Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

This really is a full service blog.

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

Oppose, oppose, oppose. do not congratulate. this is not business as usual.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

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

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

We’re watching the self-immolation of the leading world power on a level unprecedented in human history.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

Cancel the cowardly Times and Post and set up an equivalent monthly donation to ProPublica.

People are complicated. Love is not.

Trumpflation is an intolerable hardship for every American, and it’s Trump’s fault.

Radicalized white males who support Trump are pitching a tent in the abyss.

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

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Reader Interactions

127Comments

  6. 6.

    Omnes Omnibus

    I am about to head out to my first meeting in a few minutes. It is at an Episcopal Church two buildings from me. If I do this, I have chosen this as my higher power.

  7. 7.

    debbie

    Silly, but very impressive! The guy in green took a real beating, but I loved the one in red who was panting at the end. He should have won.

  9. 9.

    TenguPhule

    “One of the problems that a lot of people like myself, we have very high levels of intelligence but we’re not necessarily such believers,” Trump said during a freewheeling 20-minute Oval Office interview with The Washington Post in which he was asked why he was skeptical of the dire National Climate Assessment his administration released Friday.

    “As to whether or not it’s man-made and whether or not the effects that you’re talking about are there, I don’t see it,” he added.

    A day ending in day again.

  13. 13.

    TenguPhule

    Warning, Strong stomach needed.

    RUCKER: Are you going to make it over there to Afghanistan?

    TRUMP: At the right time I will.

    RUCKER: Before Christmas, you think?

    [TRUMP speaks off the record.]

    DAWSEY: Last night, Mr. Trump, the special counsel’s team charged Paul Manafort with saying, they accused him at least of saying more lies, and ended his plea deal. People around you have told me you’re upset about the way he’s been treated. Are you planning to do anything to help him?

    TRUMP: Let me go off the record because I don’t want to get in the middle of the whole thing.

    [Trump speaks off the record.]

    DAWSEY: Is there any version of that you’re willing to give us on the record in answer to that question?

    TRUMP: I’d rather not. At some point, I’ll talk on the record about it. But I’d rather not.

    [Trump speaks off the record.]

    Shameful, Wapo.

    RUCKER: But what would a deal look like?

    TRUMP: I think that’s been shown better than ever in the last short period of two weeks – that we need a wall. I see the Democrats are going to want to do something, because they understand too. Those pictures are very bad for the Democrats. We’re not having a wall because of the Democrats. We need Democrat votes to have a wall. Now, if we don’t get it, will I get it done another way? I might get it done another way. There are other potential ways that I can do it. You saw what we did with the military, just coming in with the barbed wire and the fencing, and various other things.

    RUCKER: So it’s the Democrats’ fault that — what’s happening at the border over the weekend with the tear gas and the families trying to rush over?

    TRUMP: No, it’s the Democrats’ fault that we don’t have a wall, because they never gave us the vote. They just wouldn’t give us the vote.We almost had a deal, except when – I mean, actually, it wasn’t their fault, wasn’t our fault, it was on DACA. We almost had a deal, and then the judge ruled shockingly in favor of Obama’s signature, when even Obama said what he’s doing is not legal. Essentially, he said, it’s not going to hold up. But when the judge ruled, all of a sudden it was like, that’s the end of that deal. But we were very close to having a deal — $25 billion for a wall and various other things on the border. And DACA. And when the judge shockingly – you know, the Democrats never thought they were going to win that, and then you had another couple of judges rule, and then you had judges rule the other way. It’s going to be settled I assume in the Supreme Court. But we were close to having a deal on DACA until that ruling.

    Real Shitshow.

    RUCKER: The gains from the past year in the stock market, many of them, there’s been a correction. GM is closing some of its plants, laying off a lot of their workers. You said when you campaigned in Michigan that none of the plants would close and now one of them will. —

    TRUMP: No, no, but we have plants moving in, too. We do.

    RUCKER: — So what are you going to do about this, and are you nervous about a recession occurring?

