Pretty FUQN' cool
Wonder Woman: How Real-Life Athletes United to Populate the Film's Badass Amazon Nation https://t.co/eOFN45WF5n— Nelly B (@psddluva4evah) June 2, 2017
Because I can (heya, LAMH!), and because these stories meet my EMOT criteria for “not liable to make readers put down their coffee and go right back to bed.” Some days, it’s harder than others.
Jessica Bennet, in the NYTimes, “If Wonder Woman Can Do It, She Can Too”:
“She’s so strong,” the little girl seated next to me at a Brooklyn screening of “Wonder Woman” kept repeating to her mother, occasionally shielding her eyes. It was the first fight scene of the movie, and I was trying not to sob…
But 20 minutes into “Wonder Woman,” the director Patty Jenkins’s take on the iconic DC Comics story, the tears came uncontrollably — as the Amazonian women twirled and glided, fierce and muscular and graceful at once, engaged in battle moves that looked as if they were choreographed for women’s bodies (which, it turned out, they were). I mean, the outfits were a little absurd. Their gladiator sandals seemed to have wedges. And yet, much like Jill Lepore, the author of “The Secret History of Wonder Woman,” put it in The New Yorker: “I am not proud that I found comfort in watching a woman in a golden tiara and thigh-high boots clobber hordes of terrible men. But I did.”
In fact, I was proud. So were legions of women I know who took daughters, nieces, nephews, mentees or simply went in droves, some of them to women-only screenings — and walked out of theaters with a strange feeling of ferociousness. One friend immediately purchased 40 tickets for a group of girls she mentors, along with all their friends. A group of women writers has raised more than $7,000 in a GoFundMe campaign to send New York City girls to see the film.
“I was kind of taken aback at how something as minor as a movie has been affecting me,” said Ruth Wilner, 45, who saw the film with her husband in Sacramento. “I wish I could go back in time and watch it with 8-year-old me.”…
'Wonder Woman' Shatters Records With $200+ Million Worldwide Opening https://t.co/ovnJm8qhjh
— Forbes (@Forbes) June 3, 2017
myths that have fallen this week
✔️people won't see an action movie w a female lead
✔️only male superheroes workhttps://t.co/qlWiIjODls— Oliver Willis (@owillis) June 4, 2017
Spoilers (kinda) but also worth reading: “Wonder Woman‘s Most Fantastic Scene Nearly Didn’t Get Made at All”.
Fox News wants to know why Wonder Woman, a character not from America, isn't as American as they'd like her to be. pic.twitter.com/BjNBNtFInv
— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) June 2, 2017
Because, as President Trump himself has shown, if you want to succeed you have to get money from foreigners. https://t.co/iWmu0wfBaL
— Roy Edroso (@edroso) June 3, 2017
***********
Apart from fierce women and implacable resistance, what’s on the agenda for the day?
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
TS
gm rikyrah
Listening to Mark Halperin – he of the “I love Trump in the red hat on airplane” – trying to say positive things about dear leader is hysterical. If it wasn’t such a disaster for the US and the world we could laugh and laugh and laugh.
NotMax
Each year, the world becomes a bit more inscrutable to this oldster.
WTF is up with this?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@NotMax: I’d put that along with pet rocks.
BlueDWarrior
Wonder Woman continues to be one of my favorite characters in all of the comic book metaverses; because you have this very powerful, literally super-human figure of grace and beauty trying to figure out her place in a world where most people would just assume, eyeballing her, that she was at best a collegiate athlete recently, and more likely a model who actually eats and spends some time working out.
She almost has the opposite problem as Superman: the world assumes Wonder Woman to be a figure to be protected, like any normal, human woman, where she is more than strong enough to handle even super/meta-human threats; whereas Superman has to constantly protect his adopted homeworld from himself as well as the threats that he faces.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@TS: No thanks, I’d rather watch/listen to KO. His latest, if this was any other job his boss or board would say “You’re Fired!”.
SFAW
@TS:
Waiting to hear him use “You don’t sweat much for a fat boy, Mr. President*”
rikyrah
There were some great action scenes.
All I will say is:
Robin Wright Penn yelling SHIELD and three arrows.
When I get the DVD, I know that I will rewind that at least a dozen times. ??
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
SFAW
Because it seems to be the latest in fashion, or perhaps de rigueur, for some at this place:
Instead of [mocking Shitgibbon’s latest tweets]*, shouldn’t we be spending our time calling out [the Senate’s stealth destruction of Obamacare/SS/EPA/BFD]**?
I am concerned!
(The preceding has been provided as a PSA. No brain cells nor animals were harmed during production.)
*doing some typical Balloon Juice thing
** some typical outrage from the Party of Treason
Kay
Yes, because he’s all about “results”. God almighty, let the “businessman” worship GO. It is killing us all.
He’s a horrible “businessman”. The “deals” he announces are all bullshit and his White House is constantly in chaos and filled with backstabbing and leaking and he hired all of these people. In what imaginary world is he a good manager? What part is he good at? Not hiring, apparently, and not managing them after he hires them. There is nothing else, except firing. He’s also bad at firing. There was no reason to fire Comey in the most humiliating and disruptive way possible. It was dumb.
Ben Cisco
I saw it over the weekend and HOLY SMOKES WHAT A MOVIE.
Going back this weekend.
It was THAT good.
Baud
Glad to hear the movie is doing well. Can’t wait to see it.
Mary G
I don’t think I’ve been to a movie in a theater since Harry Potter 5, and I want to go, just to rack up the money. I remember a year or two ago, when feminists my age were hearing that young women had no interest in feminism because they hadn’t experienced it, getting very frustrated. Now they see it front & center, both in Twitler’s administration and the dudebros reactions to HRC daring to appear in public and say things that they think. and they are fired up. Some of the best political writing is in Teen Vogue, and Elle, and Marie Claire right now, because young women are not going to stand for this.
Baud
@Mary G:
That’s good to hear. That dynamic hasn’t yet made it into my frame of reference.
bystander
I don’t think this warning about viewing Wonder Woman is getting enough coverage.
