Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

I really should read my own blog.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

They are not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

SCOTUS: It’s not “bribery” unless it comes from the Bribery region of France. Otherwise, it’s merely “sparkling malfeasance”.

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

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

The willow is too close to the house.

You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

You are here: Home / Nature & Respite / Late Night Respite Open Thread

Late Night Respite Open Thread

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Also, too… I stand with Jacquelyn:

Reader Interactions

108Comments

  1. 1.

    Brantl

    Isn’t it funny, how all the little shit you do, good or bad, adds up? Karma, is real.

  2. 2.

    E.

    Damn! Did you see Megan Rapinoe’s comments on losing the equal pay case???? She can be my Vice President any day!! Woman is good.

  3. 3.

    Adam L Silverman

    What was interesting, and lets leave aside how Senators Warren, Klobuchar, and/or Harris did in their interviews, all of which were videoed by the NY Times, the real interesting contrast was to watch VP Biden interacting with Jacquelyn versus how Senator Sanders interacted with the Times editorial board. Biden interacted with Jacquelyn not only like she was a person – a subject – but in that interaction made her feel like the most important person in the world. Sanders sat with the editorial board with a scowl on his face, flushed when he didn’t like the question or the tone of the question, and barked his canned answers and bits of his stump speech at them in his quasi-shout that serves as his indoor voice. The contrast couldn’t have been clearer.

  4. 4.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    To be fair, it wasn’t just the NYT who refused to acknowledge the existence of several million Jacquelyns, and Foolish Literalists. Some people are still trying to erase our votes.

    (And I am on topic! Seriously, AL? A ‘respite’ thread featuring a story about Joe Biden?

     

     

    I kid, I kid….)

  6. 6.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I’m trying to remember if i was ever in an elevator with an actual operator. I think I remember some fancy places with elevator attendants in the 70s (I’m 52), but as I recall they were just pushing buttons.

  9. 9.

    lamh36

    We were speaking of Ronan Farrow and Jon Lovett in a previous thread and I happened to come across this clip of them playing a version of the “Newlywed Game”.

    It was too cute and a great one for a “respite” thread IMHO.

    Jon Lovett and Ronan Farrow Take a Couples Test | Lovett or Leave It https://youtu.be/qS89Dar8YZk via @YouTube

  12. 12.

    opiejeanne

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I remember riding in elevators with operators in the 1950s and 60s at “fancy” department stores in downtown Los Angeles, like Bullocks and May Co. Those old flagship stores were nice places with marble floors and walls and many floors of clothing. The operator in one elevator sat on a little fold-away stool and operated the accordion gate too.

  13. 13.

    Morzer

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Inigo Montoya: That Vizzini, he can *fuss*.

    Fezzik: Fuss, fuss… I think he like to scream at *us*

    Inigo Montoya: Probably he means no *harm

    Fezzik: He’s really very short on *charm*.

  18. 18.

    CarolPW

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: The old Odd Fellows building in downtown Sacramento had an ancient elevator and operator (both the operator and elevator were old).

    I found it fascinating, first because the operation of the elevator involved a lever and not buttons, along with a sort of lattice door thing on the elevator and one on each floor at the shaft entrance that he opened. So he actually ran the elevator and could over- or undershoot matching up the inside and outside floor levels and it all looked very complex.

    Second, the operator was the first black man I ever met. He had been the elevator operator there forever, I was the third generation of my family he had met, and I was introduced to him when I was very young. He was dapper, white gloves and red/black uniform, and by the time I was in middle school I was taller than he was (and he was still running the elevator).

  20. 20.

    Mike in NC

    @Adam L Silverman:  Never watched ‘Blacksheep’ back in the 70s so I was unaware that Dirk Blocker was in it. He’s great as one of the doofus cops on ‘Brooklyn 9-9’.

  23. 23.

    CaseyL

    @different-church-lady: Well, bad coffee is pretty gross.

    Many years ago – and I do mean “many,” when Starbucks was still only in Seattle and, even there, most everyone preferred SBC or Torrefazione* – I visited some relatives in L.A..  My cousin worked at USC, and took me there.  We went to the on-campus coffee shop, where I ordered a mocha.

    I watched, equal parts dumbfounded and horrified, as they made me a “mocha” by pouring a few ounces of all-day coffee from the institutional urn into a styrofoam cup, and followed that up with a few ounces of all-day hot chocolate from another urn.

