Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

Bark louder, little dog.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

I really should read my own blog.

Not all heroes wear capes.

All your base are belong to Tunch.

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

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

I did not have telepathic declassification on my 2022 bingo card.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Hail to the Hairpiece / Monday Morning Open Thread: Hail to the Occupant

Monday Morning Open Thread: Hail to the Occupant

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roland hedley tweets for trump - garry trudeau

(Garry Trudeau via GoComics.com – click to enlarge)

This maaay sound familiar to those of us old enough to remember Nixon during the Watergate investigation. Per Politico:

… President Donald Trump is increasingly morphing the White House residence into a second Oval. It’s become the place where Trump feels most productive, where he avoids meddling by his staff and where he speed-dials his network of confidantes, GOP lawmakers and TV pundits.

The residence was where Trump made the infamous July 25 phone call to the Ukrainian president that’s now at the center of impeachment proceedings. It’s where Trump often meets his personal attorneys to plot legal strategy or campaign advisers to shape 2020 campaign moves. And last week it became the location for a Trump meeting that’s as official as any, hosting Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell — the target of countless Trump twitter attacks — along with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin for a Monday morning discussion of monetary policy.

Maintaining a sanctuary to work and think has taken on greater importance for the president as he increasingly feels under siege by the Democratic impeachment inquiry. Frustrated by the whistleblower complaint and a parade of administration officials testifying on Capitol Hill, Trump is as wary as ever of the staffers around him and distrustful of the traditional White House infrastructure. Working from his private quarters gives him space away from what he perceives as prying eyes and guards against his omnipresent fear of leaks to the media.

It also gives Trump a greater sense of control as he faces the dual challenges of impeachment and his reelection, according to interviews with a half dozen current and former senior administration officials…

The president sometimes prefers to interview candidates for high-profile positions from his private quarters, so staff and White House journalists cannot monitor comings and goings. Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney landed his current job during a late Friday afternoon meeting in the private space of the residence…

He also uses it during working hours as a place to watch TV freely, tweet and serve as own his one-man communications director and political strategist. The residence serves like a bunker for his impeachment response and his real-time reaction to testimony, witnesses and public hearings…

A third former senior administration official insisted Trump’s heavy use of the residence was “not an attempt on the president’s part to hide things. He is a workaholic, so he wakes up early and works out of the residence. It’s just the way his internal work clock has been for decades,” the official said…

Those halcyon early days when Trump was busy wasting his inheritance, bankrupting casinos, cheating everyone who worked with him, and first getting to know the Russian mob up close & personal. Well, *that’s* reassuring!

Not to worry, though — Trump and his handlers have brought today’s GOP firmly to their knees his service:
trump is the gop's white elephant - tom toles

(Tom Toles via GoComics.com)

Reader Interactions

212Comments

  1. 1.

    Ruckus

    Poor little boy, scared to come out of his room.
    Has to curl up with his blankie and twitter and plan his escape.
    Such a nice concept as I grow older by the minute to see the country not run but ruined by an overgrown, dipshit, moron, racist, narcissistic, fake wealthy, asshole, who was known for all of that before he even ran.
    Life is stranger than fiction.

  4. 4.

    David ??Booooooo?? Koch

    He’s too lazy to walk to the oval office so he has his morning breakfast of cheeseburgers and pizza sent to his bed.

  5. 5.

    sukabi

    Didn’t get through the entire politico piece because the pretence that drumpf is actually working as he’s hiding in the can is laughable. He’s twéeting and airing grievances and plotting how to smear his “enemies”, but he’s not working.

  8. 8.

    David ??Booooooo?? Koch

    Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell — the target of countless Trump twitter attacks — along with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin for a Monday morning discussion of monetary policy.

     

    HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAH

     

    What bullshit.  The chimp doesn’t know anything about economics, let alone monetary policy.

  9. 9.

    David ??Booooooo?? Koch

    The residence serves like a bunker

     

    Hmmm.  You know who else spent his final days in a bunker.

  11. 11.

    David ??Booooooo?? Koch

    Anthony Hopkins has the distinction of portraying Hitler, Nixon and Hannibal Lechler.

     

    Gary Oldman has the distinction of portraying Count Dracula, Lee Harvey Oswald and Sid Vicious.

     

    Alec Baldwin has the distinction of portraying con-man Jimmy Swaggart, con-man John Delorean and con-man Donald Dump.

  14. 14.

    Ruckus

    @sukabi:

    Naw, he’s too much of a chickenshit to do it himself and no one around him has the balls or is I think quite that stupid. Who wants to hang for this asshole?

    Also if he is starting/down the road into dementia, my experience with people in it is that their survival instinct doesn’t leave them. They hang on despite all the despair and pain, til the body shuts down.

  16. 16.

    Anne Laurie

    @Amir Khalid: “Productive” has many meanings.  To phrase this as politely as I can: Being in the Oval Office, surrounded by windows and ‘his enemies’, makes his sphincter snap shut.  But on his personal gilded throne, in a hard-tiled room with no windows…

  17. 17.

    Ruckus

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    He may be awake and he may be doing what he’s been doing for decades, wasting the world’s time but the idea of working seems to me to require some useful output. So no, he’s not a workaholic, nor is he productive or useful other than as a sample for your kids on what not to do/be when you grow up. Or any time before that. Of course if they never want to grow up then a 73 yr old child is what you are going to get.

  23. 23.

    rikyrah

    About the Central Park Five:

    After they were cleared of all charges they sued the City of New York. The then Mayor fought to block any settlement & the case lingered in court until 2014.That Mayor has never apologized.That Mayor is now running for President of the United States.It was Michael Bloomberg https://t.co/jwgxB9IHST— I havn't ruled out running for President #2020 (@coryprovost) November 24, 2019

  27. 27.

