Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Not all heroes wear capes.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Peak wingnut was a lie.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

How can republicans represent us when they don’t trust women?

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

It’s a doggy dog world.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Consistently wrong since 2002

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you don’t.

Thanks for reminding me that Van Jones needs to be slapped.

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

Their freedom requires your slavery.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

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Reader Interactions

188Comments

  1. 1.

    Yutsano

    The Cracker needs more coffee.

    I’m stuck on a day with zero appointments and no back work case assignments. I’m working up the wherewithal to shred things but…ooh boy the lazy bone is kicking hard.

  5. 5.

    Roger Moore

    @Yutsano:
    But shredding things is fun. Unless your employer takes the fun out of it by providing a gigantic shred bin and only allowing the professionals to do the actual shredding.

  6. 6.

    TaMara (HFG)

    Nail in my tire, two florescent lights burned out (leaving a room in total darkness), dog threw up, cat threw up…so yeah, Monday. Soldier on Betty, we’re with you here!

  9. 9.

    NotMax

    Every other day, every other day
    Every other day of the week is fine, yeah
    But whenever MOnay comes, but whenever MOnay comes
    You can find me cryin´ all of the time

    Sitting here listening to the rain come down, debating whether to make more coffee or to make lots more coffee.

  10. 10.

    Major Major Major Major

    Product owner decided we really need to rename the ‘topic’ and ‘subtopic’ fields ‘category’ and ‘subcategory’, so I’ve been in regular expressions land all morning. One week before the demo. So I am also having a day involving fun with spelling.

  12. 12.

    patrick II

    Question: A couple of weeks ago Mueller sent subpoenas for documents from Trump’s businesses, which seems to have toppled numerous legal dominoes on the Trump defense team. I have read nothing about the actual subpoenas since. Are they being answered? Has anyone said No? Is there any timeline that is normal or that has been agreed to? Bottom line, what is the status of those subpoenas?

  13. 13.

    Brachiator

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Count de Monet.

    Which reminds me of the punchline to the art thief joke. He got caught because he did not have the Monet to buy Degas to make the Van Gogh.

    @NotMax:

    But whenever MOnay comes, but whenever MOnay comes
    You can find me cryin´ all of the time

    For Trump, today is Stormy MOnay.

  15. 15.

    Yutsano

    @Roger Moore: Nah. We do it all in house. It’s boring because I don’t shred everything, have to carefully inventory what doesn’t get shredded, then get rid of the smaller parts I can. It’s the best way of taking what could be a pleasant task and making it tedious and repetitive.

  16. 16.

    Roger Moore

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Product owner decided we really need to rename the ‘topic’ and ‘subtopic’ fields ‘category’ and ‘subcategory’, so I’ve been in regular expressions land all morning.

    You shouldn’t need full-on regular expressions for that, just a standard search/replace.

  21. 21.

    noname

    @Yutsano: Out of curiosity, is a person more likely to get caught if they don’t file their federal taxes or their state one, or is it about equal? Does it depend on the state?

  24. 24.

    Miss Bianca

    Well, I thought I was sailing toward a smooth closing on my house at the end of the week (long story short: I offered my tenants a chance to buy it, which they initially declined. Then, when I told them that I had a friend who was interested in buying it, not as a rental property but to live in herself, that changed things. They said they wanted it. Come to find out that that means they were getting a friend of theirs to buy it, presumably to do a rent-to-own or some such deal. Not sure, not really interested, not my business, the guy was offering cash. However, he is now quibbling over a repair he wants me to undertake the full cost of. I counter offered that we split it – it’s a replacement of a length of sewer pipe that I thought had been done at the same time that we replaced all the rest of the sewer pipe, some fifteen years ago. So this was something I didn’t know about.)

    Anyway, he’s refused that counter offer. We were supposed to close on Friday. Haven’t talked to my real estate guy yet, but my other friend is still interested in buying the house. Feeling a strong urge to tell this guy to go fuck himself, but not sure that’s really wise. My position being, I offered the house at a reasonable “as is” price, one that I feel fairly sure would get it snapped up on the open market, and I feel like this guy is just dicking with me over pennies. That being the case, I dunno…maybe I should suck it up. Wondering if any elements of the BJ hive mind have gone thru’ this, and/or have any advice (even if they haven’t!).

  27. 27.

    Spanky

    WaPo headline designed to make Trump squirm:

    Trump expels 60 Russian officers after poisoning of ex-spy in Britain

  28. 28.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Gin & Tonic: This was initially alleged last year. The Aggregate IQ folks made it clear that they did the work, built the models, etc for Parscale and Cambridge Analytica. If Vickery found the tools/toolkit, that’s a big confirmation.

  31. 31.

    Ruckus

    @patrick II:
    I would think the timeline would have to be longer than 2 weeks if for no other reason than plain logistics. And that’s let alone how much back and forth there might be about which documents to fight for. And as you said a lot of things people are falling by the wayside for drumpf. If it keeps going he may end up needing that public defender discussed in the last thread, if only because he has no lawyers left. How funny would it be if every law person he has working for him quits or is indicted? He’d be left with no one to do his bidding. Just think, he’s so obnoxious that no one within speaking distance wants anything except to get lots more distance between them.

  32. 32.

    Yutsano

    @noname: Depends on the state.

    Also depends on if the result is a refund or a balance. And if it’s a balance, how much the liability will be.

  33. 33.

