Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

I really should read my own blog.

You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

Giving in to doom is how authoritarians win.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Weird. Rome has an American Pope and America has a Russian President.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

People are complicated. Love is not.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

No one could have predicted…

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

We can’t confuse what’s necessary to win elections with the policies that we want to implement when we do.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Everybody saw this coming.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you do not.

Second rate reporter says what?

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Hey hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today?

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

“But what about the lurkers?”

I’m more christian than these people and i’m an atheist.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

There are times when telling just part of the truth is effectively a lie.

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Excelsior!

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Excelsior!

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… which is the state motto of New York, usually translated as ‘Ever Upward.’ It’s also a word for wood shavings used as packing material, and according to the nuns in my NYC parochial school, the motto was chosen because in the 1770s they couldn’t put BULLSHIT! on official documents.

Note the timestamps here. Steve Vockrodt, “Investigative reporter for the Kansas City Star“:

Ohio update:


In other good news…

Reader Interactions

107Comments

  3. 3.

    Immanentize

    Good morning, All. Standing in the Dunkin line in terminal C at Logan waiting for a flight to Houston. Sure it’s better to win, but the Ohio result is nice and — very expensive campaign and recount maybe for Republicans in a contest that will be on the November ballot. Woot!

  4. 4.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Seems to me the ought to be one of the biggest stories of the night: not just the result, but the margin. Pro-labor sentiment didn’t get Walker recalled in Wi, didn’t defeat his for a 2d term, but in this more conservative state, it ruled. Analysis please?

    We’re schizophrenic.

  5. 5.

    geg6

    Big statewide Catholic Church investigation report is supposed to be released today or tomorrow. Local news is reporting at least 90 people—priests and laymen—from the Pittsburgh Diocese are expected to be named. That’s just one diocese. No wonder the bishop here had a letter read in mass last week, trying to get in front of it. The current Bishop of Washington DC is going to look very bad as a lot of this happened under him when he was bishop here. I despise these people.

  6. 6.

    raven

    @Immanentize: How was TSA? I fly out of there Sunday morning at 6:30 and I have to drive from Providence? I’m thinking I need to be there by 4:30?

  7. 7.

    raven

    @OzarkHillbilly: Hey, one of my toilets has been running slowly and I’m pretty sure something just poked it’s head out when I flushed. Any experience with this?

  8. 8.

    Baud

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Nah. Voting against right to work doesn’t entail voting for political leaders who want to treat black people fairly.

    Analysis requested, analysis provided.

  9. 9.

    Bruuuuce

    I have seen a 99-foot-tall man!

    Let me explain.

    There’s a principle that says that some proofs, while confirming the things they prove, weaken the assertions they’re proving. So, if I assert that there cannot ever be a 100-foot-tall man, even a 9-footer is fairly strong proof. But if a 99-foot-tall guy comes along, suddenly the statement is thrown into serious doubt.

    Ohio is that 99-foot-tall man. Win or lose, it shows we can and should be contesting every race as if it can be won, because it _can_.

  10. 10.

    OzarkHillbilly

    As for Weigels “Missouri’s right to work law is on the ballot today bc the GOP legislature moved it to August, thinking Democrats/labor would be weaker than if the issue made the November ballot.”, he has the thinking wrong. It has long been reported that as the KC Star says:

    Instead, GOP lawmakers voted to move the right-to-work vote from the November general election ballot to Tuesday’s primary ballot.

    The move was widely seen as an effort by Republicans to prevent energized union turnout from affecting the outcome of this fall’s campaigns, most notably the hotly contested race for U.S. Senate between incumbent Democrat Claire McCaskill and Republican Attorney General Josh Hawley.

    And then we have this history:

    And with Missouri Republicans in no danger of losing their legislative majorities any time soon, unions also hope Tuesday’s vote will discourage lawmakers from coming back next year and simply passing right to work again.

    It wouldn’t be the first time lawmakers have reversed the outcome of a statewide vote.

    In 1999, Missourians rejected a ballot measure that would have legalized concealed carry of firearms. Four years later, the legislature voted to grant most Missourians the right to carry concealed guns.

