Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

“Squeaker” McCarthy

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

The GOP is a fucking disgrace.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

The revolution will be supervised.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

This really is a full service blog.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Russiagate Open Thread: Exposing the Tinpot Dictator Squatting in the Oval Office

Russiagate Open Thread: Exposing the Tinpot Dictator Squatting in the Oval Office

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This post is in: , , , , , , ,

(Matt Davies via GoComics.com)
.

It’s a tragic status that’s getting noticed more & more…

The Pentagon is considering soliciting donations to fund the President’s requested military parade, which could cost between $3 million and $50 million, according to preliminary estimates from a defense official who spoke with CNN.

Because there is currently no money set aside for a parade in the military budget, the Pentagon would likely use those private donations to offset the cost of the non-military components of the event, according to CNN. Budget director Mick Mulvaney said Wednesday that he estimates the parade could cost between $10 million to $30 million.

Defense officials are also concerned about the lack of available troops to attend a parade, CNN reported. A large-scale parade would require weeks of planning and the transportation of equipment, like tanks, to Washington, D.C. days ahead of time in order to prepare, according to the official who spoke with CNN…

.
Hey, remember how offended the Trumplodytes were when the South Korean government was nice to Kim Jong-un’s sister?…

The government is preparing a VIP welcome for U.S. President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka, who comes to Korea for the closing ceremony of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics on Feb. 25. The government apparently wants to soften her up so Trump agrees to a mooted visit to Pyongyang by President Moon Jae-in…

Trump runs the White House like a private fiefdom and has levered both Ivanka and her husband Jarred Kushner into ill-defined foreign-policy roles.

Technically, Seoul has no diplomatic obligation to roll out the red carpet for the child of a U.S. leader, and even the head of a U.S. presidential delegation does not receive the treatment given to a head of state…

Moon himself seems minded to greet her cap-in-hand. A Cheong Wa Dae official said, “Ivanka enjoys sports and especially skiing, so we are discussing having the president travel to Pyeongchang with her to watch a skiing competition.”

Ivanka Trump is the mother of two sons and a daughter, whom the government wants to lavish with presents.

The government has to calibrate the red-carpet treatment so it meets at least the welcome given to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s sister Yo-jong, who visited the opening ceremony. The first daughter has repeatedly been treated as a virtual head of state during visits to other countries, not least to Germany, where she shared a stage with Chancellor Angela Merkel…


.

BREAKING…

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s interest in Jared Kushner has expanded beyond his contacts with Russia and now includes his efforts to secure financing for his company from foreign investors during the presidential transition, according to people familiar with the inquiry.

This is the first indication that Mueller is exploring Kushner’s discussions with potential non-Russian foreign investors, including in China…

It’s not clear what’s behind Mueller’s specific interest in the financing discussions. Mueller’s team has not contacted Kushner Companies for information or requested interviews with its executives, according to a person familiar with the matter.

During the presidential transition, Kushner was a lead contact for foreign governments, speaking to “over fifty contacts with people from over fifteen countries,” according to a statement he gave to congressional investigators…

Reader Interactions

325Comments

  2. 2.

    Jerzy Russian

    Keeping up with this blog is exhausting. I don’t know how employed people manage to do it.

  4. 4.

    cmorenc

    Kushner’s $1.8 B debt on 666 5th Avenue is a looming trapdoor that will spring open underneath him when repayment comes due in about a year, unless…he can secure refinancing. Which is going to be very hard to do from investors seeking any sort of normal ROI, since the amount Kushner bought the building (and financed it) for is so grossly in excess of fair market value. I read somewhere (unfortunately don’t have the link handy) that the break-even point for that property would require selling/leasing/renting the property @100% occupancy for something ln the neighborhood of $9000 per square foot. At that rate, even a 1000 ft studio apartment would need to sell for $9 million dollars (!)

    No wonder Mueller is keenly interested in how/when/where Kushner could possibly seek and find any interested investors to bail him out on this white elephant.

  5. 5.

    efgoldman

    @Jerzy Russian:

    I don’t know how employed people manage to do it.

    For some reason, my former employer blocked Balloon Juice, but allowed other blogs and media through

  6. 6.

    Viva BrisVegas

    If Trump wants a parade, why doesn’t he just go on a state visit to North Korea? Kim Jong Un puts on dandy parades.

  8. 8.

    Major Major Major Major

    Open thread shameless plug!

    I’ve just put up the end of chapter 2 of my webcomic Against Stupidity, the comedic tale of a college student who transfers to a new city after inheriting his grandma’s house–and also, unbeknownst to him, the powerful sorceress’s enemies. I’m very pleased with how it’s been going, though I need to start doing longer-term scripting instead of just having an outline.

    End shameless plug

  9. 9.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    @cmorenc:

    For someone with an elite education (which doesn’t necessarily mean he’s bright), Kushner sure made a shit deal on that albatross of a building. Sad.

  12. 12.

    Corner Stone

    The government has to calibrate the red-carpet treatment so it meets at least the welcome given to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s sister Yo-jong, who visited the opening ceremony. The first daughter has repeatedly been treated as a virtual head of state during visits to other countries, not least to Germany, where she shared a stage with Chancellor Angela Merkel…

    And yet, Ivanka has exactly zero professional or policy accomplishments in her life. Hmmm…

  13. 13.

