When you lie on your CV but still get the job. pic.twitter.com/srRk1VNB8o
— Paul Bronks (@BoringEnormous) May 4, 2018
As a break from the earnest / tragic business of national politics at this moment in time…
Here's a name that would shake up the New York AG race: Hillary Clinton
— Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) May 8, 2018
Here's another one: Mike Piazza. And here's a third: William Jennings Bryan. https://t.co/nrxfxFCoLQ
— David Roth (@david_j_roth) May 8, 2018
… I offer this brilliant brutal handbagging* of the worthless Chris ‘Mad Bitchin’ Cillizza:
Chris Cillizza’s job isn’t as easy as it seems, although it also isn’t nearly difficult enough to justify the salary he receives for doing it. What that job is even supposed to be is kind of a moving target, to be honest, but much of what Cillizza does in his current position as a political reporter and editor-at-large at CNN comes closer to blogging about celebrity fashion than it does conventional political writing. Fundamentally what he writes about is political style—hot new innovations in institutionalized incompetence; particularly deft or buzzy bits of toxic pettiness; what’s trending in the collapse of everything the country ever pretended to hold dear.
This feels, from one frothy burble to the next, like a very specific type of fashion writing, not of the kind that an astute critic or academic or even competent industry-facing journalist might write, but of the kind that you find on social media in the threaded comments attached to photos of Rihanna. Cillizza does not really appear to follow any policy issue at all, and evinces no real insight into electoral trends or political tactics. He just sort of notices whatever is happening and cheerfully announces that it is very exciting and that he is here for it.…
Anyway, because he is to all appearances an absolute fucking doorknob, Cillizza excels at this work. But while he makes it look easy, even an eager-beaver Politics Noticer like Cillizza must eventually notice that this fun sport that so thrills and delights him is also generally debasing everyone participating in or otherwise subject to it and leading to infinitely more suffering than any sport should…
(* I originally used ‘pig-bladdering’, but that felt like insulting Cillizza’s genetics.)
As to the serious topic enthusiastically spittled by The Mad Bitcher — don’t worry, the grownups have things in hand:
New acting state AG Barbara Underwood quickly picks up where disgraced Eric Schneiderman left off in Trump fight, @gblainnydn reports https://t.co/wSKndhHddM
— Dareh Gregorian (@darehgregorian) May 9, 2018
Barbara Underwood was 1st in her law school class. The 1st woman US Solicitor General. And now, the 1st woman to serve as NY AG.
I wish the circumstances were different, but it’s incredibly meaningful to watch New Yorkers get to know this brilliant woman. https://t.co/GqNqxYyzfQ pic.twitter.com/0zUq5PGI2Q
— Amy Spitalnick (@amyspitalnick) May 10, 2018
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone ???
JPL
@rikyrah: Good Morning to you!!!!!!
Jeffro
“Politics noticer” – ???
Good morning, y’all. I’m off on an all-day-and-into-the-night field trip with mini-me, so be good.
bystander
Bonjour, mes amis!
Barbara Underwood is one very impressive attorney. Hard to imagine what she faced after graduation from law school in the 1960s. Many firms would not even interview a woman for an associate position in that era. We are lucky she found a path through clerkships and academia. She may have wanted it that way, but I’m struck (yet again) with the enormous amount of talent we have squandered over the years because VAGINA! (And how many other people who were not allowed to achieve their full potential because of racist/sexist institutionalized discrimination?)
Darkrose
OT: I am very sad that Brooklyn Nine-Nine has been cancelled by Fox. Hopefully Hulu or Netflix will pick it up, because it’s one of the best shows on television. Andre Braugher not getting an Emmy is a travesty.
Gvg
Hillary Clinton would have to recuse herself from investigating Trump I think so not her and I think Preet would also since Trump fired him.
OzarkHillbilly
@Gvg: It would not effect any investigation whatsoever. Their job, should they decide to accept it, would be to defend the integrity of the office against trump’s attacks. Something Sessions doesn’t have the balls to do.
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
OzarkHillbilly
From the “You can’t make this shit up” file:
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: Why does a dog have a gun in his belly band?
Anne Laurie
@OzarkHillbilly: I wondered about that one: Guy said he had engaged both safety latches, but ‘somehow the dog disengaged them both’. There’s little I’d put past a boisterous Lab — not a fan of their unbreakable conviction that pretending they’re lapdogs is ‘cute’ — but that seems a little… well, maybe I just don’t understand the engineering?
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Because only a good dog with a gun can stop a bad dog with a gun?
Cermet
Morning Jackals. A very nice morning here out in Washington (The swamp; aka: DC.)
Platonailedit
@Baud: A reservoir dog?
OzarkHillbilly
@Anne Laurie: Ummmm, never seen a gun with 2 safeties. Never. Not sure what he’s talking about.
And “Lap-Labs” are too cute. And irresistibly lovable. And pettable. My hands are not my own anymore. Sometimes I tell the Woofmeister to go get his own. Next thing I know the hands that used to be mine are petting him again.
satby
@Baud: @Anne Laurie: The guy was wearing his gun in his house? The constant carry people really are nuts.
@rikyrah: Good morning ?!
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: yeah, the story is probably b.s. and he’s just blaming his dog.
And my pit-chocolate lab mix would certainly be a lap dog if he could, but he settles for pinning me down with his enormous head. 110 lbs of pure devotion (his entire self, not just his head).
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly: The guy shot himself and blamed it on the dog.
