A brief note to my Republican friends (and other supporters of the president): Keep your eye on the penny. It is about to drop. I'm reminded of a story when, back in 2001, my company had the 7th largest company in America as a client.
— David Rothkopf (@djrothkopf) May 4, 2018
I would speak regularly to a very senior guy there. Finally, one day, I called him and said, "Look, you have to get in front of this. If you did something wrong admit it and that will give you the credibility you need to deny the other stuff, the unfair accusations."
— David Rothkopf (@djrothkopf) May 4, 2018
There was a long pause on the other end of the line. Then, the guy said, in a very quiet voice, "Look…here's the problem: We did it. We did it all." It was clear his focus had shifted. He realized he was personally in trouble. He realized the company was going down.
— David Rothkopf (@djrothkopf) May 4, 2018
It is starting on Capitol Hill. The people who realize what's happening may be able to save themselves, move to the right side of this story. Do some good. Those who continue to deny will only become collateral damage. Trump is the Enron of presidents.
— David Rothkopf (@djrothkopf) May 4, 2018
My old man used to say, “There are some things you can afford to rent. Loyalty is not among them.” From Politico, “Trump’s fixers revolt”:
… The president’s preference for people who look like they came from “central casting” has become a well-known part of how Trump makes personnel decisions. The president said as much when he nominated Ronny Jackson — the square-jawed White House physician with a full head of hair thick enough to hold a side part — to be secretary of Veterans Affairs.
But behind the scenes, there’s another set of characters who populate Trump’s world: loyal fixers who lie for Trump, and clean up his messes in the shadows, where their looks count less than their loyalty.
It’s a dichotomy that’s well-known in Trump’s inner circle. One former adviser described it succinctly:
“Central casting for ‘front porch’ jobs, trolls for the real work.”
But in recent weeks, there has been tension in the natural order of Trump’s world, because his not-made-for-prime-time “fixers” have been basking in the national spotlight where they don’t belong. And they’re doing something else very out of character for the aides picked solely for their loyalty and willingness to bend the rules: They’re falling out of line.
This week, it’s Harold Bornstein, Trump’s long-haired, leather-skinned New York physician, who told CNN that he allowed Trump to dictate a letter about his health that was released during the campaign under Bornstein’s name…
The behind-the-scenes crew also includes Michael Cohen, Trump’s longtime lawyer and all-around fixer, who personally made payments to silence a porn actress who claims to have had an affair with his boss—but who has declined to join the president in attacking the FBI agents who recently raided his home and office, instead describing them as “professional.”
Bornstein, who like Cohen, at one point harbored hopes of following his client to White House, burst out of the shadows, and out of line, when he told NBC News on Tuesday that longtime Trump bodyguard Keith Schiller (another critical behind-the-scenes fixer) and two other men raided his office to seize the president’s medical files…
Meanwhile, Cohen has been occupying the national spotlight since his office, apartment and hotel room were raided by the FBI last month. He appears to be enjoying the sunlight, smoking cigars and mugging for the paparazzi, who found him hanging out at the Loews Regency on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
But the question looms whether Cohen, now under federal investigation for bank fraud and campaign finance violations, will flip on his longtime boss — cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation in order to lighten his own load of legal troubles and potential jail time. Trump’s allies are increasingly worried he will save himself by turning on Trump.
It’s an awkward moment for the president, who has come to take for granted the loyalty of the “real work” yes men in his orbit, even as he heaps praise on his telegenic “front porch” crowd…
DCrefugee
Good morning, all…
HeleninEire
Good morning, morning crew. It’s a beautiful 62° sunny morning in Dublin. And we’re promised that it will last through the bank holiday on Monday.
Heaven.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@HeleninEire: Brrrrrr.
otmar
Well, my night didn’t go as planned: after a midnight ride in the ambulance with spawn #2 I’m now checked into the hospital with her.
No worries, it’s only a concussion so the stay is just for monitoring purposes.
R-Jud
@HeleninEire: Same here in Brum. About to head out to buy BBQ supplies (okay, tequila) and I’m braced to see at least three shirtless men between here and Sainsburys.
W/R/T the OP, I really want to believe Rothkopf’s tweets, but I am beginning to think nothing will stick to this president. Best just to focus on getting out the vote, even as an expat.
Tony Jay
Good morning, all.
Minecraft is a useful tool to occupy a five year old while you’re slipping into the garden to erect the 10ft trampoline he doesn’t know you’ve bought for him.
How do you erect a 10ft trampoline though? To the instructions!
WereBear
@HeleninEire: Is that Celsius? :)
HeleninEire
@WereBear: It’s funny; C to F is just something I haven’t wrapped my head around yet. I’m fine with grams to ounces and kilograms to pounds and euros to dollars, and 13:00 to 1:00pm, but I just haven’t mastered C to F.
satby
@otmar: Glad to hear she’s going to be ok!
Good morning everyone ?! Having my coffee before getting ready to leave for the farmer’s market. I agree @HeleninEire:, that’s almost perfect weather!
Comrade Nimrod Humperdink
For any Middle Earth fans out there, if you haven’t yet had a look at the gollumjtrump twitter feed, I highly recommend it
?BillinGlendaleCA
@satby: Y’all are nuts, that’s damn cold.
Comrade Nimrod Humperdink
@?BillinGlendaleCA: 62 is cold?
WereBear
@otmar: Glad to hear.
WereBear
@?BillinGlendaleCA: In the Adirondacks, that’s shorts weather.
satby
@?BillinGlendaleCA: @WereBear: hell, in Chicago and all around Lake Michigan to South Bend, everything above 55° is ? weather.
