Camping is great. Because you're not a bear, you should get one of these.
Thomas the Tank Engine re-dubbed from George Carlin's audiobooks is funny.
We're going to have actual bathrooms, like a dignified bear at a national park. I think.
That doesn't seem worth the effort then.
I refuse to feel bad about people like Wakefield. There just doesn't seem to be much at stake in this contest.
Either Wakefield-types will complete their takeover of the Republican Party, which will cause me to say "Fuck the Republicans," or they will fail, in which case I will say, "Fuck the Republicans."
6: My first thought is, herd immunity. My second thought is, gutting the EPA, deregulating health insurance, alienating our allies, actively trying to get more guns in schools, starting trade wars for the fun of it... a slightly increased chance of measles probably isn't in the top 5 worst things Republicans are doing these days.
2 - my kid brought home a collection of the original Thomas books (aka the Railway Series) and they are TERRRIBLE. Unbelievably boring, vaguely sexist, badly written, pointless, just the worst kids literature. What the fucking fuck, British people, what is fucking wrong with you. This is absolutely the most extreme case of a TV show being better than a book in recorded history. I am so pissed that the heirs of the Rev. W. Awdy (an obvious asshole) presumably are getting royalties from the Thomas empire when these books are so unbelievably fucking terrible and the TV people deserve all the money for Thomas' success.
We had the original books when I was a kid, and I was somewhat obsessed with one where a train (displaying hubris, natch) messes up and ends up driving into the ocean, and is cold and scared and wet, and they leave him there for a day to teach him a lesson. Comeuppance achieved, he's hoisted out.
Now my kids have those books, along with the dopey modern version, but they also are strangely taken with that one particular story.
I feel like these horrible books need to be EXPOSED and BANNED.
After reading the first paragraph of this post, I put in a request to take some time off.
Not funny, but a counter to Wakefield: mandatory vaccination appears to be helping in California. Maybe you can't convince antis, but you can counteract them and regain herd immunity by reaching out to all the people who were wishy-washy or just too hassled to meet the requirements.
That's a relief. It's weird when disasters are just fads that people have to work through and solve collectively when they get bored of humoring the disaster.
We had the original books when I was a kid, and I was somewhat obsessed with one where a train (displaying hubris, natch) messes up and ends up driving into the ocean, and is cold and scared and wet, and they leave him there for a day to teach him a lesson. Comeuppance achieved, he's hoisted out.
There's also the one where a train gets walled up in a tunnel, Edgar Allen Poe style.
I'm glad I read the whole thread before I was pwned by 14. It's is one of the few very vivid memories I have of the series, as opposed to the live-action movie with the just horrible acting.
14: I never consumed Thomas stuff, but Mike Mulligan the Steam Shovel had a vaguely comparable ending (outdated steam shovel converted into sessile boiler). Happier though, not a punishment but a retirement spent with her friend as janitor.
not a punishment but a retirement spent with her friend as janitor.
Mike Mulligan was a female? I am duly abashed for automatically assuming otherwise.
The pic of Henry the Green Engine in 14 looks unsettlingly like David Cameron.
Wait, it's not Mike Mulligan the Steam Shovel, it's Mike Mulligan [the Human Male] and his [Female] Stem Shovel.
I don't understand the appeal of the original Paddington Bear books. They never get to the point! My daughter will listen to stories about Peter Rabbit all night long but she loses interest in Paddington Bear after a paragraph.
Heroic struggle of our hero Ferda the ant against a ferocious ant-lion
19: Yes, I mistranscribed the title.
I'm finding the Peter Rabbit stories strange, particularly the one where the intelligent talking squirrels bring one dead mouse per day to the owl to be allowed to gather nuts. Were the sacrificial mice also sentient? Why not?
I've been meaning for a while to find Halford's comment on how children's books (Paddington, Babar and ???) reflect the colonial style of their country. That was fantastic.
and his [Female] Stem Shovel.
She has a name, you know. It's Mary Ann.
YES! Thank you. It was even better than I remembered.
I too am demoralized and irritated at my job and am quite likely to change to a new one soon. In discussing with possible employers, one gave me a glimpse of the other side- talking about how eventually you have the opportunity to get the bulk of your compensation as equity rather than salary. Not that I'm likely to join that club any time soon, but holy shit is it a mind-bogglingly different perspective- I can see why CEOs are motivated to fuck their companies in the short term just to jack the stock price a couple percent.
Why aren't people posting funny things? Come on, post some funny things.
I would also like a thread about great music we have discovered that makes us feel good. I got sad a few months ago when I realized that the reason nobody has been commenting on the YouTube videos I post on Facebook is that Facebook uses the algorithm to hide YouTube videos. All I want to do is share a song with friends.
The Monterey Bay Aquarium's official Twitter feed is giving species star-ratings and reviews.
Those ratings are always just ways to shout out to the species that advertise with them.
Pharma Bro got sentenced to 7 years in prison. That probably isn't actually "funny," but it cheered me a bit.
I love the line, "Both of you are being wangs, would be my professional advice."
It's not even off topic. I'm going to have to see if I can use that on a conference call.
32 It's funny af.
29.2 Facebook is evil. I mean isn't Facebook's whole thing ostensibly about connecting you with friends and family? (I know, I know).
He's the kid who bought the rights to a life-saving drug and drastically increased the price. That's not what he's going to prison for. He lied to his investors about other losses.
Also he bought the secret Wu-Tang album and hasn't even listened to it.
The epipen thing? Asshole. I suppose people will continue to be capitalismed to death?
No. The epipen lady is still free, rich, and running that company, which is local.
Or sabotaged her trial results?
33: I read that column earlier (before seeing this thread) and liked the line and associated analysis so much that I read the entire thing out to my wife. Key principle:
The wisdom of millions of years of human familial development has regrettably shaken out into very few definitive pieces of knowledge, but one of those is: "You deal with your family. I deal with mine."
Not that this has any relevance to our lives or anything.
Thanks teo. BTW, any comment on the Pribilof Aleuts in the slavery thread?
Not particularly. I've been to the Pribilofs and worked pretty closely with one of the communities there (not the one Charley's worked with), and it's definitely a sad history that they're having a hard time recovering from. They also definitely use the word "slavery" to describe it.
"The government said 'Okay, you're not going to be slaves anymore' but they didn't give us the help we needed to develop a new lifestyle" is a fairly close paraphrase of one thing I've heard.
I'm up to about 1960 in the book Charley linked. It's all kind of weird. Are the people you worked with immigrants who came after WWII, or were there multiple lawsuits, or what?
Also, the slave-holding by the Aleuts pre-contact? I'd been dimly aware of slaves in the PNW.
I'm sure there were multiple lawsuits, but I wasn't involved with any of that stuff.
52: Quite widespread areally among the more complex societies, of which the Aleuts were certainly one.
Which is impressive. Do the Aleutians have trees on them? Was it all based on whaling and sealing? Obviously it's a rich marine environment, but in that climate? Good god.
Around a shallow excavation, Aleuts built walls of stone or bone, banked on the outside with stones and matted grass. The yurts were entered through a hole in the top; and the barabaras, usually through a hole to one side. For warmth inside the dwellings, Aleuts stood or squatted over a small fire made of grass or over a bowl-shaped lamp in which the mossy wicks burned blubber.
No trees. Whaling and sealing, along with fishing, hunting of birds and land mammals, and some plant gathering. It's an enormously productive maritime ecosystem, so the total biomass and caloric content is quite high and could easily support a complex hunter-gatherer society with a large, dense population. Until the Russians showed up, of course.
And apparently converted them to loyal Orthodoxy. (Which isn't that strange I guess, but one doesn't hear of Orthodox missionaries very often.)
The climate's harsh, but not extremely cold like the Arctic proper. The main issue is the wind, which is intense and relentless. The sea generally doesn't freeze south of the Pribilofs, so the main Aleutian Chain is ice-free year-round.
one doesn't hear of Orthodox missionaries very often
Cyril and Methodius would like a word.
Like, after the Dark Ages. Did they develop an alphabet for the local language/s?
