Think I’ll carve a likeness of GW from a potato and explode it in the microwave…
Mission Accomplished.
2.
DeeLoralei
Is anyone meeting at Busboys and Poets? We’re just about finished with dinner. Which one? Or should I just amuse myself tonight? Because I am perfectly capable of that.
3.
Corner Stone
I’ve always wondered why Robert Parker used the word “contumescent” when the word “tumescent” already existed.
4.
NotMax
Car freshly inspected, now contemplating a mid-afternoon nap.
5.
Corner Stone
@Long Tooth: How did you manage to pack so much clueless smug into the hapless potato?
Did you somehow acquire a photo of burnspbesq as a study model?
I’m packing to head out of town tomorrow. I’m going to the 62nd Annual Conference on Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics, which will keep me out of circulation here for a week.
7.
Morzer
I am cataloging my collection of right wing whackaloons and we have a new entry in the case files:
An Iowa Republican lawmaker running for the U.S. Senate vowed in a recently posted video she would overturn United Nations plans to strip private property rights to promote environmental protection laws.
“The United Nations has imposed this upon us, and as a U.S. Senator, I would say no more,” said state Sen. Joni Ernst. “No more Agenda 21.”
Glenn Beck and other conspiracy theorists have warned darkly about this international plot to take away individual rights, but the plan is no more than a bullet point in a list of suggestions that don’t have to be followed.
Agenda 21 is a nonbinding action plan adopted in 1992 by delegates at the U.N. Conference on Environment Development to promote aspirational goals for sustainable development.
Just remember: what happens at the 62nd Annual Conference on Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics stays at the 62nd Annual Conference on Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics.
9.
scav
@Roger Moore: Grab any of the more amusing Spectrometry trade goodies they hand out at the tables for us. That or stealing hotel water glasses for longitudinal and cross-chain comparison are obscure hobby of conferences I rather miss. Can you arrange steeplechases or ironman triathalons among the allied subjects?
10.
JPL
@Morzer: How does she feel about eminent domain and Walmart? Someone should ask her.
She warned the measure was part of a United Nations plot to eliminate rural and suburban living.
“One of the implications to Americans, again, going back to what did it do to the individual family here in the state of Iowa, and what I’ve seen, the implications that it has here is moving people off of their agricultural land and consolidating them into city sectors and then telling them, ‘You don’t have property rights anymore,’” Ernst said. “These are all things that the UN is behind, and it’s bad for the United States, it’s bad for families here in the state of Iowa.
I think she believes eminent domain is part of Agenda 21, but the audio gets all scrambled up with cries of “Ph’nglui Mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn”, so I am not completely certain.
This one time, at Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics camp….
18.
Keith P
Just about to cook my first real meal on my new induction range. I made some rice a couple of days ago to get a sense of the settings, but now I’m graduating up to 2-pots and pasta.
@Roger Moore: Well my goodness, the rules are quite strict.
No organized activities (even off-site) other than those approved by ASMS are allowed during the conference week (5:00 pm on Sunday through 6:00 pm on Thursday).
we measured masses and gasses,
had fun grabbing asses,
and The Chemist was al dente cavatappi
28.
Villago Delenda Est
Vile sack of worthless shit Scott Pelley intoning about how all these cities “etched in American military history”, “secured at a high price” are now in the hands of ISIS.
Of course, fuckstain misses the most important point…the US military should never have been securing those cities in the first place, but Pelley rambled on like Joseph Goebbels regretting the lost of Stalingrad, of Kharkov, of Kiev as the Wehrmacht was forced back by the Bolshevik barbarians.
Pelley needs to hang from the same gallows as the deserting coward, the Dark Lord, and all the neocons.
@Morzer: Are you sure, there is no Brownian motion in a vacuum.
33.
the Conster
OMG, listening to Hillary’s interview about gay marriage defensiveness is PAINFUL!!! What a horrible roll out. WTF. Is she listening to Mark Penn again? She’s just not a leader. I want her on my team, but not leading.
Well, can you have a total vacuum in a head, even a teabagger one, without it imploding?
Ah, the science projects of the future…
35.
JPL
@the Conster: That’s our Hillary. I doubt that she runs. IMO, she is keeping the option on the table in order to sell books.
Back to the conference, this sounds like a lot of fun
Immediately following the opening lecture the Opening Reception is an opportunity to eat, drink and meet up with colleagues and friends. Heavy hors d’oeuvres (yes, enough for dinner!), free beer, and cash bar for wine. Seating will be available throughout the hall. Technical posters do not go up until Monday morning –making this the ideal time to connect with exhibitors at their booths or corporate posters.
I do think that wine drinkers are being discriminated against though.
I was rather counting on their uninformed non-consent as a key part of their participation in my science projects.
39.
Sourmash
@schrodinger’s cat: I thought Brownian motion had been shown to be a form of convection. This was disappointing news as Brownian movement was the first scientific concept I ever learned from a book, so is be thrilled to know it is for reals again.
40.
Baud
You gotta fight
For your right
To mass spectrometry.
the implications that it has here is moving people off of their agricultural land and consolidating them into city sectors and then telling them, ‘You don’t have property rights anymore,’
Uh, she does realize that people who live in cities own property, right? It’s not all government-owned rentals?
Sometimes I think half these teabaggers fell asleep with a bad 1970s sci-fi movie on the TV and woke up convinced that it had really happened.
42.
lamh36
So a friend of mine suggested I book a cruise for my Hawaiian vaykay in November. She said it’s a good way to see all the islands. I’m seriously considering it. The only cruise line going at that time is Norwegian Cruise lines, the “Pride of America”.
I’ve neer been on a cruise before, but with all the “bad” cruise stories out there, just wanted to see if anyone else has ever been on a Norwegian cruise or on any type of cruise to Hawaii.
I’m already checking online reviews and such, but just wanted to ask…
43.
JPL
@Mnemosyne: Well it’s a little older but Them comes to mind.
She’s just not a leader. I want her on my team, but not leading.
This. She’s a lot of good things, including loyal, but she’s loyal to the wrong people (Henry Kissinger, WTF?) Do Not Want her as CIC. Wish one of the Supremes would retire or die so Obama could appoint her to the High Court and we wouldn’t have to worry about the Mark Penns and Lanny Davises of this world.
More and more, I’m thinking I’d like to see Sherrod Brown run. And, by the bye, I think Connie Schultz would be an awesome FLOTUS. I’m not quite ready to sign on to the “anyone but Hillary” crowd, because she’s many levels better than any Republican I can think of, but I really hope she gets super rich off her book and her speeches, and retires into happy grandmotherhood.
48.
Eric S.
After dealing with a spring full of injuries summer softball is finally getting under way. I’ve got a 9 pm game tonight then games Saturday and Sunday.
49.
lamh36
@Baud: Yeah. I plan to do that extensively. Just in case though, I did get a longer week off than I planned just in case.
50.
JPL
@lamh36: I only went on one cruise a decade ago to Alaska and it was wonderful. It wasn’t Norwegian Cruise Lines but friends have used that and enjoyed it. The one thing I did was take the low profile (less expensive) tours. For example instead of a helicopter trip to a berg, I took a nature hike to a berg. Instead of a train trip, I took the bus trip and it was so well worth it to do it that way. The guides were wonderful and you got to see the environment. Of course going to Hawaii, you have to see Pearl Harbor. It sounds like a wonderful trip and you should go.
51.
JPL
@efgoldman: I can remember watching that on TV when I was pretty small. I grew up in MA and I’m not sure what channel but they always played a movie on TV at four. There wasn’t much else to play on tv back then.
52.
Neutron Flux
@lamh36: Ms. Flux and I went on that exact cruise. The ship sails overnight and there are many good day trips to take. We thought it was a very good way to see the islands. When we go back, we know which island we want the spend the whole week on.
First you get down on your knees,
Fiddle with spectometries.
Adjust your scope with great precize
And, Ionize! Ionize! Ionize!
57.
lamh36
@Neutron Flux: Cool beans, I’m def considering it. I plan to do my research all weekend and then next week, I’ll make my decisions. Though I freely admit, the cruise is looking like a real good idea, especially since I will be travelling alone.
At an event at the Council on Foreign Relations Thursday, presumptive 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said she would consider keeping residual U.S. forces in Afghanistan following President Barack Obama’s final 2016 withdrawal date.
“I would,” Clinton said. “It depends upon conditions on the ground.”
Clinton said that if the next-elected president of Afghanistan “were to come up with a well thought-through plan of what is needed, I believe that would be very seriously considered.”
Clinton’s comments come just two weeks after Obama announced the total drawdown of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, but as the situation in Iraq deteriorates absent the presence of residual American military personnel.
60.
Hal
I understand some of the issues people have with Hillary, but I hope dems don’t piss away a potential win for perfection. If there is a better candidate who can really win, great, but right now I don’t see anyone on the Dem side with more momentum than HRC. Anything can change, but I hope Dems don’t go down another Nader/Gore who cares, they’re all the same road again. I feel there is too much on the line to give away for perfection.
61.
Neutron Flux
@lamh36: Our good friends are on the cruise right now. According to my Facebook feed, they are loving it.
Obama knows that. Kagan was 50, Sotomayor was 55 when appointed. HRC is obviously nowhere close to that young, but could still have a good 10-15-year run. Might be a nice cap to her career. I actually think she’d do a decent job on the Court. I am just not enthusiastic about her as President (which said, I’ll of course work/vote/knees broken glass etc. if she ends up with the nomination. But I hope she doesn’t.)
There is a proxy war in Iraq between Iran and Saudi Arabia…
…and people are advocating helping the IRAN side?! What part of that arrangement isn’t completely fucked in the head and which part won’t lead to tremendous campaign commercials lighting Obama up for helping, gasp, our “Mortal Enemy”? I’d hate to be Hannity’s dry cleaning service if the latter happened (I doubt any little blue dress would be involved).
This is too funny not to share. Here’s a screen grab from Russia 24 (TV). The chyron (the yellow one) talks about a massive influx of tourists to Crimea, with resorts at 146% of capacity. Who wants to guess what the beach in the image is? Hint: not Crimea, not the same continent.
@Neutron Flux: Awesome. The cruise def moved up in my considerations thanks to the idea of going to all the islands.
The issue will be pricing and purchasing. I had hoped to purchase bits of the trip piece by piece (i.e. flight, hotel, tours, etc) but with cruise I figured you have to pay the entire sum at time of booking?
71.
Neutron Flux
@Morzer: Positron is the anti-matter for an electron. No relation to neutrons.
72.
Corner Stone
@lamh36: Yes. Rikyrahrah already put this link up earlier.
NEWSFLASH – she’s a fucking politician who says shit that doesn’t actually mean anything.
@Mnemosyne: I know a glibertarian gun nut who is always up on the latest weirdness. I saw him a couple weeks ago and he was on about “Ant People”. Everyone not out in the boonies is an ant person, doing their ant society shit all antishly. I was a little surprised that the color of the ant did not figure into it, but he got blasted for that last time.
My son was in town and we run into this guy, I guess he got set off about the ant people because he lives in a city? Afterwards I was laughing about the ant people thing, I said I guess he put you in your place, you socialist hive-minder. Muddyson says, Fuck him, ants are cool, and work hard. This guy does neither. We agreed that he was just too fearful to go to town. He has to stay home with his guns.
@Baud: Yes. But on further analysis that seems to have been an intentional fake, for humor purposes, so I pulled it.
91.
muddy
@Morzer: That made me laugh. The physics puns are very pleasing tonight as well.
But no, this guy, he’s just an asshole. It’s actually kind of sad because he has no idea how pitiful he is. I guess it’s not that sad, I laugh heartily, but you know what I mean.
I was thinking more like this one. Funny how the terrifying population explosion never happened since it turned out that women were perfectly willing to use birth control once it was widely available.
