Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

The problem people have with Biden’s age is the color of the VPs skin.

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

An unpunished coup is a training exercise.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Even though I know this is a bad idea, I’m off to do it anyway!

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

Innocent people don’t delay justice.

It’s a new day. Light all those Biden polls of young people on fire and throw away the ashes.

If West Virginia and San Francisco had a love child.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

People are weird.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

Republicans can’t even be trusted with their own money.

“Joe Biden deserved better than he got from some folks in his own party.”

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

I really should read my own blog.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

I wonder if trump will be tried as an adult.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Monday Morning Open Thread: Counting Down

Monday Morning Open Thread: Counting Down

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Readership capture (literally).

More snippets to cheer us through the last day of 2018…

Reader Interactions

122Comments

  1. 1.

    satby

    I hope someone brings that first tweet to Mrs.Obama’s attention and she gives grandpa a call. How sweet is that man’s happiness?

  2. 2.

    Betty Cracker

    I got Michelle Obama’s book as a Christmas gift too! Looking forward to reading it.

    We’re having some friends over for a low-key New Year’s Eve sleepover at the Swamp Compound. I was hoping for a clear night so we could do some star-gazing, but it looks like it’ll be a bit cloudy with early morning fog.

    When the sun comes up, I’ll sweep and mop this dump, then run into town for supplies. I’m hoping the grocery store won’t be a madhouse like it was around Christmas…

  3. 3.

    Baud

    find something you want to change in your community and take the first step toward changing it.

    The only thing in my community I want to change is me.

  4. 4.

    satby

    Glad I don’t have to go anywhere, the rain predicted for this morning is arriving as an ice storm in five minutes. Going to be wet all day, but will warm up enough to convert to rain before it all freezes again tonight.

  6. 6.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Blech.

    Annual hill climb at the off road park across the way. The lines going in will be a half mile long in both directions. I’m not going anywhere. Some chickenshit asshole who doesn’t know how to drive with a tandem trailer took out my mailbox 2 days ago while attempting to turn into there. Was gonna put up a new one today but now it’s supposed to rain all day. Rain and concrete are not a good mix. Don’t think temps will be warm enough later this week to do it then

    find something you want to change in your community

    I’d like to reduce the percentage of assholes around here but mass murder is frowned upon.

  10. 10.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @OzarkHillbilly: This should be a thread all it’s own. Name all the things trump didn’t do w/ JK as COS:

    He didn’t implement a humane immigration policy.
    He didn’t send the necessary resources to save lives in Puerto Rico after Maria.
    He didn’t hold Saudi Arabia to account after the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.
    He didn’t….

    I wonder how many tbogg units we’d hit.

  11. 11.

    Chyron HR

    Sharice Davids??? Why isn’t BERNIE the face of the incoming Democratic wave class in the House, you neoliberal shills? HUH??

  12. 12.

    Kay

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    “Military people don’t walk away,” he said, two days before walking away.

    Genuinely baffled by this claim. If they only took the work to limit the damage Trump does don’t they have to stay for his whole term? What’s the difference between leaving now and 2017? Trump is actually worse now than he was in 2017.

    Mattis supposedly left because Trump is leaving Syria. But Trump isn’t leaving Syria. That was a flat-out lie, exclusively for media consumption and dissemination. Mattis must know Trump’s a liar. Why would the Syria claim be any more credible than any of the other bullshit he spews?

  13. 13.

    NotMax

    A stew of New Year’s-ish background music. More homages than you can shake a baton at.

    Soup for tonight’s gathering done. Not bad, will be better when diluted with some more chicken broth while it’s being reheated (can’t fill the cooking pot I used any higher if I wanna transport it without spillage). Mock chopped liver prepared and in the fridge. One more dip to prepare – either during insomnia time if that arrives or during daylight.

    Among other entrees and party foods, host has promised to make enough king crab legs for 12.

  15. 15.

