Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

This is how realignments happen…

We Survived Breitbartpocalypse!

Lighten up, Francis.

Han shot first.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack!

We still have time to mess this up!

Consistently wrong since 2002

This is a big f—–g deal.

This blog is Obama’s Katrina.

This Blog Goes to 11…

Militantly superior in their own minds…

I personally stopped the public option…

The Math Demands It!

Where tasty lettuce and good mustard aren’t elitist.

I thought we were promised Infrastructure Week

We can agree to disagree, but I’m right.

Today in our ongoing national embarrassment…

Shocking, but not surprising.

Our job is not to persuade Republicans but to defeat them.

An army of rabid, anonymous commenters

Word salad with all caps

Naturally gregarious and alpha

You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / Friday Evening Open Thread

Reader Interactions

190Comments

  3. 3.

    hitchhiker

    I’m in Miami for a conference that brings together people with spinal cord injuries and scientists who are working on repairing those injuries. It’s an annual thing called Working 2 Walk, where my job is to do a live blog of the proceedings.

    Fun.
    Work.
    Not politics.
    Stuck in the Miami Hilton ballroom for 2 straight days.
    Miami is warm and steamy …

  5. 5.

    RaflW

    Going to an art opening for a kindly curmudgeon who was a cartoonists for the Star Tribune.
    Otherwise, just trying to get over a really bad couple of weeks healthwise. Nothing life-threatening, but weeks of various miserable pains. Got good care, but that can only go so far. And the stress of thinking 2019 ACA and beyond with my track record is, quite literally — mind/body connection and all that — making things worse.

    So. Cartoons and people we like, yay! Focus on the the now. Yay.

  6. 6.

    khead

    Still bitter over the Nationals losing to the Cubs, so no baseball. Maybe some college football later. Washington State is….. interesting. Two good wins over the last two weeks and now they have to go to Cal. Would post some new kitteh pics but the kittehs have been in hiding all day because it’s kinda cold here in NE MD.

    Edit: Also still playing that Ultimate General game that Cole pimped many moons ago. Very addictive.

  10. 10.

    SiubhanDuinne

    What a lovely flower! Just a few days ago, a friend strongly recommended turmeric supplements for a variety of preventive geriatric health measures (various cancers, Alzheimer’s, eye health). Do you know if these claims have any validity? I love turmeric as a spice flavour, but I can’t eat curry every day. Worth while to take daily supplements?

  14. 14.

    Roger Moore

    PS: “Mustard Pee” would be a great band name.

    Along those lines, I think you need to figure out how to incorporate “turmeric” into an insulting name for Trump.

  16. 16.

    JPL

    @jeffreyw: I find it better to chant I love the yankees . It’s difficult but it works for me when I want them to lose. Years ago, my son was going to be in the NYC area for work, and purchased tickets to see Pedro pitch against the Yankees. He had the tickets sent to my house, because they had to be signed for. The Yankee organization sent me a Xmas catalog that year, and I did call my son screaming. A Yankee Xmas catalog is not allowed in my house ever.

  17. 17.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @RaflW:

    a kindly curmudgeon

    For years, I have followed my own “kindly curmudgeon,” a fellow called Zay Smith who had a long-running column in the Chicago Sun Times. For the last decade or so he has been indie; I follow him devotedly on Facebook. A couple of months ago he suddenly disappeared. After a few days, his son posted that Zay was in hospital awaiting major surgery.

    Zay came back on line today. He had developed a bone infection during the summer and ended up having a leg amputated. He illustrated his return post with a portrait of Long John Silver. LOL. He kicks ass better with one leg than most people do with two.

  19. 19.

    Adam L Silverman

    Senator Hatch appears to have gotten into the demon weed. Don’t tell Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III aka the Southern Dumbutante.

  22. 22.

    Adam L Silverman

    Oopsie. Also, notice how Manafort’s spokesman or lawyer are always very careful to say Russian “government”. Not Russian intelligence services or Russian organized crime. Not that there’s any actual difference.

  26. 26.

    Roger Moore

    @Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD):

    It’s hard being a non-douchey NY baseball fan.

    My feeling is that if you’re actually from the Bronx, it’s OK to cheer for the Yankees, though you have to acknowledge they’ve won more than their fair share. If you’re from another borough, it’s vaguely acceptable. If you’re from outside metropolitan New York, rooting for the Yankees is a sure sign you’re an insufferable front-runner.

