Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

These are not very smart people, and things got out of hand.

The revolution will be supervised.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

The willow is too close to the house.

Dear elected officials: Trump is temporary, dishonor is forever.

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

’Where will you hide, Roberts, the laws all being flat?’

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Oppose, oppose, oppose. do not congratulate. this is not business as usual.

Sometimes the world just tells you your cat is here.

She burned that motherfucker down, and I am so here for it. Thank you, Caroline Kennedy.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

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

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

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

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Sunday Morning Open Thread: Morning TeeVee

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Sunday Morning Open Thread: Morning TeeVee

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133Comments

  1. 1.

    Scout211

    The magical power of presidential declassification that TIFG and his minions keep using to defend him will not work for nuclear secrets. 

    Trump lacked power to declassify secret nuclear arms document, experts say

    WASHINGTON, June 18 (Reuters) – Even when he was president, Donald Trump lacked the legal authority to declassify a U.S. nuclear weapons-related document that he is charged with illegally possessing, security experts said, contrary to the former U.S. president’s claim.

    The secret document, listed as No. 19 in the indictment charging Trump with endangering national security, can under the Atomic Energy Act only be declassified through a process that by the statute involves the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense.

    For that reason, the experts said, the nuclear document is unique among the 31 in the indictment because the declassification of the others is governed by executive order. 

    “The claim that he (Trump) could have declassified it is not relevant in the case of the nuclear weapons information because it was not classified by executive order but by law,” said Steven Aftergood, a government secrecy expert with the Federation of Atomic Scientists.

    The special status of nuclear-related information further erodes what many legal experts say is a weak defense centered around declassification. Without providing evidence, Trump has claimed he declassified the documents before removing them from the White House.

  2. 2.

    Baud

    @Scout211:

    Trump’s problem is that, since there is no paperwork, the only way he can prove that the documents were declassified in his mind is by taking the stand.

  3. 3.

    Scout211

    And in reproductive health news:

    Support for legal abortion rises a year after Roe v. Wade overturned-Poll

    In what was surely a case of unintended consequences, the landmark Supreme Court decision one year ago overturning Roe v. Wade is putting abortion opponents increasingly at odds with public opinion and creating political perils for candidates on their side.
     
    In a new USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll, one in four Americans say state efforts that have followed to impose strict limits on abortion access have made them more supportive of abortion rights.
     
    The Dobbs decision, which removed access to abortion as a constitutionally protected right, elated the anti-abortion movement but its aftermath is helping boost support for legal abortion to historic highs and reshaping the debate over what has long been the deepest political wedge issue in the nation.
    . . .
    By almost 2-1, 58%-30%, those surveyed opposed the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

  7. 7.

    OzarkHillbilly

    I took a bit of a hit yesterday. I found out my woodcutting neighbor (4.5 miles away) Larry suddenly died back in January. Normally I get my wood from him in Feb. and March and I always gave him more than he was asking because I knew how hard he worked. Money was a little tighter this year and I waited till yesterday to talk to him. His GF said he died of an aneurysm. I’m pretty sure the real cause of death was lack of insurance. He was a really sweet guy who had lived a very hard life full of trials and tribulations, but he had a ready smile for everyone. How sweet was he?

    Every April he would stop by our house and give me a gallon bag of morels for which I tried to repay him with a few 6 and 7 pound roasting chickens come October.

    I should have known something was wrong when he didn’t come by with the morels this past April. RIP Larry. I’m glad I got to know you.

  13. 13.

    Kay

    @Scout211:

    Thanks- this part is interesting:

    Americans overwhelmingly oppose the next goal of many anti-abortion activists, to enact a federal law banning abortion nationwide. By 80%-14%, those surveyed opposed that idea, including 65% of Republicans and 83% of independents.

    By 53%-39%, they supported a federal law ensuring access to abortion.“When 80% of Democrats and 53% of independents want Congress to pass a law ensuring nationwide access to abortion, you get the picture here,” said David Paleologos, director of Suffolk University’s Political Research Center. “Among women in the all-important independent-voter demographic, 63% support a national law. Even 23% of Republican men and women support it.”

  14. 14.

