Baud

    March 9, 2017 at 8:46 pm

    @FlipYrWhig: I just want him to stop putting down the Democratic Party. That prerogative belongs to Democrats.

  219. 219.

    FlipYrWhig

    March 9, 2017 at 8:48 pm

    @efgoldman: Perhaps this is unfair of me but IMHO he’s been so immersed in Marx-inspired doctrines for so long that he thinks he knows how the proletariat thinks.

  220. 220.

    FlipYrWhig

    March 9, 2017 at 8:49 pm

    @Baud: It’s different when someone who isn’t part of our community uses our words.

  221. 221.

    Major Major Major Major

    March 9, 2017 at 8:50 pm

    @FlipYrWhig: I’m more concerned that he’s been so immersed in Marx-inspired doctrines for so long that he thinks he knows how the economy works.

  222. 222.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    March 9, 2017 at 8:50 pm

    @FlipYrWhig: I think that’s a big part of it. Maybe a bigger part, is just that he’s a plain old-fashioned asshole.

  223. 223.

    Mnemosyne

    March 9, 2017 at 8:50 pm

    @FlipYrWhig:

    “Only a bunny can call another bunny ‘cute.'”

  224. 224.

    raven

    March 9, 2017 at 8:50 pm

    From my FB feed.

    The Grumpy Retiree

    Death Panels Finally Are Arriving
    As The Grumpy Retiree one of the things I’ve been doing this last month or so is participating in a Senior Leadership Academy organized by the Athens Community Council on Aging. We’ve been exposed to a host of things going on in the Athens area with particular interest to retirees. Today’s agenda focused on one of our local hospitals, Piedmont-Athens Regional.
    The first presentation was provided by their CEO, Dr. Charles Peck. Among other things he discussed running a large hospital. He was very clear about the precarious nature of the economics surrounding the hospital and how their razor-thin margins seriously affected their ability to carry out seriously needed upgrades to their technology and personnel especially in relation to their status as a level 2 trauma center for the northeast part of the state.
    He was also very clear that the kinds of changes being advocated by members of the US House of Representatives would not only directly hurt millions of people initially afforded the opportunity for meaningful insurance coverage by the ACA, but would also involve seriously reducing finding for Medicaid and Medicare to the point where most of the smaller, rural hospitals which ship seriously ill patients here would be looking at financial failure. The consequences of that would, of course, be life-threatening for many of our citizens.
    My take is that our majority-party members are in the process of acting as a death panel – something that never existed under the ACA. The kinds of ‘economies’ they are looking to impose will put many people at risk for the ‘benefit’ of being able to ultimately reduce the taxes paid by the well off. Further, the consequences on our health ‘system’, as flawed as it is, will do nothing but imperil the lives of retirees such as ourselves. Precipitous and ill considered changes to health care economics in the service of a political agenda will kill far more surely than refugees turning to terrorism.
    So, whether you care about the poor or not, it would be in all of our interests were you to get on the phone now and tell your Representatives and Senators in the Congress that America desperately needs far better considered changes than what they are now being considering. Health care professionals, economists and insurance experts, not politicians, need to be front and center in finding the solutions we need. Our lives really do depend on this.

  225. 225.

    Baud

    March 9, 2017 at 8:50 pm

    @FlipYrWhig: Next thing you know, he’ll be here calling us jackals and telling us to die in a fire.

  226. 226.

    Yarrow

    March 9, 2017 at 8:54 pm

    @raven: That’s good stuff. I like turning ‘death panels’ back on them. Boomerang, baby.

  227. 227.

    frosty

    March 9, 2017 at 8:54 pm

    @Mnemosyne: I don’t know the answer to that, my wife handled it, along with everything else. I’ve been thinking of telling them to stop sending paper and giving them a burner email address that we’ll never look at again.

  228. 228.

    Kathleen

    March 9, 2017 at 8:55 pm

    @Baud: Very simple. Media love him because he slimes HIllary and Democrats. It’s his “brand”, and he’s going to procreate that poultry.

  229. 229.

    efgoldman

    March 9, 2017 at 8:55 pm

    @FlipYrWhig:

    he’s been so immersed in Marx-inspired doctrines for so long that he thinks he knows how the proletariat thinks.

