When your dog looks like Patrick Stewart pic.twitter.com/MNgyK0BPpr
— Shaz ?? (@sharonmar3) March 8, 2017
Sir Patrick probably wouldn’t object to the comparison.
What’s on the agenda for the day, or the weekend?
***********
Speaking of things that could cheer you up, from the Washington Post — “Trump stumping for AHCA? Democrats aren’t worried”:
The three-phase Republican plan to replace the Affordable Care Act is intended to end with massive political pressure on Senate Democrats, who’ll face a choice: Vote with them on individual replacement bills, or be blamed for the American Health Care Act’s implementation going awry. The crux of the theory is that 10 Democrats face reelection next year in states won by Trump.
The problem with the theory is that those Democrats feel little pressure to vote Trump’s way.
“If he came to Michigan to campaign for this plan? I think it’d be terrific,” said Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) at a Thursday news conference. “We’d welcome him to come to Michigan, and talk to the people who with all sincerity voted for him because they thought he was going to make their lives better. Let him talk about what happens when they lose health care, and when their parents lose health care.”
In the past, presidents trying to build support for their first-term agendas have reached out to the opposition party; when that’s failed, they’ve campaigned in their states. During his unsuccessful 2005 pitch for Social Security privatization, President George W. Bush flew into states like Nebraska, still represented by Democrats in the Senate, with the not-so-subtle suggestion that rejecting the presidential agenda would come with risks.
But some members of the Democrats’ 2018 class don’t see a risk in rejecting Trump…
The Democrats’ confidence comes from two main sources. The first is the AHCA itself, which offers nothing that appeals either to the party’s base or to interest groups that backed the ACA, such as AARP. The second is Trump, who Democrats do not see as a force even in some states that he won. In the states that voted for Barack Obama twice then for Trump — Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin — the president’s favorable rating on Election Day was below 40 percent. In Iowa, the only one of those states polled recently, the Des Moines Register poll that accurately predicted a large Trump victory in 2016 found him last month with a wan 42 percent approval rating…
There will be a protest on March 15, when Trump goes to Nashville, TN! #resist pic.twitter.com/YgYKLuLL8w
— Southern Democrats (@SouthernDems_) March 9, 2017
Baud
I wonder if the NYT would ever write something like this.
Keep it up, Dems!
OzarkHillbilly
I don’t see the resemblance, but he sure is cute.
p.a.
This is excellent news, considering I have long been invested in the ‘Spineless Dem’ meme held by both the left and right.
satby
With everyone including the AARP saying how bad this plan is? Yeah, I look forward to watching that roadshow, but I think it will close after a very short run.
low-tech cyclist
I especially look forward to people asking Trump why he, the supposed champion of the working class, is stumping for a bill that simultaneously gives the rich a $600B tax cut while putting meaningful health insurance beyond the reach of 15-20 million Americans.
ETA: Every Democrat, everywhere, should be saying: THIS is what happens when you put the Republicans in charge – the first thing they do is vote their rich buddies an enormous tax cut, while taking away the health insurance WE fought to give you.
Vince
I’m going to a People Power meetup, the ACLU’s new grassroots organization, this afternoon. If anyone is interested in going you can search for ones near you here: link
Van Buren
Gotta love Stabenow’s attitude. We need more swagger.
mai naem mobile
How can Asshole 45 tell Preet Bharara that he’s staying on and then poof – ‘you’re fired.’ I thought Asshole 45 was an old fashioned guy whose word you could trust? I guess not. I swear I have never wished bad on somebody like the way I do with Asshole 45.
OzarkHillbilly
@mai naem mobile: He’s rich. What part don’t you get?
Raven
@OzarkHillbilly: I had the insulation under the house replaced and have some batts leftover. Great ideas as to some use for it?
maryQ
“The second is Trump, who Democrats do not see as a force even in some states that he won. In the states that voted for Barack Obama twice then for Trump — Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin — the president’s favorable rating on Election Day was below 40 percent.”
And yet, he won. Not by much, except Ohio. And I think the Dems are right to not support this awful bill. But I worry that we haven’t figured out how this most awful human keeps getting away with stuff that would have killed anyone else.
trnc
That’s great if this attitude continues, but I wouldn’t bet the farm that people who were stupid enough to believe Bannon’s sidekick during the campaign will suddenly become deep thinkers with razor sharp analytical skills. After he screams Obamacare a few dozen times and delivers the empty policy promise that matches the empty campaign promise, watch the poll numbers start to change toward the grift. If you doubt that sentiment, consider this – Sam Brownback was reelected Governor of Kansas.
Any senator or other person who thinks DT will hang himself with his own words hasn’t been paying attention.
Baud
@maryQ: He wins through hate. But he’s not going to sell this by talking about Hillary, and he won’t have the media, the Russians, or the FBI helping him on this.
Lapassionara
@mai naem mobile: he is a liar. He lied to the voters about his replacement for the ACA. Josh Marshall is compiling the lies over at his place. Will he pay a price? Let us hope.
In other news, I will be in Nashville on Wednesday. Hmmmmmm.
