(via the NYTimes)
.
.
Still seems disrespectful to cheer Memorial Day as the “official start of summer”, but here we are.
What’s on the agenda as we wrap up the weekend?
.
Many asking, where do we go from here? We #MarchForTruth next weekend. Sign up at https://t.co/lmlyPbvGPe NOW and RT to spread the word! pic.twitter.com/sPhXbCkGvb
— Adam Parkhomenko (@AdamParkhomenko) May 27, 2017
If only…
RIP Jared https://t.co/jeg3uBMR0f
— shauna (@goldengateblond) May 29, 2017
raven
Andy Stein 11/22/68.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
satby
@raven: RIP Andy.
They’re always so damn young.
satby
@rikyrah: Good morning!
@Baud: to you too!
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Even the liberal Jonathan Karl:
Elizabelle
@raven: Will be in my thoughts. Too young.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
rocket’s red glare
Baud
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
Ivanka or Bannon?
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@Baud: John Miller AND John Barron.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
innocent people always fly in the their defense attorney on Sunday on a 3 day weekend.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@rikyrah: morning!
Yoda Dog
Holy shit you guys. eemom was here last night, drunk as hell and tearin shit up! I hid under the bed and waited til the coast was clear..
Also, too: Fareed Zakaria thinks liberals are all big meanines cuz we don’t wanna pose with pictures with granny starvers or listen to vapid nobodies like Pense and Devos. Sooooo… fuck him to next wednseday.
Thats all I got right now. Lookin forward to taking my tiny kids to ride the train at the park. We also just got a “water table” for our 2 yr old daughter to play with at home. Gunna be a nice day here in Raleigh, for sure. I hope you all have a nice holiday too.
EBT
Here is a picture of the Network map for my interactive fiction I am writing. You start at the black rectangle. The red nodes are undefined, mostly due to being in an older data format, while they await conversion. The blue nodes have no incoming connections and in theory that should be because of the red nodes not being read by my analyzer script. The orange nodes are game overs and I felt that was fitting. The stars are shops.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2Ojlh_V4VMycFQ0TEJYR2d1Nms
Quinerly
@Yoda Dog:
I lurked for awhile and had to sleep. Looks like it went on for close to 4 hours.
JPL
@Quinerly: What about a short synopsis, for those of us who retire at ten.
Balconesfault
I think we know someone who was willing to pledge loyalty to the President to get his job in this administration …
OzarkHillbilly
@Balconesfault: Linky no worky
Balconesfault
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/john-kelly-jared-kushner-moscow-backchannel
Raven
@Elizabelle: He was 19, champion gymnast, blues aficinado and motorcycle maniac. He was small but he was so strong they put him on that 60.
Quinerly
@JPL:
You are on your own.? It’s all there in b&w from 11 something to 3 something as I recall. Caught the beginning in real time. Saw the end this AM.
p.a.
Good morning!
Threw a bag of ice in the freezer yesterday about 9am for use today, then went to Foxboro for the Lax finals. Got home 9pm, noticed freezer door ajar. Bag of ice slid down and knocked it open, thermometer read 40deg. Oh well, closed the door, trash day is Tues.
But nothing re-froze by this am, fridge section warm also. Must’ve burned out the motor; it’s not turning on at all. Time for a new unit I guess. This one is from 1970’s. Guess I got my money’s worth.
satby
@Quinerly: Think I’ll pass. I don’t like rubber necking at car crashes either.
satby
@p.a.: all that food! That sux.
JPL
@p.a.: Sorry.
@satby: I think you are right. Are you enjoying your long weekend?
satby
Well, I’m off to meet a dear friend for breakfast. Been too many months since we’ve seen each other. Everyone have a nice holiday.
Yoda Dog
@JPL: Oh Merckel got called out for not doing more to help the Greeks and the eemom was like “HELL YEA, FUCK MERCKEL.” And then a few others were like, “Damn, chill out.” but she was like “No, fuck YOU!, GREEKS ARE MY PEEPS AND MERCKEL IS A DIRTY ROTTEN BITCH!” And then everyone else was like “Putinsayswut?” and eemom lost it completely to the point you could almost feel the spittle come through the cyber onto your face .. I’m paraphrasing but that was the gist. It was pretty intense.
satby
@JPL: yes ?! Though the farmer’s market is hard work of a different kind. More social though, so fun. Hope you are enjoying your long weekend!
?BillinGlendaleCA
Over the last month we’ve heard the Spokes Spice is on the way out, no it’s Bannon, no it’s spokes cobra, no, it’s RNC PR BS, and now Jared. I’ll believe it when someone leaves the White House with a box in his(or her) arms.
Elizabelle
@Raven: RIP Andy. All those talents.
JPL
@Yoda Dog: Whoa! Glad I didn’t search.
NobodySpecial
@Yoda Dog: eemom is a rather intense person, especially lubricated. She used to run around the blog as an unofficial deputy of Stuck’s until the first time he tangled with Cole and took a vacation. She got quieter after that, but still pops up now and again.
