A bit of news: Jared Kushner and his legal team is looking for a crisis PR firm. https://t.co/J6T6sX74FN
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) December 15, 2017
Yep, this investigation will wrap up by Christmas (of which year though…..)
by David Anderson| 103 Comments
This post is in: Hail to the Hairpiece, "Lock Her Up!!", All we want is life beyond the thunderdome, Blatant Liars and the Lies They Tell, hoocoodanode
A bit of news: Jared Kushner and his legal team is looking for a crisis PR firm. https://t.co/J6T6sX74FN
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) December 15, 2017
Yep, this investigation will wrap up by Christmas (of which year though…..)
by TaMara| 126 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads
Looks like we could use an open thread. I’m also going to post a holiday cookie recipes post tonight. Plus there might be a super secret reveal.
There will be the last writing group chat of the year on Sunday. Same chat time, same chat place.
The photo above was from looking at lights last night. Started with walking Bixby through city park and watching hockey practice at the ice rink. Bixby was convince he could stop that puck and the players were willing to let him try (I nixed that idea). But I might go ice skating with friends on Saturday night.
What are you up to today? Open thread.
Afternoon Open Thread & Writing Group UpdatePost + Comments (126)
by DougJ| 191 Comments
This post is in: Assholes
The attitude of some male Democratic Senators pisses me off right now:
Some Democrats say that Trump should resign over the allegations numerous women have levied against him. Several of those women told their stories again this week as part of a growing movement to hold powerful men accountable for their actions.
[….]“Look, he’s not going to resign,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), the Democratic vice presidential nominee in last year’s presidential election, told HuffPost on Tuesday. “So let’s not play games. He has no shame. There’s nothing you can do to shame him into resigning. So we just have to play the role that we have to be an emergency brake against all the ways he’s abusing people and our values and our country’s reputation.”
Look, you fucking idiot, that’s the whole point. Trump should resign but he won’t. That’s why you keep demanding that he resign, to make him look like an asshole. This isn’t complicated.
This post is in: Cat Blogging, Open Threads, Republican Venality, Fucked-up-edness, I Reject Your Reality and Substitute My Own
The Good:
I love stories like this:
With the help of his professor, Gary Urton, a scholar of Pre-Columbian studies, Medrano interpreted a set of six khipus, knotted cords used for record keeping in the Inca Empire. By matching the khipus to a colonial-era Spanish census document, Medrano and Urton uncovered the meaning of the cords in greater detail than ever before. Their findings could contribute to a better understanding of daily life in the Andean civilization.
Using taxpayer dollars, the Environmental Protection Agency has hired a cutting-edge Republican PR firm that specializes in digging up opposition research to help Administrator Scott Pruitt’s office track and shape press coverage of the agency.
According to federal contracting records, earlier this month Pruitt’s office inked a no-bid $120,000 contract with Definers Corp., a Virginia-based public relations firm founded by Matt Rhoades, who managed Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign.
Pretty much par for the course, I know: when reality offends you, make your own. But on our dime and to the end of wrecking the environmental infrastructure on which we all depend.
And, by popular (aka Schrodinger’s Cat) demand…
The Tikka:
Open thread, y’all.
This post is in: Open Threads
I see Anne is having technical problems and Betty is otherwise occupied, so here goes. I cannot reach their level of snark, so you need to be happy this is a morning open thread.
.@realDonaldTrump stands next to a stack of papers after announcing “We will get rid of the redundancy and duplication that wastes your time and your money.” #regulations pic.twitter.com/Vx8aecpFqe
— Doug Mills (@dougmillsnyt) December 14, 2017
All were blank.
A White House official says the paper will be reused, per @jeneps. https://t.co/amDD2uSe9G— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) December 14, 2017
A slow, painful #Rexit: Trump allies say Tillerson has ‘not learned his lesson’ and cannot continue in job for long https://t.co/Jh7LIBCQMd
— Phillip Carter (@Carter_PE) December 15, 2017
It’s almost enough to make you feel sorry for poor Rex. He’s actually made a few good decisions lately.
Why Kubrick cut the multiple presidential pie-throwing ending of ‘Dr Strangelove’, following the assassination of John Kennedy: https://t.co/AMMm1pw2la
— Graham Farmelo (@grahamfarmelo) December 15, 2017
Trump spoke with Murdoch ahead of Disney deal to make sure Murdoch wasn’t selling Fox News, person briefed on the call said
— Gabriel Sherman (@gabrielsherman) December 14, 2017
And here’s a Trump judicial nominee. What’s interesting is that the hard questioning is coming from Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana, a Republican. He has expressed concern about the people being nominated by Don McGahn, one of Trump’s lawyers and advisors.
MUST WATCH: Republican @SenJohnKennedy asks one of @realDonaldTrump’s US District Judge nominees basic questions of law & he can’t answer a single one. Hoo-boy. pic.twitter.com/fphQx2o1rc
— Sheldon Whitehouse (@SenWhitehouse) December 15, 2017
What kinds of holiday preparation or celebration do you have planned for today?
by David Anderson| 15 Comments
This post is in: Anderson On Health Insurance, Open Threads
Healthcare.gov is due to close its doors to new, open enrollment sign-ups in sixteen hours for people in my time zone.
Stop reading this blog and go sign up if you need insurance for next year.
Open thread for help, assistance and celebration.
by Alain Chamot (1971-2020)| 13 Comments
This post is in: On The Road, Open Threads, Readership Capture
Good Morning All,
Adam here again, Alain will be back on Monday.
This weekday feature is for Juicers who are are on the road, traveling, or just want to share a little bit of their world via stories and pictures. So many of us rise each morning, eager for something beautiful, inspiring, amazing, subtle, of note, and our community delivers – a view into their world, whether they’re far away or close to home – pictures with a story, with context, with meaning, sometimes just beauty. By concentrating travel updates and tips here, it’s easier for all of us to keep up or find them later.
So please, speak up and share some of your adventures and travel news here, and submit your pictures using our speedy, secure form. You can submit up to 7 pictures at a time, with an overall description and one for each picture.
You can, of course, send an email with pictures if the form gives you trouble, or if you are trying to submit something special, like a zipped archive or a movie. If your pictures are already hosted online, then please email the links with your descriptions.
For each picture, it’s best to provide your commenter screenname, description, where it was taken, and date. It’s tough to keep everyone’s email address and screenname straight, so don’t assume that I remember it “from last time”. More and more, the first photo before the fold will be from a commenter, so making it easy to locate the screenname when I’ve found a compelling photo is crucial.
Have a wonderful day, and enjoy the pictures!
Here are some pictures of someone’s dog I took when I was in Dublin back in 2008 on a long weekend before I deployed to Iraq.
And here’s a pup at Stirling Castle.
Alain will be back tomorrow. Same Balloon Juice time, same Balloon Juice station!
One again, to submit pictures: Use the Form or Send an Email