The Moanin’ Joe panel topic of the morning: Sure, He’s Crazy, but How Much?
BlueDWarrior
@Kay: He’s good at fulfilling certain people’s biases about what a powerful CEO is. It doesn’t matter that his results are bogus, it just matters that he looks right to them. That’s why we have so much trouble arguing them down, because they are having their own biases confirmed and that’s enough for a lot of people, unfortunately.
BlueDWarrior
@bystander: well, to be fair, Nixon was an acceptable level of crazy (for the most part) to the American people. This is straight up Mad King Lear levels of crazy we’re approaching. I’d highly suggest that everyone with a title in the WH gets themselves a food taster.
SFAW
@Ben Cisco:
This “review,” coupled with the one from The Moar You Know (I think it was) is making me think I need to catch a matinee. (I can’t, but I’m thinking about it.)
That aside: I hope you’re doing well. I often think of you.
Baud
@bystander: i remember when I caught the gay after seeing Captain America.
bystander
@Baud: For me it was The Wolfman.
TS
@?BillinGlendaleCA: The moaning team have picked up on that – saying much the same thing. For a “news” show that tried so hard to get him elected, the turn around is 100% – I keep wondering why this is.
Quinerly
Jane Mayer’s most recent piece on the Koch brothers: http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/in-the-withdrawal-from-the-paris-climate-agreement-the-koch-brothers-campaign-becomes-overt
Kay
@BlueDWarrior:
Right, but everyone says this as thought this myth is only bought by certain “Trump voters”. There aren’t any voters quoted in that piece. It’s all “educated elites”. This isn’t about “knowing” something. It’s about wanting to believe a really cherished myth- that money = merit. It isn’t limited to people who didn’t go to college. The people who are driving it are both educated and powerful. You can’t educate your way out of this.
This is self-interest on their part. They have to believe they wouldn’t be successful but for merit, so it is essential they believe that about Trump too. He can’t be the freaking Wizard of Oz because if he is that calls their success into question.
Kay
@BlueDWarrior:
I have more sympathy for Trump voters who believe this. They don’t know any rich people and they want to believe he rose on merit because that means they could rise too. What’s the elites excuse? They’re supposed to know better.
Balconesfault
@Baud: that’s good to see, given that white women where a critical part of Trumps base
Lapassionara
@BlueDWarrior: King Lear was a tragic figure, driven mad by his scheming daughters. Trump is a buffoon, driven crazy by his own ignorance and ineptitude and insatiable need for praise.
And good morning, all.
Ben Cisco
@SFAW: I am doing better, thanks. Knowing that my dad and Mrs. Cisco, who got on great, are hanging out now has settled me somewhat. Work has ramped up so I’m lurking and reading when I can.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Ruh-roh
Lattin is former member of the IC and former member of the Secret Service (link)
Baud
@Balconesfault: Right. But I think that was because of older white women. I’m not sure how younger white women broke in the election, but we did better with the younger cohort generally.
Kay
@BlueDWarrior:
They’re all (supposedly) worried about the “death of expertise”. What’s the point of education or expertise if the fall-back is relying on cherished myths? Maybe they discredited themselves. They continue to insist everything he does come out of what they believe about “successful businesspeople”. What good are elites if they don’t examine certain assumptions and question the premise they’re basing these evaluations on? What was all the education for?
debbie
@bystander:
I hate this country when I read things like that.
Nora
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Oh, don’t worry about that. They’ll prosecute anyone who leaks that information. Can’t have the rubes knowing what was really going on, can we?
?BillinGlendaleCA
I went to meetup with the local photography group(Glendale) for a photo shoot in DTLA, I took this pic. I got a nice comment from one of the other folk that were there.
debbie
I wonder how many votes Corbyn would gain if he said he’d cancel Trump’s visit if he was elected.
Baud
@Kay:
Constructing excuses for why they should be given respect and political power. (Also, too, why Democrats are no better.)
Le Comte de Monte Cristo fka Edmund Dantes
@bystander:
I like that article, and definitely want to go and see it…
Kay
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
I want to read more about the voter reg data. Media people are bad at covering election process because it’s nitpicky and rule- bound and boring. The people who report that “dead people are voting” because voter rolls include deceased people can’t be relied upon to dig into voter registration. They’ve never gotten clear on “registration” and then “voting”.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Kay:
Wallpaper?
(Wallpaper == lots of degrees covering the wall.)
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Great colors.
@debbie: Oh, I’m surprised he hasn’t done that yet. Good call.
Kay
@Baud:
This is why one hires people with expertise. So everyone doesn’t have to know everything. If they’re just going to repeat things they “believe” they’re not adding any value and it’s no wonder people don’t turn to them for advice and counsel. The level of this “analysis” is like “the old man sitting next to me at the bar” or the “lady at the dry cleaners”.
“Trump is a businessman so he acts..business-y!” Thanks, elites. Good job.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Thanks.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Kay:
No, you just need people with common sense; that’s much more important than a fancy education or “expertise”.
Iowa Old Lady
@BillinGlendaleCA: A huge percentage of people will say the purpose of education is to get a “well-paying” job. Sad!
Kay
Coincidentally my vacation (well one of them) starts the day of the Comey hearing. It really is a coincidence but I must watch so I’m glad I knew to take it out 6 months ago.
Today is my last kid’s last day of 8th grade. They give “character” awards at his school and he isn’t getting one. He really wanted one so I’m imagining him being really dramatically “helpful” or “kind” and them sort of not buying it :)
Maybe you can’t pull it out in the last month, like you can with many other things.
debbie
@Kay:
This is my youngest brother to a T. Trump spoke at his graduation (Lehigh 1988). I remember, as a New Yorker, loathing the man as he descended from a helicopter, said some stupid fortune-cookie-level things, returned to the helicopter, and sped away. The man hasn’t changed a bit since then. Lots of nothing.