    No Drought No More

    If South Korea has a sense of humor, they’ll offer Ivanka asylum. And if Ivanka is wise, she accept on the spot.

    Is orange still the new black?

  14. 14.

    mai naem mobile

    Kushner is a fucking moron. The Kushners were not like Donnie Dumdum. They had some real money. This moron made a worse deal than the Time Warner AOL deal. Worse than Halliburton buying the asbestos company. He fucked up so bad that he couldn’t even unload it in a good market. I cannot believe somebody involved in the deal didn’t twll him it was a bad horrible deal.

  15. 15.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @cmorenc: this article is six months old, and I don’t know how reliable Curbed is, but…

    On the new condo-ified plans for the building: “a $4 billion construction loan and a business model that assumed the condos would sell at the aggressive price of $9,000 per square foot” [ed. note: !!!!!!!]

    I googled a couple weeks ago, so FWIW, but that’s more than twice the price of condos in the Dakota (home of Yoko and until not too long ago Lauren Bacall, and I think the inspiration for the building in Rosemary’s Baby)

  17. 17.

    Ohio Mom

    @efgoldman: How long has Yarrow been MIA?

    I can’t keep up with every thread so I end up assuming everyone is commenting on the ones I’m not reading.

  20. 20.

    RobertDSC-Mac Mini

    @Jerzy Russian:

    I read on my phone as I go through the day.

    Pleased to have picked up a second 24 inch HP monitor to match the first 24 inch HP monitor. Now both of my Macs have the same screen real estate: 1920×1200 pixels. I had previously used a 23 inch Acer as the second Mac’s screen, but it began to develop lines in the screen.

    A portion of my tax refund covered the new HP monitor. Thanks, Obama.

  27. 27.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    Awesome. Rose twitter and #metoo are trying to trash Al Giordano on bullshit.

    Even if true (which I doubt greatly), adult women in their 20s who participate in adult events have zero agency and need chaperones constantly. Further, they can’t be trusted to drink responsibly. Clearly, the answer is burkas, vice/virtue cops and Prohibition.

  28. 28.

    mai naem mobile

    I vaguely remember that one of Ivanka’s FDS said her monthly income was something like $500K-$1M – most or it from her product line. If you’re really making that kind of $$$;you aren’t going to carry $50K in credit card debt.

  29. 29.

    Jay

    @mai naem mobile:

    Wouldn’t have mattered. It was a “vanity project” that would move Kurshner and Co up from Condo’s for Visas/Baltimore Slumlords status, to Big Time New York Developer.

  34. 34.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: Come back, Yarrow! we are subbing in for you with Tick Tock Motherfuckers, but it’s always best coming from the original author.

  35. 35.

    Mnemosyne

    I’ve become very fond of Libby, the new Overdrive app for my iPad (and other mobile devices). I can search my local library’s collection of e-books and download them directly to my device. When the loan is due, they magically vanish — no muss, no fuss. And if something was on hold, it checks out and downloads automatically when it’s my turn.

  37. 37.

    Jay

    @mai naem mobile:
    The FDS is probably BS.

    $500K to $1 million monthly income would require at least $10 million in retail sales a month, and low, low overhead, huge markups, no losses or returns.

  38. 38.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Baka Amerikahito) ? ?

    In good news, I got that job I applied for. Orientation is this Friday. I literally applied the day before I got an email for the phone interview. Funny how life works sometimes.

  49. 49.

    efgoldman

    @Ohio Mom:

    you could ask Adam or another frontpager to contact him and tell him we miss him.

    I have something in the back corner of what’s left of my brain about a health issue for him or someone in his family. Can’t find where I put it down or filed it

  51. 51.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @efgoldman: also…

    My book exposed a grubby secret of American higher education: that the rich buy their under-achieving children’s way into elite universities with massive, tax-deductible donations. It reported that New Jersey real estate developer Charles Kushner had pledged $2.5 million to Harvard University in 1998, not long before his son Jared was admitted to the prestigious Ivy League school. At the time, Harvard accepted about one of every nine applicants. (Nowadays, it only takes one out of twenty.)
    I also quoted administrators at Jared’s high school, who described him as a less than stellar student and expressed dismay at Harvard’s decision.
    “There was no way anybody in the administrative office of the school thought he would on the merits get into Harvard,” a former official at The Frisch School in Paramus, New Jersey, told me. “His GPA did not warrant it, his SAT scores did not warrant it. We thought for sure, there was no way this was going to happen. Then, lo and behold, Jared was accepted. It was a little bit disappointing because there were at the time other kids we thought should really get in on the merits, and they did not.”

  55. 55.

    joel hanes

    @Jerzy Russian:

    I don’t know how employed people manage to do it.

    We don’t.
    We read and comment when we can.

    I miss probably 9/10ths of the comment threads and half the front-page articles.

  56. 56.

    Mnemosyne

    @Baud:

    It’s a new-and-improved version of the existing Overdrive app. Once you enter in your card information, you can search multiple libraries at the same time, which is quite cool.

  57. 57.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Baka Amerikahito) ? ?

    @Mnemosyne:
    Are you kidding? It’s only paying 25 cents above minimum wage starting out. Even with the union and the benefits, I still plan on sticking to school. This second job will help pay my car payment (& other expenses) and help save for tuition.

