.
Still possible that the Ohio debate will not include 1) 2012 runner-up, 2) only female candidate, 3) gov of Ohio https://t.co/5andD6Iyj3
— daveweigel (@daveweigel) July 27, 2015
Imagine a NASCAR driver mentally preparing for a race knowing one of the drivers will be drunk. That's what prepping for this debate is like
— John Weaver (@JWGOP) July 27, 2015
Big assumption that Kasich will make the first debate here. https://t.co/3RdjLLK3fa
— Reid J. Epstein (@reidepstein) July 28, 2015
I'll go ahead and predict that the bowhunting Minnesota dentist that killed the lion will poll high enough to make the first GOP debate.
— David Roth (@david_j_roth) July 29, 2015
True fact: immigrant-bashing and a debate about spousal rape were not among the recommendations in the RNC's post-2012 autopsy report.
— Ryan Lizza (@RyanLizza) July 28, 2015
Trump on RNC and @Reince: "I think they respect the kind of things I’m saying."
— Reid J. Epstein (@reidepstein) July 28, 2015
GOP Candidates Offered Cash Voucher To Give Up Spot And Participate In Later Election http://t.co/1YxKO9fGVX pic.twitter.com/wRgQqVVeJV
— The Onion (@TheOnion) July 29, 2015
Next Thursday, guys. You may want to hit the liquor stores before the weekend, beat the rush when your GOP neighbors come to stock up on neural anesthesia…
Apart from wishing confusion to our enemies, what’s on the agenda for the day?
raven
We’re in day three with no kitchen! We have the fridge and a microwave in the hall and my grill our side so we’re doing ok. The guys took down the crappy old sheetrock form the ceiling and we were anticipating that the beaded board had been damaged in the fire that burned the back of the house many years ago. We were very surprised to find that it was not fire damaged and there is an outside chance it can be saved. There are some broken board, it’s cupped and there are pretty wide gaps in it. There is nothing above the board but blown in cellulose so it would have to be removed and sealed from above. All-in-all it may not be viable to do anything but rock over it but we’ll see what our guy says.
I also thought I’d post the blog my contractor is building. This is his own house, three stories, 1000 sq ft with a garden on top.
Small House Small Lot.
Gimlet
Ohio Republican Pat Tiberi said earlier this week that there was “a growing majority” in the GOP Conference frustrated with Republicans who didn’t want to be part of the team. “And I think that’s a discussion that’s happening with a lot our members right now,” Tiberi said, “what those repercussions should be if you’re not going to be part of the team.”
“We’re a team,” Boehner told reporters following the meeting, “and we’ve worked hard to get to the majority, we’ve worked hard to stay in the majority — and I expect our team to act like a team.”
After three conservative House Republicans were kicked off the whip team as a result of voting against a rule for trade legislation on June 11, a new round of punishment is being meted out: Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Jason Chaffetz has taken away the gavel of Subcommittee Chairman Mark Meadows.
Randy P
@raven: Our next door neighbors lost their house to an attic fire. The second floor was of course unusable due to smoke and water damage. But after the intact-looking first floor and porch stood on the lot for a few weeks, they tore that down as well. That surprised me, but maybe it was because of cost considerations.
Mustang Bobby
I am leaving for Canada the morning of the debate and will be watching a performance of “The Alchemist” at the Stratford Festival while the debate is going on. If I’m going to watch theatre, I’m going at least see the good stuff.
TheMightyTrowel
I’m compiling lots of data for a big mapping project and a colleague just gave me the catalogue from his PhD. Unfortunately, it’s exported in the form of 4 separate excel files from an old version of ArcGIS and is in Swedish (which excel seems to hate as it’s added all sorts of crazy characters). Now I’m trying to get the four tables to talk to each other again (in access because what is my life) so that I don’t have to re-type all the god damn location info – though, that said, it’s in eastings/northings and i need lat/lon so….
BillinGlendaleCA
Finished the Win10 upgrade on one machine, now I’m working on this one. It’s not gone well. I’ve had to force re-downloads on both machines, this one multiple times. However, once things got going, the upgrade was pretty quick.
Patricia Kayden
There will be so many better ways to spend a Thursday evening than watching that incoherent trainwreck of a debate. Never watched one of the 100s of debates from the 2012 GOP campaign and certainly won’t start watching them now. Looking forward to a Clinton v. Sanders debate, which I assume will be well into next Spring.
Schlemazel
@raven: The ceiling looks like it would be a lot of work to save. Hopefully it will be doable if you want to.
