In the morning thread, valued commenter Jim, Foolish Literalist drew our attention to a first in U.S. history* — the former escort** who is also a former first lady is hawking a pre-owned hat online:
It is described as “The White Broad-Brimmed, High Blocked Crown Hat”*** that was worn during a state visit with France and will be signed by the Third Lady herself. (Probably with a Sharpie.) Other items to be auctioned include possibly another white hat (or maybe the same one; it’s not altogether clear without clicking through, and fuck that), plus a watercolor by some French guy because why not?
Some commenters speculated the Third Lady may be trying to raise funds to escape The Beast. She’s every bit as horrible as he is, but that doesn’t mean they don’t despise each other, so maybe that’s why she launched Head of State QVC and NFT-grift-o-rama. (Tempted to add “I REALLY DON’T CARE DO U?” but that’s been done to death.)
No matter what ultimately becomes of the republic, we’ll always bear the degradation of the Trump grifters’ tacky spectacle and tawdry fingers all over the U.S. presidency. That’s a shame. Still, it’s a nice touch that the Third Lady is hawking these wares on a platform from which her odious husband is still banned.
Open thread!
* As far as I know.
** No disrespect intended toward escorts. Unless they are Fords.
*** Why the hyphen between broad-brimmed but not high blocked?
Eljai
Hahaha, as a former Ford Escort owner, I take no offense.
“High blocked” should definitely be hyphenated.
different-church-lady
Wait, not panties? Or is her husband handling that collection?
Baud
I wonder how much her “I don’t care, do u” jacket will go for.
TaMara (HFG)
Other First Ladies write amazing books, help charities, become Senators and Secretary of State…others have to sell off their used clothing to pay their lawyers so they stay out of jail.
Can’t say I’m unhappy to see this…may she have to continue to sell until all she has left are those stars that cover her in that infamous photo…
James E Powell
She could get a big pile of right-wing money for her I Really Don’t Care Do You? jacket.
Quicksand
“Head of State”? C’mon.
FelonyGovt
She is such trash. I wonder if the MAGAts’ continued adoration for her loathsome husband extends to her, and if she actually sells any of this crap.
Steeplejack
On ***, I would say no copy editors, except the Trumpistas have demonstrated repeatedly that they don’t even have competent writers. Copy editors would be wasted on them.
James E Powell
@TaMara (HFG):
Or chair the UN Commission on Human Rights & help draft the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
eric
@Quicksand: i thought it was an appropriate euphemism given her past…..oh wait, she meant something else. my bad
PsiFighter37
She’s trash, and these grifts just reinforce that.
Citizen Alan
I’m predicting it now: Within three years at most, Melania Trump will have an OnlyFans page.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@different-church-lady: Roger Stone is handling that on a dark web site
VOR
Perhaps trying to demonstrate a line of business or income separate from the Trump Organization? As a safe haven or legal fig leaf when the fecal matter hits the rotating blades?
Betty Cracker
@FelonyGovt: It definitely does for a good portion of the MAGA trash. The title of the post is a reference to that — I’ve seen more than one MAGA fool meeping about how MT is the second coming of Jacqueline Kennedy but doesn’t get credit for it. As fucking if!
hells littlest angel
@different-church-lady: Please don’t give her ideas!
She’d probably rake in the bucks on that, especially if she hinted that they could cure Covid or block 5G radiation.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Betty Cracker:
I remember watching some video of a MAGA moron woman (don’t remember if it was a Jordan Klepper one) who described Melania as “classy”.
It’s incredible what passes for good taste for these people. Just amazingly shallow. A lot like Trump and his “They’re from Central Casting” thing
germy
If she wants to sell an autographed Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat, then we’ll talk. Otherwise, no.
Roger Moore
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
I’m reminded of the quote about Gingrich, that he was a dumb person’s idea of what a smart person was like. Trump is a trashy person’s idea of what class looks like.
The Dangerman
Divorce lawyers want their money up front, apparently.
germy
She was clearly miserable for the four years she was First Lady. So many clips of her looking immediately disgusted after flashing a fake smile.
The famous photo of her with Trump, Epstein & Maxwell. She looked so wasted! I don’t think she ever expected the White House in her future. She just thought it’d be an endless swirl of parties with Mick Jagger, Epstein, etc.
If she’s really interested in decoupling from TFG then she should write a real tell-all book. She could call it “Reflections: Life After the Mirrored Ceilings” or something.
Winston
I’m having a hard time trying to keep up. At least, I find myself off the banished list for now. Lately I’ve been enjoying Netflix streaming Outlander (4 seasons x 13 episodes). Getting ready to kindle books 5-8.
A good look at history in the 1700’s vs 1900’s .
Poe Larity
Wasn’t the View or whatever having trouble finding a replacement for McCain who wasn’t a total wacko and could still appeal to Trump voters?
