Hey, I pulled the climate change post because it was more of a round table discussion, which you can watch here (you don’t need a FB account) and not VP Gore doing one of his great talks. Also, didn’t seem to be able to pause the auto-play.
So here is a fresh open thread for you.
ETA: Here are some ducks for you.
Tried to get them in the pool, but they would not cooperate. Below, we get 2 – 3 eggs a day. The blue ones belong to Maddie and the tan ones belong to Mabel.
The dogs enjoy them.
Eric NNY
Someone please explain to me what the Governor of Puerto Rico is thinking. I mean, I get that you don’t want to bite the hand that feeds you, but the government response to Hurricane Maria is not sufficient.
Another Scott
Dunno if this has come up yet, but it looks like Donnie’s minions think they have found Terry Schiavo 2.0 for the 2018 election.
TheHill:
Here’s hoping the courts slap this appeal down hard, and stop the other reproductive rights restrictions that the Teabaggers are trying to force upon us.
Grr…
Cheers,
Scott.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@Eric NNY:
As SC mentioned downstairs, we’re currently treating USVI and Puerto Rico like Britain treated Ireland and India.
SiubhanDuinne
@Eric NNY:
Can’t speak for what’s in the Governor’s mind, but NPR reported a short time ago that Trump has given himself a “10” for his Puerto Rico hurricane response. Did he actually say that in so many words?
Arm The Homeless
The Tangerine Toddler says his admin has been a ’10’ on PR response. Nowhere did he mention the bounds of that scale. 10/100? 10/1000?
I can’t wait to piss on all their graves
wenchacha
This is just beyond the pale. I loathe these forced birthers.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@Another Scott:
Shouldn’t Trump and Miller be happy that this woman is getting an abortion? No brown anchor babies that way!
Brachiator
This infuriates me. Trump and his crew hate illegal immigrants and wants to throw them all out of the country. They want to insist that they are not “real” Americans and that the Constitution does not protect them, and that our laws do not apply to them.
But then they also want to make these people live by our rules and obey the law.
Bunch of assholes.
Another Scott
@SiubhanDuinne: It’s a direct quote.
The Emperor has such beautiful New Clothes…
:-/
Cheers,
Scott.
SiubhanDuinne
@Arm The Homeless:
Firstly, you would owe me a Coke if I drank Coke, and secondly, I’m pretty sure he means it 10/10. You know, the same way he rates female fuckability.
Another Scott
@Another Scott:
TerryTerri.Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
@Arm The Homeless: TheHill story says:
He’s brain damaged, and so far nobody is doing anything about the dangers he poses. :-(
Cheers,
Scott.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@Another Scott:
Only a total delusional asshole would give themselves a “10” on anything.
NotMax
@Eric NNY
I think – maybe – he fell into a half a loaf is better than none mode and never figured it would arrive in the form of a bag of crumbs.
TaMara (HFG)
I added some duck photos up top if you needed a duck fix. Yesterday they took advantage of an open patio door to come on in the kitchen. They were quickly ushered out.
Brachiator
Two and a half cheers for New Zealand.
Yeah, Hillary got robbed, and it is a setback for the recognition of women in a lot of ways.
But look at what is happening around the world and on the underside.
Yeah, they had to make a deal with the devil. The right wing New Zealand First party was the kingmaker, with the deciding vote based on who they backed. Still, let’s see what happens. Some of the new leader’s background views.
Elizabelle
Ducks! Thank you! Was thinking this OT needed them.
I am in need of a lot more pet photos. Blog is too sour these days. It’s current events.
Patricia Kayden
@Eric NNY: Maybe he’s afraid that any criticism of Trump will lead to more temper tantrums and less aid to Puerto Rico.
SiubhanDuinne
Cute ducks are cute.
bystander
Dear God, it’s end times. I just said I liked Jen Rubin’s writing – well, she is logical, clear and concise when she goes after Trump – just because she wrote her umpteenth column on what a twat twitler is. I saw a picture of Trump leaning to pick up a golf ball and fantasized it was the first seconds of his myocardial infarction.
I was happy to see he looks as if he gained another 50.