My brother’s been exceedingly successful, conservative economically but socially very liberal. I didn’t realize how much he hated Obama until after the election. If I were speaking to him, I’d ask him if he still thinks Trump will be great and bring the country together. I’d ask him, as a pillar of the local Jewish community, if he still has no problem having thrown in with white supremacists and anti-Sem*tes. I just do not understand what unhinged him so.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Iowa Old Lady: This is true, I even heard it when I was at UCLA. “Why doesn’t UCLA have an undergrad business major”. I pointed out that UCLA is a research university and if they wanted more of a vocational course of study, a Cal State* school would be better suited for them.
The Cal State system started out as teacher training colleges(Normal Schools).
SFAW
@debbie:
Um .. that article was a joke. Or am I missing some meta-snark on your part? Or perhaps you were referring to Moanin’ Joe, and I misunderstood?
NorthLeft12
@Kay: Yes, I remember executives like him during and after the 2008 meltdown. How important it was for those financial institutions to retain these wizards by throwing even more money at them, because apparently there were other companies lining up to hire them if these sensitive masters of the universe were not properly praised and rewarded for causing the second worst financial disaster in US history.
I have met and worked with enough executives to understand that they are easily replaceable. The really good ones actually install systems and cultures, and fill them with good people who can step in and competently do the job above their level if needed.
The blind worship of the executive class has got to end, and they need to be held to account to the same standard that they hold their employees to. No more boys clubs.
MJS
@BillinGlendaleCA: That is really outstanding. I envy your talent.
Kay
@NorthLeft12:
Or, at least take the whole Trump. If Trump’s executive actions come from his business career then where does the compulsive lying come from? What about cheating people? Is that CEO too? I mean, Jesus. What kind of message are they sending with this? They ADMIRE this? What does that say about them? They’re ethically bankrupt and a couple more graduate degrees aren’t going to fix that.
Kay
@debbie:
Ugh. The people who read his book. What if they followed his advice? There could be millions of them.
debbie
@SFAW:
Sorry, it’s early. It was snark, but my comments get lost whenever I use slashes.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@MJS: Thanks, here’s one more, the sunset.
debbie
@Kay:
Like lice! Like roaches!
Immanentize
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
I like. The clouds are very sweet and seem undistorted compared to the built world.
Also — I like the red plant (?) Pic maybe even more.
Msb
Re: Wondrous Women.
Wow.
Thanks.
rikyrah
@Kay:
If not for his Daddy’s money, he would be selling used cars.
Immanentize
@debbie: I think that is the Labor campaign. But the Brits are too nice to be overtly mean about foreign folk.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Immanentize: I used my fisheye lens for both pics. The sunset pic, I just used a preset in Lightroom that I’d set up a while ago and brighted the shadows a bit. It is a bit on the red side, I should probably move the tint down a little bit.
MomSense
Newsweek has a story up about Wilmer. He earned more than a million last year placing him in the 1%.
Immanentize
@Kay: My son goes to a high school that has a nice tradition of graduating seniors passing down awards to other students. My son got an award at this year’s ceremony (students and teachers only) — The LANK. This was given to an underclass person whose thinness is only exceeded by his height. The award is an ill-fitting pair of pants (wide and short). In two years he will bestow the award on another deserving soul.
That is what education is for, IMHO.
NorthLeft12
@Kay:
I would take that a step farther and add that for a lot of people, [normal] rich people are somehow inherently “better” than the rest of us. More moral, generous, mannered, beautiful, intelligent, witty, ad nauseam. I just don’t get that thought process at all. Personally, I think it is mainly people who have basically never had contact with the higher classes on a regular basis. Just like it is easier to hate groups of people that you have never met and socialized with.
But this is something even more pernicious. It is almost a built in, inherited subservience. To me, this is one of the greatest threats to democratic society, that a large group of people in our society want and apparently need to be guided and submissive to a ruling class.
efgoldman
@bystander:
Gotta’ be parody. HAS to be!
Doesn’t it?
Another Scott
@NorthLeft12:
That’s an excellent point that should be drummed into everyone’s head in business (and government, etc.).
Another way to put is something I heard from my step-mom (a VP of IT at a fairly large company) – “One rule of thumb during any significant re-organization is to fire anyone who is irreplaceable. They’re too dangerous to the company.” It sounds stupid, and doing it by rote is dangerous, but there’s a lot of truth to it. The company is bigger than any one person. If someone is so critical to the operation that they are the only one who can do the job, then they’re a danger (death, extended illness, blackmail, sudden departure for a competitor, etc., etc.).
Yet another way to put it, from an employee point of view – “If you can’t be fired, you can’t be promoted.”
Really good managers build systems and procedures and cultures that grow and let the people inside grow. Ones that become essential and indispensable and BMOC-types endanger the future of the company and all of its employees.
Cheers,
Scott.
efgoldman
@TS:
The check bounced.
rikyrah
Trump hotel received $270,000 from the Saudis
https://mobile.twitter.com/BraddJaffy/status/871853574443208705
Bobby Thomson
@NotMax: I’ve always been a supporter of self love.
Immanentize
@rikyrah: I can’t even. Does the Constitution mean nothing to Republicans?
rikyrah
@Quinerly:
She has done superb work with exposing that evil.
NotMax
@BillinGlendaleCA
Was actually gonna let it go by without a mention here but it fit in so well with a woman-themed thread.
Kismet.
Ella in New Mexico
@bystander: yeah, but they did manage to ruffle Scottie Pruit’s cocky little fucktard feathers while he tried to lie his way through the interview.
Every single Koch appointment in this administration deserves a prolonged case of C.difficile colitis…
rikyrah
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
The people would be Kushner and the Mercers, if true.
efgoldman
@debbie:
Yeah, you do; you just don’t want to admit it, because he’s your brother. Sorry.
rikyrah
@Kay:
Dare I say that it’s about Whiteness?
Nobody not White would be considered a good businessman with Dolt45’s record.
Carly Fiorina tries it,but her disastrous tenure at HP is hung around her neck all the time.
Cheryl Rofer
Our President is tweeting again. Taking credit for the Saudi et al. actions against Qatar. This will not end well.
