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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Dance Like Everybody Is Watching… in AWE!

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Dance Like Everybody Is Watching… in AWE!

by Anne Laurie|  May 1, 20194:23 am| 186 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, Russiagate, All we want is life beyond the thunderdome, Daydream Believers

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Describe this kid in one word. pic.twitter.com/FPHLAizymo

— jamie (@gnuman1979) April 30, 2019


(For the Hamilstans: Yes, in the replies, ‘Lin-Manuel Miranda’ is a strong choice)
 

As someone who grew up in "the Heartland"–which I define in its dogwhistle electoral context as white people in conservative areas–let me assure you that Trump will *always* one-up you in pandering to ignorance. You will win only by rallying a coalition of reasonable adults.

— Charlotte Clymer?????? (@cmclymer) May 1, 2019

Democrats lose elections when we apologize and scrape and bow for saying and doing the right thing. We need to be saying and doing things with pride. We need to give folks confidence that the truth doesn't need apologists, it needs advocates. Stop pandering to hateful ignorance.

— Charlotte Clymer?????? (@cmclymer) May 1, 2019

Why would Bill Barr flush his reputation & credibility down the toilet? I don't care.

What we should care about is that he is still in charge of @TheJusticeDept. Bill Barr should resign and then apply to be the next White House press secretary, where he can lie all he wants. https://t.co/iUQvm4Cymz

— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) May 1, 2019


Wait… Bill Barr, professional Clenisgate leaker and Baylor rape promoter, had any ‘credibility’ left to flush?

If you were a suspicious person, you might suspect that Mueller’s letter outing Barr as a corrupt fraud broke tonight so as to force Barr into the impossible position of having to show up and tell the truth tomorrow or get subpoenaed or impeached.

https://t.co/Rpku01izwh

— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) May 1, 2019

Now Barr gets to walk the plank or spend the next couple weeks facing a growing fervor calling for his impeachment and possible prosecution for lying to Congress in his prior testimony.

Barr put himself in a bad position.

Mueller just cranked the flames up to ‘high’.

— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) May 1, 2019

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Previous Post: « Has No One Ever Heard of a Disinformation Campaign Fer Fuck’s Sake
Next Post: On the Road and In Your Backyard »

Reader Interactions

186Comments

  1. 1.

    Patricia Kayden

    May 1, 2019 at 4:48 am

    That’s how I’ll dance when Trump is out of office. Not even joking. Pure exuberance.

  2. 2.

    sukabi

    May 1, 2019 at 4:53 am

    The kid? Awesome, of course.

    Ted Lieu, also Awesome.

    Mueller, still playing his hand pretty well as he drags Barr through his own shitty bed.

  3. 3.

    JPL

    May 1, 2019 at 4:53 am

    @Patricia Kayden: If only.
    Today’s hearing should be interesting, but I assume that Barr will just double down.

  4. 4.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 1, 2019 at 4:54 am

    Rain rain go a… aah fuck it. Blech. Everything that carries water is gonna be jumping their banks today.

  5. 5.

    guachi

    May 1, 2019 at 5:03 am

    I give that dance the single word:

    Impeached

  6. 6.

    JPL

    May 1, 2019 at 5:07 am

    Trump could kill someone on 5th Avenue and the republicans would not remove him from office. Impeachment is the easy part.

  7. 7.

    Jay

    May 1, 2019 at 5:12 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Jumping banks is normal, building housing on floodplains, not normal.

  8. 8.

    Aleta

    May 1, 2019 at 5:13 am

    Chris Van Hollen @ChrisVanHollen
    On April 20th, I asked Barr, “Did Bob Mueller support your conclusion?” His answer was, “I don’t know whether Mueller supported my conclusion.”

    We now know Mueller stated his concerns on March 27th, and that Barr totally misled me, the Congress, and the public. He must resign.

    Doubt he will. But at least his stomach will be telling the truth this morning.

  9. 9.

    JPL

    May 1, 2019 at 5:16 am

    @Aleta: I wonder if trump’s aides took his phone yesterday evening. He hasn’t offered his opinion by tweet yet. no collusion, no obstruction

  10. 10.

    Robert Sneddon

    May 1, 2019 at 5:20 am

    @Jay: Floodplain land is cheap to build on, same with hillside land prone to mudslides, coastal land that is a hurricane magnet etc.

    Floodplains — they built a small housing estate outside my home town a couple of decades ago. I had seen that low-lying area flooded deep enough to have a drowned cow floating in it once. Honesty in advertising — they named the development “The Water Meadows”.

  11. 11.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 1, 2019 at 5:22 am

    @Jay: In the past 6 years we’ve had 3 “500 year flood” events. That’s not normal. Fortunately, this won’t be one of those, just another “pain in the ass having to drive out of my way because my usual roads are under water” event again.

    As far as building in flood plains, humans have been doing that since they first started building. By definition, that makes it normal. It is also proof that you can’t fix stupid.

  12. 12.

    Jay

    May 1, 2019 at 5:27 am

    @Robert Sneddon:
    @OzarkHillbilly:

    When I was a kid, I paddled a wood and canvas canoe through the Legislature Building in Fredricton,

    The Micmaq Reservation never flooded.

    The Indiginous Peoples were smart enough to realize that while there were benifits to utilizing floodplains, they were seasonal.

  13. 13.

    Baud

    May 1, 2019 at 5:31 am

    Baud!/Riverdance Kid! 2020!

  14. 14.

    Elizabelle

    May 1, 2019 at 5:31 am

    That Ted Lieu tweet is amazing. Outright calling the Attorney General a liar.

    It’s accurate. And amazing.

  15. 15.

    rikyrah

    May 1, 2019 at 5:36 am

    Good Morning, Everyone ???

  16. 16.

    rikyrah

    May 1, 2019 at 5:37 am

    Yes Lieu????
    Always on point

  17. 17.

    Baud

    May 1, 2019 at 5:38 am

    @rikyrah: Good morning.

  18. 18.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    May 1, 2019 at 5:38 am

    @Baud: Riverdance Kid, is that Biden’s new nickname?

  19. 19.

    rikyrah

    May 1, 2019 at 5:39 am

    @Patricia Kayden:
    Who you telling ??

  20. 20.

    raven

    May 1, 2019 at 5:40 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: They Tryin to Wash US Away.

  21. 21.

    JPL

    May 1, 2019 at 5:41 am

    @Elizabelle: He actually called Sarah a liar also.

  22. 22.

    Jay

    May 1, 2019 at 5:42 am

    @rikyrah:

    Good morning, late night here.

  23. 23.

    Jay

    May 1, 2019 at 5:45 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Hummmn,

    3 500 year floods in a decade,

    Funny that.

    Flat Earth says that’s unpossible, the water should just fall off the edge,……..

  24. 24.

    JoyceH

    May 1, 2019 at 5:46 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    As far as building in flood plains, humans have been doing that since they first started building. By definition, that makes it normal.

    In fact, if the HGTV Lakefront Bargain Hunters are any indication, they will pay EXTRA for it. “We want to be right on the water!” Ooookay…

  25. 25.