But then I don’t even put on a coat unless it goes below 25°. A fleece vest is enough. And I start to melt at about 85°.
WereBear
Just drove myself crazy trying to “fix” my highlighting on Scrivener and just now realized my yellow highlighter had “turned white” because my f.lux was activated because the sun hadn’t come up yet.
I didn’t intend to be up this early.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Comrade Nimrod Humperdink:
@WereBear:
@satby: It’s 58 outside, I’m going to have to put on my hoodie and maybe a jacket to photograph the launch in a hour.
ETA: 80’s about perfect.
TriassicSands
Prosecutors put pressure on people all the time to get them to turn on bigger fish. But the process isn’t pretty and if it plays out in full view of the public it could look as nasty as it really is. That could create sympathy for Trump, who has been hammering relentlessly on the “witch hunt” for a long time. A federal judge in Virginia (Reagan nominee) seems to be questioning Mueller’s tactics with Manafort:
I can see Trump’s spin machine turning Cohen’s situation into one giant case of prosecutorial overreach and abuse. Obviously, Trump’s base is already on board. But millions of Americans can be manipulated, because they are poorly informed and not politically sophisticated. It’s already too difficult to hold our presidents accountable. Now that we have one who is a gigantic crook will Republican-nominated judges step in to protect a Republican president. That would be IOKIYAR writ large.
Planetpundit
@WereBear: Have Olwyn fix it. :)
WereBear
@TriassicSands: Wouldn’t that depend on whether or not Manafort actually committed fraud?
I can guess the answer to that would be YES.
OzarkHillbilly
@?BillinGlendaleCA: @Comrade Nimrod Humperdink: @WereBear: @satby: 50 here. Got the windows open, perfect sleeping weather.
Matt McIrvin
Enron didn’t have the degree of power to nullify the law that Trump has. I realize it’s limited, but his administration is only going to completely collapse if it loses its political support, and its support is from people who are already in a closed epistemic bubble, receiving news only from a propaganda network devoted to propping up his party. I don’t see any kind of scandal getting through the shield; about the only thing that could would be another economic depression.
OzarkHillbilly
@TriassicSands: The judge seems to think Mueller should have passed off Manafort to another DA’s office like he did with Cohen. OK, done and done. Paulie boy? No deals for you.
Boudica
@OzarkHillbilly: I don’t get the judge’s reasoning. Manafort needed the campaign job because he owed big bucks from his money laundering to the Russian oligarchs. That should fall under Mueller’s scope.
WereBear
@Planetpundit: I wouldn’t get my computer back for hours! She will keep finding things…
Baud
Good morning to all and to rikyrah, wherever you are.
Planetpundit
@WereBear: Never thought of that; give her a fist bump for me in memory of my beloved torties who passed on to greater domains to supervise.
geg6
@Matt McIrvin:
I dunno. It sure seems like something has been changed this week and maybe I’m being a cockeyed optimist but the way the WH press turned on the Possum Queen this week feels different. They called her out as a liar, repeatedly, even that ABC winger hack Jon Karl. They were pissed and not having her shit and she was totally rattled. If the Village press keep doing that, I will be thrilled and convinced that this bastard and his minions might finally be taken down. It will take the press and us voters to put the pressure on to get any congresscritters to do their jobs. I think we voters are there. We need the press to come aboard and then we have a chance to overwhelm that fucker and take him out.
OzarkHillbilly
@Boudica: According to Rosenstien, it does. If the judge does what we all think he will, I suspect Mueller will appeal. Either way, I don’t see how the charges go away.
WereBear
@Planetpundit: Oh, I will :) And thanks.
Comrade Nimrod Humperdink
@geg6: Press Secretaries generally have 3 options: have your shit together and be ready to handle what comes, charm your way out of problems, or intimidate the stenographer pool. Option A was never possible for a Trump spokesperson, even a great one, because not only are you defending the indefensible but you’ll be undercut by the boss constantly. Option B is usually reserved for people like Tony Snow that were a member of the club before they started duelling with it. Option C is the approach that’s left. Spicer tried it too aggressively and it backfired on him early. Possum Queen has lasted longer with it but the boss is making it awfully hard to do. And if you lose intimidation as Trump’s press lackey, you end up looking like Scott McClellan.
Baud
@geg6:
Smokey Eyes! It stuck.
OzarkHillbilly
@geg6: Michelle Wolf showed them how to speak truth to power..
Comrade Nimrod Humperdink
@Baud: The lies are the perfect shade
JPL
@OzarkHillbilly: If the judge decides he doesn’t have the authority to bring charges, couldn’t Mueller just transfer the charges to another court? I did read that the judge requested the documentation that authorized the special counsel, and I don’t see how she can rule in Manafort’s favor after going through the material. Of course, it’s possible she is a hack trying to save the asshole.
?BillinGlendaleCA
Pretty cool launch.
danielx
Miserable evening before last (prep) and yesterday (colonoscopy), but it’s a beautiful morning and 56 degrees. Completely different outlook and feeling good. Off to farmers market this morning for whatever looks good…..
ETA: it’s Derby Day!
bemused
They are a confederacy of dunces, crooks and amoral thugs.
Sarah Kliff at Vox had an interesting chart from Commonwealth survey showing the increase in uninsured since 2016 is rising, has nearly doubled, for Republicans while uninsured rates for Democrats continues to fall.
