Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Why did Dr. Oz lose? well, according to the exit polls, it’s because Fetterman won.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

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

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

Their freedom requires your slavery.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President.

This really is a full service blog.

A Senator Walker would also be an insult to reason, rationality, and decency.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

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

The next time the wall wtreet journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

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

Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace.

Infrastructure week. at last.

A Senator Walker would be an insult to the state and the nation.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Bracing for Impact (Open Thread)

Bracing for Impact (Open Thread)

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Supposedly, there’s a lot of chatter in DC about Mueller wrapping up his report, possibly TODAY? I’ll believe it when I see it.

Meanwhile, here’s a nice fresh open thread for you to indulge in speculation about the report, mock those who indulge in speculation about the report, trash-talk each other over basketball, brag about your cooking skills, complain about the weather, discuss weekend plans, etc.

Reader Interactions

172Comments

  1. 1.

    randy khan

    Nobody knows nuthin’.

    It will happen when it happens, but for what it’s worth (and I’m one of the people who knows nuthin’), it really seems like there’s still a lot hanging out there.

  5. 5.

    Geoduck

    I’ll admit it, tho it’s probably petty of me: I hope that the Report isn’t nearly ready. Once it comes out, no matter how damning it is, the GOP will just circle the wagons around the Tangerine Shiatgibbon. Keeping it hanging over the TS’s head and further enraging him might almost be more useful.

    But yeah, when Mueller’s done, of course he needs to release it.

  7. 7.

    bemused

    Media has been perpetually speculating on the report release and what’s in it for seemingly forever so I’ve tuned out. At this point even the cable news former prosecutors, etc. must be sick of answering the same questions over and over.

  8. 8.

    James E Powell

    The Mueller report could include video of Trump shooting somebody in the middle of Fifth Avenue and his support would drop from the low 40s to the low 40s. Our one and only solution is elections. The hard part with our team is winning more than one in a row.

  9. 9.

    germy

    Robert Mueller sweating in front of his laptop, staring at a Word doc containing only the words “The Mueller Report” and a blinking cursor
    — Patrick Monahan (@pattymo) March 22, 2019

  11. 11.

    Adam L Silverman

    As a wise man once said about the Thirty Years War: “it will be over by Christmas”. And it was, 29 years later!

  12. 12.

    trollhattan

    Let me pray to both little baby Jesus and grown-up Jesus* that Mueller delivers a fatal blow to the Trump presidency*. These knuckleheads can’t be gone too soon.

    *”Talladega Nights” ref.

    US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said it is “possible” that President Donald Trump was sent by God to save the Jewish people from Iran.

    In an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network during a high-profile trip to Israel, he said it was his faith that made him believe that.

    He also praised US efforts to “make sure that this democracy in the Middle East, that this Jewish state, remains”.

    The comments came on a Jewish holiday celebrating rescue from genocide.

    The holiday, Purim, commemorates the biblical rescue of the Jewish people by Queen Esther from the Persians, as the interviewer noted to Mr Pompeo.

    He was asked if “President Trump right now has been sort of raised for such a time as this, just like Queen Esther, to help save the Jewish people from an Iranian menace”.

    “As a Christian, I certainly believe that’s possible,” said Mr Pompeo, a former Kansas senator and CIA director.

    “I am confident that the Lord is at work here,” he added.

  14. 14.

    Amir Khalid

    There’s been chatter about a lot of things related to the Special Counsel’s investigation. Some of it has been planted by parties with an interest in steering it a certain way, or an interest in evading prosecution. A great deal of it has not panned out. I prefer to worry about Liverpool FC’s chances of finally winning an English league title in the Premier League era. Also about whether I should get a semihollow guitar like Chuck Berry’s ES-335 and an Epiphone SG.

  15. 15.

    Gin & Tonic

    @germy: That’s what I loved about the old WordPerfect. A blank screen was a blank screen, like an blank sheet of paper in a typewriter.

  18. 18.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Adam L Silverman:

    As a wise man once said about both the Thirty Years War: “it will be over by Christmas”. And it was, 29 years later!

    Mueller Report release reporting is akin to Friedman Units.

  22. 22.

    Jeffro

    Two items to share here:

    The funny one: “He Glared At Me Like Never Before“…two brave Fox reporters brush up against trumpov’s extreme sensitivity to being questioned about St. McCain

    During Trump’s interview with Bartiromo, he bristled at her McCain line of questioning, saying that he thought she “wasn’t supposed to bring it up” but adding with a shrug “that’s okay, fake news every once in a while.”

    Bartiromo pushed back, saying: “It’s not fake news, you just told me why you have an issue with him.”

    Maria, you’re only there to stroke his ego, NEVER to ask questions that put him on the spot, don’t you know that?

    The not-funny, not-at-all one (which I’m sure has already been FP’d by Adam and/or listed as a great long read by Cole): The Strongmen Strike Back, by Robert Kagan

    ..To many these days, liberalism is just some hazy amalgam of idealisms, to be saluted or scorned depending on whose ox is being gored. Those who have enjoyed the privileges of race and gender, who have been part of a comfortable majority in shaping cultural and religious norms, are turning away from liberalism as those privileges have become threatened — just as critics of liberal capitalism on the American left once turned away from liberalism in the name of equality and justice and may be doing so again. They do so, however, with an unspoken faith that liberalism will continue to survive, that their right to critique liberalism will be protected by the very liberalism they are critiquing.

    Today, that confidence is misplaced, and one wonders whether Americans would have the same attitude if they knew what it meant for them. We seem to have lost sight of a simple and very practical reality: that whatever we may think about the persistent problems of our lives, about the appropriate balance between rights and traditions, between prosperity and equality, between faith and reason, only liberalism ensures our right to hold and express those thoughts and to battle over them in the public arena. Liberalism is all that keeps us, and has ever kept us, from being burned at the stake for what we believe.

    Please read the whole thing. I have been grimly joking around the house for the past couple of years about “ain’t it great, living through history?” in these up-is-down, trumpian years. For my kids’ sake, and their kids’ sake, I don’t want history’s pendulum to swing back any further.

  23. 23.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I loved the whole Corel Office suite. They almost had to bring in grief counsellors to my office when we were forced to switch over to MS products.

  25. 25.

    germy

    Dear reporters: When reporting Rudy G's claim he doesn't expect any more indictments, try this:
    "The President's TV lawyer, who is currently under investigation by his former SDNY for witness tampering, says he doesn't expect any indictments."https://t.co/S4wu0lJLr9— emptywheel (@emptywheel) March 22, 2019

  28. 28.

    tobie

    Hoo boy. I’m not looking forward to the day the report is released for the reason @Geoduck: says. No matter what’s in the report, every Republican will be screaming on TV, “No collusion” and “Exoneration.” I also think Mueller won’t mention Trump since he won’t mention anyone who is not indicted and since it’s accepted as gospel truth that a sitting President cannot be indicted, Trump gets a free pass. What a messed up system.

    A propos gospel truth: Shove it, Mike Pompeo, with this Queen Esther baloney. I don’t know a single Jewish American who is swayed by what you’re doing. On the contrary they are all appalled.

  30. 30.

    trollhattan

    @Amir Khalid:
    You are being polite. :-)

    He was a whackjob in the House but one among hundreds and didn’t stand out in a Gohmertish fashion. Now we get to see him under the magnifying glass and it’s frankly terrifying. Just what Trump likes.

  31. 31.

    Mike in NC

    Our little town is blessed with a fantastic deli, so when I heard they were catering a neighbor’s birthday party this week I was really looking forward to it. Come party time, we were shown a paltry display of egg salad croissants, potato salad, macaroni salad, and chicken salad on white bread. Party attendees were 15 old white people mostly aged about 75-80. Couldn’t wait to get out of there before they started talking about their latest operations and wayward grandchildren. Next day I complained to my wife about being served “nursing home food”. Yuck.

  33. 33.

    trollhattan

    @tobie:
    It’s a shame we executed Baghdad Bob. He’d be the perfect Possum Queen stand-in for what’s coming.

  36. 36.

    A Ghost To Most

    @Gin & Tonic:
    As a programmer, I loved IBMs Personal Editor 2 so much that when I moved over to UNIX, I wrote an XWindows/Motif text editor that emulated PE2’s best features. Block select and fill FTW!

  39. 39.

    Brachiator

    Meanwhile, here’s a nice fresh open thread for you to indulge in speculation about the report, mock those who indulge in speculation about the report

    I choose mockery.

    Mueller ain’t gonna save us.

    We will have to save ourselves.

  42. 42.

    Adam L Silverman

    @raven: Most likely not. Between the Dant and the CJCS’s remarks yesterday, I’m guessing the White House asks for the Marine’s budget to be zeroed out.

  43. 43.

    tobie

    @raven: Someone posted a few weeks ago that Pompeo is an end-days Christianist. That’s the only thing that I can think motivates him. It’s like he wants the Middle East to go up in flames.

    @trollhattan: Heh. Baghdad Bob wore his insanity with pride. It almost made him charming.

  44. 44.

    Jeffro

    Brooksie’s opening graf today:

    Everybody says rural America is collapsing. But I keep going to places with more moral coherence and social commitment than we have in booming urban areas. These visits prompt the same question: How can we spread the civic mind-set they have in abundance?

    Say WHUT now?

  46. 46.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Gin & Tonic: Fixed it. Sorry bout that, I originally had both the Thirty and Hundred Years Wars and decided I didn’t need both. So I removed the Hundred Years War, but left the both in.

  47. 47.

    Betty Cracker

    @Mike in NC: I’ve been spending more time around older folks since we moved closer to my husband’s snowbird kinfolk and my dad, aunts and uncles, etc. Some talk about their aches and pains and kids-today nonstop. Others are still as engaged and interested as ever. I hope to be among the latter.

    I remember thinking something similar when my peer group started having babies. Some were transformed into boring old mombies who talked nonstop about their puling infants, whereas others were the same funny, fascinating people, only busier and covered in graham cracker crumbs and apple juice. It’s very much an individual thing.

  52. 52.

    karen marie

    @SiubhanDuinne: I turned my back on them when they effectively turned WordPerfect into a worse version of Word for Windows. I refuse to work for anyone that uses it. I’ve long ago conquered Word (creating templates, writing small macros) and I am mostly content with it.

  53. 53.

    Brachiator

    @trollhattan:

    US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said it is “possible” that President Donald Trump was sent by God to save the Jewish people from Iran.

    In an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network during a high-profile trip to Israel, he said it was his faith that made him believe that.

    I think one of the most under-reported news stories is why the drugs Trump administration officials use are not available to the American people.

    It is just weird how often conservatives invoke God or Jesus to rationalize the bullshit they are trying to push. I think it also helps keep moderate Republicans in the fold. No one wants to go against the Baby Jesus, even if Trump is crazy and incompetent.

    The holiday, Purim, commemorates the biblical rescue of the Jewish people by Queen Esther from the Persians, as the interviewer noted to Mr Pompeo.

    I had a religious studies professor who made a strong case that the story of Esther was a cleaned up story about a possibly vengeful fertility goddess and a fertility ritual that ancient peoples may have indulged in.

    The book of Esther (and Song of Songs) are the only books in the Hebrew Bible that do not explicitly mention God. I think that Purim is one of the few holidays in which Jewish people can get drunk.

    ETA: I remember that there was a super religious Christian kid in my religious studies class whose head would regularly explode at all the discussions about the pagan roots of the Bible.

    The professor once noted that it was just common sense to understand that if the Bible passages kept condemning ritual prostitution and worship of pagan gods, etc., it probably meant that a good chunk of the population was indulging in this.

  54. 54.

    catclub

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I’d prefer the US in 2019 not make its policy based on 3,000 year old superstitions.

    No probs. Those are barely 2600 year old superstitions.

  55. 55.

    Adam L Silverman

    @trollhattan: She was Israelite/of Israelite descent. The Persian exile in which she lives, according to the Jewish Scriptures, was the period were the tribal based ritual cult of the Israelites was being transformed, because of no temple in which to perform sacrifices, into what would eventually become Judaism. So while she was born in Persia to exiles/the children of exiles brought there from Persia’s sack of the Israelite kingdom, she most likely wasn’t considered to be Persian by some Persians. Which, given the events recounted in the Scroll of Esther, makes sense.

  56. 56.

    bemused

    @Jeffro:

    I assume Brooksie is incoherent David Brooks who knows zilch, bupkis about rural areas and has never gone to any place with more moral coherence or social commitment other than his own fantasies.

  57. 57.

    catclub

    @Brachiator:

    commemorates the biblical rescue of the Jewish people by Queen Esther from the Persians,

    so is it fair to ask if Trump has been sleeping with Iranian leaders, and which ones in particular?

  58. 58.

    Adam L Silverman

    @raven: Except as objects to be manipulated for their own advantage, disparaged and demonized for their own advantage, and eventually either driven out or killed for their own advantage.

    By the way, the above is the historic recounting portion of the liturgy for every Jewish holiday. Including Tu B’Shvat, which is the Jewish Arbor Day…

  59. 59.

    Salty Sam

    Plans! Going away for a weekend retreat with my men’s group. We’ll burn some sage, do a sweat-lodge ceremony, and have powerful, meaningful interactions with one another. Very spiritual.

    I am also bringing a jar of “fart putty” noisemaker to prank the guys at the dinner table. (“Jeezus Doug, you’d better go clean your shorts…”)

  60. 60.

    karen marie

    @Jeffro: Well, they are morally coherent insofar as they’re consistent that women and non-whites of either gender are subservient, working-class people should bow to their betters, children should be seen and not heard, and gays neither heard nor seen.

  61. 61.

    rikyrah

    ????
    An intoxicated white man who was openly carrying a handgun in Dallas assaulted a Black woman over a parking dispute. Bystanders said they were afraid to intervene as he beat her because he was armed. https://t.co/0RuIj1w39H

    — Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) March 22, 2019

  65. 65.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Brachiator: What is referred to as the Dianic (or sometimes Dancing) Cult. It was quite prevalent throughout the Mediterranean world, the Levant, and the Near East. If you know where to look you can see the traces of its inclusion in the Jewish scriptures, such as with Miriam’s dancing, as well as the sabbatical and jubilee years. In the Dianic Cult, these years were sacrifice years. There are also tie ins with later European Christianity, especially around royal families.

  67. 67.

    cynthia ackerman

    @Jeffro:

    Surprised he doesn’t call for a new WPA to send millions of pure heartlanders into degenerate coastal hell holes … to drive cabs.

  68. 68.

    Adam L Silverman

    @rikyrah: He should have also been charged with brandishing, carrying a weapon while intoxicated in violation of Texas firearm’s law, and several other things I can think of.

  69. 69.

    cope

    The Mueller report will appear when it appears and will be what it will be regardless of anybody’s prognostications. I don’t really care about March Madness. I want to grill some steaks this weekend or maybe some ribs. This is one of the times of the year when central Florida has very nice weather but we could use some rain. This weekend, I want to go to the Apple store to look at iMacs and see if they are letting the older ones go for lower prices (as if!). I also plan to take my son’s Mexican Stratocaster in to be refurbished and brought into playing shape so I can begin torturing it. Maybe I will go canoeing/fishing on the Wekiva River. Life is full of possibilities as I keep reminding myself.

  70. 70.

    Brachiator

    @catclub:

    commemorates the biblical rescue of the Jewish people by Queen Esther from the Persians,

    so is it fair to ask if Trump has been sleeping with Iranian leaders, and which ones in particular?

    Well, we know that Trump has a weakness for the most autocratic.

  71. 71.

    Sloane Ranger

    Can talk about the weekend. So my plans are

    Saturday- attend demonstration of a new membership database system my U3A Group is thinking of introducing followed by an afternoon hopefully finishing up clearing out my brother’s house.

    Sunday- Lunch club. I’ve pre ordered the Large chicken as a main course. We’ve been there before and it was a great meal so really looking forward to it. Hoping I don’t end up sitting near the loud idiots complaining about UK not having left the EU yet and saying how Nigel would have sorted it all out by now and rubbed the noses of those ungrateful EU leaders in it.

  73. 73.

    chopper

    @Brachiator:

    I think that Purim is one of the few holidays in which Jewish people can get drunk.

    simchas torah can be a real party some times.

    also, when passover comes around, the requirement that adults drink 4 glasses of wine often bumps up against a stereotypical low tolerance for alcohol with some…interesting effects.

  74. 74.

    Miss Bianca

    @Jeffro: Sigh. More “Rural (White) ‘Murka is the REAL ‘Murka!” shit. Tell you what, Brooksie: the next time you come to Colorado, don’t just come to Aspen. Sure, my small town has a pretty fantastic set of community-minded folks. We also have grinding poverty, a mayor, town council, and county commissioners who don’t believe in government (seriously), and gun nuts a-plenty. Gosh, Brooksie, if rural life strikes as so “wunnerful, wunnerful” as opposed to urban centers, why the hell are you living in NYC? Move to Bumblefuck, CO, where we don’t even *have* an Applebees!

  75. 75.

    Betty Cracker

    @Sloane Ranger: Was reading about May’s meeting with the EU leaders. Hoo boy. It struck me as ironic after Farage, et al, claimed Brexit was going to return control to the UK, and there was May, scuttling around hat in hand, pathetically begging for an extension to stave off catastrophe. Here’s hoping you don’t get seated next to a group of UK MAGAts.

  77. 77.

    chris

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I’d prefer the US in 2019 not make its policy based on 3,000 year old superstitions.

    Could you mention that to Theresa May. Apparently Gawd is also onside for a no-deal Brexit. And people ask me why I’m an atheist!

  78. 78.

    MattF

    @Miss Bianca: Brooks (I think) lives in DC, in a nice liberal neighborhood. Before that he lived in Bethesda, which is pretty much the paradigm case of a blue suburb. In other words, as far from red America as it is possible to be.

  79. 79.

    Brachiator

    @Adam L Silverman:

    What is referred to as the Dianic (or sometimes Dancing) Cult. It was quite prevalent throughout the Mediterranean world, the Levant, and the Near East. If you know where to look you can see the traces of its inclusion in the Jewish scriptures, such as with Miriam’s dancing, as well as the sabbatical and jubilee years.

    Miriam’s dancing. This, I did not know about, or forgot. It’s been a while since my religious studies days. Interesting.

    I don’t think it’s related, but I was always fond of the detail of David dancing before the Ark of the Covenant (even the Richard Gere version of David), and the disapproval of the Israelite elite.

    Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the LORD with all his might, while he and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the LORD with shouts and the sound of trumpets.

    As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, she despised him in her heart.

  81. 81.

    Adam L Silverman

    @trollhattan: There’s a good book on it, way out of date and print, if I can remember the title and/or author, I’ll let you know. I read it back when doing my masters in comparative religion.

  82. 82.

    TerryC

    My weekend will be consumed with having my disc golf courses and pro shop (both on my 20-acre farm) in full open mode for the first time this season. It’s still a little muddy out there, but playable. I have several hundred new discs to add to the stock display in the shop yet today.

    Pretty much anyone who might stop by will be a good friend. Everyone will be by the time they leave. Nice job.

  83. 83.

    Sloane Ranger

    @Raven: I’ll cheerfully make plans for Nigel. They won’t be pleasant plans but they will definitely be plans.

  84. 84.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Brachiator: Same cultic influences. The concept of the modern coven, with 12 female priests/adepts and a single male priest/adept equaling 13 total is related to this. As is the concept of the man in black as that 13th adept/priestAnd the fact that the Hebrew tribes quickly found a way to divide one tribe into two so they totaled 13.

  85. 85.

    Peale

    @Adam L Silverman: I guess I kind of like Trump being compared to Esther, although I can’t imagine him taking week long baths in perfume to make himself pleasing to anyone but himself. Is there some kind of prophesy about the “return of Esther” that I’m not aware of, though? I read the book as a comedy, so I don’t know how one could read anything more it.

  86. 86.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Brachiator: There is an argument that the one member of the British royal family that was killed in WW II – he was in the RAF – was actually one of the jubilee sacrifices to ensure the prosperity of Britain. The next sacrifice would have, interestingly enough, come in the same year that Diana was killed, which prompted a similar conspiracy theory. Especially as previous Spencer women who had married into earlier British monarchies had also died either in jubilee or sabbatical years. The arguments are the Spencers are a family that was chosen to, on occasion, provide a necessary royal sacrifice.

    I wrote a paper on the Dianic Cult and it’s place in modern conspiracism and the occult for one of my seminars when I was doing my MA in comparative religion.

  87. 87.

    catclub

    I learned something!

    I woke in Colorado to a weather phenomenon called the pogonip — freezing fog that condensed on tree limbs and sagebrush until they looked dusted with powdered sugar.

    and I thought it was just a made up nym.

  88. 88.

    Sloane Ranger

    @Betty Cracker: Yeah, 2 years ago we presented as a stable mature democracy, now we not only look like a Banana republic, we’re an international laughing stock.

    Still, I’ve signed the petition to rescind Article 50, nearly 4 million signatures now and still growing.

  89. 89.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Peale: There is no prophesy other than the belief that in every generation where Jews are threatened, which is literally every generation, an Esther will arise. Jews don’t take this literally, as far as I know, but the expectation is/would be that this leader would be from within the Jewish community. My understanding was until yesterday that most of the Christian conservatives thought it was Sarah Palin. She certainly was promoting that idea for a while. I’m actually surprised that either the CBN interviewer or Pompeo didn’t actually put Ivanka in for Esther as opposed to the President, but I’ve spent over 25 years trying to understand religious extremists so as to be able to better predict when they’ll use legitimate versus illegitimate means to achieve their goals, and I really am no closer to understanding them than I was when I was 22.

  91. 91.

    catclub

    @Sloane Ranger:

    Still, I’ve signed the petition to rescind Article 50, nearly 4 million signatures now and still growing.

    if you tell me an address and mail code in the UK, I will, too.

  92. 92.

    Betty Cracker

    @Sloane Ranger:

    2 years ago we presented as a stable mature democracy, now we not only look like a Banana republic, we’re an international laughing stock.

    Gosh, I wonder what that feels like! ;-) Here’s hoping the sane folks prevail on both sides of the pond!

  94. 94.

    Sloane Ranger

    It’s an online petition. You have to be a British citizen or UK resident to sign.

    Here’s a link

  95. 95.

    Adam L Silverman

    @ruemara: That’s because you haven’t taken the time to read the collected seminar papers and assorted essays of Adam L. Silverman’s Graduate School Years Vol. 2: The Masters in Comparative Religion.

  96. 96.

    MomSense

    Whatever happens with the report, I hope we all know that it’s not going to save us. We got ourselves into this mess with an election and that’s how we have to get ourselves out of it, too.

  97. 97.

    Sloane Ranger

    OK couldn’t get the link to work. Just type Article 50 Petition UK into your search engine and you should find it easily. It’s on petitions. parliament. uk.

  98. 98.

    Brachiator

    @Adam L Silverman:

    As is the concept of the man in black as that 13th adept/pries

    And from this we get Johnny Cash’s Man in Black and a Stephen King hero.

    I wrote a paper on the Dianic Cult and it’s place in modern conspiracism and the occult for one of my seminars when I was doing my MA in comparative religion.

    Actually fascinating stuff. The royal family stuff is strange. It is noteworthy how people try to weave famous people, aristocrats and monarchs, etc., into ongoing mythologies and religions.

  99. 99.

    trollhattan

    @catclub:
    Good lord, there could be somebody out there named Pogonip Haboob!

    Could you grow up to be anything other than a teevee weather person?

  102. 102.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Brachiator: The Order of the Garter and Sir Francis Drake are also interwoven into this stuff. And it then got repurposed into popular sci-fi/fantasy by Kathryn Kurtz:
    https://www.amazon.com/Lammas-Night-Katherine-Kurtz-ebook/dp/B01FRQEV9W/ref=pd_sim_351_1/140-7501984-5468366?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B01FRQEV9W&pd_rd_r=f5e71768-4ccd-11e9-8998-6bad9ec678c8&pd_rd_w=B7f7E&pd_rd_wg=vHOne&pf_rd_p=90485860-83e9-4fd9-b838-b28a9b7fda30&pf_rd_r=49YRMJNYR9CJRP5FDFNT&psc=1&refRID=49YRMJNYR9CJRP5FDFNT

  103. 103.

    opiejeanne

    I got into it with a woman in the doctor’s waiting room this morning who said to my nice husband, “Are you in politics? You remind me of one of our nice senators.” Both of our senators are women. I kept my mouth shut until she continued by saying, “Lindsey Graham. That’s who you remind me of, Lindsey Graham. Do you think he’s a nice man?”

    That was it, I lit into her about Lindsey Graham and used her as a chew toy. I have never done something like that before and my blood pressure was still a bit high when I got to see the doctor, but the nurse thought it was hilarious when I warned her that it would be high and described what happened, but it was only a little bit higher than normal and still in the good range.

    “No, Lindsey Graham is not a nice man. Just the way he reversed himself on everything he used to say he believed as soon at McCain died, the way he has sided with Trump against the things McCain stood for, and the fact that he doesn’t stand up for McCain. now when the president rants about how much he despised McCain.” (Yes, I know, McCain, but I thought relating to her on her own level. Shouldn’t have bothered)

    She whined, “Not all Republicans are bad.” I turned around again (this was during check-in) and said, “Yes, I know Not All Republicans. We were Republicans until we realized they were not the party of our childhood, not the party of Eisenhower, that the party has lost its mind and has been awful for many years.”
    “Yes, they’re all bad. There’s so much corruption.”
    I just glared at her because I hate the Both Sides argument, then said “Nancy Pelosi is not corrupt. The corruption you see is almost all on the Republican side of the aisle.”

    She interrupted to whine, “Why are you so mean?”
    “I’m not mean (yes I am). You asked a question and you don’t like the answer. Don’t compare my husband to Lindsey Graham, it’s an insult.”
    “I didn’t know… don’t be neurotic about it.”
    “I’m not neurotic, I’m adamant. You asked a question, we answered it. You don’t like the answer? Tough. Go away. Just go away and leave us alone.”

    Damn, I’m still pissed off. How dare she? How fucking dare she?

  106. 106.

    CaseyL

    @Adam L Silverman: There’s a whole SciFi novel for which the sacrifice of royal blood during WWII is a major plot point: Lammas Night by Kathryn Kurtz. A good read.

  107. 107.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    @Sloane Ranger: Yet Farage and his crew are having the temerity to claim that the petition is being signed by Russian Bots. Considering that it was Russian Bots and Farage’s lies that caused people to vote for Brexit and that Russia would love nothing more than have Britain out of the EU he can go and do something to himself with a rusty pitchfork.

  108. 108.

    geg6

    @germy:

    I have been saying this ever since I heard early this morning that it was ABC reporting this stuff. I knew right then and there that it had to Jonathan Karl. Jon Karl is a hack and whoever is talking to him is full of shit, IMHO.

  112. 112.

    Emerald

    Because I’m really getting depressed about Mueller and what I do not expect from his report, I will focus on amazing science: our Mars rovers!

    Spirit Rover, MER-2, Opportunity’s twin, was last heard from on this day nine years ago. She lasted six years in a mission that was supposed to last for 90 days. She climbed Husband Hill, which she was not designed to do, and discovered evidence of past drinkable water on Mars. She also discovered evidence of past hot springs on Mars!

    Oppy lasted 14.5 years! And Curiosity is still going strong three years after she was supposed to expire. Next year we’ll get the 2020 Rover.

    I think these rovers are among the greatest achievements of mankind.

    Thank you, Spirit! May you and your siblings be found some day!

  113. 113.

    Barbara

    @Sloane Ranger: I keep following the Guardian’s live feed and I still can’t quite believe the preening sense of entitlement that is reflected in so much magical thinking. E.g., that May is “capitulating” to the EU as if the EU has nothing more important than its relationship with UK, which is important, but still, it was a negotiation and no one ever gets everything they want. I have some sympathy for the EU in spelling it out with so much clarity in the last few days — it’s door A, B, or C — Choose now because we are tired of you.

  114. 114.

    Brachiator

    @opiejeanne:

    Damn, I’m still pissed off. How dare she? How fucking dare she?

    Sounds like you were righteously pissed, even if you kinda bit the person’s head off.

    Hope you have been able to wind down some.

  115. 115.

    StringOnAStick

    Weekend plans? Same as current plans, which involves doing my PT so I can more easily get past 90 degrees with this new knee.

    On the day of surgery I texted my boss that the doctor wants me off work for 3 weeks, he said he’d pass that on to the office manager. Yesterday the office manager called and tried to guilt trip me into coming back sooner. I still have stitches and can’t drive yet, but she thinks I should make my husband drive an hour out of his way twice a day to get me to a job I can’t yet do. It makes me want to give notice

  116. 116.

    Adam L Silverman

    @CaseyL: I’m aware, see comment 102. In fact I actually used the reappearance of the concept in that novel as part of the set up for the seminar paper.

  118. 118.

    Argiope

    Delurking to remind all Juicers to check their smoke detector batteries if you haven’t recently. The house across the street burned all the way down in about 2.5 hours starting at about 1 this morning. Fortunately the family got out, but it’s rubble this morning despite all the hydrants on the block being pressed into service by about 3 different fire departments. Quite alarming to see that fire jump from floor to floor despite all the stuff they were spraying onto it from the tops of those hook-and-ladder trucks and the ground. I’m devastated for my neighbors but so glad no one was injured–and that the houses on this block are fairly far apart.

  119. 119.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @catclub: Well golly. Saw that en route to north-central WV the first weekend of the month, west of Cumberland in an area notorious for its winter fogs. My brother (the driver) was impressed enough to take a couple of photos with his smartphone, Never knew the phenomenon had a name till now.

  126. 126.

    mad citizen

    @opiejeanne: Thanks for sharing this great story. We usually don’t talk politics at gatherings of multi-state regulators, but the other night someone brought up the media bias for liberals, and I could not hold back. We went to 2016, getting rid of the electoral college, etc. Was a civil discussion, but I was not having it as I’d just been reading/watching the Trump performance about McCain. Sometimes you just gotta engage.

  127. 127.

    trollhattan

    @chris:
    Had to check and see if you were joking. Good lord, that’s like having Dr. Mengele as surgeon general. Stephen Moore is the most profoundly misguided, lie-in-your-race fauxconomist I’ve ever seen, and that includes Laffer.

  128. 128.

    Jeffro

    @bemused:

    I assume ‘Brooksie’ is incoherent David Brooks who knows zilch, bupkis about rural areas and has never gone to any place with more moral coherence or social commitment other than his own fantasies.

    Yes, yes, and yes.

    He went to Nebraska (or says he did) and apparently they’re all working so hard there, they don’t need much in the way of government services. Meanwhile, urban areas, well…you know…

  135. 135.

    Jeffro

    @chris: prezinent bwah bwah bwah: “Youse guys are embarrassin’ me in front of my bestest friend! Just like that Mawia Bartromo askin’ about stoopid McCain!”

  137. 137.

    Gravenstone

    @trollhattan: My immediate thought on seeing that earlier today was sure, why not? What’s one more Biblical plague? Question is, does Trump comprise the final plague, or just the next in the series?

  141. 141.

    UncleEbeneezer

    After taking our dog in to have a rock removed from her stomach (she’s fine) found out she is in Stage 1 of Kidney Disease and has small growths on her spleen and liver. She’s 14 years old so neither of us really wants to go down the chemo road so we told vet that we don’t really wanna investigate the growths. She REALLY hates going to the Vet, and both of us have been through the aging-pet/sickness routine before so we are deciding to just try and make whatever time we have with her as comfy and good as possible. But it’s still pretty upsetting seeing just how much she’s slowed down in just this past year :( When she finally departs it’s gonna be extra-rough for me since she’s really my first dog that I’ve ever loved.

    And in people news, my In-Laws let my wife’s sister move back in with them. She’s been a complete cancer on their family numerous times and my wife really can’t stand her. Like stolen money, lied countless times, ditching them after MIL’s double-lung transplant and even accused my F-in-Law of attempting to rape her last time she visited (which is ludicrous for a number of reasons including FIL’s health issues that have him pretty mobility impaired. She’s BiPolar so I have some sympathy for her, but geez the stories my wife tells me…she just seems like a real self-centered a-hole. Anyways, Now we are trying to figure out what to do with our plan to visit them in April. Not sure if it would be good for any of our mental states, but the In-Laws love to guilt trip the hell out of my wife so she feels like she HAS TO visit them. Ugh…

  142. 142.

    Sloane Ranger

    @Barbara: But they owe us! We saved their bacon, not once but twice, last century and that entitles us to get every little thing we want from them for ever. The ungrateful wretches!

  145. 145.

    Sloane Ranger

    @raven: He was meant to be leading a pro Brexit march from, I think Sunderland , to London. He lasted 1 day. It rained.

  146. 146.

    opiejeanne

    @Barbara: It was the smug expectation that a couple of oldish people with white hair would of course agree with her crappy politics.

    I’m fine. I did bite off her head a bit, but it needed a good biting off. I don’t think it had been bitten off recently or often enough.

    The doc says I have a concussion from my misadventure last Friday. One of the symptoms is irritability. I’d like to think it’s not the offended brain talking, just the offended mind.

  149. 149.

    Ruckus

    @opiejeanne:
    Lindsey Grahram?
    I’ve met your husband, LG would be the last person he reminds me of. It’s possible that you should have punched her for a comment that asinine.
    Anyway, probably better that you didn’t assault her but good on you.

  150. 150.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Miss Bianca:

    we don’t even *have* an Applebees!

    *shudders*

    @Adam L Silverman:

    That’s because you haven’t taken the time to read the collected seminar papers and assorted essays of Adam L. Silverman’s Graduate School Years Vol. 2: The Masters in Comparative Religion.

    I started reading this a few months ago. Doctor recommended it to cure my insomnia.

    @rikyrah:

    An intoxicated white man who was openly carrying a handgun in Dallas assaulted a Black woman over a parking dispute. Bystanders said they were afraid to intervene as he beat her because he was armed.

    Does his possession of a firearm during the assault make it a felony? That’s how they lock up black kids for what would otherwise be misdemeanor theft, etc.

  152. 152.

    danielx

    Just finished the The Fifth Risk, by Michael Lewis. Fascinating and appalling, like so much written about the Shigibbon’s administration. I came away with the conclusion that one of the worst things Trump is doing is lobotomizing the government. From what I can tell, under the theory that nothing matters except what he does or in which he or his compeers have an interest, primarily financial. Example: nominating Barry Myers, former CEO of AccuWeather, to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Barry figures the govenment should not be in the business of delivering weather forecasts (that our tax dollars paid for) directly to the public, but rather acting as the source for weather forecast and warnings delivered by AccuWeather – for subscribers only, naturally. Ol’ Barry’s stake in AccuWeather is valued at $57 million, btw.

    One more reason I worry about grinding my molars down to the gumline.

  155. 155.

    Ruckus

    @danielx:
    There isn’t one Trumper that isn’t in it for the money or the power to get more money. None of them think the government can do anything better than someone making a financial killing at whatever it is or that there is any place for a government to tell them that unsafe or unnecessary products or services should be regulated so that people don’t lose everything because of them stealing a buck or two. When they say that government regulations are killing us they mean that they can’t make enough money from fucking everyone else. They are not actual conservatives, they are capitalists, working towards them having all the capital and everyone else can suck hind tit. Scrooge McDick on steroids.

  156. 156.

    Barbara

    @Steve in the ATL: He was charged with aggravated assault. Not sure that was because of the presence of a gun. He also was charged with interfering with a 911 call when he slapped the phone out of her hands as she was trying to call 911.

  157. 157.

    TomatoQueen

    @opiejeanne: Even if it was a manifestation of concussion-related irritability, it wanted doing, especially with the invidious comparison to LG-who-must-not-be-named, said to your face. I’m proud of you–and I think e f goldman would add a feisty fuckem too.

  160. 160.

    thalarctosMaritimus

    @opiejeanne: in a million years, it would *never* have occurred to me to compare mr. opiejeanne to Lindsey Graham. I just can’t see it.

    Republicanism’a one helluva drug.

  161. 161.

    Sloane Ranger

    @Barbara: Bah, arrived late on both occasions, senior officers had to have everything explained to them in simple terms, while ordinary soldiers lounged around in flashy uniforms, splashing their cash. :-)

  167. 167.

    Miss Bianca

    @Sloane Ranger:

    He was meant to be leading a pro Brexit march from, I think Sunderland , to London. He lasted 1 day. It rained.

    Jesus, it’s WANKERS ALL THE WAY DOWN!

  168. 168.

    Citizen Alan

    @Sloane Ranger:

    There’s a scene in the third Matrix movie in which Hugo Weaving’s Agent Smith character has just assimilated the Oracle and in response goes completely nuts, with his eyes bulging out of his head and his mouth in a hideous grin as he laughs maniacally.

    Nigel Farage looks like that in every picture of him I’ve ever seen.

  169. 169.

    Origuy

    @Brachiator:

    And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, she despised him in her heart.

    Was he wearing a tan suit?

  170. 170.

    J R in WV

    @Amir Khalid:

    …whether I should get a semihollow guitar like Chuck Berry’s ES-335 and an Epiphone SG.

    You should definitely get more guitars. When the world begins to end in whatever armageddon we wind up with, you will need to know you had all the guitars. Nothing else really matters, if you had all the guitars you needed!

  171. 171.

    Skepticat

    Jared Kushner’s use of WhatsApp, an encrypted messaging service …

    I’ve just seen this for the lebendy-leventh time, and it rots my socks. The encryption makes it sound like a security-conscious piece of technology. Why can’t they call it what it is, a free internet app beloved by teenagers because it lets them keep their conversations secret, even if that’s in contravention of the law for people in Jared’s unearned position?

    Found out too late in the day to use it as an excuse that today’s National Goof Off Day. And tomorrow’s National Puppy Day (though I’ve yet to find one that isn’t).

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