    In 2008, voters approved a law requiring utilities to increase their investment in renewable energy. Two years later, a legislative committee weakened the law by striking down provisions needed to implement it.

    In 2010, voters enacted tough new regulations on puppy mills. The next year, lawmakers voted to repeal the regulations and enact less stringent ones.

    Whether Republicans would consider another run at right to work after Tuesday’s defeat at the polls is unclear.

    Mehan was adamant that the debate over right to work was not over. “With the future of our state’s economy on the line,” he said, “we cannot concede hope that Missouri will soon join most other states and pass freedom to work protections.“

    It is never over in this state, no issue is ever immune to zombiefication. I am heartened to see such a pro-union turnout but I gawddamn guarantee most of the 65% who voted against Prop A also voted for the same Republicans who voted for RtW legislation last year to begin with. Liker I said, schizophrenic and chopping our noses off to spite our faces.

  11. 11.

    Immanentize

    @raven: It was super fast this morning — no taking off belt, shoes or watches. Computer left in bag. We got to the airport at 5:25 for a 7 flight. We were sitting at the gate by 5:50. So, one good run through TSA.

  15. 15.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @raven: None personal, but have read/heard plenty of stories about critters coming up the pipes (last one was out of Australia with the most venomous snake they have emerging from a toilet). I kind of suspect the slow running toilet issue to be separate from the critter issue.

    Try feeding it an energy bar and see if that gooses it up.

  23. 23.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @raven: On the more serious side, you may have a partial blockage in the pipe leading to the main stack (your toilet should be no more than 2-3 feet from it). You can try to work it with a plunger or snake it out. If the blockage is some how in the main stack or line to the sewer you may well have more serious problems and should just call a plumber.

  24. 24.

    Platonailedit

    More women candidates than ever will contest US governorships and House seats in November’s mid-term elections.

    After Tuesday’s primaries across four states, there are now 11 female nominees for governor and at least 173 so far for the House.

    The results were hailed as a continuing success story by activists for women in politics.

    After polling closed in the four states holding primaries on Tuesday – Kansas, Michigan, Missouri and Washington – it became clear women had broken records for gubernatorial and House nominations.

    Victories for Gretchen Whitmer (Michigan) and Laura Kelly (Kansas) in Democratic primaries mean 11 women will contest governorships in November – one more than the previous 1994 record.

    At least 173 female major party nominees will run for the House, beating the record of 167 from 2016.

  25. 25.

    p.a.

    @raven: Hey, one of my toilets has been running slowly and I’m pretty sure something just poked it’s head out when I flushed. Any experience with this?

    What’s Kobach doing down there??!!??

  26. 26.

    satby

    @Immanentize: @raven: sounds like Immanentize is in the TSA pre clearance (precheck) program, some airlines who list you as a frequent flier will submit your name on your behalf. I am because I used to be a road warrior, at least when I fly AA. If you’re not, you might still have to do the whole shoes off, laptop / tablet out routine.

  28. 28.

    NotMax

    @Immanentize

    Yeah, lucked out with a “TSA Pre” on the boarding pass again coming home this year. Took off footwear anywhere, despite being told I didn’t have to, as the sandals was wearing have metal buckles that upset the walk-through arch (as I learned last year). TSA left a little love note inside my checked bag on the NY back to Hawaii flight, as they always do, that the bag ad been opened by them. Suspect they were simultaneously bored with the contents and impressed with the skill of the packing to make everything fit. This year it even showed up on the carousel with a brand new name and address label slapped on the outside of the bag which wasn’t there when it was checked in.

    Same bag doesn’t need to be checked on the HI to NY trip; some of the booty brought back from NY is such that they won’t allow it through as carry-on when I return.

  29. 29.

    Mustang Bobby

    @Immanentize: I flew out of Logan back in June on a Monday morning at 5:30 a.m. and was impressed to see the terminal crowded (don’t remember which one; I was on American to Miami) . Breezed through TSA (thank you Pre-Check!), though an grabbed a Starbucks on the way.

