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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Late Night Open Thread: Readership Capture

Late Night Open Thread: Readership Capture

by Anne Laurie|  July 30, 201811:43 pm| 68 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, Readership Capture, All we want is life beyond the thunderdome, Ever Get The Feeling You've Been Cheated?

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Barack Obama and Joe Biden made a surprise visit to a DC bakery.

"We were absolutely stunned to see them!” Lolly Rivas of Dog Tag Bakery says. Their order? Ham and gruyere on shallot-jam ciabatta, a slice of mint-basil blueberry cake, brownies and coffee, Rivas says. pic.twitter.com/XPcQjE4Y4k

— CNN (@CNN) July 30, 2018

Obama and Biden visited a Georgetown bakery today that helps train and employ disabled veterans and offers to support to military families. https://t.co/AkyxwRuKYX

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) July 30, 2018

… Former President Barack Obama and his vice president, Joe Biden, were spotted getting lunch Monday at Dog Tag Bakery in Washington, D.C., where they shook hands and took photos with workers and patrons.

According to its website, the Georgetown neighborhood bakery helps train and employ disabled veterans and also offers to support to military families. The pair, whose close-knit relationship during their White House tenure sparked numerous internet memes, praised the bakery for their work before leaving.

Haven’t been able to load Balloon-Juice on my laptop all day, not on Pale Moon or even on Internet Explorer, although I can read it on my phone (and every other site comes up just fine for me). This happened over the weekend, too; a knowledgeable commenter suggested afterwards that, per the Internet Traffic Report, “a giant router near Boston is having some troubles”, and unfortunately that seems to be the router Fios uses in this area. I had my tech expert (the Spousal Unit) try maximizing the wait period for loading, but it didn’t help, alas…

Here’s hoping the Giant Router gets the assistance it needs, but if I’m not around as much as usual, probably safe to assume that’s the cause.

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Reader Interactions

68Comments

  1. 1.

    different-church-lady

    July 30, 2018 at 11:45 pm

    Private Wikileaks correspondence is being leaked.

    Sometime you eat the irony, and sometimes the irony eats you.

  2. 2.

    craigie

    July 30, 2018 at 11:45 pm

    This is not the first comment.

  3. 3.

    different-church-lady

    July 30, 2018 at 11:46 pm

    @craigie: Nor the droids we’re looking for.

  4. 4.

    Gin & Tonic

    July 30, 2018 at 11:49 pm

    @different-church-lady: Linky?

  5. 5.

    some guy

    July 30, 2018 at 11:50 pm

    please bring me back to a world where Joe Biden is our VP

  6. 6.

    danielx

    July 31, 2018 at 12:00 am

    Giant router….mmmmm….Milwaukee or Bosch?

  7. 7.

    CaseyL

    July 31, 2018 at 12:00 am

    It’s such a delight they still do stuff together. Oh FSM, do I miss them.

  8. 8.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    July 31, 2018 at 12:00 am

    Add this to the list of things you’ll never see Trump or Dense do.

  9. 9.

    Corner Stone

    July 31, 2018 at 12:03 am

    @some guy: Less damage to be done as VP then as a Senator authoring and passing the debt bill.

  10. 10.

    Yarrow

    July 31, 2018 at 12:04 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: I doubt Trump could pick Pence out of a lineup.

  11. 11.

    tobie

    July 31, 2018 at 12:05 am

    @Gin & Tonic: I think the link is to Emma Best’s twitter feed. Here’s an article on the leak in Forbes.

  12. 12.

    Platonailedit

    July 31, 2018 at 12:05 am

    Has tapper, the tool, weighed in yet?

  13. 13.

    some guy

    July 31, 2018 at 12:09 am

    @Corner Stone:
    NMBNM, now with more usury. it’s what’s 4 dinner,

  14. 14.

    Amir Khalid

    July 31, 2018 at 12:10 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:
    Trump gor one would consider the Dog Tag Bakery losers because they actually help veterans with disability, instead of exploiting them like he would.

  15. 15.

    Major Major Major Major

    July 31, 2018 at 12:12 am

    Yeah, sigh, I miss them.

  16. 16.

    some guy

    July 31, 2018 at 12:14 am

    I’ll take Jamie Dimon and Lloyd Blankenfein Get Off Scot Free for $400, Alex.

    Your kids get to play, but bullies determine your kids nickname.

    Great Recess of 2018?

    sorry, we were looking for “What is HAMP.”