Maybe Melania should try out. If she really hates TFG, it might be a way for her to menace him.
scav
Could be a whole new game. What part of a Republican isn’t up for sale to the highest bidder? We could probably flush out a few more Jan 6 tourists flogging their autographed hats for sale as we speak.
Soprano2
Melania is the TFG fan’s idea of what classy is like. I always tell them that they care too much about outer beauty and not enough about the inner person, because she has a rotted core.
Benw
TFG’s probably started charging her for meals at Mar a Lago.
germy
Shalimar
If Sally Quinn hadn’t died in 2014, I would have said the Trumps were God’s message to her to watch her tongue with everything she said about the Clintons.
Raoul Paste
It will be a miracle if Barron Trump comes out of this with his head screwed on straight.
I look forward to his TV commercial for the Freedom from Religion organisation
Steeplejack
@The Dangerman:
Any potential Trump lawyer should get the money up front!
RobertB
@Winston: Outlander – all the boobs and blood of Game of Thrones, but the characters are nicer. My wife loves the show, but isn’t a recreational reader, so a 2000+ page series is out.
lowtechcyclist
@germy:
You know it balances on your head
Just like a mattress balances
On a bottle of wine
SiubhanDuinne
This entire thread makes me feel squicky.
mrmoshpotato
@SiubhanDuinne:
?
Baud
Didn’t Jim say this was for “charity”? Given the history of the Trumps and charitable giving, that’s the part I’d be interested in learning more about.
Leto
This is way OT but for all the computer/techie people here, this is a really cool piece of history:
The most important computer you’ve never heard of How SAGE jumpstarted today’s technology and built IBM into a powerhouse.
Roger Moore
@Soprano2:
If they like her husband, they obviously have no objection to a rotten core.
Spanky
“She had me at ‘White Broad’.”
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Baud: “a portion of the proceeds will support children from the foster care community“
Suzanne
@Soprano2:
Absolutely. I used to have a coworker who was an ugly dude with a bad personality. He had (has?) a wife from somewhere in Eastern Europe who married him to stay in the country. His ex-wife is a stripper. He thought Melania was absolutely gorgeous. I didn’t want to say that only dudes who actually marry strippers think Melania is hot, and that says more about him than it does anyone else.
delk
And, it’s a shitty looking hat. Get a bucket of chicken…
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
2 things:
Brachiator
@Roger Moore:
I like this. Newt was always a kind of faux-intellectual grifter.
I agree that Trump was, is, and always will be trash. But “class” is little more than trash with more elegant pretense. There is nothing really special about posh people who wallow in their supposed class.
Steeplejack
@Shalimar:
Sally Quinn is still alive (age 80). My apologies if you were shooting for snark.
Omnes Omnibus
@Roger Moore: Exactly.
Roger Moore
@Baud:
IIRC, it says that part of the proceeds will go to charity. It doesn’t say what part, so the part that goes to charity could be vanishingly small compare to the part she keeps.
Bex
Trump fans whined loudly about Melania not being on the cover of Vogue as first lady. They didn’t seem to know that she had been on the cover when she married tfg. If she is selling her stuff, she could sell the dress by the pound. It weighed 60 pounds and she could barely walk in it. Scroll down the link for the cover photo and the awfulness.
Ken
@mrmoshpotato: “Squicky” means disturbing, usually with connotations of disgust. I find discussions of eye surgery squicky.
Steeplejack
@mrmoshpotato:
Jeez, maybe spend two seconds on Google.
“Engendering a feeling of disgust, distaste, nausea or revulsion.”
Roger Moore
@Leto:
I actually have heard of SAGE; Fred Brooks mentions it a few times in The Mythical Man Month.
Ken
“And my favorite charity is…. ME!” Which I could swear was used in a movie once, but google’s not turning it up.
Leto
@different-church-lady: those are headed to a Japanese vending machine. Gotta hit all the markets.
Bex
Sorry, link didn’t work for me. You can find it at mamamia.com.au/donald-trump-melania-trump-wedding/
Brachiator
@Raoul Paste:
I sometimes got the impression that Melania was trying to shield Barron from the influence of Trump and the older, malignant Trump spawn.
But who knows.
I don’t care what these people do in private life. I just don’t want to see any of them in politics anymore.
WaterGirl
Someone should buy the stupid I don’t care do U jacket, publicly declare that Melania is trash and that you are returning ti back to where it belongs, and then throw it in a trash can and light it on fire.
Leto
@Roger Moore: It’s so fascinating because as I was moving through the photos, I recognized how some of the pieces evolved because I worked on some of them. The ATC consoles, those mainframe cabinets… for a number of the systems I worked on from 1997-2003, very little changed. Ofc we went from those 1960’s relics to totally digital systems (circa 2000 for Shaw AFB) with no in-between models. Also seeing the early evolution of networked computers is always amazing.
Omnes Omnibus
@Brachiator:
I disagree. Michelle Obama in a dress that was perfectly appropriate for an occasion but happened to come from J. Crew is what people are talking about. Or MO, again perfectly appropriate for the occasion, wearing something by an little known designer who was a POC. It’s not the fancy labels or high prices but wearing wearing clothing that is appropriate for the occasion that looks good .