But yes, I suppose you don't hear much about Orthodox missionaries most places, but this was a Russian colony. The Aleuts took to it quickly, probably in part because the missionaries were their main defenders against the brutality of the fur traders. They're still very strongly Orthodox.
Did they develop an alphabet for the local language/s?
They used a modified form of Cyrillic, which was used extensively well into the twentieth century. Personally I think it's a shame that modern linguists didn't build on that basis to develop the modern Aleut orthography, but they didn't.
Ivan Veniaminov is the major early figure in the missionary effort, including the linguistic parts.
The Dutch developed aplahbets for the Aboriginals in Taiwan, which stayed in use after they were kicked out, though the church didn't stick. Don't know if they're still in use, but imagine they would have been into the mid-20th century.
Last extant document apparently 1813.
49 The situation on the two islands was quite different. The reparations lawsuit I linked -- really, it's worth a read -- covered the period from 1870 to 1946, and it's a lot more involved than 'you didn't create a replacement economy for us.' Which you could argue on behalf of a number of Native nations, I'm sure. A number of folks from the one island were resettled to the other, but they're shareholders of different corporations. (I don't think the book I linked goes much into ANCSA, so it's not going to cover this stuff, and I know it doesn't get up to my lawsuit, which was about that and more.)
I'm sure I mentioned here attending an Orthodox service on St Paul. There are some decent pix of the church on the internet. There's a thriving protestant (maybe Seventh Day Adventist?) community as well, but I was only on the island for one Sunday. And wouldn't've gone to it anyway.
I've only been on St George for refueling, but the church there is quite the structure: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._George_the_Great_Martyr_Orthodox_Church#/media/File:St._George_Church_Pribolof_AK_HABS1.jpg
This is a town of 100 people.
44: I also liked the trolling stepsons.
70: I thought she was maybe a little hard on the LW about her presentation of the pre-divorce situation. I.e., I have definitely known people who were solidly "actively and openly in the process of divorcing, but still cohabiting with the the person they're getting divorced from for real-estate/custody/property division negotiations reasons." At which point starting new relationships does not seem like a reason to think the new person is an asshole. (I say from the perspective of someone who dated some before legally divorced, although admittedly in my case Tim had moved out.)
I just through the trolling was well done.
That, definitely. Finding a weak spot where she's genuinely weirdly sensitive, and tweaking her just enough to drive her nuts, in a way that's going to sound like no big deal to anyone else. A+ for sensitive minimalism.
It must be really awkward to live with somebody you are divorcing in a New York City-sized apartment.
I mean, it would be awkward anywhere, but even with what is a small house by local standards, you can have one normal person who doesn't have to go to the bar, one person watching Yu-Gi-Oh!, and one person listening to Hamilton cast album for the 700th time.
Yu-Gi-Oh is just horrible. It combines all the charm of an arithmetic test with worst anime tendencies for having all dialogue shouted with the least sensical plot possible giving the amount of cribbing from Pokemon going on.
You don't have to watch if you don't want to, Mobes.
Maybe you could play outside instead?
I'm not allowed in the park anymore. See #1.
You could play soccer in the street?
I guess I could go over to the school parking lot and play there. The street is too hilly.
Exactly! Wouldn't that be fun? With all your little friends?
82: I played many, many, many soccer games on a middle school field that was as steep as some Olympic ski-jumps, until the elementary school across the street opened. The first game I was involved with at the new elementary I was actually an assistant referee for my dad; we inspected the field and found a hatchet in the mud in one penal area.
75: Alternatively, you could have one person who's always doing her homework in the main space, another person who isn't interested in talking quietly and just wants to listen to podcasts via earbuds all day, and a third who because of said homework isn't allowed to do anything but sit on the couch reading next to the person listening to podcasts (for values of 'anything' that include singing or putting on hilarious accents when he talks or watching TV or cranking up bitchin' rock and roll).
Sometimes I wonder if I should go to the effort of being sociable and normal and suchlike, and then the world does something to remind me how fucking annoying other people are. Thanks Mineshaft!
Studious kids! Wives who pass over your scintillating conversation in favour of Serial! They're the worst!
The trolling stepsons advice was great (modulo excessive at-least-technical-adultery shaming) as were the Trolling Stepsons themselves (who if they aren't a band should be). I only hope the boringly prosaic explanation in terms of minor earth tremors, offered in the comments to the column, isn't what was really going on.
So far I'm preferring Cliffe's advice-giving tone to Ortberg's. The big O, whom in other contexts I love, seemed to get a bit pious at times when giving advice for Slate.
I played many, many, many soccer games on a middle school field that was as steep as some Olympic ski-jump...
Turgid is Pelé.
They're both still at Slate - I think DMO stays away from stuff about minor kids).
That was the first time I've seen Cliffe's column at Slate, how long has she been doing it?
First I'd seen of it too - I'd assumed she was taking over from Ortberg.
I think they added more advice columnists at the beginning of this year.
In the contrarian news-magazine system, the people are given advice by two separate yet equally important Toast alumni: Ortberg, who used to tell people it was O.K. to steal dogs but has been really too responsible lately, and Cliffe, who calls people 'wangs'.
Not your best, Moby. But I appreciate the effort.
Tell that to Dick Wolf's bank account.
Yeah, looks like since the beginning of this year.
(I typed the name of her column, Care and Feeding, into Google, and the first three autocompletes were "of orchids", "of a pet black hole", and "of the endocannabinoid system". Fucking Bay Area.)
98.1 I never seem to see it on the front page.
I thought the strident anti-adultery-ness was hilariously American, made me idly wish for rhetorical cage match betwixt cliffe and mme perel. Esp the unleashed mme perel in the last portion of this Atlantic podcast: https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/10/radio-atlantic-why-do-happy-people-cheat/543486/
Could be quite entertaining!
She's Canadian born and raised! But an American by choice, and living in Utah to boot.
Riiiight there's a value of "American" that works just fine for Canadians too.
I have various inchoate thoughts on America's evolving views on gonad placement. It's as if there is a fixed about of umbrage that must be taken and if uncomplicated, non-marital heterosexual coitus can no longer be taken as an offense against public order in most circles, then people have to take more offense against something else. This is why I now assume that every married person denouncing gay marriage is at least open to the idea of cheating on their spouse.
I have no thoughts on Canadians. Maybe after I go to Montreal?
OT: I'm going to have to stop reading the Post Gazette. Endorsing Rick Saccone is just too much, especially after the MLK Day "the real racism is pointing out people are racist when they are being racist" editorial. There are lots of good people working there, but the owner's thumbprint is too much.
106: And one of the main "reasons" is that a Democratic Congress would pursue impeachment. Asshole publisher dude, do you even Special Election to hold the seat until November?
Also mentioned in the article "ultraliberal" Nancy Pelosi. This motherfucker would say what he wanted anyway, but half the mainstream media would agree with that description (or if not with the description itself they would be so inured to that particular right-wing characterization that they would not bat an eyelash).
I think "archliberal" would be a better term.
Anyway, I have a passport and a full tank of gas. The only thing stopping me from going to Canada tomorrow is I have a thing Monday.
I'm holding out for political asylum in Norway myself.
We also elected another Ford (Ontario PC leader) so maybe another province?
101,104: I listened to the podcast and enjoyed it, but it supports Moby's theory as mme perel while relatively tolerant of marital infidelity, reserves her wrath and judgment for self-righteous Americans who give up on marriages quickly and marry again and again and again.
That seems less wrong than just really prohibitively expensive.
So, I've been looking into the details of Lerwick for the usual reasons (understanding TV shows about British people murdering each other). The temperature seems unbelievably constant, if a bit chilly for going to the beach. Even the extremes are non-extreme with a record high of 74 and a record low of 16. I think we hit both of those in the same week at least once a year here.
114: it's only expensive if you keep on getting divorced. If your wives just keep collapsing and dying unexpectedly of natural causes in the bath, it's not only not prohibitively expensive, but potentially extremely lucrative.
Just like me to always rule out serial homicide before thinking things through.
Today I'm wearing a more fitted shirt and I got mustard on my trousers instead. Theory confirmed.
