I don't think anyone expected them all to happen, and not in the first 9 months
So true. It's like Trump is ticking down a list and said, "Wait, I haven't yet fucked over my Republican colleagues by striking a random deal with Democrats."
Well, we haven't had a nuclear war or civil war yet. But give him time, he's doing the best he can.
How about Harvard rescinding their admissions offer to Chelsea Manning?
The rumor I've heard is that the Kennedy School was warned that they could in future expect no access to/cooperation from anyone in the intelligence community if they admitted Manning. No idea if that's true or not.
Mnuchin really is pretty special.
"You know, people in Kentucky took this stuff very serious," Mnuchin said of the eclipse at a conference hosted by Politico. "Being a New Yorker and [living for a time in] California, I was like, the eclipse? Really? I don't have any interest in watching the eclipse."
Apparently there is also an adverb shortage on the coasts.
We don't have time for all your flyover parts of speech.
Not WTFuckery really, but standard bullshit posturing:
Politically, building a bigger fleet isn't especially contentious on its own. The SHIPS act, which proposes to make a 355-ship fleet U.S. policy, has bi-partisan co-sponsors and broad support, and was included in the final defense authorization bill in the House of Representatives. However, authorizing that fleet -- and, more to the point, paying for it -- isn't a standalone question, but part of the byzantine defense authorization and appropriations process. As much as the SHIPS act might sound like progress, one of the bill's sponsors gave up the game when he called the legislation "a strong signal" going into the authorization process. Left unspoken is that the bill provides no funds for additional ships, and political prospects for most of that funding making it into the final budget are slim.(emphasis added)
6 Whatever happened to the 600 ship navy?
No link but I think it was on Laura Rozen's twitter. Some thinktanks are gaming out what a war with North Korea would look like. Using nukes, IIRC.
I think the odds on Trump dropping the big one have really gone up of late.
And there's absolutely nothing we can do about it.
Realizing that his best path to popularity and reelection has always been reaching across the aisle wasn't beyond predictions about Trump. There was some concern at the beginning that he would do infrastructure first, which would put our folks are a disadvantage.
It's entirely believable that Trump would like Schumer better than McConnell. Transactional guy, not a right wing ideologue, happy to work to get shit done. And I'm sure that Nancy and Chuck have explained the facts of politics to Don by now: because of their need to placate the crazies, no deal between Trump and Ryan/McConnell can ever get more than 51 votes in the Senate, if they're really lucky. Any deal between Trump and Nancy/Chuck is going to get 65 votes in the Senate.
Fortunately, Trump has done such a good job alienating Democrats over the last year that the danger of coopting Democratic voters by reaching agreement with Democratic politicians is much reduced from last winter.
Apparently there is also an adverb shortage on the coasts.
My fault, sorry. They shot an episode of "Hoarders" in my adverb closet, but it never aired.
Two follow-ups to the Clinton thread earlier in the week.
1) The fivethirtyeight discussion of her book is quite good (of the two parts mentioned below, the second is appropriately longer and more in-depth than the first, but I think both are topics worth touching on).
We're going to do this in two parts. First, we'll talk about how the media has covered Clinton's book. Then we'll go through the various factors that Clinton points to in the book to explain her loss in 2016.
2) I listened to the Vox interview with Clinton, and I was glad that I didn't just read the transcript. But something struck me that I hadn't thought before. There is much that I liked about Clinton in the interview, but she does not have the personality to unify divided party (which isn't the same thing as saying that she's divisive). There have been a million comments that Clinton was an insider in a year when people wanted an outsider (as if there's ever a year when what everybody wants is an insider), and I haven't know what to make of that. But I wonder if it would be more useful to say that a split between the Clinton and Sanders factions is that Clinton supporters felt like, post-Obama there was a fairly clear road-map for the next set of Democratic priorities and goals and that even though there were real disagreements, there was enough stuff on the table on which people could mostly agree. Whereas Sanders supporters saw a major division between the left and center-left and that there was a fight going on over fundamental questions about the direction of the party -- and that Clinton wasn't going to be a figure who could resolve those.
Do other people buy that? It's my pet idea for the day.
I've long thought a "we're not going to war again with one hand tied behind our backs like in Vietnam, this time all options are on the table and I mean all options" Republican is the most likely to use a nuke, but I figure it would probably be a "tactical" weapon, at least at first.
This time we draft the divinity students too.
Clinton was an insider in a year when people wanted an outsider (as if there's ever a year when what everybody wants is an insider), and I haven't know what to make of that.
You could make a pretty strong argument that voters have chosen the perceived outsider in every (non-incumbent) election since 1992.
