Good Morning. The usual crew is nowhere to be seen.
This is how Ric greets me in the dining room as I make breakfast.
Trump is not yet tweeting.
The rightwing gets some of its jollies from what we might call EMP porn. EMP is electromagnetic pulse, a concomitant of nuclear weapons explosions. Nuclear weapons can be engineered to produce more of it. The rightwing fantasy is that a country like Iran or North Korea, with not many nukes, would magically, maybe by floating it by balloon, sneak such a nuke or nukes over the US, detonate it, and END ELECTRICITY IN THE US FOREVER!!!!! This is nonsense – developing such a bomb would require tests, and it’s not like the US wouldn’t notice the nuke part and fry the perpetrators. Plus if you have only a few bombs, the smart way to use them is to take out a city. There was another such article in a national publication this week. Here’s one reaction.
2/n
To recap, the authors of this…”document”…argue that:
-Iran has nukes
-Iran & DPRK have worked together to develop EMP weapons
-Iran could EMP attack the US from a ship, balloon, or satellite.
“DETERRENCE IS NO DEFENSE AGAINST SUCH THREATS” pic.twitter.com/KiOcwQLyAj
— Martin “Pu & gravy” Pfeiffer (⧖) ?️? (@NuclearAnthro) December 6, 2018
4/4
You know what, this isn’t even worth my time nor is it worth your’s.
You see the authors of this bullshit?
Just ignore them because they’re about half a step from screaming about Nazi-Communist-Deep State invasion bases on the dark side of the moon. pic.twitter.com/G8NmlR0B39
— Martin “Pu & gravy” Pfeiffer (⧖) ?️? (@NuclearAnthro) December 6, 2018
The EMP (DRINK!) thing is sort of an in-group joke.
How’s your day going so far?
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ? ??
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
Dorothy A. Winsor
I have my 35th rehab session this morning. One more to go.
Keith P.
Shit, EMP popping up in the news means that Newt Gingrich will come out of his hole for 6 more weeks.
JPL
Does this mean that I don’t have to put up holiday decorations?
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Very cool!
Frankensteinbeck
I assure you, it comes through loud and clear. I have had to explain to people that EMP weapons are not a thing. Heck, I put one in my books with a lecture that it was Mad Science and no one alive could make them.
JGabriel
So, it’s a bit belated for this observation, but I saw that photograph again this morning of all the non-smiling ex-presidents and Trump at the Bush memorial service, and realized I was looking at an entire row of people all thinking the exact same thing: “Christ, I hope Trump dies before I do. I really don’t want that awkward scuzzball fuck in the front row at my funeral.”
GregB
It is balloon.
The rubes were riled into a war frenzy against Iraq with these kinds of lies.
A libersl friend
Betty Cracker
There’s a piece in the NYT today that urges cat owners who keep their pets indoors to walk their cats on leashes or let them loose for an hour a day under close supervision.
Cheryl Rofer
@Betty Cracker: I saw that just after I published this post and realized that some might have appreciated more photos of the boys in their vests.
OzarkHillbilly
Blech.
GregB
Sorry about the covfefe post above.
I meant to say that a liberal friend got pushed over the edge into supporting the Iraq war after the “Saddam will attack mainland US with balsa wood drones” sales pitch was rolled out late in the game.
The failed clip was mocking balloons and it was from F-Troop.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pnXu2xGwJRo
Cheryl Rofer
@GregB: From last night’s mocking:
Planetjanet
Ah, you jackals are making me late for work again.
Lapassionara
@Betty Cracker: Closely supervise a cat? On what planet can a cat be closely supervised.
Good morning, everyone.
danielx
@JGabriel:
With the possible exception of Jimmy Carter, I don’t think they have a thing to worry about.
rikyrah
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Yeah ?
rikyrah
Ric is so cute ?
Patricia Kayden
@Dorothy A. Winsor: All the best as you wind down your rehab.
Let’s hope that the good people of Wisconsin give Republicans hell for their anti-democratic, fascist tactics. Resist and sue. Don’t let Republicans feel that they can get away with this outrageous power grab and blatant disregard of the voters’ wishes.
satby
@rikyrah: @Baud: Good morning ? (and to everyone)
@OzarkHillbilly: ?