@Keith G: Serious question: Is this the same Keith G who spent the last 5 years on this blog attacking Obama for not being liberal enough or is this a different Keith G?
OMG, listening to Hillary’s interview about gay marriage defensiveness is PAINFUL!!! What a horrible roll out. WTF. Is she listening to Mark Penn again? She’s just not a leader. I want her on my team, but not leading.
Yep, she’s getting in fights with reporters, refusing to take responsibility or hard stands and getting caught in lies. It’s like 2008 all over again. Her political skills have always been mediocre. If she stays in the public eye, her approvals will be in the negative by the time the primaries start. People like the idea of Hillary a lot more than they like the reality of Hillary.
Is “Ant People” paranoia really a thing? Or is he just a sad man with some possible mental issues? I once had a schizophrenic guy sign up for a class I was teaching over the summer – and boy, that was a magical few hours for all of us.
CO-SIGN. I wish her well, and want to see her be a special grandma and advocate for women using Bill’s foundation money – she should hook up with Angelina Jolie and go to India and Pakistan and crack that crazy misogynistic culture wide open. That’s really where her power lies, as a symbol to women everywhere. Between she and Bill, they have encyclopedic knowledge of more countries and names and details of events than anyone in the world – literally – but I don’t trust her judgment or instincts or motives when it comes to foreign policy, at all.
99.
muddy
@Morzer: Oh now I click the link, thank you very much. I will have a nightmare tonight!
I used to hate ants, I had a bad experience as a kid. Hated them with a passion, and passed it on to my son. We destroyed multitudes with undue glee. But one year there was something worse, and the ants cleaned up so well we started liking them. Now he’s one of them, dun dun dah!
100.
agorabum
@lamh36: a good way to see the islands is to be on the islands – not on a boat. Get inland to see waterfalls and volcanoes, on the coast for beach and waves and fish. And the leeward sides for sunsets. Don’t trap yourself on a boat. ..
Obama knows that. Kagan was 50, Sotomayor was 55 when appointed. HRC is obviously nowhere close to that young, but could still have a good 10-15-year run. Might be a nice cap to her career. I actually think she’d do a decent job on the Court. I am just not enthusiastic about her as President (which said, I’ll of course work/vote/knees broken glass etc. if she ends up with the nomination. But I hope she doesn’t.)
Hillary is too old and not smart enough IMO. I want legal geniuses on the court and there are much better options than Hillary. It would make more sense to put Obama on the Supreme Court. But, it would be a waste of his other talents. I want Goodwin Liu to be the next Supreme Court justice.
102.
DeeLoralei
@Elizabelle: hahaha. Thanks in re the Samuel L. Jackson thing. Did. I ever tell you about the time I spanked his butt? I’ll save that for the next time. Lol.
My son and I are at Brabo Tasting room on King Street.
I’m kinda glad no one decided to go tonight. Silly waitress at Legal Sea Food didn’t understand that when I requested my steak to be served without shrimp butter, it was because I’m allergic to seafood and shellfish. So they served my steak with it, and I sent it back, so they scraped off the butter and served me the same steak. I ate some of it, til I tasted shrimp and quit eating it because I felt queasy. And then broke out into a sweat.
The busboy cleared my plate asking if I liked it since I ate hardly nothing. I said I didn’t. And then they still included the cost of it on the tab.
So I’m not my usual chipper self right now, and not really up for anything much. I do think I’m gonna call them tomorrow to complain.
You are utterly charming and I so appreciate you organizing last night. Ms Redshift and I have tweeted back and forth today. You all were so kind and smart and funny, it was a great evening. And OMG if I were 25 years younger, I would have flirted even more outrageously with that adorable Seabe. I do hope he blushes when he reads that, LOL.
So thanks again. I promise to return sometime in the future. Next time with more notice .
I hope your mother is well. Maybe if I do record Go The Fuck to Sleep, I’ll rewrite it for folks taking care if elderly relatives. HA!
If you’re going to be traveling alone, a cruise or a guided tour is probably the way to go, at least for your first trip there. I like traveling alone, but I definitely need to have an agenda (like a conference) or else I get bored really fast.
105.
muddy
@Morzer: Well, he’s a bit of both. He’s not schizophrenic or anything. Sociopath maybe, he’s really manipulative. Kind of guy who likes to get a fight started between other people so he can watch. Says really shitty things about people and if you don’t make a huge deal out of arguing then he goes to them and says that you said it. He thinks he’s a real Machiavelli of course, but his circle is very limited.
ETA: the ant people is a real thing in his type of media apparently
I am not sure what other approach she could have taken on the topic. I mean, the interviewer was pretty clearly trying to put her in a bind over her views in gay marriage and she was equally clearly not just going to obediently march along that path. I thought it was a perfectly sensible discussion of her views – and I am not particularly a fan of the Clintons. The truth is that no long-time major Democratic politician is going to have a “perfect” record on gay marriage and it’s pointless to demand purity from them. Twenty years ago, I would bet you that the vast majority of people who comment here had no idea that gay marriage would be as widely accepted as it now is, or even that it would ever happen. Should we condemn them for “evolving”?
110.
WaterGirl
@Corner Stone: You know, it’s possible to not like Hillary because you just don’t like Hillary. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
111.
Keith G
@David Koch: FWIW This is the same guy who has complimented Obama for making many very good choices and has also noted when the President could have made better choices.
I know for some even the slightest hint of less than religious adoration makes one suspect. I trust you are not part of that wacky crowd.
I just think her husband or Obama would have been able to handle that interview better. She just has such mediocre political skills. Getting in a fight with the reporter didn’t do anything to help her cause. It’s weird to see that she hasn’t improved one bit since 2008.
113.
Corner Stone
The R’s are going to run Mitt or Jeb.
Christie is done for.
Let’s see how Jeb or Mitt feel about any number of topics.
You’ve just disqualified the vast majority of people who have served or are serving on the court. Genius is, by its nature, rare and it’s not a realistic thing to demand as a qualification for any position. Was John Marshall a “legal genius”? Probably not – and he seems not to have even been especially well-read in precedents – but he was astute, tenacious and persuasive and left a mighty legacy to his successors as a result.
He’s too old. I want someone in their mid-50s at the oldest and would he have to excuse himself from some of the cases like Kagan does since he was head of DoJ?
i thought it was a good thing that she fought her corner and didn’t just back down passively. It’s not so long ago that some people thought Barack Obama couldn’t handle debates too well and could only give a good speech. Is HRC as charismatic? No, but she’s a better speaker than she once was and generally knows her materials pretty well. If she’s the candidate, I think she’ll do just fine.
122.
Eric U.
INS shut down just about every Asian restaurant in town. Local jail is full of people that have made me some pretty good meals. And I was incredibly hungry today when I went to get lunch and the place I was going was shut down.
Many of those chosen by O’Beirne’s office to work for the Coalition Provisional Authority, which ran Iraq’s government from April 2003 to June 2004, lacked vital skills and experience. A 24-year-old who had never worked in finance — but had applied for a White House job — was sent to reopen Baghdad’s stock exchange. The daughter of a prominent neoconservative commentator and a recent graduate from an evangelical university for home-schooled children were tapped to manage Iraq’s $13 billion budget, even though they didn’t have a background in accounting.
Interviews with scores of former CPA personnel over the past two years depict an organization that was dominated — and ultimately hobbled — by administration ideologues.
Endowed with $18 billion in U.S. reconstruction funds and a comparatively quiescent environment in the immediate aftermath of the U.S. invasion, the CPA was the U.S. government’s first and best hope to resuscitate Iraq — to establish order, promote rebuilding and assemble a viable government, all of which, experts believe, would have constricted the insurgency and mitigated the chances of civil war. Many of the basic tasks Americans struggle to accomplish today in Iraq — training the army, vetting the police, increasing electricity generation — could have been performed far more effectively in 2003 by the CPA.
But many CPA staff members were more interested in other things: in instituting a flat tax, in selling off government assets, in ending food rations and otherwise fashioning a new nation that looked a lot like the United States.
Instituting a flat tax, privatizing and ending food rations.
They thought food rations were like food stamps. Job one? Cut their food off.
Asian Republican Coalition. With a nearly all Caucasian leadership: “”The Asian Republican Coalition is open to all Americans, including Asian Americans and those of us like me who are not ethnically Asian but have spent twenty years living in Hong Kong.”
126.
WaterGirl
@Baud: My birthday fun was actually last Friday night. We had to celebrate early because all of my good friends will be out of town, one in France (like that’s a good excuse!), another in California and the other two in Kentucky.
So tomorrow will be kind of quiet, but that’s okay. The pool is open so I’ll start the day with my early morning swim, and I declared today and tomorrow as client-free days, so no work for me.
I saw the kitties whispering about something earlier, so I think they might be planning something.
127.
Betsy
I haven’t checked the threads here all day. Has anyone noticed and torn apart the Frank Luntz op-ed in the NYTimes today?
Shorter Luntz: rational numbers lie, can’t rely on ’em, pollsters have no idea how to describe what’s really in the heart of man — gotta go with Peggy Noonan-style feelings to really know what the voters want.
Still shorter Luntz: Focking numbers, how do they work?
128.
Lurking Canadian
On the agenda: drinking wine, doing the Friday NYT crossword, savouring the curb stomp currently being received by Tim “Kick The Poor” Hudak in the Ontario provincial election. My people fuck up their share of the time, but sometimes we get it…well, not “right”, but perhaps “un-wrong”?
There was actually rather a lot of English law as a source of precedents. Marshall famously used to give his opinion and then have Joseph Story, who was a legal scholar, “go and find the authorities”.
I think she’s plenty smart. I just don’t think she has great political instincts nor leadership qualities. Mainly, I’d just like to see her take on something that would mute the appetite for the presidency. Maybe it will be grandparenthood. Let’s hope — and let’s hope there’s someone on the Dem bench who can do the JB and whom HRC could and would support enthusiastically.
I was wondering if you were going to write about that California court ruling on teacher tenure.
134.
WaterGirl
@Corner Stone: You’ll have to let me know what that’s in reference to. Was it the back-and-forth with Patrick? (I think that was the name.) That’s what I get for replying to a comment after just skimming the thread, I didn’t understand the context of the comment. Was that what you were referring to? Hopefully all is forgiven.
135.
LAC
@Corner Stone: people express a concern about Hilary Clinton in 2016 and it is because they hated her for running in 2008? Not what I read but I don’t do this three sheets to the wind. Take a sip of water.
136.
El Caganer
Isn’t the Hilary speculation getting a little out of hand? I mean, if she decides not to run for President, presumably the Democrats will nominate somebody else. Or will they just pack it in and go out for an early cocktail hour?
Exactly. She’s smart, but doesn’t come across as sure and deft on her feet like Obama, and especially Bill. That’s a gift, and she doesn’t have it. She’s an effective and motivating speechifier which is why she gets the big bucks on Wall Street – but she’s not the digital age dynamic leader that we need.
OMG, listening to Hillary’s interview about gay marriage defensiveness is PAINFUL!!! What a horrible roll out. WTF. Is she listening to Mark Penn again? She’s just not a leader. I want her on my team, but not leading.
she can’t just say ‘ Bill was wrong’.
just like she didn’t apologize for her vote for the War in Iraq.
Edit: I worked at a vet school for a few years and I loved the perspective provided by running into a cow or a horse or a dog during the course of my work day. (IT person here, so I wasn’t seeing patients all day.)
Short answer: it’s much more complicated than tenure, but tenure is an easy mark for everyone to get outraged about and scapegoat because tenure doesn’t implicate anyone except teachers.
