U.S. to be coldest region in world relative to normal over next week. Please note rest of world will be much warmer than normal lest anyone try to claim pocket of cold in U.S. debunks global warming, which they will invariably and irresponsibly do. https://t.co/hzocqUrfKp https://t.co/4uA4fJUAyV
— Capital Weather Gang (@capitalweather) December 27, 2017
… the howling winds of chaos are far from metaphorical. Don’t forget your gloves / scarves / hats!
***********
Also, PSA:
As we count down to the new year, we get to reflect and prepare for what’s ahead. For all the bad news that seemed to dominate our collective consciousness, there are countless stories from this year that remind us what's best about America.
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) December 29, 2017
Kat Creech, a wedding planner in Houston, turned a postponed wedding into a volunteer opportunity for Hurricane Harvey victims. Thirty wedding guests became an organization of hundreds of volunteers. That’s a story from 2017. https://t.co/yxhjwkr5Se
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) December 29, 2017
Chris Long gave his paychecks from the first six games of the NFL season to fund scholarships in Charlottesville, VA. He wanted to do more, so he decided to give away an entire season’s salary. That’s a story from 2017. https://t.co/NL0RoARkan
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) December 29, 2017
Ten-year-old Jahkil Jackson is on a mission to help homeless people in Chicago. He created kits full of socks, toiletries, and food for those in need. Just this week, Jahkil reached his goal to give away 5,000 “blessing bags.” That’s a story from 2017. https://t.co/muxPZnEGkd
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) December 29, 2017
All across America people chose to get involved, get engaged and stand up. Each of us can make a difference, and all of us ought to try. So go keep changing the world in 2018.
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) December 29, 2017
JCJ
For Betty C: I don’t remember if you said where your daughter is going in Wisconsin, but in my part (Waukesha area) it is warm today. It was 15 degrees when I drove to Mukwonago a little bit ago. She’ll be fine!
Nicole
I will hold in my heart that Hillary and Barack were the most admired woman and man for 2017, according to Gallup’s annual poll, and that Hillary has topped the list more than anyone else, man or woman. These tweets by BO are indicative of why he managed to pull off the feat this year (only he and Eisenhower did it as ex-Presidents).
Chip Daniels
I miss that man, and the grace and dignity he brought to the office.
That is all.
trollhattan
Please to be replacing cold with rain, now.
Thanks,
California (where I’ve been in shorts since before Christmas).
Nicole
Also, it’s been bitterly cold in Central PA this week, where family lives. I go to my aunt’s and uncle’s to help muck out stalls (they board my elderly horse for me) in the mornings when I’m here, and it’s not a lot of fun, scraping ice out of water buckets.
Funny anecdote from this morning, though- it’s so cold my aunt opted to leave the horses in the barn for the day, and asked me to put them both in cross ties while we cleaned the stalls. I led my old guy out, in full view of my uncle’s horse, and put him in the ties. When I tried to lead my uncle’s horse out to his spot, I might as well been trying to pull a house. No go. He’s normally (reasonably) accommodating, and I couldn’t figure out what the problem was, and then I realized- he associates being put in cross ties with getting saddled and bridled, and when he saw his stablemate put into ties, figured it meant we were going to saddle up and go for a ride, and, much like Maynard G Krebs, immediately thought, “WOOOORRRRRKKKK?!” and went into, well, while not aggressive, not exactly passive resistance, either. ;)
Dmbeaster
Barack needs to sack up and give some advice about the importance of fighting the evil too. He had the same lack of leadership while president. I love him for this, but we need more than Ghandi right now
burnspbesq
A perfect example of how Trump takes care of his friends: Goldman Sachs announced earlier today that it is taking a $5 billion hit to earnings in Q4 to account for additional Federal income taxes on funds deemed repatriated under the new law. Which, in turn, means that anyone whose bonus is based on firmwide earnings is taking it in the shorts.
If Trump were to walk onto the trading floor today, his life expectancy would be measured in seconds.
Mnemosyne
@Dmbeaster:
Blah blah go fuck yourself. If you need “leadership” from Obama before you can be arsed to fight homegrown fascists, you’re part of the problem.
Teddys Person
@burnspbesq:
I say someone tell him there’s a quarter-pounder with cheese, large fry and diet Coke on the trading floor and he needs to get there pronto.
chris
I wish Obama would stand up and roar but I don’t think it’ll happen. Still miss him.
Tim C.
Why does every time Obama talks I want to yell, “THE KING IN THE NORTH!!” about a dozen times.
debit
I appreciate the spirit of compassion behind these heartwarming stories, but why in god’s name do we have to do these things? Why do homeless people need to rely on a kid for basics? Why does an athlete have to donate his salary? What kind of a people are we that our most vulnerable must rely on the generosity of strangers while the richest just get richer?
Cacti
@Dmbeaster:
Nope. Not his job to be your savior.
Follow your own advice and save yourself.
Chip Daniels
@Cacti:
Maybe Barack just needs an anger translator?
Teddys Person
@debit:
Not at all religious, but that needs a hearty AMEN.