“Some people think luxury is the opposite of poverty. It is not. It is the opposite of vulgarity.”
― Coco Chanel
Betty Cracker
@Baud: Alexandra Petri wrote a whole column about it.
@Steeplejack: Thank you for that clarification. I was just wondering if I’d somehow forgotten the pleasure of reading her obituary and, relatedly, was losing a step myself…
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Another true believer bites the dust
WaterGirl
@Steeplejack: Alternate view;
why should a hundred people google “squicky” when one person can just explain it in the thread and then everyone knows what it means?
Every google search surely costs something in terms of equipment and energy use.
Winston
Allow Me To Explain
I know that many of you who supported Trump cannot understand how he lost the 2020 election and, as a result, you have bought into the idea that surely the election was ‘rigged’ and rife with fraud.
Most of you live in ‘red states’ or the red areas of blue states. Your neighbours, your family member, and your friends all voted for Trump – and you believe that those numbers are the same across the nation. They aren’t. Just because everyone you know voted for him doesn’t mean the people you don’t know did the same.
I can tell you who didn’t vote for Trump, and why. And obviously there were millions more of them than there were of you.
First there are those who never voted for Trump in 2016. They saw him for what he was – a grifter who had a reputation for cheating labourers and contractors out of their money, a con-artist who had his fake university and his fake charity shut down as scams, a pussy-grabbing loudmouth accused multiple times of sexual molestation – and even rape.
Next are the people who realized what Trump was after he was elected. The self-made billionaire was exposed as a fraud who’d inherited the money he claimed to have earned. The top-of-his-class scholar who threatened to sue any school he’d attended if they released his grades. The patriot whose daddy paid a doctor to get him out of the draft – the same patriot who declared that John McCain wasn’t really a war hero, because he’d been ‘caught’ by the enemy and imprisoned in a POW camp.
And then there are those who watched in stunned horror as the “pResident” of the United States declared that our own intelligence agencies were wrong, because Putin was blameless in interfering in US elections. Add to that number those who saw inept cronies appointed to Cabinet posts and other positions of power – not the least of which were his own daughter and son-in-law, two of the most vacuous idiots imaginable.
And then there are the decent people who were appalled by Trump’s policies – like taking children away from immigrants, like calling Mexicans rapists, like
attempting to ban all Muslims from entering the US – and so much more.
Add into the mix of those who refused to re-elect Trump: the families who were told their sons and daughters in the military were ‘losers’, the people who lost loved ones to Covid because they’d been told it was a hoax and no precautions need be taken, the people who came to realize that a man who was caught in lie after lie was not trustworthy, the people who finally understood that the nation’s wellbeing should not be placed in the hands of someone who thinks injecting disinfectants, nuking hurricanes, and raking forests is an intelligent response to anything.
Are you starting to see the Big Picture instead of the Big Lie? Are you beginning to understand why the great majority of voters chose to rid themselves of a self-serving grifter who, after losing an election for all of the reasons cited above, proved just how self-absorbed he is by inciting an attack on the Capitol – and on democracy itself?
Think it through, intelligently and rationally – and stop thinking that those who didn’t vote to re-elect Trump are just a small group of people who somehow managed to ‘rig’ a national election without leaving a scintilla of evidence behind.
Millions more of Americans voted for Biden than voted for Trump – and if you had the necessary intelligence to reason it out, you’d understand why.
Omnes Omnibus
@Winston: To whom are you explaining?
Leto
@Omnes Omnibus: next you’ll be quoting the Meryl Streep “lumpy blue sweater” speech from The Devil Wear’s Prada… :P
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus: I just assumed it was directed at me.
NotMax
If the buyer contracts head lice, can she be sued?
“It was clearly labeled ‘As Is.'”
//
Brachiator
@Omnes Omnibus:
If people are talking about fashion and clothing, that is indeed something different. Folks who care about this thing can have at it.
And although I admire the hell out of Michelle Obama as a person, I never paid attention to what she wore, or cared about designers.
Omnes Omnibus
@Leto: Nah, that tips over into vulgarity, doncha know?
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: Of course.
Fair Economist
Big protests underway in Kazhakstan. Normally I’d be supportive, but it seems to be getting sympathetic coverage in Russia and Belarus, which concerns me that perhaps this is an attempt to replace a bad regime with a worse one, a la Kyrgzstan in 2020/21.
Omnes Omnibus
And I would suggest that you never paid attention on part because she was always dressed appropriately for the occasion.
drunkenhausfrau
Ok, @Betty Cracker, I had to click through (like a cat needing to knock something off the table). This HAT, plus the water color drawing of her in the hat, and the NFT is said image, with “movement” (I.e. de minimus animation) are a mere $250K!! A “portion” of which will go to foster children to help them with internet stuff… sure.
this is why we need to tax the rich. Because stupid filthy rich people will spend money on this shit.