115 - I've been fantasy-property shopping in Lerwick. I feel like there are some deals to be had, maybe we could have an Unfogged shetland island base.
Lerwick is too crowded. It has more people than my hometown.
I feel like changing my pseud to Cassander. It's clear that the only way out of this awful whacky timeline is for Moby to move to Montreal (actually, anywhere in Quebec will do, but I'm guessing he'll have an easier time finding a job in Montreal) and Halford to Tórshavn and really not having any luck at all.
106. 108: The president of the Pirates spoke at a Republican dinner that served as Saccone fundraiser (also featuring Kellyanne Conway) with the Pirates Parrot in tow. Paging JRoth.
(Team says it was non-political and would do the same for the Dems.)
With the Pirates deep commitment to fucking up, I'm really not going to demand they associate with Democrats.
122: When did it start to be that I had to move? That seems like a lot of trouble.
120: I've already explained to my wife in detail my plan for a multi-unit property in Finstown, just outside of Kirkwall, I fantasy-shopped. (Actually, not even that amazing of a house, but it would work well financially--a boringly practical fantasy.) Just reinforcing that I am doomed to repeat the most boring parts of the Halford mythos.
Head of PA GOP characterizes the 18th as a "Democrat district." Rep since 2000 and Trump won by 20. Also gains the "democrat" as an adjective achievement*.
*Also see fucking fuckwad Gorsuch during his confirmation hearings, something pointed out by approximately 0% of mainstream political contributors
I'm wondering if the people he asked to spend millions of dollars to defend the seat were told they were spending their money on a race in a Democratic district?
I hate it when they mispronounce Demoncrat.
As long as they put the emphasis on "rat."
126 - being the landlord of a bunch of Unfogged commenters, all stuck on a remote Shetland island where they have few other lodging options but you own the multi-unit property, is exactly my kind of fantasy. "Oh you failed to read the part of the lease where you have to declare that Robert Halford won the argument about visitor numbers at Yellowstone National Park? Your rent just doubled, if you don't like it I'm sure there's an abandoned stone croft you can sleep in, this North Sea rainstorm probably won't give you deadly pneumonia or anything."
131 Fuck that shit, I'll sleep in a cob house of my own, our Moby's, making.
Yeah, dude, you're not supposed to tell people that stuff before they sign the lease.
(And I totally won the Yellowstone argument.)
Time to start trying to corner the Anchorage rental housing market. How hard could it be? I feel like "evil, capricious landlord" could be my new thing.
Oh, fuck. Donald Trump ruined that one, too. I hate him so much!
My island will be tropical and hella nicer than Halford's rock in the Shetlands. Also, bootlegging IP is totally legal there.
Y'all should come be my tenants, not his.
Time to start trying to corner the Anchorage rental housing market. How hard could it be? I feel like "evil, capricious landlord" could be my new thing.
Better start quick before the city raises your taxes.
I wonder if the Shetlands have sufficient mud for cob? You need soil with some clay, not peat or rocks.
I can't tell if this is satire or not.
112: My Canadian in-laws are upset about that, because they think Ontario is doomed to Liberal governments. The Liberals I know prefer the Federal liberals to the Provincial ones in Ontario. From the outside, I haven't been super impressed by the Ontario liberals either.
Inside an Ontario liberal, it's too dark to be impressed.
She's Canadian born and raised! But an American by choice, and living in Utah to boot.
Christ, why did you have to reveal that to me. Because then I went and googled her and read this rimjob of an interview and fuck right off already.
I also get to be the funniest person in any gathering. I get to hear a lot of "NICOLE, you are WILD," and I really enjoy that. I'm Lenny Bruce in Utah.
No you're not. Fuck you and go back to NY.
It's possible that for a period in the 50s, my dad's sister was the woman who drank the most of any woman in Utah.
This is a great rant: http://www.ninaillingworth.com/2018/03/08/the-hammering-in-my-head/
143 - wow that interview really curdled my love into hatred. Fuck this person! Probably totally unfair.
136: I think about your remark that Trump even ruined LaVar Ball hatred all the time.
Mere hours after telling journalists that murdering people in Salisbury with nerve agent was a bad thing and Putin shouldn't do it.
150 That was the final straw. Not calling Trump a fucking moron.
To be fair, the evidence that Trump is a moron is much clearer than the evidence that Putin is murdering people in Salisbury.
Could have been anyone behind those Groucho glasses.
All these guys had to stay working for the administration for a minimum of one year to benefit from enormous tax deductions, right? I'm surprised more of them haven't jumped ship for no reason just after that deadline. It's just been Cohn.
I don't know, but I suspect 150 is the reason Tillerson is out.
Also, apparently, Trump's personal assistant John McEntee, whom I had not heard of before - escorted out of the White House without being allowed to retrieve his jacket.
Also, the ICE spokesman resigned today rather than tell obvious lies in service of Sessions's war on California.
157 "It was something in his background" I'm really curious just what it was, I mean, Jared's still around isn't he?
This piece makes local Trump supporters look like cargo cultists instead of just racist assholes. Either way, I feel good about my decision to leave my city bubble as rarely as possible.
When was the last time a Secretary of State was fired? It looks like even Haig got to decide when he was done.
162: The suburbs really are another world, and I'm also thankful for my city bubble. The political signs I'll see when I drive to go hiking or boating can be concerning.
That article's also worth it for the picture of Kim wearing what most be the most self-contradictory outfit ever made, a pinstriped Mao suit.
161: the Russians refused him a security clearance?
163.last. hmmm. Other variations: https://parisiangentleman.co.uk/2014/05/30/the-mao-suit-and-the-nehru-jacket/
143, 146: unexpectedly, altho when i think about it not that surprisingly, something on which i agree with the flavor of gswift's and halford's reactions. hatred too strong to be sure, just ick. the smug so strong it burns, with juuuuuust enough jokey ironic-y ness for deniability. self-awareness --- you are doing it wrong lady. to me! totally own opinions!
at any rate, to balance out any comity and renew all equally poor opinions of me, not to mention completely OT, just want to put here that the kid sat the concours general in literature yesterday, it was the frenchest of frenchiest prompts, and i am burstingly proud of him. he had a great time and now has a perenially gold dinner party gambit as everyone sitting the concours had to take it on paris time, so 4 - 10 a.m. it was for him and his colleague in SF. presumably anyone sitting the concours in tahiti takes it the day before???
Jokey contempt for other people is the worst. No glass houses here.
a very fair point, minivet, nonetheless she's not my thing.
regarding McEntee, he is apparently under investigation for "serious financial crimes": https://twitter.com/kaitlancollins/status/973573562484318209
169 and now he has a job as senior advisor to the Trump campaign.
What are the odds May invokes article five?
What are the odds that if she does, Trump responds by bombing Salisbury?
Or, if the types the official tweet without somebody to help him, bombing Sainsbury's.
What are the odds May invokes article five?
I honestly never thought I'd say this in any context at any point in my life, but I'd rather have Thatcher in power right now.
Rick Saccone can go around saying "liberals hate God" because Trump lets his be interviewed by a chocolate Easter bunny.
175: I'd rather have Reagan as president right now. Or one of the many polyps they removed from his colon.
I still remember how appalled I was at Reagan's election in 1980 (along with the wipeout of some of the Senate's great liberals).
You had to wonder if we'd finally hit bottom with Bush II, but no!
At least we have this consolation: We won't have to look back fondly at the Trump administration, because if things continue to get worse at this pace, all that will be left is a smoking ruin.
I don't remember very much about Reagan's election, but I do remember how he'd go to the doctor, get a camera up his butt, and have parts cut out while Bush I got to sit in the big chair and run the country. Those were the days.
It is amazing how every Republican president since Eisenhower is worse than the preceding one. With the caveats that I'm not counting Ford, Bush I is mostly a continuation of Reagan, and Trump has yet to top Bush II's body count but will probably have worse long term effects.
I'm not sure Reagan was worse than Nixon.
I remember the meme from early 2016:
Whoever wins, this election will make history.