WereBear
Why aren’t they? If there was ever a no-brainer message, this is it.
msdc
@maryQ: Because around ten percent of the people who opposed him decided their vote was too precious to just throw it away on a candidate who could actually beat him.
Baud
@WereBear: Every single Dem is opposed to this shit.
Baud
@msdc: Yep.
OzarkHillbilly
@Raven: I assume fiberglass? Build a chicken coop? Make dumplings out of it? Leave it out in the yard for nasty neighborhood kids to roll around in? Put it out as a peace offering to the squirrels and chipmunks so they don’t come and steal it out of your house again?
Seriously, the only thing I ever did with it was save it for the next project that called for it. That or throw it away.
Kay
The “go to the emergency room” Republicans are back:
Former President Bush said the same thing. We’ve come full circle, again.
It’s cruel, telling people to go to the emergency room for health care but it’s also so dumb. They think the emergency room is free! You knew Bush never went to an emergency room but none of these people have? They think it’s a free health care kiosk?
tybee
@Raven:
set them free. batts eat mosquitoes.
Raven
@OzarkHillbilly: Thanks! We cleaned 17 years worth of shit out from under the house and I am determined not to use it for storage again. We put down a nice vapor barrier and I don’t want to fuck it up so I should have had the dude just take the leftovers.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
OzarkHillbilly
@trnc:
Never met a Kansan, have you? They have a special brand of stupidity out there in the flatlands. I think it comes from looking at nothing all day.
Not to say it can’t happen as you postulate, but you won’t find many Kansans living in Michigan.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: Even Kansas may be reforming. That’s why they got Brownback out of there.
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
greennotGreen
@Raven: I put all my extra in the attic even though it already had plenty. Of course, my current house doesn’t have an attic, so now that solution would be problematic.
Raven
@greennotGreen: yea, I may just do that.
WereBear
@Baud: Indiana was throwing out Pence.
OzarkHillbilly
@tybee: Ouch. Please tell me you aren’t going to be here all week.
Kay
The second largest employer in the county is opening a primary care office here for their employees. It’s “free” (to them, obviously it’s not free but is part of their pay). They can go there for ordinary care and then use their insurance for anything beyond that. So they all get “free” ordinary care and they all pay into insurance for the other stuff.
That seems like a “health care plan” everyone would like, right? Younger people and people who don’t need a lot get theirs “free” so they won’t get all resentful about paying into the stuff they don’t use?
Two of the employees told me about it yesterday- they’re young with small children and they were thrilled.
Raven
@tybee: Ha! The dude that did our insulation job is also has wildlife removal business. You should see some of the snakes he’s gotten around here. He’s into relocating most of what he wrangles so that is good.
DissidentFish
@tybee: My suggestion for batts: Throw one in the window of a vengeful, athletic billionaire. Because criminals are a cowardly, superstitious lot.
Kay
Emergency room, 2012:
Raven
@DissidentFish: and the Alps were a simple people, they lived on a diet of rice and old shoes. . .
Kenneth Kohl
@Lapassionara: The Nashville rally just happens to be on the Ides of March… beware…
Baud
@Kay: Your opposition to emergency room care reflects a pre-emails mentality, Kay.
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
Well, of course not, silly goose. Once they move, they become
MeshugginersMichiganders.Kay
Emergency room, 2007:
We have to go thru this again because conservatives weren’t paying attention the first 5000 times. They’re holding the rest of the class back. Put them on the remedial track, summer school, something. The rest of us will die of boredom while they get caught up.
OzarkHillbilly
@Raven: If you have blown insulation, that is not a good idea. It will compact the blown and you could end up with an even lower R factor.
ThresherK
@Kay: All I can think of is the Dilbert strip from before Scott Adams revealed himself as an asshole.
SFAW
@Baud:
So far. That you know of.
Raven
@OzarkHillbilly: curses, it’s off to da dump!
ODB
@trnc: Brownback won reelection by 3.7%. He won his initial election by 30%. Donald Trump does not have a 30% cushion.
efgoldman
@Baud:
He’ll have at least some of the media. The devout broderists; Murdoch-owned outlets; Sinclair owned TV stations….
p.a.
@Raven: Wind onto sticks, sell as cotton candy at a pro-tRump rally near you. (h/t Milo Minderbinder Enterprises)
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Kay:
Part of me says “fuck it – let them repeal EMTALA”. See if there is any shame on the part of our “brave and selfless” health care providing community, and let them start turning away everyone for non-payment – and that goes for everybody from corporate executives to facility administrators to doctors and nurses. Let Americans see what a flaming bag of shit the sainted Market(Peace Be Unto It) is with regard to provision of an inelastic resource.
It would take a few years of deaths, but you’d see physician incomes crash, health care profits evaporate and a clamor for a national health care system with a realistic training program that breaks the motherfucking motherfuckers of the doctor guilds.
Crash it all. It isn’t as if the docs were using their blood money wisely anyway – they’re lousy businessmen.
