Breaking news from The Post about a memo SCOTUS nominee and considerate carpool dad Brett Kavanaugh wrote to Ken Starr and fellow attorneys who engaged in a years-long, multi-million-dollar investigation into a consensual blowjob:
The memo was written Aug. 15 [1998] to Starr and “All Attorneys,” with the subject line: “Slack for the President?” It was Kavanaugh advice for the type of questioning for Clinton that would occur by Starr’s associates, who were trying to determine whether the president had committed perjury in a civil suit.
“After reflecting this evening, I am strongly opposed to giving the President any ‘break’ in the questioning regarding the details of the Lewinsky relationship” unless he “resigns” or “confesses perjury,” Kavanaugh wrote, continuing: “He has required the urgent attention of the courts and the Supreme Court for frivolous privilege claims — all to cover up his oral sex from an intern. He has lied to his aides. He has lied to the American people. He has tried to disgrace you and the Office with a sustained propaganda campaign that would make Nixon blush.”
Kavanaugh wrote that he believed Starr’s office would be failing its duty “if we willingly ‘conspire’ with the President in an effort to conceal the true nature of his acts.”
Kavanaugh then listed 10 questions that Clinton should be asked, many of them of a sexually explicit nature.
Gosh, that highlighted bit sure flat-lines the irony meter after 18 months of Trump’s nonstop lies and serial defamations, doesn’t it? If Clinton’s efforts to discredit Starr would “make Nixon blush,” Trump’s campaign against the FBI, Mueller and his own AG would drive Tricky Dick to apply for species reassignment surgery.
I used the word “consensual” above to emphasize the vast chasm that exists between the frivolity of the Starr investigation in the 1990s and and the deadly seriousness of Mueller’s inquiry today. Bill Clinton engaged in sleazy personal behavior that exploited workplace power dynamics. That’s bad.
But it’s not in the same fucking moral universe as Trump’s known behavior, which at the very least includes eagerly trying to accept the help of a murderous foreign autocrat to subvert his own country’s democracy and then repeatedly obstructing justice to cover it up.
Fuck Kavanaugh and his phony partisan outrage performance.
The Midnight Lurker
Kavanaugh is rotten! $200G in credit card debit disappeared! The republicans have been stonewalling every attempt to get a look at this guy’s writings. Call your reps! Stop his appointment!
kindness
I hope Kavanaugh being show lying to the Senate during his 2006 confirmation hearings can be shown with Kavanaugh’s own quote here. All we need is to peel off 2 Republicans in the Senate.
Corner Stone
Personally I want to see more of these “registered Democrat” women come forward in ads to testify how Kavvy is the warmest, bravest and best jurist/carpool driver they’ve ever known.
Corner Stone
@kindness:
chris
@Corner Stone: Yeah! WTF MSNBC?
Josie
I can only hope and pray that he and his supporters are questioned ad nauseum about this memo and its contrast to the present situation. I am sick of the Republicans’ acceptance of the actions of our cheater in chief.
Anonymous At Work
All Democratic Senators, except 1, need to practice the 7 scariest words for Brett-boy, “I yield my time to Senator Warren.” She’ll make mincemeat out of him.
Barbara
@Corner Stone: Just to be fair minded and all, let me say that if the position of carpool driver ever comes up for a vote, I will tell my senators that it’s okay with me if they vote yea for Kavanaugh.
TenguPhule
@kindness:
or have two of them suffer unfortunate accidents that prevent them from voting.
/Just saying.
TenguPhule
@Barbara:
I understand some of the Republican Uber drivers tend to be rapists and not good people.
TenguPhule
@Josie:
FTFY.
TenguPhule
Gods damnit the fucking autoplay ads are back and multiplying!
Mnemosyne
@Anonymous At Work:
Hey, former prosecutor Kamala Harris should be allowed to get a few licks in, too. She almost made Jeff Sessions cry.
James E Powell
We need every Democrat to use the same set of phrases & epithets. Extreme right-wing. Radical right-wing. Extreme partisan. And the like. They have to be linked with his name every time it comes up.
JPL
Kavanaugh thought Clinton’s lie about his sex life was worse than Nixon Once a partisan hack, always a partisan hack The democrats need to ask questions on whether he thinks the constitution should be interpreted as written If so West Virginia did not have the authority to split from Virginia
TenguPhule
@Mnemosyne: Now would have been a great time for Al Franken to be a Democratic Senator.
TenguPhule
@James E Powell:
Sorry, we couldn’t even manage that during the Bush Regime of Error. Herds of fucking Cats.
Josie
@TenguPhule:
Thanks. My comment was specifically in reference to his sexual adventures, but your fix works also.
Corner Stone
Poor Melania. Always getting her message stomped on by the vengeful narcissist she loves so much. I wish her the best. #BeBess
scott (the other one)
“So Panty-Sniffin’ Brett Kavanaugh thought grabbin’ ’em by the pussy was terrible, folks, just awful…as long as the one gettin’ grabbed was okay with it. But if the grabbee hadn’t consented, well, NOW that grabbin’ is just fine and dandy.”
