Current status, but with *two* little dogs:
UK Weather Update:
"fuck THAT"
??: Reddit user Superbaker123 pic.twitter.com/HNjgZtkKj9
— Paul Bronks (@SlenderSherbet) November 19, 2019
(Normally papillons are snow dogs, but our rescues are now 15 and 13, so they can’t run as fast as they once did. And the latest ‘band’ of this prolonged nor’easter is wet enough that the falling slush balls up in their coats. I’m not looking forward to shoveling the predicted additional 8″ or so once it finally ends this afternoon, myself.)
Hoyer makes it official: The House will be in session during the week of December 16th. (The calendar previously had the House on recess that week for the Christmas break.) Expect House Dems to use at least some of that time for the impeachment inquiry.
— Geoff Bennett (@GeoffRBennett) December 2, 2019
The question is not whether Trump has committed impeachable crimes. He has.
The question is whether Republicans in Congress will affirm that an American president is not above the law.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) November 22, 2019
Trump demanded things of value in exchange for official acts. Whether he did that because he's an idiot, or a dupe, or just corrupt, is really a secondary question. The GOP doesn't much care either, and defends all of it anyway. https://t.co/glB0mKlYEZ
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) November 23, 2019
It's almost like they don't have a credible defense his lawyers could present or a client who could defend himself in a way that wouldn't sound absurd or involve lying to Congress… https://t.co/xHKYWBo637
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) December 2, 2019
Nadler in his original letter: "At base, the President has a choice to make: he can take this opportunity to be represented in the impeachment hearings, or he can stop complaining about the process. I hope that he chooses to participate … as other Presidents have done before." https://t.co/AN7msvxsoZ
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) December 2, 2019
"They've been out to get me ever since I settled for massive fraud before I was sworn in and then started telling demonstrable lies on my first day in office!"
— Schooley (@Rschooley) December 2, 2019
I'll bet the FBI agents investigating John Gotti didn't have the best opinion of him either.
— Schooley (@Rschooley) December 2, 2019
Are you guys drunk?
— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) December 2, 2019
Occasionally. https://t.co/Y4VL8GZFoA
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) November 22, 2019
OzarkHillbilly
Blech.
Anne Laurie
@OzarkHillbilly: For once, I gotta agree with you!
Mary G
I liked this picture in the Paul Bronks thread:
https://twitter.com/NPPBTP/status/1196844444860985344?s=19
satby
Perfect response by Hillary though.
David ??Booooooo?? Koch
FiveThirtyEightSlate pitchsatby
After a whirlwind couple of days in San Antonio, I head home this afternoon. It’s been a great visit, just picked up right where we left off when Qunoot left my house four years ago when she was 16. She’s turning 20 years old next week. Hardly seems possible.
OzarkHillbilly
@Mary G: Heh. That would be Miss Kitty, who is outdoor curious but not really very adventurous.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@satby: San Antonio is a great place to visit and it sounds like you found a warm friend in your exchange student daughter.
JWR
Hey, all! (Haven’t commented since the House intel hearings.) But to Nate Silver and 538 I say, watch last nights rebroadcasts of Stephen Colbert’s interview with Nancy Pelosi on the day of the “official” opening of the impeachment inquiry, followed by Seth Meyers show, (also rebroadcast last night), where he uses his “A Closer Look” segment to define, in terms even a third grader could understand, just what a quid pro quo actually is, and then, if good ‘ol Nate is still searching for a “smoking gun”, I’d suggest he find a new line of work.
OzarkHillbilly
@JWR: Maybe it’s just hard to see the smoking gun what with all the smoke and mirrors the GOP is throwing up.
Baud
@JWR:
Right wingers share links just like left wingers do, and Nate wants his piece of that market.
OzarkHillbilly
Kay bait:
Clear clothing is right around the corner. And I’m only being half sarcastic.
Because nothing says Freedom like monetizing fear.
Because nothing says Freedom like keeping people in the dark.
Good question.
I wonder if she ever gets tired of being right all the time.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
Derelict
It’s amazing to me how entrenched the “There’s no smoking gun!!!” trope has become in the media. I’m wondering just what, exactly, would amount to a smoking gun here.
Apparently Trump’s chief of staff saying he did it during a live press conference isn’t a smoking gun.
Having nearly every direct participant in the quid pro quo testify under oath that Trump did it isn’t a smoking gun.
Having the summary of the call, released by the White House, that clearly shows Trump did it isn’t a smoking gun.
And having President Donald J. Trump himself admit that he did it during a press shout-out isn’t a smoking gun.
