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Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

If you are in line to indict donald trump, stay in line.

Fight them, without becoming them!

Trump makes a mockery of the legal system and cowardly judges just sit back and let him.

The frogs are rarely mistaken.

In my day, never was longer.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

“In the future, this lab will be a museum. don’t touch it.”

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Can we lighten up on the doomsday scenarios?

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

The words do not have to be perfect.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Let’s show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

American History and Black History can not be separated.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you don’t.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

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You are here: Home / Books / Thursday Morning Open Thread: Dependable Solace

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Dependable Solace

by Anne Laurie|  December 27, 20186:13 am| 192 Comments

This post is in: Books, Open Threads, Daydream Believers, Rare Sincerity

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(Jim Morin via GoComics.com)
.

Well, that’s deplorable solace. Books, on the other hand…

New via @usnews on how the Clinton Foundation’s @2SmallToFail initative is working with @chipublib & other partners to improve early childhood literacy in Chicago. https://t.co/s8VgDmLN1w

— Craig Minassian (@MinassianMedia) December 26, 2018

The research is all but irrefutable: Parents of very young children who talk to, read and engage with them as often as possible help them build literacy skills at an early age – an educational foundation that can give kids a jump-start on future academic success.

Also certain: Parents of very young children usually have to do a lot of laundry. And low-income families tend to bring their kids with them to public laundromats.

Those truths converge once a week at select neighborhood laundromats in Chicago. That’s when librarians from one of the nation’s largest library systems lay down colorful mats, oversized board books and musical shakers beside the industrial washing machines and wire laundry baskets.

Inside one of about 14 laundromats in the city’s low-income neighborhoods, the librarians gather all available children for Laundromat Story Time, a Chicago Public Library program that combines early education principles with public outreach and a dash of parental modeling.

Amid the muffled churn of the washers and the humming of dryers, anywhere between a handful to more than a dozen children hear stories, sing songs and play games designed to help their brains develop. The event also aims to tacitly instruct parents on how to repeat the experience for their kids, working to reverse poor literacy rates in underserved communities…

And it clearly meets a need: Library officials say the program is in increasing demand, while Rudl says families have adjusted their household’s laundry day to coincide with librarians’ laundromat visits. At the same time, Laundromat Story Time’s co-sponsors – including a laundry industry trade group and Libraries Without Borders, an organization fighting poverty through literacy – have worked with the CPL to draft an instruction manual to help expand the concept to other U.S. cities…

Although the Chicago Public Library has been among the vanguard of those bringing library services to laundromats in recent years, both Libraries Without Borders and the LaundryCares Foundation – the charitable arm of industry trade group the Coin Laundry Association – had similar plans in the works, and library-laundromat efforts have cropped up in cities like Detroit, New York, Pittsburgh and St. Paul, Minnesota, as well.

Adam Echelman, incoming executive director of Libraries Without Borders, says the idea took root for his organization – which brings books to refugee camps, poverty-stricken areas and disaster zones around the world – following a massive and deadly earthquake in Haiti in 2010.

“We reassessed – ‘There’s just been a devastating earthquake. Now is not the time for library services,” Echelman says. But when quake survivors kept asking for books anyway, he says, his organization decided to test a concept: the Ideas Box, a small, free-standing kiosk with books for loan and a computer terminal.

When it became a hit overseas (“We set it up in Haiti, Burundi, Jordan, Lebanon and Greece, where they were welcoming migrants,” Echelman says) the New York Public Library system, he says, got wind of the idea and wanted to bring it there. Another pilot program showed that the Ideas Box did best on a particular street corner of a low-income neighborhood in Manhattan – usage was booming but officials weren’t sure why.

“There are three things that make laundries unique,” Echelman says. “One, people are stuck there, sometimes for hours. The second thing is people come back every week. Third, it’s a space that’s open almost 24/7. Put those things together, and it’s kind of a great space” to reach children and their parents…

Read the whole thing, and feel better about the future.

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Reader Interactions

192Comments

  1. 1.

    rikyrah

    December 27, 2018 at 6:19 am

    Good Morning, Everyone ???

  2. 2.

    OzarkHillbilly

    December 27, 2018 at 6:34 am

    I read to my sons every night at bedtime since before they could talk. They always had access to books, which I read to them whenever asked, On our camping, floating, caving, hiking trips, which after divorce was every wkend I had them, they spent hours in my truck w/ their books and rarely complained or had a disagreement.

    Surprise surprise, they are voracious readers and we are constantly trading/recommending books back and forth.

  3. 3.

    satby

    December 27, 2018 at 6:35 am

    Good morning ?!

    The Chicago Public Library has always done a lot of literacy outreach whenever they’ve had funding. I was a basic literacy tutor for them back in the 80s and it was such a great program.

  4. 4.

    lollipopguild

    December 27, 2018 at 6:39 am

    But… but… but HER E-Mails!!!!!!!!!

  5. 5.

    satby

    December 27, 2018 at 6:44 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Good readers model that behavior naturally, because we enjoy reading ourselves. Poor readers don’t because they struggle with it and it’s not an enjoyable activity for them. These programs model that reading can be fun for both the children and the parents. And parents with poor literacy skills want their children to have better literacy and do better than they did, that’s universal, so sometimes the parents join the adult programs.

  6. 6.

    JPL

    December 27, 2018 at 6:44 am

    Anne, Thank you for highlighting the article, and the work that librarians do to promote a love of reading and story telling.

  7. 7.

    OzarkHillbilly

    December 27, 2018 at 6:51 am

    @satby: It’s never too late.

  8. 8.

    NotMax

    December 27, 2018 at 6:54 am

    Just an FYI to note that, although it won’t be available until “sometime” in the first half of 2019, Amazon Prime members can add Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett’s Good Omens mini-series to their watchlist now.

  9. 9.

    Brachiator

    December 27, 2018 at 6:56 am

    Great story. I’m glad that it appears to be a great success.

    However, I notice here and there parents of all social classes buried in a phone or tablet, sometimes ignoring a kid, or sometimes having given the child a phone or tablet as a distraction.

    At times, the parent rebuffs an attempt by the child to engage the parent, or to get his or her attention. Obviously, I don’t know whether the parent makes up for this later, but I wonder what impact this might have.

    Peeking a bit, the parent is typically playing a game, texting or doing other device jibber jabber.

  10. 10.

    satby

    December 27, 2018 at 6:56 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: it never is, my oldest student was in her 70s, she wanted to be able to read her Bible for herself. She did very well too.

  11. 11.

    rikyrah

    December 27, 2018 at 7:00 am

    Uh huh
    Uh huh ??

    About Dolt45:
    After his financial disasters two decades ago, no U.S. bank would touch him. Then foreign money began flowing in.

    https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/12/21/how-russian-money-helped-save-trumps-business/

  12. 12.

    satby

    December 27, 2018 at 7:04 am

    @NotMax: I was watching this version of And then there were none and thought I had to tell you about it. Very good retelling and cast. Pretty sure it’s on Prime.

  13. 13.

    geg6

    December 27, 2018 at 7:06 am

    What a great story! I love this. Thanks for sharing, AL.

  14. 14.

    Baud

    December 27, 2018 at 7:07 am

    @rikyrah: Good morning.

  15. 15.

    Raven

    December 27, 2018 at 7:08 am

    @satby: One of my “research participants “ made a deal with her son that she’d get her GED if he stayed in school and graduated. They did.

  16. 16.

    Baud

    December 27, 2018 at 7:09 am

    Read the whole thing, and feel better about the future.

    I can’t. I simply can’t get over how horribly Hillary has been treated by the country and even by her own side. I know she is dealing with it better than I am, but she is stronger than me.

  17. 17.

    Raven

    December 27, 2018 at 7:10 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Another took 12 years of classes to pass the tests.

