Today was the last warm day for a while — 20-degree drop coming in the next 24 hours — so at quittin’ time, I took Wendy to the dog park.
We don’t go there often, although it’s my favorite one. Grosse Pointe dog parks require advance registration, proof of $100,000 liability in one’s homeowners’ insurance, vaccinations, and a pass, so that the Wrong Sort of Dog doesn’t get in. Detroit dog parks require that you show up with a dog. The Detroit park is even closer. Guess which one we go to.
But Wendy isn’t really a dog-park dog. She gets along fine with other pups, but basically, all she wants from life is to be with us, and life off the leash isn’t a huge priority. Ten minutes is about all she needs to sniff the perimeter and then return to our side and ask where we’re going next.
Today, three guys were there, with three dogs — another Jack Russell, more mutty than Wendy; a Staffordshire bull terrier; and a 9-month-old German shepherd. Male, female, male, respectively. The four of them sorted out their pecking order and started to run around, while I joined the guys. They had a cooler of Bass Ale and were passing around a joint. (I declined both.) All blue-collar dudes in the great Detroit tradition of skilled labor. The conversation was all over the map, perhaps because of the weed — work, the dogs, their friends, the variations on legal weed at the dispensary, and poetry. Yes, poetry. Not dirty limericks, this one, which one of the guys was looking up on his phone.
It reminded me not to get too judgey, to assume you know everything about a person because you noticed something about their hair or clothing or language.
The German shepherd began hassling Wendy, not aggressively, but he wanted her to pay attention to him and play, and she wasn’t into it. He’d face her, and touch her head with his paw. All, I should mention, with his red dog penis in full flower.
“Hey, who do you think you are, Donald Trump?” the dog’s owner called to him. The dog was named for a Mexican drug lord. The owner was the one with the weed (and a card to buy it legally, ankle pain). He also had a large cross on a chain around his neck.
We stayed about 45 minutes, then came home to read the latest NYT story about Donald Trump. Man, this part:
“None of this ever took place,” said Mr. Trump, who began shouting at the Times reporter who was questioning him. He said that The Times was making up the allegations to hurt him and that he would sue the news organization if it reported them.
“You are a disgusting human being,” he told the reporter as she questioned him about the women’s claims.
Oy. And then this:
A senior Trump adviser says the campaign will soon bring forward new accusers: “Women are coming to us who have been groped or sexually abused by Bill Clinton.” Trump is considering featuring these women at campaign rallies to “give witness to what Hillary Clinton actually did.” The Republican nominee’s decision to close out his campaign by attacking what he alleges to be the Clintons’ history of sexual violence suggests the next few weeks could be among the ugliest in modern presidential history.
And then this, from either Uday or Qusay Trump, I can’t recall which:
“I think sometimes when guys are together they get carried away, and sometimes that’s what happens when alpha personalities are in the same presence. At the same time, I’m not saying it’s right. It’s not the person that he is.”
In the world of men’s rights, everyone’s an alpha, kind of like in the ’80s when Shirley MacLaine was running around talking about past lives. No one was a reincarnated scullery maid or shopgirl; everyone was Cleopatra or Marie Antoinette. Betas do mass shootings; alphas have “game” and get laid by grabbing pussies.
God, I’m growing to despise these people. I want Ivanka selling cubic zirconia on QVC after this shitshow is over.
As for Roger Stone, Steve Bannon, et al? I want them sleeping in doorways. They’re that bad.
Don’t let me leave you on a bummer note, though. Here’s Wendy, with Donald Trump in hot pursuit:
Have a great Thursday. I’m going to be running from pre-dawn to well after dark. Might not get back with y’all until Friday or Saturday, but we’ll see.
Sherri said on October 12, 2016 at 10:08 pm
There are Angry Man Boys of all kinds: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/another-fascinating-email
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alex said on October 12, 2016 at 10:42 pm
Toxic masculinity knows no social boundaries. I know all of the Trump supporters in my midst without them ever having to say a single word about it.
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beb said on October 12, 2016 at 11:14 pm
Since the news is often depressing I try to avoid it, so it wasn’t until Rachel Maddow’s sho9w tonight that I learned that two newspapers are reporting three times Chump grabbed pussy just like he said he did. Then there are the cases where has the owner of various beauty pageants he’d walk into the women’s dressing room unannounced. This includes a teen pageant, which I think ought to qualify him as a child molester. Trump is being Bill Cosbyed to death. Evangelicals who don’t disavowal him are going to have a lot to explain to their God.
And yet, he’s going to get 40% of the vote because some people just want to see the world burn.
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Charlotte said on October 12, 2016 at 11:27 pm
ONe of the great Phil Levine poems. And the intertubes aren’t all bad if they let you pull up a great poem on your phone …
Eight or nine inches of snow melting off here today — Big Timber, just to theeast of us, got 19 inches in town — a year’s worth of moisture. Now warming up, it’ll all sink in, and maybe the fruit trees will survive another year.
And wonder of wonders, the Salt Lake Tribune (which to be fair, is not the Deseret News) endorsed Hillary …
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Sherri said on October 12, 2016 at 11:30 pm
I have a feeling there are going to binders full of women: http://people.com/politics/donald-trump-attacked-people-writer/
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Deborah said on October 12, 2016 at 11:44 pm
Oh Nancy, that poem, made my day, maybe my week. Thanks.