    Kay

    Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told reporters Sunday that “I feel pretty good about where we’re headed” in Syria after suggesting that President Trump is “reconsidering” the planned pullout which had drawn bipartisan criticism and forced the resignation of Defense Secretary James Mattis.
    Graham emerged from the White House after a two-hour lunch with Trump and said the president “told me some things I didn’t know that make me feel a lot better about where we’re headed in Syria.”
    “He promised to destroy ISIS. He’s going to keep that promise,” Graham said of Trump. “We’re not there yet. But as I said today, we’re inside the 10-yard line and the president understands the need to finish the job.”

    “Told me some things I didn’t know”. Told me the Syria announcement was a bunch of bullshit, like everything else he says.

  16. 16.

    JPL

    In an earlier thread, Adam mentioned that Rick Wilson is trying to convince Mattis to run for president. Since Mattis lacked judgment by joining the administration in the first place, it sounds like he’d be a perfect candidate for the never trumpers. Lacking any type of judgment appears to be the major qualification.
    The only good side to this would be for trump to openly criticize the general and lose some of his support with the military.

  17. 17.

    Kay

    Evan Pérez
    ‏Verified account
    @evanperez
    Follow Follow @evanperez
    More Evan Pérez Retweeted Maggie Haberman
    It’s remarkable that Kelly now admits the chaos of travel ban implementation, thanks to Stephen Miller & Co, when he previously lied to the public and press. The reporting, it turns out, was spot on. Kelly was lying.

    I wonder which boards he’ll sit on and which prestigious and high paying jobs he’ll get now that he succeeded in lying repeatedly to the public for almost three years.

    Has he ever apologized for lying about the congresswoman? He was caught in real time on that whopper.

  19. 19.

    Immanentize

    @Baud: @OzarkHillbilly:
    This Kelly thing is driving me nuts.
    If there are far worse things that Trump did not do, why didn’t Kelly act to have him removed or, at least, publically exposed. He said it was due to “duty,” but isn’t his first duty (and oath) to the country and Constitution and not to a man?

    Also, if there is anyone who should understand “response to superior orders” is no defense to criminal behavior, it should be a military lifer.

    I would like to write an article on this called, “Kelly checks into rehab.”

    Blech indeed

  20. 20.

    Plato

    @Kay:

    The totus turd regime once and for all destroyed the msm meme of a myth that murka should be run either by a ‘business man’ or by a veteran. No wonder so many shitty wars were lost by both of these types.

  21. 21.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: That’s so weird because just a couple of weeks ago, Trump said, “We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency.” But now, after talking to his caddie, he’s gonna stick around and finish the job. I’m sure the Kurds will totally understand.

  22. 22.

    Kay

    @JPL:

    Mattis not only served on Theranos’s board during some of the years it was perpetrating the fraud after he retired from US military service, but he earlier served as a key advocate of putting the company’s technology (technology that was, to be clear, fake) to use inside the military while he was still serving as a general. Holmes is settling the case, paying a $500,000 fee and accepting various other penalties, while Balwani is fighting it out in court.
    Nobody on the board is being directly charged with doing anything. But accepting six-figure checks to serve as a frontman for a con operation is the kind of thing that would normally count as a liability in American politics.

    If if it had been up to Mattis this phony blood testing scam would have used military members as guinea pigs. Thank God there were some lower-level professionals in the military who understood something about blood science, did their due diligence and stopped it. Mattis and others were specifically placed on the Theranos board because they had no scientific background and the fraudsters knew the board members were arrogant know it alls who wouldn’t ask anyone who did have a scientific background to explain blood science to them. They swallowed the whole con. It should be disqualifying.

  25. 25.

    Patricia Kayden

    @OzarkHillbilly: So if we’re supposed to judge Kelly on what Trump didn’t do, shouldn’t we be panicking because Kelly is no longer there to stop Trump from doing all of those things?

    Kelly refuses to acknowledge that Trump’s administration is a dumpster fire and that he was a huge part of that. Remember his role in the Fredricka Wilson incident? And he initiated the child separation policy at the Southern border.

    Kelly’s reputation has been destroyed and he can thank Trump for that.

