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You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Didn’t get laid, got in a fight

Didn’t get laid, got in a fight

by DougJ|  October 2, 20181:29 pm| 167 Comments

This post is in: C.R.E.A.M.

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All the righties talking about their bar fight exploits is just cracking me up, almost as much as Bart’s “how could I be an attempted rapist when I was a virgin.”

Let’s raise some more money folks. This is for 46 House seats nominated by readers. You can just give to one or two to avoid getting on too many mailing lists.

Goal Thermometer

I’ll do a Senate one for all the endangered incumbents who vote against Kavanaugh after that vote.

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Previous Post: « When Was Your First Time?
Next Post: The Trumps are multi-generational tax cheats »

Reader Interactions

167Comments

  1. 1.

    Nicole

    October 2, 2018 at 1:32 pm

    Did you just quote LITA FORD?

    I’m so happy right now.

    Uh huh. It ain’t no big thing.

  2. 2.

    Doug!

    October 2, 2018 at 1:37 pm

    @Nicole:

    I like that song

  3. 3.

    OzarkHillbilly

    October 2, 2018 at 1:42 pm

    I blame Obama. (graph)

  4. 4.

    Aleta

    October 2, 2018 at 1:44 pm

    Thanks Doug. What you do is outstanding.

  5. 5.

    Major Major Major Major

    October 2, 2018 at 1:46 pm

    I have to admit I didn’t anticipate that today’s talking points would be “actually, radiation and bar fights are good for you.”

  6. 6.

    dmsilev

    October 2, 2018 at 1:48 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: Radiation and uncontrolled rage are what gave us The Incredible Hulk. Why you hate Hulk?

  7. 7.

    Major Major Major Major

    October 2, 2018 at 1:49 pm

    @dmsilev:

    Why you hate Hulk?

    He smash :(

  8. 8.

    Doug!

    October 2, 2018 at 1:51 pm

    @Aleta:

    I was just reading an article on gentrification in the area that band is named after.

  9. 9.

    dmsilev

    October 2, 2018 at 1:53 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: It not easy being green.

  10. 10.

    ruemara

    October 2, 2018 at 1:54 pm

    I do not understand how prudish conservatives are now saying bar fights, drunkenness, sexual assaults, rape, and generally being criminals, is a-ok.

  11. 11.

    Corner Stone

    October 2, 2018 at 1:55 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: Unlike Kavanaugh, who is merely always smashed.

  12. 12.

    Jeffro

    October 2, 2018 at 1:56 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: today’s *GOP * talking points, you mean…;)

    Also, apparently this “Merrick Garland” guy has disappeared down their memory hole, never to be heard from again. In the meantime, isn’t it an outrage how the Democrats are del…delayi…BWAH HA HA HA! I couldn’t even get it out without laughing. Lindsey Graham is MAAAAAAD that Dems are slowing down the whole let’s-confirm-the-nuttiest-of-wingnuts process. Is there any delay longer than ‘never’, which is what Merrick Garland got?

  13. 13.

    JPL

    October 2, 2018 at 1:56 pm

    Gotta say that I wasn’t surprised to read that someone sent Cruz white powder. When Handel received white powder during the special election for the 6th, it did help turn out her supporters.

  14. 14.

    Nicole

    October 2, 2018 at 1:56 pm

    @Doug!: I like that song, too. It may or may not be on our karaoke machine. I may or may not have requested it be put on our karaoke machine.

    Yes, we have our own karaoke machine.

  15. 15.

    Corner Stone

    October 2, 2018 at 1:57 pm

    @ruemara: Sometimes bar fights happen. But I’m still trying to figure out how *starting* a bar fight is an acceptable thing for this kind of nomination level. I mean, Captain of the hockey team, I get.

  16. 16.

    Nicole

    October 2, 2018 at 1:58 pm

    Also, my brother sent me this thought:

    Marvel really should plaster advertisements all over Hulk. After all, he’s just a giant Banner.

  17. 17.

    Kraux Pas

    October 2, 2018 at 1:59 pm

    @ruemara:

    I do not understand how prudish conservatives are now saying bar fights, drunkenness, sexual assaults, rape, and generally being criminals, is a-ok.

    Because despite all their anti-elitist posturing, they actually want to create and sustain an elite class in America. They’re neo-aristocrats.

  18. 18.

    Major Major Major Major

    October 2, 2018 at 1:59 pm

    @ruemara: They’ve always been this hypocritical, they just used to not have to say it all out loud in defense of their leader.

    @Nicole: booo

  19. 19.

    Corner Stone

    October 2, 2018 at 1:59 pm

    @Jeffro: I thought Schumer did a pretty good job of rhetorical ju-jitsu today when he reminded the chamber that D’s control none of this process and everything that’s been asked for came from an R side person.

  20. 20.

    Mnemosyne

    October 2, 2018 at 2:00 pm

    @ruemara:

    They never really had a problem with criminal behavior as long as it was rich white people committing crimes. They’re just mad that they’re now being held to the same standard they try and put on everyone else.

  21. 21.

    Martin

    October 2, 2018 at 2:00 pm

    how could I be an attempted rapist when I was a virgin.

    Someone doesn’t know what ‘attempted’ means.

  22. 22.

    trollhattan

    October 2, 2018 at 2:00 pm

    @Nicole:
    Grooooooooan. :-P

  23. 23.

    Geeno

    October 2, 2018 at 2:00 pm

    @JPL: Yeah – it’s getting to the point where I’d be surprised if a Republican in trouble DIDN’T get an envelope of white powder and attendant hoopla.

  24. 24.

    Doug R

    October 2, 2018 at 2:01 pm

    @Kraux Pas:

    They’re neo-aristocrats.

    FIFY

  25. 25.

    OzarkHillbilly

    October 2, 2018 at 2:02 pm

    @ruemara: IOKIYAR.

  26. 26.

    trollhattan

    October 2, 2018 at 2:02 pm

    @Martin:
    Do some really think that leaving a bank with no money after trying to rob it means “no harm, no foul”?

  27. 27.

    Major Major Major Major

    October 2, 2018 at 2:04 pm

    @trollhattan: I mean. Do they give a nobel prize for attempted chemistry?

  28. 28.

    Martin

    October 2, 2018 at 2:05 pm

    @ruemara: The ends always justify the means in politics.

  29. 29.

    OzarkHillbilly

    October 2, 2018 at 2:05 pm

    @trollhattan: They think that failure at collusion is exculpating.

  30. 30.

    WaterGirl

    October 2, 2018 at 2:05 pm

    From my senator:

    Fellow Illinoisan,

    Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee heard from Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and Judge Brett Kavanaugh in a historic hearing. As a member of the Committee, I took the responsibility of questioning Dr. Blasey Ford and Judge Kavanaugh seriously.

    Dr. Blasey Ford was credible, cooperative, and resolute in her testimony. When I asked her directly, under oath, her degree of certainty that Brett Kavanaugh assaulted her, she responded, “100 percent.” She told us she had a responsibility as a citizen to come forward and tell her story. She said she came forward because she wanted to be helpful to the Committee and to the nation. I believe her.

    The exchange I had with Judge Kavanaugh was an honest effort to loosen the Gordian Knot the Committee faces when two sworn witnesses are in direct contradiction. I asked him if he would support a non-partisan FBI investigation, to let professional FBI investigators interview witnesses, connect the dots, and present their findings. He refused, repeatedly.

    There was a glaring difference between the witnesses last week: one person embraced a full FBI investigation, and one rejected it. Dr. Blasey Ford welcomed participation in a neutral investigation, while Judge Kavanaugh repeatedly denied my requests to submit to one.

