Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

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

Trump should be leading, not lying.

We’re watching the self-immolation of the leading world power on a level unprecedented in human history.

Washington Post Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

I really should read my own blog.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

This fight is for everything.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

No one could have predicted…

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

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150Comments

  3. 3.

    Old Dan and Little Anne

    I came home to a broken hot water heater yesterday. It needed to be replaced. Good times.

  4. 4.

    scott alloway

    The motor only? Not a real problem You could probably replace it. Wait. Who am I kidding?

  6. 6.

    Gian

    In five years we replaced 2 microwave range hood. Two washing machines. 1 dryer. I replaced a $100 part myself to fix the oven, a $40 part to fix the dishwasher, the gear on garage door opener failed, and the door needed springs replaced.
    And the wires to the cut off switch for the air conditioning burned and melted inside the wall.

    But the house did not catch fire so in the end it’s only money

  7. 7.

    Suzanne

    Cool.

    She’s way better than Freddie Bonerz or the Ombudsman. A good addition to the team.

  9. 9.

    eclare

    Were you asking about window units earlier? I live in Memphis and have four, and they do quite well at not much cost (you only turn on the ones you use) for not exactly a temperate climate.

  10. 10.

    Doug R

    I wish I could afford a house so I could complain about broken shit. Since we rent, we just get to complain and it NOT get fixed.

  11. 11.

    OldDave

    Could just be the fan’s run cap. $10 if you can replace it yourself. In John’s case, don’t even try.

  13. 13.

    opiejeanne

    Your house had AC? For some reason, maybe the condition of the house when you bought it, I didn’t think it would have AC.

    The fan shouldn’t be too expensive to repair/replace; get a proper repairman to do it.

  14. 14.

    slag

    Sounds good.

    Have we had a conversation about the Obama “buckraking” controversy yet? Being still incapable of rational thought about the current administration, I’m finding myself more inclined to deliberate the actions of the previous occupants of the WH.

  18. 18.

    Mnemosyne

    @slag:

    Have we had a conversation about the Obama “buckraking” controversy yet? Being still incapable of rational thought about the current administration, I’m finding myself more inclined to deliberate the actions of the previous occupants of the WH.

    While I understand your rationale, I still find the whole “controversy” terminally stupid.

  21. 21.

    Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)

    @slag: Put me squarely in the “on the one hand-on the other hand” category.

    Meanwhile, Jack Shafer is set to usurp CNN/FTFNYT/Cillizza as runaway political hack, coming off a recent “Hillary would’ve TOTALLY BEEN THE SAME as Donald” screed and a “Leave BillO ALOOOONE!” piece that netted him favorable citations from Breitbart. Unless the competition drastically sets up its game in the next seven months, I think we have a shoo-in for 2017 Hack of the Year.

  22. 22.

    Major Major Major Major

    @slag:

    Being still incapable of rational thought about the current administration, I’m finding myself more inclined to deliberate the actions of the previous occupants of the WH.

    If you care about Obama’s speaking fees it suggests you’re incapable of rational thought about the previous administration as well.

  23. 23.

    efgoldman

    @slag:

    Have we had a conversation about the Obama “buckraking” controversy yet?

    Yesterday. You can go to sleep again. In fact I recommend it.

  24. 24.

    Goku

    @slag: Um, who gives a shit? He’s a successful black former politician who’s making some money. He has no influence to buy

  25. 25.

    slag

    @Mnemosyne: Coming from an economic sector in which I frequently contemplate the ethics of money (sources, in particular), I actually think the debate is relevant and worth discussing. Part of me thinks the most important aspect of Obama’s speech is what he says in it—not who pays him to do it. But then I think about the credibility just having him speak at their event gives the paying organization, and I feel ambivalent again. It’s problematic but, thankfully, not in an “Ohmyfuckinggodwhyohwhyisthishappeningyoustupidnonvotingmotherfuckers!” kind of way.

  30. 30.

    ruemara

    @slag: The conversation was had. It was determined that if Obama earning his money bothers you, you should sit the hell down and remember you don’t own him, he doesn’t owe you a damned thing and your nose belongs elsewhere.

  34. 34.

    Jeffro

    Btw what will eventually come out – the reason the WH is stonewalling on handing over any Flynn documents or other info – is because of course Flynn being dirty will also implicate Kushner and Bannon. This is in addition to Page and Manafort being dirty on their own. And Giuliani and Stone too.

    Multiple penetrations on multiple levels, isn’t that the phrase?

