Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

The new republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

This fight is for everything.

FFS people, this was a good thing. take the win.

with the Kraken taking a plea, the Cheese stands alone.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

This really is a full service blog.

Please don’t feed the bears.

We’re not going back!

I conferred with the team and they all agree – still not tired of winning!

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

Spilling the end game before they can coat it in frankl luntz-approved dogwhistles.

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

Days Since JD Vance Insulted Women Across America: Zero

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

Bark louder, little dog.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

‘Museums aren’t America’s attic for its racist shit.’

Donald Jessica Trump found guilty as fuck – May 30, 2024!

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Washington Post’s Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

You are here: Home / Books / Thursday Morning Open Thread: Oh Joy, It’s Pollen Season Already

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Oh Joy, It’s Pollen Season Already

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Betcha you don’t even have to ask how I can tell! But if I’m unusually disorganized or cryptic in the near future… well, blame it on the juniper / poplar / maple. Especially the Norway maples which are prominent among the local trash trees.

Meanwhile, random (mostly) happy, uplifting news tidbits…

Reader Interactions

185Comments

  2. 2.

    Sab

    Barack Obama is amazing and all that ( best president of my lifetime) but he definitely married up.

  3. 3.

    Elizabelle

    Blech, guten tag. Moving day in Wiesbaden, Germany. Glorious sunny day here. Spring trees in beauty. Apartment is almost echoing.

    I ❤️ Jose Andres.

  5. 5.

    Elizabelle

    @Sab: He’s right about find what you’re willing to lose your office over, and fight for it. Always go down fighting. And sometimes, we win.

  9. 9.

    Aleta

    Looks like WCK has also gone to SD, and before that Nebraska.
    José Andrés @chefjoseandres

    Our #ChefsForNebraska team are sending food up to Pine Ridge, SD!

    Last night’s meal prep by our #ChefsForNebraska team in Fremont: Chicken chili verde with rice, cotija cheese & cilantro
     + cucumber, tomato & red bell pepper salad
    
    Over 1,000 meals delivered to a mobile home park that was flooded and families living in hotels due to damage.

    photo ((march 22) )

  12. 12.

    Patricia Kayden

    Chef Andres is a treasure. I’ve found one of his local restaurants that I can afford and plan to visit soon. He represents what is good in this world.

  14. 14.

    SFAW

    But if I’m unusually disorganized or cryptic in the near future… well, blame it on

    … Obama, of course. [No, not Michelle.]

  15. 15.

    NotMax

    Have had a white cord snaking across the full length of the living room from where the cable company’s wires enter the house to where the router, modems, et cetera are since forever. Finally splurged on some five foot lengths of those runners which hide cable inside them and put them into place. Medium brown, which works with the color of the wooden flooring.

    Now the rest of the living room looks shabby.

    @Aleta

    Chicken chili verde with rice, cotija cheese & cilantro

    Sorry chef, cilantro is cruel and unusual nourishment, a gustatory insult. Blech to da max.

  16. 16.

    Immanentize

    @NotMax: the cord strip is a great example of how a small chore for low cost can vastly improve one’s life. I fail to learn this over and over….

    As for cilantro — I love it! Is it possible that you have an allergy to cilantro? Some large number of folks do making it tastes soapy which would be very sad.

  18. 18.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    Rep. Deb Haaland
    ‏Verified account @RepDebHaaland

    I organized for @BarackObama on the ground in New Mexico – knocking doors, making phone calls, making sure folks had rides to the polls – now I’m in the same room listening and learning from him as a Congresswoman. It’s unreal. Proof that anything is possible. #BeFierce

    7:14 PM – 25 Mar 2019

    159 replies 682 retweets 5,070 likes

    (photo)

    *

  19. 19.

    germy

    @Patricia Kayden:

    I’ve found one of his local restaurants that I can afford

    Jose Andres is doing great work. I wish he supported a living wage for his employees, rather than making them rely on customer tips for survival.

  20. 20.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    ⚾And we say welcome to the 150th season of Major League Baseball⚾

    PLAYBALL!

  22. 22.

    NotMax

    @Immanentize

    Not allergic. Am one of those for whom it tastes the way Drāno smells, times a zillion.

    As for the small things, definitely. Also finally got around to replacing the laundry hamper in the bathroom. The one I tossed was already here when I moved in over 35 years ago and was in an advanced state of disintegration. Would have done this before except it has taken years to find one whose appearance I like, seems sturdy, is not too big and not too small and can be had at a price which doesn’t make me wince.

  23. 23.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Somehow or other I missed this story when it broke:

    Anna Sorokin traveled in celebrity circles and tossed $100 tips. All the more reason to believe she was the German heiress she said she was. But behind the jet-set lifestyle and pricey threads, prosecutors have said, was a fraudster who bilked friends, banks and hotels for a taste of the high life.

    Sorokin, 28, lived in luxury New York City hotel rooms she couldn’t afford, promised a friend an all-expenses paid trip to Morocco and then stuck her with the $62,000 bill, and peddled bogus bank statements in a quest for a $22m loan, the Manhattan district attorney’s office has alleged.

    On Wednesday, the one-time darling of the Big Apple social scene went on trial on grand larceny and theft of services charges alleging she swindled various people and businesses out of $275,000 in a 10-month odyssey that saw her jetting to the midwest and Marrakesh before landing in a cell at Rikers Island.

