BREAKING: EPA Admin. Pruitt resigns, President Trump tweets.
— NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (@NBCNightlyNews) July 5, 2018
Open Thread
Reader Interactions
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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
Bark louder, little dog.
Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.
Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.
Impressively dumb. Congratulations.
Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.
The next time the wall wtreet journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.
Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard
We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.
No one could have predicted…
After roe, women are no longer free.
Technically true, but collectively nonsense
Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?
I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.
Nothing worth doing is easy.
The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.
Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.
Republicans in disarray!
Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?
Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.
If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.
It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.
People are complicated. Love is not.
Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.
Fuck these fucking interesting times.
Corner Stone
Ding, dong, the witch is dead!
Now for criminal charges…
Fair Economist
Goodbye and good riddance. Also one less person who could be used to replace somebody in a confirmed position like Rosenstein.
Elizabelle
Thank Dog.
Now, prosecute the mother-effer and see how much he talks.
soonergrunt
And to think, Scottie almost had a chance to run for OK Governor, but he was too scandal-plagued.
OTOH, it’s the OKGOP we’re talking about.
Governor Pruitt on the way.
SFAW
Too bad. I was hoping he’d get indicted and convicted, serve 20 to life.
Not saying that’s not still a possibility, mind you.
JPL
@Corner Stone: I wish! As we know iokiyr Ask Jim Jordan.
Quaker in a Basement
Best news of the week.
Elizabelle
@Fair Economist: Yes. Breathing a sigh of relief there. My second thought, after “finally.”
I hope Mr. Pruitt is dealing with expensive legal problems for the next decade or so.
Corner Stone
That interview Hayes did with the Republican nutjob operative the other night must have left a mark. The clip I watched the guy strike just the right tone – effusive praise of Trump, and dedicated love for him, but that he just couldn’t stand the swamp creature any longer.
Fair Economist
@SFAW: IMO indictment and conviction for Pruitt is likely, but it probably won’t happen until we get a Democratic President.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
Are you serious? Does this mean he can’t be confirmed as Atty General under the Vacancy Reform Act since he is no longer a Cabinet member?
West of the Rockies
May he find the misery he so richly deserves: social seclusion, financial anxiety, rapid physical, emotional and mental decline.
Corner Stone
Got a nice little moderate thunderstorm w/ rain going on here and it’s helping me imagine Poor Scotty standing out in the rain with his little whine face set to Max Whine.
Mike J
The sooner nickname literally means illegal immigrant. By Trump’s logic, how could he expect him to obey any other laws?
waspuppet
You think Pruitt knew he resigned before Trump tweeted about it?
bemused
In a sane country, we’d be building a new prison for all the swamp slime to spend the rest of their lives in.
Uncle Cosmo
@Elizabelle: Don’t wanna hear him talk. Wanna hear him squeeeeeeeeal like a pig!!
Srsly, dyuh spoze he thanks he kin jest crawl back under his slimy hometown rock & avoid getting sent up for, oh I dunno, life plus the age of the universe, terms to run consecutively?
Elizabelle
WaPost breaking news banner:
Just one of those issues would have been enough to sink an Obama cabinet member. Jebus.
Probably holding up the story, to have to type in all the
“questions”transgressions.randy khan
I was going to say he’s decided to spend more time with his family, but since he was so hot to get his wife a job outside of the home, maybe not.
Elizabelle
@West of the Rockies: Prison sounds good to me. How he behaves there is up to him.
Corner Stone
@waspuppet: Oh, I am sure we’re going to hear every little dirty detail about how this all went down before it’s over. Pruitt’s staff hates his guts and if they can kick him while he’s down and out they are sure AF going to.
Wonder if he was told while he was on the john also too?
Shell
Crap, seriously? Thought itd takeone massive shoe-horn to pry him out of his office. Hope somebody is checking the silverware from the Congressional cafeteria and the copper wiring.
Uncle Cosmo
And why the everloving FUCK am I in Immoderation now???
Misterpuff
The nice lady who interrupted his meal to suggest he resign must have persuaded him.
We have a new American Hero!.
Kelly
Good news. He was finding time for a tremendous amount of environmental vandalism amongst the grifting.
Mary G
The rats had jumped ship:
Corner Stone
Swin (Daily Beast reporter) is saying the DB is being flooded with calls from WH staff as well as former EPA staff. Basically at how delighted they all are.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@waspuppet:
No, he was using his “Cone of Silence”.
scav
@Uncle Cosmo: Huzzah For our new Immoderation status! I now aspire to be worthy enough join you there!!
Elizabelle
@soonergrunt: Hello, you.
Think you are soonerHappy about this turn of events. Too damn long coming. The ballz on these people.
Patricia Kayden
The man grifted all he could grift and is now taking a much deserved rest from his grifting. May he Rest in Grift.
Mai Naem mobile
I hope Scotty Boy Pruitt ends up in prison in Oklahoma in some contaminated prison with no a/c and dirty looking water.
Chip Daniels
@bemused:
I’m thinking of a liberal version of Escape From New York”, where we just cordon off a place like Oklahoma or South Carolina, (after evacuating all the normal people), then airdrop all MAGAheads in there to live.
But that’s just me being shrill and uncivil.
Elizabelle
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I wish the government could charge him personally for the ridiculous security expenses he incurred. It was another form of thievery.
SiubhanDuinne
Good.
Good riddance.
Fuckim.
donnah
It was absurd that he stayed as long as he did. Good riddance, Pruitt, you sneaky fucker. I hope your life is long and filled with terrible things.
SiubhanDuinne
@soonergrunt:
Always happy to see your nym around these parts.
Teddys Person
US using DNA tests to reunite children with migrant parents
zhena gogolia
Just coming here to see what’s the buzz, tell me what’s a happening
West of the Rockies
@Elizabelle:
Prison is fine by me, too. May his super-massive ego shrivel to a nano particle. Why such vitriol? His policies would cause harm and death to millions.
Brachiator
Pruitt too corrupt for Trump?
Unfortunately, his replacement will no doubt be just as slimy. That’s how Trump rolls.
