Would you like to meet a doggy who is afraid to leave his toys behind when he goes on vacation?
Well, meet Ollie.
Credit: Imgur/OctopussSevenTwo pic.twitter.com/Tr2GS4k3HG
— Danny Deraney (@DannyDeraney) July 8, 2021
After days roaming the rubble, Surfside survivor Binx the cat was reunited with his family https://t.co/EYX6awrGq6
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) July 11, 2021
… The Gonzalez family, one of the many devastated by the collapse of Champlain Towers South, was missing its black cat. Angela Gonzalez and her 16-year-old daughter had fallen several stories when the building collapsed, CBS Miami reported, and Angela broke her pelvis but still managed to drag her child from the rubble…
Sixteen days after the collapse — when the rescue mission had shifted to a recovery, the remaining condos had been knocked down and hope was waning for many — Binx the cat was reunited with his family. A small army of animal lovers made the reunion possible…
The Gonzalez family’s older daughter went to the Kitty Campus on Friday to take a look at the cat, Tator said. She FaceTimed her mother and sister to verify what she suspected — it really was Binx. The photos the advocates had seen were taken before his ear was tipped, Garcia said.
“Her smile was priceless,” Tator said. “I was praying for this little miracle to happen.”
In a video from Miami-Dade Fire Rescue’s Media and Public Relations team, the daughter confirms: “It’s definitely him.”
“I’m kind of shocked,” she says in the clip. “But we already had a feeling that if one of our animals were to make it, it would be him.”
Binx had been an outdoor cat before the Gonzalez family adopted him, Diamond said the older daughter told volunteers.
“I think what helped this guy out is that he used to live outside,” Diamond said. “I think he did so well because he was already a street-savvy little guy.”…
Striking story from @JulieZauzmer about one of D.C.'s vaccine lottery winners, Sung-ha Jou, who has suffered so many blows during the pandemic. “This is literally God-sent. I am so grateful for this." https://t.co/L2VZANc5Jq
— Rachel Kurzius (@Curious_Kurz) July 11, 2021
Another story that’s totally worth the click:
For Sung-ha Jou, a 44-year-old Air Force veteran, one disaster kept leading to the next during the coronavirus pandemic. He lost his job during the early weeks of the pandemic, then eventually his home, his van and his other sources of support. By the time coronavirus vaccines became widespread, Jou was arriving, destitute, at a D.C. homeless shelter.
Meanwhile, the District was putting in place an initiative that several states and cities across the country have tried: lotteries with big-ticket prizes. In D.C., the initiative included a free car and $10,000 grocery store gift cards, to induce reluctant residents to get their coronavirus vaccines.
On his first day at the shelter, Jou got a vaccine. And this week, to his great surprise, he learned he had also won the lottery.
His prize: a year of free rides on the D.C. Metro system…
Jou said the day in June that he got his shot was one of his bleakest days. “When I first got to the shelter, I was very dejected, and I was feeling very hopeless. Everything I had is gone. And I just had no idea how to get back on my own two feet again,” he said.
Now he is more hopeful. After two weeks in the shelter, he moved with help from a hotline for veterans into a transitional home in Southeast Washington for veterans seeking permanent housing, where he has his own room and professional help. He is working with a mental health provider, who is also helping him reapply for food stamps.
All of those appointments — from medical visits to trips to Veterans Affairs for assistance — used to mean long journeys on foot. Most days, he walked miles in D.C.’s muggy summer heat from the shelter in Congress Heights across the high-traffic 11th Street Bridge into the parts of the city west of the Anacostia where he had his appointments.
Thanks to the vaccine lottery, he can now ride Metro trains and buses free. “How did they know I needed this?” he marvels.
Soon, he said, he hopes he’ll find a job in D.C. He can’t wait to take the Metro to work.
raven
We have to take what we can get.
Baud
@raven:
And get what we can take.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
rikyrah
???
Matt Rogers ?️ (@Politidope) tweeted at 3:30 PM on Sun, Jul 11, 2021:
I’m not even sure 50% of Americans could tell you who Emmett Till was — and that’s exactly how some people want to keep it.
(https://twitter.com/Politidope/status/1414321164625891329?s=03)
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
rikyrah
Truth
And The Tweet Goes On (@lacadri34) tweeted at 0:54 PM on Sun, Jul 11, 2021:
The income inequality folks who get cool points for trashing billionaires NEVER want to talk about how being white & male is a huge factor in why it’s been allowed to run rampant for so long. If billionaires were mostly female & POC, we’d have an end this sh*t by 7AM tomorrow.
(https://twitter.com/lacadri34/status/1414282082432561155?s=03)
rikyrah
@rikyrah:
Kerry Reid (@kerryreid) tweeted at 1:00 PM on Sun, Jul 11, 2021:
Again: funny how it wasn’t an issue for so many of them until the 2008 crash, when white college-educated males were losing jobs and homes and 401ks.
(https://twitter.com/kerryreid/status/1414283479412584448?s=03)
Kerry Reid (@kerryreid) tweeted at 1:01 PM on Sun, Jul 11, 2021:
None of them wanted to “occupy” over the wage discrepancies and discrimination faced by women, particularly Black women. Indeed, I’m sure many of them were openly pushing that discrimination as long as it kept them on top of the heap as white men.
Low Key Swagger
Good morning. I am hoping someone has a better memory than this old guy…I think I remember a thread where some Jackal(s) trashed the movie “Bridge of Spies” but cannot remember why, or if they even stated why. I watched it again this morning, and really enjoyed it. I’m sure corners were cut and all were portrayed in the best possible light, but the film seemed factually accurate, based on my reading.
Or am I misremembering?
rikyrah
???
Jon Cooper ?? (@joncoopertweets) tweeted at 6:07 AM on Mon, Jul 12, 2021:
Anti-vax conservatives are LITERALLY dying to own the libs.
(https://twitter.com/joncoopertweets/status/1414541940067028992?s=03)
rikyrah
????
