“You’ve been good today, Zeus….so I’ll share one kibble with you….there. Generous. You’re welcome.”????????pic.twitter.com/kBfeuEMTTG
— Veryfried Account ?? (@Acute_Tweetment) August 20, 2019
Somehow, I can’t see Steve being so kind to Thurston… not that Thurston wouldn’t try...
Elsewhere:
And those poll results, too. https://t.co/6YE3KYYdfa
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) August 20, 2019
.
Department of ‘Be Careful What You Wish For’:
Some debate news here: The AARP on Tuesday sent a letter to DNC chair @TomPerez urging him to schedule a presidential debate that focuses on senior issues, i.e. Medicare, Social Security, age discrimination, etc …
Letter comes amid a sustained push for a climate-centric debate
— Alex Roarty (@Alex_Roarty) August 20, 2019
D officials have tried to hold off push for a climate-change debate in part cuz granting one would encourage other groups to ask for their own debate. And if every group got their own debate, on top of the ones already scheduled, the candidates wouldn't have time for much else
— Alex Roarty (@Alex_Roarty) August 20, 2019
Jay Inslee, who has centered his 2020 campaign around climate change policy, is unlikely to qualify for an invite to CNN's climate change town hall in Septemberhttps://t.co/nBhfdxO2cG
— Axios (@axios) August 19, 2019
Baud
Yes, he is.
Baud
No shit.
Baud
I believe that is CNN’s rule since this is not an official debate. Not DNC.
OzarkHillbilly
Blech.
JPL
@OzarkHillbilly: Good morning to you.
NotMax
Especially nicely produced documentary on a woman who led one helluva life, both in the air and on land, found on Prime: The Legend of Pancho Barnes and the Happy Bottom Riding Club.
Brachiator
Seniors are a big, reliable voting bloc. Makes sense to include their concerns. This dovetails with other topics in the news, such as prescription drug costs. And there is the lie coming from the right that universal health care will be offset by cuts to Medicare.
Raven
I’m still trippin over Santana being the cover boy on the AARP mag!
Brachiator
@NotMax: Barnes was associated with the “Right Stuff” pilots, right? The name is ringing a bell.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: It really would be opening Pandora’s Box.
ETA: Just looking at the week’s news…Debate Topic: Greenland, buy or lease?
Baud
I have a difficult time believing the anger is widespread, but who knows?
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Reverse mortgage.
Baud
I guess they are upset.
Don’t they realize Trump visiting is not a good thing?
Raven
@Baud: we’re refinancing ours!
Baud
@Baud:
Ah, I didn’t realize this.
Now I’m kind of sorry the Greenland story got leaked. Maybe it would have been better if Trump surprised them with the offer.
Phylllis
Department of Redundancy Department.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Being that it was a state visit, they probably put in a lot of work and money into it.
Baud
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
Baud
Brachiator
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
They had to throw out all the cheese Danish they were going to serve.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: So Trump’s approval will dip to 58%?
Baud
As president, I will give Denmark a lien on Trump’s property until he pays them back. #SmartForeignPolicy
OzarkHillbilly
Beatings, murders and prisoners set on fire: inside the prison called ‘gangland’ I’ll leave out the gory parts.
……………………
……………………………….
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Yes, but then you have to add 10 to that .
JPL
I’m so sick of all this winning.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
I believe the philosophy is quantity, not quality.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Brachiator:
@Baud: Those cheese Danish were the high quality ones.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: I already added 10%.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
I assume this is among the shrinking number of self-identified Rs?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: No, I was using Trump’s numbers(no wonder the bastard couldn’t make money on a fuckin’ casino).
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
I didn’t know that was possible.
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Yes, but you’re a damn lib, so you need to add in another 10 points to correct for that.
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Haha.
OzarkHillbilly
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Yep, made with 100% American cheese, just for chump.
TS (the original)
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I haven’t read the times article (I don’t go there) but the headline seems written to make the president* think they are so angered because he is not coming.
Kay
@Baud:
They loved Obama, which is probably why Trump is insulting them:
Kay
@Baud:
Baud
@Kay:
The Danes have good taste.
debbie
@Brachiator:
I don’t think debates are as great as others do. Issues like this is why it would be better to have a one-on-one with each candidate where all issues can be covered and the candidate can give longer, less interrupted responses and voters can learn much more about their positions.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: So I shouldn’t bother applying for a visa?
Brachiator
@Baud:
Yes. Many have excellent taste These are the Great Danes.
Kay
Ivanka called members of Congress encouraging them to back the background checks her father said publicly he supported, but actually opposed. I don’t think it’s surprising the Trump’s don’t get anything thru Congress (other than their own giant tax cut, I mean). They’re liars and their word is no good.
OzarkHillbilly
@debbie: But where is the well delivered, candidate topping zinger in that scenario?
ETA not to mention winners and losers. This is America dammit, we demand our winners and losers!
debbie
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Just heard that the American Ambassador had tweeted about her excitement for the visit just before he tweeted it had been canceled.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
Where it belongs: Unspoken.