CLINTON - First female president of the United States
SANDERS - First Jewish president of the United States
RUBIO - First Latino president of the United States
CRUZ - First Canadian president of the United States
TRUMP - Last president of the United States
Also, AIMHMHB, the blogger Wait but Why, in early 2014, did a series of potted biographies of US presidents and in the intro noted
In deciding where to start, I looked at the whole line of presidents, and it turns out the story of the United States divides cleanly into three even parts, each [roughly] 75 years long: Washington to Lincoln, Shaping the Nation Era; Lincoln to FDR, Rise to Power Era; FDR to Obama, World Power Era.
Because it was only 2014, he didn't address the issue of what the next era would be.
Obviously "Decline from World Power".
On many policy issues, Nixon was not that bad relative to the late-20th century Republican norm--finally pulling out of Vietnam, opening up to China, his willingness to have a degree of a welfare state. A total bastard, yes. Reagan expanded the military industrial complex, made taxes more regressive, and inaugurated an era of conservatives not believing in the concept of governance.
Oh, and now the State Department undersecretary who told the press "Tillerson didn't resign, he was fired"... has been fired.
It seems that the "getting rid of" was in the works sooner--apparently on Friday Kelly told Tillerson there would be a tweet from Trump about Tillerson that he wouldn't like ... sometime.
But would not be surprised if the poisoning acknowledgement was not the precipitating event for it happening this morning.
Also Under secretary for Public Affairs subsequently fired for giving a statement that did not fully embrace whatever BS the WH was saying about Tillerson's termination.
Obviously "Decline from World Power".
Optimist.
180: Serious question: Was HW Bush worse than Reagan?
180: It's obviously impossible - since he's dead - but I would be overjoyed to have Ford as President now.
184: I think "pulling out of Vietnam" is seriously compromised because of the whole "undermining peace negotiations prior to his election so he could win" thing.
169, 170: Getting 2020's Manafort in place early.
"Before the widespread cannibalism"
189: Ford is less dead than Reagan.
Reagan expanded the military industrial complex
At its height, the Reagan defence budget was smaller as a share of GDP than the defence budget throughout the 1950s and 1960s. And by the time he left office it was only barely larger than it was when he was inaugurated.
I think maybe Korea and Vietnam explain much of that difference.
Yes, they do. But that's not an excuse! Oh, well, yes, Johnson spent more on defence than Reagan, but that was only because he'd managed to get the US embroiled in a huge pointless war.
In any case, the problem with Reagan wasn't the spending, it was the tax cuts.
Reagan tried his best to do that. Between U.S. public opinion and the collapse of the Soviet Union, it's not his fault he failed.
Reagan, for all everyone was terrified of his cowboyish belligerence, managed a really strikingly low level of military activity, compared to all his successors and most of his predecessors. There was, what, Grenada? And a few bombing raids on Libya, and the tanker war in the Gulf?
He'd have managed better if he'd tried. George Bush I only had four years and managed Panama, the Gulf and Somalia.
199 is correct. Far more important, he began serious nuclear disarmanment: INF, START I.
That's why my thesis advisor might say, if I hadn't ghosted him.
No. I'm not about to try anything that takes effort at my age.
199 leaves out a whole bunch of shells fired into Lebanon as well as funding for wars in Central America* and Afghanistan.
* Back before Russians were hacking in support of Republican presidents, they used to steal documents by having secretaries put them in their underwear. Women generally wore underwear with more cloth to it back then.
194: Reagan spent much more in constant dollars than Johnson, even if at a lower proportion of GDP. According to the chart here, defense spending was around $375 billion in 1980 and $530ish billion in 1988. That's a significant expansion--yes, one allowed by the expansion of the US economy over that time, but having a gigantic and perpetual peacetime military isn't a good thing, regardless of the existence of an economy to support it.
START was building off of the legacy of the SALT talks, but yes, he should get some credit for that.
but having a gigantic and perpetual peacetime military isn't a good thing
That's what George Washington said.
207: And yet that gigantic perpetual military has struggled to sustain even low-intensity wars. Even the minimum defensive treaty commitments of the US demand the ability to sustain at least one high-intensity war in Asia.
207: We're optimized for the high-intensity wars. The low-intensity, nation-building wars, not so much.
I apologize for having put us in the perverse space of having to defend Reagan or Nixon.
Reagan spent much more in constant dollars than Johnson
That seems unlikely to be a useful metric, given the level of inflation through the 70's.
210: Like Gulf I, the 2003 invasion? Sure you are. But high-intensity wars that last 100 days really aren't the historic norm.
I think we are living in Nixon's world now. It took basically my entire lifetime, but they've managed to complete his plan of putting all the most resentful, ill-willed, and racist white people in the same party and in power.
212: Is "constant dollars" not the appropriate term for inflation adjusted currency, or does that fail as a useful comparison for other reasons I'm missing?
213: The historical norm is all over the place, but I don't see what this has to do with the US military being both very large and that not being a good thing. Regardless, I think it's far more than large enough to have a useful deterrence value.
I remember the 80s. We were always getting invaded by communists in the movies. Heroic high school children shouted "Buckeyes" while driving them out.
216.2: Your minimum treaty commitments demand readiness for wars your establishment may well be too small to fight; your existing establishment is signalling failing to deter China or Russia; and in any event why is a big military ipso facto a bad thing when you can by your own admission afford it?
216: No, brain fart. Read that as "current".
219: The establishment was signalling how big the war could get before they just nuked the fuck out of everybody.
219: Yes, we can sustain it, but at an opportunity cost to other things I'd rather have. And at the risk of violating the analogy ban, I intrinsically don't want a giant military for approximately the same reason I don't have a home arsenal (even though I can afford it).
Reagan was, very explicitly at times, moving toward having more options besides "small war with few U.S. casualties" and "nuke the fuck out of everybody." It was an impulse (one I find largely creditable, especially compared to his other impulses) that lead him to support SDI, a larger conventional force, and negotiations with the Soviets. He was also very deliberately trying to end the post-Vietnam reluctance for U.S. involvement abroad. I think the reason he didn't try for more military force abroad is because he was afraid a setback would work against his goal. The loss in Vietnam was still very fresh in everybody's mind back when Reagan was still lucid enough to be driving policy. That's why he was all for funding wars abroad, instead of fighting them.
222: It's an opportunity cost if funds released from defense would be used domestically instead. In America, that wouldn't happen: they would go into tax cuts instead.
223.1-2: Yes, and I agree that was creditable; and such policies entail spending money on defense.
Reagan also wanted "nice, limited nuclear war" as one option on the continuum between "small war" and "Armageddon". This scared many people for obvious reasons, and was the reason for opposition to SDI among people who thought SDI could work. Reagan was very clearly of the opinion that the United States could win a nuclear war.
Pompous, probably ignorant non-expert views below.
I am largely of the unpopular (at least here) view implied by 219 -- using a (very significant but sustainable) share of US GDP to build a ridiculously enormous military capable (in theory) of deterring all other powers is, on net, a great gift for the world, by helping to keep it largely at peace. But the positive balance requires (a) not squandering US resources by fighting stupid, lengthy, expensive and unwinnable small wars and (b) using the military subject to a more-or-less competent government for the purpose of sustaining a more-or-less liberal world order. Most American governments since 1945 (and before!) have had trouble with (a); some have had problems with (b) but the Trump administration seems intent on throwing (b) out the window.
IMO the economic growth of China is a perfectly reasonable reason to think about bolstering the size of the US military. At some point fairly soon we will not be the largest economic power; it would be nice if the combination of military size/general protection of international order was enough to make military competition among other powers less necessary. A huge US lead in military size combined with a China-tolerant, US led world order seems like the most realistic way of achieving that; more realistic than multilateral arms control treaties among economically-equivalent powers. But I fear like we're headed towards mulitlateral arms buildup and a real chance of a large shooting war among major powers, maybe with tactical nuclear weapons or worse, in the next 50 years.
Also, historically, the military was a nice way of sneaking federal welfare spending into life in the US; the fact that the Republican Congress was willing, with the sequester, to sacrifice military spending to screw with welfare spending (and that the Obama administration set up that bluff, which the Republicans called).
tl;dr, I am strangely comfortable (for a US internet liberal) with historic US military spending, but it requires a minimum level of competent US governance and there's a real chance that Trump/the current Republican party destroys the world in the medium term.
