Saw a beautiful lady woodpecker chasing bugs on a light pole early today:
She made it to the top:
Then looked over her shoulder at the morning sun:
The end.
by Betty Cracker| 275 Comments
This post is in: Birdwatching, Open Threads
Comments are closed.
Major Major Major Major
Such pretty birds! We had a woodpecker outside the office the other day. It wasn’t doing anything, just hanging out on a fencepost. It was big! You forget how big they are. I forget which kind we have out here in the Bay Area.
Right now, I’m taking a brief respite from writing and re-reading Stephen King’s On Writing. I haven’t picked it up in years, I’d forgotten how good it is. I’d totally forgotten his (famous?) response to Strunk and White’s dictum to put the most important part of a sentence at the end: “Everyone’s entitled to his/her opinion, but I don’t believe ‘with a hammer he killed Frank’ will ever replace ‘he killed Frank with a hammer.'” LOL!
Jerry
This is too beautiful for this shitty year
tybee
redbellied wood pecker on the pole.
and for VERY large woodpeckers, pileated are the flavors around here.
we also have redheaded and downy woodpeckers.
Raven
The last day of work, the Dawgs and the Cats tomorrow and then look out redfish!!!
Amaranthine RBG
I’m glad to see that Kirstin Gellibrand finally broke with the Clinton machine: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/11/17/why-kirsten-gillibrands-bold-statement-that-bill-clinton-shouldve-resigned-is-a-big-deal/
The faster the democratic party can put the Clintons in their rearview, the better.
Gin & Tonic
Still have some bulbs left to go in the ground, then Sunday afternoon is looking like it may be good for a bike ride.
rikyrah
Beautiful pictures.
debit
I thought I got a kitten for me. In reality, I got one for Oliver.
Jamey
Can bugs live in light/power poles? I always figured they were knocking their heads for nothing.
rikyrah
The Republican tax bill contains a sneaky break for private jet owners
Bob Bryan
SatanicPanic
@Amaranthine RBG: We’ll keep Hillary doing speeches, Bill can go relax on a beach somewhere.
rikyrah
Think about how many people were beaten and arrested just for saying that this would happen. https://t.co/o3Xiwne5eC
— Jessie Singer (@jessiesingernyc) November 16, 2017
BREAKING: Keystone pipeline shut down after oil leak discovered in South Dakota.
— Ari Natter (@AriNatter) November 16, 2017
TenguPhule
I miss President Obama and a sane working federal government.
/November blues
Amir Khalid
@Amaranthine RBG:
Read the NYT interview. That’s not really what Gillibrand said.
rikyrah
“I am the result of a girl that’s loved, and nurtured, and invested in. This is what you get.” – Michelle Obama, noting that she was not abused by the men in her young life.
— Heather Brandon (@heddahfeddah) November 17, 2017
Obama says she’s more interested in cultivating capable young leaders now than in running for office. She indicates a short sightedness in thinking political answers come from finding just one “right person.”
— Heather Brandon (@heddahfeddah) November 17, 2017
Michelle Obama makes a personal appearance in the overflow room and addresses all the screaming, ecstatic young people in the audience. “Go home and do your homework,” she says, and be OK with failure. She urges them to find mentors. “Find that positivity. Stay off social media.”
— Heather Brandon (@heddahfeddah) November 17, 2017
Obama says every minute she wasn’t visible as First Lady, she was busy managing and parenting her teenagers. “It’s exhausting!” she says.
— Heather Brandon (@heddahfeddah) November 17, 2017
Kids are your 1st joint project with your spouse. Until then, “you haven’t really tested that equality stuff,” Michelle Obama says about family/work balance.
— Arielle Levin Becker (@ariellelb) November 17, 2017
SatanicPanic
@rikyrah: What a relief! I was having to cut back on leisure travel. Thanks Donald!
rikyrah
Mother’s heartwarming video captures the moment 3-year-old girl and her older brother are reunited after a long day of kindergarten. https://t.co/8m83zcyWZx pic.twitter.com/CY6dpPMrmD
— ABC News (@ABC) November 17, 2017
cope
A nice short story, simply told, thanks.
Mrs. cope and I are off to Sanibel for a few days Friday. I hope to snag some decent bird pics myself if I’m lucky.
TenguPhule
The Russia investigation’s spectacular accumulation of lies
On a cheerier note, the Wapo is FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY using the correct terminology for what the Trumps and associates are doing.
rikyrah
NBC News: Rob Goldstone, the British publicist who helped set up the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting is ready to meet with Mueller’s office, according to several people familiar with the matter. https://t.co/UOtQbOBzLr
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) November 17, 2017
NBC News confirms WSJ scoop: Mueller’s team has issued a subpoena to the Trump campaign asking multiple campaign officials to produce Russia-related documents. https://t.co/mcP7ATtFDz
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) November 17, 2017
Major Major Major Major
@debit: awww.
trollhattan
Attn: northern Californians. My kid now holds a DMV driver permit. You have been thus alerted.
That is all.
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
Saw Justice League for free last night. It’s…honestly OK for what it is, but: Cavill is still a robot, Fisher’s Cyborg (or at least his direction) is fucking terrible, and Steppenwolf is the exemplar of the Generic Doomsday Villain. (And the CGI isn’t much better than it was in Wonder Woman).
Also, why isn’t the Flash Wally West?
lgerard
In other news
Gene Simmons got himself banned from Fox News
There goes their attempt to reach out to younger viewers!
Teddys Person
@rikyrah: Okay, that made me have all the feels, as the kids say.
Roger Moore
Interesting. The woodpeckers we have in my area also love utility poles, but they aren’t mostly hunting for insects. Instead, they store acorns in them in the fall, then spend the rest of the year guarding their larders from anyone who wants to steal their acorns. They like utility poles because they’re easy to drill holes in; they also love palm trees.
debit
@Major Major Major Major: Oliver loves her. LOVES HER.
The Moar You Know
@lgerard: Sadly, somebody at Fox probably thought that booking him was an attempt to reach out to younger viewers.
Gene (Chaim) is almost 70 years old. Older than the grandparents of most high school students. Old enough to be the great-grandfather of anyone in grade school.
catclub
@rikyrah:
those two bolded things are not the same thing.
Major Major Major Major
@trollhattan: I shall continue not driving.
catclub
@debit: Now the grooming and snipping of whiskers begins.
Betty Cracker
@cope: We saw a mangrove cuckoo on Sanibel a few years back (at Ding Darling). Wish I’d had a chance to take a photo, but all I had was a phone, and it flew by so fast. Have fun!
@trollhattan: Teaching my kid to drive remains one of the most terrifying experiences of my life.
Cacti
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD):
Wally West wasn’t the original Justice League Flash. He started out as Kid Flash with the Teen Titans.
The original JLA lineup was: Aquaman, Batman, Flash (Barry Allen), Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Martian Manhunter, Superman, and Wonder Woman.
Jamey
@Roger Moore: answered my question which was stuck in moderation. I guess you can’t say anything about woodpeckers “kn*cking” their heads
Amir Khalid
@The Moar You Know:
And a KISS fan from back in the day would be well into their 50s.