Brachiator
@debbie:
I agree that the debates are not wonderful, especially with so many candidates crammed onstage. If a candidate did a separate one on one, and put it on YouTube or even Facebook, would anyone watch? I’m not sure that the cable or network news operations would give time to each candidate.
Kay
@Baud:
It’s such a small country – it probably is a big deal when a US President visits, or, you know, goes out of his way to completely misunderstand their government’s ownership of Greenland – the builder and real estate expert announced he was buying property and he 1. doesn’t know who owns it and 2. it isn’t for sale- and then insults them for no reason other than he made an ass of himself so someone must be punished.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Kay:
@debbie: That Trump administration, a well lubed machine.
Baud
@Kay:
Well, I’m going to Denmark soon, so that should make them happy.
Kay
@Brachiator:
Good point.
Bernie Sanders admitted at a campaign event he doesn’t do well with seniors. I didn’t know that. I was surprised he said it.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: Every country wants carpenters. They’ll settle.
@Brachiator:
Too bad Tamara doesn’t appear in the morning threads.
Baud
@Kay:
It’s my only real beef with young people.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Kay: The only folk that the patron saint of Burlington does well with are the 35 and under crowd.
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Heh. Perfect description.
Kay
@Baud:
Me too! Not till June. My youngest is horrified I’m planning it. He wants to be dropped in Copenhagen and we’ll pick him up on the way back. No. I think he should experience this. Live like a Viking:
Spanky
@Baud: You can’t blame them for being too naive to see through the old fraud. Losing 2016 just added to his cred, since he managed to convince them he wuz robbed.
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay: Sounds like a lot of work to me.
rikyrah
This is why Stein voters will never be forgiven, and they can kiss my Black Azz about having an opinion about ANYTHING to do with the Democratic Party ???
Philippe Reines (@PhilippeReines) Tweeted:
2016 Margin of Loss vs Jill Stein Votes
Margin Stein
———- -———
Pennsylvania: 44,292 < 49,941
Wisconsin: 22,748 < 31,072
Michigan: 11,004 < 51,463
Total: 78,044 < 132,476 https://twitter.com/PhilippeReines/status/1163987947131154432?s=17
rikyrah
@Kay:
Live like a Viking?
????
He is young. He can take it.
Baud
@Kay:
No pillaging? Am disappointed.
@Spanky:
Watch me.
rikyrah
@Kay:
Kay,
You are surprised that older people see through his shyt, or that he admitted that they see he is a fraud?
Tony Jay
According to Murdoch’s vile tabloid hate-pamphlet ‘The Sun’, authentic ‘Voice of Woit Suvven Ingerlish Payreeuts’ since the glory days of Saint Maggie the Thatch (no, of course I’m not linking to that unflushed truckstop toilet of a rag) Prime Minister Tubby McSquintface Johnson has come up with a spiffing new wheeze to deal with the problem of moving goods and people across the Northern Irish border post-Brexit. Rather than the UK making any accommodations to reality, the Republic of Ireland itself should just leave the Single Market for a bit and align itself with whatever system of customs and checks the knobheads in London come up with after a few bottles of bolly and six lines of charlie.
Brilliant! What could go wrong?
Jesus Wept? Jesus necked a gobfull of anti-psychotics and committed himself to a secure facility for the foreseeable future, more like.
Patricia Kayden
@Baud: Bewilderment = unbridled joy in Danish. Imagine how buffoonish Trump is going to behave when he finally visits. “Why won’t you guys sell me Greenland? We’re your best friends!! You wouldn’t want anything to happen to our friendship, right?”
Baud
@rikyrah:
Sadly, I think it’s just that older voters are more conservative and they have Biden to cling to now.
Baud
How did I end up in moderation? Is Biden a bad word now?
Tony Jay
Why me moderated? Me be bad?
Spanky
@Baud: You said it again!
Meh, check yer email spelling.
Baud
@Tony Jay:
Looks like FYWP has declared war on us. Maybe it’s upset about the upcoming design changes.
OzarkHillbilly
@rikyrah:
If they can’t see thru chump’s, I really doubt they can see thru Wilmer’s.
Spanky
@Baud: @Tony Jay:
OK, now FYWP is the suspect.
Kay
@OzarkHillbilly:
I’ll probably end up renting a house in Odense – where my son and his wife are- there are a lot of little houses for tourist rental.
It is, after all, the birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen :)
I asked my daughter in law what are some other famous Danes and she said the name of a Danish nuclear scientist. Not that famous since she had to tell me who he is. Okay- FAMOUS. So we’re still at 1.
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay:
I’m jealous.
Spanky
@OzarkHillbilly: But they’re different scams. Drumpf sells blame of the powerless Other , which only he can afflict, and Bernie sells blame of the powerful Other, which only he can defeat.
Tony Jay
@Baud:
Don’t worry. The incoming Baud/None of the Above Administration will clear up this issue in no time.
Oh… hang on…
Spanky
@Kay: Tycho Brahe, but that was a few years back.
Baud
Does anyone sell “Don’t blame me. I voted for Hillary” t-shirts? I might need to wear it for my Denmark trip.
