“Update, 10 a.m.: Apparently whoever did this was also briefly able to “pin” the tweet, which, for the non-Twitter-initiated, means selecting a tweet so that it always shows up first on your user page. It’s what people do with, like, the tweet they’re most proud of sending.”
6.
hovercraft
@guachi: @dmsilev:
It’s real, it was deleted at 9.30 or so, they haven’t commented yet though.
ETA to clean up
7.
Peale
@dmsilev: yep. As much as I’d like to think it were true, if it’s not a parody, it was written by a social media manager whose keys to the account have been taken away pending further review
8.
MattF
So, I guess someone pranked McD’s Twitter account. Possibly an inside job, which would be a headache for McD. Not a huge deal. Not a huuuuge deal, either. Anonymous fame for the requisite 15 minutes.
9.
LAO
You live by the tweet, you get mocked by the tweet.
10.
Yarrow
Wow. Who had access to their Twitter feed?
11.
GregB
Have you ever seen how many microwaves there are in a McDonald’s?
First a “Hold the Mayo” thread, then a following one on McDonald’s…but I thought special orders don’t upset us was the Burger King jingle?
I am so confused right now…and hungry for some reason…
If that is a real McDonald’s tweet, I may have to start supporting them by buying their milkshakes or sundaes (which are actually pretty good). Those are my exact sentiments.
@Corner Stone: Oh, they deleted it, but on the Internet screen capture lives forever. My guess is that the IT/PR person (perhaps a gal and not a guy), just landed her new job and decided to get this off her conscience. But will definitely go to McDonald’s today.
I await Trump’s twitter rant about Obama’s deep state and how McDonalds sucks.
25.
Yarrow
@Betty Cracker: From that tweet, Twitter notified them? Seriously? The whole rest of the world laughing at them didn’t trigger any sort of investigation? Their social media strategy is weak.
26.
Elmo
One Big Mac and large fries coming up!
27.
MattF
@sherparick: Or, more likely, someone in in IT/PR who just got fired but still had the keys.
28.
Mr Stagger Lee
I think Wendy and the Burger King hacked McDonald’s account.
A fun twist: the McDonald’s “global chief communications officer” is former Obama press secretary Robert Gibbs.
See I told you “deep state”, they’ve infiltrated the private sector now!
Gibby isn’t dumb enough to jeopardize his livelihood, but now the conspiracy theorists have an opening.
30.
Oatler.
I want Mac’s fries right now to show solidarity. Or let’s see if Jim Gaffigan works the fries into his act while speaking on Glen Beck’s program.
Meanwhile, in Earth 2, president Clinton just enraged liberals to cries of “you sold us out!” by releasing a budget that didn’t immediately dismantle the defense department.
38.
hilts
This is the handiwork of Michael Keaton. Well played sir!
It’s come to this? We have to but Big Macs to show our support? Haven’t had a McDonald’s in eons, but I’m going today.
In other news, Animal Control called me first thing in the morning to tell me that Rosa had a bad night, had injured herself more and lost a great deal of blood as a result. I rushed over, she was in serious shape. They were kind enough to break protocol and let me sit with her in her cage and hold her as she was euthanized. I told her she was a good girl and I loved her, and her suffering was over in a minute. Hershey is home and resting, but he had stiches in 18 wounds, other puncture wounds, and his other canine tooth was knocked out.
So, in the end, Rosa made the decision she was done for me. But I’m so crushed at how I failed her.
42.
Zinsky
I hope the disgusting, unregistered sex offender Trump continues to eat like the filthy pig that he is – Big Macs for lunch, huge steaks for dinner – and has a massive coronary or stroke soon. I would take a President Pence at this point, to get rid of this insufferable egomaniac.
So, in the end, Rosa made the decision she was done for me. But I’m so crushed at how I failed her.
You didn’t. Please stop telling yourself that. You have built an extraordinary life for countless humans and animals, and every single one that crosses your path is the better for the encounter.
I’m sorry about Rosa, but you gave her time and comfort she wouldn’t have had otherwise. Here are more hugs for you {{{{{{{{{ }}}}}}}}}
At the new National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., a hallway of glass display cases features more than a century of black entrepreneurial triumphs. In one is a World War II–era mini parachute manufactured by the black-owned Pacific Parachute Company, home to one of the nation’s first racially integrated production plants. Another displays a giant time clock from the R. H. Boyd Publishing Company, among the earliest firms to print materials for black churches and schools. Although small, the exhibit recalls a now largely forgotten legacy: by serving their communities when others wouldn’t, black-owned independent businesses provided avenues of upward mobility for generations of black Americans and supplied critical leadership and financial support for the civil rights movement.
This tradition continues today. Last June, Black Enterprise magazine marked the forty-fourth anniversary of the BE 100s, the magazine’s annual ranking of the nation’s top 100 black-owned businesses. At the top of the list stood World Wide Technology, which, since its founding in 1990, has grown into a global firm with more than $7 billion in revenue and 3,000 employees. Then came companies like Radio One, whose fifty-five radio stations fan out among sixteen national markets. The combined revenues of the BE 100s, which also includes Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Productions, now totals more than $24 billion, a ninefold increase since 1973, adjusting for inflation.
A closer look at the numbers, however, reveals that these pioneering companies are the exception to a far more alarming trend. The last thirty years also have brought the wholesale collapse of black-owned independent businesses and financial institutions that once anchored black communities across the country. In 1985, sixty black-owned banks were providing financial services to their communities; today, just twenty-three remain. In eleven states that headquartered black-owned banks in 1994, not a single one is still in business. Of the fifty black-owned insurance companies that operated during the 1980s, today just two remain.
Yesterday brought some bad news for the Bannon/Miller wing of the White House. First of all, there was an election in the Netherlands.
