From commentor EdinNJ:
Here’s the newest addition to our family, our rescued 1 year-old Dorgi (Dachshund/Corgi mix), Bella.
Bella is a cutie, but I bet she’s not gonna share that chewie…
***********
Many happy returns to generally beloved commentor Satby, pet rescuer, exchange student host, soapmaker & generally all-around good person.
What else is on the agenda for the day?
DivF
Happy birthday from California !
It’s the middle of the night here – let’s see if I can get back to sleep.
TheMightyTrowel
Happy birthday, Satby! I hope it’s a brilliant one!
It’s the first genuinely cold night of late autumn down here – 2C tonight and feels it. One thing I find endlessly confounding about Australia is that, even though we have huge temperature fluctuations and this is ostensibly a developed country, almost none of the houses have central heat (or central AC) and even fewer have insulation. Even the new builds. They’re one brick thick and they (sometimes. if you’re lucky) have a heater unit stuck on a wall in one room. My house (solid brick construction, built ca 1945) hilariously had only a screen door for a front door when we purchased it.
We hung a solid front door (finally!) last week and Mr. Trowel is insulating our house so that eventually we can install central heating, but right now we survive with heavy jumpers, good slippers and space heaters in most rooms.
Baud
Happy, happy birthday.
???
Schlemazel Khan
Hippo birdy two ewes deer Satby!
may this be the starting point of a great year
Elizabelle
Happy Birthday Satby! Wonderful your two marvelous exchange student grrrrls can celebrate it with you. Think of the difference you have made in their little lives. (Not to mention the four-footed guests.)
Did you decide to stay in Michigan, or head for warmer and maybe better climes?
This is a good year for you, whichever.
And love the pic of Ed’s dog. Adorbs.
Baud
@Elizabelle: You back from your trip?
OzarkHillbilly
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to Satby
Happy Birthday to you.
And belly/butt scratchin’s toooooooo
Elizabelle
@TheMightyTrowel: Two of my hostel roommates were Aussies from Brisbane, Sarah and Sophie, taking Europe by storm for a month. Sarah’s a manager with H&M, which allows a liberal (unpaid) leave policy — she travels, and has a job to go back to. Which she will get to, after four days in Iceland and more touring of Germany after.
Richard and Sarah were wondering why Americans don’t travel more. We’re always seeing Australians and Canadians, popping up all over the place.
Shame Americans don’t — if they saw the difference in lifestyle abroad, changes would ensue.
I met two charming (albeit, apparently GOP) women from Riverside CA on the cruise. Enjoyed overhearing them discuss the excellent lifestyle in Denmark, high taxes making it possible. They’re both mothers, with 20-something daughters, and were discussing parental leave policies. Lightbulb over the head time.
Think of the lengthy cruises the industry could sell to Americans of non-scooter variety, if longer vacations were the norm. It’s a (relatively) affordable luxury, but time to do it is the biggest barrier for many.
Can’t remember who, but some young guy did an inventory of the many brands of scooters on board. Those sailing rascals.
And, on the second day at sea, ship turned around, to head back to Bermuda for a medical emergency (which passed; patient’s condition improved — verified by several passengers who were physicians; I was betting we continued sailing the Atlantic cuz the traveler was on ice way downstairs).
ETA: Met a woman who’d done an around the world cruise, 47 ports, a few years back. Three announced deaths on that cruise, which she was told was less than average for the demographics one finds on a cruise ship. In each case, widow continued on, and scattered dead husband’s ashes wherever he’d have preferred. In one case for sure, the male traveler did not expect to survive the voyage.
Elizabelle
@Baud: Nope. Still in progress. Sailed to Copenhagen — was able to stay longer than expected due to wonderful and affordable hostel, Generator — highly recommended. City’s expensive, but lots of beautiful public parks and walking, walking, walking. Or canals.
Fly to Barcelona tonight; hoping to spend a month or so in Spain learning to speak the language. Salamanca looks like a good spot; will talk to language school when I arrive Spain.
A jobless wanker at present; using the time to travel and eventually head back to the US of Insanity, refreshed and maybe with a tad more Spanish.
The Klown Kar and then Hillary v Bernie wars wore me out. Escape velocity.
How you been, candidate Baud? (With that marvelous dog — Stella? — as first canine running mate?)
Elizabelle
NOT a birthday present for Satby: NY Times Magazine: Mr. Trump’s Wild Ride.
LOL re title. Don’t think of a ….. Article by Robert Draper.
raven
Happy Birthday Satby!
What a sweet pupster!
rikyrah
Good Morning ☺, Everyone ?
rikyrah
Happy Birthday Satby
burnspbesq
When you work in professional services, you develop a very different attitude toward vacations. If you have cell service, you’re available, and if you’re available, you are on call. Vacations are simply a very expensuve way to work someplace inconvenient. A 6:00 a.m. conference call in Maui is still a 6;00 a.m. conference call. So you don’t take them unless you’re right on the edge of burnout or it’s a family imperative.
NotMax
For satby.
Also too.
raven
We’re getting ready to leave for the beach tomorrow! Red snapper is in season on the weekends in state waters in May so I’m very optimistic!
Baud
@Elizabelle: Stop living my life.
satby
Oh my goodness! Thank you Anne Laurie and everyone! What a lovely surprise to start my day with. Thank you thank you.
Y’all are the best snarling jackals on the planet!
BillinGlendaleCA
@burnspbesq: Even when Americans do go on vacation, it’s usually in the US. I heard a stat many years ago(I think it was Steve Gillard) that the reason that most Americans travel abroad is military service.
ETA: A happy b-day to Satby.
satby
EdInNJ, Bella is a beautiful girl! Thanks for adopting her, without adopters rescuers can’t do much rescuing.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Heh, you wish(I do as well?).
PurpleGirl
@burnspbesq: When I worked at the law firm, they would carry over your unused vacation time from year to year. If you were on an active case (that is, a case going to trial or hearings within a short time) you couldn’t take vacation time off. If the case was in a quiet stage, you could take time off on a moment’s notice.
satby
@NotMax:Thanks! that second one was pretty funny. And odd.
raven
@BillinGlendaleCA: If I can’t take my dogs I ain’t goin! This is me and Ralphie in Mexico in 1973!