(No, I don’t know why Trump is the one attacking Brett Kavanaugh at a rally. It’s just how I heard it.)
smintheus
@James E Powell: ‘Callow’, ‘dishonest’, and ‘manipulative’.
Betty Cracker
@TenguPhule: Complain here: [email protected]
Geoboy
@Corner Stone: Regarding Melania, the phrase you’re looking for is “Bless her heart!”
Adam L Silverman
@Corner Stone: Or self lubricating winged monkeys or self lubricating butts or both!//
A Ghost To Most
@Geoboy: plus thoughts and prayers.
janesays
@kindness: Probably only need one Republican to vote no.
McCain is very unlikely to be present for the vote, which means they only have 50 Republican votes available, and must get all 50 (plus Pence) for his confirmation to go through.
Amir Khalid
@Josie:
I fear that Senators Warren and Harris could grill Kavanaugh to a cinder, and still not budge even one Republican Senator’s vote. The party is well aware it could lose the Senate majority and might therefore be all the more determined to get its way while its way can still be got.
Ruckus
As long as we get to select the tools to do it with.
I’m thinking medieval, rusty, dullish even.
Adam L Silverman
@Anonymous At Work: In this case, yield to Kamala Harris. Senator Warren is great, but Harris has that prosecutor’s persona she puts on and that will flummox Kavanaugh. Then let Senator Warren come in to put oil on the water and finish once Harris has softened him up.
Another Scott
@Amir Khalid: I think you’re right that if it comes to a vote the GOP will carry him over the finish line – for just the reason you state. Our best hope is to keep the pressure up so that he is (somehow) forced to withdraw (“for the sake of his poor suffering family”). Is that possible? Dunno.
Grr…
Cheers,
Scott.
Josie
@Amir Khalid:
Sadly, you are probably right. I just keep hoping for one honest woman/man.
Marcopolo
@Anonymous At Work: While I understand your position, I suspect that Kamala Harris (and a number of other D senators) can dish it out just as well as Warren.
I am already fairly sure that McCaskill, my D senator will be a no on Kavanaugh. I am also fairly sure that my R senator, Blunt, is unreachable on this issue but will call both of them again today.
schrodingers_cat
Not to be shallow but why do these supreme court hopefuls that Rs put forward look so soft and doughy. Like pillowy Wonderbread. Like they haven’t stepped out in the sun or ever worked with their hands. Roberts, Alito and now this guy.
NotMax
Kavanaugh’s polling numbers are lower than were those for Harriet Miers. So there’s a sliver of hope.
catclub
@Corner Stone: Yeah, McCain and Rand Paul always come through and vote against the latest outrage by the Trump and the rest of the GOP caucus.
Josie
@schrodingers_cat:
Lol. Come sit by me and we’ll be shallow together.
afanasia
i hate Kavanaugh just for all those quotation marks in his memo. Ugh.
Corner Stone
@Another Scott: I am looking forward to the day it comes out that he paid for an abortion for that little hottie who clerked for him for a year. Still probably wouldn’t cause R Senators to drop him but, oh, would it be delicious!*
*the hypocrisy, not the situation
MisterForkbeard
Josh Marshall has an interesting point about this, too: He said all these things about Clinton and how it was their duty to screw Clinton as hard as possible and the only morally right thing to do… at the same time he was saying that Nixon should never have had to hand over the tapes and that the Court decided it wrongly.
Remember, Republican presidents deserve the benefit of the doubt and to be protected by the Court. Democrats deserve to have every bit of their lives dragged out, lied about, and shown to the public.
Corner Stone
God but I hate Andy Card.
TenguPhule
@Corner Stone:
We’re in the Bruce Almighty Timeline? That would explain things.
catclub
@janesays: why not 49-49 plus pence makes 50-49?
TenguPhule
@Corner Stone:
Going to have to be more specific.
Betty Cracker
@Marcopolo: I’m in the same boat — called Rubio (hopeless) and Nelson (almost surely a “no” despite having to make bipartisan noises) already too.
On the larger point of whether or not it is futile to oppose Kavanaugh, supposedly, totally killing the ACA was a done deal too. But huge and sustained constituent opposition made the evil fucks come up short. No less an effort should be made with Kavanaugh.
Doug R
@schrodingers_cat:
Don’t forget Gorsuch didn’t mind if a trucker froze to death.
TenguPhule
@schrodingers_cat:
Vampires don’t do manual labor.
Corner Stone
@TenguPhule: Why? Andy Card exists. I hate him.
Adam L Silverman
@Corner Stone: That’s Caaaawd. Spelled just like it sounds.
TenguPhule
@Betty Cracker:
Plus, dragging out the dirt now makes his impeachment easier later.
schrodingers_cat
@Doug R: Gorsuch sucks but looks somewhat normal compared to the 3 I mentioned.