Jeffro
Why it has taken so long for the mushy middle (including the national press corpse) so long to realize that the emperor has no clothes, I’ll never understand. I know Orangemandias’ base will always stick with him and keep pretending, but as a certain class act once said, “reality has a way of catching up with you “
?BillinGlendaleCA
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Picture didn’t turn out all that great, sigh…
WereBear
During the first Bush administration, I was still watching CNN, and I realized Wolf Blitzer was explaining something to a “guest” that was probably how his bosses explained it to him. And they are paying him a ridiculous amount of money to think that way, so he might as well.
So are they all.
OzarkHillbilly
@JPL: Thomas Selby Ellis III is the judge and a Reagan appointee. As to how much of a hack he is, I don’t know. As to transferring the charges, that is what I suspect would happen. I don’t understand the strategy behind Manafort’s lawyers maneuverings. It’s almost as if they were working to keep him from flipping on trump. Maybe that is who’s paying them.
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@otmar: Glad to hear it’s not serious, but a trip to the hospital is always stressful and exhausting.
@WereBear: I was happy to notice that it was light when I got up at 6 this morning.
I don’t use Scrivener, but people who do seem to like it. This week I tore my zero draft apart, reduced it to index cards, and laid them out on my dining room table. It’s helped me get a sense of the whole story and its possibilities. So I’m old school.
Immanentize
@JPL: the judge has no power to question the charges. They were brought by a duly constituted grand jury (which is technically part of the judiciary, not part of the prosecution). Also, the judge is asking questions as if Mueller is a prosecutor outside the DOJ (like in the whitewater investigation). Mueller is not outside the DOJ. He is an employee of the DOJ ad can do whatever the DOJ says is OK.
The judge is a senior status judge fond of war stories and tales from the bench. He is just trying to be in the middle of history as his swan song. Nothing to see here….
JPL
@OzarkHillbilly: It would delay the trial, so that might be the end game. I for some reason thought the judge was a female, so thanks for the correction.
Thoughtful David
@bemused:
I’ll have to look up the article, but this is really great news. Natural selection and all. Except that natural selection can take a long time unless the selection pressure is pretty high.
WereBear
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): Scrivener does index cards, too. It’s digital, but you can have a corkboard and everything :)
I only want to type things once, and I don’t want to handwrite anything at all.
Baud
@bemused:
I believe Trump has responded to this.
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly: I agree mostly, but not on the transfer part. Transfer in what way? Manafort specifically refused a suggestion/request that his cases be consolidated, so he has cases in two districts (the DC district and the Eastern District of Virginy). This judge who got the press was in the latter case. The Virginia case is where it is because there is proper jurisdiction there.
So there is no other place to transfer the case to without disrupting jurisdiction. Just a person? Another lawyer? But the case is not a DOJ division or a specific attorney against Manafort, it is the United States v. Manafort. And DOJ can assign whomsoever it likes to prosecute the case — including Mueller.
Immanentize
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): I love the concept of zero draft. I just finished a scholarship support workshop in Chi-town and we use the zero draft idea to free up new writers a bit.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud:
Trump left out, “Believe Me!”.
Immanentize
@JPL: Woman judge is in the DC case. And I think she is pissed at Manafort. At one point she asked for a valuation on property Manafort had, and his attorney submitted a printout from Zillow. She was not amused.
debbie
@Comrade Nimrod Humperdink:
Hate, hate, hate her, but I have to admire her ability to come up with that shit on the fly.
debbie
@Immanentize:
I love that the Trumpies are complaining Mueller’s wandered too far afield, when they had no problem with Starr’s wandering and tripping into Monica Lewinsky.
SRW1
How did the world escape that meteoritelet?
Kristine
@Comrade Nimrod Humperdink: Not in far NE Illinois it isn’t.
MattF
Some years ago, because of circumstances, I got to know a number of people who were in prison. They didn’t have much good to say about prosecutors. And I do believe that prosecutors will overreach and do have their own agendas, so it makes sense to be cautious before one idolizes prosecutors.
Kristine
@satby: Guess we’re slated to have melting weather up here today. It’s currently 50s, but then the wind will change direction and according to the WGN weatherfolk, a 10mph breeze from SWesterly directions is enough to counter lake cooling.
I need to work outside today, so we’ll see how that goes. I was able to work during the hot spell earlier this week, but the humidities were low. It really didn’t feel like mid/hi 80s.
Immanentize
@MattF: If you think guys in prison have bad things to say about prosecutors, ask them sometime about their defense attorney…. (Lifelong defense attorney here)
Kristine
@OzarkHillbilly: I tend to agree. If Manafort merited a deal in exchange for what he knows, I’d have thought he’d have gotten one by now. Gates may be enough.
JPL
@Immanentize: If the judge would rule against Manafort, does that ruling tarnish the case? The language was harsh, and I think out of bounds.
bemused
@Thoughtful David:
@Baud:
I laugh/groan but a lot of truth to your comments. Even if Republican voters understand natural selection, their interpretation would be conservatism will take out all the libtards and America will be a rightwing paradise. It doesn’t occur to a whole lot of Republican voters their party is sabotaging them just as hard if not harder than liberals.
OzarkHillbilly
@Immanentize: I was thinking along the lines of what happened with Cohen’s case. As I said earlier, no matter what happens, I don’t see how the charges go away. Therefor I don’t understand exactly what it is his lawyers are trying to accomplish with this.
Immanentize
@JPL: What a judge says from the bench is not always an indication of leanings. In fact, the judge finished his little discourse with something like, “but it may not be iligitimate.”. The motion before the judge is to dismiss the charges. I see no basis for that motion — and neither, I predict, will the judge.
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly: Well, they got a couple of good days of press about “Judge questions Mueller overreach.” That is probably as good as it gets.
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone ???