Immanentize
@trollhattan: My son recently got his in Massachusetts. We have the north coasts covered! Or, well, our insurance policies do….
Brachiator
@rikyrah:
Gee, I wonder if anyone in our government has a private jet? Naw. We don’t have ultra rich elitists heading up our government. The people would never stand for that.
TenguPhule
Via Wapo.
They’re really going to try to blow it all up.
Kelly
@tybee: Our local pileated woodpecker sometimes responds to our hammering when we’re doing a bit of carpentry around the house.
geg6
@Major Major Major Major:
I love that book. I like Danse Macabre, too. It’s not about writing per se, but an excellent book on the role and meaning of horror in American culture. People who dis King are quite wrong.
Roger Moore
@Jamey:
Some bugs most certainly can live in power poles. But searching for food is only one reason woodpeckers drill in trees. They’re also cavity nesters, which they excavate by “knocking their heads”. Woodpeckers are actually important for the overall bird community because they’ll typically make new nests each year, leaving empty holes in trees for other cavity-nesting birds that can’t make their own. They’ll also use the sound from hammering as a form of communication, often as a territorial marker.
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
@Cacti: Allen’s still very much characterized as Wally West, however. (The DCAU is an interesting variation, where the Flash is literally Wally West with Allen’s backstory, job, villains, etc. Though Wally West also appeared as the Kid Flash in Teen Titans, which AFAICT isn’t part of the Dini/Timm canon).
geg6
@Amaranthine RBG:
I think you didn’t read that with much comprehension. It’s not a break with the Clinton’s but a discussion of what would happen if we had the same sensibilities then as we have today.
But then, when the Wilmer stories come out (whether it’s him harassing some women or conspiring with Russians), I’m sure you’ll have a different take on the whole situation.
Brachiator
An earlier science story from BBC News and other sources
This pushes back wine snobbery another 2,000 years.
A fun thing is that the big jar containing the wine has what seems to be a cluster of grapes on it. That in itself should have made it easy to guess what was in the jar.
Also, for the sake of comparison:
Probably get a nice buzz from that.
Tenar Arha
@bettycracker
I feel this project to digitize these Audubon illustrations is relevant to your interests https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/collections/commonwealth:9s16cv46h
realbtl
Over the course of about a week I watched a pileated completely destroy a 20′ long lodge pole log I use to mark my parking area. Went from “Yup, old log” to “This looks like it has been decomposing for 50 years.” Must have been a feast.
eclare
Question out there, does anyone know of a quick/easy way to calculate if I make x amount as an employee, I need to make y amount as a contractor? Company I interviewed with wants me to be an independent contractor for 90 days to make sure it is a good fit before hiring me. I work in tax, but I bet I haven’t done a Schedule C in 20 years. PS, someone in the office today had her new puppy there :)
geg6
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD):
Heard a review this morning that said the only reason to see that film is Wonder Woman and even she is pretty much a dud in this particular film.
They really need to give the comic book stuff a break. It all pretty much sucks, there’s too much of it and I don’t know a single person IRL who goes to see them. Not even my students. They are waiting for the new Star Wars.
Patricia Kayden
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): The reviews haven’t been good. I think I’ll skip it and wait till it’s released on video.
debit
@eclare: I tell people to figure an extra 20%, just to be on the safe side.
ETA: these are usually people who are only self employed. For short term you’d probably be fine with 10%.
Amaranthine RBG
@Amir Khalid: @geg6:
And the Clinton machine sure interprets it as a break:
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/17/philippe-reines-kristen-gillibrand-hypocrite-246546
Major Major Major Major
@Brachiator: Of course, the oldest recorded recipe for alcohol is Egyptian beer.
geg6
@Amir Khalid:
Well, considering FOX’s demographic, that is the youth demographic.
germy
Question from an old fart (me) to all tech savvy balloon-juicers.
My wife recently gifted me with a new phone. It’s one of those that says “Hello moto” every time you turn it on.
I can watch and listen to youtube videos on it. But I haven’t figured out how to adjust youtube volume, which varies wildly from song to song. If I touch the youtube volume control, it simply turns off. I touch it again, and it turns back on.
Is there a way to slide it quieter or louder, without changing the volume of the phone itself?
Miss Bianca
@debit: OMG, some screaming cuteness on an otherwise crappy day. Thank you, debit!
jk
Kudos to Kirsten Gillibrand for saying that Bill Clinton should have resigned for his sexual misconduct
h/t https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/16/us/politics/gillibrand-bill-clinton-sexual-misconduct.html?_r=0&mtrref=undefined&gwh=A165374BDC738D4B2D2837B92B4DB31E&gwt=pay
When will John Cole second her remarks?
Jamey
@eclare: At the very minimum, you’ll be on the hook for the employer share of Social Security and Medicare taxes (~8%). Depending on the company for whom you work, you may need to carry business insurance and/or an umbrella policy. Of course, there are also the other insurance costs: life, health, disability, dental.
Just One More Canuck
@lgerard: There’s a radio dj here in Toronto who interviewed Gene Simmons a number of years ago. She calls him the most disgusting individual she’s ever met in her entire life
SatanicPanic
@geg6: I went to see Thor. I was amused. WW is the only DC one I’ve seen in a while though.
Jamey
@Roger Moore: Thank you. The natural world is always more amazing than I imagine.
eclare
@debit: Just 20%? Based on the intertubes (and nothing is wrong on there!), that seems low. But thanks for your input. And the video was awwww! My cat is also named Oliver.
Betty Cracker
So, the Florida Democratic Party chairman just resigned due to allegations of sexual harassment.
Shana
@debit: Oh my, that’s adorable.
Immanentize
@eclare: I know people will say, “it depends, and it does…. But being a self-employed contractor usually costs a person about 20 -30% over being an employee (doing your own finances, no matching benefits, insurance, etc.). Im assuming you will still get an office and support….
ljdramone
@The Moar You Know: “Chaim”, huh?
I hated hated hated Kiss with a white-hot passion back when, when junior high kids were all “KISS ARMY” instead of listening to decent music.
Gotta say though, I never knew Gene Simmons (aka Chaim Weitz) was a shanda fur die goyim.
catclub
@Brachiator:
Doesn’t it push it forward by 2000 years.
GregB
Franken’s accuser now reveals she tipped off othe news sources before her reveal.
Including that wonderful woman’s rights advocate, Roger Stone.
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
@Patricia Kayden: @geg6: It is, at least, better than Suicide Squad or BvS (though weaker than Wonder Woman and most of the Marvel movies). My local theater gave the first 166 college students to sign up free tickets, so at that pricepoint it’s not too disappointing.
Brachiator
@geg6:
The new Thor movie is an enjoyable hoot, and not really a traditional “comic book” movie, whatever that means.
Hell, even though it is too long, I would still try to find “Blade Runner 2049” in the theaters before I would go to see Justice League. The visuals alone are astounding.
And Pixar’s “Coco,” opening November 22 may be another home run for that studio. It is already the highest grossing moving in Mexico.
