Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Let’s show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

I really should read my own blog.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

I desperately hope that, yet again, I am wrong.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

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

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

Cole is on a roll !

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

Never forget that he train is barreling down on Trump, even as he dances on the tracks.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Come on, man.

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

Republicans don’t trust women.

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

You are here: Home / Politics / Biden Administration in Action / Monday Morning Open Thread: Up the IRA!

Monday Morning Open Thread: Up the IRA!

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Monday Morning Open Thread 3

(Arlo & Janis via GoComics.com)


Some folks can be gracious about the new IRA passing…

Others, not so much!

ICYMI:

Reader Interactions

236Comments

  2. 2.

    Baud

    The first two years of Obama’s term were incredibly productive also (and frankly, Clinton’s).  I’m happy to see it being appreciated this time.  Hopefully, the lesson sticks.

  4. 4.

    germy shoemangler

    It’s a big achievement, and it happened because there were 50 Dem senators. It wouldn’t have happened with 49. It would’ve been bigger with 51. That’s something all us nonpartisan policy geeks should be reckoning with.

    — Michael Grunwald (@MikeGrunwald) August 7, 2022

    I’ve never met a nonpartisan policy geek, though.

  9. 9.

    satby

    Is it me or does this site drag on refresh again?

    1. Another hot, miserably humid day here, with thunderstorms which I hope will eventually usher in cooler, less humid weather. Can’t breathe in this soupy air.
  12. 12.

    Baud

    Today show seems to be ignoring the bill.  They had a clip on Trump at CPAC.  Maybe I missed it.

  13. 13.

    satby

    @Baud: yeah, I owe AT&T $$, so they could be throttling my service,  but it’s only on this site that it bounces all over the place while pages take some time to refresh.

  14. 14.

    Baud

    Jeez, Today show is doing a story on the teacher shortage, and all the states they’re highlighting are red states.  But they won’t that.  They are saying “across the U.S.”

    ETA: they did talk about NV, which is more purple.

  17. 17.

    WereBear

    @Baud: I haven’t watched such shows since they adopted the Chihuahua-on-expresso style of presentation, but they always seem to be in the tank for Rs.

    Probably because old people with antennas are their main viewers now…

  19. 19.

    Ken

    @WereBear: I love the smell of Democratic victory in the morning!

    “But they’re winning in the wrong way.” — the people the Neid tweets are about

  22. 22.

    David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    All people are born alike. Except Democrats and Republicans.

    ~ Groucho Marx

    So true. We’re part of the least exclusive club, but with the highest dues.

  26. 26.

    lowtechcyclist

    Jennifer Abruzzo is the NLRB’s most vigorously pro-union general counsel in years

    Business has slammed her for being so pro-union. Her response: “We have a pro-worker mandate & I’m going to vigorously protect the rights of workers”

    Music to my ears.

  28. 28.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    Saw a clip of Schumer giving a press conference yesterday (the YouTube algorithm is throwing a lot of MSNBC clips at me lately). He seemed to be going out of his way to heap praise on Manchin, but as far as I recall didn’t mention Sinema or anyone else by name. I wonder what’s up with that? I’m sure there was some careful calculation there.

    Re the Dana Houle tweet: One appointment I heard about yesterday was a USPS board chair who is expected to be the final vote to oust DeJoy.

    Re Amy Weirich: I read that to my wife and she has requested that I stop reading political news to her in the morning as the phrase “6 years in jail for registering wrong” has her so angry she can’t enjoy breakfast.

  31. 31.

    Geminid

    This morning’s Politico Playbook includes a fairly long review of the process that led to passing the Inflation Reduction Act. The timeline starts last summer and briefly follows events through the fall, winter and spring.

    The article gets more detailed over the last five weeks, including a houseboat vignette:

         On [Thursday] August 4, [Mark] Warner joined Manchin on his houseboat to talk about the deal Sinema was about to announce on taxes. After getting soaked in a rainstorm- Warner left in a new outfit- wearing a pair of Manchin’s shorts and a T-shirt- and a hope that Manchin, Sinema, and Schumer would see eye-to-eye.

    Manchin returned Warner’s freshly pressed suit to him Saturday morning.

  33. 33.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Baud:

    Biden has been the best president for labor in living memory.

    Nah, my ‘living memory’ includes LBJ, and there are people still living who have good memories of FDR.

    But your point is well taken: it’s been quite a while since we’ve had this pro-labor a President.  It wasn’t like Obama or Clinton or Carter were anti-labor, but their issues just didn’t matter as much to them.

    Time for the labor community to show up.

    Problem is, so much of your traditional blue-collar class is pretty well embedded in right-wing culture these days.  If we can make a difference in the lives of wait staff, fast-food workers, and the like, things could get interesting.  We really have to think of people in jobs like that as ‘labor,’ and not have our mental picture be of an assembly-line worker in an automobile plant.

  34. 34.

    David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: ​
     

    Saw a clip of Schumer giving a press conference yesterday (the YouTube algorithm is throwing a lot of MSNBC clips at me lately)

    I have the same problem when I watch Porn hub.

  35. 35.

    Ken

    @Baud: Today show coverage of the bill coming up.

    Turn it off. You’ll just end up having to buy a new TV after their guests, Sens. McConnell and Graham and Reps. Boebert and Greene, explain how bad the bill is.

    (Disclaimer: guest list made up, and possibly more typical of the Sunday news analysis shows.)

  37. 37.

    Baud

    @lowtechcyclist:

    What did (Fuck) LBJ do for labor?  Honest question, I just don’t remember. He had a bunch of other domestic accomplishments, obviously, but I can’t recall his labor legacy.

  38. 38.

    different-church-lady

    “Man, centrist liberals are going to be so annoying if this reconciliation bill passes.”

    Christ, it’s almost like Cleek’s law applys to very-online progressives just as much as republicans.

  41. 41.

    mrmoshpotato

    Maybe if they hadn’t said “Let’s go” to Brandon so many times he wouldn’t be getting so much done.

    LOL!  Go suck Dump’s ass, Rethuglicans!

  42. 42.

    germy shoemangler

    Worst tenant ever

    And I didn’t even get my security deposit back.

