I originally titled this “Wednesday Afternoon Open Thread” because it just cannot be only Tuesday. But alas, it is.
Here’s a lovely shot taken by faithful reader cope of a pre-dawn Atlas rocket launch at Cape Canaveral:
I’m on the opposite coast, but if it’s clear enough, I can see launches from over here on the left side of the state. One time about 10 years ago, several of us were having a few beers around dusk, and we happened to notice what looked like a launch trail on the eastern horizon. As we watched it climb into the sky, it appeared to separate into component parts that zoomed off in different directions.
I’d never seen anything like that — none of us had. We looked on the NASA website, which said it was a military launch and no information on the payload was available. Still have no clue what it was. But now Trump controls it.
Speaking of Trump, what’s your prediction for tonight’s MAGAt rally in Phoenix? Mine is that Trump makes the pundits who praised last night’s “presidential” teleprompter recital look like the idiots they are by letting his freak flag fly.
Seems to be a pattern with Trump: Handlers trot him out to pretend to meet the baseline requirements for head of state. Trump dimly senses that this suggests he’s less than fabulous unscripted. So he finds a way to undo it all.
At any rate, I hope everyone stays safe. Open thread!
TenguPhule
FUBAR.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
OT – I just got a CNN news alert about Marcellus Williams. My brain read it out as “Marcellus Wallace”.
Gave me a start, LOL.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
Mass riots in Pheonix is what I expect.
The President of Blank Sucking Nullity
David Roth
https://thebaffler.com/latest/the-president-of-blank-sucking-nullity-roth?utm_content=buffer301b0&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Mike in NC
Trump’s performance will be possibly the most cringeworthy thing he’s yet done. Maybe if he yells long and loud enough, they’ll have to carry him out on a stretcher.
rikyrah
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
I know it happens…
but, the utter absolute injustice of executing someone that the DNA says didn’t do it…
makes the blood rage.
Betty Cracker
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: I did the same double-take!
Calouste
I think the shitgibbon is going to take it out on the senior senator from the Arizona by making a bad joke tying him to the ship named after his father that had an accident recently. You know he can’t resist.
TenguPhule
Yeah, this actually happened. (Awhile ago)
I don’t see today ending any better.
efgoldman
A riot, with possible small arms fire.
No, I’m not kidding.
Insane Clown POTUS
Here on the left coast, we have Vandenberg AFB. There have been launches about once a month this year. I went to watch a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch two months ago. It put up 9 Iridium Next communications satellites. It’s really impressive to experience live.
lamh36
Good afternoon peeps. Left work early today, so I could start my 5 day off stretch early. Ain’t got NOTHING planned for next 5 days, just NOT having to go to work is all I need.
BTW, someone suggested mixing white rice with the brown rice as a way to make it more appealing for me so I tried it the other day and guess what…it worked out pretty good. Didn’t really even notice the mix, ‘cept when I got a really grainy piece of brown rice.
So thanks for the advice I will def continue mixing the two kinds of rice!
Miss Bianca
@Calouste: “I like ships that DON’T run into other ships!”
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@TenguPhule:
This dude needs to take a dirt nap, pronto. He’s too dangerous. Trump legit scares me.
MomSense
Trump seemed to be highly medicated last night. If he’s allowed to go to his rally without his mood stabilizers, I think it’s going to be a wild night.
I hate him.
TenguPhule
@lamh36:
You’re welcome.
You can slowly increase the ratio of brown to white over time to get used to it until you reach a point you figure you’ve had enough.
Gravenstone
I know the feeling about only Tuesday. Came in early to try and accomplish a couple of things before an early meeting – only the be reminded the meeting is actually tomorrow. *sigh*
Getting a crown emplaced in an hour, so I’ll be ignoring the shitgibbon tonight. I’ll catch up on the after action carnage reports here in the morning
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@MomSense:
Yup, Donald sure does have that effect on decent people. I’m really hoping he goes blind from staring at the eclipse without protection.
A Ghost To Most
@TenguPhule: Tiki torches set the arena on fire.
Betty Cracker
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: I really liked that piece except the very end, which I may have misunderstood.
The Moar You Know
A riot for certain. I’m thinking multiple murders are quite likely. I’m serious. The attendees are going to be some of the most deplorable of the deplorables, the horse they bet on is losing big time, and they’re not going to take it out on the horse…this time.
Were I Trump, I’d start taking a good hard look at exactly how safe for him these rallies are going to be after a few more months of failure. His disciples, like him, are enraged, have no impulse control and, unlike him, are heavily armed.