159.
muddy
I think it’s silly to talk about who’s going to run for president now. What happens this year will inform that choice to the point that it’s just empty speculation. I get pissed when the talking heads wank on about how nobody is excited or shows up for midterms. Maybe because the presidential is all they want to talk about. As soon as someone on tv mentions 2016 I turn them right off.
Might as well have a conversation about whether stars are really molecules in some bigger creature.
i thought it was a good thing that she fought her corner and didn’t just back down passively. It’s not so long ago that some people thought Barack Obama couldn’t handle debates too well and could only give a good speech. Is HRC as charismatic? No, but she’s a better speaker than she once was and generally knows her materials pretty well. If she’s the candidate, I think she’ll do just fine.
Someone with better political skills could have defused that situation without it turning into an argument. That’s one of many problems with Hillary. She just doesn’t have the skills to play at her level. She’d be adequate as a candidate, but she’ll never be better than that. She just doesn’t have the charisma, charm, or political instinct to be more than that. That’s why she relies on her slimy consultants and lies compulsively because she knows she is way out of her league.
I don’t. I want smart people with broad life experience, empathy and a sense of fair play.
That leaves out Hillary as well. Never seen signs of empathy or sense of fair play. But, really she is just way too old and there are far better candidates for the bench out there who are more liberal, smarter and have been working in the law for years. And it would be a waste of her talents. Like someone said above, she should be traveling the world trying to help women gain rights and economic security. That’s where she excels.
161.
ruemara
@WaterGirl: I don’t even get what he’s on about. We can’t criticize Hillary, yet we’re Obots because we’re not critical of Obama? Plus raaaaaacism is such a joke.
(And the full moon helps explain why things’ve been so nutty around here. I mean, I was thinking about our pets — had a cat-escape incident to start my day, followed by the three dogs’ failure to finish their dinners, which turned out to be due to someone leaving the milkbone box where one of the dogs could tear off the top half & turn it into a free-feed “cookie jar”… )
There was a newsperson on the radio, he’s in Iraq and he’s really upset, and he kept repeating “13 centuries!”
His point, I believe, was there was some arrogance involved in that invasion and occupation. They finally got a flat tax- in a country that didn’t belong to them, but still, big win for conservatism. They were all insane, basically.
From RT. The Ukrainian forces are dropping white phosphorus on Slavyansk.
It’s pretty at night. Fallujah Flashdance!
173.
Corner Stone
@ruemara: Ok, but that monolith isn’t running. So, if HRC is the D nominee in 2016, will you vote for her?
That’s easy peasy, isn’t it?
174.
WaterGirl
@Baud: How is it that you consistently seem to know about new threads 5-15 minutes before I do? You mentioned yesterday that you use Feedly, which I use, too, as a feed for Leaf. Inquiring minds want to know. I want to know.
175.
Villago Delenda Est
@Bob In Portland: Good. The more Russian fascists who die, the better.
I just refresh my browser often. Isn’t that what most folks do?
ETA: I use Feedly for scanning most of the other blogs and sites I follow. Not so much for BJ since I’m usually here anyways.
177.
ruemara
@Corner Stone: No. I won’t vote for. I never vote for Dems. In fact, my entire time here, I’ve never said one decent word about Hillary, the importance of participation, the fact that whether progressives like it or not, we need to suck it up to even vote for people we have major disagreements with. I’ve been holding out for a reborn Noam Chomsky, who once we get the paltry Obama into the renewal vats, Noam can slide his withered form into the pool and step forth, with the vitality of a progressive god. Then, ‘neath his banner, all shall flock. A renaissance will occur with his firm, liberal leadership. We will flower and mankind will reach for the stars in a vegan, solar powered glorious future. So no Hillary for me, I’ve got far more possible plans.
178.
WaterGirl
@Baud: I don’t now that I have Leaf to notify me when there are new threads! You’re not telling me that manually refreshing is more effective than the automated system? That can’t be.
Someone with better political skills could have defused that situation without it turning into an argument.
This strikes me as a fantasy. You can’t avoid an argument when the interviewer is obviously determined to have one.
She just doesn’t have the skills to play at her level. She’d be adequate as a candidate, but she’ll never be better than that. She just doesn’t have the charisma, charm, or political instinct to be more than that.
Remember that when Obama won the primary in 2008 it was in large measure because his people knew how the system worked and her people didn’t until it was too late. Plenty of people thought his debating skills were less than stellar and he tended to waffle and parse and, frankly, go “uh” too often. He didn’t turn out too badly. Nor am I convinced that the Democrats have a perfect candidate in reserve. HRC has a strong story, lots of experience and is a better speaker than some give her credit for. Bear in mind that I am not a fan of the Clintons when I say this. I do think that the people criticizing Clinton and rubbishing her skills need to be able to offer some credible alternative before they dismiss her so casually. So far, I am not seeing any of them do that.
I’ve never used Leaf, so I don’t know how that works. I don’t think automatic systems are faster, however. They’re usually set to ping for information only every few minutes.
Thank you. Thank you for finally being honest, at long last!
182.
LAC
@ruemara: I would say corner stone is half way through a fifth. That is when he becomes the board bully.
183.
nellcote
HIllary’s good enough but I’m already sick of having her shoved down my throat as the only possible candidate.
184.
WaterGirl
@Baud: When I click “About” Leaf, it says: An amazing news reader for Mac. So there we have it!
Feedly tells Leaf when there are new stories, and I see a the whole story in text form within Leaf, and I can click to open the webpage if I want to.
185.
satby
@WaterGirl: Have a very Happy Birthday, WaterGirl!
186.
WaterGirl
@ruemara: That surprises me, and I wasn’t sure at first whether you were being serious or if you were stringing CornerStone along. But you’re serious, I think.
If she manages to win, then great, but I remember she was “inevitable” at this point in 2006, too.
And anyone who says they thought in 2006 that Obama was going to be the next president, they’re a liar. Even Obama didn’t think he could beat Hillary, but he thought running against her would be good experience for a “real” presidential run down the road.
@Baud: Well, Feedly and Leaf are my first forays into RSS feeds, so maybe I’m doing it wrong.
But I think Leaf just displays the data it gets from Feedly – in a nice little readable interface. Now I’m going to have to go to feedly.com and see what that looks like.
Edit: Okay, I’m back now. Feedly doesn’t show the whole article, and the Leaf interface is much better.
I do have one more question if you will humor me… I have never been able to get an RSS feed for Steve Benen. Are you set up for that ? I cannot figure out what I’m doing wrong.
@Morzer: Geniuses on the Court? Holmes. Brandeis. Douglas. Smart as hell people with good legal philosophies? Another handful. Black. Brennan. Ginsburg. And a few others.
And I get full text BJ posts on Feedly. Some other feeds (like Benen), not so much.
197.
WaterGirl
@Mnemosyne: I’ll argue with that, because from the day I met Barack Obama when he was running for Senate, I believed he would be president one day. And from the minute he declared his campaign, I believed he could win in the general if he could just get the nomination. But I live in IL so that makes a difference.
I think a lot of us felt that way after his speech in 2004. But what I’m doubting is that anyone seriously thought he was going to derail the Hillary train a mere four years later.
ETA: Also, yes, I am repressing my extreme jealousy that you got to meet him. So far, I’ve only gotten to see the taillights of his limo driving the opposite direction.
In roughly 200 years of the court’s existence, that would be 3 geniuses (if we agree not to haggle over the names). I think that rather makes my point about why demanding genius as a qualification is a little unrealistic.
201.
ruemara
@WaterGirl: Considering it’s Corner Stone-which must relate to the massive foundation of hypocrisy-you should completely understand I’m utterly mocking him.
@Morzer: YES! MEAT IS MURDER! Tasty, delicious, murder. I will make an allowance for lower trophic scale murders, say cricket burgers and mealy worm meat pies.
202.
WaterGirl
@Baud: Thanks for that! You’re probably already off to bed, but…
When I pasted that into the subscription field, I started getting ALL msnbc stuff, not just steve benen. :-(
Plus, it was Clinton or Republican in 2008, until it wasn’t.
204.
Corner Stone
@ruemara: Ha! You showed your true soul here. Stop trying to weasel out of it.
Tellingly, you still haven’t committed to voting for the eventual D nom for President in 2016.
I think you’ve said pretty much all.
205.
WaterGirl
@Morzer: I just pasted in what Baud gave me. That got me all of MSNBC. Not what I want.
I go to the MSNBC site and click on the RSS feed for benen, and that subscription never works. I’ve probably tried about 10 times, on and off over a few months, with no success getting just benen.
It looks to me, from a cursory glance at the feeds, as if Benen’s feed is set up to give you all of Rachel Maddow’s stuff by default. I don’t know that there is a separate (but equal!) feed for just Benen.
208.
WaterGirl
@Mnemosyne: I truly did, I had faith. That’s why I went to Iowa before the caucuses and volunteered for the campaign there. I even got to stand next to him, exchange a few words, got to put my hand on his back, got my photo taken with him and the other volunteers. I was a true believer, and I went to 4 different states. For some inexplicable reason, I always had faith that he could win, and that he would win if we could just get him to the general. I felt like it was my job to do every single thing I could to get him there. I’m sure I sound like a total starry-eyed fan, but it was what it was.
209.
ruemara
@Corner Stone: You’ve buried me in the picoliter pool of your intellect. I am slain.
@Baud: Oh fuck no. I am just a hack lawyer who drinks too much and falls in love with girls.
@Morzer: I agree. Most deniuses, legal or otherwise, have far too much weirdness to come up through thet legal vetting system that produces supreme court justices. Douglas* was weird as fuck, but he was young when he was appointed and FDR had huge majorities to work with.
*My personal favorite in a tie with Brennan.
211.
WaterGirl
@Morzer: I wish Benen had never gone over to the dark side.
212.
Corner Stone
@ruemara: Thank goodness. The public discourse is the better for your inability to swim in that tiny pool.
Well then, I am just going to have to demand a bacon sandwich exemption on religious grounds, and likewise for milk in my coffee. As Hierophant of the New Dionysos, I have pastoral obligations to my worshippers.
Remember that when Obama won the primary in 2008 it was in large measure because his people knew how the system worked and her people didn’t until it was too late. Plenty of people thought his debating skills were less than stellar and he tended to waffle and parse and, frankly, go “uh” too often. He didn’t turn out too badly. Nor am I convinced that the Democrats have a perfect candidate in reserve. HRC has a strong story, lots of experience and is a better speaker than some give her credit for. Bear in mind that I am not a fan of the Clintons when I say this. I do think that the people criticizing Clinton and rubbishing her skills need to be able to offer some credible alternative before they dismiss her so casually. So far, I am not seeing any of them do that.
People keep spinning Obama’s win and Hillary’s loss as something they had no part of. Obama was the better candidate with the better team that he picked. And Obama got significantly better throughout the primary and general elections. Hillary is still making all of the same mistakes she made in 2008 already. It’s bizarre that she hasn’t learned anything and she actually got worse as the debates went on. Obama cleaned her clock in the last 2 debates because she let her temper get the better of her. That’s exactly what happened with the reporter. She has a short temper and it could easily be her undoing. Obama did a great job of needling her at the end of the primaries and she would go off like a rocket every time.
I’ve offered my alternative like 1000 times at BJ. I am backing Governor O’Malley in the primary. He’s clearly running. He’s a progressive with a strong record of accomplishments to run on which is my biggest criteria in the primaries. He also has an interesting backstory and has charisma (except during his DNC speech in 2012). Until Hillary is the nominee, I won’t be backing her as I’ve been watching her for 20 some years and I’ve yet to be impressed. O’Malley impresses me.
I was watching some TV show this week, with a lawyer as one of the characters, and as soon as I saw him I thought “I wonder if that’s what Omnes looks like, I’ll have to ask him”. But sadly, I have forgotten which show it was. Damn.
219.