    NEW IN AXIOS: Trump denied flushing documents as president, as I learned during reporting last year for CONFIDENCE MAN. A Trump White House source recently provided PHOTOS of paper with Trump’s handwriting in two different toilets via @mikeallen https://t.co/wv6rrupO1n

    — Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) August 8, 2022

    Thank goodness for “Access Sally” (as Roy Edroso calls her)

  43. 43.

    David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    @lowtechcyclist: ​  Obama rescuing the entire auto industry and its subsidiary industries when Mittens and the media were saying “Let Detroit go bankrupt” and when the policy was literally opposed by 72% wants to have a word with you.

    That said, “GM is alive and bin Laden is dead”​

  45. 45.

    sab

    @lowtechcyclist: Every time I’ve done political canvassing door to door there have been union people out with me, and they know the neighborhoods because they are out there for every election, not just the exciting ones.

  46. 46.

    Danielx

    @satby:

    Especially at 8:15 in the morning. Feels like I could draw pictures in the air. And have them stay for a while – oops! Air movement!

  48. 48.

    Geminid

    @lowtechcyclist: I wonder how the union vote came out in 2020. Union leadership backed thd Democratic ticket. Membership of unions like the SEIU(sp?) and Teamsters include a lot of women and many Black, Latino and other minority members. And despite the stereopype, a lot of white union members vote for Dems. I think unions could have made the difference in several states.

    I wonder how impactful unions will be these midterms in battleground districts such as Marcy Kaptur’s in Northeast Ohio.

  49. 49.

    Nicole

    Adam McKay is wet blanketing the bill on Twitter because it gives him bad vibes.  Or something like that, as he admits he hasn’t read it.  He’s getting deservedly roasted.

    I’m happy people aren’t dumping on Schumer for a change.  I think he’s, in fact, really good at his job; he just doesn’t make for good TV (which, of course, doesn’t stop him from trying to get on TV whenever possible, but his willingness to show up for ANYTHING is one of the things I like about him.  Gov. Hochul is the same.  That’s a real politician, in the good way).

  50. 50.

    David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    @germy shoemangler: ​
     

    A Trump White House source recently provided PHOTOS of paper with Trump’s handwriting in two different toilets

    Who knew Axis Maggie was so close with the Tidy Bowl Man

  51. 51.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Baud:

    What did (Fuck) LBJ do for labor?  Honest question, I just don’t remember. He had a bunch of other domestic accomplishments, obviously, but I can’t recall his labor legacy.

    Raised the minimum wage from $1.25 to $1.60/hour, which doesn’t sound like much but was a 28% increase.

    And Medicare meant a hell of a lot more to the working classes than to upper middle class people (let alone the rich).  They were the ones who weren’t going to be able to pay for health care after they stopped working.

  53. 53.

    Nicole

    As it’s an open thread, a fun news read- for horse-crazy Boomers and Gen-Xers, Misty of Chincoteague was a part of our childhood (my family vacationed on Chincoteague for years thanks to my love of that book). Legend had it the Assateague ponies were descendants of a shipwrecked Spanish ship.  Now, DNA indicates it might be more than legend.  I like to think the ghost of Marguerite Henry is fist pumping the air somewhere today.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2022/08/06/chincoteague-ponies-spanish-shipwreck-dna/

    (I say Boomers and Gen-Xers because this Gen-Xer tried to read the book to her horse-crazy 12-year-old but no go.  1940’s writing style a little slow for him.)

  54. 54.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Nicole:

    Adam McKay is wet blanketing the bill on Twitter because it gives him bad vibes.  Or something like that, as he admits he hasn’t read it.  He’s getting deservedly roasted.

    I confess I’ve never heard of this guy before.  Does he have much of a following?  I’m not sure whether he’s an idiot or just lazy, but I can’t think of a reason to care about what he says.

  57. 57.

    Geminid

    @Nicole: I listen to a lot of network radio news and get to hear both Schumer and McConnell when there is news out of the Senate. They each will get a ten second sound bite and Schumer handles his well I think. He gets a lot of punch into a couple of sentences. I expect Schumer comes across in similarly on TV news shows.

  58. 58.

    Starfish

    @Baud: Some of what red states are experiencing, purply states are experiencing for similar reasons.

    For example, as some districts cut school down to four-day weeks, a number of rural districts in Colorado have already done so.

    Do you want to accept pay that does not cover your housing expenses to go live in an expensive ski town? Most people do not want that.

  60. 60.

    Starfish

    @satby:

    The Dark Brandon Rises. Woe to high drug prices, and flee ye to the hills, foul inflation. The tax cheats shall tremble, while green energy shall be unleashed upon all the land. The Dark Brandon commands, and so it shall be. https://t.co/js9jcAwaeC
    — Dan Desai Martin (@DanMartinTalks) August 8, 2022

  61. 61.

    Feathers

    @Nicole: Wow. Cool news. Fellow Chincoteague vacationer! Had all the Marguerite Henry books. Even got my Girl Scout troop to go camping on Assateague. There was a group camping site right on the beach, don’t know if it’s still there.

  65. 65.

    raven

    @Baud: I tried to reply but they came and got me! Somehow they decided I was a fall risk and made me go out to the car in a frickin wheelchair! This was a little strange, we decided to put a “minimally invasive implant” in but when they called for this appointment they said we were going to do the same spinal injection that we did in January without much success. I had an injection about 3 months ago that was directly to the femoral nerve and it helped for a while. I asked the doc and he had consulted with my other doc and thought this was the way to go based on my last mri. I remain a believer in western medicine so I basically do what I’m told. TMI for sure!

  68. 68.

    Starfish

    @satby: I had to go look up the Dark Brandon meme because I had no clue what all the youth here were talking about.

  69. 69.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @raven: They seem to make everyone go in wheelchairs. Although when I went to the ER with my heart attack, they had me walk to exam room with the nurse strolling casually next to me. But when I went home, then they rolled out the wheelchair.

  75. 75.

    Geminid

    @Feathers: You may have camped at Pea Island campground. It’s gone now due to erosion but the other four campgrounds in the Cape Hatteras National Seashore are still there.

    ETA: but now I see you’re talking Assateague! Never mind (I guess I got my ponies mixed up. There is a herd in Corrola, in North Carolina north of the Outer Banks). Assateague State Park is still there.

    When I was a kid my family would drive down to the Outer Banks and camp at Hatteras point campground, a mile or so from the lighthouse. That campground was just over the dunes from the beach back in the late 1960s, but I visited it a few years ago and the ocean was a half mile away.