  31. 31.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Corner Stone: Mueller. The Joint Counterintelligence Task Force. The Friday night watch at the NSA. And at least one satellite. Unclear if the satellite is ours or Putin’s.//

  32. 32.

    Corner Stone

    There’s a commercial running that celebrates LGBT month for October. It flashes the images of different people and says learn more about these icons as we honor them. My son saw it the other day and he said, “Where’s the Q? Isn’t there supposed to be a Q also?”
    I had to pause a moment to wipe the corner of my eye because it got a little dusty on the couch area.

  33. 33.

    Comrade Nimrod Humperdink

    @jeffreyw: Truth! Everyone that vaguely follows baseball and doesn’t cheer for the Yankees has their own reasons for hating them. My specific one was their hand in ruining the best regular season in baseball history, assembled by a team that didn’t have a track record for such things. i still remember 2001.

  35. 35.

    Comrade Nimrod Humperdink

    @Adam L Silverman: I’d be surprised if he wasn’t being watched just as much for flight risk as for protection. He’s struck me as a prime candidate to slip in his bathtub since he resigned from Cheetolini’s campaign.

  36. 36.

    Corner Stone

    Hey, Chris Hayes. I have a fresh, new idea for you. Let’s invite a Republican elected official onto your show, ask him about some evil shit, and then watch him roll you for the entire fucking segment. I know it sounds a little groundbreaking, but trust me. This is gold. Gold!

  40. 40.

    Roger Moore

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Senator Hatch appears to have gotten into the demon weed.

    Some aide had a lot of fun writing that. It’s actually not too surprising Hatch would be involved in this. Utah has been a center of the whole “nutritional supplement” industry, and Hatch has been a strong legislative supporter. He wrote a lot of the legislation that has kept the FDA from regulating supplements, so it isn’t too surprising he’s willing to listen on the topic of medical marijuana.

  44. 44.

    Comrade Nimrod Humperdink

    @Corner Stone: I enjoyed Hayes on his weekend morning show. His grad student persona was perfect in that environment. He just doesn’t do adversarial.

  47. 47.

    Mike in NC

    Wife is off to her 50th high school reunion in Springfield, VA, so being too lazy to do housework I went to see “Blade Runner 2049” this afternoon. Maybe tomorrow I’ll need to devote some serious time on the Internet to figure out what it was all about.

  51. 51.

    Evap

    I’m in Madison, WI for a workshop on the mathematics of redistricting (gerrymandering). Fascinating stuff. There was a panel discussion today on a recent case before the Supreme Court on a gerrymandering issue (local) in WI. The panel was made up of lawyers who argued the case, from both sides. Really interesting. Tomorrow I start expert witness training.

  52. 52.

    Comrade Nimrod Humperdink

    Two hours and counting until the Cougs go for 7-0! Provided the air quality allows it. Man the West has had a bad fire year. Southern California is the only place I HAVEN’T read about being on fire at some point this year, but I may have just missed it.

  53. 53.

    jl

    What role did poorly maintained power lines and negligent tree trimming by PG&E play in the horrific Napa/Sonoma fires? I heard a brief note in morning news about investigators tracing some of the fires to downed power lines and malfunctioning transformers. Here is a news article about it.

    I’m going to pay attention to this story. Climate change or not, the Autumn Diablo winds are not new, drought conditions are not new, ill-planned development into brush land and heavily wooded areas are not new. Why the catastrophe this year? Could be just chance. But one of the reasons that that fires were so hard to manage is that so many fires erupted so suddenly, and nearly simultaneously. PG&E has a long history of poor maintenance of its power lines. They are so arrogant that they feed outraged PR BS to the public on a regular basis (a la Reagan administration’s Killer Trees! Killer Trees!). They put out stupid PR excuses for fires and power outages complaining about dry weather, lots of trees, and wind, as if Northern California has not had all three of those for thousands of years, and those conditions should have and could have been included in construction and maintenance plans. PG&E has paid millions in fines for decades, and I believe have had to admit to various courts that they have diverted maintenance funds to exec pay and corporate profits. Has this happened again?

    PG&E power lines linked to Wine Country fires
    ” But the reports of the power equipment failures began to turn the spotlight on PG&E, the giant San Francisco-based utility, raising questions about how well it maintained its equipment in the area and whether it adequately cut back trees from power lines to reduce fire risk — as required by state law. ”
    http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/10/10/pge-power-lines-linked-to-wine-country-fires/

  54. 54.

