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You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / Monday Morning Open Thread: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Monday Morning Open Thread: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

by Anne Laurie|  January 15, 20184:59 am| 142 Comments

This post is in: Domestic Politics, Don't Mourn, Organize, Open Threads, Post-racial America, Daydream Believers, Rare Sincerity

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Some history I didn’t know, from the Washington Post — “This was Martin Luther King Jr.’s most ambitious dream”:

I was 14 when my parents took my brother and me to Washington to witness the masses gathering there. It was the spring of 1968, and thousands of African Americans, American Indians, Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Asian Americans and poor whites from across the country had made their way to the Mall to protest the thing they all had in common: poverty.

They came by train, bus and car caravans. Some traveled by mule carts. They came from farm towns, big cities, the Appalachian hills and Native American reservations. It was the start of the Poor People’s Campaign.

And they brought the nation’s attention to the crippling effects of poverty — and issued a demand for jobs, training, health care and affordable housing. This was the mission of Resurrection City — the final vision of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and, perhaps, his most ambitious dream.

Once they reached the Mall, they built Resurrection City. It became home for more than 6,000 people; they were there for six weeks. They built 540 tents that resembled wooden shanties, where they lived, worshiped, held meetings, set up Head Start classes and received medical care…

For all its pioneering work, the Poor People’s Campaign failed to realize its aims, in part because there is no simple solution to the nation’s economic ills. Resurrection City brought to light the country’s poverty problem but, befitting its muddy ground, found itself in a social and political quagmire — one that failed to design and construct a strategy for addressing poverty decades into the future.

Today we find ourselves in another pivotal moment in our history — one in which poverty is pervasive and knowledge of its scope scarce. Revisiting the Poor People’s Campaign offers a new vantage point into our shared story, a rich body of knowledge to inform our debates and a model for exposing injustice…

***********

Apart from community service, what’s on the agenda as we start the new week?

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Reader Interactions

142Comments

  1. 1.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 15, 2018 at 5:27 am

    I think I finally caught that cold everyone has been passing around. I feel like the dog that caught the car.

  2. 2.

    Aimai

    January 15, 2018 at 5:49 am

    I feel under a lot of pressure and fantasize about getting sick so I can step back from a caregiver role—not with my patients but with everyone else. My mother requires a lot right now, my father some, my daughters some, and I spent the weekend dealing alternately—like phone calls with one while visiting the other, dealing with either my mom or a dying friend. Classes start this week (last semester before graduation) and my internship ends in may. I’m exhausted.

  3. 3.

    rikyrah

    January 15, 2018 at 6:05 am

    Good Morning Everyone ???

  4. 4.

    Quinerly

    January 15, 2018 at 6:12 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Enjoy!?

  5. 5.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 15, 2018 at 6:15 am

    Cursed are the cheesemakers

    Well obviously it’s not meant to taken literally, it’s to refer to any manufacturer of dairy products.

    One is a revered sheep’s milk cheese, as Spanish as acorn-fed pigs, a famously insane knight errant or the napkin-strewn floor of a tapas bar. The other is a mild cow’s milk cheese, sometimes bulked out with vegetable oil, that is sold cheaply in Mexican supermarkets and stuffed into quesadillas.

    The two cheeses share a name, manchego, but they have about as much in common as a Spanish tortilla and its Mexican namesake. That is how they have come to be at the centre of a standoff that is slowing down a major trade deal between Mexico and the European Union.

  6. 6.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 15, 2018 at 6:24 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Get plenty of rest, and whatever meds help with that, and it should be over in a couple of days. Except the cough, which can last anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months.

  7. 7.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 15, 2018 at 6:32 am

    Miss Kitty Stormborn, The Unburnt, Breaker of Chains, Destroyer of Vermin, Killer of Copperheads, is on the hunt for a squirrel that has been getting just a wee bit to noisy in it’s home making.

  8. 8.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 15, 2018 at 6:34 am

    I went on a photoshoot last night and took my IR camera, here’s a pic of the Colorado Street bridge(aka the suicide bridge) with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals building in the background.

    ETA: Right now I’m exporting pics for a sunset timelapse.

  9. 9.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 15, 2018 at 6:35 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: As of right now, it’s just an insistent cough.

  10. 10.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 15, 2018 at 6:37 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: If it keeps you awake, then get some cough syrup. Mucinex DM-Max was what I used(you have to show ID to get it, so it must be good), YMMV.

  11. 11.

    Immanentize

    January 15, 2018 at 6:42 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: that is all I ever had with my version. Persistent cough. About six weeks. I feel for you and hope yours is much less…

  12. 12.

    Immanentize

    January 15, 2018 at 6:43 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Very nice. Reminds me of LOR and the White City….

  13. 13.

    raven

    January 15, 2018 at 6:45 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Mine is hanging on.

  14. 14.

    satby

    January 15, 2018 at 6:47 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: @?BillinGlendaleCA: @Immanentize: I thought I dodged that bullet since for me it was the worst head cold I ever had in my life, but lately the nagging cough has surfaced. I have to go to a travel doctor anyway, so I’m going to see if it’s too late for the pneumonia shot too.