ETA. Regardless whether this was even possible, as others said, idiot human for having a gun tucked in his waist, seated, roughhousing with his dog. Or kid. Or himself….
Baud
@Immanentize:
The dog
ate my homeworkshot me in the leg.Immanentize
I seem this morning to finally be coming out of my over-a-week long cold. It was miserable and was made worse by the allergies. Ugh.
But almost better….
satby
As to the topic, Cillizza may be the poster boy but his reporting of style over substance in politics infects the entire news industry.
Nicole
Good morning! Up early (though, thankfully, not to calls at 4:15 in the morning) and doing some work. Already this morning, I have learned that Louis XIV was 5 feet 3 inches tall.
Also, could Jane and Ronan please turn their investigative skills to Cillizza? Anyone who’s that big of a knob has something bad hidden in his closet and it would be nice for the nation.
satby
@Immanentize: that’s good. Whatever cold bug went around this year was nasty. Most of us were sick for much longer, glad you dodged that!
Lapassionara
@satby: I avoid him entirely, but I suspect he has influenced others.
Good morning, everyone.
OzarkHillbilly
@satby: I can see the dog hitting the trigger, but I suspect the safety wasn’t on. I remember a time when the first thing one did upon entering a domicile was unload the weapon and store it. Now they are sitting around their homes with a gun inside their belt (which for the record, is not recommended and not very comfortable) while watching TV, eating dinner, probably even when they are showering.
The lackadaisical attitudes these nut jobs have concerning their guns is really insane. Not much comfort I know but it is still more likely they will shoot themselves than they will anyone else.
OzarkHillbilly
Black activist jailed for his Facebook posts speaks out about secret FBI surveillance
I got nothing, just nothing.
debbie
Cillizza would seem to be perfect for Vanity Fair.
satby
@OzarkHillbilly:
I remember that too, watched my father do it every time he came off duty. Gun unloaded and locked in one place, bullets put away in a different room. It was such a cliche they showed Barney Miller doing it on that show.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: I hope he sues their pants off.
JPL
@debbie: Cillizza would be a perfect fit for Patch. The neighborhood news source.
Just one more canuck
@OzarkHillbilly: only a good dog with a gun can stop a bad dog with a gun
ETA – read the damn comments first
JPL
@OzarkHillbilly: That is so infuriating, and I agree with Baud. The person has children who are now also fearful of the police.
Bruce K
@OzarkHillbilly: I recall reading somewhere that the Colt Army Automatic had multiple safeties, including a manual switch and some sort of grip catch that disabled the gun unless someone was gripping it properly.
debbie
The first words from my radio this morning were “Trump” and “World Peace.” I don’t know whether to thank the universe for starting off my day with a good laugh or to shake my fist at it for reminding me of that abominable person.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: I hope everyone involved in the prosecution of this case goes to prison for a long, long time. And if wishes were horses I’d have a hundred stall stable overflowing.
The part that gets me is this:
As opposed to this:
To some extent our country’s law enforcement attitudes haven’t changed a damn bit since 1960. No doubt the current administration has something to do with it.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
Sounds like Broken Windows to me.
I don’t understand why his attorney (public defended) didn’t get the charges thrown out right away.
ETA: This is why Sessions isn’t going anywhere.
MomSense
I feel about 1/3 human today since the tree pollen levels seem to have decreased.
Today most of the state is under a red flag warning.
Patricia Kayden
@OzarkHillbilly: Wow. He needs to sue the FBI for false arrest. In so many ways, it feels that we’re moving backwards. Now, we’re back to harassing Civil Rights activists. Why doesn’t the FBI arrest the wankers at 4chan who foment murders (Toronto van attack, for example)?
Baud
@Patricia Kayden:
Bros would be up in arms.
Patricia Kayden
@debbie: A man who literally encourages rally attendees to physically attack non-violent protesters knows zip about peace.
A man who called an entire continent “sh*thole countries” knows zip about peace.
A man who uses Twitter to bully, mock and threaten his perceived enemies knows zip about peace.
But here we are again with our MSM uncritically praising Trump for the thawed relationship between the two Koreas. Sigh.
MCA1
Ahhhh, good old Chris Cilizza. Caesar Flickerman in real life.
OzarkHillbilly
@Bruce K:
That is a relatively recent innovation, and a good one, and one that I had not heard had been added to the Colt (I am decades behind on my gun porn reading so entirely possible) The thing about that tho is that it can not be “switched off” except by gripping the gun with the hand. Unsure how a dog could manage it (I suppose it is possible) and pull the trigger at the same time (really doubt it could manage the 2) .
Either way, stupid is as stupid does.
Anne Laurie
@debbie:
Vanity Fair actually has some pretty good political reporting — Gabriel Sherman, for instance, and Bess Levin (who IMO is doing what Cillizza would if he had the brains).
Van Buren
@Baud: Get with the times,city boy.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud:
It probably took 5 months just to meet his client. One overworked and underpaid PD handles bail hearings and then the case is handed off to the clients attorney who is also overworked and underpaid. PDs who have been on the job for more than one year pretty much know what they are doing (having gone thru a 6 month crash course in govt incompetence and a 2nd on govt venality) and I suspect this one took one look at the preliminaries and just started laughing at the stupidity of it all.
There is a reason most PDs only last 2 or 3 years before they burn out and get a job at some corporate law firm.