Brachiator
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
It is just crazy to see that these sadly misguided dopes will not get a clue.
geg6
@Winston:
Love me some Outlander. Prefer the books to the series, but the series is very, very well done. Stumbled across the books at least a decade ago (most likely longer) and am now the proud owner of every book in the series, including the Outlander Companion. Just got the newest, Go Tell the Bees I Am Gone, as my Christmas present to myself.
Betty Cracker
@Brachiator: “Class” is a word with lots of connotations. It can mean graciousness — apart from fashion or social status.
JPL
@germy: She won’t do that, because trump knows her immigration secrets.
Winston
@Winston: Via Nance Greggs DU
germy
@JPL:
Mutually assured destruction.
Soprano2
@Omnes Omnibus: My husband says that good clothing doesn’t have to have the name on the outside for people to recognize quality. Of course, you could put Meliana in the best Chanel suit and she would still be trashy.
This reminds me of the wife of the husband and wife owners of a marketing company I worked for a long time ago. She grew up poor in Arkansas, and even though they had all kinds of money it showed. She permed her own hair (badly), had inch-long roots in dyed hair that were showcased by a center part, and dressed terribly. She would wear a nice suit with totally inappropriate shoes, that kind of thing. My office mate told me she once saw this woman in the summer wearing a sundress with knee high socks and sandals! Even though they lived in Boise, ID (before it became an actor’s hot spot), I know people there didn’t dress or look like that, particularly in the circles they probably socialized in. She was extremely smart about the business too, probably better than her husband, but I doubt many people who didn’t know her well took her seriously. Her husband wasn’t like that, either – he always dressed nicely and had his hair nicely groomed, nothing fancy but he looked appropriate to his position. I cringed thinking of how the other women she socialized with probably talked about her behind her back. I mean, I didn’t have much money and I know I looked better than she did! It was a testament to the fact that you can have all kinds of money and still look classless.
ETA – for anyone who says this is shallow, you are right to a certain extent, but it’s just true that when people are in positions of more authority they should look like it. Maybe that’s an old-fashioned way to think, but I believe it makes a difference. It’s hard to take someone seriously when they are in their 40’s and still dress as if they put on whatever they found in their closet this morning.
JPL
@Betty Cracker: What word is not used when describing Melania for ……? graciousness
JPL
@germy: That would be awesome!!
geg6
@Leto:
It sounds a little crazy, but my godfather was in the Air Force and worked on the SAGE project. When he was discharged, IBM talked him out of going to college and just going to work for them. He spent his entire career there working as a computer engineer. No college degree, just his AF experience with SAGE.
scav
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Got a serious giggle out of the Orange County DA’s office calling her death “unexpected”.
The Moar You Know
I sold my 82 Ford Escort (timing belt not chain, shittiest car ever) to a junkyard for fifty bucks and felt like I’d ripped off the junkyard.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Betty Cracker:
Same. I had to go look.
Anyway
@Steeplejack:
Do you know if Sally Quinn made any public statements/columns/tweets about TFG and his awful family during their presidency? Or were her opinions on the Clintons another expression of media hypocrisy/double standards when it comes to the Dems…
Not a WaPo/FTFNYT subscriber/reader
SiubhanDuinne
@Shalimar:
Sally Quinn is still alive. Perhaps you’re thinking of her husband, Ben Bradley, who died in 2014.
germy
@scav:
https://www.sorryantivaxxer.com/post/kelly-ernby-46-huntington-beach-ca-orange-co-deputy-da-anti-vaxx-dead-from-covid
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@Bex: OMG, the dress is not only literally heavy and (according to the article) “deeply uncomfortable”, but it is UGLY. What are those weird rosettes on the train?!? Christian Dior, I expected something better than this! But anyway, thanks for the link. What a dress.
Steeplejack (phone)
@WaterGirl:
I didn’t think squicky was so arcane that hundreds of people would not get it.
And this is different from asking a person to provide a link or citation to a very specific news story or assertion.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
COVID anecdote: Dr Robert Watcher, head of the Dept of Medicine at SFSU, tells podcasting O’Bro Jon Lovett that he should plan on going ahead his live show at the Castro Theater in the first week of March, because Omicron should be on the wane. The doctor plans to attend.
ETA: and the doctor expects that we’ll all get a fourth shot, on our way to annual boosters
trollhattan
@germy:
Wasn’t there some kind of “Shit, you’ve won, now what?” moment from her on election night in 2018?
Trump was the dog who caught the car when he won the nom, then came around to the idea “I, Trump deserve to be president” during the campaign. Melanie never seemed to want any part of that mess (and she’s at least smart enough to spot a mess a-brewin’ ahead of time).
NotMax
In case anyone thought the passing mention this morning was a joke, the trailer.
Oy effin’ vey.
germy
@trollhattan:
Trump was the airedale terrier who caught the car and then decided he was the driver.
Omnes Omnibus
I am completely fine with this. I get an annual flu shot.
