As a native Floridian, I’ve always hated summer, our worst season, what with the suffocating heat and threat of hurricanes. But this year, I’m looking forward to it because I’m hoping it will force Trump to choose another branded vacation property to which to repair after the rigors of a four-day workweek spent signing shit, ogling Ivanka’s boobs, humiliating toadies and watching Fox & Friends.
It’s true that Disgraceland in Palm Beach is on the opposite coast and 200-plus miles from me. But I swear we can sense Trump’s oppressive presence when he lands in Florida, settling over the palm-fringed landscape like a noxious orange fart cloud and permeating the thin walls of our hovels with a nostril-singeing stench and hiss of escaping air that can be heard even over the roar and clatter of the A/C.
So which lucky state will be the site of the “Summer White House”? Seems like the viscid marmalade glob spent a lot of time at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey last fall. A steady presence there this summer could have as salubrious effect on its membership fee profits as the rebranding of Tsar-a-Iago as the so-called “Winter White House” (an unmonitored hive of influence-peddling) had in Florida.
Or maybe Putin will just drop all pretense and cede a fancy dacha, stocked with hidden cameras and statuesque models capable of peeing on command. We’ll have to wait and see. But summer is coming, and with it, perhaps — counter-intuitively in this strange year — relief for the Sunshine State.
Open thread!
rikyrah
From the previous thread:
Trump’s daughter helped sway the president to launch Syria strike
04/11/17 08:40 AM
By Steve Benen
It’s not exactly a secret the Pentagon encouraged Donald Trump to launch last week’s attack in Syria, but according to one of the president’s adult sons, Ivanka Trump played a key role, too.
Eric Trump, speaking to the British newspaper while visiting a Trump-branded golf course in Scotland, explained the behind-the-scenes situation at the White House. “Ivanka is a mother of three kids and she has influence,” he explained. “I’m sure she said, ‘Listen, this is horrible stuff.’ My father will act in times like that.”
He will? Really?
Corner Stone
Salubrious, she persisted.
rikyrah
Trump keeps taking credit for Obama-era economic news
04/11/17 10:08 AM
By Steve Benen
When it comes to avoiding responsibility for bad things that happen on his watch, Donald Trump will go to almost any lengths. But the president is also capable of acting with equal vigor when trying to take credit for good things that happen on his watch.
Take yesterday, for example.
“Toyota’s decision to invest $1.3 billion in their Kentucky plant is further evidence that manufacturers are now confident that the economic climate has greatly improved under my administration,” Trump said in a written statement. The press release was Toyota’s, not the White House’s, which is itself unusual – because ordinarily a president doesn’t communicate with the public through corporate public-relations departments.
Major Major Major Major
Brilliant.
stinger
Betty, I love you.
Corner Stone
Damn, UAL down 4% so far this AM in the stock market. That sounds a little more costly than a $2000 bucks incentive.
germy
Those old MTV videos make me cringe. But so does this administration.
Corner Stone
@rikyrah:
Best damn PR people on the planet. “Ivanka The Influencer”, “Ivanka The Humanitarian”. Sheesh.
Jerry
How does one use the Mayhew on Insurance signal? Here is an interesting editorial from the Pulitzer prize winning Storm Lake Times:
A public option for Iowa
Corner Stone
So, Ivanka has the power to influence an act of warfare and gets her “dad” to launch 60 missiles in a humanitarian effort/display to stop the gassing of the babbies.
But she has no influence to alter deportation actions, slashing of funding for feeding and caring for elderly and hungry kids, medical care for lower income women.
I thought she was, “a mother of three kids and she has influence” ?
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
@germy: Does MTV have a site where you can watch all those old 80s videos on demand? It’d be neat to be your own VJ and do your own version of Alternative Nation and arrange your own Rock Blocks. A Roku or Amazon Fire Channel and a phone app that you can make your own playlists for would be great,
I was reading an old magazine article about Bill Hicks yesterday and it mentioned how he used to drive Pauly Shore to school when he was starting out in L.A. at Mitzi Shore’s clubs.
Wow, the 80s.
Thoroughly Pizzled
What’s the most remote island we could send Trump to? One of the underrated aspects of the British Empire was its wide array of potential prisons.
Iowa Old Lady
Iowa’s newly all R legislature has passed a gun bill that among other things allows people with permits to carry guns into the statehouse. I’m torn between horror at the gun worship and respect for them at least not making their own workplace off limits.
