But not the fun kind, like Simone Biles throwing out the first pitch…
Okay @Simone_Biles. #Astros pic.twitter.com/YpwI3qj8TY
— patrick (@PatDStat) October 24, 2019
It will be said of House Republicans,
When they found they lacked the courage to confront the most dangerous and unethical president in American history,
They consoled themselves by attacking those who did.
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) October 21, 2019
The Moron Tabernacle Choir pic.twitter.com/hZAZ1r1ht0
— Will Bunch ?? (@Will_Bunch) October 23, 2019
Nancy Pelosi is at her brother's funeral. That's why Gaetz and crew chose this day to commit a Federal crime in an attempt to block a lawful deposition — despite the fact that 46 Republican representatives are perfectly free to attend it.
These people are beneath contempt.
— Michael Marshall Smith (@ememess) October 23, 2019
Some context: There are 108 members -46 Republicans and 62 Democrats- on the three committees leading the impeachment inquiry. That's roughly a quarter of all House Republicans, House Democrats and the entire House taking part in proceedings.
— Ben Siegel (@benyc) October 23, 2019
By the way, of today's mob, 27 voted for the rules keeping them out. 12 could have been in the room if they wanted, but thought their stunt was more important. 1 is permabanned from all committee meetings because he's an open white supremacist.
— Tweeting from a SCIF (@RulesLawStudent) October 23, 2019
Literally playing to the cameras. https://t.co/WGpM7VWawW pic.twitter.com/D0bljZ9A2o
— Garance Franke-Ruta (@thegarance) October 23, 2019
Tbh, I’m not really surprised @mattgaetz crashed the #SCIF. I just expected it to be thru the wall w his car and a fifth of Henny
— Cliff Schecter (@cliffschecter) October 23, 2019
for folks who think the gop is executing some grand plan: they aren't. this is the point of all these things, from gaetz, from trump, etc. its just to feed the fox news beast, which gets their base all het up, and prompts votes and money. https://t.co/yTjTFnpTeT
— Oliver Willis (@owillis) October 24, 2019
So the Republicans who were participating in the deposition interrupted by the Gaetztapo, did they ever get in front of a camera today to correct the Democrat Chamber of Secrets fiction that Matt is selling?
— Schooley (@Rschooley) October 24, 2019
Fox News reporter, not impressed:
6) Fox is told there was never any chance mbrs who barged into SCIF would be arrested by USCP wBut some mbrs members asked to be arrested. They wanted the optic of being frog marched out of the SCIF in front of TV cameras. That would help w/GOP narrative of Dem process abuse
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) October 24, 2019
9) After GOPers barged into SCIF, Schiff decided to wait them out for Cooper deposition. A mid-afternoon vote series was slated on the House floor. Dems suspected GOP would vacate the SCIF to vote. They did. Cooper's deposition started around 3:20 pm et
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) October 24, 2019
Angry R's publicity stunt playing to audience of Individual-1.
— RESISTING to INSISTING (@ConservativeJQP) October 23, 2019
Nah, just the Constitution.
— Steely Jan (@Woman_on_Pause) October 23, 2019
NEW: Trump had advance knowledge and supported a protest by Republicans who told him they planned to barge into a secure hearing room on Capitol Hill where Democrats are holding impeachment testimonies, according to four people familiar with the matter.https://t.co/FD93uj4HNW
— Kevin Whitelaw (@KevinWhitelaw1) October 23, 2019
Matt Gaetz storming a SCIF to shut down an investigation, Matt Whitaker stating abuse of power is not a crime, and Trump’s lawyer arguing he can’t even be investigated for shooting someone really is the perfect encapsulation of the GOP’s current attitude towards the rule of law.
— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) October 23, 2019
clay
So, you ever have those days where you wake up at 4 am, and even though you’re tired you just can’t fall back asleep, and so you decide to browse Balloon Juice only to find that, no matter who stupid you already thought they were, congressional Republicans were stupider beyond your wildest expectations?
Mornin’ all.
Spanky
@clay: Yeah, here I am. Firing up the phone was a bad choice. No more sleep for Spanky.
Bruce K
I can now see many futures in which America dies. I can see many futures in which the GOP dies. I see many futures in which both the GOP and America die.
I cannot see a future in which both the GOP and America survive.
Only partially off-topic: Monday is a national holiday in Greece, “Okhi Day” or “the Day of No”, celebrating the answer of Greek dictator Ioannis Metaxas in 1940 to the demands of the ambassador to Italy, representing Benito Mussolini and the original Fascists, that Greece allow the Italian army to occupy them. History records that Metaxas’ literal answer was “Alors, c’est la guerre”, interpreted by Greek crowds as simply answering “no”, and when the Italians invaded, the Greek counterattack pushed the OG fascists halfway into Albania before the Nazis decided to save Mussolini’s bacon and rolled in over everyone.