16: voters have also voted for the incumbent in every election since 1992, if they could. Funny how people don't see any tension between those two preferences. Maybe it doesn't make much sense to talk about what voters have chosen, as if "voters" were a static and unitary actor. Or it makes sense to talk about that but voters are stupid.
"Low information" is the usual way of putting that.
You could make a pretty strong argument that voters have chosen the perceived outsider in every (non-incumbent) election since 1992.
This is a perfect tie to link an excellent Twitter thread from Seth Abramson. It's worth reading in full, but the intro suffices here:
(MINI-THREAD) A year on, US media still gets it twisted: "Americans"--as a people--"voted for" Clinton; the Electoral College "elected" Trump.Debate the merits of the EC all you want, it's nonsensical to say that the American people "voted for" X when the plurality voted for Y. Most Americans voted for Gore and Clinton. For various reasons, the EC went to their opponents, but hoi polloi was clear in both cases.
11.2 -- There's this simplistic conception abroad in the land that you can understand/predict a politician's positions on issues by following the money. This would have been insurmountable for Clinton, in terms of healing party/country divisions.
It's touched on in an interview, but I think incorrectly so.
Take Obama not prosecuting banksters. Two of the possible explanations are (a) he was bribed in the form of campaign contrinutions, and knew he'd have to go back to the same people for money in 2012 or (b) his advisors were telling him that prosecutions were economically risky, in that the recovery would be affected by increasing instability going forward in the financial sector, and politically risky because the support of finance was going to be necessary to get the biggest priorities enacted.
See, I think finance gave the guy money not because it would be insurance against being individually prosecuted because the fix would be in, but because they (rightly) saw him as the kind of guy who would heed the advice in (b).
I'm not saying that bribery doesn't exist. I just don't think it's anywhere near as prevalent as some folks do. I don't think the alleged 'corruption' of HRC would have made any material difference at all in governance. This is a minority position.
Anyway, I do think it's true that there was a hunger for outside-the-box politics in 2016, and HRC was not a good vessel for that hunger. In a way, her consideration, and rejection as impractical, of the UBI is sort of the perfect embodiment of what happened: Bernie would have gotten zero traction had she run on that, and while I can't imagine how it would have played in the general, I have to think it would have helped*. But she couldn't run on it because she is who she is, and she is not somebody who's going to run on a promise that she thinks is a mirage**. And so the left hated her, and everybody else viewed her the same as they always had.
*Pros: she comes out of the primaries stronger/with more enthusiasm, it subverts narratives around her as old news, tentative, etc., it might get enough traction to overshadow the email stuff, and it presumably appeals to at least some people who stayed home or voted 3rd party. Cons: Dredges up all the old anti-liberal cliches, Trump is able to demagogue it easily, the press would hate it, and if it didn't add up, conservative Dems might object as well.
**Not that she's a purist as a politician or anything, just that I don't think she's a bullshitter on policy.
I think this was very obvious with respect to not prosecuting torturers. It's not that they gave him money or that he was objectively pro-torture. It's that he didn't think alienating the defense establishment (or its many supporters) was a viable strategy for governance.
It was fucking sexism, Comey, the media, and the Russians. Any other factor analysis pisses me off.
Racism is allowed to be in there as a reason, too. And suburban greed. THAT'S ALL.
Racism is allowed to be in there as a reason, too.
That's all I ask. We'll take it from there.
23.1: I agree, though I'd just simplify that and say "the media," whose utter irresponsibility was necessary to make Comey, Russia and sexism fatal to the campaign.
23.2: I'm glad I'm not the only one who gets pissed off by people trying to blame, say, Hillary herself or Bernie or whatever. When the game is rigged, the actions of the players aren't what we need to be looking at.
24 - What about "everyone thought she would win" which explains almost everyone's behavior at all stages in not taking the election seriously as, you know, a real election with actual governance at stake.
27: Just like that Simpsons episode where Bart ran for class president. It's eerie how the writers of that show predict things. This is almost as eerie as the time they accurately predicted the year Trump would be elected, 16 years in advance.
They also should have predicted nobody would end their show before it had completely frittered away all fond memories of the early days.
"Fuck it, why not, Hillary's gonna win anyway" was the explanation given by the only person I've ever met IRL who planned to vote Trump and was willing to talk to me about it (at a fancy bar in Las Vegas, a rich [white of course] 50-something contractor with no college, the epitome of the Trump voter).
I appreciated the link in 19, uncharacteristically. Thanks for it.
I'll accept 27 as well, although I think that's more the major explanation of the media's culpability.
27 I wonder if eventually we'll find out that she did win, because of actual tampering with elections machines in a few states. I've never believed in claims about this in the past, and I guess I don't now either. But I wouldn't be nearly so quick to rule it out this time.