Have spent the last five days in a frenzy of activity for another holiday bazaar, this one in support of the rescue. All while trying to sort out the logistics and paperwork for my claim for my totalled car down in Kentucky. And getting supplies from other suppliers because mine is out of stock on a key item. I can’t wait for January.
NotMax
Oh noes. This will add security checks and slowdowns galore to the thriving intercontinental transoceanic balloon business. //
OzarkHillbilly
@GregB: That’s OK, your new linked youtube was followed by the Smothers Brothers. All is forgiven.
JPL
@satby: What happened to your car?
rikyrah
David Fahrenthold (@Fahrenthold) Tweeted:
A month after @realDonaldTrump was elected, Saudi-funded lobbyists began reserving blocks of rooms at Trump’s DC hotel. We estimate they reserved 500 rooms, in the middle of the busy weeks around Trump’s inauguration. Total cost: more than $272K.
https://t.co/rdDsanX3nC https://twitter.com/Fahrenthold/status/1070447541261606913?s=17
OzarkHillbilly
@satby: What happened to your car?
NotMax
Obligatory (?) music.
NotMax
@satby
To echo above, wha hoppen?
Kay
I love details on the political grifter sector of the economy. Someone should study it. How big is it? How many employed?
gvg
Some people want to be afraid and seek out things that make them afraid. Unfortunately, instead of looking for horror movies, some of them go looking for foreigner fear, which is also an excuse for bullying, so bonus. They are so tiresome.
Bruuuuce
@GregB: No such thing as balloons. Must be evil spirit. :-)
bemused
@Lapassionara:
My instant reaction, no way anyone could catch a cat unleashed outside decides to bolt, run up a tree, etc. If a cat doesn’t want to be caught or enticed with treats to be caught, the owner is out of luck.
Schlemazel
@Betty Cracker:
our cats have never been allowed out unsupervised. Only one ever rebelled against it & he ended up dead at the claws of some other animal.
It is better for the cat and better for the wildlife
OzarkHillbilly
@JPL: Is there an echo in here?
ETA English has too many heres
poleaxedbyboatwork
@Kay:
The Conway way: Ask not for whom the lie is told; it is told for thee.
satby
@JPL: @OzarkHillbilly: @NotMax: I mentioned it at the time, but a couple of weeks ago my son hit black ice going home and slid off the road early in the morning (he works nights). He was unhurt except a couple of bruises and a cut where the airbag shoved his glasses into his eyebrow, but he told me then he thought it was totalled. The claims adjuster agreed last Thursday, so it’s been a treat handling the claim and getting the salvage title handled from far away. Indiana, being the special snowflake land it is, required notarized documents, which I had to get before I can hand it all over to the local insurance guy today to get the check. To be fair though, Geico has been great about the whole thing.
And today is my son’s 33rd Birthday. So hopefully I will be able to send him the claim money so he can get a replacement car. I have his.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: Yep, I’d like a full accounting of the grift too. Clearly there’s a grift-awareness deficit in the U.S. since tens of millions of people were dumb enough to believe a crook who shits in a golden toilet that he purchased via the proceeds of epic fraud was seriously going to “drain the swamp.”
Schlemazel
@danielx:
call me a cockeyed optimist but I am pulling for President Carter to have to attend the current’s FUNeral
Schlemazel
@satby:
I missed that, thanks for the update & glad to hear he is OK.
satby
@Schlemazel: me too!
Did your appt go well on Tuesday?
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@JGabriel: Probably, but I’m also fond of the captioned photo with Barack Obama thinking “I want to slap this MF” and on down the line, Michelle thinking “I have to hold Barack’s hand so he doesn’t slap that MF”, etc.
Can’t find the actual photo at the moment.
rikyrah
???
The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) Tweeted:
Don’t condemn white nationalists, Veterans Affairs’ diversity chief was told after Charlottesville, emails show
https://t.co/MiDzy4g8No https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/1070493299620933632?s=17
Schlemazel
@satby:
Tuesday turned into something of a gut punch. After reviewing the tests, the team of doctors feel confident the growth, identified as benign at the U hospital, is cancer. They demonstrated why they think the sample taken was inadequate and it makes sense to me. So they are going to do a biopsy but insist I am seen by their cardiologist to get approval to stop the blood thinners despite my having been cleared by my cardiologist previously. Can’t see their guy till Monday & then at least 3 days off the plavix before the biopsy. So it looks like the results are going to be my Christmas present this year.
