So if a gaggle of clever cable news talking heads sits around a table for half an hour opining about the circumstances of the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq in 2011 and none of them mentions SOFA, is there some way to sue them all for malpractice?
Notice that Hillary’s percentage isn’t breaking 50% in most polls. That means there’s an abnormal number of undecideds, especially in swing states. Time to bring them over.
I’m renewing my call for one of our talented graphic designers to make us a couple of t-shirts to go up on Cafe Press (or a similar print on demand sign). There are two versions desired:
No pictures of actual suffragettes or Civil Rights figures, just the words done in a similar style as that of the Clinton/Kaine stuff (or maybe Obama stuff? You choose!)
If there’s some kind of fee for setting this up for POD t-shirts, let me know. Perhaps with profits to go to the Clinton/Kaine campaign after the designer gets a fair share (since I don’t think artists should have to work for free)?
I kind of half promised Hillary’s campaign that I would canvass in Nevada if they’re going a second time — they’re going next weekend when I already have I breakable plans.
5.
Lizzy L
I’ll be phone banking next month. (Personal stuff to deal with this month.)
Thank you for the Perseid pics. It’s completely overcast in the SF Bay Area — totally fog city wherever you go.
Do you know if there are offices in CA these days, or is it just volunteer-run events? I’m in Northern CA. (In general there hasn’t been much activity around here, from what I’ve seen.)
7.
Anne Laurie
We drove to a hotel an hour from home to get a better view — and it’s all cloudy, dammit.
Adam, any clue where the LOG IN button is hiding? I can’t find it here, can’t access the dashboard from the ISP (403 Forbidden) and of course couldn’t find your email either. No big deal, except I won’t be posting until sometime tomorrow evening if I can’t McGuyer my way back there.
All I know is, a nice young man called me from a local phone number and said that he’s phone banking, so there must be some kind of infrastructure set up. I’m in So Cal (San Fernando Valley), if that helps.
10.
Lizzy L
@BR: I’m in Northern CA too; Bay Area, near Richmond. It’s all volunteer where I am, ASAIK. If you go to the campaign website and enter your Zip code, they’ll connect you with someone.
11.
Adam L Silverman
@CalD: The issue isn’t them talking about it, its now this insane idea that President Obama could 1) renegotiate it and get a better outcome, 2) just ignore it and continue to occupy Iraq, and 3) that we don’t have a SOFA agreement with Iraq – the Bush 43 Administration failed to negotiate one, which is why we had to pull our troops out as we aren’t going to leave them in Iraq, or anywhere else, where they are subject to the full force of local authority with no US protections. And this is compounded by the argument that he should have left around 10,000 Soldiers in Iraq. This ignores the transition to Operation New Dawn in the Fall of 2010: http://www.usf-iraq.com/operation-new-dawn/
And the fact that President Obama did try to renegotiate the security agreement and the withdrawl throughout 2011 with Maliki, but could not get an agreement that was acceptable. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/all-us-troops-to-leave-iraq/2011/10/21/gIQAUyJi3L_story.html
12.
Keith P.
Headline: “Pot smoker wins 25th medal, breaks 2000+ year-old record for individual medals”
@Anne Laurie: One sec, I’ll email you the link. Check your email in about 2 minutes!
17.
Credenzal Jocularity
I have nothing but pity for anyone who watched our Simones tonight and couldn’t feel joy.
18.
seaboogie
@BR: @Mnemosyne: Since Hillary is a smart woman, has an intelligent young campaign manager* and has taken a few pages from Obama’s playbook, she has a phone-bank app so that you can campaign for her at your convenience.
*When my late hubby worked on the X-Files in Vancouver, they had a lot of show T-shirts for cast and crew that referenced various internal jokes. One of them was “Who hired this mook, anyway?” Robby Mook seems to be doing a pretty good job for Hillary.
19.
Adam L Silverman
@Anne Laurie: Just sent you the link. I think Alain removed the log in button from the site as part of the upgrade, you have to use the link to log in and access the dashboard and other controls.
20.
Matt McIrvin
@Adam L Silverman: Oh noes! Is Obama quartering soldiers in your house?
21.
Matt McIrvin
…It still amazes me that there actually is a well-known Third Amendment case from 1982, though it didn’t make it as far as the Supreme Court.
