BREAKING: AP source: Trump phones Senate Dem leader Schumer, invites him to White House to try to reach deal to avert shutdown.
— Meg Kinnard (@MegKinnardAP) January 19, 2018
.
Remember when we’d have been talking about our plans for the upcoming weekend?…
Republicans, 2017 – "The president is a genius dealmaker"
Republicans, 2018 – "You need to promise us he's not going to say or do anything during this negotiation. We are FREAKING OUT."
— Better Than Ezra Klein (@Yeggo) January 19, 2018
The fact that so many Republicans are comfortable going on record saying they don’t 100% trust the president to negotiate a favorable deal with Schumer does tell you something, doesn’t it.
— Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) January 19, 2018
Can’t understand the Congressional Repubs without grasping their fear of a good chunk of their party’s base, which is mercurial, impulsive, & stupid, & which froths at the mouth on command from the Repub’s mercurial, impulsive, stupid, cruel, & narcissistic president.
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) January 19, 2018
Trump doesn't know how government works. He think if they go bankrupt, someone else picks up the tab and he walks away unscathed.
That's not how any of this works. Trump owns the shutdown. The GOP owns this entire mess.
— lawhawk (@lawhawk) January 19, 2018
JUST IN: @ABC News/WaPo poll finds substantially greater Republican risk in a government shutdown, with 48% saying they’d blame Pres. Trump and the GOP, vs. 28% for congressional Democrats. https://t.co/IkMxZajc8d pic.twitter.com/VmNXp8qrvj
— World News Tonight (@ABCWorldNews) January 19, 2018
Baud
This is not a joke. This is why Trump will cave tonight. He didn’t like being told he couldn’t go to Mar-a-Lago.
Anne Laurie
@Baud: Yep! (Also, right now, he is not super-happy with the party for which he’s the figurehead. )
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
Well within the margin of error.
Villago Delenda Est
Chuck: “Mr. President, we had a deal a week ago, and then you went all shithole on us.”
Donald: “No shithole, no shithole, YOU’RE the shithole!”
Chuck: “Well, I guess the party isn’t happening”
Donald: “I want my party!”
Chuck: “Well, then, I guess we get a clean DACA and a clean CHIP renewal, then. It’s the only way.”
Donald: “Just as long as I get my party!”
Mnemosyne
The scary number for Republicans is the avowed Independents. That group may generally lean towards a specific party and stick with them, but they’re also more likely to stay home if they get pissed off at their preferred party, and Republicans can’t afford that this fall.
kdaug
He also believes – rightly – that he will be blamed.
NotMax
“It’s my party and I’ll
crylie if I want to.”efgoldman
@Anne Laurie:
Fuckem
lamh36
Like playing a game of where is Waldo…Looking for the people of color like…”oh there…he/she is…”
dmsilev
The LA Times had an interesting poll today. Their methodology is a bit different than most pollsters; they have a fixed panel of people that they check back with every few months. While there are some issues with that, it does enable asking some interesting questions. For instance, what fraction of people who initially approved of Trump’s job last spring now disapprove? (1 in 8). Of those who hadn’t yet made up their minds back then but have since decided, what do they think now? (2:1 disapprove:approve). How about intensity of support?
(I guess ‘9’ is “at least he hasn’t yet started a nuclear war”)
JDM
No chocolate cake for you!
Davebo
@Baud: Especially when he has people lined up paying up to $250,000 per couple to attend a dinner tomorrow night.
lamh36
Good news today in the LAMH family…my oldest nephew (up until 2 years ago, he was my ONLY nephew, but we got another boy coming to our family of women and girls, brining the total in my immediate family from 8 girls/2boys to 8 girls 3 boys…lol), got an acceptance letter to his first choice college today!!!
I’m a prouder than usual auntie today!!!
When I told him how proud I was of him and I was telling all my coworkers about him, he said “Thx…next I’m going for the Presidency”???
#NextBlackPresident
#LoveMyNephew
My reply…
dmsilev
@Anne Laurie:
I assume nailing him to the bow of a ship isn’t in the cards?
dmsilev
@lamh36: Cool! Does he know what he wants to study yet?
aimai
@Villago Delenda Est: Jeebus, if they could just send him to his room (in the white house) until he signs DACA.