PurpleGirl
Bella is adorable, thanks for the picture.
Satby, repeating what I said last night: Happy Birthday. Hope the day is very good.
Baud
@raven: Yeah, my dogs are the biggest restriction on my vacation plans.
raven
@PurpleGirl: We can only accumulate 360 hours of leave that will carry over. I always keep that balance and take the rest. We get cash for that when we retire and our accumulated sick leave gets added to our retirement as time. I have over 1000 hours!
OzarkHillbilly
@Elizabelle: Stay away from the Balearic Islands. I read it’s a zoo this year. Speaking of Spain, my wife has finally sold her parents condo and for a fair price too. Seems real estate in Spain has finally recovered to at least some extent.
satby
@Elizabelle: Thanks! To answer your question, staying in MI for now, but deciding if that will be permanent. I’m not getting too set on anything until my mom’s estate settles. Now that I don’t have to be any particular place, I’m widening the job search to other states.
Edited to add,you’ll love Barcelona, I did! Enjoy!
Kay
Bad news for John McCain:
They should have him on some shows to talk about this situation :)
Patricia Kayden
Happy B’Day to Satby.
Such a cute doggy to start off Hump Day.
satby
I want to thank you all over and over again individually, but that would clutter up the thread. So know I am touched by every single birthday greeting and you guys are making it a perfect day already! Thanks for all the good wishes.
Elizabelle
@OzarkHillbilly: Had to look them up, so am staying away. For sure. Think will stick with more landlocked cities once out of Barcelona (having, hopefully, foiled the pickpocket industrial complex there, waiting to prey on tourists and anyone else …)
@satby: Good to hear. Any state would be lucky to have you. Change, particularly selected change, can be good.
Randy P
@BillinGlendaleCA: Well, there is the matter of air fare. Despite always dreaming of going to Europe, we were married 20 years before we finally went.
But having gone, I was addicted and we made a vow to try to get back there every couple of years. Life has intervened a few times but we’ve been to Europe half a dozen times or so now.
Part of the fun for me is not speaking English. In a way I kind of admire the fellow Americans we run into sometimes who have none of the native language, because that takes some courage. I’ve found that you will always find places where people don’t speak English, even in major tourist destinations and if you don’t have the local language or another common language to fall back on (lots of Europeans speak French), you’re stuck with grunting and pointing.
So from time to time I’ve ended up translating for my fellow citizens who had wandered into shops or destinations where nobody spoke a word of English.
So far I’ve been able to keep to my rule of “I’d like to know at least a few words of the native language”. But I’m going to be spending a few days in Denmark this summer. I’m actually trying to learn a little Danish for grins, even though I know it’s probably futile. They really DO all speak fluent English from what I’ve heard, so I’m going to have to find somebody very tolerant if I want to try to practice. The grammar seems to be pretty simple but the pronunciation is very subtle and the spelling is a nightmare.
Baud
@Kay: Have you seen the new overtime regs?
Mustang Bobby
@raven: Tight lines!
Happy birthday, satby! Where in Michigan are you? I used to spend summers in Northport and I lived in Petoskey. I’m listening to Interlochen Public Radio’s classical stream as I type.
Elizabelle
@Kay: Great to hear! Maybe Arizona goes on the states to visit and canvas for Dems this fall. Although North Carolina sounds like it will be plenty.
Maybe former President John McCain can manage a network green room in his retirement. He hung around enough of them in his career. He’s kind of president of Media America, but for some pesky facts.
(And someone here said CNN’s John King opined that Hillary might choose a GOP for running mate? Remind me again why I fled the stupidity that is American media …)
Kay
@Baud:
No. Is it the final rule? I keep looking and then it’s not the final rule. Link?
Hal
@Kay: I almost feel bad about how happy a John McCain loss would make me feel.
Baud
@Kay: I’ve just seen a lot of reporting so I assumed it was final.
Elizabelle
@Randy P: At least in Copenhagen, Danes speak great English. And several other languages, many of them.
An unsettling number look like professional models. Truly. Have never seen so many gorgeous people, especially gorgeous young people, even on TV. It’s like being dropped into a Ralph Lauren ad, and you’re not the local phenotype.
Healthy and fit. Biking all over the place. (They blame tourists for mishaps on bike paths, and stay out of them as a pedestrian!)
Great french fries. They must bike the calories off.
Baud
@Kay:
NPR says it’s coming out today.
OzarkHillbilly
@Elizabelle: They are beautiful, and well worth the air fare, but because of terrorism fears Europeans are staying closer to home. On May 1st, 8 cruise ships docked in Palma. 22,000 people all at once. It is really stressing the infrastructure.
Elizabelle
@Kay: Wouldn’t it be great if refusal to hold hearings for Merrick Garland took out a few more senators? May Grassley be just as endangered.
Would love to see this blow bad on the obstructionists. Mitch McConnell won his race last year, and is set for life no matter if he ever runs again. Not his prob.
Randy P
@Elizabelle: Have fun in Spain. Barcelona was part of our first Europe trip. We fell in love with it, canceled the remainder of the week and just stayed there till it was time to fly home. I didn’t even know about the whole Catalan thing. Barcelona is part of a region called Catalunia (sp?), the local language is Catalan, and I’ve heard they are very nationalistic about self-rule and using their own language.
But they were very tolerant of my tourist Spanish and seemed happy to speak Spanish with me.
Kay
@Elizabelle:
I don’t know a thing about Arizona, but wouldn’t you think Trump would be more popular with GOP voters? 68% is pretty bad for the nominee in mid-May. OTOH they also think McCain is too moderate, so who knows.
I heard Clinton will pick someone from outside DC for a running mate- governor or I guess maybe big city mayor. That makes sense to me – she’s running a sort of localized campaign, which I think is smart. That’s one of her strengths- she knows all the Democrats in these states and cities, and Trump doesn’t have that long connection. The flip side of being “establishment” or an “insider” is relationships and that’s a plus. She knows a lot of people.
Patricia Kayden
@Kay: That is some great news for our side! I’m especially shocked that Trump and Clinton are so close in a red state. YAY!
MomSense
Happy birthday Satby!!??
Bella looks like a sweetheart.
This is a nice way to start the day.