Kay
I’m going to a Memorial Day event at the cemetery. The mayor speaks and the veterans march with the high school band. It’s traditionally the first time the 8th graders (incoming high schoolers) play with the high school band and my son is in that group so it’s his first official marching band performance :)
BC in Illinois
March For Truth will also be in St Louis, Saturday, 10am to Noon, Union Station to the Arch.
I am especially looking forward to hearing Sarah Kendzior (a hometown favorite) who knows how to speak truth — and resistance — to authoritarians.
And Washington University (St. Louis) Law Professor Gregory Magarian, who can talk about how the US is not defined by the 2nd Amendment [government fearing armed roving militias) but by the First Amendment – – free speech, free press, free assembly, freedom to speak out loud and together and in public to authorities who need to hear us. These are rights we need to use, powerfully and consistently, lest we lose them.
Their cause / our cause could not be more important:
Quinerly
@satby:
I wouldn’t have checked back but I was a bit curious how long it went on. Wrapping up my visit to the house I grew up in (been in NC for about a month…packing and organizing 50 plus years of memories). No cable, no visitors, limited internet…I needed a diversion.?
Kay
@NobodySpecial:
I like eemom. I miss her.
debbie
@Raven:
I’ve still got the POW bracelets I wore back then. I once Googled to find out their stories and they were all too young.
Kathleen
@Raven: RIP. Too too many young lives taken. I don’t know if this country will ever recover from that war and its ripple effects.
debbie
@Yoda Dog:
I caught the very beginning and she did get a bit of egging on.
Yoda Dog
@Kay: Would you were here last night to talk her off the ledge..
SFAW
@Yoda Dog:
Pretty good synopsis. She had the anger/hate turned up well past 11, to the point where she apparently couldn’t read. [Example: TenguPhule talked about the Greek One-Percenters evading taxes, was quite clear he was talking about the rich, and she characterized it as calling ALL Greeks tax evaders.] Anyone who had the temerity to say approaching “Merkel is not Teh Wurst Evah!!” was immediately shit on.
I was not “present” while this was going on, just read through it this AM, but Jesus fucking Christ it was over the top.
ETA: And for Quinerly: the Putin thing that Yoda Dog mentioned related to eemom saying, more or less, that the Greeks would do better being Vladi’s BFFs, than being a part of the EU. Some took exception to that idea.
NobodySpecial
@Kay: After about three months of being variously called Corner Stone’s sock puppet, a GOP troll, and a purity pony by Stuck, her, and that third cretin who used to all act in a group, I miss them all like I miss a gaping wound. I respect that others feel differently.
raven
@Kathleen: Good article by Ken Burns in the hated NYT this morning.
Yoda Dog
@debbie: I didnt see anyone say anything to justify going ad hominem.. She did have a point though, Merckel is center-right and her position on the Greek disaster is both wrong-headed and immoral.
Gindy51
@p.a.: You will be amazed at ow much your electricity bill goes down…. Ours dropped over $20 per month when we got a new fridge, that was the only thing we changed out.
debbie
@Yoda Dog:
I didn’t say justify.
Keith P.
I pulled an all-nighter running my CNC machine on a woodworking project. I’m sure my neighbor loves the sound of a router going off at 4am (I turn on my AC to hopefully drown it out). The results are stunning. I did this inlay pattern with camphor burl and a geometric pattern with gaboon ebony square inserts. The whole thing has several coats of tung oil soaked in (Jesse Pinkman’s “wood box” speech ran through my mind). Other than some slight warping (it’s a thin piece) that I can fix in future revisions and a few bad attempts at some inlay strips as I practiced it, the thing is gorgeous.
Gvg
@Kay: I just read the thread. She wasn’t likable then. I am not sure it was drinking. I wonder is she got some bad personal news. She really went after everyone. Said Greece would be better off aligned with Russia rather than the EU. That got other people aroused to argue but logic was wasted. Something made her super emotional.
Obviously I disagree. Putin kills disadents not to mention anyone in the way etc. the EU’s current punitive economics can be corrected with an election down the road. I don’t think it’s any use telling her that now though.
She was offensive enough that she won’t get much sympathy. Luckily I went to bed before she got really started.
OzarkHillbilly
@Keith P.: Nice, I’d like to see pics. Made a small hall table with some inlay for a customer once, Always wanted to do more but just never found the inspiration.
MomSense
@Raven:
Condolences, Raven.
Kay
@Gvg:
She’s definitely passionate about what she thinks but it always rang true to me- like it came from a good place. Defending someone or something.
MelissaM
I play this every year, from a comedy album but it really makes a point about modern America.
https://youtu.be/groheRWJMVQ
I always try to avoid shopping on holidays like this, my little point that everyone deserves a day off.
efgoldman
Orange Foolius is scheduled to do the wreath-laying and speak at Arlington National Cemetery this morning. How do you suppose he’s going to embarrass himself and us?
Do you think maybe he’ll carry the wreath the ten feet to the tomb, in a golf cart. or just let the Marine do it?
mai naem mobile
@raven: Too damn young.
OzarkHillbilly
@efgoldman: He’s making sacrifices everyday for us too. You can be sure we’ll hear all about it.