M31
Is this particular shutdown again because of the debt ceiling limit?
That is, a made-up pile of bullshit that is being used to hold the government hostage?
I actually forgot what was the actual reason for the deadline, and went to cnn and the washpost, etc. to see if they had clear answers easily available. They did not.
A lot of talk of ’60 votes needed in the Senate’ and ‘how many Democrats are needed for it to pass’
Kathleen
@lamh36: That is so cool! Also just replied on Twitter.
aimai
@lamh36: OMG that twitter thread is pure genius.
Yutsano
@lamh36: AAAACK!!! SO AWESOME!!! He gonna go medicine?
EDIT: just dropped you a follow too!
@M31: This is all because even with a majority in both houses the Republicans can’t make a budget. That’s it. They can’t just grind out the numbers in their own caucus to get to 218 + 51 + 1, even when the 1 is a rubber stamp. If nothing else they should be voted out for sheer incompetence.
lamh36
@dmsilev: Not a clue…LOL…but he’s an artist…so I’m gonna bet something art related…his mom and I will of course try to get him to hopefully pick up a degree that he will like but that will also lead hin to having some job opportunity once he graduates…
But that’s a conversation for a later date. He’s got to finish HS and gradute in May!
MazeDancer
Thought all the punditry speculating that Trump was setting up the whole shutdown drama so he could swoop in at the last minute and be the hero was accurate. But maybe he can’t figure out how to do that and maintain his desire to exclude all non-white people and hurt children
While we wait, hope that others laugh as heartily as I did to this Ken Dilanian tweet
lamh36
@Kathleen: Yes… I saw that..thx.
As the childless spinster aunt, I bask in the accomplishments of my sisters kids and my cousins…LOL
Yarrow
Apparently red state Dems with elections coming up are starting to say they’ll vote yes on the CR. Donnelly, Manchin and now Heidtkamp. Still short of 60 votes.
Hungry Joe
I can’t figure out why the GOP leadership is worried about what Trump thinks. He’ll sign whatever they put in front of him, saying that it’s his idea and that it’s great. Can’t see him vetoing much of anything — especially this, which would shut down the government immediately, with his name stamped — but not in gold — on every chaotic fuckup and fuckdown that comes with it.
Brachiator
Trump is a crotchety old man with fixed habits. He prefers to be in one of his own places than the White House. He wants to be able to show up and preen at a party (especially if he is charging people to show up). And he has got to golf.
This whole “running the country like a business” and making decisions is eating into his “me time.” And there is lots of “me time” on Trump’s calendar.
Meanwhile, in another part of the forest, Turkey and Syria are apparently about to go at it. From the BBC:
I don’t know whether the White House has any opinion about this.
dmsilev
@M31: Congress has been funding government operations in one or two month increments for the last several months because, basically, Republicans suck at the actual governing thing. What’s worse is that, despite the Republicans having a majority in both houses, they’ve only been able to pass these “continuing resolutions” with support from some Democrats because there are some Republicans who are loonier than average. This time, the Democrats have said that if the GOP wants their votes, the continuing resolution needs to have two things: Funding for the SCHIP program (health insurance for children) and some path forward on DACA (immigrant children).
Re the vote requirement, because the Republicans really really really wanted to cut taxes for rich people, the normal “budget reconciliation” tool that would allow passing the CR with 50 votes is off the table (you can use one such bill each fiscal year), so they need 60 votes in the Senate and hence need at least 9 Democrats to support even if all of their own Senators also support.
Villago Delenda Est
@M31: 60 votes is for a continuing resolution. In other words, kick the can down the road. Congress hasn’t been able to pass a budget for years, because of the drooling idiots of the Freedumb Caucus.
lamh36
Yarrow
@lamh36: Congrats to your nephew!
M31
@Yutsano:
@dmsilev:
thanks — so this is the regular budget, it’s not the old Newt debt ceiling chokepoint bullshit.
Wow.
I mean, not wow, but ‘what a totally-expected shitshow’
Steeplejack
@lamh36:
Love the comments.
“Is this Norway?”
“Norway has more brown skin than that.”
MazeDancer
@lamh36:
Thank you so much for bringing over that Axios Anniversary tweet. The GOP intern group shot with Paul Ryan now moves to #2 on the Caucasian Count Down.