    Humdog

    Last week I killed my toaster oven, food processor AND my special yogurt maker. I was afraid to use any other kitchen appliances for the rest of the week. I’m trying to look at it as “yeah, shopping!”, but I still give side eye to the coffee maker, microwave and dishwasher. Is it a spreading revolt?

  36. 36.

    Roger Moore

    @Yutsano:
    It could be worse. One of the worst weeks of my professional life was going through my former boss’s papers. She had just retired on medical disability because her MS was too bad for her to work anymore. She was a hoarder, so it was 10 years worth of everything, including things like the notes she took at department meetings, but also important stuff like paperwork for purchase of equipment we still had.

    It was incredibly depressing, because it was like reliving 10 years of watching her disease progress. Seeing stuff she had done when she first started working there reminded me of how active she had been when she started and how relatively little effect the MS had on her daily activities. But over time, you could see her handwriting decay and there being less and less of the kind of day-to-day activities that a boss ought to be doing. It was especially awful when I turned up a page describing the progression of MS, and I could mentally chart all her steps along the path.

    It was also infuriating, because I had been forced to do more and more of her job as she became less and less capable of working, until for the last 2-3 years she had been so wiped out by commuting that she couldn’t do much every day except recuperate for the commute home, and I was reminded we had been working effectively short one position for years because she was too stubborn to retire. And, of course, I felt guilty about feeling angry at her, because she didn’t choose to get sick. It was just an awful week, and I’m sure I could have finished in a day or two if I hadn’t been forced to limit the time I spent on it each day by the psychic toll it took on me.

  37. 37.

    SFAW

    @Humdog:

    Last week I killed my toaster oven, food processor AND my special yogurt maker. … Is it a spreading revolt?

    Best not wait to find out. As the saying goes: Kill your television. (It’s probably the ringleader anyway.)

  40. 40.

    Millard Filmore

    Now up at democraticunderground

    “I found Bannon’s tools. Federal authorities have it all now.”

    “In today’s holy shit moment. This cyber security firm shows how Cambridge Analytica data (data on millions of Americans) was left exposed and downloadable (think Russia.)”

    https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210416446
    https://www.upguard.com/breaches/aggregrate-iq-part-one
    https://gizmodo.com/aggregateiq-created-cambridge-analyticas-election-softw-1824026565

    EDIT: I guess this is what Gin & Tonic posted first.

  41. 41.

    Ruckus

    @Miss Bianca:
    Not a real estate person but have sold a couple of houses and have rented one sold out from under me. You have offers, it is being sold as is, and one party is giving you crap. Good summary? Go with the better deal overall. It isn’t done until you sign all the paper, why make it more difficult? The only issue I can see is the current renters trashing the place after you evict because they didn’t get it. If they aren’t that type and they understand why you are changing your mind……..

  42. 42.

    MomSense

    I’m back in the cold and at work. I haz a sad. I would like to retire now so I can collect shells and go for walks.

  43. 43.

    Ohio Mom

    @Humdog: Our dehumidifier, microwave and vacuum cleaner all went in a two week period last month. We did nothing to trigger them, either. I don’t know if you should blame yourself.

    So far, everything else seems to be holding its own, knock on wood. But the squirrel the Critter Control people did not catch, only chase away, is back. She just chewed a new hole in the eave.

    Homeowning is a constant, losing fight against entropy. Only the bank holding the mortgage wins.

  44. 44.

    Brachiator

    @noname:

    Out of curiosity, is a person more likely to get caught if they don’t file their federal taxes or their state one, or is it about equal? Does it depend on the state?

    The IRS and your state automatically receives copies of forms such as W2s, 1099s, 1098, 1095, etc., so if this applies to you, then you are already “caught”.

    You might be subject to failure to file penalties separate from any balance owed.

    Some states, such as California, will pursue you faster than will the IRS. States will also share information with the IRS.

    If you don’t have a balance due, not filing can still be an unnecessary nuisance.

  47. 47.

    Fair Economist

    @Miss Bianca: You have one person who’s made you an acceptable offer and one who won’t. I’d say – take the actual offer, obviously. It would be reasonable to call your renters’ buyer and say, ‘if that’s your best offer, I have a better one already and will take it’.

  48. 48.

    Ohio Mom

    @Yutsano: I am periodically surprised to find yet another person in my orbits hasn’t filed taxes (sometimes these individuals are things like distant relatives of an in-law, in other words, people I may not have actually ever met, but still).

    It is holding up an old friend’s divorce — just another thing dead-beat would-be-x never got around to doing.

  49. 49.

    Mike in NC

    A plug for “The Terror” which begins tonight on AMC. Miniseries about the Franklin Expedition of 1845, seeking the fabled Northwest Passage through the Arctic wastes. The crews of two Royal Navy ships encounter extreme natural hardships and a supernatural creature during the grueling trip. Top notch cast led by Jared Harris, Ciaran Hinds, and Tobias Menzies. We loved the novel and had no idea this production was underway.

  51. 51.

    Miss Bianca

    @Ruckus: They are really nice people, my tenants – I’ve always been super, super lucky with tenants in this house, I feel blessed – and I went out of my way to try to accommodate them because I know they love the house. I don’t think they would trash the house – and I do still have their security deposit, after all – but I know they’ll be upset if the deal doesn’t go thru’. I’m going to wait on making any decision till I talk to my agent and talk to my other friend – both on the slate for later today – but I am also thinking about telling the tenants – “this is what is holding the deal up, guys” – and maybe see if *they* might feel inclined to put some pressure on their friend.