  18. 18.

    debbie

    December 27, 2018 at 7:11 am

    One of my nephews was on the verge of being labeled learning disabled because he couldn’t read. His mother refused to accept that, enrolled him in a literacy program (Reading Recovery), and he hasn’t stopped since (about to hit his 30’s). He went through Harry Potter books like I go through a chocolate bar.

  19. 19.

    NotMax

    December 27, 2018 at 7:12 am

    @satby

    Danke. Finished up Vanity Fair, now delving into Middlemarch.

  20. 20.

    debbie

    December 27, 2018 at 7:13 am

    @Baud:

    Trump will get that same treatment. I look forward to the RWNJ outrage.

  21. 21.

    OzarkHillbilly

    December 27, 2018 at 7:15 am

    9 November- I’ve photographed over 100 wildfires, but the California wildfire was one of the most intense. This was a few days in and it was wholesale destruction. For 12 miles there was a line of people evacuating amid a backdrop of this huge, ominous, orange-grey fire. People were crying and screaming, watching their homes burn down, running for their lives. All hell was breaking loose. And then, almost like a movie, this guy rolled past on his skateboard saying: “Oh my gosh bro, this is crazy,” with his phone in his hand filming. That would only happen in Los Angeles. The photo really puts the fire in the context of the location.

    -Stuart Palley

    Lots of good pics in The best photographs of 2018 – and the stories behind them , but that one made me laugh.

    This one is just flat out disturbing, as in, “What the Fuck is wrong with these people?” It’s the look on her face.

  22. 22.

    satby

    December 27, 2018 at 7:16 am

    @Raven: @Raven: have you ever found that a lot of the “slow learners” were undiagnosed dyslexics?

  23. 23.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    December 27, 2018 at 7:17 am

    Kaili Joy Gray
    ‏Verified account @KailiJoy
    Dec 25

    Obama dressed as Santa and visited children.

    Trump told a child there is no Santa.

    32 replies 492 retweets 1,928 likes

  24. 24.

    Baud

    December 27, 2018 at 7:22 am

    @debbie: But unlike Hillary, he’ll deserve it.

  25. 25.

    debbie

    December 27, 2018 at 7:23 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    It’s also that tiara.

  26. 26.

    debbie

    December 27, 2018 at 7:24 am

    @Baud:

    Absolutely.

  27. 27.

    Raven

    December 27, 2018 at 7:25 am

    @satby: My research was focused on Adult Literary Education and the GED so I certainly saw references to that. Low literacy skills can be so many things and proper evaluation is key.

  28. 28.

    OzarkHillbilly

    December 27, 2018 at 7:26 am

    @Raven: @satby: I had a friend, one of the most intelligent people I have ever known. He never got past the 4th grade because of undiagnosed dyslexia. I gave him 2 books to read, “Huckleberry Finn” and “Black Elk Speaks”. Lord only knows how long it took him to get thru them but he never stopped thanking me for giving them to him.

  29. 29.

    OzarkHillbilly

    December 27, 2018 at 7:34 am

    @debbie: Huh, I hadn’t even noticed the tiara. The all white dress in contrast to the all black AR-15 leading up to that face… I just never got beyond her enraptured face, it’s just so creepy.

  30. 30.

    Schlemazel

    December 27, 2018 at 7:44 am

    @satby:
    6 years of weekly bible study made me want to read the bible myself. I did and lets just say she may be in for an unhappy surprise

  31. 31.

    Just Chuck

    December 27, 2018 at 7:48 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    This one is just flat out disturbing, as in, “What the Fuck is wrong with these people?” It’s the look on her face.

    Wow, the graphics for Far Cry 5 are really something there.

  32. 32.

    zhena gogolia

    December 27, 2018 at 7:50 am

    @Baud:

    I went off on the guests after Christmas dinner when they started on the “She was a bad candidate” BS.

  33. 33.

    Schlemazel

    December 27, 2018 at 7:51 am

    I read to my kids regularly. Even when they were beginning readers themselves. They all heard The Hobbit and then the Rings trilogy. Two were excellent readers in school, the one with ADD struggled. Now they are all in their 30s and two of them read very little while the guy with ADD devours books.

  34. 34.

    zhena gogolia

    December 27, 2018 at 7:51 am

    @satby:

    I loved it!

  35. 35.

    Immanentize

    December 27, 2018 at 7:52 am

    @Baud: I am with you. And even though we all knew politics ain’t bean bag, it’s not supposed to be a one sided assassination reality TV show either. And the media, particularly, will never fess up to their role.

    Yet still we can prevail! Because we have the right policies and in the end the numbers. Minority representation government just can’t survive long.

  36. 36.

    Matt

    December 27, 2018 at 7:59 am

    Apropos of the comic up top, a classic from 2009:

    https://www.adultswim.com/videos/squidbillies/the-fine-ol-solution

  37. 37.

    satby

    December 27, 2018 at 8:01 am

    @Schlemazel: I used to read a book a day (usually mysteries, not great literature). Now I fall asleep reading a book, though a compelling one I’ll usually still finish in a day or so. But I don’t read as many books as I used to because I’m reading so much other stuff online now. My reading consumption hasn’t gone down, it’s just changed content. I imagine I’m not the only one.

  38. 38.

    satby

    December 27, 2018 at 8:05 am

    @zhena gogolia: it surprised me with twists even though I knew the story. I really enjoyed it.
    And Aiden Turner in a towel is quite hot.

  39. 39.

    Immanentize

    December 27, 2018 at 8:05 am

    We read to the Immp every night from when he was maybe 8 months until he was about seven or eight. Then he wanted to read “his own books.”. We got through the Mysterious Benedict Society series before he went off on his own. I really was sad to stop as I am sure at the end I was enjoying reading those books more than he was. Hardy Boys, Harry Potter, tons of Thomas the Tank Engine Books, Little Golden Books, (Little Fur People was our favorite) and on and on….

    ETA. And the result is he asked for books for Christmas — and flannel sheets.

  40. 40.

    rikyrah

    December 27, 2018 at 8:07 am

    How is this NOT colonialism????

    https://twitter.com/alfonslopeztena/status/1078256291108265984

  41. 41.

    Schlemazel

    December 27, 2018 at 8:11 am

    @satby:
    In my case it is the depression. I read a paragraph and realize I have no idea what it is I just read. I believe After all the other shit is taken care of I can deal with it again. I used to go through at least one and usually two books a week.

  42. 42.

    OzarkHillbilly

    December 27, 2018 at 8:12 am

    @rikyrah: The Chinese play a long game. We have trump.

  43. 43.

    Immanentize

    December 27, 2018 at 8:12 am

    @rikyrah: Hi Rikyrah!

    It is colonialism, and it will end like all colonial endeavors — in tears.

  44. 44.

    Schlemazel

    December 27, 2018 at 8:13 am

    @rikyrah:
    Welcome to the new world where China now does the things the US used to do. We did it our way & they are doing it there way but it is a difference without distinction.

  45. 45.

    Ladyraxterinok

    December 27, 2018 at 8:15 am

    @satby: Reminded of scene in (the book) Heidi where she reads passages of the Bible to the gramma. And IIRC this pushes Peter to improve his reading skills.

  46. 46.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    December 27, 2018 at 8:15 am

    I love the laundromat program! Libraries (and librarians) rock.

  47. 47.

    HeleninEire

    December 27, 2018 at 8:17 am

    Wonderful, hopeful post. We needed that. My Dad was an OK Dad but I will go to my grave thanking him for reading to us from before we could talk. When I left NY I gave thousands of books to the Queens Library.

    And speaking of “books” I hesitated forever to buy a Kindle. I love the feel of books. The watching how many pages I got through. The feeling of turning a page. My biggest reading place was on the NYC subway so I used to buy pocketbooks based on whether I could fit a book in.