Gin & Tonic
@Kay: Niels Bohr is, in fact, famous, even though *you* may not be aware of this.
OzarkHillbilly
Just as in 1914, the Brexit buildup is making calamity feel inevitable
…………………………………
Tony Jay
I’ve got a lovely little comment just hanging there in the poignant vacuum between Rikyrah at 62 and Baud at 63. It looks so lonely and yet so brave. Don’t wibble, little comment, I’m sure someone of authoriteh will have you out and about soon enough.
Someone? Anyone? Bueller?
Spanky
@Spanky: Besides being one of the founding fathers of observational astronomy, he kept a drunk elk and a pet dwarf. You might inquire when you’re there if that is still common practice.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Baud: Here ya go.
Spanky
@Spanky: He also wore a metal nose to replace the one removed in a duel, but that’s another story.
Baud
@Tony Jay:
My comment will change EVERYTHING. Oh well.
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
I was hoping it would have her picture, but thanks.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Kay: Hamlet
Kay
@OzarkHillbilly:
They’re cute as hell. Scandinavians like those simple lines. Like Monopoly houses. Or Lego. Metal roofs too, which are actually quite popular here, too. It looks lovely. My son sent me a picture of his dog frolicking in the ocean. He was a Chicago dog and they went walking on Lake Michigan daily so, salt water!
rikyrah
I do wonder this myself. Been waiting for someone to show the Fox news segment suggesting it.???
Cheryl Rofer (@CherylRofer) Tweeted:
Trying to trace back why Trump does anything is likely futile and a waste of time, but the question I would ask is how he got the idea of buying Greenland in the first place.
And why the Republicans pretend he’s fit for the presidency. https://t.co/0JF6pQuHKr https://twitter.com/CherylRofer/status/1164141397441572864?s=17
randy khan
@Baud:
The comments on that tweet are fascinating, if not surprising. Basically the Trump supporters all are mocking polls, as if they have any idea what the polling in those states looked like prior to Election Day 2016.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@OzarkHillbilly: It’s Wilmer’s scary “socialism.” Old people freak out about it.
Patricia Kayden
My comment is awaiting approval. No cuss words involved.
rikyrah
God (@thegoodgodabove) Tweeted:
TO RECAP:
1. Mexico is not paying for Trump’s wall.
2. Denmark is not letting Trump buy Greenland.
3. Trump is an idiot and so are his supporters. https://twitter.com/thegoodgodabove/status/1163970198933770240?s=17
Tony Jay
@Baud:
And you told me you were an incrementalist!
That’s it. I’m phantom voting for Hickenlooper like notvladfrommurmansk834 said I should. That’ll show you machine establishmentarians where the real power lies.
OzarkHillbilly
@Spanky: And PT Barnum took both their monies.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Baud: Here’s a bunch of nicer designs, but I still don’t see her picture.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Just before my first trip to Mallorca, somebody gave me a “F_ck B_sh” button. I wore it the whole time we were there, and received a plenitude of high 5s.
Kay
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Hah! She’s sciency, but I’m still surprised she didn’t get that. She’s up for what sounds like an amazing job. She will analyze piracy events and episodes for a Danish shipping group. Look for patterns so they can predict outcomes, like that, because they negotiate with the pirates. She didn’t get it yet, or hadn’t as of Saturday.
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Cool. That should keep me safe from angry Danes.
Tony Jay
@OzarkHillbilly:
Nah. Nothing’s inevitable until it happens, and for all his redolent turns of phrase Behr sounds like he’s been couched by a serotonin crash and could do with watching a few episodes of Father Ted to re-stimulate his giggle muscles.
ETA – Oh look, my comment has appeared and usurped Baud’s entry at Number 63. Take that, Mr Presidential Destiny!
Ken
@?BillinGlendaleCA: @Kay: Well, easy solution then. President Obama is, I understand, scheduled to visit Denmark about a week after the cancelled visit. The Danes can just use all the preparations for the state visit for that one.
They recoup the cost, Obama is properly honored, Trump’s head explodes – a win-win-win situation.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
Maybe on the back of the shirt, it’ll have “You’re the puppet.”
OzarkHillbilly
@Dorothy A. Winsor: That explains why they choose one grift over another, does not say they see that one is a grift while not recognizing the 2nd.
Steve in the ATL
@OzarkHillbilly:
For what job is this not true?
JPL
Good news The NYTimes is selling the 1619 Project
Bad news it’s sold out.
I signed up to be notified when they have extra copies.
https://store.nytimes.com/products/the-1619-project
OzarkHillbilly
@Steve in the ATL: CEO?
Steve in the ATL
@Tony Jay: feck! Girls! Feck! Girls!
Would you have a cup of tea, Father?
That’s my Father Ted spec scrip. Bet it sells fast.
Spanky
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Also, Roesencrantz and Guildenstern, which are two names on the Brahe family crest. Coincidence? Ask Shakespeare.
Cheryl Rofer
I don’t want to upset anyone, but Trump is now claiming he’s Jesus Christ.