  15. 15.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 15, 2018 at 6:47 am

    @Immanentize: Last time we were in London, we stayed close to a tube stop called “White City”, I thought it rather odd(and a bit racist) until I stumbled into it’s origin. It was the site of a World Exhibition that London hosted in the late 19th or early 20th century and all the buildings were white, it was also the site of London’s first Olympic Stadium. The area is now a rather large shopping mall, and I don’t believe that any of the buildings survive.

  16. 16.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 15, 2018 at 6:48 am

    Scientists confirm what women always knew: men really are the weaker sex

    Women are more likely than men to survive in times of famine and epidemics, research has found.

    While it has long been known that women have a higher life expectancy than men in general, analysis of historical records stretching back 250 years shows that women have, for example, outlived men on slave plantations in Trinidad, during famines in Sweden and through various measles outbreaks in Iceland. Even when mortality was very high for both sexes, women still outlived men, on average, by six months to four years, according to the report (pdf) by Duke University in North Carolina.

    The datasets included seven groups of people for whom life expectancy was 20 years or under for one or both sexes. Among them were working and former slaves in Trinidad and the US in the early 1800s; people experiencing famine in Sweden, Ireland and the Ukraine in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries; and Icelanders affected by the 1846 and 1882 measles epidemics.

    Lead researcher Virginia Zarulli, from the University of Southern Denmark’s Institute of Public Health, attributed the life expectancy gender gap to biological factors such as genetics and hormones, with the simple conclusion that “newborn girls are hardier than newborn boys”.

  17. 17.

    satby

    January 15, 2018 at 6:48 am

    @rikyrah: Good morning ?!

  18. 18.

    satby

    January 15, 2018 at 6:50 am

    Ironically, two people in a staff of six are sick at the doctor’s office so I am going in this afternoon to help them. So today is my last day.

  19. 19.

    Quinerly

    January 15, 2018 at 6:51 am

    Out of the Trump loop for a few days. Am I understanding correctly that Trump PLANNED on using the “shit hole” comment in the meeting? Can’t find a link but MJ is saying that Trump called around BEFORE the meeting to get feedback from friends/supporters as to how they thought such remarks would play if he used them. I had heard some blurbs that he called around after but not the BEFORE part. All premeditated/planned if true.

  20. 20.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 15, 2018 at 6:54 am

    @satby: Yeah. Suuuurrrre…..

  21. 21.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 15, 2018 at 6:56 am

    @Quinerly:

    All premeditated/planned if true.

    trump can’t pre-plan his bowel movements. And yes, I am speaking of his mouth.

  22. 22.

    satby

    January 15, 2018 at 6:57 am

    @Quinerly: if that’s true he has lousy advisors. Yeah, it fuels his white supremacist base and racists who are ok with being called racist, but that’s not enough to win elections.

  23. 23.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 15, 2018 at 6:59 am

    @Quinerly: I think that may be correct, and Steven Miller packed the meeting(it was originally supposed to be just Trump, Durbin and Graham) with additional anti DACA Senators and Congresscritters.

  24. 24.

    aimai

    January 15, 2018 at 7:00 am

    @Quinerly: Doubtful, he is said to have called around after. I don’t think he does pre-plan much. He’s a seat of the pants kind of guy.

  25. 25.

    Quinerly

    January 15, 2018 at 7:00 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: That has been my feeling too. MJ seems to be backing off what he said for the first 40 mins of the show. He seems to have had his timeline off. All phone calls made by Trump discussing his language were made AFTER the remarks were made and reported. Anybody else watching Morning Joe?

  26. 26.

    satby

    January 15, 2018 at 7:02 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I told the doctor I would come back to help if anyone got hit by a bus partly to make myself feel better about leaving, and the manager called my bluff before I was even gone. But this is the last day even if they’re still short handed tomorrow. I have stuff to get handled before my trip in 9 days.

  27. 27.

    ThresherK

    January 15, 2018 at 7:02 am

    I have neglected to look at the Conservative / MLK Compass today. Where is the needle pointing this January 15th, “Really a Conservative” or “Uppity Neeegrowww”?

    —

    In other news, I’m looking at a used Subaru today. It has that “Not rolled and sitting in the middle of a field” thing going for it.

  28. 28.

    satby

    January 15, 2018 at 7:03 am

    @Quinerly: not enough money in the world for me to turn that on.

  29. 29.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 15, 2018 at 7:04 am

    @ThresherK: Does it come with mustard?

  30. 30.

    bemused senior

    January 15, 2018 at 7:04 am

    @Aimai: Sorry to hear this. Care-giving is exhausting, no matter how much you love the recipient. Take a little time for yourself. Even a bubble bath or going for a massage might help. Remembering when my own parents were in a nursing home.

  31. 31.

    satby

    January 15, 2018 at 7:05 am

    @ThresherK: Good choice. I’ve been wishing I could get a Crosstrek if I was in the market for a new car. Which I’m not.

  32. 32.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 15, 2018 at 7:06 am

    @Quinerly: They have 2 ways of spinning this: Is trump a racist in the midst of mental decline? Or is he a sharp as a tack racist?

    @satby: Uh huh, uh huh…. ;-)

  33. 33.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 15, 2018 at 7:08 am

    @ThresherK: Does it come with mustard?

    ETA Damn You Bill!

  34. 34.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 15, 2018 at 7:11 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Heh.