Major Major Major Major
I honestly had no idea Ivanka had any children.
hovercraft
Some funny tweets in response to Fox and Twitler celebrating response to missile attack.
hovercraft
@rikyrah:
Reposting from downstairs.
So we will conduct foreign policy based on a mothers emotions?
Can these people hear themselves? Do they think this is helping? WASF!!!
Aimai
Tsar a lago is brilliant!
The Dangerman
.
FTFY.
Signed, Donald
jl
Miserable freak show that is the Trump administration may be getting ready to commit blunders and disasters. The goofs are worried about BS like how the symbolic first hundred days mark will look. Trump may have discovered that blowing stuff up get him attention, and from certain quarters, like the idiot corporate media, automatic adulation.
germy
@Corner Stone: Has there been any statement from him on the latest school shooting?
Mustang Bobby
Palm Beach gets a nice breeze off the ocean, so the summer heat and humidity is not as oppressive as it is inland, such as in Orlando, (although it is still hot and sticky no matter what) and the alter kakers are there year-round to fawn over him. But hurricane season starts June 1 so maybe Mar-A-Lago will be the scene of a totally different blow job.
LurkerNoLonger
@Iowa Old Lady: Do these guys not think that maybe one of those constituents legally carrying a gun into their office might not be happy with them?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I’m sure that, being a trump, she is as eloquent as he imagines, and I love that outside-looking-in notJared is pretty sure he has a good idea what The One Daddy Likes might’ve said to Himself.
The Moar You Know
East Coast summer? Fuck that. I’ve been from Florida all the way up to New Hampshire during summer and every place was a miserable steaming hot hellhole.
And, just bears saying: Trump is not welcome in California. At all. Sorry, hairpiece, but you wore out your welcome here before you ever showed up. Aced yourself out of the best climate known to man. Part of the price you pay for being a dick. Go sit in your air-conditioned panic room in New York and tell yourself everyone loves you.
hovercraft
@Major Major Major Major:
She was pregnant early last year, at the same time as her good “friend” Chelsea. The media kept saying her pregnancy and being the mother of two young kids, softened her father’s image, any man who could father such a beautiful, accomplished, loyal daughter had to be a good person behind all the bluster. Barf!!
Edited for clarity.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Iowa Old Lady:
It’s funny how Flyover Country wingnuts try to out wingnut adjacent wingnut legislatures. I mean for years the batshit, insane nutjobs down the street here in the podunk capital of Misery have had a serious case of Kansas envy. And with the screwball in the governor’s mansion, they’ve gotten all uber NRA Legislation on our asses. For years, you couldn’t carry fireams into the Capitol but that all changed in Feb:
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/ban-on-guns-in-missouri-capitol-lifted/article_736bf65e-29a5-5e78-a324-c6d494cf1f05.html
Looks like Iowa has a serious case of Misery envy. Jeeeeesuskeeeristonabike I can’t wait to get out of (un)Real ‘Murka.
ploeg
Iowa, obviously.
He seems to be drawn to the water, and his golf course in Colts Neck, NJ, which would put him within striking distance of Long Branch, the beach of presidents.
schrodingers_cat
@Thoroughly Pizzled: Underrated by whom?
Patricia Kayden
@rikyrah: Yet in 2013 her Father tweeted at least 18 times reprimanding President Obama for even thinking about airstrikes in Syria after a much deadlier chemical attack. Yet her Father said he would look a Syrian child in his/her face and tell him/her that he/she cannot come here as a refugee.
But we’re supposed to believe that Trump conducted pointless airstrikes for benevolent reasons? Alrighty then.
hovercraft
@The Moar You Know:
If we got to vote on it, he’d be confined to places well inland, we coastal elites do not like him. I take that back, Staten Island would welcome him, I’m in a generous mood he can have it, just not the piece of it I can see from my front door.
Major Major Major Major
@hovercraft: must’ve been overshadowed for me by all the commentary about how the fact that Chelsea is allowed to reproduce proves that Hillary is the dynasty candidate.
Big Ole Hound
At least NJ is only a helicopter ride from DC so we can save by not using Air Force 1. Of course I’ve predicted he will be out of office by July 1st so this may e a mute point.