  26. 26.

    Immanentize

    If Kelly wants us to think kindly of him because of how he saved the country from terrible things, he better be willing to tell us what those terrible things are so we can judge him accurately. His rehab is just more “trust me.”

  27. 27.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    Kelly told us yesterday in the LA Times there is no “wall plan”, either. But you knew that. They lied.

    It’s fucked up with these generals. Their defense seems to be “it was all bullshit anyway- didn’t mean a word of it”

    That’s a defense?

  28. 28.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Got an email this morn. Bad news, as in really bad news:

    There has been a fall at_______. 30 ft, female victim from Texas, compound arm fracture, back injury. There is an ex military medic from the group with her and others in cave. Remaining crews outside refreshing.

    This is deep in a cave from which we have always said, there is no rescue. I have no idea how they are gonna get her out. There are passages thru which she has to crawl with her belly on the floor and the ceiling on her back, making ‘S’ turns in the process. She has to do them on her own. I am trying to envision rigging that can help her get thru them but it’s been so long since I’ve been to that cave I hardly remember it clearly. And even then, back injuries?

    They’ve put the call out for cavers, and I’ve forwarded it, but I’m too old, arthritic and cranky for this cave. If they need it I can do surface support but that’s about it.

  29. 29.

    NotMax

    @Kay

    But accepting six-figure checks to serve as a frontman for a con operation is the kind of thing that would normally count as a liability in American politics.

    *cough* Rick Scott. Medicare fraud. *cough*

    Something is too long absent in R-land. Come back, shame, come back.

  30. 30.

    Anne Laurie

    @NotMax:

    Mock chopped liver prepared and in the fridge.

    Would it be gauche to ask for the recipe? I love the stuff, but it’s hard to get in this neighborhood — and I’m not a good enough cook to prepare my own using bird guts.

  32. 32.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Plato:

    The totus turd regime once and for all destroyed the msm meme of a myth that murka should be run either by a ‘business man’

    That zombie will arise from the dead. “We meant a competent business man.”

  33. 33.

    Immanentize

    @Kay:

    it was all bullshit anyway- didn’t mean a word of it

    Another deflection/denial of an addict. I have heard this a hundred times at least from my clients about some vicious threat theyade, or dug conspiracy agreement, or….

  34. 34.

    Kay

    @NotMax:

    The Mattis thing is really bad. He wanted to put mobile units for the fake blood tests into the field to “diagnose” soldiers. The testing had like a 40% error rate. It was slightly better than drawing someone’s blood, looking at it, and guessing.

    He did it for the money. They were greed-crazed and Theranos had this bullshit libertarian ethos that they loved- the argument was “incumbent” blood testing companies wouldn’t allow this scrappy start up to take market share. They LOVED this argument, because it fits their ideology. Pesky regulations were strangling innovation in the crib. Blood tests want to be free!

    Theranos knew exactly how to play these particular marks.

  35. 35.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I’ll work out today, then try to revise this short story that was just rejected. Our building is having a New Year’s Eve party tonight. Music, champagne, and (best of all) it ends at 9pm. LOLOL

  36. 36.

    Immanentize

    @NotMax: I love the Spanish phrase for it’s sound when spat in someone like Kelly’s or Mattis’ direction:
    sin vergüenza!

  39. 39.

    Kay

    So we had my middle son’s gf’s 3 year old for Christmas Day. They arrived and my husband came in from wherever he was – chopping wood or something- and the 3 year old runs up to him and says “I’m here!”

    I’m going to say that wherever I go, when someone new arrives- “I’m here!”

    We did my family’s traditional cookie decorating, which involves making a pretty good rolled sugar cookie, opening two cans of white icing, distributing icing into many coffee cups, and allowing small children to put a ton of food coloring combos into each cup and stirring. He loves food dye as much as I do, I’m happy to report. Likes a good, strong blue :)

  40. 40.

    SFAW

    @Immanentize:

    sin vergüenza!