The upcoming Hugh Jackman take on the circus, ‘The Greatest Showman,” looks like it might be fun.
In short, a lot of interesting movies while we are waiting for “The Black Panther” this February.
Immanentize
@debit: I see we’re in the same ball park….
Roger Moore
@germy:
Use the volume buttons on the side of the phone. It’s smart enough to know that when you’re using an app that generates sound, you’re using the volume buttons to adjust that sound level rather than the ringtone.
Duane
@Jamey: They’re bugs. The light is bright, but they’re not.
eclare
@Immanentize: Yes, no capital investment. You and debit both say 20%…think I’ll see about that. Really don’t want to get into effective tax rates.
lgerard
@Just One More Canuck:
I don’t doubt it. I have always loathed Kiss and their crappy music.
Ohio Mom
The other day I heard a knock-knock-knock-knock-etc and thought, That sure sounds like a woodpecker and it sounds awfully close.
I went to look out the window, expecting to see one in the maple tree right outside (and worried what that might mean for the maple), but instead I saw one fly to the maple from the direction of the house. Took one peck at the tree and flew away.
I keep thinking I should go look at the front of the house to see how much damage was done but I am not in the mood for a home repair this week.
Roger Moore
@Brachiator:
I notice you left out The Last Jedi.
catclub
I bet THIS one gets worked out in favor of the wealthy backers.
Benjamin Mays
For Kay and OhioMom,
see mediate’s story:
“https://www.mediaite.com/online/ohio-supreme-court-justice-and-gov-candidate-details-his-sexual-exploits-with-50-very-attractive-females/”\
what a dope.
Immanentize
@eclare: good luck — and may it only be a 90 day hassle.
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
@geg6: Maybe not the DCEU, but Marvel films are generally decent-sized media events, definitely comparable to Star Wars in anticipation.
I also don’t give a shit about Star Wars.
Adria McDowell
@rikyrah: I motherfucking LOVE Michelle Obama.
That’s all.
Betty Cracker
@Amaranthine RBG: Let’s look at the whole quote in context in the source material, shall we?
Good to know Reines constitutes the whole of the “Clinton machine.” I thought he was just one excitable aide.
Miss Bianca
@Brachiator: you might enjoy reading this book, “Ancient Brews”, by an archeologist named Patrick McGovern,who specializes in reconstructing the first fermented beverages, which he calls “extreme beverages” – noting that more often than not, they are more like a combination of wine, beer, and mead than they are one or the other. He talks about re-creating that Chinese beverage referenced with the help of Sam Castaglione, who is the head brewer at Dogfish Head Brewery. It’s pretty cool!
Brachiator
@Just One More Canuck:
Simmons also had a famously bad interview session with Terry Gross of NPR’s “Fresh Air.”
Betty Cracker
@GregB: Okay, that’s been bugging me — good to know.
eclare
@Immanentize: One way or the other, it will only be a hassle for 90 days. And I’ve done taxes all my life, just from a corporate level, not 1040’s. Paperwork will be tedious, but I can do it. Thanks for the advice!
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
@Brachiator: The CGI in Justice League is fairly awful — just better than Wonder Woman‘s, but not by much (and Wonder Woman was otherwise a fairly solid movie). The Snyderisms in the first act are also a bit much.
Adria McDowell
@Benjamin Mays: Ew. Ew ew ew ew ew.
TenguPhule
@Roger Moore: They’ve got a big hole to dig themselves out of from The Force Awakens.
Not sure even Mark Hamill can save it at this point.
/I will go watch it anyway. Once.
debit
@eclare: Cats named Oliver are the best. I was so worried he’d be a dick to her, because he is to every other cat I’ve had, but he just loves her so much.
Cacti
@Roger Moore:
The Force Awakens was a steaming pile of sith.
Maybe the new one will be better for lack of JJ Abrams.
Miss Bianca
@GregB: Gee, that doesn’t sound suspicious at all, does it?
Major Major Major Major
@Brachiator: Baby Driver was the best movie so far this year, I hope I get to see it again in theatres.
@TenguPhule:
That, of course, is how they get ya.
Duane
@rikyrah: It’s amazing how many of these tax changes benefit Trump directly. Golf courses, privates planes, AMT, estate tax, corporate rate. Trump’s making progress on his tax wish list. If he pulls this off, it’s a conjob on our country.
TenguPhule
@Duane: If they pull this off, we won’t have a country left.
Mnemosyne
I’m turning into a mean old lady — I guilted two junior high kids’ teacher into giving me their window seat on the Coast Starlight. ?
I would feel more guilty about it if I weren’t on crutches — they can go hang out in the observation car, and I can’t.
eclare
Just called Alexander’s office, no answer so far at Corker’s.
ETA> Corker’s DC office line is busy. Hopefully a good sign.
Roger Moore
@Miss Bianca:
ISTR that Dogfish Head had at least one beer that was based on one of those ancient recipes, so you can get some idea of what they tasted like without having to brew one yourself.
Cacti
I noticed that Roy Moore’s wife is 14 years younger than he is.
Were they high school sweethearts? (evil grin)
LurkerNoLonger
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): I liked Man of Steel and about two-thirds of Batman V Superman, but that last hour you could see the movie careening off the rails. I think the problem with Zac Snyder’s comic book movies is they are about 30 minutes too long.
lgerard
If any one wants to read about ‘the most unpopular governor in galactic history’ , this is good for a few laughs
Even his claim to be the most unpopular governor in history is a lie, I remember Bob Taft of Ohio being down to 6% in 2005 or 2006 after the coingate scam.
debit
@Mnemosyne: Crutches trump everything. And if you can’t use them to guilt your way into a better seat, they also make an excellent tool for thwacking.
Mnemosyne
@debit:
Yep, that’s how it works. ? Keaton is always very happy when he has a new kitten to bathe and play with.
germy
@Roger Moore:
thank you.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@GregB:
do you have the source for that?
trollhattan
@Betty Cracker:
Have gently told her that her Forza mad skilz do not exactly transfer to the street, beginning with “the XBox controller is a so-so replacement for a steering wheel and pedals,” plus, “knocking your competition off the road is frowned upon” and finally “the car does not literally repair itself between each drive.”
She’s smart, so totally gets all that.
catclub
@Major Major Major Major:
It sure had great previews. I was sold – but did not actually watch it. Plus, Kevin Spacey!
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
@LurkerNoLonger: Clancy Brown or TJ Miller should have played Lex Luthor.
Mnemosyne
@debit:
They were excited to have seats at the back of the car away from the eye of authority, but they did pipe up and volunteer to let me have it. The kids are all right! ?
On the Coast Starlight, you can have them bring meals right to your seat if you’re in coach, so that’s what I’m doing.
