Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

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

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

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

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

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

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

We still have time to mess this up!

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Republicans can’t even be trusted with their own money.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / Wednesday Afternoon Open Thread

Wednesday Afternoon Open Thread

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Here’s the dog who stole my seat in the wee hours this morning:

She always does that, then gives me the stink-eye when I return and expect her to shove over. I could understand it if it was winter and she was looking for a warm spot. But it’s July in Florida, and she’s wearing a fur coat!

On the Twitters, some folks are saying the Republicans are getting close to 50 votes on the so-called “skinny repeal” scheme. We shall see. Open thread!

Reader Interactions

238Comments

  1. 1.

    SFAW

    If Turtle does NOT hit the 50 mark, I may need to up my prescription for nitro, because the shock would probably induce a cardiac event in me.

    I am always hopeful that the ‘phone calls make a difference, but That Traitorous Motherfucker seems to have been able to beat the quasi-rational members of his caucus into submission, with regularity.

    And, no, I’m not giving up. Just lamenting that the Rethugs are such anti-American fucks

  2. 2.

    Elizabelle

    Skinny repeal? As in, people get to choose food or healthcare?

    Fuck the Republicans. I have no idea if they are getting close. Wouldn’t you say that too, if you did not have the votes?

  3. 3.

    LAO

    I feel for you Betty, yesterday my pup had some unexpected surgery. She spent all of last night crying and trying to snuggle with me on the bed while wearing a cone. It did not go well. I’m currently in zombie mode today.

  5. 5.

    Betty Cracker

    @SFAW: Congress is going to serve up a shit sandwich one way or another — that was a foregone conclusion as of November 2016. But if “skinny repeal” — destructive, horrific and stupid as it is — is the most damaging thing they can muster, well, let’s just say Team Koch won’t get their entire wish list fulfilled. Those calls, letters, emails, tweets and demonstrations DID make a difference, full stop.

  7. 7.

    O. Felix Culpa

    I just found out that a college classmate is in Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and probably doesn’t have much longer. Shit. I’m recovering from a nasty bout with giardia and didn’t realize how lousy I felt until I started feeling better, thanks to insurance-subsidized drugs. I don’t know how people on chemo cope. Fuck cancer.

  8. 8.

    dmsilev

    @Major Major Major Major: That’s my understanding. However, it should really be seen as a Trojan Horse to get them to the next stage, which is a House-Senate conference committee (or the House could pass the skinny repeal as-is, but I doubt that goes far enough for the lunatics there, so it probably would go to conference).

  9. 9.

    Jeffro

    Just popped home for lunch to walk the dog, who was just about as passed out on the sofa as I’ve ever seen her. Too funny!

    In political news, a few more folks seems to have the scales falling from their eyes today – “Trump banned transgender folks from serving in the military?!? But I thought he was pro-LGBTQ?!?”. No dearie, he’s pro- whoever supports HIM, and his strongest base of support is the RWNJ evangelicals. Thanks for playing, though!

  11. 11.

    dmsilev

    @O. Felix Culpa: My dad just finished up a ~4 month chemo cycle (which thankfully seems to have worked); the last couple of rounds were …not much fun at all. Yes, it works, but the side effects are pretty nasty themselves.

  12. 12.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Betty Cracker: So ‘yes’, basically. That’s what I thought I’d read, maybe I even read that Vox piece.

    It’s a loss, but given that the administration is planning on destroying the individual market anyway (as Mayhanderson has done a great job blogging about), and the face that it does leave in place the Medicaid expansion, it’s… perhaps a Pyrrhic victory for Republicans.

  15. 15.

    Eljai

    I read somewhere that casino sleazebag Steve Wynn was putting pressure on Heller. What is it with rich old men who want to destroy the social safety net? I am wondering if, in addition to showing up at Townhalls, we should also be camping out in front of these shitbags’ corporate headquarters. I believe in peaceful resistence, but if you’re a rich old man who buys off congress to take away healthcare, you should not be immune to pitchforks.

  19. 19.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @dmsilev:

    My dad just finished up a ~4 month chemo cycle (which thankfully seems to have worked)

    I’m so glad for you and your dad. Fingers crossed that the treatment did its job completely.

  20. 20.

    Ian G.

    Does anyone else, watching the Trump-Sessions spat, imagine it in Star Wars terms, where it’s Jabba the Hutt vs Governor Tarkin? On one side, you have a hideous bloated slug-like career criminal who treats women as disposable playthings. On the other, a coldly calculating man with white hair and big ears who speaks in accented English who wants to use state power to brutalize the “undesirables”.

    Yeah, I’m not sure who I want to see win this power struggle.

  21. 21.

    Mike in DC

    Skinny repeal is like skinny beheading. They just take a little off the top.

    Thanks, I’ll be here all week. Try the veal.

  22. 22.

    randy khan

    @Major Major Major Major:

    As noted in other posts, it’s just a vehicle to pass something to get to conference committee, so it’s bad for that reason alone.

    But a repeal that touches only the mandates and taxes is a disaster for the insurance companies, so unless it also includes elimination of the minimum requirements for insurance, I would assume they’d all oppose it.

  23. 23.

    dmsilev

    @O. Felix Culpa: Thanks. We’re still dealing with the side effects (most notably: neuropathy, leading to a bad fall, leading to a partial hip replacement ~3 weeks ago), but hopefully the worst is over.

  24. 24.

    Big Ole Hound

    I’m so glad I live in deep blue CA where we this healthcare thing under pretty good control with medical and medicaid plus several insurance companies competing for our money. My sympathies to those who live elsewhere. Earthquakes and fires can do great harm but healthcare repeal kills.

  25. 25.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Wherever did you get that?

    ‘Tis a mystery. I suspect contaminated sushi from Whole Foods, but my doctor pooh-poohs that theory and I can’t prove it. Just glad to have it gone.

  26. 26.

    Eljai

    My comment is in moderation. I wonder if it’s because of my phone or my use of the word “shitbag”?

