Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

I was promised a recession.

President Biden is doing good where he can, and getting it done.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Let me file that under fuck it.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

Found liable for massive fraud, is required to post a massive bond, gets a break, then files a *fraudulent* bond!

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

This country desperately needs a functioning Fourth Estate.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

Motown is Joe-Town!

Bogus polls are all they’ve got left. Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls a year from now.

We won’t go back.

I’m more Christian than these people and I’m an atheist.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

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

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

Cole is on a roll !

Nothing worth doing is easy.

The jury literally has a bell they can ring to force Trump to show up on command. Greatest thing ever!

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

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Saturday Morning Open Thread: Rudy Still Has Some Things to Go Through

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Rudy Still Has Some Things to Go Through

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Saturday Morning Open Thread: Rudy Still Has Some Things to Go Through

From the Washington Post, “What to know about the $148M defamation verdict against Rudy Giuliani” [unpaywalled gift link]:

On Friday afternoon, a jury ruled that Rudy Giuliani must pay $148 million to two women he falsely accused of helping tamper with election results in Georgia. It’s a verdict that comes almost exactly three years after he appeared in front of state legislators in the swing state and tried to convince them that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump by poll workers like Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea ArShaye “Shaye” Moss. A deceptively edited video was used to claim that they were adding fake ballots to the totals and doctoring computer tallies with a USB drive; in reality, they were counting papers from regular ballot boxes and sharing a mint.

While state officials quickly debunked the allegations of election fraud, Giuliani continued to spread the accusations in television appearances and on social media. The two women sued a few weeks later, saying they “have become objects of vitriol, threats, and harassment … because of a campaign of malicious lies.” The two Black women testified in front of Congress and then before a federal jury in Washington that violent, racist threats forced them into hiding. Moss quit the job she loved as an election worker; Freeman abandoned her home.

How did the jury get to $148 million?
The jurors were asked to award damages to compensate for the reputational harm done to the two women, damages for the emotional distress caused and punitive damages to make a statement about the seriousness of the conduct.

The plaintiffs only gave a suggested number for the reputational harm; a sociologist from Northwestern University testified that it would cost roughly $47 million to counter all the false allegations about the two women on social media. A lawyer for the plaintiffs, Michael Gottlieb, said Moss should also be compensated for the roughly $800,000 she would have accumulated over a lifetime had she remained in her job as an election worker. On those damages, the jury went lower than asked, awarding Freeman roughly $16 million and Moss roughly $17 million…

The jury responded by awarding each woman $20 million for emotional distress and added a whopping $75 million in punitive damages.

What happens before plaintiffs can collect?
Chris Mattei, who represented the families of the Sandy Hook mass killing victims who secured a $1.5 billion judgment against Infowars host Alex Jones for defamation, said Giuliani can probably delay paying this penalty in several ways.

“Giuliani is certain to appeal, and while any appeal is pending, the plaintiffs won’t have a final judgment to enforce,” Mattei said. Giuliani can argue that Judge Beryl A. Howell was wrong to find him liable for defamation before trial and that the jury’s award was unreasonable. But Mattei said the women can move to require Giuliani to pay a bond that would keep him from drawing down his assets while the appeal is pending.

Can Giuliani avoid paying by going bankrupt?
No, according to former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan Barbara McQuade. On Thursday night, she said on MSNBC that debts for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress cannot be eliminated through bankruptcy…

What can Giuliani actually pay?
We don’t know. His refusal to provide the plaintiffs with information on his finances was part of the reason Howell found him liable for defamation without a trial, leaving the jury only to decide how much he owed in damages…

Giuliani said through his attorneys in the case that he “is having financial difficulties.” He is being sued by his former lawyer for $1.3 million in fees and is trying to sell his New York apartment for $6.1 million. Giuliani did get some help from his old boss — a political committee affiliated with Trump paid Giuliani $350,000, and the former president held a $100,000-a-head fundraiser for Giuliani in the fall…

(Yeah, but did any of the money from that fundraiser actually reach Giuliani, or did TFG steal ‘expense’ it all?)

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Rudy Still Has Some Things to Go Through 1

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Rudy Still Has Some Things to Go Through 2
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Saturday Morning Open Thread: Rudy Still Has Some Things to Go Through 5

Yet to be disproven:
Saturday Morning Open Thread: Rudy Still Has Some Things to Go Through 4

Furthermore…

Reader Interactions

261Comments

  4. 4.

    Kay

    Moss: As we move forward, and continue to seek justice, our greatest wish is that no one, no election worker or voter or school board member or anyone else ever experiences anything like we went through. You all matter. You are all important.

  6. 6.

    Butch

    I know it’s petty, but the defense attorney (if you noticed) reminded me of a line from the old Absolutely Fabulous series:  “Is your hair on purpose?”  Shaved except for the front topknot – very odd.

  9. 9.

    Princess

    Never forget: it was the media who made him GOP frontrunner. They wanted him to be President. And he was the same man then he is today.

  14. 14.

    Kay

    As to his age:

    In general, there is compelling evidence of a relationship between age and offending such that there is a marked increase during adolescence, a peak in late adolescence, and a precipitous decline thereafter.This so-called aging out of offending is typically reported in early adulthood when individuals assume more adult roles. However, this general trend obscures unique patterns of offending by different groups. For instance, there is robust evidence of a high-rate offending group that escalates during adolescence and remains high into middle (age 48) and late adulthood (age 61–age 72). This group has been referred to as life-course-persistent offenders. Thus, while there are normative declines in offending across the life course, there are some individuals who continue to offend late in the life course who deserve more attention.

    The elderly far Right nut job offender we have seen so much of probably means they were always rule or law breakers – he was always a crook. They’re people who lack self control over their lifetime- they never mature. A much smaller group within all offenders, thank goodness.

  16. 16.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Kay bait:

    The conservative supreme court justice Neil Gorsuch took just 10 minutes to approve without changes a 98-page draft of the opinion that would remove the federal right to abortion that had been guaranteed for nearly 50 years, the New York Times reported.

    According to the paper, Samuel Alito, the author of the opinion in Dobbs v Jackson, the case that struck down Roe v Wade, from 1973, circulated his draft at 11.16am on 10 February 2022.

    Citing two people who saw communications between the justices, the Times said: “After a justice shares an opinion inside the court, other members scrutinise it. Those in the majority can request revisions, sometimes as the price of their votes, sweating sentences or even words.

    “But this time, despite the document’s length, Justice Neil M Gorsuch wrote back just 10 minutes later to say that he would sign on to the opinion and had no changes.”

    Three other conservatives – Clarence Thomas, Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh – signed on in the following days.

    “None requested a single alteration,” the Times said. “The responses looked like a display of conservative force and discipline.”

    Ah yes, a shining example of conservative jurisprudence, it took him all of 10 minutes to decide women are disposable.