  36. 36.

    Major Major Major Major

    @slag:

    But then I think about the credibility just having him speak at their event gives the paying organization, and I feel ambivalent again.

    It’s not like Obama’s the type of person to take a speaking engagement just for the cash if he doesn’t (for some reason) need to. I’m sure he’s already morally vetted his decision. He’s not speaking at the Gay Beheading Enthusiasts’ Club of Warmongering Saudi Arabia or whatever.

  37. 37.

    Goku

    @slag:

    But then I think about the credibility just having him speak at their event gives the paying organization, and I feel ambivalent again. It’s problematic

    Its not as if Obama gave a speech to the Uncle Tom Foundation for Slavery or something. It depends on the organization and its values

  39. 39.

    Mnemosyne

    @slag:

    It was brought up in the previous discussion that peoples’ scruples about these things only seem to happen when it’s a person of color raking in the bucks. Nobody cared how much money W was making per speech. It’s only Obama’s speeches that deserve to be scrutinized to the penny. And many of us think that’s an unfair double standard that hurts Democrats while giving Republicans a free pass to be as unethical as they want.

  42. 42.

    Jeffro

    A quick book review of “Winter Is Coming”, by Garry Kasparov

    I will confess that like most Americans, I don’t keep up on much international news. I certainly wasn’t aware of all the ins and outs of how Vladimir Putin first rose to power, and how he has stayed there these past 17 years. But I am up on all that now…and it’s chilling.

    Garry Kasparov’s 2015 book, “Winter Is Coming”, gives an amazingly accessible inside view of Putin’s rise, his machinations, his goals, and his world view. Kasparov would know, after all, he’s been sounding the alarm about Putin for over a decade now.

    I’ll leave it to others who read the book to decide if Kasparov really has been as all-seeing as he seems to be in the book; according to him, this has all been one slow-motion train wreck, with none of the Western powers being willing – largely due to dependency on Russian oil and gas – to pull the emergency brakes and bring Putin to a stop. Even #44 is chastised for his initial…and then for a time, continued…naïveté. But Kasparov is glad that Obama got wise and the West finally put sanctions on Putin, hitting him where it hurts: by crimping the flow of dollars that props him and his oligarch buddies up back in the Motherland.

    No wonder Vladimir felt it was worth the risk to interfere in the U.S. presidential election last year: under Hillary Clinton, things certainly weren’t going to get any better for him.

    And now I understand some of Obama’s insistence on getting us up to speed on clean energy: it’s not just about climate change, not at all. It’s about cutting off the lifeblood of Putin’s regime, among others.

    Anyway, I highly encourage you all to bump this to the top of your reading lists – it’s pretty well-paced and covers a LOT of recent history in a short time. Here are some of my favorite parts and quotes:

    Introduction, p. XXI
    “Experience has show that you can often do just fine being on the wrong side of history if you are on the right side of a pipeline.”

    p43
    “Soviet propaganda was also expert in “whataboutism”, a term coined to describe how Soviet leaders would respond to criticism of Soviet massacres, forced deportations, and gulags with “What about how you Americans treated Native Americans and the slaves?” or something similar. For the most part it was a transparent and shabby rhetorical trick of deflection and changing the topic. As Putin has revived so many Soviet methods and traditions, whataboutism is popular once again today thanks to Russia’s cadres of trained Internet trolls.”

    p59
    “The world’s dictators are very aware of the power wielded by the free world today. That is why nearly all of them role-play at democracy with sham elections and perform other acts of theater to stay in the good graces of the world’s largest economies and militaries. Unfortunately, the free world is too uninformed, callous, or apathetic to use this influence.”

    p112
    Re: Putin calling W on 9/12/01: “With two phone calls probably totaling sixty seconds of his time and costing him absolutely nothing, Putin had cemented himself with the Bush 43 administration as a friend and ally.” (Not a great quote, but worth remembering as to how Putin bought himself a free pass for the next seven years of the W administration).

    p129
    “The free world often rewards…charades [of democracy] with willing suspension of disbelief. Russia pretends to have elections and a justice system; the free world pretends right along with it, occasionally expressing their token concerns…”

    p157
    (quoting Churchill, in regards to the West’s continued conciliatory dealings with Putin): “However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.”