Immanentize
@rikyrah: Hello!
Just to keep you focussed, on the plane home from Chicago I got to watch Black Panther again….
Baud
@Immanentize: Judges, particularly right wing judges, often be trolling.
OzarkHillbilly
@MattF: Prosecutors are dicks, it’s a job requirement.
rikyrah
@otmar:
Hope that she feels better.
germy
@Immanentize: Interesting Black Panther detail that didn’t make the final cut:
http://www.vulture.com/2018/05/the-fate-of-killmongers-mom-in-black-panther-is-so-so-sad.html
OzarkHillbilly
@Kristine: Pretty sure they would love to flip Manafort but it appears Manafort has bigger problems then trump.
rikyrah
@R-Jud:
Nothing will stick until everything sticks.
OzarkHillbilly
@Immanentize: In the age of trump I’m not sure they can manage to get even a single day out of that “good press”.
gene108
@HeleninEire:
The formula for converting between C and F is 9/5C +/- 32.
Quick short cut is if you are in F and want C, subtract 30 and divide by 2. Not exact for scientific purposes, but good enough to know, if you need a jacket.
For example 62 F is 62-30=32. 32/2=16C.
Reverse the process for going from C to F. 16C*2=32+30=62F.
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly: I know! Thank the FSM. Yesterday should have been Trump’s best day evah! (Low unemployment, N. Korea, big speech, etc.) But the were stepping on their own and other’s dicks everywhere they tread.
Michael Bersin
Meanwhile, in Missouri, Governor Eric Greitens (r) faces a special session of the General Assembly “for the sole purpose of considering the findings and recommendations of the House of Representatives Special Investigative Committee on Oversight including, but not limited to, disciplinary actions against Governor Eric R. Greitens.”
The Petition for a Special Session of the General Assembly to consider “disciplinary actions against Governor Eric R. Greitens”
Three-fourths of both house must sign the petition. Over three-fourths of both houses did. The crossouts/unsignatures, “resignatures”, and no signatures tell a complex story – if we still have any universities left in the future there will be a dissertation or two on this document alone. The special session is scheduled to start immediately after the end of the regular session at 6:30 p.m. on May 18th. The special session can run for thirty days.
If the House votes to impeach (they need 82 of 163 to do so) the Senate appoints “seven eminent jurists” who then decide on removal. The governor is “liable to impeachment for crimes, misconduct, and habitual drunkenness, willful neglect of duty, and corruption in office, incompetency, or any offense involving moral turpitude or oppression in office.”
I’m planning on making the daily drive to Jefferson City starting nest Tuesday to cover the House at the end of the regular session. I plan on being there for the start of the special session.
Immanentize
@germy: I still wouldn’t have felt too sorry for the man Killmonger became. After all, Kill Monger!
germy
Immanentize
@Michael Bersin: Question — if the House votes for articles of impeachment during the special session, does the Senate have to try the Gov. During that 30 day window?
germy
This photo sums it up perfectly:
Immanentize
@germy: Ha! I thought those girls were creepy when I saw the video. And Blankenship spoke like an evil Uncle A.I.
germy
Another powerful deleted Black Panther scene:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TxKP1BYx_4
JGabriel
But dumber. Much, much dumber.
MomSense
My allergies are making me crazy so I’m not doing any of the chores I should be doing. Listening to the Reveal podcast. Such good journalism. If you haven’t listened to it, give it a try.
Michael Bersin
@Immanentize:
There’s a specific process in the Missouri Constitution (Article VII, Section 2) for the impeachment of the governor. After the House votes to impeach the Senate votes to appoint seven jurists. Those seven jurists selected by the Senate are the ones who vote to convict or acquit. Five out of the seven on the “special commission” must vote to convict.
There’s no time limit specified for the trial by special commission in the Constitution.
Immanentize
@Michael Bersin: I know this is chaotic and painful for the State, but I hope you have a lot of fun covering it all. Thank you for your service ?
OzarkHillbilly
@gene108: I think I’ll just get an F thermometer. Too much math at 6 AM makes my head hurt.
OzarkHillbilly
@Michael Bersin:
That could be very entertaining. Maybe I’ll join you in the gallery.
Michael Bersin
The painful thing is in 2016 the Democratic Party candidates for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, and Treasurer were clearly superior and more qualified. 2016 was a republican sweep of those statewide offices. The republicans hold veto proof super majorities in both houses of the General Assembly. With that super majority they get to own the (possible) impeachment and conviction of their republican governor. They don’t need Democratic votes.
The House special investigative committee (five republicans and two Democrats) has unanimously signed off on their first report, its supplement, and their second report. The reports, the transcripts, and the exhibits are damning (and horrendous). The fact that a majority of republicans are proceeding with this against a republican governor tells you all you need to know. The frustrating part I that it’s taken the republican majority this long move forward with removing the narcissistic sociopath from office.
Yarrow
Good morning everyone. Wow, this description of Trump as the Enron of presidents is so good. It’s going to get bad for anyone who stays there.
Michael Bersin
@OzarkHillbilly:
I’d plan on getting their early. I’ll bet it’ll be packed.
OzarkHillbilly
@JGabriel: Definitely NOT the smartest guys in the room.
OzarkHillbilly
@Immanentize:
Nah, it’s actually rather cathartic.
OzarkHillbilly
@Michael Bersin: I know, park my ass in line at 5 am. At least it’s not January.
Jager
@MattF: as my Judge Grandpa used to say, “they are all innocent, even after they’ve been proven guilty”
gbbalto
@HeleninEire: When Canada went metric, I used pegs.
5C is 41F – chilly!
