An excerpt from President Lincoln’s annual message to Congress, 1 December 1862:
It is not “can any of us imagine better?” but, “can we all do better?” The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise — with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.
Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation. We say we are for the Union. The world will not forget that we say this. We know how to save the Union. The world knows we do know how to save it. We — even we here — hold the power, and bear the responsibility. In givingfreedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free — honorable alike in what we give, and what we preserve. We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth. Other means may succeed; this could not fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just — a way which, if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God must forever bless.
Hold the line!
Marcopolo
Here’s some good news:
It’s still too early to tell if a Democratic wave will sweep the House of Representatives in 2018. But the sheer number of Democratic challengers entering House races shows the makings of a wave.
To put this in context, Malbin says that the number of Republican challengers entering House races at this time of year is normal. The real surprise for him came on the Democratic side, where the numbers indicate a kind of energy around midterm races that he hasn’t seen before. The big drivers seem to be the reaction to Trump and congressional Republicans as they push unpopular policies like their current tax overhaul bill.
japa21
From the heights of oratory of Lincoln to the strangulation of the English language by Trump. Sigh.
Adam L Silverman
@japa21: Let the former be your guide star when dealing with the latter.
lamh36
Alright…I’m gonna repost the comment from the last one…
I admit it, this legit made me cry…real tears…you can hear the pain in his voice when he talks about his daughter…he doesn’t say she committed suicide cause she was gay, but just that he knows he and other say things like Roy Moore had said about gays and he knows how those saying would have hurt his daughter…
TEARS!!!
Adam L Silverman
@Marcopolo: Good.
WaterGirl
Thanks, Adam. I had never realized just how much we have in common with Abraham Lincoln and the time he lived in. I know it sounds too dramatic, but it really does feel like we are engaged in a new civil war. Or at least the cold war version of that.
Jean
It’s hard to imagine there were presidential addresses like that of Lincoln or Roosevelt or Kennedy or Obama or really any LITERATE and EDUCATED speaker whose words were intended to inspire us to look to our best selves in the search of a better country for all.
lamh36
@lamh36: And apparently, he’s the real deal. Here is the letter he wrote in 2012 about his daughter and her suicide.
Letter: Soul-baring thoughts on gay-bashing via @dothaneagle
Marcopolo
@Adam L Silverman: Link for my post: vox.com/platform/amp/2017/12/11/16748716/chart-democrats-2018-midterms-elections?__twitter_impressio…
Using my phone so I managed to run out of time on editing the first post :(
However, the actual number of Dem challengers (nearly 400) and the amounts of funding a lot of the have already lined up is impressive.
Major Major Major Major
So, bitcoin-free thread?
B.B.A.
The last word on Franken. At least, I sure hope it’s the last word. What else is there to say, after that?
Adam L Silverman
@Marcopolo: I believed you even without the link.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Jean: listening to trump’s robocall, he sounds like someone who learned to read within the last year
WaterGirl
@lamh36: More tears.
Adam L Silverman
@WaterGirl: These folks, or at least their political, economic, and religious forbears, have always been with us. We make progress pushing their idea down and them to the margins. But they push back. It isn’t that they don’t have the right to have their say. Nor is it that they should have to hide. But they don’t have the right to tyrannize everyone else into submission.
President Obama is not wrong that civil society is like a garden that needs tending.
lamh36
you just can’t make these people up…can you
schrodingers_cat
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Now I get why these people get so upset when they hear press 2 for Spanish, poor dears can barely manage one language.
WaterGirl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Holy fucking fuck, these people have apparently never had a moment of self-reflection in their pathetic lives.
efgoldman
@Adam L Silverman: The paragraphs you quoted were chosen by composeer Aaron Copland for his A Lincoln Portrait. It has been my pleasure to read the narration with different ensembles over the years. It gets me every time, even though the language is a bit stilted. Contemporary reports suggest that Lincoln did not have a booming oratorical voice. Neither do I, but I got to use a microphone and amplifiers,
Luthe
I won’t believe in our last best hope until Susan Ivanova and G’Kar toss the Centauri in the White House out an airlock.
WaterGirl
@Adam L Silverman: How did that side get this strong? The mind boggles.
Steeplejack
@Marcopolo:
Good news from where? Who is Malbin?
@Marcopolo: Thanks for the link.
Adam L Silverman
@efgoldman: If you have an audio file of you doing so, email it to me and I’ll attach it to the post.
Then you can be really famous!
lamh36
Right…Sure…Roy…
japa21
@Adam L Silverman: The former is what makes the latter so hard to deal with. But knowing there are still people out there for whom at least a moderately well spoken use of the language matters is a plus.
germy
@efgoldman:
According to Daniel Day-Lewis he sounded more like James Taylor.
efgoldman
@WaterGirl:
As simple as (volume)+(repetition)
Oh, and money. Always money.
efgoldman
@Adam L Silverman:
Thanks anyway. They were all recorded, but I don’t have access to the archive.
danielx
And that is why he was/is the highest rated president ever.
lamh36
To be honest, I have no hope that Doug Jones will win tomorrow…but this…about Moore being absent from the trail for so long and showing up tonight cause he’s got this in the bag…is bullshit…
Still, I will call it a victory if Jones gets close enough so that even if/when Moore wins, at least it’s low single digits…or if Jones actually wins.
I just don’t have ANY confidence in the white Alabama GOP electorate (or the national white electorate, GOP or otherwise) to do the right thing…and not vote for Moore
clay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Boy, they sure have egg on their face.
efgoldman
@Adam L Silverman:
I have no illusions. I was on the radio almost twenty years, and my next door neighbors didn’t know what station.