WaterGirl
@Corner Stone: That’s what I loved about voting for president obama. Finally I didn’t have to vote for the lesser of two evils.
Sherrod Brown/Martin O’Malley
Sherrod Brown/Kamala Harris
Sherrod Brown/Kirsten Gillibrand
Martin O’Malley/Julian Castro
Martin O’Malley/Jerry Brown
I want Elizabeth Warren to be my senator so I didn’t include her.
222.
WaterGirl
@Corner Stone: Both! I guest makes me an O-bot, right?
223.
LAC
@ruemara: lol! You poking at corner stone is like poking at a bear. A big dead one that has been stuffed and mounted. Be careful….:-)
224.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@WaterGirl: FWIW the most common celeb comparisons I get are Hugh Grant, Phil Mickelson, and, when younger, Tom Hulce. I hope that helps.
225.
Corner Stone
@WaterGirl: Possibly. More likely it makes you not very objective, in any regard.
226.
WaterGirl
@the Conster: I want Sherrod Brown, but I doubt that I’ll get him since Kay seems to think he has no interest. He and Biden are the only two I know of now that I would not be disappointed to have as our candidate – they are both ready for prime time, but I don’t believe that (yet) about any of the others. I trust Sherrod Brown and I trust Joe Biden.
227.
WaterGirl
@Corner Stone: I will say that I didn’t have the stars in my eyes in 2012 that I had in 2008, but I still think he’s been a great president. Though definitely not perfect, and I have had my share of disappointments, starting with his FISA vote while he was still running.
I like your list. O’Malley is my first choice by far. And I think he might be the only one willing to run against Hillary. But, if Sherrod runs, I’ll take a look at him. He’s great on policy but never seen him on the stump.
Hillary is still making all of the same mistakes she made in 2008 already
Indeed. She lost the Iowa caucuses yesterday!
Obama was the better candidate with the better team that he picked.
Better candidate in some ways, yes, but not the perfect candidate that people seem to think can be found at any nearby DemocraticCandidateStore.
He’s a progressive with a strong record of accomplishments to run on
He’s got a decent record as governor, but I don’t know that it’s going to be wildly exciting for the nation.
He also has an interesting backstory and has charisma
I am curious about the “interesting” part, but I have never found him especially charismatic.
No, I think I am going to have to hold out for a perfect Democratic candidate – and one who can put other less blue states into play.
230.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): Phil Mickelson – you’re not an arrogant entitled prick who doesn’t think he should have to pay taxes, are you? :-)
A young Tom Hulce, or bearded and older Tom Hulce? (I googled.)
I can almost picture the person from TV, and looking at photos of Phil and Hugh Grant, maybe I wasn’t totally off. Hmm, still cannot recall the show.
231.
Corner Stone
@WaterGirl: Sherrod Brown has no shot. Period.
President Obama has been exactly in line with a presidency by HRC. I’m sorry you don’t feel that way, but she wore his foreign policy like a cloak for four years. Obama killed everything that fucking moved outside the borders of the USA. He went into a star chamber and signed off on people dying.
We’ve been drone striking and killing every body all over MENA, for the last several years. With impunity.
Nobody can stop us. We can, and have been, killing all kinds of “military aged males” just as much as we can hire private firms to fire those fucking missiles off.
232.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@WaterGirl: Amadeus era Hulce. And I am an arrogant entitled prick (you’ve read my comments, right?), but I think I should pay taxes.
233.
WaterGirl
@the Conster: O’Malley seems so lame at the 2012 convention; he really struck me as not ready for prime time and not charismatic at all. Just a bad performance?
And didn’t their rollout of ACA completely suck in his state? (I may be confusing him with someone else.)
Well, okay, but my point is that you were part of a minority. Conventional wisdom in 2006 was that Hillary was the unbeatable candidate in 2008, just like the conventional wisdom in 2014 is that she’s the unbeatable candidate in 2016.
What I’m saying is, never count on being inevitable. It’s a mug’s game.
I’ve seen him give lots of great speeches. 2012 was a bad performance. Yes, ACA rollout was bad but that is just a minor issue. What’s he done as Governor – Raised Minimum Wage, economy, DREAM Act, gay marriage, gun control, repealed death penalty. He’s been a successful executive and can point to a lot of accomplishments.
@Corner Stone: Yeah, I guess we do see things differently. I much prefer killing people with drones to boots on the ground. I think there are civilian casualties in both situations. but a lot less than dropping bombs and sending in soldiers.
We might have to agree to disagree. But she’ll have my vote if she’s the D candidate in the general.
And you think the GOP won’t have a field day denouncing him as a tax and spend liberal attacking religious freedom?
Don’t get me wrong, I like those things about him, but still….
241.
Corner Stone
@WaterGirl: It’s an argument from a false premise. We “have” to kill someone. Right now!
So, how best to do it?
There are many tools in our toolbox. But unfortunately, we only have a kill switch to work with.
242.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@askew: O’Malley is the guy in whom I am most interested right now. I am waiting to see who tosses their hat in the ring before making any decisions.
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): Well, I don’t picture you with Amadeus hair, but I think I understand the look. I think maybe I wasn’t that far off.
@Corner Stone: Obama can approve drone strikes on Al Queda all day long, as far as I’m concerned. They grayer areas are an issue, but still better than the alternative.
247.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@WaterGirl: That was pure face, not hair. Consider Pinto from Animal House. But somewhere in that mix you get a vague picture.
248.
WaterGirl
@Corner Stone: Would that be nitpicking? Do I finally understand the difference between nitpicking and nitpicking?
@WaterGirl: Let me know if you see the character again or remember the show.
251.
Corner Stone
@WaterGirl: I think you really mean that he can approve drone strikes on anyone he deems as the enemy. Or a danger or risk to the American populace.
But, I am sorry. That is absolutely 100% fucking against who we are as a nation. We don’t cede power to a man to inform us who our existential threats are. That happens through a process.
You can tell me you trust Obama to complete these tasks. And I can disagree with you. But it doesn’t matter. Our nation doesn’t grant that power to a man.
Who do you see in 2014 is like Obama (or hell, even Edwards) in 2006? Yeah HRC was the favorite but I remember a lot of talk about how the dynamics of the race could change if O decided to throw his name in the hat.
They grayer areas are an issue, but still better than the alternative.
Better than what alternative? What are you so scared of?
255.
WaterGirl
@Corner Stone: You make some good points, but it’s also true that our world is a distinctly different place than it used to be, this is not at the top of my “this is not who we are as a nation” list.
But I’m fading and losing focus so it’s time for me to get to bed. To be continued another time, perhaps…
256.
WaterGirl
@Corner Stone: I was typing my comment at 12:19 when your comment at 12:17. Sorry to leave an unanswered question. Too tired to think straight, time for bed. Gotta get up at 6am for early morning swim.
Interestingly, FiveThirtyEight.com thinks that Elizabeth Warren is the current John Edwards. There does not appear to be a Democrat of Obama’s caliber right now, but Obama was really a once-in-a-generation candidate.
I’ll put it another way: the media should probably be careful not to count Hillary’s chickens before they hatch.
258.
Comrade Mary
So Ontario just elected a gay grandmother as premier of a majority government (popular vote 38%, but hey, Westminister). Kathleen Wynne invited her wife up to the podium during her victory speech, but Jane was too shy to stay. She did come back for a hug at the end with the rest of Wynne’s family.
That wasn’t really a problem for Edwards when he was still running.
You misremember — the affair was being reported on as early as 2007. The really big scandal was when Edwards finally admitted that he was the father of his mistress’s baby. So it potentially was a really, really big problem if he had gotten the Democratic nomination in 2008.
AFAIK, Edwards was not having an affair when he was Kerry’s running mate in 2004, or at least was smart enough to wear a goddamned condom.
265.
LAC
@WaterGirl: you are too kind a commenter. I admire your attempts to have a reasoned discussion with the drunk board bully. My hats off to you and I hope that in your future comments you won’t have corner stone badgering you, with the scent of gin snd regret wafting around.
Long Tooth
Think I’ll carve a likeness of GW from a potato and explode it in the microwave…
Mission Accomplished.
DeeLoralei
Is anyone meeting at Busboys and Poets? We’re just about finished with dinner. Which one? Or should I just amuse myself tonight? Because I am perfectly capable of that.
Corner Stone
I’ve always wondered why Robert Parker used the word “contumescent” when the word “tumescent” already existed.
NotMax
Car freshly inspected, now contemplating a mid-afternoon nap.
Corner Stone
@Long Tooth: How did you manage to pack so much clueless smug into the hapless potato?
Did you somehow acquire a photo of burnspbesq as a study model?
Roger Moore
I’m packing to head out of town tomorrow. I’m going to the 62nd Annual Conference on Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics, which will keep me out of circulation here for a week.
Morzer
I am cataloging my collection of right wing whackaloons and we have a new entry in the case files:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/06/12/iowa-republican-vows-to-overturn-phony-un-agenda-21-plot-to-take-away-private-property/
SiubhanDuinne
@Roger Moore:
Just remember: what happens at the 62nd Annual Conference on Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics stays at the 62nd Annual Conference on Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics.
scav
@Roger Moore: Grab any of the more amusing Spectrometry trade goodies they hand out at the tables for us. That or stealing hotel water glasses for longitudinal and cross-chain comparison are obscure hobby of conferences I rather miss. Can you arrange steeplechases or ironman triathalons among the allied subjects?
JPL
@Morzer: How does she feel about eminent domain and Walmart? Someone should ask her.
Morzer
@SiubhanDuinne:
That’s what the NSA tells me too.
Iowa Old Lady
@Morzer: She also claims there were WMDs in Iraq. I suspect Bruce Braley is going to defeat her. I HOPE he is anyway.
Morzer
@JPL:
I think she believes eminent domain is part of Agenda 21, but the audio gets all scrambled up with cries of “Ph’nglui Mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn”, so I am not completely certain.
Morzer
@Iowa Old Lady:
She’s certainly doing her best to be the next Michelle Bachmann (another product of your noble state). What do you put in the corn up there anyway?
Iowa Old Lady
@Roger Moore: Is the conference at least in a fun city?
Iowa Old Lady
@Morzer: At least we didn’t elect Michele Bachmann, though I suppose birthing her should weigh heavily enough on our consciences.
Baud
@Roger Moore:
@SiubhanDuinne:
This one time, at Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics camp….
Keith P
Just about to cook my first real meal on my new induction range. I made some rice a couple of days ago to get a sense of the settings, but now I’m graduating up to 2-pots and pasta.
Morzer
@Baud:
I met a girl at Mass Spectrometry
She taught me some fun geometry…
Morzer
@Keith P:
May His Noodly Appendage bless thy cooking pots and make glad thy hearth!
JPL
@Morzer: Does this have something to do with Mass Spectrometry ? hmmm It would be an interesting experiment.
SiubhanDuinne
@Morzer:
With Ingrid Bergman playing part of … hypotenuse
Corner Stone
@Baud: Dear Forum, I never thought something like this would happen to me. But, at Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics camp…
Morzer
@Corner Stone:
It was a dark and stormy night…
JPL
@Roger Moore: Well my goodness, the rules are quite strict.
schrodinger's cat
@Roger Moore: What do you study? Atoms or molecules? I thought you were a biologist.
ETA: Do you study proteins?
the Conster
@Morzer:
we measured masses and gasses,
had fun grabbing asses,
and The Chemist was al dente cavatappi
Villago Delenda Est
Vile sack of worthless shit Scott Pelley intoning about how all these cities “etched in American military history”, “secured at a high price” are now in the hands of ISIS.
Of course, fuckstain misses the most important point…the US military should never have been securing those cities in the first place, but Pelley rambled on like Joseph Goebbels regretting the lost of Stalingrad, of Kharkov, of Kiev as the Wehrmacht was forced back by the Bolshevik barbarians.