    But once I got my Kindle I fell in love with it. And why? Because I can carry every single book I own with me all the time. And I can buy a book from my bed in 10 seconds.

    Also? Smaller, lighter pocketbooks.

  48. 48.

    zhena gogolia

    December 27, 2018 at 8:23 am

    @satby:

    Yes, I restrained myself from mentioning Aiden Turner in a towel. Good thing they need to search everybody!

  49. 49.

    A Ghost To Most

    December 27, 2018 at 8:24 am

    @HeleninEire:
    Books aren’t the dead trees they used to be printed on. They are the information within. My wife went Kindle in 2010, and never looked back.

  50. 50.

    raven

    December 27, 2018 at 8:26 am

    @Ladyraxterinok: Once upon a time I assembled a series of literacy related clips from films. Spartacus, Viva Zapata and Orphans (Albert Finney and Mathew Modine) were a few.

  51. 51.

    Ladyraxterinok

    December 27, 2018 at 8:29 am

    @HeleninEire: Big problem with Kindle–many older novels, like mysteries, are NOT in the new form. They can only be found in used book stores.

  52. 52.

    HeleninEire

    December 27, 2018 at 8:33 am

    @Ladyraxterinok: Yes. I so want to read “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” and it is not available.

  53. 53.

    Major Major Major Major

    December 27, 2018 at 8:34 am

    Oh, wow, how wonderful!

    I’m sure the computer terminal at the ideas box is just a normal computer, but it made me think of the Humanity Development Library, a turnkey digital library platform:

    The Humanity Development Library is a large collection of practical information aimed at helping reduce poverty, increasing human potential, and providing a practical and useful education for all. This version, 2.0, contains 1,230 publications–books, reports, and magazines–in various areas of human development, from agricultural practice to economic policies, from water and sanitation to society and culture, from education to manufacturing, from disaster mitigation to micro-enterprises.

  54. 54.

    Raven

    December 27, 2018 at 8:39 am

    @HeleninEire: Free ebook: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson

  55. 55.

    HeleninEire

    December 27, 2018 at 8:41 am

    @Raven: Thank you, thank you.

  56. 56.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    December 27, 2018 at 8:42 am

    @lollipopguild:

    “And what about the optics of the existence of the Clinton Foundation? Sure, unlike a lot of charitable enterprises, the vast majority of the contributions make their way to their beneficiaries in terms of medications or goods or services, with very little administrative expense relative to other charities, it still exists. And it has the Clinton name attached. We just don’t know, but must speculate that somehow That Woman is getting some hidden benefit somewhere. And while we know that the Trump Foundation is a naked and open grift; it is simply a slush fund to redirect tax deducted dollars to pay for Trump family personal expenses and to satisfy Donald Trump’s whims, aren’t you more satisfied to know that it is an ongoing set of criminal violations that he lies about as opposed to wondering what, if any, benefit Hillary gets from the Clinton Foundation?”

    /mode Politico/Axios/Slate/NYT/CNN/ABC/CBS

  57. 57.

    Kay

    December 27, 2018 at 8:46 am

    @Brachiator:

    There are class differences, though, in my experience, really educational differences, probably. It’s really glaring when you watch different parents for a period of years. Better educated parents have a dialogue with their kids – a back and forth- where with less educated parents it’s one way- a series of directives. I don’t know but I think the dialogue approach develops skills, the kids learn to “use their words” to navigate conflicts- they have to think thru a response, argue, persuade. They get additional information on WHY they’re told to do things. It’s just much richer for them. They’re participants rather than passive vessels.

  58. 58.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    December 27, 2018 at 8:49 am

    @Major Major Major Major: It made me think of the People’s Computer Company. Back before many people had home computers, I seem to recall they set up public terminals for people to access.

  59. 59.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    December 27, 2018 at 8:50 am

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: You’re making my blood pressure rise.

  60. 60.

    Citizen_X

    December 27, 2018 at 8:53 am

    @rikyrah: Wow. China getting their own Hong Kong!

  61. 61.

    OzarkHillbilly

    December 27, 2018 at 9:00 am

    @HeleninEire:

    I so want to read “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”

    Say WHAT???? You po’ deprived chile’….

  62. 62.

    OzarkHillbilly

    December 27, 2018 at 9:04 am

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: I wonder what would come out if you ever went into Breitbart/RedState/GatewayPundit/Drudge mode.

  63. 63.

    HeleninEire

    December 27, 2018 at 9:06 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I know, right? I’m trying to keep with all you old people! That book was published WAAYYYY before I was born. Really. Stop Laughing.

  64. 64.

    Kayla Rudbek

    December 27, 2018 at 9:17 am

    @Kay: maybe it’s good then that my brother has already started the family tradition of the father-son arguments (even though my nephew is under 6 months old)

  65. 65.

    gene108

    December 27, 2018 at 9:18 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    The Chinese play a long game. We have trump.

    Trump is just the cherry on top. Republicans, as a whole, have been undermining norms for over 50 years, when Nixon scuttled the Paris Peace Talks, in the summer of 1968.

    They just have gotten more open and/or people are starting to pay more attention about all their election fuckery, in order to maintain power at all costs. Couple that with their racist, anti-environmental, anti-science, dogmatic policy positions that do not work, and we are headed for a fall as a nation. Especially as China overtakes us as the #1 economy on the planet.

  66. 66.

    OzarkHillbilly

    December 27, 2018 at 9:18 am

    @HeleninEire: I was gonna say something about your just disclosed to me youth but was afraid I might say it the wrong way. It’s a great book, a truly fun ride. One particularly memorable line is from when they’ve first arrived in Vegas and are tripping in a restaurant. The floor is covered in blood and one of them points to the lizard waiters and says,

    “You notice they aren’t slipping on the floor. It’s because they have claws.”

    When ever I and my friends were in a restaurant, inevitably somebody would point out the claws on the wait staff.

  67. 67.

    schrodingers_cat

    December 27, 2018 at 9:22 am

    Stupidest thing I have heard this year.

    Mattis should run as a Democrat for 2020

    .

  68. 68.

    OzarkHillbilly

    December 27, 2018 at 9:22 am

    @gene108: I blame it on the MBA focus on short term profit. That mindset has infected so much of our culture one can not escape it’s influence.

  69. 69.

    schrodingers_cat

    December 27, 2018 at 9:27 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I know that it is the CW on this blog to blame MBAs for everything. Blame the Chicago school economists who replaced Keynsian macroeconomics with their neoliberal policies since the 70s. It did not happen at the MBA level it happened at a much higher level, head of the state level (Reagan and Thatcher), CEO level. When running the economy like a business and running a business only to increase shareholder value above everything else became the thing to do. People with MBAs are minions carrying out those orders but they didn’t make those policies nor did they come up with them.

  70. 70.

    gene108

    December 27, 2018 at 9:28 am

    @Immanentize:

    Tears for the country being colonized, as their wealth is funneled to the conquering country.

    Colonial powers came out of colonialism quite nicely. Belgium, France, Britain, etc. are all wealthy nations. Democratic Republic of Congo, India, Vietnam, Cambodia, etc not so much.

  71. 71.

    BruceFromOhio

    December 27, 2018 at 9:32 am

    Those truths converge once a week at select neighborhood laundromats in Chicago. That’s when librarians from one of the nation’s largest library systems lay down colorful mats, oversized board books and musical shakers beside the industrial washing machines and wire laundry baskets.

    That is simply brilliant. Thank you for sharing this story!

  72. 72.

    raven

    December 27, 2018 at 9:34 am

    Bad craziness.

  73. 73.

    Gin & Tonic

    December 27, 2018 at 9:35 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: All of my kids took AP US Gov (or whatever it’s called) classes – with the benefit of some really good and enthusiastic teachers – but I always told them you can’t really understand US politics without reading Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail 1972.