    I have serious concerns about Judge Kavanaugh’s credibility, temperament, and judgment, and I will be voting no on his nomination to the Supreme Court. I am encouraged that the FBI has now reopened its background investigation into the serious and credible allegations against him. The American people deserve transparency and the truth.

    Sincerely,
    U.S. Senator Dick Durbin

  31. 31.

    Nicole

    October 2, 2018 at 2:06 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: @trollhattan: Hee hee hee.

  32. 32.

    JMG

    October 2, 2018 at 2:07 pm

    It was what, like three weeks ago the Quinnipiac poll had the Democrats up 14. The professional election forecasters all said with much reason “it’s an outlier.” Today Quinnipiac has Democrats up 7. The very same people (looking at you Nate Cohn) now say, “More signs of post-Kavanaugh Republican surge.” Ron Brownstein: “non-college whites in this poll show how Democrats face uphill battle (words to that effect.” The need for takes causes people who’ve told us for a decade not to overreact to individual polls to do just that themselves.

  33. 33.

    WaterGirl

    October 2, 2018 at 2:07 pm

    Can someone tell me what I missed today? Seriously.

  34. 34.

    oldster

    October 2, 2018 at 2:11 pm

    Conservatives need to address the culture of pathology in their own neighborhoods. With their rampant alcoholism, drug-use, and brutal violence, conservative ghettos in Bethesda and New Haven are simply breeding-grounds for the next generation of super-predators.

    They cannot keep waiting for liberals to help them: they have to help themselves. Pull up their pants and stop stealing things, whether elections or supreme court seats.

    Furthermore, what about conservative-on-conservative crime?

  35. 35.

    Jamey

    October 2, 2018 at 2:11 pm

    Chris Dudley–descendent of Guilford Dudley; husband and putative consort to Lady Jane Grey and grandson of that Guilford Dudley of the Nashville Dudleys; former 7′-tall NBA career traffic cone, and failed wingnut candidate for Oregon governorship–was Kavvy’s wingman during the fracas. Duds also swore an oath that Kavvy was never an intemperate drinker. I’d get hopping mad about the coverup were it not for the rank incompetence of the dramatis personae

  36. 36.

    WaterGirl

    October 2, 2018 at 2:12 pm

    Has anyone talked about the recent newsletter from Al Giordano? I can’t post it here because it’s subscription only — for $70 a year.

    Title: “The US Senate Is Now in Play”

    But I can post his follow-up email asking for funding so he can report from the battleground senate seats he believes will be in play. Doug J, would you consider front-paging this request from Al G?

    If you’re one of the good people who has already donated to make battleground state reporting for the midterm elections possible, thank you so much.

    In yesterday’s newsletter (“Issue #64: The US Senate Is Now in Play”) I shared my best analysis of which US Senate contests on the ballot November 6 can be won with a little extra push of volunteer work and attention. And I asked you to please donate to make it possible to report to you from some of those key battlegrounds. So far enough has come in to go only to one state or congressional district for a few days. If that’s all we can do I’ll seize that opportunity and give it my best. Of course I’d like to report more (and you might like to read more). So please excuse this nag, um, reminder, that the link to donate is this one:

    http://www.authenticjournalism.org

    Or you can send a check to:

    The Fund for Authentic Journalism
    PO Box 1446
    Easthampton, MA 01027

    (If you do send a check please email me at [email protected] and let us know how much to expect so we can accurately anticipate the budget available.)

    Reporting requires resources for travel to and from each battleground state or district, lodging, food, car rental and other expenses. Now that we’ve raised enough to get me from my home in Mexico to one part of, say, Texas (where US Rep. Beto O’Rourke is panicking GOP Senator Ted Cruz and there are at least a couple of winnable US House seats in the Lone Star State currently held by Republicans), it would be a shame to get that close and not have the resources to continue reporting from other parts of the state or from (relatively) nearby battlegrounds such as Arizona (where Democratic US Rep. Kyrsten Sinema has a slight lead for the US Senate seat being vacated by Jeff Flake), Nevada (Democratic US Rep. Jacky Rosen is neck and neck with GOP Senator Dean Heller) or Southern California (which has at least five flip-able US House seats currently held by Republicans).

    Do you want to know what is really happening on the ground in those battleground contests? I sure do and I hope to report as much of it as possible to you via this newsletter.

    Finally, if you didn’t get yesterday’s newsletter (some people’s spam filters trap them, especially on gmail) just email me and I’ll send it right to you.

    Thank you in advance for supporting journalism about the ground game of field organizing and getting out the vote. There’s really so little of it in the commercial media. But we have it in our power, together, to make it possible.

    Again, the link to donate is:

    http://www.authenticjournalism.org

  37. 37.

    Major Major Major Major

    October 2, 2018 at 2:13 pm

    @WaterGirl: Every Republican is tweeting about all the bar fights they’ve been in, and the Trump administration thinks radiation is good for you, and something about attacking Russia that seems to just have been a miscue on the part of the NATO envoy

    @WaterGirl: He blocked me on Twitter :(

  38. 38.

    MisterForkbeard

    October 2, 2018 at 2:13 pm

    @Corner Stone: To be fair, starting a bar fight when you’re 19 or 20 should be a disqualifier for a job when you’re 50 unless something really awful happened in that fight.

    But (again) lying about it or pretending it never happened and claiming that you were a choir boy who never did anything wrong when you’re 50 should be disqualifying.

  39. 39.

    The Moar You Know

    October 2, 2018 at 2:15 pm

    All the righties talking about their bar fight exploits is just cracking me up

    I spent the 80s and 90s doing what anyone who was in their twenties who could do it should: I played music. Clubs and bars. For a living.

    Nothing but nothing pisses me off more than the kind of frat boy assholes (and oddly enough, it was ONLY those kinds of people) who start bar fights. People get seriously injured or killed doing that shit, it’s not “boyish hyjinks”. I’ve seen two guns pulled. Broken bones. Cops, ambulances. This was a top-40 cover band, not some punks or metalheads (actually, both those kinds of shows, especially punk, tend to be far safer). Let me tell you, when you’re on a stage and the only thing between you and some blind drunk lunatic asshole waving a gun is your bass guitar, that doesn’t feel like a very safe place. And it’s not.

  40. 40.

    hg

    October 2, 2018 at 2:15 pm

    Which are the best senate races to contribute to right now? The ones with best bang for the buck?

  41. 41.

    Martin

    October 2, 2018 at 2:16 pm

    @trollhattan:

    Do some really think that leaving a bank with no money after trying to rob it means “no harm, no foul”?

    Of course. I think the evidence that people choose their religion, morals, etc. based on their politics, and not the other way around is becoming almost irrefutable. If robbing the bank furthers the political, ideological goal, then of course it’s okay.

    It’s why Kavanaugh lying under oath about non-consensual sex is no big deal, but Clinton lying under oath about consensual sex, under the conditions set by Kavanaugh, was grounds for impeachment. It’s why Republicans instantly love tariffs, oppose a balanced budget, and so on.

    I would further argue that the Democrats being a much broader tent have a much harder time establishing ideological goals that are damaging to others than the GOP which often seems to care only about white male christians. That diversity in the party also means that the ideological goals are in many ways softer than the GOP ones. That’s why hard and fast litmus tests aren’t as common for Dems as for the GOP.

  42. 42.

    OzarkHillbilly

    October 2, 2018 at 2:19 pm

    @WaterGirl: SSDD.

  43. 43.