SiubhanDuinne
I love those “it happened in 2017” anecdotes that Our POTUS tweeted. They are inspiring, especially when the usual tsunami of awful news threatens to overwhelm.
Brachiator
@Nicole:
Very cool. I did not know that.
Yep, great stuff from Obama.
Jeffro
I think Obama has also decided that it’s time for the Jedi to end… and that if we are going to and this cycle of “two steps forward, two steps back” more of us (perhaps most of us?) are going to need to get in touch with the Force…
…( although it sure was nice when a Skywalker was running things!)
donnah
Barack Obama shouldered a fuckton pf pressure during his two terms. Death threats tripled, he had two young daughters to worry about, he is a black man elected to oversee a nation of racists…need I go on? He earned a rest! He can speak out when he feels compelled to do so, but his time as President is over.
I miss him every day, but he deserves respect and some time to decompress.
Brachiator
From recent reporting about Sue Grafton
Heidi Mom
@Tim C.: As do we all!
Brachiator
@Jeffro:
I wonder if Obama has seen the new Star Wars movie.
rikyrah
@Dmbeaster:
Phuck outta here.
I remember, in one of his last speeches, at rallies for Hillary, 44 LITERALLY SAID..
DEMOCRACY IS ON THE BALLOT.
He said a group of things in that speech, but I remember that, most of all.
What else was he supposed to do?
Patricia Kayden
President Obama is simply a decent, empathetic human being. He really cares about his fellow man and his 8 years in the White House showed that even if he didn’t accomplish everything he set out to do (mostly because he was faced with Republican obstructionists during six of his 8 years). You can compare the tweets from President Obama and Trump to get a clear picture of who they are.
Betty Cracker
@JCJ: She’s a bit north of Milwaukee, where it’s a balmy 8 degrees! I keep getting these “OMG ❄️ ?” texts from the poor thing. I replied to one with a screen shot of current conditions on the weather app. It has plunged into the 60s here.
Chip Daniels
@Jeffro:
As long as we are going with this metaphor…
The Last Jedi is a good probing critique of the first three installments.
They relied upon the youthful energy of jumping in a star fighter and blowing shit up, and the Sword From The Stone device of predestined greatness inherent in a lone Savior.
The Last Jedi showed how flawed that approach is, how placing all our faith in a lone savior who is only mortal is destined to fail. The gratification of blowing up a destroyer is a Pyrrhic victory if it cripples our forces.
We can honor and revere Luke or Obama, but the baton is passed. We need a dozen new Obamas, patiently working at all levels of government expanding voting rights, pounding the drum for paycheck issues, criminal justice reform, and so on.
Even if Mueller’s investigation results in impeachment, we aren’t going to blow up the Death Star because there is no Death Star with a remarkably convenient flaw for us to exploit.Instead there are hundreds of smaller governments that are perpetuating injustice and suffering, all of which need to be fought.
Trump is only the most visible manifestation of a rot in this country that will take years of struggle to overcome, by many millions of pairs of hands.
Mnemosyne
@rikyrah:
There are people who are willing to put their shoulder to the wheel and do the work when needed, and people who are not.
It’s pretty clear who falls into which camp here.
@debit:
I know why you feel that way, but there will always be some level of charity and assistance needed. Even places like Canada that have universal healthcare also need charitable contributions to help make people more comfortable when they’re ill even if their medical
needs are taken care of.
Another Scott
@debit: This.
:-(
Cheers,
Scott.
chopper
@Dmbeaster:
obama don’t owe you shit.
danielx
@Betty Cracker:
Plunged into the sixties indeed….I am informed the HIGH on New Year’s Day in these parts is going to be five fucking degrees. I may just stay in bed.
Patricia Kayden
@Dmbeaster: President Obama isn’t a Black Magician. He can’t force White voters to do the right thing. Hence Trump.
Mnemosyne
First World Problem of the Day: I’m trying to buy a couple of Happy Planners for my nieces, but the Michaels website is overloaded. Argh! ?
Kristine
@Brachiator: I met her at a writers conference in Santa Barbara in 1993. She was a local at the time, and would would drop in on the conference to mingle, give talks, and encourage those of us who wanted to write. A nice lady.
cain
@Dmbeaster:
It’s Gandhi. Make no mistake Gandhi’s satyagraha, is much much harder to do. It requires immense discipline and in the end is much much more powerful than anything that can be brought to bear. Non-cooperation is powerful because there is no way to fight back against it. You can’t run into home and arrest people for not going to work, not going to school, not picking produce.. you can grind this country to a financial halt within 3 days if everyone coordinated. You’ll scare the living shit out of the masters of the universe..
Any fool can go out and try to kick ass, we’re built for violence, but to take violence and do nothing overrides every instinct we have.
Mary G
@Brachiator: Oh no, she almost got to “Z.”
rp
@Chip Daniels: Really interesting comment.
satby
Open thread, so I just enjoyed the latest episode of Shameless on Amazon. It includes a character giving Fiona a tour of architectural treasure on the South Side, which this South side girl loved.
sherparick1
Shane, Shane come back. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqiFxD-VJbk
But of course he can’t come back and with have to grow up ourselves.