1000 sq ft is not that bad but on three floors? Thats a lot of stairs.
Randy P
@TheMightyTrowel: Don’t know how much of a coder you are but there are free libraries to do every kind of geographical map conversion you could want.
Mustang Bobby
@BillinGlendaleCA: I’ve signed up for it, but I’m a little concerned about ancient programs such as FileMaker Pro 6 which I use for a hobby club database. Fortunately my work-issued laptop is Windows XP, so there’s that fall-back.
raven
@Randy P: I suspect. This is an old house with heart pine and my FL , an old school builder, explained that if it didn’t burn through it was sturdy.
raven
@Schlemazel: yea and it is right across the street from a big public housing project. They are pioneers.
Randy P
We recently saw the Ron Howard film “Rush” about the rivalry between Grand Prix drivers Nikki Lauda and James Hunt, and afterward I was reading interviews with Lauda (Hunt died in his 40s of a heart attack). He talked about how precise a driver Hunt was, and how much trust is involved when you are inches away from somebody else doing 200 kph. I don’t know why, but that hadn’t occurred to me, to what extent you are placing your life in the hands of your rivals in that kind of racing.
So with that in mind, Weaver’s comment above has me thinking about the racing analogy, and the inevitable on-stage wreck and how you can’t predict how many and who it is going to to take out.
And I am smiling and smiling and SMILING…
Still probably can’t stand to watch them though. I think actually hearing the voice of any of these idjits would make me physically ill.
TheMightyTrowel
@Randy P: I’m not really a coder, but the problem is that my colleague would only share the data as exported excel files not at the ArcGIS files which i could have coped with. SIGH. Academia.
Tommy
@BillinGlendaleCA: Good to hear the upgrade was smooth. Something I plan to do this weekend.
Kay
@Gimlet:
It’s interesting to watch here because the traditional GOP are sidelining the Tea Party. I think they blame them for Romney’s loss in 2012 the same way (some) Democrats blame liberals for midterm losses- that the far Right somehow dispirited the base and kept working class whites from coming out for Romney. I don’t agree with that theory- I think the most engaged people always vote and voting is all that matters in the end, but that’s what the county GOP people here believe.
I bet we see Bush and Kasich align either openly or behind the scenes which knocks out Walker because Kasich makes Walker’s big selling point irrelevant. It doesn’t matter that Walker won Wisconsin because Kasich won Ohio and Republicans need (and can get) Ohio, unlike Wisconsin.
I wonder if Kasich entered just to make Walker irrelevant to clear the way for Bush, actually. Bush-Kasich is a natural alliance. They’re exactly the same type of Republican.
Schlemazel
@Randy P:
More like, imagine a NASCAR race where half the drivers are drunk, two are blind, 3 are suicidal and 3 have no idea how to drive a car, cant see over the dash and think they are Mario Andretti.
As for old orange glow, I almost feel sorry for him as at times it seems like he is basically a good guy who sold his soul for office, but then I remember the rolling disaster he drives. Really trying to lead that group of malicious masterbaters would be reason enough to drink heavily every morning . . . oh, too late.
Central Planning
Our oldest is going off to college in 3 weeks. I’m excited for him, my wife is a wreck. We have to finish up the college shopping this week. Anyone have comments on necessities besides underwear and deodorant? He’s got the computer, dorm fridge, linens, and clothing.
I suspect he will bring some personal effects but he’s not one for nostalgia so I don’t think that will be an issue, and the fact that school is only 30 minutes away won’t make forgetting something a big deal (although I’m hoping for a “fire and forget” kind of drop off… See him on parents weekend and then at Thanksgiving).
Anyone else’s kid not really care about their roommates? Me: (after he received the email with roommate info) Who are your roommates? Him: Matt and somebody else. Me: You don’t know? Him: Don’t remember. Me: Have you exchanged emails with them? Him: Nope.
I don’t know if he’s trying to be cool or is just an idiot. I’ve told him he’s the dumbest smart person I know :)
BillinGlendaleCA
@Mustang Bobby: OR, there’s using virtualbox(or vmware player) to run a xp(or any windows version) in a virtual machine.
ETA: It’s downloading again, the earlier downloads were about 3GB, then 5GB; this one is 8GB. I got rid of a bunch of stuff on the drive.
Central Planning
@Mustang Bobby:
You can get free virtualization software, like VirtualBox to run WindowsXP and your apps. You can migrate your physical box to virtual with that as well.
ETA: Doh! Bill beat me to it!