    Roger Moore

    October 2, 2018 at 2:20 pm

    @ruemara:

    I do not understand how prudish conservatives are now saying bar fights, drunkenness, sexual assaults, rape, and generally being criminals, is a-ok.

    Conservatives are only prudish when Those People are doing it. When one of them is doing it, it’s just youthful high jinks.

  44. 44.

    Major Major Major Major

    October 2, 2018 at 2:20 pm

    Just got this on Jason Kander’s email list.

    A personal announcement

    About four months ago, I contacted the VA to get help. It had been about 11 years since I left Afghanistan as an Army Intelligence Officer, and my tour over there still impacted me every day. So many men and women who served our country did so much more than me and were in so much more danger than I was on my four-month tour. I can’t have PTSD, I told myself, because I didn’t earn it.

    But, on some level, I knew something was deeply wrong, and that it hadn’t felt that way before my deployment. After 11 years of this, I finally took a step toward dealing with it, but I didn’t step far enough.
    […]
    That was stupid, and things have gotten even worse since… I still have nightmares. I am depressed.
    […]
    So after 11 years of trying to outrun depression and PTSD symptoms, I have finally concluded that it’s faster than me. That I have to stop running, turn around, and confront it.

    Good for him.

  45. 45.

    trollhattan

    October 2, 2018 at 2:23 pm

    @WaterGirl:
    Direct and factual. Good letter, senator.

  46. 46.

    Mnemosyne

    October 2, 2018 at 2:25 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    And Republicans get to keep doing “youthful hijinks” until the age of 40. Black and brown people lose that privilege as soon as their age hits double digits.

  47. 47.

    Mary G

    October 2, 2018 at 2:25 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: Just read that. He’s one of the best, and I am sorry to see he’s been hurting for so long and denying it, and glad he’s getting help. He’s withdrawn from the election to be mayor of KC.

  48. 48.

    Martin

    October 2, 2018 at 2:25 pm

    @MisterForkbeard:

    To be fair, starting a bar fight when you’re 19 or 20 should (sic) be a disqualifier for a job when you’re 50 unless something really awful happened in that fight.

    Well, when you have only 9 such positions, I think we can have extraordinarily high standards for such a position. If someone had a bar fight in their history, they need to bring something to the position above the other candidates that makes up for that experience. That said, if he brought that experience into the courtroom, that could be seen as a plus. We would be well served by someone who had seen the criminal justice system from the other side, turned their lives around, and became a judge. It’s impossible for 9 Ivy Leaguers to have any real appreciation for how 90% of the country lives. But Kavanaugh is literally the opposite of that.

  49. 49.

    gvg

    October 2, 2018 at 2:27 pm

    @ruemara: Conservatives are not prudish. They used to be when I was young. I think the change came with Fox, but maybe that is just when the tipping point came and it was financially more profitable to go after the slutty conservatives rather than the prudish ones. At the time it seemed really through the looking glass that the “conservative” station showed the trashiest shows on TV with foul language and sexy stars. I didn’t like their shows for long. They made me uncomfortable. I think it was the mean laugh in them and degrading women more than I was used to.
    Seriously we have religious political figures that clearly worship money and wouldn’t know right from wrong if it bit them and who hate the poor. Those religious figurescome from the fox and imitators producers. It has changed things gradually. I was noticing some smarter pundits pointing out how what Hatch and Grassley said 20 years ago was the opposite of now. the pundits thought that was hypocrisy and it was, but I also think those men have been changed by the closed loop they live in. 20 years is a long time. They have changed themselves, but don’t notice.

  50. 50.

    Mary G

    October 2, 2018 at 2:29 pm

    @hg: In my completely amateur opinion, Claire McCaskill in Missouri, Joe Donnelly in Indiana, and Heidi Heitkamp in North Dakota. Those races are all tied or almost tied, and media doesn’t cost that much, so even a small contribution makes a difference. Some people say they aren’t pure enough, but they are wrong.

  51. 51.

    JPL

    October 2, 2018 at 2:30 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: I missed all that..

  52. 52.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    October 2, 2018 at 2:32 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    the Trump administration thinks radiation is good for you

    There’s a guy in Oregon who thinks that too, he also has folk send him their piss.

  53. 53.

    WaterGirl

    October 2, 2018 at 2:33 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: Did you deserve it? Or was it unfair, do you think?

  54. 54.

    Sab

    October 2, 2018 at 2:35 pm

    Voting ethical issue. I put my dad who has moderate dementia into a nursing home this spring. He is going to wonder about voting soon. Do I help him to register to vote. Legally he is entitled to if he is registered, but he is extremely clueless about everything, and will probably vote against everything he used to believe, but he does still have rights if not too sharp a mind.

  55. 55.

    WaterGirl

    October 2, 2018 at 2:36 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: I left out my thanks for bringing me up to date.

  56. 56.

    Major Major Major Major

    October 2, 2018 at 2:37 pm

    @WaterGirl: he accused me of being a ‘pants-pisser’ about something, I said me? you’re the one who just wrote seventeen tweets about it, he blocked me.

  57. 57.

    Mary G

    October 2, 2018 at 2:38 pm

    Defense Secretary Mattis and the Navy’s top officer targeted in suspected ricin mail attack at Pentagon https://t.co/q55VUc1oAh— JJ MacNab (@jjmacnab) October 2, 2018

  58. 58.

    Elizabelle

    October 2, 2018 at 2:39 pm

    I just cannot believe the Republicans are all in for a judge with a credible attempted rape accusation, and clear temperament and possible alcohol-dependence problems. To own the libs.

    And that there are sheep in the GOP-supporting public who are going along with this.

    It’s twilight zone.

  59. 59.

    Elizabelle

    October 2, 2018 at 2:41 pm

    @Sab: If he is not of clear mind, I don’t think he should be voting. Or, hang on to the ballot and don’t mail it if it’s clearly not what he would decide if his mind were clearer.

  60. 60.

    jl

    October 2, 2018 at 2:41 pm

    I heard news blurb quite that Trump said it was scary time for boys in this country. I’ll just assume they didn’t have time to include the part where he added ‘for girls, and men and women, and dogs and cats and the air and water and…

    Anyway. We live in weird times. Apparently Goldman Sachs has joined the corporate media as part of the Democratic Party Deep State

    One of Trump’s top economic advisers said the Goldman Sachs research team looks like ‘the Democratic opposition’ because of their critiques of Trump
    https://www.businessinsider.com/kevin-hassett-goldman-sachs-trump-tariff-china-trade-war-note-2018-10

    Found via Pauk Krugman’s twitter

  61. 61.

    WaterGirl

    October 2, 2018 at 2:42 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: I vaguely remember the 17 tweets, but not very well.

  62. 62.

    Brachiator

    October 2, 2018 at 2:44 pm

    @Kraux Pas:

    I do not understand how prudish conservatives are now saying bar fights, drunkenness, sexual assaults, rape, and generally being criminals, is a-ok.

    Because despite all their anti-elitist posturing, they actually want to create and sustain an elite class in America. They’re neo-aristocrats.

    But the vast majority of conservatives will never be part of the elite, and are disdained by the elite.

    How many of the nutcases at a Trump rally could afford the dues to one of Trump’s clubs, etc?

  63. 63.

    debit

    October 2, 2018 at 2:44 pm

    @Mary G: I totally agree with all of these.

  64. 64.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    October 2, 2018 at 2:44 pm

    @jl:

    Apparently Goldman Sachs has joined the corporate media as part of the Democratic Party Deep State

    Hillary got to them. Did she give another speech to them?

