Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

The GOP is a fucking disgrace.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

T R E 4 5 O N

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

He really is that stupid.

We still have time to mess this up!

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

People are complicated. Love is not.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

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Reader Interactions

261Comments

  2. 2.

    scav

    Round 2 of learning to make crusty bread and gardening (there’s a long five-hour rise involved). Grand poppies!

  3. 3.

    JPL

    BeautifuI poppies! Earlier I purchased some flowers for the back yard. In the front of the house, I discovered a few snakes in mulch, but so far none in the back yard. Unfortunately, I found a snake skin on the steps to the upper yard today, and that’s enough for me to wait await before attempting to clean another bed. I hate snakes.

  4. 4.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    Waiting to see a chick flick (the Emily Dickinson one) with the wife and happily pondering a life with many more mid-day flicks (I retire in 15667 minutes, but who’s counting).

    ETA: Misplaced modifier moved. I only have one wife, and I don’t think she’s much like Emily Dickenson, though she is a fan.

  5. 5.

    Corner Stone

    Can anyone tell me why Joe Biden thought opening his mouth was a good idea?

  9. 9.

    Mike J

    Last day for the current class. Might sail them down to Ivar’s/Kidd Valley for fish or ice cream, Still working on getting the combo right. Think it needs malt vinegar/chocolate sauce.

  12. 12.

    Frankensteinbeck

    I feel awkward plugging myself, so blame Immanentize for encouraging me. I know some folks here like or have been buying my Please Don’t Tell My Parents I’m A Supervillain series for their kids. The fourth book just came out, and here is its Amazon page! Paperbacks aren’t out yet, but only because there’s a lot of red tape to process. Audiobook is contracted, and probably recording now.

    I am going to go hide now, because this feels incredibly gauche.

  14. 14.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Baud:
    I know YOU don’t have any shyness about self-promotion. You launched a national campaign for the presidency on this website, and came within a hair’s breadth* of winning!

    *Plus or minus 100% of the vote.

  17. 17.

    Jeffro

    So…looks like Macron just laid the smack down on Putin while standing next to him at a press conference…

    … these European leaders seem to understand what they’re up against. Me likey!

  19. 19.

    CarolDuhart2

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: The clap at the end of the Anthem was even worse. I all my years listening to the ceremony, there was always silence except for statements and the cadence of the guards.

    Trump degrades everything he touches.

  25. 25.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @CarolDuhart2: that threw me, too

    @Jeffro: Cheese-eating surrender-monkeys, indeed. McCain is resolutely growling to his base, the Media, about how Russia is a greater threat than ISIS. So wattya gonna do about it, gramps?

  27. 27.

    Lahke

    Tried to go see the movie”Obit” and it was sold out. There’s a lesson there, but I can’t figure it out.

  28. 28.

    Baud

    @Jeffro: I don’t know how it’s playing in France, but Macron has been making some sweet moves on the international stage since his election.

  29. 29.

    raven

    The story of the poppies and Monia Michael.

    On 9 November 1918, inspired by the Canadian John McCrae battlefront-theme poem In Flanders Fields, she wrote a poem in response called We Shall Keep the Faith.[2] In tribute to the opening lines of McCrae’s poem — “In Flanders fields the poppies blow / Between the crosses row on row,” — Michael vowed to always wear a red poppy as a symbol of remembrance for those who served in the war.[3]

    After the war was over, Michael returned to the University of Georgia and taught a class of disabled servicemen. Realizing the need to provide financial and occupational support for these servicemen, she pursued the idea of selling silk poppies as a means of raising funds to assist disabled veterans. In 1921, her efforts resulted in the poppy being adopted as a symbol of remembrance for war veterans by the American Legion Auxiliary, and by Earl Haig’s British Legion Appeal Fund (later The Royal British Legion) later that year.[3]

    Michael was born on what is now known as 3698 Moina Michael Road in Good Hope, in Walton County, Georgia. She was the eldest daughter and second of the seven children of John Marion Michael and Alice Sherwood. She was distantly related to General Francis Marion on her father’s side, and the Wise family of Virginia state governors on her mother’s side. Both sides of her family had Huguenot ancestry, with origins in Brittany and Flanders respectively. Her family were wealthy, and owned a cotton plantation until 1898. She was educated at Braswell Academy in the Morgan County, and the Martin Institute in Jefferson, Georgia.[1]

    She became a teacher in 1885, initially in Good Hope and then in Monroe, Georgia. She taught at the Lucy Cobb Institute and Normal School, both located in Athens, Georgia. She studied at Columbia University in New York City in 1912-13.

  30. 30.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Roger Moore:
    It was up for pre-order for precisely one day. SO MANY BUREAUCRATIC PROBLEMS with this one! Mostly, the cover art took a month. The artist is normally prompt, so don’t ask me why that should be.

  32. 32.

    Baud

    In the spirit of the holiday, I picked up an iPad mini for $100 off. Not 100% sure if I’ll keep it, but it’s a nice size and weight for reading and web surfing. It’s only been a couple of days, but I can see why people like and don’t like iOS.

  33. 33.

    Jeffro

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I hope to see a lot of signs to that effect at the March for truth on June 3…

    I know we progressives are a disorganized lot but you think we could target a few of these “huff and puff” Republicans and goad them into actually, y’know, DOING something about Ill Douche.

    #IfItWasHillary

  37. 37.

    Gretchen

    Ivanka Trump’s website lauds Memorial Day as “the start of summer” and suggests champagne popsicles (really) as one way to celebrate.

  38. 38.

    Corner Stone

    @JPL: Biden Slams Democrats for Silence on Middle-Class Struggles
    “Former Vice President Joe Biden questioned the Democratic Party’s strategy for targeting middle-class voters, suggesting Sunday that Democrats “haven’t spoken enough to the fears and aspirations to the people we come from.”

    “Because of the negative campaign that [President Donald] Trump ran, how much did we hear about that guy making 50,000 bucks on an assembly line, [and] the woman — his wife — making $28,000 as a hostess?” Biden asked a crowd of 1,200 at a campaign rally here.