  76. 76.

    narya

    I started following Jorts the cat on twitter in December, and, in addition to providing much-needed timeline cleanses, Jorts’ supervisor is very good at documenting all of the unionization going on with S’bucks, Amazon, farm workers, Trader Joe’s, etc.–the folks who didn’t immediately come to mind with the old union model. The site just has a lot of good info about the NLRB, unionizing, workers’ rights, etc. All from a cat who has trashcan mishaps.

  77. 77.

    PST

    @raven:

    I remain a believer in western medicine so I basically do what I’m told.

    Same here. You just can’t go through life without adhering to some rules of thumb, even if you know those rules aren’t 100 percent right 100 percent of the time. Grudgingly doing what the doctors tell us to do is a good strategy.

  81. 81.

    Starfish

    @Gin & Tonic: You know how Peele created Obama’s anger translator?

    It is a little like that.

    Dark Brandon is Joe Biden’s alter-ego, who definitely has a socialist agenda. However, we don’t completely understand the powers of the Dark Brandon, and there may be some contradictions in here.

  82. 82.

    narya

    @Baud: It’s very sweet, too. But also, just having a thorough source of info that easily available–it’s weirdly like an IWW of twitter or something. I really think it has helped the unionization efforts in several places. It has also highlighted various rules–you can discuss your pay with coworkers! these actions are illegal union-busting! here’s how and when to contact the NLRB!–in ways that really empower people, and I particularly appreciate the highlighting of farmworkers, and the explanation (racism!) of how they’ve been excluded.

    edit: typos

  85. 85.

    satby

    @Starfish: @Gin & Tonic: or it could be compared to the Superman mythos: mild mannered, nebbishy guy turns out to have super powers. My comment at #44 links to a tweet where I put two other tweets together and it sort of summarizes it.

  86. 86.

    raven

    @Geminid: We went to Hatteras on our honeymoon and that was when they moved the lighthouse. They moved it twice as fast as planned and people who had scheduled they vacations to see it were disappointed! Did you know they lubed the railroad ties that they slid it on with ivory soap?

  88. 88.

    Barbara

    @Baud: ​ I actually think Biden has been more productive, partly due to greater familiarity with the Senate, and partly because whatever they say in public, Dems now realize that there’s no use in negotiating with Rs. Obama wasted time and capital with the odious Olympia Snowe, but bought and paid for Dems like Baucus were also in the way. When I consider the margins Biden has to work with — he’s an honest to God miracle worker.​

  92. 92.

    Skepticat

    @lowtechcyclist: Problem is, so much of your traditional blue-collar class is pretty well embedded in right-wing culture these days. If we can make a difference in the lives of wait staff, fast-food workers, and the like, things could get interesting. We really have to think of people in jobs like that as ‘labor,’ and not have our mental picture be of an assembly-line worker in an automobile plant.

    Spot on! I just wish the Dems were better at this.

    The news about the bill’s passing almost brought tears to my eyes. Perhaps there is hope?

  95. 95.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Feathers: We got it into our heads to go camping on Assateague one weekend without advance planning or reservations. There was no camping available on the immediate beach area, but they told us there was plenty of space available if we were willing to walk 4 miles away from the parking area.

    We had a small toddler and opted not to do that.

    We ended up pitching our tent in the State Park on the island.

    Sounds like your “group camping site” was the first one we went to, that was already full.

  96. 96.

    Geminid

    @raven: I did not know that. That must have been a sturdy railbed.

    I once worked for a furniture maker who pushed his screws into a can of bowling alley wax before he used them. Made the screws drive more easily.

  98. 98.

    CliosFanBoy

    Arlo & Janis!! Absolutely my favorite comic in the world!  I highly recommend it for any Boomer (or early Gen X) in that certain age group!  Actually I recommend it for any age group but as a Late Boomer I especially enjoy a comic about a happy marriage between two Boomers.

  100. 100.

    zhena gogolia

    Okay, a Hogg tweet I approve of.

    Senator Rubio just deleted his tweet complaining about having to show up for the job he literally ran for.— David Hogg ☮️ (@davidhogg111) August 7, 2022

  102. 102.

    raven

    @Geminid: I made  threads for a shipped housing on my lawnmower using jb weld. I filled the hole and coated the bolt with beeswax, drove it in and let it set and the bolt backed right out!!

  111. 111.

    Ken

    @Barbara: My sister camps at a state park in Assateague, which still has no development, unlike Chincoteague.

    Not the right meter for a limerick, but definite potential here.

    Also 12:12 (loosely), so there are a number of hymn tunes that could be used.

  112. 112.

    Ken

    @Baud: I would not be surprised if the Republicans insisted everyone be there, so that VP Harris would also need to be there. Also on the off chance one of the Democratic senators was ill — they’d be kicking themselves forever if a few of theirs had skipped it.

  115. 115.

    Ken

    @JWR: I wonder if the Republican has any qualifications other than a criminal attempt to interfere with the election in Trump’s favor?

    This might be the first case where the main prosecution evidence is the defendant’s campaign ads.

  116. 116.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Barbara:

    Obama wasted time and capital with the odious Olympia Snowe,

    Obama’s memoir is pretty frank and kinda funny about Snowe. Harry Reid told him: she’ll string you along until she tells you she’s gonna vote ‘no’, but you have to put on the show for people like Baucus. And Tim Russert (Reid didn’t say that, but resentment of Monsignor Pumpkinhead remains a hobbyhorse of mine).

    And after going along with McConnell’s total obstruction strategy, Snowe walked away from the job because everyone was so mean

  118. 118.

    Feathers

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:
    The camping area I am remembering was in the National Seashore in the Virginia end of the island. That was back in the 70s, though. Looks like it is no longer there. Not surprised. It was basically on flat sand beyond  one of the beach parking lots. Scout groups could use it, maybe church groups. The island closed at night, so if you were staying at the campground, you had the island to yourself. There may have been a ranger who stayed overnight, but they were at a house nowhere nearby. Can see why they got rid of it.

    Great memories. Recently came across a bunch of pictures. B&W! Haven’t been on the book of faces for years, but should I go an post bathing suit pics of my old Girl Scout troop. We were in high school. Probably would have been mortified to have them shared then, but as they say, you were way better looking in high school than you knew.
    Time to go write my 70s teens camping on Assateague YA horror novel.