The second to last sentence was supposed to say something like "the sequester was the canary in the coal mine for the current disaster and the indication that the USA can't govern itself." But you shouldn't care about that because probably best to ignore 227. Who the fuck cares what I think about geopolitics.
But I fear like we're headed towards mulitlateral arms buildup and a real chance of a large shooting war among major powers, maybe with tactical nuclear weapons or worse, in the next 50 years.
This is probably right. Too late to stop it, at least as far as U.S. actions.
It's an opportunity cost if funds released from defense would be used domestically instead. In America, that wouldn't happen: they would go into tax cuts instead.
Not really; up to a certain point all of this stuff can be, and is, financed with deficit spending.
You can only run deficits when Republicans are president.
Earlier today, Wikipedia put John Sullivan as "Acting Secretary of State" and removed Tillerson's picture. Now Tillerson is back at SoS (because I guess he's staying until the end of the month), but Sullivan's wikipedia page still lists him as Acting SoS.
231: Sure. The point is, reduced military spending doesn't entail increased spending on anything else.
Anyway, reduced military spending doesn't entail increased spending on anything else, but it sure does make it easier.
||update on former crossfit gym-owner; he's now on a sun-staring trip where they combine staring at the sun followed by diving, with somersault flips, into a four-foot stream. When he posted the video on FB, someone commented "I hope you have good health coverage!"; Gym owner's response: "The sun is my health insurance."||
How do you get a 1095 from the sun?
Let me file on, like a 1095 from the sun.
Let me file on, cracked head, with coverage from the sun.
237 Has he tried Breatharianism?
I honestly never thought I'd say this in any context at any point in my life, but I'd rather have Thatcher in power right now.
I feel a similar impulse when I find myself want to like or retweet David Frum, or god help me, William Kristol tweets. Nevertheless, I resist.
Not full Breatharianism, but per self reports he seems to be living on stews of tree roots and animal entrails, while eating lots of adrenal glands for some reason, plus nourishment from staring at the sun.
Why didn't somebody tell me McRib is back.
I agree that a largeish military, in aggregate, is necessary to maintain the current order. I don't believe we've been good stewards of it and its existence and power hasn't been good for American culture. The concentration of military power here means we periodically get a bug up our ass and embark on some entirely unnecessary adventurism or proxy wars. There can be a balance between isolationism and where we are now.
Moby had me pwned above re Reagan. Lebanon and Central America. Guatemala was outright aiding and abetting genocide. Reagan sucked balls.
historic US military spending, but it requires a minimum level of competent US governance and there's a real chance that Trump/the current Republican party destroys the world in the medium term.
Counterproposal: The US is largely withdrawing from many regions where someone else might want influence or resources. Why would China choose expensive and destabilizing conflict when nobody else is interested in buying chunks of Burma and the US neglects or alienates its strongly anti-Chinese "allies"?
Pompeo is going to be worse than Tillerson. Better in terms of running State. Worse in terms of hawkishness. We're going to war, people. Again.
248: Let's not forget Angola and Savimbi. I was just reading about Paul Manafort's role in that.
I've never been to Savimbi, but at least I have a passport now.
199 et seq: Reagan's record in Lebanon had issues, but give him credit for doing the sensible thing and getting the hell out when the barracks got blasted. And although I give him zero credit for the fall of the Soviet Union, I think his handling of that situation -- he was much less belligerent than he might have been -- was quite solid.
But the lack of serious war in his two terms really doesn't accrue to his credit very much, partly for reasons Moby/Barry describe, but also because that was the age of "Vietnam Syndrome," when the US was temporarily averse to fighting stupid wars on a large scale.
And Reagan pioneered the brain-dead epistemology that has gotten us in so much trouble since then. Reagan made up crazy shit in a way that broke with precedent; and Trump didn't invent the idea of putting people in charge of agencies who are opposed to the work of that agency.
254.last makes me remember the name James Watt. I thought I forgot him.
Also cartoonishly evil EPA administrator Ann Gorsuch, who fortunately never had a child.
Reagan was very clearly of the opinion that the United States could win a nuclear war.
He was until a TV movie convinced him otherwise. Let it never be said the arts are not important.
There was also an episode of "Silver Spoons" that might have helped.
256: Jesus. I had her and Watt in mind when I wrote 254.last, but I had completely forgotten her offspring. She has a lot to answer for.
Oh yeah, I guess she must have been the character speaking (off-panel) in the Doonesbury sequence where an EPA employee was on a ledge threatening to jump.
185 (To back up a bit): I think that makes it even more clear that Tillerson was fired for his statements on the Russian assassination attempt in the U.K.
Trump's version of events seems like a pretty transparent attempt to say "we already fired Tillerson before he said anything about the nerve gas attack so ... look a squirrel".
Nice deep cut. I had forgotten that series until you mentioned it.
I either hadn't known, or had forgotten, that Gorsuch wasn't just evil, but was dynastic evil.
Reagan wasn't a political dynasty, but his ex was on Falcon Crest.
I've been to paradise
But no, never Savimbi
264: That was my 1st question when I heard he was being nominated. Any relation to Anne Gorsuch?
Polls closed in PA18 at 8:00. First results soon.
The New York Times Needle is here: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/03/13/us/elections/results-pennsylvania-house-special-election.html
I think I could count to 6,000 by myself if you gave me 40 minutes.
That makes more sense if you look at the link in 270.
Moby - do you have the jitter on in the link in 270? There's an option to turn it off, and then it doesn't do constant heart-attack inducing jumps.
The needle is dead. Long live the needle.
The parts of Washington County where nobody I know lives just kicked in. It's as bad as the needle.
Westmoreland seems like a bigger problem, though it's a similar % reporting to Allegheny.
They don't have the votes by precinct for that county, so I don't have any idea what to expect from the last votes.
The trend is not looking good! The biggest hope is still some votes in Allegheny yet to go. Nail biter!
What is this election again and why does it matter?
PA-18. It doesn't actually matter in any substantive way but it's a Trump +20 district.
Right now, it's 0.6% for Lamb, the outstanding precincts are mostly in counties where Lamb doesn't lead, and there's an automatic recount at 0.5% or less.
The only reason it matters is because of the huge amount of money the poured in as everyone wants to consider it a bellwether for the midterms. Since the state supreme court changed the districts recently, this district won't even exist for the primaries for the midterms, so it counts even less than a symbolic victory for party who wins.
So can I go back to sleep now?
Either the Buddhists or Methodists teach that the root of suffering is desire. Whichever, I've never managed to internalize it.
Also, twitter says I'm wrong about 285. The automatic recount is only for state-wide races. No such thing otherwise.
One bright side is one of the maps linked in 270 that shows the shift from the 2016 presidential election. All but 2 precincts have shifted more democratic. That's a good sign for a district that went 20 points for Trump.
The only reason it matters is because this is more or less the exact location of the 10,000,000 Cletus safari "retired steelworkers in a dismal, fading industrial town love Donald Trump" newspieces (even though in reality the district is a heavily-gerrymandered district designed to elect Republicans and its main population centers are full of fairly rich people in suburbs and exurbs).
Even a close loss (which this will be, if it's a loss) dents that narrative a bit. Nb it also dents the "we can win Republican voters by getting rid of NEOLIBERAL SELLOUTS and running on a platform of full Communism" twitter narrative, because Dent ran as a conservative Democrat.
I wondered why there were so many arrows pointing at Ohio.
The remaining 10% of precincts in Washington County that haven't reported look extremely Republican based on my vague memory of when I knew politics in that area 22 years ago.
This is going to come down to fewer people than you can fit on a bendy bus.
Fuck. Absentee ballots not counted yet. This isn't going to help me sleep.
I just met Tim Murphy's ex-mistress, who turns out is running for congress.
And I just heard that there's 1400 absentee votes that haven't been counted. That would fill up several bendy buses.
Apparently there won't be a result called tonight because there are several thousand absentee ballots that still have a week to come in.
twitter thread on the rest of the balloting process: https://twitter.com/adambonin/status/973737779996844032
301.2: Right, but the margin there will be much small than 1,400.