SFAW
@efgoldman:
“I lay this wreath in honor of all those who gave their lives in service to our country, which I am making Great Again, just as THEY tried to do before Obama destroyed their dreams. I know that, were they still here, they would have been impressed by my tremendous Electoral College victory, and would have been upset with the vote fraud that stole the popular vote from me.”
[Insert requisite amount of snorts and snuffles at the appropriate spots]
ETA: The above statement has obviously been cleaned up by the FTFNYT steno pool, because Shitgibbon could not string together one complete sentence coherently.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
Yes, yes. Less access to beautiful chocolate cake, etc., etc. It’s a horrible situation to be thrust into.
JPL
@SFAW: You forgot to mention, that he just returned from the most successful trip ever. He was able to unite the Europeans in ways never united before.
OzarkHillbilly
FSM help us:
Look in the White House asshole.
Shalimar
Why would I Russia Today to spread the word?
I spend way too much time on the non-twitter part of the internet.
SFAW
@JPL:
Thanks, I knew I was missing one or two things, but had a brain fart.
debbie
Donald J. TrumpVerified account @realDonaldTrump 24h24 hours ago
More
Right, Donnie. The body slam heard around the world?
MomSense
@SFAW:
To be fair, the EU has really been horrible to Greece. They were helping refugees long before the wealthier EU nations stepped in and every time one of the wealthier EU nations imposed more quotas or delays, the Greeks continued to deal with wave after wave of refugees.
It’s also personal with Germany since they destroyed Greece during WWII and Greece forgave most of Germany’s debt to Greece after the war.
I have to say that Merkle did choose domestic concerns over doing what was right for Greece and Putin has seized the opportunity that Germany’s mistake created. Perhaps if the EU had realized the extent of the plans Putin already had in motion they wouldn’t have been so hasty in their desire to punish the poors in Greece.
One other aspect of this is the long simmering anger Greeks have at the way they have been characterized by Northern Europeans as being lazy, shiftless, etc. There is a helluva lot of racism directed at them.
I didn’t go into the thread to know what transpired but when Greece is discussed I often leave the discussion because I get so upset.
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
“Look in” or “look at”? If the latter, then “Asshole” should be capitalized.
Steeplejack
@debbie:
Trump: “V was poorly covered.”
Who or what is V?
Kay
@OzarkHillbilly:
It was hugely successful. They’d be nuts not to do it again.
debbie
@Steeplejack:
I assumed victory. Though those very wide-jawed aliens would also work.
Baud
@Steeplejack: Victory.
SFAW
@MomSense:
Completely agree. But I guess I see Putin as a greater threat to Greece (and to the rest of the EU, and to the rest of the world) than Merkel. I have no great love for Merkel, and she (as well as others) has been an asshole to Greece. But eemom was “beyond.” You know how Cole can go on a rant from time to time? And Betty as well? Their stuff is happy-happy-joy-joy compared to eemom last nigh/this AM.
Note to Betty: I love your rants, by the way. Was not trying to diss them in any way, shape, or form.
Cheryl Rofer
A reasonable response to most Trump tweets is “What does this even mean?”
Steeplejack
@debbie:
Ah. Thanks.
Mr. Mack
Victory
Jeffro
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
Yeah but isn’t even noting the defense attorney’s existence just more #FakeNews?
SFAW
@Cheryl Rofer:
Well, either that, or “Will you PLEASE stop lying, you traitorous asshole?”
ETA: Yeah, I realize you were probably talking about what one says to others, not to Shitgibbon himself.
Immanentize
@Steeplejack: Victory? I assume. This is how the bubble he is in always goes — it is not enough to win, the victory must be fully recognized and appreciated by all. Regardless of circumstances.
RAM
Trump: “I’m behind Jared 1,000 percent!”
Jeffro
@JPL:
which is technically true…
Kay
@OzarkHillbilly:
OTOH it will be amusing to watch Wikileaks start up their “transparency” mission again after a 3.4 year hiatus. Scheduled for when the first Democrat enters the primary.
I used to suspect the international Trumpsters were ideological, some theory of the world, but now I think it’s much more likely it’s just ordinary greed and financial self-dealing: private interests, not some theory of government.
Kay
@RAM:
He doesn’t have any choice, which is one of the many good reasons you don’t hire your son in law.
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay: And again and again and again and again…..
geg6
@Yoda Dog:
She’s a lunatic. And, apparently, a liar. I do not ever recall anyone here or IRL blaming me for my employer’s mistakes and stupidity, let alone her coming to my defense. It may have happened as she claims but I sure have no memory of it. She’s a sad, unhappy person who has lost the thread.
Frankensteinbeck
@SFAW: and @MomSense:
No one approved of Merkel’s treatment of Greece that I can recall, but eemom’s feelings were strong and admitted of no debate. Her negative opinion of Merkel was absolute, and yes, even to the point of preferring Putin. She mentioned some blood kinship involving Greece, and takes Germany’s reprehensible treatment of Greece personally.
Kay
Well, look at the bright side. Whatever else happens we’ll find out something about Kushner, which is nice since he’s running the country.
Maybe he will deign to speak publicly! For his OWN self!
Frankensteinbeck
@Immanentize:
Assholes demand to be praised for being assholes.