    They gave me the cup.  I stared into it.  I looked at them.  And I said, “You’re kidding, right?”  (Hand to Dog, I really said that.)

    It tasted as awful as I thought it would.  I took one sip and used the rest as an ashtray.

    *Two excellent Seattle brands that Starbucks got rid of by buying the companies.

  26. 26.

    danielx

    @Anne Laurie:

    Great Orme is in Wales, not Scotland…they’re particular about that kind of thing in Wales and Scotland, so or I’m told.

    They both detest the Sassenach.

  27. 27.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    Since this is an open thread:

    So the National Day of Prayer is is coming up and so I found out that Freedom from Religion Foundation sued on grounds that it was unconstitutional.

    From wiki:

    On March 1, 2010 U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb stated that FFRF’s lawsuit could proceed because the plaintiffs had shown that they suffered “concrete injury” that can potentially be remedied by judicial action. Judge Crabb stated about those supporting the federal law designating the National Day of Prayer, “adopting [the] defendants’ view of standing would allow the government to have unrestrained authority to demean members of any religious group without legal consequence. The federal government could declare the ‘National Day of Anti-Semitism’ or even declare Christianity the official religion of the United States, but no one would have standing to sue because no one would have to ‘pass by’ those declarations.” On April 15, 2010, Judge Crabb ruled that the statute establishing the National Day of Prayer was unconstitutional as it is “an inherently religious exercise that serves no secular function.” However, Crabb stayed her ruling pending the completion of appeals.

    The U.S. Department of Justice filed a notice to appeal the ruling on April 22, 2010, and on April 14, 2011 a three judge panel of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously overturned Crabb’s decision. The panel ruled that FFRF did not have standing to sue because the National Day of Prayer had not caused them harm and stated that “a feeling of alienation cannot suffice as injury.” The court further stated that “the President is free to make appeals to the public based on many kinds of grounds, including political and religious, and that such requests do not obligate citizens to comply and do not encroach on citizens’ rights.” The federal appeals court also cited Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address, which referenced God seven times and prayer three times.

    This was Obama’s DOJ. What the fuck, Holder?! Obama?! Why couldn’t they have just let the issue pass? The National Day of Prayer is a violation of the separation of church and state. It could’ve been declared unconstitutional if not for them appealing the fucking decision

    /rant over

    Sorry, just had to get that off my chest. That’s right up there with the Dem controlled Senate passing Portman’s resolution for an FDR prayer plaque for the WW2 memorial back in 2014. It’s just…why!?

  29. 29.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Lord Fartdaddy (Formerly, Mumphrey, Smedley Darlington Mingobat, et al.): I have been paid by professional publishers to do this for penultimate drafts of book manuscripts prior to final copyediting for publication. Basically stuff in my area of expertise.

    If you need one, the project I was working on just suspended because of the economic effects of COVID-19, so I’ve got time on my hands. So if you’ve got money to pay, I’m happy to do it provided it isn’t so far out of my areas of expertise that I can’t provide you with appropriate feedback. Shoot me an email if you just want to talk about what the work is like even if you don’t want me to do it.

  30. 30.

    debbie

    It can be done!

    The American spirit lives on at a 300-year-old, cream-line dairy farm, where a farmer is working around the clock to bottle his own milk after his processor told him to dump it. Locals are lining up to support him.

  31. 31.

    tokyokie

    Damn. I wish I had a stained-glass window of Basuneko. Wonder if they sell those at the gift shop?

     

    Anyway, when I was a kid back in the ’60s, I’d occasionally use an elevator that had an operator. But that was because the building and the elevator were old, and the operator needed to stop the elevator so that the elevator and building floors were flush, and operate the gate. Never saw an elevator operator over here once the elevators were push-button. However, the fancy department stores in Japan have young women who operate push-button elevators. At each floor, they’ll name the departments to be found there in that impossibly high voice that’s supposed to be sexy or ultra-feminine or something that I just found to be weird.

  32. 32.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Mike in NC: And a very young John Larroquette.

    The real Pappy Boyington got shot down shortly after he formed the squadron and spent most of the war in a POW camp.

  33. 33.