    Aleta

    May 1, 2019 at 5:46 am

    @JPL: I heard he started talking again about a coup trying to overthrow him.

  26. 26.

    Raven

    May 1, 2019 at 5:50 am

    @JoyceH: We’ll probably make a run over to Mexico Beach next week. Everyone knew that the people who go blown away won’t be able to rebuild to hurricane standards so, high rises, here they come!

  27. 27.

    Jay

    May 1, 2019 at 5:54 am

    @JoyceH:

    It varies. Some lakes, because of outlet geology, don’t “flood”, they just have seasonal levels.

    Kamloops Lake hasn’t flooded because back in 12,680 BC, the collapse of the glaciers carved a significant outlet channel.

    As a result, the high/low is +12 feet, even when Kamloops ( uptream) floods because of inflow.

  28. 28.

    Jay

    May 1, 2019 at 6:00 am

    @Aleta:

    Twitler feed says Nascar and Venezuela/Cuba bs.

  29. 29.

    Jay

    May 1, 2019 at 6:02 am

    @Jay:

    So, flat earth, so another world on the underside??????

  30. 30.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 1, 2019 at 6:05 am

    @raven: My youngest had to wade thru 3 feet of water to get to his 1st floor apartment during that flood, somehow or other the apartment never went under.

    @Jay: I put that in scare quotes because it is at best a flawed metric. Still, been living around and about here for 60 years and in all that time I-44 had never gone under water in Valley Park from the Meramec River flooding. It did so twice in 3 years. During the last one we were so cut off from STL my wife’s 1 hour commute had turned into at best a 6 hour commute. If that would have even worked.

    @JoyceH: Back in ’93 the Monarch Levee broke and Gumbo Flats went under (irrc) about 12 feet of water. Hundreds of millions of $ were lost. Afterwards the city of Chesterfield put up a billboard where HWY 40 drops into it that said,

    “Chesterfield of Dreams
    Rebuild It and They Will Come”

    and my only thought.was, “Like lambs to the slaughter.”

    And they did. If it ever floods again? The loss will be in the billions of $.

  31. 31.

    JPL

    May 1, 2019 at 6:06 am

    @Jay: So Russia told Maduro to stay, so trump decided to punish Cuba. How does that exactly work?

  32. 32.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 1, 2019 at 6:08 am

    @Jay: Enquiring minds want to know.

  33. 33.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 1, 2019 at 6:09 am

    @JPL: The people in Cuba are of color, the Russians aren’t. See how that works?

  34. 34.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    May 1, 2019 at 6:17 am

    8 years ago today

    Sohaib Athar
    ‏ @ReallyVirtual

    A huge window shaking bang here in Abbottabad I hope its not the start of something nasty :-S

    4:09 PM – 1 May 2011

    3 replies 1,774 retweets 1,132 likes

    The Associated Press
    ‏Verified account @AP

    White House says Obama to make late-night statement Sunday on an undisclosed topic

    10:14 PM – 1 May 2011

    0 replies 172 retweets 12 likes

    Major development concerning Osama bin Laden
    by Doug!

    at 10:44 pm on May 1, 2011.

    Obama’s going to make an announcement about Osama bin Laden.

    I’m watching MSNBC and all I can say is, David Gregory is a very dumb sounding person. I may have to turn this off. Tell me what happened in the comments.

    Reuters Top News
    ‏Verified account @Reuters

    FLASH: U.S. networks report Osama bin Laden is dead

    10:43 PM – 1 May 2011

    CNN Breaking News
    ‏Verified account @cnnbrk

    U.S. counterterrorism adviser: Obama made “one of the … gutsiest calls of any president in recent memory.”

    2:26 PM – 2 May 2011

    0 replies 445 retweets 72 likes

    (photo)

  35. 35.

    Jay

    May 1, 2019 at 6:18 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Here, flood insurance isn’t backed by federal or provincial support. It’s commercial . There is “disaster relief”.

    A friend bought 40 acres on the Chilliwack River, ( fishing) for a fraction of the “value”, saved enough money to relocate the road and house site on a 20’ high gravel and granite “boat”.

  36. 36.

    JPL

    May 1, 2019 at 6:18 am

    Yesterday someone on the news described the latest school shooter as mentally ill. That told me that he was a white male. The UNC Charlotte shooting where two died and four were injured isn’t even on the news. It’s becoming normal.

  37. 37.

    Jay

    May 1, 2019 at 6:21 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Flat Earth question I wanna ask the next flat earther,

    If flat earth exists, who lives on the “underside”?

  38. 38.

    Jay

    May 1, 2019 at 6:22 am

    @JPL:

    ????????????

    Bugfutnuts run the USA?

  39. 39.

    JPL

    May 1, 2019 at 6:23 am

    The president is just retweeting folks praising him as the greatest ever.

  40. 40.

    Jay

    May 1, 2019 at 6:25 am

    @JPL:

    BTW, known US Ixtian liars said Russia told Maduro to “stay”,

    Calling bullshit.

  41. 41.

    Jay

    May 1, 2019 at 6:27 am

    @JPL:

    Yup.

  42. 42.

    JPL

    May 1, 2019 at 6:28 am

    @Jay: So you think trump jumped the shark and just trying to save face.. hmmm That seems plausible. I found it ironic that Bolton and Pompeo were preaching about democracy and freedom for Venezuela.

  43. 43.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 1, 2019 at 6:31 am

    @Jay: Around here river front property is prime, not as a building site but as camping and private access to the water sites. A few will build “cabins” (if you can even call them that) but most, if they build anything at all, just build a pavilion with a picnic table chained to a leg. Out here flood losses are of the agricultural kind. For housing that goes under one needs to get closer to STL where the “development of prime real estate” is happening.

  44. 44.

    p.a.

    May 1, 2019 at 6:34 am

    @Jay:

    So, flat earth, so another world on the underside?????

    Sadly, that’s where Hillary won.

  45. 45.

    Baud

    May 1, 2019 at 6:37 am

    Can you imagine the outcry if Obama or Hillary didn’t this? (NYT, but not politics)

    The American military command in Afghanistan has halted regular assessments of how many people and districts the government and insurgents there control, it emerged on Wednesday — eliminating what has long been an important public measure of progress in the war.

  46. 46.

    Jay

    May 1, 2019 at 6:38 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Here, only the rich have “cabins”, mostly 5400 sq ft Chalets in Whistler or SunPeaks.

  47. 47.

    Jay

    May 1, 2019 at 6:39 am

    @Baud:

    IOKAR and MIC

  48. 48.

    Jay

    May 1, 2019 at 6:51 am

    @JPL:

    Gotta rerun The Greatest Hits ,

    Butt clench when you hear “parade, flowers”

  49. 49.

    Soprano2

    May 1, 2019 at 6:52 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: We had what I call “weather p0rn” on the TV until 10:30 last night. They’ve all got to show off what their fancy systems can do, and are afraid to cut away because they might miss something. They keep repeating the same stuff over and over. I understand public safety, but on nights like last night they go overboard, IMHO. Buckle up, because it’s supposed to rain all week.

  50. 50.

