Our national and international embarrassment addressed the Coasties today. He thinks they’re a fucking brand:
TRUMP: "During the hurricanes I was in Texas, I was in Puerto Rico, I saw the work you did under the most adverse conditions & I've said — I don't think any brand has gained more momentum or has gained more of anything than the brand of the United States Coast Guard." #brands pic.twitter.com/NP2VNlyGf1
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 1, 2018
The “brand” of the United States of America is in the shitter thanks to this ignorant blowhard, who finally uttered the words “Puerto Rico,” but only to babble moronically about “brands.”
Oh, and Trump has apparently never heard the word “prowess” before:
tfw you're reading aloud and you encounter a word you don't know pic.twitter.com/POyJF9BhHt
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 1, 2018
Let’s hope his tiny brain has already expunged all memory of that flub because if he has a flunky look it up and explain what “prowess” means, he’ll start applying it to himself in stupid and embarrassing ways.
Jesus, I’m so over this shit. Open thread!
TenguPhule
A burning brand at that.
Major Major Major Major
I refuse to watch any clips of him, but I’m surprised to read that he knows how to pronounce “Puerto Rico.”
Derelict
“When you’re reading aloud and encounter a word you don’t know.”
Reminding me of when some speech writer put the word “paradigm” in one of Reagan’s speeches, causing him to blurt out “para-dig-em” because he’d never seen nor heard the word before.
VeniceRiley
*headdesk-headdesk-headdesk* Now I feel better. Try it!
Ordered a cheaper Android box (yay, promo code!) because I have now bricked 2 NVIDIA Shield TV Pro, and I am over it. I have a talent for bricking devices.
Elizabelle
My beloved nephew is in the Coast Guard. He voted enthusiastically for Trump. I keep hoping the little darling will get furloughed, but Coast Guard is essential personnel. And other than the politics, he is about the best person I know. I blame his dad, the university-degreed Confederate.
Le sigh.
TenguPhule
I always thought our descent into a WH 40K dystopian shithole would involve a lot more bling, to be honest.
Aleta
During the hurricanes you were playing call and response with Hopey.
cmorenc
EVERYTHING with Trump is about the narcissistic projection of self over everything. Me, me, me, me, me, MEEEEE !
MisterForkbeard
@Major Major Major Major: I watched this one. It’s disappointing.
Just like every time I see Trump. I just feel disappointment.
MisterForkbeard
@TenguPhule: We’re working on the all the skull-fetish jewelry, I think. We’ll get there.
rikyrah
Love Charles Blow ? ?
https://twitter.com/CharlesMBlow/status/1002590696824627200?s=19
Enhanced Voting Techniques
The USCG is a brand?
James Powell
At some point, in the middle of speech, he is going to pause, look uncomfortable, then shout “San Dimas High School football rules!”
His supporters will go wild. FOX analysts will compare it with something Reagan said, probably “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
The rest of the press/media will more or less go along with the notion that it was a great line, though “some Democrats” will suggest that San Dimas High School football is not all that good.
Jeffro
Interrupted “Ozzy’s Boneyard” just so I could see how he mispronounced “prowess”. What a putz.
Now back to the Boneyard!
donnah
@MisterForkbeard:
You just feel disappointment? I feel a white hot rage.
bemused
@donnah:
I feel sick to my stomach.
TenguPhule
@MisterForkbeard:
These Inquisitors of Chaotic Evil that they’re sending to round up the colored folks are not their best.
EBT
Fucking cannons! That is what is needed to keep kids safe from school shooters!
https://twitter.com/FoxNews/status/1002209673146232833
Immanentize
@rikyrah: That thread is awesome!
HeleninEire
I’m sure I’m meant to larrrf at the fact that he doesn’t know the word prowess. But I just can’t watch him. Haven’t been able to for a long time. I am sad that I can’t laugh.
At him.
In good news; I’m in London. I love that I can go to London (or really anywhere in Europe) on a whim.
MisterForkbeard
@donnah: Oh, I’m heavily disappointed in Americans – and I continue to be every time I look at the comments section of NPR on facebook. If I see one more “Democrats aren’t FOR anything” or “Dems are just as bad as Republicans” then I’m going to smack somebody.
I feel rage and disgust at Trump himself, but I’m more sad about the rest of our nation and I’m deeply disappointed that Republicans are sticking to a narcissistic, ignorant con man just because they hate liberals.
SiubhanDuinne
@Major Major Major Major:
You mean to tell me you don’t remember THIS?
patrick II
Two things I learned.
1. He doesn’t review his written speeches ahead of time, or if he does he pretends to know all the words well enough to fake them.
2. His speechwriters are going to write with simpler and simpler words until they get it right.
3. His farewell speech will be “bye-bye” if he is leaving in normal fashion and “Witchhunt, bigly!” if he is not.
hitchhiker
In their ignorance and stupidity, more than 60 million Americans put one of the worst people in the USA right into the center of every frame. If we went looking on purpose for a more degrading experience, I don’t know how we could have done better. (Or worse.)
We’re stuck with that.
Right now I’m almost afraid to think about the 2018 elections, aside from doing my bit locally. There’s an election near me that will matter (WA 08 House), so at least I have something to do that might help.
Whatever happens in the fall, though, there’s no giving up.
kindness
Chaos is Trumps smokescreen. It has worked. Look at the MSM. They cover the chaos, not what the administration is actually doing.
jacy
I feel like this shit is seriously starting to have a bad effect on my mental health. I’ve started to feel very dissociated. I’m already on meds for mood and see a therapist every week. I don’t know what else I can do. I’ve tried not to pay as much attention to it all, but it’s like having a fucking firehose trained on you 24/7. Aaarrgghh.
