Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The willow is too close to the house.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

“woke” is the new caravan.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

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

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

The GOP is a fucking disgrace.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

I really should read my own blog.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Infrastructure week. at last.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

You are here: Home / Books / Monday Evening Open Thread: President Obama Subtweets 2018

Monday Evening Open Thread: President Obama Subtweets 2018

by | 163 Comments

This post is in: , ,

subtweetˈsəbˌtwēt/ noun informal noun: subtweet; plural noun: subtweets; noun: sub-tweet; plural noun: sub-tweets
(on Twitter) a post that refers to a particular user without directly mentioning them, typically as a form of furtive mockery or criticism.
“while he didn’t include Smith’s Twitter handle, that didn’t stop Smith from seeing the post, taking umbrage, and firing off a subtweet of his own”
Origin – early 21st century: blend of subliminal and tweet.

All of those books, as far as I can tell, have been very well reviewed!

The Power is a novel about what might happen if women were suddenly able to physically overpower / abuse men via intimate contact.

Grant is the biography of a president whose well-meaning efforts towards emancipation would be heinously undermined by his successors’ craven and corrupt administration.

Janesville describes what happened in Paul Ryan’s home base when The Glorious Free Market of late-stage evangelical capitalism is unleashed…
***********

Apart from reading lists, what’s on the agenda as we gird for the official end of the holiday season?

Reader Interactions

163Comments

  1. 1.

    Lalophobia

    Okay I need….a little bit of help. My apartment has not had heat since I signed the lease and moved in in February last year. I’ve called multiple times over the last year and had people come and fuck around in the maintenance room multiple times over the last year and I still don’t have heat. Now the water pressure’s down in the whole apartment and I’m afraid that means the pipes are freezing. I live in Illinois, I’m not in the Chicago area; I’m pretty sure I have grounds to report this as illegal, but I’m not sure as of how. Who can I call and what can I do about this? I’ve been trying to look up what I can do but I haven’t had the most luck.

  4. 4.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Lalophobia: Since it’s a holiday, call the police non-emergency number?

    also, I’m not handy but I would say open your kitchen faucet to keep the water running, maybe knock on a few neighbors’ doors and tell them to do the same thing?

  5. 5.

    Major Major Major Major

    I’m somewhere in Bairro Alto in Lisbon and I’m going to read some until I get sleepy, is what’s on the agenda! Can’t wait to see what Portugal looks like when it isn’t all sodium lights in an old Europe urban canyon.

  6. 6.

    Mnemosyne

    @Lalophobia:

    Start by looking on your county’s website for renter’s rights. I’m pretty sure that in Illinois, your landlord is required by law to provide heat in the winter just like running water is required, but IANAL.

  7. 7.

    MomSense

    I’ve had such a terrible year for reading. I’d like to be better about carving out time for books this year.

  8. 8.

    Fair Economist

    @Lalophobia: Call your city government; they will at least be able to tell you where to go. They won’t be open until tomorrow, though.

  9. 9.

    debbie

    @Lalophobia:

    First, check your lease and make sure it says the landlord is responsible for providing heat. Then call City Hall in the morning and ask them who can assist you. Every city’s different so I’m not sure you can get specific advice here. Is there a number you can call for general complaints (here, we can call 311)?

  10. 10.

    Mnemosyne

    @Yutsano:

    I love the subtle trolling embedded in the list. I’m waiting for the Kindle version of Grant to go on special. Alexander Hamilton by the same author was an excellent read.

  13. 13.

    Schlemazel

    @Lalophobia:
    I have no clue what your legal rights are in Illinois but here the landlord would be in a lot of trouble. If you are not getting a response from the landlord I would suggest you get as many tenants as possible to cal the local TV station & see if they will run a news story. Tomorrow you should contact legal aid and the city government in your area.

  14. 14.

    Luthe

    @Lalophobia: The local health department is responsible for enforcing the housing code in most cities; call them ASAP. If your apartment is below a certain temperature, the landlord might have to pay to put you up in a hotel until the heat is fixed. Even if you *pay* for the heat, the landlord is responsible for ensuring the heating equipment works.