Roger Moore
@TenguPhule: @Cacti:
I think The Force Awakens was given an almost impossible job and still managed to make an OK popcorn movie out of it. It had a whole bunch of conflicting requirements that got in the way of good storytelling. So it had to introduce and be about a new generation of characters while also bringing back old characters to maintain continuity with the previous series. It had to stay true to the style of the previous movies while still being original. It had to be the first movie in a trilogy while still being a fun and complete movie in itself. And so on. I’m not going to say it was a wonderful movie, but I think one of its major points was to get all that crap out of the way so the next movie can actually stand on its own. I don’t expect The Last Jedi to be as good as The Empire Strikes Back, but I fully expect it to be better than The Force Awakens.
Brachiator
@Roger Moore:
I got nuthin’ against Star Wars. It’s on my must see list, just because it’s Star Wars. I greatly respect director Rian Johnson. I have avoided most trailers and discussion about the movie.
But my gut says that it will be satisfying but safe. Disney seems to have reined in the directors they have chosen for the films. It may be a good sign, though, that Johnson has been chosen to write a new trilogy.
Thor, on the other hand, is quirky and inventive. The movie touches all the MCU bases, but it is also fresh and loose. People who have seen Coco, especially Latinos, say that it is very heart warming, like a hug from your abuela, or warm tamales on New Year’s Eve. The upcoming Black Panther looks so afro-centric that I am already anticipating feverish Twitter drops from Trump and the Deplorables who won’t be able to handle its blackness.
A little something for everyone.
opiejeanne
@Jamey: Looks like an acorn woodpecker. They make holes in dead trees, wooden utility poles, sometimes your roof in order to hide acorns.
Miss Bianca
@Roger Moore: Yes, they do – I tried one of them not too long ago, quite amazing. Altho’ the book does contain all the recipes for the brews that they developed, so you *can* try brewing them at home – it’s just that compared to mead, my usual homebrew (just boil the water, add the honey and yeast, and go!), these brews seem quite dauntingly complicated!
SatanicPanic
@Cacti: I think she was 22 when they met
catclub
@Brachiator:
the unchangeable things in the tax laws seem to be: Passthrough loophole for passive investors, AMT repeal, and Estate tax repeal – which are all aimed squarely at pleasing Donald Trump, The fact that this is not repeated every time the tax bill comes up is evidence that Trump wins again.
It also used to be that someone would demand his tax forms when he lied that he would not benefit from the new code. Now they don;t even bother.
Mnemosyne
@Miss Bianca:
The Field Museum in Chicago partners with a local microbrewery to do their own custom beers. We missed the introduction of a new ale based on an ancient Chinese recipe by, like, one day. G was a little sad since he’s the beer drinker.
opiejeanne
@Amir Khalid: And with that, trying to reason with that guy, I am going upstairs to grind out at least 1667 words today.
burnspbesq
@Amaranthine RBG:
I’m glad to see that you respect Sen. Gillibrand so much that you can’t be arsed to spell her first or last name correctly.
FWIW, I’m the biggest Gillibrand supporter you know, and AFAIC it’s beyond reasoned dispute that she’s dead wrong on this issue.
eclare
Fucking coward, Corker’s local office voicemail is full, and DC is perma-busy. I thought since he wasn’t running for reelection he was supposed to be all independenty or something.
different-church-lady
I’m sure democrats will gain more votes by metaphorically allowing their own members have their heads on pikes.
Yes. It is a given. How could anyone doubt this?
Mnemosyne
@TenguPhule:
I liked The Force Awakens. Fight me.
I thought it had interesting characters who took actions that made sense based on who those characters were, which is more than you can say for the prequel trilogy.
Mnemosyne
@opiejeanne:
That’s what I’m on the train to do! I printed out a copy of my rough synopsis to figure out which scenes still need to be written and I’m going to start on those soon. Really. ?
SatanicPanic
@Brachiator: I thought Rebel One was really moving. I haven’t re-watched it, but I remember walking out thinking it was definitely one of the best in the series. So I’m almost looking forward to the stand alones more than the main series.
LurkerNoLonger
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): A more intimidating Lex Luthor would have helped.
Matt McIrvin
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): Gee, Steppenwolf looks a lot like Surtur in the Thor movie. Who gets dispatched in a wacky scene near the beginning of the movie and thenceforth is used as a plot device, because he’d be too boring to be the main villain.
different-church-lady
Screw the trolling, let’s have an interesting hypothetical: if Bill Clinton had not been a lame duck (i.e. Lewinsky had happened in his first term) how would things have turned out?
I doubt he would have survived. He slid because the country knew (a) the punishment for that crime was overboard and (b) we’d be rid of him soon enough, so why go through the upheaval? I believe without (b) things would have gone differently.
rikyrah
@Mnemosyne:
Does the train have Wi-Fi?
trollhattan
@burnspbesq:
Let’s recall that had it not been for Jonah Goldberg’s vile mama we’d have never had Monicagate.
trollhattan
@SatanicPanic:
Agreed. Although it was also painful in the GoT do NOT get invested in any character fashion.
Betty Cracker
@Mnemosyne: I liked it too. Looking forward to the next one.
burnspbesq
@GregB:
Her credibility wasn’t exactly ironclad to begin with, and this doesn’t help it.
trollhattan
@Mnemosyne:
We need to forget the prequal trilogy even exists.
Mnemosyne
@rikyrah:
Not for us lowly coach passengers. ? I’m still well within civilization, so I can get Internet on my phone
SatanicPanic
@trollhattan: man it was sad when those two friends died
Aleta
@debit: 10 years ago I brought home a 6 mo kitten who’d been abused her first 3 months, then in a shelter cage for 3 mo, and prob taken too early from her mother to boot.
Darned if Charlie, a stray only a year older, didn’t turn into a mother. I watched him purposefully teach her so many things. Eating from a bowl instead of the trash, using the cat door. The stages of mousing, from beginner to advanced. How to defend herself if attacked (in play fights), and finally: taking her outside to the foot of the lilac and suggesting she learn to climb it. (It was the same one he had taught himself on.) After 5-6 months I watched him wean her. (Her defense and offense in the training fights had become good enough by then to seriously annoy him.)
Later I read (in Science News I think) about male cats who take on mothering in the presence of orphaned kittens. I’m not sure by now, but I think it said some even produce milk.
Ohio Mom
@Benjamin Mays: Oy gevalt.
We have a lot of trouble getting good Democratic candidates here in the Buckeye state. Even I have trouble voting for some of them.
Miss Bianca
@Mnemosyne: think of it not as beer, but as “beer plus”! : )
I think I had heard that about the museum in Chicago, I may have to break down and go back just for a little beer tourism!
SatanicPanic
@different-church-lady: I think you are correct
Major Major Major Major
@trollhattan: What prequel trilogy? Is that one of those things like the “Matrix sequels” that people talk about as though they were real?
jk
@burnspbesq:
It’s refreshing to see Gillibrand get it right. She had my vote before these latest comments and I hope she gets the chance to run against that slimy, rotten pig Trump in 2020.
Brachiator
@Roger Moore:
That’s just it. The Star Wars saga still had so much good will behind it that the only thing it really had to do was not suck as bad as the prequels films.