    “Her overall scheme has been to claim to be a wealthy German heiress with approximately $60m in funds being held abroad,” prosecutor Catherine McCaw said after Sorokin’s October 2017 arrest. “She’s born in Russia and has not a cent to her name as far as we can determine.”

    When she was arrested Sorokin’s story was an instant media sensation – prompting lengthy profiles in New York Magazine and Vanity Fair. Shonda Rhimes, the force behind Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal, has even announced she is creating a television series about Sorokin, whose Instagram bio says: “soon on Netflix”.

    Sorokin’s attorney said she never intended to commit a crime.

    Lawyer Todd Spodek told jurors in an opening statement that Sorokin was exploiting a system that was “easily seduced by glamour and glitz” after she saw how the appearance of wealth opened doors. Spodek said she was merely buying time, so she could launch a business and repay her debts.

    “Anna had to fake it until she could make it,” Spodek said.

    In his defense, as her lawyer he has to come up with some kind of defense, no matter how ridiculous.

    “It was a magic trick,” Rachel Williams, the friend from the Morocco trip, wrote in Vanity Fair. “I’m embarrassed to say that I was one of the props, and the audience, too. Anna’s was a beautiful dream of New York, like one of those nights that never seems to end. And then the bill arrives.”

    The bill always arrives. Some day soon we’re going to get the bill for trump’s rule of corruption.

  24. 24.

    germy

    Why Is No One Talking About Substance, asks the brave Commentator, glowering at Beto, as Elizabeth Warren’s thirty-eighth detailed policy proposal flutters to the ground behind him unregarded— Alexandra Petri (@petridishes) March 27, 2019

  27. 27.

    debbie

    If spring is even coming here, it’s already two weeks late. (I tracked flowering last spring as if I were a birder.)

  29. 29.

    The Other Bob

    Has the Democratic vitriole against other Dems in the primary for President been worse than ever? Its like we already have 2020 won and have the luxury of being purists. Maybe I am just falling for the FB effect and trolls?

  30. 30.

    ola azul

    Not sure if this has been mentioned here as yet, but Mueller Report is 700 pages long, according to (yeah, I know) Fox’s Andrew Napolitano:

    Fox News legal analyst Andrew Napolitano said Wednesday that special counsel Robert Mueller’s report “undoubtedly” has “some” evidence of collusion and obstruction of justice. … “If there were no evidence of conspiracy and no evidence of obstruction, the attorney general would have told us so. He didn’t.”

    Four-page summary by veteran hatchet-man Bagman Bob Barr, nothing to see here. Totally exonerated!

    It’sa lot to ask, I realize, but wouldn’t it be choice if this white-wash blew up in *both* Trump *and* the media’s faces?

  31. 31.

    satby

    @debbie: it’s not even late here, and I already have almost 100 things to plant. All my seeds in my seed starters sprouted. I can’t wait to get them all outside, but the last frost date is almost a month away.

  32. 32.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @NotMax:

    More important is recognizing what’s bad.

    Truer words were never spoken.

    I am one of those people who can eat damn near anything. One caving trip in Arkansas a buddy passed a can of Russian caviar around that he’d gotten from his Russian girlfriend. Everybody was making faces after trying it. I’m like, “Oh you bunch of weenies, give me that.” Took a great big spoonful and shoveled it into my mouth. Holy shit, emphasis on the shit. Not only did my breakfast revolt against that monstrosity, everything I had eaten for the past week protested too. I barely managed to get it down.

    I don’t know if it had gone bad or what, but I feel no need to try anymore in an effort to find out.

  34. 34.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @debbie: My daffodils finally bloomed 2 days ago, and my magnolia blossomed yesterday. It feels late but that is only because of the last 2 very non winters

  35. 35.

    Lalophobia

    @ola azul: If the report finds its way out, that’s the best case scenario.

    I try to keep my expectations low, but even as I do everything about the non-release of the Mueller report gives me the impression of men bailing out a boat with a hole in it. There’s only so much you can do for so long before that boat sinks.

  36. 36.

    satby

    @ola azul: I think it will blow back on both the media and Trump if Barr greatly mischaracterized the report, as it appears likely. People really don’t like being lied to.* Even if half of them sort of expect politicians to do it.

    * Yes, I know “Fox News”, but their viewers don’t believe they lie.

  38. 38.

    debbie

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I need to go back and check the dates of previous years’ photos to get a better idea of lateness vs. earliness. I don’t mind a late spring, providing the heat and humidity are similarly delayed! Alas, they never are.

  39. 39.

    satby

    @Lalophobia: pretty confident that the whole report will make it out… Just not confident it will be in a timeframe that matters before 2020.
    The more egregiously evil the Trumpsters act, the higher the odds somebody leaks. Gutting funding for Special Olympics gets close.

  40. 40.

    Amir Khalid

    If Stevie Wonder asserts that the true king of rock’n’roll is not Elvis Presley but Chuck Berry, and I concur, are Stevie and I being racist? And is Stevie, not being the controlling authority on the rightful king of rock, unqualified to name his own king? These interesting claims were put to me a short while ago in a YouTube comment thread.

  41. 41.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @debbie: I have seen daffodils in February in southerly exposed locations of the Ozarks. I can’t remember ever waiting to the last week of March. I wish I had documented it over the years but I just don’t have the OCD or the discipline to do so.

  42. 42.

    ola azul

    @satby:

    Good morning. Ya, agreed, most peeps don’t like being lied to. But then, the media ain’t most peeples.

    IOKIYAR, baby!