Because in addition to motive, this time around there's a player (and I'm not talking about the president) with the requisite insouciance and capability.
Oh, and voter ID laws and practices that inhibit voting. I'll accept that as an answer as well. Now we're done.
33: Same. I still think it *very* unlikely*, but NC and Virginia so quickly de-certifying touchscreens raised a small flag to me.
*Different types of systems, massively (if incompetently so) distributed systems etc.; but the most convincing evidence to me is no credible leaks about i as far as I knowt.
On more current WTFluffery, the newest Fuckhead, Fuckhead and Fuckhead Bill to end ACA, has a chance? I'd like to think no, but starting to smell like the AHCA thingie.
I hope nobody thinks 21 was blaming HRC for losing. I don't view the person with 3M more votes as having lost in the sense that fault would accrue anyway*. I was mostly musing because her UBI consideration was genuinely new and surprising info to me, especially because she frames it in terms of addressing a lot of structural flaws in our system. I was an enthusiastic HRC supporter/voter, but an HRC running on UBI (especially on the basis she outlines) would have made me even more enthusiastic.
*it shouldn't need to be said, but: since she was constantly in PA and ran a ton of ads in MI, claims that she lost because she "ignored" PA, MI, and WI are risible
35, 36: Almost all red state election official are criminal deniers of democracy, but well-supported by the Neo-Confederate near-majority on the Supreme Court.
39: I just type up things like 39 to comfort myself with the sound of keystrokes...
However, in retirement one of my volunteerism targets is voter access/registration. So far not really finding many groups that seem to need what I might have to offer, most promising has been the League of Women Voters so might make queries there (my mother was very involved including being local chapter president for a few years). Anyone have suggestions feel free to offer them.
You could make a pretty strong argument that voters have chosen the perceived outsider in every (non-incumbent) election since 1992.
Just to be clear, I was saying that I think the "insider/outsider" analysis is lazy* and not particularly explanatory. I mentioned it because I was worried that I might be doing something similar, but was hoping that it was more specific.
This would have been insurmountable for Clinton, in terms of healing party/country divisions.
Interesting. I was mostly thinking about the fact that she is so clearly a transnational politician -- not just in reputation but in temperament that I don't think her ego manifests in wanting everybody to be following her lead. She seems (arguably) well suited to negotiating with people who agree about goals but disagree about means, but less well suited to papering over differences in goals.
It was fucking sexism, Comey, the media, and the Russians. Any other factor analysis pisses me off. . . . Racism is allowed to be in there as a reason, too. And suburban greed. THAT'S ALL.
FWIW, those are most of the issues that the 538 crowd discuss (plus "'the media,' whose utter irresponsibility was necessary to make Comey, Russia and sexism fatal to the campaign.)
* For example, Robert Scheer's excellent essay or Carter is about the ways in which he is very much both an insider and an outsider, and the same could be said of many candidates.
So far not really finding many groups that seem to need what I might have to offer, most promising has been the League of Women Voters so might make queries there (my mother was very involved including being local chapter president for a few years). Anyone have suggestions feel free to offer them.
What sorts of specific things are you thinking of doing?
JP - have you contacted (a) the Brennan Center (b) National Democratic Redistricting Committee. Contact me offline (I think we are "friends" on a site* known for "friendship") if you need a referral to either. And now let me get out of this quicksand before it swallows me in again.
*another factor in the catastrophe: social media/the internet make people more isolated from reality, stupider, and angrier. This is one of my core beliefs, but I'm largely extrapolating from myself.
42: Am open to suggestion. I just want to fight The Man....
43: Thanks, will look them up.
41: Robert Scheer's excellent essay or Carter is about the ways in which he is very much both an insider and an outsider.
Hunter S. Thompson's essay "Jimmy Carter and the Great Leap of Faith" (collected in The Great Shark Hunt) is a good read on the "outsider" perspective. In some ways hard to thin k about Carter outside the context of the Watergate/Pardon backlash era.
HST on his '74 Law Day speech (so before many folks knew about him nationally).
"I'm not qualified to talk to you about law, because in addition to being a peanut farmer, I' m an engineer and nuclear physicist, not a lawyer.. . . But I read a lot and listen a lot. One Of the sources for my understanding about the proper application Of criminal justice and the system of equities is from Reinhold Niebuhr. The Other source of my understanding about what's right and wrong in this society is from a friend of mine, a poet named Bob Dylan. Listening to his records about 'The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll' and 'Like a Rolling Stone' and 'The Times They Are A-Changin' , ' I've learned to appreciate the dynamism of change in a modern society. "
At first I wasn't sure I was hearing him right and I looked over at Jimmy King. "What the hell did I just hear?" I asked. King smiled and looked at Paul Kirk, who leaned across the table and whispered, '*He said his top two advisers are Bob Dylan and Reinhold Niebuhr. "Not so many politiicians in the Dylan-quoting mode back in that day.
