As President Trump’s White House battles impeachment, he turned to a familiar face last week: Mark Penn, one of President Bill Clinton’s top strategists.
Penn came to the Oval Office for more than an hour last Monday, three people familiar with the meeting said, and brought polling data and impeachment advice for the president. Penn reassured Trump that he wouldn’t be removed from office, according to people familiar with the meeting, and encouraged him to travel the country like Clinton did when he was fighting impeachment over 20 years ago, officials said.
Vice President Pence and counselor Kellyanne Conway were also present for the meeting, where Diet Cokes were served. Penn was escorted by Andrew Stein, a longtime Trump friend from New York who recently penned a Wall Street Journal op-ed calling for Nikki Haley to replace Pence on the ticket.
Just how much shit does Mike Pence have to eat on a given day? It’s like his appetizer, main course and dessert.
Mike Bloomberg’s presidential pollster has ended his years-long representation of a Ukrainian oligarch briefly scrutinized by U.S. law enforcement during its investigation into Russian election-meddling.
Pollster and pundit Doug Schoen told The Daily Beast on Tuesday that he has signed on to work on the former New York mayor’s 2020 Democratic presidential bid. In anticipation of that role, he said, he terminated a contract with billionaire investor Victor Pinchuk.
Mike Bloomberg’s campaign is like the script for a film called “Dumb Money”. Also, I love this bit from Schoen’s Wikipedia bio:
Schoen currently serves on the Advisory Council of Represent.Us, a nonpartisan anti-corruption organization.
Because nothing says anti-corruption like working for a Ukranian oligarch.
germy
mistermix loves your ass
@germy: What have the Trumps ever done to Baltimore? /s
scav
Trump revealed as an under-cover Clinton functionary! Is this finally what will give their o!-so-tender egos cover to cut and run?!
germy
https://dailygazette.com/article/2019/11/26/third-parties-fears-realized-as-election-commission-tightens-screws
Third parties’ fears realized as election commission tightens screws
Slew of changes approved that will make it harder for political third parties to survive in New York
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Excellent, now we can taunt our wingnut relatives at Thanksgiving Dinner “Oh, I see Trump hired Penn, who hid the bodies from Hillary’s murder spree”
guachi
I came here to mention Melania getting booed and it’s right there in comment one.
Patricia Kayden
germy
@guachi:
Full service blog.
Patricia Kayden
@germy: She needs to stick to the red states. Her husband insulted Baltimore so here we are.
Patricia Kayden
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Penn is such scum. He’ll defend anyone. So now he’s defending Trump.
Origuy
“Just how much shit does Mike Pence have to eat on a given day?”
Hey, at least they give him Diet Coke to wash it down.
James E Powell
@germy:
I expect all the reporting on this will attack the people of Baltimore for their lack of civility.
germy
@James E Powell: Of course.
the Conster
Mark Penn has an exclusive contract with The Hill to push his bullshit Harvard-Harris polls and his *opinons*. He’s responsible for pushing that BERNIE MOST POPULAR POLITICIAN IN THE UNIVERSE crap (the one where Mike Pence came in 2nd) that the Berniebots clung to for 2 years. He’s the f’ing worst
Betty Cracker
We’re missing the most important story of the day, though:
Honest to Christ, they are all over the map on this.
trollhattan
@Origuy:
“But he petted a dog!”
#relatable
Gin & Tonic
@Betty Cracker: I’m not a veterinarian or a professional dog handler, but I’ve always found it pretty easy to distinguish.
Betty Cracker
@Gin & Tonic: I mean, if it was a PARROT, I could understand the confusion…
germy
Dog probably thought “This is quite the hero’s welcome… First I get to meet the president, and now I just got three hand jobs!”
germy
@Gin & Tonic:
The girl dogs have prettier eyes.
Gin & Tonic
@germy: Only if they smile.
schrodingers_cat
When the opposition unites BJP loses. Maharashtra will have a BJP free government!
#आज_देवेंद्र_उद्या_नरेन्द्र (Today Devendra, Tomorrow Narendra)
Devendra is the BJP chief minister who had to resign yesterday because he didn’t have the votes to survive a confidence test on the floor of the assembly.
Narendra as in PM Modi.
P.S. Not that anyone cares but me, I am happy that my ancestral state showed the goonda duo of Modi and Shah their place.
JaySinWA
@Betty Cracker: Obviously the dog is gender fluid. The anti-LGBTQ activists will be up in arms.
Frankensteinbeck
This is one of the most baffling non-sequiters in journalistic history.
@schrodingers_cat:
On the contrary. I, and I suspect many others, would love an explanation of how this fits into overall Indian politics.
Quinerly
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: ?