The replies are highly amusing. Especially enjoyedL
boatboy_srq
@dmsilev: What a quaint suggestion.
Even in the 18th century they used bolts.
jl
Good evidence that the GOP long con is finally running into some trouble, maybe even crashing on the rocks. Which would be good news.
It couldn’t go on forever, maybe only because nothing can go on forever.
GOP never bothered to figure out an exit strategy, which has been obvious since they ditched their self-examination exercise on their all-purpose toxic bigotry and hate after their defeats to Obama.
Edit: adding sick people of all ages and descriptions to their hate list was probably a mistake.
debbie
@Baud:
Any idea who told him? They’re probably next on the Firing List.
boatboy_srq
@lamh36: WAHOO! Nothing like getting to study where you really wanted to go.
Steeplejack
@lamh36:
Congratulations to your nephew!
M31
@Villago Delenda Est:
So if the Republicans agreed on an actual budget, (not a CR), then they could pass it with 51 votes? (Absent a Dem filibuster).
jl
Also, good possibility that GOP is freaked because Trump, who really doesn’t care about anything but a ‘win’ might agree to something halfway reasonable and decent, which would foul up GOP plans for cynical and dishonest demagoguery. If something lands on Trump’s desk quick enough after he agrees, he might even sign it, on the ‘what the hell? It’s a win’ principle.
Which is another sign that our GOP problems is as serious as our Trump problem.
NotMax
@M31
Only if it passes in the House first.
All budget bills must originate in the House, per some old document kicking around D.C.
randy khan
@Yarrow:
The Republicans were something like 12 or 14 votes shy because of R defections, etc. I’d guess that Schumer has given some people a free pass because he knows he doesn’t need them.
mai naem mobile
@Yarrow: they don’t get to 60 even with McCaskill,Tester and Doug Jones. They got shit. CHI falls on GOP governors as well. McTurtle broke it and he can go eat shit and live in his shit hole . The GOP really think the Dems are not going to come out to vote because Schumer is fighting for DACA? Please proceed assholes.
lamh36
Why is it always just 1 employer who’s gotta be late with the W-2s…and it usually the one you spent the LEAST amount of time working at the previous year…
I got all of my W-2/tax documents except the 1 from my former employer..where I only worked for 2 months…in the beginning of the year…ugh…
SFAW
@debbie:
S_cat is hoping it’s Kelly. Can’t say I would disagree.
M31
@NotMax:
oh yeah, some old document, who pays attention to that shit, it’s got words like ’emoluments’ in it
J R in WV
@lamh36:
Lamh, that’s wonderful news. Where did he want to go? What does he think he’ll major in? Which isn’t to say that’s what he’ll graduate in, I started off in liberal arts but wound up in BS Computer Science (for the money, plus it was interesting hard!).
I’m being nosy a little, so feel free to tell me to go away, but the kids interest me, ’cause I’m so old.
Villago Delenda Est
@M31: They could pass a House bill unaltered with 51 votes.
The problem is the House can’t agree on what to pass, due to aforementioned Freedumb Caucus.
The other problem is the GOP Senators can’t agree on what should be in this bill.
Roger Moore
@dmsilev:
A huge advantage is that you know how those people felt, or at least claimed they felt, about the issues in the past. One of thing to worry about with many polls is how honest the respondents are about their past behavior. How many people who voted for Trump are afraid to admit it now and pretend they voted for somebody else (or stayed home) when asked about it now? With a poll like the one the LA Times runs, you have a record of how that same person responded in the past, so you don’t have to depend on their honesty in responding today. You even have a way of judging if one group is getting discouraged and refusing to respond to the poll, since you can compare response rates based on past survey answers. There are problems if your initial population was skewed- you don’t get to resample with every poll- but longitudinal studies have huge advantages.
Mnemosyne
@Yarrow:
Meh. I suspect it’s posturing. There’s no harm in being strategic when it’s not going to pass anyway.
J R in WV
@Yutsano:
They need 60 votes in the Senate, which is why Sen Chuck Shumer is getting some flack as the destroyer of our country; they need something like 9 Democratic Senators to vote for it. That 50 + Pence was only for the reconcliiation process, which is to avoid the filibuster limit of 60 votes on occasion. There’s a lot of rules, which I don’t care to remember.
randy khan
So the Justice Department has announced that it’s going to retry Bob Menendez.
