Open Thread: The G20 Tango

Here it is! Good morning rikyrah and everyone 🌞!

Good morning Satby, et al!

Except I’ve seen no indication that he has any foresight whatsoever. “Focused on what’s coming next” seems to assert facts not in evidence.

@OzarkHillbilly: 😘

Have you soon the photo of Trump with Xi at the meeting? He looks like a whipped puppy.
I’m assuming that “jammed with meetings” line was written well in advance of the actual summit. Still a pretty credulous take.

Good morning jackals. Woke up this morning thinking: what are they raiding now? Yesterday morning was fun. Keep at it, Team Mueller.

Have no interest whatsoever in anything out of the Tangerine Traitor’s mouth, but, in honor of Argentina, here is a beautiful Astor Piazzola tango for your coffee or tea: Libertango. About 5 minutes.

LOL. Performed by the Moscow City Orchestra. How is that for symbiosis?

BBC

Marriott hack hits 500 million guests

Should have stayed at the Motel 6.

Good morning. What a week this has been! And it’s not over yet. I’ve got the day off. I’m going to stay in and bake cookies. (Side note: For some reason, this site doesn’t save my name and email, even though I tick the little box whenever I post a comment here. It used to save that information, but it hasn’t in a few months now. I’m using Google Chrome.)

Gwen Collins-Greenup needs our help to win her runoff for Louisiana Sec of State.

Ensure fair elections in Louisiana.

Last day of PostCard Season. Must be mailed by tomorrow AM.

Get addresses: PostCardPatriots.com

@Baud: Motel 6 is all Poco knows about. Don’t tell him there are other doggie friendly digs when we travel. He’ll cop an attitude.

@Baud: Right back at you!

WaPo

Before each meeting, one member of the literary collective sends an email to the club secretary offering a few thoughts on the assigned text. This month, it’s your turn to compose the brief review.

A new study suggests that the words you use may depend on whether the club secretary’s name is Emily (“a stereotypically White name,” as the study says) or Lakisha (“a stereotypically Black name”). If you’re a white liberal writing to Emily, you might use words like “melancholy” or “euphoric” to describe the mood of the book, whereas you might trade these terms out for the simpler “sad” or “happy” if you’re corresponding with Lakisha.

But if you’re a white conservative, your diction won’t depend on the presumed race of your interlocutor.

…….

The findings could provide a new arrow in the quiver of those who decry identity politics practiced by liberals, and yet the paper hardly applauds conservatives for their approach, reasoning that they are simply “less motivated to affiliate with racial minorities.” In other words, the paper states, white conservatives “would not bother.”

I for one like to think I talk down to everyone.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/nation/2018/11/30/white-liberals-dumb-themselves-down-when-they-speak-black-people-new-study-contends/?noredirect=on

@satby: It IS a good morning, isn’t it? For the politically aware :)

@Baud:

I for one like to think I talk down to everyone.

An equal opportunity offender. :)

A nice profile: Roma star Yalitza Aparicio: ‘I don’t think I am an actor’

Yalitza Aparicio only auditioned for Roma because her sister was heavily pregnant and in no fit state to. Neither had acted before. But her older sister was desperate to know what the audition would be like, so she sent Aparicio along as a proxy. “I didn’t want to do the casting,” she says. “My sister pushed me because, in our community, they have never come before to ask us to be in films.”

Aparicio got through the first audition, then the second and, finally, months later, the third. Now there is talk of her winning an Oscar. If she does, it will be deserved. Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma is a masterpiece, and Aparicio’s performance is astonishing.

Roma is named after a district located in the Cuauhtémoc borough of Mexico City where it is set. The story, filmed in black and white, is simple – it is the early 1970s and a seemingly happy, upper-middle-class family implodes after a quiet betrayal. At the same time, Mexico explodes with student riots and an army massacre. Roma is the story of Cuarón’s childhood and it is entirely his movie – he has written, directed, edited, shot and produced the film. Yet, on screen, the film belongs to Aparicio, who plays the family’s nanny/maid, Cleo – everything is seen through her eyes.