  74. 74.

    Frankensteinbeck

    December 27, 2018 at 9:35 am

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Mattis should run as a Democrat for 2020

    I think this is a great idea. That way he can disappear in the primary without a trace, and the media won’t have the chance to go on and on about how Mattis is what the Republican Party is REALLY about, strength and moral responsibility and deniable, politely worded bigotry.

  75. 75.

    schrodingers_cat

    December 27, 2018 at 9:38 am

    @Frankensteinbeck: That would certainly be a good side effect. I was judging the idea on its merits, that he would be a formidable D candidate is laughable.

  76. 76.

    gene108

    December 27, 2018 at 9:38 am

    @schrodingers_cat: @OzarkHillbilly:

    That mindset of short term profits and maximizing share holder value didn’t exist during Nixon’s campaign and tenure.

    It really set in, in the 1980’s, when Reagan’s Administration green lighted a bunch of M&A activity that changed the script on how companies should be run. Along with rise of giving CEO’s piles of shares, in order to “better align the CEO’s interests with the shareholders” and we are now in the mess we are in.

    Republican election fuckery predates all of this and is wholly independent of it.

  77. 77.

    Miss Bianca

    December 27, 2018 at 9:39 am

    OMG, to think we could have had a President who supports family literacy efforts (sobs the former literacy program manager).

  78. 78.

    schrodingers_cat

    December 27, 2018 at 9:40 am

    @gene108: I did add Reagan and Thatcher to my comment, in an edit. So we are in agreement. Its glibertarian philosophy given a sophisticated intellectual gloss by the Milton Friedman and his acolytes.

  79. 79.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    December 27, 2018 at 9:42 am

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Everybody is just excited about a Mad Dog 2020 bumper sticker and candidacy.

    You’d have to have come of age in the US in the 70s or 80s to truly appreciate the reference.

  80. 80.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    December 27, 2018 at 9:44 am

    @gene108:

    So long as Vietnam avoids a wide conflict with China, it’s going to kick ass.

  81. 81.

    Miss Bianca

    December 27, 2018 at 9:44 am

    @satby: You are not the only one.

  82. 82.

    Sister Golden Bear

    December 27, 2018 at 9:46 am

    At the airport, waiting for my flight to Poodle Springs for a couple days of de-stressing, desert sun, and Mid-Century Modern design geekiary.

    The gate agents have some rocking soul playing. Life is good.

    If only it weren’t dark o’clock…. Coffee IV STAT!

  83. 83.

    Immanentize

    December 27, 2018 at 9:47 am

    @raven: Raven, that is such a great/cool idea. I know there are literacy scenes in other movies — “Roots” jumps to mind. “To Sir with Love.”. It would be a great small project to again add to what you did before. It seems like that is why YouTube was created.

  84. 84.

    Emma

    December 27, 2018 at 9:49 am

    @Ladyraxterinok: There’s a series in Kindle now called MEGAPACKS. They collect mysteries, fantasy, science fiction, and supernatural/horror stories. I discovered them because they concentrate on the 30s and 40s pulps that I absolutely love and they have at least a representative sample of most of the authors from that era. Packs are available from 55 cents to a few dollars. I wonder if you have encountered them already?

    Also there are free ebooks everywhere these days. I’ve found great stuff through Gutenberg and the Internet Archive.

  85. 85.

    Brachiator

    December 27, 2018 at 9:51 am

    @Kay:

    There are class differences, though, in my experience, really educational differences, probably. It’s really glaring when you watch different parents for a period of years. Better educated parents have a dialogue with their kids – a back and forth- where with less educated parents it’s one way- a series of directives.

    No. No. No. It’s more than class.

    Some of the people I see ignoring their kids or simply leaving them to their own devices are educated, middle class and upper middle class parents. These are often also people with multiple devices, and the most expensive ones.

    And consistently the people I see who most engage lovingly with their kids are working class Hispanics. Especially mothers.

    But I understand what you mean about parents who issue directives to kids. This is often a reflection of how the parents were raised. They were taught that the world is a hard place and place a lot of emphasis on obedience as a form of respect.

  86. 86.

    HeleninEire

    December 27, 2018 at 9:52 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Looking forward to reading it. There are lots of old book stores here. I looked for it a few months ago but could not find it.

  87. 87.

    OzarkHillbilly

    December 27, 2018 at 9:52 am

    @raven: Dropping like a rock, if your talking about the DJIA.

  88. 88.

    Wapiti

    December 27, 2018 at 9:53 am

    @schrodingers_cat: Yeah, my dad floated this yesterday. I brought up John Kerry as an example of how the Republicans will denigrate service, and Hillary Clinton as an example of how they will overlook faith.

    Maybe I could have shot it down more gently. “Why doesn’t he run as a Republican?”

  89. 89.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    December 27, 2018 at 9:54 am

    @Emma: Years ago I bought my daughter a collection of pulp mysteries with female leads, called “Tough Dames” or something along those lines.

    One was a woman who ran a detective agency with a male sidekick, but they’d pretend he was the detective and she was a secretary when interacting with clients.

    Can’t remember her name but we’ve both searched for more stories with her, without success. They all appeared in pulp magazines that nobody seems to carry.

    Ring a bell? I’ll do a little googling in a minute to try to get a name.

  90. 90.

    plato

    December 27, 2018 at 9:54 am

    Barack Obama is America's most admired man for the 11th year in a row, according to Gallup's annual poll.

    Michelle Obama is now the most admired woman.

    https://t.co/DKbPacd8Ec— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) December 27, 2018

    There is always that, fuck the totus thug and the totus party.

  91. 91.

    Yarrow

    December 27, 2018 at 9:55 am

    Good morning, everyone. Love the story up top.Laundromats are full of waiting and that can be kind of boring. Story time is a wonderful way to fill that time.

    Letting down after all the craziness. I don’t think I realized just how exhausted I was after the terrible driving conditions I was in yesterday for hours. When I finally let down I could hardly stand up just to get to bed. Nothing like adrenaline to keep you going and then the crash when it subsides.

  92. 92.

    plato

    December 27, 2018 at 9:56 am

    Front page Israel Hayom Thursday morning: Netanyahu’s Likud party threatens Attorney General if he indicts Bibi; Bibi announces he will not resign if indicted (as if we didn’t know already). And as Tomer Persico says, this is a mafia, and we’re just getting started.

    https://t.co/tWSImkmiSh— Mairav Zonszein מרב זונשיין (@MairavZ) December 27, 2018

  93. 93.

    Yarrow

    December 27, 2018 at 9:57 am

    @raven: Everything okay?

  94. 94.

    Brachiator

    December 27, 2018 at 9:58 am

    @Emma:

    There’s a series in Kindle now called MEGAPACKS. They collect mysteries, fantasy, science fiction, and supernatural/horror stories.

    Thanks for the reminder. I bought a couple of SF collections

    Love my Kindle.

  95. 95.

    OzarkHillbilly

    December 27, 2018 at 10:01 am

    @Wapiti:

    “Why doesn’t he run as a Republican?”

    Because everybody knows Republicans are batshit crazy and Mattis is merely conservative?

  96. 96.

    Miss Bianca

    December 27, 2018 at 10:01 am

    Read the whole article and am all smiles because the laundromat they mentioned was none other than BUBBLELAND! on Western Ave., which was a laundromat I both passed, and used, frequently when I lived in the city. Glad to see it’s still there, 20 years later, and still evolving as a neighborhood hub!

  97. 97.

    Gin & Tonic

    December 27, 2018 at 10:02 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: There will be no rationality this week.

  98. 98.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    December 27, 2018 at 10:03 am

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: Remington Steele.

  99. 99.