    Zinsky

    I can’t believe anyone hasn’t stated the obvious yet – The reason Trump spends more time in the personal residence of the White House than in the Oval Office is so he can have FoxNews on 24/7/365!  Even a low class pervert like Trump recognizes that it would look bad to have FoxNews on all day in Oval Office.  This dumbass does little or nothing resembling “work”!

  31. 31.

    OzarkHillbilly

    I have a friend who suffers severe,y from Seasonal Affective Disorder. He can go a whole week without ever getting out of his pajamas, and when he finally does it is only to take a bath. I can just see Mnuchin and Powell in the WH residence talking monetary policy while trump sits on the couch in his pajamas and robe, glued to the TV and tweeting every 5 mins. Every now and again one of them will throw trump a yes or no question framed so that trump will give the correct answer and then he is ignored again.

  35. 35.

    WereBear

    I’ll give Dump this: he’s so blatantly dysfunctional that even the lapdog press, with all their years of experience, are straining to gild this lily.

    May they all get strangulated hernias.

  36. 36.

    Kay

    @rikyrah: 

    Remember this?

    LANSING, MI — Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is giving another assist to Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican running for re-election against Democrat Mark Schauer.

    That was before the Flint water poisoning came out. The infants who the whistleblower pediatrician identified with spiked lead levels are in school now and they’re tracking them. They’re “impacted” by lead poisoning. It’s permanent.

  37. 37.

    satby

    @OzarkHillbilly: nah, went to get moar coffee. Last night at 11:30, when I had been asleep one hour, a siren started going off very near my house. I thought an ambulance was coming for a neighbor. When I got downstairs, it was a car, empty but driver’s door open, 6 feet from my back door in the alley. I assumed a plainclothes cop was chasing someone but the cruisers arrived as I was looking out. It was a stolen car, evidently they had set off the lojack alarm and the thief had fled. It was towed away within the hour, but it took me much longer to fall back asleep. I’m going to need to mainline coffee today. And take a nap.

  40. 40.

    Betty Cracker

    @Zinsky: Exactly right — Fox News is the only meaningful ego inflation mechanism at this point. If Bloomberg and Steyer were clear-eyed patriots rather than deluded egomaniacs, they’d buy that damned network and turn it into a 24/7 nature show about actual foxes. Trump would be wheeled out of the White House — locked in the fetal position — inside a month.

     

    BTW, did y’all hear Trump’s insane call-in rant to Fox and Friends last Friday (I think)? Even the Two Boobs and a Blonde on the sofa were shifting around uncomfortably as he babbled about the nonexistent server, etc.

     

    Trump is going to make every single elected Republican and media sycophant swallow that load of horseshit whole and on live TV before this is all over. Good.

  43. 43.

    Kay

    @rikyrah:

     

    Oh, I’m sure he’ll hear about it when he gets to Michigan:

    The number of special education students in Flint schools has substantially increased from just below 15% in the 2014-15 school year — as Flint’s water crisis began — to 24% currently, a figure provided by Lopez.

  45. 45.

    Betty Cracker

    Speaking of empty-headed scions talented only at shoveling bullshit and squandering other people’s money, former WeWork CEO Adam Neumann:

    In another meeting, Neumann said three people were going to save the world: bin Salman, Jared Kushner, and Neumann. Shortly after the news broke in October 2018 that Saudi agents tortured dissident and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and carved his body with a bone saw, likely on order from the crown prince himself, Neumann told George W. Bush’s former national security adviser Stephen Hadley that everything could be worked out if bin Salman had the right mentor. Confused, Hadley asked who that person might be, according to a source familiar with the meeting. Neumann paused for a moment and said: “Me.”

    Better elites, please. This current crop sucks.

  46. 46.

    Kay

    I’m having a really small Thanksgiving- just our youngest, the middle son (no gf or her little boy- they’re broken up again), my youngest son’s gf and my husband.
    No one is a Trump supporter but my youngest and his gf are unbearably pure Lefties. He told me last night I’m not “ready for this conversation” – omfg. I might strangle him.

  50. 50.

    Kay

    @Baud:

     

    He’s new at it so he has that “I learned something new” compulsion to tell people. She’s actually wonderful- his gf- she’s a vegetarian so I have to make sure she gets enough to eat.

     

    He says he won’t vote in the general if Sanders loses the primary but I think I can move him off that. It’s his first vote. I think he’ll relent.

  52. 52.

    trnc

    This maaay sound familiar to those of us old enough to remember Nixon during the Watergate investigation.

    Has DT started to talking to the models in whatever low grade porn mags he looks at?

  53. 53.

    Kay

    @Immanentize:

     

    Sometimes talking to him I can’t believe he’s a real person saying these things :)

     

    It’s like a caricature of an online Lefty. Well, you have one around this age. You know the drill – be PATIENT.

  55. 55.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Betty Cracker:   A taste for those who missed it:

    “I do want, always, corruption”

    “She wouldn’t hang my picture in the embassy … it took like a year & a half or 2 years for her to get the picture up … this was not an angel, ok?”

    “We have to stand with Hong King, but I’m also standing with President Xi. He’s a friend of mine, he’s an incredible guy. We have to stand … if it weren’t for me, thousands of people would have been killed in Hong Kong right now.”

    “I would have been in some trouble right now, because they were coming after me … turned out to be the best move I ever made — firing Comey. Because they were looking to take down the president.”