  17. 17.

    HumboldtBlue

    July 31, 2018 at 12:19 am

    Barry and Joe had rhythm.

    This is pretty goddamn rhythmic. And profound.

    Master storytelling is what connects us far as I can tell.

    Rhythm of a different sort.

    Dad as awesome.

    Mine played a horn and sang. Some dads dance and sing and some do this.

  18. 18.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    July 31, 2018 at 12:24 am

    @Amir Khalid: As Trump said, “they knew what they signed up for”.

  19. 19.

    MisterForkbeard

    July 31, 2018 at 12:29 am

    @different-church-lady: Anything interesting in there, or is it just treasonous risotto recipes?

  20. 20.

    Yarrow

    July 31, 2018 at 12:29 am

    a slice of mint-basil blueberry cake

    That sounds very interesting but I can’t decide if it also sounds like it would taste good.

  21. 21.

    MisterForkbeard

    July 31, 2018 at 12:32 am

    @MisterForkbeard: Oh, that’s AWESOME. Wikileaks had a huge amount of racism and sexism in their private group, and showed clear hatred of Clinton and big preference for Trump/Republicans. So basically what we knew already.

    The best part is that WikiLeaks has no comment but is claiming the chat logs have been modified… because some messages maybe aren’t there. Man, if only they’d thought that “this might be incomplete or modified” was ever a reason not to release a bunch of hacked-by-Russians mails.

  22. 22.

    jl

    July 31, 2018 at 12:36 am

    Hey wait, Obama ordered some kind of healthful slimming salad too.
    Nice to see those two out and about. We need to hope that we can get a team just as good again if people turn out to vote in next two elections.

  23. 23.

    Tenar Arha

    July 31, 2018 at 12:40 am

    Tonight was impulse outing night. Movie, bookstore, ice cream…but now up too late thinking & reading on a sugar high.

    I went to see an amazing King Vidor silent film released in 1928 called The Crowd at the Brattle Theater film series Elements of Cinema (it’s free!). Seriously amazed how many techniques passed down to other directors & cinematographers from this movie. & great storytelling.

  24. 24.

    Steeplejack

    July 31, 2018 at 12:49 am

    @Tenar Arha:

    Good movie. Shows up on TCM now and then.

  25. 25.

    PJ

    July 31, 2018 at 12:53 am

    @Yarrow: “Pence, he was a low-level staffer, never really worked for me.”

  26. 26.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    July 31, 2018 at 12:56 am

    @jl:

    We need to hope that we can get a team just as good again if people turn out to vote in next two elections.

    Baud!2020!

  27. 27.

    Fair Economist

    July 31, 2018 at 12:57 am

    Their order? Ham and gruyere on shallot-jam ciabatta, a slice of mint-basil blueberry cake, brownies and coffee

    The MSM nearly declared Obama unqualified just because he asked for a nice mustard. Biden might as well give up all his 2020 hopes for that order.

  28. 28.

    Major Major Major Major

    July 31, 2018 at 1:02 am

    @Fair Economist: right? We might have to endure another David Brooks column about confusing Italian bread names.

  29. 29.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    July 31, 2018 at 1:07 am

    Madame is unimpressed with most of my photographic work, but one shot I took today impressed her. Here’s the shot of a hummingbird in flight.

    The Huntington had an update on Li’l Stinky, it didn’t bloom this evening.

  30. 30.

    ruemara

    July 31, 2018 at 1:11 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: that’s really beautiful!

    I’ll say it. I wouldn’t vote for Biden at all. But if he ran with his plucky VP candidate Marack Schmobama, I probably would vote for him.

  31. 31.

    Jager

    July 31, 2018 at 1:14 am

    Meanwhile at the MacDonalds across from Lafayette Park, a White House staffer is picking up the ‘Usual”…

  32. 32.

    Yarrow

    July 31, 2018 at 1:15 am

    @Fair Economist: Wasn’t there also some issue because Obama asked for orange juice instead of coffee or something like that? It’s all so dumb.

  33. 33.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    July 31, 2018 at 1:17 am

    @ruemara: Thanks. Agree about Biden.

  34. 34.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    July 31, 2018 at 1:18 am

    @Jager: There’s a MacDonalds across from the New Executive Office Building on 17th. So basically half a block from the White House.

  35. 35.

    Yarrow

    July 31, 2018 at 1:20 am

    @ruemara: @?BillinGlendaleCA: I’ll vote for any Democrat over any Republican.