Corner Stone
@Patricia Kayden: Alas and alack, he fell *just* short of getting his wife that $200K a year grifting position before he was booted. Sad!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Corner Stone: I guess he’ll have to spend more time with his family now.
SiubhanDuinne
Does he get to keep that used Trump Hotel mattress, though?
Elizabelle
WaPost has its story and headline up:
Now, the Vichy Times headline is up:
Kind of too damn neutral there, Vichy Times.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@SiubhanDuinne: No, government property.
raven
He was born in Oklahoma
And his wife’s name is Betty Lou Thelma Liz
He’s not responsible for what he’s doing
His mother made him what he is
And it’s up against the wall, redneck mother
Mother who has raised her son so well
He’s thirty four and drinkin’ in a honky tonk
Just kickin’ hippies’ asses and raisin’ hell
Teddys Person
@SiubhanDuinne: It’s just part of the lovely, assorted parting grifts … oops I mean gifts… Scottie will take home. I mean who doesn’t need a “cone of silence” in their own home.
Steve in the ATL
@soonergrunt: it already happened on Georgia. Nathan Deal, a man so corrupt he had to resign from a republican-led House, easily won the race to become governor of Georgia.
Joe Falco
Other past cabinet officials resigned after one or two scandals. For Pruitt, he aspired to have a mountain of scandals. A trash heap among trash heaps of ethical malfeasance. Truly, he was an inspiration to every penny-pinching, polluter-enabling, mooching bum out there. May every landfill and superfund site be named after him.
Steve in the ATL
@raven: I once sang that in a bar in Vail for a free pitcher of beer
SiubhanDuinne
@Brachiator:
Some coal industry executive, I believe. Can’t remember the name (not Blankenship) but will undoubtedly carry out the same anti-environment agenda.
ETA: Andrew Wheeler, currently deputy, will be acting admin. Former coal industry lobbyist.
A Ghost To Most
So, is he taking first class back to OK at our expense, or steerage on his own dime?
Marcopolo
@soonergrunt: Hey Soonergrunt! Good to see a comment from you. Haven’t seen your nym in a while.
MuckJagger
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
No, that was Control with the Cone of Silence.
These guys are strictly KAOS.
–Showing-my-age-Muck
Karen
Does this mean he’s not quitting so he can take Sessions’ place?
oatler.
I wonder if he will retain his security detail? Just wondering, for the sake of fiscal transparency…
Maybe he can become James Wood’s agent.
MattF
So, the grift has certain limits.
Baud
@Karen: Right.
sukabi
@Brachiator: “too corrupt for Trump?”
More than likely he was getting too close to interfereing with one of drumpf’s many grifts, or accidently exposing one while making a grab of his own.
Gravenstone
So which bale of straw finally broke that poor camel’s back?
sukabi
@A Ghost To Most: he should ride a rail back home.
Mike in NC
This is actually kind of surprising. Pruitt was one of Trump’s most loyal henchmen and I thought he’d never step down.
MattF
@Mike in NC: I’d guess that Pruitt did something vewy, vewy bad.
Corner Stone
@oatler.:
Those are the ones to feel sorry for. The 40 extra security members he required who now will no longer be employed.
Patricia Kayden
@waspuppet: Lol!! Good question.
m.j.
I think Pruitt wasn’t shamed at all by Mink’s restaurant chastising. I think he was just completely unaware of what the public knew about his activities. The guy likes to cocoon himself. He doesn’t seem very bright or courageous. He ran away, ran away, brave Sir Scott.
Litlebritdifrnt
@soonergrunt:
Hey Sooner how is the no smoking thing going? I’m on two months now, only fallen off the wagon a couple of times, (the other night my sis came round and I spotted the pack in her purse and pounced) other than that I am doing great and revelling in the amount of money I am saving.
Elizabelle
OT, but this is good: WaPost website:
jonas
Don’t let the 6-ton, 60 foot-tall, $5 million-dollar, blast-proof doors you ordered for your office fortress complex on the taxpayer’s dime hit your ass on the way out.
When you’re too comically corrupt for Donald Trump…
Patricia Kayden
@Gravenstone: Yeah, I’m curious about that too. Apparently there are 13 investigations into Pruitt. Plus, that mother who confronted him at that restaurant and asked that he resign probably didn’t help.
Teddys Person
@Mike in NC: It might be self-preservation. Quitting while he’s ahead and hoping his grift and crime will get lost amid the Mueller investigation.
Elizabelle
@MattF:
Ah. Something radioactive, even for Trump. Something we don’t know about, yet?
Popcorn time.
chopper
@Shell:
i figured we’d need a giant set of tweezers, like removing an embedded tick.
Elizabelle
@Patricia Kayden:
The fabulous Kristin Mink. Who, Bill in Glendale informs, is a Bruin. (Represent, UCLA.) Think we could hear the whoops out of Sidwell Friends from miles away.
danielx
@soonergrunt:
Trump will probably nominate him for Attorney General as soon he decides Sessions has to go.
Jinchi
@Fair Economist: Just because he quit as head of EPA doesn’t mean he can’t be nominated as AG.
Cheryl Rofer
Baud
@Jinchi: But it means he would have to get confirmed by the Senate, which isn’t likely.
Corner Stone
@Teddys Person: No way, IMO. We’re going to find out Trump canned him because he was getting too much air time on Fox News.
waspuppet
@Elizabelle: It would help, actually. And just because he won’t in a million years do the decent thing, that doesn’t mean we should act like abuse victims and pretend it’s unreasonable to ask for.
I was just thinking a couple of days ago: Several restaurants called The Red Hen have been getting threats and boycotts since the one in Virginia kicked SHS out. Some of them have even said they’d serve her. An even half-classy person would MAKE A POINT of going to one of them. But of course she hasn’t, and we don’t even think of it as a possibility.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@MuckJagger: Yes, but remember, the “Cone of Silence” never worked.
Patricia Kayden
@Corner Stone: My heart is broken!! How shall I go on in such a bleak and cruel world?
Gelfling 545
@Corner Stone: I expect they must be coming. I couldn’t otherwise see Trump forcing him out for his misdeeds, unless through jealousy that Pruitt was doing better on the grift than Trump.