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Dexter said on October 13, 2016 at 1:06 am
My dad stood in one of those queues at Ford back in the early ’40s. After the queue got just so long, security then shooed latecomers along their way. After making the men (Dad said it was all men) stand there half a day, the foreman appeared with announcements like “Anyone have a letter? If you have a letter report to me immediately. Any electricians? Electricians can start TODAY! Any other skilled tradesmen form another line to the right. Anyone looking for regular labor or machinist work, come back tomorrow.”
Anyway, I told this story here years ago… Dad lived on Dragoon Street and his landlord was an old military pal and good friend of Orville Hubbard, mayor of Dearborn. The landlord set up a meeting for Dad to see Hubbard , and Dad obtained a personal letter of recommendation , good as gold to be hired in at Ford. Next day, Dad was first in line and was the only one of hundreds who had a letter. Dad was told sorry, not hiring any machinists or laborers, but keep coming back, they said, and you will be the first one hired…blah blah blah. And so Dad never went back and got a job in an electric motors factory.
I see the Levine poem was published in 1992. Long time ago…I just bet those long tiresome labor queues are history…I would assume it’s all on the phone now.
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Sherri said on October 13, 2016 at 3:16 am
Everybody’s favorite reporter of the election: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/interrogation/2016/10/david_fahrenthold_of_the_washington_post_on_covering_the_trump_beat.html
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Peggy said on October 13, 2016 at 3:22 am
Thanks for sharing the Levine poem. I hadn’t encountered that.
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adrianne said on October 13, 2016 at 7:13 am
The worst part of all this: Republicans foisted this sexual predator on us as their preferred candidate. They need to be held accountable for this unbelievable move. Let’s do this, America!
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Sue said on October 13, 2016 at 7:16 am
So, question for all you journalists here: Does the frequent use of ‘pulling out of Virginia’ in this article mean that the authors were maybe laughing while they wrote it?
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trumps-campaign-is-pulling-out-of-virginia/ar-AAiSYhF?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=spartandhp
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 13, 2016 at 7:54 am
Oh yeah.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 13, 2016 at 7:57 am
Dylan got the Nobel for Literature — I can’t wait for his acceptance speech. Unless he just reads the lyrics of “Tangled Up in Blue.”
Wish it could have been a two-fer, him and Leonard Cohen together. Doesn’t sound like Leonard has much longer, and I love his lyrics just a bit more, but Bobby getting picked is delightful.
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Deborah said on October 13, 2016 at 8:17 am
My husband is on cloud nine about Dylan, he’s been talking about Dylan’s lyrics forever.
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adrianne said on October 13, 2016 at 9:05 am
And now this…Kellyanne Conway on Wednesday claimed that Donald Trump does not really plan to jail Hillary Clinton and is not continuing to attack House Speaker Paul Ryan, despite the Republican nominee providing evidence to the contrary just hours before.
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Peter said on October 13, 2016 at 9:06 am
Dylan: Wow, that’s just wonderful. I give him props just for being able to remember the lyrics to all of his songs. Even Jimi Hendrix forgot some of the words to Like A Rolling Stone. But why didn’t they give it to Bruce? As one comedian noted, who knew there are that many words that rhyme with factory?
Trump: There are women who are now coming out and saying that he groped them many years ago? Quelle surprise. I would have never guessed.
It’s still four weeks out, but I don’t know if he’ll be able to top yesterday’s whopper: he claims that Hillary would be a nobody if it weren’t for all of the free media she’s getting. This, from the turd that’s been polished on reality shows for years.
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john (not mccain) said on October 13, 2016 at 9:22 am
Just recently conservatives were driven into a frothing rage at the idea of men ogling young girls in their changing rooms. That changed quickly.
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brian stouder said on October 13, 2016 at 11:06 am
The key Trumpian meme revolves around the word “rigged”. In his world, “rigged” seems to apply to every enterprise for which he doesn’t understand the rules (as evidenced by the fact that he didn’t prevail), most especially including politics.
A question I’d ask him is – was Al Gore’s 2000 defeat because of the same “rigged” system? Afterall, leaving aside “one person, one vote” – the Electoral College is an absolutely classic bit of “rigging”, yes?
Well, no. Almost by definition, there is a certain arbitrariness in any set of rules. And indeed, a New York City real estate mogul who claims his (apparently legal) systematic tax evasion maneuvers simply means he’s “smart” actually knows this, right?
By way of saying – I’ll betcha one icy-cold Diet Pepsi that on election night after Hillary hands him his ass (which will be a nice turnaround, for his grabby self), he’ll fail to concede
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Judybusy said on October 13, 2016 at 11:33 am
Yes, Brian, I am also concerned about what Trump is setting up in his many comments about a rigged system. I fear his supporters will resort to violence to express their outrage. What effect is his tacit acceptance from the neo-Nazis and white supremecists going to have on our country? I think they feel very emboldened due to his campaign. The Southern Poverty Law Center is keeping track of his ties to the far right.
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brian stouder said on October 13, 2016 at 11:38 am
….which start right at the top of his campaign, with the wife-beater Breitbart guy
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Sherri said on October 13, 2016 at 12:12 pm
Whither Kaepernick, or turning protest into change: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2669132-colin-kaepernick-may-be-the-49ers-starter-but-his-protest-is-nearing-a-dead-end
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Kim said on October 13, 2016 at 12:15 pm
To the “it’s rigged” point: Not sure if the NN.C crew saw this, but I recommend it. Thank God for college students who are paying attention to history as they experience the present.
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Suzanne said on October 13, 2016 at 12:18 pm
I does strike me as somewhat humorous that the same people who are all up in arms about Hillary being Sec of State and going after Ghadafi without, they say, a sensible plan on how to go forward, thus leaving chaos in the aftermath are the same people advocating for Trump because we need to “shake things up” and throw off the elites. What plan do they and Trump have for the aftermath of that? Other than that it’s going to be great! I assume Hillary thought Libya without Ghadafi would be great, too.