  59. 59.

    hellslittlestangel

    The most powerful and well-funded military in the history of the world is seeking donations to put on a parade. Please dig deep, folks. Every little bit helps.

  67. 67.

    Brachiator

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    My book exposed a grubby secret of American higher education: that the rich buy their under-achieving children’s way into elite universities with massive, tax-deductible donations

    How is this news to anyone?

  73. 73.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Baka Amerikahito) ? ?

    @Steeplejack:
    It’s cashier (front end)/lot attendant plus whatever else they would need for a supermarket chain. I was also told I could be cross-trained for other departments if I wanted.

  76. 76.

    Procopius

    The military doesn’t need to solicit donations. After granting the budget they requested for the next two years, the goniffs came back and gave the military another $173 billion that they had not asked for. They’ve got plenty of money for their parade and for flying fresh pineapple in from the Philippines before bedtime every night.

  77. 77.

    efgoldman

    Just saw an interview with a teacher who got winged (only) shielding kids at Parkland.
    He said he didn’t know what to say to the kids first day back.
    If it were me, that’s exactly what I’d say.
    “I don’t know what to say. There are no words. I’d like to hear yours.”
    There won’t be any real classwork the first days anyway.

  78. 78.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Brachiator: You knew Charlie Kushner paid $2.5 million to get Jared into Harvard? Congratulations. I didn’t know who the Kushners were two years ago.

    @Magda in Black: as we celebrate the return of Willard Romney and his blindingly shiny armor to the field, let us remember that a couple of Mittlets talked not only about Obama’s birth certificate, but his college transcripts.

  79. 79.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Baka Amerikahito) ? ?

    @Procopius:
    Agreed. This seems like a big opportunity for some graft. This is real corruption, not piddly shit like the mayor raiding the city water fund for a car.

  87. 87.

    Baud

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    that “old news” line is Bernie’s go-to for things he doesn’t want to talk about.

    When the story of Russia targeting Bernie and Stein voters broke a few weeks ago, Thinkprogress reported it as Russia seeking to help “candidates on the left.” Didn’t mention Sanders’ name at all. Embarrassing…. and telling.

  92. 92.

    raven

    @debbie: I’m playing with house money. I can retire in August if that’s what’s best but I can also work for another year from then and still bail before I’m 70. My bride is retiring at the end of may so we’ll see what happens. If I were him I’d want someone has been in the job for a long time but ya never know.

  93. 93.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Baud: I wonder if Ari Melber, or Rachel Maddow, are aware of and/or curious about Tad Devine’s history in Ukraine… I doubt Hayes would ever bring it up. I hope he gazes at his children with as much adoration as he does for Wilmer.

  94. 94.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Baka Amerikahito) ? ?

    @Baud:
    It already is unionized, thankfully. I work fast :D. Depending on the store, even part-time employees get decent benefits, like medical, dental, and vision plans, and prescription drug coverage.

  97. 97.

    Gravenstone

    @cmorenc: But think of the cachet! Guess what honey? I just got us that dream studio apartment at AntiChrist Acres! Yeah, only 10 mil, what a bargain!

  105. 105.

    James E. Powell

    @Baud:

    Treating Bernie as of he were a normal Democrat.

    The only people who do that are people who hate the Democrats.

  106. 106.

    WaterGirl

    @raven: Whatever he decides, I bet it will say a lot more about him than it does about you. Will he be secure enough to appreciate someone with all your experience and institutional knowledge, or will he be insecure enough that you will threaten him?

    Nice for you that it will be okay either way. Hope you like him!

  110. 110.

    raven

    @WaterGirl: My colleague and I interviewed him with our online conferencing technology so we have had some interaction. He’s highly qualified, comes from a great institution (Emory) and his teaching reviews were great. His job requires building a good deal of trust with folks all over the state, folks who we know and have worked with for years. Like I said, house money.

  114. 114.

    Jeffro

    Still trying to process the fact that columnists and reporters are continuing to ramp up on the “the president is either working for a hostile foreign power, or so dumb that he’s a danger to the country, or both” pieces.

    I mean you can look at it as great news or terrifying. Or cycle between the two for hours on end until your nerves give out.

  117. 117.

    Jeffro

    @debbie: I actually went in to work for a few hours Saturday just to be more productive than “working” at home. It was weird. But it was a good call.

  118. 118.

    debbie

    @raven:

    I freelanced out of my apartment for 15 years. I still can’t get used to being in an office, and it’s been 7 years!

  122. 122.

    Ruckus

    @Procopius:
    Did the military actually get more money or did congress allot more money for military production of stuff that even the pentagon doesn’t want?

  123. 123.

    Procopius

    @cmorenc: He bought at the top of the boom. Way overpriced. Terrible judgement. The best he can hope for is to sell it at way less than he paid for it, and pray that he gets enough to keep his father’s business (which he was running while his father was in prison) from going down. His father is a vicious and vindictive man.

  124. 124.

    WaterGirl

    @Raven: I couldn’t go back to working every day in an office, either. I worked from him for my final 4 years at the university, plus 8 years working from home since i left there.

  127. 127.

    MomSense

    Dear god the bronze medal winning Russian curler is suspected of doping. For curling? Seriously?

  129. 129.