    “They have $78,000, two kids, [are] living in a metropolitan area, and they can hardly make it,” he said. “When was the last time you heard us talk about those people?”

  39. 39.

    trollhattan

    @zhena gogolia:
    As not-an-opera buff I’m nevertheless totally smitten by Ms. Fleming. In that ultimate collision of worlds, her SuperbOwl anthem is my absolute favorite.

  44. 44.

    JPL

    @Corner Stone: Thank you. Like other Americans, Biden is showing his ignorance, because she was the only candidate that campaigned with real solutions. The media showed not to care, but it’s embarrassing that he didn’t pay attention. tsk tsk

  45. 45.

    SFAW

    TaMara –
    Thanks for the beautiful pictures of the poppies. Much more appropriate for today, than what that moron did at Arlington.

  47. 47.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Corner Stone: What a dumb headline, that isn’t a “slam”. They’ve spent too much time writing headlines about Sanders.

    Sounds like Joe didn’t listen to what Hillary actually had to say, either. Is this a straight white guy thing?

  48. 48.

    Baud

    @Corner Stone:

    They have $78,000, two kids, [are] living in a metropolitan area, and they can hardly make it,” he said.

    “And they are really pissed off about Black Lives Matter.”

  50. 50.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Corner Stone: going through HRC’s convention speech, she comes back to some variant of talking about middle class jobs every three sentences or so, outside of her own biographical stuff, for the first half of her speech. I started cutting and pasting but it would just eat up the thread. I never heard her speak without talking about the middle class and jobs. As with so much other stuff, the water was there, the horses just didn’t want to drink.

    I head Michael Tomasky a couple of months ago, say that his mother voted for Clinton, but she was tired of hearing so much about what bathrooms people should use. I have no memory of Clinton talking about No Carolina. Doesn’t surprise me that random person got confused about what she was hearing from whom, but Tomasky listens for a living.

  51. 51.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Jeffro:

    I know we progressives are a disorganized lot

    Apropos of nothing but that comment, but I just heard a wonderful performance of a wonderful short story. The story is “At the Anarchists’ Convention” by John Sayles, and the reading was by Jerry Stiller as part of the Selected Shorts radio program. I heard it on a Shorts collection I borrowed from the library. You can find the same recording on YouTube.

    These characters are ex-protestors whose heyday was in the 1930s and 1940s. They’re a bunch of cranky olds, but they also have a genuine heroic history of being beaten up and arrested. It’s a wonderful collection of old progressives, and I can easily see it being much like a Balloon-Juice Reunion of, oh, 2040 or so.

  53. 53.

    Baud

    @Corner Stone:

    When was the last time you heard us talk about those people?”

    How about this time, Joe?

    But the other basket — and I know this because I see friends from all over America here — I see friends from Florida and Georgia and South Carolina and Texas — as well as, you know, New York and California — but that other basket of people are people who feel that the government has let them down, the economy has let them down, nobody cares about them, nobody worries about what happens to their lives and their futures, and they’re just desperate for change. It doesn’t really even matter where it comes from. They don’t buy everything he says, but he seems to hold out some hope that their lives will be different. They won’t wake up and see their jobs disappear, lose a kid to heroine, feel like they’re in a dead-end. Those are people we have to understand and empathize with as well.

  54. 54.

    amygdala

    @Lahke: I saw it the other day and enjoyed it, even though it’s mostly an obituary of print journalism.

  56. 56.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I head Michael Tomasky a couple of months ago, say that his mother voted for Clinton, but she was tired of hearing so much about what bathrooms people should use.

    Maybe they were reading the media. They sure loved to talk about that Republican-manufactured ‘controversy’.

  58. 58.

    trollhattan

    @Baud:
    Now that’s a fine find. Send it to each member of the Liberal Media presently combing the country talking to Trump voters about why he’s still so dang awesome. “Ah was so a-skeert’ she was gonna win.”

  60. 60.

    bemused senior

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: Ha! It’s a favorite at our house. My husband’s step-father (RIP) was an alte kaker who grew up on the Lower East Side and was a Communist when a young man. We sent off for a tape of the Selected Shorts reading after we heard it on the radio specifically to give it to him. His stories and political commentary reminded us of the anarchists’ convention every time we visited him.

  63. 63.

    Corner Stone

    Why would anyone on MSNBC interview Dallas Woodhouse?
    Don’t ask me why I am watching. It’s because I am reading govt compliance fucking manuals at the same time.

    As a side note, Woodhouse is not looking good. H e looks like he has lost 20 pounds since the elections and not in a good way. Like his health is failing. It may be the evil that men do catching up to him.

  65. 65.

    Corner Stone

    @Kathleen: He has been a real asshole lately. I like Smilin’ Joe and Obama’s VP Joe a hell of a lot better than I like Joe Biden.

  66. 66.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Lahke:

    At least you live in a place where it’s showing. We keep hearing about how Atlanta is a world-class city, but we never get the cool films until months after they’re first released. I looked for Obit showtimes and there’s nothing.

  68. 68.

    Gravenstone

    Just put the second coat on the living room. Started running out of fucks to give, so have a few more spots to fix than I should. Oh well. Just a little trim work then the contrast alcove to get to within the next couple of weeks before the carpeting shows up.

  70. 70.

    D58826

    @Baud: This is probably an over simplification but to borrow the Mario Cumno metaphor – you campaign in poetry and govern in prose – Hillary campaigned in prose. Not her fault, it’s just who she is. Plus she had to compete with some of the best political poets around -Bill, Michelle and Barack.

    Trump campaigned in doggerel but it worked.

    and yes her e-mails

  71. 71.

    bystander

    @Frankensteinbeck:
    Baud:

    @Frankensteinbeck: There is a wrong way to self-promote. You didn’t come close to crossing any lines.

    Listen to the master, Frankensteinbeck. He can tell you all the wrong ways.