Now, personally, I think Menendez is a sleaze who shouldn’t be in the Senate, and I also think the Supreme Court went too far in narrowing the ways you can get someone for selling political favors.
But I also think retrying him is nuts. The jury didn’t hang 11-1 in favor of the government, or even 6-6 – it was 10-2 for acquittal. The evidence isn’t getting any better for the prosecution, and the law won’t improve, either, and they’re not getting a new judge who might favor the government more. So this pretty much has to have been a decision from high up in the Justice Department, and it’s going to be ridiculously easy for Menendez to paint it as purely politically motivated (which it almost certainly is).
I read the stories about how supposedly having Menendez on trial complicates things for the Dems, and honestly I think it makes it easier. Heck, if I were Menendez, I would be torn between demanding the trial start next Tuesday and insisting that the soonest possible date for it to start is November 15 because I wouldn’t be sure which scenario I could exploit better.
randy khan
@Villago Delenda Est:
I think you’re incorrect. This is a non-reconciliation bill, and they generally need 60 votes to clear a filibuster.
Baud
@randy khan: I agree. It’s easier on us now that NJ has a Dem governor.
trollhattan
@Brachiator:
I don’t know why everybody and their uncle in the region hate the Kurds, but they’re constantly fucked from three directions–four when ISIS was still viable.
As per Trump usual we won’t do squat.
Yarrow
@randy khan: That’s my guess too. Give them cover.
M31
@Villago Delenda Est:
thanks! Hopefully the disarray and craziness will keep things from being as bad as they could be
trollhattan
@randy khan:
So long as he has (D) after the name and Jefferson Beauregard Munchkin III is AJ he must be Brought to Justice. The end.
Yarrow
@Mnemosyne: Yes, I agree. It’s an indication of where things are going, though. Looks like no deal. Government will shut down.
Roger Moore
@Yutsano:
Part of it is that they actually need 218 + 60 + 1, because they burned their one chance per year to pass something through reconciliation on tax cuts rather than an actual budget. I suspect they could probably twist enough arms to get to 50 (plus Pence) if that were the cutoff, but because the Democrats can filibuster, a bunch of Republicans feel now is a good time to stand up for their principles and refuse to go along.
J R in WV
@Villago Delenda Est:
No, it’s a normal bill, which takes 60 votes in the Senate… the dreaded fillibuster allows the hated Democrats to not vote for it, causing it to fail. Something like that. They need 60, and without 60 nothing can pass. Sorry, Nazis, you lose.
Cheryl Rofer
The vote on the shutdown will be at 10 pm Eastern time.
Villago Delenda Est
@randy khan: If there’s no reconciliation (that is, no need to alter the bill the House sends to the Senate) I think they can just pass that with 51. Assuming they have 51, which they don’t. Recall that Yertle rammed through the SC seat stealer Gorsuch on a bare majority vote without the cloture break.
MomSense
@JDM:
No scoop for you!
Roger Moore
@Hungry Joe:
It gives them an excuse to do what they want while passing the blame to someone else. This is the MO for both Ryan and McConnell; they let crazy minorities within their caucus dictate terms because it lets them shift the blame for what they wanted all along.
randy khan
@Villago Delenda Est:
What they did with Gorsuch was kill the filibuster for Supreme Court justices. Of course, in theory they could try to do that for regular legislation as well, but they don’t even have 50 Republican votes for the legislation right now, let alone for a vote to kill the filibuster over legislation without 50 Republican votes.
lamh36
@J R in WV: He’s an only child, who acts like he wants to get away from him mother, but really he doesn’t. He alos doens’t have alot of money, and he’s eligible for the LA TOPS program, so he needed to go to a state school. He wanted to be far enough away from his mon that wasn’t TOO FAR for her to drive (or him to drive) home to NOLA if he needed to.
He’ll be an incoming freshmean at the state university in Lafayette…1 hr from Baton Rouge, bout 2 hrs from NOLA!
NotMax
Just took a glance at the House calendar for 2018.
Entire month of August off (July 28 – Sept. 3). Also nearly a month off leading into election day.