  35. 35.

    Baud

    January 15, 2018 at 7:12 am

    @rikyrah: Good morning.

  36. 36.

    Quinerly

    January 15, 2018 at 7:12 am

    @satby: Well, I do switch over to NPR after 2 hrs.? Seriously, the MJ crew has the best Trump bashing of anything on MSNBC. When Joe and Mika turned…they turned hard. I enjoy their guests. Jon Meacham is always very good for a historical perspective. Gab Sherman’s reporting quite good this AM too.

  37. 37.

    bemused senior

    January 15, 2018 at 7:13 am

    I drove marchers who camped in suburban Virginia into DC during the Poor People’s March. 1968 was the most awful year — my dad assigned to a year in Thailand flying ECM missions in the Vietnam War, MLK assassinated, RFK assassinated, the bloody Chicago Democratic convention. I couldn’t believe there would ever be a worse one. Shows you how wrong you can be.

  38. 38.

    ThresherK

    January 15, 2018 at 7:16 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Heehee. I haven’t looked yet. It did pass the Dad test.

    @satby: My wife has a few friends with Subarus, and for someone raised in Worcester, seems to have forgotten how to drive well in winter. Among other possibilities, she’d like a Subie, Re the Crosstrek XV, our budget is nowhere near the latest series of any Subarus, so I’m depending on my inspecting mechanic’s keen eye.

  39. 39.

    Amir Khalid

    January 15, 2018 at 7:19 am

    @Quinerly:
    If die Freunde und Parteigänger des Scheißgibbons actually pre-approved his describing a whole continent as “shithole countries” then they’re as stupid and racist as he is. Which surprises no one at all.

  40. 40.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 15, 2018 at 7:20 am

    @Quinerly: I gave up on MJ before the election, and now I don’t get MSNBC at all. Pretty much all I watch on TV now is the local news and UCLA football and basketball.

  41. 41.

    Baud

    January 15, 2018 at 7:21 am

    @bemused senior: Trump and the GOP suck donkey balls but I wouldn’t say 2017 was worse than 1968. Certainly, the government, but not the whole year.

  42. 42.

    satby

    January 15, 2018 at 7:23 am

    @Quinerly: see, I can’t stand NPR either. Once you become attuned to the subtle way they slant their reporting it just screams biased. I don’t have the tv on during the day, but I used to watch the BBC or Al Jazeera. Better reporting, better context.

  43. 43.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 15, 2018 at 7:23 am

    @Baud: Actually I thought the 2016 election reminded me a lot of 1968, with the exception of the assassinations.

  44. 44.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 15, 2018 at 7:24 am

    @Baud: ’68 was a special kind of hell.

  45. 45.

    Baud

    January 15, 2018 at 7:27 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: I can see the comparison, but the assassinations are a big exception. And as bad as the Wilmerites were at the convention, it wasn’t as bad as 1968.

  46. 46.

    satby

    January 15, 2018 at 7:27 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Considering the hatemongering, it’s a miracle we didn’t have 1968 style assassinations.

  47. 47.

    Quinerly

    January 15, 2018 at 7:29 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Never watched it until the last month. Something about Joe’s look really turned me off…that’s even before you get to his politics…this goes back to his old other show from years ago. As I said, the show is the most in your face Trump bashing of anything around. Most guests are very good. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be listening to MJ in the mornings, as background for an hour or so. And no, I haven’t forgotten what Trump cheerleaders Joe and Mika were a couple of years ago. I read about it every morning here…and wondered why in the hell people were hate watching that MJ shit.?

  48. 48.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 15, 2018 at 7:30 am

    @Baud: I thinking more of the styles of the campaigns and the general narrative.

    @satby: True.

  49. 49.

    Kathleen

    January 15, 2018 at 7:31 am

    @Aimai: Please make sure you take time to take care of yourself, even if you can only plan 15 minutes or so a day to drink tea or journal or just do nothing.

  50. 50.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 15, 2018 at 7:31 am

    @Quinerly: Yup, Meeka used to call Trump, “our friend Donald”.

    ETA: That said, it’s not worth $5 a month for MSNBC for me.

  51. 51.

    Nelle

    January 15, 2018 at 7:32 am

    @Aimai: Sometimes, it does seem without end, doesn’t it? I don’t have real advice but do have sympathy for those in this passage. I hope you have at least short spells of rest and refreshing beauty.

  52. 52.

    Baud

    January 15, 2018 at 7:33 am

    @Aimai: I’m sorry. That’s too much. I’m impressed with your ability to deal.

  53. 53.

    Quinerly

    January 15, 2018 at 7:36 am

    @satby: Well aware of how you feel about NPR. More to NPR than just political, though. I loved a segment a few years back about sheep being able to recognize sheep that they knew in photographs.? (still makes me laugh…long story) Terry Gross has an excellent show. Love me some “American Routes” on Saturday night. Science Friday is also informative. When I travel, I love picking up the local NPR shows…especially in the South West…the Navajo shows. I try not to paint with a broad brush. That’s just me.

  54. 54.

    Quinerly

    January 15, 2018 at 7:39 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: I get it. I have enormous respect when someone “sees the light” and flips sides. Seem to recall a certain blog host…what is that guy’s name? Tip of my tongue…….