Brachiator
@sukabi:
Maybe Trump was jealous that one of his appointees was a bigger thief than he was.
Marcopolo
@Steve in the ATL: Yo Steve, when you’re in St Louis a week and a half from now where are you lodging? Need to see if there is somewhere nearby for a St Louis meet-up. Or perhaps, since you seem to spend so much time here you already have somewhere in mind?
Corner Stone
@Cheryl Rofer: Gah. Even while pulling the gold gilted boot out of his ass Pruitt finds a way to stick his head even further up Trump’s.
Miss Bianca
@Elizabelle: Well, I’ve also heard rumors (via LGM) that Scotty was anti-ethanol. So both Grassley and Ernst were among the ones sharpening their hog-butchering knives for him, it would seem.
gratuitous
I hear some job opportunities for rhino poachers have suddenly opened up. Seems like this would be right up Pruitt’s alley.
Elizabelle
@Cheryl Rofer:
Jebus, that is some strange language. It’s actually like a psalm to someone worshipped.
Weird fucking dude. Out tomorrow.
Mary G
@Cheryl Rofer: Ugh. What a smarmy bastard he is. No wonder Twitler kept him around so long.
CREW put out a statement on the resignation:
Elizabelle
@Miss Bianca: It is nice to be able to, briefly, very briefly, be grateful to Ernst and Grassley on that count.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Corner Stone: Yup, NO ONE get more attention that the Orange Baby.
lgerard
I feel bad for the guy
I’m heading over to the Salvation Army to see if I can pick up a used mattress for him
Patricia Kayden
@bemused:
Build a prison and drain the swamp creatures from this regime to fill it up. Everything about Trump’s White House is sleazy. He and his minions have no redeeming quality and my fear is that in many ways, he has already damaged this country almost to the point of no repair.
Go Mueller. Please hurry up.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Nicole Wallace and crew are talking about Pruitt’s corruption and weirdness and no one’s mentioning the mattress.
How can you talk about Pruit being weird and not mention the mattress?
NotMax
Pruitt blew it.
“How much to ship a mattress to Oklahoma?”
Headline? Noxious pollutant removed from EPA headquarters.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Miss Bianca: And you know what Ernst cuts with her hog knife.
Teddys Person
@Cheryl Rofer: This letter from a bootlicking toady made my skin crawl. The language of right-wing Christians is creepy AF.
Miss Bianca
@Elizabelle: Misery, strange bedfellows, etc.
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Heh, indeed
schrodingers_cat
@Elizabelle: So is the white supremacist defense contractor who beat up people in Charlottesville, a PhD student no less.
zhena gogolia
@Elizabelle:
I loved that. He’s appealing to Trump’s “legacy.”
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Uncle Cosmo:
Try having your office email domain name being blocked at gmail as “being likely unsolicited spam”. I send out zero advertising emails, nor does anyone else in my shop. I have no idea what to do to fix it so I can get emails to gmail addressed clients outside of using a Yahoo box that I rarely check.
Meanwhile, I keep getting Rosetta Stone spam, along with multiple requests from SEO and Continuung Legal Education spammers, years after I hit “unsubscribe”.
Teddys Person
@lgerard: I hear he’s already got one. Maybe you could pick up some pillows from Trump’s pillow guy.
Another Scott
@Teddys Person: Yup. Jesus wanted him to be EPA administrator, but mean people made him leave. Really?!? You’ve actually got God deciding your life course, but someone talking to you in a restaurant made you get up and leave? Really??!?!!!ONE?
(sheesh)
Cheers,
Scott.
Steve in the ATL
@Marcopolo: Maryland Heights/St Charles area. Evening of Sunday, July 16 is open. I land at 6:30 pm. Can go anywhere that day (Soulard? Central West End?). Traffic makes those areas tougher on Monday and Tuesday evenings. Who’s available then? Would love to meet you guys.
SiubhanDuinne
@Cheryl Rofer:
That’s got to be a spoof.
Mike J
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: When you unsubscribe all you’ve done is let them know that’s an active email address and is therefore more valuable to spammers.
John Revolta
It wasn’t Mink. The nail in the coffin was Laura Ingraham. When Trumpf saw her blondness on Fox, calling Pruitt “the swamp”, his goose was cooked.
Teddys Person
@Another Scott: Seriously, if God’s so in your corner, why not ask him to smite the pesky people.
zhena gogolia
@Cheryl Rofer:
Oh, gag, God’s providence indeed. This Sunday in church I get to read Leviticus 19:33-34 (“When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien”) and Matthew 25: 31-45 (“You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink”). It will be satisfying AF.
MomSense
I just got an infuriatingly vague and insultingly stupid response from Susan Collins about SCOTUS. I would’ve thrown my stupid phone across the room. The only thing that stopped me is that I’m so broke from the trump gas, food, and insurance increases.
She is the queen of saying Fucking nothing.
Also fuck Fucking Pruitt.
Joe Falco
@Elizabelle: If Trump had any interest in being an uniter, he would have kept with Garland the first time and told McConnell to take a hike. It might as well be alternative history fiction to think then Trump would be interested in country over party or to think it matters now to him.
But anyway, golf clap for Schumer, I guess.
Steve in the ATL
@bemused: or better yet, create space in our existing prisons by freeing prisoners such as non-violent possessors of cannabis and minorities whose sentences far outweighed their crimes.
Elizabelle
@schrodingers_cat: We will have to see how long that Bruin keeps his job. Methinks Northrop Grumman cannot afford the bad publicity.
@zhena gogolia: It’s a good request to make to Republican senators. Garland is qualified, confirmable (if the Senate would ever give him a hearing, Mitch McConnell be damned), and would not tear the country apart.
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
Can you put in a good word with God for Baud! 2020!? I feel like divine providence is what I was missing in 2016.
Cheryl Rofer
@SiubhanDuinne: As far as I can tell from the Twitter machine, it’s genuine.
lgerard
@Cheryl Rofer:
Holy Jesus!
That is the most obsequious nonsense I have ever read.