Roger Moore
@lamh36:
Since when is “fellowship” a verb?
Bruuuuce
@Adam L Silverman: Unfortunately, the post title was also used by Babylon 5 in its main titles, and continues with “It failed.” On the other hand, despite failing to maintain peace, it led to winning the war against fascists (with, as expected, a high price) and the reinstatement of freedoms across a large swathe of worlds.
I hope we don’t have to go through the same sort of fighting, but, to use a different quote from the show, “Never start a fight, but always finish it.” The crazy right has started the fight, now we need to steel ourselves to the unpleasant task of beating them and working to eliminate their support and attitudes.
The Simp in the Suit
@efgoldman:
That’s really what’s been happening for a long, long time.
Roger Moore
@germy:
Daniel Day-Lewis studied what people have said about Lincoln very carefully. He even copied his walk.
Steve in the ATL
@Roger Moore: you should task someone with investigating that
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@clay: that’s not the kind of egghead they need!
Schlemazel
@WaterGirl:
The SOuth never actually ended the Civil War. Those people fought on, maintained slaver through various means, treated government as the enemy to the point of denying education and decent public services and accommodations to anyone not able to pay for it themselves. They never surrendered and for the last 40 years they have been in ascendance. They are on the cusp of winning the Civil War. It might be the South minus slavery (but that is not a clear thing) but the strangulation of all the decent and good things built up since Teddy Roosevelt is nearly complete. The concept that of E Pluribus Unam and a common good are being torn out by the roots. That is not being dramatic when you look at what is happening
Citizen_X
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Well, in this country, it’s the whites that are the problem.
Marcopolo
@Luthe: It’s true—he does have the hair to be a Centauri. And that egomaniacal theatric flair. But does that make Putin & the Russians the Shadows?
raven
@Steve in the ATL: All recovered?
efgoldman
@The Simp in the Suit:
That pushes the other two. Anyone who’s ever been through an Army course, in basic training or directly after, knows that it works.
Bruuuuce
Also, a bit of good news from Alabama:
Assuming they’re not voting on fully electronic and rigged machines, and there are still plenty of ways for them to ratfvck the election, but hey, every little good thing is worth applauding.
Yarrow
Apparently Roy Moore speaks Russian. You can see him doing so in this interview with a Guardian reporter–the video is embedded in the article. The exchange leading up to it starts at about 0:47 on the video. The actual Russian bit is at 1:40. He speaks pretty good Russian for a guy that says he studied it at West Point. How long ago was that? Seems to roll off his tongue pretty ably for something he studied back in college.
What is it you say, Adam? Penetration at all levels?
Major Major Major Major
@Roger Moore: I’ve heard it before. And I don’t like it, but I’ve heard it.
Roger Moore
@Citizen_X:
What you did there has been observed.
lamh36
WaterGirl
@efgoldman: And fear. And fear-mongering.
Really glad to be seeing you back here again.
Bruuuuce
@Luthe: Unfortunately, that only works for stuffed bears. :-(
raven
Rachel is reporting that the Round Mound of Rebound is at the Doug Jones rally and urging Alabamians to stop being stupid!
zhena gogolia
@Yarrow:
It’s not too good. I believe him when he says that’s all he can say.
WaterGirl
@lamh36: I am actually hopeful that Doug Jones can win, but it’s anybody’s guess, really, until the votes are counted.
B.B.A.
@B.B.A.: I should probably have pointed out that A. Whitney Brown was on SNL in the ’80s (later on the Craig Kilborn incarnation of The Daily Show). Anyway, his comments on that Twitter thread are something other than else.
Mary G
@Roger Moore: This right here is a high crime and misdemeanor of its own. If the POC or Jewish people of the Moores’ acquaintance were indeed ever present at their home, I am pretty sure the sense of fellowship was one-sided.
Citizen_X
@Bruuuuce: @Marcopolo: I’ve been thinking lately that the Russians are the Stupid Shadows. In that, while the Shadows formented chaos across the galaxy, they were millions of years advanced over the other species, and could watch the carnage at a safe remove. Russia has been effective at subverting the world order recently, but haven’t been improving their own condition, and are likely to get dragged into the problems that they are helping create. Oh well.
Adam L Silverman
@WaterGirl: As I’ve written several times, there’s never been a prolonged period of progress in the US that hasn’t encountered significant pushback. And if those pushing the pushback aren’t at first successful, they wait and wait and bide their time until they can. Speaker Ryan didn’t come up with being anti-New Deal, he’s just the most recent incarnation of that pushback.
Give these a read:
stiftungleostrauss.com/bunker/polyps-nativism-and-american-nevrose/
stiftungleostrauss.com/bunker/why-the-movement-is-more-dangerous-today-than-1993/
stiftungleostrauss.com/bunker/dark-dreams-of-the-conservative-movement/
stiftungleostrauss.com/bunker/gabrielle-giffords/
eric
@Citizen_X: and you, my friend, are the proud winner of a brand new intertubes…
Yarrow
@raven: Hey, I saw you are going to the Rose Bowl. What made you decide to go? Last I saw you said it was too expensive. I hope you have a great time!
@zhena gogolia: It’s still fairly long for someone who studied it, what, 50 years ago? I mean, it’s not “Bonjour” or “Hola.”
rikyrah
@lamh36:
That made me cry ??
Ladyraxterinok
@Adam L Silverman: Thank you for posting this very needed and very helpful passage.