Physician training for primary care should be, at most, a 4 year degree, and should be open to all ages with a far less rigid selection criteria for entry. Let the trainers at Fort Sam Houston design the curriculum and timelines – they do a hell of a job. Open about two dozen new centers in defunct “for profit” college facilities around the country, provide a guaranteed European style salary to grads and current docs for 15 years obligatory service in exchange for the educational costs.
SFAW
@Kay:
There’s a scene in Doctor Who episode, where the Doctor’s love is talking to one of that week’s bad guy, and says, sternly, “You are a MORON!” I think of that every time I read about these dumbfucks saying stupid/assholish shit.
Kay
@Baud:
“States have ways of providing for that”. The payment mechanism is called “courts”. They sue and get a judgment and then garnish wages to pay for the “free” emergency room. You could buy them insurance for a year for what the collection + court process + emergency room visits cost.
I know they don’t actually care what happens to these people but after 20 years they must anticipate this question. It’s such a lazy answer. 20 years, thousands of paid conservative “thinkers” and this is the best answer they can come up with? C students at best.
efgoldman
@Kay:
Wonder if the gummint ever got billed by whatever hospital it was that treated Sanctus Ronaldus Magnus when he got shot?
OzarkHillbilly
@SFAW: Wait a minute… People move TO Michigan? I thought they only moved OUT of Michigan. Huh… Who’da thunk it.
Immanentize
@Raven: when I lived in San Antonio, we did the same under the house. Our attic was open floor and insulated between the joists. If your house is like this, and you don’t use your attic much, you can spread the excess insulation near the edges. It doesn’t add much, but it adds a little help in summer and in winter.
greennotGreen
@Kay: Yes, one of Hillary’s bumper stickers (still on my car) says “Love trumps hate,” but I’m afraid my hate for all things Trump is winning out. Look, I’ve been to the emergency room multiple times from complications of cancer surgery and the cancer itself, and believe me, you do not want to go there for your regular chemo therapy. Infusion can take hours, and emergency rooms are not equipped for it, you’d be taking up a room they need for acute cases, it’s just a stupid use of resources. The infusion clinic where I go has a bunch of small rooms with comfortable recliners (some have beds,) TV’s, and soft lighting. It’s a restful place that helps relieve the stress of having a serious illness.
Of course, I think that’s really part of the Republican plan: afflict the afflicted.
Baud
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Fight everything but take no responsibility for what they do.
@Kay:
They keep saying it because voters won’t stand up to them.
p.a.
@OzarkHillbilly: I have blown insulation in my attic. Any idea of its effective lifespan? It will compact eventually, won’t it? That was part of my concern on purchase, but I got a good price on soup-to-nuts deal; windows, insulation, new gas furnace (replaced oil), central air, and that company did loose insul, not fiberglass.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
Cheekbones.
Baud
@greennotGreen:
Hillary was wrong. I love her but she was wrong.
efgoldman
@ODB:
And with only ~24% of KS voters. Most stayed home, only ~40% voted. Apathy was the runaway winner.
Immanentize
@greennotGreen: @OzarkHillbilly: I see you
Covers this already…. I had rolled, not blown insulation in my attic when I added the extra batting.
Baud
@efgoldman: Only slightly worse than the presidential election.
chris
@Lapassionara: Here’s another list of Cheeto Jesus’ lies from Daniel Dale at the Toronto Star. Dale is picky so there are only 117 lies to date since the inauguration.
Baud
@chris: I find pickier is more persuasive.
debbie
@Kay:
Erin, or someone else, has got to ask him (or Ryan or any of the Trumpcare Pimps) how this is even viable because it means that the rest of us will be paying for the uninsured through higher healthcare costs.
Booger
@Raven: Donate to Habitat for Humanity/ReStore?
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay:
You are too generous. D- by my book. And that’s just because as a teacher I am tired of looking at their stupid faces and trying to teach a brick wall. A D- at least gets them out of my class.
efgoldman
@Baud:
‘Fie wuz king, we’d do one of two things: either have polls open for 72 hours straight, from noon on Friday to noon on Monday, or make election day a mandatory national paid holiday, with polls open 24 hours so that people who have to work (emergency responders, hospital staff, etc) have the widest possible time window to vote.
Of course that assumes all parties have a good faith desire for as many people to vote as possible. I want a unicorn, too.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Kay:
I talked recently with someone who does a lot more bankruptcies than me (his is a true debtor practice). We put our heads together and anecdotally surmised that 80% of the filings he makes have significant aspects that involve medical debt and career interruption due to conditions. They’re not those $300,000.00 conditions, either. Might be as simple as a broken arm, an ACL injury, Crohn’s, but the expenses for a lower wage worker are crushing. They’re not bums – they’re just behind the eight ball, and our “heroic paper pushing” white suburbanites of the south and midwest have zero fucking sense or empathy, as they view struggling two job workers as “lazy”.
No paper shuffling pasty, puffy, self-inflated insurance agent, realtor, property manager, doctor, lawyer, industrial salesman or engineer in the south or midwest works as hard as a full-time-employed poor person.
Kay
@greennotGreen:
Well, I do think “love wins” in that energy usually beats ambivalence or mild approval. I don’t want Democrats to start speaking in bumper stickers but our voters are “sporadic” and so they have to be, I don’t know, constantly reassured.