  18. 18.

    NotMax

    (With abject apologies to Country Joe & the Fish.)

    Proposed for Rudy’s theme song: “I Feel Like I’m Fixin’ to Dye Rag.”

  19. 19.

    Kay

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Right? And he’s the one we were told is a “moderate” and not a religious extremist.

    Conservative law students were so arrogant about Roe when I was in law school. It was fashionable to say it was “poorly reasoned”. Look at the goddamned mess they have made out of overturning it. Compared to their garbage, sloppy work product Roe is a masterpiece of elegant thought.

    My only comfort in this whole thing is the Right wing judges are all GOP hacks and it must kill them when they lose elections on this, and they are going to keep losing elections on this.

  22. 22.

    Matt McIrvin

    Frank Conniff there is none other than “TV’s Frank”, the mad scientist’s hapless assistant from the classic era of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

    I think Mike Nelson is some kind of conservative but Conniff and some of the other cast are definitely not.

  23. 23.

    Kay

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    They will never convince me that Guiliani was ever a rule and law abiding person. People don’t undergo dramatic conversions at 65 (or whenever he started his second career as a Rightwng grifter) and go from ethical to insane liars. I would bet $10,000 that if we really looked at the prosecutions he led he broke rules and trampled on rights. They just don’t want to admit they are lousy judges of character. This is what he is – a life course persistent offender.

  24. 24.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Yarrow: I’m tempted to put my name in the bag in the hopes that I might win, just so I can stand him up on the appointed day.

  25. 25.

    Suzanne

    I hope he lives long enough to pay Freeman and Moss every damn cent that they are owed, and that he’s forced into scrubbing toilets with his tongue to do it. And then he can die, and get thrown into a pauper’s grave.

  28. 28.

    sdhays

    Did Giuliani really get $2m worth of representation from his attorneys when they didn’t even need to handle discovery? If this was the plan, he should have saved some money and just represented himself.

  30. 30.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay: ​They will never convince me that Guiliani was ever a rule and law abiding person.

    Me neither. The leopard does not change it’s spots.

  31. 31.

    NotMax

    Kay

    Actually many of his high profile prosecutions aimed at Wall Street fell apart under court scrutiny or were dismissed before trial..

  32. 32.

    Yarrow

    @OzarkHillbilly: The money goes to something called the Children’s Health Defense, which I’d guess is an antivax org, so you might not want to. I get the temptation, though.

  33. 33.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @sdhays: ​ He made their job a lot harder than it needed to be so, Yeah. I’d say they earned that money. Hell, I’d say they were way underpaid. No way would I spend 5 minutes in the same room as that asshole for anything less than $5 million.

  36. 36.

    Kay

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I just don’t think it works like that. Younger people can reform, but 70 year olds don’t live a life of self control and decent behavior and rule following and then begin monthly bad acts at 70. He was in the same protective parochial NYC bubble that Trump was in for 50 years and no one ever challenged him or caught him. It’s sad he was a prosecutor. It means people were treated unjustly, over years.

  38. 38.

    Yarrow

    @Kay:  He really is. The write up says, “spend the afternoon with me and enjoy one of my greatest joys – falconry.” I thought it was a joke. So relatable. Who doesn’t have falconry as one of their greatest joys?

  39. 39.

    Kay

    @NotMax:

    Now there’s a shocker. You mean he was always dishonest and an attention seeker who lacks self control? Hmmm. I can think of another old person like that!

  40. 40.

    sdhays

    @OzarkHillbilly: Oh, I’m not suggesting that Rudy is getting ripped off, just that he didn’t get much benefit from their expensive services.

    I hope they get paid after the plaintiffs.

  42. 42.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay: My ex was a narcissist, pathological liar, a thief, a drug addict and a drunk. She did 7 years in prison. I don’t believe for a second it changed her in any substantial way. She might not get drunk in public anymore. Might.

  45. 45.

    Ken

    I’m guessing that if you’re trying to convince an appeals court that you can’t pay civil damages, it’s not good to have a history of bragging about how much you spend on cigars every month.

    EDIT: Though I suppose it’s worse if for your second defamation trial (aka “he walked out of the first one and immediately did it again”), your entire financial history has been made a matter of public record due to your ongoing fraud trial.

  46. 46.

    Kay

    @Yarrow:

    Agree. The falconry thing is so over the top I laughed. He’s a vain man.

    I think if he’s on the ballot X number of idiot “independents” will vote for him – voting on name recognition is a real thing.

  47. 47.

    Steeplejack

    If you must listen to holiday music, the “Cool Jazz Christmas” channel on SiriusXM is not bad, in small doses.

    Just Vince Guaraldi for me, thanks.

  48. 48.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Kay: I’ve mentioned before that while violent crime in general declines rapidly after young adulthood, mass shooters of the type who kill dozens of people with a semiautomatic rifle in public places seem to often be middle-aged or elderly. (School shooters are younger, but that seems to be specific to shootings in schools.)

  49. 49.

    Kay

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    The “we don’t put old people in prison” is based on the idea that they are being punished for past crimes – they won’t reoffend because they aged out of the crimes/bad act behavior they are currently being held accountable for – not true in this case so that doesn’t apply. He’s an 80-something CURRENT offender so they should treat him like anyone else for civil damages and criminal punishment.

  51. 51.

    Kay

    @Matt McIrvin:

    It freaks me out a little because it expands the possible extremely violent criminal group so much. People really do grow out of impulsivity. Not far Right wingers apparently, but most people.

  52. 52.

    Betty Cracker

    Gift link to Alexandra Petri’s WaPo column in which she takes on the GOP’s messaging problem on reproductive rights. I think it’s one of her best, which is saying something.

  55. 55.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Raoul Paste: Mike Nelson was head writer for the show from pretty early on and composed a lot of the songs as well, before he was the star. So I can’t say he’s not a funny guy, though he didn’t have Joel Hodgson’s weird sleepy-eyed affect.

  56. 56.

    RandomMonster

    @Butch: I know it’s petty, but the defense attorney (if you noticed) reminded me of a line from the old Absolutely Fabulous series:  “Is your hair on purpose?”  Shaved except for the front topknot – very odd.

    Somebody on Reddit said it best: “Business in the front, Nazi party in the back.”

  62. 62.

    sab

    @Kay: My ex was good friends with a guy high up in DEA who absolutely despised Giuliani, having worked with him in drug enforcement in the 1980s. Basically his word was worthless, so any sort of negotiation was impossible, and they were supposed to be on the same side in law enforcement.

  63. 63.

    jonas

    So I guess Giuliani — following Alex Jones — is going to follow the novel legal theory of avoiding civil judgments by just….never paying up. Never disclose assets, ignore court orders, and appeal until the end of time. Oh, never concede a single thing and also keep making the defamatory statements that got you in trouble in the first place.