TenguPhule
Speaking of Chaos, VISA transactions have stopped working in Europe.
AMEX and Mastercard are still working.
TenguPhule
@kindness:
Its not a smokescreen. Its a natural byproduct produced by his every fucking action.
p.a.
Well it’s a USCG speech; he may think prowess is a ship’s figurehead.
Aleta
schrodingers_cat
@HeleninEire: I am with you on this one. I still have to mute my TV when I hear him speak.
Yutsano
@p.a.: That word “think” is carrying a lot of weight there…
Roger Moore
@patrick II:
If he’s leaving not normally, his farewell address will be delivered from a country without an extradition treaty.
Betty Cracker
@jacy: I hear you. Sometimes I just have to take a break from it all. It’s so maddening.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@TenguPhule: Yes, that chaos is President Spanky McDumyHair’s very soul laid bare to the world.
rikyrah
Trump could test Nixonian standard of abuse of pardon power
Michael Beschloss, NBC News presidential historian, talks with Rachel Maddow about Nixon era lessons about how much a president can abuse the pardon power, and whether norms, once broken, are gone forever.
May.31.2018
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Aleta: What thinking – gossips fun and people dying from incompetence and neglect is a bummer.
rikyrah
Virginia Democrats make good on promise of more health care
Rachel Maddow reports on a Democratic wave in Virginia that came to office promising Medicaid expansion after years of Republican obstruction and delivered on that promise this week.
Jager
@Aleta: Maybe the NYTimes doesn’t believe that any of 1.5 million or so Puerto Ricans in the New York City Metro area can read?
James Powell
@hitchhiker:
Republican Party: Hold our beers . . .
rikyrah
RACHEL MADDOW
Democrats with activist energy push Virginia Medicaid expansion
Virginia State Delegate Danica Roem talks with Rachel Maddow about the political and activist momentum that pushed Virginia to a bipartisan passage of the long blocked Medicaid expansion that was part of the platform of many newly elected Democrats.
May.31.2018
MattF
@TenguPhule: I agree. Chaos is Trump’s primary need, strategy, and product. It diverts attention from the void. But, as a crazy old fart put it, ‘Nothing will come of nothing.’
cckids
@rikyrah: That is great. “That man can’t be sexist, he’s married to a woman!”
Lol.
sdhays
@p.a.: Your are giving him WAY too much credit for knowing what “prow” means.
Gravenstone
Just because I enjoy the song (and was stunned to find Gary still active these days).
My Name is Ruin
Kinda fits Trumpster, or at least his effects.
patrick II
@patrick II:
A fourth thing I learned is that I can’t count to three.
JPL
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1002608224749740034
I wonder what countries knew in advance about our great jobs number.
…………….but her emails.
Chyron HR
@sdhays:
Sure he does, he wants to prow Ivanka.
lgerard
@Aleta:
Yesterday’s NY Post front page was coverage of The Big Ass Summit with trump and Kim Thong Un (their words)
Evidently trolling is the new journalism.
Humdog
@jacy: I feel you, big time. Can we hang on longer than him?
Gravenstone
@HeleninEire: I have an acquaintance who moved his family to Scotland last year for work. He’s taking great advantage of proximity to the rest of Europe to give his kids lifetime experiences. I think it’s really cool he has that chance.
Major Major Major Major
@SiubhanDuinne: Hm, no, by October 2017 my Trump-video embargo was in full effect.
Johnny Gentle (famous crooner)
@Aleta:
Because pop-culture is easy, requires no expertise and drives page views. Plus, there’s no “allegedly.” The government “allegedly” let 5,000 Puerto Ricans die, but Roseanne definitely said a thing! It’s hard work digging into the facts and finding the truth. Better to devote the column space to a TV show.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@TenguPhule:
There are people out there who really think the Imperium is a great place to live (or at least the best place in that fucked up universe), never realising that it was always meant as a satire of fascism and racism. I mean, the fact that the entire universe had to be a hellscape filled with evil chaos gods who make everyone unable to negotiate rationally in order for fascism to be a viable (barely) system speaks volumes to me.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@TenguPhule:
There are people out there who really think the Imperium is a great place to live (or at least the best place in that fucked up universe), never realising that it was always meant as a satire of fascism and racism. I mean, the fact that the entire universe had to be a hellscape filled with evil chaos gods who make everyone unable to negotiate rationally in order for fascism to be a viable (barely) system speaks volumes to me.
rikyrah
More of the machinations of EPA ?
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1002341475508805634?s=19
sdhays
@rikyrah: I’ve never seen the new version of Roseanne, and I think I’ve seen maybe one or two episodes of the old one back in the 90’s; it wasn’t popular in my house. But yesterday I caught “Amber’s Minute of Fury” from a few weeks ago, and one of the things she riffed on was the most recent episode of Roseanne. It was appalling. Racist Roseanne thinks the new Muslim neighbors are terrorists, but then they share their WiFi password with her, so she decides they’re ok, and later sticks up for them with other racist white people.
So the moral of the story is that if everyone who’s the target of racism shares their password with every racist white person they encounter, racism will be a thing of the past? That episode, as described, is racist AF, regardless of whether Roseanne is personally racist (which, of course, she is) or whether it’s actually true that the “head writer” was black. I’m glad the damn thing is finally gone.
Gravenstone
@patrick II:
It’s been painfully clear since the beginning that he doesn’t practice most speeches ahead of time. It’s either stream of unconsciousness gibberish to his deplorable base, or it’s awkward attempts to decipher even simple words that happen to contain more than one syllable.
trollhattan
@HeleninEire:
Don’t folks commonly do that on a train?