Jay
https://www.activeresponsetraining.net/timing-school-shootings-to-get-the-highest-body-counts
scav
@JaySinWA: That’s certainly my takeaway.
japa21
@schrodingers_cat:
@Frankensteinbeck:
Agreed. I noticed SC’s comments earlier and would like more info.
Jay
@schrodingers_cat:
Seconding Frankensteinbeck’s comment/request.
Splitting Image
So there is not only hope, but a virtual certainty.
Quicksand
@Betty Cracker: Don’t believe it – it’s all just official cover for Pence having touched a female who isn’t his wife.
jonas
I strongly encourage Trump to listen carefully to Mark Penn throughout the 2020 campaign and do exactly what he says. He’s always spot on. *stiffled giggle
Jay
randy khan
I would like Trump to follow Penn’s advice and focus all of his appearances on impeachment. 24/7 impeachment from now until Election Day.
mrmoshpotato
@Betty Cracker: Well thank dog that’s cleared up!
How is this even a mystery? Does this hero dog not pee?
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
Baud!/Conan! 2020!: The less you know, the better.
RedDirtGirl
@schrodingers_cat: Sounds like a good thing!
mrmoshpotato
@Frankensteinbeck:
I thought so too!
ETA – it’d make more sense to be talking about this military dog and then segue into Dump being Putin’s bitch.
Amir Khalid
@Gin & Tonic:
Ddn’t TaMara get in trouble (with Facebook, if I’m not mistaken) recently for posting a photo of Bixby that made his maleness very, very apparent?
schrodingers_cat
@japa21: @Frankensteinbeck: I will write about it. But the story has more twists than your average thriller!
Jay
schrodingers_cat
@RedDirtGirl: It is! I have to warn you that no one is a boy scout here but the 80 year old lion (Sharad Pawar) roared and beat Modi-Shah at their own game. Shah is Modi’s Rove who is now the Home Minister.
mrmoshpotato
@Jay: Or, and hear me out, they could fucking regulate guns!
Amir Khalid
@Frankensteinbeck:
Re the mention of Diet Cokes, perhaps it was to remind the reader that Trump called the meeting, i.e. that sometimes he does take a break from goofing off all day in the Residence.
Jay
Everywhere, high and low, the befouling of the US Government continues.
mrmoshpotato
@Baud:
Less we know because you wouldn’t be on the news every damned day due to being busy running a competent government?
Baud
@mrmoshpotato:
Let’s go with that.
Jay
@mrmoshpotato:
I didn’t post it as a recommendation that Active Shooter Drills take place before and after school as well,
I posted it to note that actively or organically, school shooters are adapting and evolving their tactics to compensate for Schools and Law Enforcement’s countermeasures.
of course, the one countermeasure they would have a very hard time adapting to is getting rid of all the guns and ammo.
Jay
Aleta
The event was rushed, so maybe the dog wasn’t even ‘Conan’ ?
Jay
Aleta
“Just bring us a German Shepard that won’t bite him.”
“ANY dog that looks like this, we need it NOW”
Aleta
@Aleta Belgian Malinois not GS
Baud
@Aleta:
“There are none, sir. Tell them to keep the Veep between the dog and POTUS at ALL TIMES, or our ass is grass.”
Betty Cracker
Not a fan of this new Q poll.
Except the part about Gabbard being at 1%.
Jay
Shouldn’t Faux News have to register by now as an Agent/Lobbiest for a Foreign Government like their allies RT and Spudnik?
germy
@Jay:
Makes me wonder what drumpf will get up to when he learns he’s lost.
germy
@Jay: He walked it back. He says he was joking.
Searcher
@germy: Yes, please.
New York’s third-party system is insane. I’d personally be happy to just get rid of multi-lining, so that people stop spinning up shell parties to give themselves another ballot line, but anything that kills off half of them is fine with me.
sdhays
@Frankensteinbeck: Product placement is a real thing.
Calouste
@Betty Cracker: Trump’s razor says that the dog that was in the photo op wasn’t the dog that was involved in the raid, because the shitgibbon was scared.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
-14??? That’s nuts. Maybe it’s an outlier.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
-14??? That’s nuts. Maybe it’s an outlier.
Kent
Is Jay a bot who just takes random off-topic twitter posts and recycles them here?
Betty Cracker
@Calouste: That would explain it, and he did say weird things about the dog during the event, such as that he thought a muzzle would be a good idea but that it might make the dog “even more violent.” It wouldn’t be surprising if he was too chickenshit to meet the actual raid dog.
Gin & Tonic
@germy: Watch the segment. He wasn’t.
Baud
@Gin & Tonic:
As you know by now, Republicans are the sole arbiters of their intent.
Aleta
@Baud:
“Sir, this dog loves your ass.”
“A muzzle! Get a muzzle!”
