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You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Monday Morning Open Thread: Jeebus Wept

Monday Morning Open Thread: Jeebus Wept

by Anne Laurie|  November 13, 20175:09 am| 283 Comments

This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., Election 2017, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat

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Five companies are pulling ads from Sean Hannity's show after his controversial coverage of the sexual assault allegations against Roy Moore. https://t.co/li8e0cIU2U

— Axios (@axios) November 12, 2017

Bring on the Brawndo!…

I pulled an "Office Space" with my Keurig… Would be a shame if everyone else joined me in the Keurig Smash Challenge #BoycottKeurig #IStandWithHannity #SundayMorning pic.twitter.com/yEADeRC006

— Angelo John Gage (@AngeloJohnGage) November 12, 2017

I just want to make sure i don’t miss the messaging. we’re smashing a thing we bought from a corporation that stopped advertising during a show that defended a politician accused of child molestation, and we want the guy that wrote Idiocracy to know we’re fans, is that accurate? https://t.co/PR9vBGoIGR

— Dan Harmon (@danharmon) November 12, 2017

Apart from wondering how some of our fellow citizens manage to feed themselves without sustaining severe fork injuries, what’s on the agenda as we start a new week?
.

You know what comes next:

Roy Moore , Pedophile, bigot and all around extremist nut job is now behind Doug Jones in multiple polls. There is to much defeatism in the air over Jones'chances. Dems, Independents and enough R's can say NO to a Pedophile in the US Senate

— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) November 12, 2017

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Previous Post: « The Muhammad bin Salman Gambit Part II: Rafik Hariri Makes a Hostage Video
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Reader Interactions

283Comments

  1. 1.

    MattF

    November 13, 2017 at 5:26 am

    I guess ‘controversial’ is the new ‘disgusting’.

  2. 2.

    OzarkHillbilly

    November 13, 2017 at 5:27 am

    Headline of the year? Naked people rampage through Missouri town, barking and running around, police say

    Last weekend got downright bizarre in the eastern Missouri town of Sullivan, and police say they know why. Four people went on a rampage, barking and yelling, breaking into buildings, even stripping off their clothes and showering in soda water, police say. They suspect the synthetic drug flakka is behind the behavior.

    “We had multiple incidents this past weekend of people on some kind of substance acting out of their minds,” Sullivan Police Lt. Patrick Johnson told the Sullivan Independent News. “Barking like dogs, running up and down the street, or other farm animals, entering people’s homes, breaking into a business, yelling outside of local businesses.”

    Two people were arrested, and some of the users were treated at a hospital. The drugs have not yet been tested, but police believe the users mixed methamphetamine with flakka, a manmade drug that has caused strange behavior in other places.

    And they say nothing exciting ever happens around here.

  3. 3.

    Central Planning

    November 13, 2017 at 5:28 am

    That guy is right up there with the football fans that burn their favorite team gear. I’m surprised they aren’t burning their George Washingtons to protest the Fed or the government or something like that.

  4. 4.

    rikyrah

    November 13, 2017 at 5:32 am

    Good Morning, Everyone ???

  5. 5.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 13, 2017 at 5:35 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I see some folk found your magic beans.

  6. 6.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 13, 2017 at 5:36 am

    @Central Planning:

    I’m surprised they aren’t burning their George Washingtons

    I’ll be happy to take that off their hands.

  7. 7.

    OzarkHillbilly

    November 13, 2017 at 5:42 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: So THAT’S where they went!!!

  8. 8.

    OzarkHillbilly

    November 13, 2017 at 5:43 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: You take their Washingtons. I’ll take their Benjamins.

  9. 9.

    Central Planning

    November 13, 2017 at 5:46 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I wonder if they burn their Lincolns too since he caused the war of northern aggression.

  10. 10.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 13, 2017 at 5:54 am

    @Central Planning: Grant too.

  11. 11.

    OzarkHillbilly

    November 13, 2017 at 5:58 am

    @Central Planning: @?BillinGlendaleCA: I’ll bet they hold them hostage. I propose a prisoner exchange. We will give them their statues of Lee, Jackson, Davis, etc to be kept safe in the privacy of their own homes and they will give us all their money.

  12. 12.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 13, 2017 at 6:01 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Works for me.

  13. 13.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 13, 2017 at 6:05 am

    What do you all think of this picture? I think the center’s a bit to undefined and a bit uninteresting.

  14. 14.

    evodevo

    November 13, 2017 at 6:16 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: How did they determine it was unusual ??

  15. 15.

    Betty Cracker

    November 13, 2017 at 6:21 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: I see a woodpecker in the vertical cloud mass in the center, so it’s defined and interesting to me! :)

  16. 16.

    OzarkHillbilly

    November 13, 2017 at 6:24 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: I feel like there is either too much or too little in the foreground, ie the house roofs are distracting. They should be cropped out entirely, or the houses should be shown in their entirety as a starting point for the eye. Which approach you might take depends entirely on what you want the photo to be.

  17. 17.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 13, 2017 at 6:25 am

    @Betty Cracker: I see you got some of OzarkHillbilly’s magic beans, also I’ve tweaked the picture a bit since I first linked to it.

  18. 18.

    Mustang Bobby

    November 13, 2017 at 6:26 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Many years ago Lanford Wilson (of Springfield, MO) wrote a play called “The Rimers of Eldritch,” about a small town in rural Missouri with some very interesting characters; basically “Our Town” on meth. Sounds like these folks were auditioning for the revival of the play.

  19. 19.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 13, 2017 at 6:27 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I tend to agree, I was conflicted about that. That’s a really quick update. BTW, the Ozarks came up at the meeting of the jackals yesterday in Pasadena.

    ETA: Houses are gone now.

  20. 20.

    OzarkHillbilly

    November 13, 2017 at 6:27 am

    @evodevo: Around here, most people bark with their clothes on.

  21. 21.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 13, 2017 at 6:32 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I know that was the tradition in my family.

  22. 22.

    rikyrah

    November 13, 2017 at 6:32 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:
    I think it’s beautiful ?

  23. 23.

    satby

    November 13, 2017 at 6:33 am

    @rikyrah: Good morning ?☕!

  24. 24.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    November 13, 2017 at 6:37 am

    Median age of Fox’s audience is 72 years.

    I just don’t think many septuagenarians use a Keurig.

    Makes no sense why they waste their advertising budget.

  25. 25.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 13, 2017 at 6:39 am

    @rikyrah: Thanks, we’ve had some nice sunsets the past few days. I should try for a more rustic location than the top floor of a mall parking lot.

  26. 26.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    November 13, 2017 at 6:41 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Not bad – kinda looks like this one (photo)

  27. 27.

    Baud

    November 13, 2017 at 6:41 am

    @rikyrah: Good morning.

  28. 28.

    OzarkHillbilly

    November 13, 2017 at 6:41 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Much better.

  29. 29.

    Central Planning

    November 13, 2017 at 6:43 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I’m with you on the prisoner exchange. I’m just not sure how many Grants and Benjamins they really have.

  30. 30.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 13, 2017 at 6:43 am

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: I got more blue and less red in mine(Go Bruins, beat SC!).

  31. 31.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 13, 2017 at 6:44 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Thanks for the critique.

  32. 32.

    JR

    November 13, 2017 at 6:46 am

    @Central Planning: KLF famously did that in the 90s.

  33. 33.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    November 13, 2017 at 6:53 am

    So I just drew a twitter timeout for calling Dana Loesch a moron.

    Zero profanity. Yet Nazis run freely.

  34. 34.

    Barbara

    November 13, 2017 at 6:54 am

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: I gave my mom a Keurig for Christmas. She is 82 and uses it all the time.

  35. 35.

    OzarkHillbilly

    November 13, 2017 at 6:59 am

    @Central Planning: More than they deserve

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: I live to serve (humbly bows)

  36. 36.

    Kay

    November 13, 2017 at 7:03 am

    This is interesting:

    The allegations against Roy Moore are merely a symptom of a larger problem. It’s not a Southern problem or an Alabama problem. It’s a Christian fundamentalist problem. Billy Graham’s grandson, Boz Tchividjian, who leads the organization GRACE (Godly Response to Abuse in a Christian Environment), believes that the sexual abuse problem in Protestant communities is on par with that in the Catholic Church.
    The evangelical world is overdue for a reckoning. Women raised in evangelicalism and fundamentalism have for years discussed the normalization of child sexual abuse. We’ve told our stories on social media and on our blogs and various online platforms, but until the Roy Moore story broke, mainstream American society barely paid attention. Everyone assumed this was an isolated, fringe issue. It isn’t.

    As a teenager, I attended a lecture on courtship by a home-school speaker who was popular at the time. He praised the idea of “early courtship” so the girl could be molded into the best possible helpmeet for her future husband. The girl’s father was expected to direct her education after the courtship began so she could help her future husband in his work.
    In retrospect, I understand what the speaker was really describing: Adult men selecting and grooming girls who were too young to have life experience. Another word for that is “predation.”

  37. 37.

    Tony J

    November 13, 2017 at 7:06 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Tell me that entire report doesn’t sound like an outtake from the ‘How We Got Here’ montage at the beginning of any of a dozen zombie horror movies.

    “It started small at first. Isolated reports from middle-of-nowhere towns. People acting crazy, acting like animals. We all laughed. Until it started happening more and more, and the towns became cities, and suddenly there was crazy everywhere and we were the ones on the run.”

    #youthought2016 was bad

  38. 38.

    Kay

    November 13, 2017 at 7:09 am

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:

    Elderly people love them. They can make one cup at a time and it’s easier than measuring. They’re all over the place in assisted living.

  39. 39.

    Betty Cracker

    November 13, 2017 at 7:09 am

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Twitter’s community standards are utterly incoherent. Loesch is not only a moron, it’s her JOB to foment rage and fear among heavily armed people to inspire them to buy even more semi-automatic weapons. If anyone needs a trip to the corner, it’s Loesch. And the many Nazis on Twitter, of course.

  40. 40.

    OzarkHillbilly

    November 13, 2017 at 7:14 am

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: So much for “The truth will set you free.”

  41. 41.

    debbie

    November 13, 2017 at 7:16 am

    Hope they smash all their Keurigs and go back to ordering $8 Starbucks in the name of Donald Trump. Their financial ruin is our best hope.

  42. 42.

    OzarkHillbilly

    November 13, 2017 at 7:17 am

    @Tony J: I can not tell a lie.

  43. 43.

    Tarragon

    November 13, 2017 at 7:19 am

    So I’ve reffed Roller Derby a few times with the Bills streaker.

    In derby he goes by Senor Wiener.

    He lived up to it last night

  44. 44.

    Anne Laurie

    November 13, 2017 at 7:21 am

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:

    I just don’t think many septuagenarians use a Keurig.

    Makes no sense why they waste their advertising budget.