Brachiator
Even if the MSM often fails, what is happening at the LA Times is some serious housecleaning, and maybe not in a good way overall.
The new publisher ain’t got no newspaper experience, tho:
The idea seems to be to try to transition the paper to a digital only or digital primary version. Good luck with that.
A media commenter noted: “From the archive, here is the post from the last time a Los Angeles Times editor was fired and replaced by a Chicago news veteran with no experience in California. His name was Jim O’Shea. He too was out a little bit more than a year later.”
Although almost all print newspapers and magazines are doing poorly, the times is doing much worse than the NY Times or WaPo. The 135 year old paper may be done within a few years.
WaterGirl
@Calouste: Sadly, I would put money on that being true. He is a hateful fuckng pig with no class at all, and he can’t help but show it.
edited
trollhattan
Buddy and I improbably caught a Vandenberg ICBM launch near the end of an eight-day backpack in the high Sierra (Sequoia Park). NOT knowing what that white streak of light piercing the evening sky in the distant west was freaked us the fuck right out. During the climb it issued a purple jellyfish-shaped formation, I presume at stage 1-2 separation and continued climbing until out of sight. The missile’s trail and fluorescent jellyfish spawn drifted in the dusk sky for a surprisingly long time while we scratched our heads at the sighting and wondering whether we were at war or somesuch. This was during the Bush2 regime so nothing would have surprised us.
Back home I found it was a Minuteman launched at Kwajalein Atoll for an interceptor test. Ronny’s ghost was riding that missile.
Schlemazel
I got to see many launches from close up while I worked at KSC, it is a visceral experience that is hard to imagine until you have done it. The Atlas is very quick compared to the shuttle which rumbles up at a leisurely pace and really rock a shockwave. Its a shame we don’t have a functioning space program any more.
I try not to think about the Nuremberg rallies of hair furor. Took a week of vacation with no plans simply because I did not want another day at work. Went to a little zoo in N. MN yesterday, Hemker Zoo. I took some pictures and may send the to Alan for the AM posts. Have a couple of other day trips planned but nothing exciting. I am still not 100% recovered from November
West of the Rockies (been a while)
Trump is a talentless, hideous Norma Desmond, leering into the camera with anticipation of worship.
TenguPhule
@efgoldman:
Before or after the Nazi salutes?
Schlemazel
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?:
That is a sickening but true picture of our beloved furor
WaterGirl
@MomSense: I know. And I hate what he is doing to me. I don’t like feeling hateful and angry, but the only alternative seems to be sticking my head in the sand, and that’s not good either.
I laughed at ““I like ships that DON’T run into other ships!” above and then I actually started crying because it’s so awful that this cretin is our president.
edit: apologies to cretins for the comparison.
trollhattan
@Brachiator:
Jim Kirk now at the helm of the LA Times? I’ll try to process that tidbit.
Fact is the left coast has no paper of influence regionally, much less nationally. The Times is de facto the largest but fishwrap for the most part.
Gin & Tonic
I’m relaxing with some wine in a very nice small hotel just on the Austrian side of the border with Bavaria. It is very civilized, leading me to not give two shits about the orange one or what he might or might not say.
Schlemazel
@TenguPhule:
How do you compensate for the different cooking times? I like wild rice mixed with white sometimes but cook them separately
WaterGirl
Forgot to say what a beautiful photo that is up top. Betty, I really appreciate how you try to help keep yourself and the rest of us sane by posting beautiful photos of nature.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@The Moar You Know:
What an image. Trump slain by one of his deranged supporters by accident. Just imagine the conspiracy theories.
Brachiator
@trollhattan:
Don’t quite agree, but the bottom line is that all print media is dying, just the expiration date varies.
Gin & Tonic
@lamh36: Mix in some bacon, too, if you want the brown rice to be edible.
Quinerly
@Miss Bianca:
Unrelated…just re visited the early AM thread. Thanks for the Scottish Bacon story. Could have done without the Priebus air kisses part. I was eating a late sushi lunch with lots of wasabi.?
Hoodie
Now that he sees no one is fooled by his glorious plan for Afghanistan, he’ll go full Klavern mode. He’s probably pissed about having to follow the Kelly/Mattis/McMaster script, realizes it makes him look like a loser with his base, and will therefore try to win them back by mainlining some unadulterated hate.