There is zero mention of serving the country or it’s citizens, just his personal devotion to the great trump
Jim, Foolish Literalist
reposted
The whistle blower segment from the Hayes show the other night
it’s probably by itself too small a thing for anyone to track down, especially with Rs in charge of any oversight from Justice to Congress to Oklahoma, but I’d bet the farm that the COS in question reimbursed himself from a slush fund set up by some big polluter.
Gelfling 545
@Elizabelle: CNBC put it as “Pruitt resigns, Trump says. I take that to mean who the hell knows if he actyally resigned since Trump probably couldn’t speak the truth if paid by the word.
Mnemosyne
@zhena gogolia:
Fundies love Leviticus until you start reading all of the you must give assistance to strangers in your land parts. Then they start squealing about how Jesus changed The Law and now they only have to obey the anti-gay parts of Leviticus.
(My poor iPhone typing turned “Jesus” into “Keisha” and I was tempted for a moment to leave it alone as divine providence.)
Mary G
@SiubhanDuinne: @Cheryl Rofer: Maggie the steno tweeted it too.
In news of better women: she’s not finished:
zhena gogolia
@Baud:
I know that God is smiling on Baud.
NotMax
Pity the production staff on Maddow’s show, who will have to resort to scrolling six point type when they display the list of resignations and firings.
:)
dmsilev
@schrodingers_cat:
According to that ProPublica report, his school says he’s conveniently ‘on a leave of absence’.
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
Just to be clear, your autocorrect didn’t change “smiting” to “smiling,” right?
Steve in the ATL
@schrodingers_cat: PhD on assholery, I assume. A frightening popular course of study these days.
Elizabelle
@SiubhanDuinne: Yeah, really.
Fox News link. Here’s the letter, in its entirety, and easier to read. Pruitt writes like he’s a goddamned apostle.
NotMax
@zhena gogolia
Well, smirking.
;)
Fair Economist
@Joe Falco: If Trump had had the slightest interest in good governance he easily could have run only a half-evil administration, gotten his 500 million a year in grift, and gotten accolades for it all from the lapdog press. But he doesn’t.
Miss Bianca
@Mary G:
WAH HAH HAH
Verily, I like the cut of this lady’s jib.
Steve in the ATL
@Mnemosyne: doesn’t Leviticus list rules apply only to the temple? And that temple no longer exists?
The Moar You Know
@waspuppet: Was thinking that myself. Going with “probably not”.
A Ghost To Most
@sukabi: Tarred and feathered, of course.
Roger Moore
@A Ghost To Most:
I assume he’s staying in DC to take a lucrative job on K Street.
VeniceRiley
Lightly used Trump Hotel mattress for sale. #DCCraigslist
SiubhanDuinne
@Cheryl Rofer:
Yeah, I’ve checked a few other sites and I guess it is genuine.
Pruitt’s prose style is as smarmy as every other aspect of his sorry life.
dmsilev
@Mnemosyne: Yet, oddly enough, the kinder things Jesus said don’t seem to count.
Gelfling 545
@Patricia Kayden: Investigations, pish tosh, but being disturbed while dining is insupportable!
danielx
@Cheryl Rofer:
I have read and heard some smarmy bullshit in my life, but that positively reeks with sanctimony, well-seasoned with self pity.
Teddys Person
@Elizabelle: Scottie has a future writing dictator p0rn.
Steve in the ATL
@Elizabelle: Christianists are the weirdest fucking people in this country.
@Fair Economist: if trump were interested in good governance, he would not have run for office and instead would have supported Hillary in every way possible.
TenguPhule
Swamp goes out, Swamp comes in.
Via Wapo.
/Sigh
dmsilev
@Elizabelle: Looking for a sinecure from Trump, is he? I take some small degree of satisfaction in knowing that Pruitt will soon learn that Trump’s concept of loyalty is strictly a one-way street.
Roger Moore
@Elizabelle:
I find this unsurprising. The devolution of the Republican party into the cult of Trump is complete.
Tenar Arha
@schrodingers_cat: One of the worst tricks we ever played on ourselves as a country was pretending that racists & racism only originated amongst the poor & uneducated.
I mean I grew up early enough in the 70’s that restricted country clubs were still a real thing that existed. This was when the only thing that kept the old clubs from being completely WASP, were their gaming the integration laws with the occasional African-American, Jewish-American, or visiting Saudi-Arabian families who wanted to join a club, if they were willing to be the “token” members. And yet somehow I never studied the book or film Gentleman’s Agreement or read anything about White Citizens Councils in school.
Mary G
@SiubhanDuinne: @danielx: It’s kind of cool to get to use the word “smarmy” though? One of my favorites, but so rare to use.
Mike in NC
@Teddys Person: He probably had Mike Pence review his first draft.
Teddys Person
@TenguPhule: Hopefully, he knows how to steam pants while the orange one is wearing them. From what I heard, this was number one the “preferred qualifications” section of the job announcement.
Elizabelle
@danielx: Pruitt should call himself an evangelist and just fleece the rubes directly. Leave the US of A out of it.
4 uses of bless in some form
2 uses of providence
2 of service
God, Godspeed, Your Faithful Friend … I’m getting stigmata!
Pruitt and Trump serve Satan and/or Mammon.
ETA: just one use of “pray”, although “prey” is more honest
NotMax
@Elizabelle
Gag me with a scruple spoon.
A Ghost To Most
No talking head asks the right question:
Was it a particular used Rump mattress, or a generic one?
PaulWartenberg
I honestly did not seethis coming, I figured trump still need Pruitt for other criminal misdeeds.
burnspbesq
@Elizabelle:
Hilarious. Like that would ever happen.
Teddys Person
@Mike in NC: Mike and Mother probably used it as foreplay. Good night everybody. Brian bleach is available in the lobby.
Steve in the ATL
@Elizabelle: didn’t read the letter. Assume he used “service” in something like “it’s been an honor to service you when Ivanka was unavailable”.
Shit, I sound like Le Compte now!
Roger Moore
@Mnemosyne:
Quote mining is their favorite approach to any text. The last thing they want to do is to read and understand the Bible as a whole; it might get in the way of their religious beliefs.
TenguPhule
@lgerard:
So a rare instance of a Republican being honest, is what you’re saying?