I just play the hand I’ve been dealt and that’s the Democrat’s hand :)
People just don’t get excited about “green jobs” or (God forbid) retraining. No one is like “yay! training!” and “re” on top of that. “Training” alone is not a good word. It’s not like they never get it. “Yes we can” was pretty darn good.
In some ways it’s a horrible combination of both talking down to them and talking up to them. “Green jobs” are specific jobs. So why not just say “we can teach you to make wind turbines”. They don’t need the overall policy. It’s not a “roundtable”. It’s frustrating to me because liberals are good talkers! I don’t know why they turn into robots during campaigns.
CarolDuhart2
Steny Hoyer wants your feedback:
ResistRepeal.org
Kay
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Oh, it’s so sad. They bring me the judgment. I say “this is a done deal”. As you know its one paragraph – they see how short it is and assume it’s a prelim step. They think it’s a complaint- the first part of the process. I’ve seen so many I can reliably estimate the wage garnishment, per pay period.
We have a muni ct judge who makes the collection lawyers appear, rather than get a default out of Cleveland. I like that about him. It just adds cost so I shouldn’t like it but I want pain spread around. I want it to be hard for everyone.
Baud
@Kay:
I don’t say this often because I’m not into starting flame wars, but I don’t think we liberals are very good at messaging at all. I think all the critiques of Dem messaging are largely projection.
(Obviously, there is a spectrum, and I’m speaking of average.)
efgoldman
@Kay:
Because for the past 50 years, since 1968, “liberal” has become a political curse word, and we’re only now – and then only some of us – decided that we own it and are proud of it.
OzarkHillbilly
@p.a.:
Yes, it will naturally compact over time (gravity always wins) As to it’s effective life span, I am unsure. 15-20 years? 30 years? I don’t know exactly how much R-value you lose over time but I suspect it is fairly minimal. Either way, the problem has an easy solution: Blow another 2-3 inches on top of it.
Not long ago I got up in an attic to reinforce a roof to carry the weight of a chimney with a stone veneer. I popped the hatch to it and looked at all that brand new virgin insulation, and cringed at the lost r-value that was going to be caused by my working in it. Sometimes it is unavoidable, but going anywhere near blown insulation is never a good idea.
danielx
@mai naem mobile:
Some people think so. Not me, of course.
OzarkHillbilly
@debbie: Yes, I have them. My wife even says they are….. distinctive.
Betty Cracker
That dog really does look like Stewart! I hope Stewart sees the tweet, if not the resemblance — so cute!
What dog do y’all most resemble? I think the closest thing I have to a canine doppelgänger would be a golden retriever.
Baud
@Kay: Something like 60-70% of debt collection lawsuits end up in default judgments.
Pogonip
I think all those witches who were in the news a few weeks ago should forget about Trump and concentrate on hexing Ryan.
danielx
@WereBear:
This is true. If Pence hadn’t been drafted as VP, he would have been beaten like a rented mule in November.
tybee
@OzarkHillbilly:
tip the veal, try the waitress
efgoldman
@OzarkHillbilly:
We don’t have an attic as such, just “the space” between the roof and ceiling. There was cellulose blown in sometime in the past (house was built in ’62) but we don’t know when.
Angie’s list offered a deal in 2011, plus the tax credits the available, so we added another 3-4 inches of fresh insulation.
Can’t really tell if it’s made a difference, because of my age, kidney problems, and resulting anemia I need the house to be noticeably warmer than before, but I think it helps. Certainly doesn’t hurt.
Immanentize
@Kay:
I don’t know if you caught the NPR story about “green jobs” in Texas but it made (not overtly) this exact point. Texas, they reported, has The largest growing wind industry in the country. Primarily NOT on ideology but rather on the idea — you can make money from the air. Sign me up!
CarolDuhart2
@Pogonip: We’re working on a long list here…
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Kay:
Collection lawyers are their own worst enemies. They do those on contingency and drop their rates at the request of the referrers in exchange for volume – and most judges don’t insist on those default appearances (for good reason). When it happens, it is an annoyance, but it doesn’t happen often enough for them to demand an across-the-board hourly rate (which would be more appropriate, frankly).
As an aside, I always laugh when creditors ask me to do contingencies on commercial debt or claims (I require retainer and hourly). As I put it, I want them to have a stake in the litigation in order to impose some restraint and sense, and to insulate me from whatever bad decisions they made about business creditworthiness. It always works out to be cheaper if the entity is solvent.
OzarkHillbilly
@Immanentize: Rolled batting can be rolled out of the way and even if you compact it a little, it has enough resilience to come back (most of the way at least).
amk
turkey’s twitler now calls the dutch as natzees. last week, it was the turn of the germans.
Baud
Via Reddit
efgoldman
@danielx:
And the Republiklown (Lieutenant) governor, and the totally Republiklown legislature, barely waited until the metaphorical ink was dry on their inauguration papers before they started undoing some of his most obnoxious initiatives.
