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Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

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Odds & Ends (Open Thread)

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What could possibly make the House GOP more dysfunctional than it is at present? Well, this:

social media post from trump saying he'll help select speaker

I bet McHenry’s landing gear retracted fully into the old fuselage when he read that!

***

Speaking of lumpish Trumps, Lara, who is married to one of the dumb adult Trump sons, released a cover of “I Won’t Back Down” less than a week ago and then appeared on Hannity’s show last night to complain about the lack of attention:

“My song was released last Friday, and let me just say I’m not trying to make a career out of this—I do not fancy myself the next Whitney Houston,” Trump said. She went on to say: “This is the kind of treatment that I think conservatives are used to. We’re used to being censored. We’re used to being shadow-banned.”

Alternative theory: No one is listening because Lara Trump’s whiny, auto-tuned voice on that track is more annoying than if Fran Drescher and the late Gilbert Gottfried had attempted a duet version of Minnie Riperton’s “Loving You.”

The Trump wife’s cover is an insult to the memory of our scruffy Florida boy Tom Petty, and Lara Trump should find another hobby, like teaching her idiot husband to smile without displaying such an alarming acreage of gum tissue.

***

Speaking of lumpish chumps, you’ll be shocked to learn that self-declared Speaker candidate Jim Jordan doesn’t know what to do about the motion to vacate rule that Gaetz used to depose McCarthy:

Jordan would not commit to changing the rule, but said he would if that’s what his conference wanted.

“That’s the only way it gets done if that’s what the conference wants,” he said.

Fox & Friends co-anchor Brian Kilmeade returned to the question later and said he was shocked Jordan would not commit to a reform, telling him it’s “impossible” to keep more than 200 people happy.

“It is what it is … we have to figure that out,” Jordan said.

At least one member of the GOP caucus says he won’t vote for anyone who doesn’t commit to getting rid of that rule, and the eight Repubs who kicked McCarthy to the curb probably want to hang onto the option. Maybe it would be best for the country if Repubs leave the rule in place and take turns kicking each other out after short stints in the Speaker’s chair.

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

180Comments

  1. 1.

    Butch

    No one is paying attention to my collection of arias from famous operas, either.  It couldn’t possibly be that I have no talent; nah, I’m being canceled.  That’s it.

  2. 2.

    bbleh

    Maybe it would be best for the country if Repubs leave the rule in place and take turns kicking each other out after short stints in the Speaker’s chair.

    How ’bout if they just take turns kicking each other period?  They could fundraise off it!

  4. 4.

    Alison Rose

    If she isn’t trying to sell the song but only putting it on streaming services, I’m not sure if any permission or license was needed, but if there is even a sliver of a chance she did something wrong, I really hope Petty’s estate tells her to pound sand. As they said when TIFG used the song at a rally or whatever, there is no way in hell Petty would have been okay with racist ass pieces of shit using his music.

  5. 5.

    Suzanne

    @bbleh:

    How ’bout if they just take turns kicking each other period?  They could fundraise off it! 

    I can get behind this.
    I love how much some of them hate each other. Markwayne Mullin talking shit about Matt Gaetz snorting ED meds and then drinking Red Bull made me laugh. And then gag. And then laugh some more.

  6. 6.

    Chris

    They really have no idea how much pop culture bends over backwards to accommodate their fee-fees, do they.

  7. 7.

    cain

    Jim Jordan is going to be busy fucking around and finding out. I don’t think the non-8 members of freedom caucus are going to vote out the next speaker – even they are not that stupid. Or maybe they are  – I could see Gaetz doing that – but Jim is a friend I reckon.

    Jim is going to do nothing but clown show investigations – and denying any Democratic bill to come to the floor.

  8. 8.

    Alison Rose

    An interview Petty did with Rolling Stone in 2015 about his use of the confederate flag back in the mid 80s. I really appreciated how open and honest he was here, and how he explains how it happened without excusing it. (It’s paywalled so I c/p’ed from a bypass.)

    SOUTH CAROLINA’S DECISION to lower the Confederate flag on their statehouse has caused a wide range of reactions in the rock community. While many acts are cheering the decision of the South Carolina legislature, some acts are continuing to sell Confederate flag merchandise and rockers like Kid Rock remain defiant. “Isn’t Kid Rock from the Midwest?” Tom Petty asks with a chuckle. “I think they were on the other side of the Civil War.”

    Petty, who featured the Confederate flag prominently onstage during his Southern Accents tour in 1985, spoke to Rolling Stone hours after the flag was taken down to express remorse for his actions.

    The Confederate flag was the wallpaper of the South when I was a kid growing up in Gainesville, Florida. I always knew it had to do with the Civil War, but the South had adopted it as its logo. I was pretty ignorant of what it actually meant. It was on a flagpole in front of the courthouse and I often saw it in Western movies. I just honestly didn’t give it much thought, though I should have.

    In 1985, I released an album called Southern Accents. It began as a concept record about the South, but the concept part slipped away probably 70 percent or so into the album. I just let it go, but the Confederate flag became part of the marketing for the tour. I wish I had given it more thought. It was a downright stupid thing to do.

    It happened because I had one song on the album called “Rebels.” It’s spoken from the point of view of the character, who talks about the traditions that have been handed down from family to family for so long that he almost feels guilty about the war. He still blames the North for the discomfort of his life, so my thought was the best way to illustrate this character was to use the Confederate flag.