MomSense
@Mnemosyne:
Whenever fundies pulled their Leviticus crap with my dad, he’d ask them what they had for Easter dinner. It was always ham which, of course, is an abomination.
My favorite of his fundie trolling was when he would discuss Jesus’ sexual orientation. We have no way of knowing but there is a lot of interesting scripture about his beloved disciple. There were a couple of times I thought we were going to have a mass fainting incident.
Moral of the story is to never use scripture to justify bigotry in front of my dad unless you want to mak a fool of yourself.
Tenar Arha
@schrodingers_cat: @Tenar Arha: Ugh, just noticed there’s no edit button?
Clarification addendum: “…racists & racism only originated amongst the poor and/or the uneducated, rather than within every class & education level.
Ridnik Chrome
All I have to say about Pruitt is that I hope the people working for him documented every single thing they could, and that one day soon those documents find their way into the hands of a competent prosecutor.
TenguPhule
@zhena gogolia:
The creepy smile of a man who amuses himself by pushing pins into sedated insects.
Roger Moore
@dmsilev:
Some words in the Bible are printed in red to show they’re optional.
Gravenstone
@Mike J: My spam box is filled with sites asking me to “confirm” my unsubscription. Seriously? Do I look like I have a giant KICK ME sign on my back?
/looks behind to double check
Mary G
Another unholy pair of grifters:
A Ghost To Most
@Roger Moore:
I believe that Rump didn’t change the GOP; he reveals it.
PPCLI
@Another Scott: I expect that Jesus is very disappointed in Scott Pruitt for ignoring His wishes.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@PaulWartenberg: any third vice-president (or whatever) from Exxon could do Pruitt’s job, with input from Don Blankenship. Pruitt was a fundie hero– and they can still tug on trump’s leash when they want to– and from all reports trump liked him, which means he figured out how to flatter the Beast, as the resignation letter Cheryl posted shows (‘you are God’s chosen p*ssy-grabber”).
also, OT, I can’t figure out if this is hilarious or gross
Isn’t/wasn’t Lanny Davis partnered with Michael Steele, who is currently on my TeeVee? Should this be mentioned?
Elizabelle
@lgerard:
Actually, he mentions “the American people” 4 times. Much as John Boehner was always speaking of “the American people.”
I don’t know who those “American people” are, but they are apparently some scary fuckers with awful desires. They live on filthy air and spoiled water, and sheer cruelty.
SiubhanDuinne
@Mary G:
It is a fine word, and the perfect word to describe Pruitt.
Gelfling 545
@Joe Falco: Maybe if Schumer could get Trump alone & fill his head with how much good press (THE BEST!) he could get for being such a UNITER! …
Elizabelle
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Did anyone warn Lanny of what’s happened to that nice Alan Dershowitz? Hope Lanny has already vacationed.
Chris T.
@Steve in the ATL: Yeah, but don’t you know, the punishment scales inversely with the wealth and whiteness of the criminal? Them dark-skinned druggies must serve life for a gram of whatever! A wealthy white murderer who owns a coal mine, why that’s just a minor infraction…
Fair Economist
@MomSense:
On top of the scripture, it’s at least interesting that a man of that era with a decent job would get to 30 without getting married. “Confirmed bachelor”, you might say.
MisterForkbeard
And it only took Trump/Pruitt over a year of inexcusable shenanigans and crimes before he left. Imagine that.
Mary G
Chris T.
@TenguPhule:
Swamp goes out, swamp goes in, you can’t explain that!
Gelfling 545
@Mary G: I’ve found ample opportunity since 2016.
Teddys Person
@Fair Economist: In grad school, I took a class on gender and history. We read an article about the changing images of Jesus in American Christianity. Part of the discussion was the feminization of the images. The professor goes, “around this time (I think it was the 1920s) Jesus became so … [long pause] …. nancy.” The way she said it, just cracked me up.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Mary G: I always think of Paul Ryan as Smarm, Personified.
SiubhanDuinne
NPR just referrred to “much-maligned EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt.”
That is not the modifier I would have chosen.
germy
Omnes Omnibus
@Fair Economist: Renowned Biblical scholar Dan Brown suggests that he married Mary Mags and they had kids.
TenguPhule
Every silver lining has a cloud.
Meet the new head, worse then the old one. This one knows how to work the system.
A Ghost To Most
This could be fun.
Steve in the ATL
@Omnes Omnibus: wouldn’t have been the first gay man to do so!
Fair Economist
@Teddys Person:
I really wouldn’t expect the 20’s to be the time they, er, came out about it.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steve in the ATL: Good point.
Elizabelle
@SiubhanDuinne: I heard that.
NPR News has been atrocious. They’ve got the giggly girls syndrome too (Mary Louise Kelly), and they are very timid, or downright inaccurate, on how they describe situations. Something is going on at NPR too, although I put it down more to cowardice and careerism than similar behavior at the NY Times.
TenguPhule
Also 4 autoplay ads, just do a fundraiser for the site instead of this passive aggressive bullshit already, John!
TenguPhule
@Fair Economist:
They made sturdier closets in those days.
Calouste
@A Ghost To Most: My guess is that the twenty-something year old woman that Pruitt asked to buy that used mattress knew exactly which mattress he was talking about.
Ben Cisco
@Elizabelle: That’s some weird shit right there. Glad that freak has hit the bricks.
Kelly
This cheered me up. The lady the 12 year old was mowing the lawn for when the cops were called started a Go Fund Me for him 6 days ago. $48,068 as of this afternoon!
Steve in the ATL
@Omnes Omnibus: FYI Arsenal fans are known as Gunners, for obvious reasons, which is then bastardized to Gooners just for fun.
lgerard
@Elizabelle:
But he only mentions the American People in reference to trumps plan for them. He plainly says that trumps vision is what he is all about and what he is blessed to serve.
I wonder if he will be rolling coal on his way out of town
Omnes Omnibus
@Steve in the ATL: Yes, the team started at, and was named after, the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich which is the home of the RA and RHA.
bemused
@Chip Daniels:
Not a bit shrill or uncivil. It seems only prudent and sensible to protect the general public from malignant criminals.