    Emma

    December 27, 2018 at 10:04 am

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: The only one I can think of is Carrie Cashin? I think the author’s last name was Tinsley?

  100. 100.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    December 27, 2018 at 10:04 am

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: Pretty sure Carrie Cashin of the Cash & Carry Detective Agency is the one.

  101. 101.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    December 27, 2018 at 10:05 am

    @Emma: yes, posted before seeing your posting

  102. 102.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    December 27, 2018 at 10:05 am

    @plato: that’s gonna make The Beast crazy. That’s just the kind of throwback thing he obsesses over, like Time mag covers

  103. 103.

    gogiggs

    December 27, 2018 at 10:08 am

    This just in: caring about and paying attention to your children is good for them.

  104. 104.

    OzarkHillbilly

    December 27, 2018 at 10:10 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: All over the place. Down, a little up, downdowndown, then Up, now down again.

  105. 105.

    Patricia Kayden

    December 27, 2018 at 10:12 am

    Please do a front page on the Obamas reaching #1 in the Gallup poll for most admired man and woman. Yay!!!

  106. 106.

    OzarkHillbilly

    December 27, 2018 at 10:15 am

    Just gotta point out, Hillary and Melania are tied at 4%. Really America? I mean, really???

  107. 107.

    plato

    December 27, 2018 at 10:17 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Beasts are magnificent critters, the totus thug is just a pos. And yes, this will drive him more nuts.

  108. 108.

    Ruckus

    December 27, 2018 at 10:20 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    I was an impatient child and wanted to read and explore every moment. But I was sick a lot when young and spent a lot of time in bed – reading. But I also had to teach myself to read because stuck in bed. Looking back I should have wondered why I thought it was normal to see things backwards. It’s taken a long time to learn to live with the dyslexia, but it can be done. What struck me most was thinking, why didn’t books start in the back so they could be read like they were supposed to be.

  109. 109.

    OzarkHillbilly

    December 27, 2018 at 10:25 am

    @Ruckus:

    What struck me most was thinking, why didn’t books start in the back so they could be read like they were supposed to be.

    Heh.

  110. 110.

    hueyplong

    December 27, 2018 at 10:25 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Shows what 20+ years of demonization by FoxNews and FTFNYT can do.

  111. 111.

    OzarkHillbilly

    December 27, 2018 at 10:29 am

    @Ruckus:

    It’s taken a long time to learn to live with the dyslexia, but it can be done.

    My friend never really got the chance. Grew up desperately poor, literally surviving by his own wits when he was only 8 or 9. Then in his mid 30s or so fell into schizophrenia and self medicated w/ alcohol.

  112. 112.

    Mnemosyne

    December 27, 2018 at 10:29 am

    @satby:

    G’s adult literacy student of the past 3 years is now taking classes so she can get her GED. He’s so proud. ?

  113. 113.

    Yarrow

    December 27, 2018 at 10:32 am

    Looks like the Dow is down over 500 points at the moment. Going to be a crazy end of the year.

    I saw somewhere that Nancy SMASH has said the first things the Democrats will do in January is to introduce a bill to reopen the government.

  114. 114.

    OzarkHillbilly

    December 27, 2018 at 10:32 am

    @hueyplong: I’m looking at it from the other side of the equation: Name one admirable thing Melania has accomplished. Just one. Of course, the RWNJs have a whole different idea of the meaning of admirable.

  115. 115.

    Eural Joiner

    December 27, 2018 at 10:33 am

    https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/19/world/asia/pakistan-china-belt-road-military.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
    Trump also just handed China Pakistan and another strategic port in the ME/oil region. The Chinese are making their move toward global hegemony.

  116. 116.

    khead

    December 27, 2018 at 10:33 am

    Trump to Democrats in latest tweet:

    “Don’t you realize I’m beating you for your own good”?

  117. 117.

    OzarkHillbilly

    December 27, 2018 at 10:33 am

    Aha! It all makes sense now: Appeals Court Grants Trump Request To Halt Emoluments Case Over Shutdown.

  118. 118.

    japa21

    December 27, 2018 at 10:40 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I am missing something, which is not that rare an occurrence. The suit is against Trump, is it not? Does it also name the DOJ? Otherwise, why would they even be involved. They are not Trump’s personal lawyer.

  119. 119.

    hueyplong

    December 27, 2018 at 10:47 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I see. So you’re saying that undocumented sex workers shouldn’t be as high as 4% of the sample?

    Maybe the numbers are explained as follows: People who would have picked Hillary have her finishing second to the Obamas. Hard core RWNJs who are off the Trump train before release of any Mueller report have nowhere else to go but Melania because the Turtle and Ryan aren’t even beloved by their own. 4% sounds about right for full-on RWNJs who are off the train now.

    Or they were using a Parade magazine mailing list.

  120. 120.

    Schlemazel

    December 27, 2018 at 10:54 am

    Has Matt Stoller always been an asshole & I just don’t come in contact with him enough to have seen it?

    He is on twitter this AM arguing that Dems will never win an election unless we all admit that Obama was a bad President. NO, that is not a paraphrase he actually said that

  121. 121.

    Yarrow

    December 27, 2018 at 10:56 am

    @Schlemazel: I saw that. I know his name but cannot remember even who he is. What’s his deal?

  122. 122.

    schrodingers_cat

    December 27, 2018 at 10:58 am

    OT: Non political conundrum.
    Husband kitteh is on the phone with his mom and is having a shouting match. Bone of contention is my SIL, his sister. She and her husband have been estranged for years but she still won’t file for a divorce and is in denial. MIL is supportive of this decision, which the rest of us think is counterproductive. SIL is a pathologist, and otherwise a successful independent person. Any suggestions how you would deal with this situation?

  123. 123.

    lurker dean

    December 27, 2018 at 11:05 am

    interesting – mcclatchy is reporting cell phone signals and intercepted foreign agent calls put cohen in prague speaking with russians. haven’t seen any corroboration yet though, just breaking.

    https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/investigations/article219016820.html

  124. 124.

    mapaghimagsik

    December 27, 2018 at 11:05 am

    PG&E is going to add cameras to detect wildfires. This solution leaves me nonplussed, but is better than nothing.

    Why nonplussed? Because I’m not sure a company whose responsibility to make sure their equipment is functioning correctly needs to get into the fire detection business. I hope they are doing this with the blessing and/or help of Cal Fire.

    There seems to be persistent maintenance issues. Condition-based maintenance of towers and insulation equipment would be a good idea. And can California update its wildfire maps?

    It looks like the University of San Diego is doing work around using infrared to assess vegitation health, and combining that with electrical line GIS data seems like a no-brainer. But until someone big fat project can do something with it. I’m not sure it resonates in the General Office.

    We gather a shitload of data to sell people things, and it looks like we’re turning some of that technology to save lives, but without the right amount of accurate data (this isn’t market sentiment analysis) I’m not sure we can make much improvement in the area of Identification and Detection. (I find myself falling back to the NIST framework, which talks about Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, and Recover. It seems California’s strongest function is response, and we really need to look at our Protect and Detect capabilities). But without a Board of Directors that Prioritizes these things. I’m just typing.

    Sometimes its all I can do.

  125. 125.

    Schlemazel

    December 27, 2018 at 11:06 am

    @Yarrow:
    He has always been a lefty and wrote about blue dogs but I never thought he was insane. Out there a little but not bugnuts crazy.

  126. 126.

    Gin & Tonic

    December 27, 2018 at 11:08 am

    @schrodingers_cat: Yes. Stay out of it. You can’t help.

  127. 127.

    japa21

    December 27, 2018 at 11:08 am

    @schrodingers_cat: Although almost impossible, both you and husband kitteh should stay out of it. If MIL calls again, just refuse to discuss the situation.

  128. 128.

    schrodingers_cat

    December 27, 2018 at 11:09 am

    @Schlemazel: Is he a BS bro? Name sounds vaguely familiar.