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Andrea said on October 13, 2016 at 12:45 pm
@17 John, not McCain. Great point contrasting the misbegotten and unsubstantiated panic on the Right over transgendered folks and the bathroom, with their glib justifications for Trump’s behavior over the years. Slow clap.
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Sherri said on October 13, 2016 at 12:54 pm
Suzanne, that was over in uncivilized Africa (or wherever they think Libya is, because I’m not convinced they know where Libya is.) mthis would be here in ‘Murrica, where everything would be great because they’d be on top again.
It’s like the Libertarians, who always assume in their grand scheme that they would never be oppressed, or the people who believe in past lives, but always seem to believe they were someone important in a past life.
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Jolene said on October 13, 2016 at 1:02 pm
Michelle Obama is speaking in Manchester, NH, and she is absolutely killing Trump on how he has spoken about and behaved toward women.
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Sherri said on October 13, 2016 at 1:12 pm
This is just weird. Somebody in the campaign is obviously pro-Russian.
http://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-apologises-serbia-yugoslavia-bombing-509417
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Hattie said on October 13, 2016 at 1:18 pm
Funny how the whole thing has come down to being all about gender.
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brian stouder said on October 13, 2016 at 1:52 pm
Hattie – indeed.
And mostly everyone who has a mother knows that women are immensely strong, and wise.
Ditto all those whose significant other is a woman; or indeed – those who are women.
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Sherri said on October 13, 2016 at 2:22 pm
It’s been the angry white male election from the beginning. There just aren’t enough of them to determine the outcome of the election anymore.
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Sherri said on October 13, 2016 at 2:33 pm
Norm Ornstein looks ahead: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/10/challenge-with-congress-majority/503885/
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Dexter said on October 13, 2016 at 2:38 pm
Dylan. Fuckin’ A. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-Y3KfJs6T0
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Connie said on October 13, 2016 at 3:23 pm
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/13/upshot/the-savvy-persons-guide-to-reading-the-latest-polls.html?_r=0. Great article fantastic art.
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Sherri said on October 13, 2016 at 3:36 pm
Maybe this election will finally force the news channels to stop the mindless practice of having campaign surrogates on to spin, since the Trump surrogates lie almost as mindlessly as thier candidate (and contradict their candidate all the time.) But worse than that, the Trump campaign is using surrogates to get the worst conspiracy theories from the bottom feeders of the internet onto TV news. I just saw a clip of a Trump surrogate telling a CNN anchor she should be interviewing Bill’s illegitimate son.
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Judybusy said on October 13, 2016 at 3:53 pm
As much as I enjoy all of you, I may need to stop coming here. Reading stuff like Sherri’s last bit drives me nuts. I just really, really want this to be over. Of course, I’ll keep hanging around, because I need to keep up with all the craziness.
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brian stouder said on October 13, 2016 at 3:53 pm
http://wane.com/2016/10/13/trump-calls-female-accusers-horrible-horrible-liars/
OK – maybe it’s just my fevered imagination, but when the Donald refers to them women who are telling us what he did to them as “Horrible, horrible” – I can’t help but perceive that he’s emphasizing the “WHORE” in “horrible”.
I think HRC and all her surrogates need to come up with a similarly disparaging adjective for him….maybe she can work in the phrase “shift for the plains” (regarding the homestretch of her campaign) but pronounce it “shit for brains” – as in “We’re gonna seek every vote, and shift-for-the-plains aheada Trump” –
or maybe she could comment on how he wants to sue the NY Times (et al) and refer to it as another ‘trump empty suit’; or, more conventionally, she can call guys like him out for ALWAYS trying to grope the economy and satisfy themselves at the expense of all the rest of us – who get stuck with the mess and the clean-up.
Actually, I’m almost ready to think Trump has prematurely climaxed, and his whole path forward is one of deflation (not to say erectile dysfunction)
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Sherri said on October 13, 2016 at 4:18 pm
Well, maybe you’ll like this better, Judybusy. The Donald’s lawyers sent a letter to the Times demanding a retraction. The Times said, we’d love to see you in court!
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/14/us/politics/donald-trump-lawsuit-threat.html
And Michelle Obama’s speech today was amazing: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/michelle-obama-speech-trump-comments
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brian stouder said on October 13, 2016 at 4:24 pm
Sherri – that’s a great link.
I look forward to hearing Rachel Maddow read that letter to us this evening (for some reason, as I read it I heard her voice)
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LAMary said on October 13, 2016 at 4:50 pm
Donald pronounces horrible as hahrrible. It’s a Queens thing.
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Sherri said on October 13, 2016 at 4:55 pm
Curt Schilling keeps talking about challenging Elizabeth Warren for her Senate seat. As Charlie Pierce says, I don’t think the Sweet Baby Jeebus loves either of us enough for that to happen, but if it does, i do hope Deadspin is still around to follow the campaign. Here old Bloody Sock is trying to defend Donald Trump ogling little girls.
http://deadspin.com/curt-schilling-ties-himself-in-knots-defending-donald-t-1787764072
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Kim said on October 13, 2016 at 5:11 pm
David McCraw tells it true and shows how simple language makes for a perfect beat-down. Sherri@37, thanks for the alert.
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Sherri said on October 13, 2016 at 6:04 pm
I listened to Trump’s speech today. I don’t recommend it. It was mostly a teleprompter speech, but he seems to have a new speechwriter, who is full on neo-Nazi.
If you can ignore for a minute the content, it’s fascinating to listen to a Trump speech, because it’s so obvious when he’s on and off teleprompter. His voice, his manner, his vocabulary, where he looks, everything changes.
He also sniffs at a much reduced rate. He sniffs constantly during the debates, but only occasionally during the hour long speech.
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LAMary said on October 13, 2016 at 6:21 pm
I wish I hadn’t read about Roger Stone. What a terrible person.
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Sherri said on October 13, 2016 at 6:42 pm
LAMary, read about this guy instead, one of the undecided voters from the Town Hall who quickly became decided: http://nymag.com/selectall/2016/10/serious-face-debate-man-earlest-johnson-voting-for-hillary.html
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LAMary said on October 13, 2016 at 6:55 pm
Thank you for that, Sherri. I don’t know why it took that guy so long to realize Trump is a creepy bully, but he did come over from the dark side and that’s all that counts.
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Sherri said on October 13, 2016 at 7:02 pm
in addition to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion callouts in Trump’s speech today, the other notable thing that was new was constantly referring to the Clinton Machine, much more than Crooked Hillary. When he was off teleprompter, he threw in a Crooked Hillary or two, but the Clinton Machine was all through the written speech. The speech didn’t talk about Bill’s infidelities, so the machine wasn’t about tying the two of them together. It was about tying the media, corporations, political establishment, and international bankers together with Hillary as forces who were destroying American sovereignty and keeping working people down.
The rest of the speech was about the dishonest media and their lies about him, and hit many of the usual points, but the globalist conspiracy of the Clinton Machine was definitely new.
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Sherri said on October 13, 2016 at 7:39 pm
Mark Halperin has some pearls to clutch about the Times letter: http://mediamatters.org/video/2016/10/13/mark-halperin-criticizes-new-york-times-responding-trump-s-legal-threats/213829
Yeah, Mark, we know you don’t like anyone to be uncomfortable:
https://www.buzzfeed.com/kyleblaine/this-might-be-the-lamest-interview-with-donald-trump-so-far
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Sherri said on October 13, 2016 at 7:48 pm
Rebecca Traister brings it, as usual, on Michelle Obama’s speech: http://nymag.com/thecut/2016/10/women-needed-to-hear-michelle-obamas-new-hampshire-speech.html
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Sherri said on October 13, 2016 at 8:57 pm
Maybe this was the reason for promoting anti-semitism from behind the scene to the main stage: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-hate-comes-home-to-roost
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 13, 2016 at 9:40 pm
TrumpTV, taking over the remains of the Breitbart Media operations and creating a web-only platform like Glenn Beck’s “The Blaze” web-cast/pod-cast/webpage “network” — it will be all Clinton Machine, all the time. What you’re hearing right now from Trump is just market positioning.
Come to the launch party Nov. 28. How much you wanna bet that was a Freudian bra when he said that date by “mistake”?
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alex said on October 13, 2016 at 9:48 pm
The Clinton Machine… so powerful yet it still can’t overcome all the derp about e-mails and Benghazi and Vincent Foster.
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Sherri said on October 13, 2016 at 9:57 pm
The question is, will the Republican Party stand up to TrumpTV, or will they simply be the political arm of TrumpTV? Fox News wasn’t so much promoting the GOP agenda as driving it, as did Rush before that. Will Steve Bannon’s nihilism be the future of the GOP?
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Deborah said on October 13, 2016 at 10:09 pm
I’ve thankfully had a very busy day so I missed a lot of the political shit that went down today. I’ve caught up a bit reading the links here and watching Rachel. She showed a big chunk of Michelle’s fantastic speech. Trump was particularly awful in Florida today. I can’t be over too soon for me.
Today was momentous regarding our problematic neighbor. His sister finally kicked him out of her condo. She got a restraining order and locked all the doors. But she expects him to come back tonight and break in. Great, now we have to experience that. We’re so glad that he won’t be around anymore. The sister dropped in to visit her brother today and found drunk, drugged out street people there and a room that she had used for storage had been rampaged. So that was the last straw for her.
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Deborah said on October 13, 2016 at 10:19 pm
Tons of typos in #53. I’m just tired.
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Sherri said on October 13, 2016 at 10:36 pm
Mike Pence is a soulless creep: http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/mike-pences-answer-to-11-year-old-girl-with-low-self-es-1787778306
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Sherri said on October 13, 2016 at 10:41 pm
Great campaign ad: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1146112725437463&id=249012191814192&refsrc=https%3A%2F%2Fm.facebook.com%2FTeamDaugherty%2Fvideos%2F1146112725437463%2F&_rdr
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 14, 2016 at 6:27 am
For anyone who cares, my newspaper column endorsement.
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Deborah said on October 14, 2016 at 7:20 am
“Hillary Clinton meets in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of U.S. sovereignty.” How in the world can Republican leaders keep a straight face and endorse trump after that? Wow.
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Suzanne said on October 14, 2016 at 7:24 am
Gov My Pants proves himself to be more and more of a buffoon every week. He has his memorized Tea Party talking points and no matter what the question, he has to go back to those talking points: cut taxes, get rid of gay marriage & abortion, and bomb somebody.
Interesting story. My brother -in-law knows someone who lived in My Pants’ neighborhood back in the day. Said he was a pretty nondescript white bread white guy until he met his wife, who is a raging evangelical. She got her hooks in him and now we have SuperChristian My Pants! Which doesn’t really surprise me. I’ve run across a number of guys like him over the years-the religious type who preach the loudest about gender roles & male dominence are usually the guys who usually have the wives who pull them around by the nose.
