The election has jangled my nerves this week. So it always does me good to hear our President speak:
Open thread…
by TaMara| 84 Comments
This post is in: Missing Obama Already, Open Threads
The election has jangled my nerves this week. So it always does me good to hear our President speak:
Open thread…
by TaMara| 50 Comments
This post is in: Authors In Our Midst, Writing Group
These are my concord grape vines – the grapes were delicious and the fall colors awesome (you can read about my grape jelly escapades here )
There seems to be enough interest to pursue this. What I’d like to know next is when is a good time? I’d like to do it twice a month (at least to start) and find a time that works for most. We won’t start until after the election. What works best for you – weekend afternoon, weekend evening or week night? I’ll try and find what works for most. Of course we won’t be able to make everyone happy, but I’ll do my best to find a good time.
Hillary and I are still discussing format and how to approach it all. Stay tuned.
I have been toying with an idea since Authors in Our Midst. I really enjoyed the comments on those threads and it seemed like we had a lot of people who were in progress on some writing project or another. Do we have enough interest to start a writing support group here?
I was thinking we could “meet” a couple times a month and encourage each other, offer advice and suggestions. Maybe a secure drop box to share work to critique. I can see if our published authors would be wiling to pop in and offer their experiences and answer questions.
Hillary Rettig has offered her support/expertise with this, too! So if you’re interested, leave a comment in this post and I’ll take it from there if we have enough interest.
This post is in: Election 2016, Hail to the Hairpiece, Lies, Damned Lies, and Sarah Palin, Republican Venality, The Party of Fiscal Responsibility, Vote Like Your Country Depends On It
Too f**king little awfully late in the game, but the Grey Lady has come up with another good story on the long-con that is Donald J. Trump. Ross Buettner reports:
…an examination of his tax appeals on several properties, and other documents obtained by The New York Times through Freedom of Information requests, shows that what Mr. Trump has reported on those forms is nowhere near a complete picture of his financial state.
The records demonstrate that large portions of those numbers represent cash coming into his businesses before covering costs like mortgage payments, payroll and maintenance. After expenses, some of his businesses make a small fraction of what he reported on his disclosure forms, or actually lose money.
Donald Trump got his start in life with his dad’s money. The rest of us helped him out by paying his taxes for him for almost two decades. Shafting his subcontractors and partners helped build the kitty. And he still can’t actually make (much) money at his supposed vocation. I loved this bit:
On the financial disclosure forms that Donald J. Trump has pointed to as proof of his tremendous success, no venture looks more gold-plated than his golf resort in Doral, Fla., where he reported revenues of $50 million in 2014. That figure accounted for the biggest share of what he described as his income for the year.
But this summer, a considerably different picture emerged in an austere government hearing room in Miami, where Mr. Trump’s company was challenging the resort’s property tax bill.
Mr. Trump’s lawyer handed the magistrate an income and expense statement showing that the gross revenue had indeed been $50 million. But after paying operating costs, the resort had actually lost $2.4 million.
Donald Trump is a bigot, a thug, the kind of man whom women know all too well.
He’s a braggart, a bully, and the least self-made alleged rich guy short of the Walton kids.
And through it all, he’s crap at the stuff of which he claims to be the world champeen. Would you trust the coffee fund, much less the national budget, to this guy?
But time and again, what the form presented as income did not match what was reported in other documents. Mr. Trump also runs several publicly owned attractions — the carousel and ice rinks in Central Park and a golf course in the Bronx — under agreements with New York City.
Mr. Trump’s disclosure forms reported income from the Wollman and Lasker ice rinks of just under $13 million last year, and $8.6 million the year before. But accounting figures provided by his company to the city show that those figures represent gross receipts…Recent figures were not available, but a 2011 city audit showed that for the previous three years, an average of $25,340 a year for both rinks was left after expenses.
With Logan Airport charging roughly eight bucks a gallon for Jet-A fuel right now, that would pay for barely more than a quarter of a tank of gas for The Donald’s aging jet. He’s a bust-out artist, not a businessman.
Last word to the magistrate who heard Trump cry poor on his misbegotten Doral Golf Course purchase:
“So he spent $104 million to lose two and a half million dollars a year,” Mr. [Leonardo[ Delgado said. “I know how to lose that money without having to spend $104 million. How ’bout you, Murry?”
I’d laugh, except for the non-zero (though still small) chance that this lying sack of ferret fæces could be President-elect next week.
This post is in: Go Fuck Yourself
I seriously dealt with the worst Home Depot employee in the world, who repeatedly insisted they were out of the shower base I wanted. I told him, “No, you have three of them. You have the display one and two on your shelves, and right here on my iphone it says you are in stock.”
He kept looking at his hand held computer thing and saying “It says we are out of stock.” I looked at him and pointed at the display and said “There is the display one, and there are two more up there on the shelves about 15 feet up.”
“I can’t see them. I don’t think those are the same.”
“Then can I just have the display one?”
“No. That’s for display.”
I ended the conversation with “Am I going to have to make a scene to get someone to load that on a cart for me?”
I left the AO before I got volatile and tracked the beeping sounds until I found someone at least competent enough to drive a heavy machinery and asked him to follow me back and get one down and take it up front so I could pay for the damned thing.
I was telling someone else I am beginning to understand shooting sprees. All I could think was “Look, motherfucker, I just learned about shower bases this fucking morning when my dad told me to go get one, and I already know more than you and your fucking inventory.”
***SCREAM***
by Betty Cracker| 137 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads, Politics, Republican Stupidity, General Stupidity
I’m in media blackout mode, choosing instead to devote that time to GOTV efforts for the duration. But I turned on the TV moments ago and was involuntarily exposed to the tail-end of Natasha Fatale’s Melania Trump’s speech as I scrambled to locate the “INPUT” button on the remote.
Her topic was about how we must be more respectful and kind to one another, treat women with more respect and stamp out bullying, particularly on social media. Hearing that from her was like:
— Listening to Mrs. Bernie Madoff hold a seminar on the importance of honesty in investor-broker relationships
— Hearing Mrs. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. call for abolishing the internal combustion engine
— Enduring a lecture on the evils of wealth inequality from the Walmart heirs
…all at the same time. I need to install a Valium lick at my workstation to get me through this week. Open thread!
This post is in: Meetups and social events, Readership Capture
As previously discussed, EFGoldman and his lovely bride will be weekending in my area, so we’re planning to get together at Su Chang‘s in Peabody on Saturday. I’m thinking a start time of 5pm will give us a chance to get settled before the weekend dinner rush (although in my experience, it won’t get too noisy to talk even at the busiest time).
Confirmed attendees, so far: Party-sparker EFGoldman & spouse, me & my Spousal Unit, and Lakhe (who set up the first Boston-area meetup). If you plan to come, leave me a comment here, so I can make a reasonable guess at the headcount when I call to make our reservation… Lurkers, significant others & friends all welcome!
by David Anderson| 84 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads, Popular Culture
I’m sleep and caffeine deprived and I am waiting for an exceptionally exciting phone call so I am watching Cat Twitter:
Oh my god my cat is trying to catch the ball ??? I’m gonna die. #WorldSeries pic.twitter.com/ArJtXkAmYt
— Amanda M. Steiner (@amandamichl) November 3, 2016
Open Thread