  65. 65.

    Major Major Major Major

    October 2, 2018 at 2:45 pm

    @WaterGirl: It was stupid and I don’t actually care very much. Only annoying when I’m reminded he exists.

  66. 66.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    October 2, 2018 at 2:45 pm

    @jl:

    Found via Pauk Krugman’s twitter

    Any relation to Paul Krugman?

  67. 67.

    Kraux Pas

    October 2, 2018 at 2:46 pm

    @Brachiator:

    But the vast majority of conservatives will never be part of the elite, and are disdained by the elite.

    How many of the nutcases at a Trump rally could afford the dues to one of Trump’s clubs, etc?

    Well, until they make it, they’re happy keeping the “wrong” sort of person down.

  68. 68.

    raven

    October 2, 2018 at 2:47 pm

    @WaterGirl: I had an MRI and everything is as it should be so there is that!

  69. 69.

    Mnemosyne

    October 2, 2018 at 2:49 pm

    @jl:

    Yep. Because the very small percentage of men/boys who are falsely accused are WAY more important than the thousands of women/girls who are sexually assaulted every year.

    They really are saying the quiet part out loud now. ?

  70. 70.

    hg

    October 2, 2018 at 2:50 pm

    @Mary G: @Mary G: @Mary G:
    Thanks!!

  71. 71.

    debit

    October 2, 2018 at 2:50 pm

    @Sab: Honestly? If he asks for a ballot give him one and let him fill it out. Good or bad, it’s his right unless there’s a law saying otherwise.

  72. 72.

    OzarkHillbilly

    October 2, 2018 at 2:50 pm

    @Sab: It’s not a voting ethical issue, it’s a “what is in your father’s best interests” issue. Is he going to drive himself nuts trying to figure it all out? Is he going to show up at the polls not knowing a damn thing and feel profound embarrassment at his new inadequacies? Is he going to throw a fit of anger and trash the polling machine because he doesn’t understand how it works?

    My father died of Alzheimers (which I know is way beyond what your father is dealing with). I have long had a strong aversion to lying but I soon learned that with him, telling him a lie that gave peace to his mind was one of the few things I could still do for him. I stopped saying goodbye because of the terror he would feel at being abandoned again by someone who loved him (even if he could no longer remember who I was) and instead would say, “I’m going to the bathroom, I’ll be right back.” and then I would leave, content in the knowledge that long before I got to the door he would have forgotten I had even been there.

    Do that which will make your father happiest, at that moment, because that is all that matters at that moment.

  73. 73.

    jl

    October 2, 2018 at 2:53 pm

    @jl: Forgot to add that ‘top’ economic adviser is Keven Hassett who wrote the hilariously wrong and incompetent ‘Dow36,000’, currently chair of the council of economic advisers.

    If anyone interested, if you go to Paul Krugman’s twitter page, over weekend and Monday he had some good links to the new NAFTA, or USMCA, or whatever it is. Looks like pretty much same as old NAFTA except US dairy gets more access to Canadian markets. And increased North American content required to qualify for lower tariffs. And requirement for higher wages in for Mexican content. But there is a problem that the thing was slapped together pretty sloppily, and some conflicts with remaining provisions of old NAFTA. As Trump would say, ‘it’s a mess’. and may provide incentive for world auto industry (which includes companies like Ford) to just divert more production to Asia and Europe and avoid NAFTA countries altogether. You can get links at Krugman’s twitter page for links to detailed analysis.

  74. 74.

    OzarkHillbilly

    October 2, 2018 at 2:54 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Now we know why she refused to publish her speech to them.

  75. 75.

    tobie

    October 2, 2018 at 2:54 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: I’ll miss Jason Kander over the next few months and years. I remember the day after Ossoff’s defeat when he did a youtube video to remind us not to give up the fight even if we had suffered a short-term loss. Who knew how much pain he was dealing with at the time? I hope he gets the treatment he needs and returns invigorated and healthy to the public sphere.

  76. 76.

    OzarkHillbilly

    October 2, 2018 at 2:55 pm

    @raven: WHOOOHOOOO!

  77. 77.

    Elizabelle

    October 2, 2018 at 2:55 pm

    @debit: But does she mail it, if it’s clearly not what he would have chosen with a sound mind?

    Filling it out — absolutely! Treating it as a valid vote: that is a problem for me, ethically.

  78. 78.

    jl

    October 2, 2018 at 2:55 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Sorry, I mean Paul Krugman. Pauk Krugman is GillinBlendale’s third cousin twice removed.
    I regret the error.

  79. 79.

    Elizabelle

    October 2, 2018 at 2:56 pm

    @OzarkHillbilly: Great advice.

  80. 80.

    FlipYrWhig

    October 2, 2018 at 2:56 pm

    @gvg: This is the part where they pretend to be Red Blooded American Males, who like titties and beer and punching people and resent how us Nanny State Libs won’t let them do these very fun things anymore. Sometimes they pretend to be The Moral Conscience Of A Nation, who want everything to be decent and staid and orderly and resent how us If It Feels Good Do It Libs stick our hedonism down their throats. They swing between these virtually at random.

  81. 81.

    sab

    October 2, 2018 at 2:57 pm

    @Elizabelle: I am thinking I will help him change his address, send for an absentee ballot, and then let him forget it. I have been doing that for years, so he has already been purged from the rolls ( yay Husted you purged a moderate Republican.)

    I agree that he shouldn’t be voting, but there is no legal prohibition. I have been an advocate of voting rights. How do I participate in disenfranchising my own dad because he now watches fox news ( pretty women in skimpy clothes yelling loud enough that he can hear them.)

  82. 82.

    oatler.

    October 2, 2018 at 2:58 pm

    Here’s Trump live at Philly rally, opening words: “I’ve given you so much money…”

  83. 83.

    debit

    October 2, 2018 at 2:59 pm

    @Elizabelle: I understand what you and others are saying. I’m just really uncomfortable with denying someone the right to cast their ballot. Period. It seems just a short step to, “Here, honey, let me tell you who we’re voting for this election while I stand over your shoulder and make sure you pick the candidates I want.”

  84. 84.

    Elizabelle

    October 2, 2018 at 3:00 pm

    @sab: I guess the other way to handle it is “Dad, we took care of that last week. It’s already in the mail.”

    My dad died way too young, but I am glad I never had to find out if he would have turned into a Fox News watcher. They weren’t even on the air yet. He was such a decent man. It is quite sad to hear how Fox plays on the elderly’s vulnerabilities, and turns them against their families and other people.

    Poison.

  85. 85.

    jl

    October 2, 2018 at 3:02 pm

    @Mnemosyne: I am a do-gooder liberal. So I worry about how we raise both boys and girls. There are some arguments, not sure how good they are, that recent social developments might produce some problems for little boys, who may not function well in way schools are run now. Would be nice to find a way so that both boys and girls can get an equal chance and at the same time get whatever opportunities each individual needs to express and be themselves and achieve their potential.

    So, I have read some about the complexities of gender equality in schooling. But I dunno, somehow, I haven’t seen encouraging little boys to be entitled aggressive black-out drunks who assault women and start fights with other boys for trivial reasons mentioned a serious suggestion, except for Trump.

  86. 86.

    ruemara

    October 2, 2018 at 3:03 pm

    @WaterGirl: Um, Al has had a number of MeToo charges leveled against him. And he elected to drop out of sight. Just saying.

    I read through some of the judiciary pdf that was released today, I think. Kavanaugh has some really horrible allegations against him that go beyond what Ford is testifying about. This is right in full bore rape and good lord, he shouldn’t even be near a girls team at all.