    For my wonderful high school Spanish teacher, lo these 40-plus years ago, “sin verguenza” was about the worst thing you could call someone.

  41. 41.

    JPL

    @Kay: It should be disqualifying. This is a reminder that never trumpers are conservative republicans who really don’t care about unifying the country.

  42. 42.

    NotMax

    @Anne Laurie

    Ridiculously easy. forgiving of non-exact proportions and, miraculously, tastes darn close to the real thing, even moreso the next day.

    At least ½ an onion, diced. Fry in a little bit of oil or schmalz, stirring periodically, until start to brown and some are getting crispy ’round the edges..
    French cut green beans (frozen and cooked or canned, very well drained)
    Hard boiled egg
    Small pouch of walnut pieces (or equivalent amount)
    Kosher salt to taste
    Pinch or two of parsley (optional)

    Let onion cool, then put well-drained beans, onion and egg (and parsley, if using) into food processor or blender. Pulse until well mixed together, then add the walnut pieces, a few at a time, and process/blend the heck out of everything, stopping to scrape down bowl if necessary. Check for salt and process/blend that in if needed. Covered tightly with plastic wrap in refrigerator, will last for as much as a week.

    Only French cut green beans work for this. Don’t know why, but that’s the way it is.

  44. 44.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Immanentize: I hope they play that song tonight but somehow I doubt it. I’ll have to hum it.

    @Kay: One time when my kid was about that age, I burst into tears over a frustrating day, and he patted me and said, “Don’t worry. You still have me.” What a nice visit you had.

  45. 45.

    NotMax

    @NotMax

    Altered for clarity;

    French cut green beans (1 can, very well drained or equivalent amount frozen and cooked, also well drained and cooled)

  46. 46.

    SFAW

    @Immanentize:

    Assuming facts not in evidence.

    Every time I read someone telling us things such as “Shitgibbon’s behavior has finally shown the Rethugs for what they are, and that’s the end of their party,” I just shake my figurative head. It’s kinda like the “demographics will give us a Dem President forever” comments that were popular in mid-2016.

  47. 47.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @SFAW: Trust me, there are far worse things you can say, things that in Mexico will get your throat slit on the spot.

  49. 49.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: Awww, what a fun Christmas! I love decorating cookies with kids. We do it every year. The youngest in our bunch are eight-years-olds now, which is also a good age for it, but I miss the really little kids like you had the pleasure of entertaining. We’re going to have to borrow some if the younger millennials in the family don’t start reproducing!

  53. 53.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    One time when my kid was about that age, I burst into tears over a frustrating day, and he patted me and said, “Don’t worry. You still have me.”

    Where did all this dust come from????

  61. 61.

    satby

    @rikyrah: me too. Had some coulda been near death experiences driving on it, as has everyone who lives in the frozen north. But old bones don’t recover like younger bones do, and now if I don’t have to go anywhere during the really bad weather, I just won’t.

  64. 64.

    plato

    What Trump said then:

    Mexico will pay for the wall. I promise.
    I am proud to shut down the government for border security.
    I will be the one to shut it down.

    What he says now:

    Taxpayers must pay for the wall.The Democrats own the shutdown.

    Promise made. Promises broken.

    — Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) December 30, 2018

  65. 65.

    OzarkHillbilly

    A frantic lame-duck month in which the Republican-controlled Michigan legislature floated hundreds of bills concluded with the GOP largely failing to pass controversial laws that would have stripped power from incoming Democrats.

    Two bills died during the legislative process just before Christmas, and on Friday outgoing Republican governor Rick Snyder surprised his party by vetoing a bill designed to shift power from attorney general-elect Dana Nessel to the legislature. He did so after a law designed to take authority from incoming secretary of state Jocelyn Benson failed to make it out of the state House. A plan to create a “shadow” state board of education controlled by Republicans met the same fate in the Senate.

    Snyder did sign several bills that reduce voters’ power. They included significant alterations to citizen-initiated laws that mandated paid sick time and raised the minimum wage, and legislation to make ballot drives nearly impossible.