Henry VIII (@SussexHenryVIII) tweeted at 10:23 PM on Sun, Jul 11, 2021:
I find it moderately hilarious that Brits will get on Twitter and scream that the “world knows how Meghan Markle is, they know what she did”
Yet every.single.time England shows it’s ass the rest of the world taunts them with their treatment of her.
(https://twitter.com/SussexHenryVIII/status/1414425050699091971?s=03)
germy
@rikyrah:
True. Leona Helmsley and Martha Stewart went to jail. Trump went on NBC.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Low Key Swagger: We saw “Dead Poets Society” last night in the small theater in my building. I’m sure there are parts of it that are trashable but we enjoyed it.
Except for the moment when the cell belonging to the old lady behind us rang. That was bad enough, but she answered and carried on a conversation. Many olds have bad cellphone manners. They come from an era when the phone was anchored in one place and the polite thing was for everyone else to pipe down while they took a call. Someone needs to tell them to silence their phones and leave the room if they must talk
Betty Cracker
@Low Key Swagger: I didn’t see the thread and have no clue how accurately the history was depicted, but I also enjoyed the movie. Rylance was great as always, and Hanks was Hanks! :)
Gin & Tonic
@Low Key Swagger:
[raises hand]
Not sure which thread and which jackal, but I did trash the movie here, and stand by that assessment. It is historically illiterate, and I hated Tom Hanks playing Tom Hanks playing James Donovan. The only positive in that movie (but a huge one) was Mark Rylance.
I recommend Frederick Kempe’s Berlin 1961 if you want to learn more.
Low Key Swagger
@Gin & Tonic: Ok, but what does “historically illiterate” mean? Factually incorrect?
Geminid
@rikyrah: I like the Teamsters Union’s initiative to reduce income inequality: unionizing Amazon. A tough project, but the Teamsters may have what it takes.
germy
Gin & Tonic
@Low Key Swagger: Remember the snow, and the East Germans in their greatcoats? The wall went up in August.
NotMax
Two words: space burrito!
;)
OzarkHillbilly
I have never seen a historically accurate movie out of Hollywood. From time to time a fact fudged for the sake of narrative bugs the piss out of me but it is what it is and I let it go. I might as well complain about the rain being wet.
Jeffro
@germy: I like how CPAC’s organizers kick out Nick Fuentes, and lose their shit over Gaetz doing whatever he did, but they’re fine with hosting trumpov, Don cokehead Jr, Lauren “government benefits suck except for the $240k PPP loan I got” Boebert, Kristi “4x the Covid deaths in S.D. vs. San Fran per capita” Noem, and others.
Are Fuentes and Gaetz just not good enough liars, or something?
WaterGirl
@rikyrah: Who is that referring to? I didn’t see any details about who is dying and what led to that tweet. Did I miss something?
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
Are you saying that Abraham Lincoln didn’t hunt vampires?
OzarkHillbilly
Denver: four arrested and weapons seized ahead of MLB All-Star Game
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Oh no, he definitely did that, but being an atheist he never used a crucifix or holy water to subdue the evil lords of darkness, just stuck with the good old wooden stake thru the heart.
Another Scott
@Jeffro: Nit – Boebert didn’t get a PPP loan. A different “Shooters” restaurant in a different state did. ddale8 has the scoop.
HTH.
Cheers,
Scott.
Van Buren
Because we used to have 3 dogs, we have several dog beds in various rooms in the house, wherever a dog might want to plop down. New puppy seems to confuse dog beds for wee wee pads. This is irritating the household, especially the other dog, who finds herself inconvenienced while 3 different beds have to go through the wash.
Still, this is minor compared to the fact that I seem to be allergic to the puppy, alone among all dogs on Earth. I cannot get an appointment with an allergist until the 22nd. I am covered in hives. I would rather be sneezing and congested, but that is not what is happening.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Van Buren: Oh no! I hope you and puppy can get things sorted out before the puppy needs to be rehomed.
Cheryl from Maryland
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Yeah, earlier “Telephone” manners are hard to break. It took us years to train Wayne’s mom to NOT get up and answer the phone during dinner, letting the machine allow the caller to leave a message while we enjoyed the meal. My mother never understood that after the year 2000 or so, she could call Long Distance before 9:00 pm.
Betty Cracker
@Jeffro: The Oath Keepers founder was there as an honored guest, so the leader of a domestic terrorist organization is okay with CPAC now. Why even bother to kick Fuentes out?
Van Buren
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I have about 7 weeks to solve this…cannot really teach covered in hives and itchy. I cannot imagine giving up Rosie. Hope it does not come to that.
Betty Cracker
@Van Buren: Hope you can find a quick solution, both for allergy relief and the dog bed peeing!
Another Scott
@Van Buren: Have you tried giving her a bath? It must be something on her skin/fur, I would think. Maybe a bath will give you some relief.
Good luck!
Cheers,
Scott.
Frankensteinbeck
@rikyrah:
While screaming at the nurses for perpetuating a hoax on their deathbeds, yes. One of the major aspects of conservatism is that they know they’re wrong about everything and, like assholes do, they blame the people who are right and facts in general. It’s the core of the anti-science aspect of the GOP. It’s hard to explain to people who see that they’re factually wrong and accept it how some (many) people can see they’re factually wrong and their reaction is to punish the world until they’re declared right.
@Jeffro:
CPAC is the troll pageant. It’s a freakshow by assholes, for assholes. It’s just ‘What can we say to piss off the libs?’ and that’s it. The thing is, assholes are assholes, and they’re assholes to each other, too. Any random drama is no surprise.
rikyrah
@WaterGirl:
Just in general, WaterG
The political divide of the vaccinated.
How Dolt45 states are under-vaccinated.
While their Orange Savior has been FULLY VACCINATED SINCE DECEMBER.
OzarkHillbilly
@Cheryl from Maryland: My old man had a rule: “NO phone calls between 6 and 7. That’s dinner time.” Drove my teenaged sisters nuts, because every call was about some crisis or other. The old man just said, “They’ll call back.”
germy
This is the only way to write:
Jeffro
@rikyrah: “btw trumpov and Tucker are vaccinated” = free bumper sticker idea, Dems/CDC/sane people everywhere
rikyrah
@Frankensteinbeck:
I know.
came upon two in the Twitter feed yesterday- one was an actual nurse.