    Mike in NC

    @hellslittlestangel: The Pentagon will drop everything in order to seek out the best looking white women in the armed forces. Trump will rank them on a scale of 1 to 10. After the parade he will schedule Executive Time when he can grope them.

  130. 130.

    Corner Stone

    @debbie: I spent the last two years working in conference rooms because if I was in my office I would have 6 people walk in during any 15 minute span. Didn’t matter if my door was closed, if I had the deskset phone in my hand or was clearly on a video conference. Whatever they had to say, had to be said right then.
    Thankfully, working across global timezones made it easier to work from home more but that chapped some asses of the people paying the bills. Which I always thought was weird. You do know it’s 2015+, right?

  131. 131.

    Ruckus

    @raven:
    My goal now is to retire at the end of 2019, middle of my 70th year. Not sure if I can last that long, what with all that’s going on, but my boss owns the place so I’m not getting a new one any time soon. Plus he’s a good boss, which makes it a good place to work. I think it will be nice to go out on a high note.

  132. 132.

    different-church-lady

    OT: For about two weeks now it has really been grinding my gears how we let techno-utopists push this idea that social media was important and significant for so many years. These things were never anything but toys, but those toys that took over our minds. Individuals decided that Facebook would be their only portal to the larger world. News organizations decided Twitter was the future and let “trending” drive their judgement of what was newsworthy, based on a misguided sense of the value of “engagement”. And assholes figured out how to leverage it, whether it be within those companies or outside.

    It was all supposed to be so good and fun and wonderful and it would liberate us — that was the bill of goods we bought, hook line and sinker. Instead it just made us more trivial, more vulgar, and more vulnerable.

  133. 133.

    Roger Moore

    @Magda in Black:

    Remind me again how Obama was not qualified for Harvard?

    His family couldn’t afford a multi-million dollar donation. How much less qualified could he be?

  135. 135.

    Kay

    School teachers and service personnel from all 55 counties will participate in West Virginia’s first statewide walkout Thursday and Friday, union leaders announced Saturday.
    The announcement came at the end of a rally featuring thousands of teachers and others at the state Capitol, and follows weeks of growing tension between public employees, educators and the state Legislature regarding concerns with pay and health care.

    Teachers don’t actually have the right to strike in West Virginia so this could boomerang on them, but they know teacher pay is so low in West Virginia that they can’t be replaced, so it’s not that risky.

    The key is ALL. They stick together or hang separately :)

  137. 137.

    Shana

    @Mnemosyne: Hey moms are gonna mom. I told the campaign staffer – age 28 – who’s living in our basement guest room to text me if she’s not going to be home any night. I just don’t want to wake up without her here and worry.

  140. 140.

    efgoldman

    @MomSense:

    the bronze medal winning Russian curler is suspected to doping. For curling? Seriously?

    Is caffeine considered doping? Because I dunno what else would help

  142. 142.

    Lapassionara

    OMG, Tweety has a student on, and the eye rolls the student gives him when Tweety interrupts him are amazing!

  143. 143.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    Since it’s an open thread…I ordered a Gear 360 camera last week on ebay, it arrived today. It seems to be a whole lot better than my LG 360 camera(better stitching), I’m going to give it a try at the fancy pants mall tonight.

  144. 144.

    Ruckus

    @raven:
    As does yours actually.
    I thought my last job was going to be my last. But that ship sailed, OK that’s wrong, that ship was a top fuel boat on a perfect run. In the wrong direction.

  150. 150.

    SFAW

    @efgoldman:

    My dad graduated Harvard, and he didn’t know shit about finance or real estate.

    Well, of course. It’s Harvard.

    e to the u, du/dx, baby!

  155. 155.

    Lapassionara

    @Corner Stone: I just changed the channel. I am hoping that MSNBC knows that I changed the channel and will do something about this hour of their programming someday.

  156. 156.

    debbie

    @Corner Stone:

    “Coming back in” has been a real experience. It’s open seating, meaning the room is the size of a football field. They “swirl” us constantly; I am at my 13th desk. Sometimes I have high walls, sometimes not. So many distractions I don’t know how I get stuff done some days. I have a laptop, some days for resiliency, other days to beat me over the head with.

    Having worked elsewhere prior to freelancing, I know it doesn’t have to be this way. I just don’t understand why the culture is what it is.

  157. 157.

    Ruckus

    @MomSense:
    Thank you!
    Right now I’d settle for positive news that the medication that I might get might work.
    On the boss/work front, I have no worries. As long as I can continue to produce reasonably. This requires a reorg of my brain though. I’ve been so many decades making almost all the decisions around me and while the self confidence is there the overall mental capacity is not. I have to make adjustments, just like walking. I have to basically watch my feet or I trip or start to fall over stuff that never bothered me before. Fun times.

  159. 159.

    Roger Moore

    @efgoldman:

    My dad graduated Harvard, and he didn’t know shit about finance or real estate.

    As the old saying goes: you can always tell a Harvard man; you just can’t tell him very much.

  165. 165.

    Corner Stone

    @debbie: My boss’s boss has to “hotel” his office for when he’s going to physically be there. I always wondered what would happen to a plebe who booked the fucking C-Level guy’s usual office. This whole work thing. It’s gone to shit.

  166. 166.