    TRUMP: No, I’m not because what I’m doing is I’m doing trade deals. The trade deals take a little time. The fact is I think — I disagree with the Fed. I’ve been open about that. I think the Fed is a much bigger problem than China. I think that China wants to make a deal very badly. I think we’ll either make a deal or we’ll be taking in billions and billions of dollars a month in tariffs and I’m okay with either one of those two situations. But I can tell you that China wants to make a deal. I can tell you that other countries want to make deals because they know that I’m not playing around. The USMCA was a very well-received deal. That got done and a lot of people said it wouldn’t get done. We’re making great trade deals. We lose $800 billion a year with trade.

    RUCKER: So who should be held responsible? You mentioned the Fed, but when Harry Truman sat here he had that sign that said the buck stops here. —

    TRUMP: Oh, I’m not blaming anybody.

    RUCKER: — But Mr. Trump, it doesn’t seem to stop with you.

    TRUMP: I’m not blaming — look, I took recommendations. I’m not blaming anybody. But I will tell you, at this moment in time I am not at all happy with the Fed. I am not at all happy with my choice. I think we have to let it go. You know, if you look at — China is being accommodative. The Euro and Europe is being accommodative. We’re not getting any accommodation, and we’re also paying $50 billion, we’re paying down our liquidity, is — you can make the case it’s a positive thing in one way, but another thing it snaps your liquidity. So I’m doing deals and I’m not being accommodated by the Fed. I’m not happy with the Fed. They’re making a mistake because I have a gut, and my gut tells me more sometimes than anybody else’s brain can ever tell me.

    He is fucking bonkers.

    TRUMP: And I’m not blaming anybody, but I’m just telling you I think that the Fed is way off-base with what they’re doing, number one. Number two, a positive note, we’re doing very well on trade, we’re doing very well — our companies are very strong. Don’t forget we’re still up from when I came in 38 percent or something. You know, it’s a tremendous — it’s not like we’re up — and we’re much stronger. And we’re much more liquid. And the banks are now much more liquid during my tenure. And I’m not doing – I’m not playing by the same rules as Obama. Obama had zero interest to worry about; we’re paying interest, a lot of interest. He wasn’t paying down — we’re talking about $50 billion lots of different times, paying down and knocking out liquidity. Well, Obama didn’t do that. And just so you understand, I’m playing a normalization economy whereas he’s playing a free economy. It’s easy to make money when you’re paying no interest. It’s easy to make money when you’re not doing any pay-downs, so you can’t — and despite that, the numbers we have are phenomenal numbers.

    Absolutely bonkers.

  14. 14.

    chris

    @Omnes Omnibus: Whatever works for you. I went as an atheist, tried really hard but 26 years and 7 days later I’m still an atheist. I’m sober and that is what counts.

  17. 17.

    Major Major Major Major

    Or a satisfactory supply of gills, or jiggers, or ponies, or snorts or hookers or snits.3 I’m not picky about my units.

    I was assuming here that you’d pivoted to talking about drugs, but I see from the link you had not.

  19. 19.

    Patricia Kayden

    @TenguPhule:

    TRUMP: No, it’s the Democrats’ fault that we don’t have a wall, because they never gave us the vote.

    The tax cuts for the wealthy was passed without any Democratic votes. Funding for the wall doesn’t need Democratic votes either.

  24. 24.

    Elizabelle

    @Baud: Meh. Not paid to watch Chris Hayes, so I never do.

    Just learned i can watch early Perry Mason episodes via Amazon Prime. Look forward to that.

  28. 28.

    PsiFighter37

    Hoping that Mississippi demonstrates it has some sanity and prefers not to be stuck in the 1800s/early 1900s. Not optimistic, but you never know. I could get used to having Southern Democrats back in the big tent.

  29. 29.

    Elizabelle

    @Baud: I’m well, Baud, and thanks for asking. A tiny bit of post-campaign letdown. Miss the intensity, greatly, but so relieved we won.

    How are you?

  32. 32.

    Viva BrisVegas

    @TenguPhule:

    So WaPo is a practitioner of redacted journalism.

    No journalist worth a cup of warm spit should allow an interview subject to speak off the record.