Betty Cracker
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: We already know from a WSJ story last week (or maybe the week before) that Russian hackers stole voter info from Democrats and handed it over to a GOP operative in Florida. And that at least one GOP House candidate used that info to guide outreach (Brian Mast [R-FL]). And that the same hacker was in contact with Roger Stone. I’m amazed at how little attention that story is getting, particularly since a campaign consultant admitted he used stolen information received from Russia.
SFAW
@debbie:
OK, good. I was worried for a minute there.
Immanentize
@rikyrah: Fiorina is white, isn’t she? So maybe it is not (just) Whiteness?
Baud
@NorthLeft12: Agree. It’s a feudal mentality. It’s not even capitalistic.
chris
Obama to speak in Montreal today.
I like the opening sentence of the article, “In these darkening times…”
Note: CBC will have video of the speech at 5:30 ET
Quinerly
@rikyrah:
That she has. Read her last book awhile ago. Excellent writer and great in interviews.
Kay
@Immanentize:
He’s very suggestible. It’s nice in a way- he’s “open”- you tell him something and he’ll consider it. They do a whole program on bullying (it’s a real problem- we had a kid who had his nose broken) – it’s basically “stop being so horrible to one another, you poorly-raised jerks” which I heartily endorse. Anyway, he took this to heart and reported a bullying incident that occurred at the bike rack. Except the two kids are cousins, they bicker constantly and neither one felt bullied. I congratulated him on his vigilance. Anyway, if “character” is what gets an award he’s on board!
ThresherK
@chris: I would not be surprised if Obama just casually showed a better command of French than Trump does of English.
Quinerly
@rikyrah:
There were several detailed articles on this yesterday. Think I posted or someone else posted in a thread. All this shit comes at fire hose strength that no one can keep up. This alone would prompt months and months of Congressional hearings if anybody else but Trump.
Humdog
@Betty Cracker: Hey Betty, how’s the finger? I may have missed an update. Gotta take bites seriously!
Patricia Kayden
@TS: Mark Halperin is why I’ll never watch Morning Joe. His overt pandering to Trump and all things Republican is sickening. Makes you wonder if he’s getting something on the side for excessive fawning.
Immanentize
@Kay: That bike rack story is so great. Being open is hard to come by these days. I salute the parenting!
Bullying is such a hard issue for kids. When is someone being bullied which really has to be mentioned versus when is a kid “snitching.” Here in Boston for a while, juvies were wearing “no snitching” t-shirts and the police — especially the MBTA police — had open season on kids because of it. One school wrapped tee issue into their anti-inflammatory crusade and it was pretty effective explaining that saving another student from abuse was never snitching, just helping.
I hope your son prevails always in kindness and character.
MomSense
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
That is way cool.
zhena gogolia
@bystander:
“Oh, Larry!”
satby
Good morning all! I was catching up on overnight threads; I wish I was a night owl to be in them in real time. Good stuff.
rikyrah
@Cheryl Rofer:
Our largest base in the ME is in Qatar.
Kay
He should sign a statement of principles on that. Everyone knows that means it’s as good as done. I’m amused that Republicans can’t pass a healthcare bill unless it’s coupled with huge tax cuts. They have to GRAB the money “saved” by kicking 23 million out of the system before someone else gets it! Must.. happen.. simultaneously!
Amir Khalid
@Immanentize:
It’s obvious, isn’t it? Money, even if ill-gotten, means more to certain people of the Republican persuasion than the US Constitution does.
Cheryl Rofer
@rikyrah: Yes. A number of people on my Twitter TL are expressing doubt that Trump knows that.
Morzer
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/markaz/2017/06/05/the-110-billion-arms-deal-to-saudi-arabia-is-fake-news/
Baud
@Kay: If Trump issues an executive order stating his intent to repeal Obamacare and cut taxes, declares victory, and calls it a day, it will be the best thing he’s done as president.
satby
@Kay: @Iowa Old Lady: What IOL says, for the last 25 years. To get a better paying job, preferably not a grubby union job, even though those jobs made families comfortably middle class. College became a racket to churn out business and management graduates and companies started requiring college degrees for jobs that didn’t actually need them in support of that racket.
I’m so old, I remember when requiring a college degree was a safe way to covertly discriminate, because college attendance and graduates were overwhelmingly white.
rikyrah
@Cheryl Rofer:
Oh I know that he doesn’t know that piece of information.
Amir Khalid
@Bobby Thomson:
You can’t just give it lip service, you know. A true supporter practises it in his daily life, whenever and wherever possible..
clay
@Cheryl Rofer: Er…. he does know that Qatar is our ally…. doesn’t he?
Baud
@clay: “was” our ally.
Kay
@Baud:
I agree but we won’t be that lucky. They don’t give a rat’s ass about health care but they need to cut health care to get those tax cuts, and they do care about those. Tax cuts and the Supreme Court. That’s the trade they made for sticking us all with Trump and they will get their pay-off. They’re not some small painting contractor that he can easily cheat. They’ll remove him from office if they don’t get what they want.
Laura
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Moody, blue and lovely!
Morzer
@rikyrah:
I am sure Trump would never denounce an ally for stealing bases/jobs/troops from the American people…
clay
@Morzer:
I wonder what proportion of Trump’s ‘accomplishments’ will, at year’s end, be things that rightfully belong to Obama?
Morzer
@Kay:
They won’t remove Trump until they see clear evidence that his base has turned on him/abandoned him in substantial numbers. So far, that doesn’t seem to be the case.
MomSense
@Baud:
ugh.
Morzer
@clay:
To the extent that we define accomplishments positively.. all of them.
Kay
@satby:
Business administration and management is the most popular degree. That’s why I was baffled that we had this whole “debate” about useless liberal arts majors and how they aren’t job creators so must be shunned. We have PLENTY of business majors. What gives? They’re not creating a lot of wealth? Why not?
Amir Khalid
@clay:
Some unfortunate aide probably saw the tweet and suffered a panic attack.
Morzer
@Baud:
Seemed to be our ally, Before we realized that they had stolen an entire base and that we had always been at war with East Qataria.