    Bobby Thomson

    Pennsylvania Supremes released their new election map. The new 18th (with Pittsburgh) is a little wonky but otherwise they don’t look that weird. In contrast to the new Republican proposed map, which managed to gerrymander without splitting many counties (by throwing Reading and Scranton into Republican districts), it does split 13 counties, but most of those are just for a few seats. We’ll see if Republicans have any greater success challenging the finished product.

    Headline – Philly suburb/collar county districts much more favorable to Democrats, and new swing district containing part of Allegheny. The Lehigh Valley (Charlie Dent country) also becomes more competitive.

  169. 169.

    MomSense

    @Ruckus:

    Can you get a referral for an occupational therapist in addition to physical therapy? My stepdad had Parkinson’s and PT helped a lot. I think the treatments are much improved now.

  171. 171.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Mnemosyne:

    I’ve become very fond of Libby, the new Overdrive app for my iPad (and other mobile devices). I can search my local library’s collection of e-books and download them directly to my device. When the loan is due, they magically vanish — no muss, no fuss. And if something was on hold, it checks out and downloads automatically when it’s my turn.

    Likewise. The greatest problem is when multiple holds arrive at the same time. FML.

  173. 173.

    mai naem mobile

    @Jay: Kushner overpaid by so much that he’s still hasn’t figured his way out of it. That’s more than 10 yrs later. Ivanka’s married her daddy which makes me think Jared must have daddy problems like Dolt45. I want to feel sorry for him but the whole family is so scummy I can’t.

  177. 177.

    Marcopolo

    Waiting for seating to open for a 7 pm showing of Black Panther. Wow! Not sure I’ve seen this many folks waiting in line to sit three days into a movie opening in my life. Don’t think the movie theater was expecting this crush either—the staff is overwhelmed.

  183. 183.

    Brachiator

    @Marcopolo:

    Waiting for seating to open for a 7 pm showing of Black Panther.

    Have fun. If you’ve been following other Marvel films, remember that there’s a little something to see for those who stay past the final credits.

  185. 185.

    germy

    "Teen (mostly) Girl, Sometimes With Powers, But Often Mostly Just An Extra Portion of Pigheadedness, Loyalty, and Charisma) Brings Down Corrupt Social Order" is pretty much THE most successful/ popular YA plot. The Parkland survivors shouldn't be a surprise.

    — Morgan Fahey (@morganfahey) February 20, 2018

  186. 186.

    Major Major Major Major

    @schrodingers_cat: The Democratic Socialists of America, whose logo contains a rose, is a formerly-obscure nonpartisan political organization that saw a huge recruitment boom starting in 2016. Around here, they seem to focus most of their energy on opposing housing construction.

    ETA really glad we can use the s-word now!

  189. 189.

    germy

    I’m not sure why people are so surprised that the students are rising up—we’ve been feeding them a steady diet of dystopian literature showing teens leading the charge for years. We have told teen girls they are empowered. What, you thought it was fiction? It was preparation.

    — Jennifer Ansbach (@JenAnsbach) February 19, 2018

  193. 193.

    Corner Stone

    @germy:

    We have told teen girls they are empowered. What, you thought it was fiction?

    Sure, if they were in a Wizarding School, or boning a vampire.

  194. 194.

    different-church-lady

    @germy: Well, there’s also the aspect where they’ve become the casualties on a regular basis, so why should we be surprised they’re fighting back?

  197. 197.

    Roger Moore

    @germy:

    I’m not sure why people are so surprised that the students are rising up—we’ve been feeding them a steady diet of dystopian literature showing teens leading the charge for years.

    And now we’ve done a remarkable job of creating a dystopian present, what with students being murdered in schools and a corrupt oligarch as “president”.

  199. 199.

    Peale

    So I found out today that I need to have two wisdom teeth extracted. Problem is I had four extracted 20 years ago. apparently the extra two weren’t noticed. Fml. I already did this. I took care of this. In a timely manner.

  200. 200.

    dmsilev

    Adventures in AutocCorrect. I was flipping through reviews of a restaurant where my parents and I are eating tonight and found this gem:

    My husband ordered the ferret and it was good, not great, it needed more ferret mixed in with the noodles and sauce.

    Scanning through the menu, the closest guess I can make is pheasant served over fettuccini. In any event, ‘needed more ferret’ is now my go-to review for any restaurant.

  210. 210.

    Roger Moore

    @Peale:

    So I found out today that I need to have two wisdom teeth extracted. Problem is I had four extracted 20 years ago.

    I would ask to see the X-rays. It would be very odd to have any wisdom teeth left if you’ve already had 4 extracted.

  214. 214.

    Peale

    @Roger Moore: I did see the X-rays. Then we took a 2nd set. So now I’m going to get a third kind. We looked a the xrays from 8 years ago when I last had a full set, and there was nothing there.

  215. 215.

    dr. luba

    “Defense officials are also concerned about the lack of available troops to attend a parade.”

    They should do what Trump does when he needs a crowd–hire actors!

  217. 217.

    Brachiator

    @Peale:

    So I found out today that I need to have two wisdom teeth extracted. Problem is I had four extracted 20 years ago. apparently the extra two weren’t noticed.

    Wow. How is this possible? The original were baby wisdom teeth?? Which I didn’t think happened.

