This question has a much greater partisan differential than I expected. pic.twitter.com/o4Y2PRpnlx
— Jennifer Wolak (@j_wolak_) May 6, 2019
The incredibly stupid secret to Trump’s success is lots of people don’t know that reality television isn’t real.
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) May 8, 2019
I first read Mark Twain’s Life on the Mississippi when I was 9 or 10 (my English-teacher mother gave me a copy when I told her Tom Sawyer was a terrible book, and I was having doubts about Twain’s literary stature). That book made explicit one of the great ‘secrets’ of American life: There’s a considerable percentage of our fellow citizens who genuinely admire con artists, thugs, and those who ‘know how to get what they want, whatever it takes.’
The number of such secret fellow-felons has certainly grown no less, here in our second Gilded Age. It’s not necessarily that all Trump voters are stupid (although many of them *are* plenty stupid; look at the Fox talking heads!), but they choose to insist on being ignorant enough to believe the crap Fox / Trump / the entire GOP ladles into their gaping maws…
Always remember that what makes Trump's enablers so awful is that almost all of them, including at Fox, know better. They know Trump isn't a good businessman. But they're higher on the food chain than the rubes they're fleecing, and so they say what they know will work.
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) May 8, 2019
As another great American artist once said, You can’t cheat an honest man…
2/ "MISTER Trump us the richest man in America." "He's the most successful builder in New York!" "Trump is so rich, that no one could buy him!"
Even when you gave them the truth, the power of 15 years of reality TV indoctrination overcame it.
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) May 8, 2019
4/ I would caution though that even as Trump's true financial picture is revealed it won't move the numbers with his base much. It will help at the margins.
It does provide fodder for hearings and has the additional benefit of sending him out of his goddamn mind.
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) May 8, 2019
5/ It's also a reminder the Trump is a masterful con man and will apply the same level of b.s. in the 2020 election that he used on his endless chain of credulous lenders; lies, fraud, deception, and falsified financials are likely going to expose him to both risk and ridicule.
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) May 8, 2019
A Post poll in 1990 found that 86 percent of people wouldn't trade places with a newly broke Trump. A 1999 Gallup poll found his net favorability was minus-6.
Then came The Apprentice in 2004. By 2005, Gallup had his favorability at plus-12. https://t.co/RyuI2obhPM
— Philip Bump (@pbump) May 8, 2019
New York Times: Trump was literally the biggest loser in the country
Fox News: It’s impressive that he was a loser in so many different ways https://t.co/fk0p7vJnnn
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) May 8, 2019
"I mean, I guess I could see myself killing ONE person, but to have the strength of character to become a SERIAL KILLER…you have to respect that." https://t.co/EQ0Fbcdeyl
— Marc Channick (@Sorry_What_Now) May 8, 2019
TS (the original)
Woman just jailed in NY for 12 years for pretending to be a socialite and heir to a fortune – fooled the banks hotels friends etc. Trump does the same and they elect him president*
SiubhanDuinne
I know one of those guys is named Doocy and the other one isn’t, but I never have known which is which, nor can I ever remember Not-Doocy’s real name.
I don’t really want to know. And if you tell me, I probably won’t remember. Just making noise.
Anne Laurie
@SiubhanDuinne:
One of the twitter nicknames for that trio is ‘A Blonde with Two Boobs on A Couch.’ That’s good enough for me!
VeniceRiley
I know a late night comedy writer that took a job in reality tv for a while. IT IS ALL SCRIPTED. None of it is real.
Adam L Silverman
@SiubhanDuinne: The blonde, effeminate one is Doocy. The meathead with brown hair is Kilmeade. Basically, from Earnhardt’s perspective Doocy is the right boob and Kilmeade is the left boob of The Blonde with Two Boobs on a Sofa Morning Show.
Adam L Silverman
@Anne Laurie: That’s not a twitter nickname, that’s the name I came up with here. A little credit please!
Sebastian
Fellow jackals, friendly reminder that we have a special election for NC-9 next week.
Four Directions, a vote rider org for Native Americans just called me and asked for help to GOTV/vote ride 1,000 members of a tribe whose name I forgot. Chipped in $50, which I figured is a tank of gas. If I remember correctly it was here where I was introduced to them during the South Dakota bullshit last year.