    Immanentize

    May 1, 2019 at 6:55 am

    @Jay:
    You haven’t watched Stranger Things?

  51. 51.

    plato

    May 1, 2019 at 6:55 am

    Forget that lying pos fixer barr, who will simply stonewall. When is mueller going to testify before congress? He could let out all his ‘frustrations’, as it were.

  52. 52.

    Immanentize

    May 1, 2019 at 6:56 am

    Good morning All,
    Finally got my number called in the long wait line and got my shingrix shot yesterday. Arms a bit sore, but no other side effects.

  53. 53.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 1, 2019 at 6:58 am

    @Jay: Yep, I got some first hand experience with the type on the Lake of the Woods (the Ontario half of it) back in ’76. Private island, with cabin, generator shed, outbuildings, etc etc. but he did pay me.

  54. 54.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 1, 2019 at 7:03 am

    @Soprano2: They do go overboard, don’t they? The part that cracks me up is they are all working off the same NWS satellites, but they feel the need to add their own special flavorings to any forecast to make themselves stand out. I just avoid the spin and go to the National Weather Service website.

  55. 55.

    Immanentize

    May 1, 2019 at 7:03 am

    I had earlier wondered if a nice warm up impeachment of Barr wouldn’t be just the thing for our country. Trump has die hard supporters (die hard with a vengence), but polls say the public didn’t buy Barr’s BS and he only has secondary support. Impeaching him would be a way to let Trump supporters support Trump but also release some of the pressure of being so wrong by supporting Barr’s removal.

  56. 56.

    debbie

    May 1, 2019 at 7:04 am

    That kid is the Good Judy! He’s playing to the back seats of the theater!

  57. 57.

    Raven

    May 1, 2019 at 7:09 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Wait,what about the EUROPEAN model?????

  58. 58.

    Jay

    May 1, 2019 at 7:10 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Ontario and Quebec, ( and chunks of the Maritimes) are somewhat different.

    As you go west, it became much harder to acquire recreational property, and at much greater distances.
    ,

  59. 59.

    debbie

    May 1, 2019 at 7:11 am

    @Immanentize:

    Brave soul! I had a bad reaction to the pneumonia vaccine and probably won’t go for shingrix if only because I’m tired of feeling like crap. (Yeah, I know how bad shingles is.)

  60. 60.

    Jay

    May 1, 2019 at 7:13 am

    @Immanentize:

    Yup.

  61. 61.

    Baud

    May 1, 2019 at 7:14 am

    @Immanentize: Not a bad idea.

  62. 62.

    Elizabelle

    May 1, 2019 at 7:15 am

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:

    Here’s the link for May 1, 2011, the night we learned BHO got OBL. Doug J: Major Development Concerning Osama Bin Laden

    And here, disturbingly, is an earlier Doug J thread from that very day, and how blissful not to know the future at that juncture: Just put your lips together and blow

    Great title. Re dog whistles. Which are now klaxons.

    I felt sick to my stomach when the White House released Obama’s birth certificate. I was afraid this was the moment where it all came tumbling down, when the United States showed that it couldn’t handle having a black person as president, that this presidency would soon be politically delegitimatized somehow.

    Three days later I realize that I was completely wrong, that Obama clearly believes that birtherism is an albatross for Republicans. Some wingers are even complaining about how deftly Obama is using birtherism against Republicans

    This is the first time in my political lifetime that race-baiting has blown up in Republicans’ face. This is not that much of an explosion, but this does make them look bad and another six months of Trump probably does hurt the Republicans’ 2012 chances. Birtherism has reversed the pattern of higher and higher-pitched dog whistles. …

    Le sigh. And le sob.

  63. 63.

    Elizabelle

    May 1, 2019 at 7:16 am

    What time is Barr’s fan dance today? We still think he will show up?

  64. 64.

    JPL

    May 1, 2019 at 7:16 am

    https://www.thedailybeast.com/robert-muellers-willing-to-testify-but-trump-department-of-justice-is-holding-it-up-dems?source=twitter&via=desktop

    House Democrats tell The Daily Beast they’ve been told Special Counsel Robert Mueller is willing to testify before them about his report on Russian interference in the 2016 election, but the Department of Justice has been unwilling to set a date for it to happen.

  65. 65.

    debbie

    May 1, 2019 at 7:19 am

    @Jay:

    Seconded, if only because it would put the fear in Trump that the possibility is very real.

  66. 66.

    Immanentize

    May 1, 2019 at 7:22 am

    @debbie: I had shingles — when I was only 40! –any discomfort to avoid that again.

  67. 67.

    Immanentize

    May 1, 2019 at 7:23 am

    @Jay: @Baud: it would also give the “Impeach Trump Now!” People something else to talk about while the House works on it.

  68. 68.

    Elizabelle

    May 1, 2019 at 7:24 am

    @Immanentize: I’m good with impeaching Barr as a warmup act.

  69. 69.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 1, 2019 at 7:25 am

    @Raven: I have studiously ignored this, along with all the other latest fads.

  70. 70.

    Kay

    May 1, 2019 at 7:27 am

    Firing Line with Margaret Hoover
    ‏Verified account
    @FiringLineShow
    Follow Follow @FiringLineShow
    More
    [email protected] explains his 2016 joke about Donald Trump moving into the White House and kicking “a black family out of public housing.” Moore says, “That is a joke I always made,” adding he didn’t mean it “like a black person” lived there. “I shouldn’t have said it,” he says.

    This part is getting all the attention but the rest of that portion of the interview is worse. He goes on to say that when he was working on private school vouchers in DC, with “women and families, black people” they would ask him “why do the Obamas get to pick a school and I don’t? He lives in public housing”.

    These conversations between Moore and black people supposedly took place. These “women and families” confided in Mr. Moore. Like when all the FBI agents called Sarah Sanders and told her they wanted Comey fired. This is why they’re especially bad people. They don’t just lie. That’s not enough. They lie about what other people said to defend and justify what they did. Trump does this too. You can tell when he’s feeling cornered because he starts bringing in other people and claiming they agree- “people” tell him they agree with him.

  71. 71.

    debbie

    May 1, 2019 at 7:27 am

    @Immanentize:

    Understood.

  72. 72.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 1, 2019 at 7:29 am

    @Immanentize: I’m not sure that is a distinction with a difference for them. trump will say his admin is under attack unlike any other in the HISTORY OF MANKIND and his MAGATs will storm the ramparts with great fervor.

  73. 73.

    Princess

    May 1, 2019 at 7:31 am

    Cal or Fax your reps and ask them to support the calls by Ted Lieu and others that Barr resign or be impeached. They need our voices behind them to do the right thing.

  74. 74.

    trnc

    May 1, 2019 at 7:31 am

    When Barr pressed Mueller on whether he thought Barr’s memo to Congress was inaccurate, Mueller said he did not but felt that the media coverage of it was misinterpreting the investigation, officials said.

    Can anyone square this circle for me? I understand the media part, of course.

  75. 75.