  15. 15.

    mai naem mobile

    @Lalophobia: if it’s a private owner and not some big company I would look them up and if you can get their phone number, Facebook whatevwr I would let them know because they might have a crappy manager. Otherwise send a registered return mail requesting they fix it. If you happen to have the previous times you’ve called them wRittenhouse down stick it in the letter. There might be a tenants rights organization in your city/town. They might give you more specific free advice. They may also know if your landlord is a scumball. Hope you have renters insurance in case the pipes burst.

  16. 16.

    Luthe

    Oh my god, A Gentleman in Moscow is about a man sentenced to house arrest in a luxury hotel (in Moscow). That is 11-dimensional subtweeting right there.

  18. 18.

    LAO

    @Lalophobia: I did a quick google search. Every residential lease in Illinois has (if not explicit) an implied warrant of habitability. Which, if I remember from law school, includes providing heat. Not sure what jurisdiction you are in but you have the right to bring legal action. Is there no enforcement office in your county?

  20. 20.

    Bill Arnold

    @Luthe:
    I’m also being amused by google autocomplete, which is auto-completing and offering as first choice these titles after a word or two.

  23. 23.

    mai naem mobile

    I honestly don’t think Dolt45,his family, his cabinet, WH higher ups or GOP leaders would understand this kind of trolling. Possibly Mitt Romney because of his total education. Maybe Munchkin or Gary Cohn but not both. But I doubt it.

  26. 26.

    Kathleen

    Comment winner:
    Jeff Runnels Donald Trump’s 2017 Best Books and Songs List.
    Books? I read the best books, tremendous books, believe me. People say I don’t read books. They say, Oh, Donald Trump doesn’t read books because he’s not, uh, [Inaudible]. But frankly, in my opinion, they should come to me, which they have come to me, on books. Because, we are working. … We’re trying to do something about it. And they should definitely come to me on books. So, that’s that. And, to be frank, let’s just say — I think that Bob Mueller will be fair, and everybody knows that there was no collusion.
    And about songs – I know many songs, many good songs, many tremendous songs. But the very dishonest media – and I mean truly dishonest people in the media and the fake media, they make up stories about me and songs. They have no sources in many cases. They say “a source says” — there is no such thing. But they don’t report the facts. They don’t tell you [Inaudible], because I have the best songs. And by the way, excuse me – I didn’t deal with Russia. I won because I was a better candidate by a lot. I won because I campaigned properly and she didn’t. And let me tell you, virtually every Democrat has said there is no collusion. There is no collusion. And even these committees that have been set up. If you look at what’s going on — and in fact, what it’s done is, it’s really angered the base and made the base stronger. My base is stronger than it’s ever been. Great congressmen, in particular, some of the congressmen have been unbelievable in pointing out what a witch hunt the whole thing is. So, I think it’s been proven that there is no collusion.

  28. 28.

    JustRuss

    @Lalophobia: Try googling your city’s name and “tenant rights”. Should find some resources to help. Good luck, I would think no heat since February would entitle you to serious compensation and maybe punitive damages…IANAL.

  29. 29.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    The “can you imagine if Obama had…” game is usually aimed at Republicans, but this is/was a case of the press being weak, stupid and lemming-like

    Chris Hayes
    Half of Puerto Rico still has no power and ***a thousand people died*** there largely, it appears, because of insufficient storm response.

    rian Beutler @ brianbeutler
    Instructive to revisit the way the press treated Deepwater Horizon. Puerto Rico could use some of that breathlessness.

    also, because they’re two Dems I hate, Carville and Rendell were two of the biggest blowhards on Deepwater

  31. 31.

    JustRuss

    @Baud: I hate to see media sniping at each other, but FTFNYT has been walking around with a big self-applied “Kick Me” sign for too damn long, good for the Post for pointing that out.

  32. 32.

    SFAW

    @Kathleen:

    About the only things the Runnels comment is missing is “I write the best books, I know more about books than the best author.” and likewise for songs.