  119. 119.

    raven

    @schrodingers_cat: I’m sure you are aware of this.

    Salman Rushdie is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His book, Imaginary Homeland, consists of essays written between 1981 and 1992, commenting issues attributed to the decade they were conceptualized in. They are based on the experiences of Rushdie and his contemporary time scenario when Indira Gandhi was in power.

    One of the novelists whose name Rushdie did not reveal, began his contribution by reciting a Sanskrit Shloka, and then, instead of translating the verse he declared: “Every educated Indian will understand what I have just said”.

    This was deemed unacceptable as in the room were Indian writers and scholars from conceivable backgrounds such as Christian, Parasi, Muslim and Sikh, respectively. None of them rose in Sanskrit tradition and they were reasonably educated. The second day, an eminent Indian academic delivered a paper on Indian culture that utterly ignored all minority communities and characterized Muslim culture as imperialist and inauthentic.

    This made him write a book that searched for his ‘existence’.

  120. 120.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Ken: as someone pointed out on twitter, 89 YO Dianne Feinstein was there at whatever middle-of-the-night hour voting ‘no’ on poison-pill amendments. I guess the spry youth from Iowa was too

  121. 121.

    frosty

    @schrodingers_cat: When you mentioned a day or so ago that you were up reading B-J while everyone else was asleep I was wondering how the jetlag would be. I get it going east from California to Baltimore; can’t imagine how long it would take to recover from a 12-hour (?) flight.

    Plus the culture shock, too. Hang in there!

  125. 125.

    Nicole

    @Geminid: I agree with you, I think Schumer actually is fine on TV as a politician, but because we have a bad habit of electing celebrities who have spent decades on TV, I think some politicians get unfairly compared to those who developed being on television as a skill, even though the TV personalities are often less successful as politicians. I like Schumer, I don’t get the hate that he gets.

  126. 126.

    JWR

    @Ken: What I’m hoping for now is getting Mike Lindell, who’s mentioned in the story, out of my sub-channel TV viewing enjoyment, preferably by way of indictment.

  127. 127.

    frosty

    @Nicole: … because we have a bad habit of electing celebrities who have spent decades on TV, I think some politicians get unfairly compared to those who developed being on television as a skill, even though the TV personalities are often less successful as politicians.

    Fetterman seems to be an exception, and boy howdy, I am happy about that!

  129. 129.

    Nicole

    @Feathers: that’s so cool you went with your Girl Scout troop! For us it was family vacations; we went one year because I begged and pleaded, and then we all liked it so much we went the next seven years in a row. Only did Pony Penning one year though, man that was crowded. I think it was the same week Charles and Diana got married, come to think of it. Which I don’t think contributed to the crowds. ;)

    (We stopped going the year they finally got a McDonald’s on the island.)

  130. 130.

    J R in WV

    @BlueGuitarist: ​

    cnn estimate of 2020 vote

    union household Biden +16

    not union household Biden +1

    I got news for CNN — Joe Biden will NOT be on the 2020 ballots anywhere. He might be on the 2024 ballots, in which case this polling info might be germane in the future, but not this year at all.

    ETA: it is still interesting, of course, and I think the RWNJ MSM take that the upcoming midterm elections will be bad for Democratic candidates is way wrong.

  134. 134.

    Geminid

    @J R in WV: Why would the numbers be different in the midterms? Most of those people will be voting again. Now that President Biden’s administration has shown itself to be supportive of labor, the percentage might even go up.

  135. 135.

    Nicole

    @frosty: not gonna lie, I have heard rumblings that Fetterman is not much of a workhorse (prior to his heart issues), but, honestly, as has been said here, the worst Democrat is better than the best Republican so I will be more than happy to say Senator Fetterman come November.

    (And in fairness to him, he still started as a politician, not a TV personality.)

  137. 137.

    BC in Illinois

    @Ken:

    Also 12:12 (loosely), so there are a number of hymn tunes that could be used.

    This is the first time I have seen in print, evidence of the existence of another human being who actually looks at the numbers at the bottom of the page in the hymnbook – – a practice that is useful in finding inappropriate matching of text and tune.

    (For the uninitiated, think of Amazing Grace to the tune of House of the Rising Sun.)

    (And, once you have done that, think of House of the Rising Sun to the tune of Amazing Grace. That’s even better.)

  140. 140.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    Manchin is more vain than Sinema.  Manchin has publicly stated he has torpedoed some legislation because somebody said mean things about him.  I’m sure the deal came with an understanding that Manchin’s ego would be fellated.

    @Gin & Tonic: @Starfish:

    Heh.  I think you’re overthinking it.  I’d say the reason is “Fine.  You want to give our guy a pseudonym and say he’s a bad guy?  Then he’s a motherfucking SUPERVILLAIN who’s KICKING YOUR ASSES.”

  141. 141.

    J R in WV

    @schrodingers_cat:

    It doesn’t exist anymore. You can’t revisit the past except in your memories.

    This is so true. Wife and I lived in Key West for the first year or two of our marriage in 1971-72, and loved it there. A lovely little shrimper town with great food, artists and divers, cubanos and hippies. And a Navy base.

    Then we went back 34 years later — 80 hotels ( 6 when we lived there!) junk food, tee shirt shops, giant cruise liners where the Navy base was, hoards of tourists. Was really sad, didn’t enjoy the return to the place of our youth at all.

    But India will still remind you of your early days once you get over the jet lag. Keep us posted, I hear there will be rituals and big family meals, etc.

  145. 145.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    This, from a coming book, is a new version of a story that’s been around a while, trump’s admiration for Nazis, but more revelations going to Baker and Glasser instead of Jamie Raskin during the second set of impeachment hearings. Sounds like Kelly was a major source.

    It turned out that the generals had rules, standards, and expertise, not blind loyalty. The President’s loud complaint to John Kelly one day was typical: “You fucking generals, why can’t you be like the German generals?”
    “Which generals?” Kelly asked.
    “You do know that they tried to kill Hitler three times and almost pulled it off?” Kelly said.
    But, of course, Trump did not know that. “No, no, no, they were totally loyal to him,” the President replied. In his version of history, the generals of the Third Reich had been completely subservient to Hitler; this was the model he wanted for his military. Kelly told Trump that there were no such American generals, but the President was determined to test the proposition.

