Enjoy!
Archives for September 2019
On The Road
Good morning all,
I got in late tonight so an empty post will have to do. Some great stuff is enqueue, so please bear with.
Have a great day!
Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Hurricane Dorian
This is what Hurricane Dorian looks like from space https://t.co/wTEuaMH97Z pic.twitter.com/pvHvABJEDJ
— CNN (@CNN) September 3, 2019
We've never seen a satellite loop like this and hope to never see anything like it again.
It's hard to even conceive of something this horrific. https://t.co/XInyqpFBXv
— Capital Weather Gang (@capitalweather) September 2, 2019
Shocking to see that despite #Dorian remaining over the Bahamas, flooding has already begun in #Florida #HurricaneDorain #DorianHurricane #Dorian2019 https://t.co/sGe6Zq403G
— Kelly Nash?️ (@KellyNashRadio) September 3, 2019
Stay safe, everyone in Dorian’s path — hope those of you who’ve had to, or will have to, evacuate are able to check in when you get the chance.
For those of us watching and worrying from a distance:
Quick Report from The Bahamas! We @WCKitchen getting food and water into containers to deliver to Abaco and Grand Bahama. We also hope to land tonight or tomorrow morning by air when #HuricaneDorian moves. Whatever it takes support the many families impacted, we will be there… pic.twitter.com/LUNZHKhDri
— José Andrés (@chefjoseandres) September 2, 2019
We’re in touch with our partners in the Bahamas and #HurricaneDorian has done catastrophic damage. Please donate to support local relief efforts and RT to spread awareness -> https://t.co/8ribEWIwni pic.twitter.com/ni3Y1AIMR0
— GlobalGiving (@GlobalGiving) September 2, 2019
And, because this is Balloon Juice…
These are some of the 97 dogs Chella Phillips is safely harboring in her home during Hurricane Dorian. She says 79 of them are in her master bedroom! Chella runs a dog rescue called The Voiceless Dogs of Nassau, Bahamas. pic.twitter.com/agMvsDtcME
— Travis Herzog (@TravisABC13) September 2, 2019
Chella Phillips said the dogs are going to the bathroom "nonstop…but at least they are respecting my bed and nobody has dared to jump in." https://t.co/hJK8amLJ3m
— ABC7 News (@abc7newsbayarea) September 3, 2019
… She continued: “We may not get hit as hard as other islands and the saddest part is that after the hurricane leave the Bahamas, some islands will take a long time to recover…Each island has [an] abundance of homeless dogs, my heart is so broken for the ones without a place to hide.”
Phillips told ABC News she has spent 15 years rescuing homeless dogs and finding them homes in the United States. Her story has been widely circulated online, prompting an outpouring of support and financial donations to support her rescue efforts…
?? This amazing woman, Chella Phillips, rescued more than 100 homeless dogs before Hurricane Dorian hit the Bahamas!! Please check out her Facebook page and donate if you can! ????https://t.co/v7iGX1npk0
— Katie Phang (@KatiePhang) September 3, 2019
Chella Phillips: if you wish to help financially, the PayPal is: [email protected]
— J????son (White Rabbit) (@JpClark819) September 3, 2019
Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Hurricane DorianPost + Comments (105)
DC Press Corpse Open Thread: President As CEO vs. President As Cultural Phenom
Journalists on here: We are the guardians of democracy. We alone hold the torch of truth to shine a light on the powerful.
Same journalists: I wish I could write about how Trump is bad but Democrats aren't emailing me any talking points I like.
— Bret "Gregor Samsa" Stephens (@agraybee) September 3, 2019
This piece is a good example of why I and most of the people I know in journalism believe — by a very wide margin — that the Washington Post has surpassed the New York Times in reporting on the president of the United States. https://t.co/jBo2uLNPgo
— Jay Rosen (@jayrosen_nyu) September 2, 2019
Many years ago, when I subscribed to a dead-tree Washington Post weekly, a friend who’d grown up in the area explained that Washington DC is a company town where the monopoly industry is national politics. Which means that the Post treats every President as a CEO analogue — someone responsible for keeping the local industry running on an even keel, so that government workers and the hundreds of thousands of people whose livelihoods depend on those workers prosper.