Kay
@Morzer:
I sort of disagree with that. GOP leadership would turn on Trump if Trump raised taxes, and the base would follow.
The base isn’t always in front. If they were there wouldn’t be such a disconnect between policies GOP voters favor and “the GOP”.
MomSense
@Amir Khalid:
Pretty sure Dolt 45 hasn’t appointed any aides who have any knowledge of the region. Our president is dumb and flying blind.
Morzer
@Kay:
Political correctness, obviously!
MomSense
@Morzer:
538 says otherwise. Polling shows significant erosion of his base.
We know that the Russians interfered in lower races so I’m thinking it’s corruption and collusion all the way down.
Morzer
@Kay:
Can you imagine Trump actually raising taxes? I suspect that scenario isn’t even a hypothetical at this point. I still think that the GOP might want to remove Trump and go for the quieter fascist option, but feel compelled to wait for the base to abandon Trump enough that doing so is safe. At which point, expect a barrage of stories about how Trump was always a Democrat and committed to sabotaging the GOP.
NotMax
@clay
Qatar also the world’s largest suppler of liquified natural gas (some 30% of world supply is shipped from Qatar, mostly to Asia). Should tensions escalate and that shipping be impeded traversing the Gulf, world financial markets would plummet.
Too, the Dolphin pipeline supplying natural gas from Qatar to the UAE and Oman is reported to be operating normally and uninterrupted.
rikyrah
@Cheryl Rofer:
You mean that dealing with all these different Arab countries is DIFFICULT?
HARD WORK?
That maybe, just because Qatar doesn’t line your pockets like Saudi Arabia…that maybe, you should SHUT DA PHUCK UP, before you endanger all of our troops that are in Qatar?
is THAT what you mean by not ending well?
This man is a complete, phucking clown.
Kay
They shouldn’t report this until it happens because it isn’t going to happen. He’s a liar and the people who work for him are liars. He’s getting credit for doing things he doesn’t do. Saying isn’t doing.
Quinerly
I really can’t hang out here all day like I did yesterday ? (but you were sure the diversion I needed!) Question: Do we think Trump might fire Jeff Sessions?…two pieces now how disgruntled he is with him and how he is obsessing over Sessions’ recusal on the Russia investigation. I guess I didn’t catch it at the time, but it seems Sessions announced his recusal without telling Trump first. Talk amongst yourselves.?
Morzer
@MomSense:
To be precise, it shows a drop in strong support – which isn’t the same thing as losing his base for good. All it takes is a “win” or two and those people will be back with Trump. Where that win comes from is much harder to say.
rikyrah
@NotMax:
didn’t know that. Hmmmm…
Betty Cracker
@Humdog: Seems a little better today, thanks!
Morzer
@Quinerly:
Trump might want to replace Sessions, especially in one of his more carpet-chewing moments, but who would he find to replace The Little Confederate That Can’t? Then there would have to be confirmation hearings, which might be a little awkward etc etc.
rikyrah
@Kay:
Tis true. This is the battle we’re up against, and we need to fight. Run out the clock on these clowns. Keep them linked to Dolt45 for as long as possible, so, as he sinks, they do too.
Amir Khalid
@Kay:
A bachelor’s degree in business admin is probably less useful than four years work experience in the private sector. But it puts a young person on an easier promotion and pay-raise track, doesn’t it? No sane corporation should hire an MBA holder without work experience relevant to its business.
rikyrah
@Immanentize:
She is White, but a she. That she even tries it, is a testament to Whiteness.
NotMax
@rikyrah
Also the primary supplier of LNG to Egypt.
Immanentize
@Cheryl Rofer: as Charlie Pierce put it (I think it was him) that we use Qatar like a huge aircraft carrier.
Betty Cracker
@Morzer: That’s what all this huffing and puffing around the Muslim ban is about, IMO. The talking points have been distributed, and Trump, his surrogates and his favored media outlets are all yammering about “political correctness.” IMO, railing against “political correctness” was the most effective messaging Trump ever used. When I ask my asshole Trump-voting relatives what made them think an obvious conman would be a good president, the phrase “political correctness” invariably comes up.
Morzer
@rikyrah:
A Demon She(ep) though. That and the red eyes ought to count for something.
rikyrah
@Quinerly:
Nope. Just smoke and mirrors.
clay
@Kay:
Uh-huh. They say no Hollywood movie ever turns a profit….
Jeffro
@Quinerly: I do loves me some Jane Mayer…can’t believe she’s basically the only one out there connecting all the Koch-dots.
Morzer
@Betty Cracker:
Sometimes I think that extreme stupidity is the opposite of political correctness. Still, say what you like about the tenants of national Trumpism – at least they’re an ethnos!
Kay
@Amir Khalid:
I don’t really know. I always worked for small businesses, other than my stint at the postal service. I have a two year technical degree- basically skilled trades- and then a liberal arts bachelors. The technical degree was more difficult but that might have been because I was younger and sort of an unserious goofball gad-about at that time in general.
I think I’m good at hiring but no one has ever told me I am or evaluated it. We did a management training here about 4 years ago. I thought it was interesting. I like that stuff about “what is your ETHOS?” :)
Quinerly
@Morzer:
In a SEMI sane world, I would agree. It’s obvious he doesn’t listen to any advice. Comey crossed him, he stewed for weeks, and fired him in the worst possible way without a thought to how he was going to replace him. I just don’t know how to game this one it. I honestly can see him doing it. It’s personal. That’s the only way he thinks.
Jeffro
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: it will not surprise me one bit to see that certain RWNJ Americans committed treason by colluding with the Russians to fix the election. I hate to get all tinfoil hat-ish, but it sure seems to me that in a few key states, a small but critical % of Ds were targeted and dropped off of the rolls, and/or a small but critical % of not-often-voting Rs’ votes were added in later in the day on Election Day.
I hope the investigation ends up looking at House and Senate races and how they might have been fixed, too.
Steeplejack (phone)
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Nice picture.
Jeffro
@Kay:
Trumpov’s actually worse than a barfly or laundry-lady spouting off what they believe: he has a proven track record of destroying everything he touches. He’s a proven loser. He’s “Shit Midas”.