  56. 56.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: I have online Bernie Bros to thank for pushing my daughter into Hillary’s arms prior to her first vote. She was Bernie-curious since she patiently listens to both parents’ political views and the mister voted for Sanders in the 2016 primary. But Sanders’ online supporters were so obnoxious that they turned her against him.

  57. 57.

    Baud

    @Kay:

     

    He says he won’t vote in the general if Sanders loses the primary but I think I can move him off that. It’s his first vote. I think he’ll relent.

    Draw Hitler moustaches on his photos if he doesn’t relent.

  59. 59.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Betty Cracker:  

    In another meeting, Neumann said three people were going to save the world: bin Salman, Jared Kushner, and Neumann.

    I’m a little surprised Beetlejuice didn’t make that list.

  60. 60.

    satby

    @rikyrah: well, free shipping on purchases over $35, but it’s not just for Black Friday, it’s the entire holiday season.

    I may as well tell everyone, this is my last Christmas in business. I’m going to really retire next year. It’s been harder to keep up with the online store since most of my ready to sell stuff is stored at my market booth. I’m going to work through the summer and lease my booth out next year unless my current plans change. Everyone here has been so supportive and it’s bittersweet, but I think that the time is coming.

  61. 61.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay:   Tell him if he doesn’t you will chop his head off and shit down the hole. While cleaning your shotgun.

  62. 62.

    debbie

    NPR interviewed Neal Katyal, the author of Impeach, and mouthy Rachel did not interrupt him one single time. Considering she learned all she knows from Steve Inskeep, this was quite a surprise

  63. 63.

    Anne Laurie

    @Betty Cracker: BTW, did y’all hear Trump’s insane call-in rant to Fox and Friends last Friday (I think)? Even the Two Boobs and a Blonde on the sofa were shifting around uncomfortably as he babbled about the nonexistent server, etc.

    See last post but one.

    (Probably should’ve saved it for this morning, except So! Much! News!)

  64. 64.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @debbie:   At least I left out the half eaten box of donuts with crumbs everywhere, the mostly empty 12 pack of diet coke, the urine filled cans so he didn’t have to go to the toilet, the…

  65. 65.

    NotMax

    60 comments and not one mention of Howard Hughes yet?

    Out of left field first world question for the jackaltariat.

    Mom called and one of the things she mentioned was that her kitchen sink faucet is going to need replacing. The problem (such as it is): Her kitchen sink is red porcelain-clad and the current faucet is a matching red color. Both installed many moons ago by the previous owners. Her handyman (good guy, in his seventies, does excellent work) has said he can’t find anything even close to that color locally so she wants to know if I can find one. Initial quick whiparound online last night (including a check at some places which deal with RV or marine kitchen faucets) wasn’t much help as the only ones in red which I could initially find are (a) not solid red but a combo of red and stainless steel and (b) ridiculously pricey (as in well over $500). Delta makes a more moderately priced faucet which is roughly the same style she now has (also a Delta) but the only solid color other than metallics they seem to offer it in anymore is white.

    Anyone by any chance have suggestions of specialty plumbing places to look at? No fancy-schmancy touch-to-use or extendable sprayer heads necessary.

  66. 66.

    satby

    @Kay: she’s a vegetarian so I have to make sure she gets enough to eat.

    Do a pasta side like ravioli or tortellini (cheese and spinach works) for her. That plus any other sides will make a fine meal, it’s what I and my friends do for our vegetarians. My one friend’s daughter is vegan though, so more challenging because no cream, eggs, cheese… She does tofu stuff for them.

  67. 67.

    low-tech cyclist

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: And it wasn’t just the SAO describing Trump as a “workaholic.”  The Politico article itself describes Trump “working late into the night and very early in the morning.”

     

    I want a hit of whatever they’re smoking.

  69. 69.

    ThresherK

    Nobody here has mentioned Howard Hughes?

     

    Trump may be weeks away from going there. Well, except Hughes, who wasn’t exactly a Boy Scout, did accomplish lots of things in his life.

  70. 70.

    satby

    @OzarkHillbilly: closer to the truth. As dementia progresses, very often the person with it doesn’t want to leave familiar surroundings. Which probably works out well for his staff  handlers, because they need to try to keep the con going as long as possible. He’s getting too publicly erratic. And everyone surrounding him is a traitor.

  71. 71.

    Elizabelle

    @satby:   Good to have made that decision. That’s going to make this Christmas special and memorable.

     

    And frees you up for a trip about this time next year to see Christmas in Mexico or elsewhere in the world.

  72. 72.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

     

    My daughter too! She voted for Sanders in the ’16 primary in PA (Clinton in the general) and now she has complete disdain for him and his enthusiasts. The truth is I’m cranky about the holiday. The Denmark son and wife aren’t coming and my daughter is very pregnant so is skipping the 8 hour car trip. I also have grown quite close to my middle son’s gf’s 4 year old but their relationship is a disaster and so I never know from one day to the next if I’ll ever see him again. They’re “off” right now. I texed her to say hi but she didn’t respond so I’ll leave her alone.

    I’ll buck up in time for the event. I like having parties.

  73. 73.

    debbie

    Is it too much to hope Trump listens to NPR from his bunker? Jonah Goldberg just called Crowdstrike “bat guano crazy.” That ought to be good for a chest twinge or two!

  74. 74.

    ThresherK

    @NotMax: I swear I was composing my post about Hughes before reading yours.

     

    This is a bit eerie!

     

    ETA: According to the wiki, Hughes was a scratch golfer. Trump can only dream of that, and a hundred other things Hughes did.

  75. 75.