22.
Adam L Silverman
@Matt McIrvin: No, but its been a long time since anyone showed the 3rd Amendment any love. It gets no press, no one talks about it, its never an issue before the Supreme Court. It must feel like its been orphaned.
Thanks for the reminder Adam. Sorry for your fog, Lizzy. Here in Sonoma it’s pretty clear, so I will head out in a few hours to check it out. Remember that sunshine is just about an hour away when you get weary of sweaters in summer….
25.
Peale
@Adam L Silverman: the American public had the option of staying. They voted against it resoundingly in 2006 and 2008. There could not have been a clearer distinction between the parties in the election on that issue.
26.
dmsilev
@Mnemosyne: A campaign office popped up in Pasadena sometime in the last week or two. I don’t know what its zone of coverage is and whether there’s another that’s closer to your neck of the woods.
27.
?BillinGlendaleCA
I first read that as the Sloth Observatory and figured that’s why I didn’t see much.
@redshirt: Its overcast here – we’re in between our early evening rain and and our overnight deluge, so its the live feed for me.
30.
Adam L Silverman
@Peale: I’m not discounting that, but no President, regardless of party, is going to leave troops in a foreign country, that aren’t part of the diplomatic footprint, without a basing agreement. Doing so would either be an illegal occupation or its political suicide – as soon as the first Soldier, Sailor, Airman, or Marine gets picked up by the locals for committing a crime and we have no negotiated process to get that person back into US custody immediately, all hell would break loose domestically.
31.
Lizzy L
@seaboogie: Enjoy the show! But this is Bay Area August, when San Franciscans get their jollies watching the tank-topped tourists shiver. If things run as they should, we’ll get our sunshine in September and October.
I was in Grass Valley a few weeks ago, Gorgeous summer weather.
@Miss Bianca: I love where I live. But sometimes I wish we could turn off the lights and stop the cars. I miss the darkness and I really really miss the quiet.
39.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: I’ll be out watching THE PERSEID SHOWERS LIVE, DAWG.
Notice that Hillary’s percentage isn’t breaking 50% in most polls. That means there’s an abnormal number of undecideds, especially in swing states. Time to bring them over.
Obama in ’08 didn’t break 50% in most pools until October. There are more “undecideds,” but not because Clinton’s poll numbers are unusually low, but because Trump’s are.
We’re committed Democratic activists here. Reminding us that even if you’re ahead, you should campaign like you’re ten points down will motivate us to get involved. Feeding us a line of BS won’t.
Yeah, too bad I live in the land of fog and ghosts and noise pollution.
45.
middlelee
@BR:
I’m working 12 hours a week in our local Democrats office which is in reality working for the Hillary campaign. I’m looking forward to a good time with people I can talk to about politics. I live in an area full of evangelicals and Trumpists. My congressional rep is a Teabagger. sigh.
46.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: I was going to send them directly to her. I was not considering collective punishment at all.
@Adam L Silverman: Oh, I’m sure the rest of us have done something naughty too.
49.
eclare
@Mnemosyne: Sign me up for a 19th amendment solution shirt!
50.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: Knock yourself out then, if you feel it is warranted. Me, I am now watching Invictus, a movie about proper rugby. Union, damn it. Sevens was fun during the summer, but proper rugby needs 15 players.
Yuuuuuge change on offshore odds w/r/t Dems controlling the Senate. From -170 to -240 for Dem control (defined as 50 + VP). Not sure which race(s) look so good all of a sudden, but there’s that.
HRC from -320ish to -365 to win.
53.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: I love 15s. Got hooked on it when I lived in Scotland. Its most of the reason I can’t watch American football anymore. I’m trying to get caught up on the men’s 7s tournament – I DVRed it as I’ve had a busy couple of days. I’m up to Fiji V Japan. Just got to Revovo’s (sp?) late hit.
@Major Major Major Major: I didn’t punch no doggie has always staid with me as a great initial “huh, wasn’t me” excuse from the time I first saw that add broadcast when I was a kid.