  55. 55.

    raven

    January 15, 2018 at 7:43 am

    @Quinerly: Because people want to hear what they already believe ?

  56. 56.

    Patricia Kayden

    January 15, 2018 at 7:44 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    “newborn girls are hardier than newborn boys”

    Fascinating study. Men’s Rights Activists aren’t going to be happy with that info. That’s not how they see the world and their place in it.

  57. 57.

    Patricia Kayden

    January 15, 2018 at 7:46 am

    @Aimai: Hopefully you’ll get to take a break soon from all the stress and work. ((Aimai))

  58. 58.

    ThresherK

    January 15, 2018 at 7:47 am

    @Quinerly: I respect that seeing the light, too. But I don’t put Joe and Mika into that group. Yet.

    Where’s the mea culpa? How are we guaranteed they’re not just gonna knobslobber the next GOP idjit who comes thru who is more presentable than Trump, but still appoints/signs/executive orders 99% of what Trump would do?

    Cole explained what and why and that’s why I trust him. I don’t know what he’s thinking, but he’s described his before and after. Whatever that is in the Bible, the Road to Damascus, he’s done it.

  59. 59.

    Baud

    January 15, 2018 at 7:47 am

    @Quinerly: I don’t watch Joe, but hasn’t he gone through anti-Trump phases before?

  60. 60.

    debbie

    January 15, 2018 at 7:49 am

    @Baud:

    Yes. I think he and Glenn Beck are competing for the Most Flighty Award.

  61. 61.

    debbie

    January 15, 2018 at 7:50 am

    @Aimai:

    That is an awful lot to be dealing with. Best of luck getting through it all. I’d have crumpled long ago.

  62. 62.

    Quinerly

    January 15, 2018 at 7:51 am

    @raven: Not really. I listen to and read a lot of sources, that’s how I learn. I just never did the MJ hate listen thing like some. Too early in the AM to be riled up. Plus, I can’t stand Joe’s looks. (silly, I know..I have my cable app on a tablet, I listen to it now in the AM for the first hour plus…background, more or less.) I’m ghosting now…gotta pack for Wed 5:00 AM launch. Way behind and Poco is already packed for the next 5 weeks.? Have a great day everyone. Take care.

  63. 63.

    Lapassionara

    January 15, 2018 at 7:56 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Drink lots and lots of hot liquids, and near bedtime, a hot toddy helps. I had the cold in October and am just now past the cough.

    Good morning all.

    Also, 1968 had William F. Buckley calling Gore Vidal a “q——r” on national TV. Horrible year.

  64. 64.

    satby

    January 15, 2018 at 7:59 am

    @Quinerly: NPR for me is the radio feed, so I don’t get the extras. They do sound better.

  65. 65.

    rikyrah

    January 15, 2018 at 8:00 am

    @Quinerly:
    Morning to Poco and the tribe ??

  66. 66.

    raven

    January 15, 2018 at 8:01 am

    @Quinerly: It is by far most interesting show on in the morning.

  67. 67.

    raven

    January 15, 2018 at 8:02 am

    @Quinerly: You said “people”not “me”.

  68. 68.

    satby

    January 15, 2018 at 8:06 am

    @Aimai: it sounds exhausting. And stressful enough that I’m honestly surprised you haven’t gotten sick already. But can you take a mental health day and claim sickness? Just one day, or even a 1/2 day to take a break. Except for your mom, I suspect the rest will soldier on without you long enough for you to get a little rest.

  69. 69.

    Cheryl Rofer

    January 15, 2018 at 8:10 am

    A lot of reporting today that Trump’s s**thole comments were calculated – that he surveyed friends first, called to brag afterward and was in a good mood at the weekend feeling it had gone well.

    — Katty Kay (@KattyKayBBC) January 15, 2018

  70. 70.

    TS

    January 15, 2018 at 8:11 am

    @Quinerly:

    As I said, the show is the most in your face Trump bashing of anything around

    Most days he still manages to get in some Clinton bashing (the worst candidate in the history of elections) & also has a go at President Obama some days. His examples of great governance begin and end with President Reagan.

  71. 71.

    bemused senior

    January 15, 2018 at 8:17 am

    @Baud: It’s a hard call. I left college after the MLK assassination and went home to knock on doors for Eugene McCarthy and work for the poverty program in Fairfax County. The war was hideous. It seemed that people with power wouldn’t do what was needed to get us out. But I didn’t worry that our institutions were failing.

  72. 72.

    Quinerly

    January 15, 2018 at 8:21 am

    @raven: On smarty pants tiny keyboard…sometimes thoughts don’t flow to fingers. The copy/paste thingy non existent. I essentially go to MJ for an hour of hardcore Trump bashing, I leave mostly when Reagan love and Clinton bashing start. It’s not like I’m dating the show or even having a beer with the show.? Now…some of the guests…I would definitely have a beer with….but I digress. Hope you are on the mend, raven! Loved your posts.

  73. 73.

    Kay

    January 15, 2018 at 8:23 am

    Matthew Nussbaum‏Verified account
    @MatthewNussbaum
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    Trying to get this straight. So Dick Durbin fabricated a conversation which Lindsey Graham verified as true to Tim Scott and the WH and other participants didn’t deny for days just cause…..Or Tom Cotton and David Perdue are lying

    The lying is getting worse. You wonder if there’s a limit to it, or if it just keeps spreading. I don’t think we have any idea how much damage this can do, or really what to do about it. I don’t know what to do about it.