BillinGlendaleCA
@Tommy: The upgrade itself was smooth, get the upgrade to start; a completely different story.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Central Planning: I use virtualbox and vmware player alot, got linux, osx and various version of windoze.
Tommy
@BillinGlendaleCA: Everything I’ve read at Lifehacker says it is a wonderful OS and the upgrade is about as simple as possible. That might be two firsts for Microsoft :).
Mustang Bobby
@Central Planning: I was the third of four to go off to college. By that time my parents were so blase about it that they took me to the airport, handed me $100 (this was 1971), and told me to call them with the amount of the check I had to write for tuition, room, and board. “See you at Christmas.”
Gimlet
Sarah Palin stood up for him after his recent controversial remarks about John McCain’s war hero status sparked a firestorm of criticism, so now Donald Trump is returning the favor — by offering her a cabinet position in his future administration.
Central Planning
@Mustang Bobby:
Yup, that’s what I’m going for :) He’s got a bank account too, so he’ll be able to get spending money if he needs it.
If I could only get him to get his shit together and start writing a resume so he can get an on-campus job. I told him I suspect he would rather be doing computer/tech support for students than clearing dinner plates but that doesn’t seem to be enough incentive to do that.
Gimlet
Track record of lying about this. Fined 3,000 for illegally killing a bear in Wisconsin and then trying to make it seem legit.
A big-game hunter from the Twin Cities acknowledged Tuesday that he killed a beloved lion in Zimbabwe with a bow and arrow, but said he regrets what he did and believed that his guides were leading him on a legal hunt.
Tommy
@Mustang Bobby: I was the first to go off to college but your experience was about the same as mine. They didn’t seem to be too torn up about me moving away.
Tommy
@Central Planning: Have him do a Google search for resume builders. There are more than a few sites that will almost do the resume for you and they are suprisingly good.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Gimlet: I see no problem with that, other than possibly being illegal(oh and that Palin is an IDIOT).
Central Planning
@Tommy:
I will. Thanks for the tip!
Tommy
@Gimlet: I follow Ricky Gervais on Twitter and he gets in non-stop battles about killing things and it is kind of stunning how many people out there seem to think they have the right to basically kill anything they want anytime.
Gimlet
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Put her in charge of hurricane disaster relief. “Heckuva job Sarah” will be the new refrain.
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: I’ve seen worse salvaged. Just a matter of how much you want to put into it.
Gimlet
@Tommy:
Are any of those twitter shooters cops?
Tommy
@Gimlet: It wouldn’t surprise me. At this point I think a lot of folks are just trolling him. He Tweets out a ton of wonderful animal pics and the next thing you know people are telling him how’d they’d kill it.
OzarkHillbilly
@Tommy: You know what my HS graduation present was? A suitcase.
Cervantes
@Randy P:
Particularly delicious when you consider Weaver’s history.
Tommy
@OzarkHillbilly: That is kind of funny. My father was sent away to military school when he was 12 and all the way through high school. So it didn’t bother him in the least. Might have bothered my mother a little but she sure hide it.
Cervantes
@Schlemazel:
Add a bit of outraged innocence and you’ve got a working model of Boston traffic.
Van Buren
@Central Planning: That’s pretty much how my son is. Me: Your roommate is from Wales! How cool is that! Him: Meh.
OzarkHillbilly
@Tommy: Actually, I stole that line from a buddy of mine. Truth is I don’t remember getting anything from my parents. I’m sure I did but I don’t remember. What I do remember is getting on a Greyhound the day after and heading for Canada.
Sherparick
Who wants to start a Go Fund Me for Dr. Walter Palmer for the Republican Nomination for Prez. He could argue that his expertise at poaching and tracking down wounded lions and other creatures makes him perfect for Border Security.
P.S. It is something I have noticed about my right-wing friends that although they have zero empathy for human beings that don’t look or sound like them and immediate family members, they often have a very soft spot for animals (first noticed this when listening to Paul Harvey commentaries on AFN radio in Germany in the eighties and nineties – Paul had nothing but contempt for people (Americans and all foreigners) who were not white, upper or middle class bourgeois Americans. But he could not abide cruelty to animals and detested hunting). Very strange the way we humans work in that Hannities and O’Reilllys of the world spit on the bodies of Sandra Bland, Mike Brown, Eric Garner, and Trayvon Martin, but tear up about a lion in Zimbabwe.
P.S.S. On the other hand I expect Ann Coulter would high five the due.
Sherparick
@Randy P: I am going to have popcorn. It will be the best reality TV show of the season.
Germy Shoemangler
Saw this comment on dangerousminds.net
I suspect it will be mentioned in passing (if at all) on my local news.