Overall, I liked “The Force Awakens,” mainly because of the new cast. But it really did not have to recapitulate plot elements from the original film. I liked one of the ideas behind the films, that a new generation of movie directors would be able to wrestle with the SF material which helped inspire them. But it is also product closely protected by Disney and this impacts the creative choices.
TenguPhule
@Roger Moore:
Low bar to crawl over.
What always galled me about TFA is that we got the bad future going forward because apparently democracy really does suck and good really is stupid.
And don’t even get me started on the ridiculous technology suddenly invented for just that movie.
Suspension of disbelief will only go so far.
Fair Economist
@LurkerNoLonger: I thought Man of Steel was absolutely horrible. Thin characters, pointless fighting, and, for the coup de grace, a passionate kiss as tens of thousands of New Yorkers die around them. Gosh, I always thought heroes should get turned on by the screams of the dying. And, yeah, Cavill’s acting was flat even considering the part he was given. After that, I avoided Batman vs. Superman.
Although it’s not liked, Superman Returns was much better. It’s a genuinely different take on the characters, and although the superheroing part of the plot was pedestrian, at least *those* characters have internal mental lives.
Older
@Roger Moore: The crew replacing a utility pole in front of my house told me that woodpecker nesting was the main cause of pole replacement. Some of the poles are hollow for a yard or more from the top. Eventually, the pole becomes so weak that the wires will pull it apart.
eclare
Got through to Corker’s DC office, he has “concerns” over the bill. I added to his concerns in a (hopefully) polite way. I find when calling to address these issues I get very emotional. Hate that.
MomSense
@Major Major Major Major:
I can’t find a streaming option or a local theater showing it. My youngest showed me some clips on youtube and I am desperate to see it.
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
@LurkerNoLonger: Hence Clancy Brown (the Kurgan, and also the DCAU voice for Lex Luthor). Miller would’ve been better at the direction they wanted to take Lex Luthor in.
Plus, a bad performance by Brown or Miller would have at least given us a-so-bad-its-good Mr. Krabs or Weasel, as opposed to a dogshit coked-out Joker.
schrodingers_cat
@different-church-lady: I for one have no doubts at all. Let’s all jump headlong and self destruct. Moral outrage is such a powerful drug, and not just for the fundies..
hueyplong
@different-church-lady: Interesting hypothesis. The volume was already at 11, so it couldn’t have been higher. Dropping the time frame directly onto the Contract for America crap makes for such a volatile mix that I’m not confident that I can describe the actions that would have taken place in such an environment.
No Drought No More
It’s funny timing for woodpecker photos. I was just told by the phone company yesterday that a pole adjacent to my property will be replaced because the woodpeckers drilled it so full of holes. The pole has looked like a shooting range target since I’ve lived here. That’s going on 5 years now, and I’ll be interested to see how many years it actually takes them to trash a brand new one.
Then again, it’s like I told my roofer: “Hopefully, I’ll be dead before I need to replace this one”. One thing I know: generations of woodpeckers yet unborn won’t be at all concerned with my phone pole observations at all, will they? They’ll trash the pole again, all right, but they’ll take their sweet ass time doing it. This I know and accept.. In fact, it might well be a riddle I’ll take to the grave, and I’m OK with that.
Mnemosyne
@Fair Economist:
Kate Whatshername was WAY too young to be playing a Lois Lane who had a young child, though. It made Superman seem like a pedophile.
Parker Posey should have switched roles with her. She would have been perfect.
burnspbesq
@different-church-lady:
Unknown and unknowable, but not irrelevant, because it points the way to a proper resolution of the Franken deal.
The people of Minnesota elected Franken to do a job. If they think that a ten-year-old, not well substantiated claim of sexual misconduct means that he is no longer fit to do that job, they get two chances to fire him: the primary and the general.
Dave
@Mnemosyne: Force Awakens was decent but kinda mehish probably because Disney wanted to make clear that this is a Star Wars movie so we can all pretend The prequels didn’t happen. So I’m hoping that having done that and having established the characters that Last Jedi will be much better. I think it can be and I did enjoy Awakens it was just clearly a very safe bridge to the newer movies over the chasm of the prequels.
Major Major Major Major
@MomSense: You can rent/buy it on Amazon.
Fair Economist
@Mnemosyne:
The characters were good. It was the plot – rehashing the first trilogy, super-superpowered villains except when they need to be incompetent, and the fecklessness of good – which was bad.
Aleta
From the end of Trace Lysette’s eloquent statement, after describing harassment on set from J Tambour (2nd woman to do so)
TenguPhule
@Mnemosyne:
I have no complaints about a female lead or a black stormtrooper.
Though I thought the ‘hey yo’ dialogue they gave him was rather demeaning to him and the series in general.
What pissed me off was 1) Han Solo gets kicked back into being a washed up old smuggler 2)The New Republic apparently representing that Democracy really does suck and is stupid 3)Starkiller base, the whole thing. No, just no. Suspension of reality completely broken here 4)Kilo Ren, WHO THE HELL CAST TEENAGE SNAPE AS Han and Leia’s child?!
TenguPhule
@SatanicPanic: Rogue One.
/Pedant.
Brachiator
@Miss Bianca:
Sounds like fun. Thanks. It’s on my list now.
TenguPhule
@different-church-lady:
Same as they did.
He was popular and Republicans were not.
Fair Economist
@Mnemosyne:
You are so right.
And – I forgot Kevin Spacey was the villain. Maybe I shouldn’t recommend that movie anymore.
trollhattan
@Major Major Major Major: Very first Star Wars was “Episode 4” and the first three comprised 4 through 6. After a decades-long hiatus the $eries resumed with episodes 1 through 3, which fill in history up to Episode 4. Now Di$ney is managing episodes 7 through infinity, plus offshoots.
Not as egregious as all the comic book inspired craptastic flicks but a LOT of Star Wars product out there now.
Mnemosyne
@Fair Economist:
For me, the characters were good enough to overcome the plot weaknesses, and I felt like they got the tone just right, which was a huge problem with the prequels.
rikyrah
A senatorial clash that explains what’s wrong with the tax fight
11/17/17 02:18 PM
By Steve Benen
If you’ve spent any time on social media today, you’ve probably come across the clip of Senate Finance Committee Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) clashing with Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) ahead of a vote on the Republican tax plan last night. That’s probably a good thing: the quarrel helps define the terms of the broader policy fight.
If you missed it, Brown explained, accurately, that the Senate GOP tax plan isn’t intended to help the middle class; it’s written to benefit the richest Americans. Hatch, visibly angry, appeared to take great personal offense.
Republicans are apparently under the impression that Hatch’s fiery harangue bested the Ohio Democrat, and it’s worth taking a moment to understand why that’s ridiculous.
Brown’s argument was, at its core, substantive: non-partisan analyses of the Senate Republican tax plan make clear that it would disproportionately benefit the wealthiest Americans, and raise taxes on millions of middle-class families. That’s not some lazy “political play”; it’s an argument backed up by evidence.
Hatch had an opportunity to defend his proposal on the merits and/or explain why he disagreed with the non-partisan assessments, but he chose instead to make this personal. The Utah Republican is apparently under the impression that his upbringing matters, and factual descriptions of his legislation don’t.
