It's very easy to get depressed about what's happening in the news, but here's the story you don't hear often enough: the last 25 years has seen the most extraordinary advances in the human condition in the history of the human race
— Michael Cohen (@speechboy71) March 27, 2018
There is still too much global inequality; too many people living in poverty; too many political leaders trying to reverse the expansion of political freedom … but the trendlines are moving in the right direction
— Michael Cohen (@speechboy71) March 27, 2018
.
The Rochester Balloon Juice Meet-Up should be getting underway at the Tap & Mallet.
Too also…
Quito, Ecuador (AP) — Official: Ecuador cutting off WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's communications outside London embassy.
— Laura Litvan (@LauraLitvan) March 28, 2018
(The BBC points out there have been temporary suspensions before. But one assumes the whinging on the so-far-“Left”-they’re-in-97%-agreement-with-the-Wingnuttiest-Right is epic.)
Baud
It’s the rapid advances in the human condition that have precipitated our current depressing political situation.
Baud
Also, too, re: Assange — good.
Yutsano
Speaking of which…need to drop you a reminder re: Seattle meet-up. Saturday seems to be the best day for folks so we might just need a meeting spot and time.
Corner Stone
Wage exportation! Yay!
Gin & Tonic
This Cohen guy sounds like a decent human being, considering what a shitty lawyer he is.
Corner Stone
Shulkin, Shulkin, what’s your function?
Baud
So, basically, the doc made Trump look good in exchange for the VA spot?
lollipopguild
@Baud: What is Baud2020! ‘s plan for making things even better?
dmsilev
@Corner Stone: I trust that under the new regime, the recorded obesity rate for veterans will go way down.
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
Dan Schneider and Nick parted ways yesterday. Variety didn’t go into it that much, but Deadline mentioned the toe thing.
Yutsano
@Baud: It would be irresponsible not to speculate…
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: I thought men in uniforms never lie.
kindness
Assage has to decide which jail he wants to sit in. The one he’s in now where his jailers want him gone or an English or American jail. For my part I don’t want him in the US at all. Let him live freely somewhere else.
Gin & Tonic
@Baud: Quid pro quo makes the world go round.
Major Major Major Major
He’s right, and it’s very easy to lose sight of that, especially for those of us who follow the news (too?) closely. Keeping up with the daily fiascos can be very enervating, and I find some perspective definitely helps reinflate me sometimes.
Corner Stone
@Baud: ***GASPS!!!***
Baud
@lollipopguild:
Item 1: Not be Trump.
Item 2: ????
Item 3: Repeat Item 1.
Anotherlurker
@schrodingers_cat: Of course men in uniform never lie! Each and every one of them is is hero who defends the 2nd (and only amendment that counts!) Boy Scouts, one and all!
Gin & Tonic
@kindness: He’s not in jail. He can walk out the front door any time he feels like it.
Raoul
Other happy news: Scott Walker has given up on his dastardly, anti-democracy special session to block the by-elections he knows the Rethugs will lose.
The blowback (aka internal polling??) must have been brutal. This guy doesn’t usually back down from ratfucking the public.
mad citizen
@Corner Stone: conjunction fly my wife on taxpayer money function!
kindness
@Gin & Tonic: It was a figure of speech that fit in well with the rest of the sentence. And really, he is in a jail in that he isn’t free to leave because he fears being jailed. Odd how yin/yang that is, eh?
Gelfling 545
@Baud:
“the doc made Trump look good”. This is beyond the scope of medical science as it currently exists.
Baud
Is the new Rosanne any good? Read a story that said it got good ratings.
Baud
@Raoul: God, I hope he loses this time, along with Paul Ryan.
Major Major Major Major
@Baud: can’t say I want to do anything that might benefit a Trumpist, such as watching her show.
schrodingers_cat
In not so uplifting news T plans to penalize legal immigrants with children by penalizing those who may have used federal subsidies for their children in their immigration applications. Party of family values, you guys. Hate is a value too.
ETA: I know that lots of international students use the WIC programs.
Roger Moore
@Baud:
That’s what conspiracy mongers will tell you, assuming that just because there’s a quid and a quo there’s some kind of quid pro quo going on.
schrodingers_cat
@Major Major Major Major: Agreed. Never watched the show not interested in the revival. Not going to click on stories about the show either.