    OzarkHillbilly

    I gotta brag on my daughter in law. On September 24 she gave birth to my grandbabygirl Addelyn Rose. Yesterday, 2 months to the day, she ran a 5K. She was gonna run/walk it but then her sister and a few friends said they’d run it with her. So she ran the whole thing, wasn’t gonna be the one to wuss out.

  76. 76.

    satby

    @Elizabelle: I just know that my juggling skills aren’t as good as they used to be ?! I’m constantly missing something that’s in the other place.

    And that’s not fair to my customers.

  78. 78.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @NotMax:   Forget it. Any red you find will be off just enough to look like, “Well, they fucked that up.” Go with the white or something else, the contrast will at least appear to be by design.

  80. 80.

    Kay

    @satby:

    She’s a good cook- her mother is a home ec teacher- so they’re going to make some vegetarian dishes day-of, which is nice because it gives them something to do. She made vegan cookies last Christmas that were really good.

  81. 81.

    Betty Cracker

    @Anne Laurie: Good. It needed highlighting. It’s just impossible to keep up with the fire-hose-volume of insanity.

     

    @Kay: Sounds like you’re doing the only possible thing — keeping the door open but not pressing. :)

  82. 82.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Kay:

    No one is a Trump supporter but my youngest and his gf are unbearably pure Lefties. He told me last night I’m not “ready for this conversation” – omfg. I might strangle him.

    Edit – you answered my question.  Best of luck convincing him this doesn’t just affect him.

  84. 84.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @satby:   Went thru that with my father, the familiar is comforting and they begin to cling to one person for security. With my father it was my mother. Something tells me that with trump it won’t be Melania.

  88. 88.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @JPL: Whoa. I didn’t know there was such a thing. Yes, we should be in Brazil tomorrow. There were birds circling the ship this morning, so we have to close to land somewhere.

     

    I just went to a talk on Shackleton’s trip to Antarctica with the Endeavor. That was a bad cruise!

  89. 89.

    satby

    @Kay: nice! I honestly can’t imagine cookies made without real butter and eggs, though I’ve had them (and cake too) in India. But those were exotic, to me anyway. Vegan Toll-House cookies?!? I don’t know.

  91. 91.

    Betty Cracker

    Looks like we’ll have 14 for Thanksgiving, which we are hosting. I’ve farmed a lot of stuff out, but now I realize probably not enough! Is it too late to call people and add onto the side dish load?

    Also, our guest room is overbooked. Two weeks ago, I told my aunt and uncle they could have it Wednesday and Thursday night. Then a couple of days ago, my mother-in-law told my husband she might want to stay overnight after Thanksgiving.

    That means I might have to kick my aunt and uncle onto the sofa, which is fortunately very large and comfy. I suspect pretty much everyone will be sufficiently inebriated that it won’t be an issue, thanks to my world-famous white sangria. :-)

  98. 98.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:   And an amazing story. Not a single person died. Shackleton was a dude.

    If that was the shot, here’s a chaser: The Worst Journey in the World

    From the Wiki page:

    In 1910, Cherry-Garrard and his fellow explorers travelled by sailing vessel, the Terra Nova, from Cardiff to McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. “Cherry” was teased at first by some of the other members of this expedition because of his lack of Antarctic experience, his lack of specialised credentials for the position of assistant zoologist to which he had been named, and persistent suspicions among some of his comrades that he had in fact bought his way on board by contributing £1,000 to the expedition’s troubled funds.[1]

    Cherry-Garrard responded to these taunts with modesty, a self-sacrificial ability to work hard, and acute observational skills. He was also, according to novelist, biographer, and socialite Nancy Mitford, the only intellectual amongst the crew.[2] These traits were to serve him well when it came time for him to write down his memories of the expedition. They also caught the eye of the expedition’s second-in-command, Edward A. Wilson, who adopted Cherry-Garrard as a protégé.[3]

    Wilson’s personal goal in Antarctica was to recover eggs of the emperor penguin for scientific study.[4] It was thought at the time that the flightless penguin might shed light on an evolutionary link between reptiles and birds through its embryo.[5] As the bird nests during the Antarctic winter, it was necessary to mount a special expedition in July 1911, from the expedition’s base at Cape Evans, to the penguins’ rookery at Cape Crozier. Wilson chose Cherry-Garrard to accompany him and Henry R. Bowers across the Ross Ice Shelf under conditions of complete darkness and temperatures of −40 °C (−40 °F) and below. All three men, barely alive, returned from Cape Crozier with their egg specimens, which were stored.

    It was this winter journey, not the later expedition to the South Pole, that Cherry-Garrard described as the “worst journey in the world”.[6]

    Just reading it gave me frost bite.

  99. 99.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Baud: I see.  And what’s the preferred punishment for Kremlin ass-suckers who are destroying our democratic government?

  101. 101.

    SFAW

    @Betty Cracker:

    Also, our guest room is overbooked. Two weeks ago, I told my aunt and uncle they could have it Wednesday and Thursday night. Then a couple of days ago, my mother-in-law told my husband she might want to stay overnight after Thanksgiving.

    Trigger warning:

    I see the potential for a rom-com film, with a side of partner-swapping. [I was going to write “wife-swapping,” but realized that’s sexist.] Their names wouldn’t happen to be Bob, Carol, Ted, or Alice?

  103. 103.

    Shalimar

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Watching TV and talking on the phone for input, tweeting and ranting to people on the phone for output.  This is pretty much the only work he has ever done in his life.  Phone conversations have mostly replaced in-person meetings and dinners, but otherwise everything is the same.  He has always had underlings to flesh out the details of his negotiations and do all the actual work.

  104. 104.