  31. 31.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @raven: I don’t know that bleach will do much good. Just asked my wife about a trick she has used in the past on sinks with old plumbing.

    Pour a small box of baking soda in. Than pour boiling water in. Repeat as needed. I suspect that with a toilet you may need to drain the water from the bowl first.

    Also I am not sure how a ceramic toilet will react to sudden contact with boiling water. Maybe just very hot?

  32. 32.

    JPL

    @Immanentize: Last December I was in the Boston area for a few days and that was my experience. Atlanta was the opposite.
    The judge in the Manafort case seems odd to me. At this point I wouldn’t be surprised if he tossed the case.

  33. 33.

    satby

    @Mustang Bobby: American airlines is very active in submitting names for TSA precheck. It used to be my company’s “preferred” airline, meaning my company got kickbacks rebates at the end of the year.

  34. 34.

    Immanentize

    @satby:
    I sadly wasn’t TSA pre-check this time. They were just whipping people through.

    Lately, TSA pre-check lines have been as long as regular lines.

  35. 35.

    MomSense

    JFC I just saw a video of the OH12 green candidate and he’s a complete Fucking moron. Can we haz some investigative reporting on funding sources for green campaigns??

  37. 37.

    NotMax

    Snapped a pic of the awning of an apartment house in Mom’s neighborhood, the name of which always evokes a small grin when I pass by.

    (Site where have uploaded the pic rotates it 90 degrees; sorry ’bout thst.)

  39. 39.

    satby

    @MomSense: Greens have been funded for years by Republicans. They understand splitting the vote for opponents, even if the wicked smaht people ostensibly on the left can’t seem to grasp it.

  40. 40.

    Immanentize

    @JPL: TS Ellis is a crotchety old senior status judge who is probably bored with his job, thinks he knows more than anyone else in the courthouse and just seems to like messing with folks. But he has kept it all on the lane -+ and moving along. There is no way he can (legally) throw the case out. The prosecutors, as far as I can tell, have proven all the elements of the crime, which means the case has to go to the jury. Ellis has some opportunities to put his thumb on the scale — but not many.

    Now what the jury does….

  44. 44.

    Raven

    @satby: I’ve gotten pre-screened on Southwest quite a bit and never applied for anything. I was also pre screened on Delta a couple of weeks ago and I haven’t flown them in years.

  45. 45.

    satby

    @Raven: call a plumber. Anything you put down the drain could result in a dead critter blocking the pipe, or worse a mortally wounded one attempting to climb out away from the poison while you’re gone.

  46. 46.

    debbie

    @Immanentize:

    Expensive or not, it’s worth the cost to piss off the Ohio GOP. O’Connor needs to both fight for every vote now and to begin his November campaign immediately. He can start by pouncing on Balderson’s statement last week in Delaware County that they didn’t want someone from Franklin County representing them. Well, Franklin County is home to one-third of the district’s voters. What kind of representative admits to ignoring so many of his constituents? Bastard.

  47. 47.

    Elizabelle

    Good morning, jackals.

    I’m happy about Danny O’Connor. He is not going to be less strong in November, and dog only knows what Trump and the national Republicans will do in the meantime.

  48. 48.

    Raven

    @OzarkHillbilly: I read bleach somewhere and I had some. It ran a lot better so maybe whatever it was just moved away. If I don’t tell her and it happens she’ll freak but, if I do. . .

  50. 50.

    satby

    @Raven: I know, it’s erratic. I haven’t flow AA since 2014, but I still was in pre-check, other airlines I’m not. I used to fly SW every week for over a year at one point, but I don’t think I’ve been in pre-check for them ever.
    I just go to the line they tell me.

  51. 51.

    Mustang Bobby

    @Immanentize: At Miami International, the Pre-Check line goes really quickly even when it’s busy. But I noticed at small airports like the one in Columbia, Missouri, they combine Pre-Check with non-Pre and you have to go through the whole shoes-off/laptop out regardless. I will say that the Pre-Check was the best $85 I ever spent on travel. I signed up for it when I was pulled aside for a private scan when the agent noted an “anomaly” in my nether regions. I had to drop trou and prove, to quote the song from “Oklahoma!”, that everything I had was absolutely real. I signed up the next week.