    It’s gifting season. I assume the reasoning is that elderly people will buy Keurigs to give to the coffee-addicted young folk in their lives — so modern! So convenient!

    Of course, if the recipients are actually coffee snobs, they’d be appalled at the idea of using Keurig pods for their artisanal brew anyway, but the Fox viewers wouldn’t know that…

  45. 45.

    Yoda Dog

    November 13, 2017 at 7:23 am

    Good Morning!
    Kuerig isn’t the only advertiser to drop their spots on Hannity. Could he be going the way of Halperin and O’Reilly? Is that asking too much?!

  46. 46.

    Shantanu Saha

    November 13, 2017 at 7:25 am

    @Betty Cracker: If they gave Loesch a timeout, they’d have to give one to Trump as well.

  47. 47.

    Baud

    November 13, 2017 at 7:26 am

    I thought Kuerig was bad for the environment.

  48. 48.

    debbie

    November 13, 2017 at 7:28 am

    @Yoda Dog:

    Yes. Slime hangs on. Glenn Beck’s still here.

  49. 49.

    debbie

    November 13, 2017 at 7:28 am

    @Baud:

    They’re starting to make cups that will compost.

  50. 50.

    hueyplong

    November 13, 2017 at 7:29 am

    Hannity, like Fox and Friends, skews extra stupid, so I can’t see him ever losing his audience.

  51. 51.

    Baud

    November 13, 2017 at 7:30 am

    @debbie: Oh thanks. Can’t wait to buy one and then destroy it.

  52. 52.

    Kay

    November 13, 2017 at 7:30 am

    @debbie:

    One of the most amusing things in politics is when market-worshiping conservatives encounter actual corporate PR efforts. They’re such crybabies. They happily endorse health insurance companies kicking people to the curb and they’ll lecture you about it- “this is reality, grow up” they’re real tough guys- savvy in the ways of commerce- but when a consumer product doesn’t want the reputational risk of supporting Hannity all of a sudden “markets” go out the window and their rights are being trampled.

    The Great God of Commerce loves Republicans! It’s such a betrayal!

  53. 53.

    Anne Laurie

    November 13, 2017 at 7:31 am

    @Kay: Ah. So maybe the Keurig campaign was based on Nanna telling the adult grandkids, Well, if you must waste your money buying me presents, there’s this wonderful contraption I’ve been seeing on the tv…

  54. 54.

    Baud

    November 13, 2017 at 7:32 am

    GMA is in PR and VI. Good.

    More good.

    Keith Ellison has a prediction. The deputy chair of the Democratic National Committee believes that Democrats will win back not just the House of Representatives in 2018, but the Senate as well.

    The Atlantic

  55. 55.

    Yoda Dog

    November 13, 2017 at 7:33 am

    @debbie: A boy can have a dream…

    In the meantime, watching these poor wittle babies get their fee-fees all hurt because pedophilia turned out to be a bridge too far for a german coffee machine company? Priceless.

  56. 56.

    Yoda Dog

    November 13, 2017 at 7:35 am

    @Baud: I feel like if we can take the Alabama seat, we could get the Senate.. Not sure how realistic that is, but Moore is so bad, I feel like its possible at least.

  57. 57.

    Baud

    November 13, 2017 at 7:36 am

    Could Roy Moore actually be peak wingnut?

  58. 58.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 13, 2017 at 7:36 am

    @Shantanu Saha: As the kid said, “Trump destroyed Twitter”.

  59. 59.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 13, 2017 at 7:38 am

    @Baud: No, SATSQ.

  60. 60.

    magurakurin

    November 13, 2017 at 7:38 am

    @Kay: if I get to the point where I can’t measure a scoop of coffee into the filter over my cup and pour hot water over it…seriously, just fucking shoot me. I really don’t get the thing about coffee being some sort of chore that needs the convenience of those hideous machines. There is absolutely nothing hard, difficult, complicated or time consuming about pour hot water over ground coffee in a filter. Fuck Keurig machines.

  61. 61.

    rikyrah

    November 13, 2017 at 7:40 am

    @Kay:
    Have read several comments on other blogs from former evangelicals, who have voiced this sentiment.

  62. 62.

    Kay

    November 13, 2017 at 7:40 am

    @Baud:

    Good. They have to stop the tax law in the meantime, though. I know – I’m moving the goalposts- but they can’t let the Trumpists rewrite the tax code to benefit 100k rich people on the backs of everyone else:

    John Harwood‏Verified account
    @JohnJHarwood
    Follow Follow @JohnJHarwood
    More John Harwood Retweeted Lily Batchelder
    in 2027, Joint Tax Committee says, one-third of taxpayers earning between $40-50K get tax HIKE or cut of less than $100. millionaires get tax cuts that, on average, equal the entire annual income of those $40-50K taxpapers

    It’s SO bad. 100k-200k get hit too. I don’t even know how they managed to come up with such shit work. It’s aggressively bad.

    It is exactly the opposite of what they said they would do. There’s all kinds of small goodies in there for rich people too- a subsidy for high income private K-12 schools! I wonder who slid that in there. Can you imagine? They’re raising taxes on people who make 40k to help rich people with private school tuition. It’s like a parody “clueless plutocrats”

  63. 63.

    arrieve

    November 13, 2017 at 7:41 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: I love the picture — very dramatic. The contrails are a great effect. Maybe crop a little off the left side to move the center over a bit?

  64. 64.

    satby

    November 13, 2017 at 7:43 am

    @magurakurin: not to mention that it turns mediocre coffee into something you pay more than $20/lb for.

  65. 65.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    November 13, 2017 at 7:43 am

    More Roy Moore, per Wiki:

    Some of his soldiers gave him the derogatory nickname “Captain America”, due to his attitude toward discipline. This role earned him enemies, and in his autobiography he recalls sleeping on sandbags to avoid a grenade or bomb being tossed under his cot, as many of his men had threatened him with fragging.[22]

    Most men would be ashamed to admit something like this. Only an asshole who reveled in being an asshole would include it in an autobiography.

  66. 66.

    rikyrah

    November 13, 2017 at 7:44 am

    @Yoda Dog:
    I know that it’s Alabama.
    But, Jones is a good candidate.
    And , as I have said from the beginning,.

    If Democrats can’t go all out for someone who PUT THE KLAN IN JAIL…
    Then, who should we support?
    I am under no delusions that Jones doesn’t have an uphill battle. But, sometimes , you battle because it’s the right thing to do.

  67. 67.

    Betty Cracker

    November 13, 2017 at 7:45 am

    @Kay: Here’s your answer:

    Tune in to Fox & Friends at 7:30 am as I discuss the importance of #TaxReform for American families, workers & businesses. The time is now!

    — Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) November 13, 2017

  68. 68.

    Baud

    November 13, 2017 at 7:45 am

    @Kay: It’ll get zero Democratic votes. Voters will be told Congress is to blame.

  69. 69.

    magurakurin

    November 13, 2017 at 7:45 am

    @Baud: it’s damn sure bad for coffee. that coffee is shit. Making a cup of coffee is the easiest goddamn thing in the world. Why anyone needs a machine to pour hot water over coffee…beats the hell outta me.

  70. 70.

    Baud

    November 13, 2017 at 7:46 am

    @Betty Cracker: Hahahahaha.

  71. 71.

    rikyrah

    November 13, 2017 at 7:46 am

    @Kay:
    They had to STOP THE LIE that everyone was going to get a tax cut.
    They want their sociopathic dreams, and they want them NOW.??

  72. 72.

    Tony J

    November 13, 2017 at 7:47 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: @OzarkHillbilly:

    Bang goes your place in the upcoming Emergency Baudian Regime.

  73. 73.

    magurakurin

    November 13, 2017 at 7:47 am

    @satby: $20 a pound will get you some very fine coffee, what a waste.

  74. 74.

    rikyrah

    November 13, 2017 at 7:47 am

    @Kay:
    Didn’t know about that goody. Will spread the word.

  75. 75.

    Baud

    November 13, 2017 at 7:48 am

    @magurakurin: I still don’t understand why I can’t buy coffee by the gallon like milk. That would save me some time in the morning.

  76. 76.

    Matt McIrvin

    November 13, 2017 at 7:50 am

    @Anne Laurie: I have a low-end Keurig (got it as a gift) but I don’t use the disposable cups, I have a wire mesh cup for it that I put my own grounds into. Which kind of defeats the purpose of using a Keurig in the first place, so a different single-serving drip coffee maker would probably be better, but this is the one I have. I was using a plastic French press for a while but I think it cracked.

  77. 77.

    Betty Cracker

    November 13, 2017 at 7:50 am

    @Baud: My supermarket started selling cold brew coffee in cartons in the dairy section, next to the half-and-half. I’m told you can heat it up or drink it iced. Supposedly it’s more caffeinated than regular coffee. Haven’t tried it yet.

  78. 78.

    Booger

    November 13, 2017 at 7:51 am

    @magurakurin: The appeal of Keurig is obvious: You can brew a single serving of mediocre hazelnut-flavored hot water, throw it out, then brew a single serving of mediocre mocha-flavored hot water, repeating as necessary.

  79. 79.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 13, 2017 at 7:51 am

    @arrieve: I think cropping the left further(I’ve already cropped the left to remove part of a tree) would bring the sunset off center, the mountains as well.

  80. 80.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    November 13, 2017 at 7:51 am

    @Baud:

    Throw it in a cup and heat it in the microwave. Yum.

  81. 81.

    magurakurin

    November 13, 2017 at 7:53 am

    @Baud: you can here in Japan well by the quart anyway

  82. 82.

    Yoda Dog

    November 13, 2017 at 7:54 am

    @rikyrah: 100% agree and I’ve given him money and will again.

    I just don’t want to get my hopes up too high.. Trying to keep an even keel is tough these days with a shitgibbon in my constant peripheral.

  83. 83.

    Baud

    November 13, 2017 at 7:54 am

    @rikyrah:

    If Democrats can’t go all out for someone who PUT THE KLAN IN JAIL…
    Then, who should we support?

    Depends. Where is he on single payer?

    @Betty Cracker:

    Progress!

  84. 84.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 13, 2017 at 7:54 am

    @Baud: Fortunately, I don’t have this problem; I quit drinking coffee almost 30 years ago.

  85. 85.

    Kay

    November 13, 2017 at 7:55 am

    @magurakurin:

    Oh, I don’t know. Really old people have all sorts of frustrating small problems. I get their frustration. I can sit with my mother in law and it turns into her handing me everything – “read that – is it a cup? open this. Put this away, I’m afraid I’ll fall” I would go insane at the lack of agency. Before she went into assisted living I once watched her unable to lift a big jug of laundry detergent. I felt like if I hadn’t have been there she would have given up and used dish detergent.

    Whatever one can give them that lets them do for themselves is good, I think. They don’t want to ask for all this help.