  52. 52.

    Ruckus

    @Roger Moore:
    I’m not anyone’s boss but I’m in a very, very similar position as your ex boss. I’m not sure I can work for the 2 more years I feel like I need to before I retire and/or can’t work anymore.
    It’s nice that the job allowed her to stay as long as she could/wanted to. It’s nice that you (and other people?) did as much as they could to help, I’d bet that she appreciates that more than you can imagine.

  53. 53.

    debit

    @Brachiator: Yep. Additionally, if you ever do file and want a refund, the IRS will make you file those missing years first. They figure if you didn’t file, you must owe.

  55. 55.

    Yutsano

    @Ohio Mom: I haven’t filed mine yet either, but that’s on purpose. I’m going on vacation around the middle of May and I want the money to hit just before that trip happens.

  57. 57.

    Miss Bianca

    @Mike in NC: Wow! Read the novel, but don’t remember too much about it. However, that sounds like a great cast. I’ll put it down for the list when it comes out on DVD.

  58. 58.

    JAFD

    Perhaps some Juicers are also followers of Dr. Lynne Murphy’s blog, _SeperatedByACommonLanguage.blogspot.com_ (if you ain’t you may want to take a look), and thus know that she’s written a just-released book, _The Prodigal Tongue: The love-hate relationship between American/British and British/American English_ (you may also want to check out _TheProdigalTongue.com_)

    Anyway, then you’ve also heard that she’s giving a talk at Columbia U on Friday the 13th (free, reservations thru the ‘Events’ at book’s webpage). And if you’re planning to be there, perhaps we Juicers could coffee up together before or afterwards ?

  59. 59.

    Ohio Mom

    @Miss Bianca: If you go to your tenants and their friend continues to gum up the works, I should think that will likely make them more sympathetic to your position.

    This is a big move for you, selling your income-producing property. I remember a little while back, you were looking for a new job. Sounds like a year of big changes.

  60. 60.

    raven

    @Miss Bianca: I went through the mother of all sewers issues when we built our addition. What do you think the cost will be? Is it the 4inch waste line?

  61. 61.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Roger Moore: You have my sympathy and empathy for that.

    I had to go through, clean out, pack up, etc my Dad’s office after he died. Given that he was also a criminologist, though he worked on different areas, it was one part archeological expedition going back to the beginning of his career in the late 1960s and one part seeing just how much deterioration he was hiding during his last five years or so of his career before he retired. He died three months after he retired.

  66. 66.

    Calouste

    @Miss Bianca: Lots of people in real estate negotiate in bad faith, and it sounds like this is another one of them. You have another offer, take that. This person will come for more when you give in now.

    I have twice put in what I thought were good offers on houses, in non-competitive situations, only to see a counter offer come back that was tens of thousands higher. I walked away both times, no regrets.

  67. 67.

    Aleta

    @Miss Bianca: Yes. A lot of time wasted on trying to make a purchase possible for the renter who’d had a good rent deal on my sister’s house, which had to be sold. First he said he couldn’t buy, wanted to keep renting, then began to say he needed time to come up with a way, then began to negotiate the price down. In the beginning the choice was to be kind and decent to him and give him a chance. He made promises and twists and turns, each slowing things down, for over 3/4 of a year. I wasn’t in charge of the sale. But I came away thinking that a firm price with an expiration date (before which he had first refusal), while the house remained on the market to be shown, would have avoided the things he tried. He was in the end just trying to slow it all down and then get a much much better sale price.

    I don’t know your situation, but I still resent that they are trying to pressure you that way. The biased pissed-off part of me says: The friend refused your counter offer, so withdraw it and the offered price. A fair ‘as is’ price that’s super attractive on the market should be enough if he’s serious. (Raise the price and list it and start showing it and give them notice, says my annoyed self.)

    Trust your instincts about them jerking you around. If that is in fact what they are doing, they may keep doing it. And is it possible that in the end they won’t have the $ to buy?

    If you decide to trust them, and this hasn’t already happened, make them put down a forfeitable deposit on a signed contract for an ‘as is’ price, and prove ability to pay.

  68. 68.

    noname

    @Brachiator: @Yutsano: Thank you both. It is a balance due of about $300; I am just so disgusted and fed up with everything that happened in the past year country wide and in my state that I am in a constant state of fu-k it.

  69. 69.

    Ruckus

    @Miss Bianca:
    If they are setting up a rent to own deal maybe they can sweeten the pot a bit, and make up for the loss to their benefactor. Win, win. But not having their name on the title may make that impossible. Possibly a route to at least attempt to navigate.

  70. 70.

    gene108

    @noname:

    Out of curiosity, is a person more likely to get caught if they don’t file their federal taxes or their state one, or is it about equal? Does it depend on the state?

    Are you getting a return or do you owe money? If you are getting a tax return back, state and feds aren’t too pushy about you filing taxes.

  72. 72.

    Yutsano

    @Ohio Mom: Wow. I mean I know there are a lot of older people who believe they don’t have to file but in a lot of cases that’s not true. Something tells me if they need assistance from the IRS soon that’s gonna be…painful. We’re required to examine filing compliance every contact. And if we fnd they’re required to file* well…

    *There are also reasons why people don’t have to file returns. It’s hard to determine unless they need to talk to us for some reason.

  74. 74.

    Yutsano

    @noname: Get the pain over with and file it! Failure to file penalty is zero joke plus the interest rate just went up this year. It’s better to negotiate a balance than have us decide what you owe.