TenguPhule
@Doug R:
Lives are fleeting, profits are eternal.
sherparick
By the way, when Kavanaugh wrote this, it was just 10 years after the denouement of the Iran-Contra Scandal, where President Reagan and multiple administration officials from Oliver North to Secretary of Defense Weinberger to National Security Advisor McPharland to Vice President Bush and others had lied multiple times to the American people, Congress, and each other about selling arms to Iran for hostages to fund a war in Central America against the Sandinista Government of Daniel Ortega from 1984-86. But because the the Democrats in the House and Senate had no stomach to or courage to do what their predecessors had one in 1972-74, Reagan and all got away with and the principle of IOKIYAR was enshrined into the National political landscape. So, Kavanaugh was all in going after Clinton for a single lie in a deposition of a civil case, but once a Republican became President, then a Republican President’s job is to important to be troubled with allegations of law breaking on a cosmic scale. But Ron Fournier calls him a nice guy who Democrats should vote for except for their base voters (especially those foolish women who would like to be able to control their own bodies or workers who would like to join unions or all of us who like to breath clean air.)
Ruckus
@Josie:
Don’t really know how to break this to you gently…..
But there is an old saying
Wish in one hand, shit in the other and guess which one fills up first.
Conservatives know they have crapped in their cornflakes with shitgibbon. They are about as close as it gets to getting what they want and even there most of this is fixable if not painful in the mean time. But time is one thing they don’t have.
MisterForkbeard
@Adam L Silverman: It also gives Harris a chance to do some very public good work and it’s a good test of some of her presidential bona fides, if she ends up running. A public failure here would be a good reason to vote for someone else.
Suffragettecity
Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition…
It’s people like Kavanaugh that were just fine with the burning of heretics.
Fuck him and Kennedy for his ‘deal’..how despicable.
Aardvark Cheeselog
Totally OT question for Betty: Who do you like for FL Gov in the primary next week?
Ruckus
@schrodingers_cat:
Like wonder bread there isn’t anything there other than white and puffy, no substance, no value, just puffy, white, and harmful.
Hildebrand
I am afraid certain Republicans won’t be the only problem. Heitkamp, Donnelly, Manchin, Jones – those are the folks we need to work at the same time we worry about Sen. Hamlet (R-Maine).
Doug R
@schrodingers_cat: Being cavalier about the hazards of a job and following the letter of a terrible regulation doesn’t speak well to good jurisprudence.
Josie
@Ruckus:
So, that was you being gentle? ;-)
gvg
@MisterForkbeard: Pointing out the naked partisanship of Kavanaugh in favor og Republicans is actually not likely to make the current corrupt GOP senators vote against him.
It’s an argument for wavering Democrats not Republicans. Now if they had any shame or sense of Justice and Duty, sure, it would stop them.
So these arguments may be counter productive.
schrodingers_cat
@Doug R: Agreed.
gvg
@schrodingers_cat: Judges don’t do manual labor in that sense anymore than say doctors or computer programers.
Also I hate to be so cynical, but all Americans are trending fat and soft. I look around me and the minorities are um not trim and fit either. Only Hollywood still looks trim.
schrodingers_cat
@gvg: True that.
ETA: Alito, Roberts and this new guy aren’t exactly fat, they just look soft and cherubic, like real life has not actually touched them.
TenguPhule
@Hildebrand:
The usual suspects.
MisterForkbeard
@gvg: That’s true. Though “This guy is hugely corrupt partisan who always excuses republicans” is an argument that probably does need to be made if just to persuade independents.
Because you can’t make any kind of argument at all to hugely corrupt republican senators other than “It’s YOUR ass if you confirm this guy”
Ruckus
@Josie:
As gentle as possible……
Normally I wouldn’t have used the lead in.
Call it twitter level gentle. Short and to the point.
sukabi
@Josie: pipe dreams. The last honest man or woman on that side of the aisle retired to spend time with their family sometime in the early 2000’s.
The ones that aren’t running for re-election this time around sound reasonable but lack the moral compass to actually do anything except run away and hope for a high paying lobbyists job or wingnut welfare gig.
Mnemosyne
@gvg:
IMO, that’s because urban and suburban planning makes it virtually impossible for people to walk anywhere, unless they live in NYC or (maybe) Chicago. Everywhere else in the country is laid out so it’s easiest to drive wherever you’re trying to go.
And that’s even before you get to our terrible processed food …
Amir Khalid
So I saw this new video on my favourite YouTube dog channel, Snow Dog Vlogs, and it turned out to be a death announcement: their oldest husky had passed away unexpectedly. Her name was Oakley and she was 14 and had been poorly of late. She had many fans around the world.
Ruckus
@schrodingers_cat:
I think you hit it square on the head. Their lives are ones devoid of reality, are full of sophomoric bullshit that doesn’t even sound good unless you are a wannabe wealthy dick.
Thoughtful David
@Geoboy:
I believe the phrase is actually “I really don’t care. Do u?”
Corner Stone
@sukabi: We were watching TV on Sunday when they played a clip of Kennedy (R-LA) calling Brennan a butthead. My son said, “Who is he?” ME:”He’s a R Senator from Louisiana.” SON:…”Did he just call someone a “butthead”?
Point is, that is what some consider a decent, reasonable R now.
zhena gogolia
@Josie:
From the WaPo comments section, I already know the defense strategy. “It was twenty years ago! He’s changed his attitudes since then!”
eemom
@schrodingers_cat:
I think Gorsuch looks like an oversized flaccid pen*s.