ETA: Whenever I have heard Roseann on some late night shows, I had to mute her she has a horrible voice. Why would anyone subject themselves to that willingly.
Baud
@Major Major Major Major: Right. Remember when that crowd hated her because of the national anthem?
Ohio Mom
@Baud: I don’t watch TV anymore but if I did, and I watched Roseanne, it would have been solely out of morbid curiousity. I think one episode would have been enough.
Doug R
@Baud: Heard the actress and character are trumpers.
So the witty must all come from the writers
Mnemosyne
@Baud:
Yup. And yet we were all assured that a military doctor couldn’t possibly have a motive to falsify his report.
Quid, meet quo. ?
efgoldman
More happy news: Jimmy Carter us still going, and he’s (not alone) nearly eradicated a terrible, terrible parasite.
ETA: Borked the link. Look downstairs
NotMax
Quick programming note.
For those who like crime thrillers, the Czech series Mamon (originally on HBO Europe) is available to watch via Amazon Prime. Weaves an intricate tale of corruption over a compact run of six episodes.
schrodingers_cat
@Mnemosyne: Fat man is fat, doesn’t matter what his bought and paid for military doctor says.
randy khan
@Raoul:
When Scott Walker backs down, the polling must be hideous.
cokane
really important perspective to keep in mind and remember that much of that ground has been won in the poorer countries in the world and even more specifically among their female populations.
Gravenstone
@Baud: Doubtful. The faux Trump physical happened before the latest revelation about Shulkin that landed him on Trump’s shitlist broke. Hard to offer a job you didn’t realize would be open.
schrodingers_cat
@randy khan: Good, victory dance is in order.
efgoldman
(Repost with good link) More happy news: Jimmy Carter us still going, and he’s (not alone) nearly eradicated a terrible, terrible parasite.
Brachiator
@Major Major Major Major:
Never watched the original show, so am not interested in the reboot. However, John Goodman is an acting treasure. I wish him well whatever he does.
Hmmm. Apparently, exploring Trumpism is built into the series. From Jezebel.
I still have no interest in watching. Unless I hear that Goodman is doing some amazing shit with his character.
ruemara
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): I’ve heard… rumblings about Schneider. I wonder what else will come out.
In much more happy news, Odoriki has gotten into method acting. Here he is, portraying a squirrel.
SiubhanDuinne
@Baud:
I can think of very few things that interest me less. Never liked her as a comedian, never cared for her sitcom.
schrodingers_cat
@Brachiator
The answer is still a NO.
trollhattan
@Doug R:
Saw a Barr interview a couple months ago and she’s either ’round the bend for Trump or it was very good performance art.
Hard pass on show, regardless of my love of things John Goodman.
Major Major Major Major
@Brachiator: that sounds like something I would not enjoy watching anyway.
Ohio Mom
@efgoldman: I saw that post. By the end of the comment thread, I was convinced Carter was actually a very good president, that too many of us have fallen for some awful conventional wisdom about him.
WaterGirl
Good news is good!
And I have some of my own, as well. Another appointment with the orthopedist today at the 2-week mark. Broken bone is lined up perfectly and she can see from the new x-rays that the break is starting to heal Another NON-weight-bearing cast today and I see her again in 2 weeks for a repeat of the x-ray and another non-weight-bearing cast.
After the appointment, my friend who brought me there in my car went to the parking lot and pulled up to pick me up. She turned off my car, and then it wouldn’t start. Jumping the car didn’t work, called my car guy and none of his suggestions worked, got the car towed, she found a friend who could pick us up, Took about an hour and a half, which was a drag, but I don’t care because the good news from the doctor is what really matters.
No surgery > car troubles!
Thoughtful David
So I see the chief executive of the Southern Baptist Convention executive committee has resigned over a recent “morally inappropriate relationship WaPo” and hopes to rebuild the trust of his wife and daughters. He immediately called President Bill Clinton to apologize for attacking him for years for Clinton’s indiscretion, and then to Hillary Clinton for having used her husband’s indiscretion against her. He immediately followed that with a tweet sent out calling for Trump to resign and calling Trump a “slut.”
I kid, I kid.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Gravenstone: He did get a promotion from lower Rear Admiral to upper after the physical.
Major Major Major Major
@WaterGirl: hooray, good news on balance!