“No time sir. We need that story out NOW.”
germy
@Gin & Tonic:
I know. But he’s insisting he was joking. Doesn’t drumpf do that, too? “I was joking! Can’t take a joke??”
Omnes Omnibus
@Betty Cracker: I’ve tried to be pretty careful about what I have said about the various candidates because anyone of them could end up on top and I am voting D. I am starting to doubt that Harris (despite my enthusiasm for her) is going to be the one. The Biden/Buttigieg haters may have some crow to eat or they may go PUMA. Fuck these fucking interesting times.
Omnes Omnibus
@Kent: No, but the end result is the same.
NCSteve
For the first time, I’m feeling optimistic Trump will be convicted in the Senate
Betty Cracker
@Baud: Could be an outlier, or it could be the M4A effect. M4A is popular with Democrats but not so much with Democratic leaning independents (included in the poll). In my most pessimistic moments, I suspect Biden will win the nomination and face-plant in the general. Maybe not enough for Trump to get reelected but sufficient to make what should be a blow-out a squeaker and hamstring any post-Trump progress.
Aleta
@Betty Cracker: I thought I remembered a story weeks ago that reported the actual dog is female. (Also remember wondering if Trump picked the wrong dog when he broadcast the name. )
scav
@Betty Cracker: Maybe he was confusing the dog with that Seal he pardoned (as he likes him some berserker military violence machines).
Betty Cracker
@Omnes Omnibus: Agreed.
@NCSteve: Why?
Jay
@Kent:
A) all threads are “open threads” unless that tradition was changed with the upgrade,
B) there is a shitload more going on in the US and the World than just shitgibbon, but like most of the US Media, this place has become obsessed with Trump. More words have been written here on the sex of Conan, than what has been happening in Hong Kong, or with LGTBQ rights, or Immigration and Refugees.
David ??Booooooo?? Koch
Doug Schoen
BWHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHAHAHH
For those of you unfamiliar, he’s a Fox News “Democrat”. He’s also an idiot, no different than fellow idiot pollsters Mark Penn and Pat Caddell
Jay
Once again, Occam’s Razor strikes true,………
Betty Cracker
@Jay: Trump is going to draw a dick on that dog with a Sharpie before this is all over, isn’t he?
Kent
@Omnes Omnibus: My evaluation of the election and the candidates isn’t issue-based or trying to figure out where candidates fit on a left-right spectrum. I think that is almost entirely irrelevant to governing in post-Trump America. I’m looking for the candidate with the chops and courage to root out Trumpism limb for limb in every branch of the government without mercy or hesitation. I’ll give one example which can be multiplied 1000-fold across the entire government.
Trump has appointed the most corporate bad-faith actors ever to the EPA and they have dismantled hundreds of Obama-era environmental regulations that were years in the making through endless consensus-reaching process, which is why most of them didn’t take effect until late in the Obama years. They have done this through sheer unmitigated exertion of power and cutting process corners everywhere. Dismantling advisory boards, ignoring science, ignoring community input. Sometimes environmental groups have gotten some of it stopped in the courts. But they can’t possibly block all of it.
The next president needs to use the same level of ruthlessness to root this stuff out and reverse it. Finding all the right bureaucratic knife-fighters in each agency who know how to get shit done. And turning them loose. The progressive versions of John Bolton. Yes, they are out there. I think Hillary Clinton is the they type of candidate who could have done that. Of the current crop I think Warren, Harris, and maybe Klobuchar. I don’t think Bernie or any of his people would even know how. And both Buttigeig and Biden are too worried about consensus and appearances to really have the courage. My fear with someone like Buttigeig is that he would get sucked into an Obama-esque search for consensus at every step of the way in every agency with every rule when there is frankly to consensus to be had when you are dealing with orcs. He and his people would undertake some sort of 6-year collaborative process with dozens of veto points along the way to reverse every bad faith action by the Trump administration. And in the end would only accomplish 10% of it. You have to strike hard and viciously to get anything done. In the EPA example, corporate polluters are never going to support Democrats and Democratic environmental objectives. Don’t give them 6 years of process and gumming up the works trying to reach some sort of ephemeral consensus when they didn’t do the same when they were in power. Just fucking roll back the Trump legacy with no mercy in every agency and branch of government.
That’s pretty much all I expect out of the next president. Maybe if we get a Dem Senate we might get one or two major pieces of legislation through as well. Maybe something on immigration or taxes or health care or the environment. Pick one or two. The rest of the job of the next president will be to repair the executive branch. I don’t think Biden, Sanders, or Buttigeig are up for that job. I honestly think it’s going to take a woman with no fucks left to give to get that job done.
Jay
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
I have the same fear as you, but for all we know, he’ll end up beating Trump in a landslide.