    Another Scott

    @NotMax: I hate working on plumbing.  You have my sympathy.

     

    I assume you’ve checked eBay.  I just took a quick look at Etsy – sometimes they have off the wall stuff that you can’t find anywhere else.  But nothing immediately jumped out at me.

     

    Are you sure it needs to be replaced?  Often those faucets from the name brands have lifetime warranties or easily available parts.  Maybe you can just replace the guts and that will be good enough?

     

    Good luck!

     

    Cheers,

    Scott.

  107. 107.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @HinTN:   That would work very well, better than the white I think. The only fly in the ointment might be if the sink had a stainless steel trim ring. But if that’s the case, SS is the obvious choice.

  108. 108.

    Betty Cracker

    @OzarkHillbilly: The rotten truth is I’m a control freak when it comes to food that is being served in my house. My brother is nearly 40, and it’s possible he can be trusted with something other than ice and sodas, but I’ve never tested him!

  110. 110.

    SFAW

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    I just went to a talk on Shackleton’s trip to Antarctica with the Endeavor. That was a bad cruise!

    Somewhere on the Intertubez, there’s a video walk-through of the shelter he and the crew constructed, I assume it was from the wreckage of the Endeavour. My (very vague) memory was that it was not too shabby, everything considered.

  111. 111.

    satby

    @Betty Cracker: I booked a room for my son and his gf. I have a reasonable expectation that I can get the public part of my house presentable for guests and dinner, but not the entire house.

     

    And a sweet side note: I have two young assistants on Saturday at the market, a brother aged 10 and his sister, 12. They’re the children of two former old order Mennonites who never went home after rumspringa, got married and are shunned by their families. I’m their “market grandma”. They’ve grown up very isolated but have really blossomed with the socialization they’ve had at the market and tomorrow the girl is having her first sleepover ever at my house. Officially it’s to help me clean up for Thanksgiving, but I’m plotting fun stuff to do too.

  113. 113.

    Kay

    I am glad I have a 3 day workweek. One of my colleagues who I like told me “we’re burned out”. I trust her observations on our mental state. I’m not that reflective.

    It doesn’t matter though- we can’t quit. Especially her- she’s much younger. It’s nice to have a name for general malaise though.

  114. 114.

    Another Scott

    @NotMax: Ah, so she’ll be doing the work then.  Neato.  You could help her via FaceTime or something.  Save the video and post it here – it should be great fun!

     

    ;-)

     

    Seriously, if she has to hire a plumber to install a new faucet then the plumber should be able to fix it (if it’s leaking or something – if the finish is damaged or the housing has issues, that’s another story of course.).

     

    I’m sure you’ve gamed all this out (I remember trying to help my FIL fix issues with his Apple SE from 500 miles away…) – just trying to “help” a little.

     

    Good luck!

     

    Cheers,

    Scott.

  115. 115.

    SFAW

    @Betty Cracker:

    The rotten truth is I’m a control freak when it comes to food that is being served in my house.

    Well, you gotta be, when you bring home a ‘gator to cook, and the grocery store doesn’t prep it first.

     

    But I can’t imagine how big a lobstah ‘gator pot you’d need.

  116. 116.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @debbie: The fact that Jonah Goldberg has a standing Monday morning segment on NPR infuriates me. Do they give a liberal pundit a standing segment every week? No, they do not.

     

    He’s supposedly a never Trumper but he not infrequently (grudgingly) says that he approves of things Trump is doing. Or, he says Trump is doing the wrong thing but also here’s why Democrats are equally or more wrong. Just like the rest of the conservative movement, he can never say that the Democrats are doing the right thing. They can’t find a single liberal pundit willing to come on every week to tell us how the Republicans are always wrong? If you ask them why, they’ll say they like to provide a “variety of perspectives”…but there seems to be one perspective they’re not, ever, willing to provide.

  117. 117.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Betty Cracker:   Heh. Fortunately that was never a problem for me. When my wife and I got married we threw a potluck dinner out in the woods, everybody brought whatever they felt like. Messy, a number of duplicates, but it was still tasty. I did the meats, pulled chicken, pulled pork, brisket, and at the last minute I got paranoid about having enough for 150 people and did up a ham too. I was getting pretty frazzled trying to make sure all 4 were absolutely perfect! until a few of my friends kicked me out and took over the grilling/smoking.

  118. 118.

    NotMax

    @OzarkHillbilly – @HinTN

    Her kitchen is all white and red. Picturing an installed white one in my mind’s eye, though, just looks … off. Did come across a reddish brass (not bronze) finish which might do but am unfamiliar with the brand. More research to undertake. May go looking at faucets for bar sinks next, although my gut is telling me marine fixture suppliers is the way to go.

  122. 122.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @Betty Cracker: Whether it’s too late to farm out more side dishes probably depends on a) are these people retired/stay at home or working full time? b) how far are they traveling (are we talking a couple hour drive or like 6 or more, or worse yet flying?) and c) when they’re travelling – is it Wednesday or today/tomorrow?

     

    If they’re working full time it would be kind of a dick move to ask them to do something more on a Monday, unless they’re taking the whole week off. If they’re not traveling too far AND they are not working this week AND they’re not leaving until later in the day tomorrow (see point a) or Wednesday, then I think asking today is fine.

  123. 123.

    NotMax

    @mrmoshpotato

    Young gator. For tenderness. :)

    Watched an episode of a historical cooking program recently in which the chef prepped and cooked a 45 pound turkey in the method suggested by either Martha Washington or her contemporaries (I forget which). He commented that would have been a very commonly found size for turkey in the 18th century.