    I am so hoping for him and Dense to be frog-marched out of the WH in the not-too-distant future.

  33. 33.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @Baud: Thanks. I hadn’t read the October New York Times article in a while, although I’ve used it on Twitter to troll Maggie Haberman and others. When it came out and I read it, I had the sick feeling of a parallel to Judith Miller’s story on the intel community and the aluminum tubes. I was looking for that readout, because I knew people who would be contributing to it and who knew how to make centrifuges. I took Miller’s assurances that the IC was united in their belief that the aluminum tubes could be used for centrifuges. We later learned that it was a CIA guy who knew nothing about centrifuges who pushed that story. Two agencies dissented: State and DOE, the guys I knew and who got it right.

    The October article had the same feel of not saying everything and slanting in a particular direction. My feeling at the time was that things were starting to break: the Alfa Bank computer communications, Harry Reid’s letter, and more. And then the Times pours cold water on it, but without specifics, much as Miller’s article played up the centrifuge possibility. The FBI even gave the Times reporters a broad hint, which has been repeated by prominent figures in government.

    “It isn’t about the election,” a second senior official said, referring to the aims of Russia’s interference. “It’s about a threat to democracy.”

    But no direct links to Trump had been found and publicized, so no problem, amirite?

    I wonder how many votes that article influenced.

    The Times owes us a reconsideration of their election coverage, but it probably won’t come as long as Dean Basquet is editor.

  35. 35.

    Mnemosyne

    On the one hand, it’s 20 minutes to five here and I’m still in my pajamas.

    On the other, I got 14 pages of my novel revised, wrote a 2-page synopsis of it, and sent it all off to the leaders of the workshop I’m taking in two weeks, so are street clothes really so important? ?

  37. 37.

    MomSense

    @Mnemosyne:

    Ha!! I changed out of my pajamas at about 4 because I thought it would be weird to have a beer while still in my pajamas.

    No writing for me today but I think I may have an illustrator.

  40. 40.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @Lalophobia: Not sure if you are in a city or rural area but when I had an issue in Champaign, IL with a mouse infestation that I called several times about without any response. The city sent an inspector by to verify the problem and then let the landlord know he’d been reported and violations had been found and they responded fast.So I would start with the city if you’re in a city.

  44. 44.

    danielx

    Apart from reading lists, what’s on the agenda as we gird for the official end of the holiday season?

    Trying to keep warm is right up there on the list.

  46. 46.

    Citizen_X

    @dmsilev:

    This is going to play out like the second half of Flowers For Algernon, isn’t it?

    Or like HAL 9000 getting his logic circuits yanked out.

  47. 47.

    Ian G.

    Found a Snowy Owl down at Jones Beach this afternoon, though it wasn’t much of a hunt, given that a number of hardcore birders had already set up with spotting scopes and cameras in the dunes near one parking lot at the West end of the beach. I knew they had found something rare, it turned out to be a Snowy.

    The bird was laying low, probably trying to keep out of the wind. Even a freakin’ Arctic species found the -15 wind chill unpleasant. Most birds seemed to be hunkered down, trying to keep out of the wind. Only a handful of ducks and geese out on the bay.

    I lasted less than 10 minutes outside, it was so painfully cold. I quipped to one border that the owl is much better evolved to handle this weather than I am.

  48. 48.

    Omnes Omnibus

    For those interested, TCM is showing a pair of stylish caper flicks tonight, Charade (just starting now) and then Gambit.

  49. 49.

    Roger Moore

    @dmsilev:

    This is going to play out like the second half of Flowers For Algernon, isn’t it?

    Except Trump is starting from a way lower baseline than what Charlie achieved.

  50. 50.

    Starfish

    @Lalophobia: I found this. There are a couple of organizations on renters rights and renters unions mentioned on that page that may have more information for you.

    If your landlord is a small landlord, telling him that the water pressure is down and that you are afraid that the pipes might freeze and burst may get the person to treat this problem with a sense of urgency because the water damage to the property from a burst pipe would be great.