Adam L Silverman
@Bruuuuce: So I should either take down the post or retitle it because a sci fi show from 25 years ago used it?
raven
@Yarrow: Not only that but the princess put the heat on me and we’re going to the damn parade too. We hope leaving Hawthorne at 4 am will get us to Pasadena and in our parking spot in time. I got bleacher seats hat way down the route and I think we can take the train and get us close. Then back to the car to dump our colder weather stuff an up to the game.
rikyrah
Amazon Prime Video has THE original Dark Shadows ???
lamh36
@WaterGirl: As I’ve said in the past, I’m an optimistic pessimist…I expect the worse and hope for the best. Never say never, and nothing is ever set in stone, so sure, I have 0.0000000000000001% confidence that Jones eeks out a win.
Unfortanatley, I also have 99.999999999999999% confidence that Alabama white GOP voters cannot be trusted….
Yarrow
@raven: Wow! That sounds like it’s going to be fantastic. I hope the weather is good for you. Hope you have a wonderful time.
Zinsky
hello
raven
@Yarrow: Yea, pretty good chance the weather will be fair, Now we gotta whup Boomer Sooner!
Adam L Silverman
@Schlemazel: One interesting bit of historic trivia: the Confederate constitution incorporated everything from the US constitution, including the Bill of Rights, as either part of its preamble or articles, which is why it has no bill of rights of its own. Everything that is but one thing: there is no mention of providing for the general welfare. The authors of the Confederate constitution did not believe in the general welfare, they did not believe the government, at any level, had any role in providing it/for it. The modern American conservative movement, what is sometimes referred to as movement conservatism, as well as its religious and cultural counterparts, are the modern descendants of the Confederates who didn’t believe in the general welfare or in its provision.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@rikyrah: I’ve been watching The Good Place to unwind at the end of the day
germy
@Roger Moore:
True. And I remember an interview where he mentioned James Taylor’s voice.
I enjoyed the film and thought Day-Lewis might be the best Lincoln I’ve seen on film.
Yarrow
@lamh36: I’m in the same as you. I guess we’ll see how it goes. I saw a week or so ago whoever is in charge of elections in AL said he thought turnout was going to be about 25% then revised it downward because people are so burned out about the election. It’s bad enough not being in Alabama. It’s probably awful for those there. I thought that sounded low for an election with this much attention.
WaterGirl
@raven: I, too, was glad to see that are you going!
WaterGirl
@Adam L Silverman: Thanks, Adam. I opened the 4 links in tabs so I can read them tomorrow.
Ladyraxterinok
@Adam L Silverman: Thank you for posting this very needed and very helpful passage.@Jean: Talkingpointmemo reports the KS terrorists arrested for planning to blow up a mosque have demanded that Trump voters be on their juries. Great country we have with Trump!
Adam L Silverman
@Yarrow: My understanding from talking to fluent Russian speakers is that his pronunciation is passable. And all we know is he remembers one phrase. More concerning is the praise for Putin.
SFAW
@Yarrow:
No, he just learned it to try to get Jamie Lee Curtis in the sack. Until he found out she’s only 11 or so years younger than he is — “Too old for me!” sayeth Moore.
Tilda Swintons Bald Cap
@Adam L Silverman: Here’s another good one.
Mnemosyne
@lamh36:
FWIW, Republicans who stay home are almost as good for us as Republicans who switch to Jones. It ain’t over till it’s over.
Marcopolo
@Schlemazel: As someone named Faulkner once said: “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”
Adam L Silverman
@lamh36: Good op-ed. And he wrote a good book back in 2016 on the same topic. Much, much better than Hillbilly Elegy.
amazon.com/People-Going-Rise-Waters-Shore/dp/1619029561/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=151…
Mnemosyne
So here’s a bleg — has anyone ever done an at-home sleep study for sleep apnea? Any tips? My appointment is in about 90 minutes — yes, at night. It’s weird.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Roger Moore: Among evangelicals, fellowship is commonly used as a verb.
Major Major Major Major
@Adam L Silverman: that’s how I do all my writing.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I love that movie. I own the DVD. I wonder where the hell it is, and if my DVD player works
Adam L Silverman
@WaterGirl: It is all going to come down to turnout.
SFAW
@Marcopolo:
Would that make Jones’s opponent Mr. Mooreden? And if that’s the case, who’s going to be Vir Cotto if Jones wins tomorrow?
Adam L Silverman
@Roger Moore: @Mary G: The reporter should have asked for specific names.
Bruuuuce
@Adam L Silverman: Nope. I wouldn’t ask you to do either. But it does have some strong associations, worth noting.
Mnemosyne
@raven:
Do some Googling on the Pasadena city websites — they’ll probably run special shuttles to get people back and forth from the parade to the game.
Ladyraxterinok
@Adam L Silverman: Audio would be super great.
Adam L Silverman
@Ladyraxterinok: You’re welcome. Been a bit depressing, dark, and defeatest on the front page around here for my tastes.
SFAW
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I haven’t seen it in years, but I really appreciate how Kevin Kline can switch between Shakespeare and comedy — generally speaking, not in the movie itself — and do both pretty well.
Major Major Major Major
@Mnemosyne: I did, I don’t have it, I dunno, I just sort of slept. It was a while ago. Try not to have to pee.
Marcopolo
@lamh36: All I know is it just snowed in Alabama. And if there
was enough snow in Alabama a few days ago to make snowmen & go sledding then anything is possible ;).
Yarrow
@Mnemosyne: You have a nighttime appointment for an at home sleep study? That’s weird. A family member did it. Got the kit, did it for a week, took it back only to find out the recording device wasn’t working so had to do another week. A real pain.