Baud
@Ohio Mom:
They do that with all our Dems, especially Hillary, as we learned. They’ll try to chip away at Obama too. They do not give up.
Brachiator
@NotMax:
Is this subtitled?
RedDirtGirl
@Baud: I thought at first that Trump’s private physician, with the wild hair, was now head of the VA!
efgoldman
@Baud:
Remember Baud’s and PT Barnum’s favorite saying: “There’s a sucker born every minute.” And Mencken’s “Nobody ever went broke Underestimating the intelligence of the American public.”
Baud
@WaterGirl: I’m glad to hear you are healing well.
Brachiator
Breaking. Trump just fired the Veteran Affairs Secretary
Mike E
@Baud: it’s about the same as back when I could take it or leave it (I left, mostly)…no Tr*mpers we’re aided by me during the viewing of said program as far as I know
WaterGirl
@Baud: Maybe it’s just me, but I can’t figure out what you are referencing. is there news that the “Trump weighs 239 pounds and is in great health” doc just got a post at the VA? Seriously?
Everything is for sale, apparently.
Aleta
Students’ test scores rise a few weeks after families get food stamps
-By Matt Barnum, in Chalkbeat Education News. In Context.
schrodingers_cat
@WaterGirl: Seriously, just checked WashPost to confirm.
WaterGirl
@Raoul: I thought a judge ruled that he had to do it, and gave him only until Thursday (tomorrow) to schedule the special elections.
cokane
@trollhattan: Barr’s long been given to crazy conspiracy theories and over the years has had a crazy pinballing political alleigance. She seems like your typical, low-information swing voter, basically the perfect marks for Trump in 2016.
Roger Moore
@Raoul:
Either that or he didn’t relish the idea of going to jail for contempt.
Yarrow
@Baud: I saw a bit about the show on a TV at the gym. They said it was exploring the white working class which, according to the piece, isn’t shown on TV. I thought, hell, just turn to the cable channels. They’re all over that demo.
SiubhanDuinne
@efgoldman:
I had the honor and pleasure of coordinating a volunteer team from the Canadian Consulate General in Atlanta to partner with The Carter Center on Guinea Worm eradication. I am beyond thrilled at this news, and so glad Jimmy beat his cancer and stayed around to witness the fulfillment of one of his main post-Presidency priorities.
This scourge has been around since Old Testament times, at least. The Fiery Serpent. Its eradication is a huge step forward in global health.
Japa21
@Thoughtful David: That would be a Colbert line. Send it to him.
WaterGirl
@Major Major Major Major: I will go to bed happy tonight.
NotMax
@SiubhanDuinne
Heads-up that Friday is opera day on TCM. Films and shorts about opera or with opera stars from 6 a.m. until 8 p.m., including an otherwise forgettable movie featuring Lily Pons, Hitting a New High at 2:30 p.m. Eastern.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
That’s what I thought. I might have misunderstood.
WaterGirl
@Baud: Thank you!
RedDirtGirl
@WaterGirl: What good news! About the healing, not the car!
WaterGirl
@schrodingers_cat: Shaking my head. And looking askance at the doctor.
Brachiator
@NotMax:
Oh, man. I thought “Hitting a New High” was about drugs…
debbie
Can’t wait to see how Trump claims credit for this.
ruemara
@schrodingers_cat: I really don’t want to see what a Democratic loss of the House & Senate in 2018 could do to hurt legal greencard holders. They’re not going to stop until they are stopped.
NotMax
@Brachiator
Yes, subtitles are available.
Baud
@Yarrow:
If Trump weren’t a fraud, I could see it. Somehow I doubt Roseanne will talk about Trump’s favors to Wall Street. We’ll see.
WaterGirl
@RedDirtGirl: Thank you, i am much relived. That’s what they told me 10 days ago, but I worried that the weight-bearing x-ray might show something different. Now I am giving a big sigh of relief!
efgoldman
@Ohio Mom:
He really wasn’t. Huge strength of character, but not a very good politician. Basically he alienated Ted Kennedy and Tip O’Neill – not wise.
debbie
@Baud:
I saw part of it and didn’t care for it. Roseanne was annoyingly and stereotypically pro-Trump and far more selfish than in the original series.