    “They may not have taken power from incoming electeds but they did take significant power from people and that’s important to highlight,” Democratic state representative Yousef Rabhi told the Guardian, adding that he was stopping short of praising anyone in the Republican party.

    “They were planning to set the house on fire so it’s sort of weird to applaud them for not burning it down,” he said.

    Amen.

  66. 66.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:
    He likes blue…love this kid..

    Spending Christmas holiday time with you…. things are progressing between your son and his fellow co-worker ?

  69. 69.

    Immanentize

    Play nice, All — off to have some blood drawn for lab work. Then I’m cooking some stuffed shells (spinach and ricotta) for a pot luck New Year’s Eve party tonight which will not end at 9!

  70. 70.

    magurakurin

    Ocasio-Cortez campaigned AGAINST Sharice Davids

    and

    said just last week she wants to see Hakeem Jefferies primaried next cycle.

    And sexual harassment rumors are rumbling around the 2016 Sanders Campaign

    The stupid is gonna be so strong with “the left” in about another month or so, once everyone announces their 2020 plans.

    clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, here I am, stuck in the middle with you…

  74. 74.

    Kay

    @rikyrah:

    things are progressing between your son and his fellow co-worker

    They are. She already bought a used car from a family member so she’s on the inside now :)

    I thought the relationship moved too fast and I was worried that the little one and my son would get attached and the romantic relationship would end.. just my endless stream of worries about my kids. BUT- that hasn’t happened and they’re all fine so far

    He’s a great little kid- he’s not silly. Sort of serious, smart and observant. He really likes my husband and I think it’s mutual. I usually buy all the Christmas gifts- I always have. My husband got a small gift for just this boy. A kid pair of binoculars, which he really liked. I was surprised. He just doesn’t buy toys.

  76. 76.

    SFAW

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I was thinking more along the lines of “Pinche joto” or “Chinga su Madre.”

    Which is related to why I call the current publisher of the FTFTFNYT Pinche Sulzberger.

    ETA: Folklore from my past had it that doing the shave-and-a-haircut thing with your car’s horn was generally interpreted as “Ching-ga-tu-mad-re!”

  77. 77.

    Elizabelle

    WaPost headline:

    Sen. Elizabeth Warren says she will seek the presidency in 2020

    I like her a lot. She connects and can speak on issues facing the (beleagured) middle class, who are the majority of voters.

  79. 79.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Betty Cracker: Good luck! The. grocery stores by us were a madhouse yesterday, perhaps compounded by predictions of snow today. Maybe everyone will have shopped themselves out already?

  80. 80.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @OzarkHillbilly: I just got off the phone with the incident commander who is a long time caving buddy (who bruised a few egos by coming in and taking over) (he is THE person in that area you want heading this thing up).

    There’s the medic with her, they have a doc on call (getting him into her would be a major undertaking all by itself) and a med pack has been sent in with drugs. Right now he’s waiting for a thorough assessment of her inuries. Doesn’t know if she has broken ribs, or what kind of head injuries she may have sustained.

    In C’s words, “She can either self rescue or she’s not getting out.”

  82. 82.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Elizabelle: In polite conversation it means “to fork” as in a piece of meat on a plate. In “pinche joto” it means “fucking faggot”

  84. 84.

    Jeffro

    @Elizabelle: I like her well enough. I’ll support whomever the Dems’ 2020 nominee is, provided that

    – they are an actual member of the Democratic Party
    – they have fully disclosed their tax returns for at least the past 10 years
    – they run on the policies that they, and all Democrats, are for (and not just run as the anti-Trumpov)…staying out of Twitter spats would be a plus here

    Other than that, while I would prefer the ticket be as young, female, and of color as possible, that’s all I got.

    2020!!! Let’s win this thing! ?

  86. 86.

    geg6

    @Betty Cracker:

    I have to run to the store, too. Dreading it. But we need our fancy NYE dinner and someone has to do it. Thankfully, we have our pork and sauerkraut for tomorrow already. So so just need to pick up the lobster tails and wild rice and a dessert for tonight. Hopefully, just a quick run.