I not sure I agree with some of the takes about the President’s interview with Mr. Schmidt and the NEWSMAX hack. I will make the points I think are salient.
1. The comments about Eric Holder “protecting Obama” and the scandals. This is what the typical, heavy Fox News/Right Wing Talk Radio listener believes. They were told over and over again that Obama had the IRS target conservative groups. That there was not a scintilla of evidence to show that 501(c)s were targeted because they were Conservative or that any IRS office did this outside of a regional office in Cincinnati has never been reported on Fox. Nor the fact that besides doing a little extra paperwork were these groups ever injured was not reported on Fox. Instead, all they got were Fox talking heads and Republican Senators and Congressmen expressing outrage over Obama’s misuse of the IRS. It is a nice trick, to repeat a charge as a conclusion without evidence. This also being done right now to Mueller, Andrew McCabe, and the FBI agents whose personal twits and emails have been leaked. So Trump’s word salad is a mystery those not initiated into the tribe that rubs shit in their hair, a/k/a as the Fox watching Republican Base. To those people it makes perfect sense.
2. Trump is not going senile, at least no more than the usual 70 year old man. He has always been a superficial show man who wants attention. Hence the decision to talk to the NY Times and NEWSMAX at the end of the year. And it works. He understands to some extent the media business and hence how he sees himself and the presidency as reality show with “Great Ratings.”
3. Also, again in a sense because he had 40 years of being the boss, and following the management lessons of Roy Cohn and the NY Mob, he considers that his election last November made the U.S. Government just another part of the Trump Organization As I read elsewhere (I believe it was Digby), he sees himself as Louis XIV and “”L’État, c’est moi.” This is something he really believes, and I believe he thinks he will begin passing the Presidency down to his heirs and relations for as far as the eye can see. And the Republicans and his fellow right wing plutocrats appear to be fine with this since he is allowing them to carve out their own little princedoms on their own without regulation or interference from the State.
Betty Cracker
@cain: Nice summary.
Frankensteinbeck
@Chip Daniels:
But don’t you remember when he yelled profanity at Clint Eastwood from that chair at the Republican National Convention?
@burnspbesq:
The GOP were in such a hurry to pass something, anything, that it’s a garbage fire from almost everyone’s perspective, even some rich people. It seems clear to me why. The protests at the ACA debates terrified them. As a matter of personal cowardice, they did not want to hear the blowback from constituents and donors once anybody knew what was in it. Pass it, and go hide under a rock.
@debit:
Racists. Nothing matters but preventing a black man from ever getting elected president again.
jc
Mr. Obama, those stories are all very nice, but what I really want to see is the federal government operating competently and working to make the country function properly and improve citizens’ lives. Rather than optimistic niceties, I’d rather see you ripping the stuffing out of your successor.
Betty Cracker
Regarding President Obama — I often wonder if he would have done anything differently if he knew there was a decent chance Trump would win. I suspect he would have but was as blindsided as the rest of us. Maybe someday we’ll find out for sure if he covers this topic in a future book.
Yutsano
@Mnemosyne:
I have had several discussions with RedKitteh about this. The biggest flaw in the Canada Health Act is it does not cover prescription drugs*. And even with our perception that drugs are cheaper in Canada, even cancer drugs can run into the thousands of dollars there. This is also why Canada has a medical expense deduction on their tax return even with universal health coverage. Canada even has medical bankruptcies. They are MUCH less common up there than in the US, but they do happen. UHC in Canada covers a lot of things, but it does have holes.
*I understand this is province specific, but I know for sure Ontario and British Columbia do not.
Patricia Kayden
@jc:
How? President Obama has promised to work towards dismantling the gerrymandering which has put Congress under Republican domination. I’m not sure what he can do to rip the stuffing out of Trump which would be productive. Why can’t Congressional Democrats do that?
Patricia Kayden
@Betty Cracker: The one thing I wish President Obama would have done was to expose Russia’s attempts to influence the presidential election in 2016. He should have sounded the alarm despite McConnell’s threats. Perhaps that may have swayed some leftists to vote the right way instead of throwing their votes away on Stein. Who knows?
Frankensteinbeck
@Betty Cracker:
I’m not sure. I suspect what works looks very different from the top than from the bottom. Whether we praise or contradict, we are armchair quarterbacks of a complicated, secretive game.
EDIT – And to be bluntly honest, he gave us so much, it is ungrateful as fuck to criticize him. WE failed HIM.
Betty Cracker
@Patricia Kayden: I understand the impulse behind that comment and have muttered similar things, but folks here reminded me: Obama going after Trump would be the greatest gift Trump ever received. I do believe that’s true.
schrodingers_cat
@Dmbeaster: You managed to insult both Gandhi and Obama in one comment, excellent job. This idea that Gandhi was some kind of a clueless goody two shoes tells me that you know nothing about Gandhi including how to spell his name correctly.
JCJ
@Betty Cracker:
Well, at least she wasn’t here Tuesday. It was -4 degrees with some strong winds that morning. That was pretty obnoxious. Last year we came back from Bangkok where it was 90 to a robust -2. That hit pretty hard.