TenguPhule
@HeleninEire:
Heads up, if you have a VISA card, their systems in Europe are currently borked. Use another credit card or cash.
trollhattan
@p.a.:
All will agree with Donny that, “She has a really great prow doesn’t she, folks?”
TenguPhule
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:
I always preferred the Tau, myself. Screw the new edition’s retroactive canon changes.
Amir Khalid
@trollhattan:
Haven’t you heard of The Whim? It’s a much faster and more convenient mode of transport that connects any two places in Europe.
JPL
@TenguPhule: Both Debit and Credit cards. My son keeps trying to convince me that I need another card besides VISA.
TenguPhule
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:
You forgot theocracy, paranoia and libertarians.
TenguPhule
@JPL:
Are you convinced now?
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@TenguPhule:
Here’s what I would do if I was leading the Imperium. Say “screw it”, and take as many people and resources with me as possible and flee to a remote part of the universe to start over. Their ain’t no saving that. The IoM isn’t worth saving imo.
Aren’t the Tau the stereotypical good guys?
trollhattan
@Amir Khalid:
Excellent! Sounds like something that takes you to and from Hogwarts.
sdhays
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: So you would “Go Galt”?
JPL
@TenguPhule: It does seem to make sense.
TenguPhule
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:
Retroactively changed in the newer editions to be space communists who specialize in chemical brainwashing and ethnic cleansing (although to be fair, much of this is coming from the Imperium’s well known unbiased reports).
Flee to where? They’ve got Tyranids coming from below, the Necrons and Orks are pretty much every fucking where in the galaxy and they have to travel through Khaos to get anywhere. Plus, a good chunk of their planets can’t even feed their own populations, they rely on imports from other dedicated planets to survive.
Roger Moore
@patrick II:
Surprise and fear and ruthless efficiency … and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope.
rikyrah
Trump’s Loudest Anti-Muslim Twitter Troll Is A Shady Vegan Married To An (Ousted) WWE Exec
@AmyMek anonymously spread hate online for years. She can’t hide anymore.
By Luke O’Brien
Mnemosyne
@jacy:
Your therapist has probably already recommended this, but you should look into getting involved with an Indivisible or Swing Left group near you. If even that seems too stressful right now, do some other local volunteering with kids or pets. Feeling helpless will only make your mood worse, so it’s good to find a way to take some actual action.
And if you can’t even stand the thought of interacting with other people face to face, there’s the 5 Postcards thing that some people here have been doing. Every little bit helps, and even small positive actions will help your mood.
Now if only I could practice what I’m preaching … ?
kingweasil
excuse me, but fuck drumpf
patrick II
@Roger Moore:
To be safe in the future, I will learn to use “Amongst”
How big of a Monty Python fan are you?
LAO
I truly despise (1) everyone responsible for Trump and (2) Trump and his merry band of enablers:
Brachiator
OK, I give up. There is no reason to try to make sense of this verbal gibberish. Brand? Brand?
What is this, an outtake from “The Apprentice?”
LAO
Of course he didn’t discuss human rights because he lacks all empathy and the ability to fake empathy:
chopper
you were where now?
LAO
I can’t let this go — where’s Cheryl?
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@TenguPhule:
Take an expedition of the best and flee to some other galaxy. Or time travel to the past.
I admit I’m only passing familiar with WH40K
Major Major Major Major
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:
You’re giving me flashbacks to the last time I ran a D&D game.
No Drought No More
“A republic, madam, if you can keep it”.
“Jesus, I’m so over this shit”.
“I’ll say it before, and I’ll say it again: democracy simply doesn’t work”. Kent Brockman-Springfield News
Jeffro
BREAKING (even though it shouldn’t be): WaPo has it up that illegal border crossings were up again this past month, and “officials are bracing for an eruption from the president*” No that quote is not a joke. “Bracing for an eruption”. Go ahead, Twitler, stroke right the fuck out why don’t you?
Any reporter want to ask Trumpov or Smokey Eye why we should give a shit given the totes awesome job numbers that were reported earlier today by Mr. Market Whisperer? If the illegals are swarming us, it sure doesn’t seem to be driving up unemployment!
Litlebritdifrnt
Alain, I again tried to submit photos and the capture thing crashed my browser. Seems that the form is not yet fixed.
HeleninEire
@Gravenstone: Good for him.
One of the best things here (behind easy access to the rest of the goddamn world) is that women feel free and happy to travel alone. I first came here 30 years ago and everyone in America thought I was NUTS. But the answer to a woman traveling around alone here is “YAY, Good on ya”
HeleninEire
@trollhattan: Well not us, or me. I’m in Ireland. No trains to Europe.
Brachiator
@Gravenstone:
The written speeches are almost entirely superfluous. What he says at his political rallies are closer to what he really thinks. This stuff is also stream of conscious gibberish, but without any censor or filter.
@LAO:
Is this a date or a summit meeting?
HeleninEire
@TenguPhule: I’m good. I always make sure I have cash.
Mary G
Lol, he’s losing the right wing:
kingweasil
@rikyrah: rikyrah, that was a great story about amymek- friggin loon
Jeffro
@Mary G: Principled
Libertarianism!KochFirst-ism! Man those fuckers just do not car about ANYTHING other than their bottom line, do they?Amir Khalid
Durians in space! It was bound to happen someday.
Roger Moore
@patrick II:
I’m a big fan, but even somebody who isn’t a huge fan would have seen the opportunity.
Kay
@Mary G:
I’m afraid of that, though. Less insane Republicans have nowhere to go so guess who gets stuck with them?
We do. It would be goddamned tragic if the Republican Party was given the Democratic Party as a reward for their horrible behavior. The Koch brothers aren’t going to move Left. They’ll just pull the Democratic Party Right and at the end of this “the Koch brothers” will be the “centrist” position.