  75. 75.

    Ohio Mom

    @gene108: Maybe that is the case with the three sets of non-filers I know of, I imagine they’d be due refunds if they had ever filed.

    The only one I feel bad for is the friend who thought her estranged husband was taking care of things.

  76. 76.

    John Revolta

    @Miss Bianca: Do this. Some agents will dick you around just for the fun of it, or because they think it’s their job. Your tenants may not even know what he’s doing- and they should.

  77. 77.

    Miss Bianca

    @raven: It’s the end of the pipe, where it joins with the town sewer line, right at the property line. I remember – this was a lot of brain cells ago, grasp, and my ex was the one handling the transaction, so I am a little fuzzy on the details – that the plumber we hired to do the job told us that the town hadn’t laid their sewer pipe deep enough, so there were issues with sewage backing up because of that. Not sure why we didn’t get the whole thing replaced, but whatever the reason, it was obviously deemed either unnecessary or undesirable at the time. The estimate was $2200 to excavate and replace. Not a whole lot, in the grand scheme of things, but I was rather irked at the prospect of selling the house for less than I had wanted, even if only by that amount. Hence my counter-offer.

  79. 79.

    Ruckus

    @noname:
    The tax man is the one constant in human life since we figured out moving out of caves and drawing pictures on walls.
    Wait till the last day if that makes you feel better, but other than that, it’s due, it will cost a lot more if you pay it late or not at all and get caught. There is a big penalty, and interest on top of all of it. It will only piss you off more and you will not win.

  81. 81.

    Ohio Mom

    @Yutsano: All of them have the same reason for not filing: mental illness.

    None of them are close to me. It’s sonething I watch from a far distance. Other people who are close to them despair and I try to be sympathetic, as a good friend should be.

  84. 84.

    raven

    @Ruckus: What the fuck is “rent to own”? That’s just some bullshit the hustlers dreamed up to fleece the flock.

  85. 85.

    Roger Moore

    @Ruckus:

    It’s nice that the job allowed her to stay as long as she could/wanted to. It’s nice that you (and other people?) did as much as they could to help, I’d bet that she appreciates that more than you can imagine.

    It was worse than that. Our department chair had actually tried to force her to retire earlier, which she successfully fought in court, so she was effectively untouchable. I think she would have held out for longer except she had gotten to the point she was barely capable of commuting anymore, and she realized trying to work was bad for her health. OTOH, I was promoted to be formally her assistant largely because others recognized she wasn’t up the the job anymore, and I might never have gotten that promotion if she had been completely healthy.

  88. 88.

    Brachiator

    @Ruckus:

    The tax man is the one constant in human life since we figured out moving out of caves and drawing pictures on walls.

    Newly discovered lyrics to the Beatles song:

    Live in a cave? I’ll tax the hole,
    Draw some glyphs, I’ll tax the wall,
    ‘Cause I’m the taxman, yeah, I’m the taxman

  92. 92.

    raven

    @Roger Moore: Years ago I had to go out to Van Nuys and cleans out my brother in-law’s parents house. His dad died and they couldn’t locate a will so I had to go through every pocket, drawer and anywhere else he might have left one, to no avail. It took ten days and, at the end, I was really glad I didn’t know the man myself.

  94. 94.

    Ohio Mom

    @raven: I had a friend who did rent-to-owns. She and her husband started out flipping houses and evolved into it.

    They were on the up and up but they were also probably the exception. In their own little way, they kept some housing stock in good shape and provided an affordable housing option.

    Breast cancer got her, I think her husband is slowly easing himself out of the business and into retirement with his new bride.

  95. 95.

    Mary G

    @Roger Moore: Ugh, that takes me back to a time of misery. I was like your boss, more and more unable to work, but my doctor kept telling me not to go out on disability unless I absolutely had to, he had had so many patients getting screwed around by SS disability, and if I got better, I would never find another job. It was just torture. When my managers finally called me in and told me I should go out or they’d have to fire me, after covering for me and helping me so much, I wanted to burst into tears and say “what took you so long?” Now I kind of wish I had, because they felt so bad about it and all I felt was relief that I could take the paperwork to my doctor and say HERE.

    @chris: I saw that too. Scary. I did download my FB data and there was nothing in it, because I just use to see what out of state friends are up to, and rather than liking or messaging them, I call on the landline or send an oldfashioned email. But Amazon knows pretty much everything about me.

  98. 98.

    catclub

    @Ohio Mom:

    I am periodically surprised to find yet another person in my orbits hasn’t filed taxes

    Father of fellow grad student commuted to work with the local police chief – and for years never had a drivers license.

  99. 99.

    ruemara

    @TaMara (HFG): Time to upgrade those lights to LED! Any questions, here’s some handy dandy info. And this series was done by yours truly.

    I’m feeling excited. Got to photograph a play last night. Negative part, the play discusses abuse and it’s really based on the vampire theory of trauma & abuse, which is kinda offensive. That being said, everyone did a great job performing and I think it’s at a good stage in that workshop life cycle. Had a great moment shooting when I adjusted some performances to get the best capture of the characters and they used the new adjustments in the performance later and people came up to thank me and praise me. Housemate did a good job being someone I’d recommend to shoot on sight and next weekend we go see his friend’s play so we can avoid working on another play.