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay:
Occams Razor, Deep Throats mantra.
zhena gogolia
@Raven:
I will think of him today. Thank you for reminding us what the holiday’s for.
Immanentize
@Frankensteinbeck: that right there sums it up.
How is the book coming? Weren’t you close to done on a new one?
geg6
@Kay:
Yeah, good place. Saying I condone murder and child molesting because I don’t agree that Greece would be better off aligned with Putin than the EU. I guess she meant that in a good hearted way.
Kay
@OzarkHillbilly:
Right, but I had a friend compare it to Iran Contra and that’s not right. Iran Contra had underpinnings of grand notions- executive power, anti-communism, how Democrats are secret traitors and can’t be trusted.
The Trumps are just sleazy.
I maintain that if Donald Trump had been a real estate developer in Little Rock Arkansas we never would have heard a word about any of these people. Location, location, location :)
Frankensteinbeck
@Immanentize:
The book is finished! It just came out! It’s at this Amazon page. It didn’t occur to me to make an announcement here. I love talking about my books, but plugging them feels tacky as Hell.
MomSense
@SFAW:
We see Putin as the bigger threat now but I don’t think the threat was fully recognized then and Putin has capitalized on that. Greece feels abandoned by the West – rightly so.
To grossly oversimplify, what happened to Greece is very much like what happened to people here with predatory lenders and sub prime mortgages. We even share fuck the fucking Goldman Sachs as the villain. Then when the global economy went to hell the EU turned around just like that asshole from Fox business and said why did you buy a house you couldn’t afford. Then the EU and IMF imposed a bailout scheme that was only enough money to pay off their loans and not enough to actually help the economy. And for domestic reasons Merkel and others decided to feed the austerians and granny starvers in their own countries by sticking it to the lazy pensioners and laborers (who happen to be dark skinned). Meanwhile the same wealthier EU countries get to try to impose an orderly integration of refugees while the Greeks are on the front lines burying the dead who wash up in their shores and caring for the sick and stranded without any support.
Then the progressives here pile on by blaming it on the Greek 1%ers who are assholes for sure but a completely inadequate scape goat. I swear progressives sound like the Heritage Foundation when it comes to Greece. Since when do we ally with sub prime lenders and austerians??
ETA my phone doesn’t like starvers or Merkel
Kay
@geg6:
During the Penn State scandal I thought the attacks on you (in general) were ridiculous and I think I said that. If I didn’t I should have. They were ridiculous. There’s literally a child abuse scandal per day somewhere in this country. The latest round have come from a set of very fancy private schools. So much for “football culture” being the cause.
The worst child abuse I ever read came out of the Texas juvenile detention system. The facility was run and staffed by primarily women. Lawyers in and out of their on a daily basis, medical people, teachers- all mandated reporters-
no one said a fucking word.
Immanentize
@Frankensteinbeck: Thanks!! And congratulations! (Good timing on my part I guess). I think you should always drop an announcement which isn’t really plugging the book because we — at least I — like hearing about these accomplishments of others.
geg6
@MomSense:
So the solution is to align with fascists? No one argued that the EU wasn’t wrong to treat Greece the way it did. Not a single person in the thread. If that’s all she’d said, we would all have agreed and sung kumbaya. But saying Putin is better than Merkel is where she fell off the rails and then she viciously attacked everyone who disagreed. In extremely personal and mendacious terms. Fuck her.
Frankensteinbeck
@Kay:
As a random fact that I think most people find counter-intuitive, 80% of institutional-style sexual child abuse (teachers, camp counselors, etc) is by women. The large scale is the surprising part there.
EDIT – In case I wasn’t totally clear, whether by men or women, it’s disgusting and horrible, and I offer this solely as trivia and not with any implications beyond that.
Frankensteinbeck
@Immanentize:
Maybe I’ll put it up in a fresher thread later? For now, my blood sugar is fixed and I’m going back to bed.
Kay
I’m off to the ceremony. It’s raining but those band marchers better get used to playing in the rain because they will be doing it just about every Friday in the fall :)
Tromp tromp tromp. This is my last kid thru band. It’s all very sad :)
NobodySpecial
@Frankensteinbeck: Congrats! And never forget to sell yourself – you’re your own best publicist! After all, no one else is as invested in the work.
Starfish
@BC in Illinois: Let us know what you think of Kendzior because some of us are a little uneasy with her lack of nuance.
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay: Lazy reading on my part, I was referring to Assange and company, I think their concern for openness and dedication to exposing secrets is directly linked to their wallets. As far as the trumps, well it goes for them too. The trumps are sleazy because they are rich, and able to get away with it because they are rich, and nobody paid much attention to it because they are rich.
They are in a new ballgame now and there are different rules applied. donnie thinks it is terribly unfair and is trying to change them. We’ll see if he and his merry band of grifters succeed.
opiejeanne
Jerry Daniel Varner. 11/10/1967
MomSense
@geg6:
Woah. I’m not taking her side in whatever transpired last night. I’m just discussing the issue. Of course I don’t think Greece should align with Putin. Knowing how Greece was used during the Cold War, I have been concerned all along about the EU making a strategic mistake and opening the door for Putin.