    I used it onstage during that song, and I regretted it pretty quickly. When we toured two years later, I noticed people in the audience wearing Confederate flag bandanas and things like that. One night, someone threw one onstage. I stopped everything and gave a speech about it. I said, “Look, this was to illustrate a character. This is not who we are. Having gone through this, I would prefer it if no one would ever bring a Confederate flag to our shows again because this isn’t who we are.”

    It got a mixed reaction. There were some boos and some cheers. But honestly, it’s a little amazing to me because I never saw one again after that speech in that one town. Fortunately, that went away, but it left me feeling stupid. That’s the word I can use. I felt stupid. If I had just been a little more observant about things going on around me, it wouldn’t have happened. We did do a live record [Pack Up The Plantation: Live!] and there was a picture inside of us playing in front of one. I went back and had it removed from the record. It took a little time to get done, but it did get done. I still feel bad about it. I’ve just always regretted it. I would never do anything to hurt someone.

    Lowering the flag from the statehouse grounds was the right decision. That flag shouldn’t have any part in our government. It shouldn’t represent us in any way. The war is over. You know, it’s a bit ironic: It’s the only time that I know of where we defeated a country in a war and then flew their flag. But Americans were on both sides of the issues. I’m sure some people still carry it to their graves.

    That Southern pride gets transferred from generation to generation. I’m sure that a lot of people that applaud it don’t mean it in a racial way. But again, I have to give them, as I do myself, a “stupid” mark. If you think a bit longer, there’s bad connotations to this. They might have it at the football game or whatever, but they also have it at Klan rallies. If that’s part of it in any way, it doesn’t belong, in any way, representing the United States of America.

    To this day, I have good feelings for the South in many ways. There’s some wonderful people down there. There are people still affected by what their relatives taught them. It isn’t necessarily racism. They just don’t like Yankees. They don’t like the North. But when they wave that flag, they aren’t stopping to think how it looks to a black person. I blame myself for not doing that. I should have gone around the fence and taken a good look at it. But honestly, it all stemmed from my trying to illustrate a character. I then just let it get out of control as a marketing device for the record. It was dumb and it shouldn’t have happened.

    Again, people just need to think about how it looks to a black person. It’s just awful. It’s like how a swastika looks to a Jewish person. It just shouldn’t be on flagpoles.

    Beyond the flag issue, we’re living in a time that I never thought we’d see. The way we’re losing black men and citizens in general is horrific. What’s going on in society is unforgivable. As a country, we should be more concerned with why the police are getting away with targeting black men and killing them for no reason. That’s a bigger issue than the flag. Years from now, people will look back on today and say, “You mean we privatized the prisons so there’s no profit unless the prison is full?” You’d think someone in kindergarten could figure out how stupid that is. We’re creating so many of our own problems.

  9. 9.

    Mike in Pasadena

    Trump’s lawyers have asked for delay in the Mar a Lardo documents trial date to Late November 2024 ’cause they have to be in two places at once, in Miami to review docs and in trial in DC for the 2021 coup case. Answer: your client is a billionaire, remember? Hire more lawyers. Or, find a client who doesn’t commit so many crimes.

  10. 10.

    Realworldrj

    Lara Trump is 100% going to attend a NFL game this weekend and then complain that the camera didn’t pan to her at any point during the game. Damn you Fox News and the woke NFL caneramen!!

  11. 11.

    Mike in NC

    “Me, your FAVORITE Putin-fellating treasonous wannabe dictator ex-president”. Too bad that won’t fit on a bumper sticker.

  12. 12.

    Jinchi

    With the House in recess, this really is the perfect moment for George Santos to steal the gavel and insist he’s been elected speaker in a secret ballot.

  13. 13.

    RaflW

    The MTV rule can be the fig leaf Dems offer to patch things up*. Because it’s not that difficult a vote, and while it’s sort of fun to speculate about an endless revolving door of ex-Speakers, it’s just too exhausting for our shabby, frayed semi-democracy.

    So, let the Gaetz-8 (or the 11 who voted not to table) press Nay on re-writing the rule, and have a reasonable number of the Dems help out (Jeffries could have his whips figure out the margin, +1 to be sure, and go with that as a warning to the GOP that Dems will help, but not gonna just take the whole bucket of water over the finish line).

    *Knowing full well that the GOP will backstab at the first opportunity after the seating of a new speaker. But that’s coming either way.

  14. 14.

    RaflW

    @Mike in Pasadena: Trump kind of blew that argument this week. He has tried to avoid appearance in a civil suit by arguing he’s needed in court in N.Y. all week. Then he left town after just three days.

    Word is, Cohen is going to the judge in his civil case to try to sanction or compel Trump since he functionally lied to that judge.

  16. 16.

    Ken

    In other odds and ends — definitely odd, and perhaps a step to an end — Nancy Marks, the former campaign treasurer for Rep. George Santos, will plead guilty to a felony charge. I’m not finding the details of the charge, but it’s related to the ongoing investigation of Santos’s campaign finances.

  17. 17.

    waspuppet

    Actually, it would be better for the country if about 10 of the Republicans who claim they’re moderates either switched to the Democratic Party and made Hakeem Jeffries speaker, or remained republicans and voted for Hakeem Jeffries for speaker.

    But of course no DC political reporter will ever opine that, or ask about it. After all, we went:

    1) Trump orders the GOP to shut down the government to protect him –> 2) McCarthy doesn’t shut down the government –> 3) McCarthy is booted out as speaker

    in less than a week, and our media stars are actively trying to make sure people don’t see that.