West of the Rockies
@Winston:
Thanks for posting that. Now, if only that could appear in every paper, magazine, website, podcast, etc.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Anyway:
When I Googled her I saw an article she wrote about the Trumps from (I think) 2017, but I didn’t look at it. I think there were other links as well. She was published in the Post as recently as last May.
Ken
Another way to frame that is that he conspired to help her violate immigration laws. Assuming that there were any such violations or other “secrets”.
Old School
@NotMax:
I’m still not convinced that isn’t a joke. There’s no production information at the end
Edit: I see you can watch it on Amazon. It truly does exist.
germy
@Ken:
“The Genius Visa”
Starboard Tack
@Omnes Omnibus: I’m 3 months past the booster and I’ll take a 4th as soon as it’s available.
Gravenstone
@Eljai: Buddy of mine got a 1984 Ford Escort as a college graduation gift from his folks. I got the dubious “pleasure” to drive it for a stint on a road trip a couple years later. My knees were literally on either side of the steering wheel, that’s how cramped that cabin was. It’s a wonder I didn’t drive us into a ditch somewhere along the way.
Miss Bianca
@Ken:
There was a joke to this effect that I remember from way, way, back in the day in a Fat Albert cartoon.
sdhays
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): She’s Klassy with a capital “K”.
Fair Economist
@Omnes Omnibus: I’ve been expecting to get a COVID shot at least yearly since we found out it had escaped China in Feb. 2020. Having had COVID, I find multiple shots to avert it VERY acceptable.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Omnes Omnibus:
If I don’t, the kid will yell at me.
UncleEbeneezer
I see that there is going to be a Vigil For Democracy, Thursday in Pasadena. Was just thinking we should probably get a thread for 1/6-related events and actions. It’s a good time for us all to do what we can to press for Voting Rights and reminding the world how awful 1/6 was.
https://www.pasadenanow.com/main/vigil-for-democracy-marking-capitol-building-assault-set-for-thursday-at-pasadena-city-hall
Mike in NC
I’m old enough to remember when they sold joke cocktail napkins from “The Betty Ford Clinic”.
Ken
Just because you’ve knuckled under to Big Reality….
UncleEbeneezer
@Gravenstone: I learned to drive stick shift on a smurf-blue, ’84 Escort.
Starboard Tack
@Steeplejack (phone): I read squicky = squirmy + icky.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Old School:
Could be a spoof. “Big hands” was a clue.
sdhays
@WaterGirl: It’s a great idea, except for the part that money goes into the Third Lady’s pocket.
Austin Bailey
Past first ladies have written books or become involved in public service organization. Neither of those efforts really fall within this woman’s skill set.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Starboard Tack:
That works.
SiubhanDuinne
@SiubhanDuinne:
1. Steep got there first.
2. I typed “Bradlee,” I swear I did. Autocorrect doesn’t care for that spelling.
dm
@Leto: Back when there was a Computer Museum in Boston, they had a huge SAGE display. At an office Christmas party held at the museum, I saw a co-worker explaining bits of it to his wife.
The bits he’d designed.
LeftCoastYankee
My parents had a Ford Escort back when I was still in high school. Only car I’ve ever driven that stalled when you pressed the accelerator.
The best part is my grandmother sold it to them barely used so she could buy a Nissan. I’m not sure what that says about my family….
Starboard Tack
A team at Baylor College invented a low cost vaccine that will be shared globally patent free. It won’t require special handling.
Old School
@Steeplejack (phone): Could be. Tough to tell from the reviews on Amazon. I highly doubt I’m going to spend an hour watching it to find out.
SiubhanDuinne
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan):
Dress and headdress are hideous. Yikes!
Miss Bianca
@geg6: Ooh, have you read the newest one yet?
I too love the Outlander series (books and TV), but only own the first four books – starting with The Fiery Cross, as they just got bigger and bigger and BIGGER and strayed farther and farther away from Claire’s POV, I lost interest re-reading them, which is the primary purpose for keeping copies of books, at this stage in my life.
(But now I’m afraid that I *am* going to have to go back and re-read #8, whatever it’s called again, to prepare for reading #9)
Steeplejack (phone)
@Old School:
Same.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Starboard Tack:
germy
smith
@UncleEbeneezer: I’ve been hoping there would be discussions about establishing ways to mark the day, kind of like an American Guy Fawkes day, but more serious. I’d thought of burning an effigy of TFG in my backyard, but have decided on a candle in the front window instead. Probably no one seeing it will know why it’s there, but I will, and will plan to commemorate the day in some way from now on.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Austin Bailey: She could always just copy the previous First Lady’s book and call it her’s.
Abnormal Hiker
@Roger Moore: I actually worked in a SAGE environment as a weather forecaster on a NORAD base in the 60s
Brachiator
@Omnes Omnibus:
No. I just don’t care about this stuff at all, and am generally blind to it.
But I also know that racists and fools would always attack Ms Obama no matter what, and would try to compare Trump’s wife to her in ways that were typically idiotic.