    In some states, you can do rent escrow and put your rent payments into an escrow account until the landlord fixes things, but I am not sure if you can do that in Illinois.

  52. 52.

    dmsilev

    Leaving Hoth Boston tomorrow to head back to the LA area; can’t wait to shock and appall my coworkers by telling them of (willingly) walking out into below zero temperatures.

  57. 57.

    Stan

    The trolling starts strong right out of the gates: “During my presidency, I started a tradition…”

  60. 60.

    J R in WV

    I’m convinced that Pinch Sultzberger, current publisher of the partly family-owned New York Times, is either inclined to hate American democracy on his own, or is vulnerable and totally owned by those who hate democracy of all kinds. Thus he uses his hugely influential news organ to cause his nation to make the most horrible, dangerous and despicable decisions.

    This goes back decades and may be connected to the Pentagon Papers episode in the Vietnam-Nixon era. Remember, the Times didn’t actually publish those documents, the Washington Post did!

    Just as they are reacting heroically to recent political disasters today, they did the largest part of bringing down Richard Nixon, first President known to have been elected after committing treason to help himself win that terrible election in 1968. While the N Y Times, not so much!

  62. 62.

    SFAW

    Adam or AL –
    I’m a-guessin’ that the dickweed at # 55 is the latest incarnation of “shomi.” Who, if I recall, has been banned multiple times.

  63. 63.

    dmsilev

    @SFAW: My parents live in Brookline, so pretty close in to the city per se. Wasn’t really out and about all that much; I think Cambridge was about as far as we went this week.

  64. 64.

    danielx

    @dmsilev:

    heh….friends of mine moved from Venice to Vermont after the Rodney King riots. One extreme to the other indeed…a friend of theirs from LA flew back east to visit them, landed in Boston and took train up to Vermont. Unfortunately, this was in January and she got off at a stop without shelter, wearing very nice fashion boots and leather jacket. Fifteen degrees….she was in hysterics by the time they got there to pick her up.

  65. 65.

    Bostondreams

    As a sometimes homesick Massachusetts boy, this brings a smile to my heart, though my wife will be miserable. :/

    “A Wind Chill Advisory is now in effect for ALL of #NFla through 10 am tomorrow. “Feels like” temps in the upper teens and low 20s likely. You MUST dress appropriately or risk frostbite if spending extended time outdoors.”

  67. 67.

    SFAW

    @J R in WV:

    Well, he’s been after the Clintons since he took over from Punch in 1992. My (admittedly weak) memory is that Punch (i.e., Pinch’s father) was pretty good as a publisher. I’m hoping that the soon-to-be new publisher will be more like his grandfather than his father.

  68. 68.

    dmsilev

    @SFAW: He/she/it seems fascinated or obsessed with variants of the phrase ‘wrong-way Cole’. And keeps coming back, over and over again. It’s kind of odd. I sort of understand trolling, but this isn’t even that, it’s just pathetic obsession.

  69. 69.

    SFAW

    @dmsilev:

    Yeah, it does seem a bit bizarre. [Or, as you might hear the Beantown locals say: “bizaah.”]

    Sorry we didn’t have warmer weather for you. On the other hand, ya bastid, you coulda brung some wit’ ya.

  70. 70.

    Roger Moore

    @J R in WV:
    I think a huge part of it is that being “the paper of record” is just another way of saying “the official paper of the establishment”. FTNYT absolutely does not want to acknowledge the establishment has gone off the rails, so they’re going to do everything in their power to justify why everything is just fine.

  71. 71.

    dmsilev

    @Bostondreams: My parents’ next door neighbor sent her daughter to college in Atlanta and was there on a visit when there was a chance of a freeze and a small amount of snow in the forecast. She said that radio stations were advising people to only go out if they absolutely had to and to be sure to carry emergency rations, flares, blankets, and other such supplies in their cars in case they were stranded by the weather and needed to be rescued.

