Chosen, of course, because Mary-Chapin’s elderly golden decides to add a squeaky-toy backup…
We need to be doing more to ensure Americans have the health care they need. Instead, the President is continuing his mission to steal coverage from millions & tear protections away from the more than 130 million Americans living with pre-existing conditions. #AMR #FamiliesFirst pic.twitter.com/ragUalVgHP
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) April 2, 2020
Join @levarburton for his live #LeVarBurtonReads Twitter special, featuring a selection from storyteller @neilhimselfhttps://t.co/woe5NLxhZz
— Twitter Live (@TwitterLive) April 4, 2020
SCOOP: Today, Elizabeth Warren sent letters to the CEOs of Uber, Instacart, DoorDash, and Grubhub calling on them to stop misclassifying workers as contractors and start offering them a minimum wage, paid sick leave, health benefits, and more. https://t.co/H1iJ2Ewozp
— Edward Ongweso Jr (@bigblackjacobin) April 1, 2020
As I say in the article, miclassified workers don’t qualify for state unemployment in most of US. Warren’s letter is significant because it makes plain a key gig economy grift: misclassifation cuts labor costs AND tax bills. Uber alone would owe billions. https://t.co/i6EBNPQBCF
— Edward Ongweso Jr (@bigblackjacobin) April 1, 2020
Hannity. Rush. Dobbs. Ingraham. Pirro. Nunes. Tammy. Geraldo. Doocy. Hegseth. Schlapp. Siegel. Watters. Dr. Drew. Henry. Ainsley. Gaetz. Inhofe. Pence. Kudlow. Conway. Trump.
Today, we salute the Heroes of the Pandumbic. pic.twitter.com/35WLDgoHcf
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) April 3, 2020
Baud
The Corbyn era is over.
JPL
After reading about trump’s firings and appointments last night, let me say I miss Nixon.
OzarkHillbilly
Blech.
debbie
@Baud:
His background (human rights) ought to make for interesting pushback against BoJo. “Let ’em die and get it over with.”
mali muso
It seems no matter how low, venal or evil Rs go, there is still a lower level to be plumbed. Always.
On a ‘trying to find new projects to stay busy’ front, I am on day 4 of feeding my first home grown sourdough starter. It’s bubbling away, so I think that means good things. I’ve been baking bread from scratch since childhood, but sourdough is a new frontier for me. Any hot tips or recipes from the jackaltariet?
Dorothy A. Winsor
I saw this post’s header and thought oh yeah, it’s Saturday. Who knew?
I’m reading Patchett’s Bel Canto, doing a big puzzle, and pretending to write, but all at half speed.
@debbie: I wonder how Johnson feels about that now that he has it.
debbie
@JPL:
He speaks.
(In reference to a post about Jared/Sons-in-law.)
OzarkHillbilly
@JPL: I miss Nixon’s Republican party. You know, the one that recognized blatant abuses of power as a sure electoral loser?
I hope it still is.
MazeDancer .
PSA: How to Frame a Webcam Shot
Didn’t spend all those eons in ad biz for nothing. Here is how to help yourself look presentable on Zoom and FaceTime. It also helps others to see you looking like yourself, not a funhouse mirror version.
1. Raise the Camera
Put your phone or computer on books, or something, so the camera is at least eye-level. Never shoot from below. Distorts the face.
2. Frame from the waist up.
Don’ t make yourself a giant looming face. Close as you should get is below the chest line. Remember, wider is better for framing.
3. Depth of background helps
Have as much background behind you as possible. Distracts the eye. Makes you look more like a human. Also, there is no rule that says you must prove you are a big thinker by having a wall of books behind you.
4. Side light
Having a window to your side is the most forgiving light. Bathes the face in a rosy glow.
Practice this, experimenting before your next call. Remember, it’s not just for yourself. It is helping others.
debbie
@MazeDancer .:
Your #1 is most important. If I see one more adult looking like a little kid trying to photobomb…
Immanentize
@MazeDancer .: also, raising the camera (a la #1) together with — never sit back slouching (use a chair that keeps your back straight) will help you remove unsightly extra chins, should you have a spare or two.
OzarkHillbilly
Federal Court Tosses Florida’s Poll Tax; Formerly Incarcerated People Can Vote in 2020
MazeDancer .