Time to close up the old tent. They can go form their own party.
Ruckus
@Roger Moore:
Do you think he knows how to pronounce extradition, let alone understand the concept?
The Ancient Randonneur
Trump sounds very Canadian in that last video clip. Pro-wess … suspiciously Canadian.
Brachiator
@TenguPhule:
This reminds me of a recent story about … Sweden, I think, becoming a cashless society. Yep. From a 2017 story.
Fewer banks have any cash at all, and a wild side effect is a dramatic decline in bank robberies: “Last year, there were only two bank robberies, compared to 110 in 2008.”
Oddly enough, Sweden may have invented paper money in the West:
The downside, of course, are technological glitches that interrupt any electronic payments system. Still, the entire world may be moving to a cashless society.
rikyrah
@HeleninEire:
that’s so cool, Helen :)
jl
It could be that he is just using the English Received Pronunciation.
Prin-CESS
Prow-ESS
But BJ haters gotta hate, I guess.
Edit: that’s a joke, BTW. I got no clue how ‘prowess’ is pronounced in RP.
rikyrah
@Mary G:
You don’t really believe this, do you?
Come on now…you know it’s absolute bullshyt.
rikyrah
@Kay:
Amen, Kay.
Barbara
@Mary G: Last election cycle, we got a personal “invitation” signed by Charles Koch to join AFP. The content of the letter was all about trying to conserve the American ideals that for generations have allowed people to excel and succeed by their own initiative, and so on, and it never ceases to amaze me that a person with such vast inherited wealth could actually believe that his policy agenda would achieve that.
TenguPhule
@LAO:
I do not like this updated remake of 50 First Dates.
jl
@TenguPhule: It’s good news. Trump dithering away for months on end with pointless negotiations, while everything is on hold, is the best thing that can happen.
The most likely alternatives are either another dangerous nuclear war scare, or a bad deal that causes tension and rifts between US and its allies in the region.
TenguPhule
@Amir Khalid:
Its official, we’re all dead and this is Hell.
TenguPhule
@jl:
First Rule of Donald Trump. Trump always lies.
Jager
@Brachiator: Just getting together over double cheeseburgers, fries and diet cokes to see if they like each other.
TenguPhule
@Brachiator:
Doubtful. I think we will have physical exchanges of value as long as we have places and people where electricity and internet are not invited.
jl
@TenguPhule: But, as longs as he gets good press out of the dithering, he’ll go with it.
HeleninEire
@rikyrah: Thank you. And thank you for supporting me in that Rand Paul got beat up kerfuffle. That asshole screwed the daughter. And got away with it.
The Ancient Randonneur
@HeleninEire:
Is that marriage offer still open?
rikyrah
@HeleninEire:
For now, Helen…
Just for now….
Brachiator
@Jager:
God! Can you imagine that coke commercial?
Pudgy Kim holding Trump’s pudgy little hands, looking into his eyes and saying “Donnie, I will de-nuke for you…”
JCJ
@Amir Khalid:
Is that a special kind of Port Key for muggles?
HeleninEire
@The Ancient Randonneur: Yes it is. Got good CV’s the other night. But not GREAT CVs.
Gin & Tonic
@Brachiator: I was in Sweden in May. You literally cannot find a bank in Stockholm; we looked all over. There is a prominent chain of coffee shops called Espresso House, with a sign on the door of every establishment saying they do not accept cash. It’s remarkable.
Gravenstone
@TenguPhule: If you tell me that Trump is the Doctor, I will personally hunt you down and punch you in the neck.
Mandalay
@Brachiator:
I went to Iceland for a week last year and didn’t even bother getting any Icelandic currency. I don’t think I saw anyone using money when I was there.
And yet “roughly 80% of all transactions in Germany are conducted in cash“, and many smaller stores do not even accept credit cards.
Go figure.
gene108
@LAO:
I think Trump is jealous of authoritarian states being able to lock up people, who don’t agree with them. I think he wants to figure out how these dictators do it and bring it to the USA.
jl
@Gin & Tonic: In that part of the world, and I can’t find some service I need, I just find a post office. Need some small time cash, head to a post office, they can either do it for you or direct you to nearest place where you can get it done. That worked for me in Estonia, Finland, Germany, Sweden, etc.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@rikyrah:
Why not, the Kotch brothers believe in nothing but Kotch and trade wars are bad for business.
Brachiator
@TenguPhule:
With solar and satellites, these places may be extremely rare. Still, the transformation of mainstream society to cashless, including many poorer countries, may be inexorable.
TenguPhule
@Gravenstone:
The Master, surely?
MattF
@Brachiator: Don’t forget the burnt steaks.
The Ancient Randonneur
@HeleninEire: Fantastic! I am above average so I might make the cut.
Mr Stagger Lee
Playing Trump’s speech and in the background was my Spotify playing Tanz Mit Laibach, by the group Laibach
Perfect!
TenguPhule
@Brachiator:
Japan is one of the most technologically advanced nations on Earth and still mainly cash transactions on the individual day to day level. While rail and big name stores are exceptions to the general rule, cash is still king.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@gene108:
Thank the gods then that Trump is to dumb to be bothered to read up on Wodrow Wilson.
TenguPhule
@Brachiator:
And their lips meet and the tongue war begins….
Ruckus
@Jeffro:
No, they care about nothing that doesn’t put money in their hands. Money is their religion. If you were to cut one of them, they would bleed greenbacks.
Brachiator
@Mandalay:
Did not know that. Very interesting.
The host of a podcast I listen to mentioned that he spent 2 weeks in Australia and only used cash once, at a small local store during a side trip.
realbtl
@HeleninEire: Hi Helen, I’m currently in Dublin.