Tenar Arha
@Ben Cisco: One of us, one of us!
~laughing at myself~ I went Thursday & Sunday & could probably get talked into a matinee again in a week or 3, it really was that good.
Morzer
@Quinerly:
I wonder if Trump thinks he can afford to fire Sessions though. If he does, Beauregard might just decide to flip rather than spending his few remaining years in jail – and he must know where quite a few of the bodies are buried.
Jeffro
@rikyrah: Seconded (that Trumpov won’t fire Sessions)…they’re in this together from here ’til the end…
Quinerly
@Morzer:
In a SEMI sane world you would think.
Kay
@Jeffro:
I think so too. The expression of solidarity to foreign leader is a gimmee. He has such a huge fucking ego he can’t even control himself long enough to issue a statement that sounds like a normal person. Did you see what he did there? He turned that into being about HIM. THEY had a tragedy and WE analyzed Donald Trump’s inner thoughts. It’s pathological. No one should admire this. It’s just bad.
Morzer
@Quinerly:
Remember that Sessions is clearly up to his neck in the Russia business, which has been enraging and terrifying Trump for months now. I don’t see how Trump can afford to remove him and let him scurry off to explain how he was duped by Wicked Donald into a little bit of betrayal of his country.
ruemara
@Baud: he won across the board on white women. White supremacy is a hell of a drug.
MomSense
@Jeffro:
King Minus.
Kay
@Morzer:
That’s my wish on Trump/Russia. That Sessions has to resign. I feel like he’s probably better at manipulating his own mess than the rest of the Trumpsters though. He’s been around a long time and there’s that horrible clubby Senate thing. They’ll all want to think he’s honorable.
Tenar Arha
@efgoldman: Here’s one based on the Alamo Drafthouse screenings. What MRA’s think will happen at the Women-Only Wonder Woman Screenings ?
Sab
@Immanentize: White women aren’t fully white, because of their femaleness.
Kay
@ruemara:
That has to be repeated. Ugh. Such a disappointment. WTF? I get that Clinton’s a she-devil but she would have been competent.
Tazj
@rikyrah: I have to agree. Remember when Bannon was supposedly on the outs with the administration? Now, some think he’s behind 45’s latest moves, but who knows? I know they like to create intrigue with leaks from the royal court to distract the press.
Chris
@Kay:
Hold on, this sounds like you’re blurring “experts” and “elites” together, and they’re not the same thing. To oversimplify, “experts” are the spooks and diplomats who warned that the Iraq War was a terrible idea, the OMB types warning us of the fallout from the AHCA, the biologists telling us that evolution is a real thing, the climate scientists warning us that global warming is real, the historians telling us that the Civil War was in fact about slavery… the Egyptologists telling us that, no, the pyramids were not giant grain depositories. And “elites” are the people who ignore everything they have to say because it doesn’t fit into what they wanted to do anyway.
I mention this because the blurring of “experts” and “elites” is a favorite tactic of the GOP, which much of the public has latched onto, and which makes it much easier to diss “experts” while elevating unqualified “elites.”
Kay
@Chris:
That’s a great point. In this case, though, they were picked for quotes because they’re lawyers who have worked with Presidents, so they are experts on whether Sessions is a bad AG or whether Trump is a moron who doesn’t take legal advice because he knows everything.
Kay
@Chris:
I was conflating it though, generally, so thanks. I probably do blur them.
Cheryl Rofer
@Quinerly: What I would really, really like to know about Sessions is the content of his meetings with Kislyak. No reason for those meetings.
Will Trump replace him? I think not immediately. He’s just venting to try to make the Russia issue go away. But might later.
Cheryl Rofer
@Immanentize: yup
Sab
@Immanentize: White women aren’t fully white, because of their femaleness.@ThresherK: Obama spent his childhood in Indonesia. I cannot believe he is not casually multilingual.
Immanentize
@Jeffro: If it was possible to put “Trump just can’t fire Sessions” stories in the media — particularly the MSM — Sessions would be gone in a week. Trump doesn’t do “consequences.”
Quinerly
@Morzer: @Cheryl Rofer: @Kay: All great thoughts. I think Sessions is going down one way or another. My gut.
Immanentize
@Kay: That clubby Senate thing is actually making Sessions bad at his job. He really is not getting anything much done there yet. The charging and plea policy was just a return to pre-Obama days and the failure to have really any US Attorneys confirmed means it is business as usual in federal district court where all the action is.
I think Sessions is really quite compromised by his recusal both in the DOJ and in the courts. Now LE is another issue, but without any head of the FBI, same problem.
Betty Cracker
@ruemara & @Kay: While Clinton lost white women overall, it wasn’t quite across the board; she won handily with white college-educated women, who usually vote Republican. Just sticking up for my demographic. ;-)
Miss Bianca
@Betty Cracker: I sort of missed the exchange about the bug sting yesterday, but how are you dealing with it? After installing ten packages of honeybees (and getting stung multiple times, because despite what the bee book guy said about its being so safe to install honeybees with your bare hands because they wouldn’t be very aggressive, these girls were in a feisty mood), I had to go to the clinic and get a shot of steroids to clear up the swelling and itching. Did you know that the most efficacious home remedy for swelling and itching, besides ice, is toothpaste? I sure didn’t, but it works! Arm and Hammer Baking Soda toothpaste works wonders!
Immanentize
@Sab: john a. powell, a race scholar I admire and have chatted with about this recently started thinking that in the Jim Crow days, the question was “who is black?”. If you had 1/32 of black blood in you, you were black by law (and that amount dwindled every generation). Now, john believes the question is “who is white?”. In this identity reversal, a black person can be “white” for societal purposes and a white person can be not-white. john a. powell, when we were talking, thought this might be progress. I don’t know but the idea fired my brain cells a lot!