These people are literally dying for the ignorance.
I mean, we have states in this country where the ER’s are full once again.
And, it didn’t need to be this way.
That’s the part that sticks.
It didn’t need to be this way.
99.2% of those in the hospital with COVID are UNVACCINATED.
That number.
99.2%
Absolutely preventable.
Ohio Mom
Van Buren:
Have you asked the allergist’s office if you can be put on a cancellation list? I would call them every morning and ask of there are any last minute cancellations.
Eventually they might tire of you and find a slot for you. But be nice to the receptionists: find out their names, learn to recognize their voices and chat them up (“Good morning, is that you Nancy? I washed the dog and I still itch! It’s spreading to my toes. You know why I’m calling, any unexpected openings today? I’m really looking forward to the day I get to meet you in person”).
I assume you’ve already checked Dr. Goggle for any OTC remedies.
Keep us posted.
SiubhanDuinne
@WaterGirl:
Some panellists at CPAC were gloating that the Biden Administration missed its vaccination goals, and the audience cheered and applauded. I think that’s probably what it refers to.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@OzarkHillbilly: My old man (born 1929) was the opposite. I guess he thought it was rude to ignore a ringing telephone. I think he was past 85 when he finally decided that, after 60 years of marriage, he no longer needed to make polite small talk with his sisters-in-law, who were about 60% of the calls coming in, while waiting for my mom to come take the blower. But it was probably robo-sales calls that broke his habit.
Cheryl from Maryland
@OzarkHillbilly: My mother had a similar rule. Plus her rules about making loud noise with yard work (lawnmowers, leaf blowers, my brother and I playing BBall with the stereo on outside) and selling Girl Scout cookies on the weekends. Saturday, nothing before 10:00 am; Sunday, nothing after 1:00 pm. I still follow those timelines.
PST
@Van Buren: I’m very sorry to hear about the hives and how long it will take to see an allergist. It may not be the puppy, however, especially if other dogs never caused a reaction. Years ago I broke out in hives over large parts of my body (uticaria) and got what I thought was excellent advice from an allergist. He went through some checklists about what was new in my life, but then he said that many such outbreaks (half if I recall) are “idiopathic,” to use his term. No cause is ever identified. He said that it’s best to get down to business ASAP with a regimen that is known to work. I started on doses of several antihistamines multiple times a day, then tapered them as symptoms receded. It worked as advertised. As it happened, I was under a lot of stress when the hives appeared. I’d been treated for colon cancer and was sweating out the time when evidence of recurrence was most probable. That’s not to say stress was the cause — no one knows — but maybe that darn dog had an indirect effect if not a direct one.
Van Buren
@Ohio Mom: I was able to move up from the 29th by begging and pleading, but that was the best they could do.
PsiFighter37
Monday morning in Portland – rainy and glum. Don’t mind it, as it’s a bit cooler and will hopefully keep things a little less jam-packed than they were over the weekend.
Van Buren
@PST: I agree, not fully convinced that it is the dog, but that is the one change in my environment, so it seems likely.
MomSense
@PsiFighter37:
Waving to you from the Old Port.
germy
“He’s learned his lesson,” said Susan Collins, smoothing her brow.
Van Buren
@Another Scott: A medical friend says it is likely something in her saliva, since the rash started on my hands , where she was always nipping or licking me. A bath can hurt. Might as well, while I am waiting for the AC to show up this PM. That is a whole nother story.
senyordave
I’m shocked to discover racism in England:
England’s FA condemns racist abuse of Black players after missed penalty kicks in Euro 2020 final
Yes, I’m aware that there is plenty of racism in Europe, the US, Canada, everywhere, but Brexit wasn’t just about throwing off the shackles of oppression by the French and Germans.
bluefoot
@rikyrah:
It’s so tragic. That this sort of…I don’t know, tribalism? is so strong that people are dying because of it. And they endanger the people around them and become variant factories. Meanwhile in other parts of the world, people are desperate for vaccines.
WaterGirl
@rikyrah: Ah, okay. Just a general assumption that more anti-vax people will be dying, and those skew Republican. Got it, thanks.
Because of how it was worded, I wrongly assumed that it was a reference to something in particular.
WaterGirl
@SiubhanDuinne: Oh, that makes sense. thank you.
OzarkHillbilly
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: @Cheryl from Maryland: My old man worked in Personnel at Monsanto, ended his career there as Manager of Personnel Overseas. He spent every minute of every day putting out fires for folks, and was interrupted in that work by the phone or someone coming into his office so much, that he worked every Saturday and most Sundays because as he said, “It’s the only time I can get anything done.” He loathed the phone.
I inherited his loathing. If it’s after hours, I quite often answer, “Fuck you.” and hang up.
If whoever it is knows me, they’ll understand. If they don’t know me, fuck ’em.
germy
germy
@OzarkHillbilly:
Rotating tag.
Frankensteinbeck
@rikyrah:
But that would mean admitting that White People are wrong.
germy
burnspbesq
@germy:
If you’re suggesting that either Helmsley or Stewart were not guilty, or were victims of selective prosecution, you’re so far off base you can’t even see the base from there.
Trump will get his. The relevant statutes of limitation aren’t close to expiring.
Mary Ellen Sandahl
@Van Buren:
There are pee-discouraging sprays available (pump sprays) that could help. Google search turns up a wealth of suggestions.
As to the allergy, has the puppy had a bath since coming to you? Could there be an allergen – maybe from a flea treatment or something similar – clinging to his/her coat that you’re sensitive to? If it were me, I’d try a plain water bath, no soaps or anything, and see if that makes things better. (Of course since you’re in the process of dealing with hives, it might be hard to tell, at least at first. Allergies are weird.)
germy
@burnspbesq:
I was not suggesting they were innocent. I was suggesting they were locked up for doing what men were getting away with
You think they were the only ones doing insider trading, or not paying taxes?