MazeDancer
@satby:
Happy Birthday! And may all your sweetest wishes come true soon!
EdinNJ: Great pic! Never saw a Dorgi dog before. What a lovely pup!
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay: Millions could get a raise under Obama administration’s new overtime rules
The salary threshold for workers to qualify for overtime pay will double to $47,476 by December 2016, but the new rule has faced opposition
ETA: “More than four million working Americans could get a bigger paycheck by the end of the year, thanks to a new overtime rule to be finalized by the US Department of Labor on Wednesday.
Previously, only salaried workers who earned below $23,660 were eligible for overtime pay. As of December 2016, that threshold will double and be set at $47,476 a year.”
Kay
@Baud:
Cue the freakout and the lawsuits! It’s a huge amount of money moving to people. If they don’t want to pay OT they have to hire additional, but no one will talk about that. We always start with this strange assumption that if labor costs go up employers will just fire people. It’s weird. I don’t have any spare employees standing around. I have exactly as many as we need. If I had fewer their work wouldn’t get done. I’m not paying them out of the goodness of my heart. I actually require two. One would be not enough :)
Elizabelle
@Randy P: Had no idea re the Catalan vs. Spanish divide. (This will tell you how last minute this whole trip was; I was originally thinking on South America and up popped a way cheap repositioning cruise to Europe.)
Trying not to be the “ugly American”, but def the uninformed one, so far. Has been a fascinating trip.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Madame’s been wanting to go to Death Valley, but the girls…
Baud
@Kay:
Always. The business community is whinier than blog commenters.
Amir Khalid
@Randy P:
George Orwell wrote a book about being in the Spanish Civil War, Homage to Catalonia, which I reckon is the common English (or at least British) spelling and pronunciation. But in Spain, Catalan- and Castilian-speakers alike do indeed call it Catalunia. And yes, there is an active Catalonian separatist political movement.
Elizabelle
@Kay:
Bingo. Employers are in the catseat — thanks technology, and special thanks to the rightwing think tanks (which, it seems, the Kochs are planning to concentrate more on, their latest foray into federal politics not working as they expected — that info gleaned from a blurb on NY Times website; did not read article cuz making this a Koch-free day).
My sister lives a miserable existence, albeit with a “good job”, because her workplace is so understaffed, apparently by choice (and also by managerial incompetence; lots of blame to go around, from what I gather …)
It’s sinful.
And people were shrieking about Obamacare, which was also intended as an end run around employer-provided healthcare, because that’s not a sustainable option for many.
Those rightwing think tanks have done a LOT of harm. Yes, rightwing reactionism is on the rise in Europe too, but even so, the Western Europeans have more of a social safety net. Which is unthinkable in this wealthiest of all countries (for a select few).
Kay
@OzarkHillbilly:
It’s really a big reason income hasn’t gone up. They essentially moved a huge group of people to “ineligible for overtime”. The other thing it does is put pressure on to hire, because if you need the work done it’s either pay overtime or hire additional and keep them all under 40.
This is amazing to me, because it’s so obvious:
Democrats should borrow that- minimum wage for the middle class.
JPL
@satby: Happy Day!
Kay
@Baud:
Democrats could run on just overtime here. Everyone understands it. It’s a separate line on the pay record. They all point it out to me. They should take two people with two jobs and compare the paycheck of the person who gets overtime to the person who doesn’t.
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay: @Baud:
BillinGlendaleCA
@Kay:
AZ has a large Mormon population, they don’t like Trump.
Schlemazel Khan
@Randy P:
Yeah, Catalan is one of those disputes we ignore because we are Americans and can remain unaware. It does flare up occasionally but mostly is just the sort of simmering resentment like the Quebecois engage in.
It has been many years now but i found Europeans generally very forgiving about poor language skills with 2 exceptions, Paris where some seemed to take extra effort to correct pronunciations and Venice where our Italian was not up to snuff and nobody could speak any of the 4 languages we could handle.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Kay:
Funny how that works, isn’t it? People get hired because of demand. Whoda thunkit?
One might think that those who rattle on about how wonderful the “free market” is would understand that there’s this thing called supply and demand. If the demand for work increases, then the price for workers should go up and more people will decide to enter that aspect of the market. More customers, more workers, higher wages, more customers, it’s a virtuous cycle.
I’m very pleased that Obama was able to do this. The stupid orthodoxy that “OMG! Higher wages means the Inflation Monster will Kill Us In Our Beds and Eat Our Children!!!1” needs to DIAF.
Cheers,
Scott.
debbie
@satby:
Happy birthday, satby! I hope the next year brings you joy and peace!
Josie
Happy birthday, Satby, and many happy returns of the day.
debbie
@Kay:
What would you think of Ed Rendell as veep?
amk
@OzarkHillbilly:
Is the OT rule the kenyan muslin’s EO? If yes, then these
concern trolls1% asskissers can gft for at least an year.Iowa Old Lady
Happy birthday, Satby! Those of us in other time zones get to say it too!
BillinGlendaleCA
@debbie:
ACK!!!
Kay
@OzarkHillbilly:
I like wage legislation and rules much more than transfer payments (EITC, food stamps,things like family leave) because 1. they’re harder to attack and 2. people actually want to earn their own money. It puts them in the driver’s seat. It’s “empowering”. No one “wants” food stamps.
It’s one of the mistakes Democrats make, I think. They can walk and chew gum. They can value work without demonizing unemployed or poor people. That’s possible. It’s necessary. Someone has to value work. Republicans won’t.
debbie
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Why?
Mary G
Happy Birthday Satby!
Steeplejack
@Schlemazel Khan:
I have an old friend who became fluent in French—even married a Frenchman—and she says (semi-joking) that Parisians sneer even at other French people’s accents and pronunciation.
Emma
Happy birthday Satby! I wish you peace and happiness. May all your joys be pure joys, and all your pain champagne.
Iowa Old Lady
Josh Marshall does not appear to be feeling the bern:
Aimai
@Elizabelle: cool idea on the spanish! I couldnt face a summer at middlebury but i think id love a summer in spain. Maybe next year! I start my MSW in the fall and im already regretting my lack of spanish.