JMG
Let’s go back to basics. The Republicans in Congress have majorities in both houses. They can pass this bill on a party line vote if they are united behind it. Trump wouldn’t have to lift a finger, and we know how lazy he is. He is planning to campaign for the bill. Therefore, it’s obvious they aren’t unified and don’t have the votes. He’s not going to states with Democratic Senators, he’s going to Tennessee.
OzarkHillbilly
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
I’ve always said “Being poor is the hardest job you’ll ever hate.”
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Baud:
Around here, it is higher. My former partner has a collection practice – probably 90% of his go to default. He figures about 10% of his overall files are collectible in whole or in part, depending on the overall state of the economy.
You wouldn’t believe the number of people who say “but I never got a notice about a court date” (I frequently have those conversations, even with the few BKs I do). I ask “did you get the summons?”. The answer is that they did, but they never read the words.
Lapassionara
@Kenneth Kohl: I will. Is it also Pi day?
Lapassionara
@chris: thank you!
Baud
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: The economics of debt collection relies on a high default rate.
There have been cases of debt collectors lying about providing service.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Another amusing note – when bill collectors call me on my debtor files and think they’re going to badger me into submission.
My personal favorite (usually from signature loan usury shops running 36% interest loans) is the sneering demand for a copy of the bankruptcy petition. When met with my polite single word declination of the request, they’ll start snorting and spitting out “why”, whereupon I not so politely invite them to go fuck themselves.
SiubhanDuinne
@Raven:
?? to da dump, to da dump, to da dump dump dump! ???
OzarkHillbilly
@Betty Cracker: They don’t make a dog that….. Distinctive. Yeah, that’s the word.
Kay
@Immanentize:
One of my sons is an apprentice electrician and he knows turbine installers. He comes in at the end of their project. He says they do okay, except it can be dangerous because they have to climb. There are stretches in western Michigan where it’s mile after mile of turbines.
Have you ever seen the blades being hauled on a truck? They’re HUGE. Big enough to attract attention. They look like weapons- rockets or something.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Baud:
We’re pretty rigid about service here (a good thing) – if not done by certified mail (which is difficult to falsify), it has to first be attempted by sheriff before a special bailiff (private process server) is engaged. All in all, the sheriffs and special bailiffs are straight up about it – lying about it just isn’t worth it.
Southern Beale
Apparently we got stuck with Trump because a whole bunch of uneducated blue collar workers got their fee-fee’s hurt by Hollywood elites, or something. Boy they sure showed us.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
An amusing creditor anecdote – many years ago, on a day when the collection guy was out, the secretary let me know that one of his clients was on the phone with an urgent question. This guy was a collection manager from a now defunct fly-by-night usurious loan shop, which had the specialty of loaning money against cars, and taking a security interest in them – these loans were bottom of the barrel shit, and this manager was the biggest piece of shit of all.
As I remember, the loan balance was about $2500 (the woman had probably borrowed $1000-$1500). He was in a spit foaming rage because she’d moved or gotten evicted, and his repo agent had tracked down the car. Apparently, she’d run into to a convenience store and it was in the parking lot – thing was, the baby was in the car, in a car seat.
He was wondering if they could take the car and drop the kid off somewhere. Got outraged when I suggested that he would wind up jailed and that she’d own his company were he to do that, insisted I was wrong and complained about her failure to meet obligations. Offered to drop the child off at a police station, if that would help.
I talked him off the ledge. In retrospect, I shouldn’t have been so forceful and just given him a “no” so he could do what he wanted anyway while reaping the consequences.
debit
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Jesus. I’m surprised he didn’t ask if he could also sell the baby on the black market.
p.a.
@Kay: Saw some on the super-flatbeds on a Maine interstate (95 or one of the loop roads). Needed the flashing Oversized Load vehicles front and rear. Very impressive.
ETA: Also have seen them on Narragansett Bay, around Quonsett, as well as the build and support barges, supplying the Block Island wind farm. Not allowed to get too close when they’re moving.
Baud
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Is that what they say in those fancy law books you read?
Anya
@Baud: I am sure the New York Times is working on another “Understanding Trump Voter” article.
Trump has no reason to be cocky about Michigan or any state he won, considering he won by a small margin. He won by less than the third party vote total.
Corner Stone
@debit: “What’s eh baby worf these days, guv’nor?”
Baud
@Anya:
No, but it’s who he is.
chris
@Kay: Very small town here with a deepwater port that is mostly unused now. When they brought in the first turbine people turned out like they do for the Christmas parade as the gigantic pieces went slowly up the main street. The biggest crowd was at the corner gas station cheering as the 150 foot long truck inched around the turn. It worked and went on for weeks as a 17 unit wind farm was built about 30 miles down the coast.
Anya
@Baud: If he watches Fox News all day and reads Brietbart and Alex Jones’ crazy posts then he probably believes he’s the most popular POTUS ever. It stresses me Trump government’s policies are the realization of every rightwing nutjob website’s conspiracies and rantings.