@BR: I haven’t done anything yet this year — this month is dedicated to personal stuff. I’m in e-mail contact with someone in El Sobrante who’s organizing the phone banking. (Her name is Nancy Klein.) In 2008 I called from home using a list they gave me. In 2012 there was a campaign office half a mile from me, with phones and lists, so I walked there. I don’t know how they’ve got it set up this year. I can work from home or go to a campaign office, I don’t care.
I couldn’t get it to load on the iPad, but I was able to figure out what it was. You realize you have to thank Joss Whedon for making that possible, right? ?
Whereas here in Gondolin, the skies are clear, though hazy due to the 76 degree temps and 80% humidity.
That said, this meteor shower has been a dud. I just spent another 15 minutes outside and didn’t see a one even though conditions and vantage is great. Thumbs down, Meteor Storm!
Obama assigned VP Joe to Iraq in 2009 & he made regular trips to start negotiations with Maliki. They could never come to an agreement that the parliament would pass.
@Major Major Major Major: Yeah yeah, totally. I’m sure there’s more too. That’s one of the cool things about the show: It feels like an homage to a hundred different things and yet it’s unique and new at the same time.
I saw five Perseids, including one pretty bright one, which is not bad for my heavily light-polluted suburb. Definitely more than most years. I was hoping to drive out to darker skies, but couldn’t manage it on a work night.
the American public had the option of staying. They voted against it resoundingly in 2006 and 2008. There could not have been a clearer distinction between the parties in the election on that issue.
Sure, but that was because the Bush won the war, accomplished the mission, and kept us all safe. And besides, the Democrats (06) and Obama (08) promised nothing bad would ever happen again. So everything is their fault.
88.
CalD
@Adam L Silverman: That was pretty much my recollection, too. But apparently, our entire media establishment has slept since then. They’re clueless.
Yes, not only did video kill the radio star it also helped make sure Disco was dead and buried and stayed that way! Seriously, I grew up in the 70s and early 80s and even then I could tell the 70s were going to be a period I was glad to forget as soon as possible in this regard. As vapid as many aspects of 80s culture could be, it still beat out the 70s. Also, bell bottomed pants? Really? *sigh* The only thing I ever saw represent the 70s that I liked IMHO was That 70s Show. Not my favourite decade, noes, nots at alls!
Disco… a crime against humanity if ever there were one…*shudder*
93.
OzarkHillbilly
@Scotian: “If you remember the 70’s, you weren’t there.” I think De Niro.
@Scotian: No, Disco was not a “crime against humanity”. it’s just that it was a style of music enjoyed primarily by NON-WHITE people. It was white people – white guys, really, most of whom can’t dance for shit and resented the existence of a music whose sole purpose was getting you up off your thang – who decided “disco sucks”.
Thanks for the backhanded racist slap, noted for future reference.
ETA: Seriously, was that really necessary? I was speaking for myself, and myself alone, and for me, it really was a music form I disliked intensely. Ironically enough though, it wasn’t the one I disliked the most, heavy/death metal, now THAT really caused me a great deal of pain, but since you didn’t know that you just made your own assumption, didn’t you.
Look, I really dislike Disco, have from the first time I heard it as it took off in my childhood, and it had NOTHING to do with race in my case, so I find your backhand calling em racist for this opinion more than a little irksome. I disliked a lot of different music styles in my youth, another of which I noted above, and while Rap was never my thing, I never had any problem,s calling it a valid music form and defending it to those that did act like it was a sin against music and/or reacting to it in a racist backlash.
Oh yes, I should also have added that punk was/is also on my better never heard list back then too, for someone with mild autism it was incredibly painful, at least in my case thanks to the harshness of the style of music. I don’t mind someone disagreeing with me, even strongly, but I really do resent having it implied that my opinions are rooted in some sort of racist based belief/practice, which you clearly did there Miss Bianca. My birth culture has never had anywhere near the problems with black people that American does in the US, our primary besetting racist sins are unfortunately focused on the aboriginals instead. A note of cultural history for example, the third “Canadian”/first Nova Scotian and first black person awarded the Victoria Cross, the British/Canadian equivalent of the Medal of Honor, was a black man, the son of escaped slaves from Maryland in the War of 1812, called William Edward Hall, he is from a place less than a hundred miles of where I have always lived and that I routinely travel around, through and occasionally to. I have known of his service since my own childhood and the honour he brought back to his home with that VC. So disagree with my opinion all you want, but kindly watch the racism charge without something more to back it up with please, I try not to so easily call others the same, perhaps I’m old fashioned in expecting others to do the same.