    She loves Obama. Her entire political analysis is whether pols have “a nice family” – he does, so he makes the cut- so one of my brothers in law gave her some huge Obama biographical tome. The book is too heavy. She would have to rest it on her lap to read for any length of time. We brought it back to the bookstore and the clerk got her problem immediately. Imagine that – “this book is too heavy for me to read”. She’s frail which makes me sad because she was such a force to be reckoned with when she was younger- opinionated, blunt, funny but with an edge. I was afraid of her when I first met her. Now she’s like a little bird.

  86. 86.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 13, 2017 at 7:55 am

    @Baud: Has Bernie endorsed him?

  87. 87.

    Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)

    November 13, 2017 at 7:56 am

    Our son gave us a Keurig that we don’t use, but they serve a purpose. A friend of mine doesn’t drink coffee so when I go to stay with her, she gets out a Keurig for me. And they dropped Hannity, so good on them.

  88. 88.

    Eric S.

    November 13, 2017 at 7:56 am

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: My mother, who just turned 73, uses a Keurig. On the other hand, she does not watch Faux News.

  89. 89.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 13, 2017 at 7:56 am

    @Kay:

    I felt like if I hadn’t have been there she would have given up and used dish detergent.

    Wait, they’re different?

  90. 90.

    Another Scott

    November 13, 2017 at 7:57 am

    @rikyrah: Thank you for making that point so well and so early.

    That really is the bottom line in this election.

    Too many people complain that Democratic candidates aren’t good enough. Well, what about Doug? Is he really not good enough? Is he really “the lesser of two evils”?

    Really?!

    Come on, people, step up and support the man if you’re able.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  91. 91.

    magurakurin

    November 13, 2017 at 7:58 am

    @Matt McIrvin: just get a filter holder at the dollar store, a pack of paper filters, your favorite mug cup, and a teapot. You’re good to go. Simple, easy, fast. I use an electric kettle instead of my gas range because gas is so damn expensive here and the electric kettles are really fast to boil.

  92. 92.

    Baud

    November 13, 2017 at 7:59 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: I hope not. He doesn’t have the best track record.

  93. 93.

    Kay

    November 13, 2017 at 8:00 am

    @magurakurin:

    Things that let people who can’t do things do for themselves are good. When they started selling giant apples I realized my small children could barely eat them. The curve is too long for their mouths. They’re like scraping the sides of this apple attempting to bite it. They need smaller apples! :)

    Companies figured it out. They have small apples they market to kids now.

  94. 94.

    PAM Dirac

    November 13, 2017 at 8:01 am

    @Baud:

    GMA is in PR and VI. Good.

    My brother says he has been Robin Roberts’ pilot (helicopter) for a lot of her work there.

  95. 95.

    gene108

    November 13, 2017 at 8:01 am

    @Baud:

    I thought Kuerig was bad for the environment.

    So are disposable ball point pens versus fountain pens, but convenience always wins out.

  96. 96.

    satby

    November 13, 2017 at 8:01 am

    @Betty Cracker: Cold brew is concentrated, you’re supposed to dilute it. But again, it’s easier, cheaper, and better tasting to make your own.

  97. 97.

    Just One More Canuck

    November 13, 2017 at 8:02 am

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: isn’t the truth a defense?

  98. 98.

    HeleninEire

    November 13, 2017 at 8:02 am

    @Betty Cracker: That’s brilliant. Gotta look for it.

  99. 99.

    magurakurin

    November 13, 2017 at 8:04 am

    @Kay: I can’t say for sure, but I honestly don’t want to be around if I can’t boil water, dump a spoonful of coffee into a filter and pour water over it. I get what your saying, and I’ve seen people use those machines. The way I make coffee is easier. It isn’t a complicated process. It doesn’t involve precise measurements or timing. It doesn’t involve heavy lifting. If people get their jollies with those machines…god bless them I suppose. But it just beats the hell out of me why making coffee is thought of as some sort of high effort chore.

  100. 100.

    Baud

    November 13, 2017 at 8:04 am

    @PAM Dirac: Cool.

    @gene108: I didn’t know that.

  101. 101.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 13, 2017 at 8:06 am

    @Baud: I still use a quill and inkwell.

  102. 102.

    Another Scott

    November 13, 2017 at 8:06 am

    @magurakurin: As was said earlier, I think a big part of the appeal is that there’s a variety of flavors, and (IIRC), one can adjust the brewing time. It’s convenient if one has a bunch of people over who like different things.

    We don’t have one, and I’m not a coffee drinker. I’m glad that the inventor guy (reportedly said he) was horrified by all the waste generated by the cups, and that the company was working on ways to reduce the environmental impact.

    Oldsters have issues, also too. Anything that makes things easier for them is a big plus.

    And anyone who finally sees that advertising on RWNJ shows is destroying our country should be applauded. The quickest way to change the MSM conversation is to take away the money.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  103. 103.

    hueyplong

    November 13, 2017 at 8:07 am

    I hope Moore follows through with his threat to sue the Washington Post. Moore will love the discovery process. How TF did he become a judge?

  104. 104.

    gene108

    November 13, 2017 at 8:08 am

    @Yoda Dog:

    because pedophilia turned out to be a bridge too far for a german coffee machine company? Priceless.

    Like Ginsu knives, Keurig is an American product, with a foreign sounding name. Green Mountain coffee, I think they are based in Vermont, invented the single serve K-Cup and started started selling single serve machines under the brand name Keurig, because I guess someone in marketing thought it sounded cool.

  105. 105.

    magurakurin

    November 13, 2017 at 8:09 am

    @Another Scott: different strokes for sure. My family has a house by the shore, it was my grandparents. Lots of people stay there now in the summer, all my different relatives. My mom is there for the month of August. There is a Keurig machine there that someone else bought. The first thing my mom does is put it away in the attic. Nobody who is there that month has any need for it. Whatever wiggles your waggle, I suppose.

  106. 106.

    Another Scott

    November 13, 2017 at 8:10 am

    @Baud: Yalda Hakim of the BBC had a pretty good (extended) report, there.

    It’s a disaster, but it was pretty bad before the hurricane(s) as well. I’m uncomfortable with the (IMO) emphasis (though it wasn’t at all over-the-top) on the “debt” – that’s a symptom, not a cause. She talked with real people and highlighted many of the real issues.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  107. 107.

    Baud

    November 13, 2017 at 8:10 am

    @hueyplong: They are elected in Alabama.

    And John Edwards and Anthony Weiner had long careers before they were found out. Of course, we now reject them given what we know.

  108. 108.

    satby

    November 13, 2017 at 8:10 am

    This coffee conversation is making me laugh. Right now I’m drinking my third cup of coffee that’s using carmel iced coffee as creamer.
    Why yes, I might have a dependency problem.

  109. 109.

    chris

    November 13, 2017 at 8:12 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Perfect shot of the chemtrails! I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

    (Beautiful colours. Might pop more if you cropped out the chemtrails?)

  110. 110.

    Spanky

    November 13, 2017 at 8:13 am

    @Baud:

    Could Roy Moore actually be peak wingnut?

    Ohellnaw.

    I’ll say it again: There is no peak wingnut.

  111. 111.

    Baud

    November 13, 2017 at 8:13 am

    @Another Scott: I get that. All anyone can ask for is a decent government response, not miracles. I hope that aspect has stabilized at least. Haven’t heard much recently, but I don’t know if that’s simply because the media has moved on.

  112. 112.

    Betty Cracker

    November 13, 2017 at 8:13 am

    @Kay: It’s sad the way age whittles people down.

  113. 113.

    SFAW

    November 13, 2017 at 8:14 am

    @hueyplong:

    Hannity, like Fox and Friends, skews extra stupid, so I can’t see him ever losing his audience.

    I’ve said before: put Hannity (The Stupidest Man on TV), Louie Gohmert (The Stupidest Man in Congress), and Jim Hoft (The Stupidest Man on the Internet) into a locked room, with appropriate weaponry, and tell them they’re all vying for the title — and only one can survive. (Kind of a combo of WWE and Highlander.) With any luck, none of them does.

  114. 114.

    gene108

    November 13, 2017 at 8:15 am

    @Baud:

    Fountain pens are reusable, and made from metal. You run out of ink, you go to your glass ink jar (recyclable and/or reusable) and refill your pen.

    They are a lot harder to write with than ballpoint pens.

    Cursive, I think, was (is?) taught the way it was to accommodate people writing with fountain pens to not get ink splotches all over a page.

    They are pretty though, compared to ballpoints.

  115. 115.

    Montanareddog

    November 13, 2017 at 8:16 am

    @rikyrah: There were knuckledraggers defending Moore this weekend literally saying better a child molester than a Dem because Dems are evil. That is what the US is up against now – a tribalism so intense that a sizeable section of the population backs a pedophile over someone who sent child murderers to prison.

  116. 116.

    Baud

    November 13, 2017 at 8:17 am

    @gene108: Fair. I would have assumed they use more ink though. Maybe not.

  117. 117.

    Amir Khalid

    November 13, 2017 at 8:18 am

    @satby:

    it turns mediocre coffee into something you pay more than $20/lb for.

    I believe that is what marketing people refer to as “adding value”. As for the Keurig device itself, it makes no sense to me. In the now-ancient days when I still drank coffee, it was black Nescafé sans sucre from the vending machine outside the editorial floor. Being Nescafé, it tasted awful, but it got caffeine into my system at minimal cost.

  118. 118.

    magurakurin

    November 13, 2017 at 8:18 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: yeah well, you’re in California, right?
    “They’re way ahead out there.”

  119. 119.

    SFAW

    November 13, 2017 at 8:19 am

    @Baud:

    I still don’t understand why I can’t buy coffee by the gallon like milk.

    I thought we were down on (as opposed to “down with”) the whole single-serving thing?

  120. 120.

    Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)

    November 13, 2017 at 8:19 am

    @Baud: A friend of mine works for the Corps of Engineers. I’ve mentioned her before. She’s the archeologist whom they sent to Laos to work on recovering and identifying MIA and POW remains. She’s been told she might be deployed to PR next month, not as an archeologist, but as an extra pair of hands to distribute generators.

  121. 121.

    Immanentize

    November 13, 2017 at 8:19 am

    @Baud: There is a good article in the FTFNYTimes this morning about how Whitefish is stealing in PR — linemen paid $69/hr, Whitefish bills $319 for that work.

  122. 122.

    Baud

    November 13, 2017 at 8:22 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): Wow. Interesting.

    @Immanentize: I thought that contract was cancelled after the uproar.

  123. 123.

    Joey Maloney

    November 13, 2017 at 8:22 am

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: Au contraire, mon frère! I know several oldsters who have bought them and love them. Older folks can have trouble handling a full pot and many can’t or don’t want more than the occasional cup anyway – and with the Keurig they can buy a wide selection of coffee, tea, even cocoa blends and have exactly what they want when they want it.

  124. 124.

    chris

    November 13, 2017 at 8:22 am

    For the serious caffeine hound only the Black Blood of the Earth will do.

  125. 125.

    Immanentize

    November 13, 2017 at 8:23 am

    @Betty Cracker: Life does that even when age doesn’t

    I have an Aunt who seems like she is literally whittled down. She is like a smaller version of her old self. Her daughter describes her as “pocket sized.”. But still no one messes with her.

  126. 126.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 13, 2017 at 8:24 am

    @chris: I have a shot without the chemtrails.

  127. 127.

    Amir Khalid

    November 13, 2017 at 8:26 am

    @Montanareddog:
    Per NBC News, Roy Moore says he’s going to sue The Washington Post for printing those women’s horrible lies about him.

    I wonder if he actually will.

  128. 128.

    Immanentize

    November 13, 2017 at 8:27 am

    @Baud: not entirely. They already had people on the ground. Also, a major HIGH VOLTAGE power line they installed failed, leaving the North of PR again with no electricity. Broken line? Sabotage? Who can say?

  129. 129.

    Thursday

    November 13, 2017 at 8:29 am

    I’m mostly a lurker here, but I’ve got to share this with somebody or I don’t know if I can take it. It’s just bouncing around over and over in my head.

    I had a weird dream last night.

    I somehow found myself in some big Washington DC event. Lots of press were there, along with Trump and most of his cabinet. There was some big international event happening – I think aliens might have been arriving, but I’m unsure.

    So I realize I’m sitting beside the head editor at the Washington Post, and I compliment him on his paper, telling him I read it nearly every day. And soon after that, through some coincidence I don’t recall, a soldier came to have some rope around his neck.

    And Trump proceeded to choke him for nearly ten seconds.

    Pandemonium broke out, people were going crazy, and I saw some military police whisk Trump away. The editor and I couldn’t believe our eyes.

    Then, thirty seconds later, Trump was back in the room, the soldiers were gone, and all the people around Trump were laughing loudly and avoiding looking at where the soldier had been.

    And I screamed. I yelled, as loud as I could, asking everyone if they were really going to ignore that.

    And the party went on as if they couldn’t here me at all.

    I turned to the editor, desperate for confirmation that I hadn’t gone mad, and he too looked shaken.

    After that I got a not-very-good version of Iron Man’s armor and just kinda flew around.

    But the party bit stuck with me.

    Anyway, long story short, apparently I can’t even avoid Trump in my dreams now. So yeah.

  130. 130.

    sixthdoctor

    November 13, 2017 at 8:29 am

    Would like to recommend a documentary I saw this weekend at the Virginia Film Festival. It’s called What Lies Upstream (whatliesupstream.com) and it starts with the 2014 chemical spill in West Virginia’s drinking water but goes into industry writing law, Flint, and systemic issues in the EPA. It will air on PBS next Earth Day and is playing at film festivals.

  131. 131.

    satby

    November 13, 2017 at 8:30 am

    @Thursday: that’s horrible.

  132. 132.

    Spanky

    November 13, 2017 at 8:31 am

    While I rarely commented on them, I find that I miss “On the Road” this morning. I hope Alain is doing OK.

  133. 133.

    BRyan

    November 13, 2017 at 8:32 am

    @magurakurin: I don’t get the aversion to a keurig. I don’t own one, but I will someday — it’s a good answer for those of us who never drink coffee and would prefer not to have to send guests out to starbucks for their morning fix. Doesn’t matter how easy it is to just measure out coffee and pour water over it if a tub of coffee (does coffee come in tubs?) isn’t something you routinely keep in the house.

  134. 134.

    JR

    November 13, 2017 at 8:32 am

    Keurig is like all products of convenience — works for some situations but never as well as the labor intensive process (I prefer aero press). Notable that Nespresso has the process down a little better — it has to do with the way they dry their coffee.

    For a work environment or for people with movement impairment it is a great idea.

  135. 135.

    Baud

    November 13, 2017 at 8:33 am

    @Thursday: Take comfort. In real life, his little hands could never grip a rope.

  136. 136.

    TomatoQueen

    November 13, 2017 at 8:33 am

    @magurakurin: When you develop essential tremor in your dominant hand, as my father did at age 50 or so, and it looks like I’m doing also at a similar age, then yadda yadda about your environment, your gourmet tastes, and the correct boiling point of water. The Keurig and similar systems provide a cup o’ Joe, and prevent burns.

  137. 137.

    Immanentize

    November 13, 2017 at 8:33 am

    @Amir Khalid: There is no possible grounds for a lawsuit against WAPO. They printed a super well resourced piece, in which individuals made claims about a public personality. No case at all unless it was all lies fabricated by WAPO. Of course, he might think it is, because that is how FOX works.

    BTW, How hard is it to just ask Moore whether he took this 14 year old on a date? Or had drinks with the 16 year old? Did he or did he not go out with these girls? Forget the sex stuff, just ask him whether he did in fact pick up a FOURTEEN YEAR OLD GIRL at the Courthouse during her mother’s custody hearing. Pretty simple question.

  138. 138.

    Baud

    November 13, 2017 at 8:33 am

    @Thursday: BTW, the Iron Man part means you are ready to fight back.

  139. 139.

    raven

    November 13, 2017 at 8:34 am

    @Kay: I worked at the Center For Rehabilitation Technology at Georgia Tech and we were always looking to improve accessibility for folks. It is now the Center for Assistive Technology and Environmental Access, if people think making things accessible is not a good thing I don’r know what to say.

  140. 140.

    Amir Khalid

    November 13, 2017 at 8:36 am

    @Thursday:
    I suggest you contact Mnemosyne and see if she knows anyone who can help you get a movie deal for that dream. In the meantime, you might consider a temporary break from following the news.

  141. 141.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 13, 2017 at 8:37 am

    @Spanky: Here’s a pic for ya then.

  142. 142.

    Patricia Kayden

    November 13, 2017 at 8:37 am

    @Kay:

    In retrospect, I understand what the speaker was really describing: Adult men selecting and grooming girls who were too young to have life experience. Another word for that is “predation.”

    Horrific. Then we have creeps like that Duck Dynasty patriarch encouraging men to marry young teens. Huge sigh.

  143. 143.

    OzarkHillbilly

    November 13, 2017 at 8:39 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: That’s funny. I thought you used photoshop.

  144. 144.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 13, 2017 at 8:39 am

    @Amir Khalid: Wait, the Giant Evil Corporation makes movies?

  145. 145.

    JPL

    November 13, 2017 at 8:40 am

    @Thursday: The freedom girls and the Man in the High Castle caused me to have nightmares, and after that I had to be careful what I watched on TV. It’s horrifying that we have to live in the same country as the asshole.

  146. 146.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 13, 2017 at 8:40 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: All the pics I linked to this morning were done in Lightroom.

  147. 147.

    Amir Khalid

    November 13, 2017 at 8:41 am

    @Immanentize:
    Pretty much what I thought, too. And from my experience of the newspaper biz, I know the WaPo would have made damn sure a story this big and this sensitive was lawsuit-proof before they ran it.

  148. 148.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    November 13, 2017 at 8:41 am

    @Kay: eww that reminded of the father / daughter dances the Bible Thumpers do that’s basically sanctioned incest.

    Yes Promise Keepers, that’s it
    https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Promise_Keepers

  149. 149.

    chris

    November 13, 2017 at 8:42 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: So you do. Beautiful.

  150. 150.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 13, 2017 at 8:43 am

    @chris: Heh, you asked. Still want to subscribe to my newsletter?

  151. 151.

    Amir Khalid

    November 13, 2017 at 8:44 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:
    I heard somewhere that it was in show business, or something.

  152. 152.

    Betty Cracker

    November 13, 2017 at 8:45 am

    @Immanentize: My great-grandmother was like that — nobody messed with her. Lived to be almost 100 and had everyone in the family cowed until the day she died.

  153. 153.

    FlipYrWhig

    November 13, 2017 at 8:46 am

    @SFAW:

    I’ve said before: put Hannity (The Stupidest Man on TV), Louie Gohmert (The Stupidest Man in Congress), and Jim Hoft (The Stupidest Man on the Internet) into a locked room, with appropriate weaponry, and tell them they’re all vying for the title — and only one can survive.

    All we want is life beyond the Thunderderp.

  154. 154.

    Immanentize

    November 13, 2017 at 8:46 am

    @Amir Khalid: If Moore was serious, he would sue the girls for slander. But he won’t. Because everyone knows they told the truth. Even the Alabamoron what wanted to prosecute the girls-now-women said it was for not reporting earlier.

  155. 155.

    different-church-lady

    November 13, 2017 at 8:48 am

    I’d happily smash a Keurig, simply because it makes some of the worst coffee I’ve ever had and yet the damn things are like an algae infestation.

  156. 156.

    germy

    November 13, 2017 at 8:48 am

    Woman Says George H.W. Bush Groped Her When She Was 16: ‘I Was a Child’

    “My initial action was absolute horror. I was really, really confused,” Corrigan told TIME, speaking publicly for the first time about the encounter. “The first thing I did was look at my mom and, while he was still standing there, I didn’t say anything. What does a teenager say to the ex-president of the United States? Like, ‘Hey dude, you shouldn’t have touched me like that?’”

  157. 157.

    magurakurin

    November 13, 2017 at 8:49 am

    @TomatoQueen: whatever. My father died at 60 from alcoholism. My best friend just died at 58 from heart disease. My father in law is 81 and still climbs up trees and trims them as a landscaper. It’s shit road filled with trouble and then we die. But the fact remains that the overwhelming majority of people making coffee with those shitty machines are not suffering from palsy. Honestly, it’s not a fucking gourmet thing to pour hot water over coffee grinds. It just isn’t. It isn’t hard. It isn’t tricky. It just isn’t. If someone is incapacitated, that’s sad for sure. But there is no way in hell that company is existing on such a market share. whatever. No fucking way in hell I’m going to spend hundreds of dollars for something I can do with something I can buy for a dollar at the 5 and dime.

  158. 158.

    hueyplong

    November 13, 2017 at 8:49 am

    @SFAW

    How stupid is Hannity? Here is one of his tweets:

    “Deplorable friends, I am buying 500 coffee makers tomorrow to give away!! Details on radio and TV. Hint; best videos!!”

    BUYING five hundred of the machines. That’ll teach ’em. Kind of the opposite of a boycott there, Sparky.

  159. 159.

    Immanentize

    November 13, 2017 at 8:49 am

    @Betty Cracker:. Whenever you mention your Gram, I think of Cold Comfort Farm? And I smile.

  160. 160.

    Quinerly

    November 13, 2017 at 8:49 am

    @Baud:
    I thought the “Not a Witch” chick was peak wing nut. Fun times. I was so young and naive.?

  161. 161.

    different-church-lady

    November 13, 2017 at 8:50 am

    @Thursday: That was no dream!

  162. 162.

    raven

    November 13, 2017 at 8:50 am

    @magurakurin: What the fuck is your problem, you got the crabs or something?

  163. 163.

    chris

    November 13, 2017 at 8:51 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Bookmarked your photostream

  164. 164.

    Spanky

    November 13, 2017 at 8:51 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Thanks! I like this one better than the one up top.

  165. 165.

    OzarkHillbilly

    November 13, 2017 at 8:51 am

    @Immanentize: That is not a fair accounting. Whitefish is also providing food and housing and the necessary equipment in an extremely difficult situation. Mind you, it is still a rip off operation, so bad we don’t need to make it look worse than it is.

  166. 166.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    November 13, 2017 at 8:52 am

    So are people protesting Hanitry for defending Moore or not defending the little pedo enough? It’s hard to tell in this Post Ethics Era.

  167. 167.

    different-church-lady

    November 13, 2017 at 8:52 am

    @magurakurin: It’s not about the coffee. It’s not about the effort. It’s about the fact that you get to play with a machine. Keurigs are Fisher Price toys for adults

  168. 168.

    kindness

    November 13, 2017 at 8:53 am

    My parents were northeastern Republicans. They’ve been dead for 10 & 20 years now. I wonder what they would have thought of their party had they still been alive. btw – Reagan’s excesses embarrassed them. See up in the NE it used to be Republicans were fiscal conservatives but social liberals.

    What happened to their party?

  169. 169.

    magurakurin

    November 13, 2017 at 8:53 am

    @raven: every fucking day. I’m just a crank. Ignore me. Everyone else in the world does. I just hate those fucking machines. Sorry. FIDO, brother.

  170. 170.

    Immanentize

    November 13, 2017 at 8:53 am

    God I love this whole comment stream….

  171. 171.

    sixthdoctor

    November 13, 2017 at 8:54 am

    OTOH, Keurig uses environmentally wasteful coffee pods which ALSO triggers liberals! Maybe we can catch Hannity in a mind blowing paradox loop…

  172. 172.

    magurakurin

    November 13, 2017 at 8:55 am

    @sixthdoctor: now I feel peace…

  173. 173.

    germy

    November 13, 2017 at 8:56 am

    @hueyplong:

    “Deplorable friends, I am buying 500 coffee makers tomorrow to give away!! Details on radio and TV. Hint; best videos!!”

    So the manufacturer says “Great, we just sold a shit load of these things without having to advertise on his show.”

  174. 174.

    Spanky

    November 13, 2017 at 8:56 am

    @Immanentize:

    God I love this whole comment stream….

    Yep. And I’m thinking I’ll have another cuppa joe.

    From the office Keurig machine.

  175. 175.

    Jeffro

    November 13, 2017 at 8:57 am

    @Kay:

    It is exactly the opposite of what they said they would do. There’s all kinds of small goodies in there for rich people too- a subsidy for high income private K-12 schools! I wonder who slid that in there. Can you imagine? They’re raising taxes on people who make 40k to help rich people with private school tuition. It’s like a parody “clueless plutocrats”

    And whatever insignificant cuts they’re putting in for the middle class as window dressing – get this – they plan on sunsetting those midway through the 10-year-window, while making the cuts for the rich permanent. Isn’t that something?

    The Cynical Trick That Could Save The GOP Tax Plan:

    If Republicans ultimately followed this model to get their final product in compliance with the Byrd rule in the long run, they would have to sunset a lot of the popular individual tax cuts. This could come as soon as next week’s Senate Finance Committee consideration of the bill—probably near the end of the process, so as not to draw a lot of attention to it. Once a lot of attention is inevitably drawn to it, they will argue the following: This is just a technical thing, and there’s no way Congress would let the popular individual tax cuts expire as they’ve written them to.

    But here’s the messaging problem on that: Republicans, in order to appease their corporate allies who argue that temporary corporate tax cuts wouldn’t provide the “confidence” necessary to spur new investment, would be making the popular individual tax cuts temporary to pay for permanent corporate tax cuts.

  176. 176.

    cmorenc

    November 13, 2017 at 8:57 am

    @Baud:

    Keith Ellison has a prediction. The deputy chair of the Democratic National Committee believes that Democrats will win back not just the House of Representatives in 2018, but the Senate as well.

    Garrison Keillor, in the immediate aftermath of Trump’s election (and the GOP controlling both House and Senate) – sagely noted that the best corrective would be to let the electorate find out what GOP governance was really like.

  177. 177.

    Gremcat

    November 13, 2017 at 8:57 am

    There is a story in the Washington Post about a letter to Congress that was signed by 400 millionaires and billionaires asking them NOT to cut their taxes. The mentioned that the economy is doing fine and that it would increase the inequality, that is already at an all time high. I think this tax reform bill may not be a done deal,

  178. 178.

    different-church-lady

    November 13, 2017 at 8:58 am

    @magurakurin: Indeed. People are surprised by my coffee; “What are you doing?” It’s simple: a) recently roasted beans that are not pre-ground; b) grind just before brewing; c) don’t over-grind; d) pour hot water over it.

    That’s it. The moment you grind a coffee bean it starts to go stale. So don’t grind it until you’re ready to brew it. There is no pre-ground coffee in the world that can avoid a nasty fate by the time it’s brewed, no matter how you package it.

  179. 179.

    OzarkHillbilly

    November 13, 2017 at 8:58 am

    @Thursday: Sucks to be you.

  180. 180.

    Jeffro

    November 13, 2017 at 8:58 am

    @Baud:(re: supporting Jones)

    Depends. Where is he on single payer?

    I’m smiling.

  181. 181.

    MattF

    November 13, 2017 at 8:59 am

    @Amir Khalid: I’d guess it depends on where the money to pay the lawyers is coming from. I doubt that Moore himself has the money.

  182. 182.

    Sab

    November 13, 2017 at 8:59 am

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: My dad is a nonogenarian. If I switch the remote off Faux he will never find it again. I do not understand why advertisers waste money on his channel, because he can’t work the phone well enough to buy what they sell, plus he can’t drive to the mall.

  183. 183.

    Jeffro

    November 13, 2017 at 9:01 am

    @Amir Khalid:

    Per NBC News, Roy Moore says he’s going to sue The Washington Post for printing those women’s horrible lies about him.

    I wonder if he actually will.

    WaPo: “Please don’t throw us in that briar patch, Uncle Roy, please don’t”

    Discovery should be a hoot and a half.

  184. 184.

    Kay

    November 13, 2017 at 9:01 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Wait, they’re different?

    Hah! In her younger days she was an expert in fabric care. She’d give me gifts of clothing (nice- she has good taste) and say “don’t ruin that by putting it in the washer”. Merry Christmas!

    She has nice bracelets that she loves so my husband had the clasps replaced with magnetic clasps. The store told him they do hundreds of these changes a year for older people. I want them now. I’m too clumsy to screw with little hinges.

  185. 185.

    Immanentize

    November 13, 2017 at 9:03 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: the NY Times:

    SAN JUAN — The small energy outfit from Montana that won a $300 million contract to help rebuild Puerto Rico’s tattered power grid had few employees of its own, so it did what the Puerto Rican authorities could have done: It turned to Florida for workers.

    For their trouble, the six electrical workers from Kissimmee are earning $42 an hour, plus overtime. The senior power linemen from Lakeland are earning $63 an hour working in Puerto Rico, the Florida utility said. Their 40 co-workers from Jacksonville, also linemen, are making up to $100 earning double time, public records show.

    But the Montana company that hired the workers, Whitefish Energy Holdings, had a contract that allowed it to bill the Puerto Rican public power company, known as Prepa, $319 an hour for linemen, a rate that industry experts said was far above the norm even for emergency work — and almost 17 times the average salary of their counterparts in Puerto Rico.

    Linky

  186. 186.

    Scotian

    November 13, 2017 at 9:05 am

    @Thursday:

    Antwerp! Antwerp!!! For the sake of the species…ANTWERP!

    (Obscure Lathe of Heaven reference)

    More seriously, that would have woken me up screaming. Just reading your description did more to wake me up than a three cup mug of coffee has so far, as well as gave me one of the worst goosebump reactions in years, even worse than the the night Trump “won” (sorry, but when you are aided to the extent by outside forces, ie Vlad and Comey like that, and “win with such a narrow margin, I have to call its legitimacy into question, not because I want to, but because the conditions mandate it).

    The truly scary part is that this feels like it really could have happened given all else we all see.

    Thank GOD Justin Trudeau beat Harper a year before you got the current Officeholder. Not only is he far easier to look at and listen to (even with his irritating “ahs”) he won’t sell us out wholesale to Trumpism and the worst of the GOP power masters, whereas Harper was their protege in this nation. I can use my image of Justin to ward off that evil image you described…out out damned spot/Trump…

    Sorry, been a weird weekend and its Monday. My humour has yet to default to the usual standard values of weirdness..LOL

  187. 187.

    Uncle Cosmo

    November 13, 2017 at 9:05 am

    @Baud: If he loses, he’ll be piqued wingnut, anyway…

  188. 188.

    Patricia Kayden

    November 13, 2017 at 9:05 am

    @Baud: Isn’t the Senate easier to win back than the House due to gerrymandering?

  189. 189.

    different-church-lady

    November 13, 2017 at 9:06 am

    @Kay: MIT has an “Aging Lab” where they study how elderly bodies interact with the physical world. They have this suit contraption that has a bunch of bungie cords and rubber straps in key places. The youngsters get into the suit and it simulates how hard it is for older bodies to do simple things like open a car door or reach for a seatbelt, and they try to figure out how to improve product design based on that experience.

    I can’t help but think the suit also teaches a bit of empathy.

  190. 190.

    SFAW

    November 13, 2017 at 9:07 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Naked people rampage through Missouri town, barking and running around, police say

    Did the photographers at least get you from your “good side”?

  191. 191.

    OzarkHillbilly

    November 13, 2017 at 9:09 am

    @different-church-lady: I thought Legos were toys for adults. That’s why we keep stealing them from the kids.

  192. 192.

    SFAW

    November 13, 2017 at 9:11 am

    @FlipYrWhig:

    All we want is life beyond the Thunderderp.

    We don’t need another zero ? (IQ, that is)

  193. 193.

    gene108

    November 13, 2017 at 9:12 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    That is not a fair accounting. Whitefish is also providing food and housing and the necessary equipment in an extremely difficult situation. Mind you, it is still a rip off operation, so bad we don’t need to make it look worse than it is.

    Lodging and meals and incidentals (per diem) are separate charges on top of the hourly billing rates.

    They are charging a bit more for those than a typical high cost city in the mainland.

    Edit: For clarity. Whitefish is billing the government $319/hr for labor. $79 and change for per diem (meals per day) and $300 or so per day for lodging its workers

  194. 194.

    Uncle Cosmo

    November 13, 2017 at 9:12 am

    @magurakurin: You java purists… Go down to the local dollar store & buy enough reusable single-serve K-cups to accommodate however many varieties of beans you carry home & grind yourself. Scratch a code # on each cup, make a master list of which takes what, keep list handy for your senior moments. Problem solved!

  195. 195.

    Fair Economist

    November 13, 2017 at 9:12 am

    @different-church-lady:

    Indeed. People are surprised by my coffee; “What are you doing?” It’s simple: a) recently roasted beans that are not pre-ground; b) grind just before brewing; c) don’t over-grind; d) pour hot water over it.

    That’s it. The moment you grind a coffee bean it starts to go stale. So don’t grind it until you’re ready to brew it.

    This is my experience. Cheap coffee is good when you open the can. Fancy-pants artisanal East African coffee is nasty if it was ground two weeks ago. Keurig is sealed, so it’s still fairly fresh.

    Although I do think the beans age too, just more slowly.

    Also while it’s not rocket science to pull out a filter, measure some coffee, clean the coffee grinder, grind the coffee, and run hot water, it does take time and attention. I get the convenience factor. I still avoid it because $$$ and plastic trash galore.

  196. 196.

    OzarkHillbilly

    November 13, 2017 at 9:12 am

    @kindness: Same with my parents, Ma gave up on them during W’s reign. Pop would have too if he’d still had access to his brain.

  197. 197.

    Immanentize

    November 13, 2017 at 9:13 am

    @Patricia Kayden: Yes it is, but not in 2018. Every two years, roughly a third of the Senate is (re) elected. This particular cycle is bad for the Dems as they are defending way more seats and few of the Republican seats are in close States. That’s because six years ago (when the current Senators were elected). Obama was on the ballot. It was a good year for the Dems. So it would have to be super good year for Dems to pick up many seats.

    But 2020 will be, I think, a very good year for Senate Dems.

  198. 198.

    Uncle Cosmo

    November 13, 2017 at 9:13 am

    @FlipYrWhig: Blunderdumb.

  199. 199.

    Kay

    November 13, 2017 at 9:14 am

    @different-church-lady:

    I think that human thing little kids have “I can do it BY MYSELF” is powerful. You have to respect that. To have HAD all that agency and control and see it slipping away must be brutal. A loss.

  200. 200.

    PaulWartenberg

    November 13, 2017 at 9:14 am

    Every Hannity fan threatening to smash some coffee machines is gonna hafta answer to 100 million coffee drinkers wondering where the F-CK their coffees went.

  201. 201.

    Fair Economist

    November 13, 2017 at 9:14 am

    @Patricia Kayden:

    Isn’t the Senate easier to win back than the House due to gerrymandering?

    Generally yes, but not in 2018 because 25 of 33 seats open (IIRC) are already Democratic. This is our “triple miracle” cohort where we’ve had a Senate wave 3 elections in a row, even when the rest of the vote didn’t go our way (like 2000).

  202. 202.

    SFAW

    November 13, 2017 at 9:15 am

    @hueyplong:

    That Hannity tweet is not unlike the Erick Ericksdumbfuck “campaign” to send ice melter to Olympia Snowe (Get it? Ice melter to melt “Snowe”? Example # 437 of why there are no good/successful RWNJ comedians) after some vote or something.

    Morons, all of them.

  203. 203.

    PaulWartenberg

    November 13, 2017 at 9:16 am

    To every Roy Moore supporter out there:

    THERE IS A SPECIAL HELL RESERVED FOR CHILD MOLESTERS.

    And people who talk at the theater, which tells you just how f-cked up those child molesters are.

  204. 204.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    November 13, 2017 at 9:16 am

    Joining the coffee conversation late, I’m going to recommend two methods that might strike you as snooty and fussy but are super easy, easier than drip coffee.

    1. French Press. I avoided these for years, thinking it would be complicated but it’s not. Dump grounds into glass beaker. Dump water in. Wait a few minutes. Pour. The “press” part is a piston you push in just before pouring that strains out the floating grounds.

    2. Bialetti espresso maker. Fill with water up to line. Fill with grounds up to line. Screw shut. Heat on stove till you hear it boil. Pour.

    Now one that should be easy but isn’t for sone reason. I love Greek/Turkish/Arabic coffee. You basically dump the grounds into the water and heat on the stove, but there’s some magic with getting just the right amount of heating. A Greek friend tried to teach me but it didn’t take.

  205. 205.

    magurakurin

    November 13, 2017 at 9:19 am

    @Uncle Cosmo: it’s not a purity thing. That’s the point. It’s just coffee. You pour hot water over coffee into a cup. finished. end of story. You want to make me some coffee some other way, I will happily drink it. But for myself, I can’t be bothered because nothing else is needed.

  206. 206.

    Immanentize

    November 13, 2017 at 9:20 am

    @different-church-lady: A few years back, my son’s robotics team worked with the lab and made kid-sized versions of the Old Person Suit.

  207. 207.

    Kay

    November 13, 2017 at 9:20 am

    @magurakurin:

    I’m actually curious about this method you describe. I drink quite a bit of coffee so I need a giant drip pot but your way does sound easy. I have a Mr Coffee I got at a thrift store- there are tens of them. They probably never have to make another one. There’s sufficient numbers for the whole world, in existence. Like guns.

  208. 208.

    Montanareddog

    November 13, 2017 at 9:21 am

    @Jeffro:

    WaPo: “Please don’t throw us in that briar patch, Uncle Roy, please don’t”

    Heh, heh.

    I doubt that lawyer Roy Moore, even if he his moron lawyer Roy Moore, has any real plans to sue The Post. That is just the kind of empty threat that Trump is fond of. It’s always a few weeks down the line and is just a part of the Gish Gallop past bad news.

  209. 209.

    magurakurin

    November 13, 2017 at 9:21 am

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: I have both. Sometimes use them, but I can’t be bothered to clean them. They make nice coffee though and are easy.

  210. 210.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    November 13, 2017 at 9:23 am

    @Kay: German friends of ours used to do it that way. You just need something to hold the filter and grounds over the cup, like a funnel, while it drips.

  211. 211.

    PaulWartenberg

    November 13, 2017 at 9:24 am

    @Patricia Kayden:

    The Senate only has one-third running in one election cycle. So one party COULD conceivably sweep all 33 (or 34 one cycle) seats and STILL not gain control of that body.

    There’s a Senate Election map at 270towin https://www.270towin.com/2018-senate-election/ and if you give every running seat to the Dems, that WOULD flip the Senate Blue 57 seats to 43. However, we’re talking about states like West Virginia, MS and AL, Texas, TN and MO and a couple of other Red States that are going to be hard flips. Sabato’s Crystal Balls predictative model has the Republicans securing 50 seats to the Dems 46 with 4 seats undecided at this point. Granted, by next year voters may be disgusted enough with the GOP to lower the Republicans’ odds, but previous midterms – and the fact that voter suppression efforts are GROWING in Red States – aren’t in the Democrats favor.

  212. 212.

    dr. luba

    November 13, 2017 at 9:25 am

    @Joey Maloney:

    with the Keurig they can buy a wide selection of coffee, tea, even cocoa blends

    Tea? That is what astounds me: K-cups to make tea. Tea already comes in handy, biodegradable, single serve tea bags…..

  213. 213.

    OzarkHillbilly

    November 13, 2017 at 9:25 am

    @Immanentize: As I said, it’s bad enough on it’s own with a full accounting that we do not need to make it look worse than it is.

    Back when I was working real jobs my compensation package we over $50 per hour. I’m pretty sure the contractors I worked for were charging $100 per hour. So, $69 x 2 = $138** plus housing and food and equipment (which I have no idea how much they are costing

    **Their profit would be something smaller than $69 as it also covers all their costs which I also have no idea of.

  214. 214.

    rikyrah

    November 13, 2017 at 9:27 am

    I hear these cases and just get enraged.

    PoliticsNation with Al Sharpton 11/5/17
    Locked up for 40 years was he the wrong man?

    Rev. Al Sharpton has Kevin Brinkley on, a man wrongfully convicted for a crime as a juvenile who after 40 years has finally been released. Hear his story alongside his uncle Greg Brinkley.

  215. 215.

    Barbara

    November 13, 2017 at 9:28 am

    @Kay: Re: Keurig

    Elderly people love them. They can make one cup at a time and it’s easier than measuring. They’re all over the place in assisted living.

    Plus, you don’t throw out what you don’t use. People like me would rather throw out some extra coffee than create masses of plastic cup waste, but I can tell you that elderly people don’t see the world the same way. My mother in law used to SAVE coffee and reheat it for the next morning.

  216. 216.

    JR

    November 13, 2017 at 9:28 am

    @Gremcat: “the object is to shear the sheep, not to skin them”

  217. 217.

    SFAW

    November 13, 2017 at 9:29 am

    @magurakurin:

    it’s not a purity thing. That’s the point. It’s just coffee. You pour hot water over coffee into a cup. finished. end of story.

    Co-sign. Coffee is just a Caffeine Delivery Vehicle. Some people love the taste, and make a big deal about it. Others (e.g., yours truly) are of the mindset that, as long as it doesn’t taste like the proverbial cat piss, taste is immaterial. [Note: I do not know what cat piss tastes like, of course, but “I been told.”]

  218. 218.

    magurakurin

    November 13, 2017 at 9:29 am

    @Kay: I actually put my filter holder over a stainless thermos pot so I can make two mugs. The thermos keeps the second cup hot. You can use pretty much any coffee, but if the grounds are really big the water drips a bit fast and the coffee is weak. The filters are just regular brown or white filters for drip machines. It’s super easy. I broke down and bought a ceramic filter holder for seven bucks, but cheap plastic ones work fine.

  219. 219.

    Tenar Arha

    November 13, 2017 at 9:29 am

    @Kay: @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: My father preferred instant at the end of his life. But that’s because we realized he would do that elderly thing and not use the Keurig even if we bought him one. It was a bad idea because he was ornery, not because it was something he couldn’t use.

    Like Kay said, when your hands shake it’s much easier to handle 8-12 oz. of water and a k-cup.

  220. 220.

    OzarkHillbilly

    November 13, 2017 at 9:30 am

    @SFAW: At my age nobody has a “good side”.

  221. 221.

    magurakurin

    November 13, 2017 at 9:30 am

    @dr. luba: yes, it’s madness.

  222. 222.

    Fair Economist

    November 13, 2017 at 9:34 am

    @PaulWartenberg:

    Sabato’s Crystal Balls predictative model has the Republicans securing 50 seats to the Dems 46 with 4 seats undecided at this point.

    That prediction gives us North Dakota *and* West Virginia and seems a bit optimistic. I think I’d say 50 to 44 with a bit of a lean to the Dems in the undecided seats.

    This is why Alabama becomes so important because if we win it then the map is 49 to 45 and flipping requires “only” a solid wave, not a historical event.

  223. 223.

    Barbara

    November 13, 2017 at 9:34 am

    @Kay: Dare I say she might like an e-reader? No book is ever too heavy when it is digital. But I miss real books, and she probably would too. Still, I read both. It depends on the likelihood that i will want to read it again whether I get the real format or the e-format. Sometimes I get the e-reader and then buy the real thing.

  224. 224.

    OzarkHillbilly

    November 13, 2017 at 9:34 am

    @gene108: Ah, so it’s even worse than my cynicism could imagine. Thanx for the correction.

  225. 225.

    geg6

    November 13, 2017 at 9:34 am

    @different-church-lady:

    True. And I’m not a huge coffee drinker. But good coffee is ridiculously easy to make yourself and no machine can do it as well as we can just by grinding our own beans and pouring boiling water over it.

    Those Keurig things are, IMHO, pretty dangerous, especially to the elderly, disabled and anyone with illness or disease. I’ve read numerous articles about how disgusting and filthy most of them are in a very short time, filled with very bad bacteria. And they are apparently the devil to get clean and bacteria-free. You want grandma and grandpa to have a cup of coffee safely? Your Keurig is most definitely not the way to go about it.

  226. 226.

    different-church-lady

    November 13, 2017 at 9:34 am

    @dr. luba:

    Tea already comes in handy, biodegradable, single serve tea bags…..

    Unless it comes in one of those new synthetic tea bags that I can’t put in the compost… I mean, are people ACTIVELY looking to destroy the planet at this point?

  227. 227.

    Fair Economist

    November 13, 2017 at 9:36 am

    @rikyrah:

    Rev. Al Sharpton has Kevin Brinkley on, a man wrongfully convicted for a crime as a juvenile who after 40 years has finally been released. Hear his story alongside his uncle Greg Brinkley.

    OMFG. His whole adult life lost to racism and lies.

  228. 228.

    schrodingers_cat

    November 13, 2017 at 9:38 am

    The Kuering hate here is pretty silly. You can get reusable Keurig cups from Amazon and use your own coffee. Its just a convenience and works for some people and situations. We got ours as a gift. I am not much of coffee drinker, I make my tea the old fashioned way with loose leaves and a kettle of boiling water. Keurig is good for the occasional cup of coffee, an entire pot is wasted on me, and as others have said for guests. Coffee purist husband kitteh, uses French press.

  229. 229.

    Barbara

    November 13, 2017 at 9:38 am

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: The thing with French press is to get the size that suits your needs. Mine is too big. I should get a smaller one, or even two, in case I need to make coffee for visitors. There are all kinds of contraptions. My cousin uses something with a name like aerocafe, which is made for camping, but he liked the coffee it made so much that he uses it every day. but it’s the same concept as a press, it’s just vacuum sealed and made for one cup only.

  230. 230.

    bemused

    November 13, 2017 at 9:39 am

    @germy:

    Makes me wonder if gramps did this to his granddaughters, Jenna and Barbara.

  231. 231.

    Spanky

    November 13, 2017 at 9:39 am

    @SFAW:

    Co-sign. Coffee is just a Caffeine Delivery Vehicle. Some people love the taste, and make a big deal about it. Others (e.g., yours truly) are of the mindset that, as long as it doesn’t taste like the proverbial cat piss, taste is immaterial. [Note: I do not know what cat piss tastes like, of course, but “I been told.”]

    Apropos of nothing else, this did remind me of something I’ve noticed. Has anyone else noticed the similarity between the smell of brewing coffee and skunk? Especially (only!) when faint.

    I know only too well what it smells like when two skunks fight underneath your bedroom in an old house on piers. It ain’t that.

  232. 232.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    November 13, 2017 at 9:40 am

    @gene108:

    I use a fountain pen most of the time, anymore.

    Hand cramps are way down.

  233. 233.

    schrodingers_cat

    November 13, 2017 at 9:42 am

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Me too. Handwriting is much better. My father gave me his entire collection and I lubs them. What ink do you use?

  234. 234.

    MCA1

    November 13, 2017 at 9:44 am

    @magurakurin: A to the Men. There’s actually a positive to the ritual for some of us. The connection you feel to the resulting coffee, having ground the beans yourself, waited for the water to heat up for 120 seconds, watched the first pour over bloom up and release that acidic edge, etc. is more than worth a couple minutes. Not to mention the shit quality of any coffee that was cheap and undistinguished to start with, harvested last year and then ground months ago and stuffed into a little pod.

    Granted, it’s all better than the crap options we all had for home brewing a generation ago, but I don’t know how anyone who actually enjoys the taste of coffee wouldn’t do pour over with good, fresh beans as long as circumstances don’t prevent it.

  235. 235.

    Gremcat

    November 13, 2017 at 9:45 am

    @JR: You are probably right, but their arguments make sense. That they should raise taxes on people like them to pay for roads and schools. That the extra money they get wouldn’t be used to start new businesses but be merely be saved instead. However, since they are liberals and progressives, I’m sure the letter will be ignored by this congress.

  236. 236.

    different-church-lady

    November 13, 2017 at 9:48 am

    So for (a) all you folks who always suspected there was something deliberately creepy about Facebook and (b) all you other folks who think “it’s just a neutral tool and you get what you make of it”: here’s the founding president of Facebook in effect copping to pulling the same shit that cigarette manufacturers did, only doing it inside your brain:

    Sean Parker unloads on Facebook “exploiting” human psychology

    “The thought process that went into building these applications, Facebook being the first of them, … was all about: ‘How do we consume as much of your time and conscious attention as possible?'”
    “And that means that we need to sort of give you a little dopamine hit every once in a while, because someone liked or commented on a photo or a post or whatever. And that’s going to get you to contribute more content, and that’s going to get you … more likes and comments.”
    “It’s a social-validation feedback loop … exactly the kind of thing that a hacker like myself would come up with, because you’re exploiting a vulnerability in human psychology.”
    “The inventors, creators — it’s me, it’s Mark [Zuckerberg], it’s Kevin Systrom on Instagram, it’s all of these people — understood this consciously. And we did it anyway.”

  237. 237.

    bemused

    November 13, 2017 at 9:48 am

    Speaking of coffee, our favorite coffee travel mugs for the car have finally worn out, the Thermos Nissan mug with handle, spillproof, kept hot and cold for hours and fit in cup holders. I should have bought new mugs sooner but waited too long and now they are not long available. I am very frustrated finding coffee mugs that are spillproof, fit in cup holders and have handles. Handles much easier to grab and sip while driving. Dammit.

  238. 238.

    Heidi Mom

    November 13, 2017 at 9:50 am

    @Spanky: Yes!!!

  239. 239.

    schrodingers_cat

    November 13, 2017 at 9:53 am

    @different-church-lady: We can high five each other for not being a part of the Faceborg.

    ETA: I have just found the concept eerie from the get go. I resisted even after a lot of prodding from friends and relatives around the globe.

  240. 240.

    Immanentize

    November 13, 2017 at 9:54 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: It is kinda fun to see you out cynicalled by GOP reality.

  241. 241.

    O. Felix Culpa

    November 13, 2017 at 9:56 am

    @Quinerly:

    I thought the “Not a Witch” chick was peak wing nut.

    Oh golly, I forgot all about her. So much has happened since then.

  242. 242.

    different-church-lady

    November 13, 2017 at 10:01 am

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I have just found the concept eerie from the get go.

    Somehow I could sense the exploitation before even trying it, based on what other people were saying about it. My every interaction with FB just confirmed what I was thinking — it not creepy by accident, it’s creepy because it’s designed to manipulate.

  243. 243.

    different-church-lady

    November 13, 2017 at 10:02 am

    @Quinerly: Peak Wingnut is a lie.

  244. 244.

    gbbalto

    November 13, 2017 at 10:02 am

    Keurig machines at the office avoid issues with the drip machines – the almost-empty pot that lingers because everyone is too lazy to dump it and make a new pot, the burnt out pot, and other issues. However, as noted in a WaPo article, they cannot make really good coffee because the water is not hot enough and the retention time in the coffee grounds is too short. The commercially packed cups that I have tried produce lousy results, with the single exception of Gevalia. The DIY cups with good quality coffee do make a drinkable brew. That said, I am switching to a French press at the office.

  245. 245.

    different-church-lady

    November 13, 2017 at 10:04 am

    @gbbalto: Offices have bio-based social concerns that override all attempts at technological solutions.

  246. 246.

    Tenar Arha

    November 13, 2017 at 10:05 am

    @Kay: I found out over the High Holidays that one of the necklaces that my mother left me has reached the point of not being wearable because of “too tiny clasp” for me. Thanks for the reminder!

  247. 247.

    Brachiator

    November 13, 2017 at 10:13 am

    @Kay:

    Elderly people love them. They can make one cup at a time and it’s easier than measuring.

    This totally makes sense.

  248. 248.

    Steve in the ATL

    November 13, 2017 at 10:14 am

    @Immanentize:

    There is a good article in the FTFNYTimes this morning about how Whitefish is stealing in PR — linemen paid $69/hr, Whitefish bills $319 for that work.

    You have worked in law firms, right?

  249. 249.

    Chip Daniels

    November 13, 2017 at 10:16 am

    @Kay:
    As much as I would love to lay predation at the feet of conservatives or evangelicals, I think its more helpful to confront the fact that it is much deeper and widespread.

    Wherever you have men in power (which is everywhere) we have reports of sexual predation.

    Conservative men, liberal men; religious men, secular men; men in the business world, in politics, in education, and in civic organizations.

    I think placing this in the context of the culture war or partisan battles allows an endless game of whataboutism and defensive circles.

    The problem is that we consistently fail to police those in positions of power.

  250. 250.

    The Moar You Know

    November 13, 2017 at 10:23 am

    I hope Moore follows through with his threat to sue the Washington Post. Moore will love the discovery process. How TF did he become a judge?

    @hueyplong: I laughed when I read this. There will never be a lawsuit and both Moore and the Post know it. As you note…discovery. This is for the consumption of the rubes.

  251. 251.

    Bobby Thomson

    November 13, 2017 at 10:23 am

    Haven’t gone through all the comments, but Keurig treats the coffee maker like a loss leader. The real money is in the pods. In other words, these people are assholes and cutting their noses off, but it’s not completely illogical.

  252. 252.

    Brachiator

    November 13, 2017 at 10:24 am

    @MCA1:

    The connection you feel to the resulting coffee, having ground the beans yourself, waited for the water to heat up for 120 seconds, watched the first pour over bloom up and release that acidic edge, etc. is more than worth a couple minutes.

    I love coffee (before I had to cut back dramatically for health reasons). I have never enjoyed making coffee. Never. The only connection I have to coffee is when it’s in my belly.

  253. 253.

    Barbara

    November 13, 2017 at 10:24 am

    @Steve in the ATL: What you are implying used to be the norm. It isn’t anymore.

  254. 254.

    Aleta

    November 13, 2017 at 10:29 am

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
    I dislike them myself.
    But if someone has strong tremors, it’s harder to make coffee, handle boiling water or pour. Or useful for vision impairment.
    Also, if a person depends on others to do a lot of things they’d prefer to do themselves, I imagine you’d want to at least be in control of your own coffee consumption.

  255. 255.

    Aleta

    November 13, 2017 at 10:33 am

    @Baud: Cancelled but they’re working until Nov 30.

  256. 256.

    KS in MA

    November 13, 2017 at 10:38 am

    Just sent a few bucks to Doug Jones.

  257. 257.

    schrodingers_cat

    November 13, 2017 at 10:38 am

    @Chip Daniels: But the god bothering hypocrisy of the religious, makes their acts even more despicable, IMHO.

  258. 258.

    Elizabelle

    November 13, 2017 at 10:41 am

    Good morning all.

    Gonna brew some coffee the old fashioned Mr. Coffee way, and catch up with your comments.

    realtor.com dropped advertising on Hannity’s show too. Maybe it will become habit-forming.

  259. 259.

    Doug R

    November 13, 2017 at 10:42 am

    @Kay: Wow. Hitting $50-200,000 earners, he REALLY does HATE his rubes, don’t he?
    But seeing that’s mostly middle management I’m feeling like Nelson right now.

  260. 260.

    Barbara

    November 13, 2017 at 10:55 am

    @Chip Daniels: Abuse of patriarchal power can be found across the political spectrum. No disagreement there. For those whose politics are progressive, the hypocrisy lies in exercising a kind of power that one affirmatively disavows in a political sense: agreeing with feminist goals, disagreeing that patriarchy is fair. For those whose politics are not progressive, the hypocrisy lies in betraying a different set of principles that revolve around sexual fidelity, not gender equality.

    But the reaction to these betrayals by the two groups could not be more different, at least now:

    Anthony Wiener has lost everything. Harvey Weinstein, Eliot Spitzer and John Edwards are not far behind. I believe that if Bill Clinton were running for office today, he would face a far more searching standard. For all that, only Wiener, and not the others, was associated with teenagers, or any woman under the age of consent.

    Whereas, Roy Moore, David Vitter, etc. hung tough and continue to receive robust political support. As did Newt Gingrich and a plethora of other Republican politicians. Some have resigned. Let’s just say that the reaction has been a lot more varied, and smacks of political opportunism as much as it does of moral indignation.

    And, of course, Moore’s whole reason for being in politics is to excoriate us liberals for our Godless, sexually libertine ways. He and his supporters might believe that his own failures are no biggie because he has repented (umm, not really) but the rest of us just see flaming hypocrisy.

  261. 261.

    Aleta

    November 13, 2017 at 10:56 am

    @The Moar You Know: That would mean Moore is capable of learning from Trump and Cosby; but he’s already gone and called the women liars. Former DA? There must be some shoddy work in his past record cause he doesn’t seem like the thinking kind.

  262. 262.

    different-church-lady

    November 13, 2017 at 10:58 am

    @Aleta:

    but he’s already gone and called the women liars.

    That’s what he learned from Trump and Cosby.

  263. 263.

    Steve in the ATL

    November 13, 2017 at 11:01 am

    @Barbara: to be fair to Imm, that is an obscene markup

  264. 264.

    Elie

    November 13, 2017 at 11:04 am

    @schrodingers_cat:
    I agree. If people don’t like them don’t use ‘em. Not a big deal but some folks start to sound authoritarian and shit about THEIR view What? We need coffee police now?

  265. 265.

    SFAW

    November 13, 2017 at 11:05 am

    @Elizabelle:

    realtor.com dropped advertising on Hannity’s show too.

    Maybe the Hannity morons will smash their houses up — that’ll show them Lie-beral realtors! You libtards won’t make any profit from MY house!

    If it weren’t the case that their moronitude is in danger of destroying America via Shitgibbon, this would be popcorn-worthy.

  266. 266.

    Chip Daniels

    November 13, 2017 at 11:07 am

    @Barbara:
    No disagreement.
    The liberal reaction to Weinstein and Spacey is gratifying, and reflects well on us.

    But the next scandal may very likely be a beloved liberal icon with real power over everyday American, and we have to be ready to suck it up and demand a scalp.

    Even if it results in a Republican win.

    That’s the hard part- which is worse: Condoning and enabling predatory behavior, or handing political power to a RWNJ?

  267. 267.

    Barbara

    November 13, 2017 at 11:14 am

    @Chip Daniels: Although not sexual in nature, you don’t have to look far to find that looming scenario: Bob Menendez. How I wish he had not run the last time. It’s not clear he will be convicted, the jury seems to be taking quite a while, and he is so recalcitrant I do not expect him to resign, so it looks increasingly likely that if he is replaced by an appointment, it will not occur before Chris Christie has exited stage right to the political oblivion he so clearly deserves.

  268. 268.

    JAFD

    November 13, 2017 at 11:17 am

    I should be drinking more coffee. The Mayo Clinic websites sez there’s some evidence that coffee lessens gout attacks, which is A Consummation Devoutly To Be Wished.

    Have been meaning to make trip to Philly, meet up with foodie friends, spend afternoon wandering Italian Market, get Aeropress from Fante’s (probably along with lotsa other kitchengadgets), but plans have not yet come together. darn.

    Anyway (to plug neighborhood biz), has anyone ever tried T.M. Ward Coffee ? – tmwardcoffee.com If so, your opinion is sought.

  269. 269.

    Jay C

    November 13, 2017 at 11:18 am

    @Chip Daniels:

    That’s the hard part- which is worse: Condoning and enabling predatory behavior, or handing political power to a RWNJ?

    Very hard. Not least because a variant of this argument has become the go-to talking-point for a non-trivial number of Roy Moore’s voting base: i.e., “he may be a creep/pedophile, but Democrats are worse“. It’s a terrible commentary on what politics has devolved into in this country: but it can’t be ignored.

  270. 270.

    Brachiator

    November 13, 2017 at 11:26 am

    @Chip Daniels:

    That’s the hard part- which is worse: Condoning and enabling predatory behavior, or handing political power to a RWNJ?

    How is this even a question?

  271. 271.

    Jay C

    November 13, 2017 at 11:29 am

    @Barbara:

    Re Menendez: he has already said (IIRC) that he will appeal a conviction on his corruption charges, so there’s that. I think Senate Democrats have already said that they’ll boot him out of the caucus (at least) if convicted: I’m guessing that they wouldn’t balk at voting to toss him out of the Senate completely. Christie will be gone after 1/16/18 (?) so at least the new Dem Governor will have the chance to name any replacement.
    In any case, New Jersey has a law that any Senate vacancy has to be filled by an appointed replacement until a special election is held (?? 90 days??), then the seat is up again at the next general election for the rest of the original term (how Cory Booker came be to NJ’s other Senator) Menendez’s term would end next year in any case.

  272. 272.

    different-church-lady

    November 13, 2017 at 11:34 am

    @Chip Daniels: I doubt Elizabeth Warren sexually abused anyone.

  273. 273.

    different-church-lady

    November 13, 2017 at 11:36 am

    @Chip Daniels: Hello? ANTHONY WEINER?!?

  274. 274.

    dogwood

    November 13, 2017 at 11:39 am

    @different-church-lady:
    What’s your point? I doubt Susan Collins sexually abused anyone either.

  275. 275.

    different-church-lady

    November 13, 2017 at 11:43 am

    @dogwood: lousy attempt at humor.

  276. 276.

    dogwood

    November 13, 2017 at 11:57 am

    @different-church-lady:
    I should have seen it as humor. I’m just getting nervous that dems are gonna start finding excuses for our own predators.

  277. 277.

    Citizen Alan

    November 13, 2017 at 12:01 pm

    @Chip Daniels:

    I would replace the word “men” with “people.” The issue is really about the fact that when one person’s power over another increases while their accountability decreases, abuse of some kind is more likely to result. Granted, it is generally far easier for a man to reach that level of authority over a woman than vice versa, but there have been too many female teachers having affairs with junior high boys to say it never happens the other way.

  278. 278.

    Gelfling 545

    November 13, 2017 at 12:44 pm

    @Tarragon: In his mug shot he appears to be a good deal worse for an excess of adult beverages.

  279. 279.

    a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)

    November 13, 2017 at 1:42 pm

    @magurakurin: For my mother, it’s the risk of wrestling with a kettle of boiling water–her hands have become weak because of arthritis. This is why she likes her small-serving coffee maker, as opposed to things like a French press or those filter holders that perch on top of a cup. Keurig has the same advantage–everything is fairly light-weight and there are fewer risks for those with decreased grip strength or hand tremors.

  280. 280.

    Uncle Cosmo

    November 13, 2017 at 2:02 pm

    @magurakurin: Not trying to be a jerk, only saying that if you choose to make your coffee with fresh-ground beans, you can do it one cup at a time with a Keurig plus a refillable & reusable pod – & I’ve seen those in 2- and 3-packs at dollar stores. Wash it out each use. If you’re a real purist, spring for one for each variety of coffee you use.

  281. 281.

    Uncle Cosmo

    November 13, 2017 at 2:12 pm

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: I love French presses, but you have to be careful. Some years back I had a friend over for dessert & coffee, & after serving the pastries placed the press on the table & pressed down –

    & it exploded. Glass chunks & steaming brown liquid everywhere. (Way to impress a date…)

    Water is incompressible, & it only makes sense to push the plunger down verrrrry gradually – & stop if there’s too much resistance & remove it & brush out the filtering disk.

  282. 282.

    Uncle Cosmo

    November 13, 2017 at 2:19 pm

    @Barbara: Your MiL? Helzbelz, I make a full pot of coffee & drink it over the next 2-3 days. Store it in a thermal carafe, or let it cool & put it in a bottle in the fridge. One of the few things at which the humble kitchen-nuke truly excels is reheating coffee by the cup without burning it.

  283. 283.

    Uncle Cosmo

    November 13, 2017 at 2:32 pm

    @dr. luba: Decades ago, not long after the Mr Coffee machines came out, I saw Father Guido Sarducci on some late night show demonstrating his new invention: Mr Tea! Consisting, IIRC, of a Mr Coffee (brand name blanked out) with no filter in the basket & a cup underneath with a teabag in it…

    It was parody, people! PARODY!!! Jeebus schlepped…/facepalm

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