I know we could use an entertainment break this Sunday, but I’m not feeling it. I’ll try and get a photo of one or two of the critters for later. We’re heading out for another walk around the lake, working on Scout’s socialization around other dogs and people. It’s not going well, but about this time in Bixby’s development…well let’s just say I was questioning my life choices…and he’s turned out just awesome, so I’m patient.
LA Times Virginia Heffernan takes on the attacks on Rashida Tlaib, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Nancy Pelosi and Elizabeth Warren. Shocker they all have one thing in common: fear of women in power.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), center, is flanked by Reps. Jahana Hayes (D-Conn.), left, and Ann McLane Kuster (D-N.H.) as they are sworn in on the opening day of the 116th Congress.
(J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press)
To a prominent right-wing troll looking to get a rise out of her, she earlier tweeted, “Like catcalling, I don’t owe a response to unsolicited requests from men with bad intentions. And also like catcalling, for some reason they feel entitled to one.”
Catcallers and anti-dancing scolds are two sides of the age-old misogyny coin. What they’re saying to her, as Ocasio-Cortez well knows, is that she’s either frigid and won’t respond to their catcalls or a “whore” because she dances too much.
Ocasio-Cortez’s responses make her detractors even more furious; no one likes to have his ugly misogyny brought to light. When Ocasio-Cortez, in white, stood to vote for Pelosi as House speaker, Republicans broke all precedent and booed her.
“Don’t hate me cause you ain’t me, fellas,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. By turning up the volume on the Republicans’ terrified sexism, as a digital native does best, she’s made quick work of her haters.
==============
Is the girl nice? Does she use salty language? Does she dance? Does she refuse to smile and flirt when you hoot at her?
Having calculated that savaging House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wasn’t firing up the he-man pitchfork crowd as much as they had hoped, conservatives are now trying to smear Ocasio-Cortez as young, dangerous, naive, stylish and a good dancer. They also seem unaccountably panicked that she was once known as Sandy.
LOL.
2.
debbie
Ocasio-Cortez’s responses make her detractors even more furious; no one likes to have his ugly misogyny brought to light.
Good. Keep at it ’til their heads explode.
3.
Baud
LA Times Virginia Heffernan takes on the attacks on Rashida Tlaib, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Nancy Pelosi and Elizabeth Warren. Shocker they all have one thing in common: fear of women in power
Didn’t we learn this in 2016 with Hillary?
The article is behind a pay wall so I don’t know if the parallel was drawn in the piece.
4.
Spanky
One suspects they lined up Red, White, and Blue on purpose for the swearing in.
On twitter, I see huffy R men condemning Tlaib’s language. And I see response after response from women telling the huffer to fuck off. And I laugh and laugh.
Woman are mad.
6.
Yarrow
@Baud: It wasn’t behind a paywall for me. Is there a monthly limit on articles? Maybe clear your cookies, etc.?
Oh, that was a delightful and satisfying read. Thanks geg6!
9.
Spanky
And just for the record, this old white male is going to enjoy kicking back and watching some younger energetic women kicking butt and taking names as they right our ship of state from its extreme starboard list.
10.
Spanky
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Tlaib was too nice. “Motherfucker” is generic, whereas “daughterfucker” is specific. And accurate.
As an almost 70 Caucasian male, I welcome our new millennial overlords. Sincere apologies for the mess people who share my Y chromosome, skin tone and age grouping have left you.
13.
WaterGirl
@Baud: It’s so good, I’m gonna be a rebel today and break all the rules of etiquette:
Just over a year ago, a writer named Kristen Roupenian published a short story in the New Yorker called “Cat Person.” It chronicled a brief, mediocre romance. At first, it was hard to say what made the story newsworthy.
Still, just as #MeToo was taking off, “Cat Person” became history’s first viral short story. Something in Roupenian’s tale of Robert and Margot’s relationship — testy, opportunistic — felt familiar. And then there was the word mild Robert uses at their breakup, when he finally believes he has nothing left to lose: “Whore.”
“Cat Person” laid out the ways men can pretend to tolerance of and even affection for women while also seething with sexist resentment of their power.
The “Cat Person” parable is germane this week. As the new Congress convenes, with a record 102 women taking office, a crew of men in right-wing media and politics seems to believe they’ve tolerated this whole women-in-power exercise for too long.
They’ve been patient. They’ve been gallant. They praised Ivanka Trump’s grace. They hat-tipped Sen. Susan Collins for helping put brother Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court. They sat for the #MeToo tedium.
But now, like Robert, they’ve had enough.
On Thursday night, shortly after being sworn in, freshman Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) boasted that the new Democratic House majority would “go in there and impeach” Trump, whom she called by a commonplace vulgarism beloved of Norman Mailer and Samuel L. Jackson. She landed the line to perfection, and her supporters loved it.
Ocasio-Cortez’s responses make her detractors even more furious; no one likes to have his ugly misogyny brought to light.
Understandably anxious about impeachment, Republicans decried Tlaib. They pretended not to mind her political zeal, though; it was her coarseness they took umbrage at. For a woman of color, and one of the first two Muslim women in Congress, using a bad word is evidently criminal unseemliness. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, from Bakersfield, huffed and puffed about how indecorous Tlaib had been and was essentially laughed off the dais by people reminding him of Trump’s long record of barnyarding it up.
As of this writing, Tlaib has not apologized for her impeachment plan — or her vocabulary.
Next on the Women to Hate List is — shocker — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She’s the newly minted congresswoman from New York’s 14th District and, hoo boy, does she make bitter conservatives bitterer.
Having calculated that savaging House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wasn’t firing up the he-man pitchfork crowd as much as they had hoped, conservatives are now trying to smear Ocasio-Cortez as young, dangerous, naive, stylish and a good dancer. They also seem unaccountably panicked that she was once known as Sandy.
To many of the attacks, Ocasio-Cortez has issued Twitter clap-backs that deftly surface the barely concealed sexism of her detractors. When conservatives this week tried to make hay out of a dance video she made in college, she made another dance video, chiding the GOP as prigs who hate women who dance.
To a prominent right-wing troll looking to get a rise out of her, she earlier tweeted, “Like catcalling, I don’t owe a response to unsolicited requests from men with bad intentions. And also like catcalling, for some reason they feel entitled to one.”
Catcallers and anti-dancing scolds are two sides of the age-old misogyny coin. What they’re saying to her, as Ocasio-Cortez well knows, is that she’s either frigid and won’t respond to their catcalls or a “whore” because she dances too much.
Ocasio-Cortez’s responses make her detractors even more furious; no one likes to have his ugly misogyny brought to light. When Ocasio-Cortez, in white, stood to vote for Pelosi as House speaker, Republicans broke all precedent and booed her.
“Don’t hate me cause you ain’t me, fellas,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. By turning up the volume on the Republicans’ terrified sexism, as a digital native does best, she’s made quick work of her haters.
By contrast, the latest attacks on Pelosi are listless. After seven years of trying to stir up hatred for the distinguished representative from San Francisco, conservatives seem to be running out of steam.
During Pelosi’s swearing-in as the first person to return to the speakership since 1955, and the first and only Italian American and first and only woman to hold the post, Pelosi found President Trump attempting to steal her thunder by staging a hasty press briefing. Trump’s non-briefing was so desperate-seeming it only made Pelosi’s swearing-in more formidable — and existentially threatening to the president.
Finally, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) announced Monday that she’s entering the 2020 race for president, and she also got some hazing from Trump, who often refers to Warren by a racist nickname.
Almost the second some pundits wondered ridiculously whether affable Warren is “likable” enough — c’mon, fellas, wouldja want to have a beer with her at a strip club? — “likability” was flagged as a moronically sexist metric.
Is the girl nice? Does she use salty language? Does she dance? Does she refuse to smile and flirt when you hoot at her?
These moth-eaten virgin-whore tropes have become self-satirizing. If you think misogyny has faded since “Mad Men” days, you’re wrong. In fact, as women pack the halls of power, it seems more virulent than ever, as conservatives convulse in fear at losing their old rubrics of control. They lash out more than Don Draper ever did.
But rather than deafen themselves to the primitive hatred beneath the surface of “likability” and anti-dance discourse, figures like Ocasio-Cortez send up the subtext, just as Roupenian did in “Cat Person.”
Demeaning dancing and texting the word “whore” to a woman who scares you is, when you think about it, pretty laughable. And to have the dynamic laid bare is almost a relief.
No wonder Pelosi is running the House, Warren is running for president, Tlaib is calling it as she sees it, and Ocasio-Cortez is dancing. Their enemies are losing strength, while they’re gaining it.
14.
MagdaInBlack
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Whats that thing about “…. Men are afraid women will laugh at them…”?
Well, we are. ☺️
Fun to watch them all flustered and huffy at being called on their B.S.
15.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Someone pointed out yesterday the Lou Dobbs called AOC ‘that little girl’, and that no one ever called Aaron Schock ‘that little boy’.
@Yarrow: They also seem unaccountably panicked that she was once known as Sandy.
I quit reading Maureen Down years ago, but from the clips and quotes I saw around the tubes– fewer and fewer as time goes on, I’m not the only one who thinks her shtick is worn out– she was big on the “Barry” thing. I don’t know why people think that’s so damning and/or revealing.
16.
WaterGirl
@WaterGirl: I left off the title of the article, which is most awesome. These right wing blowhards are being called out and mocked for what they are, even in the title.
Right-wing blowhards are having a tough time with this whole women-in-power thing in Congress
I don’t know why people think that’s so damning and/or revealing.
I think Dowd’s use of “Barry” reveals her total disrespect for Barack Obama, which is naming damning. (Note: even autocorrect doesn’t like swears, because it changed my damning to naming.)
Of course, that’s different from us calling Trump Traitor in Chief or the Orange Blob. We are totally disrespecting him, and proud of it. :-)
19.
A Ghost To Most
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Not just women. Some of us guys are ready to run up the black flag as well.
AOC has apparently sublet space from Obama in those assholes’ heads.
@TaMara (HFG):
I was raised by one and I married one.
This is how we know the idea ” that’s just how men are” is an excuse.
No, they aren’t ” just that way.”…..they’ve been allowed.
22.
WaterGirl
@Gelfling 545: It’s surely a # of articles thing. That just means that Baud reads more than most of us. :-)
23.
smintheus
@Spanky: In America, “son of a gun” is considered much, much better than “son of a bitch” though guns exist to kill people. And both are treated as such mild expressions as to be wholly unremarkable.
24.
Spanky
@TaMara (HFG): And few, if any, would still call themselves Republican, I suspect.
25.
bookdragon
I wonder if AOC is a scifi/fantasy fan. Everyone who read Harry Potter learned how to defeat bogeymen: laughter. Mockery is sometimes the most powerful and effective form of that. The article made me think of David Brin’s “Thor Meets Captain America” where the old gods in league with the Nazis are defeated by a prisoner who mocks them rather than cowering in fear.