Dutch voters turned out in force to back pro-European parties and help Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s Liberals easily beat off an election challenge by the anti-Islam Freedom Party of Geert Wilders, drawing a line in the sand over the spread of populism…
The outcome was worse than opinion polls had suggested for Wilders, representing a rejection of his platform of pulling the Netherlands out of the European Union, abandoning the euro, closing Dutch borders and stopping all immigration by Muslims. It suggests that the nationalist sentiment that prompted the U.K.’s Brexit vote and won Donald Trump the White House will struggle to secure as big a foothold in Europe’s core.
………………………
Secondly, U.S. District Judge Derrick K. Watson issued a ruling on Trump’s travel ban 2.0.
A federal judge in Hawaii on Wednesday issued a sweeping freeze of President Trump’s new executive order hours before it would have temporarily barred the issuance of new visas to citizens of six Muslim-majority countries and suspended the admission of new refugees.
………………………….
But perhaps the most delicious part of this ruling went beyond the words to the symbolic.
Pretty cool that Muslim ban blocked by Chinese-American AG arguing on behalf of Syrian-American plaintiff before a Native Hawaiian judge.
— Julia Carrie Wong (@juliacarriew) March 16, 2017
52.
Lizzy L
@satby: satby, I am so sorry. But I don’t think you failed her. You did everything you could. Fate always wins. Please please don’t beat yourself up.
I take my sweet boy Theo for his last car ride today.
During the presidential campaign, Donald Trump said he had a great health care plan, a great infrastructure plan and a secret plan to defeat ISIS. We now know that all of that was a lie. On ISIS, he signed an executive order after the inauguration calling on the military to submit a plan within 30 days to defeat ISIS. In late February, General Mattis submitted a preliminary secret plan.
Another outrageous lie Trump told during the campaign was suggesting that President Obama was the “founder of ISIS” and Hillary Clinton its co-founder. That was based on his assumption that the way Obama ended the war in Iraq created the opening for ISIS to establish territory in that country as part of their caliphate.
All of that was going on as the U.S. military worked with Iraq to reclaim large swaths of territory from ISIS – leading to the final battle to retake Mosul. Once again, Trump wasn’t impressed. He claimed that the military offensive in Mosul was actually an elaborate, international conspiracy to help Hillary Clinton’s campaign and suggested it was a “total disaster” because it wasn’t kept secret.
I say all that because since the election, Trump has gone completely silent about what is happening with ISIS in Mosul. Yesterday we got another report that probably explains that silence.
Islamic State fighters are in disarray and struggling to fend off a rapid offensive by Iraqi forces to recapture Mosul and expel the militants from their last major stronghold in the country, a top U.S. military official said.
“They’re lacking purpose motivation and direction,” Army Maj. Gen. Joseph Martin said in a phone interview from Baghdad. “I’ve never seen them so disorganized.”
The pace of the battle reflects dramatic improvements in Iraq’s military and its ability to coordinate operations with a U.S.-led air campaign, which is pounding the militants at a record pace.
“You’re watching ISIS be annihilated,” Martin said of the militant group.
In other words, everything Trump said about ISIS in Iraq and the battle to re-take Mosul was wrong.
54.
Elizabelle
@satby: Was there an earlier post about Rosa’s situation?
Very sorry for you, but you gave Rosa a home. Sadly, these things happen.
And you had a car to get over there, right? So yesterday’s trip to Lexington went well??
55.
Elizabelle
@Lizzy L: Hugs, Lizzy. Am sure you are doing the right thing for Theo, but it is hard.
A week ago when I asked what would happen if the GOP failed to repeal Obamacare, I thought I was going out on a limb. While the Republicans were facing an uphill climb at the time, no one was actually contemplating failure. But today, that is obviously a very real possibility.
A huge tell came this morning when Speaker Ryan seemed intent on making sure that he isn’t alone when/if that ship sinks.
Trump doesn’t want his name on @GOP’s plan, but @SpeakerRyan says he helped write #Trumpcare pic.twitter.com/K7s6QfZZH6
— American Bridge (@American_Bridge) March 15, 2017
Matt Fuller is even suggesting that Republicans might be willing to re-define success.
Instead of actually overhauling the Affordable Care Act, Republicans may now just be trying to pass a bill in the House ― with the recognition that the Senate will never agree to a House-passed plan and that rowdy House conservatives may never accept a Senate bill…
If Trump and some Republicans now think their best course of action is to do nothing and continue blaming problems with the health care system on Democrats, then perhaps the best cover they can offer their members is to move a GOP bill out of the House, watch it die in the Senate, and then spend the next two years blaming Senate Democrats in states that Trump won.
57.
Elizabelle
LOL re the Mickey D’s tweet.
I don’t recall this sort of derision lobbed at President Obama by major corporations. He may have been hated by rightwingers, but he was never a punchline.
@Lizzy L: oh Lizzy, so sorry again. He had a good life with you and it’s a last gift to give that we can spare them the long suffering of a natural death. But it’s heartbreaking. I’m thinking of you and sweet Theo today along with Rosa.
After mere minutes of debate, the House Budget Committee narrowly approved the GOP bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, 17 to 19. Three hardline conservative Republicans on the committee—Reps. David Brat (R-VA), David Gary Palmer (R-AL) and Mark Sanford (R-SC)—joined every single Democrat member in opposing the bill, but were unable to muster the numbers to stop its passage.
The bill had been expected to squeak through the Budget Committee, though the exact number of Republican defections was up in the air. The bill next goes to the House Rules Committee, where it could see significant revisions.
The successful vote to advance the bill comes amid a wave of criticisms of the legislation from the left, right, and center, and admissions from House leadership that it cannot pass in its current form.
Conservatives lawmakers in the House are trying to pull the bill farther to the right, fighting to impose work requirements for people on Medicaid and speed up the freeze of the Medicaid expansion. But moderates in the House and Senate—especially those from states who opted to expand Medicaid to hundreds of thousands of people—tell TPM these changes could drive away their votes.
I’ve been longing for a filet-o-fish, which I have about once every five years. Although there is a McDonald’s 2 minutes from me, I hardly ever set foot in it.
