She IS as dumb as a goddamned brick:
Open thread!
This post is in: Open Threads, General Stupidity
by John Cole| 27 Comments
This post is in: Readership Capture
We are working on the calendar, but we are both clueless in cafepress and broke things.
Does anyone have any experience with it?
This post is in: Excellent Links, Hail to the Hairpiece, Open Threads, Republicans in Disarray!, Assholes, Riveted By The Sociological Significance Of It All
EVANGELICALS: Lord, if I'm wrong show me a sign!
*Trump Tower bursts into flames*
EVANGELICALS: …any sign at all!
— Jesse McLaren (@McJesse) January 8, 2018
WATCH: Smoke billows out of Trump Tower as firefighters respond to electrical fire https://t.co/kHlN77LRoc
— Raw Story (@RawStory) January 8, 2018
For once, the NYC Trump Tower tenants may have reason to be grateful to Trump — or, more correctly, Trump’s Secret Service detail. I went through a “routine” rooftop equipment-related “smoke event” some twenty years ago, when I was working in Boston’s Hancock Tower. Being rushed down sixty flights in the underlit emergency stairwell, while security guards ran up & down yelling at us and each other, is not one of my favorite life memories. Sounds like the SecServ guys alerted firefighters before the building had to be evacuated.
Meanwhile, smart review from Michael Hiltzik, at the LA Times — “I knew everything in Wolff’s ‘Fire and Fury’ even before it was published. Here’s how”:
… [T]he proper way to think about “Fire and Fury” is not as a book, but as an event. The vast majority of people discussing it over the next few weeks — assuming the furor lasts that long — will not have read it. When the Sunday cable talk shows went into full cry over it, they focused largely on the West Wing’s reaction to it…
But having done the reading homework myself, I can tell you that the first 30% of “Fire and Fury” is an engaging read, full of little frissons of revelation. It’s not badly written, though portions show the effects of hasty editing to meet a deadline.
After the first third, however, it becomes boring, repetitious and, ultimately, depressing. There just isn’t much for Wolff to say about the White House after he’s said it once, and the discouraging thought that his cast of characters are in place because of a quirk of the American presidential electoral system that surprised them as much as it shocked outsiders soon outweighs any pleasure one might get from watching them bite each others’ heads off…
Wolff identifies the principal camps during his time as a fly on the wall as those of Bannon; first daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner; and former Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, who was replaced by John F. Kelly at the end of July. This started to be widely known even before inauguration day.
But Wolff may actually have made a signal contribution to Trumpology here by making clear how much each gang leaked to undermine the others. Despite the obligatory paragraphs in all those inside-the-West-Wing scoops in the big papers about how many sources they were based on (how many people work in the White House, anyway?), it appears from Wolff’s book that those stories really all emanate from the power jockeying among those three groups; sometimes it’s one camp leaking against the other two, sometimes two camps in temporary alliance against the third.
This just tells you that the correct rule of thumb to apply when reading any of these yarns is the Latin term “Cui bono?” (“Who gains?”)…
That being said, Cui bono from the agenda for the evening?
Monday Evening Open Thread: Somebody Burning Copies of <em>Fire & Fury</em>?Post + Comments (164)
by Betty Cracker| 178 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads, Sports
by DougJ| 72 Comments
This post is in: C.R.E.A.M.
Another day, another Republican House retirement. Let’s kick in some money into the fund that’s split equally among all Democratic eventual nominees in all House districts currently held by Republicans.
Thought you might might like this picture of my dog with Santa. When we hit 25K on this, I’ll put up some baby pictures.
I’m looking for pound notes, loose change, bad checks, anythingPost + Comments (72)
This post is in: Anderson On Health Insurance
Health Affair’s new ACA blogger, Katie Keith, writes about the first of many lawsuits concerning Cost Sharing Reduction (CSR) subsidies:
On December 28, 2017, Maine Community Health Options (MCHO)—a nonprofit insurer in Maine—filed what is believed to be the first lawsuitagainst the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for failing to reimburse marketplace insurers for cost-sharing reductions (CSRs) for 2017. MCHO seeks an estimated $5.6 million in CSR payments for the 2017 plan year….
MCHO’s claims are relatively straightforward. In brief, MCHO alleges as follows. As an insurer participating in the marketplace, it is required to offer CSR plans and is guaranteed to be reimbursed by the government for doing so under Section 1402 of the ACA and its implementing regulations at 45 C.F.R. 156.430. By failing to make CSR payments, the government deprives insurers of funds that they are statutorily entitled to for participating in the marketplace in 2017. The lack of congressional appropriation is irrelevant because the government has a statutory obligation to make CSR payments and insurers have the right to receive them.