Kelly
the go fund me link https://www.gofundme.com/reggie-boyz-lawn-service
MomSense
@Fair Economist:
And all those disciples left their families behind to follow him around.
The beloved disciple did spend the last supper with his head on Jesus’ chest. And when the Romans arrested Jesus, the beloved disciple ran from the tent he had been sharing with Jesus.
hilts
Ladies and Gentlemen, we got him!
Bill Arnold
@West of the Rockies:
In the fullness of time, more like 10s or even 100s of millions.
Elizabelle
@lgerard: Oh. Like working for us? To benefit us? Oh heck no. Game over.
Patricia Kayden
@Cheryl Rofer: It’s amazing how Pruitt casts himself in the role of the pitiable martyr who was wrongly harassed by the evil media, liberal politicians and women hassling him while he’s trying to eat with a lobbyist. His corruption was epic which says a lot given who he is serving. Yet, he acts as if he was wrongfully scrutinized and maligned. It’s infuriating.
rikyrah
@soonergrunt:
Good to see you?
Elizabelle
@MomSense: I am so not up on the Bible. Who precisely is the beloved apostle?
And bravo to your dad.
NotMax
@Fair Economist
Never seen Cabaret?
Another Scott
Let’s see, the GOP Senators going to see Putin to conduct foreign policy, and Reuters:
(Emphasis added.)
These GOP people don’t know what their jobs are, and they apparently have so bored and have much time on their hands that they’re trying to do other people’s jobs.
We need to vote them all out.
124 days to go…
Cheers,
Scott.
Teddys Person
@Patricia Kayden: It’s the scrutiny that Trumpers resent the most. The sense of entitlement to do whatever they want free from criticism is breathtaking.
Gelfling 545
@SiubhanDuinne: I think “crooked” has already been assigned elsewhere. That descriptor does make him sound more sinned against than sinning which is just WRONG.
MomSense
@Elizabelle:
It’s actually a complicated topic. He was one of the first to follow Jesus, outranked the other disciples, and in multiple texts the other disciples claim the authority of their stories from him.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@schrodingers_cat:
Are you talking about the freak that legally changed his name to Augustus Sol Invictus? Yes, that’s his real name now. Currently running for the Republican nomination for a US House Seat in Florida?
eric
@Teddys Person: there is a documentary in which Waldemar Januszczak shows that the early christian jesus in art eriwas feminized and only later became more masculine.
Mike J
@Mnemosyne:
Peter refused to go to the house of a gentile who the scriptures declared to be unclean.
Peter has a dream about shrimp and ham and is told nothing made by God is unclean.
Peter understands the point and goes to the gentile’s house.
Bill Arnold
@SiubhanDuinne:
Here’s a list of his lobbying work. I will assume that it is accurate:
https://projects.propublica.org/trump-town/staffers/andrew-wheeler
Teddys Person
Here’s what Kimberly Strassel, member of the Wall Street Journal editorial board, tweeted about the Pruit resignation:
I particularly like how she talks about the “media” like it’s something she’s not a part of.
Teddys Person
@eric: That could have been the trajectory. That part of grad school was 20 years ago and what I remember most is the prof’s comment. I have a bankers box of grad school stuff I should paw through to see if I can find the specific article we were discussing.
NotMax
@eric
Just for sh*ts and grins, this.
Gelfling 545
@Omnes Omnibus: Conversations among theologians (main stream) of which I was oddly enough acquainted with a fair few back in the day, centered on the probability that he was married as it was practically unheard of in his time and place to remain unmarried into adulthood. It was not unheard of, however, to abandon wife and family and go wandering about preaching. The actual name of his or anybody’s wife would not have been considered important.
B.B.A.
EPA headquarters will be a vacant lot by tomorrow morning, as Pruitt makes a last-minute run to steal everything that is nailed down.
schrodingers_cat
@Gelfling 545: Buddha was married and had a son, who he abandoned when he became a monk.
bemused
@Patricia Kayden:
They are all freaks.
Chris T.
@Teddys Person: Yeah, Fox seems to do that all the time: I keep seeing clips where some Fox Noise person says, within 10 seconds of each other, two phrases: “we’re the number one most-watched news” followed by “the mainstream media won’t tell you X” (well, that last is often true since X tends to be false!). But don’t they see the contradiction between “we’re number one = mainstream” and “mainstream won’t …”?
Gelfling 545
@Elizabelle: Presumed traditionally to be John, though no actual attribution is made.
Teddys Person
Here’s Maggie H’s hot take:
Poor Scottie couldn’t help himself in his desire to sit with the cool kids.
Roger Moore
@Another Scott:
They know what their jobs are: destroy everything Obama did and steal anything that isn’t nailed down.
GregB
So long, Shitheel Scott.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
cc: Andrew Lack, and the other guy
I know HH lost the Saturday morning Farm Report, but he’s still in the MSNBC stable. Will whoever has to have him on next please ask him to defend this shit? I’m not always Donnell’s biggest fan, but he would five Hewitt some what for on this. Which I guess is why Hewitt sticks to the interchangeable crew of the daytime line-up.
MisterForkbeard
@Teddys Person: I also like the complete lack of consideration that maybe these particular officials are… fucking corrupt, which is why they get a mild amount of attention from the media.
Seriously though, I think the way this works is that Trump is impervious to literally all forms of pressure because he just doesn’t care. But when something goes viral enough that it impacts even Fox News (such as the lady telling off Pruitt), that makes him look bad AND it’s in the realm of Stuff That Matters – it was covered by TV that he watches.
The lesson is that if anyone wants to get Trump to take action against anything, you have to manufacture a viral video or get something on tape/audio that gets attention. It doesn’t matter what the actual event or cause IS, so long as you do this.
Teddys Person
@Teddys Person: or it might have cycled back around and a more feminized image came back in fashion.
NotMax
@Teddys Person
Try tap dancing on the top of a pyramid, sooner of later you will rudely and rapidly end up sliding down.
schrodingers_cat
@Teddys Person: MAGA Habs, she so wants to be the next Sarah Sanders.
hueyplong
Pruitt: “I believe you are serving as President today because of God’s providence. I believe that same providence brought me into your service.”