Oh, and voter ID laws and practices that inhibit voting. I'll accept that as an answer as well. Now we're done.
46.1 invisibly italicized and prefaced with "35:"
38* -- I find this enraging. OK, maybe it's true that if Russ Feingold had spent more time campaigning in Wisconsin he would have won.
43* -- My social media experience is mostly pretty uplifting.
40.2 -- One of our congressional campaigns is making a big push to amp up registration and participation. Our last guy lost by 30k votes. The theory is that if 200k registered people didn't vote, and another 200k aren't registered, it ought to be possible to end up with 50k net ahead. I'm not convinced, but the effort is worth making. Maybe someone in your neck of the woods is doing something on a state or even county level. I'd think that the campaign people for Sen. Casey would have at least heard about it.
45: I'd forgotten that, thank you.
Also, it turns out I've referenced that Scheer piece before, and transcribed one excerpt: http://www.unfogged.com/archives/comments_15110.html#1854374
|| I just had to go to the bank to make a deposit. It's 46F and has been raining for most of the last 20 hours. Everyone I met was smiling. |>
20- I'm not sure if the difference between a and b matters to anyone. I guess it might to Obama and God but I don't see why anyone else should care.
Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Shumer haven't endorsed Bernie's medicare for all or IIRC any form of single payer. I am not surprised. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that they are champion fundraisers. I don't have to think they are consciously taking bribes to oppose single payer. I still think it is reasonable to talk about the corruption of the political process even if they just happen to already agree with their donors. I can even share to some extent their concern about where the money is going to come from after alienating the big donors.
Maybe it is because they're champion fundraisers, but since I otherwise respect Pelosi, I prefer to go with the explanation that the Olds simply cannot fathom a new political landscape. (Did I get that from LGM this week? Think so.) They're mired in the political landscape of their middle age, don't understand new potential and don't want to be bothered with something they think can never come about. I see this as an argument for turnover; that Old politicians have lost touch with current political will.
Attewell on Single Payer and Generational Expectations.
52- I think that's a reasonable perspective and I agree that it is a good argument for turnover. I'm not sure if they would find it more flattering than mine, but whateves.
This seems like an odd week to be complaining that Pelosi and Schumer are ineffective leaders.
Yeah, I think following where voters are, or are going, is much more useful than following the money.
It's clear enough that a space has opened up for mainstream Democrats to endorse single payer. I read that the actual mechanism for paying for it hasn't yet been fully fleshed out; regardless of age, there are going to be politicians who are going to hold off getting all the way onboard until they can tell if it will cost their voters money.
53- Seems like a sympathetic take and there is some truth to the 'scarring' hypothesis. On the other hand "Yesterday saw an interesting parallel in the realm of health care politics, as at the same time that Hillary Clinton was giving an interview with Ezra Klein where she explained why she thought that single payer, and especially Bernie Sanders' version of single payer, wouldn't work, sixteen Democratic Senators endorsed said bill."
A cynic might say that 16 or even 51 Senators supporting said bill when the opposite party controls both Congress and the White House doesn't mean that they will actually vote for it if the opportunity ever arises.
55- I don't read Megan, or for that matter me saying or implying Pelosi or Shumer are inefective. I certainly don't think that.
I think Pelosi is superb at taking every possible inch available. I have a lot of respect for her. I've never followed Schumer.
James Fallows likes Clinton's book, and transcribes this passage describing her experience at Trump's inauguration which is pretty good (the comment in brackets is from Fallows.
Then it was done, and he was our President.
"That was some weird shit," George W. Bush reportedly said with characteristic Texas bluntness. I couldn't have agreed more.
We headed up the stairs to leave the platform and go back inside the Capitol, shaking hands along the way. [Reminder: she is making this progression not just as the losing-candidate-who-won-the-popular-vote but also as spouse of one of the former presidents in attendance.]
I saw a man off to the side who I thought was Reince Priebus.... We shook hands and exchanged small talk. Later I realized it hadn't been Priebus at all. It was Jason Chaffetz, the then-Utah Congressman and wannabe Javert who made endless political hay out of my emails and the 2012 tragedy in Benghazi.
Later Chaffetz posted a picture of our handshake with the caption, "So pleased she is not the President. I thanked her for her service and wished her luck. The investigation continues." What a class act! I came this close to tweeting back, "To be honest, I thought you were Reince."
Is there any US voter restriction-suppression effort that isn't motivated by racism? I think racism, misogyny and greed cover all the bases.
Is there any US voter restriction-suppression effort that isn't motivated by racism?