Ryan is a disgusting liar. Trump doesn’t know how to write.
65.
sharl
Welp, it’s no surprise that – wherever McDonalds comes up in a twitter discussion – one thing would lead to another, ultimately leading to a Chris Arnade tweetstorm (now in progress).
66.
Lizzy L
Thank you satby and everybody for your good wishes. I’m not going to try to respond individually, but please know that I appreciate your good wishes and your sympathy so much.
Thank you all. I’m deeply grateful for all the kindness shown here and IRL today. Rosa was a sweet but troubled soul. I had been giving extra attention to try to improve things, so I know her last months were happy ones. And that’s a comfort too.
If Trump and some Republicans now think their best course of action is to do nothing and continue blaming problems with the health care system on Democrats, then perhaps the best cover they can offer their members is to move a GOP bill out of the House, watch it die in the Senate, and then spend the next two years blaming Senate Democrats in states that Trump won.
The only problem with this strategery that worked so well in the last two midterms, is that the REPUBLICANS CONTROL EVERYTHING. Twitler is president, Ryan is the Speaker, and McTurtle is majority leader. The Democrats control NOTHING. I know their rubes are morans, but even they know that they won, they won it all, and finally republicans can do what they want, I suspect even they will find it strange that after giving the GOP everything they said they needed, total control, they still claim they can’t do anything. Not going to fly.
69.
hovercraft
@Lizzy L:
Such a sad day, best of luck, stay strong. {{{{{ }}}}}
70.
Applejinx
@Yarrow: Those fun-loving Russian hackers, of course! :D
What, you thought they wanted to put Trump in power and NOT fuck with him?
Now if Disney, or a hotel chain, threw shade, that would be funny.
74.
Another Scott
@satby: I’m very sorry. You did everything you could and were a good mom to her.
Remember the good times. Hang in there.
Best wishes,
Scott.
75.
danielx
Always wondered what government by stream-of-consciousness looked like…it’s not a pretty picture.
ETA: “(A fun twist: the McDonald’s “global chief communications officer” is former Obama press secretary Robert Gibbs.)”
My gawd, how deep does this conspiracy go?
76.
Another Scott
(Obsolete)
Cheers,
Scott.
77.
The Moar You Know
@satby: Jesus. I am sorry. Read the prologue to this; you did not fail your pup. You didn’t. Sometimes they come to us too damaged.
I can say this in all sincerity because I had a similar (thankfully not quite as bloody) situation a few years back. Problem there was, he wasn’t going after other dogs; he was going after people. Deliberately. My wife and I both have scars. There was simply nothing else to be done. And I beat myself up about it still. But reading a story like yours always helps to clarify; a dog that attacks other dogs or people uncontrollably is a dog that cannot stay in human society. And it’s not like you can drop them off at the edge of the forest and they’ll have a nice happy life in the woods. Nature is not that nice. You did the only thing that could be done.
@satby: Oh, dear…how did I miss what was going on? Was Rosa the rescue you were having problems with? In any case, my condolences. It’s always hard to euthanize a pet, even when it’s the right thing to do.
@hovercraft: But, my spouse just saw Ryan effusing on TV about how wonderful and helpful Trump is as a negotiator and how impressed he, Ryan, is by our wonderful President. Even spouse laughed out loud at Ryan’s wordsr and said that Ryan should know that Trump is gonna throw him under the bus anyways.
84.
Yarrow
@satby: @Lizzy L: So sorry for you both. Condolences. Even when you’re doing the right thing it’s hard.
85.
stinger
@satby: Ah, so very sorry. My thoughts are with you.
86.
stinger
@Lizzy L: This is hard. Please accept my condolences.
That dude is really dedicated to a framing that somehow completely ignores race in dividing America up into two categories.
Having followed him for quite some time now, I have to disagree with this. His general thesis is that race is at or near the top of any list of the woes of the down-and-out – with educational level sharing that top location on the list – but that the actual situation is usually a complex mixture that varies between communities and what I guess I’d call sociological subcategories.
Here is the list of the results of a search on the word “race” within the tweets he has authored; even when you subtract out the (few) tweets that have nothing to do with racial issues – e.g., tweets containing phrases like ‘horse race,’ ‘state of the (election/campaign) race,’ and the like – there are a LOT of results returned from that search.
He has also written longer pieces that touch on this specific aspect (example).
Helicoptoring into any given single Arnade twitter rant in isolation from other stuff he writes doesn’t provide a full picture of where he’s coming from, and in fact often results in him fighting (and blocking) people on twitter who do just that and get all riled up by what they read. (Yup, one of Twitter’s numerous inherent limitations.) There is a limit to how much one can conclude from what Arnade has learned, and the way he goes about it. But that’s true of any single approach to studying societies. I would contend that Arnade’s stuff is quite valuable when combined with other approaches such as good traditional reporting and well designed scholarly studies.
88.
J R in WV
Years ago we had a next door dog who was big and sweet, until suddenly not anymore. Many stitches in several dogs who did nothing to deserve it.
We owe our dogs an environment safe from the attack of a dog who loses their control, just as we owe out kids safe schools. It is sad when such a dog is affectionate, mostly, sweet, mostly, but dangerous sometimes and can’t be trusted.
And when they age out of their comfort zone, then we can help them past their suffering, which is really a blessing. Hospice helped my dad past his suffering with morphine, which was a blessing.
Many years ago my parents got a mini dachshund, who was sweet, mostly, but would go off unexpectedly. He got a couple of passes, then he bit a 2 y o cousin in the face, and took that last trip the very next day. Even a tiny dog can do a lot of damage in an instant. The little cousin wasn’t hurt badly, fortunately. Now a beautiful mom and successful speech therapist.
89.
Lyrebird
@satby: Others have said this better but… you sheltered her and comforted her to the last. Can’t take the pain of loss away, but yes yes take whatever comfort you can, after giving with all your heart.
@The Moar You Know: I remember that situation, I think you mentioned it here at the time. It’s tough, but I’m getting to a place of resignation with it. She went out feeling the love at least.