  124. 124.

    mrmoshpotato

    @SFAW:

    when you bring home a ‘gator to cook, and the grocery store doesn’t prep kill it first. (but instead feeds it a bunch of speed.)

    Fixed. ?

  126. 126.

    Kay

    @satby:

    got married and are shunned by their families

     

    Oh, that’s kind of you. I feel like people romanticize that fundie religion. It’s just as brutal as all the rest.

  128. 128.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?:  

    If they’re working full time it would be kind of a dick move to ask them to do something more on a Monday, unless they’re taking the whole week off.

    Which begs the question, is it a bigger dick move to just expect Betty to take it all on no matter the cost to her and her sanity? Not looking for a fight, just putting the shoe on the other foot.

  130. 130.

    satby

    @Baud: ?? I was a painfully shy kid myself.

    @OzarkHillbilly:  I like the parents, but the family lives out on a farm about an hour away from here, the kids are home schooled, and none are in sports so they were basically monosylabbic when they started at the market (their mom makes amazing pies). All but the oldest boy is much more social now. The youngest started helping me first, then his sister. I cheerfully just put an entirely different model of life out there for them: snarky humor, bad language, friendships with marginalized people and all. One of my friends here is an out and proud trans woman who stops by to juggle bath bombs and tell the kids punny jokes… And after she leaves we talk about why Megan uses female pronouns and why we respect that.

    What can I say, not just animals need rescue sometimes.

  132. 132.

    Jeffro

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: The mini-series from some years back with Kenneth Brannagh as Shackleton is outstanding.

     

    I’ve made my kids read various versions of his expedition’s story since they were six (yes, there are kid-lit editions =)

  133. 133.

    Elizabelle

    We should have a Gaslighting and Trump Normalizing Hall of Shame.

    That Politico article is a contender.  Why let Mags Haberman have all the glory?

  135. 135.

    Jeffro

    I saw a clip this morning of Rick Perry relaying to a Fox “reporter” that he told trumpov, “mr. president*, you are the chosen one”

     

    For realz

     

    If he’s so innocent…if he’s the ‘chosen one’…why’s he holed up in the WH bathroom, tweeting and scarfing cheeseburgers?  Wouldn’t a truly innocent ‘chosen one’ be able to hold his head high (and publicly!) and do a news conference or three?  Testify before Congress, since he has nothing to hide?

     

    it’s weird…these are kind of low standards for a ‘chosen one’

  136. 136.

    satby

    @Kay: Amish and Mennonite farms often are some of the worst puppy mill breeders. Rescue groups aren’t fond of them.

    Farmers market sellers are like travelling carnival workers. It’s a bit of a subculture, and is populated  by people who often wouldn’t be employable or only marginally employable. A lot of my market is ex-Amish and Mennonite, and they only have 8th grade educations. I’m hoping to help the kids  see more than their parents can, only because the parents have been crippled in the same way. I proposed a trip to Chicago for the kids to go to some museums, and mom and dad want to come too.

  137. 137.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @NotMax:

    He commented that would have been a very commonly found size for turkey in the 18th century.

    I gotta call bullshit on that one. The avg wild turkey (male) weighs 11-24 lbs. All turkeys are descended from them. The turkeys Martha Washington worked with would have probably been very close to a Narraganset which go 22-28 lbs. The Broad Breasted White turkey, which is no doubt what he was using avg 40 lbs, but they are a recent breed and can’t even breed without human assistance.

     

    ETA: I should say BBWT’s can get to an avg 40#s. Slaughter weight is obviously  much less

  138. 138.

    Racer X

    Doesn’t know who to trust?

    How about trying this?

    Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time!

  141. 141.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @SFAW:

    They constructed shelters in several places as they tried to get themselves back to safety. There was a photographer on board and among the things they salvaged were his pictures. Apparently they believed (rightly as it turned out) that they could sell artifacts and pictures from the trip.

  143. 143.

    Josie

    @Jeffro:

    I saw that clip and couldn’t believe even Rick Perry would say something so idiotic.  Maybe he is getting ready to plead temporary insanity when they come to arrest him.

  145. 145.

    NotMax

    @OzarkHilbilly

    Suppose it’s possible he said 25 pounds (he speaks with a thickish accent) and the closed caption AI was funnin’ with me again, displaying 45 pounds.

    Visually, it looked as if a hobbit could fit inside the turkey shown. ;)

  152. 152.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @NotMax:   I looked into raising heritage breeds on our place for friends and family. Did a fair amount of research before deciding it was wholly impractical on the available acreage. That was why my BS detector went off. Hopefully he knows better.

  153. 153.

    NotMax

    @Dorothy A. Winsor

    One thing have always wondered about is exactly what the ship’s carpenter – whose skills were so crucial to aiding in their eventual survival – did to piss off Shackleton so much that he insisted the carpenter be denied receiving the medals presented at the big ceremony celebrating their return to England.

  154. 154.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Racer X:

    Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time!

    Silly rabbit Racer X, not criming is for people who haven’t been mobster trash their entire adult lives.

  155. 155.

    mardam422

    “He is a workaholic,”… who has the time to waste an hour ranting on Fox and Friends.

    Honest to Dog. How much of a sycophant do you have to be to tell someone Trump is a workaholic?

  157. 157.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Elizabelle: We’re going to kind of skip down the coast stopping in Recife, Rio, Montivedeo, and Buenos Aires, with sea days in between. I fly home on Dec 5, so that’s how long it takes to do it.

    We don’t stop long in each place though, so it’s just a tiny taste.

  159. 159.

    Gin & Tonic

    @NotMax: No idea if it still exists, but back in the day there was a place on Webster Avenue in the Bronx that was the go-to for antediluvian plumbing supplies.