10C is 50F – brisk
15C is 59F – a little cool
20C is 68F – just right (for me)
25C is 77F – starting to get warm
30C is 86F – it’s HOT now
PsiFighter37
If Mueller flips the case on Manafort over to the Eastern District of VA, I’m sure he’ll do it. Manafort clearly is never going to flip – the man is so deep in the pockets of Russia that he knows he’s set up for a bad cup of coffee or a 5th floor balcony dive if he falls out of line. At some point, though, Mueller has to have enough info that Manafort becomes a side player. Rick Gates and Michael Flynn already flipped – they have to know almost as much as Manafort (especially Gates).
The judge sounds like he was being an asshole for the sake of being an asshole. A prosecutor who has argued >100 cases in front of SCOTUS (which is what Drebeen apparently has done, based on my reading yesterday) means he’s no slouch.
Amir Khalid
@HeleninEire:
Good thing that 62° is F and not C. 62°C would be 144°F — the temperature of medium roast beef.
Immanentize
@PsiFighter37:
I agree with all of this. Mueller might keep the case if he thinks there is still an opportunity to flip Manafort, or he might not. Legally, Manafort is toast. The Judge was just being a cranky 77 year old judge (probably mostly bored) swinging his dick. As for Dreeben, he is no slouch, but he too likes to swing his dick.
Obvious Russian Troll
@HeleninEire: I found it easy to memorize a couple of simple conversions and extrapolate from there.
0 Celsius = 32 Fahrenheit
10 Celsius = 50 Fahrenheit
20 Celsius = 68 Fahrenheit
For anything else, I keep in mind that every 5 degrees Celsius is 9 degrees Fahrenheit and every 10 degrees Celsius is 18 degrees Fahrenheit. I can make rough estimates of the Fahrenheit temperature in my head based on that without having to do the complete conversion.
MomSense
I remember seeing the Enron precarious E and thinking it was a really bizarre logo. It didn’t exactly present an image of stability.
Immanentize
@MomSense:
I have gone to Astros games in the Astrodome (where they served “Astrodogs”); Enron Field (where we decided they sold “Gasdogs”), and now Minute Maide Field (where we have dubbed their traditional fair “Juicydogs”). Of all the hotdogs, the Astrodogs were best.
Michael Bersin
@OzarkHillbilly:
Been there, done that in January.
It’s taken ten years. Long ago the Capitol press corps complained to the House Communications Office (delegated by the Speaker of the House) that us dirty bloggers were defiling the largely empty space in the press gallery. We were banned, not for our behavior, but because the then Capitol press corps didn’t want us there. After a few months of back and forth we got to the “compromise” that we check in with the House Communications Office in the morning and then set up in one of the floor level side galleries. We’ve been doing that several times a session for years. It allows us to get photographs, talk to member, and get interviews. After all that time we’re sometimes referred to (and treated as) “visiting press”.
The House (and Senate) makes their rules. We comply with them as we try to cover the goings on.
HeleninEire
@gene108: Thank you!!! That sure seems easy! But, still, I was told there wouldn’t be math ;)
Yarrow
@PsiFighter37: @Immanentize: Popehat had some thoughts on the comments by the judge in the Manafort case yesterday. You can click through for the whole thread. Final tweet:
Tim C.
@Matt McIrvin: Or a war that they are obviously losing. Bush managed both and they still kept 30 percent of the country.
Immanentize
@Yarrow:
I am gratified that Popehat agrees with me (and LAO).
HeleninEire
@gene108: There’s also a great mnemonic device: “30 is hot; 20 is nice; 10 is chilly; 0 is ice”. which at least gives you a range where the corresponding F is 90, 70, 50, and 30.
OzarkHillbilly
@Michael Bersin:
That will be the hard part. Complying does not come easy to me.
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@OzarkHillbilly: Manafort is afraid that flipping might upset his balance and cause him to fall out a window.
Immanentize
@HeleninEire:
Fire and Ice by Robert Frost
Vhh
@Boudica: Manafort worked for Trump for free,to get influence and grift [from Putin?].
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly:
Really? Didn’t know that. You always seems so timid and conforming…. Like your timid driving response to spittle flecked rage man. So submissive ?
P.S. Resistance is not futile
OzarkHillbilly
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): Or accidentally drinking some polonium tea.
Frankensteinbeck
@Yarrow:
I am vividly reminded (probably because I’m so irritated with GG for misleading about it) the judge’s comment on the Al-Alwaki case where he said he found the idea that the president could order a US citizen disturbing. It got all the attention, and people ignored that he ruled it was completely legal because Al-Alwaki had waived his right to fair trial.
Immanentize
Off to garden. I’ll share updates tomorrow a.m. peace!
aimai
@germy: Only white men have groove.
Amir Khalid
@Immanentize:
“Astrodog”? Wasn’t he the Jetson family canine?
MomSense
@Immanentize:
I took classes at Houston Ballet. Never made it to the stadium but I loved the zoo.
HeleninEire
@Immanentize: Yeah, so that one was better than mine!
OzarkHillbilly
@Immanentize: There are times I regret not joining a branch of the armed services, but then I remember who and what I am and realize that if I had I would have been killed about halfway thru boot camp.
gene108
@HeleninEire:
When I was a kid, in the late 1970’s and the USA was getting set to go metric, there would be these cartoon PSA’s during commercial breaks of the cartoons I watched, which went like 72F is comfortable it is the same as 22C, and with 16C you should wear a light jacket, so we kids would have an easier time adjusting.
Younger generations will never know how close we came to going metric.
The Other Chuck
@Frankensteinbeck:
Under what threat, I’m led to wonder.