    As for Lara Trump, does she realize — no, of course she doesn’t realize, why am I asking — that you can’t just upload a song and have millions of streams. Then again, she gets to go on Hannity and tell people her song is out there, which actual musicians don’t get to do.

  18. 18.

    zhena gogolia

    No one is listening because Lara Trump’s whiny, auto-tuned voice on that track is more annoying than if Fran Drescher and the late Gilbert Gottfried had attempted a duet version of Minnie Riperton’s “Loving You.”

    Oh, Betty, I want to marry you!

  19. 19.

    Chris

    @Alison Rose:

    “Isn’t Kid Rock from the Midwest?” Tom Petty asks with a chuckle. “I think they were on the other side of the Civil War.”

    The Confederate flag long ago stopped being a Southern icon and turned into a general white supremacist one.  Kind of like how the Ku Klux Klan might have started as a regional movement of disgruntled secessionists, but by the time it was revived in the 1920s it was a nationwide movement of for all-purpose bigotry and xenophobia.

  20. 20.

    Betty

    Yikes! The thought of that version of “Loving You” gave me an instant headache. What a vivid image.

    Edited to fix typo.

  21. 21.

    Philbert

    House rules say anyone iunder felony indictment shall step down as Speaker.

    But rules, schmools I betcha.

    RUnning the House would be way too much like work for Trump,  but he could as usual take an ax to yet another civilized convention.

  23. 23.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Alternative theory: No one is listening because Lara Trump’s whiny, auto-tuned voice on that track is more annoying than if Fran Drescher and the late Gilbert Gottfried had attempted a duet version of Minnie Riperton’s “Loving You.”

    Betty, you slay me.

  24. 24.

    Alison Rose

    @Chris: Well sure, and he obviously knew that. He was just making a joke about someone not from the south going so hard over this. A few years ago, some assholes showed up to a Veterans’ Day parade in Petaluma, in the northern Bay Area, with confederate flags. California was very much not part of the confederacy, so while I understood that they were using it as a symbol of their bigotry, I also had fun pointing out how fucking dumb they looked.

  26. 26.

    dmsilev

    I think a motion to “Stuff Matt Gaetz into a barrel and toss it into the Potomac” would pass the House with roughly 400 votes in favor. Can’t we as a nation come together in the spirit of bipartisanship and do this thing?

  27. 27.

    cain

    @Philbert: He couldn’t do it – he’ll instead be asking the caucus to do things for him and then get pissy when they can’t pass it.

    He’d destroy them.

  29. 29.

    Chris

    @Alison Rose:

    To this day, I have good feelings for the South in many ways. There’s some wonderful people down there. There are people still affected by what their relatives taught them. It isn’t necessarily racism. They just don’t like Yankees. They don’t like the North. But when they wave that flag, they aren’t stopping to think how it looks to a black person. I blame myself for not doing that. I should have gone around the fence and taken a good look at it. But honestly, it all stemmed from my trying to illustrate a character. I then just let it get out of control as a marketing device for the record. It was dumb and it shouldn’t have happened.

    The other thing about this is that any time a region in the South stops embodying this kind of racism, it automatically gets labeled “not the South.”

  30. 30.

    Captain C

    No one is listening because Lara Trump’s whiny, auto-tuned voice on that track is more annoying than if Fran Drescher and the late Gilbert Gottfried had attempted a duet version of Minnie Riperton’s “Loving You.”

    You know there are hipsters who would seek that out and claim to only like it ironically.

  32. 32.

    MisterDancer

    @Alison Rose: @Mike in Pasadena: I’ve been thinking a lot, recently on how the reactions to what Tom Petty raises at the end of this piece, about the bigotry in our Justice System, isn’t getting tied enough to how people talk about Trump’s treatment in these legal situations.

    In the back of my head, it’s been a drumbeat of “why are you complaining about the DoJ ‘being slow’? How can you not see the echoes of what so many marched about, just a few years ago?” I mean, I know why the disconnect, don’t get my rhetorical question wrong! But it’s at the core of the moment, and my thinking.

    It’s another thing I’m just churning on, I don’t have enough to make it coherent as a piece, but y’all posting right next to each other raised it back up in my mind :)

  34. 34.

    Salty Sam

    I bet McHenry’s landing gear retracted fully into the old fuselage when he read that!

    Betty, you’ve outdone yourself…

  35. 35.

    cain

    @Jinchi:

    With the House in recess, this really is the perfect moment for George Santos to steal the gavel and insist he’s been elected speaker in a secret ballot.

    Someone should call his office and encourage this. He’d be dumb enough to do it. He’ll lie about his credentials – TRACA – The Republicans Are Clown Assholes

  38. 38.

    MomSense

    @Butch:

    Such a fucking petty and arrogant grievance. Seriously did she think her cover of that song was going to go straight to the top of the charts?

    How inflated are all the trump egos?

  39. 39.

    Jeffro

    I need y’all to settle a bet for me – which outcome is more likely, once trump is convicted (doesn’t matter which trial), loses his appeals, and realizes he’s really going to spend time behind bars:

    (please note I said “more likely”, not “likely”)

    1. He flees to Saudi Arabia or Russia, tweeting that he “had no choice due to Democrats’ ‘lawfare’ “
    2. He offers to ‘flip’ and tell US authorities all about his foreign puppetmasters and secrets he turned over to them, his money laundering for decades, etc if all charges are dropped and/or he gets no time in prison.
  40. 40.