    Yes, and he’s too old to evolve.
    He’ll vote with the Dems reliably, but I wish he’d just shut the fuck up.

  230. 230.

    Kathleen

    March 9, 2017 at 8:56 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: We have a winner. Add lazy, arrogant, and nasty.

  231. 231.

    Yarrow

    March 9, 2017 at 8:56 pm

    @frosty: You could also go in person to a branch of the bank and ask them what to do. Maybe you can find someone high enough up who can walk you through it.

  232. 232.

    Baud

    March 9, 2017 at 8:56 pm

    @Kathleen: Yeah, I’m afraid that is where half his popularity stems from. It’s why I think he won’t run as a Dem when he is up for reelection next year.

  233. 233.

    Mnemosyne

    March 9, 2017 at 8:57 pm

    @frosty:

    IANAL, but it’s pretty much impossible that they don’t have any procedures in place when someone dies without a will. As with people’s suggestions about going to the cell phone store to fix a problem, maybe she could take one of the death certificate copies to the local branch?

  234. 234.

    Mnemosyne

    March 9, 2017 at 8:58 pm

    @Kathleen:

    Media love him because he slimes HIllary and Democrats.

    Exactly.

  235. 235.

    HeleninEire

    March 9, 2017 at 8:58 pm

    Thanks to everyone for all the cough remedies. I am going to try every single one of them. I have had a hacking cough for close to 2 weeks that I just can’t shake. My throat, my sternum, and my stomach muscles (who knew I had stomach muscles?) are aching like crazy from all the coughing.

  236. 236.

    Baud

    March 9, 2017 at 8:59 pm

    @HeleninEire: I’ve had a bit of the coughing spell for a while too.

  237. 237.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    March 9, 2017 at 8:59 pm

    @Kathleen: @Mnemosyne: he was the second most frequent guest on the Sunday shows in 2016, for exactly that reason

  238. 238.

    efgoldman

    March 9, 2017 at 9:00 pm

    @Baud:

    I think he won’t run as a Dem when he is up for reelection next year.

    Even before the convention, he re-registered to run again as an independent.

  239. 239.

    frosty

    March 9, 2017 at 9:01 pm

    @Mnemosyne: She doesn’t want to have anything to do with it; just put it behind her. We were the forwarding address for the mail and that was about it. I’m not an expert but I understood we didn’t want to be executors because we’d be liable for the credit card bill — which they wrote off! But they can’t do anything with the account. I guess they can forgive the debt because it’s their money but they can’t take what’s in the account because it’s not their money.

    Anyway thanks for all the suggestions everyone. I may try mailing the death cert.

  240. 240.

    Baud

    March 9, 2017 at 9:02 pm

    @efgoldman: He’s not committed to that. He can change if he wants to. I don’t think he will though.

  241. 241.

    Baud

    March 9, 2017 at 9:03 pm

    @efgoldman: I do wonder whether the Dem Party in Vermont will field their own candidate.

  242. 242.

    HeleninEire

    March 9, 2017 at 9:03 pm

    @Baud: I rarely get sick so I don’t like to complain when I do. Interestingly when I do get sick it’s almost always after I’ve been on a plane so I think it was my NY trip that did me in this time.

  243. 243.

    J R in WV

    March 9, 2017 at 9:04 pm

    @geg6:

    So sorry for your loss. It’s hardest to lose those we look up to like that.

    My wife lost her psychiatrist after her second bout with ovarian cancer. She thought she had beaten it and resumed her practice. The replacement shrink just prescribed medications, almost at random, and talked about going fishing.

    Then one day she went to her appointment, and he was gone, no notice, no referral, just gone fishing. When she looked at the appointment card, it was another doctor’s card, whited out, a fraud to keep her from looking for another doctor too early, before the creep could get out of state.

    Sorry for your loss…. again. Glad you learned how to navigate your systems from her, one of the best skills to have.

  244. 244.

    efgoldman

    March 9, 2017 at 9:04 pm

    @Baud:

    He can change if he wants to.

    He can. He won’t. Gets in the way of his integritude.

  245. 245.

    Baud

    March 9, 2017 at 9:04 pm

    @HeleninEire: long plane rides do me in.