    Plus a huge amount of photos from the local March for Life. Looks like I’m going to be image editing. And one of my fave friends has returned to our locality. Which means I’m locking people in to shoot this summer & fall. He’s got all the great equipment. I have the mediocre equipment that I overcome with moxy and talent. Or at least moxy & insanity. I also got my own movie slate and I am unreasonably pleased to have one that will sport my name in the director’s spot. Huzzahs. And the kittens are adorable. They’ve eaten half the housemate’s guitar picks, steal money, WILLFULLY PLAN TO STEAL SHIT OFF TABLES and generally are adorable little bastards.

  101. 101.

    Just One More Canuck

    @Miss Bianca: if your house would be snapped up on the open market, there’s no reason for you to be nickel and dimed by someone jerking you around. It’s okay to be selfish and do what’s best for you

  102. 102.

    raven

    @Mary G: I downloaded my shit and have thousands of pictures! I also found the message with my half-brother where I asked him to please stop arguing politics with my friends. I told him I was interested in talking to him about sports and his kids and that was it. He agreed until some time later when he erupted at me and told me he was tired of putting up with me. I cut all communication and now he has his daughter going to my sis asking “what’s the problem, I only have one uncle and I want to have contact with him”? Tough shit.

  103. 103.

    piratedan

    @Millard Filmore: this is one of those dots being connected moments… where the actual pathology of the criminal event is exposed…

    if this is all legit and not just someone fucking with us, then it seems to imply..

    1) yes Virginia, there was a plot to subvert the election
    2) here are the tools they used to do it
    3) here’s how the data was used

    naturally you have to be a tad suspicious about this but with the established behavior of these players in the past, its just possible that yeah, they figured no one would ever follow through on checking out the breadcrumbs…

  104. 104.

    Miss Bianca

    @Ohio Mom: Yeah, big changes indeed. Selling the house is intended to clear my debts, put a little nest egg in the bank or the market, and move on – in this case, possibly out of my current town or maybe even out of state. All is flux. : /

  105. 105.

    MattF

    Since there was a mention above of ‘regular expressions’, I have to quote Jamie Zawinski’s famous saying:

    Some people, when confronted with a problem, think: “I know, I’ll use regular expressions.” Now they have two problems.

  108. 108.

    catclub

    the divine right of kings – re-purposed for Iranian clerical authority – may be cracking

    and we thought that was gone a few hundred years ago. everything old is new again.

  110. 110.

    noname

    @Mike in NC: The first episode aired last night and I believe repeats tonight along with the 2nd episode. I was not expecting much…thought it would be zombies-on-ice…but it was fascinating…an intriguing story, excellent acting, and the sets…just looking at the interiors of the ships is worth it. Seems that they will be focusing less on the supernatural and more on the psychological torment of these sailors. Highly recommend it.

  111. 111.

    Roger Moore

    @catclub:

    A-NOTHER thing the fertile crescent has to answer for. I am already planning on writing an angry to letter to King David over one of the Psalms.

    P.S. I am not a crank!

  112. 112.

    Ruckus

    @Roger Moore:
    Ouch.
    Still as a person looking at a similar place in life I can tell you that having people at work make it even a bit easier is more than most can imagine. Maybe I’ve got an advantage in that I watched my dad with Alzehimer’s get to the point I could not allow him to work for safety reasons and had to “fire” him. I would have let him stay and fart around but he couldn’t remember how to do simple things, like keep out of the way of dangerous stuff. He’d worked his entire adult life in machine shops and in a very short span just couldn’t even be allowed to walk in. He also couldn’t recognize that he was just no long capable. I don’t want to be him. I don’t mind working (don’t mind too much) but I already am having to be far more careful that I don’t do stupid shit. I have to think about things in ways that I haven’t had to do in well over 50 yrs. At some point that won’t be enough. I want to be the one to make that determination, not to carry on or attempt to carry on way beyond reason. I don’t want to have someone have to make that decision because I can’t or won’t.

  113. 113.

    Jeffro

    @Mike in NC

    :A plug for “The Terror” which begins tonight on AMC. Miniseries about the Franklin Expedition of 1845, seeking the fabled Northwest Passage through the Arctic wastes. The crews of two Royal Navy ships encounter extreme natural hardships and a supernatural creature during the grueling trip. Top notch cast led by Jared Harris, Ciaran Hinds, and Tobias Menzies. We loved the novel and had no idea this production was underway.

    I just might have to watch this. By the novel, you mean based on the Dan Simmons book?

    You’re sure it wasn’t Bill Mantlo’s ALPHA FLIGHT run? ;)

  114. 114.

    Murmeltier

    I met my friend for mall walking this morning. It’s 1.3 miles or 1.7 miles depending on who you want to believe. My pedometer is useless, so I can’t confirm either one. Whatever distance, I was hungry enough afterwards to devour a large Cobb salad. As I got into my car to go home, the warmth from the sun made me feel like a lizard lounging on a rock. I wanted to just sit there and take a nap. *sigh*

  115. 115.

    Ohio Mom

    @raven: There may be different ways to set up rent to owns, I don’t know all the details. My friend would joke that she and her husband were the bank but she was practically a social worker to a lot of the families — I particularly remember visiting her one day when she was helping the teenaged child of one family get her college financial aid paperwork in order. It was too intimidating for her parents.

    Like I said, they were probably the exceptions as rent-to-own landlords. It can be a rip-off but it was a nice lifestyle for my friend who wanted to do well by doing good, didn’t want to work for someone else, and had the required handyman skills.

  116. 116.