    Salty Sam

    Alternative theory: No one is listening because Lara Trump’s whiny, auto-tuned voice on that track is more annoying than if Fran Drescher and the late Gilbert Gottfried had attempted a duet version of Minnie Riperton’s “Loving You.”

    oops- spoke too soon at #34…

  41. 41.

    Dangerman

    I bet McHenry’s landing gear retracted fully into the old fuselage when he read that!

    Second favorite Seinfeld moment. Shrinkage.

    First being the bet. You know the one.

  47. 47.

    moonbat

    @Jeffro: I want to say 1. is more likely simply because the idea of having him far away from these United States and our stenographer media that keeps throwing his words and image around everywhere would be a blessing beyond anything.

    Plus the reality show drama of him doddering around in his lift shoes looking for a good hamberder while trying to evade capture and extradition would make his Apprentice show ratings pale in comparison. lol

    They could call it The New Fugitive!!

  48. 48.

    Roger Moore

    @Jeffro:

    I could totally see Trump fleeing the country and claiming to the the legitimate president in exile.  I could also see someone like Putin helping him in order to cause more chaos here in the US.

  49. 49.

    Captain C

    @Jeffro: How about, in sequence first 1) and then 2), followed by “Please take my offer!  The Big Macs here taste like bitter almonds…”

  50. 50.

    jonas

    @Mike in Pasadena: “Your honor, the scope, depth, and duration of my client’s crimes make it really impossible for one person, or even dozens, to truly wrap their head around all the evidence the prosecution has delivered to us…”

  51. 51.

    NutmegAgain

    ” if Fran Drescher and the late Gilbert Gottfried had attempted a duet version of Minnie Riperton’s “Loving You.””

    Brilliant!

  52. 52.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Jeffro: #2 will never happen. Putin has probably had more than one conversation scaring the shit out of him.

    I do seem him exploring foreign residence. He probably already has some of his legal team exploring extradition laws around the world.

    Being a not-billionaire after the Letitia James civil lawsuit may make him a less desirable immigrant to some of those places though.

  55. 55.

    Ken

    @jonas: “Your honor, when my client embarked on his tri-state murder spree, he did not realize that he would have to appear in court in all three states, in addition to Federal court. He is simply swamped and requests the trial be delayed a few years.”

  57. 57.

    mrmoshpotato

    Alternative theory: No one is listening because Lara Trump’s whiny, auto-tuned voice on that track is more annoying than if Fran Drescher and the late Gilbert Gottfried had attempted a duet version of Minnie Riperton’s “Loving You.”

    And you give this away for free.  Bless you.

    Lara Trump should find another hobby, like teaching her idiot husband to smile without displaying such an alarming acreage of gum tissue.

    Pointing that out is uncalled for.  Also, eewww! :)

  59. 59.

    JoyceH

    Personal stuff. Today I’m driving up to Dulles to overnight there and fly to London tomorrow. I expected to be on the road by now. Yet here I sit.

    Because – yesterday sewage showed up in my bathtub! The plumbers were supposed to be here at 10 but got called to an emergency and now I’m told they’ll be here “within the hour”. Do I look stressed? Because I’m stressed!

  61. 61.

    p.a.

    Open thread so: went to auto parts store for oil (14 yr old car so I now have to pay attention) and saw 0W20.  Thought it was a misprint!  Nope.  Parts guy says some new cars use it, and some new Toyotas recommend 0W16.  Parts guy said he thought on taking his first delivery, “is this stuff for sewing machines?!?”

  62. 62.

    Tony Jay

    Trumpwife Beta#1 expected a tidal-wave of Based Stans to ‘Sound of Freedom’ her quacktrocity to the top of the popular music charts (I’m down with the younglings) but it didn’t happen. Whining about it on Spongeball Squarehead’s show is just her playing the victimitude card in the hope that someone else will pay for a social media campaign to prompt Ma & Pa White-Panic into protest streaming it into a Wingnut Anthem..

    I mean, that’s what I’d do, if I was a creature of their species.

  64. 64.

    Baud

    Well, I won’t back down
    No, I won’t back down
    You can stand me up at the gates of hell jail
    But I won’t back down

  67. 67.

    JaySinWA

    @MomSense: Wingnut books go to the top of the charts regularly, by hook and by crook. So she probably figured a song should do the same. But the infrastructure for RW song chicanery isn’t in place yet although they seem to be working on it.

  68. 68.

    JoyceH

    @Alison Rose: Well, my flight is tomorrow so I’m not too worried about that. But I pictured my first leg up to DC being a lot more leisurely and calm. Still got to get Jazzy to the boarding kennel. Something is obviously up with the septic system. Can’t be a full tank since it was pumped recently.

  69. 69.

    Dangerman

    @HumboldtBlue: I’m calling shenanigans (Announcer in the background: Shenanigans HAVE been called). That is the worst POS cover I have heard of any song ever (Full Disclosure: I made it about 10 seconds before I said FTS so maybe I missed something).

  70. 70.

    Baud

    We’re used to being censored. We’re used to being shadow-banned.”

    Yet you continue to complain about it.

  73. 73.

    trollhattan

    @MomSense: How inflated are all the trump egos?

    When Barron begins demanding we address him as “your lordship” then we will have arrived at Trumpflation Apogee.