  87. 87.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    October 2, 2018 at 3:04 pm

    @oatler.: OK, Trump; WHERE’S MY FUCKING MONEY?

  88. 88.

    OzarkHillbilly

    October 2, 2018 at 3:04 pm

    @sab: Tell him, “You already voted, Dad. Remember?” and he will and he’ll feel happy at his accomplishment. Then later on he will bring the subject up again. You will tell him, “You already voted, Dad. Remember?” and he will and he’ll feel happy at his accomplishment.

    And again…
    and again…
    and again…
    and again…

  89. 89.

    Elizabelle

    October 2, 2018 at 3:05 pm

    @debit: We’ll have to agree to disagree.

    Work so hard, for months and months, and you’re up against someone not of sound mind? Why not just let our pets vote?

  90. 90.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 2, 2018 at 3:06 pm

    @Sab: If he is legally competent, he has a right to vote. You, however, do not have an obligation to help him do it.

  91. 91.

    Sab

    October 2, 2018 at 3:06 pm

    @OzarkHillbilly: Thanks. That is sort of what we are doing. He thinks he is there because we have contractors repairing the house (contractors take FOREVER) and meanwhile he has forgotten where the house is. He thinks he lives where his parents used to live 70 years ago.

  92. 92.

    Elizabelle

    October 2, 2018 at 3:08 pm

    @Sab: Have to smile at all the older folks I met in nursing homes, who seemed so with it, and then they tell me “I have to go home now. My parents expect me.”

  93. 93.

    Major Major Major Major

    October 2, 2018 at 3:09 pm

    @raven: Hooray!

    Brain MRI’s suck.

  94. 94.

    FlipYrWhig

    October 2, 2018 at 3:09 pm

    @jl: I’m not a parent but I’ve been hearing this for a long time. It seems WILDLY retrograde to me, based on the notion that boys want to be dirty and in motion while girls want to be clean and still, which, if it’s true (and I doubt it; it seems very Jordan Peterson-bad-evo-psych), has been true for the entire history of education, most of which produced boys and men who learned how to sit quietly, read books, learn, and do fine.

  95. 95.

    Roger Moore

    October 2, 2018 at 3:10 pm

    @Brachiator:

    But the vast majority of conservatives will never be part of the elite, and are disdained by the elite.

    What they really want is a social hierarchy. That necessarily implies having an elite that most of them won’t be allowed to join. They’re OK with that as long as there are people below them who they’re allowed to lord it over. That’s the practical definition of a social conservative.

  96. 96.

    debit

    October 2, 2018 at 3:11 pm

    @Elizabelle: When did I miss the law granting our pets that right? (Can you imagine the chaos? Every household with have a candidate for President.)

    Seriously, I don’t want to argue. @Omnes Omnibus: has a good answer.

  97. 97.

    Sab

    October 2, 2018 at 3:12 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:He is not competent to vote but I have not put us through the trauma of having him declared legally incompetent. He trusted me enough to turn all his affairs over to me and then I stuck him in a nursing home and sold his house. Needless to say I am feeling moral qualms about depriving him of his last legal right.

  98. 98.

    Sab

    October 2, 2018 at 3:15 pm

    @Elizabelle: My two dogs and five cats have no right to vote. My demented dad does. Constitution and all that.

  99. 99.

    jl

    October 2, 2018 at 3:16 pm

    One criticism I have of Obama administration was his economic policy that I felt was to timid and centrist, too influenced by large incumbent financial interests.
    But, when i updated my handy-dandy macro dashboard in July and August, one great success of the Obama administration was to get real private net investment some close to average compared to 1947 to 1980. The US has suffered from seriously below average real public and private net investment since 1980 compared to previous post-WWII recessions.

    And also, expert financial management, given subpar fiscal policy (due to GOP). that could easily have produced longest expansion, going through 2020, that produced some substantial and noticeable real wage gains towards the end. The only Trump economic innovation I see is his reckless BS nonsense policies that will probably stop that from happening. So, I figured with the Trumpeconomy, > 50 percent chance expansion will end before 2020.

    Now I’m hearing various Democratic Deep State subversives, like Goldman Sachs saying pretty much the same thing. OMG, Kevin Hassett is right!!

  100. 100.

    Corner Stone

    October 2, 2018 at 3:16 pm

    On another T, it looks like Avenatti may have screwed the proverbial pooch with his latest legal endeavor.

  101. 101.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 2, 2018 at 3:16 pm

    @Sab: I think you have your answer.

  102. 102.

    raven

    October 2, 2018 at 3:17 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: Yea it was interesting. The hour went by fairly quickly with the break to shoot me up with dye. The best I do in those situations is to know it doesn’t having a lasting impact. . .if the news is good anyway!

  103. 103.

    TenguPhule

    October 2, 2018 at 3:20 pm

    Trump reportedly picks handbag designer as ambassador to South Africa

    Is it a day ending in day again?

    A luxury handbag designer in Palm Beach, Florida, has reportedly been chosen by Donald Trump as the next US ambassador to South Africa.

    The appointment of Lana Marks, whose products sell between $10,000 and $400,000, would be likely to cause some surprise: Marks was born in South Africa but has not lived there for more than 40 years.

    First thing that came to mind is bribery.

  104. 104.

    Sab

    October 2, 2018 at 3:21 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Me too. Get him registered, get him the absentee ballot and let him follow through, which he won’t.

  105. 105.

    debit

    October 2, 2018 at 3:22 pm

    @Corner Stone: I’m not seeing any articles. Link?

  106. 106.

    TenguPhule

    October 2, 2018 at 3:22 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    I just cannot believe the Republicans are all in for a judge with a credible attempted rape accusation, and clear temperament and possible alcohol-dependence problems. To own the libs.

    Not just to own the libs. They want to rape, kill and burn them too. And not necessarily in that order.

  107. 107.

    jl

    October 2, 2018 at 3:22 pm

    @FlipYrWhig: I don’t know enough about it to judge. I just read a research article that said traditional way of treating kids in school is actually just the opposite of how we traditionally think about it in the US. It said girls need to be treated more like boys than we traditionally do, and boys needed to be treated more like girls. Girls need to be given self confidence, chance to stand up and express themselves and then given support to do it again, even when things don’t go well. Boys actually need more emotional nurturing that this society typically gives girls. Interesting, and don’t know enough to have an opinion. My main personal interest in it is as a teacher.

    Anyway, what I do know is that what Trump said was disgusting, and sends the worst message to the worst kind of people.

  108. 108.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    October 2, 2018 at 3:22 pm

    @ruemara:
    Because liberals are against it and Kavanaugh needs to be on the Court to save Trump

  109. 109.

    Mnemosyne

    October 2, 2018 at 3:22 pm

    @sab:

    I think your solution sounds sensible. Would you want to consider removing Fox News from his list of cable choices? I remember Betty Cracker did that with her grandmother and it made everyone a lot happier. That, I feel, would probably be good enough for his mental health and state of mind that it would not be unethical to remove it and tell him the cable company did it.

  110. 110.

    TenguPhule

    October 2, 2018 at 3:23 pm

    We could use a fresh open thread.

    Oregon Man has taken Florida Man’s Crown.

  111. 111.

    TenguPhule

    October 2, 2018 at 3:24 pm

    @ruemara:

    I do not understand how prudish conservatives are now saying bar fights, drunkenness, sexual assaults, rape, and generally being criminals, is a-ok.

    Republicans just want traditional values to be upheld.

    Norse Viking values.

  112. 112.