Just repeating that portion for anyone still unsure whether he spits or swallows.
TenguPhule
@Bill Arnold: An excellent rap sheet worthy of summary trial and execution.
danielx
@Mary G:
And rarely so appropriate.
TenguPhule
@Teddys Person:
Criminally stupid to the point a mandatory death sentence seems kind.
Marcopolo
@Steve in the ATL: Only dipping in to let you know I saw your post. Will have to have a front pager put something up in a few days about a potential meet up. As far as I am knowledgeable about places you are not staying in an area particularly conducive or close to a good meet up place. If you land at 6:30 you wouldn’t be getting anywhere before 8ish if you need to check in to your hotel.
This will obviously need to be a work-in-progress. Other St Louis (area) posters are Quinerly, Ozark Hillbilly, BC in IL, & La Passionate. If there are others please note them in a response to this post & I will look at it later cause I need to run off again.
Patricia Kayden
@Teddys Person: The Wall Street Journal is such a rag. They’re on the level of Fox News and Breitbart, as far as I can tell. I hope someone tweeted at her that Pruitt is a corrupt grifter who is the subject of 13 + investigations.
I love how Republicans refuse to take responsibility for their shortcomings. They’re always the victim.
SiubhanDuinne
@Bill Arnold:
Yikes, that is quite the pretty little list!
Didn’t see it there, but I believe he was also, at some point, James Inhofe’s CoS.
Another Scott
@Roger Moore: You’re right, of course, but I think it’s actually worse than that.
I’m convinced that Trump is actually trying to destroy just about every function of the federal government (touched by Obama or not) because he thinks that’s the way to increased political power and personal wealth. Dunno if he actually buys into Bannon’s chaos thinking, but he certainly lives it.
e.g. TheWeek:
When it does crash, he’ll start up his I alone can fix it nonsense again. And the GOP will cheer.
(sigh)
Cheers,
Scott.
NotMax
@hueyplong
“The raucous voices, let it be remembered, are the residual heirs of America; America in default falls to them; they are the natural, final masters of negative, inarticulate men.”
– H. G. Wells
Teddys Person
Deplorables is Disarry
Source: Joe “owes back child support” Walsh tweet.
TenguPhule
@NotMax:
The trick is to fall down and miss the ground.
boatboy_srq
@Corner Stone: …ding, dong the criminal witch is charged?
Steve in the ATL
@Marcopolo: I can check into my hotel later. As I said, on a Sunday evening I can drive anywhere in the metro area, so let’s go somewhere better than Earth City! Much harder to get around on weekdays.
?BillinGlendaleCA
My new camera has arrived, it came with a bit more than I expected(extra batteries, a battery charger, battery grip…).
The Dangerman
Diversion. I’ve been on the road (hellllllo Bakersfield) and when I left this morning, heat was getting turned up on Jim Jordan. Pruitt was good as gone for weeks. Today was a good time to do it.
danielx
@Mary G:
Wonder if Cohen knows that Lanny Davis is a professional political whore. As in, he expects to be paid, and Cohen has been whining about his ruinous legal bills. Somehow I don’t think he’s gonna get any funds from the Trump Organization to pay Lanny Davis, and probably not for anything else.
Miss Bianca
@Teddys Person: You know shit is fucked up and bullshit when Joe “You Lie!” Walsh starts looking like a bastion of fucking integrity next to the rest of the DeplorExpendables.
Steve in the ATL
@Marcopolo: correction: Sunday July 15
Roger Moore
@Teddys Person:
Walsh, of all people, seems to have come out as an anti-Trumper. As I’ve said elsewhere, I’m not surprised that there are some Republicans with enough principles to stand up to Trump, but I find it very interesting and enlightening to see which ones they are.
Teddys Person
@Miss Bianca: I never put two and two together. I always think of Walsh as being the deadbeat dad. I forgot he’s also the “you lie” guy.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Mnemosyne: You were asking for hosting recommendations. I’m surprised no one has mentioned Dreamhost. If you don’t do anything complicated with the theme, you can use their one-click installs and have it automatically update when a new version of WP comes out. Also, take a look at Mediawood.
Quinerly
@Teddys Person: Joe Wilson is the “you lie” guy.
Patricia Kayden
@Teddys Person: Maggie doesn’t have to worry about Pruitt. He can always run for Governor of Oklahoma. The grifting may not be as rich but he’ll still be living off of the public teat so there’s that.
Redshift
@Teddys Person:
Riiight, because he wasn’t at all venal and corrupt when he was in Oklahoma. Even if Maggie is too lazy to do any research, how hard is it to make a phone call to your own staff to avoid dreadfully embarrassing yourself?
Elizabelle
@Gelfling 545: Thank you. Remember vaguely hearing that Jesus was especially fond of John. The “beloved” did come up, but was neutered into just “really, really favorite friend” in some sermon.
Beloved removed from a sexual/romantic context, although it is a rather charged word, looking at it now.
PS: This “John” was different from John the Baptist, I think, since JBaptist was Jesus’s cousin?
Misterpuff
From Pruitt’s TRUE resignation letter:
“That is why is hard for me to advise you I am stepping down as Administrator of the EPA effective as of July 6. It is extremely difficult for me to cease serving you in this role first because I count it a blessing to be emulating you in any grifting capacity, but also, because of the transformative work that is occurring to my bank account. However, the unrelenting attacks on me personally, my family, are unprecedented and have taken a sizable toll on the bottom line.”
Mnemosyne
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism:
I’ll add them to my list — thanks!
I have a WordPress theme that I’m going to buy, so I’m not planning to build from scratch.
Corner Stone
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Me, too. I will be happy to hang out somewhere if he’s going to be doling out a few million dollars from all that he has took from the US taxpayer.
TenguPhule
@Roger Moore:
Walsh doesn’t like the competition.
Quinerly
@Marcopolo: may can make it. Depending on location. I generally don’t leave the city on the weekend. Keep me in the loop. Thanks.
Steeplejack
@bemused:
Plenty of room at Guantánamo. Congress insisted we keep it open; let’s put it to good use.
Teddys Person
@Quinerly: So, there was a reason that I’d not associated that particularly vile incident with Walsh. Thanks for clearing that up.
