I'll start. What the fuck is wrong with Jeff Sessions for pushing to separate children - even nursing infants - from their parents? I would love to see some high schoolers debate whether Sessions or Barr is worse.
[Spam advertising CBD, deleted by the management. To the extent that 'the management' is a meaningful concept.]
What were the abnormal symptoms that it helped with?
What the fuck is wrong with Jeff Sessions
Would be quicker to ask what is right, to be honest
I totally thought 3 was a real commenter! The pseud made me think it was some foreign dignitary. Kids today.
I'm already kind of depressed and on edge without trying to think of more reasons. Based on what is happening in New York, I think I'm going to start crossing the street to avoid standing near anybody with a black coat and hat.
Heebie doesn't think heebie is a real commenter? That's a little too meta for me.
It's still early, but I'm thinking this here is going to be a strong contender for WTFiest thing of the day.
8: not that I endorse profiling, but yeah, that instigator guy seems like a real piece of work:
Tischler is not Hasidic, like most of his neighbors; not a rabbi; does not profess to be learned and does not wear the community's uniform for men of black and white and curled sidelocks.
He works as an "expediter" who facilitates official permits and other paperwork for construction professionals, but he also runs a weekly call-in show on YouTube and Facebook. A yeshiva student as a youth, he served time in prison for immigration fraud. He ran for City Council, but got only 4% of the votes.[...]
His primary constituency is young Hasidic men. Last night, he could be seen speaking to news media surrounded by teenagers, calling New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's wife, Chirlane McCray, who is Black, [things I will not repeat]. The boys around him giggled at the racist language.
(For those who missed this one, video from the scene; NYT article from yesterday. I wrote all this up privately last night because it really does seem like another outward manifestation of the widespread problem of people in the U.S. seriously losing their minds this year.)
Maybe it's O.K. here because there's no local instigator guy? I'm pretty sure I know who it would have been, but he moved to Israel a few years back.
It's depressingly predictably which public crowd actions are sanctioned by the police state and which ones are violently repressed, and it has nothing whatsoever to do with the level of harm or disruption they inflict.
The police state did arrest the (a?) Michigan Militia before they could kill Governor Whitmer.
16: It's still early, but I'm thinking that will be a strong contender for WTFiest thing of the day.
There's an openly fascist armed movement in America and it's getting bolder.
Anyway, I hadn't clicked the link in 11 until now, so I missed it until I stopped for lunch.
Anyway, the forty extra minutes of calm were nice.
He works as an "expediter" who facilitates official permits and other paperwork for construction professionals
How is this a job and not, you know, a criminal offence?
Seriously, how does that work other than acting as a bagman?
He's a convicted criminal. You need to match your position and your skills.
22: I think the conventional CYA is that they're local lobbyists/consultants who have the right connections. Not that anyone believes this, but it's the plausible deniability corporations need.
I sometimes wonder if I'll have trouble if I sell the house because of all the unpermitted work.
I think the expediter a person who knows how to fill out all the paperwork that big companies hire someone to know how to do, but small companies have no ability to understand and no time to do, yet are still forced to do. I guess in a normal country you would be bribing someone to get around it, but here these things are actually enforced because big companies benefit from the law being enforced, so instead of paying a bribe to avoid pointless red tape you legally pay someone to fulfill the red tape.
Of course, this person could just be paying bribes on your behalf. But paying HIM doesn't constitute a bribe on your part. Very deniable.
Right. Literally just knowing where all the offices are and understanding the regs that govern what permits are necessary and what forms need to be submitted to get them is an area of expertise that construction companies hire out. It's a sleazy business, but not simple bribery.
I recanted somewhat in 27 thinking "Of the places where there IS bribery going on instead of just red tape, Brooklyn has to be near the top of the list, right?"
But really, all types of political corruption are legal here (many legalized very recently by the Supreme Court under the name of "free speech") and even mandatory for many politicians who aren't independently wealthy, but simply paying bribes, even a small bribe, to get the government to help you is not at all.
Yeah, I wouldn't say there's never explicit bribery, but it'd be a meaningful job even without.
I liked it better when Trump was in the hospital.
Yes, all the tricky ins and outs of city building approval bureaucracies are plausibly something that requires local expertise.
33: When I clicked through, the window was just large enough to include Moby saying "If Trump gets covid from Hope Hicks, it would be irresponsible not to laugh" so let's pretend that's what you wanted me to see.
An architect has the office suite next to mine. We call him The Code Whisperer because of his talent at getting city approval for his clients' projects. There's no bribery involved at all, I'm quite sure. Just a combination of tailoring the projects to what can be approved, and using the right language to describe the project to local officials. Both of these are real skills, in addition to knowing going in what kind of approvals are going to be needed. There are self-centered alpha male developers -- now there's a series of tautologies -- who think they can buffalo their way through. And sometimes it works for them. But often it doesn't.