OzarkHillbilly
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: 15 years ago my parents got a letter from a collection agency (not sure why they couldn’t find me) about some bad checks my wife had written on a joint checking account I had closed almost 10 years previously. So I called them just to see what they had. Talked to one of their agents. He threatened me with everything from garnishment to prison time. I had a hard time seeing how I could be legally responsible for something I didn’t do, so I said, “Let me see what I can put together, and I’ll call you tomorrow.”
Then I called a lawyer I had used in the past. He said something along the lines of, “Yeah, I know these guys. They buy these checks for pennies on the dollar They are all ex cops etc who make threats as easy as breathing. You haven’t hired me yet so I can’t give you any legal advice, but I can tell you this: The statute of limitations lapsed 4 years ago.”
“OK, Thank you very much.”
So I called the collection agent back the next day and said,”Well, I talked to my lawyer and he said you should go fuck yourself.”
The asshole absolutely exploded with invective and threats that not even a Marine would use, was gonna hunt me down, break my legs, rip off my arms and strangle me with them…. I realized this guy was not wound to tight and hung up. 5 seconds later the phone rings again and… IT’S HIM AGAIN!!! Same shit as before. I said something along the lines of, “You’re a looney.” and hung up again.
It was a couple days more of that shit with police reports being filed etc before the calls ended, but I continued receiving letters from them for another year or 2.
zhena gogolia
@OzarkHillbilly:
Spoken like a true Missourian!
Richard Utt
I’d say Democrats have no reason to be cocky: confidence is great – remember how Hillary was going to win? Dems were going t have an unbeatable majority forever?
IT WILL ONLY HAPPEN IF PEOPLE KNOW ABOUT IT – AND THAT ONLY HAPPENS IF YOU CAMPAIGN
Baud
FYI, legally you can tell a debt collector to never contact you again about a particular debt. They can still sue but they can’t contact you again without being subject to liability.
Baud
@Richard Utt: Thanks! I had forgotten about the election.
MomSense
@Raven:
I find that the insulation under the roof always settles so I just put some more in this winter. I would check in your attic or under the eaves and see if you could use some up there.
Anya
@Southern Beale: This is crap. Those Hollywood elites were campaigning for Obama as forcefully and as prominantly.
OzarkHillbilly
@zhena gogolia: Yeah, tho we have our own special brand of stupidity here.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Raven:
See if someone on Freecycle could use it.
Southern Beale
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Years ago I was mistakenly getting collections calls for someone with a similar name to mine, but it wasn’t me. They were so laughably off-base because they were looking for someone with my first name and my husband’s last name. But I kept my name when I got married, all of my business and personal affairs are in my own name so there’s no way any sane person would think it was me. I guess they got the phone number from a phone listing. However, they’d call about once week trying to get me to admit that I was really “Ann Jones” when my name is actually “Ann Winkleheimer” (NOT MY REAL NAME!) . This went on for MONTHS.
It was funny the way they’d try to trip me up on the phone. I finally told them (several times) that they were harassing me and they needed to leave me alone or I’d file a complaint with the state. They stopped calling after that.
Baud
@MomSense: How was your evening?
Schlemazel
@Baud:
My work phone was given to me with a number that belonged to a guy deep in the hole. I got 23 calls on day trying to collect. The second I started to tell them I was not Nathan Firebach and they were not to contact me again they would hang up. Easy-peasy, I never was able to tell them. 5% years later and I still get the occasional call every 2-3 week with the offer of payday loans or collections.
kindness
It’ll be real curious to see what happens in Nashville. You know any sizable protest will be blamed on ‘outsiders’. That’s like other Americans don’t count and that is exactly how the current Republican party sees things.
Hope there won’t be violence down there.
Schlemazel
I know we don’t have a bunch of hockey fans here so this may not mean much to many of you. But if you watched “Miracle on Ice” the name could be familiar.
Our daughter texted me a picture of her wearing a national championship ring with the tag “coaches championship ring” A second later “1976”. I texted back “That would be Herb Brooks, how did you end up with his ring?”. Turns out she meant HER coach. Tom Youngands. 1980 Gold medal winner, FOrmer NHL player. She knows who he is but never mentioned to us all season long.
OzarkHillbilly
But if 873,750 show up, they will be wrong.
Elizabelle
I love that little dog face. Lovely to wake up to.
Good morning, all. Brrrr in Northern VA (visiting friends). Accuweather warns of one foot of snow inbound on Monday.
March was in like a lamb. Now for the roar.
bemused
I had caught bits and pieces of Paul Ryan’s health care BS media tour this week but not the full court press so I tortured myself reading and watching videos this morning. I think 99.9% of GOP is insane, soulless and vilely corrupt but I can’t even describe how much I detest Ryan. GOP death plan is “an act of mercy”. Rolling back Medicaid expansion, block grants to the states. “This is so much bigger by order of magnitude than welfare reform. Let me describe exactly what the bill does for conservatives.” Medicaid is a “$16 billion program. We’re talking trillions in the end here”. He must have his pockets stuffed with hankies to wipe the drool off his mouth. He’s excited! They’ve been dreaming of this for years!
On the videos the asshole is beaming and looks like he’s about to bust out dancing.