If you mostly breathe through your mouth you might need a mask with a chin strap to keep your mouth closed so the machine works okay. Apparently the C-PAP (I think the testing device is an A-PAP) doesn’t work as well if you breathe through your mouth.
WaterGirl
@Adam L Silverman: All I can say is that I’m motivated, and I’m not even in Alabama.
I remember before Barack Obama was elected in 2008 – I knew we were in an unusual situation, possibly electing the first black president, and I was fully aware that there was no way to predict what was really going to happen when millions of people were alone in their private voting booths. Would people who thought they could vote for a black man really do it when the time came? Would people who swore they would never vote for a democrat or a black man hesitate, unable to bring themselves to vote for the idiot McCain and Sarah Palin? I know that we couldn’t count on any of the predictions.
That’s where we are now, again, I think, in Alabama. Same kind of situation, different details.
Adam L Silverman
@Ladyraxterinok: To me, what is more interesting, is the defense attorney teasing his defense: that planning to build a weapon and attack someone/some group is protected speech under the first amendment and actually building and deploying a weapon agains someone/some groups is both protected political speech, as an act, under the first amendment and protected activities under the second amendment.
If that defense is successful, it is going to be very difficult to ever try a case like this again.
Ladyraxterinok
@Roger Moore: Evangelical churchese or church speak. Need contact with culture to ‘appreciate’ it.
Yarrow
@Adam L Silverman: I find them both concerning. I don’t buy that someone who studied Russian half a century ago would still be able to come up with that long of a phrase so quickly in the middle of an interview with a reporter. Doesn’t make sense unless he’s been practicing more recently. The praise for Putin doesn’t surprise me at all given the Evangelicals and their love for Russia. Scary but not surprising.
SFAW
@raven:
So I guess you decided to go to Pasadena? Good! I hope it’s a great game!
Adam L Silverman
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap: Yep. I’d love to know who the guy is that blogs under that nym.
SiubhanDuinne
@raven:
Who is the Round Mound of Rebound?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@WaterGirl: First thing I saw in my in-box this morning was a notice from act blue that my weekly donation to Doug Jones had been processed. I did not intend to make a weekly donation, don’t know how I did that. But it was for a good cause.
Mnemosyne
@Yarrow:
I also have a nighttime appointment for my MRI later this week. It’s handy for me because I won’t have to take time off work, but it’s weird.
Apparently I use the device tonight and bring it back tomorrow. I guess that’s long enough for them to get a reading? But they’re only testing for sleep apnea, not for any other sleep disorders.
Adam L Silverman
@Mnemosyne: I did mine at the sleep study center in Camp Hill, PA. It is in a medical arts building built in front of an old 18th and 19th century graveyard, which can be seen through the windows. Not at all creepy. Very conducive to sound sleep…
Yarrow
@SiubhanDuinne: Charles Barkley.
SFAW
@SiubhanDuinne:
Charles Barkley, I believe
Adam L Silverman
@Major Major Major Major: I’ll update your dossier.
Ladyraxterinok
@Roger Moore: Evangelical churchese or church speak. Need contact with culture to ‘appreciate’ it.@Schlemazel: Amen. And so say we all ‘Amen!’
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
Bernie Woulda Beat Lincoln
Mnemosyne
@Adam L Silverman:
I would love to hear some of our resident lawyers talk about that proposed defense, because it sounds fucking bonkers.
lamh36
And there’s video:
Adam L Silverman
@SiubhanDuinne: Charles Barkley.
SFAW
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
Win
HumboldtBlue
Music always helps.
To sing.
To play.
Young Scots voice from Natasha Cook helps.
I grew up with a kid who was different from the rest of us. Our friend, sure. But he was different and we knew it. He did too.
He played every instrument and he did it well. Really well. There are a lot of people out there like him. Brilliant.
Yarrow
@Mnemosyne: That’s interesting. I guess they all do it differently. Maybe there’s another testing device, but the one my family member used was an APAP, which is A for Adjustable. It senses your breathing and gives you more or less air. They sent it home for a week, which, as I said, was kind of wasted because it didn’t record after the first few hours.
I don’t know if you know whether or not you mostly sleep with your mouth open but if you do be sure to mention that to the person fitting you for a mask (if they do that). They offered a selection of masks but the first one selected didn’t work that well, so eventually had to get another mask (had to pay for the second one–insurance only covered one) with a chin strap. So if that’s what you’re getting, discuss it with the technician. Also, see what your insurance covers in case you want a new mask. It’s all cheaper online, but since you’re only testing you don’t want to go that direction yet.
Schlemazel
@Adam L Silverman:
I actually knew that and it is a constant theme in my reading on the period. One of the reasons* the area was so industrially stunted was their refusal to invest in the infrastructure that would support manufacturing. The dumbassess were selling cotton to the North at wholesale and buy shirts at retail. They knew this & whined about it but flat out refused to do what was necessary to correct it because it would have benefited other people.
* another reason was that all their money was tied up in humans and, given the boom & bust cycle of cotton they rarely could generate the cash required to build.
Yarrow
@Adam L Silverman: These days it’s very hard to get insurance to cover an in-office sleep study. They pretty much make you do the at-home test first and only if you “fail” that test do you get to do the in office test. And even then you may not get approved. If you have something else that affects your sleep in addition to potential sleep apnea you are ruled out for an in-office sleep test. It’s crazy.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: the corporate whore puppet of the railroad companies*? He couldn’t have taken my vote for granted!
*Stolen from Matt Yglesias who imagined just such purity in the 1860s only this morning
japa21
@Adam L Silverman: As Mnem said, bonkers. But it might work, although it will only be effective in the future if the defendants are white.