If you feel so inclined, here is their ActBlue page:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/fourdirections2019
Or donate to any other GOTV org of your choice of course.
lumpkin
Well, by definition half the population IS dumb. Good to see that a lot of them are owning it. The dumbass republicans are still seriously underrepresented in this
study however.
debbie
And they are willing to do this because all they care about is power.
matt
could have just asked ‘do you believe in God’
SFAW
@SiubhanDuinne:
Doocy is the stupid-looking moron, and Kilmeade is the dumb-looking asshole.
Glad I could help.
trollhattan
Love the short film that accompanies this story.
TenguPhule
So the solution is to make the dumb people unhappy.
And keep them there.
trollhattan
Dad gets to go see the kiddo run the 1600 in division sectionals tonight. Top 6 qualify for masters, fingers crossed.
MomSense
@Anne Laurie:
The professional left podcast calls the Fox couch the crotch couch because the women’s skirts are so short.
Baud
Trump is theatrical and he hates the right people. Everything else is marginal to his supporters.
Yutsano
@trollhattan: LUUUUUUCK!!!
(She got dis doe)
trollhattan
@SFAW:
On his old show Colbert called them “Steve Doocy and guy who’s not Steve Doocy.” Still works for me.
trollhattan
@Yutsano:
Merci! She’s nervous and determined, kind of like an actual track person. ;-)
Baud
@trollhattan:
Nice.
Jeffro
@Baud: He pushes their fear buttons and plucks their resentment strings like no one in recent memory…and fear is a drug for some. They really do feed on it, crave it, etc etc. It’s sick.
I’m surprised no one has thought to ask trumpov why he always plays “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” at his rallies. Candidates (any office, every era) want something uplifting, upbeat, positive. His theme is ‘nope, you suck, now let me tell you who to blame’.
Amir Khalid
@MomSense:
I’ve noticed this. I remember commenting here that the men dress for business, the women for … let’s call it Sunday brunch.
SiubhanDuinne
@Anne Laurie:
I think Mr Charles P. Pierce* came up with that or something very similar (“Two Boobs and a Blonde,” IIRC).
* ETA: Or Dr Adam L. Silverman, of course :-)
cmorenc
@Sebastian:
In NC-9, that tribe is likely the Lumbee Indians, who tend to be clustered in western Robeson county around Pembroke, and the adjacent areas of eastern Hoke / Scotland counties.
Amir Khalid
@TenguPhule:
Actually, most dumb people are already unhappy; living with the consequences of one’s own dumbness generally does not bring much joy.
Baud
@Jeffro:
A long time ago (and maybe still), Rush Limbaugh used to play that on his show. For them, it stands for denying liberals the things they want.
Adam L Silverman
@SiubhanDuinne: Pierce’s is Three Dolts on a Divan.
SiubhanDuinne
@SFAW:
With help like this….
tobie
@cmorenc:Do you know when the special elections in NC will be held? I haven’t been paying attention but I know they’re coming soon.
Harbison
Oh, it’s going to be much worse. As Josh Marshall has been detailing over at TPM, Giuliani is touring around meeting with despots trying to enlist their aid in smearing political opponents.
In 2016 all the leverage Trump had was his candidacy to offer. Now he has a good chunk of the power of the US behind him along with at least one branch of Congress that doesn’t appear interested in doing anything to stand in his way.
p.a.
Stupid and happy ~=~ un-self-aware and happy. The “I have no regrets” person… really? Never hurt someone else, never were curt, rude, insulting, insensitive, etc or worse??!! You’re a better man than I, Gunga Din.
I screw up every day.
SiubhanDuinne
@Adam L Silverman:
That works too.
Tokyokie
@SFAW: @Jeffro: He’s still using that song? I thought Mick & Keith said he couldn’t.
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: Conservatives think that’s a good conservative song putting down welfare moochers and PC snowflakes.
Mike in NC
Interesting to note that Donald Trump also dabbled in pro wrestling, which an alarming number of people in this country think is real. They changed the name to WWE for a reason (“entertainment”).
Amir Khalid
@Jeffro:
I think he plays that song because he knows it pisses Mick and Keith off.