Lapassionara
@TenguPhule: Does anyone know why? Working on a fix? Leaving for Paris in 12 days, and my debit card is a Visa.
rikyrah
@gene108:
You do not lie.
El Caganer
A “getting-to-know-you” situation? Christ, I hope Kim’s sisters aren’t around.
J R in WV
@trollhattan:
Umm, not when you’re in Eire, aka Ireland, an island west of the British Isles. Once you’re in Britain, for now, yes, you can take a train to the continent. So far, permanent status to be determined by future negotiations, which are not going well.
TenguPhule
@Lapassionara:
VISA is reporting system network problems. Yes. Have a backup card from another issuer and bring cash.
Gin & Tonic
@Brachiator: In many African countries, where electricity is sporadic and what we think of as Internet is largely non-existent, the mobile phone operators have taken on the payment process, and mobile-to-mobile payments of even very small amounts are widely accepted. You don’t need a Western European infrastructure to go cashless.
TenguPhule
@J R in WV:
You have a talent for understatement.
Ireland looks like its going to go back to the bad times of the Troubles.
HeleninEire
@realbtl: Hi. Where you wanna meet (
rikyrah
RACHEL MADDOW
Weak Trump effort leaves Puerto Rico exposed for new storm season
Rachel Maddow reports on conditions in Puerto Rico after the Trump administration’s weak restoration effort, noting that with the arrival of the new hurricane season the island is not likely to be able to withstand even a small storm.
J R in WV
@rikyrah:
Thanks for the story!
Loved how at the end, the frantic, nearly insane Muslin hate got her husband fired from what sounds like a pretty high-end entertainment biz job:
I would have to imagine that caused a little household tension for darling Amy, ya think?!!
TenguPhule
@rikyrah: In America’s unending battle with Mother Nature, Trump ensures Nature will win by capitulation.
Brachiator
@Gin & Tonic:
Yep. One of the more hopeful developments is how mobile phones let people partly overcome the lack of huge investment in infrastructure, and still contribute to economic improvements.
As an aside, I wish that there were more investment in phone technology that was not spurred by the desire to make the phones better game playing toys.
However, I do note that a significant amount of tech innovation has come about as an outgrowth of catering to gamers, gamblers and people interested in “adult entertainment.”
TenguPhule
Is it me or is this remarkably low key for a Friday news dumpster?
TenguPhule
@Brachiator:
You almost make it sound like three different groups of people.
Brachiator
Don’t want this to get lost in the thread, and hope a front pager will pick up on it. A blistering report about economic inequality in the US, from The Guardian:
I was particularly struck by this section of the report (emphasis added):
Meanwhile, Trump insists that society can be easily separated into winners, losers, and animals. And only “winners” can be real Americans.
rikyrah
@J R in WV:
her costing him $$$$$$?
Yeah, I can smell the friction all the way over here.
JPL
@rikyrah: Her sister-in-law responds
https://twitter.com/Mekelburgs
J R in WV
@TenguPhule:
FTFY…
Jager
@MattF: The burnt steaks are a 2nd date thing…the third date is the real deal, trump will have a pocket full of tic tacs
trollhattan
@Jager:
By the third date doesn’t Donny simply demand they tell him his breath smells like rose petals and winning?
Ruckus
@HeleninEire:
OK I’ll up my game.
I’m highly intrigued!
Jager
@trollhattan: I don’t even want to think about trump dating moves. Mrs J and I have an artist friend in New York. She used to see trump out and about during his “Vietnam” days. Our friend grew up in Texas and is still a bit of a good old girl when she needs to be, she told Mrs J, “trump was one of those guys that would fuck a woodpile if he thought there was a snake in it”
efgoldman
Not dead yet, feeling much better. Been in hospital, off line. No details, typing on bad lapotp.
Fuckemall
Roger Moore
@TenguPhule:
I suspect cash will hang on for some kinds of transactions, but they’re going to dwindle in importance. At some point, the government may decide it’s not worth their time to make physical coins and bills anymore. Where physical exchange of goods (or desire to avoid leaving a record) is important, we may see either barter or some medium of exchange other than government approved money.
Citizen Alan
@TenguPhule:
Hell, he’s barely Sabalom Glitz!
chopper
@efgoldman:
don’t get me started on lapotps.
zhena gogolia
@efgoldman:
So glad to see you!
JPL
@efgoldman: Please take care.
Gin & Tonic
@efgoldman: Good news. Some people missed you. Well, they noted your absence, that’s almost the same.
Anotherlurker
I grew up in NY. I worked, as a tech, in TV.
All the rumors about trump, deadbeat to contractors, racist, rapist, general raging asshole, I heard, starting in the early 1990s.
Same is true of Bill Cosby rumors.
It was/is standard procedure in production that no one, no matter what job, would be alone with trump or Cosby. A tech or production person would always work in pairs, if it required direct contact with these 2.
We warned of these 2, for years.
No one listened.
Call us Casandra.
rikyrah
More about Jarvanka and kleptocracy-from Korea.
https://twitter.com/Amy_Siskind/status/1002571883357851648?s=19
trollhattan
@Jager:
I would give anything to have a toolkit of sayings like that. Instead, they occur to me fifteen minutes later.
And yeah, NYers have always known. Nobody listened to them and look at us now.
Jager
@Roger Moore: The GM at the car store where we bought our Jeep has become a friend. He gets a few all cash deals on new cars from time to time. The last one he mentioned was 49k in paper bags for a new Grand Cherokee (including tax and license) 4 brown paper bags of 10’s, 20’s and 100’s) The buyer owned a big Chinese restaurant. He said there is additional paperwork, tax and bank affidavits, etc. He, the business manager and the cashier did the counting and signed off on it.
rikyrah
I support Joy Reid 200%. Long history of racists trying to silence Black voices in America. The same people who give Trump, Greitens, Roseanne, Roy Moore, and Assange a pass for heinous acts want to destroy her.