    Trump now has to call on the credibility of other people when making a claim. Have you noticed that? He knows his word is no good, and so does everyone else. I can’t remember that with another President, where they had to say “senator so and so said I’m not lying” or “here’s this letter from a porn actress to back up my claim”. That’s extraordinary. He’s not just not credible- he’s the LEAST believable among any group of people.

  74. 74.

    bemused senior

    January 15, 2018 at 8:25 am

    @satby: We had incessant mass shootings instead.

    ETA: The shooting at the Republican HR baseball practice certainly ranks as an attempted assassination.

  75. 75.

    WereBear

    January 15, 2018 at 8:27 am

    @Aimai: I feel under a lot of pressure and fantasize about getting sick so I can step back from a caregiver role

    Except we don’t live in a world where you get support from being sick… who is going to care for you when you are already caring for so many?

    Actually having a chronic illness is America is like being sentenced to poverty.

  76. 76.

    Patricia Kayden

    January 15, 2018 at 8:29 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: If you ever decide to start watching MSNBC again, I’d suggest watching Joy Ann Reid’s Sunday morning program. She is excellent and doesn’t tolerate fools.

  77. 77.

    Gator90

    January 15, 2018 at 8:30 am

    If MLK met DJT, he’d kick him in the nuts.

  78. 78.

    satby

    January 15, 2018 at 8:32 am

    @bemused senior: yes, we did. Which makes it more amazing there wasn’t an assassination considering how many nutters being fed a daily diet of hate have arsenals.

  79. 79.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 15, 2018 at 8:32 am

    @Cheryl Rofer: As I said up above @OzarkHillbilly:

    They have 2 ways of spinning this: Is trump a racist in the midst of mental decline? Or is he a sharp as a tack racist?

    Given the 2 choices, it’s a no brainer they would try to go with option B.

  80. 80.

    satby

    January 15, 2018 at 8:33 am

    @WereBear: poverty and a prolonged death.

  81. 81.

    Steeplejack

    January 15, 2018 at 8:34 am

    @Quinerly:

    Don’t know if you’ll see this, but later in the show Joe corrected himself. He got the time line wrong. Trump was not calling around ahead of time; he was calling afterwards to see how it played and, according to some, to brag about it.

  82. 82.

    JGabriel

    January 15, 2018 at 8:34 am

    So … I’m pretty sure I just found a Game of Thrones fan in my WiFi neighborhood. I’m setting up a new router here (Netgear 7000 w. Advanced/Shibby Tomato Firmware). As I checked it’s wireless survey tool to see which SSIDs were available*, I saw a router with an ID of:

    a wifi has no name

    I’m guessing most GoT readers/viewers will get the joke. Just sharing it ’cause I got a good chuckle out of it.

    —–
    *(No, I’m not trying to leach off someone else’s wifi, I’m just trying to connect to the LinkNYC kiosk on the corner)

  83. 83.

    Gator90

    January 15, 2018 at 8:34 am

    @Aimai: I’ve been reading and appreciating your commentary here and elsewhere for many years. I can tell you are strong as well as super-duper-smart. Hang in there.

  84. 84.

    Kay

    January 15, 2018 at 8:34 am

    Erick Erickson‏Verified account
    @EWErickson
    Follow Follow @EWErickson
    More
    It’s weird that people in the room don’t remember Trump using that word when Trump himself was calling friends to brag about it afterwards. I spoke to one of those friends. The President thought it would play well with the base.

    I don’t know what I thought would “happen” with the lying when Trump was elected, but I didn’t expect “nothing”. I didn’t really think it thru- just thought there would be some kind of reckoning or consequences, because the consequences were so profound for other presidents who lied – Nixon’s lies about his criminal activities and Clinton’s lies about his affair. It’s just …nothing. New day, fresh set of lies. Now he’s pulling other people in, the administration members were lying daily from the get-go but now he’s getting senators. It’s spreading and it makes sense that it would because there’s zero accountability for it.

  85. 85.

    WereBear

    January 15, 2018 at 8:35 am

    @Aimai: And yes, it sucks to be so overwhelmed.

  86. 86.

    Patricia Kayden

    January 15, 2018 at 8:36 am

    @Cheryl Rofer: I wonder how Trump defines “gone well”. His thinking is quite bizarre. He must not be seeing his approval ratings or be paying attention to the last couple of elections.

  87. 87.

    Kay

    January 15, 2018 at 8:41 am

    @Steeplejack:

    I think that’s the reason for the lag with sending the senators out to lie- they thought it would work politically. When it didn’t they had to fix it. That seems worse than panicked lying to me and there’s the whole “other countries” issue. Trump Administration lying to Americans is one thing- he’s ours. People in other countries had nothing to do with it and have no interest in propping him up. They (rightly) have their own agenda that may or may not align with the US interest in pretending the president has some credibility or moral authority.

  88. 88.

    Patricia Kayden

    January 15, 2018 at 8:42 am

    @Kay: Trump’s lies may add up to “nothing” in a Republican-dominated Congress but to “something big” in regards to Mueller’s investigation. If Congress flips hard in November, here comes impeachment.