    Adam L Silverman

    @CaseyL: Schultz, for some bizarre reason, thinks over roasted/burnt coffee beans are what is necessary to produce a proper tasting cup of coffee. I’ve had some REALLY strong coffee with the Iraqis in Iraq. And with bedouins in Israel and with Palestinians in the West Bank. None of it was burnt, though it was often served so hot that it could burn whomever was drinking it if you weren’t careful.

  37. 37.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Could you imagine the response if they hadn’t defended it?

    Let me answer your question with a question of my own: do Republicans care about public opinion when it comes to their policy decisions? They were more than willing to ram through ACA repeal nearly three years ago despite public opposition. A lot of people opposed Kavanaugh’s nomination to the SCOTUS in 2018. Yet all of the pleas by constituents, some of them by former sexual assault victims, to Senators such as Capito-Moore were ignored. She voted to confirm anyway

  39. 39.

    Steeplejack

    Someone—maybe @Crunchyroll—put up a link to a page where Studio Ghibli was making some stills available as Zoom backgrounds. That would perk up your next conference.

    . . . Okay, found it.

  40. 40.

    CaseyL

    @Adam L Silverman: Despite being a Seattlite most of my adult life, my touchstone for “wonderful strong goddamn coffee” is Cuban coffee, which is a lot like Turkish, but sweeter and with less sludge at the bottom.  It’s served in those tiny Dixie cups hospitals use to give you pills.  I used to toss off two shots at a time when I lived in Miami (and then gently vibrate for the rest of the day).

  41. 41.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): President Obama was inherently personally small “c” conservative. This drove a lot of his political behavior. Small, incremental change leading to cumulative larger changes combined with a few really large changes because it was clearly that the majority of Americans had moved to support where that change would take the country. It also led him to be very selective in picking his fights. Refusing to defend this law would have created more problems for him than he already had in dealing with Republicans and conservatives, especially those moving under the astroturfed Tea Party label.

  45. 45.

    sanjeevs

    A senior leader at the Federal Emergency Management Agency is leaving amid the coronavirus crisis, according to current and former employees.

    Josh Dozor, who is deputy assistant administrator for FEMA’s response group, told colleagues he plans to leave in the coming weeks for personal reasons, according to these people. Mr. Dozor was involved in early discussions with the Department of Health and Human Services in coordinating the government’s response to the new coronavirus before FEMA became the lead agency in mid-March, some of the people said.

    Another senior leader, William Roy, is also expected to leave his position at the center for personal reasons, some of the people said. Mr. Roy is director of the response operations division, according to FEMA’s website.

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/key-fema-leader-to-depart-amid-coronavirus-battle-11588648316?mod=hp_lead_pos10

     

    Great timing.

  46. 46.

    trollhattan

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Dirk Blocker? That must be where they got Dirk Diggler from–a porn name sneaking into a war flick.

    A funny, as in so funny I wanted to smash my monitor, Amazon was flogging a Victor Davis Hanson WWII book today with a blurb declaring him “America’s preeminent military historian.” Uhhh.

  48. 48.

    different-church-lady

    @CaseyL: The man did not say bad coffee was bad (which is certainly true enough); the man said coffee itself was “objectively” disgusting.

  50. 50.

    HumboldtBlue

    @different-church-lady:

    The oddest change in my routine over the past months is how rarely I make coffee at home anymore.

    On a daily basis, I got a cup of coffee, usually paying for it at a shop/cafe and making my own on the weekends.

    I haven’t made a pot of coffee in two months.

    That may be part of the reason I’m as sharp as a Nerf dart lately.

  51. 51.

    Origuy

    The Senators-only elevator in the US Capitol has operators, or they did in 2013.

    There’s an old factory in Indianapolis that’s been converted into a large meeting space. A Greek catering company has a big buffet every Christmas Eve. I’ve gone to it with my sister’s family. Anyway, the only elevator is a huge freight elevator with open sides. I think the operator had to pull a lever, but I don’t remember. He had to do more than push a button though.

    Damn, now I want Greek food. That buffet was incredible.

  52. 52.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @danielx:

    The super-rich have supersized political influence. The Koch brothers have said they invested about $250m in the 2016 election and have promised $400m for the 2018 midterms

    I guess that 400m didn’t help retain control of the US House

    @Adam L Silverman:

    It also led him to be very selective in picking his fights. Refusing to defend this law would have created more problems for him than he already had in dealing with Republicans and conservatives, especially those moving under the astroturfed Tea Party label.

    Color me skeptical that the Party of No would’ve been even worse that it already was

  53. 53.