— Marcus H. Johnson (@marcushjohnson) June 1, 2018
randy khan
@LAO:
A “get to know you situation”??!!?!?!?!?!!??!??! (+many additional interrobangs)
I sure hope they read each other’s Match profiles before the meeting so there aren’t any big surprises.
Jager
@trollhattan: She gave us another one about trump, “that old boy’s ass is about two axe handles wide these days.”
Carolina Dave
@efgoldman: welcome back, the pack o’ jackals will be pleased
Mike in NC
Apparently Trump forgot that one of his fiirst genius ideas to fund The Precious Wall was to slash the Coast Guard’s budget.
randy khan
@Mary G:
That is stunning. Although good news for the Dems, obviously.
Yutsano
@efgoldman: I figured you wouldn’t leave the mortal coil until Dolt45 was gone. Great to see you on the mend!
trollhattan
@efgoldman:
Howdy!
The Other Chuck
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:
They’re big on keeping order, and have a rigid caste system to enforce it. This works out okay for the Tau themselves, but any systems they take over are “reprogrammed” forcibly to follow their organization. They’re certainly gentler than the other xenos, but there are NO absolute good guys in the WH40K universe, by design.
Yutsano
@rikyrah: No more giving in. No more scalps. Joy stays. Samantha stays. Let the howler monkeys roar all they want. Fuckem.
John Revolta
@efgoldman: Good ta see ya, ya ol’ bastid ya.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@efgoldman: Good to hear from you, I was worried by your absence.
Mel
@jacy: I hear you. I find that checking out for a little while each day has become essential to surviving the constant onslaught.
It’s no long term solution by any means, but I breathe a little easier and find my stomach in fewer knots if I can just steal an hour completely away from the stress every evening. I’ve never been a person who watches much tv, but recently have found cooking shows like “Great British Bake Off” and “Lidia’s Italy” to be pretty soothing. The “GBBO” seasons missing from Netflix are up on Dailymotion, and I have found the DVDs of “Lidia’s Italy” at the library.
Playing with my five year old niece has been the source of a lot of unexpected peace of mind. We “bake” Play Doh cookies, read books she likes, and talk about the things that are of utmost importance to her right now: her doggy Cammie, her love of Moana, her enjoyment of making mud pies, her standing up to a bully who was picking on her friend, and her frustration with her brother who is in the Terrible Twos. When he’s good, she refers to him as “Littles”. When he’s been on her last nerve, she refers to him as “Stinker”. As in, “Stinker is at it AGAIN!” Seeing the world through her eyes for a little while and seeing her happiness somehow makes it a little easier to deal with the ugliness around us.
I’m an introvert, and tend to withdraw further when I’m really stressed or when my autoimmune illness is flaring up and I’m feeling useless and in a lot of pain. Sometimes that’s a good thing – retreating, trying to find some peace and balance- but I have been finding that the constant onslaught of awfulness has the tendency to compound the stress and depression of my situation, and turns the retreating into isolation.
Not a good thing, as for me, at least, it tends to really increase the feelings of hopelessness / grief.
If that is happening with you, please promise me that you will reach out every day to somebody that you care about. It’s so easy to wind inward more and more when everything is so chaotic, and before you know it you feel very alone even if you are not.
Sending you hugs. Hang in there.
Ruckus
@efgoldman:
Indeed!
Hope health things improve, sorry about the hospital.
On a note that might bring you some minor joy, I got another email from the republican Cox campaign for CA gov. This time under his wife’s byline that she’s upset about another candidate’s mailer about her husband. If she didn’t like that she won’t like what I sent back.
I practiced my swearing that I learned in the navy and decades of machine shop work. But I can step up my game if it once again becomes necessary.
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@Yutsano: Come sit by me.
rikyrah
@efgoldman:
So, good to see you. Hope that you are getting better. Sending you positive thoughts:)
Mel
@Yutsano: This, a million times!
Ruckus
@Jager:
I walked into a dealership and paid $10,000. cash as the balance on a new motorcycle once. No one in the office blinked about it.
My best cash story is about having to carry about $35,000 on an airplane (which I actually did rather often) back to the home office when I worked in pro sports. There was some security BS and they emptied all the planes at the gates and the entire terminal. All of us had to go back through X Ray twice and hand search once. When the woman doing hand search opened my bag she shouted, “His bag is full of cash!” The supervisor came over and told her that’s OK, but she yelled it out again. So an entire terminal at SFO now knew that I was carrying a rather large amount of cash.
Roger Moore
@Jager:
As long as there’s cash, there will be people who use it to buy expensive stuff, but that’s going to decline more and more over time. One of the things that’s coming out in the discussion here, though, is that there’s a strong social component. People tend to go along with what’s popular in their area and their culture. If all your friends and neighbors are switching to cashless payments, you will, too, if only so you can accept money from them. If everyone around you is using cash, you probably will, too, because that’s what’s expected and accepted.
ruemara
@gene108: Yes.
@TenguPhule: Don’t tempt the universe.
Still dithering about citizenship. I just don’t trust the ‘rents to fulfill their end of the bargain, or the government to not do something fascist about my $3k tax bill. I’m between unreliable Scylla & Satanic Charybdis.
Aleta
@efgoldman: Hi
The Lodger
@efgoldman: Glad you could get in touch, efg.
TenguPhule
@The Other Chuck:
Well technically there were in the past, but they’ve all been wiped out by one of the remaining factions.
schrodingers_cat
@ruemara: I say do it. USCIS couldn’t have been nicer during the entire process, when I applied last year. They were both friendly and professional.