    Comrade Nimrod Humperdink

    @Evap: Report back on this for us! Dems need to get serious about this stuff, and I feel like the more everyone knows about how it works the easier it might be to change it, if Kennedy allows it.

  57. 57.

    Corner Stone

    “The spirit of the deal”.
    That’s what a NYC real estate person is claiming that caused him to not certify the Iran deal. As I think we agreed earlier, what reason would anyone have to ever trust us about anything, ever again?

  58. 58.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Gin & Tonic: Sausage and peppers is NOT, repeat, NOT accompanied by mustard.

    I didn’t wanna start, but…
    ETA: though now I’m kinda curious as to how mustard would taste on Italian sausage. It goes with almost every other kind I’ve tried.

    @Corner Stone: I always wonder if Andy Lack insists on this, and figures of his three prime time hosts, Hayes is the easiest to roll. I got my beefs with O’Donnell, but he’d shut somebody down if they go too far. And they could all take lessons from Joy Reid. Even from Ali Velshi

  62. 62.

    lamh36

    I posted the Emma Thompson video interview with the BBC when it went viral, but I’ll admit I didn’t listen to it in its entirety.

    if, like me you also didn’t or you missed it, do yourself a favor and watch it. I’m posting it again!

    Emma Thompson is a LIONESS in her fierceness

    Emma Thompson: Harvey Weinstein ‘top of harassment ladder’ – BBC Newsnight https://youtu.be/XV_W6kPqR9U via @YouTube

  63. 63.

    Comrade Nimrod Humperdink

    @jl: A quick skim of the article sums up the core of the problem: the fines aren’t big enough. 8 million here, 30 million there. The numbers need to start with a ‘b.’ Then the cost-benefit analysis might shift from “it costs too much to do legally mandated maintainance when we need to pay for top management talent *cough*” to “if we can’t show that we did due diligence the next time a firestorm breaks out it could destroy the company!” I know, regional monopoly, but if the fines mean the company is taken over by the state gov’t who throws out all the management, cleans up the mess the best they can, and then resets it, then even the threat might be enough to get the priorities rearranged. Naive probably, but if that doesn’t work maybe a class action would.

  64. 64.

    lamh36

    Gonna try to spend my weekend reading and watching tv shows I missed this week and try my darndest to stay out of the deep weeds of politics this weekend…sort of a palate cleanser from the sorrow of the day at work, at least, until I go back to work on Monday

  66. 66.

    germy

    October 10, 2017: Carter Page tells the Senate Intelligence Committee he will not cooperate and will plead the Fifth Amendment if called to testify.

    He can do that?

  70. 70.

    jl

    @Comrade Nimrod Humperdink: A certain public utility, supposedly delivering top notch gas and electric power services, headquartered in San Francisco, manages to put out some of the worst service at a nice high cost of any I have experienced anywhere in California and Alaska.

    And I have seen better more reliable service produced by a very small community owned utility out in the boondocks of Alaska. They have dry weather winds and trees too. And also very wet weather, and also, surprise surprise, very very cold weather. Somehow they manage better. There are such miracles in this life.

  72. 72.

    Comrade Nimrod Humperdink

    @Corner Stone: That’s Trump’s way of admitting that he’s got nothing on technical grounds and that he’s decertifying it because he can. Not that he was ever especially coy about that. I also love that they probably don’t even have enough staffing available at State and the right intel agencies to find an actual quibble point even if they wanted to put in the work to try. I thought the Bushies did stuff pretty nakedly until this crew arrived.

  74. 74.

    TaMara (HFG)

    @SiubhanDuinne: I take 2 tsp of turmeric, 1 tsp of ground ginger a touch of honey or agave and top it with seltzer or sparkling water each morning. It’s great for brain function – I mean noticeable change – especially around the 2-3 pm afternoon drag. Supposed to also help with inflammation – but that’s not as noticeable for me.

  75. 75.

    lamh36

    If you are into fashion blogs like I am…check this podcast out.

    I love Tom & Lorenzo’s blog on fashion. They do a weekly podcast and today’s podcast was mainly spilling some teand and opinions on Weinsten & how his wife’s fashion line Marchesa will be affected and some of the things they’ve heard in their years in the fashion industry. They also spill some tea on about Donna Karan and her tone deaf azz comment on the subject.

    And if you are into fashion check out their daily blog posts you won’t be disappointed.