    They needed to tell Trump that this is an interview, nothing is off the record. We are not your cosy confidants.

    It’s a travesty.

  38. 38.

    chris

    @delk: Perhaps I wasn’t clear, I went to all the meetings! 90 meetings in 90 days, old school. Continued to go to two or three a week for 20 years but I live in a very small place now and only get out once a month or so.

  40. 40.

    MobiusKlein

    Now that the first count is in from MS, we should follow the R suggestions and just stop counting, so no cheating can happen.

    Mike Espy Democrat 2,398 50.8%
    Cindy Hyde-Smith* Republican 2,326 49.2

  41. 41.

    SenyorDave

    I used to be able to do math in my head, but now that I’ve lost my touch. Make that 72 votes ahead.

  47. 47.

    Mary G

    She’s taken the lead, but not by much:

    Cindy Hyde-Smith* (R) 5,775 50.2%
    Mike Espy (D) 5,722 49.8%
    Total Votes 11,497

    I know it’s silly to hang onto every little number, but I feel I have to watch poll results to not feel blindsided.

  50. 50.

    satby

    @Omnes Omnibus: remember the hp is just something outside yourself to ground on. One of my friends made whatever doorknob that was handy his higher power.
    All the support in the world for you Omnes.

  52. 52.

    hilts

    @Elizabelle:

    I’d love to see a miracle Mike Espy win but I think the lyrics from this Phil Ochs song are sadly still true

    Here’s to the state of Mississippi,
    For Underheath her borders, the devil draws no lines,
    If you drag her muddy river, nameless bodies you will find.
    whoa the fat trees of the forest have hid a thousand crimes,
    the calender is lyin’ when it reads the present time.
    Whoa here’s to the land you’ve torn out the heart of,
    Mississippi find yourself another country to be part of

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WU3o9Tl7zTk

    in a previous thread some weeks ago, you mentioned a cool sounding art movie house in your neighborhood. Seen any good films there recently? I just saw Green Book today and it was outstanding with wonderful performances from Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen.

  53. 53.

    TS (the original)

    @PsiFighter37: Of course – but following Nate’s blog – it will be closer than it should have been. trump probably lost her a few votes by showing up.

  54. 54.

    Roger Moore

    @eemom:

    So Mr. “Information Wants To Be Free” is panhandling for censorship when the subject of the information happens to be himself.

    I’ve said this all along. If Wikileaks really cared about transparency, they’d be transparent themselves. They aren’t and aren’t. They’ve always been about weaponizing information.

  56. 56.

    guachi

    At least unlike election night, I have no expectation for Espy to win. It’s really all about how little he’ll lose by. So a victory would be a huge surprise.

    But at least in scattered returns Espy is running well ahead of where he was on election day in those counties.

  59. 59.

    Mary G

    @Viva BrisVegas: Agree with you and this guy:

    Re: Today's Wash Post interview w/Trump. Why publish his remarks when he's simply spouting off, spraying lies & creating a fog machine? I wish the media would simply ignore him when what he says has no substance or credibility.— Tony Schwartz (@tonyschwartz) November 27, 2018

    There is no news value whatsoever in that WaPo interview, except that the president is nuts and lies all the time, and we already knew that.

  62. 62.

    Elizabelle

    @hilts: Just saw an amazing film festival about and by Native Americans a week or two ago. Also an animated film this weekend, A Cat in Paris, that I liked a lot. Re the Pocahontas festival: Documentary film director Anne Makepeace is wonderful; screened a film on Edward Curtis, early 20th c. photographer of American Indians, and a film on tribal justice systems present day. More about holistic approach than vengeance. Very interesting. The Byrd Theatre in Richmond. In its 90th year. Really a treasure.

    Want to see The Green Book. Love Mr. Ali; great actor.

    @schrodingers_cat: Been well, thank you. Looking about for the next exciting thing to get involved in. A tad sedentary, actually. How are you?

  63. 63.