Ruckus
@Betty Cracker:
I once sat on a 3-4 hr plane ride, during the dunce 1 maladministration (GWB), next to a “lady” and I suspect her husband, who was reading some rather large right wing book that was popular with people of their type at the time and she had to every once in a while sort of show it off to make sure everyone knew. She once, speaking reasonably loudly, stated that they should have gotten first class tickets so they didn’t have to sit with the riffraff. I asked her why didn’t they? She just glared at me. I had to take a shower at the first opportunity. I considered lye soap and a stiff scrub brush but figured I’d suffered enough. That was bushies. SFB loyalists are likely the same people, it’s just that they have become a far worse/lower subset of humanity.
Another Scott
@trollhattan: IIRC, Mother Pence had that reaction and was furious.
Cheers,
Scott.
Roger Moore
@Brachiator:
I think there is a real difference, though I’ll admit I’d be hard put to define exactly what it is. The basic idea is that class is about competing with people in your own weight class. You’re trying to show your mettle to people who have means similar to yours.
Trump doesn’t do that. Instead, he likes overt shows of wealth to overawe people who can’t afford the same kind of excess. Yeah, I can’t afford to cover everything in gold leaf, and Trump can. But the fact he’s trying to impress me rather than other rich people is what’s trashy. It’s like a high school student trying to show how tough he is by beating up elementary school kids. It doesn’t show his toughness; it shows he’s a bully. Trump’s trashiness is a form of wealth bullying.
cain
@Citizen Alan:
It’ll be awesome to hear what our conservative betters will say about such an event. They’d probably hold it up as a virtue – eg “how many women her age can still knock it out of the park! I got my onlyfans account, with this code you can also get on and cheer on our First Lady!”
Lapassionara
@smith: I think this is a really good idea. I like the idea of an annual remembrance, and a candle in the window conveys remembrance to me.
Starboard Tack
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Low cost, easy to make, easy to distribute, in Phase 3 trials. Also Walter Reed’s universal SARS vaccine is ready to start Phase 2 trials.
Another Scott
@Austin Bailey: Didn’t she get a big advance for a book entitled “Becominger” or something???
[ I see Billin got there first. ]
Cheers,
Scott.
Kay
lol
Jackie
@Omnes Omnibus: I saw an article in the WaPost (yesterday?) that Israel has started second booster shots for high-risk and those 60+.
The US more than likely will follow suit (again.)
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
waspuppet
Escorts, and for that matter prn stars, have actual jobs that they have to show up and do satisfactorily. TFG has conclusively proven that that’s beyond his capabilities.
trollhattan
@Another Scott:
Heh.
I don’t have sympathies for her whatsoever but good lord, the bile accumulation watching Trump humiliate Pence continuously for nearly five years, capped with the real possibility of being lynched at the Capitol, must have been more than the typical human could endure.
All while having to pretend Trump Daddy “is a good Christian, just see all the wonderful things he does for our Lord.”
She should take up smoking.
Ruckus
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
It’s not just their taste that is. It’s their politics, their humanity, their singular concept that money is worth more than people – even or especially when they don’t have any and need to blame anyone/everyone else.
Miss Bianca
@Roger Moore:
That’s a really interesting way to put it – never thought about it quite like that before!
PST
@UncleEbeneezer:
I learned to drive a stick shift in a Fiat Panda. It was my first time driving in the UK, and I had no idea how expensive it was to rent a car with an automatic transmission there in the ’80s. So I learned to shift for myself, drive on the left, and navigate roundabouts all on the same day. That was half a lifetime ago, long before GPS allowed us to pay full attention to driving.
Kay
The petty little tyrant in Florida and his goons don’t permit questions.
Compare with Biden, who had a Trump cultist tell him fuck you on a Christmas call intended for kids and laughed it off.
MANLY men on the Right! Yes, sir!
The Thin Black Duke
Apropos of nothing, I loved my Ford Focus, which was the descendent of the Escort. My ex-girlfriend totaled it (sob).
Ruckus
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Two cents may be a portion but it is not a significant one.
And she’ll likely lie about that….
jonas
“Head of State” Collection? Maybe if *she* had been president. Also, if it’s just her used clothes, it’s not really a fashion “collection” so much as “stuff I’m raffling off for some reason.”
Old School
@The Thin Black Duke:
That must have been a bad break-up.
hueyplong
Call it a yard sale. That’ll piss them off.
Brachiator
@Roger Moore:
I understand what you’re saying. For the most part, I don’t care about this stuff.
I think that people can be trashy, and has a huge inferiority complex and has spent his life trying to prove how “classy” he is, and yet cannot see how junky his tastes actually are.
But the people he is so desperate to impress are often just as much pieces of shit as he is. They just hide it better, and pretend that somehow just because their money is older, it is more respectable.
So I guess I agree that people can display elegance, taste, gracefulness, etc, but I do not see that this is connected in any big way to social class, or money or pedigree.