Baud
Chris Matthews thinks he has 2 million viewers.
Kathleen
@lamh36: I know many proud aunties who have no biological children of their own but contribute so much to the well being and success of their nieces and nephews. It’s pretty cool. I applaud you and your tight knit family.
lamh36
@danpfeiffer
@danpfeiffer
Retweeted CBS News
Who wants to tell him?
dmsilev
@Roger Moore: Getting to 50 + Pence is also not trivial for them. Remember, with Doug Jones now in the Senate, it’s 51-49, and McCain is out undergoing medical treatment for his cancer right now. So, they would need Every Single Republican to agree. Good luck, Mitch…
B.B.A.
Reminder that Davos is next week, and the SotU was moved so Trump could attend and stick it to those bank boys and Eurotrash cucks who think they’re so much better than him.
If there’s a shutdown and he still goes…well, fill in the rest.
Mandalay
@Steeplejack:
Unfortunately it’s not just Axios doing Norway…
They talk the talk. They really need to start walking the walk. Pronto.
dmsilev
@Baud: Half of those are in his imagination, and half of the rest are hate-watching him.
dmsilev
@B.B.A.: Ideal case, IMHO, would be a shutdown that lasts for about a week and ends with a DACA deal, thereby ruining Trump’s Swiss trip and forcing him to accept a bad deal (in his eyes) just a few days before the SotU speech. He’d spend the entire speech ranting and raving about it.
debbie
@SFAW:
I’m rooting for Hope myself.
RedDirtGirl (AKA IvankaThrowUp)
@Kathleen: I’m a proud auntie who will be heading to tomorrow’s NYC Pussy March with my sister and 15 year old niece.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Villago Delenda Est:
That’s because he nuked the filibuster on Supreme Court votes.
lamh36
RedDirtGirl (AKA IvankaThrowUp)
I haven’t been around much in the past few days. Do we know any more about Ozark Hillbilly’s son? I’ve been thinking a lot about them….
lamh36
If Omarosa brings Trump down…she STILL ain’t invited to the cookout…FUQ her…
debbie
@lamh36:
Excuse my language, but that’s a lot of shit in his system!
NotMax
@Baud
It’s possible, if one squints a bit.
Partial data summary from October 2017:
zhena gogolia
@RedDirtGirl (AKA IvankaThrowUp):
As far as I know there hasn’t been any news.
Mary G
@Mandalay: Yeah, I follow Shaun King on Twitter and a few months ago he did a survey and several Republicans in Congress had black chiefs of staff, but no Democrats, which is a disgrace. You gotta walk the walk if you want to talk the talk.
ETA: This is a great Twitter thread:
Ruckus
@Brachiator:
I wonder if the “leader” of the free world even knows and if he did would he be able to find either country on a map, let alone have any idea what it means.
lamh36
@lamh36:
?BillinGlendaleCA
@NotMax: Part of that is timing because Hardball is on at 4pm here on the west coast so it’s before most folk here get home from work. Must be at 1pm or 2pm for you.
RedDirtGirl (AKA IvankaThrowUp)
@zhena gogolia: Thanks.
Robert Sneddon
@trollhattan: The Kurds want a homeland, a nation-state in that area. The only way they get it is by carving a chunk out of one or more nation-states who quite reasonably don’t want chunks of their nation-states carved off, and they’ve all got more and better guns than the Kurds.
There’s no unexplored territory left, there’s no primitives that can be driven into the badlands to open up the land for settlers with guns and armies, there’s no Palestinian Mandate or other unclaimed territory around to create a new country in without killing a lot of people. Sucks, doesn’t it?
NotMax
@BillinGlendaleCA
If had to guess, it would be that Matthews is adding together ratings for the live broadcast plus those for the rerun later in the evening.
dmsilev
Looks like Yertle is going to at least try for a vote:
(link)
Kristine
@lamh36: Congratulations to your nephew!
Aleta
I hope Schumer is recording it.
I looked up whether that’s legal in DC.
So Trump can also record meetings without notifying others. Unless there’s another law that applies to recording Trump, or in the Ov Of, I guess Priebus or Bannon or any of that ilk might have too? I don’t think they take personal cell phones away from the Senators do they? They only banned WH staff from bringing them in, I thought.
lamh36
damn…FUQ’N Fentanyl…reminded by someone it’s the same druge involved in Prince’s death.