    Best of luck with the new book, too!

  72. 72.

    TenguPhule

    @Gretchen:

    Ivanka Trump’s website lauds Memorial Day as “the start of summer” and suggests champagne popsicles (really) as one way to celebrate.

    Heads on pikes.

  74. 74.

    TenguPhule

    @Corner Stone:

    Don’t ask me why I am watching. It’s because I am reading govt compliance fucking manuals at the same time.

    So you decided to increase your pain and suffering of your own free will?

    Is there something you’re not telling us about yourself?

  75. 75.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Kathleen: Like Mo Udall said, the only cure for that level of presidential ambition is embalming fluid, and like another old man who has never had a full-on national campaign directed against him, he thinks he would’ve walked away with it last time.

  76. 76.

    Jeffro

    @Corner Stone: I have been a pretty big fan of his in the past but if he thinks he’s going to make a run at it in 2020 count me out. Would much rather see a fresh face who knows how to really take the GOP to the woodshed instead of stuff like this.

  83. 83.

    D58826

    @Jeffro: To even talk about mid 70’s Biden, mid 70’s Hillary and/or late 70’s Bernie is insane. (and I’m 70). It’s past time for a younger generation of leaders to take over.

  84. 84.

    D58826

    @Baud: True but Michelle could turn reading the Manhattan phone book in a standing ovation performance and I suspect Hillary would get the same reaction that Lincoln got when he gave his Gettysburg address.

  87. 87.

    Mary G

    Good read: Molly Ball in the Atlantic: How Trump Is Torturing Capitol Hill

    For the Republicans running the government, Capitol Hill has become a workplace with extremely poor morale. The moderates fear for their careers, while the conservative true believers see little to hope for. When the liberal magazine Mother Jones credited Representative Justin Amash of Michigan with being the first Republican to raise the possibility of impeachment, the office of Representative Carlos Curbelo of Florida called to request a correction: Curbelo had gone there first.

    HA HA HA HA HA

  90. 90.

    divF

    @D58826:
    As I often do, I am reading LGM and BJ side-by-side. And this comment has just turned up at LGM, that captures for me at least the essence of the issue with the election and the country.

  91. 91.

    tesslibrarian

    @SiubhanDuinne: Glad I could help! I’d done a search recently when I heard the obit writers interviewed on Fresh Air.

    If we decide to come in, I’ll let you know–though I admit to likely waiting for it to turn up at Ciné here. My rant levels may too high to add midtown traffic. :)

  93. 93.

    GregB

    Great video of President Trump having a jolly old time singing along to Todd Rundgren’s: I Don’t Wanna Work at a lighthearted family cookout.

    Oh wait, it was the Star Spangled Banner at Arlington National Cemetery in honor of the nation’s war dead.

  94. 94.

    raven

    @tesslibrarian: I don’t know if you saw this in the Banner Herald or knew this guy but what a great obit!

    Arthur George Lavallee of Danielsville, GA, passed away December 8, 2016, comfortably and in his sleep after a brief illness. He was pre­ceded ind eath by his father Robert Lavallee; and survived by his mother Wilma Brown Lavallee, hissix siblings (l>-aul, Bobby, Nancy, John, Tom, and Joe), hischildren (Nicole and Timothy), his grandchildren (Aurora, Isaiah, Noah, Nicole,Tori,
    Amanda, and Sabrienne), his great grandson, Rowen, and a blue tick coonhound that wandered up to his door a few years back,
    Arthur was born May 9th,1947 in Southbridge; MA, and
    during his life he excelled at anything he put his mind to. He was raised onafarm in Ware, MA where his large handsde­ velopa strong grip from milking thecows. As a student athlete, Arthur was Captain of the Ware High School football team and President of his senior class. He received his Bachelors of Science in Entomology from the University of Massachusetts, Masters from the University of Rhode Island, and studied
    for his PhD at the University of Georgia, While working for theSmithsonian Institute, he collected insects from remote locations in distance countries, including throughout South America and the Middle East. He discovered and was instru­ mental in naming several species of flies. Alifelong horticul· turalist, his gardens were expansive and eclectic •as any plant he touched would grow beyond expectation. Anavid collector of utilitarian antiques and Americana, heintuitivefy saw the beauty and history in everyday items. He arguabfy had the largest antique bottle collection on the east coast
    He never let others dictate what he thought, said or did
    – sometimes paying the price – rarely blaming those around him. His Twainian tales of personal adventure, often a
    fine blend of truth and fiction, will be told long after he is gone. Like his father, he loved to talk politics – combining his deep conservative roots with his clear liberal ideals.It was not uncommon for him to take both sides of an issue simultaneously without apology. He was a lifelong advocate of education -and never encountered a child that did not receive a lecture on the importance of it. He was revered byall that called him friend. He had a big heart. He was loved. He will be missed.

    We would like to humbly thank all his famify and friends• particularly hislady friends •for putting up with hissh nanigans over the last 69 years. Arthur would have like the idea ofd ng at 69, not st because of the quirky innuendo, but because he never got too old to still be cool In addi·tion, Arthur would be pleased with himself to know that all pending charges will be dismissed on a technicality, however, he would like the Madison County sheriff’s office to expedi­tiously return his shotgun in good condition to his daughter, Nicole, for personal protection and continued social resis· tance ..as the need arises.
    The family will hold private services at a later date-and we encourage all that knew him tocelebrate his life in your own wayand in your own timei In lieu of flowers, please makea s17.able donation to the National Organization for the Reform of Mari ana laws (NORML), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), orsimpfy buy some cheap American beer inacan, smoke a little reefer, and tell thestories he no longer can

  95. 95.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Frankensteinbeck: Congrats on having several of your novels published. I believe there are quite a few Balloon Juicers in that boat. This is a very smart commentariat (Front Pagers included).

  97. 97.

    TenguPhule

    @mai naem mobile: What’s driving me crazy is they are shitting on literally EVERYTHING that even the most reprehensible assholes before them at least paid lip service to.