OzarkHillbilly
That socialist hell hole otherwise known as California is now the worlds 5th largest economy.
JPL
@gene108: Then there was an America First uprising to stop that. We have always been stupid.
HeleninEire
@gene108: I was a kid in the 70s too. I remember that well. I once tried to tell a now 30ish year old person and she had no clue even though her Mom is just a few years older than me.
Brachiator
@OzarkHillbilly:
Ha! Yeah. We aren’t perfect, and have tons of problems that we are dealing with, and yet the state is a freaking economic dynamo.
As we approach our June primary, I’ve read that only 25 percent of voters are registered as Republicans.
Good times.
Barbara
@PsiFighter37: Ellis is well-known for doing this kind of thing but not known for being a maverick when it comes to decisions, but I never try to forecast how a federal judge is going to rule.
Robert Sneddon
A convenient mnenomic for Fahrenheit and Centigrade is that 16 deg C is just about 61 deg F, just flip the digits around.
I grew up with Fahrenheit (and I was even briefly exposed to Rankine in primary school before sanity prevailed) but Systeme Internationale (SI) was the standard well before I got into secondary school so no ergs, slugs, foot-pounds etc.
Gelfling 545
@?BillinGlendaleCA: sisters in laws visited here (Buffalo) from AZ a while back. They wore jackets all the time – IN JULY.
Gelfling 545
@TriassicSands: So it’s the judges opinion that any crimes Manafort may have committed should be ignored be ause he’s onne ted to Trump?
Brachiator
@MomSense:
I had not heard about this podcast before. I will give it a listen. Thanks.
ETA. Your post caught my eye because my allergies are kicking in this morning as well. Had I not read it, I would not have learned about the podcast. Crazy serendipity.
Barbara
@Robert Sneddon: 10 C = 50 F and every 10 degrees Celsius is 18 degrees Fahrenheit. 20 C is 68 F and 25 C is 77 and so on. I ski in Canada and that’s the only way I can calculate the F equivalent of negative C temps. 10 below 0 C equals 14 F. They merge at 40 below 0.
SiubhanDuinne
@gbbalto:
My Canadian relatives used this little rhyme:
Zero’s freezing,
Ten is not.
Twenty’s warm
And thirty’s HOT!
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@gene108: When Canada went metric, we lived in Detroit and got their TV. I still remember jingles. “There’s the liter. Please don’t sell it short. Works out fine if you keep in mind, it’s a little more that a quart.” “There’s the gram. The weight of a single raisin. About the weight of a paper clip. Isn’t that amazing?”
Brachiator
@gene108:
We have cellphones, Siri and Alexa. Why do we need formulae?
More seriously, this is a good shortcut.
ETA. Asked Google for the outside temperature in C, got it along with the complete daily forecast. Good times.
VOR
@Robert Sneddon: My kids studied science in school where they use SI units for Chemistry and Physics. So much easier than feet/inches/pounds. I tell them the US was planning a switch in the 70s but it never happened. They ask why, I say people like Trump voters.
rikyrah
@Immanentize:
Lucky you.
I should be taking Peanut to see Avengers this weekend ?
The Pale Scot
@Thoughtful David: Linky
To Vox insured article
Barbara
@Brachiator: It’s hard to do that when you’re using negative numbers though of course it is possible. Basically every degree C is equal to 1.8 or 9/5 F, and then adjusted for the different value accorded to zero, which is 32.
schrodingers_cat
@VOR: Someone told me that was one of the proposals of the Carter admin and it was very unpopular so no one has touched afterwards. Is that true?
Uncle Cosmo
@HeleninEire: C to F is easy: Double the C value, knock off 10%, add 32. So 25 C is (25 x 2 = 50) – (50 x 10% = 5) + 32 = 77 F. (even knocking off 10% is easy:move the decimal place one place to the left & subtract that from the original.)(h/t to Rick Steves for this one)
F to C is tougher. Subtaract 32 from the F value, divide by 9, multiply by 5 (or for a rough guess, divide by 2 & then add 10%). So 72 F is roughly (72-32=40) /2 = 20 + (20 x 10% =2) 22C (in fact (72-32) x 5/9 = 40 x 5/9 = 200/9 = 22.2 C.)
Handy guide: 37 C = 98.6 F (body temp); 5 C = 41 F; 10 C = 50 F; 20 C = 68 F (lower edge of comfy); 30 C = 86 F (toasty); 35 C = 95 F; 40 C = 104 F. Every 9 F you go up or down is 5 C. 0 C = 32 F, -5 C = 32 – 9 = 23 F, -10 C = 23 – 9 = 14 F.
Kelly
One of my neighbors printed a copy of his home remodeling plans in metric and never had to do fractions. The underlying plans were feet/inches so local lumber fit. Had a feet/inches copy to buy material and talk to subcontractors.
Brachiator
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady):
About the best “conversion” I remember involved Grace Hooper on the Letterman show talking about computers and science. She had a piece of rope with her, 11.8 inches, and explained that this was a nanosecond, the distance light would travel in a billionth of a second.
Another Scott
Saying Trump == Enron gives him much, much too much credit.
Something that comes closer is Trump == DMN. FTFNYT from 2000:
Cheers,
Scott.
Steve in the ATL
@MattF: prosecutors are, for the most part, assholes. They are judged by their conviction rate, so guilt and innocence are not important to them.
Elizabelle
@Uncle Cosmo: Thank you. I have always meant to learn how to convert. Why not today?