There's been some of it in very white states like Maine and New Hampshire.
Some against young people in general I would say.
58 You implied that they're crooked, on basically no evidence. My point is that this kind of thinking leads people down a very wrong path, failing to look at actual rationales for policy decisions, reaching simply for the bribery angle.
I'm wondering how long it'll take for the Overton Window to shift enough that single-payer becomes the neoliberal sellout position and single-provider becomes the democratic socialist alternative.
I'd like to get to the end of the month without the souless assfucks having their way first.
For sure. I'm going to email Murkowski again tonight.
hey guess what it's time for everyone's favorite alameida blogging: psych ward blogging! I was hurting myself too much when not under direct supervision and getting to the point of thinking, "my husband is asleep, I could sneak down and get that ceramic knife that would be way better for cutting" and then I thought "what if I impulsively slash my femoral artery" and then I thought "it's time to go to the psych ward." so that's my story. there was a hunger for an outsider in the psych ward. now I'm just having trouble convincing them I'll hurt myself the second they're not watching, because I seem so rational and cheerful. I'm like, no, fucking sedate the fuck out of me! got the Valium and am now waiting for something serious. then I'll hopefully sleep but if not I'll blog funny.
Good call, al. Bubble wrap wouldn't have helped with the kitchen knives.
Might have served as a tourniquet in a pinch, but best not to find out, right?
talk to me, eastern hemisphere dwellers.
Oh hey thanks I didn't see y'alls responses. arguing still about sufficient sedation. played the ramones to inspire myself.
I hate punk. My sole experience of semi-genuine punk was going to a punk place where IIRC the only successful conversation the entire night was "Don't you hate punk?"-"Yes I do!"
Be well al! The Ramones are great.
74 I love punk. AITIMHMHB I was walking around one of the many malls here in Arrakis with a friend of mine and saw a teenage girl in a Ramones t-shirt and remarked that I think I'm one of the few people with a Ramones t-shirt who had actually seen them perform live. And many times at that (they played all over NYC and LI)
64- I said I didn't think it mattered if they were crooked or not, but close enough. I am interested in actual rationales a bit, but I think most people aren't, and it is OK that they aren't.
Pelosi and Shumer are pillars of the establishment. If they can't be brought around to supporting single payer they will be difficult obstacles to overcome. Talking about apparent corruption can both serve as a goad to changing their position, and help in efforts to replace them. It has the advantage that everyone already believes it, and the disadvantage that it plays into a Republican narrative that whitewashes their (nearly) always worse corruption.
I'm game for arguments that corruption is a bad explanation, and somewhat interested in other convincing explanations for behavior. I wish you would provide them and explain why they should matter to ordinary voters. I don't think you've made that case yet.
72- That sounds rough. I have a limited amount of experience with self injury. Sedation can be good. I hope you can find something that makes you less (twitchy?) prone to this. Overeating is better than cutting, and exercise better than either.
still hurting myself one hopes they will do something useful soon.
well, they just gave me more valium, seroquel and the rest of my lithium if I don't pass out now they'll have to start handing out jell-o shots. wish me luck not being conscious.
Lucky you have the internet. Most places here you'd have it taken away.
Stay safe, al, though jello shots of tranquillisers sounds like a wonderful invention
Thinking of you, alameida. Please take care, and keep updating.
I'm awake now and I managed to give them the coffee stirrer I had broken apart to make an effective scratching yourself device, so that's good. in general they've been like, "if you feel the urge to hurt yourself, call us" and I feel like if I could do that I wouldn't be locked in the fucking psych ward, would I? it inspired them to give me a 10mg valium which is cool and all though it's hard to explain my high tolerance. "I've had more 10mgs valium than you've had hot breakfasts, young lady!" this isn't quite true; the rare 10s are sweet and the 5s and 2.5s way more common BUT the point remains. I don't feel an overwhelming urge to fuck my shit up so we'll just have to bank on that. or they have to come watch me. or restrain me. good times!
Hang in there (and we appreciate the updates).
Do you have a sense of what timeline you're on? I recall you saying that at the point that the Dr suggested the Li he had said it might take 5 days for you to stabilize from the changes in medication. Is that still general sense that you're working under, or do you think, at this point, that it's unpredictable? (apologies if that's a rude question).
it's hard to explain my high tolerance
Tell them it's just proper southern breeding.
well it was allegedly going to take 5 days but it's been more already; now they've ditched all the anti-depressants which they decided were causing akathisia and maybe it'll take 5 days from that to work although they added inderal which is meant to fight/neutralize akathisia as well. I definitely feel less involuntary motion impulses so it's working some. they're doing Li levels and a bunch of tests so we'll see how that goes. the psych ward is expensive but I don't want to leave until I'm sure I'm not going to be plotting against myself to get sharp knives. fuck that.
hurt myself again like a moron on the bed rail. I knew that thing was tempting. they have to watch me or sedate me or something. I hate myself. I should probably hate this faulty medicine interactions instead. they have hot and cold compresses but what's the point of being here if I can just fuck myself right up anyway?
stupid brain. no one asked for your opinion!