Iowa Old Lady
@LurkerNoLonger: They also passed Stand Your Ground so maybe they figure they can outdraw the angry constituent.
Patricia Kayden
@The Dangerman: And I would totally date her if it wasn’t for that pesky little fact that she is my biological daughter.
Betty Cracker
@Iowa Old Lady: One hates to wish catastrophe even on assholes (though admittedly, I’m having a much harder time adhering to that sentiment than I once did), but maybe it’ll take witnessing a workplace shooting or two for these muzzle-stroking ninnies to comprehend the problem.
hovercraft
Judge again finds discrimination in Texas’ voter ID law
The question now is that with Gorsuck on the court will they appeal it all the way there and how will Kennedy vote?
Wapiti
@Thoroughly Pizzled: Johnston Atoll. It’s 750 miles SW of Hawaii. While it might seem like a nice tropical island, based on the location, it is where we decommissioned/incinerated our chemical weapon stockpile…
Just One More Canuck
@Thoroughly Pizzled: Attu island? about 300 km from some island owned by Russia
Brachiator
I feel so blessed to have Trump as our president. The only thing better would be a President Romneybot, who would have had, what?, 7 houses to choose from. All the dopes who voted for the Dandelion Douchebag are certainly getting a peak at how the super rich live. Ironically, here it involves downgrading the traditions and institutions which these voters claim they cared so much about.
I don’t really care which of his properties Trump selects as the Summer White House, but I am guessing that this rigid poltroon will be insistent on keeping to his own comfort zones, so Camp David will rarely be used in the Spring or Summer. Trump has already dismissed it as being “very rustic” and someplace that would bore you after 30 minutes.
And I guess that he will continue to select places where invited guests and dues paying chumps, uh, members, can watch him do presidentin’ stuff. This will of course increase the value of these properties, but don’t you go talking about no emoluments, or the millions that will have to be spent on security upgrades.
pk
@Thoroughly Pizzled:
I’m rooting for a stroke and a miserable end in a DC hospital.
Thoroughly Pizzled
@schrodingers_cat: Nobody, I suppose. But all of our little islands appear to be in pleasant latitudes. Nothing like South Georgia or Svalbard.
Ahasuerus
I live near that golf club in Bedminster. Nice area, but the natives are none too pleased when the circus comes to town. And they overwhelmingly vote R. May they enjoy the fruits of their labors.
We’re moving out of state, hopefully by this summer. Anyone want to buy a house?
El Caganer
He needs some of that dry desert air. Maybe somebody will suggest that he spend a weekend at Trump Towers Raqqa – he might never leave.
Thoroughly Pizzled
@Wapiti: That sounds pretty good. Agent Orange indeed.
?eric
@Corner Stone: she is the mother of three WHITE kids
jonas
As usual, The Onion was there first.
jl
@Wapiti: Someone needs to sell Trump on how great the Trump Johnston Atoll resort would be. Shorter hop to that place for Pacific leaders for state visits to gauche Trump resorts.
randy khan
@The Moar You Know:
As a native Jerseyan, I will note that there’s a reason we go to the Shore, where the sea breezes make it more pleasant and everyone wears fewer clothes.
Tilda Swintons Bald Cap
Well this will make you want to punch someone in the neck:
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
I think you’re giving him too much credit on his work week… Friday is a travel day, and Monday is a travel day, so that only leaves three days for work, not four.
Another Scott
UAL is down about 4% at the moment – roughly -$850M in market cap. I wonder if their management is finally paying attention…
Cheers,
Scott.
hovercraft
Sorry to poach on @rikyrah: ‘s turf, but this quote just pissed me off.
Republican talking points on infrastructure go off the rails
By Steve Benen
04/11/17 10:41AM
Probably not. Politico reports that Trump’s $1 trillion infrastructure proposal — which does not currently exist — is “running into familiar roadblocks: suspicious Democrats, a divided GOP and questions about the math.” The article added one quote, though, that jumped out at me.
Republicans say they think Democrats, despite their complaints, will come to the negotiating table when work begins in earnest. And some say enthusiasm from Trump could be the ingredient to make it work.
“Obama never really had infrastructure on his mind,” said Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), who worked with Democrats on two major transportation laws. “This president does, and one thing we’ve learned — whether you guys like him or not — he does what he said he was going to do. Maybe to a fault, but he does.”