Kristine
I started thinking in metric during my undergrad chemistry research years. Heard a beer commercial on the radio in which the announcer bragged about ’40-degree mountain spring water’ and I thought ‘what are they bragging about–40 degrees is HOT.’
It didn’t really stick after I left the lab.
Aleta
Native American Brothers Pulled From Campus Tour After ‘Nervous’ Parent Calls Police
By Niraj Chokshi, via Associated Press
A pair of Native American brothers who had traveled seven hours to tour Colorado State University this week had their visit cut short after a parent on their tour reported them to the campus police. The parent, a mother, became suspicious after they joined the tour in progress, telling a 911 dispatcher that their behavior and clothing stood out, according to audio from the call.
Body camera footage shows two police officers pulling the brothers aside as they descended a set of stairs. There, the officers briefly questioned the brothers, Thomas Kanewakeron Gray, 19, and Lloyd Skanahwati Gray, 17. The officers soon let the pair rejoin the tour, but by then their guide — apparently unaware that the police had been summoned — had moved on, the university said in a statement.
The teenagers returned to the admissions office and were told that nothing could be done to complete their tour, they said. Frustrated, they embarked on the long trip home to Santa Cruz, N.M.
“We drove seven hours to pretty much get the cops called on us,” Thomas said in an interview on Friday.
The university expressed regret over the episode, calling it “sad and frustrating from nearly every angle.” On Friday, it released the 911 audio, body camera footage and a lengthy statement from Dr. Tony Frank, the university’s president. “Two young men, through no fault of their own, wound up frightened and humiliated because another campus visitor was concerned about their clothes and overall demeanor, which appears to have simply been shyness,” he said. “The very idea that someone — anyone — might ‘look’ like they don’t belong on a C.S.U. admissions tour is anathema.” Dr. Frank wrote of his own privilege as “a white man in a position of authority” and spoke of a “battle with hate within our communities,” referring to several recent episodes at the university, in Fort Collins, Colo.
This year, Colorado State University has reported finding multiple examples of racist graffiti and signs or fliers linked to extremist hate groups around campus. Last summer, a paper noose was found hanging in a residence hall.
In the statement, Dr. Frank said the school was trying to reach the brothers to reimburse them and offer to bring them back as V.I.P. guests. The school also needed to undertake broader changes aimed at inclusivity, he said.
…
During the 911 call on Monday, the woman who called said the brothers were “definitely not” a part of the tour, describing their behavior as “odd” and their clothing as bearing “dark stuff.” She accused them of lying by not giving their names or honestly answering when she asked what they wanted to study. Later, she appeared to express some doubt, saying that “it’s probably nothing” and that she felt “ridiculous.” But she could not shake her suspicion, she said. “If it’s nothing, I’m sorry, but it actually made me like feel sick and I’ve never felt like that,” she said.
The shirt Thomas was wearing on the tour had an image for Cattle Decapitation, a death metal band that opposes animal cruelty, he said. Lloyd’s shirt featured the symbol of another death metal band, Archspire. The brothers, who belong to the Mohawk tribe, moved to New Mexico from New York about a decade ago and were excited to check out the school because of its proximity to that state’s capital city, Thomas said.
“My main choice was Denver because of the music culture there,” he said, adding that he hopes to get a doctorate in music to start his own school and become a music therapist. Lloyd, he said, plans to be a visual arts major. The family has not decided whether to take the university up on its offer of a return trip and he has not decided whether to apply to Colorado State, Thomas said. “I don’t want to let one person’s selfish or jerky ways get in my way for what I want to do with my life,” he said.
On Friday, the brothers’ mother, Lorraine Kahneratokwas Gray, described her reaction to what had happened when they called her from campus. “My immediate thought was they’re being profiled because they’re different,” she said on “Native America Calling,” a live call-in show. “They’re not safe there.”
Even before the trip began, Ms. Gray was nervous, as it was the farthest her sons had traveled alone. She said, however, that she was relieved once they sent her a photo of themselves on the tour. “My thinking was, ‘Boy, now they’re safe,’” she said. “And boy, was I wrong about that.”
Frankensteinbeck
@The Other Chuck:
By holing up in a rebel camp in Yemen who declared they would kill anyone who attempted to bring him in, while he still worked organizing terrorist attacks. If you deliberately make yourself impossible to try, you can lose your right to a trial. It’s a long-established part of due process, you just don’t hear about it often. There were two trials (Law suits? Whatever), first by his family hoping to have him tried in absentia – a way bigger no-no constitutionally than a waived trial – and the second the one where that judge confirmed that having waived his right to trial, the president can indeed order him killed.
Frankensteinbeck
@schrodingers_cat:
I remember the metric non-conversion, and it is completely true. It was one of the earliest outbreaks of Cleek’s Law. N-loving liberals liked it, so fuck you all, nobody can tell Americans what to do!
J R in WV
@HeleninEire:
I learned that 68F = 20C for purposes of photo lab work, way back when photography was as much chemistry as composition. That helps me keep grounded, from there up it’s nearly two to one [9/5ths specifically] so it isn’t that hard.
scav
When I needd it, I rather developed a lazy, rough, working direct through the body conversion system. Sorta like, um, below 10° need coat, 22° need drink, and never did wonder what the coats and drinks meant in Fahrenheit. Very lower math.
azlib
@SiubhanDuinne:
Ha! 30C is tepid here in AZ. We only think it is hot when it reaches 44C.
VOR
@Frankensteinbeck: There is a Wikipedia article on US Metrification.
Another Scott
@azlib: BBC News – Farming at 50C
(122 F)
Yikes.
Cheers,
Scott.
Frankensteinbeck
@VOR:
Like I said.