  76. 76.

    Jackie

    “Donald Trump is discussing whether to head to Capitol Hill and speak to the fractious House GOP caucus in the coming days as Republicans consider a new speaker,” The Messenger reports.

    What could possibly go wrong? Secondly, TIFG has to be invited by the Speaker of the House, correct? Does McHenry have the authority as Temp?

  77. 77.

    MisterDancer

    @JaySinWA: But the infrastructure for RW song chicanery isn’t in place yet although they seem to be working on it.

    A couple of music people I follow have noticed with “interest” the rise in RW-leaning music out of the Country side of the house. There’s a running theory that we’re seeing AstroTurfing around stuff like Spotify “bots”, along with the same mechanisms used to bulk-buy RW books, being used to push those songs up on charts. That drives Fox News to “notice” and give the songs airtime, that helps push more mainstream media to engage, etc.

    In fact, a theory I have is that this woman thought those songs got up on the charts “naturally,” and is finding out that, unless you’re part of a campaign, it ain’t gonna happen for you.

  79. 79.

    MisterDancer

    @Jackie: TIFG has to be invited by the Speaker of the House, correct?

    If it’s a formal address to the entire House, yes. This is not that, and he can, in theory, “drop in” anytime, and I’m sure someone ‘ll open their office to him for a session…sadly.

  80. 80.

    Ramalama

    I do not fancy myself the next Whitney Houston,” Trump said

    I would personally like to slap Whitney Houston’s name out of her mouth, but will just settle for yelling out “TONE DEAF” at volume 11.

  81. 81.

    Ruckus

    @Mike in Pasadena:

    Those might be the only lawyers that will work for him.

    Or the only ones that will work for what he can pay them in advance. Because they sure aren’t going to bill him and wait to be possibly paid possibly sometime.

  85. 85.

    Bill Arnold

    @RaflW:

    The MTV rule can be the fig leaf Dems offer to patch things up*.

    With nothing in return?
    I could see this, maybe, if the trade was something substantial, e.g. eliminating the Hastert Rule and allowing any legislation with support of a majority of House members to the floor, with a written compromise agreement read aloud during prime time on Fox News.

    More rational would be a push for a caretaker speaker, who agrees to a set of compromise rules. The Republicans would still have a majority, if they managed perfect voting discipline.

  87. 87.

    Geminid

    @MisterDancer: It sounds like Trump wants to address the Republican Caucus,  That’s the last thing they need roght now, but it’s gonna be hard to turn him down.

    This shits’s spiraling out of control.

  88. 88.

    trollhattan

    @p.a.: For a simple fluid engine oil is absurdly complicated and I can’t follow it all on account of not being a chemical engineer.

    The low viscosities are I believe required for meeting mileage efficiency requirements and I think are also more protective at startup, since they don’t need to be hot to do their jobs. Moreso in winter.

    Something, something, shear resistance can be achieved at lower viscosities now, where you might have needed 30 or 40WT before. Expect only synth oils can do this.

    Back when I was still changing my own url I’d use 0W40 formulated for turbodiesels, on account of having turbocharged cars. They’re hard on oil. Having a hard time wrapping my head around 0W16. Found this reference from 5 years ago.

    With shear stability becoming increasingly important as engine oil viscosity trends downward, one formulator has proposed expanding the use of a bench test stand-in for the Sequence VIII engine test to cover SAE 0W-16 oils.

    Shear stability is the ability of an oil to resist mechanical stress from opposing parallel forces, which can cause a temporary thinning of the oil and a loss of oil film strength. Breakdown of the oil film is problematic because the film protects moving engine parts from wear. Shear stability has become even more critical as applications call for thinner viscosities, which already produce thinner oil films.

    In the past, some shearing tended to be offset by oil thickening, but modern lubricants successfully resist oxidation- and soot-induced viscosity increase extremely well. This means any shearing of the oil could cause it to fall out of grade if it is not properly formulated, potentially causing wear problems.

    Engines need to have a proper level of oil film thickness to protect the moving parts, and this film thickness is a function of viscosity. If oil loses viscosity by shearing in the engine, then general wear protection from the oil film will decline over time, explained David Morgan, Chevron Oronites team leader for viscosity modifiers.

    https://www.lubesngreases.com/magazine/24_9/shearly-staying-in-grade/#:~:text=Shear%20stability%20is%20the%20ability,moving%20engine%20parts%20from%20wear.

    Frankly, this odd topic is much more rewarding than anything Trump.

  89. 89.

    HumboldtBlue

    If Lara Trump’s pathetic attempt to sing an iconic song was bad, Rudy Giuliani pretending he’s a person people take seriously is pretty bad as well.

    “His lies cost me a good deal of my law practice … It cost me clients in my consulting business. I haven’t calculated the amount … but it’s in the millions and millions of dollars.”

    — Rudy Giuliani, after suing Pres. Biden for defamation for comments he made in a 2020 debate

  91. 91.

    WaterGirl

    @JoyceH: Oh my gosh, my head would be exploding.  Needing to be in two places at once – each for something the must happen – makes me feel like my head will explode.

    Maddening.  Hope your plumbers get there soon.

  97. 97.

    Jackie

    Great news for Alabama Democrats!

    “A federal court has picked Alabama’s new congressional map, which will likely result in an additional Black — and Democratic — member in the delegation,” Politico reports.