@Immanentize:
Shooting from below your face will give you extra chins you don’t even have. Yet.
Anya
@Baud: That’s a big win and he really needed a big win otherwise he would not be effective because the Corbynites would be harping on his lack of support among Labour’s rank and file. His deputy is also not a Corbynite so there won’t be disunity.
raven
I dis a zoom with my LA family last night and it was good.
OzarkHillbilly
@MazeDancer .: Safe to say none of this advice will ever be needed for me.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@MazeDancer .:
Great advice. I find I have to be fairly close to my laptop for my voice to come through though. Maybe it’s me.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@raven:
It’s amazing how good it feels to see people. Phone is good, but seeing is even better.
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly: I understand the app. You use is not Zoom, but “Loom.”
Aleta
Thank you Anne for these 3 posts. Your steadiness amazes me.
(and the ancient empty street’s too dead for dreaming.)
donnah
Color me naive, but while I knew that FOX news has always been a Right Wing propaganda machine, I hadn’t realized how intensely and forcefully they had denied the coronavirus. I never watch any of those charlatans, so I didn’t know just how dangerous they are. Call Captain Obvious.
Holy crap, they probably convinced more than three quarters of their dumbass viewers over those first crucial months that it was all a farce, gleefully accusing the real news reports of hyperbole and overreaction. Because they’re aggressive and dismissive about the facts, FOX talking heads made it more difficult by a large measure for people to take precautions.
Their broadcast licensing should be revoked. They all have blood on their hands. And that video should run nationally every day.
MazeDancer .
@debbie:
Exactly. Looking human on FaceTime or Zoom is being kind to others.
It doesn’t matter if one cares not how they look, think of how other people have to keep adjusting to how weirdly you appear.
Looking as much like yourself as you can online helps others in these trying times.
pluky
@Dorothy A. Winsor: get an audio pod (e.g. Jabber). They’re so much better than the built in speakers.
raven
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I so worry about my sis, she’s by herself in her house. She’s spent the last few years after her husband died helping with the her grandkids but that’s off for now. She seemed ok but she always has and she’s been trough some shit.
TS (the original)
Watched the Daily Show Video – Should be run as a campaign ad – every day. I’m assuming someone was correct in saying @ Feb 28 – No-one has died yet in the US.
What a difference a month makes!
Immanentize
@Dorothy A. Winsor: you can probably adjust the audio volume. But I have decided my camera mic is poor, so I wear a headset with a mic wand. Also makes it way easier to hear, especially in classes.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
Immanentize
@rikyrah: good morning!?
rikyrah
@donnah:
they need to be sued into oblivion??? for the deaths on their hands
Dorothy A. Winsor
@donnah:
I’ve mentioned that I live in a condo building for over-55 year olds. They’ve always had FOX on in the common areas (except when Mr DAW found no one nearby and changed the channel to CNN and then left). I’m appalled they left it on over the last few months. The TV is turned off completely now since we’re not supposed to use the common areas.
@MazeDancer .: My writer group has been meeting via Zoom. I’ve seen those people in person weekly for a couple of years now, and it’s fun to see how they’ve gotten rougher looking each time we meet. We’re all human together.
rikyrah
@OzarkHillbilly: I
Thanks for the good news
MazeDancer .
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Get a mic. Even the cheapest lavalier will make a big difference.
Order online. Or maybe a local store will curbside deliver and give you instructions over the phone.
Immanentize
@raven: Is she able to get out and walk? Walking has been a saving grace for me. My poor Mom, who is a walker, isn’t allowed to leave her building.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@pluky: @Immanentize: I can hear other people. They just can’t hear me. I have my audio turned up all the way.
MazeDancer @32: Oh. Maybe we have one somewhere. I’ll ask Mr DAW. He’s been zooming for months with some business associates.
OzarkHillbilly
@Immanentize: Loom is my natural state.
@MazeDancer .:
I am being kind to others by avoiding it all together.
Immanentize
@rikyrah: Speaking of sued, did you see students at Liberty college are showing signs of the ‘rona? Falwell needs to be taken back to his Lord for that.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Is the Guardian sad?
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Immanentize: I also find walking to be a great stress reliever, especially as spring creeps in, but even before that.