Elizabelle
@Aimai: Sounds like a summer, or any season, in Spain would be an asset to you. MSW opportunities will ensue. Salamanca is a destination for Spanish teachers. Mainly, it looks affordable and charming. But there are many language schools, in many sites.
Go for it! Good luck!
germy
Last night we had our school budget vote. Four seats on our local board of education were up for grabs. I spent a long time researching each candidate (trying to weed out the RWNJs and privateers) and finally settled on the candidates I wanted to vote for. There were also three budget proposals on the ballot.
Now today I can’t for the life of me find any election results in any of our media. I know the budgets passed, but no reporting on the school board members.
Also, it was difficult trying to find out about the candidates. One local paper had a brief biographical summary of each one (very brief) with no mention of their ideas or goals.
Voter turnout was light, of course. Maybe if more information was provided, people would care more.
burnspbesq
@Kay:
It’s a difficult choice. If not endangering the party’s chances of retaling the Senate is a consideration (as it should be), that takes a lot of high-profile names off the list. It almost becomes Hickenlooper by default, although I’m surprised we’re not hearing more about Julian Castro.
JMG
Happy birthday, satby! My wife and I leave for France in two weeks for a three-week trip, My daughter works in Bordeaux at a wine distributorship. Her French is perfect. Mine used to be OK, but has deteriorated, so I’ll try to do some remedial work in the next week or so. We’re also going to the Basque country. Since nobody speaks that language but Basques themselves, at least I’ll be on even footing with all the other tourists!
Retirement allows for the occasional long trip. I was also lucky in a way that at my old job, long periods of 7-day a week work were required by its nature, and my department (sports in a newspaper) got compensatory time off instead of overtime. So if the local teams had good years, when the seasons ended I’d have an extra week or more of vacation time. So I’ve been able to travel a bit in Europe and Canada.
Betty Cracker
Cute Dorgi! Happy birthday, Satby!
Well, our morning started off with a bang — a transformer down the road blew up, and now we’ve got no electricity. It’s inconvenient for coffee-making and wifi purposes, but if the power isn’t restored soon, I’m going to be stuck manually aerating four fish tanks, which is sorta like a full-time job!
burnspbesq
@OzarkHillbilly:
Hard to see that bill ever becoming law. Even lame-duck presidents have veto pens.
BillinGlendaleCA
@debbie: Too old, too DLCish.
OzarkHillbilly
@germy:
Nahhh. It’s only education.
burnspbesq
FIFA has an effective veto over Catalan secession. Without a waiver (similar to the waiver that allows three Canadian clubs to play in MLS), FC Barcelona would be unable to play in the Spanish league after independence. That would not sit well with a majority of Catalans.
Elizabelle
@Betty Cracker:
I think soon to be former Senator McCain could maybe handle that one. In retirement. No end to the good jobs he can do. With more free time.
Re your present situation: No coffee though. That’s insufferable.
Out for the day. Will say hi to the food trucks for y’all.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Betty Cracker: We had a transformer blow near my parents house, the neighbor called my dad, a retired Electrical Engineer, to look at it. He suffered a fatal heart attack walking down the street, that was almost 35 years ago.
OzarkHillbilly
@burnspbesq: They will in all likelihood try to attach it to some “must pass” legislation.
germy
@OzarkHillbilly: Well it’s goddamn frustrating. It was difficult enough to learn about the candidates. Now I can’t even find out who won. The local media reported that the budget proposals passed.
I am very careful about who gets into our school boards. About ten years ago we lived in a place where the school board was taken over by some RWNJs who proceeded to build a mini-dynasty with relatives getting jobs. Lots of the candidates try so hard to sound reasonable, but if you dig into the “deep cuts” of their twitter or facebook you find climate-change denials or “likes” for some religious wackjob or another.
The local press is understaffed. Layoffs and retirements.
burnspbesq
@OzarkHillbilly:
They can try, but my guess is that Harry Reid has at least one more good fight left in him. Nothing wrong with a filibuster to get non-germane amendments removed from an appropriations bill. And I don’t think Kirk or Ayotte will want to have to explain a vote for this all fall.
We’ll see.
But even if it passes, DOL can fast-track the study, and off we go to the D.C. Circuit.
Betty Cracker
@BillinGlendaleCA: Damn, that sucks. I’m sorry. I guess it if it hadn’t happened at that moment, it would have occurred soon in another scenario. But still.
Elizabelle
Dorgi? That dog could be a corghund, too. Either way, adorable.
Ecuador has suffered another earthquake, 6.7 (vs. 7.8 for the April one that killed 650 plus). Centered about 100 miles NW from Quito.
NY Times:
raven
@germy: Adjust your snarkometer.
Immanentize
Coming late to the party but,
Happy Birthday Satby!!!
(Is there any cake left?)
FlipYrWhig
@Iowa Old Lady: It wasn’t obvious from the first 30 years of his political career that Bernie Sanders is an insignificant, self-important dipshit with no friends and no record?
Kay
@burnspbesq:
A GOP county chair one county east of here told me in ’12 that Romney’s campaign “didn’t know anyone” and didn’t try to get to know any of them. It was a problem for Obama in ’08. Our county chair predicted the future for Obama when he justified backing Clinton- he said “The Party won’t protect him if he wins and runs into trouble because they don’t have any history with him”. I think that was part of why Obama was just sort of left to defend alone. People who back the insurgent always think it’s this “establishment, power-broker, smoke-filled room” but it’s much more personal and small-ball than that- relationships matter in everything. She’ll have those and Trump won’t. It will hurt him. They don’t have any history with him and he still needs those Party people.
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
Things I loved about my recent Italian trip:
The Food
The Scenery
The People
No Gun Nuts
The History
I will definitely be going back.
We stayed, in order:
L’Oroligia in Firenze
Porta Roca in Monterossa, Cinque Terre
Grand Hotel Continental, Siena
Hotel Hassler in Rome
Two of them would be affordable on a routine basis for middle income travelers (I think the rack rate in Florence was $250 euros a day), and Cinque Terre is off the beaten path – but our stay included a pool and private balcony with stunning views. Siena and Rome were pricey – we had a private terrace with a view over the city and the Duomo, so that seriously upped the value. We stayed only a single night at the Hassler (located directly on the Spanish Steps), and between our discounted rate, a 155 euro lunch and a 500 euro dinner, I still walked out with $1500 less in my pocket than when we started. Still worth it – the views from the restaurant and 7th floor terrace were stunning.