  129. 129.

    Uncle Cosmo

    December 27, 2018 at 11:10 am

    @Gin & Tonic: HST’s narration of The Boohoo on the Muskie campaign train in FL still gets me laughing so hard I cry.

  130. 130.

    tobie

    December 27, 2018 at 11:11 am

    @Eural Joiner: China’s move into Pakistan and Sri Lanka will inflame tensions with India, a nuclear armed state and China’s biggest economic competitor in Asia. This is not good news for world stability.

    Did you notice that the power plants China is building in Pakistan are coal-powered? So much for the claim they’re promoting 21st century infrastructure.

  131. 131.

    Brachiator

    December 27, 2018 at 11:11 am

    @plato:

    Barack Obama is America’s most admired man for the 11th year in a row, according to Gallup’s annual poll.

    Michelle Obama is now the most admired woman.

    I hope Trump is choking on this news…

  132. 132.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    December 27, 2018 at 11:11 am

    @Schlemazel: Has Matt Stoller always been an asshole & I just don’t come in contact with him enough to have seen it?

    Yup. There are a lot of emo-progs out there who think the fact that “Wall Street” still exists is Obama’s great political and moral failing, and the only thing relevant to politics. What Matt’s daddy, high muckety-muck vice president of Wells Fargo, thinks of this, I don’t know.

    I’m trying to remember now who Stoller worked with at a site called OpenLeft. IIRC they split when one guy went O-bot, one guy went PUMA and Stoller became one of the first proto-Wilmerites.

  133. 133.

    schrodingers_cat

    December 27, 2018 at 11:12 am

    @Gin & Tonic: @japa21: That’s what we have done for years. There was a huge gathering last weekend to celebrate MIL’s older brother turning 80 and in the photographs, SIL looked skinny and haggard, it is eating away at her. It is affecting her health.
    ETA: In laws live in India. They are orthodox observing south Indian brahmins and divorce is frowned upon.

  134. 134.

    Yarrow

    December 27, 2018 at 11:14 am

    @schrodingers_cat: Stay out of it. It is what it is and she’s made her own decisions about how to handle it. She sounds intelligent, capable and able to live her life on her own terms. Let her.

    In my own family I have (or had until one passed away recently) relatives who were separated for decades and made it work. They tried to work up divorce papers, decided it wasn’t worth it and never filed. Lived separately, got together for family events and some holidays. They made it work. I always thought it was weird but whatever. Their lives.

    If your husband is shouting at his mom about his sister then he’s way invested in the situation. What’s his issue with it?

  135. 135.

    Gin & Tonic

    December 27, 2018 at 11:14 am

    @lurker dean: I always thought Cohen’s denials were so inept that the story had to be true.

  136. 136.

    Yarrow

    December 27, 2018 at 11:15 am

    @Schlemazel: Probably went over to the Wilmer Bro left and never looked back. Everything is someone else’s fault (Clintons, Obama, etc.) because the DNC wouldn’t let Wilmer win. Etc.

  137. 137.

    schrodingers_cat

    December 27, 2018 at 11:16 am

    @Yarrow: Guilt of not being there in person when his family needs him.

  138. 138.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    December 27, 2018 at 11:16 am

    @schrodingers_cat: Based on my experience with my brother, there is nothing your husband can do but stay out of it. My brother keeps company with a woman (like seeing here every day). It was obvious she wanted to marry him, but he told me he wouldn’t marry her as he wasn’t physically attracted to her. I tried to gently suggest that this wasn’t fair to either of them as she would keep trying to interest him and as other women would think he was taken. So neither would have the opportunity to meet someone else. He told me to butt out and didn’t speak to me for a year.

  139. 139.

    rikyrah

    December 27, 2018 at 11:18 am

    @Kay:

    There are class differences, though, in my experience, really educational differences, probably. It’s really glaring when you watch different parents for a period of years. Better educated parents have a dialogue with their kids – a back and forth- where with less educated parents it’s one way- a series of directives.

    Interesting that you say that. I watch a Youtube channel called Jayde and family.
    Found the little girl through a viral video of her doing her mother’s hair.
    She is the ‘star’, and we get the rest of her family – Mom’s in the Army, her father has a Master’s in something, and they just had another little girl.
    They have always had conversations with her. She does videos of her book reviews. They aren’t anymore than a minute, but, when you wrote about parents having conversations, this little girl came into my mind.

  140. 140.

    SFAW

    December 27, 2018 at 11:18 am

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:

    Everybody is just excited about a Mad Dog 2020 bumper sticker and candidacy.

    The Wine Candidate of the Century!!

    Were it within my power to award you today’s Intertubez, I would.

  141. 141.

    japa21

    December 27, 2018 at 11:19 am

    @schrodingers_cat: AS I said almost impossible. Obviously both you and your husband care about her. The absolute most you could do is nicely suggest to her that she seek some counseling. There is that point in time when we have to admit there is nothing we can do but be there for the other person. She might well resent too active an intervention, but just letting her know you care and if she ever wants to talk you will be there may help. Don’t communicate to her that her situation is resulting in tension between other family members.

  142. 142.

    Yarrow

    December 27, 2018 at 11:19 am

    @schrodingers_cat: Just saw your response. Perhaps your husband, as her loving brother, can tell her she doesn’t look well and let him know her concerns. Is counseling/therapy allowed in that culture? Perhaps she could find help there if so.

    Another option would be for your husband to visit and check out the situation in person. Or, if there are local relatives who can step in they could do that and report back.

    Unfortunately, ultimately she is the only one who can decide how to live her life and what works for her. As I said above, I have relatives in my family who made separation work for them. It works if both parties are okay with it. They were essentially divorced, just not formally. It sounds like she’s not okay with it, so that’s where the work needs to be done.

  143. 143.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    December 27, 2018 at 11:19 am

    I can’t find a bio of Matt Stoller, but his brother Nick– a writer/director who’s part of the Paul Feig/Judd Apatow crew– went to St Paul’s prep and Harvard. I’d be very surprised if his brother went to a public high school. Trust fund revolutionary.

  144. 144.

    Miss Bianca

    December 27, 2018 at 11:20 am

    @schrodingers_cat: Stay the hell away from it till SIL asks for help/advice would be my MO, but I am a surly misanthrope.

    Unless she’s actually in danger from the guy, of course.

    ETA: I see others have got there before me.

  145. 145.

    Tazj

    December 27, 2018 at 11:22 am

    @Schlemazel: I saw that on Twitter. Someone wrote that Stoller had talked about the advantages of a Romney presidency in 2012. Apparently, Stoller believed that Romney would be better than Obama for Wall Street reform. This person rightly pointed this out to Stoller, and was promptly blocked by him. These people are nothing but frauds, and they’re trying to cause problems again.

  146. 146.

    Yarrow

    December 27, 2018 at 11:22 am

    @schrodingers_cat: I get it. I live with that in my own family. It’s hard when families are spread out around the globe. Technology makes it easier but also harder in some ways.

    He might benefit from doing some work on his own guilt because shouting at mom on the phone isn’t doing him any good and probably not you and your marriage either. It certainly isn’t going help his sister.

    Wishing you lots of good luck and sympathy because I do have similar situations in my own family and know how it feels.

  147. 147.

    lurker dean

    December 27, 2018 at 11:22 am

    @Gin & Tonic: yeah, like trump, basically everything out of cohen’s mouth is a lie. as others have pointed out though, this could also be the russians planting false information. i guess i so want it to be true because it would be the smoking gun we all need to end this sham presidency.

  148. 148.

    Gin & Tonic

    December 27, 2018 at 11:23 am

    @schrodingers_cat: I am sorry that it’s affecting her health and obviously causing you concern, but we’re talking about grown people. You can’t help.