Roma pulls off the impossible. It is both spine-tinglingly intimate (the texture of skin, the slop of water on paving stones, hushed conversations in the night) and thrillingly epic (the sea has never seemed so terrifying). It is a film in which nothing and everything happens.

It takes two to tango. This totus fugly ain’t one of them.

@OzarkHillbilly: word. No way, no how.

Hoarse Whisperer:

If Trump rants incoherently about all manner of things, he’s focused on what’s coming next.

If he hides out, he knows what already happened today was a major blow.

Either way, prepare thy popcorn.

To steal from Tom Lehrer,

It’s only for two days, so have no fear,
be grateful that it doesn’t last all year!

The legislation, called H.R. 1, sets the tone for Democrats as they take the majority in January.
The bill would create national voter registration and expand access to early, online voting. It would increase federal support for state voter systems, including paper ballots to prevent fraud.
Political groups would need to disclose donors, and members of Congress would be barred from serving on corporate boards.
In a nod to President Donald Trump’s resistance to releasing his tax returns, the bill would require presidents to do so. It also would create a Supreme Court ethics code.

A US airstrike in Afghanistan on Tuesday killed as many as 23 civilians, with most victims women and children, the UN says.

The strike on a compound in Helmand province was called in during a joint operation between Afghan and US forces.

Investigators said up to 10 children and eight women may have been killed. US forces say they are investigating.

Civilian casualties from aerial attacks have surged since the US announced a new Afghan strategy last year.

President Trump committed more troops to America’s longest war and significantly boosted the number of strikes targeting Taliban and Islamic State group positions in August 2017. The rules of engagement were also loosened, allowing more bombings.

making amurkkka grate again.

@satby: I can’t watch late night comedy/talk show clips anymore. Their eviscerations of trump nearly always start with a clip of him and. I. just. can’t.

@low-tech cyclist: the immortal Tom Lehrer:

Stand up and shake the hand of
Someone you can’t stand
You can tolerate him if you try

Question: we know Flynn agreed to co-operate and do jail time to protect his son – what are the odds that Trump would agree to resign and serve time in jail to protect Ivanka, Don Jr., and Eric? Okay, maybe not such good odds for Jr. and Eric. But Ivanka?

I’m just bringing it up because: I’m wondering if that’s part of the motivation for having Cohen do another plea, this time specifically targeting Trump’s co-conspiring spawn? Is it part of a larger plan to not only force Trump to resign, but to actually get him to volunteer to do time? Since it may be nigh impossible to indict Trump given the DoJ’s policy on indicting the president, and the current DoJ leadership?

@Platonailedit: I wonder what it will take for the US to admit we are in no way interested in actually winning this “war”.

@Burnspbesq

Alternative?

:)

A question I’d like to get an answer to some day soon: Does Secret Service protection extend to an inhabitant of a federal prison?

ThinkProgress is extra purity pony this morning.

Blue collar betrayal: Carrier worker feels ‘forgotten’ by Trump
Renee Elliott waited in the rain to vote for Donald Trump because she thought he would save her job. Now, she’s being laid off.

Thought he would save her job, which I thought was an exaggeration but that’s what he actually said in Indiana:

“we’re not gonna let Carrier leave, numbers, we’re gonna do numbers”. Over and over. “Anyone from Carrier here? We love you!”

“I think Trump and Pence are liars”

@OzarkHillbilly: It would be nice to have to find out.

Also remember, he’s unlikely to stop committing crimes after he leaves office, and he won’t be able to pardon himself. I fully expect him to tweet classified information within days of leaving office, simply because he didn’t pay attention to the debriefing.

@low-tech cyclist:

Jeez, his helicopter-side chat yesterday was incomprehensible.

@NotMax:

Pity Queen Máxima of The Netherlands. Invited as a guest country to this G20 and has to meet and break bread with – him.

Depends. Does throwing week old brotchen at Trump’s head count as breaking bread?

@OzarkHillbilly:

Such delicate eyes. You can’t listen without looking?

@OzarkHillbilly

As it is offered to the person, not the location, would surmise yes.

@JGabriel: push comes to shove, I don’t think Trump would do a thing to try to save even Ivanka. He’ll pardon her but he ain’t going to the pokey for anyone.

@debbie: happy birthday?