Baud
@Cheryl Rofer:
Jesus Christ!
Dorothy A. Winsor
OT but this made me happy. I recently sold The Wind Reader to an elderly neighbor. I mean like, in her early 90s. I figured she bought out of kindness, but she stopped me a couple of days ago and told me she was half way through and enjoying it but it was “different.” That made me laugh. It’s YA fantasy. Then yesterday, she stopped me again and told me she finished and it was “wonderful!” I think she really did enjoy it.
Baud
@Cheryl Rofer:
Some creative person (Ozark?) need to make a crucifix with Trump on the cross.
Cheryl Rofer
@Baud: The long story is that he’s pushing some “Jews for Christ” pastor who proclaimed him the second coming.
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Very cool.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Spanky: Pretty much everyone in that play. Also Hans Christian Anderson.
I had a professor who was a Shakespeare conspiracist. He saw hidden plots in every play. He’s probably reading QAnon now.
OzarkHillbilly
@Cheryl Rofer: He’s thought that all along, and then Jerry Falwell came along and confirmed it.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Kay: We were in Aalborg a few years ago and went to visit a Viking settlement and museum. There were lots of murals of Viking life on the walls of the museum.
None of the depicted Vikings were smiling.
Spanky
@Cheryl Rofer:
OK, for years every time someone here claimed Peak Wingnut I would remind them that it’s an asymptote.
Buuuuuuuut ….
Baud
@Cheryl Rofer:
The Father, the Son-in-law, and the Holy Joke.
Tony Jay
@Steve in the ATL:
“Are you not going to introduce us to the new Father, Father?”
“What? Oh yes, right, of course. This is Father…. Father….. tell you what, here’s a laugh. Why don’t you have a good old guess?”
Love Father Ted.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: I’ll give it a try but I’m not sure a bloated whale will fit on the cross.
trnc
@OzarkHillbilly:
It almost makes me think some money could be spent on things other than tax cuts for billionaires who already pay no taxes.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Cheryl Rofer: I missed that, but he already claimed to draw bigger crowds than Elton John so I figured “bigger than Jesus” was a logical next step.
Link?
Betty
@Tony Jay: Outstanding analysis!
Tony Jay
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Reaching young and old alike? Wilmer will be calling you soon with a (sub minimum wage) job offer.
But seriously, that is tres cool.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Remember when they used to count the “I”s in Obama’s speeches?
very nice words
satby
@Kay: my first exchange student from way back in 1988 lives in Odense with her family. It’s on my list to visit. I was in Copenhagen, Denmark and Malmo, Sweden when I was 16 for two weeks and have always wanted to go back. I think you’ll really enjoy it.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
They will learn that he is simply a golden calf.
Tony Jay
@Betty:
Thanks. These people will be the death of me, but at least it won’t be a lack of bile that does me in.
Betty
@Tony Jay: It’s healthy to get it out of your system. And is great entertainment for us.
satby
@Betty: Betty, in Dominica? I’ve wondered often how things have been going.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Tony Jay: I already make sub-minimum wage, so I’m set to go!
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
They need to get with the pogrom.
Cheryl Rofer
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: You can check his tweet stream. I don’t like to link to his tweets.
ETA: I see Jim, Foolish Literalist has posted it.
O. Felix Culpa
@Baud:
Good morning! My Danish friends are angry, not because they particularly want a Trump visit, but because of the disrespect shown their country and the ridiculousness (and impossibility) of Trump’s desire to buy Greenland. They’re also angry because Danish soldiers fought and died alongside American soldiers in Afghanistan and this is no way to treat an ally, especially one who sacrificed their own people for one of our misadventures.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
exactly, fora and town halls are fine, but what passes for debates, especially with such long roster of no-hopers clinging to their dreams and trying to score points, is as best pointless and at worst counter-productive. This all grows out of the Bernista persecution fantasies about the DNC and DWS
Sab
@Kay: Careful with that salt water for Great Lake dogs. Moved my Michigan dogs to California and took them a while to realize they shouldn’t drink salt water at the beach. It is good for flea control.
Betty
@satby: Hi satby, thanks for asking. Things are mostly back to normal. Because our leader is Trumpish, recovery is still somewhat uneven with a good number of people still without repaired homes. We are hoping for a change in government, but much corruption will make that difficult. We are told to be prepared for another hurricane, but it is hard to be emotionally ready for that.
Baud
@O. Felix Culpa:
Thanks! Do the Danish people understand that the alternative was someone who didn’t follow best practices in email management? A little understanding would be appreciated.
Spanky
Hey, Morningstar.com has a stock tip:
File that among headlines I never thought I’d see.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I’m assuming this works like it does in GB, the royal issues an invitation if the head of the gov’t asks for one?
Sab
@Kay: Famous Danes: for the olds, Victor Borge. For the young, Nicolaj Koster-Waldau ( Jaime Lannister) who also is married to an Inuit actress from Greenland.
Immanentize
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: @Baud:
Add that to the fact that Trump has declared American Jews “disloyal.”