  146. 146.

    Ken

    @BC in Illinois: What I mostly use it for is to figure out why the tune is familiar. Like, a couple of weeks ago there was a new hymn, but the tune was familiar, so I checked and found it was “CRADLE SONG” — which explains why I didn’t recognize it, because who expects “Away in a Manager” in July?

  147. 147.

    raven

    @J R in WV: Me and my buddies are going to Marathon to fish in October. In 1974 I was going there and got in a wreck in Atlanta, broke my back and never made it!

  151. 151.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    Holy Cow! I tune out for one weekend, and all we do is win, win, win!

  152. 152.

    J R in WV

    @raven:

    Me and my buddies are going to Marathon to fish in October.

    That might be OK, no cruise liners putting in to Marathon. I think the upper keys may still be a little bit old-fashioned. Let us know how Marathon was for you. Best of luck with the fishing. We wanted to go snorkeling while we were in Key West last, but the weather got sucky and we backed out, big seas isn’t so good for swimming around coral heads.

  154. 154.

    lowtechcyclist

    @BC in Illinois:

    This is the first time I have seen in print, evidence of the existence of another human being who actually looks at the numbers at the bottom of the page in the hymnbook – – a practice that is useful in finding inappropriate matching of text and tune.

    I’ve been doing that for years – I love singing one hymn to the tune of another.

    (For the uninitiated, think of Amazing Grace to the tune of House of the Rising Sun.)

    (And, once you have done that, think of House of the Rising Sun to the tune of Amazing Grace. That’s even better.)

    Common Meter, 86.86.  Don’t get me started, this is one of my favorite toys.

    There’s a metric ton of songs to that meter, from those two to Christmas carols like O Little Town of Bethlehem and It Came Upon a Midnight Clear (I’ve always wanted to be part of a group of carolers that sung them to each other’s tunes.  I expect any listeners would realize something was ‘off,’ but how long would it take for them to realize what it was?) to Pop Goes the Weasel and the theme music from Leave It to Beaver, and of course the Gilligan’s Island theme.

    You can also sing songs in common meter to the tune of Stairway to Heaven (gotta stretch out the syllables somewhat, but it’s doable) but the reverse doesn’t work.

  155. 155.

    Betty Cracker

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Kushner’s upcoming book alleges that Kelly shoved Ivanka in the hallway after leaving an Oval Office meeting in a fury and then apologized later. Kelly says that’s 100% bullshit. It’s hard to know where to assign credibility when all the participants are shameless liars, but I gotta go with Kelly’s version.

  156. 156.

    Brachiator

    Also worth noting that the last three times Democrats have won a trifecta, they have used it to raise taxes on rich people, while Republicans have used each of theirs to dramatically cut taxes for rich people. Worth bearing in mind when people say the parties are the same!!!

    Cannot be said too often.

  157. 157.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Betty Cracker: I can see Kelly being rude and boorish, maybe brushing past her as if she were some mere staffer and making contact, but I’m sure Themselves are exaggerating. Kind of like Michael Tracy being brutally assaulted by Maxine Waters

  159. 159.

    raven

    @raven: Oh my, revisiting “Homelands” after many years, he ends with

     

    You must decide what you think a friend is worth to his friends, what you think a son is worth to his mother, or a father to his son. You must decide what a man’s conscience and heart and soul are worth. You must decide what you think a writer is worth, what value you place on a maker of stories, and an arguer with the world.

    Ladies and gentlemen, the balloon is sinking into the abyss.

    1991

  161. 161.

    raven

    @J R in WV: Yea, my buddy in Ft Meyers went to a wedding in Key West and hated it! This looks pretty good from the boat websites and Air bn B!

  163. 163.

    MattF

    @lowtechcyclist: Have to note that I won a competition in grad school for ‘best pun on the title of a Christmas carol that involves a fish’ with Little Tuna Bethlehem.

    ETA: Runner-up was Shark, The Herald Angels Sing.

  164. 164.

    Spanky

    @Geminid: How posh! At the boat shop we used a toilet ring. Fresh out of the box, in case you were tempted to ask. Bronze screws will do bad things if over-stressed.

  166. 166.

    Mike in NC

    New book coming out called “The Divider: Trump in the White House” by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser. He complained to John Kelley that the senior leadership in the Pentagon weren’t his loyal serfs. As if we needed more proof of what a worthless shitbag the Fat Orange Clown was.

  167. 167.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Mike in NC:

    Doug Farrar. @NFL_DougFarrar 1h

    good monday morning to everyone except political reporters who save their most important stories for their books

    I’ll add: to those reporters, their sources who talk to Baker and Glasser instead of Jamie Raskin

  168. 168.

    lowtechcyclist

    Coupla random thoughts about stuff in this thread:

    1. Senators having to miss big-deal stuff in their personal lives on account of Senate responsibilities: just fuck off, dammit – this is the tradeoff you make for being one of the most important people in the U.S. system of government.  There will be inconvenience involved in serving your country in this manner.  If it’s too much inconvenience for you, then don’t run for Congress, useless motherfuckers.
    2. Jet lag.  Never experienced it.  Never.  And it’s not like I haven’t had plenty of opportunity.  I live in Maryland, and my wife and I have made two trips to Hawaii and three to Russia, plus plenty of other trips in both directions with fewer time zones involved.  My system always seems to adjust to the new time zone with no problem.  It just does, I don’t do anything special.  Yes, this is a taunt. ;-)
  169. 169.

    Dan B

    @sab: “little guys”!?!  May 100 pounds fall on you!! (Not.)

    Had to laugh at “little guys”.  So glad I don’t have to birth one. Soooo glad.

  172. 172.

    Dan B

    @sab: I, for one, especially liked “nefore”.  It sounds like a word that should exist.  Nefore definition: phenomena that have sprung into being for the first time on record, unique in time.

  175. 175.

    Barbara

    @lowtechcyclist: ​

    Senators having to miss big-deal stuff in their personal lives on account of Senate responsibilities: just fuck off, dammit – this is the tradeoff you make for being one of the most important people in the U.S. system of government.