Oh well. Looks like we'll know in a week or two. Everyone can sleep.
I should go to sleep. It's down to a 95 vote lead with two precincts left to report in Lamb's weakest county. Plus, I don't know when the absentee ballot counts were added. In Allegheny, they're supposed to do it tonight, but not in the other counties.
Bendy bus.
Well I'm up here. No doubt I will be checking results when I should be getting work done.
It's back to Lamb, +847. Is that the Allegheny absentee ballots?
I am embarrassed to admit that I know that the answer is yes, that is the absentee ballots from Allegheny. Still two mysterious Westmoreland precincts and the WM absentees to go.
I was wondering how it went from +95 to +847 votes. I clearly need to look away.
The smart guys think Lamb probably has it.
They're saying the two missing precincts are Latrobe (with an actual steel mill but without Rolling Rock now) and Ligonier (old money and performative whiteness).
Speaking of, I heard "basic" used in the wild for the first time the other day.
Washington County is counting tonight. They changed their mind. That means all but Greene and Green has very few votes. Looks like I picked the wrong day to give up amphetamines.
From Ezra Klein's twitter: "There are 118 House Republicans in seats that went for Trump by less than this district. Democrats need to win 24 seats to win back the House."
Good news.
I guess by this point "tonight" means "tomorrow" anyway.
Some of us are halfway through tomorrow already.
This race being tied is incredible. The Republican hasn't done anything embarrassing or controversial, in fact he already represents part of PA-18 in the state legislature. This seat comes very close to being both the oldest and whitest congressional district in Pennsylvania. One of the more affluent so not completely the Trump base, but this indicates yet again that Republican voters are simply not showing up for elections. Probably by November they'll all be whipped up about some urgent threat to the nation that instantly gets forgotten the day after the election, like Ebola in 2014... but who knows.
314: it's Ligonier - North, which is not the old money side of town, but still a mix of well-to-do retirees and goobers. Big Trump area and a relatively large precinct (unfortunately). The Latrobe one is much smaller and not nearly so R-leaning. My guesstimate comes out to 200-250 to Saccone--Cohn in 313-linked tweet had them 2000 to the asshole.
So unless some significant tabulation error I would agree that Lamb holds on. (And even more certain if the "outstanding" absentee count of 3206 is # of ballots sent out rather than # returned; for Allegheny the return % was ~75%.)
in fact he already represents part of PA-18 in the state legislature
And that seems to be what kept him close--his slippage from Trump's margins were much reduced in the area he currently represents.
and goobers
They prefer "specialists in performative whiteness."
I mean, they don't. But it amuses me.
At least Stephen Hawking didn't live to see this.
I actually don't know how he felt about watching close election returns.
I haven't logged back into Twitter, but I have relevant streams open and that floated across one.
There's a customary way of announcing such news here you know.
So, Lamb's lead dropped to 579 and Westmoreland went to 100% reporting. I'm guessing the absentee ballots aren't in that and it is just the 200-250 mentioned in 324.
The libertarian guy got 1,400 votes. I'm trying to get angry at him, but given that he got a greater percentage of votes in all the Republican counties than he got in Allegheny, I'm not sure who he is helping.
Don't be angry. He's the Republicans' Nader.
Don't Libertarians tend to take more votes from Republicans than Democrats? It's possible he was the spoiler here.
I have no idea in this case, but I know that Nader's campaign in PA was paid for by Republicans.
I also can't find an easy cite for how may people fit on a bendy bus. I think including a reasonable number of people standing would be fair.
338.1 is probably confusing because I forgot that Nader wasn't a libertarian. I blame Belgium.
Sure, he was running for the Green Party. Although in 2004, he ran for the Reform Party, which is ridiculous. "This political party had both Pat Buchanan and Ralph Nader as presidential candidates" would be a great Jeopardy answer.
The 2004 race is what I was thinking of when I said his race was paid for by Republicans. I wasn't here in 2000.
334: No that includes the absentees. Saccone barely carried the Westmoreland absentees (couple of percent). So in Allegheny and Westmoreland the absentees trended more Dem by at least 5%. So the 1400 (at most) remaining absentees from areas (Washington & Greene) where Saccone won by less than 10% will not enable him to make up 579 votes (would need > 70% of votes).
The 2016 Libertarian Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates were both Republicans, so that's a clue.
And the 2016 Libertarian PA Senate candidate was a Ron Paul devotee. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if the most recent Libertarian Senate candidate in all 50 states was a Ron Paul devotee.
In fact I wouldn't be surprised if the most recent Libertarian Senate candidate in all 50 states was a Ron Paul devotee.
I'm going to either get some sleep or break into the giant stash of medical pot down the street. Either way, goodnight.
Results by county:
Allegheny: 58%
Greene: 42%
Washington: 46%
Westmoreland: 43%
From 3/11:
Dave Wasserman @Redistrict
Here's what I'd estimate Conor Lamb (D) needs in each #PA18 county to win on Tuesday:
Allegheny: 58%
Greene: 41%
Washington: 47%
Westmoreland: 43%
Goodnight Moby.
Didn't MSNBC call it for Lamb?
351: and Greene County is smaller than Washington which is why it's too close to call instead of a clear win!
I don't think any of the media guys have done so to my knowledge. The election guys like Wasserman, Kos Elections, Decision desk HQ have all called it.
Lamb did give a victory speech.
They're gonna conquer the fuck out of Mars, I tell ya.
||
Sometimes I feel like I should work in tech just so when people with tech backgrounds come in and spew some bullshit about what I work on they'll at least be talking about their own field too, rather than working off some cursory googling and an inflated sense of their ability to process new information.
I guess I really do need to work on a yearlong exit strategy, hopefully coinciding closely with the apartment lease I just renewed. Too bad I also need a new car because I was enjoying temporary debt free life.
|>
183: I think historians will characterize the next 75 year period as "Some random shit happened. We don't know, either." Like Procopius' Secret History, people will wonder how much of it was made up.
"Time of Troubles" is good but has already been used.
"Time of Whiskey Tango Foxtrot"
Kali Yuga seems a little bleak. Was there a Hindu deity who was just basically silly and irresponsible?
"One day the assholes woke-up and realized they outnumbered everybody else."
I wonder what Keith Rothfus is thinking these days?
I'm now wondering if there weren't always a bunch of cases of teachers shooting guns in schools that never made the news until Trump and the NRA decided to make armed teachers an official policy? Anyway, here's another. I think that's two "unintentional" and one intentional.
The previous link doesn't convey the full stupidity of the incident. The school sent an injured student home without even calling the police.
We need something that conveys the feeling of every day hearing the news and thinking "That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard." For example, the idea that the solution to school shootings is to arm teachers is too dumb to be the premise of an SNL skit, and yet is now a live policy option.
For advanced stupid, I still think the best part of this story is sending the kid home, bleeding, after having taken no action. "Kids sometimes bleed from the neck, right? Parents don't notice every little thing right away and maybe they'll figure it happened on the way home."
"Time of I Can't Even."
This may be the greatest paragraph ever to feature in a news story.
Gonzales said he learned about the incident when his 17-year-old son came home with blood on his shirt and bullet fragments in his neck.
Parents, talk to your children about their day when they come home from school. Ask them about their friends, their classes, and any bullet fragments that might be embedded in their body.
Parents are failing to protect their children from the maniacs who are roaming their schools shooting at them. But that should be the teachers' job.
Right, but this was in California so the teachers are supposed to carry guns, thus they can't protect their students from teachers who carry guns.
It was a joke depending on the ambiguity over whether the "that" in "that should be the teachers' job" refers to "protecting the children" or "roaming the schools shooting at them".
/standpipe
Anyway, the teacher wasn't roaming. He was pointing the gun at the ceiling to check if it was loaded. You have to admit that the fastest way to see if I gun is loaded is to just pull the trigger.
I was fascinated to learn that, if you have a load of bombs, and you know some of them are faulty and won't blow up, and the only way to test whether a bomb is faulty or not is to try to blow it up, there is still a way in which you can test your entire stockpile and be left with at least some bombs which you know are not faulty but have still not blown up.