A lot of people aren’t like us.
Jay
@Betty Cracker:
yup, and Two Boobs and a Couch will claim it’s proof, and Tucker will root for the Russian dog,……
MAGAt’s will go along,
but in 6-10 months you will be able to repel MAGAt’s like Vampires vs. garlic with an uncapped Sharpie.
Aleta
@Betty Cracker: too funny
JaySinWA
@Betty Cracker: Surely on a picture of the dog. I doubt he could face the dog himself even if she was sedated.
mrmoshpotato
@Jay: I get that. I wasn’t yelling at you. It just immediately pisses me off that someone coming to a school to commit mass murder is treated like a possible fire or possible tornado.
Omnes Omnibus
@Kent: I understand where you are coming from, but I am not sure that progressive version of John Bolton is a good thing.
Part of what we need to restore is simply doing things the right way. The process is as important as the substance.
mrmoshpotato
@Baud: I wasn’t offering a cover for the Baud!/Conan mayhem. (Though mostly Baud!) :)
John Revolta
@Betty Cracker: Dog’s gonna have to have surgery.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: I am nominating this as a rotating tag. For real, with the form.
Officially nominated.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: That could totally happen too! A Biden candidacy wouldn’t excite young folks or lefties, but the former are unreliable voters and the latter are a minority within the party. I’d worry about how a Biden nomination would land with feminists, but Biden isn’t stupid — he’d probably pick someone appealing like Harris or Stacey Abrams as VP to bring them on board.
mrmoshpotato
@Jay: Only one way to settle this – pissing contest.
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: I can die a contented man.
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker: Why can’t all the actual Democratic candidates learn to say:
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker: I scared my cat laughing out loud at that.
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker: @Aleta: I had to nominate that one as a rotating tag, too, once I got done laughing.
Baud
@Betty Cracker: I would hope feminists wouldn’t think Biden is comparable to Trump, even if he’s disappointing as a general matter.
@mrmoshpotato: Ah, the Balloon Juice way.
@WaterGirl: Bernie 2016 is why.
Yutsano
@WaterGirl: Because it’s not the general election yet. The candidates are vying to be the standard bearer of the Democratic party. Once we have a candidate (which might not happen until the convention) then we can start discussing what we can get past the Mayhew formula of 218-60-1-5.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: Now we just have to get Cole to approve it. But with 3 fucks in a single sentence, I’d say it has a pretty good shot! :-)
WaterGirl
@Yutsano: I apparently need to read more Mayhew. Or work on reading comprehension, one of the two.
TomatoQueen
@WaterGirl: My last reply (to Kent) got eated with a 405 error, and it didn’t have a fuck in it. I’m disappointed.
Pie filter works in IE yay.
Jay
@Kent:
so, if you had read one of my off topic “bot tweets” earlier, you would have noted that Trump has appointed a rabid anti union person, to a Government position that you have never heard of, that has powers you never dreamed of, of f€cking over unionized Government employees.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@WaterGirl: Any successful legislation must have… 218 votes in the House, 50 votes in the Senate, 1 signature from the President, and be ruled Constitutional by 5 or more members of the Supreme Court.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: I just noticed that two of the 8 rotating tags that have been nominated are things you said. I only nominated one of the two. I think that might give you bragging rights.
M31
@Betty Cracker:
yeah, and he’ll also pick Donald Trump to be his opponent
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: What is the other?
mrmoshpotato
@Omnes Omnibus:
For ever and ever and ever and ever, Amen.
karensky
@schrodingers_cat: ?
WaterGirl
@TomatoQueen: That’s not good, were you typing something unusual or exotic, or did this appear to be random? If it gave you the Cloudflare screen, there’s usually a number at the top or at the bottom that provides a clue as to what happened. IF it’s at the bottom, it’s usually low enough that a scene capture doesn’t catch it, unless you intentionally capture the right spot. Or you can copy the number and submit it through Site Feedback. That works too.
Emma
@Betty Cracker: I just spit up my tea, dang it!
WaterGirl
@TomatoQueen: Yay! I have actually been surprised by home much DOES work in IE. I really thought more people would be excited by the pie filter. I should have gotten the high-end crystal ball.
Kent
@Omnes Omnibus:
@Kent: I understand where you are coming from, but I am not sure that progressive version of John Bolton is a good thing.
Part of what we need to restore is simply doing things the right way. The process is as important as the substance.
I agree to a point. But the reality is that we spent years and years of process and reaching consensus to achieve most of the actual achievements of the Obama Administration. It was tough hard work and took years and I was a part of it in some narrow ways related to fisheries regulations. And the Trump folks came in and just vandalized everything, pissed on it, and set it all on fire with no regard to any of the norms. We can spend the next 6 years playing the sort of game you suggest which would mostly involve giving those same bad actors endless veto-points in the long struggle to get back to normalcy in government. Or we can not worry about what the other side thinks and just get the job done. They will never vote or support Dems anyway.