ETA and yes, “broken windows” for black activists is a very accurate description
WaterGirl
@OzarkHillbilly: Holy fuck. That is a hundred ways wrong. Appalling.
zhena gogolia
@Anne Laurie:
They seem to have banished their good investigative reporting from the print magazine since Graydon Carter retired. There’s still some stuff on the website, but the last issue was investigative-reporting-free.
WaterGirl
@Baud: I started to type the same thing, but then I wondered who he could sue. US attorney who overreached? The FBI?
Somebody has to pay for this or this kind of authoritarian crap will get more and more common.
MattF
Here’s another Cillizza takedown. Yeah, I seem to be collecting them.
SiubhanDuinne
@satby:
Evan Hurst at Wonkette also took Cillizza down both brutally and hilariously a day or two ago.
ICYMI.
Glad to see Cillizza finally getting pummeled as he deserves.
OzarkHillbilly
@Anne Laurie: Agreed. I check out “The Hive” at VF on a semi regular basis.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
I thought the PDs in the federal system had a bit more resources than state PDs.
@WaterGirl: I don’t know. If there was a grand jury, they are immune. The story didn’t get into where the break down in the process actually occurred.
ETA: US Attorney, perhaps. Not sure how reasonable his or her incorrect interpretation of the law was.
Baud
@WaterGirl: I’m confident the NRA will be screaming in defense of this guy’s right to bear arms though. Right after Greenwald tweets about this.
sdhays
@OzarkHillbilly: It takes quite a lot of chutzpah for a man so terrified of his own shadow that he’s lounging around his own house with a gun on his belt to say that his dog is the wuss because he demonstrated distress when Mr. Gun-Nut accidentally shoots himself.
I’m just glad that the dog didn’t get hurt.
OzarkHillbilly
I love it:
I usually look upon thieves with disfavor but I have to give this guy an A+ for ingenuity and picking his victim. However his proclamation of innocence rates only a D:
Honestly officer, I have no idea how those $58,000 worth of checks got deposited in my bank account!
rikyrah
@Darkrose:
Mr. Braugher is one of my favorite actors.
sdhays
@SiubhanDuinne: The punishment he deserves is to no longer have a platform at a major news organization. Unfortunately, no matter how hard he professionally disgraces himself and his news organization, he can’t seem to get them to fire him.
WaterGirl
@Baud: When I am benevolent dictator of the world, there will be consequences for prosecutorial overreach.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: They do but they are still overworked. A friend of mine was a PD in IL’s Southern District. I think she lasted 4 years. Not even practicing law anymore.
Baud
@sdhays: I wonder how much media companies take into account the readership generated by hate readers.
rikyrah
More musings from Dolt45 and his contempt for the Constitution
https://twitter.com/Amy_Siskind/status/994738706077638656?s=19
Baud
@WaterGirl: I will sign an executive order making you benevolent dictator on Day 1 of the Baud! presidency.
@OzarkHillbilly: Wow.
sdhays
@Baud: Judging by the hiring decisions at the Atlantic and the NYT editorial page, that’s their primary target.
OzarkHillbilly
@rikyrah: I think Amy is treating the senile old man’s *less lucid* rantings a little too seriously.
**damn near everything that comes out of his mouth is less than lucid, so I am referring to those things on the lower half of the curve.
MomSense
@OzarkHillbilly:
Appalling.
RedDirtGirl
@rikyrah: “Ho Ho Ho Homicide”, is how one of the cops answered the phone on a Christmas episode of Homicide: Life on the Streets
Kay
Nasty, mean-spirited people. The Trump Administration are bragging about this because in this twisted world view nastiness = tough. These coddled, soft, pampered people are very very tough on destitute 5 year olds. Zero tolerance!
In other news another low quality Trump hire “almost resigned”.
They leak these things so they can tell themselves they’re not like the rest of the creeps in this administration, but they are. That’s why they were hired. They’re specifically chosen for a lack of character. If they were the kind of people who actually resign in protest they never would have made it past the first interview.
Since Cohen was taking millions of dollars in bribes I think it stands to reason that he’s not the only one on Team Trump who was frantically cashing in the minute Trump got the keys. Who else? There were months there that there was virtually no oversight or substantive coverage of the new administration. How much did they all collect in that window?
Kay
Are Kelly and Sessions deliberately broadcasting the Trump Administration policy of pulling apart families because they think their base will eat it up? This is a campaign-style roll-out. They’re promoting this in concert.
This is what they brag about?
JPL
@Kay: The deplorables will cheer.
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay:
Well, yeah, because beating up 5 yr olds is the RWNJ tuff guy thing to do.
WaterGirl
@Baud: I am honored, and I will start compiling my list now. Look for an early draft sometime next week.
rikyrah
@Kay:
They are evil azz muthaphuckas ?
Kay
@JPL:
They will. That’s why they’re off on a media tour bragging about it. Isn’t Kelly ashamed? This big powerful guy is now reduced to bragging about punishing immigrant children at the direction of his scumbag boss? Is this what he worked his whole life for?
I read part of the Kelly interview, BTW. He might want to resist slamming people who have 6th grade educations. He’s no rocket scientist. He operates at a fairly low level. Not a lot of deep analysis going on there. I’d put any of the Mexican immigrants who work here up against him on “smart”.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
Much like Nunes, I look forward to leaking it without reading it.
rikyrah
@Kay:
Nielsen was a murdering bytch from Katrina. Spare me.?
FlipYrWhig
@Kay: Their party is unified by being a disgusting bunch of resentful bigots, so, yes.
rikyrah
@Kay:
THIS is who they are.
And those who would approve this?