92.
Peter
@sharl: I’ve read plenty of his writing on the subject. He mentions race in passing, but whenever it comes to actually doing analysis he ALWAYS goes back to his front-row/back-row division, which is race-erasing and even he doesn’t use it particularly consistently.
93.
sukabi
@danielx: it probably wouldn’t be so horrifying if the people in charge had functioning empathy centers, a depth of knowledge more than a micron deep, and didn’t drink their own hateRade…
Just sayin.
94.
Steeplejack
I’m going out in a bit to forage for provisions for the first time since the snowstorm, and I’m thinking about putting McDonald’s on the itinerary. Maybe a filet o’ fish with a side of Trump burn.
95.
Death Panel Truck
@zhena gogolia: An occasional Filet-O-Fish never killed anybody.
I’ve read plenty of his writing on the subject. He mentions race in passing, but whenever it comes to actually doing analysis he ALWAYS goes back to his front-row/back-row division, which is race-erasing and even he doesn’t use it particularly consistently.
On the front-row/back-row thing – the easier part of your reply – I agree that he overuses that analogy WAY too often, even granting the fact that analogies are rarely perfect for even very well defined and specific circumstances. Just today a leftie who basically agrees with Arnade on the fundamental issues raised objections to that analogy, based on its inherent limitations.
To the extent that the front-row/back-row analogy is so heavily used as to present a distraction for readers, I suppose I could see erasure of racial considerations (and other things) might be a problem, in which case race-erasure is a collateral effect (unintentional I assume) of his manner of thesis development and expression.
With his writing I think he’s trying to reach a certain subset of people who are both racially and economically privileged, which is a long game which will never yield a huge payout, since such fortunate souls have the (short term) luxury of ignoring the less fortunate, by such means as choosing a nice gated and/or policed community along with sticking to carefully selected “news” sources that will happily confirm their biases and not trouble their beautiful minds with dissonant realities.
You can yell at folks ignorant or in denial about racism – plenty of sites do that – or you can lecture them in the manner that someone like Tim Wise does. I assume both of those options, as well as others that aren’t coming to mind at the moment, have their proper places and times.
Beyond whatever self-gratification he gets from his own explorations – and self-gratification is certainly one of his motivations – Arnade is trying to reach the kind of “front-row kids” he spent 20 years working with on Wall Street, along with other professional-class types. He’s gotten a fair amount of ribbing – some gentle, some rather pointed – from those of his former colleagues who haunt Finance Twitter, though a few seem to thoughtfully consider his writings. Like I said, a long game with low yields. He’s pessimistic for the short term [as am I, though I’ve always been a glass-half empty person (it sucks; inherited from Mom I think)]. But I give him huge props for the effort.
98.
KlareCole
@satby: I’m late to this thread, so you may not see my post. But my heart sure goes out to you satby. I have rescued all sorts of animals, and sometimes they just don’t get to be spared. I can remember my first loss 25 years ago, a pelican caught up in fish hooks & line. You loved Rosa, you saved her for months. You gave her more life and comforted her in dying. That is a whole lot. The most sacred thing is life & it’s preservation. You are a warrior for that cause. The world is a better place because of your efforts. That is what I force myself to remember when we lose some beloved creature & it tears at my heart.
I thought he was all about overcooked beef slathered in ketchup.
I didn’t have either. I was still too full after a late breakfast.
100.
RM
@sharl: My thing about his analogy is that there are a lot of people who don’t neatly fit into his categories. Or anyway, that’s how it seems when I look at my peer group. There are tons of people in their twenties and early thirties who never did better than small state schools and are poor and frustrated and living with their parents… but reject those ‘traditionalist’ views he mentions and prize smarts and all that stuff.
Or maybe this is a ‘millennials’ don’t count thing again.
101.
sharl
@RM: I’ve noticed Arnade rarely features young people in the stuff he’s posted/published in the last year or so. I even noted that in his twitter feed once; he didn’t respond.
…..I suspect one reason is practical: the older folks who have time to hang at McDonalds are more easily accessible for his relatively* substantial chats, while younger people probably don’t have the time to stick around and talk to the scruffy middle-aged weirdo white guy, who probably comes across more as a likely panhandler than the ex-Wall Street self-styled pop-sociologist he is.
……*[relative to the so-called (wo)man-in-the-street interviews traditionally featured in TV or radio news programming]
Several years ago he and his then-regular writing partner Cassie Rodenberg did feature more young people, when they were focused on drug-addicted and impoverished community members in poor NYC neighborhoods. In his newer stuff I think other subgroups are also missing, though some of those omissions are by design (e.g. due to Arnade’s selection of poor or working class neighborhoods).
He would probably admit that there are limits to what conclusions can be drawn from his interviews; in fact I think he has done so. But I really would like to hear what younger people are thinking in those neighborhoods he visits, both for comparisons to what older people are thinking and for comparisons with younger people in affluent neighborhoods.
Comments are closed.
Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!
Corner Stone
I agree with the sentiment but can’t seem to find it on their twit feed.
ETA, ah, multiple outlets indicating it was pinned briefly then deleted.
Wowsers.
dmsilev
Is that real, or is it a parody account of some sort? I’m going to guess parody.
guachi
Real tweet? Or easily faked tweet?
hovercraft
McDonalds is part of Obama’s “Deep State”, who knew.
Quick someone tell Rush that all of Michelle’s talk about “healthy eating” was just a cover.
raven
Official McDonald’s Twitter Account Calls Trump “a Disgusting Excuse of a President”
“Update, 10 a.m.: Apparently whoever did this was also briefly able to “pin” the tweet, which, for the non-Twitter-initiated, means selecting a tweet so that it always shows up first on your user page. It’s what people do with, like, the tweet they’re most proud of sending.”
hovercraft
@guachi: @dmsilev:
It’s real, it was deleted at 9.30 or so, they haven’t commented yet though.