  246. 246.

    Ohio Mom

    March 9, 2017 at 9:05 pm

    @frosty: I’m guessing it’s not enough money to care about — I thought Probate Court appointed executors when people died without a will (but IANAL).

    The burner email account sounds workable to me. Anything to stop getting those statements.

  247. 247.

    amk

    March 9, 2017 at 9:05 pm

    @raven:

    by members of the US House of Representatives

    our majority-party members are in the process of acting as a death panel

    So, he couldn’t be bothered to call out real culprits , the corrupt gop thugs by their name, but had to resort to such both sides are to blame weaselly words? Fuckhim.

  248. 248.

    schrodingers_cat

    March 9, 2017 at 9:06 pm

    @HeleninEire: Ginger tea my friend. Hot Irish tea brewed with fresh ginger. If you can find black cardamom throw that in there too.

  249. 249.

    Major Major Major Major

    March 9, 2017 at 9:06 pm

    @J R in WV: what the fuck? Crazy.

    @Baud: that seems like it would be pointlessly divisive and damaging to the party.

  250. 250.

    efgoldman

    March 9, 2017 at 9:07 pm

    @Baud:

    I do wonder whether the Dem Party in Vermont will field their own candidate.

    I dunno’. I gather, like Suzey Q in Maine, he has a lot of personal popularity. Plus there’s incumbency inertia.

  251. 251.

    amk

    March 9, 2017 at 9:07 pm

    Sorry AL, hopefully things will turn around for you for the better.

  252. 252.

    Baud

    March 9, 2017 at 9:07 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: It’s Vermont. I think they are fairly insular.

    ETA:. Never mind. You said the opposite of what I thought you said.

  253. 253.

    frosty

    March 9, 2017 at 9:08 pm

    @Ohio Mom:

    I thought Probate Court appointed executors when people died without a will (but IANAL).

    Oh, here it gets more complicated. I’m pretty sure there wasn’t a Probate Court in Thailand.

  254. 254.

    Baud

    March 9, 2017 at 9:09 pm

    @efgoldman: Agree. But what happens if someone runs on the Dem ticket. Don’t they have rules they have to follow?

  255. 255.

    Mike J

    March 9, 2017 at 9:12 pm

    STATE OF WASHINGTON, and
    STATE OF MINNESOTA,
    Plaintiffs,
    v.
    DONALD TRUMP

    (warning, PDF)

  256. 256.

    schrodingers_cat

    March 9, 2017 at 9:14 pm

    @Baud: He is very popular in Vt, he goes to high school graduations and such, they lubs him there. Anecdata from a couple of students from Vt.

  257. 257.

    efgoldman

    March 9, 2017 at 9:14 pm

    @Baud:

    Don’t they have rules they have to follow?

    Dunno’ I’m three states away. Here in RI the only rule is don’t get caught (another state rep pled guilty in federal court today).

  258. 258.

    Ohio Mom

    March 9, 2017 at 9:14 pm

    @frosty: Oh dear, I bet it does…it is probably amazing your wife was able to tie up all the loose ends she did.

    Now I will take a moment to feel smug that my affairs are in order. It’s one of the nicest things you can do for the people you love, and it is never too early to do so (but boy, are lawyers expensive).

  259. 259.

    raven

    March 9, 2017 at 9:14 pm

    @amk: He writes a Facebook page for university system retirees in this area. You don’t like what he writes start your own.

  260. 260.

    Major Major Major Major

    March 9, 2017 at 9:16 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: I don’t know if that’s anecdata, talking to two people in Vermont might actually be a scientific poll.

  261. 261.

    Baud

    March 9, 2017 at 9:16 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: oh I know. He easily wins.

  262. 262.

    efgoldman

    March 9, 2017 at 9:17 pm

    @Mike J:

    STATE OF WASHINGTON, and
    STATE OF MINNESOTA,
    Plaintiffs,
    v.
    DONALD TRUMP

    As i said the other night (elsewhere): same pigshit in a prettier box isn’t gonna’ cut it.

  263. 263.

    Ohio Mom

    March 9, 2017 at 9:17 pm

    Phooey. Put a typo in my email address and my last comment got put in moderation.

    Clearly, time for bed.