  229. 229.

    Corner Stone

    As a society, can we please come together and agree to ban all shirts with these shoulder scooplets cut out? Please?

  233. 233.

    Mary G

    I got a new computer. What’s a good program to overwrite the files on the old hard drive so nobody can see them?

  238. 238.

    Gin & Tonic

    So I went skiing yesterday, first time since the unfortunate event of last March. Worked out OK, since my daughter and SIL went with me, and the chaperoning made my wife feel better. No residual physical effects, but I definitely felt more apprehensive. Don’t know if that will go away over time. Conditions weren’t so hot, so that didn’t help – mix of heavy natural and machine-made snow over a layer of mostly ice (there have been a *lot* of temperature fluctuations here over the last 3-4 weeks. Haven’t spent much time in the gym prepping, like I usually do, so some soreness this morning. But it was good to get out and do it, as there were times last year when I was thinking this might never happen.

  240. 240.

    Major Major Major Major

    Newsweek: How an Alt-Right Bot Network Took Down Al Franken

    White nationalist provocateurs, a pair of fake news sites, an army of Twitter bots and other cyber tricks helped derail Democratic Senator Al Franken last year, new research shows.

    …the Franken takedown originated in—and was propelled by—a strategic online campaign with digital tentacles reaching to, of all places, Japan. Analysts have now mapped out how[…] Leeann Tweeden’s initial accusation against Franken became effective propaganda after right-wing black ops master Roger Stone first hinted at the allegation…

    A pair of Japan-based websites, created the day before Tweeden came forward, and a swarm of related Twitter bots made the Tweeden story go viral and then weaponized a liberal writer’s criticism of Franken. The bot army—in tandem with prominent real, live members of the far right who have Twitter followers in the millions, such as Mike Cernovich—spewed thousands of posts, helping the #FrankenFondles hashtag and the “Franken is a groper” meme effectively silence the testimonies of eight former female staffers who defended the Minnesota Democrat before he resigned last year.

  243. 243.

    Roger Moore

    @Mary G:
    If you really want to be sure, smash the platter of the old hard drive with a hammer. Melting it with thermite would also work.

  244. 244.

    Ohio Mom

    @Peale: Have these extra two wisdom teeth started bothering you after all these years?

    I once had a peridontist who told me I needed gum surgery ASAP. I said I would be seeking a second opinion, and all of a sudden, he stopped talking about surgery. I knew I was moving within the year, and his hygienist did a good job, else I would have looked for a new dentist.

  249. 249.

    cain

    @Brachiator:

    Have fun. If you’ve been following other Marvel films, remember that there’s a little something to see for those who stay past the final credits.

    Still watching! Sorry that’s a joke.. you have to watch the film to understand it. :-) And yes, there are actually two end scenes, so after the first one there is another one.

  253. 253.

    Mnemosyne

    @germy:

    The entire underlying theme of the Hunger Games books is that adults are literally sacrificing their kids, and only the kids can stop it from continuing.

    So, yeah, not a surprise that some of these kids are seeing themselves as Katniss Everdeens trying to take down the adults who manipulate them.

  256. 256.

    Jeffro

    More of this in the mainstream media, please – getting to the root of a problem that’s even bigger than Orange Crash: Don’t Blame ‘Washington’, Blame the GOP

    this, This, THIS!

    Dysfunctional Washington refuses to work out its differences to solve problems that matter to Americans.

    So say pundits and policy activists, perhaps hoping that diffuse criticism, rather than finger-pointing, will yield a government willing to govern.

    But the problem isn’t “Washington.” It isn’t “Congress,” either. The problem is elected officials from a single political party: the GOP.

    Republicans in the White House and Congress are the ones standing in the way of helping “dreamers.” They are not merely obstructing gun reform but also rolling back existing gun-control measures.

    You’d never know it from the usual “blame Washington” rhetoric, but there are lots of common-sense policy changes, on supposedly unsolvable issues, that large majorities of voters from both parties support.

    These include protecting dreamers, the young undocumented immigrants brought here as children. In a recent Quinnipiac poll, 81 percent of Americans, including 68 percent of Republicans, said dreamers should be allowed to stay and eventually apply for citizenship. Other polls have had similar results.

    Verily, if Americans voted in higher %s and voted according to where they actually stand on issues, the Dems would own the middle 70% of the electorate’s voters. Here’s a good example:

    On guns, too, Congress has been portrayed as generically dysfunctional, always at reasonable-people-can-disagree loggerheads. But here, too, there is widespread agreement among voters — from both parties — on modest gun-control measures.

    Nine in 10 Republicans support background checks for all gun buyers. The same share supports preventing the mentally ill from purchasing guns.

    Majorities of Republican voters also support banning gun modifications that can make semiautomatic guns more like automatic ones; barring gun purchases by people on terrorist no-fly lists; banning assault-style weapons; and creating a federal database to track gun sales.

    Again, that’s what Republican voters want. Those preferences have been ill-served by NRA-funded Republican politicians, however.

    Unfortunately, it’s going to take a lot of work fighting “both-sides-erism”

    Commentators have been tiptoeing around some of these patterns, calling Congress “deadlocked” and slamming Democrats for being “unwilling to consider compromise.” Even the awe-inspiring Marjory Stoneman Douglas High student survivors, while calling for stronger gun-control measures, have appeared cautious about disproportionately picking on Republicans.