Don’t ask me to ‘ understand’ them.
Phuck those muthaphuckas ?
They are NOT misunderstood voters.
They are hateful people and should be treated as such.
Leto
@rikyrah: @Darkrose: B99 is one of our absolute favorite shows. The greater potential travesty is the fact that it, The Last Man on Earth, and The Mick are all being canceled while Tim Allen’s shitshow, “The Last Man Standing” might be brought back at Fox. Honestly, give me another reason to stop watching that channel (only reason moving forward is Bob’s Burgers).
@bystander: Her story is pretty similar to Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s story. I read an autobiography of RBGs, The Notorious RBG (same women who run the website wrote the book), and it only made me even more impressed with the woman. Wishing the best of luck to AG Underwood with the continuing investigation.
Kay
@rikyrah:
This is the start of GOP midterm campaign. This is a point of pride for these people. They rolled it out first.
Trump does that silly thing where he misspells people’s names to indicate disrespect. It’s a common low quality asshole petty thing to do and I was amused that he does it. When I see it at work I always think “7th grader”
rikyrah
I will say it again
Every Democrat should have the attitude of Ted Lieu or Maxine Waters
https://twitter.com/JoyAnnReid/status/994796137927331841?s=19
SgrAstar
@satby: ooooh! Satby, can you share a pic of that incredible beast! My giant black lab died recently, and I miss him so much.
mad citizen
OT Was just riding up in my work elevator. 20 something woman was on her phone. I heard her say something about Pence and Twitler spending the night here. Now I’m getting it, there was a rally in Elkhart and am hearing a story two offices away about a motorcade encounter. Anyway, as young woman gets off elevator she is saying “I liked Ainsley’s dress this morning.” Not how I wanted to start my day.
JPL
@Kay: Kelly was raised in an Irish family in Boston. He reminds me of the type of person who would throw rocks at buses when they tried to integrate the local schools.
Yarrow
Thanks for linking that Deadspin takedown of Cillizza. Brutally hilarious and so accurate.
satby
@SgrAstar: Condolences SgrAstar! You must miss your beloved friend so much!
My guy is getting very old and will leave a huge hole when he goes. Here’s a link to both my oldsters, with his beloved buddy Rosie acting as Hershey’s pillow this time.
O. Felix Culpa
@rikyrah: YES!!! Go Auntie Maxine! (Fans self.)
NotMax
Pair of offbeat Japanese flicks, if that floats yer wasen, on TCM this weekend.
Saturday, 2:00 a.m. – Funeral Parade of Roses. The Japanese transvestite and gay underground of 1970.
Saturday, 4:00 a.m. – Crazed Fruit. Racy by any standard for its time (1956!) tale of hormone addled young sun worshippers. English title could just as well have been Beach Blanket Banging (although it predated the squeaky clean American beach movie crazelet).
Oh, and happy birthday to (he mumbled shyly and modestly)
me
!chopper
@Leto:
“The greater potential travesty”, that’s the name of your sex tape.
Kay
@JPL:
Maybe we can retroactively deport him. We accept only high quality immigrants.
The gratuitous meanness of Team Trump depresses me. I hate that this is admired, considered “brave”.
It’s bad that they’re in the public eye. They’re bad role models- for adults, I mean.
rikyrah
“I just panicked. I felt like my heart exploded”: Shocking dashcam footage shows police dragging a 65-year-old woman out of her car at a traffic stop in Alpharetta, Georgia. https://t.co/JT86WK8Q7N pic.twitter.com/I55ixRI7Ay
— ABC News (@ABC) May 11, 2018
satby
@NotMax: Happy Birthday ???!
Many happy returns of the day to you ☺
Kay
It’s prom weekend here, which is a big deal. My son is going although he’s a freshman because we’re trying this thing at his school where grade levels are much more fluid, so there will be quite a few freshman and sophomores there as the guests of juniors and seniors. We didn’t really think thru the social implications of mixing up grades like this and I have my doubts about the wisdom of it. I usually resist trendy ideas at the public school but they persuaded me on this one and the longer it goes on the more I think we didn’t put enough thought into it.
Anyway- he’s not wearing a tux or suit although he is wearing a tie. He has long hair so I showed him how to do a low ponytail in the hope it would look neater. We fought about his hair for a long time and I gave in. It’s just not a hill to die on.
Yarrow
@NotMax: Happy birthday! Are you doing anything to celebrate?
JPL
@rikyrah: That’s been all over the local news.
Yarrow
@Kay: Someone should look into his immigrant background and see if the first to arrive was “illegal.” If so, then according to the rules preferred by this administration, any children and grandchildren would also be “illegal,” which would probably make Kelly himself not a citizen. Sounds like a fun project!
Yarrow
@Darkrose: @Leto: I love Brooklyn 99 and am really disappointed they canceled it.
Kay
@Yarrow:
It’s just gross. Especially since we clearly had a huge white collar crime problem. Let’s devote some resources to that. Cohen was apparently acting with impunity for 20 years and Trump ran his crime ring for 50. Where are all the prosecutors we’re paying? I don’t know why Stormy Daniels lawyer has to do all the work.
Gin & Tonic
Good afternoon from me and good morning to most of you, as I wait to board the train from Oslo to Bergen.
JPL
@NotMax: Oh happy day!
NotMax
@Yarrow
Plans … fluid.
Did splurge yesterday while doing the monthly shopping on some lobster tails for din-din today. Broke the budget, but what the hey. Planning to chill a bottle of prosecco, too. That’s about it.