    Major Major Major Major

    October 2, 2018 at 3:24 pm

    @raven:

    The best I do in those situations is to know it doesn’t having a lasting impact.

    Unless you have red tattoos!

    The imaging injection/IV they give you is literally chilling, it’s… creepy as hell.

  113. 113.

    OzarkHillbilly

    October 2, 2018 at 3:25 pm

    @Sab: During my mother’s last 3 months (in ICU) my father took to asking: “Where’s Mother?” to which I always replied to with, “She’s at the grocery, she’ll be home soon.” and it would make him happy for about a half hour or so and then rinse/repeat. One morning he came into the kitchen and asked and before I could answer my little sister said, “She’s at the hospital, Dad.” and he became completely unglued: “Why didn’t somebody tell me???!!!!” almost violent. If looks could have killed I would have seen my sister’s blood covering the walls, the floor, the ceiling. Up to that point I had always felt a little guilt with every lie I told. After that I felt no guilt whatsoever.

    And I also had a conversation with my little Sis.

    It only took about a week after we put him in a home for him to forget who my mother was. Every time I’d go see him he would beg me to take him home but like your father, I think home was with his father and mother. There was a period of time where he knew I was important to him even if he did not know who I was. Eventually I became my cousin Brunch with whom he had grown up.

    It’s hard. Good luck.

  114. 114.

    Roger Moore

    October 2, 2018 at 3:25 pm

    @TenguPhule:
    The US has a long bipartisan history of appointing politically connected people with no diplomatic experience as ambassadors. As I understand it, we can usually get away with it because the US is so important that all the really critical diplomacy happens in Washington rather than the other countries. As long as the ambassador is capable of showing a modicum of tact and lets the civil servants to the work, everything generally works out OK.

  115. 115.

    raven

    October 2, 2018 at 3:25 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: I do feel a bit weird.

  116. 116.

    rikyrah

    October 2, 2018 at 3:25 pm

    @ruemara:
    Boys will be boys…as long as they are WHITE..
    they can be 40, and it’s just ‘ youthful indiscretions’.

    But, a 12 year old Tamir Rice, is a hulking, scary brute.

  117. 117.

    Martin

    October 2, 2018 at 3:25 pm

    @TenguPhule: That is unpossible. Remember when Bubba Kavanaugh went on a beer run in Florida?

  118. 118.

    The Moar You Know

    October 2, 2018 at 3:26 pm

    Voting ethical issue. I put my dad who has moderate dementia into a nursing home this spring. He is going to wonder about voting soon. Do I help him to register to vote.

    @Sab: If he needs help to navigate registering, I say no.

  119. 119.

    TenguPhule

    October 2, 2018 at 3:26 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    Black and brown people lose that privilege as soon as their age hits double digits.

    Not even that long. Its revoked as soon as they can walk and talk.

  120. 120.

    HeleninEire

    October 2, 2018 at 3:27 pm

    So the Presidential campaign just started here. Bear in mind that the President is different than the Taoiseach (prime minister) because this is a parliamentary system.

    Big story in the Irish Independent. The current President, Michael S. Higgins has raised a whopping €8,000 ($ 9,200) from the public. The public goal is €50,000.($ 57,000l for a campaign that is estimated to cost €394,000 ($455,000). Curious to find out how much is spent on the Taoiaseach campaign.

  121. 121.

    TenguPhule

    October 2, 2018 at 3:29 pm

    @Martin:

    That is unpossible.

    Not probable.

    FBI agent dodges killer hot tub but is shot by booby-trapped wheelchair

    Law enforcement officers responded to the home in the small town of Williams in September at the request of a real estate lawyer tasked with selling the property, local media reported on Monday.

    A criminal complaint filed in US district court in Medford said officers found traps throughout the property including spike strips and a circular hot tub turned on its side and rigged to roll over anyone who triggered a tripwire.

    “(It was) much like a scene from the movie ‘Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark’ in which actor Harrison Ford is forced to outrun a giant stone boulder that he inadvertently triggered by a booby trap switch,” the complaint said.

    After making it past the hot tub, a bomb squad and FBI agent approached the house and blasted open the fortified front door.

    Inside the home a wheelchair fitted with a fishing line, shotgun ammunition and other items triggered the explosion that wounded the agent, according to court documents. An X-ray found a .410-gauge shotgun pellet in the agent’s leg, documents said.

    Authorities said the makeshift weapons were created by 66-year-old Gregory Rodvelt, who was forced to forfeit his property as part of an elder abuse case involving his mother.

    I assume beer was involved at some point in the process.

  122. 122.

    Mnemosyne

    October 2, 2018 at 3:29 pm

    @jl:

    There are some arguments, not sure how good they are, that recent social developments might produce some problems for little boys, who may not function well in way schools are run now.

    Well, we could go back to the good old days of rote learning and corporal punishment in front of the whole class. Strangely, no one used to complain that those methods were unfair to boys, probably because girls were barred from those same schools and received a much worse education, if they received one at all.

    Sorry, but I don’t have a lot of patience with the “schools are unfair to boys!” arguments. There’s a lot wrong with the way we teach our kids and how education gets distributed throughout our society, but you only seem to get people wringing their hands over suburban white boys not getting their due while black and brown boys drop out of subpar urban schools.

  123. 123.

    Sab

    October 2, 2018 at 3:29 pm

    @Mnemosyne:Good advice. He can’t figure out the remote anymore. His nurses aides are sports fans, so its SPN all the way.

  124. 124.

    FlipYrWhig

    October 2, 2018 at 3:30 pm

    @jl: OK, that’s much better than I feared.

    @TenguPhule: First thing that comes to MY mind is “Ivanka.”

  125. 125.

    OzarkHillbilly

    October 2, 2018 at 3:31 pm

    @Corner Stone: Predictable.

  126. 126.

    Sab

    October 2, 2018 at 3:31 pm

    @Sab: SPN meant to be ESPN. Proofreading aint hard but I rarely do it . Edit button.

  127. 127.

    TenguPhule

    October 2, 2018 at 3:31 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    As long as the ambassador is capable of showing a modicum of tact and lets the civil servants to the work, everything generally works out OK.

    You were saying?

  128. 128.

    Major Major Major Major

    October 2, 2018 at 3:33 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    you only seem to get people wringing their hands over suburban white boys not getting their due while black and brown boys drop out of subpar urban schools.

    They might be the only ones you see, but I know there’s been a lot of work done on this specifically in Oakland.

  129. 129.

    Corner Stone

    October 2, 2018 at 3:35 pm

    @debit: No links ATM. But his client Ms. Swetnick is in some trouble with her allegations against Kavvy. I have now seen several segments of her interview with NBC’s Kate Snow, and while I think (weirdly) that NBC has set their sights targeting Avenatti (no proof just what I’ve observed), the fact that of four named witnesses one is deceased, one says he never heard of Swetnick and two have failed to respond. It’s also notable that Ms. Swetnick’s mom was named as a resource and she is also now deceased.
    I am just having a hard time following the allegation right now.

  130. 130.

    OzarkHillbilly

    October 2, 2018 at 3:35 pm

    @raven: Trust me, you are a bit weird.

  131. 131.

    Elizabelle

    October 2, 2018 at 3:35 pm

    @sab: My sympathies for being in that situation. I don’t mean to make light of it, which I did with the “pets” comment.

    I guess the other ethical issue is, do you assist, or let some staff caregiver or person off the street “help” with the ballot?

    I just hope Mitch McConnell is bullying women and Democrats into running up an insurmountable lead for Democrats in the midterms.