@Mnemosyne: So when is the surgery? This year was a big BJ shoulder surgery year. Maybe 2018 will be full on knee surgeries. Seriously, though, I hope the best for you. Knee surgeries are no fun. I know this not from personal experience but from being around people who have had various things done to their knee.
Schlemazel
@Mnemosyne:
done a sleep study but not at home. They hooked me up to a bunch of wires (head and chest) and told me to go to sleep. I hung around for half a day so I could take a nap with all that crap attached. No big deal.
Adam L Silverman
@Schlemazel: They’re not sending their best.
lamh36
Gawd…the screepcap that accompanies the twitter version of the story, is creepster-ville!
SFAW
@Adam L Silverman:
And that phrase is from Berlitz 101 (or similar).
Question for Russian speakers: does Russian have formal and informal/familiar versions of “you”?
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
Roy Moore’s wife: “some our best friends are Jooooooos!” (video)
Ruviana
@Mnemosyne: You got a little monitor that you strap on over your chest? I did one this year and while I was somewhat skeptical it worked fine–I fell asleep, woke up the next day, disentangled myself and took the monitor back to the hospital’s sleep clinic. That was pretty much it.
Adam L Silverman
This is funny:
NotMax
Lincoln: “the better angels of our nature.”
Dolt 45: the worst demons of our vitiation
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Mnemosyne
@Yarrow:
I honestly don’t know if I sleep with my mouth open. I don’t think I do, unless I have a cold or something. It’s a little tricky because my knee injury has been forcing me to sleep on my back, which I hate, and I probably have more obstruction that way.
amygdala
@lamh36: I’m with you on that clip, which made me cry. His emotions are right there, from how proud he was of his daughter to his shame at things he said to her about being gay to understanding what a toll wanting so desperately not to be gay took on her. As I understand it, her death was nearly 20 years ago, and his pain is still right there.
I hope he finds some peace. I can’t imagine what his daughter endured, and what he continues to go through.
japa21
@Adam L Silverman: That is really funny.
Steve in the ATL
@raven:
Was feeling great…until I had to go back to the airport this morning. Hello St. Louis!
lamh36
DAFUQ!!!
Lyrebird
@Citizen_X: Best laugh I’ve had in a couple days, thank you!
And I just tossed a few more coppers in the DSCC hat.
I hope they go all out…
Adam L Silverman
@Yarrow: Okay. I either have really good insurance or they’ve changed things since 2011.
Schlemazel
@Mnemosyne:
I did mine to determine if sleep disruption was the source of depression. Didn’t need breathing assist and the only thing of note was that had I fallen asleep at night or for the nap 1 second sooner I would have qualified as narcoleptic. That was weird.
Adam L Silverman
@lamh36: Here you go:
NotMax
Adam, might you perhaps be contemplating a post regarding the attack on UN forces in Congo?
Mnemosyne
@Ruviana:
I don’t know yet — my appointment is at, like, 9 pm. Which is very weird, but legit.
@japa21:
I get my MRI this Thursday night to see exactly what I did. Surgery will probably be in the spring. I had my ACL replaced 12 years ago and it was NOT FUN, so I am not looking forward to this. Argh.
Lapassionara
@Yarrow: Sorry. As much as I despise Roy Moore, I can still spit out recognizable Russian phrases from my high school encounter with the language. As I proved this fall, when dining near some Russian people teasing a lady friend.
Schlemazel
@lamh36:
Guy claims they were tricked into it and that Moore was disgusted & left immediately. These are not the bombshells you are looking for.
Adam L Silverman
@lamh36: Ooopsie!
Mr Stagger Lee
I would love it, if Nick Saban announced he would no longer coach, in a state where a pedo was representing the state. Would the rednecks really turn on him?
lamh36
@Adam L Silverman: thx Adam…skeevy aint’ it…i
Adam L Silverman
@NotMax: I can try to get to it tomorrow depending on what is going on.
efgoldman
@Adam L Silverman:
It’s federal court, even in a small “c” conservative area. The US Attorney wouldn’t have brought the case if s/he didn’t think a conviction was likely.
The defense is trolling, trying to find anything that works.
Yarrow
@Mnemosyne: Just do the best you can with the test. Based on what I learned earlier this year, I’d definitely ask about what this test tests, what it will show, what happens next–like, if they don’t get enough info do you come in for an in-office sleep study. I’m surprised about the one night test, but maybe different sleep places and insurances and states have different rules about it.
japa21
@Schlemazel: But not until they got a good look at the merchandise and realized they were real pretty girls. If Moore was so disgusted, I am sure he reported the operation and shut them down, right? My guess is no.
lamh36
@Schlemazel: they walked in by mistake and left, um…ok…but why da hell would anyone use THAT story to help out a buddy with the issue that Roy has?
Lyrebird
@SFAW: Da.
I will not watch this creep talk, but yes and the familiar form begins with t and the formal form (oops) begins with v. I would try to write them out, but my fake cyrillic gives brain cramps to the fluent speakers, apparently.
NotMax
8 degrees of separation.
Libraryguy
@Mnemosyne: I did my study at the hospital, but I wish I could have done it home – I realized afterwards that I slept differently during the test, since my wife and dog weren’t in the bed with me. :) It made the using the machine a little weird at first until I got used to changing my initial position when I went to bed.
I hope it helps. It’s helped me a lot, and I’ve used a machine for 9 years.