I also like dogs, but don’t care about dog shows or whether an animal is a mutt or a so-called pure breed.
But yeah, by any measure, Trump is a sweaty piece of shit obsessed with proving that he is somebody.
geg6
@Miss Bianca:
Not yet. I’m saving it for spring break. I got so many books for Christmas that it will take me that long to get to it. And I always like to read them straight through when it’s a new Outlander and I can’t always manage that when I’m working. Right now, I’m finishing up the Adam Schiff book and on deck is In the Weeds: Around the World and Behind the Scenes with Anthony Bourdain. I’m not sure if you knew this, but Tony is my secret celebrity boyfriend (deceased).
Leto
@geg6: that’s really cool! I shared this article with a good friend of mine. He’s similar to your godfather. Did about 8 years in the AF, but did get his computer science degree, and is now leading teams at Sandia National Labs. Just based off his AF experience he could’ve walked in the door there no issue (he knows most of the nuclear team there), but his passion is computers. Some of the stuff his teams are doing is just crazy. Glad we know these people :)
JustRuss
@The Moar You Know: My girlfriend-then-wife had a 93 Escort, it was basically a Mazda built by Ford. Replaced the timing belt twice, sold it with over 200K miles. Not fancy, but it was a solid little ride.
Citizen Alan
@Shalimar: Sally Quinn died? Damn. Why didn’t anyone tell me? I’d have bought champagne for everyone.
Leto
@dm: awesome! I would’ve loved to talk to him and geg6’s godfather.
geg6
@Leto:
Godfather was in the AF in the late 50s and was at IBM in the early 60s. I can remember going to his office in Pittsburgh and him taking me and his son (my best friend at the time) into the room where the mainframe was. It was like walking into a science fiction movie. The computer took up the entire room. This was back in the days when all they used were the punch cards. I had no clue what any of it meant except my godfather worked in the cleanest, coldest office imaginable. He was later transferred to Binghamton, NY and he retired from IBM and moved to AZ, where he still lives. For years, IBM would call him up and ask him to do consulting for them, but I think he has finally stopped that. He was 10 years younger than my parents, so he must be in his late 80s now.
JPL
duplicate
JPL
@smith: In GA both Cobb County and Woodstock GA republicans are holding candlelight vigils for the patriots who stormed the capitol. Democrats are calling it Homage of Treason.
Middlelee
@Betty Cracker: I’ve always liked the quote from a friend 50 years ago, “Class doesn’t show, just the lack of it.”
Miss Bianca
@geg6:
I…I did not know this. Same fellow who wrote Kitchen Confidential, right? I read that years ago, and still feel a trifle scarred by the experience. Took me years before I felt brave and/or stupid enough to order a chicken dish when I go to a restaurant. ; )
ETA: Considering that both times I’ve gotten food poisoning when I ate out that it was a chicken dish that was the culprit, I now wonder at my *ever* ordering chicken again!
Leto
@geg6: when I entered the AF in 1997, we were still using a reel-to-reel tape system for audio recordings of telephone and radio communications. We also had this big mainframe telecommunication device that handled all the voice switching requirements for the air traffic control systems (both the tower and radar approach facility, aka the scope dopes). Those systems were a nightmare to work on. The one on Guam was basically maintained by 1 civilian because of the amount of Gerry rigging that had taken place within it over the course of 25 years. I was eternally glad when we swapped to the digital system because 1) we reclaimed soooo much floor space and 2) the maintenance on it was orders of magnitude easier.
The mainframe area you describe makes me think of the movie, “Hidden Figures”, when they installed that IBM machine at NASA. Punch cards and entire floor! Ha!
Brachiator
@Betty Cracker:
Yep. Class as personal grace, I agree with. Don’t care about social status.
The Pale Scot
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Donald’s panties? Yea, that works
sab
@geg6: There are also a couple of related cookbooks I love. The author is Canadianl. There are a bunch of traditional British dishes with recipes Americans can understand: measures with cups and teasponns not grams, and farenheit not celsius.
LongHairedWeirdo
@Starboard Tack: A “squick” is typically going to be worse than “squirmy and icky”.
In fact… do you know the joke The Aristocrats? One way to nail that joke is to touch on a squicky topic, with just the right touch to generate surprised and/or horrified laughter. (“Just the right touch” varies by crowd and comedian, of course.)
It’s not just “ew, gross;” it’s supposed to be more fundamental, more primal. In fact, the canonical definition was “the sound made by (a particularly brutal act of sexual aggression, requiring trepanation)” and “the reaction most people have to the first definition.”