    Ordinary people, also too, miss important events because of professional responsibilities. Like, all the time. We are now on the downward slope of our careers, but even so, my husband might have to cancel his side of our long-planned trip because of a work-related big deal thing that is still up in the air. My dad worked on Christmas and through innumerable family reunions to meet the demands of his infinitely less rewarding career. These GD cry babies. Resign or shut up.

  177. 177.

    trollhattan

    @Mike in NC: “Finally, we have a businessman in the White House!” was my opening to tell anybody I knew who believed this was a good idea, what a rotten idea it is and will always be.

  179. 179.

    Spanky

    Kyle Griffin

    @kylegriffin1

    Sen. Chris Coons tells @MSNBC that President Biden called to thank the Senate cloakroom staff, who’d been working all night.

    Wheeling Feinstein in and out.

    Too soon?

  180. 180.

    Baud

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    In his version of history, the generals of the Third Reich had been completely subservient to Hitler; this was the model he wanted for his military. Kelly told Trump that there were no such American generals

    Not since Flynn left, at least.

  182. 182.

    Barbara

    @Baud: ​ I’ve spent a fair amount of time over the last six months reading history and historical fiction about the Third Reich. Whatever knowledge I have gained leads me to the fixed opinion that using the Third Reich as a model for anything should mark someone as unfit for power of any kind.​

  183. 183.

    Josie

    @raven: ​
     I checked out the site and that is really fascinating. I’ll be interested to hear how well it works for you as opposed to the shot you got previously.

  186. 186.

    Baud

    @Barbara:

    The only thing Hitler did was make the trains run on time, but conservatives hate trains!  What gives?

    (I’d look to Japan for good train performance anyway. Modern Japan, not WWII Japan)

  187. 187.

    Ken

    @Barbara: Don’t forget the many workers, often part-time, who don’t know what hours they’ll be working each day, and are expected to rearrange their entire lives when their boss calls.

  188. 188.

    lowtechcyclist

    @MattF:

    Have to note that I won a competition in grad school for ‘best pun on the title of a Christmas carol that involves a fish’ with Little Tuna Bethlehem.

    ETA: Runner-up was Shark, The Herald Angels Sing.

    Hmmm…The Little Drumfish Boy?  Anchovies Have Heard on High?

    Figured I had to give it a try!

  189. 189.

    Brachiator

    @Mike in NC:

    New book coming out called “The Divider: Trump in the White House” by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser. He complained to John Kelley that the senior leadership in the Pentagon weren’t his loyal serfs.

    Trump is a deeply psychologically damaged guy who demanded constant flattery and deference. It still astounds me that so many people were eager and willing, downright happy to comply.

    It is, however, interesting to learn about the pushback from military officials since Trump always liked to brag about these people as being “my generals.”

  191. 191.

    trollhattan

    “Vote for me, to represent you until you get out of this hellhole, and I’ll be right behind you” seems like a winning campaign message.

    Republican congressional candidate Kevin Kiley used the national conservative stage Saturday to forcefully denounce Gov. Gavin Newsom and paint California as a place where people “walk down streets that double as restrooms and injection sites.” Kiley spoke Saturday at the CPAC convention in Dallas, a gathering that included some of the conservative movements’ biggest – and most controversial – figures, including former President Donald Trump. Trump endorsed Kiley during the primary campaign in May.

    “Gavin Newsom’s California is not a model to the nation. It is a warning to the nation,” Kiley said as the audience cheered. California “used to be a state where anyone could get ahead, the California dream,” Kiley said. “Now we’re the state everyone can’t wait to leave behind.”

    Kiley, who faces Democrat Kermit Jones in November, has been a consistent, vocal critic of Newsom. Newsom has tried recently to boost his national profile, with a television ad in Florida criticizing that state’s conservative policies and newspaper ads in Texas criticizing Gov. Greg Abbott’s policies on abortion and guns.

    Kiley was a candidate in last year’s California election attempting to recall Newsom. The governor won easily. Kiley received 3.5% of the vote. Since then, Kiley, a Rocklin assemblyman, has turned his attention to his bid for the new Third District House seat. The district is being closely watched as Republicans need a net gain of four seats to win control of the House.

    Read more at: https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article264253381.html#storylink=cpy

    Little bastard will probably get elected, considering the district.

  193. 193.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Ken: Don’t forget the many workers, often part-time, who don’t know what hours they’ll be working each day, and are expected to rearrange their entire lives when their boss calls.

    It’s shit like that that makes me say that every worker should have a union.  The only people who should be in that position are people who are getting paid a great deal extra on account of it, rather than being powerless serfs who can be both paid little and pushed around like that.

  194. 194.

    lowtechcyclist

    @trollhattan:

    Kiley said. “Now we’re the state everyone can’t wait to leave behind.”

    California: it’s so crowded, nobody goes there anymore.

  195. 195.

    Miss Bianca

    @Nicole: Woot! Chincoteague and Assateague Islands have been on my bucket list ever since I first read Misty of Chincoteague as a wee one.

    And Marguerite Henry was awesome. She personally answered my fan letters. (Tho’ that was nothing special to me, she answered all her fan letters personally, apparently. She even had a volume of them done up, called Dear Readers and Riders. Classy lady and great author.)

  196. 196.

    trollhattan

    Traitor said what?

    August 8, 2022 at 11:00 am EDT By Taegan Goddard

    Retired Gen. David Petraeus writes in The Atlantic about why the U.S. underachieved across its 20 years in Afghanistan and “why one of our signature campaigns resulted in such unending frustration.”

    In particular, he says the U.S. lacked strategic resolve: “The lack of sufficient commitment over the years had innumerable knock-on effects. Having leaders of successive U.S. administrations of both parties repeatedly stating that we wanted to leave, often regardless of the conditions on the ground, undermined our negotiating position with the Taliban and had a corrosive impact on our relations with our Afghan partners, our coalition allies, and the countries in the region, especially Pakistan. However understandable the publicly stated desires to draw down were, the negative implications of them were substantial and pernicious.”

    This fuckin’ guy. How many lives and how many billions does one need to expend before “sufficient commitment” is achieved? He sounds like the fuckers who blame Walter Cronkite for us “losing” Vietnam. And a hearty fuck you to Atlantic for publishing him. Do you not remember what he did?

  199. 199.

    Baud

    @trollhattan:

    “The lack of sufficient commitment over the years had innumerable knock-on effects.

    I’m not giving that a click, but does the word “Iraq” appear in that piece?