  44. 44.

    randy khan

    @Jay:

    Pretty sure we have a Nobel nominee.

    I’m hoping he’s not just a nominee.

    And the idea of how much it would annoy Trump is just a bonus – the work that Andres has done really deserves that kind of recognition.

  49. 49.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Amir Khalid: Just finished reading this: Confronting racism is not about the needs and feelings of white people

    I was leaving a corporate office building after a full day of leading workshops on how to talk about race thoughtfully and deliberately. The audience for each session had been similar to the dozens I had faced before. There was an overrepresentation of employees of color, an underrepresentation of white employees. The participants of color tended to make eye contact with me and nod – I even heard a few “Amens” – but were never the first to raise their hands with questions or comments. Meanwhile, there was always a white man eager to share his thoughts on race. In these sessions I typically rely on silent feedback from participants of color to make sure I am on the right track, while trying to moderate the loud centering of whiteness.

    In the hallway an Asian American woman locked eyes with me and mouthed: “Thank you.” A black man squeezed my shoulder and muttered: “Girl, if you only knew.” A black woman stopped me, looked around cautiously to make sure no one was within earshot, and then said: “You spoke the truth. I wish I could have shared my story so you’d know how true. But this was not the place.”

    This was not the place. Despite the care I take in these sessions to center people of color, to keep them safe, this still was not the place. Once again, what might have been a discussion about the real, quantifiable harm being done to people of color had been subsumed by a discussion about the feelings of white people, the expectations of white people, the needs of white people.

    As I stood there, gazing off into the memory of hundreds of stifled conversations about race, I was brought to attention by a white woman. She was not nervously looking around to see who might be listening. She didn’t ask if I had time to talk, though I was standing at the door.

    “Your session was really nice,” she started. “You said a lot of good things that will be useful to a lot of people.” She paused briefly: “But the thing is, nothing you talked about today is going to help me make more black friends.”

  51. 51.

    Kay

    People could read the Starr report and supporting documents, including depositions and audio tapes- this was the level of specificity:

    Following are excerpts of a conversation between Linda Tripp and Monica S. Lewinsky on Jan. 13, when Ms. Tripp wore a listening device for Federal agents working for Kenneth W. Starr, the independent counsel.

    Twenty years later we can’t even get a copy of the report we paid for. We’re out here like serfs, speculating how long the report is and what it might say. No release of information to the unwashed masses! Only top secret professionals may glimpse it.

    The standards just keep going lower. Now we’re told we’re lucky to get an investigation at all, forget getting the findings. Barr should be ashamed of himself, treating what we all own as he and Donald Trump’s private property.

    Their careers are what are paramount here. The public doesn’t matter at all.

  56. 56.

    Immanentize

    @debbie:

    Of course some of this dislike may come down to simple preference, but for those cilantro-haters for whom the plant tastes like soap, the issue is genetic. These people have a variation in a group of olfactory-receptor genes that allows them to strongly perceive the soapy-flavored aldehydes in cilantro leaves.

  57. 57.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    It was my turn to read at my writer group last night. They liked the chapter. So now I feel good. :-)

    Also that was 3 hours during which my phone was turned off and I had no access to news. It like a cleansing mini-vacation.

  63. 63.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: Yep. And there’s also the fact that the Starr report was about a blow job and the Mueller report is about an attack on our election by a hostile foreign power, so the stakes are exponentially higher. But it’s starting to look like our only hope of actually seeing this consequential document that we paid for and getting the explanation we are owed by our government is if some random individual decides to leak it. I don’t think it’s supposed to work this way.

  66. 66.

    tobie

    Good morning, BJ. Spring is here. I wake up and hear birds chirping. This makes me happy.

  68. 68.

    Amir Khalid

    @MomSense:
    There are actually commenters on YouTube who will say that such a statement demonises white people. I was not surprised at that, but I am amazed.

  76. 76.

    Kay

    @rikyrah:

    I agree with Harris on truancy. It’s child neglect. We try everything here. Text messages. Tens of warnings. Neighbor to neighbor. They can’t miss so much school. It’s 15 days in Ohio when truancy prevention starts. 3 weeks of school. California is more generous- I think it’s 20. For one thing, it makes kids anxious and miserable because they’re always behind and if it goes on long enough it doesn’t matter how smart they are- they won’t catch up. We get this anti-vax like sentiment “my child, I make the decisions, so fuck off”. Okay, but you’re doing permanent damage, so don’t demand the school fix it when they get to 8th grade and are at a 4th grade level. They have to be there, or no one can teach them or help them. Not knowing what’s going on in school is humiliating for kids- half of them lie and don’t ask questions because they’re ashamed they’re behind and they think it’s their fault. It harms the whole class because everyone else has to back up and review too.
    There are elaborate notice requirements. This isn’t a surprise to any of these parents. They get plenty of time to remedy it. Juvenile judges probably prodded her to do something. They’re absolutely insane about school attendance. It’s the first thing they look at now. Because they know how much damage it does.

  78. 78.

    MomSense

    @Amir Khalid:

    I don’t doubt it. There’s a whole cohort of insane people who think white genocide is a thing. My kids have a game of going into “deep YouTube” for a glimpse of the truly insane. I’m talking way deep – well past preppers and lizard people YouTube.

    Of course Chuck Berry did pick up a lot of his licks from T Bone Walker. T Bone was an incredible guitarist with a beautiful voice. It’s hard for me to choose a favorite blues musician but T Bone is certainly one of them.