  53. 53.

    BC in Illinois

    I don’t have time for a full analysis (and I’m going to be away from things for a few days as family from out-of-town comes to visit) but someone ought to look at what happened yesterday in St Louis County.

    Wesley Bell, a black Ferguson City Councilman, defeated Bob McCullough, who has been St Louis County Prosecutor for 27 years — and badly botched the reaction to the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson in 2014.

    A 43-year-old Ferguson resident, [Wesley Bell] has worked as a public defender, a judge for Velda City’s municipal court, a part-time prosecutor in Riverview and the city attorney for Wellston. He was elected to the Ferguson City Council in 2015. If elected, he has pledged to end cash bail and institute other reforms.

    The NYT asked “Can a Criminal Justice Advocate Unseat Ferguson’s Lead Prosecutor?” The answer is yes.

    One of McCullough’s allies, County Executive Steve Stenger, held on to the County Executive position, 50-3% – 49.7%, against a “Democrat” who had a hard time explaining why he was a donor to Eric Greitens’s [R – sleezeball] campaign. A better candidate would have knocked Stenger out.

    One of Steve Stenger’s only allies on the County Council, Pat Dolan — a man with strong union support — was defeated by Lisa Clancy,

    In the only contested County Council race, Councilman Pat Dolan was toppled by challenger Lisa Clancy. Clancy, a progressive who embraced the police accountability movement, promises to collaborate with the two black council members to reinforce their emphasis on racial equity. When asked about her runaway victory Tuesday night, Clancy commented that “District 5 voted to change County government, to get rid of insider deals, and to move the County in a more progressive direction. I look forward to getting to work for my neighbors and constituents.”

    We didn’t get the candidate — Mark Osmack — who I wanted for the race against Ann Wagner (R – safe Republican vote) and I cannot explain the results of that primary at all . . . [a perennial candidate who doesn’t deal with the real world came in an inexplicably strong third] . . . the winner, Cort van Ostram is, on paper, a perfectly good candidate. It will take a lot for him to unseat Wagner.

  54. 54.

    John S.

    @NotMax:

    On my many trips to and around Hawaii over the past 15 years (probably something like 30+ flights), I have been “randomly” selected by TSA all but twice.

    I suspect they are deeply suspicious as to why someone from Florida would bother going to Hawaii at all. :-)

  58. 58.

    WereBear

    FINALLY found a combo that works on my iPad: Brave browser, Desktop mode. And it keeps my nym and info.

    In addition to the portability of my iPad mini, I think my illness left me with PTSD for desktops and laptops :) iPad feels like FUN.

    I am incredibly heartened by last night’s results already. Anything else is ice cream on the CAKE OF REVENGE.

  59. 59.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @MomSense: We had a copperhead show up in our bedroom once.

    @Raven: I know you aren’t joking. It happens, just never has to me. As to not telling your wife about it, sometimes ignorance really is bliss.

  62. 62.

    Baud

    Today show has been doing a decent job blaming climate change for extreme weather. It wasn’t that long ago that weather people avoided that explanation altogether.

  65. 65.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @BC in Illinois:

    [a perennial candidate who doesn’t deal with the real world came in an inexplicably strong third] . . .

    Bill Haas, right? My oldest Sis dated him, briefly, way back when. Stayed friends with him even if he was, as she was fond of saying, “a bit of a strange bird”.

    So happy to hear that McCullough got his ass handed to him. Sorry that the most corrupt Democrat in America Stenger did not.

  67. 67.

    Lapassionara

    @Amir Khalid: I have only been here a few years, but the people around me remember John Danforth fondly, and they are blind to the radicalism of today’s Republican Party. So, they automatically vote Republican, no matter what.

  70. 70.