    Pop Style Opinionfest: Fashion Scandals! | Tom Lorenzo http://tomandlorenzo.com/2017/10/pop-style-opinionfest-fashion-scandals/#.WeFP7eqNOI0.twitter via @tomandlorenzo\

  76. 76.

    japa21

    @Adam L Silverman: Yep, no surprise there. Such an idiot.

    ETA: Of course, some of the folks behind the ban probably view this as a plus. They need, ISIL, Boko Haram, etc. to justify immigration restrictions. Also why they are going for the easiest undocumented to send back. Obviously harder to get the bad ones, but the bad ones are the ones that do things that they can use to keep the fear ramped up.

  78. 78.

    Comrade Nimrod Humperdink

    @jl: That’s why I don’t think a temporary state gov’t takeover would be the nightmare everyone in the press would claim it would be. Staff it with a few professionals with background in how to do it right and I doubt they could do worse.

  79. 79.

    JMG

    @Roger Moore: Even in the metropolitan area, it’s divided. Rule of thumb is that the Yankees have Bergen County, NJ, Fairfield County, CT (of course), Westchester and the Bronx. Mets have Brooklyn, Queens and the Island. Manhattan is the front-runner territory. Of course, there are fans of both teams all over the place, but those are the tendencies.

  81. 81.

    jl

    @Comrade Nimrod Humperdink: Clear that PG&E doesn’t care about the fines. As I noted, they are infamous for breaking the law, skimping on maintenance, and get caught because someone points it out, or something bad happens. Then the court systems makes them pay up, and sometimes makes them admit guilt. Then they go do it again.

    They have been falling over themselves promising to do better since they blew up the middle of San Bruno a few years ago, due to negligent gas pipeline operations.
    But the question of why the horrific and outlandish tragedy in Napa/Sonoma occurred this year on a such a scale demands answers.
    It could be just chance. But that would be some random fluctuation, given the oddly systematic pattern of how the fires started.

  84. 84.

    Comrade Nimrod Humperdink

    @jl: Outside of arson I think they better have their PR and legal teams primed and ready, because an impact of this size (number of homes and communities destroyed) leaves them wide open for large scale civil action, regardless of what the state does.

  85. 85.

    jl

    @Comrade Nimrod Humperdink: I am sensitive on the issue, since I rub elbows on regular basis from out-of-state people, and foreign nationals, and complaints about the electric power service from long term visitors is common.

    People from upstate New Your, Europe, Canada, ask why the service is such shit. One guy from upstate New York said it was weird PG&E whines about the stupendous challenges transmitting electric power inf Northern effing California. He said they get better service, and guess what, they have trees, and droughts, and hot weather, and stuff not even dreamed of here, like blizzards and ice storms.

    I tell them not to judge California by those standards, that I grew up with publicly owned irrigation district power systems and they were far better than the junk PG&E pumps out. And that I think that it is a sad mystery why the larcenous farce has been allowed to continue.

  86. 86.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Betty Cracker: It has great antiseptic properties, you can also make a face mask with turmeric and chickpea flour, if you want to be really luxurious add some sandalwood paste. That’s what Indian brides and grooms smear on themselves (or their female relatives do the needful) to look beautiful before their wedding day. There is a whole ceremony around it. Something I escaped because I did not get married the traditional way. Phew. Near escape. It can be super embarrassing because all your older female relatives are there, cracking off color jokes.

    ETA: Fresh turmeric can be pickled too. I will see if I can get a recipe from my mom.

  89. 89.

    Comrade Nimrod Humperdink

    @Betty Cracker: I watched The Dark Tower last night, as I remembered enjoying the stories when I was a kid. There was something missing. It wasn’t a terrible movie, but it didn’t do a great job of holding my attention either, which is a damn shame. I’m not a professional critic and I’ve forgotten most of the original storyline (though apparently this was meant to be some kind of “reset” on the novels, like the Star Trek reboot), but there was something lacking that just didn’t pull me in. The acting was ok, the dialogue wasn’t overtly painful, but something about it just made it difficult to fully engage with. I’m sure I’d find a proper review that would nail what I can’t put my finger on but I’m too interested in Cougar football just now to go looking.

  90. 90.

    Gin & Tonic

    @jl: I was in Cupertino for business last month. First morning I woke up and there was no power at the hotel, Apparently quite a large area in the neighborhood was without power. Clear blue sky, no wind, no rain, nothing, on a weekday morning in a densely-populated neighborhood in fucking Silicon Valley. People seemed pretty blase – shit happens, sometimes you just don’t have electricity.

  93. 93.