    RevRick

    @Baud: Sadly, they won’t. But if a fraction of them do, increasing Biden’s margin enough to save Sherrod Brown and Jon Tester, that would be a huge win.

  15. 15.

    Mousebumples

    @Scout211: its aftermath is helping boost support for legal abortion to historic highs and reshaping the debate over what has long been the deepest political wedge issue in the nation.

    I’ve been having that conversation with family and friends. Not pushing, but more observing how some of these laws (eg Wisconsin’s from 1849 or something close to that) are super old and not reflective of current medical practice.

    For example, my mom is usually a reliable Dem voter, but she’s also a practicing Catholic. I think the “pro life” argument resonates with her. (*bearing in mind that most politicians more want to control women than actually care about life, as evidenced by many of their other decisions)

    Legal, safe, and rare is reasonable for her. But the current laws may also outlaw miscarriage care, depending on the procedure in question and the state law.

    As much as I fear for my daughter’s future autonomy, I’m working to not only restore the right to an abortion but also to provide more support to young women (eg education and access to birth control if they want it), expecting mothers (prenatal and postnatal care), and parents (bring back the childcare tax credit from the pandemic!). Expanded childcare access, early childhood education, and more would also be great!

  18. 18.

    zhena gogolia

    @OzarkHillbilly: I’m sorry. Something similar happened to me with the guy who mowed my lawn and spent every winter in Florida. One year he didn’t come back (although he had died here, I just didn’t hear about it). It’s sad.

  21. 21.

    Betty Cracker

    The mister gets to choose the supper menu on Father’s Day and has selected homemade pizza with extra sauce, mushrooms and homegrown (by him) peppers. Whew. There are lots of more labor-intensive items he could have selected.

  22. 22.

    Matt McIrvin

    @RevRick: The Republicans are pivoting back to anti-LGBT panic, and according to the polling we were talking about the other day, it seems to be working at convincing Republicans, specifically (but no one else to any great degree) that there’s some kind of sexual menace they need to stamp out. That might be enough to cancel out opposition based on abortion becoming a losing issue for them.

  24. 24.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Baud:

    Trump’s problem is that, since there is no paperwork, the only way he can prove that the documents were declassified in his mind is by taking the stand. 

    Declassified within that appalling dumpheap?

    Apologies to the Grinch and Dr. Suess.

  25. 25.

    MagdaInBlack

    @OzarkHillbilly: It hits you really weird when the news come like that, doesn’t it. I’m sorry. Glad you knew him too, he sounds like he was a good guy.

  30. 30.

    Betty Cracker

    @OzarkHillbilly: Rest in peace, Larry.

    Your point about people dying of lack of insurance is spot on. I’m sure some outfit somewhere keeps track of the toll. I haven’t seen the data but am sure it’s enormous every year.

  33. 33.

    Kay

    Jen Jennings, PhD
    @eduwonkette_jen
    Where are your tax dollars going with vouchers?
    You can be a middle/high school teacher at NC’s Mitchener University Academy, which claimed $327K in voucher $, with no degree.
    For your work, you’ll be paid between 20-25K per year.

    The private voucher schools in North Carolina are hiring teachers with no qualifications and they’re paying them 12 dollars an hour.
    There are now about 20 states with completely unregulated voucher programs- billions in public mney with no regulations and no oversight. It is going to be a disaster – it’s a recipe for corruption and poor quality. State level Democrats should jump on it early and make it an issue before the scandals start making news. Great issue for them and if they get their first they can “predict the future” – not question of “if” a question of “when”.

  34. 34.

    Betty Cracker

    @mrmoshpotato: I think the Rays will take the series this afternoon. Yonny Chirinos is the likely pitcher. I hope I get to watch some of it, but the US Open is on, and the mister controls the remote on Father’s Day.

  36. 36.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: DeSantis recently turned the public education budget into an edu-grift free for all. Even multimillionaire parents can raid the fund for $8K per year to pay for 1/10th of the tuition to send little Snotleigh to Vulture Capital Academy. I agree it’s a huge opening for Dems.

  37. 37.

    dmsilev

    @Baud:

    Trump’s problem is that, since there is no paperwork, the only way he can prove that the documents were declassified in his mind is by taking the stand.

    What if he testifies in his mind? Would that work?