    Hungry Joe

    I decide to grow a few sunflowers, just for fun. Buy seed packets. Prepare soil. As I open packet I wonder, as I always do when trying a new plant, what the seeds look like. Shake a few into my hand. Look at them. Say, “Oh … right. Sunflower seeds.”

  117. 117.

    Matt McIrvin

    When airlines went to electronic ticketing, I really appreciated the way it removed the dread of remembering to pack everything except your ticket. You can print out your boarding pass in advance, but if you forget to bring it, it’s no biggie.

  118. 118.

    Millard Filmore

    @piratedan:

    they figured no one would ever follow through on checking out the breadcrumbs…

    Some innocent looking traces are dropped into public view, that cannot be helped. These breadcrumbs, on the other hand, were not supposed to be found.

  119. 119.

    J R in WV

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Product owner decided we really need to rename the ‘topic’ and ‘subtopic’ fields ‘category’ and ‘subcategory’…

    More management people who don’t understand that it doesn’t matter what the fields are named internally, you can call them whatever the customer wants externally no matter what the internal names are.

    We had a unit manager who was bound and determined not to adopt software we developed because we used the word application where his unit used the name permit. Or vice versa, it was a long time ago and I’m not sure now which was which, and that just shows how little it mattered what the DB field name was.

  120. 120.

    Ruckus

    @schrodingers_cat:
    It’s worse than the interest alone. The interest is on top of the penalty. And the penalty is not an insignificant percentage. And both start from the day it’s due, which is the filing deadline.
    (I’m pretty sure you understand this but a public interest notice on taxes is I think, never a bad idea.)

  121. 121.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    @raven: it’s kind of a land contract – actually it IS a land contract, also called lease purchase. Down payment to owner held in escrow, portion of rent goes toward purchase, and period in which renter has to get financing or forfeit down payment. It often works well. A straight land contract is owner financed, and much less common.

  122. 122.

    noname

    @Yutsano: @Ruckus: @schrodingers_cat: Sigh, OK, I’m just going to do my civic duty and imagine my share going to fund Robert Mueller rather than into shitgibbon’s pockets. SC, my problem is not that I need more time, I just DO NOT want to pay any money while this corrupt administration is in charge. I am just going to try and be “zen” about it and be grateful that I have the money to pay it.

  124. 124.

    piratedan

    @Millard Filmore: is guessing tha Mueller will need to add another expert to the pile to unravel this via an unrelated 3rd party to corroborate.

    Myself, if it shows that Bannon leveraged the data obtained from facebook in this manner with the CA as a front to mask all of this from plain sight, then this shows quite a bit of planning went into making all of this happen.

  125. 125.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    @raven: those are scams. Kind of like a pay day furniture lender – buy the furniture at 10x the price spread out.

    That said, the owners like OHMom’s friend are less common than the folks who take advantage off the less financially endowed.

  128. 128.

    catclub

    @noname:

    I just DO NOT want to pay any money while this corrupt administration is in charge.

    oh poor poor baby.

    I had zero sympathy for this attitude when Obama was president and right wing nutjobs were saying the identical thing. I still have zero sympathy for it.
    Did you cheer on Cliven Bundy, too?

  129. 129.

    Mnemosyne

    @noname:

    I have to admit, I was less pissed than our accountant probably expected me to be when he told us he had screwed up one of our Obama-era tax returns and we would be getting a very large refund (in the tens of thousands) in 2017.

    It was very nice picturing that money being taken right back out of Trump’s pocket after he took office. ?

  130. 130.

    Mnemosyne

    @schrodingers_cat:

    We need a new thread to discuss Cambridge Analytica’s immigration fraud among other things. So immigrants working illegally did help T win.

    It’s always projection with these guys. ALWAYS.

    I’m wondering when the Republican pedophile ring is going to be revealed. You know it’s out there since they made such a point of tarring Hillary with it.

  134. 134.

    Ohio Mom

    @Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho: There is so little new affordable housing these days — all the tax deals seem to go to “luxury” or “market rate” housing (which AFAIK is based on the area’s median income, which means it is too much for half the households).

    The world could use more mom-and-pop landlords doing fair and reasonably-priced rent-to-owns. It always looked like an enviable lifestyle to me. But Ohio Dad and I are the opposite of handy.

  136. 136.

    Ruckus

    @noname:
    Figured as much. I feel the same way. Old people with no kids in school have made the same argument. People who don’t use public transportation make the same argument. We don’t get to choose the what, we are supposed to choose who does make that decision and throw them out when they don’t do it right. But all of those things are what make the government and therefore us live and work together, not just the bits and pieces that we don’t need/want/like. You don’t like drumpf? Neither do millions of your fellow citizens, even some of those who voted for him. Let’s do the right thing and kick his ass to the curb, by voting out the republicans in congress in Nov and if nothing else drumpf in 2020. If possible we might get lucky and he will be gone well before then. But that won’t fix the issues that allowed/got him in the first place. Maybe we aren’t the ones that failed here but we as a country have failed in a lot of ways over the last 40 yrs, by not recognizing how deep and how bad the rot is that is the republican party. That’s what a democracy is, the people have to make those decisions and have to live with the bad ones until they can change them, properly.

  137. 137.

    catclub

    also in an open thread: WTF! Father of Pulse Nightclub shooter was FBI informant.
    How do we know? Prosecuting attorneys never turned that info over to defense in the Salman Noor trial. Yet another fuckup in pretrial hijnks – ala the Bundy case dismissal. Apparently all it takes is a moderately competent defense atty and the US gov prosecutors lose their shit. Have they gotten too used to
    steam rolling non-existent defense attorneys?