OzarkHillbilly
@rikyrah: I try to find some every day.
NotMax
With awareness he’s not everyone’s cuppa, FYI.
Andre Lloyd Webber is offering up a different musical, complete, on YouTube each weekend for a limited run. The announcement.
Immanentize
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Laptop mics are poor. On zoom and BB Ultra, you can rig in your phone for audio so you can use an earbud mic which is closer to your mouth. Or you can just plug buds with a mic into your laptop.
JPL
@raven: She probably misses the grandchildren, but if she zooms with you, then you know she face times with them.
germy
raven
@Immanentize: I think but, just before she was supposed to come for my retirement gig she fell and shattered her elbow so that ain’t helping.
raven
@JPL: We were all together on this one.
germy
PST
My laptop has a camera that is hidden under a key in the function key row that pops up when you tap it. A very scary angle, and not just for double chins. At night, with my face lit mostly from below by screen glow, I wouldn’t want to take a chance of video calling a young child or even an adult with weak nerves.
Steeplejack
Jumping in for a quick update before I have to don the tactical gear (pants!) to go out into the viralpocalyptic coronascape to take my friend to work at Trader Joe’s. She was off Wednesday and Thursday while the store got a deep clean after an employee tested positive for coronavirus. That employee hadn’t been in the store since before last weekend, but it’s still worrisome. The store is taking extra precautions, will start letting employees wear masks soon and has cut the number of customers allowed in at one time from 40 to 25. Dunno how effective all that will be.
My friend also said that her brother has tested positive for coronavirus. He lives in New Jersey and works at a correctional facility. ? Mid-forties, good health, so she is hoping that he will pull through okay. He lives alone and is self-quarantining at home.
I’ll probably get together with Bro’ Man for dinner tonight or tomorrow. I haven’t seen him since we were in Las Vegas. Seems like ages ago, but it was just three weeks. He is rattling around all alone in cavernous Sighthound Hall. His husband took the kids and the Brazilian “manny” to the beach house in Rehoboth Beach weeks ago and have been holed up there with a couple of friends and the friends’ dog. The kids love the dog and vice versa.
Bro’ Man has been seeing a handful of patients every day at his HMO’s big clinic in downtown Washington. This coming week he will be doing video appointments from home—he doesn’t know how well that will work—and then next week he will start burning through his accumulated sick leave and vacation time, as required by management. The ophthalmologists will rotate into the clinic for skeleton-crew coverage.
That’s about it. One thing that has struck me is how ridiculously beautiful the weather is here in NoVA. In movies the plagues and zombie apocalypses always seem to be accompanied by bad weather and permanent twilight. Go figure. Yesterday it was sunny, breezy and up in the mid-60s. Pollen everywhere, of course, but still very nice.
germy
MazeDancer .
@OzarkHillbilly:
Aww, selling yourself short.
A weekly, narrated video tour of your incredible property. And pets. Even if we don’t get to you, would be a big draw on WaterGirl’s video get together charts.
MattF
On topic, Jubilee.
JPL
The TJ’s I shop at limits customers and appears to work.
Enjoy the nice day and I hope that trump looks out and bemoans the fact that he can’t play golf. He can play but his aides won’t let him. Maybe the tennis courts are finished though.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Steeplejack: Crooked Media has a new podcast with Alex Wagner called “Six Feet Apart.” This week it was about groceries and the food chain. There was an interview with a guy whose farms produce most of the country’s baby carrots. His company sounded very prepared for the pandemic. It was an interesting contrast to the administration. The second interview was with a guy who worked at Trader Joe’s talking about their efforts. The whole thing is worth a listen.
JPL
@NotMax: Thank you.