    Mary G

    @Omnes Omnibus: Agree with everyone who’s said you may need to check out a few meetings. They are supposed to be all the same, but birds of a feather flock together and some will be full of godbotherers and some won’t. There is always a certain percentage of unhelpful people – I had a therapist tell me once that alcoholism is about eighth down the list of some people’s pathologies, but they are too poor or unwilling to face themselves to go anywhere else.

  64. 64.

    PsiFighter37

    @TS (the original): We shall see. The bad guys are up by 2% with 5% counted…really early. That said, I have no idea how statewide races in MS play out, as for the 15 years I have paid close attention to politics, there has never been 1 statewide race in Mississippi that was worth watching.

  66. 66.

    StringOnAStick

    To everyone who saw my comments about how Omaha Steaks took advantage of my senile mother to order tons of expensive food, get this: I looked up the corporate HQ address for the screed I’m writing, and HQ is on…. wait for it….. John Galt Blvd. Says it all, no?

    This might be one thing Facebook is useful for, because my social media campaign to shame these bastards starts now.

  67. 67.

    Elizabelle

    @Mary G: Like this response to the Schwartz thread by Herrongate (whatever):

    At the end of all of this, there are three entities that won’t be able to get the stink off; Trump, the GOP, and the media. All three have contributed to the horrendous state of affairs that we all endure.

    I wish Philip Rucker of the WaPost would get his “Pulitzer Prize” winning ass off Brian Williams’ set. Same for a lot of them. Do your day jobs. Stop magnifying the speech (not even speech — tweets, for dog’s sake) of a wannabe Banana Republic dictator. Stop giving him the microphone.

  68. 68.

    chris

    @delk: Hahaha! I did wonder.

    And good for you going to all those meetings. We have two a week here, with the same 12-15 people some of whom started to get on my nerves a little after ten years or so, so I find once a month is good. I also like checking out new meetings when I get to the city every couple of months. Guess I’m just an oldtimer but I’m still looking forward to my cake tomorrow night.

  69. 69.

    TS (the original)

    @PsiFighter37: Nate’s probably trying to turn it into a race – but it’s a good read – and as you have said where the early votes come from is most important.

    As others have pointed out, where the votes are coming from is very important in a state with such racially-polarized voting. That might be happening in DeSoto County.
    (GEOFFREY SKELLEY)

    (Hyde-Smith now increasing her lead in Desoto)

  70. 70.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @TenguPhule:

    They’re making a mistake because I have a gut, and my gut tells me more sometimes than anybody else’s brain can ever tell me.

    Is this Trump or Colbert from the Colbert Report? I really can’t tell the difference.

  71. 71.

    guachi

    I think the vote on November 6 was (combined) 58R-42D. So a 16 point loss on election day. I’d guess that single digits would be a kind of moral victory for Espy.

  76. 76.

    lamh36

    Good evening BJ.

    So today was my last full day of class until the final exam day (2 weeks from today). if i do well on the quiz tonight and the next quiz on Finals day and do well on my term paper, i’ll finish with a strong B. If I do REALLY WELL…i.e. perfect scores and REALLY WELL on my term paper…I might just end up with a low A!!!
    So that’s mostly it for my first class as a grad student. One more quiz to go and my grade in the term paper. I swear it looked like he was reading my paper already. when I turned in todays quiz, I swear it looked like my paper he was reading was mine??. i don’t know if I included enough economics in it, but I sure hope it’s enough to get a good percentage of the points for the term paper. tI think I will get the score I needed it to be on the quiz today to continue on track for a B..and if I remembered everything correctly I might even get a higher score.

    Luckily my scores on the other quizzes average pretty well so I don’t need a perfect of even close to a perfect score on the last quizzes. One more quiz to go in 2 weeks, but it’s the same day as the final exam. I have to decide if I want to take the final exam or not. Hey, at least I’ve got 2 weeks to prepare for that last quiz…Although calling it a quiz is not quite right. 2 of the questions will be opened ended from the last chapter taught, but then the last 1/3 of the “quiz” will be 10 multiple choice questions encompassing the ENTIRE semester of learning…

    So…long story short…I need to ace that final quiz and at least mostly ace the term paper. Term paper is turned in, so it’s out of my hands, but the last quiz, I have time to prepare for!