    Elizabelle

    May 1, 2019 at 7:32 am

    NY Times: Breaking news

    A British court sentenced Julian Assange to 50 weeks in jail for jumping bail. But his legal troubles are far from over.
    Wednesday, May 1, 2019 7:12 AM EST

    The United States is seeking Mr. Assange’s extradition for prosecution there, and officials in Sweden have left open the possibility that he could face criminal charges in that country as well.

    50 weeks is a lot of time for US prosecutors to get their ducks in a row.

  76. 76.

    JPL

    May 1, 2019 at 7:33 am

    @trnc: Barr cherry picked what to include so in that sense it was accurate. It was an error of omission.

    Also we really need to hear from Mueller, because if that was released through Barr’s office, it was a lie.

  77. 77.

    Elizabelle

    May 1, 2019 at 7:34 am

    @trnc: My guess is that Mueller went lightly on his (former) friend and dodged the response. Also, the only source for that conversation is Barr, isn’t it? Or anyone else in the room when he took the call.

    ETA: Very honestly, why should we take anything from Barr or the DOJ at face value? Who knows if that statement was ever made?

    Mueller’s letter spoke for itself. (As did his report, if read honestly.)

  78. 78.

    Sab

    May 1, 2019 at 7:34 am

    @Jay: Nobody lives on the underside of the flat earth. If they tried they would fall off!

  79. 79.

    Baud

    May 1, 2019 at 7:37 am

    @Jay:
    @Sab:

    Maybe we’re the ones on the underside!!!

  80. 80.

    debbie

    May 1, 2019 at 7:38 am

    @Immanentize:

    It ought to be a snap, what with the deliberate obfuscation of the Mueller Report. Mueller should be Witness #1.

  81. 81.

    Kay

    May 1, 2019 at 7:39 am

    @trnc:

    I agree that it’s fuzzy, but I think Barr’s memo can be technically accurate but still misinterpret the investigation and therefore mislead the public. Even Barr wouldn’t blatantly lie about Mueller’s actual written words. He omitted and shaded and spun. Then the NYTimes, once again, led the coverage and overstated the level of exoneration based solely on Barr’s memo.

  82. 82.

    Puddinhead

    May 1, 2019 at 7:42 am

    @trnc: Barr is a skilled attorney. He put out a statement that was technically accurate but highly misleading. The media ran with it as intended prior to the report’s release.

  83. 83.

    Baud

    May 1, 2019 at 7:42 am

    @Kay:

    but I think Barr’s memo can be technically accurate but still misinterpret the investigation and therefore mislead the public. 

    It’s the essence of good lawyering.

  84. 84.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 1, 2019 at 7:44 am

    @Immanentize: Legal question for you:

    Prosecutors Oppose Showing Stone Redacted Details On His Case In Mueller Report

    What do you think the chances are that the prosecutors prevail here? It just sounds sketchy as hell to a guy who has read report after report of prosecutors withholding exculpatory evidence from the counsels of men who were found guilty but years later found to be factually innocent.

  85. 85.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 1, 2019 at 7:45 am

    @Baud: Holy shit Baudman! I think you’re on to something!

  86. 86.

    Kay

    May 1, 2019 at 7:45 am

    @Immanentize:

    I don’t think they have enough to impeach Barr. It was sleazy and he’s a liar and a hack but he’s sophisticated and practiced enough to shade it and keep it right outside “actionable”, IMO. I’m confident he’ll intervene and obstruct again, because he’s a bad person, so maybe they can add it up into a kind of “pattern and practice” when this behavior continues, which it will.

  87. 87.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    May 1, 2019 at 7:46 am

    @JPL: Ted Lieu is awesome. I wonder if he feels freer to speak because he’s not eligible to run for president. He’s already a senator in a secure seat. He might as well do what he wants.

  88. 88.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 1, 2019 at 7:49 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: He’s not a Senator, US Rep for CA 33rd.

  89. 89.

    Kay

    May 1, 2019 at 7:52 am

    @Baud:

    It is, to a disturbing extent. I would quibble with “good” though. In my experience if that’s your practice you lose all credibility so it backfires. If you plan to move every two years it’s a good plan :)

  90. 90.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    May 1, 2019 at 7:54 am

    @Immanentize: That’s encouraging. I need to do that.

  91. 91.

    Immanentize

    May 1, 2019 at 7:58 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    of prosecutors withholding exculpatory evidence from the counsels of men who were found guilty

    That is the key! Is any of what is in the Mueller report exculpatory to Stone? A defendant doesn’t get it because it exists, they only get it if it somehow helps their defense.

    So, what should happen is that the Judge should order the DOJ to turn over the unredacted parts of the report that referrence Stone and decide for herself whether it is exculpatory. It’s called an in camera hearing because no one but the judge sees the sections disputed (of course, the DOJ prosecute has already seen it.)

  92. 92.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    May 1, 2019 at 8:00 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Oops. I guess I’ve been reading too much speculation about Diane Feinstein’s eventual replacement.

  93. 93.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 1, 2019 at 8:00 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Be careful, A friend of a friend’s SIL’s cousin had a step child who almost died from it. Honest!

  94. 94.

    Jeffro

    May 1, 2019 at 8:02 am

    @sukabi:

    Mueller, still playing his hand pretty well as he drags Barr through his own shitty bed.

    I have no doubt that at some point, Mueller told Barr, “Bill…I’m telling you…don’t do this. Not for this guy.”

    Barr chose…poorly

  95. 95.

    Cheryl Rofer

    May 1, 2019 at 8:04 am

    The Tweeter-in-Chief this morning retweeted over 60 tweets rejecting the Firefighters’ Union’s endorsement of Joe Biden.

  96. 96.

    Mike in DC

    May 1, 2019 at 8:04 am

    I want to see Elijah Cummings have some WH staffers arrested and ordered jailed for a couple weeks for contempt of Congress.

  97. 97.

    Jeffro

    May 1, 2019 at 8:05 am

    @JPL:

    The president* is just retweeting folks praising him as the greatest ever.

    Sorry, but the * just had to be added in there…

    Anyway, yes, trumpov is in a blind panic over this firefighter’s union endorsement of Uncle Joe. He’s been retweeting random folks (firefighters? bots? who can say?) who supposedly disagree with their union. The rubes will take this as “data” that the union REALLY endorses trumpov, of course, but really, who cares? This clown is so, so done at this point.

  98. 98.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    May 1, 2019 at 8:05 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: If the kid had been immunized for chicken pox, it wouldn’t have been a problem!

    At least, I assume that’s true. If you don’t get chicken pox, you don’t get shingles? Or not?

  99. 99.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 1, 2019 at 8:08 am

    @Immanentize:

    Is any of what is in the Mueller report exculpatory to Stone?

    Well that is the question, isn’t it? In all those other cases prosecutors decided it wasn’t, especially if the defense never saw it, right? ;-)

    But OK, thanx, at the next hearing on Friday both sides will file briefings and make their arguments. From the very short on details article:

    U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said she would not rule on the issue until the briefings had been filed, but wanted to discuss it at the Tuesday hearing since Stone had made his original request for Mueller’s report before it was publicly released.

    “We are in a situation where 500 pages of analysis” were “largely” made public, Berman Jackson said.