Ohio Mom
What that bar graph says to me is, it’s true that Independents are almost always Republicans who don’t want to admit it.
catclub
my mind is …. blown!
Amir Khalid
@Mike in NC:
Thanks for that. Now I need brain bleach to cleanse myself of the mental image of Donald Trump in wrestlng tights.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
They are so weird.
Sebastian
@cmorenc:
Thank you. That was the tribe the gentleman mentioned.
Brachiator
@trollhattan:
Best of luck!
MomSense
@Amir Khalid:
I think Fox put it in the women’s contracts that they can’t wear pants.
Steve in the ATL
@trollhattan: tell her to watch out for javelins
Brachiator
@Mike in NC:
They know it’s fake. They just don’t care, because it makes them happy.
These people think about Trump in much the same way.
Jay
@Mike in NC:
@Amir Khalid:
The World Wildlife Fund seal clubbed the World Wrestling Federation in court over the initials WWF.
Jim Parish
@Mike in NC: Also because the World Wildlife Fund sued them.
Jeffro
@Baud: I did not know that…and here I thought I was up on all my political ‘inside baseball’!
What is that, like a double-dog-whistle, then? A triple if you count it as essentially flipping the bird to Mick and Keith telling him to stop? It’s like Cleek’s Law on steroids, in audio form.
Steeplejack
(Bleg reposted for those who skipped the gunz thread.)
Anybody have any experience with Apple Music (not iTunes)? I got a free account when I upgraded my cell-phone plan, but I haven’t fired it up yet. Any advice appreciated.
I do know the basics, but I was wondering about things like hidden fees, comparison with Spotify, the interface sucks, the app is a memory hog, lag time is a problem, etc. Or “Hey, it changed my life!”
NotMax
Topically related. Remember?
Steve in the ATL
@MomSense:
Baud has the same contract
SiubhanDuinne
@trollhattan:
How exciting! Everything crossable is crosssed.
Just One More Canuck
@Mike in NC: that was (at least in part) because of a dispute over the name with the World Wildlife Fund
Steve in the ATL
@Steeplejack: my wife has it even though we have the Spotify family plan and it’s better in every way. But she represents Apple so….
misterpuff
“Dumb and Happy” = Good Paying job (Until mine closes down or union busted and production moves overseas)
“Dumb and Happy” = Comfortable Home (Until can’t afford downpayment or home value falls)
“Dumb and Happy” = Good Health (Until medical expenses decimates savings)
“Dumb and Happy” = Huntin’, Fishin’ and Foolin’ Around aka Guns, Boats and Pickups (until gas spikes and you have to hunt to put food on the table)
“Smart and Sad” = My everyday state but I can pay my bills and buy shit that ultimately doesn’t make me happy)
All in all, I’ll take that trade.
Baud
@Steve in the ATL:
Sans associating with Doocey, thankfully.
Bill Arnold
The source for the “dumb and happy” chart is in this set of polls and it is LOL funny. Latest is 2018 but still good.
https://thepulseofthenation.com/
Steeplejack
@SiubhanDuinne:
I think Colbert, in his previous Colbert Report persona, used to always refer to Brian Kilmeade as “not Steve Doucy.” So it’s not just you.
Steve in the ATL
@trollhattan:
I hope she qualifies and wins the Masters next year instead of some jerk who cheats on his wife repeatedly and eats at Applebee’s.
zhena gogolia
@Steeplejack:
Weirdness is afoot on TCM — a movie starring Roy Orbison. It seems to be an attempt to make him into Elvis. No cigar.
mrmoshpotato
@Anne Laurie: Two Morons and a Bimbo (You pick.)
SiubhanDuinne
@Steeplejack:
Heh. If I’m in company with Colbert in any of his incarnations, I won’t complain.
Kent
This is why I still do facebook.
I have a shitload of extended family relatives as well as some neighbors and even co-workers who are this mind-numbingly stupid and brainwashed. Well, maybe brainwashed isn’t the right word as I’m not sure some of them had any brains to wash in the first place.
But checking into the stupidy on facebook from people that I actually know in real life is a good reality check for me. It is too easy to wall yourself off into your own world. I don’t actually ever engage in the stupidity except to gently poke some of my friends who really should know better about some of the stuff they post. But it is good to have it there as a reminder of what we are dealing with.