  79. 79.

    SFAW

    @guachi:

    So far, Espy seems to be over-performing (so to speak) in some counties, relative to the figures from 11/6. In other words: in counties where McDaniel and Cindy Racist-#$%^& (combined) got about 60% of the votes cast on 11/6, she’s only pulling 50 to 55 percent. Since it seems unlikely that McDaniel voters would vote for Libtard Espy, those numbers are relatively good.

    That said: it’s a heavy lift for Espy to top 50 percent, but not impossible.

  82. 82.

    WaterGirl

    @Omnes Omnibus: So many good thoughts for you in this thread, I can’t think of anything that hasn’t already been said. #TeamOmnes

    edit: Can’t help myself. Excellent choice with the song.

  83. 83.

    Mary G

    @Elizabelle: I don’t watch any TV anymore, but I did read in the WaPo column by Eric Wemple that MSNBC alone declined to cover Sarah “I Can’t Stop Lying or My Boss Will Fire Me” Sanders “press briefing” today.

    Look what you can accomplish when you decline to hand over your airwaves to unreliable narrators.

    It’s hard to overstate the journalistic merits of this approach. There was a time, before Sean Spicer turned press briefings into I-can’t-believe-he-just-said-that extravaganzas, that the rest of the world would continue with its business as the White House press briefing chugged along. When there was big news afoot, perhaps the cable-news networks would carry it live. And they might cut away from other coverage to a newsworthy scene in the briefing room. But as a general rule, some flack dishing out talking points at the White House wasn’t worthy of live, hold-everything televised coverage.

    Right on, good job MSNBC.

  84. 84.

    opiejeanne

    @Viva BrisVegas:

    They needed to tell Trump that this is an interview, nothing is off the record. We are not your cosy confidants.

    Not sure it would make much difference if they had published what he said. I had trouble figuring out what he said during the interview that they did publish, and I’m still not sure about half of it.

  87. 87.

    SFAW

    @Ben Cisco:

    I’m sensing that I’ve missed something.

    A couple of nights ago, Omnes discussed his alcohol consumption with us (so to speak). The meeting being discussed tonight relates to that.

  91. 91.

    SenyorDave

    People should keep in mind that in Alabama Moore lost by a couple of points and he was an actual pedophile, plus Jones had a background that helped for a Democrat. Smith is just your average dumbass southern politician who made some asinine racist comments that showed her to be on overt bigot, but that probably didn’t hurt her much, if at all with whites. It undoubtedly helped with black turnout, so she might underperform, but Espy had a huge hurdle to overcome. Smith should win, she is pretty representative of the majority of voters in Mississippi. Ultra conservative, loves Trump, poorly informed, not very bright.
    BTW, in 2008 Obama got 11% of the white vote in Mississippi, in 2015 Clinton got 15% of the white vote. I don’t see a Democrat winning Mississippi in a statewide national election for… the rest of my lifetime unless things change drastically.

  92. 92.

    Steeplejack

    @Elizabelle:

    I’m your guy for Masoniana. MeTV has it on twice a day on weekdays (9:00 a.m. and 11:30 p.m.), and I catch some episodes every week to restore my sense of order in the universe.

  94. 94.

    WaterGirl

    @Omnes Omnibus: So glad you found a good group on the first try. Weirdos unite! You will have to tell us if the crowd changes based on time slots or day of the week.

  95. 95.

    Jay

    “The international arrivals area of Vancouver Airport has seen many, many hugs, but none quite like the one between Hassan Al Kontar and Laurie Cooper on a dark, particularly stormy November night.

    Al Kontar, a 37-year-old from Dama, Syria, had just landed after a nine-month ordeal that saw him living for seven months in the transit area of Kuala Lumpur airport, followed by two dark, isolating months in a Malaysian detention centre.”

    https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.4921926

  96. 96.

    Ruckus

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    You are probably back from that meeting but a belated good meeting anyway. Hope it works for you. If you need to talk and your sponsor isn’t available there are lots of shoulders here to lean on. Just give a shout, someone is always about.