Cervantes
@Central Planning:
Depending on the school and his predilections, you may want to have a talk with him about alcohol, consumption and use thereof.
Apart from that, I imagine he’s going to be fine — provided he’s the kind of kid who knows his folks are there for him no matter what — and if getting him to that point isn’t Central Planning then I don’t know what is.
Good luck.
xenos
@Central Planning: my daughter goes to university in a few weeks. Her lack of intensity in terms of getting organized is driving me to distraction. For the first time I can relate to helicopter parents.
In both cases I think the message is “chill. I got this”. Maybe they do got this. I got an ulcer.
Southern Beale
Walter Palmer, the trophy-hunting douchebag dentist who killed Zimbabwe’s Cecil the lion by luring him out of his protected park, is getting creamed on Yelp. I hope this fucker reaps every ounce of bad karma he’s earned.
Matt
I honestly don’t get the whole “Kasich is a moderate” line that seems to be bubbling up out of the Village lately. As a resident of the state that he’s been clusterfucking for years, he’s sure as hell NOT THAT. Sure, he was willing to take the free Medicare moneez – but he’s got a long record of pandering to the megachurch crowd with abortion fuckery etc, and got so far in over his head with anti-public-union bullshit that the voters had to slap him down.
Mustang Bobby
@OzarkHillbilly: My parents were insistent that I go out of state to college to get the living-on-your-own experience, so when I ended up at the University of Miami, 1,400 miles from Toledo, they were a little disappointed because my grandmother lived in Bal Harbour, 25 miles away. Yeah, like I was going to hang out with her… Then when I went to grad school in Minneapolis, again it was “yes, but your uncle lives there and your grandparents are buried there,” and then when it was grad school in Colorado, “yes, but you work there in the summer…” Now they complain that I’m so far away and can’t visit for the weekend.
Kay
@Cervantes:
My daughter just told me a story last Thanksgiving about how her and her (male) friend picked up a passed out girl at a party and took the girl back to my daughter’s room. This was her freshman year so 6 years ago. The plan was for my daughter to wake up periodically and see if the girl was still okay but I knew the ending before she finished because my daughter is a really sound sleeper. Sure enough she slept thru, woke up the next morning and the girl was gone- the girl was okay, but man, that could have been a tragedy. They didn’t have any idea how much she had to drink, they just knew they had to get her out of the party because people were stepping over her. Good impulse. Bad plan.
NorthLeft12
I have not read much on here and other US sites about Turkey joining the fight against ISIS. They have been very reluctant to participate in the attacks on ISIS, being more focused on battling [and letting ISIS battle for them] the Kurds.
The CBC is reporting that there is an agreement between the US and Turkey to allow the US to use Turkish air bases which will significantly increase the ability of bombers to patrol the area.
Is this another political/foreign policy win for Obama?
Tommy
@Mustang Bobby: I actually choose my college based on which one was the farest away from home. My parents are about my best friends now, but that wasn’t always the case. I wanted away as fast as possible.
Tommy
@NorthLeft12:
It is hard to say. As best I can tell from a few liberal news programs I get on Hulu Turkey seems to be more interesting in bombing rebel Kurds, which seem to have been the only effective boots on the ground against ISIS.
raven
@Mustang Bobby: I left Vietnam Sept 3, 1969 and started at Illinois on the 13th. Not much handwringing for me, it was good to be stateside!
Kay
@Matt:
I think he is a moderate in the only sense they care about, which is he aligns with business interests. Accepting Medicaid was a business decision. Poor people go to hospitals for care and hospitals either have to write that off or chase them and garnish their wages. We have a private hospital here and they were incredibly aggressive collecting from low income adults. I bet they’re thrilled they have guaranteed payment.
Sherrod Brown was here once and I mentioned to him that the hospital CEO gave this vitriolic interview to the local paper on health care reform. The hospital CEO is influential here and he also makes more than just about anyone else. Brown laughed and said the same CEO lobbies his office constantly for federal aid for rural hospitals, which Brown delivers.
satby
@xenos: @Van Buren: @Central Planning: They don’t know what they don’t know and we olds know way too much. They’ll all be fine, and some of the anxiety you all are expecting they should have will hit, but it will be after you’ve dropped them off and have returned home. Learning to handle these details take time and experience, and they learn them best by mistakes they make. Trust the process.
raven
@satby: These people ain’t even old.