That doesn’t mean we don’t follow all the process required by law. You have to do that or face failure in the courts. What I’m talking about is the sort of endless negotiating with one’s self and attempting to reach pointless consensus with bad actors on issues that should be non-negotiable. Like whether corporations can poison our children with lead or wipe out endangered species for profit or drill in national parks.
WaterGirl
@Formerly disgruntled in Oregon: Thank you! I need to clean my glasses because I read that as 1.5, and I could not figure that one out! I thought it was some fancy Mayhew thing!
TomatoQueen
@WaterGirl: It appeared to be random, except that much earlier today another comment of mine never appeared at all, so maybe today isn’t my day. I’ll watch for that Cloudflare thing.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus:
An inspired choice, I thought. Not sure if i have permission to say who nominated it.
John S.
@Baud: I honestly don’t think we can win with Mayor Pete as the candidate.
Omnes Omnibus
@TomatoQueen: You know what you did.
WaterGirl
@TomatoQueen: Definitely speak up if your comment doesn’t show up at all, after refreshes. I’ll see if you landed in spam for some reason.
edit: the sooner you speak up, the more likely it is that we can wade through the spam to find it. we get an amazing amount of spam. most of it cyrillic, so I’m looking at you Gin & Tonic. (totally not true!)
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: Cool. I don’t need to know who nominated it.
TomatoQueen
@WaterGirl: That’s a pie filter to be proud of, with many applause points, especially for the immediacy of it.
Baud
@John S.:
Don’t know, but it may be a moot point. I’m doubtful he will be able to surpass Biden, however, despite his current surge in the polls.
Dan B
@Betty Cracker: Please get a trans flag for her/him so that he/she/they can be tossed out of the service. Sorry Conan. /s
Sheesh the people who suck up to our demented president and make fools of themselves to save their careers. We edge closer to civil unrest but ya gotta keep your job.
Fortunately we are at my brother’s friends for T-day and not at the Koch relatives.
WaterGirl
@TomatoQueen: Nope, sorry, not in spam.
I did find Handheld Electric Bidet, though, that was a treat. bye bye
jeffreyw
WaterGirl
@TomatoQueen: I wasn’t fishing for compliments, just expressing a bit of disappointment. I love the pie filter and thought others might, too. Catcake is my favorite image, though I also really like the line drawing desserts. Sadly (or not) I haven’t pied anybody on the new site yet, but I got to be in it a lot for testing. Having said that, thank you! I’m sure Catcake feels much better.
Baud
@WaterGirl: I’ve never pied anybody, but I think it’s a nice setup.
WaterGirl
@Baud: I actually think anything is possible once Pete makes it through Iowa. It looks like he certainly would if the caucus was held today. I wonder what will happen to the candidates that can’t get to the 15% so then those “voters” get to pick their second choice.
I think Iowa will shake things up a lot. But I don’t care how well you do in Iowa, if you can get black votes in South Carolina, I don’t think you make it anywhere near the finish line. It will be interesting to watch, or it would be interesting if there weren’t so much on the line.
Dan B
@schrodingers_cat: I’m happy to hear the BJP is on the outs in Maharashtra. It helps all of us, however indirectly, to have places where tolerance and acceptance of the full spectrum of humanity.
And I have fond memories of being made a part of a family in Mumbai and New Delhi.
WaterGirl
@Baud: Thank you! I was going to say you could pie me, but then what if you forgot to set me free????? sniff sniff
pamelabrown53
@Betty Cracker:
Please don’t succumb to your most pessimistic self! IF Biden is the nominee, he won’t necessarily “face plant”. He would no longer flailing & defending a long and mixed-storied career to our left flank. Plus, People like the Obamas will be all in.
WaterGirl
Since we’re two hours into a thread and no new thread in sight, maybe this is a good place for a PSA?
This afternoon I moved On The Road from Featuring to the Category Bar at the top… I don’t want anyone to be alarmed because they can’t find it in the morning.
edit: Sorry, Election Year, people will just have to go find you under View by Topic.
chris
@Kent:
Coming soon! These really are the fcking mole people. (Thanks, Charlie Pierce.)
Jay
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Just a totally normal former pro athlete fantasizing about murdering his political opponents. Nothing to see here. <a href=”https://t.co/FB0Z9kQYAe”>https://t.co/FB0Z9kQYAe</a></p>— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) <a href=”https://twitter.com/ParkerMolloy/status/1199430127068831745?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>November 26, 2019</a></blockquote>
WaterGirl
@Jay: Try pasting the same thing again after clicking the Text tab on the top right.
edit, if it tells you that’s a duplicate, speak up and I can delete the one at #134 and you can try again.