  138. 138.

    Mnemosyne

    @ruemara:

    There’s more. A lot more, and it’s organized. I’d bet money on it.

    (Note: this is a hunch, not actual knowledge. But I would bet cash money it’s out there.)

  139. 139.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Ohio Mom:

    “market rate” housing (which AFAIK is based on the area’s median income, which means it is too much for half the households).

    “Market rate” housing just means housing that is bought and sold in the market. Often but not always not covered by rent control. In contrast, “Affordable” housing, in the Bay Area at least, refers to government-subsidized low-income housing that you have to literally win a lottery to qualify for.

  140. 140.

    Mnemosyne

    @catclub:

    Have they gotten too used to steam rolling non-existent defense attorneys?

    Yes. See also the LA district attorney’s office. That’s how OJ’s defense team was able to roll them.

  141. 141.

    Just One More Canuck

    @Jeffro: In Mordecai Richler’s novel, Solomon Gursky Was Here, one of the protagonists was a stowaway on the Terror (to escape some legal issues), and then walked out of the Arctic after the Terror got trapped. Richler’s description of what he imagined the life was like for the crew was pretty horrific

  142. 142.

    Yutsano

    @Mnemosyne: Oh ye gods. Something tells me something like this exists. Maybe we can push our Democratic Senators out here in the Left Coast to pursue another resolution condemning pedophælia and see who balks at it. That might be a tell.

  145. 145.

    Roger Moore

    @schrodingers_cat:

    We need a new thread to discuss Cambridge Analytica’s immigration fraud among other things.

    I’m starting to think in terms of RICO, so it’s worth pointing out that immigration fraud is a RICO predicate crime.

  149. 149.

    ruemara

    @Mnemosyne: Oh I wouldn’t bet money against it. Knowing men in power, yes. This is who they are and likely part of the kompromat.

    @Major Major Major Major: The waiting period is also insane. To get on my tiny town’s list is 3 years. That’s to get on the list. The wait for the actual housing is whenever someone actually leaves.

  150. 150.

    Yellowdog

    @Major Major Major Major: In the county where I live all New multi-unit developments must include affordable units. It applies to single family houses, townhouses, and apartments. And development is encouraged near Metro stops. Not a bad policy, IMHO.

  151. 151.

    Immanentize

    In Massachusetts, there is a huge State Trooper scandal going on right now. It seems an entire Troop –140 people — took their pay off-books. Some making more than 300 K a year. No joke, the Troop name? “F Troop.”

    But my first thought was, did these shit weasels avoid paying taxes?

  153. 153.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Yellowdog: it’s not bad policy, really. The problem in the Bay Area (I qualify with this since it’s the one I’m familiar with but I imagine this applies to much of California) is insufficient market-rate development for it to piggyback on, plus all the well-known side effects of rent control. Suddenly every new apartment is a luxury apartment because it’s the only one for sale, and nobody ever moves out of their controlled/subsidized rentals.

  155. 155.

    Ohio Mom

    @Major Major Major Major: Yeah, there is a lottery system here for Section 8 housing vouchers. Which is held rather infrequently — the drawings can years and years apart.

    If you do win a voucher, you have just a few months to find a landlord who will take it and who has an available unit that suits your needs, otherwise you forfeit it. I looked into them for Ohio Son. It didn’t seem particularly worth it, though other disability families have made it work for them, at least on the medium term.

    When I said “”market rate,” I was thinking about the spate of new housing development around here, particularly in downtown’s gentrifying neighborhoods. The developers are always getting these very generous tax abatement and other goodies, and always being congratulated for creating market rate housing.

    Then I look at Ohio Family’s income, which is higher than our region’s household median, and our monthly mortgage, etc., which is way below what they are going to be charging for this market rate housing. And I get very irritated that they are getting a tax break for unaffordable housing.

  156. 156.

    Yutsano

    @Immanentize: Yup. That’s a classic tax fraud scheme. Gonna have state and federal implications. A lot of badges are about to be turned in.

  159. 159.

    ruemara

    @Yellowdog: How do they define affordable, though? The affordable home buying program I qualified for had me approved to try for a house at $450k, for an income below 65k. That was the affordable tier of home ownership. The market housing was at $700k. These were townhomes. This isn’t even SF or LA.

  161. 161.

    Ohio Mom

    @Yellowdog: Do you live in Montgomery County, Maryland? They have a law like that, I believe they were pioneers with their Moderately Priced Dwelling Unit law.

  162. 162.

    SiubhanDuinne

    URGENT HELP NEEDED UPSTAIRS! For many of us, all the comments on Tom Levenson’s thread are showing up with a black background. Don’t know whether it’s universal on that thread or just for certain devices/browsers.

    iPhone, Safari here.

    It’s fine on other BJ threads, Andy was fine for the first several comments. Then everything went dark. Tom’s own OP is fine, too; it’s just the comments.

    Grateful if an FP could take a look and fix things. Thanks!!

  164. 164.

    Jay Noble

    Rent to own isn’t really much different than buying/leasing a car, except the interest rates/actual prices are worse. It’s the old “Yep, it’s mine. Well me and the Banks.” The key thing is that you don’t have to come up with all this cash UP FRONT and if things go south you can walk away no worse than when you started.

  169. 169.