  72. 72.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Kathleen: Trump would simply pick any books written by Rightwingers about how great he is and how he has singlehandedly saved the United States from an evil Kenyan Muslim usurper. I’m sure there are many out there although they are completely out of my sphere of knowledge.

  73. 73.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: IIRC Keith Olbermann was banging that drum every night too. Although I don’t think he used the phrase, it seemed to be his way of showing that he was ready to call out “Obama’s Katrina.”

  74. 74.

    Mnemosyne

    @SFAW:

    I think it’s Unlimited Corporate Cash, actually. Shomi is back under a different nym but has been attempting to (mostly) behave himself.

  78. 78.

    Roger Moore

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Just imagine what would happen if we got widespread snow in LA

    I assume people would continue to drive as if nothing were happening, resulting in the whole city turning into a single gigantic traffic jam.

    ETA: though people seem to manage when there’s snow in the passes.

  80. 80.

    Mnemosyne

    @dmsilev:

    be sure to carry emergency rations, flares, blankets, and other such supplies in their cars

    Carrying all that stuff is SOP in the Midwest, which is why I don’t live in the Midwest anymore. I could see transplants from other parts of the South getting into big trouble even in a mild freeze or smallish snowfall if they weren’t prepared. People don’t realize that you can suffocate sitting in a snowbound car with the engine turned on.

  81. 81.

    Mokum

    @Mike J: in Urbana,Illinois it is called the city housing and property inspector. Renters can request a safety inspection. Had good xperience with them. They also deal with no heat etc.

  82. 82.

    Mnemosyne

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    I suspect UCC of using another commenter’s catchphrase to cover his tracks given the content of the comment posted here. Shomi’s usually not a racist asshole.

  85. 85.

    Mnemosyne

    So it looks like two of our cats caught a feline cold virus. Good thing we can’t catch it from them.

    (When two cats start having sneezing fits, I assume they have the same cold.)

  89. 89.

    Mnemosyne

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I was wondering why Charlotte was being extra snuggly today. I think that may be the reason why. She always wants extra time with her monkeys when she’s feeling under the weather.

  94. 94.

    Mary G

    I’ve been periodically checking on the Rose Bowl online and it looks like Raven picked a doozy!

  95. 95.

    lamh36

    So I had a 24 hour new year’s moratorium in place for tweeting and being online. I come back after 24hrs and one of the first things I see is this…

    Newsweek tweets out photo of MLK in a casket, then deletes it via @theGrio

    Newsweek published a story Monday to let everyone know 2018 marks the 50-year-anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination.

    To make their point, the magazine tweeted out a picture of the civil rights legend in a casket.

    TF?

    Newsweek has since deleted the tweet, but it can be seen in full below: (Ugh…the thumbnail makes me so sick…I can’t even look at the actual tweet w/o cringing)

    No one in the world knows exactly what Newsweek was thinking. To post a picture of a deceased Dr. King instead of a normal picture of him alive, is just mind-boggling.

    Dr. King’s daughter Bernice King has weighed in via Twitter:

    @BerniceKing
    Why, @Newsweek? Wow. https://twitter.com/newsweek/status/947912902874423297 …

    1:47 PM – Jan 1, 2018

    ..

    Someone’s head should roll over this, but I’m sure it won’t…

  96. 96.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @chris: The fact that he designed and patented a gas mask the can be worn with facial hair is a big deal. The incompatibility of facial hair and gas masks has caused tension more than a few times in the military.

  100. 100.

    lamh36

    So I watched Bright on Netflix and I agree with what EVERYONE says, both those who liked it and those who hate it.

    I’m pretty much down the middle. I can see what they were trying to do, but it was heavy handed as hell. But the source material was interesting, and if handled better could have been much more interesting…

    Anyway…I watched it…I’ll give it a solid MEH…

  103. 103.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Bostondreams: Yep, cold front came through last night. It’s been drizzly/misty, damp, and chill all day. And now the wind has picked up. People here are convinced it’s coldmeggedon. Or coldnarok. Or coldpacoplypse now!

  104. 104.