@satby
Mucho mahalo.
Kay
@Yarrow:
I’m sympathetic to illegal border crossers because I know I would be one. Absolutely. I feel like there’s a human right to get the hell out out of there, wherever “there” is.
eclare
@OzarkHillbilly: This has KKKeebler Elf’s handwriting all over it. Infuriating.
rikyrah
Make America White Again ??
https://twitter.com/RonaldKlain/status/994807951679508481?s=19
Cheryl Rofer
There are no male spouses, either.
ETA: This is rikyrah’s link, but I thought it worthwhile to have the photo show up.
Kay
I think this ultra-savvy take is so damaging. Someone should ask these people “okay, super-sophisticate, but where does it end? What’s the limit here? At what point are we allowed to think this is venal and corrupt and disgusting?”
They will be saying this until it’s so rotten it collapses and it will, eventually, collapse. The thing about systemically corrupt systems is they fail and the US is not unique. It will fail like all the others. When it does it will be the fault of the “nothingburger” crowd who scolded anyone who objected until it was so riddled with rot it collapsed.
tobie
@rikyrah: Thanks for the link to Joy’s twitter feed. I liked this post from Keith Boykin in her twitter feed:
I continue to be stunned not at how Kim Jong-Un has played Trump–that’s easy to do with a narcissist–but how he’s played the US press.
Kathleen
@NotMax: Happy Birthday Mr. NotMax!
rikyrah
This is the response to #BBQingWhileBlack in Oakland.
Sometimes, you march. Sometime you get creative ??
How Oakland says fuck gentrification ? pic.twitter.com/VO6gAQo3LN
— Philip Bank$? (@PhilDeezNuts) May 11, 2018
Kay
@Cheryl Rofer:
I read this internal GOP doc from the 1984 national convention someone posted on Twitter and it’s just amazing how far Right they’ve gone.
The doc had “placeholders” for speakers- some named speakers but then placeholders for speakers they needed to fill in- it was like “woman” or “Hispanic” so at one point it was important to these [people that they at least be perceived as diverse.
No more. Now whites-only is an overt selling point. Maybe it’s better. Truth in advertising.
Yarrow
@NotMax: Lobster tails…yum! Sometimes low key birthdays are the best. Just enjoy where you are and enjoy the day.
@Kay: I’m sympathetic to them too. But since Kelly and his ilk are not, they for sure should play by the rules they want to force others to play by. Lead by example!
debit
@rikyrah: Hah hah hah! That’s awesome!!
debit
@NotMax: Many happy returns of the day!
Cheryl Rofer
@Kay: The GOP used to be a real political party, willing to have a big tent and interested in governing. They were willing to discuss their policies, not toss a bucket of bad faith over those who disagreed.
I’m concerned about how we will proceed when we get them out of power – and we will! To some degree, the followers will turn to more sense once the insane leaders shut up. There is a hard core of true believers who are really dangerous, though. But you can trace a similar hard core back to the 1950s. They were kept under control then, and we’ll be able to deal with them in the future too.
Kay
@Yarrow:
I have sort of wacko ideas on immigration. I’m not the mainstream. I have trouble with the whole concept of borders trumping what I consider base human rights- the fundamental right TO MOVE, TO GO, which I invented :)
I get it- I can read the immigration code and follow it but my heart’s not in it. I’m like a sovereign citizen on this. A little baffled at what all the fuss is about, not accepting the basic premise.
rikyrah
Thread
About the importance of voting in November
https://twitter.com/alexandraerin/status/994893375886254086?s=19
Kay
@Cheryl Rofer:
Our LOCAL GOP is much more mainstream than the national party, which is amusing because they’re rural and probably not as “educated” as far as formal elite credentials. They should be the hicks, and instead the NYC President is a dumb-ass reactionary.
They can still do local government. Ours is Right wing but it functions and they’re not really ideological. It’s the grifters and the bullshitters and the big shots at the top who are destroying that Party.
rikyrah
Avenatti has no chill?
https://twitter.com/MichaelAvenatti/status/994901483144581122?s=19
WaterGirl
@Baud: I would expect nothing less!
Cheryl Rofer
@Kay: James Fallows has a book out about how many things are working much better at the local level than at the national. I haven’t followed his Twitter stream closely because I am following too many other things, but what you are saying is consistent with that. I think we have to keep things working well, improve them, and eventually we (including your local reasonable Republicans) will take back the country.
rikyrah
Krugman for the win
https://twitter.com/paulkrugman/status/994918085650993152?s=19
Kay
@Cheryl Rofer:
The Republicans who follow the national Party are more extreme. We have two judges who used to be normal Right wingers who are now crazed Fox spouters- that’s the influence of the NATIONAL political campaigns. One of them is an out and proud member of the “I hate Latinos” club and this is gonna bite him. His jurisdiction is probably 20% or better Latino and courthouses are gossipy. This shit he’s spouting is gonna leave that building, if it hasn’t already. He can’t do this as a judge. He can’t proudly announce his bias against 20% of the people who live where he works because they come in front of him.
bystander
I just tried to read Karen Tumulty’s soul baring op/ed, How We Underestimated Michael Cohen. She ends with classic bothsiderist b/s by comparing Cohen’s secret funnelling of millions of dollars to David Plouffe getting a $50,000 speaking fee in Azerbaijian after leaving the Obama administration. How do they print this crap? Why do I read it? Is there some Andrea Mitchell Prize for hackery?