The NYTimes considers itself as the national financial capitol; what interests them about any President is how he’s perceived by global business interests. The current Oval Office Occupant, however disastrous for individual Americans and the larger world, has *so far* been satisfactory as a novelty performer whose directors have not, to date, interfered in the ever-burgeoning prosperity of the oligarchs who support the NYTimes…
How it happened is not easy to explain. A key factor is that Dean Baquet, compared to Marty Baron, is far more concerned with how the Times coverage is — key word coming up — perceived by the White House and Republicans who support Trump. I wrote about it: https://t.co/VrTcZDUM4W
— Jay Rosen (@jayrosen_nyu) September 2, 2019
Thing is… when the profit-taking fails, the performer’s zany antics no longer disguise the smash’n’grab, there’s nothing left to loot… what becomes of the NYTimes? Or at least its most public face?
DC Press Corpse Open Thread: President As CEO vs. President As Cultural PhenomPost + Comments (130)
Respite Open Thread: Waffles and Hemingway Need a Home
Waffles is a six-year-old miniature horse. His best friend is a goose named Hemingway.
They’re available for adoption — together — in Pennsylvania. https://t.co/IOGI9ImkcI pic.twitter.com/Br29gG237r
— Erin (@erinruberry) September 2, 2019
A miniature horse is up for adoption in Pennsylvania – but if you want the horse, you have to adopt his best friend, too.
Waffles is a six-year-old miniature horse, and his best friend is a goose named Hemingway.
Waffles is described as being small, but with a huge personality. He loves the typical “horse things” like grass and carrots, but there is nothing he loves more than Hemingway.
Linda Reider with the Bucks County SPCA said Waffles and Hemingway are a package deal.
“If you want to adopt Waffles, you have to adopt Hemingway. And if you want to adopt Hemingway, you have to adopt Waffles,” Reider told WFMZ.
The friends go way, way back – they were both taken from the same farm, where “the conditions were not good,” as Reider described it.
“When we go to give medicines or injections [to Waffles], Hemingway would get in between us and say, ‘I’m sorry, that’s my buddy the horse, he doesn’t want a shot today,'” Reider told WFMZ.
If you are interested in adopting this adorable pair, please visit the Bucks County SPCA’s website here.
If you aren’t able to adopt Waffles and Hemingway or are looking for a pet of another kind, please consider adopting another animal from the Bucks County SPCA or from your local animal shelter.
I’m sure there is room in Cole’s backyard…I’ll chip in for transport.
Respite open thread
Respite Open Thread: Waffles and Hemingway Need a HomePost + Comments (131)
Monday Evening Open Thread: Floriduh Man (Dorian Edition)
Donald Trump’s new FEMA administrator. Because Florida. pic.twitter.com/ktMk8fKk2l
— Billy Corben (@BillyCorben) September 2, 2019
I am a native Floridian, so I know he’s (most likely) a transplant from the Northeast. But he became a Florida Man the moment he put that shirt on.
— Billy Corben (@BillyCorben) September 2, 2019
Floridian is a mentality, not a birthright
— Senator Swann Ronson, frmr Ambassador to Zamunda (@strat_nick) September 2, 2019
To carry out this intellectual exercise to its inevitable conclusion: the only way for the U.S. to amass sufficient ice supply to stop hurricanes would be…to buy Greenland. pic.twitter.com/bOPntASHgQ
— Billy Corben (@BillyCorben) September 2, 2019
Monday Evening Open Thread: Floriduh Man (Dorian Edition)Post + Comments (54)
Election 2020 Open Thread: Brad Pascale & His (Nominal) Boss, Dirty Birds of A Feather
"A company owned by the wife of Brad Parscale, President Donald Trump's campaign manager, has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the President's flagship political action committee, which is barred from coordinating with the campaign."https://t.co/O1QF8Yvrqs
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 30, 2019
… Federal Election Commission records indicate that Red State Data and Digital has received $910,000 from America First Action, the super PAC formed in 2017 to support the Trump-Pence agenda and fellow Republican candidates.