  200. 200.

    Another Scott

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Meh.

    Found earlier postings of the image Via TinEye.

    It seems to be from a 2018 McSally ad. Warning – Politico.

    This strikes me as “Hillary was a Goldwater Girl!!” stuff. Nothing good comes from amplifying GQP memes.

    Bottom line: As bad as she is, we wouldn’t have the IRA and all the other good stuff the Senate has passed if she (and Manchin) weren’t in the Senate now.

    YMMV.

    Thanks.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  202. 202.

    Brachiator

    @trollhattan:

    In particular, he says the U.S. lacked strategic resolve.

    Not this bullshit again. I guess that some of our military leaders learned nothing from the Vietnam War and other pointless misadventures.

  204. 204.

    Mike E

    @raven: best of luck on the shots, I did those for my neck… I’m going to try working out for my various back issues, a work in progress!

    Miss E and I have camped out near Cape Lookout various times enduring the weather conditions that invariably arise, our last trip was on a friend’s boat from Morehead City to Shackleford Island ten years ago right after a hurricane! The conditions were glassy calm, easily our best trip out there. The wild horses were chilling on the dunes kickin’ fleas like bored dogs who could care less about us being there, amazing!

  206. 206.

    Old School

    @Baud:

    I’m not giving that a click, but does the word “Iraq” appear in that piece?

    Yes, It does.  However, the word “Bush” does not.

    We were reluctant even at the outset of the intervention in Afghanistan, in late 2001, to establish a substantial military headquarters on the ground. And even after we did so the following year, we quickly shifted focus to Iraq. By the time attention and resources were once again truly devoted to Afghanistan, some eight years after the initial invasion, we had missed an opportunity to take advantage of a protracted period of relatively little violence in Afghanistan, during which time the Taliban and other insurgent elements regrouped in Pakistan and then Afghanistan, and during which we could have made considerably greater strides in developing Afghan forces and institutions than we did.

  208. 208.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @BC in Illinois: This is the first time I have seen in print, evidence of the existence of another human being who actually looks at the numbers at the bottom of the page in the hymnbook – – a practice that is useful in finding inappropriate matching of text and tune.

    I’m married to someone who was a church organist for much of our marriage, so I learned about all the secret markings on hymns, as well as how to use the mysterious indexes at the back of the hymnal.​

    I’ve known pastors who liked to use the meter index to mix and match hymn tunes. Ancient wisdom: “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.”

  210. 210.

    Brachiator

    @trollhattan:

    From various reports.

    More than 360,000 people left California in 2021, in what some are calling “The California Exodus” — many leaving for states like Texas, Arizona and Washington. And a rising number of former Californians are migrating out of the country altogether and are instead heading south of the border.

    This was the second consecutive year of population decline. It may be that the high cost of living, more than politics, is pushing people out. From another study:

    This domestic outmigration is concentrated among Californians with lower incomes and lower levels of educational attainment, who likely struggle with the state’s high costs for housing, gas, and other essentials.

    Cost of living is clearly a major factor, as lower-income members of every racial and ethnic group leave more often than they arrive. But there are large racial gaps even within income levels. For the lowest-income residents, whites have a much higher net flow out of the state (-10.9 per 1,000) than African Americans (-7.7), Latinos (-4.2), and Asian Americans (-1.6). At the other end of the spectrum, higher-income Asian Americans are notably more likely to move into the state than out of it (4.8 per 1,000). In contrast, higher-income African Americans are about equally likely to move into or out of the state (-0.2 per 1,000), while higher-income Latinos (-1.6) and whites (-2.9) are more likely to move out of the state.

  212. 212.

    lowtechcyclist

    And even after we did so the following year, we quickly shifted focus to Iraq. By the time attention and resources were once again truly devoted to Afghanistan, some eight years after the initial invasion

    IOW, we might have been able to achieve a better outcome in Afghanistan, but Bush and Cheney fucked it up.  But Petraeus isn’t willing to say their names.  What a worthless douchebag.

  213. 213.

    Geminid

    @Barbara: I you are still into the topic I can recommend The Deadly Embrace: Hitler, Stalin and the Nazi-Soviet Pact, 1939-41 (1988). Authors Anthony Dead and David Fisher give a detailed account of the diplomatic maneuvers between the Munich agreement and the Molotov-Ribbontrop treaty signed in late August, 1939 that set the stage for the Second World War. Then they follow developments between Germany and Russia between the Polish invasion up until the German invasion of Russia.

    The book has a lot of material on Hitler as well as leaders like Chamberlain, Daladier and Poland’s Foreign Minister (who liked to call himself “the one and only Colonel Beck”). I got a much better picture of Stalin than I had before. He typically interacted with only a few people. Stalin stayed out of the public eye, and when he addressed his nation by radio, 10 days after it was invaded, that was the first time most of his countryman had heard his voice.

  215. 215.

    Brachiator

    @Old School:

    This litany of excuses is driving me crazy.

    We were reluctant even at the outset of the intervention in Afghanistan, in late 2001, to establish a substantial military headquarters on the ground.

    So, the initial mission was flawed. And no one said anything?

    And even after we did so the following year, we quickly shifted focus to Iraq. By the time attention and resources were once again truly devoted to Afghanistan, some eight years after the initial invasion, we had missed an opportunity to take advantage of a protracted period of relatively little violence in Afghanistan.

    The military and diplomatic officials dawdle for 8 freaking years, accomplishing nothing, and then just compounded their failures?  And again, nobody said anything,  or said it loud enough?

  217. 217.

    Amir Khalid

    @trollhattan:

    The US was never going to in succeed in Afghanistan.

    It went in to hunt for Osama bin Laden, but he’d already given them the slip and gone to Pakistan

    It never had a secondary reason to be there. It was totally ill-equipped and unprepared to deal with the hot mess of Afghanistan, and it spent two decades demonstrating that to all the world.

    The smart thing to do would have been to leave Afghanistan as soon as they figured out Osama wasn’t there. But I gather the Commander in Chief at the time wasn’t always keen on doing the smart thing; and generals steeped in decades of military culture are loath to dissent from the C in C on anything.

  218. 218.

    Ken

    @Baud: Most of these nicknames are good, but I can’t help but think of what the youngs say*, “Stop trying to make fetch happen”.