Adam L Silverman
@lamh36: Yep. I had noticed it earlier today.
lamh36
@Schlemazel:
Yarrow
@Adam L Silverman: Yes, they’ve changed a lot of things with sleep studies since 2011, as I learned earlier this year. The sleep study doctor explained the whole thing. Some insurances still allow in-office tests as a first pass, but most have gone to the at home kit. The doctor said the at-home test doesn’t give them nearly enough info and it’s very hard now to get people in to be tested. As, again, I found out because it despite working on this since January and despite the doctor personally intervening and having a conference call with the insurance, they still wouldn’t approve it. It’s still in limbo. Has been since late February.
NotMax
@Schlemazel
“Whaddaya mean, pay for it? C’mon, let’s get out of here and go to the mall.”
Ruckus
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
So bad first grade reader then. Either he’s made it this far in life with less than a reasonable elementary school education or he (and the rest of us along with him) is suffering from dementia. I’ve heard reports that he was a crappy student at college, IOW his dad wasted all that money – so unlike his dad, but not this crappy.
Yarrow
@Lapassionara: Everyone’s facility with languages and retention is different. Perhaps you and Roy Moore can remember languages you studied in high school or college. Not everyone can.
NotMax
@Adam L. Silverman
Thank you in anticipatory advance.
NotMax
@Yarrow
Even a doddering Reagan held on to one Russian phrase.
B.B.A.
@lamh36: Forget it, Jake, it’s Alabama.
SiubhanDuinne
@Yarrow:
@SFAW:
@Adam L Silverman:
Thank you.
Mnemosyne
Prepare to be ded from teh cute:
Rescued sea otter pup finds new home at Oregon zoo
debbie
@lamh36:
When did Jews start fellowshipping?
SFAW
@lamh36: @lamh36:
Holy shit.
I don’t know who is more vile — Moore, or the people who will vote for him.
Moore better hope there’s no God, because my sense, from speaking with religious friends, is that God doesn’t cut a lot of slack on shit like that.
Ruckus
@Yarrow:
It is possible that he actually learned it there. I know a fellow who got drafted in 67 or 68 who was sent after basic to army language school in CO. He apparently was good enough that they kept him on as an instructor. His whole tour was boot camp and language school. He never told me what he learned or taught but probably Vietnamese or Russian would be my guess.
Ladyraxterinok
@Adam L Silverman: Audio would be super great.@lamh36: @lamh36: Her manner of refering to ‘Jew’ is beyond creepy weird.
Kay
I never thought thru the “bill from the IRS” part but it’s true- they WOULD need some kind of filed return to generate a demand for payment. What is this “bill” she received? The father died and for some reason the estate didn’t pass to his spouse and then the IRS sent a bill?
lamh36
Who among us wouldn’t hesitate to share the story about that time you and ur good friend (who’s been accused of lusting after young girls and allegedly assaulting one of those young girls) were tricked into mistakenly going into a brothel with child prostitutes (“they were certainly pretty girls. And they were girls. They were very young. Some were very young), in an attempt to defend said friend from the aforementioned accusations.
Ugh…and I still think there’s a good chance this disgusting mofo wins tomorrow
SFAW
@debbie:
Right after the Mormons converted them?
Adam L Silverman
@lamh36: Today, uniformed personnel and DOD, Department of the Army, Department of the Navy, Department of the Air Force, and the contractors that work for them all have to take an annual training course dealing with human trafficking, including sex trafficking. Failure to have reported something like this would get you into significant trouble based on DOD policies and regulations.
Ruckus
@raven:
Have you looked into a bus to the Rose Bowl? They leave just down the street west from the Memorial Gold line station. Parking out east a bit and taking the Gold line to your seats and the bus to the Bowl would be advised unless you already have paid parking at the bowl. Gold line will probably be pretty full but I’d bet they run trains more often than normal on the first, just for that reason.
Adam L Silverman
@Yarrow: I’m probably do for a retest to see what, if anything, needs to be adjusted on my CPAP. I’ll have to call my doctor and find out what’s up.
Omnes Omnibus
@SFAW: Don’t they have to be dead for that to happen?
Ruckus
Those of you who might find yourselves in Springfield, IL really should take a look at the Lincoln Home. I was there for work at a sporting event and we got rained out. So I spent the day at there. I was pretty proud to be citizen that day and that this country had elected such a man. It was far, far better than going to work.
Adam L Silverman
Before anyone starts emailing me or asking me in comments:
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Kay: my longer comment got et, but what a great takedown of a lying liar who lies, named Kristi Noem. Here are my favorite parts
Omnes Omnibus
@Ruckus: Oddly, I once visited Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage. I came away with nearly the opposite feeling. He was a good general who knew how to use artillery, but, aside from that, he was an appalling human being. JQA was so much better in every way. Sounds a bit like 2016 in a lot of ways. Except that Trump was never a good general who knew how to use artillery.
Yarrow
@Adam L Silverman: Since you already use one you might be in a different category. Or maybe your insurance isn’t as picky. The sleep doctor did say that in the last few years all insurance companies have really tightened their requirements for people being able to do in-office sleep studies. I think he makes more money on those so he’s frustrated because of that. But also he wants to help people and it’s much harder and longer and the at-home tests just don’t test as much.
Adam L Silverman
@NotMax: From what I can tell, despite attempts to tie this to al Qaeda, it just appears to be local separatist group which is made up of Congolese who are Muslim. As in if they worshipped a head of lettuce named Ralph and had the same grievances, they probably would have still done the same thing. But in Ralph’s name!
Adam L Silverman
@debbie: Well it all started with this ring…
Kay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
No one, and I mean no one, estate-plans like farmers do. It’s ALL they talk about. They have huge family rifts because they never stop plotting and planning who gets the assets. I’ve seen setups where the grandparents are in assisted living and they draw the first profit every year and then it goes down the line. It’s as tied up as a thing can be- planned out for 3 generations.