    SgrAstar

    @Evap: Wow! That’s exactly what we need to understand. If you don’t mind my asking, who is putting on the workshop?

  94. 94.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @TaMara (HFG):

    That sounds absolutely yummy. I hardly care if it has any good medicinal properties, I’m going to start making that just because it sounds delicious!

  96. 96.

    efgoldman

    @germy:

    He can do that?

    Sure. Crooks have done that back to Jimmy Hoffa and before. That’s what the fifth amendment does, protects against self-incrimination. Then you get into grants of immunity, and whether immunized congressional testimony can be used in court (the Ollie North dodge).

  97. 97.

    Comrade Nimrod Humperdink

    @jl: Hell Portland and my old hometown of Spokane get ice storms every few years that pull powerlines down all over the place and coats everything in an inch or more of ice. Avista/Washington Water Power typically had everything up and running again within a day and a half.

  99. 99.

    Roger Moore

    @Comrade Nimrod Humperdink:

    The numbers need to start with a ‘b.’

    PG&E was fined $1.6 billion for the San Bruno pipeline explosion. That doesn’t seem to have been enough to keep them on the straight and narrow when it comes to maintaining their infrastructure. I think it’s long past time for murder/manslaughter prosecution of responsible individuals within the company.

  101. 101.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Roger Moore:

    Along those lines, I think you need to figure out how to incorporate “turmeric” into an insulting name for Trump.

    TURMERIC P = ERIC TRUMP

  110. 110.

    germy

    Sebastian Gorka DrG‏Verified account
    @SebGorka

    THINK:

    If Weinstein had obeyed @VP Pence’s rules for meeting with the opposite sex, none of those poor women would ever have been abused.

    If the only thing preventing a man committing sexual assault is the presence of witnesses, he's too dangerous to be at liberty. https://t.co/9XswCIvFJC— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) October 11, 2017

  114. 114.

    Baud

    @lamh36: She was on the Today Show this morning talking about Weinstein. I secretly imagined what the Today show hosts were thinking. It was fun.

  115. 115.

    Roger Moore

    @germy:

    My hunch is we’re still not close to figuring out all the the components of Putin’s attack on American democracy. And Trump seems completely uninterested.

    Trump is very interested– in making sure we never get close. Anyone who acts surprised that Trump is covering for Putin needs to be whacked with a clue-by-four.

  120. 120.

    Steeplejack (tablet)

    @Corner Stone:

    Hayes really does need to be sent back for a remedial stint at pundit-host boot camp.

    Chris, these guys are not interested in “debating” the “issues.” They just want to spout their rehearsed talking points. Drinking your milkshake is a bonus.

    Thankfully, I missed all that tonight. Came down to Rehoboth Beach today with Bro’ Man and our sainted mother, who got into town Monday night. The basic cable package that they have here, mainly to get the associated Internet connection, doesn’t include MSNBC. But it does include Fox News, so I got to watch that for a bit with Mom. Good times.

    She has gone to bed already, the basic cable package doesn’t include FS1, hence no baseball, so I’m reduced to listening to one of the Music Choice jazz channels. I know, I know: First World problems.

  126. 126.

    Corner Stone

    @Betty Cracker: I’m probably going to stop saying anything else about it, as being an old baseball player I still have the superstition genes buried deep. But Tanaka looks like he is unable to keep it knee high or lower. And if he can’t…

    That cockshot he just threw Beltran had me excited. I could not believe he didn’t pull the trigger.

  128. 128.

    NotMax

    @Baud

    I like pumpkin desserts.

    Something a little different, light ‘n’ tasty.

    Creamy Dreamy Pumpkin Parfait

    1 envelope unflavored gelatin
    ¼ cold water
    3 eggs, separated
    1 cup + 1 teaspoon sugar
    1½ cups canned or cooked pumpkin
    ½ cup milk
    ½ teaspoon salt (or less, to taste)
    ½ teaspoon cinnamon
    ½ teaspoon nutmeg
    (optional) ¼ teaspoon allspice
    1 cup heavy cream
    (optional) ½ teaspoon rum or rum flavoring
    (optional) chopped nuts

    Stir gelatin into cold water.
    Beat egg yolks with ¼ tsp,. salt, ½ sugar, milk, pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. Cook this mixture over low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened. Remove from heart, stir in dissolved gelatin and chill at least 2 hours in fridge.
    Beat egg whites with ½ tsp. salt until they are stiff and form peaks.
    Bring out the chilled pumpkin mixture, fold in beaten egg whites and refrigerate 1 hour more.
    Whip the cream with 1 tsp sugar and the rum.
    Fold whipped cream into chilled mixture (reserve some whipped cream for topping, if desired).
    Divide completed mixture into sherbet cups, ramekins, or similar single-serve vessels and return to fridge until ready to serve.
    Top with reserved whipped cream and nuts right before serving.