Are there organizations in your area that help with citizenship applications, there are several over here where I live. Many offer legal counseling at modest rates. You could take your case to them. If you want I could ask my immigration lawyer (he handled husband kitteh’s GC application) or give you his contact info if you like. He is helpful and will be glad to answer your questions about the tax issue or anything else.
TenguPhule
@Roger Moore: As long as there are visible transaction costs to using electronic payments, a portion of society will do their best to avoid them.
Mnemosyne
@ruemara:
Weird and nosy question — is your credit good enough to get a small personal loan to pay off the tax bill? It may even be cheaper to do it that way. The IRS should be happy to take your money.
schrodingers_cat
@Mnemosyne: Yutsano said that if she is on a payment plan with the IRS there should be no problem. I had brought ten years worth of tax documents at my citizenship interview, I was asked no questions about my taxes.
ETA: I also don’t know of anyone asked any tax info at their interview.
Mel
@ruemara: Could there be a “Go Fund Me” started to cover the legal costs of your citizenship process and to clear out the tax bill in advance? You deserve to be able to do this without all the stress!
(Completely off topic, but autocorrect kept trying to change “Go Fund Me” to “Ho, Fund Me.” When I was teaching Shakespeare courses, it used to pick up on my typing patterns and suggest, “Lo, Fund Me.“ Now, it’s apparently just talking trash at me.)
Mnemosyne
@JPL:
And I thought my sister-in-law was bad … ?
schrodingers_cat
@Mel: Autocorrect is trolling you.
Mart
@rikyrah: I stopped reading Amy Siskind’s weekly summaries of the actions of the fascists in charge a couple months back as they leave me devastated. The sheer volume of nasty shit they pull under the news radar is overwhelming.
japa21
Speaking of paying in cash. Back in the early 80’s we sold out house for IIRC $65,000. At closing, the buyer showed up with the full amount in $100 dollar bills. They were opening a restaurant in the town and village ordinance required they live within the village limits if they wanted to sell alcohol. Ours was one of the cheaper houses on the market at the time. Closing took a little longer than normal.
MomSense
@efgoldman:
So happy to see you. Glad you are still with us.
mark
Melania hasn’t been seen in several weeks. Anyone have any insights?
MomSense
@HeleninEire:
How do you feel about arranged marriages? I’ve got a very handsome musician son who is also a great cook and completely housebroken.
Amir Khalid
@efgoldman:
That would be a lovely name for a shopping centre.
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@efgoldman: Hope you’re recovering fast.
Kay
Sherrod Brown is way up in Ohio. It will get closer because the fake independents are still pretending they won’t vote for any Republican, but they will. It will always be close with Sherrod. Always.
Cordray is behind DeWine, but that was expected- DeWine is a really well known name. I volunteered for Cordray because it’s more challenging than Sherrod :)
Elizabeth Warren is helping Cordray. I imagine she’ll campaign for him as it goes on.
schrodingers_cat
@Mnemosyne: BTW they already have a huge file on you, since the day you entered the country. They know everything that is to know about you. It is like a huge doorstop.
Jager
@Ruckus: The GM of the Jeep store was a MB sales manager a few years back, he sold a 105k Benz to a guy who put the car on a AmEx black card. The store’s policy was to add the AmEx transaction fee on anything over 10k. The guy shrugged it off and told my friend, “I get airline mileage credit with the card, let’s me pass out airline tickets to my family like 5 dollar bills.”
JPL
@mark: We were speculating earlier, but it appears she is at the White House. Trump went to Camp David with the adult children, but not Melania or Barron.
rikyrah
@ruemara:
Please do it. Take that citizenship plunge.
Capri
I could easily see the Kochs and their ilk switch to the Democratic party, moving it to the right and a more left-leaning socialist party arise occupying the current territory to the left of the current Democrats. The GOP as currently figured is non-sustainable.
schrodingers_cat
@Amir Khalid: How is the fasting coming along? Hindu fasts are cool we can eat but the diet is restricted to sattvik foods (not spicy, no ginger garlic or onions and of course no meat, fish or poultry, no wheat or rice either)
ETA: Even with so many restrictions you can have delicious food. I love the special fasting foods. Some religious people forgo cooked food for fruits.
woodrowfan
@TenguPhule: the Rani or the universe’s stupidest Dalek
schrodingers_cat
@ruemara: You are going to have to deal with the USCIS when you renew your GC anyway, so do it now and apply for naturalization. I wish you all the best of luck.
raven
Good day on the water! I got to the boat at 5:30 and by 6:15 (for a 6am start) SIX of the 12 had not shown. Finally the other 6 straggled on board and we took off. It turned our they were not the 6 scheduled but a group that got on a boat without the fed license needed to snapper fish so they made the guy bring them back. We were all really lucky it worked out, we caught our limit of 24 and are all happy. I thought I was ok but I just woke up after a 2 hr nap!
mark
@JPL: Thanks for the reply. It would have been irresponsible not to speculate.
JPL
This is disgusting.
The comments are fair. If I had twitter, my comment would be deleted.
Ruckus
@Jager:
People with a lot of money come in two types in my experience.
1. They have it, they don’t flaunt it but they do use it and enjoy it.
2. They may have it, they flaunt it as much as possible, they are cheapskates across the board and they don’t enjoy anything.
cliosfanboy
@efgoldman: glad you are back
Mnemosyne
@schrodingers_cat:
Well, sure. I was just wondering if it would help her application to get the debt paid off.
Though you’d think it would be more likely to work in her favor as long as she’s making the payments on time. After all, if they deny her application and she has to leave the country, the IRS ain’t ever getting the rest of that money. ?