Corner Stone
Good Sweet Christ No.
Patricia Kayden
@Arm The Homeless: “10” on being ineffective and awful. He’s extremely narcissistic and delusional. Can you imagine if President Obama rated himself so highly on anything?
Roger Moore
@Another Scott:
There’s a problem with that, though; this case is going to be over one way or another in less than 9 months. Abortion cases always have to be handled expeditiously because there’s an inherent deadline.
Corner Stone
John Kelly now addressing the WH Press Corps on the process of the fallen.
eemom
Check out this delicious, credible report of how Gorsuch is fucking up his own shit on the SCt ALREADY.
Mnemosyne
@Arm The Homeless:
Welcome to the world of the toxic narcissist, where everything he does is Right and everyone else is Wrong. Any “mistake” is someone else’s fault, and really not a mistake at all, because he never makes mistakes.
As I was saying the other day, we are now moving into the phase where the toxic narcissist actively punishes anyone who tries to make him feel shame about his actions.
Arm The Homeless
@SiubhanDuinne:
These cretins have broken me. One of the few joys left in my life is actively weeding out Trump fans from hiring committees I’m on. It’s little solace knowing these freaks will continue to be unemployed when their fascist buddies are running our nation
TaMara (HFG)
@Elizabelle: This is an old one (her first day to be exact) but Bailey celebrated her one year adoption anniversary this week.
Corner Stone
This is so sad.
Elizabelle
Kelly.
Talking about the military as “that one percent.”
Really? Do we need to polarize EVERYTHING?
Also referred to Trump as “our president.”
I am not liking him.
FlipYrWhig
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: He’s taking it from that famous New York proverb, “When someone asks you if you’re a god, you say YES.”
Sab
@Brachiator: Is this woman even a woman? Last I read she was a 14 year old female child.
Elizabelle
Kelly is attacking the congresswoman.
“The finest men and women on this earth — are in Arlington National Cemetery.”
No. Not even. And I say that as someone whose parents are buried there. Next to a young man who lost his life at age 26, if that.
This man is using the military to attack his own countrymen.
Fuck this John Kelly. What a soulless ass.
Elizabelle
@TaMara (HFG): That is so beautiful. Could be a poster. Amazing it’s a smartphone photo, right (?), with a filter.
How did you make this photo?
And thank you. Happy gotcha day, Bailey.
Elizabelle
Kelly talks about the selfish behavior of a member of congress.
And asks if anyone in the press corps KNOWS a Gold Star family member.
Fuck him with his Marine Corps sword. You do not use the military as a weapon with which to flog the American public.
He needs to resign.
Elizabelle, the military brat
Corner Stone
@Elizabelle: This was a very poor performance, IMO. It does not speak well for him.
rikyrah
How come nobody here told me about This Is Us?
I have come late, but I love this show.
rikyrah
The ducks look beautiful.
Do you eat the eggs? If you do, what do duck eggs taste like?
trollhattan
@eemom:
Boy howdy I’d pay good money to witness Kagan slap Anne Gorsuch’s worthless son around.
That family has an opportunity to do more harm to the nation than the Bushes.
Betty Cracker
Gator Nation:
trollhattan
@Elizabelle:
He willingly works for Trump and not to protect us from Trump, either. He’s shown us who he is.
Yutsano
@trollhattan: Kagan is just political enough to get votes to her side of things despite ideological leanings. Especially if it means aligning with a turd.
@trollhattan: He showed enough at DHS that none of this should be a surprise. He’s right along with the rest of them. Fuck Kelly.
Corner Stone
Kelly is using all his questions to go to anyone who knows a Gold Star Family, only.
rikyrah
I’ll say it again – I believe everything in the dossier is true.
Trump’s Attack on FBI Signals His Concern About Steele Dossier
by Nancy LeTourneau
October 19, 2017
Do you remember when Donald Trump accused his predecessor of wiretapping him? He also accused Obama’s national security advisor, Susan Rice, of illegally unmasking the names of Trump campaign staff in intelligence reports. Both claims were proven false. Today, he did it again.