    NotMax

    So-o-o- pleasant to again be able to sit at night – without A/C – and no longer feel as if I’d been sentenced to an open-ended stint inside a Turkish bath while wrapped in an electric blanket set on Poach.

  72. 72.

    Lapassionara

    @BC in Illinois: I watched the MO 2 primary, because I want very badly to send Wagner packing. I think the VanOstran campaign was more visible, at least around here. We got more calls from that campaign and I saw more evidence of canvassing, etc. just my 2 cents.

  73. 73.

    randy khan

    @John S.:

    I suspect they are deeply suspicious as to why someone from Florida would bother going to Hawaii at all. :-)

    I’d think they would be more suspicious of someone going from Hawaii to Florida – it has all of the advantages plus no Florida Man.

  74. 74.

    Mart

    @OzarkHillbilly: As a schizoid Missourian I am shocked at the margin. Now on to November, where we need to pass medical marijuana to help ease the pain Trump inflicts on us.

  75. 75.

    satby

    @NotMax: I returned to 90° weather with high humidity, but Monday night and yesterday rain finally moved through and cooled things off. The temp in NYC at 6am was 77°. UGH! I love NYC, but I can’t take that humidity.
    Welcome home!

  76. 76.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @satby: You people are just no fun. :-(

    In other news:

    A federal appeals court has ruled that the family of a Mexican teenager who was fatally shot by a US agent through a border fence can legally sue the agent and US government for damages.

    The Border Patrol agent, Lonnie Swartz, was acquitted in April of second-degree murder in a criminal trial over the 2012 shooting of 16-year-old José Antonio Elena Rodríguez but is facing a retrial in October on lesser charges of voluntary and involuntary manslaughter.

    In a separate 2-1 majority decision on Tuesday, the ninth US circuit court of appeals rejected the argument by Swartz’s legal team that the agent was immune from a civil lawsuit brought by Rodríguez’s mother since the boy died on the other side of the border. Swartz shot Rodríguez 10 times through the border fence that separates Arizona from Mexico on 10 October 2012.

    The federal judges wrote that although Swartz’s bullets struck Rodríguez in Mexico, there was a “compelling interest” in regulating the conduct of government agents while standing on US soil.

    “Without warning or provocation, Swartz shot [Rodríguez] dead,” the judges stated in their opinion, while adding the agent had violated the fourth amendment of the US constitution that prohibits law enforcement from using “objectively unreasonable” force to seize a person. Rodríguez “was not committing a crime”, they added. “He did not otherwise pose a threat to Swartz or anyone else. He was just walking down a street in Mexico.”

    Swartz has claimed he acted in self-defense against drug smugglers who were throwing rocks from the Mexican side of the border. Prosecutors have said the agent fired between 14 and 30 bullets across the border, ultimately striking the boy with 10 bullets that mostly hit him in the back.

    WTF is wrong with the people who found him “Not Guilty” of murder? 10 bullets? Cops are notoriously bad shots, to hit someone with 10 out of 14 to 30 bullets? Not only did he target this totally innocent individual, he must have been shooting him after he was down (as in unable to move anymore, not necessarily prone on the ground).

  77. 77.

    NotMax

    @satby

    Thanks.

    While walking (leisurely) with Mom from the theater on Sunday, post-matinee, eight blocks uptown to stop at a certain doughnut shop I was curious to sample (beet doughnut with ricotta filling among the offerings), we passed a digital thermometer which read 95 degrees. Ugh.

    Coming back, changed planes in Phoenix. Pilot announced the outside temp on the ground was 105. Double ugh.

  78. 78.

    raven

    @OzarkHillbilly: OK, I got back from the bakery and called my buddy who is a plumber. He said the quick test to see if the bleach may have relocated it it to flush a bunch of paper and if it runs quickly there is no obstruction right there. It did run quickly so I continued my investigation. The 4″ waste pipe from the toilet runs straight under the house. We’ve had a pretty good sized rat snake down there before and I found a molted snake skin wrapped around the pipes. There also is a big hole in the vent pipe that is in a closet on the porch so I think that’s how it got in. If I close up the hole and it is still alive it won’t be able to get out. If I don’t, well, it can happen again!