  38. 38.

    Betty Cracker

    @NotMax: That happened one year when he wanted key lime pie. Juicing a pound of teeny-tiny key limes is a bitch!

    Re: the TV, we ended up with a giant 55-inch OLED (I think) something-or-the-other. It’s still jarring to see that massive screen in our tiny house, but the clarity is amaze-balls. I can see the movement of MLB pitches clearer than the catcher, probably! ;-)

  39. 39.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Betty Cracker:

    Your point about people dying of lack of insurance is spot on. I’m sure some outfit somewhere keeps track of the toll. I haven’t seen the data but am sure it’s enormous every year.

    Betcha our own David Anderson knows, or at least knows where he could find the data quickly.

  42. 42.

    MazeDancer

    Had somehow missed the Drag Queen video with Stephanie Ruhle.

    What a remarkable segment. Besides the fact, they’re all gorgeous and eloquent, had never heard such clear explanation of drag.

    And the trans woman, so beautiful, made important points about privilege.

    If you haven’t seen, you’ll be glad you watched,

  43. 43.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @rikyrah:

    That is so cool! I love their looks of concentration as they execute every step. And yes indeed, good on McCormick for this initiative.

  45. 45.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    The private school students were scoring lower than the public schools students on Ohio’s state tests so Republicans waived the testing requirement for publicly funded private schools.

    Just laugh out loud manipulation and hackery. They didn’t like the scores so they stopped measuring, but ONLY for one set of publicly funded schools.

  47. 47.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Scout211: This is all attempted misdirection.  The Espionage charges don’t rely on classification.  It’s about willfully possessing govt property that poses a security risk to the US if the wrong people see it.  Nuclear codes, battle plans etc., all fit the bill.  According to witness accounts Trump was bragging about the fact that he shouldn’t be showing this stuff to them while doing so.

  48. 48.

    sdhays

    @Kay: There are lots of reasons I will never live in a red state, but as a parent, the Republican march to destroy red state public education is one of the top things on my list.

  50. 50.

    Kay

    @sdhays:

    It was interesting to watch in Ohio because there was an assumption the private school students would do better than the public school students- just pure ideological preference for private over public., that assumption. When the scores came back lower no one in the “movement” asked why- instead the voucher lobbyists rushed to get rid of scores completely. It really has nothing to do with education. It’s 100% free market ideology.

  54. 54.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Phylllis:

    many of the smaller charters are closing abruptly, due to not being able to sustain funding

    Good. That edu-grift racket has to end. It’s too bad about the arts academy, but maybe, just maybe, public funding could go towards arts education in the public schools? It used to. Let’s do it again!

    Edited.

  55. 55.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    It was interesting to watch in Ohio because there was an assumption the private school students would do better than the public school students- just pure ideological preference for private over public., that assumption.

     

    The GOP powers that be probably had in mind the elite private schools their donors’ kids attend. Not the grifty private schools for the hoi polloi.

  57. 57.

    Roger Moore

    @Baud:

    More generally, claiming the documents were declassified is an uphill battle.  Once the prosecution has proven the documents had classification markings, the jury is going to assume they were classified until there’s some actual evidence otherwise.  Trump’s defense can’t just suggest they might have been declassified to create instant reasonable doubt.  They have to provide some kind of evidence, either declassification paperwork or testimony about Trump declassifying them.

    My guess is they will try to avoid having Trump testify by having someone else testify about actions Trump took to declassify the documents.  That might be either them hearing Trump say he had declassified the documents or the nonsense about his “standing order” declassifying anything he brought with him to the residence.

  59. 59.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @MazeDancer:

    And the trans woman, so beautiful, made important points about privilege.

    She is absolutely stunning! My only quibble with this segment is that I feel like a lot of the nastier factors of the conversation (bigotry, misogyny, homophobia, religion etc.) were never really brought up. I get it, it’s a morning show, and the participants have every right to focus more on positive framings and keep things light etc., but it always feels weird to me when these discussions don’t mention the elephant in the room: that a lot of Americans are indoctrinated with LGBTQ-phobia and a deep devotion to the myth of the Gender Binary. Still a really great segment though.