I’m not saying we haven’t had our own issues with racism involving black people, but nothing as severe as the cultural baggage that Americans do thanks to the slavery issue, and because we up here in Canada became an end point for escaped slaves literally well before our founding as a nation, what level we have had is nowhere near as deep/pervasive, aside alas, as I already noted, where aboriginals are concerned. That prejudice unfortunately still sits bone deep in far too many people, especially of European descent, *sigh*.
In case I haven’t made it obvious enough by now, I really found being called a racist for a musical opinion I hold however much you dislike/disagree with it uncalled for, especially as I do not believe I have ever given any reason in my admitted few comments here to give cause that I have racist issues in any way. I simply really disliked and still disliked Disco, am glad it ended when it did, and will not pretend otherwise. That in and of itself does not a racist make. I wish Punk had met the same fate, and Death Metal was in many ways even worse to my ears. What does that say about my “racist” tendencies where music is concerned, hmmmm?
Sorry, I know this is a dead thread to anyone that reads any of this and to the site operators, but this was something that I was quite offended by, if she had just said I was being over the top, or that she and many others strongly disagreed, I never would have done any of this. It was the implied racist accusation that prompted this, and I have never been willing to stand and be so criticized without much better cause than that original opinion offered.
CalD
So if a gaggle of clever cable news talking heads sits around a table for half an hour opining about the circumstances of the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq in 2011 and none of them mentions SOFA, is there some way to sue them all for malpractice?
BR
I wouldn’t be doing my duty if I didn’t remind everyone to sign up to volunteer for the campaign.
Notice that Hillary’s percentage isn’t breaking 50% in most polls. That means there’s an abnormal number of undecideds, especially in swing states. Time to bring them over.
Mnemosyne
I’m renewing my call for one of our talented graphic designers to make us a couple of t-shirts to go up on Cafe Press (or a similar print on demand sign). There are two versions desired:
19th Amendment Solutions (or 19th Amendment Remedies)
15th Amendment Solutions (or Remedies)
No pictures of actual suffragettes or Civil Rights figures, just the words done in a similar style as that of the Clinton/Kaine stuff (or maybe Obama stuff? You choose!)
If there’s some kind of fee for setting this up for POD t-shirts, let me know. Perhaps with profits to go to the Clinton/Kaine campaign after the designer gets a fair share (since I don’t think artists should have to work for free)?
Mnemosyne
@BR:
I kind of half promised Hillary’s campaign that I would canvass in Nevada if they’re going a second time — they’re going next weekend when I already have I breakable plans.
Lizzy L
I’ll be phone banking next month. (Personal stuff to deal with this month.)
Thank you for the Perseid pics. It’s completely overcast in the SF Bay Area — totally fog city wherever you go.
BR
@Mnemosyne:
Do you know if there are offices in CA these days, or is it just volunteer-run events? I’m in Northern CA. (In general there hasn’t been much activity around here, from what I’ve seen.)
Anne Laurie
We drove to a hotel an hour from home to get a better view — and it’s all cloudy, dammit.
Adam, any clue where the LOG IN button is hiding? I can’t find it here, can’t access the dashboard from the ISP (403 Forbidden) and of course couldn’t find your email either. No big deal, except I won’t be posting until sometime tomorrow evening if I can’t McGuyer my way back there.
MobiusKlein
@BR: did other candidates break 50 at this point?
Mnemosyne
@BR:
All I know is, a nice young man called me from a local phone number and said that he’s phone banking, so there must be some kind of infrastructure set up. I’m in So Cal (San Fernando Valley), if that helps.
Lizzy L
@BR: I’m in Northern CA too; Bay Area, near Richmond. It’s all volunteer where I am, ASAIK. If you go to the campaign website and enter your Zip code, they’ll connect you with someone.