Hatch is “tired” of Democrats criticizing tax breaks for the rich? I suspect Democrats are equally tired of Hatch and his Republican brethren demanding tax breaks for the rich.
Fair Economist
@TenguPhule:
I am slain!
trollhattan
@TenguPhule: Yup, Clinton’s poll ratings were sky high when he left office.
debit
@Aleta: That is such a great story. Charlie sounds like an awesome cat dad.
sharl
The odious Racist Elf has appeared at a meeting of the equally odious Federalist Society, incubator for creating/vetting horrible judges.
From your lips to the FSM’s ears, Michael.
Matt McIrvin
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): Clancy Brown is also the voice of the aforementioned Surtur in Thor: Ragnarok (though Taika Waititi did the motion capture for him).
Patricia Kayden
@Just One More Canuck: That’s sad to hear because Kiss’s music still holds up (for the most part). Too bad the lead singer is a douche though.
rikyrah
@trollhattan:
Hard to explain it to Peanut.
I liked Rogue One. Made absolute sense – in terms of Star Wars lexicon.
trollhattan
@Fair Economist:
We left the theater to the news Carrie Fischer had died, so it really stamped the movie into my psyche.
Matt McIrvin
@rikyrah: He’s using the Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer Defense.
TenguPhule
@Mnemosyne:
No, no they were not.
rikyrah
Karma always comes a knockin’.
Anti-Gay Republican Resigns After Allegedly Being Caught Having Gay Sex In His Office https://t.co/HeFp5MWIjl pic.twitter.com/OnbYwEky6K
— Law & Crime (@lawcrimenews) November 16, 2017
Cacti
The new characters were a bore and I had no investment in rooting for/against any of them. The plot was recycled crap. And starkiller base was unforgivable.
But hey, black X-wings man!
Mnemosyne
@rikyrah:
That’s the typical Republican response: My parents/grandparents were poor, so how dare you say I hate poor people!
Uh, because you turned your back on your upbringing and decided to hurt people like your parents and grandparents?
I suspect a lot of Republicans had a Scarlett O’Hara moment in their youth (As God is my witness, I’ll never go hungry again!) without realizing that the whole point of the story is that Scarlett loses the love of her life because she’s too obsessed with money and security. I know that about Scarlett, and I’ve never even read the book or seen the movie.
debit
@burnspbesq: Seriously. I’m a constituent and am satisfied with his statement and willing to see how the ethics investigation goes. When it’s primary time, we’ll see. Until then, calls for him to step down are premature and not only unhelpful, but also unwelcome.
Matt McIrvin
@trollhattan: I think we saw Rogue One the day after it was announced that Carrie Fisher had died, so seeing the (not very good) CGI resurrection of young Carrie Fisher on the screen in the movie’s final moment was a strange thing.
TenguPhule
@Fair Economist: So was Han.
SFBayAreaGal
@geg6: My favorite by him is Dead Zone. My mom’s favorite was The Stand
rikyrah
Flynn and Papadopoulos Were Questioned by the FBI at the Same Time
by Martin Longman
November 17, 2017
When Donald Trump met with the Washington Post editorial board on March 21st, 2016, he named five people as his foreign policy advisers.
Of the five, only Keith Kellogg landed a job with the administration. He briefly served as interim National Security Adviser after Michael Flynn resigned, and now he serves as the Executive Secretary and Chief of Staff of the National Security Council.
…………………………………
But it’s now clear that he never got the chance, because of something that looks a bit curious when put on a timeline:
January 25th, 2017: FBI interviews Michael Flynn at the White House
January 26th, 2017: Acting attorney general Sally Yates briefs White House Counsel Don McGahn on Flynn’s conversation with Amb. Kislyak.
January 27th, 2017: FBI interviews George Papadopoulos for first time.
February 16th, 2017: FBI interviews George Papadopoulos for second time.
Michael Flynn had been under suspicion for a long time, ever since he dined with Vladimir Putin in 2015. He was already informed that the Justice Department was looking into his lobbying for the Turkish government. But it looks like the counterintelligence investigation was looking very closely at both Flynn and Papadopolous at the very same point in time. I suppose it’s possible that two different investigative teams conducted these interviews and that this is a great big coincidence, but it seems like Papadopolous was one of the hottest leads the FBI had very early on, which tells us that he’d aroused a lot of suspicion despite the fact that none of it had surfaced in the newspapers.
TenguPhule
@rikyrah:
Rogue One is the fourth Star Wars Movie.
I disown all of the rest of them.
Brachiator
@different-church-lady:
Disagree. He would have escaped any Republican censure and been re-elected in a landslide. His victory might have shut down the Republicans and paved the way for a later Gore victory.
germy
@sharl: Wow, these Federalist Society appearances are where they really let their hair down. Gorsuch cracking jokes about freezing truckers, kkkeebler joking about mother russia.
Mnemosyne
@TenguPhule:
@Cacti:
Obviously, my mileage varied. I thought that Finn and Rey each had similar backgrounds of abandonment but reacted to those very differently.
Matt McIrvin
@different-church-lady: Also, in Bill Clinton’s second term the economy was booming and he was very popular. Not so much through most of his first term–in the early days it really looked like he was one and done. It may matter whether it lands in 1993 or in 1995.
germy
@Mnemosyne:
And what burns me is 90% of the time conservatives who brag about their “humble” origins were in reality, quite comfortable thank you.
Bill O’Really made a career out of cosplaying a lower middle class guy. His father was actually very well compensated for that time.
rikyrah
Why Trump’s Elephant Trophy Policy Is all About Hillary
by Nancy LeTourneau November 17, 2017
Do you remember last year when the killing of Cecil the lion became a gigantic meme on social media? Even a lot of my conservative friends on Facebook were outraged. It has often struck me that cruelty to animals might be the one thing that crosses the boundaries in our polarized political climate. Perhaps that is because, unlike humans, it is impossible to demonize animals as the “other.”
That’s why I wonder if the Trump administration made a big mistake when they decided to do this:
…………………………………
But there is another possible explanation for why the Trump administration would overturn a policy that was designed to protect elephants from possible extinction. Not many people are aware of the fact that as Secretary of State as well as in subsequent years, Hillary Clinton made the preservation of elephants in Africa a major issue.
Major Major Major Major
@trollhattan: I guess your sarcasm detector needs fixed.
Fair Economist
@TenguPhule: Han had a passing resemblance to Snape, but he didn’t act like him. He wasn’t dour and droopy. It was 20 years before Snape, too.
I’m guessing Kylo Ren will end up with a redemptive arc reminiscent of Snape’s backstory as well, although we will see.
Betty Cracker
@TenguPhule: I call him Emo Vader. But I’m a sucker for what they call “fan service” these days. They had me at Luke, Han and Leia. (And Chewie.)
TenguPhule
@Mnemosyne: The ‘modern’ dialogue they gave to Finn was grating. Especially for a Star Wars movie. If I want to cringe hearing current slang butcher a childhood memory, I’ll watch one of the Spiderman reboots, FFS.