The Greeks remember the Fascists, and the Nazis. The Nazi occupation is still within living memory for people here.
And for some strange reason, the Greeks I’ve talked to about the situation back Stateside have faith that American society will overcome Trump.
Chyron HR
I’m sorry, there’s an HBO series about Rep. DUI’s attempts to subvert the constitution?
Well, gosh, what a fertile new genre. Maybe Starz can get their own reality show where they follow a group of bank robbers around as they plan to commit crimes and in the season finale we get to watch the robbery happen in real time.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
OzarkHillbilly
The stupid, it hurts. Blech to the infinity.
rikyrah
@clay:
Yep. Totally understand
NotMax
Because even a scant smile is mollifying, aside from being a fine way to start a day – Closed Caption Capers.
Encountered over the past week or so:
1) Dialogue: (Doting mother comes into son’s establishment to talk with him, rattling on and on in Italian.)
CC: [speaking Spanish]
2) The scene – late at night, a street in 18th century London.
Town Crier dialogue, unhurriedly spoken: Two o’ clock and (he turns a corner, voice audible but not quite enough to make out the words as it fades).
CC: Two o’clock and clattering clams!
Am at a total loss so far as #2 goes, Rewound several times and bumped up the volume but still couldn’t make out what actually followed the word “and.” :)
OzarkHillbilly
Cracks me up how teeny tiny Simone is compared to whoever caught her first pitch.
Even funnier when I realize that long after he is the answer to a very *obscure trivia question* she will remain a giant in the annals of gymnastics.
** “Who caught the ceremonial first pitch thrown out by Simone Biles to begin Game 2 of the 2019 World Series?”
#6 Jake MarisnicK?
WereBear
The ugly truth about the LAWNORDER screaming of Nixon fans through my earliest years, but it turned out they meant enforcing the segregation laws.
NotMax
@WereBear
Nixon was all too eager and gleeful to co-opt it from the campaign of George “a noun, a verb, and ‘lawnorder'” Wallace.
Keith P.
I look at those sunken eye sockets and think “and probably an 8-ball, too”
OzarkHillbilly
Head? Meet desk:
Republicans propose mass student surveillance plan to prevent shootings
How’s about a mass surveillance plan of gun owners? Hmmm? Eh? Oh wait a minute, gun owners vote, they have their own personal lobbying organization and a billion dollar industry dependent upon them. Students? Who gives a fuck?
Mary G
@NotMax: I don’t know about last night, but Monday the closed captioning on the World Series game kept writing “and the curve ball Mrs.” It took me a minute to figure it out.
Jeffro
Last night, rather than risk another midnight ending (like with Game 1), I decided to go to bed early…
…as in, at the end of the sixth inning. D’oh!
But I’ll take it, just the same! ?
Go Nats!! ?❤️⚾️
Jeffro
@OzarkHillbilly: hmm..,it’s almost like we wouldn’t have to inflict “mass surveillance” on tens of millions of American kids if we actually did. something. about. THE GUNS.
“Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But gun rights trump all that so eff you, libtards” – The Constitution, as translated by the GOP
?BillinGlendaleCA
@rikyrah: Good morning.
NotMax
@Mary G
Heh. Marvelous.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
Speaking of “first pitches”
Dump has been in office for three full baseball seasons and he still hasn’t thrown a “first pitch” at any game. None.
Every president since 1910 has thrown a “first pitch” at some game.
Of course, Dump, the coward, stays away because he knows 50,000 fans would boooooo him on national tee vee.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Jeffro:
I’m still bitter.
OzarkHillbilly
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: No, he stays away because he knows his first pitch wouldn’t get anywhere near the plate even on the (several) bounces.
clay
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: Also because he would almost certainly suck at throwing the ball, despite him being “one of the greatest all-time baseball players.“
Betty Cracker
@OzarkHillbilly: I was struck by how small Simone Biles looks in that clip too, so I looked up her height. She is 4′ 8″ — a tiny little thing!
Amir Khalid
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
Trump also knows that any pitch he threw would land well short of home plate. And that would not be Winning.
Betty Cracker
@clay: He really does claim to be one of the greats — just a few years ago, Trump bragged that he was the best baseball player in NYC when he played in high school, way better than those bums Mantle and Maris. And humble too!
OzarkHillbilly
Something tells me Dr. Joseph Meloche is a RWNJ: ‘Lunch shaming’: New Jersey students with $75 debt barred from dances and trips
The dickishness is strong with this one.
OzarkHillbilly
@Betty Cracker: My mother was a tiny little thing too. 5′-zip when I was born, had shrunk to 4-9 I think by the time she died. But a will of steel in that tiny little package. As my old man always said, “She’s the Boss.”