  98. 98.

    Mnemosyne

    I’m dragging G out to see Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 this afternoon so I’ll finally have someone to have wonky film geek discussions about it with. People kept getting mad at me here for talking about spoilers and themes, so poor G didn’t stand a chance of escaping.

  99. 99.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Corner Stone: Et tu, Biden? Really dude? Ok. I hope whoever runs in 2020 takes to heart all of the criticism from the Left and talks incessantly about the middle class and the precious White Working Class. Seems like otherwise, we will spend years tearing each other apart instead of focussing on the enemy.

  100. 100.

    TenguPhule

    @Mnemosyne:

    People kept getting mad at me here for talking about spoilers and themes

    I think it was only the homo-erotic bit that people felt you were really reaching for it.

    Its been out long enough that you should feel free to talk about it.

  101. 101.

    Major Major Major Major

    @divF: this is to a large degree how I feel. When people talk about who’s to blame for the election they always sound like they think votes for republicans spring fully formed from the head of Zeus instead of being cast by sentient humans who possess agency.

  106. 106.

    geg6

    The flowers are lovely, TaMara. Our roses seem to be going crazy over the last few days. The back yard is just bursting with them.

    Relaxing right now before making Pittsburgh-style steak salads (we put French fries on everything here). Then settling in for the Pens game. Repeating for the Cup would be awesome.

  107. 107.

    Mnemosyne

    @TenguPhule:

    The homoerotic thing sprang from someone else’s head, but I thought there might be a little merit to it. There’s a thin line between homosocial and homoerotic.

  108. 108.

    divF

    @Chris:

    Abigail Nussbaum is always worth reading.

    So I’ve noticed.

    There are a number of commenters over there that make me willing to put up with the threaded comments (which, IMHO, makes it easier for trolls to disrupt a conversation) and continue to read it.

  110. 110.

    Wapiti

    @Mustang Bobby:

    There is nothing wrong with self-promotion. After all, if you won’t do it, who will? Go for it, and good luck.

    A boss once told me: if you don’t toot your own horn, someone’s going to use it for a piss-funnel.

  111. 111.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @raven:

    Even with all the funky formatting that occurred somewhere in the copy-‘n’-paste operation, that was a great obituary!! Wish I had known him.

  112. 112.

    raven

    @SiubhanDuinne: Yea, I had in in a PDF and it didn’t translate all that well. I changed a bunch of things but gave up knowing the geniuses at BJ could figure it out.

  114. 114.

    Aleta

    My aunt added a line to the end of my mom’s obit: “And she never met a cat she didn’t like.”

  115. 115.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @D58826:

    Trump campaigned in doggerel but it worked.

    Trump’s campaign was godawful incompetent, but clearly demonstrated the principle that if the customer wants it bad enough, and you’re the only supplier, it doesn’t matter how bad a salesman you are. From the moment Trump called Mexicans rapists, he had the Republican base behind him and eager to vote.

  116. 116.

    Patricia Kayden

    @GregB: Zero days without Trump being a national embarrassment. This cannot go on for four entire years. We cannot survive all this “winnning”.

  119. 119.

    TenguPhule

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    From the moment Trump called Mexicans rapists, he had the Republican base behind him and eager to vote.

    Yes, but the rest of them jumped on thanks to Russians, “But her emails” vichy press and a whole lot of fucking stupid.

  121. 121.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @tesslibrarian:

    I even hate to drive to Midtown from Duluth, so I have all sympathy. Sometimes when films come to either the Midtown or the Tara, they occasionally also get screenings at theatres a bit closer to me. I’ll check closer to the date.

    But do let me know if you find yourself coming to the ATL with a bit of time available to you. I’d love to meet.

  122. 122.

    TenguPhule

    @Baud: Baud 2020: Movie Theatres are my lawn, get off of it you young whippersnappers and watch it on bluray!

  124. 124.

    opiejeanne

    Tamara, your poppies are lovely. Are they crepe paper poppies?

    The poppies that grew in Flanders Field were not so fancy, but profuse.They’re called Corn Poppies. I grew them in my corn patch one year and they come back every year:

    Corn Poppies

  128. 128.

    TenguPhule

    Today is meat grilling day: Steaks & truffle oil fries.

    Something to look forward to today.

  130. 130.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @opiejeanne: Well, OK, call it 2030 then which was the number I originally picked. But I think we’d do a pretty good job of an anarchists’ convention in 2020. In fact I think the Democratic Party has one scheduled already.

  133. 133.

    EthylEster

    I’m in Seattle and I have 6 poppies that look exactly like the first pic.
    They are about the size of softball.

  137. 137.

    TenguPhule

    @rikyrah:

    We need to be finding a primary challenger to run against her.

    Sorry, I’m in the wrong district.

  138. 138.

    J R in WV

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Is this a straight white guy thing?

    I’m a straight old white guy, and I worked for and donated to Ms Clinton, the best presidential candidate America has had since 2012. So probably not, at least not completely.

  140. 140.

    Elmo

    @Frankensteinbeck: Don’t hide! I love hearing about success! Besides,
    He who has a thing to sell
    And goes and whispers in a well
    Is not as apt to get the dollars
    As one who climbs a tree and hollers.

  141. 141.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Aleta:

    I’m sure I’ve told this story before, but my grandmother was an extremely proper, rather rigid lady, with a pouter-pigeon bosom, a ramrod-straight spine, and a withering glance she used to great effect. (Think Downton Abbey‘s Dowager Countess.)

    One of her obituaries began: “Helen Cannon — Mrs. Cannon to her friends — died last week….”

    It was written as a tribute by one of her former employees, but all of us in the family cracked up. And it’s quite true. In the nursing home, where Every. Single. Other. Resident was addressed by their first name, not a single aide or nurse or doctor would dare address her as Helen. And she had one harmless young Lutheran pastor scared to death of her, because every time he made his rounds, she would try to stump him (and often succeed) on some question of obscure biblical scholarship.