    Years ago my sister and her now-ex went through all kinds of weird stages when it was painfully obvious to everyone else that they needed to divorce and move on. But all we could do was wait for it to become obvious to them. Eventually it did, each of them has found someone else they are happy with, and they even tolerate each other’s company when they have to.

  149. 149.

    rikyrah

    December 27, 2018 at 11:23 am

    @Schlemazel:

    Has Matt Stoller always been an asshole & I just don’t come in contact with him enough to have seen it?

    He is on twitter this AM arguing that Dems will never win an election unless we all admit that Obama was a bad President. NO, that is not a paraphrase he actually said that

    Yes, he’s always been an asshole..

    And phuck him and the horse he rode in on.

  150. 150.

    rikyrah

    December 27, 2018 at 11:25 am

    @lurker dean:

    Didn’t McClatchy originally tell us that Cohen was in Prague?

  151. 151.

    Gin & Tonic

    December 27, 2018 at 11:26 am

    @lurker dean:

    it would be the smoking gun we all need

    Sorry to burst your bubble, but it won’t be. Even if you prove conclusively that Cohen was meeting with Russian agents in Prague, the MAGAts will say “so what?” So will 45+ Republican Senators.

  152. 152.

    Gin & Tonic

    December 27, 2018 at 11:26 am

    @rikyrah: That report was part of the Steele dossier.

  153. 153.

    tobie

    December 27, 2018 at 11:26 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Do we know anything about the ideological make-up of the 4th Circuit Court that just granted the Trump Admin a stay on the emoluments case because of the govt shutdown?

    @japa21: IANAL but my understanding is that the DOJ is defending Trump in this suit since he can only be accused of violating the emoluments clause as a sitting President. If he were not President, he could not be accused of violating that statute. The logic goes he’s being sued as President, not as an individual.

  154. 154.

    Yarrow

    December 27, 2018 at 11:27 am

    @lurker dean: But, but…Cohen showed us the cover of his passport! That proved he wasn’t in Prague. LOL.

  155. 155.

    schrodingers_cat

    December 27, 2018 at 11:27 am

    @Miss Bianca: She doesn’t even have his latest contact info. The marriage as it stands right now is fiction on her part.

  156. 156.

    Uncle Cosmo

    December 27, 2018 at 11:29 am

    @Ruckus: When I was little, our family’s most common form of recreation was a Sunday drive. Once I was big enough, Dad would stand me up on the front bench seat next to him (yeah I know, 8^O, but it was the early 1950s) & read the signs & the billboards to me as we drove past them. That’s how I learned to read.

    Parents were asked to bring their kids about to enter 1st grade to the elementary school for a reading test, which I finished in record time. I remember Mrs Wilt’s face when she came out of the office after grading it: White as a sheet. They figured my perfect score had to be a fluke & slotted me into the slowest of the 3 sections. Took them < 3 wks to move me to the highest. (I had been reading the Baltimore Morning Sun for a year.)

    We lived OK on Dad’s salary but there wasn’t a lot left over. Every Christmas season he would literally talk me out of expensive but fragile toys I wanted, in the store, as the sales clerks looked on in astonishment. But there was always money for a book. And now my home is furnished in Middle High Library style. (Saves having to paint the walls.)

  157. 157.

    A Ghost To Most

    December 27, 2018 at 11:29 am

    @Schlemazel:
    I gave up on fiction when it was continually lapped by reality.

    And man, the poets ’round here
    Don’t write nuthin’ at all
    They just stand back
    And let it all be

  158. 158.

    schrodingers_cat

    December 27, 2018 at 11:30 am

    @Yarrow: She is a medical doctor, I am sure she can access counseling if she wishes to do it.
    And we have suggested it. Two cousins who were close to her have tried staging an intervention, she has frozen them out.
    ETA: We are planning on a trip this summer. I don’t think that’s going to help this situation either.

  159. 159.

    Yarrow

    December 27, 2018 at 11:31 am

    @Gin & Tonic: They will until they don’t. At some point they’ll realize Trump is destroying them too and they’ll break with him.

    @schrodingers_cat: Wow, that is kind of crazy. I’m guessing she herself can’t handle being a divorced woman. Your husband can tell her he’s worried about her, he loves her, and maybe even plan a trip to visit but ultimately it’s up to her. Difficult for sure.

    Alternate thought, would it work for her to visit you here? Maybe that would get her out of her culture and family surroundings that might be limiting how she looks at everything and maybe he could get through to her better here.

  160. 160.

    Tenar Arha

    December 27, 2018 at 11:32 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: That photo of the woman with her gun immediately brought to mind the god Vulcan & the town that worships guns that Neil Gaiman came up with for the tv series. I thought maybe he & the writers knew about this cult of the gun, but it’s based on the steel foundry in Vulcan Alabama deciding it was cheaper to pay death benefits than to shut down the forges for the time necessary to install safety railings.

    But whoah…that photo shows the worship, the symbols & willing pledges…these creators ended up really making a portrait of a god who’s already real to some people, didn’t they?

    ETA Typo

  161. 161.

    Yarrow

    December 27, 2018 at 11:34 am

    @schrodingers_cat: It sounds like a mental illness or possibly addiction to a certain extent. If she’s freezing out family members who want to help she knows there’s a problem but doesn’t want to face it. Like an addiction situation, you can’t help someone until/unless they’re ready to be helped.

    I’m sorry you’re dealing with the situation. It’s hard to watch loved ones suffer.

  162. 162.

    Plato

    December 27, 2018 at 11:35 am

    Mathematician Dr. Gladys West was born to a farming family in a community of sharecroppers. At a young age, she realized that education could get her out of the fields. She was inducted into the Air Force Hall of Fame for her contributions to the GPS. https://t.co/yCRv9UwXQs

    — Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) December 27, 2018

  163. 163.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    December 27, 2018 at 11:36 am

    @Uncle Cosmo: Once, when my kid was learning to read, we were driving around and he was showing me he could read billboards. We passed a movie theater and he reads, “The Best Little…I don’t know that word.”

    I hesitated, then provided: “Whorehouse.”

    So he goes on “The Best Little Horrorhouse in Texas.”

  164. 164.

    Emma

    December 27, 2018 at 11:36 am

    @schrodingers_cat: “There is danger for him who taketh the tiger cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from” anyone (yeah I don’t like the whole deluded woman thing). It sounds that either she has decided to grimly cling to her cultural norms, or that she clings to the delusion that he’ll come back. Either way, I don’t think trying to stage an intervention will help. I agree with the earlier poster who said maybe your husband can approach her from her health side, carefully leaving out the marriage. It might start a dialogue. Might.

  165. 165.

    zhena gogolia

    December 27, 2018 at 11:36 am

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: @SFAW:

    Time to front-page James Mason’s Thunderbird ad again.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xY7mBQrzXU

  166. 166.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    December 27, 2018 at 11:37 am

    @Yarrow: I’m guessing she herself can’t handle being a divorced woman.

    a relative of mine was in a hostile marriage for years, she and her husband barely spoke, everyone knew about it, her siblings finally convinced her to file for divorce when his cheating– if you can even call it that in this situation– became too public, now she’s paralyzed with bitterness and paranoia, convinced that everyone is judging her for her failed marriage. Divorce is as common in our family and her social circle as everyone else’s in 21st century America, but that facade that everyone could see through was that important to her. He’s moved on, she’s frozen.

  167. 167.

    lurker dean

    December 27, 2018 at 11:39 am

    @rikyrah: what i’m reading is that they did, but didn’t specify what evidence it was based on.

    @Gin & Tonic: yeah, that is certainly a problem. to normal folk it would look pretty bad, though.

  168. 168.