That feels like an interview question.
Apparently it's possible using quantum.
They just need to arm principles to protect them from shooting teachers. Easy peasy.
I'm your Princi-PAL and I'm armed, so watch it.
Try it, motherfucker. I shot the last ten principals who tried to correct my spelling.
376: I can't be expected to look 47 comments back before I've had my morning coffee.
Ravana would have looked back 47 comments, and that's why he's the Hindu god of pwning. To be fair, he does have 10 heads, so it doesn't take him as long.
The best way to wake up in the morning is to have somebody fire a gun into the ceiling.
I wonder when the guy who tweeted that he would cut off his balls if Lamb won will cut off his balls. I suppose he'll wait for the result to be certified.
#MAGA (Males Against their Gonads Association)
"The group all live in the same trailer park compound in rural Paoli, Indiana...."
Did that Alabama guy ever concede?
Not that it matters as Senator Jones is seated.
An interesting aspect of the results in PA-18 is the degree to which Lamb over-performed in absentee votes relative to election day (he actually lost the election day vote by a little bit I believe).
Saccone Campaign lawyer on TV insinuating something nefarious in that as one Rep county (Washington) had Lamb win absentees.
My hypothesis is that in this political moment absentees being a mix of relatively well-educated travelling business folk and students makes them more Dem-leaning than the stay-at-homes. Trump backlash helping among the business types and I hope leading to increased participation among students.
The hypothesis I've seen is that the unions have a very organized absentee-ballot push and that's what did it. I would think that just in terms of people too old to make the polls, the Republicans would have an advantage if there wasn't a difference in effort.
Saccone campaign making noises but I suspect like Jones they will get little institutional support from Republican party. Results are inconsequential in practice and bad optics to keep this in the news.
Rep spin is focusing on:
1) Lamb ran as a virtual Republican. (He was more conservative than median Dem but hard to spin that in the face of their relentless ad campaign urging everyone to burn the witch-enchanted liberal.)
2) Saccone sucked as a candidate. (One consultant suggested it was Saccone's 'porn mustache.")
I think the 'stache is what kept Saccone competitive. Without it, he'd look like just another middle class office drone. With it, he looks a bit yinzer.
I am entirely in agreement with Trump on the subject of moustaches. There's something inherently suspicious about a moustache. Implies you've got something to hide.
I mean, fuck him. But still, he's an experience office holder who has never been hit by the kind of scandal that made the seat open. He's not as attractive as Lamb, but he's within local norms on his appearance.
373: We need something that conveys the feeling of every day hearing the news and thinking "That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard." For example, the idea that the solution to school shootings is to arm teachers is too dumb to be the premise of an SNL skit, and yet is now a live policy option.
Latest NRATV video asks who would you want to be working at your kid's daycare when the terrorists show up:
Neither Chuck Schumer, nor "the whole frog-licking metrosexual gang from Media Matters" because they wouldn't try to save your kids from a terrorist.
402: I have no opinion other than if it saves us from having John Bolton getting an influential position in this administration it is a good thing.
Bolton/Trump would be a really, really bad mix of two somewhat different kinds of viciousness craziness.
"I came here to impose moderate safety-driven restrictions on ownership of certain types of firearm, and lick frogs; and I'm all out of frogs."
373, 404: The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil is a strongly recommended read for the times. (And hopefully for the "brief" part.)
Bolton/Trump would be a really, really bad mix of two somewhat different kinds of viciousness craziness.
This is true. Trump is limited in his ability to fuck shit up by his lack of knowledge, wear-as Bolton has a deep understanding of what there is to be ruined and how.
"[W]ear-as" Boltons sounds like a douchey kind of preppy sportswear.
"At the Alt-right torchlight march or the pool party afterwards you can't go wrong with your Wear-As Boltons. Jew won't find a better mix of comfort, quality and value."
An interesting aspect of the results in PA-18 is the degree to which Lamb over-performed in absentee votes relative to election day (he actually lost the election day vote by a little bit I believe).
Saccone Campaign lawyer on TV insinuating something nefarious in that as one Rep county (Washington) had Lamb win absentees.
My hypothesis is that in this political moment absentees being a mix of relatively well-educated travelling business folk and students makes them more Dem-leaning than the stay-at-homes. Trump backlash helping among the business types and I hope leading to increased participation among students.
Makes sense. There are going to be a lot of students from Washington and Westmoreland counties who went to college elsewhere. And it's spring break season on top of that.
Related, from TPM:
"After an opinion contributor for the Hill speculated that "a Sanders-Warren ticket could win big in 2020″ last week, New Zealand's second-ranking diplomat in the United States was blunt: "No it couldn't. Please get your shit together or we will all die.""
I don't get it. New Zealand is probably the place best suited for not dying when Trump tries to kill everybody.
I actually do think Sanders-Warren could win big in 2020, but not as big as Gillibrand-Booker.
Win the House. Then worry about 2020.
All due respect to New Zealand's Deputy Head of Mission Caroline Beresford, and I can't find any evidence that she is a politician herself or was ever in the news up until 1 day ago, but I know the current New Zealand government is a right-wing government, her boss the curent ambassador The Hon. Tim Groser has spent his career as a globe-trotting free trade enthusiast, and I am guessing she is a yuppie who doesn't know any more about what the hell she is talking about than the elites in DC who fantasize about an American Emmanuel Macron.
I am guessing she is a yuppie who doesn't know any more about what the hell she is talking about
Really? That's who you think New Zealand sends as second in command of its most important embassy? A yuppie who doesn't know what the hell she's talking about?
Most countries have serious diplomatic services, you know. They don't just put embassies up for auction to used-car salesmen like the US does.
She doesn't know about our domestic politics and what people here will vote for and what should be considered "electable", that's what she doesn't know about. And why would she?
I certainly don't know that either.
They don't just put embassies up for auction to used-car salesmen like the US does.
Did. Those were the good old days before things got worse.
So, basically, it's so obvious that Bernie Sanders (the man who lost to the losing candidate in 2016) would win, and win big, in 2020 that anyone who disagrees is displaying a complete and embarrassing ignorance of US politics. It's not just that she has a different opinion from you; it's actually that she's an ignoramus.
Ah, yes. I can't remember whether their National Party goes widdershins.
Regardless, it was a stupid thing to say (especially for a diplomat), and while I don't want a Warren-Sanders ticket, I'm not convinced by the appeal-to-the-median-voter strategy that has been tried over and over. The Dems do best when they boost turnout, so I'd rather they appeal to something like the median non-voter.
I mean, Christ, Bernie had the Russians on his side and he still couldn't win.
The NZ National Party is in charge now.
So, basically, it's so obvious that Bernie Sanders (the man who lost to the losing candidate in 2016) would win, and win big, in 2020 that anyone who disagrees is displaying a complete and embarrassing ignorance of US politics. It's not just that she has a different opinion from you; it's actually that she's an ignoramus.
SHE is saying that anyone who disagrees is displaying a complete and embarrassing ignorance of US politics. Because to her, our only hope is a sensible centrist and she thinks that is also what people will vote for. Nobody knows that. And she is acting like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are laughable extremists instead of responsible potential leaders.
Sorry to be so confrontational about it. What I should say is: she is not helping.
412 is funny, irrespective of the merits of Sanders and Warren.
428 is my meaning in my 412 exactly.
one Rep county (Washington) had Lamb win absentees.
AB & I take full credit for that. When we canvassed down there, we made sure that two out-of-town college students got their ballots.
431: Margin was 62, so you get 3% credit at least.
OT: There's like four people walking around. One of them measured my office with a laser thing. I suppose it's time to ask a question or two.
How is President Ford doing?
Ned, I'm like 99% certain New Zealand's government is a coalition between Labour and NZ First, with Jacinda Ardern as PM. National does have more seats than Labour, but they weren't able to form a majority.
Sorry, since Ambassador The Hon. Tim Groser is a NZ National Party politician, I figured if the government had changed significantly since he was appointed, they would have appointed a new ambassador. Dumb mistake.
Is it possible that the Responsible Preening Centrist Party is a global phenomenon?