  81. 81.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Amir Khalid: Because it’s all about white people. Years ago a bunch of white people in their infinite wisdom decided against all evidence that Elvis was the KIng. Anyone asserting otherwise are hurting their precious feefees and just being mean.

  82. 82.

    Ocotillo

    My wife is an election judge and one of the gentlemen she often works with is mentioned in Michelle O’s book………he is her first kiss!

  84. 84.

    Amir Khalid

    @satby:
    The YouTube channel in question posts videos of young adults’ first encounters with classic rock/pop music that is unfamiliar to them. Their reactions are … fascinating. Sometimes one does come across informative and interesting comments there, which can justify wading through the muck of the other comments. Sometimes one comes across all-but-overt bigotry.

  85. 85.

    ola azul

    Been a hard week up this way, what with the Barr white-wash prompting many Trumpsters who had gone semi-underground resurfacing (like herpes sores) to crow with idiotic unjustified glee about the absolute vindication of their god-king.

    It were repulsive.

    Boughtta cheap box from my buddy (who picked it up offa one of his students), wanting to resume a piece I was plunking away at in Fla. last year on my buddy’s boy’s guitar for ’boutta week. Hadn’t played guitar in a very long time (and was never very good at it), but find this piece lovely and soothing. And, remarkably (to me, anyway), very playable.

    After a coupla weeks of pecking away at it, can play it straight thru from memory, with a coupla hiccups and twangs ‘long the way, course, at some a the harder chord changes. Sure some pretty.

    Whenever I feel my blood start to boil, been picking up the box and taking a coupla runs thru it. Been getting a lotta practice of late.

    Lotta versions, this is the one I went with: Pachelbel’s Canon

  87. 87.

    Betty Cracker

    So, Trump tweeted this a while ago:

    FBI & DOJ to review the outrageous Jussie Smollett case in Chicago. It is an embarrassment to our Nation!

    Good God.

  88. 88.

    Kay

    @MomSense:

    In my experience it’s almost always an indicator of other neglect. We had a primary grades principal (now retired) who was on to it as a huge problem before it was recognized nationally and he would meet the buses, do his morning thing, and then go to the chronic truants houses and bring them in. These were 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders. They cannot get themselves to school. It’s pretty simple. They can’t teach them if they aren’t there. Just put them on the bus. That’s all he’s asking.

  91. 91.

    MomSense

    @rikyrah:

    Charles Gaba was all over it on Twitter. He was a co-sponsor so it’s such bullshit. For me it’s more evidence that Sanders is not a team player. He does not work well with others and given the state of our domestic politics and our relationship with our allies, the ability to be a trusted team player is essential for the next president.

  92. 92.

    Raven

    Nice three-hour round trip to Hartsfield-Jackson. All is well after mis-booking her flight for yesterday. We had to pay for the flight but at least we got the miles back from Southwest. I feel bad for the girl, she has about 10 hrs to kill at Dulles before her London flight but she said she wanted to reorganize her pintrest page so there is that!

  94. 94.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    Conservatives are obsessed with it. I went to a dinner after the arrest and the whole gang were weighing in. They were absolutely delighted. They’re probably insane with rage now. Luckily I was sitting next to a 92 year old and she’s deaf as a post so she’d stage whisper “what are they talking about” and I was too exhausted to scream the whole thing at her so I said “politics” and then we talked about her nail polish. Which was very nice and a flattering shade for her, but maybe not me.

    I just can’t all the time. I’ll die of a mix of boredom and rage.

  96. 96.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Elizabelle:

    Always go down fighting. And sometimes, we win.

    Coming in late, but the other day I was reading a post by a retired Ukrainian naval officer I know (in the context of Sunday’s elections there) who said “if we do not surrender, we will prevail.” Words to live by.

    OT, but I didn’t realize you were going to Germany forever.

  97. 97.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Betty Cracker: Oh that’s the embarrassment to our nation? Glad he clarified that for us!

    And only one dumb ass capitalization. Are our Trump trash learning?

  98. 98.

    Amir Khalid

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    What’s the justification for wasting federal dollars and time on Smollett?

    Spite, I guess. Also, it’s a useful distraction from the ominous speculation about what’s really in Mueller’s report.

  99. 99.

    oldgold

    From Mueller’s Report, Barr selected a few sentence fragments.

    Of these fragments, this is the one causing so many to bray:”Exoneration!”

    “[T]he investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.”

    I object.

    By what standard did the investigation “not establish” a conspiracy or coordination?

    Generally, there are three accepted standards of proof.

    1] Preponderance of the Evidence: more likely than not;

    2] Clear and Convincing: high probability; and,

    3] Beyond a Reasonable Doubt: no other reasonable explanation can be inferred or deduced.

    Given this was a criminal inquiry, the standard applied was Beyond a Reasonable Doubt or for ‘ charging purposes’ something close. What if the evidence established it was “more than likely than not ” or that there was a “high probability” the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russians? Although not indictable, it would not be politically acceptable. Certainly, it would not constitute exoneration. We need to see the damn Report.

  103. 103.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I guess you could read it that way. I see it as Dump being a racist POS who thinks my city is a shithole because we all hate him.

    Looking forward to the day when Dump’s building is torn down.

  113. 113.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: LOL! Your anecdote reminds me of many a conversation I had with my maternal grandmother, who died last year at age 99 and was deaf as a post for the last two decades of her life. You have to summarize! Or change the subject!