34: that and Bostoniangirl saying she felt schafenfreude (sheep-joy) at the news. But even that just decays into a cheap joke (orange man baa-aad!).
I think I'm going to stick with Louise Glück's Nobel and the latest MacArthur Fellowship announcement for my news-driven happiness. (Fewer personal favorites of mine among the latter group than in years past, but still encouraging.) I realize this is highly inappropriate for the WTF thread.
Also in the California status quo, where most projects bigger than a single-family home need the blessing of multiple commissions with the power to arbitrarily deny, and any rando can administratively appeal their decisions with no concept of standing, every permit application is inherently a political endeavor.
There are people you can hire to help write grants. Same thing- knowing the semi-secret requirements, language that's currently in favor with study section reviewers, who to call to make sure nothing was overlooked.
I just saw something about how NSF grants require minimum 11 point font, but if you use 11 point font in Word but then save as a pdf it becomes 10.97 point font during the conversion and will be rejected. There are people who are paid to provide the service of avoiding those errors.
Manaus may have reached herd immunity and the death toll was dreadful despite having a relatively young population. Silver lining, we'll find out how long immunity lasts after infection that much sooner.
Turkey/Azerbaijian/Armenia/Russia? is freaking me out on the "produces so much history they have to export it" precedent.
Rage when anyone refers to a "K-shaped recovery" for the US economy. That's not a recovery.
36: Oh jeez. 'F' is right next to 'D' on the Qwerty keyboard, and my fingers are not so adept. I just went into my bedroom to type this on my home computer so that I wouldn't mistype. (I don't want to use my work laptop to access unfogged.)
My California-specific WTF: I wish I were getting 5 "No on 22" leaflets a day in the mail to compete with the river of "Yes on 22" leaflets flowing into my home recycling bin, but it's not happening. It galls me to think it might pass.
Folks will recall that the President did not prevail in Trump v. Bullock -- seeking to force some 25% of us to vote in person. The Ninth Circuit declined to enter an injunction, and now the US Supreme Court (Justice Kagan, acting alone) has declined to intervene. Ballots get mailed tomorrow.
Why would the Trump campaign have wasted any energy at all on us? He's still likely to win here. Sure, they want Daines to win, but the tiny number of people that can get fired about about this were already in the tank for him. I really don't get it.
42: I got a glossy No On 22 brochure tucked in my door today; not a lot of paper Yes on 22 has reached me; as app companies, then seem to be concentrating on internet ads.
39.3: I think it's a reference to ketamine since the economy is still in the k hole.
39: Rage when anyone refers to a "K-shaped recovery" for the US economy. That's not a recovery.
I thought that was the point of calling it a K-shaped recovery. A recovery for the very wealthy and a further decline for everyone else. If you want a V-shaped recovery you are going to have to go to FOX and listen to Kudlow.
Yeah, Prop 22 is scary in its funding disproportion; the unions have put in a good deal of money but it's dwarfed by the backers. Thankfully it's not polling that well in context - 39-36 with 25% undecided rarely makes it over the hump. (That's the only poll I found.)
Also I wonder how well people will react to apps exhorting Yes in push notifications. It's a new level of reach, but it might backfire.
Uber really annoyed me with the push notifications for Uber Eats.
My hospital is doing great financially now, enough that we can subsidize the poorer parts of the system. They're restoring most of our retirement contributions and cost of living increases. But I keep thinking, what happens when every one is on Medicaid, and the state can't fund it, or the ACA goes kaput. We. Have a mandate, but we depend on the ACA. Romney used a lot of money from a Medicaid waiver. Cut off Federal funding, and we don't have the money.
I'm also freaked out by the situation in Brooklyn (even though I live a few miles from the hotspots), but also I have to be careful when I complain about it to people in case they interpret it as anti-semitic.
I don't think we have any of the kind of Jewish people with fur hats, so I guess I'm in better shape. I mean, I'm sure some of them have a fur hat for when it is really cold, but they aren't wearing them in early October.
Boogaloo Bunyan, the commander of the Wolverine Watchmen. It's fuckin clowns all the way down.
It's easy for you to joke. I either got to figure out how to buy fashionable clothing or walk around looking like these fucks.
Some site reported that Pence has the rona but then pulled the story.
If I put on a suit, I could look like the one of the U.S. Attorneys.
53: It is irresponsible to speculate that he has corona if you don't also mention that it could be gonorrhea.