WaterGirl
@Dan B:
When people show you who they are, believe them. A lot of people are showing their asses.
Jay
@WaterGirl:
edit is dead, also just for fun, sometimes text/visual forms don’t load, just text with nothing to note it’s the text form except for the header functions.
while wonked twits and quotes can be awkward to read, they are still readable, so I don’t worry too much.
also, twice, once Saturday night, once Sunday night, a lengthy and link filled , (not too many) reply to a poster just hung after hitting post comment.
Don’t know if it was at my end or yours because the rest of the intertubes worked just fine.
karen marie
@germy: Didn’t sound like joking to me.
Jay
Betty Cracker
@pamelabrown53: We’re Democrats, remember? The left-guard action doesn’t necessarily stop when the primaries are over. And flailing seems to be Biden’s natural state as a presidential candidate. For these reasons, I don’t think my pessimism is unfounded, but I am wrong a lot, and I sincerely hope I’m wrong about this too. :)
WaterGirl
@Jay: I am pretty sure that the rate of fixing things that aren’t working properly will speed up again after Thanksgiving.
The site was down for 10 minutes on Saturday night and long than that last night. It seems like database/indexing issues; we are going to figure an approach to that out after Thanksgiving.
karen marie
@Betty Cracker: I find that baffling. Dogs who do that kind of work are highly trained. Any dog that was unreliable would be retired.
Aleta
This turkey thing is grating for me because he enjoys having power over life v death and abuses it and shouldn’t have any.
Phoebe's Pet
@sdhays: I see what you did there ;)
..and product placement was my first thought, too.
Jay
@karen marie:
“just joking” is the old racist excuse that has been repurposed by ReThugs who accidentally or otherwise, make their confessions, projections or inner truths public.
so when Trump said at one of his rallies that he hopes that “ the US slowly dies of starvation and radiation poisoning including all you MAGAt f€ckers” after his BFF Rocket Man nukes the US,
he walked it back with a “just jokeing libtard FAKE News” to Jim Acosta.
Jay
@WaterGirl:
happier than a pig in truffles or a lamb in clover over the new site and everybody’s hard work.
minor glitches are no biggie, ( I’m a Tupac fan) and are a fraction of what happened on the old platform, regularly.
thank y’all again,….. and again,….. and again,…….
schrodingers_cat
@Dan B: I see it more as an assertion of regional independence. Mumbai doesn’t trust Gujarat, it goes back to the history of the Bombay Province (which consisted of both the current day Gujarat and Maharashtra) in British India and the movement for the formation of Maharashtra in the late 50s and early 60s.
Immanentize
I don’t understand the dod issue. Is the fear that if Trump thought it was a female dog, he’d try to grab her by the p—sy?
pamelabrown53
@Betty Cracker:
True, so very true re: left guard action after the primary has been decided. Just look at the Steiners and the Bernie protesters at our convention!
Still, while these elements won’t vanish, we won’t have a blase general electorate as we did with a 2 term president.
In sum: I think that many, many people of all stripes and creeds will work to save our democracy.
Pollyanna Pam?
NotMax
@WaterGirl
Minor, minor thing but noticed that the word Judean is spelled incorrectly on the rotating tag I’m currently seeing, as “Judaen.”
Probably been that way for ages; dunno as rotating tags didn’t show for me on last iteration of old site.
As for the pie filter, have never used it, never shall. Found it in contradiction of Mr. Cole’s expressed desire to keep the place open and accessible. Am a big enough boy to trot through threads without wearing blinders. As always, YMMV.
Betty Cracker
@pamelabrown53: Prescient Pam, I hope! ?
schrodingers_cat
@Dan B: But it was a good push back against the fascist duo in charge of India and their machinations.
Jay
@schrodingers_cat:
is Indian “regional independence” more an expressed form of federal/provincial ( state ) separation of powers/history as an independent state “thing” or is it a post Independence backlash/separatism reaction of Federal excesses, “insults” and failures?
or both?
WaterGirl
@NotMax:
It was actually in as Judaean, copied from the old site. I removed the first “a”. Let me know if it’s correct when you see it again.
WaterGirl
@NotMax: The way I see it, everybody gets to say it (within limits) but not everybody has to listen to it. I don’t see that as a contradiction, and as far as I can tell, it doesn’t seem to bother John since he put the words “All Hail, Cleek” in the comment policy. IN ALL CAPS!