26.
Martin
While I might have some disagreements with AOC regarding policy, it’s important for Congress to have idealists. But holy shit would I vastly rather have young women of color that are idealistic about the future, than old white men that are idealistic about the past. I adore her. Bring on the young people to save us.
27.
Mike in NC
Trump’s 2020 strategy: enlist Bannon and Miller and Stone to amp up the mysoginy by a factor of 1000 on their alt-right platforms. His hate rallies will start to ban women entirely. “Make America Male Again” (MAMA).
28.
Gelfling 545
@MagdaInBlack: I was raised by one. I ended up marrying an asshole. Go figure.
29.
MagdaInBlack
@Gelfling 545:
LOL….and I got involved with one. I suspect the downside is we have the idea all men are capable of that goodness……and apparently ? some are not. (Choose not)
Live and learn ?
What they’re saying to her, as Ocasio-Cortez well knows, is that she’s either frigid and won’t respond to their catcalls or a “whore” because she dances too much.
Yes. This becomes more and more clear to me. AOC represents the looming threat to their power to sexually harass or rape women without consequences, and the idea of losing that right infuriates them.
@bookdragon:
Apparently AOC plays League of Legends. I love the game, sad I had to stop playing it because it turns out the company that makes it has a massive misogyny problem, and if she played PvP she is vastly more tough, calm, and quick thinking than those coddled, whiny marshmallows in the Republican seats.
34.
David Evans
@bookdragon: Not only sci-fi/fantasy. It goes back at least to Thomas More (1553)
“the devil … the proud spirit cannot endure to be mocked”
I suppose mentioning the devil makes it fantasy, but he didn’t think so.
35.
HeleninEire
Hi All. I just saw your question from the last thread. January 27 is the big day. I do not have a clue what I’m going to do if I can’t get home. Everything will be thrown into a tailspin.
Do we still get to vote on your nym? I like HelenNotinEire, myself. (capitalization flexible)
38.
JPL
@HeleninEire: When is your lease up? I can’t imagine it lasting that long, but trump’s state of the union is the 29th so it’s possible.
39.
WaterGirl
Last night I got caught up on the last two episodes of Endeavor for this season. One more % of free space available on my dvr, yay!
I thought episodes 5 an 6 were the best of the season. I never watched Inspector Morse so I don’t know how things turned out in the future. Does Morse marry Joan? I am so hoping the answer is yes.
edit: Just checked, there will be a season 6 in 2019. yay! also, it’s 1969 Morse comes back with a mustache!
40.
Gelfling 545
@MagdaInBlack: That is the downside that my sister and I have often commented on. Since my father would not even associate with that type of person, we had no clue. Still, our upbringing made us strong enough to take action when the facts became apparent.
She’s the chick who won’t pay attention to them in a bar.
43.
tobie
My only exposure to right-wing media comes from the snippets posted on this blog, so I’ll take it on faith that these powerful women scare the living bejeezus out of Republicans. That’s a good thing.
But I also don’t want to follow an inverted version of Cleek’s law and say I’m for anything the GOP is against. I’m wary of populism of any stripe. Populism depends on a strategy of demonization–there are the people and the enemies of the people–which I believe is antithetical to liberal democracy, a form of govt based on laws and institutions blind to individuals so that every person can ideally be equal before the law. Our laws and institutions are in big trouble right now, and I’m waiting to see which Democrat and especially which strong Democratic woman will offer ways to fix them.
44.
HeleninEire
@JPL: My lease is up the 27th but that’s Sunday and they can’t get me out then. So the plan is to leave the apt on the 25th and then I’m staying in a hotel for 2 days.
@debbie:
Yes, but even more than that. She’s the pointy tip every chick becoming that chick, a process they can see on the way.
46.
HeleninEire
@WaterGirl: I like it, but it’s kinda sad. I will miss my crazy girls here. And I want to look forward not back.
47.
Baud
@tobie: We won’t know anything for sure until after 2020 when the Dems recapture control of the federal government and have the ability to make both legislative and regulatory progress. Then we’ll see if we’ve learned our lesson or if we’re going to repeat the mistakes of the 90s and the 10s.
In graduate political theory courses, “Can Democracy Survive Swears?” is usually addressed in Week 5, after “Can Democracy Survive You Dancing in College?” (Week 3) but well before “What is ‘Marginal Tax Rates’ Hobbitses?” (Week 11*, Optional Advanced Material).— Kieran Healy (@kjhealy) January 6, 2019
I actually think that I will be OK provided that it doesn’t happen on that day or a few days before. I know we are in new territory where ANYTHING can happen, but I can’t imagine his donors are gonna let him stop air traffic for more than a day or two. Even one day will be disastrous for the economy.
I find AOC annoying. I hope she is not one imof those show horse congresscritters but a workhorse. I,however, love how she gets the RW going. I think it’s because she’s Hispanic, a woman, attractive and articulate . I am more impressed by Sharice David’s. I hope the Dems are smart enough to use her in a high profile position for PR purposes.
56.
tobie
@Baud: That’s true. And I do think Bill Clinton’s biggest sin was saying, “The era of big government is over.” We should never have ceded that ground. Government’s there to ensure a level playing field.
57.
Mai Naem mobile
@JPL: never. They’re going to use a body double. Maybe the actress who plays her on Colbert’s show???
58.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@WaterGirl: Morse is so good I’m tempted to get whichever streaming service carries it, and the books are better (but skip the episode where Morse and Lewis go to Australia which I still don’t know what the hell that was). The whole Morse universe, Lewis and Endeavour, are a rare case, I think, of that kind of spin-off being done well.
When I was in London a few years ago, I made a side trip to Oxford because, of course I wanted to see the dreaming spires, but I also wanted to walk around Morse’s world. I was a little embarrassed by this and didn’t tell anybody about the TV inspiration, but then I got there and Morse (John Thaw) was freaking everywhere. Souvenirs, tea towels, et cetera. Turns out it’s the Queen’s favorite show, that and a contempt for trump and affection for the Obamas are the only traits I share with old Betty. I walked over to the Randolph hotel but felt I was underdressed to go into the bar and toast Morse. Next time.
I don’t know why people think that’s so damning and/or revealing.
If you already hate the person with a passion, you’ll interpret anything about them in the worst possible way. What you or I see as an ordinary desire to give up a childhood nickname, they see as somehow duplicitous. Basically, they think people like Obama and AOC are much more assimilated and middle class than they let on, and the attempt to go back to using their given name rather than an “Americanized” nickname is an attempt to portray themselves as more authentic and outsidery – and hence appealing to those parts of the Democratic Party the right wing hates the most.
60.
WaterGirl
@Mai Naem mobile: I was definitely not a fan of her Bernie flirtations right after she won the nomination, but I am liking her so far now that she’s been elected. Hoping she can be the rare workhorse and show horse.
It was wrong on policy, but he said it after to the wave election gave the GOP control of Congress. The electorate was far whiter and more conservative than it is today.
62.
WaterGirl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I love the story of your trip. If you ever stumble upon Morse on Netflix, let me know.
I refuse to have more than cable and Netflix, and I can’t even keep up with those, so I refuse to get another streaming service, on principle.
63.
Baud
@WaterGirl: Same here. But it’s early for all these new folks. What I want to see is how they handle adversity, loss, and coalition politics, as well as what they can achieve in terms of policy.
She’s the chick who won’t pay attention to them in a bar.
This is almost certain to be literally true. She worked as a bartender before running for Congress, and you can bet your ass she got plenty of experience ignoring men hitting on her at work.
65.
WaterGirl
@Baud: Absolutely. #1: They have to play as a team. Show horse is fine. Grandstanding is not.
They need to work their asses off as part of the team.
I go back and forth. I do think Dems could learn something from her about not buying into bad-faith phony outrage from Republicans and Broderists, but I do think we, including her, need to keep some perspective and remember that as media savvy as she is, she’s from one congressional district and won a primary against a slumbering, lazy incumbent. For every AOC there’s a Connor Lamb. Sharice Davids put out a tweet yesterday paying tribute to Pat Roberts when he announced his retirement. It’s the kind of thing that often generates rage from the emo-online-twitter-left, but she knows her district.
ETA: what the hell put that in moderation?
67.
tobie
@Mai Naem mobile: There are a lot of really talented freshwomen (love that word!) in the House who are not getting any air time. Remember the slush fund that Congress critters used to silence staff members who complained about sexual harassment? Well, that fund and the non-disclosure agreements that went with it are gone thanks to an amendments to the rules that Lauren Underwood (IL-D) introduced and got passed on her very first day in office. This is the only mention I could find of it:
Dan Diamond
Verified account
@ddiamond
Jan 3
More
Speaking of Rep. @LaurenUnderwood — the former HHS staffer is touting sexual abuse/assault provisions that passed House today as her first legislative victory.
68.
tobie
@Baud: Thanks. I knew there was some historical context I was missing.
69.
germy
If POTUS is willing to continue the shutdown for “months, even years,” isn’t he conceding that building a wall really isn’t an emergency? ?— Asha Rangappa (@AshaRangappa_) January 5, 2019
70.
cliosfanboy
@Spanky: me too. Us old white Male farts just need to step aside and let this new breed of Democrat take over and take off.
71.
JPL
@HeleninEire: The shut down alone hurts the economy. Next month’s unemployment number could be interesting.
72.
JPL
@Mai Naem mobile: She would represent our country better or maybe I should say. she would be best.
73.
Spanky
@HeleninQueens: Here’s hoping you can fly home! Otherwise, you might have to take a tramp steamer, come through Verrazano Narrows, Statue of Liberty, etc etc. Pretty much like the first time, a couple of gens back.
74.
A Ghost To Most
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Without a doubt. My family is a factory for producing drunk racist ammosexual assholes. I was a defect from the start, and treated as such. Lucky me.
75.
Obvious Russian Troll
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I read the NYT editorial and op-ed page nearly every day in the nineties until I came to my senses when the Iraq war started, and Dowd was the only columnist I regularly skipped.
She writes a decent column every couple of years, but it’s not worth the trouble to find them.
I’d rather read David Fucking Brooks than her, and I hate David Fucking Brooks.
76.
JPL
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: If you have Amazon Prime you can sign up free for britbox and watch the series for 7 days. It’s 6.99 a month after that. It does sound tempting.
77.
hells littlest angel
@WaterGirl: Endeavour is one of my favorite Brit cop shows (along with Vera and Line Of Duty). I found Inspector Morse to be tedious, largely because of John Thaw’s dreadfully bad acting, but watching Shawn Evans slowly evolve his character into the unhappy and unpleasant Morse is really fascinating.