    I love good obits.

  143. 143.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Elmo:
    @Frankensteinbeck:

    Also:

    My boy, you may take it from me,
    That of all the afflictions accurst
    With which a man’s saddled
    And hampered and addled,
    A diffident nature’s the worst.
    Though clever as clever can be –
    A Crichton of early romance –
    You must stir it and stump it,
    And blow your own trumpet,
    Or, trust me, you haven’t a chance!

    If you wish in the world to advance,
    Your merits you’re bound to enhance,
    You must stir it and stump it,
    And blow your own trumpet,
    Or, trust me, you haven’t a chance!

    — W. S. Gilbert (naturally)

  148. 148.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Wow, it’s raining and dark and thundering like a sumbish over here. Yikes!

  150. 150.

    germy

    New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker — a potential 2020 White House contender and recipient of major campaign contributions from Jared Kushner and others in the Kushner family — declined to endorse his party’s call for the White House to revoke the security clearance of the president’s son-in-law.

    The Democratic National Committee has called for Kushner’s security clearance to be revoked after reports that he sought to set up back-channel communications with Russian officials. Similarly, Rep. Adam Schiff — the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee — said Kushner’s security credentials should be reviewed.

    Booker refused to support those calls during an interview with CNN Sunday. Asked if supports revoking Kushner’s security clearance, the New Jersey senator said: “I think we need to first get to the bottom of it. He needs to answer for what was happening at the time. It raises very serious concerns for me. And that could be a potential outcome that I seek, but I want to understand, at least hear from Jared Kushner, as well as the administration, about what was exactly going on there.”

    Booker also pushed back against those calling for Trump’s impeachment, saying, “I’m not going to rush to impeachment.”

    Kushner and other donors affiliated with Kushner Cos. delivered more than $41,000 to Booker’s Senate campaign in 2013, according to data compiled by PoliticalMoneyLine.com. Politico reported that Ivanka Trump hosted a fundraiser for Booker during that election.

  154. 154.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @JPL:

    The thunder has gone down to an irritated-sounding grumble, and it’s not raining quite as hard, so it must be moving through pretty fast. Still super-dark, though.

  155. 155.

    Gindy51

    @D58826: Just not Cory Booker, owned by the Kushners lock stock and smoking barrels.

    “Kushner and other donors affiliated with Kushner Cos. delivered more than $41,000 to Booker’s Senate campaign in 2013, according to data compiled by PoliticalMoneyLine.com. Politico reported that Ivanka Trump hosted a fundraiser for Booker during that election.”

  156. 156.

    Peale

    @Corner Stone: that’s what those college graduates wanted to hear about! Not how they need to be the future! But a rant about how much their parents are struggling to get by and no one wants to help them!

  158. 158.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Gindy51: @D58826: Just not Cory Booker, owned by the Kushners lock stock and smoking barrels.

    If you can’t take their money, drink their booze, et cetera. I’m not a big fan of Booker since his flop-sweaty debut on MTP back in 2012, but the Kushners were Democrats right up until, IIRC, the 2016 Republican primary, maybe a bit later. Did all the Ivana Spawn realize they weren’t registered as Republicans, or just Uday and Qusay?

  160. 160.

    tesslibrarian

    @raven: I hadn’t seen that! I’d have like to have known him. (I quit subscribing to the ABH when they quit having a dedicated reporter to cover the legislature for Athens–just the last straw of irresponsible editorial decisions on their part.)

    @SiubhanDuinne: I’ll let you know the next time I’m in the city to use the Archives. :)

    The storms have reached Athens, though more rumble than rain. Coleslaw is done; guess I’ll make chocolate chip-oatmeal cookies.

  161. 161.

    germy

    @SiubhanDuinne: I remember some anecdotes about the Garden of Allah.
    The actress Gloria Stuart lived there in the 1940s, as did many Hollywood actor and literary types.

    According to legend, the walls were so thin that in the middle of the night a woman asked her partner for a glass of water, and the resident of the next door apartment got up to pour a glass.

  166. 166.

    chris

    @germy: Someone last night said that Booker also had or has ties to the New Apostolic Reformation. Javanka seems a little sketchy but, you know, C.R.E.A.M. The NAF? No fucking way. Ever. At all. Nope.

  168. 168.

    germy

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: When I was researching Hollywood writers I found a letter written by Robert Benchley complaining that the food and service at the Garden of Allah was “lousy” and he was enraged at the indifference of the switchboard operators. One day he missed an important call, went to the switchboard office, found it empty, and turned all their chairs upside down.

  170. 170.

    germy

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: That sounds like a quote from “Harpo Speaks.”

    He also said Oscar Levant saw the Pacific ocean for the first time and said “What do you know— a Gentile ocean!

  173. 173.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: There are two other models of LA that were built. There was one commissioned by the LA Times for their 50th anniversary in 1931 of LA in 1881. That was last seen, best that I can tell, at the LA Central Library and I fear it was lost in the fires in the late 80’s. The other was a model of downtown LA in the late 30’s that was commissioned by the WPA(for redevelopment purposes) , much of that model was thrown away, but a portion survives at the LA County Museum of Natural History.

  175. 175.

    Mnemosyne

    @germy:

    I just saw the photo of the bank in one of the links, but I don’t remember which one. We don’t do Brutalist in Los Angeles (well, except for our recent cathedral, Our Lady of the Angels), so the bank is more 1950s Googie.

  177. 177.

    Elizabelle

    How fun to drop into this Garden of Allah convo. Never heard of it, but ears and eyes perked now.

  183. 183.

    germy

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: It looks like a car dealership down the street from where I used to live.

    No offense to fans of modern architecture, but those photos fill me with dread.

  184. 184.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @germy: We’re doing a much better job keeping the old stuff now, most of the new development downtown is on parking lots that were created in the late 40’s to early 70’s “redevelopment”.

  186. 186.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @germy: Some of the new apartment building that they’re building make me want to start drinking again. I told the wife that they must have brought over a bunch of architects from the old eastern bloc.