ETA to clean up
Peale
@dmsilev: yep. As much as I’d like to think it were true, if it’s not a parody, it was written by a social media manager whose keys to the account have been taken away pending further review
MattF
So, I guess someone pranked McD’s Twitter account. Possibly an inside job, which would be a headache for McD. Not a huge deal. Not a huuuuge deal, either. Anonymous fame for the requisite 15 minutes.
LAO
You live by the tweet, you get mocked by the tweet.
Yarrow
Wow. Who had access to their Twitter feed?
GregB
Have you ever seen how many microwaves there are in a McDonald’s?
NH history note. The McDonald’s were born in NH.
raven
Stephen Pulls A ‘Rachel Maddow’
Elisabeth
@raven:
From the link: “(A fun twist: the McDonald’s “global chief communications officer” is former Obama press secretary Robert Gibbs.)”
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
I don’t think Trump had any idea what he was getting himself into.
Betty Cracker
Heh! Well done, Hamburglar!
Peale
@Elisabeth: lol. Maybe Gibbs was drunk tweeting.
Corner Stone
First a “Hold the Mayo” thread, then a following one on McDonald’s…but I thought special orders don’t upset us was the Burger King jingle?
I am so confused right now…and hungry for some reason…
Yarrow
@raven: Thanks for the link. I love Stephen.
@Betty Cracker: It must have been the Hamburglar!
Patricia Kayden
If that is a real McDonald’s tweet, I may have to start supporting them by buying their milkshakes or sundaes (which are actually pretty good). Those are my exact sentiments.
rikyrah
Hilarious!!!
with the tweets
sherparick
@Corner Stone: Oh, they deleted it, but on the Internet screen capture lives forever. My guess is that the IT/PR person (perhaps a gal and not a guy), just landed her new job and decided to get this off her conscience. But will definitely go to McDonald’s today.
Big Ole Hound
@Betty Cracker: But but he’s a clown…horrors
trnc
@Yarrow:
You mean besides Putin?
Elisabeth
@Peale:
I await Trump’s twitter rant about Obama’s deep state and how McDonalds sucks.
Yarrow
@Betty Cracker: From that tweet, Twitter notified them? Seriously? The whole rest of the world laughing at them didn’t trigger any sort of investigation? Their social media strategy is weak.
Elmo
One Big Mac and large fries coming up!
MattF
@sherparick: Or, more likely, someone in in IT/PR who just got fired but still had the keys.
Mr Stagger Lee
I think Wendy and the Burger King hacked McDonald’s account.
hovercraft
@Elisabeth:
See I told you “deep state”, they’ve infiltrated the private sector now!
Gibby isn’t dumb enough to jeopardize his livelihood, but now the conspiracy theorists have an opening.
Oatler.
I want Mac’s fries right now to show solidarity. Or let’s see if Jim Gaffigan works the fries into his act while speaking on Glen Beck’s program.
Brachiator
@GregB:
This reminds me to rent The Founder if it is available on video.
Loved that Mickey D’s tweet, even if it was a hack. Wonder if Trump wants fries to go with that diss?
Weaselone
@Mr Stagger Lee:
Maybe, but is there any reason to expect this might not improve sales. McDonald’s, the new fast food for Hipsters. It’s so retro.
currants
@Betty Cracker: “Heh! Well done, Hamburglar!”
Well done Ms. Cracker!
SenyorDave
Everyone should buy McDonald’s stock. If it goes up companies will think that insulting shitgibbon will help their stock price.
schrodingers_cat
I am going to get breakfast at McD’s this Sunday!
Brachiator
Trump has to use both his tiny hands to hold a quarter pounder with cheese.
Major Major Major Major
Meanwhile, in Earth 2, president Clinton just enraged liberals to cries of “you sold us out!” by releasing a budget that didn’t immediately dismantle the defense department.
hilts
This is the handiwork of Michael Keaton. Well played sir!
schrodingers_cat
@Brachiator: One french fry is all he can manage with one hand. Sad.
mai naem mobile
Oh, gawd please let this be a real tweet.
satby
It’s come to this? We have to but Big Macs to show our support? Haven’t had a McDonald’s in eons, but I’m going today.
In other news, Animal Control called me first thing in the morning to tell me that Rosa had a bad night, had injured herself more and lost a great deal of blood as a result. I rushed over, she was in serious shape. They were kind enough to break protocol and let me sit with her in her cage and hold her as she was euthanized. I told her she was a good girl and I loved her, and her suffering was over in a minute. Hershey is home and resting, but he had stiches in 18 wounds, other puncture wounds, and his other canine tooth was knocked out.
So, in the end, Rosa made the decision she was done for me. But I’m so crushed at how I failed her.
Zinsky
I hope the disgusting, unregistered sex offender Trump continues to eat like the filthy pig that he is – Big Macs for lunch, huge steaks for dinner – and has a massive coronary or stroke soon. I would take a President Pence at this point, to get rid of this insufferable egomaniac.
JPL
Trump does have tiny hands!
just sayin
SiubhanDuinne
@satby:
You didn’t. Please stop telling yourself that. You have built an extraordinary life for countless humans and animals, and every single one that crosses your path is the better for the encounter.
I’m sorry about Rosa, but you gave her time and comfort she wouldn’t have had otherwise. Here are more hugs for you {{{{{{{{{ }}}}}}}}}
Humboldtblue
That tweet may be salty but that fucking asshole’s budget isn’t fucking salty, it’s the beginning of the dismemberment of our government.
schrodingers_cat
@Humboldtblue: Putin’s lackey is doing his bidding. No surprise. KGB operatives don’t fool around.
hovercraft
@satby:
I’m so sorry for your loss, but as you say in the end she made the decision for you. {{{{ }}}}
rikyrah
The Decline of Black Business
And what it means for American democracy.
by Brian S. Feldman
At the new National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., a hallway of glass display cases features more than a century of black entrepreneurial triumphs. In one is a World War II–era mini parachute manufactured by the black-owned Pacific Parachute Company, home to one of the nation’s first racially integrated production plants. Another displays a giant time clock from the R. H. Boyd Publishing Company, among the earliest firms to print materials for black churches and schools. Although small, the exhibit recalls a now largely forgotten legacy: by serving their communities when others wouldn’t, black-owned independent businesses provided avenues of upward mobility for generations of black Americans and supplied critical leadership and financial support for the civil rights movement.