    p164-165
    “Ironically, Putin’s elites like to keep their money where they could trust in the rule of law, and after the [2008] G8 lovefest in St. Petersburg, Putin and his wealthy supporters had every reason to believe their money was safe in the West. Limiting that access, or even threatening to do so, would have had a dramatic deterrent effect…instead it was business and appeasement as usual…the minons and the oligarchs are loyal to Putin because he is the capo di tutti capi and he offers them protection, and as long as they stay loyal they can get rich and take their money to America, to London, wherever.”

    p185
    “In 2000, when Putin took charge, there were no Russians on the Forbes magazine list of the world’s billionaires. By 2005 there were thirty-six. In 2008 there were eighty-seven, more than Germany and Japan combined…according to 2015 numbers, even after a year of Western sanctions and plunging oil prices, there are still eighty-eight Russian billionaires on the Forbes list, which still doesn’t list Putin or several of his closest cronies. I find it impossible to believe that a man like Putin who holds the power of life and death over eighty-eight billionaires is not the richest of them all.”

    p238
    “The main problem with what we can call the ‘Putin would never’ arguments in the West is that they assume Putin and his ruling elite care about Russian national interests. They do not, except in the few areas where they overlap with their own goal of looting as much and treasure from the country as possible.”

    Plenty of other good, pithy quotes await you – and more importantly, if you’re a little behind on your world affairs, especially in regards to how the western democracies have enabled Putin’s rise up to this point, “Winter Is Coming” is for you.

  43. 43.

    Mnemosyne

    @slag:

    Also, the part of the story that keeps getting buried is that he’s giving a speech on healthcare at a healthcare conference sponsored by several Wall Street firms.

    Hmmm, why would anyone at a healthcare conference want to hear Barack Obama speak on healthcare? It’s a mystery, that. ?

  46. 46.

    slag

    @amk: That was actually hilariously appropriate and really does reveal the crux of the issue. We all want the system to change, but we don’t want our side to be disadvantaged in the process.

    Trevor Noah pretty much hits the nail on the head there. Hard to argue with him, but I find it interesting that those tsk-tsk-ing aren’t addressing that aspect of the issue at all. I figured someone would have, which is why I asked.

  48. 48.

    efgoldman

    @slag:

    Coming from an economic sector in which I frequently contemplate the ethics of money (sources, in particular), I actually think the debate is relevant and worth discussing.

    Oh fuck, not again.
    In the great socialist paradise to come, comrade, everybody will be paid the same.
    Otherwise, everybody – pro athletes, movie stars, pop singers, CEOs, ex-presidents – is worth whatever anyone will pay them. Money has no morals.
    Now can we drop this shit.

  50. 50.

    amk

    @slag: He did more than 8 years of free preaching and no one gave a shit. Now he is doing it not for free and suddenly peeps care? Fuck that shit.

  51. 51.

    Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)

    @Splitting Image: Some passages from his most recent squid-cloud (which ends up being most of the article, but shut up):

    You don’t have to be a Breitbart fan—and I’m not—to ask whether the site deserves this kind of rebuff and rejection. Does not the site run Washington news? Does not the site attract millions of readers (15.3 million in February compared with Politico’s 23.8 million, according to comScore)? Haven’t media figures moved to government service before Bannon? A short list would include Edward R. Murrow, Strobe Talbott, John Chancellor, David Axelrod, Amanda Bennett, Pat Buchanan and Bernard Kalb. A dozen journalists, including Jay Carney and Tony Snow, have left journalism to become the president’s flack. Since when is going through that revolving door disqualifying?

    I’d wager that the standing committee’s upturned nose has more to do with Breitbart’s outré views on race, its toadyish support of Trump during the campaign and through the first 100 days, its shameful coverage of the Shirley Sherrod video, the witless misogyny of former staffer Milo Yiannopoulos and its unrelenting partisanship than it does its fitness to carry the “members only” card that allows reporters to collect news in Washington’s official sanctums.

    If the standing committee wants to blackball Breitbart because its funders, the Mercer family, routinely take activist positions or have donated deeply to political campaigns, may I suggest that they arrange to have the credentials of Bloomberg News reporters revoked? Michael Bloomberg, who owns almost 90 percent of Bloomberg News’ parent company, gave more than $23 million to federal candidates, parties, PACs and other political groups in the 2016 election cycle, according to OpenSecrets.org. He finances an anti-NRA political group and has pledged millions to the Sierra Club’s anti-coal activism. And, you may recall, Mike left his media and financial information business to join government, serving three terms as the mayor of New York City. Rupert Murdoch has a history of spending on federal candidates, too. I would call for the credentialing committees to take back the Fox News Channel and Wall Street Journal press cards, but somebody might take me up on it.