    One time, the whole extended family was at a restaurant in South Florida for an aunt’s 60th birthday party. The restaurant staff stuck us in a banquet room with a giant long table. I was sitting next to my sister, who had just returned from Ireland. She was telling us about a funny toast she’d learned in a pub there:

    May the light always find you on a dreary day.
    When you need to be home, may you find the way.
    May you always have courage to take a chance.
    And never find frogs in your underpants.

    While we were laughing at that, I glanced across the table and saw Gran looking sad because she was missing out on whatever made us laugh. So I dug a pen and paper out of my purse, wrote the above poem on it, and shoved the scrap of paper across the table to Gran.

    At that very moment, at the head of the table, the sister of the guest of honor decided to get the festivities underway by tapping a spoon on a water glass for attention and then announcing to all assembled that Gran (the widow of a Southern Baptist preacher and missionary) would say grace before dinner. A hush fell over the room, and everyone turned expectantly to Gran, who was confused but gamely stood up and read the poem.

    My sister and I and those around us who realized what had just happened almost fell out of our chairs laughing while everyone else became as confused as poor Gran. So we all just started eating. What else can you do? :)

  114. 114.

    Gin & Tonic

    @mrmoshpotato: I’ve been in the North Loop area for business a few times in the last year, and man, that’s such an eyesore when you’re looking up Michigan Ave. Pretty amusing that they can’t rent any space in it.

  115. 115.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @rikyrah:

    aul Krugman @ paulkrugman
    Paul Krugman Retweeted Matt Fuller
    Bernie, are you there?Bernie, are you there?

    Matt Fuller @ MEPFuller
    Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is onboard with shoring up Obamacare before Democrats really tackle Medicare for All.

    Narrator: He was not there

  117. 117.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Betty Cracker:

    Brian Beutler Retweeted Donald J. Trump
    Good idea. Always worth a closer look when a prosecutor does not exonerate someone but they get off without charges anyhow.

  118. 118.

    Peale

    @Kay: yep. Despite the makeup of our prison population, they are convinced that black people always get away with everything and that the justice system is stacked in their favor. Plus it’s chicago and Obama apparently controls that city. They aren’t going to let this go.

  123. 123.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Kay:

    In my experience it’s almost always an indicator of other neglect.

    That, or possibly abuse. We had a horrific case north of Santa Fe where a boy who had missed school for months had been tortured to death by his mom’s boyfriend. The boy might have been saved if caseworkers had gone looking for him earlier.

  127. 127.

    schrodingers_cat

    What animates so called conservatives everywhere is resentment and fear. That’s what they all have in common. Our Rs, Modi’s minions in India, Taliban, Likud etc etc etc.

  130. 130.

    Kay

    @Peale:

    They think it’s vindication of their belief that all racial bias is faked. It had that triumphant tone- “see!?” Fuck off- your iron clad proof is a celebrity anecdote.

    Not to alarm anyone, but Trump is now directly interfering in prosecution decisions. The fact that he got off on obstruction has emboldened him. This will get worse. It’s not like we didn’t know! He made his intentions clear right from the start with “lock her up”. That was considered crossing a line 3 years ago and now the line is all but gone. Still descending. We haven’t hit bottom yet. He’s going to have a federal police force and political prosecutions he’s directing and that’s when it gets really scary.

  132. 132.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Kay: Rand Paul has joined the ranks of those calling for Obama to be investigated

    Aaron Rupar @ atrupar
    RandPaul: “Democrats want the complete Mueller report. I will object until we get a complete report of the Obama era officials that got this thing started.”

    The Beast is doing a Ninety Minute Hate in Michigan tonight. Odds of a “lock him up” chant are pretty good

  133. 133.

    Kay

    @O. Felix Culpa:

    The little ones want to go, so it isn’t a situation with surly teen truants (like me!) who are skipping out. That’s a different problem. They want to go to school. They are upset if they miss instructions- bring your box in because we’re making Valentine’s Day mailboxes, so they don’t have theirs and they stick out and are ashamed. That sort of thing. It’s an awful thing to do to them. You know that panicky dream you have where you didn’t know it was testing day, in your pajamas, can’t find the room, whatever? That’s their reality. School is their community, especially if they are somehow marginalized or disconnected. They need it more, not less. They want to fit in.

  135. 135.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Amir Khalid: The investigation into Russian interference that led to the trump campaign. by keeping things vague, they can implicate Lynch, Obama and pretty much anyone they want.

  137. 137.

    Nicole

    @Kay:

    You know that panicky dream you have where you didn’t know it was testing day, in your pajamas, can’t find the room, whatever?

    Your subconscious dresses you in pajamas? I WISH mine would dress me in pajamas when I have that dream.

  138. 138.

    Peale

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: yep. The parts of the report that Barr will release will be those parts where the Steele Dossier passed into the Clinton Camp as proof that she’s behind the whole thing. And that will be that for this report. My guess is that they’ll overreach and swing for Obama, too.

  139. 139.

    BobS

    A couple of months ago, in a crowded hospital emergency waiting room, Michelle Obama came on tv promoting her book. The response of virtually everyone- silent attention- convinced me then and there she wouldn’t just beat Trump, she’d trounce him. My immediate thought was a ticket of her and O’Roarke. However, after seeing and hearing him several times, I think Pete Buttigieg would be an even better VP candidate- more cattle, less hat, to put it in Texas language.

  140. 140.

    Kraux Pas

    @Amir Khalid:

    “… the Obama era officials that got this thing started …”

    ??