Shout at the attending! Padded room!
Jesus Christ, al. We all live for your opinion, and we want you to stay safe, okay?
I really hope things get better soon alameida.
Oy! I hope, I pray, that you get what you need soon so you can stop hurting yourself and feel better.
well they're doing me up with seroquel although I don't know that the problem is that I'm psychotic exactly. I mean, kinda.
Can you read or watch tv or anything?
Origami is probably out of the question because of paper cuts.
Pardons if gallows humor is inapprops.
Jesus, Al. Don't get into a circuit where you hate yourself for hating yourself. And the choir of invisible friends is singing for you, something comforting and uplifting, but perhaps above all soporific.
Alameida, sorry you are being so ill-used by modern medicine, sorry you always have to be so brave, all best to you and your husband and the girls.
Shit. alamieda - I wish I had something more useful to offer than a genuine hope you find a way through.
Shit. alamieda - I wish I had something more useful to offer than a genuine hope you find a way through.
gallows humor is never inappropriate. they gave me clay but it was weaksauce dried-out play doh played with by a previous crazy person. I want new, soft play doh.
You can make your own with water, oil, salt, and tartar sauce.
I'd think you'd have to take the relish bits out. I've never done it.
Feels a bit Dr. Rumack-esque to say that we're all pulling for you, but, for real, a lot of people are pulling for you. Be well.
I haven't always agreed with your musical tastes, Al, but there's just no way that out of the all the people in the world, you're the one you should be beating. You're not that special! Go punch a nazi!
I like your thinking, ogged. maybe I'll take a stroll around the ward and look at haircuts.
Have you been adequately medicated?
Thinking good thoughts for you, al.
Also, let the record reflect I thought al would think gallows humor always to be appropriate, but refrained from posting for fear of presumptuousness.
How amazingly powerful and brave you and your brain are, alameida, to get yourself help even while other parts of your brain are interfering with every ounce of energy they can muster.
I hope the medication cocktail gets tweaked (or massively updated) ASAP to get you some relief. We love you in all of your moods, but we want you to have the peace that comes with good care and the freedom to think about silly things and happy things and what story you want to write next.
Sending a hug.
do those have booze in them mobes or just fd&c red #237? I guess I'm moderately well medicated; I don't reckon they'll sedate me again until I hurt myself again which, maybe I won't! I'm not so hopeful but one never knows. I don't really feel like it per se at the moment. I stole the coffee stirrer this morning in a moment of weakness; maybe I'll get it together and return it to them.
Why didn't they notice you stole it?
Also, I'll send you a jello shot if you give the stirrer back.
122: Sugar, water, and food coloring. They give them to kids here. I've not seen them elsewhere.
I know Russian mothers love their children too because I've never seen a Russia mother give one to her kid.
Good morning al and all.
I think 4 am is too early to wake up to get ready for work, even if I do spontaneously wake up around then (though still tired). I'm going to try to change it to back 5 I think. I'm just too tired during the day to function well.
I think I switched to middle age.
Maybe I have a sleep disorder. My brother has sleep apnea and I think my father does too. I got tested around 17 years ago but I recall not being able to sleep in the lab at all even though they said it was fine.
129: I concur. that's way too early. mossy, it's because they're slack or they wouldn't let me seriously injure myself in the ward. I...OK I'll try to give it to them. I really am doing my best. I'm pretty well medicated at this point an hours after they came around with the tiny plastic cup, so I can probably manage sleeping and not incising.
Sleep is good al, give them the coffee stirrer and catch some z's
sorry to be worrisome everyone. I promise I'm trying very hard, it's just that my brain is almost outmatched by my brain in this regard. my crazy brain. it's really hard.
You're strong enough, al! Give them the stirrer! I've got your shot right here ready to go!
compromise: hurt myself with it but not badly, and am now giving it to the nurse. worth 1/2 jello shot of barbituates.
Whole shot, because you flirted with the barman.
My driver is over 20 minutes late because he had car trouble but didn't think to contact me. Cars are getting cheap here because of the crisis, maybe it's time to get one.
I'll think of you during my 8-minute walk to work.
The frustrating part is how he didn't even think to let me know, I think I'm like a third of his income stream. And I've told him before to let me know, car trouble, traffic, accidents all do happen but you've got to let me know.