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I’ve known way too many assholes who are men. Also, way too many assholes who are women. I don’t know what the proportions are, but it’s close to a tie.
81.
patrick II
Like most of commenters here, I have been frustrated by our congressional democrats timidity in response to Republican total venality. So, when I imagined democrats finally breaking free of their obeisance to decorum, I did not imagine young women being the medium of rebellion. Finally, someone says the obvious — lets impeach that motherfucker, another dances in the halls of congress as a kind of happy screw you to critics, I see hijabs and colorful native dress. I guess I have enough misogyny in me I didn’t see the rebellion against stultifying, intimidating, decorum coming from young women, but not so much that it stops me from being glad it has.
82.
Gelfling 545
@Roger Moore: Sandy has not been an unconmon nickname for Alexandria, or Alexander come to that, based on the 3rd syllable of the name.
83.
delk
@hells littlest angel: new episodes of Vera start next Sunday on BritBox. Same day as they are being shown in the UK.
84.
smintheus
@debbie: They’re the punks trying to pick up Jennifer Lopez in the hotel bar in Out of Sight.
85.
Barbara
@WaterGirl: Spoiler (sort of): Morse never marries anybody.
@Roger Moore: Nope that’s not an option. I go through American customs and passport control here. If they are on strike in the US they will be on strike here.
88.
tobie
@patrick II: We have had in-your-face-style Democratic House members before. Anthony Weiner comes to mind. It just ended really, really badly. For this reason alone, I’m happy that this time it’s women who have taken up the mantle.
You can pick up a full set of the used DVD’s for a good price. Netflix DVD probably still carries it as well, sign up for a free trial.
The early ones were recorded on video so the quality is not as good. They switched to filming them later.
I have never seen a better rendition of self assured “I’m so out of your league” than in that bar scene — until I saw Ocasio-Cortez dancing in the halls of Congress.
Also, “You wanted to tussle, we tussled”, every time I read her twitter responses in response to unwanted aggression.
91.
smintheus
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I lived in Oxford for several years, had occasional encounters with the city police. Almost uniformly they struck me at best as grossly unprofessional and at worst dimwitted. I wasn’t the only one either. I recall one time I recounted a stupid and annoying interaction with the police to a (local) staff member of my college, and his response was “Bloody typical.”
I marvel at the audacity of the TV series in portraying anybody associated with the Oxford police in a positive light.
I am a bit concerned by the attention-seekers. We have to see how this plays out.
94.
WaterGirl
@Barbara: I cannot believe how disappointed I am to read that.
Also, just 30 seconds after I am bemoaning the torture and murder of Jamal Khashoggi, I am totally sad that a fictional character never marries the person I want him to, and never marries at all.
Like most of commenters here, I have been frustrated by our congressional democrats timidity in response to Republican total venality.
Count me out of that.
96.
smintheus
@Gelfling 545: The ‘x’ in the Greek alphabet (‘xi’) was created to represent a common double consonant cluster, ‘ks’. In many of the original Greek scripts there was no ‘xi’ and it was spelled out as ‘ks’ (Aleksandros).
Thames Valley Police is the largest non-metropolitan police force in England and Wales. We police the counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, and serve a diverse population of more than two million, plus six million visitors who come to Thames Valley each year. We patrol 196 miles of motorway – more than any other British police force.
I can’t imagine what they think of academics and staff at the colleges.
99.
Emma
@JPL: dang it, you evil human. Now I have an even more wonderful way to waste my time * off to sign up*
She’s the chick who won’t pay attention to them in a bar.
Republican’s attitude towards her can be summarized as “yeah, she’s hot, but you got no shot”. And these men don’t like the rejection
101.
Elizabelle
@bookdragon: That’s a really interesting comment. Harry Potter as preparation.
Also, perhaps, dystopian literature. Hunger Games, anyone? NY Magazine’s The Cut had a really good article about this last year. Once Emma Gonzalez entered the national consciousness in the aftermath of the Parkland school shooting.
It’s early morning on a school day, and I’m texting with Emma González — the shaved-head badass co-founder of the #NeverAgain movement and one of the primary teenage organizers of the anti-gun rally to be held on March 24 in Washington, D.C. — about her preferences in fiction. Specifically, what I want to know is this: Does she read YA and fantasy fiction? Which characters does she like or relate to? “Are you a person who likes/liked Harry Potter/Divergent/Hunger Games?”
I ask because Emma, and the other activist kids in Parkland, Florida (I wrote about them earlier this month here) are being compared all over social media to YA heroes and heroines, their brave, defiant rebellion reminiscent of something from a dystopian plot.
… And a tweet by Jennifer Ansbach, a teacher, said this: “I’m not sure why people are so surprised that the students are rising up — we’ve been feeding them a steady diet of dystopian literature showing teens leading the charge for years. We have told teen girls they are empowered. What, you thought it was fiction? It was preparation.”
Emma, it turns out, is not so much a Katniss (Hunger Games) fan. She fancies herself more as Ginny (book, not movie) or Luna. Whoever those Harry Potter characters are …
Sandy has not been an unconmon nickname for Alexandria
Sure, but haters see her using a nickname like that as a sign of assimilation. If she’s actually assimilated, then any attempt she makes to take advantage of her ethnic heritage is ultimately a scam. It’s the same way they see her having gone to a good high school and a private college as invalidating her attempts to invoke her having grown up poor.
103.
smintheus
@WhatsMyNym: Like I said, locals I was friendly with also had a uniformly negative view of the Oxford police. They were a bad joke and incredibly lazy. It once took me nearly an hour to hand over to them a wallet I’d found in the street because they didn’t want to be bothered with the paperwork. I persisted because the owner of the wallet was from Birmingham, had come to town for a job interview, his return bus ticket was in the wallet, and to all appearances he was quite poor. And in fact that was the case. The guy wrote me a letter thanking me profusely for saving his bacon and explaining how desperate his situation was. But the police couldn’t have cared less. They thought they could make me go away and leave them in peace just by making me sit and sit and sit.
104.
Mary G
@Elizabelle: Harry Potter started kind of slow for me – I read books 1 and 2 and kind of thought “nice kiddie lit” and forgot about it. A couple of years later I picked up book 3 from somebody giving away books, and it was off to the races. Don’t skip 1 & 2, though, she has plotlines going from the jump that pay off years later.
I am not sure AOC is an attention seeker. She upset an established incumbent in the media center of America. She was “exotic” enough the networks were intrigued. All the networks had to do was hop on a train and there she was ready to be in the national spotlight, as they stuck cameras and microphones in her face to show us this unusual candidate.
106.
WaterGirl
@WhatsMyNym: I haven’t used my DVD player even 3 times since I purchased it well over 5 years ago. I can work my other remotes in the dark, but my DVD remote is still a mystery. Hate it. Otherwise, that would be a good idea.
107.
Elizabelle
@Mary G: Yeah, I couldn’t get into Book 1. But time to try again.
Friends have told me JK Rowling’s style changed as her readers matured; she kept it challenging for them. Allegorical nature of the books sounds brilliant.
108.
Gretchen
I was AOC-skeptical at first, when she came to my district to campaign against Sharice davids for the primary. She’s winning me over, though, both with her clap-backs against conservatives on twitter, and her willingness to say bold things about policy like the 70% top rate. Today Paul Krugman on twitter compared 40-something Paul ryan being designated a serious policy wonk for his ideas on economics from Ayn Rand, while dismissing AOC as a flaky nitwit for policy endorsed by serious economic research. And she went after Steve Scalise today for misrepresenting the proposal.
I was worried that she would fight against Pelosi as “establishment”, but Pelosi seems to have won her over. She was on Instagram excitedly pointing out that her office is only 2 doors down from Pelosi’s. And she wrote about what hard times her family had, and how hard her mother worked. At her swearing in, Pelosi turned to her mom and said “you must be so proud”, which made her mom cry. So I think she will be a team player.
Hi All. I just saw your question from the last thread. January 27 is the big day. I do not have a clue what I’m going to do if I can’t get home. Everything will be thrown into a tailspin.
Hey, Helen soon to be in Queens:
Cunard runs trans-Atlantic on the Queen Mary II, and it doesn’t cost very much (if any) more than air fares, although it takes a week. So if the air transport system in American fails, check that option out, you even wind up in NYC IIRC.
Not til April, the web site says, but starting at $699 per person one way. So not stupid expensive for an inside cabin.
112.
germy
Ocasio-Cortez wants a 70-80% income tax on the rich. I agree! Start with the Koch Bros. — and also make it WEALTH tax.
@Mary G: I found it delightful that the story line and vocabulary mature as the characters do.
114.
tobie
@Gretchen: what worries me is that the focus on individual tax rates obscures how the super wealthy and CEOs actually earn money, which is in dividends and capital gains, not wages. Tackle that problem as well as corporate tax loopholes and you will both increase revenue to the Treasury and encourage companies to reinvest in their workforce instead of funnelling profits to shareholders.
115.
Catherine D.
@delk: I love britbox! Looking forward to the new Veras.
116.
Suzanne
@WaterGirl: Wise thing I read yesterday: “Men agreed to be ruled by other men in exchange for all men ruling over all women.”
Men who are mediocre (or worse) oppose liberation of women. Men who aren’t scared of competition and aren’t insecure welcome liberation of women.
Or, as that sage Taylor Swift put it, “Haters gonna hate hate hate hate hate”.
117.
psycholinguist
@patrick II: Your comment reminds me of a truism in my line of work – if you want to know where the next language innovation will come from, go record a bunch of young women talking. Whatever 40+ year olds find most annoying has a high likelihood of being incorporated in to the prevailing dialect likelier than not.
I’m recognizing that AOC is functioning as a mirror for me in some ways, and what I see in that reflection isn’t always attractive.Bbut does help to identify some things in my attitudes and beliefs that need closer examination.
@Mary G: I had the same reaction to Book 1. I saw it as a kid’s book–one that would go in the children’s section at B&N, on the opposite side of the store from YA/Teen. A couple years later, I listened to Book 2 on a long drive and was hooked.
119.
germy
Republicans: Let Americans keep more of their own hard-earned money
Democrats: Take away 70% of your income and give it to leftist fantasy programs https://t.co/NxJPSCqvrt
You’re the GOP Minority Whip. How do you not know how marginal tax rates work?
Oh that’s right, almost forgot: GOP works for the corporate CEOs showering themselves in multi-million?bonuses; not the actual working people whose wages + healthcare they’re ripping off for profit. https://t.co/R1YIng2Ok1
@tobie: My uneducated wish is for all income to be taxed alike, no matter what its source. Why should income from money be taxed less than money I earn from the sweat of my brow?
122.
tobie
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I think it used to be that stocks meant you were investing in a company both in the expectation it would grow and to help it grow thus helping the economy. That principle seems to have gone out the window, so, yeah, it makes sense to tax all earnings as income regardless of source IMHO.