Pence is very definitely canceling travel. Maybe he needs to get his car in to the shop, but maybe he is sick. Or maybe he has reason to believe he will need to be in a position to take over if somebody tried to nuke Ecuador in a steroid-induced rage.
We have always been at war with Ecuador.
What are the odds Trump tries to arrest Hillary or Biden, or Biden's kid, or some other big name before the election? Not zero! Actually, let me rephrase. Trump would do it, no question. The question is whether he can get enough people to go along to actually round someone up and bring the charges.
Small, but nontrivial is my guess also.
"California is gonna have to ration water. You wanna know why? Because they send millions of gallons of water out to sea, out to the Pacific. Because they want to take care of certain little tiny fish, that aren't doing very well without water."
I had been previously unaware that the Pacific just isn't wet enough for fish without California's help, and blame Megan for not having blogged about this years ago.
If Trump were running a moderately successful business, by this point his behavior would have him sent home for an extended rest or forced retirement. I get that nobody is going to do anything about it because the Republican party is broken and there's an election happening, but clearly this a very bad place for a country to be in.
Its nice that he's demanding California ration water. He makes a good point about the tiny little fish not doing well without water.
If this passes, like a fish into the sea, some people are going to say we were never having a real problem. If educated, that's a pretty good sign the person would have been okay with a right-wing coup.
Oh okay, it's a Devin Nunes talking point. Always something!
If the wildfires had been in Washington State instead of Oregon, 100% guarantee Trump would have been blaming the spotted owl. We know how his brain works.
What are the odds Trump tries to arrest Hillary or Biden
Even if the COVID doesn't kill him, I'm hoping it distracts him from doing shit like this. Basically anything that takes up days of his time is a win right now.
Man, it is just the worst whenever Trump starts talking about your issue area. I swear, the long rebuttals are as tiresome as whatever Trump comes up with. For the record, though, I don't think Trump is worse for fish than Cheney was. Cheney was responsible for the Klamath fish kill and tons of bad water policy.
49. The only people who will accuse you of anti-Semitism are the idiots rioting. Fundies gonna fundie, whatever their religion, and they have a lot more in common with each other than decent human beings of the same nominal faith.
Did anyone see those "explaining the pandemic to my past self" videos? The third one just came out. Not sure if it would cheer anyone up or not, but it made me laugh a lot.
What are the odds Trump tries to arrest Hillary or Biden, or Biden's kid, or some other big name before the election? Not zero!
Depends on how expansive your definition is of "tries." I think announcing in public that you want it done is one of the way Trump tries things -- in any other administration, we (and the media) would recognize that. There's even a traditional phrase for the practice: floating a trial balloon.
Trump spent months working Sessions this way and couldn't move him past a certain point, so Trump finally got Bill Barr.
I know this isn't the traditional reading, but when you ask why no one will rid you of a meddlesome priest, you really do want the sumbitch dead.
There are PA legislators discussing putting in their own electoral college members regardless of the vote. Somebody remind me in December that I want to figure out how to fund their opponents (at least of the ones in swing districts).
The Axios thing about wingers staring on in uncomprehending disbelief at Durham's failure to come up with indictments of the real criminals is, if not actually delicious, at least a little tasty. He had one job!
Son of a gun, going to have big fun on the bayou.
70: I didn't know there was a second one. It ends on a smash cut to credits, which I always find funny. I'm not even being sarcastic. Smash cuts to credits always make me laugh. I always laughed at the smash cuts to the title cards on It's Always Sunny.
Okay, 75 was worth the click. "I don't understand. Why there?"
OT: My Biden-Harris hat arrived, just in time for my literature-spreading shift tomorrow.
75 was the most wholesome priest sex scandal I've read in a very long time
80: Yeah, if they had only drawn the curtains it wouldn't even have been illegal in any way. (Well, probably still against canon law.)
I appreciate that the women are so goth. Really meets my Anne Rice-based expectations of NOLA.
Architecturally, the church did not.
Son of a gun
Speaking of guns, RIP Dan Baum, one of the few liberals in print to say anything interesting or thought provoking on guns.
I had two interviews lined up for a potential pretty big change in my work life. They both had their issues but represented a general change I've wanted to make for many years. One place dissed me; the other place, my interview gave me such a gut sense of dread I emailed them and bailed five minutes after the interview. This is just presidential because I feel blah and weird about all of it.
80. Yes, entertaining in a surprisingly wholesome way. Not as good as the time the King of England skipped out on his coronation banquet to have a threesome with his girlfriend and her mother, and the Archbishop of Canterbury had to go and drag him back.
Eadwig (r. 955 - 959). In his defence, he was fifteen at the time.