My sleep cycles are also totally fucked, but not in a sleep-disorder kind of way I think. I work roughly 1200-2030, and then things get compounded by coffee and nigh owl habits and huddling indoors like a bush baby to survive the summer.
Maybe tell him you voted for Hillary?
A nigh owl is close to, but not coterminous with, an owl.
He knows I did.
I used to be a night owl and then a switch flipped in my early forties and i keep getting up earlier and earlier no matter what time I go to bed. I both hate it, long for my old night owl ways, and wish I'd been this way in my teen's and twenties.
The owl is nigh. Extremely fucking nigh.
Maybe you're narrating a Chuck Palahniuk novel?
Sean Spicer at the Emmys is a real WTF
Definitely narrating Palahniuk.
Do you think the Emmys were paid for that or were there regulatory promises implications or what?
It's hard to believe that they'd take that on themselves with no government suggestion.
While I'm willing to believe that I have a hard time thinking Spicer in particular has any pull that could make that happen. Just that general sucking up to power that is a reflex action for the ruling classes.
I don't think it was Spicer's idea, or that he has ideas, or that he makes choices, or that he has any dignity. It's got to be conscious progandizing.
I think Spicer has lots of ideas about how to cash in on his newfound fame.
Wait, Colbert was involved? That messes with my maximally depressing theory about the spread of pro-government propaganda.
157 kind of confirms my long held suspicion of comedy, especially of the Jon Stewart Daily Show variety, and its relation to power. It functions as a sapping of activist energy, a bleeding off of outrage and anger that should be employed toward making political change. As such almost a force for reaction in its own right.
https://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n14/jonathan-coe/sinking-giggling-into-the-sea
back to sleep guys! being sedated involves a lot more creepy dreams and confused semi-consciousness than I thought, but at least no dreams about sean spicer. I just wanted to say I appreciate your support and it means a lot to me. ogged's suggestions that I punch other people has been very inspiring.
I think the utility of punching a Nazi varies by the density of the Nazis. At low densities, it's counterproductive because it can make due-process-y people feel sorry for the Nazi and there are too few to form a political threat. At high densities of Nazis, it's bad because it gets you put in a concentration camp. But, thanks to Trump, we are now in a world where there are sufficiently many Nazis that it is useful to punch them.
Would aesthetically pleasing distraction help? Feast your eyes here: http://www.antoinettepoisson.com/en/
Someone i think here (???) turned me onto the Backlisted podcast and it is a delight in itself *plus* gateway to mille additional reading delights.
Rummaging round brain for any other ideas, not feeling very successful... Strenuously wishing you health and peace!
Also, for Alameida specifically, Nazi punching may be an important form of family bonding. I'm very fond of the story about her sister getting in a brawl with Nazi re-enactors. (And all my best wishes about getting through this. No idea what to say, except that you've had bad times before and they've passed, so this probably will too if you just hold on.)
I forgot Chani's birthday. This too I blame on Trump.
I actually remembered it two days ago but forgot to remember it again.
It's never too late to text a picture of your genitals.
Really? What's your phone number, Mobes?
Feeling like I'm in the doghouse now
no dreams about sean spicer
One small thing to be thankful for, at least.
Do Nazis dream of electric spice?
166: too late to use the old "I still run on the Julian calendar" line, I suppose?
It's never too late to text a picture of your genitals.
OH, I BEG TO DIFFER.
Thanks for activating my castration anxiety.
166: Calendar events are your friend. Ever year I remind my wife when her father's birthday is because I had the foresight to put it in one of my calendars (not even sure if it's Google or iOS) years ago.
I made a calendar event to remind me to text my sister on the morning of her wedding. Then I deleted the event because I didn't remember what it was for. Then I texted her anyway, and was still in time because time difference. In conclusion, live at least six time zones ahead of all significant others.
The trick might also be to write more clear notes with your events. Like I'm not sure why I have "Roofless Jews" down for October 4.
It means you're hoping to improve your Jewess-seduction technique. You might have set the goal long ago, but it's still worth pursuing.
OT: Because of laws and lawyers (and stupidity plus assholery), we have to take a class every year reminding us (among other things) not to talk about work in public where we can be overhead because privacy is part of our job. Do lawyers not get a similar talk or do with ones with weird facial hair get exempted?
Like I'm not sure why I have "Roofless Jews" down for October 4.
It's a mistranslation. You mean "topless".
I should have written "roofless cosmopolitans."
Who is Moby translating his own calendar events from?
I need to stop accepting every google invite I get.
I don't even see musicals. Not since Urinetown.
Well, your open-invite policy is going to set that straight.
I accept them on my calendar. I don't go to the actual thing.
I've had more meet-ups than you've had hot breakfasts, if you've only had a half dozen or so hot breakfasts.