    But there has been a countertendency on Capitol Hill for the press to use the gallery rules to quash upstart competitors. After the advent of radio in the 1920s, broadcast reporters repeatedly sought and were denied official credentials from the protectionist print galleries. Not until 1939, when Congress approved the establishment of a Radio Gallery (later the Radio-Television Gallery) did broadcasters enjoy the access to members of Congress that print reporters took for granted.

    It’s hard to oppose press galleries’ efforts to enforce rules of membership that preserve reporter status on Capitol Hill for real reporters. But the standing committee’s rejection of Breitbart’s application isn’t about that. It’s about banning right-wing reporters from the halls of Congress. And it stinks of licensing. No less a wise man than the New York Times’ Glenn Thrush took to Twitter to advocate membership in the gallery for Breitbart reporters today when he responded to a reader who asked why he considered Breitbart “legit.”

    “Their reporters ask questions, report news,” Thrush wrote.

    Make the Thrush threshold the test for gallery membership and skip the ancillary garbage about ownership and revolving doors and political litmus tests.

    Yeah, at the rate Lord Shafer’s going I see only CNN and the FTFNYT opinion page even coming close.

  52. 52.

    Goku

    @Mnemosyne: There was a really good article addressing that posted in one of the threads downstairs. Don’t feel like searching through hundreds of comments to find It, but it was really good because it was trying to explain why black voters feel that this kerfuffle is racist double standard from Wilmer’s movement of mostly whites

  55. 55.

    Suzanne

    @Goku: There’s nothing even remotely immoral about being paid for one’s labor. It bothers me that there’s this purity test that we’ve allowed to be set up that implies that earning too much money is bad.

    It’s not like if Obama didn’t give that speech that the bank would give the money to Syrian refugees or something. Not to mention, BHO is undoubtedly very generous with his resources.

  56. 56.

    slag

    @efgoldman:

    In the great socialist paradise to come, comrade, everybody will be paid the same.
    Otherwise, everybody – pro athletes, movie stars, pop singers, CEOs, ex-presidents – is worth whatever anyone will pay them. Money has no morals.

    Your lack of thought about these issues is very apparent, which means you’re now totally qualified to be president of the United States. Congratulations.

  58. 58.

    Mnemosyne

    @Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD):

    I’d wager that the standing committee’s upturned nose has more to do with Breitbart’s outré views on race, its toadyish support of Trump during the campaign and through the first 100 days, its shameful coverage of the Shirley Sherrod video, the witless misogyny of former staffer Milo Yiannopoulos and its unrelenting partisanship than it does its fitness to carry the “members only” card that allows reporters to collect news in Washington’s official sanctums.

    “Well, sure, if you look at all of the reasons to disqualify Breitbart it looks like they’ve disqualified themselves, so let’s hand-wave those reasons away as though they don’t exist. Problem solved!”

  59. 59.

    Mnemosyne

    @slag:

    I’m still waiting for you to explain why having Barack Obama speak about healthcare to a healthcare conference is an ethical problem that must be condemned.

  60. 60.

    Goku

    @Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): They’re fucking Nazis who want to create a white nationalist police state in the US. They have no place in Congress or a truly muticultural/racial free society

    No less a wise man than the New York Times’ Glenn Thrush

    Said no one ever

  61. 61.

    ArchTeryx

    @efgoldman: And for quite a few people like myself, we’ve been judged worthless in money, and mostly-worthless in terms of societal benefits.

    Hard not to internalize that, considering how money-obsessed our culture is as a status symbol alone. You’re broke, you’re worthless. Can’t really blame Obama for cashing in. It’s a perk of the job, a job that cost him mightily for eight years. I’d take it too, if someone was willing to pay me $400K a speech. (Heck, I’d take $4 for a speech, but again, worthless).

  69. 69.

    Goku

    @Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD):

    Every aspect of her personal life has been ransacked; there’s no part of her 5-foot-7-inch body that hasn’t come under microscopic scrutiny, from her ankles to her neckline to her myopic blue eyes—not to mention the ever-changing parade of hairstyles that friends say reflects creative restlessness and enemies read as a symbol of somebody who doesn’t stand for anything.

    Ewww…

    Why tf would you write about someone like that?

  70. 70.

    seaboogie

    @Suzanne: Hey Suzanne – was too tired to follow up your post on the mental healthcare facility that you designed, but thank you for sharing it – it was such a thing to ponder: Outdoor elements, windows as much as possible, no places to permit desperate end of life measures, distance for facial recognition – brilliant and thoughtful design, you!