  36. 36.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    July 31, 2018 at 1:22 am

    @Yarrow: True, but I think we’re talking primaries here.

  37. 37.

    Major Major Major Major

    July 31, 2018 at 1:26 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Couldn’t support Joe in the primary either. I hate to be the guy who says it, but… let’s get through this November first before we spill too many pixels on the subject.

  38. 38.

    Yarrow

    July 31, 2018 at 1:28 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Didn’t sound like it was primaries to me, given the original comment discussed Biden running with a theoretical VP candidate. Primary candidates don’t usually have running mates, although Cruz did try that in 2016 for about a week.

  39. 39.

    L85NJGT

    July 31, 2018 at 1:31 am

    @Yarrow:

    Arugula instead of Rocket.

  40. 40.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    July 31, 2018 at 1:34 am

    @Yarrow: So did Reagan in 1976.

    ETA: The way I took the comment was not voting for Biden in the primaries unless he had Obama as his VP.

  41. 41.

    Major Major Major Major

    July 31, 2018 at 1:36 am

    @L85NJGT: I didn’t hear it called ‘rocket’ until I saw it on a menu in Germany.

  42. 42.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    July 31, 2018 at 1:39 am

    @Major Major Major Major: I blame Obama Biden.

  43. 43.

    SectionH

    July 31, 2018 at 1:49 am

    @Yarrow: Oh yes there was. Buried in the other nonsenses.

  44. 44.

    Viva BrisVegas

    July 31, 2018 at 1:58 am

    Wapo has up another one of those “suffering white Trump voters, why doesn’t anybody understand?” articles.

    The main complaint seems to be about Spanish speaking workplaces excluding poor white English speakers.

    The surnames of these put upon English speakers? Engle, Heim, and Wengert.

    I wonder if their grandparents (or whatever) came to the US as fluent English speakers? Or if the Wapo of 100 years ago interviewed their grandparent’s English speaking co-workers about how alienating it all was to work in a German speaking factory?

    My heart bleeds for the suffering of these people.

    Actually I do feel bad about them having to work for $13/hour, but not for much else.

  45. 45.

    eemom

    July 31, 2018 at 2:17 am

    @Major Major Major Major:

    let’s get through this November first before we spill too many pixels on the subject.

    What are you, some kind of sane person?

  46. 46.

    Amir Khalid

    July 31, 2018 at 2:24 am

    @Viva BrisVegas:
    I read that Henry Ford liked to hire Arab workers because they were teetotal Muslims i.e. they weren’t going to show up Monday mornings too hung over to build his cars.
    ETA: And that this is how come Michigan has a substantial Muslim community today.

  47. 47.

    Mike J

    July 31, 2018 at 2:39 am

    @Viva BrisVegas:

    I wonder if their grandparents (or whatever) came to the US as fluent English speakers?

    Jennifer Mendelsohn Verified account @CleverTitleTK
    Stephen Miller favors immigrants who speak English. But the 1910 census shows his own great-grandmother couldn’t.

    https://twitter.com/CleverTitleTK/status/892895479402463232

  48. 48.

    Joey Maloney

    July 31, 2018 at 2:54 am

    @Mike J: I’m sure Stephen Miller would sell his own mother’s organs if the money would go to advance an American white ethnostate. His great-gram is way far down the list of people he doesn’t give a shit about.

  49. 49.

    Mel

    July 31, 2018 at 3:12 am

    @Amir Khalid: If I recall correctly, in the company’s early days, Ford Motors recruited workers from Lebanon, and also from Mexico and Scotland.

    My great grandfather was a Quaker blacksmith who had the first freestanding Ford service shop / car lot in the area where he lived. He passed away long before I was born, but my grandfather used to talk about grt grandpa coming back from Detroit very excited about how diverse the group of employees he met on a factory tour was.

  50. 50.

    Montanareddog

    July 31, 2018 at 3:17 am

    NBC: “Obama and Biden reunite at Washington bakery that supports veterans”

    CNN: Obama and Biden order “Ham and gruyere on shallot-jam ciabatta, a slice of mint-basil blueberry cake,”

    Ohhh Kay!

  51. 51.

    Mel

    July 31, 2018 at 3:24 am

    @Amir Khalid: Ford hired a diverse workforce, but was also notoriously anti-union and anti-Semitic. My grt grandfather eventually broke off his business connections with Ford Motors because of those two issues. He was a big supporter of unionizing in general, and a supporter of the UAW in particular.