OzarkHillbilly
@germy:
I know.
You must be one of those wierdo whackjobs who actually care about the future.
Immanentize
@BillinGlendaleCA: what BIG CA said.
Aaccck! Rendel is really a poor third way choice and frankly too far along in his career. Hillary, I hope, will pick a youngster to help in creating an experienced bench.
lurker dean
Happy Birthday, Satby!!
Kay
@debbie:
I loathe him. In fact, I think there should be a crawl under his name every time he appears on cable listing the people who pay him. I know he’s supposed to be this well-loved Democrat in Pennsylvania but I sat with the PA delegates on a bus and they all thought he was crooked. They said he backed Clinton in ’08 to get his wife a SCOTUS appt. Obviously that’s a vicious rumor, but they were all saying it! Like it was obvious! :)
Ugh. Please no.
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
@Aimai:
My recent adventure found me a whole new way to mangle a Romance language – I call it Spenchtalian, and I can make myself incomprehensible in three languages.
On the good side, every Italian under 60 speaks better idiomatic English than I do – and that included the lowliest side train conductors in the countryside.
OzarkHillbilly
@burnspbesq:
My guess too but I never underestimate the level of ratfvckery today’s GOP will go to in sexual service of the .01%.
sherparick
I am becoming afraid that Bernie Sanders and Trump have more in common then we thought. In Bernie’s mind, unless he wins, the election is “rigged” and the voters who vote for Clinton, somehow don’t count as much as the morally pure voters who vote for him, so although she may have more “votes” here votes, not being sufficiently “white,” don’t apparently count. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_presidential_primaries,_2016
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/19/upshot/donald-trump-and-conspiracy-theories-what-a-poll-in-2011-signaled.html?ribbon-ad-idx=4&rref=upshot&module=Ribbon&version=context®ion=Header&action=click&contentCollection=The%20Upshot&pgtype=article
A big source of conspiracy theories is elections. Many Americans believe they’re often decided by cheating. In The Los Angeles Times in 2014, Mr. Uscinski and Mr. Parent wrote:
Near equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats (between 40 percent and 50 percent) said fraud would be very or somewhat likely. Each side believes that if they lose, cheating is to blame, and they believe it about equally. Nobody likes losing, but it appears hard for about half the country to accept that they lost fair and square.
satby
@Baud: @BillinGlendaleCA: I’m thinking we should do a Balloon Juice cruise.
Kay
@sherparick:
That’s sad because to me latching onto conspiracy theories means people feel powerless. I think it’s a symptom more than a disease.
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
@sherparick:
I just spotted a post from a Bernfeeler on a Kentucky news website that lamented the conservatism and historic anti-semitism of the African American democratic electorate, and in the Deep South in particular, and how if it weren’t for that, the mendacious shithead Sanders would have already had the nom sowed up.
satby
@Randy P: I was in Denmark as a teenager, and had one year of h.s.German and a Berlitz Danish-English book, ready to practice a new language. And all the Danes switched to English to speak to me, sometimes before I even opened my mouth. They can sense Americans. Viet Nam was still on then, and we often claimed to be Canadian just to dodge the discussions.
satby
@Mustang Bobby: SW MI, known as Harbor Country. About 13 miles straight east from Warren Dunes state park.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Steeplejack: J speaks wonderful Parisian French. When we were in Quebec a year or two ago, there were waiters who would occasionally to correct her on her French… ;-)
Cheers,
Scott.
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: this is a big fucking deal! And way overdue, because corporations abuse the no OT for salaried workers all the time.
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
@satby:
I never had to open my mouth, and the Italians would start with me in English. I wore nothing with logos, no baseball cap (I tended to a white straw fedora of good manufacture), sport coat, jeans, hard sole shoes or Italian sneakers and a man bag.
So I experimented with closing off my expression – that was the only thing that worked. Used my thumb in tandem with my forefinger as well, and figured out how to make an order of “two” of anything come out right.
rikyrah
@Kay:
What great news you brought today, Kay :)
Kay
In shocking news, huge company admits employees have some role in creating profits!
They’re not just a drain on executive compensation packages after all! They’re doing something in those restaurants. Also, people who work for wages seem to be motivated by wages.
They all have to re-learn capitalism. Start with the basics- where does the work come from?
BillinGlendaleCA
@satby: We not cruise people, did it twice.
ETA: I’m speaking for myself and madame.
magurakurin
@Elizabelle: Salamanca is very beautiful. That is more or less ground zero for learning Castellano or Spanish as it is known in most of the New World. Salamanca would be a good place to study I think. The Spanish spoken there is much easier to understand than in Madrid, in my opinion. The accents in Madrid is really tough if you learned Spanish in the Americas. In Andulacia the accent is a bit easier, too if you learned in the Americas. Obviously many people speak Spanish in Barcelona, but that is Catalonia and they really speak Catalan there. Valencia and Baleric Islands, too, they speak a dialect of Catalan. In the Basque regions, they speak Basque and in Galacia, way up in the Northwest they speak Gallego, which is a dialect of Portuguese, although that is a point of debate among linguists. Some maintain that it is a distinct language.
I really like Spain, but the Spanish are very proud. Wherever you go be sure to say that the ham, cheese, olives, wine, whatever there is the best you’ve had. You will be gently corrected if you suggest, for example, that the ham you had in Barcelona was the best ham you ever ate if you happen to be in Madrid or Salamanca when you say it. And Flamenco is in Andalucia, particularly Granada. If you go asking around in Salamanca and Barcelona where there is a good place to see Flamenco, you’ll mark yourself as clueless. Madrid is a huge city and there is a little bit of everything there, but Salamanca is quite provincial and while you can find Flamenco performances there, they are strictly just for tourists.