  264. 264.

    schrodingers_cat

    March 9, 2017 at 9:17 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: Needless to say, I didn’t share my BS non-love with the adoring public.

  265. 265.

    Baud

    March 9, 2017 at 9:17 pm

    @efgoldman: You should run. Rhode Island’s last honest man.

  266. 266.

    Gin & Tonic

    March 9, 2017 at 9:18 pm

    @Baud: Hey!

  267. 267.

    Yarrow

    March 9, 2017 at 9:18 pm

    @Baud: Al Giordano was talking about doing just that.

  268. 268.

    schrodingers_cat

    March 9, 2017 at 9:19 pm

    @Baud: Rhode Island is the only New England state I have never been to.

  269. 269.

    Baud

    March 9, 2017 at 9:20 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: You know the truth about yourself.

    @Yarrow: I remember. Good venting. But waste of resources.

  270. 270.

    efgoldman

    March 9, 2017 at 9:23 pm

    @Baud:

    You should run. Rhode Island’s last honest man.

    Nope, too old. Also our senators are actually pretty good. Definitely not publicity hounds.

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Rhode Island is the only New England state I have never been to

    Come visit. We can haz a meetup. Not the next several days, though. Snow tomorrow, record cold over the weekend, major Nor’easter maybe Tuesday.

  271. 271.

    amk

    March 9, 2017 at 9:24 pm

    @raven: You posted it here, so, you can stuff it.

  272. 272.

    Major Major Major Major

    March 9, 2017 at 9:26 pm

    @Yarrow: it just seems like a terrible idea.

  273. 273.

    schrodingers_cat

    March 9, 2017 at 9:27 pm

    @Baud: Yankees lubs their independent candidates. That’s how you get the tublet from Mardens reelected as a Governor.

  274. 274.

    schrodingers_cat

    March 9, 2017 at 9:29 pm

    @efgoldman: Same frosty temperatures here too. When it warms up, then we can has meetup. Are you close to the ocean?

  275. 275.

    amk

    March 9, 2017 at 9:29 pm

    a fucking lawyer’s pants on fire, literally.

  276. 276.

    chopper

    March 9, 2017 at 9:32 pm

    @JMG:

    yup. and the senate isn’t looking to pass this thru reconciliation out of spite as much as they’re doing it because they don’t have 60 fucking votes.

  277. 277.

    Jeffro

    March 9, 2017 at 9:34 pm

    Btw crazy-ass Dave Brat (R:ashamed-to-admit-it’s-VA), is so hellbent on repealing the ACA that he suggests the GOP should forge ahead even without reconciliation. Just blow up the Senate/filibuster. No problem.

    They really are rabid to kill something initiated by a black guy that uses progressive taxation to provide health care for poor people, aren’t they?

  278. 278.

    Jeffro

    March 9, 2017 at 9:36 pm

    @chopper: You read my mind…looks like the House Freedumb Caucus feels like it’s time to do away with the 60-vote requirement, too. (see #273 above)

  279. 279.

    Kathleen

    March 9, 2017 at 9:36 pm

    @Baud: He’s lazy and greedy. If Dems let him he would run as Dem. I hope Dems have learned their lesson.

  280. 280.

    efgoldman

    March 9, 2017 at 9:36 pm

    @schrodingers_cat:

    When it warms up, then we can has meetup. Are you close to the ocean?

    We’re the “Ocean State”, but we’re as far away as you can be and still be in RI. All the way up in the NE corner. Next to MA.
    Maybe an hour’s drive, unless you want to go to Newport. That’s a couple of hours.

  281. 281.

    Baud

    March 9, 2017 at 9:38 pm

    @Kathleen: Dems in Vermont would let him, I’m pretty sure. He doesn’t want to.

  282. 282.

    schrodingers_cat

    March 9, 2017 at 9:38 pm

    @Jeffro: He does look like a Bond villain with a name to match.

  283. 283.

    Kathleen

    March 9, 2017 at 9:38 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Yup. Interesting, too, that media never vetted him. My Bernie worshipping brother and friend hadn’t heard anything about his shipping toxic waste to Texas or his rape fan fic.

  284. 284.

    schrodingers_cat

    March 9, 2017 at 9:39 pm

    @Baud: I don’t think it will be easy to unseat him.