SFAW
@MomSense:
He’s been seen as a threat for quite a long time. Just because he hadn’t screwed with our elections (that we know of) before 2016 does not mean he wasn’t considered dangerous.
But eemom, instead of arguing THAT point, said that TenguPhule (among others) was calling ALL Greeks tax evaders (which he wasn’t), and proceeded to shriek at any/all who mentioned “tax evasion.”
In case I didn’t state it earlier: I know the EU treated Greece worse than shit during that whole “austerity” thing (not just limited to that period, of course). Many commenters here feel the same way, I believe. But it’s possible to believe that, and still believe the EU is, on the whole, a better option than Russia absorbing (whether de facto or de jure) Greece.
Saying that aligning with Putin would be worse for Greece (in the long run) is not “ally[ing] with sub prime lenders and austerians.”
OzarkHillbilly
@Frankensteinbeck:
If you don’t do it, who will? Nice, 4.5 stars.
Aimai
@Yoda Dog: yes, that was ugly.
geg6
Thinking about my dad and his brothers today. All them served in WWII honorably and with distinction. Especially my Uncle Bud, a paratrooper who was one of guys who jumped behind the lines during the D-Day invasion. When he died a decade or so ago, his son found his clicker, which he held onto throughout all his fighting across Europe and for all those years afterward, among his medals. I always think there must have been a story behind that but he never talked much about his service, so we have never heard it.
opiejeanne
@Aimai: Which thread? I was up pretty late and missed her.
MomSense
@SFAW:
The problem is that if you went to Greece right now they do side with Putin because of what happened. It’s all kinds of fucked up but when the shit hit the fan RU was there for them when the EU took advantage.
I’m not defending eemom at all and I am personally devastated by this situation since I had always hoped to live/retire in Greece. It also sucks when your only possible way out of Dolt45s America is out of the frying pan and into the fire of Greece.
opiejeanne
@raven: That war took family and friends for no good reason.
geg6
@MomSense:
Didn’t say you were, to be clear. Just paraphrasing what she was arguing.
Aimai
@opiejeanne: im not sure. I commented once because it was so, so, ugly and she attacked me too. I don’t know many drunks so that did not occur to me as an explanation. this went beyond passion to something I found both frightening and revolting. It was unseemly, mean, and deliberately personal and demeaning of other commentees.
MomSense
@SFAW:
It’s probably too late for Greece. The crisis continues to worsen and, unless the EU goes in with lots of cash, we’ve probably lost them to Russia already.
Emma
@MomSense: I guess it’s my turn to put 5 cents in since I was one of the people that set her off. I am one of those folk who distrusts the German NATION-STATE. I’m sure you can find nasty comments I’ve made about Germany doing through finances what they couldn’t do through war in some threads a while ago. What I said in the thread last night in answer to another commenter was that although I hadn’t forgotten Greece, all the alternatives to Merkel sucked and I wasn’t going to be a purity pony about it. I got back an angry message, answered “I hope they like the Russian century” and bowed out, having had some knowledge of her anger issues, and having in-depth awareness that last night I was spoiling for a fight and not wanting that sort of encounter.
My own opinion? We are at a crisis global crisis point in two fronts. One is a direct fight for democracy in the US. The other is the absolute need to break the corporate grip on the world economy. Funny enough, Vladimir Fucking Putin is one of the key players in both. Break his influence and we can make real progress.
I have no time for people who prefer the greater evil.
(edited for clarity)
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay:
I went thru 2 years of hell in grade school. No one said a fucking word. That is always how it works because it is easier to pretend that there is no problem or that the problem is with the children, or anything other than facing the truth until a child gets 81 stitches in her face and nobody can pretend anymore.
Then they send the problem to another continent and pretend that nothing really happened.
eclare
Still no power here in Memphis.
tobie
@MomSense: If I recall correctly, the threat of Russia gaining a foothold in the Adriatic was one of the reasons Obama and Lagarde tried to put pressure on Merkel to grant Greece some debt forgiveness. She refused. Germany’s position in this whole debacle was not just harsh but cruel. It is something I bear in mind when people talk about Germany becoming the leader of the free world. And I am a uneasy about this given Germany’s history. Then again, the US has lost ALL moral authority not just with Trump but the GOP. When I hear McCain or Graham defending him and trying to brush everything under the rug, or that 12 Georgia precincts have shifted location on the eve of a special election, or that Gianforte managed to raise money by punching out a reporter, I realize that at least 40% of the country is craven, xenophobic, tribal, mean, authoritarian, racist–in short nuts (though with nothing humorous about it).
That said, I’ll be there in DC on June 3. Like it or not, we are the resistance.
Adria McDowell (formerly Lurker Extraordinaire
A) Have a great day everyone!
B) Love Shakira! There’s always time for tropicalismo.
C) RIP, SFC Linda Tarango-Griess, SGT Jeremy Fischer, PFC Torry Harris (2004).
germy
I was watching the CBS news last night and there was a very brief shot of ivanka (filmed from a distance with a telephoto lens) looking very agitated speaking to a lawyer. It looked like she was next to her airplane. At one point, she turned and looked frantically at the camera.
It was the briefest of shots while the anchor talked about them all hiring lawyers.