  88. 88.

    Elizabelle

    @Jeffro: Yup. No white guy yelling sage from the North.

    I am happy when we get candidates that can discuss real issues, and set the table, as it were.

  91. 91.

    Viva BrisVegas

    @plato:

    Toads hitchhiking on monty python’s back

    As the link says the toads are trying to mate with the python.

    If you remember the Simpsons episode about Australia where the entire continent was overrun by toads. That is pretty much true.

    They mate with anything. They eat everything. They are poisonous to eat so they have no predators.

    Anyway, 2019 has just arrived and so to all jackals a happy and prosperous 2019 and may all conservatives everywhere continue to be confounded.

  92. 92.

    Elizabelle

    @Immanentize: I think she’s a lot more authentic. She has done her homework, too.

    Maybe we should look at the Democratic contenders as a team, as it were.

    Which leaves shouty old guy right out.

  95. 95.

    magurakurin

    @Immanentize: The Sanders people are going to poison the well as much as they can no matter who, what or where. It’s just a reality now that any candidate who wins the primary is going to have deal with. She will have to fight on two fronts, it’s just the way it’s going to be going forward.

  97. 97.

    germy

    Staffers of Bernie Sanders’ 2016 campaign allege ‘sexual violence and harassment’

    The #MeToo movement is catching up with staffers on Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign.

    Two dozen ex-Sanders staffers sent a letter Sunday seeking a meeting with the former candidate — who might run again in 2020 — to “discuss the issue of sexual violence and harassment” in the Vermont senator’s 2016 run.

    https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ny-news-bernie-sanders-campaign-sexual-violence-20181230-story.html

  98. 98.

    OzarkHillbilly

    From Chait: Why the Bernie Movement Must Crush Beto O’Rourke

    The rise of Beto O’Rourke poses an obvious threat. The Texas congressman has replicated aspects of Sanders’s appeal — his positivity and refusal to accept PAC money — while exceeding it in some ways. Sanders is charismatic in an unconventional way, the slovenly and cranky but somewhat lovable old uncle, while O’Rourke projects a classic handsome, toothy, Kennedy-esque charm that reliably makes Democrats swoon. Hard-core loyalists find the contrast irksome. “Reading Karl Marx is cool,” said Nomiki Konst, a Sanders loyalist and candidate for New York City public advocate, to NBC. “Doing a livestream while you’re doing your laundry is a gimmick.” The comment sums up the left’s well-grounded fear that Sanders’s hard-core ideological appeal can be easily disarmed with personal charisma.

    And while O’Rourke has yet to decide on a presidential campaign, and would have to overcome an enormous field if he does, the Sandernistas are hardly paranoid to discern the kind of groundswell that could quickly propel O’Rourke to the front of the pack. Former Obama strategist and current Pod Save America host Dan Pfeiffer wrote a piece urging O’Rourke to run (without endorsing him). O’Rourke reportedly met with Obama, who favored him with public praise. “What I liked most about his race was that it didn’t feel constantly poll-tested,” Obama said. “It felt as if he based his statements and his positions on what he believed.”

    What Obama is describing here is O’Rourke’s ability to speak naturally and with apparent conviction — one never knows if a politician is expressing genuine conviction or just performing it well — without taking hard-left policy stances. O’Rourke’s short career has allowed him to avoid being pinned down on every item in the party platform. He generally occupies the center of the Democratic Party, and often expresses broad sympathy for left-wing policy goals while suggesting he favors a more pragmatic alternative. On health care, he advocates “achieving universal health care coverage — whether it be through a single-payer system, a dual system, or otherwise — so that we can ensure everyone is able to see a provider when it will do the most good and will deliver health care in the most affordable, effective way possible.”

    One of the deeper strategic goals of the left is to equate progressive maximalism with authenticity, like Sanders did. They want candidates who take uncompromising left-wing positions to be seen as authentic, and candidates who adopt more moderate lines to be seen as calculating and phony. The socialist left will attack any non-Sanders candidate, but O’Rourke is especially dangerous to their project precisely because of his Obama-like personal appeal.