    This should work out well.

  65. 65.

    something fabulous

    @Betty Cracker: Rats. I was hoping before scrolling back that it would be that falconry was one of your true joys.

    (No pissed-off looking falcon emojis! please accept with my compliments this fluffy stand-in 🐣)

  68. 68.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Kay: With the shooters it’s probably partly opportunity–older guys can afford a hobby of stockpiling weapons. I’ve heard that there’s a recent uptick in younger guys doing these things though.

    (They are, of course, almost always men–that’s the single most significant unifying characteristic, almost too obvious to mention.)

  69. 69.

    Ken

    @something fabulous: No pissed-off looking falcon emojis!

    I’ve never seen a falcon — or any raptor for that matter — that didn’t look pissed-off, with definite undercurrents of homicidal mania.

  70. 70.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay: The “we don’t put old people in prison” is based on the idea that they are being punished for past crimes – they won’t reoffend because they aged out of the crimes/bad act behavior they are currently being held accountable for

    Heh, don’t we always punish people for past crimes? As opposed to for future crimes?

    It’s one thing to give grace to a young offender, especially one in their teens, quite another for a 40 yo or 50 yo or 60 yo…

  73. 73.

    Brit in Chicago

    @Kay: “I think if he’s on the ballot X number of idiot “independents” will vote for him – voting on name recognition is a real thing.”

    Yes. The crucial thing is whether he gets on the ballot in any swing states. That could be really bad news. His getting on the ballot in some Republican states where there is considerable Republican dislike of TFG might help, but that’s a gamble I’m not willing to take. Better  he just go away. So no falconry for me.

  74. 74.

    Kay

    COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio was in the throes of a bitter debate over abortion rights this fall when Brittany Watts, 21 weeks and 5 days pregnant, began passing thick blood clots.
    The 33-year-old Watts, who had not shared the news of her pregnancy even with her family, made her first prenatal visit to a doctor’s office behind Mercy Health-St. Joseph’s Hospital in Warren, a working-class city about 60 miles (100 kilometers) southeast of Cleveland.
    The doctor said that, while a fetal heartbeat was still present, Watts’ water had broken prematurely and the fetus she was carrying would not survive. He advised heading to the hospital to have her labor induced, so she could have what amounted to an abortion to deliver the nonviable fetus. Otherwise, she would face “significant risk” of death, according to records of her case.

    National media finally picked this up – AP and the WaPo- probably only because it had blown up on social media among regular people.
    What exonerates her, as far as I’m concerned, is she really tried to get medical care. Three times! Providers in Ohio refused to give her emergency medical care because the fetus still had life signs. She could not get modern, standard of care medical intervention so she handled the medical crisis herself and they indicted her.
    There’s a federal law on this – they have to provide emergency medical care. They cannot send women home bleeding because of abortion laws. Maybe the federal government needs to threaten to withhold federal funding to hospitals in red states to force them to treat pregnant women in emergencies.

  75. 75.

    Kay

    @Brit in Chicago:

    I don’t think you can do anything about the vanity third party candidates. They’re just a constant. There’s a lot of vain, attention-seeking people with too much time on their hands in this country. An endless supply.

  76. 76.

    Brit in Chicago

    @Kay: “Maybe the federal government needs to threaten to withhold federal funding to hospitals in red states to force them to treat pregnant women in emergencies.”

    I don’t think this is a viable solution. You might get doctors and nurses being pressured by the hospital administration to provide appropriate care but risking jail time and loss of their licenses if they do so.

  77. 77.

    Nukular Biskits

    Good (late to you) morning, y’all!

    On travel, working long hours and the weekend here on the West Coast.

    Sure looks like I’ve been missing a lot of news as of late.

  79. 79.

    Kay

    I thought this was amusing. Dumb Fox News personality asked Kennedy a question and got an answer he didn’t want:

    Robert Kennedy Jr. has positioned himself as a populist outsider in the 2024 presidential race, but it’s hard to forget that he comes from American royalty and has hobnobbed with many of the most famous and notorious people in the world. Now he faces a problem suspiciously common for megarich people (and one other presidential candidate): explaining why he flew on Jeffrey Epstein’s plane.
    In an appearance on Fox News on Tuesday, host Jesse Watters asked Kennedy, “You weren’t ever on Jeffrey Epstein’s plane, were you?” As a matter of fact: RFK JR: “I was on Jeffrey Epstein’s jet two times.”
    “I was on it in 1993,” Kennedy said. “And I went to Florida with my wife and two children to visit my mom over Easter. My wife had some sort of relationship with Ghislaine Maxwell.” He said the second trip was also with his wife at the time, Mary Richardson, and his four children to go fossil-hunting in South Dakota. You know, standard family-trip fare.

    Ugh. A “relationship” with Maxwell. His first wife is dead though so maybe he’s lying and blaming her.

  80. 80.

    Scout211

    @Betty Cracker: Thank you for that link! Petri really hit the “messaging problem” with example after example. Just one excerpt:

    There’s no changing the underlying policy. That’s out of the question! It’s just unfortunate that so many people see these stories of people struggling to get their abortions and say, “That could be me!” The time-tested Republican response of, “Nonsense! You don’t have a uterus!” only works about 50 percent of the time. If it fails, they are stuck saying things such as “Yikes!” and “Woof!” and “With a condition like that, are you sure you should be voting?”

     

    I wonder why this is so difficult to talk about! Maybe what Republicans need is a better slogan. “Sometimes, too many rights are actually a burden” and “Do you ever get tired of making decisions for yourself?” and “Relax: We’ve got it! But let us know if you think you’re bleeding to death” turn out not to be winners, as far as slogans go. Same for, “You Don’t Get a Say, and We Don’t Care if You Die,” even if you say it with a lot of warm eye contact. Also bad: “You Don’t Get a Say, We Will Laugh at What Your Doctor Says, and We Want You to Do Everything But Die.”

  81. 81.

    MomSense

    We all know what a POS Ghouliani is. The video he made about the verdict is deeply disturbing.  Is he just saying that shit so the cultists will support him? Is he that disconnected from reality after years of substance abuse and narcissism?  It’s absolutely wild shit.

  82. 82.

    Suzanne

    So I watch a lot of furniture refinishing videos. And I don’t believe in hell. But then I see people slathering this beautiful vintage furniture with chalk paint and fake gold leaf…. and it makes me wish that I did.

    Sorry. Not to derail.

  83. 83.

    Betty Cracker

    @something fabulous: When I think of falcons I recall this photo from several years back of falcons on a commercial airplane in Saudi Arabia. The story says falcons are a fairly common sight on planes in that part of the world, though it’s unusual to see so many at once. Having a pet falcon is a status symbol there.