If you still have time and money, I suggest you visit Lisbon in Portugal. It is a wonderful place and it is most definitely not Spain. But many people speak English quite well in Lisbon. Do not however speak Spanish in Portugal, they get a little bit miffed about that. Portuguese isn’t too bad though and even a handful of words will bring miles of smiles from the locals.
gvg
@Iowa Old Lady: I wonder how much Sanders attitude is related to his having been a proud “democratic socialist” for so long when other Americans really did consider that bad. Did he start with a contrarian burn it down attitude or did he get it from other peoples reaction to his position? He really must be incredibly stubborn. Most of us with simular leanings learn to tone it down or kept quiet for years. I do think his Russian honeymoon is sort of weird. Soviet Russia was not a nice place nor really anything we want to emulate. Lots of people wanted to see it with their own eyes because factually our mainstream reporting and government pronouncements were biased, but somehow a honeymoon conveys more appreciation than I ever had.
In 30 years he didn’t notice that people working together got more done and that is the way democracy is supposed to work until he decided to run for the big prize…….just never struck me as good judgement. Way back in the beginning of his campaign some people were saying the late party switch didn’t matter and others were saying yes it did. I think we were all projecting our own hearts and that represents how various democratic leaning voters would react. To some of us it always kept mattering. He is not a democrat to me. Even some GOP politicians who switched parties seem more real committed democrats than he does. Those guys knew they would pay some price and did it over issues they cared about. Bernie did it for a chance at the presidency. Those GOP pols clearly knew that teams matter all along. Bernie doesn’t seem to. I can’t imagine him being a good party leader. He would just ignore that part of our systems expectations and the other Dems would be leaderless. Incomplete plans, competing ideas with no clear way to decide whats important, faction fights………not good for our party. I don’t see any good way for our party to have said no way though so I guess it all worked out for the best.
Raise your kids to know the value of teams, balanced by when to not follow it off a cliff.
rikyrah
@Kay:
Yeah, let’s not talk about that…uh huh
Just One More Canuck
@Kay: This is good news for John McCain
magurakurin
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class:
I admire your notion of affordable. 250 euro a night. Whoa. That’s way out of my league. I just spent 12 nights in Lisbon and four of us stayed in a rented three bedroom house for 650 euro for the entire 12 nights.
EdinNJ
Happy Birthday Satby! And thank you Anne for posting this picture of our Bella. We adopted Bella a couple of months ago, about two weeks before my father passed away after a long battle with lung cancer. I can’t tell you how much she helped make those dark days so much brighter. She is such a sweetheart, so loving of everyone. I have two moody teenagers in the house, and seeing the way they light up when she is around them warms my heart.
LAO
Happy birthday Satby.
JPL
@EdinNJ: Maybe it’s true that dogs adopt us. I’m sorry about your father.
CindyH
de-lurking (?) here to comment on Ed Rendell. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I don’t know who he’s popular with, but not among the Obama coalition I have worked among and I think Hillary needs the Obama coalition to stomp on Trump.
rikyrah
@Kay:
Kay,
I always appreciate you keeping us informed on this issue.
Mai.naem.mobile
Happy Birthday Satby!
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
@magurakurin:
Nice! I’ve heard Portugal is a good value.
Was that 650 per head, or for the whole house?
rikyrah
@Kay:
They really should.
satby
@germy: and turnout for school stuff is always low. I was the highest vote getter on the first ballot when Chicago went to local school councils, and I won with the whopping total of (IIRC) 468 votes. That wasn’t my lead, that was total cast for me. And they could vote for 6.
manyakitty
@satby: That’s a great idea! Also, too, happy birthday! Also, too, I can verify the excellence of your soaps. Love them!
rikyrah
@OzarkHillbilly:
Uh huh
Uh huh
rikyrah
@debbie:
Hell muthaphuckin’ NO
rikyrah
@burnspbesq:
I’m rooting for Perez. He’s a great guy.
Cat48
@gvg: When Bernie was doing his writing for various rags, he wrote that JFK speeches made him nauseous. I find that odd and frankly revolting to me personally. He’s just very different.
satby
@EdinNJ: Condolences on the loss of your dad Ed. Just went through that with my mom too. Even when it’s a blessing they’re released from pain, we miss them.
D58826
A series of quotes from the WAPO 202 newsletter that I get in my mailbox.
But it’s all of the establishments fault because of the closed primary system (isn’t Oregon a closed system). The system in place for years was designed just to ‘get’ Bernie. He is stating to layout his demands to play nice at the convention
My way or the highway.
Maybe he thinks he can get a better deal from President Trump.
http://egbertowillies.com/2016/05/18/sanders-lays-out-democratic-party-demands/
satby
Thanks again youse guys, for all the wonderful birthday wishes. You all are the best and have gotten my B’day off to a beautiful start. Sniff, dusty in here. Sniff.
Cat48
@rikyrah:
I want Perez, too. I’ll never forget when Obama announced that he would be in charge of DOL. When he gave Peres time to say a few words, he broke out in Spanish to thank the prez. It was quite funny.
magurakurin
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class: That was for the whole house. It was really nice actually. In the Carnide area of Lisbon. It was in this little group of blocks of 18th century buildings surrounded by modern apartments and a giant shopping mall. The metro was just down the street and we were able to move all around easily. And inside the blocks there were about 10 little local restaurants that were awesome. We ended up eating in 5 of them.
But Salamanca really is a beautiful place. I only was there for about 4 days to see some of the Semana Santa festivals there. The people were very nice, but it is a very conservative area of Spain. That was Franco’s heartland up in there. I love Spain.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
Happy Birthday Satby!
SiubhanDuinne
Have a great birthday, Satby!
satby
@magurakurin: I keep hearing that Lisbon is a good place to be an expatriate in. Keeping options open in case November doesn’t go as planned ;)
Yutsano
@satby: Happy Day of Revolution!
satby
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): @SiubhanDuinne: thanks, it already is because of you all ?
D58826
Are these folks working for the GOP
and the system will be so much better under Pres. Trump:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/18/us/politics/bernie-sanders-supporters-nevada.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0
Dan
@burnspbesq: Am I the only one that thinks “Hickenlooper” is way too silly of a name for him to get the VP nod?
I think it’ll be Tim Kaine. But who knows?
CONGRATULATIONS!
Damn, another soapmaker on this blog? Right on!
D58826
@Dan: Gonna need a bigger bumper for the sticker
Miss Bianca
@satby: Happy birthday!
magurakurin
@satby: I would love to live there. I surf, and the surfing is really good there as well. I’m already an ex-pat though and circumstances don’t allow me to move. But wife likes Portugal, too. We think about it…but for now, we are here in Japan…working. Just vacations in Iberia at this point.