If it turns out to be cancer I am going to be very angry with the Dr that misdiagnosed it. If it is not then – somewhat less – unhappy with the Mayo folks. But all of this would be moot if not for the damn d1 blockage from a year ago because I would have the diverticulum out before this.
I have stopped being stunned by this sort of event but I am not past getting angry about it. I feel like Job but this time God lost the damn bet.
I don’t think I will hang around for responses. At the moment I am not dealing with reactions any better than I am with the diagnoses. I debated not posting at all but got a note asking.
NotMax
@satby
Oy vey.
No idea how it slipped through the ‘never met a fee we didn’t like’ cracks, my bank still notarizes for free provided one has an account there.
JPL
@satby: I’m glad he’s okay.
rikyrah
☇RiotWomenn☇ (@riotwomennn) Tweeted:
It’s time for @HardballChris to be given a less visible job.
His record of attacking & lying about @HillaryClinton has gone too long.
Clinton “obviously doesn’t like President Carter. She’s sitting right next to him & hasn’t said one word to him” – lie by Matthew’s today
https://t.co/P1CroGEjPB https://twitter.com/riotwomennn/status/1070456455369756673?s=17
Schlemazel
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
I saw that & got the joke by reading in the voice of Key and Peele’s ‘angry interpreter’. Not great work but I appreciate the sentiment it expressed
JPL
@Schlemazel: You might not see the response but that sucks.
PenandKey
@Patricia Kayden: sadly, I wouldn’t count on it. This state has been gereymandered to hell and back and the GOP controls the state Supreme Court. Until at least one or two districts reach a demographic inflection point most of the GOP reps are safe from challenge. One can hope that the fact they’ve stopped even pretending their moves are about anything but cementing power may change things in the future, but I wouldn’t hold your breath. We have purple to solid blue cities and towns, but most of the map? They’re Trumps bread and butter.
JPL
@Schlemazel: What president would want to deliver an eulogy at trump’s funeral?
bemused
@Betty Cracker:
Yes and I want a hard crack down white collar grifters in general too.
I like the analogy being on a several hour flight with a gasbag in seat next to you non-stop bragging how rich, intelligent and clever he is. No normal person would vote for or hire a person like that for anything.
mapaghimagsik
It used to be that I worked for a company of overpaid idiots that only had a body count in the single digits. I know everyone works with idiots, but these are very special idiots that when something happens that is basically right out of the “what could go wrong” playbook, they act like OMG HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN!!!???
Now, with the body count approaching triple digits, and easily surpassing that in the aggregate, getting up in the morning and confronting the stupid is more daunting than ever. But, mortgages must be paid, and I’ve seen what San Francisco Liberalism means to the homeless, so I don’t see change any time soon.
Happy Thursday!
NotMax
@Schlemazel
May the ordering of extra mayo turn out to be a healthy choice.
Spanky
@satby: You ever think of getting a notary license? Sounds like business could be brisk in Indiana.
Follow the money.
Jay C
Yeah, while the “atomic balloons” stuff may be extraordinarily mock-worthy, in the real world, there is likely to be escalating fallout from the Trump Admin’s obsessive anti-Iran campaign. I read a report this morning that Canadian authorities arrested the CFO of the Chinese tech giant Huawei, and are planning to extradite her to US over alleged violations of Iran sanctions. Not sure this is going to help US-Chinese relations very much…
OzarkHillbilly
@JPL: E) None of the above.
clay
@rikyrah:
Gee, what motivation could they possibly have for this? Hmmm….
Is there any evidence that they actually used those 500 rooms? Or was it simply a straight-up transfer of cash?
(I’m not even angry about the grift any more. I’m just sad that it’s for such a small amount.)
Uncle Cosmo
@Schlemazel: Needy Amin’s inturdment will remind the world that “funeral” is an anagram for REAL FUN!
Jay C
Why is my no. 53 in moderation?
Is “Huawei” actually a Chinese swear-word or something.
JPL
@clay: Saudi’s also propped up his hotel in NYC, so we don’t know how much money they are pumping into the trump org.
brantl
@JPL: ALL OF THEM, considering the occasion that will precipitate it.