Anne Laurie
Two things that may not help, but can’t hurt: Make sure Puppy isn’t licking something no sensible dog would lick (or be able to reach) and passing it along to you. (I had a friend who spent thousands of dollars she couldn’t afford before figuring out that her dog’s ‘idiopathic dental absesses’ were the result of him crawling behind a bookcase & chewing electrical cords, for the thrill. Yes, it’s a thing — I mentioned it to a different dog owner, a professional orthodontist, who told me that human babies doing the same thing had put his kids through college.) Maybe there’s some piquant baseboard dust or carpeting subfiber that’s setting off your symptoms?
The other thing, assuming Puppy’s not on a special diet — try changing her food. You just might be allergic to some additive that’s coming out in her saliva…
Betty Cracker
@germy: Cognitive dissonance isn’t a thing on the right. If there were any vestiges of it when Trump came along, he destroyed them. I know from personal experience that trying to explain the illogic of simultaneously held, diametrically opposed points of view to a Trumper is like trying to explain quantum theory to a concussed garden snail.
Nothing to be done there, and I don’t know what can be done to mitigate the damage on the margins aside from engaging in an all-out counter-propaganda campaign. Policy arguments sure won’t carry the day.
tjmn
@Van Buren: Have you changed laundry detergents lately? Or sometimes the detergent’s formula has been changed. You are describing what has happened to me in the past. Horrible itching.
PsiFighter37
@MomSense: Same part of town I am in! I am right on the waterfront, on Commercial Street.
Matt McIrvin
@germy: He’s a living dril tweet.
germy
@tjmn:
Sometimes an extra rinse cycle can prevent that.
Feathers
@Gin & Tonic: Laughing hard. You don’t deserve films. Reading your comment, I remember it from before and I laughed and shook my head then.
There is nothing in the meaning or understanding of the building of the Berlin Wall which changing the timeline of its building by a few months will alter. Films are stories told visually. East Germany was dark and bleak and cold, thus the film was set in winter. I had a screenwriting teacher who taught us that film is a balance between the reality of true to life details and emotional reality. Hollywood cinema is about building that emotional reality for the viewer. If you don’t accept that, you aren’t Hollywood’s intended audience.
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax: YES! I had a feeling it was going to be that video!
rikyrah
Joy-Ann (Pro-Democracy) Reid ? (@JoyAnnReid) tweeted at 7:06 AM on Mon, Jul 12, 2021:
So now Texas Republicans are putting bounties on pregnant women. I almost hate to ask what this benighted party will think of next.
(https://twitter.com/JoyAnnReid/status/1414556649004703748?s=03)
Matt McIrvin
@germy: This is the strangest thing about antivax Trumpism to me: Trump himself is, literally speaking, PRO-VACCINE. He’s still trying to take credit for it! The connection between Trump and antivax is all subtextual.
But. He promoted that by very notably neglecting to come out for the vaccine at important junctures in the winter and spring of 2020-21. He kept his own vaccination a secret for months. He refused to make the vaccine-advocacy PSAs and public appearances that Biden and Harris and all the living former Presidents made. In the lame-duck period, he was focused on trying to contest the election and COVID could go to hell. It was all about him, and his fans read between the lines.
rikyrah
@SiubhanDuinne:
I didn’t know this.
I’m not surprised, though.
rikyrah
@OzarkHillbilly:
Had a similar rule.
And, there were no phone calls after 9 pm.
Period.
germy
@Matt McIrvin:
Yes.
“Do as I say, not as I tell you” (W.C. Fields)
Matt McIrvin
@Cheryl from Maryland: As late as the 1970s, I got drilled into my head that it was crucially important to take every telephone call, no matter how inconveniently timed or potentially junky, because it might be an emergency. Also that hanging on the line for hours was bad because there might be an emergency. Answering machine/voicemail systems, Call Waiting, etc. gradually eroded all that.
MomSense
@PsiFighter37:
I’m so close. My office is on Exchange Street, conveniently located near the dog accessories store.
TomatoQueen
@Low Key Swagger: Bridge of Spies is one entry point into the long convoluted crazy story of all the Spies between east and west from maybe the 1890s until the present day. How far back do you go? what to emphasize? how to show the links in a straight line? It can’t be done, but watching it unfold and twist back in on itself, in the process revealing and concealing character (and the lack of same) and relationships is amazing and endlessly rich. In many places it’s sad and pathetic, and in others you know how heroism is revealed. Bridge of Spies is not about a bridge, much less a wall–it’s about the Spies, going back generations.
Hollywood versions of history are usually outrageous, but if you stop there, you miss the good stuff. Hollywood specializes in story-telling, for which history is the greatest source. At a minimum the film goer should dive into the book, which will bring you to another book, and in the case of the Spies, the books never stop.
Major Major Major Major
What great feel good stories ❤️ Thank you!
I am back to the office today. So exciting!
Here is a Monday wish for you.
mrmoshpotato
@germy: Wow. To think I couldn’t hate the Kremlin’s orange fascist shitstain more!
germy
@mrmoshpotato:
He really lets his hair down at these CPAC things. He’s really comfortable there.
And the more comfortable he is, the louder he says the quiet parts.
germy
mrmoshpotato
@germy:
The orange shitstain knows his legacy is death, destruction, wanting to bang his daughter, and sucking the Kremlin’s asshole, right?
Gin & Tonic
@Feathers: I like lots of films. I also like history, and know a bit about Eastern Europe and the Cold War. I am not a fan of Spielberg, nor of Hanks.
It seems to me that a film, one of whose key plot points is a well-known historical event which occurred only 60 years ago, should get that key plot point reasonably close to accurate. I recognize I may not be in the majority.
Zimna Wojna, for one example, also took some historical liberties, but I was easily able to overlook them in the advancement of the story, and thoroughly enjoyed the film.
Different people have different expectations and enjoy different films differently. This is good. Spielberg won’t be hurt by my sniping.
Elizabelle
@Major Major Major Major: I love that. LOL. Will be my motto on days that have fangs and claws.
Elizabelle
@germy: It’s approaching Ivory Soap levels, isn’t it? (FWIW, 99.44% claimed.)