Now I have to find something to settle my stomach.
maryQ
@msdc: yep.
msdc
@Baud:
Cosigned.
Corner Stone
@OzarkHillbilly:
They never seem to quite calculate the extent of Randy’s after hours proclivities. And they don’t call that guy “Randy” for nothing.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@bemused: You have a stronger stomach than I> I was listening to the ObamaBros talk to Ezra Klein, who pretty much said that for all he tries to be a good Broderist (seriously, I wish there were a transcript), this plan is some serious bullshit. One point he made, and one I’m seeing a lot, is that Paul Ryan is obsessed with the idea that Medicaid provides too strong a disincentive to work, the should-be infamous “we don’t want the social safety net [pause for emphasis and composition of Sad and Earnest Paul Ryan Face], to become a hammock” mentality.
Corner Stone
@bemused: I watched it in real time and was losing my fucking mind. This is the “policy wonk” the media has been hard selling us for years and here is, in the flesh, explaining to all of us that he has no idea how health insurance works.
It was crazy making and at times I started fantasizing that maybe the sky really was a different color.
msdc
@msdc: ETA: I have a very liberal friend who insists that Democrats “offer a plan” in response to Trumpcare, and keeps demanding to know where the plan is. I can’t figure out the nice way to say that
a) the plan is called Obamacare
b) loss aversion now works in its favor
c) you don’t provide Trumpcare with an alternative to run against, especially when it’s flailing – just let the loss aversion tear it apart
d) Nancy Pelosi has been to this rodeo before – it was W’s Social Security privatization
e) back then, “sensible centrists” were also demanding that she offer a plan, and she didn’t take the bait
f) and that’s how she stopped it.
Needless to say, this friend is also highly critical of the Democrats’ messaging.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Lapassionara:
Pi Day is Tuesday.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I’ve been thinking for a while that it would not at all surprise me to learn that Russia’s meddling had spread to those current and former NY office FBI agents clustered around Rudi Giuliani, but thinking that it was all probably too indirect and hands-off to ever be proven… now this seems to be bubbling up
this is all still a long way from a criminal case, and I think R’s will fight any kind of investigation tooth and nail, and even if we do get some kind of commission, Trump/party loyalists will try to stack it like they did the 9/11 Whitewash Committee, but… who knew where a third rate burglary would lead
bemused
@Corner Stone:
Oh yeah. Watching him makes my skin crawl. It’s like watching a stone cold murder movie with a clean cut looking guy in a suit smiling tenderly at you just before he cuts your heart out.
Corner Stone
Speaking of Ryan’s presentation, it looks like Joy Reid is about to go over it in her next block on AMJoy. That should be fun. I certainly hope she does not invite a rwnj on the panel for the segment.
Another Scott
Morning all.
In other news, Putin’s second bestest buddy (after Donnie) is now saying the Dutch are Nazis (after calling the Germans Nazis earlier). He really knows how to keep his friends, doesn’t he?
BBC News:
Erdogan is an extremely dangerous demagogue who has (so far pretty successfully) blackmailed the EU on migrant policy, and he’s cozying up with Putin more every day. Turkey’s voters would be insane to give him more power, but given his control of the media, etc., it’s hard to know if they have enough information to make an informed choice. Here’s hoping it doesn’t happen – one can’t discount the prospect. :-(
Cheers,
Scott.
bemused
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I shouldn’t, not good for me, but I just have this compulsion to know what the filthy bastards are up to at all times.
Corner Stone
@Steeplejack (tablet): And just where the hell were you when I needed someone to play off my Cockney accent comment back at #106? Huh? Answer me!
Pogonip
@CarolDuhart2: How long does it take to sew up 500+ voodoo dolls?
Apple did not give me a witch smiley but here’s a genie. ? At least I think that’s what he’s supposed to be.
No witch, no pumpkin–what’s Apple got against Halloween? Harrumph. They did give me a ghost. Also a smiling pile of poop. ?
bemused
@Corner Stone:
He’s an ideological Randian asshole. They are all delusional.
D58826
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: If it was a Clinton or Obama playing the Flynn/Trump roles, the GOP/RWNJ would already have the gallows set up on Penna. Ave. and they would be selling the rights to broadcast the hangings
mai naem mobile
@Schlemazel: my work phone number was apparently previously owned by an older Republican woman. Wilma something. The calls have stopped but I used to get quite a few GOTV and push poll calls around election time.
amk
whiney limey rich asshole – “If you are a white male – tough – you are an endangered species and you are going to have to work twice as hard.”
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@D58826: and on EvenTheLiberalMSNBC, Chuck, Andrea and BriWi* would be giving wall-to-wall coverage of Worse Than Watergate, with commentary from Hugh Hewitt and Nicole Wallace
* you know it’s hard news when they bring in Brian Williams!
Ohio Mom
@Raven: Do you have a Habitat for Humanity in your area? They might take it.
They have a couple of retail thrift shops in Cincinnati and they are full of the remains of home improvement projects: new half boxes of bathroom tiles, old kitchen cabinets, out-of-style exterior doors…insulation would fit right in.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Elizabelle:
WTF? (Hurrying off to local weather page.)