Since it was written in the form of a question, the president might claim plausible deniability that he just accused the FBI of paying for the Steele dossier. But his inference is reprehensible. He even suggests that the FBI might have colluded with the Russians (and Democrats) to produce the dossier.
There are signs that all of this is a planned strategy to create a distraction for the president. First of all, while we don’t know the names of particular individuals or groups that were involved, it has been widely reported that Fusion GPS (the firm that employed Christopher Steele) was initially hired by “Never Trump” Republicans during the 2016 primary. Once Trump won the nomination, Democratic donors funded the continuing efforts. There’s no story there.
Elizabelle
@Corner Stone: I’m appalled. It’s not remotely what I expected.
I can’t see my wonderful late dad EVER saying anything like Kelly was spouting. I don’t know Gold Star families now, but we sure knew a lot of wonderful men who did not come home to their families from Viet Nam.
And we were privileged to have South Vietnamese soldiers and officers visiting our home, after the war, because they worked with my dad. We had some young American soldiers visit us and come for homecooked dinners too.
How goddamn dare that guy talk about the one percent?
The military used to be us. Maybe it needs to return to that. I am all for a draft, including older folks who could help with logistical support.
Corner Stone
That was shameful. He should be ashamed of himself.
Elizabelle
@trollhattan: Yes. There is stench emanating from my TV.
This was a real misstep. Would love to hear what Adam thinks about this.
FlipYrWhig
@Elizabelle: You know what might be a nice tribute to the brave armed forces? Having a president who possessed a full array of both reason and emotion. He could draw upon those resources when talking to surviving family members, instead of riffing and humiliating and dick-measuring and promising to cut a check and then not doing it.
A Ghost To Most
@trollhattan: Kelly showed us who he is when he was head of DHS. This merely confims it.
rikyrah
Trump Understands Absolutely Nothing
by Martin Longman
October 19, 2017
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has scheduled a big vote-a-rama today that will culminate with a roll call on a budget resolution. It’s not entirely clear that the vote will succeed, but it’s beginning to look that way now that they’ve secured the support of John McCain. Still, even the president isn’t overly confident.
One sign that they don’t have any margin for error is that Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi came north to be present for the vote, even though he clearly should be in his bed recovering from a nasty urological infection. He was disoriented in the Capitol yesterday and needed a staff member to show him the way to the Senate chamber. It looks likely that Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky will vote against the resolution, and the maximum number of votes the Republicans can lose is two. As of now, it only looks like they will lose one vote, assuming Cochran can remain conscious throughout the vote-a-rama and cast his vote at the end.
Two days ago, I wrote that the Senate Republicans, for their own good, should not approve this budget resolution, because it will set them on a disastrous course. It almost appears that the president agrees with me, but the truth is that he has absolutely no idea what is going on.
Elizabelle
CNN Barbara Starr (??) talking about how the narrative has gotten away from Kelly and the White House minions.
Yes, it has. And I suspect you have separation between the serving military and the political military with their butts ensconced in the TrumpLand White House.
We can see what this was. It is not what Kelly would have us see.
TaMara (HFG)
@Betty Cracker: That’s great. More of this pls.
Elizabelle
Jeff Zeleny of the FTF NYT talking about the emotion of Kelly’s remarks.
Come on. People who throw bricks at students trying to integrate schools are emotional too. Can we talk about the substance, rather than deeply personal.
“Kelly talking in painstaking detail.” Take it away, tongue bather Zeleny.
Miss Bianca
@Brachiator: Dang. I keep trying to persuade my friend D that we should move to New Zealand. He cites earthquakes being a factor against; I cite fabulous horses and now, fabulous feminist leadership as reasons for.
Brachiator
@Sab:
I guess she grew up real fast. ;)
Elizabelle
Zeleny talking about “the highest levels” in the White House.
More like the lowest depths.
“We must give respect to [the Kellys’] loss.”
CNN host: “Do you know how General Kelly came to be in the briefing room?”
(ie. Less squid ink, Jeff.)
rikyrah
Adam Silverman:
After what Kelly just did this afternoon, please don’t ever purse your lips to defend that muthaphucka EVER AGAIN.