    The whole thing seems a pretty fair assessment of what is going on.

  99. 99.

    Elizabelle

    @Betty Cracker:
    @zhena gogolia:

    Finally got my own copy of Michelle’s “Becoming” this weekend. Costco in the former capitol of the confederacy cannot keep it in stock. Spied a small pile of her book, still first editions.

    Michelle draws you right in. She is a marvelous writer. I read an excerpt of when her family was making her father’s funeral arrangements.

  101. 101.

    Steeplejack

    @Kay:

    I am reminded that candidate Trump said he had a double secret plan to defeat ISIS on Day 1 of his presidency (in between repealing Obamacare and giving everyone better, cheaper health insurance). That seems like about a hundred years ago.

    And Trump wins, in a sense, because he constantly piles on so many new lies that no one calls him out on the old lies.

    Blecch.

  104. 104.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Immanentize: Cavers can get to her, the problem is her getting out. There is no way anybody can assist her thru some of the passages she has to come thru. They are too small, too tight, with turns and ups and downs that have to be negotiated (not to mention chert filled). They might be able to splint her arm in such a way that she can move it as needed to navigate the passages. If she has fractured vertebrate or ribs…

    She’s fucked.

    She could never wear a KED thru them and not even a SKED could help. She literally has to get out under her own power while dealing with the intense pain of her injuries.

  106. 106.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @debbie: For the record, I doubt I know this woman, She and her folks are out of Texas and I only know a few Texas cavers. I know most if not all of those presently working the rescue. I offered to help with surface support but C says he has plenty of agency people to help with that. They all want to go in and be the “hero” but they have no idea what this cave is like. There are cavers I would never send into it, people who aren’t cavers? Just another victim waiting to happen.

  108. 108.

    plato

    Tributes are being paid to Dr Nancy Grace Roman, the first woman to hold an executive position at the US space agency Nasa.

    Dr Roman was known as “Mother of the Hubble” for her work on the early stages of the Hubble Space Telescope.

    Nasa said her most important legacy was the advancement of women in the sciences and the generations of young scientists she inspired.

    She died in Maryland on Wednesday at the age of 93.

    She joined an astronomy club when she was just 11 and her passion for stargazing continued throughout her life.

    But the young Dr Roman had to fight prejudice to be allowed to study maths and science at school and university.

    “I still remember asking my high school guidance teacher for permission to take a second year of algebra instead of a fifth year of Latin,” she once told the Voice of America.

    “She looked down her nose at me and sneered, ‘What lady would take mathematics instead of Latin?’ That was the sort of reception that I got most of the way”.

  109. 109.

    Gin & Tonic

    @OzarkHillbilly: In recent years I’ve mentally created several lists of “things I’ve never done that I might still want to try” and crawling on my belly into a cave hasn’t ever made it onto one. Different strokes, I guess.

  114. 114.

    BC in Illinois

    @Elizabelle:

    Maybe we should look at the Democratic contenders as a team, as it were.

    This.
    What I want in 2019-2020 is a stage filled with Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Sherrod Brown, Beto O’Rourke, (and 10 other players to be named later) — all talking about how to replace and repeal Donald Trump. All talking about the environment, medical care, our allies, our adversaries, voting rights, human rights — all the things that make us proud to be Democrats.

    And then, when the Democratic Party has selected the Democratic Party nominees out of all the fine Democratic Party candidates, then the Democratic Party at large steps up as a team to take the message to the nation. Barrack and Michelle, Bill and Hillary, Joe, John Kerry, John Lewis, Elizabeth/Kamala/Beto/Sherrod–all there to introduce the candidates at rallies, lead rallies for the candidates. Fill the airwaves with the Democratic Party — as a team.

    (Now imagine what kind of team the Republican Party can put together to salvage a Trump campaign.)

  115. 115.