Of course gender is implicated in race, but that is another intersectionality discussion….
hovercraft
I just posted this in the new thread, from TPM
BREAKING: Trump’s Saudi Arms Deal Is Actually Fake
Here’s what Riedel discovered …
I’ve spoken to contacts in the defense business and on the Hill, and all of them say the same thing: There is no $110 billion deal. Instead, there are a bunch of letters of interest or intent, but not contracts. Many are offers that the defense industry thinks the Saudis will be interested in someday. So far nothing has been notified to the Senate for review. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency, the arms sales wing of the Pentagon, calls them “intended sales.” None of the deals identified so far are new, all began in the Obama administration.…………………..
SAD! so SAD!
Sab
@Immanentize: Life is weird
The Moar You Know
Saw Wonder Woman with my wife this weekend. I’m not surprised that Fox is quite upset. There’s some big picture themes about just how fucked-up our culture is on how we deal with women, the poor, and especially, especially war. It’s not quite the most anti-war movie I’ve ever seen but it’s right up there.
Oh, and it was fucking great, by the way.
Immanentize
@Sab: ha!! Yes it is. But when the going gets weird….
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@Sab:
Is there a difference between white and White?
Immanentize
@West of the Rockies (been a while): I wrote a very long footnote in one of my articles about whether/when to capitalize white and/or black.
Some people’s idea of a profession, amirite?
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@Immanentize:
Do you have a link? Thank you.
Chris
@Kay:
No prb. I was pretty sure you didn’t mean to be hating on experts, and like I said, this kind of confusion has penetrated so much into our culture that it’s easy to pick it up by osmosis.
@The Moar You Know:
As soon as I saw it was set in World War One, I knew they had the potential for a great anti-war movie, though whether they’d actually act on it was another question. Based on all the reviews I’ve read, they did so and did it pretty well.
Jeffro
here’s your Tuesday LOL, folks (sorry, not linking): if he had a billion bucks, David Brooks would ‘seed’ 25-person collectives around the country. This is what they’d focus on:
I’d spend a bit of my billion developing a not-for-profit affordable housing model that works and is self-sustaining, and then getting quite a few of those units built. The rest would all go for teaching scholarships for minority students, once I got some of our bigger school divisions to agree to co-fund. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Brooksie – lemme know how those ‘seeded’ collectives do while my big bucks are out doing some concrete good in the world.
(Hint for DougJ: this might be a fun Friday ‘readership capture’ question)
brendancalling
Ok, so this is a weird little personal thing. When my kid’s mom and I split up 13 years ago, something snapped in my reptile brain that has had permanent results: I can’t handle anything emotional in the movies anymore. I melt down and start weeping like a little baby. Last night, I was watching “Hugo” on Netflix with my gal, and the scene where Sascha Baron Cohen gets brave enough to talk to the flower girl nearly fucking killed me.
I suspect I’ll be a bowl of jelly by the end of Wonder Woman. Even the trailer had my eyes welling up.
Cris (without an H)
My sons (11 and 7) have already earmarked their movie money for this weekend. We’re all psyched.
One of my favorite WW moments was a couple of years ago on a Saturday morning when they were watching the Justice League episode “Grudge Match.” That moment when Wonder Woman rises out of the floor, and everybody knows the contest has moved to a whole new level, made all three of us gasp. After the show, those two boys started acting out Superhero action and were jockeying to see who got to be Black Canary and who got to be Wonder Woman. They know badass when they see it, regardless of gender.
rikyrah
@Kay:
You know I can’t stand Attorney General White Citizens Council,but he’s knee deep in all of this Russia stuff, and when the dam breaks, it’s going go drown him. Dolt45 can’t afford to get rid of Fascist Elf. They will go down together.
germy
@The Moar You Know:
Makes me wish it had been released in September or October 2016.
Immanentize
@West of the Rockies (been a while):
Here you go: “Rape as a Badge of Slavery….”. Note 6.
Immanentize
@Jeffro: This is just a spiritualized sprucing up of the original US mission of public education — “Here we teach the Heart, Hand and Mind for the Common Good.”. Maybe Horace Greeley?
stinger
I’m not into comic book movies and superheroes, but I was a WW fan as a child. People’s reactions to this film remind me of how I felt coming out of Thelma and Louise. So I may go see it.
germy
David Edelstein had to explain his Wonder Woman review.
Mnemosyne
@Betty Cracker:
Because I am a jerk, I would ask your relatives why they think it’s okay to be rude to people. That’s really what the complaint is about “political correctness” — white people are mad that they don’t get to be rude to non-whites and other people without consequences.
Do your relatives really want to live in a world where other people can make fun of them for being fat, or being bald? Why do they want the right to be rude to strangers for no reason?
Kristine
@Kay:
I feel the same way about the financial folks who drove up the stock market in anticipation of all the deregulation/tax cuts supposed to occur under Trump. They watched him operate in NYC for years, if not decades–they knew his history and what he was. How could they think he was anything other than a disaster waiting to happen, that he could actually hire the right people and organize and get things done?
I know some bad things can still happen, and have happened. But they will happen in spite of Trump, not because of him.
Kristine
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Nice.
bemused
@Kay:
I’m still amazed at people in my area who supported/voted for Trump because he was a “successful” businessman. These are the same people who are employees or ex-employees of asshole business owners with similar Trump traits and ex-customers of asshole business owners. They are pretty sour on and have no respect for the mini-Trump business owners they’ve had experience with. Granted, those business owners aren’t billionaires but some are definitely millionaires or close to it. I can’t for the life of me understand why they think Trump is somehow altogether different, the smartest one on the block who would deliver for them.
I can’t help but think they weren’t entirely honest about billionaire business guy being a top reason for their votes.
Kristine
@NorthLeft12:
One of so many great Terry Pratchett quotes, from FEET OF CLAY: “Whoever had created humanity had left in a major design flaw. It was its tendency to bend at the knees.”
Gelfling 545
@NotMax: It appears to be nonsense but it does me nor anybody no harm, like so many things.
The Golux
@Kay:
I have to confess I have occasionally turned around after taking a dump and “admired” what I had just done, but I always hit the handle.