WaterGirl
@rikyrah: I’m beginning to think that every existing law enforcement officer should be fired and have the ability to apply for their old jobs. After serious screening of applicants.
Yarrow
@rikyrah: LOLOLOLOL. So good, I had to post the whole tweet here.
That mop hair! Bwahahahaha!
WaterGirl
@Kay: Any kid would be lucky to have you for a mom.
Another Scott
@rikyrah: +1
He was great on, what was it, “Homicide – Life on the Streets”? Yup.
YouTube (9:51) – warning – a bit intense.
Cheers,
Scott.
WaterGirl
@Cheryl Rofer: After clicking on several links from BJ this morning and then seeing this photo, I am officially declaring today a Day of Rage.
Matt McIrvin
@Kay: Who says he can’t? Is it possible to stop him?
germy
Sounds like a plan.
Kathleen
@Another Scott: He’s also done stellar guest star turn on L&O SVU as a high powered defense attorney.
Kay
@WaterGirl:
Thanks! You get better at picking battles. He plays the guitar and I so remember that – how one needed an identity as a kind of protective shell and I think long hair is part of his. The school has sort of cleverly coopted his band- they brought them into the official orchestra program as “electric strings” which so made me laugh because now they’re not rebels :)
Sell outs. They’re basically sell outs.
rikyrah
Republicans line up against Justice, invite Rosenstein showdown
Rep. Eric Swalwell talks about congressional Republicans insisting on being given access to elements of the investigation into Donald Trump against the wishes of the Department of Justice.
Yellowdog
@OzarkHillbilly: This is a NY state elected office. 1. Not the office Bahara held, and 2. Sessions has no control over it.
debit
@germy: Wait, what? Cancel the election or his participation in it? I have to ask, because we all live in Crazytown now, where laws are more of a gentle suggestion.
rikyrah
Republicans try to push Justice over red line on Trump probe info
Matt Miller, former Department of Justice spokesman, discusses whether Republicans can coerce the DoJ to violate principle and release details of the ongoing investigation into Donald Trump, including the identity of a classified informant.
Kay
@Matt McIrvin:
He gets appealed a lot now which unless I miss my guess is the process response to what lawyers see as him going off the rails. They’re looking for irrational or unsupported opinions, and finding them, or they wouldn’t bother appealing. Reputation matters and it tends to snowball, where if you’re looking for something it jumps out at you. If they know he has this bias they’ll be on notice to look for it and it’s adversarial- they want to win.
rikyrah
Payment revelations show Cohen at center of billion dollar deals
The Washington Post reports that money paid by AT&T to Michael Cohen was meant to help them gain approval for a multi-billion dollar merger with Time Warner.
rikyrah
Trump GOP unfettered in packing courts with dubious choices
Ari Melber shows how Republicans are taking full advantage of their control of Congress by trying to fill as many judicial vacancies as possible, in many cases with candidates of questionable values or experience.
rikyrah
Extremists and worse slip through as GOP rushes to pack courts
Sherrilyn Ifill, NAACP Legal Defense Fund president and director-counsel, talks about how the Republican rush to fill the federal judge positions, many of which they slow walked under Barack Obama, means important vetting of candidates is not taking place even where extreme ideologies are apparent.
germy
@debit: He’s the real Denald Trump. A zesty parody.
The Other Chuck
@OzarkHillbilly: I held a revolver with a grip safety nearly 30 years ago. Hated it, had to squeeze the bejeezuz out of it to disengage it. No idea what make (it was my housemate’s gun) but my guess is Smith & Wesson
Kay
I listen to local Right wing radio in the car and this week they had a whole segment defending Trump on higher gas prices.
They presented it as a discussion on why gas prices are going up but it quickly became a defense of what they must see as a vulnerability for Trump- a lot of blather on how it’s “markets” so not attributable to any decisions Dear Leader made.
I’m interested in the fact that they are doing this preemptively- they must think it’s a threat. It is a threat. Middle and working class rural people are very sensitive to gas prices, because they buy a lot of gas.
Another Scott
@germy: That “e” is really hard to see in some instances. Genius.
Cheers,
Scott.
Yarrow
@Kay: Gas prices can affect elections. The local rightwing radio guys know that even if Trump and his idiots don’t.
Manyakitty
@NotMax: Happy birthday! This is the week for them. Mine was Monday, and Major^4’s was Wednesday (I think).
germy
Gelfling 545
@bystander: Bonjour. Ça va?
Steve in the ATL
@JPL: Alpharetta police have always been sleazy but this is ridiculous
Miss Bianca
@satby: good morning! Completely o/t, but I am looking for a shampoo that will lather up nicely in my hard well water – do you have anything in your stable of shampoo bars you would recommend? Tried to cruise your site this am, but it crashed my dumbphone browser…
germy
Yarrow
@rikyrah: Quote from your link:
Ya think???? How could anyone think otherwise?
Manyakitty
@debit: That’s a parody account, but apparently he mentioned it for real at his IN event.
Manyakitty
@Miss Bianca: I strongly recommend Satby’s shampoo bars (just used one this morning!). My water is softened but still hard-ish, and I get tons of lovely lather with an easy rinse.
rikyrah
@NotMax:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY :)
JPL
@germy: Trump would love to do that.
@Cheryl Rofer: Thanks to both of you for posting that.
rikyrah
@Kay:
You are wise, Kay. And, you are right to have concerns.
Kay
Does the NYTimes have any problem with the fact that yet another NYTimes “journalist” used covering the Clinton’s as a personal journey and ultimately a very lucrative career?