Feathers
@TomatoQueen: There’s a new podcast up, The World Beneath, about the links between the US intelligence services, organized crime, and how the infiltration of NYC’s crime families by the Russian mob helped pave the way for Trump’s political rise. First episode was very good. It’s by the woman who runs the Lincoln’s Bible Twitter feed, which I never heard of. Unfortunately it’s in Apple’s new pay subscription program, so you have to search for it every time instead of having it show up in your feed.
PsiFighter37
@MomSense: Very cool. I would offer to do a meet up (no idea if there are other Juicers in the area), but since I’m largely on parent duty here (I am on vacation, but my wife is not and is working remotely), it might be challenging to swing.
Elizabelle
@Betty Cracker:
For the win. Albeit, the snail might want to learn something true.
germy
If anyone is interested, Klasfeld is covering the court proceedings:
Low Key Swagger
@TomatoQueen: Yes. I was very young when this was going on, but all my life I have devoured books and movies about the cold war and the people who waged it. I actually really enjoyed Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and the film wasn’t well received
Edited to add: I should make it clear I also devoured books/movies on the spies from second world war.
montanareddog
@Feathers: 100% agree that classic Hollywood storytelling is about building an emotional “reality” with which the audience can identify. Which is why I hated the ending of “Bridge of Spies”, where the public stands up in the subway car and applauds the Tom Hanks character. Because:
geg6
I have been following, haphazardly, the Kraken sanctions hearing in Michigan on TPM’s live blog. They are not having a good day.
germy
@Elizabelle:
Hope floats.
montanareddog
@Anne Laurie:
Reminds me of the story of a friend who developed a rash on his family jewels. He was panicked because he knew he had not been playing away. But the doc had obviously seen similar cases before. “That’s not a rash; it’s chemical burns. Do you have a disinfectant block hanging from the toilet bowl and is it hanging at the front?”
MomSense
@PsiFighter37:
No worries. I’ll probably take my lunch walk at 1230 and will take my knitting with me. If you see someone knitting on exchange street say hello!
NotMax
Below average. Cue 76 sad trombones.
(Also peeked at NYC realty sites a bit for rental prices – 1BR in the signature Tower down to $4500 per month asking price.)
rikyrah
@germy:
99.2%
99.2%
99.2%
99.2%
99.2%
99.2%
99.2%
99.2%
SiubhanDuinne
@rikyrah:
They’re all “My body, my choice!” about vaccinations, but when it comes to reproductive rights for women? Not so much. ???
Ohio Mom
Montana red dog @95:
Years ago, my cousin’s then-junior high school age son came down with a nasty looking rash over just about his whole body.
They walked into the exam room and the doctor said, “Been hot tubbing, have we?” And yes, the son had gone hot tubbing at a friend’s house, and that family did not properly maintain the hot tub.
E.
@Gin & Tonic: Henry IV sucks for the same reasons, both parts. Cannot believe anyone watches any of those plays.
West of the Rockies
@rikyrah:
And the same people don’t want you to know who Matthew Shepard was.
smedley the uncertain
@Matt McIrvin: Ma Bell researched human behavior to make sure the sounds made by the new fangled phones caused the correct response; e.g . Busy signal made as annoying as possible so caller would hang up quickly to free up the line. Similarly they experimented with bell tones to be distinct from local household noise and convey urgency. Lines were few and customers many; quick answers and hangups freed the lines.
Captain C
@rikyrah:
The Republican Party has become a living Rule 34 of Awfulness.
rp
@burnspbesq: Martha Stewart was absolutely the victim of selective prosecution.
debbie
@WaterGirl:
It’s that they will risk dying to prove libtards are wrong. I say, let ’em.
SiubhanDuinne
@montanareddog:
Exactly the same thing happened in that Mister Rogers movie he was in!
Feathers
@montanareddog: Yeah, this is a reason not to like a movie, not shifting the timeline by six months. Anyone who goes to learn more will discover the correct dates. Imagining a past where people were more virtuous is more dangerous.
Omnes Omnibus
I don’t thinK that you can tell a person that their reason for disliking a movie is invalid. Moreover, I suspect that G&T used the time shift as an example of his reasons for finding it to be historically illiterate rather than as his sole reason. YMMV.
Cameron
@rp: Martha Stewart also showed some class after she got out. Dunno if that means anything or not.
Gin & Tonic
@Feathers: Thank you for taking the time to explain that I am uncultured, and dislike films for the wrong reasons.
senyordave
@rp: I know someone involved with the Martha Stewart case. Her problem was that she was so obviously guilty of insider trading that it was an open and shut case. Most insider traders at least have the sense to do it in such a way that there is some doubt. She made herself into low-hanging fruit.
Billionaires who manipulate the stock market deserve no sympathy.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
“We are really excited about the populist, worker-centered candidacy of Thiel Capital COO and Thiel Foundation President Blake Masters, who is also a multimillionaire and shares co-author credit with Thiel on Zero to One. He is challenging the worthless liberal Mark Kelly, and touts his youth and accomplishments.”
– by Glenn Greenwald
(semi-parody)
Miss Bianca
@rikyrah:
You’re quoting my dear friend Kerry Reid! Who is right as rain on this shit as on all things.
She and I were, in the long-ago Before Times, planning to do a podcast together featuring salty broads’ take on all things socio-political. Tentatively to be titled, “You’ve Had It, Mister!”
Ah, good times, good times…
germy
gvg
@Van Buren: Is there any chance the puppy has found a patch of poison ivy to roll in? Because dogs are immune to it but their fur can carry it to anyone they rub against. This is something I have read about so it happens sometimes. Anyway, poison ivy oil sticks to clothing and skin and is not easily removed by ordinary cleaning so that a bath where you don’t know it’s involved, can make things worse and spread around.
You could also have gotten it yourself. The reaction sounds like something touched. Several kinds of plants have irritating saps. See if you can find some of the special soaps to clean your skin and clothes and anything you have touched. Dryer sheets for static cling are also especially bad at triggering skin allergies suddenly. People become allergic to them suddenly when they weren’t before. Any new soaps or detergents in the house? Possibly because of cleaning dog beds more often…
I think the poison ivy skin treatments would probably help even if that isn’t what it is. Watch what the dogs are rolling in, some new plant even if it isn’t poison ivy can be causing it. Dogs like to roll in the darndest things.
evodevo
@Low Key Swagger: Yep…when a teenager I loved Alistair McLean…those were my introduction to spy thrillers…
Jeffro
The snail is closer to understanding than they are.