Another Scott
@efgoldman: I don’t see any cost numbers for Ronnie’s stay at GW University Hospital, but he was there for 12+ days, had thoracotomy surgery by their trauma team, lost half his blood, etc., etc..
It wasn’t cheap, and you can bet he personally didn’t pay the cost. (Of course, he shouldn’t have had to.)
People who can afford $1000 (in 1981) custom suits get free stuff, and for them going to the Emergency Room for free is no big deal. It’s like that for everyone, isn’t it?!?! What’s the problem???
Cheers,
Scott.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Corner Stone:
Late catching up on the thread, so I felt any addition would fall flat. In comedy timing is everything. As you know.
Carry on, guv.
J R in WV
@Raven:
RAven, if you have an attic, you could just make part of that insulation barrier twice as thick.
Or donate it to Habitat, which recycles construction materials into their ReStores or into the next house building project.
Another Scott
@JMG: Ah, but remember that Donnie wants adulation and most of his rallies during the campaign were in very, very safe areas. Donnie hates mockery, criticism, and small crowds. Worse than anything is small crowds – he will tolerate criticism if it keeps him in the news and keeps his supporters riled up, but he really, really doesn’t want to be ignored.
This is all about TV and Donnie. He doesn’t care one bit about what’s in the bill. He really doesn’t care either if they can’t pass anything – “I’ll just blame the Democrats!!”.
There’s no grand political strategery here in picking Tennessee. He thinks he’ll get a good, supportive crowd there, so that’s why he’s going there.
My $0.02.
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
@Another Scott: And amk at #86 got there first.
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Wow. Kidnapping/carjacking to collect on a (what should be illegal) loan. Mammon really has won with too many people (but we’ve known that for a long time) – such a blatant example is still surprising though.
:-(
Cheers,
Scott.
Brachiator
@msdc:
Your first point pretty much nails it. And the remaining points provide excellent backup.
Obamacare works, despite anything the GOP says. The Republicans, being the majority, should be offering plans that would strengthen Obamacare. The Democrats might happily participate in those discussions.
Instead, what the GOP is offering is free market fairy tales. They drafted their plan in a rush, in secret, and are doing everything they can to prevent non-partisan analysis because they know their plan will hurt people, take their insurance coverage away, and make it impossible for many people to get reasonable and affordable health care.
Mnemosyne
@Southern Beale:
For about the last 5 years, I have been getting collections calls for SOMEONE ELSE on my cell phone. Not me. Not my name. Not my gender. And every time I say they have the wrong number, they hang up on me and another one of them calls me back. Like I’m magically going to turn into a man named Gregory if they just call enough times.
Now I don’t answer any call that’s not from a number in my phone book. If it’s important, they’ll leave a message.
Another Scott
@Southern Beale: Got ya beat, I think.
Years ago I suddenly got an e-mail at work that money was being deducted from my pay for child support.
I don’t have any kids and have never been divorced. :-/
Long story short, someone with a SS# that is different from mine on the last digit was read incorrectly from a bad Xerox of some court order. Our names, birthdays, home addresses, work addresses, age, etc., etc., are completely different, but we did (kinda-sorta) have the same (very large) employer. But that mis-read SS# was enough to get money taken out of my pay for a couple of weeks. It took 6+ months to get it restored.
It’s amazing how few checks there are for mistakes like this, and how few consequences there are for collections companies (in the examples in this thread) that abusively harass and mess with the finances of (especially) innocent people (but actually people in general).
Cheers,
Scott.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Heh, Charlie Pierce on shirt-sleeves Paul Ryan
and Kevin Kruse
jeffreyw
?
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Mnemosyne:
True dat. Whenever I answer an unknown call (about once a month or so) because I think it might be somebody I need to talk to, like the new vet or some business I recently talked to, it invariably turns out to be time-wasting bullshit. Then I’m reinforced for another month. (Why it’s not permanent I have no idea. Pavlovian reaction to the phone ringing.)
Ruckus
@Kay:
You seem entirely too kind to me.
It seems to me that they have been getting a grade of R for quite some time, where R=willfully ignorant, blinding stupid, selfish beyond belief and racist as all fuck.
Ruckus
@greennotGreen:
It is the entire republican plan. But it’s actually not afflict the afflicted, it’s fuck over the bottom half of the economy, after all they take more than they pay in taxes, so the rich can’t get away with stealing it all.
msdc
@Brachiator: There is only one sensible counter-offer.
zhena gogolia
@OzarkHillbilly:
Tell me about it (KC gal)
Lizzy L
@D58826:
Bob Dylan.
Mnemosyne
Almost forgot to say — I saw on Facebook that apparently Sir Patrick is getting into pitbull rescue. I’m guessing he’s going into semi-retirement because why not?
ETA: That’s what I get for not clicking on the links in the post,.
brettvk
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: You ought to write a book combining theses anecdotes with financial advice for the clueless.
Mark Ralston
The crowd will arrive early if they go by this invitation. Maybe that’s the plan. It will be CDT not CST on the 15th.