  60. 60.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Roger Moore: My guess is that the prosecution will point out that declassifying the documents would make no difference in the charges brought (pointing to the literal words of the criminal statute), effectively cutting off that line of defense even before defense tries to raise it.

  62. 62.

    RaflW

    @UncleEbeneezer: No matter what, I think the @Scout211 post gets to a core issue of TFG’s unsuitability as Potus, as well as a vulnerability in this specific legal case. He thinks that getting elected to the office confers unlimited power. He can’t tolerate the idea that a bureaucracy holds powers that limit the presidency.

    And of course there are advisors who counsel the whole Unitary Executive theory, which I am sure Donnie ate up like a pile of McD’s burgers. That Bush II was a big proponent of the unitary power grab tells us plenty about how bad it is.

  64. 64.

    Roger Moore

    @Scout211: ​
     

    Support for legal abortion rises a year after Roe v. Wade overturned-Poll

    I assume a big part of this is that the DFHs were right again. Opponents of Roe v Wade had implied nothing would really change and only “bad” abortions would be banned. Now people have realized they were sold a bill of goods, and they’re having severe second thoughts.

  65. 65.

    sdhays

    @Baud: One of the unexpected eye-opening things with Jeffrey Epstein was the revelation that he was a teacher at Bill Barr’s dad’s special private school, even though he was just a college graduate with no other qualifications. It makes me wonder how wonderful the education at these fancy schools actually is.

  66. 66.

    Soprano2

    @OzarkHillbilly: I’m sorry, that sucks. That’s one reason I still look at the obits in the paper every day. Right now it’s the parents of people I grew up with who are passing.

  68. 68.

    Jackie

    @Kay: “They didn’t like the scores so they stopped measuring…”

    Reminds me of someone who didn’t want to count Covid-19 illnesses…🤔

  69. 69.

    Roger Moore

    @Betty Cracker:

    That happened one year when he wanted key lime pie. Juicing a pound of teeny-tiny key limes is a bitch!

    It could be worse.  I made Seville orange marmalade, which requires juicing several pounds of little tiny oranges- the Sevilles I get are usually about 10 to the pound- and then scooping the pulp out of the juiced halves so I can julienne the peels.  It usually takes me a couple of hours, and I’d never do it if the end result weren’t so good.

  71. 71.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: There’s a woman in MO, Jess Piper, who is on it here. She’s a rural woman from the northern part of the state, a former teacher who ran for office and lost. She works for Blue Missouri and is constantly telling people that vouchers are going to be a disaster, especially for rural schools.

  75. 75.

    NotMax

    Crap. Messing up a lot today. Apologies. Fix.

    @Soprano2

    Do they still refer to the obits as “the old ladies’ sports page?” ;)

    Also another opportunity to highly recommend the documentary Obit., currently available on Kanopy and AMC+.

  76. 76.

    Jackie

    @Baud: I look forward to the prosecutors putting declassification experts on the stand explaining in great detail ALL the steps required to declassify Top Secret documents – especially those involving nuclear weapons.

  77. 77.

    laura

    The LA Dodger’s got a new Daddy last night when the Giants beat them 15-0 according to this morning’s sport’s section.

    Congratulations and best wishes to the Oracle of Solace on your marriage.

  78. 78.

    Baud

    @Jackie:

    Yeah, that’s the weird thing. Even if you’re someone who believes Trump completely, what’s your defense for Trump’s decision to declassify these documents?

    His supporters go on about what he can do legally, and never talk about whether his decision was the right thing to do.

  81. 81.

    RaflW

    @Roger Moore: I also suspect that some conservative women assumed that medication abortion would remain accessible by mail order in their anti-abortion states, and are just shocked to learn that the fundies are serious about outlawing all forms and trimesters. Oops.

  82. 82.

    MagdaInBlack

    @Soprano2: I follow her on the evil FB, and I have heard her several times on WCPT 820, our progressive talk station in Chicago. She is impressive.

  85. 85.

    Jackie

    @Baud: Yes, but it can be proven that documents TIFG CLAIMS he declassified, weren’t.

    His Deplorables will claim the experts are lying, but a huge majority will know better. The glitch is “it only takes one juror…”

  87. 87.