One reason the Right loves Israel so much is that they really expect Jews will self-deport (or else!) once things really get swinging with Trump. Those who are all knicker-twisted because of Rep. Omar’s mildest criticisms better get their heads out of their asses regarding a real threat.
O. Felix Culpa
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I can’t imagine the royal family spontaneously decided that they’d like to have the Trumps over for dinner.
Chyron HR
I love that the people pushing for a Climate-Change Debate are literally conflating standing around talking about the problem with fixing it.
Baud
@Immanentize:
White evangelicals also believe a return is the prerequisite to the Last Days.
Immanentize
@Baud: The two go together like horse and carriage (all Jews to Israel and Evangelical Eschaton). Meanwhile, the far right religious Jews pray for and await the destruction of Israel before the Messiah can come.
Yay religion!
satby
@Betty: I hope things get better soon and the hurricanes all turn east away from you. Our country should have stood ready to help the Caribbean nations after the hurricane, but we didn’t even take care of our own people. To our shame.
We’re all hoping for a change in government, aren’t we?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Chyron HR: seems to me the Sunrise or whatever they call themselves movement could do a lot more good by registering voters in places like Arizona– even Texas!– but its apparently way cooler to hold sit-ins in Nancy Pelosi’s office.
on that note: I’ll believe it when the votes come in, but Lawrence O’Donnell had a poll last night showing Mark Kelly leading McSally by five points
satby
The most heartbreaking thing I saw on Facebook yesterday was a father talking about his five year old son’s first day of kindergarten. They had an active shooter drill. For the rest of that child’s life, that will be his memory of his very first day in school.
What a shithole of a nation we’ve become.
O. Felix Culpa
@Baud:
I’m not sure they do, but I’ll be sure to inform them. Then they’ll feel much, much better.
Kay
@Sab:
That one she got, although I didn’t recognize the name until you added the character. Okay, she has never said this directly but I get the DISTINCT impression she thinks Norwegians are arrogant. There’s some kind of rivalry going on there.
germy
Carla Sands is our Ambassador to Denmark. She is a graduate of Life Chiropractic College. She was also an actress, best known for her role in Deathstalker and the Warriors from Hell.
SRW1
@Tony Jay:
Has Johnson by any chance hired John Humphries as his special advisor on Ireland?
(Background for people bamboozled by the question:
https://ansionnachfionn.com/2019/01/26/bbc-broadcaster-john-humphrys-ireland-should-join-with-the-uk-outside-the-eu/)
Tony Jay
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Ahead of the game, I like it. Forget the Burlington Bloviator, I suspect the Baud 2020 or Bite Me campaign could use a literate influencer to get them over the hump with the under 75 and paying attention slice of the electorate.
It’s all about the networking.
Just One More Canuck
@Kay: There’s Kevin Magnussen (F1 driver who crashes into his teammate a lot)
germy
@satby:
I was in kindergarten in 1964. I remember we had big, thick doors to the bathrooms (they were in our classroom) and both doors had the symbols for Fallout Shelter on them. At the time, I didn’t know what those symbols meant, and it was never explained to us. There were no drills, no duck and cover. Kindergarten kids from a few years before me probably went through the entire experience, but by the time my class arrived the authorities had abandoned the whole act.
I’m hoping in a few years, after a Democrat enacts sensible gun legislation, these drills will become a curiosity, a bit of history trivia that future generations can joke about. But right now we’re through the looking glass.
Kay
@satby:
It worries me, because I really am fairly conventionally “patriotic” – I just don’t bully other people about it. The falling-apart infrastructure makes me sad – not only can’t we build anything we can’t even maintain what we inherited. We haven’t been good stewards. We’re leaving it worse than we found it. My son has worked on water systems in Ohio – the electrical systems- and he says all we do is patch, patch, patch. That someone is going to have to invest something because you can’t patch forever. You can’t just keep pulling out value without putting any in. They need revamps- modernization.
SRW1
@Baud:
You win the intertoobs for half an hour.
SFAW
@Spanky:
“Duel,” r-i-i-i-ight. His twin brother (played by Lee Marvin in the biopic) bit it off in a fight.
Tony Jay
@SRW1:
The BBC… what is there to say that hasn’t been said? A great institution sabotaged from within by Murdoch-friendly appointees who have turned it into a slavish mouthpiece for the ‘natural Party of Government’. It’s going to take years to clean it up once the Tories are turfed out, and I can already hear the high pitched shrieks about “Marxist Purges!!!” coming over the horizon.
Fuckem. Horizontally. With an engraved brass copy of their Charter.
Kay
@satby:
And you know all these CEO’s who feed us this bullshit about how they’re “investing” will just go to greener pastures if it all starts to fail. They could give a shit. “Use it up and move on!” They aren’t going to be able to replace tax revenue with “foundations”. It has to be regular and consistent! It’s fucking operating costs, not a grant. Take, take, take.
Raven
@germy: one of the biggest assholes I know went there!
Kay
@satby:
It’s part of why the wall enrages me. Of all the things we need douchebag invests in a big, dumb, blank WALL. A giant, expensive monument to nastiness and narrowness and a lack of imagination or generosity. All this nonsense about “this isn’t what we ARE” Really? Because it sure looks like that’s what we are! It’s as of the words are the important part. The Wall speaks volumes.