    Saturday Morning Open Thread: Rudy Still Has Some Things to Go Through 9

  85. 85.

    moops

    @jonas: At some point the judge will authorize search warrants for scofflaw’s home and offices and all the financial records are removed from the premises and turned over to a forensic accountant to locate all the money and have it seized for the plaintiff.    Eventually appeals run out and you are no longer allowed to decide for yourself how you will pay damages and the court will handle paying.   It can take years to get to this point for people that can afford more lawyers, like Alex Jones.   Rudy might not have the assets to hire lawyers to keep filing appeals for years on end.

     

    Thankfully you don’t avoid paying damages by dying or going insane and being committed.

  86. 86.

    sdhays

    @Kay: If I were writing next season’s story arc, he’d get on the ballot in Louisiana and enough people would vote for him because they thought he’s their (shitty) Senator that it tipped Louisiana to Biden.

  87. 87.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Kay: It wasn’t elegant.  Blackmun was a comparatively clunky writer.  None of that actually matters because the solution worked.  It gave clear guidance as to what was permissible.  It was usable.  A workmanlike decision.

  88. 88.

    NotMax

    @Suzanne

    What, no Con-Tac paper?
    :)

    Full disclosure: was a avid watcher of Orville Formby’s syndicated furniture refinishing and restoration program way back when.

  89. 89.

    sab

    @Kay: Her miscarriage happened in September. They area only just charging her in December. She has had this hanging over her for months as she tries to recover from the miscarriage.

    They probably didn’t want to call attention to the situation with Issue 1 on the ballot in a few weeks. And then it won!

    And since they couldn’t charge her with abortion, thanks to Issue 1 passing, now they have come up with a creative new way to charge her. To warn women.

    This case is everything you have been warning us about, Kay. I don’t see what she could have done to protect herself. Take time out from seeking treatment for bleeding out to take it to a funeral home?

  90. 90.

    Scout211

    @Kay: She could not get modern, standard of care medical intervention so she handled the medical crisis herself and they indicted her.
    There’s a federal law on this – they have to provide emergency medical care. They cannot send women home bleeding because of abortion laws. Maybe the federal government needs to threaten to withhold federal funding to hospitals in red states to force them to treat pregnant women in emergencies.

    Withholding federal funds for not providing emergency medical care is something I would hope is being looked at by the Feds.

    I don’t think she has been indicted yet, though.  She has been charged and her case has been sent to the grand jury and is being investigated.  But I don’t think there is an indictment yet.

    And her GoFundMe is over $110,000 now.

  91. 91.

    Suzanne

    @NotMax: At least contact paper comes off!

    It’s just agonizing. They take this gorgeous (but yes, beat-up) solid wood or real veneered furniture, and remove the finish….. and I’m, like, hoping they just grab some tung oil or something…. And then they mix up this purple or green or whatever the lemony fresh fuck they’ve got hanging around. And I’m over here shouting NO GODDAMNIT.

  94. 94.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @sab: I don’t see what she could have done to protect herself.

    She could have saved herself all these legal headaches if she had just had the decency to die. So selfish.

  95. 95.

    sab

    @Scout211: And she is all over the fucking papers, and with her home damaged, before she had even told her family about this very private medical situation.

    So now we have to start planning a new ballot issue to protect women from funeral home costs for fetal tissue?

    ETA I hope the ratfucking nurse that reported her faces some serious disciplinary consequences for HIPAA violations.

  99. 99.

    Ken

    @Scout211: She has been charged and her case has been sent to the grand jury and is being investigated.

    I suppose bringing an indictment against the DA for malicious prosecution would be outside the grand jury’s remit, but it would sure be satisfying. Especially if the jury’s finding started with “What the hell is wrong with you, you sadistic freak!”

  102. 102.

    George

    Rudy never was a good guy. He never changed. Like most Republicans, sociopaths, and malignant narcissists, events just revealed to the world who he really is.

  105. 105.

    moops

    Honestly, Rudy would have been the GOPs Trump before Trump was their chosen asshole if he had managed to fluke his way into winning the primary.   He would have been murdered in the general election though.  The GOP base liked Rudy in the abstract, but every time he showed up anywhere his polls with GOP primary voters would drop.  I think that was the first time I had heard of this happening to a candidate.

     

    .  He was just such a repellant human.  Even then he was a gloating greasy prick.  And drunk and sweating constantly.     It was after he bombed in the primary that I think Trump ended up taking him in to one of his properties to detox in hiding.

  109. 109.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @NotMax: We heard in Andre Braugher remembrances that he had been in a TV show with Ray Romano called “Men of a Certain Age”. Searched it out. It was a CBS show about 15 years ago.

    Never heard of it. Never saw an ad. Never heard anyone talk about it.

    It made us realize how completely unplugged we are from series TV. Occasionally we learn of a show when a star is interviewed on “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me” or Stephen Colbert. Otherwise we are completely isolated from that whole machine.

  110. 110.

    Scout211

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Just how far into your pregnancy do you have to be before you’re required to scoop up whatever your miscarriage produces and take it to the coroner?

    And should all pregnant people now be trained to know the difference between an imminent miscarriage and any other bodily function that causes you to rush to the toilet?

  111. 111.

    Quiltingfool

    @Suzanne: My father made furniture for our home, usually from walnut.  I still have the walnut toy box he made (is it an antique now, since it’s about 60 years old?  lol).

    I despise the practice of painting wood furniture.  Sorry, not sorry.  I suppose being surrounded by beautiful wood furniture left a mark!

    My mother bought a lot of antique furniture, some in horrible shape, and it was Dad’s job to fix and refinish.  They bought an oak icebox that was gray in color – when it was refinished it was a lovely golden oak.  They removed the hardware and had the zinc coating removed – the hardware was brass.

    Another thing that irks me is people deliberately damaging wood surfaces to get that “rustic” look – they will smack the furniture with chains to achieve that look.

    What the hell is wrong with these people?   There oughta be a law! /s

  113. 113.

    MagdaInBlack

    @sab:    I guess I don’t know what they think they’re warning us from doing?  “Don’t ever get pregnant” is the only warning I’m getting from all this.

  115. 115.

    NorthLeft

    The tweet from Kilgore trout about finding Rudy’s body in the garbage reminded me of the scene from Goodfellas….and that guitar solo from Layla playing in the background.

  116. 116.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Quiltingfool: Another thing that irks me is people deliberately damaging wood surfaces to get that “rustic” look – they will smack the furniture with chains to achieve that look.

    It’s cheaper than buying old barn wood.

    eta: you still can’t get the hue of aged wood that way tho, stains can’t do it. I’ve got a side table I made from old barn wood and the color is just something else.

  117. 117.

