Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

This fight is for everything.

We still have time to mess this up!

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

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

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

All your base are belong to Tunch.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

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

No one could have predicted…

“More of this”, i said to the dog.

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

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

“But what about the lurkers?”

Eh, that’s media spin. biden’s health is fine and he’s doing a good job.

You are here: Home / Balloon Juice / Bleg / A Bleg

A Bleg

by | 99 Comments

This post is in: 

Here’s a bleg from Library Guy after the break, and a picture of his late pup Rosie.

 

Open thread.

LibraryGuy here again. Back in December you all helped me and my family when we were abruptly forced to look for a new home for our store. We didn’t find a new location then, and we’ve been surviving with our online store run by my wife, Rhea. Sales have been ok, but we lost our Rosie to pneumonia in early January (that’s her on the porch of the old shop) and Rhea has been dealing with her own health issues for the last month. Still, Rhea has managed to order, photograph, and put online a bunch of new jewelry and bags for the spring, despite the tough year so far.

 

So, if anyone liked what they ordered from us before or wants to give us a try now, it would make a huge difference for us. We are actively following a couple leads on retail locations, but there’s nothing that will happen soon enough for our taste.

You should also know that we donate a portion of our proceeds to a variety of animal rescue groups, especially from the Gifts That Give Back section of the store.

Our store website is here: http://woodstockreveries.com/ and if you want to know more about us or our pups, you can click here: http://woodstockreveries.com/about/

Thanks for listening!

*Saturday update – the big storm flooded our basement and blew some roof away, so we have some other problems on our plate now. Again, any help at all will be greatly appreciated.

Reader Interactions

99Comments

  3. 3.

    satby

    I really liked the things I ordered, and my daughter-in-law liked the salt tea light holders, so I will have to take a look next week when I get my moochers check from SS. Condolences on the loss of your beautiful Rosie.

  5. 5.

    Libraryguy

    @satby: Thank you for the condolences, that means a lot to us.

    And I’m really glad you liked your previous order! I will let Rhea know.

  6. 6.

    Brachiator

    @Downpuppy:

    The beloved New York Times has put their worst reporter, Patrick Healy, in charge of election coverage.

    Hmmm. Looks like Healy is the politics editor. He got a promotion?

    ‘The Times editors announced Patrick Healy as the paper’s new politics editor in a March 5 memo. He will be responsible for “building a team for the midterms and the looming 2020 presidential election” in order to cover the “epic battle” ahead.’

    He’s building a team to do the reporting. The Times is apparently satisfied with their coverage and seems to be doubling down on irritating readers and commenters.

    Quite an FU to readers.

  7. 7.

    kindness

    OK, an open thread kvetch.

    Digby – I used to read her daily. Now it seems she just isn’t as interesting any longer. I can’t put my finger on why though. What does anyone else think?

  8. 8.

    Libraryguy

    @Brachiator: What’s the business model of this kind of appointment? You would think they’d have to be seeing an increase in subscriptions to respond like this, unless they are truly that ideologically blinkered.

    Damn, I think I answered my own question.

  9. 9.

    Mnemosyne

    @Brachiator:

    One wonders if they have another source of funding that makes up for the loss of subscribers. An advertiser who pays oversized rates for small ads, perhaps. ?

  12. 12.

    Westyny

    Listened to a devastating interview with Jane Mayer on Fresh Air, the article on Steele is much more in depth, of course, but the interview is concise and breathtaking. We should be in the streets.

  13. 13.

    No Drought No More

    “The USS Lexington, one of the first US aircraft carriers ever built, sunk during a heated World War II battle against the Japanese Navy. After laying 3,000 meters (about 2 miles) beneath the waves for over 75 years, researchers have discovered its final resting place”.

    A close neighbor of ours when I was a child had been aboard the Lexington during that fight. He told the story of the sailors calmly lining up their shoes at the edge of the deck as the Lady Lex was abandoned. Years later I read about the shoes, and saw the photos. I regret I was too young to appreciate what I was being told. Today, I could ask him a hundred questions about his war off the top of my head.

  14. 14.