Jeffro
@Immanentize: I guess. I’m not sure why it requires a billion dollars and ‘collectives’ all across the country – just a website, posters for sale, and a social media person or two?
But that’s me just being reflexively anti-Brooks…
Gelfling 545
@Ben Cisco: Everybody I know who’s seen it is going back again. Hope to take my grandduaghters this week.
Tenar Arha
@Kristine: One of the many, many reasons I think we resonate with the scene with Loki where the crowd kneels & the one old man stands up in the first Avengers movie, is because there is a part of us that wants to follow a leader. Doesn’t matter if the leader demonstrated that he was dangerous and evil, some of us will always be willing. In fact, that’s the power of superheroes like Wonder Woman and Captain America, they are leaders by example who make people want to be better human beings; they harness our desire to follow by asking for better from us.
Gelfling 545
@Mary G: My granddaughter who graduates from highschool this month is a far more assertive feminist that either of my daughters. I think the misogyny was somewhat under wraps for a time. Now it’s out there for all to see and young women are ready to defend themselves. Good.
Immanentize
@Jeffro: No. I agree completely with you! I just think his suggestion is derivative of an idea that should be firmly embraced already. Brooks is an idiot
Miss Bianca
@Tenar Arha: OMG, this is fucking brilliant. If I ever get back to Austin, I am heading to the Alamo Drafthouse just because. Even if I have to wade thru’ a river of the blood of Travises.
Uncle Cosmo
@NorthLeft12: IIRC there was a study not too long ago that found a significant correlation between CEO pay raises & corporate performance. It was negative; i.e., the more you increased the CEO’s compensation, the worse the corp performed. Which is exactly what you’d expect if in fact the vast majority of “craptains of industry” couldn’t find their arse with both hands & a GPS, & corporate performance is in fact randomly distributed about zero (break-even): The CEO is rewarded for last year’s bounty (that s/he had fuck-all to do with) but performance then reverts to the long-term average.
Gelfling 545
@efgoldman: who can say? We live in strange times.
MoxieM
@ThresherK: Hèlas, non. But he does speak some Bahasa Indonesia. I vividly remember a handshake event I saw where a greeter said hello in Bahasa and (then candidate) BHO greeted him back. I was so jealous! (wanted to try that on myself with my limited Bahasa, but the crush was too great at the one event I took a gaggle of HS girls to in Manchester NH. Still glad I took them. Historical.) Ahh, good times.
Kristine
@Tenar Arha: I think it’s also a question of security. Following someone perceived as one’s better is reassuring–you picked the right horse, and you’ll be protected. Even if the person is a bastard, there’s the rationale that “well, at least s/he’s my bastard, and s/he’ll be awful to everyone but me.” Which never plays out, but folks still want to believe. It’s any easy trap to fall into.
The Captain America/WW type leader, who expects one to think and make the hard decisions–there’s so sitting-back with them. No coasting. You have to make decisions and take responsibility. Leaders who challenge–not all people want that.
ruemara
@Tenar Arha: I’m dying. In fact, fully dead. Simply my corpse is sitting here, typing a response. It’s too funny.
@Betty Cracker: Well, I understand why. But as I’ve said to others regarding another subject, it’s better to fully understand the nature of the problem and finding a way to excise those like you means you may be missing cues on why those other guys did what they did. And why they might do it again.
Just saying it because people think this will die out. Meanwhile, kids are torturing black schoolmates with racial taunts etc.
Gelfling 545
@Betty Cracker: Yes, a great many people want not only the right to be unnecessarily offensive, but to be exempt from consequences as well. After all, “political correctness” is only what your granny called good manners. Easier to say that you don’t like to be politicall correct than to admit you want to behave like an ill-mannered lout.
Betty Cracker
@Miss Bianca: Didn’t know about toothpaste! A friend of mine swears by chewing tobacco as a home remedy. I used salt. I don’t think it helped that much, TBH. Good luck with the bees!
@Mnemosyne: I’ve tried to have that conversation with them. You might as well be talking to a shovel.
J R in WV
@debbie:
You don’t like humor? That was someone trying to compete with “The Onion” and doing a good job. It was a joke. Get your snark detector fixed or replaced!
You didn’t notice all the other headlines on the right of the screen? Gay being inserted into the the best strains of pot?
J R in WV
@debbie:
OK, MY snark detector is failing…. my bad.
;-) for debbie !
J R in WV
@Immanentize:
The constu, uh, cunsti, um, cnstu…what? Wha’chu talkin about?
J R in WV
@Immanentize:
“…we use Qatar like a huge unsinkable aircraft carrier.”
FTFY
NotMax
@Betty Cracker
A poultice of dampened tobacco works like a champ.
Have mentioned before why this is a good reason to keep a pack of ciggies stored in the freezer.
NotMax
@Immanetize
Already forgotten the Dubya administration calling the Constitution “a quaint concept?”
Brachiator
@germy:
It’s a hoot. Ultimately, he spends a long time explaining why those who got upset were wrong and he was right, if only a little indelicate. In the end he tries to wriggle out from censure by saying that he understands that Wonder Woman is important culturally, but is still a shitty movie that he can freely bash.
Edelstein is quite a character. I often enjoy listening to him and three or four other colleagues talking about movies on the highly recommended “Fighting in the War Room” podcast. At his best, he can be illuminating about films, film history and film culture. But at his worst, he sees himself as the High Priest of Film criticism, who foolishly believes that he can use his criticism to shape how we think about movies and how we should think about movies,. And when he is most insufferable, he seems to actually believe that he can help determine what kind of movies, according to his standards, should be made.
Fortunately, Wonder Woman is a perfectly enjoyable film that does not depend on David Edelstein’s approval or condemnation.
Nate Combs
I brought my family (wife, 9 yr old and 7 yr old daughters), and everybody loved it. Amazing movie
The Lodger
@Betty Cracker: My mom used a paste of baking soda and water. It worked pretty well. Arm & Hammer toothpaste would probably work great, I’m not so sure about brands that don’t include baking soda.
jake the antisoshul soshulist
@Immanentize:
The Constitution that only applied to white property owners means something to them.