JPL
The NYTimes has an article about trump
The man wants his gold sticker and he wants it now.
https://twitter.com/JonLemire/status/1070678067671130112
@brantl: You are probably correct because who wouldn’t want to celebrate his death.
Schlemazel
@Uncle Cosmo:
The Guinness people will be on hand to certify his resting place as the worlds largest communal urinal after they plant him in it . Plan ahead though, the waiting lines will be YOOOOOGE
OzarkHillbilly
@Schlemazel: I plan to bring Miss Kitty’s used litter. That way feral cats from all over will want to pay a visit to his grave.
Amir Khalid
@JPL:
A eulogy for Trump would go like this:
“We are taught from childhood to say nothing but good of the dead. President Trump is dead. Good.”
(An oldie, but still a goodie.)
zhena gogolia
@Schlemazel:
I’m so sorry about this news. We are all thinking of you and hoping for the best possible outcome.
NotMax
Heh.
In program on in the background, the hosts are chatting with the owner of a pub in Scotland known for its extensive selection of whisky. Asking about a bottle of ‘Fishky,’ aged in casks which held herring, they ask the owner if he has tried it.
“(nods head yes)”
Then they ask if he would recommend it.
“(shakes head no)”
bcw
It is impressively hard to find out why Peter V Pry is a “Dr.” This “expert” on electromagnetic pulses has a HIGHLY TECHNICAL degree in (wait for it) Political Science from USC. So the oh-so-simple question of building a bomb that generates a large number of ions in the upper atmosphere – (low exploded bombs won’t do and standard bombs generate a plasma but don’t radiate that well) is deeply understood by some guy with no science background at all.
rikyrah
GOP and What Army? A Modest Proposal on How to Defy the Wisconsin Power Grab
In Wisconsin, the Republican power grab is virtually certain now to get the signature of the outgoing Governor Scott Walker and become law. The Republican-controlled legislature in the state has voted to strip the Constitutional powers of the incoming Democratic governor and Democratic Attorney General (specifically, his power to withdraw the state from litigation against the Affordable Care Act), as well as shorten early voting, weaken the new governor’s power to issue regulations on WI’s voter ID law and the state’s economic development agency.
Democrats have signaled that should the disgraced and outgoing Gov. Scott Walker (R) sign these subversions out of spite for the man who beat him, they may not get the last word. Lawsuits are a certainty, and of course, appropriate. The legislature cannot simply erode the powers of independently elected constitutional officers, and the voter suppression tactics have seen a rather successful level of resistance from the courts.
The lawsuits should fly fast and furious. But that does not have to be the Democrats’ only response. The incoming Democratic administration – Wisconsinites elected Democrats to every statewide office last month – should simply govern as if the power grab had not happened.
GregB
@Cheryl Rofer:
The Association’s Beautiful Balloon song comes to mind.
Frankensteinbeck
@Kay:
What’s particularly sad is that the grifts are so often nickel-and-dime. They’d sell their integrity for a sandwich.
@Betty Cracker:
Drain the swamp always meant to get the influence of minorities out of the federal government. Railing against ‘special interests’ has been a dog whistle at least since Reagan. A lot of Republicans take it a step further, and use the term to mean ethnic cleansing. I have seen it overtly used in that sense. They are quite happy with Trump’s progress.
OzarkHillbilly
@bcw:
You said yourself he had a degree in Political Science. //
rikyrah
Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) Tweeted:
Dear Department of Veterans Affairs (@DeptVetAffairs): I can’t believe I have to remind you of the following two basic facts:
-Neo-Nazis are bad
-Your job is to protect veterans and the American people, not @POTUS. Your employees took one oath and it was not to @realDonaldTrump
https://t.co/MzpmuGFCCG https://twitter.com/tedlieu/status/1070687461267763210?s=17
Redshift
@clay: As always (with both the Spicer and Saudi stories), it’s not surprising that they’re for sale, only that the price is so low.
Okay, for Spicer that’s not surprising either.
NotMax
@OzarkHillbilly
Has anyone calculated the speed of derp?
:)
OzarkHillbilly
How bad does Amazon treat their employees? Not even the robots want them around:
I ain’t buying this “accidental” bull shit.
Redshift
@bcw: I was even more amused at the “experts” whose qualification were that they were appointed to something by Reagan.