Pelley needs to hang from the same gallows as the deserting coward, the Dark Lord, and all the neocons.
Morzer
@efgoldman:
I predict you’ll see small amounts of Brownian motion.
Morzer
@Villago Delenda Est:
Pelle the Conqueror and his Thousand Campaigns…
WereBear
I remember sitting at the Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics table in high school.
Good times.
schrodinger's cat
@Morzer: Are you sure, there is no Brownian motion in a vacuum.
the Conster
OMG, listening to Hillary’s interview about gay marriage defensiveness is PAINFUL!!! What a horrible roll out. WTF. Is she listening to Mark Penn again? She’s just not a leader. I want her on my team, but not leading.
Morzer
@schrodinger’s cat:
Well, can you have a total vacuum in a head, even a teabagger one, without it imploding?
Ah, the science projects of the future…
JPL
@the Conster: That’s our Hillary. I doubt that she runs. IMO, she is keeping the option on the table in order to sell books.
Back to the conference, this sounds like a lot of fun
I do think that wine drinkers are being discriminated against though.
Baud
@the Conster:
I just saw it. It wasn’t smooth as silk, but I really didn’t see anything notable about it. I was more annoyed with the interviewer.
Long Tooth
@the Conster: You think that was painful?
Wait until Hillary is asked to defend her support of the Bush/Cheney big lie war of 2003.
Morzer
@efgoldman:
I was rather counting on their uninformed non-consent as a key part of their participation in my science projects.
Sourmash
@schrodinger’s cat: I thought Brownian motion had been shown to be a form of convection. This was disappointing news as Brownian movement was the first scientific concept I ever learned from a book, so is be thrilled to know it is for reals again.
Baud
You gotta fight
For your right
To mass spectrometry.
Mnemosyne
@Morzer:
Uh, she does realize that people who live in cities own property, right? It’s not all government-owned rentals?
Sometimes I think half these teabaggers fell asleep with a bad 1970s sci-fi movie on the TV and woke up convinced that it had really happened.
lamh36
So a friend of mine suggested I book a cruise for my Hawaiian vaykay in November. She said it’s a good way to see all the islands. I’m seriously considering it. The only cruise line going at that time is Norwegian Cruise lines, the “Pride of America”.
I’ve neer been on a cruise before, but with all the “bad” cruise stories out there, just wanted to see if anyone else has ever been on a Norwegian cruise or on any type of cruise to Hawaii.
I’m already checking online reviews and such, but just wanted to ask…
JPL
@Mnemosyne: Well it’s a little older but Them comes to mind.
Baud
@lamh36:
I’ve never been on that cruise, but I’ve heard it got bad reviews. Research it carefully.
Morzer
@Mnemosyne:
I have to admit, she does make me wonder whether Children of the Corn might just have been a documentary.
Elizabelle
@DeeLoralei:
I hope there are some more folks to meet up with.
Wish I could be with y’all tonight, but settled in watching Magnificent Obsession (Rock Hudson and Jane Wyman) on TCM tonight. Billowy 50s colors.
It was so fun to meet you! We must stay in touch.
And I think you would give Samuel L Jackson a run for his money on narrating “Go the Fuck to Sleep.”
SiubhanDuinne
@the Conster:
This. She’s a lot of good things, including loyal, but she’s loyal to the wrong people (Henry Kissinger, WTF?) Do Not Want her as CIC. Wish one of the Supremes would retire or die so Obama could appoint her to the High Court and we wouldn’t have to worry about the Mark Penns and Lanny Davises of this world.
More and more, I’m thinking I’d like to see Sherrod Brown run. And, by the bye, I think Connie Schultz would be an awesome FLOTUS. I’m not quite ready to sign on to the “anyone but Hillary” crowd, because she’s many levels better than any Republican I can think of, but I really hope she gets super rich off her book and her speeches, and retires into happy grandmotherhood.
Eric S.
After dealing with a spring full of injuries summer softball is finally getting under way. I’ve got a 9 pm game tonight then games Saturday and Sunday.
lamh36
@Baud: Yeah. I plan to do that extensively. Just in case though, I did get a longer week off than I planned just in case.
JPL
@lamh36: I only went on one cruise a decade ago to Alaska and it was wonderful. It wasn’t Norwegian Cruise Lines but friends have used that and enjoyed it. The one thing I did was take the low profile (less expensive) tours. For example instead of a helicopter trip to a berg, I took a nature hike to a berg. Instead of a train trip, I took the bus trip and it was so well worth it to do it that way. The guides were wonderful and you got to see the environment. Of course going to Hawaii, you have to see Pearl Harbor. It sounds like a wonderful trip and you should go.
JPL
@efgoldman: I can remember watching that on TV when I was pretty small. I grew up in MA and I’m not sure what channel but they always played a movie on TV at four. There wasn’t much else to play on tv back then.
Neutron Flux
@lamh36: Ms. Flux and I went on that exact cruise. The ship sails overnight and there are many good day trips to take. We thought it was a very good way to see the islands. When we go back, we know which island we want the spend the whole week on.
Morzer
@efgoldman:
What about his brother Positron?
JPL
@Morzer: Are they going to the conference next week?
schrodinger's cat
@Morzer: Don’t let him ever meet the electron.
@Sourmash: The Wikipedia entry is a good place to start.
scav
First you get down on your knees,
Fiddle with spectometries.
Adjust your scope with great precize
And, Ionize! Ionize! Ionize!
lamh36
@Neutron Flux: Cool beans, I’m def considering it. I plan to do my research all weekend and then next week, I’ll make my decisions. Though I freely admit, the cruise is looking like a real good idea, especially since I will be travelling alone.
MikeJ
@efgoldman: Malia.
lamh36
Hillary Clinton Would Consider Keeping U.S. Forces in Afghanistan After 2016
by Evan McMurry | 12:41 pm, June 12th, 2014
Hal
I understand some of the issues people have with Hillary, but I hope dems don’t piss away a potential win for perfection. If there is a better candidate who can really win, great, but right now I don’t see anyone on the Dem side with more momentum than HRC. Anything can change, but I hope Dems don’t go down another Nader/Gore who cares, they’re all the same road again. I feel there is too much on the line to give away for perfection.
Neutron Flux
@lamh36: Our good friends are on the cruise right now. According to my Facebook feed, they are loving it.
SiubhanDuinne
@efgoldman:
Obama knows that. Kagan was 50, Sotomayor was 55 when appointed. HRC is obviously nowhere close to that young, but could still have a good 10-15-year run. Might be a nice cap to her career. I actually think she’d do a decent job on the Court. I am just not enthusiastic about her as President (which said, I’ll of course work/vote/knees broken glass etc. if she ends up with the nomination. But I hope she doesn’t.)
schrodinger's cat
From my India trip: Flame of the Forest, right before monsoon.
The Dangerman
Now wait just a damn motherfucking second.
There is a proxy war in Iraq between Iran and Saudi Arabia…
…and people are advocating helping the IRAN side?! What part of that arrangement isn’t completely fucked in the head and which part won’t lead to tremendous campaign commercials lighting Obama up for helping, gasp, our “Mortal Enemy”? I’d hate to be Hannity’s dry cleaning service if the latter happened (I doubt any little blue dress would be involved).
The Pale Scot
Juggilos, sigh
snl magical mysteries
this seems to be the only copy of it on the inter tubes/
Neutron Flux
@efgoldman: Nope.
Gin & Tonic
This is too funny not to share. Here’s a screen grab from Russia 24 (TV). The chyron (the yellow one) talks about a massive influx of tourists to Crimea, with resorts at 146% of capacity. Who wants to guess what the beach in the image is? Hint: not Crimea, not the same continent.
Baud
@schrodinger’s cat:
Nice picture.
Baud
@Gin & Tonic:
Rio?
lamh36
@Neutron Flux: Awesome. The cruise def moved up in my considerations thanks to the idea of going to all the islands.
The issue will be pricing and purchasing. I had hoped to purchase bits of the trip piece by piece (i.e. flight, hotel, tours, etc) but with cruise I figured you have to pay the entire sum at time of booking?
Neutron Flux
@Morzer: Positron is the anti-matter for an electron. No relation to neutrons.
Corner Stone
@lamh36: Yes. Rikyrahrah already put this link up earlier.
NEWSFLASH – she’s a fucking politician who says shit that doesn’t actually mean anything.
schrodinger's cat
@Baud: Thanks!
beltane
@Gin & Tonic: Russia Today and Fox News must be under the same management.
Morzer
@Neutron Flux:
You are such a negatron.
Neutron Flux
@lamh36: Yes. IIRC, airfare was separate. The day trips were not included.
Baud
@lamh36:
However you decide to go, it’ll be a great trip. Hawaii is amazing, and the islands are all unique and beautiful.
Neutron Flux
@Morzer: Just keeping it real.
schrodinger's cat
@Morzer: That is not even a real particle.
Gravenstone
@efgoldman: Vacuum won’t offer much of a mass spectrum to evaluate.
Neutron Flux
@Morzer: I always read your comments. Insightful.
Morzer
@schrodinger’s cat:
Will you tell the Electrons next door that their time is over, or shall I?
schrodinger's cat
@Morzer: Let’s just send the positrons over and watch from a distance.
Morzer
@schrodinger’s cat:
I guess my attempt to box you in failed….
Baud
@Morzer:
How can you be certain?
muddy
@Mnemosyne: I know a glibertarian gun nut who is always up on the latest weirdness. I saw him a couple weeks ago and he was on about “Ant People”. Everyone not out in the boonies is an ant person, doing their ant society shit all antishly. I was a little surprised that the color of the ant did not figure into it, but he got blasted for that last time.
My son was in town and we run into this guy, I guess he got set off about the ant people because he lives in a city? Afterwards I was laughing about the ant people thing, I said I guess he put you in your place, you socialist hive-minder. Muddyson says, Fuck him, ants are cool, and work hard. This guy does neither. We agreed that he was just too fearful to go to town. He has to stay home with his guns.
Morzer
@Baud:
I can’t. That’s why I am guessing.
Keith G
@Baud: Some folks just want to find outrage in all that is Hillary. Fair enough, I guess, since she is not God’s gift to wonderfulness.
But I find it amusing that so many on the Left feel that there is a score that needs to be settled so that their hurt feeling may be healed.
Morzer
@muddy:
So I guess he’s an antsy anti-ant?
Possibly he’s spent too much time with this:
http://www.cyoa.com/products/prisoner-of-the-ant-people
Gin & Tonic
@Baud: Yes. But on further analysis that seems to have been an intentional fake, for humor purposes, so I pulled it.
muddy
@Morzer: That made me laugh. The physics puns are very pleasing tonight as well.
But no, this guy, he’s just an asshole. It’s actually kind of sad because he has no idea how pitiful he is. I guess it’s not that sad, I laugh heartily, but you know what I mean.
Mnemosyne
@JPL:
@efgoldman:
I was thinking more like this one. Funny how the terrifying population explosion never happened since it turned out that women were perfectly willing to use birth control once it was widely available.
David Koch
@Keith G: Serious question: Is this the same Keith G who spent the last 5 years on this blog attacking Obama for not being liberal enough or is this a different Keith G?
askew
@the Conster:
Yep, she’s getting in fights with reporters, refusing to take responsibility or hard stands and getting caught in lies. It’s like 2008 all over again. Her political skills have always been mediocre. If she stays in the public eye, her approvals will be in the negative by the time the primaries start. People like the idea of Hillary a lot more than they like the reality of Hillary.
nellcote
@JPL:
but do they allow open carry?