    ETA: Now that comment by me was a bit unfair, they do add some brightly colored panels to the buildings; that will, of course, quickly fade in the Southern California sun.

  190. 190.

    JPL

    @eclare: ugh… Any news about when the power might return? Hopefully, it’s days not a week. My SIL lives in north Georgia, and then it’s normally a week isn’t uncommon.

  191. 191.

    rikyrah

    Sophie Pedder‏Verified account @PedderSophie

    Macron lays into Russian media “lies” during campaign. Next to Putin. Haven’t seen him that angry since Le Pen debate

  193. 193.

    rikyrah

    Bill Madden‏ @activist360

    Showing more honesty and courage than Trump will ever have, with Putin present, Macron attacks Russia’s fake news

  194. 194.

    opiejeanne

    @trollhattan: The idjit next door was jawing at my other neighbor at the other end of our lot and I knew it was about politics because I could hear both their voices rising. As I was about to scoop up the cat to avoid being drawn into it and saying something rude, the poorly-informed Democrat spotted us and told us all about what he had said. I love her dearly but she is really a bit silly and I could have dismantled his, “Look at all the great stuff Trump has done!” nonsense in about a second. Bill seems to think that Europe respects us now because of this recent (disastrous) trip. She told him they’re laughing at us and he could not grasp what she was saying.

    That was over an hour ago and I’ve been editing photos from a whale-watching trip we took last week to try and calm down, but my blood pressure is still so high my ears are ringing. Ugh.

    I think I need to take a sailing class wth Mike J or something.

  195. 195.

    Mnemosyne

    @germy:

    Looks pretty accurate. The Giant Evil Corporation is very unionized in part thanks to that strike and the other studio strikes — even us secretaries have a union that I am a member of.

    I’ll remind everyone when the Tyrus Wong documentary airs on PBS this fall as part of the “American Masters” series. Wong ended up getting fired from the Studio because he did not go on strike because he feared for his job as a Chinese immigrant, and when his striking boss came back, he fired Wong.

    I’m guessing that a lot of the women who did not strike did it for similar reasons — it was hard enough to get and keep a job as a woman that it was difficult to risk that security.

    But people who think it was the strike that led to the post-war fallow period at the studio need to read up a bit more on World War II. Plus they’re very short-sighted if they claim that Alice in Wonderland and Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella and Lady and the Tramp are signs of artistic weakness.

  196. 196.

    JPL

    Now President dumbass is planning on overturning the Obama executive order on Cuba. ugh.. .

  197. 197.

    Mnemosyne

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    I’m a little tempted by the new one going up near the Glendale Exchange, where there’s a Laemmle Theatre right in the same building. I would end up seeing movies at the theatre on a regular basis again, but I know it would be your idea of Hell.

  198. 198.

    JPL

    @eclare: yuck! I can’t imagine being without a.c. this time of year. My sil lost power in the winter, and she had a fireplace to keep her warm.

  200. 200.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @germy:

    According to legend, the walls were so thin that in the middle of the night a woman asked her partner for a glass of water, and the resident of the next door apartment got up to pour a glass.

    LOL! I remember reading a line once — don’t know whether it was meant to be about the GoA or someplace else — “The walls are so thin, you can hear someone changing their mind in the next room.”

  204. 204.

    Steve in the ATL

    @eclare: lots of folks in my FB feed bitching that Overton Square hasn’t been powered up yet. Don’t mess with hangry Midtowners!

  206. 206.

    Aleta

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: @germy: @?BillinGlendaleCA: Love those models. It’s funny how I have a relationship to the Garden of Allah and a solid picture in my mind, created out of scattered references in stories here and there and out of attachment to the work of writers who stayed there.

  207. 207.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Blood will tell….

    Ashley Feinberg‏Verified account @ ashleyfeinberg 6h6 hours ago
    Ivanka Trump follows 28 different Ivanka Trump fan accounts on Instagram

  210. 210.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @SiubhanDuinne: FTR I was an F. Scott fan in my school days, but I first ran across the name a couple of years ago in a quirky backhanded reference at the beginning of Norman Spinrad’s global-warming-SF novel Greenhouse Summer. IIRC my youthful fandom petered out somewhere early in Tender Is the Night. (Also FTR the novel in question is, like all of Spinrad’s oeuvre, quirky & strange & for all I know as ahead of the curve as were Bug Jack Barron and The Iron Dream and – wait for it – Russian Spring.)

  211. 211.

    rikyrah

    Kurt Eichenwald‏Verified account @kurteichenwald

    Ive checked all of @realDonaldTrump’s #fakenews declarations from Nov to March. All of them have since proved true in sworn testimony. Oops.

  212. 212.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @rikyrah:

    From your linked article:

    The Daily Caller report [about Trump’s decision to reverse Obama’s Cuba policy] surfaced days after Trump met with Pope Francis, who facilitated the deal between Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro.

    I must say, that goes a long way toward explaining the scowl on the Pope’s face and the big stupid grin on Donald’s. Subject almost certainly came up in their private meeting. At a guess, Il Papa tried to persuade him to change his mind or at least go slowly, and Trump got all stubborn and “Ha ha, you’re not the boss of me.”

    My loathing for this worthless piece of protoplasm grows by the day.

  213. 213.

    Timurid

    @debbie:

    We’re just months away from OG Republicans like Reagan, Nixon, GHW Bush, etc. being memory holed into “traitors” and “cucks” by Trump and his new GOP…

  216. 216.

    Steve in the ATL

    @eclare: Mom got tired of the mess and flew to Phoenix this morning. House should be fine with a couple of attack cats. And the retired Marine who is watching the house for her. I feel for people who don’t have that luxury–parents of young kids, the immobile elderly, hourly workers who don’t have jobs to go to–what a nightmare.

  217. 217.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @germy:

    Well, now I’m definitely going to have to read more about the hotel. Sounds just delicious, and I’m heartbroken that it was demolished before BillinGlendale had a chance to take photos of it.