Cacti
I see the clueless left still hasn’t given up on Obama transforming into their imaginary angry black friend.
jc
@Patricia Kayden: Obama is in a strong position to speak up and give back what Trump has no problem dishing out (but is too chickenshit to take).
F**k this ‘turning the other cheek’ BS, Barak. Pay his ass back for the “birther” hogwash. Give him some very pointed public schooling in the rule of law and why abuse of power *should* get you removed from office. Obama would have no trouble out-classing Trump in the process.
OzarkHillbilly
@rikyrah: Oh you know, ride in on a white horse in shining armor swinging the sword of Damocles…
Betty Cracker
@Patricia Kayden: I wonder that too. I mean, we did know about it — the news broke the same day as the Access Hollywood tape and was thus buried. But a prime time presidential address on the topic — would that have made a difference? I don’t know.
Also don’t know what would have happened if Loretta Lynch ordered Comey NOT to make an announcement about the Weiner server (she declined to do so because of the silly tarmac “controversy”) a week before the election.
I suspect most of us would have done the same thing Obama and Lynch did for the same reasons — they were convinced Trump would lose and didn’t want to sandbag Clinton with “rigging” charges, which the Republicans would have screeched about forever.
At the end of the day, it’s not anyone in the Obama admin’s fault that we have a malignant narcissist in the White House; it’s the assholes who voted for him, the people who didn’t bother to vote at all and the sanctimonious pricks who regard their franchise as a mode of personal expression rather than a solemn obligation.
Miss Bianca
@schrodingers_cat: @Dmbeaster: Remember, kids…the only thing standing between “Dmb” and “Dumb” is “u”!
@Cacti: yep, this.
Elizabelle
@Mary G: I know. Z is for …. what. Terrifically talented writer. RIP Sue Grafton. She and Tom Petty were the big deaths in 2017. Who else am I missing? Besides “hope”?
Mnemosyne
@cain:
This. The reason noncooperation worked in India and in the US Civil Rights Movement is because, as you said, it’s almost impossible to fight against. What were the authorities going to do in Montgomery during the bus boycott, drive around to individual Black people’s houses, pick them up, and force them to board the buses?
And, also as you said, it’s hard to pull off because it goes against every human instinct we have for “fight or flight.” We instinctively want to “do something.”
Brachiator
From a recent WaPo Story
Look for Trump to take full credit for this.
Mnemosyne
@Brachiator:
The MOTUs working the stock market love Trump. Let’s see if they continue loving him when they get it in the shorts from the tax bill.
schrodingers_cat
@Mnemosyne: The British were brutal, they thought nothing of beating up and shooting unarmed protesters, throwing you in jail without due process. There was no freedom of assembly, or free speech in British India.
ETA: So participating a satyagraha was taking your life in your own hands and facing brutal violent violence with nothing but belief in your convictions.
Mnemosyne
@Chip Daniels:
**MILD AND ABSTRACT SPOILER**
Skywalker provided a useful distraction, but the rebels still had to save themselves.
Yutsano
@Mnemosyne: Our union keeps back door communication channels open to us for several reasons. One of them is if there needs to be a sick-out organized. Pretty much all the federal unions work with each other, so putting together a protest where the federal government just stops for a day can be done. It’s never gotten past the rumbled about stage, but imagine the chaos if every federal worker just didn’t come to work.
Mnemosyne
@schrodingers_cat:
The Civil Rights Movement was pretty brutal, too. Just watch some of the footage of people sitting at lunch counters being spit on and having food dumped on them before the police haul them away. And that’s not counting the extralegal terrorist attacks by white supremacists outside of law enforcement.
But King stuck with Gandhi’s nonviolent tactics because he knew they would eventually work even when the legal deck was stacked against them.
Uncle Cosmo
@Dumbbastard: Who gives a shit what you post when you’re too fucking stupid to spell Gandhi’s name correctly?
Now FOADIAF.
(((CassandraLeo)))
@Elizabelle: Mary Tyler Moore, Chris Cornell, Bill Paxton, Fats Domino, Hugh Hefner, June Foray, Glen Campbell, Sam Shepard, Dick Gregory, Jerry Lewis, Walter Becker, Harry Dean Stanton, Adam West, George Romero, probably at least two dozen others of similar stature I’m forgetting/not listing. (I was especially bummed about Grant Hart, but he wasn’t exactly a household name.) This year has really had nearly as many celebrity deaths as last year did. Maybe even more. It just wasn’t bookended with shocking, unexpected deaths towards its beginning and end like last year was.
And of course, R.I.P. Sue Grafton. A giant in her field for sure.
Elizabelle
@(((CassandraLeo))): Chris Cornell. That is the death out of time. It was not his time. Tragedy.
burnspbesq
@Teddys Person:
ROFL.
eclare
@Brachiator: OMG! I was so looking forward to Z.
schrodingers_cat
@Mnemosyne: There are many BJ arm chair commandos who fantasize about violence and are dismissive of Gandhi and MLK.