First, Barack Obama often seemed obsessed with infrastructure investments, pleading with Congress in multiple State of the Union addresses — and an address to a joint session while unveiling the American Jobs Act — to take the issue seriously. Congressional Republicans refused, taking an unyielding position against public spending because it was public spending.
Second, the assertion that Donald Trump “does what he said he was going to do” is amusing, but wrong. On everything from health insurance to the opioid crisis to trade to national security to Wall Street, this president routinely does the opposite of what he said he was going to do.
Fucking idiot assholes, who lie just as much as they breath.
hovercraft
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap:
Garbage in, garbage out, from both ends.
hovercraft
@El Caganer:
Why not encourage him to experience both desert air and wonderful ocean breezes, I hear that here is abundant ocean front property available, at bargain basement prices in Yemen.
Kay
I wish someone would organize a huge voting rights rally in DC. Let’s be preemptive. You know Sessions and the rest of the douchebags are plotting right now.
Put them on defense. Do something they don’t expect.
rikyrah
@hovercraft:
THEY DIDN’T TAKE ONE PHUCKING VOTE ON THE JOBS BILL.
NOT ONE.
rikyrah
@Kay:
You are right. And, do the satellite march thing.
MeDrewNotYou
Doggy question!
Our Sophie just came home this morning after minor hernia surgery yesterday morning. She’s sluggish and not her affectionate self (no surprise really) and just wants to curl up in one of her spots and be alone. I’m fine with this as long as I can keep an eye on her, but the only problem is her total disinterest in taking her meds. We’ve tried sticking it in some peanut butter like usual but still no dice. I suspect she just wants to be alone/sleep things off. When to worry/call the vet? The surgery was minor and the stuff they gave her to take home was a weak NSAID (I would spell it out but don’t know if it would trip any filters.)
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
Also, I’m sure the Devoses have a big compound on the shores of Lake Michigan they would probably give him free use of but that wouldn’t let him plug one of his properties so I doubt he’d take them up on the offer.
Mike in NC
Big infrastructure problems down in South Carolina, too, but instead of fixing bad roads, crumbling bridges, and failing schools all the legislature cares about lately is jamming through a law so nobody needs a concealed carry permit. Priorities!
Another Scott
@MeDrewNotYou: How about chicken or some other really special treat? Our doggie loved peanut butter, but she really liked people food meat.
Sorry she’s feeling poorly. Best of luck for a speedy recovery.
Cheers,
Scott.
Kay
Please. He’s horrible. He’ll be horrible on voting rights. Speak now or forever hold your peace. You know the clampdown on voting rights is coming. Conservatives only respond to visuals- there have to be a million people in the street or they’ll think they have carte blanche.
It would be very unifying for our base. This is a bedrock issue. If you don’t support voting rights you can’t call yourself a liberal or a Democrat. It’s the perfect rallying point, an easy way to draw a clear distinction without fracturing into mainstream Dem liberal v Left. It’s also beautiful because it’s self-interested for Dem politicians :)
Tenar Arha
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap:
We’re so f^cked.
Kay
@rikyrah:
They ARE plotting. Trump met with Kobach and Kobach carried briefing materials in such a way they can be read. The plan is to put restrictions on registration.
Kay
@rikyrah:
Boom, the crackdown comes 6 weeks prior to an election and then we’re suing. That’s defense. There needs to be an offense.
schrodingers_cat
@Thoroughly Pizzled: Its not the weather but the isolation that makes those island prisons a living hell. Like Andaman’s Cellular Jail. Plus, the British would send their Indian political prisoners to Burma and exile the Burmese on India’s west coast.
The Moar You Know
@Mike in NC: Bullets apparently fix everything.
Patricia Kayden
@hovercraft:
Since President Obama certainly spoke about the importance of infrastructure on several occasions (including during State of the Union speeches) despite Republican obstructionism, Inhofe forgot to mention the real reason he is lying about President Obama.
SatanicPanic
@The Moar You Know: That loser does own a golf course in Palos Verdes so he just might. The trust fund burnouts in PV seems like just his type of crowd.
Then again, riots.
satby
@MeDrewNotYou: I wouldn’t worry about the painkiller if she doesn’t want to take it. But if she has antibiotics to take get hot dogs or some sort of meat she likes and hide them in that.