  285. 285.

    Baud

    March 9, 2017 at 9:41 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: Impossible. The worst outcome would be that a Dem and Bernie split the vote and the Republican gets in. But his profile is too high now. He wins easily.

  286. 286.

    Kay

    March 9, 2017 at 9:41 pm

    WikiLeaks says DNC, Podesta hacks were a “false flag operation” by CIA, designed to undermine President Trump

    My head hurts. I have to draw lines and arrows. I don’t even know they get to “undermine President Trump”!

    Is part of this conspiracy theory missing?

  287. 287.

    Kathleen

    March 9, 2017 at 9:42 pm

    @efgoldman: Also, too, White Guy Gun Fanboys love him.

  288. 288.

    Baud

    March 9, 2017 at 9:42 pm

    @Kay: Think of the intended audience, Kay. They don’t need to connect the dots.

  289. 289.

    schrodingers_cat

    March 9, 2017 at 9:43 pm

    @Kay: ICE is tweeting about rounding up DACA recipients and MSM is fiddling with Wikileaks. Pravda probably had better journalistic ethics.

  290. 290.

    schrodingers_cat

    March 9, 2017 at 9:45 pm

    @Baud: Pure Bullshit Newshour had a Wired guy talking seriously about CIA spying via smart devices. I only happened on it while I was changing channels to watch a cook show. Whory Woodruff is still whoring for T.

  291. 291.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 9, 2017 at 9:46 pm

    @Kay: Underpants gnomes.

  292. 292.

    Kathleen

    March 9, 2017 at 9:46 pm

    @Baud: I forgot to add that if he ran for President again he’d want to do it as a Dem, but not forSenator, you’re absolutely right. Got to represent his mavericky purity and such.

  293. 293.

    Kay

    March 9, 2017 at 9:46 pm

    @Baud:

    It’s like a punch line at the end…”to undermine PRESIDENT TRUMP”

    He wasn’t even President then! So they…knew he’d win? Oh, this goes DEEP, Baud.

  294. 294.

    Brachiator

    March 9, 2017 at 9:49 pm

    @Jeffro:

    . They really are rabid to kill something initiated by a black guy that uses progressive taxation to provide health care for poor people, aren’t they?

    It’s like the post Reconstruction South, but with Republicans as insane, vicious racists.

    The Republican health plan is about everything except providing health care. As you note, the Republicans want to get even with Obama, and make sure that white people never get out of line again by looking to anyone who’s not a white man for solutions to their problems. They are also going to push people’s noses into a pile of free market shit and then make them say they like it. The people must learn that health care is not a right, but something that you get only if you work hard and make enough money. The baby Jesus hates slackers.

  295. 295.

    Baud

    March 9, 2017 at 9:50 pm

    @Kay: It’s so crazy, it has to be true.

  296. 296.

    Major Major Major Major

    March 9, 2017 at 9:50 pm

    @Kay: obviously obama used his time machine.

  297. 297.

    amk

    March 9, 2017 at 9:50 pm

    @Kay: the intercept fanbois will buy it. fucking farage meeting with their idol is just courtesy.

  298. 298.

    Jeffro

    March 9, 2017 at 9:53 pm

    Jesus, this is fucking irritating: The Political Lexicon of a Billionaire Populist.

    Here, WaPo, let me re-headline that for you: the Lies of a Bankrupt Moron In Thrall to Russia with Evil Imp Bannon Whispering In His Ear.

    The purpose of the new rhetoric is to break through the partisan paralysis of recent years, pull the country into an America-first nationalism and persuade Trump supporters that the new president meant it when he announced at his inauguration that “the hour of action” has commenced.

    Yes…because no actions were being taken in the previous eight years…like getting us out of two wars, recovering from a global Great Recession, stepping up on LGBTQ rights…we were dead in the fucking water…

    Nobody except those who consider Trump a much-needed provocateur who realizes that a linguistic poke in the face may be necessary to force the government to address the needs and pains of what the president calls “the forgotten men and women.”

    This, this, so much THIS! Trump is clearly addressing the needs of ‘forgotten men and women’ by dumping 20M of them off their health insurance, voucherizing their Medicare and their kids’ & grandkids’ schools, and letting more pollution into their water. So on point, WaPo!