CONGRATULATIONS!
@D58826: Yes. They may have convinced themselves that they aren’t, but sadly for them and us, this is a two party democracy. Kick the chair out from under the Dems and you don’t get better Dems. You get Republicans.
I’ve seen this happen three times in my lifetime (68 – led to Nixon, 80 – led to Reagan, 00 – led to George W.) and I’ve only just turned fifty. How unwilling to learn from history can people be?
magurakurin
@Dan: Tim Kaine would be a disappointing pick to me. Perez or Bercerra seem better. And I suppose there is a chance it could be Warren. I think a lot depends on Sanders. If the Clinton camp thinks they might actually have to go it alone…meaning Bernie fucks them in the end and doesn’t give a true and forceful endorsement….then they may well feel that Warren is who they need. But like you said…who knows? Even Clinton doesn’t know at this point, I’d wager.
raven
All you “All cops are pigs” watch this dude and civilians save a guys ass from a burning SUV.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@D58826: @D58826: these are why I don’t think HRC can go with SafeBoringWhiteGuy # 2702, or even the other models
She’s talking about closed primaries, fercrissakes.
eta: WRT to VP Warren, which I strongly oppose because it takes her out of the Senate (and underestimating the importance of the Legislature is a big problem for Dems/progressives), as I understand it, Baker would appoint a short term replacement until a special election is held: Under the best situation, who’s her replacement?
srv
The liberal schism continues:
Trump will win a a three- or four-way race:
Ben Cisco
@debbie: We can, and should, do MUCH better than that.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I would jump out a window
Dan
@magurakurin: While there would be something extremely gratifying about watching Trump get his ass kicked by a Clinton/Warren ticket, I just can’t see them being foolish enough to yank her from the Senate.
magurakurin
@Dan: That is a big sticking point I’m sure in the calculus. Pluses and minuses to every pick. I think a lot will come down to just what Bernie does though.
It really sucks that Sanders is doing this. I hate that bitter old prick.
O. Felix Culpa
Having slept in a little this gray New Mexican morning, I’m late to the party – but Happy Birthday, Satby! May this be a day and year of abundant joy!
WarMunchkin
@magurakurin: Whatever Bernie will do, if I were in Clinton High Command, there would be no possible calculation that convinces me that Bernie could be a reliable surrogate or advocate for Democrats. I’d go into the election assuming that Bernie would continue campaigning against Democrats and against the Democratic brand.
You don’t need to do anything special to get progressive Democrats on your side in an election against Republicans, and the people that I would like to call liberal revanchists wouldn’t vote for Democrats either way.
rikyrah
@CONGRATULATIONS!:
I think that Dems have been very patient with these clowns. I know that I want them dispatched, but party unity and all and call seeing the long-game. But, they are definitely trying the patience.
rikyrah
@magurakurin:
Kaine is a bland, boring but dependable vote in the Senate. Senators should be off limits.
hedgehog the occasional commenter
Happy birthday!
Bruce K
Hey, gang, I could have sworn I saw something but it may have fallen down the Internet’s memory hole. Was there some point in the past week when K-Thug referred to Trump as a total or complete “Antonin Scalia School of Law”? Or was it someone else at the NYT?
Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA
Late to this, but adding my voice to the choir — happy birthday, Satby!
Immanentize
@raven:
I haven’t heard that anywhere in, well, decades. Wow, it is 1968 again. The democrats are doomed….
D58826
If I see one more Bernie Bro talk about the importance of the progressive agenda I WILL THROW A CHAIR!!
I know that in 2008 Hillary ran out the string and the loss of several late primaries did not stop Obama, obviously. This isn’t 2008. John McCain was a sane mainstream conservative republican. The GOP was still a conservative but on balance sane political party. Even after McCain picked Caraboo Barbie he was still a conservative mainstream republican. The GOP had not gone full on tea party crazy.
That being said there are some things that are worrisome about the 2016 primary. For example Hillary beat Obama 65%-29% in Kentucky in 2008. Last night she managed to beat Sanders by 1%. Now maybe the difference can be explained by in 2008 Ky voters preferred a white woman to a black man while in 2016 they prefer a white man, even a socialist one, to any woman. And then maybe it is the Bernie Bros fighting to the bitter end.
But at this point 2016 is no longer similar to 2008. The GOP has lost its mind, and Trump has way to good of a chance to win in November. Up thru late April I can see Bernie’s supporters staying the course and voting for their candidate, if only to send a message and get a seat at the table in July.
With Trump the almost certain nominee we are past the point of being able to afford ‘sending a message’ to the democratic establishment. Every Sanders win or near win from now thru June just provides another opportunity to rail against the establishment, make unreasonable demands and threaten a convention floor fight. While I’m out of patience with Bernie I don’t really think he wants to see a replay of Chicago 68. Some of his die hard supporters I’m not so sure.
At his point the reasonable Bernie supporters have to make a choice. Make peace with the Hillary wing of the party and help elect her and a democratic senate in the fall or keep pushing the revolution and when the inevitable happens and Hillary is the nominee, take their marbles and go home. Hopefully if they chose the later course it will not cost Hillary the election in November.
Lets take a look at a bit of history starting in say 1890. It has taken over 100 years to implement a progressive agenda in this country. It has taken that long to get minimum wage legislation, child labor laws, right for women to vote (and maybe this year breaking the ultimate glass ceiling), food stamps, medicare, Obamacare, Dodd-Frank and the list goes on. At this point we can’t risk the good to try for a politically impossible perfect. Single payer may be the best thing in the world but we can’t risk Obamacare tilting at the single payer wind mill.
Since 1980 a ‘sane’ GOP has tried to reverse much of this progress. Can you imagine what will happen with Trump in the WH, the tea party in control of Congress and 9 40 something Sciala/Thomas on the Supreme Court for the next two generations. What Trump and Congress fail to repeal, SCOTUS will happily declare unconstitutional. Progressive legislation in blue states will be rolled back as well with a return to the Lochner era jurisprudence. SCOTUS of the early 20th century was quite happy invalidating state as well as federal progressive legislation. At the state level look at what is happening is Wisconsin, birthplace of early 20th century progressiveism and Fighting Bob La Follette. Walker and the GOP are on the fast track to 1900.