Schlemazel
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?:
The tangerine tantrum will be safe because the don’t allow guns near him, it is everyone else that we need to worry about
Quinerly
@Gin & Tonic:
How wonderful! Enjoy!
TenguPhule
@Schlemazel:
Smart Japanese electric rice cooker. Ours has a mixed rice setting in addition to “white” and “brown” .
Prior to that, same cook time, but a bit more water to make sure the brown didn’t come out like rocks. We let the rice sit in the pot for awhile after cooking too.
Jeffro
Let’s see…what do I expect at Trumpov’s rally tonight?
– bashing Jeff Flake
– bashing John McCain
– followed by hamfisted attempt at moment of silence or similar for the sailors on USS John McCain
– followed then by crazy talk about getting rid of captains who can’t steer
– followed by how great he is
– bashing GOP Congress and #FakeNews…the latter for “misinterpreting” what he said about Charlottesville, the former for not standing by him
– thanking “his” generals for their advice on Afghanistan…and “they’d better be right”…
– “but you know who’s always been right? Joe Arpaio”
– pardons Arpaio live and on stage
– tells supporters “don’t back down…just like Joe…stick with me…I am your voice…”
– arglebargle de barglely argle (who the heck knows at that point?)
Also, what’s the over/under on the Trumpov Sniffle Count? I’m guessing something like 45-50 audible sniffles while he’s speaking.
Miss Bianca
@Gin & Tonic: Just go ahead and taunt us, why don’t you…oh, wait. that’swhat you’re doing! OK, taunt us some more – what’s the wine? I’m guessing something white, given your location, but I could be wrong.
@Quinerly: what, lassie? Ye’ll have some Scottish Bacon with yer fancy raw fish and hot green pastey stuff, but some air kisses will turn ye all wambly?? Och, fer shame!
zhena gogolia
@lamh36:
I can’t stand brown rice. Have you tried other grains, like bulgur or buckwheat? They taste better, and I assume they serve the same purpose of not being unhealthy carbs.
rikyrah
@lamh36:
SO jealous.
rikyrah
@MomSense:
Come sit by me. I can’t even stand to hear him speak.
I hate the people who voted for him even more.
zhena gogolia
@West of the Rockies (been a while):
Norma Desmond was far easier on the eyes.
OldDave
@Schlemazel:
And the Shuttle was quick as compared to the Saturn-V, or so I’m told. Wish I could have seen one of those launches. Working for a NASA subcontractor I got my hands on several passes to shuttle launches – and they were spectacular.
schrodingers_cat
@Schlemazel: You wash and soak the brown rice before hand, at least 2 to 3 hours before cooking.
A Ghost To Most
@WaterGirl: Just read an article that brings up the possiblity that the McCain steering was hacked. Reports of loss of steering just prior to crash.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Jeffro:
Something tells me he wants to talk about C-Ville. “They, the fake news, you know who they are, they say I’m a racist. Ben, am I a racist? He would know folks, believe me one of the most brilliant of the… of the doctors.”
ruckus
@trollhattan:
The Times is better than some papers, but not by much. Seems like every so often they bring in someone new to shake up the place. It seldom works out.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@Jeffro:
Would he really attack cancer-stricken “war hero” McCain in his own state?
rikyrah
@TenguPhule:
thanks for that info. will file it away for future reference.
sharl
I think an important clue in how Roth wraps up his piece is the use of #resisting. Just based on who he hangs with on twitter, I think Roth leans very left, and in following that crowd I find that they sometimes over-generalize about liberals who are closer to center (um, kind of like what I’m doing here with the lefties).
There are a relatively few number of Trump-haters who obsessively reply to many of his tweets with long, ranting threads, until they eventually get blocked. Then, Victory!, I guess. I think lefties too often ignore the amount of mutual encouragement and morale-building that is provided within the #Resist “movement” as they organize and build protest actions, of which the use of that hashtag is but a very small component. I’ve seen very few liberals who believe that they are going to make Trump a better human or President by using that hashtag, though there is circumstantial evidence that other means of trolling might have an effect (one of my personal favorites was “President Bannon”; there were reports that it annoyed the hell out of Trump.)
So, some lefties need to get out more, so to speak. In fact a couple of the chapo podcasters were in the women’s march in DC that took place the day after the inauguration, and were blown away by the number of people who were there. One of them commented that it would take more than a handful of angry lefties alone to make a difference…which they kind of already knew anyway, but that day brought it home to them in a very tangible way.