Gravenstone
@SiubhanDuinne: Doocy is the stupid looking one. Wait, that doesn’t really help.
Luciamia
Hmmm. How dumb and how happy?
NotMax
@zhena gogolia
That’s a western (in the loosest sense), yes? Bizarre production.
SiubhanDuinne
@Ohio Mom:
Precisely the thought I had when I looked at the “Independent” results!
VeniceRiley
In other news, Valerie Plame is running for congress. It’s an open Dem seat NM03 though, so no pickup.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/former-cia-agent-outed-as-spy-is-running-for-congress/ar-AAB8XoV?ocid=spartanntp
mrmoshpotato
@Amir Khalid: What Sunday brunch do you attend?
Dave
@Anne Laurie: Charlie Pierce at Esquire calls it “Three Dolts on a Divan”… which is also appealing to me!
SiubhanDuinne
@Gravenstone:
LOL, but I actually think that’s exactly why I never can remember which is which.
“Which of the two he could never make out,
Despite his best endeavour:
Of that, there is no shadow of doubt,
No possible, probable shadow of doubt,
No possible doubt whatever!”
mrmoshpotato
@MomSense: Can confirm.
SiubhanDuinne
@mrmoshpotato:
Probably none until Eid al-Fitr.
zhena gogolia
@NotMax:
Yeah, it’s a pro-South-in-the-Civil-War Western. Roy Orbison sings like an angel but looks like Eddie Munster in an Elvis costume.
Gravenstone
@VeniceRiley: Since we have the House, I would consider a hold for any existing Dem seat to be rather important. Can’t afford to backslide.
chris
@zhena gogolia: Movie name? You have stirred a memory.
zhena gogolia
@chris:
Fastest Guitar Alive
Steve in the ATL
@mrmoshpotato: Working Girls Brunch. Don’t be so judgmental!
NotMax
@zhena gogolia
Was fairly sure it was Confederate oriented, but didn’t entirely trust to spotty memory. Also, IIRC, his gee-tar shoots bullets.
West of the Rockies
@p.a.:
I feel similarly when someone says, “Everyday I just do my best…” (With the implication that they also succeed, not just “try”.)
No, we don’t. Sometimes we’re rude, self-involved, in a hurry, in a bad mood… We are all occasionally selfish or too tired to do our best.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Steve in the ATL: I believe that Cole does as well.
Steve in the ATL
@SiubhanDuinne: eh. I’m in a Muslim country right now and business continues apace. Other than the early breakfast offerings and the nightly overpriced Iftar feasts, you wouldn’t know it’s Ramadan.
mrmoshpotato
@Jay: Jay! That is a terribl(y hilarious) way to put it!
Full disclosure: I do not condone the clubbing of seals, just good wordplay.
Fuller disclosure: If seals like to party, and they’re responsible and of age, live it up.
zhena gogolia
@NotMax:
Mercifully I came in on the last 15 minutes and didn’t give them my undivided attention. Your surmise is probably correct but I can’t confirm it definitively.
Procopius
@MomSense: “… women’s skirts are so short.” When I was in high school the norm was for the hemline to be half way down the calf when standing. It varied an inch or two every year, but that was the average. Somehow, when they sat the hem came just an inch or two above the knee. Drove me crazy.
TenguPhule
@Steve in the ATL:
But is paid 30% more for it.
Steve in the ATL
@mrmoshpotato: seals on Molly is a sight to behold!
chris
@zhena gogolia: Thanks. I knew it was a bad memory.
LOL, thanks for that too.
zhena gogolia
@NotMax:
BTW, I came here looking for you to tell about it, but didn’t see your nym so addressed it to Steeplejack instead. Nice to see that it was a kind of bat-signal for you.
Sebastian
@tobie:
Primary next week, election this coming fall.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_North_Carolina%27s_9th_congressional_district_special_election
TenguPhule
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
They should start a union together. Represent!
TenguPhule
@Steve in the ATL:
So essentially like Lent in Texas?
zhena gogolia
@zhena gogolia:
It’s funny because when I turned it on, I at first thought it was Elvis, but then I thought, “OMG, something has gone terribly wrong with Elvis’s face!”