Sab
@Kay: I read U.S Grant’s memoirs a few years ago, and it was really striking how much 19th century Ohioans were into infrastructure investment. Roads, canals, public buildings, schools. They were buidling everything from scratch. They didn’t take it for granted.
Elizabelle
@germy: I remember drills in kindergarten. Taking cover under our tiny desks, or under the slim little trees outside. Was in Hawaii, during the Cuban Missile crisis. (And a bit of a laugh, once I learned, many years later, where Cuba actually was. Hawaii would seem to have been pretty safe. Albeit, it was less than 25 years since Pearl Harbor….)
I just imagined being a burned little pile of bones, out on the school grounds, like chicken dinner leavings, because the trees were so useless and sparse.
An active shooter drill would be much worse.
satby
@Sab: I’m not THAT old, but Victor Borge was funny as hell.
rikyrah
@JPL:
thanks. I’m gonna put my name on ths list too.
SFAW
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Now I know why some people say “Jesus Fucking Christ.”
Although I vaguely recalled the name Wayne Allyn Root, I had to look him up. Holy shit. Crazy/stupid/evil, all wrapped up in one package. How efficient of him.
catclub
@Baud: my guess? angry because they have already spent substantial money on preparations and security infrastructure.
rikyrah
@trnc:
I will remind folks that the Trumper who gave us the
” But, he’s not hurting the right people” quote…
worked for the Mississippi Prisons….
Elizabelle
@JPL: Saw that yesterday. The NY Times had priced the 1619 issue at $6.00, which I thought was fairly priced.
And then wanted $8.00 for shipping it. I passed. WTF.
rikyrah
@O. Felix Culpa:
I know this doesn’t comfort them, but they need to understand that Dolt45 doesn’t even respect OUR soldiers.
SRW1
@JPL:
Not sure the 1619 project needed that boost, but the GOP ‘Streisanding’ it probably helped at the margins.
germy
@Elizabelle: I remember Robert Klein saying his class was issued dog tags. (He was in elementary school in the 1950s.) The children were told the dog tags were necessary for identification, in case their bodies were “burned beyond recognition.”
Kay
The President reneged on all his loud, bragging promises on gun regs. That he made last week. His daughter and senior adviser assured donors this week he would get it done. Now we’ll get his low quality incompetent hires hires analyzing “mental health”- they’ll probably appoint a Fox host to run it. Let the crackdown on people with mental illness begin! Nasty, dumb, vindictive people will be targeting some of the most vulnerable people in the country, purely to advance their own political and financial ends. It’s already a disaster. Can we convince them to just stay on the golf course? They don’t harm anyone there.
Spanky
@Elizabelle: I remember in the early 60s, they tested the air raid sirens every Tuesday at noon, as we started lunch recess. Such a sad moan, coming from every direction. A reminder of doom to us little kids. Yes, I imagine active shooter drills are much worse.
ETA: Yeah, we had dog tags too. I think I still have mine someplace.
germy
https://www.theonion.com/newt-gingrich-slams-new-york-times-1619-project-as-sh-1837374390
Newt Gingrich Slams ‘New York Times’ 1619 Project As Shameless Abolitionist Propaganda
(onion headline)
germy
@Spanky:
That was another of Robert Klein’s recollections. He became terrified that the Russians would attack at noon, so as to confuse everyone: “We’ll attack at noon… they’ll think it’s lunch!”
Elizabelle
@satby: Watched a little bit of that. Victor Borge was wonderful. His timing, and deadpan face.
My dad really liked him a lot.
Kay
@rikyrah:
Trump and his low quality hires were poorly raised. They don’t know how to treat others decently. They lack ordinary social skills. They all have million dollar educations but you can’t buy “decent”, so no one purchased it for them.
Gin & Tonic
Bad day for freedom of the press in Eastern Europe. You don’t have to understand Georgian to get what’s happening.
Immanentize
@JPL:
I got my copy the old fashioned way — delivered to my doorstep on Sunday morning. It is not garbage and I recommend it!
germy
Upstate NY is full of MAGATs
https://wnyt.com/news/colonie-police-investigating-possible-hate-crime-at-crossings-park/5463843/?cat=10114
It must be “economic insecurity”
rikyrah
Trump administration announces plan that would let it detain undocumented children indefinitely
Bart Jansen, USA TODAY
Published 9:35 a.m. ET Aug. 21, 2019 | Updated 9:39 a.m. ET Aug. 21, 2019
WASHINGTON –The Trump administration said Wednesday it was taking steps that would allow it to indefinitely detain undocumented children with their families while their immigration cases are pending.
The move, which Department of Homeland Security officials expect to be challenged in federal court, is an effort to end a 20-day limit on detaining children and families. The deadline grew out of a 1997 settlement of a federal class-action lawsuit, which administration officials said led to a boom in adults bringing along children when entering the United States illegally.
President Donald Trump tweeted a quote Wednesday from Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, who said the proposal “will effectively end Catch and Release and curb illegal entries.”