  218. 218.

    debbie

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    My step-great-grandmother was an Athens GA society matron who died in 1932. Her obit is a bit longwinded, but “of a cheery nature” has always tickled me because her husband was of the Big Daddy mode.

    Services at Home for Mrs. Flatau
    Prominent Athens Woman Died Friday Night in Atlanta Hospital

    Funeral services for Mrs. Pearl Bernstein Flatau, who died in Crawford Long Infirmary in Atlanta Friday night at 8:00 o’clock, after an illness of several days, will be held Sunday afternoon at 4:00 o’clock at the residence, 1190 South Milledge. Rabbi Abraham Shusterman of the Congregation Children of Israel, will conduct the services and interment will follow in Oconee Hill cemetery.

    Mrs. Flatau, who was born in Athens, had spent her life here and had drawn about her a large circle of friends to whom her death will come as a shock. She had been ill in Atlanta for several days but had been though on the way to recovery when the relapse which ended fatally occurred. She was in her 48th year.

    Of a cheery nature which drew to her many friends, Mrs. Flatau had held them fast through the years with the sterling qualities she possessed and displayed in the social life of the cit and in the confines of her home. Her home was the magnet which drew this circle of old friends closer to her, and through them new acquaintances rapidly became fast friends.

    A kindness of disposition and a feeling of deep sympathy with those less fortunate in life than she led Mrs. Flatau to many deeds of charity which she accomplished quietly but effectively. There are many in Athens who have been benefited by her sympathy and whose sufferings were lessened through her generosity.

    An active worker in all movements looking towards the civic betterment of Athens, she could ever be found in the front ranks of those whose interest in the development of things best for their city lead them to make personal sacrifices to accomplish these ends.

  219. 219.

    eclare

    @Steve in the ATL: Was wondering about your mom, thanks for sharing. Oh yeah, feel for people with kids, disabled, elderly…it’s ugly. Luckily not supposed to be that hot this week.

  220. 220.

    Steve in the ATL

    @eclare:

    The Kroger near me, Poplar/Cleveland, is closed.

    What about the Big Star at Cooper and Madison or the Seesel’s on Central across from Idlewild Presbyterian?

    Uh, I may be a little out of date on my Memphis references….

  221. 221.

    Quinerly

    @rikyrah:
    Very sad over this. He didn’t get much out of his retirement…just retired 3-4 weeks ago. No word on what happened.

  222. 222.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @eclare:

    Gawd what a POS.

    This line should replace his name on every TRUMP-owned hotel, golf course, steak, necktie, and vodka bottle in the world.

  223. 223.

    LurkerNoLonger

    I hate holidays. There’s no breaking news! I need my fix! I needs it, baby.

  224. 224.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Quinerly:

    I am almost positive he retired when he did because he knew he had very little time remaining to him.

    But yes, I too am very sad about his passing. I’m not a sports fan, but his weekly commentaries on NPR were must-listen radio for me.

  225. 225.

    eclare

    @Steve in the ATL: Traffic lights are out so trying to stay close, drivers here are awful enough with functioning lights. Big Star is now Cash Saver and Kroger took over the old Seesel’s. Am going to work tomorrow so I’ll get better idea of other areas.

  226. 226.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @LurkerNoLonger: I will break you some news

    BREAKING NEWS
    Chuck Woolery has a podcast, if you’re interested in stuff like this

    Chuck Woolery‏Verified account @ chuckwoolery
    Believe it or not. Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin were both Jewish. I was shocked to find, most of the original Soviet Communists were Jewish

  227. 227.

    raven

    @SiubhanDuinne: Next door to Garden Hills
    just before the pizza joint. There is still one in Candler Park.

    “The Buckhead location of Mexican restaurant La Fonda, which closed in November for renovations, will reportedly not reopen.

    The building at 2813 Peachtree Rd. will be demolished to make way for a larger Fellini’s, the popular pizza restaurant adjacent to La Fonda.

    The parcel is next to the former Garden Hills shopping center, which is set to be turned into a mixed-use development.

    There are six other Fellini’s locations in Atlanta and Decatur, and three other La Fonda locations. The owners also have plans to open a third Greater Good BBQ at the new Hosea + 2nd development in East Lake later this year (there are already location in Tucker and Atlanta on Roswell Road).”

  230. 230.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @raven:

    Oh, I thought you were talking about a defunct movie theatre. Yeah, I know of the restaurants (I think there are two or three of them around town) but have never been to one.

  232. 232.

    rikyrah

    The important role of aunts and uncles in children’s lives
    By Monica Leftwich
    May 26

    My brother-in-law and I have taken turns watching each others’ kids almost every weekend for the past year. Whether it’s me keeping my nephews or my daughters going to his place, we’ve done a pretty great job at keeping the cousins very close.

    And it’s always elegant ruckus when the kids are together. Yes, at the end of the week with them, my house looks like a disaster area. Deserted pizza boxes decorate my kitchen floor, and my laundry loads have increased twofold. But I get to bond with them, especially with my oldest nephew, in a special way that I don’t get to experience with my own children. He confides in me his worries with academics, broken friendship and other touchy topics he may not want to share with others. For instance, he was not performing well in his English class and was too aghast to tell his parents right away so he laid his vexation on my shoulders over Chinese takeout.

    And all with a conviction of a very real trust he sees in me. Not like I was his “Aunt Moni,” as they so lovingly call me. But like I was his good friend; a friend that listens without the immediate judgment and lambasting parents deliver when they receive unappealing news about their kids.

    The beautiful thing is the roles as aunt (the maternal authority figure who is to be respected) and nephew (the developing young man with his own ideals and outlook on life) are still acknowledged and abided by.

    The role of a loving aunt or uncle in a child’s life should be a cherished one and, more important, a necessary one. So why does it feel like they are kind of underrated when it comes to building that village of support to raise a family?