TenguPhule
@Amir Khalid:
But its never their fault. //s
zhena gogolia
@chris:
Comment 93 was supposed to be for you.
Chris
@cmorenc:You rang??…LOL Thankfully the primary is the republican primary and while we lumbee are blessed with our share of “intractable mulish stupidity” McCready did carry ol Robeson county last time. Its funny how in all the brouhaha about our neighbors to the east in Bladen county that somehow it was never mentioned that they ran the same game here in robeson county. The return rate on absentee ballots here was absurdly low. So low that it looks like Mr Dowless’ game worked here too.
mrmoshpotato
@Steve in the ATL: LOL!
NotMax
@mrmoshpotato
Ancient joke (short version):
Harp seal enters a tavern and bellies up to the bar.
Seal: Boy, have I ever had one of those days.
Bartender: You sure look like you could use a drink. What’ll it be?
Seal: Anything but a Canadian Club.
(
rimshot
)mrmoshpotato
@Steve in the ATL: I said if they’re responsible, not if they’re stoned seals!
TenguPhule
@NotMax: I don’t understand the aversion to seal meat. Properly prepared, its supposed to be fairly tasty.
SiubhanDuinne
@Steve in the ATL:
Do they have IHOPs in Egypt (or wherever you are)?
chris
@zhena gogolia: Got it. I saw the movie on TV in the early ’70s with some friends. It was awful but we were kinda high and my ribs hurt the next day. There’s a reason ol’ Roy was only in one movie.
SiubhanDuinne
@TenguPhule:
Like chicken, right?
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax: ?
That’s the search result for ‘disapprove.’
Jay
@TenguPhule:
Because of the way much of it is harvested.
Jay
@SiubhanDuinne:
Doesn’t taste like chicken at all.
mrmoshpotato
@TenguPhule: I think it has to do with the bludgeoning.
But I could be wrong.
TenguPhule
@SiubhanDuinne:
More like a fatty beef or venison, with a slightly fishy or clammy aftertaste.
SiubhanDuinne
@Steve in the ATL:
Some of the best hotel breakfasts I ever had were in Israel.
TenguPhule
@Jay:
That’s fur seals.
Kent
@TenguPhule:
I’ve actually had it and it’s not that tasty. I spent a decade living and working in Alaska and when I was still single I’d always get invited to big pot-luck Thanksgiving dinners in Juneau. One year I went to one hosted by a co-worker and some of the guests were Alaska native (Tlingit) who brought a big plate of grilled seal ribs. Only Alaska natives are allowed to harvest seals. Anyway, the meat was extremely dark and pungent and I could only swallow a bite or two. Not my thing at all.
SiubhanDuinne
@TenguPhule:
Uhhh … okay, thanks.
Steve in the ATL
@SiubhanDuinne: not that I’ve seen, but I’m a Waffle House guy. Sadly, nearby are two McDonalds, a KFC, and, inexplicably, a Hardee’s. Tahrir Square, which is in fact a circle, isn’t what it used to be. Which may have been a square, what do I know?
Jay
@TenguPhule:
That’s the source of commercially available seal meat. It’s a byproduct of the baby seal fur trade.
Indiginous Peoples are pretty much the only people who hunt seals ethically for food.
Steve in the ATL
@SiubhanDuinne: ah yes, Israel—another well known Muslim country!
MomSense
@Steve in the ATL:
Ooh, make sure to fill up on koshari while you are in ??
TenguPhule
@Jay:
Ah, that would explain why its not popular. Harvesting them too early and the wrong kind of seals.
TenguPhule
@Kent:
A bit like mutton?
Steeplejack
@zhena gogolia:
[Jack Benny voice] Well!
Steve in the ATL
@MomSense: macaroni and fried onions—how could I resist?
TenguPhule
Wapo headlines you wish were literal instead of figurative.
The Lodger
@NotMax: Roy Orbison shooting bullets? Fascinating.
SiubhanDuinne
@Steve in the ATL:
ROFL, well, Middle-Eastern with strict dietary laws, anyhow! I loved those breakfasts. Fish. Cheese. Yum.