ETA: These middle aged white dudes all look the same to me.//
SiubhanDuinne
@Elizabelle:
NPR has a lot in common with the NYT. Both have dreadful political coverage — at best it is constant Bothsiderism, and it’s rarely best; more often it’s active, highly selective, malice-aforethought, innuendo-filled coverage (between them, I believe they’ve profiled 98% of white Trump voters* in the country) combined with a propensity to just not mention important stories — yet both NYT and NPR do outstanding non-political features, really good, well-researched, deeply thoughtful analyses. I’m a stubborn old cow, and I continue to listen to NPR and read the NYT and try to stay discerning about what I’m consuming.
* Yes, I realise “white Trump voters” is redundant.
piratedan
all you folks are simply too nice, why all the need to put Pruitt in new prison digs when we have perfectly fine internment camps with oodles of space for him in a tent city outside of El Paso…..
Elizabelle
@SiubhanDuinne: What you say is true. I couldn’t get over, in 2016, how NPR could never find an enthusiastic Hillary voter. WTF with that, I wondered?
I should request a political coverage discount from the NY Times. Because I don’t read their whack stuff, but am still paying for it. I appreciate the non-political stuff, which — I assume — is accurately reported. Who knows?
Both outlets seem to not respect the readers/listeners they have, WRT politics, and be chasing after people who don’t value them at all. Because that would prove … something. This seems more the case for NPR. I think the NY Times is all about not insulting advertisers. And who knows what else?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I’ll never forget MSNBC, after Obama’s speech to the convention, went looking for WilmerKids to tell them they still weren’t inspired and their vote would not be taken for granted!
J R in WV
@Teddys Person:
I’m glad to see it. The announcement was an admission that they were completely and totally careless and incompetent when they started the separation policy.
Everyone involved should face criminal child abuse charges, starting at the top with Trump , excluding those who are fixing the problem now.
Despicable vile monsters did this, and it was NOT legal, what they did.
J R in WV
And my comment says I have 2 minutes left to edit it, but the edit function tells me My edit time has expired… WTF!??!!
I wanted to fix my misplaced comma!!! WAHHHH!!!
Procopius
I was amused when Fortune Magazine discovered he wasn’t actually worth over a billion dollars. He had lied to them, apparently on the principle that he could steal more money if people thought he had more, and they do not check to see if the rich people they list actually have any money. Anyway, when he took office he did not actually divest himself of his property, as he was supposed to and said he did, instead he moved his assets to a trust controlled by his family. I hope they refuse to give the assets back. That would be pleasing.
Elizabelle
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Why I cut the cord. Too much.
jl
Pruitt will be hard to top, but I fear Trump will really try.
Probably it was the laughter. People like Trump and Pruitt don’t like to be laughed at uncontrollably, and the fancy writing pen and tactical pants graft probably shot Pruitt into that unfortunate social space.
Procopius
@Elizabelle: Garland is very nearly as reliably conservative as Gorsuch. Unite the country? I don’t think so.
Amir Khalid
@SiubhanDuinne:
i agree. I would have said “justly-maligned”.
Omnes Omnibus
@Procopius: Bullshit.
Corner Stone
@Omnes Omnibus: Face up to it. Garland was another personnel choice disaster from Obama while he was trying to turn his 16th cheek to Mitch.
Amir Khalid
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Guitar players have an NGD (New guitar day). Do photography enthusiasts have an NCD?
Omnes Omnibus
@Corner Stone: That may well be. Procopius’s comment was still bullshit.
NotMax
@Amir Khalid
They wait to see what develops before celebrating.
:)
Platonailedit
Bet betsy is next.
Mnemosyne
@Procopius:
Bullshit, comrade. Garland was pro-union and pro-choice, among many other liberal positions.
The deaths of thousands of American women after Roe v Wade is reversed will be on YOUR head because you and your misogynist pals decided that one (1) Guantanamo decision was more important than women’s lives.
Oh, and go fuck yourself.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mnemosyne: The Gitmo decision involved following SC precedent.
schrodingers_cat
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: No the one that Pro Publica outed, defense contractor for Northrop and doctoral student at UCLA.
J R in WV
I just hope investigators aren’t put off the scent of Pruitt’s stench by his resignation. I also hope we can get an environmentalist in charge of EPA as soon as possible.
And a pony who defecates rainbows, also, too. Right away!! Or a unicorn…
I don’t want much!
J R in WV
@Teddys Person:
Yes, they are really creepy. Blessing this and that, God’s mercy and love, just despicable from start to finish.
It’s also got stupid and terrible grammatical errors in it, which no one who worked for him bothered to correct for him… interesting, isn’t it…
Mnemosyne
@Omnes Omnibus:
That’s weird, I was told that the decision was made because of Garland’s personal hatred of civil liberties, which is why champion of civil liberties Antonin Scalia reversed it.
Scalia is the personal hero of dudebros like Procopius because he only cared about manly shit like civil liberties and not those weak-ass ”civil rights” that only cucks and losers worry about.
(Yes, you and I both know that the two things go hand-in-hand, but libertarians are convinced that we can have civil liberties without those pesky civil rights tagging along.)
PaulWartenberg
So. We’re facing a labor shortage… so our Republican Overlords’ big plans are to 1) cut off immigrants who could fill jobs 2) do everything in their power to avoid voluntarily raising wages because of the dreaded INFLATION MONSTER.
why does this all feel like a recipe for economic disaster anyway?
Oh, right, because trump in his truly shitty lack of wisdom is starting trade wars that are raising prices on everything anyway.
J R in WV
@MomSense:
@Fair Economist:
But what about that hottie, Mary Magdalene, that he was so close to? I mean, surely that wasn’t a platonic relationship, was it? Who could resist her?
I’m pretty sure he was one of the early gender fluid founders! Just read his writings, or whatever those books are that people wrote for him. Did he know how to write? No one had his actual writing, do they?
So just second hand rumors about his teaching and beliefs…
Shalimar
@Teddys Person: Maggie is totally full of shit. Even the rich cabinet members grift and steal. Witness Wilbur Ross.