  27. 27.

    david spikes

    Liberal/progressive sites filled with concern and deep sympathy for John McCain,Democratic senators who gave McCain a standing ovation, Wilmer for tangoing across the senate floor with McCain, McCain for saying the Congress must ignore bombastic windbags-while voting for everything said windbag wants.
    Screw them, screw them all.
    That said, actually got through to Heller’s office this morning-was informed that he is concentrating on doing what is right for the people of Nevada and the US. Told them I didn’t believe that was strictly true.
    Called Gov. Sandoval, was assured he’s doing everything he can to insure continuing medicaid coverage, so who knows?
    Once again though, screw all those wishy washy, look at me, I’m so tolerant, liberals who have spent the week kissing the ass of that evil old turd McCain.

  29. 29.

    david spikes

    @randy khan: Insurance company executives/lobbyists must be amazed that suddenly they have zero influence on healthcare-probably won’t stop them from supporting repubs, but still, their dismay at getting the kind of gov’t. they claimed they wanted is sweet-in a mouth puckering kind of way.

  31. 31.

    Frankensteinbeck

    Take heart. If Republicans always fell in line, this would already have been passed. Yertle sure as Hell does not want the humiliation of these constant failures. Yes, we’re making a difference.

  32. 32.

    Amir Khalid

    I tuned her up tonight with the wee tiny clip-on tuner and spent most of this evening learning the D chord. I’m sure that pretty soon I won’t miss anymore the Tele that got away, the black one with the white pickguard. She’s pretty, this guitar. I’m trying to think of a name for her.

  33. 33.

    TriassicSands

    I don’t see how the Republicans can give up on their two core issues — screwing poor people and lavishing tax cuts on the wealthiest Americans. In the end, they may fail, but they’ve already shown just how committed they are to trying by continuing to return to the zombie bill(s) that fail. In the House, one more vote, and then one more vote eventually resulted in a truly horrible bill passing. The Senate is supposed to be the more moderate house, but it isn’t moderation that is making things difficult. It’s the narrow Republican majority and senate rules that are responsible. McConnell, the most undemocratic Senate leader in my lifetime, really has shown remarkable persistence in trying to achieve his party’s two main objectives. They can call him a fascist and a thug, but nobody can call McConnell a quitter.

    Updated Barry Goldwater:

    Extremism in defense of tax cuts for the rich is no vice.
    And moderation in harming poor people is no virtue.

  35. 35.

    Betty Cracker

    @Eljai: “Casino” was the spam-trigger word. “Shitbag” is always welcome when applied judiciously!

  38. 38.

    Ladyraxterinok

    OT (don’t know if this already noted at balloon-juice): president of Boy Scouts is also president of AT&T who wants federal approval of $85billion merger (with TimeWarner, I believe). Therefore his approving supplying of audience for Trump.

  42. 42.

    Felonius Monk

    @Amir Khalid:

    I’m trying to think of a name for her.

    Ivanka is a popular name in some circles. Rock on, dude. Looking forward to the U-tube performances.

    BTW, check out Arlen Roth video lessons. Gibson sponsored a bunch and I think you can find some of them on U-tube.

  43. 43.

    Ohio Mom

    @O. Felix Culpa: Take some comfort in the idea that S-K is doing all that can be done to ease your old classmate’s transition.

    I sure am in a bossy mood today…

  44. 44.

    LAO

    This is so fucking enraging:

    Corker says "content" of skinny bill not the point, rather it is "forcing mechanism" for conference with House— Peter Sullivan (@PeterSullivan4) July 26, 2017

  45. 45.

    Amir Khalid

    Mitch McConnell is now fighting Republican Senators, and losing. At what point will he admit his failure and (figuratively) fall on his sword?

  47. 47.

    LAO

    And, can the media finally dispense with the myth that Ivanka is some kind of moderating force.

    WH source: Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner determined that their “political capital be spent elsewhere" https://t.co/o4jK3Z8LpK— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) July 26, 2017

  48. 48.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Ohio Mom:

    Take some comfort in the idea that S-K is doing all that can be done to ease your old classmate’s transition.

    Yes, they’re a good hospital. I’m just grieving in advance of what looks like the inevitable. She is an accomplished professional with good insurance. I can’t stand the thought of the heartless GOP mofos taking care away from others with less means.

  50. 50.

    Another Scott

    @Mike in DC: Yup. Via Krugman’s Twitter:

    Atul Gawande‏ Verified account @Atul_Gawande

    “Skinny repeal” is a known disaster.
    1995: WA state repealed mandate; kept guaranteed issue
    1999: no insurers left

    6:15 AM – 26 Jul 2017

    “Nobody could have predicted!!11”

    :-/

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  54. 54.

    rikyrah

    So wait, right now Tillerson is taking time off, Mattis is on vacation, & McMaster isn’t chairing NSC mtg? Who’s in charge, Cohen-Watnick? https://t.co/YCwLA9dDVS
    — Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) July 26, 2017

    It is very curious to me that Tillerson, Mattis and McMaster have all disappeared from view. Anybody remember “Seven Days In May?”
    — Greg Pinelo (@gregpinelo) July 26, 2017

  57. 57.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    I just knocked over an antiabortion sign on a public sidewalk (big demonstrations over a local clinic buffer zone). Some simpering twit whined at me about it – told me it wasn’t “nice” I told her to fuck off.

    Just did another one. They’re threatening to call police on me in reedy, whiny voices – I told them to keep their weak shit off my sidewalk.

  58. 58.

    TenguPhule

    @Major Major Major Major:

    No mandates (unenforced by administrative fiat anyway) and no medical device tax, which everybody hates anyway?

    And back to the bad old days of caps and price discrimination based on pre-existing conditions, if I understand their current version of the zombie bill correctly.

  60. 60.

    TenguPhule

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:

    I just knocked over an antiabortion sign on a public sidewalk. Some simply wrong twit whined at me about it – told me it wasn’t “nice” I told her to fuck off.

    Just did another one. They’re threatening to call police on me in reedy, whiny voices – I told them to keep their weak shit off my sidewalk.

    Fuck their feelings. Well done.

  63. 63.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @TenguPhule:

    I’m pissed – I got no desire to see their stupid shit bracketing all of my courthouse walks. If they’re there tomorrow, sill be kicking over even more of them.

  65. 65.

    Starfish

    Hey, does anyone know why Valdivia doesn’t post here anymore? She gives the best Twitter links like this thread calling “skinny repeal” the “death spiral” bill that it truly is.