    “What you’re hearing is genuine change,” said former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), a Trump supporter and occasional adviser. “It’s an assertive language and a focus on America that cuts against the norm of what we’ve seen from our elites over the last 30 years.”

    Gingrich…is knocking elites.
    Does anyone happen to know where the good Speaker resides? Asking for a friend…

    Anyway, big picture: this is what normalization looks like. Even making Trumpov out to be some sort of linguistic rebel, a provocateur, gives him far more credit than (obviously) he could ever deserve. This is Bannon Bullshit 101: Using Populist Language to Cover Your Billionaire-Friendly Agenda.

  299. 299.

    Major Major Major Major

    March 9, 2017 at 9:53 pm

    @amk: I thought he denied that meeting and didn’t remember what he was doing there. Reminded me of Principal Skinner and the burlesque house. “I was only there to get instructions on how to get away from there!”

  300. 300.

    efgoldman

    March 9, 2017 at 9:53 pm

    @Jeffro:

    looks like the House Freedumb Caucus feels like it’s time to do away with the 60-vote requirement, too.

    The house has no say. The konstetushyn (remember that) says each house makes its own rules.

  301. 301.

    Chet Murthy

    March 9, 2017 at 9:55 pm

    @Arclite: I can proffer a thumbs-up to Google Fi. I got a Nexus 5x (last year’s phone) for $250 (wouldn’t be surprised if there were even cheaper phones) and the data plan is $20/mo + $10/GB. So typically my bill is just south of $30, all-in (including pretty serious taxes). Very happy with the service, esp. since (a) their wifi-calling really works, (b) they rent time from TMO & Sprint, so you get the -union- of the two networks, (c) your number automatically becomes a Google Voice number, so you can make and receive calls on your computer seamlessly. ISTR they have a family plan, too.

    Wish I’d done this when it first came out.

  302. 302.

    Chet Murthy

    March 9, 2017 at 9:57 pm

    @Yarrow: Obligatory Zevon lyric.

  303. 303.

    schrodingers_cat

    March 9, 2017 at 9:57 pm

    @Jeffro: You can use Tidy Cats or Fresh Step, Kitteh Pee is still gonna stink. No amount of normalization is going to normalize that degeneracy in the White House.

  304. 304.

    Jeffro

    March 9, 2017 at 9:59 pm

    @efgoldman: Thanks, I’m aware of that…was relaying that Brat & Co feel the Senate should blow itself up to pass this bundle o’ stupidity

  305. 305.

    Kay

    March 9, 2017 at 10:00 pm

    @amk:

    Well, they can buy it if they want but it’s ridiculous. “President Trump” undermines himself and unless the CIA knew that 20,000 morons in Michigan were going to elect this fool they didn’t hack Podesta’s rice recipe to discredit the President.

    White House: Don’t call it Trumpcare

    I’ll call it what I want and I call it Trumpcare. They estimate Donald Trump’s “health care plan” will kick 3 million people off Medicaid. That’s Trumpcare! You actually LOSE health care. Net loss of health care, delivered. Good work, Donald. Take another long weekend at the country club.

  306. 306.

    efgoldman

    March 9, 2017 at 10:00 pm

    No front pagers around? Could use a noo tred!

    And there it is!

  307. 307.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 9, 2017 at 10:00 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: A friend of my family once used Pinesol to clean up cat urine. She said the end result was “cat piss in a pine forest.”

  308. 308.

    Chet Murthy

    March 9, 2017 at 10:00 pm

    @TenguPhule: Whine, whine, whine, whine, but

    http://www.unfogged.com/archives/week_2017_03_05.html#015906

    I think she’s right.

  309. 309.

    ruemara

    March 9, 2017 at 10:04 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: yet he had.no time for minorities’ groups in vt, funny.

  310. 310.

    Kay

    March 9, 2017 at 10:05 pm

    @Jeffro:

    Just for a laugh go look at Newt Gingrich’s wife’s Twitter. They basically ride around in a golden carriage swathed in ermine. I think they spend their entire lives going from an SUV into some horrible “event”.

    Imagine Gingrich in a powdered wig. Fine, right? Fits. Bows on his high heel shoes.