    “Is there a different standard that applies once that door is open?” she asked Kravis.

    Kravis said there is not, while detailing the extent of discovery the prosecutors had already produced for Stone.

    He said prosecutors had provided for the defense all of the testimonies of the witnesses who spoke to the grand jury about Stone’s case, with the exception the testimony of the FBI case agent on the Stone investigation.

    He also told the judge that if she requested it, prosecutors would provide for her the relevant redacted portions of the Mueller report for her to review privately.

  100. 100.

    Cheryl Rofer

    May 1, 2019 at 8:10 am

    @Jeffro: Looks like blind panic to me. Some folks have said that Uncle Joe really scares Trump, and this seems like confirmation of that.

  101. 101.

    JPL

    May 1, 2019 at 8:13 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: He could certainly run for Senate when Kamala is promoted to higher office.

  102. 102.

    Immanentize

    May 1, 2019 at 8:13 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: HA! I think I know that kid.

  103. 103.

    satby

    May 1, 2019 at 8:14 am

    Man, miss a day on the ‘net and it’s impossible to catch up.

    Edit: Happy May Day everyone!

  104. 104.

    MomSense

    May 1, 2019 at 8:14 am

    I saw an amazing concert last night so I missed all the news yesterday evening. When I got home and saw that all the things had happened in those five hours, I started to catch up and then decided to let it wait another day. I’m just tired of the orange blob and all his cronies ruining everything.

  105. 105.

    2liberal

    May 1, 2019 at 8:16 am

    dancing kid in one word: overcaffeinated

  106. 106.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 1, 2019 at 8:17 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I’m not sure how that works. I had chicken pox and so am immune to it but I can still get shingles, which doesn’t quite agree with my HS biology (which TBH, biology is not one of the sciences I faithfully read up on)

    As an aside, when my ex was pregnant with my youngest she was exposed to chicken pox and came down with it. It was about the 4 1/2 month mark and the Docs pretty well freaked out about it. At any rate he was a healthy baby boy when born tho they still put them in isolation. Blood tests showed he had chicken pox antibodies, but 6 months later they were gone, and eventually he caught the bug from a classmate.

  107. 107.

    SiubhanDuinne

    May 1, 2019 at 8:19 am

    @JPL:

    Starting at 4:56 am, he sent out 66 tweets in a period of slightly over two hours. Granted, nearly all were retweets, but still.

    Sixty-six. That must be some kind of record, even for him.

  108. 108.

    trnc

    May 1, 2019 at 8:20 am

    @JPL:

    Also we really need to hear from Mueller, because if that was released through Barr’s office, it was a lie.

    Good point. It looks like the DOJ made a statement about it, so Barr’s or his lackeys’ portrayal of the letter could be just as misleading as his portrayal of the Mueller Report. I suspect this statement was only released because Mueller is sure to say something about it in front of congress, so Barr is just trying to get his spin out front again.

  109. 109.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 1, 2019 at 8:20 am

    @Immanentize: We could be related!

  110. 110.

    MomSense

    May 1, 2019 at 8:23 am

    @MomSense:

    Here’s a brief interview with the violinist Benjamin Beilman with a bit of playing. His performance was other worldly. Then he played Fritz Kreisler for an encore.

    Beilman

  111. 111.

    raven

    May 1, 2019 at 8:25 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I got shingles on my forehead and in my left eye. I was in the last stage of my dissertation and the doc said it was street related and I need to relax! I’ve gotten the shots and they are worth it!

  112. 112.

    Baud

    May 1, 2019 at 8:27 am

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    With getting into what’s going through Trump’s mind, does the fact that the firefighters endorsed Biden in the primary mean they won’t endorse Trump in the general election?

    Does anyone know who they endorsed in 2016?

  113. 113.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 1, 2019 at 8:28 am

    @raven: I really need to get them. Shingles is not something I want to endure.

  114. 114.

    Kay

    May 1, 2019 at 8:30 am

    @Baud:

    They didn’t endorse in 2016 and a lot of them voted for Trump. We got firefighters on board here in 2010-11 to oppose Kasich’s union busting law, and after they were safe they all reverted immediately back to wingnuts.

    I’m just not clear that this is a group of people Democrats should spend a lot of time courting. There needs to be a bang for buck analysis at some point.

  115. 115.

    Bill Arnold

    May 1, 2019 at 8:33 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    The part that cracks me up is they are all working off the same NWS satellites, but they feel the need to add their own special flavorings to any forecast to make themselves stand out.

    Better Weather Pr0n than Fox News. This should be encouraged.

  116. 116.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    May 1, 2019 at 8:33 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I looked at Wikipedia and found this:

    Shingles is due to a reactivation of varicella zoster virus (VZV) within a person’s body. The disease chickenpox is caused by the initial infection with VZV. Once chickenpox has resolved, the virus may remain inactive in nerve cells. When it reactivates, it travels from the nerve body to the endings in the skin, producing blisters. Risk factors for reactivation include old age, poor immune function, and having had chickenpox before 18 months of age. How the virus remains in the body or subsequently re-activates is not well understood.

  117. 117.

    MomSense

    May 1, 2019 at 8:34 am

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    Well he did pretend to drive a fire truck parked outside the White House that one time. He even went vroom vroom vroom, twisted the wheel back and forth, and got up in it all by himself! In his mind the firefighters loved him and made his day a special one.

  118. 118.

    Cheryl Rofer

    May 1, 2019 at 8:36 am

    @Baud: I think Trump’s thoughts are a lot less organized than you seem to be assuming. If I put myself (a Twitter Power User!) in the mindset that leads to retweeting sixty tweets from people I don’t know and have no idea of, the only one I can come up with is blind panic. I just can’t imagine doing that, even if it were, say, sixty senators promising to indict Trump.

    If we put things together, Biden and the firefighters’ union (REAL MEN as a bonus!), Barr’s problems, the emolument decision going badly for him, the Venezuelans not obeying John Bolton, blind panic seems a likely response.

    Oh, and one of the accounts that got retweeted changed its nym to “Fuck Trump” after it was retweeted.

  119. 119.

    raven

    May 1, 2019 at 8:36 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I’m here to testify, it was like an ice cream headache for weeks.

  120. 120.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 1, 2019 at 8:36 am

    And speaking of Ted Lieu, one of his star turning moments:

    A handful of jaw-dropping, if not confusing, moments emerged from the appearance of Candace Owens before Tuesday’s House Judiciary Committee hearing on white nationalism and hate crimes. There was Owens’s claim that the hearing itself was a “fear-mongering” sham constructed by the Democrats in order to “scare” minorities. Later, the firebrand media figure and conservative activist, who had been invited to speak before the committee by its Republican members, also asserted that the GOP’s Southern strategy was “a myth.”

    But the moment that sparked the most fireworks belonged to Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.). At the very least, it appeared to draw outright fury from Owens.

    “In congressional hearings, the minority party gets to select its own witnesses,” Lieu started at the top of his remarks. “Of all the people the Republicans could have selected, they picked Candace Owens.”