  66. 66.

    TenguPhule

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    Take heart. If Republicans always fell in line, this would already have been passed. Yertle sure as Hell does not want the humiliation of these constant failures. Yes, we’re making a difference.

    The double edged sword if you will is that as long as this bill doesn’t pass, they can’t do tax cuts or a budget because step one for both of those involves gutting Medicaid and Medicare with this one. So three wins for the price of one.

    The bad news is, the other side knows that too. And they really want those fucking tax cuts.

  71. 71.

    TenguPhule

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:

    If they’re there tomorrow, sill be kicking over even more of them.

    Make sure you have your defense prepared if they do call the cops on you.

    Counter-accuse them of littering on a public sidewalk and disturbing the peace. Because obviously your peace was disturbed by seeing their garbage littering the street. ;- )

  72. 72.

    Jeffro

    @Ian G.:

    Does anyone else, watching the Trump-Sessions spat, imagine it in Star Wars terms, where it’s Jabba the Hutt vs Governor Tarkin?

    I wasn’t, but I do now, LOL.

    Seriously…think of just how weird this has gotten, watching a sitting president* bully. his. own. A.G., one of his earliest and staunchest supporters, via social media?? Wacky beyond words.

  73. 73.

    Jeffro

    @Major Major Major Major:

    If they can barely agree on the vehicle, why are we expecting them to agree on the outcome of the committee?

    Because in the end Republicans always fall in line with the wishes of their authoritarian leaders, is prolly why…

    I guess another question would be: from this point on, perhaps we should just blast it 24/7: REPUBLICANS OWN THIS, WHATEVER PASSES.

  74. 74.

    Major Major Major Major

    @TenguPhule: “Skinny repeal” doesn’t cut enough to let them mangle the tax code to their liking, so if they end up leaving the Medicaid expansion untouched then they’ll have to scale back their ambitions on taxes too.

    @Jeffro:

    in the end Republicans always fall in line with the wishes of their authoritarian leaders

    Then why couldn’t they get enough votes to pass a bill on the first few tries? Why are they still in disagreement about what constitutes a bill? If this is true, why bother even paying attention?

  75. 75.

    Yutsano

    @Starfish: A lot of our female commentariat got frightened off when JC made a bad personnel choice. That person is gone but unfortunately so are they.

  76. 76.

    Eric S.

    It’s about lunch time for everyone depending on their time zone in the US. It’s about dinner time for me here in Vienna. Where should I go?

    I have a suggestion for Ristorante Gondola as a not so expensive place. I’m not on an unlimited budget but I don’t have to be frugal either.

    ETA, I’m near the city center. Near Karlsplatz and Naschmarkt.

  77. 77.

    eric

    @Amir Khalid: as for the tele, no one ever played that badboy like Mike Stern (whom Miles Davis nicknamed ‘Fat Time’ because Mike was heavier back then and he has a badass feel for time) and no Stern tune blazes quite like Chromazone

    enjoy the tele (i have a Les Paul and a Suhr) [I want one]

  79. 79.

    Betty Cracker

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: A hero for our times. :) I once saw a group of those sick fucks park a box truck with giant lurid photos of aborted fetuses plastered all over it next to a park filled with kindergarteners. They seem driven by a pathology akin to degenerates who jerk off in playgrounds and deserve to be treated as such.

  80. 80.

    TenguPhule

    @Major Major Major Major: My bad, that was the last Senate version, not the Skinny version. I’m getting them crossed up.

    1. House version
    2. Senate version
    3. Ted Cruz version
    4. Skinny Version

    Gonna need a program to keep them all straight.

  81. 81.

    Jeffro

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Then why couldn’t they get enough votes to pass a bill on the first few tries? Why are they still in disagreement about what constitutes a bill?

    Pretty sure I said, “in the end…”

    If this is true, then why even bother paying attention?

    Seriously? Because we never know when…maybe…possibly…they’ll ever pull back from the brink, and the only way that might happen is if we keep the pressure on. At this point, though, I think it’s important that we pressure them by reminding them that they’re going to own whatever comes out of their shitty little conference committee. As in, Own. It. And if we do it publicly, and loudly, and often enough, then even more folks will realize “hey that’s true…this is a Republican bill…they’re the ones making changes here…” etc etc

  82. 82.

    Mnemosyne

    I could tell everyone here about my recent adventures with cat poop and cat vomit appearing in unexpected places around the apartment, but I was informed by another front-pager that I may be oversharing on that front.

  84. 84.

    TenguPhule

    @Roger Moore:

    Injuries. You can always root for injuries.

    Casualties. Always root for casualties. If they drive each other into strokes due to a pissing contest, it would be the FSM’s way of telling us that yes, the universe does have sense of irony.

  85. 85.

    Susan K of the tech support

    I know that our host is from West Virginia, but I don’t know about whether this is worthwhile for others in WV. Because Capito needs to get called on the phone.

    On skinny repeal Skinny Repeal is a trojan horse. A container to get approval and THEN to do stuff in conference. Like gut Medicaid

    Just saw these two tweets

    1. https://twitter.com/PeterSullivan4/status/890257462221320192

    Capito won’t take position on skinny repeal, says she hasn’t seen it. Said she voted for BCRA because of portman amendment

    2. ( tweet that embedded tweet above)
    https://twitter.com/TopherSpiro/status/890258446980960256

    This is big. JAM HER PHONES. Tell her it’s a Trojan Horse to gut Medicaid.

  86. 86.

    TenguPhule

    @Mnemosyne:

    I could tell everyone here about my recent adventures with cat poop and cat vomit appearing in unexpected places around the apartment, but I was informed by another front-pager that I may be oversharing on that front.

    Do I go around telling my stories of the puppy with a exploring mind and a love of leaving little wet surprises underfoot?

  90. 90.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Jeffro:

    Seriously? Because we never know when…maybe…possibly…they’ll ever pull back from the brink, and the only way that might happen is if we keep the pressure on.

    Which is at odds with what you said, which is that they ‘always’ fall in line.

    Anywho, personally I find such language very demoralizing.

  91. 91.

    TenguPhule

    @Major Major Major Major:

    “Skinny repeal” doesn’t cut enough to let them mangle the tax code to their liking, so if they end up leaving the Medicaid expansion untouched then they’ll have to scale back their ambitions on taxes too.