Morzer
@muddy:
Is “Ant People” paranoia really a thing? Or is he just a sad man with some possible mental issues? I once had a schizophrenic guy sign up for a class I was teaching over the summer – and boy, that was a magical few hours for all of us.
raven
Early Honey Moon tonight.
the Conster
@SiubhanDuinne:
CO-SIGN. I wish her well, and want to see her be a special grandma and advocate for women using Bill’s foundation money – she should hook up with Angelina Jolie and go to India and Pakistan and crack that crazy misogynistic culture wide open. That’s really where her power lies, as a symbol to women everywhere. Between she and Bill, they have encyclopedic knowledge of more countries and names and details of events than anyone in the world – literally – but I don’t trust her judgment or instincts or motives when it comes to foreign policy, at all.
muddy
@Morzer: Oh now I click the link, thank you very much. I will have a nightmare tonight!
I used to hate ants, I had a bad experience as a kid. Hated them with a passion, and passed it on to my son. We destroyed multitudes with undue glee. But one year there was something worse, and the ants cleaned up so well we started liking them. Now he’s one of them, dun dun dah!
agorabum
@lamh36: a good way to see the islands is to be on the islands – not on a boat. Get inland to see waterfalls and volcanoes, on the coast for beach and waves and fish. And the leeward sides for sunsets. Don’t trap yourself on a boat. ..
askew
@SiubhanDuinne:
Hillary is too old and not smart enough IMO. I want legal geniuses on the court and there are much better options than Hillary. It would make more sense to put Obama on the Supreme Court. But, it would be a waste of his other talents. I want Goodwin Liu to be the next Supreme Court justice.
DeeLoralei
@Elizabelle: hahaha. Thanks in re the Samuel L. Jackson thing. Did. I ever tell you about the time I spanked his butt? I’ll save that for the next time. Lol.
My son and I are at Brabo Tasting room on King Street.
I’m kinda glad no one decided to go tonight. Silly waitress at Legal Sea Food didn’t understand that when I requested my steak to be served without shrimp butter, it was because I’m allergic to seafood and shellfish. So they served my steak with it, and I sent it back, so they scraped off the butter and served me the same steak. I ate some of it, til I tasted shrimp and quit eating it because I felt queasy. And then broke out into a sweat.
The busboy cleared my plate asking if I liked it since I ate hardly nothing. I said I didn’t. And then they still included the cost of it on the tab.
So I’m not my usual chipper self right now, and not really up for anything much. I do think I’m gonna call them tomorrow to complain.
You are utterly charming and I so appreciate you organizing last night. Ms Redshift and I have tweeted back and forth today. You all were so kind and smart and funny, it was a great evening. And OMG if I were 25 years younger, I would have flirted even more outrageously with that adorable Seabe. I do hope he blushes when he reads that, LOL.
So thanks again. I promise to return sometime in the future. Next time with more notice .
I hope your mother is well. Maybe if I do record Go The Fuck to Sleep, I’ll rewrite it for folks taking care if elderly relatives. HA!
David Koch
~ Chris Matthews
Mnemosyne
@lamh36:
If you’re going to be traveling alone, a cruise or a guided tour is probably the way to go, at least for your first trip there. I like traveling alone, but I definitely need to have an agenda (like a conference) or else I get bored really fast.
muddy
@Morzer: Well, he’s a bit of both. He’s not schizophrenic or anything. Sociopath maybe, he’s really manipulative. Kind of guy who likes to get a fight started between other people so he can watch. Says really shitty things about people and if you don’t make a huge deal out of arguing then he goes to them and says that you said it. He thinks he’s a real Machiavelli of course, but his circle is very limited.
ETA: the ant people is a real thing in his type of media apparently
nellcote
@askew:
I want Eric Holder.
Corner Stone
I guess there’s no denying that a certain percentage here will always hate HRC for running against Obama in 2008.
Good luck with Jeb.
Corner Stone
Oh, she was a rrrrraaaaaccccist!
Bill said things!
She said awful things!!
Grow the fuck up.
Morzer
@askew:
I am not sure what other approach she could have taken on the topic. I mean, the interviewer was pretty clearly trying to put her in a bind over her views in gay marriage and she was equally clearly not just going to obediently march along that path. I thought it was a perfectly sensible discussion of her views – and I am not particularly a fan of the Clintons. The truth is that no long-time major Democratic politician is going to have a “perfect” record on gay marriage and it’s pointless to demand purity from them. Twenty years ago, I would bet you that the vast majority of people who comment here had no idea that gay marriage would be as widely accepted as it now is, or even that it would ever happen. Should we condemn them for “evolving”?
WaterGirl
@Corner Stone: You know, it’s possible to not like Hillary because you just don’t like Hillary. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
Keith G
@David Koch: FWIW This is the same guy who has complimented Obama for making many very good choices and has also noted when the President could have made better choices.
I know for some even the slightest hint of less than religious adoration makes one suspect. I trust you are not part of that wacky crowd.
askew
@Morzer:
I just think her husband or Obama would have been able to handle that interview better. She just has such mediocre political skills. Getting in a fight with the reporter didn’t do anything to help her cause. It’s weird to see that she hasn’t improved one bit since 2008.
Corner Stone
The R’s are going to run Mitt or Jeb.
Christie is done for.
Let’s see how Jeb or Mitt feel about any number of topics.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
Happy Birthday Eve. I hope you have something fun planned.
Corner Stone
@WaterGirl: I agree. But your pathology earlier was fucking spooky.
You into reading minds, much?
Morzer
@askew:
You’ve just disqualified the vast majority of people who have served or are serving on the court. Genius is, by its nature, rare and it’s not a realistic thing to demand as a qualification for any position. Was John Marshall a “legal genius”? Probably not – and he seems not to have even been especially well-read in precedents – but he was astute, tenacious and persuasive and left a mighty legacy to his successors as a result.
askew
@nellcote:
He’s too old. I want someone in their mid-50s at the oldest and would he have to excuse himself from some of the cases like Kagan does since he was head of DoJ?
SiubhanDuinne
@Corner Stone:
Flammable, inflammable.
askew
@Morzer:
Still it is something to shoot for. I definitely want someone who is smarter or more knowledgeable about the law over Hillary.
KS in MA
@schrodinger’s cat: Ooo! What a neat photo!
Morzer
@askew:
i thought it was a good thing that she fought her corner and didn’t just back down passively. It’s not so long ago that some people thought Barack Obama couldn’t handle debates too well and could only give a good speech. Is HRC as charismatic? No, but she’s a better speaker than she once was and generally knows her materials pretty well. If she’s the candidate, I think she’ll do just fine.
Eric U.
INS shut down just about every Asian restaurant in town. Local jail is full of people that have made me some pretty good meals. And I was incredibly hungry today when I went to get lunch and the place I was going was shut down.
Corner Stone
@askew:
Oh, I agree. It would really benefit the country if we could somehow elect a ConLaw professor to the WH.
Kay
@David Koch:
God. Did he really say that?
Instituting a flat tax, privatizing and ending food rations.
They thought food rations were like food stamps. Job one? Cut their food off.
gwangung
OT: More milestones in Republican outreach
Asian Republican Coalition. With a nearly all Caucasian leadership: “”The Asian Republican Coalition is open to all Americans, including Asian Americans and those of us like me who are not ethnically Asian but have spent twenty years living in Hong Kong.”
WaterGirl
@Baud: My birthday fun was actually last Friday night. We had to celebrate early because all of my good friends will be out of town, one in France (like that’s a good excuse!), another in California and the other two in Kentucky.
So tomorrow will be kind of quiet, but that’s okay. The pool is open so I’ll start the day with my early morning swim, and I declared today and tomorrow as client-free days, so no work for me.
I saw the kitties whispering about something earlier, so I think they might be planning something.
Betsy
I haven’t checked the threads here all day. Has anyone noticed and torn apart the Frank Luntz op-ed in the NYTimes today?
Shorter Luntz: rational numbers lie, can’t rely on ’em, pollsters have no idea how to describe what’s really in the heart of man — gotta go with Peggy Noonan-style feelings to really know what the voters want.
Still shorter Luntz: Focking numbers, how do they work?
Lurking Canadian
On the agenda: drinking wine, doing the Friday NYT crossword, savouring the curb stomp currently being received by Tim “Kick The Poor” Hudak in the Ontario provincial election. My people fuck up their share of the time, but sometimes we get it…well, not “right”, but perhaps “un-wrong”?
Morzer
@efgoldman:
There was actually rather a lot of English law as a source of precedents. Marshall famously used to give his opinion and then have Joseph Story, who was a legal scholar, “go and find the authorities”.
SiubhanDuinne
@askew:
I think she’s plenty smart. I just don’t think she has great political instincts nor leadership qualities. Mainly, I’d just like to see her take on something that would mute the appetite for the presidency. Maybe it will be grandparenthood. Let’s hope — and let’s hope there’s someone on the Dem bench who can do the JB and whom HRC could and would support enthusiastically.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
Well, that can’t be good. Stay safe.
Betsy
And link, and link, and.1 and 2 and link.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/12/opinion/republicans-couldnt-predict-eric-cantors-loss.html?hp&rref=opinion
Baud
@Kay:
I was wondering if you were going to write about that California court ruling on teacher tenure.
WaterGirl
@Corner Stone: You’ll have to let me know what that’s in reference to. Was it the back-and-forth with Patrick? (I think that was the name.) That’s what I get for replying to a comment after just skimming the thread, I didn’t understand the context of the comment. Was that what you were referring to? Hopefully all is forgiven.
LAC
@Corner Stone: people express a concern about Hilary Clinton in 2016 and it is because they hated her for running in 2008? Not what I read but I don’t do this three sheets to the wind. Take a sip of water.
El Caganer
Isn’t the Hilary speculation getting a little out of hand? I mean, if she decides not to run for President, presumably the Democrats will nominate somebody else. Or will they just pack it in and go out for an early cocktail hour?
Morzer
@Betsy:
Bullshit artist argues superiority of bullshit over fact.
lamh36
@Corner Stone:
Us silly Black folk and seeing racism in everything, amirite?
the Conster
@askew:
Exactly. She’s smart, but doesn’t come across as sure and deft on her feet like Obama, and especially Bill. That’s a gift, and she doesn’t have it. She’s an effective and motivating speechifier which is why she gets the big bucks on Wall Street – but she’s not the digital age dynamic leader that we need.
Morzer
@El Caganer:
They might just go and get tattoos with Joe Biden instead.
Citizen_X
@muddy:
Obligatory.
Baud
@El Caganer:
Of course not! That’s what we do for the midterms.
rikyrah
@the Conster:
she can’t just say ‘ Bill was wrong’.
just like she didn’t apologize for her vote for the War in Iraq.
Morzer
@the Conster:
Who are you nominating among the current Democrats as:
?
Betsy
Oh, for crikey’s sake, the thread has fucking cooties.
Baud
@Morzer:
Max Headroom! #BlastfromthePast
rikyrah
@lamh36:
Yeah, just like the wiki we set up of racist incidents from the Clinton Campaign and Surrogates in 2007-08 was all in our ‘imaginations’.
Uh huh.
That’s how to get through..to tell Black folks that they just ‘imagined ‘ it.
Uh huh.
Morzer
@Baud:
Well tarnation, Baud. You jes’ made me ruin a perfickly good keyboard and no stagecoach due from the Lenovo depot for a month or more.
Mnemosyne
@Citizen_X:
I’m so old I can remember when Adam Ant was more famous than Billy Crystal.
Morzer
@Mnemosyne:
Who is Billy Crystal?
Corner Stone
Ok. HRC or Jeb Bush. Which one?
I heard shit just like this. Let’s hear the actual answers.
WaterGirl
@Betsy: Wow, that Frank Lutz op ed was really condescending, I thought. It makes me want to slap him, and he wasn’t even writing about me.
Botsplainer
@askew:
I don’t. I want smart people with broad life experience, empathy and a sense of fair play.