  132. 132.

    Major Major Major Major

    October 2, 2018 at 3:36 pm

    @raven: it’s almost certainly benign.

  133. 133.

    Roger Moore

    October 2, 2018 at 3:36 pm

    @jl:

    I just read a research article that said traditional way of treating kids in school is actually just the opposite of how we traditionally think about it in the US. It said girls need to be treated more like boys than we traditionally do, and boys needed to be treated more like girls. Girls need to be given self confidence, chance to stand up and express themselves and then given support to do it again, even when things don’t go well. Boys actually need more emotional nurturing that this society typically gives girls.

    This makes sense and goes along with my general impression of the way we treat gender in the US (and in the West more generally): we behave in ways that tend to exaggerate gender differences rather than narrow them. So if boys are naturally a bit more restless and rambunctious than girls, we excuse and even encourage their rambunctiousness while punishing girls who behave the same way. If girls are naturally more nurturing, we encourage them when they show nurturing behavior and discourage boys who do the same. We would probably get healthier, more well rounded people if we worked harder to encourage kids in areas where they’re naturally weak.

  134. 134.

    Aleta

    October 2, 2018 at 3:36 pm

    Brave Sir Rubio updated his deep thoughts this afternoon.

    (3 months ago) “Brett Kavanaugh … possesses the right temperament and experience.” “Too many in the federal judicial system today believe it is appropriate for judges to craft new policies and rights.”

    (2 months ago) “Even before meeting with Judge Kavanaugh, it was evident that (–R boilerplate–).” “During (our) conversation he articulated… that the Supreme Court should be a ‘trier of law’ appellate court and not a ‘trier of fact’ trial court.

    (4 days ago): Rubio said this morning he’ll still vote to confirm Kavanaugh. “I will not vote against the nomination of someone who I am otherwise inclined to support, and in the process add credence to charges which have already done permanent damage to his reputation.”

    “How many victims will now choose to remain silent? And who in their right mind would offer themselves up for public service if all that is required to have your reputation permanently destroyed is uncorroborated claims which are then spread far and wide?”

    He fraudulently claims there’s no way to corroborate or independently verify her statements. That’s simply not true. …

    Blasey Ford testified under penalty of perjury that Kavanaugh committed a crime. In any other circumstance, such as a robbery or murder case, it would be considered insane to voluntarily choose not to interview a central witness to the alleged act. (Also, Senators can vote a nominee down for literally any reason they want. Simply having a gut feeling that a nominee might be an asshole is a 100 percent legal reason to vote no.) Yet here’s Rubio claiming … he plans to vote for Kavanaugh anyway without interviewing any of the other people involved or getting law enforcement to do so.

    He then apologizes to Kavanaugh … and blames society for being mad about the situation instead of admitting he simply does not care. “Judge Kavanaugh … is treated as a dispensable combatant whose right to be treated fairly must take a back seat to the role his nomination plays in a broader partisan and cultural war.” (from Miami New Times)

    (Oct. 2) Rubio (said) he would be eager to hear any new evidence generated by the FBI.

    “That’s the way we should approach everything in life. I mean, we make decisions based on what we know, but you also have to recognize that if something you didn’t know comes forward, you can’t just ignore it. And I would say that’s where the majority of people are in the Senate.”

    “When these things come out, that changes the dynamic.”
    “What are the facts that are presented before us? … Anytime that you are out there interviewing people it could lead to other people who have answers that you may fill in.”
    “And so ultimately if any of these things are corroborated, the nomination is going to be very different for everybody, not just me.” (Wash RectumExaminer)

  135. 135.

    jl

    October 2, 2018 at 3:37 pm

    @FlipYrWhig: I should have expected a misunderstanding. I’ll have to go look for the article, but IIRC the conservative ‘Hey, let boys be boys” ends up with boys learning how to handle heir self esteem problems in the wrong way, and acting out anger and frustration that comes from unsolved self-esteem problems rather than actually dealing with their self-esteem problems. So, no, I am not talking about that conservative ‘let boys be boys’ BS at all.

    But we have a president who thinks indulging rich white boy problems, that in Kavanaugh’s case seem to reach into adulthood, is really the only fair thing to do.

  136. 136.

    Mary G

    October 2, 2018 at 3:37 pm

    Haven’t read it, but looks like the FTFNYT has finally gotten up from the fainting couch to do some actual Fahrenthold-style investigative reporting into Twitler’s financials:

    BREAKING from NYT's
    Trump has inherited $413 million — in today's dollars — to date from his dad's real estate empire, accumulated through tax dodges and even fraud. https://t.co/4tf11DMsYi—

    Nick Confessore (@nickconfessore) October 2, 2018

    (Full disclosure: I took out a bunch of hashtags from reporters who worked on the story so the tweet wouldn’t get tossed into moderation.)

    They said “fraud” out loud, so it must be ironclad.

  137. 137.

    Marcopolo

    October 2, 2018 at 3:37 pm

    @WaterGirl: Please do not frontpage this request. I’ve been aware of and read Al’s reporting since I was a Howard Dean supporter in 2004. He’s always had an outsidery POV towards political reporting which was refreshing; however, his Narco Journalism School always struck me as a bit of a scam and then this past spring he had his #metoo moment. It wasn’t pretty & I would not recommend supporting him any further. Links:

    Former Boston journalist accused of harassment at program in Mexico

    Famed Liberal Journalist Al Giordano Accused of Sexual Misconduct

  138. 138.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    October 2, 2018 at 3:38 pm

    @Corner Stone: she’s a good witness for the notion that Kavanaugh’s high school circle wallowed in alcohol-fueled misogyny and probably sexual assault and abuse. That’s not was Avenatti spent a week promising.

  139. 139.

    Sab

    October 2, 2018 at 3:39 pm

    @HeleninEire: Am I allowed to interact with you since I was so horrible last summer? Is taoisach pronounced ” teeshock” or “tayshock”?

  140. 140.

    Martin

    October 2, 2018 at 3:39 pm

    @TenguPhule: Ok, that’s pretty solid. But Florida has multiple cases of people eating other people’s faces.

    I think we have a divergence of approaches here. Oregon is more survivors from Walking Dead where Florida is more zombies from Walking Dead.

  141. 141.

    Mnemosyne

    October 2, 2018 at 3:39 pm

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    My paternal grandmother did not have Alzheimer’s, but she did get some dementia and sundowning as she entered her 90s.

    She would occasionally ask where my grandfather (her husband) was, but he had died 20 years before. My aunts stopped telling her that, because she would break down and react as though he had just died because, in her mind, he had. Rather than putting her through that fresh pain every time, they started telling her that he was on a fishing trip, and she accepted that.

    Well, one day we were over at my aunt’s house and my grandma asked where her husband was. My aunt said he was on a fishing trip.

    And my grandma said, “Well, he might as well be dead, he’s been on that fishing trip for so long!” ?

  142. 142.

    Sab

    October 2, 2018 at 3:43 pm

    @Elizabelle: zIt will be me.

  143. 143.

    Aleta

    October 2, 2018 at 3:43 pm

    @Aleta: Correction: The above source is the Washington Examiner. I did a bracketed slash /slash to cross out the word Rectum (I don’t know what autocorrect was thinking! ), but it didn’t take. Also in the first box, the last sentence should end with quotation marks.

  144. 144.

    TenguPhule

    October 2, 2018 at 3:43 pm

    @Martin:

    I think we have a divergence of approaches here. Oregon is more survivors from Walking Dead where Florida is more zombies from Walking Dead.

    This compromise is acceptable.