My theory…all the news about propofol and it’s involvement in Micheal Jackson’s death, led to that use of another drug by the famous and those who can afford it…
Davebo
What kind of porn star can be gagged by a lousy 130k?
Marcopolo
Honestly haven’t read the entire thread, it’s probably already been said, but I’m calling what’s about to happen the Government Shitdown.
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
@lamh36: Not even a take-home plate!
Aimai
@Marcopolo: well done!
Davebo
President Donald Trump addressed anti-abortion activists at the March For Life Friday
Around the 25 second mark.
Davebo
@lamh36: Fake news awards were delayed then they realized Omarosa had the assignment.
NotMax
@Marcopolo
Also too, another example of Republican’t.
SiubhanDuinne
@Davebo:
What?! Was he trying to riff on “from his mother’s womb/untimely ripp’d” or something?
SiubhanDuinne
@Marcopolo:
Heh. Very nice.
SiubhanDuinne
@lamh36:
Ah phuck. Goddammit. So tragic.
NotMax
@SiubhanDuinne
True story.
That line from Willie S. was on the slip of paper I pulled out of the hat during a game of charades.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Davebo: Usually it’s more of a 13 inch.
dmsilev
@Davebo: He’s complaining because C-sections are legal?
Roger Moore
@Davebo:
I thought they all had to learn to suppress their gag reflex. It would certainly help in dealing with Donald Trump.
Marcopolo
So who’s going out to march tomorrow? I’m hoping to have a sign that says, “They tried to bury us. They didn’t know we were seeds.” And “Let’s make Nov 6th 2018 a Blunami!” (The hope is my artist friend has the time to make the sign otherwise I recycle one of my other half dozen signs from this past year)
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
@lamh36: I suspect it’s more that the opiates treat pain, where as propofol is sedation/general aneshesia. It’s perhaps better – though much riskier than say, Ambien for sleep sedation, but it’s not going to have the pain relief effects of an opiate.
The opiates have a unique capacity to remodel the neural pathways, which is part of the reason for the rapidly increasing tolerance for them. And that extends to pain relief – a dosage that extinguished pain for a period will in several days become a dosage that merely blunts pain and then shortly thereafter will have no effect. And the withdrawal is also pretty horrific, which compounds the problem. And the multiple opiates in combination with some benzos listed in that tox report is unsurprisingly a lethal mix. Tragic, but as the family notes, most likely a painless passing.
Ruviana
@lamh36: Seems more like mixing fentanyl with heroin to give it more of a kick as people turned from opioids to street drugs.
Peale
@dmsilev: what I don’t think is being made clear by our pundit betters is that the way reason the democrats must play hardball with this CR is that the DACA enrollees will start being rounded up and deported in March. There’s no “kick it down the road”. If your permit expires March 9th, you have not been able to renew and won’t be able to. The states will be out of money for CHIP. The Democrats aren’t be obstinate. Frankly, I’d be willing to fund he first 100 yards of a wall to keep DACA enrollees safe through the rest of Trump’s term.
Yarrow
@lamh36: Petty’s family says he started taking the pain meds because of a hip injury. it’s such a common thing. People get prescribed opiods for pain and they become addicted.
mainmata
@M31: Yes, it’s all about the World War I era debt ceiling limit, which was a made up thing then and has now become a purely GOP cudgel.
Davebo
@SiubhanDuinne: I’ve got to believe that was the idea.
But the guy could f#ck up a steel ball with a plastic spork.
danielx
@Anne Laurie:
This makes me happy.
RedDirtGirl (AKA IvankaThrowUp)
@Aimai: Here, here! Government Shitdown it is!
TRUMP’S GOVERNMENT SHITDOWN!
mainmata
@randy khan: Agree entirely but ole Jeff, our miniature AG, is always about vengeance against his perceived enemies even if (and especially if) futile. In any event, NJ has an apparently progressive Democratic governor so the outcome wouldn’t matter anyway.
danielx
@Davebo:
I’ve wondering about that myself. It seemed to me this happened kind of in reverse order. She should have gotten the 130k just for fucking Trump (an appalling thought), and a million for keeping her mouth shut.