Dorothy A. Winsor
This cannot be true. Can it?
TenguPhule
Our media will never learn.
Jay
@TenguPhule:
It’s the method of harvesting, and of course, the beauty and helplessness of the slaughter. It’s easier to kill the Mom’s, then the pups, as the Mom’s will defend their young.
As the adult carcasses are worthless for fur, and the law requires minimal waste, the adults are processed at a loss, and the meat is sold, mostly to Northern Europe and Asia.
The pups carcasses are turned into animal feeds and fertilizer.
TenguPhule
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Sadly yes.
NotMax
@Steve in the ATL
Suppose you ought be able to find shakshousa, if that kind of thing floats yer boat.
zhena gogolia
@Steeplejack:
Hahaha! You didn’t show any interest in the Orbison cinematic oeuvre.
Steeplejack
@zhena gogolia:
Jesus, I’m just reading this thread now!
And there’s an “Orbison cinematic oeuvre”?!
zhena gogolia
@Steeplejack:
Well, one movie at least.
MomSense
@Steve in the ATL:
My mouth is watering thinking about it. I have a really close friend in Cairo who knows all the best places.
Steve in the ATL
@Steeplejack: by the grace of Allah, it’s a petit oeuvre
Jay
@zhena gogolia:
Two, he had an uncredited minor role in “She’s having a Baby”,
mrmoshpotato
@MomSense: Are you two talking about something like this – Baked Mac and Cheese w Fried Onions?
Steve in the ATL
@MomSense: send me some recommendations then! I don’t have a car, though, so limit it to places within a camel ride of my hotel.
The Golux
@trollhattan:
The beauty of the wilderness in that video makes me weep.
SiubhanDuinne
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Okay, I’m sorry, but this is officially batshit insane.
NotMax
@MomSense
Came across something on Prime which seems to fit in with your previously stated parameters for watchability.
TV series, The Royal (8 seasons). Sort of a smaller scale and more insular, countrified British version of St. Elsewhere, set in Yorkshire in an amalgam of the 1960s. Okay enough for what it is as something to have in the queue to pass the time. The mostly contemporaneous music soundtrack plucks more than a few strings of memory.
Maybe one of the across the pond jackals can explain why the consulting surgeon to the hospital is always addressed as Mr. Rose rather than Dr. Is that standard practice? Also unclear on where and how in the staff hierarchy the Sister fits in.
MomSense
@Steve in the ATL:
Oh god – nothing is left from the old days I’m sure.
@mrmoshpotato:
It’s rice, lentils, macaroni, chickpeas, fried onions, and a garlicky tomato sauce. Lots of herbs, vinegar and hot sauce if you like it that way – I do!
Steve in the ATL
@SiubhanDuinne: pretty sure this part isn’t true either: “Trump “is a pretty good raconteur of history”
Baud
Fucking Comey is on CNN saying his behavior in 2016 was acceptable.
In other news,
https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/09/politics/chelsea-manning-release/index.html
Steve in the ATL
@MomSense: maybe the Hardee’s has it
Baud
@SiubhanDuinne:
In a way, Lincoln lost the war when Trump was elected.
zhena gogolia
@NotMax:
I think for doctors “Mr.” is more prestigious than “Dr.” in the UK.
MomSense
@NotMax:
That does sound like a show I’d like. On Sunday my son and I watched Crazy Rich Asians and I have to say I did enjoy it. It’s a formulaic romcom with beautiful scenery and people. Nothing exciting or outstanding, just a pleasant couple of hours.
Emma
@NotMax: Tradition, IIRC. Surgeons did not study medicine in college prior to the mid 19th century; they apprenticed to a surgeon and passed an exam. Sort of like the butcher’s boy becoming a butcher.
Steeplejack
@NotMax:
In British parlance, surgeons were “Mister,” real doctors were “Doctor.” It was a status and class thing, which happened to be discussed here in mind-numbing detail a month or two ago.
“Don’t call us mister,” say surgeons after 150 years.
ETA: “Discussed here in mind-numbing detail.” As per usual.
MomSense
@Steve in the ATL:
No they don’t have Hardee’s now, do they?