Betty Cracker
@Brachiator: That’ll be a terrible loss if the LA Times goes down. The Village Voice is ceasing print publication this week, I think. I’m not sure our democracy can withstand the collapse of traditional journalism.
@West of the Rockies (been a while): Very apt comparison.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Ben is a “good Christian” who will find it unseemly not to see Donnie in the best light possible.
TenguPhule
@rikyrah:
Happy to help.
The Moar You Know
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: I neither said nor meant “by accident”. His fan base – and there’s really no better term for it than that – are insane and violent and, like their leader, can turn on a dime and suddenly, a friend is an implacable foe. He will, failing as constantly he has, soon be in danger from his own voters.
@Jeffro: Forgot that. Yeah, Arapio will receive a “pardon” in front of the crowd to rapturous applause and then the paperwork needed to actually do it will never cross Dumpster Fire’s desk. Like all the other “legislation” and “executive orders” he Tweets about but never get done.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Ben Carson the Brilliant, of the Blacks!
Jeffro
@West of the Rockies (been a while): You’re kidding, right?
McCain screwed him on his biggest wish, to repeal Obamacare. And he knows by now that McCain’s cancer is the kind that will likely kill McCain before too long. I think there’s a decent chance he’ll say something really ghoulish: “Flake and McCain, Flake and McCain…you, the good people of Arizona, deserve better! Let’s get Flake out in the primary and, well, John will be on his way out soon anyway…hopefully his replacement will understand why we need to repeal Obamacare, unlike John Mccain…”
TenguPhule
@zhena gogolia:
Depends on the brand. If you can get polished brown rice, its actually closer in taste to white rice because the worst of the husk is removed but still leaving enough to get decent fiber.
ruckus
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: I
Imagine some dumpf supporter being jailed for doing the world a favor.
smintheus
I suspect that Trump is keenly sensitive to even the smallest hint that anybody in the room doubts he’s the tippy top best ever at everything.
TenguPhule
@West of the Rockies (been a while):
Do you even have to ask?
Betty Cracker
@sharl: It makes a bit more sense in light of that — thanks for the clarification. Sometimes I feel like I’m having to learn a whole new language. I have no idea what “chapo” is, for example, though I’ve seen many allusions to it on Twitter so have formed a vague notion from context. Just haven’t gotten around to looking it up yet. Someone had to explain what a rose emoji meant on Twitter recently. I had no idea, and now I’m kinda sorry I do know. [Goes outside to disperse unauthorized occupants of lawn and shout at clouds.]
Miss Bianca
@West of the Rockies (been a while):
Strangely, I have no trouble believing that he would.
Yarrow
I think it’ll be a garden variety Trump Nuremberg rally. Trump will go off script in a way that typically appalls most people but his supporters will cheer. I don’t think people will get hurt. At the end it’ll be, “See! Trump supporters aren’t violent. What’s your problem?”
schrodingers_cat
He is going to barf his haterade on all immigrants. That’s been his ticket since the day he announced.
rikyrah
@Jeffro:
don’t put it past him.
Gin & Tonic
@Miss Bianca: It’s a Gruner Veltliner from a winery down the road. A popular local varietal.
rikyrah
Paul Ryan flubs yet another attack on ‘Obamacare’
08/22/17 10:11 AM
By Steve Benen
About halfway through his town-hall event with CNN’s Jake Tapper last night, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) expressed his frustrations with his party’s inability to pass a far-right health care bill. “The House has passed its bill; we’re waiting for the Senate to pass theirs,” he said. “Who wasn’t disappointed that the Senate failed to pass that bill by one vote the other day? We all are.”
At that point, Ryan was roundly booed – suggesting his assumptions about public attitudes aren’t quite right.
But that’s not the only mistake the House Speaker made. From the transcript:
There are two important problems with this. The first, as New York’s Jon Chait explained, is that it’s the wrong argument from the wrong side of the political divide: “This was not a good argument against Obamacare, since the lack of insurers was largely a result of the Trump administration deliberately driving them out. Nor was it a good argument for the Republican replacement, the largest effect of which was to slash funding for Medicaid, a solution not even plausibly related to the separate problems of the exchanges.”
But even if we look past the logic, the other problem is more serious: Ryan simply has his facts wrong.
As of last week, the number of “bare counties” in the United States – counties in which there is no private insurer offering coverage to consumers – was down to two. As of yesterday, that total was just one.
Note, I don’t mean 1 percent of the country; I mean it’s literally just a single county in Ohio – in a nation of over 3,000 counties – in which a few hundred consumers are affected.