Jay C
@NotMax:
Apparently, infinite…
A Ghost To Most
@Schlemazel:
Urinal? They better plant a gold-plated toilet with working plumbing on top of President Creosote.
Uncle Cosmo
@GregB: Um… surely you mean “Up, Up & Away” by the 5th Dimension – ?
A Ghost To Most
@OzarkHillbilly:
The robot uprising has begun.
Jerry
I have a dear friend from way back that has started his journey down the EMP rabbit hole. I don’t know enough about it to dispute the things that he shares on social media, but the articles and videos he shares are pretty fucking bad. I don’t know what to do or how to respond. That’s the thing about conspiracy theories, they’re pretty hard to root out of someone’s mind once they have settled in. Confirmation bias is a helluva drug.
A Ghost To Most
@Schlemazel:
Sorry to hear that. Fuck cancer.
rikyrah
@OzarkHillbilly:
Me either.
the robots, in league with the animals, will conquer us all.
rikyrah
@Schlemazel:
So sorry about your news.
The Moar You Know
Yeah, EMP. Not nearly as much of a threat as posited, even done correctly. Not everything fries, not by a longshot.
Some idiot wrote a disaster porn novel a few years back that really got a lot of people freaked. Yelling “it was fiction” seemed, as usual, to have no effect.
A Ghost To Most
@Amir Khalid:
rikyrah
National Republicans mum on apparent NC election fraud scheme
Rachel Maddow reports the latest details in the increasingly insane story of what appears to the public unraveling of a genuine attempt to rig the a congressional election in North Carolina, and notes that national Republicans who have made a hobbyhorse of “voter fraud” suddenly aren’t as outspoken about this exposed scheme.
OzarkHillbilly
@NotMax: I’m only surprised nobody else (looking at you) beat me to it.
Vhh
@bcw: Woolsey has one of those poli sci type PhDs, too. No one there knows a drop of physics.
Betty Cracker
@Schlemazel: Well, shit. I’ll say no more unless you bring it up; it’s important when you’re going through Big Shit to have a place where you can be “normal,” for lack of a better word. But know that you’re in our thoughts and here if you want to discuss that or anything else.
OzarkHillbilly
@A Ghost To Most: What was it Lenin said about the capitalists? That they will arm the robots with the bear spray with which to subdue them?
NotMax
@rikyrah
Like every other outlet, she’s fallen into the trap of saying it’s voter fraud. It’s election fraud.
While on the subject, her use of pled instead of the proper pleaded is increasingly grating and annoying. the other day when she was reading directly from the Mueller document, she even kept saying pled when the word in the document was clearly pleaded.
OzarkHillbilly
@Jerry: Tell him it’s bullshit and you have better things to waste your time on, like counting the hairs on the back of your hands.
On the slightly more serious side, when my somewhat religious sister sent this atheist a forwarded viral email on how the US is a Christian country, I replied to all and tore the thing to shreds quoting chapter and verse from the constitution and the writings of various founding fathers. I doubt I changed any minds but it was the last time she ever included me in any of that bullshit.
rikyrah
Movement in Butina case eyed for potential Trump-Russia news
Rachel Maddow reports on new developments in the case of accused Russian spy Maria Butina, including attention on her boyfriend, Republican consultant Paul Erickson, that could portend news regarding Russia’s efforts to influence American politics, perhaps with the NRA as a financial conduit.
rikyrah
Flynn oddly immune from Trump wrath, even after Mueller memo
Rachel Maddow points out the abuse Donald Trump has heaped on the Robert Mueller investigation and anyone who has cooperated with it, and yet Trump has never said a discouraging word about Michael Flynn, even after court documents made clear the extent of his cooperation with Mueller.
OzarkHillbilly
@NotMax:
I’m with her on this. Do you say somebody is deeded when the are clearly dead?
NotMax
@OzarkHillbilly
Latter years of step-father’s career were spent as a professor of political science, so I know first hand what a crock the bulk of it is and practice insightful avoidance regarding it in any situation.
Betty Cracker
@Frankensteinbeck: It’s particularly insidious because it’s a valid concern — there really is an outrageous amount of grifting and corruption in DC and state capitals, and I don’t blame people for being pissed off about it. I do blame them for using it as an excuse to elect a racist demagogue and/or being stupid enough to genuinely believe that bloated orange fraud will do anything about it. On a related note, I am glad to see Democrats emphasizing anti-corruption policies because dog knows we need them more than ever with crooks like Trump and Co. running the show.