    So, remember how intelligence officials discovered that Russia was interfering in our election process and that Obama was rebuffed by McConnell in his effort to take a bipartisan stand against this?

    Paul seems to be taking the position that the interference itself was not real and that this whole investigation was, in fact, a witch hunt. The officials that initiated this should now be held to account.

    He apparently missed the part where the purpose of a witch hunt is that the target can not be let off the hook to any degree no matter what.

    ETA: Stupid deep state can’t even fabricate collusion charges right.

  141. 141.

    Another Scott

    ‘morning everyone. Cheryl bait from Reuters:

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry has approved six secret authorizations by companies to sell nuclear power technology and assistance to Saudi Arabia, according to a copy of a document seen by Reuters on Wednesday.

    The Trump administration has quietly pursued a wider deal on sharing U.S. nuclear power technology with Saudi Arabia, which aims to build at least two nuclear power plants. Several countries including the United States, South Korea and Russia are in competition for that deal, and the winners are expected to be announced later this year by Saudi Arabia.

    Perry’s approvals, known as Part 810 authorizations, allow companies to do preliminary work on nuclear power ahead of any deal but not ship equipment that would go into a plant, a source with knowledge of the agreements said on condition of anonymity. The approvals were first reported by the Daily Beast.

    The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said in the document that the companies had requested that the Trump administration keep the approvals secret.

    “In this case, each of the companies which received a specific authorization for (Saudi Arabia) have provided us written request that their authorization be withheld from public release,” the NNSA said in the document. In the past, the Energy Department made previous Part 810 authorizations available for the public to read at its headquarters.

    A Department of Energy official said the requests contained proprietary information and that the authorizations went through multi-agency approval process.

    […]

    Nothing wrong with the US working on sending nuclear technology to a regime run by a murderous autocrat that brutally murdered an American journalist, is continuing to wage a brutal war on a neighbor with American arms and support of various kinds, that squashes neighbors that don’t toe its political line, that is itching for a war with Iran, etc., etc., I’m sure.

    Grrr….

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  142. 142.

    Betty Cracker

    @BobS: I don’t doubt it, but it doesn’t matter. She’s said a thousand times she’s not ever going to run, and I believe her. I also understand why she thinks the idea is ridiculous. She never wanted all the attention and abuse and other crap anyway. She went along with her husband’s ambition because she loves him, but it wasn’t the path she wanted.

  144. 144.

    tobie

    @BobS: I gather Michelle hates politics. Sigh. We could use her.

    I’m a bit tired of the line that O’Rourke is an empty suit. I don’t think that’s the case as evidenced by the colorfulness of his language and the nuance of his positions. His spontaneous defense of taking the knee as the ultimate patriotic act was among the most powerful statements I heard in 2018. I am not saying that the other candidates aren’t smart. I just think we should exercise more caution when it comes to spreading ‘conventional wisdom.’

  145. 145.

    tobie

    @Another Scott: You could add…a regime awash in oil that does not need nuclear power. Republicans were apoplectic about the Iran deal, even though it prevented Iran from becoming a nuclear armed nation, but a Saudi Arabia with nukes seems to be a-okay with Republicans.

  146. 146.

    Lapassionara

    @oldgold: The key words on that sentence are ”Russian government.” Persons representing the Trump campaign had many contacts with Russian people, but not with any officials of the Russian government.

    I will reserve judgment until I get to see the actual Mueller report, if ever.

  147. 147.

    Kraux Pas

    @tobie:

    but a Saudi Arabia with nukes seems to be a-okay with Republicans.

    Don’t worry. I’m sure they’ll get the SA government to agree to an accountability regime similar to the Iran deal to ensure they don’t abuse this technology…

  148. 148.

    BobS

    @tobie: Not an empty suit at all- I just think Buttigieg has “more cattle”, i.e. more substance. I think he’s genuinely more engaged than O’Roarke (and that’s not to slight O’Roarke- Buttigieg intellectually outshines just about anyone else you’d compare him to).

  149. 149.

    SFAW

    So, in breaking news, Adam Schiff has confessed to lying about Shitgibbon, and has resigned, effective four months ago.

    No, wait, that’s not right. Oh, here it is:

    The Traitor-in-Chief, continuing his streak of lying [“2,392 days without telling the truth”], has tweeted that Adam Schiff (D-USA) has been lying about him constantly, and should resign immediately.

    My hope is that Congressman Schiff would respond either :
    A) “You first, then I’ll get back to you.”
    or
    B) “Tick tock, motherfucker.”
    or
    C) Both of the above.

  150. 150.

    SFAW

    And this from TPM:

    “Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) announced Thursday his intention to submit criminal referrals against the Justice Department and FBI for “false claims” about the Russia investigation.”

    Fucking traitors, all the way down.

  151. 151.

    oldgold

    @Lapassionara: @Lapassionara:

    I agree the fact the sentence fragment’s reference to only the “Russian Government” is important.

    My focus is on the dishonesty of Trump and Co. saying this sentence fragment means Mueller found no evidence of conspiracy or coordination. I think it only means that the conspiracy and/ or cooperation with the Russian Government could not be established beyond a reasonable doubt. That is a long way from there being no evidence of this.

    The fact that the standard of beyond a reasonable doubt is applicable to criminal inquiries is one of a number of reasons I have contended the approach to this matter was wrong. We should have used a special commission similar to the 9 -11 Commission to investigate this.

  152. 152.