  89. 89.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 15, 2018 at 8:42 am

    @Kay:

    It’s spreading and it makes sense that it would because there’s zero accountability for it.

    There is going to be some accountability in Nov.

  90. 90.

    schrodingers_cat

    January 15, 2018 at 8:42 am

    @Kay: And Nielsen the Kelly protege’ and head of DHS is shocked and disappointed that anyone would call the President racist.
    ETA: We are supposed to believe the bullshit meme all this anti-immigrant hatred is the doing one Steven Miller, the rest of the crew is not just bigoted and racist, including the man in the WH and a majority of the elected representatives of his party and the assorted administration officials.

  91. 91.

    Quinerly

    January 15, 2018 at 8:45 am

    @Steeplejack: I finally did catch it, but thanks for posting this (and publicly admitting here you have MJ on…you are brave.) I have switched over to NPR and am admitting it….does that make me braver?? (or a sap for good music and book suggestions?….I DO miss Diane Rehm, though)

  92. 92.

    JGabriel

    January 15, 2018 at 8:46 am

    Erik Erikson via Kay:

    The President thought [calling majority non-caucasian countries “shitholes”] would play well with the base.

    That’s what we have now: a “President” who thinks more of – and about – what the basest of his base thinks, than of the global consequences of his words and actions.

    This is so. much. worse. than Idiocracy.

  93. 93.

    schrodingers_cat

    January 15, 2018 at 8:51 am

    @JGabriel: He is pissing away our power and prestige on the global stage on a daily basis. This is ultimately self-defeating, even if it gives the white supremacists a temporary buzz.

  94. 94.

    debbie

    January 15, 2018 at 8:54 am

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    What kind of a president does this???

  95. 95.

    Quinerly

    January 15, 2018 at 8:55 am

    @rikyrah: Big tail wags back at you…from Poco. John Lennon and Little Ivan never had much contact with each other (JL tried, Ivan would have no part). I do think JL looks for him, though. I’m sad that JL will be here by himself for 5 weeks. He’s actually turned into a very social, affectionate kitty since Ivan’s passing 10 days ago. My friend (and Ozark’s friend!) will be here a lot. I still had a little pang of worry about him this AM when he was eating. Almost a complete change in his personality in the last 10 days. He follows me around like Poco. We are a three species parade everytime I move around. Have a great day. Hope your sister is still doing well. Take care.

  96. 96.

    debbie

    January 15, 2018 at 8:56 am

    @Kay:

    When you’ve lost Erick Erickson…

  97. 97.

    Quinerly

    January 15, 2018 at 8:56 am

    @debbie: A pure, evil, racist to the core one. That’s who.

  98. 98.

    Peale

    January 15, 2018 at 8:56 am

    @JGabriel: but Clinton trigulated And was more neoliberal.

  99. 99.

    Baud

    January 15, 2018 at 9:00 am

    @debbie: Trump hasn’t lost Erick Erickson.

  100. 100.

    WereBear

    January 15, 2018 at 9:05 am

    @Patricia Kayden: Men’s Rights Activists aren’t going to be happy with that info. That’s not how they see the world and their place in it.

    Males are the disposable sex. That is why every fetus starts out female; it is the default.

    If you really want to freak out an MRA… tell them that.

  101. 101.

    schrodingers_cat

    January 15, 2018 at 9:07 am

    @WereBear: Ohai cat whisperer. How have you been, long time no see. BTW I have question. My boss cat
    cries a lot since we moved to this new house over a year ago. His appetite is fine and he is just as frisky as before. But he will go into an empty room and wail until one of us joins him. What do you think is wrong. Does he just miss his old home or is it something else?

  102. 102.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    January 15, 2018 at 9:16 am

    @Quinerly:

    I don’t usually watch Morning Joe, but some mornings I get an anxious feeling like “What is the latest catastrophe to happen?” and I check in to see if there’s anything new or they’re just rehashing the existing ones.

    I will say that despite the (current) Trump hate Scarborough still comes from a hard Republican perspective: Democrats can’t do anything right, Tom Cotton is a fine senator with a sterling reputation, “Oh, dear, what has happened to my beloved Republican Party?,” etc., etc. Some of his panelists rein him in a bit, but not much. Al Sharpton is presented almost as “This counts towards our ‘balanced’ time, right?”

  103. 103.

    debbie

    January 15, 2018 at 9:16 am

    @Baud:

    In that tweet, he’s saying Trump’s lying.

  104. 104.

    Gvg

    January 15, 2018 at 9:21 am

    @Kay: you are correct that he has no credibility. I wonder if he notices that he has to get others to support his stories? He has been a compulsive liar for so long, he may think it’s normal even if we don’t.
    I have a theory about all his “executive time” in his schedule. No one needs him or if they should need the President, they realize he’s useless and work around him. He does’t keep his word, so he is no use. Countries deal with someone else. Congress makes it’s own plans. Republican’s know he’ll sign anything for a win. Deals work better if he isn’t involved. The deal maker is useless and people have learned. Even flattery doesn’t make him stick to a deal so why bother. Even his friends and allies have learned.
    This means nessesary business and impeachment or even Congressional investigation is a problem. We need a debt limit hike and a budget before anything gets too confrontational or Trump will start vetoing everything. Would Congress impeach and remove with no further evidence if he starts vetoing nessesary stuff?