    Roger Moore

    @Kay:

    It was interesting to watch in Ohio because there was an assumption the private school students would do better than the public school students- just pure ideological preference for private over public., that assumption.

    I think there were some other assumptions, too.  They assumed the private schools would siphon off the best students and leave the public schools dealing only with the problems, the same way charter schools were intended to do.

  88. 88.

    Scamp Dog

    @RaflW: In the spirit of Wilhoit’s Law, they expected to be in the class of “those who are protected by the law, not bound by it,” and discovered that in this case, because of their lady bits, they’re “bound by the law, not protected by it.”

  91. 91.

    Anne Laurie

    @sdhays: It makes me wonder how wonderful the education at these fancy schools actually is.

    I’m no expert, but from what I’ve read, not every teacher at a fancy private school has to be good at their jobs.  Sure, it’s a bonus if they turn out to be good at getting useful information into the kids’ heads, but — at the Elite Elite level, every kid’s parents are going to make sure that their precious offspring are tutored and given extra-curricular options as necessary.  (And for a significant chunk of those parents, legacy admissions mean their kids are going to the top-ranked Ivies their parents attended, unless the sprats are visibly defective and/or felons.)

    So the kids who start with every advantage get small classes, tons of personal attention, intense parental backup, SAT training, et al.  If some of their teachers at those elite private academies turn out to be nothing more than babysitters, at best, it won’t derail little Tucker or Samantha.  In fact, there are cases in the media where teachers who are considered ‘too demanding’ (insisting the kids show up, do homework, not take extended vacations at the family’s various vacation properties) get bounced — sometimes, explicitly, as a warning to the rest of the staff.

  94. 94.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Jackie: Again, the classification status of he documents is entirely irrelevant.  The words “classified, Top Secret” etc. are not even mentioned in the statute:

    Trump is specifically charged with 31 violations of Section 793(e) of the Espionage Act.
    That section makes it illegal for anyone who has “unauthorized possession of, access to, or control over” national defense information — such as documents, blueprints, photos, plans and more — and who “has reason to believe [the information] could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation” then either shares it with unauthorized people or “willfully retains the same and fails” to return it.

    This is all that matters to the Prosecutors. And they will be very clear in instructing the jury that they must follow the letter of the statute.

  95. 95.

    Roger Moore

    @Baud:

    Someone would have to commit perjury then, because I doubt any of that is true.

    I almost believe Trump made some kind of pronouncement about documents he took to the residence being declassified.  It makes sense, inasmuch as anything surrounding Trump makes sense.  He wanted to be able to look at classified documents back in the residence, and the security people told him that was against the classification rules.  So he came up with “anything I take back to the residence is instantly declassified” as a way of letting his laziness rule while shutting up the classification people.  I suspect it still isn’t legally binding- declassification doesn’t work that way- but as long as it shut the security people up about Trump’s bad habits, it achieved its goal.  When the stuff about Trump stealing classified documents came up, somebody remembered the earlier fight and claimed they had all been declassified by virtue of having been brought back to the residence.  It’s believable, even if it likely isn’t true.

  97. 97.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Anne Laurie: Ugh, I’m still waking up.  My mistake.

    I also assumed it was a morning show because it kinda felt like a Good Morning America segment in its’ tone.

  98. 98.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Anne Laurie:

    And for a significant chunk of those parents, legacy admissions mean their kids are going to the top-ranked Ivies their parents attended,

    Curiously (or not), the Ivies tend not to publicize the acceptance rate of legacy applicants, although they will provide the percentage of legacies in each class, which appears to be around 10% or so at Princeton, for example. One college application advisor calculates that about 30% of legacy applicants were admitted in a recent year, which is a HUGE advantage given a < 10% overall acceptance rate, but still no guarantee. The special sprogs still need to separate themselves at least somewhat from the competition, and their parents are there to provide the help!

  99. 99.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @O. Felix Culpa: Actually the problem is I was trying to call my Dad for Father’s Day while reading/typing.  I blame him.  Like Trump, I have to blame someone, anyone else, lol!

  100. 100.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Steeplejack: Never watched her show.  I see her tweets all the time though.  It was a good discussion though, and I appreciate her approach and questions.

  101. 101.