Mary G
Glad I missed it.
Steeplejack
On the agenda for today? I am pre-girding my loins for a trip into D.C. for lunch and a movie with a friend. Occasions like this make me feel like a timid suburban mouse. One of the benefits of being a semi-retired idler is that I can go places at off-peak times, and this whole day is like the opposite of that. National holiday with D.C.-specific connections and events, check. Peak time (1:00 p.m.) at a trendy restaurant (Zaytinya), check. Traffic and parking likely to be horrible, check. Metro also bad but in different ways, check.
As usual, I agreed to this before realizing all the ramifications and then started getting second thoughts as the day approached. I might have been tempted to cancel, but my friend has a hectic schedule and is making an effort to get together between extended trips out of town. And she is a major foodie, so I suspect Zaytinya is a big deal. (I just show up where I’m told and eat. Has worked out well so far.)
Just realized I should probably go ahead and cross-post this at FirstWorldProblems.com. But forget it, I’m rolling.
Anyway, lunch should be good, and I’m looking forward to the movie, Vanessa Gould’s Obit. (FTFNYT trigger alert!) Just wringing my hands a bit about the logistics. Do I drive downtown (15-20 minutes), probably run into some parade and find no place to park, or do I take an hour (or longer) on the bus and train, with whatever problems Metro might be having today? Decisions, decisions.
Well, whatever, this will build up my action muscles. I feel like sometimes I avoid going downtown because I don’t know the ins and outs, and of course I don’t know the ins and outs because I don’t go downtown very often.
Hope everyone else has a great holiday with much less mental sawdust-sawing!
Suzanne
@geg6: Many of us have tangled with her, and I think most of us know you. Your character is not in question.
SiubhanDuinne
@eclare:
Wow, hope its restored soon.
The CA has a map (link) showing where the outages are. Scary and widespread. Good luck!
MomSense
@tobie:
We are living in ugly times for sure. All the people who wanted to shake things up probably had no idea what that would mean.
OzarkHillbilly
@germy: Of all the trumpsters, Melania is the only one who has a chance at innocence.
burnspbesq
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
That’s interesting. Absent some sort of joint defense agreement, Kasowitz talking to Ivanka could blow daddy’s attorney-client privilege. I assume Kasowitz is smart enough to have taken care of that possibility in advance, but there is no evidence that any of the Trumps are smart enough or experienced enough to realize that there is a potential problem here.
Immanentize
@geg6: my Dad was in the Navy during WWII and received a very nice veteran’s plaque for his tombstone when he died in ’91. He was on a destroyer escort. “A little bitty boat” he called it. My great Uncle who was raised like my Dad’s brother, was also a paratrooper who landed behind lines on D-Day. A bit too far behind lines for his “Bloody Bucket” brigade. He was captured and spent the rest of the war as a POW. But he came home while most of his buddies did not. Uncle Steve never talked about it but he would weep at ball games when they played the anthem.
Quinerly
@MomSense:
@123…We need to ask Ms. Sarandon.
germy
@OzarkHillbilly:
I agree.
I thought it was hilarious though, when she brought that lawsuit and her lawyers said her “once in a lifetime opportunity” to make a ton of cash was being fucked up, and then after they realized how odd that sounded, they dropped that language from the suit.
I think she was as surprised as anyone when he won the election. She probably thought it was something he needed to get out of his system, before going back on TV to play daddy warbucks.
Steeplejack
In memoriam: Dean Gosney, October 7, 1964.
Suzanne
@Suzanne: To be clearer, I meant that the vast majority of us know that geg6 is good people, and I would advise mentally filing the eeattacks where they belong—the mental circular file.
burnspbesq
@Yoda Dog:
That is Elaine’s ultimate hot-button issue. Steer clear. And for the record, she’s not entirely wrong. The Greeks fucked up their economy big-time, but the European creditor class made it decidedly worse, and Merkel led the charge. I have more than once referred to the ECB as “the Wehrmacht by other means.”
Immanentize
@burnspbesq:
For all intents and purposes, Kasowitz is a mob lawyer. Just like John Gotti’s lawyer, his actions will cause more trouble for the family than good.
geg6
@Suzanne:
Thanks. Much appreciated.
opiejeanne
A bit of the wall
SFAW
@Quinerly:
Well, the contradictions certainly got heightened, that’s for sure.
Steeplejack
@eclare:
I would light a candle for you, but somehow that seems like it would be offensive. (Sorry, joke!)
Hope you get power soon.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@burnspbesq: That’s a pretty good take on it.
Quinerly
@SFAW:
I caught it all. Just had no interest in diving in.
geg6
@burnspbesq:
If that was all she’d said, no one would have disagreed. Merkel and the EU treated Greece abominably. Doesn’t change the fact that Putin would be worse or that not agreeing with her saying he’d be better is reason to make disgusting personal attacks. Good thing it’s not my blog because she’d be banned if it was.
danielx
Usually when a president expresses “total confidence” in someone, it means ‘the fact that I had to say it means I think it’s time for you to update your CV and start gathering boxes to clean out your office’. In the shitgibbon’s case, he is enough of a dick that he might hang onto anyone other people say should be fired, simply because ain’t nobody gonna tell Donald Trump what to do – “I decide who gets fired around here! Me! Nobody else!”