(((CassandraLeo)))
@Elizabelle: It’s definitely one of the few that hit me hardest this year. Petty’s did, too, somewhat unexpectedly as I wasn’t a huge fan of his music, but I think the fact that he seemed like a genuinely decent person made it hurt a lot more. Hart’s hurt me a lot, too, as did the death of the drummer of an obscure metal band called Negură Bunget at age 42 of a heart attack. That’s just too fucking young. And Becker’s. I grew up with Steely Dan as a constant presence.
Also, Chester Bennington. I wasn’t even particularly a fan (though I always thought he was a gifted vocalist), but it sounds like his whole life was just an unending stream of misery.
But of all of them, I think Cornell’s hurt the worst.
Tilda Swintons Bald Cap
@Mnemosyne: Great comment on both subjects.
Patricia Kayden
@Mnemosyne:
And Dr. King was smart enough to figure out that African Americans were too small in number to physically overcome their oppressors. As much as I admire Malcolm X, violence was never the answer for a Black minority surrounded by a huge White majority.
Aimai
@Dmbeaster: fuck you.
Mnemosyne
@Patricia Kayden:
I’ve both read The Autobiography of Malcolm X and seen the movie, and for me the most amazing and admirable thing about him was his ability to grow and change when he learned something new. He was constantly evolving based on new information. That is a very rare ability, and it’s a goddamned shame his life was cut short by intra-group fighting.
batguano
I love this man. I really needed that. Thank you.
Ruckus
@Dmbeaster:
President Obama had his turn in the box. He did exceedingly well. But his turn is over. It’s your turn now, so if all you got is that one of the greatest leaders we’ve ever had didn’t do enough the question really is “Where the fuck were you?” Did you follow his lead? What did you do to move forward? Because this isn’t a monarchy, this is a fucking democracy. We are all part of it, we all have to do our parts. Bitching about not being led far enough or fast enough or in the right direction is bullshit. He gave you all the leadership that was necessary and then some. If your head is so far up your ass that you can’t see that, it’s far, far more you are the problem than he is or ever will be.
Yutsano
@Tim C.: @Heidi Mom: “Bear Island knows no King but the King in the North, who’s name is Obama.”
Another Scott
I see that Cheryl has been following the protests in Iran on her Twitter feed. It would be good to see a thread here about it.
We know that Donnie is itching to tear up the JCPOA, and that Vlad is looking for more influence in the region (and welcomes chaos that will increase oil prices and strengthen his hold on power), and Saudi Arabia is furious with Iran over the Yemen war, etc., etc. And we know that there are millions of Iranians who are sick and tired of the mullahs having their boots on the neck of the people. I hope the people agitating for productive change aren’t misled by those who have nefarious ulterior motives…
Cheers,
Scott.
Elie
@Dmbeaster:
Its YOUR country, bro. Do the work for it instead of waiting around for someone else to rescue it. YOU are the answer to the leadership that you have been waiting for. Get to work. Its going to be a hell of a year..
Teddys Person
JFC. CNN thinks Dolt45 needs a therapy dog.
mike in dc
RIP Recy Taylor
Sadly, I had only heard her story the day she died.
Cacti
@Elizabelle:
Being of the grunge generation, Cornell’s death hurt me a lot. More than Kurt Cobain’s did, honestly. I never had a problem reading between the lines of KC’s music, and figured his cynical attitude was a mask for deep personal pain. I guessed he wasn’t long for this world from the start.
Cornell on the other hand always seemed like the level headed elder statesman of the Seattle scene. He was the guy who had fought his demons, beat them, and would age gracefully into the future. And then he was gone without warning. Say hello to heaven, CC. :-(
mike in dc
@Mnemosyne:
That Farrakhan somehow skates for his involvement in X’s assassination still amazes me.
Ruckus
@Mnemosyne:
This is true about every country but many seem to do a lot more to lessen the need than we ever do. I remember hearing that the English have a saying, “We gave Australia the felons and America the god bothers.” Thanks assholes.
We shouldn’t have the level of poverty that we do. Those countries that have far less general poverty have rich fuckers, but they also have much closer rates of pay and property between the haves and the have not. Those rich still steal all they can, but that is a smaller percentage than here. BS wasn’t/isn’t wrong that money is a big problem, he was/is wrong that it is the only problem that needs curing or if it isn’t that curing it will cure the others. One note assholes are still assholes.
Villago Delenda Est
@Elizabelle: Rose Marie. A giant.
Villago Delenda Est
@Ruckus:
Australia wins!
Mnemosyne
@Ruckus:
Oh, I totally agree. There is SO much more we could and should be doing just to get us up to the social assistance level of, say, Cuba, fer chrissakes.
In a perfect world, the government would take care of basic needs (food, shelter, healthcare) and charity would fill in the little luxuries (Christmas presents, school supplies, hats for preemies, etc). But there’s always going to be a balance that has to be struck.
Yutsano
@Villago Delenda Est: To be fair she just passed yesterday. Right as the movie about her life is coming out.
Betty Cracker
@Teddys Person: Ugh! No dog deserves such a fate!
Ruckus
@Villago Delenda Est:
That’s what I always thought as well.