Adam L Silverman
@CalD: The issue isn’t them talking about it, its now this insane idea that President Obama could 1) renegotiate it and get a better outcome, 2) just ignore it and continue to occupy Iraq, and 3) that we don’t have a SOFA agreement with Iraq – the Bush 43 Administration failed to negotiate one, which is why we had to pull our troops out as we aren’t going to leave them in Iraq, or anywhere else, where they are subject to the full force of local authority with no US protections. And this is compounded by the argument that he should have left around 10,000 Soldiers in Iraq. This ignores the transition to Operation New Dawn in the Fall of 2010:
http://www.usf-iraq.com/operation-new-dawn/
And the fact that President Obama did try to renegotiate the security agreement and the withdrawl throughout 2011 with Maliki, but could not get an agreement that was acceptable.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/all-us-troops-to-leave-iraq/2011/10/21/gIQAUyJi3L_story.html
Keith P.
Headline: “Pot smoker wins 25th medal, breaks 2000+ year-old record for individual medals”
redshirt
So I went out by myself and saw four awesome yuuge shooting stars back to back to back to back. Incredible.
Then took guests out and only one tiny faint one in 15 minutes before they gave up.
Suzanne
@BR: I’m canvassing this weekend. It will be north of 105 degrees. It’s going to suck.
Adam L Silverman
@Mnemosyne: Can I get a 3rd Amendment one?
Adam L Silverman
@Anne Laurie: One sec, I’ll email you the link. Check your email in about 2 minutes!
Credenzal Jocularity
I have nothing but pity for anyone who watched our Simones tonight and couldn’t feel joy.
seaboogie
@BR: @Mnemosyne: Since Hillary is a smart woman, has an intelligent young campaign manager* and has taken a few pages from Obama’s playbook, she has a phone-bank app so that you can campaign for her at your convenience.
*When my late hubby worked on the X-Files in Vancouver, they had a lot of show T-shirts for cast and crew that referenced various internal jokes. One of them was “Who hired this mook, anyway?” Robby Mook seems to be doing a pretty good job for Hillary.
Adam L Silverman
@Anne Laurie: Just sent you the link. I think Alain removed the log in button from the site as part of the upgrade, you have to use the link to log in and access the dashboard and other controls.
Matt McIrvin
@Adam L Silverman: Oh noes! Is Obama quartering soldiers in your house?
Matt McIrvin
…It still amazes me that there actually is a well-known Third Amendment case from 1982, though it didn’t make it as far as the Supreme Court.
Adam L Silverman
@Matt McIrvin: No, but its been a long time since anyone showed the 3rd Amendment any love. It gets no press, no one talks about it, its never an issue before the Supreme Court. It must feel like its been orphaned.
redshirt
@Adam L Silverman: SysAdam to the rescue again!
seaboogie
@Lizzy L: @Adam L Silverman:
Thanks for the reminder Adam. Sorry for your fog, Lizzy. Here in Sonoma it’s pretty clear, so I will head out in a few hours to check it out. Remember that sunshine is just about an hour away when you get weary of sweaters in summer….
Peale
@Adam L Silverman: the American public had the option of staying. They voted against it resoundingly in 2006 and 2008. There could not have been a clearer distinction between the parties in the election on that issue.
dmsilev
@Mnemosyne: A campaign office popped up in Pasadena sometime in the last week or two. I don’t know what its zone of coverage is and whether there’s another that’s closer to your neck of the woods.
?BillinGlendaleCA
I first read that as the Sloth Observatory and figured that’s why I didn’t see much.
Mnemosyne
@Adam L Silverman:
Nope. Voting-related only. ?
Adam L Silverman
@redshirt: Its overcast here – we’re in between our early evening rain and and our overnight deluge, so its the live feed for me.
Adam L Silverman
@Peale: I’m not discounting that, but no President, regardless of party, is going to leave troops in a foreign country, that aren’t part of the diplomatic footprint, without a basing agreement. Doing so would either be an illegal occupation or its political suicide – as soon as the first Soldier, Sailor, Airman, or Marine gets picked up by the locals for committing a crime and we have no negotiated process to get that person back into US custody immediately, all hell would break loose domestically.
Lizzy L
@seaboogie: Enjoy the show! But this is Bay Area August, when San Franciscans get their jollies watching the tank-topped tourists shiver. If things run as they should, we’ll get our sunshine in September and October.
I was in Grass Valley a few weeks ago, Gorgeous summer weather.