On another note, y’all have probably covered this already, but erstwhile Dem hero Doug Jones said his personal jury is still out on Kavanaugh. Said there were “passionate” people on both sides. Fuck him. Who the fuck does he think he is??
Ruckus
@Mnemosyne:
It’s the time as well as the inconvenience. And Fanny Adams knows that no american should be inconvenienced by being forced to actually sweat unless paying someone for the privilege.
Betty Cracker
@Aardvark Cheeselog: Haven’t voted yet. Leaning towards Graham but will work my tail off to make sure whichever Dem wins becomes governor.
Betty Cracker
@eemom: Bill Nelson said something similar. I personally cut red and purple state Dems some slack as long as they vote the right way.
MisterForkbeard
@zhena gogolia: This is a hard case for them to make, given that he was on the record at the same time saying that the court should have treated Nixon much better. Democratic presidents get no rights, but Republican presidents can’t even be forced to turn over known evidence of wrongdoing.
But then, these people aren’t interested in honest arguments.
Mnemosyne
@Ruckus:
When it takes 2 hours to get somewhere via public transit vs 30 minutes to drive there, I’m going to drive unless there’s some reason I’m unable to do so. I don’t mind a little inconvenience, but my time is not worthless, either.
sukabi
@Corner Stone: yay, his closets haven’t been aired out yet, he uses junior high taunts on air for his opponents.? must be “respectable”
Fucken network execs have turned “news” into goddamned “reality shows” — kill reality amp up the drama, gotta get those ratings.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
How is it not? Trump tries to bang every woman who works for or with him. That should a legit question to ask Kavanaugh. I know, The Truth isn’t the Truth with Republicans so that would uncivil.
Ruckus
@MisterForkbeard:
Honesty would kill them. Lightning would strike them out of a clear blue sky and kill them instantly. They lie to stay alive.
That must be the case, otherwise why would they find it so difficult not to lie? And most of them say they are religious, is that to help block the lightning bolts in case they accidentally tell the truth once every ten years?
joel hanes
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
How is it not?
Consent
Gravenstone
@Betty Cracker: I read that with an extra “d” in the middle and wondered why John was concerned about bad dads…
Yutsano
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
What’s worse for me is that Dolt45 wants to bang his daughter. Every single fucking sign that this is true is there. And he like to bang women who remind him of his daughter. Stormy Daniels confirmed that. So it’s definitely gross, but the mere banging isn’t the worst part.
opiejeanne
@scott (the other one): What did Trump say about Kavanaugh? I missed it.
joel hanes
I know that Collins is unreachable, but she should be made to feel fear, and then consequences.
https://www.crowdpac.com/campaigns/387413/either-sen-collins-votes-no-on-kavanaugh-or-we-fund-her-future-opponent
Gravenstone
@zhena gogolia: Yeah, changed from pro-Nixon (R), to anti-Clinton(D) back to pro-Trump (R). Funny how that works…
catclub
@gvg:
Melissa McCarthy is the future of comedy.
eemom
@Betty Cracker:
Meh. They need to grow some balls and tell the truth. At this point, I really don’t understand what is to be gained by a Democratic senator pandering to the “redness” of their state. The good people of Alabama who put Jones into office rightfully feel betrayed by this shit.
Ruckus
@Mnemosyne:
That actually was agreeing with you.
Funny thing is we still have the same number of hours in a day that we did when I was a kid, you know back in medieval times and people walked and took public transportation then. It is funny to ride the Metro and see how full it is, even at odd hours for no one to be taking public transportation. And we can take our video screens, games and blogs with us these days. I even see people reading books on the Metro. Savages. I’ve even talked to people who gasp, don’t own a car. What was the line in Ferris Bueller? Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
Gravenstone
@Yutsano: Has banged and misses that ‘pleasure’. Let’s be real here.
Mnemosyne
First World Problem of the Day: I ordered some of those fancy-schmancy smart light bulbs like Bill uses, but I ordered the wrong size and will have to return them and order the correct size. What about my convenience, dammit? ?
(Basically, I accidentally ordered floodlights instead of regular light bulbs. I need them so I can turn the lights in the craft room on and off with my iPhone after my knee surgery rather than fumbling around in the dark while I’m on crutches. And also because they’re a cool toy and I wants them.)
Mnemosyne
@Ruckus:
People work longer hours than they did when either one of us were kids. Remember when jobs were from 9 to 5? Now they’re all 8 to 5 or 9 to 6 so the employer can get a full 8 hours of work out of everyone, and that’s assuming folks don’t have mandatory overtime.
I actually don’t mind taking public transit, but I find it ironic that it’s easiest for me to drive to the train station because it’s a pain to find a bus that takes me there on a decent schedule.
catclub
@catclub: also John Belushi and Chris Farley ( both unfortunately dead).
Maybe comedy has a much bigger fat allowance than the rest of Hollywood.
Mnemosyne
@catclub:
Comedians have always been allowed to be fat: Jackie Gleason, Lou Costello, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle.
Also, there’s a reason why villains in old Hollywood movies were often called “heavies” — they were often the biggest guys on the screen. Think Sydney Greenstreet.