123.
Gretchen
@Mary G: The interesting thing is that she purposely wrote it that way so that early readers could read it and then it got harder as those same kids’ reading level grew.
124.
Kelly
@tobie: Yep, the 70% for over $10,000,000 rate should apply to every dollar, regardless of source. Cap gains, Dividends, Inheritances. Oh I suppose we’d want to allow tax free public bonds since that should end up save taxpayers money on interest payments.
125.
Amir Khalid
@Elizabelle:
Ginny Weasley is Ron’s baby sister and, in the last two books, Harry’s girlfriend. In the epilogue, and in the play Harry Potter and The Cursed Child, she is Harry’s wife. As an only daughter with six older brothers, Ginny is in some ways a stronger and feistier character than Hermione. Luna Lovegood is … well, the article at the link explains it better than I can.
Friends have told me JK Rowling’s style changed as her readers matured; she kept it challenging for them.
My suspicion is that there’s a bit more to it than that. I think that when the first two books were written Rowling was a complete unknown, and the editor and publisher had a lot more control over what the books were like. When they turned into runaway successes, Rowling had a lot more leverage and was able to write the books the way she wanted them to be.
127.
JPL
@Emma: During these stressful times we need shows that we can enjoy. Pure escapism and it’s money well spent.
128.
Immanentize
@tobie:
I support micro taxation on every stock trade. It wouldn’t be missed by investors, would probably depress the effects of auto arbitraging, and raise boodles of cash for the general fisc.
If anything, it should be taxed at a much higher rate than income from labor. A much, much higher rate.
131.
Gelfling 545
@germy: Seriously, above $10M earned by the sweat of your brow?
132.
O. Felix Culpa
@Elizabelle: To be fair, AOC is also singled out for attention by the right-wing farts (old and young). I like the fact that she gives better than she gets. She voted loud and proud for Nancy. It’s early days yet. She misstepped with the Bernie tour, but I’m willing to cut her some slack and see how/what she does going forward.
133.
germy
@Gelfling 545: His trick (I assume he knows better) is to make his followers think she wants to take 70% of everyone’s income.
134.
Gelfling 545
@Roger Moore: My understanding was that there was remarkably little editorial intervention.
135.
sukabi
@germy: good lord, have the Koch Bros cut Ann off the money train?
It’s more likely though that Ann sees her grift ending if she doesn’t find another audience.
Men agreed to be ruled by other men in exchange for all men ruling over all women.
Have not seen that before but it’s very powerful.
All the men in my life are comfortable around strong women, and they were all raised by strong women. What a coincidence!
So many things we are teaching our kids; things that we may never think about consciously.
137.
Mary G
@Elizabelle: @Gretchen: @Gelfling 545: The books do indeed develop as the kids do. Her description of their first school dance in Book 4 had me rolling on the floor. Plus the satire on government and the press is hilarious.
FWIW, she says that she wrote the first books with the intention of the readers growing up with the books. I have never heard or seen her discuss any major pressure from her editor or publisher to change what she wrote in any significant way. And, because I was a Potter fan from the start, I’ve read and seen a lot of discussions from her and many others involved about how it all began.
142.
hueyplong
@sukabi: Going to need a bigger sample size to draw any conclusions about a Coulter direction-shift.
good lord, have the Koch Bros cut Ann off the money train?
It’s more likely though that Ann sees her grift ending if she doesn’t find another audience.
Good question. Something’s going on there.
I think she hates immigration (the brown kind) so much; she’s brimming over with so much hatred that some of it is splashing on the Kochs:
NOTHING could be worse than another amnesty. It's a magnet and the rich will suddenly need a new supply of slave illegal immigrant labor. https://t.co/aObYVZyUBE
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) January 6, 2019
145.
Ruckus
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Woman are mad.
Good.
They should be mad.
Actually they should be massively pissed off.
I think it used to be that stocks meant you were investing in a company both in the expectation it would grow and to help it grow thus helping the economy.
I think that assumption is still basically true. The problem is that the idea that capital gains should be taxed at a lower rate than wages is based on another, often unstated, assumption: that growth is limited by available capital rather than aggregate demand. That assumption appears not to be true anymore. The asset bubbles of the past couple of decades are a sign that there’s too much capital seeking out too few worthwhile investments. The logical correction is to tax capital more heavily and give more money to poor people to increase aggregate demand.
148.
Mary G
@geg6: This has always outraged me. My housemates are caregivers and pay tax at a much higher rate than someone just sitting on their ass watching their money grow. It’s a very warped priority, this fetish about capital being sacred, and it needs to change.
Me too. These computerized trades making a fraction of a cent on temporary imbalances in pricing on a two million share trade for 3 seconds have to stop — they’re distorting the real market, such as it is, and it isn’t really a very real market, as the information imbalance is near 100% from professional market makers to individual financial advisors to people like us just trying not to loose our whole tiny investment pile.
151.
WaterGirl
@Baud: Happily, it may not work for much longer. At least I hope that will be the case.
152.
Mary G
@germy: The Kochs are putting big money into Latino outreach and are not against immigration at all, being libertarians who appreciate cheap labor.
I don’t think it’s a spoiler to tell you that Morse never marries.
156.
germy
@Mary G: And Coulter views them as turncoats. So out of spite, she tweets agreement with AOC’s tax proposal: “Yes, tax them! Specifically, the Kochs!!”
I read a few of her tweets and had to stop. There’s something deranged about her rage.
@smintheus: In the 50s there was a local sportscaster who called someone son of a bitch on air and was fired.
I read the newspaper report which said he was fired for calling someone an SOB*. In 7th grade and pretty protected, I kept badgering my parents to tell me why it was wrong to use the word ‘sob.’ (How was that word different from ‘laugh’ or ‘cry’?)
It’s a great clip and for some reason I’m associating it with progressive taxation.
163.
PJ
@Roger Moore: @Mary G: Huh, I always thought the rationale for having a lower capital gains tax rate was that the “makers” (the wealthy) accrue the vast majority of their income from returns on capital, and it is an affront to justice that they should have to pay the same rate (or more!) than the “takers” (people who earn their income from working), despite the wealthy receiving greater benefits from the government, which is, in large part, designed to protect their property.
164.
Ruckus
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
It’s just that the assholes are mostly men.
This.
There are though, as you allow, a few asshole women. Maybe more than we’d like to admit. Hopefully not. As women in this post have stated though it’s easy to find an asshole man. I found one of the asshole women. So it isn’t impossible to find them. And no, it isn’t better for us when we find one but as the odds of finding seem to be much worse for women, that’s one more thing that needs to be righted.
165.
Amir Khalid
@Roger Moore:
As Rowling tells it, her plan was always to have the storytelling perspective mature with Harry and his age cohort as they grow up. They see things as children in Philosopher’s Stone, and as adults in Deathly Hallows. As indeed many young readers do who follow the books as they themselves mature from preadolescence to early adulthood.
166.
Mary G
Great:
Knowledgeable source tells me that White House forced out Pentagon Chief of Staff Rear Admiral Kevin Sweeney (ret.)— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) January 6, 2019
@Ruckus: It may be a question of who’s mostly in power. Those people have more opportunity to be assholes, and they do tend to be men. Power probably is corrupting.
168.
Ruckus
@germy:
Hasn’t he pretty much conceded that in a number of speeches he’s flubbed?
I’m sure he doesn’t think so but the english language is not that difficult to understand. For anyone else but him.
We have had in-your-face-style Democratic House members before. Anthony Weiner comes to mind.
I would think this would be unnecessary.
Going to say it anyway. PHRASING…
170.
Ladyraxterinok
@Obvious Russian Troll: Will never forget or forgive her snide column attacking Gore because he asked a woman for some fashion advice. She thought it was super hysterically funny that be would ask a woman for advice. Showed he was a wimp.
@tobie: Also signing on to the awful IRIIRA which has to a large extent created the illegal immigration conundrum of today and “welfare” reform. Until R party changes substantially, its time for Ds to bury bipartisanship. Agreeing to watered down versions of nasty R ideas leads to huge problems down the road.
This has always outraged me. My housemates are caregivers and pay tax at a much higher rate than someone just sitting on their ass watching their money grow. It’s a very warped priority, this fetish about capital being sacred, and it needs to change.
I am posting on the go from my phone and don’t have access to my original references, but I noted here an article that underscores the fact that everything in this new tax law is based on the notion that capital gains and investment income deserves a bigger break than income from wages.
And this is not an issue that is resolved simply by raising marginal tax rates. Everything the Republicans did to the tax code for individuals, corporations, estates and trusts will need to be revisited.
176.
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: Yes, I got the sad news upthread. I know he’s a fictional character, but I am ridiculously disappointed to hear that.
I also hated the relationship decision they made in Grandchester. Apparently I like a happy ending.
177.
WaterGirl
@Baud: I’m hoping these new house members turn all the rules upside down, just like the Parkland kids.
If we change our playbook, the game changes by definition. (She said hopefully.)
178.
Ruckus
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Power is corrupting for many. It is easy to believe in your own press, be it internal or external. And not everyone gets put in a position of power so that makes one, in some minds, special. It’s bullshit of course but never let it be said that humans can’t create more bullshit as actual bulls.
This.
There are though, as you allow, a few asshole women. Maybe more than we’d like to admit.
Human beings are not perfect. No group, no gender has a monopoly on virtue. There are as many women assholes as there are men.
The thing is, of course, that we don’t have to be assholes. We can be kind. We can be compassionate. We can be considerate of others if we try hard enough.
Yes, I got the sad news upthread. I know he’s a fictional character, but I am ridiculously disappointed to hear that.
I’m sorry this was spoiled for you. I am coming late to this thread and have been enjoying the range of comments, especially the ones about tv shows.
The older Morse has an air of sadness about him. The tv series (can’t speak about the novels) touches on this lightly and doesn’t spell out all the details of Morse’s back story, leaving it to the actor to show you how this reflects the character.
I enjoy the adventures of the more mature Morse more than I like Endeavour, but it is generally well done and serves the characters well. I greatly liked Morse’s mentor and boss, Inspector Thursday.
I agree about Grantchester! (I was hoping it wasn’t a spoiler since it’s a given in the entire Inspector Morse series.)
In another classic episode (they’re all classic!), “Dead on Time,” we learn that Morse was engaged to a woman named Susan while he was at university. But there’s never any mention of that on Endeavour. That kind of bugs me.
The books also refrain from filling in the back story.
183.
WaterGirl
@Brachiator: No, I really wanted to know! It may be forever before I get around to watching Inspector Morse. I just really wanted him to end up with Joan. I mean, there’s obviously something there!
edit: “The older Morse has an air of sadness about him.” Missed opportunity, no doubt!