    “The new map came after the same panel of federal judges twice found that lines drawn by the GOP-dominated legislature likely violated the Voting Rights Act by weakening the power of Black power voters. The court’s decision means these lines will likely be used for at least the 2024 elections, though Alabama Republicans have vowed to fight them for future cycles.”

    David Wassserman: Under the remedial plan, AL-2 swings from Trump +29 to Biden +12, virtually assuring a Democratic pickup.

    Another Dem seat for the House! And, more importantly, one less GQP!😁

  98. 98.

    Chris T.

    @JoyceH:

    yesterday sewage showed up in my bathtub!

    Pretty common problem actually: the ground-floor bathroom bathtub tends to be the lowest (visible) drain in the house, so any clog in the outgoing sewer line, such as tree root intrusion, makes the line back up into the house, which shows up first at the tub.

    Clearing out the line fixes it. Be sure to clean the tub with a bleach-based cleanser to kill off any nasty stuff from the sewage.

    If it’s root intrusion, which it was in my case, it will tend to recur every year or two until you finally give in and have the house’s sewer line replaced (which in my case wasn’t until I was selling it…).

    Edit: you mentioned septic, which doesn’t really change the diagnosis other than “first check the septic tank” (but you did).

  101. 101.

    Brachiator

    @Roger Moore:

    I could totally see Trump fleeing the country and claiming to the the legitimate president in exile.

    Trump could claim whatever he wanted. We don’t do presidents in exile.

    I could also see someone like Putin helping him in order to cause more chaos here in the US.

    Putin has got his hands full right now. And the GOP is causing chaos without need for much help.

    ETA. The House doesn’t get together again until Wednesday. What will the political media do until then?

  102. 102.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I bet McHenry’s landing gear retracted fully into the old fuselage when he read that!

    Larry David wishes he had had you in the writer’s room for the famous “shrinkage” episode”

  103. 103.

    Ruckus

    @MisterDancer:

    It is rather complicated to have humans in a situation where they are supposed to not use their opinions and bigotry that is part of humanity. And it is part of this country that we have at least attempted to at least make it more difficult to lead with those opinions and bigotry rather than humanity but humans are still human, good and bad.

  104. 104.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @RaflW: I don’t know anything about the nomination process, but I think that the Democrats should nominate Jeffries. Who knows? There may be just enough tired-of-it-all Republicans to put him over the top on any given day. I mean, “don’t ask, don’t get,” right?  ;)

  106. 106.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @HumboldtBlue: Rudy, in theory you’re a lawyer. Did you forget that it’s not defamation if it’s true?

    About TFG in the Speaker’s chair: I know that having TFG in any position of power is dangerous for the country. So I don’t want to see him actually put there. You know that he’d outdo McHenry by immediately kicking every Democrat out of their office or moving them all to the basement behind the boiler.

    But I love how damaging having him in the running is going to damage the leopards-eating-faces party in the meantime. Any support of another candidate for Speaker, let alone any announcement of intent to seek the Speaker position, immediately makes you RINO / Enemy / Commie / Traitor and gets the mob sicced on you.

    Jim Jordan has announced his intent. Is he about to get gnawed to death by the MAGA ankle-biters?

  109. 109.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I could almost feel sorry for her, almost. I wonder if somewhere in the back of Eric’s brain the same little voice that says “You’re at best his fourth least favorite child” is saying, “You know she sounds like the drunkest one at the office karaoke happy hour, don’t you?

    LeGate 𝕏 @williamlegate
    Lara Trump sings her new original single “Won’t Back Down” (which totally wasn’t stollen from Tom Petty) live on air… it goes about as well as you’d expect

  112. 112.

    Jeffro

    @Jackie: Donald Trump is discussing whether to head to Capitol Hill and speak to the fractious House GOP caucus in the coming days as Republicans consider a new speaker,” The Messenger reports.

    cue DJT lie-fest from the floor of the House: “If only patriots had done what they should have done on January 6th…Ashlee Babbit would be alive, and the country wouldn’t be in this mess”

    @Geminid: This shits’s spiraling out of control.

    Their shit’s spiraling out of control.  Which will be rough, but it may help the few semi-sane Republicans and low-energy ‘independents’ find the strength to move off the dime and decide to protect democracy.

  114. 114.

    Rachel Bakes

    @JoyceH: We had that happen in a vacation rental once. Turns out the owner had shoved a huge wad of industrial paper towels in the toilet and flushed while cleaning and it backed up the system a few days later.
    hope you can relax once you get away!

  115. 115.

    WaterGirl

    So do you guys see this as Trump wanting to be interim speaker of the house?  Or just offering to “help” with the process?

    I thought it was the latter, but now I’m thinking maybe that was wrong.

  116. 116.

    stacib

    @Dangerman: He, Jason Alexander was on Celebrity 100,000 Pyramid, and he used the pinched fingers from that as one of his clues, and his playing partner got the reference.

  117. 117.

    Geminid

    @Chief Oshkosh: This will almost certainly be like in January, when Democrats nominated Jeffries and the entire caucus voted for him every ballot.

    Maybe not the last one, but that’s a whole ‘nother story.

  119. 119.

    lowtechcyclist

    @JoyceH:

    actually the gunk appeared in BOTH tubs and also both toilets. Creepy!

    Ack!!

    Two possibilities, obviously: first, the septic system itself is backing up. Second, the line from the house into the septic tank is clogged.