  98. 98.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Roger Moore:

    They’ve always been about weaponizing information.

    From what his memoir writer wrote, Assange is a raging narcissist who thinks rules are for other people, has an enemies list that combines both deranged paranoia and pathetic toddler tantrum, and of course that he is a genius hero battling evil, where what he wants defines good and what he doesn’t want defines evil.

    TL:DR, the leader of Wikileaks believes in nothing but himself.

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Is this Trump or Colbert from the Colbert Report? I really can’t tell the difference.

    Colbert didn’t make his shit up. He was the perfect example of Poe’s law, parodying conservative attitudes so purely that a lot of conservatives thought he was on their side. Truthiness isn’t just big in conservatism, it’s one of the fundamental underpinnings. The facts don’t agree with them, so fuck the facts, they know they’re right.

  101. 101.

    Ruckus

    @Major Major Major Major:
    I understand there are meetings that really don’t stress the religion much at all. For me I would have had to find one without any. But I’m in the few – far between – lucky group, didn’t need meetings or medical assistance to stop.

  104. 104.

    Mnemosyne

    @lamh36:

    Hooray! Grad school is a long, tough road, but you are going to be SO glad you did it. You just need to keep your head down and keep going.

    G’s grad school advice: find some people in your program to have a study/support group that meets regularly. You will all do much better and have people to vent to who understand exactly what you’re going through.

  105. 105.

    Mnemosyne

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    It’s not 100 percent comparable, but when I was struggling with depression and then with ADHD, the absolute dumbest thing I did was think that I could handle it by myself. It set me back years in getting my life on track. So you’re already being way smarter than I was.

  106. 106.

    Suzanne

    @Omnes Omnibus: I hope you find it illuminating and supportive. My ex was (is?) in AA and I oddly always enjoyed attending meetings with him. Always found it worthwhile and centering, even though I am not an alcoholic or addict.

  107. 107.

    Jay

    “So from the outset, in the conflict that the United States dates from September 2001, our ostensible ally has been the principal source of the problem. In the Long War, Saudi Arabia represents what military theorists like to call the center of gravity, defined as “the source of power that provides moral or physical strength, freedom of action, or will to act” to the enemy. When it comes to Salafist jihadism, Saudi Arabia fits that definition to a T.

    So there is more than a little poetic justice — or is it irony? — in General Abizaid’s proposed posting to Riyadh. The one senior military officer who early on demonstrated an inkling of understanding of the Long War’s true nature now prepares to take up an assignment in what is, in essence, the very center of the enemy’s camp. It’s as if President Lincoln had dispatched Ulysses S. Grant to Richmond, Virginia, in 1864 as his liaison to Jefferson Davis.”

    http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176499/tomgram%3A_andrew_bacevich%2C_rule_number_one_in_warfare%3A_know_your_enemy/

  108. 108.

    Jay

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Glad that the meeting went well.

    The biggest battle is offen not the “stopping drinking”, but figuring out and fixing why you were self medicating.

    My Mom quit drinking,

    My Dad just became a dry drunk for the next 20 years.

  109. 109.

    hilts

    @Elizabelle:

    All those films you mentioned sound very interesting and I look forward to tracking them down. If I ever visit Richmond, I’ll make sure to check out the Byrd Theatre.

  110. 110.

    Ruckus

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    Whatever works for you is what you need.
    There is a point that most people come to when they can accept a life without alcohol as normal. It’s a step in the process. For some it comes early, for some it takes a while. Many people you know will still drink and won’t fully understand. Some really will. Remember it’s not about them, it’s about you, what’s good for you.
    I’ve been off for long enough, about 15 yrs, that it’s easy now, second nature. I was offered the other day and it slid right out, “I don’t drink.” – “It’s just beer.” Answer – “I don’t drink alcohol.” – What I didn’t say was – “And besides that isn’t beer, it’s watered down donkey piss.” I would have said that out loud 10 yrs ago as part of the excuse. Now I just own my decision not to drink. It’s mine, I made it, I live with it, it’s good for me, and I owe it me to be honest with myself about it.

  112. 112.