Given a chance a lot of felons will change. god bothers only get worse as nothing every really happens their way so they have to believe harder. Where oh where have I heard that before……….
Ruckus
@Betty Cracker:
Would you want to subject any dog to having to bite the hand that doesn’t give them food but steals from them, if it was a hand owned by drumpf?
Yea I didn’t think so.
Steve in the ATL
@Betty Cracker:
Thoughts and prayers.
@schrodingers_cat: excellent point. Insulting lawyers is NOT COOL.
@Yutsano: take advantage while public employee unions are still legal. Oh, and don’t tell my boss I said that.
Teddys Person
@Betty Cracker: I know, right! First, he’d probably name the poor thing Maga and force some tacky gold bling on the poor creature. Next, he’d expand the Trump brand – Trump Treats (treats made with the poorest quality ingredients imaginable), Trump Toots (a dog-whistle that makes your racists uncle salivate) and the ultra-exclusive Trumpy Doggie Meals (ground up quarter-pounders with cheese and fries delicately sauced with a splash of diet Coke). Finally, new White House interns will be hired and tasked with keeping the poor pup out of Dolt45’s kicking distance (who says he’s not creating jobs).
Villago Delenda Est
@Teddys Person: He has a pet. It’s Sean Hannity.
schrodingers_cat
@Steve in the ATL: That is funny!
Gandhi, Nehru, Patel, Ambedkar, even Jinnah were all lawyers, coincidence? I think not.
Mr Stagger Lee
@(((CassandraLeo))): Chuck Berry, Al Jarreau,Monty Hall, Greg Allman and David Cassidy
Teddys Person
@Villago Delenda Est: I was going to crack wise about … something, something, needs to be put down … but it got too dark.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Betty Cracker:
HATE HATE HATE!!!
I have a nasty cough from Thanksgiving that never went away, am frozen and am in a drafty old downtown building while wife gets her hair done. There’s practically a breeze, and the floor is marble tile. I’d go to the car, but I want her to know how bad this experience is by whining and bitching the entire way to the car….
mai naem mobile
@Betty Cracker: you were fucked either way – whether OBama said something or not. They would have painted HRC as illegitimate and the MSM would have gone along with it. The RWNJs would have gone apeshit cray cray. The only biggie would have been no Gorsuch and all these fed judges. Mitch McConnell will have to face his maker at some point and justify his actions. I still strongly believe in Karma and I believe Mitch and Ryan will get their comeuppance at some point and it will be in the public with everybody watching. Traitors.
Yutsano
@Steve in the ATL: They might dissolve the formal union, but the contact lists will still be around. And we will still have civil service protections. Some of us have learned how to fight for these.
IvankaThrowUp (AKA RedDirtGirl)
@Brachiator: I have read all her books! I loved Kinsey Milhone!
Mnemosyne
I was able to get the Happy Planners for my nieces ordered from the Michaels website. I’m sure everyone was waiting with bated breath to see if I would succeed. ???
Mr Stagger Lee
MLK had the advantage of the Cold War and the world’s stage, The US could not point out USSR’s treatment of their citizens without the same about the African Americans in the South. Also in a way the inhumanity of the NAZIs in the treatment of the Jews, Gypsies and others turned a spotlight on human rights.
(((CassandraLeo)))
@Mr Stagger Lee: I knew there were a lot of big names I’d omitted, but I had gone back through about May and was already making myself sad, so I stopped. I’m sure there are dozens of others I left off too (the rapper Prodigy, who died at age 42 or thereabouts from sickle-cell anaemia, is one I remember offhand). I didn’t actually want to contemplate making a definitive list, because that would’ve forced me to think about just how many great musicians and other entertainers we’ve lost this year.
Of the ones you’ve listed, Gregg Allman was probably the worst for me. Though in terms of overall influence, Chuck Berry probably eclipses him.
Tilda Swintons Bald Cap
Bwaha ha ha ha
r€nato
@Chip Daniels:
at the risk of being the turd in the punchbowl, I am pessimistic that we will ever go back to the time when there were certain assumptions and mutual agreements between the opposite sides of the political fence.
The coup of 2000 will be regarded by historians, I predict, as the ‘crossing the Rubicon’ moment from which we simply won’t go back. It was when American democracy as we knew it before then died. The impeachment in 1998 was a failed Constitutional coup. They already believe that any Democratic occupant of the WH is inherently illegitimate, and should be impeached for whatever reason is handy if only they have the votes in both houses, and if they can’t be defeated at the ballot box; impeachment as a Plan B, not as an extraordinary tool for extraordinary circumstances. Obama wasn’t impeached for that precise reason; Republicans learned to count after 1998.
Republicans have steadily politicized every single tradition and rule and social contract. They’ve politicized election law. They’ve politicized and demolished the Senate rules that preserved the traditions that kept that chamber separate from the passions of bitter partisan politics and at least made an attempt to rule in the interest of all, not just of the victors of the last election. Trump is attempting to turn the DoJ into a political tool of the White House. They just passed a tax law that explicitly punishes blue states and rewards red states. They’ve even turned festive year-end holidays into a political football in order to divide us from one another, betting that they will end up with the larger half. First Christmas, will Thanksgiving be next?