    True, but as I recall, the plan was to use skinny repeal as a vehicle to simply get this into committee, then reconcile it to have the worst aspects of the House bill and the last Senate version and then somehow get that passed in both chambers at the same time.

    I know it sounds nuts, but everything about this is nuts.

  94. 94.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Susan K of the tech support:

    This is big. JAM HER PHONES. Tell her it’s a Trojan Horse to gut Medicaid.

    As if she doesn’t know. The Trojan Horse approach is just a way to give Capito and other ever-so-deeply concerned “moderates” cover. That said, WV folks – go jam those phones!

    Edited for clarity.

  96. 96.

    Humdog

    Betty, my old brown boxer gal stole my spot in bed this morning when I got up to pee. I don’t get stink eye, just “poor pitiful me is cold!” It was 53 degrees and she had a bad diognosis at the vet this week, so I let her keep the warm spot and I lay at the foot of the bed. Some days I feel I work for my dogs and my computer and not the other way around. Enjoy Daisy and Patsy even as they fart and steal your spot.

  98. 98.

    Amir Khalid

    @Major Major Major Major:
    Not long ago, I did a little reading up on the history of New Coke, and learned something intriguing: Back in the 1980s the flagship Coke was losing sales to Pepsi-Cola while Diet Coke sales were growing. So the Coke bosses decided to fight back with a New Coke: the Diet Coke formulation, made with real corn-syrup sugar instead of the sweetener Aspartame. The rest, I think you know.

    The formulation of the flagship Coke has itself changed over the years, of course. It has been many decades since it contained either of its namesake ingredients.

  101. 101.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Starfish: A variety of factors. What Yutsie mentioned above is one. Also some stuff going on IRL that sucks up a lot of time.

  103. 103.

    The Moar You Know

    Wherever did you get that? Untreated river water in Colorado?

    @Major Major Major Major: Go to any animal shelter, pet five random critters, and go out for lunch without washing your hands adequately. You’ll have it. It’s endemic to shelters, just like kennel cough, unfortunately.

    The cure, Flagyl, is the closest thing to chemo that I’ve ever experienced. Never had a drug make me feel that sick, before or since.

  106. 106.

    TenguPhule

    @Major Major Major Major:

    If they can barely agree on the vehicle, why are we expecting them to agree on the outcome of the committee?

    Perhaps expecting is too strong a word. Its the uncertainty which is so gut wrenching. Having to rely on the integrity/common sense/sanity of 2-3 Republican Senators in order to not utterly destroy the medical insurance market is not an experience designed to lead to calm and reasoned behavior.

  107. 107.

    rikyrah

    From MaddowBlog:

    * In keeping with a recent string of state legislative special-election wins, Democrat Kevin Cavanaugh won a state Senate seat in New Hampshire yesterday, flipping a district that had been held by a Republican. This is, I believe, the fifth time this year a Dem has flipped a “red” seat in a state legislative special election.

  108. 108.

    Yutsano

    @satby: @Major Major Major Major: Remember when Tommy got the keys to do a redesign and then went a little power made because he said he had all our info? Good times…

    @Omnes Omnibus: This is also true, but the ONLY way I can pull wifey AsianGrrlMN back now is with Papa Stevedore Hemingway pictures. And I know she bailed because of the possible threat.

  110. 110.

    rikyrah

    For your planning: Senate just bumped previously scheduled 11:30 a.m. vote on Obamacare “straight repeal” to 3:30 p.m. today.
    — Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) July 26, 2017

  113. 113.

    rikyrah

    Anthem’s CEO says will withdraw from more marketplaces in 2018 if can’t get “certainty” on issues, particularly future of CSRs.
    — Maureen Groppe (@mgroppe) July 26, 2017

    Important. Recall that Blue Cross Blue Shield explicitly blamed Trump and Rs for high premiums: https://t.co/GW4ngsvKlI https://t.co/qv39dQiI8z
    — Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) July 26, 2017

  118. 118.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @satby: The unlamented T?

    ETA: Does the fact that you’re back mean you survived the hideous training?

    ETA some more: Eeek. I didn’t know of those creepy goings-on. Changed name to initial and will ask Betty to delete if identifying the person could cause a problem.

  121. 121.

    smintheus

    @TenguPhule:

    Gonna need a program to keep them all straight.

    Nah, it’s always been about finding the right trick to driving the ACA markets into a death spiral. Republicans think their hands will look clean if they give people / insurers the “choice” to walk away.

  122. 122.

    Miss Bianca

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: I probably shouldn’t be feeling the glow of mellow, vindictive satisfaction that I am feeling right now. But having been an abortion clinic worker and counsellor, I say fuck ’em. It might be about time to start really shoving back *hard* at these people and watch them fold like cheap tents.

  123. 123.

    Mnemosyne

    @satby:

    That was my impression, too, but I know that MN Grrrl vanished prior to that and only comes back to admire pictures of the magnificent Steve.

  124. 124.

    TenguPhule

    The only plan B that Republicans enjoy.

    Kudlow and Moore have been pitching a plan they call “Three Easy Pieces,” which would — for 10 years — cut the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 15 percent, double the standardized deduction that millions of Americans claim in their taxes, and allow companies to bring money back from overseas without a significant tax penalty.

    Moore said in an interview that these changes would probably cost between $2 trillion and $3 trillion over 10 years, but he said it would give a jolt to economic growth and allow White House and congressional Republicans to take more time to look at a broader revamp of the tax code.

    I hate these people.

  127. 127.

    TenguPhule

    @Mnemosyne:

    I didn’t find it underfoot.

    Puppy has decided that since I use the bathroom, she should too. But she can’t reach the toilet seat.

  128. 128.

    Mnemosyne

    @Yutsano:

    FWIW, I still think T was all talk and no action, but I can’t really blame other people for getting freaked out by that.

  129. 129.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Yutsano:

    but the ONLY way I can pull wifey AsianGrrlMN back

    I was wondering where she went. I miss her comments.

  130. 130.

    satby

    @O. Felix Culpa: even the doctor was pissed about the training today. Yes, I’m back. One of the 2 hours was spent sorting connection issues, and then the trainer called us done 45 minutes into the second hour. And he basically had no script, so he jumped around the screens as different things occurred to him.
    As a former actual trainer, it was excruciating to sit through.