    “I don’t know Ms. Owens. I’m not going to characterize her,” he continued. “I’m going to let her own words do the talking.” He then pulled out his phone to play a clip of Owens that had gone viral in February and was widely seen as a shocking defense of Adolf Hitler and his nationalist program.
    …………………………
    Owens is seen fuming as the audio is played.

  121. 121.

    Kay

    May 1, 2019 at 8:37 am

    Barr prepared remarks for tomorrow’s SJC hearing are out. Near end, he concludes: “From here on, the exercise of responding & reacting to the report is a matter for the American people & the political process.”

    ” I demand I get my unearned credibility back!” The attorney general of the United States is a lot like Sarah Sanders. No one should believe a word he says.

  122. 122.

    raven

    May 1, 2019 at 8:38 am

    Um, it is International Workers’ Day.

  123. 123.

    O. Felix Culpa

    May 1, 2019 at 8:39 am

    @Immanentize:

    no other side effects.

    Lucky you. I was down with flu-like symptoms for a day after both shots. But it’s better than getting shingles, so worth the temporary inconvenience.

  124. 124.

    Baud

    May 1, 2019 at 8:39 am

    @Kay:

    I don’t believe our victory will be legitimate unless we win over the right people, Kay.

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    I was doing the opposite. Asking a factual question notwithstanding what Trump was thinking.

  125. 125.

    MomSense

    May 1, 2019 at 8:40 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    My middle son was terribly sick with it. He had just finished taking steroids for a particularly bad respiratory problem when he got chicken pox. He was significantly weakened from the steroids. It was night after night of high fevers and constant work on my part to keep him cool. He was delirious. You bet I got the vaccination for my youngest kid as soon as that was an option.

  126. 126.

    Baud

    May 1, 2019 at 8:40 am

    @raven:

    Doesn’t help domestic workers much.

  127. 127.

    Cheryl Rofer

    May 1, 2019 at 8:41 am

    @Baud: Ah, okay.

  128. 128.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 1, 2019 at 8:41 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Thanx, unlike trump, i don’t know everything.

  129. 129.

    Immanentize

    May 1, 2019 at 8:42 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: @OzarkHillbilly: The chicken pox virus is the same as what causes shingles. If you never had chicken pox, you shouldn’t get shingles. But you might have contracted the virus and not known about it. Once you have chicken pox, the virus lies dormant in your spine and, as raven says, stress or compromised immune response — or both — opens the jail doors and the re-invigorated virus takes a little walk about. I was lucky — it just traveled across my right side at ribs level. Raven’s type is the worst as it can infect the eyes and cause blindness. But forget all that! It hurts like a MOFO! I had a relatively mild version and it felt like a mule had kicked me in the ribs. Twice. Shingles is a virus of the nerves. so it plays them like a sweet cello of pain.

    There was an earlier vaccine — a live culture one — but it was only partially efficacious. The new one is dead virus culture, so there really is no risk of contracting chicken pox or shingles if you had neither before. The Docs are very positive about Shingrix — and it is free (no co-pay) at your local pharmacy. The worst symptoms ought to just be classic vaccination reactions — your immune system goes into hyperdrive so you may feel like you have a cold or flu (achy, maybe a bit of a fever) for two days at the most.

    ETA — I see a more formal and perhaps accurate explanation (leaving out the “it really hurts” part) was offered above.

  130. 130.

    MomSense

    May 1, 2019 at 8:42 am

    @Cheryl Rofer:
    I was thinking more along the lines of narcissistic injury.

  131. 131.

    Kay

    May 1, 2019 at 8:44 am

    Matthew Yglesias
    ‏Verified account
    @mattyglesias
    10h10 hours ago
    More Matthew Yglesias Retweeted Carrie Cordero
    The weird thing to me is that Fancy Lawyer World cooked up this fairytale about Barr’s credibility and integrity even though his main ideas in his previous AG stint were mass incarceration + Iran-Contra impunity.

    Fancy Lawyer World has done this repeatedly during Trump’s term. They aren’t going to stop but we could stop accepting that they’re experts on ethics -they seem to be poor judges of character. Instead put them in the category where they belong : “self interested so their opinions are of questionable value to the public” They’re promoting and protecting one another, and they’re doing that for their own careers. Barr shouldn’t have a good reputation. He’s a career-long hack and fixer. He should have a bad reputation.

  132. 132.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 1, 2019 at 8:47 am

    @MomSense: Your sarcasm meter is in need of recalibration. ;-) If it had been around when my sons were growing up, I would have had them vaccinated, just to save them the pain of it.

  133. 133.

    O. Felix Culpa

    May 1, 2019 at 8:48 am

    @satby: Happy May Day to you too!

  134. 134.

    Cheryl Rofer

    May 1, 2019 at 8:48 am

    @MomSense: That too. I was thinking in terms of the quote in the Mueller report, “I’m fucked.”

  135. 135.

    rikyrah

    May 1, 2019 at 8:48 am

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
    I remember that. It was a Sunday… I remember going .
    The President doesn’t go on national television on Sunday…
    Then, we began to hear that it was about Bin Laden…

    The best part later was the Obama impersonator rap about it ??

  136. 136.

    Juice Box

    May 1, 2019 at 8:48 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: That is correct.

    I had a very mild case of shingles a few years ago. It was very unpleasant. I went ahead and got the Shingrix shots. I wouldn’t want a repeat case of shingles. A little arm soreness and a few Tylenol is much more tolerable.

  137. 137.

    trnc

    May 1, 2019 at 8:49 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: If only there were 435 Ted Lieus.

  138. 138.

    Barbara

    May 1, 2019 at 8:49 am

    @Kay: I am beginning to believe that maxim that everything Trump touches turns to shit is wrong. Instead, it’s more like, Trump exposes and exploits the inner shit that was always there, lurking. And while people like Bill Barr tried to make us think that he was effective because he was smart or savvy, Trump knows and doesn’t care who else knows that Barr was effective because he was willing to be a piece of shit for people in power.

  139. 139.

    Immanentize

    May 1, 2019 at 8:49 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Or, like the Governor of Kentucky, you would have sent your children to a chicken pox party to make them sick because, why the F not?
    We love love love our children!

  140. 140.

    rikyrah

    May 1, 2019 at 8:49 am

    @Immanentize:
    All in on a Barr impeachment ??

  141. 141.

    Soprano2

    May 1, 2019 at 8:50 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: My problem with the “weather p0rn” is that it’s on all the channels at the same time. Why don’t they agree to rotate their coverage, so when you’re on channel 10 during bad weather, for example, they could stream at the bottom of the screen “for weather information please tune to KYTV channel 3” or something. It’s petty, but I get especially irritated because it happens during May, when several of the shows I watch have their season-ender. I had to go online to get someone to make me a tape of the last episode of the “X-Files” so that I could see it, because most of my recording was weather p0rn! And yes, it’s hilarious that they’re all getting their information from the same place but showing off what their special equipment can do.

  142. 142.

    Immanentize

    May 1, 2019 at 8:51 am

    @Barbara: I like this theory — it ends up in the same place as the Shit Midas theory — mediocre people revealed as the craven idgits they are.