Keith P.
Anyone know what this Ivanka slur that Breitbart’s editor sent to a Bannon email imposter? CNN just reported it but won’t say the slur, and I can’t find any other mention of that story.
Gelfling 545
@zhena gogolia: Surprised to see so much dislike of brown rice. I like it better than the white rice as it has a bit more “bite” and seems (to me) to absorb flavors from meats/veg/seasonings better. No accounting for taste.
TenguPhule
@Betty Cracker:
In all fairness, they contributed to its fall of their own free will.
HeleninEire
@lamh36: NOTHING planned is the best kind of plans.
smintheus
@West of the Rockies (been a while): Norma Desmond was big, really big, once. Trump has never been anything but a small-time joke.
Yarrow
@schrodingers_cat: Did you see this article that rikyrah posted in the previous thread?
‘Go back to India’ — Chicago CEO goes public with racist taunts he receives
sharl
@Betty Cracker: I wouldn’t bother with learning more about Chapo Trap House, a podcast that provides entertainment with a heavy dose of politics that many young people on the far left – mostly guys, but not exclusively so – really like, and often reflects their own anger and frustration.
I actually like it myself for the most part, although despite being kind of used to their online world, it even makes me wince sometimes (e.g., the occasional Hillary hate is often waaay too much). I rarely link them here, even if I really think some portion of their stuff would be welcome, because there is usually some other part of their podcast which will be quite distasteful.
On the rose thing, there is a history to that as well (going way back to Rosa Luxembourg IIRC; too lazy to track it down). Not only do a great many lefties use it in their avatars – including the usual faction of online assholes – but more recently maga chuds have started using it as well just to mess with the lefties. Just another day online…
Miss Bianca
@Gin & Tonic: Happy sigh. Sounds delightful.
jl
@TenguPhule:
” FUBAR ”
I was going to go with SNAFU.
Trump will babble incoherently. if his base shows up, he’ll play to them and who knows what toxic nonsense will flow.
I hope any counter protesters show up in large numbers and are peaceful and civil. That approach in Boston seems to have really discouraged the fascists.
Right now the country could use a president who can help prople think through the Confederate monuments controversy. For a start, pointing out how fascists have tired to hijack it. Bill Clinton, Obama, even our previous one-of-the-worst-presidents-ever GW Bush could have done that. That job is completely beyond Trump. He can only make it worse. And will make the results worse. I read about some person in custody for trying to blow up a Confederate monument the other day. A lot of white bigot (knowingly or unknowingly) people don’t have good information on what most of the Confederate monuments really are, when and why they were put up. Trump can only make that problem worse.
TenguPhule
@Gelfling 545:
Depends on the brand. There are some truly horrible brands of brown rice with full husks on that taste like sawdust due to how they’re bagged (pro-tip, if it looks like a rough brown meshing fiber bag of rice, AVOID because it doesn’t store well). The japanese brands are simply better because of quality control and they use better bagging.
Also, brown rice doesn’t age well. The longer you take to use it from first opening, the worse it becomes.
Gelfling 545
@West of the Rockies (been a while): In a heartbeat.
schrodingers_cat
@Yarrow: I saw it yesterday.
Gin & Tonic
@Miss Bianca: It is. The Austrians, like the Swiss, know how to run hotels.
Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA
Update on Eclipse Dog, the dachshund I took home with me after the eclipse so he wouldn’t go to a shelter. The vet thinks he’s about 9 years old, he’s got a heart murmur that isn’t too horrible now but might warrant medication soon; his eyes have some clouding but his vision is fine; heartwom negative. No gray on him, perfect body weight, good muscle tone and flexibility — at first glance the vet thought he was considerably younger than he is (“I thought he still had some pup in him”).
My brother-in-law got cold feet yesterday and won’t be taking him. I found another family, but that was before we found out how old he probably is. Not sure if they’ll still want him, but I doubt it. And we can’t keep him.
So if anyone wants an affectionate, smart, laid back, still energetic, house trained older dachshund who seems much younger than he is, hit me up — I know a dog.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Here’s the irony – of the current cabinet, Carson, Perry and Mattis may be the most decent human beings on it.
jl
To amplify my previous comment, and ignorant bigot who thought was a good idea to erect a monument on one of his golf courses to commemorate a completely fake and fictitious Civil War battle that never occurred, is in no position to lecture the country about its history and how to remember it. But that won’t stop him. Sad.
catclub
@trollhattan:
I like Michael Hiltzik
JPL
@TenguPhule: John Kelly has given him a list of things to avoid. I assume that list was accompanied with a reward for good behavior. At least that’s my guess.