Maybe we should know this ahead of time, that they go into these assignments with a wholly self-serving agenda for them personally. Because they have to decide. They can either be reporters or they can be something else but they can’t do both at the same time. We were really disserved by this person’s coverage of Hillary Clinton. To find out afterwards that it was driven by her goal to sell her fucking book is really too much to bear.
If they’re honestly looking for a reason why Hillary Clinton holds them in contempt maybe they should consider that Hillary Clinton is well aware that they’re all making a ton of money off the Clintons, and have for decades. Let’s be clear about this relationship- with all their sneering at the Clintons they have based entire lucrative careers on savaging them. It’s a transaction. Which Hillary Clinton knows.
germy
@Manyakitty:
If Obama had merely joked about suspending elections, a million James Earl Rays would have appeared on every corner.
rikyrah
@Kay:
trying to be too cute by half, Kay.
We know instinctively why it’s wrong. Why it’s disgusting.
Just a further attempt to try and normalize these muthaphuckas.
JPL
@Steve in the ATL: Mike Petchenik @ wsbtv does an excellent job of covering north fulton news. The woman doesn’t want the officer fired. She would prefer that the officer receive extra training.
This is an interview with the woman https://twitter.com/MPetchenikWSB/status/994706872769839104
Local lawmakers are calling for the officer to be fired.
rikyrah
@Kay:
BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
rikyrah
@Kay:
Yep.
So, already trying to get the lie straight.
Uh huh
Uh huh
rikyrah
@Manyakitty:
I use it on Peanut’s hair. ..love the lather.
SiubhanDuinne
@Manyakitty:
Happy belated birthday!
Miss Bianca
@germy: Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ, she’s a grad student at *Yale*? And letting her white supremacy freak flag fly so proudly? Not sure why that should surprise me…proof once again that book-learning basically has nothing to do with either intelligence or decency…sigh.
Yarrow
Sarah Palin could see Russia inside her email and maybe inside her office!
Link.
rikyrah
@Yarrow:
T-R-A-I-T-O-R-S
ALLLLLLL OF THEM
bystander
@Gelfling 545: Encore un jour completement ensoleille a Paris. Vous allez bien aussi? (I’m not going to ever figure out where the accent marks are on this iPad.)
JPL
@rikyrah: The officer in Alpharetta just resigned. He should have been fired.
J R in WV
@Bruce K:
Yes, a grip safety, my newer Kimber .45 has one just like that. You also have to cock the hammer before it will fire, so 3 safety mechanisms. And of course if you don’t have a round chambered you have to work the slide to load a round before anything can happen, so 4 total, which is how I keep mine.
Some people keep it cocked and chambered, trusting in the switch safety and the grip safety, but I’m not that insecure. Or secure – maybe?
Yarrow
@rikyrah: Yep. The closing paragraph from the article:
They’re all traitors. Torshin has been sanctioned but there are plenty of others in line behind him to keep the treason rolling. Traitors must pay.
WaterGirl
@Kay: Good kid, great mom, clever school. I’d say he’s in pretty good shape.
rikyrah
I admit, the 12/13 year old me never understood why Jo and Laurie didn’t get married. Always thought it was hanky when he married her little sister. Never sat well with me.
‘Little Women’ a big break for daughter of Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman
Lynn Elber | Associated Press
Little readers have long embraced “Little Women” and found inspiration in the character of Jo March, a headstrong young writer out to conquer the world.
Maya Hawke counts herself among the latest generation of fans of Louisa May Alcott’s 19th-century novel. But the lucky Hawke takes it one step further: She stars as Jo in a new version of “Little Women,” airing at 7 p.m. on consecutive Sundays, May 13 and May 20, on WTTW-Channel 11.
Lucky viewers, as well. The 19-year-old Hawke plays Jo with a coltish vibrancy that suits the role, and with an easy confidence that belies her resume: This “Masterpiece” drama is her first screen credit, with a part in the next season of “Stranger Things” following close behind.
“Little Women” held such appeal for Hawke that she left New York’s Juilliard School for it, a move that runs in the family: Her parents, Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke, both interrupted their studies when the professional world beckoned.
“I love novels, and the script was really well-written, because the book is well-written, and I wanted to get to speak those words,” Maya Hawke said in an interview. “I didn’t know if I was going to get to play it again, if ever, so I had to jump on it.”
The project was a draw for another reason. Jo’s literary passion helped Hawke in her struggle with dyslexia.
“Her drive and her love of language and storytelling really sparked my interest, and really inspired me to overcome the obstacles that were in my way, which were much more personal and less societal than hers, and follow my dreams and pursue what I love,” Hawke said.
bystander
@germy: And run the risk of killing or injuring one of America’s greatest allies, Princess Jasmine?
germy
@bystander: The Gilbert Gottfried parrot just gave testimony to Mueller. He was part of the trump campaign team.
MattF
For all you wannabe economists out there, “Japan’s Phillips Curve Looks Like Japan.” Via jwz. Also, note the reference.
Gelfling 545
@SgrAstar: I am so sorry for your loss. These dear fuzzy friends leave an empty place in the heart that is hard to fill.
rikyrah
@SgrAstar:
Sorry for your loss :(
rikyrah
AN ULTRASOUND?
DA PHUQ?
#RentingWhileBlack: Mother of 3 Loses Apartment Because She Didn’t Provide Her Landlord an Ultrasound Photo
Anne Branigin
Today 10:22am
A single, working mother of three is taking on a Florida housing complex after a property manager refused to renew her lease because she hadn’t provided her landlord an ultrasound of the child she was carrying.