He was a stormtrooper, but they made him sound like an extra plucked from California.
Ladyraxterinok
@GregB: The pictures of her in Playboy etc make it seem unlikely she was too upset.
Also read Hannity had seen ‘the photo’ years ago and said nothing.
eclare
@rikyrah: Good point. Think I read that Chelsea’s first nursery for her child had an elephant theme.
Yep.
trollhattan
Not-Steve-Doocy wanders off the reservation.
TenguPhule
@Fair Economist:
what.
rikyrah
This is an abomination:
Gov analysis shows House tax bill would increase college costs by $71 billion over decade https://t.co/zT1k7zyxlW
— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) November 17, 2017
Cacti
@germy:
Yep. Bill-O the Clown’s old man was a corporate accountant. His “$30,000 a year” salary was in the 1960s, when median household income was less than $10,000 per year.
Matt McIrvin
@Betty Cracker: I thought Kylo Ren was actually kind of a clever way around the obvious fact that they’d never come up with a villain as compelling as Darth Vader. What do you do? Write a villain whose defining motivation is that he’s upset that he’s not as cool as Darth Vader.
rikyrah
When I was a PhD student, my stipend was just $18,000 and my waived tuition was $55,000.
Taxing someone who only receives $18,000 the same amount as someone who earns $73,000 in order to give billionaires a huge cut is the height of Republican insanity.https://t.co/zkTt5cQ7oG
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) November 16, 2017
rikyrah
BREAKING: attorney general jeff sessions says justice department will no longer issue guidance memos (ala loretta lynch’s 2016 transgender bathroom guidance or sessions’ october religious liberty guidance), and adds DOJ is reviewing all previously issued memos.
— kelly cohen (@politiCOHEN_) November 17, 2017
debit
@different-church-lady: Why are we conflating a consensual affair with harassment and rape? Why do you suppose that would have been enough, in that period’s mindset, to have him lose the office?
rikyrah
GOP tax bill would spike Obamacare premiums nearly $2,000 for families, trigger Medicare cuts https://t.co/9E52QxbCjZ
— CNBC (@CNBC) November 16, 2017
Betty Cracker
@TenguPhule: The dialogue in the original Star Wars movies hardly rose to Shakespearean heights either, tbh. Carrie Fisher always joked about that.
Fair Economist
@Matt McIrvin:
It’s clever approach to a tough problem, but it still borders on self-parody.
TenguPhule
@rikyrah:
If I had the money, I could probably rally the tens of thousands of students affected into an army of sorts.
SFBayAreaGal
@Mnemosyne: I liked it also and Rebel One
Betty Cracker
@Matt McIrvin: Good point. It worked for me. I liked the movie.
TenguPhule
@Betty Cracker: But it didn’t make them sound childish or break the suspension of disbelief the way modern slang does today. Maybe its just me, but they sounded like adults in a galaxy far far away.
TenguPhule
@SFBayAreaGal: ROGUE ONE.
/eyes twitching furiously
ellie
I had one of these birds in my yard the other day. So pretty!
Roger Moore
@Mnemosyne:
The characters behaved reasonably, but they were put in some nonsensical situations that borrowed too heavily from the previous movies.
sharl
@germy: I’d seen that Gorsuch had made that crack somewhere; I shoulda made the connection to the FedSoc event.
And you’re correct; this is like going home for the likes of Gorsuch and Sessions, where they can loosen their belts and basically let their true selves flop out, so to speak.
TenguPhule
@rikyrah: This is not the Friday news dump I was looking for.
Ladyraxterinok
@Cacti: She was in same class at same HS the woman interviewed on tv was in. Their yearbook pictures (in yearbook with Roy’s comment) can be found together on internet. (Saw pictures in a post at democraticunderground.)
Amir Khalid
@TenguPhule:
Boyega was on Graham Norton’s show with the Star Wars cast, and he explained that his English accent just didn’t work for the character.
Amaranthine RBG
@Betty Cracker:
She was asked if Clinton should have stepped DOWN AT THE TIME.
The Clintons are the past, time to scrape them off the shoe and move on
SFBayAreaGal
Arrgh, Rogue One
debit
@Amaranthine RBG: I don’t recall either of them being in office. We have moved on. Some of us, anyway.
Calouste
@SatanicPanic: Moore’s wife was a classmate of one of the women who has accused him of harassment. She also was a beauty contest participant, so I won’t be surprised if Moore knew of her existence well before she was 22.
The Moar You Know
@Aleta: My dear, long-gone Bandit, the elder male in the house, was the mom to the four cats that ended up traipsing through our household when I was a kid. He’d nurse them. No milk, but they just needed the reassurance. He mothered everyone – the cats, the dog, me. Lot for a kitty to take on. I didn’t know just how special he was for many years. Age is a great and harsh educator.
I’m a dog owner now as my wife is lethally allergic to cats, but Bandit was the best animal I’ve ever associated with and I miss him more than anything to this day.
He was put down by my father when I was off at college. I hadn’t seen him at that point for a few years – I didn’t really want to go see my dad, who was an abusive asshole, but good God I should have manned up and gone and gotten my kitty. I will carry that guilt to my grave. He deserved a much better old age, and ending to that life, and didn’t get it – and I got away in my head with blaming my dad for that for many years. But it wasn’t on him, he didn’t even like pets much less cats – it was on me. I could have done something. And I didn’t.
Won’t ever leave an animal behind again. That’s the only restitution I can make. Do better. It doesn’t make me feel any better, but there are some things in life that maybe you shouldn’t ever feel better about.
Chyron HR
@Amaranthine RBG:
Precisely, we must constantly hound the filthy whore Hillary who stole our God Bernie’s golden throne. Only then can we “move on” from the Clintons.
SFBayAreaGal
@TenguPhule: A thousand apologies. Lol
scav
I swear there’s a poster to be made using Louise Linton swanning out of that jet with some caption along the lines of “2017: Totally not a Welfare Queen in a Subsidized Pink Cadillac.”
laura
@trollhattan: gonna need a description of that car . . .
Please tell him to avoid the river road and garden highway.
Betty Cracker
@Amaranthine RBG: Says the tiresome git who is a broken fucking record on the Clintons. Whatever.
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
I’m listening to Brian Williams from last night. My god, how stupid is Jared Kushner? What an example of rich man’s privilege.
FlipYrWhig
@Amaranthine RBG: I’m old enough to remember when Kirsten Gillibrand was the whipping girl of Daily Kos after being appointed Senator, because she was creature of corrupt wealth and little achievement, unlike… Caroline Kennedy.
Major Major Major Major
@Betty Cracker: or the acting of the hero. In many ways the originals are good in spite of Lucas’s best efforts.
PaulWartenberg
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD):
Flash normally starts off as Barry Allen, Wally West is his protege who becomes the Flash when Allen dies saving the Multiverse. Flash is a legacy character in the DC verse.
Brachiator
@SatanicPanic:
If you are referring to Rogue One, I agree that it was good. It did, however, show signs of being hastily re-edited. But yeah, it was moving. Really liked the cast.