TenguPhule
@jl:
Arizona. None of the above will apply.
The Moar You Know
@TenguPhule: When told that their house was on fire, the media whipped out their company credit cards and sent for a camera crew and a tanker full of gasoline.
The combination of desire to become a celebrity (on the journo side) and make a fiscal killing (on the business side) made its fate inevitable.
I am not sure journalism as practiced in the very narrow period of US history between the end of WW2 and the rise of CNN and Fox in the 1990s was any worse than the insane slander practiced beforehand or the right-wing propaganda it has become, but it was predictable and didn’t usually pander to the worst instincts of their audience. You can really trace when it all went to shit by one defining event: the Iran hostage crisis. The media brought down a president who had done nothing wrong and decided they liked the taste of that blood.
TenguPhule
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
And you’d be wrong about Perry and Carson. They’re running their Departments so deep into the ground that its a wonder magma hasn’t erupted under their heels.
TenguPhule
@JPL:
Red Flag. Overweight Bull with small hooves.
JPL
@Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA: Make sure you send the info to Anne so she can front page it. There are several readers within driving distance. Maybe your bil will foster temporarily.
TenguPhule
@The Moar You Know:
And now the snakes have finally found what was at the other end of that tail they were so eagerly devouring.
jl
@TenguPhule: In fairness to Perry, he is still grappling with the amazing info he learned after his nomination that the Department of Energy is not a federal govt marketing board for the fossil fuel industry.
JPL
@TenguPhule: Chocolate cake with two scoops of ice cream was my guess. Maybe he is holding the cell phone hostage.
Iowa Old Lady
@Jeffro: You forgot “crooked Hillary.”
Miss Bianca
@Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA: The Eclipse Dog? I must have missed this story!
TenguPhule
@JPL:
We’d all be better off if he just shot the hostage.
Felonius Monk
He will speak incoherently and carry a small dick.
WaterGirl
@A Ghost To Most: Yikes. No one is willing to admit that we are at war with (most likely) Russia.
Iowa Old Lady
@rikyrah: Iowa exchanges are in some trouble because there’s only one provider (Medica) and it’s asked the Iowa insurance division for permission to increase rates by 56%, claiming the instability Trump is creating makes it necessary.
WaterGirl
@West of the Rockies (been a while): My money is on a great big resounding YES!
No Drought No More
25 years ago I saw the very same constellation of UFO lights moving across a night sky in San Francisco that had been famously captured on film over Mexico City a few years before. Drove me crazy until I figured out they must have been land based lasers reflecting off the night sky. In any event, the lights moved like a bat out of hell, but would then suddenly stop, and hover momentarily, all the while still slightly moving as they hovered. They were here and gone in well under a minute, and no one else in the area saw them but me. And no, I wasn’t probed..
Some years before, every automatic garage door throughout a huge swathe gf the Bay Area suddenly popped open one evening at the same time. A few days later some government lab around Livermore announced, “Yeah, it was us. Now shut up, and mind your own business”.
TenguPhule
Washington Post has become CAPTAIN OBVIOUS!
Is Trump making the political environment for top civil servants worse?
Once the wheels come off, they are a bastard to put back on.
Seven damn months. JUST SEVEN FUCKING DAMN MONTHS.
Not both sides, REPUBLICANS ARE TO BLAME FOR ALL THIS SHIT.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
MSNBC panel right now, Bush-McCain staffer Nicole Wallace, Reagan-Bush speeches writer and Magick Dolphin Lady Peggy Noonan*, half-reformed (to hear him tell it) Charlie Sykes, and Donna Edwards
* newly signed MSNBC commentator. I used to complain about Michael Steele
ETA: Now remote and recently from the bottom of a whisky barrel (I responsibly speculate) PJ O’Rourke
?BillinGlendaleCA
@lamh36: The wife mixes white and brown rice, I’ve tried it and it works well.
TenguPhule
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
The Usual Suspects overdue for a Date with the Tumbrel.
Jeffro
J-Rubs, also pointing out the obvious: Paul Ryan Needs to Shut The Fuck Up*
*that was pretty close to the headline, anyway…
jo6pac
Next time try this site, it’s free to join and you just can’t believe all stuff that in space.
http://www.n2yo.com/
Millard Filmore
@A Ghost To Most:
That makes more sense than a GPS hack that can select for US Navy destroyers.