MomSense
@Quinerly:
Fuck Fucking Susan Sarandon!
mai naem mobile
@OzarkHillbilly: my sister has been saying for months that MelanIoma is a Russian agent. No evidence, just gut feeling. I noticed before the bug dump on Friday they were working on her image on Twitter. I don’t know if it’s because Barron’s done with school and she can devote time to the FLOTUS role or if they were trying to create at least one ‘saintly’ person in this WH.
debbie
@germy:
I’d bet that lawsuit wasn’t her idea.
MomSense
@burnspbesq:
Part of the problem is that it’s already done. The EU gave Greece to Putin. Saying now that he would be worse is irrelevant since it already happened.
debbie
@burnspbesq:
In other words, they acted like bankers.
geg6
@Immanentize:
These guys, I’m sure, saw a lot of bad stuff. I wish we had their stories so we could pass them along. But I totally understand why they were reluctant to relive the experience.
gbbalto
LTC Christopher Braybrooke
http://www.virtualwall.org/db/BraybrookeCx01a.htm
(Can’t recall how to do link thing)
germy
@debbie:
I hadn’t thought of that.
She seems so passive. I wonder if he forbids her from appearing in his presence without makeup, mascara, fake lashes, eyeliner, lipstick, etc.
Suzanne
@Immanentize:
A girl can hope.
I am growing increasingly doubtful that anything bad will happen to the shitgibbon or his family. They’re too well-insulated. And the Dems and the far-left would rather have dumb fights like Perez v. Ellison and whether or not it’s okay to accept money from a corporation OOGA-BOOGA to keep their eyes on the ball.
OzarkHillbilly
@geg6:
I wasn’t there and have no interest in checking it out, but from everything I’m reading here it sounds like she descended into absolutely abusive behavior. If so, than banning is called for.
germy
@geg6:
My father spoke very rarely about his experience as a WWII POW. Over the years I got just little fragments of anecdotes and they were without exception horrible. The battle experiences and the POW experience. Nightmarish.
It made him very skeptical whenever an old John Wayne hero movie was on TV. He didn’t care for the romanticizing.
germy
@OzarkHillbilly: I actually thought she WAS banned a few months ago after threatening to fill another commenter with buckshot. ?
Maybe I’ve got her mixed up with somebody else.
Chris
@SFAW:
Christ.
For the record, I sympathize entirely, and I think if Merkel is trying to rally the EU around her, she’s going to find it a lot more difficult because of what she stupidly and needlessly inflicted on the PIIGS a few years back.
But, yeah. Better her than Putin. For fuck’s sake.
OzarkHillbilly
@mai naem mobile: Her obvious aversion to all things trump tells me otherwise. She does only the absolute minimum and I have feeling it is part of an agreement they have whereby as long as she does that thru his presidency, she will get a nice payout at the end of it.
OzarkHillbilly
@debbie:
“It’s not our fault we loaned you a bunch of money you could never possibly pay back!”
Chris
@tobie:
Harsha, cruel – it was psychotic. It’s exactly the same mentality as Republicans who say “you can just starve, because starving builds character.” Good of the Germans to at least not do that to their own people, but still inexcusable.
raven
@MomSense: It was 49 years ago. A smile comes across my face when I think off him.
SiubhanDuinne
@mai naem mobile:
FTFNYT has a fluff piece on her today that they have the unmitigated gall to label as “News Analysis.”
SiubhanDuinne
@germy:
Don’t know about that, but I’m quite positive I read something about her having to get back to her pre-pregnancy weight and appearance in some ridiculously short amount of time after Barron was born. If not, she would essentially be in violation of her pre-nup and forfeit all kinds of goodies. To all purposes, she’s merely arm-candy for him.
germy
@SiubhanDuinne: He simply will NOT be seen with a fat woman.
Uncle Cosmo
John Apollo Tesauro – 11 Aug 1968
That’s the only photo I know of, from our his HS yearbook. (We will remember him at the 50th reunion this fall.) Right after graduation we were fringe members of arguably the most pathetic
motorcyclemotorbike “gang” in recorded history.I was an honorary pallbearer. (The Corps did the heavy lifting.)
It’s remarkable that out of a blue-collar HS graduating class numbering >600, John Apollo was (AFAIK) the only one we lost over there.
debbie
@SiubhanDuinne:
Does anyone think he’d act any differently? That’s why those hand swats were so wonderful.
Ruckus
@Kay:
This. The level can get to be a bit much at times but she usually isn’t wrong on the facts. A different perspective maybe.
frosty
@geg6:
My Uncle Roger was one of the Troop Carrier C47 pilots who dropped your uncle the night before the invasion. Same story — he never said much about it.
Aimai
@mai naem mobile: if she were his handler she would be in the white house right now flotusing it up. There is no way she is his handler–she has been too far from the action.
sukabi
@efgoldman: he’ll ride the golf cart to within 50ft..get off and give his standard “I’m great, news is fake” speech and forget to mention anything about our fallen….but he might mention a few Russians.
sukabi
@RAM: translated that means Jared’s going down first, check his back for tiny footprints.