    Scout211

    @UncleEbeneezer: Again, the classification status of he documents is entirely irrelevant.

    Yes. And in the Reuters article linked to at #1 mentions that, as most news articles do not.

    Prosecutors likely will argue that declassification is irrelevant because Trump was charged under the Espionage Act, which predates classification and criminalizes the unauthorized retention of “national defense information,” a broad term covering any secrets that could be helpful to the nation’s enemies.

    But the news articles continue to talk about it in order to debunk TIFG and his minions who try to deflect from that and focus on his magic declassification powers. Which, as you mention, are irrelevant under the Espionage Act. And the media just follows TIFG and his minions and responds to them. I was surprised that the Reuters article gave it a whole paragraph. Hopefully, more news stories will include that point. But since there are no leaks on Jack Smith’s team, it’s unlikely.

  102. 102.

    Baud

    @Roger Moore:

    He wanted to be able to look at classified documents back in the residence, and the security people told him that was against the classification rules.

     

    I’d be a bit surprised to learn that presidents need to declassify documents to have access to them when they’re outside the White House.

  107. 107.

    Roger Moore

    @RaflW:

    No matter what, I think the @Scout211 post gets to a core issue of TFG’s unsuitability as Potus,

    This gets back to something that I find particularly enraging about the whole conversation surrounding Trump.  Right now, people are focused on the issue of whether or not he will be going to prison, and the assumption by basically the entire right wing seems to be that not going to prison should be enough to take care of his legal problems.  I find that whole attitude incredibly dispiriting.

    Even if Trump somehow weasels out of his legal problems, that doesn’t make him fit for office.  The president’s integrity should be completely beyond reproach, and beating a felony rap on a technicality does not measure up.  Even if he isn’t technically a criminal, he’s completely unfit for office.  Even if he did declassify the documents in question and that makes what he did technically legal, it shows a cavalier attitude toward the job.  He’s manifestly unsuited for the job no matter what happens with his legal problems.

  109. 109.

    NotMax

    @O. Felix Culpa

    Once while playing the Paranoia RPG, manged to render the omniscient computer (game master) speechless when (rightly) accused of some niggling infraction of the parameters of whatever the mission was by pointing to another player and emphatically stating, “No! He did it!.”

    Upshot was I managed to squeak through unscathed.

  110. 110.

    Anyway

    @Roger Moore:

    Even if he isn’t technically a criminal, he’s completely unfit for office.  Even if he did declassify the documents in question and that makes what he did technically legal, it shows a cavalier attitude toward the job.  He’s manifestly unsuited for the job no matter what happens with his legal problems.

    Excellent point(s). My hope is that even though the Lamestream Media fail to make that connection and contribute to the Gish-Gallop, indie-minded voters will see that he’s completely unserious about governing and from there maybe maybe see that the GQP is as well.

  113. 113.

    cain

    @Kay: like everything – the ideology can never be failed – you’re just doing it wrong and the way we are measuring it is wrong. It’s all wrong because private always beats public!

  114. 114.

    Roger Moore

    @Baud:

    I’d be a bit surprised to learn that presidents need to declassify documents to have access to them when they’re outside the White House.

    They don’t, but they can’t just whip out the classified documents any time and place they feel like it; there are still rules that require them to keep classified documents in a SCIF.  As I understand it, the issue is that the president’s study is a SCIF, but the presidential residence is not, so the president needs to go to the office to look at classified information.  There are ways of dealing with the need to work in a SCIF on the go.  There are rules about setting up a temporary one on the road or a permanent mobile one in a vehicle.  IIRC, there’s one on Air Force One, for instance.

    Note that these rules are important for people beyond just the president.  An obvious example would be military commanders, who need to be able to access classified documents like intelligence reports while in the field.  The purpose of the classification rules is to make it possible to work with classified documents while still protecting them; making them too difficult to access would undermine that purpose.

  115. 115.

    FelonyGovt

    My daughter and her girlfriend went to Pride Night at the Dodger game on Friday. They were both shocked and appalled at the nasty protesters outside the main gate. The protest had clearly morphed from outrage at the Sisters of Indulgence to generalized anti-gay hate, with signs saying things like “go to hell” and “stay away from our children”. My daughter and her girlfriend were both scared and shaken and it kind of ruined Pride Night for them.
    And this is Los Angeles. 😕

  116. 116.

    dirge

    @Anne Laurie: I’m no expert, but from what I’ve read, not every teacher at a fancy private school has to be good at their jobs.