  131. 131.

    TenguPhule

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Is it legal to stand within an inch of their face and scream obscenities for several minutes?

    It may only be legal if you’re a Forced-Birther screaming at the women entering the clinic.

    A variation of IOIYAR.

  133. 133.

    Mnemosyne

    @satby:

    On the plus side, that whole kerfuffle brought us Alain, who IIRC was originally hired by the Scary One, so it all worked out in the end.

  134. 134.

    satby

    @Mnemosyne: oh, he was. In spades. And I traced his info anyway if any threat had materialized, because he wasn’t nearly the smart guy he thought he was. Sad case really.

  136. 136.

    Susan K of the tech support

    @LurkerNoLonger:
    Portman amendment? Don’t know. I trust by now you’ve looked it up? If not, here: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=portman+amendment

    Oh, look, I did go and google it. Because I am curious now.

    The amendment from Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio called for $100 billion in new funding designed to stabilize states

    aah,. this is funding that serves this purpose. “we’re gonna harm the eff out of things, and oops, too much harm, here’s an inadequate amount of $ to act as cover for our votes,” but it’s still far more harmful than what now have in the ACA.

  137. 137.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @satby:

    As a former actual trainer, it was excruciating to sit through.

    I can imagine. I recently sat through a communications training by the worst speaker I’ve heard in a long time. Crappy powerpoint skills too. Not sure how he manages in his field. Probably has the mediocre white man thing going for him.

  138. 138.

    Yutsano

    @Susan K of the tech support: How are they supposed to determine funding and appropriations allocations and law changes IN LESS THAN A FUCKING DAY???

    This is pure madness. And the worst part is they might get away with it.

  139. 139.

    Felonius Monk

    @eric:

    i have a Les Paul and a Suhr

    What year and model Les Paul?
    I have a 1957 Les Paul Special that I bought in 1958.

  141. 141.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Yutsano:

    How are they supposed to determine funding and appropriations allocations and law changes IN LESS THAN A FUCKING DAY???

    Hahahaha! Silly rabbit – these are REPUBLICANS you’re talking about. They.Don’t.Care.

  143. 143.

    TenguPhule

    @Major Major Major Major: When I figure out a good way to get a photo of her that doesn’t look like she’s dead or a black smear of fuzz. Her sleeping and resting postures are really really weird.
    And her black hair is so long and curly that it obscures most of her facial features which doesn’t help as she is also a hyperactive little critter who’s favorite spot is under the couch. We’ve nicknamed her the Little Mole.

  144. 144.

    trollhattan

    @Eljai:
    Presumably, since the vast majority of cas1n0 jerbs are very-low wage anything that relieves him from providing benefits is a huge bump in the net profit line on the balance sheet.

  145. 145.

    TenguPhule

    @Yutsano:

    How are they supposed to determine funding and appropriations allocations and law changes IN LESS THAN A FUCKING DAY???

    They just want to pass it. Details will be fleshed out in reconciliation committee.

    Please note, this will not be an improvement.

  147. 147.

    FlipYrWhig

    @TenguPhule:

    “And when it has accomplished this second half of its preliminary work, Europe will leap from its seat and exult: Well burrowed, old mole!” (Marx)

  148. 148.

    eric

    @Felonius Monk: Wow. I have a blonde early-70s custom (in the early 70s the serial numbers are not traceable to specific years. Odd, but true.) i do not play her as much as i used to because Les Paul’s and tuning are not on speaking terms and my Suhr rarely goes out of tune (and has incredibly low non-buzzing action).

  151. 151.

    Brachiator

    @Betty Cracker: The assault on rational government programs continues. Perhaps worth a front page mention ….

    Dozens of teen pregnancy prevention programs deemed ineffective by President Donald Trump’s administration will lose more than $200 million in funding following a surprise decision to end five-year grants after only three years.

    The administration’s assessment is in sharp contrast with that of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, which credited the program with contributing to an all-time low rate of teen pregnancies.

    Rachel Fey of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy said Tuesday that grantees under the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program were given no explanation when notified this month their awards will end next June. The program, begun under President Barack Obama’s administration, receives about $100 million a year.

    “We know so little about the rationale behind cutting short these grants,” said Fey, who said the teen birth rate has fallen by about 40 percent nationally since the program went into effect in 2010. The focus of the program is on evidence-based interventions aimed at preventing teen pregnancy. It does not pay for or provide contraceptives.

    A Health and Human Services spokesman said late Tuesday that an evaluation of the first round of grants released last fall found only four of 37 programs studied showed lasting positive impacts. Most of the other programs had no effect or were harmful, the department said, including three that it said increased the likelihood that teens would have unprotected sex and become pregnant.

    “Given the very weak evidence of positive impact of these programs, the Trump administration, in its … 2018 budget proposal, did not recommend continued funding for the TPP program,” the department statement said.

    The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists urged the administration “not to turn back the clock” on progress.

    “It’s as though the evidence and the facts don’t matter,” ACOG President Dr. Haywood Brown said.

  152. 152.

    Miss Bianca

    @Brachiator:

    “It’s as though the evidence and the facts don’t matter,” ACOG President Dr. Haywood Brown said.

    Wow, what a shock…I mean, we’re only talking about Republicans, right?

  156. 156.

    trollhattan

    @TenguPhule:
    I put them through the decoder ring and it spit this out:
    1. Shit
    2. Shit
    3. Shit
    4. Shit

    I love the decoder ring.

  158. 158.

    Mnemosyne

    @satby:

    It seemed like he needed a stint in rehab since most of that came out after he’d had a few too many late at night, but I probably shouldn’t gossip about people who aren’t around anymore.

  159. 159.

    trollhattan

    @eric:
    A buddy had his Les Paul signed by Les Paul. Flew it from Calif to New York, went to a show at his club and he was happy to sign it. And having Les’ signature has spurred other reluctant guitarists to also sign it–my favorite being Bo Diddly.

  160. 160.

    Amir Khalid

    @O. Felix Culpa:
    As I recall, she cited being busy — in real life, and with her own blog — as her reasons for withdrawing from commenting here.