She may feel more spritely tomorrow; if you think pain is holding her back, same “hide the pills in meat” trick applies. My gang is partial to lunchmeat.
Kay
I love how easily nepotism was embraced in DC. We have to elect only people with 1. no children or 2. young children from now on or we are stuck with this forever.
MeDrewNotYou
@Another Scott: Thanks. As much as I yell at him for it, my Dad loves to feed her a whole chicken strip every single time he makes them. (You’re 10x bigger than her! every chunk of whatever you giver to her is like you eating 10!!!) Maybe she’s earned one this time. Meat does seem to be her favorite as well.
(Also, I’m sorry to hear the past tense in that. I recently lost my grandmother but it still wasn’t as bad as the sting of losing our Danny. ETA-The quiet in-family joke is that our dad was more upset over Danny than his own mother, but to be fair she’d been gone for years. Alzheimer’s is torture for all involved.)
David Anderson
@Jerry: Signal seen — will think about this once I am done with a storm of really interesting stuff that I’m putting together for another project but the data is screaming at me that there is a story that needs to be told
hovercraft
@schrodingers_cat:
Robben Island, off of Cape Town, where they held Mandela for 18 years.
MeDrewNotYou
@satby: Just the NSAID so I’m not too worried. The only thing is she’s too dumb to know that taking her medicine will help her owies. I love her but she’s a simple little pup. We need a hypospray ala Star Trek.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: I’m sure the Villagers will rediscover their objections to this kind of bullshit when a Democrat is back in the White House, but we’re gonna need a whole new raft of legislation to make this kind of thing explicitly illegal. If it excludes a future Bobby Kennedy from being AG or a Hillary Clinton from advising her husband on health care reform, so be it. There are other qualified people who aren’t blood relatives, and we need to make sure no more 30-something shoe-and-handbag peddlers get to run U.S. foreign policy.
Iowa Old Lady
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: I thought about Devos today when I was reading a YA near future SF called FEED. Education has been privatized and the central character talks about going to School, always with a capital letter and a trademark symbol. Hit a little too close to home.
schrodingers_cat
@hovercraft: After they broke the back of the First War of Indian Independence and executed most of the leaders, the British turned the seat of the Mughal Empire, The Red Fort to a prison. They also exiled the 82 year old Mughal emperor to Burma. Nasty SOBs.
Bahadur Shah Zafar’s ghazals about missing his home are legendary.
Aleta
@rikyrah: Why MSNBC and the Maddow blog and others get away with headlines like that, I just don’t understand. He is not a WH source or an official spokesman for the Office. His claim to a British paper is not verified by the paper or Maddow. But the headline makes their story into a supposed fact for others to repeat.
This stunt they’re pulling off about Iv’s heart is no different than this:
How sophisticated they are now, making Eric be John Miller. How fucked up the media is to allow this.
jonas
@Mike in NC: My question with all this Gunz! 24/7 open carry bullshit, is why would you want to advertise to the world that you are an insecure person with a very small penis? Seems like something you’d rather keep to yourself.
trollhattan
@Betty Cracker:
Remember the shit Carter took for saying he’d talked with Amy about some big issue? How things change.
jonas
Aw crap — accidentally wrote out the name of a prominent male genital in my comment and now am in moderation. Can any FPers take care of that?
schrodingers_cat
@trollhattan: Shitty MSM has been bought and paid for by the Rich people’s party.
hovercraft
@schrodingers_cat:
I’m not the biggest fan of poetry, but his sound fascinating, I may need to make an exception and read some of his. Thanks. As a person from a fairly recently independent British colony (1980, yes I know 1965-1979 was pseudo independence), I am very familiar with the cruelty and consequences of British rule. They manipulated the election to ensure that Mugabe won, I’d love to ask them how that worked out for them, or better yet for the people of Zimbabwe.
hovercraft
@trollhattan:
As Betty said, this is a republican president, therefore his kids and family are valuable resources for him and the country, not like democratic relatives who will only subvert the president with their socialistic tendencies. You’re welcome America!!
gvg
What I find interesting is Trump Jr spoke speculatively. He didn’t actually ask his sister nor was he around to see it, he just assumed or possibly just made up a likely story to make the family look good. I saw that quote early on. As the glitter wore off pretty fast, I wonder if Ivanka wouldn’t want credit now.