The language in the law is that the insurers “SHALL” offer CSR and the government “SHALL” pay insurers for this added benefit on a regular and timely basis. I am not a lawyer but I know “SHALL” is a very powerful word denoting strong obligations.
There are two sets of CSR lawsuits that are possible. The Maine Co-op is filing the first type that should be the most straightforward. They are asking only for CSR payments for the last three months of 2017 as they were able to mitigate their damages in 2018 by raising their Silver rates. This one is fairly straightforward.
The more complex potential CSR lawsuit starts with the 2017 lawsuit and then adds in an ongoing recoupment of costs after net mitigation through Silver Loading. That lawsuit would be complex and a guarantee only of billable hours.
This post is in: The War On Women, Women's Rights Are Human Rights, Sexist Pricks, Sociopaths
Donald Trump’s North Korea tweet was obvious enough that the instant responses to it included the word “dick-measuring” and the thought that he probably can’t find the button. It is becoming more and more obvious that he is indeed the WYSIWYG president. “There is no wizard behind the curtain — just an old, angry, obnoxiously ignorant man.”
The world is changing fast – away from the assumed preference for old white men. Even when their privilege was intact, within their value system they had a lot to be angry about. First, the physical decline. As we get older, it becomes more difficult to keep weight off, more difficult to maintain muscle tone. Joints begin to ache. Men’s sexual abilities decline starting at around age 20. There’s some cognitive decline; reflexes slow down.
Additionally, society keeps changing. People of color, women, people whose sexuality differs from cis-het all are being legitimated. Some are taking prominent jobs away from their rightful owners, those cis-het white men.
Fox News is the network for those old white men, run by old white men. Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch knew what old white men want because it’s what they want. Leggy blond women who know their place. News of how those non-white-men are doing a bad job and worse. People to hate, like that uppity Hillary Clinton.
Sex may be the vehicle, but harassing women is primarily about power. Let me give a couple of examples from my life.
When I came to Los Alamos, I had mixed feelings. My job as a technical writer was below my educational level, but it paid a third again more than a similar job I had before I got there. Because of my degrees, I was a staff member, then the title for any technical person not in management.
Back in the sixties, it was expected that staff members would attend The Tuesday morning colloquia. “Space Flight To Mars” particularly intrigued me. It was given by Wright Langham, the head of the health division. He had worked in the Manhattan Project and was internationally known in the field of health physics.
It was the beginning of manned spaceflight. The Laboratory was working on nuclear rocket engines for trips to Mars. I grew up loving science fiction and was enthusiastic about spaceflight, dampened somewhat by my recognition all the astronauts were middle-aged men.
There was a fair bit about radiation, how long the flight might take, the kinds of orbits and propulsion that might be needed. And then Langham talked about the crew. Psychological factors would be important on the long trip. And women would be included. I perked up. “Of course, their duties would be, um…” The smirk on the speaker’s face and the sniggering in the audience said it all.
I was well aware of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and wrote a memo to Los Alamos’s director, Norris Bradbury. I got a memo back telling me that the speaker was a famous and respected man and there was nothing wrong with what he said. I was marked as a troublemaker.
That was the end of my interest in space flight. Yes, women eventually were allowed to be astronauts, but now what I see is gazillionaire men parading their egos across the sky.
A few years later, I was in a job (still at the Laboratory) in which I was essentially subordinate to the group secretary. I was arguing with her. The group leader, another Manhattan Project alumnus, came out of his office, looked me up and down and commented on the transparency of a crocheted vest I ws wearing. His tone was not complimentary. He was clearly putting me in my place.
Those guys were middle-aged. The time of their Manhattan Project successes was passing, and arms control was beginning to reverse the arms race. So they needed someone to put down.
Do not let me hear
Of the wisdom of old men, but rather of their folly,
Their fear of fear and frenzy, their fear of possession,
Of belonging to another, or to others, or to God.
The only wisdom we can hope to acquire
Is the wisdom of humility: humility is endless.
T. S. Eliot, East Coker
Pictures of presidential staff and appointees have changed markedly from the Obama years. The overwhelming color is white in face and hair, and the gender is male, like the old man who is President. His Twitter feed reflects his television watching habits – the favorites of angry old men. He reassures himself of the size of his button and, further, his intellect and stability – all those things that old men feel they are losing.
It’s not just old men who do these things. But the power dynamic shows up clearly in the parallel between older men’s decline and the changing societal situation.
In the situations now finally being faced in the entertainment industry and others, sex can be demanded because of the power imbalance. In order to make a lasting change, those power imbalances must be corrected. Removing the offenders is the first part; the laws on harassment must be enforced, and more women must take their place in the power structures.
Top photo is Trump’s initial cabinet, January 2017.
Cross-posted to Nuclear Diner.
Do Not Let Me Hear Of The Wisdom Of Old MenPost + Comments (72)