    Halteclere

    I dont recall – was this a state level or federal level trial? If federal, Giuliani is praying that Trump becomes president again and then pardons him. And to keep on Trumps good side Giuliani will likely continue to be bombastic and peddle false conspiracies

  122. 122.

    zhena gogolia

    Google searches suck. Yesterday I was trying to confirm my hunch that the Jill Biden video of the Dorrance company tap-dancing to the Nutcracker in the White House was done to Duke Ellington’s version of the Nutcracker. When I tried to search it, all I could get was “CRITICS ROAST JILL BIDEN FOR TASTELESS CHRISTMAS VIDEO” and stuff like that.

  123. 123.

    p.a.

    @Splitting Image:

    The Chieftains, The Bells of Dublin

    Mahalia Jackson, Silent Night, Holy Night

     

    Also look for xmas albums by local artists of any genre.  They’re often interesting, and of course are good $-makers for local musicians.

  125. 125.

    Quiltingfool

    @OzarkHillbilly: I may be stepping on toes, but I also hate “shiplap” walls.  It’s not bad, but after watching the Chip and Joanna Gains (?)home improvement show, I started to loathe it.  They put shiplap in every damned house they worked on.  I think they had one design idea.  I also don’t care for pithy sayings or words on walls either.

    Yes, I’m old.  Why do you ask?

  126. 126.

    NotMax

    @Ozark Hillibilly

    Saw a segment o a Japanese show focused on a gentleman who made his living carving and selling wooden ear picks. He sought out only retrieved or rescued ceiling beams which has been exposed to wood or charcoal smoke for 100 years or more.

    Now that’s a niche market.

  127. 127.

    Salty Sam .

    @Betty Cracker: Having a pet falcon is a status symbol there.

    I lived and worked in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain in the mid-seventies.  It was not uncommon to see men out in the desert training and working their birds.  Never saw them on a plane though.

    Camel racing is their other favorite sport.

  128. 128.

    sab

    @MagdaInBlack: I guess fish the fetus out of the toilet, wrap it up and then take it with you to the hospital where you hope you might finally get treatment for bleeding. They are allowed to dispose of it but apparently you are not.

  129. 129.

    Yarrow

    @zhena gogolia:  Google searches do suck. I’ve actually had better luck with Bing, when I remember to use it. I’ve heard people having better luck with Duck Duck Go, as well.

  131. 131.

    Quiltingfool

    @OzarkHillbilly: Around here, some people go crazy over shipping pallets.  My husband’s former employer had people wanting pallets for free!  And they were irritated when they couldn’t get them for free, but not at all (they used pallets for shipping and used them more than once!)

  132. 132.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Quiltingfool:

    It’s not bad, but after watching the Chip and Joanna Gains (?)home improvement show, I started to loathe it.

    Anybody in historic house renovation/preservation hates those two bastards with the white hot passion of a million suns. Their “influence” has become a Stage 4 cancer on our landscape.

  133. 133.

    Betty Cracker

    @Quiltingfool: They are mad for their shiplap! Also subway tiles in kitchens — that’s a recurring theme too. And they never saw a kitchen they didn’t want to install an island in.  If a kitchen is too small, they’ll demo a wall to fit an island in it.

  137. 137.

    Gvg

    @Matt McIrvin: I think it can be bad if the young and violent are locked into their own society away from the rest of us moderating them and maturing them. Think ravaging armies of the past, gangs and mafia and our jails which segregate by types of crime and don’t seem to make any effort or spend any money on reform so they come out safer for us.

    Our prison system is stupid and self defeating and got that way by loud mouth pound foolishness that comes out of a kind of Puritanism.

  138. 138.

    Kirk

    @Yarrow: My spouse has said repeatedly over the years that the deepest prejudice is misogyny. Events over the years – of which this is just an example – have me think she’s not wrong.

  139. 139.

    NobodySpecial

    @Kay: I seem to remember that studies also showed that people who were incarcerated basically stopped socially developing at the age they were incarcerated – go in at 18, spend 10 years in for a felony, come out acting like an 18 year old.

    Of course, none of that explains Ghouliani, but I just wonder how many of the life course offenders would have remained so without incarceration.

  140. 140.

    Scout211

    @sab: They are allowed to dispose of it but apparently you are not.

    I don’t know the ins and outs of the new law there, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the law is so vague that it could be interpreted by local prosecutors to mean that every fetus must have an autopsy to determine whether the fetus was murdered. The hospital could be liable if they dispose of the remains.  You know that doctors cannot be trusted in these kinds of cases, right?  🙄

  144. 144.

    PAM Dirac

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    She could have saved herself all these legal headaches if she had just had the decency to die. So selfish.

    I learned later in life that my mother had a tubal pregnancy when I was about 8 years old. She got the treatment she needed, but the doctors warned her that getting pregnant again could be dangerous. She took her Catholicism seriously so talked to her priest about using birth control. The priest was mystified that she would consider that. He said that there wasn’t any problem because if she died in childbirth she went straight to heaven. And she wondered why all of her children became ex-Catholics as fast as possible.

  146. 146.

    Kirk

    @Gvg: Our prison system is stupid and self defeating and got that way by loud mouth pound foolishness that comes out of a kind of Puritanism.

    Yes, but the ugly thing to remember is that this foolishness was an IMPROVEMENT on what preceded it.

  148. 148.

    MagdaInBlack

    @PAM Dirac: So, for all these catholic fundamentalists on the SC, its all ok because these women will go straight to heaven? Or are perhaps martyrs for the cause?

    Not that I did not know this, I grew up Catholic and thus am a heathen now

  149. 149.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Quiltingfool:

    It’s an interesting cycle repeating itself helped along by cretins like the Gaines.  But, the people who lap up that kind of thing (“Let’s paint the furniture!”) are essentially repeating what their gr-grandparents generation did.

    They painted everything in that nukular-resistent lead-based, enamel paint.  And so much of it was this forest green. I remember my grandparents painted shitloads of stuff that color.  We found so much evidence of it back when we owned the Dauphine, we had our own name for it, Ubiquitious Green.  We’ve found it here in the much newer (1905 vs 1840s-70s) house in Denver.

    I bought a 20s era chair from an antique dealer in STL shortly after we finally got onsite at the Dauphine in 1996 thinking we’d use it.  It was painted a bright red enamel.  Never refinished it in 22 years there but did so here in Denver.  Strip the paint and it was basically tung oil and clear shellac.  It’s drop dead gorgeous after being hidden under all that paint for probably 80-90 years.

  152. 152.

    Geminid

    @Quiltingfool: I worked on a large project with a top-notch furniture maker, filling an order from some media mogul and his fancy landscape architect. We made a couple dozen outdoor chairs and benches out of mahogany, and then we painted them white. It seemed a shame because mahogany is such a naturally pretty wood, but it’s also stable and takes paint well, and that’s what the customer wanted.

  154. 154.