The effort to remove the cap on family detentions would keep families together, albeit in custody, rather than separating families by placing parents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and children at facilities licensed by the Department of Health and Human Services. The administration’s proposed rule would allow it to license and monitor detention facilities where children could be held with their parents until their immigration cases are resolved, a process that can take months.
Kay
@Elizabelle:
I’m not sure the drills make any sense, but I’m on a school committee and I get it- it’s remote possibility but the remote possibility is so horrendous they feel they have to “do something”. It’s where statistics really fall down. Easy to say “well, they’re more likely to drown” – unless you’re the principal of elementary school and once a month or so you watch that mass shooting footage and think “that could be my school”. It just sort of transcends statistics. They don’t matter. No one is doing anything so they have to do something, and this is what they can do. It was horrible and irresponsible to dump it on them. It’s a national problem and all these fucking worthless cowards are like “here- you fix it”.
rikyrah
Pro-Trump conspiracy theories pay off for anti-China group
Rachel Maddow looks back at the anti-China activism of religious group Falun Gong and the media platforms it has cultivated over time, including, as detailed in new NBC News reporting, a full embrace of Donald Trump and pro-Trump conspiracy theories that has brought the group new prosperity and a higher profile in conservative U.S. political circles.
rikyrah
Anti-China group hired GOP strategist in pro-Trump shift
Brandy Zadrozny, reporter for NBC News, talks with Rachel Maddow about how the anti-China Falun Gong religious group has hired a Republican strategist in addition to using its various media platforms as well as extensive online ad buys to promote Donald Trump and myriad pro-Trump conspiracy theories, earning it a prominent position among conservative U.S. media.
rikyrah
Biden releases general election-style ad in Iowa
Rachel Maddow looks at former Vice President Joe Biden’s first Iowa campaign ad and how Biden is positioning himself as the front-runner of the broad Democratic 2020 primary field.
rikyrah
Democrats focus on beating Trump while also defining party values
Karine Jean-Pierre, chief public affairs officer for MoveOn.org, talks with Rachel Maddow about former Vice President Joe Biden’s latest campaign ad and the Democratic Party’s focus on defeating Trump, while also dealing with issues of accountability and values within the party as moderates and progressives clash.
Kay
@Elizabelle:
The statistics in a way are not responsive to the problem. Drowning is risky for children, but there are no mass drownings, and certainly not in schools. If there were we would beef up our drowning regulations- and those actually exist. Fences. Required.
Brachiator
@Tony Jay:
You have got to be kidding! Really? Johnson is asking the EU to abandon one of its own member nations in order to placate the British. What’s next, Boris offers to buy Greenland?
Also, I see that even the Guardian is lining up behind the lie that the EU is being uncooperative.
Johnson previously refused to meet with EU representatives and none of his sputtering could be called meaningful negotiation.
Elizabelle
@Kay: I think the shooting drills are worthwhile. A mass casualty shooting could happen, absolutely anywhere, except where our elected officials and MOTUs are behind layers of security.
Whenever I hear of a mass shooting, I don’t think: why did it happen there? I just think, there but for the grace of God/the flying spaghetti monster/cruel fate …
Brachiator
@rikyrah:
Trump administration announces bold plan to replace detention centers with concentration camps.
KSinMA
@Kay: Kierkegaard (in case nobody has mentioned him).
Original Lee
@Kay: Victor Borge was Danish, IIRC.
SFAW
@Elizabelle:
Such as NRA HQ
Elizabelle
@SFAW: Or their conventions. Precisely. Wankers.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@O. Felix Culpa: I’m just going by the polling I’ve seen, he polls better with the youngs than any other demographic.
BTW: Happy belated b-day.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud:
Possibly a royal acid trip?
Orange is the New Red
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Dorothy, I am also an older reader who loved it. I have passed it on to my neices, and suggested it to several middle-schoolers. It’s a delight.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@germy: Only the Best People.
Yarrow
So I see Sean Spicer is going to be on Dancing with the Stars. Of course he is.
Kay
@Elizabelle:
I don’t know. Ours have an evacuation plan and as a practical matter with how quickly the guns and ammunition kill I just can’t make sense of lining up and crossing the street. That seems like post-carnage management to me. It DOES upset the littles, too. My youngest has now been doing this for 11 years and part of the kid process is the older children comfort the younger children. I think fear is so corrosive and we’re scaring them.
Yarrow
@Kay: It’s awful. I also wonder how many people decide not to go into teaching because they think, “I don’t want to work in a war zone. I don’t want to be responsible for a room full of kids in a mass shooting.” Schools are such targets.
Miss Bianca
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Awww! : )
Elizabelle
WaPost: Parkland students unveil sweeping gun-control proposal and hope for a youth voting surge in 2020
The Parkland student activists have unveiled their plan, and it is a far-reaching and good one. This, coupled with their existing voter registration activities, should bring some more voters to the polls in 2020. Enough with the gun violence.
The NRA spokeswoman sniffs that the ideas are out of the mainstream, but, of course, they are not.