    Mary G

    Democrats are protesting Tuesdays all over:

    A sunny Tuesday Vigil protest out here at Nunes's fake Clovis office. We are fired up and ready to go here in #CA22 pic.twitter.com/teCq2uXGBE— Andrew Janz (@JanzforCongress) March 6, 2018

    If you look at the video, there’s a pretty good turnout for a red district, and they seem fired up.

  15. 15.

    indycat32

    @Mnemosyne: Could be. Many of her posts end with (slight paraphrase) it’s the end of the world! Trump is going to kill us all!.

  17. 17.

    Brachiator

    @Libraryguy:

    @Mnemosyne:

    One wonders if they have another source of funding that makes up for the loss of subscribers. An advertiser who pays oversized rates for small ads, perhaps

    Whatever it is they are doing, it’s working for now. I don’t think it can continue.

    From their earnings call:

    In a tough environment for journalism, The New York Times Company continued to post significant subscriber growth, propelling the company to a healthy 2017.

    The company said on Thursday that it added 157,000 net digital-only subscriptions in the fourth quarter of the year, pushing overall subscription revenue to more than $1 billion for the year. Subscription revenue now accounts for 60 percent of the company’s total revenue.

    Buoyed by the growth in digital subscriptions, total revenue for the year increased 8 percent, to $1.7 billion, and 10 percent in the fourth quarter, to $484 million.

    The Times Company had more than 2.6 million digital-only subscriptions, which include news, cooking and crossword products, at the end of 2017. Digital-only subscription revenue increased 46 percent last year, to $340 million, and 51 percent in the quarter, to $96 million. Subscription revenue for the year increased 15 percent. For the quarter, it rose 19 percent, to $269 million.

    During an earnings call on Thursday, Mark Thompson, the chief executive of The Times, said the company was pleased with the “continued strong retention” among the users who subscribed to The Times amid the 2016 presidential election.

  18. 18.

    Mary G

    Reposting part of my post on the last thread. The Senate is debating the bill rolling back Dodd-Frank, and cloture passed 67-32. Ten Democrats by my count are officially on board with voting yes, although reporters say there are 12.

    The fence-sitters are Carper and Coons from Delaware, a bank-loving state, Maggie Hassan, Angus King, Bill Nelson, Jeanne Shaheen, and Dana Stabenow.

    People who live in Delaware, New Hampshire, Maine, Florida, and Michigan need to get on the phone.

  20. 20.

    Libraryguy

    @Mary G: Thanks for reposting. What a great time for Dem Senators to be taking a crap on Dodd-Frank, any of them. I want a majority in the House and the Senate, then I want a better quality majority. Yeesh

  21. 21.

    zhena gogolia

    @Libraryguy: @raven:

    Yeah, I was surprised to see all the off-topic comments.

    I’m sorry for your loss of Rosie — she was adorable. Your site is beautiful! Everyone should go look.

  22. 22.

    Mary G

    @Libraryguy: I looked at your site and bookmarked it. I blew my March budget already taking the household to see Black Panther in IMAX, and love the charm bracelets and many other things, but won’t have money to buy any for a while.

  23. 23.

    Libraryguy

    @zhena gogolia: Thanks, we appreciate it. Rosie was a real sweetheart, faster than you could imagine and gentle at heart. My wife used to sing Neil Diamond to her at night to help her sleep.

  25. 25.

    Yutsano

    @Libraryguy: Aww Rosie looked like a sweet girl. So sorry you had to say good-bye to her.
    Will do some spreading of the website when I get home. Can’t engage the social media at work.

  26. 26.

    mai naem mobile

    @kindness: I haven’t read her in a long time. I really liked her writing. I mean her skill as a writer. I just got tired of her negativity. Jeezus, what a total Debby Downer. Shit I can do negative all by myself with absolutely zero help from others.
    I’m watching Orange Asshole with the Swedish PM. He’s just such an asshole. His mouth really does look like a cat’s anus. His eyes are really ugly too. He’s just ugly.

  28. 28.