Gravenstone
@Arm The Homeless: I ain’t waiting for the graves. I’d whip it out and piss on the motherfucker in a heartbeat should I ever have the misfortune of seeing him in person.
rikyrah
@A Ghost To Most:
UH HUH
UH HUH
Elizabelle
Zeleny is all about the narrative. “It’s getting away from them.”
And brave General Kelly did not want to do what he just did.
Next person on CNN re Kelly: “You couldn’t help but think this was a true leader” at the podium.
Taking the fall for his boss.
Is that Gloria Borger in blonde? I don’t watch CNN much …
Eric NNY
@Elizabelle: One positive of a draft is the likelihood of less military adventuring around the globe. Politicians would have to think twice before sending in a non-volunteer force.
rikyrah
@eemom:
HOW odious do you have to be to get KAGAN to have a beef with you?
Elizabelle
@Eric NNY: Yes. We need more Americans with skin in the game. It should be all of our families.
Gravenstone
@Patricia Kayden: Pretty much my impression of the situation. He’s basically a hostage to Trump, representing his entire country at this point.
rikyrah
@Eric NNY:
He’s a SLAVE CATCHER..
Whatever that translates to for Puerto Ricans, THAT is what he is.
Brachiator
@Miss Bianca:
More Trump madness and we may all be looking to move there.
MomSense
@Elizabelle:
Did you notice how he compared what hie advised dolt45 to say with what was reported and not with what Dolt 45 actually said. Kelly recounted what he told him and said things like trump “tried”, “expressed in his own way”, etc. That is such bullshit. What did trump actually say? Did trump use that flippant bullshitting tone? I’ve never heard him say anything that sounds remotely sincere except for anger and I think even that’s an act.
After his brief tenure at Homeland I’m not surprised Kelly carried water for trump that way but it was infuriating to listen to.
MazeDancer
John Kelly’s performance was one of the most bizarre and upsetting moments ever to occur in this admin’s briefing room. And that’s saying something.
Kelly unleashed Trump’s hate filled base on Rep Wilson. Fox is going to go nuts about Wilson. That the family was upset with Trump’s call will be lost. Or Fox will attack them, too.
But John Kelly just defacto attacked a Gold Star family by unloading about how horrible Wilson is. Ignoring Wilson was a family friend conveying what the family felt.
Does John Kelly want to start a race war?
Why would Kelly be so staunch in his support of Trump? Used his dead son to support Donald Trump? That’s not a guy doing his duty to help save the country from a mad man, that’s a true believer helping a madman.
schrodingers_cat
@rikyrah: What did I miss? What did the general do?
Elizabelle
Rear Adm John Kirby, retired, Former State Dept spokesman is my new hero. He’s on CNN.
He points out, gently, that Kelly made his choice to join the Trump administration and to be Chief of Staff. So he is in a political position.
And another reminder that it’s our stinking POSPOTUS who put Kelly and all in this spot.
Kirby: says they should have been more forthcoming about what they’re doing in Niger and what happened to this young man.
And Trump made it into a competition.
Eric NNY
@rikyrah: Slave catcher? I’m missing your point.
schrodingers_cat
@MazeDancer:
He is a true believer. I have been saying that all along.
rikyrah
@bystander:
It’s very hard to admit that one agrees with Rubin and….heaven help me, David Frum.
But, these are indeed the twisted times in which we live.
Elizabelle
@schrodingers_cat: Kelly’s trying to divide the whole country into military vs. Americans vs. truth.
It was a shit show. We need to see a transcript.
Mind you, I missed the first part. Only tuned in when someone mentioned it was happening upthread.
rikyrah
@TaMara (HFG):
YEAH Bailey!!
You cutiepie, you :)
Elizabelle
@MazeDancer:
That’s what I saw too. And retired Adm. Kirby saw it. And a lot of those at CNN saw it.
Jeff Zeleny seems not to want to see it.
Sab
@rikyrah: Just asking for the forced birthers who are weak on biology. You have two ducks, both girls.Absent boy ducks there is no way the eggs you are eating could become baby ducks. Their are only future is rotten eggs. Am I right or seriously misguided?