Roger Moore
@different-church-lady:
I don’t think the Republicans would have gone for impeachment if it had been his first term. They would have tried to use it against him in his reelection campaign, which almost certainly would have fallen flat because nobody persuadable outside of DC gave a damn about it. It would have made his nomination a bit more challenging, but I don’t think the party would have dropped him as a candidate for it. They might have tried impeachment after he was reelected, but it would have turned out even worse than it already did.
SatanicPanic
@Calouste: This is all too plausible.
trollhattan
@laura:
You speak truth, doubly so this time of year.
Roger Moore
@TenguPhule:
Rogue One is the prequel fans wanted.
Doug R
Betty Cracker, you should resign.
How dare you show us a wood pecker.
2liberal
testing with quantum
SatanicPanic
@Brachiator: Yes, Rogue One. Yeah, the editing was a bit choppy. That scene where Donnie Chen’s character has to walk over to the master switch was so intense.
debit
@The Moar You Know:
Damn. I’m so sorry.
Amaranthine RBG
@debit:
Exactly. The only reason to bring either of them up is to distinguish the current Democratic Party from the one they previously led.
So again. Good on Gillibrand for drawing a line.
eclare
@The Moar You Know: I’m so sorry to hear that.
Amaranthine RBG
@The Moar You Know:
Don’t kick yourself over the past. There are plenty of dogs and cats that need help now.
SatanicPanic
@debit: The media isn’t going to. Normally I’d be like, whatever, but they’re not wrong when they point out that it’s awkward to have a guy whose behavior with women has been gross be attending events for Democrats. Hillary OTOH is fine, I am just referring to Bill. If she wants to bring him along to events, fine, but putting him on as a speaker is probably a bad idea at this point.
Amaranthine RBG
@Betty Cracker:
That’s an odd way to say “Oh, sorry I missed that in the article. You’re right”
Brachiator
@rikyrah:
Sounds like an early Christmas present from Trump to his lowlife sons.
Trump supporters don’t need none o’ that fancy big school learning. All the learning they need they got from high school and the Bible.
prostratedragon
Recently I’ve found myself singing, in the manner of Groucho, you can learn a lot from Jared. Now it seems, per Marshall’s team at TPM, you also can learn a lot from Clovis (accompanied by an underviewed video), who was apparently singing from a standard hymnal.
Doug R
@Patricia Kayden: Saw it last night. Was no Citizen Kane, but I enjoyed it. It’s only 2 hours long, so it doesn’t drag and the heroes are easy to like.
Doug R
@Amaranthine RBG: I don’t see the point of a circular firing squad for Gillibrand trying to score a few cheap points.
There’s a new thread, isn’t there?
pluky
@Ohio Mom: The damage is still being done. If a woodpecker is banging at your house, then there are things in the house to be eaten. And chances are, those things are eating the house!
sharl
VICE co-founder Gavin McInnes departed the company long ago, but his bro-spirit lives on in the current management apparently.
germy
Gin & Tonic
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): He is not stupid, he is confident that he will face no consequences for his actions. And he is right.
hedgehog the occasional commenter
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): Nuts. We already bought tix for tonight (I got them before the reviews came out.) Oh well–I will lower my expectations :)
Brachiator
@Doug R:
Man, I really liked that scene in “Citizen Kane” where Orson Welles activates his magic sled, flies off and then fights that giant dragon on top of Xanadu. And then, when he falls into the abyss shouting “Rosebud!” Wow. Talk about your superhero movies!
Cacti
Franken’s female former staffers speak out on his behalf:
“He treated us with the utmost respect.”
Monster.
Just one more canuck
@TenguPhule: “I hate you mom and dad!!! You’re not the boss of me! I’ll show you – I’m going to join the dark side!”
Doug R
@TenguPhule: The Force Awakens felt like Jar Jar Abrams doing a fan fiction version of A New Hope with “moar exploshuns!”
Matt McIrvin
@Betty Cracker: Come to think of it, they did something similar in Rogue One– the main villain Orson Krennic is sort of the Shelley Levene of the Galactic Empire, this schlemiel who gets dissed, screwed over and eventually vaporized by the more magnificent bastards. I found it amusing.
Cacti
@Doug R:
That’s what it felt like to me too.
High budget fan fiction.
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
@PaulWartenberg: The characterization of Allen-as-Wally-West is still weird, though.
@hedgehog the occasional commenter: Well, it is the second-best DCEU movie.
TenguPhule
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): But the DCEU has only had one good movie so far.
Jeffro
@Brachiator: @TenguPhule: @Doug R: @Cacti:
While you are waiting for moar Star Warz …you can go check out this new SW pop up bar in DC.
(or not)
(I’m not)
Julia Grey
@Mnemosyne: As I understood it, Scarlett lost the love of her life because she had a romantic obsession with her high-minded ninny-pants “hero” Ashley Hamilton, who reciprocated the stupidity in his own feckless way.
Both of them discovered their true love for their marriage partners only after it was too late.
Scarlett’s obsession with money and security played a huge role in hooking her up with Rhett in the first place, but it wasn’t why she lost him.
Betty Cracker
@Amaranthine RBG: I saw the sentence. I also saw the OTHER sentences and came to a different conclusion about what Gillibrand meant than you did. Imagine that!
chopper
@rikyrah:
yeah, it’s going to blow a lot of grad students out of the water. you make poverty-level wages from a stipend but pay 60k/yr-level taxes. between that and SS/Medicare you’re left with next to nothing. oh, also, you have to buy health insurance now that you no longer qualify for Medicaid.
Doug R
@Cacti: Roy Moore supposedly met his wife at some church function, but he aparently remembered her from a high school recital years before. His wife was in the SAME CLASS as one of his targets.
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
@TenguPhule: Justice League is, at least, not a tire fire?
Yellowdog
@Amir Khalid: Well that IS young for the FOX demographic.
Doug R
@MomSense: I saw Baby Driver at my local video store, it just came out on video.
Doug R
@TenguPhule: Lewinsky didn’t come out in Bill’s first term BECAUSE Bill was enough of a political operator to know better, I doubt this exercise’s validity.
ruemara
I loved Rogue One, The Force Awakens and I cannot wait for The Last Jedi. Thor: Ragnarok was brilliant and I will be ignoring Justice League and spending time with Coco. Plus baking bourbon pecan pie and chipotle chocolate cake for Thanksgiving. Whatever, haters.
TenguPhule
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): Not sure, reviews have been mixed.
Some are saying watchable, others are saying dumpster fire and let us never speak of this again.
2liberal
@germy: re: youtube volume controls
http://www.androidpolice.com/2017/09/04/youtube-volume-controls-bad-feel-bad/
HeartlandLiberal
“That’s no lady, that’s my wife.”
Actually, that’s no lady woodpecker, I am pretty sure that is a male red bellied, since the red crest covers the entire head to the base of the beak, at least it looks that way. The female has red only on the back of the head, not the top.
Or maybe I missed a footnote, and this is a transgender woodpecker? Not that there is anything wrong with that, mind you.