    * Or more likely, were saying twenty years ago. I can’t keep up with the hep cats and their way-out slang.

  219. 219.

    trollhattan

    @Brachiator:

    The net population drop was only 117k from 2021 to 2022, slowing the previous year’s trend.

    California’s population dipped slightly by 117,552 residents last year, bringing the state’s total to 39,185,605 people as of January 1, 2022, according to new population estimatesand housing data released today by the California Department of Finance.

    The 0.3-percent decline represents a slowing compared to the 0.59-percent decline over the nine-month period between the April 2020 Census date and the year’s end.As Baby Boomers age, and fertility declines among younger cohorts, the continuing slowdown in natural increase — births minus deaths — underlies the plateauing of the state’s population growth.

    The addition of COVID-19-related deaths, federal policies restricting immigration, and an increase in domestic out-migration further affected population totals. Overall  growth was also affected by continuing federal delays in processing foreign migration: while last year saw positive immigration (43,300), the level was below the average annual rate of 140,000 before the pandemic.

    https://dof.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/Forecasting/Demographics/Documents/E-1_2022PressRelease.pdf

  220. 220.

    trollhattan

    @Amir Khalid: ​We joined a long line of attempts, expecting a different result.

    It’s possible we might have caught Osama at Torabora but once again, relied on bombing the shit out of something instead of sending in soldiers. Something, something, hey, get ready for Iraq!

  221. 221.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Ken: if you wanna rap with the kids, you gotta stay groovy. If you put in the effort, the results can be far out

    (just listened to the Mother Country Radicals podcast, by the son of Bill Ayres and Bernardine Dorhn. Maybe old hat to some people, but I learned a lot)

  222. 222.

    Another Scott

    @Old School: As Baud says, who’s “we”??

    But beyond that, it’s just transparently stupid revisionism:

    … during which time the Taliban and other insurgent elements regrouped in Pakistan and then Afghanistan, and during which we could have made considerably greater strides in developing Afghan forces and institutions than we did.

    This is stupid nonsense and he knows it. But I would expect nothing less from him.

    Any US attempt to remake Afghanistan was doomed as long as Pakistan and India and Iran and other regional actors weren’t on board. And they – especially Pakistan – never were going to be. We weren’t going to go to war in Pakistan to somehow root out the Taliban in the “tribal areas”. And as long as the border was/is porous, the Taliban would always be able to throw bombs in the gears of Afghanistan’s government if they didn’t like it (and they wouldn’t like it as long as they were in charge). It’s stupid to think that more US bases and more US troops in Afghanistan would have changed that.

    Petraeus and all the rest of the people trying to rewrite history know this. It’s transparent, cynical, bad-faith nonsense.

    The only sensible path was to overthrow the Taliban, hold a loya-jirga that included representatives of factions inside Afghanistan and regional observers, and let them hash out what they wanted going forward. Our input should have only been:

    1) We will actively support a democratic and representative government with aid and trade and diplomatic recognition. Anything less will get much, much less support. If the Taliban take over again, that’s terrible, but so be it. They’re an independent people and country.

    2) We will conduct over-the-horizon military action if necessary to protect our interests to see that Al Qaeda and others do not use Afghanistan as a base for attacks against us or our interests. Any new Afghan government should and must act carefully.

    That’s it.

    Afghanistan has to figure out its own path. Perpetual occupation by the US only delays them finding that path.

    My $0.02.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  226. 226.

    Chris T.

    @Brachiator:

    [2021] was the second consecutive year of population decline. It may be that the high cost of living,

    I moved back to California for the climate (after moving away for family reasons), but it turns out the climate changed, literally: it got too hot, you need air conditioning even in Berkeley now. So we retired to cooler, wetter further-north. Cost was a big factor too though. The Bay Area requires enormous amounts of money….

  227. 227.

    Brachiator

    @trollhattan:

    The addition of COVID-19-related deaths, federal policies restricting immigration, and an increase in domestic out-migration further affected population totals.

    The decline may have slowed, but the problems remain. Even though employment is improving, many cities are gradually lifting eviction moratoriums and ending rent control policies. This, along with continuing increases in the cost of living, may push more people out of the state.

  228. 228.

    raven

    @Josie: Well I probably messed up the post since I’m a bit on the groggy side. I didn’t get the implant, we went with the Lumbar Epidural Steroid Injection, the same as the first one on January.

  229. 229.

    StringOnAStick

    All our new neighbours here in Bend, OR are from CA, mostly the Bay Area with only one couple from Los A.  Most are early retirees, or working from home.  For all the complaints I’ve seen supposedly attributed to old time locals about the CA “invasion” these CA refugees are friendly and nice liberals.  Given what they can sell their CA houses for compared to what they get here, I don’t blame them for moving.  Every one of them is much more aware of water shortages than the long time evergreen chemlawn locals too.  It is driving up housing costs though, along with lack of supply since builders only want to build high end homes apparently.

  230. 230.

    Dan B

    @MattF: Quite the story about the relentless drive to hold power by ruthless means.  The narrative is that the military saved democracy.  I’m not completely persuaded.  We have managed to be spared being ground to horrifying pieces by the thinnest of threads.  Adam Smith is my representative.  How he doesn’t spend his every waking moment screaming at those who wish to install a dictator, and at those who do not care, is beyond me.

  231. 231.

    NotMax

    @raven

    Calls to mind a snippet from years past.

    “There are four words you need to know to adequately prepare yourself for childbirth. Take notes here, ladies: I…want…my…epidural.”
    – Northern Exposure

    :)

  232. 232.

    Ruckus

    @Barbara:

    “Whatever knowledge I have gained leads me to the fixed opinion that using the Third Reich as a model for anything should mark someone as unfit for power of any kind.​”

    How about 440V power? That kind of power should render them fit enough not to be able to abuse their power.

  235. 235.

    Ruckus

    @Brachiator:

    Most officers higher than O-2 I ever met would very much not like to be referred to as being owned. If having to deal with a higher ranked officer they seemed mostly to take out their frustration of not being on top on those ranks below them. Some were far worse than seemingly possible. Last ship I was on, for 4-5 weeks before discharge, the captain was one of those. Needless to say this did not endear him to many anyone. Now I never heard anyone refer to him as Captain Asshole, but the vibe was strong enough to hold up at least a 2 lane bridge.

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