    Gvg

    @Brit in Chicago: It puts the hospitals and doctors even more in the middle where they can’t win and don’t have control. The feds need to somehow charge and jail the state attorneys and legislators who made the deliberately vague or threatening laws which caused the risk to the women. Withholding money is not direct enough to get the actual people responsible and impacts the innocent. Republicans have proven they are not motivated by money for their state and their voters don’t seem to notice the lost funds.
    More pressure on hospitals from the feds would just force more to close or not offer emergency room care or delivery. More doctors and nurses would leave those states faster.

  157. 157.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @MagdaInBlack:

    I have memories of that happening as well. It wasn’t until we bought the Dauphine in 94 and started seeing it, then started sharing notes and stories with other historic house nuts, that everything clicked.  The three old-maid sisters who lived there and owned it were of my grandmother’s generation. We restored two other places in that tiny national historic district during our tenure and yup, everything had a gazillion coats of lead-based enamel paint on it.

    The stories I have about refinishing floors.  All I can say there is thankfully people then were too cheap to paint an entire floor, they just painted around the carpet perimeter.

  163. 163.

    Suzanne

    @Quiltingfool:

    I may be stepping on toes, but I also hate “shiplap” walls.

    Oh, LORD. They’re fucken terrible.

    I also don’t care for pithy sayings or words on walls either. 

    So I got banned from an “architecture shaming” group on the Book of Faces. A woman posted a picture of her entryway (obvs a relatively new build, McMansion-y house, with one of those stupidly oversized foyers), and she asked for suggestions of how to improve it. I told her to remove the LIVE LAUGH LOVE sign.

    Hey, she asked.

  164. 164.

    Quiltingfool

    @NotMax: I’m with you on plastic furniture slipcovers.  We didn’t have those in my home, but our 1964 Chevy Impala had plastic slipcovers to protect the fabric seats.  They had a raised pattern, so in the summer, after sitting on them, the backs of your legs had identical markings!  Plus they were hellishly hot in the summer, cold in the winter!

    The car ran great, though.  A veritable tank, a true shade tree mechanic car!

  169. 169.

    Suzanne

    @Kirk:

    My spouse has said repeatedly over the years that the deepest prejudice is misogyny. 

    Agree.
    Probably most families, at least first-degree relatives, are of the same race. Misogyny is the prejudice of the home and the closest familial relationships, and it is modeled for many people literally from the moment of birth.

  170. 170.

    Yarrow

    @Suzanne: What if your house actually has the original shiplap? A friend is renovating a section of their old home (at least 100 years old, but can’t remember specifics). They’d intended to have one wall be the original shiplap. When they started doing that room they could not figure out some of either the plumbing or electrics (can’t remember now) and finally discovered that there was a window behind what had been a renovation/addition before they bought the house. So the shiplap ended and they couldn’t do the shiplap wall.

  171. 171.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Suzanne:

    Are you on the FB group: The People Against MoDErN fArMhOuse?

    https://www.facebook.com/groups/tpamf

    You sure as hell wouldn’t get banned there for comments like that.  I think if all 160K of us got together, we’d gather up the torches and pitchforks and storm wherever the bastard Gaines live and toss Rae Dunn in for good measure.

  173. 173.

    patrick II

    The evidence against Giuliani is as strong as it could  be. He would be found guilty even if he was a good client.   Rudy is making the only play he has left, staying loyal to Trump and hope for a pardon.  It also helps Trump’s case that he was given bad advice by his lawyers.

    He is evil and only kind of stupid.

  174. 174.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @PAM Dirac: ​ My mother was raised Southern Baptist, so when she converted to Catholicism she took it serious. After 7 pregnancies in 11 years (only 1 of which was intentional) she knew the Catholic “rhythm method” of birth control was bullshit and whenever one of her daughters had their first period, she was at the Doc’s office post haste getting them on the pill.​

  175. 175.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Yarrow:

    If it was original, that’s fine (ala the shiplap).

    Plastering it over anything and everything the way that couple does is lazy (and I’m being generous in that characterization).

  180. 180.

    Yarrow

    @Omnes Omnibus:  I think you mentioned before that she grew up in a tough home. If those signs make her feel happy, good for her. I don’t get it either but I don’t have to live with it.

    If they have kids, that’s another thing. The kids may rebel like my cousin did. Painted their room completely black.

  182. 182.

    MagdaInBlack

    @Suzanne: I love her for her writing and because I live in what she calls  ground zero for McMansions: Chicago suburbs. I know exactly where several of them are. Drive by one on the way to work.

  184. 184.

    Yarrow

    @MagdaInBlack:  I don’t have any problem with someone who wants to martyr themselves for a cause. Just leave me out of it. Don’t inflict your religious beliefs on the rest of us, especially when it comes to healthcare.

  185. 185.

    Geminid

     

     

    @Quiltingfool: I like cherry and white oak. I have some heavy pallets left over from a bluestone job that are mostly white oak. They’re made to last though, and tough to disassemble. If I can ever get them apart I have a table in mind; a good January project.

  187. 187.

    Suzanne

    @Yarrow: In general, I am a fan of “holding fast to what is good”, and original. So if there is “original shiplap” that is period-appropriate, and it’s in good shape, I’d leave it. But if it’s tacked on later, or done badly, get it outta there.

    In general, design “ethics” would suggest:

    1) Every era has its style, materials, techniques, etc that are “of their time” and one should celebrate that, and not cover it up and try to turn it into something else

    2) It’s weird and tacky to try to mimic older building styles and techniques in different times, contexts, or materials (so don’t build a Queen Anne mansion today in Salt Lake City, Utah)

    3) Materials all do certain things well and certain things poorly. Respect that. Like, when I see a curving wall built out of bricks, I’m often like, WTF.

    4) There is a physical, climatic, temporal, social context to every building, and so what is appropriate in one time and place probably isn’t appropriate in a different one.

  190. 190.

    frosty

    @Suzanne: ​@NotMax: Since I see NotMax jumped in with the thread derailing, I went looking for Formby’s products this Fall to do some (nice) refinishing and found out he went out of business a long time ago. What do your videos suggest for removing the old finish?

  193. 193.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Yarrow: Yeah, she did.  I do think that is why every element of white picket fence suburban life appeals to her.  Their kids don’t seen to have rebelled too much, although my nephew once described his sister’s style a “typical bougie stoner” chic.

  194. 194.

    Yarrow

    @Suzanne:

    2) It’s weird and tacky to try to mimic older building styles and techniques in different times, contexts, or materials (so don’t build a Queen Anne mansion today in Salt Lake City, Utah)

    For sure. That’s happening in my neighborhood. It’s awful. Just fucks up the entire feel of the place.

  195. 195.

    NotMax

    @Suzanne

    Trivia:

    Tower Bridge was built some 800 years later to mimic the style of the adjacent Tower of London.