  311. 311.

    schrodingers_cat

    March 9, 2017 at 10:11 pm

    @ruemara: What can I say he is full of BS.

  312. 312.

    Jeffro

    March 9, 2017 at 10:18 pm

    @Kay: I saw something a bit ago about how they’re out most every night at swanky Georgetown and NW DC dinner parties & events. I’d almost like a list of the dinner parties’ and events’ hosts, so I know whom to never come into contact with or support in any way…short of breathing oxygen, I’d like to have exactly NOTHING in common with such people.

    God willing, Newt and Callista will be reincarnated as pond scum and then work their way even further backwards…

  313. 313.

    Eric S.

    March 9, 2017 at 10:22 pm

    @frosty: I don’t have an answer for you but this is correct. They can give up their own money but they can’t keep someone else’s. It will have to go to his heirs. They will continue to try to distribute it until they reach a statutory limit then they will escheat it to the state. I understand it could be a nugget hassle than it is worth but asking how to close and distribute the assets may be an avenue to pursue.

  314. 314.

    Ruckus

    March 9, 2017 at 10:27 pm

    @Arclite:
    I bought a Motorola from Best Buy and do prepaid with T Mobil and I pay $40/month (+taxes) for unlimited phone/unlimited text and 4 or 5g of data at full speed, over that slowed down. Got a big screen 5 1/2 I think because my old eyes just aren’t what they used to be, even with glasses. Works great 3-4 days between charges unless I use google directions, then it’s 2 days.
    So whinging…….
    I’m on my 6th round of different meds and today they took a vacation. Without telling me. Makes life, whats the word….. interesting. My every 6 months eye exam is coming up so that they can check to see when my cataracts are bad enough to operate. On the plus side, not one migraine after a month on the new routine for that.
    Always look on the bright side. But never directly at it, you’ll scare it away.

  315. 315.

    Ruckus

    March 9, 2017 at 10:39 pm

    @efgoldman:
    @Kathleen:
    I agree with both of your additions and to the people you were replying to. Wilmer is just an old fart, that doesn’t know that his 15 minutes have been up for a fucking long time.

  316. 316.

    Ruckus

    March 9, 2017 at 10:43 pm

    @HeleninEire:
    I had the flu big time, had to go the ER on Feb 20th it was so bad. The cough was the worst I can remember and every so often it hits again, thankfully not nearly as bad and I haven’t seen any lung segments in almost 2 weeks.

  317. 317.

    NotMax

    March 10, 2017 at 12:26 am

    Ob-la-di, ob-la-da, life goes on, brah!
    La la how the life goes on
    Ob-la-di, ob-la-da, life goes on, brah!
    La la how the life goes on

  318. 318.

    Debbie1

    March 10, 2017 at 3:15 pm

    @rikyrah: Fascinating the way B. Sanders’ critical eye is always trained on Democrats, isn’t it? I don’t even care at this point if he admires Tr*mp/Repubs. Just be honest about it.

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

Fundraising 2023-24

Wis*Dems Supreme Court + SD-8

Recent Comments

  • WaterGirl on Tuesday Midday Open Thread (Mar 21, 2023 @ 12:47pm)
  • Alison Rose on Tuesday Midday Open Thread (Mar 21, 2023 @ 12:46pm)
  • Mornington Crescent on Tuesday Midday Open Thread (Mar 21, 2023 @ 12:45pm)
  • WaterGirl on Tuesday Midday Open Thread (Mar 21, 2023 @ 12:44pm)
  • Quiltingfool on Tuesday Midday Open Thread (Mar 21, 2023 @ 12:44pm)

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
We All Need A Little Kindness
Classified Documents: A Primer
State & Local Elections Discussion

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Mailing List Signup
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)

Twitter / Spoutible

Balloon Juice (Spoutible)
WaterGirl (Spoutible)
TaMara (Spoutible)
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
TaMara
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
ActualCitizensUnited

Join the Fight!

Join the Fight Signup Form
All Join the Fight Posts

Balloon Juice Events

5/14  The Apocalypse
5/20  Home Away from Home
5/29  We’re Back, Baby
7/21  Merging!

Balloon Juice for Ukraine

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!