Tommy
@satby: I went to a state school and between my RA and my advisor I found there was a ton of support systems in place and all you had to do was ask. So if your kid doesn’t want to talk to you there are other places for them go to I am sure.
satby
@raven: Well not as old as us, but to their kids they’re in their dotage.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Cervantes: Good advice.
I would add:
If he’s going out of state, it might be good to review the state laws as well (e.g. right on red, and U-turns at intersections, and radar detectors, and common law marriage, and wearing masks in public, rights and responsibilities of roommates and co-leasees, and …)
Will he have a car? Although it looked silly, I found a Radio Flyer red wagon was very handy to have at grad school when I was without a car. It let me buy groceries once a month (I hated shopping) which would have been a huge pain otherwise.
Good luck to the youngsters.
Cheers,
Scott.
satby
@Tommy: Yeah, my kids are way past college age and in their mid-thirties. For a lot of parents, the first one to fly the nest is more traumatic to them than the kid.
Tommy
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: A car for me was key. Gave me freedom. I am not sure what I would have done without it because in 1987 there was zero public transportion where I went to college.
satby
I spent a good chunk of my day yesterday trying to recruit host families for high school exchange students in my area of MI- northern IN for PAX (www.pax.org). We’re having particular trouble this year getting people to host Muslim students, especially males. If anyone ever toyed with the idea and would be willing to host, email me at sbarret4 at gmail and I will refer you out to the local coordinator in your area.
It’s fun to host, I did it for 15 years and still regularly Skype and email my “kids” all over the world.
NorthLeft12
@Tommy: There are stories on both the CBC cbc.ca/news/world/turkey-finally-joins-the-isis-fight-should-we-be-worried-1.3171667 and BBC [ bbc.com/news/world-europe-33698659] about it.
While there are fears of the Turks using this as a cover to increase attacks on the Kurds, the fact is they have publicly joined the battle against ISIS and is allowing NATO to use their air bases in this fight.
I would think there might be a little interest in this in the states? I am guessing that most of the media and public in the west are already bored with this ongoing battle, and are really not interested in hearing anything unless it is astonishingly gory and grotesque, or Hurray, its over we won, tied, or lost.
ThresherK (GPad)
@BillinGlendaleCA: Icm on vacation now, and next week expexct to have a number of calls about Win 10. Thanks for the report from the trenches.
(My wife’s idea of vacation does not include an OS upgrade. Neither does mine, actually.)
Mustang Bobby
@Tommy: Freshmen were not supposed to have cars at the University of Miami in 1971, but when I was going through registration I passed by the parking permit desk and they gave me one without asking. First chance I had I flew home, picked up my car and drove it back.
F
@Matt: They don’t want a moderate, they want someone they can sell as a moderate. They want to get a Republican elected president.
Tommy
@Mustang Bobby: The car also let me expand where I could look for a job.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Tommy: A car was less than useful my first 2 years of college since I lived in a dorm and parking was in very short supply at UCLA.
Exurban Mom
Definitely talk to new college students about alcohol. A friend of mine lost a kid to alcohol poisoning during freshman year.
Tommy
The Illinois system back in the 80s when I was in school was on this Wellness kick. Wellness of body, mind, and spirit. All incoming students had to take Welness 101.
I thought it would be a total waste of time but in fact it was not. Taught us how to plan and set goals. Use a library. Balance a check book. Put together a resume. Stuff like that.
For the parents with kids going to school you might see if where they are going they have a simlar class. It was very helpful.
Tommy
@BillinGlendaleCA: I went to Western Illinois which is kind of in the middle of nowhere. Nothing like LA. Not even close.
Emma
@xenos: Late to the game, but as a librarian who spent a hell of a lot of time dealing with helicopter parents my message is: let her screw up and deal with her own problems. She’s heading into adulthood, get out of her way.
I don’t mean be unavailable. They need the security. Check up on her on a weekly basis, but subtly. If you see signs of odd character changes, like a kid who is usually cheerful and calm becoming surly without reason, by all means act; some kids suffer from severe depression when they first get into a dorm situation. But otherwise, let her deal with all the petty crap herself.
PurpleGirl
As things are wont to happen, my screening project has expanded… there appears to be a leak in the air conditioner so water is dripping inside the living window the unit is in. I pulled the cart and files away from the window area and found a bunch of flies. (I sprayed them with glass cleaner as the only stuff I had in the house. Monday night I had ordered fly paper and a spray from Amazon and I’m waiting for it to be delivered today before doing more cleaning of the area. (The A/C in the living room is set high at the top of a window.) I have to clean the area and make a space to get to the window before I can call a repair service. My supermarket only had fogger-type sprays and I don’t want to use those. Argh!!!!!