@JGabriel:

I’ve been wondering about the process, too. I’m
also wondering what happens with all the Republican Congress critters who are compromised. I’m trying to keep it all in the wondering category because I have no control over what happens and I have to trust the Mueller team for the sake of my sanity.

@Elizabelle:

I also liked the one where she tried to explain what it is she likes about NYC. That’s a tough task!

@Immanentize:

I guess…

@Elizabelle:

Wowser, Elizabelle! I’ve enjoyed Roz Chast’s work as a cartoonist, but I never imagined she was a rug hooker, too! Her work is just wonderful, an extension of her cartoon figures in bright, vivid colors in wool. How cool!

Enjoy the exhibit!

@debbie: Happy Birthday! The day will come.

@debbie:

🎂🎁🍰

@Kay:

I’ll take it, but I’m not interested in worrying about them.

@OzarkHillbilly

Valedictorian of the English As A 102nd Language program.

;)

@OzarkHillbilly:

Colbert’s takes on those word salads are priceless and well worth hearing his actual voice (though there are far more word salad tweets then audio clips). It’s been great ending the day with a laugh. Ameliorates the rage.

Goddammit. FYWP is playing hob with coding today.

Fuck, I’m watching Morning Joe and apparently Guantanamo Commander Ring has been told to prepare for new arrivals?!

@OzarkHillbilly:

The worst is looking with the sound off. His Heath Ledger as the Joker facial expressions are terrifying.

@OzarkHillbilly: Most all do now with an up charge of $10.00-$20.00. His mom is a known tightwad when traveling from point A to point B but needs a place to lay her head for a few hours. I mostly tease about Motel 6 because there is a decent one I have stopped at several times a year for 20 plus years in Charleston, WVA (or Lexington, KY.. depending on my start/leave times) when traveling to/from NC. Also, a decent one in Oklahoma (the only decent one in the entire state) and inTucumcari, NM when going west. Poco stayed in style in February in Quality Inns in Las Cruces, Ruidoso, Carlsbad, and Truth or Consequences and in years past in quaint lodges/cabins outside the Grand Canyon in Cameron, AZ; at Marble Canyon, AZ; in Bluff, Utah; in Farmington, NM and in El Morro. He knows the difference. His favorite room was the FDR room at La Posada in Winslow, AZ. We were right on the tracks with a second door that opened out for train viewing. He watched trains into the night. Yep, he knows the difference….. He says he’s writing a travel book for the owners of ex street dogs….. Totally unrelated, a little red headed birdie told me you were going to get a bit of “Liquid Gold” Saturday. I need a bit of a fix too. May see you.

@Kay:

to vote for Donald Trump because she thought he would save her job.

No, she didn’t. ‘Latinos are rapists’ was her motive to vote for the racist pos.

Good morning, all.

@Quinerly: No. No, no, no, no, NO! I will race to mute the TV if they show a clip of him. If I can’t change the channel I’ll literally hold my hand up to cover the screen. I avoid looking at or listening to him. He’s toxic.

@JGabriel: Trump is a narcissist. He will save no one but himself. The “save your kids and family” tactic won’t work on him like it did with Michael Flynn and seems to have with Michael Cohen and maybe Manafort. He will throw everyone under the bus before he goes.

@NotMax: OMG. I think that’s worse than rats. Presumably you’d been eating that food.

@Dorothy A. Winsor:

Yes! That’s what my youngest says, too. Once you see it, you can’t believe you didn’t notice it sooner.

@Dorothy A. Winsor

Presumably you’d been eating that food.

As it turns out, not alone.

;)

It was a tres weird sight, though. Like an undulating carpet.

@Yarrow: I totally get it about not watching. I have gone 2-3 weeks without catching a glimpse of him…. But I do enjoy (actually take pleasure in) seeing his physical deterioration. It’s very obvious if you don’t look at him everyday. Does that make me a bad person? 😈

@Quinerly

OT. Haven’t seen a penny floor progress update in a while.

How is it possible that the VA IT screw up which turned into cruelty is not a bigger story? Jesus, the ACA website issues had the media screaming that the entire program was a failure for years. And those website issues were fixed promptly.