  52. 52.

    SectionH

    July 31, 2018 at 4:32 am

    Sparing me from possibly stupid earnest post, but srsly,

    site is not working.

  53. 53.

    NotMax

    July 31, 2018 at 4:38 am

    @Mel

    The list of who could be considered, within the context of their eras, politically and socially progressive titans of American industry from the Gilded Age right up through WW2 would fit inside a fortune cookie.

    ;)

  54. 54.

    Citizen Alan

    July 31, 2018 at 4:41 am

    @Yarrow:

    I was just thinking about that. The imbecile Chris Matthews said that Obama ordering orange juice instead of coffee with his breakfast at a diner meant he couldn’t connect with working class Americans. Wanker.

  55. 55.

    Amir Khalid

    July 31, 2018 at 4:43 am

    @Mel:
    I’m aware Ford was a bigot, and I’m sure he had no great love for his Lebanese autoworkers beyond their sobriety.

  56. 56.

    NotMax

    July 31, 2018 at 4:47 am

    @Citizen Alan

    ordering orange juice instead of coffee

    Obvious pandering to lock up the Seventh Day Adventist vote.

    :)

  57. 57.

    Amir Khalid

    July 31, 2018 at 4:47 am

    @Citizen Alan:
    I was not aware that drinking orange juice with breakfast was too rich for blue-collar Americans’ blood. Especially since it was on the menu at a presumably working-class eatery.

  58. 58.

    hervevillechaizelounge

    July 31, 2018 at 5:01 am

    @Joey Maloney:

    I’m sure Stephen Miller would sell his own mother’s organs if the money would go to advance an American white ethnostate

    I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: when the time comes Stephen Miller is going to hop on the cattle car to Auschwitz II voluntarily.

    And now I can’t stop thinking about Trump-branded concentration camps: zyklon B showers with gold leaf fixtures and scented soaps:(

  59. 59.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    July 31, 2018 at 5:11 am

    @Amir Khalid: Real ‘Mericans* drink coffee with breakfast.

    *Real ‘Mericans is a registered trademark of the Republican National Committee.

  60. 60.

    p.a.

    July 31, 2018 at 5:35 am

    I’m glad the bakery helps vets, but mint-basil blueberry cake does not sound appetizing. I would try it, but wouldn’t be optimistic.

  61. 61.

    rikyrah

    July 31, 2018 at 7:46 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:
    That was gorgeous ?

  62. 62.

    debit

    July 31, 2018 at 8:02 am

    Haven’t been able to load Balloon-Juice on my laptop all day, not on Pale Moon or even on Internet Explorer, although I can read it on my phone (and every other site comes up just fine for me). This happened over the weekend, too; a knowledgeable commenter suggested afterwards that, per the Internet Traffic Report, “a giant router near Boston is having some troubles”,

    Same experience, except for being in Minnesota. I couldn’t connect on my home wifi network at all, not on any browser, but if I used my phone’s data no problem. Same if I plugged directly into my cable modem. Also spent two hours on the phone with Comcast tech which should show you all how much I love you. Thank FSM all appears to be normal today.

  63. 63.

    JWL

    July 31, 2018 at 10:54 am

    Biden supported Bush-Cheny’s plot to war. He remains unrepentant.

    They may never turn their hearts, but it’s long past time the democratic rank and file turned their backs on those democrats that supported the republican party in 2003, and have since insisted the rest of us “look forward, and not back”, all the while ignoring their catastrophically bad judgment, no matter what the repercussions have been for the country.

  64. 64.

    debit

    July 31, 2018 at 11:20 am

    @JWL: LOL WUT?

  65. 65.

    schrodingers_cat

    July 31, 2018 at 11:38 am

    @debit: Russian Botski alert.

  66. 66.

    Mel

    July 31, 2018 at 1:38 pm

    @NotMax: Too true.

  67. 67.

    debg

    July 31, 2018 at 11:11 pm

    @some guy: And where Obama/Biden bro memes are still a thing. I miss these guys, and I miss those hilarious memes.

  68. 68.

    Mike G

    August 1, 2018 at 12:38 am

    Ham and gruyere on shallot-jam ciabatta, a slice of mint-basil blueberry cake, brownies and coffee

    What a relief it must be for them that they can now order what they want and not have a Foxtard army of assholes screaming that their choice of cheese is un-Murkan.

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