    Melanie Notkin, founder of SavvyAuntie.com, told Forbes it is because “there’s no obligation of the aunt or uncle, unlike parenting; once you parent a child you have a legal obligation.” Aunts and uncles don’t have to be involved so much as they choose to be involved. But there’s never such a thing as too much love to give to a child. In fact, Notkin argues the more aunts and uncles a child has in their lives, the more positive influences they could have later in life.

  234. 234.

    J R in WV

    Here’s a link appropriate to the day:

    http://ancexplorer.army.mil/publicwmv/

    It finds graves at Arlington National Cemetery by last name. Mine is not represented, although it is on the VietNam memorial wall. I guess Mark isn’t interred at Arlington. My wife’s maiden name is there several times. My other family names are there multiple times.

    I found some family tombstones with a military husband on one side and another military female on the other side.

    There’s also a grave finder for all the other military cemeteries in the nation… I’ve lost that link already. Ah, found it:

    http://gravelocator.cem.va.gov/index.html?cemetery=N901

    Too many cemeteries for me to go through and look for family names, but if you know where to look, I’m sure it will help find folks.

  235. 235.

    Steve in the ATL

    @eclare: I actually knew that; I go back every year or so. I went to high school with Andy Seesel–wonder what he’s doing with all his Kroger money.

    A friend owns a yoga studio in Overton Square; she was holding free sessions in the natural light. Got to stay centered in this difficult time.

    @JPL:

    yuck! I can’t imagine being without a.c. this time of year.

    Memphis is like San Diego–the weather is perfect year-round. NB: I may have blocked out all memories of Memphis weather owing to the trauma of 100-degree Augusts and 15-degree Januaries.

  236. 236.

    Elizabelle

    @eclare: My sympathies on the power outage. I hope they restore your power soon.

    Lived in Richmond VA when it got walloped by Hurricane Isabelle, which did a great deal of her damage well inland. Big tree down, making our street a cul de sac. Neighbors set up long tables out in the street; mixed grill from our fridges and community dinner for 2 days or so. Wine and beer and it was kind of fun because — what else were you going to do? We were lucky; our power was back maybe the third day; others in the city had to wait a week or longer. Water trucked in to some neighborhoods.

    Anyway, I hope you come out of this well.

  237. 237.

    debbie

    @raven:

    My paternal grandmother was. She went to Ohio State and stayed up north when she met my grandfather there.

  238. 238.

    Steve in the ATL

    @rikyrah: my sister listens to Alex Jones and her (third) husband carries a concealed pistol at all times. They are not allowed to be around my children without supervision. YMMV.

  240. 240.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @rikyrah:

    lamh will want to read this!

    Unfortunately, my sister was the only one of us who had kids, and she lived so far away (Seattle and Phoenix and Denver to my NYC and Tampa and Flint/Battle Creek and Atlanta) that I’ve seen my nephews literally only a handful of times in their lives. I’ve always tried to remember their birthdays, but there was no real opportunity to be a hands-on auntie.

    (Edited to unfuck fucked-up shit)

  241. 241.

    Steve in the ATL

    @eclare:

    Am going to work tomorrow so I’ll get better idea of other areas.

    I’m picturing you sitting next to a window to get just enough light to do your ciphering on those green ledger pages, all the while cursing your lack of an abacus

  242. 242.

    debbie

    @rikyrah:

    One of the best things that has ever happened to me was to be able to play a supporting role in my nieces and nephews’ care and feeding.

  243. 243.

    JPL

    @Steve in the ATL: We moved here decades ago from Dallas, and when the sons were old enough to babysit, I discovered that a lot of families had guns for protection. That was in a pretty upscale neighborhood at the time. I directed them to yard work, since it seemed safer.

    I now live in a much smaller house and neighborhood. My direct neighbors, don’t own guns. Personally, it might be time for me to buy one, since I’m sick of the darn snakes. My gardening experiences have not been fun.

  253. 253.

    ThresherK

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I’m tempted to look for that podcast, simply because when I hear “Chuck Woolery” my ear is already hearing various superannuated TV game show theme songs. Let’s just say Herb Alpert’s Spanish Flea, from “The Dating Game”, is gonna be difficult to top.

  257. 257.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @SiubhanDuinne: In fact the title is an homage to the Prague Spring, & the novel itself is an object lesson in the perils of extrapolation from then-current trends. I quote for Jason Mills’ reader-review on goodreads.com:

    This is a science fiction novel so on the edge of now that it was sadly out of date even by the time it was published![1] Spinrad projected forward a few decades of Russian, US and European space programmes on the (mistaken!) assumption that the Soviet Union would continue. He depicts USSR moving into capitalism without crumbling.

    Apart from having the rug pulled out from under it by history, this is a splendid SF novel.

    [1] My uninformed guess is that Spinrad started plotting it when Gorbachov’s red star was still in ascent & finished it sometime early in 1991 for initial publication later that year, at the end of which the Soviet Union went out of business.

    Now it is a charming & poignant alternative history, in which the GOP keeps a post-Bush41 hammerlock on the US government while a defter & luckier Gorbachov succeeds in reforming the USSR into a post-Communist prosperity The opening sections read like a love letter to the city of Paris, where the author lived for some time.

    One of my most memorable acquisitions at Baltimore’s still-closed (temporarily, one hopes) free book exchange, The Book Thing, was a near-pristine hardback edition of this novel, long after I’d given up hope of ever seeing it in any form again.

  259. 259.

    Peale

    @rikyrah: it really doesn’t do much politically one way or another and at this point the rules were so new that there isn’t going to be much of an impact on set patterns. The majority of Florida Cubans voted republican, although pew can’t say whether that was higher or lower than previous elections. Until the Cubans who want normalization outnumber those who do, and will vote on that issue, I don’t think it’s worth touching again.

  261. 261.

    Randall S Bott

    My father died on Memorial Day in 1967 leaving behind a wife and seven children, including two year old triplets. He was drunk driving and it was a total waste. Today is a day of reflection.

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