People have had to drop out of school, people have lost their homes and apartments. More veterans are fucking homeless and this is not trump’s Katrina at the very least??

@NotMax: 13,000 mesh mounted pennies…. What can I say?

@Baud: Like all research in the social sciences, of doubtful validity or utility. Unfortunately, the field has a way of throwing eye popping conclusions out there that don’t quite live up to tests for scientific rigor or reproducibility.

@Baud:

Obama had voters like that- people who came out just for him in ’08. They were either disillusioned or not interested anymore by 2012. Political parties don’t base anything on those voters because they’re not reliable or identifiable enough, and Democrats shouldn’t either.

It’s funny because in a way Trump did this backwards. He played to his base in his first election rather than broadening his appeal for the first race and then playing to his base in the re-elect. He doesn’t have a cushion, which is COMPLETELY in keeping with how he runs his business and indeed his whole life- nothing in the bank.

@Kay: I hate that people are losing their jobs like this, so schadenfreude would be gratuitous and misplaced, but the reality is that Pence or Trump never cared enough to put in sufficient effort to actually lie. I suppose, technically, they were lying in the sense that they had no plan to follow through to do anything that required actual effort to save jobs, although they of course are perfectly willing to take credit if those jobs had been preserved.

@Kay:
Tee hee hee

@debbie: Happy Birthday, Debbie! Hope it’s a good one.

@Kay:
She wanted to believe his lies. Period.

@Barbara:

I agree, but it’s more than that. The Trump tax law works to encourage companies to move production. Now, maybe Carrier would have assembled in Mexico anyway, but she has to look into these things when voting or she will continue to be tricked. I watched the whole video. She’s not a dumb person. She’s meeting with other laid off workers to lobby Carrier for more severance – she is FULLY CAPABLE of learning something before she votes. She has to put more effort in- not a lot- an hour total over the whole cycle would be sufficient.

@debbie:
Happy Birthday 🎂😌👏🎈🎁🎉🎊

@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Vlad told him….
Bytch better have my money….

I still contend that Vlad thought the sanctions would be gone by now….

@Jim, Foolish Literalist

According to the printed handout it is planned to be entirely spontaneous.

;)

@Barbara:

Even without reading “policy” or “positions” we knew this- Trump screwed contractors and workers at his hotels. One doesn’t need a college education to take that fact and apply it to his general character. If he screwed them he’ll screw Carrier workers, and he did.

I don’t think you need an advanced degree to identify bad people. The disillusioned Trump voters are poor judges of character, and Democrats won’t be able to fix that. Trump’s a bad hire. They don’t even need to read his fake resume- he’s a bad person.

@Betty Cracker: ‘put up zero money’ is completely unhelpful. It basically states that he was doing a building in Russia, PAID FOR by Russians and not himself. It would be less guilty of him to have put up all the money for the building, because then he would not be indebted to the so-helpful Russians.

@Dorothy A. Winsor: Exactly. My wife said “accordion hands” this morning and it took a minute to register in my pre-coffee brain.

@Chris Johnson:

What’s interesting to me is Trump seems caught off guard. He didn’t know what Cohen was telling Mueller – that goes against the whole “Trump has cleverly inserted moles inside the Mueller investigation, disguised as cooperating witnesses” theme from earlier this week.

@Emma

Yes and no. The G20 host country gets the privilege of inviting ‘guest countries’ to participate. Argentina invited Chile and Holland.

Trivia: Spain enjoys permanent guest status at G20 gatherings.

@NotMax: I knew about Spain vaguely. What I meant to say is that she’s not a figure-head at these meetings. She’s keeping a trained eye on things, so to speak.

@Jim, Foolish Literalist:

You are the puppet!

Gawd, what an cowardly asshole for a president.

@Chris Johnson: Good morning, I see your “they’re flying Air Force One to Russia to defect” claim yesterday didn’t pan out.

They’re already gone. They’re going directly to Russia and will never return.

Trump gave his handler, Melania, a kiss as they boarded the plane. Bolton’s on there, someone said. Have you seen how Bolton looks in the presence of Putin? Did you notice they’ve got Trump and Melania and Jared and Ivanka on there?

They are never coming back.

Air Force One pilots and crew do not work for Trump and will not fly the plane to Russia so the traitors can defect.