Sukkot begins that day, Moby. Why you are marking Sukkot on your calendar, I do not know.
Had them, or just had them on your calendar?
Or so that I don't once again wonder why the neighbors have a new, very not-useful looking shed.
Sukkot, the holiday where I most often have to explain I'm not Jewish but thank you anyway.
Do you need to improve your shed?
Your phone says "Roofless Jews". Your scratch your head in puzzlement. You think, "Well, the nearest Jews live next door. Did their roof blow off?" You wander over to the window. "No, roof still on." You notice new palm-branch construction. "That's new and Jewish, but still roofed." You puzzle a bit more. You delete the event. The Geebies never talk to you again.
198: I might not be sufficiently in possession of the four species. (Although I have to imagine that if you're getting stuff that's been carted around by young boys all day looking for someone desperate at the last minute, you aren't getting quality produce.)
It's probably better than the Greenfield Giant Eagle has.
My shitty 7-11 umbrella broke yesterday. Instead of buying a new one, I spent roughly 200 times longer repairing it with a stolen paperclip. Congratulate me on my thriftiness.
Thank you. Downside, there are tiny bits of rusted metal scattered all over my apartment.
To resolve that tantalizing mystery: the initial shitty umbrella breakage occurred yesterday, at a shitty fishing port. Which sucked, because it was really hot, and I needed the umbrella, because of the shitty climate. I didn't have a paperclip at the time, so I scrounged for bits of scrap metal, figuring this shitty fishing port should at least have bits of metal shit lying around, right? This search turned up (1) a nail (too thick, too rigid) and (2) some rusted mesh/perforated stuff. Maybe from some kind of filter.
So anyway, effecting repairs proved impossible on the shitty bus back from the shitty fishing port (too much vibration, too little elbow room), so I forgot about the umbrella until today. Being thrifty, I had retained the mesh stuff, and attempted to twist some usable bits of wire off it. This effort failed, but scattered the aforementioned rusty shit everywhere. Then I scrounged in my apartment, and located a paperclip, which I had thriftily stolen on a previous occasion, and all is well.
All si well, that is, except for the newly unclipped bundle of paper in my drawer. But no fear. Tomorrow I shall steal another paperclip. Thus did the Protestant ethic build modern civilization.
Are your tetanus shots current?
No. But skin remained intact throughout. Apart from the bits that were sunburned, on account of the broken umbrella.
It's a sequel: "Fiddler Not On The Roof".
I would point out the pwnage, but I'm early abed, growing my health, wealth, and wisdom.
We quake a lot more than you do.
I would guess that all the people I see around here carrying umbrellas to ward off the sun are from your island, but it seems rude to ask.
I would say go ahead and ask, they're very friendly, but they moved to America, so probably they're assholes.
I just don't want to be the guy going "where are you from?" in a climate where they might expect that to be followed by "then go back there."
If you literally have pogrom activities in your calendar it might be a bit late for that.
I thought it said "program" when I accepted it.
Novel defense, but maybe try "Orders is orders" first.
No. Working on my hypocrisy.
That takes WORK now? Kids these days!
215. You're burying the lede! There is sun in Pittsburgh?!
It's been stupidly sunny this summer.
It is the east and Moby Hick is the sun.
At least in the sense of a gas giant.
I feel like life is trying to tell me to not eat so many chicken wings.
Special to alameida: September 16th was Play-Doh day! Better late than never.
Just found out my brother who's had this health mystery over the summer just found out he has Hodgkin Lymphoma.
then where my new soft play-doh at? girl y says that blu-tak is better and promises to bring me some. I haven't hurt myself today at all and was able to war the nurses when I thought I was going to, so maybe the inderal that interrupts the akathisia loop is actually wroking. also they're doing my Li blood levels test today so they know how much to actually give me, which would presumably be nice.
I'm sorry to hear that. I hope they found it early.
Thanks Moby. I don't know if this means he'll have to retire early, he's an airline pilot. I think he'll get just over half salary on disability which is still a hell of a lot. He's got two kids, the first just entering high school.
Is that for sticking things to walls when you aren't allowed to use a nail?
I'm definitely not allowed to use nails.
Will either option work on the padding?
242: the handwringing over the mis-identified Boston bombing suspect, etc. seems somewhat misplaced. They didn't identify him based on facial resemblance or anything; they identified him based on his Nazi armband.
And given the contents of Nazi doctrine on the purity of force, etc, I think you could make a strong case that the punching was consensual.
Do people usually go down that hard?
I'm going to explain that to all the nazis I punch after they let me out of here for punching myself.
Is anyone making Nazi-themed punch bowls on Easy or wherever? I assume you'd want to steal e.g. the Capt America artwork, not, like, put a swastika on it.