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I think that’s a lot of it. You pretty much can only be an asshole to people with less power (even if only temporarily, like the asshole in a bar who has more power because he’s looking for a fight and you don’t want one.) If you try to be an asshole to people with more power, either there are consequences or it just comes off as whiny.
I firmly believe women could be as big assholes as men, because I don’t think the inherent differences are that strong. However, testing it would take women being in power for enough generations to end the socialization against it, which won’t happen in my lifetime. I do hope we can begin to end the socialization for it among men, though.
185.
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: Interesting! I guess they have to pick and choose what to put in the show.
No group, no gender has a monopoly on virtue. There are as many women assholes as there are men.
This strikes me as self-evident. I’m surprised at the number of people here who want to see a huge gender imbalance in assholery. In teaching college students, I’ve had to deal with lots of assholes both male and female, and I’m really not sure which are more numerous or more obnoxious. If anything, women students who are assholes seem to be more manipulative and more likely to savage my reputation if they don’t get their way, whereas the males tend toward being dumb-ass bro assholes.
You pretty much can only be an asshole to people with less power
I don’t think that’s true. For example, the person who zips forward to grab a parking spot you’ve been waiting patiently to open up? An asshole pure and simple. Has nothing specifically to do with power.
I firmly believe women could be as big assholes as men, because I don’t think the inherent differences are that strong. However, testing it would take women being in power for enough generations to end the socialization against it, which won’t happen in my lifetime. I do hope we can begin to end the socialization for it among men, though.
Doesn’t take generations, just look at women who have the power to kick down. Plenty of examples today involving white women and WOC, straight women and LGB folks, cisgender women and trans women.
That said, I agree that women as a whole tend to be less overtly assholish today, because 1) as noted above it’s hard to be assholish to those with more power, 2) women are usually socialized to be “nice,” and 3) because of #1 and #2, women’s assholish behavior is often more indirect and subtle, e.g. mean girl behavior.
191.
germy
You’re still talking about a congresswoman cursing because the Republican Party is the assignment editor for much of the political press, which, in the absence of major, breaking events, covers whatever shiny object the party cues them to cover.— Judah Maccabeets? (@AdamSerwer) January 6, 2019
Thursday is created entirely for Endeavour — he doesn’t exist in the Morse universe. But Strange and the medical examiner are in Morse. That’s one of the lovely things about Endeavour — the actors playing Strange and the ME have clearly studied the performances of their older counterparts. (As has the star, whose name I can never remember. He doesn’t look at all like John Thaw, but he has studied his facial expressions IN HIS MAGNIFICENT PERFORMANCE.)
I mean Thaw’s magnificent performance (contra a commenter above), but Evans (?) is very good as well.
194.
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: I had no idea! So interesting. Love the actor who plays Endeavour.
195.
Gex
@Baud: same. But I will be glad to see more effective counters to their venality. The b.s. dancing criticism failed so spectacularly I’ve seen right wingers claim SHE released it, as a false flag, with a burner account and the media narrative is about how pathetic their attacks are.
Oh do read the Harry Potter books. My daughter-in-law (a big fan) gave me the first one to try out while I was visiting them in August. I read all of them one after another and watched all the movies. I have read several of them twice. She gave me the first Percy Jackson book for Christmas and I’m on number 3. I guess I’m in my second childhood in my 70s.
197.
e.a.f.
Thought these new young politicians are amazing. They’re fun, dance, don’t pay attention to those who don’t like them, they’ll make a great contribution political life in the U.S.A.
It is rather “funny” that these people dislike the new group of women House Representatives and they think its a big deal. Other countries, have had women leaders for decades and having young people in office is a good thing. Best to simply ingnore the haters and get on with the business of government. Really liked the one who referred to Trump as a “mother fucker”. Canada’s former Prime Minister, Kim Campbell, has now also referred to Trump as a “mother fucker”. No one in Canada cared when she used the term. She’s used it before and will again. You call them as you see them.
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Yarrow
From the article:
LOL.
debbie
Good. Keep at it ’til their heads explode.
Baud
Didn’t we learn this in 2016 with Hillary?
The article is behind a pay wall so I don’t know if the parallel was drawn in the piece.
Spanky
One suspects they lined up Red, White, and Blue on purpose for the swearing in.
UNAMERICAN!
Dorothy A. Winsor
On twitter, I see huffy R men condemning Tlaib’s language. And I see response after response from women telling the huffer to fuck off. And I laugh and laugh.
Woman are mad.
Yarrow
@Baud: It wasn’t behind a paywall for me. Is there a monthly limit on articles? Maybe clear your cookies, etc.?
Yarrow
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
QFT.
Nicole
Oh, that was a delightful and satisfying read. Thanks geg6!
Spanky
And just for the record, this old white male is going to enjoy kicking back and watching some younger energetic women kicking butt and taking names as they right our ship of state from its extreme starboard list.
Spanky
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Tlaib was too nice. “Motherfucker” is generic, whereas “daughterfucker” is specific. And accurate.
TaMara (HFG)
@Baud: Really? I had no issues accessing it.
Geoboy
As an almost 70 Caucasian male, I welcome our new millennial overlords. Sincere apologies for the mess people who share my Y chromosome, skin tone and age grouping have left you.
WaterGirl
@Baud: It’s so good, I’m gonna be a rebel today and break all the rules of etiquette:
MagdaInBlack
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Whats that thing about “…. Men are afraid women will laugh at them…”?
Well, we are. ☺️
Fun to watch them all flustered and huffy at being called on their B.S.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Someone pointed out yesterday the Lou Dobbs called AOC ‘that little girl’, and that no one ever called Aaron Schock ‘that little boy’.
I quit reading Maureen Down years ago, but from the clips and quotes I saw around the tubes– fewer and fewer as time goes on, I’m not the only one who thinks her shtick is worn out– she was big on the “Barry” thing. I don’t know why people think that’s so damning and/or revealing.
WaterGirl
@WaterGirl: I left off the title of the article, which is most awesome. These right wing blowhards are being called out and mocked for what they are, even in the title.
TaMara (HFG)
@Spanky:
@Geoboy:
For the record, I was raised by a man who believes in strong women and have been blessed to know many such men.
WaterGirl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I think Dowd’s use of “Barry” reveals her total disrespect for Barack Obama, which is
namingdamning. (Note: even autocorrect doesn’t like swears, because it changed my damning to naming.)Of course, that’s different from us calling Trump Traitor in Chief or the Orange Blob. We are totally disrespecting him, and proud of it. :-)
A Ghost To Most
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Not just women. Some of us guys are ready to run up the black flag as well.
AOC has apparently sublet space from Obama in those assholes’ heads.
Gelfling 545
@Baud: Huh. I got it with no problem.
MagdaInBlack
@TaMara (HFG):
I was raised by one and I married one.
This is how we know the idea ” that’s just how men are” is an excuse.
No, they aren’t ” just that way.”…..they’ve been allowed.
WaterGirl
@Gelfling 545: It’s surely a # of articles thing. That just means that Baud reads more than most of us. :-)
smintheus
@Spanky: In America, “son of a gun” is considered much, much better than “son of a bitch” though guns exist to kill people. And both are treated as such mild expressions as to be wholly unremarkable.
Spanky
@TaMara (HFG): And few, if any, would still call themselves Republican, I suspect.
bookdragon
I wonder if AOC is a scifi/fantasy fan. Everyone who read Harry Potter learned how to defeat bogeymen: laughter. Mockery is sometimes the most powerful and effective form of that. The article made me think of David Brin’s “Thor Meets Captain America” where the old gods in league with the Nazis are defeated by a prisoner who mocks them rather than cowering in fear.
Martin
While I might have some disagreements with AOC regarding policy, it’s important for Congress to have idealists. But holy shit would I vastly rather have young women of color that are idealistic about the future, than old white men that are idealistic about the past. I adore her. Bring on the young people to save us.
Mike in NC
Trump’s 2020 strategy: enlist Bannon and Miller and Stone to amp up the mysoginy by a factor of 1000 on their alt-right platforms. His hate rallies will start to ban women entirely. “Make America Male Again” (MAMA).
Gelfling 545
@MagdaInBlack: I was raised by one. I ended up marrying an asshole. Go figure.
MagdaInBlack
@Gelfling 545:
LOL….and I got involved with one. I suspect the downside is we have the idea all men are capable of that goodness……and apparently ? some are not. (Choose not)
Live and learn ?
Dorothy A. Winsor
@A Ghost To Most: Props to the men who are on the right side here because you’re right. They’re here. It’s just that the assholes are mostly men.
Immanentize
@A Ghost To Most:
And as someone here pointed out yesterday, that sub-let is totally rent free to AOC.
sukabi
@Mike in NC: MAMA Ha! Weapon of choice? Thumbs or pacifier?
Frankensteinbeck
Yes. This becomes more and more clear to me. AOC represents the looming threat to their power to sexually harass or rape women without consequences, and the idea of losing that right infuriates them.
@bookdragon:
Apparently AOC plays League of Legends. I love the game, sad I had to stop playing it because it turns out the company that makes it has a massive misogyny problem, and if she played PvP she is vastly more tough, calm, and quick thinking than those coddled, whiny marshmallows in the Republican seats.
David Evans
@bookdragon: Not only sci-fi/fantasy. It goes back at least to Thomas More (1553)
“the devil … the proud spirit cannot endure to be mocked”
I suppose mentioning the devil makes it fantasy, but he didn’t think so.
HeleninEire
Hi All. I just saw your question from the last thread. January 27 is the big day. I do not have a clue what I’m going to do if I can’t get home. Everything will be thrown into a tailspin.
WaterGirl
@Mike in NC:
I startled my kitties with the laughter when I read that one!
WaterGirl
@HeleninEire: Welcome to America! :-)
Do we still get to vote on your nym? I like HelenNotinEire, myself. (capitalization flexible)
JPL
@HeleninEire: When is your lease up? I can’t imagine it lasting that long, but trump’s state of the union is the 29th so it’s possible.
WaterGirl
Last night I got caught up on the last two episodes of Endeavor for this season. One more % of free space available on my dvr, yay!
I thought episodes 5 an 6 were the best of the season. I never watched Inspector Morse so I don’t know how things turned out in the future. Does Morse marry Joan? I am so hoping the answer is yes.
edit: Just checked, there will be a season 6 in 2019. yay! also, it’s 1969 Morse comes back with a mustache!
Gelfling 545
@MagdaInBlack: That is the downside that my sister and I have often commented on. Since my father would not even associate with that type of person, we had no clue. Still, our upbringing made us strong enough to take action when the facts became apparent.
Baud
@WaterGirl: Thanks.
@HeleninEire: More proof that America is on the upswing.
debbie
@Frankensteinbeck:
She’s the chick who won’t pay attention to them in a bar.
tobie
My only exposure to right-wing media comes from the snippets posted on this blog, so I’ll take it on faith that these powerful women scare the living bejeezus out of Republicans. That’s a good thing.