But Betty, have you tried? Really, really tried??? ;)
geg6
@gvg:
And allergies are weird. I am seemingly immune to poison ivy but if I touch lavender, I get big angry welts where I touched it. Of course, we have two huge lavender plants near the steps to the front door. Which the doggos love to brush up against on their way in the door, for some reason I cannot fathom. Just one of the many reasons I take an allergy pill every day.
Miss Bianca
@E.: Right? And don’t even get me *started* on Richard III. Man, that Shakespeare – lousy propagandist for the Tudors and Stuarts! No relevant artistic merit to speak of, either!
Baud
@Cameron:
She hooked up with Snoop Dog on some things. That means something.
Matt McIrvin
@germy: It’s another way all this gets blamed on liberals, too: “Trump voters won’t get vaxxed because the liberals won’t give Trump credit for the vaccines”.
rp
Stewart was found guilty of lying to investigators and obstruction of justice, not insider trading. She had no role at the company and was simply following the advice of her broker, so she was not an “insider” who could profit from non-public info. She should have come clean with the investigators from the start, but they prosecuted her because she was a big fish, not because she had committed a serious crime.
Cheryl from Maryland
@OzarkHillbilly: Your old man was right. Although regularly working on weekends sucks. Someone in Central SI after the Bataclan terrorist shooting in Paris came to give a presentation asking us employees to put an app on our PERSONAL cell phones so they could track us WHILE WE WERE ON VACATION in case of a disaster, terrorist, man-made or natural, otherwise. I stood up and said no. It’s none of their business where I am on personal time. My family has the SI number to call in case SI needs to know that something has happened to me. And finally, this is my personal cell, for which I pay with my wages and should not have its data storage taken up by apps for business — that is basically wage theft.
Kathleen
@Feathers: You can also get it on Spotify for free. Second episode was stunning. She also has Thursday sitdowns. So far she’s interviewed her uncle who works for NSA and Greg Olear. Love that podcast. I also follow her on Twitter. She knows her stuff.
NotMax
@Miss Bianca
I know, right? As if Italian teenagers spoke fluent English. Sad!
Ruckus
@Frankensteinbeck:
Conservatives believe that the world works better when Scrooge McDuck is rich. A comic book is their concept of how the world works. We know that it was a comic book, depicting the worst of human behavior. They view it as reality. They literally are getting paid by the Scrooge McDucks of the world to believe and try to get everyone else to believe that a comic book is reality. It really isn’t any more complicated than that.
Kathleen
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: You left out “white”. But I think you’ve captured him perfectly! He writes like he’s a pissed off 8th grade boy who’s been coddled by his parents.
senyordave
@rp: from the wikipedia page on the case:
Martha Stewart, the founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, also became embroiled in the scandal after it emerged that her broker, Peter Bacanovic, tipped her off that ImClone was about to drop. In response, Stewart sold about $230,000 in ImClone shares on December 27, 2001, a day before the announcement of the FDA decision. Stewart’s involvement would have never come to light had Doug Faneuil, Bacanovic’s assistant, not disclosed it to investigators.[1] Although Stewart maintained her innocence, she was found guilty and sentenced on July 16, 2004, to five months in prison, five months of home confinement, and two years’ probation for lying about a stock sale, conspiracy, and obstruction of justice
IOW she broke the law. But laws are only for the little people.
Cameron
@Baud: I have a hard time imagining Snoop and Leona together on anything…
Kathleen
@Miss Bianca: I love her! We follow each other on Twitter.
rp
@senyordave: Right…they busted her for lying to investigators, not insider trading. The point isn’t that she was completely innocent, but that the government’s response was out of whack. And, IIRC, the gov. made it seem as if she was being prosecuted for the underlying stock sale and insider trading, which was not the case.
Cacti
I see that the news is ablaze with stories English Football fans who took to Twitter to heap racist abuse on the non-white players who missed penalty kicks yesterday.
Somewhere Meghan Markle is muttering: “I told you MFers”.
Ruckus
@PST:
I believe that allergies can change over time for a number of reasons. They can get worse or better. Our bodies can change, positively or negatively, depending on a lot of factors, some beyond our control or knowledge. My once grand sense of smell, has taken a vacation, seemingly permeant. It didn’t just shut off it took time, it slowly, almost unnoticeably, went bye bye. But now it’s zero. Allergies are reactions to things around us that our bodies react to negatively. Our bodies change, our allergies, even our senses can change. It can be from medications, from time, from our bodies malfunctions, from our bodies proper functions, from reasons that aren’t understood or even known.
germy
Katie Porter had her town hall interrupted by deranged trump fans:
Baud
@germy:
Is there any other kind?
Benw
@Miss Bianca: like my homie Abe Lincoln, I’ll go to bat for Richard III. Yea as a history it’s garbage, but its a fun story and pretty much all of Richard’s monologues rip!
germy
@Baud:
Some of them are more quiet than others.
That’s all.
Ksmiami
@debbie: I call it “Covid Raptured” to make it more appealing to the evangelical set… Everything comes down to marketing
CaseyL
Listening to the sanctions hearing in Michigan, and it is amazing to me that any of the attorneys representing Trump (and/or his allies) made it through law school, passed the Bar, and are competent to practice. They seem to be willfully ignorant of basic court procedure, evidentiary law, and the burden of due diligence on parties bringing charges.
Also, they can’t seem to find their way through their own pleadings.
Either they’re barely competent to cross a street without assistance, or they’re being so obfuscatious and disingenuous that alone merits sanctions.
Judge Parker is being incredibly patient with them.
OzarkHillbilly
Yeah. That scene doesn’t exist. At least not in the version I own.
There are other Spielberg cliches, a quiet moment where a woman who had previously looked at him with disgust, catching his eye and giving a smile of admiration. The kids jumping chain link fences as a lark, in contrast to the wall jumpers getting shot in Berlin.