Anonymous At Work
@Adam L Silverman: Blumenthal as well, former prosecutor, has done wonders questioning too. But the sentiment should be for Democrats to consolidate their speaking time behind the barracudas.
Corner Stone
@catclub:
How do you think that happened? Trim Hollywood got to ’em.
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
@Mnemosyne – hope your surgery goes well! We finally purchased some smart plugs to work with our Echo when my husband had to have hand surgery. Then he could have the lights and air purifier turn on by telling Alexa. It really did make things easier. I wish this tech had been around for my late boss, who was a quadriplegic. It would have made life a little bit easier as would having grocery delivery services and Amazon.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Mnemosyne:
Which ones, I use several different kinds. They are cool.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Mnemosyne: Also the bus and train schedules seem to be out of synch.
Ruckus
@Mnemosyne:
First and last mile is always the hardest to cover. Basic truism about public transportation.
Now in a personal note, I use to work a lot more hours. 48-56 was normal, sometimes 64 per week. Ten hr days, 8 on Friday, had to get to the bank. It is very unusual that the guys now work more than 40, only if we get extremely busy. Being old, I’m special and don’t work those kinds of hours any longer. My job in pro sports? My average was 60 hrs per week, on salary so no OT. I kept track one year, March to October was brutal, the rest of the year just sucked.
A lot of blue collar jobs used to have overtime but one reason I think that has been cut back is time and a half pay by law. Look at grocery jobs, a friend is a cashier, has been right around 20 yrs and she gets her schedule a week in advance. I believe they don’t have to pay higher shift pay if they only work the crappy shifts less than a known # of hrs. So your schedule changes so that no one does. Someone on BJ said that supermarkets are low margin, and I’d bet that is not altogether true. They grow, they pay people to work 24 hrs in a lot of stores, they buy up competition and they sell basically what they want to sell, almost all from major companies that pay for shelf space.
People work different hours and some get longer lunches than used to be the norm. Personally I think there are other reasons people are always in a hurry. And some of that is large urban areas, most people want to get somewhere, not spend much time getting there, so they are always in a hurry. People with kids can’t let them out by themselves, think of all the things that could go wrong and all the events they have to get to so they will get into a better college and won’t have to be at the bottom of the barrel blue collar workers. Or bottom of the barrel college grads who get nowhere jobs at nowhere wages. Let’s face it being in the bottom half or even bottom 2/3 of the population is getting no where. So we always have to be striving to get someplace else. And it doesn’t seem to be working.
Corner Stone
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I was recently in DC and the bus/train schedules and destinations didn’t seem too helpful for the touristy crap I had planned. Which I thought was weird. But, WTS, I never use public transpo when home so I may just not have known what the heck I was looking at.
Good news was there was very little traffic so taxi rides were cheap.
Mnemosyne
@EmbraceYourInnerCrone:
I feel like a bit of a wimp, but what’s the point of having modern conveniences if you don’t use them when necessary? It would be silly to endanger myself for the sake of not using them. My surgery is on 8/31, so I’m hoping to have them figured out by then.
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
G went with the Phillips Hue kit — he got a really good deal on it around the holidays — so I stuck with that for ease of use. It looks like there are other brands of bulbs that you can use with the Phillips Hue kit, but I don’t want to have to try and troubleshoot the damn thing when I’ll already be loopy from the painkillers.
The color ones are down to $39.99 on Amazon right now if you need to stock up.
SenyorDave
@Corner Stone: We were watching TV on Sunday when they played a clip of Kennedy (R-LA) calling Brennan a butthead. My son said, “Who is he?” ME:”He’s a R Senator from Louisiana.” SON:…”Did he just call someone a “butthead”?
if i were Brennan I might be concerned. Because one might think an asswipe like kennedy would know something about buttheads.
WhatsMyNym
@Mnemosyne:
I don’t know when you were a kid, but I’ve never had a 9-5 job and I’m almost at retirement age. My Dad worked long hours too (scientist) and most of the neighbors did as well. They worked a mix bunch of fields. Maybe a few shift workers didn’t, but they were the exception.
joel hanes
@Ruckus:
Someone on BJ said that supermarkets are low margin, and I’d bet that is not altogether true.
It’s true. AND much of what they sell becomes unsellable shortly after they get it from the wholesaler.
Data:
http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/New_Home_Page/datafile/margin.html
SenyorDave
@eemom: Doug Jones won because African American women voted for him en masse. It would be nice to think that he considers that before he votes for another Republican dickhead who wants to limit minority voting.
joel hanes
@WhatsMyNym:
I worked at a pig food warehouse in 1970, eight hours on the clock on a punch card.
I worked at a Portland cement factory in 1971, eight hours on the clock on a punch card.
I worked at the Winnebago Motor Homes plant in 1975-1976, lots of overtime, on a punch card.
WhatsMyNym
@joel hanes: Was lunch break included in eight hours?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Corner Stone: I’ve had no problem using Metro in DC, I’d just walk to where I wanted to go. Everything was in pretty close proximity to a Metro stop, except Arlington Cemetery.