Adam L Silverman
@Mnemosyne: O/T: I did enjoy this one musical:
http://kisscartoon.me/Cartoon/Batman-The-Brave-and-the-Bold/Season-01-Episode-024-Mayhem-of-the-Music-Meister?id=12651
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Anne Laurie:
Go to the site as an ordinary reader and use the “Contact a front-pager” gizmo to send Adam an e-mail.
Adam L Silverman
@Steeplejack (tablet): Already taken care of. I sent her the log in link. But thanks!
Miss Bianca
I can watch ’em live…cause I live in Dark Skies country, yo.
All y’all are jealous. Or ought to be.
Adam L Silverman
@Miss Bianca: Don’t make me send the clown videos…
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: Collective punishment is for shit.
Lizzy L
@Miss Bianca: I love where I live. But sometimes I wish we could turn off the lights and stop the cars. I miss the darkness and I really really miss the quiet.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: I’ll be out watching THE PERSEID SHOWERS LIVE, DAWG.
So I ain’t afraid of no clown videos. Much.
ETA: Got the telescope set up and everything…
Redshift
@BR:
Obama in ’08 didn’t break 50% in most pools until October. There are more “undecideds,” but not because Clinton’s poll numbers are unusually low, but because Trump’s are.
We’re committed Democratic activists here. Reminding us that even if you’re ahead, you should campaign like you’re ten points down will motivate us to get involved. Feeding us a line of BS won’t.
BR
@Lizzy L:
Ah, great. What phone bank have you gone to? Or have you just called from home? I’m in the East Bay as well.
Calming Influence
Yo, can I get a shout out for the 21st amendment?!?
+3
BR
@Redshift:
Oy, a reminder that folks are confrontational at night… night.
Major Major Major Major
Yeah, too bad I live in the land of fog and ghosts and noise pollution.
middlelee
@BR:
I’m working 12 hours a week in our local Democrats office which is in reality working for the Hillary campaign. I’m looking forward to a good time with people I can talk to about politics. I live in an area full of evangelicals and Trumpists. My congressional rep is a Teabagger. sigh.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: I was going to send them directly to her. I was not considering collective punishment at all.
Adam L Silverman
@BR: Its the sleep deprivation.
Major Major Major Major
@Adam L Silverman: Oh, I’m sure the rest of us have done something naughty too.
eclare
@Mnemosyne: Sign me up for a 19th amendment solution shirt!
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: Knock yourself out then, if you feel it is warranted. Me, I am now watching Invictus, a movie about proper rugby. Union, damn it. Sevens was fun during the summer, but proper rugby needs 15 players.
Adam L Silverman
@Major Major Major Major:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEgxQ9iWmp8
Punchy
Yuuuuuge change on offshore odds w/r/t Dems controlling the Senate. From -170 to -240 for Dem control (defined as 50 + VP). Not sure which race(s) look so good all of a sudden, but there’s that.
HRC from -320ish to -365 to win.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: I love 15s. Got hooked on it when I lived in Scotland. Its most of the reason I can’t watch American football anymore. I’m trying to get caught up on the men’s 7s tournament – I DVRed it as I’ve had a busy couple of days. I’m up to Fiji V Japan. Just got to Revovo’s (sp?) late hit.
Major Major Major Major
@Punchy: Where do you check these?
@Adam L Silverman: I, uh, huh, OK.
Anne Laurie
@Adam L Silverman: THANK YOU SO MUCH!
(Off to look for shooting stars… )
Adam L Silverman
@Major Major Major Major: I didn’t punch no doggie has always staid with me as a great initial “huh, wasn’t me” excuse from the time I first saw that add broadcast when I was a kid.
Mnemosyne
@Calming Influence:
What part of “campaign t-shirt” is confusing here? :-)
We’ll celebrate the 21st Amendment after the polls close on election night.
danielx
@Miss Bianca:
And so I am. Out there was the first time I’ve actually seen the Milky Way in years.
Adam L Silverman
@Anne Laurie: You are most welcome.
Lizzy L
@BR: I haven’t done anything yet this year — this month is dedicated to personal stuff. I’m in e-mail contact with someone in El Sobrante who’s organizing the phone banking. (Her name is Nancy Klein.) In 2008 I called from home using a list they gave me. In 2012 there was a campaign office half a mile from me, with phones and lists, so I walked there. I don’t know how they’ve got it set up this year. I can work from home or go to a campaign office, I don’t care.