They knew how to file the REAMS of complex paper necessary to get all those subsidies but they somehow missed out on “the spouse gets the estate by operation of state law”?
Adam L Silverman
@Ladyraxterinok: Not up to me. Nag ef.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Kay: and… her mother is still alive
Adam L Silverman
@Yarrow: Tracking.
SFAW
@Omnes Omnibus:
Well, yeah. You lawyer types are always picking nits.
Adam L Silverman
@Kay: Back in 2006 or 2007 they actually found one family farm that had been scarfed up by the estate tax. Turns out the farmer was convinced if he wrote a will his wife and/or his kids would kill him for the inheritance. So when he died unexpectedly he was intestate. Paranoia will destroy ya!
Ruckus
@Kay:
Having seen some families in operation after someone dies (my grandfather’s second wife’s family) I can also bet that not all of the monetary arrangements are fully appreciated by all parties.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: @SFAW: We know better than to eat jell-o salad. Though to be polite we’ll put the minimum amount on the edge of the plate, nibble a bit, and tell (lie to) the person who made it that it tasted wonderful.
WaterGirl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Good for you! (Even if it was an accident.) I donated a few times. No regrets.
SFAW
@Omnes Omnibus:
Only because he never served. But if he had, he would have been THE BEST general. Huge! Other countries would have come to him, asking him to help them do generaling stuff. Because he was the smartest general ever.
SFAW
@Adam L Silverman:
There’s a joke there that I’m not getting, right?
ETA: Or is that part of Seder, like the fifth question: “Why do we not eat the jell-o salad? To remind us of the flight from Egypt, when we didn’t have enough time to let the jell-o cool.”
WaterGirl
@Mnemosyne: It sounds about like the Bundy defense, doesn’t it?
Omnes Omnibus
@SFAW: And I am Marie of Romania.
stinger
@Ruckus: I’ve toured the house, and learned a lot about him just from that. What really gets me is the Lincoln Tomb — it is the most awe-inspiring experience. Wonderfully designed.
WaterGirl
@lamh36: Oh my god, the look on his face as he looks at the young girl. He is lit up like a Christmas tree. So happy. I’ve got money that says Moore doesn’t look at his wife like that.
SFAW
@Omnes Omnibus:
Pleased to meet you, Your Majesty. I never met a Baha’i before.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Ruckus: when I drew up my will, my lawyer told me guns are a huge fight trigger among adult children
WaterGirl
@lamh36: And maybe that’s the origin story of Roy Moore and how he came to like little girls. It would be irresponsible not to speculate.
Sab
@germy: I thought Daniel Day Lewis’s Lincoln accent was brilliant. Everybody seems to forget that Lincoln grew up in Kentucky before he moved to Illinois as a young adult.
Ruckus
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Well if you have all the guns you can steal everything else.
NotMax
@Adam L. Silverman
Repeating from a day or so ago, but ya gotta see this gelatin recipe.
Ruckus
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I guess I’m lucky. Both my parents died having to live in homes, either from illness or old age and were left with nothing. As the trustee it was far easier to dole out nothing than you might imagine.
Adam L Silverman
@SFAW:
ldsliving.com/What-You-Didn-t-Know-About-Mormons-and-Jell-O/s/84359
slate.com/articles/life/food/2012/08/jell_o_and_mormonism_the_stereotype_s_surprising_origins_.html
templesquare.com/blog/utah-food-mormon-recipes/
theatlantic.com/health/archive/2010/03/jell-o-love-a-guide-to-mormon-cuisine/37929/
Adam L Silverman
@WaterGirl: Not since his wife’s 20th birthday.
Adam L Silverman
@SFAW: Baha’i?
Adam L Silverman
@NotMax: I saw it then. I seriously considered banning you for posting it.//
WaterGirl
@Adam L Silverman:
fixed that for you
Adam L Silverman
@WaterGirl: I originally had 13th, but because he’s been accused by a 14 year old, a 16 year old, and two 17 year olds, I figured I’d go with no longer a teen.
burnspbesq
@efgoldman:
That’s what we thought before the Bundy trial in Portland, IIRC.
WaterGirl
@Adam L Silverman: You make your case very well!
Ryan
Lincoln never had most of those pesky post Tenth Amendments to worry about. He didn’t have all of these problems!
marcopolo
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Not in my family. I inherited 3 long guns when my father died: a pre-1850 muzzle loading rifle with an octagonal barrel, and both a .22 caliber rifle & a shotgun from sometime between 1910-1925. None has ever been fired in my lifetime. My mom did not want them around and neither did my older brother. They’ve been in a closet ever since they came into my possession.
Adam L Silverman
@marcopolo: Hit me up offline if you want in case you have concerns about proper treatment of them for long term storage. If you’ve got it covered, then no worries.
marcopolo
@NotMax: That was a depressing article. Once the coastal sea ice melts all hell breaks loose. I can only imagine how that affects the locals subsistence lifestyles. It is really difficult to hunt seals when there isn’t any ice to drive out on within a couple miles of the coast. I lived in Fairbanks during most of the 90’s and since I left the winter weather there has also changed dramatically. While I was there it got cold around the end of Sept., stayed frozen solid through April, and then break up & green up would happened. The last five or six years Fairbanks has seen at least a couple warm spells each winter–wreaks havoc with the road maintenance due to thawing and refreezing and to driving due to the icing conditions.