  161. 161.

    TenguPhule

    @Brachiator: “Make American Women Pregnant Servants Again!”

    Are there any demographics remaining that Trump hasn’t attacked yet?

  165. 165.

    Jeffro

    @TenguPhule:(from Kudlow and Moore)

    these changes would probably cost between $2 trillion and $3 trillion over 10 years, but he said it would give a jolt to economic growth

    I love it. As if that “cost” magically disappears once we have some of that sweet, sweet, magical “growth”.

    Why don’t they just be honest: “these changes would result in corporations and rich people paying $2-3 TRILLION DOLLARS less in taxes to support our military, elderly, education, and public services…but we’ll have ‘growth’, i.e., even more opportunity for corporations and rich people to make money…which they’ll just hide overseas again, since they feel ZERO obligation to their country and fellow citizens”.

  166. 166.

    Eric U.

    Scott Simon tweeted something defending McCain, “just a procedural vote.” I feel like my goal in life should be to get blocked by all the NPR tools.

  169. 169.

    bemused

    @Jeffro:

    He is terrifying. Criminals are slicing and dicing young girls. He believes media says he wants to be on Mt Rushmore which his projection reveals that’s what he does want. He’s flailing around in panic attacking everything and everyone. He gets more insane by the hour now.

  171. 171.

    catclub

    @Betty Cracker:

    Congress is going to serve up a shit sandwich one way or another — that was a foregone conclusion as of November 2016. But if “skinny repeal” — destructive, horrific and stupid as it is — is the most damaging thing they can muster, well, let’s just say Team Koch won’t get their entire wish list fulfilled.

    one possible bad result from this is the House deciding to pass the skinny repeal as is in order to get a victory – any victory – which is all that Trump cares about. If they go to committee it will be drawn out forever.

  172. 172.

    germy

    @TenguPhule: Wasn’t a RW senator going on and on a few weeks ago about transgender recruits “gaming the system” to take advantage of free reassignment surgery, bankrupting the military? Steve King or one of those geniuses? My first impression was that drumpf got the idea from him.

  173. 173.

    trollhattan

    @eric:
    He sure was and I get a kick out of revisiting Les and Mary and Chester and Lester recordings–crazy stuff, especially considering the era.

    My buddy said that even at 90 Les could still play well and had great connection with the audience. We should all be so lucky.

    Barely related, saw Robert Cray (a Strat man) last night and he came to play, especially considering it was Tuesday night in an obscure town (“Thanks everybody, never been here, before.”). His voice still has the high range, too.

  175. 175.

    TenguPhule

    @catclub:

    If they go to committee it will be drawn out forever.

    We can only hope.

    But none of the normal rules seem to apply any more.

  177. 177.

    germy

    @trollhattan: Les Paul recorded W.C. Fields’ last record:

    In 1936, The Great Man had health problems that left him with radio as his only option, delighting fans with his unique voice and cadence. He eventually was well enough to make movies again, but by 1946 alcohol and aging had sent him to a sanitarium.

    Hoping to keep his spirits up (no, not spiritus fermenti), Fields’ friend Bill Morrow arranged for a visit to Les Paul’s new home recording studio. On a hot day in July, hobbling on a cane, and wearing shoes split open to ease the pain in his badly swollen feet, Fields made his appearance. He eyed the way Les Paul was fiddling around amid double-track equipment and control boards, and called him an “octopus.” Paul was amused, and named his new machine OCT, short for octopus. Soon after, the recording genius expanded his studio to include a true “octopus,” a pioneering 8-track tape recorder.

  179. 179.

    TenguPhule

    @germy:

    Steve King or one of those geniuses? My first impression was that drumpf got the idea from him.

    At this point, nothing would surprise me.

  180. 180.

    trnc

    @Eric U.: I stopped being a sustainer after they jumped on the BS Clinton Foundation stories. Every time I consider making a donation, they run yet another DT voter profile. Not only did they do one of those this morning, they did a bonus report with an all right wing panel.

    That translates to a couple of additional lunches paid for this month.

  182. 182.

    eric

    @trollhattan: touring is tough now for musicians. Surprised he is still out there. Just saw Eric Johnson.
    Sadly, this year will bring John McLaughlin’s last tour (I will see him in November). Sad.

  185. 185.

    david spikes

    @bemused: Even for Trump that’s creepy.
    “Gangs of chicano thugs are slicing and dicing beautiful 15 or 16 year olds.” pauses to wipe drool off his chin.
    In a normal world that would have been headline for weeks-now it’s just a big MEH.

  192. 192.

    TenguPhule

    @david spikes:

    “Gangs of chicano thugs are slicing and dicing beautiful 15 or 16 year olds.” pauses to wipe drool off his chin.

    Trump sounds envious.

    Is that his idea of foreplay?

  193. 193.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Aspartame is the culprit – long exposure to temps over 30 C eventually breaks the amino-acid-related stuff down. IIRC whole pallets of aspartame-sweetened diet sodas sat out in the sun too long & turned out to be not sweet at all. OTOH sucralose & saccharin seem to last for ages.

  194. 194.

    TriassicSands

    @david spikes:

    When I watched that clip, I was, once again, amazed. There is no limit to the perversity of this demented, cretin. I thought, WTF is he talking about? Why would that be part of a speech even to his supporters? Oh, wait. Yeah, his supporters. That says it all.

  195. 195.

    trollhattan

    @eric:
    My subliterate understanding is since the income stream from selling recordings has been decimated touring is the more reliable way to eke out an income.What seemed like an adventure at 25 must be quite a slog at 50+.

  196. 196.

    bemused

    @david spikes:

    Anyone who is still a Trump supporter after hearing something as deviant and demented like that needs to be in a secure mental hospital with him…and his kids too.

  197. 197.

    Felonius Monk

    @Amir Khalid:

    Are ’57 Les Pauls among the crazy-expensive ones?

    I don’t think they are the crazy expensives. I paid $169 for it in 1958 (new) and last time I checked it was worth about 100x that. The old sunbursts, IRC, were going for 35-40K. Not sure what current market is. Haven’t checked for awhile.

  198. 198.