    Jinchi

    Sharice Davids’ election in Kansas is more evidence that pandering to the prejudices of rural “white working class” voters is not the ideal strategy for winning that Claire McCaskill thought it was.

    Apparently a lesbian, Native American running on a platform of universal health care, diversity, and abolishing ICE is a better fit for the Midwest than an incumbent Senator running on a platform of deregulating banks, building a border fence and not being “one of those crazy Democrats”.

  116. 116.

    magurakurin

    @BC in Illinois: well, Warren just announced and threw her hat in the ring.

    I’ll lay down my bet now…she’s on the ropes after NV, sputtering on fumes after SC and pulls the plug after Super Tuesday…then she’ll miscalculate and withhold any sort of endorsement until it doesn’t matter.

  117. 117.

    brettvk

    @Jinchi: I voted for McCaskill even though she didn’t give me much reason to; living in Missouri precludes a lot of choices. But I’m really surprised at what appears to be her recent behavior. I thought she had better judgement – that’s what being a blue dog is all about. She’s not helping her elder stateswoman status.

  118. 118.

    J R in WV

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    That’s why I gave up caving. The first time my back acted up I lost feeling in both legs in a kayak on New River, if I put into a sandbar and got out and walked around, it came back, and I never lost control, but it scared the crap out of me and we were dark-30 getting to the take out.

    Then I imagined losing control of my legs after squeezing into the depths of a cave, climbing across a whirlpool and up a cliff to reach the squeeze. No way to get a stokes through most of that. Putting other cavers into the position of trying to rescue me from my own irresponsibility? Nope. Have taken walking tours at Mammoth since but nothing that involved a crawl, much less a squeeze.

    It turned out to be a muscle spasm pinching my nerves, which is much worse than that sounds. I still get them from time to time, but knowing what it is and having exercises and meds to deal with it helps a lot. Still not going to do adventure and require rescue helicopter or team to carry me out.

  119. 119.

    Jinchi

    @brettvk:

    I voted for McCaskill even though she didn’t give me much reason to

    I think that proves the point. Most of us commenting here vote in every election, even if we’re not thrilled with our options. But lots of people don’t, 60% is considered a high-turnout election, and most voters need a reason to get motivated.

    So if she didn’t give you much reason to vote, she probably lost a lot of potential voters who didn’t think she was worth the trouble. Campaigning on Republican issues and taking pot-shots at “crazy” Democrats is never a good strategy, and was a terrible gamble in 2018.

  120. 120.

    Jinchi

    I voted for McCaskill even though she didn’t give me much reason to

    I think that proves the point. Most of us commenting here vote in every election, even if we’re not thrilled with our options. But lots of people don’t. 60% is considered a high-turnout election, and most voters need an active reason.

    So if she didn’t give you much reason to vote, she undoubtedly lost a lot of potential voters who didn’t think she was worth the trouble and turned off others who were offended by her comments.

    Campaigning on Republican issues and taking pot-shots at “crazy” Democrats is never a good strategy, and was a terrible gamble in 2018.

  121. 121.

    J R in WV

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    The kid wants to go back to the South Island and hike next time, as in multiple day hikes.

    Oh, to be young again! Now I long for cruises to beautiful and exciting foreign places! Nice bed every night! Ice cubes for the Gin and Tonic before dinner!!!

    My dad never wanted to go camping, no ice cubes for his vodka and tonic… now I understand!

  122. 122.

    SFAW

    @Elizabelle:

    I have been wondering about “Pinche.” What exactly does it translate out to, in SFAW parlance?

    In most of the Spanish-speaking world, “pinche” means “scullion.” However, in Mexico, it loosely translates as the modifier “fucking” [as contrasted with its use as a verb].

    As you probably recall, the former FTFTFNYT publisher was “Pinch” Sulzberger. I had hoped that the current publisher, Pinch’s son, would be more like his grandfather (“Punch” Sulzberger) than like his father. Unfortunately, that was not to be, so I decided Pinche Sulzberger might be appropriate (and better than “Pinch Junior.”)

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