I so look forward to the articles that will be written a few years from now by “both sides do it” journalists. “How did we get to this point, where everything is so politicized? Gosh, who can say. Both sides are at fault!”
I hope to have left this country by then. TOFTS.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@schrodingers_cat:
Speaking of which, thinking of going to see Darkest Hour? :p
(((CassandraLeo)))
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: Saw that earlier today and thought it was fantastic. I’ll honestly find it a huge travesty if Gary Oldman doesn’t win the Oscar for this. The rest of the film was quite well done too – well enough that I’d probably see it a second time if time permits.
I particularly appreciated that the film made it clear just who had Churchill’s back in the fight against Nazism when the outlook was darkest.
Mr Stagger Lee
@(((CassandraLeo))): No Worries, I think of it as another way of honoring and saying good-bye, to these people who gave us enjoyment through the years.
debbie
@Mnemosyne:
Don’t leave out the fire hoses or the dog attacks. Or the disappearances and murders.
schrodingers_cat
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: I like Gary Oldman, so I may see it for him when it comes out on DVD/ is available for streaming etc.
Mr Stagger Lee
Has anyone seen All THe Money In the World, yet? I love Christopher Plummer, but I wonder if there is the version with Kevin Spacey stashed away?
mike in dc
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap: Well, is there a federal civil rights investigation into the prison deaths? If not, this has to pertain to the Russia investigation.
lgerard
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap:
The funniest part of this…..the email address he uses…….dclarke.cowboy(at)gmail.com
Wingnuts love to play dress up
different-church-lady
Having already spent 8 years mopping up the messes of the previous president, the black guy is now supposed to clean up the dump the subsequent president is taking on the country.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@schrodingers_cat:
I thought you wouldn’t like the inevitable tongue bath Chruchill was going to get. That usually happens in these films.
different-church-lady
@lgerard: “As of this notice, please forward all mail to dclarke(at)leavenworth.gov“
r€nato
@cain:
one of the worst body blows ever dealt to American democracy is when the Right successfully neutered unions. FSM knows they are flawed as fuck organizations, but in countries where unions still have a say, democracy survives. Things change real fast when shit gets shut down. That doesn’t happen any longer in the US, because business must go on no matter what. That inherently grants a huge win to the Right.
I’ve been in a foreign country where you can’t get shit done because of a strike. It sucks, but it’s also one of the few tools we the people have to say, “Hell NO” when politicians don’t listen. It’s a referendum that doesn’t have to wait every two to four years, when people forget what pissed them off a year or two ago and just accept it as a done deal.
There should have been marches in the streets and strikes over gutting ACA. Over this shitty tax law that explicitly rewards GOP states and explicitly punishes blue states. But fuck all that, what’s good for Wall Street is good for the USA, amirite?
rikyrah
@Patricia Kayden:
They had a qualified candidate.
And, rejected her.
rikyrah
@sherparick1:
Which is why they must be wiped out.
All of them,
No mercy.
Every last one of them in an orange jumpsuit.
rikyrah
@Patricia Kayden:
Nope.
The MSM didn’t take it seriously.
They would have poo-pooed it, and sided with The Traitor Turtle, who would have claimed partisanship.
THose of us in the know knew that Stein was a Russian plant. That picture of her in Moscow wasn’t hidden.
r€nato
@Mr Stagger Lee: I have this feeling that by now, Hollywood moguls have taken to kidnapping family members of film editors and everyone else who touches a pre-release version of any big-money film, in order to dissuade them from leaking copies to the intertubes.
J/K of course, but this almost never happens any longer and certainly didn’t and won’t with the Star Wars films. It seems to me (as someone involved in the production business myself, but several steps and then some removed from the film biz) that it is not all that difficult to prevent it. For instance, keylogging any edit station so that one knows exactly what an editor did and when. Setting up the OS to alert someone via email if certain suspicious operations are done. Barring portable storage devices unless expressly permitted and overseen every moment by a minder. “Oh, we see you used this edit station to make an H264 of our film that nobody asked you to do, and then copied it to a USB drive. If you save us the trouble of suing you into destitution and ensuring you will be lucky to edit wedding videos in Cowraper, Kansas for the remainder of your career, we’ll let you keep your house and some of your bank account.”
(((CassandraLeo)))
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: FWIW I found this a pretty warts-and-all portrayal. It certainly didn’t gloss over the fact that he was often a jerk. To be fair, it didn’t really spend much time on any of his political career outside of that one month in 1940, and he didn’t carry out any of his really questionable/reprehensible political actions during that month, but I felt that was outside the scope of the film. YMMV I guess.
rikyrah
@Patricia Kayden:
But, Malcolm was needed. To provide the alternative to Martin.
Susannabytheseashore
@Nicole: Somewhere here belongs another ex-President, Carter, who’s done enormous good since his presidency than any other, imo.
Yutsano
@different-church-lady: [email protected] Have to get the agency name in there.
r€nato
@rikyrah: because we still have elections (for now…), I see little to zero chance that any of the Trump family will accede to the office. Every last one of them is either detestable on sight or not able to stand on their own two feet or both.