    NotMax

    Sigh. Just finished changing the battery in landlady’s spare car, which she’s using while the newer one is in the shop getting some body work done. Of course,

    the nut on one of the battery clamps was frozen
    the under the battery tray was rusted out and part of it disintegrated when I pulled the battery out.

    Icing on the cake was finding that one of the snap-down filler covers on the old battery was just – gone.

    Did convince her to let me go to Sears yesterday to get a sealed DieHard instead of a generic house brand at the closer to home auto parts place. Turned out that I had Sears points (or whatever they’re called) and the final cost was significantly less than elsewhere.

    Air outside hanging very hot and heavy today and now am a little short of breath (plus dehydrated) after finishing; quickly beginning to pass, however.

  113. 113.

    zhena gogolia

    @Steeplejack:

    Did you catch Warren William in Lady for a Day last night? Sublime.

    I just learned he was Warren William Krech from Minnesota, married to the same woman all his (too-short) life, and liked to tinker with inventions. And Joan Blondell said he was an old man even when he was a young man.

  119. 119.

    Mnemosyne

    @Ruckus:

    An interesting trick of psychology that I first learned in Weight Watchers: if you tell yourself I can’t have X or I’m not allowed to have X, you will inevitably backslide, have/eat X, and feel like a failure.

    However, if you say to yourself I choose not to have X, you will be much more successful, because you made a conscious choice and decision.

    So what you have been successfully telling yourself is not that you can’t drink. It’s that you choose not to drink. Making it a conscious choice cements the decision.

  120. 120.

    Steeplejack

    @zhena gogolia:

    I didn’t see it. My viewing has been limited since my TV died in September. I have been experimenting with the TV-free lifestyle but catching some screen time via streaming on my tablet. Cox Cable’s Contour app works surprisingly well.

    That said, I finally bought a new TV yesterday. I hate shopping, much less Black Friday/​Cyber Monday shopping, but I rode the wave and got a good deal on a 49" Samsung. I haven’t deployed it yet. I need to dispose of the old TV and rearrange my media setup somewhat.

    (“Media setup” is a bit highfalutin for my jury-rigged mess. Trying to neaten it somewhat.)

    ETA: I just remembered that a few months ago I saw one of those little interstitial newsreel-type features that TCM runs to round out the hour that was Warren William being interviewed in his inventor’s workshop. There was also one of him and some actress getting a golf lesson from Bobby Jones.

  121. 121.

    Ruckus

    @Mnemosyne:
    Exactly.
    I call it owning the decision but it’s the same thing. It’s kinda the opposite of immaturity, going along to get along. When you realize that you don’t have to do that, that your good and bad decisions are yours and yours alone, that you can choose to do whatever. The reason I say own it is that it makes you realize that you made the decision to drink, you can make the decision not to drink, no one else did that. No one tied you up and poured it down your throat, you did that. That same person can make the opposite decision, to stop. —- Of course there is an issue with alcohol and drugs and that is that we are susceptible to physical addiction, or depending on the substance, guarantied to become addicted. But in the end starting or stopping is a decision we have to make. The method to carry out that decision, the will to stick with it, the will to suffer the withdrawals if necessary, that is separate from that decision.
    But if you don’t own your decisions, you can’t really be free or be an mature adult.

  123. 123.

    NotMax

    @Steeplejack

    re : TV

    Woo-hoo!

    The interstitial features are what first drew me in to TCM. When they were introduced by their own “one reel wonder” theme music, hearing that would be enough for me to interrupt whatever else was doing and check it out.

  124. 124.

    Steeplejack

    @NotMax:

    They are fascinating. I started seeing them when I would flip to TCM ahead of a movie I wanted to watch, especially late at night. Then I started lingering after the ends of movies to see what would show up before the next feature started. For some reason I really like the weird travel/​leisure ones—“Sun Valley Winter Carnival,” “Calgary Stampede,” etc. They’re sort of weird but “normalized” at the same time. And the narrators all affect this chatty, wise-guy tone. Actually, it was probably one guy who narrated them all; that would be a typical Hollywood thing.

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