    Makes 6 – 8 servings.

  133. 133.

    NotMax

    Could a moderator perhaps go in and fix that above, please, by properly closing the tag? No edit function here.

  140. 140.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Baud:

    Where has Scott Baio gone?

    A lonely nation turns its eyes to you, woo woo woo.

    Alternatively:

    Where has Scott Baio gone?

    Long time passing.

  147. 147.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Baud:

    I like pumpkin desserts.

    Many years ago, Garrison Keillor had a Thanksgiving episode of A Prairie Home Companion in which he memorably described pumpkin pie as “a delivery mechanism for nutmeg.”

  149. 149.

    Comrade Nimrod Humperdink

    Looks like the ‘Cuse is making Clemson sweat. Might have to watch for a little while, in spite of my current distaste of orange.

  153. 153.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Baud:

    Fuck the fucking Yankees!

    Late to the thread but thought this was worth repeating.

    This.

    Cosigned.

    QFT.

    Agreed.

    Come sit by me.

  156. 156.

    Comrade Nimrod Humperdink

    @efgoldman: I’m not sure they did. Weird shit happens in college football, which is part of why it’s so much fun. Ask Oklahoma.

  158. 158.

    trollhattan

    @Roger Moore:
    Fucking PG&E is a fucking hot mess dedicated to returning a fucking aggressive profit margin to their fucking shareholders. Everything else rides in the back of the bus.

    The end.

    Our neighborhood is in year 3 of their “San Bruno oopsie” trench-every-street pipeline upgrade program. Still, I don’t feel particularly safe.

  164. 164.

    Steeplejack (tablet)

    @Betty Cracker:

    Thanks. I found some ESPN page or something that keeps a running box score with cryptic mini-tweets, so I’ve got that open in another tab. Suppose I could find a live stream, but I’m not that motivated. But FTFY!

    I always see TV ads for “watch it anywhere” on my home cable system (Cox), but I ignore them when I’m at home and then can never remember the details when I could use it (like now). D’oh!

  166. 166.

    trollhattan

    Programming note: NWSL championship match is 4:30 ET tomorrow in Orlando, Portland vs. North Carolina (Lifetime network). Since our US mens team can’t seem to get their act together you might as well watch the world’s best women players take the pitch. We happened to see these two teams play last summer in Portland and it’s fitting they’re meeting tomorrow, phenomenal talent. Go Thorns!

  168. 168.

    Comrade Nimrod Humperdink

    @MoxieM: Heh, I stumbled across that years ago when Al was on an Aussie music trivia show called Spicks and Specks, it played during the closing credits.

  178. 178.

    Corner Stone

    @trollhattan:

    Possibly had girlfriends who would pull a fake Hungarian

    You didn’t happen to ever find dead boddies anywhere in the house, did you? Because, I’m just saying. If you did you may want to make some different life choices. I mean, I may find myself partying with some chicks and maybe some mens. All trying to pull the fake Hungarian, no problem no biggie. But dead boddies…that’s like something else and you need to make different life choices.

  187. 187.

    Laura

    @jl: The last time PG&E screwed up was the ENRON-ing where they were going to be on the hook, because they Specifically Agreed to be on the hook, for purchasing energy on the exchange after divesting all their generating capacity. Instead, they ring-fenced the company & assets and set up a “new” PG&E Corp. and passed the insane costs onto the rate payers.
    I they don’t try and minimize responsibility, I’ll eat a bug.
    Maintenance, even preventive maintenance means workers, and labor costs rob the shareholders of their by God guaranteed returns on investment, and so, these things happen otherwise, they’d have to staff at a level to keep up line work.

  190. 190.

    Ruckus

    @Comrade Nimrod Humperdink:
    I would imagine that if PG&E are at fault for even half the fires, the insurance companies will hit them with a lot of lawsuits. Just off the top of my head the Santa Rosa fire has taken out a McDs, Arby’s, KMart, a large Hilton, Kaiser hospital, Sutter hospital, a fire station, over 1500 homes, a lot of small businesses, dozens of cars, 30,000 acres of brush…….

Comments are closed.