Steeplejack
@Immanentize:
What headset do you have (or recommend)? My brother is asking for advice on one to use with Rosetta Stone.
germy
Steeplejack
@rikyrah:
Good morning. ?
raven
@Steeplejack: Are they able to surf fish?
narya
@mali muso: It is much more hardy than you think it is! I keep mine in the fridge and feed it . . . sometimes. Once it got a little mold on the top. Normally, mold means “throw it out” in my house (and I use all kinds of things that are past their supposed date of use). But this is sourdough starter! I scraped it off, and then a little more, then fed it and left it on the counter, and did another cycle, and it was good as new. (Better, probably, because it had been fed.) Also: King Arthur has a recipe for pizza made in cast iron pan, and they gave me a formula for using starter discard, and it is freaking awesome. And the starter gets fed more often that way, too. I keep mine at 100% hydration, it’s all whole wheat, and total weight is about 450 grams (150 g starter, 150 water, 150 flour). that turns out to be a good size for lopping off some for bread or whatever. Use filtered water. Anything else? happy to email.
zhena gogolia
@NotMax:
Oh boy!
Anya
@schrodingers_cat: They better get over it and fast because Starmer has a grassroots mandate. He won almost twice as many party members as Corbyn won in 2015. From what I’ve read so far, they are not bad but Momentum has already declared low-key civil war on Sarmer. They want to be Justice Democrats.
PST
@Steeplejack: There have been moments of eerie beauty here in Chicago, too. Eerie in large part because of the absence of vehicular traffic and paucity of even foot traffic. I hear the black plague was like that also.
Anya
@germy: What a ghoul. He can’t even muster the minimum show of support and concern.
NotMax
@OzarkHillbilly
Only way I’d ever consider getting a camera for the computer is if it could be set to sepia.
London fog at midnight filter would be a welcome bonus, also too.
;)
Jeffro
Let’s see, in just the past day or two, trumpov has
Am I missing anything?
Is it time to storm the Bastille yet?
Steeplejack
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Thanks, I’ll take a look.
WereBear
The answer is to impeach both Trump and Pence. Let them scream. They threw a tantrum over a tan suit.
Make it a show trial. I don’t think the nation is going to make it to November at this rate.
germy
Anya
@Jeffro: How does Susan Collins feel about this since she said she’s confident Trump has learned a lesson? Are we at the furrowed brow or concerned stage?
Immanentize
@Steeplejack: I have two — a Plantronics encore pro which I use as an over the head rig. It is only one outside ear speaker and a good mic wand. I also have a set of full over-ear Plantronics 655s which have good sound external sound deadening qualities. But for language learning? I would probably just get a decent ear bud set with mic. Like etymotic or RHA?
Steeplejack
@raven:
The Sighthound Hall mob aren’t big fishermen, but there is good surf fishing along the Delaware coast. Mostly stripers, bluefish, kingfish, I think. And of course you can get a charter to go out into Delaware Bay and the ocean.
germy
May 5, 2017
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
germy
@Anya:
rikyrah
@Immanentize:
Another target for an enterprising attorney.
Sue Sue Sue ?
rikyrah
Anyone here own a Ninja Foodie Grill?
I’m going to order one today ?
Steeplejack
@Immanentize:
Thanks, I’ll check those out. Gotta hit the airlock to the exosphere now. Back later.
Barbara
@Anya: No doubt she is hunkered down for her own good and not speaking to the press. She is worse than worthless because she actively gives cover to evil in the guise of principle.
Another Scott
@Baud:
Is it though??
The BBC News report on the TV this morning spent about 25% of the time showing video clips of various Labour anti-semitism charges (they just love giant billboards on the side of buses) and Starmer’s acceptance speech mentioning it, etc. It seems to be Labour’s But Her E-mails, still, at least for a while.
(sigh)
Best of luck to him, and the Labour party. The UK needs a strong opposition party to have a chance of ending the stupidity of Austerity, etc., etc.
Cheers,
Scott.
raven
@Steeplejack: I bet there’s reds (drum) in there since it’s at the top of the outer banks. A king on a surf rig would be fun!
Aleta
About those henchmen of the pandumbic.
Uncomfortable thought experiment I had last night: President HRC* acts very early, recommending guidelines to states. Cracks down on contractors and federal officials who violate the Federal Procurement Policy Act; invokes the DPA.
The henchmen call for threat level Bezonkers, reporting every shadow of black helicopters. Pandumbmaniacs hoist flags and suspect every medical tent and military effort to assist.
* Don’t get me wrong, I’d crawl over wasps to make her president today.
JPL
geg6
@donnah:
Read somewhere this morning that they are lawyering up in expectation of lawsuits.
And I just ♥️ MCC’s puppeh.