Elizabelle
@MomSense: Will be very interested in the transcript.
I suspect this one was more gasoline on an already healthy fire.
zhena gogolia
@Elizabelle:
Jeff Zeleny is garbage. Has been for a long time.
Elizabelle
It stuns me that a member of Congress would have listened in on that call … [making her into a political opportunist]
Women were sacred. The beginning of life was sacred. Religion … Gold Star families. [That left after the Convention this summer.]
And then seguing into the best men and women are 6 feet under at Arlington.
My Gawd, Kelly. I wonder if he will end up losing his job down the road over this one.
rikyrah
@Eric NNY:
He’s sitting there with the muthaphucka, that is, through incompetence and pure-d racism,
KILLING HIS PEOPLE.
And, lets that muthaphucka sit there and give himself a ‘ 10’.
All the while knowing that his people are
1. Without power
2. Without drinking water.
3. Without food
Now, who does that?
Nothing but a slave catcher.
Elizabelle
WRT the Gold Star family and convention: I saw that as a slap at the Khan family and the Democratic convention.
Eric NNY
@Elizabelle: There is no accountability. It’s not like he flew a private jet to his vacation home or anything.
Corner Stone
Kelly attacked the “empty barrel” Congresswoman specifically. He somehow forgot to mention that she serves her constituents. It is her job to work as hard as possible to provide for her community. To be there for them in a time of need.
I honestly did not think this could continue to get lower but John Kelly’s performance today was one of the worst and most shameful things I have seen by someone not named Trump.
schrodingers_cat
@Elizabelle: Translation: How dare a black woman that too a Democrat question the God Emperor?
Eric NNY
@rikyrah: Got it. Thanks. A bit slow today.
Matt McIrvin
@Another Scott: So… what happens to this baby once it’s born? Trump and his friends, of course, don’t want it to have birthright citizenship–it’s one of those dreaded anchor babies! Or are they going to expedite her deportation so she doesn’t give birth on US soil?
geg6
@rikyrah:
If you’re just starting the show and you love ❤️ it already, get ready to love it more and keep the Kleenex close by. Randall’s story, especially, is beautiful and will make you cry and cry and cry.
Corner Stone
@Elizabelle: Women and Gold Star families were both actively desecrated by his boss. Trump doesn’t give a shit about the other two sacred categories.
schrodingers_cat
@Elizabelle: Muslim and immigrant, not full persons to Kelly and his God Emperor of Western Civilization.
Marcopolo
As far as I’m concerned Kelly just made the argument we really need to move back to either having a draft or some kind of mandatory national service (like 2 years) for every American. And that’s for any of a number of reasons: to increase the exposure of the American people to the work the military does; to increase the political costs sending our soldiers into action; to peel back a little of the “special” status being in the military seems to be projected on those serving. And finally to provide an environment wherein Americans from all backgrounds will meet and interact. My dad was a poor white kid from rural Ohio who had never met a person of color until he was in the army. He said on many occasions that his experience in the military gave him a knowledge and appreciation of others that he would never otherwise have had. Not to mention (if we did a national service thing) how much help those kids could be in rebuilding places after natural disasters :).
As to Kelly’s comments about the Congresswoman and the story about the dedication of the federal building—fuk him, he obviously doesn’t like politicians. I’d like to think he’s not oblivious to: 1) his boss is a politician; 2) it’s one thing for a fellow soldier to console a grieving family member with the “he was doing what he loved” “was surrounded by his best buddies” etc… when he died line but something a little different coming from the person responsible for sending him there.
amygdala
@Miss Bianca: Find out which island Peter Thiele lives on and move to the other one.
lurker dean
@rikyrah: pretty great, isn’t it! my one complaint is that sterling brown is sooo good that when i see milo scenes, i can barely take it lol. thankfully, because of the timelines they are never acting together.
Elizabelle
@zhena gogolia: Yeah. Better to be at CNN with Chris Cillizza and their other toilet-bowl drain circling types.