With the use of the filibuster a democratic minority in the Senate might be able to block the worst of the GOP plans. BUT remember that the Senate map in 2018 is much more favorable to the GOP. It is not impossible that they could reach 60 seats and have the votes to break the filibuster. And that assumes that Turtle doesn’t go nuclear in 2017 and gut the filibuster..
So Bernie Bros keep sending your message. The only one to benefit is Trump.
Shell
Crap! Was really hoping Hillary would take Oregon as well as Kentucky and maybe all this might finally be over. But that probably wouldn’t have been enough to stop the Clinton vs. Sanders wars.
Immanentize
@satby: Dear Satby, I know it’s your birthday, which made me look at your site. I have a (soap) question — We use Kiss My Face olive and aloe because of skin issues, but I am happy to move on over to you — what do you rec. for a similar daily bar replacement?
SuperHrefna
@satby: Happy Birthday! I think of you every time I use your luscious Peace Rose soap! Honestly, anyone here who hasn’t tried it yet, should. It’s so good, I buy three bars at a time.
amygdala
Happy Birthday, satby! Best wishes for a lovely day and healthy, happy year.
Humdog
Happy birthday, satby!
Have you tried satby’s creams and soaps? Her dog soap has really helped my boxer’s dry skin. Her creams and sugars scrubs are luxurious. I have been having health issues and a sure way to cheer myself is to use the lavender scrub in the shower followed by the lavender goats milk cream. I may still not feel well but I smell good and am soft and hydrated. My husband has found if he uses the dark chocolate lotion on himself he gets lots more snuggles and stuff from me ;)
Patricia Kayden
@D58826: Well isn’t that special? Shouldn’t the focus of Bernie supporters be on defeating Trump in November? Why are they turning Democrats and Secretary Clinton into the enemy? Hopefully the Democratic “establishment” will adopt rules to restrict voting in Democratic primaries to registered Democrats and not allow non-Democrats to compete in Democratic primaries. I assume Sanders is not a Democrat and therefore doesn’t care about the harm that he and his supporters are doing to the Democratic Party, or so it appears.
rikyrah
@D58826:
I’ll say it again:
THE SUPREME COURT.
When folks usually say it, it’s this nebulous, general idea, that yeah, the President gets to choose the Next Justice IF there is an opening.
THERE IS AN OPENING ON THE COURT RIGHT NOW.
R-I-G-H-T- N-O-W
and, we see the cases before the court and how much it would have hurt MILLIONS of my fellow citizens if Fat Tony hadn’t of taken his dirt nap.
REALLY, folks?
REALLY…you have it like that that you’ll tell MILLIONS of Americans to go stick it and just suck it up when those bad rulings come down the pike from a TRUMP nominee?
REALLY?
Peale
@CONGRATULATIONS!: Frankly, it’s not been long enough. Since the 60s, the left has decided that they are a bunch of Hebrews coming out of slavery in the land of Egypt and have been allowing various Moses figures to lead them around in circles. It’s a good place to be. You get to demand plagues, say a few words about justice and then go back to walking around and around.
D58826
@rikyrah: And the average age is 69 with three 77 or older. Counting the current opening that means the next POTUS could very well appoint 4 justices. Garland gives the liberals a 5-4 majority and a Kennedy (age 77) replacement would make it 6-3 . Thomas is 67 and not likely to be replaced in the first Hillary term, he is no spring chicken either. A second Hillary term (from my keyboard to FSM’s ears) might see him being replace as well. Hillary in the WH and a democratic senate can give a generational boost to Bernie’s progressive dreams. A Trump/GOP senate will lock in the 1890’s for 100 years.
But Bernie’s fee-fee’s have been hurt and one Bernie supporter claimed the events in Nevada on sat. were due to the fact that they were hungry and could not find a place to get a pizza in a major Vegas casino/hotel. So the future be d**d
Origuy
It’s been twenty years since I went to Spain. I was able to get by with my schoolboy Spanish and some review beforehand. People do sense you are American in Europe, I don’t know what tips them off. I was in Moscow in wintertime, wearing a borrowed coat that came down to my thighs, and people still addressed me in English.
While I was in Barcelona, I went to Montserrat, which is a shrine up in the mountains. You take a train there and then a cable car (like a ski lift) to the shrine. There’s a carving of the Black Madonna which was supposedly found there. Lots of Catholic kitsch for sale. A little tacky but the setting is beautiful.
I liked Toledo a lot. It’s about an hour out of Madrid by train or bus, so getting there from Salamanca shouldn’t be hard.
Princess
@Elizabelle: Salamanca is a beautful city but it is so full of foreign students learning Spanish that you might be better off somewhere like Granada or Zaragoza.
FoxinSocks
Happy Birthday, Satby!!!
J R in WV
@gvg:
Sanders is already signed up to run for Senate in 2018 – as an Independent. He doesn’t give a damn about the Democratic party, and would just a soon destroy our chances of winning in 2016 as look at you.
Fuck him! Ass.
Happy Birthday, Satby!! And Many more.
J R in WV
@EdinNJ:
Sorry to hear about your Dad. My Dad died on election day, 2004 – so on top of Shrub getting re-elected! So glad you had the puppy on hand at the time – they are so wonderful – when you need them, they are there for you.
Bruce K
Nebbermind, I found the Krugman bit:
Source here:
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/05/16/the-gop-is-not-america-clinton-is-not-rubio/
Am I a bad person for chuckling at that description of The Donald?
Elizabelle
@magurakurin: Thank you, thank you.
@Princess: Thank you, too. Thinking on living with a host family, but take your caution.
satby
@Immanentize: Kiss My Face is nice soap, it’s called a Bastile (Castile with added ingredients). My main ingredient is olive oil but I use a mix with olive as the main one (that’s mostly to keep my cost down, and because I’m working through a 50 lb block of shea butter). Send me your address IRL and I’ll send you a couple of samples to try! And thanks so much for the birthday wishes!
satby
One last grateful thank you to everyone. Very memorable and happy birthday and you’ve all made it so.Appreciate all of you!!
satby
@Humdog: OK, I LOLed! Thanks!