    Kay

    @Nicole:

    It does. Sometimes not wearing shoes is the issue. So I have a lot of problems in this dream. I can’t find anything and I’m dressed all wrong. Our elementary school actually has a box in the office with hats and jackets, so they can outside for recess. For a while they kept them in and sent stern notes with checklists for “outdoor recess” then they just gave up :)
    Pick your battles!

  154. 154.

    Kraux Pas

    @oldgold:

    We should have used a special commission similar to the 9 -11 Commission to investigate this.

    Problem is that at the time both houses of Congress were controlled by Republicans. Good luck getting them to seek out the truth on anything. We’re probably lucky they didn’t form a commission to study this because they’d have done a way better job at obscuring the truth.

  155. 155.

    BobS

    @SFAW: Maybe Schiff could reply he’d consider resigning AFTER Barr released the report and AFTER his committee had an opportunity to talk to Mueller AND Barr.

  158. 158.

    Gin & Tonic

    @oldgold: The thing is, the Russians they met with were generally third-tier grifters, Putin’s equivalent of Carter Page.

  159. 159.

    tobie

    @SFAW:Aaron Rupar has all the videos up of Schiff citing evidence of collusion at yesterday’s hearing. I’ve never seen Schiff this angry. Good for him.

    @atrupar
    50m50 minutes ago
    More
    Wow — after all Republican members of the House Intel Committee file a letter asking @RepAdamSchiff to resign over Russiagate, Schiff ticks through the major pieces of evidence indicating collusion and says, “you might think it’s OK… I don’t think that’s OK!”

  160. 160.

    Kraux Pas

    @oldgold:

    This matter needed sunlight, not 22 long months of opacity insured by a grand jury proceeding.

    True. I just don’t think we were going to get that out of a Republican Congress. Even the limited inquiries we got out of Congress at the time were marked by sketchy actions to obscure the truth and help the administration duck accountability.

  161. 161.

    germy

    Barr’s memo is – blatantly and predictably – a bad faith “summary” of the Mueller Report. But a lot of the press is taking it at face value. It’s ridiculous. And I think it’s important to understand why that keeps happening. So here’s a stab at it.

    My short answer is that the mainstream press has a comfort zone, and they were desperate to return to it.

    The fact that a candidate sought out and received illegal help from a rival government, and now occupies the White House, is completely outside their comfort zone.

    (Brief pause for some #NotAllJournalists nuance. Plenty of reporters and pundits have shown a dedication to the truth. We wouldn’t know a lot of what we know if it weren’t for them. This thread is for the Chuck Todds, David Brooks and NYT headline writers of the world.)

    I’m reminded of the 2016 primary and general election. Trump spent a year running on open xenophobia. We got a year of “some critics say his language is racially charged, but will it hurt him in the polls?” His mob ties went conspicuously underexamined.

    Then Melania stole Michelle Obama’s speech, and we got a bulldog press again. They were *dying* to cover a normal scandal, one where they didn’t have to call out a rich white man for being a white supremacist and white collar criminal.

    The mainstream press doesn’t want to call out white supremacy. So Trump got a pass before the election. By and large he still does, relative to his words and actions and their consequences. They *want* to evade that truth.

    The mainstream press doesn’t want to call out the fact rich white men have rigged our democracy from the country’s founding to the present day. That our elections are tainted by GOP voter suppression. So Trump gets a pass. They *want* to forget that truth.

    The press doesn’t want to call out criminal and sociopathic behavior by rich white men, so he gets a pass.

    They don’t want to call out the harm male supremacy does to women, so he gets a pass.

    Everything horrible about him is something the press is designed to look away from.

    https://twitter.com/EdOverbeek/status/1110990360396730368

  162. 162.

    Renie

    If you haven’t seen it yet, check out the video of Rep Adam Schiff’s response to the GOP asking him to resign.

  163. 163.

    Another Scott

    @Gin & Tonic: Agreed that “government” is doing a lot of heavy lifting in Barr’s excerpt. But it’ll be interesting to see what Mueller says about Butina.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  164. 164.

    ThresherK

    I had a sneezing fit outside, before I read BJ this morning. It was as bad as any cold I had this winter (a pretty light winter for respiratory distress for me). So, I feel ya, Anne and assorted jackals.

  165. 165.

    Mike in NC

    My email notes that Fat Bastard is trying to go full-blown Caligula and prosecute anybody in the FBI and elsewhere who ever criticized him for anything. Calling it treason! Whocooodanode?

  168. 168.

    James E Powell

    @Amir Khalid:

    It might have been better if you’d put the key phrase “in a YouTube comment thread” factor at the beginning.

    With respect to the issue of who is the real, true, or actual king of rock n roll, I’m with Stevie, but I enjoy arguing about it.

  169. 169.

    SFAW

    @tobie:

    Aaron Rupar has all the videos up of Schiff citing evidence of collusion at yesterday’s hearing. I’ve never seen Schiff this angry. Good for him.

    I think it would have been good fun for Schiff to respond: “As William Shakespeare might have written: ‘Fuck me? No, FUCK YOU!’ ”

    ETA: And I’d love to see/hear him respond directly to the Lajes Traitor: “Hey, Noonz, you traitor, just remember that with you guys — you especially, and the guy whose ass you’re kissing doubly so — every accusation is a confession. So you’re next on the hit parade, motherfucker. Better lawyer up, asshole.”

    I can’t believe how much I hate all those motherfuckers.

  170. 170.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Amir Khalid: I think Stevie Wonder gets more of a vote than you or I do, certainly.