WRT the FTF NY Times: former reporter Sharon Waxman — whose 2004 story on Harvey Weinstein got spiked — is back. You will recall FTF NYTimes has amnesia over her charges of spiking. She’s got three people who remember what she remembered. Meanwhile, Bill Keller is dissembling and Jill Abramson is saying she was not in the meeting. [Which is not saying the meeting did not happen.]
No paywall: The Wrap site:
geg6
@rikyrah:
Apparently, the Notorious RBG smacked him down from the bench. She was buddies with Scalia, for chrissakes. She must despise him.
Marcopolo
FYI For anyone who might want to see it MSNBC said they are about to cover Obama giving a campaign speech in NJ in the next few minutes.
d58826
@Elizabelle: a link to his interview
I guess he has gone all in on Trump world. Wonder now if he would tackle Der Fuhrer if he reached for the football. Maybe he would deliver it to Der Fuhrer on a velvet cushion on bended knee.
He did provide some context in that not all families are called by the various presidents, past and present, esp. when the casualty count is high.
But lets not forget who started this sorry spectacle and who injected his son’s name into the discussion. It wasn’t the congresswoman or the media or the democrats or the liberals.
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/19/john-kelly-frederica-wilson-trump-243956
Elizabelle
@Corner Stone: And the congresswoman was a family friend. She was not there just to politic.
How would you know Trump was going to call at precisely that time? Did she hotfoot it over to start a controversy??
Jeffro
@Arm The Homeless:
Come have a Bud Light or three with me and let’s get ready!
Jeffro
@d58826: Isn’t Kelly basically exhibiting signs of Stockholm Syndrome at this point? That’s the only explanation I can think of…
Elizabelle
FTF NYTimes breaking news alert: the best in stenography, in this email:
Corner Stone
@Marcopolo: I hope not. My soul is torn asunder and I need some balm. ***CLAP CLAP***
Bring me some Nicolle Wallace!
amygdala
@MomSense: Good points. He sort of confirmed what Trump himself denied he said. Regardless of the WH’s feelings about the Congresswoman, the family asked for her to accompany them. And regardless of Trump’s intent, it’s the family who have said that he managed to make about as bad a situation as there can be worse.
Also, what I haven’t seen mentioned anywhere is that Trump said he likes to wait a while before calling. Why call a family who is on the way to receive their loved one’s remains? Undoubtedly it was do “do something” after that fiasco of a press conference, but what a hideous time for someone with good interpersonal skills to call, much less someone devoid of empathy and command of English.
Elizabelle
CNN interviewing a Gold Star widow: re Kelly:
CNN: says Kelly is a Gold Star father FIRST.
(I meant by that last sentence that the CNN anchor was kind of trying to cover for Kelly, whom the Gold Star mother they were interviewing could see through.)
d58826
@Corner Stone: I was watching her show yesterday. Even when discussing the most serious of issues she keeps a rather light/relaxed touch. Yesterday the entire panel was very somber. I though Col. Jacobs was going to cry for a moment.
schrodingers_cat
@Jeffro: Kelly is on board with his boss’s agenda is the simplest explanation of all his behavior. Both as CoS and the DHS secretary.
trollhattan
@geg6:
I understand he’s already taken to giving the other justices lectures. Guessing Justice Garland would be more collegial, but that’s crazy talk.
Elizabelle
Now Jake Tapper is quoting Shakespeare over what a loss John Kelly and his wife suffered.
MomSense
@Corner Stone:
It makes me really nervous whenever I hear men talk about women being sacred. I personally don’t care about being sacred. What I’d like is autonomy over my own damned body and equal rights.
Brachiator
@Elizabelle:
Goddammit. This phone call was not about Trump or about Kelly. It wasn’t even about Frederica Wilson. It was about Sgt Johnson’s widow. Her loss. Her pain.
Fuck Trump. Fuck the NY Times. Fuck Kelly. Buncha assholes.
Corner Stone
@MomSense: I don’t know what Kelly meant by it, although I suspect there is more than a drop of paternalism about it. However, I do know that whatever he meant, he signed up to work for a man who demonstrably acted exactly opposite.
Elizabelle
@Brachiator: Moar institutional fail, no?
You could see that Kelly appearance for what it was, and report accurately, or not.