Anya
@germy: So, she completely and utterly attached herself to Trump. It would give me great pleasure when she losses big. I hope Main doesn’t disappoint us which is a huge possibility considering they’ve elected a bigoted lunatic twice as a governor.
Shalimar
@MattF: Mary Chapin Carpenter is great, but I got my hopes up for a different jubilee
Immanentize
@Another Scott: The anti-Semitism charges, as Tony Jay points out, seem really overblown. I just looked at the number of Jews in the UK. It is .4% of the population. Not .4 of the population, but percent or, .004 of the British population.
NotMax
Can almost see the FOXaholics nodding their heads in unison to Dolt 45’s revelation yesterday that “we have a lot of states.”
“See how knowledgeable he is? Amazing he finds the time to do such in-depth research.”
//
OzarkHillbilly
@MazeDancer .: Narrated? But then you’d here my voice! The horror!
Lapassionara
Good morning, everyone.
Today is the 52nd anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. This one sticks with me because I was living in Memphis at the time it happened. 1968 was a hellacious year.
2020 seems determined to top it.
Immanentize
@Anya: The only reason LaPage was able to win twice in Maine was the timely appearance of a spoiler candidate. LaPage only got a plurality, never a majority, IIRC. With their new ranked voting system, that would be very unlikely if not impossible to replicate.
OzarkHillbilly
@NotMax: I am incapable of imagining a use I might have for a camera on my computer.
Geminid
@Baud: Re Keir Starmer: It’s great to see Labour pick another Keir as leader. The first was Keir Hardie, who started work in a Lanarkshire coal mine at age 10 and went on to help found the Labour Party. After the 1906 election he was Labour’s parliamentary leader.
NotMax
@Lapassionara
Was attending a rehearsal of Oh! What A Lovely War when someone rushed in to deliver the news.
Could have heard a dust mote drop as the rehearsal was cut short and everyone slowly filed out.
NotMax
@OzarkHillbilly
Come sit on the couch along the wall opposite me.
;)
MomSense
My internet kept crapping out yesterday making work impossible. I’m going to do the produce deal at the farmer’s market. I call from the parking lot where they are set up and give them my order and card, they put my order on a table and then leave, and I drive up and pick up my order. Today I’m getting two soup bags and 2 grab bags. The soup bags have root vegetables and onions for soups. The grab bags have a combo of greens, scallions and usually one surprise. If it’s kohlrabi I’ll grate it with some carrot and make fritters.
After the farmers’ market, I’ll take a walk and then try to do the work I couldn’t do yesterday.
Oh I forgot that a new craft brewery opened and the other local breweries are asking their customers to go to the new brewery to help them out. Today might be a good day to pick up a couple growlers.
OzarkHillbilly
@NotMax: Don’t you mean the Group W bench? When did they upgrade it to a couch?
Shalimar
@germy: Bezos also used the IPO money to subsidize years of getting Amazon Prime’s free shipping up to the scale where it was profitable. It was a huge idea for gaining dominant market-share, but all the finance people telling him it was impossible weren’t wrong. It was impossible before they built all of those warehouses, and they didn’t have them when Bezos started the program.
MattF
Venezuelan naval ship rams cruise ship with reinforced hull, sinks. WTF?
Lapassionara
@NotMax: That is several layers of irony right there. I saw a production of Oh, What a Lovely War in NYC, not long after it opened.
danielx
You get amusement where you can.
Sitting on back porch in spring: wonderful.
Listening to dialogue of neighbors playing drunken euchre with another couple over Skype: priceless.
NotMax
@OzarkHillbilly
Shortly after Alice floated an IPO and went international with franchises.
:)
Immanentize
@NotMax: I thought Alice went into International Waste Management (and recycling of course)?
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
Gloom would be mine.
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax:
What about film grain and scratches? Don’t just go sepia, go silent era, old-as-hell, nitrate, hand-painted sepia.
mrmoshpotato
@MattF:
Good FSM! Sign of the times.
debbie
@germy:
Bastards! Pasted into my FB page. By the way, FB’s formatting stuff sucks.
NotMax
@mrmoshpotato
The years have left more than enough grain and scratches on me to cover those bases.