Mnemosyne
@Adam L Silverman:
I couldn’t get it to load on the iPad, but I was able to figure out what it was. You realize you have to thank Joss Whedon for making that possible, right? ?
redshirt
@Adam L Silverman: Florida is not noted for its Astronomy.
Whereas here in Gondolin, the skies are clear, though hazy due to the 76 degree temps and 80% humidity.
That said, this meteor shower has been a dud. I just spent another 15 minutes outside and didn’t see a one even though conditions and vantage is great. Thumbs down, Meteor Storm!
rikyrah
@Credenzal Jocularity:
Total joy.
One expected, the other a complete surprise, but moments like that are why you watch the Olympics.
amk
loving the deadbeat donnie’s destruction of the racists party.
Adam L Silverman
@Mnemosyne: No, no I do not. I’m not a big Whedon fan.
redshirt
@Adam L Silverman: What?! Buffy? Angel? Firefly? X-Men? MCU? Avengers?!
Mnemosyne
@Adam L Silverman:
If not for “Once More, With Feeling” and “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog,” you would not get your musical episode OR its star.
So, yes, you do.
Major Major Major Major
Anybody watch(ing) Stranger Things? The scenes at the research facility remind me of Fringe.
redshirt
@Major Major Major Major: Watched it. Loved it. Won’t spoil you.
Omnes Omnibus
My cable people have a TV outage, but not an internet one.
Major Major Major Major
@Omnes Omnibus: watch Stranger Things!
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@BR:
Seriously, what kind of moron has not decided by now who should be president? The undecideds must have IQs of 64.
Cat48
@Adam L Silverman:
Obama assigned VP Joe to Iraq in 2009 & he made regular trips to start negotiations with Maliki. They could never come to an agreement that the parliament would pass.
redshirt
@Major Major Major Major: What episode did you just finish?
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@BR: I’m in Chico… Mostly volunteer stuff here, I think.
Major Major Major Major
@redshirt: 4.
redshirt
@Major Major Major Major: So much goodness to go! Enjoy!
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@Major Major Major Major: I agree. I also think Super 8 had a big influence.
Major Major Major Major
@West of the Rockies (been a while): Pretty sure they share a common ancestor, actually.
redshirt
@West of the Rockies (been a while): ET, Poltergeist, Firestarter, and The Goonies seem to cover most of the influences.
redshirt
@efgoldman: It’s dark as pitch here and I ain’t seen shit. Except for those first four shooting stars which were spectacular.
Major Major Major Major
@redshirt: A little Twin Peaks in there.
redshirt
@Major Major Major Major: Yeah yeah, totally. I’m sure there’s more too. That’s one of the cool things about the show: It feels like an homage to a hundred different things and yet it’s unique and new at the same time.
Redshift
I saw five Perseids, including one pretty bright one, which is not bad for my heavily light-polluted suburb. Definitely more than most years. I was hoping to drive out to darker skies, but couldn’t manage it on a work night.
Major Major Major Major
@redshirt: Agreed. Almost like it’s drawing from the same well as they were, rather than referencing them.
redshirt
@Major Major Major Major: And that well is the 80’s. How strange that in retrospect 80’s culture was pretty cool. Sure didn’t seem like it in the day.
James E Powell
@Peale:
Sure, but that was because the Bush won the war, accomplished the mission, and kept us all safe. And besides, the Democrats (06) and Obama (08) promised nothing bad would ever happen again. So everything is their fault.
CalD
@Adam L Silverman: That was pretty much my recollection, too. But apparently, our entire media establishment has slept since then. They’re clueless.
Origuy
From this week’s New Yorker cartoons: Nobody ever talks about the third amendment.
redshirt
Well Regulated Militia
is my new band.
Viva BrisVegas
@redshirt:
Even at the time I think we realised that it was still cooler than the 70s.
I have a sad for the Perseids. They sit right on my far northern horizon and are too difficult to see.