This tradition continues today. Last June, Black Enterprise magazine marked the forty-fourth anniversary of the BE 100s, the magazine’s annual ranking of the nation’s top 100 black-owned businesses. At the top of the list stood World Wide Technology, which, since its founding in 1990, has grown into a global firm with more than $7 billion in revenue and 3,000 employees. Then came companies like Radio One, whose fifty-five radio stations fan out among sixteen national markets. The combined revenues of the BE 100s, which also includes Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Productions, now totals more than $24 billion, a ninefold increase since 1973, adjusting for inflation.
A closer look at the numbers, however, reveals that these pioneering companies are the exception to a far more alarming trend. The last thirty years also have brought the wholesale collapse of black-owned independent businesses and financial institutions that once anchored black communities across the country. In 1985, sixty black-owned banks were providing financial services to their communities; today, just twenty-three remain. In eleven states that headquartered black-owned banks in 1994, not a single one is still in business. Of the fifty black-owned insurance companies that operated during the 1980s, today just two remain.
WereBear
@satby: I’m so sorry. But if she was that troubled, there’s sometimes nothing we can do.
Emma
@satby: You did not fail her. You did the best you could for her, as you do for everyone around you, human or animal.
rikyrah
A Bad Day For the White Nationalists
by Nancy LeTourneau March 16, 2017 10:32 AM
Yesterday brought some bad news for the Bannon/Miller wing of the White House. First of all, there was an election in the Netherlands.
………………………
Secondly, U.S. District Judge Derrick K. Watson issued a ruling on Trump’s travel ban 2.0.
………………………….
But perhaps the most delicious part of this ruling went beyond the words to the symbolic.
Pretty cool that Muslim ban blocked by Chinese-American AG arguing on behalf of Syrian-American plaintiff before a Native Hawaiian judge.
— Julia Carrie Wong (@juliacarriew) March 16, 2017
Lizzy L
@satby: satby, I am so sorry. But I don’t think you failed her. You did everything you could. Fate always wins. Please please don’t beat yourself up.
I take my sweet boy Theo for his last car ride today.
rikyrah
Trump Said the Words ‘Radical Islamic Terrorism.’ Now What?
Everything Trump has said about ISIS and the battle to re-take Mosul has been wrong.
by Nancy LeTourneau March 16, 2017 8:00 AM
During the presidential campaign, Donald Trump said he had a great health care plan, a great infrastructure plan and a secret plan to defeat ISIS. We now know that all of that was a lie. On ISIS, he signed an executive order after the inauguration calling on the military to submit a plan within 30 days to defeat ISIS. In late February, General Mattis submitted a preliminary secret plan.
Another outrageous lie Trump told during the campaign was suggesting that President Obama was the “founder of ISIS” and Hillary Clinton its co-founder. That was based on his assumption that the way Obama ended the war in Iraq created the opening for ISIS to establish territory in that country as part of their caliphate.
All of that was going on as the U.S. military worked with Iraq to reclaim large swaths of territory from ISIS – leading to the final battle to retake Mosul. Once again, Trump wasn’t impressed. He claimed that the military offensive in Mosul was actually an elaborate, international conspiracy to help Hillary Clinton’s campaign and suggested it was a “total disaster” because it wasn’t kept secret.
I say all that because since the election, Trump has gone completely silent about what is happening with ISIS in Mosul. Yesterday we got another report that probably explains that silence.
In other words, everything Trump said about ISIS in Iraq and the battle to re-take Mosul was wrong.
Elizabelle
@satby: Was there an earlier post about Rosa’s situation?
Very sorry for you, but you gave Rosa a home. Sadly, these things happen.
And you had a car to get over there, right? So yesterday’s trip to Lexington went well??
Elizabelle
@Lizzy L: Hugs, Lizzy. Am sure you are doing the right thing for Theo, but it is hard.
rikyrah
Will Republicans Settle For Only Passing Obamacare Repeal in the House?
by Nancy LeTourneau March 15, 2017 3:42 PM
A week ago when I asked what would happen if the GOP failed to repeal Obamacare, I thought I was going out on a limb. While the Republicans were facing an uphill climb at the time, no one was actually contemplating failure. But today, that is obviously a very real possibility.
A huge tell came this morning when Speaker Ryan seemed intent on making sure that he isn’t alone when/if that ship sinks.
Matt Fuller is even suggesting that Republicans might be willing to re-define success.
Elizabelle
LOL re the Mickey D’s tweet.
I don’t recall this sort of derision lobbed at President Obama by major corporations. He may have been hated by rightwingers, but he was never a punchline.
satby
@Lizzy L: oh Lizzy, so sorry again. He had a good life with you and it’s a last gift to give that we can spare them the long suffering of a natural death. But it’s heartbreaking. I’m thinking of you and sweet Theo today along with Rosa.
hovercraft
Tryancare marches on.
Obamacare Repeal Bill Takes Another Step Forward, Passage Still In Doubt
After mere minutes of debate, the House Budget Committee narrowly approved the GOP bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, 17 to 19. Three hardline conservative Republicans on the committee—Reps. David Brat (R-VA), David Gary Palmer (R-AL) and Mark Sanford (R-SC)—joined every single Democrat member in opposing the bill, but were unable to muster the numbers to stop its passage.
The bill had been expected to squeak through the Budget Committee, though the exact number of Republican defections was up in the air. The bill next goes to the House Rules Committee, where it could see significant revisions.
The successful vote to advance the bill comes amid a wave of criticisms of the legislation from the left, right, and center, and admissions from House leadership that it cannot pass in its current form.