  79. 79.

    rikyrah

    Trump’s Supreme Betrayal
    By Paul Krugman
    Opinion Columnist

    July 30, 2018

    By now, it’s almost a commonplace to say that Trump has systematically betrayed the white working class voters who put him over the top. He ran as a populist; he’s governed as an orthodox Republican, with the only difference being the way he replaced racial dog-whistles with raw, upfront racism.

    Many people have made this point with respect to the Trump tax cut, which is so useless to ordinary workers that Republican candidates are trying to avoid talking about it. The same can be said about health care, where Democrats are making Trump’s assault on the Affordable Care Act a major issue while Republicans try to change the subject.

    But I think we should be seeing more attention devoted to the way Trump’s nomination of Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court fits into this picture. The Times had a good editorial on Kavanaugh’s anti-worker agenda, but by and large the news analyses I’ve seen focus on his apparently expansive views of presidential authority and privilege.

    I agree that these are important in the face of a lawless president with authoritarian instincts. But the business and labor issues shouldn’t be neglected. Kavanaugh is, to put it bluntly, an anti-worker radical, opposed to every effort to protect working families from fraud and mistreatment.

  80. 80.

    Sister Golden Bear

    Proof of life post. (I haven’t been posting as much lately because the recovery is going smoothly.)

    Had a two-hour Thai massage.

    A bit ouchy at times, but ermahgerd, so needed.

    Sitting in the hotel lobby listening to the jazz trio that seems to be here every weeknight. They’re thrilled to actually have an audience. (Kind of feel sorry for them, because usually they’re playing to an empty house — done those sorts of gigs and they’re no fun. More like a live practice session.)

  83. 83.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @raven: Go ahead and close the hole. The snake can still get out by going downstream. In STL city, the sewer system is so old the waste and storm water run thru the same lines. If it is the same there it won’t even have to go that far downstream to get out of the system.

  87. 87.

    RobertDSC-Mac Mini

    Anything else is ice cream on the CAKE OF REVENGE.

    I think that is worthy of being part of the rotating tag line.

  88. 88.

    TS (the original)

    President Obama at Martha’s Vineyard – from the link

    Photos and videos taken outside of The Cardboard Box show swarms of people lining the sidewalks, with some chanting, “Obama! Obama!’’ moments before the former president and former first lady Michelle Obama left the restaurant amid cheers and screams.
    “It shut the town down,” DeForest said. “It was really special. It was a testament to the power and the reverence in which people hold them. It was like The Beatles were in here in the early ’60s.”

    Alan Dershowitz might be p!ssed – trump must be frothing at the mouth

  90. 90.

    OzarkHillbilly

    The Shadow Rulers of the VA
    How Marvel Entertainment chairman Ike Perlmutter and two other Mar-a-Lago cronies are secretly shaping the Trump administration’s veterans policies.

    VA spokesman Curt Cashour did not answer specific questions but said a “broad range of input from individuals both inside and outside VA has helped us immensely over the last year and a half.” White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters also did not answer specific questions and said Perlmutter, Sherman and Moskowitz “have no direct influence over the Department of Veterans Affairs.”

    But hundreds of documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and interviews with former administration officials tell a different story — of a previously unknown triumvirate that hovered over public servants without any transparency, accountability or oversight. The Mar-a-Lago Crowd spoke with VA officials daily, the documents show, reviewing all manner of policy and personnel decisions. They prodded the VA to start new programs, and officials travelled to Mar-a-Lago at taxpayer expense to hear their views. “Everyone has to go down and kiss the ring,” a former administration official said.

    If the bureaucracy resists the trio’s wishes, Perlmutter has a powerful ally: The President of the United States. Trump and Perlmutter regularly talk on the phone and dine together when the president visits Mar-a-Lago. “On any veterans issue, the first person the president calls is Ike,” another former official said. Former administration officials say that VA leaders who were at odds with the Mar-A-Lago crowd were pushed out or passed over. Included, those officials say, were the secretary (whose ethical lapses also played a role), deputy secretary, chief of staff, acting under secretary for health, deputy under secretary for health, chief information officer, and the director of electronic health records modernization.