    I’m sure you know where the capped pipe is where the septic people put their hose in to pump out the tank.  If you’ve got a moment, take off the cap and see if you can see down into the tank, or whether there’s sewagey water all the way up into the pipe.

    If the former, it’s a clogged pipe between the house and the septic tank. If the latter, the septic system is backing up, and might be failing.  If so, you may need much more frequent visits from your septic people.

    As quite a few homeowners in my subdivision can attest, septic systems can fail: after enough years go by, the drain field just can’t absorb any more.   I hope that’s not your case, but you never know.

  122. 122.

    Ruckus

    @p.a.:

    Metal can be machined to much tighter tolerances than they used to be and that means that a lighter weight oil will work and cause less resistance, giving better milage, plus the oil companies have made oils that actually do a better job. It seems counter to all we’ve learned over the decades of automotive experience but it is an improvement for the use of less gasoline. Which might extend the life of gasoline powered vehicles – giving the oil companies a longer life.

  123. 123.

    karen marie

    Wait, Lara Trump is mad because no one’s making fun of her?

    I’m starting to think she did it as a troll.  If she were smarter, she’d inwardly admit defeat and move on.  Or she’s simply being economical and seeing if she can’t still wring something out of the investment?

  124. 124.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Brachiator:

    The House doesn’t get together again until Wednesday. What will the political media do until then?

    Biden will continue to age.

  126. 126.

    Jackie

    @Geminid: Maybe he plans to chat with Repuke Troy Nehls, who said he planned to officially nominate TIFG as the next speaker of the House “to make Congress great again.” 🤮

  129. 129.

    Geminid

    @WaterGirl: I think Trump just wants to “help,” by sticking his stubby little finger in tbe pie. He also craves the spotlight, and credit for and acknowledgement of his position of Party Leader.

    Trump is also a chaos agent, and he may want to demonstrate how he’s the “perfect” chaos agent..

  132. 132.

    terraformer

    One possible future:

    1. T***p becomes Speaker.
    2. “Something” happens to both Biden and Harris, possibly with the assistance of the USSS.
    3. 3rd in line to the Presidency, becomes President
    4. That person now free of all but the GA litigation, autocracy on the march
  133. 133.

    Jackie

    @HumboldtBlue: I wish Jean-Pierre had said “You betcha!” We ate up all the popcorn!”

    Of course she wouldn’t have said that – she’s too professional to say what she really wants to say!

  135. 135.

    Dangerman

    No chance Trump becomes speaker. That shit’s like real work. When was the last time he did real work?

  138. 138.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Cameron:

    The second-biggest gas bag explosion in New Jersey history was Chris Christie’s presidential campaign.

    I don’t know, that Donald Duck line was a killer

  142. 142.

    Geoduck

    Off-topic, except that you mentioned Fran Drescher’s voice… one of the funnier jokes I saw on The Nanny was when Ms. Drescher’s character eats some wasabi, and it clears her sinuses so she starts talking in a melodious normal voice.. for about thirty seconds.

  143. 143.

    Citizen Alan

    @Dangerman: He just wouldn’t do the work. He’ll sit in the Speaker’s bathroom and Tweet all day. And claim the Speech and Debate Clause gives him an absolute right to say that Judge Ergonon’s law clerk is a whore or something like that.

  146. 146.

    Chris

    @HumboldtBlue:

    Trump Supporter: “How come everyone who goes to college is a Biden supporter?”

    Worth pondering, isn’t it?  I mean, traditionally, Republicans are the ones who do better among college educated voters.  And that remained true even for decades after they’d started to demonize universities.  The fact that Republicans managed to chase them out of their party is a spectacular achievement in itself.  But hey, two or three generations of nonstop screaming about how universities are breeding grounds of communism and homosexuality, and dismissing any kind of above-high-school education as “elitism” and proof that you’re not to be trusted, eventually it takes a toll.

  149. 149.

    Cameron

    @HumboldtBlue: Really?  Damn.  As somebody who lived in the Philly area almost all my adult life, I’ve got a lot of respect for Villanova (even helped host a conference there on alternative-fueled vehicles back in the ’90s).  I could maybe see him on the maintenance staff, but a student?  A graduate?

  150. 150.

    trollhattan

    I just learned a new term, in a restaurant review of all places, and now share it with you: Trypophobia–an aversion to the sight of irregular patterns or clusters of small holes or bumps.

  156. 156.

    Jeffro

    @WaterGirl: trump is busy trying to figure out whether being Speaker would restore him to enough power to be able to take revenge upon his enemies.  Or would help boost his presidential campaign.  Or whether being a former president AND a Speaker is a historic enough first to erase the stain of two impeachments and 91 felony charges.

    And the answer to all of that, unfortunately, is yes.  In addition to burning down the country, of course.

  157. 157.

    catclub

    @JaySinWA: ​
     

    RW song chicanery isn’t in place yet although they seem to be working on it.

    There as some country music new star they REALLY REALLY wanted to also be conservative. he wasn’t.

  158. 158.

    wjca

    @waspuppet: Actually, it would be better for the country if about 10 of the Republicans who claim they’re moderates either switched to the Democratic Party and made Hakeem Jeffries speaker, or remained republicans and voted for Hakeem Jeffries for speaker.

    How about if they just declare themselves independents.**  Then vote for Jeffries.  No reason the Senate should have a monopoly on independents.