WaterGirl
@Jay: I so appreciate hearing that! It can be frustrating to have a shiny new plaything and not have it work perfectly. But you are so right, glitches are a part of life with a new site. We’ll get there! Not that it will ever be perfect, but it will definitely be trustworthy and reliable, just like a boy scout.
schrodingers_cat
@Jay: A bit of both. India is like what Europe would be if it were a country. The states are linguistically organized. There are cultural overlaps between states in the same geographic region. All of present day India was never one political unit before the British but the alliances and kingdoms have been fluid for the past 5000 years. If you ask me more than religious differences, regional differences have been more important throughout the history of the subcontinent.
karen marie
@Jay: Hear hear.
Not having to retype my nym/email every time I comment is worth the small farts that are occurring.
Jay
@schrodingers_cat
I probably wasn’t clear. Most of the Canadian Provinces existed as independent colonies prior to Confederation.
Sometimes, antifederal actions/sentiment by individual Provinces are dominantly based in the pre-Confederation history of the Province. Eg, Land Title/Language/Civil Law, Quebec, Indigenous Treaties/Commercial Fishing, British Columbia.
Sometimes, it’s based in the post Confederation relations between the Province and the Federal Government, ( everything Alberta).
So is the recent F/U to the Feds, more about “now”, or more about “then”, or a big mix of “both” and “other”?
schrodingers_cat
@Jay: The tensions between Maharashtra and Delhi are historic both in the past (Shivaji – Aurangzeb, 17th and 18th centuries), Nehru-Sanyukta Maharashtra agitation (1950s) and more recent with Modi-Shah’s moves towards centralization and meddling in state level politics. Added wrinkle is that Modi and Shah are from Gujarat which wanted Mumbai to be a centrally administered area and not be a part of Maharashtra. With the recent usurpation of Kashmir’s statehood. People are remembering the not so distant past.
I hope that answers some of your questions.
Dan B
@schrodingers_cat: It’s one of those odd things about the world. My favorite restaurant meaks were at Thackers, a Gujarati restaurant in Mumbai, and takeout from a Muslim place in New Delhi. Both groups have a degree of support for authoritatian politics but the cuisines are wonderful. It may be the authoritarian impulse arises when societies are in rapid transitions. Christianists are horrified at womens’ empowerment, LGBT rights, and Muslim immigration. Their “stable world” strikes them as insecure and threatening to their vision.
Modi gets blamed for the riots in Gujarat but the details seem opaque to me. Chicken or egg?
schrodingers_cat
Suketu Mehta a Gujarati writer who wrote the “Maximum City” whose contempt for Marathi speaking people is evident in that book is pretty representative of Gujarati people. I have a Gujarati sounding last name, so many Gujaratis have expressed similar feelings to me in person.
I tweeted about this some time back
schrodingers_cat
@Dan B: He is blamed because he was responsible. He was the CM of Gujarat who did nothing while Gujarat burned.His tolerant image is a facade. He was the BJP firebrand in the 80s and 90s saying incendiary things like Muslims have 4 wives and 25 children and that they would outbreed Hindus.
The police officer in charge Sanjiv Bhatt who blew the whistle is rotting in prison currently.
Thakkars at Birla Krida Kendra? Did you ever got to Mafatlal Bath right next door ?
schrodingers_cat
@Dan B:
Don’t take my word for what happened in 2002 in Gujarat, check out the Human Rights Watch report. Modi was denied a visa to come to the US before he became the PM. So that was the conclusion our State Dept as well.
Dan B
@Dan B: To follow up on my somewhat simplistic observations is there are things to appreciate about every culture but no culture perfect for everyone. Some details provide valuable insight into a culture and our own prejudices and others are just noise. Sharpening our skills to separate the Benghazi from the delicacy of foreign relations and determining what is culture versus dangerous dogma is of prime importance at this moment.
J R in WV
@schrodingers_cat:
Don’t feel all alone on this issue…
I was privileged to work with many young Indians on major software projects using state-of-the-art technology–many of them now citizens today. I very much hope that India becomes more accepting of the multiple different groups in that great and ancient nation.
Not like we are here today, but the way we were 6 years ago with a patriot in the Oval office.
Dan B
schrodingers_cat
@Dan B:
Its a private club. You have to be a guest of a member. I still am a member!
CCI is pretty nice as well. It is the oldest cricket club in India. I am not a member but have family members who are.
J R in WV
Not Max,
You should give the pie filter a trial run just for amusement purposes… put a frequent commenter in there, cruise down the thread, change from pie comments to pictures and back, then drop them out of the filter.
It is a work of silly art!
Dan B
@schrodingers_cat: I recall the Thakkars / Thacker’s we ate at was by a rail line, half a flight downstairs, not on Chowpatty. It’s been 17 years so it may have moved. The Bath looks splendid as does the current Thacker’s.