  143. 143.

    rikyrah

    May 1, 2019 at 8:51 am

    @Kay:
    Truth, Kay
    Truth.

  144. 144.

    MomSense

    May 1, 2019 at 8:51 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    ?? I was in the same place as you. No vacccine yet.

  145. 145.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 1, 2019 at 8:52 am

    @Immanentize:

    achy, maybe a bit of a fever

    So in other words, better than I feel now?

  146. 146.

    Immanentize

    May 1, 2019 at 8:53 am

    @rikyrah: I think if Barr refuses to 1) release the Mueller letter and 2) allow Mueller to testify in the House; it should be (impeachment) game on.

    And the Democrats should set goalposts like that.

  147. 147.

    Immanentize

    May 1, 2019 at 8:53 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: And, in your case, a good night’s sleep to boot!

  148. 148.

    rikyrah

    May 1, 2019 at 8:53 am

    @Kay:
    Telling other folks not to honor Congressional subpoenas. Yes. They should impeach Barr.

  149. 149.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 1, 2019 at 8:56 am

    @Soprano2:

    My problem with the “weather p0rn” is that it’s on all the channels at the same time.

    I solved that problem by getting rid of TV. YMMV, ;-)

  150. 150.

    rikyrah

    May 1, 2019 at 8:56 am

    @Kay:
    More truth from Kay???

  151. 151.

    Raven

    May 1, 2019 at 8:56 am

    @Immanentize: I had to bitch and moan at my bride to getr hers but we were together when I got it and she knew how bad shingles were. She got sick and hurt from the shots but that shit goes away quickly.

  152. 152.

    MomSense

    May 1, 2019 at 8:57 am

    @Immanentize:

    I prefer King Minus to Shit Midas.

  153. 153.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 1, 2019 at 8:58 am

    @MomSense: Sorry, from your reply, it sounded like you might have taken my “A friend of a friend’s SIL’s cousin had a step child who almost died from it. Honest!” serious. My bad.

  154. 154.

    Sab

    May 1, 2019 at 9:12 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Well you did say “Honest!” What was she supposed to think?

  155. 155.

    Jeffro

    May 1, 2019 at 9:13 am

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    Looks like blind panic to me

    I believe you are correct! Guy’s not much of a poker player, is he? LOL

    Some folks have said that Uncle Joe really scares Trump, and this seems like confirmation of that.

    Yes – the last thing trumpov wants is a nice, safe, reassuring choice that generally unifies Democrats. I’m not saying Biden is the be-all, end-all or anything, but trumpov has nowhere to go with the cheap insults, racism, and misogny in regards to Biden. What’s he going to do, attack him on policy specifics? =)

  156. 156.

    Immanentize

    May 1, 2019 at 9:14 am

    @MomSense: Why can’t we agree and go with: King Minus, the Shit Midas?

  157. 157.

    Immanentize

    May 1, 2019 at 9:15 am

    @Raven: And if all goes well, she will never have to complain that she didn’t get the shot. Bonus.

  158. 158.

    Kay

    May 1, 2019 at 9:18 am

    @Barbara:

    I am beginning to believe that maxim that everything Trump touches turns to shit is wrong. Instead, it’s more like, Trump exposes and exploits the inner shit that was always there, lurking

    I’m with you, but that’s the big debate, right? Are “the institutions” strong and Trump is weakening them, or were they all rotted out at the foundation so collapsed when Trump stressed them? I believe the second.

    I had this same kind of realization after the financial crash. “Did these finance people all of a sudden NOT know how to value real estate, or were they always bad and ethically bankrupt and fraudulent but there was no pressure on the system so it didn’t show?”

    Everyone picks on Florida for their election administration. But how many states suck at it and we just don’t know because they’re solidly R or D so it’s never tested?

  159. 159.

    Kay

    May 1, 2019 at 9:25 am

    @rikyrah:

    I have a particular grudge against firefighters and their union. Democrats and liberals here worked very hard to keep their pensions and overtime and safety rules. I personally volunteered probably 40 hours. They rewarded us by voting straight R the minute Kasich’s law was overturned. So. Screw them. I hope they enjoy making 15 bucks an hour, as temps.

  160. 160.

    PST

    May 1, 2019 at 9:27 am

    @Immanentize:

    The Docs are very positive about Shingrix — and it is free (no co-pay) at your local pharmacy.

    I had my shot the other day with no side effects except mild soreness in the arm for a day or two. However, I was charged for it. I thought it was free for old codgers with Medicare, but not so, or at least not for me. It may depend on the terms of your Part D drug plan or Medicare Advantage. It wasn’t expensive, but you know how it is when you’re expecting a freebie.

  161. 161.

    Immanentize

    May 1, 2019 at 9:28 am

    I would love a Senator to say to Barr: “In both of your press conferences regarding the Mueller Report, you used the word ‘collusion.’ In fact, including your letter dated May 23, you have used the word collusion a total of ____ times. Please, General Barr, give us the legal definition of collusion.”

  162. 162.

    Nicole

    May 1, 2019 at 9:29 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I had chicken pox and so am immune to it but I can still get shingles,

    Goddam herpes virus family. Once they move in, they never move out.

    I’m equal parts joyful and envious of my son being able to get the chicken pox vaccine. I may have had a mild case at 2 or 3 (I found a photo of me with red spots and a note from my mom on the back saying, “Chicken pox?”), but I know for sure I had it at 15 and it’s no fun at 15.

    In other vaccine news, my son had a follow-up appointment with a specialist this week. I got the automated call the day before, asking me to confirm, which I did. Immediately after I hung up, I got another automated call from the doctor’s office, saying not to come in if there was any chance he’d been exposed to measles. That was a new one.

    My kiddo has had all of the recommended vaccinations, but even just getting the call made me mad (obv. not at the doctor’s office).

  163. 163.

    Immanentize

    May 1, 2019 at 9:29 am

    @PST: That rather sucks — my Harvard/Pilgrim healthcare insurance covered it all.

  164. 164.

    Immanentize

    May 1, 2019 at 9:30 am

    @Nicole: Probably the earlier one was measles?

  165. 165.

    MomSense

    May 1, 2019 at 9:30 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    No, I wasn’t clear I was agreeing. ITs all good. I need more coffee!

  166. 166.

    Immanentize

    May 1, 2019 at 9:35 am

    @MomSense:

    I need more coffee!

    And who, really, doesn’t.

    Off for another cuppa then the train — late starts during finals weeks.

  167. 167.

    plato

    May 1, 2019 at 9:37 am

    @Kay:

    I believe the second.

    #metoo

    The thug’s whole life and ‘success’ are based on the corrupt and ineffective institutions and his street cunning in exploiting them to the hilt.

  168. 168.

    Nicole

    May 1, 2019 at 9:37 am

    @Immanentize: I was born in the 1970s, so I’m pretty confident I was vaccinated for measles as a wee one. I’m guessing my mom misdiagnosed some other viral infection or allergic reaction as chicken pox. It was definitely chicken pox at 15- my brother, who was 13, got it, too.

  169. 169.