    At that time there were heated arguments about how it would clash with or detract from the original.

  198. 198.

    Spanky

    @Yarrow:

     I do know they’ve turned Waco into a destination for Those Kinds of People.

    So did David Koresh. What the fuck is wrong with Waco?

    (That’s kinda rhetorical, I guess.)

  200. 200.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @frosty:

    It depends.  What’s the old finish?  If it’s paint and not globbed on, I have an arsenal of things (I spent 5 months on the Denver house getting the unpainted woodwork de-speckled, etc): denatured alcohol and mineral spirits.

    If you’re dealing with the massive amount of paint like I reference above, products by Zip Strip and even the milder citrus-based products will help get the worst off.  Then you use the other stuff for the fine tuning.  Also too, steel wool.  Not old-school Brillo pads but modern, refinishing steel wool.  There’s tons of grades in the big box stores.  Dentist tools, basically tiny metal picks, to help dig paint out of indentations.

    The internet really is a godsend for this kind of work in terms of picking up tips, etc.  Far better than our early days of historic renovation when it was basically poring thru back issues of Old House Journal.

  201. 201.

    Suzanne

    @frosty: I see lots of mechanical methods of removal. Sanding, scraping, etc. If you have a Book of Faces account, I’m sure you can get them to show up on your feed! Then you can be as miserable and offended as I am!

  203. 203.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @NotMax: ​ When this parochial grade school project first started going to public schools, I was repeatedly asked, “How many kids in your family?” I would always reply, “6.”

    To which I always got the inevitable, “You’re Catholic, aren’t you?”

  204. 204.

    Frank Wilhoit

    @Betty Cracker: ​
     “Pet” is not the right word. They are status animals. There are entire veterinary hospitals devoted to their care. Here are three words you never thought you would see in a row: “cosmetic feather transplants”.

  205. 205.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Suzanne: ​I fucken love Brutalist architecture.

    I have a fondness for it too. I hope to one day get to eastern Europe just to tour all the Soviet era architecture.

  206. 206.

    zhena gogolia

    @Steeplejack: Okay, I just did. At least the first two hits were of just the video. But they also plastered the “CRITICS ROAST” videos all over the place after the first two. Granted, it’s better than google. Thanks!

  212. 212.

    NotMax

    @Suzanne

    Way to inveigle someone to work off frustration was as a volunteer every other year or so to strip the old paint from the 55 gallon drums used as trash containers at summer camp to ready them for a fresh coat.

    Used a drill attachment with multiple free-swinging metal rods. Effective, but damn loud.

  215. 215.

    frosty

    @Suzanne: ​Every era has its style, materials, techniques, etc that are “of their time” and one should celebrate that, and not cover it up and try to turn it into something else.

    This is why our first move when we bought an 80-year old Craftsman style foursquare was to paint over all the Early American stenciling the previous owners had done on the first floor.

  217. 217.

    artem1s

    @moops:

    The GOP base liked Rudy in the abstract, but every time he showed up anywhere his polls with GOP primary voters would drop.

    GOPer liked Rudy in the abstract but what the Red fly over states really hate is East Coast/NY elites and lawyers. But the guy who really sunk Rudy’s aspirations wasn’t even on the GOP debate stage.  “A noun, a verb and 9/11” was the perfect comeback against a candidate who was nothing but braggadocio and bullshit. That bit of snark plus the “Malarky!” remark that completely undid Paul Ryan proves that the so called ‘gaffs’ weren’t due to lack of control. They are an integral part of who Joe is. Dark Brandon has been there all along.

  218. 218.

    Suzanne

    @frosty: We’ve been doing a lot of the same with our 100-year-old Craftsman foursquare. Previous owners covered up so much beauty! We’ve been working on setting it right.

  219. 219.

    Scout211

    Back to politics. The GOP candidate that Kevin McCarthy has endorsed to run to replace him is not eligible to run.

    Under state law, a candidate who has filed their declaration of candidacy is not permitted to withdraw as a candidate at that primary election. Mr. Fong filed his completed nomination documents for Assembly District 32 prior to the close of the December 8, 2023 filing deadline. Mr. Fong then submitted completed nomination documents for Congressional District 20 during the 5-day extension period triggered by the incumbent’s decision not to seek re-election. State law prohibits any candidate from filing nomination papers for more than one office at the same election.

    🤣

  220. 220.

    frosty

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: ​The old finish is clear, some kind of varnish I expect. I’ve used Citrus Strip on paint, unsuccessfully*. I can give it a try for these end tables though.

    *It never gets all the paint off, even after half a dozen applications. I was going to redo all the woodwork in the house like one of my neighbors did but I gave up pretty quickly. I don’t need any advice though, I’m just going to repaint it after 20 years of living with the partially stripped foyer. Ms F will fall down from shock when I do.

  224. 224.

    zhena gogolia

    Wow, just listened to Ruby Freeman. My husband said, “I felt like I just went to church.” Congratulations, Ruby and Shaye!

  231. 231.

    Ruckus

    @Princess:

    Yep, not one iota different.

    @Baud:

    You mean with his mouth?

    In case you don’t notice, I’m not a fan. He seems as or possibly even more pompous and arrogant now than he has been his entire adult life. And that’s a hell of a lot of pompous arrogance.

  233. 233.

    Ruckus

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Ah yes, a shining example of conservative jurisprudence, it took him all of 10 minutes to decide women are disposable.

    So you are saying he is a rather rancid POS?

    I mean I agree with you I’m just checking to make sure I understood your point, because 10 minutes for him seems like a long time for him to make that decision.

  235. 235.

    citizen dave

    Liking, and recently played in my house, Norah Jones Christmas album (deluxe version, released last year); James Brown Funky Christmas, and a Willie Nelson one.  For a weird listen that will have you laughing or shaking your head at the “singing”, there is Bob Dylan’s christmas album (Christmas in the Heart).  Anyone else have the Squirrel Nut Zippers one?  It’s around here somewhere…

    I’ve been finding some compilation albums from retail stores, circa 20 years ago: Kohl’s, Pottery Bard, Banana Republic.  The Banana Republic one is interesting as they had remixers of the classics, with added “new” touches.

  236. 236.

    Miss Bianca

    @Yarrow: Well, um, actually…a couple of my friends are really into falconry. Or hawking, depending on your bird.

    I’ve always wanted to go, maybe I will someday!

    ETA: But NOT with RFK Jr. I’d sooner gargle with bleach.

  238. 238.

    Ruckus

    @Kay:

    It freaks me out a little because it expands the possible extremely violent criminal group so much. People really do grow out of impulsivity. Not far Right wingers apparently, but most people.