If she did influence Trump, it doesn’t speak well of her intelligence nor judgement. At a time when her husband is seemingly on the verge of getting Bannon knocked out, I am not sure this is good. She and her husband are greedy and not aware or norms of behavior but Bannon seems more malicious.
Suppose Bannon did get fired or left angry and vengeful at Trump. Would the mercers support him who they helped set up his media far right influence or would they support Trump who is actually president? And why has Kelly Ann disappeared from attention? She is also a creature of the Mercers.
schrodingers_cat
@hovercraft: Some of the crown jewels on BJ favorite Queen, Liz have been stolen from India, including the infamous Kohinoor, stolen from the King of Sikhs, Ranjit Singh in 1850.
ETA: If Germans had to return their war spoils, how come the Brits can hang on to their ill gotten gains.
MeDrewNotYou
@jonas: Let me waste your time with a horrible ‘joke/anecdote’ about the subject. My dad’s taste in humor isn’t really sophisticated and one of his favorite movies is The Beverly Hillbillies Movie. (To be fair, most of the impressions are dead on.)The con artist who’s after Ned uses a fake French accent and at one point says, “Happiness is so hard to find,” with the end quietly trailing off. Her pronunciation makes it sound like she’s saying, ‘A (male organ in question) is so hard…” with predictable reaction from Ned. That joke/line is the only time I’ve ever seen my dad laugh hard enough to make something come out of his nose. Everyone loves a good dick joke,
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
It upsets me on “common good” grounds because I feel like it’s discouraging and disheartening to hard-working striving people who are not well-connected. I don’t want them sad and hopeless :)
We had a nepotism issue w/ a judge here – he hired his daughter- and felt like there was this reluctance to call him out because a lot of people were thinking “I might wanna do that for my kid!” I hope I’m wrong but that was my sense.
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
The thing ITSELF is privileged, right? That she doesn’t see that bothers me. I mean, honestly, WTF gives her the power to affect world events in this way? She can’t just talk to her father about normal things? She can’t voluntarily NOT weigh in on bombing Syria? It’s this amazing lack of humility to me- an overreach that says something terrible about her as a person.
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
To a process person (and I am a process person) it’s an affront. It’s “under what authority are you doing this?”
These norms aren’t just politeness. They’re process. Process is not an impediment to be gotten around – it protects people with less power from arbitrariness and bias.
Shalimar
@Patricia Kayden: Someone should whisper in Trump’s ear that Ivanka looks like a prettier version of Ivana and the prettier part damn well didn’t come from his genes. How does he know she’s really his child?
Betty Cracker
@Kay: Agreed — it’s an issue of fundamental fairness. There was a mind-bogglingly awful article published this week in some outfit, possibly Politico, justifying the Trump admin’s nepotism on the silliest grounds. The author got dragged all over Twitter for it, and rightly so!
evodevo
@MeDrewNotYou: We swear by pimiento cheese and baby aspirin … ours have to be REALLY ill before they won’t gobble that down.
Aleta
@MeDrewNotYou: I don’t know if all vets would agree, , but I’ve asked vets (in two different practices) about pain pills for my animals. (Not about NSAIDs, but some stronger pills.). In the past, each time a pill took effect, they (the stronger ones) had seemed to make them paranoid and other discomfort.
Each vet said that pain pills can have that effect, and are given more for human peace of mind than for the animal, and it was OK to watch over them without.
My animals have just wanted to sleep and then be alone for a day or so after surgery. If trying to make them take a pill seems hard on them, we get the liquid antibiotic. The last two times after surgery, we gave the antibiotic of course, but not pain pills and they seemed to do fine. We let them be alone under the bed with water, and later food, and watched over.
columbusqueen
@hovercraft: Check out William Dalrymple’s ” The Last Mughal” on both Zafar and the Mutiny. Excellent book! He also has an upcoming book on the Koh-i-noor diamond.
hovercraft
@columbusqueen:
Thanks.
schrodingers_cat
@columbusqueen:@hovercraft: Of course, one still needs a British person, to retell India’s history. He is not too bad, although like many British historians he tends to romanticize both the Mughals and the British Empire.
Corner Stone
@Shalimar:
Speculating here, but: he’d probably take it as legal testimony, divorce Melania and marry Ivanka.
Central Planning
@Corner Stone:
More like “Ivanka the Destroyer”
Corner Stone
@schrodingers_cat: I don’t know that I ever mentioned it but I was watching (I think) Delicious Destinations: London one day. And one of their marquee foods was the best curry in the world.