    Mike in NC

    Today our low was 28 with Artic-level winds, though in our call to my brother’s family in Boston last night they said the current temperature was either 8 or 12, just cannot remember (or imagine). They minded the snow less than the cold.

  108. 108.

    Adam L Silverman

    @dmsilev: When I was an undergrad at Emory we got snow during my senior year. No more than an inch or two. Everything shut down. Everyone freaked out.

  109. 109.

    Mary G

    @lamh36: The picture is bad enough, but the caption is beyond awful and past despicable. If I had a subscription, I’d cancel it.

  110. 110.

    Bostondreams

    @Adam L Silverman:

    My wife has a literal allergy to cold, which is apparently a real thing (and has prevented us moving back north), so the fact that we are going to be so cold in Florida does not make her happy. :/

  111. 111.

    Mnemosyne

    @lamh36:

    Okay, I could see A rationale for reminding people that Dr. King was murdered by a white supremacist, and running the picture for the same reason that Emmett Till’s mother asked for his funeral photo to be widely published. But even if that’s what Time meant to do, it sounds like they managed to fuck it up. ?

  112. 112.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Mary G: I thought Newsweek had morphed into “The Daily Beast”, but from some stuff I’ve seen in the past few months, it’s still around and seems to publish some pretty questionable stuff.

  113. 113.

    Mike in NC

    @lamh36: You watch so that others of us can skip. Today we had an urge to rewatch “L.A. Confidential”, which many critics rated as the best movie of 1997. At the time, Russell Crowe was unknown in this country.

  114. 114.

    lamh36

    I’m so excited X-Files is back on Wednesday for season 11!

    Looking at the promos, looks like their learned from the last season and are going back to well with some of the great and iconic characters…plus same ole Mulder/Scully chemistry looks fantastic!

    And seeing as Gillia A has already said she won’t be back for another season after this one, I’d like to hope this 10 episode season give a chance for the Mulder/Scully storyline to end better than it did in the first run and the last movie.

    The Mulder & Scully Relationship | Season 11 | THE X-FILES

    They had me last season, and they’ve got me this next one…can’t wai

  115. 115.

    Mnemosyne

    @Mike in NC:

    Guy Pearce was even more of an unknown, so it was really ballsy to cast them as the co-leads. Kevin Spacey is also good as a sleazeball, though his character is not nearly as sleazy as he turned out to be IRL.

  119. 119.

    Ruviana

    @SFAW: He took over today. Note from the New Publisher on the front page on line. We’ll see if it makes a difference at all.

  120. 120.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Omnes Omnibus: My Area Specialty Officer, a retired 18D (Green Beret shooting medic from Vietnam) was a veteran of the handlebar mustache wars.

  121. 121.

    Mary G

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I seem to remember that it closed the print edition and went online only. Looking at their Twitter they seem to have gone with the outrageous clickbait strategy

    The father of late souls singer Amy Winehouse says that artist's ghost still visits her family in Kent https://t.co/LyleJXTeJ1 pic.twitter.com/Vvy7gk3Xzn— Newsweek (@Newsweek) January 2, 2018

    and

    It's so cold in Canada that a zoo had to bring its penguins inside https://t.co/v2OoiaIrvs pic.twitter.com/QV3raxIFSL— Newsweek (@Newsweek) January 2, 2018

    Plus somewhat straighter news, but not much.

    Georgia won! Thank god Raven went ahead and came out for the game. First OT ever at the Rose Bowl.

  122. 122.

    gene108

    @Bostondreams:

    I think Shadowrun would make a good action-comedy, if done as a movie or mini-series.

    The game can be pretty dark, but people are always doing silly stuff and cracking jokes, when they are playing RPG’s. I think the silly stuff and wise cracks could be used in a movie or Netflix style series.

  127. 127.

    J R in WV

    @SFAW:

    Before all our times, the NYT published gonad-licking stories about how how good a leader Herr Hitler would be for Europe. Covered American Nazi Party rallies at Madison Square Garden, with approval.