It’s hard to use the computer and desk right now because if/when I turn on my desk lamp, flies descend on me. Double argh!!!!
________________________________________________
I joined Amazon Prime for the better delivery times when I buy cat food for Cassie’s Kitten Kastle and it will help me get my own orders faster.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Mustang Bobby: I haven’t priced things out for a 20-something these days, but I imagine that cars are much more expensive to run for a kid now than back in the olden days. I bought “my” first car (a ’66 Olds F-85) from a friend for $75 (it was given to him because it didn’t run – only needed a battery). Insurance wasn’t required (or at least the requirement wasn’t enforced) in those days. Gas was about $0.50 a gallon. It had no AC, and would have been a death trap in a serious accident, but it ran fine and never left me stranded.
These days, especially on campus, there are probably lots and lots of additional rules and expenses (parking, city permits, insurance, annual inspections, etc.) in addition to the much higher price of gas. It’s probably one of the main reasons why cars (apparently) aren’t as big a deal to kids these days (the whole “Freedom!” thing doesn’t matter as much – virtual stuff is everywhere and “free” these days).
If someone starting out can do without a car, it’s a very sensible choice these days.
Cheers,
Scott.
xenos
@satby: I am not coping. And I am on antibiotics this week and can not drink.
Another Holocene Human
@Cervantes: I remember a lot more stop signs than that.
What you’re describing sounds more like Miami. Drag race after every red light.
xenos
@Emma: thanks for the advice. I live in Europe and she is headed to Canada, so she is going to start coping pretty soon.
debbie
@Kay:
Kasich would never, ever do anything so selfless.
Tommy
@xenos: I worked at and then ran a sucide hotline at my college. The most frequent calls we got were from foreign students, most often from Asian nations, and they were just having something of a culture shock, finding it hard to make friends.
They would be stunned when we’d tell them at the Student Union Asian students (and many other groups) get together weeky. Please attend. You are not alone!
Might be something for your kid to check into.
Mustang Bobby
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: True, but with inflation, gas at $2.59 (what I paid last week) is about the same as $0.39 a gallon when I was in undergrad. Miami then — and even today — is not a public transit town like New York, Chicago, or Boston. UM is now a commuter college; my old dorm is what they call a “residence college” which means they place people in it to actually study as opposed to blasting “Who’s Next” out of every un-air-conditioned window as we did back then. Not that it isn’t an improvement…
Gimlet
In the pack of titles announced today for the Toronto Film Festival: a “stealth” film by Michael Moore called “Where to Invade Next.” So far there is no distributor.
The doc will explore the military industrial complex, a subject no one can be tired of and is always eye opening no matter what your political affiliation.
Kay
@debbie:
They can be extreme Right on “social issues” because the money part of the GOP doesn’t care about social issues. Do not care.
He’s solidly in the mainstream as far as cutting taxes on rich people, taxing poor people, and funneling public dollars to business interests. That’s what the Bush-Kasich wing of the GOP care about, and Medicaid expansion works in that context. He could suggest stoning abortion providers and he’d still be “mainstream” as long as everyone in his social class was still coming out ahead.
I hope they’re really blatant on knocking out Walker. I knew Bush would do it but I don’t think he’s as good a politician as his brother was. Maybe we can get a Koch Bros./ Wall Street split going here.
NotMax
@Central Planning
Perhaps a small coffeemaker. Also a prepaid credit card (not too much, maybe $200), stressing that it is “for emergencies.”
Also too, if he isn’t all that familiar with doing laundry, a sit down or hands-on lesson about the basics (whites vs. colors, hot water vs. warm vs. cold, etc., things that will shrink or melt in the dryer, etc. ) could be very helpful.
Oh, also in case of any allergies with some kinds of pillows, bring them from home.
In the olden days a supply of stamped envelopes was much appreciated, but suppose e-mail has rendered that quaint.
debbie
@Gimlet:
I bet Harvey Weinstein jumps all over Moore’s film. He won’t be able to resist all the attention he could get.
Tommy
@NotMax:
I almost suggested that because you can add funds to most of them from your browser right out of your bank account. Makes it very easy to get them money if you need to get them money.
cmorenc
@Kay:
If that happens, will just enough of the extreme tea partiers get huffy about the party being sold out to the establishment and sit on their hands come Nov 2016? Yes, most conservative voters will turn out anyway, but the extent of leakage only has to be fairly small to sink the GOP’s ship in critical states. Also, what influence might the eventual dominance of that pair in the race as a probable Pres/VP combo have on the Donald’s decision whether to run as a 3P independent?