Scotian
@Viva BrisVegas:
Yes, not only did video kill the radio star it also helped make sure Disco was dead and buried and stayed that way! Seriously, I grew up in the 70s and early 80s and even then I could tell the 70s were going to be a period I was glad to forget as soon as possible in this regard. As vapid as many aspects of 80s culture could be, it still beat out the 70s. Also, bell bottomed pants? Really? *sigh* The only thing I ever saw represent the 70s that I liked IMHO was That 70s Show. Not my favourite decade, noes, nots at alls!
Disco… a crime against humanity if ever there were one…*shudder*
OzarkHillbilly
@Scotian: “If you remember the 70’s, you weren’t there.” I think De Niro.
Manyakitty
@Major Major Major Major: We just finished it last night. So good! So many questions!
Miss Bianca
@Scotian: No, Disco was not a “crime against humanity”. it’s just that it was a style of music enjoyed primarily by NON-WHITE people. It was white people – white guys, really, most of whom can’t dance for shit and resented the existence of a music whose sole purpose was getting you up off your thang – who decided “disco sucks”.
Scotian
T@Miss Bianca:
Thanks for the backhanded racist slap, noted for future reference.
ETA: Seriously, was that really necessary? I was speaking for myself, and myself alone, and for me, it really was a music form I disliked intensely. Ironically enough though, it wasn’t the one I disliked the most, heavy/death metal, now THAT really caused me a great deal of pain, but since you didn’t know that you just made your own assumption, didn’t you.
Look, I really dislike Disco, have from the first time I heard it as it took off in my childhood, and it had NOTHING to do with race in my case, so I find your backhand calling em racist for this opinion more than a little irksome. I disliked a lot of different music styles in my youth, another of which I noted above, and while Rap was never my thing, I never had any problem,s calling it a valid music form and defending it to those that did act like it was a sin against music and/or reacting to it in a racist backlash.
I also trashed bell bottom pants too, remember?
Scotian
@Scotian:
Oh yes, I should also have added that punk was/is also on my better never heard list back then too, for someone with mild autism it was incredibly painful, at least in my case thanks to the harshness of the style of music. I don’t mind someone disagreeing with me, even strongly, but I really do resent having it implied that my opinions are rooted in some sort of racist based belief/practice, which you clearly did there Miss Bianca. My birth culture has never had anywhere near the problems with black people that American does in the US, our primary besetting racist sins are unfortunately focused on the aboriginals instead. A note of cultural history for example, the third “Canadian”/first Nova Scotian and first black person awarded the Victoria Cross, the British/Canadian equivalent of the Medal of Honor, was a black man, the son of escaped slaves from Maryland in the War of 1812, called William Edward Hall, he is from a place less than a hundred miles of where I have always lived and that I routinely travel around, through and occasionally to. I have known of his service since my own childhood and the honour he brought back to his home with that VC. So disagree with my opinion all you want, but kindly watch the racism charge without something more to back it up with please, I try not to so easily call others the same, perhaps I’m old fashioned in expecting others to do the same.
I’m not saying we haven’t had our own issues with racism involving black people, but nothing as severe as the cultural baggage that Americans do thanks to the slavery issue, and because we up here in Canada became an end point for escaped slaves literally well before our founding as a nation, what level we have had is nowhere near as deep/pervasive, aside alas, as I already noted, where aboriginals are concerned. That prejudice unfortunately still sits bone deep in far too many people, especially of European descent, *sigh*.
In case I haven’t made it obvious enough by now, I really found being called a racist for a musical opinion I hold however much you dislike/disagree with it uncalled for, especially as I do not believe I have ever given any reason in my admitted few comments here to give cause that I have racist issues in any way. I simply really disliked and still disliked Disco, am glad it ended when it did, and will not pretend otherwise. That in and of itself does not a racist make. I wish Punk had met the same fate, and Death Metal was in many ways even worse to my ears. What does that say about my “racist” tendencies where music is concerned, hmmmm?
Sorry, I know this is a dead thread to anyone that reads any of this and to the site operators, but this was something that I was quite offended by, if she had just said I was being over the top, or that she and many others strongly disagreed, I never would have done any of this. It was the implied racist accusation that prompted this, and I have never been willing to stand and be so criticized without much better cause than that original opinion offered.
Omnes Omnibus
@Scotian: No one called you a racist. Calm down.