  105. 105.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 15, 2018 at 9:27 am

    @debbie: Actually, he’s saying people are lying for trump.

    It’s weird that people in the room don’t remember Trump using that word when Trump himself was calling friends to brag about it afterwards. I spoke to one of those friends. The President thought it would play well with the base.

  106. 106.

    gene108

    January 15, 2018 at 9:30 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Women survive men in famines because they are, generally, smaller. The smaller you are the fewer calories you need to survive.

  107. 107.

    schrodingers_cat

    January 15, 2018 at 9:30 am

    Of course the President is a racist, look at his policies, we knew that and the press knew that before his latest comments.

  108. 108.

    schrodingers_cat

    January 15, 2018 at 9:31 am

    @gene108: Infant and child mortality is high in famines, so its not just about the size and weight.

  109. 109.

    MattF

    January 15, 2018 at 9:34 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Right. I’m no fan of Erickson, but he’s being honest here, which means he’s opposing Trump.

    ETA: The notion that it’s somehow ‘weird’ that people will lie about this is almost touchingly naive.

  110. 110.

    Baud

    January 15, 2018 at 9:38 am

    @debbie: Doesn’t mean Trump has lost him.

  111. 111.

    JPL

    January 15, 2018 at 9:38 am

    @debbie: Our president.

  112. 112.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 15, 2018 at 9:40 am

    @gene108: @schrodingers_cat: One theory expressed in the article is that because women have 2 “X” chromosomes, if there is a flaw on one the other flawless X can mitigate the harm. But men with only one “X” chromosome have no such backup. I found it an interesting thought, and because we have a single “Y” it would apply there too, twice the chances for an unmitigated mutation.

  113. 113.

    Baud

    January 15, 2018 at 9:44 am

    Via Reddit

    https://i.imgur.com/b3etAkI.gifv

  114. 114.

    The Thin Black Duke

    January 15, 2018 at 9:46 am

    @Baud: Erickson is a cynical and dishonest opportunist who is being critical of Trump only because he’s smart enough to see how damaging Trump is to the Republicans in the long term. Erickson’s moral compass hasn’t been miraculously recalibrated.

  115. 115.

    Just One More Canuck

    January 15, 2018 at 9:49 am

    @Quinerly: That guy doesn’t post here anymore

  116. 116.

    Patricia Kayden

    January 15, 2018 at 9:55 am

    @WereBear:

    Males are the disposable sex. That is why every fetus starts out female; it is the default.

    Didn’t even know that. Learn something every single dang day.

  117. 117.

    debbie

    January 15, 2018 at 9:56 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Well, when Trump is denying that he said it, by implication, Erick’s calling him a liar.

  118. 118.

    Patricia Kayden

    January 15, 2018 at 10:05 am

    @schrodingers_cat: We all knew that before he started his presidential campaign. Really strange to see folks like Michael Steele only now stating the obvious.

  119. 119.

    satby

    January 15, 2018 at 10:07 am

    @The Thin Black Duke: exactly.

  120. 120.

    debbie

    January 15, 2018 at 10:10 am

    @Patricia Kayden:

    Way beyond being too late, considering Trump’s first actions as an adult were to refuse to rent his properties out to African-Americans and to sue for discrimination for being White.

  121. 121.

    NotMax

    January 15, 2018 at 10:14 am

    So old can remember when mid-January was primarily known as the time for department stores’ annual white sales.

  122. 122.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 15, 2018 at 10:17 am

    @debbie: Oh he’s called trump out before, I was just pointing out that his main point in this tweet was about those around him.

  123. 123.

    chris

    January 15, 2018 at 10:21 am

    Happy to see that Carol’s retirement bridge fund is approaching the goal.
    You’re a fine bunch of jackals.

  124. 124.

    J R in WV

    January 15, 2018 at 10:30 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    from the Guardian article

    Santiago Altares, secretary of the Manchego Cheese Denomination of Origin Regulatory Commission Foundation, said Spain exported around 80 tonnes of manchego to Mexico in 2016 alone.

    This tiny bit raises a couple of questions. Being secretary of the Manchego Cheese Denomination of Origin Regulatory Commission Foundation… what does that job pay? How did he get it? What are the benefits?

    Also too, 80 tons of sheep’s milk cheese? How many sheep is that? at $17/kilo that’s 80,000 kilos, or $1,360,000 if sold in Miami… how much did it sell for in Mexico?

    When we were first at my cousin’s in SE ARizona, she gave Wife a jar of moisturizer, which held 4 ounces of nice goo. The price tag said $49.00 – but it was from nearby Mexico, and cost $4 American money. So we’re taking about around $13,600,000 Mexican! In sheeps’s milk cheese.

  125. 125.

    debbie

    January 15, 2018 at 10:32 am

    @chris:

    Got it, sorry. I hadn’t heard anything anti-Trump from him. I’ve mostly heard Jonah Goldberg railing at Trump’s bullshit.

  126. 126.

    chris

    January 15, 2018 at 10:38 am

    @debbie: Close!

  127. 127.