RedDirtGirl (AKA IvankaThrowUp)
@Roger Moore: Yes! Well done!
Shana
@lamh36: Mazel tov to the nephew (and you for being a great and supportive Auntie)!
ETA: my younger daughter is finishing her Masters in Art History, so that’s a possibility. We’re just waiting to hear who accepts her for a pHd program. Tick tock.
debbie
@Yarrow:
I don’t think there are prescriptions for fentanyl. That’s what they’re lacing heroin with and what so many are ODing on and dying from.
SiubhanDuinne
@NotMax:
‘Tis a powerfully beautiful line. Although the mind boggles a bit at just how you charaded it.
eemom
Too much to ask, I know, but I wish people would have some respect and not cluck-cluck and poster-child a tragic death.
Still more too much to ask, of course, that anybody READ the fucking statement of the family. He didn’t “start taking opioids for pain and then get addicted” — which by the way, is a bullshit, medically debunked trope that has resulted in millions of people suffering needlessly from chronic pain.
He was IN agonizing pain on the day he died from a FRACTURED hip.
Shana
@J R in WV: My recommendation for kids thinking about where to apply is always “pick a school that’s big enough that if you change your major you can explore other fields at your current school. You may still decide to transfer somewhere else but at least you’ve explored other areas first.” No idea how many actually listen, but still I think it’s good advice.
Yarrow
@debbie: There certainly are prescriptions for fentanyl patches because a family member of mine used them for awhile. Had to go in every month, sign in triplicate, be willing to be drug tested and if tested positive for other things would have the prescription pulled. It was very controlled by the doctor. I don’t know about other forms.
schrodingers_cat
Newshour panel was in turns concern trolling and castigating the Ds. I maintain my opinion that Mark Shields is one of the most useless pundits on TV
Davebo
@eemom:
Are you saying people don’t start taking opioids for pain and then get addicted?
Aleta
@Marcopolo: perfect
Peale
@schrodingers_cat: yep. He predicted a lack of enthusiasm and democratic losses in Virginia. Then a lack of enthusiasm for Dems and a loss in Alabama. He’s the poster child now for “Dems better do what Republicans say”. He’s had that chair for 35 years. Why?
Gin & Tonic
@debbie: I had fentanyl administered to me in the ER last year, primarily because it is powerful and fast-acting. It also leaves the system quickly, which was important to me as I had to drive home. It is medically-approved and pharmaceutically-manufactured, at least for the stuff in that setting.
Chet Murthy
@NotMax: Dayyyum. Dr. Maddow is crushin’ it.
Yarrow
dmsilev
@schrodingers_cat:
There’s a _lot_ of competition for that title.
Baud
Rachel says Dems meeting in the Fuck LBJ Room.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
I tuned in at the very end of Chris Hayes and he’s wringing his hands worried repugs have a better position.
Pathetic.
dmsilev
@Yarrow: Seems basically right. One good thing about Shitholegate (Shitpot Dome?) is that it clarified for a lot of people that Trump really really means it when he says racist things. Sure, that’s not exactly a surprise to anyone paying attention, but a lot of people really want to believe that it wasn’t the case.
debbie
@Yarrow:
@Gin & Tonic:
I have to admit my surprise because all I’ve ever heard is how toxic it is. A cop brushed some of it off his jacket after a bust and it took four doses of Narcan to revive him.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: Chris is the kind of Democrat that Baud was talking about this morning.
eemom
@Davebo:
Go do some research.
TS
@Baud: Rachel crosses to one of the NBC reporters and asks “Do the senate have to pass exactly the same bill as the house”. He raved for 5 minutes and never answered the question asked. This is a friendly interview – have reporters learned from the politicians to answer the question they want to answer rather than the one asked?
SgrAstar
@lamh36: That is great news! It’s such a mikestone to be accepted to college…and your first choice, fantastic!
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Are we sure he’s a Dem?
B.B.A.
Under three hours left. Are there 50 votes to pass the House bill, and let Donald go play with his friends in Florida and Switzerland? Or is he gonna have another temper tantrum?
dmsilev
@TS: The answer to that question is “yes”, because otherwise the House would have to come back in session (they’ve left already) to reconcile the two bills.