So what does it take? Maybe an actual smoking gun?
rikyrah
Rep. Raskin On Next Steps In Trump Impeachment Inquiry | All In | MSNBC
https://youtu.be/xdc0ZE_Yb80
OzarkHillbilly
“This watercraft, that’s designed like a Dolphin, can go above and below water. “
I. Want. One. Or 3.
germy
@Derelict:
I’m afraid that wouldn’t be enough.
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
germy
Yesterday I shoveled 18 inches of snow. Hard, wet, slushy, packed snow. Like shoveling cement.
We don’t get the light fluffy stuff anymore. Upper atmosphere is too warm or something, so snow always mixes with sleet and freezing rain.
And of course, our local snowplow drivers do their part to throw snow onto our sidewalks, and bury the ends of our driveways.
germy
And that’s the problem. Each new generation “adjusts” to less and less freedom.
I was in high school in the ’70s. If someone had suggested I had to piss into a cup before I could get a summer job, or spend my day under constant video watch, I would have thought it was something out of Orwell.
Kay
The President is still stalking and harassing this citizen.
Baud
@Kay:
He literally stalked Hillary during one of the debates.
Kay
@Baud:
He’s repulsive but IMO this is different- this is an ordinary government lawyer who doesn’t work there anymore- he’s been stalking and harassing her online and at the hate rallies for months. She’s afraid of him and his sleazy hires and cult members. She has asked to be left alone and left out of whatever gross scheme they’re cooking up. He won’t stop. It should be actionable.
OzarkHillbilly
To the surprise of all concerned: Ballon d’Or 2019: Lionel Messi and Megan Rapinoe win awards
Baud
@Kay: I wonder if she could get a restraining order.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
I nominated you for the Balloon d’Juice award.
WereBear
@Baud: I was asked on my Way of Cats Twitter feed, in the context of my book, if I was going to vote for Trump 2020?
I knew only a MAGA would ask. My reply:
Not past, not future. Not even for a book sale.
I know, I’m in business and supporting a guy on disability and “need to be neutral” but I can’t, there’s lives at stake. He was surprisingly polite in return, so I added, “Cat love is non-partisan. I’m in it to make cats and people happy, and the rest is up to you.”
Kay
@Baud:
The regime sends a really strong message to government employees- go along or we’ll destroy you. It will change the pool of prospective employees- narrow it to the worst people. They’re creating a low quality work force. And we have seen that play out all the way up to the AG.
Today, they’re going after the prosecutors who investigated the war criminal he pardoned. They’re sending the remaining prosecutors a message.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: I could never accept an award that would have me.
Baud
@WereBear: Good for you.
@Kay: He sends that message to every American.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
“Helicoptoring schools.” I guess if parents won’t step up, the school will have to do it for them. //
A smoke alarm in my apartment started chirping at 12:30 am. Bastard Device!
debbie
@Kay:
Deep down, he’s jealous. I’m just not sure of which of them.
WereBear
@germy: Yesterday I passed a elderly local who gets around on a scooter because he lost his legs to diabetes and on the back was a big sign:
I STAND WITH TRUMP.
It might be the most pathetic and delusional thing I’ve ever seen in person.
Kay
Beto O’Rourke is working on flipping the Texas statehouse. That’s better than a US Senate race. Good for him.
Baud
@Kay: Nice.
Amir Khalid
@OzarkHillbilly:
They should create a Le Plus Grande Ego award and give it to Zlatan Ibrahimovic every year.
germy
@WereBear:
That really is sad.
I can only imagine the media he consumes, that brought him to that place.
Kay
@Baud:
I think he was unfairly labeled a lightweight and my sense is he’s better than that. It would be great if he proved his critics wrong by focusing on something that gets no attention until one succeeds. But, boy if he succeeds or even racks up some wins- Republicans will freak, much more so than they would with a flukey senate race.
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: All NCAA football games have gone to clear bags and it’s fine with me.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
Your really on-the-ball roads departments will time those plows so this move happens right after you finish shoveling.
Where I grew up whole cars would get buried by the plow.
There was a YouTube a few years back with a snowplow going so fast that the wall of snow… knocked down pedestrians? Went through a restaurant window and inundated a table? Can’t remember the details but I think it was the latter.
germy
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
Our snowplow guys are always in a rush… the speed limit on our street is 30mph. They fly by much faster. And then I see them all sitting in our local Stewart’s Shop. It’s their hangout
Here’s something I’ve complained about again and again until I’ve become a crank on the subject:
Why do the snowplows speed? And why do they pack walls of snow at the end of our driveways?
I have a distinct childhood memory (this was about fifty years ago) of looking out my window and seeing a snowplow drive slowly down my street. Just as the driver reached each driveway, he’d lift his plow so as not to push snow into driveways.