Conservatives lawmakers in the House are trying to pull the bill farther to the right, fighting to impose work requirements for people on Medicaid and speed up the freeze of the Medicaid expansion. But moderates in the House and Senate—especially those from states who opted to expand Medicaid to hundreds of thousands of people—tell TPM these changes could drive away their votes.
zhena gogolia
@schrodingers_cat:
I’ve been longing for a filet-o-fish, which I have about once every five years. Although there is a McDonald’s 2 minutes from me, I hardly ever set foot in it.
SiubhanDuinne
@Lizzy L:
It’s so hard. Be careful driving, and give sweet Theo an extra hug from me.
So sorry.
JPL
@Lizzy L: How sad for you and Satby. Hugs!
zhena gogolia
@satby: @Lizzy L:
My heart goes out to you both.
zhena gogolia
@rikyrah:
Ryan is a disgusting liar. Trump doesn’t know how to write.
sharl
Welp, it’s no surprise that – wherever McDonalds comes up in a twitter discussion – one thing would lead to another, ultimately leading to a Chris Arnade tweetstorm (now in progress).
Lizzy L
Thank you satby and everybody for your good wishes. I’m not going to try to respond individually, but please know that I appreciate your good wishes and your sympathy so much.
satby
@Elizabelle: details here
Thank you all. I’m deeply grateful for all the kindness shown here and IRL today. Rosa was a sweet but troubled soul. I had been giving extra attention to try to improve things, so I know her last months were happy ones. And that’s a comfort too.
hovercraft
@rikyrah:
The only problem with this strategery that worked so well in the last two midterms, is that the REPUBLICANS CONTROL EVERYTHING. Twitler is president, Ryan is the Speaker, and McTurtle is majority leader. The Democrats control NOTHING. I know their rubes are morans, but even they know that they won, they won it all, and finally republicans can do what they want, I suspect even they will find it strange that after giving the GOP everything they said they needed, total control, they still claim they can’t do anything. Not going to fly.
hovercraft
@Lizzy L:
Such a sad day, best of luck, stay strong. {{{{{ }}}}}
Applejinx
@Yarrow: Those fun-loving Russian hackers, of course! :D
What, you thought they wanted to put Trump in power and NOT fuck with him?
Woodrowfan
@satby: I am so sorry……
Another Scott
@raven: :-) Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
Mike in DC
Now if Disney, or a hotel chain, threw shade, that would be funny.
Another Scott
@satby: I’m very sorry. You did everything you could and were a good mom to her.
Remember the good times. Hang in there.
Best wishes,
Scott.
danielx
Always wondered what government by stream-of-consciousness looked like…it’s not a pretty picture.
ETA: “(A fun twist: the McDonald’s “global chief communications officer” is former Obama press secretary Robert Gibbs.)”
My gawd, how deep does this conspiracy go?
Another Scott
(Obsolete)
Cheers,
Scott.
The Moar You Know
@satby: Jesus. I am sorry. Read the prologue to this; you did not fail your pup. You didn’t. Sometimes they come to us too damaged.
I can say this in all sincerity because I had a similar (thankfully not quite as bloody) situation a few years back. Problem there was, he wasn’t going after other dogs; he was going after people. Deliberately. My wife and I both have scars. There was simply nothing else to be done. And I beat myself up about it still. But reading a story like yours always helps to clarify; a dog that attacks other dogs or people uncontrollably is a dog that cannot stay in human society. And it’s not like you can drop them off at the edge of the forest and they’ll have a nice happy life in the woods. Nature is not that nice. You did the only thing that could be done.
eclare
@satby: @Lizzy L: So sorry for you both.
Peter
@sharl: That dude is really dedicated to a framing that somehow completely ignores race in dividing America up into two categories.
Aimai
@Major Major Major Major: how can I get to earth two!
Just One More Canuck
Kroc style – Boom Like That
Miss Bianca
@satby: Oh, dear…how did I miss what was going on? Was Rosa the rescue you were having problems with? In any case, my condolences. It’s always hard to euthanize a pet, even when it’s the right thing to do.
@Lizzy L: and condolences to you, as well.
dww44
@hovercraft: But, my spouse just saw Ryan effusing on TV about how wonderful and helpful Trump is as a negotiator and how impressed he, Ryan, is by our wonderful President. Even spouse laughed out loud at Ryan’s wordsr and said that Ryan should know that Trump is gonna throw him under the bus anyways.
Yarrow
@satby: @Lizzy L: So sorry for you both. Condolences. Even when you’re doing the right thing it’s hard.
stinger
@satby: Ah, so very sorry. My thoughts are with you.
stinger
@Lizzy L: This is hard. Please accept my condolences.
sharl
@Peter:
Having followed him for quite some time now, I have to disagree with this. His general thesis is that race is at or near the top of any list of the woes of the down-and-out – with educational level sharing that top location on the list – but that the actual situation is usually a complex mixture that varies between communities and what I guess I’d call sociological subcategories.
Here is the list of the results of a search on the word “race” within the tweets he has authored; even when you subtract out the (few) tweets that have nothing to do with racial issues – e.g., tweets containing phrases like ‘horse race,’ ‘state of the (election/campaign) race,’ and the like – there are a LOT of results returned from that search.
He has also written longer pieces that touch on this specific aspect (example).
Helicoptoring into any given single Arnade twitter rant in isolation from other stuff he writes doesn’t provide a full picture of where he’s coming from, and in fact often results in him fighting (and blocking) people on twitter who do just that and get all riled up by what they read. (Yup, one of Twitter’s numerous inherent limitations.) There is a limit to how much one can conclude from what Arnade has learned, and the way he goes about it. But that’s true of any single approach to studying societies. I would contend that Arnade’s stuff is quite valuable when combined with other approaches such as good traditional reporting and well designed scholarly studies.
J R in WV
Years ago we had a next door dog who was big and sweet, until suddenly not anymore. Many stitches in several dogs who did nothing to deserve it.