    You deserve all kudos, to which I am adding mine own appreciation of your intention, efforts and design.

  71. 71.

    James Powell

    @slag:

    Have we had a conversation about the Obama “buckraking” controversy yet?

    From my scan of my twitter feed, opinions fall into two broad categories: 1) Yawn/STFU and 2) This is why we have Trump/Bernie would have won. I can’t stand it anymore.

    I cut about ten people from my twitter feed and went back to reading about the NFL draft.

  72. 72.

    efgoldman

    @Goku:

    it was trying to explain why black voters feel that this kerfuffle is racist double standard from Wilmer’s movement of mostly whites

    Hell, I’m an angry old white guy, and that’s how I see it.
    You may notice, when sports talk radio or sports websites complain about some player not being worth it or being overpaid, it’s almost never about a white guy?

  73. 73.

    Suzanne

    @seaboogie: Awww why thank you! There was so much more to the design that I didn’t get quoted about in the piece, literally down to special toilet paper dispensers and special glass and custom furniture. Everything in a behavioral health hospital has to be done differently. It’s going to be completed next month, and patients will start being admitted in August. I’m tired of construction. Interior construction is boring,

  75. 75.

    Suzanne

    @seaboogie: The other big problem in those facilities is violence (even murder) and sexual assault against other patients or providers. The writer left out a lot of the things we did to protect the occupants so it wouldn’t be scary.

  77. 77.

    Goku

    @efgoldman: Can’t say I’ve noticed. Not much of a sports guy; at least not to the point of watching special shows or memorizing stats of players/teams

  78. 78.

    efgoldman

    @slag:

    Your lack of thought about these issues is very apparent

    Actually, I’ve thought about it quite a lot, going back to the earliest days of free agency in pro sports. It’s bullshit, and frankly none of your fucking business unless you’re the one writing the checks.
    So go fuck yourself.

  79. 79.

    Felonius Monk

    @Suzanne: I read the piece about your hospital project. Congratulations & Kudos. It is a beautiful building. What’s next?

  80. 80.

    slag

    @Mnemosyne: Actually, I’m pretty sure I explicitly didn’t say that it must be condemned. In fact, I completely agree with the double standard issue that both Hillary and Obama face when it comes to pretty much everything they do. It’s a frustration to which we’re all highly attuned.

    But I also think that money can have a corrupting influence on pretty much every system—including the public sector. It surprises me that this point is now controversial, especially given the conflict-of-interest issues we’re seeing in such massive scale. The idea that morality or ethics play no role in these decisions seems pretty absurd.

    So, I was, apparently foolishly, looking for the more nuanced defense. Next time, I’ll just tune into The Daily Show instead of assuming you had anything of value to offer me.

  81. 81.

    Goku

    @efgoldman: Personally, though, athletes and celebrities are overpaid. A civilization with its priorities straight would pay teachers, doctors, and scientists far more than celebrities

  83. 83.

    Goku

    @slag: But what is so corrupting about the speech about healthcare he gave? What was wrong with him getting that money if he can get it? I won’t begrudge him that even if I personally think society’s methods of deciding how much an individual/profession gets compensated are stupid. I have yet to see you answer this

  84. 84.

    Mnemosyne

    @slag:

    You still didn’t answer the question: what do you feel is unethical about Barack Obama accepting money to speak about healthcare at a healthcare conference? Is it “fruit of the poisoned tree” because Wall Street firms are underwriting it? What exactly is your objection other than the fact that he’s getting a big chunk of money and it “looks bad”?

  86. 86.

    Felonius Monk

    @Goku:

    A civilization with its priorities straight would pay teachers, doctors, and scientists far more than celebrities

    That’s a moral judgement, not an economic one. I don’t disagree with it, but don’t confuse morality with economics. There is a bigger demand in the marketplace for the celebrities than there is for the others.

  87. 87.

    Suzanne

    @Felonius Monk: We are going after a huge project, of national-level scope. So I can’t talk about it. If I got to run part of it, it would be a career maker. But it is the kind of project that would have an incredible impact on the community. Literally a lifesaver.

    I have three other current projects, though. One is a new emergency department for a hospital. Easy stuff.

  90. 90.

    trollhattan

    @efgoldman:
    Shorter some insignificant but noisy number of individuals concerned about Obama providing services for agreed-upon fees: HE’S TOTALLY RUINING HIS CHANCES OF BECOMING PRESIDENT!!!