@rikyrah: Tail wags, soft meows, and waves back at you! 💙💚

House Democrats’ 1st bill is a good-government package to limit big money in politics, make it easier for citizens to vote and require presidents to disclose their tax returns. https://t.co/cwpOJ1Ys4S— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) November 30, 2018

@Kay

Wasn’t all that long ago that Dolt 45’s lawyers were high fiving one another for reaching a compromise under which Mueller’s written questions would be limited to matters involving Russia.

@geg6: I have some relatives who absolutely refuse to be separated from their dog and they always stay at La Quinta.

This otter teaching a human how to pet it gets me every time pic.twitter.com/wzC7hSAkJ2— Anna Hughes (@AnnaGHughes) November 27, 2018

@Chris Johnson: this is so true. The woman in the tweet seems convinced that the jobs of the 20th century can be saved in the 21st. It reminds me of the coal miners who used the free training provided in the stimulus package to take more classes on coal mining.

@Quinerly: I haven’t seen Wren in even longer, would love to catch up with him.

Presidential candidates should be able to obtain a Top Secret clearance BEFORE being allowed to run.

@Yarrow: La Quintas are nice, too. I signed up for a card to use for travel (Choice Privileges, I think)… it is the card for Quality Inns, Comfort Inns, etc. Better travel rewards than the La Quinta card. We made the switch 3-4 years ago. Poco got to stay free in La Cruces for 4 nights in a really nice Quality Inn.

@Dorothy A. Winsor:

this thing with time zones where you all are awake and talking about interesting stuff after I go to bed? It must stop. I’ll never catch up.

LOL. Wholeheartedly agree. And I’m never sure whether I should read last night’s threads first or start with the morning thread, which is already well underway by the time I join it. Life is full of hard choices.

@SiubhanDuinne

Again, comes down to the states; they hold the cards. Highly questionable as federally enforceable absent a Constitutional amendment as the only present legally absolute federal requirements are meeting age and citizenship criteria.

@Quinerly: That sounds fantastic.

@NotMax: On the state level, didn’t Maryland enact a law requiring disclosure of tax returns in order to be on the ballot there?

@Yarrow

Release simultaneously with filing them during time in office.

Our great Country is extremely well represented. Will be very productive!

I’m, like, really smart! I will look for things to make us go!

@Yarrow:

Yes, they are very, very accommodating. We will always stay there when traveling with the pets. When we drove to Florida last year, we stayed at one in Charlotte, NC and I think every guest there had a dog and the staff just loved on the dogs all day. The dogs were welcome everywhere but the pool.

@NotMax: Like Trump, they can claim they’re under audit and the IRS can’t comment either way, so the returns can be held. Needs to be specific language about what is to be done. All the norms have been broken so we need laws.

@Elizabelle: She may even be President at some point.

Meanwhile, at the big Wilmerite confab:

Dave Weigel @ daveweigel
First panel here is about how anything less than replacing the US health care system w single payer will fail. Here’s the case against the public option, which now even centrist Dems back

No allies to the right! Let there be litmus tests!

@Yarrow

Simultaneous release with filing would avoid at least that. No audit can conceivably be begun until after official receipt of return.

@NotMax:
That tickles me🤗🤗

@NotMax: and didn’t mean to sound snippy in my answer. Appreciate your interest. I’m about a 1000 pennies in. It’s a process. Mounting the shiny ones first in sheets. I think we are going to do a three color swirl design. Slow go.

@geg6:

The dogs were welcome everywhere but the pool.

Say WHAT???? That’s water dog discrimination!!!

Anyone know what Democrat is going to be over the committee that oversees the VA?
Maybe we should begin a contact campaign to them.

@MomSense:

How is it possible that the VA IT screw up which turned into cruelty is not a bigger story? … this is not trump’s Katrina at the very least??

Trump doesn’t get a Katrina. TrumpRules. He is a veritable tsunami of garbage and venality and vitriol and incompetence every single week. Every few days. So normal standards do not apply to him.

Although. The VA nonservice and noncompassion to veterans resonates in communities. There will be a reckoning, but it may be at the ballot box.