We stayed just northwest of Chowpatty Beach at the penthouse of the widow of the poet laureate of India. Umma Massi, which is her affectionate title, as you know. She wanted ideas on landscaping the pool. It seemed out of my depth – landscaping with houseplants, ha! We were a block from a tennis club on the Aranian Sea and seversl blocks from the towers of silence / sky burial. (If I’ve got that right.)
WaterGirl
@J R in WV: Just what I was going for! With utility, also, but not required.
schrodingers_cat
@Dan B: They have more than one location.
Bill Arnold
href=”#comment-7487647″>@schrodingers_cat:
Dead thread, smiled big on reading this, tx.
schrodingers_cat
Thanks!
frosty
The lack of excitement could be caused by no one using it because of the civil discourse and erudite comments*. I haven’t reached for it since the new site became live. The last commenter I pied disappeared, too.
*No, really! It surprises me too.
Procopius
Victory!!! If he’s going to take Mark Penn’s advice he’s toast. The Senate will convict him and remove him. All hail President** Pence. /s
Procopius
@Frosty @Watergirl: What’s a pie filter, what’s it used for, how do you use it? I was a computer nerd 40 years ago. I haven’t been able to keep up, especially the change of language. What used to be directories became folders with Windows 3.0. Maybe you need a roll-over tooltip. Is a pie filter anything like a kill-filter? I had a great one for usenet news — I could filter people based on their IP address (essential when people change their handle [nym?] every other day). None of the popular ones could do that, and I never understood why.
Jay
@Procopius:
the old pie filter here, allowed you to pie a commentator, and afterwards, instead of seeing their comment in the threads, you would see snark instead.
apparently the new pie filter is even better, worth trying not to pie someone, but instead ,just to see the pie for entertainment purposes.
NotMax
@Jay
Doesn’t it strike anyone else as more than passing odd that the very first thing one encounters on a comment page is a way to block comments?
schrodingers_cat
#174 was in response to #173.
Jay
@NotMax:
only when the internet was new,
Chris Johnson
@Betty Cracker: I read polls like that as ‘50% Russian’ and see them as a sign of what someone DESPERATELY WANTS us to believe and act on.
Especially in the absence of, you know, any actual elections, this stuff is more of the same manipulation and unreality we’ve been seeing for years.
It doesn’t even have to be specifically Russians. We could have Jeff Bezos, or Bloomberg, spending a bunch of money on astroturfing a poll. Who, exactly, would want to see Liz Warren cratering by 14 points and suddenly less popular than Tulsi Gabbard? There are people out there who want that and can afford to do this. Cheating? It’s all fucking cheating at this point. None of it can be taken at face value, and that is exactly what the Russians wanted.
RobNYNY
Andrew stein of the bad wig and nicotine yellow teeth?
https://www.alamy.com/april-2-2018-new-york-city-new-york-us-news-personality-geraldo-rivera-and-politician-andrew-stein-attend-the-book-party-hosted-by-sean-hannity-to-celebrate-the-publication-of-the-geraldo-show-held-at-del-friscos-restaurant-credit-image-nancy-kaszerman-via-zuma-wire-image178692316.html?pv=1&stamp=2&imageid=96ACF296-2414-4E29-8874-119532C24330&p=151045&n=0&orientation=0&pn=1&searchtype=0&IsFromSearch=1&srch=foo%3dbar%26st%3d0%26pn%3d1%26ps%3d100%26sortby%3d2%26resultview%3dsortbyPopular%26npgs%3d0%26qt%3dandrew%2520stein%26qt_raw%3dandrew%2520stein%26lic%3d3%26mr%3d0%26pr%3d0%26ot%3d0%26creative%3d%26ag%3d0%26hc%3d0%26pc%3d%26blackwhite%3d%26cutout%3d%26tbar%3d1%26et%3d0x000000000000000000000%26vp%3d0%26loc%3d0%26imgt%3d0%26dtfr%3d%26dtto%3d%26size%3d0xFF%26archive%3d1%26groupid%3d%26pseudoid%3d%26a%3d%26cdid%3d%26cdsrt%3d%26name%3d%26qn%3d%26apalib%3d%26apalic%3d%26lightbox%3d%26gname%3d%26gtype%3d%26xstx%3d0%26simid%3d%26saveQry%3d%26editorial%3d1%26nu%3d%26t%3d%26edoptin%3d%26customgeoip%3d%26cap%3d1%26cbstore%3d1%26vd%3d0%26lb%3d%26fi%3d2%26edrf%3d0%26ispremium%3d1%26flip%3d0%26pl%3d
am
“Penn reassured Trump that he wouldn’t be removed from office, according to people familiar with the meeting, and encouraged him to travel the country like Clinton did when he was fighting impeachment over 20 years ago, officials said.”
Mark Penn might a double agent. Either way, he’s either feeding bad advice or he’s a moron. Win/win.