I’m not sure why 5 minutes of anything, including ranting, is needed to answer that.
Gin & Tonic
@debbie: It’s part of standard trauma-management therapy. Didn’t do shit for me, but it’s supposed to be stronger than morphine. Plus, as I said, it flushes out quickly. Two or so hours after they administered it, I was cleared to drive home.
JR
@debbie: Fentanyl is ~100 times more potent than morphine, which is plenty potent. Of course the dosage is very low (25 micrograms) when administered to patients. Setting aside the differences between how the body metabolizes different drugs, you can draw a pretty rough equivalency to 2.5mg of morphine. However a standard dose of morphine starts at 15mg.
Fentanyl is plenty dangerous, but it’s administered in a pretty safe way. The only thing more potent in common use is etorphine, which is ~1000 times more potent than morphine. It’s used as a large animal tranquilizer.
dmsilev
@B.B.A.: Washington Post just now:
Looks like Donnie is staying in town tonight, and likely tomorrow as well. Chances of twitter tantrums are high.
marcopolo
@Marcopolo: And my artist friend has now texted me a photo of the poster she has already completed. Yahoo. Ready to march!
Baud
@dmsilev: So what are Dems asking for? A clean vote on DACA within the 30 days?
TS
@dmsilev: thanks – I couldn’t work out why he didn’t answer – and rachel didn’t ask again
Davebo
@eemom: No need.
B.B.A.
Just looked it up, and the last year the full appropriation package passed on time was 1997. We’ve had at least one temporary kick-the-can bill every year since then. There’s got to be a better way.
dmsilev
@Baud: They want a DACA fix as part of the CR, because at this point nobody trusts either Trump or Congressional Republicans who say “we’ll get to that soon, honestly we will”.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
#Trumpshutdown trending worldwide.
so is
#LaurenDavis who is locked in an epic tied match right now at the aussie open (espn)
Marcopolo
@B.B.A.: Well, I’m sure it had nuthin to do with the Newt becoming Speaker in 1995. He never blowed nuthin up.
Baud
@dmsilev: That’s not physically possible right now. They either pass the House bill or there’s a shutdown.
raven
Two of the guys in my brother’s Floyd Tribute Band and Stormy!
Peale
@dmsilev: yep. Sessions is trying to get the whole program declared illegal. They want these “most sympathetic” set of immigrants out of the country.
schrodingers_cat
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: So he is a younger non-jowly Mark Shields?
chopper
that’s not it. this shutdown is happening because paul ryan doesn’t want to introduce a bill that he knows needs democratic votes to pass.
Omnes Omnibus
@raven: She gets around apparently.
Ken
@B.B.A.:
I suppose chaining them in the Capitol and not feeding them until a budget is passed is off the table?
B.B.A.
@Ken: Obviously a no-go. Why would we feed them after the budget is passed?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Ken: We kind of tried that in California, we ended up solving the problem by getting rid of the Republicans.
J R in WV
@lamh36:
I haven’t been there, to Lafayette, but it has always sounded like a nice place from reading about it. Best of luck to the young man!! Congrats to him in particular, and all your folks!
Ken
@B.B.A.: As a compromise (and taking the idea from an earlier thread), once they pass the budget we won’t unchain them, but we’ll release several hundred feral swine in the building. Someone will get fed.
Adria McDowell
@lamh36: Congrats! Maybe he should become an art teacher (before he heads off to the Presidency, I mean). The most popular teacher at my daughter’s school is the art teacher. Literally everyone loves him- kids, parents, and other teachers alike. He posts really thoughtful messages in the monthly newsletter, too.
Lizzy L
From WaPo: Government barrels toward shutdown after Senate blocks short-term spending bill.
J R in WV
@SiubhanDuinne:
Evidently Tom Petty had a fractured hip on his final tour, and continued to perform so as to not let his fans down, which led to a completely broken hip… so maximum pain relief was in order. He may have just forgotten he had already taken the 9 pm dose and doubled up, it could have been that simple.
Very sad, though. Prince also had physical damage from performing. Those guys may have just overdone it as they aged. Still sad. So much talent burned up, just like Janice, Jimmy, so many talents.
eemom
@J R in WV:
Exactly. Thank you.
Of course, there’s always Keith….