Mnemosyne
@Ruckus:
@WhatsMyNym:
I found an interesting article from The Week about number of hours worked by race and gender. I find it curious that Black men on average end up working just enough hours to deny them benefits. ?
There’s also a bit towards the bottom where they talk about how wage stagnation leads people to work more hours since they can’t get an increase in wages.
http://theweek.com/articles/756859/unexpected-truth-about-americans-work-hours
Yutsano
@Gravenstone: It would be irresponsible not to speculate.
Also: eww.
Plus this gives context as to why Marla high tailed it out of there with Tiffany.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Mnemosyne: I got a good deal on a Hue kit during the holidays, including the light strip. I’m not using color bulbs for the Hue, I’m using the Philips color bulbs in this room.
Mnemosyne
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Philips makes other, non-Hue color smartbulbs? I may haz a confused.
Uncle Cosmo
@?BillinGlendaleCA:FWIW I spent most of 2004 on assignment in Rosslyn VA (just across the Pot O’Mac from DC improper) commuting from north-central Baltimore City. Auto to free street parking 4 blocks from Penn Station, MARC commuter train to Union Station, Metro to Rosslyn, then climbing a 4-storey escalator (too slow otherwise) & a 3-block walk uphill to the orifice. Once I got conversant with the different systems & timetables I quite enjoyed it (particularly since the workplace was >50 miles from home & therefore the Feds picked up the commute). Reminded me of tooling around Yerp on my own. And it beat the crap out of trying to drive. And all the hoofing (with a backpack full of books & lunch) ratcheted up the metabolism to the point where I lost ~50 lbs I desperately needed to shed. Win all around.
A Ghost To Most
@NotMax: I first came here during the Miers kerfuffle. Good times.
schrodingers_cat
@Corner Stone: You can get a day pass for the metro, it also lets you ride the bus for free. When I lived in MD I used to take the Green line into DC, get down at Navy Memorial/Archives station and walk from there to the museums etc. Most of the art galleries and museums are close by from that station.
@?BillinGlendaleCA: BG in CA said.
boatboy_srq
@TenguPhule: Have you read any of Kavanaugh’s writing? A single drive-by rapist is orders of magnitude less awful than a SCOTUS benchwarmer ready to argue that if she called the car she deserved whatever happened to her when she got in. Especially if (as seems likely from his Clinton-era slasher-porn-cum-legel-wisdom) he’d be jerking off over the brief for the case.
rikyrah
Brian Kemp’s Bid for Governor Depends on Erasing the Black Vote in Georgia
It’s working.
By MARK JOSEPH STERN
Ruckus
@Mnemosyne:
Working multiple jobs to make ends meet. Yeah I’ll believe that.
I’ve told the story here before of having a friend at the union office of the grocery store union, we were in the same complex. When the recession hit hard at the end of 2006/start of 2007 all the stores in the area cut everyone back to part time hours so they didn’t have to pay healthcare benefits. The workers of course were screwed and had to take part time jobs in other stores to make ends meet. So the stores were paying people to work, just not be healthy, in a grocery store. Also their sales didn’t drop all that much but they did drop their costs and they still stayed open and in business. Lots and lots didn’t. So congrats to them for figuring out how to stay open //
And of course they didn’t revert back to having the people on full time, because they still didn’t have to pay healthcare costs.
If grocery stores are such low margins, how come they can grow, build new stores. have refrigerated aisles without doors, so they have massive energy costs? (Especially the beer aisle) New store in Marin county when I lived there. The signs as they were building, massive solar array for energy savings, better design for energy savings, none of which actually happened. They had the money to buy the land, build the store and lie to the customers about saving the planet, but they are low margin? And this is not just one store or one chain. OK it is CA and you have a large population to serve but low margin? I’ve owned my own businesses for 24 yrs and know from margins. They may be lower than some other businesses but they don’t seem to go out of business without willfully trying. I might accept lower margins but not low margins. How many grocery chains are worried about going out of business?
patrick II
Someone should take that list of personal/sexual questions Kavanaugh prepared to be asked of Clinton, repeat them one by one, and ask them if it would be appropriate to ask that question toTrump about regarding his various female liaisons
zhena gogolia
@patrick II:
I wonder if Chris Murphy would do that.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Mnemosyne: The Hue bulbs require a Hue hub; I was wrong, they’re SYLVANIA SMART+ ZigBee Bulb, not Phillips. Sorry for the confusion.
TenguPhule
@Ruckus:
Low margin, high volume & they get discounts and rebates from suppliers plus some cost reimbursements for giving certain products prime shelf space. Even then, the owners can change if its not profitable enough and they get bought out. The one near my home has changed owners 3 times in 20 years while competing against a Walmart..
They expand and build through loans. And if they can’t pay off the loans they get sold off.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Ruckus: Grocery is a low margin, high volume industry.
TenguPhule
@Ruckus:
Depends on how much competition they have. Anyone within range of Walmart suffered badly.
TenguPhule
@boatboy_srq:
Yes. He is not suitable for the bench. At any level.
Mnemosyne
@rikyrah:
Someone needs to set up vanpools for people in those counties so they can get to the polls. If anyone knows of a group doing that, let us know here and I will send them some money.