After CNN initially published a story about Parscale’s wife, Candice, being an owner of Red State, her husband contacted CNN and acknowledged he owns the company even though she is listed on legal paperwork. “I am the owner of Red State,” Parscale told CNN.
Parscale said he hadn’t originally wanted to disclose his ownership publicly because there are no available records connecting him to the company…In a series of texts with CNN, after initial publication, Parscale said that “so, legally we both own it,” and “she is on the paperwork yes.” He also said that “she is my wife and I allow her to file and be on my companies because I trust her. It depends on how you look at it. But no. It is all my company.” Then later he said, “I own the company solely,” and that his wife “listed it incorrectly” on the incorporation document, speaking of her being named as a “member.” “She just checked the box of what she was. I’m the owner.” …
Super PACs can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money on behalf of federal candidates, but they are barred from coordinating spending decisions with those campaigns, among other limitations.
Brad Parscale and his wife both insist their arrangement is legitimate and that there is no coordination.
Still, experts in federal election law consulted by CNN said earlier that the appearance of a connection between the President’s main super PAC and a firm set up by his campaign manager’s spouse that handles political ads walks right up to the line.
“It calls into question the independence of the super PAC,” said Larry Noble, the former general counsel to the Federal Election Commission and a CNN contributor. “One would hope a watchdog agency would investigate allegations of coordination.”
Noble said the FEC has been “lax” about enforcing coordination rules. The FEC was further weakened by the resignation of one of its commissioners this week, reducing the number of sitting commissioners to three and thereby stripping it of its power to enforce campaign finance laws. Federal law requires four or more commissioners to approve new rules or take actions to punish those who violate election law…
As Trump’s campaign manager, Parscale has come under scrutiny over the amount of money he’s made off his political companies. According to a source close to the company, Parscale was rattled by recent negative press, particularly criticism among his Republican peers over a $13,500 fee he was paid for a speech to the Republican Party of Seminole County, Florida.
Parscale has returned the money to the campaign, according to a source close to the company. In the wake of the criticism, he has begun downsizing, according to the source, who said he had let three employees go from Parscale Strategy in the past week. A Trump campaign spokesman declined to comment about whether Parscale had returned the money to the campaign.
The America First Action super PAC made its last payment to Parscale Strategy on March 13, 2018, and its first payment to Red State eight days later, on March 21.
In 2018, America First paid Red State a total of $837,000, according to FEC records. That makes it the fifth biggest recipient of money from the group last year, according to Open Secrets…
This story and the headline have been updated to include additional information given to CNN by Brad Parscale after publication.
More detail, none of it exculpatory, at the link. That’s the GRU’s problem — it’s easy enough to find glibertarian tech geeks to figurehead your foreign-influence vote-rigging campaigns, but hard to find any with the patience not to grab every coin out of the tip jar… or the experience to lie about their grabbiness with any plausibility. Heck, look at the trouble their high-dollar ‘Occupant’ is giving them, with what should be an easy glide to ‘reelection’!
As best anyone can tell most money donated to Trump campaign and PAC flows into either the pocket of Trump Family or @parscale or other close associates, or is spent on digital ads to raise more money. Everything @parscale has said about @cnn story just makes him look more guilty
— David Rothschild (@DavMicRot) September 1, 2019
Worse than the obvious campaign fraud and corruption: @parscale is obviously as unhinged as his boss. This tweet targeting a specific journalist is dangerous.
— David Rothschild (@DavMicRot) September 1, 2019