;)
Another Scott
@Steeplejack: When I was in the Alexandria TJs a couple of days ago, I heard a couple of the staff talking about the Clarendon store. One was saying that they were cleaning the store and that the team member that was showing symptoms got tested and they would have the results in 5 weeks and that the person was self-isolating since they started having symptoms…
Several of us silently waiting in line went “WHAT??”, someone said “5 WEEKS!!” and then the manager corrected herself and said 5 DAYS! :-)
Still, 5 days to get a test result is a crime :-( and if they’re positive they spend another week at home in isolation (2 weeks total).
You’re a good man for helping her out in these trying times.
Fingers crossed.
Cheers,
Scott.
mrmoshpotato
@germy: My flabber is ghasted. And I’d really like SPW to slap Susan Collins across the face – hard. Tell us more Sue about how impeachment is a really big lesson in that weird tone of voice you used.
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax: LOL Well played, sir.
debbie
@Immanentize:
Still, there’s a long, long history of the Brits’ “benign anti-Semitism.”
Not a whole lot better in my estimation.
mrmoshpotato
@Anya: Way to slander ghouls there. What beef do you have with them? ?
germy
My wife just walked in with some face masks she made. “What did you use for elastic?” I asked.
“Hair ties,” she said.
I tried one on. It fits good and the hair ties work great.
L85NJGT
@schrodingers_cat:
They are neo-liberal sellouts.
@Anya:
The (corrupt establishment /snark) unions lined up behind Starmer.
Robert Sneddon
@debbie: The British working class that supports Labour is generally rife with sexism, racism, anti-Semitism and even has it in for the wrong kind of Christian on many occasions — I grew up in Scotland in the 1950s where there were separate Catholic and non-Catholic schools. The Labour Party as an institution is solidly against any of that stupid crap but the people who make up the party are people, basically.
Labour doesn’t bend the knee to Israel and agree that what it does in the Gaza Strip and West Bank is right, that’s the problem it faces in the court of public opinion hence the anti-Semitism claims — calls for disinvestment in Israeli companies is claimed to be anti-Semitic, for example.
mali muso
@narya: thanks! I’m a big fan of King Arthur flour and use their website a lot. Don’t have any cast iron or Dutch ovens so I’m hoping I can find some good recipes that don’t require them.
Steeplejack (phone)
@germy:
Damn it! I was just at CVS on my out-of-bunker expedition, and I forgot to get hair ties to make my no-sew mask.
OzarkHillbilly
Say WHAT??? I have 4 and I use them all. Especially good for baking bread. One does not need the pan of water in the oven.
Betty
@MazeDancer .: Much needed advice. Thank you!
debbie
@Robert Sneddon:
Speaking as a past target, I fully support your second paragraph. Claims that anything less than full support of Israel is anti-Semitic is itself absolute Fake News.
I will again recommend the documentary Afterward, made by an Israeli psychotherapist who comes to see her own prejudices about Palestinians. I wish all those of Jewish persuasion were as open-minded and willing to admit their own fallibilities when it comes to the Middle East.
mali muso
@OzarkHillbilly: I know, it’s been in my wish list to buy some for a long time. Now kicking myself for procrastinating. I do have a pizza stone and I’ve done the whole pan of boiling water on the bottom shelf thing before.
kindness
Trevor Noah is great. I loved Jon Stewart even though he always let Republicans blatantly lie on his show. Jon rarely gave right wing idiots grief. I still loved the guy. Trevor is also great but comes at it from a different place. Funny how our comedians are our leading lights of ethics and hope.
Citizen Alan
@Aleta: Oh yeah, Hillary (or Obama for that matter) could have handled every aspect of coronavirus flawlessly, and still the garbage-humans of the Right would have bitched and moaned and insisted it was all “wagging the dog” to distract away from her rampant criminality. Just like they’d have impeached Pres. Gore if 9/11 had happened on his watch.
Miss Bianca
@Geminid: That bit of info gets my vote for “history nugget of the day!”
J R in WV
@OzarkHillbilly:
Are you sure you didn’t mean “Loon” is your natural state???
J R in WV
@Immanentize:
I think the Jews of England knew all along that they were despised by the despicable haters of England, and got the hell out ASAP. People seem to be able to sense when they are hated, and do their level best to get out of that situation.