J R in WV
@Yoda Dog:
Very funny!#$$% Yoda. Name the thread, cause I read the threads and didn’t see anything like that. EVen though it’s true that Germany required the EU banking authorities to screw Greece over in 2008, along with Spain. We got diverted into Madrid rather than CdG ourside Paris in 2013, the airport was huge, and closed. Miles of high end shops, lights off, locked up,
There were literally more security cops than passengers. The only place we saw people was after taking a bus around miles of empty terminals to the terminal where our connection to Bilbao flew out. That plane was full, it was the only plane to fly out of the terminal we were in that afternoon.
Sp Spain took a huge hit in 2008, never recovered by 2013, five years later. Austerity is no way to govern, that’s been proven over and over by real economies with real people suffering from economic mismanagement. I could do better, and I only took 3 econ classes, none of them focused on Keynesian economic policy. But I know it works, because we’ve seen it work!
Ruckus
@geg6:
They wanted to forget. But couldn’t. It’s either in the forefront of everything or sneaks up on them when they least expect it. The things they saw are unforgettable. They will talk with others with experiences like theirs when no one else is around, but with people who weren’t there most vets refuse to discuss anything, because it was too much. It doesn’t matter which war they were in, all wars are horrible for the person on the front lines. And of course most everyone else.
They want to forget. They can’t.
Uncle Cosmo
@Emma:
Well & succinctly put. IMO this all makes more sense if we replace “Russia” with “Rossiya-Bratva LLC,” a somewhat-skeevy organization (V. V. Putin, CEO) newly “godfathered” into the Global Oligarchy Project {;^D}
In the near-term “Rosbrat” & the G.O.P. want the same thing: To discredit, subvert, & weaken any national or trans/inter/supranational organization that the citizenry might rally around to oppose them. The problem is their long-term goals are quite different. The “globaligarchs” crave the ultimate freedom to plunder the planet & concentrate wealth amongst themselves; they might well allow (or even promote) the continued existence of nation-states powerless to do more thn keep a semblance of order within their own borders, the way a nest of vampires might nurture a a cellarful of comatose humans as convenient blood factories to service the ultimate in “herrenvolk socialism.” Meanwhile “Rosbrat” has its baby-blues on much much more. Like Hugenberg & von Papen in the Germany of 1933, the “globaligarchs” may come to rue the day they opened their arms to what is effectively The Sopranos with thermonuclear weapons, spawned from a history wherein the deaths of tens of millions was considered collateral damage on the way to the desired end-state. By then it will be too late for them (& far too late for peasants like us).
joel hanes
Shakira
I miss tbogg.
Kathleen
@raven: Apology for late response but thank you. I will seek it out.
satby
@opiejeanne: Condolences and RIP Jerry.
So young.
TenguPhule
If anyone is still looking for the meltdown thread, its here
https://balloon-juice.com/2017/05/28/warm-breezes-hot-air-open-thread-further-reviews-of-trumps-overseas-tour/#comments
rikyrah
@Kay:
Have a good day, Kay.
rikyrah
@Keith P.:
Can you send a picture of it to Alain?
Aleta
One of my friends had a kind of mood swing in which she would get irritable and angry. She really would not or could not stop the words, no matter what it ruined. It was really hard to accept; I didn’t understand why she wouldn’t control it; and her perspective on it was skewed too. It was so frequent that eventually I had to stay away from her.
However, I’ve come to see it in as part of a disorder she had, because other of her family members had a more full blown bipolar, of which irritability and feeling superior was one part. I found a description of this written by someone who has it:
My friend would seem to be spoiling for a fight; you could feel it building, but any attempt to answer just made her angrier and more unpleasant. Pretty much everyone who spoke at her funeral or talked to me said the same two things: ‘she could be a lot of fun’ AND “But one thing I learned: ‘You never argue with her.’
I know there are also people who are “mean drunks,” who get angry or want to fight when they drink. A friend of mine won’t ever go to bars because he seems to attract their attention. I don’t know what goes on in those brains.
No One You Know
@Aimai: I’m late to all of this, as usual, but I caught the tail end of it and quit the thread after your response, which I found appropriate and helpful.
I don’t know enough to have a well-informed opinion about some topics, such as Greece. I come here for help with that, and it’s deeply distressing to have savage personal attacks show up. That’s one of the ways right-wing sites distinguish themselves.
Hope and good will to everyone today, even eemom.
David Spikes
I didn’t see the thread but anent the Greek economic thing. The banks and the EU behaved badly, the Germans particularly. They could have been magnanimous and written off the debt owed them and been much tougher on the banks.
But here’s the question. What is the correct way to reduce an economy 20%? I say 20 because that was approximately how much of the Greek economy, the loans and EU subsidies accounted for.
If the banks and the EU forgave everything, but stopped loaning Greece money the economy would still shrink dra.
matically .
And Russia is in no position to bail out the Greeks. Most Russians have what is basically a 3rd world standard of living. For example, with more than twice Germany’s population, Russia has 1/4 it’s GDP. Russia is still very much Upper Volta with missiles-and lots of oil.