Of course, with usage, it will become diluted. A dinner no longer needs to inspire terror to be “terrible”.
evodevo
@Winston: Thanks for this…. mind if I steal this to use to jerk the chain of a Facebook MAGAt I interact with regularly…
Ruckus
@The Thin Black Duke:
I have a late model Focus and it is a decent car. Gets good milage, runs and handles fine. Is it perfect? No, but then what made by humans is? Is it (and pretty much all cars) far, far better than what was produced 30 or 40 yrs ago? Yes, yes they are. Every part is designed and produced using technology that was in it’s infancy 40 yrs ago and is far, far better today than then. I remember in my lifetime that most cars required a valve job every 10,000 miles or so and that a car that did 100K miles was considered pretty damn amazing and that a 2 speed auto trans was high tech. Now they have 10 speeds and allow a much smaller engine, that will last 200-300K miles, and give over twice the mpg of cars then, while still running and performing far better. And internal combustion cars today have reached pretty much their engineering/cost limits.
sab
@LeftCoastYankee: Obviously you never drove a Ford Falcon. Mine stalled while climbing a speedbump at McDonald’s.
I sold my Escort when a pedestrian pointed out that my gas line was leaking onto the road underneath me.
persistentillusion
@The Thin Black Duke: Completely agreed on the Ford Focus. Had 2, both grey and named Stuart Little as they resembled mice somehow. Loved those cars.
Brachiator
@Winston:
Great stuff.
debbie
Based on the “artist’s rendering,” the hat looks too big. I think it’s the high block that does it.
debbie
@JustRuss:
Heh, I had a Mazda that had a Ford transmission that died at 30,000 miles (just a week or so out of warranty). ?
Mike G
@JustRuss:
The Mazda-based Escorts were fairly good (I owned the Mazda they were based on), it was the Ford-designed dogs of the 80s that were awful. They had a solid design in the European Escort at the time, and as is sadly common cheapened and worsened it in multiple ways for the US market.
StringOnAStick
@debbie: I remember seeing her wear that hat in public, mainly because my first thought was “why is she wearing a hat that’s 4 sizes too big?” . I’m the farthest thing from haute couture, but holy crap so much high end expensive stuff is just silly looking and the opposite of functionally useful. This hat fits both bills.
Richard
@Omnes Omnibus:
Thanks for the quote.
flagpole
All hat, no tattle
lowtechcyclist
You must be a bit older than me, then. My recollection of when I was growing up in the 1960s was that middle-class people who could afford to do so, traded in their cars after 3 years or 60K miles. The vast majority of cars didn’t make it to 100K, but the minority of cars that did was large enough that it wasn’t exactly earthshaking when one did.
By the 1970s, it was far from exceptional. My 1971 Super Beetle made it to 156K, and was reliable up to about 140K. When it died, I replaced it with a very used 1970 Buick Skylark that already had 172K miles on it. I drove it across the country and back, and it eventually died with 227K miles on it.
Ruckus
@Brachiator:
But yeah, by any measure, Trump is a sweaty piece of shit obsessed with proving that he is somebody.
Well like most humans he likely does really know somewhere in that warped, twisted, useless, childish, moronic mind of his that he is a sweaty piece of shit. He stole from his siblings, his father stole from the residences of his slum properties to create the money he started from, he’s been a sweaty piece of shit the vast majority of his life. He knows it and has been attempting, in his useless, crappy childish, moronic way to convince any and everyone different his entire life. He just never learned how to do any better, from a father who couldn’t either.
Ruckus
@lowtechcyclist:
I believe I am a bit older. Moms car when I was old enough to know was a 1947 Ford coupe, flathead straight 6, 3 on the column, painted olive drab. Bet the folks bought it cheap, army surplus. I also had a friend who’s dad had a 60’s Pontiac Bonneville that he had coaxed over 300K out of. It was by then an absolute piece of shit. But it made it. Very Barely. It wasn’t worth the steel it was made from at that point. Cars today go a lot farther, simply because the manufacturing is a lot better and more precise because it’s done by machines run by computers rather than humans. I started working with metal 60 yrs ago, learning precision machining and I worked all but my time in the Navy and 11 yrs working in professional sports doing that. The machines got better and the people really didn’t. Some got as good as being human allows, many didn’t. But the machines got far, far better. When I started some machines were still run off a single motor in the overhead with flat leather belts. The last machine I purchased, in 1990, had 3 computers inside to operate it. It was accurate to 50 millionths of an inch or better. Today they are accurate to half that, 25 millionths of an inch. Or even more accurate. The last job I did 6 months ago I made 6 pins of hardened steel to +/- 25 millionths of an inch. Manufacturing today is far, far more capable than it was 60 yrs ago. And cars are a lot of manufactured parts that work far better together when they are closer to the correct size. Which they are today.
Ruckus
@Brachiator:
It isn’t. But social class, money and or pedigree are all there to define elegance, taste and gracefulness, and they actually don’t and can’t do that. You have to actually have elegance, taste and gracefulness, to prove that you do, and social class, money and pedigree only determine which social class you belong to, how much money you actually have and who your parents were, and that’s the sum total of what they do. IOW the important stuff has nothing to do with who you socialize with, how much money you have, or who your parents are. IOW you are correct.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Winston:
You should credit this to NanceGreggs at Democratic Underground.