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone :)
Kay
@cmorenc:
As I mentioned, I don’t really believe in “the base stayed home so that’s why we lost”. I think the defining characteristic of the base is they vote. I think political party factions use that for circular firing squads after a loss. It’s an excuse.
I think it will be Bush v Clinton and I think it wil be brutal and ugly in Ohio. I’m kind of dreading it. My husband has gotten involved at the local level where I was the main person before and I’m relieved he’ll be doing most of it for the county Partyso I can step back. He’s kind of a happy warrior type. He just likes to brawl- he doesn’t get too attached to winning :)
debbie
@Kay:
From my sessions of listening to Glenn Beck, it’ll definitely be ugly. I don’t the Tea Partiers will be backing down at all or getting into line behind the Establishment GOP. Great fun ahead.
Cervantes
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:
I love it!
Do people these days buy groceries on line and have them delivered?
College kids mostly do not do their own cooking, do they? I imagine that in many cases on-campus stores usually meet their daily needs.
Ian
I wish that they were not so confused. Or angry. Or that they view us as enemies. Different stripes, would not be enemies if their preznit contenders and congresscritters could treat us like people.
Kay
@debbie:
I think I’m just tired. I went to a parade last Saturday and this man I know who is a Republican but is married to a Democrat told me he “may go” Democratic because he’s a farmer and Kasich cut income taxes but then the county raised property taxes to make up for the loss of revenue from the state. He doesn’t have a lot of income but he does have a lot of land, hence, his taxes went up under Kasich. Mine stayed the same between (lower) income taxes and (higher) property taxes so I’m not clear who benefitted from Kasich’s tax cuts.
He’s just voting for a different Party but he’s still voting on gaming taxes to get a benefit. He doesn’t care about anything else. I’m just bored with those kind of discussions. I felt like saying “oh, vote for whoever, I don’t care”
Ian
@Schlemazel:
NO NO NO! captain spraytan is not a good guy. Pelosi said it best, your budget represents your morals. Boehner can go impale himself, he leads the party that destroys our country.
satby
@xenos: She’s going to be fine. I know it’s our job to worry, and I still do (my youngest son just drove from CA to IL for a family wedding and of course I worried even though he’s 30).
That she’s so ready and waiting for this new stage in her life is a testament to how well you’ve raised her.
Cervantes
@Emma:
[I dare not ask.]
TopClimber
@NorthLeft12:One of the problems with Turkey is that President Erdogan is using attacks by Kurdish militants as a weapon to delegitimize Kurdish political parties in Turkey itself via arrests, control of media and nationalistic bombast. His party lost its majority in recent elections in part because Kurds turned out in big numbers and he is not happy. huffingtonpost.com/graham-e-fuller/erdogan-turkey-airstrikes_b_7890014.html
It is all too sadly plausible that Erdogan, who has a long history of jailing journalists and cracking down on any dissent, needs a scapegoat to restore his full dominance. Attacking Kurdish forces (our best allies in the fight so far) along with ISIL ones may be part of his strategy.
Once again, we see how few clear cut good guys we can align with in this struggle (Saudis, Iran, Syria anyone?) So it is small wonder that few folks are jumping up and down about how this is a victory for Obama. Then again, to go to your basic point–Americans don’t really understand or follow the Byzantine machinations in this part of the world.
rikyrah
@Kay:
they talk in Frank Luntz-approved dogwhistles.
I still can’t get past Jeb going on a Spanish-language station, and declaring to all the illegals, you can work here, you can pay taxes, but you shouldn’t be able to become citizens. But, since he did it in nice Frank Luntz approved language, and did it in Spanish, no less, it’s all good.
TopClimber
@NorthLeft12:One of the problems with Turkey is that President Erdogan is using attacks by Kurdish militants as a weapon to delegitimize Kurdish political parties in Turkey itself via arrests, control of media and nationalistic bombast. His party lost its majority in recent elections in part because Kurds turned out in big numbers and he is not happy. huffingtonpost.com/graham-e-fuller/erdogan-turkey-airstrikes_b_7890014.html
It is all too sadly plausible that Erdogan, who has a long history of jailing journalists and cracking down on any dissent, needs a scapegoat to restore his full dominance. Attacking Kurdish forces (our best allies in the fight so far) along with ISIL ones may be part of his strategy.
Once again, we see how few savory folks we can align with in this struggle (Saudis, Iran, Syria anyone?) So it is small wonder that few folks are jumping up and down about how this is a victory for Obama. Then again, to go to your basic point–Americans don’t really understand or follow the Byzantine machinations in this part of the world.