    WereBear

    January 15, 2018 at 10:43 am

    @schrodingers_cat: Hard to tell from just this, but he might be asking for a Tour of the House as you explain the differences between the old one and the new one. It sounds funny, but for cats, “validating their feelings” has the same soothing qualities as it does in humans.

  128. 128.

    Daddio7

    January 15, 2018 at 10:44 am

    @WereBear: OK, I’m freaked. I always thought we started with either two X chromosomes (female) or an X and a Y chromosomes (male). Now I find out I started with two X’s and at some point lost the one of the X’s and gained a Y! I must have slept through that part in biology class.

  129. 129.

    schrodingers_cat

    January 15, 2018 at 10:47 am

    @WereBear: He seems to do this more in the evening than at any other time of the day.

  130. 130.

    CarolDuhart2

    January 15, 2018 at 10:48 am

    @satby: One reason was ironically, the Robert Kennedy assassination. Presidential candidates now get Secret Service protection. Not all of them, of course, but significant ones-and nominees do. Hillary married to Bill, and as a nominee. Obama gets it because of JFK’s. After JFK all former Presidents/First Ladies got lifetime protection. Also, I suspect there is more awareness than there was then about security-more trained personnel, more cameras, more monitoring. Potential targets can take advantage of all of this.

  131. 131.

    J R in WV

    January 15, 2018 at 10:55 am

    @JGabriel:

    My neighbor who deliberately provides our internet service, by allowing our sat dish to be attached to a network we share… his wi-fi access point name is “FBI Surveillance Unit 17-A” …quite a card!

    But where we live, no one else will ever know that. Seriously rural.

    I think our colds / upper respiratory tract infections are doing well, responding to the antibiotic prescribed.

    I have another important medication for a chronic condition which was dropped from my health insurance “formulary” – Dr tells me the problem is that a guy like Michael Shkreli bought up the long-generic drug and added 5000% to the price, which was a $5 copay for 3 month supply, now that’s somewhere between $200 and $500. Grrr.

    Dr said those guys needed the Mussolini treatment, lamppost and rope, upside down so it would be easy to spit in their face. I prefer the crowbar between hips and ankles, so they can learn to crawl all over again. With no knees or gonads. Miserable bastards with no emotion but greed.

  132. 132.

    Ab_Normal

    January 15, 2018 at 11:42 am

    @JGabriel:
    There’s a network named “zz9pluralzalpha” in my mother-in-law’s 55+ community. :D

  133. 133.

    The Lodger

    January 15, 2018 at 11:45 am

    @Daddio7: You never lost any of your X chromosomes, bunky. Figure it out.

  134. 134.

    J R in WV

    January 15, 2018 at 11:52 am

    @chris:

    Aw, that is so great!! I’m glad I kicked in when it was still like $300… She’s getting there now!

  135. 135.

    chris

    January 15, 2018 at 12:27 pm

    @J R in WV: Maybe give it one more little push?

  136. 136.

    WaterGirl

    January 15, 2018 at 1:37 pm

    @J R in WV: @chris: Carol’s GoFundMe has been stalled since sometime last night. Only $265 more would get Carol to her goal. Maybe if we remind people on every thread we can get Carol to her goal by nightfall.

  137. 137.

    BruceFromOhio

    January 15, 2018 at 2:03 pm

    “Irish and international singer Dolores O’Riordan has died suddenly in London today. She was 46 years old. The lead singer with the Irish band The Cranberries was in London for a short recording session. No further details are available at this time. Family members are devastated to hear the breaking news and have requested privacy at this very difficult time.”

    Oh, my life is changing everyday,
    In every possible way.
    And oh, my dreams, it’s never quite as it seems,
    Never quite as it seems.

  138. 138.

    Julia

    January 15, 2018 at 2:17 pm

    Thanks, all, for the reminder for Carol’s go fund me. It had slipped my mind. Just donated…will not need much to reach the goal!!

  139. 139.

    Ruckus

    January 15, 2018 at 3:13 pm

    @satby:

    but that’s not enough to win elections.

    I bet to differ. Now it may not have actually been enough but he’s sitting on his fat ass in our house, being a racist shithead, so I’d say it was enough.

  140. 140.

    WaterGirl

    January 15, 2018 at 3:23 pm

    @Julia: Thank you for that!

  141. 141.

    JGabriel

    January 15, 2018 at 5:21 pm

    @J R in WV:

    My neighbor who deliberately provides our internet service, by allowing our sat dish to be attached to a network we share… his wi-fi access point name is “FBI Surveillance Unit 17-A” …quite a card!

    Ha! I’ve got a couple of people in my neighborhood doing the same thing on their routers. One of them named their router “FBI – Child Crimes Division” and the called their router “CIA – Terrorist Division”.

    How do I know they’re fakes?

    A) That’s not how the gov’t names their routers. Their IT departments have naming standards to make routers both geographically and topologically (in the networking sense) identifiable.

    B) This is Midtown and the Feds have most or all of their offices downtown, below Canal St.

  142. 142.

    JGabriel

    January 15, 2018 at 5:24 pm

    @Ab_Normal:

    There’s a network named “zz9pluralzalpha” in my mother-in-law’s 55+ community.

    Cool. Douglas Adams fans for the win.

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