NotMax
@OzarkHillbilly
Sorry, shall continue to draw a line in the bedrock on this, having ceded nothing.
Bjacques
“Nazi-Communist-Deep State invasion force on the moon”
*snort*
Everybody knows it’s inside the hollow earth!
(^_^)
OzarkHillbilly
@NotMax: ;-)
rikyrah
Florida voters resoundingly approved a ballot measure that restores the right to vote for 1.2M people.
Rather than carrying out the will of the people, officials now want to ‘consult’ with lawmakers for guidance on how to implement.
This is obstruction.https://t.co/QirbqoLQx2
— Kristen Clarke ☎️ 866-OUR-VOTE (@KristenClarkeJD) December 5, 2018
germy
@rikyrah:
“boyfriend”
germy
@rikyrah:
Butina’s relationship with her boyfriend was not the love affair of the century. Didn’t she say “ugh” to her handlers about it?
rikyrah
Judge denies LePage stay request in Medicaid expansion suit, but delays enrollment deadline
The ruling effectively means the expansion will happen, but not until after Gov. LePage leaves office.
BY JOE LAWLOR
STAFF WRITER
The judge deciding the Medicaid expansion lawsuit has denied a stay request by the outgoing LePage administration, but set a new Feb. 1 deadline to enroll people in the expanded health insurance program.
From a practical standpoint, the latest ruling makes the lawsuit a moot point. Gov.-elect Janet Mills, who assumes office in January, has vowed to begin enrolling people as soon as possible after her administration takes over.
Maine voters approved Medicaid expansion in a November, 2017 referendum, but Republican Gov. Paul LePage, an expansion opponsent, has refused to implement it. About 70,000 low-income Mainers, mostly working-class childless adults or parents, will be eligible for Medicaid under the expansion.
The advocacy group behind the voter referendum, Maine Equal Justice Partners, sued the LePage administration this spring, arguing that the Maine Department of Health and Human Services failed to follow the law by refusing to implement the expansion.
Despite winning in court, the delays caused by having the court process play out has delayed implemententation, and with Mills taking over in January, Maine will be complying with the law.
The ruling by Superior Court Justice Michaela Murphy on Thursday agrees with Maine Equal Justice Partners but pushes off the requirement that enrollments begin from Dec. 5 to Feb. 1.
NotMax
@germy
Everybody sing.
Love
is a money-spendered thing
;)
germy
New trailer for “Vice” with Christian Bale in the role of Cheney:
https://trailers.apple.com/trailers/independent/vice/
Mnemosyne
@mapaghimagsik:
Ugh. Yeah, I work for a corporation that is Giant and Evil, but the actual body count is fairly low and usually only 1 or 2 people per incident. I’m sure morale is very low right now where you are.
rikyrah
@germy:
THAT is Bale?
I thought it was Oldman.
Spanky
And on the topic of draining the swamp in the financial realm, this stinks to high heaven:
Gee! I wonder who made it bankrupt in the first place? And now such a reasonable price.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Schlemazel: I know you’re not hanging around for responses but this ticks me off so much I have to respond anyway. You deserve better all the way around.
aznfg
My son works as a security analyst for a national utility company in an east coast city. Early on one of his assignments was to get petty cash, go to the closest bookstore and buy Ted Koppel’s book on EMP for the group. That tells you what utility company security people think of EMP. You need to know what it is and what theories are out there. Then you go back and do your job dealing with real threats.
Mnemosyne
@rikyrah:
Maria Butina was arrested and indicted, and now suddenly the NRA has no money and says they may have to declare bankruptcy. Seems like one hell of a coincidence. ?
trollhattan
@Schlemazel:
Very true. Not easy necessarily, but true.
schrodingers_cat
@Mnemosyne: @rikyrah: My Russian friend, who is now a naturalized citizen and no fan of Putin or his proxy in the WH says that its an open secret in Russia and calls NRA the National Russian Association.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Mnemosyne: Isn’t there another gun organization now? One that thought the NRA was too liberal?
Tom Ames
Not to validate the wingnut preppers’ paranoias, but a naturally occurring non-nuclear EMP is certainly going to hit us at some point. One did in 1859, and there was a near miss in 2012. See the Carrington Event.