TenguPhule
@Jeffro: Weak Tea until she performs a John Cole and admits she was wrong all along and converts to the one true Tunch.
different-church-lady
Dopes:
Two things I will never do:
a) Use my cell phone as my wallet
b) Use my cell number for security purposes — no matter HOW MANY G.D. TIMES I GET NAGGED TO DO IT BY THE TECHNO-MORONS RUNNING THE INTERNET NOWADAYS.
Yarrow
@Jeffro: Ryan won’t speak out because if he does he’ll get destroyed. That pesky Russian collusion.
Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA
@JPL: I’ll be damned — the family that wanted him when they thought he was five years old and in perfect health still want him. Those people are beautiful saints and I love them.
@Miss Bianca: I was staying in a hotel in Clayton, Georgia to view the eclipse. When I was checking in Sunday, I overheard two women behind the counter talking about someone they knew who was rehoming his dachshund — he’d found someone to take the dog, but that fell through. Turns out the man had just moved to a smaller apartment, has terminal cancer, and was going to have to take the dog to a shelter.
I contacted my husband, explained the situation, pleaded a bit, and husband agreed I could take the dog home. He contacted his brother, who agreed to adopt him.
So I went to see the eclipse and came back with a dog. Eclipse Dog!
So I bring her home to find that my brother-in-law got cold feet. And Iggy hates the poor little guy, so he can’t stay here. A dachshund-loving friend found a good family for him this morning, but then this afternoon the vet estimated his age as almost twice as old as I’d thought, with some minor old-dog health issues. Hence the fear that Eclipse Dog wouldn’t have a home. All’s well that ends well.
different-church-lady
@TenguPhule:
He’s making the every-day environment for everyone in the entire country worse. So just do the Venn diagram and there’s the answer.
A Ghost to Not
@Millard Filmore: Seems really far-fetched, but two is a pattern, and we are off the map now.
Did some google – looks like it’s a winger meme (Daily Mail, Fuxed, Newsmax).
Humble apologies.
TenguPhule
@different-church-lady: This is why I never use cell phones except for burner phones. Well, that and I’m a penny pincher who never understood the appeal of paying hundreds of dollars to use a damn phone with that tiny screen.
different-church-lady
@TenguPhule: Does nobody have a brain in their heads anymore? Or did the Zucker-borg finally suck out the last ones?
bystander
@Yarrow:
I think you’re right. I’ll settle for that, because the alternative is, “see, both sides”.
I notice the repub talking point they all blather is referring to “identity politics and their (dog whistle here) tribalism”. The people who spew about Mexicans, Muslims, gays, and women are offended by identity politics.
My other observation today is MSNBC trying to normalize Trump with a, “Which of the two Trump’s will show up tonight? Scripted, on message Trump? Or Trump unplugged?” As if they were actually multiple Trumps.
TenguPhule
@different-church-lady:
/Points to everyone out there bent over their cellphone to text and tweet.
But they didn’t get me!
TenguPhule
@bystander:
The asteroid can’t be much worse then this.
different-church-lady
@TenguPhule:
At this point it’s a wonder half the population is not dead in traffic.
Quinerly
So McCain was the one who gave the Steele dossier to Comey after the election. Was this always general knowledge? I feel like I would have remembered that little nugget.
A Ghost to Not
@different-church-lady: This is why my family has never, and will never be on Facebook, and I won’t use my cellphone as my wallet.
Russian hackers tried to hack my (unused) Dropbox account; they failed, and I was notified. I guess they couldn’t ask the Mercers for my Facebook data, as there is none.
Miss Bianca
@Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA: aww, nice! Sounds like a sweet little guy!
TenguPhule
FTFNYT:
Moral Dilemma. ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!
You have a DILEMMA about this shit?!
Yarrow
@Quinerly: I read it months ago.
WaterGirl
@Quinerly: I have never heard this. Where do that info come from?
bystander
@TenguPhule: After seeing 25 seconds of Nooners by accident this afternoon, I agree.
For the record, autocorrect changed the plural of Trump to the possessive of Trump, and I am only guilty of failing to proofread diligently. So everyone who read the post can stop snickering.
Quinerly
@WaterGirl:
It was a throw away remark by a reporter on Nicole Wallace’s show. I had it on as background. I think Jim Vandehei (sp?).