You’d have hated the sister. She was wearing a pussy hat and arguing politics. Toward the end, she blamed Roseanne for making her switch her vote from Hillary to Stein.
debbie
@WaterGirl:
Congratulations on the ankle!
SiubhanDuinne
Anyone around with keys to the front door? Tom L’s post upstairs is having the same issues his last thread did a day or two ago — grey type on black background for the comments. His OP, and all other threads, are fine. Something wonky going on, and it would be a nice thing to figure it out and get it fixed.
Thanks in advance!
trollhattan
Has Trump offered him a job yet?
Gravenstone
@?BillinGlendaleCA: A reward for job well done, I can accept that. Thinking the posting with the VA is a further promised reward just doesn’t add up for timing. Now Trump being kindly disposed towards Dr. Jackson and pushing him for the posting (because Trump seems to have a vanishingly small circle of people he thinks favorably of), that I can easily see.
Baud
@debbie: Ugh.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Brachiator: Well, I thought I remember hearing that his character died in the original show. Since the character is now presumably alive, does that count as “something amazing with the character”?
Being old, I remember when Roseanne Barr was just starting up. Ms. Magazine was singing her praises as a fresh face in standup comedy, which she was. I think the character in the sitcom is basically her standup persona and pretty much who she is, or was.
Yutsano
@SiubhanDuinne: Paging Alain! Alain please come to the white courtesy phone for an important message.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Yarrow:
Didn’t the original Roseanne do that already 20 years ago?
This reboot is going to bomb, especially if Roseanne, being an asshole T supporter, is portrayed as being right all the time. It’ll still fail even if it let’s another character have equal time to contradict her. The stakes are too high for stupid sitcom jokes to be funny.
Gravenstone
@WaterGirl: The necessarily short run up those special elections is going to make it rough for any candidates. Hope the Dem side had people in mind to run as soon as they challenged Walker in court.
debbie
@Yutsano:
It’s fine now.
Yarrow
@Baud: I won’t be watching to find out. Just happened to see that piece while at the gym. I have a feeling that last night’s ratings were largely curiosity based and that ratings will fall but I guess we’ll see.
MomSense
@WaterGirl:
So happy to hear your ankle is healing well!
Steeplejack
@NotMax:
Huh. That appears to be a remake of the Norwegian series Mammon, which itself is pretty good.
daize
@ruemara: Love his nose buried in his tail. So sweet!
Baud
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: I can’t imagine every show will be political. But who knows?
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@debbie:
Yup. Sounds fucking awful and unfunny. That’s actually very close to how I imagined it was going to go; hacktacular writing that can’t deal in the nuance that our current age requires. Out of touch.
PJ
@NotMax: The Czech series Pustina (Wasteland) is also supposed to be very good, and it looks like it is now available on HBO.
Jay
@efgoldman:
He also removed a lot of Kenesian Economists from Government positions and brought in Austerians.
Yutsano
@ Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) : This is making me look SO FORWARD to the Murphy Brown reboot!
evodevo
@cokane: Yes. This. One reason I quit watching the series back in the ’90’s. Remember the kerfluffle when she accused her parents of molesting her when she was a child? She was under the care of one of those “recovered memory” quack psychologists at the time…she later took it back.
debbie
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:
It really wasn’t very funny. Roseanne was parodying herself and only made herself more grating. I’m ticked I saw it but fell asleep before blackish.
SiubhanDuinne
@efgoldman:
But he has been a fine former president.
The Carter Center has been a model for other presidents — not just a library/archive, not just a museum, but a focused, activist organization which can take on public policy initiatives beyond the scope or will of the US Government.
I voted for Jimmy Carter in 1976 and 1980, and since moving to Atlanta, have worked with him (he and Rosalynn are very hands-on) and his colleagues on several projects where Carter Center and Government of Canada priorities coincided. But I would probably have volunteered in any case. I’m a big fan and I’m glad he’s still around.
Mike E
@Baud: the strawman Roseanne sounds like fun tho, heh
Baud
As bad as supporting Trump is, if the show has Roseanne come out as anti-vax, people should boycott the network.
Yarrow
@debbie: Wait, they’re pairing Roseanne with Blackish? That seems like a dumb thing to do.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Baud:
Agreed. It would be one thing if they were going for an Archie Bunker thing.