Kay
@rikyrah:
I think it’s so funny that the whole country is finally talking about wages, with all the 15 dollar minimum wage and front page stories about labor violations and Jeb Bush has boldy decided to go in the other direction and call for longer hours/ lower wages.
What if he’s just a bad politician? That’s possible. They always exagerate the political skills of governors. They always harken back to Reagan and how fabulous he was and how that could happen again.
Jeffro
@debbie:
I think that the GOP nominee, whomever that ends up being, will almost have to bring on a Tea Partier in the Veep slot. Especially if it’s a perceived moderate like Bush at the top.
debbie
@Jeffro:
I don’t know that that will be enough. Other than Cheney, VPs are background figures. Can you imagine Paul, Cruz — even Huckabee — towing the line?
Cervantes
@Kay:
Which is not to say Reagan did not do awful things as governor.
Kay
@Cervantes:
I didn’t know him as governor, or I didn’t pay attention. My vivid memory of President Reagan was working as a waitress and he changed the rule so servers had to fill a line on the time card to make our hourly plus tips equal minimum wage. You were supposed to write down all your tips but the rule was it had to equal minimum wage so we just calculated the amount required to equal minimum wage and listed that on the gratuity line. We all thought this was horrible and an outrage, although I don’t recall why- I don’t remember what the harm to us was. I guess we hadn’t been declaring tips before?
NonyNony
@Kay:
Well, the GOP has been grooming voters for decades to believe that taxes are all that matter, so this isn’t surprising to me.
What was surprising to me was Kasich’s move to lower income taxes and raise property taxes. It made zero sense to me at all politically – the GOP in this state are soundly supported by farmers and older people on fixed income and those are two groups that are completely screwed by that kind of move. They’ve been a solid voting bloc for the GOP in this state for a few decades now, and Kasich just spit in their faces. I have no idea why he’d think it was politically a good idea for him – it seems like a weird cause for him to pick up (though I can understand why he wants to lower income taxes – there are a lot of GOP voters in the suburbs who think “taxes” means “income taxes” and his social buddies in that highest tax bracket will appreciate the bump. I just don’t get why he’d want to raise property taxes to boot).
(Honestly the taxes in this state are too low at this point – we should be raising the gas tax and raising income tax and pumping that money back into infrastructure projects. We’ve got sewer systems and water systems in every city in this state that need updated and modernized and that could be good jobs for our construction companies if we could get some money to pay for it.)
dogwood
@Kay:
There’s so much conventional wisdom about the qualities the electorate is looking for in a candidate. Yet most of it is hooey. Candidates and campaigns matter, not military service, or executive experience or academic credentials.
Brachiator
@Central Planning:
I’m sure he’ll be fine. I think you note that he is just 30 minutes away, so even if he forgot stuff, it sounds like it would be easy to get it to him.
Even though my mother was fairly doting, when I went off to school, it was a matter of getting me to the airport and saying goodbye. And I had received something about my roommates, but didn’t bother to find out anything about them until I actually got to campus.
On the other hand, when my goddaughter went to college, her parents flew out with her, did last minute shopping, interviewed the roommates and I think tucked her in at night.
nastybrutishntall
America is beginning to feel the Bern according to this CNN poll. We’ll see. I still want us to have our first female President, but I’d settle for our first socialist Jew.
Denali
I don’t want to give Roger Ailes the satisfaction of raising his ratings by enabling Trump’s circus act. Trump is dragging down this very weak field of candidates to his level. Its fun to laugh at but scary to think about.
Brachiator
@Kay:
This sounds like a lot of my more stupid college experiences. Fortunately, this did not happen very often. OK, not too often.
Cervantes
@dogwood:
But “candidates and [their] campaigns” do not come pristine out of a vacuum.
Central Planning
@Brachiator:
OMG. Someone please kill me if I do that to any of my kids. I’m more in the tough love camp than my wife, but she wouldn’t go that far either.
True story: when the oldest was procrastinating finishing up his college applications this year, I was lucky to find him alone in the basement one evening doing some “work” on his laptop. I told him (wife had gone to bed) that he seemed to be procrastinating and maybe it was because he didn’t really want to go to college. I told him that was fine with me and that college isn’t for everyone but he is certainly smart enough to go. I closed with: “I will tell you this though. Come September, you’ll be living on a college campus or somewhere else because you won’t be living here.”
His applications were completed the next day :)
ETA: And thanks everyone for the other info!