MomSense
@Quinerly:
Yes this was reported on at the time of the release of the dossier but it’s impossible to remember everything. We’ve been blasted with a firehouse of scandals so it’s impossible to keep track.
Frankensteinbeck
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
I don’t think Ben Carson clears even that subterranean bar. His public career has centered around being the black person who validates and encourages racism against blacks. I think Rikyah uses the term ‘slave catcher.’ Destroying his own people, not merely as a byproduct but as the central purpose of his career, is Carson’s staggering and hard-to-imagine sin.
Schlemazel
These things are always total ID drumpf, no way he does not go full Goebbels and whip his little Nazis into a fine foam
sharl
@Quinerly, @WaterGirl: See several paragraphs starting about 2/3 down in this long Vanity Fair article with an April publication date (but released online in March), or just do a {Ctrl-F} on “McCain” (all 7 hits are in the relevant section).
Mike in NC
Since it’s Arizona, Trump will lead the mob in chants of “Build the Wall!” and “Make Mexico pay!” until he goes hoarse.
sharl
@Quinerly, @WaterGirl: See several paragraphs starting about 2/3 down in this long Vanity Fair article with an April publication date (but released online in March), or just do a {Ctrl-F} on “McCain” (all 7 hits are in the relevant section).
sharl
test
sharl
For more on the connection between McCain and the infamous dossier, there are several paragraphs in this article (starting about two-thirds down) that discuss that:
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/03/how-the-explosive-russian-dossier-was-compiled-christopher-steele
Karen
@No Drought No More: it wasn’t just one time that all the garage doors popped open, in laws had automatic door opener and it happened on and off for a month. didn’t surprise them, since fil worked for the people responsible
Cheryl from Maryland
@Gin & Tonic: Blaufrankish? We spent a night in Koller’s Hotel in Seeboden, Austria. They had a special wine presentation that night — the poor vitner spent most of his time with two Americans as we actually drank wine as opposed to the majority of the clientel who were drinking beer. So I got oddles of Blaufrankish, which I now adore.
Mike in NC
NY Times saying Trump/McConnell feud is toxic.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Mike in NC: strange world where two otherwise swell fellas can’t get along
Brachiator
@Betty Cracker:
Damn. The Voice had some wonderful journalists, especially some of their investigative reporters. And great writing. But I figured it was dying. There were a couple of excellent film critics who bailed within the last couple of years.
Brachiator
@Frankensteinbeck:
I don’t like Carson, but I think this goes too far. Carson was praised by black leaders until he became too closely intertwined with Republicans, even though his public service activities had not changed.
Quinerly
@Mike in NC:
Good. They deserve each other.
sukabi
@The Moar You Know: he should really start considering his own safety* at his “rallies of hate©” since he’s managed to piss off the secret service by treating them like servants…and using up their budget so not all of them are getting full pay for time worked.
(*Or not)
J R in WV
@different-church-lady:
I registered for an on-line Social Security access thing called “My Social Security” some little time back. Then one day I got a communique from the Social Sec folks telling me to provide my cell phone number, so that they can message a one-time password to it when I want to access “My Social Security” as a new two-phase security system.
There are several problems with this. Does anyone think that all Social Security recipients have cell phones? 100% of them? Hells no!!
Secondly, does anyone living outside the Metroplex culture really think that the whole country even has cell service signal access? Hells no!! Just the terrain keeps a vast majority of the world from having line-of-sight to a cell tower. Distance aids with that problem as well. Those little radios we call ‘phones are not long range devices!!
Thirdly, I have a cell phone, a Samsung Android barely smart phone. Wife also has one, a little smaller. It lasts for days and weeks on a single charge, BECAUSE IT STAYS TURNED OFF UNLESS I NEED IT RIGHT THEN FOR A TASK!!!
I wrote a letter to the Social Security folks pointing out those very 3 things, and also to my two Senators, Unca Joe Manchin and Shelly Moore Caito, pointing out that their current Social Security management was unable to think outside of the small box of DC and similar metroplexes and was planning to render on-line access to most retirees unavailable.
Even when my ‘phone is on and connected (which can never be at my home, which is in a small mountain cove surrounded by stone and moss covered rock outcrops, opaque to cellphone frequencies now and forever) I DON’T USE TEXT MESSAGING EVER!!! !!! Not going to start, either, just don’t like it, don’t want it.
J R in WV
@J R in WV:
Edit to late to add: I got another letter from Soc Sec telling me that their conversion to two-phase security was going to be delayed due to unforeseen problems with Cell Phone use.
Duh!