?BillinGlendaleCA
I’m headed off to Red Rock tomorrow evening to take some pics, I’ve been testing things out(the iPolar sighting camera for one), here’s a test shot of the Orion nebula’s.
Jeffro
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Might have been better all around if the Yankees had won the ALCS…I like the Astros and would have preferred a much more hate-able team to root against.
I’m glad I was able to catch the Nats in the NLCS…ticket prices for the next few games are astronomical. Standing-only is closing in on $1k!
Joey Maloney
@NotMax: I was in Madrid on business a few years ago, bored in the hotel room one night I found a channel showing Italian porn that someone had taken the trouble to dub the dialog – 90% moans and grunts – into Spanish.
frosty
@clay: Yes. Third time this week As a matter of fact. Le Sigh.
Bobby Thomson
@Bruce K:
Neither can Doctor Strange.
OzarkHillbilly
TPM:
Our Republicans are broken.
NotMax
@Joey Maloney
Well, they’re both Romance languages.
;)
debbie
@Betty Cracker:
They might have had the decency to use a shorter catcher! // But truly awesome she could do that flip on an uneven surface.
Uncle Jeffy
Vision of Jabba the Trump throwing out the first pitch with his tiny hands……
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
The Attorney General of the United States, the defender of the American people, has been reduced to Trump’s pool boy???
Joey Maloney
@NotMax: groan [pero en español]
OzarkHillbilly
Here’s to Grandmother’s everywhere.
OzarkHillbilly
@debbie: What does one expect? He turned Chris Christie into a takeout delivery boy.
--bd
@Joey Maloney: You had it on long enough to do the math?
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
I will never understand Trump’s power over people in his orbit. No one seems to be able to walk away before they are so demeaned.
RedDirtGirl
@rikyrah: Good morning!
Dorothy A. Winsor
I figure Gaetz et al stormed the SCIF not because Rs were shut out, but because some of them had been there and knew exactly how bad the testimony was for them. They needed to disrupt it and distract from it. And the stunt was so outrageous that it more or less worked–for a day anyway.
Kathleen
@Betty Cracker: She looks tinier in person if you can believe that.
Just One More Canuck
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: maybe he doesn’t know how to throw a baseball
OzarkHillbilly
So now we have the associates of associates of the President claiming that Executive privilege may protect some of their communications.
I await the Republican howls of protest at this legal stratagem to keep evidence of illegal activities hidden in 3…. 2…. 1…. Never.
Tenar Arha
@?BillinGlendaleCA: ? beautiful
JPL
@Just One More Canuck: He’s afraid he’ll get booed and he can’t take that.
JPL
@OzarkHillbilly: haha
Amir Khalid
@Just One More Canuck:
Could also be, with all them Big Macs inside him, he ain’t in shape to throw a baseball no more.
Joey Maloney
@–bd: Accuracy is very important in my line of work. Naturally I needed to leave it on long enough to make sure I had collected a statistically significant sample.
I can also report that Italians – at least those Italians – have not fallen prey to the American obsession with depiliation.
SFAW
@Just One More Canuck:
I seem to recall that he once claimed he was one of the best baseball players in NYC, woulda turned pro, but decided to become a trillionaire businessman instead. I don’t know if he actually believed he was a good baseball player, or it was yet another of his claim-he’s-the-best-EVAH-at-whatever-was-being-discussed insanities/lies.
SFAW
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
I think it’s really hard to throw a ping-pong ball more than a couple of feet, and I think that may be the largest ball his teeny-tiny hands could hold. Maybe if he switched to a pinball? I think his hands are “large” enough, and they could travel a few feet — if he put his weight behind it.
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly:
Why you always coming in here bringing them snakes? ?
(Which, under DAW’S rules, would be a good first sentence for a novel.)
SFAW
@–bd:
He heard it from “a friend.”
Immanentize
@SFAW:
Why do you think golf is his game? Small balls.
OzarkHillbilly
Oh my fucking Gawd, ROTFLMAO!!!!!!! This is beautiful. While Gaetz and company were busy committing felonies on camera, AOC was emasculating Mark Zuckerberg. The look on his face when he finally realizes she not only has him by the balls but she has a grip of steel… Just priceless, absolutely priceless.
How AOC turned boring congressional hearings into electrifying moments
Damn, the woman is good.
SFAW
@Immanentize:
But too long to be a good band name.
Immanentize
@SFAW:
True. My BiL, the Immp and I have kept a running list of band names and first albums for years. The Immp last year announced a new rule — no names that are “adjective noun” names. “Too much low hanging fruit,” he says.
trnc
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
IIRC, part of a day. They had to get back to the chamber for a vote (not sure what – coulda been to create a “Slam The Poor” day for all I know), so the testimony started after that.
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
Libtard!
She should take her $13,000 “haircut” back to New Jersey and tend bar, the way God intended. Who does she think she is, attempting to play “Gotcha!” on her betters, i.e., men?
Thanks for that article. She’s pretty impressive.
chris
Simone is tiny? No kidding!
SFAW
@Immanentize:
Well done.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Immanentize: It would! It absolutely would! I putting it in my notebook.
Spanky
@Immanentize: “Low Hanging Fruit” would be a good band name.
Or a porn star.
Guess who crashed bigly after Comment #2 and only got up a few minutes ago?
clay
@SFAW: Has anyone ever compiled a list of all the things that Trump has said he’s the best at, or knows the most about, or similar claims? Must be a pretty long list (“The longest list ever!”)
I think that would be a pretty effective ad… just clip after clip of Trump claiming things, each one more ridiculous than the last. Would paint him as the petty braggart he is, in a way that even his supporters couldn’t deny. (Although they would try…)
Amir Khalid
@OzarkHillbilly:
Barr’s problem with the US intelligence community is not that he doesn’t find them credible. It’s that they’re not telling him what he, or more precisely Trump, wants to hear. The Italian intelligence people he spoke to know just how good their professional peers in America are, and I’m sure they weren’t impressed by his bogus misgivings.
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
I’m sorry, but I read that, and thought “Shaft! Damn right”
Dorothy A. Winsor
If I were president, I’d never be able to throw out the first pitch. I’m stunningly un-athletic. Many people say the best un-athlete!
Gin & Tonic
@Amir Khalid: Reminds me of the immortal words of John Kruk: “Lady, I ain’t an athlete, I’m a baseball player.”
Immanentize
@Spanky:
Well, that’s a good thing, no?
Maybe you have stumbled on the secret incantation: “No more sleep for Spanky” which will immediately set you adrift?
SFAW
@clay:
It might work … but only as a non-medicinal ipecac substitute.
OzarkHillbilly
@SFAW: I liked her, “So if I ran an ad during Republican primaries saying the incumbent voted for the Green New Deal, it would be OK?” question. I don’t remember what stutters exited his mouth in response, but that last question…. That look on his face… And the nothing coming out of his mouth…
Dorothy A. Winsor
@OzarkHillbilly: What struck me looking at that list of hearings is how hard she and her staff are working. They’re beyond prepared. Compare that with Trump’s tough schedule of watching FOX and tweeting.
OzarkHillbilly
@Spanky: Welcome back.
Ken
@debbie:
One theory is blackmail. He gets them to do one small thing that’s illegal, then uses that.
In some cases he might already have the goods. Remember, oh, eighty or ninety scandals ago, that brothel in Florida whose owner was connected with Mar-a-lago? Easy to imagine a further link to a certain congressman who once worked at a strip club in Florida.
SFAW
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
I, for one, would be more than happy to deal with that trade-off. When will your term start? Soon, I hope.
SFAW
@Joey Maloney:
Interesting line of work.
Spanky
@Immanentize: Well, that’s different. Might actually work!
JamesKPolkEsq
I hope those jokers had their electronic devices confiscated, for information security assurance.
It’s all fine and dandy to not have them frogmarched out yesterday for optics reasons. However, they need to be charged with crimes after a few weeks.
Laws do mean something after all. Any non congresscitter that pulled a stunt like this would get lokkerupped, these guys don’t have immunity.
OzarkHillbilly
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I like the computer wunderkind who had his robot throw the first pitch out for him.
OzarkHillbilly
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I’m not saying she has a future in Congress because she may very well decide that “This place sucks,” but she takes her duties very seriously and if she decides to, she could go far in the business of politics.
OzarkHillbilly
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Oh and for the record, my shoulders being what they are, if I had to throw out the first pitch, I’d just roll the damn thing.
Original Lee
@Chyron HR: Sadly, Donald E. Westlake already published a Dortmunder book about professional thieves getting a reality show. IANAL so don’t know the copyright issues with your proposal.
MattF
Via jwz, Why Mordor Failed.
gene108
@OzarkHillbilly:
Weird. Cherry Hill is relatively affluent, and known for having good schools. Though there are renters, who are there to have their kids in good schools, who aren’t as affluent
I don’t get why the school board are being such dicks.
The mayor is a Democrat, and I bet most of the city council is too.
But not all Democrats are champions of progressive policies. They’d rather the city become a national embarrassment, than taking help offered so students aren’t punished.
Weird hill to die on
Dorothy A. Winsor
@SFAW: What have I ever done to you to have you wish that on me????
OT: I’ve been dealing with digestive issues since June, and yesterday I finally got a diagnosis for a specific, not-serious, treatable thing. Thank goodness! I’m relieved in general, of course, but also we have a big trip coming up in a couple of weeks and I was afraid I’d have to cancel. Today we’ll see what my insurance company says about the drug that costs $5000 for a three month supply.
oldgold
Google Claims a Quantum Breakthrough That Could Change Computing
A new Google device did in 3 minutes 20 seconds a mathematical calculation that supercomputers could not complete in under 10,000 years.
This news reminds me of the joke where the the best computer scientists gathered together to build a super computer to answer age old questions. They built it and the first question they asked was “Is there a God?”. The computer answered, “There is now.”
RedDirtGirl
@Spanky: Do NOT google Cisco Adler’s intimate photos.
zhena gogolia
@OzarkHillbilly:
If only she weren’t a Bernie stan.
Danielx
@SFAW:
Still waiting for Black Velvet Elvis
OzarkHillbilly
@gene108: The thing that gets me is they could easily take the parents to small claims court, wouldn’t even need a lawyer to draw it up (who they have on retainer anyway). Instead they are taking it out on the kids, who probably have nothing to do with whether things get paid or not.
Amir Khalid
@oldgold:
Then again, CNN reported that IBM said Google was exaggerating a bit*: per Big Blue’s statement, a conventional, non-quantum supercomputer would take only two and a half days, not ten millennia, to do the calculation.
* See what I did there?
Dorothy A. Winsor
@OzarkHillbilly: It’s abuse of power. Because they can.
MattF
@oldgold: FYI, IBM disputes the 10,000 years claim. Turns out that the maximum current supercomputer can do it in about three days. For additional interesting details, see Scott Aaronson’s blog ‘Shtetl Optimized’, which seems to be currently off-line.
OzarkHillbilly
@zhena gogolia: “If only ________________ was perfect.” I don’t hold it against her, it’s just more information about who she is and what she believes in. Now if she endorsed trump…
SFAW
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Would it be better if you were God-Empress? Because I’d be OK with that, too. Or, you could have Hillary as your Veep, then step down to “spend more time writing” (which sounds better than “spend more time with my family.”)
Glad to hear the medical stuff seems to be turning out OK. Keeping my fingers crossed that the insurance company doesn’t screw you over.
OzarkHillbilly
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Yep.
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
Well, I hear Johnny Unbeatable is about to throw his hat into the ring.
Jeffro
Folks, if you wanna be entertained in an infuriating way this morning, you’ve really got to check out Hugh Hewitt’s op-ed in the Post today: the GOP Better Stand by trumpov or Lose Its Base Forever.
Actually, don’t – I’ll just summarize it for you:
– Dems are impeaching ’cause they can’t beat trumpov in 2020
– I’m in touch with “the base” ’cause I’m not one of those “Manhattan-DC elites” (!)
– No quid pro quo, much less an illegitimate one, has been proved
– But quid pro quos still happen all the time
– And if one is established w/ trumpov and Ukraine, that’s not illegitimate. It’s basically the same thing as the Mueller report
– Also this impeachment inquiry better not interfer with Barr’s cover-up er I mean investigative efforts
– and the House GOP better get loud and angry in its defense of trumpov…
– …so that the Senate knows which way it had better vote, if you know what I mean
Oh and also, #NeverTrumpers’ views don’t count
It’s like a six-tier bullshit cake. It’s really unbelievable.
Amir Khalid
@OzarkHillbilly:
Taking it out on the kids probably is why they’re doing this. If it was about balancing the school district’s books, they would have accepted Mr Ravitz’s offer.
--bd
I do love the part where the catcher autographs the baseball like he would normally do for some local schmo after them throwing the 1st pitch, when he should be taking the ball and asking her for her autograph and keeping it. Or better yet, pull a second ball out and have her sign that one for him so that they each have an awesome souvenir.
kindness
I have to wonder what Nancy Pelosi is going to do about the smash & grab Republicans pulled yesterday. She does have a keen sense of justice. Too bad the ugly will probably fall on staffers more than Republican Congresscritters.
MattF
@Jeffro: Also, Giuliani is merely ‘the man who made private inquiries in Ukraine on the president’s behalf’, the very soul of innocence. Hewitt is all in for Trump.
OzarkHillbilly
Trump Says He’s Building A Border Wall In, Uh, Colorado
Sen Leahy has a new map of the US.
@Amir Khalid: I have a thing about “taking it out on kids,” especially in a public manner. Whenever I had to discipline my sons I always tried to do it in as private a manner as possible, no shaming in front of others. It’s just wrong.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@OzarkHillbilly: Many people have some kind of character trait that helps steer them into a kind of work. Sometimes the trait turns out to be helpful in that work. A desire to be the center of attention can help an actor or a teacher, for that matter, as long as it doesn’t cripple the person. So people who wind up in positions of power may be people who really like exercising power. Some school administrators fall into that group. I’d say this guy does for sure.
Immanentize
@RedDirtGirl:
You doing OK? News from your niece?
Kay
@gene108:
Ok, so two things are going on with this. Every student is entitled to apply for the federal school lunch program. There’s two tiers- “free” and “reduced”. So what school managers say is the people who are incurring the debt either didn’t apply for the payment waiver or reduction or didn’t qualify for the reduction because their income was too high. From their perspective this is people who CAN afford it just refusing to pay. They know it’s people who can pay because there’s another whole group who get free or reduced. That group isn’t included in the group who didn’t pay.
I agree that it would be easier to just make all the lunches free, but they’re not targeting poor people. They’re targeting people who can afford it who won’t pay, because it’s not fair to those who DO pay their bill.
Immanentize
@Kay:
I understand what you are saying, Kay, but isn’t the word “many” in the quote doing just too much work? Are many also poor? Are many in seriously difficult family situations? Are there more non-pays in some schools rather than others? Why? How are the district’s social worker professiinals tasked? Etc.
Frankensteinbeck
@Amir Khalid:
Watching Trump, it is clear to me that he believes all of the insane hard right bullshit, including stuff that he knows are lies because of his personal involvement. Watching Barr, I think he doesn’t care what is or isn’t true. He’s going to do everything he can think of, brilliant or stupid, to protect Trump. He’s going down a checklist, and some of the items on that checklist were added by Trump or Trump’s equally deluded buddies. “Ask the Italian government to say the CIA lied” is now checked off. Hey, maybe they would have answered “What will you give me in return?” It’s worth a shot.
RedDirtGirl
@Immanentize: Thanks for asking. Don’t have much new info. Doesn’t help that my 87 year old dad is having a nervous breakdown over in Spain, and threatening to jump out a window. Oversharing?
Calouste
@OzarkHillbilly: Perfect map by Leahy with the sharpie pen in the bottom corner.
OzarkHillbilly
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Power is seductive. I have been in a position to feel it’s pull (in a small way) a time or 2.
Kay
@gene108:
So this is Cherry Hill- a high school. That’s a low number (there are about 2000 students) so it’s a wealthier district- on the higher end in income.
So if they’re not in this group and not paying they either didn’t apply or don’t qualify because their income is too high.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
So it’s California all over, the GOP has stopped cared about governance it’s just about fund raising and playing to their base.
dmsilev
Washington Post headline: “Spain exhumes dictator Francisco Franco after years of bitter controversy”
Clearly, the first question that needs answering is whether or not he is still dead.
p.a.
Don’t know who made this point first on the intertubes: Rethug establishment went from using FoxFantasyWorld to rile the rubes to vote, to having BELIEVERS in FFW beat establishment Rethugs and actually get elected, resulting in the current situation.
When days like yesterday get me down, I find thinking 2 words can bring relief: Boaty McBoatface. Can’t help but giggle…
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay:
No. They are targeting the children of people who can afford to pay. Maybe. Sometimes people’s circumstances change. But that is beside my point.
You have a problem with a parent? Deal with the parent, don’t take it out on the child.
Kay
@Immanentize:
Sure, all of those things come into it but just looking at the one high school in that district they’re at around 15% free and reduced lunch. That’s an upper middle class district. Mine is a little below 50% free and reduced and there are thousands of schools at 90% or better free and reduced. He mostly has a payment problem, not a poverty problem.
Punishing the kids for it is definitely wrong though- he needs a better solution.
Frankensteinbeck
@Ken:
Not that he wouldn’t, but that’s a level of organization atypical of him, and a broad scale of activity that is unlikely to hold up. Like the Ukraine thing, sooner or later one person spills the beans.
I think it’s much simpler. Trump is good at spotting assholes, and hires them. This isn’t a special power. A lot of, maybe most people can quickly identify the kind of person they like and get along with in conversation. Trump’s history suggests he would be especially good at that, although again, this ain’t Lex Luthor stuff. The kind of man (women are objects) Trump gets along with is a corrupt, racist, sexist asshole who doesn’t show Trump up by correcting his imbecilic mouth-feces. Once you’ve gotten that far, everything else happens naturally.
Kattails
@OzarkHillbilly: I’ll take a look at the link, thanks, but am really unhappy with her Wilmer endorsement. Unfortunately, it just soured, for me, anything she might do. He does not need any more oxygen… bah, better go get more coffee grouch grouch.
Simone on the other hand is awesome.
MattF
@Frankensteinbeck: Blackmail can be part of the deal. One has to understand that it takes two to tango— some people want to be victims.
Kay
@OzarkHillbilly:
Right – I agree with that. There has to be a cost/benefit too. Spending a lot on collecting just doesn’t make sense if they’re collecting really low amounts. They get pissed though- there are parents who go years and just won’t pay anything- not lunches, not activity fees, not nothing. They don’t see it as legitimate. Some of them say they’re already paying for the school and they shouldn’t have to. So then you have a large group paying and a smaller group not paying and that causes resentment. It has to be consistent.
Kay
@OzarkHillbilly:
I have a friend with a very sweet son who was putting non-payers on his lunch card. She was putting lots into his account and finally she was like “what are you EATING?” and he told her. We were laughing- “just put it on my tab”, like a big shot :)
germy
Can someone here tell me who the woman in blue is? The way she looks up at the light makes the photo resemble a medieval painting. Is she a journalist or an assistant to the thugs?
germy
Matt Gaetz… Donald Trump…
Our country (and planet) is suffering from Boss’s Son Syndrome.
Frankensteinbeck
@MattF:
If it were overt blackmail, he’d have to have done so much of it that we would know. This administration is incredibly bad at keeping secrets. At this point, anything they’ve done that’s still hidden is just because criminality sprays out of Trump like a hippo’s ass marking its territory. Blackmail would get lost in the shuffle.
However, a subtler version may be at work. They may be blackmailing themselves. After all, once they’re in, exposing Trump exposes themselves. Trump doesn’t have to think about it or plan on it, it just happens as a result of how he operates. If he surrounds himself with corrupt assholes, then if he does his thing they’ll do their thing to support him. The Republican Party at all levels is a rancid stew of corrupt assholes.
MattF
@germy: It’s been noted before: Daddy Issues play a huge role in politics.
Wapiti
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: I’ll note that the Boy Scouts haven’t invited the loser back after his botched performance at that jamboree.
Joey Maloney
@Kay: I’m going to ask, how the heck does Meloche know what the families’ financial means are? The official “poverty line” is a cruel joke. There are plenty of people whose income is too high to qualify for what we laughingly call our safety net but who are still not making ends meet. There are plenty of others who were doing okay until some medical emergency, maybe not even a major one, loaded them up with five figures of debt. And you can understand how things like mortgage, electricity, health insurance take precedence over school lunch.
germy
@MattF: I worked in several family businesses. The boss’s son was invariably placed into upper-middle management and would make bad decisions while goofing off and harassing female employees. But their actions affected only staff and customers.
The idea of a boss’s son in a position of political power is frightening. They’re fucking all of us.
I don’t care about their psychological issues with their fathers. I care about the power the have over us.
Slappy Kincaid
@Kay: I went to that high school. That area is full of obnoxious, privileged twats. That high school was full of their spawn. It was a horrible place to go to school.
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay:
As I pointed out above, small claims court doesn’t cost much and they don’t even need a lawyer (or maybe as a govt entity they do?) to represent them. They could have a fill in the blank filing written up that a school secretary could finish and (I suppose) take to the court house and file. If a lawyer is required to represent them they can add legal costs to the suit.
I would bet 80-90% of these cases would be resolved long before the court day.
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay: HA! I love it. She’s got a great kid there.
Kathleen
@zhena gogolia: Or giving Sanders credit for the fact she was able to see a doctor as a child because of CHIP insurance.
Another Scott
‘morning all.
Twitter:
Hmm…
(via Popehat)
Cheers,
Scott.
Kathleen
@RedDirtGirl: I am so sorry. Holding you in light. You’re carrying a big load.
Amir Khalid
@OzarkHillbilly:
I think that in America (and not just there) it’s how bullies find their way into the police, and then wind up recruiting other bullies to the force.
Just One More Canuck
@MattF: Great article, especially the last paragraph:
“It’s too early to tell if the United States will follow Mordor’s route down into the Void, though the descent of the leadership into a spirit of malice gnawing on itself, as Sauron became, has arguably already happened. There is still time to make America truly great again, as the center of the international order, by strengthening existing alliances, forging new ones, healing internal divisions at home, and renewing America’s image and soft power abroad. Also, an elite corps of invisible military commanders flying on monstrous pterodactyls wouldn’t hurt either.”
Uncle Cosmo
@oldgold: IIRC in Stand on Zanzibar SF author John Brunner recasts an old joke with Shalmaneser, the World’s Smartest Computer, in a supporting role:
(I saw a variation of this years before: The first (mixed-gender) human expedition to Mars encounters Martians – the Martians demonstrate how they reproduce, with a Marsbaby popping out at the end, & then it’s the humans’ turn….)
tokyokie
@Joey Maloney:
When I lived in Norway years ago, I’d go to English-language movies, which would be subtitled in Norwegian, because the country’s population was too small to justify the expense of dubbing. I’d see previews of coming attractions, and those for the English-language movies were similarly subtitled. But the trailers for soft-core porn from Sweden were never subtitled or dubbed, as spoken Norwegian and Swedish are pretty close, or at least close enough for movies in which nobody cares about the dialogue.
Immanentize
@RedDirtGirl:
Never too much sharing here.
RedDirtGirl
@Kathleen: Thank you. Are you a Quaker, by chance?
Immanentize
@RedDirtGirl:
Also, re:distraught Dad in Spain — do you have family, friends, contacts wherever he might be living?
RedDirtGirl
@Immanentize: It is a bonkers situation. He is with his (Spanish) wife, but when he’s there he wants to be in the States, and when he’s here he wants to be over there with her. And he refuses to let her hire anyone to help him so he is completely dependent on her, and therefore completely resentful towards her. She doesn’t communicate with me ever since I had the temerity to point out that he probably shouldn’t be driving anymore after dinging the local bike-riding eccentric in the small town in Maine where he has spent his summers. @Immanentize: That’s a relief!
Miss Bianca
@NotMax:
Damn, I think “Clattering Clams” might have to be our band’s new name. Or at least, the title of a new tune!
Miss Bianca
@OzarkHillbilly: Y’know, I’m not crazy about her – keep thinking she’s more squeak than wool – but damn, she sure can call down the lightning when she feels like it. Good for her on this one!
H.E.Wolf
@Slappy Kincaid:
A quick reminder to all of us that using gendered slurs related to a woman’s body, as a description of That Horrible Person Right There, helps to perpetuate negative societal attitudes about women.
Gendered slurs about men’s body parts are problematic, too [ETA: made a slight change in hope of improved clarity] – though it’s notable that disparaging a man using a gendered slur related to women’s bodies tends to be more common than the reverse.
For times when a bodily reference is the only term that will do, “asshole” is one such pejorative that’s gender-neutral. I bet there are a lot of others in Betty Cracker’s posts.
(Shakespeare had a fine way with an insult. “Cream-faced loon” has always stuck in my memory, and that’s one of his milder ones….)
J R in WV
So this means there was a conspiracy to commit this crime prior to it taking place, including the Drumpf. Isn’t a conspiracy to commit a federal crime as serious as the federal crime itself? Sure it is!!!
Now I’m gonna read all these comments.
Omnes Omnibus
@gene108: The mayor and the city council don’t have anything to do with it. It is the school board.
brantl
@OzarkHillbilly:
That’s still well above Christie’s intellectual capacity.
Another Scott
@gene108: As usual, it seems to be more complex than the sound bites.
Patch:
Lots of questions, like: 1) What exactly is the state law? 2) Why exactly was it never enforced until now? 3) What changed?
With 6.2% of individuals (Census.gov says individuals, not families) below the poverty level (and we know that the poverty level is far lower than what is needed for families to actually survive ($25,750 for a family of 4 in 2019)), it’s a problem that they need to address with more than meetings and phone calls (and donations from rich guys). Like maybe raise the property taxes a tiny bit if they need more money for the schools, or lobby the state for more funding.
My $0.02.
Cheers,
Scott.
Barbara
@Another Scott: If the jurisdiction is in New Jersey whatever is going on is not attributable to too low property taxes. They have among the highest in the nation, which is why New Jersey voted out every Republican congressional candidate save one last cycle: they are the biggest net losers from the Trump tax bill limitations on deducting state and local taxes.
Kathleen
@RedDirtGirl: No I’m a recovering Catholic. I don’t belong to a church or attend services but I believe in the power of love, light and healing. Are you a Quaker?
Kathleen
@H.E.Wolf: I don’t like term ass hole because without a way to rid ourselves of toxins we would die. Therefore my pejorative of choice is “bowel blocker”.
Another Scott
@Barbara: Yeahbut…
Around here (Fairfax County, VA), the school board recently spent something like $1M to rename a few high schools (as should have been done decades ago). New Jersey and/or Cherry Hill’s school district could find a way to come up with $14,000, and to keep the issue from recurring, without stigmatizing the kids. (The letter below indicates that none of the kids are missing meals because of the policy.) The Cherry Hill budget is around $175M a year. 14000/175000000 = 0.008%.
Poking around on their web site, it looks like a $200M school bond for capital improvements was defeated in 2018 and they’re trying again.
The August letter to the community from the Superintendent and President of the Board of Education lays out many of the issues. It sounds like the state needs to step up. But ultimately it’s up to the people there and in New Jersey to fix it, not the students.
Cheers,
Scott.
RedDirtGirl
@Kathleen: I am, and “holding people in the light” is a very Quaker sentiment.
laura
@RedDirtGirl: RedDirtGirl {{{{{big hug}}}}. Parenting is hard, and I’m hard pressed to see how you can do it with a dad who’s so far away. I wish you Grace in your efforts. The same for your niece- and other juicers have been insightful about how tough it is to be a teen in even the best of circumstances. Keep your chin up, you’re not alone and sharing your burden is how you bear a burden.
Dev Null
@oldgold: How about “the answer is 42”? (From one of the Hitchhiker series.)