    Much more at the link.

  93. 93.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Immanentize:

    The interview is short and easy. Occupation, addresses, travel history. Criminal background check is done, then you get a card that you never have to present – you simply load your number into all your flight reservations, and your boarding passes spit out with ore heck on them while the airlines upload your trip info to customs.

    You go through an abbreviated process on return via a hand scanner. Certain randoms are culled for spot secondary, but it’s short.

  94. 94.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @OzarkHillbilly: Permutter is an asshole and was forced out of the day-to-day at Marvel a few years ago. There’s not a lot of gossip around it, but he’s famously been blamed for the early lack of diversity in the movies, for Terrence Howard being replaced with Don Cheadle (along with comments about how no one will notice the difference), and the early lack of Black Widow toys. My general impression has been that he’s been a figurehead since then.

  95. 95.

    DemJayhawks

    Well, we’ve run the experiment for the rest of the country again. Given the choice between a fascist, Brownback Part 3, and a “moderate” Republican, the good Republicans of Kansas selected the fascist by an unofficial margin of 191 votes (statewide). Maybe we can get some more articles about economic anxiety.

  96. 96.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @schrodingers_cat: The article points out that in the beginning there were a lot of these informal “advisors” at the various departments but that most of them have faded away. I have no idea how accurate that is but if it is, I suspect these 3 have stuck around because they have figured out a way to monetize their influence over the VA.

  98. 98.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    I see the GOP is claiming a glorious win because the district only went from strong Red to tie. So we are off in “Good News for Conservatives” territory.

  101. 101.

    r

    New York GOP Rep. Chris Collins arrested on insider trading charges
    Sean Lahman, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
    Published 9:46 a.m. ET Aug. 8, 2018 | Updated 9:52 a.m. ET Aug. 8, 2018

    Rep. Chris Collins was arrested Wednesday morning on federal charges relating to securities fraud. According to WGRZ, the Buffalo area congressman surrendered to the FBI in Manhattan.

    The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District has scheduled a press conference for noon to discuss the charges.

  102. 102.

    Gelfling 545

    @r: just read this in the Buffalo News page on FB. I am delighted. I’m not in his district but in the next one over. He is a hot mess and a crook besides. The thing about Collins is he doesn’t even know that you’re not supposed to do that. He thinks he’s just bring a slick businessman. And like the inept Trump conspirators, he didn’t even gain anything by it.

  104. 104.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Immanentize: Sorry for the late response, had a Dr appt, and I see Le Comte answered already. The hardest part of the whole process is getting a time slot for an interview – they schedule them like months in advance. The interview itself is simple and quick. They scan your fingerprints, so if you have any qualms about that part of the process, tough grid, I guess. But I’m assuming a lot happens behind the scenes.

  105. 105.

    J R in WV

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I have used multiple 4 gallon pots of boiling water to break up toilet blockages, with Dawn squirted in after removing from the stove. Never any problems with the heat, always breaks up the stoppage, which is (was) always in the bottom of the toilet.

    Then we got a new Toto toilet and have not had a blockage since.

    I think Raven used the bleach to deter the critter poking its head up in the bowl, not because the tank runs slow. Toto invented a rube goldbergesq valve control device, which clogs with algae in our well water, I have to dismantle and clean the gadget with a bottle brush every once in a while when it stops allowing water into the tank.

  106. 106.

    J R in WV

    @J R in WV:

    My fear was mostly about melting the wax ring gasket between the toilet base and the plumbing stack it’s bolted to. This never happened as it was still in good shape when we took out the old commode for the new Toto. The plumber had never done a Toto, and we followed the instruction book closely.

    There’s so much mass in the ceramic toilet bowl I don’t think boiling water could really affect it that badly, but IANAPlumber. They don’t use the boiling water bath trick anyway, too quick and easy for them, they want to disassemble everything at their hourly rate.

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