    Undoubtably true to some degree, and to a different degree depending where you are.  My experience as an AP everything student at a moderately fancy mid-Atlantic private school, however, was that excepting a few duds, most teachers were operating at a level comparable to the professors at the fancy liberal arts colleges I later attended.  The social experience was pretty toxic though.  That’s decades ago, but younger relatives at the same school now seem to be having a similar experience, and judge it worthwhile on balance.

    On the other hand, one of my siblings spent a couple high school years at a maximally fancy boarding school.  There’s obviously a reputation for academic excellence there, but all I personally know is that it was so traumatic she still won’t talk about it.  At college, I met several seriously maladjusted people coming from similar experiences at top tier boarding schools.  So there are major problems at some of these places, at least for people coming from non-elite backgrounds.

    Obviously there are also private schools that are straight up scams, or are just mediocre substitutes aimed at people too racist for public school, but not wealthy enough for better private schools.  But most of the ones that I’m familiar with, despite being founded for the white flight generation and retaining some of that exclusionary flavor, are now meaningfully integrated, generally progressive, and offer a real academic value proposition.

  119. 119.

    dirge

    @UncleEbeneezer: Again, the classification status of he documents is entirely irrelevant.

    Not necessarily.  If he did declassify the documents, that’s an official act in furtherance of a criminal scheme, and I’d very much like to see that charged as well.

  120. 120.

    Miss Bianca

    @dirge:

    My experience as an AP everything student at a moderately fancy mid-Atlantic private school, however, was that excepting a few duds, most teachers were operating at a level comparable to the professors at the fancy liberal arts colleges I later attended.  The social experience was pretty toxic though.

    Same. Except for the “all-AP student” part. :)

  121. 121.

    dirge

    @Miss Bianca:

    I mention it just for context (and ok, everything is a bit exaggerated).  Quite possible that other people in other classes had a different experience, even at the same small school.  I assume the teaching was similarly good throughout the school, but I can only reliably report on my own experience.  AP classes probably received extra attention.

  124. 124.

    trollhattan

    Grumpy man shopping. So I went to the nearest Home Despot yesterday to get a thing, which they turned out not to carry, but grabbed a couple tomato plants to get a very late start on that missing garden item, then discovered in the main store there are now exactly zero checkers–everything is self-check. So off to the garden center to find actual checkers–two–with very large lines of similarly fed up customers who, like me, believe that if you wish me to perform your job then you need to pay me.

    I am the fucking customer, not your staff.

    Happy Father’s Day to all you grumpy guys, the happy ones too!

  125. 125.

    NotMax

    @trollhattan

    By sheer coincidence when was in Home Depot for a single item last week (had a coupon which was shortly to expire), played the befuddled elder card and mentioned to the inquiries at the checkout stations that I preferred a real, breathing, live person to check out.

    And they, within a half minute, dragooned someone to open up a register.

  126. 126.

    Jay C

    @Roger Moore:

    Except that all too many voters in this country DON’T F—ING CARE if Donald Trump is “suited” for the job of POTUS or “fit” for it, or not. They are going to base their political (and financial) support for this disgraceful character on other factors (hates, fears and prejudices wrapped up in “patriotic” colors), and – thanks to their self-imposed isolation in the RW media bubble – will likely prove unshakeable in their devotion. The best we can hope for, I think, is that the worst of the political Deplorables will remain a minority of the electorate. And – faint hope as it might be – that the majority will stir itself from apathy, and vote the fascists down.

  127. 127.

    Ruckus

    @trollhattan:

    I shop at the L word primarily because of things like your experience, and they are closer. There are good/great people working at HD and a lot of the items are the same as Lowe’s. And I do remember that one of our own here works orange.

  131. 131.

    trollhattan

    @Ruckus: I hear ya. L’s only has outlets in the outer burbs here for some reason, so I really, really have to have either a big list or assurance they truly have The Thing I’m after, before launching the expedition.

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