But I also don’t want to follow an inverted version of Cleek’s law and say I’m for anything the GOP is against. I’m wary of populism of any stripe. Populism depends on a strategy of demonization–there are the people and the enemies of the people–which I believe is antithetical to liberal democracy, a form of govt based on laws and institutions blind to individuals so that every person can ideally be equal before the law. Our laws and institutions are in big trouble right now, and I’m waiting to see which Democrat and especially which strong Democratic woman will offer ways to fix them.
HeleninEire
@JPL: My lease is up the 27th but that’s Sunday and they can’t get me out then. So the plan is to leave the apt on the 25th and then I’m staying in a hotel for 2 days.
Frankensteinbeck
@debbie:
Yes, but even more than that. She’s the pointy tip every chick becoming that chick, a process they can see on the way.
HeleninEire
@WaterGirl: I like it, but it’s kinda sad. I will miss my crazy girls here. And I want to look forward not back.
Baud
@tobie: We won’t know anything for sure until after 2020 when the Dems recapture control of the federal government and have the ability to make both legislative and regulatory progress. Then we’ll see if we’ve learned our lesson or if we’re going to repeat the mistakes of the 90s and the 10s.
Dorothy A. Winsor
WaterGirl
@WaterGirl: oops, spelled Endeavour wrong!
WaterGirl
@HeleninEire: I’m sure it’s very sad. But it’s okay to be sad for awhile, so how about HelenMissingEire for a bit until you put that behind you?
Pretty sure HelenMissingEireButLovingNY is too long?
WaterGirl
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I am loving this new Age of Mockery.
HeleninEire
I actually think that I will be OK provided that it doesn’t happen on that day or a few days before. I know we are in new territory where ANYTHING can happen, but I can’t imagine his donors are gonna let him stop air traffic for more than a day or two. Even one day will be disastrous for the economy.
JPL
When is Melania returning?
HeleninEire
@WaterGirl: OK those are much better.
Mai Naem mobile
I find AOC annoying. I hope she is not one imof those show horse congresscritters but a workhorse. I,however, love how she gets the RW going. I think it’s because she’s Hispanic, a woman, attractive and articulate . I am more impressed by Sharice David’s. I hope the Dems are smart enough to use her in a high profile position for PR purposes.
tobie
@Baud: That’s true. And I do think Bill Clinton’s biggest sin was saying, “The era of big government is over.” We should never have ceded that ground. Government’s there to ensure a level playing field.
Mai Naem mobile
@JPL: never. They’re going to use a body double. Maybe the actress who plays her on Colbert’s show???
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@WaterGirl: Morse is so good I’m tempted to get whichever streaming service carries it, and the books are better (but skip the episode where Morse and Lewis go to Australia which I still don’t know what the hell that was). The whole Morse universe, Lewis and Endeavour, are a rare case, I think, of that kind of spin-off being done well.
When I was in London a few years ago, I made a side trip to Oxford because, of course I wanted to see the dreaming spires, but I also wanted to walk around Morse’s world. I was a little embarrassed by this and didn’t tell anybody about the TV inspiration, but then I got there and Morse (John Thaw) was freaking everywhere. Souvenirs, tea towels, et cetera. Turns out it’s the Queen’s favorite show, that and a contempt for trump and affection for the Obamas are the only traits I share with old Betty. I walked over to the Randolph hotel but felt I was underdressed to go into the bar and toast Morse. Next time.
Roger Moore
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
If you already hate the person with a passion, you’ll interpret anything about them in the worst possible way. What you or I see as an ordinary desire to give up a childhood nickname, they see as somehow duplicitous. Basically, they think people like Obama and AOC are much more assimilated and middle class than they let on, and the attempt to go back to using their given name rather than an “Americanized” nickname is an attempt to portray themselves as more authentic and outsidery – and hence appealing to those parts of the Democratic Party the right wing hates the most.
WaterGirl
@Mai Naem mobile: I was definitely not a fan of her Bernie flirtations right after she won the nomination, but I am liking her so far now that she’s been elected. Hoping she can be the rare workhorse and show horse.
Baud
@tobie:
It was wrong on policy, but he said it after to the wave election gave the GOP control of Congress. The electorate was far whiter and more conservative than it is today.
WaterGirl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I love the story of your trip. If you ever stumble upon Morse on Netflix, let me know.
I refuse to have more than cable and Netflix, and I can’t even keep up with those, so I refuse to get another streaming service, on principle.
Baud
@WaterGirl: Same here. But it’s early for all these new folks. What I want to see is how they handle adversity, loss, and coalition politics, as well as what they can achieve in terms of policy.
Roger Moore
@debbie:
This is almost certain to be literally true. She worked as a bartender before running for Congress, and you can bet your ass she got plenty of experience ignoring men hitting on her at work.
WaterGirl
@Baud: Absolutely. #1: They have to play as a team. Show horse is fine. Grandstanding is not.
They need to work their asses off as part of the team.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I go back and forth. I do think Dems could learn something from her about not buying into bad-faith phony outrage from Republicans and Broderists, but I do think we, including her, need to keep some perspective and remember that as media savvy as she is, she’s from one congressional district and won a primary against a slumbering, lazy incumbent. For every AOC there’s a Connor Lamb. Sharice Davids put out a tweet yesterday paying tribute to Pat Roberts when he announced his retirement. It’s the kind of thing that often generates rage from the emo-online-twitter-left, but she knows her district.
ETA: what the hell put that in moderation?
tobie
@Mai Naem mobile: There are a lot of really talented freshwomen (love that word!) in the House who are not getting any air time. Remember the slush fund that Congress critters used to silence staff members who complained about sexual harassment? Well, that fund and the non-disclosure agreements that went with it are gone thanks to an amendments to the rules that Lauren Underwood (IL-D) introduced and got passed on her very first day in office. This is the only mention I could find of it:
tobie
@Baud: Thanks. I knew there was some historical context I was missing.
germy
cliosfanboy
@Spanky: me too. Us old white Male farts just need to step aside and let this new breed of Democrat take over and take off.
JPL
@HeleninEire: The shut down alone hurts the economy. Next month’s unemployment number could be interesting.
JPL
@Mai Naem mobile: She would represent our country better or maybe I should say. she would be best.
Spanky
@HeleninQueens: Here’s hoping you can fly home! Otherwise, you might have to take a tramp steamer, come through Verrazano Narrows, Statue of Liberty, etc etc. Pretty much like the first time, a couple of gens back.
A Ghost To Most
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Without a doubt. My family is a factory for producing drunk racist ammosexual assholes. I was a defect from the start, and treated as such. Lucky me.
Obvious Russian Troll
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I read the NYT editorial and op-ed page nearly every day in the nineties until I came to my senses when the Iraq war started, and Dowd was the only columnist I regularly skipped.
She writes a decent column every couple of years, but it’s not worth the trouble to find them.
I’d rather read David Fucking Brooks than her, and I hate David Fucking Brooks.
JPL
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: If you have Amazon Prime you can sign up free for britbox and watch the series for 7 days. It’s 6.99 a month after that. It does sound tempting.
hells littlest angel
@WaterGirl: Endeavour is one of my favorite Brit cop shows (along with Vera and Line Of Duty). I found Inspector Morse to be tedious, largely because of John Thaw’s dreadfully bad acting, but watching Shawn Evans slowly evolve his character into the unhappy and unpleasant Morse is really fascinating.
Roger Moore
@Spanky:
Or fly through Canada and drive between there and New York.
WaterGirl
@hells littlest angel: Interesting!
smintheus
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I’ve known way too many assholes who are men. Also, way too many assholes who are women. I don’t know what the proportions are, but it’s close to a tie.
patrick II
Like most of commenters here, I have been frustrated by our congressional democrats timidity in response to Republican total venality. So, when I imagined democrats finally breaking free of their obeisance to decorum, I did not imagine young women being the medium of rebellion. Finally, someone says the obvious — lets impeach that motherfucker, another dances in the halls of congress as a kind of happy screw you to critics, I see hijabs and colorful native dress. I guess I have enough misogyny in me I didn’t see the rebellion against stultifying, intimidating, decorum coming from young women, but not so much that it stops me from being glad it has.
Gelfling 545
@Roger Moore: Sandy has not been an unconmon nickname for Alexandria, or Alexander come to that, based on the 3rd syllable of the name.
delk
@hells littlest angel: new episodes of Vera start next Sunday on BritBox. Same day as they are being shown in the UK.
smintheus
@debbie: They’re the punks trying to pick up Jennifer Lopez in the hotel bar in Out of Sight.
Barbara
@WaterGirl: Spoiler (sort of): Morse never marries anybody.
sukabi
@JPL: I really don’t care. Do you?
HeleninEire
@Roger Moore: Nope that’s not an option. I go through American customs and passport control here. If they are on strike in the US they will be on strike here.
tobie
@patrick II: We have had in-your-face-style Democratic House members before. Anthony Weiner comes to mind. It just ended really, really badly. For this reason alone, I’m happy that this time it’s women who have taken up the mantle.
WhatsMyNym
@WaterGirl:
You can pick up a full set of the used DVD’s for a good price. Netflix DVD probably still carries it as well, sign up for a free trial.
The early ones were recorded on video so the quality is not as good. They switched to filming them later.
patrick II
@smintheus:
I have never seen a better rendition of self assured “I’m so out of your league” than in that bar scene — until I saw Ocasio-Cortez dancing in the halls of Congress.
Also, “You wanted to tussle, we tussled”, every time I read her twitter responses in response to unwanted aggression.
smintheus
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I lived in Oxford for several years, had occasional encounters with the city police. Almost uniformly they struck me at best as grossly unprofessional and at worst dimwitted. I wasn’t the only one either. I recall one time I recounted a stupid and annoying interaction with the police to a (local) staff member of my college, and his response was “Bloody typical.”
I marvel at the audacity of the TV series in portraying anybody associated with the Oxford police in a positive light.
gene108
@bookdragon:
She’s the right age for Harry Potter fangirl-dom.
Now the question arises, did she play Quidditch in college?
Elizabelle
@tobie: And Alan Grayson too.
I am a bit concerned by the attention-seekers. We have to see how this plays out.
WaterGirl
@Barbara: I cannot believe how disappointed I am to read that.
Also, just 30 seconds after I am bemoaning the torture and murder of Jamal Khashoggi, I am totally sad that a fictional character never marries the person I want him to, and never marries at all.
What a crazy-making world we live in.
Baud
@patrick II:
Count me out of that.
smintheus
@Gelfling 545: The ‘x’ in the Greek alphabet (‘xi’) was created to represent a common double consonant cluster, ‘ks’. In many of the original Greek scripts there was no ‘xi’ and it was spelled out as ‘ks’ (Aleksandros).
germy
@smintheus:
“What’s all this, then?”
WhatsMyNym
@smintheus: You mean the…
I can’t imagine what they think of academics and staff at the colleges.
Emma
@JPL: dang it, you evil human. Now I have an even more wonderful way to waste my time * off to sign up*
gene108
@debbie:
Republican’s attitude towards her can be summarized as “yeah, she’s hot, but you got no shot”. And these men don’t like the rejection
Elizabelle
@bookdragon: That’s a really interesting comment. Harry Potter as preparation.
Also, perhaps, dystopian literature. Hunger Games, anyone? NY Magazine’s The Cut had a really good article about this last year. Once Emma Gonzalez entered the national consciousness in the aftermath of the Parkland school shooting.
NY Mag (caution: paywall, but you get a few articles) Teens Already Know How to Overthrow the Government
Emma, it turns out, is not so much a Katniss (Hunger Games) fan. She fancies herself more as Ginny (book, not movie) or Luna. Whoever those Harry Potter characters are …
Memo to self: read Harry Potter books in 2019
Roger Moore
@Gelfling 545:
Sure, but haters see her using a nickname like that as a sign of assimilation. If she’s actually assimilated, then any attempt she makes to take advantage of her ethnic heritage is ultimately a scam. It’s the same way they see her having gone to a good high school and a private college as invalidating her attempts to invoke her having grown up poor.
smintheus
@WhatsMyNym: Like I said, locals I was friendly with also had a uniformly negative view of the Oxford police. They were a bad joke and incredibly lazy. It once took me nearly an hour to hand over to them a wallet I’d found in the street because they didn’t want to be bothered with the paperwork. I persisted because the owner of the wallet was from Birmingham, had come to town for a job interview, his return bus ticket was in the wallet, and to all appearances he was quite poor. And in fact that was the case. The guy wrote me a letter thanking me profusely for saving his bacon and explaining how desperate his situation was. But the police couldn’t have cared less. They thought they could make me go away and leave them in peace just by making me sit and sit and sit.
Mary G
@Elizabelle: Harry Potter started kind of slow for me – I read books 1 and 2 and kind of thought “nice kiddie lit” and forgot about it. A couple of years later I picked up book 3 from somebody giving away books, and it was off to the races. Don’t skip 1 & 2, though, she has plotlines going from the jump that pay off years later.
gene108
@Elizabelle:
I am not sure AOC is an attention seeker. She upset an established incumbent in the media center of America. She was “exotic” enough the networks were intrigued. All the networks had to do was hop on a train and there she was ready to be in the national spotlight, as they stuck cameras and microphones in her face to show us this unusual candidate.
WaterGirl
@WhatsMyNym: I haven’t used my DVD player even 3 times since I purchased it well over 5 years ago. I can work my other remotes in the dark, but my DVD remote is still a mystery. Hate it. Otherwise, that would be a good idea.
Elizabelle
@Mary G: Yeah, I couldn’t get into Book 1. But time to try again.
Friends have told me JK Rowling’s style changed as her readers matured; she kept it challenging for them. Allegorical nature of the books sounds brilliant.
Gretchen
I was AOC-skeptical at first, when she came to my district to campaign against Sharice davids for the primary. She’s winning me over, though, both with her clap-backs against conservatives on twitter, and her willingness to say bold things about policy like the 70% top rate. Today Paul Krugman on twitter compared 40-something Paul ryan being designated a serious policy wonk for his ideas on economics from Ayn Rand, while dismissing AOC as a flaky nitwit for policy endorsed by serious economic research. And she went after Steve Scalise today for misrepresenting the proposal.
patrick II
@Baud:
You must be running for something.
Gretchen
I was worried that she would fight against Pelosi as “establishment”, but Pelosi seems to have won her over. She was on Instagram excitedly pointing out that her office is only 2 doors down from Pelosi’s. And she wrote about what hard times her family had, and how hard her mother worked. At her swearing in, Pelosi turned to her mom and said “you must be so proud”, which made her mom cry. So I think she will be a team player.
J R in WV
@HeleninEire:
Hey, Helen soon to be in Queens:
Cunard runs trans-Atlantic on the Queen Mary II, and it doesn’t cost very much (if any) more than air fares, although it takes a week. So if the air transport system in American fails, check that option out, you even wind up in NYC IIRC.
Not til April, the web site says, but starting at $699 per person one way. So not stupid expensive for an inside cabin.
germy
Gelfling 545
@Mary G: I found it delightful that the story line and vocabulary mature as the characters do.
tobie
@Gretchen: what worries me is that the focus on individual tax rates obscures how the super wealthy and CEOs actually earn money, which is in dividends and capital gains, not wages. Tackle that problem as well as corporate tax loopholes and you will both increase revenue to the Treasury and encourage companies to reinvest in their workforce instead of funnelling profits to shareholders.
Catherine D.
@delk: I love britbox! Looking forward to the new Veras.
Suzanne
@WaterGirl: Wise thing I read yesterday: “Men agreed to be ruled by other men in exchange for all men ruling over all women.”
Men who are mediocre (or worse) oppose liberation of women. Men who aren’t scared of competition and aren’t insecure welcome liberation of women.
Or, as that sage Taylor Swift put it, “Haters gonna hate hate hate hate hate”.
psycholinguist
@patrick II: Your comment reminds me of a truism in my line of work – if you want to know where the next language innovation will come from, go record a bunch of young women talking. Whatever 40+ year olds find most annoying has a high likelihood of being incorporated in to the prevailing dialect likelier than not.
I’m recognizing that AOC is functioning as a mirror for me in some ways, and what I see in that reflection isn’t always attractive.Bbut does help to identify some things in my attitudes and beliefs that need closer examination.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Mary G: I had the same reaction to Book 1. I saw it as a kid’s book–one that would go in the children’s section at B&N, on the opposite side of the store from YA/Teen. A couple years later, I listened to Book 2 on a long drive and was hooked.
germy
Elizabelle
@Gretchen:
LOL. Keep your friends close, and your
enemieswhippersnappers closer.Dorothy A. Winsor
@tobie: My uneducated wish is for all income to be taxed alike, no matter what its source. Why should income from money be taxed less than money I earn from the sweat of my brow?
tobie
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I think it used to be that stocks meant you were investing in a company both in the expectation it would grow and to help it grow thus helping the economy. That principle seems to have gone out the window, so, yeah, it makes sense to tax all earnings as income regardless of source IMHO.
Gretchen
@Mary G: The interesting thing is that she purposely wrote it that way so that early readers could read it and then it got harder as those same kids’ reading level grew.
Kelly
@tobie: Yep, the 70% for over $10,000,000 rate should apply to every dollar, regardless of source. Cap gains, Dividends, Inheritances. Oh I suppose we’d want to allow tax free public bonds since that should end up save taxpayers money on interest payments.
Amir Khalid
@Elizabelle:
Ginny Weasley is Ron’s baby sister and, in the last two books, Harry’s girlfriend. In the epilogue, and in the play Harry Potter and The Cursed Child, she is Harry’s wife. As an only daughter with six older brothers, Ginny is in some ways a stronger and feistier character than Hermione. Luna Lovegood is … well, the article at the link explains it better than I can.
Roger Moore
@Elizabelle:
My suspicion is that there’s a bit more to it than that. I think that when the first two books were written Rowling was a complete unknown, and the editor and publisher had a lot more control over what the books were like. When they turned into runaway successes, Rowling had a lot more leverage and was able to write the books the way she wanted them to be.
JPL
@Emma: During these stressful times we need shows that we can enjoy. Pure escapism and it’s money well spent.
Immanentize
@tobie:
I support micro taxation on every stock trade. It wouldn’t be missed by investors, would probably depress the effects of auto arbitraging, and raise boodles of cash for the general fisc.
germy
geg6
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
If anything, it should be taxed at a much higher rate than income from labor. A much, much higher rate.
Gelfling 545
@germy: Seriously, above $10M earned by the sweat of your brow?
O. Felix Culpa
@Elizabelle: To be fair, AOC is also singled out for attention by the right-wing farts (old and young). I like the fact that she gives better than she gets. She voted loud and proud for Nancy. It’s early days yet. She misstepped with the Bernie tour, but I’m willing to cut her some slack and see how/what she does going forward.
germy
@Gelfling 545: His trick (I assume he knows better) is to make his followers think she wants to take 70% of everyone’s income.
Gelfling 545
@Roger Moore: My understanding was that there was remarkably little editorial intervention.
sukabi
@germy: good lord, have the Koch Bros cut Ann off the money train?
It’s more likely though that Ann sees her grift ending if she doesn’t find another audience.
WaterGirl
@Suzanne:
Have not seen that before but it’s very powerful.
All the men in my life are comfortable around strong women, and they were all raised by strong women. What a coincidence!
So many things we are teaching our kids; things that we may never think about consciously.
Mary G
@Elizabelle: @Gretchen: @Gelfling 545: The books do indeed develop as the kids do. Her description of their first school dance in Book 4 had me rolling on the floor. Plus the satire on government and the press is hilarious.
Baud
@germy: It’s a trick that’s worked before.
debbie
@gene108:
She will stand up for herself and stand up to anything. That’s what they really hate.
WaterGirl
@germy:
Absolutely perfect!
geg6
@Roger Moore:
FWIW, she says that she wrote the first books with the intention of the readers growing up with the books. I have never heard or seen her discuss any major pressure from her editor or publisher to change what she wrote in any significant way. And, because I was a Potter fan from the start, I’ve read and seen a lot of discussions from her and many others involved about how it all began.
hueyplong
@sukabi: Going to need a bigger sample size to draw any conclusions about a Coulter direction-shift.
WaterGirl
@germy: I’m not crying; you’re crying!
germy
@sukabi:
Good question. Something’s going on there.
I think she hates immigration (the brown kind) so much; she’s brimming over with so much hatred that some of it is splashing on the Kochs:
Ruckus
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Woman are mad.
Good.
They should be mad.
Actually they should be massively pissed off.
debbie
@psycholinguist:
Explains that vocal fry thing, I guess.
Roger Moore
@tobie:
I think that assumption is still basically true. The problem is that the idea that capital gains should be taxed at a lower rate than wages is based on another, often unstated, assumption: that growth is limited by available capital rather than aggregate demand. That assumption appears not to be true anymore. The asset bubbles of the past couple of decades are a sign that there’s too much capital seeking out too few worthwhile investments. The logical correction is to tax capital more heavily and give more money to poor people to increase aggregate demand.
Mary G
@geg6: This has always outraged me. My housemates are caregivers and pay tax at a much higher rate than someone just sitting on their ass watching their money grow. It’s a very warped priority, this fetish about capital being sacred, and it needs to change.
debbie
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
I had a job interview at Scholastic, shortly before Potter started. I can assure you the publisher didn’t expect much either.
J R in WV
@Immanentize:
Me too. These computerized trades making a fraction of a cent on temporary imbalances in pricing on a two million share trade for 3 seconds have to stop — they’re distorting the real market, such as it is, and it isn’t really a very real market, as the information imbalance is near 100% from professional market makers to individual financial advisors to people like us just trying not to loose our whole tiny investment pile.
WaterGirl
@Baud: Happily, it may not work for much longer. At least I hope that will be the case.
Mary G
@germy: The Kochs are putting big money into Latino outreach and are not against immigration at all, being libertarians who appreciate cheap labor.
zhena gogolia
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
You didn’t get the classic Promised Land episode? That’s the one in which Lewis really came into his own! One of my favorites!
Baud
@WaterGirl: I hope so. But past success is why the GOP keeps using the same playbook.
zhena gogolia
@WaterGirl:
I don’t think it’s a spoiler to tell you that Morse never marries.
germy
@Mary G: And Coulter views them as turncoats. So out of spite, she tweets agreement with AOC’s tax proposal: “Yes, tax them! Specifically, the Kochs!!”
I read a few of her tweets and had to stop. There’s something deranged about her rage.
Roger Moore
@Gelfling 545:
There are a few people who earn that much in actual wages. They’re mostly elite athletes and entertainers.
Suzanne
@Amir Khalid: Luna Lovegood is one of my favorite characters in all of literature. She’s so cool.
debbie
@germy:
I think she hates the Kochs because they didn’t support Trump in 2016. She’s shallow like that.
zhena gogolia
@hells littlest angel:
You’re kidding, right? Tell me you’re kidding.
Ladyraxterinok
@smintheus: In the 50s there was a local sportscaster who called someone son of a bitch on air and was fired.
I read the newspaper report which said he was fired for calling someone an SOB*. In 7th grade and pretty protected, I kept badgering my parents to tell me why it was wrong to use the word ‘sob.’ (How was that word different from ‘laugh’ or ‘cry’?)
*Standard way to refer in print to term then.
germy
@WaterGirl:
It’s a great clip and for some reason I’m associating it with progressive taxation.
PJ
@Roger Moore: @Mary G: Huh, I always thought the rationale for having a lower capital gains tax rate was that the “makers” (the wealthy) accrue the vast majority of their income from returns on capital, and it is an affront to justice that they should have to pay the same rate (or more!) than the “takers” (people who earn their income from working), despite the wealthy receiving greater benefits from the government, which is, in large part, designed to protect their property.
Ruckus
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
It’s just that the assholes are mostly men.
This.
There are though, as you allow, a few asshole women. Maybe more than we’d like to admit. Hopefully not. As women in this post have stated though it’s easy to find an asshole man. I found one of the asshole women. So it isn’t impossible to find them. And no, it isn’t better for us when we find one but as the odds of finding seem to be much worse for women, that’s one more thing that needs to be righted.
Amir Khalid
@Roger Moore:
As Rowling tells it, her plan was always to have the storytelling perspective mature with Harry and his age cohort as they grow up. They see things as children in Philosopher’s Stone, and as adults in Deathly Hallows. As indeed many young readers do who follow the books as they themselves mature from preadolescence to early adulthood.
Mary G
Great:
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Ruckus: It may be a question of who’s mostly in power. Those people have more opportunity to be assholes, and they do tend to be men. Power probably is corrupting.
Ruckus
@germy:
Hasn’t he pretty much conceded that in a number of speeches he’s flubbed?
I’m sure he doesn’t think so but the english language is not that difficult to understand. For anyone else but him.
Ruckus
@tobie:
I would think this would be unnecessary.
Going to say it anyway. PHRASING…
Ladyraxterinok
@Obvious Russian Troll: Will never forget or forgive her snide column attacking Gore because he asked a woman for some fashion advice. She thought it was super hysterically funny that be would ask a woman for advice. Showed he was a wimp.
schrodingers_cat
@tobie: Also signing on to the awful IRIIRA which has to a large extent created the illegal immigration conundrum of today and “welfare” reform. Until R party changes substantially, its time for Ds to bury bipartisanship. Agreeing to watered down versions of nasty R ideas leads to huge problems down the road.
zhena gogolia
@Ladyraxterinok:
Yeah, that’s what broke me of reading her. Her treatment of Obama was disgraceful, but I only heard about it second hand.
rikyrah
@HeleninEire:
Have no suggestions about your new name. Glad that we are getting you back ??
Fair Economist
@Immanentize:
Of course it is. Who would pay to live in *their* heads? It would be like living in a sewer.
Brachiator
@Mary G:
@PJ:
I am posting on the go from my phone and don’t have access to my original references, but I noted here an article that underscores the fact that everything in this new tax law is based on the notion that capital gains and investment income deserves a bigger break than income from wages.
And this is not an issue that is resolved simply by raising marginal tax rates. Everything the Republicans did to the tax code for individuals, corporations, estates and trusts will need to be revisited.
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: Yes, I got the sad news upthread. I know he’s a fictional character, but I am ridiculously disappointed to hear that.
I also hated the relationship decision they made in Grandchester. Apparently I like a happy ending.
WaterGirl
@Baud: I’m hoping these new house members turn all the rules upside down, just like the Parkland kids.
If we change our playbook, the game changes by definition. (She said hopefully.)
Ruckus
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Power is corrupting for many. It is easy to believe in your own press, be it internal or external. And not everyone gets put in a position of power so that makes one, in some minds, special. It’s bullshit of course but never let it be said that humans can’t create more bullshit as actual bulls.
Brachiator
@Ruckus:
Human beings are not perfect. No group, no gender has a monopoly on virtue. There are as many women assholes as there are men.
The thing is, of course, that we don’t have to be assholes. We can be kind. We can be compassionate. We can be considerate of others if we try hard enough.
Brachiator
@WaterGirl:
I’m sorry this was spoiled for you. I am coming late to this thread and have been enjoying the range of comments, especially the ones about tv shows.
The older Morse has an air of sadness about him. The tv series (can’t speak about the novels) touches on this lightly and doesn’t spell out all the details of Morse’s back story, leaving it to the actor to show you how this reflects the character.
I enjoy the adventures of the more mature Morse more than I like Endeavour, but it is generally well done and serves the characters well. I greatly liked Morse’s mentor and boss, Inspector Thursday.
zhena gogolia
@WaterGirl:
I agree about Grantchester! (I was hoping it wasn’t a spoiler since it’s a given in the entire Inspector Morse series.)
In another classic episode (they’re all classic!), “Dead on Time,” we learn that Morse was engaged to a woman named Susan while he was at university. But there’s never any mention of that on Endeavour. That kind of bugs me.
zhena gogolia
@Brachiator:
The books also refrain from filling in the back story.
WaterGirl
@Brachiator: No, I really wanted to know! It may be forever before I get around to watching Inspector Morse. I just really wanted him to end up with Joan. I mean, there’s obviously something there!
edit: “The older Morse has an air of sadness about him.” Missed opportunity, no doubt!
I love Thursday, also.
Redshift
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I think that’s a lot of it. You pretty much can only be an asshole to people with less power (even if only temporarily, like the asshole in a bar who has more power because he’s looking for a fight and you don’t want one.) If you try to be an asshole to people with more power, either there are consequences or it just comes off as whiny.
I firmly believe women could be as big assholes as men, because I don’t think the inherent differences are that strong. However, testing it would take women being in power for enough generations to end the socialization against it, which won’t happen in my lifetime. I do hope we can begin to end the socialization for it among men, though.
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: Interesting! I guess they have to pick and choose what to put in the show.
Sister Golden Bear
@Suzanne:
Very well put.
I think there’s a corollary for conservative white women who agreed to be ruled by white men in exchange for all white women ruling over all POC.
smintheus
@Brachiator:
This strikes me as self-evident. I’m surprised at the number of people here who want to see a huge gender imbalance in assholery. In teaching college students, I’ve had to deal with lots of assholes both male and female, and I’m really not sure which are more numerous or more obnoxious. If anything, women students who are assholes seem to be more manipulative and more likely to savage my reputation if they don’t get their way, whereas the males tend toward being dumb-ass bro assholes.
smintheus
canceled
smintheus
@Redshift:
I don’t think that’s true. For example, the person who zips forward to grab a parking spot you’ve been waiting patiently to open up? An asshole pure and simple. Has nothing specifically to do with power.
Sister Golden Bear
@Redshift:
Doesn’t take generations, just look at women who have the power to kick down. Plenty of examples today involving white women and WOC, straight women and LGB folks, cisgender women and trans women.
That said, I agree that women as a whole tend to be less overtly assholish today, because 1) as noted above it’s hard to be assholish to those with more power, 2) women are usually socialized to be “nice,” and 3) because of #1 and #2, women’s assholish behavior is often more indirect and subtle, e.g. mean girl behavior.
germy
zhena gogolia
@WaterGirl:
Thursday is created entirely for Endeavour — he doesn’t exist in the Morse universe. But Strange and the medical examiner are in Morse. That’s one of the lovely things about Endeavour — the actors playing Strange and the ME have clearly studied the performances of their older counterparts. (As has the star, whose name I can never remember. He doesn’t look at all like John Thaw, but he has studied his facial expressions IN HIS MAGNIFICENT PERFORMANCE.)
zhena gogolia
@zhena gogolia:
I mean Thaw’s magnificent performance (contra a commenter above), but Evans (?) is very good as well.
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: I had no idea! So interesting. Love the actor who plays Endeavour.
Gex
@Baud: same. But I will be glad to see more effective counters to their venality. The b.s. dancing criticism failed so spectacularly I’ve seen right wingers claim SHE released it, as a false flag, with a burner account and the media narrative is about how pathetic their attacks are.
Zelma
@Elizabelle:
Oh do read the Harry Potter books. My daughter-in-law (a big fan) gave me the first one to try out while I was visiting them in August. I read all of them one after another and watched all the movies. I have read several of them twice. She gave me the first Percy Jackson book for Christmas and I’m on number 3. I guess I’m in my second childhood in my 70s.
e.a.f.
Thought these new young politicians are amazing. They’re fun, dance, don’t pay attention to those who don’t like them, they’ll make a great contribution political life in the U.S.A.
It is rather “funny” that these people dislike the new group of women House Representatives and they think its a big deal. Other countries, have had women leaders for decades and having young people in office is a good thing. Best to simply ingnore the haters and get on with the business of government. Really liked the one who referred to Trump as a “mother fucker”. Canada’s former Prime Minister, Kim Campbell, has now also referred to Trump as a “mother fucker”. No one in Canada cared when she used the term. She’s used it before and will again. You call them as you see them.