    Pity.

  92. 92.

    efgoldman

    @Goku:

    athletes and celebrities are overpaid.

    Babe Ruth is reported to have said, when somebody asked him how he justified getting paid more than the president, “I had a better year than he did.”
    Entertainers have always been at the top of the compensation food chain. They get paid a lot because they generate a lot of revenue.
    And who’s to decide how much is too much? And how do you set a number? And how can you do it for baseball players but not, say, neurosurgeons? And where does the rest of the money go?
    The socialist paradise is not, and will not be, upon us. Money has no morals.

  94. 94.

    efgoldman

    @Suzanne:

    But it is the kind of project that would have an incredible impact on the community. Literally a lifesaver.

    Is this the place where you finally say “all those classes and all those exams were so worth it, even though I complained about them on Balloon Juice”?

  95. 95.

    Suzanne

    @trollhattan: Fuck that fucking wall. I work for my company because we do schools, hospitals, senior living facilities, and projects for veterans and Native Americans. We do shit that makes people’s lives better. No retail, no custom homes for rich douchebags, no trendy restaurants or hipster hotels, no gentrification garbage. AND NO FUCKING BORDER WALL.

  96. 96.

    efgoldman

    @trollhattan:

    HE’S TOTALLY RUINING HIS CHANCES OF BECOMING PRESIDENT!!!

    Actually it’s all a big feint. All the noise is about Chelsea Clinton running for something (even though it’s totally made up bullshit out of whole cloth). Meanwhile Barack is putting together a campaign fund for Malia.

  97. 97.

    slag

    @Mnemosyne: The concern is similar to that of senators immediately becoming lobbyists after leaving public service (a concern that Obama himself has expressed, I believe). The prospect of a big payout upon leaving office can influence (both subtly and not-so-subtly) one’s decisions while in office, for starters. Elizabeth Warren has written a whole book on this very topic, if you’re interested.

    Being totally in the tank for Obama, myself, I actually do think him somewhat above these concerns. But I also think it’s absurd to pretend that these concerns don’t exist or are silly or are totally irrelevant.

  98. 98.

    Goku

    @efgoldman: I understand why they do. I just thought that other professions (like those I mentioned above) should be compensated more is all.

    Now if post-scarcity happens, that’ll change everything, but I understand what you’re saying.

  100. 100.

    amk

    @slag:

    But I also think it’s absurd to pretend that these concerns don’t exist or are silly or are totally irrelevant.

    They don’t and they are.

  101. 101.

    Mnemosyne

    @slag:

    The prospect of a big payout upon leaving office can influence (both subtly and not-so-subtly) one’s decisions while in office, for starters.

    I think Obama is someone who has thought deeply about all of those issues and made decisions for himself and his family based on that.

    I know that generically there are ethical issues, but I don’t see why this specific person is supposed to act based on what a hypothetical less scrupulous person would do.

    And, yes, I do think that a big chunk of the freakout is that Obama is Cashing In While Black! because the race of the person under scrutiny is never a neutral in these situations. There is an assumption that Obama has to be better, more scrupulous, more ethical than any white politician because of his race.

    Well, any white politician other than the Clintons but, as I said earlier today, the Clintons have been subject to Black People Rules ever since they hit the national public eye, and it’s never let up. They are required to be more ethical than any of their opponents and yet can be attacked on those very ethics.

  103. 103.

    efgoldman

    @Suzanne:

    The student loans are a bitch, tho.

    Yeah. We’re still paying daughter’s undergrad loans at a state school, but her MA loans at a very expensive private school are her own. It’s a good thing she and hubby have really good professional jobs, although their salaries don’t go as far in Metro DC as they would some other places.

  104. 104.

    slag

    @amk: Jesus Christ you people are among the worst kind of purity police. Ask a single, relatively anodyne, question and it’s all with-us-or-against-us bullshit. There is no goddamn sane space anymore. Fuck you.

  106. 106.

    amk

    @slag: Nice projection, asshole. You came in with your pitiful purity righteousness and got beat with it. Deal with it.

  108. 108.

    seaboogie

    @Suzanne: I really appreciate you sharing as much as you care to do, because I find it really interesting from a design towards a particular goal, and also from a “stuff you had no idea about” perspective outside my daily experience.