NotMax
Flash from the past: 28 years ago, Murphy Brown interviews a Dolt 45 voter.
:)
Matt McIrvin
@JPL: It’s funny because news unrelated to Trump is historically the best possible thing for his public support. Get Trump out of the headlines for any reason and people start to regress to the partisan mean, which is good for Trump. But he can’t stand it for any length of time.
A Ghost To Most
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Gun Owners of America. For when the NRA isn’t fascist enough.
Gravenstone
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Several. Adam has spoken about them somewhat frequently. Although the names of any escape me at present.
PaulWartenberg
The stock market is panicking again. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stocks-slide-fresh-selloff-144330108.html
Who’s gonna riot in the streets first: underpaid Millennials or stock brokers watching their portfolios eat themselves?
mad citizen
I work in the electric industry, and EMP simply does not come up. And as aznfg alluded to, that Koppel book is total crap.
schrodingers_cat
@mad citizen: Our media betters are
1. Innumerate
2. Illiterate in science.
3. Sympathetic to the party that is hostile to science.
brantl
Having a metal shell around what you want to protect will stop EMP. For most important computers, the idea that it isn’t in a metal box is extremely unlikely.
AThornton
With respect to schrodingers_cat …
Americans in general are scientifically illiterate, as shown by the Pew Research finding 66% of Americans reject the Theory of Evolution.
TenguPhule
A little early in the day to be drinking.
After reading the post, mighty tempting anyway.
mapaghimagsik
@Mnemosyne:
As low as any chicken with its head cut off.When even the San Diego Tribune, who doesn’t deeply love California Government says its time for a leadership change, I think there might be some momentum there. I’d be happy if they’d cut deep and not give out those golden parachutes.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Seriously? The “we nuke your entire country” doesn’t change because “Oh, a nuke just for the EMP, well our infrastructure is crippled but you found the magic loop hole, you sneaky boi. Our hands are tied, but next time!” Someone watched The Force Awakens to many time in the middle of their white boi mid life crises.
What this neocon stooge is really saying with weapons like this, Irana and NKPD can deter the kind of wild and crazy military adventurism the neocons so love.
mad citizen
I appreciate responses to my post. I was driving to my office after a fulsome morning of patting each other on the back at the local/regional transmission grid. Anyway, my new comment is that I’ve been surprised over the years at so many utility engineer type guys who are hard right wingers as well. I guess for some “nationalism” overrides science learning, rtc.
Spanky
This thread is a tad overripe, but here are two snippets from WaPo’s Breaking News bin:
A Ghost To Most
@mad citizen:
I am retired from the electric utility that supplies rural electric cooperatives across the mountain west. Never have I seen such a collection of MAGAts in one place. They are busy shooing non-nazis out the door. I, happily, got out with a pension.
Ruckus
@rikyrah:
I wonder if the robots know to keep track of the on/off switch?
Ruckus
@OzarkHillbilly:
Couldn’t make that concept work for me with my cult member sister. She’s lost any and all concept of the world, only the cult is important.
OzarkHillbilly
@germy: I love Christian Bale and Amy Adams but having lived thru that I’m not sure I want to go thru it again.
jl
Late to this, but the BS is not new. I remember decades ago, some think tank sent up a trial balloon about some kind of armored zeppelin gap, or something. Anyway, armored zeppelins, with modern technology, were feasible, and some bad guy had some, someplace, or could have them, or the very idea passed through some bad guy’s head in a fever dream, and so therefore we should build them. Great way to solve airlift logistical problems, an endless parade of armored zeppelins across the Atlantic would solve all problems. Anyway, some contractor should get a shitload of money to look into armored zeppelins. This trial balloon barely made it off the ground and then disappeared into thin air.
Christine
Hi- I’m a longtime lurker, but I don’t understand– even if an EMP did fry our electronics, why couldn’t we rebuild? Why would it be permanent? Seriously? Or am I missing something important?
Steeplejack
@Christine:
It’s not that it would be permanent, it’s that (theoretically) it would be a catastrophe similar to a hurricane or earthquake but over a much bigger area. How do you rebuild when you don’t have any electricity? No communications (phones, TV, radio)? Yes, the recovery would get done, but it would take a much longer time than clearing the streets and restringing some downed power lines.
All of this is hypothetical, of course.