    Immanentize

    May 1, 2019 at 9:44 am

    @Nicole: Lucky you! I had measles and mumps (but no rubella). My son is vaccinated against everything, it seems, except despair. :-)

  170. 170.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 1, 2019 at 9:44 am

    @Immanentize: From your keyboard to their ears.

  171. 171.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 1, 2019 at 9:47 am

    @Immanentize: No teenager is immune to that.

  172. 172.

    Sab

    May 1, 2019 at 9:52 am

    @Kay: Couldn’t agree with you more. I met a lot of lovely people while canvassing to repeal that bill, but it took a lot of time and work. By the way, the vast majority of my fellow canvassers were teachers and the regular union guys who always turn out to canvas. Not a single member of a fireman’s family. We knocked on a lot of their doors and they always thanked us, but I never saw a single one out doing the work.

  173. 173.

    H.E.Wolf

    May 1, 2019 at 9:56 am

    @Immanentize:
    An additional hazard with a case of shingles is the risk of postherpetic neuralgia.

    Summary: it’s shingles pain, for the rest of your life. No cure. Treatments for the pain are partially effective, at best, in most cases.

    I’ve only known one person who suffered from PHN. He was horribly pain-ridden for the rest of his long life. I can’t overstate how devastating it was for him.

  174. 174.

    Barbara

    May 1, 2019 at 10:01 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: If you don’t get chicken pox you don’t get shingles. However, if you did have chicken pox, you can now get the vaccine for shingles, and the more recent vaccine is supposed to be a lot better. I, however, had both chicken pox and shingles, but the shingles was mild. I am plus or minus on getting the shingles vaccine, because I keep hearing different things from different doctors about the chances of getting it twice. It can happen, but it is unlikely.

    I also had measles and mumps when I was a kid, so I don’t really worry about the MMR vaccine.

    One thing that has happened over the last 30 years is that all pregnant women get tested for measles antibodies and if found to be too low, they automatically are recommended for a booster shot. This should help ameliorate the consequences of the current outbreak for babies exposed in utero. This practice was initiated to address pregnant women who were born or growing up during the period of time between around 1960-1975, before shots were mandatory but after “everyone” got sick, so immunity to measles could not be presumed. Sounds like they should keep doing that for the foreseeable future.

  175. 175.

    Kay

    May 1, 2019 at 10:02 am

    @Sab:

    I went to one meeting in one of their halls and the whole meeting consisted of them telling us how to do things, and complaining about how things were being done. Thanks, natural and inevitable and self-appointed “leaders”. Thanks for the big picture vision.

  176. 176.

    Baud

    May 1, 2019 at 10:02 am

    @Kay:

    With that sort of free riding, I’m surprised they didn’t support Bernie.

  177. 177.

    Barbara

    May 1, 2019 at 10:06 am

    @H.E.Wolf: I am pretty well convinced that this kind of pain occurs for a lot of people who have had shingles, it’s just mild for many people. I had a mild case of shingles, but I still have tingling sensation especially in my upper right arm, from time to time. It doesn’t hurt so it is not debilitating but it is definitely noticeable. It feels like sunburn. In fact, I would characterize shingles as having sunburn and poison ivy in the same body parts. I was extraordinarily lucky to have a mild case. Almost as soon as I started taking medication the emerging welts went away and did not turn into weeping rash.

  178. 178.

    Kay

    May 1, 2019 at 10:09 am

    @Baud:

    Everyone knows it too. Democrats and liberals passed a voting rights referendum petition at the same time they passed the petition to overturn RTW. The public safety unions had to be persuaded to sign the voting rights petition by telling them they would lose their pensions if black people couldn’t vote. Which is true. I am a practical person and I just want them to sign so I said it straight out but let’s not kid ourselves about these “allies”. Purely transactional and 100% self-interested.

  179. 179.

    Nicole

    May 1, 2019 at 10:15 am

    @Immanentize:

    My son is vaccinated against everything, it seems, except despair. :-)

    Ha! Mine, too. Most of the despair right now is Fortnite-related, but I’m sure it’ll widen in variety as he gets older.

    I never had mumps or measles (vaccinated) but, when my son was wee, he had the usual run in with Coxsackie, and my immune system had, I guess, been away from the virus long enough that I got it, too. Kid was sick for 2 days, I was horribly ill for 5. Blech.

  180. 180.

    Barbara

    May 1, 2019 at 10:27 am

    @Kay: I know many people won’t click to a NYT link, but this profile from last week’s magazine is worth it, for the profile of Ruth Wilson Gilmore, and how she was able to galvanize California public workers to oppose the building of more prisons, which is basically the single biggest priority of prison workers, their lobbyists and unions. And that’s just one of the things she has done. I am ashamed to admit that I had never heard of her — she has worked alongside Angela Davis for much of her career. This was an inspiring story, although I think she will be the first to admit that it is only in the first stages of making the kind of change she wants. Source

  181. 181.

    Kay

    May 1, 2019 at 10:35 am

    @Barbara:

    Thanks. Our county jail employees are county employees and the juvenile facility employees are state employees, and the juvenile facility employees are better employees- better trained, not nasty or vindictive, speak respectfully to detainees and their families. They’re all labor union members but the state contingent are just higher quality, over all. The facilities are right next to each other. It took me forever to figure out why one sucked and the other didn’t, and that’s the reason. It’s two different cultures.

  182. 182.

    MomSense

    May 1, 2019 at 10:49 am

    @Immanentize:

    Works for me! I got Pete Souza calling him just Minus now.

  183. 183.

    J R in WV

    May 1, 2019 at 11:26 am

    @Kay:

    They did away with county jails in WV, because they were mostly snake pits, underfunded, mean staff, etc. Now there are big professional regional jails, with state corrections officers running things. Underpaid, under trained, not very smart, high turnover.

    Nearly Same, same.

    ETA, that I’m replying to Kay

  184. 184.

    James E Powell

    May 1, 2019 at 11:42 am

    @Kay:

    Fancy Lawyer World should be destroyed right after the Village. FLW did plenty of damage during the Bush/Cheney Junta. FLW has no problem putting monsters on the federal courts and dishonest jackasses on the supreme court. Their only outrage came when George W Bush nominated someone who didn’t go Harvard or Yale.

  185. 185.

    James E Powell

    May 1, 2019 at 11:45 am

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:

    U.S. counterterrorism adviser: Obama made “one of the … gutsiest calls of any president in recent memory.”

    If George W Bush had done it, his face would be on dollar coins. The RW propaganda campaign to discredit and deprecate the accomplishment began within 12 hours and continued until no one anywhere gives Obama credit for it.

  186. 186.

    texasdoc

    May 1, 2019 at 1:42 pm

    @Kay: And here in Houston, the fire fighters’ union pushed through a referendum to pay firefighters on the same pay scale as police officers (never mind the differences in the jobs), without a concurrent way to pay for it offered. The city has to balance its budget, the firefighters don’t want a phased-in implementation. They are now screaming about resulting demotions and layoffs in the fire dept to pay for raises for those remaining. The union chief even asked for city council members who had received campaign donations from the firefighters and voted to approve the budget with layoffs, etc. to return the donations! Talk about pay for play.

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