    Also, from an architectural perspective, I was parked at the Pharmaca shop across from the Catholic hurch in Sonoma on a lovely eve, and as I got into my car I stopped for a moment just to appreciate the simple perfection of the design – tho I had to mentally filter out the useful aftermarket awnings applied to the original structure. Long since renounced my Catholic upbringing, but would still like to attend a service in this very active, beautiful church. Sorry – they don’t have good pics... This is a different church from the original mission church, which part of our parks system.

  110. 110.

    Suzanne

    @efgoldman: I was a National Merit Scholar in high school, so the state of Arizona paid for my undergrad degree if I attended a state university, which I did. But I was a single mom by the time grad school came around, and my own father backed out of paying, so all of those loans are mine. And architecture pays much, much less than everyone thinks. Mr. Suzanne is in a similar situation. So we will be paying for school for approximately 15 more years.

  112. 112.

    efgoldman

    @Suzanne:

    And architecture pays much, much less than everyone thinks.

    You could tell everybody that you’re Frank Gehry after his sex change operation, and then get megabucks for designing ugly, leaky buildings.

    Or maybe not.

  113. 113.

    Suzanne

    @seaboogie: Awww thanks. I don’t talk too much about work stuff here, because it’s probably boring to most people, and I’m usually sick of it anyway after ten hours a day, but I’m posting about this one because I’ve been working on it for over two years, and my office is hoping that it brings us a lot of regional and national press. I got my evidence based design accreditation last year, and we also place a great deal of emphasis on sustainability. So we try very hard to make buildings that perform optimally for patients and staff, and we are trying to move toward carbon neutrality in our projects.

  114. 114.

    Suzanne

    @efgoldman: Some of Frank Gehry’s buildings are beautiful. The dorms at MIT have some big fail, but the Walt Disney Concert Hall is spectacular.

  115. 115.

    gwangung

    @slag: I understand the reasoning, somewhat. But I think it’s wrong because it gets cause and effect completely ass backwards.

    From what I know about organizing conferences, Obama gave a price (which, out of self preservation as well as to make money, was very high). The conference decided to see if they could meet it, so they threw out a few feelers to different sources to see if they could get funding. It happened that the one who did was a Wall Street firm; it could have been a private foundation or an individual, but it came up that it was a Wall Street firm. And at most, the firm got a private meet (probably no more than a few minutes or a photo op) and the cachet of being in the same room as a popular former president.

  116. 116.

    slag

    @amk: Yes. Admitting I’m of two minds about an issue that Obama himself has called into concern. So poutrageous.

    I couldn’t even write “buckraking” without scare quotes, for crying out loud, and I’m the one with “pitiful purity righteousness” issues. You’re delusional.

  117. 117.

    Steeplejack

    @seaboogie:

    When you do a link you have to erase/​overwrite the http prefix that FYWP provides. Otherwise your links are screwed.

  118. 118.

    efgoldman

    @gwangung:

    Obama gave a price (which, out of self preservation as well as to make money, was very high)

    I suspect the price and the negotiation were thru whatever agency/speaker’s bureau he’s signed with.
    BTW the unfortunately only notable thing about Cantor Fitzgerald is they lost much of their work force in the towers on 911.

  120. 120.

    seaboogie

    @Suzanne:

    I don’t talk too much about work stuff here, because it’s probably boring to most people

    Sometimes you hit the sweet spot – comment and thread-wise – and sometimes you miss. Glad to be in convo with you tonight and laud your efforts. One of the things I love about this joint is that many kind of keep and follow others, and check back as we can – even if not in the thread of the moment.

    So – in that spirit – knock off here with our fondness and appreciation, and go give that great, courageous kid of yours a hug if she’s home with you tonight.

  123. 123.

    gwangung

    @efgoldman:

    I suspect the price and the negotiation were thru whatever agency/speaker’s bureau he’s signed with.

    Oh, certainly. But for THEIR sanity (and to make money), they’ll set it high to cut down the requests to a reasonable, manageable number.

    That’s just simple nuts and bolts (which often doesn’t get considered).

  124. 124.

    Mnemosyne

    @Suzanne:

    If you ever find yourself in downtown LA, they have a very cool self-guided tour of the Disney Concert Hall that you can take during the day when there isn’t a show.

  125. 125.

    seaboogie

    @Steeplejack:

    When you do a link you have to erase/​overwrite the http prefix that FYWP provides. Otherwise your links are screwed.

    Hmmm…yeah – you Greeks are so, so sexy – even if I don’t understand a word you say…

    And also, thank you for your kind tutelage.

    ETA: Such a thing as balalaika smooth jazz?