Mnemosyne
@Betty Cracker:
Hooray! That’s the best way to make Nazis back down — outnumber them 10 to 1 and shout them down.
Everyone remembers that the Nazis won their court case to be legally allowed to hold their parade in Skokie, but very few people remember that the Nazis turned tail and ran when they saw how big the crowd counter-protesting them would be.
d58826
@amygdala: I thought it was odd that Der Fuhrer called whiled they were in the limo also. So the fact that the congresswoman was there was as much a fluke as anything else. If he had called later in the evening, at her home, the congress woman might not have been present. But I think the call was rushed also.
Last night on MTP George Will said that Der Fuhrer has only a passing familiarity with the English language and it is rare that he gets a sentence out that is grammatically correct.
My uncle used to say that ‘he got his tongue wrapped around his eye teeth and could not see what he was saying’.
If it wasn’t for Der Fuhrer’s history maybe he should be given the benefit of the doubt. On the other hand, once the story blew up on Tue. morning, rather than attacking the congresswoman and the family a simple tweet that he apologized for his poor choice of words would have calmed things down. Again quoting Will, Der Fuhrer’s problem is he prides himself on being a counter puncher even when there has been no punch.
Elizabelle
@MomSense: Yes. That “sacred” stuff sounded like pedestal stuff to me. It did not belong in Kelly’s remarks and was a bit of a window into his soul, was it not?
One does not have much agency, isolated atop that pedestal.
germy
Elizabelle
More than ever I’d love to see what President Obama will have to say at tonight’s rally in Richmond VA for Ralph Northam (our next governor, please god) —
I wonder if he will address this whole shit show, even obliquely.
But no tickets. I wish I could hear the speech … no MSNBC …
catclub
Nobody has mentioned the possible dog doping in the Iditarod! Climate change indeed.
MomSense
@Corner Stone:
How can he work for a man who bragged about committing sexual assault, who attacked John McCain as a POW, and who attacked a gold star family?
Spare us the lecture, Kelly.
d58826
@Elizabelle:
Lets all get back to the original question – it was why the WH hadn’t commented on what happen in Niger for 12 days. IT was NOT about phone calls. Der Fuhrer used the question as an excuse to take a cheap shot at Obama.
Calouste
@MomSense: Up to 1922 IIRC the weddings vows of the Church of England had the groom promise that he would worship his wife, and the bride promise that she would obey her husband. I’m pretty sure that KKKelly’s comment should be seen in that light.
Brachiator
@MomSense:
Some bad men want women to be sacred. Some bad men want women to be scared. Funny how it’s the same letters, just rearranged.
Miss Bianca
So, apropos of nothing except that it is Open Thread, I found myself – via an article on Joni Mitchell I found on a friend’s FB page – stumbling on this NPR article on “the greatest 150 albums ever made by women”:
So, anyway, I decided to start at the bottom of the list and work my way up to the top over the next however many days it takes me – because I realized that much as I loved many of these artists, I had never listened to some of the most – oh, lord, what’s the word I want? Surely not ‘seminal, for all love – germinal? – let’s say “ground-breaking” albums by these artists. So I just started with No. 150 on the list – The Roches’ self-titled debut – and I can tell this is going to be one hell of a ride.
d58826
And just a little trip in the wayback machine – remember the holy h–l the GOP made out of HRC’s words of condolence to the families of the CIA operators at Benghazi. I have no idea what she said and I have no idea what the family members heard. It is a high stress, highly emotional moment and misunderstandings happen.
Miss Bianca
@amygdala: aagh!! OK, so noted!
@Elizabelle: I was prepared to give this guy the benefit of the doubt for a while – a little while – as the ‘best’ a bad administration had to offer. Even with his DHS tenure. But no more. No more. He’s proven himself to be just as contemptible as his despicable boss.
Anotherlurker
@Marcopolo: I agree that National Service should be a requirement for all, no exceptions.
However, I think the Military should be just one option.
Peace Corps. and other non-killing service should be of equal value to Military Service.
Brachiator
@Miss Bianca:
What fun. I will have to go through the entire list when I have some time.