    “I was very partisan in the beginning and violently attacking the GOP. I was angry and scared. Now I know that people from every party are supporting us. Everybody is demanding change,” junior Cameron Kasky tweeted when a critic accused him of spouting “Democrat talking points.”

    Kasky is, of course, correct that Americans of all parties demand change. But politicians of all parties do not.

  257. 257.

    Major Major Major Major

    @geg6: I also wouldn’t really consider Bella to be an empowered woman, given that her reward for having sex is a screwed-up fetus that basically kills her during birth, forcing the father to… the less said the better.

    (Known only from plot summaries)

  260. 260.

    geg6

    @Corner Stone:

    Think “Hunger Games” or “Divergent.” There are more, basically copycats. These are the two most famous and both feature teenage girls as kickass protagonists.

  261. 261.

    WaterGirl

    @schrodingers_cat: @Mary G: Just reformatting the hard drive isn’t enough – info can still be recovered.

    Sorry Mary G, I have been out of the game too long to know the current programs for overwriting 10x or whatever. Maybe ask raven?

  262. 262.

    Corner Stone

    @Jeffro:

    Even the awe-inspiring Marjory Stoneman Douglas High student survivors, while calling for stronger gun-control measures, have appeared cautious about disproportionately picking on Republicans.

    “I was very partisan in the beginning and violently attacking the GOP. I was angry and scared. Now I know that people from every party are supporting us. Everybody is demanding change,” junior Cameron Kasky tweeted when a critic accused him of spouting “Democrat talking points.”

    It has been quite saddening to see these motivated young people fall back on this trope.

  264. 264.

    Roger Moore

    @cain:

    The only real way is to ground the platter into dust. :)

    Heating it above the Curie temperature of the magnetic coating should work, too.

  268. 268.

    Ohio Mom

    @WaterGirl: Somebody heard you.

    I sometimes wonder what it’s like to be a front pager — are you always checking on the blog like when you’re cooking and picking up the pot lid to see how things are coming along? Or are you setting your phone’s alarm to remind you it’s time to look in?

  272. 272.

    efgoldman

    @Kay:

    The key is ALL. They stick together or hang separately :)

    Which is the whole point of unions, isn’t it?

  273. 273.

    PaulWartenberg

    Because there is currently no money set aside for a parade in the military budget…

    WTF? YOU GET TRILLIONS IN DOLLARS, PENATGON. Just drop the purchase of an F-35 that won’t fly and that should well cover it.

  279. 279.

    J R in WV

    @schrodingers_cat:

    No, formating just does the indexes the data is still there for anyone with a techy disk tool.. You need what they call a DOD-level wipe program that overwrites every byte with random characters, multiple times.

  280. 280.

    Steve in the ATL

    @efgoldman:

    Which is the whole point of unions, isn’t it?

    As far as I can tell, their purpose is to prevent companies from succeeding!

    Actually, that’s only one union that I deal with. Most are about protecting jobs, and they suck at it. They also suck at negotiating wages, benefits, and working conditions, which do not meaningfully differ from the non-bargained workforce.

    Don’t tell my boss I said this, but this country desperately needs unions to get their shit together and fight for workers. They aren’t doing that now; they are clinging to past gains and accomplishing very little.

  281. 281.

    Doug R

    @MomSense:

    Dear god the bronze medal winning Russian curler is suspected of doping. For curling? Seriously?

    Good thing they don’t check for beer and cigs, or no one would clear.

  286. 286.

    NotMax

    @Mary G

    Are you going to be getting rid of the old hard drive?

    Have access to an electric drill?

    You can figure out the rest.

    (Not snark, that’s what friends who make their living from computer repair and similar stuff do before tossing them in the e-cycling pile.)

  287. 287.

    WaterGIrl

    @MomSense: I have no idea whether this is true or not, but I read that this guy said one of the other people from his country who didn’t get to compete had spiked his drink and that’s why he tested positive. Could be bullshit, certainly, but I have no way of knowing.

  288. 288.

    Rp

    Should someone check in on Greenwald? He’s been tweeting like a motherf*cker all weekend on Russia. I don’t think he’s well.

  290. 290.

    Corner Stone

    The job of a publicly traded (company) CEO is to destroy jobs. That is their mandate. Unfettered, short term capitalism has killed the middle class of this country for 40 years now. The CEO wakes up every day wondering who will hold his piss bucket and then trying to find a way to destroy jobs or job protections so we are all fighting against all for scraps.

  292. 292.

    GregB

    The world must be watching this entire grand guignol with utter horror.

    I hope against hope that it ends poorly for the fewest and most desrving.

  294. 294.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Corner Stone: eh, that’s a Bernie bro hot take. Their job is to maximize profit, with no consideration for the product quality, cost to workers, or cost to society at large. Still not good.

  295. 295.

    Origuy

    @Mary G: The term of art is disk sanitization. There are several programs around that claim to do this. You might also be able to do it from the BIOS menu, which you get by holding down a certain key when you start the system. I think seven passes is currently thought to be sufficient. The NSA may think more are necessary.

  297. 297.