  161. 161.

    Elizabelle

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: “So watching TV all day and ranting about it is work now”

     

    It’s the Donald Trump Full Employment Act.

     

    You’re employed, and you’re employed, and you’re employed, and …

    Best president for Jobs, Jobs, Jobs.  Ever.

     

    ETA:  You forgot the “conspiring.”  That’s moar hard work.

  164. 164.

    NotMax

    @Just One More Canuck

    Always a possibility to consider. Thanks.

    This is the brass one I mentioned (guessing it’s a brass-like finish over fiberglass). Always difficult to judge colors from online pix, however. She’d have to forego the built-in soap dispenser on her current unit, but I suppose the existing deck plate could be reused in place of the one that comes with the new unit.

  166. 166.

    Jeffro

    @Josie:  not to be outdone, Sarah “DON’T CALL ME A LIAR” Sanders said that trumpov “reads more than anyone I know”

     

    Twitter is having a field day pointing out that is essentially a confession that she knows not a single person on this planet.

  168. 168.

    Chief Oshkosh

    As this is an open thread…

     

    Navy Secretary Spencer resigned after Defense Secretary Esper demanded his resignation. What if Spencer had said “No. I refuse to obey an unlawful order, so I’m proceeding with the SEAL review. If you don’t like it, fire me.”?

     

    I ask  because I don’t know that Trump and his minions have the guts to actually fire someone, but I also don’t know if someone in Spencer’s position can tell the CiC to fuck off, fire me if you don’t like my performance.

  172. 172.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @NotMax:   It’s from the Empire Brass Company, hopefully they take their name seriously and it is all brass construction. Anything less is… Less.

  173. 173.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

     

    He says he won’t vote in the general if Sanders loses the primary but I think I can move him off that. It’s his first vote. I think he’ll relent.

     

    The courts. The children in cages.

  176. 176.

    rikyrah

    @satby:

     

    Thanks for the notice. So sad about you retiring,but, if it’s positive for you, then, I’m happy for you.

     

    I have to tell you that the Rose scent for the creme (which is divine) is overwhelming for my senses. I had to wind up giving it to Peanut, who has no problems with it, and likes the way it moisturizes her skin. I think I’m going to try lavender this year.

  178. 178.

    Aleta

    National Day Of Mourning

    This year’s NDOM is dedicated to Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls & Two Spirits, and to our thousands of relatives who are migrants and are being abused by ICE and other government agencies, including having their children stolen from them. We didn’t cross the border – The border crossed us! #NoJusticeOnStolenLand

    http://www.uaine.org

  179. 179.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    I am starting to see the Impeachment really about tearing down Trump’s support structure like they do with a Mafia boss and I see our Media Betters are working themselves up to declaring Trump innocent because of White, Male, Born before 1963,

  180. 180.

    Elizabelle

    @rikyrah:  I like his style.  That’s exactly how I feel.

     

    I ain’t trying to hear your “what is we gon do about the courts” take especially if you spent 2016 nitpicking Hillary, kneecapping Democrats and whining about rigged primaries. Fuck you.

  181. 181.

    Jeffro

    Aren’t we overdue for a big multi-million person Impeach the MF rally on the Mall?  Or are we doing that while the trial’s going on?

     

    Yes, yes, I know there will be a counter-protest.  We’ll try to get all eight of those folks into the same half of a Metro car for their own sake.

  183. 183.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Chief Oshkosh: Nevermind. I see that the so-called letter of resignation is actually an acknowledgment of being terminated:

     

    “I hereby acknowledge my termination”

  185. 185.

    Just One More Canuck

    @OzarkHillbilly: Highly recommended – what they accomplished on their first voyage under sail only was amazing, but to meet the end that they did….- the ultimate blech. Palin tells it very well.

     

    Mordecai Richler used the story of the Franklin Expedition to get one of the protagonists from England to Canada (Solomon Gursky Was Here) – pretty entertaining book – classic CanLit

  186. 186.

    Brooklyn Dodger

    @satby: Oh, sorry to hear you’re hanging up the scrub biz. My family are big fans of your lovely creations! BUT good for you to set an end date for work. Mine is also the end of the year after putting it off for a whole year (and looking forward to it for 10).

  187. 187.

    rikyrah

    Mayhew,

    Did you see this?

     

    University to Students on Medicaid: Buy Private Coverage, or Drop Out

     

    Emily and Kullen Langston were enrolling in classes for the winter semester at Brigham Young University-Idaho when they hit an unexpected roadblock.

    The school, like many others, requires all students to have health coverage. But this month, the university made an unusual announcement: It would no longer accept Medicaid.

     

    Ms. Langston, 20, enrolled in the free government insurance program last year after becoming pregnant with the couple’s daughter, who is now 4 months old. Mr. Langston, 22, was planning to sign up for Medicaid in January, when it is set to expand in the state.

    To remain in school, they would have to buy private coverage. The cheapest option available is the university’s student health plan, which does not comply with the Affordable Care Act’s consumer protections and would require the Langstons to pay a $3,125 annual premium.

     
    Ms. Langston said her family, which relies on the income her husband earns as a call-center operator, cannot afford that. She had hoped to become a teacher, but now intends to drop out of school, and her husband is unsure whether he will attend.
    “I’m disappointed that they’re showing prejudice against those of us who are poor right now,” Ms. Langston said. “I’m disappointed that I’m not going to be able to finish school.”
    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/24/us/medicaid-students-brigham-young.html

  188. 188.

    waysel

    @NotMax: I’ll bet her faucet is a high quality name brand unit that has a replaceable ‘cartridge’ I believe they call it- the part inside that does all the work and has seals that fail over time. Custom color porcelain ain’t cheap and companies like Kohler would create color matched faucet / sink combos. I would try to find out the brand and model. Replacing the cartridge is usually a pretty simple procedure.