Also, if Carmen McCrae’s “Great American Songbook” is not on the list, it should be. A live set, the album is superior to the last CD I heard, simply because the CD people cut out some of Carmen’s fun interaction with the audience. But the songs are marvelous.
Mnemosyne
@Anotherlurker:
I’ve said before that, since we have a lot of restless young men (and some young women) who want to physically test themselves, let’s send them out into our national and state parks to repair trails, reduce brush, etc. Let’s train them as Forestry Service firefighters and have them parachute in when there’s a wildfire
Let’s find ways for those bored young men to challenge themselves without having to shoot and kill other people.
AMM
Per Politico, more appalling info about the administration’s crusade against the young woman waiting to get an abortion:
“The girl received judicial permission to have an abortion without parental consent and obtained private funds to pay for it, but her lawyers say that the shelter, under orders from the administration, refused to release her for previous appointments. Instead, they took her to a crisis pregnancy center to counsel her against having the abortion and called her mother in Central America to tell her she was pregnant.”
MomSense
@Brachiator:
OH MY GOD I love Carmen McCrae but I can’t tell you how many times I mention her and people have never heard of her. My favorite recording is Carmen Sings Monk. Every song on that recording is a masterpiece.
Thank you for giving me something wonderful to think about.
Miss Bianca
@Brachiator: I think Carmen McCrae is on that list somewhere, but I’d have to look again. I’m onto Alicia Keys now, “Songs in the Key of A Minor”, and thinking, “damn…how come I never listened to this before?” I think that’s probably going to be my reaction to a lot of these albums!
Brachiator
@MomSense:
@Miss Bianca:
One of her loveliest interpretations of a wonderful Leon Russell song. A Song For You
Another Scott
@Sab: She’s 17 and 14 weeks (-ish) pregnant.
Cheers,
Scott.
Brachiator
@Sab:
Sorry. I seriously misread your last comment. I did not know how old the young woman in the undocumented immigrant case was.
MomSense
@Brachiator:
Exquisite. She gets to me like no other.
MomSense
@Mnemosyne:
I have a son who would work those jobs in a heartbeat. With the budget constraints, it is almost impossible to get a job at a National Park or Monument.
Wapiti
@Brachiator:
Thank you. Spot on the nose.
If there was any miscommunication when dealing with a bereaved family, it is the responsibility of Office of the President of the US to not screw it up. Apologize sincerely and profusely and move on. Throw an intern under a bus. Throw Kelly under a bus. Whatever. The bereaved family is not wrong. In any public statement.
Which is why I would prefer that the President *not* call. Send a well written letter, on Presidential stationary. Check the spelling on the names at least 5 times. Personally signed – no auto-pen for this somber task. Let it be a private letter between individuals, and not a conference call over a pair of mobile phones.
sharl
So I finally got around to visiting this site, and I’m scrolling the main page.
And I see…duck photos.
My personal Kryptonite. Must click.
Thank you TaMara.
J R in WV
@AMM:
Isn’t it illegal to share private medical information against the will of the patient? Or does that not apply to children in federal custody for BullShit!!?? The theocratic fascists are in control, and need to be schooled in constitutional rights.
AMM
@J R in WV:
The degree to which adolescents can control their own medical information (i.e., not have it relayed to their families) depends upon the laws of the state in which they live.
From the Guttmacher Institute:
“A majority of states require parental involvement in a minor’s decision to have an abortion. Most of these states require the consent or notification of only one parent, usually 24 or 48 hours before the procedure, but a handful of states require the involvement of both parents. Some states require the parental consent documentation to be notarized. On the other hand, several states allow grandparents or other adult relatives to be involved in place of the minor’s parents. Moreover, because the Supreme Court has ruled that states may not give parents an absolute veto over their daughter’s decision to have an abortion, most state parental involvement requirements include a judicial bypass procedure that allows a minor to receive court approval for an abortion without her parents’ knowledge or consent. ”
The minor in question is in Texas, where she would normally require both parental notification and consent, which she had obtained judicial approval to bypass. It would seem that the administration informed this young woman’s parents of her pregnancy despite this ruling.