    Mnemosyne

    @germy:

    Whoever that guy was, he also seemed to think that young men would sign up for hormone therapy and gender reassignment just so they could do fewer push-ups to qualify as women instead of men. It was pretty insane stuff.

  199. 199.

    Jeffro

    Murkowski to Trumpov: “How about just doing a little bit of governing? That’s what I’m here for.”

    I’m sure he’ll take that under advisement, absolutely…

  200. 200.

    bemused

    @TenguPhule:

    Oh please, like those corps would come back. Not unless they threaten to hold off coming back to deal for even more tax breaks. Never ending cycle.

  201. 201.

    rikyrah

    I’m sick of these stories. She’s a two-bit phony just her grifting Daddy.

    Ivanka opposed Trump’s trans ban — but decided to spend her ‘political capital’ elsewhere: report
    Brad Reed BRAD REED
    26 JUL 2017 AT 13:25 ET

    First Daughter Ivanka Trump — who has in the past positioned herself publicly as a champion of LGBT rights in the Trump White House — was reportedly opposed to President Donald Trump’s decision to ban transgender people from serving in the military.

    However, the Daily Beast reports that Ivanka decided not to raise too much of a stink about her father’s decision because she had more pressing issues to work on.

    “The more socially liberal factions of Trump’s inner circle — including his family members and staffers Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner — have been opposed to all the anti-LGBT initiatives of this administration,” the Daily Beast reports. “However, they quickly determined that their ‘political capital be spent elsewhere,’ as one senior White House official characterized it, given that their advice on LGBT issues has been routinely overruled, if not overlooked, by this administration and President Trump.”

  202. 202.

    Felonius Monk

    @Mnemosyne: My Dear Lady, we, at Chez Monk, have all the cat poop and cat vomit we are currently capable of handling at the present time. Please heed AL’s suggestion. :)

    ETA: And cat pee, also.

  203. 203.

    TenguPhule

    Woman ‘slapped’ police car before Minneapolis officer fatally shot Justine Damond, search warrant says

    Every single new detail released about this case just makes it worse and worse.

    “Upon police arrival, a female ‘slaps’ the back of the patrol squad,” according to the search warrant filed by the BCA, reported MPR News. “After that, it is unknown to BCA agents what exactly happened, but the female became deceased in the alley.”

    Are you fucking kidding me?

  204. 204.

    MomSense

    @trollhattan:

    I saw him I think about 5 years ago and he still sounded great. His voice has aged well.

    Have you heard Shemekia Copeland sing? I heard her perform this Summer and her voice is incredible. She and Robert Cray performed I Pity the Fool in the documentary Lightning in a Bottle.

  205. 205.

    Ohio Mom

    @Major Major Major Major: No more Coke Zero! You have just broken Ohio’s Dad heart.

    On the other hand, assuming I can figure out a fool-proof hiding spot, I now know what to get him for our anniversary this fall.

  206. 206.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @david spikes:

    Given his mental state and lack of awareness around the concept of projection, someone needs to look under his floorboards.

  207. 207.

    chris

    @eric:

    John McLaughlin’s last tour

    Wow, he’s had a good run. I saw him twice back in 1973. Amazing how many of our favourite performers just kept on going.

  209. 209.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Amir Khalid: There’s even a popular rumor that the whole mess was a cover for the switch from cane sugar to corn syrup, but this seems to be untrue (that had already happened, in stages, shortly before the New Coke fiasco broke).

  210. 210.

    Brachiator

    @TenguPhule:

    “Make American Women Pregnant Servants Again!”

    Texas has the highest rate of maternal pregnancy deaths in the developed world. Texas. Highest in the entire motherfucking developed world. These bastards don’t simply want to see women as servants. They are playthings to be pushed into the dirt and degraded. Look at how some of the GOP lawmakers rail against GOP women who dare to defy them.

    Are there any demographics remaining that Trump hasn’t attacked yet?

    Oh, eventually the GOP will eat their own. This shit is relentless.

  211. 211.

    OldDave

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    We used to stock up on Diet Coke when it was on sale

    Diet Coke starts to go _before_ its best buy date, at least in cans. Maybe the bottles last longer. I’ve tossed full 12-packs because they’ve reached their NFW date.

  212. 212.

    ruemara

    @Major Major Major Major: The ones in their heads, because no trans person besides Caitlyn Jenner was feeling that.

    The bullshit of believing that fool was going to be good on LGBTQIA rights. Then again, there was a surprising support for LePen in the gay (white male) community. Not overwhelmingly large but around 20%. And they too said, “I’m sure her support for anti-gay persons is just window dressing”. The Islamophobia was real.

  214. 214.

    TenguPhule

    @Brachiator:

    These bastards don’t simply want to see women as servants. They are playthings to be pushed into the dirt and degraded.

    Historically that’s what happened to servants.

  215. 215.

    Ohio Mom

    @Susan K of the tech support: The Portman ammendment is quintessential Portman.

    If you know Portman, you don’t have to look up the details of his proposal, you already know it’s crap he is going to hide behind while he pretends to be a moderate.

  216. 216.

    Felonius Monk

    @Ohio Mom:

    No more Coke Zero! You have just broken Ohio’s Dad heart.

    According to this, it is not going away. It’s getting a do-over and being renamed Coke Zero Sugar.

  217. 217.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Felonius Monk: They aren’t just renaming it. From that article:

    The company isn’t specifying what it’s changing aside from saying it tweaked the “blend of flavors.”

    Coke Zero itself is already basically a ‘blend of flavors’ tweak of Diet Coke and it’s quite different.

  218. 218.

    Yarrow

    @bemused:

    He is terrifying. Criminals are slicing and dicing young girls. He believes media says he wants to be on Mt Rushmore which his projection reveals that’s what he does want.

    Everything with him is projection. Everything. Take that into consideration with what he said that criminals do to young girls. Scary as hell.

  219. 219.

    Ohio Mom

    @Mnemosyne: IIRC, he once admitted to being on the autism spectrum. Having a disability that impairs your social communication abilities means you will screw up social communication, one way or another. And the higher-functioning you are, the trickier things are for you.

    I found the whole episode heart-breaking.

  220. 220.

    trollhattan

    @MomSense:
    Wow, I actually have a recording of them performing it (from some compilation album),. Shemekia has a hell of a set of pipes, for sure, and Cray can match her high range, making for an interesting duet. Trivia: she’s Johnny Copeland’s daughter.