@Gelfling 545: Internet advertising. That’s a new one. For businesses they are launching, or for propaganda to destabilize?

@Quinerly:

are you on the Book of Faces?

Nope.

@OzarkHillbilly: I know that. My point is we need the law to be specific about what is required. No wiggle room. Tax returns will be released upon submission, even if audits may happen. Or something.

@rikyrah: Per wiki, here are the current Dem members, I don’t know how/if that changes after the new Congress is seated

Tim Walz, Minnesota, Ranking Member
Mark Takano, California, Vice Ranking Member
Julia Brownley, California
Ann McLane Kuster, New Hampshire
Beto O’Rourke, Texas
Kathleen Rice, New York
Lou Correa, California
Gregorio Sablan, Northern Marianas Islands
Elizabeth Esty, Connecticut
Scott Peters, California
Conor Lamb, Pennsylvania

@Yarrow: OK, my bad.

Oh, I get it! I am a very good developer, happily living my life, when I see our Country going in the wrong direction (to put it mildly). Against all odds, I decide to run for President & continue to run my business-very legal & very cool, talked about it on the campaign trail…

Lightly looked at doing a building somewhere in Russia. Put up zero money, zero guarantees and didn’t do the project. Witch Hunt!

@Betty Cracker: If I am his lawyer at this point he gets put on a cash in advance status. Perps don’t pay when they’re in jail.

@OzarkHillbilly: didn’t think so. Wren’s stuff is a hoot. He’s all heart under those tattoos. 🧡

Nancy Smash is in the house. Honored to be there with new members

Three words: Majority, majority, majority. It has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? A thanksgiving of hope.

Integrity of government as part of our “For the People” agenda.

me: Why can’t our political press understand this? They always pretend the Dems don’t have anything to say. Pelosi is very straightforward.

@NotMax: yep. The mesh mounting makes it easy. Gloves, silicon, Little Feat, Mark Knopfler, Steely Dan, Lou Reed, Josh Ritter, Dylan, Traveling Wilburys…..

@OzarkHillbilly: confused me too, again per Wiki, looks like he’s a non-voting delegate

@The Moar You Know:

Against all odds, I decide to run

Yeah, ’cause Lord knows how the deck is stacked against 60-something white male millionaires in US politics.

Kyle Griffin @ kylegriffin1
It happened: After a day of pressure, the Department of Veterans Affairs has reversed course and announced that it would pay veterans the full amount of benefits they are due under the Forever GI Bill.

Completely OT, and in the “huh, weird” file: new video from Mark Ronson/Miley Cyrus, showing her “driving” over a bridge being chased by “State Police” cars was filmed in … Kyiv, capital of Ukraine. That’s one of the bridges over the river Dnipro which bisects the city. The signs on the bridge are CGI’d to English, although a very sharp and quick eye can see some with Cyrillic lettering at one point.

@Kay: We shouldn’t have to spell this out. It’s norms. Repuglicans have forced us to.

@NotMax:

Article or columnist? Important distinction.

Dunno, not a regular reader. It’s one of the pieces cited in the OP. At the link, there are two bylines, so I’d guess it’s intended as hard news. For me, language choices such as “chatfest” are part of the high-schoolish approach toward our public discourse that lessens everyone who participates.

@debbie: Happy Birthday Debbie!

@lurker dean: This is disconcerting. You’re sure right that Putin is one happy guy there. I think in part he might be fucking with Trump. He might be setting up a situation in which nothing Trump does will appease him. I don’t know what more Trump could possibly give him.

No matter what happens in my life, I will never EVER be as miserable as Donald Trump is, at this G20 summit.

Feels good man ;)

@Kay:

Even without reading “policy” or “positions” we knew this- Trump screwed contractors and workers at his hotels.

The Trumpistas knew that their hero is a deadbeat and a liar. They saw thee as assets. Their attitude was 50% “Well, if Trump has the balls to cheat and lie to his own supporters, think how effectively he will cheat and lie in the service of the US!” and 50% “It is an honour to be cheated and lied to by such an alpha male”.

@A Ghost To Most:

Very interesting question. I expect that OLC would say no, and whether or not that’s correct as a matter of law, it becomes DOJ policy.