(Well, they would still get it because ruemara is a good and responsible person, but they can’t really count on that for everyone.)
I think the bottom line is that she needs to talk to an immigration lawyer and get the real scoop.
FlipYrWhig
Is there any way to understand Trump’s Coast Guard brand-momentum nonsense other than that Trump didn’t know what the Coast Guard was?
JPL
@mark: From the WP
Next week is the G7 or as some countries are now calling the G6 + 1, anyway it will be interesting if she attends that.
raven
@Ruckus: I flew from PHX to O’Hare with a lb in each of the pockets on my motorcycle jacket!
Ruckus
@FlipYrWhig:
Always a good starting point with trying to figure out anything about drumpf is to figure that he knows nothing about the subject. It almost always comes back around to that no matter what route you take so save the time and start at that point.
Lapassionara
@JPL: Too right. What dumb bothsiderism.
In other news, Visa says the problem has been fixed.
Ruckus
@raven:
Yes but that was a few years ago. And lbs.
Back in the end of the last century I got on a plane at O’Hare, took my seat up towards the front and watched a somewhat unkempt and stoned looking hippy be escorted on board by a gate agent holding a sheath knife, at least 6 maybe 8 inches so not a small one, she handed it to the pilot, told the pilot he was to give it back to the guy when deplaning. I wonder what would have happened if the guy walked into an airport today with a knife like that. Actually I don’t wonder.
boatboy_srq
@TenguPhule: How soon until he tries to sell them off as “unprofitable”?
debbie
Yeah, but can those Coasties toss paper towels as well as Trump? Can anybody? He shows real pro-ess.
Jager
@Ruckus: One of my closest friends, made a fortune in the car business. Had a nice home, nice things, never over the top. When he sold his car stores he had to buy a couple of cars. He hadn’t had to buy a car for 40 years. He got his wife a two year old Lexus at one of his auctions and he floor planned his own lease on a Bentley GT. He drove the Bentley for two years, got rid of it and got a used Impala at his auction. When I asked him why, he said, “I drive it 18 miles a day, it sits in the sun for 8-10 hours. I may as well throw 100 dollar bills out the damn widow every time I start it up, besides that, the Impala gets better mileage.” He sold his auctions to Warren Buffet a few years ago. Sadly he died suddenly last fall. My old man taught him the car business. I don’t know how many times he told me I was crazy not to have taken over my dad’s store.
debbie
@efgoldman:
Great to see your nym! There’s been much fuckemalling on your behalf.
Amir Khalid
@schrodingers_cat:
It’s going okay. The Muslim rule on fasting is simple no food of any kind, no drink of any kind, no intake of any kind of physical substance. (That includes smoking and even medication; if your medication schedule doesn’t allow that 12-hour gap, you have grounds to break fast.)
schrodingers_cat
@Amir Khalid: From sunrise to sunset, right?
ETA: In Marathi we have a saying, Ekadashi duppat khashi.
On Ekadashi you eat double your usual amount.
*Ekadashi ==11th day of the lunar cycle which is of significance to devotees of Vishnu and a popular day to fast.
debbie
@Kay:
Cordray’s ad starts with a voice-over by Obama. I was really happy when I heard it the first time.
ruemara
@Mel: I am trying to keep a straight face at work because I’d totally use the name “Ho, FUND ME!” because I am quite awful.
@Mnemosyne: I’m quite strapped between paying off the car loan and the medical bills from surgeries the years prior. I’m handling them well, but I simply cannot deal with another set of credit bills, even if I do have the good credit now. They give you good credit so you can drown in bills later & I am unwilling to get above my neck.
@rikyrah: And come back in to find I’ve been nominated for some office or the other? I see the game there, ma’am.
Steve in the ATL
@efgoldman: You bastard–I had May 31 in the pool!
JPL
@Lapassionara: The NYTimes deleted the tweet, but not the article. lol
debbie
@Jager:
I used to live in New York. Trump would have been one of those slimeballs frequenting First Avenue bars on Saturday nights a la Mr. Goodbar–style.
The Lodger
@mark: Up until today, efgoldman hadn’t been seen for a couple of weeks either.
Coincidences? Don’t believe in them myself.
The Other Chuck
@debbie: Nope, Trump partied at his own place where he could ensure it would be much, much tackier
?BillinGlendaleCA
@debbie: Reminds me of a “Dancing Fool”.
J R in WV
@ruemara:
I understand that 3K is as good as an infinite amount of money, if you don’t have 3K in liquidity. But that isn’t a huge amount… a gofundme for your citizenship publicized among the Jackals might hit that amount in no time.
Else, tell your parents to kick in $3k now, at the beginning, and send it to the tax peoples.
Also, take Schrodinger’s_cat offer to talk to her immigration lawyer… sounds nearly free.
Best of luck…!
Ruckus
@J R in WV:
Agreed!
We take up good causes here all the time. And this is a great one.
ruemara
@J R in WV: My parents, I say this with respect, are the prime source of my belief in the unreliability of others. I’d trust a request for water to be filled by them, but I know better than to believe I can trust a promise of wine. However, I will be accepting a quick consult with Madame Schrodinger’s lawyer. If the recommendation ups my anxiety, then I have my answer.
J R in WV
@ruemara:
Don’t trust them, just tell them it’s time for the money, NOW… or forget it.
If they don’t come through, let us know what to do to help. We do it all the time, it isn’t a burden for hundreds of us to pitch in for someone we know. Take care.
Tehanu
He wants to show his prowess
Be a lion, not a mowess —
But he hasn’t got a brain, or a heart, or… well, anything except sheer gall.
Yarrow
@efgoldman: Good to see you here! We’ve been worried and people have been asking about you. Glad you’re feeling better.