Morzer
@Botsplainer:
Maybe even a “wise Latina” or two?
WaterGirl
@Corner Stone: Which one? As in which one would we prefer as president? If that’s the question: Clinton would be better than any republican.
ruemara
My work day get’s very odd. One of our interns seems to be different than the others.
@WaterGirl: HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
WaterGirl
@ruemara: Cute! (the cat, too)
Edit: I worked at a vet school for a few years and I loved the perspective provided by running into a cow or a horse or a dog during the course of my work day. (IT person here, so I wasn’t seeing patients all day.)
Edit 2: Thanks for the birthday wishes!
Kay
@Baud:
There’s a ton out there written by people in that field who know a lot more than I do.
Read this. It’s good.
Short answer: it’s much more complicated than tenure, but tenure is an easy mark for everyone to get outraged about and scapegoat because tenure doesn’t implicate anyone except teachers.
muddy
I think it’s silly to talk about who’s going to run for president now. What happens this year will inform that choice to the point that it’s just empty speculation. I get pissed when the talking heads wank on about how nobody is excited or shows up for midterms. Maybe because the presidential is all they want to talk about. As soon as someone on tv mentions 2016 I turn them right off.
Might as well have a conversation about whether stars are really molecules in some bigger creature.
askew
@Morzer:
Someone with better political skills could have defused that situation without it turning into an argument. That’s one of many problems with Hillary. She just doesn’t have the skills to play at her level. She’d be adequate as a candidate, but she’ll never be better than that. She just doesn’t have the charisma, charm, or political instinct to be more than that. That’s why she relies on her slimy consultants and lies compulsively because she knows she is way out of her league.
That leaves out Hillary as well. Never seen signs of empathy or sense of fair play. But, really she is just way too old and there are far better candidates for the bench out there who are more liberal, smarter and have been working in the law for years. And it would be a waste of her talents. Like someone said above, she should be traveling the world trying to help women gain rights and economic security. That’s where she excels.
ruemara
@WaterGirl: I don’t even get what he’s on about. We can’t criticize Hillary, yet we’re Obots because we’re not critical of Obama? Plus raaaaaacism is such a joke.
Botsplainer
@Morzer:
Exactly. God save us from legal geniuses – the lose humanity in their rigid adherence to theory and ignore the greys.
ruemara
@WaterGirl: Tomorrow, I have a little vid bit for Betty and her chickens.
Villago Delenda Est
@The Dangerman: The entire Iraq clusterfuck was all about helping Iran get rid of its most dangerous enemy…Saddam Hussein.
It was incredibly stupid from the getgo, from a strategic viewpoint. Greatest unforced foreign policy error in US history.
Anne Laurie
@raven: Gorgeous!
(And the full moon helps explain why things’ve been so nutty around here. I mean, I was thinking about our pets — had a cat-escape incident to start my day, followed by the three dogs’ failure to finish their dinners, which turned out to be due to someone leaving the milkbone box where one of the dogs could tear off the top half & turn it into a free-feed “cookie jar”… )
Baud
I want Omnes Omnibus on the Supreme Court.
Kay
@efgoldman:
There was a newsperson on the radio, he’s in Iraq and he’s really upset, and he kept repeating “13 centuries!”
His point, I believe, was there was some arrogance involved in that invasion and occupation. They finally got a flat tax- in a country that didn’t belong to them, but still, big win for conservatism. They were all insane, basically.
Baud
@Kay:
Thanks, Kay.
Corner Stone
@ruemara: Who are you going to vote for in 2016? If it’s HRC and Jeb.
Let’s fucking hear it.
ruemara
@Corner Stone: I’m voting for your ego.
WaterGirl
@ruemara: There are just some things that don’t go well when discussed. You know, the usual suspects. Religion, abortion, HRC, GG.
@ruemara: I am intrigued.
Bob In Portland
From RT. The Ukrainian forces are dropping white phosphorus on Slavyansk.
It’s pretty at night. Fallujah Flashdance!
Corner Stone
@ruemara: Ok, but that monolith isn’t running. So, if HRC is the D nominee in 2016, will you vote for her?
That’s easy peasy, isn’t it?
WaterGirl
@Baud: How is it that you consistently seem to know about new threads 5-15 minutes before I do? You mentioned yesterday that you use Feedly, which I use, too, as a feed for Leaf. Inquiring minds want to know. I want to know.
Villago Delenda Est
@Bob In Portland: Good. The more Russian fascists who die, the better.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
I just refresh my browser often. Isn’t that what most folks do?
ETA: I use Feedly for scanning most of the other blogs and sites I follow. Not so much for BJ since I’m usually here anyways.
ruemara
@Corner Stone: No. I won’t vote for. I never vote for Dems. In fact, my entire time here, I’ve never said one decent word about Hillary, the importance of participation, the fact that whether progressives like it or not, we need to suck it up to even vote for people we have major disagreements with. I’ve been holding out for a reborn Noam Chomsky, who once we get the paltry Obama into the renewal vats, Noam can slide his withered form into the pool and step forth, with the vitality of a progressive god. Then, ‘neath his banner, all shall flock. A renaissance will occur with his firm, liberal leadership. We will flower and mankind will reach for the stars in a vegan, solar powered glorious future. So no Hillary for me, I’ve got far more possible plans.
WaterGirl
@Baud: I don’t now that I have Leaf to notify me when there are new threads! You’re not telling me that manually refreshing is more effective than the automated system? That can’t be.
Morzer
@askew:
This strikes me as a fantasy. You can’t avoid an argument when the interviewer is obviously determined to have one.
Remember that when Obama won the primary in 2008 it was in large measure because his people knew how the system worked and her people didn’t until it was too late. Plenty of people thought his debating skills were less than stellar and he tended to waffle and parse and, frankly, go “uh” too often. He didn’t turn out too badly. Nor am I convinced that the Democrats have a perfect candidate in reserve. HRC has a strong story, lots of experience and is a better speaker than some give her credit for. Bear in mind that I am not a fan of the Clintons when I say this. I do think that the people criticizing Clinton and rubbishing her skills need to be able to offer some credible alternative before they dismiss her so casually. So far, I am not seeing any of them do that.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
I’ve never used Leaf, so I don’t know how that works. I don’t think automatic systems are faster, however. They’re usually set to ping for information only every few minutes.
Corner Stone
@ruemara:
Thank you. Thank you for finally being honest, at long last!
LAC
@ruemara: I would say corner stone is half way through a fifth. That is when he becomes the board bully.
nellcote
HIllary’s good enough but I’m already sick of having her shoved down my throat as the only possible candidate.
WaterGirl
@Baud: When I click “About” Leaf, it says: An amazing news reader for Mac. So there we have it!
Feedly tells Leaf when there are new stories, and I see a the whole story in text form within Leaf, and I can click to open the webpage if I want to.
satby
@WaterGirl: Have a very Happy Birthday, WaterGirl!
WaterGirl
@ruemara: That surprises me, and I wasn’t sure at first whether you were being serious or if you were stringing CornerStone along. But you’re serious, I think.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
If you have Leaf, why do you also need Feedly?
WaterGirl
@satby: Thank you! I think birthdays should last a week, at least, so I can safely say my birthday has already started.
Corner Stone
@WaterGirl: I don’t think she was stringing me along. I think the more clear option is she is exactly what she claims to be.
Mnemosyne
@nellcote:
If she manages to win, then great, but I remember she was “inevitable” at this point in 2006, too.
And anyone who says they thought in 2006 that Obama was going to be the next president, they’re a liar. Even Obama didn’t think he could beat Hillary, but he thought running against her would be good experience for a “real” presidential run down the road.
Morzer
@ruemara:
Does it have to be a vegan future?
WaterGirl
@Baud: Well, Feedly and Leaf are my first forays into RSS feeds, so maybe I’m doing it wrong.
But I think Leaf just displays the data it gets from Feedly – in a nice little readable interface. Now I’m going to have to go to feedly.com and see what that looks like.
Edit: Okay, I’m back now. Feedly doesn’t show the whole article, and the Leaf interface is much better.
I do have one more question if you will humor me… I have never been able to get an RSS feed for Steve Benen. Are you set up for that ? I cannot figure out what I’m doing wrong.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
It’s possible Leaf uses Feedly as the engine. Many RSS readers used Google as their RSS engine when Google was still in the biz.
Anywho, I’m off to bed. Good night, all.
Morzer
@WaterGirl:
How have you tried to get the RSS feed for Benen?
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Morzer: Geniuses on the Court? Holmes. Brandeis. Douglas. Smart as hell people with good legal philosophies? Another handful. Black. Brennan. Ginsburg. And a few others.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
This is what I have for Benen.
http://www.msnbc.com/feeds/rss/full/steve-benen
And I get full text BJ posts on Feedly. Some other feeds (like Benen), not so much.
WaterGirl
@Mnemosyne: I’ll argue with that, because from the day I met Barack Obama when he was running for Senate, I believed he would be president one day. And from the minute he declared his campaign, I believed he could win in the general if he could just get the nomination. But I live in IL so that makes a difference.
Mnemosyne
@WaterGirl:
I think a lot of us felt that way after his speech in 2004. But what I’m doubting is that anyone seriously thought he was going to derail the Hillary train a mere four years later.
ETA: Also, yes, I am repressing my extreme jealousy that you got to meet him. So far, I’ve only gotten to see the taillights of his limo driving the opposite direction.
nellcote
@Mnemosyne:
I don’t think he would have put his family through all that if he didn’t think he could win.
Morzer
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
In roughly 200 years of the court’s existence, that would be 3 geniuses (if we agree not to haggle over the names). I think that rather makes my point about why demanding genius as a qualification is a little unrealistic.
ruemara
@WaterGirl: Considering it’s Corner Stone-which must relate to the massive foundation of hypocrisy-you should completely understand I’m utterly mocking him.
@Morzer: YES! MEAT IS MURDER! Tasty, delicious, murder. I will make an allowance for lower trophic scale murders, say cricket burgers and mealy worm meat pies.
WaterGirl
@Baud: Thanks for that! You’re probably already off to bed, but…
When I pasted that into the subscription field, I started getting ALL msnbc stuff, not just steve benen. :-(
A Humble Lurker
@WaterGirl:
But that’s a pretty damn low bar.
Plus, it was Clinton or Republican in 2008, until it wasn’t.
Corner Stone
@ruemara: Ha! You showed your true soul here. Stop trying to weasel out of it.
Tellingly, you still haven’t committed to voting for the eventual D nom for President in 2016.
I think you’ve said pretty much all.
WaterGirl
@Morzer: I just pasted in what Baud gave me. That got me all of MSNBC. Not what I want.
I go to the MSNBC site and click on the RSS feed for benen, and that subscription never works. I’ve probably tried about 10 times, on and off over a few months, with no success getting just benen.
Suggestions?
Morzer
@ruemara:
Even slices of freshly slaughtered halal Republicans?
Morzer
@WaterGirl:
It looks to me, from a cursory glance at the feeds, as if Benen’s feed is set up to give you all of Rachel Maddow’s stuff by default. I don’t know that there is a separate (but equal!) feed for just Benen.
WaterGirl
@Mnemosyne: I truly did, I had faith. That’s why I went to Iowa before the caucuses and volunteered for the campaign there. I even got to stand next to him, exchange a few words, got to put my hand on his back, got my photo taken with him and the other volunteers. I was a true believer, and I went to 4 different states. For some inexplicable reason, I always had faith that he could win, and that he would win if we could just get him to the general. I felt like it was my job to do every single thing I could to get him there. I’m sure I sound like a total starry-eyed fan, but it was what it was.
ruemara
@Corner Stone: You’ve buried me in the picoliter pool of your intellect. I am slain.
@Morzer: you can’t make such treyf items halal.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Baud: Oh fuck no. I am just a hack lawyer who drinks too much and falls in love with girls.