    I pity the fool who doesn’t love them. :-)

  221. 221.

    TenguPhule

    @Yarrow: This could explain why the Russian tape is so explosive.

    Maybe it’s not just piss that’s running freely in it.

  222. 222.

    Betty Cracker

    @rikyrah: From what I’ve observed, Ivanka has spent 100% of her “political capital” on projects like obtaining trademarks so she can peddle knock-off shoes and handbags abroad, pimping her book of ghostwritten platitudes via taxpayer-supported outlets like Voice of America, etc. Like you said, a worthless grifter just like her father.

  223. 223.

    bemused

    @Yarrow:

    This. It’s constant projection with him and he is totally unaware. I’m not laughing much these days but when he said Obama was the most ignorant president in history, I burst out laughing. Actually more sobbing than laughing.

  225. 225.

    david spikes

    Trump after Sessions again. He doesn’t seem to realize this isn’t his shitty real estate company, or the trembling fools in the west wing.
    Unless he fires Sessions there is nothing he can do about his power base in the Justice Dep’t.
    Although it does begin to sound as though Trump is setting up to purge the entire dep’t. plus the FBI.
    And Rosenstein’s horrendous Trump ass kissing speech at the NAACP makes me think he knows somethings up.
    Time to revive use of the word Trimmer.

  226. 226.

    Brachiator

    @Miss Bianca: RE: “It’s as though the evidence and the facts don’t matter,” ACOG President Dr. Haywood Brown said.

    Wow, what a shock…I mean, we’re only talking about Republicans, right?

    There is something about this, especially coming from Trump, that is more vile. It is an infantile cruelty for the sake of cruelty.

  227. 227.

    bemused

    @david spikes:

    I have this mental picture of Trump ending up all by himself in the WH. Maybe Bannon would still be there but the WH basically empty of staff while outside the WH there are millions and millions of Americans he has thrown under the bus including former WH staff screaming and raising their fists.

  228. 228.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Brachiator:

    Oh, eventually the GOP will eat their own. This shit is relentless.

    That is truth, hate craves hate.

  229. 229.

    Miss Bianca

    @Brachiator: If you think that somehow Trump has managed to be even more vile, cruel, irrational and misogynistic than your average Republican on the subject of birth control, teen sexuality and pregnancy, women’s reproductive rights, and maternal care, then…I respectfully suggest you haven’t been paying attention. Infantile cruelty, in *all* senses of that phrase, has been their default modus operandi on these subjects for years.

  231. 231.

    TCS

    @Betty Cracker: Perhaps not entirely worthless as she may be the easiest way to damage Trump. Photos of Ivanka behind the Resolute desk and at the G20 conference table are the scariest things I’ve seen in a long time. Clearly Trump sees a dynasty. Given his obvious adoration of this daughter she may be the chink in his armor.

  235. 235.

    Brachiator

    @Miss Bianca:

    If you think that somehow Trump has managed to be even more vile, cruel, irrational and misogynistic than your average Republican on the subject of birth control, teen sexuality and pregnancy, women’s reproductive rights, and maternal care, then…I respectfully suggest you haven’t been paying attention. Infantile cruelty, in *all* senses of that phrase, has been their default modus operandi on these subjects for years.

    Oh, yes. I definitely disagree. I think that some people, including some posters here, have been so used to painting Republicans as heartless sociopaths and psychopaths that when someone like Trump comes along, you don’t recognize how different he is. And Trump has played all sides of the political spectrum, painting himself as a Democrat, an independent, and now a Republican. Hell, he used to praise Planned Parenthood before he devoted himself to destroying it; and during the primary, other Republicans tried to use this against him.

    But I think that the GOP leadership also think that Trump is one of their own, or that at least they can use him as much as he uses them.

    But they are very wrong. They don’t really understand what they have unleashed on the country.

  236. 236.

    a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)

    @Amir Khalid: B.B. King called all his Lucille–but he preferred a Gibson semi-hollow body ES-355, so that might not suit yours. He had a good explanation for the name, too:

    KING: I used to play a place in Arkansas called Twist, Ark., and they used to have a little nightclub there that we played quite often. When we didn’t have any other place to play, we were always welcome to play there. Well, it used to get quite cold in Twist, and they used to take something look like a big garbage pail and set it in the middle of the floor, half-fill it with kerosene. They would light that fuel, and that’s what we used for heat. And generally, the people would dance around it, you know, never disturb this container. But this particular night, two guys start to fight and then one of them knocked the other one over on this container, and when they did, it spilled on the floor. Now it was already burning, so when it spilled, it looked like a river of fire, and everybody ran for the front door, including yours truly. But when I got on the outside, then I realized that I’d left my guitar inside. I went back for it. The building was a wooden building, and it was burning so fast when I got my guitar, it started to collapse around me. So I almost lost my life trying to save the guitar. But the next morning, we found that these two guys who was fighting was fighting about a lady. I never did meet the lady, but I learned that her name was Lucille. So I named my guitar Lucille and reminded me not to do a thing like that again.

    (from here)

  237. 237.

    J R in WV

    @dmsilev:

    Much of what you describe happened to my dad. He had COPD issues, and yet his doctors in Houston TX, elevation 28, allowed him to go home, WV, elevation 2600… O2 concentration in the air, down 25% or so. He got dizzy, fell, broke his hip.

    I spent the next several months as his primary caregiver, rehabbing sufficiently to get him back to his oncologists at M D Anderson in Houston. He made it quite well after that, so best wishes for you and yours!

    Make him get help at 2 am to go pee. That’s important, and something our parents are loath to do. It’s all I can do to get wife to use a flashlight to see where the dogs are lying. Best of luck !!!

  238. 238.

    J R in WV

    @eric:

    We used to be in NYC pretty regularly. Les Paul played every Monday night at Iridium, a jazz club in central Manhattan, near Columbus Circle. Wife was always after me to take her on a night Les Paul was playing. I don’t know why I always saw something else more attractive, but I never did.

    Then he died.

    Sad.

    They still have a hologram of him in the foyer, as you walk by, he raises his head from looking down at the guitar to look you right in the eyes.

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