    Yutsano

    @mai naem mobile:

    He’s just ugly

    This presidency is physically destroying him. You can see in his face how much he has aged just in the year he’s been in. He’s so unsuited for his current position and won’t even acknowledge it because his narcissism won’t allow it. He’s going to break soon.

    @zhena gogolia: Ooh…I hope they have surgical steel posts. I love getting Mom earrings for gifts.

  29. 29.

    Amir Khalid

    @Yutsano:
    When you think about it, it’s amazing that the Presidency can so age a man as oblivious to its demands as Donald Trump.

  31. 31.

    No Drought No More

    “The book, published by Random House, drew headlines for Mr. Farrell’s discovery of notes confirming Nixon’s meddling, during the 1968 presidential campaign, in President Johnson’s peace efforts in Vietnam. More broadly, Jennifer Senior, reviewing the book in The New York Times, praised its subtle exploration of Nixon’s complex relationship with race and other aspects of his paradoxical character — “the spikier stuff,” she wrote, “that distinguishes real-life sinners from comic-book villains.”

    That’s an excerpt from an review in todays NY Times book section. It illustrates a surreal disconnect in American political sensibilities; the treason of a candidate soon after elected to the presidency is utterly dismissed, serving only as an incoherent segue about race and Richard Nixon.

    Americans need to snap out of it, and quickly. Treason is being committed, aided, and abetted, before our very eyes, yet no one in congress as yet possesses the courage to dare call it by its name. It’s time someone does.

  33. 33.

    Yutsano

    @Amir Khalid: If anything his unsuitability is making the effects worse. Nothing in his life has ever prepared him for the pressure and scrutiny he’s under now. The Presidency could literally kill him. That may or may not be a negative.

  35. 35.

    Mnemosyne

    @Brachiator:

    The Times Company had more than 2.6 million digital-only subscriptions, which include news, cooking and crossword products, at the end of 2017.

    Ah, so the money is coming from Russia. That explains a lot.

  36. 36.

    tobie

    @Mary G: God damn all those Dem senators for voting for cloture and god damn those who will vote in favor of this bill. I’m visiting my elderly parents in Florida so I took the liberty of calling Bill Nelson’s office on their behalf. Voting to gut Dodd-Frank is about the same as voting to gut Obamacare. Do red-state Dems really believe bankers will donate to them and conservatives will vote for them over a Republican promising to repeal all regulation?

  38. 38.

    geg6

    @satby:

    I was looking at those for a gift for my sister! Can’t buy today, but I’m bookmarking.

    Rosie looks like she was a real sweetheart. My deepest condolences to you and your family, Libraryguy.

  39. 39.

    geg6

    @kindness:

    She caught whatever writing disease that everyone who ever writes for Salon catches, I think. I haven’t read her in a very long time.

  40. 40.

    Libraryguy

    @geg6: Yes, she made us really happy and was great with customers, though not _everybody_ appreciated her nose-meets-crotch style of greeting. :) Thanks for the condolences.

  43. 43.

    Libraryguy

    @Leto: Thanks, truly. I always feel comforted by the people at BJ, since I know so many of them love animals and have lost their own. They understand.

  44. 44.

    Mary G

    Senate pickup opportunity in Nebraska?

    #NESen: if this race isn’t on your radar, it should be. According to a JMC Analytics survey (3/4-5 of 660 RVs), @SenatorFischer’s re-elect is 35% and her job ratings are 34% approve/42% disapprove. The presumptive Dem nominee is @JaneRaybould— Jennifer Duffy (@jennifereduffy) March 6, 2018

    Challenger’s web site including picture of family dogs, here. She is pro-gun but supports an assault weapons ban, which is pretty good for a red state.

  46. 46.

    Mary G

    The trial over the Kansas voter suppression law isn’t going very well for Kris Kobach:

    First, Kris Kobach and his attorneys are getting reprimanded over and over by Judge Robinson. At one point she reminded them they had to follow “evidence 101.” She also wouldn’t let them admit a document they sent to the ACLU lawyers at 1045 last night— Sam Levine (@srl) March 6, 2018

  47. 47.

    Leto

    @Libraryguy: In 2015 we lost our first family dog, a black lab named Pepper. We had to put her down for health reasons, but both my wife and I still think about her all the time. It’s going to be absolutely heartbreaking/devastating when our current pup passes on, but she still has many years to go. *finger crossed/knock on wood/punch a Nazi*

  48. 48.

    FlipYrWhig

    @tobie: IIRC this is supposed to be a way to assuage the gripes of Big But Not THAT Big Banks, who have complained about being groundlessly lumped in with Behemoth Banks post-2008. ETA: I have no idea of the merits.

  49. 49.

    Mathguy

    @kindness: Regarding Digby, it’s the same for me. Ever since she started writing for Salon, I think the quality of her posts has decreased. I stopped reading her a few months ago and haven’t been back since. Atrios is moving in that direction for me as well.

  50. 50.

    Spinoza Is My Co-Pilot

    @kindness: I read Digby religiously during the execrable W years; along with the long-departed Media Whores Online, Smirking Chimp, and the sorely-missed The Poorman/The Editors and Fafblog and a few others, it helped me keep my sanity. Stopped reading Digby during the Obama Restoration period, and haven’t enjoyed my very occasional stops back there since the fascists came back even harder. Not entirely sure why, either. I pretty much only read BJ, LGM, and Roy Edroso these days. Used to comment a fair amount in the olden weblog days, too, but mostly just lurk anymore.

  52. 52.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Mathguy: As far as I can tell, Atrios has been bored and coasting since about 2006. I got sick of Digby in 2008. Booman about 2011. They all managed to create online communities full of utter boneheads, er, I mean, um, not the good kind like we get here! I don’t miss ’em.

    Does TBogg still blog? Or Eric Alterman? Or Amanda Marcotte? Or did they shift to Twitter or something?

  53. 53.

    Mathguy

    @Mary G: Gods, I hope so. Deb Fischer is a hypocritical ignoramus, i.e., a bog standard GOP senator. Her base is the nasty group of MAGAts that live outside of the Omaha-Lincoln area. I’m giving money to Raybould. Thinking about volunteering for the campaign.

  55. 55.

    dmsilev

    Politics nerdery collides hard with physics nerdery. Saw this poster at a conference I’m attending:

    Computational and Analytical Modeling for Senate Decision Dynamics

    We consider both interactions between Senators and the effect of external lobbying. The model is based on the classic Ising Model, and the system is defined as a 1D lattice with 100 sites, where the sites hold values for the senators’ political convictions. Peer influence is analogous to the spin-to-spin coupling constant in the Ising model, and the effect of professional lobbying replaces the interaction of the spins with an external magnetic field.

    Fucking magnets Senators, how do they work?

  56. 56.

    Baud

    @FlipYrWhig: It’s a little sad, but a lot of voices that made their names fighting Bush didn’t transition well to the Obama years IMHO.

  57. 57.

    Mathguy

    @dmsilev: I’ve always thought quantum computing circuits would be an interesting model of legislative positions and votes.

  60. 60.

    OzarkHillbilly

    From TPM:

    On Nov. 5 of last year, Devin Patrick Kelley killed himself and 26 people, including an unborn child, after he opened fire inside First Baptist Church.

    Stop it. Just stop it. Stop using the hard right’s language to describe events.

  61. 61.

    Mary G

    Twitters are saying Gary Cohn is out.

    ETA: Only article so far is Maggie FTFNYT, so no linkie.

  67. 67.

    John Revolta

    @Mathguy: There’s a guy running for Gov, calls himself a “common-sense moderate Democrat”. former Air Force Lt. Colonel. Seems kinda mushy on e.g. gun control but anything beats Ricketts.

  68. 68.

    randy khan

    @Gin & Tonic:

    In other words, the first principled resignation of the Administration. At least as far as we can tell.

    That makes the count eleventy-seven forced resignations or firings to one for normal reasons. That’s probably as good as the ratio will get.

  69. 69.

    Fair Economist

    @tobie: This isn’t “gutting” Dodd-Frank. Basically it redefines “systemically important” to exclude large regional banks and include only the big national banks – Citi, Chase, Goldman Sachs, etc. There is general agreement that “systemically important” was set too low in Dodd-Frank. This is probably too high, but it’s not “gutting”.

    Numerous other provisions for clearinghouses, stress tests, anti-fraud detection, etc., remain in place.

  75. 75.

    Fair Economist

    @FlipYrWhig:

    As far as I can tell, Atrios has been bored and coasting since about 2006. I got sick of Digby in 2008. Booman about 2011. They all managed to create online communities full of utter boneheads, er, I mean, um, not the good kind like we get here! I don’t miss ’em.

    Digby ditched her community years ago. Probably part of the reason she’s less interesting – there’s no boost from interesting comments, and disagreements, even boneheaded ones, strengthen your thinking and writing. Booman’s community turned out to include a number of Russian agents, who weren’t obviously agents until they started sticking up for Trump. Atrios isn’t totally out of it – he’s responsible for popularizing “expand Social Security”, from around 2011 IIRC.

  78. 78.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Fair Economist:

    Booman’s community turned out to include a number of Russian agents

    I don’t visit there, but didn’t/doesn’t our old friend BiP hang out there?

  79. 79.

    Fair Economist

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I don’t visit there, but didn’t/doesn’t our old friend BiP hang out there?

    BiP has been gone at Bootrib for some time. I assume he got banned at some point.

    Edit: he did survive longer there than he did here.

  80. 80.

    Aleta

    Yesterday Politico had some things about Cohn and tariffs:

    Gary Cohn and other free-trade advocates inside the White House and the Treasury Department are mounting a last-ditch effort to blunt the impact of Trump’s head-turning decision, even as the president insisted Monday that he wasn’t going to be convinced out of it.

    Cohn and like-minded officials in the administration are hoping the parade of senior GOP lawmakers, donors, lobbyists and business groups loudly opposing the pending decision will convince Trump that his proposed tariffs will damage the U.S. economy. There was a growing sense among some administration officials that the best way to talk Trump out of the tariffs was to make sure he hears from people outside of the White House, since he’s ignoring advisers inside the building.

    West Wing aides led by Cohn, who directs the National Economic Council, are planning a White House meeting for Thursday with executives from industries likely to be hurt by big tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, two officials familiar with the matter said. The meeting is tentative and the participants have not yet been set in stone, but industries that could be hit hard by the tariffs include automakers and beverage companies.

    When Cohn, during an Oval Office meeting earlier this year, told Trump that the tariffs will cost more jobs than they would save and presented evidence that President George W. Bush’s 2002 steel tariffs failed to achieve their goals, the president rejected Cohn’s arguments.

    The president told people present at the meeting that he was deeply skeptical of economists, adding that anybody can find an economist to echo their worldview, according to two people familiar with the deliberations.

    Now, instead of relying on economic analyses and academic debates about trade policy, Cohn and other tariff opponents are pointing to market reaction, widespread anger among GOP leaders in Congress and the donor class and the threats from Europe, Mexico and China to retaliate.

    It’s a wave of opposition from Trump’s party rarely seen since the early days of Trump’s presidential campaign, when rank-and-file Republicans openly mocked Trump’s proposals.

    Meanwhile, Trump’s pending announcement has set off deep concerns that the move could imperil Republicans in the upcoming midterm elections, with some donors loudly opposing the measure.

    “I am a strong supporter of Trump, but this policy gives me pause,” said GOP donor Dan Eberhart, the CEO of Canary, oilfield services company.

    …The president has long pushed for tariffs over the strenuous and repeated objections of Cohn former staff secretary Rob Porter, and, to a lesser extent, several top members of Trump’s national security team. But Cohn on Thursday morning thought he’d forestalled an announcement in part by telling White House chief of staff John Kelly he’d quit if Trump launched a trade war.

    Cohn was wrong, it turned out.

    Here’s the part where the laugh track goes:

    But many in Washington were starting look beyond trade to consider the implications of Trump’s fast-and-loose approach to policy.

    Republicans inside and outside the White House worry that the internal breakdown in the administration’s policy-vetting process — which collapsed after the departure of Porter, who coordinated policy across the administration — could be repeated on everything from gun control to infrastructure to drug pricing.

    “The same thing is going to be true of every other policy issue,” said one person familiar with the internal policy dysfunction.

    Lobbyists and business groups – including many of the organizations that helped to mobilize support for the White House’s historic tax overhaul – were working behind the scenes over the weekend to influence the legal and policy underpinnings of the president’s proposed steel tariffs.

    Even if the groups don’t kill off the tariffs, several hoped to pressure Trump to weaken them or carve out exemptions.

    Industry and agriculture groups are trying to get their message out on platforms popular with Trump, such as Fox News and other networks that Trump is known to frequently watch, said one lobbyist involved in the push.

  81. 81.

    Gin & Tonic

    @randy khan: Principled? As Felix Salmon asks: “How many days did Gary Cohn stay on beyond the one-year minimum tour for his Goldman stock sale to go through tax-free?”

  83. 83.

    dmsilev

    @schrodingers_cat: I agree, but it was an undergrad clearly giving her first-ever conference presentation; I wasn’t going to give her a hard time picking holes in the model.

  84. 84.

    Mathguy

    @dmsilev: I had a student on the receiving end of someone picking apart his presentation at a national conference. A colleague and I had to wade in and rescue him from the idiotic onslaught.

  85. 85.

    dmsilev

    @Mathguy: I’ve had that happen to my folks as well. “Congratulations, you’ve proven that you know more than an undergrad or first year grad student. And you’ve proven you’re an asshole.”.

  86. 86.

    Mnemosyne

    @Aleta:

    As Cohn found out, you should never tell a narcissist that s/he is wrong about something. That’s the surest way to get him/her to dig in.

  87. 87.

    Another Scott

    @FlipYrWhig: I’m having trouble understanding whether this banking bill is a big deal or not.

    Warner tries relentlessly to be part of bipartisan groups, but he’s not an idiot and he is doing great things with the Senate Intelligence committee in trying to get to the bottom of Trump and Vlad’s machinations.

    Warner says there’s great stuff in the bill for Credit Unions and genuinely small banks, while the multi-billion dollar banks will still be under scrutiny.

    Warner also said that he’ll urge Democrats to vote against it if the House tries to use it as a vehicle to gut the CFPB.

    There have been times when I haven’t liked Warner, but I’m finding it hard to get riled up about this banking bill. Especially when Barney Frank reportedly said that the $50B cutoff was “too low”.

    ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  88. 88.

    Yutsano

    @Another Scott: Okay so that answered a question I had before, which is this hasn’t gone through the House yet. So this thing is way far from over. No need for panic yet then.

  91. 91.

    Another Scott

    Neat store, LibraryGuy. I’m sorry to hear about your continued trials. :-(

    I ordered a few things that J may like. I hope you get the Love Elephant mug in stock soon. It’s quite striking. :-)

    Hang in there!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  94. 94.

    Eljai

    Love the website — I ordered some jewelry!

    That photo of Rosie is adorable. She reminds me of Veegee, our family dog when I was growing up. So sorry for your loss. Sending good thoughts of healing and that the ideal store home becomes available for you soon.

  95. 95.

    Libraryguy

    @Another Scott: Hi Scott, I have a least one of the Love Elephant ceramic mugs in stock – I know, because I got two out for someone else last week. Would you still like it, or were you looking for a travel mug or cool cup?

  96. 96.

    Libraryguy

    @satby: Hi Satby, I am checking stock on that ceramic Love Elephant mug – I’ll let you know if more turn up.

  97. 97.

    Libraryguy

    @Eljai: Thank you Eljai!

    Rosie was the best, we loved her dearly. We hope a store home appears soon too…. :)

  98. 98.

    Another Scott

    @Libraryguy: I was confused by the big red text “Backordered…” on the ceramic mug page, but the quantity picker says you have 3. I’ll order one and you can ship it whenever it is available if you don’t have it in stock now.

    Thanks!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

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