@Morzer: I agree. Most deniuses, legal or otherwise, have far too much weirdness to come up through thet legal vetting system that produces supreme court justices. Douglas* was weird as fuck, but he was young when he was appointed and FDR had huge majorities to work with.
*My personal favorite in a tie with Brennan.
WaterGirl
@Morzer: I wish Benen had never gone over to the dark side.
Corner Stone
@ruemara: Thank goodness. The public discourse is the better for your inability to swim in that tiny pool.
Morzer
@ruemara:
Well then, I am just going to have to demand a bacon sandwich exemption on religious grounds, and likewise for milk in my coffee. As Hierophant of the New Dionysos, I have pastoral obligations to my worshippers.
askew
@Morzer:
People keep spinning Obama’s win and Hillary’s loss as something they had no part of. Obama was the better candidate with the better team that he picked. And Obama got significantly better throughout the primary and general elections. Hillary is still making all of the same mistakes she made in 2008 already. It’s bizarre that she hasn’t learned anything and she actually got worse as the debates went on. Obama cleaned her clock in the last 2 debates because she let her temper get the better of her. That’s exactly what happened with the reporter. She has a short temper and it could easily be her undoing. Obama did a great job of needling her at the end of the primaries and she would go off like a rocket every time.
I’ve offered my alternative like 1000 times at BJ. I am backing Governor O’Malley in the primary. He’s clearly running. He’s a progressive with a strong record of accomplishments to run on which is my biggest criteria in the primaries. He also has an interesting backstory and has charisma (except during his DNC speech in 2012). Until Hillary is the nominee, I won’t be backing her as I’ve been watching her for 20 some years and I’ve yet to be impressed. O’Malley impresses me.
WaterGirl
@A Humble Lurker:
Damned with faint praise, as they say.
Lurking Canadian
@Morzer: Soylent Green is freepers.
Corner Stone
@WaterGirl: Lesser of two evils. Sound familiar?
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): Your comment made me remember! (sort of)
I was watching some TV show this week, with a lawyer as one of the characters, and as soon as I saw him I thought “I wonder if that’s what Omnes looks like, I’ll have to ask him”. But sadly, I have forgotten which show it was. Damn.
WaterGirl
@Corner Stone: That’s what I loved about voting for president obama. Finally I didn’t have to vote for the lesser of two evils.
Corner Stone
@WaterGirl: In 2008 or 2012?
the Conster
@askew:
My list:
Sherrod Brown/Martin O’Malley
Sherrod Brown/Kamala Harris
Sherrod Brown/Kirsten Gillibrand
Martin O’Malley/Julian Castro
Martin O’Malley/Jerry Brown
I want Elizabeth Warren to be my senator so I didn’t include her.
WaterGirl
@Corner Stone: Both! I guest makes me an O-bot, right?
LAC
@ruemara: lol! You poking at corner stone is like poking at a bear. A big dead one that has been stuffed and mounted. Be careful….:-)
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@WaterGirl: FWIW the most common celeb comparisons I get are Hugh Grant, Phil Mickelson, and, when younger, Tom Hulce. I hope that helps.
Corner Stone
@WaterGirl: Possibly. More likely it makes you not very objective, in any regard.
WaterGirl
@the Conster: I want Sherrod Brown, but I doubt that I’ll get him since Kay seems to think he has no interest. He and Biden are the only two I know of now that I would not be disappointed to have as our candidate – they are both ready for prime time, but I don’t believe that (yet) about any of the others. I trust Sherrod Brown and I trust Joe Biden.
WaterGirl
@Corner Stone: I will say that I didn’t have the stars in my eyes in 2012 that I had in 2008, but I still think he’s been a great president. Though definitely not perfect, and I have had my share of disappointments, starting with his FISA vote while he was still running.
askew
@the Conster:
I like your list. O’Malley is my first choice by far. And I think he might be the only one willing to run against Hillary. But, if Sherrod runs, I’ll take a look at him. He’s great on policy but never seen him on the stump.
Morzer
@askew:
Indeed. She lost the Iowa caucuses yesterday!
Better candidate in some ways, yes, but not the perfect candidate that people seem to think can be found at any nearby DemocraticCandidateStore.
He’s got a decent record as governor, but I don’t know that it’s going to be wildly exciting for the nation.
I am curious about the “interesting” part, but I have never found him especially charismatic.
No, I think I am going to have to hold out for a perfect Democratic candidate – and one who can put other less blue states into play.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): Phil Mickelson – you’re not an arrogant entitled prick who doesn’t think he should have to pay taxes, are you? :-)
A young Tom Hulce, or bearded and older Tom Hulce? (I googled.)
I can almost picture the person from TV, and looking at photos of Phil and Hugh Grant, maybe I wasn’t totally off. Hmm, still cannot recall the show.
Corner Stone
@WaterGirl: Sherrod Brown has no shot. Period.
President Obama has been exactly in line with a presidency by HRC. I’m sorry you don’t feel that way, but she wore his foreign policy like a cloak for four years. Obama killed everything that fucking moved outside the borders of the USA. He went into a star chamber and signed off on people dying.
We’ve been drone striking and killing every body all over MENA, for the last several years. With impunity.
Nobody can stop us. We can, and have been, killing all kinds of “military aged males” just as much as we can hire private firms to fire those fucking missiles off.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@WaterGirl: Amadeus era Hulce. And I am an arrogant entitled prick (you’ve read my comments, right?), but I think I should pay taxes.
WaterGirl
@the Conster: O’Malley seems so lame at the 2012 convention; he really struck me as not ready for prime time and not charismatic at all. Just a bad performance?
And didn’t their rollout of ACA completely suck in his state? (I may be confusing him with someone else.)
Mnemosyne
@WaterGirl:
Well, okay, but my point is that you were part of a minority. Conventional wisdom in 2006 was that Hillary was the unbeatable candidate in 2008, just like the conventional wisdom in 2014 is that she’s the unbeatable candidate in 2016.
What I’m saying is, never count on being inevitable. It’s a mug’s game.
@nellcote:
I remember seeing either an interview or a book excerpt that said he thought his 2008 candidacy would be a dry run, but I can’t find it. While I try new search terms, please enjoy this Steve Forbes article predicting Romney’s crushing victory in 2012.
Morzer
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
Hey, you fall in love with girls, so you’ve got some redeeming human features!
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@WaterGirl: Bill Clinton gave a very poor speech at the 1988 (?) convention, but not too much later he was the candidate.
askew
@WaterGirl:
I’ve seen him give lots of great speeches. 2012 was a bad performance. Yes, ACA rollout was bad but that is just a minor issue. What’s he done as Governor – Raised Minimum Wage, economy, DREAM Act, gay marriage, gun control, repealed death penalty. He’s been a successful executive and can point to a lot of accomplishments.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Morzer: It’s my favorite line from the movie.
WaterGirl
@Corner Stone: Yeah, I guess we do see things differently. I much prefer killing people with drones to boots on the ground. I think there are civilian casualties in both situations. but a lot less than dropping bombs and sending in soldiers.
We might have to agree to disagree. But she’ll have my vote if she’s the D candidate in the general.
Morzer
@askew:
And you think the GOP won’t have a field day denouncing him as a tax and spend liberal attacking religious freedom?
Don’t get me wrong, I like those things about him, but still….
Corner Stone
@WaterGirl: It’s an argument from a false premise. We “have” to kill someone. Right now!
So, how best to do it?
There are many tools in our toolbox. But unfortunately, we only have a kill switch to work with.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@askew: O’Malley is the guy in whom I am most interested right now. I am waiting to see who tosses their hat in the ring before making any decisions.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): @askew: I”ll have to give O’Malley another look.
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): Well, I don’t picture you with Amadeus hair, but I think I understand the look. I think maybe I wasn’t that far off.
the Conster
@the Conster:
Biden/Warren
Biden/Sanders
Biden/Ellison
Corner Stone
@WaterGirl:
Ha. Yes.
WaterGirl
@Corner Stone: Obama can approve drone strikes on Al Queda all day long, as far as I’m concerned. They grayer areas are an issue, but still better than the alternative.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@WaterGirl: That was pure face, not hair. Consider Pinto from Animal House. But somewhere in that mix you get a vague picture.
WaterGirl
@Corner Stone: Would that be nitpicking? Do I finally understand the difference between nitpicking and nitpicking?
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
I knew that. :-) A picture is forming. I hope that character was a regular on whatever show that was, ’cause it’s bugging me now.
Edit:
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): Biden / O’Malley?
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@WaterGirl: Let me know if you see the character again or remember the show.
Corner Stone
@WaterGirl: I think you really mean that he can approve drone strikes on anyone he deems as the enemy. Or a danger or risk to the American populace.
But, I am sorry. That is absolutely 100% fucking against who we are as a nation. We don’t cede power to a man to inform us who our existential threats are. That happens through a process.
You can tell me you trust Obama to complete these tasks. And I can disagree with you. But it doesn’t matter. Our nation doesn’t grant that power to a man.
handy
@Mnemosyne:
Who do you see in 2014 is like Obama (or hell, even Edwards) in 2006? Yeah HRC was the favorite but I remember a lot of talk about how the dynamics of the race could change if O decided to throw his name in the hat.
Morzer
@Corner Stone:
There’s an online form you fill out and submit to the White House and if your application is accepted…..
Corner Stone
@WaterGirl:
Better than what alternative? What are you so scared of?
WaterGirl
@Corner Stone: You make some good points, but it’s also true that our world is a distinctly different place than it used to be, this is not at the top of my “this is not who we are as a nation” list.
But I’m fading and losing focus so it’s time for me to get to bed. To be continued another time, perhaps…
WaterGirl
@Corner Stone: I was typing my comment at 12:19 when your comment at 12:17. Sorry to leave an unanswered question. Too tired to think straight, time for bed. Gotta get up at 6am for early morning swim.
Mnemosyne
@handy:
Interestingly, FiveThirtyEight.com thinks that Elizabeth Warren is the current John Edwards. There does not appear to be a Democrat of Obama’s caliber right now, but Obama was really a once-in-a-generation candidate.
I’ll put it another way: the media should probably be careful not to count Hillary’s chickens before they hatch.
Comrade Mary
So Ontario just elected a gay grandmother as premier of a majority government (popular vote 38%, but hey, Westminister). Kathleen Wynne invited her wife up to the podium during her victory speech, but Jane was too shy to stay. She did come back for a hug at the end with the rest of Wynne’s family.
Morzer
@Mnemosyne:
I suspect Elizabeth Warren would not be entirely delighted by the comparison.
Corner Stone
@Morzer: Roll that beautiful bean footage!
Morzer
@Comrade Mary:
Looks like another win for those wily community organizers. And where is Sarah Palin now, eh?
Mnemosyne
@Morzer:
Hopefully Warren is smart enough not to be having an affair with one of her staffers.
handy
@Mnemosyne:
That wasn’t really a problem for Edwards when he was still running.
Mnemosyne
@handy:
You misremember — the affair was being reported on as early as 2007. The really big scandal was when Edwards finally admitted that he was the father of his mistress’s baby. So it potentially was a really, really big problem if he had gotten the Democratic nomination in 2008.
AFAIK, Edwards was not having an affair when he was Kerry’s running mate in 2004, or at least was smart enough to wear a goddamned condom.
LAC
@WaterGirl: you are too kind a commenter. I admire your attempts to have a reasoned discussion with the drunk board bully. My hats off to you and I hope that in your future comments you won’t have corner stone badgering you, with the scent of gin snd regret wafting around.
chopper
@LAC:
funny BJ Easter egg – if you post something in response to CS under a black-sounding nickname he’ll accuse you of hating white people.
LAC
@chopper: he is fun, huh ?