Raoul
@HeleninEire: My mom had a basic saying that I’ve found at least a bit helpful when traveling outside the Fahrenheit world: 10 is chilly, 20 is comfortable, 30 is hot*.
I’ll add, 50 is now Pakistan – which seems unimaginably miserable.
At some point along the way, for me, it finally stuck that 20 = 68F. In part so that I know what to set the hotel A/C at (19 please – yes I like it cool!) With 20 lodged in my head, I then use the rough steps of 2 degrees F per 1 C. At some point it gets off by a degree F, but for deciding if I want a jacket or shorts for the day in Rome or Berlin, good enough.
It’s supposed to be 28-29 in Budapest when I arrive there late this week, which I am not that excited about. I would have preferred the average spring temps of 21-22.
*Clearly ’30 is hot’ doesn’t work in the desert SW of the US. My mom was from Sweden!!
Ruckus
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
60 with shorts and a sweatshirt is sweating weather.
80 is AC weather to keep from melting.
RollSound
@gene108:
I just remember the easy conversions (0C = 32F, 10C = 50F, 20C = 68F, 30C = 84F, etc.) and interpolate between them.
Raoul
@Matt McIrvin:
To some extend, that could explain Neil Cavuto’s 4 minute rant about Trump and his lies. As the managing editor of business news on Fox (I used to watch him way back on PBS’s Nightly Business Report when he wasn’t a Fox-er). He probably knows the economic shit is gonna hit the fan, and he is getting ahead of the pack to soften up the audience for when the day comes that “Fox has always been at war with Trump” ’cause you know that’s coming if the wheels fly off. Fox will want to back the next powerful conservative, not the failing one.
Jay
@OzarkHillbilly:
Just give up on f. Say f it. Live in a c world. At 20c , t shirt and shorts, at 15c, t shirt and jeans, at 10c t shirt at sweater.
WaterGirl
@OzarkHillbilly: Hoping The dump truck in the white house doesn’t get jealous and start bombing CA.
WaterGirl
@Uncle Cosmo: I like math, but even I want to smack you for posting all that.
WaterGirl
@Aleta: This is the deeply ugly side of “see something, say something”and “trust your gut”.
I guess your gut’s not so trustworthy when you’re racist. I think the University handled this quite poorly. If I were those kids, I wouldn’t even consider going to school there.
Ruckus
@Kelly:
I work in decimal and fractional inches, metric, letters and numbers.
It’s fun! And what calculators are made for.
To convert from metric to inch, divide by 25.4
To convert from inch to metric multiply by 25.4
To convert letter and number sizes to useful measurements – read the damn charts.
philbert
@Brachiator: That 9/5 and 5/9 is awkward for in your head! For F to C: F = (C * 2) -10%, then adjust from 32. Exact! Years back I was visiting Canada a lot and got out a pencil one day and figured, (C = ( F-10%) / 2, adjust from 32) but this thread finally got me to figure the reverse.
J R in WV
@WaterGirl:
” I think the University handled this quite poorly. If I were those kids, I wouldn’t even consider going to school there.”
The U offered to pay for the kids to visit as VIPs, and probably had nothing to do with the police responding to a call from a nitwit. I don’t see what they could have done different with the situation as it unfolded.
Plus the school seems good in the fields the kids mentioned, and it’s in Colorado! So much greener than Las Cruces, NM, which might matter to people from NY state, and Mohawks at that.
Seems like you’re blaming the school some for what a nitwit is responsible for all by herself… Otherwise you are quite correct about “Gut’s not so trustworthy when you’re racist.”
Fair Economist
@Comrade Nimrod Humperdink: A few nights ago I picked up my son from his girlfriend’s, where he’d been inside. When he got in the car after about 30 seconds outside he said, “I’m freezing! TURN ON THE HEAT!”
It was 61.
Chet Murthy
@TriassicSands: Last night (4 May) Maddow’s show had a segment on this judge’s (uh) antics. The judge asked “why is manafort different from Cohen? I mean, you hived off -that- unrelated-to-Russia case to SDNY, why can’t you hive this off?” And apparently SC-associated prosecutor said something like “the SC takes great pains to ensure that all cases that can be hived off (b/c unrelated to Russian hacking) are indeed hived-off”. Which is an oblique way of saying (per Maddow) “this case is intrinsically related to Russian hacking”. How interesting.
Chet Murthy
@Fair Economist: Living in SF, it’s amusing to see kids with “winter coats” (complete with furry hoods) when it’s in the 50s. And people complaining that the buses don’t have aircon, when it’s in the 70s.
Brachiator
@Ruckus:
All this metric conversion stuff reminds me of this sad story from 1999.
Oops.
Ruckus
@Brachiator:
Probably some conservative engineer that wasn’t going to use the liberal metric system!
But yeah that was a fuckup of epic proportions. Conservative approach to, well fucking everything, “Never make anything easy or easier, wise or wiser, smart or smarter, good or better, if that something wasn’t used or didn’t exist back when the country was founded.” This applies to conservatives in every country, so some of them have to go back a few years farther than our basackwards asshole conservatives do but this applies to all of them. And if talking about religious conservatives they have to go back to the first recorded instances of whatever it is being discussed, even if those recordings were set on fire, soaked in whatever liquid was handy, or rerecorded a thousand times…. Because nothing newer than fossilized bullshit is acceptable. Not even fresh bullshit.
NotMax
Ahem.
;)
The Other Chuck
@Frankensteinbeck: I’ll take that. These days I pretty much assume bad faith on the part of the authorities until hearing otherwise. You know, the same authorities that vigorously defend their prerogative to torture people.