Steve in the ATL
@MomSense: Tahrir Square. IIRC, that’s what the protests were about.
Steve in the ATL
@NotMax: have you watched the Icelandic crime show Trapped? Good stuff.
mrmoshpotato
@MomSense: Mmmm…. garlicky tomato sauce.
Sab
@Steeplejack: Not on point but possibly related: I read somewhere that in the UK NHS the only medical guys in private practice stil are the general pactitioners/family practice doctors. All the specialists are salaried employees.
I don’t know if this is correct, and at this hour British jackals are all asleep.
I think I read it in TR Reid’s book about healthcare around the world.
Steve in the ATL
I feel like I’m back in States—it’s 3 am, I am getting up in 3 hours, and instead of getting much needed sleep I’m reading a book and posting on Balloon Juice. Self destructive am I!
Dr Ronnie James DO
@Harbison: What’s even crazier is, all the stuff Rudy’s alleged to be doing now basically *is* the COLLUSION with foreign powers to get elected Needy Amin has spent the last 2 years swearing he didn’t do. I have yet to see those dots connected by the media yet.
tobie
@Sebastian: well that’s a huge relief. I thought it was around the corner, and we were in danger of letting this one slide.
TenguPhule
@Baud:
Man must really have an egged-wish.
Dr Ronnie James DO
@Steeplejack: It’s a very longstanding distinction: America’s oldest medical school at Columbia was founded as (and still is)?the “College of Physicians and Surgeons” Oh, if only they’d put parentheses around “and Surgeons”!
Jay
“Israel Gets all the Goodies, Palestinians Screwed: First-ever Reveal of ‘Deal of the Century’ Details”,
https://www.juancole.com/2019/05/goodies-palestinians-screwed.html
mrmoshpotato
@Steve in the ATL: You can take the man out of the country, but you can’t take the love for Balloon Juice out of the man.
Harbison
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Sure, maybe, why not? Satire is dead with this jabrone.
James E Powell
@Baud:
I really wish that a hole would crawl in goddam hole and never come out.
NotMax
@Steve in the ATL
Yup. Nordic noir has so many enticing offerings.
Harbison
@Dr Ronnie James DO:
Yep. Our media can’t handle the firehose of crazy and corruption now. Just wait until we are at war with East-Asia or whoever- that right there is going to become 14 minutes of the 22 minutes of the evening news. I was reading the coverage of the Met Gala or whatever it was and I couldn’t help but think of that scene in Brazil at the restaurant with people wearing the most absurd fashion while the totalitarian state marched on.
Shit is going to get much worse before (and if) it gets better.
Patricia Kayden
@TS (the original): Actually, isn’t Trump a socialite and heir to millions? The lie is that he’s a successful, self-made millionaire.
Quinerly
@VeniceRiley: I was startled to learn she and Ambassador Wilson divorced in 2017. Their house was listed for sale awhile back for $2.4, I believe. I have seen her out and about in Santa Fe on a couple of my visits. Very pleasant, very approachable. She’ll make a great Representative. (Related, Poco still pines for Ali Mcgraw… she petted him once at the rail yards. Honestly, I think he would have left with her…..)
TenguPhule
because apparently nothing matters anymore.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steve in the ATL: Wenceslas Square is more of a boulevard, if that helps.
Bill Arnold
@Harbison:
It’s been interesting to watch Guiliani’s transformation from America’s Mayor[1] to not-particularly-competent matchmaker for evil volk / fixer.
How does one make a society rapidly more resistant to these methods? The press is high leverage and has been improving. I’m not able to consult other timelines where the Fascists are definitively losing. Somehow e.g. France seems more resistant.
[1] At least in that video Guiliani was mentally together; he seems much less so now.
catclub
@Jay: Least surprising reveal ever.
Steve in the ATL
@Omnes Omnibus: i don’t want to live in this world anymore.
Amir Khalid
@Steve in the ATL:
I think IHOP for Ramadhan is strictly an American Muslims’ thing. Despite their name, they’re not that big outside the US.