SWMBO
@schrodingers_cat: Been trying to catch you since you asked about remodeling your house. I subscribed to this years ago and it has a lot of Craftsman details and furniture. Might give you some ideas…
discountmags.com/magazine/arts-and-crafts-homes?a=gshop&offer=gshop2&utm_source=google…
marcopolo
@Adam L Silverman: They are all the legacy of the grandfather I am named after, who apparently was a right bastard. He was a farmer and WWI veteran who keeled over out in a field at the age of 42 (my dad was 6 months old at the time). Whether my father fired them at some point prior to marrying my mom is unknown but doubtful. I actually have close friends who go hunting every year and who are gun aficionados (only three weapons leaves me very gun poor around them) who have offered to clean them up for me. But I have passed on that so far as I haven’t been the slightest bit interested in firing them in the 14 years I’ve had them. I could use the muzzle loader as a club in a pinch though, it must weigh 35-40 lbs.
NotMax
@marcopolo
Among other detriments, also leads to starving polar bears foraging in inhabited areas out of desperation.
marcopolo
@NotMax:Yeah that too. Though with the later start to winter and earlier arrival of spring “brown” bears (as well as polar bears) all across the subarctic and arctic are being affected because traditional hibernation patterns are getting all screwed up. Life is pretty awful for animals when environmental change outstrips evolutionary adaptations.
SWMBO
@Mnemosyne: Everyone in my family has had them and uses a cpap/autopap now. Make sure you are full and that you have warm jammies. The labs are cold (probably to keep the techs awake all night) and it tends to be colder than expected.
SWMBO
@Marcopolo: Does this mean hell snowed over?
BellyCat
@Adam L Silverman:
Tremendous thanks for this tidbit, Adam! Most useful (and explanatory) historical fact encountered in some time.
SWMBO
@Yarrow: We had trouble getting our disabled son tested for apnea. It took 2 overnight tests before we got a clear test. He was hungry the first time and wouldn’t tell anyone because he didn’t think he could have food. The second time he brought in pudding cups, potato chips and other snacks and ate his bedtime snack after they wired him up. I told him he had to go to sleep or he would be back again for the test one more time. He had to go back to get the titration study but he knew he could eat and get full (just like at home).
Call the state insurance commissioner and ask why your doctor isn’t allowed to diagnose your issue given the insurance you have. Does the insurance company have a written exclusion on this procedure? One of the things I have found over the years is that insurance companies do NOT want to hear from the insurance commissioner.
Also call the insurance company and ask for their HIPPA officer and the HIPPA panel that decides/denies claims. THEY MUST BY LAW PROVIDE YOU WITH THIS. My dentist had a payment from my insurance company because another patient with the same insurance had a claim paid after they had tried to deny the claim. The insurance company decided to withhold payment on my claim because they still disputed the other patient’s charges. We got into a conference call (dentist office, insurance and me). They got huffy and borderline bullying saying they had the right to withhold payment pending review. I asked them for their HIPPA officer’s name and number. She didn’t know who it was but she would check. I said I’d wait She offered a supervisor who tried to stall me on that. I told them that I was unhappy and that I expected payment to go out the next day. My dentist had performed the necessary procedure and he deserved to be paid. The supervisor (after stalling on the HIPPA question again) agreed that it was unfortunate that my dentist hadn’t been paid. She said that she would authorize the payment and they would get their money in just a couple of days.
The HIPPA thing is important because THEY HAVE TO TELL YOU THE NAMES AND CREDENTIALS OF EVERYONE ON THE TEAM THAT DENIED THE CLAIM. And they don’t want you taking to the insurance commissioner the little tidbit that some high school graduate who is well versed in insurance claims is one of the lead people denying your claim. You can then ask the commissioner why this less educated person is allowed to deny coverage that your doctor deems necessary. That really gets their panties in a wad.
SWMBO
@SFAW: generally speaking.
SFAW
@Adam L Silverman:
Unless my reading comprehension has gotten worse (which is always possible, these days):
According to Wikipedia, Queen Marie of Romania converted to the Baha’i faith late in life. About the only other Baha’i adherents I can recall are Jim Seals or Dash Crofts (or both). I’m sure there are others.
HeartlandLiberal
I searched this page of comments, and did not find a reference, so here, for any of you who have never heard it:
Please get recording of Aaron Copeland’s “Lincoln Portrait”, and listen to it. It is one of the most compelling twelve and a half minutes of music you will ever listen to. It is Copeland’s tone poem tribute to Abraham Lincoln. Threaded through it is dialog taken from Lincoln’s recorded words. The Lincoln quote in the Balloon-Juice post is central. My other favorite Lincoln quote is in this piece:
As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master.”
My favorite recording is the one where the famous American poet Carl Sandberg does the narration. But there are many versions, with famous people doing the narration. Even coach Bobby Knight appeared with the IU Music School and did the narration for it once, years and years ago.
Just look on YouTube for Aaron Copeland Lincoln Portrait, and pick the version you want to listen to. But please, do it.
As long as we are discussing Copeland, if you have never listened to his Third Symphony, do that, too. It is the source of the very famous “Fanfare for the Common Man” them. On YouTube, search for just the fanfare for three and half minutes of glorious music The final movement of the entire symphony is just incredible, indelible, Aaron Copeland American symphonic music.
I am listening to the Fanfare on YouTube as I finish this. Try it.
chopper
@lamh36:
I guess they were looking for a different brothel? wow, what a redeeming story!
Yarrow
@SWMBO: Thanks for this. I think it’s probably too late in the year to get all that done this year. Just have to start over again next year. I appreciate your advice and will keep it in mind for any obstacles encountered in the future.