The irony is that as I look at this year’s political climate, I see the evangelicals tying themselves to Trump as a suicide move. It shows the world that the religious beliefs they so loudly claim are meaningless to them if they are so willing to toss them aside for political gain. Whitewashed tombs. I predict that after this, there will be an ever larger rise of the so-called nones.
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alex said on October 14, 2016 at 7:39 am
It should come as no surprise, Suzanne. Holy rollers have always been the easiest marks for hucksters, charlatans and politicians. If Trump says he’s going to shit chocolate ice cream, there’s no shortage of them who’d line up to eat it. Looks like he’s cornered the market on suckers and proven that it has a ceiling of about 40 percent.
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brian stouder said on October 14, 2016 at 8:32 am
Jeff, great article – even without any explicit endorsement
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adrianne said on October 14, 2016 at 10:08 am
OK, Gov. My Pants is going to provide “evidence” that those Trump accusers are liars…and they’re apparently gathering under the dark umbrella of Carlos Sims, the Mexican billionaire. I can’t even…
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adrianne said on October 14, 2016 at 10:25 am
Sorry, mandatory correction, it’s Carlos Slim, the sinister Mexican billionaire. Yeah, that’s the ticket!
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john (not mccain) said on October 14, 2016 at 10:36 am
“Holy rollers have always been the easiest marks for hucksters, charlatans and politicians.”
Only my extreme laziness has kept me from livin’ la dolce vita. I know all the right bible words, know how and when to say them, and am a fat, pasty white guy. I could even provide a nice sex scandal from which to tearfully repent. Ah, regrets.
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Sherri said on October 14, 2016 at 11:30 am
Alexandra Petri has uncovered the truth about Hillary Clinton: https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/wp/2016/10/14/the-hideous-diabolical-truth-about-hillary-clinton
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Connie said on October 14, 2016 at 11:30 am
This is exactly what frightens me about this election. When Trump loses will there be bands of angry men roaming the landscape? Armed Trump Supporters ‘Protest’ Outside Virginia Dem’s Campaign Office http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-supporter-armed-protest-dem
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brian stouder said on October 14, 2016 at 11:40 am
Connie – read Sherri’s linked article. It will get you laughing – which is a very good thing!
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Peter said on October 14, 2016 at 12:04 pm
This just in – evidence showing that the groping allegations are false will be issued one hour after Trump releases his tax returns….
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alex said on October 14, 2016 at 12:32 pm
Some Brit humor…
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Hattie said on October 14, 2016 at 12:44 pm
Nancy: I think your report on the dog park is an outstanding piece of journalism. You’re the best!
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Sherri said on October 14, 2016 at 1:26 pm
This article raises the question I have about the Podesta emails: what about Podesta’smright to privacy? I’ve been disappointed but not surprised to see so many people in the info security community poring over the Podesta emails and tweeting out tidbits, when they spend so much time railing about privacy and government surveillance. John Podesta, while he is chairman of Clinton’s campaign, is not a government official, he is a private citizen.
Glenn Greenwald argues that because of his role in the Clinton campaign, he has more power and therefore deserves less privacy, a statement which I think many in the infosec community agree with. I think they would say the same about the hacked DNC emails, even though the DNC is also a private organization (and contrary to the beliefs of a lot of Bernie conspiracy theorists, have no role in primary elections.) i rhink this shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the power of these organizations, but that aside, I have an issue with a group of people that is overwhelmingly white, male, under 40, tech-centric, and Western making decisions about what privacy is.
The media isn’t any better, because rhey can’t resist gossip. There has been nothing illegal, unethical, or even remotely scandalous in the emails, but running stories that put Clinton and emails in the headline are irresistible, never,ind,that they confuse more than they inform.
http://washingtonmonthly.com/2016/10/13/hacked-emails-privacy-vs-transparency
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adrianne said on October 14, 2016 at 1:59 pm
Glenn Greenwald is an A-1 prick. His favorite tactic is to unleash his minions on anyone who challenges him. Lance Mannion was on the receiving end of one of his attacks. Not fun, and a bit scary. His latest target is Kurt Eichenwald, Newsweek journalist, for his story on Russian intelligence feeding info to the Trump campaign. Some of his minions promptly started attacking Kurt’s wife online. These guys are dangerous.
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Sherri said on October 14, 2016 at 2:37 pm
The President did some fine speechifying today, as is his wont, and Charlei Pierce. Rings the goods: http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a49625/obama-fixing-republican-party/
I recommend watching the speech. Time is running out, friends; we won’t get a chance to see so many of these once he leaves office.
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Sherri said on October 14, 2016 at 3:15 pm
Paul Ryan’s new motto: Bigotry in the defense of liberty is no vice.
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brian stouder said on October 14, 2016 at 3:45 pm
Sherri – I believe that’s gotta be Friday-Thread-Win
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brian stouder said on October 14, 2016 at 3:48 pm
Let me just make a glancing reference to the unspeakable & deplorable shadows in our political culture. 104 years ago today (thanks to my ‘This Day in History’ calendar that our 12 year old gave me for Christmas), Teddy Roosevelt took a bullet in the chest during a campaign stop.
The sooner this campaign cycle is safely over, and passions begin to cool, the better off we’ll all be.
(As Sherri’s post implies – we’ve seen all this stuff before; it’s not ‘new’. And of course, there is pretty much ZERO consolation in that observation!
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Sherri said on October 14, 2016 at 3:49 pm
Trumps is ranting about his accusers at his rally, and wondering why nobody has come forward to accuse President Obama of groping them.
I wonder, Donny, I wonder. What could be the reason?
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Suzanne said on October 14, 2016 at 3:56 pm
And he says the accusers are too ugly for him to accost, implying that those that aren’t too ugly somehow have it coming?
And if I find out that one more person I respect(ed) is a Trumpster, I might really take all my books, cash out my IRA, and go be a hermit somewhere.
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Scout said on October 14, 2016 at 4:05 pm
Sherri @ 77: I have never known a grown person to project as much as DJT does.
Maybe even more disturbing is that he thinks that his deciding if a woman is “hot” enough to assault is a compliment.
https://twitter.com/Shakestweetz/status/787004410215948288
http://theslot.jezebel.com/donald-trump-pantomimed-what-it-would-look-like-if-he-g-1787810256
This election has me in a state of nearly constant anxiety.
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Scout said on October 14, 2016 at 4:10 pm
OMG. This.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-wasnt-impressed-with-clinton
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brian stouder said on October 14, 2016 at 4:15 pm
Suzanne – along those lines, but the flip-side – I made the mistake of engaging in a political argument 8 years ago, with the folks who despised then-Senator Obama, and had nothing but horse-feathers for arguments…and it was supremely unpleasant…including the very awkward silence after Senator Obama became President-elect Obama.
This time around, I’ve been stone-silent – as have most people…and the one big exception was the fellow who was Front & Center Anti-Obama, A1A…..expressed his mortification at the idea that Donald Trump could win the presidency.
Upon hearing that, I agreed with him politiely and left it right there; no gloating or piling on. Hell, I told him if the R’s had nominated John Kasich or maybe even Jeb! – I’d have to think about it long and hard….
and THAT’S why I actually do believe the polling I saw that shows that even Indiana is slipping away from Donald (I believe he went from an 11 point lead, down to 3 points – within the margin of error)
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Sherri said on October 14, 2016 at 5:51 pm
I usually wear either a “Stronger Together” or a “Love Trumps Hate” button when I go out, but haven’t gotten much comment. I did have one member of the (nonpartisan) city council, who is an active Republican but also fairly clueless, ask me what Stronger Together meant. I told him, and then he went into this tale about how he gives his gay daughter shit because the gays appropriated the rainbow, taking it away from everybody. I nodded and backed away slowly, since I still have to work with this guy occasionally.
I know he wasn’t a Trump supporter in the primary, and I don’t want to know if he is now. I have enough other issues with him.
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Sherri said on October 14, 2016 at 6:01 pm
Hillary’s ad makers are very good. This is from Michelle Obama’s speech yesterday: https://mobile.twitter.com/mviser/status/787001496105738240
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David C. said on October 14, 2016 at 6:06 pm
What kind of fun house mirror does The Donald have that allows him to look at himself and think a good looking man is looking back at him?
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Sherri said on October 14, 2016 at 7:06 pm
I want to go up to the women defending Donny’s actions as “that’s just what men do” and tell them, you don’t have to stay with men like that. You are worth more than that. You don’t have to let anyone treat you like shit.
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Sherri said on October 14, 2016 at 7:12 pm
Trump has a “witness” to clear his name!
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-campaign-provides-anthony-gilberthorpe
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Scout said on October 14, 2016 at 7:13 pm
Remember Mike Pence promising there was “proof” coming that The Donald never assaulted anyone? Is this it?
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trump-s-razor-we-all-bow-down-to-you
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Scout said on October 14, 2016 at 7:13 pm
Jinx, Sherri!
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Sherri said on October 14, 2016 at 8:06 pm
So, this is unlikely to matter, and the guy still has until December to make up his mind, but we have a potential “faithless elector” in Washington. One of the 12 Democratic electors voted in at the DNC for Washington was a Bernie supporter who doesn’t think there’s any difference between Clinton and Trump, and is not sure he’ll vote for Clinton when it comes to it. (Trump is not going to win Washington.)
To which I say, screw you. You made a pledge to represent my vote, not your interests. You got to express your interests in multiple levels of caucuses and at the DNC. You’ll get to vote in the election, and if you want to write-in Bernie, go for it. But when the Electoral College meets, it’s not about you anymore.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 14, 2016 at 10:19 pm
Suzanne, very nice and apt deployment of the “whitewashed tombs” line. Jesus would agree.
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Suzanne said on October 14, 2016 at 11:07 pm
Why thank you, Jeff. Your praise means a lot 🙂
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Deborah said on October 15, 2016 at 8:24 am
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness.”
Nice, English Standard version of Matt 23:27
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Deborah said on October 15, 2016 at 8:34 am
This is from back in February, byDavid Brooks of all people http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/02/26/opinion/the-governing-cancer-of-our-time.html?_r=0&referer=http://lm.facebook.com/lsr.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2016%2F02%2F26%2Fopinion%2Fthe-governing-cancer-of-our-time.html&ext=1476534511&hash=Acm5PG_D2UqIgZpOGWWZRu2nL83pf-jlJzmFA3sP23zIcg&_rdr
Sorry for the long link.
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brian stouder said on October 15, 2016 at 11:36 am
This always, always puts a catch in my throat, and turns my head, and moistens my eyes
https://youtu.be/2kZASM8OX7s
Some folks would do well to re-read Lincoln’s second inaugural address – which says much, and still has much to say – to this nation, in 2016
One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war, while the Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. “Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh.” If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said “the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”
With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.
Bravo! – even if Lincoln’s election was the result of “a rigged system”
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susan said on October 15, 2016 at 1:33 pm
Wonderful. Thanks for that, Brian. I also like the sentence before the section you quoted:
…Both parties deprecated war; but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive; and the other would accept war rather than let it perish. And the war came.
THAT says a lot about the situation we are living through now. American attitudes have not changed in 150 years.
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susan said on October 15, 2016 at 1:40 pm
While walking down the street one day a corrupt Senator was tragically hit by a car and died. His soul arrives in heaven and is met by St. Peter at the entrance.
“Welcome to heaven,” says St. Peter. “Before you settle in, it seems there is a problem. We seldom see a high official around these parts, you see, so we’re not sure what to do with you.”
“No problem, just let me in,” says the Senator.
“Well, I’d like to, but I have orders from the higher ups. What we’ll do is have you spend one day in hell and one in heaven. Then you can choose where to spend eternity.”
“Really?, I’ve made up my mind. I want to be in heaven,” says the Senator.
“I’m sorry, but we have our rules.”
And with that, St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell.
The doors open and he finds himself in the middle of a green golf course. In the distance is a clubhouse and standing in front of it are all his friends and other politicians who had worked with him.
Everyone is very happy and in evening dress. They run to greet him, shake his hand, and reminisce about the good times they had while getting rich at the expense of the people. They played a friendly game of golf and then dined on lobster, caviar and the finest champagne.
Also present is the devil, who really is a very friendly guy who is having a good time dancing and telling jokes.
They are all having such a good time that before the Senator realizes it, it is time to go. Everyone gives him a hearty farewell and waves while the elevator rises…
The elevator goes up, up, up and the door reopens in heaven where St. Peter is waiting for him, “Now it’s time to visit heaven.”
So, 24 hours passed with the Senator joining a group of contented souls moving from cloud to cloud, playing the harp and singing. They have a good time and, before he realizes it, the 24 hours have gone by and St. Peter returns.
“Well, then, you’ve spent a day in hell and another in heaven. Now choose your eternity.”
The Senator reflects for a minute, then he answers: “Well, I would never have said it before, I mean heaven has been delightful, but I think I would be better off in hell.”
So St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell… Now the doors of the elevator open and he’s in the middle of a barren land covered with waste and garbage. He sees all his friends, dressed in rags, picking up the trash and putting it in black bags as more trash falls from above. The devil comes over to him and puts his arm around his shoulders.
“I don’t understand,” stammers the Senator. “Yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and clubhouse, we ate lobster and caviar, drank champagne, and danced and had a great time. Now there’s just a wasteland full of garbage and my friends look miserable. What happened?”
The devil smiles at him and says, “Yesterday we were campaigning … Today, you voted.”
——–
Vote wisely Nov. 8, 2016
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Suzanne said on October 15, 2016 at 1:52 pm
Love it, susan!!
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Sherri said on October 15, 2016 at 2:07 pm
For a nuanced and broader look at Warren Buffet and his taxes, listen to this week’s episode of Slate Money, where Felix Salmon, Cathy O’Neill, Jordan Weissman, and Tim Harford discuss corporate taxes and Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffet and charitable giving and the estate tax, and time spent thinking about taxes. In general, Slate Money is an interesting podcast. It looks at financial stories in an interesting way, from a variety of perspectives.
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Sherri said on October 15, 2016 at 2:47 pm
Pretending that Trump supporters are voting for Trump because of economic anxiety is to presume that they are stupid. I think that’s more demeaning than calling them racists and bigoted, personally.
http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/10/15/13286498/donald-trump-voters-race-economic-anxiety
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Suzanne said on October 15, 2016 at 3:13 pm
Simplistic view of life. This is the common thread of most of the people I know who are Trumpists, regardless of income level. There is right and there is wrong, black & white. Abortion is wrong, Trump SAYS he’s against it, his running mate Gov My Pants is against it, and he says he won’t go after our guns. Easy decision. Sweet & simple, regardless of his track record or vile crap that spews from his mouth. He gets their votes because those issues are not negotiable in their minds. Immigrants? Life was better when I didn’t see them.
The people I know who see lots of gray areas in life (50 shades of it?) tend to be not in his camp. Those who can put themselves in another’s shoes, those who understand that one decision has good as well as unintended effects on other things, people who look past the buzzwords are mostly not in Trump’s camp, even those who are hard core Republicans.
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David C. said on October 15, 2016 at 3:15 pm
Misogyny is good for something. It helped to catch these deplorables.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/10/15/it-will-be-a-bloodbath-inside-the-kansas-militia-plot-to-ignite-a-religious-war/?utm_term=.d14706a31466
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Sherri said on October 15, 2016 at 3:16 pm
Walmart discovers what Costco already knew: paying and treating employees better results in beteer employees and better stores. Will they stick with it and expand it?
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/16/upshot/how-did-walmart-get-cleaner-stores-and-higher-sales-it-paid-its-people-more.html
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Sherri said on October 15, 2016 at 4:43 pm
For any ody whomstll believes (and they are out there, on the purity left) that Bernie Sanders would have been a better candidate vs. Trump than Hillary, consider that the key to Trump’s self-immolation has been to get under his skin. Do we have any examples of white men getting under his skin? Elizabeth Warren, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton have all been able to bait him, because it is intolerable for people like them to dare to stand up to them. Hillary baited him constantly in the first debate, but the kicker, the thing that set up the spiral , was Alicia Machado. White men are worthy opponents, though they must be dominated, too. Nobody else should be allowed to question the great man.
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David C. said on October 15, 2016 at 4:43 pm
Even if you don’t speak German, this headline is pretty clear.
http://www.bild.de/politik/ausland/donald-trump/ist-trump-ein-sexmonster-48280890.bild.html
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Sherri said on October 15, 2016 at 5:08 pm
One of the least understandable things about Trump is that he looks at his hair and says, yes, that’s an extremely attractive look for me.
http://www.newsweek.com/here-are-absurd-instructions-putting-donald-trump-your-movie-509810
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Sherri said on October 15, 2016 at 6:18 pm
To conservatives claiming that liberals have some responsibility for creating Trump for painting Romney as a monster: when you explain to me how self-deportation isn’t just as racist rather than just being less blatant about it, then I’ll consider it.
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brian stouder said on October 15, 2016 at 6:40 pm
And Romney’s “47%” thing – calling them ‘takers’ and not ‘makers’.
Yes – Hillary was wrong to refer to Trump’s “basket of deplorables”; no need to impugn voters who won’t vote for you in any case.
Hillary’s indictment of those voters – voters who believe that white skin entitles them to more than those who don’t have white skin; or that their religion (or the religion they’d name if you ask them, even though they’re not really religious at all) makes them superior to American human beings who have a different religion; or that their gun rights are more sacred than the lives of school children or night-club goers or movie fans or employees – who find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time….those people have every right to their opinions – deplorable though they may be.
Hillary didn’t call them “takers” or dead-weight or slackers; she just found their racial and political opinions deplorable, and stupidly said so out loud.
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brian stouder said on October 15, 2016 at 8:20 pm
Sherri – here’s hoping that that foul weather we keep hearing about in your part of the world (northwest United States) isn’t affecting you, too much
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Sherri said on October 15, 2016 at 8:51 pm
So far just a lot of rain and one pretty blustery day for us, but the big wind storm is still a few hours away. We’re tucked in at home and prepared in case we lose power.
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Sherri said on October 15, 2016 at 9:11 pm
Government regulation is a good thing! It saves us from atrocities like these: https://www.technologyreview.com/s/602662/ubers-ad-toting-drones-are-heckling-drivers-stuck-in-traffic/
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susan said on October 15, 2016 at 9:42 pm
Those drones would never last in Amurkkka. They’d be shot right out of the air.
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Joseph Kobiela said on October 15, 2016 at 11:04 pm
Voted early yesterday, pulled the lever for some Republicans some Democrates and some independents, now I don’t need to pay any mind to any of them, celebrated tonight at the Embassy theater in the Fort with the group Here come the Mummies, absolutely the best funk and blues band there is, Basset may have herd of them, group of session players out of Nashville dressed as mummy’s to hide their identity due to contracts, 2 or 3 Grammy winners in the group.
If they are in your area go see them,best 2 hr you will spend.
Pilot Joe
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Sherri said on October 15, 2016 at 11:29 pm
On Assange and Wikileaks: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/oct/14/wiileaks-from-liberal-beacon-to-a-prop-for-trump-what-has-happened
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Sherri said on October 15, 2016 at 11:51 pm
Peter Thiel is still happy with Donald Trump: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/16/technology/peter-thiel-donald-j-trump.html
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Sherri said on October 16, 2016 at 1:48 am
The son of the creator of Stormfront no longer believes: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/the-white-flight-of-derek-black/2016/10/15/ed5f906a-8f3b-11e6-a6a3-d50061aa9fae_story.html
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Sherri said on October 16, 2016 at 2:20 am
Wilentz makes sense: http://www.newsweek.com/sean-wilentz-we-are-witnessing-degradation-democracy-509119
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Suzanne said on October 16, 2016 at 8:22 am
This from the once credible WSJ: http://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-and-the-emasculated-voter-1476484865#livefyre-comment
With comments like this: “Throughout history, groups and nations that failed to control their borders have destroyed themselves. You might call this “blame the victim”. But, it’s historical fact.
Native Americans are the best example. If they had fought off the first European explorers, the subsequent colonists probably would never have arrived to force them out.”
I can’t even…
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Suzanne said on October 16, 2016 at 8:24 am
Not sure that link was right
http://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-and-the-emasculated-voter-1476484865
If that doesn’t work, just google stuff. I am not a WSJ subscriber and could read the article.
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David C. said on October 16, 2016 at 9:44 am
Milwaukee County Sheriff, tRump supporter, and paster-on of so many medals that Idi Amin says, “dude, enough is enough”, says people will have to rise up with pitchforks and torches. He doesn’t seem to realize that his department would have to stop those he managed to stir up.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-ally-sheriff-david-calrke-says-its-pitchforks-and-torches-time
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Deborah said on October 16, 2016 at 11:28 am
This is fantastic, Malaniaade https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uJBL7kuzvsg&ebc=ANyPxKrUJZDBO-NSLheP0tfTVGdhHNYSvccJ23oyTafl-yEh0FlenCB5uX0KMYcVLR2BA_ABFV-_&time_continue=235
Maybe it’s old but I just saw it this morning
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Deborah said on October 16, 2016 at 11:58 am
Melaniade or however it’s spelled?
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Julie Robinson said on October 16, 2016 at 2:01 pm
The JG ran a good guest editorial from a local pharmacy prof who says he is a brown Skittle: http://www.journalgazette.net/opinion/sunday-centerpiece/STAMPING-OUT-LABELS-15596960. I suppose some might call him uppity, what with all that education and stuff.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 16, 2016 at 3:29 pm
Mission Team left yesterday for South Carolina house rebuilding work, Clothing Bag Sale wrapped up, and the sign board was empty — so I’ve put up:
Let us pray,
then vote,
then pray again!
Early returns say that’s a sentiment which has broad support.
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