RAVEN
Beach chronicle day five. A brutal south-southeast wind made the morning fishing like losing a prize fight. I finally decided to take a break and hoped the wind would “lie down”. It did and one of the chair/umbrella guys came down to fish at sunset. They didn’t know a great deal about surf fishing so we chatted some and I cut up a ladyfish for bait. One of the guys was casting away when he got hit by a nice big redfish. It was quite a fight for him but he got it in. I cleaned it for him down and the beach and they went on their merry way. Two days ago I landed a lunker and, with the help of a great guy I got to know on the beach, I landed it. It was almost as exhilarating helping someone else as it was to catch one myself. I think I’ll stick with this here fishin!?????????
NotMax
@Omnes Omnibus
And Manhattan has the Circle in the Square Theatre.
Jay
@TenguPhule:
Naw, starting in the ‘90’s, the ReThug aristocracy and plutocrats started drinking the same Koolaide they had been feeding the base for decades.
As a result, they now live their interior lives in 4chan/8chan/QAnon/Alex Jones alt reality, and it spills out through their external voices from time to time.
Redshift
@lumpkin:
Technically, while half the population is dumber than average, that doesn’t mean half the population is dumb. (It doesn’t mean they aren’t, either…)
NotMax
@Amir Khalid
The name comes from their original menu, a many paged affair which listed a plethora of pancakes ostensibly native to various lands, alphabetically by country and replete with pictures of flags of the nations.
Steve in the ATL
@Redshift: good point. Clearly, at least 90% of the population is dumb.
Jay
@RAVEN:
You know what they say,
Give a man a fish, and you’ll feed him for a day,
Teach a man to fish and he’ll spend thousands of dollars a year on tackle, lures, trips, boats, gas and hundreds of hours a year on the water.
RSA
Not that John Stuart Mill had all the answers, but…
“It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. And if the fool, or the pig, is of a different opinion, it is only because they only know their own side of the question.”
Mary G
I’ve been out all day having my final Rituxin infusion in a medical center that allegedly provides free WiFi, which they may, but at a slower speed than my first 1400 (or whatever no.) dial up modem, so I was offline all day. Received a horrible shock – that bitch at Medicare and Anthem have changed the way it’s billed and paid for, so my cost for each treatment went from $0 to $3,000. So now I have to find $6K under the sofa cushions. The company has a program which waives it for people who make than 100,000, but it’s full.
NotMax
@Omnes Omnibus
Also too, Times Square is a trapezoid.
Anne Laurie
@Adam L Silverman: My apologies! I shall not forget again who coined that mot juste.
Sab
@Mary G: YIKES!!!
Sure Lurkalot
@Adam L Silverman: Speaking of Pierce, Idiot America is a fine read and maybe even more relevant now than in the GWB era.
Mary G
@RAVEN: I’ve been reading threads late, but just wanted to say your picture with the huge fish and the little girl in water wings was adorbs.
BottyGuy
You were correct about Tom Sawyer, it is not a very good book, it is a children’s book with an unlikable protagonist. Tom is a ass hole in Huck Finn as well, but that is an adult book and his racism shows through.
NotMax
@Mary G
Holy crap. My gast is flabbered.
Raven
@Mary G: Wasn’t it!
chris
@Sure Lurkalot: Seconded.
debbie
@RAVEN:
It’s great to read how well your trip is going!
Yutsano
@Steve in the ATL: Seals on Molly is now my new band name. Plz do not steal.
Dr Ronnie James DO
@Harbison: Met Gala was ghastly this year. Camp was a brilliant choice of theme, and then everybody proved they had no fucking clue what it meant. Just pure disappointment.
plato
dww44
@Steeplejack: Maybe a dead thread but I’ve long been a bit gobsmacked that Brian Kilmeade is a best selling author of semi non fiction books about American historical figures or events. There’s almost always one included among the hard copy books on offer at my Kroger’s. I’ve a conservative friend who’s bought and read every single one of them.
Steeplejack
@dww44:
Well, smack my gob. I did not know that.
opiejeanne
@NotMax: On Doc Martin it’s explained that surgeons are always addressed as Mr. rather than Dr. He is now Dr Martin; he had been Mr Martin when he was a surgeon but was overcome by an aversion to blood (and surgery) while operating on a colleague’s wife, and lost his nerve.
prostratedragon
@Harbison: Late I know, but for the record saw some car commercial recently that used this music: