I see Anne is having technical problems and Betty is otherwise occupied, so here goes. I cannot reach their level of snark, so you need to be happy this is a morning open thread.
.@realDonaldTrump stands next to a stack of papers after announcing “We will get rid of the redundancy and duplication that wastes your time and your money.” #regulations pic.twitter.com/Vx8aecpFqe
— Doug Mills (@dougmillsnyt) December 14, 2017
All were blank.
A White House official says the paper will be reused, per @jeneps. https://t.co/amDD2uSe9G— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) December 14, 2017
A slow, painful #Rexit: Trump allies say Tillerson has ‘not learned his lesson’ and cannot continue in job for long https://t.co/Jh7LIBCQMd
— Phillip Carter (@Carter_PE) December 15, 2017
It’s almost enough to make you feel sorry for poor Rex. He’s actually made a few good decisions lately.
Why Kubrick cut the multiple presidential pie-throwing ending of ‘Dr Strangelove’, following the assassination of John Kennedy: https://t.co/AMMm1pw2la
— Graham Farmelo (@grahamfarmelo) December 15, 2017
Trump spoke with Murdoch ahead of Disney deal to make sure Murdoch wasn’t selling Fox News, person briefed on the call said
— Gabriel Sherman (@gabrielsherman) December 14, 2017
And here’s a Trump judicial nominee. What’s interesting is that the hard questioning is coming from Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana, a Republican. He has expressed concern about the people being nominated by Don McGahn, one of Trump’s lawyers and advisors.
MUST WATCH: Republican @SenJohnKennedy asks one of @realDonaldTrump’s US District Judge nominees basic questions of law & he can’t answer a single one. Hoo-boy. pic.twitter.com/fphQx2o1rc
— Sheldon Whitehouse (@SenWhitehouse) December 15, 2017
What kinds of holiday preparation or celebration do you have planned for today?
Quinerly
Good morning from Poco and his tribe!
O. Felix Culpa
Good morning from Pippin and Poco’s New Mexico friends!
OzarkHillbilly
Once again trump allies are wrong. I would say that Rex has learned but that what he has learned is that he needs to get out while he still has a shred of his soul remaining.
Patricia Kayden
Sarah Kendzior points out one of the negative consequences of the repeal of net neutrality. I suspect that this is one of Trump’s actions which will directly negatively impact his supporters.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
rikyrah
As I was reading some post mortem articles about the Alabama Senate race, it came to me another group who had egg on their face:
The ‘ earn this vote’ /hotep crowd that didn’t learn SHYT from 2016, and believed those bullshyt articles about Black people not being interested in the Senate race. Will say it again- there is no more pragmatic voter than a Black Southern voter. They can have issues with Jones, but when the other muthaphucka says that there shouldn’t be any Amendments to the Constitution after the 10th..they know what that means.
O. Felix Culpa
@rikyrah: Agreed. I was getting super irked by those articles prior to the election about unmotivated black voters. Clearly bullshit (or wishful thinking?).
What does “hotep” mean?
NorthLeft12
Okay everybody, say it along with me….”ALL THE BEST PEOPLE!!!”
As a Canadian, this stuff should not bother me, but I find it offensive that such blatant incompetence and ignorance are being routinely rewarded with government positions.
Its as if the Repubs want to prove to the US public that good and responsible government is not possible.
satby
@rikyrah: Now it’s morning ???!
(j/k AL)
eclare
@rikyrah: I just hope Jones’ victory will stop the endless Democrats must appeal to Trump voters stories. I never want to hear about the WWC ever again.
NotMax
@Quinerly
Morning to the fellowship of the Pair filtered.
O. Felix Culpa
@NorthLeft12: As if? I believe that the impossibility of good government is an article of faith for them and they’ve been doing everything in their power at least since Reagan to make it so.
eclare
@O. Felix Culpa: Was skeptical about those, no real data in the story I read, I think it was WaPo.
Bostondreams
OT: Saw Last Jedi last night. No spoilers, but WOW.
satby
Adam posted that exchange with Kennedy and that incredibly unqualified judicial nominee last night. I gotta say, the white boy bullshit machine is strong in that one, he sounds like Cliff Claven. And that he feels entitled to a job he’s not qualified at all for… truly Trumpian.
clay
Not with that attitude, you can’t! Now drop and give us 20 derogatory nicknames for Trump involving a reference to the color orange!
raven
Anybody out there in Chicago? I have a package coming from UPS and it just stopped dead on the 13th and all the tracking number says is bad weather and delivery will be rescheduled. It doesn’t look to me like there has been any extreme weather up there?
clay
@satby: Halfway through, his voice started quivering. That was the moment he knew he was boned.
Cheryl Rofer
Some explanations in this thread of Senator Kennedy’s questions.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Patricia Kayden:
I like Kendzior, but she saps my mood because all of her statements tend to be apocalyptic.
My gut feeling is that the real effect of net neutrality repeal will be a steep increase in monthly fees from cable TV broadband providers acting as rentiers, using the threat of throttling content.
That’s the real threat – streaming has led a lot of people to cut the cord on cable TV, and they’ve learned to live without it.
NotMax
@Ozark Hillbilly
Tillerson long ago said his plan was to scuttle away after a year. All the recent stuff smacks more of people looking at the calendar and the proverbial light bulb over the head flashing “We can dogpile on now and claim the credit for his departure in January!”
satby
@raven: I just noticed that all my shipments I sent out days ago don’t have tracking updates since they hit Indy. I think after a while workers just toss them in the trucks knowing it will get updated on the other end. Hoping so anyway. I’ve had stuff delivered with no updates at all.
TS
But he answered NO to the following – Is that now the bar for becoming a federal judge?
“Have you ever blogged in favor of the KKK”
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
I hate the stupid pouty look on Trump’s face in that first picture.
NotMax
@NotMax
Talk about stomping on one’s own punchline!
@Quinerly
Morning to the fellowship of the Pai filtered.
Another Scott
Morning, everyone. It’s been a good week in some ways (yay DougJ!) and a bad one in some others… :-(
Nancy LeTourneau reminds us of what happened 5 years ago this week, and what it was like to have an empathetic adult as President.
Keep fighting for what’s right. Have a good day.
Cheers,
Scott.
eric
@raven: you are correct. chilly low 20s, but nothing else
Emily68
From now on, federal regulations will be printed on BOTH SIDES OF THE PAPER!!!!!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@OzarkHillbilly: Rex was the CEO of Exxon, he didn’t have a soul.
satby
@clay: Yeah, but then he blustered through some yada yada about how he “oversaw” federal cases and advised on briefs of the lawyers working under him. Who probably ignore him, because he’s an ignoramus.
Shalimar
Peggy Noonan is an evil bitch when she isn’t drunk. She just said on Morning Joe that none of Trump’s lies affected people like Obama claiming you could keep your coverage if you liked it.
Amir Khalid
I happened today on reports of the death of Charles Jenkins, an American soldier who defected to North Korea in 1965 and spent nearly 40 years there as a prisoner. The North Koreans used him to teach English and play Western villains in propaganda movies. After serving 30 days in US military prison for desertion, Jenkins settled with his Japanese wife in her hometown. She had been kidnapped off the street to teach Japanese in North Korea, and their marriage had been arranged by their captors.
germy
?BillinGlendaleCA
I’ve been taking pics of the Christmas lights around town with my new phone, it does a pretty good job; I’m impressed.
Amir Khalid
@TS:
This Senator John Kennedy isn’t one of the Massachusetts Kennedys, is he?
mike in dc
@O. Felix Culpa: “hotep” is sort of a self-parody of conscious blackness.
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Hotep
See Definition 3 in particular.
How I know this as a white dude is another story altogether(sighs heavily).
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Shalimar:
I don’t think that time exists.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Cheryl Rofer:
So here’s how a wholly unqualified movement conservative works on the bench – he simply always accepts the position of the institutional party with the most money and power, and then says “draft me an order” to the parties or his clerk. He skips all the intimate knowledge, and foists the work into others.
NotMax
@raven
Not UPS, but sometimes the USPS tracking site goes into an adamant “I’ll tell ya when I’m good and ready and not before then” mode.
Have you tried a forced reload of the tracking data? (CTRL-R on Winders)
germy
raven
@satby: Huh, that makes sense I guess, this is just an envelope with ROSE PARADE TICKETS! I sold the extras I bought on eBay and am still waiting for them to come from LA too! I know there is still plenty of time but ugh!!!
germy
@eclare:
Trump voters react to Roy Moore loss (CNN)
msdc
@TS: Not every Trump nominee can clear that bar.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Oh, and on the paper thing, looks like some aide has been reading Clancy, and took that scene out of Executive Orders.
rikyrah
@O. Felix Culpa:
Hotep=Blacker than thou.
The pony and unicorn wrapped in a dashiki crowd.
rikyrah
@Quinerly:
Morning to Poco and the tribe ??
Kay
I felt sorry for the nominee. Then I remembered he wanted this job although he isn’t qualified for it and was willing to harm all the people who come before him in exchange for the job he wants but isn’t qualified to take, and I enjoyed watching him crash and burn.
The way to avoid humiliation like this is to work and be prepared for the jobs you seek.
This isn’t “public service”, taking these jobs. It’s arrogant self-interest and it demeans and devalues everyone who DOES work and prepare. Why should they? Why should anyone bother learning anything or gaining experience if it has no value? If it’s optional then why would anyone do it?
kindness
Apparently Trump thinks the Cleveland River catching on fire was a good thing.
raven
@Amir Khalid: He was an odd dude. By the time I got there, two years later, you couldn’t just waltz across the DMZ like he did. We had fortified it with concertina wire and observations posts.You had to be pretty whack to think it was going to be better over there but who knows what happens to people?
RSA
@Cheryl Rofer: From one of the responses on Twitter:
rikyrah
@OzarkHillbilly:
Look..the Secretary of Exxon has a countdown calendar app in his phone. He is marking down to Day 366. The morning of that day, he would have already arranged for his resignation to be delivered to the White House.
Shalimar
@?BillinGlendaleCA: She sounded lucid this morning. it was scary.
raven
@NotMax: Multiple times.
Kay
All those career employees and experts in DC who are mad at Trump’s low quality hires? They’re right. Hiring people like this demeans and devalues the work they did to get where they are. It’s personal. If “no work or preparation” is treated the same as “work and preparation” then the work they did has no value. They’re suckers and fools for bothering, for buying that it’s a meritocracy. That is a hard thing to accept.
TS
@Amir Khalid:
I don’t believe so – this is his wiki info
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Neely_Kennedy
Enhanced Voting Techniques
So Tillisons one of the best people or deep state?
Trump and that pile of paper, still thinking it’s 1980.
And Trump and that call with Putin, just pathetic.
Another Scott
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I remember taking pictures of Christmas trees in DC a few years ago with an old Canon P&S digital camera. The focus would go all wonky if I was too close (say within 20 feet) of the lights. It was weird. It seems like an obvious thing that any camera should be able to do…
Smartphone cameras are pretty amazing these days, but one has to be careful about the fancy image processing – where’s my hand??
Cheers,
Scott.
B.B.A.
@Cheryl Rofer: He’s a member of the Federal Election Commission. I can totally buy that he’s been focused on administrative/election law, has never practiced litigation, and hasn’t seen the inside of a courtroom since he was sworn in. Perfectly respectable for a lawyer so far removed from litigation to be a bit rusty on the nuts and bolts of trial procedure.
But in that case how the fuck do you go from that to being a trial judge?
satby
@Kay: I never felt sorry for him for a minute. He should have graciously declined the nomination because he certainly knew he wasn’t qualified. That he didn’t and thought he could bullshit his way through a confirmation hearing earned him every cringe-worthy minute he put his own incompetence on display.
Betty Cracker
I’m still dealing with a lot of awful family stuff (gravely ill Gran, miscellaneous other crap), and it is wearing me out. But on the bright side, I hardly even know what’s happening in the news, except for what I see here or on Twitter. I can definitely see the appeal of disengagement!
Jeffro
Rumors abounding on the Twitters that today’s the day Kushner-related indictments drop…
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@raven:
There was a pretty good documentary a few years ago that I caught on Netflix – it covered the deserters. They all had really awful histories, and you had to feel some sympathy for them. To a man, they were alcoholics, were sequestered by the NK regime and squabbled constantly.
Kay
Did anyone else find themselves giving him points for not lying? I was doing that. I decided to give him extra credit for not lying about the motions and deposition questions.
That’s how low the standard is. I was like “well, look at that! A Trump hire who isn’t blatantly lying!”
It wouldn’t have worked anyway because the definitions questions were coming up, and he wasn’t worried because work and experience have no value in Trumpworld, but he does not seem to a be a crazy liar.
satby
@Betty Cracker: take care of you and the family Betty! Keeping your Gram in our thoughts.
ChrisH
With net neutrality repeal I’m thinking in Untouchables terms. Once the votes are there it’s not back to common carrier, let’s just nationalize the broadband network.
OzarkHillbilly
@Betty Cracker: Stay strong.
Kay
@satby:
I felt sorry for him because I knew it would get worse and I could see that knowing dawning on him.
eclare
@rikyrah: Agree, he’s waiting til he doesn’t have to pay the tax that he owes on his stock.
Another Scott
@satby: Yup.
Either he thought the committee and the Senate would rubber-stamp his appointment, or he is so full of himself that he thinks he’s entitled to the job. Either choice is a very, very bad state for our system of appointing judges to lifetime positions.
:-(
And, of course, it reflects even worse on the people who decided to put his name (and the rest of them) forward.
Grr…
Cheers,
Scott.
Spanky
Found this on the front page of the WaPo: Obama’s secret struggle to punish Russia for Putin’s election assault
A long, well-sourced article that ends with this bit about Obama’s long-term plan to punish Russia for helping Trump:
ETA: Holy crap! That’s from back on June 23! I wonder whether Trump has killed the effort yet….
satby
@Kay: no, I didn’t give him credit for not lying! He didn’t think he had to lie about any of it, secure in his privilege that he was entitled to the job just for being him. And a loyal apparatchik for the Party.
woodrowfan
@Patricia Kayden: the people responding to her make me want to bang my head on the desk. Yeah we can still print pamphlets and post signs on telephone poles. But the big corporations will still have the huge megaphones. It’s like saying “we still have knives” by the opposition still has automatic weapons…. technically you’re both armed but it’s not an even fight.
NotMax
General question.
Anyone used the streaming channel Walter Presents?
Raft of European/Scandinavian/Baltic TV I’m curious about available there
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@B.B.A.:
Exactly – trial level work isn’t theoretical, and moves quickly. You have to maintain a broad knowledge base and be able to recall a lot.
I can buy someone who is a little rusty on Federal trial practice being unable to discuss the abstention topic, but his inability to describe a motion in limine and general absence of any experience were disqualifying.
laura
Oh, if only I had the confidence of that mediocre white man, and half a helping of his privilege -I’d be In Charge of some really important stuff and have plenty of underlings to earn my pay.
Cheryl Rofer
@B.B.A.: When I was on jury duty, I was amazed at how the judge and attorneys went through their paces. They had their procedures down and worked through them expeditiously, although generally understandable to a lay person like me. I don’t think someone who’s been doing administrative law can just sweat their first-year textbooks for a week or so and then actually be a judge.
woodrowfan
@Kay: it WAS a meritocracy until November 2016.
germy
@Jeffro:
So far all I’ve seen are stories that he is considering “ditching his White House role” (chicago sun times).
LurkerNoLonger
@Shalimar: People, please. Stop hate-watching Morning Joe and reporting back to us on every idiotic thing that’s said. Thank you.
Cheryl Rofer
@Spanky: That’s from June but probably worth reading again in light of yesterday’s big article on Trump and Russia. (And today’s rumored indictment(s)? One can hope.)
woodrowfan
“Of course I am ready to be a judge. I binge-watched every season of America’s Got Talent before this hearing!! AND I’ve been watching “People’s Court” for years….
O. Felix Culpa
@rikyrah:
Lol. Thank you for the definition and the image, which is simultaneously funny and sad.
OzarkHillbilly
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Huh, and here I thought being nominated by trump was disqualifying all by itself.
germy
JPL
@germy: Jared is in charge of Middle East Peace, how can he ditch it now?
germy
Will he be greeted warmly?
OzarkHillbilly
@woodrowfan: “And Judge Judy is a personal friend of mine.”
Steeplejack
Couple of nagging questions that maybe the hive mind can clear up for me:
1. Last night I saw it reported that Paul Ryan (a) might leave the House or (b) might only leave the speakership but remain in the House. Anybody seen anything more definitive on that? (Stipulated that it’s all rumor and conjecture at this point.)
2. Everybody’s still talking about Rex Tillerson waiting out his one-year deadline so his gigantic tax break will “vest.” But a week or two ago we had a big discussion in which some seemingly reputable sources said the one-year thing is not really a thing. Any more recent clarification on that?
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Oh, and the widow of the shithead Kentucky pastor/legislator that offed himself yesterday said that she wants to “continue his work” by going into the General Assembly in his stead.
She made that announcement less than a day after he blew his brains out while leaving a whiny-assed suicide note that trashed his victim further by maintaining innocence.
These are loathesome people – deplorable, even. I dealt with him before – he colluded with a client’s ex to hide a significant asset in a divorce, and was a complete asshole when I talked to him. One of my officemates had worked on the prosecution team that was looking into one of his arsons, a prosecution that couldn’t happen because ATF botched its evidence handling. His conclusion – the guy is a nasty piece of work, and will say anything to get $$$. They examined a lot of his claims to fame at the time to gauge his truthfulness, and concluded that he was a compulsive liar.
OzarkHillbilly
@JPL: We’re moving our embassy to Jerusalem, moving the ME to the very brink of peace, mission accomplished.
SiubhanDuinne
Judge or coal miner?
Peter Cook does a “compare and contrast.”
Spanky
@Cheryl Rofer: Yep, it’s one of the “Related” articles linked under today’s “Doubting the intelligence, Trump pursues Putin and leaves a Russian threat unchecked”.
Although saying “Doubting” is giving Trump much more of the benefit of a doubt than he deserves.
low-tech cyclist
It’s enough to make me feel sorry for the rest of us that this clown, who has actively gutted the State Department during his brief tenure there and easily qualifies as the worst Secretary of State in my lifetime, still looks so much better than his boss.
germy
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@OzarkHillbilly:
A Kushner brokered Mideast peace looks like this:
Any resistance will be met by whines of “why don’t the Palestinians want peace?”
MattF
I did not know about the original ending of Dr. Strangelove referred to in Anthony Harvey’s obituary. Mind is blown.
Eric S.
@Bostondreams: agreed. Last Jedi was a fun.
danielx
@NorthLeft12:
Now you’re getting it….
Edit: have no fear, Cheryl, the usual vitriolic suspects can maintain the appropriate snark levels.
MattF
@Bostondreams: I intend to see it at the Uptown theater in DC– the very last of the old-timey big-screen movie houses in the area.
bjacques
@rikyrah: Oh, man, during the Democratic primary, someone here had posted some links to hilarious articles calling out hoteps and, indeed, my more insufferable True Progressive Bro friends in mid-2016 were declaring their #woke-ness and being equally dismissive about women’s rights.
J R in WV
Good morning, everyone!
We shopped some yesterday, and tomorrow is our neighbor’s Winter Solstice Celebration, a little early this year, but them’s the breakes (sic) aren’t they? So I’m cooking today, after I speak with the hostess about her desires and intentions for the spread of food tomorrow evening.
This is a bigger gathering than the Thanksgiving evening dinner party, which was a smaller group than usual, as the western neighbors went to a parent’s home for the long weekend. Depending upon the weather, there may be a Yule Bonfire after dinner out back.
But there will be great music picked, libations drunken, food eaten, hugs galore with welcome patting and even kisses and such, and all out in public, too. We have mostly know one another for 35+ years, although there are younger folks who started coming more recently, like 8 or 10 years ago.
Hippys turned trauma nurses and surgical technicials, and scientists and engineers, brewers and ‘stillers and such like. Chatter and serious talk about recipes for beers and wines and meads, and more food.
The best part is the company. We used to get together way more often, for barn raisings and cabin building, and music and dance, but now most folks have those jobs on strange shifts at the hospitals and labs and all such. I’m lucky, I was part of the earliest group to back to college and start a career, so I retired already, and can mock the late starters still working shifts!
Happy Pagan Solstice Celebrations to all!! And to all a Good Night!!!
And how about that Doug Jones guy from Alabama?! Now we can go down there without feeling quite so bad… if you have a reason to, like to register voters for the NEXT Election!
And HOW ABOUT WV State Senator Richard Ojeda, who survived a vicious attack to win his primary and then a seat in the WV Senate, and now running for Congress!! I live in the county just north of Logan County where he is from, and do not know him personally, but I intend to work for his congressional campaign, to knock on doors, to make phone calls, to do whatever can help him become a small part of a Democratic Landslide next year!
Can that young man pump iron, for reals, or what? I would like to see him arm wrestle with (supposed) fellow iron pumper Paul Ryan, and hurt him so that he would have to vote and gavel pound with his other, weaker arm! And do it right there on the podium of the House of Representatives!!
OzarkHillbilly
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: The report from the KyCIR that prompted his suicide: THE POPE’S LONG CON A long read (or listen) but well worth the trip.
OzarkHillbilly
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: This too:
Yes, the Forrest Gump of Kentucky.
geg6
I will be attending a campus wide memorial today and planning a trip to the funeral home early next week for my colleague and friend who was killed Wednesday. Yesterday, the campus was filled with grief counselors and other mental health professionals and we had a pretty intimate meeting with the University president, provost and vice president of Commonwealth campuses. We have certainly gotten all the help and support, from administration and from our colleagues at the other campuses, that we could possibly wish for.
Not really into the holiday mood after all of this. But today is my last day at work until 1/2/18, so stepping away from the scene for a couple of weeks may bring some cheer back in my life when all the mourning rituals have been observed.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@OzarkHillbilly:
Yeah, that article really made the rounds. This is a guy that earned A LOT of local enmity, and left a lot of people financially suffering as well. He was a notorious no pay, slow pay for vendors and contractors, too.
Eric S.
@satby: over the past 10 days I’ve had some interesting times. I had 2 packages of cat litter in order. I got two emails last Friday that both were delivered. On Saturday I got an email one was damaged in transit and undeliverable. I had neither package.
No biggie, I requested replacements and they were promised. Last night i for the sane sequence of emails: 2 saying delivered followed by one saying undeliverable.
I got home at 11pm to find 3 packages, 114 lbs, of cat litter.
rikyrah
@germy:
Yeah Luvvie. I hope Doug picks a few for our donation thermometers.
rikyrah
@J R in WV:
Sounds like a great party planned :)
Amir Khalid
@geg6:
People were asking about you yesterday. I think some needed to be reassured that you were safe. It’s good to hear that the university is helping you and your colleagues deal with this.
NotMax
Brrr. Mid-50s and raining.
Need a GoFundMe for a replicator. Intoning “tea, Earl Grey, hot” isn’t doing jack.
OzarkHillbilly
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Hmmmm…. Now who does that remind me of?
Elizabelle
@geg6: You are in my thoughts. How dreadfully sad to be close to a victim of domestic violence. And I feel for the kids. Tragedy all around.
OzarkHillbilly
@J R in WV:
I’s jealous.
Procopius
@OzarkHillbilly: Soul, shmoul, he has tax reasons he has to stay for a full year. I’ll bet on Day 366 he hands in his letter and runs down the road crying, “Free at last, Free at last, Great Lord Almighty, Free at last.”
jonas
@eclare: Sure enough, first up on Morning Edition today: a conservative radio host to talk about Trump voters’ hurt fee-fees in the wake of Moore’s defeat.
The Moar You Know
@Kay: Piece of shit will get it anyway.
I have first hand experience with just how badly an incompetent judge can fuck up your life. Had a forensics job a while back. Pretty open and shut, from my end. Should have been a four-week trial. The judge, because he was being boycotted by the local DA and was too high up the chain to get most civil cases, got ours. SIX FUCKING YEARS OF MY LIFE. That’s how long it took Judge Bored With Nothing Else To Do to finish it out.
And this guy was a FAR more knowledgeable jurist that that fucking imbecile in that clip. Shit, I’ve read the FRCP. He hasn’t. How is that even possible?
The Moar You Know
@Procopius: Not the case. He gets the bennies after one day.
stinger
I read about the ribbon cutting yesterday, and have wondered ever since — if all those regulations are job-killers, then there must have been more jobs in 1960 than there are now. Right?
Procopius
@NorthLeft12:
Yes, that’s been their plan since soon after the Powell Memo in 1973. Tell people government is the problem, not the solution, and then make government the problem. That’s their plan, and it’s well known, but it’s also working.
BellyCat
@Patricia Kayden: Excellent article!
Perhaps I’ve missed a dedicated thread on the recent Net Neutrality destruction — has there been one? — but the consequences appear profound, and pretty damn bleak.
rikyrah
@Steeplejack:
LarryO said Ryan is running for President. He wants to remove his fingerprints from the Tax Scam.
Lapassionara
@Eric S.: There are lots of UPS fail stories going around. Bad news is deliveries are late. Good news is that packages eventually get delivered. UPS must be trying to handle the holidays on the cheap.
Quinerly
@O. Felix Culpa:
?
JanieM
Since it’s an open thread, and in case no one else has flagged it for the pet lovers here:
The Bangor police brought a rescue dog from Virginia to Maine the other day.
Happy news for once!
Quinerly
@NotMax:
??
Tenar Arha
@OzarkHillbilly: @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
This is something that should be more commonly understood, but somehow gets ignored over and over. Someone who no pays, or pads their expenses is more likely to be or become a “broken stair” and a problem in multiple other ways. Basically there’s a few studies that demonstrate a strong correlation between sexual harassment at work and other lying and manipulative and illegal behavior. One tends to go with the other. In fact that’s sometimes how harassers manage to hide from the next employer, they get fired for the expense report padding instead of the harassment.
Quinerly
@rikyrah:
??
Spanky
@geg6: I’m sorry you’re going through this, even without it being the holidays. Definitely take the time away to make sure you’re OK, and use the resources the school is making available. Even if you don’t think you need it.
germy
WNYT
geg6
@Amir Khalid:
@Elizabelle:
I’m fine. The whole “this feels unreal” part has worn off. Still pretty raw emotionally, but I’m pretty tough and roll with the punches in life. I am, however, seriously worried about our two campus police officers who were the first on the scene and who are blaming themselves for not being able to stop it. And for the staff in our Bistro, who are the ones most directly affected here on campus. Lesli was one of two main chefs and the staff in the housing and food service area is a very close knit, nurturing crew. They are completely devastated, from top to bottom. I can’t even bear to go down there, it’s so emotional among them. They are doing heroic work just getting our students fed through finals and tonight’s graduation without completely falling apart.
Ruviana
@NotMax: Fifties is shorts weather! Warmed up to a balmy 8 degrees here in Upstate NY.
OzarkHillbilly
@germy:
It was a very small theft? So small they even left off the ‘e’?
glory b
@mike in dc: Yeah, I have questions…
gvg
@Eric S.: I hope your cats are happy. How’s your back?
Chet
Obama had a good line for those who thought “regulation” was a dirty word. It was something like “You like your meat with E. Coli, don’t you? That’s because of regulation.”
Miss Bianca
@MattF: I’d love to see that scene – the thought of Dr. Strangelove ending with a pie fight is a truly mind-blowing one.
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@Steeplejack: Here’s a NY Daily News article on whether Tillerson has to stay a year. As far as I can tell, it says no.
Miss Bianca
@SiubhanDuinne: Oh, thank you for the reminder about that sketch! “”My God, what a rigorous exam”…
Mike in DC
@glory b:
One of my African immigrant friends succumbed to hotepism. She sends me youtube links to some crazy conspiracy theory stuff.
NotMax
@Ruviana
Fifties at 5 a.m. feels quite different than does fifties at, say, noon.
Dampness in the air from the rain seeps into the bones.
MCA1
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: A small part of me wanted to see him get the job simply because the exposure of his total ignorance of trial practice in an open court (over which he’s supposed to be presiding) would have been absolutely delicious for lawyers and f’ing humiliating and excruciating for him. It would be as if Joe Pesci was the judge instead of the defendant’s counsel.
There is nowhere to hide and no one to do the work for you when you sit on the bench at the front of a courtroom. He would have quit inside of a month, which would have been as ignominious as getting clowned in a Senate hearing.
SiubhanDuinne
@Miss Bianca:
LOL, that’s exactly the line I kept remembering as I watched the video of that poor sod at the Senate hearing.
Love the whole sketch. “Be careful not to drop that great ‘eavy lump of coal on your foot!” “Wot, me drop a great ‘eavy lump of coal on my foot? You must be out of your OW!!“
hedgehog the occasional commenter
Good morning Juicers. Hugs and strength to Betty.
We have tix to Star Wars later today.
Miss Bianca
@J R in WV: Sounds lovely. Wish I could be there. Agree about Ojeda, he seems like a great guy.
@geg6: Thoughts are with you, geg. So sorry you are all going thru’ this.
Steeplejack
@rikyrah:
O’Donnell was vociferouosly in the “he’s leaving Congress after this term” camp—so vociferous that it made me go back and look again at some of the “he’s going to step down as speaker” stories. What I haven’t seen yet is a story that addresses both possibilities and says which is “correct” (in the context of rumors).
ETA: The thought of Paul Ryan getting anywhere near the presidency sickens me.
SiubhanDuinne
@sylvania:
I know exactly what you mean! If I could, I’d have pie three times a day!
Shalimar
Someone apparently told Trump he is speaking to a police academy graduation rather than new FBI agents. This is painfully stupid. He has no idea what FBI agents do.
Yarrow
@Betty Cracker:
Sending you good thoughts. Hope your grandma is comfortable.
NotMax
@Steeplejack
O’Donnell was also vociferous about repeating that Donald was never, ever going to run.
Let’s just say Larry’s oracular track record is spotty.
Shalimar
@Steeplejack: The reporter on the Ryan retirement story says every single source he talked with said Ryan will step down after the election next November. He also said Ryan will deny it up until the minute he makes the announcement because he will lose leverage over his caucus if he is leaving.
I don’t see any evidence he has any influence over his crazy caucus members now, so I’m not seeing the problem.
Mike in DC
@Shalimar:
He’s going to get a stronger primary challenger because of this, and it also strengthens the position of Randy Bryce. Who’s going to vote for a guy who probably won’t even serve his term?
SiubhanDuinne
@geg6:
The food service crew must be completely chewed up by not only the loss of their colleague but the horrifying way it happened. I hope the memorial service and next week’s funeral help start the healing.
What’s happening with the children, have you heard? I can’t even begin to wrap my mind around what this must be like for them.
Hugs to you and all who knew and loved your friend.
Steeplejack
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady):
Thanks.
Shalimar
@Mike in DC: Ryan obviously wants to keep it quiet. It’s still horrible though. They pretend to care about wasteful government spending, but here he will be intentionally making Wisconsin pay for a special election immediately after he is re-elected. That is pathetic. I hope he loses and saves taxpayers the money.
Edit: Since Ryan clearly wants to be president, this is evidence that he sees running in 2020 as a better path than expecting both Trump and Pence to be impeached.
zhena gogolia
@geg6:
That is so terrible.
Another Scott
@Steeplejack: Dunno who’s right, but the previous thread about what’s going on with Tillerson’s payout is here – with extended excerpts of a Fortune story.
Dunno why so many say that 1 year is some magic time period. Maybe it is, but it doesn’t seem to be related to Tillerson’s taxes.
FWIW.
Cheers,
Scott.
Miss Bianca
@SiubhanDuinne: you know what I can’t understand – and I can’t pretend to understand what’s going thru’ the mind of someone who would do something like this, anyway – is, if there were custody issues with the children, what the HELL kind of ‘solution’ is killing your ex-spouse and then yourself? ‘If I can’t have them – or you – then I don’t give a fuck what happens to them?’ The trauma those poor kids are going to go thru’, and their poor caregivers, too… : (
Ruviana
@NotMax: Fair enough!
Steeplejack
@Shalimar:
“Ryan will step down after the election next November”—as a member of Congress or merely as speaker? That’s my question, not the timing.
The Moar You Know
@Shalimar: Since impeachment (and more importantly, conviction and removal) require majorities that we cannot and will not have, Ryan’s doing the smart thing. He will run in 2020. He will get slaughtered in the primary.
Steeplejack
@Shalimar:
FWIW, O’Donnell said last night that Ryan is positioning himself to run not in 2020 but in 2024, after the Trump stank has (presumably) abated and against whichever Democratic president raises taxes (to pay for the hopefully forgotten Ryan-induced hole in the budget).
Matt McIrvin
@Miss Bianca: He’d probably have killed the kids if he could.
Most likely, toxic masculinity at work. “My identity as a man is threatened because the people I was supposed to own are out of my control. No point in them or me existing any more.”
Steeplejack
@Another Scott:
Thanks for that. I think it was the thread I was remembering.
sherparick
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: That is pretty much the Pence/Adelson/Kushner/Netanyahu “peace proposal.” Apparently Egypt and Saudi Arabia are “OK” with it to as long as they have a free hand to slaughter dissidents and starve Yemen. And our government is apparently planning to launch a “preventive” nuclear war against North Korea that could kill millions (I think that a bunch of Canadians and denizens of Blue states like Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, and California may get drenched by a nice radioactive cloud, if not a few North Korean nukes, is considered a feature, not bug, by Trump, Pence, Kelly, and Huckerbee-Sanders.) I do look forward to the war crime trials when the worm finally turns.
trollhattan
Jesus, it’s like interviewing a prep chef for a senior mechanical engineer position.
And where does the final question about blogging for the KKK arise from?
Amaranthine RBG
@sylvania:
You forgot something annoying that a Sanders supporter said in 2006.
Fair Economist
@eclare:
Yeah, if we can win in Alabama without appealing to Trump voters, it’s not necessary. I’m all for appealing to swing groups that include Trump voters, providing it doesn’t dilute our message or support for the loyal keystones of our arch (like African-Americans) but our winning is not going to be about giving in to obnoxious and even evil demands of the Trump voters.
Eric S.
@gvg: cat, singular. Carrying them one at a time up 3 flights of stairs counted as yesterday’s workout.
Matt McIrvin
@sherparick: Because it’s one of the few ways I have to get a mental handle on something this insane, I’ve been trying to game out how a war that may be a “limited” nuclear war affects Trump’s public support. I hope to God he doesn’t get rewarded with temporary 80-90% job approval like the Bushes with their wars, but I think he will get a rally-around-Daddy trauma spike of some sort, maybe a big one if a whole lot of Americans die. Probably won’t be to a Bush degree because he’s further in the hole and liberals are not going to give him the benefit of the doubt this time. On the other hand, 2001 was a long time ago and people didn’t Never Forget in quite the way they should have Never Forgotten. Maybe he gets up to 65%.
Steeplejack
@trollhattan:
One of Trump’s other unqualified nominees, Brett Talley, did blog about the KKK—but the first, good KKK, not the later, icky KKK.
tobie
Does anyone here have any experience with municipal broadband? I’m wondering if the loss of net neutrality might reinvigorate the movement to make broadband a truly public utility in urban areas. I’d rather give my money to the City of New York (or any other city government) than Verizon or Comcast at this point.
trollhattan
@Steeplejack:
Oh God, I somehow missed that. How…unsurprising.
Steeplejack
@Another Scott:
I reread that Fortune article, and I agree with you: the whole “one year to tax bonanza” meme seems more and more farfetched. Would love to know where that started.
Another Scott
@Steeplejack: At least he had enough sense to withdraw his nomination. Do we dare suppose that Matthew Spencer Petersen has enough self-awareness to do the same?
Cheers,
Scott.
randy khan
@B.B.A.:
The FEC is not exactly a stepping stone to a federal trial court, and from his resume it’s clear he doesn’t have anything resembling the usual qualifications for that kind of job – he worked in a private law firm for 3 years specializing in election law (which is to say, no trial experience) and went to the Hill before he was appointed to the FEC, where he’s been since the end of the Bush II Administration.
SiubhanDuinne
@Miss Bianca:
It is truly heartbreaking.
Brachiator
So, I’m reading about the incompetence of Trump’s judicial nominees
And I’m remembering conservative nutjobs who have argued that people who are not lawyers, but who are just smart and have good common sense, should be judges. None of that elitism stuff.
But this shit, despite Trump’s promise to nominate the best people, is ridiculous.
And the GOP dominated Senate has already confirmed one nominee who had been rated as not qualified by legal groups.
Also, too, note how the GOP leadership is still solidly behind Trump. With him as Idiot in chief, Republicans are getting all their dreams realized. They are never going to dump him.
randy khan
@Steeplejack:
I’m kind of hoping that “step down as speaker” is a euphemism for “will have no choice because he’s no longer in the majority.”
There’s not a lot of precedent in recent times for someone leaving the Speaker job while his party remains in power without also leaving Congress, and I can’t imagine that someone of Ryan’s great self-regard would be willing to submit to the authority of another Republican Speaker, so I’m pretty sure the idea is that he’s planning to leave.
stinger
@J R in WV:
What a wonderful celebration you have coming! And I love the rest of your comment, too — hilarious and hopeful. Happy rest-of-2017, J R in WV, and a great 2018!
Steeplejack
@randy khan:
That’s what I would have thought, but then yesterday there was a sprinkling of “just leaving the speakership” stories. WTF.
SiubhanDuinne
@trollhattan:
That was Brett Talley. You know, the nominee who is married to a member of the WH legal staff but didn’t see fit to mention that little fact. He has subsequently withdrawn his name from consideration.
Here’s a rundown on his bloggery.
Kathleen
@O. Felix Culpa: Psy ops. Trying to depress the vote and or sow dissension between white and black voters.
Brachiator
@randy khan:
This would set up an interesting battle by the plutocrats, the Tea Party, and Steve Bannon to install a Speaker who was more in line with their interests.
Kathleen
@eclare: I expect NYT stories about what Trump voters had for breakfast.
Kathleen
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Streaming services could lease bandwidth from big dogs and become ISP’s but they would have to raise fees.
stinger
@SiubhanDuinne: I love pies too! Fruit pies, meat pies, it’s all good! And I notice a few commenters here, that’s all they ever talk about — it’s a pleasure to read their comments!
Kathleen
@germy: Translation:”Sick, miserable, and dead.”
Shalimar
@Steeplejack: No Speaker in the last 100 years (and possibly ever, but I’m not looking through the rest) has resigned the Speakership and remained in Congress. They lose it because their party loses the majority, they retire, or they resign from Congress because of a scandal. And whatever it is Boehner resigned for. Ryan is talking privately about giving up his seat too.
LongHairedWeirdo
I don’t know about Tillerson “making some good decisions lately.”
An analogy: you have a brain damaged monkey throwing feces, and an advanced member of the great ape family using a stick to break into an anthill; I don’t want to say “poor ape, following a brain damaged monkey,” when the ape deliberately chose to follow the monkey.
I will grant one thing: if Tillerson was playing “I think I’m the best he’s likely to ask, and I can keep him from picking someone worse,” he has my respect for trying. But I still think he knew what he was getting into, and just didn’t realize just how immature, and proudly uninformed, Trump was.
geg6
@SiubhanDuinne:
@zhena gogolia:
@Miss Bianca:
Thanks, guys. I love how BJ is so supportive.
As for what was going through his mind, I don’t know. What I do know is that he was seriously in arrears with his child support and was apparently in contempt of court and a hearing had been scheduled for yesterday where it was expected he would be jailed. The idea of going to jail may have been what sent him around the bend, but I can’t say.
The kids are currently staying with her boyfriend (they had been together for several years and are close to him) and they are all staying with her elderly parents who are having issues of their own.
J R in WV
@Eric S.:
114 pounds of cat litter, sounds like a really happy ending!!!
J R in WV
@geg6:
It’s good to hear how well your University is reacting and being supportive. There’s nothing anyone can do about the co-workers, now with more work and much more tension. I’m also glad you feel calmer now, and that the Balloon Juice community is helping you feel supported.
I’ve avoided the news stories. I know too much already, if you know what I mean. It’s no surprise many of use have been close to this kind of event, they have become so common.I’m glad the kids have their nearly step-father and grandparents, I hope they can support each other in this terrible moment.
But there is nothing we can do to slow or inhibit this kind of activity, like stronger background checks at gun shows and for private sales, mental health for all, crazy things like that will never work for us.
Take care.
Citizen Alan
@B.B.A.:
I simply cannot imagine how it is possible to graduate from any accredited Law School in this country and have no idea what Daubert is or what a motion in limine is. I honestly want him to check his references to make sure that he actually did go to law school and didn’t just lie on his resume.
Citizen Alan
@MCA1:
What?!? He would never quit! Lifetime employment with a six figure salary and the best medical benefits that can be had, plus it’s effectively impossible to get fired for anything less than a felony? And all he has to do is arbitrarily decide who he wants to win and then assign the memo to a law Clerk? We’ll be lucky if he isn’t elevated to an appellate court at some point.
SWMBO
@Shalimar: Nancy Pelosi