    ** Which, to be pragmatic, would probably be better for their reelection prospects than changing parties.

  159. 159.

    catclub

    @rikyrah: ​
      They interviewed Ornstein on NPR this AM. Did not start with the fact that he had been blackballed from major media for telling truths.

  160. 160.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Cameron: ​ 

    At one time my family had close ties with Villanova (I was on campus in 1985 after they beat Georgetown riding on the shoulders of the West Chester tight end with my father’s felt pennant from 1958) and yes, Doocy is a grad.

  161. 161.

    Geminid

    @wjca: An “Independent Republican Caucus!” Jeffries could give them a good office, and stop by for a little bourbon after work. “They’re Old School!” the reporters would exclaim..

    They and Jeffries could all chuckle at the sounds of the Republicans down the hall, snarling and screeching at each other.

  163. 163.

    Captain C

    @Jeffro: What happens if TFG tries to use the speech and debate clause to grossly violate his gag orders and slander everyone involved in prosecuting him?  Can one of the judges toss him in the clink for the duration of his trial(s)?

  164. 164.

    wjca

    @Chris: two or three generations of nonstop screaming about how universities are breeding grounds of communism and homosexuality, and dismissing any kind of above-high-school education as “elitism” and proof that you’re not to be trusted, eventually it takes a toll.

    Coming soon: high school education is “elitist” and proof that you’re not to be trusted.

  165. 165.

    Roger Moore

    @MisterDancer:

    A couple of music people I follow have noticed with “interest” the rise in RW-leaning music out of the Country side of the house. There’s a running theory that we’re seeing AstroTurfing around stuff like Spotify “bots”, along with the same mechanisms used to bulk-buy RW books, being used to push those songs up on charts.

    My impression is that Country music has always leaned conservative.  Yes, there have been some very liberal musicians, but the genre is by its nature conservative.  It was founded by people who grew up in the country but were forced to move to the city by changing times and who wrote music pining for the good old days.  That’s distilled essence of conservatism.  And, of course, the music charts have always been heavily subject to manipulation.  So a conservative scheme to manipulate the country charts seems like carrying coals to Newcastle.

  168. 168.

    lowtechcyclist

    @HumboldtBlue:

    At one time my family had close ties with Villanova (I was on campus in 1985 after they beat Georgetown riding on the shoulders of the West Chester tight end with my father’s felt pennant from 1958) and yes, Doocy is a grad.

    Sadly, most of our alma maters have a few alums we wish had gone somewhere else.  The college I graduated from has Tucker Carlson and George Will as alums, so I feel your pain.

  169. 169.

    mvr

    @Alison Rose: ​
     Thanks for quoting that. I always really liked what TP had to say there. But then he was a smart guy who learned from things that he did and heard.

    About “I won’t back down”, I believe he and the Heartbreakers played it for Al Gore after he conceded the 2000 election. Definitely something he would not have done for a Trumper. And they know it but don’t care.

  170. 170.

    mvr

    @Roger Moore: Not so sure it goes all the way back.  Jimmy Rodgers and the Carter family were likely staples in many working class homes in the 30s to 50s and many of those folks were Democrats.

  172. 172.

    Betty Cracker

    @Roger Moore: Did you see Ken Burns’ country music documentary? It’s fascinating even if you don’t particularly like the genre, and it may dispel some common reductive notions about it.

  173. 173.

    piratedan

    @Roger Moore: well….

    Dolly Parton, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash may not agree with you there… there’s a fairly robust thread of people’s populism in Country music that Conservatives have co-opted might be a bit more accurate.

    It’s only in the last generation or so that musicians/artists have felt the ability to speak out about their music being appropriated….

  175. 175.

    MisterDancer

    @Roger Moore: So a conservative scheme to manipulate the country charts seems like carrying coals to Newcastle.

    To be clear: I’m referring to non-Country charts in this situation.

  177. 177.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @piratedan: gotta put in a word for Jason Isbell, Emmylou Harris, and just the other day I heard about a young outlaw country singer who’s outspoken on BLM and featured a gay couple in his most recent video, but I don’t listen to outlaw country and his name escapes me at the moment

  178. 178.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    I would have paid big money to hear Gilbert Gottfried sing the Scorpions “Still Loving You”. Fran Drescher singing Journey’s “Faithfully” is right up there with it…lol!

    I would rather listen to someone’s morning dump after their sleeping on a belly full of enchiladas, tamales and hot sauce than listen to any Trump say or sing anything.

  179. 179.

    kalakal

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    LeGate 𝕏 @williamlegate
    Lara Trump sings her new original single “Won’t Back Down” (which totally wasn’t stollen from Tom Petty) live on air… it goes about as well as you’d expect

    Ah, now someone may have run into a copyright issue here.

    You don’t need permission or a licence to release a cover version on a streaming service, royalties are taken care of by the service or your distributer.

    For any downloads or physical copy you need a DPD licence or mechanical licence – usually easily obtained from somewhere like the Harry Fox agency and have to pay a sum for every copy sold

    If you do it a video of it you need a sync licence. These can be tricky and you need to get a licence from the publisher /composer

    Live performances including tv are the responsibility of the venue

    So someone owes money for the tv broadcast and also for the video on xtwitter sadly probably not lara unless she puts it up herself on youtube or whatever, also if the Petty family still own the rights they can legally demand the video is taken down.

    I think this is correct, it gets messy fast which is why most indies release through a distributer like CDbaby who take care of it for you. I do remember sync licences being the tricky ones

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