    Roger Moore

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    The closest I can remember seeing to an elevator attendant were the Marines in the elevators at the US State Department.  They pushed the buttons for us, but their main purpose was obviously to make sure nobody went to a floor where they weren’t allowed.

  54. 54.

    Roger Moore

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Schultz, for some bizarre reason, thinks over roasted/burnt coffee beans are what is necessary to produce a proper tasting cup of coffee.

    I have heard two plausible explanations for the Charbucks roast:

    1. They roast their coffee with the intention it will be used in things like lattes and mochas.  The burnt flavor is there so you can taste something vaguely coffee related over all the milk, sugar, and other flavorings.
    2. If they roast the coffee so dark all you can taste is the burn, you won’t notice how lousy their beans are.
  57. 57.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    Related to this:

    The Oregon Dems keep giving into GOP extremists who flee the Capitol to deny them a quorum when trying to pass climate change legislation. They won’t even send the state police after them! Instead they’re reduced to begging for them to come back! And then water down their legislation! It’s fucking Lucy and the football!

  59. 59.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): It’s because there’s a Republican  Washington state legislator who is a leader in the militia/cosplaytriot movement, including using his church as part of his extremist, anti-government outreach, who threatened to kill Washington state police if they came and forced Washington state legislators back to work about a year and a half ago. The Oregon Democrats recognize they face the same problem. I’m not saying they shouldn’t force the issue, but part of their calculus isn’t just the politics, it’s how much risk do they want to assume that one of the Republican state legislators doesn’t call out the Patriot Prayer chucklefucks or the Portland Proud Boys or the III%s or Ammon Bundy who is currently trying to overthrow the Republican governor of Idaho to defend them. And then someone gets killed. Domestic terrorism like what we’ve seen in a 1/2 dozen state capitols for the last two weeks works.

  60. 60.

    Adam L Silverman

    HOLY SHIT!

  61. 61.

    trollhattan

    @Roger Moore:

    Elevator story: The Smith Tower in Seattle, once the tallest building west of the Mississippi, changed hands many times and was for a time owned by Ivar Haglund, of Ivar’s restaurants fame (“Keep clam.”) I had occasion to have bidnez meetings there in the ’80s during his ownership and learned the most bizarre elevator scheme I ever encountered.

    Elevators had operators and in addition, the calling system was non-functional. Instead of pressing a button you waited for one to pass and yelled for it to stop (the doors weren’t solid). Sure enough, it would halt below/above your floor, reverse and stop to open the door you weren’t sure you wanted to enter.

    Wiki adds this: “The elevators were automated and modernized beginning in 2017, for faster service time and seismic safety, with new glass doors still allowing riders a view into the hallways and lobbies.”

  65. 65.

    Elizabelle

    @Adam L Silverman:   Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.  Not.  Big problem with corporate culture at NBC.  For ages.

    Now:  out, out Jeff Zucker (CNN).  And Phil Griffin (MSNBC).  Was it he who saddled us with Chuck Todd?  I don’t see Todd as a sexual marauder, but would be great if he was gone, too.

  68. 68.

    CaseyL

    @Amir Khalid: Most coffee needs cream.  The only coffee I’ve ever had that was so smooth and flavorful that it needed nothing at all was Jamaican Blue Mountain, generally considered the best coffee in the world.  It’s hard to find the real stuff, and it’s very expensive.

  70. 70.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Amir Khalid: OT: I sent you a test email at the end of last week using the email address you use to comment here? Did you get it? If not, would you please use the contact a front pager tool and send me a test message. I have a quick question for you.

    Thanks!

  71. 71.

    smike

    @HumboldtBlue:

    For about $5 you can buy a Melitta single cup pour-over coffee maker. It uses a #2 cone filter. Put grounds in, put it on your cup, pour a cups worth of boiling water over it, et voila!

    I’ve used one for years. 1 strong cup of black coffee is all I need.

  72. 72.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Amir Khalid:

    Too bad that Dan Blocker died so young. I wonder if he would’ve ever guest starred on Litte House on the Prairie. Weren’t he and Landon good friends? His son Dirk was on LHTP I believe

  73. 73.

    Elizabelle

    WRT Dan Blocker:  I think the first season of Bonanza is on Amazon Prime this month.  Limited time to view.

  75. 75.

    Elizabelle

    @smike:   I have one of those Melitas as a backup.  Dog forbid anything ever happen to the coffee maker. Good for travel, too, in case you’re served dodgy coffee.

  77. 77.

    Fair Economist

    @Adam L Silverman: Weren’t we all saying there had to be a sexual harasser/pedo/etc. in top NBC management to explain the multiple cases of tolerating said behavior?

  78. 78.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Fair Economist: Probably. But it’s late here, or early depending on your point of view, so I’m going to bed rather than look it up.

    Catch everyone on the flip.

  79. 79.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Mary G: he also so Project Lincoln’s latest ad, “Mourning in America”

    Donald J. Trump@realDonaldTrump
    ….because they don’t know how to win, and their so-called Lincoln Project is a disgrace to Honest Abe. I don’t know what Kellyanne did to her deranged loser of a husband, Moonface, but it must have been really bad. John Weaver lost big for Kasich (to me). Crazed Rick Wilson….

  80. 80.

    Yutsano

    @Amir Khalid: Please feel free to relay a message to myself via Adam as well. I have an offer that would also help a good friend of mine.

    EDIT: I am also adjourning as I must wrestle a Mormon in the morning. So if the relay is not until the future this is okay.

  81. 81.

    Fair Economist

    I have learned a number of things about coffee over the years:

    1. How good coffee is is mostly about how fresh it is. A newly unsealed bag of cheap coffee is at least pretty good. A week after opening a bag even the best is bitter.
    2. Turn off the pot after you make coffee. It’s the heat that makes it sludge. You can leave in the pot unheated overnight and it’s still OK. Microwave if you want it hot.
    3. Now that I’ve switched to decaf to reduce migraines coffee doesn’t taste as good. Apparently some of the taste was my body saying “oooh, my addiction is here!”
  82. 82.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Adam L Silverman:

    This is an intolerable situation and appeasement isn’t going to solve this problem anymore than the Munich agreement did.

  83. 83.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Elizabelle:

    The first season was really focused on the Comstock silver mining. After that, the show’s title really became an artifact

  88. 88.

    smike

    @Fair Economist:

    You can buy whole bean decaf now. I don’t do decaf, but the flavor is always enhanced in freshly ground. I just keep whole beans in a canning jar in a cabinet and grind a cup as needed.

  89. 89.

    Ruckus

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I remember elevator operators. Of course I’m a tad older than you. They had an operating lever that made the car go up or down and they stopped it at the correct floor. It was interesting.

  90. 90.

    JaySinWA

    @Fair Economist: I understand that decaffeination adds a fair amount of cost to the process and so less expensive beans are used to make the cost closer to regular coffee. Thus most decaf is from inferior beans

    I do a half caf blend with whole beans fresh ground. It makes a decent cup. Even fresh ground decaf is okay.

  93. 93.

    TS (the original)

    @sanjeevs:

    Great timing.

    Presumably leaving the sinking ship – personal reasons? Who leaves a paying job at the minute?

  94. 94.

    bjacques

    When I lived in DC 20+ years ago, one of the elevators in our apartment building (Shawmut!) was manual, with the lever and a gate. It was mainly reserved for moving in and out, but some of us were allowed to use it as long as we left it where we’d found it and didn’t do anything stupid. It was fun to drive and, unlike the other one, went to the basement where the washing machines were, so I used it as much as I felt I could get away with.

     

    EDIT: But, yeah, Joe has the talent of making you feel you’re the most important person in the room, as Liz did, and that’s not something you can fake. And it’s undervalued.

  96. 96.

    TheMightyTrowel

    Hi all from late afternoon Australia time. Just need to crow that I’ve returned the revised manuscript of my next book to the publisher. I spent 4 years writing the damn thing, got frankly gorgeous peer reviews back and have had a huge amount of fun doing the work to respond to them. I’m really proud of this book – it’s the culmination of a lot of things I’ve been thinking about since i was a doctoral student (it pulls from my doctorate and builds on it extensively). It feels almost bigger than the thesis – that was to prove something to other people, writing this proved something to myself. Anyhow, I expect that when it’s published (or nearly) with a cover and all I’ll probably un-nym myself to do a little local promotion – we’re a motley crew here and I figure a few of you might be interested even if archaeology or technology studies aren’t your main thing. I’m going to go drink some really expensive whiskey now – hope you all have a great Tuesday

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