  189. 189.

    PPCLI

    Trump has a bizarre Saturday night visit to the hospital. Nobody sees him for a couple of days. The first recorded sighting is then a meeting with his Treasury secretary and the Fed. chair in his residence. Then suddenly there is this butt-kissing article in the site that publishes John Solomon, about how Trump has preferred the residence for some time, because it makes it easier to be his “workaholic” self (Jesus, they can’t even make the lies the least bit plausible). He likes being able to do things unnoticed, don’t you know. And look, all these other high-profile things took place in the residence, it’s been a tendency for some time  ….

     

    Maybe. Or maybe that health event was more serious than they want to let on and they need to retrofit a cover story for why Trump will be meeting in the residence a lot for awhile.

  190. 190.

    rp

    @PPCLI:  They’re having a harder and harder time hiding his cognitive and physical decline, and they want to minimize his interactions with the WH staff. He’s going to fall or have some sort of severe episode in public in the next few weeks.

  192. 192.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @OzarkHillbilly: Well, she agreed to host. That comes with certain responsibilities IMO. One exception to the above rules is if the plan is for them to cook the sides the day of, and she can provide the ingredients, it would still be OK for her to pile on tasks on Turkey Day itself, even for those holding down full time jobs.

     

    If they have to make something new in advance, that means another trip to the grocery store and then prep and cooking time…could be tough to someone working full time to fit in at this late date.

  193. 193.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @OzarkHillbilly: Also, another exception is if they don’t have to do any cooking – i.e. if you task someone with getting something from the ready made section of the grocery store, or something that requires virtually no prep (cheeses for a cheese plate) still OK to ask.

  194. 194.

    NotMax

    @OzarkHillbilly

    Yeah, the more I checked the more skeptical I’ve become. Gonna scratch it off the list.

    Been doing some more poking around – fell in love with this one from Costco. Not red, but a beauty that would fit in without being in-your-face design-wise, IMHO. And real brass innards.

  195. 195.

    satby

    @rikyrah: I’m so sorry, I can do barely scented and unscented too. I do medium strength if very light isn’t specified. I have to do it by calculations, because I get habituated and lose my sense of smell in the middle of making products, so I can’t go just on my own judgement of strength.

    @Brooklyn Dodger: Thanks! And I admit, I’m looking forward to dialing back a lot. It’s an all or nothing kind of biz.

  197. 197.

    NotMax

    @waysel

    It’s a Delta (don’t know the model number). Probably 20 – 30 years old. She did say her handyman told her that cartridge is no longer available, which could be the case.

    I’ve met and interacted with the guy. He’s a meticulous pro of the old school but also struck me as more a replace than repair kind of guy. Mom got him the gig of being the on-call maintenance person for her three story, 12 unit building for stuff the super can’t or won’t handle, so don’t believe he would deliberately try to snow her.

  198. 198.

    Villago Delenda Est

    So, tweeting out his deranged stream of consciousness crap is “work” now for Donald.

     

    He’s a walking (barely) obscenity.  Impeach, convict, remove, indict, try, convict, imprison.

  199. 199.

    ellenr

    @satby: Make vegetarian stuffing.  Use Penzey’s veggie base for the liquid, regular Thanksgiving spices (poultry seasoning does fine), and add walnuts or other kinds of nuts.  If they’re not vegan, add eggs.  Bake about 30 – 45 min.

  202. 202.

    waysel

    @NotMax: Delta may no longer make and stock the part, but many on-line supply places have back inventory. It can take some rooting around to find the right part. I just wanted to be sure the guy was aware of the possibility, and hopefully did some thorough research.

  203. 203.

    Barbara

    @satby: My whole role at Thanksgiving is to make sure my vegan daughter has something to eat.  This year I will be making a pumpkin crostada, based on a recipe at the Washington Post.  I am changing it somewhat.  I will also make roasted Brussels sprouts with hazelnuts, and a vegan dessert that I know she likes.

     

    @ellenr: This is a great idea, and you can use mushroom broth for a deeper flavor, although vegetable broth is nice as well.

  205. 205.

    Barbara

    @waysel: It’s true, there seems to be an online business model that is geared to supplying parts for just about anything.  We have found parts for our 1991 Volvo, a Swedish camping stove, and a host of other things that we could never get through the manufacturer.  Definitely worth a shot.

  206. 206.

    Miss Bianca

    @NotMax: My friend who raised some turkeys for meat has some 45-50 pounders still available. I’m not sure the bird would even fit in my chest freezer!

  209. 209.

    Steeplejack

    @NotMax:

    I pretty much agree with OzarkHillbilly. You never realize how many shades of one color there are until you try to match the one you’ve got. I think your only chance would be if you could discover the manufacturer of the current faucet and go from there. Probably doubtful since you’re not on site and your mother probably can’t investigate the innards of the faucet.

  211. 211.

    NotoriousJRT

    @OzarkHillbilly: When Trump made his comment about standing with Hong Kong AND his friend, good man Xi,  I thought I saw contempt flicker in Brian Kilmeade’s eyes.  May these marathon rambles through the disordered mind of Trump on F&F torture those toady hosts.

  212. 212.

    Chris Johnson

    @Captain C: The staff that he hired.

    Assumes facts not in evidence.

    Putin’s people run Trump’s whole show. There is no reason to assume Trump is the boss of Putin.

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