We owe our dogs an environment safe from the attack of a dog who loses their control, just as we owe out kids safe schools. It is sad when such a dog is affectionate, mostly, sweet, mostly, but dangerous sometimes and can’t be trusted.
And when they age out of their comfort zone, then we can help them past their suffering, which is really a blessing. Hospice helped my dad past his suffering with morphine, which was a blessing.
Many years ago my parents got a mini dachshund, who was sweet, mostly, but would go off unexpectedly. He got a couple of passes, then he bit a 2 y o cousin in the face, and took that last trip the very next day. Even a tiny dog can do a lot of damage in an instant. The little cousin wasn’t hurt badly, fortunately. Now a beautiful mom and successful speech therapist.
Lyrebird
@satby: Others have said this better but… you sheltered her and comforted her to the last. Can’t take the pain of loss away, but yes yes take whatever comfort you can, after giving with all your heart.
Lyrebird
@Lizzy L: Stale thread but earnest condolences…
satby
@The Moar You Know: I remember that situation, I think you mentioned it here at the time. It’s tough, but I’m getting to a place of resignation with it. She went out feeling the love at least.
Peter
@sharl: I’ve read plenty of his writing on the subject. He mentions race in passing, but whenever it comes to actually doing analysis he ALWAYS goes back to his front-row/back-row division, which is race-erasing and even he doesn’t use it particularly consistently.
sukabi
@danielx: it probably wouldn’t be so horrifying if the people in charge had functioning empathy centers, a depth of knowledge more than a micron deep, and didn’t drink their own hateRade…
Just sayin.
Steeplejack
I’m going out in a bit to forage for provisions for the first time since the snowstorm, and I’m thinking about putting McDonald’s on the itinerary. Maybe a filet o’ fish with a side of Trump burn.
Death Panel Truck
@zhena gogolia: An occasional Filet-O-Fish never killed anybody.
But this dude should have died years ago.
TenguPhule
@Steeplejack: Trump likes the fish. Eat a burger instead.
sharl
@Peter:
On the front-row/back-row thing – the easier part of your reply – I agree that he overuses that analogy WAY too often, even granting the fact that analogies are rarely perfect for even very well defined and specific circumstances. Just today a leftie who basically agrees with Arnade on the fundamental issues raised objections to that analogy, based on its inherent limitations.
To the extent that the front-row/back-row analogy is so heavily used as to present a distraction for readers, I suppose I could see erasure of racial considerations (and other things) might be a problem, in which case race-erasure is a collateral effect (unintentional I assume) of his manner of thesis development and expression.
With his writing I think he’s trying to reach a certain subset of people who are both racially and economically privileged, which is a long game which will never yield a huge payout, since such fortunate souls have the (short term) luxury of ignoring the less fortunate, by such means as choosing a nice gated and/or policed community along with sticking to carefully selected “news” sources that will happily confirm their biases and not trouble their beautiful minds with dissonant realities.
You can yell at folks ignorant or in denial about racism – plenty of sites do that – or you can lecture them in the manner that someone like Tim Wise does. I assume both of those options, as well as others that aren’t coming to mind at the moment, have their proper places and times.
Beyond whatever self-gratification he gets from his own explorations – and self-gratification is certainly one of his motivations – Arnade is trying to reach the kind of “front-row kids” he spent 20 years working with on Wall Street, along with other professional-class types. He’s gotten a fair amount of ribbing – some gentle, some rather pointed – from those of his former colleagues who haunt Finance Twitter, though a few seem to thoughtfully consider his writings. Like I said, a long game with low yields. He’s pessimistic for the short term [as am I, though I’ve always been a glass-half empty person (it sucks; inherited from Mom I think)]. But I give him huge props for the effort.
KlareCole
@satby: I’m late to this thread, so you may not see my post. But my heart sure goes out to you satby. I have rescued all sorts of animals, and sometimes they just don’t get to be spared. I can remember my first loss 25 years ago, a pelican caught up in fish hooks & line. You loved Rosa, you saved her for months. You gave her more life and comforted her in dying. That is a whole lot. The most sacred thing is life & it’s preservation. You are a warrior for that cause. The world is a better place because of your efforts. That is what I force myself to remember when we lose some beloved creature & it tears at my heart.
Steeplejack (phone)
@TenguPhule:
I thought he was all about overcooked beef slathered in ketchup.
I didn’t have either. I was still too full after a late breakfast.
RM
@sharl: My thing about his analogy is that there are a lot of people who don’t neatly fit into his categories. Or anyway, that’s how it seems when I look at my peer group. There are tons of people in their twenties and early thirties who never did better than small state schools and are poor and frustrated and living with their parents… but reject those ‘traditionalist’ views he mentions and prize smarts and all that stuff.
Or maybe this is a ‘millennials’ don’t count thing again.
sharl
@RM: I’ve noticed Arnade rarely features young people in the stuff he’s posted/published in the last year or so. I even noted that in his twitter feed once; he didn’t respond.
…..I suspect one reason is practical: the older folks who have time to hang at McDonalds are more easily accessible for his relatively* substantial chats, while younger people probably don’t have the time to stick around and talk to the scruffy middle-aged weirdo white guy, who probably comes across more as a likely panhandler than the ex-Wall Street self-styled pop-sociologist he is.
……*[relative to the so-called (wo)man-in-the-street interviews traditionally featured in TV or radio news programming]
Several years ago he and his then-regular writing partner Cassie Rodenberg did feature more young people, when they were focused on drug-addicted and impoverished community members in poor NYC neighborhoods. In his newer stuff I think other subgroups are also missing, though some of those omissions are by design (e.g. due to Arnade’s selection of poor or working class neighborhoods).
He would probably admit that there are limits to what conclusions can be drawn from his interviews; in fact I think he has done so. But I really would like to hear what younger people are thinking in those neighborhoods he visits, both for comparisons to what older people are thinking and for comparisons with younger people in affluent neighborhoods.