    Corner Stone

    @Steve in the ATL: What are the top two costs for any company? Rent and people. You kill one you can reduce the other. They don’t do R&D any more. They buy smaller companies that have patents that can harm their bottom line profit.
    It’s not Bernie bullshit. That’s what they do. Look at Puzder. He wants to fire all his min wage employees. Look at Uber. Look at etc, etc etc. That is their job. Merge, purge jobs, claim efficiencies and get that golden parachute.

  298. 298.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Baud: I mean, I have one double jointed thumb and I can stick my shoulderblades straight out, but I don’t think that’s what you’re looking for here.

  300. 300.

    Corner Stone

    I get so fucking sick of this capitalist excuse making bullshit.

    By the way. This.Is.Sparta.

  304. 304.

    Kay

    This is good:

    State officials say the last several months have involved a flurry of activity to prepare for threats.
    “At the state level we’re doing everything we can. All the states, red states or blue states, are diligent and focused about trying to protect their systems,” said Vermont Secretary of State James Condos, a Democrat who is the incoming president of the National Association of Secretaries of State. “But it goes back to the top. If the president is not willing to help us, then we’ve got to fend for ourselves.”

    They’re going to paper ballots, which is fine, but they’re also protecting voter information which is probably a bigger issue.

    The federal government should release the information on which state systems were penetrated. It is ludicrous that they refuse to tell the public what, specifically, happened.

    Secretaries of state are having to get security clearances for briefings on what happened to their state systems in 2016. I mean, come on. People have to know this! It has been TWO YEARS. When are they going to tell us what happened?

  305. 305.

    Jack the Second

    The Man in the High Castle ends with the main characters realizing they are living in an alternate history, and their lives and problems and victories weren’t real.

    It’s weird to know exactly how that feels, and to have never taken drugs.

  307. 307.

    Blehmann

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:
    Rosemary’s Baby may have been actually filmed in the Dakota. As a child, I remember bright lights coming from The Dakota and my parents discussing the filming. We lived across the street in The Majestic.

  310. 310.

    Steeplejack

    @Mary G:

    I think you probably want to wipe the hard drive rather than (securely) erase individual files. I’m more familiar with Windows than MacOS, but both leave snippets of data around in behind-the-scenes registers, buffers, etc., that you won’t get rid of by erasing individual files.

    That said, I don’t think you need to physically destroy the hard drive, as per some of the joking/​shrieking comments here. (At least no one said, “Nuke it from orbit—it’s the only way to be sure!”) You’d probably like to sell your old computer or perhaps donate it to someone. Assuming you have not attracted the attention of deep-state cybercommandos or internationally wanted hackers, you’re almost certainly safe to wipe your hard drive using a reputable utility program.

    This article is a good tutorial: “How to Wipe a Hard Drive.” It contains very good instructions and has links to other articles, including “41 Free Data Destruction Software Programs.”

    Check those out and see if they’re helpful. You can always come back later for more help and/​or shrieking.

  311. 311.

    efgoldman

    @Peale:

    I have no benefit of additional arms or something I could use.

    Can you afford custom-made/tailored shirts and jackets?

  312. 312.

    Matt

    Random thought about the parade: it would be a terrible shame if some of the livelier Trumpkins decided all the equipment being moved to DC was “OMG TEH DEEP STATEEEEEE” making a move, and turned out with misspelled signs and openly-carried weapons.

  314. 314.

    Ruckus

    @Steeplejack:
    On a mac there is a one, three and seven level overwrite program built in the erase program. There used to be a 35 layer overwrite option but that was just a waste of an awful lot of time.
    Seven levels is supposed to be the minimum DOD magnetic media securing level. Three is adequate for most people. Here is an overview/instruction site.

  316. 316.

    SFAW

    @Corner Stone:

    Chainsaw Al, anyone? Jack Welch, anyone?

    I hate both of them, but don’t put Welch and Dunlap in the same category. Dunlap was a grifter, an asshole, and a shitty manager, Welch just an asshole.

  321. 321.

    tamiasmin

    $30 million for a military parade? But just think how many first-class flights that would buy for Pruitt, Mnuchin, Zinke, and the rest of our betters.

  322. 322.

    Bobby Thomson

    @Tenar Arha: even taking that article at face value, all it says is Right wing social media helped spread the Franken story. There’s nothing in the article about any of the women being wrong.

  323. 323.

    Jack the Second

    @James E. Powell: I have no shame about spoiling 56 year old books; I’ll give you like 3 years for current literature, but if we stop discussing books in public at all, and how they relate to the public sphere, we’ve lost something important.

  324. 324.

    moops

    Duh, a military parade can be sponsored by our Corporate Welfare military contractors. It is basically a trade show for weapons systems and an investment for companies absolutely depending on a country addicted to a bloated military budget. Glorifying gigantic military budgets and their hardware. A competent White House would have turned a profit letting companies buy sponsorship slots. Ads on the equipment, floats, commercial mentions, endless product placement, lots of high-powered assault rifles on display for the ammosexual amercians. We would all be appalled, and that would be even more icing on the cake. Seeing liberals lose their shit is a feature.

    Even I could pull this off. Pump up my base and pocket some cash for the Pentagon and myself and my contractor friends. Nothing but idiots top to bottom. The same idiots that can lose money owing a casino. Too dumb to even understand how dumb they are. All that on top of being racist misogynists.

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