Cutting off your balls to own the libs.
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I see that Theranos fraudster Elizabeth Holmes is finally being charged with something.
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Hopeful stat: the district Lamb just won is 6th whitest of 435, and just about average in college degree rate.
"I'm not convinced by the appeal-to-the-median-voter strategy"
Worked all right for Lamb, though, didn't it?
Wait, are you saying that all politics is local?
Anyway, I've come to the conclusion the primaries are like eating vegetables. Objectively horrible, but really the best way to handle things.
It doesn't seem like either of them should work, but they clearly do.
My son was talking about Stephen Hawking's death, except he kept saying "Neil deGrasse Tyson." Which suggests he doesn't even see race or physical disability, or that he just doesn't pay attention to anything very well.
OT: Along with the banning everything except bolt-action and revolvers how would a compromise of allowing other guns to be kept and fired only at well-regulated libraries play?
I'm not in any way convinced that Bernie Sanders socialism would win in every district, but I do genuinely wonder about how single payer would fare in more conservative districts.
There are s lot of groups - pharma, doctors, hospitals who would likely see their revenue go down under single payer. But - despite some of the hassles - most people mostly appreciate Medicare. conservative politicians in Canada never actually say they would get rid of their Medicare.
There are a lot of entrenched interests that would stand to lose if single payer were passed, but is it really only liberals who like it?
How do you get the deer to go to the library? Pron?
You can't kill a deer with a bolt-action rifle and revolver? How tough are they?
And do you have a link for deer porn?
Not too sure about this concept but I like the idea of the Gunbrarian. "I have a Masters of Gunbrary Science, motherfucker [shoots terrorists]"
455: I misunderstood what was in the library.
456: That's all Ask Jeeves indexes these days.
I mean the reality would be more like "oh here we'll run a $50 deposit on your Visa card, have a nice AR-15 day!" "Thanks so much! [shoots 25 children]"
Even if you didn't damage the gun, you'd still lose the deposit because it would be taken by the police as evidence.
453.1 If Trump proposed single payer, his followers would hail it as the second coming.
The whole Only Nixon can go to China thing is the cliche version of how Republicans are so tribal they'll never accept a policy or idea, no matter how good, if it doesn't originate on their own side. And Obama proved that they won't accept even their own ideas if they're implemented by Democrats.
461: I'm pretty sure at some point he's going to propose single-payer offhandedly at an unrelated event or rally, it will be walked back within 48 hours, and we will have forgotten in a week.
(If you believe Wolff, he already suggested Medicare-for-all at least once in private.)
I was thinking more like a rare books library, where you can't actually check anything out. You can only shoot at the deer roaming the stacks.
Like in private with Stormy, right before adding "So I'm a bad boy who needs you to spank me hard."
Last year, I was saying that if he gets real universal single payer enacted, he gets put on Mt Rushmore. It's still true. It's kind of amazing that none of the grifters and sycophants he's surrounded himself with will tell him this.
Maybe he just needs them to use a catchy slogan.
I like the idea of the Gunbrarian
This is working for me too - what's not to like about a brunette in a pencil skirt with a pistol tucked into her Gunbra®?
464 is pretty much my line of work already, minus the deer and the guns. I would love to work in a gunbrary.
By which I mean, of course, "my advice is to get yourself some heels, a pencil skirt, and a Gunbra®".
The old Royal Ordnance factory in Enfield Lock actually did have a gunbrary, the national proof collection. If you wanted to know about some obscure weapon, they had it and had done a full evaluation. Presumably it should be in the museum in Leeds, but I've read that they got rid of a lot of it at privatization.
Anyway, surely the main benefit of gunbraries is that 99% of the people who want guns would literally rather die than go to a library?
I think you will find, sir, that the First Amendment precedes the Second.
Either her heart wasn't in it or the samurai swords found on the mall aren't very high quality.
476 Every quote in that story reads like it was ripped from The Onion.
Yes. Honestly, 12 hours of video games a day, she should have stabbed him.
I was able to wing chun my way to survival
Everybody wing chun tonight.
I'm not saying there's ever a justification for murdering somebody in their sleep, but, if there was, have heard them say "I wasn't a sweaty nerd, more of an Ethlete," would be one such justification.
I've played all the sports, won big games, landed some decent tricks on my snowboard. This was better.
I'm picturing this guy as Napoleon Dynamite talking about how he took his snowboard off some sweet jumps.
"Yes, sex is great, but have you tried being stabbed and wing chunning your way to survival?"
Anyway, I hope those two find a way to stay together.
Anyway, I hope those two find a way to stay together.
Abuse victims generally do.
I can see this turning into What We Talk About When We Talk About Nerd-Love. (Take-away quote: "The kind of nerd-love I've talking about is. The kind of nerd-love I'm talking about, you don't try to kill people with a samurai sword.")
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The first recorded dissection in Sung times was that performed in 1045 on fifty-six captured rebels, whose stomachs were slit open so that drawings might be made of their viscera.
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Actually don't pause, that's totally on topic.
To be fair, the slashee seemed pretty stoked about the whole experience.
The section is literally "Medicine".
484, 489: Trying to murder somebody you live with is obviously domestic violence, but I'm not sure it would be the same psychological process as is associated with domestic abuse if it was just the attempted murder. It's not an attempt to use violence and threats to control somebody if you just stab them without any prequel.
Anyway, that's my rationalization for making jokes about this. The real reason, of course, is that I find it hard to accept that there's an actual living person who uses "ethlete" to describe themselves.
To be fair, the slashee seemed pretty stoked about the whole experience.
"She hit me attempted to eviscerate me with a fortuitously low-quality katana and it felt like a kiss."
I find it hard to accept that there's an actual living person who uses "ethlete" to describe themselves.
WHAT ERE YOU TRYING TO SAY, MUN?
488: I prefer my dynasty threads to be spoken word.
'Ethlete' should really be a term for someone who trains rigorously for staged role-plays in which the object is to remain morally pure at all times.
(484 not me, btw, in case it wasn't clear.)
Not many things trigger the "fucking millenials" reaction in me, but "e-sports" is one of them.
But of course, we already have 'Millenial'. [ducks]
498 - unfair. Jogging, or whatever GenXers do, isn't going to help you wing chun your way to survival when the night katana comes down.
GenXers are probably better at stabbing a sleeping person to death.
I think Gen X is a bit more practical. If you have a household where one person is playing video games for 12 hours a day and the other person, even when armed, isn't capable of killing somebody who is sleeping, you have to wonder how things are getting done. Can either of them fill out a tax form or fix a leaky toilet?
This incident, while tragic, is due to our mental health crisis and is not a reason to take away katanas from the thousands who need them for protection against bandits and corrupt tax collectors.
Oops. I still like aethlete though. Maybe that should be when the matriarchy of 2050 brings back these competitions.
I was totally there with a spontaneous Samurai Coroner routine upon hearing of John Belushi's death. Performed for an uneasy audience of friends trapped in a car with me on the NY Thruway on the way to a cross-country ski race.
This is why I never believe anybody who says things were better back when people had to talk to each other instead of looking at their cell phone.
Do I need to put "Pain don't hurt" (Swayze, 1989) as a potential limitation when writing results with pain as an endpoint?
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Wang's keen delight in the automatic nature of the process is evident from the poem which he appended to his description:
There is one driving-belt for wheels both great and small;|>
When one wheel turns, the others all turn with it.
The rovings are transmitted evenly from the bobbin-rollers.
The threads wind by themselves onto the reeling-frame.
The main thing the sword attack story was missing were the pedants explaining that technically it wasn't a katana at all, and anyone who calls it that shouldn't even be discussing the incident.
According to a Conor Lamb tweet this was the first day of canvassing and at the end of the day he gained 125 votes, and Saccone 108. Assume these are provisionals/military ballots.
"There just doesn't seem to be much at stake in this contest.
Either Wakefield-types will complete their takeover of the Republican Party, which will cause me to say "Fuck the Republicans," or they will fail, in which case I will say, "Fuck the Republicans.""
2018 pf, you are wise and full of foresight, but I question your assumption that there isn't much at stake. Signed, 2021 ajay.
