Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Giving up is unforgivable.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

I really should read my own blog.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

American history and black history cannot be separated.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you do not.

They don’t have outfits that big. nor codpieces that small.

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

“But what about the lurkers?”

Second rate reporter says what?

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Monday Morning Open Thread: Tick… Tock…

Monday Morning Open Thread: Tick… Tock…

by | 179 Comments

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I don’t know how seriously anyone took the Squatter-in-Chief’s weekend threat to ‘ban TikTok’, but the most likely route to doing so would be getting some Big Swinging Dork like Mike Pompeo to declare it a national security threat. (Yes, it may even *be* a security threat, but so is Donald Trump and just about every member of the Trump crime family and the Republican Party, and you don’t see Pompeo bitching about them.)

Well, threat ‘temporarily’ averted, and who knows where we’ll all be by mid-September?

President Donald Trump only agreed to allow Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) to negotiate the acquisition of popular short-video app TikTok if it could secure a deal in 45 days, three people familiar with the matter said on Sunday.

The move represents an about-face for Trump and prompted the U.S. tech giant to declare its interest in the blockbuster social media deal that could further inflame U.S.-China relations. Trump said on Friday he was planning to ban TikTok amid concerns that its Chinese ownership represents a national security risk because of the personal data it handles.

The proposed acquisition of TikTok, which boasts 100 millions U.S. users, would offer Microsoft a rare opportunity to become a major competitor to social media giants such as Facebook Inc (FB.O) and Snap Inc (SNAP.N). Microsoft also owns professional social media network LinkedIn.

Trump had dismissed the idea of a sale to Microsoft on Friday. But following a discussion between Trump and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, the Redwood, Washington-based company said in a statement on Sunday that it would continue negotiations to acquire TikTok from ByteDance, and that it aimed to reach a deal by Sept. 15.

This is a deadline that was put to ByteDance and Microsoft by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which scrutinizes deals for potential national security risks, according to the sources.

Trump changed his mind following pressure from some of his advisers and many in his Republican party, one of the sources said. Banning TikTok would alienate many of its young users ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November, and would likely trigger a wave of legal challenges. Several prominent Republican lawmakers put out statements in the last two days urging Trump to back a sale of TikTok to Microsoft…


So we can, for the moment, continue to enjoy Sarah Cooper and other TikTok commentors…

Reader Interactions

179Comments

  3. 3.

    OzarkHillbilly

    President Donald Trump only agreed to allow Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) to negotiate the acquisition of popular short-video app TikTok

    What a bunch of horseshit.

  5. 5.

    NotMax

    Miscellany.

    1) Felicitations of the day to SiubhanDuinne* and Omnes Ominibus.

    Age? It really doesn’t matter matter matter matter matter!

    2) While the quality of the features ranges across the spectrum, thought some folks might care to learn that Tuesday will be S. Z. Sakall day on TCM. Pinch your cheeks in solidarity.

    3) In need of an interlude of feel-good, relaxing escapism? Noticed that White on Rice remains still available to stream (with ads) via Tubi TV. A redolently pleasant and satisfying outing – no more, no less – put together with consummate care and skill.

    4) In other more minor news, cigar reorder placed on July 13 is (supposedly) to be delivered today. Priority mail, my aunt Fanny.

    When people talked about snail mail I never envisioned it referring to the mail being carried by actual snails.

    5) Received an invite from our gaming group to join an RPG session via Zoom. Not anywhere in the neighborhood of a hunky-dory replacement, but whatcha gonna do. (One of whom was nice enough to provide loan of a camera and a microphone, to neither of which I previously had access.)

    *Sidebar for SiubhanDuinne: As the miasma of oppressiveness has waxed, find have been drawn more than in the past to the cultural Russo-infused thematics of Reinhold Gliere as both accompaniment to and partial salve for the times.

  6. 6.

    Ohio Mom

    Good morning rikyrah.

    Terrible dreams roused me early. I’m not fully awake yet but doesn’t everybody already have all our information? What’s China going to do that Facebook doesn’t?

  8. 8.

    satby

    Well, Happy Birthday to the astral twins SiubhanDuinne and Omnes Ominibus!  Many happy returns of the day to you both.

  9. 9.

    WereBear

    Like they have the youngs. You look at a graph, which was all over until I tried to hunt it down, and Republican support slides by age until around 30; when it drops right off a cliff.

  11. 11.

    NotMax

    @satby

    Heh. We both independently managed to perform the same typo with OO’s nym.

    (*heads off to soak some noodles in anticipation of self-flagellation*)

    :)

  13. 13.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    The data mined by the CCP will be tremendously useful stuff for blackmailing people 30 years from now. Imagine receiving this harrowing call:

    “This is deputy military attaché Hu from the Chinese consulate. You must do the bidding of the People’s Republic in all of your work with your government or I will reveal to the world the fact that when you were 16 you sent a private message to Kayla that you were afraid that you might have caught a case of chlamydia from your one nighter with Becky’s  boyfriend Dylan when you were comforting him over Becky being such a bitch to him by pretending she was pregnant…”

  14. 14.

    satby

    @NotMax: Damn! I usually just write his first nym, not the whole thing, so I used your spelling ? Sorry Omnes!

    edit: clearly, moar coffee required!

  15. 15.

    evodevo

    @NotMax: You should be able to trace its wanderings at the USPS site if you have the tracking number.  We carriers hear this all the time, and then when you look at the tracking, it turns out the shipper didn’t even put it in the mailstream until a couple days before it got to our office…

  16. 16.

    Betty Cracker

    JFC, this entire article at WaPo, and a representative sample:

    “The buzz the in the last three weeks — not this week — but the last few weeks, the buzz was Susan Rice,” [Ed] Rendell said last Thursday.

    Her demeanor on television fueled the speculation, he said. “She was smiling on TV, something that she doesn’t do all that readily,” Rendell said. “She was actually somewhat charming on TV, something that she has not seemed to care about in the past.”

    If Rendell & Co. were out to sandbag Harris, their approach was Trump-grade stupid. If anything, they’ve boosted her chances.

  17. 17.

    NotMax

    @satby

    While more slumped than previously, my shoulders are broad enough to carry the blame.

    (Cannot quite believe I didn’t catch the typo. Chalk it up to it being a combination of 1 a.m. and +[redacted to preserve a semblance of dignity].)

    Although O’minibus does project a certain puckish Irish lilt.

    :)

  18. 18.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    I’m kind of torn – one of the things I want in any COVID negotiation is for Nancy to insist that Trump be there.

    I want her to demand the she give him the Woman’s Death Stare and say “Donald, hand me your phone – every phone”.

    Where I’m torn is whether she does the “mom of a 13 year old boy” boy thing and scoots it next to her, patting it while saying “you’ll get this back when you learn to act right” or the wife thing where she slams it on the floor and stomps its little electronic guts out.

  20. 20.

    NotMax

    @evodevo

    According to the USPS, shipped from Florida on the 14th, made its way west and then decided to loll about and soak up the atmosphere in Sacramento for about 2 weeks.

  21. 21.

    debbie

    @Betty Cracker:

    Good grief. In the past, she was interviewed as someone knowledgeable about foreign policy. Who would smile when talking about that…other than someone in Putin’s pocket?

  22. 22.

    debbie

    @NotMax:

    Just recently, I had something (one mask from a Canadian Etsy seller) sitting in something at the Canadian border for more than a week.

  23. 23.

    prostratedragon

    @NotMax:
    Here’s hoping it doesn’t show up a month from now as delivered to an address in Idaho. (Has happened to me twice in the last year or so.)

  24. 24.

    TS (the original)

    @Betty Cracker:

    by Annie Linskey – dems in disarray lady. Very anti Hillary. Only folks upset about Biden taking his time with announcing his VP are the pundits who want a reason to vote for trump.

  26. 26.

    Ken

    President Donald Trump has agreed to give China’s ByteDance 45 days to negotiate a sale of popular short-video app TikTok to Microsoft

    In related news, he has agreed to allow the sun to rise tomorrow, and signaled support for the tide to go in and out.

    By the way, “My national security people think the app might be harmful to the US, but my political people say banning it would hurt my election chances” is not a good look.

  27. 27.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @NotMax: Re #4, I think you’re seeing the effects of the deliberate slow down instituted by Trump’s postmaster general.

  32. 32.

    PST

    I have a postal tale of woe to add. My wife did some work for a company in Saipan, an island I admit I had to look up, but one served by the USPS. They offered to wire money but she told them to just mail a check. They sent it Priority Mail on May 5. It vacationed in Hawaii for a couple of weeks, but the trace showed it in Chicago by May 15. It was delivered May 29.

  33. 33.

    NotMax

    @NotMax

    Suppose it is germane to mention that I contacted the shipper after then days passed, who sent out a replacement shipment which has already arrived.

  35. 35.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Ken:

    That would be a good one – she could go through the stack like a resigned spouse, calmly asking him what he enjoyed about each image in a deadpan voice.

    I still want his phone either confiscated or destroyed in front of him – I think that would hurt more. I’d also kind of like a promise from Biden – no tweeting.

  37. 37.

    Mousebumples

     

    Speaking of USPS, @satby, my soaps and things arrived yesterday. Tracking had estimated sometime later this week, so that was a pleasant surprise. ?

    And I checked myvote.wi.gov for Absentee Ballot Tracking, and they were marked received for both my husband and I last week. Everyone on our August ballot is running unopposed, but it was a good year run for me to know where and how and everything, in preparation for November.

  38. 38.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    Just checked my school district for their plans, given that Philly has backed down and gone to online. Our suburban district  is going with a hybrid model, making half the kids go in person on M/T and the other half on Th/F.

    My wife is a University prof. Her school at least is allowing teachers to opt out of being forced into the Petri dish. But there will be some in person education, which means dorms and cafeterias as well.

  41. 41.

    Ken

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: I still want his phone either confiscated or destroyed in front of him

    A definite possibility once he’s out of office, since he’s never learned the procedures for classified information and is likely to violate them. Then give him a choice between jail or giving up the phone.

  45. 45.

    MomSense

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:

    At this point I just want to know – everything.  I want it all out in the open.  I want to know what secrets Jared sold and to him to pay for his devil building.  I want to know the full extent of the treason for that whole fucking family and all the operatives and administration officials.  I want to know what they had on Lindsey and the rest of them – including Ryan and Nunes. I want to fucking know what they sold us out for.

  46. 46.

    rikyrah

    ????

    High school student. Parents get infected. He’s asymptomatic. Did he infect them? No one knows. Both his parents died. He is an orphan.We are going to hear this story a lot when schools open. Keep your kids home if you can. https://t.co/SVxSQ7zH3u— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) August 3, 2020

  47. 47.

    Fester Addams

    So, baseball. I’m thinking the winner of this year’s World Series will just be the last club still able to field a team?

  48. 48.

    NotMax

    Why does it irritate me so much that the warnings about content on streaming media , besides nudity and language, now include smoking:?

  53. 53.

    PenAndKey

    As much as TikTok may annoy me (mostly due to their super cringy initial ad campaign on Youtube), the idea that the US Executive branch can unilaterally ban a popular social media platform is just… wrong. I know the GOP are largely hypocrites and only really recognize the 2nd amendment, but even I’ve been shocked by how brazenly they’ve trampled all over the First Amendment the last four years while simultaneously claiming to be the only ones honoring it.

  63. 63.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: There have been problems with USPS for some time. In spring 2019 I sent a small package from Baltimore to a suburb of Rochester NY, first class with tracking. Estimated delivery time 3 days. After a week the tracking had it in the central Rochester PO. I raised hell & opened a case. Must’ve fallen behind a cabinet or something, because it did eventually arrive – after 18 days “in transit.”

    OTOH some of the “problems” ain’t their fault. Last April I sent a package to the IRS in KCMO, certified return receipt requested. Tracking showed the package had arrived in a week’s time (which would have been scandalously slow in the 1950s, but I digress). However, tracking on the return receipt showed the USPS had lost any trace of it immediately after it left the central Baltimore PO attached to the main package.

    To my eternal surprise, the receipt (unstamped & undated) showed up in my mailbox at the end of June – 70 days after it had arrived (with the package) in KC. The culprit in fact was the IRS, which (just before the package was delivered) sent its entire staff home owing to the pandemic. Apparently all mailed correspondence was simply tossed into a holding area, until some weeks later when a few staffers came in to sort through the accumulated mass of dead trees, at which point the return receipt was discovered & mailed back. (A similar situation occurred with a parallel hardcopy submission to the Comptroller of MD – staff was sent home before the mailing arrived & it sat there untouched until they returned in mid-May – except that in Annapolis there was a skeleton crew in place astute enough to send back the return receipt promptly.)

    tl;dr – it’s not always the USPS’s fault!

  66. 66.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Uncle Cosmo: Yup. The IRS has been non-functioning for months. Several organizations I’m affiliated with have not had their payroll tax payment checks cashed by the IRS since February.

  69. 69.

    WereBear

    One thing I can’t understand is how the Republicans passed the first coronavirus relief bill. What was the “thinking” and how has it changed?

  72. 72.

    geg6

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    My wife is a University prof. Her school at least is allowing teachers to opt out of being forced into the Petri dish. But there will be some in person education, which means dorms and cafeterias as well.

    You don’t mention it, but there is also a huge support staff, such as the financial aid office, bursar office, etc. (I am the financial aid officer and VA Certifying Official for my campus).  I am being required, meaning that I do not have the choice as the faculty do, to come in five days a week for at least the first few weeks (move in week and until the end of drop/add).  I am not being given a choice in the matter.  Meanwhile, the main campus’ Office of Student Aid is, to a person, working remotely from home.  They have over a hundred employees in that office.  I am the only financial aid person on my campus. My boss insists we have to have a physical presence on campus and, since the admissions counselors are all working from home, that means me and our administrative assistant.  I’m the oldest person in the department, with a partner with multiple co-morbidities, and I’m the one who isn’t being given any choice.  It sucks.

  74. 74.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @NotMax:

    From the Wiki page:

    Sledge’s memoir gives a firsthand and unapologetically honest perspective on the Pacific Theater of World War II. His memoir is a front-line account of infantry combat in the Pacific War. It brings the reader into the island hopping, the jungle heat and rain, the filth and malaise, the fear of potential “banzai attacks,” and the hopelessness and loss of humanity that so uniquely characterized the campaign in the Pacific. Sledge wrote starkly of the brutality displayed by Japanese soldiers during the battles and of the hatred that both sides harbored for each other. In Sledge’s words, “This was a brutish, primitive hatred, as characteristic of the horror of war in the Pacific as the palm trees and the islands.”

    Sledge describes one instance in which he and a comrade came across the mutilated bodies of three Marines, butchered and with severed genitals stuffed into their mouths. He also describes the behavior of some Marines towards dead Japanese, including the removal of gold teeth from Japanese corpses (and, in one case, a severely wounded but still living Japanese soldier), as well as other macabre trophy-taking. He details the process and mechanisms that slowly strip away a combat infantryman’s humanity and compassion, making the thought process accessible to those who have never served in combat.

    Sledge describes in detail the sheer physical struggle of living in a combat zone and the debilitating effects of constant fear, fatigue, and filth. “Fear and filth went hand-in-hand,” he wrote. “It has always puzzled me that this important factor in our daily lives has received so little attention from historians and is often omitted from otherwise excellent personal memoirs by infantrymen.” Marines had trouble staying dry, finding time to eat their rations, practicing basic field sanitation (it was impossible to dig latrines or catholes in the coral rock on Peleliu), and simply moving around on the pulverized coral of Peleliu and in the mud of Okinawa.

    ETA: Well worth reading, one of the best memoirs ever written. Originally just for his family to try and explain his PTSD.

  77. 77.

    YY_Sima Qian

    The focus on ownership is misguided if the concern is information security. After all, by far the greatest foreign assault on American democracy was perpetrated by Russian during the 2016 elections, and Russian entities do not own any social media platform popular in the US (such as TikTok) or any telecom infrastructure companies (such as Huawei). All the “legitimate” hacking (against targets relevant to national security) and “illegitimate” hacking (against commercial targets) that Chinese entities conduct are not likely done over the little Huawei and ZTE gear installed in the US. In fact, being caught putting in back doors for the CCP regime would be a very fast way to kill Huawei and ZTE’s global business, which probably is a bigger set back to Chinese national interests than lack of privileged access to back doors.

    There are ways to address information privacy and security without singling out specific companies for dubious reasons, and might address the issues that Facebook have at the same time, too!

  78. 78.

    artem1s

    @Fester Addams:

    So, baseball. I’m thinking the winner of this year’s World Series will just be the last club still able to field a team?

    And I’m thinking, Derrick Jeter is conspiring with the Yankees to make them the last team standing by having the Marlins infect the whole of the Eastern division.  Oops, we all tested positive before our opener but decided to go ahead and play anyway!  Time for another collusion hearing.  It’s hardly a secret that the Marlins are acting as FYNY’s spoilers and minor league club in normal times.  And BTW, F**k the Yankees.

  81. 81.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @O. Felix Culpa: Actually semi-functional. Many electronic submissions have been processed (including a couple of mine). It’s hardcopy that’s been locked in a closet untouched, as if it were dusted with anthrax spores. I gather that’s a function of those prehistoric days (i.e., last April) when Thuh Varss was spozedly lurking on every surface waiting to leap onto your hands & race down into your lungs.

  82. 82.

    Soprano2

    @WereBear: The “thinking” with the first relief bill was that they hadn’t yet figured out who was mostly getting sick and dying from COVID. They wanted to help their voters. Now, however, I think they’re really reluctant to help a lot of “those people”. It’s brain-dead stupid, because as I’ve been telling everyone who will listen “We don’t care if you get sick, die and/or become homeless” isn’t a good electoral message.

    I talked to our department manager for a few minutes this morning. I asked him if the plunge in sales tax was worse than what happened in 2008-2009. He said, yeah, a lot. I think people underestimate how much of the “open up” pressure is coming from cities and states who haven’t gotten any help from the federal government so far. In the Great Recession the city managed not to lay off any employees; this time, they might not be so lucky.

    Our local school district is going to try the two days in the classroom, three days at home thing, or parents can choose all online. I have an employee whose freshman-age son has ADHD; she says if he can’t have 5 days in the classroom he won’t be able to learn anything. With the way the numbers are going up here, I give it less than 2 months before they have to shut it all down and go to all online. I feel sorry for everyone who’s involved in education right now; because we didn’t do the responsible things and get the pandemic under control, this is what we’re faced with.

  84. 84.

    WereBear

    @Soprano2: Thanks, and this is similar to my situation: local sources that pay for my job are in the same sorry boat.

    Haven’t gotten UI in thirty years. I sure need it now!

  86. 86.

    Barbara

    @Soprano2: Apparently, Trump thinks announcing a vaccine in time for the election is his holy grail.  The depth of unreality about how much carnage and suffering will take place between now and then seems to be immeasurable.  A vaccine won’t reverse the repossession of your house or being evicted or another lost year of school — and of course, it won’t bring back another 50,000 or more of people who died when they should not have.  I am in a state of high anxiety and I AM LUCKY.

  88. 88.

    Drdavechemist

    @Uncle Cosmo:  I submitted a paper return in April (because I refuse to pay money to a private corporation to facilitate me PAYING MY TAXES). My direct deposit refund showed up last week.
    A functioning government would have free online filing for everybody, regardless of income or how complex the tax situation. End rant.

  90. 90.

    Nora

    @Drdavechemist: Absolutely.  I also did the paper filing for the same reasons (and Turbo Tax not only takes your money but screws you over as well, giving you wrong advice — that’s another rant).  It’s ridiculous that they can’t have everybody file electronically for free.

  91. 91.

    PenAndKey

    @Soprano2: Our county has five or six school districts that have pooled together to have a good, in theory, online learning option. Parents can either sign their kids up for the virtual academy for at least the semester and everyone else is stuck using some other online option for a month before going back to physical schools. And that’s the plan while we’re already a “red” zone county.

    We are lucky. My son is just old enough to be able to stay home alone and use the virtual academy option. If he couldn’t I’m not sure what we’d do, because there’s not a chance I’m sending him to be a lab rat in Wisconsin right now. Therapy when he’s older for the lingering effects of prolonged social isolation is a small price to pay for the potential for death or permanent impairment this disease offers.

  93. 93.

    PST

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    It’s a hard read. I think I’ve read it 3 times tho, maybe 4, because it really is that good.

    Me too. I can’t recommend With the Old Breed enough. The author was an intelligent, literate high school graduate (he eventually became a professor) who was placed in a fast-track ROTC program but flunked out, together with half his classmates, because consciously or unconsciously they could not stand being sidelined. So he fought in two of the most bloody and terrifying Pacific campaigns as an ordinary marine private, but with a rare talent for observation and expression. One thing that really struck me on rereading is that this is not a young man’s book. By holding on for decades to the notes he took and memories he formed contemporaneously, he produced a memoir that has been filtered through a lifetime of experience. He is undoubtedly accurate, something attested to by the frequency with which historians cite him, but there is more to this book than just a diary.

  94. 94.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @NotMax:

    Thanks, NotMax! It’s been decades since I’ve watched the filmed Pirates, and I had completely forgotten the inclusion of the “Matter Patter” trio (originally from Ruddigore).

    Glière is an interesting choice. I’m fond of “Ilya Muromets” and his other symphonies, and of course the splendid “Russian Sailors’ Dance” from The Red Poppy ballet. Not as familiar with his chamber music.

  96. 96.

    mad citizen

    Good morning juicers!  Happy birthday SiubhanDuinne and Omnes Ominibus!

    Re: tiktok: So tired of the orange wannabe autocrat–thinks he has authority over anything and everything, until the law says otherwise.  So tiresome.

    Re: Munchin: His comment about overpaying people with the stimulus checks seems to me to be a Romney-like 47% comment.  Dems, run with this.

    Finally, why aren’t we all talking about the world’s #1 problem, the Garmin ransomware attack, and the fact that I can’t get into my Garmin Connect on my PC (won’t recognize my log-in) or my phone (got into my account, but won’t pair the new device).  I did a 30 minute chat with them this morning to no avail.  1: They are nice people, they sent me and my wife new vivosmart 3 devices this year after the bands broke after 2-3 years–for free.  2. It might really be good if anyone does have good IT/security knowledge to do a frontpage post on the Garmin attack.  I can’t believe companies are paying it–$25 billion in one year I read.  Hoping are important infrastructure is well-protected, although Garmin had some flight/pilot products that were affected.

  99. 99.

    Nelle

    @Nora: in New Zealand, we never had to deal with taxes (or health care  costs) because it was dealt with automatically by the government and withholding for taxes.  Do you know how much time and anxiety, much less paperwork, that saves?  We were in a pretty simple situation for taxes, though, eith just wages to deal with.

  100. 100.

    Amir Khalid

    Malaysia’ former Official One, Najib Tun Razak, is back in court today. His trial began on another 1MDB-related charge: 25 counts of abuse of power and money laundering involving RM2.28 billion (US$540 million) of 1MDB funds which were deposited into his accounts between 2011 and 2014.

    Compared to Najib, Trump is starting to look like a piker.

  101. 101.

    Nelle

    @mad citizen: My husband is a pilot (flying right now) and he’s following this.  Mya have to go back to how we did it in the 70s in Alaska, flying over mountain ranges with aviation and topo maps spread out on my lap, hunting for landmarks, checking the height of peaks.

  102. 102.

    Nelle

    @MomSense: I still want to know about that Cheney meeting with oil and energy company exec’s.  Ancient history, I know.  It is one thing I regret about aging…if the truth ever comes out, it will be long past my time.

  103. 103.

    Brachiator

    @Drdavechemist: 

    I submitted a paper return in April (because I refuse to pay money to a private corporation to facilitate me PAYING MY TAXES).

    None of the free e-file services worked for you?

    ETA. Also, some conservative groups oppose free IRS e-file because they want people to feel the pain. They think this helps insure opposition to tax increases.

  105. 105.

    Johnny Gentle (famous crooner)

    @PenAndKey: That does concern me, especially when the U.S. didn’t bother to do the same to FaceApp, which was strongly believed to be doing the same thing for Russia.

    Imagine a world where the U.S. government says an app is a national security threat and you can actually have faith that this is true and not just more hysteria and China-baiting from the party of Tom Cotton, “kung-flu” and a failed trade war. I’m not saying that the Chinese government wasn’t harvesting data from TikTok, I’m saying I don’t know but can’t trust our own government to be telling the truth about it — which is so incredibly sad and pathetic.

  106. 106.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes, and JPL, we will most definitely celebrate President Biden when we can!

    And happy birthday to Omnes (“Ominibus” is a felicitous typo). I’ll deal with him at greater length in an evening thread.

  107. 107.

    raven

    @PST: E.B “Sledgehammer” Sledge. He wrote a second book called “China Marine” about they sent the whole 1st Mar Div to China after the war ended. Hairy situation it was. These are audio files of Studs Terkel interviewing Dr Sledge for his book “The Good War.

    With the Old Breed is also the basis for the 2nd half of “The Pacific” on HBO.

  108. 108.

    Ken

    @Johnny Gentle (famous crooner): I’m not saying that the Chinese government wasn’t harvesting data from TikTok

    Even if they were, there’s probably some paragraph deep in the EULA that authorizes it.  Not that I would object if the fallout from this included legal restrictions on data harvesting.

  111. 111.

    sdhays

    @Betty Cracker: For the love of all that’s holy, will someone do an intervention with Ed Rendell and the rest of the Old Farts Club and put them in a home where they belong? JFC, if these shits can’t keep their cake holes shut (setting aside the horrible stuff they keep vomiting out), just the lack of discretion should make them uninvited to all future decision making.

    You look prettier when you smile, Ed!

  112. 112.

    Amir Khalid

    Before I forget, the happiest of birthday to Subaru Diane and Omnes. Let’s do this again next year in happier times.

  113. 113.

    Kropacetic

    @sdhays: I was going to be happy no matter who the VP nominee turned out to be, but they managed to create a situation where I would have just a tiny bit of resentment if it turned out to be Rice.  Not her fault, not Biden’s fault, not going to change any votes.  But it will be there.

    Someone please stick the fossils in a museum.

  117. 117.

    catclub

    @Brachiator: None of the free e-file services worked for you?

     

    Nope.  They collect my data, why would I want them to have it, plus usually they do not cover all forms.  It is rich people like H&R Block that oppose free E-file.

  118. 118.

    raven

    @PST: It’s short and to the point. I guess they sent them there to try to diffuse them after the horror they were in but being between Chiang Kai-shek and Mao couldn’t have been much fun. What’s striking to me is what a gentle person he is in his interviews and how he made a great impact with his life after the war.

  119. 119.

    germy

    Tara Reade’s account targeting Jeffrey Epstein victims with disinformation campaigns aimed at Biden? Yeah that’s happening now

    — Xeni Jardin (@xeni) August 3, 2020

  120. 120.

    catclub

    @Uncle Cosmo: I actually got evidence my paper Tax forms have been processed.  because of a giant fuckup in the IRS handling of Social security earnings reporting, we check withe SS website to determine what earning we a re credited with.  The self-employment earnings for 2019 have appeared. The only source for that number is our tax forms.

  121. 121.

    WaterGirl

    @Betty Cracker: In fairness, it probably is hard to smile when you’re looking someone in eye and saying: “You don’t know what you’re talking about, you out-of-touch, sexist prick.”

    *I don’t know that they have actually had that conversation but they could have.

  124. 124.

    Ruckus

    @MomSense:

    In the overall scope of things it will probably shock you to know how little it actually is. They have to do it constantly because they aren’t good at anything, which includes grifting.

  125. 125.

    mrmoshpotato

    Have I been living under a rock? Fascist Tom Cotton isn’t running unopposed?

    I am the opponent of @SenTomCotton. This may surprise you because you’ve heard that he is “running unopposed.” He’s not. I’m a working class Arkansan and I’m running to unseat and replace Tom Cotton. ?Please retweet this post and give us a follow to help spread the word!?— ?Dan Whitfield For US Senate 2020 | Arkansas (@DanWhitCongress) August 3, 2020

  128. 128.

    dnfree

    @Soprano2: regarding schools, one grandchild is in a district that is going to do a week in school and a week virtual, alternating. Apparently students with a 504 plan (ADHD is one of those conditions) can go in person every week. It makes sense for the students but they will be exposed to both groupings and vice versa. There are a lot of holes in these plans. And I still can’t figure out why this doesn’t require more staff

  130. 130.

    sdhays

    @WaterGirl: It’s just such a stupid bit of “analysis”. If that’s what he’s going on, why bother asking Ed Rendell anything? Anyone with a TV can make that level of shallow analysis.

    “Well, <newsperson>, no one tells me jack shit because they know I can’t keep my damn piehole shut to save my life (and I’m generally embarrassing to anyone I’m associated with), but I’ve noticed a 6% increase in smiles from Susan Rice when she’s been on my teevee in the last few days, so I think she’s going to be Biden’s VP pick. And I watch almost as much teevee as the President, so you know this is comprehensive analysis.”

    “No, <newsperson>, I didn’t pay attention to what people were asking her when she smiled compared to what they were asking her when she didn’t. I’m not a machine! And, no, I don’t have any way of knowing if she’s getting more fiber in her diet; that’s a fair point. But I feel pretty good about my prediction based on the data, as Dr. Birx would say.”

  131. 131.

    Ruckus

    @sdhays:

    Give them a break. (An extremely small one, for a micro second, no more.) The have lost all relevance that they might have once had, and they are swinging wildly at any possible way to get it back. That they had so little relevance to began with was because all the relevance they ever had was all only in their own minds. It just got printed, so it seemed like they actually had some. Relevance is earned, but unlike money, which can be earned in many ways, it can only be earned by being right.

  132. 132.

    sdhays

    @mrmoshpotato: Is he the Libertarian?

    ETA: No, he’s clearly not a liberatarian.

    I support the BLM movement and ending systemic racism. The GOP is manipulating our elections and people should be held criminally liable. I support Medicare for all. I support background checks for private sales. I support the GND and converting uranium reactors to thorium.

  133. 133.

    cope

    @raven: William Manchester’s “Goodbye, Darkness” is another excellent book written with the wisdom of hindsight.  As you might expect, Manchester mixes in a good portion of history with his reminiscences as he returns to the islands where he had fought more than two decades earlier.

  134. 134.

    Yutsano

    @O. Felix Culpa: Wait…they’re sending checks? All payroll tax payments are required to be online. There is still a priority for payments to be processed first but they might want to get in the habit of getting on http://www.irs.gov and making their payments that way. My understanding is that you can get a penalty for not doing so.

  138. 138.

    mrmoshpotato

    @sdhays: Independent according to Ballotpedia.

    “Dan Whitfield (independent) ran for election to the U.S. Senate to represent Arkansas. He was disqualified from the general election scheduled on November 3, 2020.

    Whitfield, along with Gary Fults, filed a lawsuit on April 27, 2020, arguing that the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the state’s ballot access laws made it impossible for them to collect enough signatures by the deadline on May 1, 2020. U.S. District Judge Kristine Gerhard Baker ruled against the lawsuit, saying that though the pandemic had hindered their ability to collect signatures, “the Court determines that, although not trivial, this burden cannot be characterized as severe.” Fults and Whitfield filed an appeal with the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Their motion to expedite and for an injunction pending appeal was rejected on July 23, 2020. They filed a renewed expedite on July 28, 2020.”
    My mistake posting this.  His tweet was re-tweeted by someone who usually does their due diligence.

  139. 139.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Drdavechemist: It would also add that is a functioning government most people wouldn’t even need to file in the first damn place. The government gets all the tax data after all.

  143. 143.

    sdhays

    @mrmoshpotato: It looks like he could run as a write-in candidate.

    Write-in candidates are not permitted to participate in presidential, municipal, or primary elections. In order to have his or her votes counted, a write-in candidate must file a political practices pledge, affidavit of eligibility, and a written notice of write-in candidacy with the Arkansas Secretary of State no later than 90 days prior to the general election. The candidate must also file a written notice of write-in candidacy with each county in which he or she seeks election.

  144. 144.

    Nicole

    Happy birthday SiubhanDuinne and Omnes Ominibus!  Wishing you both, despite the current crappy state of the world, an excellent year ahead.

  145. 145.

    Kelly

    I second this rant

    @Drdavechemist: A functioning government would have free online filing for everybody, regardless of income or how complex the tax situation. End rant.

  146. 146.

    sdhays

    @WaterGirl: Yeah, the last I remember hearing from Ed Rendell, he was embarrassing the 2008 Clinton campaign. He should have been involuntarily retired from that moment on. It’s a shame Obama’s VP brought him back, even if he seems to have been given an honorary position rather than an important one (hence him not actually knowing jack shit about the internal deliberations).

  148. 148.

    Yutsano

    @Drdavechemist:

    A functioning government would have free online filing for everybody, regardless of income or how complex the tax situation. End rant.

    Get the IRS an operational budget that isn’t from 2010. Then we could do fancy shit like this.

  149. 149.

    Patricia Kayden

    Tennessee Governor @GovBillLee has ordered high school football to begin this week and has banned schools from collecting or reporting infection rate among students and staff.— Dmin (@vardmin) August 1, 2020

  150. 150.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @mad citizen:

    CWT (business travel and events) paid 4.5M to ransomware hackers recently.

    Seems like the only that BitCoin is good for is facilitating crime.

  151. 151.

    Yutsano

    Also: where did my edit windows go?

    EDIT: this one has it but the post where I have the blockquote doesn’t. Oddsfish.

  155. 155.

    Ken

    @sdhays: Huitzilopochtli demands human sacrifices from his  Death Cult.

    I also think he’s underestimating the efficiency of the school grapevines. The families will know about the illnesses and deaths very quickly, whether they’ll keep the children home from school is another question.

  156. 156.

    mrmoshpotato

    @sdhays:

    What is his rationale for banning the collecting of data? 

    Probably covering up infection rates and deaths.  God help those living in Russthuglican-controlled states.

  160. 160.

    WaterGirl

    @Yutsano: I’m gonna call that one instance very odd, but will not pursue it.  If you don’t have an edit window for a future comment – when you should have one – please let me know.

  162. 162.

    PST

    @cope: It’s been a long time since I read Goodbye, Darkness, and I admired it, but I never understood why Manchester felt the need to write about the whole Pacific campaign in the first person even though he fought only on Okinawa. He isn’t lying or faking, because he lays out in his notes what he is doing, but it makes the book something that isn’t quite history, historical fiction, or memoir. Manchester’s experiences were real. He was badly wounded. He apparently wanted to recreate for the reader the experience of a marine who served from Guadalcanal to Okinawa, but I can’t help thinking he could have done that without pretending to be that marine.

  163. 163.

    Bruce Baugh

    A small prediction about Tik Tok: someone in Trump’s circles has visions of getting all that surveillance data the app gathers for China and having it for themselves.

  166. 166.

    joel hanes

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    I don’t know if the US reputation will ever recover fully from what Trump has done to us.

    It will not.

    The world gave us a second chance after W, and Obama mostly validated that.

    Now Trump.  Fool them twice — won’t get fooled again.

    This is the end of The American Century, and of American de-facto hegemony.   We’ll be very lucky if the dollar is still the world’s reserve currency a decade from now.

  167. 167.

    Jinchi

    @Patricia Kayden: Tennessee Governor … has banned schools from collecting or reporting infection rate among students and staff

    That’s ominous. And it reminded me to check on what happened to the hospital data that the Trump administration ordered sent directly to HHS, bypassing the CDC.

    COVID-19 Hospital Data System That Bypasses CDC Plagued By Delays, Inaccuracies

    The public data hub created under the new system is updated erratically and is rife with inconsistencies and errors

    These are Republican orchestrated disasters.

  168. 168.

    cope

    @PST: It’s been a long time since reading it for me as well.  I don’t remember getting exactly the same vibe from it but I do remember thinking he could be a bit didactic at times.

  174. 174.

    evodevo

    @OzarkHillbilly: that’s quite possible….a LOT  of our mail goes on passenger jets…I never thought about the airline debacle and their possible role in this…

  178. 178.

    opiejeanne

    Late to the party.  If no one else has noticed it, Microsoft HQ is in Redmond, WA, not Redwood.

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