  145. 145.

    debit

    October 2, 2018 at 3:43 pm

    @Corner Stone: Thanks for the clarification. I am no Avenatti fan but I had faith that, if nothing else, he wouldn’t risk his reputation. On the other hand, he has made some baffling choices in the recent past (appearing on Fox News) that haven’t shown him to advantage. So I guess I wouldn’t be surprised if he fucked this one up.

  146. 146.

    OzarkHillbilly

    October 2, 2018 at 3:44 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Ha!

    My father was at the kitchen sink when he started singing a song:

    Old MacDonald had a farm
    Eee i eee i ohhhh.
    And on this farm he had….

    Oh hell, he had a whole lot of crap!

  147. 147.

    Sab

    October 2, 2018 at 3:45 pm

    @Mnemosyne: @Mnemosyne: OMG! Laugh with hysterical tears. Welcome to the eldercare vortex.

  148. 148.

    Gravenstone

    October 2, 2018 at 3:47 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    and the Trump administration thinks radiation is good for you

    Exactly what type of radiation are we talking here? While none of it is particularly good, the degrees of damage are highly dependent on the source and intensity of radiation involved.

  149. 149.

    Mnemosyne

    October 2, 2018 at 3:47 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    I assume that they’re also focusing at least some attention on preventing Oakland’s girls from dropping out, too?

    Figuring out how to improve Oakland’s schools is not the same as white suburban parents whining that the only reason their little Tyler is failing in school is because schools are rigged against boys.

  150. 150.

    Ladyraxterinok

    October 2, 2018 at 3:57 pm

    @JMG: Poll changes are setting us up for vote tampering. They are there to claim the polls of a blue wave were wrong. GOPers are sure they (with help from various friends) can keep their control. With control of SCOTUS and states (gerrymandering, voter ID and other restrictive laws) they can gain near permanent rule by white supremacy.

  151. 151.

    Major Major Major Major

    October 2, 2018 at 3:57 pm

    @Mnemosyne: no, they’re focusing specifically on educating African American boys in Oakland.

    ETA obviously there are other people doing other things as well. I was providing an example.

    https://www.ousd.org/Page/12804
    https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2010/09/03/east-bay-school-for-boys-takes-a-different-approach-to-learning/

  152. 152.

    Elizabelle

    October 2, 2018 at 4:00 pm

    @Sab: You’re a good daughter. As is debit. And Ozark is a terrific son.

  153. 153.

    HeleninEire

    October 2, 2018 at 4:02 pm

    @Sab: Yes you are. We are all friends here. In fact we are a family and families always argue and then make up.

    The Taoiseach question is interesting because it is still a question here. Irish is such an old language the pronunciation is argued here to this day. I say “tayshock” because it is the most common but enough people here say “teeshock.” It is so argued that there was a move in the Parliament a few years ago to just change it to prime minister and get rid of Taoiseach.

    The whole country came together to say “ag fuck tu’.” Yeah you can figure out that Gaelic.

  154. 154.

    Mnemosyne

    October 2, 2018 at 4:02 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    They have a separate girls’ program as well:

    https://www.ousd.org/Domain/4434

    So both genders are getting extra attention in Oakland. You’re probably hearing more about the boys’ program because of that lovely intersection of sexism and racism (see, Black boys need extra help!)

  155. 155.

    Major Major Major Major

    October 2, 2018 at 4:08 pm

    @Mnemosyne: I don’t believe I said I was hearing more about the boys’ program. I was giving an example of a program focusing on the unique educational difficulties facing African American boys. A parallel one for girls is not a counterexample.

  156. 156.

    Mnemosyne

    October 2, 2018 at 4:13 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    This is the ur-article — anti-feminist Christina Hoff Summers talking about a “war against boys” in 2000:

    https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2000/05/the-war-against-boys/304659/

  157. 157.

    Major Major Major Major

    October 2, 2018 at 4:18 pm

    @Mnemosyne: I’m much more familiar with that entire school of thought than I’d like to be. I agree that the popularity of the suburban white boy angle is an example of classism, racism, and sexism. However, some of the grievances are legitimate even if the actors and proposed remedies are bullshit. And well-intentioned people in places like Oakland are working on addressing them in minority communities.

  158. 158.

    Mnemosyne

    October 2, 2018 at 4:20 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    I was giving an example of a program focusing on the unique educational difficulties facing African American boys. A parallel one for girls is not a counterexample.

    Okay, I’m going to do a little playlet to show where we went wrong.

    ME: Claiming that our schools are structured in a way that’s unfair to boys is bullshit.

    YOU: But Oakland has a program for African-American boys that is designed to help overcome historical inequities in American education, so clearly schools are unfair to boys.

    ME: They have one for girls, too, because they’re trying to overcome historical inequities, not gender inequities.

    YOU: But they have one for boys, so
    your point is disproven and schools are unfair to boys.

    ME: (Rage. Rising.)

    Again: schools developing programs to overcome historical race-based inequities in education are not the same as people like Christina Hoff Summers claiming that schools are discriminating against all boys as a gender and forcing them to fail. It. Just. Isn’t.

  159. 159.

    Major Major Major Major

    October 2, 2018 at 4:24 pm

    @Mnemosyne: that wasn’t your original claim. I was addressing you saying “you only seem to get people wringing their hands over suburban white boys not getting their due while black and brown boys drop out of subpar urban schools“

  160. 160.

    Mnemosyne

    October 2, 2018 at 4:25 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    However, some of the grievances are legitimate even if the actors and proposed remedies are bullshit.

    Tell you what: when we get boys to stop sexually harassing girls in the classroom to the point that those girls fail classes because they can’t concentrate on what the teachers are saying, then I’ll worry about why the poor suburban white boys just can’t catch a break in school. Deal?

    And, yes, I’m speaking from personal experience, so pardon me if I don’t weep for the suburban white boys who just can’t be expected to behave themselves and keep their fucking hands to themselves at school.

    The end.

  161. 161.

    Ladyraxterinok

    October 2, 2018 at 4:33 pm

    @Gravenstone: jNixon ‘Sunshine Units’. We’ve been down this road before!!

  162. 162.

    Sab

    October 2, 2018 at 4:45 pm

    @HeleninEire: Thank you ma’am that you accepted my much deserved apology (that I never offered because that’s hard to do online). I was so upset about this because you are always so gracious and I was so out of line in that thread. I can explain what I was thinking at the time, but looking back later at my thinking I have known garden snails with more sense.

  163. 163.

    Sab

    October 2, 2018 at 4:49 pm

    @HeleninEire: Thank you ma’am that you accepted my much deserved apology (that I never offered because that’s hard to do online). I was so upset about this because you are always so gracious and I was so out of line in that thread. I can explain what I was thinking at the time, but looking back later at my thinking I have known garden snails with more sense.@Elizabelle: As was Ruckes in his day.

  164. 164.

    WaterGirl

    October 2, 2018 at 5:00 pm

    @raven: I saw that earlier and was thrilled at the news. Hope you saw my reply at the time.

  165. 165.

    Elizabelle

    October 2, 2018 at 6:40 pm

    @Sab: Ruckes??

  166. 166.

    Elizabelle

    October 2, 2018 at 6:41 pm

    @Sab: Oh, you mean Ruckus from California?

    Love him. Hope he is back soonest. Very humane man. Come back, Ruckus.

  167. 167.

    Mnemosyne

    October 2, 2018 at 6:43 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    He’s around — I think I saw him in the thread above. We’re on Pacific time, so I think he’s doing more evening/late night posting right now.

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