They must be absolutely terrified of Stacy Abrams if they’re going to these lengths to stop her from winning. ?
NotMax
@Ruckus
Historically, a margin of 2% in the grocery biz was considered fantastic. So old can remember a time when one practically needed a miner’s helmet to shop, as every other ceiling light fixture had been de-bulbed.
Nowadays, with the proliferation of already prepared food items usurping more and more floor space, I expect it is much, much higher. Also too, the explosion of pharmacy aisles and ‘organic’ and ‘gourmet’ shelves, stocked with high margin paraphernalia. Somebody must be buying those $14.99 jars of spaghetti sauce and eight buck bottles of aspirin.
rikyrah
Does this woman understand that we are not buying this good cop/bad cop act? Your HUSBAND is the cyber bully! As the old folks used to say, “sweep around your own front door before you try to sweep around mine.” https://t.co/kFfIZWGP04
— Charles M. Blow (@CharlesMBlow) August 20, 2018
boatboy_srq
@TenguPhule: He’s not even suited for a therapist’s couch IYAM. Although he desperately needs much quality time on one.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@TenguPhule:
I work part-time at a fairly large regional grocery chain. It’s a privately owned corporation that does around 9.6 billion in profits every year. My store is corporate and they haven’t hired non-deparemental head employees at full-time in probably 20 years or so. “Top-rate” is about 10.30 /hr now, with 10-20 cent raises every year or so. You have to work at least 30 hrs a week for a year to get health insurance through the company as a part-timer.
The word from a co-worker is that the CEO of the last 15 years, who inherited it from her father who expanded the company, is running it into the ground and only cares about the exclusive high end brand stores. I don’t like when businesses are hereditary dictatorships. Would vastly prefer worker-owned and operated companies.
Another Scott
@NotMax: Look’s like Kroger’s operating margin has been 1.4 – 3.2% over the past few years.
Cheers,
Scott.
catclub
@SenyorDave: and Kennedy (R-LA) is one of the most standup GOP senators for NOT giving Trump’s unqualified judge nominees a pass. He embarassed one so much he with drew.
TenguPhule
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: How many other groceries are they competing against within a 5 mile radius of the store you work at?
I have 3. Plus a Walmart Gigacenter which they all have to compete against. We’re densely urban enough that they can just about make it work, but you can tell which items are loss leaders and which ones are what’s paying the rent pretty quickly.
NotMax
@Another Scott
Just as a pulled from the air example, going from 2% to 3% is a 50% increase in profit margin. That much increase falls under much, much higher in my book.
Ruckus
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
“We sell below cost and make it up on the volume!”
Wasn’t this Ralph Williams pitch, or most every large car dealer in the history of car dealerships?
A lot of the products out of tooling I made ended up in grocery stores. I had customers who dealt directly with grocery chains on volume deals. I also used to get people who would show up and want to build tooling for bottled water, which we did. I’d always ask them if they had signed contracts to put bottled water in grocery stores. They always asked why I asked that because they didn’t know how grocery stores work. That soda/water aisle in your local store? Every square inch is paid for by the sellers. It’s rented space to sell. A farmers market on steroids if you will. And a lot of the products are the same way. That’s a reason you’ll see different stores with a different mix of brands, a brand will pay one chain for space and a different brand will pay a different chain. Or a brand will be owned by a large mfg of the products and sell one brand at one chain and another brand at other chains.
And those bottles? They often cost more than the product inside them. Water in the store? The bottle, the space rental and the delivery cost far more than the product. Grocery stores print money, not as much as a defense contractor but they have the angles working just fine. As I said maybe not as well in east/west/north/south nowhere but they do OK. As for them selling, a lot of companies do this regularly, look at the tech industry, one has to wonder if many exist solely to be bought by a bigger company.
catclub
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
I suspect a typo: at 5% profits rate that is $200B in sales. Kroger, the largest chain does $105B in sales, with profits probably in the $2-3B range
if our gross profits number of 2% is right.
TenguPhule
@NotMax:
Nope. They still have to compete with all the other take out places and delis actually waste more space that could be used for stocking stuff for sale. Margins are still very tight.
TenguPhule
@NotMax:
Don’t you mean from where John planted the willow? Which is leaning too close to the blog now?
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@TenguPhule:
Well, the metropolitan area where I live is around 500,000 people but around 40,000 live in my suburban township. Within a five mile radius there are like 4 or 5 other stores that my company owns. On top of that there is a Walmart, a Sam’s Club, and a 3-4 smaller chains like one Aldi’s and a few smaller “value” chains. But, my town is where a lot people out of town come to shop.
TenguPhule
@Ruckus:
No, its “We’ll sell below cost and make up for it in maintenance and parts over the next five years.” That’s the car dealership model.
TenguPhule
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
We have them too. We call them tourists. :P
Though they eat out most of the time.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@catclub:
My mistake, estimated sales were 9.3 billion company wide in 2011.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Ruckus: College roommate’s dad was an executive with a grocery supplier(remember Springfield?), groceries are low margin, high volume. Remember Fazios, “we won’t be undersold”; he really meant it. There was a story about a broken car antennae, you just to send a message, ya know.