But the public standing up in the subway car and applauding? Nope, not in the movie.
Gin & Tonic
Since Cold War history has come up, let me put in an enthusiastic plug for Serhii Plokhy’s recent Nuclear Folly, a re- examination of the Cuban Missile Crisis. He has gotten access to many previously unavailable Soviet-era archives, and provides good and well documented descriptions of many fuck-ups that could easily have been civilization-ending.
Ruckus
@germy:
Last graph.
They have nothing. They know they have nothing. There is no logic, no thought, nothing positive about their message or their leaders, and they know it. They have to shout and attack to be successful, there is nothing positive about the conservative message. Nothing. The conservative message is about legalized theft and zero rights, no matter how many times they say “Constitution!” They think their right to guns and money is above all else.
TomatoQueen
@senyordave: I had a long standing loathing for Stewart for various domestic reasons (too often shallow, often just full of shit, and the paint colors ugh) but the loathing has turned to mere dislike, as she was an exemplary Federal prisoner, and handled the transfer from a spic and span facility (Danbury, changed from all women to men during her tenure) to a notorious shithole (West Virginia) well. She was a mentor to some of her sister inmates both while incarcerated and afterwards, not making a big deal of it. The odd thing about the cancer treatment notoriety is that it got to more patients in need sooner, including my Mom, who did well on it until it stopped working (this is what they mean by “managing a chronic disease”), so she gets some sort of footnote for Mom’s sake. I just never can forget that before she was an upper middle class oracle, she was a stockbroker.
Omnes Omnibus
@Miss Bianca: Shakespeare’s history plays are so far removed from actual history that the characters really just happen to share names with historical people.
I don’t think it is unreasonable for people to have some expectation that historical events happen at the time they actually occurred in a movie. Placing Pearl Harbor on July 4th because it works better for the story would really fuck with my suspension of disbelief – just as an example.
Elizabelle
@Ksmiami: Covid Raptured. From the Covid Belt.
senyordave
@rp: And the lesson is don’t break laws and you won’t have to worry about disproportionate prosecution (which is debatable in this case – billionaires who do stuff like that should be prosecuted to dissuade them from… doing stuff like that). If you lie to the government about your possible involvement in a criminal matter you better expect them to come down on you.
)
senyordave
@TomatoQueen: Did not know that she had been a stockbroker. She paid the price and went to jail, sounds like she has done a lot of good since then. Good for her.
M31
“A day that will live in infamy” — every dog
Martin
Watching the sanctions hearing against the big lie attorneys. Love this judge. Black female judges are the best – they have an entire lifetime dealing with while people shit, and now they have a robe and they don’t need to take it any more.
She denied them being represented by counsel, so they’re all there having to defend themselves. I’ve never seen a proceeding like this, but my sense is that it is not going well for the big lie folks – they threw a dump truck of trash at the court and are now scrambling to demonstrate that it was art. Judge knows when she’s had trash thrown at her.
Martin
@germy: Yeah. The town hall was 3 blocks from my house. I walk by there on the way to get my coffee – we go to concerts there all the time (my son was in 3 of them). Wife asked if we should go, and I thought about it, and decided that no, it’ll be full of Huntington Beach Trump shitheads.
I hate being right.
germy
@Martin:
They’re saying Porter put her arms around an elderly woman to protect her from the swinging fists.
germy
@Martin:
Roger Moore
@Matt McIrvin:
There’s a certain irony in Trump having trouble dealing with the monster he helped to unleash.
Cameron
@Omnes Omnibus: So you actually believe it was over after the Germans bombed?
Roger Moore
@Cheryl from Maryland:
My grandparents’ house actually had a telephone “booth”, which was really a small, sound-proof room just off the dining room with the phone, comfortable benches around the walls, and a place to keep phone books. It seemed like an incredible luxury to me, though it became much less important with the invention of wireless handsets. This was a very fancy house; it had been built with servants’ quarters in the basement and had both a formal staircase and servants’ stairs.
Cheryl from Maryland
@Gin & Tonic: Agree with your take on Bridge of Spies. Little mistakes done for “reasons” that have no validation other than the directors’ fancy ruin the willing suspension of disbelief. And for me, once that happens, the film is ruined. I cannot and will not watch the Elizabeth 1st films with Cate Blanchett as the director decided Burghley was dull and replaced him with Walsingham as Elizabeth’s right-hand man. I could have stood sexing up Burghley, I could have stood Blancett as an unaged Elizabeth, but that decision just killed my willing suspension of disbelief. After you can’t believe it anymore, the film is dreck.
Ruckus
@Roger Moore:
SFB has had trouble his entire life in that I’d guess about 99% of the time the results of his actions/words do not turn out the way he intended. I’m not sure I see the irony there, just 70+ yrs of stupid.
Martin
@TomatoQueen: There’s a really interesting video essay, that I think everyone should watch.
It’s about 20 minutes long, and about a subject that probably almost nobody here would feel they’re interested it – its about an indie game developer named Phil Fish. But it’s really about parasocial relationships, about how when people get famous, we the audience project characteristics about that individuals of which we have an opinion, and then only engage when those characteristics are reinforced.
Phil Fish is a great illustration of how this works (because you almost certainly don’t have an opinion of him, unlike Martha Stewart) but Martha Stewart and Brittney Spears and countless others become victims of this.
I think of Omorosa Manigault here. Her fame was entirely centered around being an asshole. Trump put her on the show at least twice (3 times?) and then hired her at the WH. Did he do that because she was an asshole, a Trumper, or was she an asshole because that was the role we wanted her to play, so she chose to play it, cementing her fame and securing those additional appearances and WH job. So I have no idea who she is – is she the persona that we see on TV? I don’t think that Robert Downey Jr. is in fact Tony Stark, because I know he’s acting – but I can’t tell if Omorosa is acting. Is Martha Stewart acting? She almost certainly is. She successfully teamed up with Snoop for fucks sake. But when is she and when isn’t she? And does she deserve to carry the burden of all of our objections to this kind of virtue signaling through homemaking, and to our objection to her cashing in on it? I mean, she tapped into a valid market. It’s a lot easier for me to hate on Martha Stewart for cashing in on it, than it is for me to hate on my wife for being the audience demanding someone like Martha Stewart be there to cash in on her.