    I don’t recall how they treated FDR’s New Deal attempt to save the world from the Great Depression, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they worked hard for the wealthy, who thought that providing food to starving people, or CCC jobs to people with no hope, would spoil them for hard work in the factories.

    @Roger Moore:

    I agree with you – nothing can be allowed to show that the establishment is crazed beyond being able to govern a tea party for 7 year olds.

  128. 128.

    Mike in NC

    @Omnes Omnibus: Rotten Tomatoes rated the film with 99% positive responses, which is quite phenomenal. Need to catch up on what the writer/director did after that.

  129. 129.

    trollhattan

    Dang Rose Bowl was one hecka game–102 total points(!?!)

    Program note: while the nation freezes it hit 65 here and except for when I had to don my fancy eatin’ pants I’ve been in shorts and flipflops since before Christmas. December rain total: 0.13 inch. California drought is back, baby.

  130. 130.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Omnes Omnibus: The history of Sikhism is pretty interesting. Its one India’s youngest religions, inspired by both Sufi and Bhakti teachings, they were a non-violent sect until their skirmishes with the Mughals, a couple of their gurus were killed by the Mughal emperors mainly because they didn’t embrace Islam. So it is kind of ironic that they were targeted in this country and mistaken for being Muslim.

  133. 133.

    Mnemosyne

    @Mike in NC:

    Sadly, director Curtis Hanson died a few years ago, but he directed some good movies, including Wonder Boys.

    Writer Brian Helgeland managed to win both an Oscar and a Golden Raspberry in the same year because he was the credited screenwriter for The Postman. He asked to be given a physical Golden Raspberry award so he could display it alongside the Oscar. ?

  135. 135.

    Mnemosyne

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I double-checked with IMDb and Helgeland is only the 4th person to be given an actual Razzie statuette. Most people refuse the “honor,” for obvious reasons. Not sure who the other three were.

    ETA: He’s also an alumnus of my MFA program, which is top 10 but not #1.

  146. 146.

    J R in WV

    I had a full beard, as allowed by Navy Regs during my time in service, at firefighter school. We had to eat smoke, or breath via a rebreather set. Which meant I had to draw my straps really tight. Really tight.

    It was comforting when the trainer came into the fire and smoke to check me out, and help me get squared away. A little scary to know in a real fire disaster there probably wouldn’t be a chief looking out for all the guys on the end of the hose. But knowing Chief Petty Officers, maybe there would be after all.

    Someone kept the Forrestal from sinking, after all. Mostly Petty Officers is my bet. And Warrants. Lord knows LT Commander McCain didn’t help any.

  148. 148.

    Mike in NC

    In the Navy, I once had to drive cross country from San Diego to Newport, RI. Spent a night outside of Oklahoma City where the smell of cow manure was asphyxiating. Also, too, a brawl in the parking lot left me sleeping with a chair jammed against the door.

  149. 149.

    Amir Khalid

    @Mary G:
    Mitch Winehouse strikes me on occasion as a wannabe singer, perhaps a little envious of his daughter’s success, and something of an opportunist himself.

  151. 151.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Amir Khalid: I didn’t see it but a friend of mine told me that the documentary on Amy pretty much made her father out to be a cretin

  154. 154.

    Mike in NC

    @J R in WV: The Navy banned beards in 1985 when I left active duty. The gas mask rationale was bullshit since everybody knew there was almost no chance of needing to don gas masks under normal everyday conditions. It was just another attempt to go back to the glory days of WW2 (where a few commands — like submarines — did permit beards).

  156. 156.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Mike in NC: While that may be true of the navy, the army had real concerns about chemical warfare going into the Persian Gulf War. We got to see film of the Iran-Iraq War and the aftermath of chemical attacks. After what I saw in those films, I would stay as clean shaven as I could in combat conditions; I’d want a tight seal on my mask.

  157. 157.

    Yutsano

    @Omnes Omnibus: FWIW he is originally from Colorado living in Utah now. We banter on Twitter every now and again.

    Also: Have a good friend going in at Fort Sill right now. Fortunately half his AIT is in San Antonio.

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