NotMax
@TengPhule
Reducing loss of perishables translates to more profit. Those prepared trays/bowls of salad aren’t exactly tossed together from the primo produce.
;)
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@TenguPhule:
Speaking of which, something has always struck me as odd about cars on islands, especially really small ones like Catalina Island. Like, a big part of car culture is to have nearly limitless, wide roads and places to travel to.
Ruckus
@NotMax:
1.4% to 2.8%. Isn’t that a 100% increase?
1.4% to 3.2%. Isn’t that a 129% increase?
I’d consider that somewhat substantial.
One other thing. Most grocery chains seem to be rather study in their margins. Kroger over the last few years has had a lot of competition because in my book they weren’t/aren’t a very good chain. They got away with it because of low competition and they got a lot of competition because there is money to be made in groceries. Especially if you do it right. Lot of moving targets to hit there but if you’ve ever been to a Kroger and seen a Giant Eagle come in across the street you’ll notice the difference immediately.
TenguPhule
@Ruckus:
I assure you this is certainly not true. Certain glamour products may have markups approaching traditional retail, but the staples of life? Those are the bread and butter which are boring, heavy and costly to stock, but also what people need and are there to buy.
TenguPhule
@NotMax:
All those fried and grilled chickens aren’t going back into the meats section.
TenguPhule
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
The homes are located on one side of the island, the jobs are located on the other side.
NotMax
@TenguPhule
And then there’s supermarket sushi.
/don’t wanna know
;)
TenguPhule
@NotMax:
Friday’s fish chowder surprise.
Ruckus
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
I agree that some chains just are crap. Run badly, stocked badly, and they fail. Companies big and small fail all the time from that. But a grocery chain, run reasonably makes money. And yes as I said the margins aren’t what they are in the defense industry or the tech industry, but they can make decent money. Will you become Vlad rich selling groceries? Very, very unlikely. But take a socal chain, been here a long time, Ralphs. Bought a few years ago by, wait for it, Kroger. I used to shop at Ralphs. I stopped because of Kroger. Now not many will but in a big urban area we have options. In OH I shopped at Kroger, until they had competition, Giant Eagle. Better store, happier employees, much better selection, they had an organic section, in OH! Most of the baggers were on the spectrum. They gave them jobs and worked with them. My food costs didn’t change but my supplier did.
So Giant Eagle must have had lower margins because they provided better selection, happier employees, stuff I couldn’t even buy at Kroger?
How many different grocery chains do you shop at? I walk to 2 different chains. A benefit of an urban area.
Mnemosyne
@TenguPhule:
At Pavilions (aka Safeway) they strip the unsold carcasses down and sell them as pre-cooked chicken shreds. Trader Joe’s has been selling packages of pre-cooked chicken for years, so why not?
Mnemosyne
@Ruckus:
I’ve been in So Cal long enough that I still mourn the loss of Hughes, which was bought out by Kroger. ?
sgrAstar
@TenguPhule: hey! Give us some links to representative opinions written by Kavanaugh. I’d like to see them and exposure to them would make me a much better opponent.
Aleta
Well you know the Clinton case was different bc lying
about sex is really rareabout meetings with Russian officials isafter
he’d made real estate investments with a corrupt donorhe’d lost money in a failed business ventureStarr had failed twice beforeAleta
I have a hunch that Kav has no problem with lawyers bringing up irrelevant information to purposely humiliate someone who’s made a sex crime accusation.
Nancy
@joel hanes: Thanks for that link. She’s my Senator and I pledged. They’ve raised almost $100,000.
TenguPhule
@Ruckus:
7. Only way to survive here is to live off the sales loss leaders.
Dan B
Kavanaugh liked Scalia’s objection to marriage equality.
I’m reminded of my sister in law’s (attorney, conservative) response to our fears, as gay men, to the election of Trump. “Marriage equality is settled law!” As if the only thing we had to fear was the repeal of gay marriage – not the random attacks, not the denials of service, etc.
NotMax
@TengPhule
Grocery shop once monthly, as follows:
Always: Costco, Target
Occasionally: Safeway, Cash ‘n’ Carry* (local, caters to restaurant/institutional trade)
Rarely or for single specialty items: Whole Foods, Down to Earth (health food place but I can get a few scoops instead of a big bag of vital wheat gluten – occasionally needed for some breadmaking)
Only if desperate: Foodland
Never: Times (too far), Sack ‘n’ Save (too out of the way)
Still miss Star Markets.
*They changed the name a while back but can never remember what it is now.
TenguPhule
@NotMax:
Hey! Buy local, it matters!
NotMax
@TenguPhule
There are limits. Store is perpetually dingy and dirty, selection is abysmal, prices are outrageous.
Note there are two local establishments in my list above.
TenguPhule
@NotMax: Oahu Foodlands are much nicer, but Safeway has produce freshness issues.
Chef Zone is pricey, but so worth it for quality.
Kayla Rudbek
@?BillinGlendaleCA: there is a Metro stop in Arlington Cemetery (blue line)