Roger Moore
@SiubhanDuinne:
They’re deliberately choosing that framing because they think it turns the tables on people who are pro-choice when it comes to abortion. Of course it ignore the public health aspect to a pandemic, but I don’t expect them to care about that kind of thing.
Omnes Omnibus
@Cameron: No, nothing is over until we say it is.
Omnes Omnibus
@Cheryl from Maryland: How could you sex up a Cecil?
Elizabelle
@Martin: How are you watching? Any online link you can share? Thank you.
Matt McIrvin
@Roger Moore: I don’t think he’s troubled by the existence of antivaxxers for a moment. As long as they still love him, they’re fine.
Martin
@germy: I’ve known Katie, mostly by reputation, but a little bit personally before she ran, and that sounds very much in character for her.
No shit, she is exactly the person you see. She does not put on an act to get voters – she’s one of the most genuine people you’ll ever meet. It’s how she won her primary in 2018.
Martin
@Elizabelle: Link to sanctions Zoom (youtube)
Roger Moore
@Ruckus:
People have described Trump as the monster the leaders of the GOP unwittingly unleashed by encouraging his supporters. That he in turn is unable to control or reason with those people is ironic. It gets back to the basic point that the problem with the Republican Party is the voters, not the leaders.
Elizabelle
@Martin: Thank you! Got it on now. Always forget about youtube.
Matt McIrvin
@Roger Moore: The only thing Trump strongly cares about is Trump. He can be easily led and even excessively agreeable on matters of substance as long as his ego is flattered. So while he’s actually pro-vax, he’s not going to do anything to bother antivaxxers provided they continue to admire him. If they think he’s secretly antivax and got a placebo to trick Dr. Fauci, it’s no skin off his nose.
Josie
Democratic Texas legislators will board a plane to D.C. this afternoon in an attempt to deny the Republicans a quorum and to highlight the need for Congress to pass voting rights legislation.
rivers
@TomatoQueen: I would heartily recommend the book on which this movie is based – “Strangers on a Bridge,” a memoir about the Abel/Powers swap by James B. Donovan who legally represented Abel and then negotiated the swap. A remarkable man. As far as the movie goes, Rylance did an extraordinary job of portraying Abel.
Elizabelle
@Josie: That sounds like a good plan. I hope they have not telegraphed their plans in time to be intercepted on the way to the airport or flight departure.
Roger Moore
@Matt McIrvin:
The thing is that Trump wants to get credit for the vaccine, since getting one to the public so quickly was the one undeniably good thing we to fight the pandemic under his watch. To get that credit, he has to admit the pandemic is real and kills people who aren’t vaccinated, but that conflicts with the major line of BS he fed his followers throughout the pandemic.
Josie
@Elizabelle:
Me, too.
James E Powell
@Gin & Tonic:
I didn’t see Bridge of Spies, but I did see it on a list of “most historically accurate films of all time” or some such thing. What were they thinking?
James E Powell
@Cheryl from Maryland:
One of the great joys from no longer practicing law is that I do not have to answer every telephone call.
Betty Cracker
@Martin: Good to know since I like her! I read an anecdote one time from WaPo politics beat reporter Dave Weigel, who was covering an event in Iowa during the 2020 election (I think). He found himself standing next to a man in a Katie Porter for Congress tee, and he remarked that he’d never seen one of those shirts in Iowa. The man said, “Well, you’ve never met her dad before!”
Low Key Swagger
@OzarkHillbilly: Mine either.
James E Powell
@E.:
All taste is taste. I love the history plays and don’t really care that Prince Hal & Hotspur were not close in age or that Richard II’s wife was really only nine years old. But I understand why many others do. I just think about how I react when a lawyer turns and gives a speech to the jury while the witness is testifying.
Omnes Omnibus
@James E Powell: Gah to both. Everyone’s suspension of disbelief can be destroyed by different things.
James E Powell
@rp:
Agreed. I generally defend Martha Stewart from the haters. I’ve never had a bad result from her recipes. But my take is that she was a victim of her arrogance. If she’d have told the truth, she’d have paid some money that would have been a trifle to her.
Miss Bianca
@Roger Moore: The house I grew up in was not a particularly fancy house (by Grosse Pointe standards, anyway), but had both a servants’ staircase and a bell in the floor in the dining room (which no longer worked, alas, by the time we were living there), obviously meant to summon the cook or the maid from the kitchen.
Gin & Tonic
@James E Powell: The basic outline is accurate. Donovan did negotiate the exchange of Abel for Powers in Berlin. But as has been said by others, different people have different triggers for suspending disbelief.
The movie was popular and profitable. Spielberg is presumably happy. I didn’t like it. So it goes.
PST
@senyordave: My understanding of the Stewart case is quite different. She was not convicted of insider trading because the law is unclear as to those who merely act on an insider tip. I believe that there is a consensus that as a “tippee” Stewart would not have been charged if she had simply told the truth. Her conviction related to lying and obstructing justice in an attempt to cover up her actions: another example of the cover up being more damning than the original misdeed.
satby
@Van Buren: Second the bath recommendation from Scott. Chances are it’s something on the puppy’s fur, like a topical flea treatment she got in rescue, or even poison ivy or oak she stumbled into outside.
senyordave
@PST: I think you are correct in that. I do think it was a given that she knew what she was doing was almost certainly illegal (she had been a stockbroker, after all), but it does seem incredibly rare for non-company officials to be charged with insider trading. She got caught in one lie too many.
Steve in the ATL
@James E Powell: no one ever talks about the upside of getting disbarred!
James E Powell
@Gin & Tonic:
Or as I put it, all taste is taste.
James E Powell
@Steve in the ATL:
So we are clear, I am not disbarred or disciplined or anything.
I still have a license. Apart from the occasional “hey can you look at this for me,” from friends or family, I no longer practice.