  126. 126.

    Ruckus

    @Suzanne:

    and we also place a great deal of emphasis on sustainability

    You sound a lot like my sister, who worked in a related field to you and taught at USC.
    ETA That is meant as a complement. She was very good at her chosen profession and won a few awards. Hope your career goes as well.

  128. 128.

    slag

    @gwangung: I’m not sure that totally undermines the reasoning underlying the concerns (esp if we consider monied interests, in general, a problem), but it’s interesting to know more about how the process works.

  129. 129.

    Suzanne

    @Steeplejack: That church is lovely. Mr. Suzanne is from that part of the country, so I may go peek in next time we’re up there visiting.

  131. 131.

    gwangung

    @slag: I think folks should be accurate in their arguments. Saying Obama was shilling to Wall Street is simply an untruth.

    And I do not consider money or monied interests to be problematic per se; it’s when they can easily crowd out other interests that’s bad. And a lot of the monied interests will agree with that—those allies I think are useful.

  137. 137.

    slag

    @gwangung: Agreed. But I’ve been thinking a lot about norms v. laws lately and how complacency with our norms has brought us so very low so very quickly, and I’m wondering what kinds of systemic reforms (if any) would be useful.

    Considering Donald Trump’s presidency (both current and post) a useful case in point, I’ve been thinking about the kinds of legal boundaries that perhaps should be erected to stymie his (and everyone like him’s) influence and wonder if limits on post-presidency payouts might ever be on the table. If so, any limitations would also be applicable to decent, normal people, and therefore, to Obama.

    No matter what, it seems to me that the only way to think about the issue is to think about it like taxes—the system only works if everyone follows the same set of rules. Otherwise, it’s only the decent people who are going to lose.

  141. 141.

    slag

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: This is kind of silly since no one is arguing that Obama’s excellent book deal is compromising in any way. Theoretically, it could be, of course, but the possibility appears on first glance to be far more remote.

  143. 143.

    gwangung

    @slag: Folks need to make a stronger argument, then. The argument against speaker fees rests on a distortion of how these events are put together. It appears to me that the publishing deal and the speakers’ fees are equi-distant.

  144. 144.

    slag

    @gwangung: Unconvincing for the simple reason that a single publisher isn’t realistically going to ever have much potential influence over policy. And if it ever did, any quid pro quo would be fairly obvious and found out pretty quickly.

    If it were a case of having many different publishers over the course of one’s retirement, that would be more congruous and cause concern that the publishing industry, in general, might get preferential treatment—either intentionally or unintentionally.

  145. 145.

    EriktheRed

    Home ownership is a kick in the dick.

    It definitely can be, but personally, I’ll never go back to renting if I can help it.

  146. 146.

    Gvg

    @slag: you ought to chill out. Your anger at first dismissal was out of proportion and lead to your words being dismissed easily.

    You ignored the fact that we had already had at least one long discussion on the topic and had decided after much discussion that it was nothing. So you caused a reaction with some boredom not again groan.

    Here, we have noticed that certain types of criticisms tend to conveniently short circuit our side and cause those who should be allies to fight each other and get nothing done. This particular criticism of Obama sets off our alarm bells. Some of it actually seems to me to be rat fucking. Republican’s and some is the purity pony socialist types who are not popular here.

  147. 147.

    Sab

    I thought slag introduced a useful discussion, even though I was very much in agreement with the earlier discussion that slag missed. I thought the guys immediately labelling slag as an asshole were being a bit hasty and judgmental and making assumptions about his/her position . I don’t have any problem with the Obamas being scrutinized about huge speaker fees for ex-presidents and other ex-public officials. This is an important issue, and I have complete faith in the entire Obama family being moral and decent about this because that is who and what they are. That doesn’t mean the topic should be off limits just because they are decent.

  148. 148.

    Dave

    John,

    If it’s the fan in the condenser unit that won’t run, it’s likely all you need is a new start capacitor for the compressor. They’re cheap and easy to replace. Lots of videos on YouTube how to do it. An A/C guy will charge 100 bucks or so, you can do it yourself for less than 40 bucks, less than 20 if you shop online.

  150. 150.

    J R in WV

    @slag:

    Look who’s talking, you worthless piece of burnt waste matter. Screw you!

    ETA: Hey Cheryl Rofer, welcome on board!! Ignore the burnt waste littering around the place. Nice Kitties, we have two torties, a gray stripey mix and a black/brown mix. Sharp, those are!

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