    When people with very strong unearned concepts of themselves grow older they must be stunned that their BS concepts of how humans should be/behave towards them have never come anywhere towards/near true, especially ones that have had much if any power over others. People such as Rudy for good example.

  239. 239.

    Matt McIrvin

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: I’ve seen a few episodes from the Netflix era starring Jonah Ray, with Felicia Day and Patton Oswalt as his tormentors, which were actually not bad. The first episode was “Reptilicus”, the only Danish kaiju movie I know of.

    Haven’t seen any of the most recent iteration. They just had a failed fundraiser to mount another season–it may be that the show’s time is just past.

  240. 240.

    Miss Bianca

    @Kirk: Misogyny also has the dubious advantage, as a prejudice, of being worldwide and multicultural. Every society gets to  embrace hatred and fear of women!

  241. 241.

    Ruckus

    @Kay:

    MAYBE?

    In this century, this time of human existence, maybe, just maybe we shouldn’t have to deny actual, known, reasonable health care to half the population. Maybe it’s actually time that assholes woke up to the concept that without woman none of them would be alive to think that woman had only one place in this world. IOW it ain’t a world without women. And NO their place is NOT only the home, and they are not in any way less than men – hell, all things considered it might be exactly the opposite. Can you imagine any man you’ve ever known, going through the entire process of childbirth? I am one and no, I have zero ACTUAL concept of the entire process from a “this could happen to me.” or “I want this to happen to me.” I believe it is a stunning thing that woman go through this as a normal part of life.  To be cast aside as a nothing stuns me beyond belief.

  242. 242.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Yarrow: The problem with the instinct to martyrdom is that it short-circuits “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. If what you seek is cruelty or stinginess to yourself, the Golden Rule ends up reflecting that onto everyone else. (I think Dickens was actually illustrating that in “A Christmas Carol”–Scrooge is miserable and doesn’t allow himself any pleasures.)

  244. 244.

    Ruckus

    @NobodySpecial:

    Ghouliani has had a life that if it wasn’t rewarding him for himself, was also not chiding nor slapping him upside the head for it either. And that allowed him to remain, well him. Many sides of life do at least some life altering adjusting techniques just by socialization. It doesn’t always work of course, some are either so into themselves they don’t see any faults or are so pompous and arrogant that they think they don’t have any. And it’s a very rare human that fits into that very small, no faults group. I don’t think I’ve ever met a member, not even in my mirror.

  245. 245.

    Ramalama

    @laura: I’m amazed and delighted at how Tracey Thorn’s kept up singing lo these many years (solo, Everything But the Girl, solo). This song is really good.

  246. 246.

    StringOnAStick

    @Quiltingfool: I was given a wood cabinet by a neighbour who is downsizing to move.  It originally had multiple panes of glass and dividers, though her late husband stumbled into it and broke the glass and one mullion, but it’s fixable.  She originally bought it at “some cute shop in the Bay Area” as an old piece with just enough funky to make it cool, but 4 layers of paint.  I got enough off the top to see that it’s old growth spruce, but it will have to wait until next summer because I’m not using stripper anywhere except completely outdoors.  I think I’ll do some videos to see if there’s a better, less toxic way.  I hate it when people paint wood furniture!

  247. 247.

    Ruckus

    @Steeplejack:

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Hey! I like Tom Waits. He’s not trying to be anyone else but himself. That seems to be somewhat rare in the entertainment field. I mean they all want a big name for themselves, but Tom seems to just be fine with who he is. Either that or he works extremely hard at being Tom Waits. Not sure but either way he is unique and good at it.

  248. 248.

    wjca

    @Betty Cracker: Gift link to Alexandra Petri’s WaPo column in which she takes on the GOP’s messaging problem on reproductive rights. I think it’s one of her best, which is saying something.

    Alexandra Petri is a national treasure!  If she isn’t on the short list for a Medal of Freedom, she ought to be.  Sure, she’s on the young side compared to most recipients.  But even so.

  249. 249.

    Citizen Alan

    @Kay: As I understand it, Gulianni rose to prominence through his role as New York Attorney General in breaking the power of the Italian mafia in NY state. Which naturally created a power vacuum that the russian mafia soon filled. Funny that.

    .

  250. 250.

    Shalimar

    @Kay: My mom was an investigative reporter in the ’70s and early ’80s.  Finalist for a Pulitzer (which they give a plaque for), numerous other state awards, etc, etc.  She was doing a story on oil billionaire Bart Chamberlain sometime around 1981 or ’82 and took a plane to his Bahamas estate for an interview.  As she was arriving, Giuliani was leaving from a weeklong vacation as a guest in the same room she was given.  He was Associate Attorney General of the United States at the time.  I agree he has always been corrupt.

  251. 251.

    Citizen Alan

    @Quiltingfool:

    I despise the practice of painting wood furniture.  Sorry, not sorry.  I suppose being surrounded by beautiful wood furniture left a mark!

    In principle,, I agree. But I spent two weeks last summer refinishing my late mother’s bedroom suite before moving it to Fresno. I refinished most of it, but I sanded and painted the top 1/3 of each piece black because one of them had irreparable veneer damage and also the top row of shelves had this weird scalloped surface that wasn’t amenable to sanding. And I amvery pleased w/ the result and the way the black pops against the mahogany finish. My RWNJ sister, who wanted to sell it all at a garage sale for $25  or so, is visibly jealous.

  252. 252.

    Citizen Alan

    @MagdaInBlack: Nope. If that were the message, they wouldn’t be rubbing their thighs so hard at the thought of banning contraception. The message is “Women aren’t people.”

  257. 257.

    Tony G

    @Matt McIrvin: I think that Scrooge was intended to be a parody of the Calvinist capitalists of that era.  Social Darwinists.  Miserable, unhappy people who cause misery in others.  Our modern-day capitalists like to reward themselves with plenty of material possession, while causing misery in others.  Progress!

  258. 258.

    Captain C

    @Kay: If memory serves, Rudy took credit for other people’s hard work both during the Mafia Commission trials and his mayoral term.  Also, it has been noted by numerous observers that, regardless of his intent, the Commission trial and other crackdowns on the Italian mafia in the ’80s helped clear the way for the incoming and by then more ruthless Russian mob to move in.

  259. 259.

    Captain C

    @Ken:

    I’m guessing that if you’re trying to convince an appeals court that you can’t pay civil damages, it’s not good to have a history of bragging about how much you spend on cigars every month.

    “But Your Honor, don’t you see?  I have no money because I spent it all on high end booze and cigars, viagra, and all those other luxuries that are itemized here.  Those things are expensive!  And now I can’t get a job because I’m a disbarred, alcoholic wreck!”

  260. 260.

    Chris T.

    @Betty Cracker:

    When I think of falcons I recall this photo from several years back of falcons on a commercial airplane in Saudi Arabia.

    “Emirates Air: when your own wings are too tired”

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