As the Miami Herald reports, Tiesha Davis signed a rental agreement with Sorrento Rental Community in Miramar in September 2017. At the time, Davis was four months’ pregnant, a fact that was clearly visible to assistant property manager Jose Galindo, according to Davis’ lawsuit.
“During such time Ms. Davis was noticeably pregnant, to the extent that Mr. Galindo insisted that she sit in the front seat of the golf cart when he was driving her through the property,” the complaint reads.
But Galindo refused to renew Davis’ 12-month lease in January, when Davis was eight months’ pregnant, after finding baby goods in her closet during a routine inspection of the apartment.
Galindo asked Davis if she was pregnant, then told her that she should have let the property know she was pregnant in her application. According to the suit, Galindo told the 26-year-old that she was required to show him both a letter from her doctor and an ultrasound at the time of her tenancy.
NotMax
Thanks to all the above for the birthday wishes.
@Yarrow
Traditionally broil them but this time I think I’m going to try using the Instant Pot (maybe slather with lemon butter and finish them off for 30 seconds under the broiler afterwards).
VeniceRiley
@Miss Bianca:
One day, if they don’t already, admissions departments are going to start coimbing through every qualified applicant’s social media in advance of acceptance as if they were a potential freak, disruptor, supremacist, or unbalanced shooter. it’s a safety issue.
MattF
@Miss Bianca: It’s a hothouse. You get some peculiar varieties.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
OT – I’ve been enjoying the story about the Arizona woman who went on a single date with some poor slob she met online, and followed up with sending him 65,000 text messages telling him things such as “I want to wear your fascia” and breaking into his house to take a bath. Also offering to wear other body parts and showing up to his office while claiming to be his wife.
Single peeps, she’s available!
J R in WV
@Kay:
When I was in high school, my cousin in the same grade, with dark and curly hair, decided to grow it long, like the Beatles, only less coiffed. They suspended him, even tho he had a 4.0 GPA. Told him to come back when he had a crew cut!
His dad, my uncle, was not fond of authority, and came to school with his son the next morning, and a lawyer. This would have been around 1967 or so. Maybe ’66. Obviously they admitted cousin that day and subject was not raised again.
SiubhanDuinne
@bystander:
If you’re on an iPad, accent marks are the easiest thing in the world. Just hold down the letter that needs the accent, and a whole menu of them will appear for you to make your selection.
For instance, if you hold down e, you can choose among è é ê ë ē ė ę.
satby
@Manyakitty: Happy Belated Birthday ?!
Mine is in a week exactly. May birthdays are the best birthdays ?
Barbara
@germy: It would be a lot easier to accept provocative arguments about hate speech, hate crimes, etc. as being a topic of legitimate debate if she weren’t engaging in hate based actions against specific people. I don’t know anything about Yale common rooms but I would bet a lot of money that a lot of exhausted students have fallen asleep while studying in a common room. And there she is, a member of the “you don’t really belong here goon squad” making sure another set of unspoken heretofore unenforced rules of conduct are squarely imposed on minorities, because in this case, the rule of law is actually just a means to reinforce your superior position in life.
For the record, I have problems with the concept of hate crimes, although I think legislation could be drafted in a way that would address my objections.
Barbara
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: A part of me giggles that it’s about time guys found out what it feels like to get unwanted attention from a persistent suitor. But really, I have known guys who have been subjected to unwanted “chasing,” the difference is that it rarely if ever rises to the level of fear inducing threats.
Immanentize
@VeniceRiley: Many, if not most, grad departments are already searching on-line presence. This has also reached the undergrad admissions process. And don’t get me started on “demonstrated interest.”
Manyakitty
@germy: Dude. No kidding.
Manyakitty
@SiubhanDuinne: Thank you!
Manyakitty
@rikyrah: Did you notice how long the bars last? It’s good stuff!
satby
@Manyakitty: @rikyrah: thanks you guys! Glad you’re liking them.
Hard to keep up this morning!
Gelfling 545
@rikyrah: Actually, it can work very well. My granddaughter’s school ( she graduated last spring) did this and it was a good thing for her and the majority of her classmates. First it is the Arts Academy so there is a high proportion of odd duck loner types and drama queens. They can have trouble relating but breaking down some of the social barriers made it easier for them to interact and find their niche. The student body was, on the whole, surprisingly unified and calm which is something you don’t always see in an urban, resource starved school district. It also gave the students a good basis for unified action against some blatantly ham-handed policies which was probably an unintended consequence.
Manyakitty
@satby: Right on! Happy birthday in advance!
Manyakitty
@satby: Seriously. I meant to find you this morning to say how much I like the shampoo bars, anyway. Serendipity!
Gelfling 545
@bystander: je vais assez bien sauf que je dois baigner le chat. Ce qui sera terrible. Je préférerais être à Paris Amusez-vous bien!
* on the iPad, hold the letter key down. A choice of accents will appear.
burnspbesq
@Patricia Kayden:
The fact that he was convicted makes that notion a bit far-fetched. The next Dem Preznit should pardon him.
pluky
@Another Scott: Did a quick wiki check on him. BA in Theater from Stanford followed by a Julliard MFA. Why am I not surprised?>
Mnemosyne
@rikyrah:
One of my few brushes with fame: riding in a parking garage elevator with Thurman, Hawke, and their two small kids. One of them must have grown into this actress. ?