    Uncle Cosmo

    December 27, 2018 at 11:39 am

    @lurker dean: Do the authorities have Cohen’s passport(s) as a flight risk? How was he supposed to have gotten to & from Prague without a stamp in one? Even if he sneaked in through the back door there has to be someone in Europe who was witness & could testify to that.

  169. 169.

    JPL

    December 27, 2018 at 11:43 am

    @rikyrah: That’s what I thought, but because of the magic of google, it appears that reuters reported that the special counsel has proof of Cohen’s Prague trip. The article was last April.

  170. 170.

    rikyrah

    December 27, 2018 at 11:44 am

    @Gin & Tonic:

    @rikyrah: That report was part of the Steele dossier.

    I know. I’ve said it from the beginning…I believe 95% of the dossier, and that includes the pee-pee tape.

    I want the PRAGUE allegation to be proven, because, it’s part of the defense that Dolt45 has used to try to discredit the entire dossier.

    No. it won’t matter to the Cult of Dolt45. But, I would like to see it proven true.

  171. 171.

    Humdog

    December 27, 2018 at 11:45 am

    Where is Barron? It is too weird that there are no little kid in the .white House at Christmas pictures, or even a mention of him from his family. I get protecting kids, but not one photo of him with the lighted Xmas tree? Not one mention of Shitstain at home with his little one opening presents or anything? And it is strange that no one else seems to think it is strange.

  172. 172.

    Amir Khalid

    December 27, 2018 at 11:46 am

    @Eural Joiner:
    Nations that are powerful, or want to be, always want an empire to extend and consolidate their power. I believe the only cure for this is a world order without superpower nations, in which all nations are equal and all international power is held by supranational bodies like the UN was advertised to be. (I’m well aware that this involves existing superpowers voluntarily surrendering their power to such a body, and is thus highly unlikely.)

  173. 173.

    schrodingers_cat

    December 27, 2018 at 11:48 am

    Thank you guys so much for your thoughtful advice.

  174. 174.

    Gin & Tonic

    December 27, 2018 at 11:49 am

    @Uncle Cosmo: I’ve been to Prague three times in the last decade. I have one Czech entry stamp in my passport. It’s a quick 4-hour drive from Munich, during which you cross no entry barriers.

  175. 175.

    Schlemazel

    December 27, 2018 at 11:50 am

    @schrodingers_cat:
    I didn’t think so but I have not followed him so I’m not sure

  176. 176.

    lurker dean

    December 27, 2018 at 11:52 am

    @Uncle Cosmo: i would imagine since he’s been sentenced they took his passport. one fact i didn’t know was that he was in italy in july 2016, which is stamped in his passport. but the prague trip was supposedly in august or sept. 2016.

    https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/anthonycormier/trumps-lawyer-showed-you-the-cover-of-his-passport-heres#.imVWakked

  177. 177.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    December 27, 2018 at 11:53 am

    @Humdog: I read that he’s at Mar-a-Lago with Ivanka et al.

  178. 178.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    December 27, 2018 at 11:55 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: /shudder/

    this atheist is enough of a Christian to hope they let the kid bring a friend his own age

    and I would be content to never see his name or picture on-line or in print, he didn’t pick his parents

  179. 179.

    Brachiator

    December 27, 2018 at 11:57 am

    @schrodingers_cat: I don’t have anything to add to the good advice given by others. Just hope that you and your husband find a way to be at peace without getting pulled into the other famil turmoil.

  180. 180.

    schrodingers_cat

    December 27, 2018 at 12:02 pm

    @Brachiator: Thanks, this situation has gone on for almost 10 years. I am concerned for her health more than anything else.

  181. 181.

    Brachiator

    December 27, 2018 at 12:04 pm

    @Humdog:

    Where is Barron? It is too weird that there are no little kid in the .white House at Christmas pictures, or even a mention of him from his family. I get protecting kids, but not one photo of him with the lighted Xmas tree? Not one mention of Shitstain at home with his little one opening presents or anything? And it is strange that no one else seems to think it is strange.

    Hard to know whether Trump and his wife are being protective or creepy. Or both.

    The press is having fun with Don Jr showing off his new babe, Kimberly Guilfoyle

    Kimberly Guilfoyle raises eyebrows with ‘tacky’ bikini-clad Christmas selfie
    The cleavage-exposing photo turned heads, with many of Guilfoyle’s fans praising her beauty and one supporter dubbing her a “true goddess.” But others weren’t so kind and chastised Trump Jr.’s girlfriend for showing too much skin.

    “My goodness… really?” read one comment. “It’s Christmas, not the Playbοy Mansion.”

    “Strong woman but a bit too much today,” added a follower.

    Others called the photo “tacky” and made cracks about cosmetic surgery. One commenter called her a “low-class Botox addict, mistress, narcissist.”

    The hate prompted Guilfoyle’s fans to defend her, accusing negative commenters of being jealous.

    Guilfoyle’s trip to Florida with the Trumps is just the latest holiday outing she’s had with the first family this week. She also joined Trump Jr. for a festive meal at 21 Club in New York City and enjoyed the White House Christmas celebrations with his father, President Trump.

    What a family!

  182. 182.

    Brachiator

    December 27, 2018 at 12:12 pm

    @schrodingers_cat:

    this situation has gone on for almost 10 years. I am concerned for her health more than anything else.

    Understood. But a shouting match cannot be good for your husband, either.

    Take care.

  183. 183.

    J R in WV

    December 27, 2018 at 12:27 pm

    @Ruckus:

    Sounds like your previous life was Japanese, they start books in the back, and sell Manga and such here that do that. V. Strange to me.

  184. 184.

    Uncle Cosmo

    December 27, 2018 at 12:40 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: Wul, yeah (or is that Jawohl!), but when you entered the Schengen area you got your passport stamped (& again by ICE on your way back). So there ought to be stamps in (one of) Mickey’s passports to verify that he was on that side of the Pwned during the interval in question. Unless he was sneaked in – in which case a number of people (there & here) would have made the arrangements & would have knowledge of it.

    (FTR I came back 2 weeks ago from 13 days in Prague. Will send Alain some pix from my smartarse phone once I figure out how to get them to him.)

  185. 185.

    A Ghost To Most

    December 27, 2018 at 12:47 pm

    @Yarrow:

    They will until they don’t. At some point they’ll realize Trump is destroying them too and they’ll break with him.

    Country over world. Party over country. Self over party.
    Maslow’s Hierarchy of Greeds.

  186. 186.

    Kathleen

    December 27, 2018 at 12:48 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: Yes he is. Funny how the Obama bashing started the same time as the Beto bashing.

  187. 187.

    rikyrah

    December 27, 2018 at 12:49 pm

    @Humdog:

    Where is Barron? It is too weird that there are no little kid in the .white House at Christmas pictures, or even a mention of him from his family. I get protecting kids, but not one photo of him with the lighted Xmas tree? Not one mention of Shitstain at home with his little one opening presents or anything? And it is strange that no one else seems to think it is strange.

    They didn’t even include him in the Christmas card photo – hell yeah, it’s strange

  188. 188.

    Kelly

    December 27, 2018 at 12:50 pm

    @A Ghost To Most:

    Maslow’s Hierarchy of Greeds

    You’ve won the internets this morning

  189. 189.

    lgerard

    December 27, 2018 at 12:56 pm

    @Brachiator:

    Interesting that Jr’s girlfriend is older then his (new) mother!

    As you said, what a family!

  190. 190.

    tybee

    December 27, 2018 at 1:02 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: Hang up?

  191. 191.

    prostratedragon

    December 27, 2018 at 3:08 pm

    A movie with learning to read as a main feature: Stanley and Iris (1986).

  192. 192.

    pluky

    December 27, 2018 at 5:05 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: Mind your own business. SIL’s life (however dysfunctional) is hers to negotiate. As Al Anon puts it — detach with compassion.

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