I mentally pictured you throwing a piece of furniture at the TV, but I may be wrong.
schrodingers_cat
@Corner Stone: I don’t know about best in the world but you can get decent Indian food even at the airport in London. BTW the Brits ostensibly came to India for the spices, they mixed everything they liked and called it curry! Most Indians have no idea WTH curry is supposed to be, it is an Anglo Indian creation.
catclub
@Corner Stone:
Of course, any change in the price of the stock on the stock market does not affect the amount of capital the company has raised from selling stock.
It really only hurts shareholders, but not the company. [To first order only: to second order, the company may also control some blocks of the stock, or the issue of more shares.]
catclub
@schrodingers_cat:
True, but not really news. Also not news 30 years ago.
Corner Stone
@catclub: That’s obviously true. But the attractiveness of the shares changes the ability of the company to raise cash on the open market by issuing new shares, or debt issuance, if needed.
In the short term it’s more of a PR marker than any tangible loss. But what happens next may be interesting.
Corner Stone
@schrodingers_cat: Sure, but the episode tried to portray curry as a classic Indian dish and that the best could be found in London. Like the English found it there but do it better now. Maybe I didn’t explain the premise well.
Corner Stone
I guess the question that is being begged is – why the hell did they stop at $800 ?
TenguPhule
@Thoroughly Pizzled:
Technically, us if you mean an actual State. And we don’t want him. Not unless we get to dump him on the island formerly used as a naval bombing range and resume the practice while he’s still on it.
TenguPhule
@Corner Stone: At that point, their internal memos must have calculated that the marginal return on using force was slightly less costly then offering more.
schrodingers_cat
@Corner Stone: They want to preen about some made up Indian dish, let them!
There is no such thing as “Indian” cuisine. If you go from one region to the another, food preferences and styles change drastically.
No Drought No More
Even after voters there rejected a ballot proposal to rename the city’s sewage treatment plant in his honor, during his presidency GW Bush never once set foot in San Francisco. And while such a visit would have been wildly entertaining, it was probably for the best that he did refuse.
I doubt Trump will ever visit San Francisco either. In fact, Trump may avoid California altogether during his doomed presidency. Even down south these days, there aren’t many localities where he’ll be accorded a civil reception. Of course, it will make for some great political theatre if he does decide to stir the pot..
TenguPhule
@pk: A stroke would mean he avoids most of the pain. Immunoallergic reaction is what you really want him to have.
Old Broad in California
When Obama visited Southern California, people would complain about the resulting traffic tie-ups, but in a fairly lighthearted way. I don’t think anyone here would be amused about a Trump visit snarling traffic and inconveniencing people.
Uncle Cosmo
@schrodingers_cat: Quite early in the current millennium, wandering through London, I came upon an “Asian” restaurant just around the corner from Piccadilly Circus with a (to me anyway) unique take on that: They claimed to have identified 36 distinct cuisines on the Subcontinent, & changed their menu every month to feature a different 3 of them, completing the culinary Grand Tour India every 12 months. I wonder if they’re still around.
schrodingers_cat
@Uncle Cosmo: Interesting concept! Was is it any good.
Zelma
I just ended a friendly acquaintance-ship over Trump. Someone I often played bridge with. I haven’t seen her since before the election. I made a bet with her that Trump would be a disaster. We were at the same meeting today and she started in on how great it was that Trump had won. I told her to drop it or it would be the end of a friendship. (Also that Trump WAS a disaster.) She wouldn’t. I wrote her a check and left. I can tolerate being around people who voted for the orange shitgibbon as long as the subject doesn’t come up. (Which is a good thing as I live in a very red community in a blue state. (Think Jersey shore.) But when someone goes on about how great it is, I can’t take it. I am still fuming an hour later. I will never get over this.
columbusqueen
@schrodingers_cat: @schrodingers_cat: Given the brutal details Dalrymple relates about the British retaking of Delhi in 1857, I don’t think his view of the Empire is at all romantic.
SWMBO
@MeDrewNotYou: ranch dressing. cream cheese. If the pain reliever is tramadol, it has a very bitter taste and notable smell. try to pick it up with a spoon and shove it in the carrier without touching the outside with it so there’s no warning.