Having been treated to a fair amount of French royal history earlier this year, however, I do have something of a sense for how it must have been to have to live under a hereditary monarchy back in ye olde days when the power changed hands. European history is overflowing with examples of family members who were given a duchy or even an entire nation they were manifestly unfit to rule. Just one of the many reasons democracy was worth fighting and dying for, to our ancestors. If we’re going to be ruled by idiots, let it be by idiots *we* chose and can dispose of at predictable intervals, not by genetic lottery winners who will only leave when assassinated or are escorted away by the Reaper.
(did you know that Louis XIV outlived not just his son, but also his grandson? Louis XV was the great-grandson and five years old when he became king upon XIV’s death. It was another eight years until XV ruled himself rather than through a regent. Also – despite being by any definition a despot who preyed at will on the common people and their money/property/liberty as most royals did – XIV was a remarkable king to whom much is owed for how France is seen to this day.)
Ruckus
@lgerard:
Most 4 yr olds do.
No One You Know
Hmm. The new troll algorithm is to claim love for Obama and then criticize him for not “doing something.”
I thought irony was dead.
Chip Daniels
I think even a lot of leftists are convinced, still, after all these years, that underneath that calm dignified and decent man that is Barack Obama, there lies a raging figure called “Barry X” or something, who is just itching to wear a dashiki and Afro and start talking about Whitey.
Sorry, he just isn’t interested in playing the part of the tragic cannon fodder of anyone’s fantasy. Accept it and move on.
schrodingers_cat
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: Churchill hagiographies are annoying. The man played an important role in WWII, against the Nazis but so did Stalin and Roosevelt.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap: He was one Drumpf’s carrier pigeons who went to Russia.to deliver messages.
This would also explained why he abruptly resigned from office.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@Mr Stagger Lee: sort of. He appears in the trailers (link)
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
I wish Obummer had parted the Red Sea and had broken the Curse of the Cubs.
okay, he did the last one.
Ruckus
@No One You Know:
It isn’t dead but has suffered far more mortal wounds than is believable. If it were more than a word and concept………
(((CassandraLeo)))
@schrodingers_cat: Agreed, but on the other hand the film, again, really only just covers the month of May 1940. It mostly focuses on the political manoeuvring that immediately preceded the events of Dunkirk. As a result, the two films make interesting companion pieces. Roosevelt wasn’t much involved with any of this (and the film does portray him, though only as the other end of a phone conversation) and Stalin, afaik, wasn’t at all. The film is more about the internal wartime politics of the UK than it is about the war itself.
schrodingers_cat
@(((CassandraLeo))):I was speaking of the war in general not just the movie, which I haven’t seen.
Brachiator
@r€nato:
I didn’t hear anything about Last Jedi piracy, or the recent Doctor Who Christmas special, but fans (and mercenaries) love some shows so much that they desperately want to get their hands on stuff in advance. Defenses may be strong, but I don’t know if they can ever deter the most rabid fans.
We will see what happens with the final season of Game of Thrones,for example. I hope things are locked up tight, because I hate spoilers and those who think it cool to leak a script or other material.
Lurking Canadian
@(((CassandraLeo))): who had his back?
Mnemosyne
@Brachiator:
IMO (and YMMV) the really rabid fans want to see that stuff in advance but also want to keep it to themselves as members of an exclusive club. So there probably are pirated versions of The Last Jedi or the Dr. Who Christmas special floating around on the intertubes, but they’re not widely available like they used to be.
NorthLeft12
“Not the leader we deserved, but the leader we needed” = Pres. B. Obama
“Not a leader at all, and who the fuck would vote for this idiot anyways?” = Deadbeat Donald Trump
I tried to paraphrase the Dark Knight Rises quote, but I don’t feel like anyone deserves to have Donald Trump as leader of their country. Even those bloody ignoramuses that voted for him.
magurakurin
@Chip Daniels:
yep. the rot is deep and wide.
SgrAstar
@cain: fascinating observation, cain. Thanks!
SgrAstar
@schrodingers_cat: I knew you would weigh in, SC. Bravo!
Dman
@lgerard: this is old news regarding the airline incident. We look no better then the wingnuts when we don’t read past the headline or do any investigation
J R in WV
@r€nato:
OK, spill. Where you thinking of going? ‘Cause you aren’t the only one wanting out of this lunatic asylum…!
(((CassandraLeo)))
@Lurking Canadian: Labour, mostly. An awful lot of his own party was scheming against him. He seemed to be one of the few Conservatives at the time to see Hitler for who he truly was.
(Also, possibly delving into spoiler territory for the film, the king came around to Churchill’s side over the course of the month.)
@schrodingers_cat: Yeah, fair enough.
Dmbeaster
@Cacti: I am not asking him to be my savior – your comment makes no sense. I want him fighting with the rest of us, and this had always been a weakness on his part.
AxelFoley
@jc: Fuck the fuck off, asshole.
AxelFoley
@Dmbeaster: Um, asshole, he IS fighting. Try using Google.