Here’s a PDF of the March for Our Lives Peace Plan, subtitled: Created by survivors, so you don’t have to be one”, provided by the WaPost.
Kay
@Elizabelle:
I don’t know how to fix it. I do know we should stop dumping all our societal problems on public schools and telling them to fix it. The Parkland massacre went from a discussion about guns to a discussion about how people failed in massacre management. That’s convenient. Once again leaders escape responsibility and dump everything on public schools. Public schools MIRROR our problems. Everything that is out here comes in there. Always. They don’t create these problems and they can’t fix them, singlehandedly. If the country is ungovernable that is not the fault of some over-worked, underpaid assistant principal. They try.
Elizabelle
Betty just put up a fresh thread about the Parkland Students Peace Plan.
germy
Betty Cracker
@Elizabelle: I pulled it down. Will post it later. I usually don’t care about big-footing, but this is an important issue, and I’m hoping more folks will see it and sign the petition, donate, etc.
germy
@Elizabelle: I don’t see it anywhere.
EDIT: nevermind
Miss Bianca
@Elizabelle: God bless these youngs. They have a plan for this! It gives me hope, here in my “2nd Amendment Sanctuary” community.
That reminds me, I must pass along the excellent insights Dr. Silverman shared with me on that subject to my fellow Dems in Blood-Red Land – including a sharp lawyer or two. If the Parkland survivors can map out a strategy, I can do my mite for them here.
Elizabelle
@Betty Cracker: Ahhhh. I think we can handle more than one post at a time. It’s a huge issue, whose time has come.
randy khan
@Baud:
My guess is that it’s one of those protocol things – heads of state invite heads of state, so the PM can’t actually extend the invitation.
Betty Cracker
@Elizabelle: It’s a fact that when a post gets squashed immediately by another, fewer people see it. I don’t usually care. This time I do. Will post it soon.
Tony Jay
@Brachiator:
They’re denying it now, claiming that the unnamed Minister who gave The Sun the story didn’t know what they were talking about, but that’s not the kind of thing that gets blurted out without a reason. Chances are it’s part of the Dolchstoßlegende being hastily hammered together out of gaslight and unicorn tears to explain why the UK has to suffer decades of recession, division and humiliation; as in it’s all because those beastly Eurocrats hate and fear Britannia Magna so much that they wouldn’t even make a few measly little concessions in order to secure a deal. It’s all bullshit, obviously, but it’s not designed to fool anyone who hasn’t already sealed the airlock of the Brexitremist Bubble behind them.
And I’m not going to lift one single pinky defending the fucking Guardian. How hard can it be to point out that negotiations on May’s Withdrawal Deal are over and have been for months? It’s actually a condition of the extension the Tories are busy wasting that the time could not be used to renegotiate anything. I guess all of the effort their political analysts have put in trying to ‘both sides’ the blame for Brexit has led to a certain numbness and lack of dexterity where factual reportage is needed.
chris
@rikyrah: Gotcher 1619 right here for free from the Pulitzer folks.
http://pulitzercenter.org/sites/default/files/full_issue_of_the_1619_project.pdf
Kay
@Elizabelle:
It’s complicated by the fact that there’s a move away from “zero tolerance” in schools because they recognize that was harmful and too broad brush, but at the same time they must provide “safety”. It’s really hard. If they have a kid acting out in a way that appears dangerous they can’t just expel, because they’ll catch too many in the net and the point of this is, after all, educating them, but all they have do is miss one and 25 people are dead. Their job is impossible. And no one will help them.
rikyrah
4 students shot during party near Clark Atlanta University; shooter on the loose
Updated: Aug 21, 2019 – 7:18 AM
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Orange is the New Red: Thank you for telling me that!
Sab
@Kay: The horrifying thing is that these drills sort of do work. Like rushing the shooter. Haven’t at least two kids sacrificed themselves and saved a lot of their fellow students by following the drill. And so far that’s the best advice we have offered them.
Elizabelle
@Betty Cracker: That’s cool.
@Kay: Yup. We dump all the problems on the schools. And then we don’t want to pay the teachers well, or treat them with respect, or give them a path to advancement that does not lead out of the classroom.
Elizabelle
Betty’s post on the Parkland Peace plan is up again.
Kay
@Sab:
I don’t want them rushing the shooter. That’s just another abdication of responsibility by the feckless and ridiculous adults they had the misfortune to get stuck with by an accident of birth. I am sick to death of libertarian cleverness and thought experiments. I am sick of talking about everything under the sun except guns. It’s blood and bone. There are no smart comebacks to that. Who were the brilliant adults who told them to rush the shooter? Meghan McCardle. Easy for her to say.
zhena gogolia
@rikyrah:
It is a magnificent thing. I’m reading it slowly just before bed.
I’ve given up on every American reading the Mueller Report, but every American damn well should read this.
Scamp Dog
@Brachiator: Yes, that’s her!
brantl
Ugly? This is freaking terrific.
Omnes Omnibus
@germy: I bet you could go to any decent size city’s Craig’s List and find several cheap used Mercedes SUVs