Jay
@SiubhanDuinne:
Yup, he is the very model of a modern model former President.
2000’s Jimmy Carter would have made a historic President.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Yarrow:
Oh but don’t you see the genius of it? White tv for the whites and black tv for the blacks!
SiubhanDuinne
@NotMax:
Never saw (or even heard of) that one, although I have fond memories of I Dream Too Much (Pons opposite an astonishingly young Henry Fonda, and featuring Lucille Ball in an early supporting role), which had one of my very-fave-of-all-times songs, “The Jockey on the Carousel.”
debbie
@Yarrow:
They had two Roseanne episodes last night, followed by blackish. I assume they will only run one episode in the future; hopefully, they’ll put a show in between.
WaterGirl
@Yarrow: Both sides!
WaterGirl
@MomSense: @debbie: thank you!
Miss Bianca
@NotMax: dare I speculate that “A Night at the Opera” will be on the list?
Mr Stagger Lee
I must confess, I am rooting for Trump against Amazon, Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa, Mea Maximum Culpa.
Mnemosyne
@WaterGirl:
Hooray! If you had to break it, a clean break was best. Good job with that! ?
ruemara
@daize: He is pleased you like his performance.
SiubhanDuinne
@Yutsano:
The last couple of seasons were pretty lame (whenever they make the lead character have a child, that’s pretty much always jumping the fucking shark for me), but I loved MB in its first few seasons. Of course, Colleen Dewhurst was half the fun, and after she died ….
Steeplejack
@debbie:
Yeah, next week The Middle is in the middle. Appropriate.
Mnemosyne
@Yutsano:
I’m pretty sure that Candace Bergen has remained a committed liberal her whole life. Hell, I think she even became friends with her husband’s secret mistress after he died.
SiubhanDuinne
@WaterGirl:
Happy ankle news! Wishing you quick and comfortable healing!
Mnemosyne
@Steeplejack:
Patricia Heaton is pretty wingnutty, too, but at least she’s smart enough to keep it off her TV show.
Another Scott
@Gravenstone: Yup.
Just wanting to get his second star (rear admiral upper half) was enough of a reason not to do anything other than what Donnie wanted.
Cheers,
Scott.
zhena gogolia
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:
The original was good in the first few seasons. She and Goodman were great together, and Laurie Metcalf was hilarious. But I have zero interest in this version. (even though Laurie M. looked pretty funny in her pussy hat in the picture I saw)
zhena gogolia
@Jay:
Except for dumping on Obama every chance he got.
Fair Economist
@debbie: So the female leads for Roseanne are a Trumpist and a purity pony (in character, and IRL for the Trumpist at least)? I am SO skipping that show.
Darrin Ziliak (formerly glocksman)
If we’re going to reboot old TV shows, let’s see a remake of Lou Grant instead of crap like Roseanne .
I never liked the Mary Tyler Moore show, but loved the spinoff.
It’d be both topical and a slap in the face to the stenographers who fancy themselves reporters if Lou became editor of a major NYC or DC paper.
Old Dan and Little Anne
I watched Roseanne in its heyday and liked it. I watched the other night wanting to hate it. It turned out to be a bizarre trip down memory lane. I laughed a half of dozen times. Jackie makes a lame liberal and actually vote democrat for Jill Stein because Roseanne convinced her Hillary was to terrible. Fuck that.
satby
@WaterGirl: great news about the ankle! Sorry about the car, hope it turns out to be minor.
NotMax
@PJ
Shall mentally file away the name. Don’t have HBO, but some of their stuff shows up on Netflix or Amazon Prime later on.
seaboogie
@Aleta: Great study, and glad that it is happening.
sdhays
@Raoul: I think this thread is nearing death, but… according to WPR, Walker is not backing off. He’s just not bothering anymore with the courts and will just have the bill passed in the extraordinary session retroactively nullify anything he temporarily has to do. I question the legality of the bill since it’s clearly a brazen effort to disenfranchise people, but that’s another issue.
sukabi
@WaterGirl: that’s great ankle news ???…sucks about the car…but you’ve got time to get it fixed…it’s not like you’ll be driving for a while any way.☺
Nancy
ROCHESTER TAP AND MALLET MEET-UP was nice. Hope we can continue to meet. It was wonderful to meet some like-minded people and see the dogs and fish photos.