Nowadays these guys fly by at forty mph, throwing snow up onto sidewalks. I saw one snowplow push a bunch of snow off a side street, across the street and into my driveway. Then he sped away.
Every storm, I’m out there three or four times shoveling. Once, to clear the first snow, and then second, third & forth time clearing the snow the plows have thrown on my property.
And while I’m here complaining, what’s the deal with the streetcleaners who drive around in the summer kicking up clouds of dust? Again, when I was a kid, I remember seeing little streetcleaning trucks spraying water onto the curb while they cleaned.
Last summer there were clouds of dust in the air while the streetcleaner made his rounds. I think only one time the driver sprayed water, the way they’re supposed to.
Do they simply not give a shit?
Baud
@germy: I don’t know that we can assume that he needed to be “brought” anywhere by media. Just as likely he found media he wanted.
@Kay: Texas would be the whole enchilada. It would be like California turning red.
Tony Jay
@Amir Khalid:
For only Zlatan has the awesomeness to fend off the fierce competition coming from Cristiano and Jose.
OzarkHillbilly
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Around here they compete to see who can take out the most mailboxes.
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: @raven: The more insidious thing is that it continually reinforces the “be afraid, the world and other people are dangerous” mindset. Crime rates have been lower than during the 90s for years, but everyone is convinced that crime is higher than ever. Terrorism is rare, and in this country predominantly from right wing white guys, but every public event is treated like a potential mass murder and only the strict security keeps things safe. We give up basic liberties just for gun nuts ability to fantasize about being Dirty Harry.
germy
@OzarkHillbilly:
http://kikoshouse.blogspot.com/2016/01/and-you-thought-snow-was-bad.html
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: And you are an adult and free to make those decisions for yourself.
OzarkHillbilly
@germy: Must be Florida with a hard freeze. “Watch out for falling iguanas.”
germy
Melania’s 2019 Christmas video, but with more appropriate music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DwHTTRLYBc
Betty Cracker
@Kay: Good for Beto.
Kay
Gin & Tonic
Hey, remember last week, when Fucker Carlson said he was on Russia’s side, and then later said “ha ha, just kidding”? To nobody’s surprise, he wasn’t. He is publicly, openly and seriously siding with the aggressor in a war that has cost Ukraine over 13,000 lives.
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
I think there’s probably an opening to beat them in states since they all have to spend 24/7 defending their national leader and his sleazy hires.
Betty Cracker
Giuliani tweeted this a short while ago:
I’m of Irish, English and Scandinavian descent, but it gave me the willies to read that a prominent crackpot and powerful media organization — both of whom have the ear of the POTUS — are working together to expose a Jewish man for allegedly controlling money and judicial proceedings.
chopper
@OzarkHillbilly:
between the constant drills and fears of shooters and the massive surveillance/privacy issues we’ve created in it’s name, we’re raising a whole generation of fucked up kids. well, more fucked up.
raven
Well excuuuusssssse the fuck out of me.
Melusine
Just to brighten your day…
???
Betty Cracker
@Kay: That’s a great point. From what I’ve seen on the ground, Republicans at the local and state level win by nationalizing elections, but most suck at governing, which could leave them vulnerable to local and state level candidates who run on fixing potholes, improving schools, etc.
Kay
@OzarkHillbilly:
The problem, IMO, is the kids don’t care themselves. They’ve completely bought into the idea that they should have no privacy and there are no real boundaries. It’s almost compulsive. They all know police and prosecutors use the video and online exchanges and yet half of it is shit they filmed or posted themselves. They also believe video is a wholly accurate depiction of events that transpire and it really isn’t. Context matters. What happened before and after matters. I have seen school video of what was (allegedly) a “vicious attack” in a school bathroom where every single participant says it wasn’t like that at all. I’ve seen enough of them to try to discern between what is their weird aping of celebrity -type video, where they are playing a role- and the real thing but if you just saw the clip without talking to any of them or knowing their relationships you would put them all in juvie. They have to recognize the power of this stuff- it’s not a game. They’re arrogant about it- they grew up with it and they think they can control it and play with it.
delk
I’ve seen clear backpacks in Chicago for quite some time now. When they enter the workplace, I bet those kids won’t be busted for using their work computers inappropriately.
I’m off to my annual reclast infusion for my osteoporosis. I’ll be the only guy there.
jonas
Smh. Well, the people who could confirm (or deny!) it firsthand are Trump, Giuliani, and Mulvaney and they all refuse to testify, so we’ve got to go with all the people around them who have testified — under oath — to the fact that the president was withholding the aid until Zelenskyy announced an investigation of Biden.
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
I think they’re undecided on whether they want to nationalize 2020 or hunker down and try to differentiate their down-ticket candidates from Trump, and that’s the opening. It’s in flux. They’re not sure Trump is an asset. As we have seen, he’s not going to let them ignore him anyway. They had to know those Kentucky and Louisiana races were close but yet they allowed the bigmouth moron to go in there and hold hate rallies. They’ll have to decide soon and the decision will be irrevocable. If they put it off that’s a decision too. It means they are going to try to do both- I bet they’ll say that. I don’t think it will work. I think you get the Trump downside with the Trump upside unless you make a decision to push him to the side.
Uncle Jeffy
@OzarkHillbilly: You forgot the obligatory hat tip to Groucho Marx….
jonas
@Kay: Good for him. There are still quite a few people in the Dem primary who should be doing something similar instead of pursuing a quixotic vanity project like running for president. For example, I really wish Buttigieg were running for the Indiana statehouse or Congress, which certainly could use more Democrats, and where sticking your foot in your mouth constantly is not as costly.
Kay
@OzarkHillbilly:
I love them and I don’t want them to go to kid prison and yet at least once a month I raise my voice with them in sheer frustration at their INABILITY to stop fucking documenting every move they make. What that means is I have to sit there like a potted plant for 45 minutes of page after page of their own photos and texts and statements.
When I used to photograph my kids – rare- I can’t both be in something and documenting it- I would notice that they would become kind of extreme versions of themselves. Something happens to them. It makes me a little sad, because little kids have that great lack of awareness of themselves. They’re kind of organically IN the world instead of watching it.
OzarkHillbilly
@Uncle Jeffy: I suppose it isn’t obvious to everyone.
raven
@Kay: I post tons of fishing pictures!
bemused
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
Driving around Duluth MN yesterday on rough, snowpacked streets, we saw a lot of people digging out their driveways, walks and the most interesting displays of roof eave “snow art” with snow hanging down over the roof edges in amazing formations. 35 inches of snow over Thanksgiving with stories of people skiing to their jobs downtown including medical personnel at the clinics/hospitals.
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay: It’s a different world and in some ways scarier for that fact. I really can’t imagine what it is like growing up in it anymore than they can imagine growing up in the world I did.
I keep telling myself it’s not worse*, just different, but I have to admit that sometimes I’m not too sure.
*some things were definitely worse in the early 70s, drugs, violence, and racism being the 3 big ones in my mind.
satby
@jonas: Indiana outside of the cities is blood red, but I think his original plan was to use the Democratic primary to boost his name recognition for a run for governor. That he’s doing as well as he has in the primaries probably surprises Buttigieg too. Dems do not do well outside the few Indiana cities, and as was pointed out yesterday, we have no real path for good up and coming Democratic politicians in deep red states. We can’t expect all of them to commit career suicide as a politician.
Betty Cracker
I don’t know if Macron of France is a good leader, but he seems to understand toddler psychology:
LOL!
Baud
@Betty Cracker: Macron has always had his number.
Gin & Tonic
@satby:
It’s funny, but one of the occasional commenters here from Down Under mentioned the other day that she had been at Oxford when he was, had intersected with him, and her impression was that he had “intends to be President” tattooed on his forehead.
Betty Cracker
@Gin & Tonic: I definitely get the impression Buttigieg rolled out of the cradle wanting to be president too (that’s true of most serious candidates, IMO — the exceptions stand out). But he probably didn’t think he had a realistic shot to go from mayor of South Bend to the Oval Office. I still don’t think he’ll be the nominee, but he’s done well and has raised his profile no matter what.
rikyrah
@Kay:
They will not have a choice. He won’t let them. His priority isn’t the party. He will never listen to them about doing what’s best for the party.
phdesmond
@rikyrah: i hoped someone would find the clip! thank you.
Joey Maloney
@WereBear:
All we have left in this timeline is the blackest of black humor.
Miss Bianca
@satby: I don’t think he’s going to clinch the POTUS nomination, and frankly I wouldn’t want him to, but if he could leverage his run into a successful run for governor of Indiana, I would cheer.
The Moar You Know
@OzarkHillbilly: I’ll bite. The schools would really rather not be in the business of anyone’s business. But you can thank an unending stream of lawsuits for why school districts are doing what they’re doing.
And those districts will keep doing more in response to every lawsuit, in an unending cycle, until either the lawsuits stop, or it gets as expensive to educate a child as it is to build a stealth fighter.
Besides, it’ll get the kids prepared for the workplace, where every single last goddamn thing you do is monitored. Nobody seems to question that.
Ella in New Mexico
@WereBear:
ANY chance he’s just got a warped sense of humor?
Naaa….
Maybe a head injury? Alcohol addiction? A mean friend at the homeless shelter?
:-D