    Ruckus

    @ruemara:
    I think it’s along the line of 20% down and payments no more than 50% of your pretax income. Which may be OK if your income is high enough and you don’t mind eating mac and cheese 6 nights a week and a big meal out could laughingly described as a hamburger and fries, but it has to be the cheapest on the menu and no supersizing. Having a safety net is not an available option.
    The premise is that if you can actually get ahead then there is more money to be squeezed out of you and that can’t happen because every cent you make really belongs to someone else, someone who doesn’t need any of it.

  171. 171.

    Jeffro

    @Roger Moore:

    I’m starting to think in terms of RICO, so it’s worth pointing out that immigration fraud is a RICO predicate crime.

    cue Oprah meme…

    “…and you get a RICO indictment…And You Get a RICO indictment…AND YOU GET A RICO indictment!…EVERYBODY GETS A RICO INDICTMENT!!!!”

    It’s going to be hundreds of charges against dozens of people when the hammer finally drops, I’m telling y’all…

  174. 174.

    catclub

    @Immanentize:

    It seems an entire Troop –140 people — took their pay off-books.

    WTF!
    How does that even work? Don’t divisions have budgets they report up the line?

    Link for the curious?

  175. 175.

    trollhattan

    @Miss Bianca:
    He refused your counter which essentially ends the potential contract. Go with your existing actual offer and leave the complicated deal behind.

  176. 176.

    Jeffro

    @Jeffro: btw for those of you who are into Marvel Comics’ ALPHA FLIGHT and might be wondering, “How could superheroes possibly cross over with ‘The Terror’ ” – Mantlo really did this, and here’s a reference: AF #36-38

    All I’m saying is, the opening to #37 is hella interesting…

    …I’m also moving The North Water up in my to-read list…

  177. 177.

    catclub

    @Immanentize: wow.

    When the Globe raised questions last week, the State Police and Massport had not filed Troop F payroll records with the state comptroller’s office since 2010. The comptroller oversees and publishes state finance data.

    “We were unaware that the data was missing until you brought it to our attention,” Comptroller Thomas Shack said in an e-mail.

    Shack said both agencies should be transparent with the trooper payroll.

    “Even if they are assigned to Massport, they are still ‘state’ troopers,” he said in an e-mail. “We will work with the State Police and Massport to get that data in the system as soon as we can.”

    For several years, the State Police have publicly released payroll statistics without Troop F. The agency repeatedly claimed that the pay for all of its employees was listed on the comptroller’s website.

    In addition, the State Police have repeatedly refused to release troop assignments.

  178. 178.

    Roger Moore

    @Major Major Major Major:
    The underlying problem throughout California is undersupply. There just aren’t enough housing units for the size of population, and that’s always going to drive up prices. If we want affordable housing, we need to build at least a couple of million new homes ASAP.

    The nastiest part, IMO, is the political dynamic driving it. Of course there’s normal NIMBYism- people living in low density suburbs don’t want increased traffic and parking problems from denser development- but there’s also a wealth aspect. If we had a normal property tax system, those increased home values would at least have some downside in the form of increased property taxes, but Prop 13 prevents that from happening. It makes most homeowners somewhere between complacent about and eager for skyrocketing home prices.

  180. 180.

    Immanentize

    @catclub: ha. I just missed you. I think if they were State employees, this is a Trooper problem, more than a Massport problem. But hands certainly wash each other her in the Commonwealth.

  181. 181.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Roger Moore:

    The underlying problem throughout California is undersupply. There just aren’t enough housing units for the size of population, and that’s always going to drive up prices. If we want affordable housing, we need to build at least a couple of million new homes ASAP.

    I am aware, and am very glad we were able to sent Scott Wiener to Sacramento instead of (ugh) Jane Kim.

  182. 182.

    Miss Bianca

    @trollhattan: well, my realtor’s advice was to go the tenants and tell them what was happening, and see if they want to come up with the difference. Seems like they might, seeing as how they have some skin in the game.

  183. 183.

    Aleta

    Hi Betty or FPer, I think my comment, of quotes from one article, that started with
    “One day around 26,000 years ago, an eight-to-ten-year-
    old child and a canine walked together into the rear of Chauvet Cave” might have been marked as spam and removed? (Don’t know why, except that I marked off quotes in many separate blocks.)

  184. 184.

    Roger Moore

    @Major Major Major Major:
    I’m very interested in seeing what happens with SB 827. I think it has the right general idea, but I’m worried about its potential effect on public transit. In particular, by tying zoning to transit, it gives NIMBYs who don’t want increased housing density a reason to resist new transit routes and more frequent transit schedules. We probably have to go with it anyway and let the chips fall where they may, but it’s something to worry about.

  185. 185.

    Jeffro

    @Roger Moore:

    The underlying problem throughout California the U.S. is undersupply. There just aren’t enough housing units for the size of population, and that’s always going to drive up prices. If we want affordable housing, we need to build at least a couple of million new homes ASAP.

    Fixed that a bit. Local and state governments should look into how they can build living units of all kinds and sell them at a very modest profit, just to get the supply up.

  187. 187.

    Roger Moore

    @Jeffro:
    And, of course, more equal income distribution wouldn’t hurt any of this. Housing developers would be more willing to build modest, working class housing instead of luxury housing if modest, working class incomes were closer to luxury incomes.

  188. 188.

    Amir Khalid

    @Brachiator:
    The correct pronunciation of Van Gogh sounds more like ” fun choch”, where the “ch” is pronounced as in “chutzpah”.

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