    Wasn’t Elvis’ whole shtick whitewashing (literally) songs that had been recorded by black artists who couldn’t get air time on white radio?

    Check out, for instance, the original “Hound Dog” song recorded by Big Mama Thornton. Quite a different song.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoHDrzw-RPg

  171. 171.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @BobS:

    she’s got a fucking country to save.

    Really? It’s uniquely Michelle’s job? Have you ever run for office and been under the kind of scrutiny and attack she and her family have endured? And perhaps you’re busting your butt to save this country, but none of us is in a position to dictate to others how they should sacrifice themselves for our well-being and comfort.

    ETA: I’ll also note that there’s a record of some women being wildly popular UNTIL they vie for higher office. Then the daggers come out. See one HRC.

  172. 172.

    TomatoQueen

    Random bits: Luca seems to be doing better today. Chef Jose gets there first, with the most, and always posts the recipe. Tree pollen alert this morning in Alexandria is juniper, alder, elm. Fucking elm and I’m from New Haven, the Elm City. And as for rock and roll, well, you can have your Elvis, and you can have your Chuck, but the one King to Rule Them All is and forever shall be Mr Fats Domino, and they would say the same.

  173. 173.

    SFAW

    @O. Felix Culpa:

    Then the daggers come out. See one HRC.

    Well, in fairness: the daggers were out for Hillary in 1992. And, as far as the FTFTFNYT was concerned, they were never sheathed.
    Also: Traitor Turtle started Benghazi hearings (or helped get them going) with the sole purpose of tearing down Hillary, and that was before she was officially vying for the 2016 nom.

    But I absolutely agree with your point.

  177. 177.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @oldmold:

    I think** it only means that the conspiracy and/ or cooperation with the Russian Government could not be established beyond a reasonable doubt.

    Umm – no. What it in fact means is that

    conspiracy and/ or cooperation with the Russian Government could not be established beyond a reasonable doubt without revealing sources and methods that the Five Eyes intelligence community do not want to reveal

    Keep in mind that Mueller’s tasking was from the start a counterintelligence investigation to establish what if anything had been compromised by Trumpolini’s Dancing With The Red Stars. I remain convinced that Bobby 3Styx & his crew uncovered a fuckton more than he reported, but aren’t about to let anyone – least of all this Putinesca maladministration – in on anything they don’t have a clean source for. When putsch cometh to tschov, the IC is going to preserve the IC first & American democracy (which they tend to favor in theory but deplore in practice) distinctly second.

    —–
    ** Assumes facts not in evidence given your posting history here.

  178. 178.

    J R in WV

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    It was bad. It needs to be kept in the 35-40 degree range or it spoils like fish does, it isn’t canned, just salted a little and packaged. It’s great seafood when properly handled and served. I ordered some once and it came in a styrofoam cooler with several frozen coldpacks. In stores that carry it, they have a special fridge for it, set really cold, like 35 or so.

    You were lucky you didn’t spend the next week with empty-out disease!

  179. 179.

    J R in WV

    @Amir Khalid:

    If Stevie Wonder asserts that the true king of rock’n’roll is not Elvis Presley but Chuck Berry, and I concur, are Stevie and I being racist? And is Stevie, not being the controlling authority on the rightful king of rock, unqualified to name his own king? These interesting claims were put to me a short while ago in a YouTube comment thread.

    Well, I don’t thing Elvis is the king of RnR, but I’m not sure Chuck Berry is either, what about Bo Diddly, who invented at least on of the seminal beats of Rock n Roll? What about John Lee Hooker and Robert Johnson and the old Delta bluesmen ???

    Those guys invented Rock and Roll…

    All that said, Stevie Wonder — he’s got way more right to the opinion than most do. He’s a real gift to the world on music.

  180. 180.

    J R in WV

    @Amir Khalid:

    There are actually commenters on YouTube who will say that such a statement demonises white people. I was not surprised at that, but I am amazed.

    But so many Jim Crow folks were and are demons!! Who else does lynching and torture of kids just for being black? Demons!!!

  181. 181.

    J R in WV

    @Lapassionara:

    Persons representing the Trump campaign had many contacts with Russian people, but not with any officials of the Russian government.

    And we know that no nation ever uses civilian cut-outs to provide plausible deniability in intelligence operations, right? Right !!

    Pretty traditional intelligence tool, and not just for the Russians. If that’s how the charge letter to Mueller was phrased, and how everyone interpreted it, the fix was in from day one!!!

  182. 182.

    Bumper

    @Kay: Way late, but here’s my story. Back in the 90s when I taught 5 th grade I had a student who was behind. I saw this early in the school year and also noticed that they were missing a fair amount of school for it being September/October. I checked the child’s cumulative file and discovered that in the 5 years of prior schooling they had missed over 180 days of school. That’s an entire school year. No wonder the child was behind. Talks with the parent were fruitless “they had a tummy ache and didn’t want to go…I thought I’d keep them with me for a fun day together…”. Stuff like that. Got Principal involved, more meetings, etc. attendance was only slightly better by the end of that year. But so frustrating as the teacher that this wasn’t taken as seriously by parent or principal as it should have been. Each year this continues makes the tummy aches worse for the child because they just get further behind and more fearful of going to school.

  183. 183.

    Panurge

    @Kay: It’s not about “twenty years”. It’s about Republicans in charge. Would the Starr report have been issued so quickly if Clinton had been a Republican?

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